Ichibei kept questioning why his precognition had ceased to exist and thought of various possibilities. And the most probable of them all was the fact that he absorbed Kisuke. For some reason, it destabilized his form and affected his abilities.
'This should just be a temporary problem.' Ichibei reassured himself. Of course, this isn't just some baseless optimism. He already predicted that something like this may happen since this form is technically in an experimental stage. Ideally, he would want to compress this form into the size of a normal Human and concentrate his strength.
Kisuke has something very foreign from the current world so Ichibei is pinning that as the main reason for his destabilization. Even then, the amount of destruction he could cause didn't lessen, instead, he seemed to have absorbed his abilities to manipulate the elements.
Ichibei was only able to calm down when his instincts told him that the future where he would meet unknown people with Spiritual abilities still holds [True], 'At this level, instincts provide more benefits since most of the abilities and phenomenons couldn't be explained by logic.'
This absence of precognition also explains why he couldn't see the specific timeline before reaching that future, 'So that's why it's a blank canvas. I don't have the ability to 'see' at that point in time. In that case, I just have to follow this blank canvas to come out of that future.' He doesn't know how long it'll take, but it's certainly a future where he exists and his cognition will return.
For starters, Ichibei was able to reach the Soul Society and stop whatever they were doing by blocking the dimension with his own power. His arm was cut off but it's not something concerning for Ichibei.
The boundary that he destroyed was also blocked by ice but he still could see everything that was happening beyond it. But soon, his emotional turmoil returned when he saw Yhwach making his appearance. The two of them looked at each other's 'eyes' and Ichibei figured that he found out his current situation.
In an attempt to cover up the previous festering fear, Ichibei erupted into rage, 'These pests.'
Regenerating his severed arm, Ichibei extended out his hands and blocked the beam of light that came from the Red Dragon.
Ichibei retracted his arms and created a circular motion with his hands, turning the beam of light into a ball of light in front of him. This red ball of light expanded in his hands before he slowly pushed it back to where it came from.
The one who sent it, a young-looking girl with a shadow of a 50-meter red Dragon around her was visibly shocked and roared at the counterattack in an attempt to intercept it.
But her roar only shaved a little bit of power behind it and she had to ball herself up to defend. The poor Dragon was blasted back to where it came from and crashed into the grounds of the Seireitei destroying a part of the 8th Division's jurisdiction. Considering that the entire Seireitei is about five times Japan in size, this was a sizable amount of damage.
'It's still alive.' Ichibei thought with his vision not impeded by any obstacle, 'But it shouldn't be able to move for a while.'
In addition to returning her attack, Ichibei also imbued a sealing technique in it. So when the attack hit her, Flanna was instantly enveloped by tape-like black material as she was buried deep beneath the ground.
Next, Ichibei closed his hands together as if praying. This gesture doesn't only increase the output of his technique and spells but also his control over them.
Golden hands appeared within the Soul Society and the three that were about to assault the black giant, Serafall, Yamamoto, and Issei were startled because they found them moving towards them at an incredible speed. It was the same hands that almost completely destroyed Kisuke in his monstrous form.
"Shit!" Issei shouted and immediately transformed his armor into a speed-type. However, he could only move forward and he won't be able to bring Serafall and the old man with him to escape. He could only pray that they survive this.
By turning the power that he has been gathering and using it as propulsion, Issei shoots forward, turning into light while leaving behind a loud boom. This allowed him to dodge the hands but he also knew that those hands were deliberately positioned in a way that he would overextend himself towards the enemy.
And when Issei looked back, he saw a horrifying sight of two people squashed between the hands like mosquitoes.
Yamamoto was still holding his sword but his limbs were pointing in the wrong direction and streams of blood were coming out of his body. Thankfully, he's still alive and the heat that was coming off him is actually melting his surroundings, allowing him to have a bit of space.
Serafall, on the other hand, although a lot less bloody compared to the former, was arguably in a far worse situation than Yamamoto with one of each of her arms and legs missing and her entire body cracking under immense stress.
Since her body was made out of ice in her Super Devil form, there's no blood that's coming out of her.
She was supposed to be invulnerable to most attacks but Serafall, whose body was about to collapse could only grit her teeth and think, '...These hands, they directly attack the soul.' Serafall already expected this, but she didn't expect that it would go through her defenses instantly.
After staying in this world for some time where Spiritual abilities were the norm, Serafall already prepared appropriate countermeasures against it, and considering that it's one of her only few weaknesses in her Super Devil form, she made sure to go above and beyond. So much so that she wouldn't be fatally injured even if a Shinigami's Zanpakuto cut her body in half.
