Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

*I should take the sealed Szayelaporro away first. There’s absolutely no need to clash head-on with Baraggan while I’m already heavily restricted.*

Kōe silently weighed his options. He had entertained the thought of taking out both Baraggan and Szayelaporro in one fell swoop. However, after cooperating with Roca’s experiment, having his right hand destroyed by Szayelaporro’s unknown ability, and being forced to divide his attention to maintain a pseudo-Ransō Tengai, his already fragile mental state was inching toward its absolute limit.

As the saying goes, as long as there’s life, there’s hope; a strategic retreat opens up boundless possibilities. Escaping right now might not be the best choice, but it was undoubtedly the safest approach.

But would the illustrious Emperor of Hueco Mundo standing before him let him leave so easily?

”To block a swing of my axe, how interesting! Your bones should take a bit of effort to crush underfoot, which is just perfect.”

*As expected, why would Baraggan, who came here specifically for me, just let me go?* Kōe sighed inwardly. *If only a simple ’I’m sorry’ could earn an ’It’s fine,’ how wonderful that would be. But that is obviously impossible.*

”My name is Baraggan Louisenbairn!” Baraggan raised his giant axe, pointing it at Kōe from afar, his ancient voice dripping with command. ”You are worthy of letting me know your name, Shinigami!”

”But you do not deserve to know my name,” Kōe said flatly, as if this were the most ordinary matter in the world to him.

As soon as the words fell, without waiting for Baraggan’s response, Kōe used Shunpo to appear behind him, his left hand clenched into a fist and smashing directly toward that skull of bare bone.

”Ikkotsu!”

As the wind from the punch closed in, Baraggan did not dodge. He raised his arm, resting the double-bladed giant axe on his shoulder, and the axe blade instantly slashed toward Kōe behind him.

At the same time, his empty left hand opened, five stark white fingers forming a claw as they swept viciously backward.

The moment the axe blade touched his skin, Kōe exerted force from his waist, flipping his upper body backward. Simultaneously, his right sleeve rolled up and transformed into a spiral short sword, tapping against Baraggan’s grasping hand to borrow the momentum and fall back.

Baraggan’s seemingly casual axe swing held no intention of holding back. Just from a mere graze, a deep, bone-revealing gash appeared on Kōe’s left arm. If he hadn’t retreated in time, his left arm would definitely be gone.

However, by the time he steadied himself, the wound on his left arm had already vanished. *It seems the Static Recording of my body can still stave off the effects of senescence. I suppose that’s good news.*

”To dare say the words ’do not deserve’ to me, what shameless boasting!” Baraggan’s voice suddenly appeared behind him. With Kōe’s perception, he hadn’t even tracked the Arrancar’s movement path.

A stark white, massive hand blotted out the sky above Kōe’s head. Baraggan looked down at Kōe like a god overlooking all creation—life or death rested entirely within his palm!

”Then turn to ash without a name!”

In the nick of time, Kōe pivoted on his right heel, narrowly dodging the claw descending from above. His feet moved in rapid succession, widening the distance from Baraggan as he loudly chanted: ”Scattered beast bones! Spire, crimson crystal, steel wheels! The azure dragon flaps its wings above the nine heavens, the roar of the great beast shatters the three thousand mortal worlds!”

”[Hadō #88・Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō]!”

Pale blue lightning gathered in Kōe’s palm, tearing through the darkness with a roar like a dragon’s cry as it flew toward Baraggan in the distance.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A massive sphere of blue light exploded. In this subterranean expanse of Hueco Mundo where even the sky could not be seen, the prelude to a summer thunderstorm suddenly played out. Dense, tiny currents of electricity darted through the air, raising the surrounding temperature.

”[Bakudō #58・Kakushitsuijaku]!”

”[Bakudō #77・Tenteikūra]!”

Two more Bakudō spells were unleashed. After the lightning dissipated, although Baraggan was unharmed by the [Hadō #88・Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō], he developed the illusion that an invisible eye was staring at him from the sky above.

”You didn’t take the opportunity to flee. It seems you have finally realized that death is your inescapable fate.”

The ancient voice rang out from behind once more. Only this time, as if Kōe had anticipated it, he spun around and delivered a kick, clashing perfectly against the horizontally sweeping axe blade.

”O Lord, mask of blood and flesh...”

Before Kōe could finish the incantation, Baraggan’s jaw opened, and a grayish-black mist poured from his mouth, surging toward him.

Without a second thought, Kōe pointed his toes and pressed down fiercely, stepping off the double-bladed giant axe beneath his foot to shoot straight up into the sky. The eerie grayish-black mist didn’t even touch the soles of his shoes.

Looking down, Baraggan on the ground was also looking up at him. The ground surrounding the Arrancar had already turned into grayish-white powder, scattering in all directions.

The breath of death—one of the manifestations of Baraggan’s Senescence ability, capable of rapidly aging anything it touched. Although it wasn’t as powerful now as it was in his past life’s memories when Baraggan had become an Arrancar, Kōe believed that if he had taken that attack head-on, at the very least, his Bankai would have ceased to exist.

”The sky is no place for an insect like you!”

With a wave of his massive hand, the same grayish-black mist poured from Baraggan’s mouth, eye sockets, feet, and every part of his body, rushing toward Kōe in midair like a giant fountain.

Rotting flesh, withering vegetation—the air was filled with an indescribable stench of decay. It was an inevitable, irresistible aging. The only thing one could do was sigh and accept the fact of growing old; perhaps it was destiny.

Kōe could almost hear the sighs of the earth, the trees, and the air itself. Baraggan’s wrathful strike truly carried the bearing of a king. All living things were powerless to resist the aging and death brought by the passage of time, and Baraggan, standing on the ground below, was the sovereign of death who represented it all!

”Favored sons of heaven, walls built of iron, dragon’s flight, lion’s roar, tiger’s howl, wolf’s sprint, sever the heavens and the earth before they crumble! [Bakudō #81・Dankū]!”

Following the rapid string of incantations, Kōe raised his right hand. The surging grayish-black mist suddenly halted, crashing into an invisible wall.

It didn’t hold for long. In the blink of an eye, the wall truly dissolved into nothingness, no longer able to withstand the reverse waterfall.

But that brief moment was enough for Kōe. ”[Bakudō #37・Tsuriboshi]!” A white hammock of Reiryoku appeared beneath his feet. Using this temporarily created foothold, Kōe leaped away in another direction, dodging the sky-filling grayish-black mist.

Baraggan glanced in the direction Kōe had disappeared and exhaled heavily. Thick mist spilled out, completely enveloping his figure until he vanished from sight.

”Trying to escape now? You insect who calls yourself a Shinigami, before a true god, all your efforts are in vain!” His resonant voice echoed through the space. ”Death is your destiny, and it is the final rest I have drawn for you.”

Grayish-white stones turned to fine powder in midair. In the vast, boundless subterranean depths of Hueco Mundo, an alternative kind of snow began to fall upon an unknown, insignificant patch of land.

No living creature was there to appreciate this beautiful scenery, for they had long been buried beneath this desolate snow of senescence.

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