Chapter 55: Chapter 55
Right here, right now, there was nothing outside the boundary of this battle. The wind brushing over his face, the spiritual energy coalescing into the outline of a blade around him as his body transitioned into mots of white light, all of it had a single purpose. This was the final technique born from the act of giving up everything. The ultimate attack that defined who he was as a spirit.
'I will become the blade that severs the ties of vengeance and ends its karmic cycle.'
His name was Shinso, the Sacred Spear that slays the divine.
The God Killing Spear.
Power welled around him as his eyes narrowed into slits. Half of his body had already faded by now and assimilated into a formless ether congregated into a point over the tip of his right hand. To all those staring at him, there was no pressure, nor presence. He was there, and yet not there for he was no longer in the same realm of existence.
Power, strength, ability, all that he was and ever will be converged as one. All he had was a single instance. A final attack.
When he leveled his right hand forward and took aim, the world stilled before his eyes. There was no wind, nor colour, or pattern to be seen. Everything had leveled out into a single plain. A bewitching twilight heralding the coming finality of the end.
It was a white world, a static world without features.
An unseen force permeated outwards. Although it couldn't be felt or detected, it was as if one was standing on the precipice of defeat. No one was an exception.
Shinso focused on a target, his spiritual sense locking onto everyone on the battlefield, several of which immediately tensed. Aizen was one thing as Kyouka Suigetsu could mess with his senses, but no one else had that capability. This strike would never miss its mark. Yhwach felt a wave of unease at Shinso's form while Yamamoto and the other members of the Zero Squad raised their guards. Only Oetsu Nimaiya, third officer of the Zero Division reacted any differently. He was the creator of Zanpakuto, the forefather of all; able to sense any Zanpakuto he'd ever created and supplied to the Soul Society in Asauchi form. "M-My baby, I made that!"
All sound become meaningless to Shinso. Do not speak, do not yell, for he could no longer hear. Only a single target existed before him, such was the nature of this strike and the breaking down of his spiritual body.
Shinso wasn't aiming for Yhwach or any member of the Zero Squad. A part of him could infer that he could deal substantial damage to any of them, but he'd already locked onto the target of his immediate ire.
Zanpakuto's were merely the vessels in which half of a Shinigami's soul may reside. It was a container through and through. Therefore, the one person Shinso valued the most was the well being of his Master. It was true that they shared the same likes and dislikes, but Gin was Shinso's priority. To the one who struck his Master, this strike would go.
Lille Barro the X-Axis of the Sternritter suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck abruptly raise up in warning. Even from his distance away from the mysterious entity that abruptly appeared in combat, he felt small. Both of his eyes opened immediately, the strength of his Schrift activating. The power granted to him by his Lord allowed him the ability to pierce through anything in his line of sight including attacks. This ability allowed him to phase through enemy strikes if he so wished; however, this was different. No matter how he tried to dispel the visible build up of energy in front of him, nothing was working.
You can't pierce what's not there.
The visible sight of clouds and wind rippling around Shinso was not a product of his own creation, but the world reacting to his presence. Shinso right hand raised forward and took aim as the last of his figure faded into mots of ether.
'I am the spear that strikes down the Gods.'
As a Zanpakuto, Shinso was not known as the longest sword, but the fastest. The speed in which it could elongate and retract was second to none. The blade itself would fade into fragments of dust during its rapid acceleration, and the dust itself was the true weapon. A poison inducing rapid cell degeneration.
The 'Final' Shinso took everything to another level.
A keening echo resounded as a ring of energy rippled through the skies of the Seireitei as if a droplet impacting against still water.
'Shoot to kill.'
The concept of distance no longer mattered. It was irrelevant. All were rendered equal. A single thrust and the strike would land all the same. The hovering spear of white energy in the horizon shone brilliantly in the twilight. A fleeting radiance echoed by a softly whispered word.
'Sakerarenai!'
An inescapable blow.
