Chapter 145: The Pentagram Shield, the Death of Yhwach
The Divine Bird did not have it easy either.
Kekko and the Majestic Attire had collided head on, leaving her dizzy and disoriented. She was sent flying back hundreds of meters before she finally forced herself to stabilize.
Even so, the moment she saw Yhwach in such a bedraggled state, she immediately raised her head and let out a cry full of satisfaction.
She remembered clearly the debt she owed from the time she had been gravely wounded while protecting her master at a critical moment.
No matter what, she had to repay it.
"Takeru! Inoue!"
At that moment, Ichigo, Aizen, and Yamamoto Genryusai flashed to the Divine Bird's side.
"Yo, are you two okay?"
With a thought from Takeru, the Divine Bird instantly transformed back into an asauchi and dropped into his hand. The blade's cold gleam was dazzling enough to sting the eyes if one looked at it too long.
"I should be the one asking you that."
Seeing his close friend wake up safely, the huge weight in Ichigo's chest finally eased, but his tone was still as gruff as ever.
"Thanks to Inoue, I got a good sleep. But... I ended up getting woken by the noise you guys were making."
Takeru's gaze swept over Aizen and Yamamoto beside Ichigo, his tone carrying a faint trace of amusement.
"I didn't expect it to take all of you this long and still not be settled. Since I had nothing better to do after waking up, I just came to give you a hand. It's always better to finish early and get back to dealing with the mountain of squad work, right, Teacher? Captain Commander?"
"Dealing with squad work? Frankly, I would rather rest for a while. I imagine everyone else feels the same."
Aizen smiled lightly.
"Save the idle talk until after the enemy is dead. Much as I hate to admit it, without fresh support, killing Yhwach will be difficult. So whether you mean to join the battle or bring out another plan, do it. I will cooperate with everything I have. We cannot allow Yhwach to escape again."
Yamamoto Genryusai stared solemnly at Yhwach in the distance.
"Exactly."
Ichigo's expression darkened as well, his attention returning fully to the battlefield.
"Yhwach is too dangerous. Every day he remains alive puts more people at risk. A bastard like that has to be killed."
"Takeru, did you bring Miss Inoue here because you intend to use her power to counter Yhwach? Judging from what happened just now, it seems feasible."
Aizen suddenly spoke.
At those words, Ichigo and Yamamoto could not help but look toward Orihime as well.
If it had only been the Divine Bird, Shunko, and Yuisen, then at best they could have briefly contested Yhwach's omnipotent reishi field. The only reason they had broken through it and sent him flying was Orihime's power to reject all things.
At this point, only a power this unreasonable could break the deadlock.
Otherwise, once their stamina and spiritual power continued to drain, once their condition fell further from its peak, not only would they fail to kill Yhwach, they might end up being killed by him instead.
"Please leave it to me. I'll definitely protect everyone!"
Orihime took a deep breath, her tone firm and powerful.
Ichigo could not help but give her another look. Something about her felt different now.
"Then let's go."
Takeru tightened his grip on his sword, refining and purifying every particle of reishi within his body until it churned around him like boiling blood.
Yamamoto Genryusai took the lead and charged forward.
Takeru and Orihime followed close behind.
Aizen and Ichigo remained where they were, providing cover.
One calmly released Kido after Kido, faster and more dazzling than even Zaraki Kyouya summoning hundreds of gigai to cast spells. It was the kind of scene that would leave even the Grand Master of the Kidō Corps speechless, wondering since when Kido could be used in such a manner.
The other loosed a rain of arrows so dense and dark that it seemed to turn the sky black.
"You still mean to resist? Utterly pointless."
Yhwach gave a cold snort, paying no heed at all to the combined assault of master and disciple.
Now that his eyes were open, he was an existence beyond the limits of race, the all knowing and all powerful Father of the Quincy, no longer merely their ruler.
By contrast, his opponents, though monstrously strong, had still not broken past the limits of their souls.
That said, he could not underestimate them too much.
After all, every one of them was a special war power.
They all carried within them an unpredictable possibility.
Or, more accurately, an unknown variable.
