Chapter Thirteen: Bankai!

Chapter 13: Bankai!

"Change that face immediately, or I'll make you regret it!" Ignoring the Menos Grande surrounding him, Shuster shouted at Aaroniero.

"Why should I? I quite like this face! Hehe..." Aaroniero said, smugly smoothing back his hair.

"Bastard! Doing that only makes me want to kill you even more. Rest assured, I will kill you with my own hands—using my blade!" Shuster backhanded a sneak-attacking Menos with Blood Dance Moon and pointed his blade, Thunder, at Aaroniero.

"Oh, oh, another noble? Such noble arrogance! It seems you really want to kill me, kid!" Secretly adjusting his spiritual pressure, Aaroniero slowly twisted Glotoneria in his hand, which also erupted with a deep violet-blue aura.

Sensing the opponent's spiritual pressure, Shuster gave a disdainful smile. He threw Blood Dance Moon directly at Aaroniero and formed a seal with his hands, chanting, "Ninjutsu: Longsword Shadow Clone Technique!"

After several flashes of Shunpo to dodge the flying blades, Aaroniero hid among a group of Menos and screamed in terror, "This is absolutely not Kido! What exactly are you?"

"Dead men don't need to know!" Shuster smiled dismissively, recalled Blood Dance Moon, and licked his lips as he surveyed the Menos he had just decimated.

"Tch, are you saying I'm definitely going to die?" Aaroniero asked, hiding as dozens more Menos were devoured.

"Do you really think you can win against me with such a gap in strength? They are all terrified!" Shuster said, looking at the group of Menos currently trembling in fear.

"Useless trash! Attack them! If you don't, Lord Aizen won't spare us, you idiots!" Aaroniero shouted, sheltered by four large Menos.

"Roar!"

Watching hundreds of Menos, their reason manipulated, surging forward like a stampeding tide, Shuster thrust both blades into the ground and formed a cross seal. "A meaningless strategy! Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

After the dust settled, five hundred Shusters stood before the Menos.

"Holy—! That's not scientific..." For some unknown reason, Aaroniero yelled out.

"Attack! Kill them all!" the original Shuster shouted.

"Yeah!"

A one-sided slaughter began.

"Damn it!" Knocking five clones into the air with a single strike of his spear, Aaroniero looked at the battlefield, where two clones were fighting each Menos on average, and growled in frustration.

"Too much talk! Your opponent is me! Take this! Hah!" A voice came from above. Looking up, Aaroniero saw Shuster descending with a leaping strike.

"Damn it, don't underestimate me!" Holding his spear above his head with both hands, Aaroniero was forced to one knee by the gravity-fueled strike.

"This one is for Kaien!" Shuster quickly drew Thunder from his waist with his right hand and slashed Aaroniero away.

"Damn it! My Hierro couldn't block it at all... You!" Blood sprayed from Aaroniero's waist as he struggled to dissipate the force and came to a stop on the ground.

"The real show is just beginning! First Seal: Release!" As he looked up at the charging Shuster, a massive gust of wind swept through the area. Behind Shuster appeared a blue, armored phantom with no lower body.

"Eat my punch!" The phantom's massive fist struck out. Looking around, one could see a thick electric net had formed out of nowhere.

"Tch, I'll take that hit..." *Boom!* The giant blue fist struck Aaroniero, blasting him away.

"Wah!" Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Aaroniero barely managed to prop himself up with his Zanpakuto.

"If you have the guts, don't run!" Hearing this, Aaroniero looked up to see a giant knight's sword held by the blue phantom.

"Pah!" Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Aaroniero used Sonido to dodge the giant sword, which proceeded to pierce through several other Menos behind him.

"Shadow Clones, dispel!" Aaroniero looked on in surprise as the opponent dismissed his clones, of which less than half had been lost.

"What is the meaning of this? Looking down on me?" Aaroniero clearly took this as an insult.

"There is nothing about you worth looking up to. Take this! Ten Thousand Arrows!" With a sneer, Shuster unleashed a barrage of lightning arrows at Aaroniero, who was surrounded by the remaining Menos.

"Damn it, use Cero to block it!" Seeing the countless arrows, Aaroniero quickly issued the order. The remaining two hundred Menos frantically unleashed Ceros.

"Oh? I didn't expect you to actually block it." Shuster looked slightly surprised that they had completely withstood his attack.

"Don't underestimate me! Get out of the way! Gran Rey Cero!" Suddenly, the Menos shielding Aaroniero jumped aside. A massive blue Cero, capable of destroying all the lightning arrows, roared toward Shuster. The explosion of the Cero caused the surrounding space to become unstable.