A flash of light was all that could be seen, and then nothing. It was a strike that launched and ended in the same breadth. There was no fanfare, nor dramatic finish. Everything before the spear's path remained unharmed as the spear didn't exist within the laws of the world. Instead, it would only reveal its presence once stabbed through the body of its target, revealing its true nature in the form of poisoned dust.
'Korose, Kamishini no Yari'
Nothing remained in the spot Lille Barro once stood.
A lull formed over the battlefield, one of stunned disbelief, as no one could understand just where Shinso had come from or the nature of its affiliation.
/-/
Gin Ichimaru's features perked up in solemn thought as he felt Shinso's blade thrum in its sheath before growing silent. Any attempt at making contact with his Zanpakuto spirit ended in silence. He was stubborn and kept trying to reach for his connection with Shinso, but he was in no condition to continue.
He grunted while doing his best to prevent Rangiku from discovering his wobbling knees. The bullet he'd been struck in the chest with had blown a hole the size of a melon near his heart. He was bleeding profusely, but his hold on Rangiku never waned as he navigated the dimensional passage between the Soul Society and the Human World. In front of them was a hell butterfly that Gin would have no shame in claiming he'd pilfered from a dead Shinigami. He could be sly or deceitful, but he'd always been quick witted.
Neither he or Rangiku were in any condition to move, but anyone could see that Rangiku was less injured than him. When Rangiku pointed out the obvious and attempted to switch places, Gin gave her an uncharacteristically flat stare. "For everything I've put you through, a little pain means nothing."
Rangiku pursed her lips. She could wrestle herself free of Gin's hold, but that would mean easing the pressure she'd been putting on his chest to slow his bleeding. "D-Damn it, Gin." A sheen of moisture covered her eyes while a haggard smile spread over Gin's.
"It would take a lot more than this to put me down."
"…Just shut up."
Talking required effort and Rangiku could see that Gin was already struggling as it was, so she maintained her silence. Using what little spiritual energy she'd regained, she began using a basic recovery Kido over Gin's chest.
The two moved in silence, the darkness of the passage between dimensions illuminated only by the dim light of the hell butterfly. Gin's steps echoed while the erratic up and down motion of his torso caused him to cough constantly as his left lung had collapsed from the hole in his chest. He was wheezing, but strength never left the grip in which he held Rangiku.
Rangiku looked up at Gin's face before her shoulder's began to quiver. Gin was only half-conscious and moving forward through the strength of his will alone. His mouth was moving as he muttered in a low voice difficult to hear.
Gin had always been tight-lipped and secretive, but only she knew that his guard dropped in his sleep. Moreover, Gin was clearly delirious.
Rangiku calmed her breathing and just listened.
"Always, always failing."
The tapping of Gin's steps continued to resound.
"It was one promise. A single promise."
What was Gin seeing right now? What was he imagining? His pupils were unfocused, but his body followed the hell butterfly regardless.
"Sorry, Rangiku. I still haven't taken back what was stolen from you. J-Just wait a little longer."
A memory from long long ago surfaced in Rangiku's mind. Gin had never once wished to be a Shinigami despite his talent, but then one day, he did a complete one-eighty and began to drift away from her. What happened on that day? What didn't she know?
And then it all clicked like a bucket of ice water poured over her head.
In her youth with Gin, there was one time where she was attacked by random Shinigami and left for dead. When she'd woken up, all she'd been able to see was Gin's blue eyes narrowed in determination. In vengeance. This was where it all started.
I-It was her. She was the reason Gin had left.
"Aizen. Aizen."
A single name was uttered from Gin's mouth and Rangiku felt as if she was seeing the Gin of her past for the first time in years. The thing was, he'd never changed from the boy who always looked after her in their childhood. Aizen must have been involved with the Shinigami who attacked her, but knowing Aizen, even Gin stood no chance in open confrontation.
Like a snake, he'd bided his time, and betrayed his allies, all for a single opportunity.
"You planned to kill Aizen," Rangiku whispered out.
Gin suddenly stopped muttering, Rangiku's voice snapping him out of his blood-loss induced stupor. His gaze sharpened, but he made no indication of answering, but that alone was enough for Rangiku.
