"Everyone! Time to move out!"
At the Capital International Airport, Alex was clearly in a fantastic mood. With the confidence of a commander leading troops into battle, he called out to the entire Death Note production crew.
The problem was that no one around him seemed to share quite the same enthusiasm.
Producers, assistants, camera technicians, and equipment handlers exchanged subtle glances as they carried suitcases, reinforced cases, and filming gear toward the boarding area. Their expressions were complicated, but none of them dared to ask anything. After all, this was Alex. Once he made a decision, everyone else usually found out the details only after events were already in motion.
But there was one person who was not afraid of him.
"Alex…" Maya pursed her lips, staring at him with a look full of childish resentment. "What exactly have you been doing these past few days?"
She was still young enough that her emotions showed clearly on her face.
Originally, Alex had said the crew would wait two weeks before flying to the United States for filming. In the end, that departure had been delayed by a full extra week. During that time, Maya had lost count of how many times she had called him.
And every single time, the answer had been the same cold, mechanical voice:
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later."
"I was busy." Alex smiled naturally and ruffled her hair as if that explanation solved everything.
Of course, if he told Maya that he had spent the week tangled up with Megan, she would probably be even more furious. More importantly, some things were simply not meant to be said out loud.
Alex had many flaws, but stupidity was not one of them.
Meanwhile, on the set of Nirvana in Fire, Mark noticed Bella among the crew and walked over in surprise. The young woman, with her bright and exotic charm, stood out even without trying, looking perfectly at ease amid the bustle of the studio.
"Bella, haven't you already wrapped your scenes? You still haven't gone back to school?"
"I'm going to watch the two new episodes with Emily today, then I'll leave." Bella grinned mischievously, like someone caught doing something forbidden but feeling no guilt at all.
Mark nodded. Just then, he noticed an old acquaintance passing nearby and instinctively lifted his hand to greet her.
But before he could say anything, he caught sight of Rebeca Verne's dark expression.
Her face looked so grim that Mark froze halfway through the gesture. Slowly, he lowered his hand again, as if he had narrowly avoided a disaster.
"What… what happened?" he asked, swallowing nervously.
Emily walked over at that moment, clearly well-informed and even more clearly entertained by the situation.
"The main cast of Death Note has been officially announced. The female lead is Taylor Swift."
As she said it, Emily could not hold back a satisfied laugh.
"Thinking about it, this is already the second time Rebeca has failed to get that role."
Mark did not usually follow foreign celebrities that closely, but even he knew that name. Taylor Swift was one of the biggest music stars in the United States, an internationally influential figure, a Grammy winner, and someone with terrifying appeal among young audiences.
He could not help sighing inwardly. Alex's influence had truly reached a ridiculous level. Hollywood stars, pop queens, award-winning celebrities… it seemed he could choose whoever he wanted.
"But, speaking of that…" Mark looked at Emily, who was smiling as though she had just won a personal war. "You don't really need to be that happy, do you? Director Alex didn't choose you as the female lead either."
Emily lifted her chin without the slightest embarrassment.
"I'm the leading face of his live-action adaptation division. Sooner or later, he'll cast me in one of his films."
Her confidence was almost offensive. Even though more and more young actresses were appearing inside the company, Emily still firmly believed her position was unshakable. She carried herself as if all she needed to do was spread her arms in the middle of the set and dare the whole world to try taking her down.
Mark rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"What if Rebeca joins Director Alex's company too? I heard her contract with her current agency is almost over."
Emily's smile froze.
For a few seconds, the air between them seemed to stop moving.
Then she muttered one low, dry, very unladylike word.
"Damn."
That night, the new episodes of Bleach finally aired.
The audience already knew the long-awaited confrontation was approaching: Sosuke Aizen, the ultimate final boss, against the leader of the Zero Division. Even before watching, almost every fan was certain of the outcome. Aizen would win. A villain of that level would never fall before facing the protagonist. Still, the mere possibility of seeing Aizen fight seriously was enough to push anticipation to an insane level.
But the first episode of the update did not begin with Aizen.
It began in the Seireitei, where Ichigo Kurosaki faced his cruelest rival: Ulquiorra, in their decisive battle.
On the screen, Ichigo held both blades. He leapt forward, attacking first with the long sword in his right hand, the strike descending with enough force to tear through the air.
Ulquiorra, already in his third release, raised his hand without hurry. Flames of a dark green, almost black, condensed before him and blocked the attack.
"No Bankai. No Hollowfication." His voice was cold, empty, almost emotionless. "Are you underestimating me?"
The pressure behind the question did not come from volume, but from the complete absence of anger. It was as if Ulquiorra was not offended; he was merely identifying a flaw in logic.
"Or perhaps…" he continued, eyes fixed on Ichigo. "You know I can transmit your abilities to Lord Aizen through shared vision, so you are holding back."
In the next instant, the new Zangetsu tore through the flames in front of Ulquiorra.
"Do not be too arrogant, Ichigo Kurosaki."
Ulquiorra's wings opened.
In his third release, they no longer resembled the bat wings from before. They were two massive pairs of dark, fallen-angel-like wings. For a moment, they wrapped around his body completely. In the next, they unfolded with violent force.
Blue-black flames fused with a hurricane of energy and exploded outward, blasting Ichigo dozens of meters away.
