Crack—Rumble!!
The magic circle, which previously only bore cracks, completely shattered. A gigantic black maw that seemed capable of devouring all things fully formed in the sky.
An indescribably terrifying suction force descended instantly.
This suction no longer targeted Hollows, but all spiritual bodies.
The residual Kido energy in the air and the Reishi in the atmosphere began flying uncontrollably toward that vortex.
The fleeing Soul Reaper squad members felt their bodies become incredibly heavy, as if an invisible giant hand was desperately dragging them backward.
"Ah!!" An injured member slipped, his body instantly lifting off the ground and flying toward the sky.
"Grab him!!"
The quick-acting comrades beside him desperately pulled him back using ropes formed from Bakudo, barely managing to drag him back to the ground with their combined strength.
"Don't look back! Run!!"
Kisuke Urahara brought up the rear of the group, constantly swinging Benihime in his hand, using Spiritual Pressure slashes to shatter the invisible gravitational waves attempting to entangle them.
"Asuka! Hurry!"
Shinobu Kocho pulled Asuka's hand, shouting anxiously.
Asuka nodded, backhanding a tight grip on Shinobu's hand. "Let's go!"
The two exerted their strength simultaneously, bursting forth with Shunpo to rapidly flee toward the city's outskirts.
But just as they were about to rush out of the suburban limits...
Asuka suddenly felt the Fullbring patterns on his skin—which had previously faded away after being applied by the black-robed old man—become as scalding as a branding iron.
Sizzle!
A violent burning sensation instantly spread throughout his entire body.
"Ugh!"
Asuka let out a muffled groan. His body, which had been moving at high speed, seemed to crash into an invisible wall, abruptly halting in mid-air.
"Asuka?!"
Shinobu Kocho, having dashed forward a few meters due to momentum, felt the pulling force in her hand disappear and turned her head in horror.
She saw Asuka suspended in mid-air, his body as stiff as a statue.
On his skin exposed outside the Shihakusho, those black patterns seemed to come alive.
The black lines slithered and spread madly, emitting an eerie light, quickly crawling all over his body.
And this black light was actually producing some kind of terrifying resonance with that black vortex devouring everything in the sky!
Buzz—!
A visible pillar of black energy shot straight down from the center of the vortex, accurately enveloping Asuka.
'What... is this?!'
Asuka was horrified to find that he couldn't move.
That old man's Fullbring was meant to conceal his presence, to make his Spiritual Pressure signature 'nonexistent'.
But due to the influence of the malicious energy, the patterns had been branded.
At this very moment, that malice from the magic circle was actually following the patterns on his body, tracking him down like a coordinate!
'Damn it... to happen at a time like this...'
Asuka clenched his teeth, desperately mobilizing the Spiritual Pressure within his body to break through this restraint.
But this power was too massive.
Not only because the Fullbring had just been completed and was at its peak effectiveness, but also because the power within it was extremely overbearing. It deadlocked his Spiritual Pressure fluctuations, rendering him completely unable to resist.
That was the suppressive force of the entire plane, a grand will sufficient to crush any individual.
The black patterns on his body acted like chains, biting deeply into his flesh and blood.
Even his Zanpakuto was firmly suppressed by this power, letting out waves of sorrowful cries.
"Asuka!!"
Seeing this scene, Shinobu Kocho turned back without hesitation, wanting to rush into that black pillar of light to save him.
"Don't come over!!"
Asuka roared loudly, glaring furiously.
"This is targeting me! You'll be sucked in together with me!!"
But how could Shinobu listen? The rapier in her hand gleamed with purple light as she fiercely thrust it at that pillar of light.
Clang!!
With a crisp sound, the rapier was deflected. Shinobu was sent flying backward by a massive reactionary force, crashing heavily onto the ground.
"Shinobu!" Asuka cried out through the pain.
"Oh my, this is really... the worst possible situation."
Kisuke Urahara's figure appeared beside Shinobu Kocho, helping her up.
He looked at Asuka, who was locked on by the black pillar of light, his expression turning extremely grim.
"That magic circle... is treating him as the 'wedge' to repair this distorted spacetime."
Urahara's voice was low and urgent. "The traces of Fullbring on his body are merging with the malice of that magic circle..."
"If this connection isn't severed, he will be directly torn to shreds and reduced to pure Reishi!"
"Then cut it! Mr. Fox! You definitely have a way, right?!" Shinobu desperately grabbed Urahara's sleeve, her eyes full of despairing plea.
Urahara tightened his grip on Benihime.
"There is... probably only one way!"
He looked at Asuka, a flash of absolute resolve in his eyes.
"Asuka! Can you hear me!"
Urahara channeled his Spiritual Pressure, his voice piercing through the roaring noise to reach Asuka's ears directly.
"If you want to avoid being sucked in, I'm afraid you need to completely erupt! Find a way to use your strongest power to stop that black hole's consumption!"
"Although I don't know if it will actually work... this is our only gamble!!"
Asuka struggled to raise his head within the pillar of light.
'To hell with all that, I'll just do it!'
'Even if my soul is scattered, it's better than becoming a wedge to patch the sky here!'
'Moreover...'
He glanced at Shinobu Kocho in the distance, who was still bitterly holding on and refusing to leave.
'If I don't sever this connection, this suction force will eventually swallow this entire area. When that happens, Shinobu won't be able to leave either!'
Asuka took a deep breath, his lungs feeling as heavy as lead.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking infinitely.
"Hmm?" The black-haired young man's half-open eyes focused, his pupils flickering slightly. "Sigh... is this fate..."
Ultimately, Asuka actually sank into that pure white mirror world!
'Hey! You white shadow bastard!' he roared in his heart.
'No matter who you are...'
'There's no time to go through the formalities now!'
'If you don't lend me your power, we're all done for!'
Boom!
As if to answer his resolve, an unprecedented Spiritual Pressure violently erupted from within Asuka's body.
This Spiritual Pressure could no longer be suppressed even by the Fullbring [Colorless]; visible Reishi surged across the surface of his body.
A more ancient and berserk chaotic power, mixing life and death, hollow and real, creation and destruction, began to churn relentlessly over him.
"This! This is..." Urahara was stunned.
He seemed to have recognized something.
Asuka's skin began to crack, blood instantly dyeing his Shihakusho red.
But the Zanpakuto in his hand let out an utterly joyous roar.
The black patterns on the blade began to spread madly, instantly covering the entire blade and even creeping up Asuka's arm.
"Ban—!! Kai—!!"
Asuka snapped his eyes open.
His eyes had completely turned a brilliant gold, with no whites and no pupils.
Only endless golden flames cheered within his eyes.
Riiiip—!!!
No one saw clearly what happened.
It was a slash sufficient to sever the very concept of 'common sense' along with everything else.
They only saw that the magic circle spanning the heavens was actually forcibly cleaved open, creating a massive gap!
Subsequently, roaring golden-red flames ignited half the sky!