Bleach: I Bound the Hōgyoku, Sterilized a Goddess, I Might Die

Figure It Out

Kurotsuchi Mayuri is one of the captains of the Gotei 13—

A monster standing at the peak of Soul Society!

Ishida Ryūshū's eyes were dull.

Due to his lack of real combat experience, he had failed to defeat even Kurotsuchi Mayuri—

And that was without Mayuri even releasing his Zanpakutō.

What's worse, he had already paid the price for underestimating both his enemy and the battle itself.

But Kurosaki Kanbaru had managed to suppress Mayuri completely.

Did that mean Kurosaki Kanbaru was stronger than Mayuri?

"Kanbaru… is really strong."

Kurosaki Masaki leaned against the wall and muttered.

"Strong?"

"That's more than just strong—he's practically a monster."

"A half-blood Quincy… with power like this?"

Ishida Ryūshū still looked utterly shocked, as if his mind hadn't caught up to reality.

To be honest—

Ishida Uryū was mentally unraveling.

The battle hadn't even lasted that long, yet Kanbaru had completely overwhelmed Kurotsuchi Mayuri with sheer, brutal force.

And what did he witness just now?

Kanbaru directly interrupted Mayuri's Bankai activation through violence alone.

That was something Uryū had never imagined possible.

If he had been in that battle instead—

As far as Ishida Ryūshū was concerned, he would've been diced in seconds.

---

"Is this the collapsed fusion state?"

"It's really… terrifyingly powerful."

"At this level, I could probably cleave Mayuri in half with a single strike."

(Kurotsuchi Mayuri: I'm not dead yet! Why are you using me as a unit of measurement?!)

Kanbaru clenched his fists, a smile flickering in his eyes.

Reiatsu suppression wasn't just talk anymore.

But it wasn't like he had gone charging into Mayuri's Bankai without consequence.

That level of Reiatsu had damaged him.

But it was that very injury that catalyzed a deeper fusion with the Hōgyoku—

It allowed Kanbaru to ascend into the Collapsed Fusion State.

At that moment—

His Reiatsu burst beyond the limits of Quincy and Shinigami alike—

Touching a higher-dimensional threshold.

---

"Next…"

"Is the second pupation of the Hōgyoku."

Kanbaru's palm pressed lightly against his chest.

Collapsed Fusion State Two—

Also referred to as the Pupation Stage.

Because this was the beginning—

Of breaking the cocoon and becoming the butterfly.

A level of evolution far beyond what could be called "human,"

Elevating into a new lifeform altogether.

"I just don't know how far this incomplete Hōgyoku can take me…"

Kanbaru glanced at his chest—

And to his surprise, a familiar system prompt had appeared:

---

[Did you miss me?]

[Though incomplete, this version of the Hōgyoku still holds the power to rewrite reality.]

[Incomplete Hōgyoku: Capable of triggering evolution approximating true Hōgyoku-level awakening.]

[What? You want to go even further beyond?]

[Then you might want to go stab Aizen.]

A final line appeared at the bottom in tiny font:

[Side tip: You can also try seducing Aizen with Tifa. She's great at everything—except subtlety. Good luck dodging.]

---

"As expected…"

Kanbaru remained expressionless, completely ignoring the system's ridiculous suggestions.

Stab Aizen?

He might consider it one day.

Just… not today.

Ascending from Collapsed Fusion One to Collapsed Fusion Three clearly wasn't something that could happen overnight.

He still had time.

Time to plan. Time to prepare.

---

"You are clearly not an ordinary Quincy."

Mayuri Kurotsuchi watched Kanbaru approach, voice hoarse.

He'd seen pure-blood Quincy. Mixed-blood Quincy.

Some had remarkable traits.

But this—

This boy was something else entirely.

A Reiatsu suspected to exceed captain-level,

Combined with monstrous speed, strength, and defensive endurance—

A fusion-born nightmare he couldn't dissect or understand.

---

"Not… an ordinary Quincy?"

Ishida Ryūshū frowned, eavesdropping.

But before he could listen further—

A barrier dropped down in front of him, blocking everything.

He blinked.

"Seriously? We're from the same clan and you're still gatekeeping?"

---

Inside the barrier.

Kanbaru stood before Mayuri and stopped.

"Looks like you've figured it out."

He looked down at Mayuri's body—

Sliced open, impaled, pinned to the ground like a grotesque experiment gone wrong.

Were it not for his extensive body modifications…

He'd be long dead.

"Compared to that pure-blood brat—"

"Your data is far too irregular."

"For a scientist like me, it wasn't hard to arrive at the right hypothesis."

Mayuri grinned grotesquely, his golden eyes gleaming with warped pride in his own intellect.

Then—

He gave Kanbaru a deep look.

The pure-blood Quincy were vanishing.

Only three still existed in the entire world.

The chance to study one had been too tempting to resist.

So he had ignored all Soul Society taboos and infiltrated the human world, hoping to capture one for dissection.

But unexpectedly, he'd ended up as the experiment.

This "brat" had crushed him—

Even interrupted his Bankai, Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō, mid-manifestation.

---

"You Quincy bastard… you're truly strong."

"Too strong…"

"I… admit defeat."

Mayuri's golden pupils dimmed. His breathing grew faint—

Until his chest fell still.

He died.

Or so it seemed.

---

Kanbaru: "???"

---

[Pretending to be dead, are we? Pretending again, huh?]

[With your full points in life-preservation and a crooked science-based skill tree, you're trying to tell me one stab did the job?]

[Yeah right. I don't buy it. Whether you believe it or not, is your business.]

Of course he didn't buy it.

This guy had been slapped around like a puppet—

And now he was playing possum?

Kanbaru let out a long sigh and got to his feet.

"Alright then."

"You were a worthy opponent."

"So I've decided—I'll cremate your body and scatter your ashes in a sewer."

---

Mayuri (internally): "???"