Soul Society, 8th Division Headquarters.
"Captain Kyōraku." A member of the Inner Guard dressed in a dark red uniform knelt on one knee. "A secret order."
Nanao Ise, standing beside Shunsui Kyōraku, accepted the token presented to her. After carefully comparing and verifying the Reiatsu on it, she nodded to Shunsui Kyōraku.
"It's a joint order from the Captain-Commander and Central 46."
Shunsui Kyōraku sighed, adjusted his straw hat, and hauled himself up from behind his desk. "What does it say?"
"Proceed immediately to the World of the Living and monitor the Visored's activities. Report any discoveries without delay."
"Understood." Shunsui Kyōraku stood up. "Nanao-chan, get ready. It's time for us to leave."
After watching the Inner Guard member disappear, Nanao Ise began making preparations while voicing the question on her mind.
"Is it really a good idea to leave Seireitei right now?"
"Of course not. Seireitei's defenses are already stretched thin. We can't afford to have any Captain with combat ability leave without good reason." Shunsui Kyōraku tugged at the pink overcoat draped over his Captain's Haori. "But if we don't solve the problem, staying here won't accomplish anything either."
First, there had been a meeting to assign official duties. Then separate missions had been issued in secret.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's intentions were already obvious.
They were to secretly investigate what the Visored were doing and determine whether they had anything to do with the disappearance of the Ōin.
"But..." Nanao Ise still had one question. "Why you?"
Shunsui Kyōraku answered his Lieutenant's question.
"Among the Captains still here, aside from Ukitake, whose health isn't good, I'm the only one who knows Hirako and the others well. Naturally, I'm the one who should go."
At the Thirteenth Division headquarters, Jūshirō Ukitake was answering the same question from his two 3rd Seats.
"Among the current Captains, only Kyōraku and I know Hirako and the others. Since this is an investigation rather than a battle, naturally the healthier Kyōraku should remain behind to protect Seireitei while I go to the World of the Living. You don't need to come with me. Once I arrive, I'll meet up with Muten and Rukia."
At the 7th Division headquarters, Sajin Komamura ordered Lieutenant Tetsuzaemon Iba to open the Division's Senkaimon.
"There is no need for excessive concern. Genryūsai-sama has his own considerations."
Whatever the reason and whatever the outcome, Sajin Komamura would faithfully carry out any mission entrusted to him by Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
That was probably exactly why Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto had chosen him for this assignment.
At the 6th Division headquarters, Byakuya Kuchiki remained expressionless.
"Renji, we're leaving."
The Kuchiki Clan represented the standard expected of Shinigami. If a traitor appeared among the Shinigami, the Kuchiki Clan could not remain idle.
At the 2nd Division headquarters, Suì-Fēng glanced at Marechiyo Ōmaeda, who was still chewing on a fried rice cracker.
"We're the Onmitsukidō. Of course secret missions fall to us. What is there to ask about?"
One after another, the five Captains entered their respective Senkaimon.
Waiting for them inside the Dangai was the onrushing Kōtotsu.
...
The World of the Living, Chohara 7-chome, Naruki City.
Inside an old apartment building stood the headquarters of the Fullbringer organization known as Xcution.
Its known members included, but were not limited to, Kūgo Ginjō, Riruka Dokugamine, Shūkurō Tsukishima, Giriko Kutsuzawa, Yasutora Sado, and Ichigo Kurosaki, who had only recently mastered Fullbring.
At that moment, Ichigo Kurosaki was inside Riruka Dokugamine's aquarium, facing another member of Xcution.
The dark-skinned woman wore her short hair in a clean, practical style. Her black leather jacket strained across her ample chest, while a pair of long, straight legs were wrapped in white trousers, ending in black leather boots.
"Welcome." The woman greeted him first. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jackie Tristan. I look forward to working with you."
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."
The silver pendant in Ichigo Kurosaki's hand expanded, transforming into an enormous silver-white cross.
"Let's begin."
"You say that..." Jackie kept both hands in her pockets. "But you're not attacking?"
"You haven't activated your Fullbring yet."
"Such gentlemanly manners..." Jackie tilted her head, regarding him with mild interest. "Would you act like that on a real battlefield too?"
"Hmm..." Ichigo Kurosaki thought about it. "Probably."
"Oh dear. Then I suppose there's no helping it."
Jackie brought her feet together in the dirty water.
"In that case, I'll go first. Dirty Boots!"
