62 Shūen no Kyōkai
(3rd Person POV)
After Hades' talk with Shūen, he sealed this 'pain' or feeling away. He had no interest in being affected by something like that. And for a while, it worked.
He went back to his usual routine of using his Hyperbolic Time Chamber to the extremes and trained with the mannequins on the highest level. He had to get familiar with using his Powers in the form of a Zanpakuto.
Shūen no Kyōkai translates to 'Boundary of the END' and fits Hades perfectly. It is everything that Hades is as well.
Its release phrase was: Grief, Shūen no Kyōkai. And that was what it was all about. Grief.
You see the Zanpakuto represents the END. The absolute and sure END. In general, the powers of Shūen no Kyōkai are the END of whomever it is facing. Everyone that is considered an enemy will be affected by this and all those that are not, will not experience any harm.
To get to the inevitable END, the Zanpakuto has the power to bend all boundaries and therefore reality and EVERYTHING to Hades' will on the grandest scale.
- Resurrecting killed allies or friends.
- Having opponents die over and over again/or at least feel like it.
- Making the opponents see nightmares or dreams only to crush them later.
- Give them hope only to then crush them by having time turn back and the fight starts again.
There is no limit to this and Hades is only limited by his imagination.
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But what does this have to do with Grief?
You see, just like Death, Shūen no Kyōkai is merciless and equal to everyone. It is a scary thing when you realise that you are going to die and that there is nothing you can do about it.
In the beginning, right after Hades activates his Shikai, those who are fighting against Hades, or those that Hades wants to affect or considers enemies, fall into the 5 stages of grief because they are faced with their impending and unavoidable END.
Hades can decide who he affects with his power, but after it has been activated on those, there is nothing stopping it from stopping. When Shūen no Kyōkai has begun to feast, she doesn't stop until everything is devoured.
What does this mean in more detail?
This means that whenever Hades activates Shikai, the fight has 5 stages to it.
The first stage is called, Denial:
- In this initial stage, individuals often have trouble accepting the reality of the situation. They may feel a sense of shock and numbness as if the situation isn't happening or isn't real.
- They won't accept that they will die and will fight it. This will be true for those who have the privilege to even see Hades' Shikai activated.
The second stage is called Anger:
- After denial, the intense emotions of grief may start to surface. Anger is a common reaction to loss and can be directed at various targets, including oneself, others, or even the situation itself.
- This anger will result in the opponent or opponents either turning on themselves or pushing themselves even harder to kill Hades.
The third stage is, Bargaining:
- In this stage, individuals may try to make deals or bargains, often with a higher power or in their own minds, in an attempt to reverse or change the loss.
- They may express thoughts like "If only I had done this differently" or "If I promise to be a better person, can we undo this?"
- This stage is marked by a desire to regain control or prevent the loss from being permanent.
- Some especially smart enemies will try to trick Hades in this stage and convince him that they can change or they will never get in his way or something like that.
The fourth stage Depression:
- As the full reality of the inevitable END sets in, feelings of deep sadness and hopelessness can emerge.
- It's important to understand that depression in the context of grief is not the same as clinical depression; it is a natural response to a significant loss.
- During this stage, individuals may withdraw from others and experience a profound sense of loss and emptiness.
- This is an important stage as the next one marks a change in the fight.
The fifth and final stage, Acceptance:
- The final stage involves coming to terms with the reality of their END and integrating it into one's life, however short it is.
- This doesn't necessarily mean that the pain disappears entirely though.
Acceptance is the last stage of Shūen no Kyōkai's Shikai. Because this is where Shūen no Kyōkai is different from any other Zanpakuto.
When the last stage: Acceptance has been reached, Shūen no Kyōkai's special ability will automatically activate.
This means that Hades/Shūen no Kyōkai claim the soul, power, experience and memories of the adversaries he faces and makes them his.
This only happens to those who manage to make it to the last stage. Those that die before that, are not devoured. This is due to Shūen no Kyōkai having a very high bar of what she wants to devour. She despises weakness because she claims, their taste is bad.
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If an enemy does not go into the last stage and instead refuses to die, like immortals or those with strong minds, something different happens.
After a while, whenever Hades wishes his Bankai will activate.
This is a show of respect that Shūen no Kyōkai does for their enemies. This is the greatest compliment someone can get when fighting against Hades.
"Bankai: Shūen no Kyōkai, Kekkai Saigo", is the sentence. This translates to 'Boundary of the End, Final Barrier'.
The Zanpakuto has no clear form in its Bankai state. It doesn't matter in that moment anyway. Because all it takes is one swing and that is all anyone ever gets.
One swing and it is all over. One swing and everything about the opponent is erased.
Kekkai Saigo takes everything away from the enemy and leaves them with nothing. It erases their entire existence and even the memories of that person are erased from existence. That is the hard and merciless truth of Shūen no Kyōkai, Kekkai Saigo.
If you face her, you will meet your END a true and essentially sad end.
