"Third-stage Resurrección… how terrifying…"
Still shaken, Mayuri walked over. Half his body had been blown to pieces, and he was jabbing a syringe into what remained with his left hand.
Just now, he had clearly already activated his bankai, summoning his biological-type zanpakuto, the golden Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo (Golden Leg-Cutting Jizo).
But that massive Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo hadn't even had time to spew its poison mist before it was blown apart by Yammy.
"Hahahahaha! This is the best! Fighting monsters like this is the most fun—let's keep killing each other…!"
Kenpachi laughed madly and charged forward.
But he'd only taken a few steps when his body suddenly toppled with a heavy thud, crashing to the ground and falling unconscious.
Yachiru hurriedly ran over, her tiny hands hefting Kenpachi onto her back as she sprinted away. At the same time she chanted healing kido with one hand and pouted in dissatisfaction:
"Cole, that big dinosaur's all yours. Ken-chan's hurt way too badly, I'm taking him to rest first."
Two brutal battles in a row.
Even a monster's body couldn't take that.
Unohana, meanwhile, was watching Cole's movements, and her gaze suddenly burned hot.
"This power…"
Her combat strength couldn't compare to Cole's, but when it came to eyes—judgment—hers were far sharper than his.
With that thought, Unohana's figure flickered and appeared beside Rukia. She was breathing a little hard, eyes wide and excited as she looked at the girl.
"Rukia, look at Cole. Doesn't it seem like he's gotten even stronger again?"
Rukia was startled and quickly answered,
"Captain Unohana, Cole is a bit stronger than before. He said he's already almost mastered his bankai."
"Is that so!?"
Unohana's voice came out like a shuddering climax. Her cheeks flushed a deep red, her legs pressed together, and her eyes went hazy as she stared at Cole.
"So amazing… As expected of the man I set my sights on…"
Hearing that, Rukia ground her silver teeth in anger and whispered a reminder,
"Captain Unohana, please be mindful of your position…"
She had clearly been such a gentle, caring captain before.
How had she suddenly turned into a yandere, lovesick pervert?
While the two women were talking—
Yammy, who had been smashed hundreds of meters away by a single swing of the staff, lay half-buried in the white sand, his magma-like body sunk deep into it. His brain was completely blank.
It took several seconds before he finally came back to his senses.
He shook his head hard, then glared at Cole with even greater fury. With a sky-splitting roar, his body swelled again.
He had already been tens of meters tall before.
Now he shot straight up to over seventy meters.
This height already surpassed an ordinary Gillian-class Menos.
His raging spiritual pressure rolled like a tidal wave, overturning everything, blasting huge plumes of white sand into the air.
Sensing this, Byakuya's expression grew extremely grim. He gritted his teeth and said,
"That bastard Aizen actually created such a terrifying Menos… Can he really still control that thing?"
Previously, Yammy had only been just over ten meters tall.
But as his rage grew, his spiritual pressure and body size both continued to swell. At this moment, Byakuya even had the illusion that he was standing in front of the Captain-Commander.
Cole, however, wasn't surprised at all. He only sighed a little and said,
"Aizen really is a professor of Hollows…"
Using the Hogyoku, he'd researched a technique to force early Resurrección.
He'd developed specialized growth plans for Menos.
He could even design an Arrancar specifically around one particular ability.
If Soul Society had really given him time—let him operate freely in Hueco Mundo for a few more decades—he really might have managed to topple Soul Society.
And not just any Soul Society—one guarded by Division Zero.
As the magma-beast Yammy came charging in again, Cole snapped back to focus, swinging his golden staff like a spear and thrusting it forward.
"Bang!"
One thrust sent Yammy flying.
"Bang!"
Another blow knocked Yammy sideways through the air.
"Bang!"
A third swing speared clean through Yammy's left shoulder.
Watching the almost one-sided battle between Cole and Yammy, several Shinigami in the distance were stunned speechless.
Their hearts pounded wildly.
Their mouths were dry.
This was insane.
The monster that had just fought them to a standstill was now being toyed with—played with—by Cole.
"Ugh—ah…"
Unohana's pretty face flushed crimson, and a soft moan slipped from her lips. Her left hand clutched Rukia's shoulder, her right pressed over her heart.
It was as if her entire body tensed with each of Cole's strikes.
Rukia was speechless.
"Captain Unohana, you're being way too dramatic. Isn't this just a battle?"
"No. You're wrong…"
Unohana hurriedly shook her head, eyes glazed with obsession as she stared at every motion Cole made.
