Chapter 231
Faced with Kaelith’s blade slicing downward, Tokinada raised his own sword to et it.
In that instant, he was a completely different person from monts before. The eyes that were usually half-lidded in perpetual mockery now glowed with an unmistakable madness.
One of Kaelith’s blades was blocked. The other bit deep into Tokinada’s shoulder.
The reiatsu he used for defense gave way like soft cream, offering no protection. Blood was sprayed in a crimson arc.
Yet even as fresh blood stread down his arm, Tokinada’s grin only grew more frenzied.
“Kaelith…I’ve already won. Die hating all you like.”
With that, a surge of spiritual pressure burst from Tokinada, forcing Kaelith backward. Kaelith flipped once in the air before lightly landing on his feet. Tilting his head, he eyed Tokinada’s twisted smile.
“You’ve won?” Kaelith asked. “What makes you think so?”
Clamping a hand over his wounded shoulder, Tokinada sneered.
“My Wind Serpent is everywhere in the air. Its fangs are sharper than any Zanpakutō. If it so much as bites you, it injects an incurable poison directly into your veins. The mont it reaches your heart, you’re as good as dead.”
Kaelith nodded.
“Got it. There’s indeed a pretty nasty poison racing toward my heart. It’s probably about…here.” He pointed to a spot just inside his shoulder.
Tokinada’s lips curled in mocking triumph. Though Kaelith acted unruffled, Tokinada was certain of his Zanpakutō’s power.
No matter the consequences, he would kill this man. He had decided that the mont Kaelith spat out those contemptuous words about refusing friendship. If push ca to shove, he’d flee to Hueco Mundo and join the main branch’s exiled forces. It was ironic how his family’s downfall provided him an escape route.
With a low snort, Tokinada seed to laugh at everything—this world, himself, or perhaps sothing else entirely. But in the next breath, his smug expression vanished.
In Tokinada’s stunned gaze, Kaelith shook his head. Suddenly, blood spurted from his wounded ear—two small streams spraying outward. Not much volu, just a few milliliters. But for Tokinada, it was a thunderbolt out of nowhere.
As Wind Serpent’s master, he knew perfectly well that the poison he’d injected was now draining out with Kaelith’s blood.
“How is that possible? What did you do?!”
“Simple,” Kaelith said. “I let my shadow slip inside my veins and wrap around the poisoned region. Then I pushed the tainted blood back out through the wound.”
Returning Tokinada’s earlier gesture of explaining a Zanpakutō’s ability, Kaelith generously revealed how he’d neutralized the poison. Yet Tokinada only looked more baffled.
A shadow…in his bloodstream? Whose shadow? Isn’t his Zanpakutō a fire type?
While Tokinada wrestled with his confusion, Kaelith raised his blade once more. “That’s enough chit-chat. Now it’s ti to cut you down.”
He slamd his foot into the ground, using the “Ikkotsu” move to close the distance in a single burst. Standing before Tokinada, he swung his weapon again. With Kaelith bearing down like a grim reaper, Tokinada’s earlier bravado was nowhere to be found.
Sothing is wrong—everything about him is wrong!
Seeing the blade slice forward, Tokinada frantically raised one hand, forming a luminous shield in an instant.
“Bakudō #39: Enkōsen!”
Crack!
To Tokinada’s shock, Kaelith’s strike shattered the Kidō defense in one blow.
Years ago, Tokinada’s skill in Kidō had even earned praise from Yamamoto himself—so how was it breaking so easily?
Because he’d been too confident in his barrier, Tokinada had no ti to dodge. Wreathed in blue flas, Kaelith’s blade swept across him, severing an arm in a single stroke. It flew high into the air.
Watching his own limb tumble away, Tokinada let out a roar of fury. Without that arm, his power would plumt. In desperation, he unleashed a surge of reiatsu to force Kaelith back, then lunged for the severed limb, hoping to reattach it with Kidō.
But just as he was about to grasp his own hand, a flash of light streaked through the night:
“Hadō #54: Haien!”
A whirling disc of crackling fire engulfed the airborne limb, reducing it to ash before Tokinada’s very eyes. Its speed and timing were perfect, giving him no chance at all to react.
Tokinada nearly lost his mind. “Are you kidding ?! This has to be a joke!”
He swung his Zanpakutō wildly, screaming in rage. Kaelith, anwhile, glanced toward where the Haien had flown in from and raised a thumb in casual acknowledgnt.
Snarling, Tokinada summoned over a dozen Wind Serpents, sending them howling in from all directions. To a typical Shinigami, these gentle breezes would be almost impossible to counter. But with his Reiatsu perception fully heightened, Kaelith saw them clearly: ghostly serpents of wind baring their fangs.
He swung Rixiang Jimie, its blue flas blazing along an attached chain. In one sweeping motion, he crushed all of the serpents before they could strike.
With the serpents annihilated, Kaelith gave a small flick of his wrist. His blade pivoted in midair and impaled Tokinada’s shoulder with a sickening thud. The chain whipped back, dragging Tokinada across the ground until he crashed at Kaelith’s feet, battered and bleeding from multiple wounds.
Standing over him, Kaelith spoke in a quiet voice:
“Tsunayashiro Tokinada. If soday you gain the power to defeat …would you seek revenge?”
Tokinada’s breath caught. It was the sa question he’d posed to Tōsen just a short while ago. Tōsen’s “no” had spared his life. How should Tokinada answer now if he wanted to survive? This man before him was insane—there was no normal logic to rely on. Should he say “yes,” hoping Kaelith might let him live so they could settle it later? Or would that provoke imdiate execution?
Seeing the conflict raging across Tokinada’s face, Kaelith shook his head in disgust.
“How pathetic.”
He brought his blade down in a final stroke.
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