Harry's declaration fell upon Sōkyoku Hill like a match dropped into gasoline.
The first half of his statement had briefly eased the tension, but the second immediately stretched everyone's nerves to the breaking point.
The captains seemed frozen for an instant before complicated expressions appeared across their faces. Temptation and apprehension intertwined, leaving each of them visibly conflicted.
Jūshirō Ukitake's fingers tightened slightly around Sōgyo no Kotowari. A subtle trace of uncertainty appeared on his pale face. He coughed twice and instinctively glanced at the other captains, hoping to judge their reactions.
The balance maintained by the Soul King had undeniably been deteriorating for years. Aizen's rebellion, the turmoil in Hueco Mundo, and the abnormal increase in Hollows throughout the World of the Living all demonstrated the fragility of the old order.
"Devour the Soul King..." Ukitake repeated quietly, a trace of hope flashing through his eyes.
Were Harry truly capable of establishing a more stable order, perhaps the Three Worlds could escape their seemingly inevitable destruction.
Yet the moment that hope appeared, it was suppressed by even deeper apprehension.
Ukitake looked up at Harry. Although the Reiatsu surrounding him appeared calm, it carried an unquestionable sense of dominance.
Replacing the Soul King meant that Harry would obtain authority surpassing every other being. Should that power ever be abused, the consequences would be even more terrifying than the Soul King's current weakness.
Ukitake opened his mouth as though he wished to say something, but ultimately released only a heavy sigh. The Zanpakutō in his hand trembled slightly, almost as though it were responding to the unease in his heart.
Considering Harry's power, they had little chance of stopping him. Even the mysterious Squad Zero was unlikely to succeed.
Every captain except Kenpachi Zaraki hesitated.
Harry's proposal was undeniably tempting, but their hope was quickly torn apart by suspicion.
Harry was a traveler from another world. He possessed little emotional attachment to Soul Society. Once he devoured the Soul King and acquired absolute power, who could guarantee that he would not become another Aizen?
He might become something even worse.
No one could restrain Harry's power. Should he change his mind after becoming the Soul King, the Gotei 13 would have no ability to resist him.
Shunsui Kyōraku raised his head and looked at Harry, a complicated smile forming on his lips.
"An outcome that benefits both sides? Harry, you should know that old men like us are most afraid of discovering that the cost of victory is something we cannot afford."
Just as Shunsui said, they longed for an outcome in which everyone benefited, but they did not dare gamble on the possibility that absolute power would never corrupt Harry.
Sunlight filtered through the distorted space above, casting alternating bands of light and shadow across every face, perfectly reflecting their conflicted emotions.
The old order had already been broken, while the future remained unknown. All they could do was struggle between hope and fear as they waited to see what Harry would do next.
While the captains remained trapped in indecision, Harry had no intention of waiting. He stepped forward and began walking toward the Soul King Palace.
The Soul King Palace was not located anywhere on the physical territory of Soul Society. It floated above the highest clouds, far beyond the Seireitei.
Looking upward from Central 46 or Sōkyoku Hill, one could see only clouds glowing faintly with golden light along the horizon. The Soul King Palace remained concealed above them, seemingly merged with the sky itself.
The distance between the palace and the ground was far beyond anything visible to the naked eye. Even an ordinary Soul Reaper using the fastest possible Shunpo could not break through the reishi barrier beneath the clouds.
That barrier had been formed from the Soul King's fundamental power. Tiny golden particles of reishi flowed across its surface. It served both as protection and as the boundary separating the ordinary from the divine.
Only those possessing permission to enter the Soul King Palace, or power sufficient to threaten the Soul King himself, could penetrate the barrier and reach the dimension containing the palace.
Harry naturally possessed neither official permission nor an Ōken from Squad Zero.
What he possessed was overwhelming power, more than enough to suppress the dying Soul King.
As Harry began moving, Hitsugaya, Hinamori, and Rangiku followed him, climbing the reishi staircase he constructed toward the sky above the Seireitei.
The captains of the Gotei 13 watched their retreating figures with complicated expressions.
After a brief silence, Soi Fon was the first to lose patience.
"Are we simply going to stand here and watch? Are we going to watch the ambitious Harry Potter devour the Soul King and seize control of the Three Worlds?"
Shunsui held down his straw hat and answered helplessly, "What else can we do? We aren't a match for those four."
Ukitake took a deep breath and stepped onto the reishi staircase Harry had created. He then turned toward the captains behind him.
