__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Come, my two students."
"If you intend to argue with me, then draw your Zanpakutō and earn the right to speak through strength!"
The aged, low voice carried both disappointment toward his two century-old captains and the calm confidence of the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years.
As the camera focused on the Head-Captain and slowly zoomed in, the murkiness and age in his eyes vanished, replaced by clarity and blazing vigor.
His once-bent, hunched back straightened like a spear. That towering body, which had stood for over two thousand years, suddenly seemed to hold up the heavens themselves.
"What terrifying pressure!"
"The Head-Captain is like a human sun. Even his eyebrows are on fire!"
"This is insane. What kind of monstrous presence is this? He really is worthy of the title 'strongest in a thousand years!'"
"To actually anger the Head-Captain… only Captain Kyōraku and Captain Ukitake would dare do something like that, right?"
…
At that moment, countless horrified gazes throughout the Gotei Thirteen locked onto the old man.
They stared at the willow-like eyebrows hanging down, now engulfed in flames born from heat beyond the boiling point.
Even through a transparent screen.
Even knowing this was only a vision of the future.
The temperature across Seireitei, even the entire Soul Society, surged by dozens of degrees in an instant.
If the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō, Hyōrinmaru, needed to be swung to manipulate the climate, then the Head-Captain needed only a single thought
to endanger all of Soul Society.
This was the true weight behind the words "strongest in a thousand years."
"Ukitake, what's going on?" Shunsui was drenched in sweat, pacing like an ant on a hot pan. "How did we end up provoking the old man in the future? From the looks of it, he's about to draw his blade!"
You had to be kidding.
Once Ryūjin Jakka was released, it wasn't something you could calm down with a few nice words. People would die.
"…"
Ukitake Jūshirō's expression flickered between light and dark, saying nothing.
The old man's snow-white hair and bloodless face were tinted red, heated by the firelight refracted from the video.
Helping the Ryoka?
Undermining the stability of Soul Society?
Me, Ukitake, an old invalid who barely has time to take his medicine?
How could I possibly have the spare energy to do something that rebellious and insane?
With that thought, he shot a sideways glare, fixing Kyōraku Shunsui with an accusing stare. "That question should be aimed at you instead. It's obvious this mess is your doing. That's why the old man's so furious."
"I… I'm innocent!!!"
Kyōraku looked like he was about to cry.
Brother, do you think I was bored out of my mind and decided to poke the old man on purpose?
Something that stupid?
Even a newborn child in Soul Society wouldn't do that!
Let alone a slippery old fox like me who's lived for centuries!
At this moment, if he had any choice at all, Kyōraku desperately wanted to slap his future self across the face.
Of all people to provoke, he had to provoke the old man. The might of Ryūjin Jakka wasn't something just anyone could endure.
Right then—
Within the frame of the video.
The Captain-Commander was blazing from head to toe.
Crimson light slammed into the sky with overwhelming force.
The air stopped moving.
The clouds were swept completely away.
Beneath the blue sky of Soul Society, only the Captain-Commander remained, standing tall like a god of fire.
And his pressure—
In an instant, it surged to a level so terrifying it felt like the screen itself might shatter.
There was no doubt about it.
This was the omen of Ryūjin Jakka's release.
"To think we'd get to witness the release of Ryūjin Jakka ahead of time through a recording like this. What an extraordinary gift…"
Bathed in waves of scorching wind, Ichimaru Gin's bangs clung together on his forehead, soaked with sweat.
Yet behind that foxlike smile was unmistakable anticipation.
Ryūjin Jakka.
The acknowledged strongest and most destructive fire-type Zanpakutō in existence.
Gin was eagerly awaiting its release.
"Indeed…"
"Even Kyōraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jūshirō would feel uneasy facing Ryūjin Jakka when it's fully unleashed, wouldn't they?"
The moment Aizen finished speaking, the fire in the video exploded upward as the Captain-Commander's searing spiritual pressure surged again.
Whether in the present or the future.
In the stagnant air of Soul Society.
That overwhelming heat transformed everything into a blazing inferno.
At the same time, the cane in the Captain-Commander's hand began to swell, as if expanding under unbearable heat.
Watching this, everyone before the screen felt it instinctively.
Something big was coming.
And sure enough—
To push his suppression to the absolute limit.
The Captain-Commander seemed to turn into a blazing sun.
From that ancient, unchanging face of authority came a chant that echoed across a thousand years of time:
"All things in the universe… turn to ash… Ryūjin Jakka!"
The wooden cane exploded apart, splintering like corroded metal.
The Captain-Commander grasped the hilt and slowly drew forth the true Ryūjin Jakka, as if pulling an actual sun from its sheath.
The instant the old man took the blade in hand—
As Soul Society's oldest Zanpakutō revealed its true form.
Blazing flames poured along the edge of the sword, roaring outward and wrapping around his shihakushō and captain's haori.
He held the sword in one hand.
Red flames flared around him like solar prominences.
In that moment, tens of thousands of viewers felt the moisture in their bodies evaporate out of nowhere.
Even their blood felt as if it were drying up and burning.
"This is way too terrifying!!!"
As the fire continued to spread.
Dozens of towering pillars of flame rose behind the Captain-Commander, vast and overwhelming.
Forget ordinary shinigami. Even among captains, only a handful like Aizen and Unohana Retsu could barely remain calm.
As for the rest—
Some had their hair ignite.
Others collapsed on the spot from severe dehydration.
Even those who grit their teeth and endured had to huddle together, pooling their spiritual pressure just to barely withstand the relentless waves of scorching heat pouring out of the screen.
And all of this—
Was happening across time and space, not even on the same battlefield.
One could only imagine what Kyōraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jūshirō had faced back then.
They must have felt as though they were standing in the depths of a burning hell.
"Kyōraku. Ukitake."
"It's been many years, hasn't it, since Ryūjin Jakka was last released?"
After entering shikai, the Captain-Commander was completely shrouded in flames. Even his demeanor seemed colder.
"Because it's been so long…"
"You've forgotten."
"And so you foolishly convinced yourselves you could challenge this old man."
Holding the blazing sword, the Captain-Commander gave it a casual swing.
Boom!!!
The sound of exploding air was like countless nuclear detonations going off at once.
The recording itself briefly lost signal.
When the image finally stabilized again—
The land of Soul Society within the frame had been stripped of all greenery.
All that remained was scorched, blackened earth and exposed rock, laid bare by intense heat.
Anything the flames touched was reduced to ash.
That—
Was the power of Ryūjin Jakka.
"..."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________