Makoto gazed down at her, his voice so calm it seemed to dismiss the moment as trivial.

Yet the girl before him froze, staring at him in a daze.

As the inexplicable tremor in her heart slowly faded, Yhwach's delicate face twitched. Her rigid lips quivered, then curled into a near-seductive arc.

Of course.

How could she have forgotten?

In this world, only the strong have the right to define everything.

Thought, speculation, reasoning, all were meaningless.

The unknown and the known could both be illusions.

Victory was everything.

In that moment, Yhwach snapped her head up.

She faced the colossal, world-splitting black rift, radiating an alien pulse that didn't belong to this realm.

She faced the unprecedented enemy before her.

"As expected," she murmured.

"Words only someone like you would say…"

How long had it been?

Yhwach stepped forward, her bare, snow-white feet pressing against the scarred ground. A gust seemed to follow, billowing her raven hair. Her reishi sword ignited with pure, white flames.

How long had it been since she'd felt this?

Her slender steps quickened, her form blurring into a single, unbroken line across the earth, charging straight toward Makoto.

Her black double pupils contracted to pinpoints, glinting with near-manic excitement.

This… this fear of facing death head-on!

"Makoto!" Her youthful voice sharpened into a piercing, almost exultant cry.

His full strength, his hidden unknowns, his deepest truths, and his death!

She wanted to see it all with this eye!

Her left eye's double pupils tightened.

The girl, her reishi sword trailing pure white Reishi, surged forward at a speed unattainable by most souls, like a flame defying a black waterfall.

Burning everything.

Makoto could feel it, this Yhwach was utterly different from any moment before.

Her raw fervor, her reckless resolve to live through death, declared for the first time that she stood as his equal, a Shinigami's peer.

So, Makoto answered with his full strength, his blade surging alongside the world-piercing rift behind him, igniting in black fire.

Buzz!

A soundless roar.

The instant black and white collided, ceaseless waves rippled outward. The stable space quivered like a pond struck by a stone, sending tremors through the earth dozens of kilometers away.

Their presence was undeniable, like an elephant in the room, forcing itself into the souls of every living being in the Soul Society.

Countless souls, bewildered, terrified, looked toward the source of the quaking.

But Makoto and Yhwach had no time for such things.

In the depths of their eyes, only the other existed.

The black blade whipped through the air, its mere shockwave carving a kilometers-long gash in the earth.

Yhwach, glimpsing the strike half a second early through her double pupils, shot forward, grazing the edge of the earth-shattering slash. Her reishi sword thrust forward, only to be deflected by countless tendrils erupting from the shadows, pulling her closer.

She snapped dozens of tendrils with a fierce tug, veering to the side.

Makoto's finger pointed at her, his voice commanding: "You cannot escape!"

A single phrase imposed an invisible shackle, enforcing a rule on her actions.

This was the same "rule" from his battle with Nelliel.

This was the essence of World Invasion.

Adding something to this world that doesn't belong.

Even without activating Yuseiboushi or unfolding the world, the rule bound Yhwach without resistance.

The moment she heard his voice, her body instinctively twisted.

But her eyes met Makoto's descending black blade.

Boom!

The shockwave exploded outward, forming layered rings of force.

Her slender form crashed into the earth like a meteor, upheaving massive chunks of ground like a seesaw, dust storms blasting into the sky.

But before the dust could spread, a faster shadow shattered it.

Makoto's black-clad form dove into the crater, his left hand seizing half of Yhwach's delicate face, his right hand driving the Oharai Gougi toward her chest without hesitation.

"Stop."

Her sharp cry hit Makoto faster than the sound reached his ears.

The brief pause was enough to reverse the tide.

His arm, gripping her face, was caught by her slender, snow-white hands. With terrifying force, she spun his body like paper, flinging him into the air.

"Heilig Pfeil!"

Though the name remained the same, each arrow was as massive as those from the Sankt Bogen, raining from countless glowing arrays, enveloping Makoto's form.

But before the radiant arrows could land, countless black shadows shot from the flames around him, shattering every attack in a misty haze, scattering Reishi fragments like spilled water.

Yet, as Makoto turned toward Yhwach's position, her figure vanished from his sight.

In the next instant, pure white flames erupted behind him.

Another clash ensued.

---

When Yamamoto and the others arrived, the First Division barracks and surrounding structures were gone.

Only a scarred, gnawed landscape remained.

But at this point, no one cared about such trivialities.

Yamamoto and Kinroku stood silently, watching the duel unfold.

At some point, Unohana appeared at the battlefield's edge.

She gazed skyward at the black figure, her eyes gleaming like flames.

But as she stepped forward, unsatisfied, a large hand suddenly blocked her path.

"Don't come any closer."

Unohana's brows furrowed slightly.

As she looked up, she saw a large monk standing before her, a string of crimson beads hanging around his neck.

She froze, caught off guard.

