Chapter 1293 Collapse part 1

Serafall's consciousness seemed to be on the verge of being cut off and she was doing her best to hold onto it. She's also trying to regenerate the damage that was done to her but the Demonic Power that she was managing had run wild due to her Soul receiving sudden massive damage.

She also tried moving away upon realizing the threat that was coming towards her but she's also helpless in that regard, '...It has been a while since I felt this useless.' Her meager senses could barely make out what was happening.

And when she realized that death was upon herself, she could only let out a wry smile, '...That... There's no way of getting out of it, huh?'

Serafall tried sharpening her senses more but the same answer came back to her which was 'certain death', 'Too bad... I wanted to see Sona-chan one more time.'

She tried moving and releasing her remaining Demonic Power but it only further destroyed her body. She could feel multiple influences trying to move her but it resulted in nothing more than what she was already doing, 'I should have asked Ajuka-chan what was happening on the other side. It doesn't look like things are peaceful there either.'

As time went on, Serafall could feel a familiar aura that clashed against the darkness that was coming for her, '...I was already prepared for something like this the moment I joined that war long ago, but I didn't think it'd come to me so suddenly like this...'

She could hear various voices but she couldn't make out any of it, 'I really let my guard down there. That guy is strong, but to suddenly pull off an almost instant death skill like that. That's cheating.'

Serafall could see various colors covering her vision but it looked strange because her sights resembled that of broken glass, 'I was able to keep myself alive but that's all I can do... Ki-tan... I got too excited when Flanna-chan suddenly took action. You're still there, right?'

Her mind went back to the time before Kisuke dived down to Hell, '...I should have done something more. I thought that he'll make a move on me sooner or later and I think I made my intentions clear. I waited passively while teasing him from time to time.' At that point, her wry smile soon changed and it slowly turned into a grit, 'But it was already too late that I realized that he was putting up a wall between us for some reason. I broke that wall partially yet here I am, regretting that I didn't do it earlier and properly.'

Death kept approaching yet all Serafall could feel right now was remorse and anger, 'If I'm going to die either way, I'd rather have a year... No. A week more instead of none at all.'

The temperature around her plummeted even more and her own body approached absolute zero. The cracks on her body lit up as she burned everything she had to convert it to Demonic Power that could overpower the restriction holding her, reducing her thousands of years of lifespan down to just a week, 'I just have to last enough that I could give that guy a peace of mind... And I really want to see Sona-chan and others before I go.'

Serafall was about to pull the trigger and detonate the converted Demonic Power when she suddenly heard Flanna's voice, [Hold on!!! Stop!!! Stop!!! What are you doing!?]

[Don't worry, I could still live for a week after this.]

[No! Boss is nearly done! Don't do anything stupid!]

Serafall's eyes widened, [...Kisuke?]

[Yes! So stop whatever you're trying to do! It's my fault for using you as bait, but please spare me of that dangerous stuff or I won't hear the end of it from Boss!]

Serafall didn't know what to say, but she slowly pulled back from what she was trying to do. Although she ended up wasting almost a thousand years of her lifespan, she didn't care about it at all since her mind was occupied by another voice that resounded to everyone, [Iyaa~ Thank you so much for making this a lot easier for me, Hyousube-san~ That went a lot smoother than I thought... Weirdly so. Makes me think that you're actually helping me out here... Tsundere?]

"...Ki..suke?" Serafall did her best to look up and saw that the darkness that was approaching her had stopped moving.

Everyone also stopped their attacks on the finger and looked up at the frozen black giant filled with eyes.

From its extended hand, the darkness that had been covering it slowly dissipated as if pure white paint started to crawl on him. It reaches its elbow and shoulder and soon its entire body has turned completely white with the exception of its head, resisting with everything it has.

The giant visible shake and soon, all the black left it including the color of its pupils

A few seconds later, cracks started to form on the giant before it slowly disintegrated into dust, along with the restriction that had been placed on the entirety of Soul Society.

This took a few minutes until all that was left from the giant was Ichibei in the form that everyone was familiar with. The only difference is that there's a complete absence of black from everything he has, starting from his Shihakushou, down to his body hair and eyes.

During this time, everything is silent. Including Ichibei, no one knows what just happened nor what's going to happen now.

The deafening silence was only broken when the remnant of the monster that the giant had been fighting also turned to dust, revealing the man who started all of this, "I'm finally out~ Damn. That felt too long."

Kisuke stretched his limbs that had become numb and while doing so, he felt the silent dumbfounded stare that everyone was giving him, "What's up, everyone? Did my face change somehow?" Kisuke immediately started touching his face, worried that his 'handsome' merchant face was somehow disfigured.

Meanwhile, Ichibei slowly turned towards Kisuke like a rusted machine, and with a fury-filled expression, his Reiatsu exploded, "URAHARA KISUKE!!!"

"Oh shit a ghost!" Was Kisuke's response upon seeing his face which further infuriated the former.