"A paradise with no death?"
"Ah… so that's what Yhwach's real intention was!"
"But why do I feel like… this doesn't sound reliable at all?"
Inside Las Noches, after hearing those "last words" from Soul King Yhwach transmitted through the video, Gin Ichimaru frowned slightly.
Within his azure gaze, rejection was plain to see.
In the world of the Shinigami, the strong were everywhere.
The most direct rule of survival was to speak with your fists—compete to see whose ability, whose combat power, was greater!
This point…
The final battle itself—The Almighty's invincibility—was the best example of all!
"Gin…"
"You're right."
Before the throne, Aizen spoke with a blank expression, calmly agreeing. "If there's no death, then there's no fear or awe. If there's no fear or awe, there's no competition. And without competition, there's no way to become stronger."
"The law of the jungle, birth and aging and sickness and death—those are simply the rules by which things operate. They're also the reason the Shinigami world has stayed stable for tens of thousands of years."
"And to attempt to reverse all of that… is the fundamental reason Soul King Yhwach was destined to fail in the end."
Aizen delivered his judgment with icy indifference.
And he, too, instinctively felt that fusing the worlds and erasing death…
Was an idea far too extreme!
It fundamentally ran counter to a world centered on souls.
So…
There was nothing left to say.
Failure was inevitable.
And afterward, as for what would happen to Soul King Yhwach, Aizen could more or less guess—
Those remnants that remained…
That black, rushing torrent of the Soul King…
Would be gathered in full, and sealed away.
As a substitute for the Soul King, it would be sealed within the Soul King Palace forever—used as a wedge to continue stabilizing the Three Realms!
And this was also something…
The viewers had already guessed long ago.
Whether Ichigo Kurosaki or Yhwach—no matter which of them lost—someone would become a vessel to replace the old Soul King!
Now,
That ending—
Was simply the prophecy coming true!!!
"So…"
Beneath the throne, Kaname Tōsen lifted his head. Through the black cloth over his eyes, he faced the translucent light-screen and asked in confusion, "At this point, the ranking of the top ten strongest Zanpakutō in the Shinigami world… should be completely over, right?"
"Then after this, will there be some other new ranking?"
Tōsen's tone was filled with curiosity.
Even though, across this long ranking series, the vast majority of powerhouses had already been revealed!
Still…
Quite a few people had been skipped.
For example, himself—Kaname Tōsen had never appeared on screen even once!
And as for the future,
And his status in Hueco Mundo after defecting, and the outcome of the Karakura Town decisive battle…
From start to finish,
The ranking video had never deliberately revealed any information at all!
Therefore,
For that reason,
Tōsen desperately wished that supporting characters like them could also be ranked one by one later.
And people with that same thought?
Looking around Las Noches, there were actually quite a lot.
For instance, among the Espada—Baraggan, and Aaroniero who devoured Kaien Shiba.
Those two,
From beginning to end,
Had not appeared on screen even once.
They didn't even know what their future endings were—dead or alive.
Or, if they died, exactly how they died.
The ranking video had never mentioned it—naturally stirring intense curiosity in Baraggan and the others!
"Hmph…"
"I hope the ranking video continues and ranks more people, one by one."
Baraggan spoke at last, a rare moment of voice from him. His aged eyelids drooped, his tone deep and low.
However,
Just as his words fell,
The pitch-black screen flickered—
And then lit up again!
But…
What played next
Was not what everyone imagined—continuing the ranking of the remaining powerhouses.
Instead…
The timeline jumped.
It went straight to ten years later.
To the future of Soul Society after the Thousand-Year Blood War ended!
At this moment,
The first scene to enter their eyes
Was a setting the audience knew well—the interior of the Research and Development Institute.
"Oh?"
"Compared to the Institute we're rebuilding after the war right now, the equipment has clearly improved a lot."
In the First Division, under his woven hat, Shunsui Kyōraku narrowed his eyes. After sweeping his gaze across the screen, he spoke with open amazement.
