chapter 314

    Chapter 314:

    – Layla –

    The Soul Society was in utter chaos. Fighting broke out everywhere, and I could see the bodies of Shinigami and Quincy scattered across the battlefield as I flew over the carnage. The air was thick with spiritual pressure, screams, and the clash of weapons. There were too many dead to count. Lady Death had made it clear that mass resurrections were off the table unless absolutely necessary. This definitely didn’t qualify. Most of these people—spirits, whatever—weren’t my problem.

    “Die, you Quincy trash!”

    “Death to the Shinigami!”

    “Your time is at an end!”

    The shouting echoed below me, punctuated by explosions of reiatsu and the screams of the dying. It was brutal, and honestly, I couldn’t help but be a little impressed at how intense the whole thing was between the two sides.

    Ten-chan, back in her sword form, rested snugly in her sheath on my hip. I hadn’t really had the chance to see how strong she was outside of being a zanpakuto, and now wasn’t the time to experiment. She was safe where she was for now, and I’d keep it that way.

    Below, a familiar orange haired voice cut through the battlefield. “Getsuga Jushiro!”

    I glanced down and spotted Ichigo Kurosaki, that spiky orange-haired kid, standing on the air and unleashing a massive wave of power. It ripped through a group of Quincies like they were paper. The blast left nothing but scorched earth and craters in its wake.

    Damn, kid. Overkill much?

    I swooped down toward him. Up close, he looked rough. His face was pale, and there was a flicker of something in his eyes that wasn’t just exhaustion.

    I wondered if he’d ever actually killed anyone before this, aside from Hollows. Probably not. Even when he stormed the Soul Society with his ragtag group of friends, none of them had killed anyone. That’s probably why they got off so easy in the end.

    Ichigo noticed me as I landed a few feet away, my wings folding behind me. His expression shifted from tired to annoyed almost instantly. “It took you long enough to get here!” he shouted over the noise. “What the hell did the Soul King even want with you in the first place? Couldn’t he have waited until this invasion was over?”

    I scratched the back of my head, trying to figure out how to phrase what had just happened without sounding completely insane. “Uh... probably not,” I said awkwardly. “Especially since he basically summoned me over there to commit suicide.”

    Ichigo froze, standing on the air like it was solid ground, and just stared at me. “Huh?”

    “Yeah,” I said, waving a hand like it wasn’t a big deal. “The Soul King’s dead. Long story. Anyway, there’s a new Soul Princess now. She’s adorable, and you can meet her later. But first, I have to go kill Yhwach, I guess. The guy made me look bad the first time he got away.”

    Ichigo’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, his brain clearly struggling to catch up. I gave him a cheerful wave and launched myself back into the air, ignoring the angry and confused shouts he hurled after me.

    Why was it so fun messing with that kid?

    The familiar heat slammed into me like a wave as I dove downward, the scorching energy licking at the air. Head Captain Yamamoto, surrounded in his Bankai’s flames, was locked in battle with the Quincy King, Yhwach, and it was clear things weren’t going well for the old man.

    From what I could see, he was getting his ass handed to him.

    When I landed next to him, it was obvious he was in rough shape. His left arm was gone—the stump seared shut to stop the bleeding—and burns and deep cuts covered his body. His breathing was ragged..

    “You look like shit, old man,” I said “How are you losing this badly?”

    He lowered his scalding blade slightly, his shoulders heaving with every breath. “Yhwach...” he began, his voice rasping like dry paper, “is far stronger than I remember. He has some new ability that lets him see my attacks before they even land.”

    Before I could respond, Yhwach let out a deep, mocking laugh that echoed across the battlefield. “I have always possessed this ability! It was stolen from me by that fat bastard, Ichibe Hyosube. But now my full powers have returned! This world will bow to me! The Soul King will perish by my hand!”

    I turned my attention to Yhwach and immediately grimaced. His eyes... what the actual fuck was going on with his eyes? I’d seen plenty of freaky eye powers in my time—hell, I’d had the Rinnegan for years—but this guy’s eyes were on a whole different level of disgusting. They bulged out of his face unnaturally, each one filled with five separate pupils that spun and twitched in random directions. Just looking at them made my skin crawl.

    “Gross,” I muttered.

    Yhwach’s lips curled into a sneer. “Women...” he said, his voice dripping with contempt. “Always so shallow. They can never appreciate the sacrifices necessary to obtain supreme power!”

    I rolled my eyes. “I can appreciate power just fine,” I shot back, “but I don’t need to look like I just rolled around in toxic waste to get it.”

    Yamamoto let out an uncharacteristic chuckle at my comment, but it quickly turned into a grimace as he steadied himself on his sword. “I''ll just take a step back and let you finish this...” he muttered. “I’m getting too old for this.”

    I sighed playfully, shaking my head as I processed the old man’s comment. The Bleach universe never failed to baffle me. Seriously, how the hell did a spirit even get old in the first place?

