Intertwined Game

Gerard and Yammy locked in a head-on struggle when Shinta Jinta Flash Step behind Gerard and slashed twice at Gerard's shoulder blade, which was flexing as he exerted force.

The sudden pain caused Gerard to lose his strength and Yammy, and his arms loosened, only to be bound by Yammy again.

Chance!

Even Kyōraku, who was hiding in the shadows, thought this was a good opportunity to knock out the Soul King's heart again and try to seal it with the Bakudo!

Yammy continued to roar, and a crimson shadow appeared beneath Gerard's feet. With a Enraged Beast Yammy, violent volcanic lava erupted from beneath Gerard's feet, completely engulfing Gerard.

Not to be outdone, Jinta condensed a massive black-red spiritual pressure in his Zanpakuto and unleashed his full power into the lava.

Kyōraku also unleashed two wind blades from the shadows; his signature attack Fūryū Kōkotsu's.

With Yammy and Jinta present, Kyōraku did not want to unleash his Bankai. In the Katen Kyōkotsu: Karamatsu Shinju, it was an adult drama, and everyone present would be included in the attack range of this drama, including himself.

Furthermore, Gerard possesses formidable regenerative abilities, rendering Kyōraku's Bankai completely ineffective against him; in fact, it would only leave him half-dead.

The reason Kyōraku was sent was because of Kyōraku shadow ability, which could delay the opponent's battle progress to the greatest extent. However, this tactic was broken by Gerard himself before it could even be implemented.

Two powerful attacks, coupled with Kyōraku's Fūryū Kōkotsu, once again caused a violent explosion on Gerard's body, leaving a large hole in Gerard chest, through which his beating heart could be seen.

As the shadows appeared, Kyōraku had already prepared the Bakudo. When a head emerged from Gerard's chest, a strong sense of unease washed over him.

A strange spiritual pressure was rapidly approaching from the direction of Seireitei.

Without hesitation, Kyōraku retreated back into the shadows. But to his surprise, the spiritual pressure merely passed by Gerard and showed no intention of harming Gerard.

But this delay allowed the power of the Miracle to emerge once more. Gerard's body grew larger again, but he had already returned to normal. He powerfully swung his shield at Yammy's face, knocking him back, and at the same time aimed his Holy Sword at the Jinta figure, which was only the size of a sword tip.

"You need not worry, His Majesty's power will not fall upon me, for I am the Miracle itself!"

Because of the Miracle, Gerard is immortal. The power of Yhwach after his the Auswählen doesn't need to be allocated to Gerard; he can become incredibly powerful on his own.

As Gerard finished speaking, his Holy Sword slashed towards Jinta. Shen Tai was no pushover Jinta, using several advanced footwork techniques in succession to dodge Gerard's attack.

Gerard, though ineffective in close combat, hadn't forgotten he was a Quincy. He positioned his arms, one in front of the other, as if drawing a bow, and a massive Spirit Bow appeared in his hands.

A terrifying torrent of Reishi converged into Gerard's Spirit Bow and Arrows. Jinta stopped in his tracks, because he felt that he had been locked on, and there was no point in escaping unless he could withstand Gerard's attack.

Jinta's palms were sweating. He knew very well that his strength was far inferior to Yammy and Kyōraku's. Could he really withstand Gerard's terrifying torrent of Reishi? He himself had no idea.

Yammy launched another lava attack on Gerard, but this time, Gerard stood unscathed amidst the attack, enduring the lava's onslaught without flinching.

The power of the Miracle gave him some resistance to Yammy's attacks; now it was all over, Gerard's arrow was destined to be fired.

Just as Gerard was about to let go, a child's voice reached his ears, "Guess who I am?"

Gerard whirled around and saw countless black figures, adults and children, behind him, separated from him by a pink net-like barrier, making it impossible for Gerard to see what they were.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of a ball bouncing came from Gerard's right. It was a ball that no one was bouncing, but it just kept bouncing on the ground, which was annoying to watch.

Unconsciously, Gerard's hand, which he had been aiming at, began to change direction. He didn't want to kill Jinta anymore; he wanted to destroy that annoying ball first.

With a whoosh, the torrent of Reishi particles poured towards the ball, instantly creating wide ravines as it eroded the Reishi. Seeing this, Jinta couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his brow. He knew that he had no chance of surviving this terrifying attack on his own.

The instant the ball disappeared, Gerard's mind snapped back to reality. Just moments before, his mind had been completely irrational; all his attention had been drawn to the ball. Only after the ball vanished did he begin to wonder what amusing ideas the ball might have had.

Glancing at the positions of Jinta and Yammy, Gerard knew that this strange ability could not possibly be the work of those two. There was only one explanation: Shunsui Kyōraku!

