After being stabbed by Yhwach, Adam can feel the tiredness slowly seeping into his flesh and bones. His body felt heavy and lethargic. Like his body was filled with lead while sinking into the depth of the dark abyss of the sea.
"This is the end…" He mumbles.
The situation is already beyond salvage. He was tricked by Yhwach, he pushed away his companions, doing the bidding of Yhwach to prepare his grand resurrection. Now that he had incurred a blood debt and an unresolvable grudge with Phanes, there is no way out.
He is helpless, and could only watch as the souls of his companions, his family, his wives, devoured by Auswählen.
'You mustn't give up yet.'
Mustn't give up? What can he even achieve at this point? Even if he defeats Yhwach, Phanes will not let him or his companions go for their act of genocide.
'As long as you can keep striving forward. There is still hope.'
No. I just want to rest. It has been long enough and I feel tired.
'Are you going to let them die just like that?'
You are noisy…
'Are you going to betray their faith another time?'
Shut up.
'Are you satisfied with such an ending?'
Shut up!
'Running away as always. You cannot keep running away forever.'
"Shut up!" He growled as his eyes snapped open and he found himself sinking into the bottomless dark ocean depth while staring at the light above where a familiar but smaller figure looked at him with pity.
'Finally, your eyes are open once again, Commander. No, Father.'
"Enterprise… no. You are… Little Enterprise." Adam addresses the girl that looks and dresses similar to Enterprise although small and cute compared to the original one.
"Huh?!"
Adam was immensely confused at the scene. There is no other explanation that this smaller version of Enterprise being the daughter of his and Enterprise. Although he didn't remember her ever being bor– Err… created. But she didn't look like she possessed a physical form either. She is just a soul, an innately spiritual entity.
'I wish we had more time to converse, Father. However, we are running out of time. More specifically, you are running out of time.'
Adam silently listens to Little Enterprise without intention to interrupt her like before. Mainly due to his still confused state of mind.
'I am currently communicating to you in your mindscape using Fenghuang Down through the Void Archive.' She explained briefly before she took a deep breath and exhaled.
'Please do not give up. Not yet. The future is not yet bleak. There is still a chance to salvage the situation. As long as you can defeat Yhwach and usurp back The Almighty, you can still fix your mistake.' Little Enterprise dived down towards Adam to give him a hug around his neck. 'So, please. Don't give up yet. For me, for my mommy, my unborn sister that Mother Winter is carrying and everyone else.'
"Huh! What do yo— Wait. Winter? Wai—"
Adam immediately felt his consciousness being pushed out from the sea of his consciousness back to the surface.
———
As the pillar of lights continued to be absorbed by Yhwach, his power grew exponentially stronger with each passing moment.
He glances at the kneeling Adam in his crumpled state, he figures it's time to eliminate him since his use has already ended. Also, his innate power is a very annoying variable in his resurrection. The ability that negates all power.
"Sankt Bogen."
A golden arc formed above him along with a giant arrow nocked on its string.
Unohana saw that Adam was still unconscious and going to parry the attack but with a flick of his hand, a prisoner of Reishi stopped Unohana in her tracks while she tried to cut open the prison to no avail.
"Since you have helped me this much, I shall grant you swift mercy." Yhwach said before letting his arm fall as the arrow let loose from its string and shot toward Adam.
Adam remained motionless until the arrow hit him and turned into a brilliant explosion of light of great magnitude.
Just as Yhwach turned his attention away after confirming the hit, a snippet of the future revealed to him as he quickly went into a defensive stance and shouted, "Blut Vene Anhaben!" Blue veins extend from his body to the ground and form a blue dome of Reishi barrier.
Then a figure leaped out with a golden greatsword in his hands and smashed it at the barrier. "Might of An Utu, 0th Power." Instantly a blinding light exploded like a flashbang and then a great explosion of flame as hot as the brightest star consumed everything and the epicenter of the explosion, the blue Reishi barrier wavered and started to crack under the immense pressure.
"Tch! I should have killed you from the beginning." Yhwach cursed anxiously as the damned ability that he dreaded was used against him or else his barrier would hold just fine.
Not stopping just there, the greatsword disappeared and was replaced with a jet black katana which he stabbed at the crack which pierced through and he pried open a wider gap by cutting it open with great effort on Adam's part as he howled.
