You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

call!

Iori moved forward with a swift movement, her longsword slicing through the air in a cold arc, leaving behind a trail of blood droplets.

The next second, Helein appeared in mid-air with a wound on her cheek, but Iori launched another attack almost as close as a shadow.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After three consecutive high-speed slashes, the light blade hastily conjured by the middle-aged Quincy was severed by the Ama-no-Kurakumo, leaving a bloody wound on his side.

This guy already knows what I'm planning to do—Helein clenched his fist, conjuring a crossbow-like bow arm, and fired an arrow at Iori at close range.

Whoosh!

Iori dodged the arrow by sidestepping, and Helein used his Flying Kick to teleport a hundred meters away.

Before he could even catch his breath, a thunderbolt struck from the sky, making the hairs on his body stand on end. He raised his hand and revealed a six-pointed star badge, which he used to create a blue spiritual barrier to block the lightning, causing it to radiate light.

--call!

An extremely subtle fluctuation of spiritual pressure emanated from him, and Iori's figure flashed to Helein's side.

"Oh no, it's too late"—that was the only thought that flashed through the middle-aged Quincy's mind.

laugh!

A gruesome wound stretched from his shoulder to his chest. At the critical moment, Helein, in a desperate attempt to survive, kicked Iori, using the recoil to send his body flying backward and preserve his heart.

Even so, he was seriously injured and could hardly continue fighting.

“If you use a static health build instead of a dynamic health build, you can instinctively last longer.” Iori dusted off the dirt and gave an objective assessment without any sarcasm. “If you defend with all your might, even the captains will find it difficult to take down a master like you in a short time.”

"Master..."

Hearing this comment, Helein smiled self-deprecatingly.

In fact, in battles between pure-blooded Quincy and Shinigami at the same level, Quincy have always had the advantage because the "dynamic/static blood armor" may seem insignificant, but it actually provides a very large boost.

With the Quiet Blood Armor, Quincy can ignore low- to mid-level Kido and even withstand Zanpakuto strikes.

Once the Bloodlust Armor is activated, combined with the Flying Kick, the Quincy's mobility and destructive power far surpass those of the Shinigami, and they can even fight opponents of higher ranks.

Don't be fooled by the flashy abilities of Zanpakuto; in many situations, they simply can't keep up with pure speed and power.

Not to mention that Quincy are all archers, and the power of their spirit arrows can theoretically be increased infinitely with the amount of spiritual pressure, making them simple yet efficient.

However, these advantages are insignificant in front of Iori, because he doesn't use those fancy abilities; his base stats are already very high, and his Zanpakuto has the special effect of seeing through everything, so he has a huge advantage in high-speed battles.

For example, Iori, wielding a sword, can almost see the trajectory of every arrow, greatly diminishing the Quincy's greatest offensive capabilities against him.

"Shunpo, Kido, Zanpakuto, power... Monster!"

Helein stared at his enemy with a complex expression. He was not a weak-willed person, and even in this situation, he wanted to fight to the death. However, he could not find any weakness in Iori, nor could he find any way to exploit it...

He had no idea how to defeat this enemy!

The only remaining means might be the "final form," but even that has been firmly sealed off.

After all, it's not like you can instantly gather that many spiritual particles after taking off your gloves...

Fighting against such an opponent is truly despair-inducing.

"Humph!"

The middle-aged Quincy revealed a fearless smile, suddenly stood up from the pit, his upright figure like a rock that had stood still for a thousand years, and his aura returned to him.

"Hmm?" Iori clearly sensed something was wrong, her eyes narrowed slightly, and she suddenly realized what was going on.

Before he could speak, Helein had already raised his hand, and this time he didn't even gather his bow before shooting an arrow.

Iori, who had been on high alert, was naturally not caught off guard and deflected the arrow with a light flick of her sword.

Taking advantage of this opening, Helein burst out of the crater, once again conjuring a dazzling greatsword and swinging it at Iori—

Clang!

Iori felt a weight on his hand, the force of which was almost the same as during their first encounter. It seemed that his injuries had no effect on the man.

