"Teikai!"
"Shinjin!"
The moment the golden pillar of heaven descended and smashed into the white desert, the endless sands began to boil.
From the impact point, a tsunami of white sand surged upward.
At its peak, the wave of sand rose thousands of meters into the sky, a devouring wall of white grains crashing down toward the ground.
It felt as if all of Hueco Mundo was trembling.
At the very center of the strike, a desert crater hundreds of meters across yawned open. It was pitch-black at the bottom—Cole had punched straight through to the Forest of Menos.
Huge amounts of white sand poured constantly down into the Menos Forest below.
The sight before them…
Did not look like destruction wrought by an attack.
It looked like some act of nature—a masterpiece carved by the hand of the world itself.
Rukia's small mouth formed an "O" as she stared blankly at the spectacle, at a loss for words.
"Th-this kind of power…"
In the distance—
Sensing the spiritual pressure fluctuations, Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad, who had been rushing this way at full speed, all unconsciously came to a halt.
They raised their heads, eyes widening in horror as they saw the white desert surging toward them like a tidal wave, blocking out the sky.
"Hey, hey, hey, Ichigo, nobody told me Hueco Mundo had natural disasters like this!!!"
Uryu was almost scared stupid. He'd raised his spirit bow and aimed at the wall of white sand, but he couldn't even muster the courage to fire.
In the face of that overwhelming wave of sand, his arrows would be completely meaningless.
Before coming to Hueco Mundo, he had specifically asked his father, Ryūken, about this world.
His father had told him that Hueco Mundo was a realm of deathly stillness. Its terrain might not change even in several million years.
And now…
What kind of joke was this?
A sky-covering cataclysm like this was practically an apocalypse-tier disaster.
"Let me handle this!!!"
Chad spoke in his usual calm tone. The Devil's left arm and the Giant's right arm appeared on his body at the same time, one white, one black.
These were the two abilities he had awakened before.
Since coming to Hueco Mundo,
They had grown far stronger than he had imagined possible.
Facing that endless white tide, Chad roared and threw his Devil's left arm forward like a rampaging tyrannosaur.
"Devil's… Left Arm!!!"
"BOOM!!!"
A brutal white shockwave blasted outward.
That overwhelming force punched an empty cavity straight through the wave, forming a skull-shaped hollow spot—twisted and terrifying.
"As expected of Chad. His strength is insane."
Uryu couldn't help but sigh.
Just a few months ago, Chad had been nothing more than a slightly stronger-than-average high school kid.
Who would've thought that after awakening his abilities, his power would increase in a straight line. At this point, he was even stronger than an Arrancar-class Menos.
Ichigo smiled, about to say something, when he suddenly sucked in a breath, staring at the sand beyond the opening.
"Why is there another wave after this one!?"
There was no time to hesitate. Ichigo instantly entered his bull-headed Hollow form, let out a roar, lowered his head, and pointed the horn on his forehead toward the white sand.
Blood-red spiritual pressure gathered at the tip of the horn.
Just as the Cero was about to fire—
The world suddenly went quiet.
Silent.
Dead silent.
Ichigo froze, cutting off the Cero, and looked up at the hundreds-of-meters-high, nearly kilometer-tall white wave.
"What… what just happened!?"
The world in front of his eyes seemed to have gone still in an instant.
The white desert, surging to hundreds of meters in height and closing in on a thousand, suddenly stopped midair.
As if someone had hit a pause button.
The already deathly still white desert grew even more silent.
Countless grains of sand hung frozen in the air.
Uryu reached out and flicked one of the grains in front of him like he'd seen a ghost.
The sand grain shifted slightly.
But it didn't fall.
It continued to float there, suspended in midair.
"Cole, this is…"
Rukia stared at Cole, stunned.
Cole smiled, swung the golden staff in his hand, and said,
"I've suppressed the space in this entire area. Aside from things that are alive, everything else will stop."
Seeing Rukia still struggling to understand, Cole thought for a moment, then pointed his right index finger toward the distant desert and chanted,
"Hadō #4: Byakurai (White Lightning)!"
White lightning crackled at his fingertip.
But the instant the bolt of white lightning left his finger, it simply hung there in the air, like a bulb of light.
Seeing this, Rukia's beautiful eyes trembled violently. She finally understood just how terrifying Cole's ability was.