"That's swordsmanship—swordsmanship even stronger than mine. It's like a work of art. He doesn't need much power at all, and yet he can grievously wound the enemy."
As the most fanatical swordsmanship maniac, she was itching to rush over right now and fight Cole herself.
To let that blade carve wounds into her own body.
To feel the pain that swordsmanship brought.
To savor that joy rising up from the depths of her soul.
Looking at Unohana's nearly deranged expression, Rukia couldn't help but swallow.
So scary.
Yandere women were terrifying.
Could she actually win against this yandere if it came down to a fight?
After a long moment, Rukia finally forced herself to look back at Cole and Yammy's battle.
But because of the difference between a staff and a sword,
even after watching for so long, she still couldn't see what was so special about it.
Rukia sighed inwardly, complaining,
"I really don't get you people. Even if your swordsmanship is strong, so what?"
As far as she was concerned, a true powerhouse only needed spiritual pressure.
As long as your spiritual pressure was strong enough, you could crush any so-called technique or ability.
"That's why you don't understand. Only a man like that is qualified to possess me…"
Unohana couldn't help but lick her lips, making up her mind: later, she was definitely going to spar with Cole.
Body and soul—
She wanted to be driven to the peak of bliss.
Rukia was furious all over again.
Right in front of her, this woman was stealing her bull-horned boyfriend!? Even if you're the original yandere Shinigami, this kind of thing is not okay!
So, Rukia steeled herself, gripped Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeve of White Snow) in her hand, and said,
"Captain Unohana, I think you're really way too old. Cole is still a kid—he's not suitable for you at all. Maybe you should consider the Captain-Commander instead. He's closer to your age."
"That old man Yamamoto? What are you even talking about?"
Unohana looked over with open disgust.
Although she and Yamamoto Genryusai were of the same generation, she had never, from beginning to end, taken a liking to that guy.
Someone who only knew how to wield a zanpakuto with brute force—
How could he possibly warrant her attention?
"But—but Cole is mine…"
Rukia drew a deep breath, lifting Sode no Shirayuki.
She felt that with her current strength and bankai, her spiritual power still couldn't compare to Unohana's, but it absolutely surpassed that of the average captain.
If the two of them actually fought—
Who knew who would win and who would lose?
Unohana's interest was piqued. She slowly drew her own zanpakuto and said,
"How interesting. Are you going to fight me, then?"
She did think Rukia was far too green. But even so, this was still a combat strength on the level of a captain.
If she fought this girl—
She might be able to draw some pleasure from it as well.
The battle between the two women was about to explode.
Byakuya and the others were nearly at a loss for words.
The enemy over there was still fighting.
And over here they were about to start killing each other?
Cut down by friendly fire before they even got started!?
Cole also noticed what was happening. Even though he didn't know how things had escalated between the two, he could feel deep in his bones that something was very wrong.
Rukia fighting Unohana!?
She'd be bullied to death.
With that thought, Cole drew in a deep breath and looked at the lava-beast Yammy in front of him, his voice going cold.
"Yammy, I'll give you one more chance. Will you abandon Aizen and submit to me? If you swear loyalty, I can spare your life."
An Arrancar fused with the Hogyoku was something exceedingly rare.
Miss this one, and he might never see a second.
After this battle, Aizen would be locked away in Muken, suffering under an eternity of darkness and time.
From that point on, there would be no more damaged Hogyoku fragments.
No more Arrancar with second or third-stage Resurrección.
But in the face of Cole's olive branch, Yammy had only one response.
A furious roar—and a swinging fist.
A raging gale, wrapped in blistering heat, howled toward Cole.
Cole let out a helpless sigh, then quickly grew serious again. He gripped the Ruyi Jingu Bang, his voice icy.
"Then sleep it off for me!"
"BOOM!!!"
A shattering crack of air ripped out.
Like the cry of a soaring eagle, the sound rolled across the entire arena and the space above it.
Within that roar, the Ruyi Jingu Bang swelled again and again, until it was more than a meter thick and several dozen meters long before finally stopping.
Cole stepped forward and swung the staff with all his might, smashing it straight into Yammy's body.
"BOOM!!!"
Another deafening impact.
Yammy's body flew like a baseball, demolishing who-knew-how-many buildings in succession before finally crashing to the ground.
This time, he truly couldn't get back up.
Byakuya and the others all drew in a sharp breath.
That was brutal.
Like an ant smashing an elephant and sending it flying.
