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"Since they're filth from Hell," Soifon said coldly, her eyes sweeping across her squad, "we'll cleanse them the Second Division way. Completely."
"You're right, Captain!" Ōmaeda Marechiyo drew his constantly trembling asauchi, his burly face set with absolute resolve. "Let's go crush those pieces of trash into dust!"
But while Soifon and Ōmaeda were still discussing tactics, the most bloodthirsty beast in the Soul Society had already moved.
Kenpachi Zaraki.
For a battle maniac like him, the location never mattered. What mattered was whether there was blood to spill and an enemy worth going all out against.
With Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa at his side, Kenpachi used the Twelfth Division's technological corridor and smashed straight into the depths of Hell ahead of everyone else.
The Human World. Karakura First High School.
"Don't you dare lose, Ichigo!!"
On the screen, Kurosaki Ichigo's back burned like a blazing flame. As his childhood friend, Tatsuki Arisawa clenched her fists and screamed with everything she had.
Orihime Inoue's eyes trembled with desperate hope. Every word carried weight."Bring Yuzu back safely. Please."
Mizuiro Kojima ground his teeth, fury boiling over. "That bastard Shuren… he's rotten to the core."
Chizuru Yukimura glanced around, muttering in confusion, "Huh? Where did Inoue go?"
Michiru Ogawa's voice was openly threatening. "If you lose this fight, we will never forgive you!"
Those cries crossed dimensions, yet none of them could reach the lone figure fighting a bloody war in Hell.
The Super God World. Earth War Zone.
"This… this power is just despair incarnate."
Staring blankly at the screen as death gods and demons clashed, Ge Xiaolun felt his spirit collapsing. He slumped deep into his chair, drowning in frustration and self-doubt.
Cheng Yaowen placed a steady hand on his shoulder. "Relax. We can't compare ourselves to monsters like that. But we still have our own path."
"But their speed…" Du Qiangwei's eyes were filled with shock and vigilance. "That brief exchange already exceeded every limit of technological tracking. And that's just their normal pace!"
Watching Ichigo and Shuren's instantaneous clashes, faster than light and shadow, the spatial expert finally understood how terrifying the concept of "speed" was in the world of Death Gods.
"I'm saying, who cares who they are?" Liu Chuang spat out a toothpick, slouching back with reckless bravado. "We're super soldiers. If they're the enemy, then we fight. Screw overthinking it. Doesn't it just give you a headache?"
"Your trump cards are completely spent, kid."
Gula grinned viciously, his tone dripping with mockery as he looked at Black Blade ( Kokutō ), who was tightly bound by the deep blue gunching energy and unable to move.
"Shut up. You're loud."
Black Blade roared, not bothering with a single extra word. He suddenly hurled his long saber like a spear, pushing its speed to the absolute limit, straight at Gula's face.
Gula didn't even try to dodge.
His bloated belly split open, revealing a horrifying giant mouth. In a flash of light, the blade was swallowed whole.
Just as Gula was about to savor his victory and sneer, everything changed.
Black Blade's arm jerked violently.
A jet-black chain shot out from his severed wrist like a venomous snake. It didn't strike Gula's surface at all. Instead, it pierced straight through his massive body, linking his insides directly to Black Blade.
"Could it be…?"
Realization struck Gula like lightning. But it was already too late.
Like a seasoned fisherman, Black Blade yanked hard.
The enormous force tore Gula off the ground and flung him like a rag doll straight into the churning magma below.
"It ends here…"
Black Blade whispered hoarsely. With his free hand, he grabbed the gunching tendrils wrapped around his body. He didn't try to escape.
He leaned backward, resolute beyond measure, dragging that endless blue power with him.
Boom.
He threw himself into the molten lava, choosing death to drag gunching into a guaranteed hell of destruction.
The magma roared and surged. Thick, scorched smoke shot skyward, declaring the tragic end of the battle.
"Black Blade!!!"
Watching his closest friend fall in such a brutal way, Ichigo's reason shattered completely. His rage erupted like a black flame that devoured everything.
"I don't have time to play your stupid games anymore!"
Ichigo clenched Tensa Zangetsu as his spiritual pressure exploded outward like a tidal wave. Blue light burst into hundreds of pillars, piercing the sky.
