Chapter ten

Karakura Town is by no means a deserted rural town. Located in the heart of the Tokyo suburbs, a railway runs through its center. It boasts a population of over a hundred thousand and a general hospital beside Main Karakura Town Station that is larger than those in neighboring towns. Because of that, nonresidents and residents alike use the station, and a large number of people travel in and out of the town.

In order to protect the town from Aizen in the past, the Soul Reapers orchestrated a ruse to transfer its hundred thousand inhabitants to the Soul Society, though many Soul Reapers found that unfathomable given the labor it involved and the fact that ordinary humans were fools. It had been a large-scale operation in which Soul Reaper craftsmen had worked together to temporarily halt trains and cars from entering or leaving the town; oversaw the surrounding region’s electricity, water, and sewage lines to ensure there was no mishap; and even manipulated the memories of vast numbers of residents in the area surrounding Karakura Town.

As a result, the Soul Reapers had successfully implemented their ploy to deceive the world while isolating Karakura Town. Though there had been sacrifices, when the Seireitei considered the goals of Aizen and the Arran-cars, they had gotten away with minimal casualties.

And now Karakura Town was once more isolated from the world.

The isolator’s goals were unknown.

If a wall that divided the dimensions of reality physically existed, it would have appeared as what now divided the town—a gloomy virtual reality curtain of static that was imperceptible to the ordinary human eye.

However, the isolation was permeable. The trains did not stop. Cars made their way across the city limits of neighboring towns as usual and the same was true of pedestrians. Sparrows and other birds flitted across the sky and the flow of the rivers hadn’t even stalled. It was just a normal day. Despite that, the town most certainly had been isolated.

“Huh? The TV isn’t showing anything!”

“Hello? Hellooo? Huh? The line cut out…”

“I haven’t got a signal.

“I don’t either.”

“I give up. I can’t get my email to work…”

“Are you kidding me? The connection dropped right when I was about to win?!”

Such statements were heard across Karakura Town.

All manner of communications devices and signal-receiving equipment that connected the town to the outside world ceased to work, and electronic communications outside the town were cut off entirely.

However, that was only the case for mere minutes.

First the TV signal returned—then the radio, the landlines, wireless, the internet, and the cell phones each came back in turn. The people were mystified but explained away the phenomenon in their own ways, as an outage at the relevant facilities, and went back to their daily lives. They did not notice that in those brief few minutes, their communications devices, easily over a hundred thousand in number, had all been tagged. And that based on that tag, a portion of those devices hadn’t reconnected even after the minutes had passed.

“Huh…that’s strange…”

When Ururu said that, Jinta replied in a pained voice, “What’s so strange? You know what I think is strange? The situation I’m in right now!”

Ignoring Jinta, who held half of the five hundred kilograms of bouncy balls by himself, Ururu wondered aloud to Tessai, who walked next to her, “Mr. Tessai, my cell phone isn’t working anymore.”

“Heh! You probably visited a dirty site and broke it buh buh buh boo boo hya ha ha! Stop! Wa—! Wait! Why you little…! Don’t tickle me right now!”

Ignoring Jinta, whose knees were shaking and on the verge of collapse, Tessai answered Ururu. “Hm? Perhaps it’s electromagnetic interference?”

In contrast to Jinta, who lugged two hundred fifty kilograms of bags on his back, Tessai was easily carrying the same weight using just one arm. He used his free hand to pull out his own cell phone and checked his signal.

“You’re right. My phone isn’t connecting either.”

After manipulating the phone in several ways, Tessai knitted his eyebrows together.

“This is no normal interference, it seems. I also sense a strange disturbance in spiritual pressure… We should get back to the shop quickly.”

“Karakura Town should be right ahead of here… What the heck is this?”

There was a boundary line along the west side of Karakura Town. A young Soul Reaper in charge of the next town over had arrived at the site.

“Right after the Seireitei sends out an emergency communication… Was this a Hollow’s doing? Or a Quincy’s?” The Soul Reaper muttered to himself in front of the peculiar barrier.

The film, which was projected into the sky like a hologram, emitted static as it cut through the town. However, cars, passersby, and even trains were plunging into the membrane and passing through as though nothing were amiss.

“All right! The hell with it!”

Though he faltered at first, the proactive Soul Reaper finally took a step directly into that membrane.

Then…

“Hm? What? I went through it just like normal…”

Just as he said that, he noticed another Soul Reaper right in front of his eyes.

“Who’re you? I thought Karakura Town was managed by a young guy and a girl?”

In response, the middle-aged Soul Reaper, who sported graying hair, posed a question back to the young Soul Reaper: “I’m the Soul Reaper in charge of Kagamino City, east of here. I’d actually like to ask you the same question. You just came out of Karakura Town, didn’t you? What’s going on in there right now?”

“What?”

At that point the young Soul Reaper realized something was off. The scene around him was entirely different from before he’d gone through the membrane.

“Where am I? Where’s the station?”

“This is the east side of Karakura Town. Do you mean Main Karakura Town Station? You weren’t…on the west side of the town, were you?”

That was when they both realized it—the membrane functioned differently for normal humans than it did for Soul Reapers. Then, simultaneously, they were both concerned for the well-being of the Soul Reapers inside.

“You think they’re okay? I don’t think those in charge of Karakura Town are that strong…”

“In any case, we need to report this to the top. But, you know, Karakura Town has Ichigo Kurosaki, former captain Isshin, and also the former captain Urahara. I’m sure he’ll be able to figure out a solution.”

They didn’t know.

They had no idea that Ichigo Kurosaki and Isshin Kurosaki were both currently out of town, and in their place an assistant captain was there—one who couldn’t compare with either of them in terms of firepower.

≡

Urahara Shoten

“Yukio Hans Vorarlberna…”

For a moment, Hisagi was bewildered by the long name, but he had certainly heard it while interviewing others about Ichigo Kurosaki. And he remembered it was a name he’d heard recently.

“Yukio and Riruka transported us there directly. We were crossing a pretty dangerous bridge, you know?”

“Huh! Aren’t you one of Ginjo’s people?”

“Possibly. So who’re you? I haven’t got any business with anyone except Mr. Urahara, to be blunt.”

Hisagi clenched his hands into fists as he replied to the boy who spoke indifferently through the airborne monitor. “I’m the Ninth Company assistant captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies, Hisa—”

“Oh, I really don’t care. Doesn’t seem like there's much point in knowing anyway.”

“What?! What’s with you?! All you had to do was be patient for a little longer and listen! You’re doing exactly the opposite of what that Ganju guy did!”

Ignoring Hisagi, who stomped his feet, Yukio turned to Urahara and started to address him. “Guess it’s been half a year. I’d like you to come with me for a bit.”

“Oh, I would have gone to you if you had rung me up in advance. Besides, I’ve more or less guessed what you want.”

“Oh, have you…”

In contrast to Yukio’s narrowed eyes, Hisagi’s eyes were wide with surprise as he asked, “Are you serious, Mr. Urahara? You know what this guy wants…?”

Urahara snapped his fan closed and smiled boldly. “The president of Y-Hans Enterprises, which has scaled up rapidly with gaming projects as its foundation while also focusing on the entertainment industry as a whole, could only be seeking one thing from me.”

