Chapter 138: A Nightmare? What a Good Omen
It was a world similar to Hueco Mundo.
Leaden clouds churned overhead, thunder roared, and lightning flashed, filling the air with an apocalyptic atmosphere.
The surface itself was much the same.
Pitch-black rocky mountains rose and fell, dark sandy plains stretched to the horizon, and countless towering withered trees stood everywhere. Rivers of molten lava wound across the land like its blood vessels, burning bright and dazzling.
At the center of this world, a giant skeleton as majestic as a mountain knelt in a lake of molten rock, its body pierced through by four enormous shakujo.
Yhwach saw his younger self setting a throne atop that skull, arrogant and peerless.
That was only natural.
Regaining his youth meant that... even if he no longer seized souls, he would never again regress into that helpless infant state, unable to do a single thing.
And with this strange world, neither life nor death, before him...
There was no doubt.
His ambition of a thousand years had finally been fulfilled.
To no longer be troubled by regression... what a delightful thing that was.
If war existed to resolve conflict in exchange for peace...
Then by continuously stirring up war, harvesting souls as nourishment, growing stronger, and pressing forward... he would one day overturn the Three Worlds and create a new one without the concept of death.
That, too, was for the sake of peace.
And in this new world, he would no longer need to wage war.
Would that not be something for all people to celebrate?
Moreover, there was no concept of death here.
That meant no matter how much one struggled, no matter what hardship one suffered, one would still survive.
Was not so-called peace simply a state where no one's life could be taken away?
Then a world without the concept of death was undoubtedly absolute peace.
That said... not everyone knew how to cherish such hard-won peace.
Rumble...
Yhwach saw his younger self raise a hand, and a vast number of masked, misshapen giant soldiers erupted from the ground.
In this world, souls would be reborn no matter how many times they were killed.
Logically, there should have been no need for soldiers.
But Yhwach knew that just as he had created this ideal world, there would always be ignorant fools who wanted to change everything, extinguish the world's hope, and bring the fear of death back to the people.
Sure enough, he saw it.
The flames of war arrived with terrifying force, sweeping through the new world in an instant.
The enemy army broke through layer after layer. Though the soldiers resisted desperately, the invaders still advanced all the way to him, reaching the imperial carriage of the Emperor who symbolized that new world.
There were only three of them.
Strangely, the moment he saw them, a sense of understanding came over him.
He instantly knew who they were, and where they came from.
One wore a black trench coat and a white cape. He had long orange hair, a manji-shaped long sword, and his entire body radiated a holy light like the rising sun.
That was the Captain of the Thirteenth Division of the Gotei 13, the man who wielded the power to extinguish all things.
Ichigo Kurosaki.
The second was dreamlike and sinister, as if he were the embodiment of outer space itself, the manifestation of the very concept of dimension, the god-king who had inherited the throne of the Soul King.
Sosuke Aizen.
The third wore a shinigami uniform and a white haori, the standard attire of a Gotei 13 Captain. The only notable feature was the conspicuous character on the back of the haori.
Of the three, he seemed the most ordinary.
And yet, he walked in the very center.
Every step he took made the world tremble, as though his body carried the weight of a celestial body. The lightning in the leaden clouds above had unknowingly turned black-red, and even arcs of electricity danced across everything on the surface.
To fight him... one would likely have to become an enemy of the world itself.
A god among men who had thoroughly mastered the logic of conflict.
The three advanced together, like three colossal mountains crushing everything in their path.
But no one could overthrow the rule of the Wandenreich.
Yhwach saw his younger self rise and look at the enemies before him.
At that moment, he felt as though he had become that younger self.
His gaze met those three inhuman figures.
In an instant, Yhwach suffered a mental shock unlike anything he had ever experienced. A chill surged from the depths of his soul, freezing him awake.
In the Silver Frame City of the Wandenreich.
"Hah!"
Yhwach, who had been sleeping on his throne within his chambers, suddenly opened his eyes. His face was still full of lingering fear, and he panted heavily while clutching at his pounding chest.
"Your Majesty? What happened?"
Hearing the disturbance and sensing the Mask of the Ruler leave him at the same time, Haschwalth knew Yhwach had awakened and pushed the doors open to enter.
"It's nothing."
Yhwach gradually calmed his breathing, and his mind became clear and cool once again.
