After Sora destroyed the Soul King's remains with the Tenzui Shinkotsu, he immediately sensed a disturbance in the storm.
The massive amount of Reishi transformed from the remains quickly merged with the turbulence.
Danger!
A faint prickling pain came from Sora's temples, and the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
He felt threatened. It was the first time he'd sensed danger like this since reaching the Transcendent realm.
After absorbing the Soul King's energy, the turbulence turned into a Reishi Storm that could rip space apart.
The surrounding space shattered like broken glass, revealing the chaotic void of the Garganta outside.
In the next moment, thunder and flames surged from Sora's body.
A Golden Flame Blut Giant, fusing the power of Blut Arterie and Blut Vene, formed instantly.
Sora looked up. The giant reached out to grab Yhwach, who was trapped within the storm.
However, as soon as the newly formed giant touched the Reishi Storm, it was torn by terrifying forces.
Cracks appeared quickly along the Reishi lines that formed the giant. The energy that shot out was swept away by the wind. The thunder and flames on the giant weakened fast, almost being destroyed at any moment.
"Such power!"
Sora's eyes narrowed. This storm, having absorbed the Soul King's Reishi, displayed power exceeding Yhwach's own strength. Even the Golden Flame Blut Giant, which could withstand the attacks of the Lord of Hell's Zanpakutō, couldn't hold up.
Spiritual Pressure surged within his body, rapidly replenishing the Reishi needed to maintain the Blut.
Yhwach seemed to have been seriously injured by the storm as well, failing to dodge the grab of the giant golden hand.
As the hand closed tightly, golden flames ignited his body and started to burn him up.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of shattering bones was drowned out by the roaring wind.
"You cannot stop it... The storm... will destroy everything..."
Yhwach's spirit body exploded with a bang. The fragments of his soul were quickly swallowed, becoming fuel for the catastrophe.
"It's finally over."
Defeating Yhwach was easier than expected, but a bigger problem followed.
After the storm absorbed the Soul King's power, Yhwach lost control and was destroyed by it.
Even though Sora defeated Yhwach, the Reishi Storm didn't vanish with him!
The storm was only getting stronger.
At Sora's command, the Golden Flame Blut Giant shrank quickly. In this situation, being smaller helped him resist the full force of the storm.
At the same time, the Shadow Clothing on his body spread out, mixing with the golden flames that had shrunk to slightly larger than a human body.
He kept the golden flame shell so he could use both Blut Arterie and Blut Vene at the same time. Normally, you can't use both, but the golden flame shell let him create two separate Reishi paths.
The Shadow Clothing merged into the Blut Vene of the shell, and the golden flames were quickly covered with black lines.
Blut is basically a kind of magic rune for boosting power. Shadow Clothing boosted by Blut Vene was even stronger than just covering the whole body.
It was like the difference between the defense from a Quincy's raw Spiritual Pressure and the defense after pushing that power into their veins.
This was Sora's form with the strongest defense—
[Shadow-Blut Form]!
After activating the form, the prickling pain in Sora's temples subsided significantly.
"The Reishi Storm isn't killing me right now, but it keeps draining my Shadow-Blut. I won't last long..." Sora quickly figured out his own limits. "Even without fighting, I can only last about a day in here."
Sora's Spiritual Pressure wasn't as strong as the Soul King's, but it was enough for him to keep up his defense for about twenty-four hours.
At that moment, the storm seemed to have gathered enough power. It stopped shrinking and started to expand outward.
Sora immediately used the shadow he'd left with Sōsuke Aizen to warn him and Squad Zero to get out of the Royal Palace.
The storm was growing fast and would soon destroy everything. If they stayed on the Main Avenue, it would be almost impossible to escape.
...
"This place will soon be destroyed by the Reishi Storm. You should leave the Royal Palace first," the shadow left by Sora warned.
"That won't do. We cannot leave yet."
However, Ichibē Hyōsube rejected the proposal, which surprised both the shadow and Aizen.
The shadow was confused. "The floating island palaces are all gone. Why stay here and defend this place at all costs?"
Ichibē explained, "You came up from the Soul Society. Your senses tell you that the Royal Palace is located above the Soul Society."
"But this is just a sensory illusion caused by the passage between the dimensions. The Royal Palace is actually an independent space."
"Moreover, as the location of the Linchpin, the Royal Palace is situated at the absolute center of the Three Worlds."
Ichibē extended his right hand, condensing a miniature model of the cosmos on his palm.
Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living were squeezed together, with the small gap in the middle as the Royal Palace.
"The Reishi Storm won't go away on its own!" Aizen said, his face darkening. "After tearing through the Palace, it'll sweep into the Three Worlds and destroy them all."
"That's right. So no matter where we go, we can't escape it." Ichibē patted the crystal next to him. "Also, this temporary 'Linchpin' has to be at the center to keep reality stable. If we leave it here, the storm will destroy it."
Ichibē had already made Pernida, the Left Arm of the Soul King, into the temporary Linchpin.
Aizen asked, "Does Senior Ichibē choose to stay because there is a way to calm the storm?"
"Even your teacher couldn't stop this storm, so of course I can't either," Ichibē said, shaking his head. "But we can send it to a world stronger than the Three Worlds and let that world wear it down."
The miniature model in his palm changed again. Beneath the Three Worlds, a red dimension condensed.
Aizen recognized it immediately. "Hell!"
"Only Hell can withstand the power of this storm." Ichibē nodded. "The Three Worlds created by the Soul King are located above Hell. The Royal Palace, at the center, is also directly above it!"
"If we guide the storm into Hell, it can indeed resolve the crisis... But how do we guide it?"
Aizen looked up at the blue turbulence obscuring the entire sky. The terrifying aura emanating from it was alarming.
With his current strength, he probably couldn't last long in that environment, yet the Professor could defeat strong enemies within it.
"It's simple." Ichibē revealed a faint smile. "As long as we sink the Royal Palace into Hell, won't the storm erupt there instead?"