Despair! Yamamoto Shigekuni!

In that instant, Kunitsuna Shōgo finally understood the difference between the so-called 'pinnacles.'

The terrifying spiritual pressure, which he thought was about to burst his spiritual body, which he couldn't control in detail, was easily wielded by Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, honed and condensed to the extreme.

Almost the moment he was hit, the powerful senses brought by the Spirit King's bone allowed him to clearly feel the shock of every inch of his body being completely decomposed by the crushing force.

Just one punch.

He clearly understood this terrifying gap.

The distance between their strengths was indeed like the difference between clouds and mud.

However.

Kunitsuna Shōgo was still struggling to get up from the ground.

The traces of the spiderweb-like cracks on the surface of his decaying body were continuously being restored under the unending infusion of spiritual power from the Spirit King's bone, helping him piece together and close his fragile body, until it returned to its original state.

No, it even became younger and fuller.

"Crack, crack—"

Large patches of dead skin, like ceramics, constantly fell from Kunitsuna Shōgo's body, revealing the fair skin underneath.

The Spirit King's bone, which was only embedded in his body, now shone with a faint light.

The lines around the crystalline bone constantly expanded and contracted, as if sucking in the power within, supplying it to Kunitsuna Shōgo's broken body, supporting him to continue standing up.

"Oh."

"You can still stand up?"

Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni looked down at him.

"Or is it because of the Spirit King's bone that you have become a physique that won't die as long as a bit of your body remains?"

As he said this, he walked slowly towards Kunitsuna Shōgo.

His voice had no fluctuations.

"Yamamoto."

Kunitsuna's voice became hoarse and muffled:

"I acknowledge you."

Yamamoto scoffed, saying coldly: "What use is the acknowledgment of the weak to the strong?"

Kunitsuna Shōgo didn't continue to respond.

He stood in place, raising the cold blade in his hand, pointing it at Yamamoto, chanting softly:

"Drink from the four seas, perch on the edge of the heavens. All phenomena, overwritten and cut. —Enrakyōten!"

When his voice faded, nothing had changed around him, only the shape of the blade had changed slightly.

Kunitsuna Shōgo raised his head.

As time passed, his old face, originally full of wrinkles, had returned to the appearance of a middle-aged man, looking almost identical to Kunitsuna Ougai, with a bit of resolute determination.

"Originally."

"If the situation allowed it, I wouldn't want to use this sword."

"Do you know, Yamamoto?"

"Those who guard the Spirit King's Palace, as long as they can endure the loneliness, they won't die."

"Five thousand years, ten thousand years, one hundred thousand years!"

"As long as they want to live, they can live for as long as they want."

As he spoke, Kunitsuna Shōgo walked slowly towards him.

As soon as he took a step, more and more dead skin fell from his body, and the previously shriveled body broke open, revealing a stronger, younger body inside.

The Spirit King's bone was still shining faintly.

Kunitsuna's voice became increasingly calm: "After those guys ascend to the Spirit King's Palace, the spiritual power would completely remodel their bones and their lives would merge with the spiritual network surrounding the palace. They will be immortal."

"But... If they leave the 'Upper Realm' of ultra-high spiritual particle concentration for a long time, they will be unable to move due to a lack of spiritual particles, so the time they can stay and fight in the 'Lower Realm' is actually quite short."

"Within those two sentences I just said, lies the secret to making each and every one of their powers completely surpass the Shinigami 'limit'..."

"That is—using the power of the Spirit King as a medium, connecting the body to the world's spiritual network."

"To this end, the Tsunayashiro clan researched for countless years, trying to imitate this technique, but in the end, they only obtained a semi-finished product."

"Using the Spirit King's bone as a medium, briefly connecting the individual to the Kyougoku, and incorporating all the souls, creatures, spiritual particles... within it for my own use."

"...Yamamoto."

Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, seemingly sensing a hint of danger, subconsciously stopping his footsteps.

Honed to the pinnacle of existence as a Shinigami for countless years, he naturally had a certain understanding of the method of 'surpassing Shinigami', and could even faintly touch... the heavy bottleneck blocking him.

Therefore, he instantly realized the danger of the current Kunitsuna.

The next second.

He suddenly reached out and gestured to the rear.

Ryūjin Jakka immediately flew into Yamamoto's hand, spinning at high speed in the air, as if drawn by some invisible force.

Kunitsuna Shōgo looked up at him, his voice one word at a time:

"This is... my trump card."

Almost at the moment the words fell, Kunitsuna Shōgo's voice suddenly rose an octave, roaring:

"Fukubara—!"

"Hmm?!"

Iihara Kaname's eyes widened at the moment he heard the name.

The blade in Kunitsuna's hand suddenly swung down, the surface of the blade wrapped in a layer of vaguely blurred spatial fluctuations, and suddenly swept towards Yamamoto, completely cutting the earth open.

Yamamoto, who had just caught the hilt, swung the scabbard like a club, striking in the direction of the incoming spatial blade, tearing through the air with a whistling sound.

However, the moment he caught the spatial blade, Yamamoto seemed to sense something, and moved away quickly, and commanded to the people behind him:

"Scatter!"

While the others retreated, Iihara Kaname stepped forward, blocking with his sword.

"Fukubara— Mount Sumeru!"

He drew a line horizontally in the air. In the already distorted air, a black door suddenly appeared, blocking in front of Iihara Kaname like a shield.

