A Clash with Yhwach!

Boom!

Accompanied by an explosive sound like thunder, Yhwach, transformed into a black shadow, had already arrived before Araki. Before Araki could react, Yhwach's blade passed through Araki's body, cleaving him in two.

"It worked! That Soul Reaper must be dead!"

"No one can withstand His Majesty's slash!"

This sight made the Sternritter members standing in the distance clench their fists excitedly! As expected, their emperor was invincible.

"Hm?!"

Only Yhwach, who had struck, frowned deeply. The situation before him was somewhat different from what he had expected.

First, he had only intended to subdue Araki. He had never intended to kill him...

Second, the sensation of his blade touching Araki's body just now had felt wrong. It had not felt like cutting flesh at all, but more like slicing through a mass of air.

"What are you thinking? How could I die that easily!"

Just as the Quincies were celebrating, Araki's body, which Yhwach had cleaved in two, turned into dense mist and drifted upward, gathering above Yhwach's head and reforming into a solid body.

"What? That Soul Reaper was clearly cut in half. How could he come back to life?!"

As the Quincies watched Araki turn into mist and return from the dead, their eyes widened as they spoke in shock.

Before anyone could make sense of it, Araki had already drawn the Zanpakuto at his waist and brought his blade down toward Yhwach's head.

"Interesting!"

A strange glint flashed through Yhwach's eyes, and he immediately raised his weapon to block.

Clang!!

With the sharp crash of steel, endless shockwaves erupted between Araki and Yhwach, making the surrounding "rocks," "trees," and "houses" rustle violently. Araki's blade was stopped by Yhwach just like that.

"Blut Vene? It's even harder than steel!"

Feeling the resistance transmitted through his grip, Araki frowned.

"Your blade cannot harm me in the slightest."

Yhwach calmly looked at the frowning Araki, his expression brimming with confidence.

"Is that so?"

At those words, Araki's blade became coated in high-level Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki.

Crackle...

As black lightning stretched into thin threads, blood instantly burst from Yhwach's wrist.

"Hm?"

Yhwach's pupils trembled. He immediately realized something was wrong and took a step back, swiftly opening the distance between himself and Araki.

"Interesting! That power belongs neither to Soul Reapers nor to my great Father. It is a unique power system unknown to me!"

"It seems you have secrets I do not yet know, Araki. I am becoming more and more eager for the day you serve me..."

Yhwach instantly determined that the ability Araki had used to wound him belonged neither to Soul Reapers nor the Soul King. His curiosity toward Araki rose several more levels.

"Yhwach! Didn't you just confidently claim that my blade couldn't hurt you at all?"

"So why are you running now? Or are you afraid of a power you don't understand?"

Araki did not immediately chase after the retreating Yhwach. Instead, he tried to rattle Yhwach and force him to reveal an opening.

Bzzzt~

Yhwach had no intention of answering Araki. With a wave of his hand, a Reishi arrow condensed in his grasp.

"It is His Majesty's Heilig Pfeil!"

The Quincies cried out in alarm at the sight.

Boom...

As the bowstring was drawn, accompanied by the shattering of the atmosphere and the roar of thunder, the Reishi arrow Yhwach had condensed shot toward Araki.

"Close one!"

Facing the Reishi arrow flying at him with boundless force, Araki had already used Shunpo to evade it in advance. His flexible command of high-level Observation Haki allowed Araki to seize the initiative no matter whom he faced.

"Hah..."

Watching Araki repeatedly dodge before his Heilig Pfeil, Yhwach's lips curled into a smile.

"Why aren't you continuing to use that 'mistification' you used to avoid my slashes? Is this it? Your mistification can only evade physical attacks, but cannot evade arrows bearing immense explosive power... my arrows!"

Yhwach instantly saw through Araki's mistification. Even without activating The Almighty, Yhwach was an extremely troublesome opponent. Or rather, because he had not activated The Almighty and was not overly reliant on his own ability, he would not reveal any openings through carelessness. That made him calmer and more lethal!

If the Yhwach from the original work, after activating The Almighty, had been as methodical in his battle against Kurosaki Ichigo and the others as he had been when invading the Soul Society, then even if everyone else joined forces against him, they would have had no chance of victory.

