Chapter 139: Bankai That Destroys the World to Save It
Karakura Town, the Human World.
A short-haired girl in a tracksuit was jogging along the Nankawase River, her expression focused, completely unaware of the ferocious-looking monster that had appeared above her head.
"Roar!"
"Morning, Tsuchinamazu!"
Just as the girl failed to notice the danger, the Hollow failed to notice the afro-haired Shinigami who appeared beside it.
The moment he arrived, he released his Zanpakuto and wielded it in the form of a ring-shaped knuckle duster. He ambushed the Hollow in midair, drove a heavy punch into it, sent it flying, then rushed after it, pinned it down, and beat it mercilessly until it was annihilated.
"Phew!"
Zennosuke Kurumadani wiped away a bead of cold sweat and muttered with lingering fear, "That was close. I almost didn't make it."
"Should I say this place really lives up to its reputation as a highly spiritual zone? Hollows show up way more often than expected. With the Substitute Shinigami gone, I'm seriously having a hard time dealing with everything by myself."
"Hmm... I can't let anyone hear me say that. As an official member of the Gotei 13, a Shinigami from the Thirteenth Division stationed in Karakura Town, if word gets out that I rely on the Substitute Shinigami to do my job, it won't just be my reputation that's ruined."
"But then again, no matter how tough it is, it's still safer than fighting on the battlefield in Soul Society. Sigh... I really envy these clueless humans. They get to enjoy the New Year holiday in peace while we have to fight for our lives."
"It used to be fine, but why have there been so many big and small incidents this year? Is this some kind of prelude to the end of the world? Am I about to witness history? Spare me. I do not want that kind of luck at all."
Zennosuke grumbled endlessly. He looked carefree on the surface, but he was also using the chance to vent the unease in his heart.
Then, suddenly, a cloud of black mist appeared several dozen meters overhead.
A heavily injured man flew out of it.
He fell from a great height as if he had been tossed out like garbage.
Sensing the disturbance, Zennosuke looked up just in time to get hit squarely.
"Ow! What idiot just... huh?!"
Clutching his head, Zennosuke shoved the man away, cursing as he rose to his feet, only for the color to drain from his old face in an instant.
"Vice-Captain Sasakibe?!"
Because the temporary disappearance of the Captain-Commander had pushed the usually low-profile Sasakibe into the spotlight as the "grand steward" of the Seireitei, his reputation had risen sharply, and many Squad Members now recognized him.
Zennosuke was one of them.
However, the Sasakibe before him looked nothing like the one in his memory.
His injuries were horrifying, as if he had endured inhuman torture.
His face was covered in blood, making it nearly impossible to make out his features. His Zanpakuto was gone. His white short coat and shinigami uniform were in tatters, and there was not a trace left of his usual meticulous, gentlemanly bearing.
"Didn't they say the enemy had already retreated for the time being? Why is Vice-Captain Sasakibe here? Never mind, I have to report this immediately!"
Without sparing any time to think, Zennosuke sent a message through his denreishinki. Without waiting for a reply, he hoisted the man onto his back.
The levity had vanished from his face entirely. He looked terrifyingly serious.
"Even if I didn't go to the battlefield, I'm not completely useless... Vice-Captain Sasakibe, you have to hold on. I'm taking you back to Soul Society right now!"
As he opened a senkaimon and left, the jogging girl seemed to sense something. She stopped and looked back, but found nothing. Her brows furrowed slightly, and even the rising morning sun overhead could not dispel the gloom in her heart.
"No reply for two days, and I can't even get through on the phone... Orihime, where did you go?"
Though she was human, Arisawa Tatsuki was in no position to enjoy the New Year holiday the way Zennosuke envied.
Ever since Orihime left the day before yesterday to buy clothes and answer a call, there had been no news from her, and she had not returned to the apartment that night.
Staying out all night was one thing.
The truly frightening part was that no one could contact her at all.
It was no different from being missing.
Although she had already reported it to the police, Tatsuki did not hold much hope.
Because she vaguely felt... Orihime was no longer in Karakura Town.
If that was true, then the police could only widen their investigation outside the city.
If they found her, then fine.
But if they found no sign at all that Orihime had ever left Karakura Town... then that would be far worse.
"Please... let nothing happen to her. Ichigo is already gone, so please don't let you disappear too..."
