Chapter 251: Contact
Witnessing light bend around Yamato's oversized kanabo and sensing its incredible power, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hinamori, and Kira didn't even try to block it and instead used Shunpo to take swift, evasive action. The building they had been standing on wasn't as lucky.
BOOM
Though she briefly crashed through the building's roof, disappearing, Yamato quickly came back into view as the shockwave produced by her kanabo striking the ground sent pieces of the building scattering in every direction as shrapnel, accompanied by blinding light and snaking bands of crimson-hued black electricity that seemed to linger for several seconds. When it finally faded, Yamato could be seen shouldering her kanabo with a broad smile and a faint, hemispherical zone of static encompassing the area around her, heavy with the smell of ozone.
"I guess that answers the question about whether they're powerful..." remarked Renji, sporting a broad, toothy grin but with a bead of sweat adorning the right side of his face as he raised his visor to get a look at Yamato directly. She thankfully didn't appear to possess any movement techniques, but her momentum and raw power were absurd.
"We should fight her together," asserted Hinamori, her wearied expression resolute as she drew her Zanpakuto and gripped it with both hands, ready to engage Yamato with her colleagues.
"Everyone else, stay out of this...!" bellowed Ikkaku, his wild, raspy voice tinted with glee as he leaped through the air with his Zanpakuto already in its released state, transforming it from a katana to a long spear with a wax wood haft, a crimson horsehair tassel, and a head resembling the wedged blade of a horse-slaying zanbato.
"Aha! A courageous one has appeared! Tell me, bald warrior, what is your name...!?" cried Yamato, beaming as she swung her kanabo with a single hand to greet Ikkaku as he rapidly spun his Zanpakuto, Hozukimaru, like a helicopter's blade, responding, "Madarame Ikkaku...!" before cutting down to meet her with a two-handed, overhead strike.
KA—KROW
Despite the notable disparity in their sizes, with Ikkaku looking like a child compared to Yamato, their intersecting strike briefly achieved equilibrium with the bald, grinning Shinigami becoming suspended in air and a nearly indistinguishable mixture of Reiatsu and Haki ripped through the area as a shockwave and destructive tendrils of lightning. Unfortunately for Ikkaku, he put his full force and weight into the clash, while Yamato, mirroring his fervor, only used one hand and arm.
"Your strength is outstanding, Ikkaku-dono...!" exclaimed Yamato, the muscles in her right arm visibly swelling from her shoulder down as she added, "But so is mine...!" before redirecting Ikkaku's attack and sending him flying sideways—crashing through a stone wall—without the need for a second swing...
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