"A troublesome opponent."

Faced with Yhwach's Heilig Pfeil one after another, Araki seemed to have no choice left but to run.

"Hahaha, scurrying around like a rat!"

"What a fool! That Soul Reaper who rejected His Majesty's invitation is just as foolish as Schubert, who intended to interfere in His Majesty's battle!"

The Quincies laughed as they watched Araki "flee in panic" and "cut a sorry figure," judging his actions. In their eyes, Araki was every bit as laughable as Schubert...

In truth, the Quincies who had witnessed Araki firsthand had had multiple chances to stop him when he ambushed Schubert. At the very least, they could have warned Schubert. Yet they had done nothing, because His Majesty had said, "Leave this battle to Schubert!"

In other words, the moment that ungrateful fool Schubert disturbed His Majesty's enjoyment, His Majesty had already abandoned him...

"Araki! Surrender!!"

Just as Araki used his "clumsy" Shunpo to "luckily" evade Yhwach's arrows again and again, Yhwach seemed to grow impatient!

In an instant, Reishi gathered beneath his feet. Then Yhwach vanished from where he stood, and within a single breath, he had arrived above Araki...

An arrow even larger than any Heilig Pfeil Yhwach had used before gathered between his outstretched hands! It could no longer be called an arrow. It was more like a spear!

"Araki, there is nowhere left for you to retreat! You should know that the Hirenkyaku we Quincies use to pursue Hollows is far faster than the Shunpo used by you Soul Reapers!" As Yhwach spoke, he hurled the spear in his hand toward Araki below. "Enough! Let this battle end here! Submit to me, Araki!"

"Damn it! I can't dodge it!"

Araki's pupils contracted as he faced the suddenly descending spear. Just as Yhwach had said, there was nowhere left for him to retreat.

"Heh..."

Just as Yhwach stood high in the sky, quietly admiring the "terror" on Araki's face, Araki, whom Yhwach believed he had completely checkmated, suddenly smiled.

The next second, Yhwach's spear passed directly through Araki's body.

"My arrows should explode the instant they encounter your Reishi, yet it passed straight through your body?"

Yhwach's pupils narrowed slightly at the sight.

Yhwach's spear was a specially tailored version designed to counter Araki. Upon encountering Reishi, it would activate Reishi Subjugation, fixing the surrounding Reishi in place before immediately exploding and completely destroying all nearby Reishi!

So even if Araki turned into mist, the spear would still explode as long as it encountered the Reishi that made up his mistified body! Therefore, as long as the spear did not touch that mistified Reishi, it would not explode...

That was right. Araki had opened a massive hole in his chest, one just large enough for Yhwach's spear to pass through. It was like how Katakuri, when facing the Armament Haki-coated fists of Gear Fourth Monkey D. Luffy, would turn the part of his body about to be struck into a hollow beforehand and let Luffy's fist pass through! Such an absurd maneuver could only be achieved by combining an elementalized body with high-level Observation Haki, and Araki happened to possess both.

"Yhwach, did I ever say my mistification couldn't evade your arrows?"

Looking at Yhwach's surprised expression, Araki drew his Zanpakuto and aimed it at Yhwach's chest.

K-ROOM: Piercing Wave!!

Araki did not answer Yhwach's question. Instead, he launched his attack in the instant after Yhwach had thrown his spear.

"Hmph!"

This time, Yhwach raised his arm before himself. Araki's ability to pierce his Blut Vene was indeed unusual, but it was not enough to inflict much damage on him! If it was only one strike, Yhwach had absolute confidence that he could block it.

"Hm? This attack actually bypassed my defense?!"

However, Yhwach discovered in shock that Araki's blade had not touched his arm at all. It passed directly through his arm and pierced straight through his chest! In an instant, a gigantic blade over ten thousand meters long pierced through Yhwach's chest and shot into the heavens! It was so enormous that it could be seen with exceptional clarity even from more than a dozen ri away.

"Your Majesty!"

In an instant, all the Quincies panicked.

"Shake!"

Araki unleashed his attack. Spiritual Pressure, Haki, and Devil Fruit powers were all pushed to their limits at that moment. His repeated probing had all been for this one strike.

Pfft...

