Ichigo leaves and takes up residence in Soul Society!

"The past is the past, the present is the present... there's no going back."

A flash of anger crossed Soi Fon's face, then she took a deep breath and her gaze turned cold.

"No matter how much you bring up the past, the mistakes you made, the harm you caused me, and the current impact can never be erased."

"……Yes."

Yoruichi's expression gradually calmed down.

"I was deeply troubled after hearing that you had come. Why did you come back when you had already left? But what angered me the most was... that my first reaction upon hearing the news was joy..."

Soi Fon suddenly revealed her true feelings.

"Yoruichi, actually I don't hate you that much anymore. I hate myself more, I hate myself for being so humble in front of you."

"Even though we haven't seen each other for a century, I've put in countless efforts to overcome all kinds of difficulties and obstacles to grow to where I am today... But once I meet you, I'll immediately turn back into that timid and useless person I used to be."

Yoruichi remained silent.

And Soi Fon continued to tell her story.

Neither of them took the opportunity to make a move, perhaps because both sides sensed that this would be their last conversation.

"Yoruichi, the time I spent with you is my most beautiful memory, and I consider our relationship to be the most important bond in my life."

“This bond has now become a shackle for me, so for my own sake, for the sake of Seireitei, and for the sake of... so that we can both break free from the influence we have on each other, let me sever this bond with my own hands right here!”

Soi Fon's voice, though soft, was filled with an undeniable determination.

A chilling atmosphere permeated the air, as if engulfed in flames.

"Slay all the enemies... the swan bee."

The Zanpakuto drawn from his waist transformed into arm armor and finger guards with gold and black patterns.

"Get into position, Yoruichi... If it were you, you should be able to tell whether I'm joking or not."

"...Although some growth is a good thing."

Yoruichi smiled helplessly, a complex look hidden in his eyes.

"But when children go to extremes, it can be very distressing for parents."

"Do you still want to control my life under the guise of being my guardian even now?"

Soi Fon responds with cold sarcasm.

"That's not what I meant... Ah, never mind, I don't have Kisuke's eloquence. I prefer to handle things with actions rather than words... Severing bonds, huh? That's an interesting way to put it. So, how exactly do you plan to do it? Kill me?"

"I'm going to break your legs with my own hands, so that you, the 'Instant God,' can never run again. Then I'll lock you up in prison for trial... If you resist too fiercely, I'll decide that this arrest plan is difficult to carry out, and I'll kill you in the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Covert Mobile Force to execute traitors!"

Speaking of which.

Soi Fon charged towards Yoruichi first.

The two, whose relationship is complicated, are at war again.

This time, unlike the tense and exciting chase and fight just now, it didn't seem like they were evenly matched.

At a glance, it's obvious... Yoruichi is being suppressed.

While Soi Fon's all-out attack and overwhelming momentum certainly made Yoruichi unwilling to confront her head-on, the main reason was that the gap in their strength and actual performance gradually widened.

In this situation, attacking means giving the opponent an opportunity.

A counterattack would be the wise move.

However, Yoruichi's chance to calmly wait did not come.

Instead, it was repeatedly injured by Soi Fon.

As injuries accumulate, even with extensive experience and skill to minimize their impact, the probability of exposing weaknesses inevitably increases.

Soi Fon didn't miss any opportunity.

Even if they can't hurt Yoruichi, they still need to gain a significant advantage from other tactical angles.

For example, blocking its evasive routes, forcing it into a dead end in the corridor inside the building, making good use of all environmental factors to create favorable conditions for oneself, and laying the foundation for the next time to injure the enemy... Over and over again, eventually the scales of victory slowly tip in one's own favor.

This is a decisive and ruthless, yet patient, tactic.

Yoruichi caught a whiff of death for the first time in a long time.

boom!

One wall was smashed.

Yoruichi flipped through the dust and escaped through the window with fluid movements, a hundred times more agile than a feline.

But even the most agile felines don't have wings and can't compare to the lightness of the much smaller venomous bees.

Soi Fon gave chase, and her speed was even faster than Yoruichi's.

Once it catches up, it will use its sharp "Hydrangea" (a type of bee) to sting the opponent's eyes.

This is not malicious, but rather an attempt to deprive the opponent of their vision and further reduce their ability to resist.

"?!"

Yoruichi narrowly dodged, but the finger blade still left a scar on her face, creating a black "bee pattern".

"Ah!"

Soi Fon suddenly let out a cold laugh.

This action made Yoruichi feel uneasy.

Before she could figure it out, her body suddenly went numb.

Although it was only for a moment, Soi Fon, as if she had anticipated it, delivered a precise and violent punch to Yoruichi's abdomen, causing a huge impact on her internal organs.

Even if an ordinary person used this move, there was a very high probability that it would cause the opponent to lose consciousness.

Yoruichi, however, did not lose consciousness.

She was punched by Soi Fon and sent flying into the exterior wall of the building, causing large cracks.

"Well!"

Yoruichi groaned as she clutched her stomach, barely having time to catch her breath before dodging to the side, causing Soi Fon's follow-up kick to miss.

"Want to run?"

