Chapter 267

Chapter 267: Chapter 267

The central chamber exploded around them.

Fire tore through the floor, shattered the remaining platforms, and rushed into every section Benihime had opened during the Bankai.

The blast should have climbed through those exposed structures and brought half the western district down with it.

Kannonbiraki Benihime closed its hands.

One enormous palm sealed around the Daedalus Orb, separating it from the heat before the ancient stone could crack.

Another enclosed Valletta, while the remaining arms opened the explosion itself and forced the pressure into the abandoned shafts surrounding the chamber.

Red seams spread through the fire.

The blast divided along them.

Instead of rising toward Orario, six concentrated waves tore sideways through empty corridors, disposal pits, and ruined workshops. Knossos shook beneath the impact as entire sections collapsed away from the city.

Rayleigh felt every rupture through Benihime.

The strain hit his body all at once.

Blood poured from his nose and mouth, his knees struck the fractured platform, and the hand holding the Zanpakutō nearly opened against his will.

’Hold it together! The others haven’t reached the surface yet!’

The temporary supports above him groaned as the redirected explosion passed beneath them.

Benihime’s giant arms tightened around the damaged pillars, rebuilding the cracks faster than they could spread.

Stone opened, shifted, and closed again while the western streets remained suspended over the destruction.

Valletta screamed from inside the crimson hand holding her.

"You cannot contain this forever! The moment your Bankai fails, the city falls with you!"

Rayleigh coughed blood onto the blade.

"I don’t need forever. I need another ten seconds!"

The last wave of fire entered the western disposal shaft.

Benihime sealed the route behind it.

A deep detonation rolled away from the central chamber, followed by the sound of thousands of tons of abandoned stone collapsing into the lower depths.

The pressure beneath Orario finally stopped rising.

Rayleigh released the temporary supports one at a time.

The streets above settled onto the rebuilt pillars without falling.

Only then did he allow the Bankai to fade.

The colossal woman disappeared into crimson light, leaving Rayleigh kneeling inside the ruined chamber with Benihime planted beside him.

The Daedalus Orb dropped into his waiting hand.

Valletta hit the floor several paces away.

Smoke rose from her clothing, and the black ritual spike had shattered inside her grip.

Benihime had protected her from being vaporized, but the blast had left one side of her face burned and blood running from both ears.

She stared at Rayleigh.

"You saved me again."

"Hell nah, i’m just protecting the Orb."

His voice came out rough.

"You happened to be standing beside it."

Valletta’s expression twisted with hatred.

She pushed herself upright and drew the dagger still hidden beneath her coat.

Rayleigh tried to stand but his legs failed.

Valletta saw it and began laughing through the blood in her mouth.

"There it is! The great Yōtōsai finally reached his limit!"

She crossed the broken platform before Rayleigh could recover.

The dagger came down toward his neck.

Benihime caught it.

The impact drove Rayleigh’s arm lower, but the blade stopped short of his throat.

Valletta leaned her full weight against the weapon.

"You should have killed me when your Bankai had me trapped! You wasted strength rebuilding my body because you still need to believe you are better than the people you fight!"

Rayleigh forced Benihime upward.

"I rebuilt your arms because they were fused to the Orb. Leaving pieces of you attached would have damaged it."

Valletta’s smile disappeared.

Rayleigh twisted the blade and threw her dagger aside.

She kicked him across the chest before he could rise, sending him onto his back near the edge of the shattered platform.

The Orb rolled from his hand.

Valletta dived for it.

Rayleigh raised two fingers.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!"

A rope of yellow energy wrapped around her ankle and pulled tight.

Valletta struck the floor before her fingers reached the Orb, though she immediately rolled onto her back and cut through the binding with her dagger.

"You have nothing left! No power, no friends, and barely enough strength to stand!"

She seized the Orb with her free hand.

Black light flared across its surface.

But nothing answered.

Knossos no longer recognized her.

Valletta struck the Orb with her palm.

"Obey me!"

The ancient stone stayed dark.

Rayleigh pushed himself upright with Benihime.

"You were never its master. The Orb used your hatred as a command because you were willing to let it tear your body apart."

"I made this labyrinth move!"

"You gave it one order."

Rayleigh forced one foot beneath himself.

"Destroy everything."

Valletta clutched the Orb against her chest.