And of them all, Orihime Inoue was the one who made him most curious.
"Takeru, symbol of the unknown [Soul]."
"Yamamoto Genryusai, symbol of the unknown [Zanpakuto]."
"Aizen Sosuke, symbol of the unknown [Spirit]."
"Kurosaki Ichigo, symbol of the unknown [Potential Ability]."
"Hyosube Ichibei, symbol of the unknown [Wisdom]."
"Zaraki Kenpachi, symbol of the unknown [Combat Power]."
"Urahara Kisuke, symbol of the unknown [Strategy]."
"And... Orihime Inoue, symbol of the unknown [Destiny]."
Among those eight, there were people Yhwach found most shocking, most loathsome, most hateful, most dangerous, and most worthy of curiosity.
Orihime was the last of those.
"A mere human. An ordinary girl. And yet she possesses a power that can reject all phenomena and deny all things. Naturally, that is incredible. But what truly astonishes me is not the power itself. It is the destiny carried by the one who possesses it."
"Did you think I failed to foresee that you would gain Pernida's power? I deliberately sent Him there. Whether He died at your hands or brought you back with Him, either way this unknown destiny would eventually come under my control."
"The Antithesis!"
A deep, dark sphere of reishi appeared in Yhwach's palm. He raised it overhead, summoning a halo even larger than the one from before.
The suddenly expanding giant halo repelled the incoming arrows, Kido, and even Takeru, Orihime, and Yamamoto as they closed in.
Then, in the next instant, four pillars of light descended like waterfalls.
Two struck the ground.
They engulfed Gerard and Haschwalth in the middle of battle.
Everyone's expressions changed.
"What... what is that?!"
Soi Fon and Yoruichi had only just emerged from the Ultimate Poison Ball, but the moment they saw that scene, they froze.
Although the light looked sacred, it inexplicably sent a chill down their spines.
"Indeed... the time has come."
Haschwalth lowered his sword and gave up resisting. Looking up into the light, he slowly closed his eyes.
He allowed his power to be taken.
As for Gerard, who had transformed into a giant of light, the pillar dissolved him so quickly that he could not even finish his final words. It was a horrifying sight, as though he were being digested by some invisible stomach acid.
"Tch, what the hell is going on?"
Kenpachi looked up at the sky, annoyance written all over his face.
"It seems the enemy leader has once again been pushed into a corner. Otherwise, he would not even take the lives of the last subordinates still standing."
Hitsugaya muttered thoughtfully.
"So... are we going to help?"
Ikkaku asked casually.
"Though I hate to admit it, that is not a battlefield we can interfere in."
Byakuya released his Bankai and sheathed his sword as he spoke.
"Yes... for now, we wait and observe."
Hitsugaya frowned deeply and let out a soft sigh.
"We failed to kill the enemy's subordinates in time. Instead, their power was returned to him. Rather than sharing the burden, we only increased the burden on the Captain Commander and the others."
"If this battle ends safely, then perhaps I should seriously consider asking Takeru to allow me into the training grounds as well. Otherwise, forget helping. I'd be lucky just not to become a burden."
At those words, everyone fell silent.
At the same time, the remaining two pillars of light projected by The Antithesis descended straight toward Orihime and Ichigo.
Though both of them avoided being directly engulfed, The Antithesis could still strip away the Quincy part of their power.
And that power, rooted in both their bodies, had grown together with them. It was deeply intertwined with all their other strength.
If it were ripped out, the consequences would be unimaginable.
That was Yhwach's true aim.
And that was why he had never been in a hurry to end the battle.
"The previous battles allowed you to come into contact with fragments of my soul. So even if you avoid the direct light of The Antithesis, I can still take everything from you at any time."
"The reason I waited until now is simple. I wanted you to keep fighting for me. I wanted you to keep growing stronger for me."
"And now, Orihime, Ichigo... you have become worth the wait."
"Now it is time for you to repay me."
Yhwach's voice boomed like divine thunder, carrying an authority that allowed no refusal.
But there was someone who rejected that tyranny.
Orihime.
"I will never forgive anyone who hurts everyone! The malice of those who abuse their power will be... rejected by me!"
