Korea, Gyeonggi Province, Suseong County.
Deep within a secret underground facility far from the city walls, Kim Woo-bin sat bandaging his wounded arm, the same man who had recently appeared in the Empire of Aetherlight. Where once he had two hands, now only one remained.
"How's the situation?" he asked his subordinates through gritted teeth, pressing cloth against the bleeding stump.
His subordinates exchanged uneasy glances before one whispered, "Leader, the civilians you rescued have been properly accommodated."
A pause hung in the air, heavy with unspoken worry.
"However..." the subordinate continued, voice dropping even lower, "the high-ranking demons in Suseong County are probably aware of our presence."
The Korea Lore Cardians, led by Kim Woo-bin, had always operated on the outskirts of major cities. The city centers belonged to the high-level demons, Master-tier monstrosities that ruled their domains with absolute authority. As a small faction whose strongest members barely reached Gold-level, they knew better than to court death.
Unfortunately, even the most careful plans could go awry. This rescue operation had been discovered at the worst possible moment.
Kim Woo-bin had been forced to remain behind to cover the retreat, and the price he'd paid was written in the bloody bandages wrapped around his right arm, or rather, where his right arm used to be.
"So."
The one-armed leader lowered his eyelids, expression unreadable. No one knew what thoughts churned behind that stoic mask.
After a long silence, he sighed deeply. "Notify everyone. Prepare to move."
His subordinates opened their mouths to protest, but the words died unspoken. They all understood what this meant, abandoning the people still trapped in Suseong County who hadn't been rescued yet.
Kim Woo-bin saw the conflict written plainly on their faces. He knew exactly what they wanted to say. This retreat meant temporarily giving up on those civilians, leaving them to the demons' mercy.
But what else could he do? He could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.
He might be a good man, but he was no saint. Hesitation bred disaster, and he'd learned that lesson the hard way, written in blood and severed limbs.
Just as he opened his mouth to issue further orders, the underground facility suddenly trembled. Dust cascaded from the ceiling in choking clouds as the earth groaned around them.
His expression shifted instantly. "An earthquake?"
The possibility died as quickly as it arose. No, this felt different, more violent, more deliberate.
"Or were we exposed?!"
At that moment, a woman rushed to Kim Woo-bin's side, her face pale with shock and bewilderment. "Leader, an unknown Lore Cardian has raided Seoul!"
She paused, struggling to process what she'd witnessed.
"Based on observation..." Her voice wavered. "It's likely a battle between Master-level beings."
Kim Woo-bin froze mid-motion, his mind immediately jumping to the most logical conclusion about the attacker's identity.
'Huang Ming.'
No, that wasn't right either.
'Benefactor.'
The image of Azrael flashed through his mind, rendering him momentarily speechless.
Then a frown creased his brow as logic reasserted itself. "Are we still near Seoul?"
The question made sense. Seoul had been largely devoid of humans for years, making it pointless to deploy personnel there. To avoid detection by high-level demons, all their bases were located far from the city, at least several kilometers away.
Therefore, what happened in Seoul shouldn't have been discovered so quickly by their scouts.
Confusion flickered across the woman's face, but she answered truthfully. "The report says they witnessed the battle in the city firsthand."
Kim Woo-bin's expression froze in bewilderment.
Elsewhere, Master Tempest and Zero, one human, one demon, clashed in furious combat while simultaneously tracking the standoff between Azrael and Kitsune in the distance.
Faced with this developing situation, their inner thoughts ran in diametrically opposed directions.
Tempest's assessment was simple: 'Compared to his last battle with me, Azrael has gotten stronger.'
Zero's conclusion was equally direct: 'He wants to escape.'
In a split second, Zero deduced Kitsune's true intentions.
This wasn't surprising. Jin and the others had already briefed him extensively on the nine-tailed fox's "glorious" track record of tactical retreats.
Fortunately, Zero had prepared for exactly this possibility.
After exchanging another thunderous blow with Tempest, he used the momentum to fly backward toward Kitsune's position. Under his mental command, the mighty wooden construct regained its footing, looming over the battlefield like an ancient titan.
Swish!
