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Silbern.
Inside the vast, silent hall, not a sound could be heard.
Hundreds of guards and every member of the Sternritter were staring at Mayuri on the screen.
"Is that… Hirenkyaku?!"
A shocked murmur spread through the crowd.
That shock quickly turned to fury.
That damn Shinigami…
Not only was he openly toying with Pernida Parnkgjas, he had even learned the techniques of pure-blooded Quincies.
Unforgivable.
"Damn it! Just looking at that smug face makes me want to crawl into the screen and tear him apart!" Valkyrie roared in rage.
On the screen, Mayuri darted through the air at high speed, calmly hovering as his white captain's haori flapped violently in the wind.
He weaved effortlessly through the pursuing red nerve endings.
The sight only fueled the Quincies' hatred further.
It felt like they were being toyed with, like monkeys in a cage.
"…It seems," Jugram Haschwalth said coldly, his eyes lowering,"that when His Majesty awakens again, it would be wise to propose adding Mayuri Kurotsuchi to the list of Special War Potentials, alongside Urahara Kisuke."
"His technology and reckless, experimental nature could very well help the Gotei Thirteen turn the tide in the future."
Even without knowing how the coming war would unfold, Haschwalth could already tell.
Mayuri's threat level far exceeded that of other captains.
After all—
Raw strength isn't the scariest thing.
The truly dangerous ones are those who fight with their minds.
Elsewhere.
Division Twelve, Research and Development Institute.
"Hah… hahahahaha!"
Maniacal, triumphant laughter echoed through the entire building.
Watching himself glide effortlessly through the air on Hirenkyaku, Mayuri was drunk on exhilaration.
Behind his blue-and-white mask, his eyes were bloodshot with madness, making him look every bit the lunatic scientist.
"Captain Mayuri," Akon said with a grin,"it seems your obsessive research into Quincy abilities has finally paid off."
Years ago, after all—
He had begun by experimenting on the soul of Sōken Ishida, the grandfather of Uryū Ishida…
Mayuri Kurotsuchi knew the Quincy power system inside and out.
He couldn't claim absolute mastery, but picking up the fundamentals came easily to him.
Still… he hadn't expected this.
In the future, Mayuri had actually perfected the techniques of a pure-blooded Quincy.
Even Akon, his closest subordinate, hadn't seen that coming.
"Heh heh… Akon, you were right," Mayuri sneered smugly. "What just happened proves my research direction was never wrong."
"And if Urahara Kisuke saw this, he'd definitely feel inferior, wouldn't he?"
When he mentioned the shopkeeper's name, a look of pure disdain tugged at the corner of Mayuri's mouth.
The tides had turned.
At last, it was his moment to shine.
—
Meanwhile, the battle in the footage raged on.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Each furious slam of the gigantic rocky arm sent entire rows of Western-style buildings collapsing into rubble.
In just a few minutes, the battlefield had been reduced to a wasteland, littered with shattered stone and thick clouds of dust.
"Hmm? Something's off. The spread rate of those nerve endings is getting faster and faster. Don't tell me they can keep evolving even while pursuing a target?"
"That's seriously absurd."
Mayuri's expression gradually darkened.
At first, relying on the agility of his flying sickle legs, he'd been able to dodge with ease.
But now—
As the nerve endings accelerated their spread—
Even Mayuri was starting to feel the strain.
No matter how focused he was, he'd nearly been snagged several times.
If this kept up, with his maneuvering space shrinking by the second, disaster was inevitable.
"I need a solution… now."
His eyes flicked back and forth.
Then Mayuri clenched his teeth and made a move no one expected.
"…Huh?"
"Am I seeing things, or is Mayuri changing direction and flying straight toward the Soul King's left arm?"
"Is he trying to… kill himself?!"
Inside Urahara's shop, Tessai Tsukabishi stared in disbelief.
Right before his eyes, Mayuri stopped running.
Instead, he reversed course, skimming over the mass of nerve endings at full speed using his flying sickle legs.
The move was so sudden that even the Soul King's left arm failed to react in time.
Though the nerve endings halted their forward momentum instantly, they still froze in place for a brief moment.
That split second was all Mayuri needed.
He seized the opening, gliding straight toward the Soul King's left arm and then—
Dumped a massive amount of white phosphorus powder designed specifically to target nervous tissue.
And immediately ignited it.
"Even when he's being cornered, he stays calm enough to seize that last sliver of opportunity and counterattack."
"It's been a hundred years, but Mayuri really hasn't changed at all. No wonder he was the man once locked away in the deepest level of the Maggot's Nest."
Watching the phosphorus flare erupt into a sweeping sea of fire, Urahara Kisuke's voice was filled with unmistakable respect.
Under Mayuri's precise throw, most of the powder landed squarely on the Soul King's left arm's little finger.
As the flames raged, the finger finally exploded in full view of everyone.
Boom!
Amid the violent blast and flying sparks, the little finger was severed. Blood shot skyward like a geyser.
The detached finger fell heavily in front of Mayuri, crashing down like a sliced specimen dropped onto a lab table.
The plan had worked.
Mayuri had fulfilled his pre-battle promise.
He had treated the fight as a clinical experiment.
And his stunning performance sent shockwaves through the entire Soul Society once again.
"That's insane! He actually injured the Soul King's left arm itself! Captain Mayuri really lives up to being the most underhanded man in the Gotei Thirteen!" In the Sixth Division, Renji Abarai gaped in shock.
