Restricted Death

Chapter 262 One-hit kill
A chilling aura seeped into her skin along the blade, causing Tiruti Sandavichi's body to tremble like a withered leaf in the wind. She could clearly feel the killing intent emanating from her opponent, far more chilling than the air of Hueco Mundo, and the undeniable oppressive force emanating from her. This fear, originating from the depths of her soul, instantly shattered all her thoughts of resistance.

“...to the north of here…” Tiruti’s voice was barely audible, filled with barely suppressed fear, “His…palace…is there…”

As soon as she finished speaking, Tiruti felt a lightness on her neck, and the bone-chilling cold vanished abruptly. Before she could react, she was suddenly overcome by a dizzying sensation as if the world were turning upside down, and her consciousness vanished.

After receiving directions from Tiruti Sandavichi, Xin easily arrived at the palace where Szayelaporro was located, as his original area was not far from Szayelaporro's.

Along the way, Shin encountered many more interceptors. They were either Hollows who weren't even Arrancars, or they were higher-level experimental subjects who served as guards. They all exuded a spiritual pressure that was a mixture of madness and rationality, and they roared as they tried to stop this intruder.

However, in front of Xin, their existence was like sand trying to stop a flood; in Xin's hands, they were no match for him and were easily wiped out.

Hueco Mundo is vast and silent, its cold stone walls reflecting a dim light. The air is filled with a faint spiritual dust and a more subtle, strange smell, like a mixture of countless biological samples, similar to disinfectant.

A large gate blocked their way, but Xin raised his hand and blasted it open with a Red Fire Cannon.

The loud explosion shook the nearby walls, sending up clouds of smoke and dust. Xin stepped inside.

What greeted them was more like a huge, cold biological testing ground exuding an eerie atmosphere.

Countless distorted experimental subjects, existing somewhere between the unreal and other life forms, were imprisoned in transparent glass cylindrical culture tanks, floating in turbid liquid. Some bodies were still twitching unconsciously, and the cold metal tubes and instruments shimmered with a faint light, like the veins of monsters.

Shin glanced at the group and noticed some Hollows among the living beings who hadn't fully succeeded in breaking through to the Hollows. This made Shin narrow his eyes slightly; Aizen seemed to have given Szayelaporro a great deal of authority.

Among the larger culture tanks near the central area, his gaze settled on two relatively small figures.

Masaki Kurosaki and Yoru Katagiri were also immersed in a special solution, with various tubes and monitoring instruments connected to their bodies.

Masaki Kurosaki seemed to retain some consciousness; her cheek was pressed against the cold glass wall, her eyes tightly closed, her brows deeply furrowed, appearing to be in extreme pain. Katagiri Hae, on the other hand, seemed completely unconscious, with a noticeable, not yet fully healed wound on her arm.

"Hmph, are you all alone?" A voice full of interest rang out in the empty hall, echoing with mockery and greed.

The sound followed the direction of the letter.

Szayelaporro Granz's signature short pink hair remained flamboyant, and his upside-down glasses-like mask gleamed coldly. He stood leisurely in front of a towering control console surrounded by various screens and data streams, as if welcoming a visitor to admire his artwork rather than a menacing intruder.

“I’d like to find a few more people to test my new technology properly.” The implication seemed to be regret, but Szayelaporro’s voice carried an unsettling excitement.

Shin first covered the surrounding area with his spiritual pressure to confirm that the only enemy present was Szayelaporro, before calmly asking, "New technology?"

Szayelaporro raised an arm, and his palm was instantly enveloped in a stream of green spiritual energy.

Upon seeing that cluster of spiritual particles, Xin's expression shifted slightly.

Szayelaporro had been watching Xin's expression closely, and upon seeing it, he gave a wide, exaggerated smile: "You recognized me? Don't be scared!"

After he finished speaking, he reached into his pocket with his raised right hand and took out a silver chain pendant. Then, spiritual particles rapidly gathered and instantly formed a large green bow!

Of course, Xin recognized what it was: the Quincy's symbol and weapon, the Quincy Cross.

Szayelaporro's speed is astounding, and he's even mastered this power.

The power of Quincy is completely different from that of Hollows and Shinigami. Although both Quincy control spiritual particles to fight, Quincy's power is capable of completely destroying Hollows!
Or rather, annihilate the soul!
The soul of a person after death is called "Sei". It is guided by the Shinigami (god of death) to live in the Soul Society. Before going to the Soul Society, the "Sei" is corrupted by desire and will fall into "Hollow".

Death and Hollow are actually just two forms of the soul.

A thousand years ago, during the war between the Shinigami and Hollows, the Shinigami claimed it was to maintain the stability of the three realms, but this was only part of the reason. Another important factor was that the Shinigami also feared the power of the Quincy!
However, in Xin's eyes, the spirit bow in Szayelaporro's hand was nothing more than a toy.

Quincy themselves vary in strength; it's not that simply acquiring a Quincy weapon will dramatically increase your power.

“Why should I be afraid?” Xin asked calmly.

Szayelaporro's smile had recently turned cold. "Tachikawa Shin, I know that Lord Aizen has always paid special attention to you, and I'm also curious about what is so special about you that makes you worthy of such attention."

