Within Hell.
Time has lost its meaning.
Kenpachi Zaraki's knife struck the ground, once, and again.
The blade split the black sand and gravel, and the splashed debris hit his face, but he didn't blink.
It's not that I didn't want to blink, it's that I forgot.
When was the last time I blinked? When was the last time I felt that there was any meaning in cutting with this knife? I forgot all about it.
His eyes were open, and the surface of the eyeballs was covered with bloodshot eyes, which spread from the corners of his eyes to the pupils, like cracks on a dry river bed.
His pupils were staring at the ground beneath his feet, at the position where the blade fell, and at the crack that had been cut countless times.
The knife is raised, the knife is dropped.
Lift it up and drop it.
Unohana Retsu stood ten steps away from him.
Her knife was also swung, the movements were exactly the same as Kenpachi Zaraki, and the frequency was exactly the same. The angle of the blade cutting through the air, the force of the soles of her feet grinding against the gravel, and the rhythm of her breathing were all exactly the same.
There was no expression on her face.
The eyes that were once curved like crescents are now a straight line, the corners of the mouth that were once tilted are now a straight line, and even the curvature of the hair hanging down from the forehead is stuck to the skin by sweat, showing a precise numbness.
The two captains, who claimed to be able to fight forever, had their eyes on the same point at the same time.
That point is not the ground or the blade, but something deeper than the ground and farther than the blade.
Their hands are moving, their bodies are moving, and Reiatsu is surging, but the light in their eyes has solidified.
Hell now is a completely different world than when they first came in.
At that time, Hell was boundless.
The black sand and gravel stretches to the end of the sight, the lava river flows from east to west, and the mountain of bones piles from the ground to the dome.
Puppets are pouring out from every direction, killing and cutting endlessly. One group dies and another one crawls out.
Now, the boundless Hell only has a radius of one thousand meters.
From one end to the other, it's a thousand steps. If you stand in the center and look in any direction, you can see the end.
The black border line frames Hell into an irregular circle, and there is nothing outside the border.
No sand, no lava, no bones, no light.
Pure nothingness.
In the center, the virtual people gathered together.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The red Cero fell into the black sand and exploded into a pit.
The next Cero fell into the same pit, and the pit became deeper.
Next one, a little deeper.
In the Shinigami camp next to him, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni is punching.
His Zanpakutō was stuck on the ground beside him, with the blade half submerged in the sand and gravel, and a layer of dust accumulated on the handle.
Ryūjin Jakka, Soul Society The strongest fire-type Zanpakuto is just an iron rod stuck on the ground. Yamamoto's fist fell to the ground.
Bang. The sand and gravel exploded, and cracks spread from the point of impact to all directions, extending to three steps away and stopping.
He retracted his fist, and the skin on the back of his hand cracked, and blood seeped out from the cracks and dripped down between his fingers.
The blood dripped into the sand and was absorbed by the black particles, leaving only a small dark mark.
He changed his hand.
Make a fist with your left hand, lift it up, and drop it.
Bang.
Chōjirō Sasakibe was standing three steps away from him, resting.
His body is thinner than Yamamoto, and the outline of the joints can be seen on his fists.
Among all the people present, only Yamamoto and Sasakibe have no means to restore Spiritual Power.
Everyone else has Soul Jade implanted in them, and Reishi will be automatically replenished after consumption.
So they were carrying it with their bodies. When one got tired, he would step down to rest, and the other would go up.
The resting person sat on the gravel, closed his eyes, and his breathing changed from rapid to gentle, from gentle to rapid, then stood up, and replaced the other person.
Siwei Yan is sitting in the middle of the battlefield.
There was no brilliance in his eyes.
The pupils are black, the irises are black, and even the whites of the eyes are covered with a layer of gray.
The whole person kept swinging the knife there, and the rise and fall of his chest was so small that it was almost invisible.
Breathing continued, heartbeat continued, but everything else stopped.
Even if Hell is only a thousand meters away, they have no intention of stopping.
Click.
Yan Si Reishi Ring on the left wrist is broken.
The white ring was broken in the middle, and the two pieces slipped from the wrist and fell into the gravel, making two very light sounds.
The light spots overflowed from the fracture, floated into the air, and dissipated. Yan Si's eyes moved.