White steam erupted from Kitsune's massive nostrils in twin geysers. The enormous fox lowered his head slightly, peering down at the tiny Zero standing at his paw. His voice boomed across the battlefield. "Switch opponents?"
He assumed Zero was requesting they trade enemies, a tactical repositioning.
However, Zero's response defied all expectations.
The demon simply placed one hand on Kitsune's paw, which was covered in thick white fur.
The next moment, a sharp stinging sensation erupted where they made contact. Kitsune abruptly retracted his paw, eyes widening in alarm.
"Zero."
The demon fox had barely uttered two words before sensing an unknown entity invading his body, foreign, intrusive, spreading through his spiritual pathways like poison.
His once clear eyes instantly turned bloodshot, pupils dilating with fury and disbelief. He roared, voice shaking the very air. "You're trying to trick me?!"
Zero, now visibly weaker and paler than moments before, simply stated in his emotionless monotone, "Prevent escape."
Kitsune bristled at this revelation, rage warring with the sudden understanding of what was happening. He no longer had the energy to argue or retaliate.
Because he'd discovered a new soul within his body.
It belonged to Zero.
Azrael stood in the distance, frowning as he observed the two demons. He murmured softly, "Internal strife?"
But before he could ponder the implications further, Kitsune slammed the ground with his left paw hard enough to crack stone, then lunged forward with explosive force.
Instantly, the massive fox collided with the purple-armored wooden construct once again.
However, from the very first exchange of blows, both Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, who were manipulating the powerful wooden figure through their coordinated control, noticed something drastically different. Kitsune's raw physical power had somehow increased dramatically compared to just moments ago. In pure physical combat, the wooden construct was now being outmatched.
But Lore Cardians never fought alone.
A shrill whistle cut through the air from Kitsune's blind spot. A purple energy sphere slammed into the demon fox's flank with devastating force.
Boom!
Flames erupted into the sky as a violent explosion engulfed half of Kitsune's massive body. The shockwave rippled outward, flattening grass and cracking earth.
The pain only served to unleash Kitsune's berserker fury.
He abandoned the wooden construct before him entirely, pivoting with shocking speed to lunge at Aizen, the true instigator of his suffering.
At this moment, Aizen had evolved to his fourth stage under Kitsune's previous assault, standing only one transformation away from the strongest form depicted in the original Bleach storyline.
Unfortunately, at only the fourth stage, it wasn't nearly enough to face the already frantic and empowered Kitsune.
Azrael frowned as he watched the giant fox attacking Aizen with mindless, savage rage. No strategy, no technique, just pure destructive violence.
Initially, he'd thought the demons were fighting among themselves. But after observing another exchange, the young Lore Cardian overturned that hypothesis.
After all, internal conflict should weaken both parties.
Yet what he'd witnessed suggested something else entirely. While Kitsune's raw strength had indeed increased dramatically, his mental state had deteriorated into complete irrationality. His combat effectiveness had actually declined despite the power boost.
In Azrael's tactical assessment, Zero's actions were completely counterproductive, unless there was a deeper purpose.
Tempest, who was engaging Azrael in long-range combat, shared this puzzlement.
The Master-level Lore Cardian sensed that Zero's condition had declined slightly compared to before, undoubtedly due to whatever had just transpired between the two demons.
"What's the purpose?" both Azrael and Tempest wondered simultaneously, unable to divine their opponents' true strategy.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Aizen had already reached the fifth stage of his Hōgyoku fusion under Kitsune's relentless assault. Six white wings stretched magnificently from his back, each one radiating an otherworldly beauty. Terrifying spiritual pressure permeated the heavens and earth, pressing down on the hearts of every demon present like a physical weight.
Combined with Luffy's Conqueror's Haki radiating outward in waves, some weaker demons, even at considerable distances from the epicenter, collapsed unconscious under the overwhelming aura.
If demons were monsters, then Aizen in his fifth stage transcended even that classification, monstrous in both strength and increasingly alien appearance.
At this stage, Aizen could finally engage the enraged Kitsune head-on without being instantly overwhelmed.
Deep purple radiation continuously shot from the six wing-tips toward the giant demon fox, each blast carrying devastating force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Massive explosions erupted throughout the area, shockwaves spreading in all directions and scorching the earth black.
