"?!"
"What's going on…?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki's body… it looks like it isn't under his own control. It's being manipulated by Blut Vene instead!!!"
In that instant—
As everyone watched with their own eyes…
On the screen, Ichigo's right hand lifted, and his body lunged forward in a straight, unwavering motion.
Inside Seireitei—
The Shinigami of the Gotei 13, and especially the Captains, all had their pupils quake.
Their eyes were filled with sheer shock and horror!
Damn it…
Wasn't he supposed to be here to save the Soul King?
Ichigo Kurosaki… he'd been hard-controlled for real this time!
If that blade came down—
No one doubted it for even a second.
The sealed crystal would be split cleanly in two—
And along with it, the Soul King trapped inside—already reduced to a miserable, broken remnant—would be killed by Zangetsu on the spot!
Just imagining that scene…
That it might happen right in front of them…
Every Shinigami froze where they stood, chills racing down their backs.
Panic spread through them all!
"Damn it…!"
"It's the Quincy power inside Ichigo Kurosaki causing this!"
"In the end… Yhwach still played him like a fool!!!"
Shunsui Kyoraku frowned.
He stared at Ichigo's figure, his expression unbelievably complicated as he spoke.
There was no denying it—
Pure Quincy power was part of Zangetsu's very makeup.
It had even been separated out on its own, becoming that short blade—
Boosting Ichigo's power, skyrocketing his combat strength, pushing him into a level of might comparable to the Soul King!
But…
What was happening now—
Only proved it was a double-edged sword!
At least for the moment, with the right side of his body completely dominated by Blut Vene…
Ichigo couldn't stop it at all!
Even Ichigo himself…
Could only watch helplessly as Zangetsu's edge lowered little by little—
Until, at last…
Under control—
He swung with everything he had, and brought the blade down on the sealed crystal!
At the same time—
Behind Ichigo…
Yhwach, eyes open—having already seen the future outcome—spoke with cold indifference:
"I granted you the reiatsu I sealed within my sword. So, Ichigo Kurosaki…"
"Your every movement—your will itself—is tightly linked to mine!"
"And to break the Soul King's seal, it must be done by someone who possesses the power of every race!"
"And you… ending the Soul King's life… is a future I have already seen!!!"
The moment those words—
Words meant to kill not only the body, but the heart—
Spilled from Yhwach's mouth with that merciless calm…
Half of the sealed crystal fell.
With a loud bang—
The sound rang out, and the entire world fell into silence.
In that moment…
The legendary Soul King…
Was actually slain by Ichigo Kurosaki—
The savior everyone had pinned their hopes on—
With his own hands!!!
"Now the real thing is here…"
"No way… so that's how it is?!"
Inside Las Noches—
Gin Ichimaru wasn't squinting anymore.
He was so shocked his eyes opened wider than they ever had.
Back in the previous ranking—
When Aizen had been carried out of Muken, and that "chair substitute" spectacle happened—
Including Gin…
Every viewer had unconsciously assumed Yhwach was the one who killed the Soul King.
But who would have thought…
The one who truly did it…
Was Ichigo Kurosaki—
And his Zangetsu!
That result was so unbelievable…
That even after witnessing it with his own eyes…
Gin still couldn't accept it right away.
His blue irises trembled with pure astonishment!
"Yes…"
"From the look of it, once that sealed crystal was cut, the outcome became irreversible."
Upon the throne—
Sosuke Aizen's gaze flickered.
Even he was shaken, at least a little.
But his eyes quickly shifted to the left side of the screen—
To the entrance of the Soul King's bedchamber—
And finally locked onto Orihime Inoue.
Staring at Ichigo's wife—
Aizen's eyes flashed with a trace of expectation.
Curiosity sharpened his voice.
"Right now, there still seems to be a sliver of possibility. That depends on this woman's ability… whether it can reverse the result of that fatal injury!!!!"
Even so—
Aizen instinctively judged that possibility to be vanishingly small.
Orihime's power was special, yes—
But her own raw strength was severely lacking.
At the end of the day, she was only an ordinary human woman!
Unless she reached the Soul King's level…
It shouldn't be possible for her to overturn the Soul King's death!