But all of that was rendered useless against this attack and was now on the verge of being crushed to death, '...This is bad. Now that I know Kisuke is still alive, I can't fall here.'
"Serafall-san!" Issei shouted from in the distance, intending to drill his way through the translucent golden hands.
[Worry about yourself first, partner!]
"!?" Issei also immediately felt the threat, however, he wasn't sure where it was coming from and it was already too late when he realized that a few jet-black spears were already piercing through him, "W-what?"
'Three more pests down. But that woman clad in ice seems more trouble than it's worth.' Ichibei thought to himself before deciding to completely eliminate Serafall.
Ichibei gathered his immense strength within his forefinger and reached out for his target.
It wasn't just Issei who was near Ichibei but also everyone else who realized the gravity of the situation.
Editors:
28th00: Ah, that’s not good. For Ichibei that is. I know how narrative in Bleach works and that’s like the worst possible thing he could’ve done.
As Ichibei stretched his arm and reached out his 'Finger of Death' towards Serafall, Issei's right gauntlet's gem turned blue before its body turned white.
He then grabbed the spears piercing him and yelled, "Divide!"
[Divide!] Ddraig's voice also came from the gauntlet.
The spears in his body, including those he was not touching were instantly reduced to half of it. Issei repeated this several times until the spears were gone while also moving the fastest he could toward the outstretching arm.
Issei touched the giant's arm with his white gauntlet and shouted again, "Divide!"
As his [Dividing Gear], the [Divine Dividing] mode of his [Boosted Gear] that he got from absorbing Albion's crystal, worked its ability, Issei instantly realizes the vastness of what he's trying to take away, "!?"
Since he's not as efficient as Vali, his [Dividing Gear] was instantly overloaded and the excessive amount of energy that he was able to take from the slight contact immediately recoiled at him and worsened the wounds that he'd just received, "Shit! This is bad!"
Issei is not as good at reading the flow of energy as the others who specialize in it, however, he could easily tell that the giant's flow of aura was fully concentrated on the finger and he could easily tell that his defenses suffered from it.
The power contained within his finger was too much for him to deal with so Issei was contemplating if he should attack the main body. Although he took serious wounds, he's also charged up from it.
Fortunately, it wasn't just him who noticed the danger and the first one to move was actually Aizen as he released his Reiatsu, "...I can't pull them out. The space around them is too chaotic."
Ophis and Lilith also stopped powering the 'Hestia's' barrier and shot out in panic. They held each other's hand and a 10-feet wide blackish-purple Magic Circle, bearing the insignia of the Ouroboros appeared in front of them. A second later, a 10-feet wide and more than 200-feet long snake that matched the color of the giant.
But despite its size, it was able to wrap the tip of the finger and before it could even do what it intended to do, it exploded into a million pieces.
Ophis and Lilith placed a considerable amount of power within that snake so they were surprised that it was instantly destroyed with nothing left. They also tried teleporting to Serafall's side to pull her out but the same as Aizen, they couldn't even estimate the position that they have to come out due to how warped the space is.
Behind the Ouroboros Dragons are Tanis and Kunou, synergizing with the aura they're emitting and using that as a foothold to release their forbidden techniques, Fox Dragon Mode and Outrage for Kunou and Tanis respectively.
Kunou's hair and fur turned white and her 9th tail emerged. She then tossed all the talismans she could handle, numbering in thousands, into the air.
The numerous talismans hurriedly made their way toward Serafall and destroyed the part of the hand that was trapping her and Yamamoto.
While Yamamoto started falling, Serafall strangely stayed suspended and even after physically pulling on her, Kunou found out that she couldn't budge her from her position and if she forcefully dragged her out, she was afraid that it would worsen Serafall's already precarious condition.
Kunou couldn't think of anything to extract Serafall right now so she turned to Tanis who already lost most of her rationality, "Tanis! Don't touch it!"
Thankfully, Tanis could still register simple statements inside her head and her own instincts were telling her that the finger was in danger.
With insanity almost taking over her, Tanis' blue skin resurfaced and she also grew two Dragon horns on her forehead. In addition to that, the starry-black gem in the middle of her forehead became red. Her wings also doubled in size and her Soul Gear covered her entire arms which looked like the overlapping scales of a Dragon.
She placed both of her hands together in front of her before letting out a loud, deafening roar. In an instant, a blue beam of pure Draconic aura of ruination blasted out of her hands which isn't any weaker than Issei's 'Crimson Blaster'.
But instead of exploding on contact, the beam pushed against the finger which slowed it.
