"You... what... kind of person are you, Ge... ra... ld...?"
Standing before Daniel was a short figure completely draped in the white robe of an Extinction Master. Beneath that robe lay a sea of darkness, making it hard to discern who he was. This man was indeed one of Yhwach's four elite bodyguards—Penidapakaja.
Although diminutive in stature, his reiatsu was extraordinarily potent. It seemed he hadn't spoken for a long time—or perhaps he was incapable of normal speech; when he did speak, each word was enunciated slowly, one syllable at a time.
"You say that fellow was naturally dispatched by me."
To confront a "miracle" head-on was exceedingly troublesome. However, by splitting him into many pieces, it became impossible for him to trigger his miraculous regeneration. Only an ability like that of the Surgical Fruit could achieve such a result. Normally, dividing him into many parts would certainly kill him; yet if he were to die, he could then activate his miracle to revive himself. But if death were avoided, the outcome would be different.
"Im...pos...si...ble—Je... La... De cannot be disposed of so easily."
As one of Yhwach's four elite bodyguards—and also a vessel for part of the Soul King's power—Penida was well aware of Je La De's formidable strength.
"Nothing is impossible. Miracles do not occur at every moment. Now it's your turn: Break Technique No. 90, Black Coffin."
Before Penida could react, Daniel struck. A dark, shadowy coffin instantly enclosed Penida. But in the very next moment, with a tremendous crash, the Black Coffin was breached. A massive arm appeared before Daniel—the left arm of the Soul King had materialized.
"Evolution."
Penida, now transformed into the form of a left arm, murmured only that word. Soon, white light began to emanate along the five fingers of his right hand. In the next instant, five brilliant, sacred annihilation arrows shot forth.
"Binding Technique No. 81: Severing Void!"
Facing the barrage of sacred arrows, Daniel immediately activated Severing Void to erect a protective barrier. The arrows slammed into the barrier, erupting into five dazzling bursts of light—but they failed to penetrate the defense.
"Huh... is he under control?"
Just as Daniel prepared to counterattack, he noticed the shape of the Severing Void barrier before him begin to distort. Without warning, it crashed down toward him—a result that caught him completely off guard.
"Could that be his Sacred Script ability? It appears I must avoid direct contact with his attack."
Daniel swiftly Shunpo'd backward, dodging the blow, and made a split-second decision.
"Binding Technique No. 66: Six-Staff Radiant Prison!"
"Wind Release: Spiral Shuriken!"
As Daniel's Six-Staff Radiant Prison ensnared his foe, a rapidly spinning, swirling orb of chakra—his very own Spiral Shuriken—manifested in his left hand and was hurled directly at Penida.
Drawing on the cautionary tale of Naruto's predecessor, Daniel had perfected this chakra-altering Spiral Shuriken—an ability he had long awaited to employ in battle.
The Spiral Shuriken struck the giant left arm squarely, then transformed into a colossal tornado. The relentless barrage of invisible wind blades shredded the left arm as if it were being sliced by countless knives, exposing myriad wounds. Yet, those wounds soon began to heal almost immediately.
"That regenerative ability is even more astonishing than the Arrancar's superspeed regeneration. I'm curious to see how long you can last," Daniel remarked.
At that moment, his right-hand Zanpakutō unleashed a sweeping sword energy spanning several dozen meters. The slicing blade tore through the swirling storm that had confined Penida's left hand. With one powerful strike, the enormous palm—divided by the "eye" at its center—was split into two.
"Still alive… as expected of the Soul King's left arm. Binding Technique No. 21: Crimson Smoke Escape, Room!"
Watching as the separated hand attempted to reunite, Daniel promptly released a thick burst of red smoke to conceal the activation of his Surgical Fruit ability.
"Advance! Infinite evolution—it's somewhat like the Hōgyoku, yet in the end, one may over-evolve and lose oneself."
In short, the failure of Penida was due to overindulgence—he simply overextended himself.
"Aizen has evolved once more. It seems he perished at your hands one time. His 'Lethal Dose'—his compatibility with you is truly off; he couldn't avoid being poisoned. Gin Ichimaru managed to dodge it, but you did not."
After dispatching Penida, Daniel swiftly proceeded to rejoin Aizen's battleground. At that point, Aizen's duel with Yaskinacruval had reached its conclusion. Even though Yaskinacruval had unleashed his Sacred Script ability—his final, deadly "Poisoned Finger Ring"—he still could not withstand Aizen, who had now evolved four times.