"Aha!"

No, it's even stronger than before!

The spiritual patterns on the Bloodstained Armor emitted an almost blinding light, and this body unleashed power beyond its limits. It stepped forward, leaned its shoulder against the ground, and slammed Iori away like a chariot!

But the cracking sound that followed did not come from Iori, but from inside his body.

Completely ignoring the changes in her body, Helein continued her fierce attack, forcing Iori to retreat repeatedly.

Clang! ! !

The collision of spiritual pressures stirred up translucent ripples, creating a whirlwind around them. The middle-aged man's eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was covered in an unhealthy red. His white uniform was soaked with blood from the inside.

From any perspective, this Quincy has undoubtedly reached his "limit." It's a miracle that his battered body can still stand; as for fighting... it's completely beyond common sense.

But Iori wasn't surprised. Even without the ability of [Mirror of Still Water], at this distance, he could see the delicate threads on the other person's body that looked like puppet threads.

Mainly distributed in various joints, connecting all the important parts of this body, although they look inconspicuous, they are very tough and can withstand huge tensile forces without breaking.

This awakened some of Iori's memories, reminding him of a technique that had appeared once in the "original work":

A chaotic mess of celestial puppets!

Countless compressed spiritual particles are connected to immobile body parts and then forcibly driven like puppeteers.

This was originally designed for Quincy who, due to aging, could no longer control their bodies flexibly but still wanted to fight to the end. If mastered, it allows one to fight continuously until their body is completely destroyed!

This is the most precise technique; before this procedure, even severed tendons or fractured bones become meaningless.

That is why, if a Quincy is prepared to die from the start, they can use this technique to use combat skills that exceed their own limits, turning themselves into weapons and tools, and doing whatever it takes to defeat the enemy!

So that's how it is. It seems you're prepared to die together with them... No, even if you can't kill the enemy, you'll at least leave them with an incurable wound with your own life?

I see your resolve—Iori and Helein exchanged a glance at each other at close range.

Whether they are scarred-eyed or middle-aged men, their determination for their beliefs is admirable, and even those on the opposing side cannot help but feel respect for them.

It's just a pity...

"How long are you going to hold out?"

"Until this body is exhausted!"

Helein laughed wildly, having already forgotten everything.

Without hesitation, Iori replied as if granting the other's wish, "Okay!"

Chapter 190: Young Yhwach? (4K)

[CG included]

He burned out.

Category: Ordinary

Quality: Rare

Grade: B

Rewards Overview:

Resilience significantly improved;

-

On the devastated coastline, a solid structure stands in a sand pit half-submerged in seawater. Although its interior is broken and fragmented, it remains as steadfast as an iron stake.

“Is that the end…?”

Iori stood on the shore with her sword in hand, raising her thumb to wipe away the bloodstains on her cheek. The not-so-shallow wound disappeared instantly, which would probably astonish anyone who saw it.

He waved his hand, manipulating the tide to create a wave that completely submerged Helein's body. When the seawater receded, he had vanished without a trace.

Previously, Iori and Helein had been fighting all the way, and unknowingly they had already moved far away from that coastline. By the time he returned, the battle was already over.

While the individual combat strength of the Quincy was not particularly strong, under Yoruichi's leadership, they moved as a unified force, and after suffering some casualties, they defeated the leaderless Quincy.

Yoruichi also seemed to be injured, but overall she was fine.

She had already sensed the change in spiritual pressure in the distance and knew that Iori had won, so she was not surprised to see Iori return.

"I didn't expect that someone would actually bypass the defenses and sneak here. Luckily you were here, otherwise Xing Jun alone probably wouldn't have been able to stop them."

"No, you can also win if you activate Instantaneous Roar."

Iori smiled slightly, about to say something, when suddenly her expression changed and she turned to look in the direction of the city.

Yoruichi's reaction was a little slower, but she quickly sensed the intense spiritual pressure fluctuations in the distance and looked over with surprise and uncertainty.