Ophis and Lilith followed her example and released an attack of their own aiming at the finger itself. It would actually be more effective to buff Tanis but with her current rationality, it's almost impossible for her to accept their 'Blessing'.
The black beam from Ouroboros Dragons also slammed against the finger and slowed it down further. However, that's it. All they could do was to slow it down and the finger was only a few miles away from Serafall.
Ophis, Lilith, and Tanis kept increasing their output and Kunou even joined in. This slowed it down more but didn't stop the threat. They tried changing its trajectory but to no avail. Despite their concerted effort, Serafall's death seems to be inevitable, and as the finger approaches, the calm and collected Ophis and Lilith actually begin panicking.
Aizen also isn't about to give up and joins the effort and sends in his own attack, "Hadou no 99, Goryuutenmetsu (Five Swirling Dragons of Destruction)"
Upon the materialization of five purple Dragons made out of his Reiatsu, the entire Soukyoku Hill was ruptured and everyone on it had to jump off.
The entire Seireitei shook upon the five illusionary Dragon's flight as they approached the finger.
Aizen first controlled to go around Serafall to see if he could remove any restrictions on her but to no avail, 'This isn't just a simple anchoring.' He thought to himself before letting his Kidou join the pushback. The giant's hand slowed even further, but that's it, 'This is hopeless.'
To Aizen and everyone else's surprise, however, Yhwach suddenly lifted his own arm and pointed it towards the sky, "Kirchenlied: Sankt Schwert (Church Hymn: Saint Sword)."
Five towering crosses of pure Reishi appeared all around the Seireitei before each of them shaped themselves like double-edged swords. They then shoot towards the sky. But instead of the finger, the shining blue swords flew towards Issei who was using his Ascalon trying to cut off Ichibei's arm to assist him.
The Gotei 13's pride, naturally, wouldn't allow them to stay quiet after Yhwach's display. With Mayuri in the lead, the prominent members of the Gotei 13 released their Reiatsu and combined their efforts to produce one of the most powerful spells at their disposal, "Kidouhou (Kidou Cannon)!"
Lastly, Azazel, Michael, and Gabriel also pitched in in this do-or-die situation.
Upon seeing all these awe-inspiring lights that bring hope to the world, the eyes on Ichibei couldn't help but curve into a crescent as if he were smiling, mocking everything that he was seeing.
'Ah~ Too easy.' Ichibei thought to himself. He didn't just target Serafall but also spent the majority of his power in this attack. However, what he wanted wasn't Serafall's ensured death, but for every pest in this realm to tire themselves out, 'I didn't think I'd get everyone on this bait. I underestimated that foreign woman's importance.'
If Ichibei had to deal with all of them separately, he could have been in danger no matter how powerful he was since he didn't know what sort of tricks they might pull off. But by using Serafall as bait, he forced them to play on the same field as him, a pure power struggle. He would have to use a large portion of his power and would be vulnerable for a short amount of time, but it's a risk he's willing to take if it means dealing with the aftermath a lot easier.
After all, once Serafall is dead, it won't just be him who would be vulnerable.
If he had a complete face, he would be making a mocking smile to all of them. If not for their stupid camaraderie that even dragged Aizen and Yhwach into the fray, there might have been a chance for them to repel him.
Unbeknownst to him and everyone else, however, Yhwach could see an illusion only available to him. An illusion of a young woman lethargically floating in front of him, [Wow~ That idiot really thought that he'd already won. Ahh~ I really wish I had popcorn right now.]
She was the reason why Yhwach decided to make his move.
[I don't see any chance of Serafall Sitri surviving this ordeal. Are you really just going to lay down in your seal and watch?] Yhwach tried sending his thoughts to her.
Thankfully, she heard him and turned her head to him with a grin, [Do you know who's the easiest to fool?]
Yhwach thought about it for a second before answering, [Someone who thinks he already knows all the answers.]
Flanna's grin grew larger, [Correct~ And thanks to that idiot focusing on baiting everyone, he himself didn't realize that he was baited.]
Yhwach didn't know what Flanna meant, but it's also at this moment, Ichibei's finger was just a few hundred feet from Serafall, and everyone was already desperate that they heard a weirdly annoying voice ringing to their ears, [Iyaa~ Thank you so much for making this a lot easier for me, Hyousube-san~ That went a lot smoother than I thought... Weirdly so. Makes me think that you're actually helping me out here... Tsundere?]
Editors:
28th00: He’d vulnerable for a short amount of time, you say? Well now, Kisuke’s back and Flanna managed to pull one over on him, and everyone in fact, by making it seem like she got 1-shot with a sealing curse when she has enough raw power to throw down with him directly.