Chapter 66: Battle with Monsters

"Yeah, he's not here." I looked at the boy standing in mid-air. "You look very regretful, don't you?"

He floated in the air, wearing strange shoes resembling those of a ballerina, and smiled innocently, "Because I lost last time, I'm really unwilling to accept it. And Dongshilang-kun is also very cute, just Jixiang's type."

Wow, I finally understand what jealousy is.

Now, really, really, furious!

"But is it really okay for me not to be by Kujo Saburo's side to protect him?" Jixiang looked at me, his golden eyes curved into crescents. "After all, you love your brother, right?"

My patience ran out, so I drew my sword and rushed into the air!

"Hello?!"

"Master Jixiang!"

The Tengu surrounding the young man stood in front of him and suddenly shot the crossbows in their hands at me. Gathering spiritual power under my feet, I jumped a few times in the air and dodged the wind arrows that were enough to explode my body.

"Oh, you're really anxious." The boy, protected by his subordinates, tilted his head. "In this case, uncle will be the only one left."

"You don't need to be so kind."

As I spoke, I heard an explosion from the ground. Amidst the smoke and water, a woman in battle armor emerged. I had never seen her before, but judging by her posture, she must be one of our companions.

"Isn't help coming soon?"

"Hmph." In an instant, his pupils narrowed to a thin line, like some animal. "Stop her!"

"Binding Technique 81: Sever the Sky!" The walls of the Ghost Path fortification blocked some of the arrows. I jumped out of the remaining Tengu's range and aimed at a few of them. "Lock Bar Bind!" Even if I could only incapacitate one Tengu, the encirclement would be broken.

The spiritual pressure formed a huge chain and swung it straight towards the guards in the air. Some of them were unable to dodge and were tightly entangled. They immediately lost their balance and fell from the air.

However, at this moment, bursts of screams suddenly came from the ground.

I lowered my head and caught a glimpse of the car being attacked by the monsters and a few panicked humans.

Damn! Does traffic control not exist in the eyes of these people?!

"Shoot!"

"The sixty-third of the broken path, the thunder roar cannon!" The released ghost path knocked away the arrows of the tengu, but the great opportunity to attack was lost. I gritted my teeth and drew out the knife to block the enemy's swung tin staff, and used instant steps to escape from the encirclement that had not yet been re-formed.

"Come to think of it, it's okay for Toushirou to be able to float, but why can you also float in the air?"

As the commander, Jixiang, who had hardly taken any action, looked at me with a frown.

"Is the spirit state so convenient?"

It's not that being in spirit form is more convenient, but rather that Shinigami can use spirit particles to create "roads" beneath their feet that allow them to float in the air, but in Soul Society, where spirit particle concentrations are too high, this is no longer possible. Obviously, monsters are different; without wings, even someone as powerful as Mr. Murakumo can only fight on land.

"Guess?"

But I won't tell him such a thing! I'm not idle!

"Never mind, it's not important." The young man waved his hand, and the dark Tengu lined up behind him. "I say, do you really have the confidence to fight all the Tengu here alone?"

To be honest, no.

After all, I don't have the confidence that releasing my Zanpakutō in this world will not cause some strange disaster, such as a fire from the sky.

But monsters should be easier to kill than Hollows and Arrancar, right?

"So what if I don't have it?" I gripped the hilt with my right hand and slowly drew out the Zanpakutō from my waist. "This is war. To protect my precious family, I will do my best."

Even if it means playing dirty, even if it means turning this battlefield into a sea of ​​fire, even if it means burning the monsters in front of us to ashes, we will do it at all costs.

The smile on Jixiang's face faded. "How wonderful! Hong actually understands your determination," he said, his lips curled up. "As long as I can contribute to Big Brother, it doesn't matter what I become. Could it be that we actually get along well?"

"Let's not do that."

"That's right." The young man smiled with his eyes narrowed, and waved his hand to let his subordinates behind him put down their bows and arrows.

We just stared at each other in the air, and time seemed to stand still.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from the ground! Like a signal gun, Jixiang and I suddenly launched an attack!

The sound of metal clashing rang in my ears, and the heavy pressure of the sword made me frown.

This kid looks even slimmer than me, but the two rings in his hands used for close combat seem to weigh a thousand pounds.

The wind around me was so strong that I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek.

"Oops, sorry for disfiguring you."

snort!

"Red Fire Cannon!"

I raised my hand and threw a ghost move at the other person's face, then quickly stepped away.

That makes it even.

With the help of zone-00, the burns on Jixiang's face healed quickly. When the smoke cleared, the ring in his hand turned into an extremely cute-looking crossbow, even the arrow was heart-shaped.

But I don't think anyone shot by that thing would be alive.

I quickly dodged the first round of attacks and teleported behind Jixiang.

"You're very fast."

However, a huge airflow suddenly erupted from the opponent's body, and at the same time, my ears were attacked like air pressure, and suddenly I felt a sharp pain!

"But don't forget, the Yatagarasu are the masters of the sky."

I backed away from Jixiang, and then I realized he was holding a small bell. That must be his third weapon.

He can fight in close combat, has a crossbow for long-range attacks, and can even launch invisible attacks that resemble a fusion of sound waves and wind pressure. Haha, I finally believe what Mr. Cong Yun said. This guy is very strong.

"Sister Jiujing, aren't you going to use all your strength?" Jixiang didn't get any good results from me, either. The flash of sword pressure just now severed his shoulder and hairband, causing his long blond hair to fall across his healing shoulders. "Just like Xiao Shilang, shouting a slogan or something, he can use abilities similar to monster elemental power." He combed his hair and tied it back together. "Or, you wouldn't do that?"

