The hardest part of Hollowfying a captain-class shinigami is simple: compared to ordinary shinigami, a captain's reiatsu is overwhelming. If they resist with everything they have, the Hollowfication can't reach the core.
So unless that captain gives up and accepts the change completely, you have to provoke a surge of negative emotion and use that force to slide the Hollowfication smoothly into their body.
Which is why—after killing the rank-and-file who came with Rōjūrō—when Sōsuke saw how little Rōjūrō's emotions fluctuated, he chose to kill Chikane.
Sure enough, Rōjūrō went incandescent with rage over Chikane's death.
And so what?
Fury without strength is just useless noise.
In under two minutes, Rōjūrō was on his knees.
He stared at the blade through his body, felt the uncontrollable frenzy gnaw his last scraps of reason.
He couldn't understand. How had Sōsuke become this strong, all of a sudden?
That terrible reiatsu—so bright he could hardly look into it—almost tricked him for a heartbeat into thinking he stood before the Sōtaichō.
In that instant, Rōjūrō remembered the Kasumiooji rebellion five years ago. Had Sōsuke been the one who killed his former taichō, Rennosuke?
"Sorry… taichō… Chikane-nee."
His last lucid whisper before the tide swallowed him.
Meanwhile, inside Seireitei, the disappearance of Rōjūrō's investigation team finally drew the full focus of Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni.
An emergency captains' meeting was called.
The brief: form the strongest possible ad-hoc strike team to investigate where Rōjūrō's unit went dark; peel off several captains and fukutaichō to calm the other Rukongai sectors.
In Seireitei, only the 1st Division under the Sōtaichō, the entire 2nd Division under Yoruichi, and the entire 11th under Kenpachi would remain.
Why keep the 2nd and 11th? The Sōtaichō factored in Kenpachi's legendary sense of direction—send him out and he might not find the scene before the whole affair ended. And the 11th's fukutaichō, Shuuichi, carried secrets that made solo deployment… inadvisable.
Keeping Yoruichi home served the same aim: if necessary, she could lift the seal on Shuuichi's Zanpakutō and instantly add a captain-class fighter to Seireitei's defense.
The rest deployed, factoring in captains and fukutaichō still away on other assignments.
Shunsui would solo West Rukongai.
North would go to 7th Division's taichō, Love, with his fukutaichō, Jin'emon Kotsubaki.
South would go to 12th Division's taichō, Kisuke, with the Kidō Corps' Grand Chief, Tessai.
And East—the area where Rōjūrō vanished—would receive almost all the spare high-end power left: 5th Division's taichō, Shinji; 9th's taichō, Kensei; 9th's fukutaichō, Mashiro; 8th's fukutaichō, Lisa; and the Kidō Corps' vice chief, Ushōda Hachigen.
The only squad outside the Sōtaichō's shuffle was the 6th.
As a noble-run division, with the current head of the Kuchiki house, Ginrei, as taichō, they stayed to guard the nobles' quarter—scarred by the Kasumiooji incident. Five years wasn't nearly enough to recover. One more blow could shake their rule itself.
As captains and lieutenants set out, Shunsui glanced at his fukutaichō, Lisa. He almost asked if she wanted to come with him.
Save for fixed captain assignments, fukutaichō could be flexed between teams for support.
After all, Shunsui was the odd one out. Every other axis had at least one captain plus one fukutaichō.
Only Shunsui was alone.
But even as Lisa left with Shinji's group, Shunsui said nothing.
"With Shinji and Kensei together, it should be fine… right?"
He could only comfort himself like that.
He couldn't know that less than an hour later, the strongest-looking team on paper would be wiped.
With them went the 12th Division's fukutaichō, Hiyori—whom Kisuke had already dispatched to back them up.
Surrounded by comrades whose Hollowfication was tipping into the irreversible, Shinji's voice shook when he spoke.
It was what fury sounded like at the breaking point.
"Sōsuke—I always knew you were up to no good!"
Across from him, Sōsuke opened his hands.
"And what if you did? Can you change the ending you're in?"
