Chapter 134: The End of the First Great Shinigami War
"Your Majesty?!"
The sheer force of that punch, and the terrifying spiritual pressure that followed, stunned Lloyd.
He turned his head and saw Yhwach blasted away, as if lightning had struck his spine. The shock was even worse than the burst from Takeru's fist.
"I would never use a disgusting tone like that to address someone."
Yushima Oshu's voice rang right beside Lloyd's ear.
Lloyd snapped his head around.
Yushima Oshu was already in front of him.
"Don't get in my way!"
Lloyd swung the identical twin wing blades, trying to force him back and rush to Yhwach's side.
Yushima Oshu moved first. His left hand shot out and clamped down on Lloyd's hilt, yanking hard and ruining the swing before it could form.
"Let go!"
Cornered, Lloyd threw a desperate punch at Yushima Oshu's face.
But Yushima Oshu knew "his own" Hakuda too well. He simply tilted his head aside, slipped past it, and swept his twin wing blades.
Boom!
A point blank slash detonated on Lloyd's chest.
Lloyd flew backward like he had been hit by a train, carving a trench a full hundred meters long before he stopped. Blood pooled beneath him.
"The only difference between you and me is that you lack the resolve to destroy everything, and you carry an unnecessary sense of loyalty. That's not enough to show what 'my' abilities really are."
Yushima Oshu snorted at the miserable body at the end of the trench, then flashed away toward Takeru.
...
That child had been revered as a treasure from the day he was born.
He could not speak, could not see, could not hear, could not even move. Yet anyone who touched him received his "gift," their flaws mended as if the world itself had corrected them.
Severed limbs regrew. Minds and bodies were purified. Miracles piled up until awe became worship.
No one cared that those miracles came with a cost, that the recipients' lifespans were shortened, that they aged and died early. They only praised his greatness and cheered the divinity of his power.
As the child grew day by day, the people around him became less like supporters and more like followers. A new faith was born.
And the world, burning with reverence, shouted his name.
"Yu...ha...ba...ha!"
Enemies roared it too, drenched in killing intent.
"Yhwach!"
A flaming long sword reddened his vision, stole a thousand years of time, and burned away past glory.
Pain.
Pain.
Pain.
"Ugh!"
Lying in the ruins, Yhwach's eyes snapped open. He gasped like a drowning man.
The agony flooding his body and the blood blurring his sight dragged everything back in an instant.
"I... actually lost consciousness...!"
Only a few seconds. Yet he had still blacked out. Like a head injury, the past surged into him in a violent rush.
He tried to rise. A portion of his body had been severed, and the earlier wounds were still severe. His limbs were weak. His mind was fogged. His vision swam, as if blood were flowing backward into his skull.
Yhwach knew his face was likely shattered by that punch.
"I did not intend to do this before facing Squad Zero."
"But now... there is no other choice."
"Shimiya Takeru... I offer you my utmost respect with this!"
He gathered reishi in his remaining left palm. The pull became monstrous, like a black hole. It felt as if physical laws would be torn apart and turned into something impossible.
"Raise it high, silver crest, gray grassland, the ringed path hidden by light."
"Agate eyes, golden tongue, skull cup, divine coffin... what must be raised high is your heart!"
"[The Antithesis]!"
The light sphere in his palm, like a heart, like a reishi sun, erupted with brilliance. It pierced the shakonmaku. Reishi rained down, and the light transformed into a massive ring that covered the sky above Seireitei.
Countless heads lifted in shock.
Some thought the ring would descend and bind Seireitei itself.
Instead, a solemn chapel bell rang, and sacred light poured down like a waterfall.
"This light... ah!"
"Is... is this His Majesty's doing?!!"
"Wait...!"
"I don't want to die!"
"Why... why has it come to this!"
The war stopped.
Because the Quincy were being exterminated on a massive scale.
The light fell over them and drained their power as if it were sucking marrow from bone.
Even the Shinigami felt a chill climb their spines.
"Your Majesty...?!"
"No... no! I don't want to die!"
Liltotto and Giselle Gewelle of the Female Knights were still capable of fighting, yet they were engulfed as well. Their power was being ripped away, and the panic was as suffocating as bleeding out.
The wings and markings of [Vollstandig] shattered into drifting reishi.
Their emptied bodies dropped from the sky and hit the ground like rotting flesh.