Soon, as if a blue sun were about to rise from below the horizon, a vast expanse of blue spiritual light seeped out of the darkness, gradually spreading across half the sky—

boom! ! !

A colossal pillar of azure flame shot into the sky from the city, its terrifying spiritual power causing Iori and the others to tremble even from such a distance.

Yoruichi stared blankly at this surreal scene, holding her breath involuntarily:

The blue spiritual particles were characteristic of Quincy, so this pillar of fire was definitely intended to attack the Shinigami.

The pressure was immense; if one were swept away by this attack, even a captain-level Grim Reaper would likely be...

Yoruichi's face immediately turned ugly: "Grandpa!"

If the troops that entered the city were to be directly attacked, then the captains in the army would be in great danger!

This also includes the elders of the Shihouin family!

Should we go into the city to reinforce them? But our orders are to hold this position, and the Grim Reaper's forces might not actually be in danger...

It wasn't until an order came through [Tian Ting Kong Luo] that Ye Yi made up her mind:

The troops around the city are tightening their defenses, and the Quincy are attempting a final counterattack. All combat forces above the rank of vice-captain are concentrated on the main battlefield to completely overwhelm the enemy!

Upon receiving the order, Iori and Yoru exchanged a glance and nodded to each other before leading the Execution Army into the city.

-

The city was in complete chaos, with blue spiritual flames spreading everywhere. Although it wasn't exactly a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, there were certainly dead and wounded everywhere, especially as you got closer to the center.

Iori and Yoruichi joined the battlefield as fresh troops. They did not know the specific situation, but the troops that went deep into the city seemed to have been attacked unexpectedly, which caused their formation to be disrupted. Now they are fighting separately in the city.

The remaining Quincy emerged from various hidden barriers built underground, and surprisingly, they still retained a considerable number of troops, attempting to defeat the Shinigami Divisions one by one by concentrating their superior forces.

The two and Xing Jun soon encountered a Quincy division unit, and a fierce battle ensued amidst the chaos.

Then they discovered that there were far fewer free spirit particles in the atmosphere, the power of the Kido had been weakened considerably, and the Quincy seemed to have been prepared, using various tools that did not require additional spirit particles to attack the Shinigami.

Of course, this little trick only works on half of the team members. The Shinigami with powerful spiritual pressure can use high-level Kido with their own power, and Iori and Yoruichi each have their own strengths. One is good at hand-to-hand combat, and the other has unlimited spiritual pressure. Their combat power is not weakened at all.

They quickly approached the core area, the place where the towering pillar of fire had previously exploded. It was precisely their incredible speed that attracted the attention of certain beings:

"careful!"

In the midst of the fierce battle, Iori suddenly felt a pang of panic and looked up to see Yoruichi attacking the enemy not far away.

For some reason, he instinctively used Instant Step to move to Yoruichi's side and kicked her away.

"Whoa! What are you doing?!"

Yoruichi wanted to curse, but knowing that Iori would never do such a thing for no reason, he calmed down and stood on the ground like a cat to steady himself before turning around to look.

The next moment, a "meteor" fell from the sky and slammed into the spot where Iori was standing. The powerful force brought with it a burst of wind pressure, which struck Iori's body like a heavy hammer, causing the ground beneath her feet to crack violently.

Then another impact struck from the side, sending him flying dozens of meters before crashing into a house, his fate unknown.

"Varied--"

Yoruichi barely managed to stand firm, then suddenly looked up at the point where the "meteor" had fallen, her right hand quietly clenching into a fist.

"...Could it be!"

A figure emerged from the smoke, and alarm bells immediately went off in Yoruichi's mind.

In that instant, Iori, dressed in a Shinigami outfit, rushed out of the mansion, past Yoruichi Shihouin, and charged towards the dust. The sword reflected the beautiful moonlight, tracing a swift path as it slashed down at the empty space in front of her.

Clang!

It seemed as if it had collided with something invisible, and the powerful impact surged up the blade, causing Iori's arm muscles to tense up suddenly.