The newly reborn Ichibē Hyōsube declared his new life to Tsunayoshi.
And this so-called "new" was certainly not just an extra word added to his name.
After all, the Monk possessed the power to manipulate the very concept of names. Once he added the character for "new" to his own name, his entire body was completely renewed.
A brand-new Shihakushō covered the Monk's body. The horrifying bloodstains on his face had vanished, and not even the slightest trace of burns remained on his body.
There was no longer any sign of the battered state he had been in before.
[Seriously? I have a really bad feeling about this.]
Byakuran's voice was filled with unease.
[If nothing unexpected happens, the Monk's body has been completely reconstructed using the power of the Soul King's body. In a sense, the Monk is now a miniature Soul King.]
Tsunayoshi analyzed the situation.
[Tch! That's a huge problem.]
Just thinking about it gave Byakuran a headache.
The Monk had already been nearly impossible to kill after consuming only a small piece of the Soul King's intestinal tissue.
How were they supposed to fight him now that his entire body was imbued with the Soul King's power?
[We fight. We have to fight! We've already lost our way out.]
The Tenth was absolutely certain.
They had thoroughly antagonized the Monk, and there was no way he would let Tsunayoshi go.
[Then let's give it everything we've got. Seal the Monk's entire body in flames!]
Tsunayoshi made his decision.
Orange Sky Flames blazed across the heavens, blotting out the sky.
Relying on the endless sea of flames supporting him, Tsunayoshi launched his assault against the Monk.
"Hah."
Looking at Tsunayoshi's overwhelming display, the Monk merely sneered in disdain.
No matter how spectacular Tsunayoshi made his attack look, it was useless.
The Monk casually waved his hand.
A gigantic palm appeared high in the sky.
It moved in perfect synchronization with him, sweeping across the sea of flames like a giant fan and scattering it in every direction.
Seeing that his Sky Flames could not even approach the Monk, Tsunayoshi's heart sank.
This was the power of the Soul King.
It stood above all other forms of power.
They were simply not on the same level.
No matter how hard he tried, everything was futile.
[It's not time to give up yet.]
Suddenly, a voice interrupted the silence among the three.
It was Enma Kozato.
[The so-called Soul King's power is the simultaneous combination of four different powers, right? Why don't we try it? Add the Quincy power as well!]
Enma's suggestion immediately met with strong opposition from the Tenth.
[No, Enma! We've already tried that. Recklessly fusing the powers only produces something we can't control!]
Ever since Enma had appeared within Tsunayoshi's body, the Tenth had worked with him to study the possibility of combining their powers.
The result had been a violent explosion.
The Tenth had been forced to summon Byakuran, who had been wandering around outside, to clean up the mess.
While Byakuran treated them, the Tenth had also been forced to endure Byakuran's relentless mockery.
After that, combining Quincy power with their other abilities had been temporarily shelved.
Tsunayoshi had instead focused on the power of Beyond Bankai.
Experimenting within the Inner World was one thing.
As long as Tsunayoshi's state of mind remained stable, the Inner World itself would not suffer any consequences.
But attempting the same thing in the real world was another matter entirely.
If an explosion occurred, even Tsunayoshi might not survive.
That was why the Tenth strongly opposed Enma's suggestion.
As long as Tsunayoshi survived, they still had a chance.
But if Tsunayoshi blew himself up with his own power, everything would truly be over.
Even the usually frivolous Byakuran sided with the Tenth.
He had personally witnessed what the two of them had looked like after their previous experiment.
It had been horrifying.
[Not fusion. We'll graft the four powers together. Use this!]
Inside the Inner World, Enma condensed Tsunayoshi's Quincy weapon from Reiatsu.
The Earth Crossbow.
[We intertwine the four powers around the arrow. Then, once the arrow is fired, we use the arrow itself to trigger the four powers. That way, Tsunayoshi can remain outside the danger zone.]
Enma explained his idea.
Now came the moment of decision.
All four of them had experienced countless battles.
The more critical the situation became, the less likely they were to hesitate.
[Run, Tsunayoshi!]
The Tenth spoke.
Since neither he nor Byakuran had any other solution, why not try Enma's proposal?
Without the slightest hesitation, the moment the Tenth finished speaking, Tsunayoshi combined Shunpo, his Flying Feather Battle Boots, and the propulsion from the armor on both arms.
His figure flashed away.
Tsunayoshi's immediate objective was to create as much distance between himself and the Monk as possible.
It looked like an escape.
In reality, he was laying the groundwork for his next attack.
The Monk did not pursue him.
He simply allowed Tsunayoshi to run.
Where could he possibly escape to?
Everything beneath these heavens was already part of the Soul King Palace's domain.
The Monk opened his hand and made a grasping motion.
A gigantic palm appeared beside Tsunayoshi.
Senri Tsūtenshō.
This time, it truly lived up to its name.
The Monk did not even need to move from his position to decide the outcome of a battle thousands of miles away.
Tsunayoshi's movements became erratic.
Like a slippery loach, he continuously employed Shunpo, Sonído, and Bringer Light, stealing a narrow opening from the Monk's grasp.
"I'm going in, everyone!"
Tsunayoshi flipped backward through the air.
All the Sky Flames covering his body suddenly vanished.
A dazzling hexagram-shaped cross materialized high in the heavens.
Seven flames of the Earth attribute converged.
Tsunayoshi reached forward and grasped the weapon that appeared before him.
The Earth Crossbow had arrived.
The black and white powers did not transform into Zanpakutō at Tsunayoshi's waist.
Instead, two humanoid figures appeared behind him.
The Tenth and Byakuran.
They had chosen not to return to Tsunayoshi's body.
While Tsunayoshi was in his Quincy state, he could not simultaneously draw upon his Shinigami and Hollow powers.