"I believe we should follow them and do what we can. Whether that means witnessing Harry become the next Soul King and take control of the Three Worlds, or helping Squad Zero defeat Harry and the others in battle, we cannot simply remain here and do nothing."
Ichigo Kurosaki, who had remained silent nearby for some time, suddenly stepped forward and followed Ukitake.
He smiled and said, "I think Captain Ukitake is right. We should follow them."
Ichigo's attitude infuriated Soi Fon.
"Be quiet! You are still a prisoner, you arrogant Ryoka!"
Ichigo scratched his head awkwardly but did not argue.
In the end, Shunsui, who possessed the greatest authority among the remaining captains, made the final decision. He released a helpless sigh.
"Let's go. We'll follow them. Just as Ukitake said, we cannot do nothing."
Hinamori glanced behind them and discovered that the captains, lieutenants, and even several of the Ryoka had followed. She could not help asking Harry, "Harry, are we really going to ignore them? Allowing all of them to reach the Soul King Palace could create at least some trouble."
Harry shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. Ignore them. Even if they reach the Soul King Palace, they won't be much help.
"The reishi environment there is entirely different from that of Soul Society. Without a lengthy period of adaptation, even lieutenants will be unable to move, while captains will not be capable of displaying their full strength."
Even Hitsugaya, Hinamori, and Rangiku had not known this.
Rangiku exclaimed in surprise before asking, "What? The three of us are only captain-class now. Apart from possessing greater Reiatsu, our Zanjutsu, Hohō, Kidō, and Hakuda may still be inferior to those of actual captains. Doesn't that mean we won't be able to help either?"
Harry smiled at her.
"Don't worry. The reconstruction I performed on your spirit bodies will allow you to adapt quickly to the environment inside the Soul King Palace.
"Even if you cannot help, it won't matter. I can defeat Squad Zero by myself."
Hitsugaya shook his head and answered firmly, "We will find some way to help. We can't allow you to face every problem alone.
"We also want to see the incredible multiverse you promised to show us after you devour the Soul King."
"That's right!" Hinamori agreed eagerly.
"Don't worry. You'll see it soon," Harry promised.
Although everyone appeared to be climbing at an ordinary pace, they quickly discovered that only a few steps had carried them an enormous distance from the ground.
Walking the entire distance normally would have taken far too long, so while everyone climbed, Harry also controlled the reishi staircase and propelled it upward at tremendous speed.
Carried by the rapidly ascending staircase, they reached the outskirts of the Soul King Palace in less than twenty minutes.
A barrier blocked their path as soon as they arrived.
This was one of the Soul King Palace's defensive measures. Seventy-two barriers separated the palace from the Seireitei.
Each barrier could automatically repair itself after sustaining damage. Only someone wearing clothing created by members of Squad Zero from their own hair and bones, an Ōken, could forcibly penetrate the barriers and withstand the tremendous friction generated while passing through them.
At some point, Shunsui had moved beside Harry.
"These are the defenses protecting the path to the Soul King Palace," he explained. "There are seventy-two barriers in total, followed by the Shakonmaku. How do you intend to get through them?"
The moment Shunsui finished speaking, Harry raised his eyes toward the sky.
The seventy-two barriers, nearly invisible to the naked eye, were concealed behind the clouds. Faint golden patterns of reishi flickered through the air like an enormous interwoven web, completely separating the Soul King Palace from the world below.
Harry did not look back. He lightly tightened his right hand around his Zanpakutō before slowly raising his left hand, palm facing downward.
Silver-white reishi gathered around his fingertips and gradually formed a thin stream of light. Countless tiny particles flickered within it, as though the reishi had already been broken down into its most fundamental components.
"A barrier is fundamentally nothing more than a high-density aggregation of reishi," Harry said calmly. "Since it is composed of reishi, it can be disassembled."
Before he had even finished speaking, the stream of light shot from his fingertips and transformed into a narrow silver-white thread that struck the first barrier.
Standing beside him, Shunsui's pupils contracted slightly.
He had previously witnessed members of Squad Zero use an Ōken to break through these barriers. Doing so required an enormous expenditure of Reiatsu, while the barriers released scorching reishi shock waves that even captain-class Soul Reapers had to resist with all their strength.
Yet the moment Harry's stream of light touched the barrier, the faint golden reishi patterns began melting at a visible rate, like frost beneath the morning sun.
There was no explosion, no shock wave, not even the slightest sound.
Wrapped within the silver-white light, the reishi forming the first barrier gradually separated into its smallest particles.
