Bleach: From the moment I was invited by Squad Zero

The collapse of the millennium-old ice prison caused Hyōrinmaru's movements to be momentarily slowed down.

This was an excellent opportunity for Shiba Isshin, who had been through countless battles!

"A great opportunity!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Shiba pushed the flames of the Moonlit Blade to their limit, instantly bursting out from the area filled with ice crystal powder, and approached Hyōrinmaru at a speed exceeding the limits of ordinary Shunpo!

His tactical intention was crystal clear—strike while the iron is hot and kill him!

"Crescent Moon Anecho!"

The intense flames were compressed into the moon, and wherever the blade passed, the space itself seemed to be scorched with faint distortions!

Pfft—!

The feel... is wrong! There's no solid feeling of striking a solid object, nor the hardness of shattering ice crystals. Instead, it feels like piercing a layer of viscous, cold, yet rapidly dissipating mist!

Shiba Isshin's pupils shrank drastically! The "Hyōrinmaru" before him, the moment he was struck by the Scythe of the Moon, his body shattered like an ice sculpture.

Starting from the point of entry, countless cracks spread rapidly, and then with a "crash," the entire thing exploded into fragments of ice crystals!

Is it an afterimage?! No, it's something even more sophisticated than an afterimage—an illusory image of ice!

"Damn it!" Shiba Isshin's internal alarm bells rang. A bone-chilling cold did not come from the outside, but suddenly shot up from his spine!

Almost at the same instant the "Hyōrinmaru" phantom shattered, a terrifying chill, like a silent ghost, appeared at very close range behind him!

Before he could even turn around completely, he caught a glimpse of a hand covered in icy dragon claws, with a deep, almost impenetrable, absolute zero blue light at the fingertips, silently pressing against his back!

It was Hyōrinmaru's true form! He had somehow managed to slip away and find himself in Shiba Isshin's blind spot, launching a true killing blow!

At the same time, Hyōrinmaru's deep, cold, and emotionless voice, like the pronouncement of death, rang in Shiba Isshin's ears:

"Frozen in the Four Realms!"

As these four words were uttered, a "freezing" rule that transcended the concept of physical low temperature spread out from the location of Hyōrinmaru's true form!

It's not the cold spreading, but rather the manifestation and expansion of the concept of "freezing" itself!

Within four steps, the tiny space centered on Hyōrinmaru and Shiba Isshin seemed to have been cut off from the entire world, becoming an independent domain called "Absolute Freeze"!

Light, sound, the flow of spiritual particles, and even the very foundations of all things began to solidify, crystallize, and transform into an eternally still, ice-blue color at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The four realms are frozen! Within four steps, all elements and all existence are frozen! This is one of Hyōrinmaru's supreme abilities as the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō, touching upon the very essence of the rules!

Shiba Isshin's thoughts seemed to be frozen. He felt his spiritual pressure, blood, and even consciousness being rapidly eroded and solidified by this unreasonable and absolute freezing power!

The flames of the moon quickly dimmed and shrank within this area, like a candle flickering in the wind.

He wanted to move, to resist, to explode, but his body felt as if it were trapped in the thickest, most viscous, ancient ice. Every movement required unimaginable strength and was getting slower and slower!

At this critical moment when life and death hang in the balance!

"Earthquake—"

A calm yet seemingly powerful shout, capable of shaking the very foundations of the world, pierced through the almost solidified domain of "Four Realms Freeze" and rang clearly in the ears of Shiba Isshin and Hyōrinmaru!

It's Yanagawa! He had appeared behind and to the side of Hyōrinmaru's true form without anyone noticing!

His movements seemed slow, yet they carried a strange rhythm, as if each step was placed on a "node" of the flow of space and spiritual particles.

Just as the "Four Realms Freeze" domain was fully formed, it forcibly invaded this absolute domain that froze everything!

The Heavenly Tremor in his hand was covered with a thick layer of chaotic silver light!

An even more terrifying force than when it shattered the thousand-year-old ice prison condensed and compressed on the blade!

"broken!"

Liuchuan slashed down at the spot on Hyōrinmaru's forehead where the golden light was!

Starting from the blade of Tianzhen, a shockwave that made everyone tremble spread out like ripples caused by a boulder thrown into an absolutely calm lake!

Click, click-clack—!

That absolute domain, which freezes light, solidifies spiritual particles, and freezes concepts, intertwined with this power of vibration!

Starting from the point of contact with the shockwave, countless dense, crisscrossing white cracks appeared throughout the entire area!

These cracks are not spatial tears, but rather a collapse caused by the "vibration" that disrupts and destroys the rule of "freezing" itself!

The frozen light began to flow again, the solidified spiritual particles began to dissipate, and the ice seal rapidly crumbled!

Immediately afterwards, the shockwave pierced through the collapsing domain and slammed into Hyōrinmaru's true form!

To be more precise, it struck the golden light on his forehead!

A deep, muffled sound, as if it came from the depths of the soul.

Under Liuchuan's violent onslaught, the golden light finally shone to its limit.

The light suddenly went out.

Like a candle flickering in the wind, it exhausted its last bit of fuel and returned to darkness and nothingness.

The moment the golden light faded, Hyōrinmaru's violet eyes, which were interwoven with the golden light, suddenly lost all their luster and became empty.

The terrifying spiritual pressure emanating from him deflated like a punctured balloon, instantly plummeting and weakening.

The hands, covered by the icy dragon claws, fell limply to their sides, and the faint blue light of absolute zero at their fingertips quietly dissipated.

His massive body swayed as if it had lost all support, then crashed forward with a thud, slamming heavily onto the frozen ground riddled with ice crystal cracks, sending up a cloud of icy dust.

The sword Hyōrinmaru, the main body of the sword, flew out of his hand and landed diagonally in the distance, its light dimmed.

The "Four Realms Frozen" domain completely dissipated, and everything that had been frozen returned to normal, but the bone-chilling cold still lingered in the air.

"Huff... Huff..." Shiba Isshin knelt on one knee, supporting his body with the sword, panting heavily. His face was pale, his body was covered with a thick layer of white frost, and his eyebrows and hair were frozen.

In that instant, he truly experienced what it felt like to have brushed shoulders with death.

He glanced with lingering fear at Hyōrinmaru lying not far beside him, then looked up ahead.

Liu Chuan slowly sheathed his sword, and the chaotic silver light on Tianzhen receded like a tide, restoring its original silvery-white appearance.