Blackness spread outward from her leather boots, forming black gloves and long black leather boots held up by suspender-like straps. White segmented sleeves appeared over Jackie's arms and connected to disc-shaped shoulder guards. A white fur scarf contrasted sharply with her dark skin, while a translucent veil hanging from the brim of her black hat covered the right half of her face.
"That's..."
Before the surprise on Ichigo Kurosaki's face could fully form, Jackie had already appeared behind him and brought one foot crashing down.
Boom!
Water exploded upward.
Ichigo Kurosaki braced the massive cross behind himself and blocked the kick.
"That outfit... Are you wearing your Fullbring?"
"Correct."
Jackie kicked again, sending Ichigo Kurosaki flying along with the enormous cross.
"Why don't you try guessing something else... the ability of my Fullbring."
"Getsuga Jūjishō!"
Ichigo Kurosaki roared, sending a crimson cross hurtling toward Jackie.
"Not bad power..."
Jackie's figure flickered.
"But you're too slow!"
Seeing Jackie closing in, Ichigo Kurosaki raised the cross to block, only to suddenly feel the air stir behind his head.
Compared to Ichigo Kurosaki, who was burdened by the massive cross, Jackie was so fast that he could barely react.
But...
"Getsuga Jūjishō!"
Ichigo Kurosaki fired a blood-red crescent in the opposite direction and used the recoil to swing the massive cross toward Jackie.
A faint glow flashed.
Jackie abruptly appeared somewhere else.
He saw it.
With his concentration pushed to its limit, Ichigo Kurosaki caught the brief irregularity.
Light flashed beneath his feet, and he narrowly avoided Jackie's attack.
"Using Fullbring to draw out the Soul of the water, increasing its elasticity and using that to improve your evasive movement..." Jackie praised him. "You learn quickly."
"Not quickly enough."
Ichigo Kurosaki rubbed the shoulder Jackie's boot had just grazed.
"Let's conti..."
His body suddenly stiffened.
He had sensed an abnormal Reiatsu.
"Oh?" Jackie focused on it as well. "That's a lot of chaotic Reiatsu... Are the Shinigami fighting among themselves?"
"Hold on!"
Ichigo Kurosaki dismissed the cross.
"I need to go..."
"To watch?" Jackie sneered. "No. With your current strength, you'd probably just go there and get in the way."
"Ichigo!"
Yasutora Sado's voice came from outside.
"I'll go take a look."
Ichigo Kurosaki tightened his grip on the Quincy Cross.
"...Yeah."
Jackie nodded. "Judging by that expression, it looks like you can keep training."
Ichigo Kurosaki summoned the cross again.
"If I beat you, I can move on to the next stage, right?"
"You seem awfully confident..."
"I've already gotten used to your attacks." Ichigo Kurosaki's gaze was unwavering. "Now all that's left is beating you."
"Looks like you're not very good at guessing games. Fine, I'll tell you."
Jackie drove the tip of her boot into the muddy water.
"Dirty Boots. Just as the name suggests, the dirtier they become, the stronger they get. It doesn't matter whether it's sand, dirt, mud... or blood."
Jackie stamped one foot down, blasting a column of water upward.
"What you got used to before was arithmetic growth."
Her power surged.
"But now... it's exponential!"
Boom!
...
Love Aikawa was blasted backward, the mask on his face shattering.
Compared with the damage to his mask, however, the injuries covering his body were far worse.
The other members of the Visored weren't doing much better.
With so many Captains attacking together and coordinating with one another, even though the Visored had activated Hollowfication immediately, they were completely outmatched.
At this rate...
"Bankai."
A clear voice rang out.
"Rin'en Bokukō!"
From a cascading waterfall of Spirit Ink, the ferocious Rin'en Bokukō surged forth and opened its jaws, swallowing the members of the Visored whole.
"Ryūsenka!"
A massive pillar of ice shot directly toward Rin'en Bokukō and forcibly froze it solid.
Spirit Ink swirled around Muten Natsu as he pulled the members of the Visored free, along with Shūhei Hisagi and Izuru Kira.
The Bankai he had just used wasn't meant to defeat the Reigai Captains.
It was meant to rescue everyone.
Tessai Tsukabishi and Hachigen Ushōda stabilized the wounded, while Retsu Unohana and Orihime Inoue immediately began treating them.
"Even after hearing you explain it..." Tōshirō Hitsugaya stared at the distant version of himself using Bankai. "Seeing it with my own eyes is still unsettling."
The Reigai could even use Bankai?
"Things have already progressed this far..." Kisuke Urahara looked toward the numerous Reigai Captains. "Aren't you going to come out and have a conversation, Inaba-san?"
