The spirit of the Zanpakutō—"the Deceased"—manifested as a cloud of dense mist.
It had no definitive form.
If forced to describe it, Gosuke Shigure thought it resembled the Ghost-type Pokémon, like Gengar or Gastly, from the world he remembered in his previous life—its core was a swirling, gray-black fog, with only two scarlet, glowing eyes piercing through the haze.
Its voice was raspy—unnerving, but not monstrous.
It flickered and danced like a ghostly flame, gliding through its inner world.
Despite its eerie form, from another perspective, it had an almost odd cuteness to it.
The moment it felt Gosuke Shigure's soul signature—faint yet familiar—the Deceased jolted out of its long slumber. The devouring instinct that had just begun to stir faded in an instant.
"…Master?"
The fog wavered with emotion.
A moment later, joy erupted from its voice.
"Master! You're back!"
Despite the passage of time and the subtle changes in Gosuke Shigure's soul, the Zanpakutō spirit could still feel the bond between them.
It was undeniable.
He was its true master.
The Deceased's excitement surged, and its crimson glow pulsed intensely. The blood-colored aura on the blade in Shigure's hand grew deeper—as though scarlet droplets might spill at any moment.
"Yes… I've returned."
Gosuke Shigure's consciousness slipped into the inner world of the Zanpakutō—the realm of the spirit—and began a long-awaited reunion with his blade.
"I thought… I'd lost you forever,"
the spirit said, emotion trembling in its misty form.
Its body—the fog—whirled faster, twisting and shifting in visible excitement.
"Tell me what happened,"
Shigure said calmly.
Normally, the inner world of a Zanpakutō is housed deep within the wielder's soul. Through Shikai and Bankai, that dormant power is released into the physical world. But Gosuke Shigure's case was unique.
He had died once. Reincarnated. His soul had changed. He had formed a new Zanpakutō—Raijin no Saika—from that altered essence.
And thus, the space that housed the Deceased no longer existed within his soul—it resided within the blade itself, severed from his current inner world.
In this dimension, time had no meaning.
Eons could pass here, while only moments slipped by in the outer world.
Such is the nature of soul communication—an exchange beyond physical rules. An instant could hold a lifetime of emotion, conversation, and memory.
"When your soul began to flicker… when I felt your spiritual core collapsing…"
the Deceased began its tale.
"I couldn't allow you to die, Master."
It paused, the fog dimming momentarily.
"So I made a choice. I sacrificed every soul I had imprisoned—every one you had cut down with me in your previous life. I offered their essence to stabilize your soul. It was enough to keep you tethered to existence… but not enough to bring you back."
Its crimson eyes narrowed.
"Eventually, I lost strength. The supply of spiritual power waned. I had to enter a dormant state. And then… I felt a new soul enter me. I didn't seek it—it forced its way inside."
The Deceased's voice grew darker.
"To maintain the fragment of your soul I had protected, I had no choice but to share power with the intruder… Tsunayashiro Tokinada. He fed me Hollow souls—enough to awaken me partially. I lent him strength… but never willingly."
"Time passed. No more souls came. I fell into deep sleep once again. Until today…"
Gosuke listened in silence.
Everything now made sense.
At the peak of his previous life, he had been struck down—betrayed and murdered by a member of the Tsunayashiro clan. Even as a time traveler, he had underestimated the darkness within human hearts.
He should have died.
He should have been erased.
But his Zanpakutō would not allow it.
The Deceased—his weapon—was no ordinary blade. It was one of the rare soul-system Zanpakutō, born from deeply bound spiritual resonance. When it sensed his soul fading, it sacrificed the essence of the enemies it had absorbed, refusing to let its master vanish.
That was why Gosuke Shigure's soul had endured.
That was why he had reincarnated, rather than fall to Hell or oblivion.
Still, it wasn't only that.
The Tsunayashiro clan, in their desperation for power, had sacrificed many souls to this weapon after his death—feeding it energy to awaken and harness its strength. In doing so, they unknowingly preserved Shigure's soul fragment as well.
But eventually, they ceased.
They stopped feeding it.
The Deceased weakened.
And nearly vanished into dormancy.
Until Tokinada—in his quest for control—retrieved it.
By slaying Hollows and pouring spiritual energy into the blade, Tokinada unwittingly reawakened the weapon—and stirred the lingering trace of Gosuke's essence sealed within it.
"I see,"
Gosuke said gently, his voice lowered.
"You've carried so much. Thank you… for everything."
"I'm just happy… to see you again."
the Deceased replied, humbly.
Gosuke gave a rare smile.
Inwardly, he chuckled to himself.
"This really is like Kuchiki Kōga's story…"
In the original Bleach anime arc, Kōga was sealed away, and his Zanpakutō, Muramasa, had rebelled—causing a massive Zanpakutō uprising just to save his master.
In a strange echo of that tale, his own blade—the Deceased—had sacrificed everything just to preserve his soul.
The difference?
Kōga betrayed Muramasa upon his release.
But Gosuke Shigure would never do that.
"Well,"
he thought,
"in this timeline, there is no Kuchiki Kōga. That arc never happened."
The Deceased's energy slowly receded. Its form faded into quiet stillness.
Outside, in the physical world, the spiritual resonance faded as well.
It had stopped releasing power. It was entering rest.
Due to the changes in Gosuke Shigure's soul, born from his reincarnation, true synchronization with the Deceased was no longer possible.
If he tried to wield its full power, the blade would consume his soul, leaving it incomplete.
Thankfully, Tokinada's recklessness had a benefit—he had sacrificed many Hollow souls to the blade, and had wielded it violently through the Menos Forest, giving the Deceased a temporary reserve of energy.
So long as that power wasn't tapped too aggressively, the blade could survive for now—though fragile.
Gosuke Shigure, understanding its limits, gave it only one instruction:
"Rest. Don't burn your strength. We may need you again… but not yet."
And so the Deceased fell still no longer dormant, but restrained its hard-won energy preserved.
The soul of the blade, faithful to its master, had finally reunited with him.
And it waited ready, should he ever call again.
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