Soul Society, Soul King Palace.
This was an absolute forbidden sanctuary suspended above the Seireitei, a supreme domain that could only be entered by those possessing the Oken.
There was no night here.
Only an eternal, somewhat hollow, bright daylight.
At the deepest end of the Omotesando, in front of a massive, archaic dojo.
A burly, bald old monk with a thick beard sat cross-legged in midair. Holding a giant brush in his hand, he was writing something into the void.
His expression was perfectly serene, as if the birth and death of all things in this world could not stir the slightest emotional ripple within him.
Ichibe Hyosube.
He was the leader of all Soul Reapers, the one who first named everything in the Soul Society, also known as the Monk Who Calls the Real Name.
Suddenly, the massive brush in his hand came to an abrupt halt.
The drop of ink that was meant to fall onto the canvas of the void bizarrely defied the laws of gravity, hovering at the tip of the brush.
Then, with a soft drip, it fell onto his pristine white haori.
It was like a drop of indelible filth falling into a pure white world.
"Hmm?"
Ichibe's eyes, which were usually curved in a smiling squint, slowly widened.
A flash of astonishment crossed his pupils, which normally held a hint of playful clarity.
Following that was a profound solemnity.
"This sensation..."
He slowly lowered his brush, his gaze seemingly piercing through layers of space, looking toward the nothingness beyond the void.
"What a deeply nostalgic presence."
His voice was deep, carrying an echo that seemed to originate from ancient times.
"Yo! Monk! Did you feel it too?!"
Accompanied by a burst of hip-hop energy and rhythmic footsteps.
A dark-skinned man wearing sunglasses, sporting an afro, and dressed in a sleeveless haori appeared beside Ichibe.
This was Oetsu Nimaiya, also known as the God of the Sword, the creator of the Zanpakuto.
Usually one to constantly spout foreign loanwords, his face currently held not a trace of its usual playful grin.
With his hands shoved in his pockets, his eyes behind the sunglasses stared fixedly in the direction of the World of the Living, his brows furrowed into a tight knot.
"That brief moment just now... Although it was faint, it absolutely couldn't escape these ears of mine, which have witnessed the drawing of every Zanpakuto!"
Nimaiya's tone turned serious. "That was the cry of a Zanpakuto... No, wait! The sound that blade made... It wasn't forged by me at all! It's more like some kind of self-constructed anomaly!"
"And that Spiritual Pressure..." Nimaiya turned to look at Ichibe, lowering his voice. "Monk, that feeling of wanting to devour everything... Doesn't it resemble a certain someone?"
Ichibe did not answer immediately.
He slowly stood up, his massive frame casting a shadow on the ground.
Ichibe extended his thick fingers, gently rolling his giant prayer beads.
"Although the nature is completely different, it does carry a similar scent..."
He turned around, casting his gaze toward the deepest part of the Soul King Palace—the Greater Palace that sealed the Soul King's true body.
"Something has touched the boundaries of the three realms..."
"That sensation is neither a Soul Reaper, nor a Hollow, nor a Quincy, nor a Fullbringer..."
The monk's eyes grew deep and unfathomable, as if he were calculating something, or perhaps weighing the pros and cons.
"Oh, Oetsu."
"I'm here, I'm here!"
"It seems this long and boring history is about to welcome a new 'variable'." Ichibe parted his lips, revealing a chilling smile.
His pristine white teeth glinted coldly in the sunlight. "I just wonder if this variable... will become a guard protecting the three realms like you and me? Or will it replace Him as the 'linchpin'? Or perhaps... a disaster that destroys everything..."
World of the Living, Fuyuki City.
The sky had been slashed open, leaving a golden scar.
Golden-red flames of Spiritual Pressure were still burning wildly. As if possessing a life of their own, they bit fiercely into the rift of the magic circle, preventing it from continuing its rampage.
The terrifying suction generated by the magic circle, which threatened to drag all of Fuyuki City into another dimension, actually ground to a momentary halt under that single slash!
The writhing black mud also began to dissolve because of that strike, stopping fearfully at the edge of the rift.
"Did it work?!"
Outside Fuyuki City, Rangiku Matsumoto, who was directing the evacuation, turned her head. Seeing the cleaved sky, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Just who was that man? To think he could sever a Spiritual Disaster of this magnitude all by himself?!
"Why isn't it over yet!"
Kisuke Urahara's voice held not a shred of relief; instead, he sounded even more anxious.
He stared intently at Asuka, whose momentum was beginning to wane.
Although the magic circle's suction had weakened, it had not swallowed the entire city.
The black pillar of light shooting down from the center of the vortex, however, had not disappeared!
Hum!
In the sky, the shattered magic circle suddenly began to rotate in reverse.
The suction that had originally spread across the entire city was instantly converged, transforming into a singular force that bore down entirely on Asuka alone!
All the World's Evils, imposed upon one body.
"Ugh!!!"
Having forcibly released a Zanpakuto that had yet to submit to him, Asuka's body was suffering from exhaustion.
The black patterns on his body now acted like countless venomous snakes, burrowing deeply into his flesh and completely connecting him to the gaping black hole in the sky as an inseparable entity.
"Damn it, I can't move!"
"It can't be helped, Asuka. This is fate; you cannot escape it."
The black-haired youth's voice rang out once more, seemingly having foreseen this situation. "This world is undergoing anomalies because of you, and only you can restore these anomalies to normal."
"Do not struggle, or the Counter Force of the world will continue to spread until it devours the entire World of the Living."
The chains of karma had firmly bound him.
The surrounding space was rapidly folding and solidifying.
He was like an insect sealed in amber; though he still retained his consciousness, he could do absolutely nothing.
"Asuka!!"
On the ground, Shinobu Kocho desperately tried to rush up to him.
"Take her away!!" Asuka roared with all his remaining strength.
Kisuke Urahara gritted his teeth, his Benihime tracing a complex trajectory in the air.
"Bakudo #79・Kuyo Shibari!"
Nine pitch-black points of Spiritual Pressure instantly appeared around Shinobu, forming an absolute protective barrier around her.
This restricted her movements, preventing her from stepping into the anomalous Spiritual Pressure field of Fuyuki City just inches away, and stopping her from charging into the... impending, fatal spatial turbulence.
"Let me go!! Fox man!! Let me go right now!!"
Shinobu frantically pounded against the barrier, her slender sword striking sparks against the wall of light.
Tears flowed uncontrollably once more. "Asuka! You just promised me! You said you would take me home!"
"I'm sorry..."
Asuka looked at the crying, petite figure. The tyrannical golden flames that had been burning in his eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a deep sense of apology.
He could feel the space behind him collapsing.
The winds of another world were already brushing against his back.
"It seems... I'm going to break my promise again," Asuka chuckled bitterly.
To think that right after finally reuniting, they would be separated by different worlds once more...