Inside the estate.
The study was deathly silent.
Several figures had gathered there, the heavy atmosphere spreading outward from the room.
"This is the lord's decision. You have no choice."
Takeda Satoru—missing an arm—stood with a cold face, radiating an aura that screamed stay away. His low voice echoed through the room.
"Moriyama or Yokota, it doesn't matter. Without the lord's favor, you'll always be trash that can't even make it onto the stage."
"If the lord hadn't spoken for you, you would've been kicked out of the nobility a hundred years ago. Do you want your noble status stripped away? Do you want to fall into commoner life?"
Ever since he'd been attacked, Takeda's temperament had grown far more vicious.
After his injuries were barely stabilized, he'd rushed straight to Fourth Division's General Relief Station for emergency treatment—only to receive a devastating answer: it couldn't be restored.
Unohana Retsu had spoken with regret. If the severed arm had been preserved, they might have attempted to reattach it.
But the arm had been taken.
There was essentially no hope.
Hearing that, Takeda's hatred for the attacker reached the bone. He swore that if he ever met him again, he would make him pay a far more painful price.
If not for that ambush, he never would've been pushed into disadvantage—never would've lost an arm.
Fortunately, not long after, he received a promise from the Tsunayashiro clan head:
Once cooperation with Hueco Mundo was completed successfully, his injury would be restored.
Takeda didn't doubt it for a second.
To him, "that lord" symbolized omnipotence.
Anything he promised was never flawed.
"Captain Takeda, please calm your anger."
The Moriyama clan head looked startled and hurried to explain. "I'm not trying to refuse. I was only wondering if we could delay this for a while."
"After all, the Yokota incident was severe. The Gotei 13 has increased patrol intensity in Rukongai by more than a notch."
"Especially in areas where nobles reside—patrol units often stake them out."
"It doesn't matter. I'll be there during the cooperation."
Takeda sneered. "And the Kidō barrier will be laid by me personally. Unless a captain-class Shinigami observes at close range, no one will detect anything."
He'd prepared thoroughly before coming.
Even when leaving his barracks, he'd used Kyokkō to conceal himself—there was no way he'd been seen.
Takeda was extremely confident in his Kidō.
"If Captain Takeda guarantees it…"
The Moriyama clan head finally exhaled and smiled in relief.
"Then I have nothing to worry about. After you notified us, we already gathered a certain number of souls from South Rukongai."
"We can begin the first sacrifice today."
Takeda nodded, satisfied.
Shinigami have Reiatsu outlets at both wrists; when one arm is lost, the stump becomes an outlet.
It didn't prevent Reiatsu from flowing, but it did make fine control more difficult.
If Takeda didn't have real talent in Reiatsu manipulation, he might still not have adapted to the loss.
Even so, he'd undeniably been weakened.
To return to full strength, restoring the arm was essential.
The Moriyama clan head rose first, wearing a flattering smile.
"The gate between worlds that the lord granted the Moriyama family is already prepared. We can go right now."
As he spoke, he reached for the study door.
Just as he was about to pull it open, soft knocking sounded from outside.
Takeda frowned, instinctively looking to the Moriyama clan head—only to see the man's stunned expression.
"Captain Takeda, I already instructed the servants—"
A violent Reiatsu wave swept across the entire estate, like a cyclone rising from the ground, as if it were about to swallow the buildings whole.
The next moment—
A blade-light so thin it was nearly invisible flashed through the door crack. With a creaking groan, the heavy wooden door dropped away in two halves.
Revealing a courtyard that looked like hell.
Guards lay scattered across the cold ground, their blood warming the earth.
Looking at the figures in the room, Naraku Sora smiled—what he apparently considered a friendly smile.
"Long time no see, Captain Takeda."
"Looks like you already know why I'm here."
Takeda's gaze sharpened like a blade. A terrifying aura surged up and filled the room.
"So you found out?"
"Was it Yamamoto himself? Or another captain?"
Naraku bared his teeth in a grin. "Teacher didn't notice your little scheme. I'm here for one reason only—payback."
Takeda narrowed his eyes, staring at the boy in the corridor holding a sword.
"Should I praise your courage… or call it stupidity?"
"A mere seated officer doesn't understand the difference between us."
Right then, outside the estate, a Reiatsu signature Takeda recognized flared.
Visible Kidō light rose from the ground. Complex incantations interlocked and formed a massive barrier that swallowed the entire estate.
Takeda's face twisted ugly, and his gaze drilled into the seemingly harmless Naraku.
"So you're working with that bastard!"
He recognized the Reiatsu—Aizen's. The same one who had attacked him before.
No more hesitation.
Heavy Reiatsu crushed down, thickening the air inside the estate until it felt sticky and sluggish—
Like sinking into the deep sea.
He decided: he would kill this brat in the most brutal way possible, then pour every ounce of rage into the cowardly ambusher.
Shing!
A clear blade ring rang out in the courtyard. Reiatsu poured visibly into Takeda's Zanpakutō as he raised his sword, its edge glittering cold.
Naraku drew and swung in the same posture.
Seeing that, Takeda's eyes flashed with contempt. He'd already lost to this kid once—how could he still have no memory of it?
Even Head-Captain Yamamoto's eye for talent was apparently garbage.
Today, he would teach this "student" what true—
Boom!!
The instant their blades met, Takeda's face changed violently.
An unbearable force exploded like the world tipping over—like being hit head-on by a dump truck at full throttle.
Wind blasted upward. A body was launched backward instantly, streaking across the courtyard like a falling star.
Buildings collapsed, and dust roared into the sky.
~~~
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