Bab 37: The Battle Above(2)

The Reishi constantly gathered and swirled around Albrecht's hand until he suddenly grabbed it. The Reishi then transformed into something resembling a Zanpakutō, however its blade and handle were black, and the guard was replaced with the manji character.¹

"How do you have that? Isn't that Ichigo's Bankai?"

Albrecht suddenly started to fly towards Uryū which caused him to panic a little as he was much faster than before. He quickly summoned an arrow and fired another barrage at his enemy.

"Licht Regen."

Despite trying his best to deflect them, Albrecht got hit a couple times, but even then he persisted to a terrifying degree. Once he finally reached Uryū, he swung his blade at him, only for it to be blocked by Uryū's blut.

"Yes! This weapon is perfect for me! It feels the best in my hands!"

Albrecht then grabbed the blade with two hands, and the force of his attack doubled in strength, causing it to slide down Uryū's sleeve, cutting it away while revealing the veins of blut traveling down his arm.

Uryū elbowed him in the back of the head, before quickly backing away from him, and then fired another barrage of arrows, which Albrecht tried to defend against.

"That was my fourth Licht Regan and he is still performing as if he was never hit in the first place? He's almost as resilient as Kenpachi."

Suddenly, a small cut spread across his arm that had blood spill out of it a little.

"He broke through my Blut vene too?"

He then took notice of the incredibly thin strings of Reishi that flew high into the Sky. They joined together in a poll that appeared to be using Albrecht like a puppet.

"He's using Ransōtengai!"

Albrecht continued to advance towards Uryū at an alarming rate, however he had devised a new plan. Ransōtengai was a technique that utilised strings made of Reishi to puppet the body in scenarios where it was unable to move normally. It's a dangerous technique which made it so that a Quincy could fight until the end. Uryū planned on utilising Albrecht's recklessness to destroy those strings, and hoping that he would be too exhausted to make new ones.

"STOP RUNNING AND FACE ME ISHIDA!"

Once Albrecht reached Uryū for the last time, he made another powerful swing hoping to end it all.

Uryū tried to block it with his bow, but was instead pushed downwards. He got physically stronger in such a small time frame, but how?

He then noticed Reishi which was pumping through Albrecht's veins. This wasn't Blut Vene, but Blut Arterie, a Blut not for defence but offense.

As he was pushed down, Uryu fired two arrows in quick succession. Both missing Albrecht completely.

"Your not as smart as make yourself look."

But then suddenly he felt his body stop moving and weaken quickly. He turned back around and saw that the control piece of his Ransōtengai was destroyed. He drifted into unconsciousness as his body started to fall towards the earth.

Uryū breathed a heavy sigh of relief seeing that it was finally over. But unfortunately, his 8 years without a proper fight finally catch up on him as he felt a blade pierce through his back.

He coughed up some blood, as he saw a still injured Albrecht holding the fake Tensa Zangetsu which was currently wedged inside him.

Uryu looked back up and saw the fake Albrecht which he just beat, slowly disintegrate into blue light.

"A Reishi clone? How did I-??"

The blade then quickly slashed out of him, almost cutting him in half. He felt his mind drift into a deep sleep as he quickly lost a great amount of blood. No amount of Reishi stitching could fix the damage which was done to him.

Now it was him who was plummeting to the earth as well as his death.

"Uryū Ishida," Albrecht said. "As the first fragment that I've recovered, I will remember you for as long as I live. Thank you."

Just before fully falling into a permanent sleep, he stretched his hand out towards Albrecht who watched him from above.

"That's right... I still have my pride as a Quincy to maintain..."

And Albrecht now found himself falling towards the earth while Uryū watched him from above. It wasn't just that, but the life threatening injury and even damage to clothing, which he delt to Uryū, had somehow been transferred to himself.

"The Shcrift that was engraved onto my soul is, 'A' the 'Antithesis'. I can choose two targets and reverse anything that happens in-between them. Just now I swapped not just our positions, but some of the events which happened between us, and made it so that the one was attacked from behind wasn't me but you."

As Albrecht fell closer towards the earth, his shadow slowly become more and more visible. Just before he hit the ground, his shadow expanded before promptly devouring him.

Uryū who witnessed this felt a little disturbed. He was surprised to see that Albrecht could even create portals out of his shadows just like Yhwach could. He tried to sense for his spiritual pressure, but he had completely vanished.

"I should tell Urahara about this."

Meanwhile at Tachibana's hideout

Tachibana watched the entire battle from a monitor while eating some popcorn. Suddenly he remembered that he had something important to do, and decided that it was best to start now.

"Sakugo, help me move your siblings. I think it's about time that we wake them up now."

Sakugo who was surprised at his sudden declaration then asked.

"I thought that you couldn't?"

"I'm going to toss'em in the Dangai. Time passes by slower in there, so if we wait out here, the necessary time for growth will pass us by in a flash."

Sakugo was really amazed at his keen intelligence and ingenuity. But at the same time a doubt started to form in her mind.

"Why only now?"

"I'm glad you asked! An insider told me that the Soul Societies Senkaimon has been destroyed. Since they can't access the Dangai anymore, they won't be able to reach me even if I pass through there. Although they will find out that I'm alive again, it's still a good trade off if it means cultivating your siblings."

He got up and started to make his way towards the 2 giant containers which still housed unrecognisable organisms inside them. Tachibana tried to lift one up, but struggled quite a bit.

Then strangely, they both began to levitate out of place, while all the pipes which were connected to them ripped apart. Sakugo just smiled as she used her Fullbring abilities to lift them out of place.