"Aging is my companion, Night is my servant. While the crows feast upon my body, I shall wait for you in the hall of the elm."
As Baraggan's grim words fell, black waves of aging spread outward from beneath his skeletal feet.
Shunpo.
A corner of Shimo's sleeve fluttered free without wind, dissolving into the encroaching tide of aging. His body had already vanished from within its reach.
"Just by standing nearby, one can feel it…"
Mayuri Kurotsuchi grinned, serrated teeth gleaming. His eyes rolled in irregular, twitching rhythms.
"Even a captain would be powerless before such a power!"
At his side, Nemu remained expressionless, which only infuriated him further.
"What's with that face, Nemu?! You can't possibly comprehend the terror of time itself! Look closely!"
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"
Eccentric as always, Mayuri fired off the kidō, more to prove his point than to win the battle. The white bolt of lightning, thick as a man's arm, crackled and hissed toward the black tide of aging.
For a breath, the two forces clashed—then the lightning disintegrated into dust, eroded by time itself.
Baraggan's hollow sockets swiveled toward Mayuri.
"Worm. Do you dare to provoke the King as well?"
The oppressive clatter of teeth reverberated like a death knell.
But Mayuri only chuckled.
"Keh keh… convenient, then. Would you do me the honor of giving me your name?"
Baraggan faltered, bewildered.
"You face death, yet you ask for my name?"
Still, arrogance swelled. His skeletal jaw opened wide.
"I am Baraggan Louisenbairn, the great and eternal King of Hueco Mundo! And I shall—"
Before he could finish, Mayuri's pen was already scratching furiously across a notebook.
"Specimen No. 999 of the Hollow Outbreak experiment: Baraggan Louisenbairn. Ability: Aging — equivalent to the power of time."
Baraggan's rage flared anew.
"Insignificant insect!"
The massive axe of extinction rose high, cloaked in black aura, ready to crush him.
But before the blow could fall, a figure reappeared in front of him.
Shimo's Zanpakutō leveled calmly at the skeletal king.
"Our fight isn't over, Baraggan. Show your opponent the respect he deserves."
For the first time, Baraggan's expression grew solemn.
"I underestimated you. To acknowledge your strength, I shall grant you the most magnificent death!"
"Respira!"
Aging surged again, erasing everything it touched—matter, energy, even spiritual pressure itself.
Mayuri and Nemu retreated instantly. Even he wasn't suicidal enough to test this tide directly.
"What is he waiting for…?" Mayuri muttered, watching Shimo face the unstoppable.
All around them, buildings crumbled, the earth corroded, clouds withered and fell apart. Karakura's sister city became a nightmare of collapse, drowned in darkness.
Still, Shimo stood unmoved.
"A pity," he murmured, stepping lightly through the tide with flawless shunpo.
"Time is not a power belonging solely to you."
Baraggan's sockets widened. His intuition screamed danger.
And then—
A vast spiritual pressure burst forth, immeasurable as the night sky. The limiter seals had already been lifted when Rukia requested clearance. Now, Shimo's spiritual pressure unfolded without restraint, vast as a galaxy.
For the first time since his reign began, Baraggan felt something alien. His skeletal grin warped with the trace of an unfamiliar emotion—fear.
He roared in denial.
"Shinigami, humans, Hollows, Arrancar, all of their differences and strife, will, freedom, beasts, plants, the moon and stars and sun - all of it is meaningless! There is but one absolute in this world, and that is my power!"
The suffocating tide of aging engulfed Shimo completely. Baraggan exhaled black vapor in triumph.
"You are nothing but an insect. It ends here, Kyōraku Shimo."
Then—
"Cease All."
The calm voice echoed from within the black tide.
Baraggan froze. His sockets widened in disbelief.
A crimson blade shimmered, wrapped in an aura of suspended nothingness. Ripples spread like stones cast into a lake—time itself halted.
The tide of aging froze mid-wave, severed from motion.
Shimo's voice cut through the stillness.
"Aging is but the most shallow use of time, a fraction of power derived from its true essence. Allow me to show you its true form."
His Zanpakutō gleamed red-black, spiritual pressure spiraling. With a single downward stroke, he cleaved through the immobilized Respira.
"This ends here, Baraggan. Witness the true Power of Time."
Cease All—Akatsuki.
The entire city fell silent, as though someone pressed pause. Every soul, every cloud, even Baraggan's twisted expression froze in place.
"Zanjutsu: Rain of Swords."
The crimson blade arced through the sky. Spiritual pressure burst outward, transforming into a storm. Black skies shrouded the city as rain fell—not of water, but of infinite blades.
The skeletal king was consumed, his form shattered into dust, dissolved entirely within the endless storm.
Time returned from its stillness.
The city resumed to motion. Only Shimo remained, suspended in the sky. Baraggan had vanished.
"Impossible…" Mayuri shrieked. "Where is Specimen 999?! My test subject!"
Even Yoruichi and Rukia's memories blurred—they recalled only Shimo cutting apart the tide of aging, then nothing until now.
The system's voice rang quietly in Shimo's mind:
[Task complete. Reward issued.]
[Congratulations, Host: Peak Hakuda acquired.]
Now, all four fundamental combat skills of the Shinigami—Hakuda, Kidō, Shunpo, and Zanjutsu—stood at his peak. Yet his sword art, Limitless, reached even further beyond.
"Now then, Kyōraku Shimo…"
...
Mayuri's delighted cackle pierced the silence. He held a sealed container in his hand, Nemu at his side. Inside, a fragment writhed—the remnant of Baraggan's hand, still pulsing with the power of aging.
Mayuri's grin stretched unnaturally wide.
"Truly an exquisite specimen… Baraggan Louisenbairn."
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