Then he opened the fan he had just closed with a flashy sound and declared, “Of course! You must be scouting me!”

“Whaa…?”

Hisagi looked as though he had no idea how to react, while Yukio was entirely expressionless. Ignoring the two, Urahara continued shamelessly, “Well, I suppose you could say I have an eye for trends, as the owner of a humble candy shop who develops his own new products. If I dare say so myself, I thought a large corporation would set their sights on me eventually. But it’s a problem for me if you think I’m only motivated by money. If you want to buy an old town worker’s soul, I’d rather you offer good faith over cash. Yes, to put it in practical terms, how does seven percent of the company shares sound?”

“So you just wanted money after all! Seven percent?! That’s audacious! And is Karakura Town even considered old town?! Also, it’s not like a small-time candy store would be developing their own in-house product line in any case!”

“Mr. Hisagi, you’re really so polite when you make fun of people, aren’t you? Mr. Vorarlberna, you should take notes.”

Urahara spoke without any shame whatsoever, but Yukio didn’t become exasperated or angry; instead he remarked indifferently, “You really are frightening. Wouldn’t want to come across someone like you in a PvP game.

“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“While you were making dumb jokes, you were observing all of my reactions, weren’t you? You were trying to upset me from the moment you started making a fool out of that guy, weren’t you?”

“You’re giving me too much credit. Do I look like such a villain?” Urahara smiled wryly as he pulled his hat low over his head and glared up brazenly from under its brim at Yukio beyond the monitor. “It’s the nature of my business to size people up, but it’s not as though I can see everything.”

Seeing Urahara deftly dodge this jab, Yukio sighed and said, “Uh-huh. But you at least know that I’m not here to recruit you, right? This is the main deduction phase. Can you guess my goal even though I haven’t given you the main evidence yet?”

“I’d like to say I’ve seen through you already, but I’m still not certain I have. How many questions do I get? At the very least, since I know you’re not here to murder us and don’t bear us any hostility, I’m now hoping to get some extra time.”

“Huh?”

So he’s not hostile toward us?

Come to think of it, I definitely don’t get the sense that he’s attacking.

Hisagi could tell that Yukio’s power was to fuse the digital virtual world with the real world, based on the monitor that had appeared in midair and the phenomenon of static noise that had started to flicker around the shop. Because of that, he was cautious of the possibility that Yukio could rewrite his body’s information as he used his spiritual pressure senses to search for Yukio’s actual whereabouts. While he certainly didn’t feel like he had been attacked, he remembered being manipulated in the past, when a Quincy named Pepe had attacked him without his knowledge, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

Damn it, why’d I remember that? Why did I let that bizarre old man do that to me…

When he remembered the time he had temporarily “loved” the Quincy due to the brainwashing power of Schrift, he shook his head and scowled.

“Mr. Urahara, you said this guy isn’t hostile… Well then, why’d he go out of his way to cut off Karakura Town?”

Though he had already sent in the requisite message to request a Gentei Kaijo from the Soul Society, he still hadn’t received a reply. It was likely that the transmission had been jammed somehow, but he had no way of checking whether it had been cut off just like the town. Though Hisagi had trained to battle while holding back a vast majority of his power, as was now the case, even an Adjuchas-class Hollow would have forced a tough fight on him.

“Yeah, it was definitely me who cut off the town.”

Yukio himself was the one who replied to Hisagi’s question.

Hisagi looked at Yukio doubtfully, but even his intuition didn’t sense that the kid was hostile. As Hisagi was trying to figure out what Yukio’s goal could be if that were the case, Yukio continued. “That’s right, no hostility here…from me, that is.”

At around that time, there was a change in the place. Hisagi sensed the faint disturbance of spiritual pressure behind him as he silently leapt forward and turned back to the spot where he had been standing. Right at that moment, human figures that had appeared from the midair static were standing there, lashing the air with oddly decorated, expandable batons. Though the batons were not blades, the force with which the blunt weapons were brought down was such that one wouldn’t go unscathed if they connected with one’s head. Given a Soul Reaper’s physical resilience, they probably wouldn’t have done much harm to him, but he knew these weren’t just normal batons.

More importantly, when Hisagi saw the figures holding those batons rush out of the static, one after another, to surround him, he concluded that the situation had long since progressed into a battle. The reason he’d been able to dodge them instantaneously while listening to Urahara’s joking around was likely due to his many years of experience battling as a Soul Reaper. Hisagi reached for the hilt of his zanpaku-to as he observed the group of people who had appeared in front of Urahara Shoten.

This isn’t any Hollow or Quincy spiritual pressure.

Are these guys…humans?

The group of men and women were not even the konpaku of the deceased, and the colors of their spirit ribbons marked them as people no different from any others who lived in the world of the living. Because they were all wearing homogenous black suits etched with white patterns and identically colored gas masks on their faces, Hisagi couldn’t see their expressions.

If they’re human, it’s not like I can cut them down just like that.

But even if they’re just humans, being outnumbered like this is still a problem…

Hisagi attempted to use shunpo and hakuda in order to stun them all, but…

“Huh?!”

The moment he went around behind his opponents using shunpo, he felt something strange afoot and immediately leapt back a step. In that instant, a baton grazed the tip of his nose. The moment he had circled around them into what should have been their blind spot, they had attacked him with a precision that made it seem as though they had eyes on the backs of their heads. Furthermore, their movements seemed much faster than a normal human’s, even far outstripping those of a general Soul Reaper soldier.

What is with these guys?!

Did they use spirit senses to figure out where I was?

Soul Reapers and Hollows, as well as some special humans, could use spirit pressure senses—which were often referred to as spirit senses—to deduce the spiritual pressure of others. Despite that, Hisagi was hard-pressed to believe that normal humans who lived in the living world were capable of that, so he suspected there was a chance the people he faced might possess powers. Naturally, his opponents gave him no time to investigate. While dodging the baton strikes of the group attacking him continually from all sides, Hisagi sensed a subtle, strange change taking place in his body.

What is this?

Am I getting slower…?

Even taking into account that he hadn’t obtained a Gentei Kaijo, it felt as though his reaction times were about ten percent slower than usual. His body lagged just a moment behind the reactions in his mind.

Urahara, who was watching Hisagi, narrowed his eyes and muttered, “Poison… No, this is konpaku and reishi subjugation, I think.”

“Huh?! What’s going on, Mr. Urahara?!”

“Of course, that gentleman wearing all black just grazed you with a baton, right? It feels as though your spiritual pressure has been slightly disturbed since that moment. It’s likely a Fullbring that uses contact as an operational trigger.” Urahara described in detail the conjecture brought about by his observations.

“I see… I knew I could depend on you, Mr. Urahara. I can’t believe you’re cool-headed enough to think that through in the middle of a fight like this…huh?”

Dodging the attacks, Hisagi had been impressed. But he couldn’t help but notice the significant difference between his circumstances and Urahara’s.

“Wait… Am I the only one being attacked here?!”

