"What kind of battle is this?"
Looking at the flames engulfing the Seireitei from above, no matter where one was, the turbulent currents filling the entire Seireitei were clearly visible.
The center of the battlefield was no longer a place where anyone could intervene.
One didn't even need to approach the center of the battlefield; if someone flew above the Seireitei, they would be directly pulverized by the spreading turbulent currents.
Looking from afar...
Azure spiritual power, purple Reiatsu, and crimson flames clashed wildly!
Every collision unleashed visible shockwaves that spread in all directions.
"Is His Majesty at a disadvantage?"
Although it wasn't clear, with each impact, the single figure was sent flying backward, while the figure enveloped in purple Reiatsu and crimson flames held an absolute advantage.
However, no matter how great the advantage, the battle could not end; it merely continued ceaselessly.
...
"It's useless!"
Yhwach's voice emerged from the shattered flesh: "From the moment I foresaw this future and decided to let it continue, I already changed the future of 'my own death.' So, even if the battle between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo ends, you will absolutely be unable to kill me in this fight."
Even though he was formless, Yhwach's voice clearly reached Ishikawa and Commander Yamamoto's ears.
"And you two..."
"One's Bankai is too powerful; prolonged use will not only cause permanent damage to the world but also lead to a backlash from the excessively powerful Zanpakuto ability."
"The other utilizes the high time density within the Dangai to briefly restore his Spirit Body, but will soon suffer Spirit Body disintegration due to time reversal and fall into a coma."
The shattered flesh gradually coalesced, quickly forming a human shape.
In a brief moment, Yhwach reappeared before Ishikawa and Commander Yamamoto, his clothes completely intact.
"From the moment I foresaw this battle three days ago, I was already in an unbeatable position!"
Self-healing?
No!
The change happening to Yhwach at this moment was less like self-healing and more akin to Orihime's 'rejection,' forcibly altering the future of his own death.
Commander Yamamoto's brows were tightly furrowed. Smoke was rising from his robust body, which completely defied his age, and some areas had even melted away.
Although his expression revealed nothing, continuously unleashing his Bankai's full power was indeed a double-edged sword, as Yhwach said: either eliminate the enemy, or destroy Soul Society and himself!
This battle had dragged on for too long, so long that the fighting within Seireitei had come to a halt.
It wasn't that the war had ended, but rather...
Both sides were no longer able to continue fighting!
Looking down from here, the entire Seireitei was filled with screams, as Holy Soldiers, their bodies burning with flames, frantically rolled on the ground, hoping to extinguish the fire on them.
However, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't extinguish the flames on their bodies and could only be burned alive to death.
The Gotei 13 was in the same situation.
However, unlike the Sternritter's disregard for their Holy Soldiers, the Captains and Vice-Captains of the Gotei 13 Squads were protecting their temporary camps with their Reiatsu. Yet, even so, a large number of ordinary Squad Members and even Seated Officers had fallen in the temporary camps.
If this battle continued to stalemate, all these people would become part of Yhwach's power!
This caused a flicker of hesitation in Commander Yamamoto's aged eyes, and the veins on his hand, gripping the sword hilt, bulged from excessive force.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Yhwach's pupils contracted, and he stared intently at Commander Yamamoto.
More precisely, he stared at Commander Yamamoto's back...
At Ishikawa, who had remained silent all along!
"You..."
"Unbeatable position?"
Just then, Ishikawa's voice sounded in timely fashion: "Not dying doesn't necessarily mean you're in an unbeatable position. If Aizen were here, he'd probably tell you that."
Almost as soon as the words fell, Yhwach felt his body suddenly stiffen, unable to move even a single finger for some unknown reason.
"What did you do?"
The sudden abnormality made Yhwach's face change.
"You talk too much!"
Ishikawa stepped out from behind Commander Yamamoto, and a dark mist emanated from his body.
That mist was not Reiatsu, but a deep and despairing aura, as if it could devour all matter.
"If you hadn't mentioned 'the future,' my initial plan was indeed to kill you here, but the moment you spoke of the future, I abandoned the idea of killing you and instead..."
The Kokumei in Ishikawa's hand rapidly changed form, and the pure white bandages wrapped around his right arm gradually emerged, as if they had always been there!
"To analyze and reconstruct you!"
At these words, both Yhwach and Commander Yamamoto couldn't help but focus their gaze on Ishikawa, because this was a temporary change to Ishikawa's original plan after hearing Yhwach describe the future, so Commander Yamamoto was completely unaware of it.
And most importantly...
When did Ishikawa activate Bankai?
"What exactly gave you..."
As if seeing through Yhwach's thoughts, Ishikawa, enveloped in the dark mist, grinned and repeated the phrase he was very fond of: "The illusion that I haven't used Bankai?"
As he spoke, the dark mist around Ishikawa grew thicker, exuding an ominous and hidden aura.
Schatten Bereich?
No, it wasn't just the Schatten Bereich; there was also a sensation that he was extremely familiar with.
That was...
The aura of the future!
"My Kokumei doesn't have a fixed form, and it doesn't even have the Asauchi initially used to awaken it, which means..."
Ishikawa met Yhwach's gaze:
"The Kokumei, which has been completely destroyed several times by me and then re-formed, is merely an extension of an ability for me, not a Zanpakuto in the conventional sense. It doesn't even have a name; it only chose this name as its designation because the new Kokumei was born from the 'corpse' of the old Kokumei."
Shikai, Bankai...
For Ishikawa, there was no such distinction; it was merely a switch between two abilities. Therefore, even in his Zanpakuto's Shikai state, Ishikawa could fully exploit Bankai abilities, because this was a power that belonged entirely to him, born from his soul, with no other factors involved.
In the previous battle with Yhwach, Ishikawa hadn't realized this, but after analyzing the so-called Schrift… Ishikawa truly realized that the dog in his soul space was merely an extension of his own soul, itself an embodiment of ability and rules.
Asauchi, names—none of these were needed for it.
Why it appeared in the form of a dog... a fox, Ishikawa hadn't figured out, or rather, wasn't very willing to figure out.
His initial worry about Yhwach stripping his Bankai was completely overthinking it, because the new Kokumei wasn't a Zanpakuto at all. Strictly speaking, from the moment it was reborn, Ishikawa had already begun a preliminary fusion with his Zanpakuto, he just hadn't found the correct direction.
Instead, he chose to analyze Aizen and learned the wrong fusion from him...
Aizen misled me!
This was the first thought that came to Ishikawa's mind after realizing this.
Getting back to the main topic.
What Ishikawa was doing now was to seal Yhwach in the future by analyzing Yhwach's 'Schatten Bereich' and his ability to change the future, his 'Incomplete Almighty.'
And the energy used to seal Yhwach was extracted from Yhwach's repeated alterations of the future.
His goal was simple: to use Yhwach's own power to make him fall back into slumber. Although it might not last long, he could use this time to devise a strategy to kill him.