Chapter 557 - 557 No After

Whoosh—

Nnoitra's huge sickle flew towards Ashido. Ashido stepped back and sidestepped.

Then Nnoitra pulled the chain, retracting his sickle weapon. He leaped up again, swinging the chain and launching the huge sickle at Ashido.

Ashido stepped back again, avoiding the sickle.

Thus, Nnoitra pressed forward step by step, while Ashido retreated step by step.

Then, as they fought, they gradually moved behind a wall of a Las Noches structure.

Nnoitra leaped into the air again, then suddenly swung the chain.

Whoosh—

The huge sickle, carrying Nnoitra's immense force and the impact of his descent, shot through the air towards Ashido with the force of a thunderbolt.

This time, however, Ashido didn't continue retreating. Instead, he shifted one step to the right, sidestepping Nnoitra's huge sickle.

Boom!!!

After Ashido dodged, Nnoitra's huge sickle slammed into the wall, blasting a large hole through it.

Then Nnoitra pulled the chain, preparing to retract his sickle.

"Hmm!"

After pulling the chain, Nnoitra found his sickle weapon stuck in the hole in the wall. He couldn't smoothly retract it for a moment.

As mentioned earlier, Las Noches's walls are very hard. Even a Captain-class's full-powered attack can only punch a hole. When Nnoitra attacked, his huge sickle carried his full body strength and the kinetic energy of its descent, so it easily blasted a hole in the sturdy wall.

But now, retracting it, Nnoitra only gently pulled the chain, without applying much force. So, the huge sickle stuck in the wall wouldn't come out.

Meanwhile, Ashido had been waiting for this moment.

"Now!"

Ashido suddenly shouted, reached out with his left hand, and grabbed the chain connecting Nnoitra and the huge sickle. He then yanked hard.

Whoosh—

Nnoitra, suspended in mid-air, caught off guard, stumbled and was pulled towards Ashido.

"Your Hierro is hard! But I doubt even your eyes are impenetrable!!"

"Swish—"

With a shout, Ashido thrust his sword towards Nnoitra's left eye, which wore an eyepatch.

Scrape—

Off-balance, Nnoitra couldn't block or dodge Ashido's sword. Ashido's blade easily pierced Nnoitra's eyepatch and penetrated his head.

"Hmm!"

But Ashido, having pierced Nnoitra's head, seemed to sense something. His expression changed.

Ashido said, puzzled, "No! This feeling..."

"How many times do I have to tell you?! Your Shinigami swords can't hurt me!!"

Nnoitra, his head pierced, suddenly shouted, interrupting Ashido. He then closed his left hand's fingers together like a blade and stabbed them into Ashido's body.

Squelch—!!

Nnoitra's hand plunged into Ashido's body.

Then Nnoitra pulled his left hand out with a swish.

Spurt—

Blood gushed from Ashido's body like a fountain.

"Cough, cough... ugh!"

Ashido coughed up blood in large mouthfuls, looking at Nnoitra in disbelief.

"Hmph, hmph... You're confused, aren't you? 'How can someone survive having their head pierced?' That's what you're thinking, right?"

Nnoitra said smugly, then tore off his left eyepatch. "This is why!!"

"What!!!"

Seeing what was under Nnoitra's eyepatch, Ashido's face showed shock.

Where Nnoitra's left eye should have been was a hole going straight through to the back of his head. And it looked like it wasn't made by Ashido's sword... it was pre-existing.

Ashido's sword had pierced Nnoitra's eyepatch and gone straight through the hole, never touching Nnoitra.

"I see... I wondered why I didn't see your Hollow hole. So your left eye is your Hollow hole?"

Ashido smiled bitterly.

"What a shame, Shinigami. If you had stabbed my right eye, you might have actually killed me. After all, no one survives having their head pierced. But your sword never pierced my head. It just went through my Hollow hole!"

Nnoitra mocked.

"Heh, yeah, it is a shame. If only I were left-handed..."

Ashido smiled bitterly, mocking himself.

Ashido was an ordinary, normal right-handed person. He wasn't left-handed. He normally held his sword with his right hand. So, when he swung at Nnoitra, he instinctively aimed for his left eye.

Unfortunately, although Ashido accurately stabbed Nnoitra's left eye, he hadn't expected it to be Nnoitra's Hollow hole. So, not only did he waste the opportunity he had carefully created, but the enemy also took the chance to severely wound him.

"Ah, how disappointing, Shinigami! I thought I'd found a decent opponent and could have a good fight. But is this the limit of your ability?"

Nnoitra said with some regret, then suddenly kicked Ashido away with a bang. He then yanked the chain, finally pulling his huge sickle out of the wall.

"Then, there's no point in continuing this fight. So, I'll just kill you now! Shinigami!!"

Nnoitra pointed his huge sickle at Ashido.

"Heh, it seems I have no choice but to go all out and use that move."

Ashido stood up with difficulty, his expression extremely serious.

"Oh? That sounds like you haven't been using your full strength and are still hiding some special move."

Nnoitra said contemptuously.

Ashido nodded. "Ah, that's right. I do have a special move I haven't used. And if possible, I didn't want to use it. It's not because I look down on your strength or anything. I just wanted to conserve as much power as possible. After all, we're deep in enemy territory, isolated and without support. We have no idea how many enemies we'll face later."

"But now, it seems I can't hold back anymore. Because if I die now, there's no 'later'."