Blue flames covered the spot where Kisuke had been standing. The flames didn't emit any heat, nor did they destroy anything around them. They just burned quietly.
"Is that?" asked Dulio.
"The Flames of Purgatory. The flames that eat souls. It's Hades' original magic, and it's one disgusting magic." answered Azazel with furrowed brows.
"He used something like that as an opening? Is he going to be fine?"
"He didn't dodge so he mustn't have felt very threatened."
And just as Azazel had said, Kisuke wasn't threatened by Hades' magic at all. As the blue balls of flames approached him, Kisuke immediately figured out what they did, and the extent of their effects. Any normal person would have no way of defending against this, but against someone like Kisuke, it was the worst possible magic.
The flames started swirling and dispersed a few seconds later, revealing a Kisuke who hadn't taken any damage, "Hadou no 4, Byakurai." Pointing his finger towards Hades, a large arc of lightning blasted forwards and engulfed him.
The lightning disappeared and revealed the unscathed Hades with his magic barrier up. However, his surroundings were entirely destroyed, except for his throne.
"Such a strange technique... It comes from the soul I see." Hades muttered.
"Aren't you using something similar?" replied Kisuke with a smile.
Hades didn't answer him, but worry was present in his heart, 'A human that uses soul techniques? Where did he learn them?' However, he's still confident that he'd come out victorious, "Then try taking this."
After lifting his staff, Hades' surroundings became very cold and Kisuke immediately felt Reiryoku (Spiritual Power) gathering around him. An invisible ax then formed on top of Kisuke's head and threatened to strike him.
Although others couldn't see it, Kisuke could see the very soul itself, and a weapon formed from Reiryoku was very clear to him. Anyone without sufficient Reiatsu or Magic Power would be instantly killed with their souls dispersing. It's technically an instant kill spell for most people.
Of course, it has terrible compatibility with Kisuke. With a blank face, Kisuke lifted his blade to block the invisible ax that was coming down.
If Hades had a facial expression, he would be smirking at his foolishness right now as the ax could go through anything physical, the only way to block it was to have a very strong soul, or have large amounts of Magic Power to sacrifice.
But even with a very strong soul, one would still be critically injured, and those with large amounts of Magic Power would be spent, leaving them in a very precarious situation.
Sirzechs, Azazel, and Dulio who were watching also felt nervous at Hades' spell. Although they couldn't see it, they could feel the existence of the threat it posed.
However, the moment the ax landed on Kisuke's blade, Hades blanked out, "W...What!?"
With a light swing from Kisuke, the ax was split in half and dispersed back into the surroundings. While chuckling, Kisuke said, "I forgot to remind you, but any soul-based attacks may not be very effective against me~."
Although there wasn't any visible expression from Hades' skull face, Kisuke could see that he was very agitated right now, "...What is that sword? The only Sacred Gear that can affect souls is the Sephiroth Graal." asked Hades.
"This?" Kisuke lifted his blade, "It's a Zanpakuto (Soul Slayer), and her name is Benihime. Though she's technically an artificial Sacred Gear right now."
"...Zanpakuto." Hades, including the three not far from them, all muttered and tried to recall any weapon that was called a Zanpukuto. Of course, they all failed.
Kisuke didn't let them think too deeply and continued, "However, I'm not here to show off my weapon. As I told others earlier, I'm here to crack some old skull and I think an old skull under a gorgeous headdress will do just fine."
"Impudent!" Hades raged and tried to gather more Spiritual Power, this time with a mix of Magic power for a two-front attack.
Kisuke ignored him and put his hand over his face to take out his Hollow Mask. However, as he tried to call onto his Hollow Powers, he got a weird feeling, 'The mask is gone?'
Although it was gone, Kisuke still thought that he could pull out his Hollow Powers, 'If it's gone, then I'm not just a Shinigami with a Hollow Mask, but a Shinigami and an Arrancar at the same time... Another effect brought by the Hougyoku? I really need to examine everything after I get back.'
Regardless of the unexpected situation, he activated his Hollow Powers, and instead of a bone mask, one of his horns grew from the right side of his head. His hair also straightened and grew longer until it reached his tailbone.
The sclera of his eyes turned jet black, but instead of the glowing green pupils that he had before, they now became golden with more radiance. A black strike of a tattoo then manifested and ran down his face, through his right eye and right cheek, coloring his face.
And lastly, his Devil Wings sprouted, and instead of the four pairs he had earlier, Kisuke now had five pairs of jet black Devil Wings.
Of course, along with these physical changes was the change in his aura. The calm and tranquil aura that he had from earlier had now become a chaotic one, as it spread out not just within the room, but also outside of the large palace, which caught the attention of everyone.
"...A Human? An Evil Spirit? A Devil? What are you!?" shouted Hades.
And for those who were watching, except for Ophis, they all had the same question as surprise painted their faces.
"He certainly is a Devil with those wings and aura, I didn't expect this... But what the heck is he?" muttered Azazel.
"If you're asking that, they don't expect me to know the answer," replied Sirzechs as he furrowed his brows in contemplation.
"Regardless of what he is, those eyes are giving me the shivers!" added Dulio.
Azazel and Sirzechs both nodded at his words.
But contrary to their expectations, Kisuke suddenly sheathed his blade back into the cane and made it disappear. They didn't know why he would give up the one advantage he had over Hades' techniques.
But while they were still in a shocked and confused state, Kisuke suddenly disappeared from his spot with a burst of static and reappeared in front of Hades with his right arm extended towards his head, "Oni Dekopin (Oni Headpoke)."
Hades was caught off guard and couldn't react in time as he took a flick to his forehead. But contrary to his simple action, Hades uncontrollably flew back and went through the walls of his castle until he reached outside, where Vali and his teammates were fighting the Grim Reapers.
"Ughh!!!" Enduring the pain in his skull, Hades tried to recover his position. But as soon as he regained his orientation in midair, he heard another burst of static and saw a fist coming down on his head.
Hades immediately put up a simple magic barrier, but it was immediately breached by the fist. However, it gave him enough time to use his arms to block the fist.
But even then, the force behind it made him crash like a meteor towards the ground. With the explosion of earth and dust, Hades created a 50-meter wide crater with just his body.
The gown of the majestic King of the Dead was now dirty and tattered, his headwear already disappeared somewhere, and both his skull and arms were cracked. Standing up from the center of the crater, Hades howled towards Kisuke, "You scoundrel!!! Unforgivable!!!"
Hades wanted to manifest the rest of his still mostly untapped power, but as he looked upwards, he saw Kisuke pointing towards him with a ball of green ominous energy gathering on his fingertip. A second later, he heard him mutter, "Cero."
Seeing this, Hades hurriedly did his best to put up as many magic barriers as possible. A split second later, the green beam of energy hit one of his barriers and it immediately disappeared. After that, it immediately went through all the barriers that Hades had created as he ate the entirety of the beam head-on.
"I'll never forget this!!!" With a shout of grievance, the Lord of the Realm of the Dead disappeared.
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Editors:
28th00: I like to imagine Phis-chama just sitting in the corner of the room nodding her head with an incredibly smug and self-assured look on her face while thinking "That's Mr. Hat! He beats up the bad guys and saves the day!" Hades is so incredibly hard-countered by Kisuke, that it was kinda hilarious to see him get the finger flick of death. I wonder what Vali and his team think of seeing this? Sirzechs and company are just absolutely lost, and wondering if giving someone like that the status of Terrorist was a smart choice, since he doesn't need to CARE about ANY diplomatic backlash, cause he's a terrorist yo!