As those faint, almost imperceptible words drifted into his mind, Ren's pupils constricted slightly, and he reacted instantly.
He grabbed Shisui's collar with one hand and Mayuri Kurotsuchi's sleeve with the other, leaping backward. His figure blurred as he retreated to the entrance of the basement.
Simultaneously, several slashes fell out of thin air.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The coffin was instantly hacked to pieces, wood splinters mingling with flying fragments of gold and silver.
Even the corpse inside was reduced to mismatched chunks of flesh and severed limbs under the weight of the assault.
The remains hit the ground with a wet thud, spraying crimson blood everywhere.
Despite seeing the corpse hacked into a mess, Ren kept his eyes fixed on the pile of shredded remains, his nerves pulled taut.
Seeing his state, Shisui didn't dare lower his guard either.
Increasing his vigilance, he asked softly, "My Lord, is there something wrong with that corpse?"
"Hmm?"
Ren looked back at him, his face filled with suspicion.
"You didn't hear that voice?"
Shisui shook his head.
To the side, Mayuri patted his messy clothes, his expression showing a hint of irritation.
"What voice?"
He pointed at the pile of shredded meat and looked at Ren, his tone quite dissatisfied.
"All I know is that you've destroyed Yhwach's corpse! That was the Father of the Quincies!"
"Even a corpse would have had immense research value. Now it's been turned into this fragmented mess!"
"How am I supposed to perform an autopsy or conduct research now? Do you have any idea how precious the materials you've destroyed were?"
Seeing his furious state, one might think he was about to draw his sword and strike!
Had it not been for the fact that Ren was his superior, he likely would have broken into a stream of curses long ago.
Shisui frowned.
"Mayuri, watch your tone!"
"The Lord naturally has his reasons for acting this way."
Mayuri also realized that with Ren's steady personality, he wasn't the type to overreact for no reason.
He must have discovered something just now!
Suppressing his impatience, he turned to Ren with a serious look.
"If neither Shisui nor I noticed it, and only the Lord heard it, what kind of voice was it?"
Looking at the two who had sensed nothing, Ren turned his head back toward the shredded remains.
He remained on high alert, though a sense of oddity grew in his heart.
"Just now, Yhwach's voice echoed in this room!"
"Shisui, Mayuri, did neither of you truly hear it?"
Though the voice had been faint, it wasn't to the point of being inaudible.
Both Shisui and Mayuri were top-tier experts with high levels of spiritual perception; it should have been impossible for them to miss such an anomalous sound.
"Yhwach!"
Shisui's face showed shock.
Yhwach was long dead; he had personally stabbed three holes into that body!
Even if the Kaiser Gesang was true and he could regain his pulse and intellect over time, both his heart and brain had been destroyed. Where would the power to speak come from?
After his initial surprise, Mayuri looked at the pile of meat with an interested expression.
"Yhwach... Could he truly be a legendary god, just as his name suggests?"
Seeing that both of them were genuinely oblivious, Ren frowned. It seemed the voice really had been intended for his ears only.
"Heh..."
Now he was certain that this was some trick Yhwach was playing from the shadows.
Ren let out a disdainful chuckle.
Though he didn't know how the man could speak or target a specific person without a heartbeat or conscious will, it was indeed somewhat miraculous.
But at the end of the day, the current Yhwach was nothing more than a dead body.
Even the corpse had been chopped into mincemeat. What could a lingering shred of will and a tiny voice actually accomplish?
Furthermore, even if Yhwach truly resurrected, Ren feared nothing with his current strength.
He pushed past Shisui and stepped forward, walking toward the pile of remains in the center.
Worry flashed across Shisui's face. "My Lord, should I test it for you first?"
Ren waved him off. "No need. It's just a pile of meat that died a long time ago."
He stopped before the bloodstains and looked down at the flesh.
In a daze, that nearly imperceptible voice rang out again, drifting into Ren's mind.
['My brother... do you truly wish to kill me?']
['My brother from another world... My brother who inherited our father's power... Do you truly wish to kill your elder brother?']
Hearing the voice become increasingly urgent, Ren raised an eyebrow.
It was confirmed; it was indeed Yhwach's voice calling out!
However, the content of the words left Ren momentarily stunned.