It is the proof that everything, no matter whether gods or humans, mortal or immortal, bugs or outerversal beings ... they all eventually come to Hades.
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Shūen no Kyōkai, Kekkai Saigo bypasses everything. There is no invulnerability or infinite distance between it and the target. No matter what skills you have that 'could' dodge, evade or stop the blade are nil in front of Kekkai Saigo.
The way Shūen no Kyōkai works also means something very important for Hades. He will always have to decide who he will use his Zanpakuto on, because once his Shikai is activated ... there is no stopping it.
After he got familiar with his Zanpakuto, Hades took out the Scythe of Kronos as well as the 'Soul Splitting Katana' from Toji Fushiguro and 'fed' them to Shūen no Kyōkai.
Shūen no Kyōkai was no longer a normal Zanpakuto and would only continue to grow. The stronger Hades became, the more powerful Shūen no Kyōkai got and vice-versa.
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Hades already had an idea of whom to use her on. Hades told Shūen about himself, even though she already knew everything. They enjoyed talking to each other and it was a change of pace for Hades because he usually only talked with people that didn't truly know him.
He told Shūen about some of the People he wanted to use her on and she was ... very excited. It was interesting to have someone who also hated the same things he did.
"I can't wait to meet your ... grandmother. She sounds like a delicious treat. Do you think she will taste like salad?", Shūen asked Hades.
"I ... I don't know. Haha, but you will get to try it after we're back home. You know there are others that you might enjoy as well. Since we're here in the world of Bleach, we're going to enjoy some delicacies."
"You mean that pretty one with the shiny stone in his chest?"
"Hahaha, yes the one with the shiny stone. But there are others as well. I mean imagine devouring that prick Ichibe Hyosube ...", Hades said.
"You're right all that darkness for us to enjoy ... I'm salivating only thinking about it.", Shūen said.
"Haha."
"What about the statue that screams pain?"
"You mean Rey?"
"Yes. I could hear the pain. But he is already dead. The only thing remaining is his will.", Shūen said to Hades.
"I know ... My friend died a long time ago. That stump of flesh standing in the Royal Palace is nothing more than a corpse. I should know, I am the God of the dead and death as well as the Underworld.
He is keeping himself together with his that he has infused into the Almighty. I wanted to put him back together but he made sure that was not something I did.
I wonder if he knew that I was this powerful?", Hades mused.
Many years ago, after he had humbled Ichibe Hyosube, Hades had gone to see his friends and what he saw enraged him. The Soul King made sure to never be able to come back.
Hades understood the reason. Reio, the Soul King spawned from the world itself and this feeling he had was the will of the world pushing him to do what he was created to do.
So if Hades wanted to be angry at anyone, he would have to be angry at the world itself. Because Rey ... was never truly a person. It was the will of the world personified.
So Hades gave up on the thought of reviving him in the future. He would have Shūen have her fill and take from the world what it so desperately wanted Hades not to have.
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- Some years later -
Well, it happened. After millions of years, since he was born as Hades, he had finally fallen ... in love.
It was a weird and painful thing to watch as the proud and mighty God of the Underworld, Death, Wealth, Boundaries and more turned into this.
He was not a lovestruck boy. But he seemingly mellowed out a lot. The fact that nothing seemed to be as important any more was a surprising change of pace for him. He understood that he was in love when he couldn't get the woman out of his mind.
He could seal those feelings if he wished ... but he didn't want to. It was as simple as that. It didn't happen instantly after his talk with Shūen no Kyōkai.
Shigekuni had moved out of Hades' mansion and he was alone again. Shigekuni wanted to live on his own and stand on his own two feet. He started to travel around the Soul Society and fight Hollows as well as other Shinigami.
It was a harsh time to be a Shinigami. But he was more than prepared and powerful enough to get around.
Yamamoto had unlocked his Shikai a few weeks after infusing his essence on the Asauchi. He was truly talented and Hades was glad to have such a talented student. The first to survive his basic training.
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It was when Shigekuni came back to speak with Hades that Hades saw the clothes he was wearing. They were of very good quality and he wanted to have something like that as well.
Hades was still looking for a Seamstress that could make him the clothes Hades from Records of Ragnarok had. It was the look he wished to have.
So Shigekuni took Hades to the lady who made these clothes.
(Flashback)
Hades walked next to Shigekuni as they entered the house of the seamstress.
Hades looked around the house and laughed when he saw all the clothes and materials lying around. His laugh was interrupted by the woman walking in and seeing them.
When their eyes met, time seemed to stand still for both of them...
It was like in one of those Twilight stories when mates meet each other.
All of the feelings that Hades had locked away with his divinity of boundaries broke loose and he felt like he was on the heaviest most potent drugs there were.
"S-sensei? Are you alright?", Yamamoto asked his teacher from the side. It was an awkward scene for him as he saw the two stare at each other.
"My name is ... Eimin. Gojo Eimin.", Hades managed to say.
"Nice to meet you Eimin. My name is Senjumaru ... Senjumaru Shutara."
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