Jugram's golden hair whipped wildly in the raging wind. The sword in his hand gathered all the spiritual pressure and conviction of his life.
At this moment, he was no longer the knight hiding in the shadows, but a blade that, once drawn, had to taste blood.
He charged toward that high-hanging divine throne.
"Heh! Not bad eyes."
In front of the throne, Harribel, who had been watching coldly the whole time, let a trace of approval flash through her green eyes.
She slowly descended from the clouds, like an insurmountable mountain, taking the initiative to meet that all-or-nothing streak of sword light.
There was no earth-shattering collision, no dazzling exchange of techniques.
Just a single face-to-face moment.
Clang! Crack!
A crisp breaking sound echoed through the sky.
Jugram's sword, which symbolized balance, shattered into two pieces in an instant.
The Shield of the Substitute in his hand crumbled like fragile glass.
His entire body felt as if it had slammed into an invisible wall. His forward momentum stopped abruptly.
"How… how is this possible?"
Jugram's eyes widened, filled with shock and disbelief.
He had thought about losing, but never imagined losing this badly.
With his current strength, after absorbing part of the power granted by Yhwach, he should have been second only to Yhwach himself. He had even believed he could surpass Captain-Commander Yamamoto.
'But why?'
'Why, in front of this woman, I am so powerless?'
'So powerless that I don't even have the qualification to swing my sword?'
"Are you confused?"
Harribel hovered in the air, her black robe fluttering loudly.
She looked down at the man already at the end of his strength, her voice cold yet carrying a kind of clarity between those of the same kind, "I felt your resolve to sacrifice."
"Willing to die for an unworthy ruler. That resolve is indeed strong."
"But…", her tone shifted, carrying a hint of pity, "your resolve cannot be turned into real power. And the sacrifice I offer in loyalty to His Majesty, you should have felt that too, Jugram Haschwalth."
Sacrifice.
Harribel's unique ability as the First Espada, and also the principle she upheld from beginning to end.
Hearing those words, Jugram understood instantly.
So that was it.
They were both pieces willing to sacrifice themselves for their respective rulers. The difference was that the one she served had granted her the power to truly answer that resolve.
And as for himself…
"You have a lord worthy of your loyalty," Jugram forced a slight movement at the corner of his mouth, revealing a relieved yet bitter smile.
Then, his body lost all strength and fell from the sky like a bird with broken wings.
Boom!
With a dull thud, he crashed heavily onto the devastated ground, landing right beside his dying friend.
Though there were no fatal wounds on the surface, that single blow had completely destroyed his vitality.
The leader of the Wandenreich's Sternritter had fallen.
"Haschwalth!"
Looking at his friend's body gradually losing warmth, Bazz-B's expression became extremely complicated.
He had thought his own betrayal and Auswahlen would make him reach the end first.
He hadn't expected that even in death, Haschwalth would still be one step ahead of him.
"Damn it! Always like this… always one step faster than me."
Bazz-B staggered to his feet, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.
That Loyd who had disguised himself as Yhwach had already been torn to pieces by Lilynette.
On this vast main battlefield, he was now the last Quincy left.
"Hahahaha! Come on, Hollows!"
Bazz-B suddenly threw his head back and laughed wildly, his voice hoarse and unhinged.
"Kill me! Send me to hell! I'll be down there watching with my own eyes as you break into the Soul King Palace and drag that old bastard Yhwach down with you!"
"For that warning you shouted just now when you went up into the sky," A soft sigh suddenly sounded by his ear. Green hair swayed in the wind as Neliel's figure appeared before him like a ghost, "His Majesty said you can be removed from the death list. You don't have to die."
"Hahaha! Compared to our cold-blooded emperor, your Majesty really has more humanity."
Bazz-B didn't lower his weapon because of this. Instead, he laughed even louder.
He raised his head to look at the clouds, looking up at the man who had not spared him a single glance from beginning to end.
He knew that this mercy called pardon had nothing to do with his betrayal, nor with his value.
