"Naraku, what do you think?"
Aizen looked calmly at the empty and silent village, trying to find some clues from the details.
On the surface, this place was no different from other villages in the Sabitsura District.
Except that not a single soul could be seen.
Traces of past life still remained, as if the owners had just gone out for some urgent matter.
"I'm watching while standing."
Naraku Sora looked at his friend beside him as if caring for a fool, "You don't expect me to find clues about the culprit, do you?"
Aizen: "..."
Sure enough, he had been influenced by Hirako Shinji, actually pinning his hopes on Naraku Sora.
Since being forced to join the 5th Division, Hirako Shinji, as the Captain, seemed to have a screw loose somewhere, assigning him tasks frequently for no reason.
And they were the kind of tricky tasks that others couldn't complete.
Just as Naraku Sora said when they first met, this guy was clearly targeting him deliberately.
Until now.
Aizen still wasn't clear where he had offended Hirako Shinji.
Maybe he just didn't like the look of him?
Aizen tried to use Naraku Sora's way of thinking to find the answer.
Impossible. Hirako Shinji didn't look like a brainless idiot. How could he target a subordinate Shinigami for such a reason?
Aizen shook his head and refocused his attention on the environment before him.
He quietly released a part of his Reiatsu, instantly spreading it throughout the entire village.
While he was busy, Naraku Sora, relying on his keen perception and the courage of having Aizen as backup, walked straight into it.
He wasn't very good at delicate work like Reiatsu sensing, but he could try observing with his eyes.
Maybe he'd get lucky and find something.
Walking along the country path, the doors of the houses on both sides were wide open. Let alone souls, not even a breathing creature could be found.
After searching three houses in a row, Naraku Sora found nothing.
However, just as he was about to give up, a strange yet somewhat familiar smell suddenly flooded his nostrils.
"What is this?"
Naraku Sora frowned tightly, trying to analyze the relevant components from the smell just now.
Something he had never encountered in his memory, yet it gave him the illusion of familiarity.
He followed the direction the smell came from.
Soon, Naraku Sora stopped in front of a house at the very edge of the village.
He carefully pushed the door open and entered.
On the other side.
Aizen also walked into the village, frowning as he looked at the surrounding environment.
"It's strangely quiet."
"Normally, even if all the souls in a village were killed, this situation wouldn't occur."
"Unless there are other unknown dangers hidden here..."
The inside of the house was extremely simple, without even a decent piece of furniture.
However, as the 64th District, Sabitsura's situation was normal. Unless it was those forward districts, the living environment was relatively harsh.
And Naraku Sora finally found a trace of abnormality in the dim house.
In the corner, viscous liquid spread out, emitting a strange smell that seemed out of place with the surrounding environment.
Holding his Zanpakutō, Naraku Sora leaned close to the liquid. Just as he was about to test the depth with his scabbard, his neck suddenly felt cold.
At that moment, he looked up abruptly.
A pair of blood-red eyeballs were embedded in a hideous face. Lacking the protection of eyelids, they appeared particularly abrupt and terrifying.
A twisted and deformed creature crouched in the crack between the ceiling and the wall, looking at him greedily.
As if seeing some peerless delicacy.
Its bloody mouth opened wide, saliva dripping out, landing exactly on that puddle of liquid.
Case solved.
Naraku Sora looked at the deformed creature hanging from the ceiling with disgust, expressing that he had never seen such an ugly thing.
Even those two Adjuchas looked much better than the monster before him.
The stooped figure resembled a human, but with three arms on the left side, seven legs on the right, and long black hair growing all over its body.
It specialized in anthropomorphism.
"Although I don't know what exactly you are," Naraku Sora grinned hideously while drawing his sword, "it doesn't matter to me, because—"
"Any evil will be brought to f*cking justice!"
The moment his voice fell, the monster on the ceiling pounced down, carried by a foul-smelling wind, arriving in an instant.
During these days in the Central Prison, Naraku Sora had realized a truth.
If you want those heinous criminals to be obedient, you have to be more ferocious than them.
Claws as sharp as blades crashed directly onto the sword edge, actually emitting the sound of metal colliding.
Seemingly flesh, but actually Hierro.
Facing such an opponent, Naraku Sora showed no fear. Instead, the corners of his mouth rose, and violent Reiatsu surged forth.
"De, delicious, fragrant, you smell so good..."
The monster was close at hand, its blood-red eyeballs almost bulging out, staring straight at Naraku Sora. A long tongue extended from its bloody mouth, trying to lick the "delicacy" in front of it in this way.
"If you like it, then eat your fill!"
While suppressing the monster's sharp claws with one hand, Naraku Sora directly activated Hadō #11, Tsuzuri Raiden.
Shining golden lightning surged along the Zanpakutō, instantly engulfing the twisted body, sparks flying.
Powerful electric currents coursed through, instantly causing the monster to fall into a brief stiffness and paralysis.
In an instant, Reiatsu materialized like blood sprayed out, wrapping tightly around the silvery-white blade.
Horizontal slash!
Crimson sprayed everywhere.
The monster flew backward, the flesh on its chest torn open, revealing bones and internal organs with neat cut marks. A foul stench spread.
Cut in two with one slash.
However, even though its body was cut in two, the monster still didn't die. The flesh at the break grew wildly, generating tentacles, trying to link with each other.
Naraku Sora didn't hesitate at all. With a backhand slash, he directly sent the skull flying. The bulging eyeballs suddenly exploded, turning into a mist of blood.
When Aizen arrived, only a mess remained at the scene.
The familiar figure stood amidst the filth and grinned at him, his white teeth particularly striking amidst the crimson everywhere.
For a moment, Aizen almost thought his Reiatsu sensing was broken.
If he hadn't noticed the outbreak of battle, he wouldn't have sensed the monster's Reiatsu at all.
What they encountered today was somewhat too strange.
Aizen walked quickly to Naraku Sora. After confirming that the blood on this guy belonged to someone else, he didn't ask much more.
"How did you discover the opponent?"
"Intuition."
Naraku Sora looked frank.
He couldn't possibly say he smelled the monster's stench and chased it all the way here, right?
As the dignified 10th Seat of the Prison, didn't he need to save face?
Aizen glanced expressionlessly at the guy in front of him. His intuition told him that Naraku Sora was lying.