Then—
Under Aizen's watchful eyes—
On the screen, as the Soul King disintegrated, a horrific, violent, high-frequency tremor—beyond what words could properly describe—erupted in an instant.
First, it spilled out from within the Soul King's bedchamber.
Then it spread with terrifying speed throughout the entire Royal Palace.
And finally…
It surged into the Soul Society—into the whole world of the Shinigami!
And not only that—
Even the Human World was affected.
Out of nowhere, the same unbearable high-frequency vibration appeared.
"Rumble—!!!"
Under that brutal shaking—
Every viewer on the planet, regardless of who they were, felt their scalp go numb.
In that moment—
Bodies stumbled, swayed, and lurched.
People toppled left and right as the ground rocked violently beneath them.
No one could endure it.
Like a tide, the endless, unceasing high-frequency tremor kept crashing over everything!
"Damn it…!"
"My future self… what kind of disaster did I cause?!"
"To make the whole world turn into this—just like that?!"
In the Human World—
In Karakura Town, in the urban area, on a high school campus—
Ichigo gritted his teeth, his face twisted with shock and guilt.
With the level of power he had now, the moment he released his reiatsu, he could offset the tremor's impact and keep himself steady.
But his companions beside him—
Tatsuki Arisawa, Orihime Inoue, and Yasutora Sado—
Even with Ichigo trying to protect them…
The relentless high-frequency vibration still slammed them with intense dizziness, nearly shaking them unconscious!
"If this keeps going…"
"I'm afraid the ranking video won't even have time to finish before the entire world is destroyed by this tremor!!!"
Sado was drenched in sweat.
Normally quiet and blunt, he couldn't stop the panic in his voice.
If Ichigo weren't here—
They'd already be slammed flat on the ground.
Worse still—
The teaching building beneath their feet, and the entire high school campus—
Would gradually reach the limits of what the structures could bear…
Until the buildings collapsed and everything became ruins!
That—
Was what frightened Sado the most!!!
"Yeah…"
Orihime, swaying with the shaking—
Was pulled into Ichigo's arms, barely able to stand.
But her voice still trembled with a sob.
She stared at the on-screen figure of her future self…
And murmured, full of doubt:
"Future me… can I really do it? Revive the Soul King?"
Even she could tell.
At this point, either a substitute had to appear—
Or the Soul King had to be brought back to life.
Otherwise—
In the short term—
This terrifying high-frequency tremor would never stop.
It would keep tearing the world apart, nonstop.
So this time…
The role of savior—
Was being forced onto Orihime Inoue herself!!!
At the same time—
As viewers across the world stared in terror—
The video continued.
This part of the story wasn't over yet—
"Orihime!"
"The three of us will restrain him!"
"You must seize the opening and use your ability to revive the Soul King!"
As Ichigo recovered from his self-blame, regained control of his body, and tangled with Yhwach again—
Yoruichi Shihouin, Yasutora Sado, and Ganju Shiba moved together, coordinating their assault to keep Yhwach pinned down.
During that window—
Orihime successfully sprinted to the cracked crystal, and activated her power immediately!
"Soten Kisshun—!!!"
At first—
The barrier everyone recognized, faintly glowing, spread out at once and covered both broken halves of the crystal.
For a moment, it looked like…
It might actually work.
As most viewers clenched their teeth just to keep their footing…
Hope flared in their eyes!
But—
It didn't last.
Not long after—
Before even a full minute had passed—
Hope shattered.
The barrier exploded apart.
Along with it, that half of the sealed crystal sank again—
Breaking into even more fragmented pieces!!!
"…Damn."
"If even Ichigo Kurosaki's wife can't do anything… then the Soul King really can't be saved."
In the First Division—
Toshiro Hitsugaya gritted his teeth, his face bleak as he let out a helpless sigh.
Even he—
A Captain of the Gotei 13—
And with Hyorinmaru, one of the Ten Strongest Zanpakuto—
Yet now, within the endless shaking…
Because he kept releasing spiritual power to weaken and offset the impact…
Hitsugaya was growing more and more strained, finding it harder to adapt to this bizarre situation—something he had never experienced in his life.
And what made him feel even more powerless—
Was the cause.
The source of the tremor was the death of the Soul King, the wedge that stabilized the worlds.
