Bleach: Love and Bonds Make Me Stronger!

Explosive reiatsu surged skyward.

In Saizō's hand, the short blade reshaped rapidly amidst the seemingly endless reiatsu.

It transformed into a writhing, translucent tendril.

Yhwach eyed the blade, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Noticing his gaze, Saizō let out a low, eerie chuckle.

"Jiejiejie-"

"Let me show you my true power."

The moment his words fell, the gelatinous, seemingly fragile tendril's hilt sprouted sharp spines, piercing through Saizō's withered palm with faint, crisp sounds.

Sensing the shift in reiatsu flow, Yhwach acted without hesitation. With a flash of Hirenkyaku, he appeared before Saizō.

The wind howled, inches away.

His Quincy cross sword slashed swiftly, aiming for Saizō's frail arm.

But Saizō's face twisted into a mocking grin.

Splatter!

Before the Quincy cross sword could land, 'Rurinukichuu Hirumotohiki' had already spread through Saizō's body like countless translucent nematodes.

The moment the blade touched his surface, his withered, frail body, supported by the translucent insects, exploded with a bang.

Leather-like fragments sprayed through the air.

A thick white mist poured from the gash in his body, spreading in all directions, engulfing dozens of meters of ground in an instant.

Within this dense fog, the two could barely discern each other's forms.

Yhwach's brow furrowed tightly.

Recalling Hirumoto Hiki's parasitic ability, he instinctively avoided the fragments.

But Saizō's low chuckle rang out. "It's useless."

"Quincy."

"This is the final scene of your life."

As the seemingly endless mist poured from Saizō's body, his hunched, deformed frame began to straighten, growing taller.

As the fog enveloped the area, translucent insect tendrils extended from his severed shoulder, reconnecting his fallen arm and reattaching it to his body.

Saizō stood empty-handed, his long brows drooping over eyes that gleamed like red stars.

His gaze toward Yhwach was filled with killing intent.

"Rurinukichuu Hirumotohiki."

"This is the true Bankai I've honed over a millennium to kill that man."

"In this space, as long as you remain…"

"Whether you move, speak, or even breathe…"

"As long as you leave a trace in this space…"

Saizō's wrinkled face slowly curled into a ferocious smile. "You're as good as dead."

Yhwach, however, maintained his lofty demeanor, his cold gaze sweeping the surrounding mist.

"Oh, is that so?"

His tone was equally frigid.

Seeing his calm composure, Saizō's face darkened, reminded of a man he'd loathed since youth.

Before Yhwach could act, Saizō vanished like a black shadow, merging into the mist with a swish.

Yhwach watched his figure disappear, a scornful smirk tugging at his lips. "Hide and seek."

"A child's game."

Almost as he spoke, he swung his blade behind him, its surface tracing a clear cyan arc through the air.

Clang!

A figure flickered in the previously empty mist. The seemingly frail Saizō extended translucent, blade-like edges from his arms.

His ambush, poised to strike, met Yhwach's unexpected counter.

After a brief stalemate, the sheer force of Yhwach's blow sent Saizō flying, spinning through the air before landing.

With a fierce stomp, he pivoted like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging again.

Yhwach, wielding his sword single-handedly, parried the incoming strikes with casual ease.

But as the fight dragged on, he began to notice anomalies.

His body grew heavier, his reactions slower, his wrist less steady…

How?

He'd held his breath from the start.

Moreover, this man's reiatsu was far below his own.

Why was he still affected by this mist?!

What kind of poison was this?

"You…"

"Have you noticed yet?"

Sensing the weakening force behind Yhwach's blade, Saizō, who'd been darting about like a monkey, suddenly spoke.

His wrinkled face bore an ugly smile, and beneath his ashen skin, grotesque veins seemed to writhe, fueling him with youthful vigor.

Even his voice had lost the phlegmy rasp of age.

'His condition is improving?'

Yhwach's eyes widened slightly, his expression toward Saizō growing grave.

Noticing the shift in his demeanor, Saizō finally let out a low chuckle.

"That's right! Exactly!"

"People like you, born with talent, can't possibly understand the cost fools like me pay just to earn a glance from you!"

"Be it Yamamoto, Makoto, or… you."

Saizō's voice slowed, growing heavier. "Don't misunderstand, Quincy."

"There's no childish poison in this mist."

"Every particle, every droplet… is made of my body."

At those words, Yhwach's pupils contracted sharply, as if realizing something.

Saizō lifted his head toward Yhwach.

A faint smile crossed his face.

The next moment, his decayed, ashen visage began to melt like heated gelatin, dissolving into a puddle of viscous sludge.

Yet Yhwach felt no relief.

Instead, a sudden, abnormal change erupted within his body.

His stomach, chest, back, limbs, cheeks…

Yhwach trembled violently.

From within each part, it felt as if fully formed infants were pushing and pulling at his muscles and skin, causing his body to bulge and contract in grotesque, rhythmic distortions.

"What… what is this…?"

