Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni advanced toward Yhwach like a demon cloaked in flames.
Fire stretched to the heavens, consuming everything in its path as the world around them burned red and gold.
"It's been a thousand years, Yhwach," he said, his tone heavy with centuries of weariness and resolve.
"I'm here to put an end to your life."
Each step he took radiated pressure and heat that warped the very air between them.
Yhwach's soldiers stood frozen before their king, the realization of the Captain‑Commander's power crushing them to silence.
"How dare you approach his majesty alone?!" one Sternritter shouted. "You are far too arrogant, old man!"
"It's time to end this! Prepare to die!"
Three of them rushed at Yamamoto without hesitation-only to vanish in the inferno that erupted around him.
Flames engulfed the entire street, climbing into the sky until even from where Kyōraku Shunsui stood, the eruption could be seen clearly.
Shunsui tilted his hat back slightly, watching the blaze with faint admiration.
"Jii‑san truly doesn't know the meaning of holding back," he said softly, half‑smiling.
Nearby, Ukitake Jūshirō narrowed his eyes, the reflected light of the fire glinting against his pale face.
Yhwach looked upon the charred remains of his subordinates with cold disdain.
"Fools," he said at last. "They interfered in my fight without permission and paid the price."
Yamamoto rolled his neck until it cracked audibly.
Even one‑armed, he looked almost inhuman-his body outlined like molten steel against the flames.
"What is that look in your eyes?" Yhwach asked, his tone edged with mockery.
Before he could finish, Yamamoto's Zanpakutō was already in motion. The blade-no longer merely steel but condensed spiritual fire-descended with terrifying precision.
Yhwach raised his arm to block, and blood splattered across the ground.
It hissed and evaporated instantly in the heat.
He leapt backward, creating distance between them, his cloak rippling under the surge of pressure.
Yamamoto's eyes followed him, unblinking and cold.
"Your arrogance toward your own subordinates hasn't changed, Yhwach," Yamamoto said. "It ends here."
Yhwach chuckled lowly. "You are old, Shigekuni Yamamoto. Yet your anger reminds me of the man you once were."
In the next instant, Yamamoto flashed forward. The swing of his sword grazed Yhwach's nose-a strike too close for comfort.
Yhwach tilted his head aside and countered with a swift somersault, kicking Yamamoto across the arm. The Captain‑Commander crashed onto the roof of a nearby building, tiles cracking beneath his weight.
Yhwach followed, tearing tiles from the rooftop with his power and hurling them toward his opponent.
Yamamoto's low grunt was followed by the tiles spinning back in reverse, now searing red and enveloped by flame‑infused reiryoku.
Yhwach blocked with both hands, the blasts striking against his arms but leaving him largely unscathed.
Yamamoto turned midair and brought his blade down in another devastating arc, splitting the structure beneath them cleanly in half.
Yhwach flipped backward and dropped to the ground just before the building collapsed under the pressure of that strike.
As dust and smoke rose, he looked up-only to find Yamamoto already at his flank. The older man's swing came wreathed in roaring flame.
Yhwach snatched the Quincy Cross from his chest and it transformed into his sword, cutting through the flames in one motion. The severed fire scattered outward, and the battlefield became a sea of flame once again.
Kyoraku watched from afar and sighed softly. "At this rate," he said to no one in particular, "Seireitei won't exist by the time they're done."
Within the inferno, Yamamoto's deep, resonant tone carried through the blaze.
"Finally," he said, "you draw your sword."
Yhwach's eyes narrowed. "Why do you speak as though you were waiting for me to do so?"
"Do you know why I waited?" Yamamoto's reiatsu surged violently as his expression hardened.
"To crush your flesh, your blood, your sword, your soul-even your bones-completely."
In that instant, Yhwach's gaze shifted in disbelief.
Where there had been fire, there was now only silence-the sea of flames vanished as though it had been devoured by the void itself.
All color drained from the battlefield, leaving only blinding white light in its wake.
"Bankai-Zanka no Tachi."
Yamamoto Genryūsai stood unmoving, his blade drawn but without flame.
Everything within sight was white. The sound of burning had ceased; even the wind dared not stir.
Ukitake exhaled heavily. "Even from here... my mouth feels dry."
Shunsui nodded, wiping the blood from his lip. "He's reached that state again," he said under his breath.
Kotetsu Isane and Kotsubaki Yūnin looked at each other nervously as the humidity in the air vanished around them.
"Captain Unohana," Isane whispered, her fingers brushing her cheek in discomfort, "does your skin feel... dry?"
"Oh? Yūnin, you sound oddly delicate today," her companion teased faintly, though her tone wavered.
"W‑What? I didn't even-" Yūnin stammered before stopping herself when Unohana's gaze hardened.
Unohana Retsu's normally calm expression turned grave as she stared at the small chrysanthemum in the glass vase by her window.
Before her eyes, the water inside evaporated completely, and the glass cracked with a faint pop.
"Please resolve this quickly," she said softly to no one in particular. "Before the entire Seireitei is destroyed by your power."
Elsewhere, Hitsugaya Tōshirō gripped his Zanpakutō and frowned.
"Captain‑Commander's Bankai... it's evaporating moisture across the entire Soul Society," he said. "Hyorinmaru is no longer responding properly."
Haschwalth watched from the enemy's lines, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Bankai?" he said. "Is that charred, worn blade what remains after the fire has gone out?"
"Do not underestimate it," another Quincy replied. "Zanka no Tachi seals every bit of its flame into the blade itself. When swung, it burns everything it touches into ash-a sword of karmic fire."
Yamamoto's deep tone cut across the battlefield. "You've seen my Bankai before, haven't you, Yhwach? A thousand years ago. Let your body remind you whether it's the same as back then!"
He vanished forward in the flash of Shunpo, the tip of his blackened blade striking Yhwach's chest.
No flame erupted-only the impact of unimaginable heat condensed into silence.
Yhwach stepped back in confusion, his eyes darting to the sword now pressed against him.
What had changed? A thousand years ago, the flames had devoured the world-and now there was only nothingness.
His mind barely finished forming the thought when Yamamoto's blade descended again toward his head.
Yhwach twisted aside, narrowly escaping the strike. The edge of the blade grazed the ground, carving into the stone with only the faint, restrained sound of metal meeting earth.
PS GOALS: 150 PS= 5-10 extra chapter on an update.
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