The End

"We've been hanging on by a thread against you, but I think it's time we flipped the narrative once and for all." Kuroi exclaimed, reborn anew thanks to Tenjiro healing him in the midst of his fight, perhaps even stronger than before.

"Annoying creature..." Reiō uttered to himself. As he drew a circle with his finger before him, before a portal summoned above him in the sky, its radius huge as some creature seemed to be entering through...

"Woah! I haven't seen the Ryūjin in so long... to think he would use that. I guess we was right to bring Kuroi with us, eh Tenjiro?" Ichibe excitedly asked, gazing with awe at the tremendous power on display above him.

"I don't know why you're so excited, if that thing goes rampant, even the barriers won't be able to stop it." Senjumaru responded.

"Do you not believe that Kuroi will stop it before it comes crashing in on us?" Ichibe replied, a grin on his face as he looked towards her. Senjumaru simply sighed as she acknowledged that this kind of thing was usual for them, Ichibe had a knack for knowing things would be fine without ever disclosing the true strategy of their plans when they went to deal with a threat.

"Now... I better go get in position. Oetsu, it's time!" Ichibe ordered, shifting to a more serious tone.

"Alright, but we both know you've only got one chance at this, even Banbutsu hasshō can only repair your zanpakuto to its original power once." Oetsu warned, alarming the others as they pondered what he was referring to when he said original power. The royal guard clutched on to his hammer with both hands before swiftly swinging it down at the center of the brush, a ripple of kinetic energy resonating outwards due to the force; a gust of wind thrashing against them all. As he lifted his hammer away, the brush retained it's look for the most part, except it now had a set of kanji written where the hammer hit it, one that peeked the curiosity of the other guards.

"Alright, im off! See you soon." Ichibe exclaimed, flash-stepping away, heading for above the barrier. With the exception of Oetsu, the other royal guards were perplexed as they thought about what the expression - Kuro o sadameta mono (he who ordains black) that was now on the brush meant...

"Grow!" The soul king demanded, raising his left arm to compel the growth of the divine beast, telekinetically controlling it as it changed in size and became more furious in the process as it rushed towards Kuroi; its final length extending far beyond the size of the seireitei.

"I see you're finally willing to fight me!" Kuroi taunted as he made a series of hand symbols before calling out: "Ura Hadō: yon-jūnodō - Amatsumara No shibari (fortieth path - bindings of Amatsumara)". As he created a circle with his hands, and rotated them in a 180 degree fashion, a set of pillars summoned all around the divine beast, pinning themselves into it and subsequently heavily restricted it's movement; it roaring with great resonance.

"Ura Hadō: san-jūnodō - Tentai no shi (thirtieth path - celestial death)" Kuroi exclaimed as he held his hands out. A series of 10 stars sprat forth before him, taking a circular motion as they expanded to match the width of the beast. Soon after, a beam of light was generated that rushed at the beast through to the heavens, vanquishing it with absolute prejudice.

"My turn..." Kuroi gloated.

"Ura Hadō: Hikatokage o wakeau (Shared light and shadow)" The royal guard exclaimed, as four copies or rather clones of him appeared behind him. This technique was recognized as a forbidden hado due to it being an extremely taxing technique by sharing the spiritual pressure between all the bodies.

"I hope we're far enough." Kuroi remarked to himself, concerned as to whether the technique he was about to perform would expand past the barrier too. The royal guard intended to end the fight soon, as even he couldn't afford to challenge the soul king for too long.

Each version of Kuroi positioned themselves around the soul king with equal great distance from him before calling out at the same time: "Ura Hadō: Tentai geijutsu - Tenkeisei/ Ura Hadō: Tentai geijutsu - Sendan kendatsuba/ Ura Hadō: Tentai geijutsu - Shinchū/ Ura Hadō: Tentai geijutsu - Shōki /Ura Hadō: Tentai geijutsu -Bishamonten." Performing a serious of forbidden hado techniques that belonged to the celestial art path, a set of techniques that predated even soul society, taught by Ichibe, a series of five divine entities were summoned all around the soul king. For the first time in this tedious fight, Reiō's face was filled with distress as he felt the impeding attack coming his way, one that could truly harm him as he was bound in place by the deities power.

The clones of Kuroi faded into nothing, returning the spiritual pressure to the royal guard as he commanded one last attack: "Ura Hadō Yūkai: Tentai geijutsu - Hekijae (Forbidden hado fusion: Celestial art - Extermination of evil)". As the summoned deities channeled their power towards the spot where the soul king was, a large white orb appeared, engulfing the soul king and expanded to fill the radius between the deities. Both the captains and the royal guards were taken aback by the sheer power on display, recognizing this technique as a power that far exceeded anything they had seen before; even the soul king's power of stagnation couldn't stop the force of this attack. It was like they was looking at a supernova, the light partially blinding.

As the light began to fade, the summoned entities vanished, and all that remained was a heavily injured Reiō. Breathing heavily, Reiō looked upon the royal guard with detest, or rather hate as Kuroi looked at the divine figure with his left arm entirely missing, failing to regenerate; the royal guard struggling to stay conscious after using almost all his spiritual pressure in that assault.

"Damn you... But nevertheless, your strongest attack wasn't enough. Now that you have all exhausted every option, I shall finally bring a dawn to this wretched world..." Reiō warned, raising his fist, clenched as he began to exert his strength of the world below him. The soul king planned to vanquish the world by forcefully tearing it apart at the seams. The captains and royal guards were left helpless as the domineering spiritual pressure showered all over soul society, beckoning all creatures to the soul king's will. Even after everything squad zero had planned, it all seemed to mean nothing as the end was upon them all...