    Yhwach gripped his massive sword tightly, his gaze locked on Yamamoto. For a moment, I thought he was about to attack the old man again, but he stopped himself. “It makes no difference whether I kill you now or later, Genryusai Yamamoto. You and all the Shinigami will perish regardless.” His voice was dripping with disdain as he turned his many-eyed glare toward me. “As for you, I see you’ve acquired one of those accursed zanpakuto. Draw your blade, and we shall finish this. You will not find me such an easy opponent this time.” He sounded awfully confident.

    Suddenly, the sky above the Soul Society darkened, thick clouds swirling ominously as a strange energy pulsed through the air.

    Behind me, Yamamoto muttered under his breath. “This is ominous.”

    I nodded in agreement, though something about it didn’t feel right. “Yeah, no kidding,” I said, my eyes narrowing as I focused on the energy he was releasing. It was powerful, no doubt about that, but... it didn’t feel like it was aimed at me. That raised a lot of questions. “What the hell is he up to?” I asked aloud, more curious than concerned. The energy from the sky began to spiral downward, reaching out like threads of light that connected to Quincy soldiers scattered across the battlefield. I watched as their spiritual energy was drained from their bodies, leaving them crumpling to the ground one by one.

    “What is happening!?”

    “Your majesty!? Why!?”

    “No! I was always loyal!”

    Their screams echoed through the air, and I felt Yamamoto tense behind me.

    “He’s taking their powers,” the old man said grimly, his voice heavy with disdain. “Sacrificing his own people to increase his strength.”

    “That’s just messed up,” I muttered.

    I turned back to Yhwach, who was literally glowing now, his body practically radiating with the stolen energy. His many eyes locked onto me and he grinned smugly.

    “Do you see now, interloper?” he boomed. “This is the power of a true God!"

    – Unohana –

    Unohana stood among the surviving Shinigami, her hand resting lightly on her sword. She watched the battlefield where Layla and Yhwach faced off, the clash so overwhelming that it had forced the entire war to pause. She wiped the sweat from her brow, trying to steady her nerves.

    ‘What kind of woman did I get involved with?’ she thought, eyes glued to Layla.

    Yhwach’s voice boomed across the silence, full of arrogance and venom. “Do you see now, interloper? This is the power of a true God!” He stood tall, his body practically glowing with the stolen energy of his soldiers. He had drained their life forces to fuel himself, and the oppressive weight of his power made the air hard to breathe.

    Unohana tightened her grip on her sword. She knew that even with her Bankai at full strength, she wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Next to her, Zaraki Kenpachi’s face was twisted in a rare frown. He wasn’t charging in for once, clearly understanding the gap in their abilities. If Zaraki wasn’t confident, that said everything.

    The remaining Shinigami behind them were visibly nervous, fidgeting and glancing between each other. Their hands trembled on their weapons, their fear rolling off them in waves. Unohana couldn’t blame them. This wasn’t a fight anyone here could win. Except, apparently, Layla.

    Layla just snorted, crossing her arms under her chest. She looked unimpressed, even amused.

    “The power of a God?” Layla said, her voice laced with mockery. “Oh please... let me show you the true power of a Goddess! Cosmic Susanoo!” She spread her arms wide, and her voice reverberated through the air, making Unohana’s skin prickle.

    Then everything turned purple.

    The sky above the Soul Society shifted, or maybe it didn’t shift at all. A massive angel of glowing purple light appeared, so enormous that it blocked out the view of the blue sky entirely. Unohana’s breath hitched. The thing was incomprehensibly large, its size beyond anything she had ever encountered. Was it bigger than the entire Soul Society? Bigger than the Rukongai? She couldn’t tell, and honestly, she didn’t want to. It was just... overwhelming.

    “Intimidating as fuck...” she muttered under her breath. She wasn''t usually one to curse, but she felt like this situation called for it.

    Yhwach’s confidence finally cracked. His head tilted back as he stared up... and up... and up. His many grotesque eyes darted around, unable to process the sheer scale of what he was seeing.

    “Impossible...” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. His jaw hung slack.

    The angel’s booming voice cut through the air, unmistakably Layla’s. “Universal Pull!”

    Yhwach didn’t even have time to react. He simply screamed as he was yanked off the ground, flying thousands of kilometers into the sky in seconds. The pull was so violent, so absolute, that it left no room for resistance.

    Layla’s voice echoed again, this time with a hint of amusement. “You know what else has a lot of disgusting eyes like you? Flies! And you know what happens to annoying flies?” The angel raised its massive right hand, holding an equally enormous, glowing purple version of Layla’s zanpakuto?. “They Get Swatted!” Layla’s giggle followed the declaration.

    The massive sword swung through the sky, its speed impossibly fast for its size. Dodging wasn’t even a consideration. The blade itself was so massive that it could have cleaved through the entire Soul Society in one go. Unohana squinted, unable to see the exact moment of impact, but she felt it. Yhwach flared his power desperately, unleashing everything he had in a final attempt to defend himself. It didn’t matter. The instant the blade connected, his power snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane.

    And then there was silence. The oppressive weight of Yhwach’s energy was gone. Maybe the history books would tell it differently, thousands of years in the future. Maybe they would say the king of the Quincy went out in an epic final clash?

    But to Unohana, he barely even put up a whimper in the end...

    XXX

    Yay! That wraps up the bleach arc for now. Layla goes home again, next chapter!