224: Chapter 224 Metamorphosis Under the Bound of a Thousand Pounds

"Desecrate, Falco!"

Although jezebel was confused by the question, his intuition was correct: he had been insulted, and quite severely at that. As for the reason and the origin of the meme, it didn't matter. He just needed to slay this group of Soul Reapers.

Entering his Resurrección state directly, his upper body was covered in armor, his mask expanded to cover his entire head except for the upper right corner, and his right arm transformed into the shape of his zanpakuto in its sealed state.

Then, his right arm turned into an oil-extracting 'nodding donkey' pumpjack, starting to rapidly expand and close.

In an instant, Renji was buried by a vast and rapid barrage of light blades—no, not swallowed, buried. A multitude of light blades shot down at Renji from above, almost pinning him into the sea of sand.

"Don't you feel sad for your dead companion?" jezebel asked hypocritically toward the remaining personnel who had been dismissed from Mia's villa. In response, he received a flurry of caring looks one might give an idiot.

Finally, it was the soft-hearted Gin Ichimaru who gave him a reminder. After all, they had worked together before, even if Gin didn't actually know him.

"Um, he doesn't seem to be dead yet. Aren't you going to follow up with a few more strikes?"

As he spoke, "Roar, Zabimaru!"

A giant beast's head, followed by a segmented bone-blade body like a long snake, lunged straight at jezebel without any hesitation.

jezebel didn't panic at all. This time, the opening and closing gate of his right arm seemed to have a charging process. The blade waves turned directly into a fountain of energy, knocking down Renji's Bankai with a single strike.

A disheveled Renji finally managed to pull himself out of the quicksand, only to be met with the heartless laughter of his companions.

"To be honest, Renji is at a bit of a disadvantage against jezebel. Should I swap in?" Gin Ichimaru pulled out a dried persimmon cake that Mia had prepared for him before he came and took a bite.

After Rangiku shot him a glare, he automatically shut up.

Renji was furious. Renji Abarai felt he had never been so humiliated in his life—

Not only had he just been pinned into the sand by the opponent's light blades, but after finally crawling out with his Bankai, he was met with a chorus of laughter. Rukia was laughing the hardest, rolling around while saying, "I've had professional noble training, I usually don't laugh... unless I can't hold it back..."

(Damn it, after this fight, I'm burying her in the quicksand. Let her laugh then!)

He climbed up with gritted teeth, spitting out the sand in his mouth. In the distance, jezebel looked down at him from above, the bizarre 'pumpjack' structure of his right arm slowly opening and closing with a tooth-aching sound of grinding metal.

Ka-chak—

Each movement felt like it was gathering power.

"Your Bankai... is quite interesting. It's indeed been a long time since I've seen a Soul Reaper's Bankai." jezebel's tone carried a fake sense of regret. "Too bad it can't hit anything."

"Shut up!" Renji spat, flicking his wrist—the knocked-down Hihio Zabimaru instantly disassembled, its bone segments clattering as they reassembled back into his hand. "I haven't even started getting serious yet!"

Before his voice had even faded, jezebel's right arm suddenly snapped open and shut!

Boom!!

The sea of sand suddenly exploded as a vertical light blade, powerful enough to cut through the walls of Las Noches, grazed past Renji's ear. The resulting wind pressure sliced off a lock of his red hair.

"So fast!"

Renji's cold sweat had just broken out when the second and third waves of light blades already fanned out to block his retreat!

"Hikotsu Taiho!"

He swung Zabimaru violently. The giant snake head bared its fangs, and a crimson Spiritual Pressure cannon roared to collide with the light blades—

Bang!!!

A sandstorm-like shockwave exploded, and through the dust, jezebel's cold voice suddenly drifted:

"—Too slow."

"Wha—?!"

Renji didn't even see the opponent's movement before a sharp pain flared in his abdomen—the moment jezebel used Sonído to appear before him, his left knee slammed hard into Renji's stomach!

"Cough—!" Renji coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He staggered back, but the gate on the opponent's right arm had already opened again—

Point-blank Light Blade Discharge!! Renji took the full force of the ultimate move right to the face.

"Renji!!" Rukia's laughter stopped abruptly.

