Chapter 287: Cero?

"Fall back!" H'el shouted, his voice echoing through the dim prison cells. The sword sheath in his hand trembled as he shook it, shooting out like an arrow and embedding itself in a crack in the stone wall, vibrating continuously.

He raised his right hand, holding the drawn sword, Sakura Falls. The blade emitted a humming sound, causing the child-spider on the ceiling to hesitate.

The child-spider scurried rapidly across the ceiling, moving left and right with such speed that it left only afterimages in the vision of Gin Ichimaru, Rangiku Matsumoto, and the square-faced burly man. Its red eyes gleamed from the white calcium mask, darting about in panic.

Feeling a chill in their hearts, Gin, Rangiku, and the burly man quickly retreated to the iron bars at H'el's command. From there, they watched H'el standing tall with his sword, facing the monstrous child-spider alone, presenting a figure that seemed to defy waves and face a thousand enemies, despite his short stature of only 1.2 meters.

Gin also drew his blade and stood guard at the iron bars. The gap that H'el had cut open was not large, and standing there, Gin felt as if he was holding a critical pass alone.

In his mind, Gin thought that if H'el was overwhelmed, they could retreat and hold the line here.

In reality, the best strategy would be to give the sword to the burly man, as he was stronger and could better hold the iron bars.

However, Gin couldn't trust someone who had only recently surrendered to H'el's might.

If H'el was defeated or something went wrong, Gin would quickly turn his blade and kill the burly man.

The spider scurried on the ceiling, its reversed joints moving erratically, with its large red eyes filled with childlike curiosity and an amoral view, appearing both evil and innocent as it observed H'el.

H'el's gaze followed the spider, using some of his internal spirit energy to enhance his dynamic vision.

After a while, the spider grew impatient, shrieking as it launched an attack. One of its child-like arms shot out, connected by webbing, and flew toward H'el like a bullet.

H'el swung his sword, cutting the arm and its connecting webbing in two. The impact felt like hitting a piece of raw iron, and the severed arm flew past H'el on either side.

The spider screeched in pain.

The spider was hard, but not too hard.

H'el gauged the strength of the creature before stepping forward with Sakura Falls in hand. The crisp sound of his wooden sandals echoed in the confined space of the cell.

The spider recoiled in pain, pulling back its severed child-like arms. As it tried to retract, H'el's blade glowed with high-frequency spiritual energy. With a flash of his blade, he effortlessly sliced through the webbing, which was tougher than steel.

"Sss—"

The spider bristled, its limbs convulsing violently. The red eyes on its white chitin mask flared, and a massive sonic wave emanated from its mouth.

"The webbing is your true form."

H'el realized that the spider's child-like limbs were merely puppets controlled by the webbing, which was the true form of the Hollow. Like all Hollows, whose weakness lies in their masks, this spider's webbing originated from its mask.

In its pain and rage, the spider launched all its child-like limbs from the ceiling, scattering them like deadly petals, connected by webbing, to attack H'el from all directions.

The scene was both revolting and terrifying.

Gin, Rangiku, and the square-faced brute watched in horror, cold sweat breaking out on their foreheads. They had never seen such a monstrous creature before.

Most residents of the Rukongai have never had the chance to encounter Hollows before they reincarnate. The Rukongai is more about conflicts between people; they've never seen monsters wielding children's limbs as weapons.

H'el stepped into the spider's attack range, his right hand holding Sakura Falls vibrating with spiritual energy. In an instant, his blade gleamed in the dimly lit cell, and silver cherry blossom petals accompanied his every step, severing countless strands of webbing converging from all directions.

Advancing amidst a torrential flow, nothing could touch him. Under his blade, the children's limbs were severed, and the webbing splattered everywhere.

H'el approached, stepping on spiritual particles as if on solid ground, advancing step by step toward the spider on the ceiling. Gin, Rangiku, and the square-faced brute stood stunned at the iron-barred gate. They thought H'el mastering Shunpo, a Shinigami technique, was impressive enough, but they never imagined he could defy their understanding of reality and walk directly on air.

For H'el, the coordination between the spiritual particles and the body was something he was incredibly familiar with since he learned Shunpo from Urahana Jiro. Walking on spiritual particles was just a normal way of manipulating them for him.

Countless strands were cut, and the pained and enraged spider lost some semblance of rationality. It let out a furious roar, its red eyes blazing, and it opened its black, abyssal mouth under the white chitin mask, gathering a red energy glow, then fired it at H'el.

"A lowly creature like this can also use Cero?"

H'el, standing mid-air, raised his eyebrows in surprise. Could this trash Hollow also fire Cero? According to his knowledge, Cero was a beam of highly concentrated spiritual pressure used by Hollows of higher levels.

However, this weak creature, whose weakness he had spotted at a glance and whose power was not even enough to sate his appetite, could also fire Cero? It amazed H'el.

Or perhaps, was this a result of modification?

H'el didn't understand, nor had he ever seen a Menos Grande to tell. Realizing the potency of this Cero, he flickered with Shunpo, appearing in front of the spider just as it was gathering its energy. With Sakura Falls brimming with spiritual energy, he swung down his blade before the Cero could fully form.

This was a battle after all. Even a certain main character transforming would be punched during his transformation. Did it think it could gather energy in front of him?

He cleaved through the entire white chitin mask, revealing the energy conduit inside, similar to a Cero but not truly one.

H'el flickered back to where Gin and the others were standing, Sakura Falls shining brightly in his hand. The sheath trembled in the gap of the wall, freed itself, flew into the blade, and sheathed it.

The energy gathered by the spider on the ceiling exploded instantly as H'el cut it open.

°°°

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