The Antithesis

Thick, dark shadows churned and surged high in the sky, obscuring the once bright heavens and turning them dark and gloomy.

Sōsuke Aizen looked at the high and mighty progenitor of the Quincy before him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Now that the intention to stall for time has been exposed, there is no point in feigning politeness.

"As expected of someone who absorbed the Soul King, this insight is truly commendable."

Aizen raised his only remaining left hand and brushed away the burnt ash from his clothes.

"However, Your Yhwach, the so-called time difference is always just one factor in determining victory or defeat."

Yhwach looked down at him, his eyes indifferent, and said, "Before me, who has seen through all endings, superfluous words are merely the lament of a loser."

"Who will decide the outcome? Ultimately, it will depend on the result under the blade."

Aizen's figure vanished from the spot without any warning.

The afterimage created by the Shunpo swept across the scorched plain, closing in on Yhwach within three feet of him.

Aizen's left hand, fingers pressed together like a knife, contained a pure white Reishi vibration blade, which he thrust straight toward Yhwach's heart.

Yhwach did not dodge; he slashed horizontally with his pure white broadsword.

The blade was covered with a viscous black liquid of cause and effect, which created a whistling sound.

The two attacks collided head-on in mid-air.

The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed across the plain, shattering the remaining bricks and stones on the ground.

Aizen used the force of the recoil to twist his waist to the side, his right hand emerging from his sleeve, his index finger pointing at Yhwach's forehead.

"Hadō #63: Raikōhō: Raikōhō"

A jet of lightning, burning intensely without any chanting, erupted within inches and slammed into the man's face.

However, a mocking expression appeared on Yhwach's face.

The lightning bolt, upon touching the air half an inch in front of the man's face, inexplicably deflected, shattering the distant void.

The trajectory of the Future has been forcibly altered once again.

At the same time, the blade of the pure white broadsword swung upwards at an incredible angle.

This sword strike was faster than usual.

Aizen's eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to pull away, only to find that the void around his wrist was already entangled in black swamp.

It was as if his entire right hand had already been positioned in the path of the sword's blade before the attack was even launched.

Laugh!

The soft sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh and bone was clearly audible.

A dark line of blood rose into the air.

Aizen's entire right forearm, along with his hand, detached from his body and rolled into the scorched mud pit behind him.

The severed area of the right arm was as smooth as a mirror, with Reishi mixed with blood spraying outwards.

Aizen remained calm and did not utter a single cry of pain.

His seasoned fighting instincts drove him to use the force of the severed propulsion to slide backward at high speed.

The soles of my feet scraped across the gravel, leaving two charred scratches.

He tried to create some distance, several dozen feet, to regain his balance.

However.

At the end of the retreating path, a tall figure in black robes was already standing there.

Yhwach's figure seemed to have never moved from the same spot, or as if he had been waiting there for hundreds of moments before.

The man's compound eyes moved silently.

"I have witnessed countless times where you retreated."

Yhwach pushed his arm horizontally, and the pure white broadsword was thrust forward from behind.

Pfft!

The sharp blade pierced through Aizen's back, tearing through his pure black Restraining Suit and emerging from the center of his chest.

Hot drops of blood slid down the snow-white tip of the sword and dripped onto the broken stone slab.

The destructive power of the law of cause and effect raged within the body, tearing apart and destroying the internal organs and Spirit Veins layer by layer.

Aizen's body trembled slightly.

He lowered his head, looking at the Long Sword piercing his chest, a trickle of dark brown blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.

Despite the severe blow that pierced through vital organs, Aizen showed no fear whatsoever.

A barely perceptible glint flashed deep within those dark pupils.

Since a direct confrontation offers no advantage, continuing the entanglement will only result in pointless waste of energy.

The immense Reiatsu that had been surging around him dissipated all of its defenses at this moment.

The vitality within the body receded rapidly, like the ebb tide.

Aizen's head slumped forward limply, his arms hanging limply at his sides, and he completely stopped breathing and moving.

His entire body became stiff and heavy on the Long Sword.

Yhwach stared indifferently at the body hanging on the sword's edge.