All of the black-clad people in gas masks who had appeared around the shop were attacking only Hisagi and made no attempt to approach Urahara, even though he appeared defenseless at first glance.

“Well, I wonder what could be going on here? I suppose you could say we just have different aptitudes?”

“Doesn’t it seem unfair?! Hey…this is Yukio’s doing, right? What’s your deal?!”

Hisagi shouted at the image projected in midair, but Yukio seemed bored as he answered, “Weren’t you listening? Didn’t I just say my business is with Mr. Urahara?”

“You mean your ‘business’ wasn’t to make him disappear?”

“If it were, I’d already have launched a surprise attack. Do I look like the type who’d openly announce his intentions before attacking?”

Looking at Yukio, the static flickering in midair around the screen, Hisagi clucked and said, “No, you don’t.” Then he hit a human dressed in black who was assaulting him with the back of his palm.

“Then why are you attacking me? Although, in light of what Ginjo told me, I understand why anyone who’s friends with him would hate Soul Reapers.”

Because of the Soul Reapers’ betrayal, Ginjo’s former Fullbringer friends had been slaughtered. Hisagi wouldn’t be surprised if any Fullbringer who had heard about this from Ginjo would consider Soul Reapers as sworn foes, to be taken down at any opportunity. Maybe Urahara wasn’t being attacked because they knew he had been exiled from the Soul Reaper's world? Hisagi speculated that that was the case as he parried the black-clothed group’s attacks, and faint surprise showed on Yukio’s face as he heard the Soul Reaper’s words.

“Oh? So Kugo went so far as to tell you about that?”

He started to show an interest in Hisagi for the first time, whereas before he had been about as interested in him as a stone by the roadside, and he said, “I doubt that Kugo would have folded to torture and interrogation. How do you know him?”

“We shared a drink once… We’re neither friends nor enemies right now.”

“Oh…?”

“Well, I would describe it as the relationship between a journalist and their subject… Hey, if you’re interested in what I have to say, would you at least stop these guys?!”

Hisagi parried with his attackers, ultimately leaping high in the air to escape them. He solidified the reishi at his feet in a spot the people could not reach and stood in the air. Hisagi stared at Yukio’s projection on the screen, which was now at his eye level, and took stock of the situation.

Well, I’m glad I wasn’t in a gigai. If an ordinary human saw me flying through the air…

Wait a sec! If they can see my spirit body, then does that mean everyone down there is a Fullbringer?

Supposing that all the people in black were Fullbringers, there was a possibility they could even leap up to his level. Realizing this wasn’t a situation where he could catch a breath, Hisagi rose up even higher, then once again looked down at the group in black below him.

At that moment, a voice resonated from below and in front of him.

“What a surprise…”

“Huh?!”

A tremble ran down Hisagi’s spine.

“I never expected the Soul Society would hire journalists…”

The whispering sound of the voice felt to Hisagi like it had the power to make his brain melt, and he momentarily forgot he was standing in a battleground. The very odd-sounding voice and the fact that it seemed to emanate from a place that was absent of spiritual pressure made Hisagi, who was used to battle, wary.

“Who’re you? You don’t seem like a Soul Reaper or a Hollow…”

When Hisagi slowly lowered his gaze, a beautiful young woman appeared before his eyes. She was wearing a suit that had both a dignified and seductive air and emitted an aura of enigmatic charm.

“Are you a Quincy? No…that’s not it. If you’re in league with Yukio, I guess that makes you a Fullbringer.”

“You’re exactly right… No.”

She stopped speaking, and the moment he looked down the woman disappeared as though she had been dispersed into the air.

“Huh?!”

Hisagi was in shock. Just as he was thinking it was some sort of illusion Yukio had created, he realized an arm was wrapped around the upper half of his body.

“Uh… Huh?!”

He didn’t feel as though anything were touching him. Hisagi’s keen spiritual pressure senses didn’t detect anything at all out of place, and as he turned, shaking off the arm in a panic, his hand cut through empty air. However, his eyes most certainly saw a slender arm gently hugging him close from behind. And as though to prove it wasn’t a hallucination, a woman’s beguiling voice resonated in his ear, “I suppose this is when I’m supposed to say ‘exacta,’ Ninth Company Assistant Captain?”

“What…?!”

Hisagi’s suspicion of his enemy rose by several degrees. This peculiar expression, “exacta,” was the favorite phrase of the Arrancar Findorr Calius, whom Hisagi had fought previously in this place—or, to be more accurate, in a replica town modeled after Karakura. He had told Yukio his title earlier, but this meant that the woman must have inside information about Hisagi. On top of that, she knew about the particulars of the battle he had fought here. And if she could get so close to Hisagi in midair, without revealing any indication of her presence, he couldn’t underestimate her as an ordinary human.

“You sure have done your homework. What, are you a fan of mine or something?”

He couldn’t underestimate her—even if she was an alluring woman who shook Hisagi to his core.

“Yes, I suppose I am… I’ve wanted to get close to you ever since learning about you… Would you believe me if I said that?”

He couldn’t, even though her flattery was charming and her voice shook him to his core.

“L-like I would!”

He just barely managed to maintain his senses as he leapt back and put his hand on the hilt of his zanpaku-to.

That was way too close. If Captain General Kyoraku and Captain Muguruma hadn’t warned me, I’d have been in hot water.

Recalling the time he had been assessed as “most likely to fall prey to a woman attacking his weaknesses,” he felt clear headed, as though he were sitting under a waterfall. It was like someone had peered inside Hisagi’s head and was giving an unwelcome warning echoing up from below, “Are you okay, Mr Hisagiii?! Be careful not to fall for a honey trap!”

Urahara had called to him from below. Hisagi’s face burned red and he objected, “Why’s that the image people have of me?! There’s no way I’d be fooled by that! I mean, I am an assistant captain!”

If the situation weren’t what it was, Hisagi would have been nearly crying with the force that he was yelling. The woman spoke to Hisagi in a way that wasn't quite joking or serious. “Oh, how unfortunate. It would have been so much easier if I could have used seduction to avoid a fight.”

Smiling bewitchingly, the Fullbringer woman stared at Hisagi and cocked her head to the side.

Get ahold of yourself! Don’t let her get in your head! Right, think of Rangiku!

Without showing his internal unease, he feigned coolness and answered, “Too bad for you. I won’t deny that you’re charming, but you can’t seduce me when you’re not even dressed as boldly as Rangiku.”

“Mr. Hisagi, I’m sure you think you’re playing it cool, but if Miss Matsumoto heard you say that, she'd be grossed out and bring her heel down on you.”

“Huh? What did I…?”

Hisagi was brought back to his senses by what Urahara had said, and his ears even turned red as he took in his surroundings. The woman floating in the air chuckled as she looked at Hisagi, opened her arms and remarked, “Aren’t you an amusing person? I hope the other Soul Reapers have a sense of humor like you do.”

Then she made a flourish with her hands as though she were directing an orchestra.

“I’d like to take this occasion to introduce myself… I am Aura Michibane.”

Her dancing fingers were like puppet strings controlling a doll and had a certain kind of beauty.

“Though I am but a handmaid serving a god that governs death, I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Huh?”

A god that governs over death?