What had risen from the depths of his soul just now had definitely not been a chill, but spiritual power, so abundant that it seemed ready to overflow.
His physical condition felt excellent.
Far better than yesterday.
The souls of the Quincy who had died, the souls of those slain by Quincy, and even every soul that had perished on the battlefield of Seireitei... all had gathered into his body during his sleep, becoming nourishment that sustained him and even pushed him further upward.
Only the failure of the first invasion was regrettable.
But as he recalled everything he had just seen...
Yhwach narrowed his eyes, and a pleased smile slowly curled across his lips.
"I see... a nightmare? What a good omen."
"Your Majesty? What exactly are you talking about?"
Faced with Haschwalth's confusion, Yhwach did not answer right away. Instead, he stood and walked toward the low wall overlooking the Empire.
The chambers of the King of the Quincy resembled an observation tower. There were no ordinary furnishings such as windows or a bed. The entire place was empty and bare to an almost absurd degree.
"It's dawn. In such a short time, I doubt they've even finished cleaning up the corpses, have they?"
"...This, too, is my fault. I should have gone all out from the very beginning."
"Reverse the Shadow Domain and let the Wandenreich swallow Seireitei. That way, we will no longer be restricted by the time limit on activity."
"We will end it all in a single battle, conclude this war as swiftly as possible, and spare the enemy from tasting any further despair or fear."
"Especially on a day like New Year's, while the people of the Human World are praying to gods that do not exist, we are instead forced to commit acts of slaughter. It runs contrary to my long-held desire for peace."
"Even if dreams and reality often run against one another, the nightmare I just saw still serves as a reminder. A reminder that although victory is certain, we must still treat this battle as a lesson when it is over."
Yhwach's smile deepened, like a rose steeped in blood.
Then he turned abruptly, cape billowing behind him.
"Go. Make preparations."
"Prepare the bells and the banners. The moment the Wandenreich descends upon Seireitei, I want Shimiya Takeru and the others to hear the funeral knell of this New Year."
"And one more thing... execute Chojuro Sasakibe in front of them as my congratulatory gift."
"Yes!"
Boom!
Just as Haschwalth answered, an explosion suddenly rang out.
The entire Silver Frame City shook from the impact.
"What?"
"This spiritual pressure...?!"
Both Yhwach and Haschwalth's expressions changed instantly. They rushed to the palace rooftop terrace, and from that vantage point, they saw that a corner of Silver Frame City had collapsed. Black smoke was rising, fire was licking at the walls, and many Quincy were frantically trying to put it out.
But they only gave it a brief glance.
Then they looked away, no longer concerned with that corner of the city, and instead turned their attention deeper within.
The Wandenreich had originally been an Ice Palace. As time passed, more and more streets had spread outward from it, gradually forming a vast city.
The white towers and buildings were full of exotic style. The number of structures was no less than those of Seireitei itself, enough to house tens of thousands of people.
And at this moment, Takeru was dashing across those towering rooftops with the unconscious Sasakibe in tow, heading toward one of the Gate of the Sun at a speed that far exceeded the speed of sound.
Suddenly...
"Ohoho! To think you dared invade the Empire! You've got guts! But after doing something like this, don't think you're leaving alive!"
Gerard dropped from the sky like a meteor and landed directly on the rooftop ahead, nearly crushing the entire building beneath him.
Although his body had returned to normal size, the power bestowed upon him by the baptism of [The Antithesis]'s light had not weakened in the slightest.
With the way his crimson cape spread out behind him when he landed, he looked like a great eagle opening its wings, as if he alone could block the advance of dozens charging straight at him.
And yet... Takeru's expression did not change at all.
Not only did he not slow down, he accelerated instead.
Forget afterimages, he almost seemed to dissolve into the air itself, fusing with space. To call his mastery of movement techniques astonishing would still be an understatement.
Following his battle with Yhwach, his basic combat techniques, which had already advanced significantly within the mental world, rose another level in this short span of less than a day thanks to his increased spiritual pressure.
The growth itself was slight.
But at his current level, even the smallest improvement was exceedingly rare.
As far as Shunpo alone was concerned, whether it was Yoruichi from a hundred years ago at the peak of her fame, or the current Yoruichi with even greater techniques at her disposal, neither could compare to the present Takeru.
"Take this!"
Gerard swung his war sword with overwhelming force, wielding it more like a battle-axe or meteor hammer than a blade. It cleaved through atmosphere and reishi alike as it crashed toward Takeru's face.
