At this moment, Uehara Shiroha's physical form and ice blade had already begun to dissipate like morning mist touched by sunlight. Luminous particles of spiritual energy broke away from his outline, drifting upward before fading entirely from view. The allocated time for the clone's existence had expired, its Reiatsu reserves completely depleted by the intensity of the battle.

Harribel was extraordinarily fortunate to have escaped with her life. The Tres Espada had survived where her two companions had fallen—a remarkable outcome given the overwhelming disparity in power that had been displayed throughout the confrontation.

Yet her survival had little to do with her own strength, formidable though it was. Her continued existence was permitted rather than earned—a result of Uehara Shiroha's mercy rather than any failure on his part to complete her elimination.

In the final exchange, Uehara Shiroha had merely inflicted a casual wound upon her, deliberately avoiding her vital points despite having ample opportunity to target them. Had he directed his attack with lethal intent, Harribel's chances of survival would have been virtually nonexistent, regardless of her considerable defensive capabilities.

Before the clone vanished completely from the battlefield, Uehara Shiroha gazed down at Harribel with an expression of absolute authority—the look of one who held complete dominion over another's fate. His voice carried across the distance between them, clear and resonant despite the chaos of battle surrounding them:

"From today on, your life belongs to me, and no one else can take it away!"

The declaration was not merely a boast but a statement of ownership—a claim staked upon her very existence. In that moment, he had marked her, not as prey to be hunted, but as property to be preserved for his own purposes.

"So it was just a clone?" Harribel's voice carried a bitter undertone as she processed this revelation, blood still flowing from her numerous wounds.

Reflecting on the battle they had just survived—if such one-sided domination could even be called a battle—she felt a profound sense of desperation washing over her. The hopelessness of their situation became increasingly apparent with each passing moment.

Now that she had time to consider what had transpired, she realized that they had never been fighting against a mere "person" at all. Their struggle had been more akin to challenging the fundamental forces of nature—attempting to resist the sky and earth themselves. No matter how valiantly they fought or what sacrifices they made, they could never have shaken such immutable powers.

They had given everything they possessed, expending all their Reiatsu to unleash their most devastating techniques. By any reasonable standard, they had conducted themselves admirably, approaching the confrontation with appropriate caution and making no tactical errors that might have granted their opponent an unnecessary advantage.

Yet despite their textbook execution, they had still faced inevitable defeat. This had not been a contest between equals or even between beings of comparable nature. It had been, in the truest sense, a battle between mortals and a god.

Those who dared to raise their hands against divinity were invariably punished for their hubris, forced to endure the wrath of powers beyond their comprehension. The three Espada had learned this lesson at tremendous cost—Barragan and Stark with their lives, Harribel with her pride and autonomy.

Although Uehara Shiroha's clone had dissipated from physical manifestation, his influence over the battlefield only expanded in the aftermath of the confrontation. His presence and the oppressive weight of his spiritual pressure seemed to linger in the atmosphere, growing stronger rather than fading with his physical departure.

The other Shinigami present were utterly shocked by the display of power they had witnessed. Their worldview, built around certain assumptions about the hierarchy of strength, had been forcibly reconstructed in the span of a single engagement.

Traditionally, captain-level Shinigami represented the pinnacle of the Gotei 13's military strength, figures who had rarely met their match in battle and whose authority remained largely unchallenged. With the exception of the captains and vice-captains who had defected with Aizen, the Gotei 13 had not suffered the combat death of a captain in living memory.

Yet facing the top three Espada, several of these supposedly invincible captains had found themselves at a severe disadvantage, confronting the very real possibility of defeat and death for the first time in their long careers. This realization had plunged many Shinigami into a state of profound pessimism regarding the ultimate outcome of this war.

Then, like a deus ex machina descending from the heavens, Uehara Shiroha had appeared on the battlefield. With seemingly casual ease, he had suppressed all three of the strongest Espada simultaneously, using what they now understood to be merely a clone rather than his actual self.