"In the end, that's all the kind of capacity he has."

Yhwach casually swung one arm outwards.

The Long Sword was drawn, sending up a spray of blood.

Aizen's body was flung away like a worthless rag doll.

The tattered black robes traced an arc in the air before falling into a pile of rubble a hundred feet away.

The falling rubble quickly buried half of the man's body, and the surroundings returned to a deathly silence.

Yhwach turned around, raised his hand to wipe the bloodstains from the blade, and turned his gaze back to the Wahrwelt below.

In the suspended corridor on the other side, the collapsing foundation stones finally stopped sliding down.

The Hadō that had been chanting loudly on the top floor gradually dissipated, and the dust on both sides of the corridor slowly settled.

Uryū Ishida leaned against the broken pillar, breathing heavily.

The white Quincy uniforms were already torn in several places and stained with large patches of dark blood.

Sweat mixed with blood trickled down his forehead, blurring his vision behind his glasses.

His left arm hung limply at his side, the bones in his forearm clearly dislocated from the previous impact.

Yugran Haschwalth walked slowly across the gravel, the silver Long Sword in his hand gleaming coldly in the dim light.

Haschwalth said indifferently, "The earth-shaking momentum from just now has subsided. It seems the outcome above has been decided."

Uryū Ishida raised his hand to wipe the bloodstains from his chin and gripped the Reishi Silver Bow in his right hand.

"Regardless of the outcome, my task is simply to keep you here."

Haschwalth stopped, his golden hair fluttering in the breeze.

"Stubborn and incorrigible."

Haschwalth slowly raised his Long Sword. "Having abandoned the honor of your people and joined the ranks of the doomed Soul Reaper, your meager hopes have nowhere to stand."

"I have never pursued what you call vain glory."

Uryū Ishida's steps faltered, and he drew the bowstring taut.

Dozens of silver-white Reishi light arrows roared out, weaving into a dense net of arrows, heading straight for Haschwalth's face.

Haschwalth's figure left a trail of afterimages in his wake.

The Hirenkyaku's lightning-fast footwork easily evaded the arrow barrage.

The Long Sword sliced through the air, creating an invisible wind blade that slashed down towards him.

Clang!

Uryū Ishida hastily raised his silver bow to parry.

The immense downward force flowed down through the bow and into Uryū's wrist, causing his hand to split open.

Uryū grunted and slid backward for more than ten meters before crashing into the stone wall behind him.

Haschwalth followed closely, his sword tip piercing Uryū's right shoulder in an instant.

Blood splattered down the sword, soaking the stone wall.

"Is this the limit of what you can do, Uryū?"

Haschwalth looked down at the badly injured boy and said calmly, "The right to the throne bestowed upon you by His Majesty has shown no value whatsoever in you."

Uryū Ishida's body trembled, and a mouthful of blood spilled from his throat.

The wounds on his body continued to increase, and his life force rapidly declined under the constant suppression.

However, beneath those slightly disheveled glasses, the boy's eyes were exceptionally clear.

Haschwalth gripped the hilt of his sword, preparing to sever the meridians in Uryū's right arm.

Just as the sword was thrusting forward, Uryū's blood-stained lips suddenly curled up slightly.

The boy raised his free left hand and gripped the blade that was piercing his shoulder tightly.

"You're right, in a head-on confrontation, I really can't beat you."

Uryū Ishida's voice was hoarse, and a strange silver light flickered deep in his eyes.

"But the Schrift that Yhwach gave me is not meant to be merely for decoration."

A clear, ringing sound suddenly rang out in the void.

"The Antithesis."

The four words were softly uttered from Uryū.

The laws of cause and effect suddenly reversed between the two of them.

The wound piercing Uryū's shoulder, the shattered arm bone, the lost spiritual power, and the knife marks all over his body vanished without a trace in a fraction of a second.

Pfft!

Dozens of gruesome, deep wounds suddenly burst open all over Haschwalth's body without warning.

Thick blood gushed from the hole in his right shoulder, and the cracking sound of bones breaking echoed through Haschwalth's body.

Haschwalth's expression changed drastically, and his entire body swayed and leaned forward.