Tatsuki took a deep breath and resumed her morning run.
She used exercise to distract herself while also circling Karakura Town in hopes of finding some kind of clue.
Humans and Shinigami alike were acting in accordance with their ordinary, unyielding beliefs.
Meanwhile, in the Seireitei of Soul Society, inside the First Division Executive Office...
"Vice-Captain Sasakibe has been rescued?! Have Seventh Seat Yamada of the Fourth Division bring a team immediately to recover him, then transfer him to the convalescent ward in the outer district for treatment! We must ensure that Vice-Captain Sasakibe regains his combat capability as soon as possible!"
Nayura shot to her feet and issued her orders decisively. Then she immediately buried herself in work again, bombarded by information from Hell Butterflies, denreishinki, the Communications Unit, and the Onmitsukido, yet not showing the slightest hint of panic.
Isshin, who had rushed over after hearing the news, smiled and said, "As expected of the proxy chosen by Brother Shimiya. You adapted quickly."
In many people's eyes, although Nayura was petite and lacked overwhelming spiritual power, she possessed both noble bearing and charisma. Combined with her quick mind, she carried the air of a wise and benevolent ruler, making her unexpectedly suited to presiding over the First Division.
Nayura herself, however, did not see it that way.
"How could it be that easy? It's all because Shimiya arranged everything so properly before he left. If it's only a heavy workload, then it's still within my capabilities. After all, I am the librarian of the Great Spirit Library Corridor."
The world never lacked capable people, but not everyone with talent had the chance to rise high.
Nayura was neither a strong fighter nor a Captain of the Gotei 13, yet she now held tremendous authority. It would be false to say no one dared to oppose her openly, but before leaving, Shimiya Takeru had not only left behind many "good ideas" that could be put directly into use, he had also left behind many people for her to command.
Mochizuki and the others aside, their spiritual power had been drained and would not recover quickly, so even if trouble arose, they could not provide immediate assistance.
What Nayura needed most right now was readily available combat power.
For example...
The "Shikyu Detachment" led by Yushiro, the next head of the Shihoin Clan.
Its members were Hachihara, Rindo Yu, Orihime, Nozomi, and Ichinose, an "unnamed righteous hero" recommended by Hachihara and Rindo Yu.
This six-person special "temporary worker" squad reported directly to Nayura.
They were responsible for carrying out all sorts of urgent tasks, acting like lubricant and replacement parts to keep the shattered and massive machine that was the Seireitei barely functioning.
And beyond them, there was Okiga, the Third Seat of the First Division, who supported her unconditionally.
There was Kishinoshin, who had temporarily returned and was commanding the Onmitsukido in full support.
There was Kukaku, who had coordinated with the General Medical Relief Station and was still leading the Logistics Unit in clearing the battlefield, quietly building considerable authority.
There was Kageroza, transferred by Shimiya Takeru to the Twelfth Division as a special operative, providing all kinds of technical support.
There was Rangiku, remaining in Squad 9 to maintain public order.
And there was Tessai Tsukabishi, leading the Kido Corps and part of the Shinigami force in Hueco Mundo.
These six people were equivalent to six departments.
They were Nayura's pillars.
Kishinoshin had also taken control of the Noble District and the Projection Hall, gathering a considerable sum of "protection fees" and securing reliable intelligence channels.
It could be said that she had both manpower and resources.
Including Nayura herself, they formed exactly thirteen figures.
A simple yet complete command structure for a temporary Gotei 13 had thus taken shape.
With that power in her hands, stabilizing the overall situation was more than enough.
Moreover, before handing everything over, Takeru had already cleaned up most of the mess and even left behind several brilliant political decrees to be implemented afterward.
If Nayura still failed despite all that...
She did not know what others would think, but she herself would probably jump off the outer corridor of the executive office without hesitation and follow her old father in death.
Because she simply could not endure that humiliation.
"That's true..."
Isshin's gaze passed beyond the outer corridor and toward the bright sky. The unconcealed chill of winter made white mist spill from everyone's mouths as they spoke.
"The fact that he arranged everything this thoroughly only proves that from the beginning, he never intended to settle everything in the Seireitei. Just like the expedition to Hueco Mundo, he meant to bring the flames of war to the enemy's home base, to a place where innocent people would not be caught in the crossfire."