However, while these attacks inflicted pain on Kitsune, they were unable to truly injure him or slow his assault.
"This will probably drag on for quite a while," Azrael muttered, eyes flickering as he observed the battle. His summoned cards now surrounded the rampaging fox demon, coordinating their attacks. "But what benefit does this bring them?"
"It's merely buying time."
The young man doubted Zero and Kitsune would resort to such a seemingly futile tactic without good reason.
At that moment, his expression froze as a thought struck him like lightning.
'Wait.'
If he wanted to analyze the demons' motives, the logical approach was to determine who would benefit from this situation.
Considering that both Master-level demons had come to Korea under direct orders from the City Within a City organization, the beneficiaries became obvious.
Finally, if both Azrael and Tempest were kept occupied in Korea for an extended period, what would be the consequences back home?
The Empire of Aetherlight would be left with only three high-tier defenders: the old one, Master Lucian, the female one, Fujimaru, and the weakened one, Lord Lioren.
This situation represented an opportunity not to be missed for Jin and whatever schemes he was orchestrating.
Upon reaching this realization, Azrael shouted urgently to Tempest across the battlefield. "Master Tempest, something terrible might happen to the Empire!"
As soon as those words left his mouth, Tempest, currently engaged in fierce combat with Zero, quickly grasped the strategic implications. His expression changed dramatically.
Seeing his mastermind's scheme exposed so quickly, Zero's barely-visible features showed the slightest ripple of emotion before his attacks intensified with renewed ferocity.
But Tempest no longer had any interest in continuing this fight. After deflecting several more attacks, he seized an opening to disengage from Zero's assault and flashed back to Azrael's side in a blur of motion.
"Azrael, what should we do next?" the middle-aged Master frowned, lowering his voice as he sought the younger man's tactical assessment. "Even if we want to retreat, they definitely won't let us go easily."
"I'll stay and cover the retreat."
Both of them understood that simply ignoring Zero and Kitsune to flee wasn't an option. The demons wouldn't passively allow such an escape, and even if they managed to break away temporarily, the two Master-level demons could still wreak havoc within the Empire's borders.
Only two realistic options remained: either fight to the bitter end, defeating these two Master-level demons before returning to the Empire, or one person stayed behind alone to tie down both demons while the other rushed back to defend their homeland.
Facing the weakened Zero and the irrational Kitsune, Tempest felt confident he could manage the situation if he remained.
Just as Azrael lowered his head, rapidly calculating alternative solutions, Zero suddenly spoke two words from atop Kitsune's back, "What a shame."
With those cryptic words, he vanished, his physical form dissolving like mist.
In the same instant, Kitsune's aura surged dramatically upward.
Within just a few heartbeats, the pressure exerted by the giant fox on Azrael surpassed even what he'd experienced during his battle against Tempest.
Witnessing this transformation, the young man sighed softly. "Master Tempest, it seems they haven't given us a choice after all."
Zero had somehow merged completely with Kitsune, fundamentally altering the tactical situation and leaving them with only the second option.
If both Azrael and Tempest chose to remain together to siege the fused demon, their enemy would undoubtedly resort to guerrilla tactics, fighting, retreating, fighting again, dragging out the conflict indefinitely while the Empire remained vulnerable.
Recognizing this reality, Azrael turned to face Tempest directly. His expression turned serious, voice firm with resolve. "Leave this to me. Master Tempest, you should return to the Empire first."
To dispel any concerns, he added with quiet confidence, "Master Tempest, you know my mobility capabilities. Don't worry, if things truly go wrong, I'll just retreat. I'm not foolish enough to die here."
Azrael was genuinely confident in his current strength. Even if Kitsune had been strengthened by Zero's fusion, he believed he could achieve victory.
After all, he'd defeated Tempest without even using Aizen. If he couldn't defeat the merged Kitsune even with Aizen's power at his disposal, wouldn't that mean his strength had actually decreased? The logic didn't add up.
Having laid out his reasoning, Tempest naturally had no grounds to refuse.
He silently patted Azrael's shoulder, a gesture conveying trust, respect, and unspoken worry, then disappeared from the battlefield in a flash of movement.
Seeing that he now stood alone, Azrael released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Relief mixed with anticipation coursed through him.