"Do you truly believe that, while facing me, you can still reserve strength to deal with Lord Aizen?"
Ulquiorra slowly floated into the air. Around his body, arcs of blue lightning began to appear, twisting like living creatures. In just a few moments, that energy condensed into dozens of spear-like thunderbolts.
The scene made countless viewers hold their breath.
Those were the Thunder Spears that Ulquiorra could only launch one at a time in his second release. Now, however, in his third form, they multiplied without restraint. And not only that: every spear was coated in the unique blue-black flames of his new transformation.
A single one had already been terrifying.
Now there were dozens.
In the next instant, the endless enhanced Thunder Spears rained down like an apocalyptic storm.
Ichigo swung his swords nonstop, intercepting as many as he could. His blades cut, deflected, and shattered the energy in midair, but even so, several spears slipped past him, falling toward the already devastated Seireitei.
There was no doubt. If even one of them struck the ground, it would be enough to bring catastrophic destruction upon the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, already pushed to the brink of collapse.
"Damn it!"
Ichigo immediately tried to turn and dive down to stop them.
Ulquiorra's icy voice sounded behind him.
"You still dare turn your back to an enemy?"
Ichigo turned his head, but it was too late. Ulquiorra had already drawn one of the lightning spears and charged with it in hand.
Their weapons collided, scattering violent sparks across the sky. Ichigo had grown enormously, that much was undeniable, but without Bankai and without Hollowfication, fighting Ulquiorra in that form was still almost impossible.
Then, suddenly, an orange triangular barrier appeared before the descending Thunder Spears.
"Santen Kesshun!"
Ichigo's eyes widened.
Even Ulquiorra seemed to react for an instant.
The person beneath that barrier was Orihime.
But her defense could never withstand an attack from Ulquiorra in his third release. Less than half a second later, cracks spread across the glowing surface of the shield. In another half second, the barrier, Orihime, and part of the Seireitei would be reduced to dust.
That was when a long-awaited presence appeared.
"Devour… Nozarashi."
Before the audience could even clearly see who had arrived, an enormous Zanpakutō rose against the Thunder Spear at the exact moment it pierced through Orihime's barrier.
The impact did not strike the Seireitei directly, but the resulting shockwave split the earth. Cracks opened across the ground, buildings trembled, and the entire landscape seemed to groan beneath the pressure.
"K-Kenpachi!?"
Ichigo shouted, shocked and relieved at the same time.
Kenpachi turned his head, looking at Ichigo with that same savage grin as always.
"Yo, Ichigo. Looks like you're still pretty lively."
Then his eyes swept across the ruined Seireitei, and one eyebrow lifted.
"Where are the others? Where'd they run off to?"
Another soft and familiar voice followed.
"Miss Orihime, I am deeply sorry for involving a human like you in this war. But for now, may I ask you to help me treat the wounded?"
The owner of that voice appeared with an almost unreal calm. Long hair, elegant posture, a serene beauty that stood in sharp contrast to the battlefield around her.
Retsu Unohana.
Her voice had recovered its old gentleness, but the captain's haori over her shoulders was soaked with blood across nearly half its surface. That alone was enough for any viewer to understand, without explanation, what kind of horrific battle she had endured.
Two captain-level fighters had entered the battlefield.
And one of them was Kenpachi, now capable of releasing his Zanpakutō.
After the death of Jasper Quin and the complete annihilation of the Zero Division, the audience finally released the breath they had not realized they were holding.
The internet exploded almost instantly.
Some fans celebrated as if they had been pulled back from the edge of a cliff. "Finally, a turnaround!" Some shouted that Kenpachi had arrived, while others celebrated Unohana's return as though a queen had stepped onto the battlefield. Many declared that the counterattack began here.
But as always happened with fandoms too large for their own good, attention quickly split.
Someone pointed out that Ulquiorra's gaze had changed the moment Orihime appeared. Someone else replied that it was impossible not to envy Orihime, since several of the most handsome male characters in Bleach had some kind of strong connection with her. Before long, theories emerged saying that if Ichigo ended up with Rukia, then maybe Ulquiorra and Orihime would make a good pair too.
The reaction was immediate.
Orihime's fans nearly declared war. To them, forgetting her confession was unforgivable. The line about falling in love with the same person across five lifetimes still weighed too heavily in the collective memory of the audience. Others agreed fiercely, saying Alex would never write something as absurd as making Orihime fall for another man after all that.
But all it took was for someone to suggest, almost innocently, that maybe the ending could be Ichigo with Orihime and Rukia with Renji Abarai for chaos to erupt completely.
The Ichigo x Rukia faction reacted as if they had been insulted in public.
The Ichigo x Orihime faction answered with equal violence.
Forums, group chats, and comment sections turned into a parallel battlefield, just as loud as the war unfolding inside the episode itself.
Alex, sitting on a flight to the United States, had no idea that even before the story reached its ending, the two largest shipping factions in Bleach had already started tearing into each other.
In truth, in his previous life, that ending had also caused a massive uproar. As far as Alex was concerned, aside from the ridiculous way Yhwach had been defeated, the ending itself had never seemed bad to him.
Now, after making so many changes, he could only hope that his own version of the finale would satisfy as many of those passionate fans as possible.
Or, at the very least, stop them from setting the entire internet on fire.
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