Unlike Kurosaki Ichigo—and unlike the Shinigami, Hollows, and humans watching as spectators—
at this very moment, as they watched with their own eyes…
the Soul King Yhwach's body of darkness,
split cleanly in two by Tensa Zangetsu from a slanted angle, in a single stroke—
in that instant,
inside the vast palace of Silbern,
the atmosphere fell into a deathly silence.
No one could utter a single word.
The only thing left was the rapid, high-frequency sound of frantic breathing—born of extreme anxiety and panic!!!
Clearly,
the powerhouses of the Wandenreich
had, at this moment, become truly afraid.
All along, ever since Yhwach's "The Almighty" was revealed—
and for a long stretch of time,
after it demonstrated a comprehensive, nearly unsolvable, utterly absurd level of power—
the Wandenreich's pure-blood Quincies
had been bursting with confidence, swelling with pride and glory!
And they believed, without the slightest doubt,
that no matter what…
Soul King Yhwach could never be defeated!
Not to mention—right before their eyes—the Seireitei, and the entire world of Bleach itself…
were about to be…
destroyed by his own hand!
After that, a new world—led by pure-blood Quincies—
was about to be born at last!
But they never expected…
that it would be Aizen—
and Kurosaki Ichigo—
the second time these two saviors synchronized their actions!
The Zanpakutō "Zangetsu"
and "Kyōka Suigetsu," the two top-ranked, god-tier Zanpakutō—
finally seized an opening.
They got in close, landed the hit, and ended it with a single decisive blow—cutting Soul King Yhwach in half at the waist!
Faced with that outcome,
the pure-blood Quincies felt, visually and viscerally,
as though they had been slammed by a massive shock—so hard their hearts began to waver.
And the true source of crisis…
was the key item Uryu Ishida had already obtained—
that silver blood clot arrowhead!
That was the most lethal factor of all!
Because the moment it existed,
time became unbearably tight!
And next—
it would become a race against time between the two sides!
Would Soul King Yhwach restore himself faster?
Or would…
Uryu Ishida
reach the battlefield first,
take aim in time, and fire that second arrow—the one that seals abilities?
There was no doubt this decided…
the ending of the Thousand-Year Blood War,
and the future of the world itself—the final conclusion of the story!!!
———
Back to the video.
In that tense, breathless atmosphere—
the ranking video continued to play.
At this moment,
even though his body had been split open…
Soul King Yhwach did not die.
His life had fused completely with those torrents of darkness, flowing endlessly across the ground.
From the camera's perspective,
the audience couldn't help but think it looked like a mass of black carpet.
It was horrifying beyond words—
radiating a chilling, unsettling dread that made everyone's hearts pound with fear.
"Ugh…"
"Soul King Yhwach… what a monster!"
"He's basically on the verge of getting killed, and he turns into something this ugly—those huge eyeballs… even I can't stand it…"
In the First Division,
Zaraki Kenpachi frowned,
his rugged face twisted into an expression of outright disgust.
If only reality could connect to the future,
he'd have rushed in and added another slash himself—just to vent his hatred at that dark substance on the ground!
"Captain…"
"I think this one's in the bag!"
Behind Zaraki Kenpachi,
Madarame Ikkaku rubbed his shiny head and spoke with certainty.
"Look! In the footage, Ichigo and Aizen haven't even had time to talk yet!"
He wasn't wrong.
At this moment, the dialogue itself played through the ranking video:
"Kurosaki Ichigo…"
"Good thing you were able to respond to my Kyōka Suigetsu instantly…"
Aizen spoke—
from the uncovered half of his handsome face came a voice of clear approval.
Across from him,
Kurosaki Ichigo answered calmly.
"It's not a big deal. On the way to Soul Society, I already sensed something was off."
"That's right…"
Aizen lifted his gaze, then explained in a low voice:
"When I confirmed that Kyōka Suigetsu's power could interfere with the eyes of his 'The Almighty'…"
"Everything after that depended on you—someone who had never been hypnotized beforehand."