'You bumbling fool.'
Rangiku didn't have the heart to berate Gin for everything wrong he'd done just to get back at Aizen for her sake. Neither of the two made another noise, but Rangiku was sobbing inaudibly while holding Gin tightly in a hug. "Why, why do you never ask me before you do anything stupid. Always leaving me behind without telling me anything."
Gin solemnly walked forward, his expression set carefully blank while Rangiku let her frustration with him show. The feelings of wishing to protect someone precious wasn't something that could be explained logically anyway. It didn't matter what happened to you so long as the one you wished to protect remained safe.
To this end, Gin swore that he'd never fail.
Minutes passed before Gin entered the Human World with one final step. The feel of the sun's rays on his skin and the sound of the humans going about their lives was all Gin needed to hear before he blacked out.
The doorway between the Soul Society and the Human World had opened in an empty ally over the ground. Right at the entrance of the doorway, Gin teetered towards the ground.
"Hey wait, Gin! GIN!" Rangiku immediately caught Gin before he could fall and supported him by wrapping his right arm over her shoulders. His blood loss had been stopped after some basic healing Kido, but he'd still die if he didn't get medical attention.
Gin was breathing heavily and less frequently, causing no end to Rangiku's worries. She dreaded to think about what condition her captain and the Soul Society was in right now, but Gin's life was the one at stake in front of her.
Gritting her teeth, her knees buckled as she took on Gin's body weight and began to trudge onward with her injuries. There was one place in Karakura town that she knew had people that could help her, and it wouldn't be her first time visiting.
She groaned while bending her knees and pushed off into the sky towards Kisuke's shop. Gin's head was resting over her shoulder and she didn't know how much longer the idiot could last before succumbing to his injuries. This thought made her push herself harder. She cared for Gin just as much as Gin did for her to the point that she knew she could never kill him even if they were enemies. They'd had their misunderstandings and lack of communication, but this was the strength of their bond.
Hurry. Faster.
The slower Gin's breath became, the more frantic Rangiku grew. When her spiritual energy ran out on her, she plummeted with Gin to the ground where the trudged onward on foot. She'd been to Karakura enough times to be familiar with the path to Kisuke's shop that it didn't take her long to see the dinky thing hiding within a clearing in an alleyway.
She hoped above all else that Orihime was inside the shop. For a human, she had an astonishing ability to heal others with a power beyond simple regeneration. It was like she was turning back time, making injuries appear as if they'd never happened.
Upon drawing close to the shop, Rangiku became aware of the distinct spiritual energies inside. A majority of them were massive which wasn't too disconcerting considering Kisuke and Yoruichi were Captain-Class Shinigami, but she could sense more than two towering spiritual pressures inside.
Hesitating only for a second, she barged in and headed directly to the underground facility she knew Kisuke had installed beneath his store. The problem was, the entire area was packed with such a dense spiritual energy that she momentarily reeled.
She blinked and took in the faces that shifted towards her after she'd entered. Rangiku's eyes flashed in recognition as she began to list the large group of acquaintances in front of her.
Ichibei, the leader of the Zero Squad. She'd seen him when she'd attended a Captain's meeting with Toshiro in the first division.
Then there Kukaku and Ganju Shiba sitting on their own by a corner.
Karin and Isshin Kurosaki were standing cross-armed while Kisuke and Yoruichi were huddled over a device Kisuke was tinkering with.
Rangiku's injured state caught everyone off guard.
And then came the realization that she was carrying Gin Ichimaru over her shoulders, and this caused no small number of eyes to narrow in hostility. Rangiku swallowed nervously under the attention, but she couldn't falter here.
She laid Gin gently on the ground and made eye contact with Kisuke. "I need help," she called. "He's going to die if he doesn't get medical aid."
Kisuke grunted while placing a hand beneath his. He took a moment to stare before nodding towards Tessai who Rangiku noticed was behind her. The air was tense, but Rangiku allowed Tessai to attend to Gin so that he wouldn't die.
