Enough ants can bite an elephant to death.
And yet, having numbers doesn't necessarily mean you can break through a defense.
The Kidō (Demon Arts) raining down like a storm smashed into the curtain of light around Higashino Shuuichi.
It looked overwhelming, but all it did was stir up ripples across the surface.
In truth, Seiiki: Raisan (Sanctuary: Praise) was originally one of Yhwach's defensive abilities.
Higashino Shuuichi had simply taken a liking to how it could be used for both offense and defense, so he often treated it like an attacking technique.
Now that it was doing the job it was meant to do, there was naturally no problem at all.
"What in the world is this ability?!"
"Was I slacking off back in the academy, so I don't recognize Quincy abilities anymore?"
"Probably not… because I don't remember it either."
On the outside, the Shinigami trying to help Madarame Ikkaku grew even heavier in their hearts after realizing their Kidō wasn't working.
"Hey… you think Ikkaku might—"
"Shut up! Can you not say that kind of bad-luck crap at a time like this?!"
"But…"
Even through the barrier of light encircled by more than a dozen massive cross-shaped star emblems, they could still see it: a seemingly endless barrage of Hairihi Pufairu (Holy Arrows) inside.
They weren't standing in the middle of it, yet it still felt as if they were.
Just imagining themselves in there was enough to make their skin crawl.
Third Seat Madarame… there was no way he could survive an onslaught like that, right?
Almost nobody believed in that tiny, near-zero possibility.
And yet, miracles had a habit of showing up precisely in moments like this.
"Wait! Look inside!!"
A sharp-eyed Shinigami saw it first and shouted.
Then a second voice—
"Everyone, look!"
Then a third—
"Third Seat Madarame is still alive!!"
A fourth, a fifth—
In less than three seconds, every Shinigami's gaze was locked onto the same point: Madarame Ikkaku, being hammered by the infinite Holy Arrows within Seiiki: Raisan.
At that moment, Ikkaku held massive axe-shaped blades in both hands and another on his back. The three were linked together by black iron chains.
That was not what his Zanpakuto looked like in Shikai.
Absolutely not.
Everyone there had seen his Shikai just earlier.
So there was only one possibility—
"It's Bankai!"
"Third Seat Madarame mastered Bankai!"
A young Shinigami cried out in excitement.
Because in his still-immature understanding, Bankai meant you could become a captain.
And captains were the strongest combat units in all of Soul Society!
So obviously… Third Seat Madarame would win!
Hope burned in that young Shinigami's eyes.
And that emotion spread almost instantly to the ring of Shinigami around him.
In that moment, every Shinigami's eyes were filled with something called hope.
Yes.
A Third Seat who had mastered Bankai would definitely win!
Meanwhile, at the center of the storm, Ikkaku gripped his two massive blades and attacked the incoming Holy Arrows with wild excitement.
"Is that all?!"
"Too few—way too few!"
He crushed the Holy Arrows with terrifying speed while shouting at Higashino Shuuichi.
Fast. Really fast.
Right now, Ikkaku's speed and strength were far beyond the Ikkaku in Higashino Shuuichi's memory.
No surprise—he'd been through a stretch of special training under him.
With disciplined training and refined combat skill, Ikkaku's strength was leagues above where he would've been at this point in the original story.
With the current intensity of Higashino Shuuichi's Seiiki: Raisan, even a typical captain—say, Muguruma Kensei—wouldn't be getting much of an advantage inside.
If Muguruma Kensei failed to escape in time, there was even a chance he'd get flattened by this move outright.
And yet Ikkaku was thriving in it more and more, like a fish in water.
Of course, Higashino Shuuichi also knew this likely had something to do with Ikkaku's Zanpakuto ability.
Ikkaku's Bankai, Ryūmon Hōzukimaru, was a slow-starter by nature.
It was said to possess unrivaled destructive power, but that peak power required extended combat to fully "warm up."
Under normal circumstances, Ikkaku rarely had the chance to complete that process.