Does she mean us Soul Reapers? What does she mean about being a handmaid?

As Hisagi mulled over his skepticism about this woman who called herself Aura, about how she acted and what she was saying, he noticed something was out of place around him. Just as he realized that the spiritual pressures of the people on the ground had changed, they all foisted their extendable batons up in the air. The scene, which looked exactly like plants extending their vines toward the sun, gave him a bad feeling. Then the bad feeling manifested.

The patterns on the batons gained form and rose into the air. They immediately started swelling and turned into large feelers that attacked Hisagi where he stood.

“Wha…?!”

Symbols and letters reminiscent of a divination circle swarmed and wriggled like a single living organism. Hisagi, who had been expecting them to release a Cero or something similar, was taken by surprise. He immediately unsheathed his zanpaku-to and cut away several feelers that were approa-ching him. However, the patterned limbs he cut away immediately recombined and once again attempted to attack.

“It’s like a swarm of bugs. What’s going on here?!”

Though Hisagi continued to dodge and slash, given the fact that his continued efforts made no impact, he determined that he would run out of steam before making any difference. Additionally, as Hisagi crossed swords with the patterned limbs he had sensed another danger. Whenever he cut the swarm of letters, his zanpaku-to’s spiritual pressure would warp unexpectedly. It was almost as though the edge of the sword itself were becoming duller, and it felt similar to just before when his own physical abilities had felt decayed.

“Damn it… This feels a lot like the time when I got done in by Ayasegawa…”

Hisagi had once crossed swords with Yumichika Ayasegawa when Ichigo Kurosaki had first visited the Soul Society and caused mayhem. The result was Hisagi’s crushing defeat.

Ayasegawa’s secret weapon was Ruiirokujaku's ability to absorb spiritual pressure. Even now, Hisagi vividly remembered the sensation of being rendered immobile after his spiritual pressure had been absorbed by blades of light that fanned out like the feathers of a peacock.

But this is different from back then. It isn’t that my pressure is being absorbed so much as…it feels like I’m being held back.

I guess this is the “reishi subjugation” thing Mr. Urahara mentioned earlier. What a pain.

Though his spiritual pressure was unchanged, he couldn’t help but feel an eerie dullness, as though his blade had sunk into a swamp. It was likely due to the special ability of his opponent, but he couldn’t grasp anything about how it worked at all.

Is this like Kira’s Wabisuke…? If it is, waiting it out probably isn’t a good plan.

The thought of a zanpaku-to that multiplied the weight of anything it cut crossed Hisagi’s mind. “Ah well…”

Then, facing Aura and the people in black on the ground, he issued a warning. “I don’t know exactly what your aim is right now…but from now on I’m going to operate on the assumption that you’re an enemy.”

“Oh, I had no idea you could look so fierce.”

Realizing Hisagi’s bearing had changed, Aura’s eyes narrowed as she replied, “If you would be so kind as to promise us that you won’t interfere, we wouldn’t be opposed to immediately lowering our weapons.”

His demeanor was different from earlier when Urahara had been joking around. He met hostility with hostility and wore the expression of a Soul Reaper who would cut them down, human or not, without faltering. Although he thought it was likely that the captains who considered themselves the most aggressive—or dutiful—likely would have told him his resolution had come too late, Hisagi once again solidified his determination to cut down the enemy before his eyes. It might have been the influence of Tosen’s teachings—and because Hisagi understood his blade was an object that could kill—but he deliberately gave those who stood in his way a final warning. “Who wouldn’t interfere when they’re being attacked? What’re you trying to do, isolating the town like this in the first place?”

“We are laying the foundation…” Aura lowered her hands as she answered Hisagi.

As she did that, the wriggling swarm of patterns around Hisagi visibly settled and swayed to the right and left from a safe distance.

“The foundation for…?”

“Karakura Town is the world’s most prominent Jureichi—you are aware of that, yes?”

“Well… No, you couldn’t possibly…” When he arrived at the only logical guess about what their intentions were, Hisagi’s voice went rough. “You’re not trying to make an Oken are you?!”

An Oken—that was a key to the Reiokyu created from a Jureichi of one spirit mile radius and a sacrifice of a hundred thousand konpaku. Thinking back to the past, when Sosuke Aizen had invaded Karakura Town in order to destroy the Reio, he could guess that was more than enough reason to single out the town. However, Aura slowly shook her head at Hisagi’s loud accusation.

“I suppose…that’s close, but not quite right.”

“What…?”

“We do not intend to sacrifice innocent people’s konpaku, and we have no need to create an Oken.” A daring smile formed on her face. Aura confused Hisagi with roundabout phrasing. “Our goal is…to make Karakura Town the true capital, where the king will sit.”

“Huh?”

For a moment, Hisagi didn’t understand. He felt as though she were making a facetious joke or just spewing random words to confound him. He would have been able to comprehend effortlessly if she had said that she was killing all the humans in the town to make an Oken, but when she said she intended to make this town the king’s capital, the meaning of that sentence was too much for him to wrap his head around.

Aura kept speaking through Hisagi’s befuddlement. “The Reiokyu and Las Noches—the thrones placed in the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo will serve as wings, and in turn, it will serve as their wings to lift up and create the perfect throne. That was the decree given to us by heaven.”

“What’re you saying? Actually…who’s this ‘king’ you’ve been going on about supposed to be?”

That was the only question that mattered at that moment.

There’s no way she means Aizen, right?

Or maybe it’s Yhwach? No, I’m sure that Kurosaki killed him…

Several names came to his mind, but a young face floated in a corner of his consciousness as his thoughts spun with images and memories.

A…A king…?

“…said…make…into…king.”

I’m pretty sure that’s the kid from the aristocrat’s Shino-Seyakuin clinic…

Although he had just described the child to Urahara, he couldn’t immediately find the connection. The existence of the child had been baffling in many senses, but he could hardly think this had anything to do with something as absurd as making Karakura Town a king’s seat. However, when he recalled the details of that earlier conversation, Hisagi’s heart began to chill.

“And…Lord Tokinada said that he’d even make someone like me into the king!”

“Oh!”

The twisted puzzle piece made an unpleasant sound as it began to snap into place in Hisagi’s mind. He didn’t know whether it was fate, coincidence, or the manipulation of some unknown force, but Hisagi groaned as he muttered the name from his memory, “Hikone…Ubuginu?”

“Huh?”

At that point, Aura’s smile faded for the first time. “What a surprise. How do you know that respected name?”

“You couldn’t be…one of Tokinada Tsunayashiro’s underlings?”

“Though I said I was a handmaid, underling…isn’t quite the right word. That aside, are you sure about this? Are you sure one such as yourself should be calling someone from the Four Great Noble Clans—from the Tsunayashiro family—by name without a title?”

Though Aura spoke as though to provoke him, Hisagi wasn’t swayed.

“I haven’t got any reason to call him lord…not anymore.”

“Actually, Mr. Hisagi, I don’t think you call Miss Yoruichi or Mr. Kuchiki ‘lord’ either…”

Urahara muttered that from the ground, where he was listening in on the conversation, then Yukio said from beyond the screen as though following suit, “You’re not going to go help him? I believe Aura will be fairly tough to go up against solo.”