"Is this your method, Your Majesty! It's not enough to take power from ordinary Quincy, you take it from us too, the Schutzstaffel!"
Liltotto saw Candice Catnipp, Meninas McAllon, and the others who had already been defeated fall the same way, consumed without mercy.
She bit her lip. The girl who was usually emotionless finally showed rage, and something deeper than rage, something heavy and sorrowful.
"Whatever happened, you're finished."
A blade pressed against her neck.
Nozomi.
"Ah... yes..."
Liltotto's eyes dulled.
She had struggled. She had proven herself. She had climbed, taken pride in being Schutzstaffel.
And in the end, she was a pawn, no different from the rest.
If that was the end, then what meaning had any of it ever held?
This was not simply the end of a battle.
It was the shattering of her life as a Quincy of the Wandenreich.
...
Meanwhile, in the Twelfth Division's jurisdiction.
Some people's situation was the complete opposite of Liltotto's.
Five minutes before Yhwach activated [The Antithesis], Gerard Valkyrie was still fighting a group of Captain level opponents.
His schrift was [M], the ability [Miracle].
Explaining it in full would take too long, but its nature was simple. It reversed the battlefield.
Whenever Gerard fell into disadvantage, he used that disadvantage as a foundation and strengthened himself. Repeating it again and again, he continued to grow no matter how hopeless the situation became.
His body expanded, his size increased, and his strength climbed with it.
Faced with multiple Captains, Gerard was like the indestructible protagonist of a hot blooded manga. No matter how many times he was knocked down, no matter how many times he was killed, he rose again in a stronger form.
After several deaths, he had grown to hundreds of meters tall, far larger than Takeru's Karasu Tengu.
His power surpassed everyone surrounding him.
At that point, the situation had reversed.
After a chaotic battle, only Ashido, Mebari, reigai Kenpachi, and reigai Byakuya remained.
Gerard stood like a war god. In his hand was a Holy Sword whose hilt looked like condensed light. On his left arm, a spiked Sun Holy Shield gleamed.
Not only did his loadout resemble Haschwalth's, his abilities felt similar too.
His "Sword of Hope" could share damage.
Reigai Kenpachi, after releasing Shikai, clashed with Gerard's massive blade and managed to chip the great sword, but his own body tore under the backlash.
If reigai Byakuya had not blocked with Bankai, Kenpachi would have been swatted down by that shield, losing his ability to fight, if not dying outright.
"Fortunately, that shield doesn't have any strange ability... ah!"
Even without special effects, the shield thrown by Gerard had raw destructive power more than ten times scarier than Ikkaku's Bankai.
Dust waves thousands of meters high exploded from the ground. Buildings were smashed into pulp like tofu. Even at the edge of the battlefield, the aftershocks could launch you away, blood churning, limbs numb from the vibrations.
Even Mebari, who was nearly unkillable, felt as if his body was about to come apart after taking that heavy impact.
If he was buried under falling debris again, he would be close to death.
But what should have happened did not.
Even his injuries were not as severe as he expected.
"You..."
Mebari stared at the red haired young man who had been blasted away with him.
"Why did you save me?"
During that strike, Kanonji Ashido, the man known as Ashido, had stepped forward and shared the impact.
They were fighting side by side, but it would have been better for one to be wounded than two. Even if he could not stand by and watch, the correct move would have been to strike Gerard while the shield was out of his hand.
Ashido did not.
"There's no end to killing enemies."
His face was covered in blood, but his gaze was frighteningly clear.
"What are you talking about?"
Mebari did not understand.
"I was a Squad Member of the former Eleventh Division. I grew up with Kuruyashiki Kenpachi."
Ashido forced himself upright, breathing through the pain as he spoke.
"I wasn't that strong, so I chose a more aggressive way to fight. I always charged at the front."
"My comrades trusted me. They followed me into battle. But I was too hungry for merit. I led them to hunt enemies into Hueco Mundo, and our retreat was cut off. One by one, everyone died. Only I survived."
"I swore at their graves that I would stay in Hueco Mundo and kill as many Hollows as possible, to reduce the threat to the Human World and the Soul Society. But I knew that wasn't atonement."
"It was because I had no face to meet my comrades. No face to meet Kuruyashiki. So I would rather die in Hueco Mundo than return."
"In fact, for the sake of balance, mass slaughter should never happen. So to put it plainly, I was just throwing myself into a dangerous place, surrounded by enemies, as punishment."
