The air around Kusajishi Haruto was thick with blood and chaos. The Quincy had ravaged everything-his comrades, his allies, his world. His body was battered, his once pristine haori tattered, the symbol of his status-one he'd earned through blood and sweat, smeared with the remnants of the battle. Yet, even as the war raged to its climatic end, Haruto remained unbroken. His power, immense and refined, still burned as brightly as the day he first unsheathed his blade. His mastery of the Mitsukage no Kage had unleashed terror as he cut through countless enemies, and yet now, he stood alone, facing the singular force that was Yhwach.
Perhaps he didn't have to work so hard, some would say, He could do his best and retire and let the protagonists clean up Yhwach as he knew they would and perhaps if he was still the same person he was when he first came to this world, he gladly would set down his blade and hand over the burden. But it was different now, He'd formed bonds here, it wasn't just an anime he watched in his dorm room but a life he'd lived for centuries. His comrades, his division, his friends, his lover, and most of all his beloved Mitsukage. He couldn't let them down, he would swing his blade with the last breath in his lungs and if even that failed, well there was always that.
Yhwach's eyes gleamed with a predatory satisfaction, the kind that only a god-someone who could shape fate itself could possess. The Quincy King stood unscathed, his presence as overwhelming as the weight of the universe itself. Haruto could feel it, the immense pressure that threatened to crush him, the certainty that he was outmatched. But even now, at the edge of death, Haruto showed no fear. Only resolve.
"I must admit," Yhwach's voice echoed across the battlefield, his tone filled with condescension. "You were a worthy opponent, Kusajishi Haruto. But in the end, even someone like you cannot escape fate. Your life ends here."
Haruto's fingers twitched, his eyes narrowing behind his elegant, cold expression. His thoughts were clear and precise. "I have no regrets, I died a long time ago and now to give my life to stop you would be the greatest of deaths. Mitsukage and I will never regret it."
Yhwach stood silently, his eyes scanning the anomaly before him. He could see it now: the faintest traces of something that could only be described as defiance. Haruto was no mere puppet. He was a warrior. And in that moment, Yhwach felt a strange stirring. Haruto - an anomaly had pushed him this far - HIM, The Almighty, a mere specter born from a world that should never have crossed into his. This soul, a child of fate and failure, yet stronger than than any mere soul should be. Yhwach almost hadn't seen this moment coming - almost. There was something about this soul that even The Almighty couldn't see through and while he brought crisis, he also brought an opportunity as the feeling of things being out of his control had spurred, made him evolve. To deal with this war potential, he had developed The Almighty: Anti-Reality.
This technique could allow Yhwach to shatter the very fabric of reality itself. By using The Almighty's power, Yhwach could manipulate fate to the extent that he warped the battlefield, causing the past, present and future to collide. Time, space and the flow of events could twist, creatinig a chaotic environment where every action and decision becomes unpredictable. He could be able to negate attacks or undo damage in an instant, by rewriting the "reality" of the situation before it even happened.
"This is the end," Yhwach whispered, his voice like a thunderclap in the distance. "I have seen it."
He raised his hand, feeling the pulse of The Almighty thrumming in his chest. In an instant, he saw every possible outcome, every possibility unfolding before him, each of Haruto's movements, every attack before it could even be made. The Almighty was not simply his power - it was the future made manifest, and Haruto's path, like many others had already been sealed.
Haruto's gaze was unwavering. He stood in the center of the ruined battlefield, his form resolute as he lifted his hand in return. The air around him seemed to shimmer with the echoes of untold power. Yhwach's lip curled into a smirk.
"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Yhwach asked, his voice steady but laced with contempt. "Let me show you your foolishness." He intoned, with blinding light glaring from his palm, its brightness rivalling that of the sun and exceeding it. And with the power of a god, He struck.
The world went silent when their attacks connected, a blinding light shone across all 3 realms even penetrating deep into hell itself and there was darkness.
The battlefield was a cacophony of destruction, a brutal clash between titans. Yhwach stood tall, his eyes seething with the arrogance of an emperor, while Kusajishi Haruto, a legend among the Shinigami, one who started from the humble districts of Kusajishi with a weak and feeble zanpakuton, had proven that there were no weak Zanpakutos, only weak wielders, managing to elevate a zanpakuto of the light element from a little more than a flashlight on the battle field to a level on par with Ryujin jakka, Hyorinmaru and the like.
But right now, he hovered just a step from death. His zanpakuto, Mitsukage, was shattered, its blade now nothing more than a remnant of a former glory. The sheer weight of their battle had torn apart the very fabric of Soul Society, and the sky was darkened by the remnants of their clash.
Haruto's breath was shallow, his body barely clinging to life. His spiritual energy was almost exhausted, yet his resolve burned brighter than ever. The Quincy King, Yhwach had dealt him a fatal low, a devastating strike that tore him in two halves from his abdomen, blood pooling around him-the very essence of his soul- poured out
But Haruto, despite the overwhelming pain, refused to give up. His eyes, filled with defiance, locked onto Yhwach.
"I will not allow you to destroy my world," Haruto whispered, barely audible. "Not while I still draw breath."
Yhwach sneered, his voice dripping with contempt, "You think you can challenge me in your crippled state? You're nothing more than a fading light, Kusajishi."
A tremor ran through Haruto's body. He could feel the end approaching-his soul falling into eternal sleep, his body unravelling under the weight of his injuries. But even in his final moments, he refused to bow to the inevitable. His mind flashed to his partner, the forbidden technique engraved in the deep recesses of Mitsukage's spirit.
"You…saw it.." Haruto gasped haltingly, "…every outcome but one."
"Tenshi no Keiji…" the words came as a whisper in his heart.
The very air around him began to warp, shifting as if reality itself was being unraveled. Haruto raised his hand, his palm facing Yhwach, and in that instant, the energy around him blazed with a fierce brilliance. The light from his body began to separate, forming rays that stretched and twisted like living tendrils, coiling around him.
Its time, Haruto thought, his mind no longer concerned with the outcome. For the light to consume me, and for you to burn.
With a final breath, he activated the technique. The ground beneath his feet cracked, and a sudden explosion of light filled the world, blinding and all-consuming. The force of it sent shockwaves through the fabric of Soul Society, and even Yhwach, the mightiest of the Quincy, staggered back in shock.
Haruto's body was torn apart, his flesh and spirit disintegrating into pure radiance, becoming one with the light. His Zanpakuto's final wish, a desperate cry from within his soul, echoed on his mind: Go… Live…
His consciousness began to fracture, the last vestiges of his humanity began to slip away, swallowed by the light. He felt his sense of self dissolve, like sand carried by the wind. This is it, Haruto thought, even as his will began to fade. I'll be reborn as something more-something pure.
But then something… unexpected happened.
The light that had consumed him - a light that should have annihilated everything, even his very soul - became unstable. The inner spirit of Mitsukage which had been intertwined with his own essence - sent out a desperate plea, its energy spiraling, sending a shockwave that tore through time and space.