Even at that tremendous speed, Gerard still seemed able to grasp Takeru's exact position and seize the ideal timing to strike.
But the sword never hit him.
It passed so close to the tip of Takeru's nose that it cut a few strands of hair from his forehead.
"Wha...?!"
Boom!
Still carrying the unconscious Sasakibe in one hand, Takeru spread the fingers of his other hand.
In Gerard's eyes, that hand enlarged like a mountain, then slammed straight into his face.
Using the momentum of his sprint and the raw physical strength of a dragonized body that could rival an Espada through pure physical ability alone, Takeru smashed Gerard into the rooftop beneath him.
Gerard had descended like a meteor.
Now he crashed into the building like a meteorite.
The structure, already cracking everywhere, exploded completely, and the ground for hundreds of meters around sank with it as clouds of dust surged outward like tidal waves.
In contrast, Takeru used the rebound from that strike to execute a clean one-handed flip, landing smoothly on a farther rooftop and continuing his sprint without pause.
The entire sequence flowed like drifting clouds and running water.
Not a single moment had been wasted.
"Gerard got taken down just like that... what a monster. Though I have no idea how you sneaked in, if we just let you rescue the prisoner and leave, where would our pride be? So please... lie down right here!"
Askin flashed onto a high tower ahead of him and drew his sacred bow, firing a dense rain of arrows.
That arrow storm might have been enough to suppress ordinary Shinigami, or even Captains.
But to Takeru, it was no more threatening than actual rain.
Silver-blue skeletal ribs surrounded him and blocked every single arrow.
Askin's expression did not change.
At his feet, a Poison Domain spread silently, too subtle to detect.
His ability was The Deathdealing.
He could adjust both his own tolerance and the tolerance of his enemies toward a given substance.
By lowering an enemy's immunity to a particular substance, even the most ordinary thing could become poison.
For example, oxygen.
Or the blood in one's own body.
Conversely, he could also increase his own immunity to a substance, such as an enemy's spiritual pressure, allowing him to ignore that damage and become all but impossible to kill.
However, in order to activate it, he first had to ingest the relevant substance.
It was an annoyingly troublesome ability.
So Askin brought out the very same move he had used against Isshin.
[Gift Bad].
Anyone who stepped into this zone, thick with highly concentrated reishi, would suffer from reishi poisoning.
It was not directly lethal, but it lowered the body's tolerance enough to rob the victim of movement for a short time.
The earlier barrage of arrows had only been bait, intended to lower Takeru's guard and make him feel Askin was just another easy obstacle to smash through from the front.
Once Takeru charged directly in, he would naturally step into [Gift Bad].
"This one and that one, why don't they ever get it? The poison isn't the deadly part. I am."
That thought had barely crossed Askin's mind when the silver-blue skeleton around Takeru instantly filled out with meridians and muscle, entering its full form.
The Karasu Tengu spread its wings and soared upward, passing right over the poison pool with Askin at its center.
"Hey, hey, hey... you can't do that... Huh? What is this?!"
Askin was dumbfounded by the move.
Before he realized what had happened, his entire body had been bound by invisible threads and yanked off the ground.
Like a horseman of ancient times dragging an enemy behind him, Takeru bound Askin with Kido Threads and hauled him into the sky.
Then, controlling the Karasu Tengu, he swung Askin around like a meteor hammer to build momentum before hurling him forward with overwhelming force.
Bang!
A hole no larger than a fist appeared in Askin's chest.
Even a precision machine tool in the Human World might not have drilled something so perfectly round.
"...Did he find me?"
Lille Barro, hidden in the shadows, wore a cold expression.
His ability, The X-Axis, could pierce everything between two points in a straight line.
But Takeru had noticed him at some point.
He had used Askin as a shield to block the sniper shot, then thrown Askin at Lille in return.
Boom!
Another tall building collapsed.
"You think that kind of trick can block my bullets? A mere Shinigami... how could you ever understand the power of a messenger of God!"
Ignoring whether Askin lived or died, Lille Barro leaped from the dust, his cold face twisted slightly as he leveled his rifle at the Karasu Tengu and pulled the trigger.
There were no bullets.
Everything in the atmosphere along those invisible trajectories was simply erased.
Takeru's [Shunko Susanoo] should have been no exception.