"Until Captain Shimiya found me and told me Soul Society was in crisis... my numb soul finally regained vitality."
"It made me realize what I truly needed to do to wash away my guilt."
"To take the place of my fallen comrades, especially Kuruyashiki, who believed in me until the end but never saw me return, and protect Seireitei."
"And protect more comrades."
Ashido repeated it, as if carving it into himself.
"There is no end to killing enemies. This time, I won't ignore my comrades' safety just to kill the enemy."
"You..."
Mebari huffed out a laugh.
"You do realize you just saved an atrocious scumbag, right?"
"That is another matter."
Ashido did not waver.
"Right now, you are standing on the same battle line as me. So you are my comrade."
"Hahaha. As expected of Eleventh Division. I'm not as soft as you."
Mebari shook off blood and grit, grinning.
"Takeru sent people to capture me for experiments. Logically, I should hate him. But his experiments let me, someone fused with his Zanpakuto, sleep properly for the first time in ages."
"I don't know what he gained from me, but it felt so good I was actually reluctant to wake up."
"Until he promised that if I won, he'd undo this state, pardon my crimes, and grant me freedom."
"A job where I can kill as much as I like and still get paid suits my taste."
"My only regret is that those Quincy bragging about stealing Bankai couldn't steal mine. What a waste. I was excited. I thought I could slip away halfway and not risk my life."
"Now it's perfect. All my hopes are pinned on Shimiya Takeru."
He looked up, grimacing.
"But it seems no matter how hard we try, we can't win. The halo is gone. And Shimiya Takeru's side doesn't look good either."
"How about it, kid? Want to slip away together?"
Ashido shook his head.
"Leaving Captain Shimiya aside for the moment, there is still hope here."
"What? Are you serious?"
Mebari froze.
"Yes."
Ashido stared at the giant trading blows with reigai Byakuya and Spirit King Mayuri's Corpse.
"I've been in Hueco Mundo for over two hundred years. I've seen many strange abilities. I don't believe any ability is truly without a solution."
"Resurrecting stronger after being killed must have a condition, or a weakness."
"When he resurrected earlier, his body split open. I saw a pentagram-like mark inside him, like a core."
"If that is the proof of his ability activating, then doesn't that mean if we destroy that proof, his ability can't trigger, his resurrection fails, and he dies for good?"
"This...!"
Mebari was dumbfounded.
"Want to try?"
"...Eleventh Division battle instincts are worth trusting, even if their temper is crooked."
They reached an agreement and rushed back into the fight, sharing the idea with the two reigai Captains.
Both agreed at once.
There was no other option now.
"Oooooh!"
Reigai Kenpachi moved first. His spiritual pressure exploded in a single breath. He raised a massive blade, even more exaggerated than a battle axe, and slashed down at Gerard's face.
"The warrior of God cannot be killed. Your fantasies end here!"
Gerard's voice boomed like a bell as he raised his sword.
But his wrists were suddenly bound and suppressed by a sea of flowers.
Mebari grabbed Gerard's ankle and, despite the risk of his own body detonating, desperately absorbed spiritual power. Gerard's huge frame faltered, his leg buckling.
Now the sword could not rise.
The shield could not lift.
Spirit King Mayuri's Corpse seized the opening and split Gerard's skull, cleaving through neck and chest.
"Now!"
Ashido saw the shining pentagram appear in the center of the open chest cavity, like a core forcing the wound to knit.
He dropped from the sky, his spiritual pressure surging to the peak, comparable to the full power of the previous two Ninth Division Captains.
He did not even release his Zanpakuto.
This single strike was spiritual power honed into the blade, the result of thousands of days and nights of slaughter in Hueco Mundo. It was enough to decapitate an Adjuchas in one blow, let alone a Quincy mark with no defense to speak of.
The blade fell.
Boom!
The mark shattered like a charge exploding. The torrent of power blew Ashido and everything around him away.
"Beautiful! You actually guessed right!"
Mebari, even as he was slammed back into the dirt, grinned in delight as Gerard finally fell and did not rise again.
Ashido panted, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
But in the next instant, a halo crossed the sky.
Holy light descended and engulfed Gerard's corpse.
To Liltotto it was a scythe harvesting power.
To Gerard, it became a miracle of resurrection.
The giant stirred.
His body healed, and then grew even larger.
He sprang up with a jump that collapsed the ground for kilometers, launching everything nearby into the air.