He could suppress everything that wasn't alive.
It sounded simple.
But the simpler an ability was, the more frightening it tended to be.
Just like Captain-Commander Yamamoto's flames. They were just ordinary fire, yet they burned hotter than the sun.
"There are some other abilities too. I'll show them to you slowly later."
Cole chuckled, then turned his head toward where Ichigo and the others were and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting,
"Hey, Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, hurry up over here! We need to get back to Karakura Town as soon as possible!"
Hearing Cole's voice, the three of them all let out a long breath. They no longer had the energy to complain about what they'd just witnessed and sprinted toward him.
Seeing that, Cole withdrew his gaze, looked in the direction of Las Noches, and smiled.
"Rukia, come with me for a bit."
Rukia blinked in surprise.
"What for? Aren't the Hollows there already dealt with? What are you going back for?"
There weren't many Arrancar left in Las Noches to begin with.
Cole had taken out a few.
Byakuya and the others had taken out a few.
Ichigo's group had taken out a few.
At this point, there were almost no Adjuchas left in Las Noches who could still move.
Cole wrapped his arms around Rukia, leaped, and shot toward Las Noches like a meteor.
"I set up a barrier there. While I absorb the spiritual power, I'll also leave a coordinate."
"What's the point of leaving a coordinate?"
Rukia still didn't really understand.
"This is Hueco Mundo. Don't tell me you're planning to come back here again?"
Of course I am… Cole muttered inwardly.
He had a Menos form now—how could he not come to Hueco Mundo?
This world might be deathly still, but it would be nice to visit once in a while.
If he could become the king of Hueco Mundo, that would be even better.
"It worked!!!"
Mayuri stared excitedly at the device in front of him.
"I found the coordinates for the World of the Living. Are you all heading over now!?"
"Of course!"
Ichigo didn't even try to hide his impatience.
He definitely didn't want to stay in Hueco Mundo any longer. This place felt like a dead world. Besides, he had to hurry back and save Karakura Town from destruction.
"We need to get over there too…"
Byakuya gritted his teeth and stood up.
At that moment, Cole and Rukia appeared as well.
"This passage can't handle that many people…"
Mayuri frowned, his tone blunt.
"The passage is too narrow and unstable. At most, only two people can go to the World of the Living."
At this point, he had no choice but to admit something—Aizen's research skills really were better than his, on the level of Urahara Kisuke.
The spatial interference that Aizen had created had taken him a very long time to study. In the end, he'd only managed to find a single small loophole.
"It's fine. Just give me the coordinates."
Cole walked over and held out his right hand. Dark red spiritual pressure boiled at his fingertip like flame as he activated Desukorēru (Loosed Void), slowly tearing space open.
A black cavity appeared in front of everyone.
What shocked them was that even with space under constant interference, the Garganta remained stable.
"Cole, this is…"
Rukia couldn't help looking over at him.
Cole's lips curled into a subtle smile.
"Yeah, it's exactly what you're thinking. As long as I'm here, the space in this area won't go wrong."
Teikai Shinjin's ability allowed him to suppress all things.
Space itself was, of course, included.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Ichigo could barely hold himself back.
He dashed straight into the black rift.
"Wait—"
Cole didn't manage to stop him, and could only watch helplessly as he threw himself into the Garganta. He smacked his own forehead.
"Great. We're doomed."
With space under interference, crossing through the Garganta meant everyone had to run along a path of spiritual power, using their own reiryoku to create a road with their legs.
Given Ichigo's control over spiritual power, Cole didn't even want to imagine how bad the road he made would be.
Cole let out a deep breath, walked into the triple-layered barrier, picked Unohana up, and then dove into the black rift.
Rukia jumped in right behind him.
Then came Chad, Uryu, Byakuya, Mayuri, Yachiru, Kenpachi, and Nel.
The moment they stepped into the Garganta, Byakuya's expression turned pitch-black.
He gnashed his teeth and glared at Cole.
"Cole, what kind of 'road' did you lay down? Are you trying to banish us into the Dangai?"
He had nearly fallen into the Dangai the moment he stepped in.
And everyone knew—falling into that meant almost certain death.
Cradling Unohana in his arms, Cole hopped along the barely-intact spiritual pathway and jabbed a finger toward the figure running at the very front.
