Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

At the outset of the war, several extremely powerful forces remained hidden in the shadows without taking action, and this was one of them.

Now, everyone else is engaged in the melee below, while this man is heading straight for me; his intentions are all too clear.

"It seems you Quincy are quite confident."

He continued speaking calmly, drawing out "Indra".

"You think you can defeat me all by yourself, is that right?"

The blond man nodded slightly and smiled gently.

"of course."

“You are the greatest obstacle in His Majesty’s path, and I will destroy you here.”

As he spoke, he gently waved his hand and drew his sword.

It was an unremarkable Western-style cross sword, lacking both dazzling brilliance and a chilling aura.

It looks like an ordinary knight's sword forged in a modern blacksmith's shop.

But it possesses spiritual pressure.

Quincy use "manipulation of spirit particles" as their means, and this is a longsword made entirely of spirit particles.

Immediately afterwards, the man's left hand flipped lightly in mid-air.

A pure white, round shield quietly appeared on his forearm.

The shield's surface features a prominent five-pointed star cross pattern.

A sword and a shield, a white robe, and golden hair flying in the wind.

The man before me looked like a holy knight who had stepped out of an old Western fantasy novel and was determined to defend the glory of God.

"It seems that the 'Soul King's Heart' that died in Hueco Mundo did not leave you with a sufficiently profound warning."

Sasuke looked at the other's posture, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes. He let go, and Indra fell to the ground.

“Devour him, Indra.”

The words fell.

The blade touched the ground and instantly disintegrated, scattering into a burst of black flames.

It surged and roared, rushing wildly towards the blond man in front of it.

But the blond man neither dodged nor avoided, holding his Western-style longsword horizontally in front of him.

The next second, black flames engulfed his figure.

"......Um?"

However, the anticipated scene of spirit particles being burned and the body being devoured did not appear.

When the black flames touched the seemingly ordinary spirit longsword, they became ineffective.

No, it can't be said to be ineffective.

The black flames twisted the moment they touched the blade.

But in the blink of an eye, it immediately becomes neat and tidy, without moving or changing.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, slightly surprised.

Surprised?

The blond man emerged from the gradually dissipating sea of ​​black flames, his white cloak spotless and undamaged.

He looked at Sasuke, gently raised the cross sword in his hand, and wore a polite, slight smile.

"Why is it that your Zanpakuto, which has always been invincible, has no effect on me?"

He paused, sheathed his longsword, placed one hand on his chest, and his tone became even more polite.

"Well then, let me introduce myself."

"My name is Yugraan Hasward, and I am the highest-ranking member of the Sternritter of the Unseen Empire."

Haschwald lowered his hand, his icy blue eyes silently fixed on Sasuke.

“Since you have already fought Gerald Valkyrie and were able to kill him completely, you should be very clear about the special ability he possesses called ‘Miracle’.”

"That power is completely different from the way ordinary Quincy manipulate spirit particles."

“Those are the ‘sacred characters’ bestowed upon us by His Majesty.”

"Gerald's holy name is 'M', which stands for The Miracle."

“And the sacred letter His Majesty bestowed upon me is ‘B’,” Hasward grinned and said softly, “The Balance.”

"World Harmony".

"World Harmony?" Sasuke retorted coldly. "So, my black flames didn't work just now because you harmonized this power?"

Not entirely accurate.

Hasward looked at the sword in his hand, his tone calm.

"In this world, everything exists in accordance with 'balance'; luck and misfortune, gain and loss, are like the two ends of a scale."

Yugrain Hasward held the hiltless cross-shaped longsword, his long golden hair fluttering slightly in the night breeze atop the tower.

His tone was calm and dignified.

“If Gerald’s ‘miracle’ was forcibly turning his disadvantages into advantages, then the power of the sacred script ‘B’ bestowed upon me by His Majesty is…”

He slowly raised the blade of his sword, pointing it at Sasuke in front of him.

“I will redistribute all the ‘misfortunes’ that have befallen me, and transform the ‘good fortune’ that others have received into an equal amount of ‘misfortunes’.”

"So?" Sasuke asked, holding his sword in one hand.

Let me put it more bluntly.

Haschward said calmly, "The flame you just unleashed hit my weapon precisely. That's 'lucky' for you."

"And my sword was struck by that flame, and it should have been consumed along with me, which was 'unfortunate' for me."

"But under the power of 'world harmony,' this 'misfortune' has been redistributed. Even if there is only a tiny probability, one in ten million, that the spiritual particles that make up my sword can resist your erosion, with the balance tipped, that one in ten million will become an absolute reality."

"Your 'luck' ends here, and what follows is my 'luck' of being unharmed."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Lucky? Unlucky?

It's yet another disgusting ability that exists by relying on some kind of "rule".

Unlike Valkyrie's "miracle," the abilities of the man before them were more obscure and unknown.

"Give up the futile struggle, Uchiha Sasuke."

Hasward held his sword horizontally in front of him. "You have no chance of winning against this power."

"Is there no chance of winning?"

Sasuke suddenly chuckled, "Don't use such intimidating words to cover up the limits of your abilities."

"If your ability is truly 'absolute harmony,' allowing you to manipulate luck and misfortune at will, then why are you still standing here wasting your breath talking to me?"

"For me, the greatest 'luck' is when my enemy suddenly dies before the fight even begins."

"Since you can assign luck, why don't you just let me die because of 'misfortune'?"

Hasward's eyes narrowed slightly.

Ultimately, every technique has its limits.

Sasuke's golden Rinnegan suddenly shone brightly, "Then let me see if your broken sword can be called 'misfortune' enough to crush you!"

“Stubborn to the end.” Haschward’s eyes turned completely cold, and his cross-shaped longsword was aimed straight at Sasuke’s throat. “Since that’s the case, then let me personally bury you.”

Sasuke clenched his right fist, and dozens of thick, python-like gray-brown vines burst from the ground beneath Haschward's feet!

A faint golden glow flowed across the surface of the vines, moving with incredible speed, instantly entangling and binding Hasward as he charged forward.

"He's been caught." Sasuke's eyes turned slightly cold.

The rule of "misfortune" does not seem to apply to the sacred tree.

The vines began to tighten, greedily stripping Hasward of his spiritual energy.

But Hasward showed no sign of panic, gently flipping the cross-shaped sword outwards.

But in that instant, the vines of the divine tree began to disintegrate and collapse from the inside out.

The resilient tree roots turned into countless fragments, and Hasward landed lightly from mid-air.

“It’s no use.” He raised his eyes and looked at Sasuke. “Everything you’ve done has only made things worse, tilting the scales even further.”

"is it?"

Sasuke raised his left hand, and black and white lightning burst forth from his index finger.

Hasward raised his shield a beat too late.

The lightning struck him easily, but after the lightning dissipated...

Sasuke's brows furrowed even more.

Haschward still stood there, unharmed, his white cloak not even bearing a single scorch mark.

He raised his left arm, and on his forearm, a pure white round shield with five-pointed star and cross patterns engraved on its surface appeared out of nowhere.

"An extremely effective attack method, with impeccable speed and power."

He gently shook the shield.

The lightning clearly didn't hit the shield, but struck his shoulder instead.

But on the surface of that pure white shield, a charred and deep crack was now clearly visible.

"But an effective attack does not necessarily mean effective damage."

Haschwalth stared at the cracked shield, his gaze turning icy as he looked at Sasuke.

Its name is 'Scapegoat'.

"Within the realm of 'world harmony,' all the 'misfortune' and harm I suffer will be borne by this shield."