While Hirako Shinji was still trying to say something to stall for time, Naraku Sora, who never wasted a moment, had already raised a blade erupting with piercing thunder and swung it toward him.s
"Bakudo Number Eighty-One: Danku!"
A massive amount of Reishi suddenly condensed, and an indestructible transparent barrier appeared out of thin air.
The destructive lightning billowed from the Zanpakuto, surging straight ahead and tearing through the air. It converged into a terrifying line, looking as if it had split the very earth in two.
The crisp sound of shattering was, to Hirako Shinji's ears, far too deafening.
He watched in shock as tiny cracks spread across the Danku barrier, with countless distorted golden electrical arcs dancing upon it.
Danku, which was supposed to completely defend against Hado below number eighty-nine, appeared exceptionally fragile before this bizarre sword pressure.
'What kind of monster is this?'
Accompanied by the pouring of a massive amount of spiritual pressure, a pure radiance rose. Hirako Shinji's power erupted as he held his sword with both hands to push back.
This guy had first defeated Sakanade and then shattered a Danku; he must have consumed a lot of energy. Perhaps he could use that point to complete a counter-kill.
Hirako Shinji's expression hardened, and a fighting spirit never seen before emerged in his calm eyes. The moment Danku completely shattered, he erupted with spiritual pressure strong enough to distort the air.
Boom!
The moment their blades collided, Hirako Shinji realized just how wrong he had been.
A majestic force accompanied by a thunderous roar crashed down. With just this one strike, the ground beneath his feet trembled.
The parrying stance Hirako Shinji had struggled to gather was instantly crushed. His vision went dark, and he was nearly driven into the ground like a nail.
But before he could catch his breath, a blade moving faster than the speed of sound trailed violent flames, illuminating Hirako Shinji's stunned face.
The firelight was fleeting.
A magnificent explosion of flames rose once more. Naraku Sora's eyes burned with the aggression of fire, and he felt a long-lost sense of exhilaration.
Compared to the opponents who crumbled after a single hit earlier, this one was substantial enough.
In an instant, his spiritual pressure surged. He showed no mercy with the strike, which was like a volcanic eruption, vast and soaring toward the sky.
The condensed sword light fell, and violent currents and aftershocks ravaged the area ahead.
It cut through spiritual pressure and whistled forward.
In the boiling dust of the barracks, amidst the collapsing buildings and the high-altitude currents sweeping through the sky, a rift suddenly appeared.
Everywhere the blade passed, everything was sliced in two.
Tear—
A sound like ripping silk erupted from Hirako Shinji's body. Blood sprayed out as a horrific gash spread from his left shoulder all the way down to his waist.
The rebellion of his Zanpakuto had caused his spiritual pressure to drop to an appalling level. Moreover, although his opponent's spiritual pressure was not overly strong, it possessed a qualitative difference. The collision between the two was like an egg hitting a stone.
It shattered upon contact.
In his daze, Hirako Shinji seemed to see a familiar face. From the distribution of the features, it looked very much like the kid who often visited the Fifth Squad.
Wait, the ability of Sakanade seemed to have been deactivated!
His eyes snapped open. Just as he was about to say something, he found that the familiar face suddenly zoomed in, and then a fist was thrown without another word.
The heavy punch, wrapped in spiritual pressure, occupied Hirako Shinji's entire field of vision and stuffed the words back into his throat.
Under the impact of the straight punch, Hirako Shinji's vision went black, and he immediately lost consciousness.
Aizen arrived with a Shunpo. Looking at the Captain lying on the ground, he sighed. "The ability of Sakanade was already deactivated just now. Why did you still hit him so hard?"
Naraku Sora gave him a strange look. "Didn't you say before that Hirako Shinji was targeting you a bit too much and suspected he might have noticed something?"
"I thought I might as well take this chance to help you vent a little."
Hearing this, Aizen's expression suddenly became somewhat complicated. He hadn't expected a casual remark of his would be remembered by this guy for so long.
"The crisis of the Fifth Squad is temporarily over."
Naraku Sora suddenly jumped onto the roof, standing at the highest point to look toward the other directions of the Seireitei.
"But judging from the chaotic spiritual pressure permeating the air, this is a disaster affecting the entire Gotei 13."
Hearing his words, Aizen focused his perception for a moment and nodded. "There are indeed many unusual spiritual pressure fluctuations. Not just the Fifth Squad—the situation in the other squads probably isn't much better."