But at the very instant Lille Barro fired, Takeru attacked as well.
"...Hado No. 90, Kurohitsugi."
Lille Barro's vision went black in an instant.
He could no longer see anything at all.
Even without an incantation, the Kido cast through the Karasu Tengu was as powerful as a fully chanted spell under ordinary conditions.
While Lille Barro was being crushed by the torrent of gravity, Takeru had already used [Yuisen] to eject himself from the cockpit, allowing those piercing trajectories to miss him entirely.
The Karasu Tengu had been made from immense reserves of Kido spiritual pressure.
Using all of it to activate [Yuisen], Takeru crossed half the city in a single instant and arrived at his destination.
The Gate of the Sun.
It was a broad plaza, clearly meant for the assembly of a large army.
Situated at the city's edge, it was the equivalent of one of Seireitei's four gates.
Takeru gathered spiritual pressure, looking as though he meant to throw the person he carried straight through the Gate of the Sun.
Then suddenly...
The unconscious Chojuro Sasakibe opened his eyes.
His body blurred, and in the next instant, he transformed into Takeru's appearance.
Drawing his blade, he released his Shikai without even speaking the command, erupting with dozens of times more terrifying spiritual pressure and unleashing an invisible slash of divine speed.
A magnificent blade of light swallowed Takeru whole.
Then it tore through the Gate of the Sun ahead and gouged through more than ten kilometers of earth beyond it.
Its power was on par with Isshin's [Mugetsu].
The "Takeru" whose spiritual pressure was rapidly collapsing shifted shape again, revealing his true face.
There was only one person in the Wandenreich with the power to transform and mimic others that way.
Lloyd.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh...
Alongside the sound of bodies cutting through the air, Yhwach, Haschwalth, Gerard, Askin, and Lille, the latter four having already been defeated once, all arrived.
"Though I called it a good omen, I truly did not expect it to come true so quickly."
Yhwach looked at the enormous trench cut into the land like a canyon. Through the dust, it was almost as if he could already see a corpse, and on his face there appeared both delight and regret.
"I never imagined you could sneak into the Wandenreich, locate the prison holding the hostage beneath our very noses, rescue him, and then force your way through the Schutzstaffel to reach the Gate of the Sun."
"But I had already ordered Lloyd to remain in the prison disguised as Chojuro Sasakibe."
"That was not specifically to guard against you. It was because I had no intention of executing Chojuro Sasakibe so soon. I intended to preserve him, then have him executed before Yamamoto Genryusai's own eyes when he returns."
"That is why the real Chojuro Sasakibe was placed in a deeper prison."
"And as for Lille claiming he would execute Sasakibe today in order to raise morale, that was merely pressure. It was meant to stop you all from abandoning your comrades and fleeing."
"Once the Shadow Domain is reversed and the Wandenreich replaces Seireitei, you would naturally think... before he is executed, we should first find the prison and rescue him, would you not?"
"And if you did, then the move of stationing Lloyd in the prison disguised as Chojuro Sasakibe would allow the rescuer to die by the hands of the hostage he came to save."
"...Precisely like what has happened now."
Having finished speaking, Yhwach turned, preparing to leave with his men.
But as soon as he did, another explosion rang out within Silver Frame City.
Flames surged skyward and black smoke curled upward.
It looked almost identical to the earlier blast.
"?!"
"...Someone else got in!"
"Dammit!"
The terrifying vibration of spiritual pressure now emerging from within Silver Frame City, a pressure completely different from that of any Quincy, darkened Yhwach's face, and he immediately turned back toward the fissure.
If some other intruder had entered and, instead of retreating once the hostage was secured, was still causing a massive disturbance inside the city, then the situation was obviously abnormal.
And sure enough...
The next moment, the dust was blown apart by spiritual pressure.
A figure walked out of the trench, stepping through the air.
His hands were empty, and the haori he had changed into earlier was gone, leaving him only in a clean shinigami uniform.
The spiritual pressure pouring from him made the atmosphere itself feel dense and sluggish, and that patch of black on his body became the most striking color in the whole world, an oppressive presence that eclipsed everything else.
Takeru.
After taking "his own" Shikai and [Yuisen] head-on, he looked completely unharmed.
"Is that the Shihouin Clan's special footwork?"
Haschwalth narrowed his eyes, immediately arriving at an answer.
