"Cole!"
"Cole-san!"
Shunsui and Nanao looked at Cole in surprise and relief.
They hadn't expected his ability to still be effective here, in this place.
The shinigami and arrancar around them all let out quiet sighs of relief as well.
Their speed wasn't exactly slow, but the rate at which the Soul King Palace was being dyed black was simply too fast.
The darkness had already caught up to their retreating steps.
"Cole, are you going to be okay?"
Rukia and Yoruichi looked at him nervously.
If Cole couldn't stop this darkness, their only option would be to jump off the Soul King Palace entirely.
But if they did that, they'd be forced to watch from afar, unable to influence anything that happened next.
That thought alone was deeply unsettling.
"It's not a big problem. This is basically a clash between two domains—I'm not going to lose."
Cole stared calmly at the distant darkness.
It was a domain of pure black—
Not only did it plunge everything into darkness, it dyed things themselves jet black.
But when the Nyoi Gold Staff struck the ground, it also created a domain of suppression that belonged solely to him.
Two domains were now grinding against one another.
The reason no one else could withstand this darkness was simple:
Their reiatsu wasn't enough.
They couldn't contend with Ichibe.
Nanao let out a shaky breath and quickly escaped from the area of absolute darkness.
But as soon as everyone saw her face, they all gasped in unison, their eyes widening.
Rukia couldn't help raising a hand to her mouth, her throat dry as she spoke.
"Nanao-fukutaichou, y-your face…"
Nanao froze, and instinctively reached up to touch her cheek.
"Rukia-taichou, what's wrong with my face?"
Her fingers brushed over her skin.
She didn't feel anything different.
Shunsui exhaled slowly, then patted her shoulder with a heavy expression.
"Nanao-chan… calm down. We shinigami have to be prepared to go through anything. Even something like this… you can't give up on yourself."
Urahara nodded, his tone serious.
"That's right. Once this whole incident is over, I'll do my best to research some kind of restorative medicine."
Everyone else chimed in with their own words of comfort.
Nanao was nearly scared out of her wits.
She hastily used kido to conjure a water mirror in front of her.
The moment she saw her reflection, her pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Her hands trembled as they pressed against her cheeks.
"M-my face… what happened to my face!?"
Her once delicate features had turned completely jet black.
Pure darkness.
Even her facial features weren't visible.
From a distance, it looked like someone had pasted a flat black sheet over her face.
She could still feel her nose, her eyes, her mouth—
But the absolute blackness made it impossible to see any of it.
Nanao's mind went blank.
After several seconds, she finally recovered enough to speak, her voice breaking into a sob.
"Cole, what do I do!?"
Because of the curse on her family, she'd never entertained many illusions about marriage or romance.
Even so, seeing her face turned into this was enough to make her want to break down.
She couldn't even imagine how she was supposed to live like this.
Cole scratched his head in frustration.
"There's not much I can do. My ability is suppression, not healing. Your body's basically been altered."
By now, he more or less understood Ichibe's power.
He could dye everything within a certain range black, and the effect of that dyeing was applied directly to the body.
Which meant that even if you escaped the bounds of the domain, your body stayed black.
Nanao turned desperately to the others.
"Taichou, Urahara-taichou, Kurosaki-taichou, Yoruichi-sama, Byakuya-taichou, Hirako-taichou…"
Hearing the tremor in her voice, the captains all traded helpless looks.
None of them could think of a solution.
They could use kaido, sure—
But Nanao didn't look injured.
Her face and one leg had been dyed black.
In a situation like this, even if Unohana herself were here, she'd be equally at a loss.
With no one else to turn to, Nanao looked back at Cole again, eyes full of pleading.
"Cole… what about Inoue-san…?"
He knew exactly what she was asking.
Cole let out a bitter laugh.
"I'll ask Orihime to try later, but don't get your hopes up too high."
This dyeing ability was just too outrageous.
Even though Orihime's power infringed on the realm of the gods, he genuinely didn't know if she could reverse something like this.