"First, it's called releasing your Zanpakutō." I wiped the blood from my cheek with my left hand. The ringing in my ears still lingered, and it seemed I couldn't easily engage in close combat. "Second, every Shinigami releases their Zanpakutō with a different amount of force." The tip of the blade remained motionless, pointed directly at the Tengu before me. "Finally, aren't you underestimating me? I don't use it simply because it's not necessary yet."

"Oh yes, one more thing—"

The spiritual power under my feet gathered, and I suddenly rushed towards the young man, but when he raised the bell, I made a feint and jumped into the air!

"Don't call my boyfriend so intimately, you bastard! Seventy-eighth of the Broken Path, the Flower Slashing Wheel!"

With just this one move, I certainly don't expect to be able to hit the Yatagarasu, whose moving speed in the air is comparable to that of the Shinigami and the Arrancar, but what if I use the combined Kidō?

"Binding Way! Six Prison Light Staff!"

While Jixiang was using his wings and wind pressure to block the ghost's blade, I abandoned the chant and directly used the binding technique that could restrain the opponent's body.

It only takes a few seconds, just a few seconds!

In the few seconds that he was unable to move, the blade reached the edge of that slender neck in an instant.

"whispering sound!"

However, the next second, a huge wind pressure erupted from Jixiang's body!

I couldn't dodge in time and was blown away. The stepping stone formed by the spiritual power under my feet dissipated, and my back hit the ground heavily.

But now is not the time to cry out in pain. I immediately jumped up, adjusted my posture, and observed the situation in the air.

That madman, to prevent me from chopping off his head, actually made bells explode around him.

"Luckily, Hong has strengthened my body." The angelic-looking boy tilted his neck, his battered body gradually healing. "That was a close call just now. Even with a strengthened neck and bones, you could have chopped it off with one strike, right?" He pulled out his crossbow and arrows. "I underestimated you, Jiu Jingyan. But thankfully, you're here to fight me, otherwise our plan would have failed."

What's the meaning?

At this moment, I suddenly felt a strong spiritual pressure wave coming from the direction of Arata-enji. Mixed in with it was the spiritual pressure of an Arrancar, which forced me to distract myself.

Aronillo Eluruyeli

Damn it! Why is he in Araoenji?!

At this moment, what Rangiku-san said in Shinjuku suddenly flashed through my mind.

"You guys teamed up with that guy?!"

"Actually, Big Brother did a favor for that Arrancar-san during one of his nighttime walks. He was seriously injured at the time, after all." Jixiang smiled sweetly, tapping his lips like an innocent little girl. "But this was also Hong's first time seeing an Arrancar-san. Mr. Aronillo may have a bad temper, but he's a man of his word. It's really kind of him to do us a favor."

No wonder, no wonder the entrance to the Dangai is in Shinjuku, and no wonder a certain Arrancar can't be found in Hueco Mundo. If he uses the Mirage of the Oborozuki and the protection of the monsters, he can certainly travel freely between the two worlds. Furthermore, according to Urahara Kisuke and Miss Harribel, Aaroniero's abilities seem to have evolved, and even his strength has increased significantly.

"Do you know what happens when an Arrancar absorbs a monster's spiritual power?"

His auspicious golden eyes sparkled in the night, his horizontal pupils and bright red wings made him look like a demon for a moment.

"Mr. Aaronilo must be very happy to be able to escape from that huge incubator."

Damn... did you think I would say that?

"Yeah?"

He placed the knife on the ground, stood up and stretched his muscles.

"That's great! This way I can use my backup plan."

Not long after the Hollow's spiritual pressure erupted from the direction of Arata-enji, a stronger and colder spiritual pressure suddenly attacked.

The temperature around me continued to drop, and the rain seemed to have subsided. However, a closer look revealed that the rain had not disappeared, but had turned into flakes of ice.

In early July in Tokyo, when summer was just around the corner, it started snowing.

The smile on Jixiang's face disappeared.

"why are you laughing?"

Huh? Am I laughing? "I'm just a little bit unwilling, that's all." The air he exhaled turned into white mist. "I've been trying so hard to catch up with that person, but it always feels so far away."

The decades lost between us are enough to make this distance even more difficult to bridge.

"But even so, I want to turn into a flame and illuminate him as he walks across the ice."

I bent my knees and jumped up, returning to mid-air again.

As expected, the risk of unleashing the Zanpakutō on the ground was too great.

"Actually, I'm glad it's a rainy day today. If you hadn't poisoned the rainwater, I would have been able to release my Zanpakutō just now."

I looked down at the Tengu with its bright red wings, and with a twist of my wrist, I held my Zanpakutō in front of me, the tip of the blade pointing downward.

"Now that someone is lending me strength, let me show off my skills. Watch out, Jixiang-kun."

My spiritual pressure surged, heat gathering around me. In the sea of ​​consciousness, I heard the roar of a giant engulfed in magma and flames.

"Wake up, Kagutsuchi."

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Author's Note: Homura went to Urahara's shop that morning to prepare for the worst. She also received some letters from there, suspecting the Arrancar might be collaborating with monsters. The captain and vice-captain of Squad 10 are currently guarding the bar in Araenji.

As for the temperature drop and snow, everyone knows Hyorinmaru can manipulate the weather, so anyone who knows understands. And while Homura could have unleashed her Zanpakutō on rainy days, the rain was tainted with poison. If the flames evaporated the water, the poison would turn into gas, making it even more detrimental to the monsters fighting below. So, she didn't do that.

But Toshiro has now turned the rain into snow and ice slag, so, hehe.