Before, it was a scorching twilight world where the gods were about to fall.
Now, it's a world submerged by sea and torrential rain, as the power of the angels sounds the trumpet of the apocalypse.
Following that, massive blizzards appeared in the world, even as the rain poured down. The blizzards converged, forming ice dragons!
There were nine ice dragons in total, each tens of kilometers long—far larger than the ice dragons created by Hyōrinmaru.
The ice dragons, stretching over a hundred kilometers in all, roared and surged down from the sky towards Surtur!
Only Yoshio, with his myriad of flashy abilities, could counter a fire giant using torrential rain and extreme cold.
Surtur forcefully brought down her flaming greatsword, shattering one ice dragon, then swung the sword in her hand, releasing a blistering pillar of fire.
But in the end, the remaining eight ice dragons broke through. Shrunken by the scorching flames, they descended upon Surtur, freezing her in place!
The eight dragons converged into a massive ice crystal, thirty kilometers high and nearly eight kilometers thick. From a distance, it resembled a towering mountain.
However, Surtur's vitality was still robust. Even frozen, she emitted immeasurable light after some time.
The flames on her body, once frozen, flickered to life again. In the next moment, they transformed into an incredibly dazzling light that pierced through the dome of ice.
This light shot straight into the sky, even parting the torrential rain to create a massive void—as if the entire sky had been pierced by her!
The next instant, the light struck down from the heavens towards Yoshio!
Yoshio's eyes narrowed. Facing a sword that seemed capable of cutting the sky itself, he gripped his Zanpakuto and raised it in an instant.
Pfft!
In that moment, the sacred, massive pillar of light was severed in two, like a dazzling aurora split in half, falling before and behind Yoshio.
Along that straight line, only the area where Yoshio stood remained unharmed.
The rest of the sea was directly cut open!
He had created the great flood of destruction from the Bible. Now, Surtur was like Moses parting the sea—no, perhaps even more powerful, for not only the sea but even the sky was cut open!
The ice crystal that trapped her was no exception. The giant mountain, over thirty kilometers high, was suddenly cut open, revealing the frozen Surtur inside.
The fiery aura on her body became incredibly weak, white vapor continuously steaming from her.
She looked as if she was nearing her limit.
Yoshio, seeing this, completely understood Surtur's abilities and power.
As expected of Yhwach's meticulously crafted creation, Surtur could already replace Lille Barro as Yhwach's new 'most perfect creation.'
First, Soi Fon's 'Nigeki Kessatsu' termination element, Yamamoto's 'Ryujin Jakka' flame element, and Komamura Sajin's 'Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō' giant element were combined to form a prototype of the fire giant Surtur.
Then, the grievances of the Quincy tormented in Mayuri Kurotsuchi's laboratory, along with souls filled with pain and a desire for revenge, were integrated into her—adding the 'revenge' element.
Finally, Sōkyoku was used to add the ultimate 'judgment and termination' element.
A perfect fire giant—Surtur—was thus created.
Yhwach used his abilities to perfectly integrate these elements, creating an incredibly powerful angel.
Yhwach…
He's certainly not foolish.
Or rather, in the world of Shinigami, there are basically no fools among the villains.
This tradition began with the first true boss of the Shinigami—Aizen Sōsuke.
Although Yhwach made many blunders during the final battle, before that, his wisdom was not to be underestimated.
All of the skill reforms of the Quincy were his doing.
The Sternritter, Vollständig, the improvement of Blut, the Sternritter medallion for stealing Bankai...
These were all Yhwach's masterpieces.
Including his use of Yamamoto Genryusai to 'kill' himself a thousand years ago to circumvent the seal of the Soul King's left hand, and his choice of Seireitei's shadow as his resting place for a millennium from the very beginning...
Before absorbing the Soul King, Yhwach still had the demeanor of a wise man. Everything seemed within his calculations.
It was only after absorbing the Soul King that Yhwach began to constantly lose intelligence. It's hard not to suspect the old Soul King was behind it.
So Yoshio is only preparing to absorb one Soul King part per identity—he absolutely refuses to absorb any more.
Even so, Yoshio admired Yhwach's ability to gradually create Sternritter like Surtur.
Thinking about it, he realized he had always relied on the Evil Node or his own abilities to directly create strong beings, and hadn't used such methods to fashion powerful individuals yet.
Perhaps...
Try it after this matter is over?
Thinking this, Yoshio decided to end this battle.
