Naraku Sora's question made Nishikawa pause for a moment.
This was the first time he'd heard a request like that. Everyone else who went through something similar wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.
But this kid actually looked excited and wanted to take on even more.
Did the Reiatsu blast scramble his brain?
Nishikawa gave the boy a strange look, wondering if he should drag him to Fourth Division for a checkup.
But seeing how bright-eyed and energetic he was, he really didn't look like anything was wrong.
Honest, steady Nishikawa thought for a bit, then said seriously, "Aside from those two Adjuchas, there is another group that was brought in recently."
"They were pretending to act under the Gotei's name while doing nothing but killing. They rampaged all over Rukongai and even murdered Shinigami from Eleventh Division who'd gone out on patrol."
Naraku frowned. Why did that sound so familiar? Like he'd heard it somewhere before.
"In the end, it was Lord Warden's Deputy who led the Shinigami down to Rukongai and arrested them all," Nishikawa continued. Then something occurred to him, and he added, "The Deputy Warden is basically our Central Prison vice-captain. His authority is second only to Lady Shutara's."
"But…"
He suddenly lowered his voice, glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and then carried on.
"Compared to Lady Shutara's personality, the Deputy Warden is… extremely dangerous."
"You'd better pray he never sets his sights on you."
Naraku looked puzzled.
"You'll understand in time." Nishikawa adjusted the Zanpakutō at his waist and gestured. "Since you volunteered, come with me."
"Perfect chance for you to learn how the Central Prison actually processes inmates."
The two of them walked up the corridor, temporarily leaving the Reviving Hell behind.
Taking advantage of the break, Naraku turned his attention to his system panel.
After his first successful suppression, all his stats had gone up—much faster than any training back at the academy.
[Name: Naraku Sora]
[Reiatsu: Grade 12]
[Zanjutsu: LV24]
[Hakuda: LV26]
[Shunpo: LV22]
[Kidō: LV25]
[Hollow Power: 2%]
Just from the panel alone, his numbers were very balanced. Even his Reiatsu had just about brushed the threshold for a high-ranking seated officer.
The only thing that made Naraku's teeth ache just looking at it was that "Hollow Power."
It was only a measly two percent, but that was already enough to give his combat strength a noticeable qualitative boost.
After all, this was a world where hybrid power reigned supreme—the more you mixed, the stronger you became.
The only thing to worry about was: if his Hollow Power ever hit 100%, would he hollowfy on the spot and completely stop being a Shinigami?
But that wasn't exactly a problem for a small-fry jailer to be worrying about right now.
Rather than stressing over that, he'd be better off thinking about how to "farm fries at the docks," so to speak.
While Naraku was trying to think things through, Nishikawa led him to a place called the Intake Room.
"This is the Intake Room," Nishikawa explained, pointing at the cells in the spacious hall. "It's mainly used to temporarily hold criminals who haven't been formally sentenced yet."
"Of course, monsters like Hollows aren't something we can handle ourselves—Lady Shutara usually deals with those personally."
"These rebels, for attacking Shinigami, stirring up chaos in Rukongai, and other crimes, have been sentenced to between three hundred and five hundred years in the Black Rope Hell, and more than half of their spiritual power will be stripped away."
"As for whether they can live to the end of their sentences—who knows?"
It all sounded cruel, but Nishikawa's expression stayed perfectly calm from start to finish, as if he were just explaining some trivial process.
He'd been a jailer too long and had seen every kind of criminal there was.
Whatever compassion he'd once had had long since been ground to dust under the wheels of time.
Naraku, however, caught a detail. "Stripped of half their spiritual power?"
Nishikawa nodded, walked straight over to one of the criminals, and drew his Zanpakutō.
The clear ring of steel instantly drew everyone's attention.
"Watch carefully. Learn properly," Nishikawa said in a low voice. "You'll be responsible for stripping criminals' spiritual power too in the future. If you don't control the degree properly, Lady Shutara will punish you herself."
He reversed his grip on the sword and struck the criminal's abdomen with the butt of the hilt.
Spiritual pressure surged, and a conspicuous character for "Seal" appeared at the spot he'd hit.
"The 魂睡—the soul sleep—is the source of a Shinigami's spiritual power. All you need to do is seal it with Kidō, and their spiritual power is taken away."
"If that's destroyed, the Shinigami will gradually lose their power completely and end up as a powerless soul."
"Corresponding to that is the 锁结—the soul chain—which acts as a spiritual power booster."
As he spoke, Nishikawa struck again with the hilt, hitting the criminal square in the chest.
"Seal the soul chain, and he won't have a single drop of spiritual power left."
"But Kidō seals have a time limit, so they have to be reinforced regularly. If you slip up even once, it could lead to disaster."
Naraku frowned. "Then why not just destroy those two points directly?"
Hearing that, Nishikawa gave the boy a look that was half concern, half exasperation.
"You didn't seriously think Central Prison is some kind of vacation resort for them, did you?"
"From the first level all the way down to the eighth, each Hell has its own punishments. If they completely lose their Shinigami powers, those people will be dead in no time."
The rebel Shinigami whose power had just been stripped collapsed to his knees, glaring up at Nishikawa with a twisted face.
If looks could kill, Nishikawa would've died hundreds of times over by now.
"Dogs of the Central 46…"
"Bakudō #1: Sai."
Before he could finish his meaningless curses, Nishikawa sealed his mouth with practiced ease.
Clearly, he was long used to this sort of reaction.
Naraku stood there, lost in thought.
"All right. Since you wanted to take over, you can handle escorting them," Nishikawa said, sheathing his sword and clapping his hands lightly. "You can learn sealing Kidō later. Start with this guy."
He pointed at the criminal kneeling by his feet.
Naraku didn't waste words. He walked straight up, threw out a Bakudō #4, and red rope-like spiritual light wrapped tightly around the criminal.
Then, under everyone's gaze, he grabbed the glowing "rope" and dragged the man out of the Intake Room.
They went down along the corridor, passed through the Reviving Hell,
and only when wails and curses rose up around them did the Black Rope Hell finally come into view.
In this Hell, jailers used burning hot iron ropes to bind the criminals, slashing and sawing them apart.
The scene was brutal to the extreme—like an actual hell on earth.
The rebel, who'd still looked vicious a moment ago, went wide-eyed at the sight. His legs trembled uncontrollably, his body going limp as he nearly collapsed completely.
A perfect demonstration of what it meant to "turn into a puddle of mush."
Naraku also found the sight hard to stomach. He hoisted the criminal up, quickly shoved him into an empty cell,
and right on cue, a black system screen appeared.
[Successfully suppressed criminal: Morita Nijūshichirō. Sin value: 111. Contribution: 5%!]
Seeing the text appear, Naraku's expression instantly smoothed out and became calm again.