Rumble!
The blazing sun-disc slammed into the earth. In an instant the soil glowed through with translucent red, then sloughed and ran like molten glass. Boiling magma burbled up, the whole plain melting into a lake of fire.
Senjumaru retracted her golden skeletal arms, staring, unable to help herself. "Human boy… are you truly this strong?"
Against the world-ending heat of Ryūjin Jakka (Flowing Blade-like Flame), even she could only barely hold on with bankai. Yet Cole had just swatted it from the sky with one blow. Yes, he'd seized the moment—but getting that close to Zanka no Tachi, Nishi—Zanjitsu Gokui (West—Remnant Sun Prison Garb), at fifteen million degrees… that alone said everything about his power.
"If only I felt strong," Cole grimaced, eyeing his hands. "My palms are cooked…"
His forearms were flushed as though steamed; blisters budded along his fingers. The normally cool Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden staff) burned crimson-hot in his grip—like clutching a brand from a forge. Even wrapped in reiatsu head to toe, there was no perfect defense against fifteen million degrees.
"That alone puts you beyond what Shunsui can do," Senjumaru offered lightly.
Cole glanced back—and realized she wasn't wrong. Shunsui, Byakuya, Ukitake, Toshiro, Rukia, Soi fong, and the others were all just… staring, as if they were witnessing a god.
Shunsui rubbed his eyes. No mistake—the sun itself had been pounded into the ground.
Rukia's eyes shone. "Cole… how did you get this strong in just a few days?"
By his count, Cole had been back in the Living World less than half a month, and in Seireitei under a month total. In that time he'd… this? Cheats?
The captains found it just as unreal: a sixteen-year-old human outmuscling centuries-old shinigami—and meeting the millennium's strongest head-on.
Cole only twitched a smile. If they'd seen Kurosaki Ichigo's endgame, the true Zangetsu—king of all zanpakuto—they'd know what "cheats" looked like. Compared to that, he wasn't cheating. Not really. Small buff doesn't count.
"Watch your footing, brat," Genryusai warned. "Ryūjin Jakka won't fall so easily."
Cole looked down—half the battlefield had become a volcano's throat, a rolling skin of magma for kilometers around.
Laughter boomed. Ryūjin Jakka strode unscathed from the molten river, eyes of white flame locking on the trio. "That's more like it. Three of you together might make it fun."
Senjumaru ground her teeth. Had she known, she'd have dragged Tenjiro and Oetsu here to feel this heat for themselves. They had scores to settle anyway…
Cole blinked. "If I add a few more people, will it be even more fun?"
Ryūjin Jakka hesitated—then understood as Cole cupped his hands and bellowed, reiatsu thrumming through his chest:
"ICHIGO!"
"Get over here!"
In Tenth Division's sector, Ichigo—fresh off battering Old Man Zangetsu—wiped sweat and looked toward the newborn sun at Seireitei's heart. "Cole… why does it feel like he added a star?"
He kicked off, sprinting at full speed.
"And you too—Unohana, Minazuki!" Cole shouted again. "Come take revenge on Ryūjin Jakka!"
Unohana chuckled, drawing her blade as she walked. "I'm already here. No need to shout."
Minazuki slid free as well, cheerful as ever. "Fighting the Head-Captain's zanpakuto… how exciting."
"Ukitake! Lend a hand!"
Ukitake sighed, lifting Twin Fish. "My body won't last long—but I'll try."
Shunsui cupped his hands around his mouth, hopeful—and then realized Cole had stopped calling names. "Oi! Don't need me?"
Cole squinted at him. "If you're coming, at least sheath Katen Kyōkotsu. At that range you'd cook in Nishi."
A normal captain in shikai couldn't even approach Zanjitsu Gokui.
Shunsui almost coughed blood. He jabbed a thumb at Ukitake. "Then why can Jūshirō?"
Ukitake raised Twin Fish with a wry smile. "Absorb and reflect. Even without bankai, it helps."
That shut Shunsui up, though he still edged forward, preparing a kido or three. He was still stronger than Ichigo… right?
Ryūjin Jakka felt the tide turn. Senjumaru, nearly its equal. Its master, Genryusai. Cole, absurdly strong. Now more strong foes arriving. It could lose here—before it taught Tenjiro and Oetsu their lesson.
