บท 308: vs Yhwach 2
(Ryoto's pov)
Good news, my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore.
Bad news, I'm facing Yama-jii's bankai.
I feel like the balance between good and bad news isn't really fair, but it is what it is. As usual, I'll just wing it.
I may also have forgotten to mention that my water arm started evaporating. Before it happened, I put one of my swords in my mouth to hold it by the handle, and shortly after, I was left one-armed once more.
Right now, Ywhach was standing in front of me with his sword scorched to its limit, looking like it would fall apart, but I knew that it held the power to blow me away. Gyaku Hansha's abilities are powerful but not invincible. It allows me to counter opponents much more powerful than myself, but there is still a limit. My Reiatsu is my limit, and above a certain level, I won't be able to deflect the attack, and going by my instincts alone, Zanka no Tachi; East, is on the border of being too strong for me but barely weak enough for my ability to work. However, I would like to avoid it as much as possible since it would drain me faster than I would be able to defeat him.
Let's test some things first.
I used my ability to stick to any surface on my feet, pulled out a big chunk of earth, and threw it while doing a front flip. The piece was big enough to hide my whole body. I hid behind the rock so when Yhwach cut through it with ease, I was there ready to strike, or so he thought. It seemed that he foresaw my plan and was prepared to attack me. I then flicked my wrist to use Switcheroo and switched places with Jugram Haschwalt. Still, unexpectedly, my spider sense went into overdrive, and not knowing why, I avoided the incoming danger as fast as my reflexes allowed me to. I narrowly escaped significant injuries, while the earth wasn't as lucky. When Yhwach's sword touched the ground, it obliterated a big area with just a delicate tap.
Seeing this, I sweated a bit, and it was not only because of the rising temperature. That was close.
"Every time you do that movement with your hand, you teleport and switch places with someone. I hope you weren't naive enough not to believe that I couldn't figure it out after you showcased your ability in front of me."
To be honest, I wasn't expecting it to happen so early on. I used Switcheroo 2 times in total, and I only used it once in front of him. No worries, though he still doesn't understand the full scope of my ability. I can use it.
Without saying a word, I rushed to Yhwach. I wouldn't be able to say much anyway because I was holding half of my Zanpakuto with my teeth.
Seeing my approach, Yhwach swung his sword horizontally. I dodged it by the hair while doing a front flip, stabbed the ground to support my weight, and kicked at his body with all my strength, further enhanced with Armament Haki. My attack was able to send him flying, although he was able to block it with the back of his hand despite his previous overswinging.
I didn't want to give him a chance to swing his dangerous weapon, so I followed up with another attack. I put my foot up in the air. This was the start of yet another technique I had never used, but somehow, I knew that I would be able to pull it off.
As I made a pitching motion, my hand squeezed into a fist and whirled. A big blue projection of my fist followed my action and flew at the Quincy King, rotating at high speed.
"Fist of Justice!"
It didn't reach him, though, as it was cut in half with no trouble.
I didn't expect much, but I'm still disappointed.
"Zanka no Tachi; West."
The fire started quickly expanding, with Yhwach at the center of it all. The fire around him created a cloak of sorts, and it was hot enough to reach the ground where he was standing.
I somehow remember reading this and seeing panels of it in the manga, but seeing this in person and feeling the heat by yourself is something completely different. Despite all that, I still have faith that I can come out somehow victorious. I have an ace in my sleeve that I haven't used just yet.
The flames that would be the death of ordinary and even somehow strong Shinigami were coming towards me, so I activated Shunko to cover myself with my own flames to protect me, and at the same time, I used both my leg and arm to split incoming fire, creating a safe place behind me. Even with my Haki, Hierro, and Shunko protecting me, it was barely enough, but just as much as it was disadvantageous, it also brought new opportunities. I don't fear fire. Why should I when I control it?
I started manipulating all the fire around, which made Yhwach's eyes widen. He was surprised. Why wouldn't he be? He should be the only one capable of controlling these flames at the moment, but here I am. I tried to cook him with Yama-jii's fire. It would be ironic if he would die by them when he stole them from my teacher. All the fire I tried to consecrate as close to Yhwach as possible. Of course, he was trying to resist, and his effort was admirable, but I was slowly winning. I had more experience manipulating this element, and it was paying off, but suddenly, I lost control of the fire. It was something unnatural. Something that shouldn't happen, but it made sense the moment I looked into my foe's eyes. His irises split into two.
He activated The Almighty, but it came at a cost. I could feel all the Quincies losing their Reiatsu rapidly, and at the same time, Yhwach's was rising. It was too early, and he couldn't control his full power just yet. Even his right-hand man wasn't spared as he was losing his life at a fast rate until there was nothing left to be taken.
"To think that you would force me to use The Almighty. I wouldn't predict it in my wildest dreams, but I can't deny the truth. This will set my plans for at least a few hundred years behind to rebuild my army, but I have waited 1000 years already. What are a few hundred years more? But you truly are an anomaly. To think I can't see your future. Don't mistake it for a weakness, however. I don't need to see your future to know you meet your end today."