Rather than dispersing, those particles were drawn toward Harry and transformed into a halo of reishi surrounding his body. The light around him became increasingly brilliant.
Shunsui's hand froze in the middle of waving his folding fan. His gaze beneath the brim of his hat was filled with astonishment.
He could clearly sense that Harry was not destroying the barrier. He was dismantling the rules governing its reishi structure and converting its once-impenetrable defenses into his own power.
"So this is an ability that directly affects the foundation of reishi itself?" Shunsui murmured as his gaze followed the silver-white stream of light.
Although he had already learned the true nature of Harry's ability, this was the first time he had personally witnessed Harry use it.
Hearing an explanation and seeing it with his own eyes were entirely different experiences.
The sight before him was far more overwhelming than the initial revelation had been.
The stream of light extended forward as though it possessed a life of its own.
The second barrier, the third, and every barrier after them began disintegrating the moment the light touched them.
Layers of golden reishi patterns faded away. The barriers that had once remained concealed behind the clouds became visible, only to dissolve into countless points of light and merge with the halo surrounding Harry.
Within a few breaths, the seventy-two barriers that had deterred countless powerful beings disappeared completely.
Only a path paved with silver-white reishi remained, leading directly toward the Soul King Palace above the clouds.
Before Shunsui could recover from his astonishment, Harry stepped forward and approached the Shakonmaku at the top of the clouds.
The membrane glowed with faint blue light. Waves capable of obstructing Reiatsu flowed across its surface, making it the final defensive line protecting the Soul King Palace.
Harry raised his hand, and the stream of reishi in his palm surged once again.
This time, it did not form a narrow thread. It expanded into an enormous reishi net that completely enveloped the Shakonmaku.
The membrane trembled violently. Blue waves surged across it in an attempt to resist the net's disassembling power.
Harry's reishi net, however, functioned like an impossibly precise instrument. It accurately identified the structure of the Shakonmaku and dismantled it layer by layer.
The blue waves gradually weakened. The edges of the membrane became transparent.
Finally, with a faint hum, the Shakonmaku disintegrated completely. It transformed into countless blue reishi particles that intertwined with Harry's silver-white halo, creating a magnificent ribbon of light.
The Soul King Palace above the clouds was now fully revealed.
Pure white palaces shone beneath the sunlight, while the white dome of the Soul King's main palace could be seen in the distance.
Harry lowered his hand. The reishi halo surrounding him gradually receded, though his body still radiated an overwhelming sense of power.
He turned toward Shunsui, who remained lost in shock.
"Let's go, Captain Kyōraku. We've reached the final step."
Shunsui returned to his senses and looked at the unobstructed path ahead, then at Harry's calm yet imposing figure. A complicated smile appeared on his lips.
He closed his folding fan and sighed.
"Your ability truly exceeds everything we imagined, Harry. It appears the gates of the Soul King Palace will genuinely open for you today."
Harry did not respond. He simply continued walking toward the palace.
The reishi staircase extended beneath his feet, every crystal step glowing with faint blue light.
Before long, the group stepped onto the grounds of the Soul King Palace and entered the forest of reishi surrounding its outer region.
The moment they entered, everyone except Harry, Hitsugaya, Hinamori, and Rangiku experienced a sudden change in expression.
The lieutenants and everyone below their level immediately collapsed. The overwhelming concentration of reishi permeating the air pressed them against the ground, leaving them unable to rise.
Rukia Kuchiki asked in alarm, "What is happening? Why does it feel like I'm constantly being crushed beneath the Reiatsu of a captain?"
Ukitake helped Rukia to her feet and reassured her.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine. The concentration of reishi inside the Soul King Palace is far greater than it is in the Seireitei. Simply entering this place is enough to prevent lieutenants and lower-ranking Soul Reapers from moving.
"Only captain-class Soul Reapers can function normally here, and even their strength will be weakened to some extent.
"However, there is no need to panic. Once you remain here for a while, your bodies will adapt to the density of the reishi. Your own Reiatsu may even improve to a certain degree."
As he finished speaking, Ukitake stared intently at Hinamori, Hitsugaya, and Rangiku.
Even captains felt a noticeable pressure inside the Soul King Palace, yet the three of them appeared completely unaffected.
Was this the result of Harry's spirit-body reconstruction?
It was terrifying.
However, should Harry truly become the Soul King, perhaps he could extend spirit-body reconstruction to the rest of the Seireitei.
Were that possible, the strength of the entire Gotei 13 would undergo a complete transformation.
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