"Damn it! All of you, get the hell out of my way!"
Blackness began pouring out of the Monk's body.
The small animals touched by the black substance froze in place, rapidly reverting to their original sizes.
A flash of delight crossed the Monk's heart.
The power of erasure still works?
But his smile disappeared almost immediately.
Natsu let out an angry roar.
Under the waves of Sky Flame, the black ink staining the animals was completely neutralized and petrified. They shook themselves lightly, scattering all the dust from their bodies.
Natsu roared furiously and moved in front of all the other animals, shielding them behind him.
Only Natsu was still roughly the same size as the shrunken Monk.
He wasn't intimidated by him in the slightest.
"Damn beasts! Damn flames!"
The Monk's eyes burned with renewed fury.
It was that orange flame that had ruined his plans time and time again.
"Natsu isn't some beast!"
Whoosh!
Tsuna appeared behind the Monk and slammed a fist into him, driving him into the ground.
"They're my most important battle companions!"
"What good does saying that do, Sawada Tsunayoshi? Don't tell me you think a bunch of beasts can actually kill me?"
The Monk spread his arms arrogantly.
"I cannot die! The Soul King still needs me to manage the Three Realms!"
He raised both hands as though cradling something invisible.
The Book of the End materialized above his palms.
This was his final source of confidence.
The Soul King had granted him the authority to govern names. Therefore, he could not die.
Otherwise, the Three Realms would inevitably descend into chaos.
"Whether you die or not is the Soul King's concern."
Tsuna's expression remained calm.
"But before that, I'll show you the power of the companions you've looked down upon."
"Natsu! Sky Mode!"
Natsu nodded toward Tsuna.
His entire body transformed into a stream of orange flame and shot into the sky.
BOOM!
An enormous ripple of orange flame blossomed across the heavens.
Wherever the flames passed, the sky became clear and blue.
"Clouds, rise."
Roll transformed into purple flame and ascended into the heavens.
One heavy cloud after another appeared.
The previously clear sky was quickly swallowed by dark clouds.
"Wind, come."
Uri let out a cry and transformed into a streak of red light, disappearing without a trace.
The air pressure around them rapidly changed.
The wind had arrived.
"Thunder, roar."
Ushishishi transformed into a bolt of lightning and plunged directly into the clouds.
Serpents of lightning churned within the darkened sky, while thunder roared like the voice of an enraged heaven.
The Monk swallowed nervously.
The inexplicable sense of unease inside him grew stronger and stronger.
He had to do something.
Anything was better than doing nothing.
Two long serpents, one black and one white, transformed from his power and shot toward the sky.
If Tsuna wanted to cover the heavens, then the Monk would tear those heavens open.
Whatever his opponent did, he would simply do the opposite.
The Monk had truly reached the end of his options.
He knew perfectly well that his power was ineffective against Tsuna, yet he still used the black and white aspects of Ichimonji to launch an attack.
Only this time, he wasn't targeting Tsuna.
He was targeting the sky.
In truth, the Monk had no other power left to use.
His body was like a leaking balloon, with the Soul King's power continuously escaping from him.
He couldn't even stop it, let alone manipulate that power to attack Tsuna.
Tsuna watched the black-and-white serpents rise into the sky.
He made no attempt to stop them.
He simply allowed them to continue climbing.
However, the Monk soon noticed something strange.
The higher the serpents flew, the weaker his control over them became.
The instant the black-and-white serpents touched the clouds, his connection with his attacks was severed completely.
"Do you know something?"
Tsuna looked toward the sky.
"Besides harmonization, the Sky's greatest characteristic is its ability to embrace everything."
"Only through that can the wind, thunder, and clouds coexist beneath the same sky."
Embrace.
When the Monk's attacks entered the domain governed by Natsu, those foreign entities that did not belong to the sky were likewise embraced by it.
And that was why the Monk had lost his connection with them.
The Monk's body went completely limp.
So be it.
His abilities were completely countered by Sawada Tsunayoshi.
The Soul King had also chosen to stand on Tsuna's side.
How was he supposed to fight anymore?
Tsuna, however, had no interest in considering the Monk's feelings.
He continued with his preparations.
"Bring the rain."
Jirō and Kojirō transformed into two streams of blue light and disappeared into the clouds.
Before long, a gentle drizzle began to fall.
"Ichibē Hyōsube, feel the fury of the sky you've looked down upon!"
Brilliant green lightning instantly pierced through the Monk's body.
The torrential rain draped the world in a pale-blue curtain.
Crimson winds tore through everything in their path like blades.
Dark-purple clouds continued gathering overhead, constantly amplifying the power of the lightning, thunder, wind, and rain.
The hardened lightning pinned the Monk firmly to the ground, leaving him unable to move.
The tranquil rain soothed every muscle in his body, restoring them to their optimal state.
Then the wind silently began breaking those relaxed muscles apart, carrying away the energy contained within them.
Tsuna was using this chaotic display of natural phenomena to perform an exquisitely precise surgery on the Monk.
Every trace of Soul King power the Monk had stolen was being perfectly separated and returned to the Soul King.
The Monk no longer had any means of resistance.
If anything, he even felt somewhat comfortable.
The soothing rain calmed his thoughts along with his body.
He couldn't sense the power draining from within him at all.
He merely believed that he was enjoying the cleansing baptism of a storm.
Sawada Tsunayoshi... that's all?
After creating such an enormous spectacle, he hadn't even been affected.
That was what the Monk thought.
Before he realized it, the muscular Monk had become skin and bones.
His eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he looked like someone suffering from severe malnutrition.
That was the end.