Watching the projected image intermittently mixed with static, Urahara used Benihime, which had been turned into a sword cane, to poke and prod at the ground as he responded, “Not a chance. I’m more inclined to being a history buff and providing healing-specialized support, you see. Though he’s capricious, Mr. Hisagi is much more suited to the attack.”

“Hmm? Doesn’t seem like he’d do much DPS though.”

“He does tend to be more of a tank. His resilience against death is what really pushes him up above the rest.”

The space was filled with static and the sound of the cane’s prodding, and Urahara intently observed the group in black on the ground. Ever since they had ejected the tentacle patterns from their batons, they’d simply continued to stare at the sky motionlessly, slowly releasing the spiritual pressure they had.

“But what a vulgar thing you’ve done. Are you sure that you and the possessed can manage this?”

Accepting Hisagi’s hard look with a smile, Aura, whose internal response to Urahara’s words was inscrutable, raised her voice slightly as she addressed him. “You… truly are a frightening person, Kisuke Urahara.”

“Oh, so you heard me?”

“Did you already comprehend my Fullbring’s special ability?”

“Huh?” Hisagi seemed surprised and turned toward Urahara, while keeping a vigilant eye on his surroundings.

Fullbringers each had their own unique abilities. For example, based on the research he had done, Hisagi knew the man named Tsukishima, who was with Ginjo, was able to insert himself into others’ pasts, and though he could only do it to one person at a time, he had the terrifying ability to alter a person’s history itself.

If the woman in front of him was also a Fullbringer, then he could believe the writhing letters and symbols around him, as well as his own delayed reactions and his zanpaku-to’s sluggishness, was her doing.

Hisagi waited for Urahara’s reaction, a pause that should have meant an advantage in the progress of the battle; however…

“Well of course not. Don’t joke around like that.” With a loud laugh, Urahara answered Aura’s question. “You aren’t using a single special ability, now are you?”

“…”

“Well, to be more precise, I suppose I should say that you can’t use one…”

≡

Karakura Town

Gripping his Soul Pager, the Soul Reaper boy complained to his companion in a tearful voice. “Ahhh, what should we do, Shino? We definitely aren’t getting through to the Seireitei!”

“Stop with that whimpering! Anyway, all we can do is leave town for now or head over to Mr. Urahara’s and ask him about it.”

In their attempts to process the situation after noticing the membrane of static covering Karakura Town, the Soul Reapers in charge of the town, Ryunosuke Yuki and Shino Madarame, had been busily engaged. Not only were they unable to receive any communications whatsoever over the Soul Pager, they had also heard that Deputy Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends were currently out of town. The upshot was that they’d now have to purify all the Hollows themselves.

“There’s a possibility the Quincies might be up to this… I wonder if we could go to Mr. Ishida’s father at the general hospital and consult with him.”

“I see him in front of the hospital sometimes, but to be honest, his eyes are so piercing that I can’t approach…”

Shino sounded miffed as she pouted, “What is with you? You once said I got my big bro Ikkaku’s piercing eyes—are you implying that I’ve been unapproachable this whole time?”

“Uh, you’re an exception, Shino! Isn’t that obvious?!”

“A-am I?” Shino was taken aback by Ryunosuke’s firm assertion.

“I mean, it’s you, Shino. Your shiny forehead is a lot more like Mr. Ikkaku than your eyes, plus my eyes are drawn to it, so if I can just loo—”

Scowling, Shino punched him directly in the face midsentence and started walking.

“We’re leaving now.”

“No good… We really can’t get through.”

Traveling along a railroad track using shunpo, the two had reached the boundary line that ran along the riverbed of the neighboring town. However, things didn’t look good from there.

Though normal people and cars were going along their merry way across the town boundary and through the “membrane,” the two couldn’t make their way through it at all. When they tried to cut it with their zanpaku-to, their blades weren't able to penetrate it, and they confirmed that they were dealing with a barrier so firm they couldn’t even scratch it using their shikai.

“The trains are getting through on their tracks as usual, so how about we try that?”

In response to red-faced Ryunosuke’s suggestion, Shino exasperatedly replied, “Yeah, are you okay with that plan knowing that if we’re still unable to get through, we’ll end up hitting the wall traveling at the speed of a train?”

“That’d probably kill us, wouldn’t it?”

“Looks like the only thing we can do is go over to Mr. Urahara’s place. It’s on the other side of town, but if we use shunpo we should be able to get there right away…”

Shino stopped talking at that moment. Something like static coursed through the air around them, and as though bubbling up from cracks in the floor of the world, several men and women clad in black appeared. They wore black gas masks on their faces, and though Ryunosuke and Shino were unaware of it, they were dressed exactly like the group that had appeared around Urahara Shoten.

“Huh?! They’re wearing masks… Are these humanoid Hollows?! W-we should scram, Shino!”

Yuki, mistaking them for Vasto Lordes-class Hollows, reflexively grabbed Shino’s hand to run, but Shino snatched her hand back and forced him to wait.

“Get a grip! Sure, these guys made a weird entrance, but they don’t have Hollow spiritual pressure. Plus, their masks aren’t white.”

“Th-then do you think they’re Quincy?”

“No… Well, I can’t actually say for certain.”

The Quincies had engraved a significant trauma within Shino’s konpaku. Her beloved and respected superior Hidetomo Kajomaru had been slaughtered before her very eyes, and the Seireitei, the place they were meant to protect, was reduced to scorched earth, stained with blood and covered in wreckage. Though Shino’s soul had been crushed with fear and she had lost her will to battle, she just barely maintained her attachment as a Soul Reaper and had trained with Ryunosuke to begin again, eventually arriving at her current state.

Right, if even Ryunosuke continued on as a Soul Reaper, then how can I let this break me?

Though Ryunosuke was currently trembling, he had survived that battlefield alongside Shino. True, he had looked like he was about to cry, but if he hadn’t been there with her, Shino’s life might have been cut short at the hand of the Quincy. Then again, when she saw Ryunosuke trembling beside her now, she couldn’t help but wonder if his surviving the battle had actually been a miracle, an anomaly. Regarding her colleague, whose courage was questionable, Shino felt a renewed resolve to maintain a level head as she questioned the black-clad, gas-mask wearing people who had appeared before her eyes. “So? What are you guys supposed to be? If you can see us even though we’re not in gigai, I guess we can assume you’re not just any normal humans, right?”

Shino composed herself so she could unsheathe her zanpaku-to at any time, but the people in black were silent, simply readying their extendable batons and attacking Shino and Ryunosuke with mechanical movements.

“Huh?! You’re not even going to bother talking to us?!”

Even as they attacked her directly and more rapidly than she had expected, Shino was able to use her zanpaku-to, which she had immediately unsheathed, to stop their batons. Meanwhile, Ryunosuke screamed, “Wuu-aaah!” and slipped past the groups’ attacks, trying to make a break for it.

“Ryunosuke! What do you think you’re doing?! You’ve got to actually fight!”

“B-but they’re not Hollows—they’re humans, aren’t they?! Are we even allowed to cut them with our zanpaku-to?!”

