Chapter 118: The Self-Fighting Garment
The moment his spiritual senses enveloped the room, Satoru couldn't help but frown in surprise.
He had expected to detect a person inside.
Instead, what he found was an inanimate object.
It radiated immense spiritual pressure, yet bore no signs of life.
Was this some secret experiment Kirio was conducting?
If so, his timing couldn't be worse.
At her level, any experiment requiring such secrecy was bound to involve serious violations—head to toe, screaming "against the rules."
If it were him, he certainly wouldn't trust anyone who stumbled upon something this dangerous to keep quiet.
Time to leave.
With that thought, Satoru silently turned to retreat.
After putting enough distance to mask his presence, he crouched slightly, ready to flash-step away.
But in that very instant—
A long, black cloth shot out from the study window!
Though just fabric, it moved with terrifying speed.
Before he could react, it was already at the back of his head.
Just a little further, and the sharp edge of the fabric would slice through his skin!
Bam!!!
The violently shooting cloth strip slammed hard into a black shadow that had appeared out of nowhere.
The fabric bent at a ninety-degree angle and continued flying upward at a terrifying speed.
Taking advantage of this opening, Satoru rolled forward and drew his Zanpakutō from his waist.
What the hell had just attacked him?!
A piece of fabric?
Had he run into Upper Moon Six?
Staring at the long strip of fabric not far away—which looked like it could mince him to pieces at any moment—Satoru couldn't help but entertain the thought.
Though he had no idea what was happening, he quickly made a judgment.
Run!
If he couldn't figure things out now, he could always ask his teacher or Sōsuke Doraemon later.
But if he lost his life here, it was game over!
However, at that very moment, the study door suddenly swung open.
Under Satoru's stunned gaze, a "figure" slowly floated out.
It was an exquisite women's kimono.
Literally just a piece of clothing, drifting out of the room.
The kimono seemed to be filled by an invisible "body," its contours perfectly defined.
As if a transparent person were standing there, wearing the garment.
But Satoru was absolutely certain—there was nothing inside that kimono.
Eyes could deceive, but the spiritual realm never lied!
The black cloth strip that had attacked him earlier had extended from this autonomously moving garment.
Was this… a kimono possessed by an artificial soul?
Yet, he couldn't sense any trace of an artificial soul on it.
Could it be some kind of earthbound spirit?
Perhaps in the past, this had been a kimono Kirio loved to wear. But as a certain part of her grew increasingly… generous, the garment no longer fit, and she gradually abandoned it.
Over time, resentment festered within it…
At this thought, Satoru's gaze softened with sympathy.
"You've worked hard, kimono. Being discarded by those unreasonable giant ○ must have been painful."
"Don't worry, I don't dislike flatness. In fact, I kinda like it."
"So please, rest in peace."
As he spoke, he pressed his palms together in prayer.
Kimono: "???"
Hearing Satoru's words, the kimono trembled slightly.
A voice echoed through the air—
"This one is not flat…"
"Though I can't compare to that cheat-like existence Kirio, I still have my charms!"
The moment the words fell, four or five black cloth strips shot forth!
Unlike the earlier probing attack, this one carried unmistakable personal resentment.
Razor-sharp fabric strips tore through the air with a hiss, closing in on Satoru from all directions!
"This earthbound spirit is way too strong… Is the grudge of abandonment really this intense?"
Faced with such a fierce assault, Satoru didn't dare underestimate it.
Swinging his blade, he deflected the incoming strips while edging toward the courtyard wall.
"Trying to run?"
The earthbound spirit quickly noticed Satoru's intent.
She manipulated the five cloth strips, constantly shifting their angles to force him off course.
As he parried the attacks, Satoru's mind raced.
What the hell was this thing?
Not an artificial soul, yet it possessed complete logic, consciousness, and autonomy.
Most likely, there was an operator behind it.
But even after scanning it with his spiritual senses, he couldn't find any trace of a control mechanism.
For a moment, Satoru also became intrigued.
From the earlier conversation, he realized that the operator behind the kimono wasn't Kirio Hikifune.
In that case, there was no need for him to hold back, right?
With this thought, Satoru suddenly accelerated.
With a swing of his blade, several sword pressures instantly condensed, tracing long arcing trajectories as they converged toward the kimono.
Then, Satoru swung his blade again.
Blue fireballs materialized in the air one after another, relentlessly bombarding the kimono.
Amid the chaos, he quietly summoned an invisible shadow swordsman to approach the kimono.
Faced with Satoru's sudden shift from defense to offense, the kimono-bound spirit was somewhat surprised.
For such a young Shinigami, merely being able to hold his ground against her was already impressive enough.
Who would have thought he still had so many hidden cards to counterattack?
She retracted the attacking fabric ribbons she had sent out, layering them into defenses to block Satoru's sword pressures and blue fireballs.
Just as she thought she had successfully defended against all attacks, an intense sense of danger suddenly came from an empty direction!
Her powerful combat instincts made her send out a fabric ribbon to block.
The next second, to her astonished "gaze," an invisible sword struck the ribbon.
Her supposedly invincible heavenly garment defense had actually been cut through!
Though this was merely a garment controlled by her secret technique rather than her true form descending, it was still shocking enough.
It might just be a piece of clothing, but this was a "heavenly garment" she had personally crafted!
Under her control, this garment was absolutely at the level of a top-tier captain.
At this moment, it was actually slashed open by a mere boy?!
Had she grown weak from too long without battle, or had the Soul Society changed so much in just a hundred years that she no longer recognized it?
That brief moment of shock was caught by Satoru.
He casually flicked his Zanpakutō to the side, the blade embedding itself into the ground with a scrape.
Then, he leaped high into the air, his face as dark as a wrathful deity, his right hand clenched into a fist, gathering strength!
A powerful force condensed around his fist!
With this punch, no matter what monstrous being stood before him, their true form would be revealed!
As the boy charged toward her, the "kimono" suddenly felt a pang of nervousness.
Logically, his strength shouldn't even qualify him to touch the hem of her true form's robes.
Yet, staring into those unapologetically aggressive eyes, she felt an urge to retreat.
Instinctively, she released her spiritual pressure.
In an instant, the entire space seemed to flood like an inverted ocean!!