"Even so, I didn't expect that the fact I never used Kyōka Suigetsu on you…"
"would end up becoming useful at a moment like this…"
"right when it mattered most!!!"
Those words—
once revealed by the ranking video and transmitted into the real world—
triggered yet another uproar throughout the world of the Shinigami!
And as viewers—Shinigami and Arrancar alike—what they felt now was completely different from before.
"…"
Silence.
Total quiet.
Inside the First Division, the captains didn't know what to say for a moment.
Because Aizen—
that man—
was the sworn enemy of all Shinigami, the nemesis of the entire Gotei 13, the traitor everyone present most wanted to see brought to justice!
And yet—
what they had just seen,
especially the way he and Kurosaki Ichigo spoke as equals—
to an outsider,
it looked exactly like two teammates who had only recently formed a party… and already built up real coordination.
More than that—
they had just lived through three of the most dangerous direct battles in history…
against the Dark Soul King.
Which meant…
with that bond of comradeship in place,
there was a very high chance that Aizen and Kurosaki Ichigo would never be enemies again.
And that news—
for the Shinigami, who were counting on Kurosaki Ichigo in the future to deal with Hueco Mundo, or the Wandenreich—
was nothing short of a catastrophic blow.
It forced them to reconsider yet again—
should they really continue treating Aizen the way they always had?
Because no matter what—
he was, undeniably, one of the saviors!
In the final battle, Aizen and his Zanpakutō "Kyōka Suigetsu" had made an enormous contribution!!!
Merit…
could whitewash sin.
To erase everything—
his past betrayal, his manipulation of the Gotei 13 like toys in his palms, even the massacre of Central 46—
all with a single stroke!
If you demanded the captains agree to accept that…
then honestly…
it wasn't impossible!!!
———
In contrast,
over in Hueco Mundo, inside Las Noches—
everyone's emotions were running high.
After hearing that exchange,
the Hollows and Arrancar's worship of Aizen…
surged once again—so strong it couldn't be described in words!
"Long live Lord Aizen…"
Arrancar Zommari
was the first to shout:
"At this moment, you could say the you in that footage is stepping Soul King Yhwach under your own feet!"
"That act not only indirectly washes away the humiliation of Hueco Mundo and the Hollow race being conquered in the future!"
"It's also stomping on the Quincies' heads—meaning we've won again!!!"
"Winning theory" wasn't only popular in the real world.
In the world of Bleach, it worked just as well.
Win!
A huge win!
Win so hard it hurts!
Aizen, as the ruler of Hueco Mundo—everything he did represented Hueco Mundo's face, and its highest honor!
So as his subordinate,
Zommari threw himself into it—
which was basically the same as saying that the Espada and the Arrancar army
had also won.
Stomping the enemy's head from afar—
beating the pure-blood Quincies!!!
"Heh-heh…"
"Zommari's right!"
Yammy bared his teeth, a vicious grin spreading across his face as he laughed in excitement.
"I can already imagine the despair on the Wandenreich's side right now!"
"I bet those pure-blood Quincies can only stare in total hopelessness, waiting…"
"for all the traces of Soul King Yhwach on the ground…"
"to be completely wiped out and disappear, right?"
However—
whether by coincidence…
or because Yammy was naturally a jinx—
the moment he finished speaking, right as he was getting carried away—
an unexpected twist happened again,
one that shocked the entire world!!!
"BOOM!!!"
On the ground,
the dark matter surged.
All the torrents of spirit pressure—and those ferocious, all-seeing eyes—
after writhing like mad—
first struck from behind,
ambushing Aizen and injuring him!
Then, before the viewers could even process what they were seeing…
Aizen's figure
was swallowed by a sea of darkness!
In an instant, his condition became unknown—
and he vanished from the camera for the time being!
When that scene—
played by the ranking video and transmitted to the real world—
the Arrancar army, who just minutes ago had been fanatical, full of worship and adoration for Aizen…
froze.
Faces stiffened.