And the only solution…
Was for them—Shinigami of the Gotei 13—to watch helplessly as Yhwach…
Completely devoured the Soul King's body and all of his power.
Only then could the shaking be stopped.
Only then could the Shinigami world return to calm.
In other words—
That "dark Soul King," Yhwach…
Was instead becoming the one thing that could save the viewers' world!
What a vicious irony!!!
"Damn it…"
"The Almighty really is impossible!"
"It looks like everything that happens in the future was already within Yhwach's expectations!"
"He set up a perfect trap… almost unsolvable!!!"
Soi Fon clenched her teeth.
Her normally cold face wasn't cold anymore—only anxious and tense.
Especially when she forced herself through the dizziness and stared at the screen—
At Yhwach's omniscient eyes, layered with multiple dark pupils—
She felt a chill crawl over her entire body.
Deep in her chest—
A near-despairing terror surged up.
Even now—
With the Almighty on display—
Yhwach was already close to invincible.
Even fighting against dual Zangetsu, he hadn't fallen behind at all!
It was impossible to imagine…
Once he devoured the Soul King…
Once his spiritual power evolved into a realm equal to the Soul King's—
How could Ichigo Kurosaki possibly kill him?
No matter how she wracked her brain, Soi Fon couldn't picture it.
In the end—
Could "Soul King Yhwach" really be slain by Zangetsu?
She doubted it completely.
And she no longer held even a shred of hope.
And in truth—
It wasn't only Soi Fon.
All around her, the other Captains reacted the same way—their spirits sinking into ash.
Even the Commander—
His aged, hunched body had to rely on both hands gripping his staff, just to avoid being thrown off balance by the shaking.
Facing the Almighty—
Even he felt it was unsolvable.
Even with over two thousand years of experience, and combat knowledge deeper than anyone else's—
At that moment—
He still felt the chance of hope was zero.
As if even Ichigo Kurosaki—
And his dual Zangetsu—
Had no possibility of saving the world.
No possibility of killing Yhwach!!!
But…
Among everyone—
Only Jushiro Ukitake.
From start to finish, his gaze stayed heavy and unwavering, never leaving the screen.
And during this process—
As the high-frequency shaking struck his back, it was as if it awakened something deep within him.
While everyone else's attention was disrupted by the tremor—
Ukitake's presence suddenly surged.
A power almost indistinguishable from the Soul King's own—
Awakened violently in that very instant!!!
"If nothing unexpected happens…"
"Then future me… won't just stand by and watch the Soul King die, will I?"
Ukitake murmured under his breath.
His tone was firm—
And his eyes turned resolute.
Sure enough—
The moment his words fell—
The video abruptly jumped, switching back to Seireitei.
But the newly revealed scene—
Made everyone's hearts jolt.
Viewers across the world erupted into instant shock!!!
The camera pulled back.
It showed a special wide-angle view that let the viewers see everything clearly.
On the battered, ruined battlefield of Seireitei—
A gigantic black shadow formed in midair.
A massive black hand solidified into existence.
And it was spreading—
Crawling along the shattered Shakonmaku barrier—
Rapidly stretching upward toward the Royal Palace!!!
The moment the viewers saw it—
They understood.
Shouts burst out everywhere:
"Damn—?!"
"That's… the Soul King's right arm!!!"
"It looks like the legendary embodiment that slumbers alone!!!"
"So someone must have sacrificed their life—summoning it at the most desperate moment!!!"
"Whoever that hero is, it doesn't matter! The Soul King's right arm is here!"
"Then the Shinigami world… it shouldn't keep shaking endlessly like this, right?!"
Even through the shock—
People finally let out a breath they'd been holding.
The Soul King's right arm appearing brought an overwhelming sense of safety.
Even though—
It wasn't the true Soul King.
It was only a part that had once been severed from him.
Still—
Judging by its presence alone—
For a short time, the Soul King's right arm could completely replace the Soul King!
And as long as that window existed—
If Ichigo Kurosaki, wielding his dual Zangetsu, could find any way at all—
Any method—
To defeat Yhwach…
Then the Shinigami world—
Still had a chance.
Still could be saved.
(End of Chapter)
[200 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]