Raizen Kō stared at the pale fragment of light resting in his palm.
It pulsed softly.
Stable.
Pure.
Not corrupted Reishi.
Not residual Reiatsu.
It was unmistakable.
A fragment of the Reiō the Soul King.
The unconscious young woman at their feet was a carrier.
That alone explained why she could perceive Ginjō Kūgo in spirit form.
In the World of the Living, there were only a few known circumstances under which a human could perceive Shinigami and Hollows.
One: an abnormally high level of innate spiritual awareness and Reiryoku.
Two: prolonged exposure to powerful spiritual forces, such as Hollow attacks.
And three
Possession of a fragment of the Soul King.
Such individuals often developed the capacity for Fullbring, the ability to draw out and manipulate the "soul" of matter itself.
Ginjō Kūgo was a convergence of anomalies.
A human born carrying a Soul King fragment.
Later exposed to Hollow power.
And now
Granted Shinigami Reiatsu by Raizen.
A tri-fold existence.
In the distant future, similar beings would appear only twice more:
Ichigo Kurosaki, and
Hikone Ubuginu, the artificial hybrid created after the Thousand-Year Blood War.
Such existences were not accidents.
They were distortions in the system.
"Soul King candidates…" Raizen murmured.
And now
This woman had been carrying such a fragment as well.
Ordinarily, even if she awakened Fullbring, it would take years of spiritual stimulation to manifest. But before that could occur
Ginjō had simply reached in
And removed it.
Raizen's eyes narrowed.
The act had been clean.
Effortless.
No spiritual backlash.
No soul damage.
He recalled what little he knew of the incident involving Sōsuke Aizen and Rangiku Matsumoto. Extracting a Soul King fragment required precision and specialized means. Even then, it was said the process destabilized the host's spiritual foundation.
Yet Ginjō
A child
Had plucked the fragment free like dew from a leaf.
Without injury.
Without resistance.
Raizen's thoughts sharpened.
"No wonder," he muttered quietly. "In the future, he could steal Ichigo's Fullbring."
This was not ordinary spiritual manipulation.
This was authority.
Authority over fragments of the Reiō.
Raizen studied the fragment more closely.
It reminded him faintly of the Hōgyoku the boundary-shattering orb jointly researched by Aizen and Kisuke Urahara.
But unlike the volatile instability of the incomplete Hōgyoku he once encountered
This fragment was serene.
Balanced.
Almost obedient.
"Did they use the Reiō's power as the conceptual template…" Raizen wondered, "…when constructing the Hōgyoku?"
"Makoto-Nii," Ginjō asked innocently, "do you want that little light?"
Raizen did not hesitate.
"Yes."
His voice was steady, but inside, exhilaration surged.
This was not coincidence.
This was opportunity.
As they spoke
The air above Yūhua Town trembled.
Without sound.
Without distortion perceptible to ordinary senses.
A Garganta slit open in the void.
From it emerged a tall figure clad in pale, segmented armor resembling a centipede's exoskeleton, traced with dark gold patterns.
A Hollow.
But not entirely.
It was Raizen's Hueco Mundo incarnation an Arrancar vessel created through devouring and evolution.
Its Reiatsu was perfectly suppressed.
The moment it stepped into the World of the Living, it activated Sonído at extreme compression
Crossing half the town in a flicker invisible even to Ginjō's sharpened senses.
In less than a heartbeat
The fragment in Raizen's hand vanished.
Transferred seamlessly.
Simultaneously, a small sliver of the centipede-like armor detached from the Arrancar's chest, falling into Raizen's palm.
The Garganta closed.
Gone.
The entire exchange took less than a second.
Ginjō noticed nothing.
The fragment now rested safely in Hueco Mundo.
In Raizen's palm, the detached armor piece wriggled
Shrinking.
Reshaping.
Until it became a small, pale centipede with faint golden markings.
Raizen knelt and handed it to Ginjō.
"Keep this with you."
The boy blinked. "It's… alive?"
"It will help you sense others like that woman," Raizen explained calmly. "People carrying fragments like the one you just removed."
Ginjō tilted his head.
"So I can help them?"
"Yes."
Raizen's gaze sharpened slightly.
"When you find them, extract the fragment as you did just now. Feed it to this creature."
The centipede lifted its head faintly, as if acknowledging the instruction.
"If the fragment is removed cleanly," Raizen continued, "the host will return to being an ordinary human. They will no longer attract Hollows."
Ginjō nodded seriously.
"And listen carefully," Raizen added.
"You must avoid other Shinigami. To them, you are an anomaly. If discovered prematurely, you may be detained… or erased."
Ginjō stiffened.
"And if that happens?"
"Never mention me."
The boy met his gaze.
After a moment, he nodded.
"I understand, Makoto-Nii."
Without hesitation, he placed the small centipede upon his shoulder.
It curled there quietly.
He felt no fear.
Only trust.
Raizen observed him silently.
The centipede was more than a tool.
It was a surveillance extension linked to his Hollow counterpart's consciousness.
Through it, Raizen would perceive everything around Ginjō.
And more importantly
The centipede carried a faint suppression property derived from Hollow camouflage ability, subtly masking Ginjō's spiritual fluctuations.
Enough to avoid casual detection.
Not enough to fool a Captain.
But sufficient for now.
"Makoto-Nii…"
Ginjō's voice wavered.
"You're leaving, aren't you?"
Raizen paused.
The boy's perception was sharp.
"Yes," Raizen admitted.
"For a while."
Tears welled instantly.
"I'll miss you…"
For all his future notoriety future leader of Xcution, enemy of Soul Society
Right now, he was only seven.
A child who had finally found someone who treated him as family.
Raizen placed a hand atop his head.
"Kūgo is a man," he said softly. "And men don't cry so easily."
The words were stern.
The tone was not.
"Will we meet again?" Ginjō asked through tears.
"Yes."
And this time, Raizen did not hesitate.
"In the near future, we will fight side by side."
He stood and gestured toward the orphanage.
"Grow stronger."
Ginjō nodded firmly and ran off, wiping his face.
Raizen remained alone beneath the dim streetlights.
The air was quiet.
His mission complete.
His experiment successful.
And in Hueco Mundo
A Soul King fragment had just been secured.
A faint smirk touched his lips.
"…Am I exploiting child labor?"
The thought lingered briefly.
Then vanished.
In this world
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