Chapter 335: The Crimson King of Hueco Mundo
"You lose."
The three words cut deeper than any Zanpakutō could. Spoken with calm finality, they echoed across the battlefield like a death knell. As those words, paired with Mazuru’s earlier declarations, reached the ears of the remaining shinigami, silence momentarily overtook Hueco Mundo’s chaos.
It was impossible to accept.
The unshakable titan of the Gotei 13, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, collapsed to his knees, his scorched haori fluttering like the last flag of an era brought to its end. Then, with a heavy thud, his body fell forward, unmoving.
Mazuru didn’t even look back.
His eyes, sharp and detached, scanned the battlefield as he vanished with a crack of spiritual displacement. In the blink of an eye, he appeared next to Shunsui, whose widened eyes flicked from Yamamoto’s fallen body to the man now standing beside him.
"Honestly," Mazuru said, voice low but clear. "I didn’t want to fight any of you. But you stepped into Hueco Mundo... uninvited. I suppose a lesson is in order."
Shunsui’s eyes narrowed behind his hat as he instinctively raised Katen Kyōkotsu, but he was a half-beat too slow.
Mazuru’s blade flashed.
*Slash!*
A diagonal streak of red bloomed across Shunsui’s shoulder as the seasoned captain staggered back, his sandal scraping on bone-white ground. Blood dripped onto his kimono like crimson blossoms.