Episode 138: Thunderstorm
After breaking free from beneath that colossal bolt of lightning, Ulquiorra found himself surrounded by an endless sea of thunderbolts.
Each one was only a few meters thick on average, but there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of them. Together, they had completely sealed off the entire area.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Explosions rang out from time to time around Chojiro and Starrk. One bolt after another vanished in the blasts, yet an equal number immediately descended from the dark clouds above, replenishing them in full.
The wolf-shaped bullets were struck by the falling lightning one after another, and their numbers gradually dwindled. Starrk, however, showed no intention of firing any more from his weapon. He simply stood there in silence, both hands buried in his pockets.
“Lightning Prison Pillar.”
Unmoved by the explosions around him, Chojiro kept his eyes fixed on Starrk.
“If you intend to wait until these bolts disappear after exhausting my spiritual pressure, I advise you to attack me directly. With my spiritual pressure, maintaining this lightning field, whose number is impossible to calculate…”
“It would not trouble me even if it lasted a hundred years.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Starrk lifted his eyes toward Chojiro. His voice had never sounded so low.
In truth, the moment Chojiro had casually destroyed his wolf-shaped bullets, Starrk had understood that he was no match for the Soul Reaper before him.
The range of this Soul Reaper’s Bankai, as well as the force of its attacks, surpassed his own in every respect.
There was no way he could defeat him.
But that was only when he was alone.
Whoosh!
Moving effortlessly among the dense pillars of lightning, as though he had known their arrangement beforehand, Ulquiorra silently appeared behind Chojiro.
A thunder spear that seemed to burn from within suddenly materialized in Ulquiorra’s hand. At the same time, several wolf-shaped bullets darted in from both sides, preparing to join him in a pincer attack against Chojiro.
Everything happened so suddenly that it seemed Chojiro was destined to suffer a devastating blow.
“…”
Yet Chojiro showed no reaction at all. He simply allowed Ulquiorra behind him and Starrk before him to carry out their attacks.
Bang!
!
!
Just as Ulquiorra’s thunder spear was about to strike Chojiro, Chojiro suddenly drove a fist into Ulquiorra’s abdomen with tremendous force. Even Starrk clearly heard the muffled impact.
“Bone Break.”
Boom!
The spiritual pressure covering Chojiro’s fist exploded in an instant, sending the completely unguarded Ulquiorra flying without giving him even the slightest chance to resist.
Crack…
At the same time Ulquiorra was blasted away, Starrk rushed in front of Chojiro with a blade that had separated from his weapon and swung it down.
Boom!
!
A bolt of lightning descended without warning, just like the attacks of Ulquiorra and Starrk. It enveloped the hand gripping the blade and stopped the attack in its tracks.
“How… could this be?”
Starrk had never imagined that Chojiro could use lightning to neutralize an attack from such close range.
“Your time is over.”
Crack!
A spark of lightning flickered at the tip of the sword. Then the supple blade of Chojiro’s Zanpakuto, Gonryomaru, swept across Starrk’s chest, leaving behind a vivid trail of crimson.
“Urgh…”
It was a fatal blow.
Chojiro had no doubt about the power of his strike. With the densest lightning concentrated around the tip of his blade, even the Hierro of the Number One Espada could never have withstood it.
The battle between Starrk and Chojiro had come to an end.
Splatter!
The long wound ran from Starrk’s right ribs to his left shoulder, nearly cleaving him in two. It was difficult to imagine that such a grievous injury had been left by the seemingly flexible, rapier-like Zanpakuto in Chojiro’s hand.
“Starrk!”
One remaining wolf suddenly appeared. Looking at the gradually falling figure of the First Espada, it cried out anxiously in the voice of the young girl from before.
“Are you Lilynette?”
Chojiro, his face expressionless, suddenly appeared behind Lilynette and reached out toward the now-lone wolf.
Lilynette possessed no power capable of threatening Soul Society. But once he entered battle, Chojiro would not spare a single enemy—
not even the weakest child.
Boom!
A colossal bolt of lightning crashed down and engulfed Lilynette’s petite body. She did not even have time to utter a word before her entire form exploded beneath the thunder and vanished from Chojiro’s sight.
Rumble!
Two bolts of lightning suddenly descended, intercepting the pair of thunder spears that had shot toward Chojiro from behind.
“What is this? Given your nature, I thought you would not care about the life or death of your companion.”
Chojiro turned his head slightly and looked at Ulquiorra, whose black batlike wings fluttered behind him. The corner of his mouth curled upward.
“I did not expect you to be that sort of person.”
“…”
Ulquiorra had no intention of responding to Chojiro’s taunt. At some unknown point, another thunder spear had appeared in his hand.
Bang!
Chojiro had not expected Ulquiorra to move so quickly, nor had he imagined that Ulquiorra would wield the spear like a sword. The attack nearly pierced his skull. At the last possible instant, Chojiro knocked the weapon off course with the back of his hand.
“Do you still wish to continue?”
“This is my problem.”
The batlike wings behind him spread once more. Ulquiorra spun rapidly, and his sharp tail swept toward Chojiro’s neck.
Whoosh!
But at such close range, and with Chojiro now prepared, the attack was destined to miss.
Chojiro used Flash Step to evade the strike. The instant his feet touched the ground, Ulquiorra was already prepared for his next attack.
“Dark Cero.”
Boom!
The dense black Cero possessed astonishing power, but Chojiro still managed to evade it.
What happened to him? Why have his attacks suddenly become so savage?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
It was not only the Dark Cero. Thunder spears came flying at Chojiro in an endless barrage, as though they cost nothing at all. The attacks far exceeded what Ulquiorra’s body could withstand.
Has he lost his mind? Does he no longer care whether he lives or dies?
If this continued, Ulquiorra would sooner or later dissipate after completely exhausting his own strength. Chojiro had to win this battle, but there was no need to achieve victory in such a manner.
Soon, however, Chojiro understood why Ulquiorra’s attacks had suddenly changed.
It was not because his companion had been killed before his eyes.
Nor was it because he had suddenly lost his sanity.
Everything was because of that man.
Bang!
!
!
!
!
The explosion was not particularly loud, yet it drew the attention of everyone present—including Unohana, who was treating Ichigo Kurosaki below.
That was right. Everything was because the man within had finally emerged—
Sosuke Aizen.
“Well, then…”
The faintly lifted corner of Aizen’s mouth suggested a smile, but no one felt reassured by it. Instead, every heart present began to pound violently.
“It has been a long time, everyone of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.”