Blood poured down like rain…
Kurosaki Ichigo stood frozen in place.
His mind was blank.
He... just killed someone?
And it was... a child?
Although Hikone Ubuginu wasn't a normal human, at this moment, the shock and guilt in Ichigo's heart was immense.
"Precisely."
A voice came from behind.
Before Ichigo could react, Yamiko appeared once more. She walked past him, saying, "This is Hikone Ubuginu's mission. If you want him to stop blocking you, you must kill him. Having mercy on your enemies is not a good habit."
"It's you!" Ichigo snapped, tightening his grip on his blade, as if to prevent an ambush.
But Yamiko had no intention of attacking. She simply walked to Hikone's corpse.
Having endured such an attack, Hikone Ubuginu could no longer recover with Super High-Speed Regeneration.
Yamiko bent down and picked up the Zanpakutō.
"Alright, you can now return to your true master's hands," Yamiko murmured softly, gazing at Ikomikidomoe.
"True... master?"
"This was originally my Zanpakutō, but for certain reasons, its power was sealed," Yamiko said. "Thanks to Inoue Orihime and Hikone Ubuginu, it was able to break free from that nameless hell."
That's right, Ikomikidomoe was originally Yamiko's blade.
Back in the Soul King Palace, Aizen and Yoshio met Soul King together, then separated for a time. Yoshio took Nezuko to walk the Soul King's path, while Aizen took Yamiko to retrieve Ikomikidomoe—a very special Zanpakutō stored in the Soul King Palace.
Thousands of years ago, Ikomikidomoe once attacked Seireitei. At that time, even the Shinigami, led by Yamamoto Genryūsai, could not stop it by joining forces.
Ultimately, it was the Monk of the Soul King Palace and Ōetsu Nimaiya who came down to solve the problem. After defeating the Menos Grande, because its reishi was too vast and difficult to kill directly, its name was erased, and it was then made into a Zanpakutō.
In other words, Ikomikidomoe was not its true name, and it constantly wished to reclaim its original one.
And Aizen lent a hand.
That's right—using Inoue Orihime's Santen Kesshun!
Of course, the power difference between Orihime and the Monk was too great; it would normally be impossible to break the Monk's name seal.
However, with Yamiko's help, things were different. Although she had not yet obtained power beyond a Shinigami, she was close, and most importantly… she was a recognized child of Soul King, possessing a certain amount of Soul King's power.
With Soul King's power, the process was much simpler.
Through Yamiko's Soul King's power, coupled with Orihime's Santen Kesshun, the Black Name applied by the Monk was only one step from being broken.
This final step required someone to fully activate its abilities.
And that person, of course, was Hikone Ubuginu, because to use this Zanpakutō and master all its power, one had to possess Hollow power!
By sacrificing Hikone, all of Ikomikidomoe's power was released.
And then...
Yamiko looked at Ikomikidomoe in her hand. The next moment, a large amount of white substance appeared from the blade, and a giant monster surged out!
"That's right! That's right! I remember! I remember now!"
Ikomikidomoe roared, "Let despair be etched upon you, Shinigami! My true name is—"
But at that moment, someone spoke his name before him. Not his past name, but his new name:
"Three-Aspect War Beast."
Ikomikidomoe gradually shattered, and Yamiko drew her own Zanpakutō—Three-Aspect War Beast!
Ikomikidomoe looked at Yamiko, about to speak, but felt a suction.
"No… no!"
Ikomikidomoe, who had just escaped from the nameless hell, changed his expression drastically. "I don't want to go back to that miserable world again! No, I don't!"
His voice was shrill, tragic, as if he had experienced unimaginable pain.
Yet his resistance was futile. Even if he recovered his past name, he was still no match for Yamiko. What's more, from the very beginning, his fate after being liberated had already been determined.
Ikomikidomoe, who had just escaped from a blade, surged frantically into Three-Aspect War Beast. White energy cleansed the Garganta, then…
All of it poured into that black Zanpakutō.
Seemingly influenced by this Super Menos Grande, white patterns appeared on the black blade, finally forming two white lines in the central area on both sides.
"This..." Ichigo's eyes widened.
What is this…?
Hikone's Zanpakutō was… taken by this woman?
No, not taken—absorbed!
"Now, his mission is finally complete."
Yamiko smiled at the brand-new Three-Aspect War Beast in her hand.
"Go save Rukia Kuchiki. This Garganta will last ten minutes. Within ten minutes, you can go to Karakura Town at any time."
After speaking, Yamiko no longer looked at Ichigo.
Her body instantly vanished, leaving only a single sentence:
"After ten minutes, if you don't enter the Garganta, you'll lose your last chance to go to Karakura Town and participate in the battle."
…
And so, Yamiko emerged from the Garganta.
People immediately tensed.
They didn't know the situation at Las Noches. Seeing Yamiko coming from Hueco Mundo, they assumed the Shinigami there had been defeated.
Even Yamamoto Genryūsai's expression grew grim.
If they'd had an advantage before, it would likely disappear now.
Yamiko's strength was immense, and she had yet to use her full power—a massive hidden threat.
Most importantly, what was the situation in Hueco Mundo?
They had sent four captains, all elites of the Gotei 13. If something happened to them, it would be a tremendous loss.
