"Damn it…"
"His Majesty's clone… that Uncle Zangetsu! He really was a traitor! He actually handed over all of that power…"
"Completely—into Ichigo Kurosaki!"
"If we'd known from the start it would end like this… His Majesty would definitely regret not killing Ichigo Kurosaki sooner, right?"
At that moment—
Inside the Ice Crystal Palace.
The pure-blood Quincies were wailing in despair.
They stared at the screen-filling, blood-red furnace flames, and every single one of them felt their hearts seize up, their eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
Even now—
The third-generation Zangetsu still hadn't fully revealed itself on-screen to the audience.
And yet…
Even through the screen, the powerhouses of the Wandenreich—
Including Haschwalth and the others—
Could all clearly sense the ultimate, crushing oppression being transmitted from within those flames.
Obviously…
That was the aura of the third-generation Zangetsu!
This divine weapon—before it was even "born"—was already terrifying beyond measure!
It was practically fused with the entire space of the Soul King's Palace, carrying a level of spiritual pressure that belonged to the Soul King's tier—an overwhelmingly vast and violent power!!!
— — —
Meanwhile—
Under the fearful, wary, and conflicted gazes of all the pure-blood Quincies—
In the video itself…
Oetsu Nimaiya's voice rang out again:
"Ichigo…"
"Now! Pour your soul into it! And then… use both hands and rip your Zanpakutō out!!!"
Facing the camera, Oetsu smiled.
Then he deliberately stepped aside, handing the final step over to Ichigo Kurosaki to complete with his own hands.
And then—
In a tight close-up—
Ichigo's hands plunged into the flames.
His eyes hardened.
With a fierce shout, he seized the hilt with both hands, hauled upward with all his strength, and tore the blade free!
"RAAAAAAAHHHH—!!!"
The instant Ichigo's voice burst out through the video—
The entire screen—
All of the flames—shot straight into the sky!
They raged and scorched wildly, shaking the air itself.
Even the surrounding waterfalls—those torrents pouring down like curtains—were, in a single instant, completely evaporated into nothing!
As if all energy—
And everything that existed—
Had been erased along with the birth of the third-generation Zangetsu!
Only one thing remained—
As far as the eye could see, a vast, endless expanse of dried-out ground.
The scene—
Because the camera intentionally pulled wide—
Hit with overwhelming visual impact!
Audiences across the world—
Once again—were left utterly shaken!
"That's insane…"
"Did Ichigo Kurosaki's Zangetsu seriously almost drain the entire Royal Guard palace—the energy it's accumulated for all these years?"
"Unbelievable… what kind of god-slaying power is this?!"
"So that means… in all the earlier rankings, the 'Zangetsu' we saw was never its real power at all!"
"It was only because Uncle Zangetsu was occupying the core of its power—so what we saw was just a tiny fragment of its combat strength…"
Staring at that grand, catastrophic spectacle—
The audience finally, truly felt it:
Why "Zangetsu" deserved to be called the strongest Zanpakutō—and the terror of its real authority!
Forget everything else—
Just in raw numbers and sheer toughness, it could already stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Soul King's power!
It was simply invincible!!!
— — —
"Ichigo…"
"How does it feel… you and your Zangetsus?!!!"
On-screen, Oetsu's voice sounded again—this time with a teasing edge.
At the same time—
The camera shifted.
It framed Ichigo's back, revealing his heroic posture as he gripped his blades.
And it also confirmed the truth—
The third-generation Zangetsu was a pair of dual swords!!!
Yes.
At that moment—
In Ichigo Kurosaki's left hand—
Was a short-handled black blade, representing his Quincy power.
And in his right—
Was a sharper, longer black blade—sleek and lethal.
One long, one short, perfectly matched in proportion.
The moment they appeared, they naturally radiated a pressure no words could properly describe—
An overwhelming, tyrannical presence—
And a razor-edged, murderous chill!!!
And it truly made Ichigo Kurosaki—
Level up in sheer presence again—
Finally carrying the aura a Soul-King-tier powerhouse was supposed to have!!!
"Shopkeeper…"
"You called it perfectly!"
"Dual Zangetsu! So this is what it looks like! I can't believe it…!!!"
Inside the shop—
Tessai froze for a moment, then burst out in excited awe.
The color of Dual Zangetsu—
Was a deep, absolute black.
Just one glance made you think of that horned Hollow "White" that represented Ichigo's Shinigami power!
And moreover—
Tessai could clearly feel that—
Now that the Quincy power had been completely separated—
Ichigo Kurosaki's aura…
Was far, far stronger than it had been when he was first brought up to the Soul King's Palace!
