User blog:Xilinoc/Ch. 676 - Horn of Salvation

Song to listen to while reading this chapter: "Ten Thousand Fists" by Disturbed

Wow. Just wow.

So we start off with an appropriate reaction of "wtf omg no pls" from Orihime, who is quickly calmed by Ichigo being...still himself instead of raging bull man a la his fight with Ulquiorra. Yhwach guesses that this is the form Ichigo takes when he's merged with his Hollow powers, and Ichigo confirms this with an explanation of how his separate powers work: with his Zanpakutō reforged, they're usually in balance with one another, so forcefully disrupting that balance will draw them out. This is also why he didn't use this form until now; he can't quite control it manually, so he has to clash with a cubic buttload of Quincy Reiatsu in order to trigger Shirogetsu. Eat your heart out, naysayers.

With this out of the way, Ichigo tells Orihime to stay on her guard before decimating the entire floor he's on with his Reiatsu alone, which compels Yhwach to actually pull out his broadsword from when he cut down Yamamoto. Being who he is, Ichigo grabs Yhwach's sword-hand and moves in for a slash, but Yhwach just grabs his sword as the force destroys the area behind him *Aizen flashbacks intensify*. Yhwach doesn't think Ichigo can hurt him if this is his level of strength and sends him flying with a slash of his own, but lo and behold, Ichigo prepares to use a Getsuga Tenshō...which he then combines with a motherflippin' Gran Rey Cero before nailing Yhwach with it. Holy crap on a stick.

First things first - the amount of double-page spreads this chapter was surprising, but they were all awesome so it's k in my book even if the chapter felt shorter for it. Also, with Yhwach's sword out this might turn into a proper close-range battle like everyone's been wanting. But most importantly, hoo golly that final attack was awesome. I was expecting a new technique altogether like with the reveal of Getsuga Jūjishō, but this was even better, though I'm sure we'll be getting many claims and theories of/about Ichigo being an Espada or White being a Vasto Lorde or eeeeeeeegh

Thoughts on this chapter? something something David Bowie The sword is out, I repeat the sword is out Orihime sure wants Ichigo's horn of salvation Getsuga Tenshō x Gran Rey Cero OTP