Chapter 1140 Doors to Hell part 3
Meanwhile, past the 4th door, a rematch was happening.
Soifon blocked the giant axe that swung towards her and sent her flying back.
"Captain!" Marechiyo Omaeda, Soifon's Lieutenant, shouted when he saw this before using Flash Step towards her but he had to stop midway when Soifon shouted back, "Don't leave your position! Cooperate with Ayasegawa to reduce the number of beasts!"
"B-but..."
Soifon turned her attention back to her enemy and smirked, "Leave him to me."
"You couldn't defeat the first time. What makes you think you can do it now?" The stocky muscular man uttered. At first, Soifon wasn't very sure who her opponent was due to his whole head just being a black skull. Soifon only figured out his identity when he took out a large battle axe that had a pair of rounded blades that were black with silver edges with a red slit-eye pendant in the middle of the focal point holding both blades together.
"You really are Baraggan Louisenbairn," Soifon muttered while standing up straight.
"Indeed. Without that Kidou master around you, you have no hope of winning." Baranggan replied with his usual arrogant tone.
Soifon, all of a sudden, disappeared and reappeared beside Barrangan with Suzumebachi's first release on her right hand.
But as if a reenactment of the fight more than a decade ago, Soifon felt something weird the moment before he hit him and Barragan effortlessly dodged her strike with minimal movements and margin. Soifon then saw Baraggan's hand coming after her and used Flash Step to get away.
In response, Baraggan used Sonido to chase after her and it became a game of tag with the former Hollow King trying to touch Soifoi and the latter evading him while considering the strategies she could use against him.
"I never thought I'd see a cowardly Captain like this." Baraggan started taunting Soifon, "What's wrong? Did the war against the Quincies scar you so much that you're unable to fight with your usual courage?"
Soifoi's expression immediately change as anger surfaced on her face, "You bastard!"
Using her Flash Step to appear behind Baraggan and stabbed him with Suzumebachi. But just the same as before, Baraggan was able to dodge with ease and was even able to grab Soifoi's right arm, "How disappointing."
But the moment his ability of decay activated, 'Soifon' popped like a balloon and Baraggan suddenly felt a sting to his right flank, "!?"
Immediately using Sonido to get away, Baraggan saw Soifon calmly standing where he was standing a moment ago.
Despite not being able to tell what expression he was making, Soifon was able to make out his confusion, "Portable Gigai. You must've heard of it. It was that detestable man's favorite trick. But I must say, it's very effective."
The faces of the man and woman who disappeared in the war more than a decade ago resurfaced in Soifon's mind and she couldn't help but be a bit melancholic. A lot of things had changed for her these past few years and she's very glad about these changes as she was not as close-minded as before.
Soifon immediately shook these useless thoughts out of her head and continued speaking, "Don't forget that we had all the time to study you from our previous encounter. You can deploy a field that slows down time for you within your immediate vicinity. It's the reason why we couldn't hit you no matter what. However, I found two limits to this ability of yours."
Soifon disappeared once again and reappeared behind Baraggan. However, Baraggan already heightened his senses and was able to feel another and weaker presence at his side. Slashing his axe towards this weaker presence, Baraggan saw Soifon as expected.
But the moment his axe hit her, 'Soifon' once again popped like a balloon and he felt a similar stinging feeling on his back, "!?"
Baraggan hurriedly escaped with a Sonido again and clenched his teeth, "So the first one was the real one."
Soifon ignored his words and continued her explanation, "The first one is that you obviously can't dodge wide-scale attacks that will hit you regardless of your reaction. The second one is that you can only slow down time for the things you are aware of." Soifon then smirked at him, "The second one is the main reason why you lost against Sousuke Aizen so easily."
For the first time in a long while, Baraggan became angry. It is his lifelong regret that he was not able to get his revenge against Aizen and now this silly Shinigami was now mocking him for it, "Regret ever uttering that name. Rot, Arrogante."
Baraggan immediately became covered with deep black colored Reiatsu and sure enough, his form changed to what Soifon was expecting, but this time, his whole skeleton is ink-black.
Baraggan then raised his skeletal arms and called, "Respira." And a cloud of black and purple miasma radiated out of him before that started making its way toward Soifon. By releasing his true form, he didn't just erase Suzumebachi's marks but also made Soifon not be able to approach him anymore to continue her stings. As far as he knew, Soifon's expertise lies within close combat and didn't have many long-range attacks like Kidous that could reach him aside from her very rigid Bankai.
However, Baraggan was surprised yet again when he saw Soifon still calmly staring at him, unmoving from her position.
"Did you think I didn't prepare for this too?" Soifon's Reiatsu then shot up as if she was activating her Bankai, "While you were rotting here in Hell, I never stopped improving."
A tornado made out of her own Reiatsu covered her before saying, "Mukyuu Shunkou (Tireless Flash War Cry)." Soifon's rushing green and golden Reiatsu then formed four elongated vortexes on her back. The two vortexes on top were larger than the two below it and formed what looks like two pairs of wings.
The miasma finally arrived but it couldn't approach Soifon herself as they were sucked up by the vortexes. Of course, its effect of decaying anything it touched was still there so the 'wind' that deflected it slowed down. However, the vortexes made out of Soifon's Reiatsu were a self-feeding system. The slowed-down 'wind' would return to the center and would be sped up again before returning to the edges.
The miasma was consumed but Soifon's 'wind' continued to move. As long as Soifon had enough Reiryoku to fuel it, these winds would never die out.
"Now then... How would you like to die?" Soifon lowered her body before punching out. Wind gathered around her arm, forming a tornado and blasting away the rotting miasma in front of her, creating a clear path to her opponent.
Baraggan panicked and immediately summoned his Zanpakuto, "Gran Cada!"
Sadly for him, Soifon was also a lot faster than before so before he could even swing it, Soifon had already arrived in front of him using an advanced Flash Step technique called Senka (Flash Blossom), stinging him twice.
The marks Soifon left on Baraggan started shining brightly with her own Reiatsu before they began growing in size.
Thanks to Aizen, Soifon knew the limits of her Suzumebachi, however, Baraggan was not Aizen and she had been improving the amount of the Reiryoku she could hold and she just injected a majority of it into her marks.
Soifon could hear Baraggan's groans and she could feel his Reiatsu destabilizing and knew that her ability had taken effect properly this time.
But at that moment, her communicator resounded again, [To all units, beware! Your opponents can't be killed! I repeat, your opponents can't be killed!]
Soifon's eyes widened in surprise and at the same time, she felt a threat behind her and immediately used Flash Step to get away.
And when she looked back, she saw that Baraggan had just swung his axe with concentrated miasma at her former position. However, what bothered her the most was that most of Baraggan's body has already disintegrated but it was being put together back, "...Black chains?"
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