The pupils changed from black to gold, the irises focused again, and the gray in the whites of the eyes faded.
He blinked the first time, then the second time.
Then he raised his head.
Reishi Ring is a timing device he made.
If it breaks once, it means that a cycle has passed.
Calculated according to his heartbeat interval, each cycle is one month of Three Realms's universal time.
He scanned the entire battlefield.
Shinigami camp, Hueco Mundo camp, everyone is there.
In addition to those Nobles who were judged as cannon fodder from the beginning, there is also the Chiziro Kenpachi who was dragged into the door by Chains at Volcanic Crater.
There are no new deaths.
But there is only an empty shell left of the living people. Kenpachi Zaraki is cutting the ground, Unohana Retsu is cutting the ground, Great Hollow is releasing Cero, Yamamoto and Sasakibe are punching.
Everyone is moving, and there is no light in everyone's eyes.
The eyes of a fighting maniac are empty, the eyes of a madman are empty, and even the eyes of Aizen, which are always calculating, have turned into a pool of stagnant water at this moment.
Forcibly destroying a planet into a kilometer in radius, every minute and every second is in a state of tension.
In the beginning, there were still Puppets to kill. Those Puppets crawled out from the ground, fell from the sky, and came from all directions. They couldn't be killed or chopped down, but at least they had something to chop with.
Later Puppets no longer appeared.
Hell gave up manufacturing Puppets and used all its power to maintain its own existence.
So the battle became what it is now.
Slash towards the ground, release Cero towards the ground, and punch towards the ground.
One day, ten days, a month, ten months.
No changes, no feedback, no end.
Yan Si lowered his head and looked at the disconnected position of Reishi Ring on his wrist. "Ninety-nine times in total."
His voice came out of his throat, hoarse and dry.
He also forgot the last time he spoke.
The vocal cords haven't been used for too long, and every word is rusty.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine months.
More than eighty years.
Of course, this is calculated based on his heartbeat.
There are no sun, moon, stars, day or night in Hell. Time only exists in the gap between heartbeats.
Boom, boom, boom.
Every stroke is a second, and every second is a grain of sand, flowing out from the heart and accumulating into nine hundred and ninety-nine months.
He raised his head again and glanced at the edge of Hell.
"Besides, it seems that it is no longer possible." His eyes fell on the door frame of Gates of Hell.
There is black mist pouring out there.
From the cracks in the skull's mouth on the door frame, from the intersection of bones, from the cracks so fine that they are almost invisible to the naked eye.
Black mist seeped out bit by bit, drifted into the Hell air, and fell into the sand and gravel on the ground.
More than one door.
Yan Si counted.
Behind him is the door leading to Soul Society, and there is no black mist pouring out.
But the other five directions and five doors were all spitting out black mist.
Five doors.
If every door leads to a world, it would be five worlds.
Five worlds that are the same as or completely different from Three Realms.
Soul King At that time, the Volcanic Crater Gate was facing the door of Soul Society. No one knew what was behind the remaining four doors.
As for Chiziro Kenpachi, the door that Chains dragged in is the door of Volcanic Crater, which is the same door as Soul King.
Most likely dead.
When Gates of Hell discovered that there was more than one door, Aizen wanted to lead the team in directly.
But the power of Hell stopped everyone.
The black mist, the power pouring out from the door, condensed into an invisible wall in front of the door.
It can't be penetrated, it can't be bypassed, it can't even get close.
Until now.
"It's been so long."
The voice of Aizen came from the side.
He stood on the edge of the battlefield, his hands in his trouser pockets, and the corners of his clothes were blown up by the black mist.
There was no expression on his face, but his eyes were no longer stagnant. The pupils were moving, moving from one door to another, and from another door to another door.
"And it seems we've reached our limit."
He swept away the black mist pouring out of the doorframe and swept away the ground that was only a kilometer in diameter under his feet.
Yan Si nodded.
"There is no way. The smaller the place, the less power Hell needs. We can only consume it at this rate."
This is not a guess, it is a calculation.
The original Hell was an entire planet, and maintaining it required a huge amount of power.
Now there is only a kilometer radius left, and the Reishi needed is not even one ten thousandth of the original amount.