Nanao nodded pitifully, but all anyone could see was that blank black mask of a face.
They couldn't see her expression at all.
Cole exhaled and looked toward the deep, deathly darkness.
"Honestly, the better way is to find Ichibe. Since it's his ability, there's got to be some method to undo it."
At that, Nanao's gaze shifted involuntarily back to the abyss of black.
"Ichibe-dono…?"
That pure darkness was just too terrifying.
She didn't have the courage to step into it.
All she could do was hope that Ichibe would come back out.
Cole spun the golden staff lightly in his hand and looked at the darkness.
"You all back up as far as you can. I'm going in to take a look. I'm sure that big monk and Aizen are already at each other's throats in there."
Everyone glanced at one another, unsure whether they should try to stop him.
It wasn't that they were worried about Cole's safety.
He'd already proven that he wasn't afraid of this darkness.
They were worried about their own.
If they let this dyeing ability spread without limit, the entire Soul King Palace would be covered, and it might even reach all the way down to Seireitei.
At that point, no matter how fast they ran, they wouldn't be able to escape being swallowed by the dark.
Cole didn't give them time to argue.
He took one step forward—
And walked straight into the darkness.
Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki immediately followed after him.
The others wanted to rush in as well.
But Cole simply kicked them all back out.
What were they thinking?
With their level, they still dared come risk their necks with him?
In everyone else's eyes, a single cluster of golden light, like a blazing sun, plunged into the abyss of darkness.
It was the only speck of light in that sea of black.
Inside the darkness.
There was no sound, no light.
It was as if even time itself had ceased to exist.
There was nothing to see but black, stripping away all sense of the world.
Rukia swallowed, her throat dry, and unconsciously grabbed onto the hem of Cole's clothes.
Sode no Shirayuki was far more shameless.
She jumped directly onto Cole's back, wrapping her arms happily around his neck.
"Cole, I missed you so much while I was in the inner world. Did you miss me?"
Rukia, already on edge, was instantly furious, glaring daggers at Sode no Shirayuki.
"Sode no Shirayuki, don't fool around right now. It's dangerous. Get over here and stop bothering Cole-kun."
Sode no Shirayuki rolled her eyes, then leaned in and planted a kiss on Cole's ear, cheeks pink as she smiled.
"Cole-kun isn't in danger at all. You're just jealous because you're a flat-chested master. Just stand over there and watch me and Cole-kun being lovey-dovey."
Rukia ground her teeth so hard they almost sparked, but her face still flushed bright red.
Damn it.
It was that infuriating sensation again, coming straight from her zanpakuto.
Listening to the two of them bicker, Cole couldn't help chuckling.
He walked forward slowly, speaking as he moved.
"All right, you two, knock it off. I need to find those two idiots in here."
Judging from what he knew in the original story, Ichibe's ability was insanely overpowered.
He was basically a walking cheat code.
Unfortunately, his opponent had been an even more broken cheat—Yhwach.
All of his abilities had ended up being completely ignored.
From his entrance to his defeat, the monk's screentime had amounted to just a handful of chapters.
Now, even if his opponent wasn't Yhwach, Aizen was no less of a bugged-out monster.
With these two fighting…
It was impossible to predict who would actually come out on top.
Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki obediently fell silent, following behind Cole as they traversed the pure darkness.
Time seemed to have been erased here.
He didn't know how long they'd been walking when Cole suddenly stopped.
Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki failed to react in time and both bumped into his back.
Their expressions grew tense.
"Cole, did you find them?"
"Are they fighting?"
Cole didn't answer the question.
Instead, he snorted and teased,
"Rukia, Sode no Shirayuki, when we get back, I'll buy you two some papayas. Maybe that'll help your bodies grow a bit more."
If the people bumping into his back just now had been Unohana or Orihime, it absolutely would have felt like someone was tackling him with a ball.
Not this rock-hard impact.
The two of them blinked, taking a few seconds to process the joke.
Then their eyes turned dangerous at the same time.
"You damn pervert, I knew you were a boob man! Have you had your eye on Unohana-taichou this whole time!?"
