The number of rampaging Hollows across Seireitei was dwindling.
Aizen hadn't left Barragan with many usable Arrancar, and with the remaining Shinigami fighting desperately, the once-mighty invasion from Hueco Mundo had collapsed into scattered skirmishes. Of those, only one battlefield now drew every eye: the colossal fortress of Las Noches, looming over the Soul Society like a wound in the sky.
Few knew that, within that palace, Higashi Shuuichi's spiritual pressure had vanished for a time.
But now—
Now, from a rift unlike a Garganta, carved across the heavens above Seireitei, a lone figure descended.
And every Captain, every Lieutenant, every scattered Shinigami left standing—watched.
Higashi Shuuichi had returned.
"…That location…"
Aizen, too, looked up, brows lifting slightly.
Only moments ago, he'd felt the brief extinguishing of Shuuichi's reiatsu with a trace of regret. Now, surprise flickered in his gaze. That method of reentry—it was identical to how Squad Zero had once descended to retrieve Kirinji Tenjirō from the Twelfth Division.
So… had Shuuichi just been in the Soul King Palace?
Unfathomable. But intriguing. He'd ask Shuuichi later.
"Aren't you going to watch the fight?"
Kaname Tōsen, bloodied and barely upright, questioned Aizen as he turned to leave.
"No need. The outcome is clear." Aizen's tone was calm, faintly amused. "Shuuichi wouldn't have returned if he weren't confident. Barragan's already played every card he had.
The ending… is inevitable."
And with that, he left—his back turned, already moving toward the World of the Living, where Gin Ichimaru awaited.
Tōsen remained, frowning deeply, staring toward Las Noches.
He didn't share Aizen's certainty.
To him, Shuuichi had acted rashly. He'd escaped once—he should've stayed gone. Barragan could've been left to Yamamoto Genryūsai. There was no need for Shuuichi to throw himself back in.
But for Shuuichi, "no need" wasn't an option.
"Atredis!!"
Barragan bellowed as Shuuichi dropped like a meteor toward the palace.
"I hear you, Lord Barragan! Descend, Forest of Eternal Dusk!
Higashi Shuuichi—your reiryoku is mine! You won't cast a single Kidō!"
Atredis lunged upward, his spiritual pressure surging to counter Shuuichi's midair descent. His body acted as a barrier, attempting to suppress Shuuichi's reiatsu with his own.
But this time—
Shuuichi wasn't playing his game.
"Kidō: Hell Execution Aria."
Far below, within the actual depths of Hell, Ikeda Kōsuke screamed in despair.
That cursed chant—carving a gate through his soul—dragged Hell's power back into the world, using his body as a vessel.
If he could go back, he'd have run the moment he saw Shuuichi and Kusajishi Kenpachi.
But it was too late.
Still—
He smiled. Faintly.
A fitting end to a storm-tossed life.
Back in the Soul Society, murky black-grey mist spiraled through Las Noches.
The creeping decay of Barragan's Respira—the power of aging—began to recede wherever the Kidō reached.
"What?! How are you still casting Kidō?!"
Atredis staggered, stunned.
He'd never been briefed on this.
He knew nothing of Shuuichi's dealings with Aizen—by then, Shuuichi had already severed surface ties.
Barragan, however, had seen this before.
Once, long ago, in a prior clash, Shuuichi had used the Hell Execution Aria.
And that damn technique—channeled from Hell itself—ignored Respira. Even Barragan's royal decay couldn't corrode it.
Still, Barragan sneered.
"I see. That's your so-called trump card? It bypasses my decay, yes—but it can't hit me. And each use wounds you. All you're doing… is carving your own death again."
He rose, leaping away from the writhing skeletal limbs clawing through the Kidō fog.
Beside him, Atredis recalculated.
His ability still worked—just not on that one Kidō. Shuuichi's other reiatsu-based abilities could still be nullified.
Everything was back to status quo.
Or so they thought.
Shuuichi scoffed.
He pointed his Zanpakutō skyward.
"**How can sparrows grasp the dreams of swans? How can ants imagine the sky beyond the clouds?
No form. No flow. No law. No rule. I go forth—to victory.
Bankai: Beyond Comprehension."
At that moment, Shuuichi activated the mechanism Ōetsu Nimaiya had built inside his Zanpakutō—sacrificing one of his previously forgotten Bankai abilities, Soul Transference, for a single activation of his True Bankai.
He hit the ground.
The Hell Execution Aria evaporated.
Not by choice—but because Ikeda Kōsuke had been ejected from Hell itself.