"But even if he substituted his body with clothing, he should not have been able to react to that technique. And even if he did, he should never have escaped it."
"If he did escape, then there is only one explanation..."
What Haschwalth had realized, Yhwach also understood.
"You... you saw through Lloyd's disguise from the start. So you played along on purpose and lured him here, while your real goal was to buy time for someone else to rescue the actual Chojuro Sasakibe!"
He glared coldly at Takeru with crimson eyes, his tone full of the anger of someone who realized he had been toyed with.
"It was fairly obvious."
Takeru's expression remained calm.
After breaking into the Wandenreich through the Bount's spatial ability, he had immediately used [Toka Ryurin] to infiltrate Silver Frame City.
The reason he rarely used that ability was not because he thought little of it.
On the contrary, entering a stealth state at any time and any place during battle could pose a considerable threat to nearly any opponent.
But he had deliberately kept it hidden.
Or rather, preserved it.
As a strategic trump card for a critical moment.
And because the Wandenreich had never gathered intelligence on that move beforehand, they had no defenses against it.
That was why, when Takeru had previously met with Mochizuki and the others from the various divisions right beneath the Wandenreich's noses, the enemy had been caught completely off guard when they finally launched their invasion.
This time, the result was the same.
By using [Toka Ryurin] to infiltrate Silver Frame City, Takeru had taken the time to locate the intelligence department monitoring Seireitei and dug out a great deal of information from it.
Including the exact place where the real Sasakibe was being kept.
But that prison was too deep.
If he had gone in personally to destroy it and rescue the prisoner, he would inevitably have been surrounded and cut off.
So instead, he deliberately rescued the Sasakibe that Lloyd had disguised himself as, lured Yhwach and the others away from Silver Frame City, and sent the Divine Bird in his place to rescue the real man.
A Zanpakuto born from its master's power naturally possessed that master's power as well.
Consuming the souls of a few Quincy, then using the Bount's power to open the Gate of the Sun and throw Vice-Captain Sasakibe through it... was a trivial task for it.
"There isn't only one gate. There is also a gate inside the palace that leads to the Human World. If I had truly been in a hurry to retreat, I could have used that route instead. At most, it would have meant taking a detour through the Human World."
"But I didn't. Instead, I went through all the trouble of reaching the city's edge."
"Doesn't that already answer the question?"
"You disappoint me, Yhwach. To miss something so obvious."
Takeru sneered.
Though he addressed Yhwach directly, Yhwach was not the only one who had failed to notice that flaw.
Haschwalth, the Emperor's right hand, and the four Royal Guard members under Lille had all failed to realize it as well.
Their expressions darkened.
At that moment, a sharp cry rang out.
The pure-white Fairy Tale Dragon returned to Takeru's side.
Judging by the proud lift of its head, it had clearly completed the task entrusted to it by its master.
"Speaking of which, you just said that trap was not prepared for me, didn't you? That judgment was quite sharp."
Takeru's gaze shifted to Lloyd.
Though he had already returned to his original form, his spiritual pressure had dropped to a dangerously low level.
That was the price for activating Endonemi's Shikai.
Even if he transformed again now, it would be difficult for him to display his full power.
No, more likely, he could not even use his schrift to transform into anyone else anymore.
"A perfect double gain... not only did you save the hostage, you also stripped Lloyd of his ability to fight..."
Yhwach's face darkened further.
"But I never intended to defeat you through my subordinates. My own power is enough to kill you. And I must... kill you with my own hands."
Takeru's gaze swept over Gerard and the others, sensing the intense hostility and murderous intent radiating from them, and said calmly, "But your subordinates seem rather eager to move."
"That is because they, too, have people they wish to kill. Which works out well enough. I also wish to see just how many people you can save if I bring everyone in Seireitei here to the Wandenreich...!"
At Yhwach's words, Haschwalth immediately understood and pulled out his communicator, calling for his subordinates inside Silver Frame City.
Seeing that, Takeru knew it would not be long before the Wandenreich, in turn, descended upon Seireitei and appeared directly within the shakonmaku.
Even so, there was not the slightest trace of panic on his face.
His eyes were calm to a frightening degree.
If he had still been in Seireitei, then yes, stopping it would have been impossible by then.
But right now...
The land of the Wandenreich lay beneath his feet.
So long as he still lived,
no one would be allowed to move that land outside.
.....
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