Natsuro watched Masaki Kurosaki wrapped in the glowing pillar of light. Her spiritual power had already been almost completely drained away.
At this point, even if he pulled her out, it would be too late.
Besides, he wasn't even sure what the light pillar was, if he entered it himself would his own power also be absorbed?
While he hesitated, the light slowly dissipated, leaving Masaki collapsed weakly on the ground.
At that moment, the nearby Hollow, though unsure of what had just happened, recognized the perfect chance to strike.
It lunged at Masaki.
Natsuro glanced at it and recognized it immediately, it was the Hollow known as Grand Fisher. This type of Hollow could hide its true body, using a lure shaped like a human to deceive spiritually aware victims.
He had heard of Grand Fisher back when he was stationed in Karakura Town, but the creature had never appeared back then, so he hadn't paid much attention.
To think he would encounter it here, and see it attacking both Ichigo and Masaki Kurosaki.
"So this is the true cause of Masaki's death?" Natsuro muttered. He had always wondered. Masaki's power wasn't far off from Isshin's. In the Human World, there were almost no threats to her.
With that level of strength, how could she have died here?
Now he understood, it was because her power had been completely stripped away by the light pillar, reducing her to an ordinary human. In that state, even the weakest Hollow could have ended her life.
Natsuro sighed, then flicked Meikyō Shisui lightly. A pure white sword pressure flew forth, faster than the lunging Hollow, and cut Grand Fisher down instantly.
The Hollow probably never even knew how it died.
But then Natsuro's eyes narrowed. He felt a strange spiritual pressure rising.
Before him, a blood-red gate adorned with two skulls and traced with golden markings appeared, bound with heavy chains.
"This is… the Gate of Hell?"
Natsuro whispered. It was the first time he had ever seen it. He had heard the Gate of Hell appeared only for Hollows guilty of grave sins in life.
Had Grand Fisher really reached that level?
The gates creaked open, the chains snapping apart. Behind them was a blood-red void, the inside utterly obscured.
A giant hand suddenly shot out, seized the shattered remains of Grand Fisher, and dragged them into Hell.
The gate then slowly closed. Cracks spread across its surface before it shattered and vanished.
Natsuro's expression grew heavy. Whose hand had that been?
Even standing outside, he had felt the oppressive spiritual pressure emanating from within.
Was this truly safe?
Hollows were being thrown into Hell one after another. And Natsuro remembered, captains and Shinigami above a certain spiritual level were also sent there through the Konso Reisai ceremony. Their reiryoku was too dense for the natural balance of the three worlds to dissolve, so they were consigned to Hell instead.
But in that case, wouldn't the concentration of spiritual power in Hell just keep rising endlessly?
He didn't remember Hell being part of the natural cycle of the three realms. Which meant in Hell, reiryoku was only ever accumulating.
Even if he didn't understand the details, the glimpse he'd just seen told him there was something deeply wrong about it.
He shook his head. Whatever the case, it wasn't his problem. That was for Captain-Commander Yamamoto to worry about. He was just a vice-captain of the 4th Division.
Still, perhaps one day he would step into Hell himself as a Shinigami.
"You alright?" Natsuro asked.
"You're… Vice-Captain Natsuro?" Masaki looked at him in surprise, her voice weak.
"Mhm. Do you know what that pillar of light just now was?" Natsuro asked as he lifted Ichigo's unconscious body and carried him to Masaki's side.
"Your son just has some scrapes. He'll recover quickly."
"That's good." Relief spread across her pale face. Then, hesitating at Natsuro's question, her expression tightened.
"Is it something you can't speak about?" Natsuro could see her hesitation. It confirmed that she knew.
"It's not that I can't. It's just that these matters are strictly Quincy secrets. Normally, I shouldn't be telling a Shinigami. But you saved me… so if you want to know, I'll tell you." Masaki said after a pause.
"Mhm." Natsuro set Ichigo beside her and began healing Masaki's body with kaidō.
Her complexion looked like someone who had just been through a long illness, pale and drained.
"It won't help, Vice-Captain Natsuro. My condition can't be healed," Masaki said with a bitter smile. Her power hadn't been lost to injury, but stripped away entirely by the Auswählen.
Natsuro soon noticed the anomaly himself. Her body bore no wounds, but she had no spiritual power at all, only traces of Hollow energy. And there was something strange lodged at her heart.
The heart… if that's where the issue was, there really wasn't much he could do.
"Vice-Captain Natsuro, have you heard the prophecy of the Quincy King?" Masaki asked.
"I'm listening," Natsuro said, puzzled. He had never heard of such a thing. After all, in his past life he had never reached the Quincy arc, and in Soul Society he had arrived too late to learn such secrets.
"The sealed Quincy King regains his heartbeat after 900 years, regains his mind after 90 years, and regains his power after 9 years," Masaki recited.
"The Quincy King?" Natsuro frowned. Another name he had never heard before. And the prophecy sounded ominous.
"So… it's the final nine years now?" Natsuro asked as the realization hit him.
