"Is there a way in?"
Naraku Sora stared intently at the Kidō barrier in front of him. He wasn't reckless enough to just hack at it with his sword.
Although, in his perception, the strength of the barrier before him couldn't stop him at all.
"I mean, a hidden way."
Aizen looked at him with some surprise. "I thought you would just cut the Kidō barrier open with your sword."
The person in his impression was definitely capable of doing such a thing.
"Isn't that afraid of startling the snake?" Naraku Sora grinned.
In his eyes, everything behind this Kidō barrier represented profit. It was the crucial proof he relied on to survive in this dangerous world.
losing even a single bit would make his heart ache terribly.
"I'll try."
Still maintaining his conservative way of speaking, Aizen was humble as always.
However, given his talent, Naraku Sora was full of confidence.
If even Aizen couldn't crack this Kidō barrier, he would have to think about greasing the wheels or finding another way.
Aizen took two steps forward, observing the intermittently flashing light of the Kidō with full concentration, occasionally writing something in the empty air beside him.
Not long after, he nodded.
"The person who created this Kidō barrier is very creative. They ingeniously combined Bakudō #37 and Bakudō #39, while also referencing the operating principles of Bakudō #73."
"It is also quite simple to enter the interior without alerting the other party."
"Bakudō #26, Kyakko."
Aizen raised his hand and waved it vaguely over the two of them. A layer of hazy light and shadow formed by Reiatsu immediately covered their figures.
"I have controlled the spirit particle wavelength and frequency of Kyakko to match the Kidō barrier. This way, the barrier will identify us as its own kind."
"Thus, we can enter without any obstruction."
Naraku Sora listened, stunned for a moment, before finally grinning and offering a summary: "As expected of you, Sō-raemon!"
Aizen: "..."
What the hell is Sō-raemon? And back at the Spiritual Arts Academy, this guy had given him the nickname "Blue Dream."
What exactly is stuffed inside this guy's brain?
Suppressing his slightly rising Reiatsu, Aizen took the lead and stepped forward.
The moment the outer layer of Kyakko light and shadow touched the Kidō barrier, a marvelous reaction occurred, like water blending with milk.
Naraku Sora followed closely behind, another patch of mottled light and shadow merging into it.
What came into view was a black curtain hanging down from the ceiling, as if to conceal all the darkness behind it.
There were no guards around. Obviously, the owner of this place didn't believe anyone could enter without destroying the Kidō barrier.
Naraku Sora reached out and slowly pulled open the curtain in front of him.
Just like that, a picture scroll of hell appeared before their eyes, deeply etching itself into their minds.
Directly in front, on a device resembling an operating table, lay a corpse that had been cut open. It still radiated lingering warmth. The internal organs had been completely hollowed out, and strands of fresh blood flowed down from the damaged areas.
On the flat ground, it pooled into a river.
And this was just the tip of the iceberg.
In the corner of the room, a massive number of broken, mangled corpses were piled together, resembling a small mountain.
Severed limbs mixed with ruptured eyeballs, and twisted torsos still twitched under the action of residual nerves.
A thick smell of blood filled their nasal cavities, creating an intense irritation.
Who knew how many human lives were buried in this entire dissection room? The piercing crimson made even someone like Naraku Sora, who had undergone the baptism of hell, find it somewhat hard to bear.
At this moment.
Not a trace of a smile could be seen on Naraku Sora's face. It was replaced by a dead silence, containing the heaviness before a coming storm.
When humans die in the World of the Living, they form souls. When they come to the Soul Society, they regain bodies made of spirit particles.
But those high and mighty classes didn't view the residents of Rukongai as beings equal to themselves at all.
In the eyes of those frenzied madmen, everything in Rukongai was merely their private property.
They could take whatever they wanted.
Lives included.
For some unspeakable purpose, they treated the lives of others as the cost of trial and error.
Dismantling limbs, stripping organs.
They didn't even spare the souls.
Perhaps the residents of that village were all here.
"This is the truest face of the Soul Society."
Aizen's voice seemed exceptionally calm, as if he had long accepted such a setting.
"In the rear districts of Rukongai, people will fight to the death for a mouthful of muddy water."
"Meanwhile, the nobles living in the Seireitei and the forward districts enjoy treatment that commoners wouldn't dare to dream of."
"Yet even so, they remain unsatisfied."
"Whether for some illusory, laughable glory, or for the greedy desires deep in their hearts, they have built countless places like this in the Soul Society—"
"Hell."
Naraku Sora sighed and gripped the Zanpakutō at his waist.
"So, dealing with people like this... letting them die once and for all is a bit too much of a pity. It would also be unfair to those souls they treated like grass."
"What do you think, Sōsuke?"
Aizen fell silent for a moment. He suddenly realized that compared to Naraku Sora, he was a bit too conservative.
However, this was probably the reason he could get along with this guy.
The Kyakko covered their figures as he activated Kakushitsuijaku again. Spirit particle threads crossed the dissection room, penetrated the ground, and disappeared below.
Just as Aizen was attempting to find the entrance to the basement through other methods, Naraku Sora's nose twitched, and his eyes lit up.
"Northwest direction!"
...
...
Underground Level 2. In a bright laboratory, dozens of figures were busy moving back and forth.
In the center of the room lay a hideous corpse several meters long. Beside it was a pool of bright red blood with a Zanpakutō submerged in it, leaving only the hilt exposed.
On the back of the corpse, a huge gash ran from the neck to the lumbar vertebrae, almost splitting it in two.
From time to time, someone would cut a piece of flesh from it and throw it into the blood pool.
Right next to the corpse, a figure stood with arms crossed, quietly watching the research process.
If Naraku Sora were here, he would discover that this person's appearance was extremely similar to the intruder he had killed previously—Araki Shin.
"Araki-sama, aren't we being a bit too hasty?"
"The disappearance of a village has already attracted the attention of the Gotei 13."
Someone whispered with a face full of ingratiating smiles.
Hearing this, the man addressed as Araki-sama became somewhat annoyed.
"Idiot, do you think I don't know that?!"
"If it weren't for those trash being locked in the Shin'ō Prison, we wouldn't need to be in such a rush at all. Once the matters here are leaked..."
However, before he could finish speaking, a thunderous noise suddenly came from the main door above.
Countless gazes snapped toward the direction of the sound, only to see the hard metal door instantly blasted to pieces.
Amidst the permeating dust, scorching flames surged like a tide, sweeping down toward them in an instant!