"Only this time, it's a solo expedition."
"What a frightening way of thinking... Compared to that, my own regret over not being able to go home and celebrate the New Year with my lovely daughters is nothing."
"Once Vice-Captain Sasakibe recovers, we'll gain a Captain-level combatant. But as for you... honestly speaking, staying here won't help much, and it's very dangerous. Why not just go back to the Human World?"
Nayura's suggestion was extremely serious.
Isshin's face twitched. "You're right, but hearing it put that way still feels a little strange."
"My apologies. I do not currently have enough mental room to carefully choose noble-sounding phrasing. If I was rude, please forgive me."
"Forget it, this is fine. I'm not one of the Four Great Noble Houses anymore anyway... and what you said makes sense. Staying here really is dangerous. Brother Shimiya may have gone inside, but just knowing the enemy is still lurking in the shadows makes me feel like battle aftershocks might pop out of those shadows at any moment and flatten me into a meat pie..."
Before he could finish, the entire First Division Barracks suddenly shook.
No, not just the barracks.
The entire Seireitei was trembling.
"?!"
"...!"
Nayura and Isshin exchanged a glance and immediately rushed out onto the outer corridor to look.
What they saw left them stunned.
The shadows cast by the rising sun were actually bubbling.
Just like boiling water.
And because those shadows spread into every corner of the Seireitei, the Seireitei itself, suspended above those shadows, was shaking nonstop, as if being pushed upward by pressure like the lid of a boiling kettle.
The reishi in the atmosphere was gradually becoming chaotic under that influence.
More precisely... it was heating up.
Yes.
If the shadows were like boiling water, then aside from the rising pressure, heat would naturally spread outward as well, warming the entire "house."
In the guest room of the First Division, Zaraki Kyouya had been trying to touch the shadows. With his ability, if he could fuse with them, then he might have been able to infiltrate the Wandenreich.
But he failed.
The moment he attempted to use his own reishi to "touch" the shadow, he felt a searing pain, as if his fingertips had been burned.
If even the outermost layer of shadow was already like this, then the Wandenreich hidden deep within those shadows was probably no different from the human concept of Hell.
Under those circumstances, those outside could not get in.
And those inside probably... could not get out either.
"The... corpses of reishi?"
Zaraki Kyouya stared at his burned fingertip.
Normally, spiritual pressure residue should have remained on the wound, yet what he saw was a substance that did not belong to reishi at all.
He had seen that substance before.
Back when Arturo had escaped from prison.
When the Arrancar Arturo activated Sonido, he would first convert all the reishi in his body into that substance before moving.
Because it was not reishi, it could not be caught by spiritual pressure perception at that instant.
And trying to capture it with the naked eye was even more impossible.
That was why, compared to Shunpo, an Arrancar's Sonido clearly held a slight advantage.
And the key lay in this "matter that did not belong to reishi."
Now, that same substance was being generated endlessly here, like the ashes of the world itself.
"Shimiya Takeru... was this why you refused to fight the Quincy to the death in Soul Society?"
Let time rewind two minutes.
Inside the Wandenreich, Yhwach and Lloyd stood together at the edge of the city, watching the battle unfold.
Facing the combined assault of Haschwalth and three members of the Schutzstaffel, Takeru and his dragon were not at a disadvantage in the slightest.
The firepower of the Mushroom Woman alone was already enough to give them all a hard time.
Gerard had been blasted to death once already and had transformed into a hundred-meter giant, yet he was not pleased in the slightest.
After all, victory through sheer numbers was an ugly kind of victory.
A triumph won that way could not be called a Miracle.
But if his ability had still activated, did that not mean the fact that they could defeat this opponent at all was itself an impossible miracle?
Gerard had never felt so furious in his life.
In his rage, he swung his sword.
The gigantic war blade could cleave mountain peaks apart, yet it was blocked by the outstretched wings of the Mushroom Woman.
At that moment, the Fairy Tale Dragon that the Mushroom Woman had transformed into was extraordinarily large, more than several dozen meters long, with a wingspan more than twice her body length.
Takeru had armored the Mushroom Woman in indestructible silver-blue protection through Shunko Susanoo.
This was Shunko: Armament Susanoo.
Its principle was identical to Yoruichi's "Shunko: Raijin Senkei, Shunryu Kokubyo Senki," both being derivatives of perfected Shunko.
