Chapter 61: Absolute Realm 80% — Burnout Output
It is difficult to describe Captain-Commander Yamamoto's state of mind at this moment.
Astonishment, disbelief, and even a profound confusion!
He actually began to wonder if his painstakingly developed Zanjitsu Gokui (Remnant Sun Prison Garb) had some fatal flaw. If not, why—despite being clad in a raiment of fifteen-million-degree flames that should vaporize every incoming attack and even the limbs that launched them—was he being pummeled until his face was bruised and swollen?
However, Yamamoto quickly grasped the reason, for he had witnessed something similar very recently.
Uryu Ishida, his body on the brink of collapse, had suddenly discarded his physical form to let his soul leap out, using peerless battle intent as a fist to blast Mayuri Kurotsuchi into dust right before his eyes.
Thinking of this, Yamamoto looked at the Ichigo Kurosaki before him. The boy was so close to the Zanjitsu Gokui that his body was constantly vaporizing, yet it was miraculously and stubbornly recomposing itself. Ichigo was enduring the absolute agony of solar incineration while heroically swinging his fists.
Yamamoto looked into those eyes—deprived of eyelids, the eyeballs themselves constantly hovering between charred withering and rapid regeneration.
Firm and pure, powerful and hot-blooded!
This conviction—the willingness to beat the entire world to carry out his own will—was so radiant, so dazzling. Because Ichigo wasn't just talking; he was doing. Even facing a literal "Sun," there was only one thing he would do: charge forward and pummel it with all his might!
Ridiculous? Incomprehensible?
Perhaps. But this was the path of the Strongest that Ichigo Kurosaki had chosen. He intended to use his bare fists to thoroughly defeat every "impossible" in his way!
"These brats of the new era... one after another, they're all so goddamn potent!"
Perhaps infected by Ichigo's pure battle intent, Yamamoto, despite his bruised face, felt a flicker of admiration. He then narrowed his eyes, masking the intensifying madness within!
The new era's brats were potent, but he, the old senior of the bygone age, would not be outdone. His right hand gripped the charred Ryūjin Jakka, and he gave it a gentle swing.
Though seemingly a casual flick of the blade, it was at a god-speed far beyond the recognition of the naked eye. Ichigo's body, already half-vaporized, was instantly split in two—and the section where the blade passed was completely erased.
"Zanka no Tachi, Higashi: Kyokujitsujin (East: Rising Sun Edge)!"
By concentrating all the heat of Ryūjin Jakka onto the very tip of the blade, it neither burns nor releases explosive flames; it simply erases whatever it touches from existence, leaving no trace.
A thousand years ago, Yamamoto defeated Yhwach but failed to truly kill him, leaving room for his resurrection. Yamamoto viewed this as a mark of shame, and it had been one of his primary motivators for his millennium of training.
The towering era of the Seireitei faced constant challenges, and Yhwach was the most significant. An undying enemy who could return time and again, rebirthing the Quincy race with his King's Blood, meant that Yamamoto and his era didn't have a single margin for error. One mistake would lead to unimaginable consequences.
For a thousand years, Yamamoto had contemplated how to truly kill Yhwach. Kyokujitsujin was the answer forged over those ten centuries, serving as the foundation and core of the Zanka no Tachi Bankai. It was the mastery of compressed flames, sublimated into an absolute power to incinerate all things and slay the once-untouchable strong.
Knowing the sheer tenacity of Ichigo's recomposition, Yamamoto swung the blade multiple times.
Ichigo was halved, then quartered, then rapidly divided into sixteen segments. Heart, brain, organs, and the "Soul Sleep" and "Soul Chain" required for spiritual power were all subjected to catastrophic damage. Simultaneously, Yamamoto focused on destroying Ichigo's soul itself.
Before a physical body dies, the soul is bound to the flesh in a profound way. After death, it requires Reishi to temper it into a "Soul Body." In a sense, a Soul Reaper is a Reishi lifeform evolved from a spirit, which is why they can alleviate the stagnation of Reishi. This was exactly why Ichibe had told Yhwach that the Soul Reapers must hold world leadership.
But technically speaking, the nature Ichigo was manifesting right now was that of a Quincy. Quincies are flesh-and-blood beings whose souls are hidden deep within their cells; as their power grows, the link intensifies. Thus, few Quincies can manifest as Soul Bodies after death.
The miracle Uryu Ishida performed had taught Yamamoto a lesson. He did not intend to give Ichigo that same chance.
The tactical results aside, the sheer horror of Zanka no Tachi was self-evident. Even without releasing flames, the heat concentrated at the tip was so dense that its mere presence changed the world.
Within dozens of kilometers of Yamamoto, buildings began to spontaneously combust. This wasn't just heat-induced fire; the bricks and tiles of the Seireitei were made of materialized Reishi. Their burning meant that the very foundation of matter was being incinerated.
Weak Soul Reapers felt their lungs burning as the very air turned to fire. With every swing of Yamamoto's blade, the radius of destruction expanded. The Seireitei was moving toward irreversible annihilation. If this continued, the Soul Society would fall, dragging the other two worlds with it.
In this instant, many could no longer remain spectators—including the man in the shadows, the "Smartest Man in the Three Worlds," Kisuke Urahara.
"I knew the old man was trouble when he went mad, but this level of disaster is beyond the forecast!"
