Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society! Chapter 381 - 380: Competing Abilities

After Tousen Kana’s Bankai was released and the black barrier of Enma Kōrogi engulfed Masco’s figure, Mazuru and the others in the main hall of Las Noches could no longer see what was happening inside. Even with the enhanced monitoring equipnt Gin had adjusted earlier, the veil of darkness blocked all visual and spiritual readings.

Yet what had unfolded just monts before was enough to set Mazuru’s thoughts spinning.

He replayed the scene carefully in his mind—the quincy star aid directly at Tousen, right at the instant his Bankai was activated.

"So, Masco tried to steal it." Mazuru mused silently. "He wanted to use the Star dallion to capture Kana’s Bankai."

But the outco was obvious. The attempt had failed.

Why?

Mazuru’s eyes narrowed slightly as possibilities ford. There was only one explanation that fit.

Tousen Kana was no longer purely a shinigami. Since embracing the power of hollowfication, his existence had beco a hybrid. His Zanpakutō, Suzumushi, was no longer just a Zanpakutō—it was also akin to an arrancar’s Resurrección. It could perform Bankai, yet at the sa ti it carried the nature of a hollow’s blade release.

The Star dallion, after all, was a tool designed by the Wandenreich to target and steal the Bankai of shinigami. Its principle worked by interfering with the resonance between a shinigami’s soul and their Zanpakutō spirit, forcibly tearing that bond away and storing the essence inside the dallion.

But Tousen’s power was not "shinigami-only". It was fused with hollow essence. A Zanpakutō and a hollow’s Resurrección bound together.

’The dallion cannot capture what it cannot classify.’ Mazuru concluded.

Even Ishida Soken had confessed long ago that, while he knew many secrets of the Wandenreich, there were limits to his knowledge. The Ishida family had never been in Yhwach’s favor, and after defecting from the Sternritter, Soken lost even more of his standing. His Schrift had been reclaid during the Auswählen ritual, leaving him hollow compared to his forr self.

’That explains why he was so weak despite being pure-blooded.’ Mazuru thought with a hint of pity. ’A man without his Schrift is little more than a shadow of his forr title.’

But right now, what truly held Mazuru’s curiosity was not Soken’s decline. It was the Wandenreich’s technology—and its failure.

’If I could dissect one of those dallions... or better, the soul of one who wielded it.’ he thought, a flicker of ambition passing his expression, ’I could unravel more of the Empire’s secrets.’

His gaze drifted briefly toward Jas, the ridiculous little man who stood outside the black barrier, his eyes wide in panic. The loyal fool continued shouting words of support, believing sohow that his voice could reach Masco inside.

News Flash, it didn’t.

Cut off by Enma Kōrogi, Jas’ cries echoed uselessly in the hall.

Inside the barrier, Masco felt that loss keenly.

The mont Jas’ voice vanished, Masco’s power began to plumt. The recovery factor that had made his body so resilient faltered. His swollen muscles no longer regenerated with every wound. His blows grew weaker.

As Gin had speculated—and Mazuru silently confird—Jas wasn’t just a sidekick. He was integral to Masco’s ability. Each cheer, each declaration of support, had fed spiritual energy into Masco, fueling both his physical strength and his rapid healing.

Worse still, Jas could multiply. His body could split into countless versions of himself, each one a cheerleader amplifying Masco’s power exponentially.

That was Masco’s essence. He wasn’t just a superhero in appearance—his very ability was built upon the archetype. The crowd empowered the hero. The hero fought for the crowd.

But now there was no crowd.

In the pitch-black silence of Kana’s Bankai, Masco couldn’t hear Jas. He couldn’t hear anything. His hearing was gone, as was his sight, his sense of sll, even his spiritual perception.

An oppressive loneliness crushed him.

As a so-called superhero, to be severed from his fans was to be severed from his identity.

Then ca the blade.

*Shhk!*

Pain erupted across his chest as Suzumushi tore into his flesh. Masco roared, lashing out with a fist that swung into emptiness. He couldn’t even guess where Kana stood.

The irony gnawed at him. Zaraki Kenpachi, the beast of battle, had once faced this sa Bankai and clawed his way through by sheer instinct. But Masco? His instincts were ordinary at best. He relied not on honed combat sense, but on the faith of others.

And faith could not pierce darkness.

Blow after blow carved into him. Blood ran freely down his body, soaking his flamboyant superhero attire. His anger built alongside his pain.

"Despicable villain!" Masco roared into the void. "To attack a hero in such cowardly darkness—you have provoked the wrath of justice itself!"

Each word was punctuated by another slash, another grunt of agony. Yet behind the fury, a thought simred in Masco’s mind.

If he had captured Kana’s Bankai with the dallion, as he had intended earlier, he wouldn’t be suffering like this. But he also wouldn’t have been able to use his last resort.

Now, in this hopeless state, that option beca his salvation.

The Vollständig Form—the Quincy’s final trump card. Their equivalent of a shinigami’s Bankai.

But unlike Bankai, the quincy’s Vollständig was dangerous even to its wielder, burning through their body’s stamina rapidly as it granted them transcendental strength. Many Sternritter avoided it unless absolutely necessary.

Yet Masco no longer had a choice.

The barrier trembled as a pillar of radiant light erupted upward, splitting the oppressive darkness for a fleeting instant. Kana halted mid-strike, retreating cautiously as the glow intensified.

The brilliance tore through the void like a beacon, illuminating the battlefield before being swallowed again by the abyss.

When the light receded, Masco no longer looked the sa.

Behind him unfurled massive reishi wings that shimred like a flowing cape. A glowing pentagram haloed his head. Across his chest, a radiant star-shaped emblem pulsed with energy, and his waist was encircled by a belt that glead faintly even under Kana’s suppressive darkness.

This was the Vollständig — Masco’s Holy Form.

Yet even so, the darkness of Enma Kōrogi pressed down, trying to mute his light, to silence his very existence.

But Masco clenched his fists, his voice reverberating with newfound might.

"A true hero shines brightest in the deepest night! And I... AM THAT HERO!"

The black world quivered as two monstrous forces clashed, Kana’s abyss of silence, and Masco’s blinding star of false justice.

*****

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