Mera Hiuchigashima and Tokie Tonokawa could not withstand Tsunayoshi's attack at all. After letting out delicate cries, they fell toward the ground. The moment they struck the earth, they both reverted to the forms of their original tools.
Ōetsu's face turned ashen as he watched the scene before him.
His Royal Guard had been struck down right in front of his eyes, and he had been unable to do anything?
Not only that, after taking down two members of the Royal Guard, Tsunayoshi's momentum did not decrease in the slightest. He continued his attack straight toward Hashihara Renka.
If this continued and the Royal Guard members fell one by one, then Ōetsu would truly have no helpers left to use.
He had no time to think about why his attacks had been ineffective. Ōetsu once again burst forward with speed and chased after Tsunayoshi.
Ōetsu was fast. At the very least, he was much faster than Tsunayoshi, who was weighed down by heavy equipment. In no time, he caught up behind Tsunayoshi.
Once again, the chisel and hammer attacked together.
The previous scene appeared again.
Ōetsu's attack once more passed straight through Tsunayoshi's body.
This time, Ōetsu seemed to notice the abnormality. When the hammer passed through Tsunayoshi's body, the Reiatsu on his body was not the familiar Reiatsu of a Shinigami.
Also, when had the other Zanpakutō at Tsunayoshi's lower back disappeared?
Ōetsu understood.
That strange ability was not Shinigami power. It was Hollow power.
This fellow named Tsunayoshi Sawada had used the power of a Hollow.
The current Tsunayoshi was clad in both a Shinigami's Bankai and a Hollow's Resurrección. The power that allowed weapons to pass through him was Ghost's Hollowfication ability.
The Hollowfication ability was not completely invincible. What it could nullify was only physical damage. To deal with a Hollowfied state, one had to rely on a clash of pure Reiatsu.
By the time Ōetsu reacted, it was already too late to stop him.
Tsunayoshi fell toward Hashihara Renka like a meteor. Without any accident, Hashihara Renka turned back into a pair of tongs.
Ōetsu's hand trembled.
He had never seen such a tragic sight before. Seeing his subordinates fall one after another caused his anger to reach its peak.
Although Aizen had already wiped them all out once before, that time Ōetsu and his Royal Guard had been defeated together. It had been far less infuriating than personally witnessing them being struck down in front of him.
"Fine. Fine. I've changed my mind. I'll use the other brat to forge a blade instead!"
Ōetsu spoke through gritted teeth.
Changing the candidate to be forged into a blade meant only one thing.
He would cut Tsunayoshi into a living lynchpin first.
Ōetsu waved his hand and summoned them. The tongs, water tank, and flint flew to his side together. He loosened his grip, allowing the chisel and hammer to join them and circle around him.
Ōetsu's Reiatsu spread through the five tools.
Then he crushed the sunglasses he had removed and shouted, "Blood Oath Seal, release! True Strike! Hōōden!"
The pattern on Ōetsu's arm that symbolized his Zanpakutō released dazzling light. His Reiatsu rose stage by stage. In just a few breaths, he became the brightest presence in all of Soul Society.
Soul Society began to shake as if struck by an earthquake. That was the aftermath caused by Ōetsu's sudden surge in Reiatsu.
The five tools beside Ōetsu transformed into five rays of light and shot into the sky.
The illusion of a shabby thatched hut appeared behind Ōetsu.
He had actually brought down the Hōōden from the sky.
On the Hōōden, six Zanpakutō were stabbed into the roof. Five of them had been transformed from Ōetsu's Royal Guard. The final one was Sayafushi.
Ōetsu's Bankai should not have been like this.
Just as the name of the Bankai suggested, "sword mound," the land around this house should have been filled with Zanpakutō.
Unfortunately, thanks to Aizen's near-genocidal attack, Ōetsu was now left with only these few strays.
Even the Royal Guard had been hurriedly remade by Ōetsu after his resurrection, and that had only been possible because they were based on his own Zanpakutō.
As for Sayafushi, that one was truly an oddity.
Its blade was so absurdly strong and resilient that it had survived Aizen's attack.
Sayafushi drifted into Ōetsu's hand.
Ōetsu slashed at Tsunayoshi, but it was still the same as before. Sayafushi passed straight through Tsunayoshi's body.
Ōetsu silently sighed.
That one slash forced him to give up his unrealistic fantasy.
The Hollowfication ability restrained a purely physical Zanpakutō like Sayafushi far too much. It seemed he would need to use other Zanpakutō with special abilities instead.
Ōetsu's gaze swept over the blades belonging to his Royal Guard. A trace of embarrassment rose in his heart.
If his other Zanpakutō were still around, he would not have fallen to the point of having no suitable blade to use.
"Is this where it ends?" Tsunayoshi asked as he looked at Ōetsu.
Six giant horns had already formed around his body, ready to attack Ōetsu at any moment.
"You don't really think I'm out of options, do you?"
Ōetsu covered his forehead, hiding his somewhat gloomy expression.
That bastard Aizen had gotten off too lightly by merely being sealed away. Who knew how long it would take him to rebuild the fortune he once possessed?
But now was not the time to think about unrelated matters.
Taking down Tsunayoshi Sawada, who had mocked him, was what Ōetsu needed to do.
Ōetsu spread his hands.
A mysterious connection rose from the Hōōden, transforming into countless threads that flew toward every corner of Soul Society.
"In the name of the Sword God—blades, come!"
The first ones to sense something strange were the captains watching from nearby.
They felt their Zanpakutō suddenly fall out of control, trying to draw themselves and fly toward the center of the battlefield.
None of the captains were simple people. The instant their Zanpakutō stirred, they pressed their blades back into their sheaths.
"What is it, Senbonzakura?" Byakuya immediately communicated with the spirit of his Zanpakutō.
