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The red-haired Shinigami narrowed his eyes slightly, then let out a laugh.
"How interesting. A mere handful of people actually think they can go to war against us?"
"What exactly is giving you this much confidence?"
He stepped forward, pointing the serrated long blade in his hand ahead.
"Everyone of the Nie Kingdom, draw your blades! It seems we've been underestimated!"
These few sentences echoed across the battlefield.
In an instant, from among the tens of thousands of Shinigami, figures began stepping forward one after another, drawing their long swords with indifferent expressions.
Then, under the shocked gazes of the Masked Legion, Li Yuanli, and the others, these figures shouted two words in unison:
"Bankai!!"
At that moment, immense Reiatsu erupted explosively.
Terrifying currents of spiritual pressure ran wild, twisting Reiatsu particles into a dazzling chaos like multicolored lights.
A single glance was enough to make one's scalp go numb.
There were actually hundreds of them!!
"You've got to be kidding me…"
"H-Hey, I'm not dreaming, right?!"
"So many people who have already mastered Bankai, what the hell is going on here?!"
Li Yuanli and the others widened their eyes in disbelief. Even Hirako Shinji and the others, who had only just arrived, were equally stunned.
In the entire Soul Society, how many people were there in total?
And among them, how many had mastered Bankai and reached Vice-Captain level?
Yet here alone, there were already hundreds. This horrifying situation made everyone's souls tremble.
It was almost impossible to comprehend. Cold sweat broke out on Urahara Kisuke's forehead. Suddenly, his whole body trembled as he thought of an answer terrifying enough to make him break into a deeper sweat.
"The Hōgyoku! It's the Hōgyoku!!"
He suddenly raised his head, staring at the hundreds of Shinigami who had stepped out from the crowd. Their forms varied, but without question, all of them had broken past their limits, mastered Bankai, and reached Vice-Captain or even Captain-class levels.
Li Yuanli's eyes flickered nervously, his expression extremely tense.
His gaze grew grave as he muttered:
"It's spiraled out of control. That bastard has completely thrown this world's balance into chaos and sent it into runaway collapse!"
Only that explanation could account for the scene before him.
The total number of Captain-class and Vice-Captain-class combatants in all of Soul Society didn't even exceed the number currently gathered here.
"Kenpachi Chengdui is too insane!!" Li Yuanli's expression was incomparably solemn.
He was simply a madman.
Not only had he cooperated with Aizen, but before even conquering this world, he had already done something this utterly deranged.
Even more terrifying, Li Yuanli realized that the lunatic was about to begin his final offensive.
Rather than carefully building up strength step by step, establishing a massive power, advancing civilization, and then launching a national invasion, he had instead recklessly wagered everything, directly staking all his fate on a full-force assault.
"That idiot Aizen is actually helping him. He's only accelerating this world's destruction!" Li Yuanli said gravely, his heart pounding violently.
All of this he had deduced and judged in a single instant. But what became even clearer was that they were all in grave danger today.
The enemy had clearly come with the intention of capturing all of them in one stroke.
"Today, our only objective is the Hōgyoku. You're merely incidental targets to be dealt with along the way. So don't think too highly of yourselves." The red-haired Shinigami sneered coldly.
In this operation, the only thing that had surprised him was the presence of a King among the enemy.
But it didn't really matter.
At most, it just meant the fight would be a bit more troublesome.
Nothing more.
At that moment, Kenpachi Zaraki raised his Zanpakutō and pointed it forward.
"Enough of your yapping!! Talking with blades, that's a man's true romance! You lot have gotten my blood boiling!"
His face was wild with battle mania, radiating intense killing intent. He violently swung his Zanpakutō forward, releasing an enormous blade aura.
Buzz!
The air trembled.
The surrounding Shinigami quickly leaped away to dodge.
Kenpachi Zaraki was incomparably domineering and equally savage.
At this very moment, he charged directly into the mass of Shinigami, facing countless attacks alone.
"Kill him!!"
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Shinigami rushed him with Zanpakutō drawn.
"Ha! Come on!"
"Today, let me enjoy a proper battle!"
Kenpachi Zaraki held his blade in one hand as immense Reiatsu erupted from his entire body, crushing forward like a tidal wave.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
In a flash, several Zanpakutō had already struck his body.
Yet they were all blocked outside his flesh by his terrifyingly dense Reiatsu barrier, unable to inflict even the slightest injury.
Instead, Kenpachi Zaraki slowly turned his head and stared at the Shinigami who had attacked him.
His neck cracked loudly as he twisted it.
"Were you just scratching my itch?"
His immense Reiatsu pressed outward.
His tall, burly frame instantly generated overwhelming pressure upon the four or five Shinigami who had just slashed him.
Cold sweat streamed down their foreheads.
Fear filled their faces.
Some of them were so pressured they couldn't even move their bodies.
"Let me return the favor with a slash of my own, basic courtesy!" A low voice drifted from Kenpachi Zaraki's mouth as he swung his blade in a broad, powerful arc.
Slash!
This strike cut across the chests of the four or five Shinigami before him, causing blood to spray as they let out miserable screams.
Bloody, brutal, savage, Kenpachi Zaraki's fighting style was displayed to its fullest right from the start.
"Kenpachi Zaraki, the trash defeated by my king. Eliminate him!" The red-haired Shinigami said coldly.
Immediately, three figures drifted out from behind him and rushed straight toward Kenpachi Zaraki.
"Zaraki is too impulsive. Go support him!" Urahara Kisuke said gravely.
The cane in his hand suddenly shattered apart, revealing his Zanpakutō. His figure flashed as he charged straight into the battlefield.
"At this rate, we might really die here! That bastard is way too insane." Li Yuanli cursed loudly, his gaze turning icy cold.
He violently swung his Zanpakutō, and a vast surge of Reiatsu exploded outward in an instant.
"Bankai!!"
With a loud shout, even the surrounding time and space seemed to twist at that very moment, as rolling pressure spread in all directions.
Silver streams of light scattered, danced, and coiled around him like silver flames rising and falling.
His entire body was engulfed within them.
When everything settled, Li Yuanli appeared before everyone once more.
But now, his appearance had completely changed.
A silver robe covered his entire body.
His hair was bound and pierced through by a strange star-jade hairpin, with several loose bangs falling down.
His handsome face looked incomparably cold and detached.
As for his Zanpakutō, it had transformed into a narrow, slender blade, with layers of bizarre star-rings wrapped around its edge.
"Time's Cry! Let me bring you into battle and unleash your true power!"
His eyes were cold and indifferent.
At this moment, Li Yuanli had fully released his true majesty and strength.
This transformation stunned everyone present.
"What terrifying pressure! What's with this brat? Since when did he master Bankai?!"
Kenpachi Zaraki slashed down a Shinigami in front of him, then turned to look at Li Yuanli, his pupils shrinking.
"Xiao Lili is actually this strong? Then maybe we really do have a chance!" Urahara Kisuke narrowed his eyes into slits as his Zanpakutō trembled.
"Bankai!"
Everyone present had now released their strongest combat power, preparing for a final desperate battle! At the same time, from within the Nie Kingdom's Shinigami army, more Shinigami figures stepped forward with icy expressions.
Dividing into several groups, they slowly closed in around them.
In barely a dozen breaths, the group was already completely surrounded at the center.
"So we've been encircled." Li Yuanli muttered.
"Then let's fight!"
His long blade trembled as Time's Cry burst forth with silver light and was suddenly swung outward.
"Feel the chaos of time and space, you trash!"
"In the presence of a King… You will all kneel!"
(End of Chapter)