"That's the guy you want."
Ahead of them, Ichigo was running for all he was worth, releasing spiritual power under his feet as he went. The "road" he was forming behind him looked like a mangled dog bite mark.
Mayuri's face was dark as ink.
"You dumb brat who doesn't understand human language, stop running right now."
He had just gone through several battles and then spent ages researching space. He was exhausted.
He was in no mood to run some kind of obstacle course.
Ichigo turned his head and grinned.
"Don't worry about me, guys. I'm not tired at all. This kind of thing is super easy for me…"
Halfway through his sentence—
His voice trailed off.
Because he realized that everyone behind him was glowering at him.
Uryu gritted his teeth.
"Ichigo, if you dare run any farther ahead, I'm going to shoot an arrow into your butt. Get over here."
Ichigo sheepishly backed up to the group's rear.
Byakuya stepped forward instead.
Spiritual power spread out under his feet, forming an elegant blue road of reiryoku.
You could even see delicate patterns on its surface.
Cole leaned over and whispered to Rukia,
"Hey, Rukia, I've always wanted to ask—your brother is really full of himself, huh?"
In all of Soul Society, he had never seen anyone who fought in such formal attire.
Rukia whispered back,
"Brother has always cared deeply about his appearance. Every morning he spends at least half an hour getting ready."
Byakuya heard their little whispers and turned back to glance at them, his face darkening.
He could feel his carefully sculpted image collapsing.
The group continued running through the dark passage.
No one knew how much time had passed.
As they neared the exit, Cole scooped Nel up and grumbled,
"Nel, this is a battle between Shinigami and Hollows. What are you, a Hollow, doing here? Aren't you afraid a Shinigami will cut you down in one swing?"
Nel wrapped her arms happily around Cole's neck, swung herself up, and sat on his shoulder.
"Nel thinks it'll be fun if she comes with you."
"Of course it'll be fun. This is the ultimate battle between Shinigami and Hollows. Something like this might not happen even once in several million years…"
Cole muttered, stepped forward, and suddenly saw blinding white light ahead.
When his eyes adjusted, a familiar city came into view.
Karakura Town.
But compared to its usual bustling state, Karakura Town now looked like it had been hit by some disaster. Ruins and rubble were everywhere.
Fires flickered in scattered patches.
Most of the skyscrapers had collapsed.
Shinigami and Hollows lay sprawled all over the ground, their fates unknown.
Even Cole was shocked. A bad premonition rose in his heart. He immediately tensed, saying in a low voice,
"Did they already finish forging the Ōken?"
Before returning to Karakura Town, he really hadn't expected the situation to be this dire. How had the Shinigami side been beaten this badly?
Did Yamamoto go elope with some old lady?
Or did Aizen turn on some kind of invincibility cheat?
With all the captains in Seireitei, how could it end up like this?
This was completely different from what he'd expected.
Where was Urahara Kisuke's plan?
Where was Kurosaki Isshin!?
Why had neither of them shown up?
Byakuya stared at the ruin of the city and frowned.
"Only half of this is the real Karakura Town. The rest is still relatively intact. And they haven't actually started the Ōken creation ritual here yet…"
As a noble and a captain, he naturally knew the exact steps for forging the Ōken.
He knew that once the ritual began, this city would definitely be destroyed, and a hundred thousand souls would be required.
Although the Ōken hadn't been created yet, the scene before them still left Byakuya puzzled.
Why had it turned into such a mutually-destructive mess?
Suddenly, Cole's expression shifted.
He snapped his head toward a skyscraper on the far side of Karakura Town.
"Soi fong!?"
On top of that skyscraper, Soi fong and Momo were facing each other down.
Both of them were covered in blood, clearly heavily injured.
"Fubuki, kill her…"
Momo gritted her teeth and shouted. Several fireballs flew out from her blade.
Soi fong tried to dodge, but one of her legs was already down to bare bone. She managed only a few limping steps before she collapsed heavily to the ground.
She could do nothing but stare in despair as the burning fireballs closed in.
At that critical moment—
A hand smacked the fireballs apart with a crack.
And Cole's voice rang out a beat later.
"Soi fong, how did you end up fighting with this toy?"
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!]
[[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]