"That hit packs a real punch! Then I'll have to step it up! ...If the heavens punish my arrogance, then I shall rebel against them! Rebellious Heavenly Counter-Thunder!" With a single incantation, a violet lightning dragon appeared behind Shuster and shot toward the massive Cero.

*Boom!* The Cero and the lightning dragon locked in a stalemate, clashing against each other.

"Damn it! Lend me your Ceros..." Aaroniero, seeing something that could stand up to his Gran Rey Cero, ordered the surrounding Menos.

"Damn it! It's completely suppressing me!" The opponent's Cero suddenly expanded, pushing the lightning dragon back.

*Boom!* The massive Cero struck Shuster directly.

"Cough, cough... I was careless! ...Damn it, not enough energy! The Reishi in the air isn't enough to sustain this." As the smoke cleared, Shuster was seen encased in the wings of a fallen angel. Although he appeared unharmed, his energy had been depleted by more than half.

"Haha! Damn it! You didn't get taken out by that! Damn you..." Aaroniero gasped for breath, looking at Shuster, who was also panting but otherwise unchanged—except that his clothes had changed into a black combat suit.

"Whew... If I didn't have so many trump cards, you might have actually finished me off! But... this was a close one..." Shuster looked up at the hundreds of Menos surrounding Aaroniero.

"Whew... Even if you say that, I won't underestimate you! You... you 'pig eating the tiger' type. You're clearly better than those captains, yet you've stayed a lieutenant all this time. No wonder Lord Aizen told me to bring so many Menos to surround you..." Aaroniero panted.

"You're actually quite smart. I thought you'd be dying to throw your life away the moment you saw me like this!" Shuster, having recovered slightly, stood up and smiled.

"You guy! Don't look down on people too much; I have trump cards too! In that case, let's die together! ...Devour everything, Glotoneria!" Seeing Shuster's high-speed recovery, Aaroniero roared in desperation, and a massive surge of spiritual pressure erupted from his body.

With the overwhelming spiritual pressure of his Resurreccion, the space that had been contained by Shuster's magic began to collapse. Menos were periodically sucked into the spatial turbulence and torn to shreds.

"What? This guy! His spiritual pressure is approaching the Eighth Tier! Oh no! The surrounding space is beginning to collapse!" Shuster exclaimed as he looked at the energy values provided by his system.

As Aaroniero released his Resurreccion, his lower body transformed into a massive, purple-black octopus-like creature resembling a swamp. The murky aura and filthy tentacles made for a jarring, grotesque appearance.

"Give up! It's already over! It's impossible to defeat me in a short time! In this form, I can simultaneously use the powers of every Hollow I have ever eaten. So far, I have consumed thirty-three thousand, six hundred and fifty! That means standing before you is an army of thirty-three thousand, six hundred and fifty Hollows!! You're finished, Kuchiki Shuster!" Wearing Kaien's face, which now looked twisted and hideous, Aaroniero swung Glotoneria, ignoring the collapsing space, and lashed out with several tentacles radiating a purple-black aura toward Shuster.

"..." Shuster ignored Aaroniero's raving, focusing only on having the system calculate the time until the space collapsed. Shuster accelerated instantly, dodging the tentacles and charging toward Aaroniero.

Seeing all his attacks miss and Shuster closing in, Aaroniero realized the space would take a moment to fully collapse. At this rate, he would die at Shuster's hands before the space did. *No! If I'm going to die, I'm taking you with me!*

With that, Aaroniero hardened his resolve and extended more tentacles outward. This time, the target wasn't Shuster, but the Menos trapped in the space that were trying to flee.

"Lord Aaroniero! You... what are you doing!?" Some of the Menos cried out as the tentacles wrapped around them.

"Hmph! You're going to die here anyway! Instead of being torn apart by the space, you might as well become my power so we can kill that brat together!!" Aaroniero coiled his tentacles and threw the captured Hollows into the two giant maws of his octopus lower body.

After devouring the Menos and absorbing their spiritual pressure, Aaroniero let out a hideous, twisted laugh. "Want to kill me!? Come on! Let's see if the space collapses first, or if you take my head off!"

"Damn it! The space is collapsing faster! Do I have to use that move?" Shuster, seeing Aaroniero's spiritual pressure rising further, began to panic.

"Brother! The Zanpakuto seal has been broken! Huh? Where is this?" A loli voice suddenly appeared in Shuster's mind.

"Don't worry about that! Just tell me the release command!" Shuster replied, having no time for explanations.

"Oh! This is the release command..."

Stunned for a moment, a smile suddenly blossomed on Shuster's face.

"Bankai—Final Chapter of Judgment! Descend upon this earth!"