Yhwach was begging for mercy, but to try and claim a relationship like this? He was actually pulling the 'brother' card?
When did he ever become Yhwach's brother?
Ren didn't deny that he possessed a portion of the Soul King's power, but to be claimed as a brother by Yhwach because of it left him deeply speechless.
So in Yhwach's eyes, they were now sworn brothers with different parents?
"Dead men should stay dead. Why bother thinking about resurrection with all this fuss!"
It seemed Yhwach was truly at the end of his rope, possessing no power to resist.
That was why he resorted to these verbal tricks.
He would even go so far as to claim a brotherly relationship!
"To save your life, you'd actually try to claim kinship and say such things. Yhwach, you truly have no one but yourself in your heart."
"I despise you."
Ren heard the intermittent pleas but had no interest in listening further.
He had fought his way here; how could he possibly stop now?
Clang!
He drew the Zanpakuto from his waist and unleashed a slash toward the remains.
The blade glowed with a cold light as heavy spiritual pressure erupted from the edge, pouring onto the corpse ahead!
The silver-bright spiritual pressure was like a crescent moon, carrying the all-cutting ability of his Zanpakuto as it washed over Yhwach's remains.
Rumble!
Whether it was the severed limbs or the blood on the ground, none of it could withstand the slash, turning into pure Reishi.
Even the solid ground couldn't endure Ren's attack, and the entire basement shuddered violently.
As the spiritual pressure subsided, a black, bottomless crater appeared before Ren.
It spanned nearly half the basement.
Whether it was the corpses of the other Quincies or Yhwach's shredded remains, everything had ceased to exist under that single strike.
Looking at the clean area before him, now devoid of any pestering voices, Ren looked relaxed as he sheathed his sword.
"My research materials!"
Mayuri stared blankly at the massive pit, his face full of agony.
"That was the corpse of the Father of the Quincies! So many secrets were buried within it, and now they're all gone..."
He quickly moved to protect the dazed Nianzol Weizol, shielding his last bit of experimental material!
He was afraid Ren might casually destroy this one too.
Ren turned his head, a trace of apology on his face.
"Mayuri, it seems I can't fulfill what I promised you earlier."
Before the battle, Mayuri had pestered Ren relentlessly about getting Yhwach's corpse for research.
Ren had been unable to refuse at the time and had agreed.
However, after that voice had echoed, Ren had immediately changed his mind.
"Yhwach's corpse is much more reassuring when it's completely destroyed!"
"But... my research materials..."
"There are no 'buts'!"
Seeing Mayuri still looking like he was at a funeral, Ren waved his hand dismissively.
"How about this: once the war is over, you can take your pick from the Quincy prisoners."
"Then there's no problem."
Mayuri's face flipped instantly, beaming with joy.
He hurried to Ren's side, singing praises.
Ren repeatedly waved him off to stop the nonsense. Shisui approached from the side, the worry on his face not yet faded.
"My Lord, are you alright?"
Shisui asked with concern, "I saw you saying something just now. Were you perhaps speaking with Yhwach?"
"It was indeed him. He was talking to himself just now, and I found it annoying, so I wiped out his will with a single strike."
Speaking of this, Ren recalled Yhwach's words, and his expression paused.
The composure on his face finally broke, replaced by a strange look.
In the Three Realms, the Soul King was the supreme god who created the world.
Yhwach was the Son of God, and just now Yhwach had called him his brother?
Good grief, the Father and the Elder Brother were all present!
By that logic, wouldn't he be the 'Heavenly King'?
At that thought, Ren couldn't hold it back and let out a snort of laughter.
Shisui looked confused. "My Lord, this is..."
Seeing a smile on Ren's face was not a common occurrence.
Even Mayuri showed a curious expression, turning his head to look over.
"Haha, it's nothing..."
Ren waved his hand and laughed. "Just now, Yhwach was lying on the cross, clutching my hand and saying to me, 'My brother should be like Yao and Shun!'"
"Hahahaha!"
After finishing the sentence, the smile on Ren's face grew even more unrestrained.
Shisui's face was full of confusion, completely unable to understand the meaning behind Ren's words.
He looked at Mayuri, only to find the scientist wearing the same bewildered expression.