“If they can attack us when we’re in our spirit bodies, it’s not likely that they’re normal humans…right?”

At that moment, Shino realized that something was off. In the same way that Hisagi had noticed it at Urahara Shoten, the spiritual pressure her zanpaku-to released started to dull.

“Huh?! My zanpaku-to…”

Taking advantage of her moment of unsteadiness, one of the people in black hit Shino hard on the back.

“Guh…!”

“Shino!”

“I’m fine. This is noth…ing…”

Shino then felt as though her whole body had been caught in a giant spider’s nest. The movement of her body creaked and slowed like a machine that has run out of oil. Though there was nothing wrong with her mentally or physically, it seemed as though a strange pressure were impacting the flow of spiritual pressure that connected them.

“What…is this…?”

As though they had verified that Shino was weakened, the people in black took their distance at once and raised their batons in front of them. The patterns etched into those weapons floated up and turned into feelers that all flew through the air to attack Shino simultaneously. Uncertainty accosted Shino about whether she could evade this attack in her current condition, as the unfurling, arcane attack grew close, but she kept a steady grip on her sword to meet it.

“Shino!”

Ryunosuke attempted to run to Shino’s location to protect her, but before he got to her there was a roar and the tables turned. Before the patterned limb could reach Shino and Ryunosuke, a red humanoid figure seemed to drop from the sky and kicked at the ground with the force of a cannon. The dirt, sand, a cloud of dust, and, almost as an afterthought, the people in black scattered high into the air.

“Huh?!”

“Waaaaaah?!”

Shino covered her face as a cloud of dust came at her, and Ryunosuke fell over from the impact. Once the dust died down, a lone girl was standing there.

“Who do you think you are, coming around and oozing your disgusting spiritual pressure on my turf? C’mon…”

Shino and Ryunosuke immediately understood the girl was someone to reckon with.

“Are you a Soul Reaper?”

Her spiritual pressure certainly was very like a Soul Reaper’s. However, they could sense something not quite right about it.

The girl, who wore a red tracksuit, shouted irritably at one of the figures in black who was silently trying to stand, “Who said you’re allowed to stand?! What’re you doing taking that risk, baldy?!”

During this irrational rant, the girl kicked a rock at the person in black. Shino watched the rock, which was about the size of a fist, make a direct connection, knocking down the person in black once again. She cautiously began to speak. “Uh, um! Thanks for saving us from a tough spot! Are you part of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies?”

“Hunh? No way, you dunce. I’ll tell you this, I didn’t save you for nothing.”

The girl, who turned toward Shino and stared her down, righted her hat, which read “UNAGI,” and pointed at her own chest with her thumb.

“I’m not a Soul Reaper. I’m an Odd Jobs Service apprentice who happened to be passing by, Lord Hiyori Sarugaki!”

“What's an odd jobs service…?”

“You’re an apprentice…?”

While Ryunosuke and Shino tilted their heads quizzically, the girl with the Kansai accent went on with a sour look on her face, “Any other time, I wouldn’t take any job to help Soul Reapers since I hate them. Well, the situation being what it is, I’ll make it cheap.”

“Huh. Why’re you talking like we’re going to pay you…?”

“Shuddup, stupid! Ikumi told me to ‘Take a job, no matter what it is!’ What am I supposed to do if I don’t get paid?!”

“I don’t know what to say about that…”

Shino and Ryunosuke, not knowing how to respond to the girl’s somewhat unreasonable yelling, glanced at each other. However, the situation did not allow them to continue the idle chitchat. New static ran through the sky and even more people in black appeared from the resulting gaps.

“Eek! There are more of them—Are there are even more, Shino?!”

“What’s going on here? What is with these guys?!”

If they attempted to simply cut them down with their shikai, would there actually be an end to it? Ryunosuke guessed that they couldn’t know how many more were left and that there was a chance they’d end up in a stalemate. He lowered his head to the girl who had called herself Hiyori.

“Um, so I’ll pay you. So, two for Urahara Shoten in Mitsumiya, please!”

“Why’re ya saying it like that?! I’m not a taxi! You underestimate me, baldy?!”

“Eek! I’m sorry!”

“Well, it’s fine… But you want to go to Kisuke’s of all places, huh?”

Swinging her zanpaku-to, which she had taken in her hand at some point, she cut at the ground, raising a cloud of dust and putting the people in black in check. After picking up Shino and Ryunosuke with power that they never would have expected based on her small form, Hiyori didn’t even give the two time to scream. She used shunpo to leap. Then, sensing a spiritual pressure similar to that of the people clothed in black who were popping up all over the town, Hiyori scowled in annoyance and recalled the man who had once been her superior.

“Having to rely on that half-comatose lantern face is no joke…but in this situation it’s the right thing to do.”

≡

Urahara Shoten

“What’s wrong? Whether it’s ‘exacta’ or ‘no es exacta,’ I’d be so happy if you could confirm whether I’m right.”

From below the darkness of his hat, Urahara’s sharp eyes glinted down at Aura. Though he smiled, there was something in his expression that said he could stab and kill his opponent in a moment and no one would blink an eye. When Aura saw his face, she felt shivers down her spine but appeared somewhat cheerful as she said, “How curious. I didn’t think I’d given you that much information.”

“You did end up doing that today though, didn’t you? The religious group called Xcution started to throw its weight around right after the Quincy attack on the Soul Society. Did you think I’d ignore you?”

Urahara flipped his sword cane onto his shoulder and laid it on with a lightly teasing tone. “Well, I think you did a pretty good job, if I may say so myself. After all, I couldn’t collect any info on you except your official records as leader, Miss Michibane. But…after putting that information together with the dark underbelly you just showed me a hint of, I’ve started to get an idea of what’s going on here.”

“You are stunning, aren’t you…?”

Aura ignored Hisagi, who stood in front of her, and dedicated most of her focus to the conversation with Urahara.

“What more could I have expected from the very man who created the Hogyoku himself, eh? We really must get you over to our side.”

“…”

“The Hogyoku?”

The Hogyoku—the moment the term came from Aura’s mouth, Urahara’s smile disappeared, and he went silent. For his part, Hisagi wrinkled his forehead and spoke up. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Well, but now we’re getting into territory that’s not appropriate for a so-called journalist to hear… So if you would, please take your leave.”

Aura politely bowed in midair. Not knowing what his opponent’s true motive was, Hisagi didn’t know what his next move should be.

“What? Did you think I’d just go home when you asked me to like none of this was happening?”

“No… I wasn’t asking you. I was threatening you that I would eliminate you by force if you go one step further, Assistant Captain.”

Though Aura coquettishly cocked her head ever so slight-ly to the side and smiled, in the next moment, the blade of a zanpaku-to was at her throat.

“Oh!”

“You’re underestimating me. Even without Gentei Kaijo, my shunpo speed won’t be diminished.”

By gauging when Aura would blink, Hisagi had closed the distance between them using shunpo and thrust his blade at her instantly. After seeing the zanpaku-to at her own throat, Aura gave Hisagi a look of honest admiration.