She bit down on her lips however when Tessai soon bound Gin in several high-level Hado spells that wrapped tightly around him. Hand-cuff like energy chains dug into Gin's skin, forming a ringed discolouration while a white bandage stemming from four stakes in the ground wrapped him up like a mummy.
"Y-You don't have to be that rough with him," Rangiku mumbled when she watched the discomfort flash across Gin's face. She winced.
"He is dangerous," Tessai said simply before adding on another layer of Kido that trapped Gin in a square coffin with only his head showing.
Rangiku held her tongue, and didn't resist as Tessai then went and helped treat her injuries. Sitting down, she watched as everyone focused their attention on her instead of whatever device Kisuke was fiddling with. As it would turn out, the function of the device soon became clear as it opened a Garganta to Hueco Mundo.
Rangiku opened then closed her mouth in disbelief. While the Seireitei was under siege, some of the Soul Societies strongest combatants were trying to infiltrate Hueco Mundo!? It was ridiculous.
No. Rangiku stopped herself from releasing an outburst. They probably had no idea about what occurred yet. Still, upon seeing the Garganta open, Kukaku Shiba and Isshin immediately started moving towards it. Never mess with a Shiba and their family. Kukaku and Isshin had relatives to rescue. Ichibei, and Karin looked ready to follow.
"Ah, no wait," Rangiku reached a hand forward and called out, but her voice was overpowered by the effectiveness of someone else's.
"I wouldn't recommend going there," Gin blearily opened his eyes while panting for breath. Tessai's rough handling of him had jarred him into awareness. Groggy as he was, he'd always been quick to analyze a situation. "…Right now, isn't a time to be make'n more enemies."
"And I see one right in front of me!" Kukaku had been trying to keep her temper from flaring at Gin, but trying to stop her now was the same as goading her. "You're one of Aizen's men." People who hurt her older brother. "Why should we even be trusting anything you say?!"
In a fit of anger, Kukaku began marching towards Gin.
"Hey, stop don't! He's right to warn you all!" Though injured, Rangiku stood in front of Gin before Kukaku could draw any nearer, fully intent on pushing herself if it meant Gin's safety. Kukaku grunted, staring between Rangiku then Gin, then back.
"Warn us of what?" Ganju spoke up curtly while Karin seemed hesitant on how to act. Kukaku glared but knew better than to act too much on emotions.
"The Seireitei?" Kisuke inquired thoughtfully, a hand moving to shut off the Garganta he'd created. "I assumed earlier this morning that the technical research facility was just undergoing maintenance, but I've lost connection with the Seireitei for longer then normal."
"Can you try contacting them now?" Ichibei proposed.
Kisuke hummed and simply clicked a button on a radio communications transceiver Yoruichi was holding that operated on Spiritual energy. Nothing but static could be heard.
"Don't bother trying anymore," Rangiku took a shuddering breath. "The Seireitei's probably gone by now," she said bitterly drawing mixed reactions. Kisuke and Yoruichi frowned, while Ichibei maintained his calm. Karin, and the Shiba siblings looked appalled.
"It was under siege when Gin came and rescued me," Rangiku elaborated.
"Gin did?" Yoruichi hummed in thought while Kisuke scrutinized Gin with a critical eye.
From one genius to another, Gin merely gave a deceitful smile.
"Gin may not be as loyal to Aizen as you all may think." Rangiku shifted the topic. "He-"
"Seireitei. The Seireitei. You haven't finished explaining what happened yet. Who are the attackers, and how did they infiltrate the Soul Society?" Ichibei interrupted with cool aloofness. He may seem calm on the surface, but a feeling of ill premonition was clamping a vice around his heart. His authority as the leader of the Zero Squad was out in full display.
"Quincy," Rangiku didn't beat around the bush and shifted her tone into a formal one.
Veins popped over Ichibei's skin, a rare expression of urgency making its way over his generally jovial features. His hands grew clammy and a sharpness glinted over his eyes. Rangiku continued to report in a fluent manner.
"We're still not sure how they managed to sneak into the Seireitei, but they spoke of their King's awakening before the attack."
