Chapter 263: Shin’uchi, Schrift ‘A: Antithesis’
The hammer struck again and again.
A deafening 'clang' echoed with each hit.
The female Zanpakutō spirit, with a red crest on her head, was drenched in sweat. Her legs trembled as they pounded the ground. Her eyes were nearly crossed, her mind completely blank, as she became nothing more than a tool to spew flames.
This was unlike any of her previous experiences.
Normally, when helping her master forge a Zanpakutō, the process didn’t take long—just a few hours at most. The flames she produced didn’t need to be of such high quality, nor did the heat need to be this intense or refined.
But this time...
The process had stretched on for an entire day. The temperature had to be incredibly high, and even the slightest impurity had to be avoided.
Ōetsu Nimaiya wasn’t faring much better than his Zanpakutō spirit. His body had long since stopped sweating; he had run out of fluids hours ago, and now the intense heat was burning away the fat in his body.
He had collapsed multiple times.