"Still not starting to escape, Szayelaporro-san?"
Makoto spoke calmly, pointing at the number [3] displayed above both their heads, smiling slightly. "My script is never fair, you know."
The moment his words fell, Szayelaporro's muscles tensed.
Escape!
The thought flashed, and her figure immediately darted to the side, launching a Sonido with a boom, instinctively fleeing at full speed.
I can't be caught!
Absolutely cannot be caught.
Though unclear what this "Taimanin" was or why she had taken this form, the mere word "experiment" was enough to set alarm bells ringing in her mind.
She knew all too well the countless ways a researcher in their own lab could kill an enemy.
At the very least, she had to escape from here first!
Rumble!
But just as Szayelaporro rushed past the corridor's intersection, a wave of massive black tentacles surged like a tide, blocking the path ahead. They crashed through the steel walls, producing a heavy, booming sound.
"Damn it!"
Szayelaporro extended a bone sword from her hand, slashing fiercely forward, but the black tentacles merely broke off one segment before another instantly took its place.
"Szayelaporro! This thing is controlled by that guy!"
"Take him out first!"
Ilforte roared loudly, his voice tinged with urgency.
It was their first time encountering such an abnormal Zanpakuto, and the first time their body had been altered like this.
For the Granz brothers, who believed themselves the "world's maddest researchers" after mastering abilities like Gabriel, this rule-based Zanpakuto was like the worldview-shattering impact of a seasoned elf from a pleasure district on a naive orc.
"Idiot! Feel your own Reiatsu!"
Szayelaporro was undoubtedly the wisest among Vasto Lordes.
Unlike others who entered the "Pleasure World" and died without grasping the rules, he noticed the change in his Reiatsu the moment he appeared here.
"Our Reiatsu… has been balanced by that Shinigami!"
"Do you really think you can take him down in his own domain with equal Reiatsu?!"
Szayelaporro's mind was in disarray.
Unlike that fool Ilforte, he had carefully read all the [Rules].
The thought of his body being suspended and overwhelmed by those massive black tentacles blocking the path made his head feel like it was splitting apart.
What kind of torture is this?!
Unacceptable!
Utterly unacceptable!
Right now, he only wanted to find the "escape" route as the rules described.
Despite being a ruthless scientist, as a Vasto Lorde, Szayelaporro had regained a considerable degree of "humanity."
Humanity meant that, as long as there were other options to escape, he would never choose to clash head-on.
And this was precisely the choice Makoto was forcing her to make.
"Edge of a Thousand Hands, unreachable silent darkness, unreflectable heavenly archer, the path where light falls, the wind that sparks the flame, gather without hesitation, heed my command, light bullet, eight bodies, nine lines, heavenly scripture, swift treasure, great wheel, gray turret, draw the bow to the distance, and brightly fade away."
"Hado #91: Senjū Kōten Taihō!"
Shimmering cherry-pink light arrows rapidly formed around Makoto, completed by his full incantation.
Guided by his blade, they all aimed at Szayelaporro's fleeing direction.
As if sensing the intense Reiatsu fluctuation from behind, Szayelaporro, still charging forward, abruptly slashed through the last tentacle in her path. At the same time, her wings suddenly spread, and from sac-like swellings resembling a nest, a massive amount of ink-like substance sprayed out.
The ink, like a corrosive agent, seemed to erode even Reiatsu, swallowing and detonating the light arrows upon contact.
When the dust settled, only massive craters remained.
And a vertical gash on the wall.
[Shooting doesn't mean you have the skill; hitting the mark makes you a real man.]
[Kido +10]
Makoto's gaze swept through the corridor, noting the scattered body fragments left behind and feeling a subtle increase in his Reiatsu. A faint smile spread across his face.
As expected.
In this pursuit, he only needed to act like a hunter chasing a bleeding prey, gradually driving her to her limit, to capture her effortlessly.
No matter how the "script" itself changed, it ultimately provided a "fair" stage for both sides to seize each other's Reiatsu.
What truly mattered was not the outcome but the resolve to fight to the death.
Clearly, Szayelaporro's problem was that he was too clever, too adept at exploiting rules.
He wouldn't fight desperately.
So…
"Hado #63: Raikōhō!"
"Hado #73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
One Kido after another shot relentlessly from Makoto's hands.
Szayelaporro, driven to flee like a cornered dog, kept bursting through corridors and walls.
She rapidly scanned the surrounding paths, quickly discerning directions, up and down.
Trying to find the true "exit."
This was an escape script!
There must be an exit that would let him escape successfully!
Just as those with superior strength and physical prowess rely on their bodies, a genius like Szayelaporro instinctively depended on his intellect to find solutions.
Yet, it was his brother, whom he deemed a fool, who first noticed the problem.
"Szayelaporro! We can't keep escaping!"
"Haven't you noticed? Our Reiatsu is constantly dropping!"
"If this continues, forget finding the exit, we'll be blasted to death halfway by that guy!"
Ilforte roared loudly.
"Shut up!" Szayelaporro snapped, as if unwilling to face reality. "I'm about to find the right path! Any moment now…"
"Szayelaporro! What are you so afraid of?!" Ilforte shouted abruptly.
In that instant, Szayelaporro seemed to freeze.
Immediately, Ilforte seized control of the body, bone blades sprouting from all four limbs.
As his brother said, he was an utterly foolish idiot.
