Sensing the reiatsu spreading through the air, several Quincies who had experienced that war long ago revealed expressions of terror.
Within the crowd, a young man with red, Mohawk-style hair shot into the air. He opened his palm toward the sky.
With a roar, several spiraling streams of crimson flame surged forth, hurtling toward the fissure in the sky.
Elsewhere, an elderly Quincy swiftly drew two pistols, firing volley after volley of reishi arrows into the opening.
The younger Quincies glanced about in confusion. With the power they had here, wouldn’t any Shinigami who dared to intrude simply be slain on the spot? Why did their seniors look as though they faced total annihilation?
Seeing some of his colleagues still frozen in shock, the old Quincy shouted:
“Don’t just stand there! We must buy time! If the Final Diocese isn’t activated before Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto steps through, all of us will die!”
At these words, the younger Quincies stiffened. The old man’s name was Robert, a veteran Sternritter known for his top-tier strength. If even he said something , then the Shinigami beyond the fissure must be unimaginably dangerous.
Exchanging looks, the younger ones soared into the sky, charging toward the rift.
On the other side, in Kaelith’s Technical Bureau:
Bambietta, wrapped tightly in layers of Bakudō, could only stare in disbelief at the three Shinigami’s actions.
Kaelith’s eyes gleamed with a vicious light as he grinned, straining the shadowy rift wider with brute force. Beside him, Shunsui Kyōraku gripped his twin swords and lent the power of shadows to assist. And that white-bearded old man—at some point, he’d shed his upper garments, revealing a body of corded muscle. His face was dark and stern, like a wrathful statue come to life, gripping his blade as his reiatsu swirled and roiled, pouring ceaselessly into the fissure.
In Bambietta’s eyes, he was like a ferocious tiger pressing its face and fangs against a half-open door, waiting for the slightest lapse of attention to break through and wreak total havoc.
Yet as this thought crossed her mind, she suddenly smirked.
They had no idea what waited on the other side of that door. Another tiger, far more vicious and terrifying than they could imagine—Jugram Haschwalth—would soon show himself.
Just then, a surge of reiatsu burst from beyond the fissure. The familiar pattern of reishi made Bambietta’s eyes light up.
He had finally arrived. With Haschwalth in play, these Shinigami were as good as dead. After that, the Sternritter would sweep through the Soul Society itself.
As though responding to her hopes, the next instant a terrifying spiritual pressure erupted from the other side.
Kaelith caught the brunt of this reiatsu wave full in the face, letting out an embarrassing shout as he was driven upward, slamming into the laboratory’s reinforced ceiling and leaving a spiderweb of cracks. Still, he was unhurt, his skin glowing faintly with reiatsu. Using the ceiling as leverage, he launched himself back toward the fissure.
Shunsui, helping him just moments before, was forced several steps backward. He dug both blades into the floor to remain standing as that wild reiatsu tried to overrun them.
The surge pressed outward, threatening to burst through Kaelith’s Technical Bureau. If it escaped, it would cause a storm of reishi detectable throughout all of Seireitei.
Yamamoto’s roar shook the air. His reiatsu swelled even further, reaching an unfathomable magnitude. The fierce blast Haschwalth had created by detonating his reishi-forged sword was forcibly contained. It was as if invisible hands gripped a balloon about to explode, refusing to let it pop or escape, crushing it back down with sheer force.
Bambietta stared, dumbfounded. Was she dreaming?
Haschwalth’s full-power strike, suppressed just like that?
Yamamoto extended one muscular arm and clenched his fist. The explosive energies released by Haschwalth vanished into nothingness, snuffed out as if by overwhelming pressure.
Then the old man raised his Zanpakutō high. Blazing flames erupted from the blade.
“All things in nature… return to ashes—”
With a furious roar, the flames of Ryūjin Jakka were channeled into the shadowed fissure Kaelith had pried open.
On the far side, Haschwalth’s eyes widened in horror.
He and several other Quincies, who had just taken flight, spread their shining wings and activated their Vollständig. Guided by Haschwalth’s command, they combined their might to form a ritual that blocked the infernal flames pouring through the breach. Feeling the wrath radiating from that fire, none could doubt Yamamoto’s terrifying power now.
As they struggled against the torrent of flames, a short blade suddenly shot out from the blaze, trailing a long chain like a harpoon cast by a fisherman.
A hulking Quincy grinned mockingly and reached out to grab it, his palm glowing blue.
Blut Vene—Quincy’s ultimate defensive technique.
But in that instant—shhk!—to the shock of all present, the Quincy’s outstretched hand, followed by his arm and shoulder, was cleaved in two. The shining Blut Vene did nothing to stop the blade’s edge.
For a heartbeat, the man froze, then let out a bloodcurdling scream.
With a swift yank, Kaelith pulled Rixiang Jimie back from the fissure.
He shook his head lightly. “What a pity. I couldn’t bring anything back.”
Bambietta stared in trembling silence.
This Shinigami… he was fishing for them like they were nothing but prey?
And what came next terrified her even more.
She sensed a gathering of reiatsu on the other side of the fissure. It was the activation of something meant to close off the Wandenreich entirely—a hidden trump card to seal them away for a long time, cutting off all contact to and from the outside world.
This couldn’t be happening. She was still here, damn it! How could they use it now?