"Too damn cool…"
"Kurosaki Ichigo… the further it goes, the more manly charm he's got!"
"That brand-new Hollowfication look gives you a total sense of security!!!"
Inside Squad One's barracks.
The busty beauty Rangiku Matsumoto's eyes sparkled brilliantly. As a mature woman, seeing Kurosaki Ichigo like this…
Even she couldn't help her heart skipping a beat.
She instantly felt like the Hitsugaya Tōshirō in front of her… just wasn't doing it for her at all anymore!
But…
Hitsugaya himself thought the same.
Those emerald-green eyes were filled with awe. Staring at that lone, upright horn, Hitsugaya stood there slack-jawed, unable to stop himself from praising him:
"Compared to any Hollowfication he's used before…"
"Kurosaki Ichigo is so much more confident! Even facing an enemy at the Soul King's level, the overwhelming power that Hollowfication brings…"
"Lets him smile calmly like that!!!"
Yes.
Hitsugaya wasn't wrong.
On-screen, Kurosaki Ichigo's lips curled into a faint smile.
At the same time…
His aura was terrifyingly strong!
Even though half the battlefield's momentum had been suppressed and firmly occupied by that surging black torrent…
He still forced everyone, once again,
to instinctively place their hopes in him—to feel hope bloom again!!!
"Tch…"
"Next, it's Ichigo's turn to start beating somebody down, yeah?" Kenpachi Zaraki bared a savage grin, saying with eager anticipation, "Use that black-and-white Zangetsu of his and chop Soul King Yhwach to pieces!!!"
Slashing.
Killing.
Fighting.
This kind of brutal, blazing battle—that was what Kenpachi Zaraki wanted to see.
Not—
some one-sided steamroll,
using nothing but a flood of spiritual pressure to crush the other side with sheer oppressive momentum.
A fight like that wasn't back-and-forth.
And it definitely wasn't what the audience wanted to watch!!!
———
Sure enough.
What happened next went exactly as Kenpachi Zaraki said—
"BOOM!!!"
Facing the camera—
and behind him, the gaze of his wife Orihime Inoue, full of trust and that sense of safety—
the spiritual pressure inside Kurosaki Ichigo
fully materialized, surging like a raging torrent…
and exploded outward in one single, ferocious burst—without holding anything back!
In an instant,
it kicked up a massive, terrifying shockwave of air!
And unbelievably—
in the blink of an eye,
it pulverized their battlefield—
that grand, cross-shaped hall at the very top of True World City—
into dust!
Under the impact of that spiritual-pressure torrent, it was violently leveled flat!
And that wasn't even the most shocking part.
What truly stunned the viewers was this:
Even someone as strong as Soul King Yhwach—who had been sitting there the whole time, unmoving, his expression dripping with indifference—
at this moment,
facing Kurosaki Ichigo's aura erupting like this—
he finally couldn't sit still anymore!
He gripped that enormous holy sword in his hand and assumed multiple defensive stances!
At last—
he clearly showed fear and caution
toward Kurosaki Ichigo's Hollowfied power!!!
And once this scene was revealed—
once the ranking video played it and delivered it into the real world—
especially after the pure-blood Quincy of the Wandenreich saw it—
a powerful unease immediately spread through them.
One after another, they grew anxious, unable to stop themselves from discussing it:
"Even the Soul King can't just take that kind of spiritual-pressure impact—can't ignore it?"
"That's way too outrageous!!!" Bazz-B blurted out, stunned. He'd never liked Yhwach in the first place.
And now, while he was shocked—
deep down, he felt thrilled.
He watched Soul King Yhwach's reaction with outright schadenfreude.
And from the perspective of a bystander, he secretly rooted for Kurosaki Ichigo—
hoping Ichigo could truly defeat Soul King Yhwach,
and finally end that tyrannical rule Yhwach had imposed for countless centuries
over the Wandenreich
and the entire pure-blood Quincy race!
And—
end the future conquest of the Shinigami world!!!
But…
That was only Bazz-B's personal thinking.
The other Sternritter elites present
all wore obvious expressions of panic and wariness.
Even through a screen, they were still afraid of Kurosaki Ichigo's power!
And—
they no longer had absolute confidence,
no longer believed that "the dark Soul King Yhwach" would definitely be able
to defeat Kurosaki Ichigo in this brand-new Hollowfication state!!!
———
At the same time,
before the pure-blood Quincy could express much more—
on-screen,
after releasing that surge of momentum and power,
Kurosaki Ichigo's figure moved again.