But because of that, when it was time to fight desperately, he never spared himself any wounds.
The moment Makoto emerged through the crack in the wall, Ilforte's blade swept mercilessly toward him.
Clang!
Makoto's blade paused slightly, clashing with Ilforte's bone swords in a piercing metallic screech. The two slender bone blades slid along Makoto's sword toward the hilt, sparking a cascade of golden flames.
Yet, as Ilforte had pointed out, the balance of their Reiatsu had shifted.
"Ikkotsu!"
Makoto effortlessly parried the sliding blades. His knee shot up, his slender leg tracing a swift shadow, delivering a fierce kick to Szayelaporro's abdomen.
Szayelaporro's petite, feminized frame tumbled backward, barely regaining footing, but a smile spread across her face.
"I knew it."
"How could there be such an unsolvable Zanpakuto in this world!"
He glanced at the thin wound on Makoto's wrist, feeling a slight increase in his Reiatsu, growing more certain.
"What nonsense rules! What plot!"
"As long as I defeat you head-on, I won't die so pathetically, right?"
"Indeed," Makoto replied, his wrist wounded but still smiling, showing no unease at his Zanpakuto's ability being seen through. He looked at her calmly. "But… have you considered another issue?"
Makoto grinned. "Do you know why my Zanpakuto turns a simple 'mutual Reiatsu plundering' ability into a complex 'script'?"
"Huh?"
Ilforte was a fool, not as clever as her brother, unable to grasp such complexities.
Szayelaporro, however, seemed to realize something, urgently shouting, "Ilforte! Keep your distance, don't get closer!"
"What do you mean?"
Before Ilforte could react, Makoto's figure vanished and reappeared, charging at her with incredible speed.
His blade traced a silver arc of light.
Under the pressure of this sharp killing intent, Szayelaporro's feminized body instinctively extended two bone swords, slashing toward Makoto's approach.
Two bursts of Reiatsu, far surpassing Tier-3 Reiatsu, erupted simultaneously. The high Reiatsu level indicated equal spiritual strength, their blade swings blurring into a continuous streak.
If Harribel were still nearby, she likely couldn't keep up with their speed, seeing only a tangled web of shadows.
But Ilforte, still controlling the body, showed no fear. Her blade swings grew faster, her expression increasingly wild.
So what if that part was gone?
Even in a feminized body, with added burdens on her chest and shorter arms and legs, her skill remained unmatched!
Splat!
As the blades clashed, Makoto's swing missed in a fleeting moment, his strength spent.
Ilforte seized the opportunity, lashing out with a whip-like kick toward his abdomen, the air shrieking with a sonic boom.
Crack!
Yet, a smile suddenly spread across Makoto's face.
Ilforte's pupils contracted as a sharp pain shot through her leg.
When Makoto hit the ground, Ilforte looked down.
A pink syringe was firmly lodged in her calf.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Before Ilforte could react, she felt her body change.
All her senses… no, not all!
It was her sense of touch, amplifying rapidly.
This sensation wasn't limited to the normal nerve endings on her skin but extended inward.
The electric currents between nerves, the slow squeeze and wriggle of organs, the pulsing of her heartbeat, the flow of blood through her veins.
Logically, areas without tactile nerves shouldn't produce such sensations.
Yet, she felt them all!
And the most intense sensation was…
Ilforte instantly knew something was terribly wrong.
It was that drug!
"Szayelaporro! Undo it!"
"Undo it now!!"
"Or we're absolutely done for!"
Shouting through trembling vocal cords, Ilforte didn't realize her feminized face was flushed crimson!
Her body temperature seemed to rise at an unbelievable rate.
"Idiot! Idiot!"
"I told you not to charge in!"
"Cut the nerves! Forget it, I'll do it myself… damn it!"
"What's happening?!"
Taking control of the body, Szayelaporro screamed like a shocked maiden, cursing ungracefully. "What the hell is this?!"
Makoto didn't take advantage of the chaos but stood calmly, watching Szayelaporro struggle to control her trembling body. He explained as if nothing was amiss,
"Didn't I ask you earlier?"
"Why does my Zanpakuto manifest a simple ability as a 'script'?"
"The answer is…"
Makoto grinned widely. "To let me cheat reasonably in what should be a 'fair' duel."
"Feel it well, Szayelaporro-san."
"A body with three thousand times 'sensitivity.'"
"Be it touch, taste, smell, pain… or 'sensitivity.'"
"All amplified three thousand times!"
As his words fell, Makoto's figure shot forward, his blade piercing Szayelaporro's chest with a 'pfft.'
Szayelaporro's trembling body froze, muscles tensing.
The next moment, it convulsed wildly, like a seizure.
Overwhelming pain engulfed her mind in an instant, her eyes rolling back, stripping Szayelaporro of even basic rationality.
"I'm gonna die, die, die, die!!!"
Makoto scoffed, pulling out his blade and stepping back.
Before Szayelaporro could escape the abyss of pain, thick, slimy black tentacles slowly crept toward her body.
Szayelaporro's eyes widened, roaring desperately,
"Wait, wait! I surrender! I'll serve you…"
"Damn it! Stop, ughhh!"
The next moment, her body, will, and the dark abyss swallowed rationality.
Makoto turned away.
In front of him, his Zanpakuto's prompt sounded.
[Character: Taimanin Szayelaporro Granz]
[Death Once]
[3] → [2]
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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