Thus, nearly all of Yhwach's four elite bodyguards were vanquished. Although Lijebaro still remained, having fallen under Aizen's Mirror Flower, Water Moon effect, he no longer posed any threat.
Surveying the trembling, cowering Extinction Masters around him, Aizen shook his head lightly. While the Extinction Masters of the Invisible Empire were proud and fought valiantly, they only did so when facing certain foes. With successive members of the Star-Crossed Knight Order—and with the elite bodyguards falling one after another—the ordinary Extinction Masters were living a nightmare.
"Let's go."
Aizen did not target these lesser foes; he strode straight toward the palace ahead. Some of the surrounding Extinction Masters wished to bar his way, but upon seeing that their comrades had already fallen, they reluctantly ceased their advance.
"Could it be that Yhwach's strength has not yet recovered, and they've come too early?"
Following closely behind Aizen, Daniel scanned the area. A thought suddenly emerged: the Thousand-Year Blood War had occurred quite some time after Aizen had been sealed in the Abyssal Hell. Considering the period during which Ichigo's power waned (when he lost his reiatsu before eventually recovering), it must have taken at least a year.
For Shinigami and Extinction Masters, that span might be insignificant—but for Yhwach, it was entirely different. Unlike Aizen, who could disguise himself in the Soul Society for centuries for the sake of a plan, Yhwach would be eager to act immediately once his strength recovered. Only under such circumstances could one explain why Yhwach had yet to appear.
"It appears you're the only one left now."
Daniel and Aizen arrived before the grand palace. At its entrance stood a young blond man holding a peculiar shield in one hand and a spiritual sword in the other, effectively barring the way.
"Hassworth," Daniel murmured.
"Indeed— that's me," Hassworth replied calmly, his expression as if nothing untoward had occurred within the Invisible Empire.
"Strange… where are the other members of the Star-Crossed Knight Order?"
Seeing only Hassworth guarding the entrance, Daniel was somewhat surprised. Although they had eliminated many members of the Order along the way, it wasn't expected that none would remain. According to the Sacred Script's hierarchy, the Order had at least twenty members. They had only managed to dispatch a little over a dozen—just over half. Notably, the Extinction Master known as the Dreamer, famed for his imaginative combat, was missing.
As for the ordinary Extinction Masters, their numbers were still considerable. However, neither Daniel, Aizen, nor Hassworth expected them to join the fray.
"Yhwach—show yourself to me!"
At this point, Yhwach still had not appeared, much to Aizen's growing irritation. In his fury, Aizen roared as he swung his right-hand Zanpakutō forward.
Boom!
A tremendous burst of sword energy instantly demolished the magnificent Ice Palace before them. Fortunately, Hassworth reacted swiftly, interposing his diamond-shaped shield just as Aizen struck—thereby deflecting the blow, though not without leaving several obvious cracks in the shield.
"Faintly, a murky emblem emerges—a sign of unruly, defiant genius: tidal surge, negation, paralysis, an instant, impediment to eternal slumber, the crawling Steel Princess, a self-mutilating clay puppet, combination, rebound, extension to the ground… know your own impotence. Break Technique No. 90, Black Coffin!"
Gazing at Hassworth still standing before him, Aizen began to intone. His recitation of his No. 90 Break Technique in the fourth form of his Hōgyoku evolution was so powerful that under normal circumstances, even Hassworth would not have been able to withstand it. Yet, much to everyone's surprise, Hassworth did indeed manage to endure.
But then the Black Coffin vanished. Hassworth's body—and the shield in his hand—were riddled with injuries. The sight left even Aizen momentarily dumbfounded. However, in the very next moment, Aizen suddenly collapsed. For some unknown reason, his body became covered in numerous wounds identical to those on Hassworth.
At that moment, Hassworth's injuries vanished without a trace—as if they had been nothing more than a mirage.
This was the power of Hassworth's Sacred Script: World Harmonization. It allowed him to reflect his own injuries back onto his enemy. That was why, earlier, he had not reacted to Aizen's assault—he was saving his ability for just such a moment. Moreover, he wielded a Substitute Shield—a shield capable of absorbing injuries and similarly reflecting them back. Combined, Hassworth was practically a "bug" in battle.
"So that's how it is…"
Aizen, now sprawled on the ground, quickly began to rise. His wounds were healing rapidly—whether due to the Hōgyoku's power or his accelerated regeneration after hollowfication, it was hard to tell.
"What a dangerous ability."
To avoid being caught in the crossfire, Daniel immediately activated Shunpo and slipped out of Hassworth's line of sight. Though World Harmonization and the Substitute Shield were astonishing abilities, Daniel was sure they must have some limitations; otherwise, no one would dare engage him.
