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Brilliant white frost poured down from the heavens, as if heralding the arrival of deep winter.
And then—
Something happened that made the Shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen burn with hope once more.
Crack!!!
The temperature dropped sharply below freezing.
Under the influence of that icy power, the reishi and moisture in the air froze almost instantly.
The True World Castle had been reconstructed on the original foundation of the Royal Palace, preserving the space's absurdly dense concentration of spiritual particles.
As those particles froze one after another—
Gerard Valkyrie's massive body turned into nothing more than a moving target.
In the blink of an eye, he was completely encased in ice.
That sight, naturally, caused an uproar.
"This is… Captain Hitsugaya!"
Eyes glued to the screen, the moment they saw the figure standing atop the ice crystals, all traces of childishness gone, cheers exploded throughout Seireitei.
Sure, the future "Shiro-chan" had appeared once before.
But this time was different.
After witnessing Valkyrie brutally massacre the Visored, and after being battered by the despair of the previous three segments, the morale of most Shinigami had already sunk to rock bottom.
And yet—
Hope had returned.
And then, Hitsugaya Tōshirō appeared.
His arrival was more than a faint glimmer of light cutting through the darkness.
To everyone watching, he was a savior descending onto the battlefield, someone upon whom all hope was instantly placed.
"Captain…"
"So the timeline really has connected. Looks like before Captain Zaraki showed up, it was you and Captain Kuchiki holding that giant Quincy back," Matsumoto Rangiku said softly, her expression complicated.
She stared at the image before her, at the mature face of Hitsugaya on the screen, and for a moment she almost failed to recognize him.
Who would have thought…
In the future, Hitsugaya had truly grown up.
Not only that, he had become one of the key figures standing at the heart of the final battle.
The realization left her strangely emotional.
"Yeah…"
"So my future self finally lived up to his talent. I didn't let the Head Captain and the others down," Hitsugaya muttered, clenching his fists as excitement filled his turquoise eyes. "I wonder how far Hyōrinmaru can really go…"
Earlier, during the battle with Harribel, the technique Ice Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral had already stunned everyone present.
So this time…
Surely Hyōrinmaru still had something even greater. Perhaps even the ultimate expression of its freezing power.
The answer would be revealed soon enough.
—
"Captain Hitsugaya."
"Those ice flowers behind you… can they really sustain this battle?" Kuchiki Byakuya asked gravely, his eyes fixed on the purple cross-shaped ice petals slowly withering behind Hitsugaya.
At this point, only the two of them were still able to fight.
With his enhanced Senbonzakura and the refined shunpo he had mastered under the guidance of the Zero Division, Byakuya was confident he could keep going for a while longer.
But—
Based on everything he knew about Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, once the ice flowers faded, the Bankai's time limit would end. Hitsugaya would lose its power entirely. This was common knowledge.
Which meant…
The situation was dire.
Yet Hitsugaya's response caught him completely off guard.
"No. You're mistaken."
"The ice flowers withering doesn't mean my Bankai is ending. It means Hyōrinmaru's power has fully matured."
Hitsugaya's gaze was steady, and the remaining ice petals behind him seemed to decay faster, responding to his resolve.
"…What?"
"There's something like that?" Young Hitsugaya blurted out in disbelief back at the Tenth Division barracks.
"Ice flowers fading means Bankai ends."
That idea had come from him in the first place.
Every previous battle had supported that conclusion, too. He had never been wrong.
So why…
Why would his future self completely overturn his own understanding?
Something had to be missing.
Just as Hitsugaya furrowed his brow, struggling to think it through, Matsumoto suddenly gasped.
"Captain… look! You look like you've turned into an adult!"
Her eyes widened in shock, her jaw nearly hitting the floor.
On the screen, as the cold mist surrounding him slowly dissipated, Hitsugaya's form transformed entirely.
The boyish features were gone.
He was taller now. Broader. His face was sharp and defined, his eyes unwavering as he held a crystalline blade of ice.
The white fur mantle around his shoulders snapped loudly in the howling wind.
In an instant. No, faster than that.
It was as if Hitsugaya had crossed time itself, burning through his youth ahead of schedule. The prodigy boy had become a hunter of the frozen wastes, capable of standing alone.
And it wasn't just his appearance.
His spiritual pressure had multiplied several times over, and his harmony with Hyōrinmaru had reached absolute perfection.
At this moment, even his quiet breathing caused the air itself to freeze.
He no longer needed to rely on the swing of his blade.
Absolute zero bent to his will.
"So… so cool!"
"So this is Captain Hitsugaya's final form!"
"No wonder Hyōrinmaru is called the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō!"
"I can't wait to see the power of a fully matured Bankai!"
…
The despair that had sunk everyone's spirits moments earlier was reignited by Hitsugaya's awakening.
Encouragement. Hope. Faith.
No one believed anymore that the giant Quincy was unbeatable.
"Hm? That's quite a change. But weren't you already in Bankai?" Valkyrie muttered, frowning as he reassessed Hitsugaya with a wary gaze.
Still…
After observing for only a short while, the caution in his eyes faded.
The immortality granted by "The Miracle," along with its ability to grow endlessly stronger through damage, gave Valkyrie all the confidence he needed.
So—
"Die, ice brat!"
"No matter how strange you become, you'll end up just like your comrades!"
The colossal Sword of Victory came crashing down from hundreds of meters above, intent on cleaving Hitsugaya into shattered ice.
But—
"Shunpo!"
Cold surged.
Hitsugaya evaded it effortlessly.
"Hmph. You dodged? Then take another!" Valkyrie snarled, swinging again with destructive force.
The result was the same.
Perfectly merged with the freezing air, Hitsugaya slipped away once more.
"I refuse to believe I can't hit you!"
Another swing.
Dodged again.
When the fourth strike missed its mark, Hitsugaya finally spoke.
"It's over, pure-blood Quincy."
"With Daiguren Hyōrinmaru fully released, I can completely freeze all elements within a space in four steps."
"You might not have noticed… but I just took the fourth one."
The moment his words fell—
Crack!
The sound of freezing rang out.
The next instant, the screen was swallowed by an endless eruption of ice.
Absolute zero surged outward, climbing and spreading, instantly sealing Valkyrie's massive body within a frozen prison.
A thousand miles of ice. Life withered away.
"..."
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