However, their attack power has not changed, Spiritual Power's output has not changed, but the speed at which Hell's power is consumed has dropped.
Every time you shrink Little Ichi circles, the difficulty of consumption will double.
Don't look at it, there are only a thousand meters left.
There are still nine hundred meters, eight hundred meters, seven hundred meters, all the way to one hundred meters, one meter. The further back, the less power Hell needs to absorb from the door, but the Spiritual Power they consume increases exponentially.
It is theoretically possible to completely wipe out Hell by grinding, but in practice it is impossible.
Unless...
"Unless we go in and cut off the Reishi inputs inside these doors."
Aizen spoke out the thoughts that were running through Yan Si's mind.
Six Gates.
Soul Society That fan is clean and there is no black mist coming out.
Each of the other five fans is sending power to Hell.
The former Soul King and the current Yhwach play this role.
Stand behind the door and cut off the connection between the world and Hell.
If you want to completely eliminate Hell, you must cut off the other five doors.
Yan Si looked at the door frames with black mist pouring out. "Can we go in?"
"Try it."
Aizen Raise your right hand, fingers spread wide, palm facing forward.
Everyone stopped attacking at the same time.
Kenpachi Zaraki's knife was hanging in the air, Unohana Retsu's knife stopped on the falling trajectory, and Yamamoto's fist was closed at the waist.
Every time you try to open the door, there is a short break.
This attempt occurs once a month.
Everyone reacted the same way.
Stop, wait, and see if Aizen can open the door.
Then fail and continue attacking.
Wait another month.
Yan Si came to sit next to Yamamoto and Sasakibe and said softly, "Old man, brother Sasakibe, how long can you hold on?"
"Humph, I can fight you for a lifetime!"
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto responded with a cold snort, showing off his body that was covered in scars but all of them were muscles.
Sasakibe smiled reluctantly, "I can still support it."
Compared with Old Man Yamamoto, Sasakibe's physical fitness is much weaker. Her cheeks are still healthy, but now she has become thinner.
Woo, there's a strange noise coming from the side.
Yan Si turned around and looked over, only to see Kenpachi Zaraki putting Nozarashi on his lap, looking down at his hands, and kept mumbling.
"This is not the fight I want... this is not..."
Well, it seems that this child has been doing mechanical movements repeatedly for a long time without any time to rest, and he has gone a little crazy.
The Unohana Retsu next to it is not much better, because the rest of the time is not a battle at all, it is just a matter of screwing.
The two of them did not steal the chicken like Yan Si, get a timer device, and then directly empty their brains and enter the "sleep" state.
In fact, Yan Si slept most of the time, and would only wake up when the timer sounded. He asked the figure in front of him who was closing his eyes to rest, "Byakuya, can you still withstand it?"
Kuchiki Byakuya slowly opened his eyes. Although his face was visibly tired, his words were extremely firm.
"Teacher, I have no problem."
"I will definitely go back. Hisana and Hizuki are still at home."
Yan Si nodded, I have to say that people who are concerned are indeed in a better mental state.
On Xu's side, Nel is still energetic, and Kaname Tōsen has also become numb, but Szayelaporro is no different from crazy now. If Ulquiorra hadn't been controlling it, he would have continued to eat dirt.
He was the first of all to lose his mind.
Yan Si sighed slightly, then stretched out his left hand and placed it on his right wrist, preparing to make the timing device again.
Click.
A crisp sound sounded.
Yan Si raised his head suddenly and looked at Aizen.
Aizen's palm is aimed at the door on the left hand side of Soul Society. "Black Coffin..."
Black cubes rise from around the door frame.
One layer on top of another, one layer on top of another.
The ninety-ninth floor Black Coffin unfolded at the same time, swallowing the entire door.
Dark red lines flowed on the black wall, Reiatsu seeped out of the wall, and the air was pressed to make a low buzzing sound.
Aizen's fingers tightened.
Black Coffin begins to shrink inwards.
One layer is pressed against the other, and one layer is pressed against the other.
The wall collided with the wall, making the sound of bones breaking.
Black fragments peeled off from the seams, fell into the gravel, and dissipated into light spots.
The black mist on the door frame was pushed back.
Then the door opened. It was not the door Aizen opened.
All the doors opened at the same time.