“What a surprise. It’s almost as though you’re an entirely different person than when you were being teased like a child earlier.”

She still hadn’t lost the smile on her face.

“You seem calm. You think I’m not the type to kill a woman?”

“No… As far as I am aware, you are a very Soul Reaper-like Soul Reaper. If there is a reason to kill someone, you would likely kill them; old and young, men and women alike, with no mercy, based on your internal sense of justice.”

Suddenly the temperature of Aura’s smile fell, and she stated a fact in a tone that would make the listener’s heart freeze over.

“After all, you…killed your own teacher for the sake of the justice you believe in.”

Hisagi’s eyes then narrowed faintly. The surrounding spiritual pressure twisted severely, and those with heightened spiritual pressure perception would likely have noticed that the air around Hisagi seem to quiver. Regardless, Hisagi’s blade did not falter. Without creating a single opening, he kept his zanpaku-to on his opponent’s throat.

“Ah, it seems that did not anger you.”

“It’s the truth. And also…”

What crossed Hisagi’s mind were the words of the terrible criminal who had given his “teacher” the finishing blow.

“Forever is a word that shouldn’t be uttered so lightly. Even Tosen’s conviction wasn’t eternal, after all.

“I did not kill Tosen as punishment for defeat.

“It was my version of mercy.”

“Compared to what that Aizen said, that’s not even a challenge.”

“You really are such a funny person. How about this…would you join me?”

Aura proposed this carelessly, and Hisagi’s forehead fur-rowed as he responded, “Do you comprehend the situation you’re in? The only reason this sword hasn’t gone through your throat by now is so that you can undo the barrier over this town.”

Actually, it’s weird how calm she is.

Guess I’ll try shaking her up a little.

“According to Mr. Urahara, you haven’t used any unusual powers yet, so was that strange letter tentacle thing that suddenly appeared one of your friend’s powers? In any case, you better not get up to any tricks.”

After hearing what Urahara said earlier, Hisagi had determined that the woman in front of his eyes wasn’t able to use her unique ability as a Fullbringer. Though he didn’t know how Urahara had come to such a conclusion, based on previous experience, Urahara’s guesses weren’t off.

But it’s weird…

Even though I can see her in front of me, I’m definitely not sensing any normal spiritual pressure from this woman.

It’s not as though there’s no pressure at all, but it’s almost like it’s really weak.

Are all Fullbringers like this? I feel like Ginjo and his gang had more substantial spiritual pressure, but if she has the ability to erase her presence then the fact that she even came out into the open where we could see her is weird.

Or maybe she just hadn’t used her ability yet. Even if those weird patterned limbs were her power, he was prepared to cut off her head if she made any moves. Yukio’s capabilities were certainly a worrisome element, but if they were in league, he couldn’t make any bad choices here. Although he did speculate that…

“Just as Mr. Urahara said earlier, I am the one organizing the religious group Xcution. Those on the ground are believers…or rather, they were heretics who opposed us—though they are being very cooperative right now.”

“Huh?”

When Aura started talking of her own accord, Hisagi was befuddled and unable to gauge his opponent’s aim. He had thought she might be intending to surrender, but he stiffened his guard even more, realizing that he couldn’t be careless.

“Our believers currently number seven hundred seventy thousand.”

“Seven…”

Hisagi had envisioned a small organization somewhere on the order of a hundred or so people when he heard she was the leader of a religious group, and the true number rendered him speechless. It was far greater than he expected, and it took him aback; Hisagi was unable to weigh whether his opponent’s words were fact or bluff.

“Though it is a modest assembly, not even in league with the top five new religions in Japan…if you consider that it’s only been a few years since it was established, you might say that’s an odd number. Do you know how I gathered so many believers?”

“Can’t say I do… The sects of the living world are none of my concern. I haven’t got a clue how you’re gathering people. Is there someone in your group who can brainwash people or something?”

“It would have been much easier if we had. Even if Mr. Tsukishima had still been alive, having him insert his bookmark into a hundred thousand people at a time would be quite difficult, of course.”

“Hurry up and give me the answer. If you’re trying to buy time, it’s a wasted effort.”

Hisagi was in fact starting to believe it was a tactic to buy time, but Aura broke into a smile before his eyes.

“The answer is simple.”

She then pressed her neck into the blade.

“Huh! What are you…?!”

Is she trying to commit suicide?!

No, then it’d be all over after I caught her konpaku. There’d be no point in it!

What is she thinking…?

If he drew away his sword now, it would give her an opening. If that was what she was aiming for, it was sloppy. After wavering for a moment, Hisagi tried to pull away his sword and pin her down before the wound became fatal, but in the next moment, the woman’s neck, which had been pressed to his zanpaku-to’s blade much closer than he had imagined, easily slipped across it. Her head simply separated from her body and fluttered through the air.

Even as the woman’s head left her body, her smile still did not vanish. Hisagi was so captivated by the scene that he didn’t even notice that he hadn’t felt any resistance on his zanpaku-to. Then the same beguiling voice from earlier came from the severed head that had been separated from its lungs.

“I simply created miracles. Right in front of people’s eyes.”

“What…?!”

Passing by Hisagi’s side as he gaped, Aura’s body grabbed her head and simply put it back where it had been. Moving gently, she turned to Hisagi, placed the palm of her hand against her forehead, and cocked her head to the side. There was no evidence of a cut, graze or even the remnants of trickling blood to be seen. Her neck extended as gracefully and flawlessly as silk. “Wha…what’s going on?! You just…”

“Cut my head off?”

Aura spread her arms again to the left and right and started to manipulate the patterned limbs that unfurled around her. They were whipping around faster than before and the limbs themselves seemed to have more than doubled at some point.

“It was cut off. But I just reconnected it again.”

“Was it super-fast regeneration? You’re not a Hollow, are you?”

“Of course not. However, you’re not far off the mark, even though you are wrong.”

A somewhat lonely smile formed on her face as she manipulated the throng of patterned limbs to dance toward Hisagi.

“I am a Fullbringer. I was born with the Hollow factor gnawing away at my body, after all.”

Hisagi was buried in red-black limbs until he simply disappeared beneath them.

Having observed these goings-on, Yukio determined that this was the moment—

“Reap, Kazeshini.”

The surroundings billowed from attack, as the patterned limbs that Hisagi had been immersed in were cut away. Hisagi, appearing from within the scrum, gripped his zanpaku-to in its shikai form and murmured in annoyance, “They definitely grind at my spiritual pressure when I cut them.”

The zanpaku-to he carried was made up of two giant, adjoined sickle blades made to rotate to bring about the image of a sickle and chain. The other end of the chain was also equipped with an identical double sickle. Hisagi held each of the blades’ grips in his hands as he once again confronted Aura.

“Oh!”

The smile disappeared from Aura’s face and she started to look cautious.

“I see… Now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, you really do have a magnificent zanpaku-to. It’s rare for one to have two swords.”

“No good’s going to come of praising me…plus, Kazeshini isn’t two swords.”

