"Aiyan Sōsuke, you can be proud."
"You are the first Shinigami in thousands of years to witness Ryūjin Jakka's true full release."
"Although doing this will destroy the entire Seireitei—please die here!"
Beneath the boundless sea of fire, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni stood tall, murderous intent pouring from his eyes.
On the earth, a cold and suffocating killing intent spread in all directions.
Above the sky, blazing flames gathered into a giant firebird, covering the heavens and blotting out the sun.
"Everything is destroyed!"
He cast a cold glance at Aiyan, then raised his Zanpakutō with both hands and swung it down lightly.
Boom!
The fiery phoenix entrenched in the sky beat its wings, instantly unleashing a wave of scorching heat that engulfed the entire Seireitei.
Wherever it passed:
The buildings closest to the 1st Division headquarters suddenly ignited into seas of flame, burned to charcoal, then swept into ash by the heat wave, becoming part of it.
First the 1st Division, then the 2nd, then the 3rd...
One by one, the squad buildings of Seireitei were consumed, reduced to ashes, and carried into the sky by the heat storm.
This was Ryūjin Jakka's full AOE release.
This was Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni's stance of annihilation—destroying his enemies regardless of the cost.
Perhaps because he had already personally buried two thousand of his own Shinigami, he now fought without hesitation. It was as though the shackles of his captaincy had fallen away, revealing once more the Sword Demon of a thousand years ago—the very monster who made Yhwach himself fearful.
"Die!"
With a thunderous roar that shook the sky, the blazing firebird dragged its titanic body down, swooping toward Aiyan with overwhelming destruction.
Boom!
Feeling the surging heat wave engulfing all of Seireitei, the corners of Aiyan's lips slowly curved.
Beneath him, Susanoo seemed to sense his will and responded at once.
Tsk-tsk...
Susanoo opened her mouth, exhaling spiraling particles of blue and purple Reiatsu that twisted and condensed into a Bijūdama.
Armament Reiatsu.
Conqueror's Reiatsu.
Amaterasu black flame.
The three powers infused into the Bijūdama, just as before—but this time, it was not fired immediately.
Instead, Susanoo reached for a massive Reiatsu longblade and plunged it directly into the Bijūdama.
In an instant, the terrifying energy of the Bijūdama was absorbed completely into the sword.
"Hatei: Jūyaku!"
The Amaterasu-fueled Bijūdama, entwined with Armament and Conqueror's might, became the blade itself. With Susanoo's body serving as its sheath, the fusion was perfect. Susanoo gripped the weapon with both hands, spread its colossal wings, and surged skyward.
Like a god descending, it brought down the mountain-sized blade in a single stroke against the firebird that dwarfed it.
Slash!
The sword light tore across the heavens, splitting the sky itself with a pitch-black fissure, like a wound in space devouring everything in its path.
In that same moment—
The blazing firebird released by Yamamoto suddenly froze midair. From its neck down through its body, a crack of pure black spread, then ruptured.
Clang!
Behind the collapsing firebird, Aiyan's Susanoo appeared. With a backhand slash, he cleaved again.
The second sword light erupted, clean and merciless.
The already-bisected firebird split further, shattered into four pieces, then burst apart into a rain of flames, scattering across Seireitei like falling stars.
Throughout the process, there was no earth-shatering Reiatsu explosion—only annihilation on the level of spirit itself.
One blade: two halves.
Two blades: nothing left.
When it was done, Aiyan's eyes locked on Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, who stood frozen amidst scorched ruins. From atop Susanoo's towering form, he swung downward again.
The ground split apart instantly, a gully stretching nearly ten kilometers long yawning open. All the rock and soil within were pulverized to dust finer than sand.
Crash!
Thousands of meters away, a battered, blood-soaked figure materialized, staggering on the edge of a lake. His Zanpakutō broken, his left arm severed, Yamamoto collapsed. Scarlet blood gushed from his shoulder, staining the lake waters red.
The slash had taken his arm—and shattered Ryūjin Jakka, the strongest fire-type Zanpakutō!
Only his Shunpo had saved him from being erased completely.
Boom!
Before Yamamoto could catch his breath, a vast black shadow fell from the sky. Susanoo's towering body loomed above, Aiyan descending mercilessly with another slash.
Boom!
Feeling the weight of death itself pressing down, Yamamoto glared upward. Their eyes clashed in the air. His bloodied face showed no fear, no despair—only endless silence, and a killing intent so pure it could not be washed away by oceans.
With his only remaining arm, he raised his broken Zanpakutō. Though his movements were staggering, he still leveled the blade, a strike strong enough to cut the world.
Then—he thrust forward.
Shhh!
Like piercing a water-filled balloon, the great sword in Susanoo's hands instantly crumbled into black ash, erased without trace.
Yamamoto sank to his knees, rising again only by sheer willpower from the blood-soaked lakeside. His mouth opened, teeth stained crimson, and his roar split the skies:
"Bankai!"
At once, the inferno that had engulfed Seireitei's heavens vanished. The skies cleared, as if the flames had never existed.
But—
The world did not cool. On the contrary, the heat rose exponentially.
2,000 degrees.
3,000 degrees.
Indescribable heat spread outward from Yamamoto's body, first flooding Seireitei, then expanding into every corner of Soul Society.
The nearby lake—evaporated instantly, reduced to a white mist that rose into the sky.
It was not the only one. Lakes, rivers, every water source across Soul Society vanished into steam.
Seireitei.
Rukongai.
Even beyond.
The source of this cataclysm was Yamamoto's Zanpakutō.
Ryūjin Jakka, though shattered, had reformed in his grasp. But its blade no longer gleamed; charred black, scorched like dead firewood, it radiated oppressive heat.
This blackened blade was the reason every drop of water in Soul Society was gone.
Clench.
When Yamamoto gripped the charred Zanpakutō tighter, his already vast Reiatsu surged higher.
For a thousand years, the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow had limited him—his Reiatsu locked at its peak. But Ryūjin Jakka had no such limits.
After millennia of cultivation, the fire-type Zanpakutō had evolved into a terrifying existence.
Now, with Bankai released, all that power erupted at once.
The Reiatsu of the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years rose to heights unimaginable, blanketing Seireitei—and the entire Soul Society.
No matter where one stood, if they could sense Reiatsu, they felt it: not fire, but the very heat of the sun.
"Zanka no Tachi"