The battle showed a completely one-sided situation.
The numerical advantage of the Will of Hell appeared utterly pale and powerless under the dual overwhelming of quality and tactics.
Their clumsy encirclements were easily dissolved, powerful individuals were selectively eliminated, and the dispersed spiritual power was continuously absorbed by Setsuna.
The Ota Clan's 'jail administrators' sent to supervise the battle, hiding in the shadows, watched with utter terror.
They couldn't understand why the supposedly 'immortal' Will of Hell were being harvested like wheat in whole swaths.
'Why was that golden figure so terrifying? Why were the remnants of the Gotei 13 this strong?'
They secretly cursed, 'It's all the fault of the Four Great Noble Families in Soul Society for sitting idly by and allowing the Gotei 13 to grow.'
A rout!
When the losses of the Will of Hell exceeded half, and there was completely no hope of victory or even stalemate...
In the chaotic consciousness of the remaining monsters, fear finally outweighed the 'commands' forcibly implanted by the Ota Clan.
They began to uncontrollably flee in rout, trampling each other, in utter chaos.
The resistance army, with morale soaring, pressed the advantage, expanding their gains.
Finally, when the aftershocks of the Reishi tremors temporarily subsided...
Inside and outside the [Endless Rift], mountainous piles of Will of Hell's corpses, along with the Reiryok Ribbons absorbed by Setsuna after their dispersion, proclaimed the complete failure of the Ota Clan's grand and powerful operation.
When the news reached the Ota Clan's main castle, the clan head, hidden in the shadows, let out a roar of rage to the utmost, causing the entire castle to tremble.
He understood that the situation had completely spiraled out of control.
That anomaly named 'Chiaki Setsuna', and the [Hell Resistance Army] he led, were no longer just a 'chronic problem'.
They were now a deadly threat, a fatal tumor, enough to jeopardize the very foundation of the Ota Clan's million-year rule!
…
The Ota Clan's main castle.
The current Ota Clan's head had long lost his former gloomy majesty. He paced back and forth in the cold great hall.
"Can't stop them... can't stop them at all..." He muttered to himself, grinding his teeth. "I have no choice but to awaken the ancestor!"
He arrived at the lowest level of the castle, a forbidden area shrouded in layer upon layer of ancient seals and viscous blood-colored mist.
The aura here was evil, ancient, and powerful, filling him with a fear that originated from the very level of life.
With trembling hands, he initiated the awakening ritual.
The blood-colored mist slowly rolled. A terrifying will, far more powerful than the Ota Clan's head, like an ancient ferocious beast awakening, slowly descended.
Within the mist, two crimson lights, like blood moons, cold and lifeless, lit up and locked onto him.
The Ota Clan's head spoke incoherently, recounting the crisis facing the clan.
"...Useless."
A hoarse, deep voice, like the wails of countless souls, directly exploded in the Ota Clan's head's soul.
"Can't even handle... such a small matter... what use are you?"
"No! Ancestor-sama! Spare me! I..." The Ota Clan's head was terrified, turning to flee.
But it was too late.
The blood-colored mist suddenly expanded, like an abyssal giant mouth, instantly swallowing the screaming, pleading Ota Clan's head whole.
A brief shriek of agony, then from within the mist came the chilling, viscous sounds of swallowing and digestion.
After a moment, the blood-colored mist seemed to coalesce and surge with satisfaction.
…
When Setsuna led the resistance army to arrive and tore through the outer defenses of the Ota Clan's main castle like paper...
From deep within the castle, that thick to indissoluble blood-colored mist finally shot up into the sky.
The mist condensed into a hundred-meter-tall humanoid figure with blurred outlines, faintly visible grotesque features and countless suffering, struggling faces.
The moment it appeared, the temperature of the entire battlefield plummeted.
The air became thick with the cloying stench of blood and the foul odor of decaying souls. Its powerful Reiatsu caused many of the slightly weaker members of the resistance army to feel a heavy suffocation.
Its crimson gaze swept over the resistance army, like looking at a group of insects that had intruded into a forbidden area.
"This guy is the ancestor of the Ota Clan?" Setsuna narrowed his eyes. He could sense the traces of age the other party had gathered.
"Blasphemer... die."
A sky-covering giant hand, condensed from the blood-colored mist, carrying the terrifying power to erase existence and corrode souls, came crashing down towards the resistance army.
"Fall back!" Katori shouted sharply, organizing the troops to retreat.
However, before the blood-colored giant hand could completely fall...
A golden-red figure, like a retrograde meteor, charged head-on towards that massive hand.
Setsuna also raised his right hand, his five fingers spread, his palm condensing dense to the utmost soul energy.
"Sekishiki: Shuen no Grip."
Dark gold and bloody energy met, like two stars violently colliding.
However, the result surprised both sides.
The entire Hell erupted in violent rumbling, but the bloody giant hand was not easily 'erased' like the previous Wills of Hell.
Instead, it was forcibly held back.
The dark gold light and the bloody energy fiercely corroded and annihilated each other, forming a constantly distorting chaotic sphere at the point of contact.
On the blurred face of the Ota Clan's ancestor, the crimson gaze flickered violently, revealing undisguised shock: "Someone has actually reached our level!"
It sensed Setsuna's vast, like the universe, yet pure and condensed to the utmost Reiatsu. It felt to it like a miniature Soul King.
And Setsuna, in the instant of contact, also perceived the other party's state.
This monster's soul intensity was indeed astonishing, even slightly stronger than his own at this moment, reaching an inconceivable level of accumulation.
But it was powerful to the point of almost bloated.
Setsuna could sense that the other party's mind could not perfectly control such vast power.
The essence of its soul had not been able to completely match its vast Reiatsu. Instead, that excessively powerful power had, to some extent, become its own burden and weakness.
A flicker of understanding crossed Setsuna's eyes: "No wonder you need to sleep for long periods. Such vast souls, for you, have instead become a burden you cannot freely control, right?"
The Ota Clan's ancestor's crimson gaze sharply focused. Its voice was hoarse: "You are extraordinary. You possess power that touches the true essence. You can see through our limitation..."
It paused, as if weighing options, and finally threw out a startling proposal: "You may join us, replace the Shiba Clan's position."
"The Shiba Clan?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow.
"Correct." The Ota Clan's ancestor's voice carried undisguised spite and hatred. "That damned, shameful traitor!"
"If not for the traitor of the Shiba Clan, before we brought the Soul King's remains into Hell, privately abandoning and losing the Soul King's 'hands' and 'heart' in the fissures of the three worlds..."
Its emotions fluctuated violently, the blood-colored mist churning: "We would have already achieved perfection by now! We would have already replaced that incompetent Soul King and become the true, supreme gods of this world!"
Setsuna's heart stirred. He pressed further: "So, your ultimate goal is to replace the Soul King?"
"Exactly!" The Ota Clan's ancestor's voice suddenly rose, filled with fanatical and twisted ambition.
"The Soul King... Hmph! Possessing the creation and maintenance power to create the world and define the rules of the three worlds, yet weak and incompetent, content with the status quo, without ambition."
"It has never thought about how to use this power to expand the world, conquer the unknown, and allow our royal clan to truly rule over everything, eternal and immortal!"
It seemed to be venting resentment accumulated for a million years, roaring loudly: "Since it is unwilling to act, afraid to act, then let it hand this power over to those of us with ambition and courage!"