The door behind you leads to Soul Society, the door directly opposite leads to the world where Soul King is, the door on the left where Aizen is attacking, and the door on the right where Yamamoto is standing.
There are also two diagonal doors.
Six Gates, Open all.
The light coming out of the cracks in the door is different.
Soul Society The fan is white, gentle and calm.
The door opposite is dark red, the one Soul King escaped into.
The one on the left emits golden light, the one on the right is ice blue, and the two diagonal ones are green and purple.
Aizen took his right hand back, brushed the hair hanging down in front of his forehead with his fingertips, and combed the scattered hair back to the top of his head.
Then I straightened my collar, turned it over, and patted the cuffs of dust.
Putting his hands in his pockets. He turned his head and looked at Yan Si.
"Brother Yan Si, do you want to go to other worlds together?"
The voice returned to its smiling tone.
Aizen Sōsuke's voice reappeared with a smile.
It's not a polite smile, it's a smile that really wells up from deep in the chest, a smile that has been suppressed for too long and finally finds its way out.
Yan Si did not respond.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, six open doors reflected in his pupils.
White light, red light, golden light, blue light, cyan light, purple light.
Six colors spread out in his eyes, and six colors extinguished in his eyes.
"Really?"
Aizen looked away.
"Then I'll go over and take a look first." He took steps towards the door on the left hand side of Soul Society that revealed golden light.
The soles of the shoes stepped on the sand and gravel, leaving shallow footprints. Black mist seeped out from the bottom of the footprints, filling the depressions.
"Nel, Ulquiorra, Szayelaporro."
He didn't look back.
"Follow up."
"Yes."
Szayelaporro He was squatting on the ground, holding his head in his hands and holding his hair with his fingers.
The purple hair was pulled out from the scalp and tangled between the fingers, and the nails were filled with black sand.
"I won't go... I won't go... I want to go back... I want to go back Hueco Mundo..."
Ulquiorra stretched out his hand and grabbed Szayelaporro's back collar.
Lift him off the ground and drag him away.
Szayelaporro's feet carved two grooves in the sand, and his fingers were still grabbing his hair. Four figures followed Aizen, submerged in the golden light.
The light swallowed up their backs.
The door did not close after they entered.
The golden light is still flowing in the crack of the door, flowing from one side to the other, like a river that will never dry up.
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni stood up.
His fists were loosened from his waist, his fingers stretched out, and blood dripped from the cracked skin.
He wiped his hand on Shinigami uniform, and the blood spread on the black cloth and turned into a deeper black.
He walked to the door on the right side of Soul Society.
Ice-blue light poured out from the crack in the door and shone on his face, illuminating the wrinkles on his face deeper. Each wrinkle was embedded with black sand and dust.
"Old man, you can go back."
Yan Si's voice caught up from behind.
Yamamoto didn't look back. "Humph."
A puff of air came out of his nose.
"You kid is always emotional."
Yamamoto's voice is still as deep as when he gave the order in Thirteen Court Guard Squads's conference room.
It hasn't gotten higher, it hasn't gotten lower, it hasn't trembled even a little bit because of so many years of consumption.
"If you want to completely eliminate Hell, you must cut off the power supply to the world behind these doors."
His right hand rested on the handle of Ryūjin Jakka, and his fingers tightened.
The blade was pulled out of the gravel, bringing up a small piece of black dust.
The blade was covered with sand, and there was a very fine curl on the blade.
"This is not just about saving Three Realms."
He inserted Ryūjin Jakka back into his waist.
"It can also save the world behind the door." He stepped out.
Step by step, step very steadily, and only take the next step after every step is solid.
Go to the door that shines with icy blue light.
"This door will be left to me and Sasakibe."
His back stopped in front of the door.
The icy blue light illuminated his entire body. The white Haori turned into light blue, Shinigami uniform turned into dark blue, and even Baldhead glowed with a cold light.
"Sasakibe."
Yamamoto's voice came from the light.
"Are you still willing to accompany me to go on a adventure?"
Chōjirō Sasakibe stood up from the ground.
His body swayed, his knees bent for a moment, then straightened.
He closed his fist at his side, and blood seeped out from the crack on the back of his hand, flowing down his wrist and into his cuffs. A smile appeared on his face.