Yes.
He was right.
In the footage, many large devices no one had seen before were arranged in the hall by functional zones.
Everything looked completely renewed.
It was dazzlingly fresh—an eye-catching transformation!!!
"Heh-heh…"
"Kyōraku Shunsui, if that's the case, then I ought to thank you… the future Second Captain-Commander, yes?"
Beneath his blue-and-white mask, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's eyes rolled as he rasped out a grin.
Clearly,
As the Captain of the Twelfth Division and the one who controlled the Institute,
He, too, was extremely satisfied with this scene!
But,
Just as he finished speaking,
The camera turned—
Aimed at the center of the monitoring hall.
At the front faces of the linked monitoring devices,
Showing real-time footage—
And then:
A shrieking warning triggered by violent fluctuations of spiritual pressure!
And also,
Standing before the monitors,
Speaking with an assistant—
Third Seat Akon's words—
Instantly made the audience's hearts, which had only just begun to settle, snap back into dread!
"Something's seriously wrong…"
"Why would the spiritual-pressure monitors suddenly start showing something this strange?"
Akon's brows knitted into a tight knot.
His eyes locked onto the screen, flickering—as if he'd been dragged back to bad memories from ten years ago!
"This fluctuation's source…"
"It feels exactly like those dark spiritual pressures from Yhwach ten years ago!!!"
Those words—
Transmitted into the real world through the ranking video—
Once again became a super bomb dropped out of nowhere!
In an instant, it shocked the world and set off a massive uproar!!!
And as a result,
The viewing atmosphere shifted from long-awaited peace
Straight into panic!
"What…?"
"What is going on?"
"Wasn't Soul King Yhwach cut down in one strike by Zangetsu? And weren't the remnants of his spiritual pressure sealed away?"
"Why, ten years after the story ended, is the dark torrent showing up again?"
"Don't tell me… Soul King Yhwach is planning to make a comeback?"
"Damn it—The Almighty is really that disgusting? Does it seriously have to keep tormenting us forever?!"
In that moment,
Most viewers went numb.
The Thousand-Year Blood War had only barely ended, with horrific bloodshed and casualties—far too many people had died in that war!
And now—how long had it even been?
Just thinking back—
They'd only managed to kill Soul King Yhwach by relying on everyone's cooperation, and on a critical item like the Silver Blood-Clot Arrow—
Only then, in a brutal, razor-thin, limit-pushing victory,
Could they use Ichigo Kurosaki's Zangetsu to end him!
If the same experience
Was going to be staged again ten years later—
Then
No matter who it was,
Other than the pure-blood Quincy of the Wandenreich,
No one would want to face it!
—
After that,
Just as the powerhouses
Started complaining one after another,
The footage shifted again and changed scenes.
Sure enough!
A brand-new location was revealed at once!
An enormous mass of dark spiritual pressure—like a vortexing torrent—appeared somewhere in Rukongai!
And at this moment,
In front of that dark spiritual pressure—
Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Soi Fon, and Byakuya Kuchiki stood in a staggered formation.
And from the expressions on their faces,
You could clearly see it—each of them carried a heavy, grim weight.
After ten full years—
This abrupt reappearance of a dark spiritual-pressure torrent
Made all of them intensely wary!
And not a single one of them
Dared to move rashly!!!
When this scene was revealed—
And broadcast into the real world through the ranking video—
It instantly
Pulled the fear-filled atmosphere to its absolute peak!
And this time, it wasn't only the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 who felt uneasy.
Inside Las Noches,
Hollows and Arrancar—
Including Aizen's trio as well—
Also reacted strongly, immediately launching into discussion:
"Eeeh…"
"What a terrifying sense of oppression! It's that familiar feeling from before!"
"Looks like Yhwach's power is recovering far faster than anyone imagined!!!"
Even though
Gin Ichimaru's tone sounded glib and unconcerned,
Under his pale bangs, his expression was slightly grave as he spoke.
Obviously,
He was just talking tough.
