__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Devour the Left Arm and evolve into a new Soul King!"
Spouting words of boundless arrogance, Mayuri gripped his Zanpakutō in reverse, his aura erupting like a tidal wave.
When his spiritual pressure reached its absolute limit, the Bankai release tore from his throat:
"Bankai!"
"Golden Ashisogi Jizō: Demonic Fetus Sealed Manifestation!"
…
In that instant, the recorded footage shook violently.
The explosion of spiritual pressure was like a magnitude-ten earthquake, pulverizing what little of the already ruined ground remained.
"So terrifying!"
"When did Captain Kurotsuchi's Bankai become this strong?"
"Am I hearing things, or is the Bankai's name ridiculously long?"
"Everyone, get back! Now!"
…
The shockwave bursting from the screen sent researchers flying before they could scatter.
Goggles, lab coats, and shattered monitors littered the floor.
The once orderly hall was reduced to utter chaos.
"Captain, it looks like future you didn't just master Quincy techniques. Even your Bankai has evolved again!" Akone said excitedly.
The despair that had nearly crushed him was swept away, replaced by surging anticipation.
Who would've thought?
One reversal after another.
This clash between science and myth twisted and turned endlessly, never letting anyone guess how it would end.
"Heh heh…"
"That much is obvious. You didn't need to tell me."
Mayuri didn't let the sudden turnaround cloud his judgment.
Instead, he analyzed the situation calmly.
"As a biological-type Zanpakutō, Golden Ashisogi Jizō's form has never been fixed. That's been one of my main research focuses."
"If my guess is correct…"
"Then before this battle even began, Golden Ashisogi Jizō had already been modified more than once."
He spoke with complete confidence.
At that moment, the prelude to Bankai reached its conclusion.
As the vast white waves of energy gradually dispersed, the fully revealed form of the twice-evolved Golden Ashisogi Jizō appeared before everyone in its Demonic Fetus state.
Its skin was pitch black.
Its ears had been replaced by two hanging lanterns.
Its belly rose and fell like a hill, engraved with a massive, glaring character for "Support." Its pale, emotionless eyes looked capable of ripping souls straight from the body.
A new form.
An angel cast aside, a demon reborn.
A vengeful infant spirit that had truly fallen into the deepest hell.
"Oooooaaaaaaaah!"
The moment it was born, it went berserk.
Before Mayuri could issue a single command, the Demonic Fetus Golden Ashisogi Jizō let out a monstrous howl.
The shrill scream surged outward like a physical wave, grinding everything in its path into dust and cracked earth.
"Damn it! What is this thing?! My eardrums are about to burst!" The first victims were the trio watching from the outskirts: Kenpachi's group.
Clutching their ears and enduring the agony of tearing pain, Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa grimaced in torment.
The relentless noise felt like it was about to split their skulls open.
As for the unfortunate Kenpachi Zaraki…
Still under full anesthesia, he lay on the ground completely unable to move.
He had barely regained a shred of consciousness before the piercing sound knocked him right back out.
Absolutely miserable luck.
"Heh heh heh…"
"Pernida Parnkgjas, as the Left Arm of the Soul King, you should be able to feel the frenzy and excitement contained in that sonic scream, shouldn't you?"
Unhurried, Mayuri pulled earplugs from his pocket and put them in.
He spread his arms wide, the sinister curve of his smile deepening.
"That's because the Demonic Fetus Golden Ashisogi Jizō can't wait to swallow you whole."
"Ahahahahaha!"
With that eerie grin and the enormous demonic monstrosity looming behind him, Mayuri somehow looked even more deranged than the Left Arm of the Soul King itself.
———
Silbern.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"A Shinigami's Bankai can be modified to this extent?!"
Every member of the Sternritter clutched their ears, staring at the translucent screen in stunned disbelief.
For the first time, their entire worldview felt shattered.
In their minds, Shinigami battles had always been straightforward.Kidō for support.Shunpo for mobility.Victory decided by blades clashing.
But Mayuri was playing a completely different game.
No sword swings. No Kidō. He didn't even bother using Shunpo.
From start to finish, it was nothing but twisted technology.
And now, even the creature summoned by his Bankai looked far more terrifying than the two arms of the Soul King combined.
…What the hell?
Did they get the roles mixed up or something?!
Is that masked freak really a Soul Reaper?
"If you ask me, Pernida Parnkgjas just has rotten luck! With all the insane abilities it showed, it would've crushed almost anyone else without breaking a sweat. But of course, it had to run into the biggest mad scientist monster of them all!"
Watching Mayuri's smug face on the screen, Valkyrie stomped the ground in fury.
Damn it!
Why did it have to be him?
If I were there, he wouldn't be the one running his mouth!
"Valkyrie, calm down. Pernida Parnkgjas hasn't necessarily lost yet." Stepping down from the high platform, Haschwalth raised a hand, signaling him to rein it in.
"That's right," Lille Barro added. "No matter how bizarre that summoned creature is, don't forget. The battlefield is already completely occupied by nerve endings."
That reminder instantly settled everyone's nerves.
Yeah, exactly!
No matter how massive the Bankai's form is,
The moment it touches the Soul King's left hand's nerves, it gets dominated by the power of forced execution.
In that situation, a huge body is nothing but a liability.
Against an endless spread of nerve endings,
It would just turn into a sitting duck.
And sure enough—
Right in the middle of their discussion,
The Soul King's left hand finally snapped and unleashed a full-power attack in a fit of rage.