Could it be…
That this was outright implying—
From beginning to end, all of Ichigo's battles…
Had been fought with only fragmented scraps of power—
Because the core had been occupied?
That was too insane!!!
Just those "scraps" were already strong enough to smash through Hueco Mundo and Soul Society alike!
So then—
Now that the powers were separated—
Now that he held the core again—
How strong would Ichigo Kurosaki become, gripping Dual Zangetsu?
It left everyone drowning in wild, endless imagination!!!
However—
Before Urahara Kisuke could even finish speaking—
Before anyone else could respond—
Suddenly.
Outside the shop—
From the direction of Karakura Town's city center—
A shockingly immense spiritual pressure came crashing in without warning!
"BOOOOM—!!!"
The air trembled.
A violent roar shook the world.
Even though the shop was protected by multiple layers of Kidō barriers—
It still couldn't withstand the indiscriminate impact of that spiritual pressure blasting in from the city center!
The entire building shook violently—
As if trapped in the middle of a catastrophic, magnitude-ten earthquake!
That abrupt change—
Made Urahara and the others snap into alarm, their expressions twisting as they struggled to understand what was happening!
"Huh?!"
"What the hell—?!"
"Did something 'descend' on Karakura's city center?!"
"That spiritual pressure… there's no doubt it's Transcendent-class! How is that even possible?!"
Yoruichi was stunned.
Urahara was baffled.
And Isshin Kurosaki—
Looked as if he'd realized something, fear flashing across his face.
As for Tessai—
The former Commander of Kidō—
He was in absolute panic, urgently pouring spiritual power into repairs, trying to keep the barriers from collapsing and the building from falling apart!
But then—
In less than a few seconds—
All four of them realized the same thing.
They looked at each other—
Their faces filled with excitement and complicated shock—
And shouted in unison:
"That is…"
"Ichigo!!!"
"It's the same spiritual pressure as in the video—when Dual Zangetsu was born!!!"
As they said it—
A massive jolt ran through them all.
And finally they understood:
From the start of this ranking—
As the protagonist—
Ichigo Kurosaki had been enjoying an extra "viewing perk."
Whenever the future progressed—
Whenever his power advanced to a new stage—
The Ichigo in the real world would synchronize and grow stronger too!
It was just that—
Because of distance—
Karakura's city center, the high school campus—were a bit far from here.
And on top of that—
Ichigo Kurosaki was low-key by nature!
Even when he gained power, he didn't deliberately show it off—
Instead, he kept his spiritual pressure confined to the school's area!
And because of that—
In the past, every time real-world Ichigo grew stronger—
Aside from his three companions nearby, no one else knew anything!
But this time—
Because Dual Zangetsu was simply too powerful—
He couldn't hide it even if he wanted to!
The pressure spread across all of Karakura Town!
And that was why—
This shocking scene was happening right now!!!
"You're kidding me…!"
As his father—
Isshin Kurosaki stood rooted to the spot.
It was like he'd just hit the lottery jackpot.
Staring blankly, he muttered:
"Right now…"
"Ichigo is still at school—"
"But he already has Dual Zangetsu in his hands?!"
"That's way too ridiculous!!!"
"He just jumped straight from 'high school kid' to 'Soul King'!!!"
Isshin was ecstatic.
So ecstatic he nearly lost his mind.
Other people work hard so their kids become rich second-gens.
He?
He worked hard so his son became a rich second-gen.
He'd slacked off for twenty years after losing his Shinigami powers—
And now—
Because the ranking video existed—
Without doing anything at all—
Without even seeing Ichigo face-to-face—
His son had quietly leveled up in the middle of watching—
All the way into a Soul-King-tier powerhouse!
At that moment—
If Dual Zangetsu's spiritual pressure weren't unquestionably real—
Isshin would've seriously suspected they were all trapped in Kyōka Suigetsu's illusion together!
Otherwise—
How could something this absurd, this unreal…
Possibly be happening?!?!
— — —
At the same time—
Just as Isshin, Urahara, and the others—
Were still drowning in that sudden, unbelievable joy—
Over at the high school campus—
On the rooftop of the classroom building—
A chorus of praise rang out:
"Ichigo…"
"You're way too cool!!!"
"Dual Zangetsu! That's seriously insane—those blades are refined down to the finest detail… they look like flawless works of art!!!"
At that moment—
Orihime Inoue, Tatsuki Arisawa, and Yasutora Sado—
All stared wide-eyed in shock—
Gazing at Ichigo with worshipful admiration.
Yes.
Once again—synchronization.
