"..."
Thunderous explosions echoed nonstop.
The shockwaves from the blasts swept through Karakura Town like a hurricane.
If the real Karakura Town hadn't been hidden away, every single human there would've been instantly killed by just the shockwaves alone.
"T7..."
"Thek..."
"Hurry, we need to back them up...!"
The faces of the Shinigami turned grim. The stronger captains immediately drew their Zanpakutō and rushed toward the center of the battlefield.
Aizen Sōsuke alone was already terrifying enough.
But now the Quincy King, Yhwach, had joined the fight too.
Two against one.
They were truly worried about Nanaya's chances.
"Don't get in His Majesty's way!"
"Shinigami, die!"
Behind Yhwach, two white-robed Quincy stood coldly, glaring at the approaching Shinigami reinforcements.
Without hesitation, they raised their Quincy crosses.
Two more glowing blue spirit bows appeared in their hands.
Swish swish swish...
Thousands of blue spirit arrows flew forward in a deadly barrage.
As the captains faced the oncoming arrows, their expressions changed.
"So strong..." Kyoraku Shunsui muttered, his face serious. He could clearly sense that the two Quincy in front of him were no weaker than himself.
He glanced toward the center of the battlefield—then, without hesitation, gripped his Zanpakutō tighter and spoke in a deep voice:
"Bankai."
"Katen Kyōkotsu: Karamatsu Shinjū!"
The moment his Bankai activated, a shadowy female figure appeared behind him, made of some strange substance. Around her, black pine trees and pine leaves spread out ominously.
The whole area dimmed.
A chilling pressure filled the air as his powerful Bankai Reiatsu spread.
Now in this state, Shunsui's strength surged. With only two strikes, he easily destroyed hundreds of incoming arrows.
Seeing this, one of the white-robed Quincy sneered. A strange metal disc appeared in his hand.
"Bankai, huh...?"
The other Quincy beside him looked over calmly and said:
"Relax. Now's not the time to use that."
After the war a thousand years ago, the Quincy had reflected deeply on their defeat. They came to the conclusion that the biggest reason they lost to the Shinigami... was Bankai.
Once a Shinigami uses Bankai, their Zanpakutō's true power is fully unlocked—allowing them to fight at ten, even a hundred or a thousand times their original strength.
So over the course of a thousand years, the Quincy developed a countermeasure:
The "Sternritter Medallion."
At the exact moment a Shinigami activates Bankai, this small, circular metal device can steal it outright.
Once stolen, the Shinigami loses access to their Bankai forever.
Meanwhile, the Quincy who stole it can use the Bankai as their own weapon.
A truly broken ability.
After hearing his companion's warning, the Quincy holding the medallion clicked his tongue but put it away.
He also knew this wasn't the right time yet.
That medallion—created after centuries of research—wasn't meant to be wasted on ordinary captains.
It was made to counter Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni himself.
Sure, using it here could defeat the enemy Shinigami easily—but once they knew about the medallion, they'd start preparing countermeasures.
"His Majesty hasn't fully awakened yet..." one of the white-robed Quincy said coldly, eyes scanning the battlefield.
"But once he does, that'll be the day you Shinigami fall. I can't wait to see the despair on your faces... when your precious Bankai is taken from you."
With that, the two Quincies focused on blocking the Shinigami reinforcements.
Watching them fight, the once-hopeless Arrancar and Menos Grande suddenly regained their fighting spirit and charged toward the battle again.
The skies were soon filled with fire and chaos once more.
At the center of the battlefield—
Thick smoke and dust blocked everything from view.
Yhwach slowly lowered his arm and squinted through the cloud.
"Is he dead?" he muttered.
From his perspective, either the Great Holy Bow he had just used, or Aizen Sōsuke's Ultimate Radial Break, would've been enough to destroy anything in their path.
Even someone as strong as Yamamoto Genryūsai might've been seriously injured from that kind of attack.
