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"We're trapped…"
"Looks like we won't be leaving this moving forest anytime soon…"
"Lille, your 'All-Piercing' ability is completely useless here…"
"We can't afford to stall. If we do, we'll interfere with His Majesty's plans…"
…
As the subtitles slowly faded, the screen flashed. Accompanied by unfamiliar dialogue, the scene shifted to a new location.
At first glance, all one could see was a lush green forest, along with countless tree trunks and vines moving at high speed.
Like shackles, they coiled endlessly through the forest, forming an inescapable cage.
Look closer, and you could make out several figures trapped within the forest's boundaries, searching desperately for a way to break through.
…
The moment this never-before-seen scene appeared, it instantly ignited the curiosity of every viewer.
Among them, the Sternritter inside Silbern reacted the strongest.
"Look! The people trapped in there… aren't those Valkyrie and the others?"
A wave of astonishment rippled through the crowd.
The pure-blood Quincy quickly realized that those caught inside were none other than the Schutzstaffel.
"Oh? So it's finally our turn to take the stage?" Valkyrie laughed loudly, arms crossed, arrogance written all over him. "This creepy place must be the legendary Royal Palace. I can't wait to crush it with overwhelming force."
"Just as expected. His Majesty's plan succeeded," Lille Barro said calmly. "We've successfully infiltrated the Royal Palace."
Although the Schutzstaffel's situation in the video didn't look good, Lille Barro showed no panic at all. Instead, his gaze shifted to the far right edge of the screen.
At the very edge of the frame, he could vaguely sense another powerful presence that hadn't appeared on camera.
More importantly, this aura felt identical to the source of his Schrift power.
Realization struck, and Lille's eyes lit up. "His Majesty, then? So he's waiting for us to clear the final obstacles for him."
Not far away, in another corner of the palace, Askin Nakk Le Vaar—his single curl falling over his forehead, bearer of the Schrift "D," The Deathdealing—wore a look of pure shock on his Latin-featured face.
His mouth hung open. "No way… I'm there too? Does that mean in the future I actually become part of the Schutzstaffel? Come on, that's not funny! The three guys next to me are absolute monsters. How did I ever dare stand among them?"
Askin was completely dumbfounded, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
Sure, he was a Sternritter now, but because of his personality, he'd never been particularly outstanding. There was no way he should have qualified for the Schutzstaffel.
"So… what the hell happens to the Sternritter in the future?" he muttered. "How does it get so bad that someone like me gets promoted?"
Glancing around, Askin noticed more than a few hostile looks being thrown his way.
Clearly, the other Sternritter felt the same. They all believed that relying on "The Deathdealing" alone wasn't nearly enough to earn Askin a spot among the Schutzstaffel.
Among everyone present, only Jugram Haschwalth frowned.
"Opening with the Schutzstaffel… are they meant to be nothing more than background characters?"
Considering that this round's featured figure was Oetsu, Haschwalth could already guess what awaited them.
They were probably about to become the Sword God's whetstone.
If that was the case, things were looking very grim indeed.
Elsewhere.
The Twelfth Division, Research and Development Institute.
"Akane, log this immediately…"
"The guy with the sniper rifle—the one Captain Kyōraku killed earlier—his ability is 'All-Piercing'!"
"Looks like our earlier guess was right…"
Just like everyone else, Mayuri Kurotsuchi stared intently at the screen. As always, his focus was on analyzing the abilities of the pure-blood Quincy.
That brief exchange of dialogue had just exposed Lille Barro's power.
"Yes, Captain!" Akane responded respectfully.
He quickly operated the equipment, capturing precise screenshots of each Schutzstaffel member, documenting their appearances and the weapons they carried.
Once finished, Akane asked cautiously, "Captain, if I'm not mistaken, these guys should be the strongest members of the Sternritter, right?"
"Most likely," Mayuri replied noncommittally. "And the ones who trapped them are probably the Zero Division."
"In other words…"
"We're about to witness a spectacular battle between Zero Division and the Sternritter's elite! How exciting."
His yellow eyes rolled slightly as Mayuri licked his lips, greed flashing across his face.
What a shame he couldn't jump straight into the video.
Otherwise, he could personally collect the corpses of whoever died next.
Zero Division or the Sternritter's strongest, it didn't matter.
Their bodies would be priceless research material, the most valuable specimens in the world.
Elsewhere still.
The Fifth Division's underground base.
"Captain Aizen, you must be looking forward to what comes next," Ichimaru Gin said with a narrow-eyed smile, slipping back into his usual playful demeanor.
"Aren't you as well, Gin?" Aizen replied flatly.
At this moment, all of his attention was locked onto the screen, eagerly awaiting the clash between Zero Division and the Schutzstaffel.
After all, no matter who won, they would inevitably become his greatest enemy in the future. Either side was a threat he couldn't afford to ignore.
"So who do you think will win?" Gin asked.
"Hard to say," Aizen answered calmly. "We don't know how many members Zero Division has. It's very possible they'll overwhelm them with numbers."
