White, searing heat rose slowly from Su Li's body, steam twisting upward as his hair and eyebrows were gradually veiled in silver. From him radiated an invincible aura, yet his eyes were no longer sharp with aggression but calm, suffused with a quiet serenity. For a moment, a faint shadow of emotion passed across his gaze, fragments of memory surfacing—this state, his long-buried omen of freedom, had not appeared before the world in decades.
"Su Li…" Renji's voice shook with excitement. The young man's form ignited countless memories from the Academy days that still carved themselves into his heart.
Even Unohana's eyes flickered. It had been forty years since she had last seen that form. Back then, Su Li was a newly graduated student who dared to challenge the Gotei's blades. Now, decades later, he stood as a captain among them. A faint sigh stirred within her—so much had changed, and yet this presence had not.
"This is… Ultra Instinct," Mayuri whispered, his usual derision absent, his tone edged with genuine surprise. He had not witnessed that legendary scene at the Academy, only heard whispers of it. Now, watching the boy's silver aura bloom, even the scientist felt a prickle of disbelief.
"Incredible…" Orihime, Nilu, Rukia, and the others could only stare blankly. They knew nothing of the technique, nothing of its name, only that the boy who now hovered in the sky seemed untouchable, almost divine. And in their hearts, though none said it aloud, they thought the same thing—he looked beautiful, unbearably so.
Above, the bull-headed Ichigo froze, blood-red eyes widening. He had no reason left, yet instinct screamed. The boy before him had changed; his aura was overwhelming, dangerous. The sensation infuriated him, made him wilder, more savage. He hated it. He would kill it.
A thunderous roar split the sky as his Reiatsu surged outward, blanketing the heavens in suffocating black. In a single flash he became a beam of destruction, charging Su Li with claws outstretched.
Su Li's gaze did not flicker. His calm was the opposite of Ichigo's madness. Ichigo fought bound by instinct, but Su Li had stepped into a different realm entirely, his heart like still water, unmoved.
The monstrous figure reached him in an instant, fingertips stabbing forward, aiming to pierce his chest. Hatred blazed in Ichigo's scarlet eyes—hatred for the boy's calm, hatred for the danger his existence radiated. He wanted to gouge a hole in that body, just as Ulquiorra once had done to him.
But before those claws touched flesh, Su Li's waist twisted. A clean, unhurried fist erupted upward, faster than thought.
The impact boomed. A shockwave tore through the heavens as Ichigo's chest caved inward, his black armor shattering like glass. He was hurled away, faster than his own charge, blood and fragments scattering in his wake.
The battlefield below fell silent. They had watched Ichigo drive Su Li back again and again, the fight balanced on a knife's edge. Yet now, with Ultra Instinct unveiled, a single blow had overturned everything.
Even Mayuri's painted face cracked with shock. "Impossible! Ultra Instinct is supposed to be reflex, reaction, speed—how can strength itself multiply to this degree?!"
Unohana only smiled faintly, though her eyes gleamed with depth. "Perhaps Captain Su Li never revealed the truth. We assumed his Ultra Instinct was only for reaction, but his restraint deceived even us. What he created is more than what we imagined. He never once showed us its true extent." Her voice softened. "This boy's talent… it may be far more terrifying than Soul Society has ever understood."
Her words sank deep, and for a heartbeat, silence reigned.
But Su Li left no pause for awe. His figure blurred and vanished, reappearing instantly in Ichigo's path as the beast still reeled backwards, chest caved, blood spilling. Ichigo's eyes flickered dazed scarlet, madness dimming under the haze of pain.
Without a word, Su Li raised his leg and struck downward. Ichigo's body snapped like a cannonball, hurtling toward the ground, blood and broken mask trailing.
Another flicker, and Su Li was there ahead of him, silver aura blazing. His hand clamped onto Ichigo's horned mask, and together they slammed earthward.
The impact shook the world. A colossal mushroom cloud bloomed, the ground splitting open with a roar. Dust rose, swallowing the battlefield, leaving even captains below wide-eyed and trembling.
"...Ichigo…" Orihime whispered, torn between terror and desperate hope.
"Su Li-san isn't… killing him, is he?" Ishida's eyes tightened.
"Tch, serves him right!" Pesche barked angrily. "That monster was trying to kill Su Li, and you're still worried?!"
Nilu frowned, unable to understand Orihime's trembling defense.
"No… it's not like that. He's our comrade. This isn't who he really is…" she stammered, her face pale as ash.
None of them knew what to say.
The dust thinned, revealing a crater vast and deep. At its center lay two figures—Ichigo sprawled limp across the earth, and Su Li standing tall at his side.
A faint crack echoed. Ichigo's mask split and flaked away, revealing his human face once more.
"Su Li-san…" Ichigo's unfocused eyes blinked at the figure above him. A fragile flicker of clarity glimmered—then his gaze rolled, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
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