The man had become the first soul in history to be transformed by Hell and then discarded.
With his connection severed, the spell collapsed.
It didn't matter.
This was only a delay. Shuuichi could always reforge the sigil and return to Hell later.
For now—he stood, fully revealed.
No swirling aura. No grand explosion.
Even the terrifying energy from before… was gone.
Barragan frowned.
"More theatrics. Trying to confuse us with words again, Shuuichi? I know your tricks. All talk—no substance.
That Hell trick didn't work. Now you're bluffing with a fake Bankai?"
He laughed, cold and regal.
In truth, Shuuichi's chants often masked sleight of hand. Barragan had fallen for it before—multiple times.
Not this time.
"Enough noise."
Shuuichi's tone was like stone.
The moment he activated his complete liberation, the true nature of his Zanpakutō was made clear.
One ability. One rule. One truth.
And as he had once suspected, it was a perfect counter—not only to Barragan's decay but to Atredis' suppression.
Suddenly—
Shuuichi moved.
To Atredis, it was like a mirage.
One second, Shuuichi stood hundreds of meters away.
The next—his figure filled Atredis' vision.
"What—how did you—?!"
Atredis froze. His brain screamed. Even Arrancar Sonído had visible spiritual build-up—this had nothing.
No sound. No flash. No reiatsu spike.
Shuuichi had stepped like a man on a casual walk—and crossed the battlefield in a blink.
More than that—
Atredis couldn't move.
Couldn't suppress Shuuichi's reiatsu.
Couldn't even summon his own.
"You... what did you do to me?!"
He, the synthetic Arrancar, designed without fear—
Felt fear.
Born of the unknown.
And then—
Chōgetsu.
A single slash.
Clean. Effortless.
Atredis' head and body parted company.
The moment his powers failed?
Right after Shuuichi invoked Bankai.
So it had worked after all.
He wanted to tell Barragan.
But the dead don't speak.
"Impossible!"
Barragan's voice cracked with disbelief.
Again.
He'd said it too many times already today.
Atredis' ability was built to reduce spiritual pressure to zero. Without reiatsu, a Shinigami was a puppet.
It had been confirmed by Szayelaporro's countless tests.
And yet—Shuuichi now stood more powerful than ever.
"Muerte Súplica—Death's Breath!"
Respira erupted in all directions.
Black waves of decay surged toward Shuuichi.
"I admit, you're troublesome again. But let's be real—you just barely escaped death once. You burned another trick to kill Atredis. How much strength can you have left?"
Barragan's logic was sound.
But Shuuichi—could no longer be understood by logic.
His Bankai was forged for one purpose:
Victory.
Floating calmly, he let Respira come.
100 meters.
50.
10.
3.
1—
And then—
Nothing.
The death mist vanished.
Not just the wave aimed at him—all of it.
"What… what is this?! Is this still your old power? Or… is this an illusion? Aizen's mirror?!"
Barragan panicked.
But even his genius mind couldn't save his withering flesh.
The decay reversed course.
It flowed into him.
His own power—his own death.
"NO! It's fake! A trick! It must be an illusion!"
Barragan's last act: denial.
But illusions don't turn kings to dust.
Shuuichi stood silent as Barragan's bones scattered, drifting away in the wind.
It had been…
Too easy.
Ten minutes ago, these two had killed him.
Now, with a single true Bankai, he'd erased them.
"Beyond Comprehension"
He whispered the name of his Zanpakutō's true liberation.
Its ability?
Simple.
Upon activation, it generates the perfect counter to the opponent's powers—based on Shuuichi's knowledge.
Not a generic counter.
A custom, tailored, absolute solution.
But only for that opponent.
And only if his understanding is accurate.
Misjudge the enemy, and the counter will be flawed.
But if he understands them?
They die.
To beat Atredis, his blade had altered the composition of Shuuichi's reiryoku, rendering him undetectable in Atredis' system.
To beat Barragan, his blade had granted him limited spatial authority—enough to reroute all decay back into Barragan's own body.
It was how Barragan canonically died.
Fitting.
"Know yourself. Know your enemy. One hundred battles, one hundred victories."
This ability fit Shuuichi perfectly—especially as a reincarnated outsider.
Only problem?
This was just a trial version.
To wield the full Bankai consistently?
He'd need help.
Time to visit Ōetsu again.
But first—
Shuuichi approached Barragan's spiritual core, shielded in spatial layers during the fight.
He plucked it from the wreckage.
Raised it to his lips.
Crunch.
Crisp. Warm.
He swallowed.
Perfect.