"Always suspicious, never acting. How different are you from the weak you look down on?"
"I once suspected a man, too. His cunning and patience outstripped his strength. But unlike you, I give him a stage. I let him perform. And he—he keeps surprising me."
"That's the difference between us, taichō~"
Stoked hot again, Shinji couldn't hold the Hollowfication back. His reason sank.
For one raw second, he wished he'd thrown Sōsuke into the Maggot's Nest the moment his instincts first screamed.
Too late now.
Three captains tipping into Hollowfication at once—when Sōsuke dispelled the local reiatsu muffle, the pressure shocked almost all of Soul Society.
Kisuke, fresh from resolving the South sector, felt it immediately.
"Tessai. Please."
No hesitation—Kisuke looked to the Grand Chief at his side.
He had asked the Sōtaichō early to swing the Kidō Corps into play—even though they rarely joined ops like this—hoping to end things fast and deny the mastermind more openings.
He hadn't imagined Shinji and Kensei's team—two captains and three fukutaichō—would fold so quickly.
He wasn't the only one blindsided.
Heading North, Love hadn't even cleared Seireitei's edge before knives hit his back—from his own fukutaichō, Jin'emon Kotsubaki.
Perhaps that's the wrong name. It should be Kaname.
"What are you even after?!"
Blindsided by Kaname—another captain-class—at full force, Love barely fought back.
In the last phase before Hollowfication swallowed him, he roared at the face wearing Jin'emon's features—at Kaname.
"To make this filthy world beautiful."
Kaname answered plainly.
It was the dream he had never once betrayed.
Killing a noble or two wouldn't fix a rotten world. To build the bright world his friend Kokuwō had imagined, the old beams had to be smashed. Then a new order could rise.
Sōsuke had taught him that truth. He believed it with all he was.
"At a time like this, you still feed me childish lies?"
Love didn't, couldn't understand Kaname.
In all Soul Society, few could follow that line of thought.
Sōsuke understood. So Kaname served him.
While captains fell to Hollowfication, Gin and Shuuichi's fight had only just reached its second act.
Kaname knew. He left Love to the change and flashed toward Gin's position.
Sōsuke lingered, unhurried, and watched the Hollowfying captains and lieutenants lash out at everything indiscriminately—until the one man he most wanted finally arrived.
12th Division taichō, head of the Technology Development Bureau—and crucially, maker and holder of the other Hōgyoku—Kisuke.
Sōsuke stayed in the dark, patient. He'd wait until Kisuke produced the Hōgyoku—
—nothing.
From where Sōsuke watched, Kisuke had done nothing, and yet the Hollowfication of those captains and lieutenants slid into calm.
If not for Tessai, visibly weakened at his side, Sōsuke would have doubted his own eyes.
"If I recall, there's a forbidden Kidō classed as absolutely prohibited… name of Jikan Teishi (Time Stasis)."
He remembered reading about it in the Great Spirit Book Corridor.
Most of that vault was open; a tiny fraction was sealed even from those allowed in.
Perhaps only the most exceptional were cleared.
Jikan Teishi was one of those.
He hadn't expected the Kidō Corps' Grand Chief—so often beneath his notice—to have learned and mastered such a thing.
No wonder Kisuke had brought Tessai.
In that case…
He looked at the panting figure behind Tessai's guard—Kisuke.
"You've sensed something… haven't you, Kisuke?"
Sōsuke smiled.
As long as he confirmed the Hōgyoku was on Kisuke, it was enough.
"Hand of a thousand, unreachable hand in the dark; archer of the unreflecting heavens… gather as I command—light bullet, eight bodies, nine paths, heavenly sutra… gray turret, draw the bow toward the far—dispel in purity.
Hadō #91: Senjū Kōten Taihō (Thousand-Hand Bright Heaven Purge Cannon)!"
Sōsuke lifted a hand. Beams laced into a single lance—his monstrous reiatsu packed tight—and screamed toward Kisuke.
But at the instant Sōsuke's pressure flared, Kisuke's mouth tugged up at one corner.