It was merely a thought from that man.
But it didn't matter.
He, Bazzard Black, could die, could lose, but would never crawl and live like a dog.
"Come on! Grant me death!"
"Haschwalth died by your hands, no matter what, I have a reason to fight to the very end!"
"I'll be waiting in hell, waiting to see the final outcome!"
Bazz-B laughed madly as he raised both hands. Though the spirit particles in his body had already been drained by Auswahlen, he still relied on his final will to forcibly condense a broken spirit bow.
Even if he posed no threat now, forming a weapon was still his last stand for his belief.
"Very good eyes."
Neliel looked at him. In those eyes that always carried compassion, true respect appeared for the first time.
"I take back my previous evaluation of the Wandenreich. Aside from Jugram, you may also be another opponent in this ruin worthy of respect."
She slowly gripped her antler-shaped twin blades, her gaze returning to compassion.
Whoosh!
The broken spirit arrow shot out.
At the same time, Neliel moved.
Slash!
A green afterimage flashed. She appeared instantly behind Bazz-B.
And behind her, the arrow fell weakly to the ground.
At the same moment, two almost imperceptible lines of blood pierced precisely through Bazz-B's heart and brain.
No pain.
No struggle.
Death descended in an instant, taking away this soul filled with anger and unwillingness.
This was the greatest mercy Neliel could grant this final knight.
Thus, the Wandenreich was completely annihilated.
———
"It's over."
Kyoraku Shunsui leaned against the broken ruins, looking toward the direction of the main battlefield, murmuring so softly it was nearly carried away by the wind.
The spiritual pressure there had completely calmed. That oppressive feeling receded like a falling tide, replaced by deathly silence.
This final battle of the Wandenreich was like a bubble that had been roughly burst, leaving not even an echo behind.
"Next, it should be our turn."
He gave a bitter smile and closed his eyes.
As the remaining remnants of this great purge, their fate had long been decided.
It was just that they wouldn't die now, but be saved for the final act.
But with the Wandenreich already destroyed, how far could that final act be?
However, the expected judgment did not come.
In the sky, that throne symbolizing absolute kingship slowly disappeared.
Rosse, seated upon it, didn't even spare them a glance from the corner of his eye. He simply raised a hand lightly, and a Garganta tore open the sky once more.
Then the throne, along with that arrogant god and the top three Espada, vanished straight into the black cavity as if this place had never existed.
"Why didn't he deal with us?", Ukitake Jushiro frowned deeply.
Being deliberately overlooked in this land of death gave him a sense of unease even stronger than death itself.
"Heh, maybe in his eyes…", Shunsui curled his lips in self-mockery, "in his next script, we don't even qualify as obedient puppets. At most, we're just extras who need to improvise freely to add a bit of random amusement."
In the gap between their conversation, this world hidden in the shadows began to let out groans under unbearable strain.
Rumble!
Having lost the Quincy's power as support, and after being jointly attacked by Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, the spatial structure of the Wandenreich was on the verge of collapse.
The sky peeled away like a shattered mirror, revealing the dark, chaotic void outside.
To be forgotten in destruction, it wasn't a bad ending.
With Rosse's personality, letting them find their own way to survive and escape seemed consistent with his usual behavior.
But Shunsui instinctively sensed something was off.
Without any hesitation, he leapt into the air.
"Hm?"
Looking at the scene unfolding not far away amid the collapse, Shunsui's always lazy eyes suddenly widened, his pupils shrinking sharply.
He saw something extremely strange.
Near a ruin in the distance, Ishida Ryuken, who should have already left, was crouching beside the corpses of the fallen Sternritter.
One hand in his pocket, yet his movements were as skilled as a precise surgeon.
He took out fruits of different colors from his coat, expressionless as he stuffed them into the mouths of the lifeless bodies.
Bazz-B, Jugram, even Quilge who had been split in two, as long as they hadn't been blown to ash, every Sternritter was fed one.
"What is he doing?"