In front of those silver-blue armored dragon wings that blotted out the sky, Gerard's giant war sword looked strangely slender.
Then Askin attempted a sneak attack.
Without hesitation, the Mushroom Woman spat out a stream of scorching breath comparable to magma.
Though Askin was immune to its effects, the sheer mass and force of it smashed him deep into the earth.
She seemed intent on burning a straight hole through the ground and knocking that troublesome opponent into the Garganta beyond the world so that he would not be able to come back for a while.
The Mushroom Woman was taking on two opponents by herself.
Takeru was hardly idle either.
He used the pair of arms extending from the dragon's back to the absolute limit.
A blade in one hand.
Kido hand signs in the other.
Super first-class swordsmanship combined with Kido made it easy for him to pin down both Haschwalth and Lille Barro at once.
Even Yhwach's expression darkened at the sight.
"In just one night, his spiritual pressure has grown this much stronger... After I kill him, I must examine the structure of his soul for myself. A mere human, dead for less than a year, becoming this powerful... there should be a limit to how absurd that can be."
Then, suddenly, the atmosphere of the world changed.
It was as if the entire world had come alive.
"So it's begun... the true invasion."
Yhwach's expression shifted, and even Haschwalth and the others halted their attacks for the moment.
"As expected... simply destroying the Quincy monitoring room wasn't enough to stop the inversion of the Shadow Domain. It really is a spatial mechanism unique in itself, not some device that fails once its power source is cut."
Takeru thought to himself.
While searching through the monitoring room for information, he had indeed found a few clues.
But no detailed record of the activation or cancellation procedures had been left behind.
Clearly, that secret was known only by a very small number of people.
That was not surprising.
Once activated, there would be no returning to the shadows.
So unless a number of major threats had already been eliminated, it would have been impossible for them to recklessly gamble everything and throw their base of operations out into the open. Otherwise, they would not even have had a way to retreat.
"But it doesn't matter anymore..."
Takeru dismissed his Shunko and placed a hand on the Divine Bird's back.
In the next instant, the Divine Bird transformed into an asauchi and fell into his palm.
The long, sheathless, snow-bright blade was overflowing with spiritual power, so much that the cold gleam along its edge was almost blinding.
Endonemi was currently in a state between partial Shikai and full release, and its spiritual power was unusually active.
Even a casual swing could produce dense sword pressure.
It was no different from wielding a divine weapon.
For Takeru, that was a good thing.
It meant a direct increase in his fundamental combat power.
With a casual motion, he threw the Zanpakuto toward the ground.
Clang!
The blade flashed downward like a streak of light.
In the next moment, it was buried in the brick ground, half-sunk into dust and rubble, like a grave marker planted there.
At almost the same instant, Takeru appeared beside it.
One hand rested on the hilt. Leaning lightly against the blade, he erupted with the strongest spiritual pressure he had displayed so far.
Boom!
The ground within a hundred-meter radius cracked apart and turned to powder, spiraling upward with the silver-blue pillar of light that shot into the sky.
Seeing that, Yhwach and the others' pupils constricted.
"This bastard... he's actually doing that at a time like this...!"
For a Shinigami, a spiritual pressure eruption this terrifying only had one possible meaning.
"Ban... kai!"
Takeru's clothes snapped wildly in the wind, and the Kido Threads binding his wolf-tail braid unraveled, allowing his black hair to whip wildly through the air.
His eyes, usually dark but seeming almost luminous, now truly shone with silver-blue spiritual light.
His face tightened slightly as he spoke those two words.
And the instant they fell...
The world trembled.
A solemn bell sounded, like thunder rolling across the heavens, reaching every single place where reishi existed.
Everyone could hear it.
And everyone could see what followed.
As the bell echoed through heaven and earth, the entire city was instantly swallowed by silver-blue clouds and smoke, which rushed through every street and turned the earth itself into a sea of clouds.
Then five peaks of cloud rose up from the edges of the spiritual pressure's range.
"What is that?!"
The normally calm and arrogant Lille Barro wore a look of horror.
Askin, who had just clawed his way back out from a magma fissure, looked just as dumbfounded at the five colossal cloud masses that had risen in different directions, encircling all of them.
