"Doakudar, you're wrong!"
Wataru snapped his eyes open, a golden brilliance burning within them that outshone the sun. "A true heart can never be stolen!!"
"Super Power Transform!! Super Mashin・Ryujinmaru!!"
Boom!!
Resplendent holy light descended from the heavens, erupting with Ryujinmaru at its epicenter and sweeping outward!
The dark chains binding the mecha shattered inch by inch the moment they touched the light!
Ryujinmaru itself fused all the blessings together, transforming into a powerful and perfect form.
Driven to the brink, Wataru relied on his own will and his bonds with his comrades to achieve a breakthrough.
In the deepest depths of his soul, a stronger, kinder heart was rekindled and born anew!
Standing in the distance, Genryusai Yamamoto watched the boy shining brilliantly in the light, and a smile full of admiration finally appeared on his stern face.
However, the battle was not over yet.
"Uwaaaahhh!"
"..."
Stripped of the protection of the armor of the good heart, Doakudar's true main body was finally completely exposed to everyone.
It was a terrifying behemoth composed of a massive skull and spinal column, wreathed in decaying, evil purple energy.
Hundreds, even thousands, of agonizing human faces wailed on its surface, exuding an evil aura more than ten times thicker than before.
"Unforgivable... A mere human! How dare you harm my true body!!!"
In the blink of an eye, Master Shibaraku and the others were all ensnared by the evil power Doakudar suddenly unleashed, violently dragged into midair.
"Everyone!!" Wataru's eyes widened in fury. Just as he was about to rush over to save them, he heard Doakudar's threat.
"Foolish little savior!" Doakudar's power slowly constricted, the force so great that it even caused Master Shibaraku and Torao's mechas to emit a chorus of metallic cracking sounds. "Your resolve has indeed exceeded my expectations, but so what?"
"Humanity's greatest weakness is your ridiculous emotions!"
"Now, undo the Mashin yourself! Otherwise, I will instantly crush your comrades into bloody pulp!"
"Don't worry about us... Wataru! Defeat him!" Torao shouted through gritted teeth from inside his cockpit.
Wataru froze in place.
He had just regained his inner strength, but now his hands gripping the dragon horns began to tremble once more...
If he gave up resisting, the world would be doomed to eternal damnation... But if he didn't give up, how could he watch his comrades die right in front of him?
Doakudar had banked exactly on this.
He was certain that even if Wataru had grown, that kindness remained his greatest vulnerability.
Right in the midst of this suffocating stalemate.
A steady, unhurried sound of footsteps suddenly echoed across the battlefield.
With every step, the surrounding violent dark demonic aura uncontrollably shuddered and retreated.
Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto was slowly walking toward the very front of the battlefield.
"Old man, what are you trying to do?!" Doakudar stared warily at this seemingly frail elder.
Although this human elder was so insignificant compared to a Mashin.
He knew exactly how those previous guardians had been defeated.
This old man, just like that guy Donakami, was a walking Mashin himself!
"Do you want to watch them die with your own eyes?!"
Yamamoto ignored Doakudar's clamoring.
He raised his head and looked at Wataru, whose face was filled with pain and struggle inside Ryujinmaru.
"A very fine young man." Yamamoto's voice carried warmth and gratification. "To be able to look directly into your true heart in a desperate situation, whether as a warrior or as a so-called savior, you have already achieved the growth I expected."
"Your heart is already as firm as a boulder."
"Therefore, for the rest of this demon exorcism..."
Yamamoto withdrew his gaze and pointed his long sword at Doakudar.
"It is time for me to step in."
"Arrogant old fool!"
Doakudar was infuriated by Yamamoto's utter disregard for him. "Since you're courting death, I'll grant your wish first!"
"Remember this in your next life! In this world, it is impossible for any human to surpass me, Doakudar! Die!"
Countless black death beams, thicker than water vats, blasted out from Doakudar's main body, hurtling straight toward Yamamoto's position!
"Human? You are far too full of yourself, demon."
"Bankai—"
"Zanka no Tachi."
Boom—!!
A terrifying firestorm rose out of thin air, crashing head-on into Doakudar's black death beams!
Those demonic death beams that seemed capable of destroying the world were like dry grass instantly ignited before these heaven-incinerating flames!
The demonic energy tentacles binding Wataru's comrades didn't even have time to retract before the flames traced their magical trajectories and instantly burned them to ashes. Shibaraku and the others broke free and plummeted down.
"I am not the fragile human you speak of."
Yamamoto's voice seemed to come from the depths of hell, making Doakudar feel as though his very soul was beginning to dry up and scorch.
The thick dark demonic aura that had permeated the air was instantly vaporized in that moment.
The parched earth began to melt, turning into boiling lakes of magma.
The entire seventh floor of Mount Sokai began to scorch and boil because of this power!