He couldn't even imagine switching places with Mayuri.
Forget about landing a counterattack.
Those overwhelming nerve endings alone would've shredded him into a bloody mess in seconds.
Mayuri's performance could only be described as flawless.
"Renji, if Captain Mayuri heard you praising him like that, I doubt he'd be very pleased," Byakuya Kuchiki said, equally shaken, yet oddly cracking a joke to steady himself.
"Looking back, it's probably a good thing Kenpachi Zaraki was anesthetized. Otherwise, he might've already been torn to pieces," Renji said, still shaken.
There was no denying it.
Kenpachi was monstrously strong.
His legendary moments in earlier battles had earned him the title of "King of Straight-Up Slashes," echoing across Soul Society.
But—
The Soul King's left arm was the ultimate counter to brute-force fighters.
No matter how overwhelming your spiritual pressure or sword swings were, you couldn't cut through endlessly regenerating nerve endings. Kenpachi losing an arm right at the start was the clearest proof of that.
"You're right," Byakuya said with a nod. "So far, the abilities displayed by the Soul King's left arm have completely overturned conventional combat logic. At this point, it clearly surpasses Kenpachi Zaraki."
"However…"
After a brief pause, Byakuya continued in a low, firm voice.
"I firmly believe it must have some hidden weakness."
"Because nothing in this world is truly perfect."
Not even the Soul King itself was flawless.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been dismembered in the first place.
And so, Byakuya was convinced—
There had to be a way to counter the Soul King's left arm and its absurd power.
—
Back on the battlefield.
After severing one finger of the Soul King's left arm, Mayuri allowed himself a brief moment to breathe, though his expression remained cautious.
Yes, he had finally obtained the sample he'd dreamed of.
But—
The aura radiating from the Soul King's left arm was still overwhelming.
Clearly, losing a single little finger was far from a crippling injury.
"Pernida Parnkgjas, was it…?"
Mayuri rested a hand on his cane as his captain's haori snapped loudly in the wind.
Staring calmly at the Soul King's left arm across the severed finger, he said,
"Next, all I have to do is cut off the remaining four fingers. Then I'll take you back to the Research and Development Institute and preserve you forever in formalin as a specimen."
"Heh heh…"
The Soul King's left arm mimicked a human gesture, its mangled palm swaying slightly as it let out a scornful laugh.
"Naive… Shinigami. You might want to look at your feet."
"What?" Mayuri frowned.
The moment he instinctively looked down, his eyes widened in horror.
"This is… impossible!"
Without hesitation, Mayuri leapt backward.
Barely a second after he left his original position, the severed finger exploded, bursting into a mist of blood.
Then it happened again.
The process of infinite reproduction resumed.
Splitting. Growing. Swelling.
In just a few seconds, the severed finger vanished completely, leaving nothing behind.
What replaced it was another Left Arm of the Soul King.A brand-new arm, identical to the original in every detail.
"Nemu… no, Mayuri…"
One on the left. One on the right.
Two colossal Left Arms of the Soul King, each towering hundreds of meters high.
They opened their massive, eerie eyes at the same time. Their gaze was like death itself, cold and mocking, as they spoke in unison:
"So now…"
"Do you still think you can keep cutting off my fingers?"
———
"It's over!"
"The Left Arm of the Soul King really is even more insane than that poison freak. You seriously can't kill this thing!"
Wails echoed throughout the Research and Development Institute.
Everyone stared at the two gigantic arms swaying in midair like pendulums.
It wasn't just the seated officers. Even Mayuri Kurotsuchi himself wore a grim expression, despair weighing heavily on his face.
Running was impossible.Killing it was impossible.
How was anyone supposed to defeat an enemy like this?
"Captain… maybe you should withdraw for now?"
Akone tried to persuade him gently.
It might have sounded disrespectful, but from the bottom of his heart, Akone believed Mayuri had reached a dead end.
Rather than standing there and waiting to be brutally torn apart, it was better not to watch it happen at all.
"No."
Mayuri shook his head sharply, refusing without a moment's hesitation.
"Akone… I won't deny this looks hopeless. But don't forget. I haven't used my Bankai yet."
"Bankai?" Akone frowned, clearly unconvinced. "Relying on Ashisogi Jizō's poison alone won't be enough to deal with that thing, will it?"
"Heh heh…"
"Who knows? Something that hasn't happened yet can't be judged in advance."
Mayuri's eyes hardened with resolve.
He was certain of one thing. His future self would never end here.
And sure enough—
That strange sense of being perfectly in sync, as if thoughts could transcend time itself, proved real.
The moment those words left Mayuri's mouth,
his future self made the exact same move.
"Heh heh…"
"Left Arm of the Soul King, you seem to have forgotten something I kept emphasizing earlier."
"This fight is nothing more than a clinical trial."
As he spoke, Mayuri reversed his grip on his Zanpakutō.
At the same time, a meaningful curve lifted the corner of his lips.
"Up to this point, I've already gathered almost all of your data. And using that invaluable information, a brand-new Golden Ashisogi Jizō is finally about to be born."
"Come."
"You, who are about to be devoured. Witness it together with me."
As his pressure surged to its peak, madness bloomed once more across Mayuri's face.
"I'm very curious."
"After eating the Left Arm of the Soul King, will Golden Ashisogi Jizō evolve into a new Soul King?"
"Bankai!"
"..."
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