Yhwach's voice trembled with shock.

From within his body, Saizō's malicious voice echoed. "How does it feel, Quincy?"

"This white mist, spewed from my body, is entirely composed of me."

"The moment you stepped into this area, every particle began seeping into you, through your mouth, your skin, every pore, gathering ceaselessly within."

"And finally, using the nutrients of your body, it forms, me!"

Saizō's voice was shrill and piercing, laced with the madness of an artist. "This is the greatest parasitism in the world!"

"Thank me, Yhwach!"

"Your life will be the perfect footnote to my grand triumph!"

The more he ranted, the more violently Yhwach's body convulsed.

At the peak of his cries, Yhwach's towering, muscular frame seemed to harbor three or four infants, simultaneously pressing against his skin and muscles from within.

The scene was utterly grotesque.

Yet…

"Hm?"

Saizō noticed something amiss, letting out a puzzled grunt.

On Yhwach's back, the distinct outline of a human face was visible, etched into his latissimus dorsi.

"Why… can't I break through?"

As if realizing something, Saizō's voice trembled faintly.

"Oh?"

"You've figured it out."

Yhwach, who moments ago seemed wracked with agony, abruptly reverted to his initial cold demeanor.

Snap!

Before Saizō could react, a large hand clamped onto his back.

It seized the forehead of the human face.

Saizō's expression froze.

The next moment,

Boom!

Yhwach's reiatsu erupted within him. Ultra-dense reishi detonated in a concentrated burst, disrupting his internal reiatsu flow with a high-speed reishi turbulence.

Simultaneously, countless reishi ignited his blood vessels, forming a dense network of reishi veins across his body, transforming into the most resilient Blut Vene.

Saizō, hiding within Yhwach's body as reishi, was caught off guard by this sudden grip. His form was violently extracted, his screams turning into shrill wails.

[Get out of my body!]

Yhwach's voice was low and guttural, his arm muscles and veins bulging.

With that single command, Saizō, half-buried in his body, was yanked out and slammed into the ground with a deafening explosion.

Smoke and dust rose.

Yhwach stood unscathed.

In contrast, Saizō lay in a massive crater before him, utterly battered.

"Truly grotesque."

"A Shinigami's Bankai can achieve even this?"

Sensing lingering irregularities in his reishi, Yhwach's gaze toward Saizō held a trace of admiration.

Saizō gasped heavily, chuckling faintly. "Surprised by just this?"

"If you're lucky, you'll see."

"Quincy…"

"The truly 'grotesque' man."

As he spoke, he slowly climbed from the crater.

The final damage Saizō sustained wasn't from the brutal slam or the earlier relentless assault, but from the moment Yhwach forcibly extracted his reishi form with that commanding roar.

Words became law.

In that instant, Saizō, existing as scattered reishi within Yhwach's body, was like a 3D print disrupted mid-process, reduced to a chaotic mosaic.

He could clearly feel his intestines fused with his heart, his lungs melded with his spleen.

That he could still move was a miracle.

But Yhwach's dictionary had no room for mercy.

Gazing at Saizō struggling to rise like an insect, Yhwach conjured a massive reishi bow, its arrow aimed at him.

Saizō closed his eyes wearily.

His mind drifted to past battles with Yamamoto, where he was crushed by the man's innate supremacy, a wistful sigh in his heart.

In the end, despite every effort, I couldn't touch the edge of your realm, Yamamoto.

The next moment, Yhwach's voice rang out. "Sankt Bogen!"

…

Makoto and Chika looked up.

Faintly, they glimpsed a streak of light flashing across the horizon.

Farther off, they sensed a reiatsu that had surged rapidly now plummeting to its nadir.

The outcome was clear.

It's a curious thing, once the first captain-level casualty falls in centuries, the second, third, even more seem less surprising.

Especially after Makoto and Chika had just endured a rather 'grueling' battle.

"Should we head over to help?"

Chika approached Makoto, offering water and rations from his pack, asking casually.

Makoto took them without hesitation, biting into the dry rice rations and gulping water before shaking his head. "If I'm not mistaken, today's fighting is about done."

"Losing so much on the first day due to head-on clashes…"

"Even if we're not in a rush, the Quincies should be."

Chika nodded in agreement.

Indeed.

Though the war with the Quincies had only lasted a day, anyone involved could see the casualties were incomparable to the Seireitei's past conflicts.

The reason was simple.

Both sides had deployed numerous captain-level fighters.

Most of the massive losses were caused by these 'powerhouses.'

"But ending it like this won't be easy, will it?"

Chika muttered.

Makoto pointed skyward. "Exactly. That's why it takes someone of real weight to step in."

"At the very least, the two sides need to meet face-to-face."

Chika blinked, not immediately catching on.

The next moment, a terrifyingly immense reiatsu burst into his perception.

High above, a figure wreathed in flames streaked across the sky like a meteor, leaving a blazing, indelible trail in everyone's vision.

It was Yamamoto!

***

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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