Real fights weren't video games—enemies didn't politely wait while you slowly ramped up your stats.
But…
Higashino Shuuichi watched Ikkaku in the midst of countless Holy Arrows, growing fiercer, cutting cleaner, moving more smoothly with every exchange.
He'd reluctantly play the role of the "stupid" mob for once.
When the hymn finally ended and the massive cross-star emblems around them dropped away, Higashino Shuuichi looked at Ikkaku.
The dragon crest pattern on the huge blade behind Ikkaku had turned completely red.
That was the sign that Ikkaku's reiatsu and his Zanpakuto's destructive power had reached their absolute peak.
Around his body, that terrifying reiatsu had exceeded what he could fully control and condensed into tangible black matter, layering itself again and again over the blades in his hands.
"Th-that reiatsu… it's insane…"
Some of the younger Shinigami nearby couldn't even withstand it and dropped to one knee.
Even so, not one of them chose to leave.
Because neither of the Quincy—Kabuno Takuya and Kurosaki Masaki—had fallen.
As Shinigami, they refused to lose face here.
Masaki only glanced at the nearby Shinigami with puzzlement.
She could vaguely tell something was wrong with the Shinigami fighting Kabuno-senpai.
But she couldn't tell what, exactly.
Because the pressure that should have been crushing her was being completely shouldered by Higashino Shuuichi.
Masaki's "treatment" from Higashino Shuuichi was naturally different from Shiba Isshin's.
After all, she was someone who had a certain connection to him.
"Judging by your face… looks like you're ready~"
Higashino Shuuichi spoke lazily as he looked at Ikkaku.
"Heh. And are you ready?"
"Quincy!"
Ikkaku didn't bother thinking about what Higashino Shuuichi meant.
To Ikkaku, the logic was simple: the enemy said he looked ready, and he was ready.
The timing was perfect—so his slash would be perfect too.
"I'll show you what my Bankai really looks like, Ryūmon Hōzukimaru!"
Ikkaku leapt high, raising his blade and bringing it down.
No flashy extras.
No Kidō setup.
His overflowing reiatsu alone was enough to seal off every possible escape route Higashino Shuuichi might take.
He truly didn't know Kidō.
But when reiatsu reached a certain level, brute-force stacking it could accomplish simple tactical aims all on its own.
Unfortunately for him, Higashino Shuuichi had never planned to run.
He stood where he was and extended a single finger toward Ikkaku in the air, condensing a simple Holy Arrow at his fingertip.
"Shurifuto (Sacred Letter) Ability I: Kyokō (Fiction)—activate!"
This time, a dark-skinned man with short white hair appeared in Higashino Shuuichi's mind.
His left eye, kept closed, was covered by a black crosshair mark. He wore white gloves embroidered with an "X," and a sleeveless shirt with a fur pauldron on the right shoulder.
Anyone familiar with the future would recognize him instantly—
Lille Barro, one of Yhwach's future Schutzstaffel.
Imagine—then reconstruct!
"Shurifuto (Sacred Letter) X: Ekku-su Akushisu (X-Axis)—activate!"
This wasn't the first time Higashino Shuuichi had used this fabricated power.
So he was fast.
And the Holy Arrow he fired was just as fast.
What should have happened next was the scene he'd pictured:
Ikkaku's Zanpakuto pierced through, Ikkaku's Bankai broken, and Ikkaku forced to retreat in bitter defeat.
But—
"This is my Bankai!"
"Quincy—don't you dare look down on me!"
Ikkaku's roar thundered in the air.
And Higashino Shuuichi watched, wide-eyed, as his Holy Arrow shattered the instant it clashed with Ikkaku's blade.
How was that possible?!
Higashino Shuuichi couldn't believe the result.
Was it because this reigai (spirit body) limited his reiatsu output too severely, causing this?
No.
Back in the World of the Living, when he faced Tier Harribel, his compatibility with this reigai had been even worse—and yet the Ekku-su Akushisu (X-Axis) effect still worked on her ability.