Kinroku, hearing the voice, turned toward Ichibe Hyosube, his expression tinged with surprise.

Even he was here?

But upon reflection, it seemed only natural.

The shockwaves from the battle, threatening to tear the Soul Society apart, would surely have drawn the attention of the monk tasked with guarding the Soul King's Palace, even without a summons.

Still, it was absurd…

Kinroku subtly adjusted his glasses, masking the faint apprehension in his eyes.

To think such a formidable figure was still under Ichibe's seal?

What would Yhwach have been like at her peak?

He didn't know.

At that moment, Ichibe Hyosube's heart was equally shaken.

Despite knowing of Yhwach's existence and her potential to inherit the Soul King's power, he hadn't anticipated her being this ferocious so soon after her sealing.

And the Shinigami fighting her to this extent, what kind of person was he?

Ichibe's thoughts lingered as he glanced at the cat-eared girl with the gaping hole in her skirt, his gaze growing increasingly peculiar.

To transform Yhwach into this?

For the first time, this ancient Shinigami, who had existed for a million years, questioned the breadth of his own experience.

"You're not going to intervene?" Yamamoto asked calmly, his voice low and steady.

"No need," Ichibe replied with equal composure.

Only Unohana continued to gaze skyward, her eyes gleaming brighter.

---

The world-piercing rift grew sharper, the darkness spilling from it thicker, more viscous, like a festering scar on reality itself.

Makoto didn't notice, consumed by the unprecedented surge of power swelling within him, amplifying his speed and strength.

Yhwach felt it too.

Both unleashed their might in a desperate bid to wield their greatest power in the fleeting time they had.

Unbeknownst to her, Yhwach's delicate face betrayed an expression of raw, fervent exhilaration, her eyes unconsciously widening.

For the first time in countless ages, she felt such vivid emotions.

Fear, excitement, fervor, desire!

She had forgotten when she last experienced these.

From her birth with nothing, to sharing souls through contact, to feeling human emotions for the first time, to endlessly giving and reclaiming souls to seize others' experience and wisdom…

The Yhwach of old had once lived through a time not so Almighty.

That period had been relatively long.

Until she gradually forgot what it meant to feel human.

Because, for so long, no one had stood on her level.

Now, she had reclaimed that self.

Though she loathed to admit it, this was the first time in her existence she felt such a burning desire for power.

In an instant, the Reiatsu enveloping Yhwach condensed into a radiant glow, her white flames blazing to their peak, consuming her cat ears and long hair.

She became light.

"Makoto!!!" Her cry rang clear and piercing.

In that moment, their eyes locked, gazes intertwining.

As if by unspoken agreement, both abandoned all Reishi-based rules and abilities, pouring everything into their Reiatsu and blades.

Their weapons pointed at each other.

Makoto took the first step.

Yhwach, fearless as never before, charged to meet him.

Black and white.

Steel against steel.

Immense Reiatsu condensed into a narrow space, its sheer density enough to suffocate any Shinigami below tier-1 Reiatsu, like a child submerged in water.

The world seemed to freeze into a silent, black-and-white tableau.

All Yamamoto and the others could see were two dragon-like streams of light colliding.

Clang!

Perhaps it was an illusion, but in the instant before the light consumed their vision, Yamamoto thought he heard the sharp scrape of blades.

The next moment, their forms and senses were engulfed by boundless shockwaves.

Boom!

Ripples spread along the horizon, a tidal wave of force sweeping away everything in sight.

In an instant, half the Seireitei's structures were obliterated, leaving only a sunken, barren expanse.

One small area remained intact.

Kinroku opened his eyes instinctively.

He saw Ichibe Hyosube and Yamamoto standing in front of him and Unohana, shielding them.

One raised a palm, the other drew a blade, tearing through the violent shockwave.

Behind them, the earth bore a long, deliberate scar, faintly outlining the Seireitei's former tiles.

Farther back, even the kido stone walls were shattered.

Unohana, beside him, continued to watch the distant scene, her initial excitement now replaced by grave solemnity.

Kinroku followed her gaze.

There, in the center of the massive crater, stood Makoto and Yhwach.

In the next moment, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

Black and white blades, almost in unison, pierced each other's hearts.

Blood dripped from the tips protruding through their chests.

Yhwach gazed calmly at the man before her. In her once-single-pupiled eye, a faint outline of double pupils flickered, suppressed by some force, unable to fully emerge.

But it was enough.

Ignoring the blood spilling from her mouth, she forced a triumphant smile, staring at Makoto. "I've won."

But before her smile could fully bloom, a familiar vision flashed in her eyes.

[3] → [2]

Her smile froze.

The smile shifted to Makoto's face.

"Oh, is that so?"

***

Bonus Chapter:

100 Power Stones = 1 BC

300 Power Stones = 2 BC

500 Power Stones = 3 BC

700 Power Stones = 4 BC

1000 Power Stones = 5 BC

***

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