"[Zaga Teppō]!!"
Massive, dense blue spiritual pressure violently gathered at the apex of the massive skeletal snake-head. The concentrated Reiatsu rapidly coalesced into the ethereal form of a titanic, predatory serpent ready to swallow its prey whole.
With a deafening, thunderous roar, the colossal cannonball of condensed spiritual energy violently detonated forward.
Even the four humans who had already fled miles into the fog-shrouded distance could clearly see the apocalyptic red and blue light flashing brilliantly behind them, illuminating the night sky.
"Is the fight really that intense back there?" Tony Stark muttered, his smart-glasses picking up massive, off-the-charts energy spikes.
"Don't just stand there gaping, mate. Hurry up and move," John Constantine countered dryly, lighting a fresh cigarette without breaking his stride. "In a supernatural slugfest of that specific caliber, even if you managed to put on your absolute best suit of armor... you wouldn't even be qualified to participate."
Tony Stark looked back at the site of the distant explosion, completely choked by the blunt truth of Constantine's remark. A quiet, highly frustrated curse word caught entirely in his throat, making it physically difficult to speak as he turned to jog after the Winchester brothers.
Down in the massive, smoking crater formed by Renji Abarai's devastating Bankai strike, the earth cracked open.
Azazel slowly, shakily climbed out of the burning rubble. His elegant leather jacket was now completely shredded into tattered rags, and deep, smoking lacerations lined his pale face and torso. A deep, hoarse, demonic roar of pure indignation tore from his throat.
"I will slaughter you..." Azazel hissed, his yellow eyes burning with unadulterated fury. "How dare you insects look down on me? How dare you injure my noble body?!"
As his words fell, the Prince of Hell's physical vessel began to violently glow a deep, radioactive red. Thick, liquid threads of pure Hellfire burst forth from his open wounds, rapidly spreading outward until the superheated flames completely enchanted his entire body.
[Hellfire Armor: Full-Body Enchantment]
The high-speed battle between the two instantly resumed. Even though Azazel was utilizing a fragile mortal vessel, under the absolute possession of a Prince of the Pit, his physical attributes possessed raw power no less than that of a high-ranking God of Death. In terms of pure, physical hand-to-hand combat, Renji found himself at a distinct disadvantage against the burning velocity of the demon.
However, the elite battles of the Gotei 13 never relied solely on physical durability.
Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Kidō, and Shunpo—since there was a clear gap in raw physical strength, Renji naturally pivoted to outmaneuver the demon in other tactical areas. Unbeknownst to Azazel during their frantic exchange of blows, countless ethereal hairs from the Baboon King's mantle had been subtly scattering across the scorched ground.
"[Hihizō]!" (Baboon King's Mane)
The microscopic spiritual hairs embedded in the earth instantly grew wildly, violently transforming into a forest of massive, fur-clad skeletal arms erupting from the bedrock.
Slapping, grabbing, and fanning out across the crater, the countless hands continuously launched a coordinated assault against the demon. Although the strikes weren't immediately fatal, Azazel dared not allow himself to be pinned down or controlled by the spiritual appendages. By fiercely tangling himself in close-quarters combat with Renji Abarai, he could at least prevent the terrain from entirely closing in on him.
But if he were to be trapped by these arms for even a fraction of a second...
Azazel tracked the periphery. Rukia Kuchiki, who had long since retreated to a safe distance, had already raised her Zanpakutō upright into a ritual stance. She absolutely wouldn't miss the opening.
'I severely underestimated these so-called Gods of Death,' Azazel realized, his teeth clenching as he deflected another skeletal hand. 'I didn't expect these two officers to be this incredibly troublesome.'
Just fighting the man alone was enough to leave his current physical vessel severely structurally compromised. If the woman nearby were to actively join the melee, whether he could keep this stolen body intact would be highly questionable.
And the more irritated the Prince of Hell became, the easier it was for tactical flaws to manifest in his defense.
The exact millisecond Azazel lost focus to look at Rukia, several massive baboon palms suddenly snapped closed around his blind spot. Azazel looked up, his yellow eyes widening as the sky was completely cut off by a circular, interlocking dome of fur-clad hands, sealing away all of his operational retreat paths.
"Rukia! I'm leaving the rest to you!" Renji Abarai shouted, his voice hoarse as his Bankai architecture held the dome shut. Having deployed two high-density techniques in a row, his current spiritual power reserves were running dangerously low. The definitive finishing blow could only be delivered by the Lieutenant of the 13th Division.
"Mhm," Rukia replied calmly.
Rukia held her white Zanpakutō perfectly upright before her face. A chilling, beautiful layer of pure frost began to rapidly spread from the tip of the blade down toward the hilt.
"Bankai."
"[Hakka no Togame]." (Censure of the White Haze)
SHUUN.
Every micro-particle of moisture contained in the surrounding air instantly crystallized into floating, pristine ice flowers. Rukia Kuchiki's physical form completely transformed at the exact same microsecond. Her dark hair, violet eyes, and eyelashes all turned a flawless, majestic snow-white. An exquisite Ice Crystal Tassel Hairpin materialized in her hair, and her body was now clad in a pure white, gorgeous ceremonial long robe, anchored by a massive, butterfly-shaped white ribbon tied at her back.
This was officially the Soul Society's most beautiful Zanpakutō—the ultimate, absolute-zero manifestation of Sode no Shirayuki.