The spatial blade that fell from Kunitsuna's hand collided with the black hole, emitting shocking fluctuations from an invisible location, as if a small piece of the world in front of everyone was presented in a distorted shape.

Iihara Kaname also noticed the problem and suddenly backed away from behind the black door.

He had only retreated for less than half a second when the air in front of him suddenly 'bloomed', forming distorted cracks in the air, engulfing all the grass and soil.

Iihara looked up at Kunitsuna.

An incredible expression appeared in his eyes.

This spatial blade was even more powerful than when he used it himself.

[Oh my!]

[Hayama's sword is so useful in the hands of others.]

[Isn't this a type of NTR?]

Xiao Po Dao sat in the audience, eating melon seeds very safely.

The Yūjin Army members were almost all killed at this point, leaving only a few stragglers.

However, neither Fujimiya Makoto nor the other remaining lieutenants had any intention of interfering in the battle.

The gap was too big.

Fujimiya Makoto clenched his fist as he watched the scene before him.

In fact, it wasn't just him.

Even the lieutenants were left to be spectators.

Everyone could clearly feel that Kunitsuna Shōgo's spiritual pressure had now risen to an extremely terrifying level.

"All things, all reduce to ashes!"

Yamamoto drew the blade in his hand, roaring, the spiritual pressure in his body rushing straight to the sky like a waterfall:

"Ryūjin Jakka!"

No matter how disdainful he was of the other party's means of forcibly enhancing his strength with external objects, it was time for Yamamoto to get serious.

As for what immortal?

Can continue to exist even if burned to ashes?

Joke!

The simple-looking, ancient sword was suddenly lit up, the raging flames suddenly ignited like a torch. Yamamoto stepped on the ground, his figure suddenly turning into a shadow that broke the space restriction, suddenly appearing in front of Kunitsuna Shōgo.

The fiery blade suddenly fell.

"Fukubara— Mount Sumeru!"

Kunitsuna Shōgo's blade swept across, creating a dark spatial surface in front of him.

The moment the flames roared and filled the twisted space, his figure suddenly flashed to the side, swinging his sword towards Yamamoto repeatedly, countless spatial blades slashing in his direction, like layers of dense, sharp nets.

Suddenly, Yamamoto's figure was covered by countless blades, finely slicing it into pieces.

Kunitsuna Shōgo's eyes flickered slightly, and he seemed to realize something immediately, subconsciously turning his head to the side.

Then, Yamamoto's muscular figure had already manifested.

What had been cut by the blade in the distance was merely the clothes he had taken off.

Shunpo—Utsusemi!

Kunitsuna Shōgo suddenly widened his eyes, and subconsciously wanted to swing the blade in his hand, using the spatial surface as a defense again.

However, before he could raise his wrist.

Yamamoto had already made the gesture of drawing his sword.

"Strike—Sōshun."

At the moment the words fell, a ray of fire suddenly lit up in Kunitsuna Shōgo's vision, connecting the heavens and the earth like a line, suddenly illuminating the shadows.

The Zanpakutō, which had fallen from top to bottom, cut into his shoulder.

Flames, like blooming petals, spewed continuously from his wound and orifices, as if about to burn him into a charred piece of charcoal in an instant.

But even so, Yamamoto's blade didn't stop.

In the blink of an eye, he tore the charred ash in front of him into seven or eight pieces.

The raging flames rushed straight into the sky, and a cloud of scorched black smoke rose from the earth.

"I-Is he gone?"

Fujimiya Makoto made a sound subconsciously.

However, as soon as the words came out, he was fiercely ridiculed by Xiao Po Dao.

[He might have been killed just now, but Fujimiya's classic lines came out, so he definitely won't die!]

[Besides, this is the law of no damage from smoke!]

Sure enough.

A Yūjin Army member lying not far from Fujimiya Makoto suddenly twitched violently.

A causal chain extending from the void suddenly connected to his chest.

The corpse immediately twitched violently like a living thing.

"Ah, ah ah—"

The next moment, his 'corpse' was twitched around constantly, turning into a burning torch.

Fujimiya Makoto suddenly widened his eyes.

"What's going on again?"

However, before Fujimiya Makoto could understand, a low laugh could be heard from within the flames.

"Heh...Heh heh hahaha!"

Kunitsuna Shōgo's shadow slowly rose from the center of the flames, and stepped out as if he didn't see the surrounding fire, and the surrounding flames separated obediently, like the parting of the Red Sea.

Yamamoto stared in astonishment towards the center of the flames.

"Still can't understand it? Yamamoto."

Kunitsuna Shōgo stepped out, his voice becoming more and more excited.

"The so-called immortality is like this."

"Even if you turn into ashes, you can't stop it."

"Under the support of this Spirit King's bone, my strength will become endless, and you will only constantly consume your power, and continue to decline."

"And because my body and soul will be constantly remodeled by the Spirit King's bone, I will become stronger every time I die."

He said loudly, reaching out and raising his black and white mottled long hair, revealing a reckless face of about thirty or forty years old, with none of the deep wrinkles from before.

Kunitsuna Shōgo waved his blade, and the raging fire burning on the prairie turned into nothingness under this invisible force.

The Spirit King's bone embedded in his chest became more and more dazzling, and wave after wave of more powerful spiritual pressure continued to erupt.

He looked ahead, his voice low, like a judgment from heaven:

"Despair! Yamamoto Shigekuni!"