Chapter 8: Taking inspiration

Riku's POV.

Cratering the ground of my initial location, I rushed towards my target. Although the range of Sōten ni zase is relatively large, he still functions best at short to mid-range. Deciding to speed up my approach after seeing the Gillian condense a bright red cero, I started implementing an idea I've had for a while.

I quickly double-casted Bakudō #8. Seki on the bottom of my feet. The repulsive force launched me further than a simple Shunpo activation could. Calling out to Sōten ni zase, I had him help maintain the spell as a continuous stream, allowing me to rocket towards the Hollow. I further conjured two more Seki on my sides for stabilization and more control mid-flight.

The Gillian finally released its Cero. Since the beginning, I have been analysing the structure of the destructive orb. And although undeniably powerful, the ability was an extremely inefficient use of reiatsu. Even compared to the most wasteful Kidō spells, Ceros were truly the worst. 'But they are much faster to form compared to Kidō spells of comparable destructiveness.'

I had to change the output of Seki spells, to barrel around the cero beam. Ignoring the large explosion and the resulting screams of injured Shinigami behind me, the Hollow was finally in optimal range. I immediately doubled cast again. "Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō." "Bakudō #73. Tozanshō."

Rikujōkōrō kept the monstrosity in place, and Tozanshō trapped the Hollow's head. 'No more ceros from you.' Glancing at the Vice-Captain's battle, I could tell she was doing well. Her opponent had lost a large chunk of its body and was roaring at the powerful Shinigami that had injured it.

A few seconds later, hovering three meters or so off the ground, and lining up my opponent and the roaming Gillian a distance behind it, I finished the chant for the finishing blow. "-Roar! Beast of the heavenly thunder! Hadō #88. Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō." Empowering the spell to its absolute limit, the power of the spell seemed to cause the air around it to shriek. The thunder cannon encompassed an entire half of the battlefield in a bright blue flash.

Feeling the massive recoil from the spell, I had to divert more reiryoku to the Seki rockets to try and stabilize myself. I came to a stop a few meters away and beheld the carnage Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō left in its wake. Using Hadō numbered 80 and above was always a risk. Kidō of that level start to resemble Bankai abilities more so than simple spells. So one can imagine what an empowered version of those spells can do.

Feeling my reiryoku still at reasonable levels, I deactivated my Seki spells to conserve my strength. Sensing the Captain's stable reiatsu, I knew his battle was going well. The Vice-Captain had just finished off her opponent as well, leaving only standard Hollows in the area.

Hesitating slightly to take further action since I didn't care about the battles of the remaining squad members, an electronic hum from my partner caused me to tense up. I could hear the alert tone in his voice. Something was wrong.

Removing the filter for my reiatsu senses, I could pick up a faint and weird signature slowly making its way to me. Any Shinigami without exceptional senses would not have picked it up even if they were right next to it.

Not knowing what exactly this thing was, I fell back to my old faithful. Silently constructing a powerful spell in the background, I pretended not to notice the thing and started firing low-level Hadō to assist the struggling squad members.

Feeling the cloaked enemy just entering my range, I empowered the constructed spell and launched it. 'Let's hope this asshole can't teleport...' "Bakudō #79. Kuyō Shibari." Nine black spheres of reiatsu suddenly surrounded a seemingly empty space. Trusting my judgement, the Vice-Captain willed her Haineko to cover the empty space. What followed was a chilling Hollow roar, accompanied by the heavy pressure of Captain-level reiatsu.

The Hollow seemed to no longer care about its camouflage and became visible to us. The creature resembled a humanoid chameleon with strange coloured bumps lining its skin. The moment the Hollow released its reiatsu, the hairs on my neck stood on end, and my instincts screamed to me to run.

Seeing Haineko do no damage to the Hollow, I really started considering the option. But that would be a stupid decision. I already have the creature trapped, even if the flickering of the reishi spheres indicates that that won't be for long, and it's in my range. This is the perfect opportunity to severely injure it, if not outright kill it. 'And more importantly, I don't want to run without at least a good shot in.' The Captain's reiatsu has also spiked, meaning he knows the severity of the situation.

Seeing the reiatsu spheres trembling significantly more, I know that my time is limited. I won't have enough time to chant a high-level Hadō, and chantless Hadō, even with empowerment, clearly won't be enough. Suppressing a groan, I already feel myself regretting my next move.

My colleagues tend to forget, but the core ability of my zanpakutō is not directly related to Kidō. It is the control, no, the near absolute dominance of reishi. The obvious reference I used when I found out was the Quincy. So the first techniques I created were imitations of known Quincy abilities, which were surprisingly easy to replicate. But I learnt very early on that the Central 46 has very little tolerance to clearly Quincy techniques. 'However, desperate times...'

Pumping almost all my reiryoku into Sōten ni zase, I start the activation procedure of the most powerful technique I have. Immediately most of the reishi in a kilometre radius gathered around me, similar to when I release my Shikai, but to an exaggerated degree. My immediate surroundings became saturated with a thick curtain of bright blue reishi. Not quite done yet, I drew the condensed reishi into my body.

The energy rush was unlike anything I had ever experienced. My reiatsu took a massive jump, so much so that the resulting pressure brought the Vice-Captain to her knees. Bringing my reatsu back under control, I couldn't help but marvel at my current state. Unlike the Quincy technique that inspired this, the Letzt Stil, I converted the borrowed reishi into a cloak around me.

This technique is also not nearly as fragile as the Letzt Stil, but the boost in defence is not significant either. The main function of the technique is to bring an extreme amount of reishi under my control. Although temporary, the reishi brings at least a ten-fold increase to my available reiryoku, and greatly enhances my reishi sensitivity. Seeing five of the nine reiatsu spheres trapping the Adjuchas gone, I put those thoughts behind me. I had a few seconds before it broke out and, at most, ten seconds before my Letzt Stil collapsed.

Since I couldn't construct a powerful Hadō in that time, I took a page out of Hollow's book. Willing almost all my borrowed reishi into condensing into my version of a Cero, I tried to make the internal structure of the Cero as unstable as possible, hopefully enhancing the cero's destructive capabilities.

The Hollow likely realised what I was doing and intensified its struggle against my Bakudō spell. Getting a weird sense of deja vu, I muttered, "Cero." The cero did not launch as a beam but as a blue orb leaving a trail of seemingly blue dust.

Using my final store of borrowed reishi, I quickly grabbed the Vice-Captain and used two powerful Seki to get as far away from the cero as possible. The last thing I saw was a blinding light followed by a strong concussive force.