Not long ago, in the video—
The moment future Ichigo ripped Dual Zangetsu from the forging furnace—
In the real world—
Ichigo Kurosaki's power underwent a complete transformation.
Not only did a black tailcoat-like outfit appear on him automatically—
But when he stood up—
On both sides of his body—
One long, one short—
The same black Dual Zangetsu from the video flashed into existence and appeared in his hands!
Just like that—
Without needing to go to the Soul King's Palace—
Without having to undergo the Royal Guard's specially arranged training—
Or recovery—
Ichigo didn't need to do anything at all.
He only had to stand there—
Watching.
And instead, even more easily—
He gained Dual Zangetsu—
And his power skyrocketed again!!!
And nearby—
Because Tatsuki and the others had witnessed it with their own eyes—
They couldn't help but explode with excitement and praise!
"Ichigo…"
Tatsuki smiled.
From the bottom of her heart, she was happy for him, congratulating him:
"Now you…"
"With Dual Zangetsu in your hands, you've unquestionably become one of the strongest beings in the world of Shinigami!"
"No matter what changes happen in the future—you'll have the strength to stop tragedies, or even rewrite the story itself!!!"
Before, the audience always joked that Ichigo was "cheating."
But now—
The cheat became real.
And it came with permanent lifetime renewal!
Dual Zangetsu wouldn't disappear.
It would accompany Ichigo Kurosaki forever!
With that outcome—
The future of the world of Bleach would be dominated by Ichigo alone!!!
"Yeah…"
Under his orange bangs—
Ichigo nodded in satisfaction, smiling.
"Now it depends on the future me—how I use these Dual Zangetsu… to stop Yhwach!!!"
His dark eyes brimmed with confidence.
Once his power reached its peak, his mindset changed too—elevated by that direct, positive pressure of overwhelming strength.
At that moment—
Whether it was Aizen, Yhwach, the Monk, or even the Head Captain…
Those top-tier monsters of different factions—
Ichigo Kurosaki's attitude toward them—
Shifted.
From the beginning, when he could only look up and compare himself—
To now, meeting them eye-to-eye.
And even…
Looking down on them!!!
That was the confidence Dual Zangetsu gave him!!!
— — —
And then—
Before the audience could even recover from the impact of Dual Zangetsu—
The video jumped again.
The location was no longer the Soul King's Palace.
It returned—back to the main point.
To the Seireitei battlefield—
Now a ruined wasteland after the Wandenreich's second invasion!
At that moment—
A single figure was still swinging "Nozarashi"—
Wounded, exhausted, not even close to full strength—
While being surrounded and besieged by four female Sternritter powerhouses!
"?!"
"This scene was never shown before!"
"Should be after that fight with 'The Visionary,' right?"
Inside Squad One—
Watching the footage—
Zaraki Kenpachi's brows twisted immediately, his mind snapping back to the earlier ranking segment about Nozarashi.
That battle scene—
It was right here.
This exact place.
And now the video was showing his future self—
Already heavily damaged—
Still trapped in a hell-mode fight—
Getting struck dead-on by a gigantic bolt of lightning!
"Captain…" Ikkaku Madarame said tensely, full of worry. "Your situation looks bad. You clearly ran into a huge problem in the last fight."
"You're struggling right now!!!"
"Yeah…" Yumichika Ayasegawa looked anxious. "Don't tell me you get taken down… and then Ichigo comes back from the Soul King's Palace…"
"And makes his hero entrance with Dual Zangetsu—saving your life?"
That kind of line—
Was admittedly a bit disrespectful to Kenpachi.
But Yumichika was only stating what everyone was thinking.
Because after watching for this long—
The "ranking video formula" was obvious.
If it wanted to show off how monstrously invincible Dual Zangetsu was—
Then it had to set up opponents who were worthy enough.
And right now—
This kind of plot was exactly what made sense.
Every enemy was a real heavyweight.
Without question—
All of them were Captain-class fighters!
If someone could crush them—one versus four—
That kind of feat…
Would be convincing enough for anyone!!!
And as for Kenpachi—
Even if, technically, it would feel a bit humiliating for him to become the "background board" for Ichigo's big moment—
He still grinned broadly anyway—
His mouth splitting into a savage smile:
"Earlier… those women…"
"One of them looked like one of those 'feminist-fist' types."
"While we were fighting, she sucker-punched me from behind!"
"Against women who fight like that…"
"I'm guessing Ichigo won't show any mercy, huh?"
One versus four.
Violent aesthetics.
Even Kenpachi said he was looking forward to it!!!
And honestly—
If Dual Zangetsu started swinging—
Then odds were—
One slash would be enough to end the fight, clean and easy.
(End of Chapter)
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