After finishing, Cole let out a breath, hefted the Ruyi Jingu Bang onto his shoulder, and flashed to where the two women were about to cross blades. He spoke helplessly,
"Hey, hey, Rukia, Hana-nee, what are you two doing? Why are you picking a fight at a time like this?"
Feeling a little guilty, Rukia was the first to sheath her blade, pointing accusingly at Unohana as she complained in a small voice,
"Cole, Captain Unohana is bullying me."
Hearing that, Cole couldn't help but look over at Unohana.
"Hana-nee…"
Unohana gazed at him feverishly, then pressed her lips together, forcing down the hunger in her heart as she recounted the entire sequence of events from just now.
Once he heard the story, Cole's scalp prickled.
This… seemed like it was his fault.
Was the shura field about to ignite?
Seeing both women staring straight at him, Cole could only cough lightly, then quickly turned his eyes toward Byakuya and the others, trying to change the subject.
"Everyone, get ready. I'm going to tear open space. Aizen has already gone to the World of the Living—things over there might be dangerous."
Byakuya and Mayuri's expressions turned solemn.
This was indeed a serious problem.
Soul Society didn't have that many top-tier fighters to begin with, and half of them had come here to Hueco Mundo. That would definitely leave the World of the Living short on high-end combat power.
They believed in the Captain-Commander's strength, of course.
But after what they'd just seen, they also felt a deep dread for Aizen.
Who knew which of those two would actually win?
With that in mind, Mayuri immediately began his attempt—trying to use his instruments to create a gate from Hueco Mundo to Soul Society.
But no matter how many times he fired the spatial locator, he simply couldn't pierce Hueco Mundo's space, nor could he lock onto the World of the Living's coordinates.
After several failed attempts, cold sweat formed on Mayuri's forehead.
"It looks like Aizen's done something. The space here is extremely stable—I can't use the device at all."
Hearing this, Cole raised an eyebrow.
He waved his right hand, and space itself trembled. Black fissures slowly cracked open in the air.
This was the Hollow technique Desukorēru (Loosed Void).
The first step in opening a Garganta.
The Garganta itself was torn open—
But even so, Cole still couldn't pinpoint the World of the Living.
"It's like something is interfering with it."
"Captain Mayuri…"
Byakuya immediately looked to Mayuri.
Among the people here, only Mayuri counted as a researcher. Only he might be able to solve this.
"I know, I know. Aizen must've created some kind of device to interfere with space."
Mayuri's face darkened as he lowered his head and, like a walking Doraemon, started pulling all manner of contraptions out of his own body.
Even Cole was stunned.
This guy had really turned Las Noches into a temporary laboratory.
"Give me an hour. I'll definitely get this situation under control. As for you lot, don't let anybody bother me while I work."
Leaving those words behind, Mayuri dove into his equipment, working feverishly.
Cole swallowed hard.
The last thing he wanted right now was more wasted time.
With that thought, he slowly turned his head, looking at Unohana and Rukia, forcing a smile as he said carefully,
"Rukia, Hana-nee… would you like to take a break?"
Rukia: "…"
Unohana: "…"
The two women's expressions turned dark at the same time.
They each grabbed one of Cole's arms.
"Come with us."
Not caring about anything else, the two of them hauled Cole up to the sky above Las Noches' domed ceiling.
From here, they were far above the fortress below.
Whether it was a fight or… anything else, nothing would reach the people beneath.
Cole was panicking inside.
This kind of situation—
Were they about to ask him who he loved?
How was he supposed to answer that?
No matter whose name he said, it felt like a death sentence.
No, wait.
A gentle big-sister type shouldn't get angry, right?
Seeing that Cole hadn't answered for a long while, the ever-considerate big sister, Unohana, was the first to speak. She smiled softly and said,
"Cole-kun, Rukia told me just now that she wants to have you all to herself. What do you think about that?"
Cole's head suddenly felt three sizes bigger.
He hadn't even thought of a way out yet when Rukia couldn't hold back anymore. She snapped, refusing to show weakness,
"Cole, don't let this old woman trick you. Her age is several times yours—you two should never be together."
"Old woman…"
A dangerous glint appeared in Unohana's eyes.
Rukia forced herself to meet that gaze head-on.
Steel slowly sang from its sheath as both women drew their zanpakuto.
After a moment, Unohana seemed to think of something. Excitement and fervor flooded back into her expression. She turned her head toward Cole and said,
"Cole-kun, I'll deal with Rukia first, and then we can have our own match. If you can keep winning…"
"I'll let you…"
(End of Chapter)
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