His Bankai Was Stronger Than Mine

"Your Spiritual Pressure may barely hold up, but matching me on the surface won't deal this old man even the slightest real damage."

Captain-General Yamamoto caught a hint of bluster in Fake Kyoraku's taunt and felt a little relieved.

He did not fear dying in battle, nor had he ever feared a powerful enemy.

His only worry was whether his Bankai, which even he struggled to control completely, would evaporate all of Soul Society if he kept it active too long.

Now that the strange Black Pine Domain was counteracting it, he could unleash his power with fewer reservations.

"My, my. When did you get so talkative, old man? Feeling lonely in your old age, or are you deliberately stalling for time?"

Though trapped in a deadly situation, Fake Kyoraku strolled along the edge of the sea of flames with a sword in each hand. He sounded so lazy and at ease that he might have been taking tea in an afternoon garden rather than fighting to the death.

"Hmph. A brat who's all talk."

A chilling killing intent flashed through Captain-General Yamamoto's aged eyes as he drove his charred sword into the ground.

"In that case, let the souls of those who died by my hand keep you company."

"Zanka no Tachi: South—Great Burial Ranks of the Ten Trillion Fire Dead!"

RUMBLE!

In that instant, the solid ground became a boiling swamp of the dead.

As the earth shuddered violently, countless blackened skeletons clawed their way out of the widening cracks.

In life, they had been enemies slain by Captain-General Yamamoto. In death, his undying flames had awakened them and turned them into this terrifying army of the dead.

The skeletons surged like a tsunami, carrying the grudges of their lives and the frenzy of their undeath as they