"I'm going to freeze you into a popsicle."
As ice-cold reiatsu began to stir, Cole hurriedly cleared his throat and pointed ahead.
"Hold it. Stop for a second. I've found those two. They're already fighting. You can claw each other's eyes out later."
At that, the two reluctantly stopped and turned to look forward.
But to them, it was still nothing but pitch black.
Cole thought for a moment, then slammed the golden staff into the ground.
Golden light burst outward, enveloping the area around them.
In an instant, the darkness was pushed back by the light.
What appeared before them was a sprawling field of black tombs and gravestones.
It was eerily quiet, a deathly chill sinking into their souls.
Rukia didn't even dare breathe loudly.
She swallowed hard and whispered,
"Cole… what is this?"
Sode no Shirayuki stared as well.
She definitely didn't remember there being a black graveyard like this here before.
Cole considered it, then answered,
"This is probably the manifested form of a zanpakuto's ability. It's similar to Shunsui's bankai, Katen Kyokotsu Karamatsu Shinju."
The two of them understood immediately.
They'd seen Shunsui's bankai.
It had several distinct stages.
One of them, Dangyo no Fuchi, was a tangible water-field domain.
This was likely just another type of manifested zanpakuto realm.
Their gazes moved further in—
And finally landed on Aizen.
He was walking among the giant gravestones, step by step into the depths of the black.
His figure was nothing short of ghastly.
The white hollow-like material that had covered his body had turned into festering, rotten flesh.
Chunks of that pale mass, along with his own blood and tissue, fell away continuously.
Some parts exposed gleaming white bone.
Every step he took left scraps of flesh scattered behind him.
It was enough to chill anyone to the core.
And yet, even with such horrific injuries, his life force was unaffected.
His body was regenerating constantly.
By relying on perfect regeneration,
He had endured the process of his body being dyed black.
Even now, Aizen's body had not been turned completely black.
Ichibe, on the other hand, looked downright bizarre.
He swung his zanpakuto over and over again—
But every slash fell on completely empty space.
Each time he brought the blade down, his face twisted with savage hatred, as if he were hacking at a mortal enemy.
"Cole…"
The two girls looked back at him.
This time, Cole didn't hesitate.
"That idiot monk is completely under Kyoka Suigetsu's perfect hypnosis."
He didn't know exactly how Aizen had pulled it off.
But he wasn't the least bit surprised.
Compared to Aizen, these thousand-, million-, or ten-million-year-old fossils—
Their minds and souls had long since rotted.
"Senile" didn't even begin to cover it.
Against that kind of enemy, there was no level of success Aizen could achieve that would surprise him.
"So what do we do now?"
The two girls' eyes lit up with excitement.
They stared at Cole eagerly.
"Are we going to seal Aizen?"
"Or just kill him outright?"
Even if they couldn't match Aizen in power, they could tell that he was in a very bad spot.
If they chose to strike right now…
They might really be able to take him down.
But Cole didn't move.
He stepped past the two of them instead, walking toward what lay behind them, eyes burning.
"We're going… to the Soul King's inner palace."
Under normal circumstances, anyone who wanted to get there would first have to force their way through all five members of the Zero Division.
But now?
The situation was perfect.
Four of the Zero Division were trapped outside the darkness.
And the only one who could move freely within it—Ichibe—
Was completely under Aizen's control, swinging his blade like a blind man.
If that wasn't a heaven-sent chance to reach the Soul King's inner palace, what was?
Without giving the two girls any chance to argue, Cole's hoho rang out in rapid beats as he sprinted forward, leaping into the air and landing in front of the Soul King's inner sanctum.
He raised his head.
His gaze glowed with excitement as he looked up at the massive doors.
Behind this entrance was the Soul King's residence.
The most exalted being in the world.
And in the truest sense, the strongest existence in this entire reality.
Thinking of that, Cole took a deep breath and placed his hands on the doors of the Soul King's inner palace.
Slowly, he began to push them open.
(End of Chapter)
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