Those two powers had to be controlled by the two of them directly.
Tsunayoshi raised the Earth Crossbow.
The Tenth and Byakuran stepped forward together.
They extended their palms and held them level with the crossbow.
The black and white powers flowed along the crossbow and converged upon the bolt.
Black and white intertwined, twisting around one another.
They formed a black-and-white shell around the Earth Crossbow's bolt.
But it still wasn't enough.
The Tenth and Byakuran looked back at Tsunayoshi.
Tsunayoshi's thoughts stirred.
As a human, he needed to inject the light of Fullbring into the bolt.
Ding.
A pale green light blossomed from Tsunayoshi's chest.
A ring emerged from beneath his collar.
It was the object that had carried Tsunayoshi across worlds.
Now, the ring answered his call.
Green Bringer Light illuminated the bolt, wrapping it in the final component of Fullbring power.
The bolt twisted with black and white energy, while tiny green motes of light hovered around it.
This was an attack carrying all four of Tsunayoshi's powers.
The four forces maintained clear boundaries between one another, refusing to truly merge.
Yet, through Tsunayoshi's will, they overlapped and coexisted within the same attack.
At that moment, another golden palm swept toward him.
The Monk was just as arrogant as before.
He had no intention of pursuing Tsunayoshi.
He intended to drive him into a dead end, one palm strike at a time.
"Take this, Ichibē Hyōsube!"
The targeting sight revealed the Monk's position.
Tsunayoshi ignored the approaching Senri Tsūtenshō and pulled the trigger on the crossbow.
The instant his name was called, the Monk sensed something.
Yet he could not see Sawada Tsunayoshi anywhere nearby.
Was that merely a threat shouted from a distance?
The next moment, the Monk suddenly looked up.
A strange arrow appeared directly before him.
Four different powers were contained within it.
There was no time to think.
The Monk immediately drew upon the Soul King's power within his body and reached out to seize the arrow.
While the four powers remained attached to the crossbow, they had maintained a relatively peaceful coexistence.
But the moment the arrow left Tsunayoshi's side, the four powers became violent.
They began colliding and intertwining with one another, each seemingly refusing to submit to the others.
After such violent collisions, there could only be one result.
An explosion.
BOOM!
The resulting explosion engulfed the entire Soul King Palace.
All four powers detonated simultaneously.
For an instant, even the Monk in his miniature-Soul-King state could not suppress the destructive force within his grasp.
The Ōdai-in, the Zeroth Division's quarters, even the Omotesandō—all of them were caught in the explosion.
Everything collapsed in an instant.
Hiss...
The image before Yamamoto's eyes turned black.
In the final moments before the feed disappeared, all he saw was a mushroom cloud rising over the Soul King Palace.
The entire Soul King Palace had been blown to pieces.
Yamamoto smiled.
Young people really were too hot-blooded.
Fine, if Tsunayoshi wanted to flip the entire table, so be it.
But couldn't he at least have shown some consideration for the Soul King?
The world did not seem to have suffered any abnormal changes.
It appeared that the Soul King was fine.
Just as Yamamoto had guessed, the entire Soul King Palace had been reduced to ruins.
The destruction of the Zeroth Division's quarters caused Senjumaru and the other two members of Squad Zero to cough up blood repeatedly.
The Ōdai-in had not survived either.
The only structure left standing was the enclosure protecting the Soul King.
Inside his crystal, the Soul King could only feel helpless.
They could fight if they wanted.
But they had blown up his entire house.
Worse, they had forced him to divert part of his Reiatsu to protect his own chamber.
He was exhausted.
Beneath the Soul King's enclosure stood the furious Monk.
Never, since the day he had begun guarding the Soul King Palace, had such a catastrophic accident occurred.
What an utterly suicidal act!
Golden light blazed from the Monk's eyes.
He clenched one hand and violently pulled it toward himself.
A gigantic golden hand appeared, gripping something.
Then it flew toward him.
It was Tsunayoshi.
He had reverted to his normal Shinigami state.
Tsunayoshi looked at the furious expression on the Monk's face and gave a helpless smile.
It seemed that even combining all four powers had failed to inflict the slightest damage on him.
Tsunayoshi struggled to look toward the curtains above.
Soul King...
The hierarchy of power you established was far too strict.
There was simply no possibility of defeating an opponent of a higher level through sheer effort.
What Tsunayoshi could not see was that the Soul King's pupils moved once more.
The Monk, however, noticed nothing.
His only concern was venting his rage upon Tsunayoshi.
The Monk hurled Tsunayoshi violently toward the ground.
Immediately afterward, he performed Tenjin Tōgyaku, reversing his position in midair.
He gathered the newly restored Soul King power within his body and thrust it downward with all his might.
A nearly tangible palm chased after Tsunayoshi.
An attack unleashed with the Soul King's power.
Sawada Tsunayoshi had no way to withstand it.
This palm strike was going to take his life.
In truth, the moment the Monk had launched the attack, he had already regained his composure.
Sawada Tsunayoshi should not die.
Killing a potential candidate for the position of Soul King would be an enormous waste.
But the terrifying aspect of the Soul King's power was that even the Monk himself could not completely control it.
All he could do was allow the attack to proceed.
Feeling the terrifying pressure above his head, Tsunayoshi struggled to resist.
But the Soul King's power completely suppressed him.
He could not move.
All he could do was allow that enormous palm to force him downward, layer after layer, toward the Seireitei.
Tsunayoshi ignored the pain wracking his body.
There was only a bitter smile left in his heart.
What he had once done to the Monk with his True X Burner was now coming back upon himself.
So be it.
He would simply wait for death to arrive.
I'm sorry, Mom and Dad.
Tatsuki...
If there is a next life, I hope I can meet you all again...
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