The Shinigami hurried over to the edge of the crater.
Just looking at the scale of it was enough to make everyone break out in a cold sweat.
It was like a meteor had slammed into the earth.
The pit Oetsu had carved out with his fall spread its impact across several kilometers.
A dense web of thick cracks spidered out in all directions around it.
Just one glance was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.
At the very center was a human-shaped hole. It was only about the size of a person, but so deep that the bottom couldn't be seen. If you shouted into it, your voice would echo back up.
Shinji shifted uneasily and turned to the man beside him.
"Hey, Shunsui, after getting smashed like that by Cole's staff, you really think that so-called Sword God of the Soul King Palace could still be alive?"
At his words, Byakuya and Kisuke also looked over at Shunsui.
Much as they didn't want to admit it, this sloppy uncle was indeed the strongest among them here.
He might even be someone Kirio couldn't beat.
Which meant his judgment would be the most accurate.
Shunsui was speechless.
He really didn't want to answer that kind of question.
With a sigh, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted down into the pit.
"Oi! Oetsu! You still alive down there? If you are, say something! Don't make us come down there and dig you out!"
Everyone else stared intently into the darkness.
Feeling the density of the Soul King Palace's spiritual power, none of them wanted to go digging if they could help it.
Even ignoring the buildings, the soil here was tens of thousands of times harder than the dirt in Seireitei, practically no different from steel.
With how deep this hole was, they'd have to huff and puff away for hours before they had a chance of digging Oetsu out from the bottom.
Luckily, after about half a minute, a voice finally floated up from the depths.
"I… I'm still alive…"
Everyone let out a collective breath of relief.
At least they didn't have to dig.
Isshin whistled in admiration.
"As expected of the Sword God— that defense is no joke. He actually survived one hit from Cole."
Ichigo nodded earnestly.
"Yeah, as expected of the Royal Guard. He's seriously tough."
The other Shinigami all found themselves nodding along, agreeing with the father and son.
That was one strike from Cole— carrying the power of heaven and earth. Just earlier, that same staff had nearly blown apart the several-times-evolved Aizen.
The fact that Oetsu could take a swing like that and live was enough to prove how strong he was.
Listening to their discussion, Kirio blinked her wide, innocent eyes, and an intense curiosity about Cole welled up in her heart.
Just what kind of Shinigami could become that powerful in a hundred years?
From what they were saying, he was still just a human high school student.
What exactly was a "high school student"?
Were they top-tier powerhouses among humans?
Had the Human World produced another race like the Quincy?
How did a high schooler compare to a Shinigami captain?
While she was lost in thought, several more minutes passed.
Finally, a figure with a face as broad as a dinner plate slowly hauled himself up out of the pit.
When Ichigo got a clear look at the man's face, he couldn't help glancing over at Kirio.
"Hey, lady… don't tell me being really fat is the signature trait of everyone in the Soul King Palace?"
First there was the soft and squishy Kirio.
Now another chubby Oetsu had appeared.
He was seriously starting to wonder if the Royal Guard cafeteria's food was laced with growth hormones.
Kirio didn't get angry at Ichigo calling her "old lady." She herself was just as curious about Oetsu's appearance.
"Oetsu, what happened to you? Did you start stockpiling calories like me too?"
The corner of Oetsu's mouth twitched.
He finally managed to scramble all the way out of the pit, collapsed on the grass, took a few deep breaths, then glared up at the sky with a dark expression.
"Can you people use your eyes properly for once? I'm not fat. My face is swollen, okay!?"
Just thinking back to what had happened made him want to explode.
When he'd sensed an intruder in the Soul King Palace, he had rushed off without a second thought and chased them all the way to his Phoenix Palace.
There, at a single glance, he saw Cole and Rukia busy tearing his home apart.
He'd been furious on the spot.
A Vasto Lorde-class Hollow had actually broken into the Soul King Palace, brazenly demolishing his house.
And even worse, there was a Shinigami standing guard for that Hollow.
How was he supposed to take that?
Of course he couldn't!
So he'd charged in with his sword.
The result: that Vasto Lorde-class Hollow had grabbed a golden staff and knocked him repeatedly upside the head.
If not for his own overwhelming reiatsu, plus that female Shinigami holding the Hollow back, his brains might really have been beaten out right then and there.
It was only because of that miserable beating that he finally learned the truth about the pair.
Turned out the whole thing was just one big misunderstanding.
The two of them weren't enemies, but comrades from Seireitei who had come seeking help.
He'd wanted to explain.
But his entire face had been swollen, and his words came out all slurred. The Hollow Shinigami had taken his mumbling as provocation.
Right in front of his eyes, the golden staff in that Hollow Shinigami's hands suddenly grew tens of thousands of times larger in the blink of an eye.
From a staff, it had become a golden heavenly pillar.
When it came crashing down, he felt the sky itself go dark.
