Ichigo's Fury

"Bang!"

The instant Outer Shell Blut Vene shattered, wooden giant palms from six directions—above, below, left, right, front, and back—were about to slam down upon Yhwach.

Yet those wooden giant palms abruptly seemed to lose all power, coming to a complete stop.

Yhwach's pupils, which had unconsciously contracted to pinpoints, trembled slightly. Then his figure vanished from the spot in an instant, escaping the area being bombarded by countless wooden giant palms.

Immediately afterward, Yhwach instinctively looked toward where Chiba Makoto had been standing.

There was now a shocking wound at the back of Chiba Makoto's neck, deep enough to expose bone. He had nearly been beheaded in a single stroke!

At that moment, having escaped death by the narrowest margin, Yhwach underwent a subtle change without realizing it. He even instinctively felt some regret that he had failed to kill Chiba Makoto!

Originally, Yhwach had believed the world would proceed exactly as foretold in the Song of the Holy Emperor:

The sealed King of the Quincy would reclaim his heartbeat after 900 years, reclaim his consciousness after 90 more years, reclaim his power after another 9 years, and reclaim the world in merely 9 days!

Yhwach had believed that his return to Soul Society would be a true "return of the king"!

That was why, having only just regained the power he possessed a thousand years ago, Yhwach had eagerly declared war on Soul Society and launched his assault!

His foremost purpose had been to settle a thousand years of hatred with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.

Yet reality... had instead dealt Yhwach hundreds, even thousands of brutal slaps across the face, nearly turning his entire body into minced meat.

However...

Yhwach's lips curled slightly as a smile appeared in his eyes when he looked at Aizen Sōsuke.

"As expected, the