CHAPTER 118: End of line

"PARTNER! You've come for me!"

Nami's fervent shout pierced through his emotional armor for a brief moment. He choked down the rising sentiment and directed his icy gaze toward Tsubasa.

"Hand me your blades and open the cage."

A shadow of bewilderment flickered across Tsubasa's face before she complied with an obedient nod. With an almost ceremonial gesture, she made the blades drift to his side. Nami's cage clicked open, releasing her from her confinement.

Like a phoenix rising, Nami burst forth until she hit the ceiling, her wings erupting into streaks of dark red fire. She rocketed toward Tsubasa with a divine fury, slamming her into the wall with an impact that echoed through the chamber.

Stripped of her shields, Tsubasa was nothing but vulnerable to Nami's assault.

As Nami landed on the ground, she underwent a surreal transformation — morphing into a humanoid figure built from the essence of her own dark, sanguine flames. Her lanky limbs and featureless face floated above a conflagration sea of fire that served as her lower body.

Though her face lacked defining emotion, he could feel the raging inferno within her — Nami did not take her imprisonment lightly.

She yanked Tsubasa from the ground and slammed her into the wall. "I'll make you pay for keeping me away from Partner."

Not pausing for Tsubasa to even muster a response, Nami unleashed a flurry of merciless blows upon her face. Tsubasa reached out to him with a trembling hand, or rather the blades in his hands that acted as her shields. As though hearing her plea, the blades in his grip twitched, yearning to rush to their master's defense. But he held them fast.

"Nope," he said with an indifferent look. "Nami, go wild."

Tsubasa's Shikai ability provided excellent defense, even if it was a bit one-dimensional in nature. However, he very much loved Nami and supported her. Trapped in the same place for three months — he couldn't even comprehend the resentment and rage bubbling inside her heart. She needed to unleash those negative emotions.

He also couldn't deny that he enjoyed Tsubasa's one-sided epic beatdown at Nami's hands. It was satisfying to watch Tsubasa being pummeled like a punching bag.

Nami threw Tsubasa to the ground and jumped at her, throwing punches at her bloodied face. Seemingly bored of beating Tsubasa, Nami pulled Tsubasa up by her blonde hair.

"You ambushed me when I was at my weakest and caged me like I was a beast. You lied and manipulated my Partner into believing that I was not a suitable soulmate for him. YOU pathetic woman will pay for your sins." Her hands clenched into flaming talons around Tsubasa's head. "With your life."

"You can't…" Tsubasa's whisper was a dying ember as she shot a feeble glance toward him. "I am your Zanpakutō Spirit. Without me, you're defenseless—"

"Shut your fucking mouth," Nami roared, her flames unleashing with even more ferocity. "This is the end of line for you, Hoe."

She burst into a fog of flames and engulfed Tsubasa's figure. Tsubasa desperately channeled her own flames to ward off Nami but Nami's carmine flames easily overpowered her. She stood no chance in a frontal fight against the senior Zanpakutō Spirit, despite Nami lacking in terms of Reiatsu.

Across the room, the blades exerted even more force then they went limp, quenched of life. Tsubasa was completely swallowed by carmine flames and her presence faded away.

The flames then coalesced and twisted into a breathtaking form he'd never anticipated from Nami — a mature woman with blonde wavy hair and an azure eye, punctuated by a heart-shaped pink glint. A dark eyepatch draped across half her visage, culminating in a winged ornament that adorned her head like a crown.

Though bearing some resemblance to Tsubasa, she was a mesmerizing mix of elven ears, demonic horns, and fiery, leathery bat wings sprouting from her lower back. Her fashion sense was also worlds apart from Tsubasa. She wore a scandalously revealing white dress, offset by an imperial crimson cape.

She was a bewitching succubus. (Check paragraph comment)

Hand on her waist, she struck a sultry pose. "Behold the Demon Empress, who shall conquer this world with her beloved Partner."