“You can give it a try.” The letter remained calm. “…”

A moment of silence fell over the hall. A glint flashed in Szayelaporro's eyes. He suddenly drew his bow and arrow, the spiritual arrow condensed at his fingertips gleaming with an ominous cold light. The bowstring hummed, ready to be released.

It wasn't just the power of the Quincy; the arrow was also imbued with Hollow energy, radiating a strange and frenzied aura of danger, aimed directly at Shin's brow.

The air suddenly thickened, becoming incredibly oppressive. Szayelaporro's eyes gleamed with madness and triumph; he eagerly awaited even the slightest hint of shock or seriousness on Shin's face. This would prove the significance of his research, prove that he had not only transcended the boundaries of Shinigami and Hollows, but had also mastered the power of a Quincy!

However, just a fraction of a second before he released the string, his world froze.

No, it wasn't that the world stood still, but rather that all his "actions" were taken away. He was like a sculpture, frozen in place, unable to move, as if he were a bow and arrow in a shooting posture.

Xin's figure vanished from the spot, leaving not even a trace. Only a chilling trail remained in the air, as if time itself had been frozen, like an ice line drawn across the void.

Szayelaporro's smugness froze on his face. His open mouth didn't even have time to utter a sound, and his hand, fully drawn on the bowstring, remained frozen in place. He felt an irresistible, soul-freezing chill instantly invade his body, like a glacier overflowing, instantly freezing every wisp of flowing spiritual pressure, every trembling muscle, and even every thinking neuron.

The letter appeared before him, expressionless, and reached out to block the arrow he had conjured. With a slight twitch of his index and middle fingers, the spiritual arrow was broken and turned into green light spots that dissipated under his control.

"Is that all there is to it?"

Countless ice spikes instantly materialized in the sky, densely packed and gleaming with a deadly cold light, hovering above Szayelaporro's head, swiftly and precisely targeting every vital part of his body: his head, heart, and joints of his limbs...

The shadow of death loomed over him as if it were a tangible reality, and the twisted excitement and confidence on Szayelaporro's face froze instantly, replaced by a slightly distorted look of horror caused by a bone-chilling cold.

He could feel the spiritual particles flowing within his body being frozen under that icy spiritual pressure, and the slight expansion he had just experienced from fusing the power of the Hollow and the Quincy was now being crushed to dust.

He couldn't understand why the other party possessed power that was far superior to his own, as if they were not even in the same dimension.

Szayelaporro wanted to speak, to question, to use his Whirlwind to escape, but all his "movements," even those driven by the slightest thought, were imprisoned by the omnipresent will that originated from Shin himself. His eyes bulged with extreme fear and disbelief, staring intently at Shin's calm yet unsettling face.

"No..." A shudder from the depths of his soul finally forced him to squeeze out a broken syllable through his teeth. His so-called "Queen" spirit bow, capable of destroying souls, was as fragile as a sandcastle on the beach in the face of the absolute power of faith, unable to even offer a symbolic resistance.

Without any warning, the dense array of ice spikes suspended in mid-air suddenly vanished!

Szayelaporro's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints—not because he vanished, but because his speed exceeded the limits of his visual perception! He felt an indescribable chill, as if it were freezing his very soul, which had penetrated every target point in his body the instant Xin finished speaking! There was no violent collision, no resounding explosion; it was more like the chilling, instantaneous cutting sensation of an ice blade slicing through solidified grease.

Puff puff puff puff...

A faint, chilling piercing sound filled the silent laboratory.

Szayelaporro's entire body was riddled with holes in an instant! Blood was about to spurt from those horrific wounds, but the next second, extreme cold spread rapidly along the trajectory of the ice spikes, freezing all the blood along with the wounds. His body was instantly covered with a strange, thick layer of white frost mixed with scarlet ice crystals, and even the expression of horror on his face was completely frozen.

Boom!

His stiff body was like an ice sculpture that had lost all support, crashing heavily to the ground, shattering ice crystals and congealed blood clots scattering everywhere, without any spiritual energy dissipating.

Szayelaporro Granz, the 80th Espada who was obsessed with forbidden experiments and believed he had mastered a new power, was completely reduced to a frozen, lifeless pile of fragments on the ground by Shin's single blow in his own experimental palace, before he could even complete the declaration of his Resurrection.

Shin didn't even glance at the pile of ice again, as if he had merely swept away a noisy insect. His figure quickly reappeared in front of the huge culture tank where Kurosaki Masaki and Katagiri Hae were imprisoned.

Spiritual pressure gathered and solidified in his hand, forming an extremely sharp ice blade that gleamed with a cold light. With a few light swings, he cut the two glass containers open, and the solution poured out instantly, along with the bodies of Kurosaki Masaki and Katagiri Hae.

Xin first checked their condition. Kurosaki Masaki was fine, but Katagiri Hae's breathing was much weaker.

After a moment's hesitation, Xin used his "Retreat" power to begin restoring the two of them to health.

Masaki Kurosaki was the first to open her eyes, looked at the letter blankly, and found the face to be extremely familiar.

"you……"

(End of this chapter)