"Yhwach..."
"Now you understand, right? The reason you can't call out your sword is because it has been defeated!"
Raising the brush again...
Aiming the heavy sharp tip at Yhwach's stunned face, Ichibei Hyōsube's smile grew increasingly sinister and terrifying!
"..."
Silence.
No longer fixating on forcing out "sword"...
Disgustedly glancing at it, Yhwach simply tossed it away.
Then... bare-handedly raised his arm!
"Heh... lost your weapon and still dare counter? You're truly arrogant..." Ichibei Hyōsube's eyes blazed, Yhwach's actions spiking his blood pressure.
"Since it can't be granted again, I'll just take your power directly!"
His cloak fluttered without wind.
Under the gathering of Reishi, the vast Reishi not yet stained by ink converged above the Seireitei under Yhwach's will!
Then—
Starlight suddenly bloomed!
Dispelling the surrounding darkness while forming a massive Reishi light array, beams of holy light nailing Ichibei Hyōsube's shadow to the ground!
"As long as I take your power..."
"This transcendent silencing power will be mine to use!!!" Greedy voice echoed throughout the Royal Palace, Yhwach raising his palm from afar and clenching fiercely!
"Clang—!!!"
Deprivation ritual activated.
A massive blue light pillar pierced the clouds from the sky, crushingly pressing down on the monk!
Suppression! Deprivation! Devouring!
In a flash, the once ink-dyed firmament saw black largely retreat as light returned!
This battle...
The confrontation between Shinigami and Quincy powers seemed to end with Yhwach's complete victory!
---
Underground chamber.
"Something's off..."
Tilting his head, one hand propping his chin, Ichimaru Gin murmured in confusion:
"I'm finding it stranger and stranger!"
"If Yhwach could even deprive this transcendent power, why didn't he try to take Ryūjin Jakka's Bankai in his fight with the Captain-Commander?!"
With his fox-like cunning sensitivity...
Ichimaru Gin quickly spotted another new doubt!
In this transcendent battle, the strength Yhwach displayed was clearly not the same person as before!
If not for identical appearance...
Ichimaru Gin would truly suspect that the one abused to death by Residual Flame Twin Swords was a fake played by someone unrelated!
The possibility wasn't small!
"Perhaps... he can't deprive it? Just bluffing!" Aizen said calmly.
"Impossible—half the black has retreated, the monk's aura has clearly weakened a lot..."
Ichimaru Gin shook his head slightly.
He didn't believe another reversal would happen!
However...
The world never lacks face-slapping moments!
Especially in battles between two transcendents!
Suddenly—
"Boom!"
The deprivation light array suddenly exploded.
The originally blazing blue light seemed to betray Yhwach in an instant, transforming back into abyss-like black, sweeping the firmament!
Moreover...
Beyond the video scenes...
In the real world, all things related to black elements were affected at this moment, fading their black luster!
"What's going on!!!"
"The black on the Shihakushō is disappearing at visible speed—what is this!!!"
...
For a time...
Inside Seireitei, terrified voices endless.
Lowering their heads to look at their Shihakushō, the Gotei 13 Shinigami wore expressions like they'd seen ghosts in daylight!
If not fearing severe punishment under squad rules...
Some timid ones nearly stripped off their Shihakushō on the spot to avoid unknown forces' harm!
This inexplicable bizarre phenomenon...
Instantly caused immense panic throughout Soul Society and the entire Shinigami world!
Influencing the present from the distant future!
Real correspondence from illusory video footage to reality!
Such majestic power...
Truly transcended nature, bringing indescribable shock!
---
Back to the battle.
As the Reishi light array collapsed...
Ichibei Hyōsube's figure emerged unscathed once more.
Pale eyes, he curled a sharp cold smile: "Yhwach, you're overthinking! My power fundamentally cannot be deprived! Moreover... you seem not to have noticed—your cloak has been completely dyed black!"
"Hm?!"
Yhwach abruptly looked down.
Then horrified to discover black unknowingly spreading over his body, gradually entangling like a quagmire.
"Too late to notice now..."
Raising the brush, swinging violently.
Black smoke-ink like an inverted waterfall poured onto Yhwach, instantly engulfing the Quincy King's body, leaving no color beyond black!
Completely pitch black!
No visible facial features or expression!
Even limbs stuck together by thick ink!
Viewed from afar through the lens...
Yhwach, this person who had lost his "name," aside from still having a human silhouette, had thoroughly become a bottomless pool of oil ink.
And those eyes exposed in endless black...
Empty, dazed, devoid of light...
After depriving name, power, and all past experiences...
This world no longer had a "Quincy King"!
Only...
A lowly microorganism waiting to be redefined by ink.
Qualified to live only by Ichibei Hyōsube's will!
"The monk was right!"
"After full-body black dye, Yhwach's aura completely vanished!"
"He seems to have evaporated into thin air!!!"
...
Shock!
Global sensation!
The inventory video froze on one frame.
That lone "Yhwach" in endless darkness.
Weak, helpless, exuding desolation yet perfectly blending with the dark background—utterly unabrasive!
This feeling...
Was as if "Yhwach" had fully merged with the ink smoke.
Next, as long as Ichibei Hyōsube released his sword, he would vanish from this world along with all ink in the Royal Palace!
"It's over, Yhwach..."
"Next, I'll grant you a new name and redefine your lowly, laughable life..." Like a master commanding, vast in the air.
Around Ichibei Hyōsube's body, the ink smoke color was no longer pitch black.
Instead...
It turned pure white with purifying power!!!
"True Strike—!"
"Brush Tip Ichimonji—!"
Ichibei Hyōsube lightly flicked the brush tip.
White smoke floated like silk in the air.
Where white passed, previously vanished Reishi became abundant again.
Every stroke like rebirth!
"True Strike?"
In Squad 5 underground chamber...
Aizen frowned slightly: "Is this another term for Bankai? After shifting from black to white, his aura has grown stronger again!"
In his pitch-black ink-like pupils, burning battle intent never ceased.
At this point, Ichibei Hyōsube's momentum had completely surpassed the Shinigami pinnacle, residing in another unattainable dimensional tier!
Such powerful force even somewhat exceeded Aizen's imagination!
After all...
This was a supreme domain he had never touched!