—A chuuni succubus roleplaying as a Demon Empress.

"Eyepatch - check. Edgy dialogues - check. 'Cool' fashion sense - check. Congrats, you're finally a full-blown chuuni."

"Ufufu, you're right. This is my first form. I can shapeshift into anyone with a snap of my finger. Want to see the versatility of a fire-based life form?"

Rather than playing along with shenanigans, he shifted the topic. "Is Tsubasa dead?"

She nodded her head with a radiant smile. "Completely erased from this world, devoured by me. Why are you worried, though? Do you miss her presence?"

"What's there to miss about her?" He retorted on an impulse before taking a pensive breath. The blades in his hand had become inert and lifeless, revealing Tsubasa's end, alongside her broken Shikai ability. "Fuck, all my hardwork went to shit."

Nami's repetitive praise for his Shikai and Bankai had set his expectations high. He had spent almost six hours every day for the past three months. Yet, his reward was a treacherous, arrogant Zanpakutō Spirit, who almost broke him with her trial. Calling him disappointed was a massive understatement.

He let out a sigh. "Not gonna lie. Today was wild."

The dormant blades suddenly sprang to life, breaking free from his grasp to whirl around Nami, the same way they drifted around Tsubasa.

"Nami, you—"

"Yes, Partner. I've assimilated that whore's essence, her potential, and her existence as a Zanpakutō Spirit," she declared, her bat-like wings flaring as she closed the distance with Shunpo and tackled him onto the ground. Looming over him, she revealed a grin that perfectly encapsulated every bit of her deranged infatuation. "I'm your sole Zanpakutō Spirit now. Nobody will come between us. EVER."

Rather than being creeped out by absurd craziness, he simply smiled and pulled her into his arms, her massive breasts squishing against him. "Are you trying to give Harribel a run for her money?"

"Exactly. I can't lose against Partner's most beloved wife," she murmured as she audibly sniffed his scent. "Partner, I missed you so much. It was so boring here without you. My imprisonment wasn't even the worst part about this whole ordeal…"

"What else could be worse than that?"

"Tsubasa was born from both of our essence — she reflected our souls. Think about it for a moment. She was manipulative like you and she was obsessed with an aspect like me. She was our daughter… and I murdered her with my own hands."

His mouth hung open, speechless. Her poetic reframing of Tsubasa's existence unsettled him deeply. Their actions seemed extremely immature once he took a moment to contemplate. They could've solved the situation more peacefully but their raw emotions overwrote their reason. The result was Tsubasa's demise.

"Forget her," he replied, nonchalantly brushing off her concerns. "Forget that she ever existed."

"Fine with me. Partner, do you remember your promise?"

"Which promise?"

She leaned in and her fangs pierced the flesh of his neck. It was an intimate, lethal kiss that drew out blood, as if she were a vampire. "The promise about eating me out when I became a Vasto Lorde."

"You didn't actu—"

Suddenly, an overwhelming surge of Reiatsu filled the air like a torrential downpour, coming from the very woman wrapped in his embrace. Devouring Tsubasa triggered her evolution, bringing her Reiatsu on par with Harribel's base Arrancar form.

"I am a Vasto Lorde or its equivalent." Gently withdrawing from him, she caressed his face, the heart-shaped twinkle in her eye glowing brighter than ever, as if implying her burning passion. "Don't you think it's time for us to do the deed?"

Seeing her beautiful face up close and feeling her warmth, his heart began to beat loudly, as if anticipating a passionate time with her.

Just as he prepared to surrender to the moment, reality — or whatever passed for it in this realm — shuddered violently as if engulfed in a high-scale earthquake.

"The inner world is destabilizing. You spent too much time here, Partner," Nami said with a sigh and pressed a reluctant kiss against his cheek. "We'll have to wait."

"Hmm. Talk to me when I'm outside."

"You bet I will."

***

RIP Tsubasa. Nami isn't sharing her position with anyone.