A pillar of pure, apocalyptic cold air shot straight into the heavens, instantly forming a visible layer of white ice across the upper atmosphere of the West Coast. Down below, a massive tidal wave of absolute-zero current swept fiercely across the terrain.
Wherever the freezing wave passed, concrete buildings, iron fences, and desert brush were instantly, structurally frozen into solid, brittle blocks of ice.
Azazel's dome of hands vanished, and the Prince of Hell was naturally no exception to the absolute-zero flash freeze.
For a fraction of a second, Azazel stood frozen as a perfect, crystalline ice sculpture. Then, with a crisp, echoing crack, the statue violently shattered into pieces under its own weight. His frozen arms fell off first, followed closely by his head breaking away from his neck. The sudden collapse of his legs caused the entire atomic structure of the demon's vessel to naturally fall apart, turning into countless, harmless fragments of glistening ice dust scattered across the crater.
"Haa~"
Rukia Kuchiki stood perfectly still in the center of the devastation, exhaling a soft puff of white, vaporized breath like an elegant Ice Queen. She slowly, precisely sheathed her sword. Even though the Bankai immediately deactivated, reverting her appearance to normal, the localized temperature of the valley remained extremely, sub-zero cold.
"Let's go," Renji said, using Shunpo to flash-step directly to her side, his breathing ragged. "We need to hurry and gather at the primary coordinates. All of the Captains have officially arrived on this plane."
"Mhm."
The two Lieutenants took one final, brief look at the shattered remains of the Prince of Hell, then simultaneously vanished from the crater into thin air.
[The Ruins of San Venganza Village]
Across the barren, corrupted expanses of the former St. Fangan Village, the air was dense with an overwhelming, suffocating collection of spiritual signatures. Countless lower-seat Shinigami wearing traditional black shihakushō were stationed in defensive perimeters across the sector.
"Have the surrounding human populations been fully evacuated from the operational grid?"
"Yes, Captain Jūshirō," a seated officer reported respectfully. "S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols have been enforced. There are absolutely no traces of human life within a hundred-kilometer radius of the focal point."
"What about Rukia? Has she not returned from her auxiliary assignment yet?"
"We've just received a spiritual transmission from the 13th Division communications line. She and Lieutenant Abarai are currently on their way back to the main assembly."
"She truly is a willful girl, that Rukia," Jūshirō Ukitake murmured, coughing twice into his cloth before turning his gaze toward the silent figure of Byakuya Kuchiki.
The Captain of the Sixth Division showed absolutely zero emotional fluctuation at the mention of his sister's insubordination, still maintaining the flawless, untouchable demeanor of a noble model of the Seireitei.
The time had reached late afternoon, and the entire high-ranking assembly was waiting in absolute silence for nightfall. Whether the pocket of Hell occupied by the Soul Society could be successfully expanded to protect human reality depended entirely on the magical results of tonight's massive operation.
BUZZZZ.
Right then, the quiet hum of high-tech machinery broke the silence as a sleek S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet flew in from the distant horizon, quietly hovering in the air a few hundred feet away from the assembly.
Seeing this uninvited entry, several Captains scattered across the ruins slowly looked up at the sky. But no one moved a muscle. They simply watched the metal bird with passive indifference.
SHUUN.
Utilizing a high-speed Flash Step to appear directly in mid-air right outside the cockpit glass of the hovering jet, Chōjirō Sasakibe stood aloft on the wind, his hand resting on his Zanpakutō hilt.
"Leave this place immediately, humans," Chōjirō barked, his voice carrying clearly through the reinforced glass. Driving them away before the ritual began was his final act of military kindness.
For this high-stakes operation, the Seireitei had mobilized more than half of the Gotei 13's active Captains. Even the Captain-Commander himself, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, had personally descended to this coordinate. This was more than enough to demonstrate the absolute, universe-altering importance placed on this matter.
Chōjirō absolutely would not allow unauthorized government personnel to ruin the ritual.
"Wait! Sir! Please, we mean absolutely no harm!"
The diplomatic representative S.H.I.E.L.D. had urgently scrambled this time was none other than Agent Phil Coulson—their most effective, unflappable diplomatic weapon. Although Coulson was merely an ordinary human without a single ounce of spiritual pressure, his innate, calm charisma made him perfectly suited for handling high-stress extraterrestrial and supernatural first contacts.
Coulson's highly polite, non-threatening statement did manage to soften Chōjirō Sasakibe's stern expression slightly. But only a fraction.
"Your bureaucratic intentions are entirely irrelevant to the Seireitei," Chōjirō responded coldly. "No one is permitted to disturb our Captain-Commander's operation. If you know what is good for your species, turn this craft around and leave immediately. Otherwise... I will have no choice but to draw my blade and execute you."
CLICK.
The exact second Chōjirō finished speaking, his thumb explicitly nudged the guard of his Zanpakutō, exposing a fraction of the raw steel. The tactical atmosphere inside the Quinjet instantly spiked with life-or-death tension.
"Sir, please understand that we are ranking agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Coulson quickly explained, his voice remaining level as he held up his hands to show peace, rapidly trying to de-escalate the standoff. "Legally speaking, this land still belongs to the sovereign territory of the United States government. Regardless of why your military forces are gathered here today... I firmly believe we should first sit down and have a proper, mutually beneficial discussion."
S.H.I.E.L.D. had extensive prior experience cooperating with Rukia's unit. Coulson knew exactly what it traditionally meant when a God of Death deliberately unlocked their sword.
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Give me powerstones.
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