"Their King?" Kisuke echoed out.
Rangiku stared everyone in the face and said only a single name heard from the mouths of the Quincy.
"Yhwach."
And suddenly, Ichibei was gone through a Dangai, a storm of spiritual energy left in wake of his urgency.
Over 900 years, he shall recover his heartbeat.
Over 90 years, he shall recover his intellect.
Over nine years, he shall recover his power.
The prophecy of the Quincy War Song was about to come to pass.
Time was of the essence.
/-/
Death, ruin, then rebirth. This entire campaign was built upon this simple premise. To change a rotten world, one must first destroy it in order to build it anew, and destruction begins from the foundation.
Yhwach had taken a single moment to assess the dynamics between Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy, and deliberately began planning out the road to doomsday.
Nine days, and he shall recover the world.
At the moment of his waking, he was amused to discover the situation between the Hollows and Shinigami as reported by Haschwalth. The two sides had been through a large-scale confrontation with Yamamoto's forces taking the brunt of the damage. He'd sent Quilge, Giselle, and Lloyd to scout the situation in Hueco Mundo to ascertain the strength of their special war potential, but none had returned.
In any case, Yhwach had seen for himself about what sort of being the Vasto of White was, and concluded that he was no match at his current level. This caused him to rapidly speed up his plans to assimilate the strength of his bound father in the Soul King's Palace. Only then could a true battle be fought.
To that end, the Seireitei's fall was secondary. It was only better that the Shinigami were in a weakened state after their war.
Yhwach couldn't have been anymore pleased that the Zero Squad decided to pay the Seireitei a visit in wake of the threat the Vasto of White posed. In doing so, they'd temporarily vacated their positions as the Soul King's Royal Guard with only a single means to return rapidly to the Soul King's Palace via a canon owned by the Shiba Clan.
A canon which should be up in flames by now.
With the canon out of the way, the seventy-two barriers around the Palace would hinder the squad's return.
Yhwach couldn't stop his mouth from pulling upward into a grin as he felt Bazz-B engulf the entire Shiba complex with his power. In comparison, he saw the faces of the Zero Squad pull taught into a grimace.
"Fools," Yhwach no longer had any time to waste on them…nor Yamamoto. The man, and rival of the past had grown weak in his addled age. All the ruthlessness was gone, traded away for complacency. After his Bankai had been stolen, he was nothing more than a toothless predator.
As Bazz-B's flames fully engulfed the Shiba clan's canon, half of the Zero Squad shifted priorities with Kirio Hikifune and Senjumaru Shutara flash stepping away in order to douse the fire. Yet did the two really believe that they could get past him?
Yhwach gathered a torrent of spiritual energy and formed a wall of it to impede Kirio and Senjumaru's advance. There was nothing that could be done to stop the inevitable. The Royal Guard had blundered in putting too much attention on the Vast of White.
Yhwach really would have to show his appreciation to the Vasto of White when they met in person. Perhaps he'd even grant an honorary position in his Reich if the Vasto of White was cooperative enough.
In any case, just as he was getting ready to confront the Royal Guard and a weakened Yamamoto, the unspeakable occurred. An unknown entity abruptly took form out of nothing. One moment there was nothing, and in the next it was there, a spirit that emitted no source of power but was affecting the world around it.
He watched in fascination as the being merely pointed a hand, and the connection that Yhwach had with the leader of his Schutzstaffel or Upper Echelon vanished in an instant. In his very last moments, Yhwach could feel that Lille Barro himself couldn't understand what had happened.
There wasn't even a body left, not a trace of anything.
"That was my baby! Daddy's proud!" Yhwach frowned while listening to Oetsu's exclamation.
In any case, Yhwach wasn't perturbed at Lille's defeat. In the end, those who live and those who die will be determined through his use of his holy selection Auswählen. At present, all that mattered was that his objective in the Seireitei was complete. With the distraction posed by the mysterious entity, Bazz-B's flames had already toppled the Shiba clan's canon and compound. The members of the Royal Guard wouldn't be able to return to the Soul King's Palace fast enough to impede him even if another method was available to them.