Her entire body shone with a dawnlike light. It was not blinding, but it gave off a strange warmth and peace.
This was the evolved form of the power she had gained after absorbing the left arm of the Soul King.
It allowed her to transmit the ability to reject all phenomena through contact.
Which meant that when her light enveloped something, she was not simply denying the event that had already happened to it.
She was transmitting the very power of rejection into that thing itself.
As the saying goes, all things possess spirit.
Anything touched by that light gained the power to reject all things and save itself.
She had used this very method before to help Takeru recover his consciousness.
But this was no mere application of Soten Kisshun.
Strictly speaking, it was Soten Kisshun wielded under the blessing of that new power of transmitted contact.
And that power had another, more official name.
"Bankai!"
Orihime raised her oversized blade and thrust it forward. The light around her intensified, transforming into a massive storm of reishi that swallowed her entire body.
Takeru, Aizen, and Yamamoto each reacted differently.
Ichigo, meanwhile, was simply stunned.
Because the instant Orihime shouted "Bankai" and that abnormal transformation erupted, the stolen spiritual power ceased flowing away. More than that, even the power that had already been stripped away began to return.
The Antithesis had been interrupted.
At least, it had been interrupted on their side.
"What?!"
For the first time, Yhwach's eyes widened in undisguised disbelief.
It was obvious that not only had he failed to foresee this development, he had not even considered that such a thing was possible.
And then, something even more outrageous followed.
The reishi storm shot into the sky and shattered the giant halo of The Antithesis itself.
It felt almost like a curse had rebounded onto its caster.
When the reishi storm finally dispersed, Orihime's clothing was unchanged, and her Zanpakuto still appeared as it had before.
But above her head now floated an orange reishi pentagram, and from her back extended a pair of orange wings shaped like hands.
At first glance, they looked almost identical to the Vollstandig of the Sternritter.
"How is this possible...? From the moment she absorbed Pernida until now, only a few days have passed. And without guidance or assistance she has already mastered Bankai? And in this form, with this kind of power?"
"Could it be that through Bankai she has directly activated something equivalent to Vollstandig?"
"This isn't some Vollstandig. This is my [Gokuten Seishun]!"
Orihime's pretty face was solemn, carrying a faint sacred dignity like that of a Valkyrie.
Not only that, she showed no fear whatsoever as she charged Yhwach head on.
Yhwach raised a hand and pushed outward, as though opening the gates of the world.
Space itself shattered with a roar.
Beyond it was only darkness.
But Orihime swung her great blade, and under the orange radiance, not only did space instantly return to normal, Yhwach's reishi force field also disappeared as if it had never existed.
It had not been sealed.
It was simply... rejected by the world.
Rejected by the space that had come under the influence of Orihime's spiritual pressure.
"?!"
A half baked Shinigami who had not even transcended should not have been capable of something like this.
For an instant, Yhwach genuinely wondered if he had fallen into an illusion jointly laid by Aizen and Takeru.
How else could something this absurd be possible?
Ichigo and Yamamoto were just as astonished.
Only Takeru and Aizen, watching closely, seemed to grasp a little of the truth.
"So that's it... the left arm of the Soul King governs 'advancement'. When it existed independently as a Quincy, that quality was manifested through the absorption of information from objects upon contact."
"After being absorbed by Orihime, it evolved into sharing and transmission."
"When used offensively, it can pierce through the powers of others. Even if limited by spiritual pressure, it can still cut through everything."
"When used for restoration, it allows things to save themselves. Even when the user cannot fully comprehend the mechanism, even when restrained by spiritual pressure, it lets that which has been destroyed use the power of rejection to recover itself."
"When used defensively, even if restricted by spiritual pressure, it can affect enemy attacks, stripping them of destructive force. It is as though hostility itself is erased, allowing barriers that should have been destroyed to hold firm."
"When used to counter, even under differences in spiritual pressure and raw power, it can still interfere with all things through overwhelming influence and deflect the abilities of others."
"Much like a schrift, it belongs to the category of standard abilities."