He had moved among them like a god of war from ancient mythology, pursuing the three Espada and thoroughly defeating them in every aspect of combat. Speed, power, technique, tactical awareness—in each category, his superiority had been absolute and undeniable.

The Shinigami's reaction to this display transcended mere surprise, entering the realm of existential shock. Uehara Shiroha's strength had proven to be beyond any rational metric they possessed for measuring combat capability. It existed in a realm so far beyond their expectations that they found themselves simultaneously awed, relieved, and terrified by what they had witnessed.

This previously unknown magnitude of power—something that exceeded their collective imagination—stunned everyone present, from the newest unseated officer to the most experienced captain. Even Yamamoto himself appeared momentarily taken aback by the display, though his weathered features revealed little of his inner thoughts.

Before this incident, they had understood in an abstract sense that Uehara Shiroha possessed exceptional strength. After all, he had previously demonstrated his terrifying Bankai and defeated several captains in direct combat. Many still vividly remembered the bone-chilling Reiatsu that had accompanied that demonstration.

Since that day, however, Shiroha had never again revealed the full extent of his capabilities. They had never again witnessed him engaging in serious combat against worthy opponents.

Consequently, the Shinigami had maintained a somewhat muted assessment of his abilities—acknowledging that Captain-Commander Uehara was certainly powerful, but perhaps not fully appreciating the true magnitude of that power.

They hadn't anticipated that Shiroha could be so overwhelmingly strong that he could handily defeat three of the most powerful Espada using nothing more than a clone. The implications were staggering—if a mere fragment of his power could accomplish such feats, what might his true self be capable of?

What manner of strength was this? Was it some new application of Bankai that they had never encountered before? Could this power possibly exceed even that of the Captain-Commander himself?

Even Kyōraku Shunsui, who had been feigning death while waiting for an opportune moment to launch a surprise attack, found himself deeply shocked and confused by what he had witnessed.

His original strategy had been relatively straightforward. First, he would pretend to be incapacitated, then identify a crucial moment when he could assist Shiroha by attacking unexpectedly. If circumstances permitted, he hoped to eliminate one of the three Arrancar and thereby tip the balance of the confrontation.

In Kyōraku's estimation, it would have been a remarkable achievement for Shiroha to merely hold his ground against three such powerful opponents simultaneously. He was intimately familiar with Stark's formidable capabilities, having faced the Primera Espada in direct combat. Adding two more Arrancar of comparable strength to the equation should have created an insurmountable challenge.

The three Espada fighting in concert would have presented extreme difficulty even for Yamamoto Genryūsai, possibly forcing the ancient Shinigami to unleash his Bankai. That Shiroha could face such opposition without his true body seemed beyond all reasonable expectation.

Kyōraku had fully anticipated that his old friend would rapidly find himself overwhelmed, necessitating immediate support from any available ally. After all, facing a coordinated assault from three master-level opponents would generate immense pressure that few beings could withstand for long.

In such desperate circumstances, Kyōraku had resolved to offer his assistance regardless of his own injuries. The bonds of friendship demanded nothing less than his full commitment, even at considerable personal risk.

Reality, however, had thoroughly contradicted his expectations. Far from merely enduring against the three released Espada, Shiroha had methodically dismantled them, killing two outright and severely wounding the third before his clone finally dissipated.

This outcome had profoundly surprised Kyōraku, forcing him to reconsider his understanding of his old friend's capabilities. The talent Shiroha possessed was truly terrifying in its scope and potential.

Kyōraku's previous assessment of Shiroha's strength had placed him roughly at the level of a particularly gifted thousand-year captain. He had assumed that while his friend was certainly stronger than the average captain, he remained somewhat below Yamamoto's level, with considerable distance still separating him from becoming the strongest Shinigami in existence.

Kyōraku had maintained absolute faith in Shiroha's potential and natural talent but believed that realizing that potential would require substantial time and experience. In his estimation, Uehara Shiroha would eventually grow into the strongest Shinigami—but that eventuality lay in the future rather than the present.