"There is no longer any point in remaining here," Yhwach said flatly before raising his voice. "Sternritter! Rally to your King!"
All across the Seireitei, the remaining Quincy still alive or slaughtering Shinigami paused in their actions and heeded Yhwach's call as beams of light engulfed them all. Of the Shinigami Captains left, four were heavily inured, one was dead, and the rest had grown mad in their grief and weakness.
It was truly a pity.
Yhwach looked upon the Seireitei's devastation and grunted. If he wasn't pressed by the fact that his power was presently weaker than the Vasto of White's, he would have stayed in order to sack the Soul Society further. As it was, he'd have to make due with settling a personal vendetta before departing.
"Goodbye, Yamamoto."
It happened before anyone could react. Yhwach was stronger than a majority of the Zero Squad already, and with Yamamoto's Bankai in his possession, there was hardly anyone that could stop him.
The biggest factor that allowed Yhwach the freedom to do as he pleased was that Ichibei was strangely absent. He alone may have been able to pressure Yhwach into passivity, but fate was a cruel mistress.
Yhwach lashed out with a sword of spiritual energy while Tenjiro and Oetsu tried to intervene.
"If you believe that any of you can stop me without Ichibei, then you're all mistaken," Yhwach scoffed before he bypassed the two members of the Royal Guard and appeared in front of Yamamoto.
Yamamoto was a hardened veteran of many battles. He could determine the current difference between him and Yhwach, but the tradition orientated leader of the Seireitei would never surrender. He swung his sword down in an arc, the familiar flames that had once wreathed its blade no longer present. It was nothing more than a sturdy Asauchi.
Pathetic.
Yhwach's sword cut through Yamamoto's blade and bifurcated Yamamoto across the shoulders. A deathly silence spread throughout the Seireitei before aggrieved shouts echoed as Yamamoto's body collapsed over the ground.
The Captain Commander had been killed in battle.
The blow this one acknowledgment gave the Seireitei was enough to madden the Shinigami still alive, and enrage the Royal Guard who had known Yamamoto as a comrade since the past.
Yhwach summoned a ray of spiritual energy to blast Yamamoto's body into ashes, but this was as far as he could go before Oetsu and Tenjiro attacked him. The thing was, none of their blows hit their target.
A faint glow appeared in Yhwach's eyes. His power, the Almighty, grants him the ability to peer into the possibilities of the future and mold them into the outcome he desires. Moreover, any power that he 'knows' will become his ally and be unable to harm him in any way.
He was Yhwach, A-The Almighty and Slumbering King of the Quincy, and he will soon end the life and death cycle of the world.
"Until next time," Yhwach decreed as a pillar of spiritual energy enveloped him. Like the other members of the Sternritter, he stepped into a portal. However, his destination was different than his subordinates who retreated back towards the hidden stronghold of Wadenreich. The portal he had stepped into was less like a portal and more like an ejection shaft with explosives fueled by spiritual energy rigged at the bottom.
With a thought, Yhwach was sent rapidly accelerating towards the sky.
"Stop him!" The members of the Royal Guard present immediately understood what was happening, but had no method to intervene.
Revel in your despair for the end times have come.
Yhwach's felt wind rapidly blowing over his form as he ascended towards the seventy-two barriers of the Soul King's Palace high above the Seireitei. There was no longer hole made from the Zero Squad's arrival, but it didn't matter as he'd long since made his preparations.
The only method to access the Soul King's Palace was through a key known as the Oken made from the bones of a Royal Guard. This was so that one could survive passing through the seventy-two barriers of the palace. However, in the end, wasn't an Oken just a congregation of energy and those that possessed the blood and bones of the Soul King?
Yhwach himself as the son of the Soul King already possessed the qualification of blood and bones. All that was truly required of him was the power to endure the friction of the seventy-two barriers.
He lifted both of his hands to his side and began to channel energy.