Even without deliberately doing anything—
with nothing but a thought—
he easily slipped beyond the camera's ability to track him.
Like a flash-step, he crossed the distance between them.
That Hollowfied silhouette
flickered into existence right in front of Soul King Yhwach.
One hand forcibly pinned down the hand that was swinging the holy sword.
His other hand—
the arm gripping Zangetsu—lifted.
In a tight camera close-up, power gathered; solid, tangible spiritual pressure condensed!
And then…
before the stunned eyes of audiences across the world—
he unleashed a brand-new technique again!!!
"Holy—!"
"This isn't the same as before!!!"
"It's not just a plain old Getsuga Tenshō (Moon-Fang Heaven-Piercer)!!!"
"It's… a brand-new ultimate move that fuses in a Cero!!!"
In that instant,
the world erupted.
Everyone's pupils shook—frozen in place with sheer shock.
After that…
in Hueco Mundo, the Arrancar legions—
the moment they clearly felt that power overflowing from the screen,
the power of the Gran Rey Cero—something only the Espada could wield—
they were so shocked their eyes practically popped out of their heads!
No one had imagined that Kurosaki Ichigo's Hollowfication this time
had actually fused in the strongest Cero's power too!
It was simply beyond belief!!!
"So insane…"
"That flash of light above Ichigo's head—right in front of that horn—is the strongest Gran Rey Cero I've ever seen in my life!"
"And it's about to combine with Getsuga Tenshō (Moon-Fang Heaven-Piercer)!!!"
Coyote Starrk stood there, rooted to the spot.
On that rugged face, his expression
was so shocked it looked like it had been glued in place.
After all—
as the Primera Espada,
and someone who, after releasing his Zanpakutō, could wield dual pistols and fire an endless stream of Cero—
he was without question the one among all Hollows
who had the deepest understanding of "Cero" as a technique.
And yet—
given Starrk's imagination,
and his understanding of power's hierarchy,
before witnessing this scene with his own eyes…
no matter what,
he never would have imagined it.
That one day, the Gran Rey Cero
could be used like this—
and could unleash such a supreme, violently concentrated level of spiritual-pressure might!
It was terrifying!!!
"Yeah…"
Not far away, Tier Harribel nodded, her expression equally complicated as she sighed:
"Who would've thought that in the final stretch, Kurosaki Ichigo isn't just putting out pressure visually—his abilities and techniques are practically indistinguishable from ours Espada!"
"Only… even if all of us Espada combined, we still wouldn't match even a single thread of his strength—the base level he's showing on-screen."
Honestly—
with Harribel's strong-willed nature,
after repeatedly sensing that familiar feeling of a "same kind" from Kurosaki Ichigo—
she couldn't help but develop a very particular emotion toward him.
It wasn't infatuation.
It was the unique respect and admiration reserved for a true monster of strength.
That was the most direct, most honest thought in Harribel's heart!!!
"Tch, tch, tch…"
"This time, it's not just talk anymore. It's really about to turn around…"
Beneath the throne,
even Gin Ichimaru's eyes were opened wide.
Those clear blue eyes brimmed with intense anticipation.
He couldn't wait.
The moment Kurosaki Ichigo's strike came crashing down right in front of Yhwach—
at that kind of point-blank distance—
how would Soul King Yhwach respond?
Could he retreat unscathed?
Surely…
this would finally be the first time
he'd get his guard broken—and suffer a real injury.
———
And at the same time—
on-screen,
under the world's eager, shaking, overwhelmingly shocked gaze—
the Gran Rey Cero
and the massive Getsuga Tenshō (Moon-Fang Heaven-Piercer)
fused together—
forming a gigantic ring-shaped crescent slash!
With a vicious whoosh—
it chopped down head-on!
Brutally, violently—
it tore into Soul King Yhwach's body of darkness!
It pierced through every last torrent of blackness!
For a moment, it even looked like it had blown Yhwach's body apart along with it!!!
"Did it work?!"
"Ichigo's ultimate move is insane!!!"
"Just like we thought… after Hollowfication, with the power he has now, he can finally break Soul King Yhwach's defense!"
"Looks like this peak battle finally has hope of being won!!!"
In the real world—
inside Urahara's shop—
Isshin Kurosaki clenched his fist in excitement, his expression blazing with exhilaration, not daring to blink even once.
Afraid he'd miss even a single second of detail, a single frame!!!
As a father,
Isshin's heart was overflowing with pride.