"To bring that ability to its absolute peak, rather than simply amplifying one technique, what is required is... Bankai. A state equivalent to Vollstandig."
"In that state... even without using a technique directly, it can reject outside interference. It can even prevent an enemy from using the same technique against her more than once, because fundamentally speaking, it is rejecting the enemy's attempt to hinder her 'advancement'."
"However... its effect probably cannot extend beyond the range of her spiritual pressure. And since that spiritual pressure density is comparable to Vollstandig, the radius of effect likely cannot be very large."
"Judging by this... it's only about a hundred meters. No wonder they are so determined to charge forward. Their intent is obvious enough that it should never fool Yhwach."
"But that is enough. Any technique used against Inoue will be immunized by her. And within her vicinity, abilities cannot be properly activated."
"Which means... the foresight of The Almighty and the reishi force field will both fail, at least for a time."
An opening.
Takeru and Aizen exchanged a glance.
Both nodded.
"Eight Manifestations... Endonemi!"
Takeru drew out a silver white sphere, melted it with spiritual pressure, and smeared it across his blade.
At the same time, the [Corruption Potion] entered his body all at once, and he released his Zanpakuto.
The immense disturbance immediately caught Yhwach's attention.
It delayed the instant in which he would have seen through the flaw in Orihime's ability.
Then Takeru activated the Kido Aura.
Eight halos bloomed beneath the feet of Takeru, Aizen, Orihime, Ichigo, and Yamamoto, enhancing their combat capability in every direction with the effects of eight separate Kido techniques.
The sudden change startled Ichigo and the others.
None of them had expected Takeru to still have such a move hidden away.
"Using Inoue Orihime's Bankai, you intend to decide victory or defeat within eight seconds? Takeru... you bastard. Do you take me for some insignificant enemy that you can slaughter at your leisure?!"
Yhwach flew into a fury.
After so many days of battle against Takeru, after two full major clashes between them, the hatred between them had already surpassed even what he had once felt toward Yamamoto Genryusai. Even without The Almighty, he could read Takeru's intent well enough.
Takeru did not answer.
Every second his Shikai remained active was precious.
As for Bankai, with the reishi of the world already burned almost dry, even if he activated it, it would no longer generate enough spiritual pressure to matter. It would only hasten the world's destruction and drag all of them down along with it.
"Heaven and Earth...!"
Yamamoto intended to use his greatest killing move to finish Yhwach once and for all.
But Yhwach shifted his position and used Orihime as a shield.
Yamamoto's killing move failed at once.
He could have steeled his heart and struck through her regardless, but the blow would have been nullified by Orihime's own ability. It would not have killed either of them together.
And even if it could have, the current Yamamoto Genryusai would never have chosen such a course.
At that moment, Ichigo swung his spirit bow.
The void became covered in vast patterns of Kekko, like earth itself had taken shape in the sky, and he unleashed a rain of arrows like icy lances.
Though Yhwach could no longer foresee the future or rely on the reishi force field, the three pupils in his eyes had not vanished. He could still alter the phenomena taking place before him.
The dense rain of arrows approached, but instead of harming him, they were disassembled into reishi and absorbed into his body, becoming his own strength.
This was [Quincy].
To Yhwach, the combat techniques of the Sternritter were never anything special.
At that instant, Takeru charged in.
The spiritual blade in his hand shone brilliantly. His swordsmanship was so fast it looked like lightning, illuminating the void, cutting through light itself. The number of slashes was impossible to count.
All one could understand was this. If such a storm of cuts struck a person directly, their body would be reduced to particles as small as dust mites.
Faced with such a terrifying onslaught, Yhwach said nothing at all and simply flashed away, withdrawing straight out of the range of Orihime's spiritual pressure.
At once, his abilities recovered.
But before Yhwach could even feel relief, a figure suddenly appeared directly above him.
Aizen.
"Seeking death!"
Yhwach glared and released the invisible force field with full force.
Yet in front of Aizen appeared a giant light shield.
That shield had been compressed from millions upon millions of layers of reishi barrier, and something like that could only have been prepared in advance.
The invisible force field collided with the multicolored light shield and detonated in less than a second.
Aizen was blown away.
