Chapter 189
"Damn it!" Barragan's body gradually began to dissipate, and a gaping hole opened in his chest. Not even his bones and clothes remained, all of them weathered away by time itself.
There had always been a layer of membrane on Barragan's body that resisted the power of aging, yet at this moment that membrane had become completely useless.
"I am the king of Hueco Mundo! The king of the world!"
"There is nothing that can surpass me!"
"I am the King! I am God! No one grants me power!"
"It is I who grants power to others!"
"How could you… possibly… kill me?"
Barragan's body faded piece by piece into dust carried away by his own ability. His eyes, however, remained fixed on Yuta standing before him, with Aizen Sōsuke just behind Yuta.
Yuta silently watched as Barragan turned to ash. The power of aging was absolute, and even Barragan himself was nothing more than a soul that feared time's erosion.
Curling his fingers, Yuta extinguished the remaining traces of black, decaying reiatsu in his hand. When he opened his palm again, something invisible lingered there, like clear water glistening faintly across his skin.
It was the essence of time itself.
If he had more time, Yuta thought, he could study this power in greater depth.
――――
"Captain Tōsen… turn back. It's not too late to stop now, before you cause more needless sacrifice…" Hisagi Shūhei's voice carried quiet urgency. He still did not want to cross blades with the man who had taught him and guided him in the past.
Tōsen Kaname, however, replied in an unwavering tone. "What I see with my eyes has always been the path with the least sacrifice."
He glanced at his Zanpakutō, its blade wrapped with chains of deathly energy. "It seems you still don't understand… I do not see fear within your sword."
"Those who are unafraid of the blade they hold are unworthy of wielding it."
Hisagi froze at those words, unable to immediately grasp their meaning.
"Now that Lord Aizen himself has moved, it is time I reveal my true strength," Tōsen continued calmly.
"Bankai?" Komamura Sajin said firmly. "If that's the case, then it's exactly what I wanted to face. I will also-"
"Don't mock me!" Tōsen's voice cut him off sharply. "Lord Aizen has bestowed upon me a power far beyond Bankai."
He drew his left hand across his face, and immediately a dense, abrasive spiritual pressure burst out. It was heavy and suffocating, like endless darkness threatening to consume the very soul.
Komamura and Hisagi both widened their eyes in alarm as the force washed over them.
"This is…" Komamura muttered. His face hardened as he frowned deeply and bared his fanged jaw in disbelief. "Tōsen! You've fallen this far?"
Hisagi shielded himself with both arms as the pressure swirled into a violent storm. Sweat rolled down his cheek as the crushing weight stirred his chest with unease.
When the turbulence subsided, a white mask covered Tōsen's face. It resembled a helmet, enclosing part of his head. Its singular opening stretched like a narrow insect's eye staring outward.
Hisagi's voice trembled slightly as he spoke. "Is this… Hollowfication?"
"That's right," Tōsen answered plainly.
"Why?" Hisagi's expression filled with disbelief as he searched for meaning in what he was seeing. But before he managed another word, Tōsen suddenly appeared in front of him.
Steel sliced through flesh in a single motion.
Blood burst from Hisagi's chest as he fell from the air, gasping in pain.
"Hisagi!" Komamura roared, leaping forward with his blade raised. He swung down toward Tōsen, only to be deflected. Tōsen's strike sent Komamura tumbling back into rubble below.
Hovering above, Tōsen declared coldly, "Strange, isn't it? The Visoreds wield Hollow powers and are called warriors, yet when I embrace the same power it is condemned as depravity."
Komamura pushed himself up through broken stone. His giant frame trembled with anger but his voice was steady. "The Visoreds did not choose that power-it was forced upon them. But you are different. You already possessed the strength of a Shinigami captain, yet you chose betrayal. You betrayed comrades and friends for nothing but greater strength. That is true depravity!"
Tōsen was about to respond when a chain flew up and coiled tightly round his neck, yanking him down onto a nearby rooftop.
"It seems your slash wasn't deep enough earlier…" Hisagi's voice rang out as he pulled on the chain, holding firm to the man he had once followed. Blood stained his chest, but his grip did not falter.
"No… I stepped back reflexively," Hisagi admitted. "Whenever I draw my blade, I prepare to move half a step. Captain Tōsen… that was your teaching."
He stood on the rooftop grass, two short trees behind him swaying slightly in the aftermath of battle.
"Captain Tōsen… please revoke my position as your Fukutaichō!" Hisagi's voice trembled, but he forced the words out.
"Since the time I trained in the Human World, when my right eye was injured, I've been unable to forget fear."
"Every time I face an enemy, I can't keep my heart steady."
"As soon as I draw my sword… I am already half consumed by fear."
"Captain Tōsen… I am afraid of battle."
Hisagi pressed the tip of his blade into the ground, resting his forehead against the hilt as tears fell silently.
He remembered the words that had once shaped him:
Then you should lead from that place.
In battle, strength alone is not the most vital thing… what matters is to possess a heart that fears fighting.
Because of that fear, you will fight for those who also fear battle.
Those who know nothing of fear are unfit to wield a sword.
Hisagi… if you truly fear battle from your very core, then you already hold the most irreplaceable quality of a true warrior.
Hisagi lifted his head and shouted with all his strength, trying to reach Tōsen's heart. "I don't understand! Why would you, who once said such words, abandon them all for power? What is it that you fear now?"
In the next moment, steel pierced flesh.
Blood spread across Hisagi's chest as Tōsen's blade drove through him completely. Red droplets trailed down the edge of the sword and fell silently from the steel.
Tōsen withdrew his weapon calmly as Hisagi collapsed from the rooftop.
"I fear," Tōsen said softly to himself, "that from centuries ago until now, I would eventually become one with the Shinigami… and die."
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