To witness with his own eyes
his son, in the apocalypse of the future,
fighting the dark Soul King with his own strength—
and
in such a short span of time,
even gaining the upper hand—nearly slicing Soul King Yhwach open with one strike!
In Isshin's eyes,
this kind of glorious achievement
was enough for Ichigo to earn his own separate family record—praised and passed down for generations!!!
"This battle—whoever loses gets turned into a 'human stump'." Tessai Tsukabishi warned in a low voice. "So… no matter what, Ichigo has to win!!!"
At that moment…
his heart kept shouting,
cheering for the future Kurosaki Ichigo from afar.
And he desperately wanted the next frame to play—
to reveal Soul King Yhwach being brutally butchered into pieces!
Otherwise…
if it dragged on—
nobody could say what would happen!
After all, even now—
The Almighty's power had already been exposed by the ranking video for a long time…
and yet not a single viewer had discovered,
or managed to find,
any weakness in that invincible ability!
That point—
Wisdom itself—Kisuke Urahara.
The universally acknowledged highest intellect in the entire Shinigami world.
Even watching through a screen—
thinking while he watched—
still felt utterly helpless.
No leads.
No clues at all.
And that was the hidden danger everyone feared most!!!
———
After that,
within the footage—
in the chaotic, violently unstable scene left behind by the explosion of solidified spiritual pressure—
Soul King Yhwach's indifferent, icy voice rang out again:
"Kurosaki Ichigo…"
"In truth, you did well."
"Fusing Getsuga Tenshō (Moon-Fang Heaven-Piercer) with the Gran Rey Cero… for someone like you—born from the fusion of everything—this suits you perfectly…"
Facing the camera,
Soul King Yhwach
first offered praise, acknowledging the power of Ichigo's ultimate move.
But then—
his tone paused.
And he rejected it coldly:
"Unfortunately… I told you. You're still one step too slow."
"Before the power of The Almighty…"
When those words fell—
the hearts of viewers all over the world,
especially those cheering for Kurosaki Ichigo,
sank into despair all over again.
Because…
That terrifying crescent-Cero slash, which had been on the verge of detonating completely—
and should have caused catastrophic damage—
in the instant Yhwach finished speaking…
froze solid.
It was as if it had become a mirror.
The power failed.
As if sealed.
It hadn't destroyed Yhwach's body at all!
It was like this:
The outcome that should have happened
was deliberately rewritten in the future—
by Soul King Yhwach, using The Almighty.
And so, in the present moment,
the result was forcibly altered.
In other words…
Soul King Yhwach had defied fate itself.
And his cheat was stronger than Kurosaki Ichigo's!!!
Right before the eyes of audiences across the world—
he erased every unfavorable future.
After everyone witnessed that result,
they all ground their teeth in fury.
Cursing Soul King Yhwach as shameless—
The Almighty was nothing but a shameless, scoundrel's ability!!!
———
"Damn it…"
"So it still wasn't enough?!"
"What method do you even use to counter that damned The Almighty?!" Shunsui Kyōraku snapped.
Under the brim of his straw hat, his expression was frantic.
His eyes showed exhaustion—
and despair.
Even though
as a battle-hardened captain, he had long understood the terror of rule-based powers…
still—
no matter how strong an ability was,
it always had a weakness. That was beyond doubt.
And earlier in this ranking—
they'd already proven it more than once,
on enemies with Schrift powers like Lille Barro and Gerard Valkyrie…
Those powers could be overcome.
Those enemies could be killed!!!
But now—
Soul King Yhwach's fate-rewriting display
looked like it had no blind spots at all!
They finally broke his defense—
and in the next instant, he was immune to damage again!
And then he just says—
"I already saw the future,"
and that's the end of it!
How the hell are you supposed to fight that?!
Unless the video's author personally shows up and deletes Yhwach as a character—
otherwise…
in the entire Shinigami world,
is there really a way to defeat Soul King Yhwach?
And it wasn't only Shunsui Kyōraku.
At this moment, every captain present—including the old man—
felt the same crushing despair, their hearts weighed down.
The hope they'd finally managed to spark—
was extinguished again by that single result.
But…
just as the atmosphere sank into gloom—
the taciturn Byakuya Kuchiki,
forcing himself to withstand the fear and pressure Soul King Yhwach radiated,
calmly reminded everyone:
"Everyone, even if this failed again…"
"Kurosaki Ichigo still hasn't reached his limit."
"Don't forget… this is only Hollowfication."
"Black-and-white Zangetsu still hasn't been fully unveiled!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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