Naraku Sora stroked his chin with a thoughtful expression. "It doesn't make sense. Koga shouldn't be this extreme."
The only one capable of making Zanpakuto rebel against their masters was the Zanpakuto Muramasa.
"Has he been acting strangely lately?" Aizen looked up.
Naraku Sora recalled seriously. "A few days ago, when Koga returned from the Rukongai, a bizarre sneak attack occurred."
"The area he was in was suddenly covered by a Kido barrier. Immediately after, the Zanpakuto of the Soul Reaper soldiers rebelled collectively, in a state identical to when Muramasa uses its ability."
"Then Koga moved with lightning speed, shattering all of those people's Zanpakuto to stop a disaster from occurring."
"Later, although there was no evidence that Koga did it, because the situation was too severe, he was temporarily confined by Old Man Yama."
"I visited him specifically when I went to the First Squad a few days ago."
Aizen frowned. "Are you sure Kuchiki Koga wasn't just being superficial with you, intentionally telling lies to deceive you?"
"Perhaps all of that was a scene he directed and acted out himself."
Naraku Sora shook his head. "If it were before I met the guy, I might think so too. But we've known each other for so long now; there's no need for that."
"From my intuition and our interactions, he belongs to the same type of person as me."
"The only difference is that his mind is a bit prejudiced and he tends to go to extremes easily, unlike me, who possesses such enviable wisdom."
Aizen ignored the nonsense and thought quietly for a while. Then, he looked up at Naraku Sora and said seriously, "Sora, those guys might not be able to hold back anymore—"
The First Squad barracks.
Two figures stood in opposition. The surging spiritual pressure flickered like electrical arcs, thunder erupted, and the smell of burning permeated the air.
One person was Lieutenant Sasakibe Chojiro.
The other was a figure in samurai attire, carrying a decoration shaped like a small Western building on his back, holding a long staff wrapped in white cloth. His face was filled with dissatisfaction.
"Gonryomaru, is it Kuchiki Koga?"
Sasakibe Chojiro's expression was cold and solemn. "What exactly is his goal in causing such severe turmoil? Does he know the ultimate consequences?"
Gonryomaru shook his head. "I don't know and I don't care. The reason I appeared before you is simply to take revenge."
"Revenge on me?" Sasakibe Chojiro showed a look of bewilderment.
Gonryomaru raised the long staff and pointed it forward. "That's right. As a Zanpakuto, I'm not only unable to fight like other blades, but I rarely even get to perform daily training."
"When was the last time you and I fought side by side? I'm afraid it has been hundreds of years."
"The you of the past dared to draw your blade against the King of the Quincies, but now you are content to spend every day running around for useless scrolls and documents."
"Chojiro, repent for your actions."
The moment the words fell, Gonryomaru charged toward Sasakibe Chojiro like a warrior, and the sizzling purple lightning arrived instantly.
Boom!
Thunder erupted on level ground.
Looking at the deep crater smashed into the ground, Sasakibe Chojiro's face turned pale.
Just as Gonryomaru said, he had indeed been busy with official duties over the years and had neglected training and combat. He had even ignored the Zanpakuto upon which a Soul Reaper relies.
Now he could only swallow this bitter fruit.
He just wondered how things were on the Captain Commander's side. If Ryujin Jakka rebelled like Gonryomaru, then the trouble would be immense.
"Hmph, Chojiro, you dare to be distracted while fighting me?"
As the one who understood Sasakibe Chojiro best, Gonryomaru knew exactly what was going on in his old friend's head with just one glance.
The metal staff was suddenly raised. A terrifying light, enough to sear a normal person's eyes, glowed upon it as sizzling electrical arcs rioted crazily.
In the next moment, the surging lightning shot straight into the sky.
Suddenly, the heavens cracked.
Heavy black clouds gathered, shrouding the sky above the barracks. Violent electricity brewed within them, looking like angry sea serpents rising and falling in an ocean of ink.
A terrifying natural disaster was brewing.
Sasakibe Chojiro's expression suddenly turned grave, and his body tensed up.
As one of the few Zanpakuto capable of changing the weather, Gonryomaru's destructive power was among the best. If it weren't for him holding it back, perhaps Gonryomaru's fame would be even greater than it was now.
The metal staff pointed from a distance.
The electrical arcs wandering in the dark clouds condensed instantly and crashed down toward Sasakibe Chojiro's position. The roar was deafening, and the brilliant light dispelled all shadows in the buildings.