Then he cast his gaze toward Kitsune, who was howling at the sky in the distance, voice echoing with newfound power.
No, it shouldn't be called Kitsune anymore. Looking at the latest identification information provided by Shiraori's analysis ability, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
[Name: Kitsune (Zero)]
[Title: Perfect Fox]
[Level: Master]
[Available Drop Material: Disaster Demon Fox]
Despite the change in name and title, the drop material remained [Disaster Demon Fox], unchanged and waiting to be claimed.
With Kitsune's fusion with Zero complete, the demon fox's sanity had returned. However, he was no longer in control of his own body, a passenger in his own flesh.
The demon fox growled inwardly, nearly gnashing his teeth hard enough to crack them. "Zero, I'll remember this humiliation!"
"I'll make amends later," Zero's voice echoed within their shared consciousness, emotionless as ever.
In this critical moment, Zero could only temporarily yield minor control to placate the giant fox's fury.
Hearing that compensation would be provided after their mission concluded, Kitsune temporarily suppressed his discontent and rage.
Then, feeling the immense power coursing through their merged body, power that transcended anything either had possessed individually, the fox realized his condition had never been better.
Looking at Azrael, who now stood as the only opponent remaining on the battlefield, Kitsune felt a predatory growl building in his throat.
At this moment, all of Azrael's summoned cards stood on full alert, battle-ready.
Kurosaki Ichigo had already entered the Mugetsu state, his final, most powerful transformation. Aizen stood only a single step away from achieving his sixth and final stage of Hōgyoku fusion.
However, considering the need to return to the Empire immediately after defeating this merged demon, Azrael's cards couldn't yet fully reveal all their trump cards. He needed to maintain some reserves for whatever awaited him back home.
The battle resumed with explosive intensity.
Aizen struck first, spiritual pressure erupting from his body in visible waves.
Four massive circles of purple spiritual energy instantly materialized around the demon fox, attempting to cage him.
Kitsune, sensing the threatening aura emanating from those energy rings, immediately attempted to break free with brute force.
But Aizen wasn't fighting alone, he never had been.
As Aizen unleashed his technique, a massive red Myōjinmon gate descended from the sky like divine judgment, attempting to pin down and restrain the demon fox.
Unfortunately, Kitsune, now merged with Zero and empowered beyond his previous limits, was no longer the same opponent. With seemingly minimal effort, he shattered Myōjinmon's containment.
The next moment, he broke through the physical spiritual pressure created by Aizen's technique and surged toward the brown-haired man with unstoppable momentum.
Aizen didn't dodge. Instead, the other cards on the battlefield simultaneously launched their own attacks at Kitsune, completely unconcerned about potentially hitting their ally. The coordination was absolute, the timing perfect.
Faced with this suicidal-seeming assault pattern, the two demons united in one body felt an ominous premonition crawl up their spine.
Boom!
A terrifying explosion suddenly engulfed everyone, demon and summoned card alike, as various energies collided and spread in catastrophic waves across the battlefield.
However, as the energy dissipated and visibility returned, a massive sphere of interwoven tails appeared before everyone's eyes.
Just like during the previous battle on the Velkairos coast, Kitsune had once again used his nine tails to wrap himself in a protective ball. Now, with Zero's blessing enhancing his defenses, that protection had been greatly strengthened, nearly impenetrable.
But at this moment, Kitsune had no attention to spare for such trivial defensive maneuvers.
Because something far more important was happening on the battlefield.
A column of purple spiritual pressure, now so dense it had become nearly solid and tangible, rose from the ground, piercing through the clouds in the sky above.
The air itself began to blur and distort under the immense pressure, emitting a silent, keening wail.
Amidst the suddenly silent battlefield, an arrogant male voice rang out, dripping with confidence and barely-contained power.
"I'm grateful, little fox. Thanks to you, I've reached this truly perfect state ahead of schedule."
"Next, let me fully experience this power."
The speaker was a man with long brown hair flowing past his shoulders. Three pairs of silver-white wings hovered majestically behind him, and purple spiritual energy like flowing stars constantly circulated across his body, creating patterns of light and shadow.
Sōsuke Aizen, sixth stage of Hōgyoku fusion.
True perfection achieved.