Once the barrier was cut open, Yhwach create a Reishi blade to block the Zanpakuto but Adam resummoned the blazing greatsword in his free hand and swung at Yhawch's exposed side but Yhwach swiftly send a kick to Adam to push him away and block the incoming greatsword before thrown to the side by the momentum of the greatsword, retreating a few steps.
Yhwach cursed that the mental suggestion he put on Adam to not use his innate ability had vanished for some reason and it became even more troublesome as of all the ability Adam have, that is the only one that makes him wary since not even The Almighty can affect it. A very illogical ability that defies even fate.
After a brief pause of staring at one another, they suddenly moved at blinding speed and clashed.
"Blut Arterie" x2
Spark flies around as afterimages clashed against one another. Adam clearly looks suppressed. But that didn't mean Yhwach got the upper hand as his Spirit Weapon chipped with each strike, forcing him to recreate it a few times, costing him a few vulnerable moments that Adam capitalized.
"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six. Bakudo No. 61, Rikujokoro!" Adam chanted rapidly while still clashing blades and six beams of light appeared around Yhwach and slammed on to him, restricting him in place.
Adam seized this opportunity and appeared in front of Yhwach. Yhwach immediately uses his defensive ability, thinking Adam is going to use his Zanpakuto to steal The Almighty. But he predicted wrongly. Instead, he saw plumes of golden feathers falling down from above before his consciousness sunk deep into his mind.
———
Opening his eyes, Yhwach saw himself in his original form, wearing a white suit and a black cape while standing above the still water which underneath is his own Sea of Consciousness.
"I thought you still had other tricks. But I never would have thought you would try to challenge me inside of my own Mindscape of all places." Yhwach laughed before the still water became turbulent and dark as numerous yellow eyes appeared and stared at Adam who stood still with his head hung low and his expression remained unreadable.
Seeing how Adam didn't react to him, Yhwach ordered his mental constructs to attack Adam and kill his soul immediately.
As for Adam, he stayed still until moments before the mental constructs reached him. Then, he grips his loose palm into a fist as a fiery aura descends upon him like an invisible pressure that crushed the Mental Constructs that tried to approach him.
Adam lifts his head up to match Yhwach who looks at him with worry and wariness.
"Do you think I purposely choose to fight you on your Mindscape for no reason?" Adam asked while his hand extended out and grabbed one of the black blobs of mass with yellow eyes and crushed it by merely making a gesture of crushing with his fist.
"I cannot win against you outside because you can manipulate fate with The Almighty. But here, it's a battle between our souls only without any other interference and I am confident to win." Adam declared with a renewed vigor before his body turned into an afterimage and reappeared in front of Yhwach with a punch aimed at his skull.
Yhwach panicked and swiftly moved his Spirit Blade to block the punch but it shattered immediately against Adam's arm that was originally white in his Mugen form but Blackened by Haki which he once again after they became less favorable compared to Reiatsu. But in the Mindscape where Reiatsu is unusable, Armament Haki becomes his choice.
The fist shattered the Reishi blade and went to hit Yhwach face squarely but he managed to tilt his head in time it only grazed him as he slashed his reformed Spirit Blade at Adam's arm to cut it off but only managed to leave a faint scratch and sparks. Not just that, but his Spirit Blade also shows signs of being corroded by Adam's Spiritual Energy.
"This is absurd! How can the soul of a mere dozens year old fledgling like you could be compared to mine?!" Yhwach demanded in disbelief, unaware that it was thanks to Adam's mastery of Haki.
For the first time since the battle began, Adam smiled, relishing in the fear his prey showed.
"That is very simple, Yhwach. While you bid you time plotting your little plan, you didn't bother to look into my memories which I am grateful for and neither would I allow. But, Reincarnators like me do not follow the normal conventional rules that apply to characters like you."
Ignoring the way Adam addressed him, Yhwach looked pissed to be looked down upon by Adam. He swung his blade with desperation in his face, mustering all the strength he could mobilize to defeat the monster in front of him but all was thwarted with a simple punch that shattered his Spirit Blade that can cleave mountains like they are made of brittle porcelain.
They continue to clash but as they fight, Yhwach is slowly losing. He couldn't comprehend why or what had he done wrong. Even as he slowly bid his time to strike Adam down at his moment of weakness, he returned even stronger than before. He was such an enigmatic creature that he wouldn't call normal even by his standards.
In his last hope, Yhwach used The Almighty. He had to hold off doing this because he was saving his energy for his resurrection. But his resurrection be damned if he is defeated here, his soul will perish and he will die for good.