"Exactly. And the way the Quincy King regains his power is through Auswählen, that light you saw just now. It reclaims the power of mixed-blood Quincies," Masaki said, nodding.
"Mixed-blood?" Natsuro frowned. Masaki should have been pure-blood.
"My power has been tainted by Hollow reiryoku, so I am no longer pure. And even if I were, as a descendant of the Quincy King himself, he can still reclaim my power at will."
"I see…" Natsuro nodded. Then caught on a word she had used. "Reclaim? Wouldn't 'steal' be more accurate?"
"It is reclaim. Our ancestors once wished upon the Quincy King for Quincy powers, and he has the ability to reclaim what he once gave," Masaki explained.
Natsuro nodded again, though his expression twisted. She had lost everything…
"Sounds like loan-sharking to me," Natsuro muttered. Bestowing power on others, letting them cultivate it, then reclaiming it back stronger than before…
What a scheme.
"Well… when you put it that way, it is kind of fitting." Masaki was taken aback, then chuckled.
"Your body's really alright?" Natsuro asked.
"I'll be fine. I'm just a normal person now. I'll be weak for a long time," she replied.
She wasn't saddened by her loss of power. She accepted it calmly. After all, in her own household was a man who had once been a captain of the Gotei 13, and who had lost his Shinigami powers too.
Natsuro studied her. Clearly, she had no idea about the strange anomaly lodged in her heart.
After a moment's hesitation, he told her.
"I see…" Masaki frowned, but after a moment of thought, she smiled again. "If there's no going back, then I'll just use the time I have left to be with them as much as I can."
Natsuro knew "them" meant her family: Isshin, Ichigo, and her two daughters.
Seeing Masaki's acceptance, Natsuro sighed inwardly. Isshin really had found himself a good wife.
"I'll take you home," Natsuro said.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Vice-Captain Natsuro." Masaki knew her condition well, there was no way she could carry Ichigo back to the Kurosaki Clinic by herself. Even if he hadn't offered, she would have asked for his help.
"It's no trouble."
Just as Natsuro was about to teleport them away, he suddenly paused and asked, "Did you see the Gate of Hell just now?"
Masaki looked a little confused.
The Gate of Hell? Did it appear?
She shook her head. "No. After losing my power, I can't see any of that anymore, not even that Hollow."
Before the Auswählen, she had seen the Hollow. Afterward, she hadn't. But with her intelligence, it wasn't hard to guess that Natsuro had appeared and dealt with the Hollow for her.
Otherwise, in her current state, she would already have been its prey.
Natsuro nodded. As expected, the only reason Masaki could still see him was because he was inhabiting the artificial body Kisuke had provided, which gave him a physical form.
And as for the body limiting his power? Even if it suppressed him by ninety-nine percent, that would still be more than enough to effortlessly destroy a low-level Hollow.
Soon, Natsuro carried Ichigo in his arms and supported Masaki with his other hand. Their figures vanished from the riverside.
...
Kurosaki Clinic.
Masaki and Ichigo were soon put to bed to rest.
In the living room, only Isshin and Natsuro remained. The two little girls, Yuzu and Karin, had been sent back to their rooms.
"Now tell me," Isshin said, his hands trembling.
When he had opened the door and seen Natsuro carrying Ichigo and supporting the pale-faced Masaki, he'd felt a deep sense of dread.
Natsuro did not hold anything back, he repeated everything he had just learned.
When Isshin heard that something unnatural was lodged in Masaki's heart, he shut his eyes in pain.
Then he looked at Natsuro, eyes bloodshot, and rasped, "Thank you!"
From the way he said it, he thought that if he asked Isshin to get on his knees right now, the man probably wouldn't even hesitate.
"You don't need to be so devastated. If something really happens to her, you can always go to that guy Kisuke. He might have some way," Natsuro suggested after a moment's thought.
"That's true." Isshin nodded. He'd heard of Kisuke's reputation, strange inventions and impossible solutions. Maybe there really was a chance.
"Mhm. And even if nothing works in the end, there's still the option of letting your wife live as you do now." Natsuro hinted. After all, Isshin himself was inhabiting a special gigai.
One that was indistinguishable from a real human body. The proof? He and Masaki had been able to conceive two daughters.
"Yes… but that would be the last resort." Isshin nodded. He didn't want to take that path if he could avoid it. A gigai could never be as good as one's own body.
And besides, if they had to build one for Masaki, she would have to be completely exposed during the process… He shook his head. It wasn't about modesty, if it came to saving her life that wouldn't matter, but if there were other options, he would much prefer them.
"Then I'll take my leave," Natsuro said. He figured Isshin would want to be with Masaki now, so he didn't linger.
"Alright. Natsuro, thank you again. If something had happened to Masaki, I don't know what I would have done…" Isshin's voice, though he was a grown man, cracked with emotion.
Natsuro said nothing more. He simply left quietly.
Outside, looking up at the heavy, overcast sky, he sighed.
The Quincy King… another strange piece of knowledge I didn't know before.
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