"Tsk, tsk," Gin chuckled. "Ganging up on them? That's not very honorable, is it? Zero Division doesn't really strike me as that kind of group."
"Who knows? Let's keep watching."
Ignoring Gin's feigned casualness, Aizen fell silent. His gaze shifted to the far left of the screen.
He had a strong feeling that Zero Division was about to make their entrance.
Sure enough.
The moment that thought crossed Aizen's mind, the scene changed again.
As the camera slowly panned to the left, a rhythmic rap suddenly burst into the air.
"Yo, yo, yo—!!!"
"Everybody, eyes up! Coming on stage next is the world's number-one Zanpakutō creator!"
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…"
"Five blades! Four blades! Three blades! Two blades… Ōetsu Nimaiya is here!"
…
When the wildly off-beat rap finally ended, something happened without the slightest warning.
At the edge of the Forest of Thresholds, Ōetsu appeared in spectacular fashion, along with a container filled to the brim with some kind of liquid!
"Eh…?"
"That punk-looking kid is the legendary God of the Blade?" Shinji Hirako said with interest inside the Visoreds' hideout. "Didn't expect him to be a rapper too."
Rap music had been spreading in the human world over the past few years, so Shinji listened to it fairly often himself.
"Tch. That wasn't even remotely in rhythm. Zero musicality," Kensei Muguruma scoffed from the side.
"Enough, both of you shut it!" Hiyori Sarugaki snapped, launching a flying kick. Her pair of flip-flops flew off and smacked squarely into their faces. "Now is not the time to talk about music!"
"By the way…"Rōjūrō Otoribashi's gaze lingered on the container behind Ōetsu. "Why doesn't the Zanpakutō inside have a sheath? That's weird. Is it because it's too sharp?"
Normally, every Zanpakutō had its own scabbard.
Unless…
Unless the blade was so sharp it couldn't be sheathed at all.
As it turned out, his guess was right.
What happened next proved it perfectly.
"You trash mobs…"
"You don't even have the right to pass through here. If you don't like it, then shut up and come at me together. I'll cut you all down in an instant!"
In the footage, the battle continued.
Ōetsu had already drawn the razor-sharp katana from its container. The playful hip-hop vibe from his entrance faded, replaced by a rising, lethal aura.
His eyes lowered slightly.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Ōetsu swung.
The blade lay horizontally before him, and under the sunlight filtering through the canopy above, a long slanted shadow stretched across the ground.
"Taking us four on by yourself? The Zero Division really is arrogant," Valkyrie sneered, fury burning in his eyes.
He hated hip-hop.
He also hated weird, flashy outfits.
Ōetsu managed to hit both sore spots perfectly.
"Arrogant? I don't see it that way," Ōetsu replied calmly, gripping the sword with one hand. "Pure-blood Quincy, do you know what my hobbies are?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Valkyrie roared back in rage.
"Damn it! I don't have time for your stupid guessing games!"
His massive, ancient-Greek-guardian-like body leapt through the air in an instant. The Sword of Victory thrust straight toward Ōetsu's heart.
"Oh? Not even that much patience? You Quincies sure are jumpy," Ōetsu said, shaking his head indifferently. He completely ignored the Sword of Victory growing larger in his vision and slowly raised the arm holding his blade.
Then he answered his own question.
"My favorite things are singing, dancing, rapping… and cutting people down."
The instant the last word left his lips—
Shing—!
Ōetsu swung his sword as lightly as if brushing dust away.
A flash of blinding white light streaked past.
Then came the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
Bang!
Valkyrie's body stiffened.
The ferocious grin frozen beneath his half-helmet never had time to change. His massive form collapsed, lifeless, onto the earth.
"Yo, first one down."
Ōetsu stepped aside, letting Valkyrie's falling corpse crash past him. He casually brushed dust off his shoulder, then twirled his blade in a smooth flourish.
The entire sequence flowed like water and lightning, over in a blink.
It was only after Valkyrie had already become a cold corpse that the three remaining guards behind him finally managed to react.
"No… no way."
"Didn't Valkyrie just launch his attack? With his strength and burst speed, how did he drop instantly?"
"What did Ōetsu even do? It looked like he just swung his sword."
"One swing, one kill? That's impossible!"
…
They stared again and again.
Only after confirming that Valkyrie was truly dead did the remaining three exchange terrified looks, cold sweat seeping from every inch of their bodies.
Valkyrie was one of the strongest members of the Sternritter.
And yet…
He'd been killed with a single, casual slash by this hip-hop-styled man?
Even witnessing it firsthand, their worldviews shattered on the spot.
And it wasn't just those inside the video.
In reality, across the entire world of the Shinigami, every viewer watching the footage was equally stunned by Ōetsu's swordsmanship.
If the first Kenpachi's strikes represented pure bloodshed and brutality…
Then Ōetsu Nimaiya's blade embodied absolute speed.
A true one-hit kill.
"..."
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