The number of Soul Reapers with a dual-sword style zanpaku-to was incredibly small—it was rare to the point that some said one could count how many had existed throughout the entire history of the Soul Society. The well-known ones were Captain General Kyoraku’s Katenkyokotsu and the former Thirteen Company Captain Jushiro Ukitake’s Sogyo no Kotowari. It was said that such zanpaku-to were so rare, they were one of a kind. It was true that Ichigo Kurosaki had commanded two swords using his Hollow and Quincy powers, but that information was only disseminated to a select group among the Soul Reapers. Hisagi didn’t explain why Kazeshini didn’t count as two swords as he slowly turned his blade toward Aura.

“I’m going to check and see if your ‘miracles’ or whatever are real.”

Before he had finished speaking, Hisagi threw one of his zanpaku-to blades. The point of the blade rotated rapidly and turned into a disc of silver light as it leapt at Aura. But the blade flew past her and traced a rapid arc in the air as it went around her back.

“Huh!”

Hisagi moved around in the opposite direction of the disc’s path to Aura’s side and passed by the blade he had released himself as he made the chain cross. He used shunpo as he instantly created a circle with the chain in order to wrap up Aura. Then, after Kazeshini wrapped the chain around Aura several times, it once again fluttered back into his hand.

“Binding Spell sixty-two, Hyappo Rankan!”

After wrapping Aura in the jet-black chain, Hisagi had also used a binding spell on her in an attempt to completely restrain her. Countless points of light flew at Aura and stabbed through the chains that wrapped around her, fastening them in place.

“Give up. Magic tricks won’t work on a Binding Spell.”

Hisagi pulled on Kazeshini’s chain as he tried to extract what Tokinada was scheming out of her. However, the chain’s resistance suddenly disappeared.

“Huh?!”

He seemed to see Aura’s body waver like smoke, and then she simply slipped right through and dangled below Hisagi. On top of that, the linchpins of light that he was sure Hyappo Rankan had released had vanished.

“What’s going on here?”

If all she had done was simply pass through his blade, he would have thought it was just a trick or an illusion. However, she had been able to get past the chains that were wrapping her and even the Binding Spell, and so the only conclusion he was left with was that this was some sort of special power.

“Mr. Urahara! She’s definitely got to be using some kind of abili—” Hisagi stopped mid-yell, suddenly looking below. “Huh?”

Urahara, who should have been observing them from in front of his shop, had disappeared. And by the time Hisagi scanned his surroundings, Kisuke Urahara had long since finished his work.

“Huh?”

Urahara, who had come around behind him, stabbed a thin, needle-like object deep into Hisagi’s arm. As his brain registered what was happening, the pain in his arm rushed throughout his entire body.

“Gah…Mr. Urahara?! What did you…”

“Excuse me, Mr. Hisagi.” Urahara answered Hisagi’s misgivings with his usual smile and without any remorse. “That was an emergency measure to forcibly remove your Gentei Spirit Mark.”

“Huh? Oh…”

“The pain will go away soon, so please just deal with it a little longer.”

Hearing Urahara’s words, Hisagi realized that the place he had been stabbed was where he had placed a Gentei Spirit Mark in order to seal away his spiritual pressure. In that moment, power overflowed from Hisagi’s body, and the atmosphere surrounding him was inundated, reverberating with spiritual pressure.

The Gentei Spirit Mark limited a Soul Reaper’s powers to match the scale of the living world. That spirit mark, which sealed his spiritual pressure down to 20 percent of its power, wasn’t something that generally could be removed of his own volition. The mark, which took the shape of a white poppy, the Ninth Company’s insignia, was part of a system linked to the Seireitei’s jurisdiction department through a special procedure and could not be lifted without permission for a Gentei Kaijo through a Soul Pager. However, Urahara had employed some kind of technique that used a single needle to remove the seal.

“Well, I thought it was possible, but that was pretty rash…”

“The ones who came up with this Gentei Kaijo system was the Department of Research and Development, you know? It’s not as though I wouldn’t be able to lift it… Oh, I’ll make sure to explain to Mr. Kyoraku so that you don’t get punished for taking it off yourself.”

Urahara simply stood in front of Hisagi as he held his hat in his palm and said, “Let’s do this together. It looks like she hasn’t yet shown us everything she’s got.”

“Yes, sir!”

Though Urahara’s tone was light, Hisagi sensed from Urahara that he couldn’t refuse. If Urahara made the suggestion in that way, he was merely stating a fact.

So that means this woman is strong enough that we need to face her together, and I needed a Gentei Kaijo…

“Oh… But you know, that woman’s power…”

Hisagi stuttered awkwardly, thinking that Urahara was, for once, wrong in his estimations, but Urahara didn’t seem to mind at all and actually responded in a supremely self-confident tone, “Yes, Mr. Hisagi. Because of you, I’ve been able to confirm it. It’s exactly as I thought.”

“Huh?”

“She can’t use a Fullbringer's characteristic power. All she can do is use Soul Subjugation, which is one of the foundations that Fullbringers share.”

“What does that mean?”

Hisagi knitted his brows, unable to follow the conversation as Urahara described his suppositions about Aura Michibane’s powers in a casual tone. “A Fullbringer controls the reishi that dwells in material, and they twist and manipulate the material, or sometimes the laws of physics themselves. On top of that, sometimes they can take something they have a special attachment to and change it to create an ability of their very own. But she doesn’t have that.”

“Huh? Well, she’s been doing tricky stuff for a while…”

“Those are all basic Fullbring abilities…they’re just at an unusually high level. She is directing the water and the earth to move and even controlling the cells in her own body and the atmosphere itself. She’s controlling her blood and skeleton…no, she’s manipulating her body at the brain and blood cell level to make herself look like smoke, even as she’s still living—though I think those things are beyond common Fullbringer knowledge.”

At that point Urahara stopped talking and looked at Hisagi, whose expression showed he wasn’t getting it. He decided to rephrase it in a simpler way. “If I were to compare it to a Soul Reaper, it’s like instead of using a zanpaku-to, she’s using kido and hakuda skills on Sosuke Aizen’s level…do you get it?”

“Ah!”

It was then that Hisagi understood just how dangerous the Fullbringer who stood in front of them was. However, it seemed that Urahara had set his sights even further ahead, and he turned his sword cane zanpaku-to Benihime at the woman as he voiced his suspicion. “However, that is not the issue. If she is here and she has over seven hundred seventy thousand followers, then…where are those believers right now and what are they doing?”

Rather than addressing Hisagi, it seemed he was directing the question to Aura herself where she stood some distance from them. In response to the one who had understood her true nature, rather than answering the question, Aura smiled cautiously.

“Kisuke Urahara…you really, truly are a terrifying person, aren’t you?”

Her smile felt as gloomy, heavy, and cold as a riverbed in winter, and Hisagi, who had thought until that point that they were fighting on equal footing, felt a chill run through his body.

“That is exactly why we want your abilities. So that you can create a new Hogyoku…and elevate our offering of Hikone Ubuginu into a true god.”

≡

As he watched what was happening in the space he had created, Yukio sighed quietly and muttered, “I’m not going to interfere directly, so do your damage—both of you.”

Then he resumed his mission in order to go about fulfilling the role he had been given. He did it even though it meant betraying the very thing he was supposed to protect.