"Hahahaha! The warrior of God will not die. But if I do not punish your insolence, I would be unworthy of the grace bestowed upon me by His Majesty!"
He was stronger than ever.
Having never been granted power before and fighting only with his own strength, he finally received Yhwach's gift. His power surged across the board.
At this moment, Gerard surpassed his former self completely.
He had become a divine warrior with a sword.
One strike forced Spirit King Mayuri's Corpse to fail a parry and vanish into dust. He swatted away the sea of flowers with his shield, then leaped high and dove toward reigai Byakuya in a crushing drop.
"Run!"
Mebari did not speak. He rushed forward.
His Bankai body bored into Gerard's calf, absorbing spiritual power to make the giant's leg buckle and drop to one knee.
"Damned bug!"
Gerard threw aside his shield and reached down to swat him, casual as flicking off a blood-sucking mosquito.
At the critical moment, a dazzling light blurred Gerard's vision.
Mebari escaped.
Ashido immediately gripped his Zanpakuto and charged, ready to fight to the death.
...
At the same time.
Nearly half the walls around Shino Ward had collapsed, but they were instantly filled by a deep blue tide of light.
Bathed in that light, Yhwach looked like a fetus floating in amniotic fluid, undergoing rebirth. Every defect, mental and physical, was scrubbed away.
"The death of your comrades allowed you to throw a powerful punch. Now I, too, have gained the power to defeat my enemy through the sacrifice of my comrades. That makes me feel a few degrees less joy in the victory I am about to seize."
Despite those words, Yhwach wore a proud smile. He felt no guilt for plundering countless Quincy lives. He felt only satisfaction at the stronger power he now possessed.
As if he had simply done what he was always meant to do.
Not far away, Takeru strode forward with a blade hilt clenched between his teeth, his left hand carrying his severed right arm.
Yushima Oshu approached from another direction.
"Are you still continuing? Even with one more person, you are insects. I can crush you with a single step."
Yhwach's gaze swept over Yushima Oshu. His smile did not fade.
Pfft.
Without warning, he coughed up blood.
"What...?!"
His confidence shattered into shock.
Yushima Oshu's expression also shifted. He glanced at Takeru, saw no surprise there, and understood at once.
Yhwach realized it too.
"Something is wrong with my heart... Zaraki Kyougen! Did you do this?!"
His blood-red pupils snapped toward the ruins a thousand meters away, locking onto the frail young man sitting there.
There was no need for an answer.
"Cough, cough..."
Zaraki Kyouya vomited blood under the pressure, yet he smiled anyway.
"I finally got to see this moment. Shimiya Takeru... you didn't let me down."
Toward things he did not understand, he always maintained the most basic caution.
So even knowing "Yhwach is not at his peak but can reclaim all his power," killing Yhwach was still filled with unknowns.
And because this might be their only chance, Zaraki Kyouya had prepared two measures.
No.
A complete assassination plan.
Two steps.
The first step was to circle around with Bankai, then use Shikai to strike the heart from behind.
If that did not kill him, he would wait and execute the second step.
Use Bankai to deliver another fatal blow to the heart.
As for the method, it was simple.
"After piercing my heart and realizing it didn't kill me, you activated your Bankai...!"
Yhwach clutched his chest. Blood kept spilling from his nose and mouth as his expression twisted between rage and darkness.
"Because it's a half-baked Bankai, there was no need to even speak a release command. So it was easy to overlook."
"The blade that gathered a massive amount of reishi scorched my heart. The heat it emitted was reishi itself, seeping in and fusing with my internal organs."
"But even then, you couldn't control that portion of reishi through my spiritual pressure until... I was pushed into a corner again and activated [The Antithesis]."
"In the process of opening my heart and soul to accept power, you used that opening to re-establish the connection, turning my heart and organs into diseased, failing flesh!"
He glared, hatred seething.
"You are ten times more despicable than Chojirō Sasakibe was a thousand years ago!"
"No... this was your idea too, wasn't it! Shimiya Takeru!"
Takeru tossed his severed arm to the ground, removed the Zanpakuto from his mouth, and replied flatly.
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but I wasn't aware of Mochizuki's plan. I only arranged for him to strike. How he did it was his business."
"It would be a lie to say I had no sense at all."
"But it isn't what you think. I just felt he couldn't possibly be that shallow."
"I see... no wonder you rushed over to interrupt me when I was about to kill him. You fought me so relentlessly, all to create an opening for him...!"