"Auswählen," he invoked the power of holy selection as beams of light shot down on many Sternritter in Wadenreich. Screams of confusion and anger reverberated through his mind, but their sacrifice would be their honour as contribution towards the greater good.
Auswählen was the ability to steal the power of the impure Quincy to bolster his strength and those he selects as worthy. In essence, it was the ability of redistribution.
Spiritual energy swelled around Yhwach as he made contact with the seventy-two barriers and began his forceful ascent to his father's palace. Preparations had long since been made for his entry, and now that the Palace was without its guards, there would be no one to stop him. The pieces of the board were shifting towards the final phase.
Seconds turned into minutes.
Yhwach released a shout of exertion as he broke into the Soul King's Palace.
"Hhhahahha!" He grinned widely. Blood was trickling down his skin and a majority of his clothes had been burnt black, but it didn't matter. There before him was the palace that bound his father.
The dimension was divided into several layers stacked upon each other. The lowest layer consisted of many buildings similar in design to those in the Seireitei with tiled roofs and white walls. From this, a wide staircase leading to an open plaza lined by rows of huge circular pillars. Floating above each pillar were numerous buildings. Between all the pillars, and floating even higher than the rest was cylindrical structure with a conical top and bottom.
This was the inner sanctum of the Soul King's Palace, the structure that restrained his father.
The moment Yhwach arrived, his presence was immediately sensed by Senjumaru's Divine Soldiers. They all wore black hakama with purple sashes around their waist. Over their faces were black masks with four light-coloured lines, and their hair was tied up into topknots. They were known as the Blades of the Soul King, and where there were blades, there would be shields.
The realm trembled as various figures impacted over the plaza. They were the Second-Class Divine Soldiers known as the Shield of the Soul King. They were towering replicas of the standard Divine Soldiers, but they wore circular black hats.
No one spoke. There was mutual understanding between them that neither side would back down, and words were useless in battle.
The only thing that had to be understood here, was that none of these Divine Soldiers could rival the power of a Royal Guard. Yhwach was just as strong if not stronger than Ichibei in terms of power.
This set up was like sending ants to kill an elephant. Even if enough ants could topple a giant, there was no way the giant could be impeded as it moved.
Yhwach began walking, slaughtering all of Senjumaru's Divine Soldiers that got in his way until he entered his father's inner sanctum reeking of blood. The inside was sparsely decorated and dim. All that could be seen was a figure whose limbs had been severed with only a body to remain trapped inside a barrier suspended by four wires.
This was all that was left of the Soul King. Powerless, and nothing more than a tool to be used to maintain the balance brought on by the Soul Society's Noble Clans.
"Did you foresee this day coming already, father?" Yhwach asked rhetorically. He already knew the answer. Slowly he approached, blade drawn. "I will put an end to this cycle of life and death, and bring about the vision of a better world."
No answer. Of course, there wasn't an answer.
Yhwach could predict the future, but even he couldn't see everything. Mimihagi's activities were still unknown, but the Soul King's death should force the King's Right Hand out of hiding.
Raising his sword up, Yhwach slashed down without mercy, killing the Soul King and beginning the process of usurpation. Black shadows began to crawl up Yhwach's arms while creating malformed abominations that fell towards the Seireitei.
Destiny calls. The true battle begins now.
The Vasto of White would no longer be the only one with a world at his beck and call. The playing field would soon be even, but the parallels still existed.
Yhwach and the Vasto of White.
Each carried their own ideals but only one ruler may exist.
He who rules with an iron fist, or he who acts for the well being of others. A tyrannical Demon or a watchful God. Both had their sides and supporters, and the one decision the Soul Society would have in this conflict was who to support when neither option was appealing.
In any case, Yhwach shut his eyes and focused. The power welling though his veins was overwhelming such that it needed an outlet.
He would fire the first shot.
Yhwach activated the power of worldly assimilation to create a single battlefield, manually beginning the merging process between the Human World, the Soul Society…and Hueco Mundo.
Yhwach grinned as he felt resistance in the world's laws.
'Your move.'
Hueco Mundo was transforming.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone