"You brat, you even hid your Bankai?!"

Floating in midair, Yhwach's eyes narrowed. The spirit particles around him gathered with a thought, igniting into blue flames that surged down toward Araki.

"Boom!"

But the flames never reached him. They were swept away by radiant reflections—light refracted from a kaleidoscopic sky.

"Tch…"

Yhwach frowned.

DONG~

A deep, sonorous bell rang through the air.

"Yhwach, since you've seen me, why not come down?"

"Come… cultivate with me in this world and share in bliss."

As the bell echoed, Yhwach's vision blurred. The Soul Society faded away. He stood now in an unfamiliar realm.

The skies, the earth—everything was glass. Colored glass. Even the sun and moon hung as immense crystalline bodies. It was like he had entered a Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli, serene and sacred.

At its center sat a monumental, blue-glass Buddha, clothed in triple robes, holding a medicine bowl in one hand and sitting in the vajra posture upon a lotus moon throne.

A saint among saints.

DONG~ DONG~ DONG…

Each bell chime resonated from within Yhwach's chest.

"No... Is this an illusion?"

Even someone like him—he who held The Almighty—nearly succumbed. He could feel his desires fading, the will to fight dulled. He was almost ready to become one of the faithful—chanting sutras, meditating for eternity.

But just before he surrendered, his eyes snapped open.

"Tch… So it's a sound-based illusion?! Then it's simple!"

He sneered, condensing spirit particles to block his ears.

Silence.

The bells ceased. The Pure Land shattered. The Buddha vanished, whispering faintly:

"Fool… Foolish…"

Though Yhwach couldn't hear the words, his instincts screamed. That being—whatever it was—had posed a threat unlike any other.

"Hmph."

He exhaled and activated Hirenkyaku, soaring through the collapsing void. But even after half an hour of high-speed movement, he couldn't escape.

Only darkness. Endless.

"I'm… still in the illusion?!"

His heart trembled.

"Fool! Still unaware?"

Suddenly, light bloomed. The Buddha—who had seemed infinitely far—now stood directly before him.

The ground beneath Yhwach's feet? Not ground at all.

The Buddha's palm.

He had been running across it this entire time.

"Damn it!"

Panicked, Yhwach unleashed a barrage of spiritual arrows. They rained down on the divine being—yet the Buddha remained untouched, unmoved.

"I once made Twelve Great Vows."

The Buddha gazed upon Yhwach, his expression filled not with wrath—but with boundless compassion.

"Shut up! Shut up! I said shut up!!"

Yhwach howled, arrows thundering toward the Buddha's brow. But nothing touched him.

DONG! DONG! DONG…

Then the Buddha spoke:

"I vow my light shall shine without boundaries."

Light flooded the void. The shattered glass Pure Land reformed, glimmering more vividly than before.

"Why… Why won't the bell stop?! WHY?!"

Yhwach shrieked.

"This bell does not ring outside… it rings within your heart."

The Buddha's voice was gentle, yet unshakable.

"You can block your ears, Yhwach… but how will you block your heart?"

Yhwach's eyes widened.

Once you heard this bell, you remembered it. Its pattern etched into your soul. There was no unhearing it.

"I vow that my body shall be like glass, transparent and flawless…"

Before he could respond, both their bodies—Yhwach and the Buddha—turned translucent, glowing with sacred purity.

"Let all sentient beings attain perfection."

"Let them dwell in the Dharma of the Great Vehicle…"

"Let them walk the pure path of practice…"

One vow after another echoed.

Yhwach's mind dimmed. His ambition blurred.

Who was he? What was he doing here?

"Let them cast off false views and follow the Bodhisattva's path…"

He forgot he was the progenitor of the Quincy. He folded his hands, chanting holy sutras.

"Let them be free from all suffering…"

"Let them be clothed in comfort…"

"Let them rejoice in unending happiness…"

A soft smile formed on his lips.

"Why fight? There's so much suffering. Why cling to it?"

He looked serene. Content. He had surrendered.

Until—

CLANG!!

A foreign bell rang. Not Buddhist. Not sacred.

Something else.

Yhwach's eyes snapped open. His pupils split into three.

"EXTERMINATE!!"

BOOM!!!

Everything vanished. The Pure Land. The Sutras. The Light.

Gone.

A pitch-dark void reemerged, and in it—Yhwach waved his hand. A massive door of white energy appeared.

"What nonsense. How could I fall to this?"

With a scoff, he stepped through.

The next moment—he was back.

Standing high above Soul Society.

"Hoh? Yhwach, you actually broke through my Twelve Vows of Medicine Master this quickly?"

Araki looked up calmly, one brow raised.

"Araki…"

Yhwach's voice was cold, but tinged with awe.

"Your Bankai… it's terrifying. I nearly sank into that world. Almost forgot who I was."

"But I carry destiny in my blood. I cannot fall. Not here."

Floating above Soul Society, cloaked in black and silver, eyes unwavering—Yhwach stood as a man ordained to replace even the Soul King.

"Destiny?"

Araki narrowed his eyes, drawing his blade again.

Araki seemed to realize something, and he shook his head helplessly.

Fortunately, he had already anticipated that the Twelve Vows of the Medicine Master wouldn't be enough to trap Yhwach.

In truth, Araki hadn't expected it to succeed at all. That it activated—and forced Yhwach to expend a massive amount of energy—was already beyond what he'd hoped for.

"Since the Twelve Vows of the Medicine Master can't hold you... then I'll defeat you head-on!"

As Araki finished speaking, the Chakravartin behind him stirred. One after another, palms unfurled from behind the divine wheel like blooming lotus petals. A moment later, those palms howled forward, hurtling toward Yhwach with overwhelming momentum.

Boom!

Yhwach, just freed from the 'Great Vow,' had consumed too much power. He couldn't react in time—he was like a target in the sky, hammered by countless divine palms!

Pfft—!

Blood sprayed as Yhwach took the full brunt of the assault. He had never expected Araki to act so decisively. Before he could even speak, a second wave was already upon him.

"Damn it!"

In a flash of anger, Yhwach raised a massive Blut Vene Anhaben—not just a protective layer on his body, but a huge crystalline shield enveloping him, repelling the incoming storm of strikes.

"Araki! Let's see how you deal with this!"

But Araki said nothing. Instead, he lifted his Zanpakutō toward the blazing sun overhead.

In the next moment, a figure flickered within the solar brilliance—a Bodhisattva, cloaked in burning golden flames and wielding a sword bathed in solar fire, descended from the heavens and struck down at Yhwach's crystalline shell.

"Huh?!"

Yhwach's expression twisted. He felt no heat from the sword—but a far more terrifying sensation instead. It was the same power Araki had previously used to bypass his defenses: an energy that ignored external barriers and struck directly at the soul.

"Damn it!"

Sweat poured down Yhwach's forehead. If he dropped his defenses, the divine palms would crush him. If he maintained them, the Bodhisattva's blade would pierce straight through. The sheer dilemma rattled his mind.

Of course, Yhwach wasn't without counterattack. Since the beginning, the Licht Regen had never ceased. Countless holy arrows bombarded Araki, lighting up the battlefield like divine wrath. But all of them were blocked—by a radiant Bodhisattva of Moonlight, who shimmered like a lunar guardian before Araki.

"Such a perfect blend of offense and defense… This Bankai can't be flawless! With your dwindling reiatsu, let's see how long you can maintain it!"

Yhwach bellowed, even as the sun-blessed sword shattered his outer shield and the Buddha-palms smashed him back down.

"Shut up!"

Araki's breath was ragged, sweat dripping from his forehead.

Yhwach was right. Araki was at his limit. This Bankai—which embodied his ultimate path—consumed all his strength. A brilliant, overwhelming force, but one that came at the cost of everything he had.

"...One final strike."

Araki whispered as he sat cross-legged atop a lotus platform.

Under his control, the Holy King and two Bodhisattva Attendants descended and encircled Yhwach.

"Huh?!"

Yhwach's heart trembled as he looked upon the three glowing beings—their very presence emitting that reviled Buddha light that clawed at his soul.

BOOM!!

Before Yhwach could move, the three radiant avatars exploded simultaneously!

The brilliant Buddha light engulfed Yhwach completely. A vast mushroom cloud surged into the sky, shaking all of Seireitei. Had Araki not compressed the Universal Illumination field, the entire Soul Society would have drowned in that holy blaze.

"…It's over…"

Araki muttered as he collapsed onto the battlefield, drained of every ounce of power.

"Yes. It's over, Araki."

A cold voice responded—and with it came the bite of cold steel.

A cross-shaped sword was pressed to his neck. Yhwach, half his body charred, his right arm mangled, stood before him. His eyes held nothing but ruthless calm.

"I'll give you one final choice: surrender or die."

In truth, the stronger Araki became, the more Yhwach desired to possess him. If Araki became a Quincy, the power he would bring into Yhwach's fold would be unmatched. This was a temptation even the Father of Quincy could not ignore.

"Really? If I surrender… will you let me live?"

Araki asked bitterly, smiling in quiet defeat.

Yhwach's eyes glinted. "Yes."

But then, Araki's expression hardened.

"…Then I'm sorry. I've always enjoyed saying no to men like you."

Before Yhwach could react, Araki's figure shimmered—

"ROOM—!"

And in the next moment, he vanished.

A breath later, the dying whispers of a mortally wounded Quincy echoed.

"Your Majesty…"

Yhwach turned—and realized the man Araki had just stabbed was none other than Sedlitz, a loyal Sternritter.

"Sedlitz?!"

Yhwach's eyes trembled. That moment solidified his resolve.

"Araki! So this is your answer? Then perish!"

His roar thundered across the sky—

BOOM!!!

—and was answered by waves of scorching flames.

A figure emerged, walking through the blaze with slow, steady steps. He held a sword engulfed in Great Fire, and a cross-shaped scar adorned his forehead.

Behind him marched the Captains of the Gotei 13, their white haori stained by battle. Quincy corpses littered the ground.

"You've done well, Araki. You've upheld the honor of the Genryū."

The man stopped beside Araki. His voice was heavy with both pride and worry, though he quickly cast the worry aside. There were more urgent matters now.

"Hot… it's too hot…"

Araki stumbled up from the scorched earth, his rear nearly burned from where he'd collapsed.

"Looks like old man Yama's temperature is even higher than before…"

He looked toward the flaming back of the man he called master—Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13.

"So, you're the one who dares invade the Soul Society?"

Every step Yamamoto took ignited the earth beneath his feet. He stared coldly at the battered Yhwach.

"That's right…"

Yhwach grinned, even through his pain.

"…Then witness true fire."

"Bankai—"

Yamamoto's voice was low, but it carried across the entire battlefield.

He raised his Sword of Flame—and the world began to burn.

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