________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Burn everything.
Destroy everything.
Turn all that it touches into ash.
Now—
With flames filling the screen.
With a land reduced to charcoal.
With arc-shaped firelight circling behind the Captain-Commander.
Every detail proclaimed the might of the strongest fire-type Zanpakutō.
"Remember this…"
He held the sword in one hand.
His graying brows and long beard whipped wildly in the heat.
Eyes narrowed, he moved like a living fire god and roared:
"Anyone who dares challenge me must be prepared to be burned to death! Even if you were once my proudest students, I will not show mercy!!!"
He swung the blade.
A simple slash.
Scarlet, searing flames surged along Ryūjin Jakka's length, erupting upward as they spiraled violently into the sky, forming a dragonlike firestorm that threatened to annihilate everything.
Boom!!!
This time, it wasn't just the ground.
Even the sky of Soul Society was being mercilessly scorched.
As the air detonated again and again, the distant view through the recording showed the entire sky visibly warping, as if it were on the verge of shattering.
This bizarre and horrifying sight once more threw every shinigami, and the entire world of the dead, into an uproar.
"Even space itself is being affected?"
"That's insane. The old man just swung his sword once!"
"I can't help wondering… if the Captain-Commander swung toward the camera, could Ryūjin Jakka's flames slash through time and space and reach the living world?"
"And the scariest part is, someone that powerful is only ranked fifth!"
"The four above him… could they casually blow Soul Society apart?"
…
The weaker shinigami immediately backed away from the screen, terrified of being caught in the flames.
Others, even more timid, curled up in small groups, relying on their companions' reassurance just to find the courage to keep watching.
At this moment—
In the eyes of most people.
The Captain-Commander was no longer the familiar figure of stern authority mixed with kindly age.
He had become something else entirely.
Instead, he had become a humanoid sun.A walking catastrophe.A mobile nuclear bomb that could go off anytime, anywhere.
Once the Captain-Commander was truly angered—
Forget Kyōraku and Ukitake, both captains.
From the Seireitei nearby to the eightieth district of Rukongai far away, total annihilation would be just one thought away for that old man.
No one doubted he could actually do it.
"Captain… aren't you two way too reckless?""Picking a fight with a monster like that old man, are you seriously trying to get yourselves killed?"
Hiding timidly behind Kyōraku Shunsui,Ise Nanao struggled to breathe, crushed by the overwhelming pressure of Ryūjin Jakka's presence.
If Kyōraku hadn't been shielding her the whole time, even as a vice-captain she would have blacked out on the spot from suffocation.
"You'll have to ask Ukitake about that," Kyōraku said, spreading his hands innocently. "This has nothing to do with me, okay? Don't pin this on me."
"You—!"
Ukitake Jūshirō was so furious his face nearly turned green.
Unbelievable. What a shameless excuse for a friend. This mess was obviously your fault!
Meanwhile, inside the video—
After Ryūjin Jakka was released,Kyōraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jūshirō followed suit and released their own Zanpakutō.
Dual blades in hand, their expressions were grim and focused, completely different from their relaxed, joking selves watching the footage now.
Seeing his two beloved disciples release their swords, as if determined to oppose him head-on,
the old man's fury was instantly fueled even further, skyrocketing once more.
"Ryūjin Jakka… Torch."
The low command sounded like the horn announcing the end of the world.
The Captain-Commander swung his blade again.Crimson flames erupted, blazing like a miniature sun, shattering the sky as they spiraled violently around his body at high speed.
The terrifying heat radiating from that blazing sphere caused distant buildings to visibly melt at their surfaces.
"I can't take it anymore!"
"If this keeps up, my organs are going to be burned to ash!"
As the old man's rage continued to rise,more and more people reached their limit.
One after another, symptoms of severe heatstroke appeared. It looked like spontaneous combustion was only moments away.
And yet—
This was merely the beginning.
When the Captain-Commander raised his scar-covered arm once more,and glared furiously toward the direction of the camera before slashing downward—the true calamity arrived.
"Fuuzan—!!!"
With a single strike, a massive, blade-shaped wave of crimson fire surged forward, carrying heat fierce enough to boil oceans and incinerate the heavens.
Layer upon layer, dense as storm clouds pressing down on a city, it filled the entire screen in an instant.
That one horrifying attack left everyone watching with nothing in their field of vision except searing red light and an overwhelming inferno that felt like it was about to crash straight into their faces.
"Everyone, get away from it!"
The footage was simply too realistic.
Even though the battle took place in a distant future,and the target of that slash was Kyōraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jūshirō inside the video—the sheer realism and crushing pressure instantly awakened raw fear of death.
Countless people sprang to their feet on instinct, fleeing in panic away from the transparent light screen.
For a brief moment,
because of that single Fuuzan slash from the Captain-Commander, the entire world of the Shinigami erupted into chaos on an unprecedented scale.
The Human World. Hueco Mundo. Soul Society.Even the invisible empire where the pure-blood Quincy resided.
Anywhere a transparent screen existed, the same scenes of frantic escape could be seen.
Ryūjin Jakka.The strongest fire-type Zanpakutō.
From that moment on, those words would be branded deep into everyone's soul,like a red-hot nail driven in forever, impossible to remove.
At last,
the crimson blade of fire swept across everything and slammed heavily into the direction of the camera.
Kyōraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jūshirō, and the entire background vanished together into an endless sea of flames.
The clash between master and disciples came to an end.
And with it, the evaluation of the Captain-Commander was temporarily halted.
"Captain-Commander…"
"Although the ranking itself has some serious issues, those scenes just now should be more than enough to shock the entire world with the overwhelming might of Ryūjin Jakka."
"At least… that's one small piece of good news."
Seeing that the Captain-Commander's expression had softened slightly in satisfaction,Sasakibe Chōjirō finally found the courage to speak, bowing deeply as he offered reassurance.
"Hm…"
"I'm not entirely sure why my future self would come into conflict with Shunsui and the others. But that battle indirectly confirmed some of the earlier footage we saw."
Reining in his satisfaction,the Captain-Commander nodded slightly, his expression turning serious as he analyzed the situation.
"I believe this so-called 'Ryoka invasion' was led by Kurosaki Ichigo, wasn't it?"
"Huh? Him again?"Sasakibe Chōjirō looked stunned.
That boy named Ichigo seemed to show up everywhere in the future.Every major incident somehow involved him.
"I can't say I'm absolutely certain," the old man continued, "but since he appears on screen again and again, he clearly isn't some disposable side character who dies halfway through. That alone supports my earlier suspicions."
Unexpectedly,the Captain-Commander gave Ichigo an extraordinarily high evaluation.
Clearing his throat, he continued solemnly:
"If he truly makes it to the end, and even earns the right to be welcomed back by Yhwach himself…"
"Then…"
"I'll venture a bold guess."
"Among the four individuals who surpass even me… Ichigo may very well have a place."
A shocking declaration.
Direct recognition from the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years.
If any outsiders were present, they would have had their jaws drop to the floor.
"That's impossible… are you saying—"Sasakibe swallowed hard.
He simply couldn't imagine the Captain-Commander holding Ichigo in such high regard.
"Yes."
The old man nodded without hesitation, his voice firm.
"I believe…"
"That human boy named Ichigo will one day become even stronger than me."
"..."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________