Thinking back on his tragic experience, Oetsu was seething inside with the urge to curse someone out.
Yet after cursing that monster in his heart a thousand times over, he could only squeeze out a single question.
"Just how strong is that damned enemy supposed to be, if they needed a monster like that to come begging us for help!?"
The Shinigami present looked at one another.
No one wanted to go through the whole explanation again.
Having to repeat the same story to everyone they met had already worn their lips raw.
In the end, everyone's eyes turned in unison to Shunsui, making the sloppy uncle's lips twitch.
If someone had to do the work, better to make the same guy do it again and again.
You're up, Shunsui.
"Oetsu, right?"
Oetsu also turned his gaze toward him.
Shunsui took a long, weary breath and, looking like he'd given up on life, started explaining everything from the beginning for Oetsu's benefit.
"That man's name is Aizen. He used to be a captain of Seireitei, and months ago he betrayed us…"
Once Oetsu understood the whole story and learned just how strong Aizen was now, he let out a deep sigh of relief.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as the heavy boulder weighing on his heart was finally set down.
"Good… so it's not the kind of monster I was imagining…"
Before hearing the intel on Aizen, he'd been scared half to death.
Because in his mind, any enemy that even a monster like Cole couldn't topple had to at least be on the same level as Ichibē—
Maybe even beyond him.
And beings on that level were practically gods born together with heaven and earth— ageless, eternal existences.
Just like the Soul King, born within the primordial chaos.
Ichibē, who had been born at the same time as the Soul King, the four noble clan founders, and so on— all of them possessed world-shattering power, able to create all things, true gods in every sense of the word.
The Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, the Human World— all of that had been created by the Soul King's own hand.
If the enemy had really been someone on that level, then even if they somehow managed to subdue him, at least one or two worlds would be smashed apart in the process.
But given Aizen's current strength, he clearly wasn't there yet.
Just then, something occurred to Kisuke, and he suddenly shouted, "Uh-oh!" drawing everyone's attention.
Under countless staring eyes, he anxiously looked up at the many sacred structures floating in the sky.
"Kirio, you didn't beat Aizen. Oetsu, you never went to stop Aizen, so where is he now!?"
Everyone instinctively turned their eyes to the Soul King's Inner Sanctum.
A heavy sense of unease settled over their hearts.
Aizen…
He couldn't really have already reached the Soul King, could he?
Still sprawled on the ground, Oetsu waved a hand weakly, sounding like a man with nothing left to live for.
"Relax. There's still Senjumaru. And even if Senjumaru gets beaten, there's still Ichibē. They won't let anything happen to the Soul King."
Everyone finally exhaled a bit at his words.
Right then, they saw another Zero Division Palace flare with golden threads.
Bolts of cloth poured down like rain.
Clearly, a fierce battle was raging there.
At the same time—
Inside the Zero Division Palace, in the Phoenix Palace.
Cole drew back his golden staff, which had just been towering like a celestial pillar, then squatted down and looked at the beautiful women in front of him.
He tapped each of them lightly on the head with his staff and said, exasperated,
"Seriously, your boss already got blown away by me. And you still think you can beat me?"
The zanpakuto spirits, manifested as beautiful women, stared at him with teary eyes, but stubbornly glared back with fierce hatred.
"You big villain, don't even think about it! We will never forgive you!"
"That's right! We'll never submit to you like that lackey at your side. We're the strongest zanpakuto in the Soul King Palace!"
"We're going to chop you into sashimi to avenge Oetsu!"
"Prepare yourself! Aaaghhhh!"
The manifested zanpakuto girls grew more and more worked up as they shouted.
In the end they simply raised their blades again and charged at Cole, screaming at the top of their lungs.
"Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!"
Several more sharp smacking sounds rang out.
Cole pulled back his golden staff and said helplessly,
"You women seriously need to at least try to talk sense. Oetsu was the one who attacked me first, remember?"
The zanpakuto girls were now crying for real, tears streaming as they looked at him in aggrieved fury.
"You're a Hollow. What's wrong with Oetsu attacking you!?"
"Yeah! You captured us and you're bullying us. What are you trying to do, huh? Got your eye on our looks or something!?"
"We're not going to be as spineless as that lackey of yours…"
"…"
As they chattered on and on, Rukia couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"Everyone, you've misunderstood. Cole isn't a Hollow, he just possesses a Hollow's power…"
At that moment, a zanpakuto girl with pink hair and a sultry onee-san face shot her a vicious glare.
"Shut up, you lackey who submitted to a Hollow!"
Rukia blinked and looked around in confusion.
Lackey?
Where was this lackey they were talking about?
Then she noticed Cole looking at her with a strange expression.
Rukia stared for two seconds, then—
"???"
"I'm the lackey!?"
The hundred-year-old girl who had just become a Shinigami captain opened her mouth in sheer disbelief.
(End of Chapter)
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