Chapter Twenty-Six: Speed
Boom!
The clouds above churned restlessly, their endless surging accompanied by the low, muffled rumble of thunder wrought from their friction.
Oppressive... somber... solemn...
What had rendered the entire battlefield so silent?
There were over eleven hundred formidable Hollows here, not a few among them towering Menos Grande and even Adjuchas-class monsters.
Yet, why was it so quiet? A silence so deep it inspired dread in any who stood within it.
At the very center of the scene, Nagatsuro faced off against Riese, their gazes locked across the space between them.
Their earlier probing attacks had yielded no result, and now, whoever moved first would risk exposing a fatal flaw.
A flaw that could very well determine the outcome of this battle.
"Unexpected," Riese remarked, tapping his head before spreading his hands, "with a Zanpakuto of thunder, I assumed you would be more hot-tempered. But you’re quite composed."
"That’s my line," Nagatsuro replied. He understood the gravity of the situation—if this stalemate continued, he would exhaust his spiritual pressure maintaining his Bankai and likely face a crushing defeat. Yet, to attack recklessly might leave him open, and that too would spell his loss.
How had he become so passive without even realizing it?
Nagatsuro frowned. This could only get worse.
He raised the Yanlingmaru. It had to be him who shattered this deadlock.
Crackle.
He lifted his hand, and whatever power Riese possessed, Nagatsuro was certain he could not evade his lightning strike.
Crash!
A golden bolt split the clouds, descending straight for Riese.
Swish.
Somehow, Riese had already raised a finger to the sky, gathering a golden orb of energy at its tip.
!!
Beep!
Boom!
The golden Cero and the lightning bolt collided, erupting with a deafening blast.
Guh...
Nagatsuro shielded his face from the shockwave. He had never imagined his lightning would be stopped so decisively.
How fast was Riese, truly?
Could he be faster than lightning itself?
"Lightning..." Riese lifted his hand, smoke curling from his fingertip where the Cero had launched. "Impressive. That power is worthy of Bankai. But..."
"Your lightning falls far short of true thunder’s speed."
"Would you like to witness true speed?"
Swish!
!!
Nagatsuro’s vision could not even catch Riese’s movement—he vanished in an instant.
"Die."
Riese’s finger pressed against Nagatsuro’s chest, poised to drive that needle-like digit through his body.
Slash!
Nagatsuro’s reflexes saved him; he swung without hesitation at Riese’s wrist.
Tap.
The blade swept through where Riese’s wrist had been, but he already stood several meters away.
"The land of the Soul Society..."
Riese lowered his head, gazing at the damp, yielding earth beneath his feet.
Moist, soft, carrying a faintly cloying sweetness.
Was this the land we have yearned for all this time?
So different from the barren sands of Hueco Mundo.
Why must we dwell in such desolation, while even the seventy-ninth district, far from the Seireitei’s heart, possesses soil so rich?
Why, even living on such land, do souls still turn on each other with such grotesque cruelty?
Sure enough, both souls and Soul Reapers are existences that ought to be erased.
He crouched, letting the loose earth gather in his palm.
Is the land weeping?
Is it begging for our deliverance?
He flung the soil back with force.
Even your homeland has abandoned you...
Do you feel the sorrow, spirits?
Riese lifted his head, ignoring Nagatsuro completely, attuning himself to the sounds of nature.
"What are you doing..." Nagatsuro’s face was slick with sweat. The gap between their powers was vast—far beyond any expectation. That overwhelming speed, the force to conjure a Cero in an instant—
And an even greater power yet unshown.
Against such strength, victory was an illusion—this was only a test of how long he could endure before a superior foe.
And now, this formidable enemy paused, lost in incomprehensible contemplation at the touch of earth.
What had seized him?
Was it longing? Sorrow? Fury?
Unable to grasp Riese’s thoughts, Nagatsuro dared not act; he could only try to break the impasse with words.
"Forgive me... I lost myself for a moment..." Riese’s metallic gaze narrowed.
"Did you not hear it, Captain Nagatsuro?" Riese extended his hand as if caressing the wind, fingers curling gently.
"The lament of nature."
Nagatsuro stiffened. He had no idea what Riese meant. The lament of nature? Could such a being truly hear the voice of the world itself?
"To see the life you’ve nurtured slaughter one another so vilely—how heartbreakingly cruel."
"So... you mean to say only your kind deserve to live here?"
Nagatsuro finally grasped it—Riese sought to change his environment. How naive. The destiny set since the dawn of Hollows and Soul Reapers would not be overturned by a single Adjuchas.
"No..." Riese at last lowered his gaze to Nagatsuro. "At last I understand why I have come here..."
Swish!
With a sudden, wild flourish, Riese threw his arms high and roared, "To turn this place to scorched earth! To see this land perish with its children!"
"It is for the land’s own wish that we have come."
"Soul Reaper who stands in my way, your time is over."
!!
A sense of peril prickled Nagatsuro’s skin; he instinctively retreated a step.
Swish!
Riese’s claws slashed mercilessly through the space Nagatsuro had just vacated, leaving a shrill whistle in the air.
"You still think you can dodge?"
What Nagatsuro believed an evaded attack had, in fact, shredded his cloak and left a bloody gash across his chest.
"It's not over yet!"
Riese’s foot lashed out, sending Nagatsuro spinning into the air. Before he could recover, Riese appeared behind him, driving a fist that slammed Nagatsuro into the earth.
Boom!
As if toyed with in the palm of a hand, Nagatsuro couldn’t even muster resistance before Riese brought him down.
"I will let you live, Captain Nagatsuro, and you will become..."
"The witness to the destruction of the entire Soul Society."