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

The other squads should be arriving soon, and she can finally rest for a while—

The twin-tailed girl's one eye suddenly widened as she stared in horror at the giant column of smoke. Her usually calm demeanor was unusually tinged with panic.

"Everyone!"

Saito gave the order to everyone: "Move! Hurry!"

However, it was too late. The next moment, even the ordinary members of the squad could sense the rapidly expanding, immense spiritual pressure—

boom! ! !

The second wave swept everything away!

Chapter 268: The True Cloud of Heaven (4K)

The burst of spiritual pressure shockwave transformed into white flames that engulfed everything, but it was blocked in one direction, splitting apart like waves crashing against a reef, casting a shadow that it failed to swallow.

And it was Saito, who was immortal, who blocked the second attack!

Blood tears flowed from its remaining single eye as it stared straight ahead, enduring the blinding light that turned everything white. A towering wall of wind, though without a specific form, was undeniably real, displaying a defensive power far exceeding that of [Severing the Void], firmly holding back the wave of flames!

The invisible wall was far too wide for Saito's petite frame, not only covering her but also protecting the team members, maintaining their precarious safety amidst the destructive raging waves.

"cough!!"

A sweet, rusty taste filled his throat and nasal cavity. As he felt the high wall of wind gradually weakening, a sense of absurdity rose in Saito's immortal heart.

She only needed to raise a barrier as tall as herself, and although her old injuries had recurred, protecting herself was not difficult. However, when the heat wave came, she subconsciously released her Bankai completely, standing at the front and raising a sheer cliff to firmly protect her subordinates who had no time to react.

She didn't understand why she had done such a thing...

She knew perfectly well that preserving the life of the "Seventh Division Captain" was the best option for both Seireitei and herself, but she still kept pouring spiritual pressure into her Zanpakuto, even giving up control of her injuries and putting everything she had on it, determined to isolate everything!

If this were eight or nine hundred years ago, when she was still wandering around Rukongai, she would never have shed a tear no matter how many of her subordinates died, much less make such a foolish sacrifice.

That was a long time ago, but it's not something to reminisce about. Everyone lived like wild dogs, killing each other as a daily routine. It wasn't just about fighting for food and water, but in this unchanging world, only in this way could people realize that they were still alive.

Once someone picks up a knife, being killed is only natural, so there will be no grave, and no one will mourn for them.

When the Gotei 13 were formed to fight the Quincy, few of them were there to "protect Soul Society." Most of them simply gathered together to do what they were best at.

Therefore, even though more than half of their comrades died in that war, and many of them perished in Yamamoto's inferno, none of the survivors harbored resentment or regret.

Killing and being killed, it's all perfectly natural!

Whether in Hueco Mundo or right now... when did I become such a weakling who would cover for others and risk everything for his subordinates?

If my former friends saw me like this, they would definitely laugh at me, right?

Click——!

Memories flashed by, and familiar faces appeared one by one before his eyes. Saito, who was neither old nor dead, grinned and mocked himself.

That's how it is... She even mocked Yamamoto and Unohana for becoming different, always nagging and fussing...

"So, I've changed too... Damn it!"

Crack—Boom!

Under the continuous onslaught of spiritual pressure, the raging sea of ​​fire finally shattered the wind wall, and the blinding white light instantly swallowed up the last patch of shadow.

The moment the barrier shattered, the hidden danger could no longer be suppressed and erupted. Saito couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of hot blood. His "Soul Sleep" (equivalent to the lower dantian) trembled violently, as if his essence and spirit had been drained away. His spiritual pressure mysteriously and rapidly declined.

Before she could use her Instant Step to escape, the heat had already enveloped her entire body, and she was sent flying backwards with the flames like a kite with a broken string.

Is this my "ending"? It's far too boring, not nearly as dramatic as I imagined. I wonder if anyone will shed a tear for me—Saito, immortal and eternal, closed his eyes.

"【Binding Spell Number Eighty-One: Severing the Void】!"

Suddenly, a gentle yet powerful voice rang out, and an invisible barrier rose in the void, blocking the raging flames.

Meanwhile, Saito's immortal body, enveloped in swirling black smoke, fell into someone's arms.

Bang!

In just a moment, the eighty-first binding spell, which had been broken by the chanting, was destroyed, but what followed was the second and third barriers, which were actually the three ghost spells released at the same time!

Being able to unleash [Severing Void] without chanting is already quite difficult; to add multiple chants on top of that is an extremely high skill that even most captains cannot achieve.

But the one who arrived was not the great demon Taoist priest, Wo Ling Tie Zhai, but a handsome young man who looked to be under eighteen years old.