"Lord Byakuya, I don't know. The blade seems to be beyond my control!"
Senbonzakura's anxious voice came through. He discovered that he could no longer control himself.
The same phenomenon occurred among the other captains.
They entered a state of Jinzen one after another and communicated with their Zanpakutō.
Only Kenpachi Zaraki was locked in a contest of strength with his blade, forcibly gripping his Zanpakutō with his powerful arms.
Jūshirō Ukitake was not so fortunate.
His physical condition was already poor, so he could not suppress his Zanpakutō at all. Sōgyo no Kotowari left him with a whoosh, becoming the first blade to return to Ōetsu.
On Kyōraku's side, he was currently fighting himself.
The blade named Katen was no longer under his control, so he could only use Kyōkotsu to entangle Katen and prevent it from leaving his hand.
The strangest of all was Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
He was injecting an unknown drug into his Zanpakutō one needle at a time, as though punishing his disobedient tool.
Following Ōetsu's summons, more and more Zanpakutō flew toward him from far away, forming wave after wave of endless blades.
Any student who graduated from Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy could receive an Asauchi of their own. Some of them might abandon the use of a Zanpakutō because of the direction they chose, but that did not mean the Zanpakutō had been taken back.
As long as they were still Shinigami, the Zanpakutō remained their possession.
More and more blades stabbed into the earth around the Hōōden.
This land had truly become a sword mound.
The blades inserted into it were the causes Ōetsu had planted over the past thousand years. Now, he intended to use the foundation of the entire Soul Society against Tsunayoshi.
As more and more blades responded to Ōetsu's call, the attraction affecting the captains' Zanpakutō gradually increased as well.
Slowly, they could no longer hold on to their Zanpakutō.
The blades returned to Ōetsu's embrace.
Among the captains who were not participating in the battle, only Kyōraku still held one blade, Kyōkotsu, while Mayuri Kurotsuchi had Ashisogi Jizō lying at his feet. All the other blades had fallen under Ōetsu's control.
As for those currently fighting, the moment Ryūjin Jakka sensed that it was losing control, it had Yamamoto knock it unconscious. Yamamoto showed not the slightest mercy, smashing a fist and a bone straight into his Zanpakutō.
With that, Ryūjin Jakka became quiet again. However, not a trace of flame emerged from it anymore. It had returned to its most basic Asauchi state.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to have a few tricks after all."
Ichibē was somewhat surprised that Yamamoto's Ryūjin Jakka had not been controlled by Ōetsu.
"This old man will not fail twice in a row at the same thing!"
The last time Yamamoto had fought Squad Zero, it was precisely because Ōetsu suddenly controlled his Zanpakutō that Yamamoto had nearly been killed by his own blade.
After that incident, Yamamoto and Ryūjin Jakka worked together to develop a countermeasure against Ōetsu. Although this move would cause Yamamoto to lose access to his Zanpakutō, at the very least, it would prevent the blade from becoming a hindrance.
In truth, there was another way to prevent a Zanpakutō from being controlled by Ōetsu.
That was Zanpakutō fusion—completely returning the blade's power to the body.
When watching the battle against Aizen, Yamamoto had keenly noticed that Aizen, in his Mugen Hōka state, had not been restricted by Ōetsu. In other words, transcending Bankai countered Ōetsu.
However, Yamamoto still chose to sever his connection with Ryūjin Jakka. He was prepared to use his fists and Kidō to stop Ichibē.
Because the current Ōetsu had already erupted with enough Reiatsu to shake the world. If nothing unexpected happened, that brat Tsunayoshi would also use transcendent Bankai. If Yamamoto unleashed his own power as well, whether the world could endure it would truly become uncertain.
Yamamoto was prepared to show Ichibē the qualities of a Shinigami beyond Zanjutsu.
The battle situations of the others seemed unaffected by Ōetsu as well.
Yoruichi, naturally, needed no explanation. Her combat strength had long since ceased to rely on a Zanpakutō. Ōetsu's blade control had no effect on her.
As for Kisuke Urahara, his situation was somewhat intriguing.
"How interesting. Ōetsu's ability actually cannot restrict you, Kisuke Urahara?" Senjumaru asked curiously.
Ever since Ōetsu's Reiatsu erupted, Kisuke Urahara had remained as relaxed as ever, using his strange Shikai to entangle Senjumaru. At times, he did not even hold his blade properly, showing no sign of being affected by Ōetsu at all.
"Oh? My Benihime has gone through who knows how many modifications. Its structure has long since stopped being what it was at the beginning. Now, it is my Benihime!"
Urahara covered his mouth with his folding fan, sounding faintly smug.
Long ago, when he first modified his own Zanpakutō, Urahara had already discovered what Ōetsu had buried inside Zanpakutō. As a nonessential foreign object, Urahara had thrown it out without the slightest hesitation.
That was why Benihime was unaffected.
"I see."
Back when Senjumaru first learned of Ōetsu's ability, she had been shocked for a long time. Thinking about it now, it was merely because she had not placed her research focus on Zanpakutō. If she performed more modifications on her own blade, she would have no need to worry about Ōetsu controlling it either.
Modify it!
Once she returned, she would immediately put Shigarami's modification project on the agenda!
As for Ichigo, the battle between him and Kirio Hikifune was still producing constant explosions.
His Zanpakutō had not been forged by Ōetsu, so Ōetsu's Bankai could not affect him.
By the same logic, even though countless blades were now planted in front of him, as Ōetsu's opponent, Tsunayoshi did not feel much apart from the enemy's Reiatsu rising.
For Zanpakutō like theirs, forged from themselves, Ōetsu could not command them at all—let alone order them to become dull as he had done with Kyōka Suigetsu.
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