The two looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously, not understanding what Ren was laughing about.
Just as Shisui was about to ask something, a violent tremor suddenly shook the ground.
This vibration was different from Ren's earlier slash; the source was clearly outside, vibrating all the way down here.
"My Lord!"
Shisui quickly moved to Ren's side.
"Something must have happened outside to cause such a tremor!"
Ren pulled back his smile, nodding slightly as his expression became solemn.
He agreed with Shisui's assessment.
"Let's go out and see!"
With that, he led Shisui and ran toward the entrance.
"Wait for me!"
Seeing the two leave so briskly, Mayuri hurriedly pulled out a sphere, sealing the Sternritter member inside.
Then he rushed toward the door to catch up with Ren and Shisui.
As soon as they stepped out of the underground passage, Ren saw a row of Onmitsukido members standing guard near the entrance.
"What's happening?"
Seeing it was Ren, the leader of the group immediately spoke. "My Lord, a high plateau has suddenly risen in the city."
"Shisui, let's go!"
Shisui summoned clouds, carrying Ren and Mayuri as they floated toward the exterior.
Before leaving, Ren looked down and ordered the Onmitsukido, "Your orders remain the same: hunt down any remaining Quincies!"
As his voice fell, Ren flew outside on Shisui's clouds, reaching a relatively open area.
The three of them rode the clouds, rising steadily within Silbern, eventually reaching a window.
Ren looked out and saw a massive rock wall appearing before his eyes.
Scanning left and right, the wall was so vast that he couldn't see the end of it.
The three flew out of the window, and the clouds beneath their feet continued to rise into the sky.
As they rose higher, Ren gradually got a full view of the rock wall before him.
It was a plateau shaped roughly like a cube, rising from the ground within the Shadow Empire. The shaking from before had been caused by its emergence.
At a glance, the size of this plateau was almost comparable to the city of Silbern behind them!
Shisui was filled with shock.
"This wasn't part of our operation plan. Could it be the work of the Quincies?!"
"To be so blatant... aren't they afraid of being surrounded by us?"
Mayuri was also full of wonder.
"This shows that the person has absolute confidence in their own strength!"
"To think that among the Quincies, besides the now-deceased Yhwach, there is still such a powerful individual!"
Looking at the high wall, Ren's expression was thoughtful.
In the entire Wandenreich, if anyone had the ability to do this, there was only one person!
As the clouds carried the three to the summit, their height finally cleared the top of the plateau.
Ren could now see everything on top of the plateau clearly.
First, there was a giant over ten meters tall, standing proudly on the high ground.
The 'Miracle,' Gerard Valkyrie!
His helmet and sword were gone, leaving only the shield on his arm. His eyes emitted a golden light, and his aura was even more formidable than before.
In front of the giant were the panting Kaido and Big Mom.
The two held their weapons, their faces showing signs of fatigue, but their auras were becoming increasingly high-spirited as their surging battle intent erupted.
Shisui maneuvered the clouds over to Kaido and the other.
"What happened here?"
Seeing Ren's group arrive, Kaido and Linlin lowered their guard.
Linlin pointed at the giant ahead and gave the three an explanation.
"Ma-ma, ma-ma! I don't know the details either. Kaido and I were fighting that guy when the ground suddenly rose up and brought us here."
"Worororo! It's quite a fine stage!"
Kaido took advantage of the lull to unstrap the sake gourd from his waist and took a heavy gulp.
Ren turned his head, scanning the area around the giant.
The giant also noticed Ren's arrival, and a booming voice echoed in all directions.
"You three... why are you here! Could it be that His Majesty..."
"That brat, despite having His Majesty's power and appearance, actually lost to a mere mortal. How useless!"
Gerard's face was full of fury, his voice dripping with disdain!
"Gerard, you're pretty useless too. You haven't been able to deal with your opponents after all this time."
Beside him, a white figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.
It was a normal human-sized figure wearing a hood, with a voice that carried a self-centered arrogance.
He turned around, revealing a pair of curved eyes under the hood as he looked toward Ren in mid-air.
He was smiling broadly, yet his expression was full of pride.
"I assume you're the boss of these people?"
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gremmy Thoumeaux, and I am a Visionary!"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]