Everyone focused on Yamiko, who now watched the battle in Karakura Town, her gaze falling on the flames that had been burning since the beginning—
the flames released by Yamamoto Genryūsai, trapping Captain Aizen.
Now, it was almost time for it to end.
As Yamiko appeared, the flames began to dissipate, revealing Captain Aizen inside. He looked unchanged—no, if anything, more unfathomable.
Before the battle, Captain Aizen's first plan had already been completed.
Ichigo killed Hikone, completing his mission as a purifier and causing the soul fragments in Hikone's body, transmitted by Yamiko, to be cleanly transferred into Aizen.
Captain Aizen's soul had reached its limit centuries ago, and now, with a massive influx of Soul, it began to grow restless.
To fully merge his soul with the Hōgyoku and reassemble it, external pressure was needed. This large number of soul fragments provided that pressure, pushing the merger forward.
His soul essence slowly merged with the Hōgyoku.
"It seems it's time to end all of this," said Yoshio.
"Indeed," Captain Aizen replied calmly, as if stating a fact. "It's time to end all of this."
"It seems it's still one on one," Angra Mainyu said lightly.
"Who are you going to deal with? Yoshio?" Shihōin Yoruichi, beside him, asked.
After all, Angra Mainyu and Yoshio had been confronting one another for quite some time.
"The difference in strength between him and me isn't significant. If we really fight, it probably won't end for three days and three nights."
Yoruichi was surprised, especially after seeing Yoshio's previous performance.
If Yoshio hadn't instantly killed Baraggan with two strikes, her surprise would have been even greater.
She didn't know how strong Yoshio was, but she knew how formidable Angra Mainyu was!
Kisuke Urahara's "ultimate weapon"—even Yoruichi and Urahara could no longer imagine his strength.
But now he said that his strength was even with Yoshio.
Didn't that mean… Yoshio had also become a Transcendent?
How could this be?!
If Yoshio was already so powerful, why still follow Captain Aizen?
Captain Aizen hadn't even obtained that powerful force, but Yoshio had already gotten it first?
Shouldn't this faction be led by Yoshio, then?
It should be known that this was different from their relationship with Angra Mainyu. They weren't based on strength, and didn't have much desire to surpass the Shinigami, so they could use resources to cultivate Angra Mainyu into a Transcendent.
But Captain Aizen—leader of the group—was seeking to surpass Shinigami.
If he had resources and methods, he'd use them on himself first.
How could he let Yoshio get ahead?
"Just as Urahara guessed, Yoshio's identity is unusual," Angra Mainyu said. "Perhaps, his relationship with Captain Aizen is more complex than we imagined."
As he finished, people began to move.
Yamamoto Genryūsai appeared before Aizen.
He was the leader of the Shinigami; Aizen, the leader of the Arrancar. These two were destined to face each other.
Facing Aizen, Yamamoto Genryūsai was not polite. He directly released his Zanpakutō.
This time, Aizen did not use tricks like Wonderweiss Margela.
Although Aizen had absorbed many Soul from Yamiko, it wasn't enough to propel his soul to full reassembly. He needed to take the final step through battle.
"I should also act," Angra Mainyu sighed, then disappeared from Yoruichi's side, reappearing in front of Yamiko.
The most effortless way would be to keep fighting Yoshio, but he was curious about Yamiko now.
After all, Yamiko was very 'mysterious' now.
If in the original work, Aizen focused his attention on Ichigo, this time, because of Yamiko, most of that energy had shifted to Yamiko.
Ichigo was born because of the second-generation Hollow White created by Aizen, but everything about Yamiko was created by Aizen himself!
He poured his heart into cultivating Yamiko.
For what purpose? Captain Aizen told no one—not even Yoshio.
So Yoshio was curious as well.
Taking this chance to probe was a good choice.
Of course, these were just excuses.
Most importantly, watching these people constantly fighting—his hands were truly itching.
Seeing Angra Mainyu voluntarily go to Yamiko, Surtur could only go face Yoshio.
She was not discouraged. She believed Angra Mainyu went to Yamiko to try and break through her weak point. If Angra could defeat Yamiko before she was defeated, then Angra could come and help her deal with Yoshio together.
Surtur was confident in her own strength—but even more in Angra's.
She'd fought Angra in Seireitei, after absorbing the power of Sōkyoku and bringing some Sternritter. She suffered a crushing defeat.
She knew how terrifying Angra's strength was; she didn't think Yamiko could last long.
And Yoshio…
Though he'd shown overwhelming power against Baraggan, compared to Angra, he was still a bit inferior.
Most importantly, compared to Yamiko—whose power composition was unclear—Yoshio's power was purer. He was, without a doubt, a Shinigami.
Coincidentally, Surtur's current ability could be called a 'Soul Reaper Killer'. Against a Shinigami, she could exert much stronger power.
Therefore, facing Yoshio…
She didn't think she would necessarily lose!
Thus, the battlefield was once again divided into four parts.
The first part: the unfinished duels—including Harribel vs. Bazz-B, and Tōsen Kaname, who, after dealing with Hirako Shinji, now faced Shihōin Yoruichi once more.
This was war—a war where it was either you die or I die. No time to rest.
Those defeated but not dead were also recovering, ready to rejoin the fight.
The remaining three parts: six people had just begun their battles. Every two formed a battlefield. Few in number, but their strength was much greater!
…