Chapter 1218 Constellations of Magic

As Furoufushi was being engulfed in flames, Chigiri knew that she could just stack a bunch of healing Kidou to survive so he prepared another set of spells to finish her off.

He was about to unleash it when he felt the Reiatsu around Furoufushi increase for a bit, 'This increase... It's her puny Zanpakuto.'

As Chigiri expected, she heard her struggling voice within the raging flames, "Bankai! Shackled Shrine Maiden: Seeking the Collapse of Cosmic Strife, Supreme General of the Sacred Stars."

Blasting away the flames, Furoufushi, while being showered by rays of small lights, donned an intricate ceremonial kimono in the deepest shade of indigo, adorned with celestial motifs that evoke the constellations and patterns resembling sacred stars that shine eternally. In her hand is a simple wooden stick with intricately folded paper attached to the tip of it.

Her eyepatch burned off and in her normally empty eye socket appeared an eye with a jet black sclera and a pure white shining four-point star-like iris that didn't appear to have any pupil in the middle of it.

She appeared to be burned all over but it was rapidly healing as what looked like constellations of stars revolved around her.

But upon seeing this grandiose appearance that makes it look like the whole world is giving her the blessing, Chigiri could only smirk at it, "Why release your Bankai which is deemed to be the most useless one in history? From what I heard, no one stole that title from you till this day."

All this time, Chigiri has been on guard against her Shikai which allows her to cast like there are three of her. One Furoufushi is already terrifying enough but three of them are a nightmare for him. He wanted to finish her off before she released her Shikai, but who would have thought that she'd directly release her Bankai that only calls upon constellations to do a little show and use some minor ability like 'increased stamina, agility, or strength'.

"Have you gone insane? Your Bankai isn't just useless but also doesn't follow your will. Don't tell me you've forgotten that it won't go away unless the people you've designated as enemies are gone?"

The stars that are connected to each other and revolving around Furoufushi disappeared as she finished healing herself, "Thank you for the reminder and I certainly didn't forget."

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Claire had already left while Kisuke, Serafall, Tanis, and Kunou remained to watch everything that was happening and react accordingly in case something outside of expectations occurred. They were currently watching Chika and Nobutsuna's fight.

"...Those are all real?" Serafall asked in shock seeing Chika multiplied a hundred times and saw one of them being obliterated into mangled flesh and blood by Nobutsuna who became desperate.

"Yes." Kisuke nodded, "His Bankai allows him to have a thousand copies of himself with each having its own mind but all are connected by a single will. Although he could only materialize a hundred of them at a time and he can't use Kidou or other special class spells with it, there are still essentially a hundred of Shihouin Chika present."

"But that's not the most amazing part of it." Kisuke continued while watching another 'Chika' being killed but replaced by a new one, "Among them, there are no fake Chika's."

Serafall was stunned and understood what Kisuke was trying to say, "...Wait... If there are no fakes, then there's also no concept of 'real' among them. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"That's right. All of them are him. As long as one of them is alive, he is alive.", answered Kisuke, "This is the reason why he focused on stealth and information-gathering missions. It's just very suited for him."

At that moment, another change happened and Kisuke turned to another direction.

"Shackled Shrine Maiden, huh?" Kisuke muttered to himself, "I won't ask why someone like her is a shrine maiden but what a strange Bankai. I haven't really seen a Bankai that makes its user weaker than her Shikai. Even Soifon-san's Bankai is not like this."

"So it's really just what I've read from the files? Nothing more than a few enhancements depending on the constellation summoned?" Serafall asked while also rubbing her chin, "But this ability... I have a feeling there's more to it than that."

Kisuke grinned and said, "Right? I think Kunou-chan here managed to see that as well."

Kunou's tails swayed in pride when her name was mentioned. As Kisuke has said, she indeed noticed this when she came to pick her up and assisted her to learn more about it, "Shackled Shrine Maiden. It's a very fitting name. Because of this world's Kidou system, she ended up crippling herself."

Tanis looked at them confusedly and inquired, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Magic Formation Art." Kunou gave her the answer.

However, Tanis only tilted her head to the side which made Kunou sigh, "You should really listen to theoretical classes."

"Ehh~~~ But those are too boring... and too hard."

"Then you should at least remember what I'm referring to." Kunou pointed in the direction of Furoufushi. At the same time, Furoufushi waved her gohei which is a stick with intricately folded paper at the tip of it and eight constellations appeared in the sky and started circling Chigiri and his flowers.

"Magic Formation Art is a technique that uses smaller and simpler Magics to form much more complicated and stronger Magics."

Even though Tanis was uninterested, she's not stupid and instantly understands what Kunou was implying with just a few clues in hand. She became serious and turned her head to Furoufushi who already formed a giant Magic Circle that was connected to eight constellations in the sky.

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"W-what?" Chigiri looked up in disbelief at the imposing sight but when he saw a giant mass of land emerging from the Magic Circle, horror filled his eyes as he realized what Furoufushi was trying to do.

Gritting his teeth, Chigiri refocused his spells on the mass of land that was about to drop on him while also preparing to dodge.

But before he could even move, he heard Furoufushi's amused voice, "Have you forgotten? I can call upon 88 constellations in total."

Before he could notice it, Chigiri was already surrounded by another eight constellations on the ground. The next instant, another giant Magic Circle appeared, this time, under his feet, "I-Impossible! What is it t---!?"

Chigiri wasn't able to finish his words when he was suddenly smacked to the ground with half of his face instantly caving in, '...What?' It took him a split second to realize that he was lying on the ground with his whole body broken. In his remaining eye, he saw his flowers dropping down like wilted and lifeless leaves, '...What?'

"How does it feel to stand... Or lay down in 50x gravity? Nah... Actually, don't answer. I don't want to remember it." Chigiri could hear Furoufushi's casual voice as the summoned mass of land dropped on him, taking away his senses.