Chapter 378 - 377: The Burning Finger
More than a year ago, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, personally led an army into Hueco Mundo. His overwhelming presence alone was enough to shatter the balance of the realm, but when he released Bankai and drew forth his Zanpakutō’s ultimate-form, Zanka no Tachi, the very environment itself bent under its power. The air ignited, the atmosphere boiled, and the entirety of Hueco Mundo seemed to be consumed in an endless sea of fire. The world itself had become an inferno of ultimate heat.
At that time, Harribel was engaged in combat against Amagai Shusuke. The flames of Yamamoto’s Bankai warped reality itself, and Harribel found herself unable to even summon a droplet of water. Her element, which had always been her foundation, was suffocated by the oppressive blaze. Meanwhile, Shusuke, though weakened by the previous Zanpakutō rebellion, benefited from Yamamoto’s flames. The fiery conditions amplified his techniques, and Harribel was pressed into a corner. Her strength was sealed away not by her opponent, but by the merciless environment itself.
Had Mazuru not intervened at that time—defeating Yamamoto Genryusai and leaving the captains of the Gotei 13 gravely wounded—Harribel would have undoubtedly fallen. She knew it. That Bankai’s oppressive world left her without any path to victory. In that battle, her water was reduced to vapor, her power rendered meaningless. It was a humiliation she had not forgotten.
Now, as she stood within the great square of Las Noches facing Bazz-B of the Sternritter, Harribel thought the situation would be different. His ability was fire, yes, but the world itself was not drenched in Yamamoto’s hellfire. Here, in the open expanse of Hueco Mundo, with no artificial inferno smothering her, water flowed freely. She had resolved that this time, she could fight fire with water on her own terms.
But reality mocked her expectations.
The moment the clash began, she realized how mistaken she was. The torrents of water she summoned never reached him. Every time her blade cleaved the air and sent a rushing stream of high-pressure water forward, Bazz-B’s presence alone burned it away. Each of his steps ignited the ground, and from beneath his feet a suffocating heat surged outward, vaporizing her techniques before they could touch him.
The battlefield was soon shrouded in dense white mist, sight smothered in boiling clouds. Harribel gripped the hilt of her massive, shark-tooth patterned weapon tightly, blade gleaming with condensed spiritual pressure. Her instincts screamed danger. The mist rippled. A sudden surge of heat lanced through it, and Harribel responded instantly, swinging her blade in a wide arc.
A rushing torrent burst forth from the shark-gill vents on her weapon, condensing into a high-pressure stream of vapor that sliced through the air like a pressurized water cannon.
At the same time, from within the haze, a blazing column of fire erupted. Bazz-B’s flame clashed against Harribel’s torrent, and the battlefield shook with the force of impact.
The moment water and fire collided, the air screamed. Steam exploded outward, hissing violently as it expanded in all directions. White mist layered upon white mist, swallowing the battlefield whole. For an instant, it was a stalemate. But the balance did not last. Harribel’s torrent sputtered, then gave way. The waterfall collapsed, consumed by Bazz-B’s flame, but at the same time, his fire weakened and broke apart.
Harribel exhaled sharply. She had forced a draw.
But Bazz-B was already on the move.