Chapter 422

2-in-1 chapter:

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“Badmouthing all Quincy would be disrespectful to the mother of my child.”

“So, I’ll focus only on you.”

“Baldy, you’d better come at me with everything you’ve got from the start.”

“Otherwise, if you die too quickly, it won’t be any fun.”

Hearing that, the mohawked man exploded with fury.

“Who are you calling bald…?!”

“This style—this takes hours of fire every day to maintain a perfect mohawk!!”

As he shouted, he suddenly raised his hand.

Red flames burst into an explosive blaze!

Seeing this, Isshin’s mouth curled into a grin.

Perfect. Just like the intel described.

Mohawk, fire-type ability…

A Sternritter from a thousand years ago—one of the Wandenreich’s top-tier fighters:

Bazz-B, "The Heat."

For the past nine years, every Shinigami ranked Fourth Seat and above in the Gotei 13 had been given a mandatory study task:

Memorize the names, traits, and abilities of every Sternritter.

For Shinigami from Kaelith’s faction, the exams were especially strict.

Each time Bambietta or Ishida Ryūken visited Soul Society, they would, under Kaelith’s instructions, conduct tests across the divisions.

Anyone who failed to score full marks would receive Kaelith’s “loving education.”

So the instant Shiba Isshin saw the mohawked Quincy before him, he recognized the man’s identity.

“Well, what do you know. Rare to run into a Quincy with fire abilities, and I just happened to bump into you.”

Isshin grinned.

“Huh? What’s so rare about that?”

Bazz-B frowned slightly.

He was in a foul mood.

Haschwalth, that coward—ever since he had been terrified by Kaelith and Yamamoto barging into his domain a hundred years ago, he had abandoned the idea of launching a frontal assault on Soul Society.

Instead, he had split the Quincy army into hundreds of units, sending them into Seireitei through the Wandenreich’s shadow gates, each dropping in a different location.

The Sternritter were completely scattered, not deployed together.

Before setting out, each of them had been given a single order—

Cause as much destruction as possible. Create chaos in Seireitei to scatter the Gotei 13’s focus.

Though he couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the order, as His Majesty’s knight, he obeyed without question.

Isshin raised his Zanpakutō in response to Bazz-B’s question.

“Because… like you, I’m fire-aspected.”

With a smile, he flashed forward.

“Burn, Engetsu!!”

“!!”

Bazz-B’s pupils contracted.

The man’s speed was far beyond what he’d expected.

And that blade, already blazing with fire—even before it struck, he could feel the deadly danger it carried.

“Burning Finger—Two!!”

BOOM!!!!

A searing crimson firecloud erupted in Seireitei’s sky!

Isshin burst out of the flames.

Sword in hand, he calmly watched the burning cloud.

So this was the “Schrift” power Ishida Sōken had spoken of…

With the help of the two “traitors,” Seireitei had gained some knowledge of the Wandenreich’s powers.

Yhwach shared his own blood with strong pure-blood Quincy, granting them power.

That power was called the Schrift.

The mohawked man before him bore the letter H. For Heat.

The flames just now were its manifestation.

In the thousand years of Yhwach’s slumber, he couldn’t bestow blood. So those promoted during that time—such as Bambietta—did not have Schrift powers.

Bazz-B was different. He had fought alongside Yhwach a thousand years ago, so he wielded Schrift with mastery.

Against an opponent this ancient, who had lived and fought for over a millennium, appearances could not be trusted.

As Isshin pondered, the firecloud above was suddenly ripped apart.

Bazz-B stepped forth unscathed, a feral grin on his face.

“Excellent. I thought that after a thousand years, Seireitei had no decent opponents left. Seeing someone like you here puts me at ease.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you must be the strongest Shinigami besides Yamamoto and Kaelith, right?”

At that, Isshin blinked in surprise—then burst into laughter.

“Idiot. Not a chance.

Forget my master—even among the rest of Yurei’s Faction, if it came to a direct fight, I couldn’t claim to be the strongest.”

Yurei’s Faction?

Hearing that name, Bazz-B frowned.

But before he could press further, Isshin had already launched his next attack.

Bazz-B snorted.

Forget it. No need for more talk.

I’ll kill him first—then ask my questions.

He raised his right hand.

Burning Finger…

Just as he prepared to strike, a wave of foreboding washed over him.

Isshin’s eyes widened.

“Getsuga Tenshō!!!”

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The alarm blared. Komamura immediately flash-stepped to the roof of his barracks.

That alarm had been drilled into every captain through countless exercises.

In all the previous drills, the time had always been announced in advance.

This time, there had been no warning.

There was only one explanation.

The Quincy had invaded!

No sooner had he reached the rooftop than a massive figure stepped out of the shadows.

A tall, heavily muscled man with dark skin—his presence alone carried oppressive weight.

Sensing spiritual pressure, the giant’s eyes fell on Komamura at once.

Seeing Komamura’s appearance, he paused—then bared his teeth in a grin.

“How interesting… Seireitei has animals serving as captains?”

Komamura’s face remained calm, utterly unmoved.

He had discarded any shame in his appearance long ago, not long after joining the Eleventh Division.

If his opponent thought such jabs could provoke him, they were a fool.

But the giant only chuckled, shaking his head.

“Oh, don’t worry. I wasn’t mocking you.

I’m genuinely pleased.”

“Because…”

Even as he spoke, his body began to expand again.

In moments, he had grown to nearly five meters.

But more shocking than his size was his transformation.

From a normal man, he had turned into a beast with fangs and fur-covered hands—a gorilla-like monster.

Had Kaelith been present, he would have exclaimed, Saiyan?!

The giant gorilla grinned.

"I am also...Different. "

“Now despair, Shinigami. Before absolute power!”

Komamura snorted coldly.