Flame-eyes narrowed. The blade carved at Cole with killing intent. "You damned human gnat—this one will storm the Royal Palace! I will not fall here!"
"Zanka no Tachi, Higashi—Kyokujitsujin (East—Rising Sun Blade)!"
Heat collapsed to a point on the edge; when the strike snapped free the fire went carmine, a sunrise slash screaming straight in.
Cole braced, staff lifting—and glanced at Genryusai, deadpan. "So the old man used to hate humans?"
Genryusai's face barely moved. "No. I quite liked humans. You, however, are irritating."
"Lies. I have a great personality."
Cole slid his hands to the butt of the staff, ready to meet madness with force—
Steel sang twice.
Unohana and Minazuki cut together. The sky flashed blood-red; the crash with that heatwave kicked both women back dozens of meters, arms trembling and skin reddened by proximity alone.
Unohana panted and eyed her scalded forearms, voice almost tart for once. "This is why I don't spar with the Head-Captain. There's no swordplay in it—just brute force more brutish than any brute."
Minazuki peered at her edge, amused. "So strong… it even cut my scabbard lines."
If not for their separated states, that blow would have bisected them.
Ryūjin Jakka snorted. "Swordplay? Pretty games for women. What use?"
Technique, mystery—none of it mattered before that blade.
Unohana's eyes cooled as she turned to Genryusai. "So. You used to belittle 'swordplay,' did you?"
Genryusai's mouth twitched. He sincerely wanted to subdue his own zanpakuto before he made any more enemies today.
A ribbon of fire raked the sky again—another "ordinary" slash drenched in flame. Ichigo arrived in that instant, horns up, mask on—full Vizard, ox-demon form. Red light gathered at his brow—then lanced out.
Boom!
Fire blossomed. In the end, the roiling blaze swallowed the crimson cero—then flowed like a tide into Twin Fish, plaques flickering one by one as the power was drunk and spat aside. The reflected wash couldn't scratch Ryūjin Jakka; a casual wave erased it.
Ichigo landed by Cole, eyes narrowing. "What am I looking at?"
Cole pointed at Genryusai. "His zanpakuto manifested."
Ichigo's breath hitched. "That old man's blade is… this?"
It truly felt like standing before a star. Even hollow armor baked.
Elsewhere, a lieutenant gaped. "That human… an Adjuchas-class Menos?"
Ukitake shook his head. "More. He almost cut through the old man's strike. Vasto Lorde at least."
Shunsui dragged down his hat brim. "What's with these humans? Each more ridiculous than the last."
First Cole shouldered a cut. Then Ichigo's cero met another. Both were sixteen.
"Enough talk," Cole licked dry lips, set the staff, and thumped the ground. "All together!"
A silent pressure bloomed—pinning weight that fell over Ryūjin Jakka like a net. The signal was given. Everyone surged.
Senjumaru's golden arms blurred; the loom thundered.
"Rokushō Kaijo (Sixth Scroll Release)—Night of Ten-Thousand Stars! Once seized, all ends. Villain, stare and despair; threads beyond counting, ordered to your doom!"
A flood of cloth, all colors and laws, cascaded to drown the blade of flame.
Genryusai roared and hacked with sealed steel. "Taimatsu (Torch)!"
Ryūjin Jakka met the two head-on, fire flaring until it flensed the air itself.
And then Cole and Ichigo hit from left and right. The golden staff became a meteor and smashed down onto Ryūjin Jakka's left shoulder; the black-and-crimson slash of "Getsuga… Tenshō (Moon-Fang Heaven-Piercer)!" carved at its right arm.
Ichigo's power lagged behind Cole's—but the double impact rocked the fire-god. Light flickered along its right arm.
"You little wretches!"
The battlefield detonated again and again—fire sheeting over earth and sky, bolts of cloth hung like banners across a burning firmament, golden pillars spearing down to shatter mountains. Seireitei itself seemed to vibrate with each exchange. Ordinary shinigami couldn't even approach; they watched from afar, stunned into silence by a battle that felt like the end of the world.
Three hours ground by. When heaven and earth had broken, when the ground was an ocean of magma, the layered assault crashed once more upon Ryūjin Jakka's body—
Weaves.
Golden staff.
Flame blade.
Cero.
Hadō.
Bakudō.
In the roar, Genryusai's sword thrust home and pinned a burning heart.
(End of Chapter)
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