Setsuna said with considerable relief, "Good work, Ichigo. You did very well."
"Hand him over to me." Setsuna reached out. A gentle force took Yhwach from Ichigo's hand, hovering beside him.
"After this war is completely over, I will fulfill my promise and help you resurrect your mother."
"Thank you, thank you so much, Setsuna-senpai!" Ichigo let out a long sigh of relief. His exhausted body swayed, nearly collapsing, but the flame of hope in his eyes burned even brighter.
"Aaaaaargh!" Omega Shenron let out an unwilling roar. "I lost this time, but even if it's just a clone, I will never let you have an easy time!"
He detonated all the destructive energy within his body. A destructive pulse that made the world tremble erupted.
"Let everything return to nothingness!"
Rumble rumble!
An energy storm capable of completely destroying the Dangai was released with a bang, like the Big Bang at the beginning of the universe.
A dark red light of destruction devoured everything.
Under this ultimate self-destruction, the Dangai met its complete end.
But the disaster did not stop there.
With the buffer of the Dangai lost, the originally fragile balance between the Three Worlds was instantly broken.
Illusory spiritual ripples and spatial cracks began to appear in the sky and earth of the Living World. The boundary between reality and illusion became blurred.
The Three Worlds were like a dangerous building from which the load-bearing walls had been removed.
It seemed as if the entire world would completely fall apart in the next moment, returning to chaos.
Even after Setsuna devoured the rampaging energy storm, the collapse of the Three Worlds had already become irreversible.
"Is the world going to be destroyed?" Ichigo looked at all this blankly.
He had finally defeated his powerful enemy and gained hope of saving his mother. Was everything ultimately going to be reduced to nothing with the destruction of the world?
"Don't worry." Setsuna's voice remained calm. "Since the collapse of the Three Worlds is a foregone conclusion, I will simply recreate a new Three Worlds."
"Re-recreate the Three Worlds?" Ichigo's eyes widened, his mind going blank.
'Recreate the world? Was this truly something a Shinigami could do?'
This was no longer describable by 'powerful'. This was the authority of a creator god!
"Let's go. We'll return to Soul Society first." Setsuna said no more. Ignoring the wildly collapsing spatial currents around him, he opened a completely calm passage through the raging storm.
In an instant, the two appeared in the square before the 1st Division's barracks.
The Seireitei was now in chaos and panic.
The sky was covered in cracks. The earth shook continuously. Buildings constantly collapsed. Spiritual storms raged.
The Shinigami of the Gotei 13 were desperately trying to maintain order, evacuate civilians, and stabilize the barriers.
But facing this world-level destruction, their efforts seemed so futile. Despair was written on everyone's face.
Just then, Setsuna's appearance with Ichigo and Yhwach was like a stabilizing force, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
"Setsuna-sama!"
"Ichigo?"
"That's... Yhwach?"
Everyone, like drowning people grasping at a lifeline, the Captains immediately surrounded him.
"Captain-Commander! What is happening with the Three Worlds?" Byakuya asked urgently, having lost his usual composure.
Setsuna's gaze swept over everyone. He spoke calmly, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears: "The Dangai was destroyed by the enemy. The balance of the Three Worlds has been broken. Collapse is a foregone conclusion."
"What?"
"The world is really going to be destroyed?"
"Then we..."
The emotion of despair began to spread.
However, Setsuna's next words exploded like thunder in everyone's hearts: "Do not panic. Since the old world is about to end, then I will recreate a new world for you."
Dead silence. A silence even more terrifying than the world collapsing.
All the Shinigami who heard these words, including the experienced Captains, stared at Setsuna with their mouths wide open in shock.
'Recreate the world?'
'Had Captain-Commander truly become a being like the creator god?'
Setsuna continued, "However, to accomplish this feat, I will also need the power of the Soul King."
His gaze turned to the four Zero Division members. "Members of the Zero Division, open the way to the Soul King Palace for me."
The four Zero Division's members had long since recognized the current situation. Nimaiya Oetsu said in a deep voice, "Since Setsuna-sama intends to redefine the universe, the Zero Division is willing to open the path for you."
He exposed his arm and activated the Oken. The barrier to the Soul King Palace temporarily disappeared.
"The stairs to the Soul King Palace are open." Nimaiya said respectfully.
Setsuna nodded, then looked at all the Shinigami Captains present and issued an invitation: "This matter concerns the future of the Three Worlds. Those who wish to witness it firsthand, follow me."
Setsuna's tone was quite emotional. "From today onward, the Soul King may become history. He is still worth you paying him a visit yourselves."
A wave of shock rippled through everyone, 'Would we also have the chance to pay respects to the Soul King?'
Nimaiya's expression was complex, 'Was this going to make the Soul King's state public?'
He instinctively wanted to stop it, but ultimately could only let out a long sigh.
Carrying apprehension, curiosity, and a sense of almost pilgrimage, a group of Shinigami Captains, along with Ichigo and the four Zero Division's members, arrived at the Soul King Palace.
The interior of the Soul King Palace was unbelievably vast, yet so empty it was unsettling.
At the deepest part of the palace, they finally saw the Soul King.
It was not the image of a majestic, all-powerful god as they had imagined.
It was an existence like a 'dismembered person'… a broken, battered body, missing limbs, sealed in amber.
"Th-this is His Majesty the Soul King?"
"How could this be?"
The Shinigami Captains, seeing the Soul King's true form for the first time, were all horrified, their minds deeply shaken.
The Soul King, whom they had always regarded as the foundation of the Three Worlds and the supreme being, was actually in such a pitiful, tragic state?
This was not a 'king' at all, but a 'tool' that had been imprisoned and exploited!
Toshiro glared at the Zero Division's members. "Did you do this?"
Kirinji shook his head. "Don't talk nonsense. How could we have that kind of ability?"
Nimaiya sighed. "By the time we joined the Zero Division, His Majesty was already like this. According to Ichibe'e, this was the doing of the Ancestors of the Five Great Noble Families."
Everyone was shocked once again. They didn't expect the Five Great Noble Families, which had ruled Soul Society for a million years, were actually the source of this evil!
Setsuna ignored everyone's shock. He stepped forward and approached the Soul King.
Setsuna got straight to the point. "Soul King, the Three Worlds are on the verge of destruction. I need your power."
A gentle, peaceful voice sounded in everyone's hearts from within the seal.
"Take my power as you wish."
"For me, this is not a deprivation, but a liberation."
"I can finally rest..."
Hearing this telepathic response, the Shinigami present felt even more heavy and complex emotions.
The order they had once protected was actually built upon such immense sacrifice and suffering of the Soul King.