Each was at least a thousand meters tall and made entirely of condensed cloud-like energy, yet they felt alive, as if they possessed living souls of their own.
"A pentagram? No..."
Haschwalth was uncertain.
Although the five cloud pillars stood in different directions, their positions were not neat like the points of a pentagram.
One of them sat farther away than the others.
To put it simply...
They looked more like five fingers.
And the sea of cloud beneath them was the palm.
In the next moment, those five fingers suddenly clenched into a fist.
Yhwach, Takeru, and the others were all caught within that palm.
The transformation happened too fast and too abruptly. No one had time to react before they were swallowed by that giant hand.
Yet no one was injured.
Because everything there had been formed from spiritual power alone.
After expanding, it contracted violently toward a single point, then exploded like a supernova.
Boom!
Light.
Endless light.
Boundless light.
In a single instant, it filled the entire Shadow Domain.
It ignited all reishi and forced it into a state of "reishi fission."
And all of the spiritual pressure generated by that process was drawn into the body of the one who had caused it.
Even the light that seemed enough to illuminate the entire universe was absorbed into that one person.
Takeru's shinigami uniform was gone.
In its place was a suit of silver-blue scale armor.
Each "scale" was not truly a feather or dragon scale, but a crystalline fragment identical in nature to Star Ash.
The armor did not cover his face. His head remained completely exposed.
The outer rings of his pupils now glowed like silver-blue halos, dazzling and radiant.
His slightly long hair had turned silver-blue as well, drifting like smoke in the air.
Takeru's hands were empty.
The Zanpakuto he had just been leaning on had vanished.
But behind his head floated a ring of silver-blue spiritual light, emitting a brilliance so intense it was difficult to look at directly, reminiscent of the halo behind a god or Buddha.
The spiritual pressure pouring from him was more than a hundred times greater than before his release.
And unlike before, it was terrifyingly stable.
Forget eight seconds.
Even eight minutes, eight hours... even eight days would not be a problem.
"Brahman Atman as One: Endonemi."
With those shining eyes fixed upon Yhwach and the others, he spoke his true name with the weight of a divine proclamation.
"Damn it!"
Yhwach's face darkened.
All the reishi in the atmosphere was now releasing energy as if it were burning.
Every spatial mechanism had become unresponsive.
Performing a Shadow Inversion was no longer possible.
Crack.
The schrift badge Haschwalth had drawn shattered the instant he tried to use it.
"..."
Whatever conditions were required to steal a Bankai no longer mattered.
The badge itself was still a reishi tool.
And now, just like an electronic device failing in a strong magnetic field, it was useless.
"...Your Majesty, I recommend evacuating the civilians to the Human World at once."
Merely standing here already made one's body feel hot, as if the soul itself were beginning to evaporate.
This was clearly no longer a simple issue of reishi tools malfunctioning.
"Do it."
"...Yes."
With Yhwach's permission, Haschwalth immediately contacted his subordinates.
But the walkie-talkie had already failed as well.
"Don't waste your effort."
Just as hidden anxiety began to rise in Haschwalth, Takeru spoke softly.
Though he stood over a hundred meters away, it sounded as though he were whispering directly into their ears.
Even the killing intent laced through his voice was impossible to miss.
"The human body is the world, and the world is the human body. My Bankai integrates my Zanpakuto into the world's reishi cycle, using it to ignite all reishi just as my Shikai does, then gathering the resulting power inside myself for battle."
"The Three Worlds know no peace. They are like a burning house, filled with endless suffering, fear, and terror."
"Even if I do nothing, the overwhelming majority of life in this world will die from high-energy radiation. And the moment all reishi is completely burned away, the world itself will perish, taking the survivors down with it."
"So of course reishi devices fail. Of course the means of leaving through Shadow Inversion becomes useless. The world itself is already spiraling out of control. Even the Gate of the Sun has become nothing but scrap metal."
"Unless one of you also possesses Hollow power and can open a Garganta on your own, then as long as I do not release this Bankai, no one here should dream of leaving alive."
"As it happens, I have no intention of releasing my Bankai before this world ends, and I will not stand by and watch even a single one of you escape."
"Because I came here to slaughter everything, leaving not even a blade of grass behind."
"Just as you did to the Seireitei."
"So cast aside your meaningless hopes."
"From this moment on... prepare yourselves to go to Hell with me."
.....
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