Yhwach's breathing grew ragged. He had just used [The Antithesis], regained power, and was even stronger than before the fight began.
Yet before he could even act, organ failure had dragged him into weakness.
"Correct."
As he spoke, Takeru casually kicked his severed arm toward Yhwach.
Under Yhwach and Yushima Oshu's stunned gaze, the arm visibly charred and cracked, then erupted into a blinding flash like a detonating charge.
"Hado 96: Itto Kaso."
Boom!
A mountain of flaming blades erupted from the ground with Yhwach at its center, spanning hundreds of meters.
It reflected against the azure reishi lake overhead, the one raining down sacred light.
"Do you think you can kill me with a mere Kido!"
Yhwach did not bother wiping the blood from his mouth. He seized the reishi flames with both hands, hovering in mid-air and forcibly carving a hollow space inside the blade mountain, keeping the fire from touching him.
"Of course I'm not that naive."
Takeru's voice remained calm.
"If someone hadn't blocked a disaster for me earlier, I was ready to pull out a trump card I didn't intend to use in Soul Society."
"But thanks to someone stopping me, it prevented that situation, and it allowed another person I commissioned to show what they can do."
Yhwach's eyes narrowed.
"Another... person?"
"That's right. I didn't say it only to Mochizuki."
A figure burst through the flame flow.
No, he was the flame flow.
For a moment, it looked like Yamamoto Genryusai wearing [Zanji Gokui]. Even the spiritual pressure was not inferior.
And that person was
"Mugetsu!"
Mixed into the raging fire, reishi turned into chaos.
Isshin, like a man forged from a second mountain of blades, cleaved down toward Yhwach's back.
It was impossible to tell whether it was a sword swing or a punch.
Perhaps it was neither.
Only an absolute strike of extinction, comparable to [Tenchi Kaijin].
The ground split.
A fissure like a precipice tore from Shino Ward all the way to the kill stone outer wall of Seireitei before the aftershocks faded.
From that fissure surged magma, or spiritual pressure, rising hundreds of meters before crashing back down.
"How... is this possible?!"
Yhwach's newly restored cloak turned to ash again. A strange wound opened across his back, not a sword cut so much as a pure crack. Smaller cracks spread across him, like porcelain shattered by impact after being roasted at high heat.
"You've got a stubborn life!"
Isshin, his hair, stubble, and clothing all stained with flame, moved to follow up.
But a shield stopped him.
A special power forced Isshin backward.
"Whew... Haschwalth?"
Yhwach was supported so he would not fall. He forced his eyes open enough to see.
"Apologies, Your Majesty. It took time to destroy the Gotei 13's logistics facilities, and I failed to return to your side in time. That allowed the enemy's scheme to nearly succeed."
Haschwalth spoke with genuine apology.
"It has nothing to do with you."
Yhwach curled his lip into a cold smile.
"I was careless. I did not expect them to be this sinister. If I had used my full strength from the start, it never would have come to this."
"But it is not too late."
Boom!
A giant arrow lashed toward Takeru.
Yushima Oshu reacted instantly, absorbing it and hurling it back.
It was caught.
And in the enemy's hand, it became a reishi greatsword.
"This guy is...?!"
Yushima Oshu's pupils contracted.
The one holding it was Yhwach.
"Two... Yhwachs?!"
"It must be that Quincy I killed earlier."
Yushima Oshu's mind raced.
"The one who can transform and copy power. Yhwach revived him."
Looking at the "Yhwach" walking forward with the reishi greatsword, the younger twin, the holder of schrift [Y], Lloyd Lloyd, who had previously sacrificed himself to save his master
Takeru showed no surprise at all.
"Heh. I said I would remember his contribution."
Yhwach, still supported by Haschwalth, landed on the ground. He was heavily injured, yet his smile widened.
"This is my gift. I resurrect him, and I have him join my Schutzstaffel."
"This is bad..."
Isshin's spiritual pressure wavered and began to drop. Anxiety tightened in his chest.
[The Final Getsuga Tensho] exchanged the loss of Shinigami power for an explosive increase. Strictly speaking, it only held enough for one strike.
He had already used it.
Maintaining this state now was difficult.
So even though it was three on three, the disadvantage was severe.
Both sides had one heavily injured fighter, yet their weight was not equal.
"Takeru, what trump cards do you have left? Bankai?"
Yhwach's tone sharpened.