"And it almost worked!"

"No. It almost killed you before I stopped it."

Her face contorted.

She threw the Orb aside and charged.

Rayleigh drew Sakanade from his back.

"Collapse, Sakanade!"

A sweet scent spread through the ruined chamber.

Valletta’s first step carried her sideways instead of forward.

She corrected immediately, but the reversal sent her toward the broken edge. Her dagger struck empty air while Rayleigh remained several paces to her left.

Valletta stopped before falling.

"You already showed me this trick!"

She closed her eyes.

The next attack came without sight.

Valletta followed the sound of Rayleigh’s breathing and swept the dagger toward his ribs.

Rayleigh turned his body, but exhaustion slowed him. The blade cut through his coat and opened a line across his side.

Pain sharpened his thoughts.

Valletta followed with another strike.

Rayleigh blocked it with Sakanade, though the force nearly knocked the Zanpakutō from his hand.

She pressed forward, eyes still closed.

"Reversing my sight means nothing when you are too tired to hide your breathing!"

Rayleigh stepped back from the next thrust and deliberately struck Benihime against the floor behind her.

Valletta turned toward the sound.

Sakanade’s reversal made her move in the opposite direction.

She drove her dagger into empty stone.

Rayleigh crossed the distance and cut through her shoulder.

Valletta screamed as the arm holding the dagger dropped uselessly beside her.

She opened her eyes and immediately lost her balance again.

Rayleigh kicked the weapon into the pit.

"You understood one part of Sakanade and assumed that was enough."

Valletta clutched her bleeding shoulder.

"Then finish it! Kill me and pretend one more corpse makes Orario clean!"

Rayleigh sealed Sakanade.

The shifting directions returned to normal.

Valletta looked toward the Orb lying several paces away.

Her body tensed.

Rayleigh saw the decision before she moved.

"You still think you can reach it?"

"If I cannot have Knossos, nobody will!"

She pulled a second black spike from inside her sleeve.

Valletta threw herself toward the Orb, intending to destroy it before Rayleigh could stop her.

Benihime’s crimson edge entered her back and emerged through her chest.

Valletta stopped.

The spike slipped from her fingers and struck the floor beside the Orb.

Rayleigh stood behind her with both hands around Benihime’s hilt.

"I gave you more chances than you deserved."

Blood ran down Valletta’s chin.

She tried to laugh, but the sound broke apart inside her throat.

"You think this ends Evilus?"

"No."

Rayleigh pulled the blade free.

"It ends you."

Valletta collapsed beside the dead stone eye.

Her hand stretched toward the Daedalus Orb, stopped several inches away, and never moved again.

Rayleigh remained standing long enough to wipe Benihime clean.

Then his legs gave out.

He caught himself beside the Orb and wrapped one arm around it before it could roll toward the pit.

A section of the western wall burst open.

Wind cleared the smoke as Ryuu entered first, followed by Kaguya, Cassandra, and Merek.

Kaguya saw Valletta’s body before finding Rayleigh on the floor.

"You were told not to make me come back for you!"

Rayleigh leaned against Benihime and lifted the Orb slightly.

"I recovered it."

"That was not the part I was concerned about!"

Cassandra rushed to his side and checked the blood spreading beneath his coat.

Yumeutsutsu’s petals gathered around him, their red color slowly returning now that Valletta’s future had ended.

"The city is still standing! I can’t see it falling anymore!"

Merek dropped beside the Daedalus Orb.

He placed both hands against its surface and closed his eyes as pale lines answered his blood.

"It is genuine. The command network has been severed, and Valletta’s control is gone!"

Ryuu looked toward the collapsed shafts surrounding them.

"Can Knossos reactivate without it?"

"Individual traps may still function, but nobody can command the entire labyrinth again. Once we remove the Orb, the central system becomes nothing more than dead stone and isolated machinery."

Kaguya crouched in front of Rayleigh.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes."

He tried to rise and immediately dropped back onto one knee.

Kaguya stared at him.

Rayleigh adjusted his answer.

"Eventually."

Ryuu moved to his other side.

"We have less than three minutes before the route you created closes. Merek carries the Orb, Cassandra leads us through the dream path, and Kaguya and I will carry you."

"I can walk."

Kaguya pulled one of his arms across her shoulders.

"You have lost the right to participate in that decision!"