Shunsui's heart pounded wildly.
Though he didn't know what those fruits were, he understood Rosse too well.
'That man never does anything pointless. Behind every trivial action he has a scheme capable of overturning the situation.'
'If this gets out, it might change everything.'
'It has to be spread.'
'I have to let—'
At that thought, Shunsui's hand froze mid-motion as he tried to draw his sword. His whole body went still, as if frozen.
'Spread it?'
'Spread it to whom?'
Within this net woven by Rosse, who could they even contact?
The Royal Guard? Soul Society? Or that Urahara Kisuke whose fate was unknown? Or Yhwach, who hadn't been seen at all?
They were like insects trapped inside a bottle. No matter how they slammed against the glass, to the amused eyes outside, it was nothing more than futile struggle.
Perhaps… the fact that Rosse allowed him to see this scene at all was itself a kind of extreme arrogance and confidence.
That kind of contempt, where even knowing changes nothing, was more suffocating than any torture.
"Heh!"
Shunsui lowered his arm weakly, that deep sense of helplessness flooding over him like a tide.
How were they supposed to win?
Was it really this hard to defeat Rosse?
"Looks like the three of you are still quite energetic," A cold voice broke the silence.
At some unknown moment, having finished handling the corpses, Ishida Ryuken had already appeared before them like a ghost, one hand in his pocket.
The silver frame of his glasses reflected a cold gleam within the collapsing spatial cracks.
"Are we going to die?"
Ukitake Jushiro gripped Sogyo no Kotowari tightly. Even knowing he couldn't win, he would never sit and wait for death.
"Die? No, not yet."
Ryuken pushed his glasses up, his tone calm like reading a medical report.
"By His Majesty's special approval, you are allowed to follow me to Soul Society. But that is all. There, you will no longer be former captains, only ordinary soldiers, spectators who can only watch the entire performance from below the stage."
As he spoke, he snapped his fingers.
Buzz!
A mass of thick shadow spread out like ink from beneath his feet, instantly engulfing Shunsui and the others.
The Wandenreich had always existed within the shadow of Seireitei. Now that the barrier was gone, the passage between the two worlds was completely open.
"Of course."
At the final moment before the shadows swallowed their vision, Ryuken looked at Shunsui's ashen face, and for once, a meaningful curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"If you're willing to cooperate a little and play your roles well in the final act, I think His Majesty will be even more pleased."
"Everything really is calculated to the last detail."
Shunsui let out a long sigh, completely giving up resistance.
He turned and silently supported the heavily injured Hirako Shinji beside him.
Not just supporting his body, but holding him back from rushing forward to fight now.
It was meaningless.
The gap in strength was right there. Nothing could be more hopeless than this moment.
Killing was just a nod of the head.
But compared to killing, Rosse clearly preferred to toy with them.
All they could do now was pray to the Soul King in their hearts, hoping to witness the moment Rosse stumbled.
As long as they weren't dead, anything was still possible.
No words, no struggle.
As the shadows contracted, the three figures slowly sank into the ground, as if swallowed whole by this cruel fate.
The Wandenreich, which had existed for a thousand years, completely became history at this moment.
"Hey! How long are you going to mourn? His Majesty already left," Candice muttered irritably, hands in her pockets.
She and the three women before her had become the only survivors in the empire.
Meninas and Bambietta had defected early. Using her privilege as an Espada, she had saved Liltotto's life.
As the price, Liltotto's betrayal immediately triggered Yhwach's Auswahlen.
Fortunately, they had prepared in advance, letting Liltotto eat a Devil Fruit so that her life wouldn't be in danger from Auswahlen.
At the same time, the trace of world power from Rosse's world contained within the Devil Fruit quietly returned to Yhwach's body along with the activation of Auswahlen.
These abilities were completely useless to Yhwach, but for Rosse, they were a much easier path toward the throne.
Having Yhwach scout the way ahead was far better than stepping on mines himself.
Next, it was time to wait for Yhwach's good news.
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