Jugram's heart trembled. His eyes were locked on that silver-white arrow.
From the moment he saw it, he felt an indescribable terror.
Just looking at it made him feel like he couldn't breathe.
As if that arrow was his natural predator
A born nemesis.
The sharp arrowhead alone sent chills down his spine.
"This arrow…?!"
Uryu stared at it blankly. He couldn't sense any danger at all.
He genuinely didn't understand why Jugram was reacting so violently.
Ryuken said calmly, "Alright. Take that arrow and go."
"It can be considered your mother's keepsake."
"As for what it does, read the materials I gave you carefully on the way."
"Mother's keepsake…"
Uryu's eyes turned serious.
Even though he still didn't know what it was for, he nodded hard.
"I understand!"
With that, Uryu leapt away, speeding toward the Spirit King Palace.
"Wait!!!"
Jugram's expression turned unusually twisted. He stomped the ground, about to chase after Uryu and stop him.
An arrow that made him feel that kind of danger would very likely affect His Majesty too.
Because what he felt wasn't just "danger"
It was instinctive terror.
Like it was the Quincy's natural bane.
But… how was that possible?!
Quincy were the most perfect race in the world.
Their annihilation power could erase anything that existed.
How could there be something that restrained annihilation power?
But the instant Jugram moved, he was forced to pull back
Because Ryuken came in at top speed.
That silver-haired, handsome middle-aged man swung a blue blade with a cold expression, speaking indifferently:
"One Auswahlen wiped out tens of thousands of mixed-blood Quincy."
"With sins that great… how could there be no retribution?"
As he spoke, Ryuken raised his bow with one hand.
In a single heartbeat, he fired thousands upon thousands of arrows
Like a rain of blue meteors.
Handsome to the extreme, and terrifying beyond measure.
Jugram's face was ugly.
Because he could tell
This pure-blood Quincy from the Human World had pushed the techniques of a thousand years ago to the absolute peak.
Even without mastering the Complete Holy Body, his strength still wouldn't be much weaker than Jugram's.
And a monster like this
Even in the Quincy empire of a thousand years ago, would've been rare.
A "normal" Quincy with a lifespan under a hundred years…
How could someone like this be born?
Anger surged in Jugram's chest. Grinding his teeth, he fought at full power while shouting:
"Ishida Ryuken!"
"What was that arrow you gave Ishida Uryu?!"
"Why does it restrain annihilation power so strongly?!"
Ryuken calmly dealt with Jugram's attacks, answering lightly:
"Didn't I already tell you?"
"In that Auswahlen, tens of thousands of mixed-blood Quincy died."
"And that, was their counterattack against Yhwach."
"What does that even mean?!"
Jugram roared, completely unable to understand.
A counterattack from mixed-blood Quincy?!
What counterattack could they possibly make?!
Weren't they all killed instantly by Auswahlen?!
And when they die to Auswahlen, it doesn't just kill them
Their power, even their souls, get stripped away in an instant.
Leaving behind only an empty shell of a corpse.
In that state… what "counterattack" could exist?!
Ryuken didn't explain further.
He simply focused on battling Jugram.
Jugram nearly crushed his teeth from how hard he was biting down.
But soon, he inhaled sharply and made up his mind.
He would end this fight as quickly as possible
Then report everything here to Yhwach, in full detail.
The reishi around him suddenly boiled, surging like a blue tide into his body.
Two blue wings began to form behind him.
His aura swelled, more massive and terrifying by the second.
It was the Complete Holy Body.
In that form, he looked like a forming blue angel
Elegant, cold, and looking down at Ryuken.
"Ishida Ryuken."
"As a Quincy who stayed behind in the Human World… you truly are strong."
"But it's still far from enough."
"In these thousand years, we Quincy have already gained an even stronger form."
"Now you should be able to feel the gap between us."
"Give up. Or use your Letzt Stil (Final Spirit Form)."
"But no matter which you choose…"
"The outcome won't change."
His power was so great that, over these thousand years, he had almost never needed to use the Complete Holy Body.
Even against enemies
Banbutsu Chowa (Harmony of All Things) was enough.
But against Ryuken, a genius bordering on a monster
He was finally forced to use the Quincy's Complete Holy Body.
Seeing this, Ryuken calmly pushed up his glasses.
"Complete Holy Body, huh?"
"It really is a pretty good ability."
"I also spent three full days learning it."
As those words fell
Under Jugram's stunned gaze, Ryuken activated Reishi Domination as well.
Behind him, the same blue wings appeared.
His aura exploded upward countless times over.
"That's impossible… Complete Holy Body…"
Jugram stared at Ryuken in shock.
This was the Quincy's highest form, refined over a thousand years
A symbol of their peak.
Even Uryu, who drank His Majesty's blood, hadn't mastered it yet.
