Chapter 490: Not Enough Pressure
"No..." Yhwach’s heart sank. His brows furrowed as he snapped his focus back, forcibly tearing himself away from the illusion.
He never imagined that, as one of the most exalted souls in existence, he could still be struck by a mental assault.
Clang!!
Just as he regained his senses, a white longsword came crashing down on his arrow.
An overwhelming force surged through his entire body in an instant. A searing, tearing pain shot through his wrist, followed by a deafening blast as the Reishi exploded.
Masatsuki Aozaki, sword in hand, struck Yhwach like a bolt of lightning.
The blade he wielded was impossibly sharp, its unstoppable momentum cleaving straight through the Heilig Pfeil Yhwach had fired. The unleashed Reiryoku tore through Silbern like a storm, shredding it apart.
Crash...
Yhwach’s legs dragged deep trenches into the ground, skidding for hundreds of meters before he finally came to a halt. He quickly formed another arrow with both hands and fired it upward.
Clang!!
Blue streaks of light collided with the white sword’s arc, the clashing of metal echoing sharply as the two were forced apart.
Masatsuki Aozaki used the recoil to leap back and landed steadily in midair.
Looking up again, he saw the black-clad monarch raise his palm high, a blue spear forming in its center.
Whoosh...
A shrill whistle pierced the air as Masatsuki Aozaki’s speed reached its peak.
With a rising slash, his blade—capable of cutting through anything—sent the spear hurtling into the sky.
Then came a thunderous boom. The explosion of the airborne spear lit up the battlefield, so bright it forced everyone to squint.
The son of the Soul King possessed terrifying power—he could casually unleash Reiatsu that far surpassed the limits of any Shinigami.
From the sheer force of that strike, Masatsuki Aozaki gauged the enemy’s strength.
He then saw Yhwach raise his hand again—simple, direct, no unnecessary flourish. He drew his bow, nocked an arrow, turned his body slightly, and released.
Boom boom boom!!
Arrows rained down like a storm, striking the earth and igniting bursts of brilliant blue light.
The ground within that radius was obliterated, shockwaves surging like a tsunami.
Masatsuki Aozaki reacted in an instant—his figure vanished from the spot.
The explosion’s force seemed to rip through him, but it didn’t leave a scratch.
"No wonder he’s so confident against the old man, even if he’s lacking in offense and defense. Setting Zanpakutō abilities aside, their raw strength isn’t even on the same level," Masatsuki thought to himself.
He might appear consumed by bloodlust, but in truth, he remained ice-cold.
Before the blue waves had even faded, Masatsuki Aozaki spotted Yhwach leaping high into the sky, a ripple of azure spreading behind him.
Multiple Heilig Pfeils!
The future unfolded before his eyes as Masatsuki’s body turned ghostlike—and then hundreds of beams rained down from the sky.
The light beams fell in dense waves, cutting off all avenues of escape. In an instant, the ground was unrecognizable, as if divine judgment had descended to cleanse the world of impurity.
There was no way he would die that easily.
Yhwach hesitated for a moment. He hadn’t activated The Almighty, so he didn’t assume victory blindly.
How could a foe this terrifying be brought down so simply?
And retreat wasn’t an option either...
Even with Masatsuki Aozaki’s presence completely vanished, Yhwach was certain—he wouldn’t run.
Given the current state of the battlefield, no one else stood a chance against him. If Masatsuki fled, everyone else would surely die.
In that moment, his thoughts raced like lightning.
Just as he lifted his foot to step forward, his entire body vanished without a trace.
Swish!!
A streak of black-and-white sword light, spanning over ten meters, appeared in the air like a phantom, leaving behind a dazzling arc without the slightest warning.
High above, Masatsuki Aozaki looked down at the air sliced open by the sword’s path, then suddenly spun around and slashed sideways behind him.
Boom!!
A blue arrow shot in at that exact moment, colliding head-on with the slash. A torrent of blue and black-and-white energy exploded outward.
This was no mere clash—it covered nearly a kilometer, more like a grand festival of fireworks than a simple impact.
The dazzling brilliance blurred the entire battlefield as if shrouded in thick fog, but for the two locked in combat, vision wasn’t necessary.
The future was already in full view before them!
Masatsuki Aozaki raised his left hand. A blazing spear let out a crisp phoenix cry in his palm, then pierced the radiant waves ahead and crashed fiercely into an enormous blue spear.
Whoosh!!
The blue spear dissolved instantly at the Reishi level, vanishing without a trace. That terrifying energy detonated high in the sky, thousands of meters up, forming a massive, blinding sphere of light that completely engulfed both Masatsuki and Yhwach.
But in the very next moment, another blue crescent and golden pillar of fire reappeared several hundred meters away.
They kept charging, chasing, clashing—again and again, without pause.
It was a simple cycle, yet utterly terrifying. In all of Reverse London, catching even a glimpse of their figures had become a rare luxury.
All people could see were the exploding spheres of light left behind, flickering like fleeting stars across the sky.
These lights spread outward, only to quickly converge back at the heart of the battlefield.
Boom!!
Round after round of Reiryoku blasts collided. The residual light from each burst of Reiatsu hung in the air. But Yhwach’s figure had already vanished—only a flying sword pressure slash streaked through the air, stained faintly with blood, a clear sign of the last strike’s result.
Masatsuki Aozaki frowned, irritation flashing in his eyes.
Even with his eyes still closed, Yhwach’s power had already surpassed the realm of what could be considered a normal living being in this world.
"This won’t work. The pressure still isn’t enough," Masatsuki muttered.
He didn’t need to think it through—his instincts told him the strategy had to change. Yhwach needed more pressure.
But Yhwach was like a slippery eel, constantly darting around, showing no urgency to settle the fight.
On the surface, it seemed he was using Auswählen to recover energy mid-battle, dragging things out until Masatsuki ran dry.
But even Masatsuki didn’t know where his limits truly lay.
If this kept up, the fight could drag on endlessly.
He couldn’t afford to kill Yhwach too quickly—yet he also couldn’t let the battle go on forever.
Time to hit harder.