"The power of the Surgical Fruit likely isn't meant to inflict damage…"
Watching from afar as Aizen and Hassworth exchanged blows, Daniel mused: if injuries can be reflected, then they aren't exactly damage in the conventional sense.
"Then perhaps…"
After studying Hassworth for a moment, Aizen suddenly reappeared at his side. With a swift motion, his Zanpakutō sliced across Hassworth's neck—seemingly aiming for a fatal strike. Yet, though Hassworth did not entirely evade the blow, his neck remained unscathed; only his shield bore a deep slash.
"I see… I understand now."
After several probing exchanges, Aizen suddenly laughed. Then, his Zanpakutō began to radiate a tremendous amount of reiatsu. With a single blow, he shattered Hassworth's Substitute Shield. Although that shield could normally self-repair, it could not recover once shattered by such a decisive strike.
In truth, Aizen was wagering—and it turned out he had won. Hassworth's Substitute Shield did not recover.
"Now, it's your turn."
"Your Majesty."
As Aizen uttered these words and prepared to strike, Hassworth's body suddenly went limp and he collapsed. At the same time, throughout the Ice Palace, in the World of the Living, and in Hueco Mundo, scores of Extinction Masters fell.
"Is that... a sacred purge?"
From afar, Daniel watched as nearly all the Extinction Masters within the Ice Palace collapsed simultaneously. Only one person could have accomplished that feat—Yhwach.
"A bunch of trash! They couldn't even stop one man—what use are you?"
With a roar, a man clad in a black cloak, his face fierce and his eyes burning with anger, emerged from what had become a semi-ruined palace. It was Yhwach.
"Your Majesty, it is our fault…"
Hassworth, lying on the ground and barely clinging to life, immediately spoke upon seeing Yhwach step forth.
But Yhwach paid him no heed; his gaze was fixed intently on Aizen.
"Aizen, how did you find your way here?"
The Ice Palace was located within the Shadow Domain of the Seireitei—a place that had remained hidden for so many years. Its sudden breach had alerted Yhwach, whose omniscience had failed to detect this intrusion.
"As soon as I emerged, I enacted a sacred purge. It appears you truly haven't recovered yet."
Seeing Hassworth fall, Daniel stepped forward. He would rather face Yhwach than Hassworth—even though Hassworth's regenerative ability was extraordinarily potent. After all, Hassworth was too entangled with Yhwach; even his all-seeing eyes could be employed against him, ensuring he could not escape this fate.
From Yhwach's past sacred purges—which had resulted in the deaths of the mothers of both Ichigo Kurosaki and Ishida Uryūlong—it could be surmised that over these millennia Yhwach would periodically purge his subordinates to restore his own strength. In short, this man was not unlike that primordial wolf—both drawing on the power of their descendants to recover.
"Who are you? I don't recall ever seeing you before."
If Aizen's sudden appearance in the Invisible Empire had shocked Yhwach, then Daniel's arrival was enough to truly horrify him.
"I'm just an ordinary passerby."
Daniel's words were not a lie—in many respects, they were entirely accurate.
"It seems it is you."
Yhwach spoke as he drew his spiritual bow, unleashing a sacred annihilation arrow aimed squarely at Daniel. No wonder the Extinction Master King's sacred arrow was far more formidable than that of Penida, the left arm of the Soul King.
Yet, unfortunately for Yhwach, Daniel's Zanpakutō remained in its semi-Initial Bankai state of Kyūten Kyōkoku. In an instant, Daniel reflected the sacred arrow back—Yhwach's reaction was swift; otherwise, he would have suffered his own sacred arrow.
"You are my opponent, Yhwach."
Just as Yhwach prepared to strike again, Aizen suddenly materialized before him, intercepting his attack.
"Aizen, then let's settle you first."
Yhwach unsheathed his spiritual sword.
Boom!
The collision between Aizen and Yhwach sent an enormous surge of reiatsu, instantly obliterating every structure within several hundred meters. Poor Hassworth, who had barely clung to life, was caught in the ensuing maelstrom; his body was torn asunder.
Given Hassworth's own strength, even if he were subjected to Yhwach's sacred purge, he might have survived. Many Extinction Masters have survived under Yhwach's sacred purge—they simply could not wield Sacred Script power thereafter. But because Hassworth was so closely bound to Yhwach, even his omniscient eyes could be used against him; he naturally could not escape this calamity.
(End of Chapter)
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