"Got you."
Would using the Hōgyoku exhaust him?
Sure. Not enough to leave him winded.
Likewise, maintaining Jikan Teishi burned a lot of power, but not so much that Tessai would be swaying on his feet.
Their "fatigue" existed to bait the watcher in the shadows.
"Kidō—Kūkan Ten'i (Space Transfer)!"
Tessai's eyes snapped clear. The next moment the captains and lieutenants newly calmed from Hollowfication were gone—and so were Kisuke and Tessai.
Senjū Kōten Taihō ripped through empty air.
An instant later, Sōsuke stared at the neat hole through his shoulder—the numbness pulsing outward from it—and tipped his head.
When?
Even with Kūkan Ten'i, reappearing and striking should have taken time.
No answer came—only a pair of eyes glinting from the darkness at Sōsuke's back, the owner cloaked head to toe, reiatsu erased.
Kisuke alone knew. The "Kisuke" under Tessai's guard had been an artificial body—an īgai—nothing more.
The real Kisuke, after Tessai's Jikan Teishi and after he'd used the Hōgyoku to save the captains and lieutenants, had donned the cloak that scrubbed his trail and slipped out of the fight.
He knew the puppeteer wouldn't be satisfied with Hollowfying a few captains. Whatever that man truly wanted, he wouldn't drift far. Otherwise Shinji's team would never have met this fate.
And, as expected, the hand moved again.
Hadō #91—Senjū Kōten Taihō.
Kisuke took the opening and fired his own technique—an advanced Byakurai—Jūgeki Byakurai (Heavy-Strike Pale Lightning), then released his Zanpakutō.
"Nake, Benihime! Kamisori! (Sing, Crimson Princess! Razor!)"
Reiatsu scythed from the blade—a red crescent—arrowing for Sōsuke.
"A clever trap. But you disappoint me, Kisuke."
Facing the red blade-light, Sōsuke looked almost regretful.
"With such advantage, you choose an attack this feeble? Even my subordinates know—when a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses all its strength. How much more a tiger?"
He should have been numb from Jūgeki Byakurai, but Sōsuke slid past the crescent and appeared before Kisuke.
The moment he fired, Kisuke had exposed his position.
"Bakudō #75: Gochūtekkan (Five-Post Iron Pillars)!"
Thankfully, Tessai dropped in—five iron posts slammed down, forcing Sōsuke back a few paces.
"I know you now—Sōsuke. Fifth Division fukutaichō."
Seeing Sōsuke's face, Kisuke finally pinned the identity.
"This incident—and the Kasumiooji rebellion—your work. Isn't it?"
He didn't flinch at Sōsuke's arrogance. For all his strength, Sōsuke still wasn't strong enough to put down both him and Tessai here and now.
"If I said no, would you believe it?"
Seeing Tessai reappear, Sōsuke accepted that he'd do no more than stain the surface today.
He still had a shade of caution for Tessai's Jikan Teishi.
He hadn't been the target, but he had felt it—being pinned outside your own control was… unpleasant.
"State your purpose, Sōsuke. You've run out of exits."
Kisuke kept his eyes on him.
"Not necessarily."
Sōsuke's laugh was soft.
He turned—and left.
Tessai hurled three high-level bakudō in succession and didn't catch so much as the swish of a sleeve.
"Leave it, Tessai."
Kisuke stopped him.
Something about this whole scene stank.
He had flushed the mastermind, yes. But the confidence on Sōsuke's face—it felt like a deliberate slip, bait dangled just where Kisuke would bite.
Then what was Sōsuke after?
Hollowfying captain-class shinigami? How did that profit him?
Or—
From the north, Love's raging reiatsu burst across the sky.
Kisuke remembered, late, that Seireitei had deployed more than one team.
Love's change meant Sōsuke wasn't alone.
"Tessai."
"Understood."
Kisuke didn't have to say it. Tessai read the rest.
"Kidō—Kūkan Ten'i!"
They vanished.
And at that same time—the only battlefield still in motion—Kaname had just joined the fight.
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