Soi Fon's eyes flashed, and with her superb white-handed skills, she turned her missed kick into a stomp, striking Yoruichi with a fierce and rapid barrage of attacks, as if a bullet had deflected off her.

Yoruichi's continuous dodging and parrying were extremely skillful, but the effects of her injuries caused a decline in the precision of her technique, which was a glaring weakness for Soi Fon.

He made a tentative strike to lure the opponent into parrying, but then suddenly grabbed the shoulder and used the momentum to flip over behind him, mercilessly stabbing the spine with "Swallow's Bite" to sever the nerves and completely disable the opponent's ability to move.

"..."

The plan failed.

Soi Fon stared at the fluttering piece of cloth before her, then coldly looked at Yoruichi, who was crouching on the ground panting.

The latter's sleeve was visibly shorter.

"Empty Cicada, huh? I didn't expect you to be able to make the only correct judgment so calmly under these circumstances. It seems your combat awareness is starting to return during your confrontation with me."

Yoruichi was initially at a disadvantage.

However, the leg injury had a negligible impact on the Shunpo (instant step).

The real reason she was at a disadvantage was that she hadn't fought anyone in a long time.

Living in one's comfort zone for years may provide enough energy to delve into technology, but it's impossible to push oneself to the limit. As a result, over time, one's physical limits decrease, and one becomes less sensitive to crises.

Engage in intense life-or-death battles against opponents of the same type, with comparable or even stronger abilities.

Again, it was under the disadvantageous condition of not having a Zanpakuto and fighting "Suzumebachi" bare-handed.

Being suppressed is a natural outcome.

"Yes... I actually expected it, so I kept playing cat and mouse with you before, hoping to get used to this kind of fighting rhythm by using your help."

Yoruichi twitched the corners of her mouth, revealing a smile that seemed to be a show of bravado.

"But I never expected you to become so powerful, causing me injuries beyond my wildest imagination... and I even accidentally got poisoned by you."

"poison?"

Soi Fon's lips curled up slightly as if she had heard something interesting.

"Did you mistake your sudden physical discomfort for poison?"

"Did I guess wrong?"

"...No, that's right, it is indeed poison, but not in the way you understand it. It's the bee-like markings my 'Hornet' left on your body that are taking effect. If I had to describe it, you could categorize it as a kind of spirit bee venom."

"?"

"No wonder you looked confused... After all, when you left, my Shikai ability wasn't mature enough, and the Double-Hit Kill Bee Blossom could only be maintained for a maximum of thirty minutes."

Under Yoruichi's bewildered gaze, Soi Fon raised her right hand, which was covered by gold and black striped gauntlets. Her tone was not one of triumph, but rather one of hidden anger.

"But now, the Beehive Flower will live on forever according to my will, and there will be no time limit."

"Furthermore... inspired by others, I also developed another use for honeycomb."

"That is, when the opponent is on guard against the 'two-hit kill,' the cost is the disappearance of all the bee patterns, causing the opponent to briefly fall into a paralyzed state as if their body is being venomed by bee venom."

"The more honeycomb flowers there are, the stronger the effect."

"I want to praise you, the one I once admired. Five honeycomb patterns only paralyzed you for a moment. I thought I could defeat you in one fell swoop."

"But it doesn't matter, it's just a matter of time."

Faced with Soi Fon's cold and ruthless declaration, Yoruichi sighed and slowly stood up.

"Yeah, if things continue like this, we're bound to lose... I don't know who taught you such a treacherous trick, but you seem to really dislike the other person, and you're even starting to take it out on me."

"But it doesn't matter... I didn't originally intend to use it on you, after all, I'm not very proficient with this move and it's a bit too dangerous, but now that you've almost driven me into a corner, I can no longer maintain this calm and leisurely attitude."

boom!

It was as if a blazing white lightning bolt had struck Yoruichi.

The clothes on the arms and back vanished in an instant.

He showed off his fit tan skin and smooth, beautiful muscle curves.

Yoruichi was enveloped in a high concentration of Kido spiritual pressure, and her body was covered in a blazing white light that resembled burning flames and leaping electric arcs, creating a visually stunning and instantly lethal transcendent posture.

"This is……!?"

Soi Fon opened her eyes wide.

"No wonder you look surprised. I designed the combat uniforms for the Criminal Army. Didn't you ever think about why I designed them that way? It combines the secret techniques of the Ghost Path, known as..."

Yoruichi deliberately borrowed some of Soi Fon's lines, using the opportunity of introducing her techniques to adjust herself to her best condition.

As she said, she hadn't mastered this move yet.

But, to Yoruichi's surprise...

The "name" that was about to be blurted out was called out by Soi Fon first.

"A 'sudden bombardment'?"

"?!"

Now it was Yoruichi's turn to open her eyes wide.

What surprised her even more was Soi Fon's subsequent actions.

boom!

The same commotion, but with an exaggerated display.

If Yoruichi's "Instant Boom" is a bolt of lightning, then Soi Fon is a storm that tears and burns away her sleeves, haori, and other excess clothing.

The high concentration of demonic spiritual pressure was quickly contained.

It clings tightly to the body and wraps around the hands and feet.

It is as stable as armor.

To the naked eye alone, its light is slightly more intense and profound than Yoruichi's.