The hollow mask flickered across his face with a demon's grin.
"Getsuga… Tenshō!!!!!!"
With a roar that shook Hell itself, a black-and-red slash surged upward. What began as a narrow stream of power instantly expanded into a world-ending blade hundreds of meters wide.
Boom!
The strike tore straight through the fourth layer of Hell, ripping upward until it slammed into the blood-red sky at the very top. Hidden wardens deep within Hell were completely vaporized by the aftermath.
Yet Shuren, the main target, dodged the god-slaying blow with suffocating calm, as if it were nothing.
"Ah! Beautiful! That's it! That power!" Shuren screamed in ecstasy, like a child seeing his favorite toy. "Use it! Use it to destroy the sickening beauty of Hell!"
"You talk too much!"
Ichigo surged with rage, about to launch another attack, when his eyes locked onto a figure behind Shuren.
Yuzu.
His sister.
The blade froze midair.
"Yes. That's it. Stop attacking, kid." Shuren smiled faintly. "Looks like that precious 'calm' of yours hasn't been burned away by anger."
Ichigo stopped.
Shuren did not.
Flaming arrows infused with Hell's magma shot from his fingertips, slamming precisely into Ichigo's body.
"Relax. I won't kill you," Shuren said cruelly, like a cat playing with a mouse.
Even as flames hot enough to melt steel raged around him, Ichigo kept moving forward, step by step.
Watching from beyond the screen, countless viewers were shaken.
Naruto World. Five Kage Summit Hall.
"This kind of power… it's beyond even Uchiha Madara."
The earlier battles had already filled the Kage with dread. Now, Ichigo's slash, one that seemed capable of cleaving through multiple dimensions, completely shattered their pride.
Even Madara's Tengai Shinsei would probably be cut in half like paper before that strike.
"Yeah," the Raikage A growled bitterly. "We can't even handle one Madara. How are we supposed to fight something that can split heaven and earth?"
As the strongest taijutsu user, A felt an overwhelming sense of defeat. Since Madara's appearance, more and more monsters had shown up in these videos, and the status of the Kage was collapsing before their eyes.
"Have you ever thought about something?" Orochimaru suddenly spoke, disguised as the Kazekage, his voice laced with temptation. "Our world and theirs aren't even on the same dimensional level."
"The summoning realm exists. So why shouldn't gateways to other multiverses exist as well?"
The hall fell into dead silence. All four Kage stiffened. It was a terrifying idea they had subconsciously avoided for years.
Watching them sink into thought, Orochimaru smiled silently.
Everything was getting more and more interesting.
Only Maki, standing behind him, shot him a thoughtful glance.
Land of Fire. Konohagakure.
Ever since Hiruzen Sarutobi left for the Five Kage Summit, Danzō had grown increasingly unrestrained. But Ichigo's earth-shattering slash pushed his nerves to the brink, driving him into near-mad excitement.
From that overwhelming presence, Danzō felt a long-forgotten, heart-freezing sense of death closing in.
The last time he felt this way was during the battle where the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, died.
What he couldn't understand was why, despite possessing Izanagi, a technique that could rewrite fate itself, he could still sense death so clearly.
That unease only fueled his hunger for power, pushing it to new extremes.
One Piece World.
"Th-that slash… how in the world did he do that?!"
Zoro's muscles tensed as he stared at Ichigo's world-ending Getsuga Tenshō. His breathing grew ragged, his body trembling with excitement as adrenaline surged.
That hundreds-of-meters-wide slash replayed endlessly in his mind like the ultimate textbook of swordsmanship.
"That bastard Shuren!! That's crossing the line!"
Luffy wasn't as obsessed with the power itself, but Shuren using Yuzu as a hostage enraged him completely.
On screen, the flaming arrows fell like a storm. At last, black smoke from splashing magma completely engulfed Ichigo.
When the smoke cleared, the savage hollow mask was firmly locked over Ichigo's face.
"Hahahahahahahaha!!!"
Shuren burst into shrill, manic laughter, finally seeing what he had longed for.
"Perfect! Now come on! Use that power and smash the door between you and me into pieces!"
As he roared, Shuren condensed an even larger, deadlier flaming arrow in his palm, its heat burning brighter.
"....."