"The chosen ones of heaven, the iron walls, the dragon's flight, the lion's roar, the tiger's howl, the wolf's charge, severing heaven and earth before collapse—the Sky-Severing Blade!"

In that critical moment, the young man calmly completed the incantation and was also given the additional blessing of the "Word Spirit" skill. His enormous spiritual pressure was greatly mobilized, and a huge and indestructible invisible wall stretched across the battlefield, like an immovable mountain, blocking all the pouring flames!

Saito, nestled in Iori's arms, opened her eyes and stared blankly at the scene. Only after the last of the white flames swept past and gradually subsided did she look up at Iori in surprise.

“Iori, you…”

"That's great."

Iori naturally embraced Saito in a princess carry. The captain of the 7th Division was quite light, and he even unconsciously bounced up and down a couple of times...

"I almost couldn't stop it. Fortunately, most of the power was neutralized by your Bankai, Captain. I only need to deal with some of the aftershocks."

"..." Saito wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut, staring intently at Iori.

Aftermath? Are you kidding me? Doesn't she know whether it's aftermath or not?

If someone else had said this, Saito would have thought they were being sarcastic!

But since it's Iori... he's probably just low-key and doesn't like to be in the limelight. After all, this man has never cared about these things—Saito thought he had seen through the man's thoughts.

"You're so fast."

"It just so happens that we're relatively close by." Iori smiled, not telling the truth.

Actually, he used Shunpo to reach a deserted place, then used the Imperial Arms [Dimensional Array] to teleport directly to the vicinity before rushing over, making him faster than other rescue forces.

The reason for their haste was simply that their own Third Division was within the blast radius... only the Tenth Division was the one to suffer.

Saving Saito was an unexpected bonus.

"How long are you going to hold this position?"

"Excuse me... Can you move yourself?"

"Don't underestimate me, this level of injury... well, it's nothing!"

The man put Saito down, and the immortal naturally slipped out of his reliable embrace.

With her feet firmly planted on solid ground once more, the twin-tailed swordswoman seemed lost in thought:

I hadn't noticed before that Iori was so much taller than her... They were about the same height when we first met.

Of course, besides the changes in height and appearance, what amazed Saito the most was Iori's spiritual pressure. Although she had known for a long time that this kid was an extraordinary being who could not be judged by ordinary standards, he had already surpassed her in such a short time...

Her spiritual pressure is far stronger than that of the captains who have been around for a hundred years, but she is slightly inferior to Retsu Unohana. This is determined by her personal talent—after hundreds of years of honing their skills, the first captains have long since reached their theoretical limits and it is difficult for them to make any major breakthroughs.

And Iori is now... It's incredible, but Saito thinks he may have already surpassed Unohana!

If that's the case, then strictly speaking, he only had about ten years of training time at most, yet he directly became the strongest person in Seireitei after Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.

Perhaps combat power and spiritual pressure are not entirely linked, and experience, skills, and performance on the spot also play a role, but this is just too outrageous!

"what happened?"

Saito's complicated expression left Iori bewildered: "Why are you looking at me like that? When I hugged you just now, I don't think I touched any sensitive areas, right? Or rather, there wasn't anything worth touching at all... cough!"

Sensing a hint of murderous intent, Iori immediately cleared her throat.

Saito rolled his eyes at him, then glanced at the battlefield and saw the surviving members of the 7th Division of Shinigami, his expression softening.

Regardless, we should thank him. Without his timely intervention, the 7th Division, while not nearly wiped out like the 10th Division, would have been severely weakened. For a division that had only been reorganized for less than two years, these successive blows were fatal!

By the way, unlike the Seventh Division, which preserved most of its members, all those immortal monsters, including the "mummy" that Saito turned into, disappeared after the second impact. It's unclear whether they were burned to ashes or something else...

"Did no one from the 10th Division survive?"

Iori looked around, her brows furrowing slightly, before turning her serious gaze to the enormous column of smoke from the tornado.

The spiritual pressure fluctuations were too chaotic to sense what was inside, but... this is bad!

Even now, he could sense an indescribable aura of danger. If it were released, its power would definitely be far more exaggerated than the white flames from before.

"The captains are getting close," Iori suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Saito closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings. Indeed, several powerful spiritual pressures were approaching.

Although Seireitei is large, given the captain's mobility, it's only natural that he was able to arrive at the scene so quickly.

“Now I can rest assured… If there were fewer people, it would have been really difficult to handle that.” Saito gazed at the huge column of smoke in the distance. Her senses were not as sharp as Iori’s, but her rich experience told her that it was a huge Pandora’s box, containing who knows how many demons and monsters.

"If there were a third explosion like that..."

"Therefore, we cannot hesitate; we must resolve this problem as quickly as possible!"