So then…
Higashino Shuuichi thought of a possibility.
When he first mastered this Shurifuto (Sacred Letter) power, he had also learned its limitations.
For his Kyokō (Fiction) to work, the ability had to be something that could theoretically exist in the future—or something that would definitely exist.
That rule was obvious, and he had it memorized.
But the other rule…
Because it had never been triggered until now, he had nearly forgotten it existed.
The fabricated ability had to be an ability that did not currently exist in reality.
If that ability already existed in reality, then Higashino Shuuichi could no longer fabricate it.
Because that was reality—not fiction.
In other words, he had been able to successfully fabricate Shurifuto (Sacred Letter) I: Kōtetsu (Steel) earlier because, in reality, that "I" ability had not yet been granted by Yhwach.
But Shurifuto (Sacred Letter) X: Ekku-su Akushisu (X-Axis)…
It was very possible that during this time, Yhwach had already granted it to someone.
Which meant the version Higashino Shuuichi tried to fabricate now would fail.
"Heh."
Figuring all of that out took Higashino Shuuichi a fair amount of time.
But that didn't stop him from countering Ikkaku's attack during the process.
Sure, using Ekku-su Akushisu (X-Axis) would've been the simplest, most convenient approach.
But even without that Shurifuto (Sacred Letter) boost, Higashino Shuuichi had already prepared a backup.
After a certain past defeat, "never fight a battle unprepared" had become one of his core life principles.
So, faced with Ikkaku's seemingly unstoppable slash—and after his Holy Arrow was effortlessly crushed—Higashino Shuuichi bent down and pressed both hands to the ground.
"Have you ever heard of the Kage no Sekai (Shadow World)?"
A question that left every Shinigami around him utterly confused.
Only Kurosaki Masaki instantly understood what he meant.
"Kabuno-senpai… don't tell me you want to—?"
Masaki thought he was planning to slip into the Shadow World.
It was an insanely useful trick—back in the World of the Living, she used it constantly against Menos Grande.
But she was wrong.
Was Higashino Shuuichi that kind of person?
"Open."
The moment those two words left his mouth, a pitch-black gate beneath his feet abruptly opened downward, revealing a deep, bottomless black domain within.
Strangely, the Shinigami and objects standing on the ground remained perfectly safe in place, not falling at all—as if the "door" Higashino Shuuichi opened was merely an environmental gate.
But when Higashino Shuuichi spoke again, every Shinigami's expression changed—Masaki included.
"Mugen Daiseikyū (Endless Great Saint Bow)!"
One after another—bows so vast they seemed to span the entirety of Soul Society itself, with no visible beginning and no visible end.
All the Shinigami could see were countless gigantic Holy Arrows already nocked upon those bows, drawn and waiting to be loosed.
What did it mean to come prepared?
This was what it meant to come prepared.
Creating a brand-new technique from scratch might be difficult for a transmigrator like Higashino Shuuichi.
But rearranging and recombining existing techniques?
That was completely doable.
Even if it meant brute-force reconstructing them purely through overwhelming reiatsu—he could still make it happen.
Originally, Higashino Shuuichi had planned to save this move for some unlucky captain.
But with this sudden situation—
There was no time to consider anything else.
So the one who had to suffer was Madarame Ikkaku.
Because the Holy Arrows fired by these Great Saint Bows were nothing like the countless small Holy Arrows inside Seiiki: Raisan.
If Ikkaku wanted to casually smash these apart the way he had before…
That wouldn't be easy at all.
No—
With his current capabilities, it was simply impossible.
Because this was a "cheat" Higashino Shuuichi had crafted for himself one day earlier, temporarily separating from his reigai and using his original reiatsu to build it.
Forget Ikkaku—even Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni would have to take a long, bitter drink from this cup.
A terrifying explosion and blinding light erupted, then flashed out.
Blade shattered—man still standing.
In the end, Higashino Shuuichi still gave Ikkaku, a guy who could count as half his student, a tiny bit of face.
But not much.
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