And this man… a pure-blood Quincy who stayed in the Human World, with a lifespan under a hundred
Was saying he mastered it in three days.
In Jugram's stunned silence, Ryuken continued evenly:
"Also—what you said earlier is inaccurate."
"Calling the Complete Holy Body a 'stronger form' only proves how arrogant and ignorant you are."
"Because the Quincy's Letzt Stil (Final Spirit Form) is far stronger than the Complete Holy Body."
"As long as a Quincy can perfectly control the Letzt Stil…"
"The amount of Reishi Domination they can wield is at least three times greater than the Complete Holy Body."
"It's just that in the past, very few Quincy had that kind of talent."
"They could only rely on the Letzt Stil's passive effect to control Reishi Domination…"
As he said that
Something even more shocking happened.
Ryuken actually put on the Letzt Stil glove.
In an instant, his spiritual power boiled over, and he entered the Letzt Stil (Final Spirit Form).
The next second, Jugram stared at the reishi around them in disbelief.
Those blue light-points—only Quincy could see—
More than half of them were seized by Ryuken.
Controlled by him.
Ryuken said flatly:
"If your control is precise enough…"
"You can use the Letzt Stil in the Complete Holy Body state as well."
Leaving that line behind, Ryuken raised a finger toward the sky.
A sea of reishi gathered and formed into a gigantic sacred bow.
"Daiseikyu (Great Sacred Bow)!"
"..."
Off in Seireitei, the surging reishi caught everyone's attention.
"Who's fighting over there?!"
"The reishi domination is affecting this far away…"
"One is Haschwalth. The other… I'm not sure."
"Who could possibly force those two into a combined battle?!"
"What terrifying spiritual pressure…"
"Haahaha! Doesn't matter which Shinigami it is—today, they're dead for sure!"
The Quincy's morale surged. Some even laughed out loud.
The Shinigami Captain-Commander had already been killed.
And now they had this kind of "reinforcement"
How could the remaining Shinigami possibly stand a chance?
On the Shinigami side, the rage and grief only deepened.
They fought like madmen, trying to kill the Quincy as quickly as possible.
Only Shunsui, Rukia, and Unohana wore strange expressions.
Where did this Quincy come from?
If anything, it looked less like they were "teaming up"
And more like they were trying to kill each other.
Those two waves of reishi domination were clearly opposing forces.
But the Quincy present were too excited to notice.
Could it be Uryu came back to help?
But does he even have that kind of ability?
Thinking that, Rukia couldn't help glancing toward the Spirit King Palace, worry rising in her chest.
"Cole… you'll be okay, right?!"
At the same time
Inside the Spirit King Palace, which had been slammed down from the sky…
As they looked at the intruders, Yhwach and Aizen—
Several members of Squad Zero had faces turning purple with rage.
Seriously?
Again?!
In recent thousands… tens of thousands… even millions of years
Only in the past few months had the Spirit King Palace been treated with this little dignity.
First it got holes blasted in it, again and again.
Now it had been directly smashed down from the heavens.
Not even a shred of reverence.
What did they take the Spirit King Palace for?
A public toilet?!
Thinking that, the Squad Zero members gripped their zanpakuto and coldly faced Yhwach and Aizen.
But Aizen chuckled softly and flickered away, retreating to a distance.
"No need to be so tense."
"I'm not interested in fighting you."
"I'm just here to take a look at the birth of the Spirit King."
The line carried a double meaning.
He really did want to witness a Spirit King's birth
Just not the natural one.
A man-made Spirit King.
Yhwach frowned at that.
He didn't want to waste time here, and he didn't want to fight these "ordinary" Shinigami either.
Time was life—those words fit him perfectly.
Because the war had lasted too short a time.
And the Quincy numbers were too small.
They hadn't killed enough Shinigami.
Which meant he hadn't absorbed enough power and life force.
If he fought these small fry and spent too much of his life force, it would be troublesome when he met true threats later.
And right now, he couldn't casually use Auswahlen again.
He was still counting on his subordinates to keep slaughtering, bringing him more life force.
But soon
Yhwach relaxed slightly.
Because several Sternritter members also invaded the Spirit King Palace.
Among them was Gerard Valkyrie.
So Yhwach didn't stop.
He headed straight toward the Spirit King's inner sanctum—the Oken Palace structure floating in the sky.
"These ones are yours."
Yhwach's tone was calm and cold, not taking Shutara Senjumaru and the others seriously at all.
Gerard and the others didn't hesitate. Laughing loudly, they charged at Shutara and the remaining Squad Zero, shouting:
"Shinigami—don't disappoint me!"
Elsewhere
Cole appeared at some point, standing beside Aizen.
He smiled and asked:
"So? Did he suspect anything?"
(End of Chapter)
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