Iori slowly drew his Zanpakuto and murmured, "Bankai, Mirror of Still Water - Orochi's Raging Waves!"

As the powerful spiritual pressure, enough to cover most of Seireitei, was released, the entire atmosphere instantly became humid. The increasing moisture even made people feel "thick" when breathing, as if it were a deep mountain shrouded in mist.

The whole world inexplicably darkened, and wisps of clouds gathered from all directions, forming an endless sea of ​​clouds that turned into dark cumulonimbus clouds at a visible speed.

The dark cloud outlines resembled inverted mountain peaks, hanging heavily in the sky and giving people a great sense of oppression, as if you could touch them if you stood a little higher.

At this moment, everyone in the entire Seireitei raised their heads in unison, their expressions ranging from astonishment and fear to thoughtful contemplation. All these expressions reflected the myriad aspects of human life, but without exception, they were all awestruck by this exaggerated celestial phenomenon!

In particular, several veteran captains unanimously thought of Yamamoto's "Ryujin Jakka," the strongest fire-type Zanpakuto, which has the power to passively influence the entire Seireitei and even the Soul Society!

When it is released, it will evaporate the moisture in the atmosphere, and may even make it difficult to use ice-type Zanpakuto or Kido!

While the scene before them wasn't quite at the point of unconditional suppression, it still possessed a powerful ability to manipulate celestial phenomena, only its attributes were the exact opposite of [Flowing Blade Like Fire].

That's right, it's a water-type Zanpakuto...

Kyoraku Shunsui immediately thought of Aizen Iori, but still couldn't believe it.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder sounded in the sky, a pale flash of lightning illuminated the scene for a moment, and a torrential downpour fell from the sky, carrying faint spiritual energy to moisten the earth and gradually wear down the scorching white fire, extinguishing its last embers!

"First Form: Heavenly Clouds".

Iori uttered the name of the move casually, while Saito beside her was already somewhat numb.

"It's just putting out a fire, why make such a big fuss?"

"No, it's more than that."

As Iori's mind stirred, the rain intensified, and the plume of smoke that had risen between heaven and earth at the epicenter of the explosion began to slowly dissipate, as if peeling away layers of silk.

Saito, who was immortal, finally understood his intention, but he couldn't help but grip his Zanpakuto tighter:

It was clear that as the smoke column became thinner, the protective barrier separating the inside from the outside became thinner, and some kind of malice within it was growing stronger, as if it had just awakened.

"hold head high------!!!"

Suddenly, a sound like a ship's whistle came from the column of smoke, but the volume was many times louder, and the ripples it created were almost visible to the naked eye. Soon, a strong wind swept up and mixed with rainwater, spreading across the ground.

The column of smoke suddenly expanded and then contracted—

explosion!

This time it was a pure spiritual pressure shock, but in terms of destructive power, it was not as good as the previous two. The dense rain was engulfed by the shock wave, but it also weakened its power. It was like an exceptionally wide ghost path. Under Iori's control, the water droplets containing spiritual particles turned into layers of rain curtains, suppressing the aftershocks within the controllable range of "Ama-no-Murakumo".

The point isn't that, but what appears after the smoke column disappears is a huge, white, deformed creature with dozens of tentacles but no body or facial features, which is as large as a mountain!

"What the hell is this thing..." Iori frowned, but despite feeling disgusted, he continued to pour powerful spiritual pressure into the Zanpakuto in his hand.

This dragon-slaying blade has followed him for a long time, honing itself in countless battles. Even disregarding the Zanpakuto's abilities, it is still a demonic sword capable of summoning the "Murakumo no Ame" (Heavenly Clouds).

"hold head high--!"

It let out another piercing roar, and this time the dozens of tentacles began to dance wildly. Organs resembling snake heads grew from their tips, and with a flash of red light, beams of laser light shot towards Iori and the others!

Chapter 269: Iori, who's good at flipping tables (4K)

Zheng!

The crimson rays slashed across the earth at will. Under the concentrated release of intense heat, neither scorched soil nor hard bricks and stones could withstand the blast of heat as easily as tofu. However, they were still blocked by the [Sky-Splitting] beam.

It lasted for about half a second. In the instant the invisible barrier shattered, a sharp, azure slash tore through the void, like a decisive and elegant stroke on a traditional Chinese ink painting. It went against the current amidst the intersecting light and struck the monster's body!

The massive body had almost no ability to dodge. The sword cut open a huge wound more than thirty meters long, almost severing half of its head—if that hump-shaped protrusion with no clear dividing line, consisting only of two empty eyes and swirling mouthparts, could be called a "head."

It would have been a fatal wound for an ordinary creature, but no blood flowed out. Instead, a stream of white, sludge-like substance emerged from its body and quickly filled the gap with a wriggling motion.