Bleach : The God of Flames

Tsunayoshi paid no attention to the Monk’s endless muttering.

When he saw the Monk suddenly close his eyes and stand motionless, Tsunayoshi simply raised his hand and fired an orange-yellow beam of flame straight at him.

This was the upgraded version of the X-Burner.

After entering Beyond Bankai, Tsunayoshi could release beams like this at will without charging them first.

The attack was somewhat weaker in raw power, but its speed more than made up for that weakness.

Just as the beam was about to strike the Monk, however, Tsunayoshi’s attack seemed to be blocked by something.

An invisible membrane had appeared in front of the Monk, obstructing the beam’s path.

Tsunayoshi found this extremely strange.

By all rights, he had already completely analyzed the power within the Monk.

There should not have been any technique left that he could not harmonize.

So what was going on?

Tsunayoshi then saw the Monk reverently spread his arms and raise his head, as though he were welcoming the arrival of something.

Light suddenly shone down in front of the Monk.

It came from high above, from the sky itself.

Its position was exactly the same as that invisible barrier that had blocked Tsunayoshi’s attack.

The Soul King’s power?

The thought immediately occurred to Tsunayoshi.

The coincidence was simply too perfect.

The thing that had blocked his attack had come from above.

And above them was the Soul King Palace.

The Soul King himself was precisely the one source of power Tsunayoshi had never truly encountered.

The beam of light slowly faded.

A long, finger-sized object appeared before the Monk.

Even though it was only a tiny fragment, the pressure radiating from it was impossible to ignore.

That was a part of the Soul King’s body!

Tsunayoshi was certain of it.

In this world, if there was anyone who could immediately and unquestionably suppress him simply by appearing, it could only be the Soul King.

He had originally thought that only the Soul King’s limbs had been removed.

Now it seemed that even his body had been hollowed out.

[Tenth, Byakuran, can we harmonize the Soul King’s power?]

Tsunayoshi raised the question within his Inner World.

[We can analyze it, but there’s no point.] Byakuran pursed his lips.

[Little Tsuna, you know better than anyone what is required to become a Soul King candidate. Until you can completely fuse all the different powers together, the Soul King will always have the overwhelming advantage over us.]

The Tenth explained this with complete seriousness.

Tsunayoshi naturally knew the requirements for becoming a Soul King candidate.

The powers of a Shinigami, Hollow, Fullbringer, and Quincy had to coexist within the same individual.

At present, Tsunayoshi had only fused three of those powers.

The power of Harmony of All Things was extraordinarily powerful, but there was one existence standing above it all.

The Soul King.

Guili Enma pointed helplessly at himself.

How had this suddenly become his fault?

He wanted to merge into the combination as well.

He really did.

But he simply could not.

First, because of Byakuran’s previous penchant for mischief, Tsunayoshi had never completely mastered every form of Beyond Bankai.

After Byakuran finally relented, Tsunayoshi’s research had focused on finding a way to fuse the remaining forms of Beyond Bankai.

Second, while inside the Inner World, Guili Enma had already tried with the Tenth and Byakuran to merge his own power into Tsunayoshi’s existing system in the same way the Beyond Bankai powers had been combined.

Unfortunately, they had failed.

For now, the combination of Shinigami, Hollow, and Fullbring was simply too stable.

There was no room for Guili Enma.

As a result, Tsunayoshi’s Quincy power could only manifest independently.

It was certainly powerful, but it could not compare with Beyond Bankai.

In practical terms, it was somewhat awkward.

Its greatest purpose was to serve as Tsunayoshi’s self-defense ability whenever the Tenth and Byakuran were occupied elsewhere.

[Then what should we do? We can’t just surrender the moment the Monk takes out a piece of the Soul King, can we?] Tsunayoshi asked.

[Surrender? Why should we? Don’t forget, Shinigami battles are battles of Reiatsu. He’s not the Soul King. Why should we surrender?]

Byakuran looked as though he wanted to smack Tsunayoshi upside the head.

[Don’t worry, Little Tsuna. I don’t believe we actually need to fear him!]

The Tenth’s voice was equally confident.

[I understand.]

Tsunayoshi stared at the Monk.

He wanted to see what sort of trick the Monk could pull after bringing out this previously unseen fragment of the Soul King.

Surely he wasn’t planning to use that piece of intestine as a whip?

The Monk did not even look in Tsunayoshi’s direction.

With the Soul King’s fragment protecting him, he was absolutely safe.

It was like the invincibility period granted to the protagonists of transformation shows.

The Monk clasped his hands together.

After devoutly praying, he said,

“Revered Soul King, please grant me the power to eliminate this blasphemer!”

Blasphemer.

It was only by invoking the Soul King’s name that the Monk could employ the Soul King’s power.

The Soul King’s intestinal tract split into two streams of power.

One flowed into Ichimonji.

The other entered the Monk’s body.

Under the guidance of the pure Soul King power, Ichimonji divided into two distinct forces—black and white—which flowed into the Monk’s hands.

Tsunayoshi frowned slightly as he watched the scene.

Why did this look so much like Zanpakutō fusion?

The Monk stared delightedly at his own hands.

Ever since the establishment of the Gotei 13, more than a thousand years had passed since he had used this state.

The sensation of merging with Ichimonji was intoxicating.

What the Monk had achieved was indeed a form of Zanpakutō fusion.

However, there was a fundamental difference between his fusion and the kind Tsunayoshi and the others possessed.

Strictly speaking, Ichimonji was not a Zanpakutō that had originated from the Monk himself.

Therefore, even after Ichimonji fused into his body, it could not directly alter the user’s appearance in the same way it had with Aizen or Tsunayoshi.

Instead, it existed as an attached manifestation over the Monk’s hands.

