Seeing the disturbance in the seawater, Katerea's expression changed slightly, and she immediately retreated!
The very next second.
An invisible sonic attack took advantage of the exploding seawater and shot straight at Katerea!
Katerea narrowed her eyes slightly as a pure magic circle formed around her body, letting out a sharp clang as it blocked all the sonic waves.
The sonic wave ability was indeed a bit unusual, but...
No matter how bizarre the ability, it couldn't make up for the absolute difference in power.
Besides...
Katerea had already seen plenty of strange abilities in the main world.
However...
The sudden burst of power from Tosen Kaname still took Katerea by surprise.
In her eyes, the previous Tosen was just about on par with an Ultimate-Class Demon.
Even now, he was still only at that level—but the spiritual pressure in his body had tripled!
Was it some kind of transformation ability that boosted strength?
Seeing Tosen's increasingly inhuman appearance, Katerea began to form a vague theory.
Still...
She wasn't too shocked.
After all the battles and observation, she had long noticed the peculiarities of this world.
Whether it was the Arrancars or the two Shinigami who suddenly showed up...
As long as their swords changed, the spiritual pressure within them surged dramatically.
Even...
This Tosen seemed to have some second-stage release of Bankai.
Hmm...
A second-stage transformation?
And now he's using it again?
Katerea had grown a bit numb to it.
This guy...
How many more transformations does he have?
Couldn't he just use the final form from the start?
She was getting tired of watching it!
Katerea stared at Tosen with a doubtful look on her face.
Still...
"This should be the limit…"
Far off in the distance, Aizen who had been observing Tosen's Hollow state, gave his judgment.
If Tosen were to push further and attempt the Resurrección, his body would likely collapse before he could stabilize it.
Right now, he lacked the strength to control such power.
This was his limit...
Aizen, expressionless, gave Tosen his final evaluation.
He could clearly see the gap between Tosen and Katerea Leviathan.
That was...
A fundamental gap in energy!
Or rather...
In Aizen's eyes, Katerea Leviathan stood on a completely higher tier compared to Tosen.
So...
Tosen's defeat was inevitable.
But...
He had done enough.
Tosen had done a good job.
Aizen withdrew his gaze and shifted his attention back to Midoriko.
He could also sense that the shrine maiden in front of him had a clear gap in strength compared to Katerea.
But...
In his eyes, she was even more troublesome.
That ability targeting the soul...
If he was careless, even he might suffer serious consequences.
In a world full of spirit particles, for such an ability to exist...
It was truly...
Contradictory.
But...
It was convenient for him.
Aizen suddenly let out a low chuckle, his expression full of confidence.
"Be careful. I'm about to attack."
With a calm voice, he gave a warning.
The next moment.
His figure vanished from the sky!
Midoriko's pupils shrank. She could clearly feel a gust of wind rushing toward her from behind!
Buzz—
Without warning, a golden barrier suddenly rose around her!
Ding!
A crisp clash rang out!
Aizen's Zanpakuto struck the barrier and paused slightly.
Immediately after, several golden talismans with obscure runes shot out from the barrier!
Aizen narrowed his eyes slightly, used a flash step to put some distance between them, then raised his hand.
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō."
As soon as the words were spoken.
A beam of golden lightning burst forth from his palm!
Boom!!
The explosion echoed through the sky and earth!
The moment the golden talismans were hit by the lightning beam, they were instantly annihilated!
Even so, the beam didn't lose its momentum and slammed hard into Midoriko's barrier!
Buzz—
The golden barrier trembled violently from the massive impact!!
Midoriko furrowed her brows and quickly raised her hand to reinforce it!
A few seconds later...
The lightning beam dissipated, and the trembling barrier gradually calmed down.
Seeing this—
Midoriko let out a soft breath of relief, but...
Her gaze toward Aizen had clearly changed.
Although his identity as the King of Hueco Mundo and the way the other Espadas treated him already showed he wasn't ordinary...
It wasn't until facing him head-on that one could truly feel how powerful he was!
Even...
Midoriko's gaze slowly shifted toward the sword in Aizen's hand.
That plain-looking blade seemed unremarkable.
But...
After learning about Zanpakuto, she understood the mechanics behind it.
Shikai and Bankai...
And Aizen hadn't even released his Zanpakuto yet.
"Phew..."
Midoriko exhaled slowly, eyes turning resolute.
She and Aizen weren't on the same level.
But...
It wasn't completely hopeless.
With her ability to attack the soul directly, she might still have a way.
Thinking this, Midoriko tightened her grip on the golden chain in her hand as she looked at Aizen.
"Oh?"
Seeing her determined stance, Aizen paused for a moment, then smiled slightly and said:
"Really..."
"Nice expression."
That haughty tone again...
Midoriko narrowed her eyes and said coldly, "Bind!"
Crash—
The golden chain in her hand suddenly came to life, extending rapidly and shooting toward Aizen!
Clang clang—
Aizen moved slightly, lightly swinging his Zanpakuto to block all the chains with ease.
But...
Whoosh—
A sharp slicing sound rang in his ears!
In the void, golden chains appeared without warning!
Aizen remained calm, as if he had expected it. "This is your secret move?"
Raising his head to face the torrent of golden chains flying toward him, he muttered softly.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū."
(To be continued.)