"I don't know what is wrong with your Bankai, but your refusal to use it must mean some danger or concern. With your half-crippled state, you are out of options."
Yhwach wanted to see despair in Takeru's face.
He did not get it.
Takeru was calm.
As he should be. He was the man who had pushed Yhwach this far.
"Lloyd. Haschwalth. Go and take them"
Before Yhwach could finish, his body suddenly stopped obeying.
A humanoid silhouette appeared out of nowhere, tugging at every Quincy present.
"..."
Yhwach froze.
Haschwalth, however, remained calm.
"It seems the activity time outside the Shadow Domain has reached its limit."
"Indeed."
Lloyd, still wearing "Yhwach's" face, glanced at the dying afterglow on the horizon.
"The sun has set."
He returned to his original form. The gesture made it clear he was abandoning the fight.
"What kind of trick is this...?"
Yushima Oshu's suspicion sharpened.
"It isn't a trick. It's our mercy."
A black man carrying a sniper rifle appeared, holding the unconscious Chojirō Sasakibe in one hand.
"What did you say...?"
Isshin frowned hard. He wanted to rescue Sasakibe, but the risk of collateral damage kept him from moving recklessly.
"We are from the Wandenreich in the shadows. Our time outside is limited."
The man's voice was indifferent.
"We intended to conquer Seireitei before sunset. We did not expect it to take this long."
"Oh well. As Lille said, consider it mercy. You get to see one more New Year's sunrise."
Yhwach fixed his gaze on Takeru.
"By this time tomorrow, the Empire's flag will be planted in Seireitei."
"I must thank you, Shimiya Takeru. Your outstanding ability allowed Soul Society to live one more day."
"And because of that, when I hang your head at the highest point, the entire Soul Society will fall into despair and stop offering meaningless resistance, unless they believe their bones are harder than your blade."
"You are free to run, and take whoever you want."
"Whether you flee to Hueco Mundo or the Human World, my Schutzstaffel will find you and kill you all."
With that, Yhwach and Haschwalth stepped into a patch of shadow that looked like a black hole.
Lille Barro remained behind for a moment, Sasakibe still in hand.
"I am Lille Barro of the Sternritter. Unfortunately, my mission is to take this fellow back for trial."
His tone was almost bored.
"It is dull. But barring accidents, his life will be used as a sacrifice for the flag tomorrow morning when we conquer Seireitei."
"And then I will have the chance to make up for today's regrets and execute you personally."
"I look forward to that moment."
He vanished into shadow with Sasakibe.
Lloyd Lloyd followed without a word.
On the other side, Gerard gave up with open resentment.
"Only knowing how to hide. Whatever. I'll let you off this time!"
Ichinose, who had been concealing himself with his Zanpakuto, finally let out a breath.
But when he looked back at the heavily injured Mebari and Ashido, his heart sank again.
He had rushed here to support and found a monster.
At least he had saved two people. It had not been meaningless.
On a factory rooftop in the industrial zone not far away, Askin lay charred and cracked. He slowly opened his eyes and sighed weakly.
"He actually... let me off? Or did he just not want to waste time on me?"
"It seems I'm not lethal at all in his eyes."
He stayed lying down and sank into the shadows.
...
In Shino Ward, on the scarred land, Takeru said nothing back. He only watched Yhwach and the others retreat to the Wandenreich.
"Brother Shimiya... ugh..."
Isshin walked over, as if to offer comfort, but his body suddenly went limp and he collapsed, unconscious.
"Hey!"
Yushima Oshu jolted and hurried over to check him.
"It's fine. He's just out cold."
He exhaled, then looked up at Takeru.
"It's probably the aftereffects of that move. More importantly"
He swallowed.
"Takeru. Tell me. Does this count as a win or a loss?"
"What are you talking about?"
Takeru replied without hesitation.
"This was just the warm-up. The real battle is next."
Yushima Oshu's eyes widened in horror as reishi surged into Takeru's severed arm and the empty socket of his right eye.
A right arm regrew, perfectly intact.
His vision returned.
Wounds across his body healed at a visible speed.
Takeru's eyes were bright and piercing, sharp enough to make you afraid to meet them.
He flexed his right hand, sheathed his Zanpakuto, and aside from the ragged uniform and his low spiritual pressure, he looked like nothing had happened.
"But before that"
He turned away, voice calm.
"We hold the division funeral ceremony first."
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]