"Not good…"
Jugram Haschwalth's expression changed drastically.
Without hesitation, he stomped the ground, turning all the reishi in the surrounding air into his reishi subjugation.
"Hymn to the Sanctuary!!!"
He roared as countless streams of reishi subjugation gathered and compressed around him, as if forming a massive cathedral.
One Quincy cross after another burst from the earth.
They shone like a starfield—radiant and holy—sealing Jugram Haschwalth safely inside.
Boom!!!
A gigantic Heilig Pfeil (Holy Arrow) crashed down from the sky, shaking that sacred fortress so violently it nearly collapsed.
But it didn't shatter on the spot.
It withstood the strike.
Only then did Jugram Haschwalth let out a breath and look up at the black-haired sitting atop the Military Police Corps building.
"Commander of the Military Police…"
A solemn light flashed through his eyes as he said in a deep voice:
"Cole, you're also a Quincy—an existence born from His Majesty's power. Are you going to betray His Majesty?!"
Cole laughed lightly.
"Haschwalth, don't make it sound so ambiguous. You talk like Yhwach is my parent or something."
"Everyone here knows it—Yhwach only distributed power to us, that's all. And he already collected the price long ago."
"Since that's the case, we owe each other nothing. Why can't I challenge him and become the Quincy's new king?"
Jugram Haschwalth frowned. He still didn't want to completely tear his relationship with Cole apart, so he said heavily:
"Whatever price His Majesty collected, don't spout nonsense—"
"Seibetsu (Auswählen / Holy Selection) is the price."
Cole cut him off with a smile.
"You didn't even know that? By giving power to us, he gained control over our lives and became a ruler of a faction. That itself is an exchange."
"More than that—he can activate Seibetsu (Auswählen / Holy Selection) anytime and reclaim our power and our lives."
"In that situation, the Quincy aren't just his subordinates… we're his slaves… and we're also batteries he can drain whenever he wants…"
When Cole reached that point, his voice turned cold.
"So why would I submit to a king like that?"
"Commander-sama is right…"
Bambietta stared at Cole with worshipful devotion, her eyes burning with enthusiasm fervor.
"We Quincy don't need a slave master. We Quincy should be free."
It had to be said—Cole's words hit the heart of almost every Quincy.
Even the badly injured Liltotto, Minina, Giselle, and Candice forced themselves back to their feet, staring firmly at Jugram Haschwalth.
As for the other Sternritter who heard this, strange emotions flickered through their eyes as well.
Jugram Haschwalth sighed, then looked at Cole with a heavy gaze.
"Your misunderstanding of His Majesty is too deep. Since I can't convince you… then I can only erase you."
Cole chuckled and jumped down from the Military Police Corps building, a fall of dozens of meters.
"Big talk. When you knelt in front of me before and begged me not to go kill Yhwach, you didn't look this confident."
Jugram Haschwalth's face sank. He clearly didn't want Cole to keep talking. He lifted his right hand, ready to strike—
But in that instant, his expression changed.
He watched Cole falling—
And Cole's aura skyrocketed.
Reishi subjugation condensed and compressed across his body.
Blut Vene (Static Blood Armor) and Blut Arterie (Flowing Blood Armor) patterns appeared at the same time.
And then—
Complete Holy Form wings unfolded behind him.
Six feathers on the left.
Six on the right.
Twelve wings in total, blotting out the sky—so massive that the Wandenreich's heavens dimmed.
A boundless shadow swallowed the empire overhead.
Any Quincy who looked up could see Cole's wings—like a god-devil descending.
Black, threaded with blue patterns.
Holy, yet filled with endless malice.
Terrifying and shocking—just one glance brought a crushing pressure like staring into an abyss… like looking straight at a deity.
And beneath those wings, every Quincy discovered something even more terrifying.
Controlling reishi subjugation had become hundreds—thousands—of times harder than before.
"Commander-sama's Complete Holy Form…"
Cang Du stared at the sky in shock.
He'd seen over thirty different Complete Holy Forms.
But compared to Cole's, theirs were fireflies against the moon.
One look was enough to understand—this was a being standing at the very peak of the world.
Jugram Haschwalth was equally shaken—but what stunned him most was Cole's control over reishi subjugation.
Last time, even under Cole's wings, he'd still been able to snatch away reishi at a normal level.
But now—even after exchanging power with Yhwach—he could only seize reishi as if it were the normal baseline.
In other words…
If he hadn't exchanged power with Yhwach, he'd only be able to seize one-third of the reishi.