Yhwach ominously declared, but the moment he took a step forward, a storm of seemingly pink cherry blossoms slammed into him, covering his whole body. The Quincy King walked forward out of the storm of small but dangerous pieces of the blade like nothing had happened.
"Dad!"
My daughter's voice came from the same direction as the attack. I turned one of my eyes to see Yukima and Byakuya together. They were a little roughed up, but they didn't seem to have any serious injuries.
"Dad/Ryoto-sama!" Another group appeared nearby. This time it was Rangiku and Tres Bestias.
"Ryoto, I left Rukia with your lovers in that room and came as fast as possible to help." Coyote Starrk approached me in his Resurrection, ready to fight at my side.
"I came to help as well. I regret that I couldn't be at your side sooner." The voice of Tier Harribel, also in her Resurrection, could be heard from my other side.
"Don't forget your favorite kitty cat. I need you in one piece to enjoy you." Yoruichi remarked with her signature smirk.
It seems that I won't fight alone, but to be honest, I don't know how much help they'll be with Yhwach's Almighty, but we'll see.
"He can see the future and alter it to his wishes. Treat everything like a lethal attack, and expect every single one of your attacks to not work! That's how he came out unscathed from Senbonzakura's attack!" Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard to talk as I thought it would be, but I didn't have time to dwell on it.
I warned everybody. There wasn't much time to discuss any strategy, so we would need to wing it, and that's what we did. All the Hollows, together with Yukima and me, immediately charged their Cero. Starrk pointed his pistol and shot multiple blue Cero in quick succession. Tier swung her sword/fin and fired yellow Cero in a wide arc. The rest shot an ordinary red Cero, but the target for all of us was the same.
Seemingly, all the attacks hit their target and created an explosion that made the dust fly up, hiding the results of our charge. But we didn't stand in suspense for long because Yhwach revealed himself unharmed, with his hand stretched out to block one of the Ceros.
It wasn't the end of our assault as both Byakuya and Rangiku made their move. Byakuya had already activated his Bankai, so he only moved his hands to direct all of his cherry blossom-looking blades. Rangiku yelled, "Growl, Haineko!" and her Zanpakuto turned into dust that was more dangerous than it looked.
Both of the attacks came from opposite sides and tried to kill the Quincy King by the thousand cuts but were unsuccessful thanks to Blut, Quincies' defensive technique, and not even a tiny wound was visible at the powerful adversary, and he further showed his dominance by swapping away everything with one swing like it was a minor annoyance.
We didn't allow him to make another move, as Yoruichi showed her mastery over Shunpo by getting behind Ywhach before anyone noticed that she took a step. She was already using Shunko, giving it her all and minimizing any chances of Yhwach walking away unscathed, but she wasn't the only one trying to do that.
Starrk stepped in front of Quincy with both of his pistols aimed, but the moment he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Starrk was not expecting it despite my warning. I don't really blame him for it. Seeing your ability fail despite knowing fully well that it shouldn't is not something you can be prepared for. At the same time, the Shunko-powered punch was caught without even looking. Yoruichi tried to pull away, but her strength wasn't enough to do that as Yhwach was holding her fist tightly. It didn't last long as he threw her at Starrk. He is playing and showing that he could end us whenever he wanted to. I'm not going to say no to an arrogant bastard. It makes my life easier, even if his arrogance is well-founded.
The moment Yhwach was alone, Tier jumped from above and released a powerful torrent of water. Unfortunately, it wouldn't do much, as the heat made the water evaporate instantly. She may have believed that she would be able to pour enough Reiatsu into her attack to reach our opponent, but it wasn't meant to happen, so she quickly switched to using her Cero again.
Once again, it didn't do much. Yhwach seemed to not care about anyone other than me. He is able to see all of them without any issues, but I was outside his vision unless he was looking at me, and that still was limited to only the present.
With a speed that he hadn't shown before, he shortened the distance between us.
"Zanka no Tachi; North."
He called the attack, and that was the finishing move if I've ever seen one. One slash and it ends all, and I couldn't allow that to happen. If I die, there is the possibility that someone will kill Yhwach, however small it is, but after my close brush with death, I didn't want to leave to die. You could even call it post near-death clarity. I don't accept the future where I die before I'm ready just because I am too weak. I'm the one who controls my own fate and decides my own ending.
*~~!!!!!!!~~*
My spider sense was screaming at me that I was in danger like never before, but I ignored it for the first time since I got it back. I have a plan—a risky plan but with great rewards if I pull it off.
I prepared my reverse blade in my hand and covered it in Haki, giving it a black polish that was visible only to me.
"Full Counter!"
Two blades clashed, but I wasn't able to deflect the attack. It was simply too strong, and I was aware of that. I wasn't that naive to believe that I was strong enough to accomplish that, so my goal was to weaken the attack to the point where I'd survive it.
