_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The video kept playing.
Lava and a sweeping cold wave raged across the screen—an overwhelming, world-ending assault.
But before the scene could finish… it just cut off.
Kenpachi Zaraki's fate was left hanging.
Then—
The camera shifted, skipping straight into a new scene.
It opened with Gremmy Thoumeaux's icy, god-like voice echoing through the speakers:
"I'm tired of this boring fight. It's time for the entire Soul Society to disappear along with it!"
The original line appeared again, accompanied by slowly rising subtitles.
That one moment was enough to set everyone on edge.
11th Division
"What does that mean? Was that the result of their last fight? Don't tell me the Captain…" Ikkaku's gut twisted. A thousand reasons screamed at him to reject the idea.
The Captain… was a man who didn't die. Who couldn't die.
How could he possibly be killed?
"But that little imagination punk is still alive… and he's threatening to wipe out the whole Soul Society." Yumichika's gaze dimmed as he sighed.
Kenpachi's life or death was still unknown.
Nobody could tell whether he was alive or gone for good.
But the way this new video started… made Yumichika's heart drop halfway to his stomach.
Oddly enough, the man himself looked nothing like his worried subordinates. Kenpachi's grin only widened, showing off a row of sharp white teeth.
"Heh… Yachiru, looks like I vanished just like you. Think we ended up buried together somewhere?"
Not a trace of fear in that booming voice.
If anything, he seemed thrilled by the idea that he himself might have been killed.
"…"
Hearing the King of Casual Sword Swings talk like that made both Ikkaku and Yumichika's hearts skip a painful beat.
They exchanged a helpless eye-roll.
"Even death doesn't faze you now? Captain… you're really something else. As expected of the strongest guy in the combat division."
Just then—
The video sharpened.
The screen filled with a sky drowned in white mist, the lingering remains of the cold wave.
And then—
A sound loud enough to pierce eardrums shook the air.
"Huh? What now? Don't tell me he's launching another natural disaster?" In Squad Two, Ōmaeda's jaw dropped so wide his cheeks practically ballooned.
The last round of 'natural disasters' had almost scared his soul out of his body.
If Soi Fon hadn't ordered him to stay put until things were clearly explained…
He'd have bolted long ago.
"Look closely. The fog in the sky is pulling apart… something's breaking through the clouds."
Soi Fon's expression hardened.
Her sharp eyes stayed locked on the top of the screen—on the fading white haze.
Her instincts screamed at her:
Something big is coming.
"C-Captain… don't tell me that's a meteor?" Ōmaeda blurted. After everything they'd already seen, he had come to believe Gremmy really could create anything he imagined.
And then—
Ōmaeda's eyes nearly burst out of their sockets.
A thunderous boom ripped across the sky.
It roared like an enraged god.
The whole atmosphere trembled.
As the camera zoomed out, an enormous, pitch-black shadow burst through the thinning fog.
It swallowed the sky.
In an instant, it blanketed all of Seireitei.
"Is that…"
Ōmaeda forgot to breathe.
The next second, reflected in his widening pupils—
A meteor.
A meteor so massive it nearly filled the entire sky.
It plummeted downward.
Its sheer presence scattered the cold mist in every direction.
The atmosphere ignited into blazing streaks like a falling star shower.
The air itself reeked of annihilation.
"A… a meteor!!"
Fear peaked so sharply Ōmaeda's jaw dropped to the point of almost dislocating.
"Holy— how the hell does he know how to summon meteors?!"
He was done.
Completely stunned.
After lava, cold waves, and contact-damage illusions…
Gremmy had somehow moved on to summoning meteors from outer space.
"Is— is that really not an illusion?"
Soi Fon's throat tightened.
Even swallowing felt difficult.
Prideful as she was, all the confidence she'd built over decades shattered in that moment.
A meteor.
A colossal meteor big enough to cover the entire Seireitei.
What made it even more terrifying—
The moment it appeared, all light vanished.
The sky dimmed instantly, eclipsed completely.
Like the true end of the world.
Hueco Mundo
Las Noches, often filled with noise…
fell silent.
As if someone had turned off the sound of the world.
Espada, Fracción—it didn't matter who.
The moment that meteor appeared, every Hollow froze.
Some nearly fainted.
"That… thing is that big? He really made that with imagination alone?" Coyote Starrk stared weakly at the screen, his voice drained.
Even though he wasn't under the meteor…
Just seeing it made him feel powerless.
He'd only wanted to see a few Captain-level Bankais.
But before he saw even that…
He ended up watching a super-sized meteor descend from the heavens.
Unbelievable.
"'Sternritter'…"
In the corner, Ulquiorra repeated Gremmy's introduction in a low voice.
For the first time, an emotion rippled through his usually empty heart.
From the moment he was born as a Vasto Lorde, he held himself above others. No one impressed him—until Aizen.
But now…
Even Aizen had never given him a sense of dread like this.
Every inch the meteor fell, the pressure felt suffocating.
Even though it was only a vision of the future—
Even though it was far away in Soul Society—
Just watching it made Ulquiorra feel as if he were standing right there beneath it, waiting for death.
"So that means…"
Szayelaporro, pale as a fortune-teller seeing doom, forced out a trembling conclusion:
"In the future… the Sternritter will completely destroy the entire Soul Society?!"
He finished…
and suddenly laughed in twisted delight.
If that were true—it would actually be good news for Hueco Mundo.
"..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________