He looked at Surtur, whose flames had dimmed, and in an instant, his body vanished.
Surtur quickly raised her guard—but the next moment, her body split into two halves!
! ?!
Surtur's eyes widened. She stared at the empty space before her, still not understanding what had gravely wounded her!
Her body was divided left and right, her eyes filled with disbelief. There was nothing in front of her, but behind her, Yoshio was present.
Yoshio extended his blade—it was clear he had unleashed an incredibly terrifying strike in the previous exchange!
That one strike was sharp enough to instantly cut Surtur in two!
That one strike was so fast, Surtur couldn't even see its trajectory!
At this moment, he truly used his full power.
And the result was—
The battle ended with just one strike!
Surtur's strength was greater than the current Sternritter, even slightly stronger than when the Sternritter fought the Zero Division in the manga. But in front of Yoshio, who used his true power, she was still too naïve.
Surtur's eyes were still filled with disbelief, but she was powerless to change the outcome.
She was defeated—utterly and simply. The anticipated great battle never happened; Yoshio defeated her with a single blow once he used his true power.
As Surtur's body was split open, the world formed by her power began to disintegrate.
Although Yoshio's strike was enough to take Surtur's life, after she fell, large shadows emerged from her body, engulfing her and ultimately disappearing without a trace.
Yoshio did not stop it, even though killing Surtur would send her soul to the hell within his body.
However, Yhwach's power was enough to 'resurrect' Surtur.
Now was a time when Surtur's combat power was needed; Yhwach wouldn't abandon such an important general.
With his ability, he could revive Surtur at any time.
So Yoshio did not insist.
As for now…
He couldn't snatch her from Yhwach.
It wasn't that Yhwach was stronger than him now, but because Yhwach's soul contained the Evil Node, the 'Raven of Death' he had placed.
This point allowed Yhwach's power of seizure to become stronger; at this stage, no one could surpass him in the act of snatching things.
Moreover, Surtur still had room for improvement—a high-quality soul...
Let Yhwach cultivate her a bit more for now.
As he thought this, the entire world was renewed.
The previous twilight vanished, and the torrential rain disappeared with it. This inner world...
It disappeared.
And when Yoshio ended his battle, the external battle was also nearly over.
…
Aizen was confronting Yamamoto Genryusai head-on this time.
Facing Ryujin Jakka, the strongest offensive Zanpakuto, Aizen Sōsuke didn't seem to have much difficulty coping.
He had already reached the limit of a Shinigami, and later absorbed a large amount of soul fragments transmitted by the darkness, which, though not leading to a substantive transcendence, still gave him a certain increase in combat power.
His spiritual pressure hadn't undergone a qualitative change, but quantitatively, it was already much stronger than his past self.
Aizen merely swung his sword, cutting a void in the sea of fire that roared towards him. The scorching flames burned the areas on both sides of him, the high temperature radiating, scorching his body, but mere heat was not enough to cause him any substantial harm.
"Kidō #63: Raikōhō!"
Aizen instantly used Raikōhō as Ryujin Jakka's power waned. A thunderous light cannon blasted out, breaking through the flames and striking towards Yamamoto.
Yamamoto snorted coldly and swung his sword again, directly evaporating the Raikōhō!
Because Aizen hadn't explained his abilities to the Shinigami this time, the Shinigami of the Soul Society only knew that Aizen's Zanpakuto was illusion-type, but as for its specific ability...
They weren't sure.
After all, there were various abilities within illusion-type Zanpakuto.
For example, Hirako Shinji's Sakanade and Tōsen Kaname's Suzumushi could both be considered illusion-type Zanpakuto, yet their manifestations were completely different.
What they currently knew was only that Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu was definitely stronger in performance than Suzumushi!
Therefore, Yamamoto was constantly wary of Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu. He deliberately kept a considerable distance from other Shinigami to prevent Aizen from using others to interfere with his battle.
And... the experienced Yamamoto Genryusai knew that the weakness of illusion-type Zanpakuto was actually to use overwhelming firepower for large-scale bombardment!
As long as everything around was destroyed, then no matter where Aizen was, he would suffer the same attack and simply couldn't escape!
He charged towards Aizen amidst the blazing inferno, while Aizen fearlessly clashed blades with him. As the two swords fought, Yamamoto Genryusai approached Aizen. He looked at Aizen's calm expression and uttered a word that greatly shocked the latter.
"Hollowfication."
...