No way a single person could survive it...
"It hurts, you bastard!!"
A furious voice suddenly rang out from within the smoke—cutting off Yhwach's thoughts.
His eyes narrowed in shock.
"He's still alive!?"
As the smoke and dust slowly cleared, Yhwach's expression turned serious.
"An immortal body…?"
At the center of the battlefield, Aizen Sōsuke looked completely wrecked — half his body was torn apart, and the monstrous white wings had vanished, as if ripped off by brute force.
The white Hollow-like substance wriggled around him, trying to heal, but the regeneration was painfully slow.
He looked miserable — far from the majestic and terrifying "King of Hueco Mundo" he once appeared to be.
Meanwhile, Nanaya stood tall. Despite being attacked by both Aizen and Yhwach at once, he had only suffered an arm injury — and even that was rapidly healing right before their eyes.
"Damn, that really hurt, you bastards!" Nanaya muttered coldly, shaking his arm. His sharp eyes locked onto Yhwach. His tone was chilling.
"You should've stayed dead, old man. After a thousand years, you finally crawl back into the world… just to embarrass yourself?"
"I'm going to kill you… and turn your body into one of my Tentacle Pains."
Originally, Nanaya had planned to make Aizen into his next Pain body.
But now, he was ready to change targets.
Yhwach looked stunned at first, but quickly composed himself.
"You're powerful," he admitted. "Just like I was… a thousand years ago."
"But I've long since surpassed that version of myself. And you—"
"Shut up and die!" Nanaya didn't let him finish.
With a flick of his hand, the black spheres behind him moved.
"Expand — Truth-Seeking Ball!"
The spiritual energy pouring out of Nanaya's body was nearly endless — power flowing from him like a flood.
In just one second, almost 90% of his spiritual energy had poured into the expanding orb.
The once small black sphere grew rapidly—
Three meters.Five meters.Ten meters.Twenty meters...
It became a massive black sphere in the sky, like a dark meteor — humming with destructive energy.
Anything it touched was swallowed instantly.
It didn't explode. It erased.
Like it burned reality away into a pitch-black void.
As soon as the two most powerful beings — Aizen and Yhwach — laid eyes on it, their faces twisted with shock.
"What… what is that!?"
Yhwach stepped back, eyes wide. He had seen something horrifying:
A glimpse of his own death.
He, who had waited a thousand years to be reborn, felt true fear.
This was not how it was supposed to end.
"That human's a monster…" Aizen said through gritted teeth, coughing up blood. "Don't fight him head-on. Can we escape!?"
Aizen had transcended both Shinigami and Hollow, so he had the ability to rip open the Garganta and flee to Hueco Mundo.
But he knew — Nanaya could follow.
And if he faced Nanaya in Hueco Mundo, it would only mean death.
So, he turned to Yhwach with a desperate expression.
Yhwach's face contorted in rage, but he looked at the incoming black sphere and finally made a decision.
"Get into my shadow."
"Shadow?"
Aizen hesitated for a moment, then nodded. His body flashed with white light as he dove into Yhwach's shadow without question.
The shadow swallowed both of them.
Right as the massive black Truth-Seeking Ball passed over.
"AHHH!!!"
A brief, sharp scream rang out — and vanished as the black orb erased everything in its path.
The shadow dissolved shortly after.
Nanaya narrowed his eyes and scoffed.
"Tch. You're lucky."
With his Rinnegan, he had clearly seen Yhwach's left arm get consumed by the Truth-Seeking Ball.
If they had delayed for even a second longer, both of them would've been erased completely.
Nanaya lowered his gaze and sighed.
He glanced at his own white-glowing arm, now in his Six Paths form, and murmured to himself:
"Too fast. My power's growing faster than I can fully control... I still haven't mastered this form yet."
He could feel it — the immense growth in his strength. His powers were evolving along with his form.
The Expanding Truth-Seeking Ball was one of those newly awakened abilities.
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