Furthermore, the Monk needed to use the Soul King’s power as an adhesive to make the fusion possible.

But even an inferior form of Zanpakutō fusion was still fusion.

With the reinforcement of the Soul King’s power and Ichimonji, the Monk’s Reiatsu rose once more.

His Reiatsu had already been at the absolute limit that the Soul Society could withstand.

Now, with this sudden increase, it instantly surpassed the world’s limit.

Crack.

A faint sound of something breaking rang out.

Yet in the ears of every living being in the Soul Society, it was deafening.

Almost instinctively, everyone looked toward the sky.

They could not tell whether it was merely their imagination.

But…

Had the sky just split open?

The battlefield between Kirinji and the others, as well as the battlefield where Kirio Hikifune was fighting, both came to a halt as everyone stopped what they were doing.

“Whoa, whoa! What the hell is the Monk doing now?!”

Kirinji complained helplessly.

Even as a member of Squad Zero, he had no idea how they were supposed to deal with the sky itself cracking apart.

“You people from Squad Zero really don’t care about the world’s safety anymore?”

Yoruichi demanded angrily.

Under Yoruichi’s lead, everyone glared at Kirinji.

Under those hostile gazes, Kirinji became noticeably more cautious.

“Don’t look at me like that! If the world is destroyed, the Soul King Palace won’t be spared either, all right?!”

After hearing Kirinji’s defense, everyone realized that he was technically correct.

Kirinji’s duty was to protect the Soul King Palace.

If the world were destroyed, the Soul King Palace would naturally be affected as well.

“Since that’s the case, Senior Kirinji, please work with us to protect this fractured world.”

Kyōraku’s eerie voice came from directly behind Kirinji.

Kirinji shuddered.

This new Captain-Commander really was a sneaky bastard.

“Fine. No problem. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll follow your orders.”

Kyōraku immediately began assigning everyone’s duties.

The entire Gotei 13 mobilized.

One task after another was distributed:

Calming the other souls.

Constructing defensive barriers.

Analyzing the condition of the fractured sky.

And so on.

Not a single person suggested stopping the battle between the Monk and Tsunayoshi.

After the previous clash, everyone understood that these two were locked in a life-or-death struggle.

Given that their own strength was inferior to both the Monk’s and Tsunayoshi’s, attempting to persuade either side to stop would accomplish nothing.

“Wait! I can help too!”

A purple-haired woman with long, wavy hair returned alongside a somewhat battered Ichigo.

Their battle had also been extremely fierce.

Kirio Hikifune had completed her transformation into her slimmer form, while half of Ichigo’s clothes had been torn to shreds.

“Of course. We’d be very grateful.”

Kyōraku replied.

Somehow, he had already assumed the role of the host and taken command of the entire situation.

“Hyōsube Ichibē, if you don’t restrain yourself, the Soul Society is going to be destroyed by your own hands.”

Tsunayoshi kindly warned him.

The Monk finally recovered from his intoxication.

The feeling of wielding power over the entire world was intoxicating no matter how many times he experienced it.

He completely ignored the changes taking place throughout the Soul Society and looked coldly at Tsunayoshi.

“Who do you think forced me to use this power?! You could have simply allowed yourself to be sealed!”

“It’s all because of you! And Sōsuke Aizen as well! Again and again, you’ve both used power that exceeds what this world can withstand, destabilizing the world in the process!”

“Why else would I seek you out as a Soul King candidate?!”

“You have only yourself to blame, Sawada Tsunayoshi. You’re clearly not a person from this world, yet you possess power comparable to that of the Soul King!”

“Rest assured. The world will not be destroyed.”

“I’ve seen this kind of situation before. Once I release the remaining Soul King power into the world, the world itself will naturally repair the damage.”

“It will be no different this time.”

Hearing the Monk shift the blame onto him, Tsunayoshi curled his lip in disdain.

There was only one Soul King in this world.

And that man, despite possessing supreme power, had willingly sacrificed himself.

Yet now the Monk wanted to use the greater good of the world to pressure him.

Tsunayoshi wasn’t falling for it.

At worst, they would simply fight it out.

“Then stop wasting time.”

“I’ll completely defeat you before this world falls apart!”

Tsunayoshi clenched both fists.

Violent flames surged around his body.

Bathed in those flames, the equipment covering Tsunayoshi’s body underwent a transformation.

He stepped into a pair of Winged Combat Boots formed from Byakuran’s wings.

The armor on his arms also transformed.

A white dragon manifested over his left arm.

A flaming lion covered his right.

Black armor bearing the appearance of the First Vongola’s gear extended from his shoulders.

Under the raging flames, it fluttered despite there being no wind.

This was the true form of Tsunayoshi’s Sky-type Beyond Bankai.

The Reiatsu radiating from this form was in no way inferior to the Monk’s after absorbing the Soul King’s power.

A continuous series of tiny cracking sounds rang out.

Tsunayoshi’s Reiatsu had become the final straw weighing down the world.

The Soul Society, which had only just begun showing signs of collapse, suddenly accelerated toward destruction.

“What an evil man you are, Sawada Tsunayoshi!”

“Then allow me to destroy you completely!”

The Monk charged toward Tsunayoshi.

As he swung both hands, black and white energy transformed into two enormous serpents that emerged alongside him.

The two serpents opened their razor-sharp jaws and lunged toward Tsunayoshi.

Tsunayoshi did not back down either.

The feathers on his combat boots gently fluttered.

In an instant, Tsunayoshi appeared directly in front of the Monk.

His black cloak spread across the sky like a curtain, blocking the attacks of the black and white serpents.

At the same time, Tsunayoshi himself drove his fist violently toward the Monk.