"This monster got stronger again…"
Jugram Haschwalth's eyes grew even more solemn. He didn't hesitate anymore.
He sharply raised his right index finger—light flared.
No spirit bow even appeared in sight.
Dozens of Heilig Pfeil (Holy Arrow) shot out instantly.
Each arrow carried an astonishing presence.
Facing that level of attack, Cole thought for a moment, then simply pulled a black wing in front of him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Holy Arrows exploded across the wing in a thunderous chain of blasts.
But when the smoke cleared—
Jugram Haschwalth stared in disbelief.
Cole's black wing was completely unscathed.
Rukia swallowed hard.
"He covered his wing with spiritual power… that's a Shinigami method…"
Unohana murmured with a sigh.
"Shinigami… Quincy… Hollow… he can already fuse the essence of all three powers…"
Yoruichi and the others couldn't help feeling the same shock.
They'd lived for hundreds of years—
And this was the first time they'd ever seen someone who could perfectly master multiple power essences at once.
At the same time, Cole let the wing fall back behind him. He descended slowly, landing on the ground.
Then he stepped forward lightly and smiled.
"Hymn to the Sanctuary!"
The moment he spoke, an ocean of blue reishi subjugation compressed and condensed around him.
He'd imitated the ability based on Jugram Haschwalth's own "Hymn to the Sanctuary."
But unlike Haschwalth's earlier version—
Cole's Sanctuary looked more like a violet garden from myth.
Holy—and mesmerizing.
One violet blossom after another bloomed open.
Purple vines formed from spiritual power spread and climbed like living things, rapidly covering a range of several thousand meters.
Crystal clear.
Beautiful beyond words.
It gave a feeling of purity—and corruption at the same time.
Unohana and Yoruichi could faintly sense it.
Inside that violet garden was Shinigami power, Quincy power, and Hollow power—a fusion of all three.
Minina, seeing such a beautiful garden, couldn't help reaching out with her hand, speaking in her natural, airy tone:
"Such pretty flowers…"
But the moment her fingers touched a violet petal—
A cut appeared silently.
Blood seeped out, staining the violet bloom red.
Minina's eyes widened as she stared at her finger, her stunned voice still carrying that airheaded tone:
"I… I already used Blut Vene (Static Blood Armor)…."
She looked at the wound, then at the flower, refusing to believe it. She touched the edge again, carefully this time.
Now she saw it clearly.
The instant her finger made contact—
The flower sliced through her skin as if there were no resistance at all.
After that, when Minina and the others looked at the violet blossoms again, their amazement at the beauty was swallowed by fear.
This was a garden that was both beautiful and deadly.
"Feels pretty good…" Cole muttered.
He lifted his right hand.
A violet vine made of reishi slithered forward like a purple venomous snake.
Jugram Haschwalth didn't dare be careless. He summoned thousands upon thousands of small Holy Arrows, bombarding the vines relentlessly.
But that turned the fight into a war of attrition.
Both sides were frantically condensing reishi subjugation—
And the result was that the Wandenreich's buildings, ground, and even any inorganic matter began collapsing across a wide area.
Jugram Haschwalth's expression darkened.
He hadn't expected that even after swapping power with Yhwach, he still couldn't suppress Cole.
If they kept fighting like this, then before either of them won—
The Wandenreich itself would collapse first.
Just as he was about to stop—
Cole exhaled, gave up on continuing the reishi conversion of the violet garden, and extended his right hand with annoyance.
"What a pain. Direct is way more satisfying."
That was why he didn't like using Quincy power.
Too troublesome to control.
And more importantly—
He still hadn't created a method that let him unleash his strongest power while staying in Quincy form.
As he thought that, Cole clenched his right hand.
A crystal-clear long blade formed from blue reishi appeared in his grip.
Then he stomped the ground—
Not Shunpo (Flash Step), but Hirenkyaku (Flying Scythe Step).
His figure nearly "teleported," appearing right in front of Jugram Haschwalth.
Cole swung his blade down.
Jugram Haschwalth slashed upward with his own sword.
The instant blade and sword collided—
Jugram Haschwalth's face changed violently.
A world-shaking force crashed into him, sending his body flying like a cannonball.
Boom!!
A massive crater exploded into the ground.
Countless cracks spread outward from the center.
Jugram Haschwalth abandoned all elegance. With a furious roar, he shot up from the pit—
But before he could rise more than a few meters, Cole chopped him straight back down.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Heaven-shattering roars echoed nonstop.
Jugram Haschwalth was almost cut-flying the entire way—
Until he was smashed all the way to the vicinity of the Ice Palace.
(End of Chapter)
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