Yhwach falls to his knees with a cry, an arrow protruding from his back, and Uryuu… Uryuu doesn’t know what to think anymore.

That’s Ryuuken, standing overhead with a dark look upon his face, bow in hand and a sense of deep, vicious satisfaction about him that Uryuu understands but… but…

That was his revenge to take!

(All the pain, all the terror, all the revulsion of having to deal with the Wandenreich…)

(Everything, everything he did to get close to Yhwach, to have a chance at revenge, and Ryuuken just… just waltzes right in at the last minute?)

He grits his teeth and turns back to Yhwach. Draws his bow and forges an arrow and sights—

Looses—

Feels the reverberation of the hit through his connection to Yhwach. Feels the way the man takes a shuddering breath. Feels the way Yhwach tugs on their connection, tugs on his power, on Antithesis, and—

Uryuu snarls. Tugs back. Yanks at their connection. Feels the way Almighty is straining against the arrow Ryuuken shot, the way the breath heaves through both of their bodies, King and Heir, the First and the Last, a circle coming to a close at long last and—

Something tears.

Yhwach screams.

Almighty surges through his body, tearing at tendons-muscles-bones as it worms its way deeper, deeper, into his very soul, clawing at Antithesis and being clawed in turn, remaking-breaking-healing-merging until he can’t tell where one begins and the other ends, until he can’t tell where he begins and the world ends and—

He takes a breath. Another. Presses one trembling hand to his chest. Forces himself up off the floor he cannot remember falling to. Forces himself to breathe. Focuses past the pain, past the disorienting swirls of power—

(Kurosaki a jagged shard of force before him, Ryuuken a lance of ice at his back, and more-more-more scattered like stars in the sky, distinct-but-dim and yet so close, close enough to pluck like flowers, and part of him yearns to take, to steal, to devour—)

—past the desire that is him-but-not-but-him.

He breathes out. Crushes the urge deep within his soul. Opens his eyes and takes in the throne room at last.

Yhwach is sprawled before him, body twisted and withered like a corpse left out in the sun for years. Kurosaki across from him, eyes wide and face pale and power radiating concern with all of his being. And Ryuuken behind him—

Ryuuken is behind him!

He spins on his heel. Feels his body protest. Acknowledges. Ignores. Focuses on the man overhead. The man who shot Yhwach in the back without remorse. The man who just watched Uryuu tear Yhwach’s power away from him.

He can feel it, can feel Ryuuken’s power beginning to rise, can feel the way the man’s focus sharpens, deadly-vicious-implacable, bow rising and an arrow forming. Ryuuken’s face is blank and his hands are steady, and if there’s any regret, any hesitation in him, Uryuu can’t see it. Can only see narrowed eyes and unwavering focus and grim determination.

(Determination to kill, to end it, to end Uryuu.)

The remains of Almighty rear its head, greedy-vicious-starving, and Uryuu… hesitates.

(He shouldn’t.)

(He shouldn’t…)

(And yet…)

(No!)

He clenches his jaw. Shoves the fragment of Yhwach back down, but that doesn’t fix the actual problem, doesn’t fix the way Ryuuken watches him, bow aimed and hands steady, string lax but ready to be pulled, and he— he—

He can’t. He can’t. He doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know if there’s anything he can say, knows only that Ryuuken will not hesitate once he makes up his mind, knows only that he doesn’t have the skill to use Almighty the way Yhwach did, knows only—

Ryuuken’s jaw flexes. His arms shift, determination rising to the fore—

Uryuu strikes. Strikes before Ryuuken can. Strikes not with Almighty but with Antithesis. Lashes out and latches on, pulling-straining-yanking until his pain vanishes. Until Ryuuken cries out. Crumples. Tumbles from his perch, reishi control lost, bow shattering like glass and arrow fading and white clothing blooming red-red-red—

Behind him, Kurosaki inhales sharply.

It hits him then, as he stares at Ryuuken’s crumpled body, bloodstained and trembling, and feels Kurosaki begin to approach.

(He did this.)

(He knew there was no coming back from his betrayal, from siding with Yhwach even under false pretenses, but this…)

(There’s no forgiving this.)

(He isn’t just a traitor, now.)

(He’s Yhwach’s Heir.)

(He’s Yhwach’s Heir, and there’s no way anyone will forgive him for that, no way the Shinigami will let him live, no way Ryuuken will let him live, especially after this.)

“Ishida—”

Uryuu leaps aside, hirenkyaku carrying him beyond Kurosaki’s reach to the very edge of the room. Shadows gather there, pooling around his feet at a single thought and he—

He pauses. Stares at Kurosaki. Drinks in the outstretched hand, the sheathed blades, the little scowl that he knows means worry and—

Flees.