Gerard immediately turned around and looked into the shadows behind him. Behind the pink striped mesh, a figure slowly removed his hood—it was Shunsui Kyōraku, as he had guessed.

At this moment, Shunsui Kyōraku had already activated his Beyond Bankai, Kageoni.

Shunsui Kyōraku at this moment was slightly different from what Gerard had seen before. A large skull was hanging on his abdomen. If Gerard had seen the physical form of Katen Kyōkotsu, he would know that it was the skull decoration on the older woman from Katen Kyōkotsu.

At the hem of Kyōraku's white haori, there was a pink lattice mesh, just like the one that blocked Gerard's path. This mesh was woven into fabric and became the skirt beneath Kyōraku's haori.

Kyōraku's transformations were numerous, yet Gerard still considered him the most troublesome. The Holy Sword and Holy Shield reappeared in his hands, and Gerard ignored Yammy's attacks, stepping towards Kyōraku.

The Sun Shield radiates intense light, drying everything it touches into Reishi; the Holy Sword shines with a sun-like sharpness, cutting through everything.

But this combination of techniques was ineffective against the pink net. The net easily deflected Gerard's attack as it contracted and stretched, just like Kyōraku, a cunning old fox, who inadvertently turned every crisis into nothingness.

Guess who I am?

Once again, the ghostly sound echoed in Gerard's ears. Having witnessed Kyōraku's true form, Gerard answered without hesitation with a booming voice, "Shunsui Kyōraku!"

"Correct answer!"

Pfft!

A massive Zanpakuto suddenly pierced Gerard's chest. Gerard turned around, and under the hood of the dark figure who had wielded the sword was Kyōraku's face.

How could this be?

"I answered correctly!" Gerard said hoarsely, indignant that Kyōraku could still harm him even though he had answered correctly.

"As the creator of the game, I get to decide who wins and who loses, and who gets punished, right?"

Kyōraku revealed a gentlemanly smile, while twisting the blade embedded in Gerard's chest. With a whoosh, half of Gerard's chest was ripped open, revealing his beating heart once again.

"Jinta!"

Kyōraku shouted, "The Soul King's heart has been revealed! Now it's time for Jinta, the Soul King's replacement, to execute him!"

"Don't even think about it!"

Gerard pressed his hands to his chest, and the power of the Miracle activated at the same time, rapidly healing his injuries. Once he got through this moment, he would be invincible again.

However, just as Gerard's hand began to move, a huge figure appeared before him in a blur.

Yammy tensed his muscles, gripping Gerard's hands tightly. He had been teleported there by Kyōraku using Shadow Teleportation. Kyōraku had hidden him in Kyōraku shadows long before preparing to launch a sneak attack.

Similarly, Jinta emerged from the shadow of Gerard's heart, a red-haired boy. Jinta, wielding his Zanpakuto, concentrated all his spiritual pressure and unleashed his strongest attack towards the Soul King's heart!

Good news: the knife is now plunged into the heart of the Soul King.

The bad news was that, after only inserting the tip of the blade, Jinta discovered that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't Zanpakuto any further; his sword was being forcibly clamped down by the strong muscles of his heart.

The opportunity was fleeting. The damage to his heart further aroused Gerard's power of the Miracle. A tremendous spiritual pressure erupted, blowing Jinta away, punching Yammy away, and forcing Kyōraku to hide.

The moment Kyōraku saw that Jinta's blade couldn't advance an inch, he already knew the outcome. Jinta did indeed possess the power of a substitute for the Soul King, but calling him a substitute for the Soul King wasn't quite enough.

Jinta and Koume can temporarily replace the Soul King when the world collapses, but they cannot truly become the wedge that the Soul King is.

This is why Urahara wanted to develop the Hogyoku separately, because he saw no signs of success in the path of creating artificial souls.

So Jinta's knife went in, but his spiritual pressure could only affect the Soul King's components a little bit. That little bit of damage was not enough to cause a fatal wound to the heart. Instead, it became nourishment for Gerard's evolution.

Gerard suffered a heart injury, the most fatal wound of his life, but through the Miracle, he gained immense strength.

Gerard's body swelled once more, now twice the size of Yammy's. He was covered in golden light, his Roman helmet on his face completely fused with his body, and two cones of light emerged from his shoulders, as if his body had become one with the Quincy Cross.

The fatal wound inflicted by Jinta allowed Gerard to activate the final form of his Vollständig and divine power: the Light Giant mode.

Jinta's legs trembled. The terrifying Light Giant was only standing there, and the spiritual pressure fluctuations it unintentionally released were already making him feel terrified. In the end, he had only just learned how to use Bankai and was barely able to surpass the combat power of Captain-level by relying on the powerful spiritual pressure of Ikomomomaba.

This level of combat power is simply not enough to contend with Gerard, who possesses the complete divine authority.