Smiles vanished—replaced by panic!
No way…
the counterattack came that fast!
It was only a gap in conversation, and yet Soul King Yhwach already recovered like this!!!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…"
"Captain Aizen… the future you was clearly careless."
"That's why you got caught by a sneak attack."
Ichimaru Gin narrowed his eyes, shrugged, and sounded regretful.
"Yeah…"
On the throne,
Aizen did not deny it.
His handsome face remained calm and unhurried as he said coldly:
"However, it doesn't matter. With the Hōgyoku, my spiritual body's life won't be more than injured at worst."
"After a short time, I'll appear again at full strength."
"Only… during that blank interval…"
"it'll be up to Kurosaki Ichigo alone to hold the line!!!"
Truthfully,
even as he said this,
Aizen's eyes were flat and tranquil—he wasn't particularly worried at all.
After all, even if Soul King Yhwach had recovered—
for now, he was still in a severely wounded state.
Still weak.
Full of openings.
So comparatively speaking—
even relying on Kurosaki Ichigo alone—
Aizen believed that, for a short time, Ichigo wouldn't face any real danger.
More than that—
Uryu Ishida, carrying the key item,
by calculation, would most likely appear any moment now!
When that happened—
as long as the silver arrow was fired in time, before Soul King Yhwach fully recovered—
it would be an instant kill for sure!
So there was absolutely no need to worry!!!
———
And at this moment,
under the audience's shocked yet tense gazes—
after the dark torrent surged—
it condensed into a towering mass and quickly took on a humanoid form again!
At the same time,
Soul King Yhwach's furious voice boomed from within the darkness:
"So you released Kyōka Suigetsu!"
"Aizen… are you arrogant? Or have you already reached your limit?"
"Either way—did you really think that with the power and tricks of a mere Zanpakutō…"
"you could put me to death?"
"My power is The Almighty—rewriting the future!"
"And even the future of death…"
"can be rewritten just the same!!!"
Arrogant and domineering—
Soul King Yhwach's emotions seemed to fall completely into madness.
Just hearing it made people shudder.
It was all too easy to be disturbed by that darkness's negative emotions!
After he finished speaking,
his dark body had basically taken shape.
Only the mask-like features had yet to fully appear.
Soul King Yhwach—
at this point—
was already close to fully restored.
And around him, torrents of dark spirit pressure surged again—
seizing once more that overwhelming power…
the power to destroy the world!!!
———
"OHHH…"
"Long live His Majesty!!!"
"Of course—everything we worried about earlier was pointless!"
"The Almighty… that's the true eternal immortality!"
"His Majesty has already become the Soul King—there's no way he can be killed!"
"Any and every future—he can rewrite it however he pleases!!!"
Throughout the Ice Crystal Palace,
ear-splitting cheers erupted.
That scene restored light to the pure-blood Quincies' eyes.
Especially among them—
members of the Schutzstaffel, including Gerard Valkyrie and Lille Barro—
their gazes burned hot,
their excitement overflowing!
They admired Yhwach more than ever.
They believed that, based on what Soul King Yhwach had just said—even the future of death can be rewritten—
it meant…
Uryu Ishida's arrival was imminent.
And the fact that he would fire the silver blood clot arrowhead—
might have already been foreseen and known in advance by The Almighty!!!
In that situation,
for Kurosaki Ichigo and the others to win…
was absolutely impossible!
"Hmph…"
"His Majesty…"
Behind his guard-like mask,
Gerard Valkyrie looked arrogant.
As he brought up Uryu Ishida, he spoke in a dismissive, contemptuous tone, arms crossed:
"I don't believe that a mere human insect—abandoned in the World of the Living, unwilling to stand with us…"
"could fire an arrow that decides everything with a single shot!"
In Valkyrie's eyes—
and in the eyes of the other pure-blood Quincies nearby—
sealing The Almighty?
Something like that…
was nothing but a delusional fantasy!
In this world, there simply wasn't anyone who could do it!!!
(End of Chapter)
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