So he can grow bigger—and he dares boast?

He drew his Zanpakutō.

“Bankai!”

From behind him, a black giant erupted skyward.

“Kokujo Tengen Myō’ō!”

The gorilla’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of the towering hundred-meter figure.

“Die, Quincy.”

Komamura had no hesitation.

He had trained for this moment countless times.

And there was only one way to deal with a Quincy—

Bring Kokujo Tengen Myō’ō down upon them with all his might!

The colossal Kokujō Tengen Myō’ō swung its massive Zanpakutō, a weapon that Mayuri had modified countless times, cleaving down toward the gorilla before it.

The gorilla opened its jaws wide.

The Schrift—R!

Roar—Bellow!

A destructive shockwave condensed into a terrifying blast, hurtling toward Kokujō Tengen Myō’ō.

In an instant, chunks of armor shattered from the giant’s arm, spraying blood from within.

At the same time, Komamura’s own arm burst open with blood.

Taking advantage of the slowed swing, the gorilla used Hirenkyaku to retreat beyond the blade’s reach.

Watching the sluggish giant, he grinned.

“So this massive thing isn’t so frightening after all—turns out it’s just slow.”

“If I’d known earlier, I would have—huh??”

Before he could finish, under his astonished gaze, a cannon suddenly unfolded on the giant’s shoulder.

A beam of light crackling with terrifying arcs cut through the air, obliterating the space where the gorilla stood.

Moments later, the beam dissipated.

One of the gorilla’s arms had been completely vaporized.

Yet he showed no despair.

Instead, his white-furred face twisted into a crazed grin of excitement.

Before Komamura’s eyes, he pulled a pentagram-shaped badge from his chest.

“Your Bankai is indeed strong—strong enough to wound a Sternritter like me in a single blast.”

“But now, your Bankai belongs to me!!”

As he poured reiryoku into the badge, a torrent of terrifying black energy burst forth, like countless tendrils, instantly crossing hundreds of meters to pierce into Kokujō Tengen Myō’ō.

Komamura instantly felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

His Bankai… was slipping away from him!

If he didn’t act, he was about to lose it entirely.

Impossible—how could this happen?!

Damn Quincy!!

He roared, releasing a towering pillar of spiritual pressure, trying to blast away the black tendrils draining his Bankai.

But it was useless.

The power of Bankai was ripped from him completely.

The massive black giant dissolved into light, condensing into a glowing orb that flew toward the Quincy’s badge.

Yet at that moment, stray reishi drifting through the air flowed into the Bankai as well, merging with it and slipping into the badge.

After absorbing Komamura’s Bankai, the gorilla sneered triumphantly.

“Foolish Shinigami. You never imagined your Bankai could be stolen, did you?”

“And even less, that your own Bankai would be used to kill you!”

He raised the badge high.

“Bankai!!”

“Kokujō Tengen Myō’ō!!!”

At his shout, the massive black giant began to form behind him.

But before it could fully take shape, his expression suddenly twisted.

Under Komamura’s cold gaze, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Blood spurted from wounds all across his body.

The black giant behind him instantly collapsed, reverting to energy and returning to Komamura’s Zanpakutō.

Komamura glanced down at his blade, his expression thoughtful.

Before the battle, Kaelith had warned him that Bankai might be stolen. If it happened, he was not to fear or panic.

Aizen had prepared measures in advance to help them.

As expected of Lord Aizen—he had truly ensured the Bankai was returned…

“This… impossible… what kind of joke is this!”

“The Bankai I absorbed—why can’t I use it?! Why is it harming me instead?!”

The gorilla bellowed in disbelief.

Then a cold voice came from the side:

“Because you didn’t only absorb Captain Komamura’s power. You absorbed mine as well.”

The gorilla turned in shock.

There stood a man with a stark, austere aura—like a wandering ronin out of a Japanese period drama.

Komamura, too, looked confused.

Especially when he saw the white haori marked with “11” on the man’s shoulders. His brow furrowed deeply.

“Who are you, sir? Why are you wearing the Eleventh Division Captain’s haori?”

Though his elder brother no longer served there, that seat should have passed to Kenpachi Zaraki of Kaelith’s faction. It was not for outsiders to desecrate.

The man looked at Komamura.

“My name… is Azashiro Sōya. The Eighth Kenpachi, former Captain of the Eleventh Division.”

At the name, Komamura froze, eyes widening.

Azashiro Sōya… Kenpachi Azashiro!

That name truly belonged to a past Eleventh Division Captain!

But hadn’t he been imprisoned in Muken for grievous crimes? How could he be here?

As if reading his thoughts, Azashiro spoke calmly:

“I heeded the counsel of Kuryashiki-senpai and resolved to serve Captain-Commander Kaelith and Advisor Aizen.”

“I underwent Hollowfication, becoming a being who wields both Shinigami and Hollow spiritual power.”

“The one speaking to you now is not my true body, but a phantom formed from reishi I dispersed throughout Seireitei.”

“Now, across the entire Seireitei, reishi that composes my body exists everywhere.”

“Whether Quincies seek to steal your Bankai or absorb ambient reishi to replenish themselves, they inevitably draw in my reishi as well.”

“In other words, they will absorb Hollow-tainted reishi.”

“The result of a Quincy absorbing Hollow spiritual pressure… you can see for yourself, looking at him.”

At Azashiro’s words, realization dawned on Komamura.

The gorilla’s eyes, however, filled with despair.

If Bankai could merely not be stolen, it would have been manageable.

But to be cut off from absorbing surrounding reishi—that was a crippling disadvantage for Quincies.

Aside from a handful of exceptionally strong individuals who could endure without external reishi for a short time, how many could survive such a handicap?

An ominous dread settled over him.

This grand revenge campaign… was unlikely to end well…

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