No matter how much further the wind tried to break him down, it could no longer extract even the slightest trace of Soul King power from his body.
Tsuna waved his hand.
The dark clouds dispersed.
The sky unexpectedly became an expanse of pure white.
Several enormous holes could even be seen across that white sky.
Tsuna recognized them at a glance.
This wasn't the sky.
It was the barrier separating the Seireitei from the Soul King Palace.
"You swallowed quite a lot of good stuff."
Tsuna smiled as he rubbed Natsu's head.
Natsu clearly understood the principle of taking advantage of an opportunity.
While transforming into the sky, it had quietly swallowed the Seireitei's original sky as well.
Oh well.
The barrier would have to be restored eventually anyway.
If Natsu had swallowed it, then so be it.
Tsuna had no intention of blaming him.
They could simply help repair everything afterward.
The wind stopped.
The rain cleared.
The Monk's consciousness gradually returned to normal.
The first thing he saw was his own body, reduced to little more than a flickering candle in the wind.
A shrill scream echoed across the heavens.
"AH! Sawada Tsunayoshi! What the hell did you do?!"
"I merely returned to the Soul King what you stole from him."
Tsuna's voice was indifferent.
"What do you mean, stole?!"
The Monk flew into a helpless rage.
"I am the Soul King's most loyal servant! Everything I possessed was a gift from the Soul King!"
"Then tell me something."
Tsuna looked at him calmly.
"Why isn't the Soul King standing on your side if you're so devoted to him?"
Those words completely broke the Monk.
At this point, he no longer cared about the outcome of the battle.
The thing he could least accept was that the Soul King had chosen to stand against him.
"I..."
A torrent of vile words poured from the Monk's mouth.
He cursed everyone.
Sawada Tsunayoshi.
The Seireitei.
Even the Soul King, whom he should have revered above all others, was not spared from his tirade.
"You're getting a little noisy."
Tsuna looked at the Monk with annoyance.
"If you've lost, then accept your defeat properly. There's no point polluting the surroundings with your ranting."
"Everyone, give me a hand one more time."
Tsuna called out to the animals around him.
The animals all nodded in response.
This time, Tsuna didn't need to issue any commands.
They all understood what he meant.
Natsu's Sky Flame connected every one of them, embracing their individual existences.
Together, they flew toward the Monk and arranged themselves in a line across the heavens.
One after another, they transformed into their most fundamental forms of Flame power.
The Flames formed a series of rings in the sky.
A rainbow descended from the heavens, pointing directly toward the Monk.
Tsuna gathered the seven-colored Flames throughout his body and transformed into a streak of light, plunging into the rainbow.
With the amplification of the seven attributes—Cloud, Mist, Rain, Lightning, Sun, Sky, and Storm—Tsuna's entire body became enveloped in dazzling white light.
The Monk froze when he sensed the aura emanating from the rainbow tunnel before him.
Could Sawada Tsunayoshi's Reiatsu... actually have surpassed the Soul King's?
As the man who had literally swallowed pieces of the Soul King, the Monk was, apart from the Soul King himself, perhaps the person most familiar with the Soul King's Reiatsu.
He was certain.
At this moment, Sawada Tsunayoshi, clad in all seven Flames, had surpassed the Soul King's Reiatsu.
Could someone really reach the Soul King's level through their own growth?
The Monk had never believed it was possible.
Otherwise, he would never have simultaneously worshipped the Soul King and attempted to steal his power.
But the truth was right before his eyes.
He had no choice but to believe it.
A trace of relief appeared on the Monk's face.
So this is why you chose him... Soul King.
Tsuna had no idea what the Monk was thinking.
From his perspective, he had simply shot through the rainbow tunnel and gathered all seven Flames.
However, as he passed through the final red layer, Tsuna began to regret it.
The Flame pressure inside his body was already on the verge of bursting him apart.
All that power desperately needed somewhere to go.
And the Monk had become Tsuna's perfect outlet.
White light blazed brilliantly from Tsuna's right fist.
It was the purest color born from the convergence of the seven radiances.
There was no room for hesitation.
Tsuna drove his fist straight into the Monk's face.
BOOM!
Heaven and earth shattered.
Centered around the Monk, a section of the Seireitei completely collapsed into dust.
Not rubble.
Not broken stone or soil.
It was reduced to dust so thoroughly that not even the slightest possibility of restoration remained.
As for Ichibē Hyōsube, who had taken the full force of the attack head-on, he silently vanished beneath the overwhelming Flames.
Before Tsuna, all that remained was a broken brush.
Because the Monk was still in a state of fusion with his Zanpakutō, his Zanpakutō had likewise been forced to bear part of the attack.
The ancient Zanpakutō, Ichimonji, had not escaped either.
Tsuna's single punch had destroyed it.
The others, naturally, could no longer contain their excitement after hearing the tremendous explosion.
One after another, they burst toward Tsuna with Shunpo.
A series of whoosh sounds appeared behind him.
Everyone stared at the scene before them, utterly dumbfounded.
There was no longer any ground beneath Tsuna's feet.
He was standing directly in the void.
Before him lay a single broken brush.
There was no need to ask about the outcome.
Tsuna had won.
"Yo, everyone."
Tsuna smiled at them.
"The battle is finally over."
The friends from the Human World immediately swarmed him, cheering and celebrating.
Tsuna was just about to dispel his Bankai when everyone shouted at him to stop.
Seeing them excitedly examining and touching the equipment covering his body, Tsuna could only raise both hands to keep the sharp edges of his equipment from accidentally injuring Tatsuki, who was hugging him.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789