Faced with Araki's full-force strike, Yhwach spat out blood and suffered serious injuries!

In truth, Araki had made extensive preparations for this strike. He had probed Yhwach three times in total, testing whether the Yhwach before him had "opened his eyes" during their battle.

After all, Araki still remembered that when he had read the BLEACH manga, there had been a close-up of Yhwach's eyes from a thousand years ago in Bazz-B's memories. In that close-up, Yhwach's eyes reflected "three pupils"!

But manga was manga, and reality was reality. Araki, standing in the real world, did not dare gamble on his own memories, which was why he had conducted three probes!

The first time, Araki slashed Yhwach's horse, showing Yhwach the basic ability of this technique—making his blade longer—but he had not activated its piercing ability. If Yhwach had understood that move, he would not have used his hand to block just now!

The second time, Araki used Haki against Yhwach. Similarly, if Yhwach knew about Araki's Haki, he would not have used Blut Vene to clash with Araki head-on.

The third time, Araki chose to flee from Yhwach's arrows. Likewise, if Yhwach could see the future, he would not have continued attacking Araki with arrows.

Those three probes had all been for this full-force strike!

"Hah!!"

Naturally, Yhwach would not sit still and await death. His body lit up with crystalline blue radiance, and one Quincy cross after another rose into the sky along with Yhwach's roar.

"Tch~"

Araki clicked his tongue inwardly at the sight and immediately vanished from where he stood.

This time, Araki had not used Shunpo. He had used ROOM, swapping himself with a Quincy in the distance!

"Huh?!"

The Quincy, who had been standing some distance away and nervously watching Yhwach and Araki fight, discovered in shock that he had somehow arrived within Yhwach's attack range.

Boom!!

With a roar, the Quincy was instantly reduced to nothing within Yhwach's "domain" by the Heilig Pfeil.

"Araki, you have successfully enraged me!"

After blasting that Quincy into fragments, Yhwach raised a finger and wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth. His cold eyes held nothing but endless fury as they stared at Araki.

Boom!!

At that moment, boundless Spiritual Pressure erupted from Yhwach's body. The heavens and earth of the entire Soul Society became violently turbulent along with Yhwach's rage.

"It seems Yhwach is truly going to get serious this time."

Watching the enraged Yhwach, Araki tightened his grip on his Zanpakuto.

"Bankai..."

Araki did not hesitate and directly used his strongest technique.

"Hmph..."

Yhwach seemed to have expected Araki's Bankai.

"Yakushi Rurikō Sekai?"

Yhwach looked upon Araki's Bankai with a trace of disdain in his eyes.

"...Medicine Master Buddha: Eastern Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli!"

The moment Araki released his Zanpakuto, pure Lapis Lazuli radiance flooded the world in every direction around him.

In an instant, Araki seemed to become the lord of the world illuminated by that Ruriko light!

A Chakravartin Holy King, possessing the Thirty-Two Marks, the Eighty Secondary Characteristics, flawless purity, and a body of pure Lapis Lazuli that radiated boundless majesty, slowly emerged behind Araki.

Bathed in the Holy King's radiance, Araki's divine might was like a prison! At that moment, Araki seemed as though the Holy King had descended upon the mortal world, as if he were wielding this supreme power in the Holy King's stead.

"What an eerie Bankai!"

Yhwach once again discovered that the intelligence he had prepared in advance was wrong. To successfully invade the Soul Society, Yhwach had investigated the Seireitei for a long time and possessed some understanding of every captain-class Soul Reaper in the Gotei 13. Naturally, he had investigated Araki's Bankai as well, but Araki's Bankai now seemed completely different from the last time.

Exhale...

On the other side, Araki slowly let out a breath of stale air. The Spiritual Pressure within his body poured forth as though it cost nothing.

Araki had actually used Bankai during his previous battle with Unohana, but he had not fully released it. His Bankai consumed too much Spiritual Pressure, so last time he had only activated half of it... After all, "Kannon" was enough to subdue "Rakshasa"!

This time, however, Araki was facing Yhwach—the supreme YHWH!

Therefore, the "Thus One," the "Lord of the Eastern World," had come to Araki's side.

This chapter is a four-thousand-word mega chapter! Seeing how hard I've worked, everyone, send some votes my way!