My Zanpakuto, after a valiant effort, unfortunately, broke in half, and Yhwach's blade cut deep into me, going from my right shoulder across my whole upper body and ending at my waist on the left side. It will probably leave another scar, and it was big enough to connect my two other scars from my early days, making it look like an upside-down 'N'.
But I was alive. I lived through this attack thanks to both my counter and covering myself with Haki. And this opened one of my most powerful abilities.
I showed a predatory smile as everything went according to plan for once.
I wind up as I let go of a broken blade and take the other one from my mouth. The energy I was gathering was dense enough to be visible, and even Yhwach himself widened his eyes, but it was too late to dodge.
"Revenge... Counter!!!"
All the damage I received during our fight, and some more, was thrown back at my opponent, who wasn't ready for a counterattack and couldn't block, wounding him just as deeply as he injured me.
Then I suddenly felt a pull on my soul as a Quincy cross miraculously still hanging around my neck started glowing light blue. A bow made out of Reishi appeared in front of me. It had an ethereal look to it, and despite looking like an ordinary Quincy bow, I somehow knew that it was more like all the Quincies who tried to imitate its beauty and failed spectacularly. It looked delicate enough to break at the attempt to use it, but the feeling it gave off was unmistakable and unmatchable power.
I instinctively knew what I needed to do.
I put down my Zanpakuto and pushed it into the ground. As my hand became free, I reached out to the bow and grabbed it. That moment was when an arrow started materializing and drew itself, ready to be shot.
I recognized that arrow. I've seen it many times, after all. How could I not when it was there every time I visited my inner world? I just didn't recognize it as an arrow before because its tip was buried underground, and it looked like an ordinary pole.
With steady breathing and aim despite my grave injuries, I ordered the bow with my mind to shoot, and it hit its target right in the heart.
"Goodbye, Quincy King... and you are welcome... Soul King."
__________
PING
QUEST COMPLETED
Mission: "Getting back what you lost"
Objective 1: Survive until the last boss is defeated by you or someone else
Reward: 100 000 SP, 1 gacha ticket with a powerful ability, 1 ability upgrade (random), Namekian's Dragon Balls (3 wishes)
All the rewards will be delivered after the return. The return will happen in 2 weeks after taking into account the user's injuries and situation.
__________
Finally...
(3rd's pov)
An ordinary arrow to a heart wouldn't be enough to kill the Quincy King, and it's not accounting for The Almighty that would allow him to resurrect using remnants of his power after about 10 years, but what Ryoto had shot wasn't an ordinary arrow. The moment it touched Yhwach, he knew that it was made from Soul King's Reiatsu, and it disgusted him.
While having The Almighty activated, Yhwach is connected to the Soul King and is able to see his humiliation at all times. Yhwach may despise Soul King for creating this world full of fear of death, but he hates more that Soul King, in his current state, is an anchor that holds all the dimensions together while also not allowing them to collide with each other. In his opinion, the world in its current state deserves to be destroyed and created anew.
'No matter. One more loss is nothing. I am a patient man, and I'll perfect my plan. Next time, there won't be any hidden information.'
<<I'm afraid there won't be a next time.>>
Not expecting to hear anyone in this limbo between life and death, Yhwach turned his head in the direction of the voice in record time. It was the most emotion he had shown in a long time.
Seeing the figure, he narrowed his eyes.
"...Father."
<<Son.>>
"What do you mean by this, and why, of all the times, you decided to show up in front of me. Am I finally worthy of your time!?" At the end, Yhwach lost his cool for a moment but calmed himself quickly afterward.
<<The Almighty is a powerful ability that allows one to see all possible futures and alter that future into whatever outcome one desires. This statement is only partially true. There are ways to deceive the almighty sight, and your Almighty is not the strongest it can be, so the weaknesses are more evident, and your sight is not as almighty as you imagine.>>
"Of course, because only you, oh powerful Soul King, is unmatched. That's why you allowed yourself to become a lump of flesh. Truly, your wisdom knows no bounds."
<<You may not see this, but it was the best choice I have seen to create a better world. Before Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the Human World were separated. They existed as one dimension, and it was truly tragic. I couldn't allow life to continue like that, so I interfered. However, I must also apologize. If everything went as planned, you would be forced to be in the same state that I am.>>
"Are you implying that I would lose?"
<<I am stating a fact. I know that you would lose. As you did just know, but in much worse circumstances. Thanks to an anomaly known as Ryoto Yuuki I could avoid this future. I helped him avoid death, and in return, I asked him only one thing, and that was to kill you.>>
"What a loving father you are. Send a Shinigami to kill your only son."
But that was the end of this discussion as the Soul King raised his hand and pointed his palm towards Yhwach.
<<This is mercy compared to the fate awaiting you at the end of your path, and it's this mercy I'm bestowing on you. Goodbye, my son.>>
Yhwach wasn't one to accept such a fate, and he wanted to oppose his father's decision, but he didn't even get a chance as his body started fading away. The process was quick and painless till there was nothing left.
Soul King didn't move after it and stared at the place where Yhwach was standing without saying a word until his own body started dematerializing.
---
END
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