"Crash—!!!"
A sound like roaring surf filled the air.
Dense, countless red nerves surged forward like a tidal wave, slamming into the demonic golden Ashisogi Jizō.
In less than three seconds,
The entire screen was swallowed by a sea of blood.
The giant body of the creature vanished completely.
"Captain Mayuri's Bankai… is it being destroyed?"
The Soul Reapers of the Gotei Thirteen held their breath.
Every heart dangled on a knife's edge.
Destruction…
Or consumption…
The moment of truth had arrived.
Then—
"Heh…"
A sigh escaped.
Not despair.
More like disappointment at wasted potential.
Mayuri shook his head slightly and spoke in a tone of thinly veiled contempt.
"Left Hand of the Soul King, it seems you still don't quite understand what the word 'evolution' really means."
"I already told you."
"Thanks to the vast amount of data I collected from you, Ashisogi Jizō was able to successfully evolve into its demonic fetus form. So open your eyes and take a good look."
"Take a good, hard look at how many layers of epidermal nerves it has."
"The answer is… seventy thousand layers!"
The instant Mayuri finished speaking,
A sound like shedding skin followed.
And then—
The demonic Ashisogi Jizō roared for the second time.
"Ooaaahhhhh—!"
The sheer force of the sound wave shot straight into the heavens, blasting apart the clouds overhead.
At the same time, every red nerve coiled around its body snapped clean off.
Then,
Before the horrified eyes of countless onlookers,
The golden Ashisogi Jizō straightened up, raised its chubby, infant-like arms, and brutally seized Pernida Parnkgjas by both arms.
And then…
It shoved them straight into its mouth.
In that instant,
Time itself seemed to freeze.
The sky, the clouds, the earth…
Everything within the True World City felt like it was being erased by the echoing roar.
The world was reduced to a single thing.
The savage silhouette of Ashisogi Jizō.
And the wet, disgusting sounds of chewing.
…
Silence.
Whether in the world of the living, Hueco Mundo, or the Soul Society,
Anywhere the translucent screens existed, only two sounds remained.
Chewing.
And people sucking in sharp breaths.
Anyone who witnessed that scene,
Had their mouth hanging open as wide as it would go.
The visual impact was so overwhelming it defied description.
It struck straight at the soul.
"Commander-General…"
"C-Captain Mayuri… he actually did it. He really ate the Soul King's left hand!" Chōjirō Sasakibe clutched his jaw, which felt like it might dislocate, as he struggled to regain his composure. His voice trembled with shock.
That was beyond brutal.
Not tearing it apart.
Not destroying it.
But stuffing it into his mouth and chewing it up.
Even the most savage Hollows in Hueco Mundo probably wouldn't go this far.
And what Ashisogi Jizō devoured wasn't just anything.
It was the legendary Soul King's left hand.
…
The Commander-General didn't respond right away.
He quietly steadied his emotions.
To be honest, even someone as ancient as him had been shaken by that sight.
He had assumed that "eating the Soul King's left hand" was just Mayuri's usual battlefield trash talk.
But who would have thought…
He actually followed through, and even chomped down both arms in one go.
Savage to the point of insanity.
"Well then… with the Soul King's left hand eaten, this battle should be over, right?"
Staring at the empty ground,
At the spot where not even bone fragments remained,
Sasakibe wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and let out a long breath.
This time… they could finally pop the champagne, couldn't they?
"That should be the case. I can no longer sense the Soul King's left hand's spiritual pressure either. It's probably being digested in the demonic fetus's stomach as we speak," the Commander-General said, nodding firmly.
"Oh, and one more thing."
"Later, submit a request to Central 46 to increase the funding for the Department of Research and Development. It seems I underestimated the power of science."
Stubborn and old-fashioned as he was,
After witnessing this utterly paradigm-shattering battle,
The old man had finally changed his view. He no longer believed that Zanpakutō alone were the ultimate truth.
In reality,
The power of technology and research was just as formidable.
"U-Understood!"
"To single-handedly erase the Soul King's left hand… Captain Mayuri certainly deserves that level of support."
Sasakibe replied respectfully.
However—
The words had barely left his mouth,
When the video, which had fallen silent, suddenly erupted again.
"Urgh…"
"Guh…"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH—!!!"
First came sounds of abdominal agony.
Then screams like the wailing of a vengeful spirit, filled with unbearable pain.
Without any warning,
The demonic Ashisogi Jizō, which had been chewing moments ago,
Froze mid-expression.
Then its head began to swell rapidly, its massive body ballooning as if it were boiling from the inside.
Different parts twisted and tore like bursting bubbles.
"W-What's happening?!"
The smile of victory froze solid.
Mayuri turned around, staring at the demon fetus that was collapsing in on itself, his face frozen in confusion.
What just happened?
Hadn't the Soul King's left arm already been devoured down to the last scrap?
Then why did the golden Ashisogi Jizō suddenly explode out of nowhere?
Unless…
Just as the uneasy thought rose in his mind—
Boom!
Like fireworks bursting in the sky.
The massive golden body of Ashisogi Jizō completely disintegrated, erupting into a towering spray of blood and flesh.
The clear blue sky was instantly dyed crimson.
Inside Wahrwelt, it was as if a torrential rain of blood had begun to fall.
And standing beneath it all was Mayuri.
The sunflower-shaped mask on his face was splattered with the demon fetus's remaining gore.
And in his eyes—
reflected clearly—was the reappearance of the Soul King's left arm.
"..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________