Chapter 1237 Vast Vitality

Kisuke had to lower his stance to stabilize it as the whole palace started creaking from the sheer density of Reiatsu that Kirio was gathering.

At the same time, the tree matter outside continuously disappeared inside Kirio's body and her Zanpakuto transformed into a giant golden ladle.

[It may not be menacing, but I can feel the weight of life itself in that ladle.] Tiamat commented while Kisuke also released his Reiatsu and Benihime.

But before he could do anything, the rest of the roots and branches instantly disappeared and an enormous threat became apparent in front of him that he had to place Benihime in front of his body.

Kisuke also tried jumping back but as soon as he felt the immeasurable strength accompanied by the golden flash that hit him, he immediately understood that his effort was futile with him instantly flying out of the palace and even giving Benihime a crack.

'What the heck? What hit me?' Kisuke hurriedly started mending the cracks on Benihime but before he could finish, a shadow appeared on him and this time, he used his Hierro to block the golden ladle.

Though even after raising his defense as much as he could, the golden ladle still broke his arm as he was sent crashing down. Kisuke realized what Kirio was trying to do so he used his broken arm to detonate a Cero to instantly change his velocity, dodging another hit from the golden ladle.

Kirio, strangely enough, stopped her assault and placed the oversized ladle on her shoulder, "You've become a lot sturdier. Just what did you eat to have that thick skin?"

Kisuke took the breather that Kirio offered to heal his arm, "Nothing much. Just a shiny rock that apparently grants wishes. It was a scam, though. I wished I could become super duper strong, but as you can see, I keep getting kicked back and forth. I can't even remove the ink behind me."

Kirio chuckled, "You shouldn't really put random things in your mouth or else, indigestion will be the least of your concerns.'

During this conversation, however, Kisuke couldn't help but be utterly suspicious. Kirio has the upper hand yet she stopped pressuring him, 'Her Bankai is relatively simple. It gathers all the essence of life in the surroundings and injects it into herself, granting her immeasurable physical capabilities and insane regeneration powers. However, I don't know much beyond that.'

[Master, if you don't want to die, stop holding back.] All of a sudden, Kisuke and Benihime heard Tiamat's warning. And when Kisuke looked down with a perplexed face, he finally realized that he was drenched and it was only now that he noticed it, "!?"

It was also only then that Kisuke realized that his arm had finished regenerating long ago, but instead of stopping, his flesh kept on growing. Without any hesitation, Kisuke cut off his own arm.

However, this didn't really solve the problem since his arm started regenerating once again even with him consciously stopping it. And if it's like earlier, then it won't ever stop regenerating.

"Bankai..." Kisuke did the next best thing he could do, "Kannonbiraki Benihime, Aratame."

Five puppet fingers with each finger bound at the joints by perpendicular red ribbons ending in a thick, downward-curving blade while the palm is composed of an ornate disc with several sections missing to asymmetrically display the straight red bars comprising it within and the circular red bar with a large tassel forming the perimeter; meanwhile, Kisuke himself gained glowing red markings on his wrists, ankles, pectoral muscles, and clavicles like those of a doll, as well as a free-hanging necklace comprised of a red thread tied in ornate knot with six metal triangles hanging beneath it and held up by a red tassel on either side of his chest.

Kisuke's arm also finished regenerating but there's now a visible stitch running through it.

Kisuke didn't just stop there and also cut open various parts of his body before stitching them back together, removing the terrifying cancer that Kirio gave him.

"Phew... That was close."

Kirio's expression became serious, "I see... So your Bankai evolved further. But can you still call it a Bankai?"

"I got used to it and this isn't really Benihime's completed state either so I'll keep the Bankai epithet for now." Kisuke looked at the fingers while talking and with his will, the blades attached to them shot out towards Kirio with a red line still connecting them to the fingers.

Kirio knew the dangers of Kisuke's Bankai so instead of intercepting them, she used the newly gained speed that she had to retreat quite far back while dodging the incoming blades.

Only then did Kisuke feel safe enough to properly observe the water that he didn't notice when he and Benihime were drenched it, 'I didn't even notice that my regeneration was going haywire... What is this?'

And as if reading his mind, Kirio answered, "Cycle of Resurgence. It's the water of life that blesses others with vitality."

On Kirio's ladle, a small of pool of water glistened, "But you see, too much of everything has its own price to pay." She then swung her human-sized ladle horizontally and spilled said water, "Ethereal Harvest."

The spilled water suspended itself in the air and from the droplets, countless translucent golden vines emerged from it, shooting while enlarging themselves towards Kisuke.

Seeing the scale of the veins, Kisuke knew that it would be difficult to dodge them so he pointed one of his fingers at them and released a pure black Cero. The heat of the Cero dried the surrounding air but towards the veins themselves, it only went through them as if they didn't exist in this plane of existence.

Despite this, there's no sense of panic within Kisuke's eyes as he just lets go of the downward curved blades to meet the veins. And unlike before, the blades cut through the veins, turning them into motes of light.

Kirio sighed, 'So this is the end, huh?' She thought to herself. From the start, Kirio knew that she had no way of winning when Kisuke bypassed the trap house that she prepared with her all. It wasn't that she was weak, it's just that Kisuke's Bankai is one of the anomalies that existed in Soul Society and very few things could actually resist its effects, 'There's no sign of the others returning and I don't even know what punched a hole through the barriers.'

Even then, Kirio didn't give up and strengthened her resolve, 'If it comes down to it, I'll burn my own life to stop him.'