The lightning fell, the ground shook, and countless cracks erupted. The shockwave of the impact spread in all directions.
Sasakibe Chojiro avoided the strike by a hair's breadth, but other electrical arcs followed closely behind as if they had eyes, crashing down one after another at the landing points of his Shunpo.
As the strongest lightning-type Zanpakuto, although it was limited by the Soul Reaper's own power, when it established a close connection with the sky, the consumption of this level of attack was almost zero.
As long as Gonryomaru wanted to, he could release lightning without limit.
"Gonryomaru, listen to my explanation—"
Sasakibe Chojiro dodged the attacks in a flurry, trying to use his sincerity to move the manipulated Zanpakuto.
But Gonryomaru, who was in a fit of rage, had no desire to talk. While mocking him, he did not forget to summon lightning to strike down.
He pressed forward, swinging the metal staff with a whistling wind. The electrical arcs leaped and crisscrossed, once suppressing Sasakibe Chojiro into a disadvantage.
"Explanation?"
"Do you want to use a few light words to cover up the pain of being ignored by you for a hundred years?"
"You don't understand this feeling of not being valued at all, Chojiro!"
While speaking, spiritual pressure condensed to its limit erupted.
A dazzling light soared into the sky, completely swallowing the figure in front.
Sasakibe Chojiro was sent flying back at a speed the naked eye could not catch. He flew across the battlefield, over the chaotic ruins, and smashed through several walls before finally coming to a halt.
"Huff—"
This Lieutenant of the First Squad was scorched black. He had injuries of varying degrees on his face, chest, and waist.
His chest heaved unevenly, and his breathing was extremely erratic.
Facts proved that a rebelled Zanpakuto would truly show no mercy when turning against its master.
"It's over, Chojiro."
Before he could recover, Gonryomaru had already appeared before him, holding the metal staff high. Electrical arcs filled with an aura of destruction flickered continuously.
Just as the staff was about to fall, intense heat erupted from the street. A crescent-like sword pressure swept across a hundred meters, instantly swallowing Gonryomaru.
In the roar of the explosion, the figure was blown away.
In a daze, Sasakibe Chojiro struggled to open his eyes and realized a blurry, familiar figure had appeared directly in front of him.
Intense heat aggressively invaded outward, and jumping flames distorted the atmosphere. The intimidating pressure made it difficult to look directly at him.
It felt as if he had returned to that war hundreds of years ago. Although it was just a back view, it gave off an indescribable sense of security.
"Gen... Genryusai-sama—"
"Hmm? What nonsense are you talking about, Sasakibe-dono?"
Naraku Sora, who had sent Gonryomaru flying with one slash, turned his head. "I haven't even asked you yet—with such a serious incident happening in the Seireitei, where did Teacher go?"
Hearing this familiar voice, Sasakibe Chojiro snapped back to his senses and finally identified the figure standing before him.
So it wasn't Genryusai-sama—
"I'm not quite sure. I was just processing some scrolls when I suddenly sensed an abnormality in the Zanpakuto. By the time I regained my senses, Gonryomaru had appeared in the room in a materialized form."
Sasakibe Chojiro stood up with difficulty from the ruins and shook his head, looking toward the Captain Commander's office with some concern.
At that moment, the blown-away Gonryomaru returned. Wrapped in purple lightning, he pierced through the air like a spear, charging toward the two of them.
Sasakibe Chojiro suddenly straightened his back and shouted sternly, "Gonryomaru, are you still refusing to wake up?"
"Your nature shouldn't be like this; you are just being influenced by another power—"
Before he could finish, Naraku Sora slashed out with a grin. The scorching sword pressure fell like a bomb, and flames soared into the sky.
"A guy who doesn't listen should be properly disciplined."
"Sasakibe-dono, why are you wasting words with him?"
After saying that, the figure, aggressive as fire, suddenly charged out and instantly appeared before Gonryomaru.
Looking at that close-up, brutal smile, a sudden surge of panic rose in Gonryomaru's heart.
"Wait, I—"
Naraku Sora stretched his arms, his joints popping with the sound of thunder. A heat like a volcanic eruption swept in.
Ikkotsu!
The fist that occupied the entire world expanded in Gonryomaru's vision. Even the most powerful lightning could not stop its momentum.
Under Sasakibe Chojiro's hesitant gaze, Gonryomaru—who had nearly defeated him—fell apart in sudden agony.
He was cleanly and decisively blown apart by Naraku Sora's punch!