Chapter 192: Are All Shinigami Monsters?
Staring at his vertically split arm, the burly Quincy's face contorted in agony.
At that moment, the blade wreathed in blue flames and trailing a long chain came flying back!
Damn it, again?!
The burly man's expression shifted dramatically.
He wanted to dodge, but the excruciating pain from his arm made even moving agony, let alone using Hirenkyaku.
"I'll handle it."
A young man with a scar at the corner of his mouth stepped in front of him.
"Gremmy!"
Seeing the Quincy shielding him, the burly man's eyes lit up.
Like most knights, Gremmy had become a Sternritter after Yhwach fell into slumber.
Though young, his defensive capabilities ranked among the finest of all Quincy.
His Blut Vene's strength rivaled Haschwalth's!
Gremmy raised his arm, extending it from his wide white military coat and crossing it in front of his chest.
Hum!!
Blue light, resembling blood vessels, spread across the surface of his skin.
Not to mention a mere Shinigami's Zanpakutō, even Haschwalth's slashes—he was confident he could block them!
Mid-air, Haschwalth was struggling against Yamamoto's flames.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he turned to look in Gremmy's direction.
Watching Gremmy raise his arm and use Blut Vene to block the blade, he had an intensely bad premonition—
"Gremmy! Bazz-B! Dodge!"
Haschwalth roared.
Gremmy was slightly taken aback, unsure why Haschwalth would say such a thing.
But, out of absolute confidence in his own strength, he didn't comply immediately.
The next second, the short blade pierced through Gremmy's arm with a thud, its speed undiminished as it stabbed into his chest.
"...Ugh!"
Gremmy opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of blood.
"Gremmy!!"
The burly man, the Quincy named Bazz-B, showed a shocked expression.
Then, under the watchful eyes of Haschwalth and Bazz-B, the chain behind the short blade suddenly tautened.
Gremmy was dragged into the sky by the short blade!
Outside the rift, Satoru's eyes lit up.
"I got one!"
He activated Risō Jakumetsu, intending to pull the Quincy out.
But just as he had pulled him halfway, an elderly-looking Quincy rushed to Gremmy's side at an incomprehensible speed.
The old man quickly assessed Gremmy's condition, then without hesitation grabbed his arm, attempting to forcibly pull him off Satoru's blade.
Satoru narrowed his eyes.
The old man was too fast, and with the other Quincies nearby, he likely wouldn't have time to extract the man himself.
With that thought, he abruptly channeled a massive surge of Reiatsu into his Zanpakutō.
A ball of Reiatsu burning with blue flames traveled down the chain and poured into Gremmy's body.
—BOOM!!!
A gaping hole exploded open in Gremmy's chest.
The elderly Quincy tried to intervene but wasn't fast enough to stop Satoru.
Witnessing a comrade die before their eyes, the Quincies erupted in fury.
This chaos, however, created openings in their defenses.
Seizing the opportunity, Yamamoto's flames finally broke free from their restraints and surged outward in all directions!
The Quincies in Vollständig scrambled to evade, terrified of being touched by the terrifying flames.
The burly man whose arm Satoru had severed earlier, unable to dodge in time, was swallowed by one of Yamamoto's fire dragons.
In the intense blaze, he didn't even have time to utter a sound before being completely incinerated to ash.
Haschwalth's face turned ashen.
His worst fear had finally come to pass.
The Sternritter were super-elites cultivated by the Wandenreich over centuries.
Each of them possessed extraordinary power, ranking among the strongest even in the brutal wars of the past.
But... centuries of isolation had limited the perspectives of these new-generation Quincies.
In their view, Yhwach was the pinnacle of the world, and beneath him stood the Sternritter.
Anyone outside the Sternritter was nothing but an insect.
This excessive arrogance had always troubled him.
Until now, he had believed there were still a century or two before the war with the Shinigami—plenty of time to gradually reshape their mindset.
He never expected the Wandenreich to be discovered prematurely.
And the flaws of the Sternritter were now being exposed in this bloody manner.
Fortunately, the situation hadn't reached its worst point yet.
Haschwalth lifted his head, looking toward the rift torn open by Satoru.
Seeing the Quincies' defenses breached, Satoru wasted no time and prepared to leap inside.
But just as he charged forward, a barrier of shimmering blue Reiatsu suddenly materialized before him.
"Hmm?"
Satoru narrowed his eyes at the barrier before him.
From the other side of the rift, Haschwalth spoke:
"Shinigami, save your efforts."
"The Final Holy District is a power left by His Majesty. Once activated, it can protect the Empire for at least four hundred years."
"Before its power dissipates, His Majesty will awaken."
"At that time, the Soul Society will face its destruction."
Hearing the words "His Majesty," Yamamoto seemed provoked.
With a roar, he gripped Ryūjin Jakka and slammed it against the barrier.
From the Wandenreich's perspective, as Yamamoto struck, ripples instantly spread out in all directions.
The entire sky was covered by "ripples" spanning several kilometers in diameter!
A short-haired blonde girl couldn't help but swallow hard.
"Are all Shinigami... monsters like this?"
Beside her, a green-haired Quincy woman replied in a trembling voice:
"And that one next to him... just a boy, yet he killed Gremmy..."
Many Quincy wore expressions of extreme tension, fearing the demon-like old man opposite them would cleave through the barrier.
Fortunately, this final barrier left by Yhwach was sturdier than they had imagined.
Haschwalth wasn't surprised.
The entire Wandenreich, along with the Quincy within, were all supplying power to this barrier.
With Yamamoto alone, it was absolutely impossible to breach it in a short time.
He turned around, eyelids slightly lowered, preparing to leave.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he sharply turned his head back.
There, on the other side of the fissure, the Shinigami boy was charging forward.
The boy gripped dual swords, his eyes wide open.
"Open for me—!!"
With a furious roar, Satoru swung his dual swords, slashing fiercely against the barrier!
Crack.
A web of fissures appeared on the barrier.
Haschwalth: "?!"
Watching as Satoru prepared to strike a second blow, he finally lost his composure.
While rapidly mobilizing the surrounding Reishi to repair the barrier using the authority Yhwach had granted him, he shouted:
"Quick! Relocate the empire's position... as far away as possible, get away from here!"