Gin, too, was deeply wary of Soul King Yhwach's dark spiritual pressure returning in force!
And in his heart,
An ominous unease rose up all the same!!!
"Indeed…"
On the throne, Aizen nodded.
In his cold, indifferent eyes, a rare ripple of emotion surfaced.
Last time, before the Thousand-Year Blood War began, Yhwach had spent nearly a thousand years—
Only then did his heartbeat return, only then did he recover his power!
But this time…
Only ten years?
The time was shockingly short—far beyond expectations!!!
"It should still come down to Ichigo Kurosaki taking action, right?"
On the other side beneath the throne, Kaname Tōsen said with a grave expression. "To oppose spiritual pressure at the level of the Soul King, he's the only truly reliable option."
There was no denying it.
Against an incomplete dark torrent,
Ichibē Hyōsube's power, and Aizen's power—
Especially the latter—
And after another ten years,
Relying on the Hōgyoku's nature—
Using a transformed spiritual pressure to resist the dark torrent
Didn't seem entirely impossible.
But…
Tōsen still believed—
Since Soul King Yhwach had been killed by Ichigo Kurosaki, and by Zangetsu's Bankai—
Then
The one least likely to fail—
Would have to be him, coming out again, and cutting him down again!
Use Zangetsu to sever the threat at its root once and for all!!!
However…
Just as everyone was discussing it,
The video suddenly cut!
It jumped to another scene, revealing—
A brand-new character who had never appeared on screen before.
A character who made the entire world of viewers
Completely unable to anticipate what was coming!!!
—
Now,
In the footage,
A dark torrent appeared again.
Only this time, compared to what Mayuri and Byakuya were facing, its size and scale were much smaller.
It was only a small clump!
"Hm?"
"This is… the World of the Living!"
"Has Yhwach's spiritual pressure quietly seeped back into the World of the Living again without anyone noticing?"
In the real world,
Inside a small shop,
Kisuke Urahara, Isshin Kurosaki, Tessai Tsukabishi, and the others—
With just one look, their faces changed, a chill crawling up their spines.
"Only ten years, and it's already like this."
Yoruichi crossed her arms and frowned. "If we'd noticed any later, Soul King Yhwach might really have been reborn again."
But
Just as Yoruichi finished speaking,
The camera slowly moved.
And then it revealed—
In front of that clump of dark torrent—
A young, childlike figure standing there!!!
"This is…"
"Wait—what the hell? Why does this kid… look so much like Ichigo when he was little?!"
Narrowing his eyes,
Isshin Kurosaki's gaze turned cautious.
After studying the image for a moment, he couldn't help blurting it out.
Yes.
That feeling was way too strong.
As a father, Isshin recognized it instantly—the little boy in the footage, full of childish innocence…
Had to be connected to Ichigo!!!
Hearing that,
Tessai rubbed his chin. After thinking for a moment,
He spoke as if possessed by the idea:
"Isshin… is there a chance that this little boy…"
"Is Ichigo's son—born in the future with Orihime Inoue?"
"In other words… your grandson?!"
Those words
Hit Isshin's heart like thunder.
He was stunned—
And at the same time, overcome with wild joy and excitement.
"My… grandson?"
"But—he's too bold!"
"That Soul King torrent has several Shinigami Captains unable to do anything about it… so why does he look like he's not afraid at all?"
Shock.
Joy.
And also a trace of worry.
Isshin's expression became unbelievably complicated.
When he looked back at the figure of Ichigo's son on the screen,
His eyes brimmed with warmth and affection.
And what made Isshin even more astonished—
The footage deliberately lingered in a close-up on the boy's face.
Anyone could see it.
Ichigo's son's eyes were clear and innocent.
Facing the darkness, his expression held only curiosity.
And his small, tender body kept moving forward.
It was as if…
He treated Yhwach's residual power
Like a brand-new toy he had never needed to fear or resist.
It was simply unbelievable.
(End of Chapter)
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