Urahara had long seen the madness beneath Yamamoto's stubborn exterior, but his contingency plans only accounted for Yamamoto going on a noble-slaughtering spree, not pushing the universe to the brink of collapse. Though he carried various "trinkets" specifically designed to counter Yamamoto, Urahara hesitated.
He didn't suffer from indecision, but seeing Ichigo evolve from a "Soft Strawberry" to the "Strongest Creature on Earth" in such a short time gave him a premonition. He instinctively believed Ichigo could still perform a miracle that even he could not comprehend.
That trust was not misplaced.
The battlefield underwent a sudden, irreversible shift. A bizarre suction force appeared between heaven and earth, greedily swallowing the peerless heatwaves radiating from Zanka no Tachi.
Yamamoto immediately identified the source. It was right before him, within his reach.
It was Ichigo Kurosaki—whose body was divided into sixteen pieces, yet whose battle intent had not withered. Heart, brain, organs... all destroyed. But to a true Martial Artist, the body is secondary to the soul that carries hot-blooded conviction. And even if the soul is damaged, there is the unquenchable Battle Spirit!
Before this Purity, death was nothing more than a weak "bratty uke" who would go cry in a corner for three days after a single punch!
This was the ultimate power of Reishi Recomposition: using Absolute Purity to defeat death, shatter fate, and turn the impossible into reality.
As his body and soul collapsed under the Rising Sun Edge, Ichigo evolved once more. Within his remaining eye, there was nostalgia, sentiment, and joy.
"So this is how Fisher felt when he burned his all against overwhelming strength... Old man, thanks to you, I finally know what the Perfect Heavenly Fist should look like..."
His throat was severed, yet the ethereal voice of his soul echoed through battle intent into the ears of every observer.
Having felt the absolute power of the Rising Sun Edge and the world-shaking will within the blade, Ichigo realized his full-power pummeling was still insufficient. The "hardness" of his fists was still far from that of the blade.
But that was fine. He had already told Aizen his answer during their chat in the café.
If pummeling with full strength isn't enough, then pummel beyond the limit!
Aizen hadn't asked what came after that. If he had, he would have heard Ichigo's ultimate conviction.
If going beyond the limit isn't enough? Then BURN IT ALL TO ASH!
This was the lesson Ichigo learned from Grand Fisher in their legendary duel. Back then, he had only "learned" it. Now, he finally felt it... the meaning of Burnout! And he finally understood the true form of Fisher's unfinished final punch.
Absolute Realm 50%... 60%... 70%!
His power was increasing manically, solely to manifest the unfinished Heavenly Fist upon the earth. Ichigo clenched his fist of intangible yet solid battle intent. Infinite power collapsed and compressed within his hand, forming an invisible doorway. Then, the door slowly opened, and a bizarre force that devoured all things flowed out, reaching for everything in its path.
Yamamoto sensed the anomaly. He hallucinated a vision of a vast, barren desert beneath a wicked, silver moon. The moon vibrated, even writhed, transforming into an invisible mouth that hungered for the world. The moonlight became the breath of that devouring maw—every exhale a hunt, every inhale a feast.
The moon and its breath were evil and treacherous, yet they contained a power so potent it defied understanding. All of this was now concentrated in Ichigo's fist.
Yamamoto snapped himself out of the hallucination. He remembered an enemy from his youth, before Zanka no Tachi was created—the only enemy who had ever handed him a crushing defeat. It was a Hollow that had fully regressed to its primordial bloodline. Its ferocity and treachery were identical to the Ichigo he saw now!
But Yamamoto felt no anger; only joy. He thanked fate for this gift. To slay a youth clad in the dawn of a new era was a pleasure; to have that youth manifest the same power as the enemy who once defeated him gave him the chance to wash away his old shame. This was supreme bliss!
Yamamoto raised Ryūjin Jakka!
His perfection of Zanka no Tachi was meticulous. East was for duels, South for armies, West for defense. It was a flawless hexagonal development. So, what was missing?
The answer was simple: an ultimate finishing move to annihilate everything!
"Boy! Die a satisfying death! Zanka no Tachi, Kita: Tenchi Kaijin (North: Heaven and Earth End in Ash)!!!"
Instantly, the world was filled with immeasurable light and heat. Everything turned a blinding, absolute white. Spectators like Aizen could see nothing through the radiance; they could only sense an absolute destruction covering all phenomena.
At that moment, Ichigo's roaring soul echoed across the Seireitei:
"Old man! You're the one who should be floored! Absolute Realm 80% BURNOUT OUTPUT—TRUE HEAVENLY FIST! DEFEAT HIM!!!"
Within the infinite white, a deep and terrifying darkness erupted. It swayed like a worldly serpent, stretching its body and opening a maw vast enough to swallow the world, devouring the light and heat!
At that exact second, Uryu Ishida, who had been brought to the execution grounds and hung upon the stand, snapped his eyes open! He didn't care about his situation; his mind was seized by one thought:
"This chill... is that dead pervert Fisher's scent? But how!? He was blasted into dust!"
Uryu's awakening added another variable to the board, but it wasn't the most vital one. Even Ichigo and Yamamoto's ultimate clash wasn't the final turning point.
The true irreversible change came from the invisible Soul King Palace. After watching for so long, the stout monk—Ichibe Hyosube—finally made up his mind and stepped out.
When he manifested within the Soul Society, the Gaze falling from the heavens locked onto him instantly!
End of Chapter
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