In the nick of time, the bone segments of Hihio Zabimaru suddenly spiraled on their own, wrapping around their master layer by layer like a shield—

Clang clang clang!! Boom boom boom!!

Amidst the piercing sound of metal clashing, Renji was sent flying dozens of meters by the impact, smashing heavily into a sand dune.

When the smoke cleared, several bone blades of Hihio Zabimaru were already covered in cracks.

"It seems all you have left is your stubborn mouth." jezebel approached slowly, the mechanical sound of his right arm sounding like a reaper's countdown. "Do you want me to help you dig a grave? A sand burial suits you quite well."

"Hey, hey, are we really not going to help?" On the sidelines, Matsumoto Rangiku nudged Gin Ichimaru with her elbow. "Your former colleague is about to kill your current companion, you know?"

"Eh, what's the big deal? I was just an undercover agent before, I don't know him." Gin munched on his persimmon cake with a smile. "Besides, it's such a buzzkill for adults to interfere when boys are fighting~"

"Furthermore—"

His gaze quietly swept over the red-haired Soul Reaper slowly climbing out of the sand pit—

"The eyes of that mad dog... haven't admitted defeat yet."

Amidst the dust, Renji's voice suddenly became terrifyingly low.

"Hmm?" jezebel raised an eyebrow.

"—Hihio Segami!"

Crack! The originally broken bone segments suddenly all reassembled in reverse! The end of each bone blade erupted with serrated, sharp fangs, and the entire zanpakuto transformed into a hungry, multi-headed bone serpent!

jezebel's pupils constricted—this Bankai... its speed and hardness had completely changed!

Rumble!!

The moment the serpent's shadow tore through the sea of sand, the light blade jezebel hurriedly used to parry was shredded! One segment of the bone snake bit hard into his right arm's mechanical joint, while another coiled around his ankle!

"Wha—?!"

"Got you." Renji, his face covered in blood, grinned. "Now—it's my turn for a combo!"

Every bone segment of Hihio Zabimaru suddenly began to rotate at high frequency!

Screech—!!

Amidst the ear-piercing sound of twisting metal, jezebel's right arm armor was forcibly ground to pieces!

"Ahhhh!!!"

He roared, using his Spiritual Pressure to shatter the bone snake, but Renji had already lunged into extreme close range—

"Hihio—"

His fist, wrapped in crimson Spiritual Pressure, drove straight through the breastplate!

"Did you think that thirty-fold Thousand-Weight Curse was applied for nothing? —Now die!!!"

Bang!!!!!

jezebel flew back like a cannonball, crashing through three sandstone pillars before finally stopping.

Dead silence.

"...When did he learn that move?" Ichigo asked, dumbstruck.

"Who knows~" Gin licked the persimmon frosting off his fingertips. "A mad dog that's been laughed at to the extreme..."

"...will bite through an enemy's throat."

When jezebel struggled to stand up from the ruins, his right arm machinery was completely trashed, and his mask was mostly shattered.

And atop the sand dune, Renji—

Was resting the reassembled Hihio Zabimaru on his shoulder. In the backlight, his blood-stained red hair looked like a burning banner.

"It's time to end this."

The moment he leaped high, the Reishi of the entire sand sea began to converge toward him—

Bankai: Full Release—

"Hihio—"

Every bone segment of Zabimaru expanded, turning into a giant snake crown that blotted out the sky!

"—Ouja Kyosatsu!!!"

In jezebel's widening pupils—

Countless bone snakes descended from the heavens.

And then—

Tore him to shreds.

...When the dust settled, Renji flopped onto the sand, exhausted like a dead dog.

"Hey! That move just now was super cool!" Ichigo was the first to rush over and punch his shoulder.

"Hmph, barely a passing grade. I reckon you could have beaten this guy too." Toshiro snorted with his arms crossed, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

Rukia knelt down and poked his swollen cheekbone: "Still alive?"

"Get lost... I just want to..." Renji raised a middle finger feebly, "...bury all of you in the sand..."

Gin Ichimaru handed over half a persimmon cake with a smile: "Want some?"

"Gin-ko! How many did Mia-jie give you in total?" Rangiku delivered a flying kick.

Amidst the laughter and banter, no one noticed—

Deep in the sand sea, beneath jezebel's shattered mask...

The corner of his mouth curled into a bizarre arc.