It was very difficult, the lips were chapped, and when the corners of the mouth were pulled apart, a little blood seeped out of the cracks.
"Genryūsai-sama."
His voice was shaking, but every word was pronounced clearly.
"I will follow you wherever you go."
He walked to Yamamoto, and the two figures stood side by side in front of the door.
One is tall and broad, the other is thin and thin.
The icy blue light swallowed them up at the same time.
Then disappear at the same time.
"Wow."
Kenpachi Zaraki pull Nozarashi out of the ground.
The knife was covered with black sand. He raised the knife in front of his eyes, took a look, and then put it on his shoulder. "Can I finally go and chop people?"
He didn't go to any particular door.
His feet moved on their own, and he rushed towards the door directly opposite that glowed with dark red light.
Directly opposite the door Soul Society is the door through which Soul King escaped.
Kenpachi Zaraki's steps were very heavy, and every step made a hole in the gravel.
Nozarashi is carried on the shoulder, with the blade facing backward and the back of the blade pressing against the collarbone.
He didn't look back.
The figure disappeared into the dark red light.
Yan Si turned his head and looked at Unohana Retsu.
Unohana Retsu stood where he was.
Her knife had been withdrawn from her waist, and there was a layer of dust on the handle.
She wiped off the dust and wiped it bit by bit with her cuff until the wooden texture of the knife handle was exposed. "Captain Unohana, what are your plans."
"Plan."
Retsu Unohana put down the cuffs, and the dust shook off the fabric and floated into the air.
"Then of course we can go to other worlds and continue fighting."
She took steps in the same direction as Kenpachi Zaraki, directly opposite the door with dark red light.
Her back disappeared into the light, overlapped with the footsteps of Kenpachi Zaraki, and then was swallowed up at the same time.
Now, there are still two doors in Six Gates that no one has entered.
Soul Society The left hand side is diagonally toward the cyan door, and the right side is diagonally toward the purple door.
Green light and purple light poured out from the crack in the door, casting two different colors of light and shadow on the Hell black sandstone.
Kuchiki Byakuya stood in place.
His hand was holding the handle of the knife, and he didn't know how long he held it.
The silver Kazahana was floating on his shoulders, covered with black dust. When it was fluttering, the dust shook off the veil, like a tiny snow falling. His lips were moving.
"Teacher, I..."
His foot took half a step towards the blue door, then stopped.
Step out, stop, step out again.
He gritted his teeth, the muscles of his jaw tightened, and his teeth clenched together, making a slight friction sound.
"Wait."
Yan Si reached out and grabbed Kuchiki Byakuya's wrist.
Kuchiki Byakuya looked down at that hand.
Her fingers clasped around his wrist with little force, just enough to make him stop.
"Look."
Yan Si pointed to the ground.
Kuchiki Byakuya Look along his fingers. The ground is expanding.
The edge of the black sandstone, the boundary line that separates Hell from nothingness, is moving outward.
It's so slow that it's almost invisible to the naked eye.
But it does move.
Moved one inch outward from the kilometer radius boundary.
Without their continuous attacks, Hell began to recover again.
"After they left, Hell began to expand again."
Yan Si took his hand back and patted the dust on his knees.
"So, we have to go back and tell Soul Society about the situation, and subsequent Hell Investigation Corps must continue to be sent in.
At least until the connection between the world behind those doors and Hell is completely cut off, someone needs to continue attacking here."
He stood up, his knees making a slight clicking sound.
"So, let's go back first." Kuchiki Byakuya looked at the door leading to Soul Society behind him.
White light poured out from the crack in the door, gentle and calm.
"Teacher, can we really go back?"
There was something in his voice.
It's not doubt, it's something deeper than doubt.
He has become accustomed to the black color of Hell, to the smell of sand and gravel, and to the sky without the sun, moon and stars.
I'm so used to it that I forget that the door can be pushed open from the inside.
"Of course."
Yan Si smiled and took Kuchiki Byakuya's wrist.
"It's time for us to go back."
He took steps towards the door leading to Soul Society, and the light swallowed his outline bit by bit.
Kuchiki Byakuya followed him, and the silver Kazahana floated in the air for one last moment before being swallowed by the light. "Let's go home."