"What is this power?!" Doakudar's massive, mountain-like main body began to violently shrivel and emit plumes of white smoke under the intense, sun-core-like heat of Zanka no Tachi.
His proud, immortal demonic body began to rapidly collapse before this Zanpakuto that severed souls.
"You... what kind of monster are you?!" Doakudar roared in despair.
"I am a Soul Reaper."
Yamamoto gripped his blade with one hand, locking onto Doakudar's massive origin core.
All the heat was compressed onto that seemingly charred edge.
"Brat!" Yamamoto turned to look at Wataru and shouted loudly. "This is the final strike!"
"Release your Zanpakuto! Join me in completely erasing this filthy entity from this world!"
"Yes! Grandpa!"
Wataru wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, his blood boiling.
Under the terrifying heat of Zanka no Tachi, Super Mashin Ryujinmaru faced multiplied pressure, but at the same time, it erupted with unprecedented, dazzling brilliance.
"Finishing Move! Super Power・Ascending Dragon Sword—!!!"
The sword's light surged once more, transforming into a divine dragon soaring through the highest heavens, diving straight toward Doakudar.
At the same time, Yamamoto instantly crossed the spatial distance, appearing right in front of Doakudar's massive main body.
"Zanka no Tachi, East—"
"Kyokujitsujin!!"
The charred tachi and the Ascending Dragon Sword shining with seven-colored divine radiance.
At the exact same moment, they viciously cleaved into Doakudar's main body as it attempted a final struggle!
Sizzle!!
The moment their combined strike touched Doakudar's body.
Doakudar's massive frame, composed of endless resentment and magical energy, began to melt away at a visible rate.
Starting from the point of contact with the blades, a chain reaction of annihilation instantly swept across Doakudar's entire body. Without even managing to let out a complete scream, he vanished from the world.
A scorching wind blew past.
The demon realm leader who had once plunged all of Mount Sokai into darkness and despair was completely reduced to nothingness.
With a soft ring of the blade, Zanka no Tachi's Bankai was deactivated.
The terrifying heat rapidly receded, and the haze in the sky finally dispersed.
A long-absent seven-colored rainbow pierced all the way from the first floor of Mount Sokai up to the firmament of this seventh floor Holy Realm.
"We won!! We won!" Master Shibaraku, Torao, and Himiko all wept tears of joy.
Wataru jumped out of Ryujinmaru, facing the warm sunlight. He looked down at Yamamoto, who had returned to the appearance of a kind old man, his eyes filled with deep awe and gratitude.
"Never forget the resolve that burned your soul today."
Yamamoto's gentle yet stern voice rang out. "As long as the blade of your heart does not dull, there is nothing that cannot be cut."
"I will keep it in my heart! Master Genryusai!"
Wataru stood before him and bowed sincerely.
At that moment, the sky of the Holy Realm split open.
The massive silhouette of a divine dragon, composed entirely of brilliant golden light, faintly appeared amidst the clouds.
"Mighty one from another world..." The divine dragon's voice was grand and ethereal. "Your sharp blade has severed the fate of this realm. We of the Shinbukai are deeply grateful."
"We shall combine the power of the gods to send you home."
As it spoke, a golden pillar of light radiating spatial-temporal fluctuations enveloped Yamamoto.
The power of the gods of Mount Sokai was opening a path home for him.
Genryusai Yamamoto nodded slightly. "That is good."
However, when the power of the gods touched Genryusai Yamamoto's Spiritual Pressure, the gods exhibited a rare emotion of confusion.
"...Strange, your soul is engraved with some ancient crest that transcends the cycle of life and death..."
"...The world you exist in... is not within the observable Real World..."
Yamamoto frowned, listening as the divine dragon's voice grew increasingly conflicted.
"...It seems we cannot pinpoint the exact coordinates in the river of space and time. We can only follow that faint and extremely similar aura to push you toward that side of space and time..."
"...Good luck, and have a safe journey..."
With a resounding boom, the golden pillar of light on Yamamoto turned into an incandescent red meteor, shooting straight into the clouds.
Genryusai Yamamoto once again felt that wave of dizziness, his body thrown into the endless dimensional turbulence.
He didn't know how long had passed, or if it was merely an instant.
A sense of solidity came from beneath his feet.
Yamamoto opened his eyes. The colorful, fairy-tale-like textures of Mount Sokai had vanished.
Appearing before his eyes were endless deep mountains in the distance, and a bleak crescent moon overhead.
The surrounding ruined walls exuded a thick, ancient aura, and the air was filled with a... not unfamiliar, yet completely different presence.
"...It seems this is still not the Soul Society." Yamamoto sheathed Ryujin Jakka, his brow furrowed tightly.
At that moment, the faint sound of footsteps came from a nearby path.
"Lord Sesshomaru... look, there's actually an old man standing over there!"
"In this desolate wilderness teeming with demons, there's actually a human who dares to rest here?"