With his irises split into four on each eye, the vision of the future and all the possible outcomes revealed bare to his omnipotent eyes. However, before he could pry into the secret of the future. His vision turned pitch black and warmness spread from his eyes down his face.
"AAAAHHHHHH!" Yhwach released a long and guttural shriek of pain as his eyes burst and bleeds out a river of blood.
"What… What have you done to me!" Yhwach demanded in the wake of dizziness and distress from his power's backlash.
Adam slowly strode closer to Yhwach with a calm demeanor and said, "I told you, didn't I? I chose this place because we can fight without interference from outside forces." He lifts his hands up as an overbearing aura descends upon him making him look like king amongst the peasants. "In the Mindscape is where I am the strongest and you dare use The Almighty to pry upon my future and manipulate my Fate but unfortunately to you, my Willpower is strong enough to not just defy but subjugate my Fate and Destiny. For I am the King of my own Destiny and the Conqueror Spirit is my proof."
(Conqueror Spirit = Conqueror Haki)
"T-That's… That's absurd!" Yhwach bellowed in panic and disbelief.
"Well, the main characters have always been absurd. What cannot kill them made them stronger. That is your mistake for not killing me thoroughly when you had the chance. So, don't resent me for this, Yhwach. I pray you have a better life in the next one."
Adam places his palm before Yhwach and exerted his Willpower that turns into a titanic pressure around Yhwach, crushing his soul into a sphere of Reishi that floats into Adam's palm.
After winning against Yhwach, his mood didn't improve. Instead he looked even more somber as he gazed at the sphere of brightly glowing Reishi that is the compacted soul of Yhwach that had removed everything into a pure Reishi barring the white ball in the middle of the sphere, The Almighty that he preserved.
Adam sighed. This is naught but a pyrrhic victory. He exhausted his method to kill Yhwach but out there is Phanes who is significantly stronger than Yhwach. This method of forcing a direct clash between soul and Willpower will not work on a Primordial being like Phanes who is a God of Creation. Meaning, he is the strongest of all at the pinnacle of this universe.
If he dares attempt the method he uses on Yhwach on Phanes, his soul will be scorched to nothingness like a sharpened sword is futile against a sun.
He could try using The Almighty to change the past. However, even if he burns his soul as fuel, he would have enough to fix everything. The realization made him clench his fist tighter while staring at the sphere of Reishi.
"Hahaha…" Adam's laugh felt hollow as he wanted to crush the sphere in anger. "Even in death, you want to deny me a victory. Huh?" Adam wished he didn't pray for Yhwach's soul a smooth passing.
But regardless, he still and will forge a path out of his helplessness. After all, he is the protagonist of his story. He cannot fail. Not yet. At least not here.
He opened his mouth and brought the sphere to his mouth before devouring it.
He can feel pain. An unbearable pain of an indescribable kind as his spiritual body starts to crack and fracture. But the Hogyoku in his chest cavity started to spin increasingly faster and faster as it also started to crack and bleed out blinding light along with his body.
"AAAARRGGGHHHHHH!" He cried and howled as unbearable pain wrecked his mind, threatening to blank out but he had to endure. He must endure if everything will be of naught.
Back in reality, Adam's body also experienced similar phenomena. When Yhwach's body spontaneously crumbled into dust, the power from Auswählen redirected to him, bathing him with a shower of light that grew ever brighter as his body floated up as if an invisible force was pushing him up.
His Mugen form crumbled as the Hogyoku pushed his physical vessel to evolve. A forced evolution to create an even powerful vessel to contain the power that absorbed numerous trillions of human souls, the Angels and Gods.
Once the Hogyoku absorbed all the power and reached the critical point, it suddenly exploded. Brilliant glow consumed everything. A powerful tremor shook the Sanctuary, the Divine Realm and even the Void like a birth of a universe, a Big Bang. But midway through it, the light blackened and turned dark. The energy from his birth instantly sucked back by the voracious suction force like an all consuming black hole.
Gone is his human form and in its place is a Void. An all consuming nothingness. The fragment that slumbered inside him finally awakened and he embraced it knowing what it would turn him into. However, he had no choice because from this point onwards, it's either he will be defeated and loses everything or win to survive another day and atone for his mistake.
Stood in the void of nothingness is Adam and Phanes. Both sizing up each other warily. Both want to win for their own goal. But there will only be one victor.
Thus begins the battle at the zenith of the universe between the two remaining beings in this universe. The battle for the conclusion of this mistake of a genocidal war.
—————
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