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"True strike…"
"Using the newer terminology those Shinigami like, I suppose this would be called Bankai."
With a casual lift of his arm,Ichibē Hyōsube raised the White Brush, its tail flaring like a white broom, and set it at his side.
Ignoring the already vanished "Yhwach," the leader of Squad Zero spoke as if explaining something to himself.
"Before things like Bankai ever existed, this world only had Zanpakutō that continued to evolve. Ichimonji just happens to be one of the originals."
"Watch closely now…"
The brush tip swept lightly.
Expressionless, Ichibē raised the White Brush and swung it straight toward the camera, toward where "Yhwach" had been.
"Shhh—!!"
A waterfall of white, like liquid paint,splashed wildly over "Yhwach's" body.
Right before everyone's eyes, the white spread and condensed, forming two enormous characters.
"This is… a black ant?!"
The audience cried out.
They recognized the crude handwriting instantly, and a chill ran down their spines.
From the monk's words, it sounded like once life itself had been redefined, the once ferocious and tyrannical Quincy King had been reduced to nothing more than a pitiful crawling insect.
And they were not wrong.
Ichibē quickly confirmed it.
"Yhwach, who has lost his name…"
"Your power now is no different from a black ant crawling along the ground. Your life is fragile, worthless, and can be crushed to death at any moment by a single step."
His wrinkled eyelids lowered slightly.
In his pale, clouded eyes flashed an incomparably sharp killing intent.
"This overwhelming difference in strength…"
"Is the difference between a Shinigami and a pure-blood Quincy! A gap like this is a peak a black ant can never cross in its entire lifetime!"
"And now…"
"Be crushed like the ant you are!"
His roar boomed like thunder, shaking heaven and earth.
Once more, Ichibē transformed into a hellish monk.
His massive foot, clad in wooden sandals, came crashing down with force enough to shatter the ground.
At the same time—
The reawakened, overflowing reishi that lingered all around the Omotesandō,together with the air spanning thousands of miles, was sucked dry in an instant, forming a colossal white foot of compressed spiritual pressure.
The air shattered under the impact.
Along with "Black Ant Yhwach" beneath its shadow,everything was smashed down by that sky-covering footprint, slammed hard into the Omotesandō below.
"BOOM!!!"
After the deafening, earth-splitting explosioncame endless waves of white smoke, rolling like a sea of clouds.
The image ended there.
The scene collapsed under the unbearable pressure and shockwave.
And with it, the final outcome of the battle between leaders was declared.
Yhwach, reduced to a black ant, flattened beneath the foot of the Monk Who Hears All.
A transcendent battle that shattered worldviews.
Ended in the absolute, flawless victory of the Shinigami side.
"…This…"
Hueco Mundo.
The atmosphere inside Las Noches was grim.
Although the three Espada had managed to return safely, and even brought back a female Shinigami who clearly was not just some random nobody, the mission still ended in failure.
They had not captured Kurosaki Ichigo.
No matter how you looked at it, this operation was a complete loss.
And besides—
That Shinigami called Kuchiki Rukia.
Sure, she was stronger than low-ranking Shinigami, but she was nowhere near captain level.
What was the point of taking her hostage?
Who would even care about trash like that?
Because of this, the Arrancar were in a foul mood. After witnessing that peak battle just now, despair and fear had taken root deep in their hearts.
The leader of Squad Zero, that morally ambiguous Monk Who Hears All.
Every swing of his brush looked like he was casually sweeping away trash.
Effortless. Almost playful.
Yet every single stroke, black or white, carried enough power to wipe out Espada-level fighters with ease.
Not to mention his ability to rename everything in existence, even redefining life itself.
That kind of power was simply absurd.
Calling it a violation of the domain of gods would not be an exaggeration.
It was the level of a creator.
"If Aizen had seen that fight just now,"said Barragan Louisenbairn from atop his throne, his expression grave,"I bet he would immediately give up on creating the Ōken and invading the Royal Palace."
After watching that battle, Barragan had come to a new understanding of himself.
Emperor? No.
A lackey.
Yes.
He no longer had the nerve to keep calling himself "Emperor."
In the face of that world-devouring black and that all-renaming white, the gap in spiritual pressure was simply too vast.
He did not seriously believe that his power of death could even erode a single thread of theirs.
In fact—
The aura surrounding the Monk Who Hears All could no longer even be called spiritual pressure.
It belonged to an entirely different dimension of power.
"Heh. If this were before the previous ranking,"Nnoitra sneered coldly from nearby,"I might have thought Aizen could make it into the top five. But now? No chance."
Aizen, fighting those two?
With what, his head?
Kyōka Suigetsu?
He would probably get blown apart before even releasing his Zanpakutō.
Spiritual pressure?
The peak of a Shinigami's reiatsu could not even compare.
Swordplay?
The monk's basic attacks alone came with a built-in effect that halved your strength.
So then…
What exactly did Aizen have left going for him?
Nnoitra couldn't think of a single thing, no matter how generously he tried to evaluate him.
"Yeah…"Szayelaporro nodded in genuine agreement."No denying Aizen has some tricks. Kyōka Suigetsu alone is a nightmare to deal with. But that so-called 'five-sense hypnosis'? In front of those two, it really doesn't measure up at all."
Without realizing it, after the previous and current rounds of rankings, the endless parade of increasingly outrageous abilities had raised their standards for judging power.
From the perspective of spectators—
Sure, Aizen could crush them effortlessly.
But in front of true monsters, his strength simply wasn't enough.
That was the most fair and objective assessment the scientist of Hueco Mundo could make.
"Speaking of which…"Starrk casually joined the discussion."The Quincy King has already been defeated twice. Once slaughtered by the Captain-Commander of the Gotei Thirteen, and once crushed like an ant by the head of Squad Zero."
"By that logic, shouldn't Yhwach be eliminated from the top three?"
"I agree."
"Yeah, makes sense."
"Unless he still has some even more terrifying power hidden away, but honestly, I can't imagine anything surpassing the monk's abilities."
…
The Arrancar voiced their opinions one after another.
Some agreed outright. Others remained skeptical.
After all, twists like this had already happened countless times before.
Unless a battle was truly over, no one wanted to jump to conclusions and get slapped in the face again.
"So then…"Starrk frowned thoughtfully."After ruling out Aizen and Yhwach, I genuinely can't think of anyone left in this world who deserves a spot in the top three."
"Kurosaki Ichigo? I just can't believe it."
"Or could it be…"
"Another mysterious, powerful faction out there? One that's just never stepped into the spotlight?"
That single thought hit everyone like lightning.
The Arrancar's eyes lit up all at once.
Right.
That was the only explanation that made sense.
Why else would there still be three empty slots above the Monk Who Hears All?
Most likely, their perspective was simply too narrow to even touch that hidden organization.
In that instant, the Arrancar army felt as though a door to a whole new world had opened.
Their horizons seemed to rise to a higher level.
But then—
Just as they were starting to accept this "reasonable explanation,"
The transparent light screen flickered.
The vanished image returned.
And new text appeared.
The moment they read it, every Arrancar present froze.
Fear crept across their faces.
"What?!"
"Third place… is actually Aizen?!"
"..."
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