The next moment, Yamamoto Genryusai and Takeru attacked from both flanks.
They too were sent flying and heavily wounded by Yhwach's all out reishi force field.
Even [Zanjitsu Gokui] and [Seikessen] were of no use.
Wait.
"Kekko?"
Yhwach suddenly noticed something strange.
That figure was not Takeru at all.
It was Ichigo.
"How is this possible...? Kyōka Suigetsu was broken by me. Its effect should have been heavily weakened. So why is it still capable of deceiving even my eye?!"
"Shiten Kōshun... I reject!"
Suddenly, Orihime crashed into him with a burst of intense light.
Her Bankai's effect was not permanent.
If the enemy moved beyond the range of her spiritual pressure, their abilities would recover.
But if they stepped back in, then as long as no new ability had already been activated directly against her, the suppression would take effect again.
Because of this, and with the help of an illusionary misdirection, Orihime arrived before Yhwach like an assassin and immediately activated [Shiten Kōshun], the technique that reflected all attacks.
The moment the light touched Yhwach's invisible force field, it was judged as an act of interference against Orihime, and her Bankai's power activated at once.
The reishi force field vanished again.
And The Almighty lost half its effectiveness with it.
At that same instant, Takeru arrived behind Yhwach.
A single blade flash.
It divided dawn from dusk.
Even without factoring in [Black Flash], the independently existing Divine Bird possessed combat power not inferior to Takeru in his usual state.
After reverting into an asauchi, it remained in a semi released condition, blade and sheath fused into one. Every swing poured out immense spiritual power.
No medium was needed.
There was no need to sheathe the blade before using [Yuisen].
This slash was [Yuisen].
"Ugh!"
Yhwach's eyes widened in shock.
The blade pierced straight through his back and into his heart.
"Aizen... Takeru...! You bastards! Do you really think piercing my heart can kill me? These foolish attempts have already proven themselves useless time and time again!"
Yhwach slammed his hand down onto the blade, intending to snap it just as he had before.
But then, suddenly, every blood vessel across his body bulged as if filled with poison. His control over his own body failed, and the power within him went numb.
"This is...?!"
"The Still Silver extracted from the hearts of Quincies whose powers were stolen through The Antithesis. I had someone process it... and smear it onto the blade. The instant it enters your bloodstream, it temporarily nullifies your powers..."
Takeru's eyes gleamed sharply as his spiritual pressure began dropping rapidly.
"It's only... temporary...!"
"But did you forget how fast my blade is?"
"?!"
"It's already inside you. And now... no one can take the blow in your place anymore."
"You bastard...!"
Yhwach did not even finish speaking.
Takeru erupted with black red lightning and activated [Yuisen] again.
At the same moment, the Kido Aura triggered a damage amplification effect, making the blade light of that strike shine like the sun itself.
When the light vanished, Yhwach was gone.
His corpse, down to every last cell.
His spiritual pressure, down to every last trace.
Everything was annihilated by [Yuisen].
"Takeru... is Yhwach dead?"
Ichigo and Yamamoto Genryusai, both of whom had been sent flying earlier, returned at once.
Though still badly wounded, they remained on full alert, scanning the battlefield in case some resurrection trick appeared again.
"With the Still Silver I prepared, plus Inoue's suppression... even if he had a method of reviving himself, I'm afraid... he wouldn't have had the power to use it."
"So that means..."
"Yes."
Takeru closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
On the ground below, Kyōraku and the others, who had been waiting anxiously, saw a triangular orange barrier of light slowly descend with several familiar figures seated upon it.
"Looks like they won."
Rukia smiled at once when she saw Orihime waving excitedly from above.
Seeing that, everyone else finally relaxed as well.
Even though their wounds still ached terribly, some of them began to cheer. Others started joking with the comrades around them. All of them were immersed in the joy of victory.
The expedition.
The defense battle.
The return and counterattack.
All the hardship and bloodshed of those past days had finally come to a perfect end.
Check out my newly released fanfic
Title:
Jujutsu Kaisen: Starting With Yoriichi's Template
.....
[Check Out My Patreon For Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]