"Heh heh heh..."
Kagerōza Inaba emerged from among the surrounding Reigai Captains.
"Things have already progressed this far, and you still dare to show yourselves?"
"We can't keep running away forever, can we~?"
Kisuke Urahara stared directly at Kagerōza Inaba.
"It isn't too late to stop."
"Stop?"
Kagerōza Inaba broke into an enormous grin, the flesh of his cheeks bunching into wrinkles.
"Surely you're joking?"
"Do you really think these Reigai can help you take control of Soul Society?" Kisuke Urahara shook his head. "The moment the real Captains appear, everyone will know these are impostors."
"So..."
Kagerōza Inaba's eyes widened with excitement, his smile becoming increasingly deranged.
"I made sure they would never appear again."
He spread his grin wider.
"I'm an expert on the Dangai, after all."
The Dangai...
The Kōtotsu!
Even a Captain-level Shinigami would be unable to escape if swallowed by the Kōtotsu inside the Dangai.
Kisuke Urahara's expression darkened.
"What did you do...?"
"You can ask them yourself..."
Kagerōza Inaba raised one hand.
"In Hell."
At his signal, all of the Reigai launched their attacks at once.
"Bankai. Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!"
Tōshirō Hitsugaya immediately activated Bankai to meet them, only to be intercepted by his own Reigai.
The instant their blades collided, Tōshirō Hitsugaya realized that his opponent's strength was almost equal to his own.
Defeating it quickly would be difficult.
But in the current situation...
A streak of profound darkness flashed past.
The sword arm of the Reigai identical to Tōshirō Hitsugaya suddenly separated from its body.
With enough time to gather his strength, and with the Reigai's attention occupied by Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Muten Natsu had severed its arm with a single sword-drawing slash.
Hell Flames then ignited across the bone-white skull mask.
"Tonight was supposed to be peaceful..."
Muten Natsu reached out and caught the Reigai's severed arm.
"Why is there always someone trying to shatter one ordinary day after another?"
Cold black flames spread across the severed arm, consuming it together with the Zanpakutō.
The arm and blade fused into a translucent white bone adorned with a pale ring.
Muten Natsu swung his arm and hurled the bone toward the charging Kenpachi Zaraki.
"Hah!"
Kenpachi Zaraki slashed down.
The bone abruptly exploded, releasing a surge of freezing air that swept over Kenpachi Zaraki and sealed him inside ice.
"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"
Rukia Kuchiki seized the opportunity and used the surrounding cold to launch her attack.
A towering pillar of ice erupted upward, trapping Yachiru Kusajishi inside.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya finished off the one-armed Reigai before him with a single slash.
Then he looked toward Muten Natsu.
His pupils abruptly contracted.
A pitch-black gauntlet appeared around Muten Natsu's arm, then turned bone-white.
All the power stored within it flowed into his next slash.
A flash of freezing light tore through the air.
Before the shriek of displaced air could even sound, the bodies of several Lieutenants had already been cut apart.
Muten Natsu's blade traced a graceful arc through the air.
The scattered Reishi was forcibly devoured and absorbed into his next strike.
"Bankai. Konjiki..."
The Reigai Mayuri Kurotsuchi hadn't even finished releasing his Bankai before Muten Natsu's blade severed his head.
The Reigai of Byakuya Kuchiki and Suì-Fēng appeared simultaneously on either side of Muten Natsu and attacked.
"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"
Rukia Kuchiki timed her attack perfectly, releasing a wave of freezing air that formed a solid wall of ice.
There was no way the ice wall itself could intercept two Reigai moving at such high speed.
But it could freeze Muten Natsu when he deliberately moved forward to meet them.
Ice instantly sealed Muten Natsu inside.
The attacks of the Suì-Fēng and Byakuya Kuchiki Reigai were obstructed, delaying them for only an instant.
But that instant was enough.
Violent Hell Flames surged outward and swallowed both Reigai.
Against normal Captains, Hell Flames were troublesome, but not impossible to resist.
Retsu Unohana had once used sheer Reiatsu to withstand their corrosion.
Sōsuke Aizen had even extinguished Hell Flames directly with Reiatsu.
But the opponents surrounding Muten Natsu now were Reigai.
They were constructs made from a Captain's Reishi, capable of reaching Captain-level power only by recklessly drawing out everything they had in brief bursts.
Compared with actual Captains, their stability was worlds apart.
These unstable Reigai possessed exceptionally dense concentrations of Reishi.
Compared to ordinary spiritual bodies, that made them far more flammable...
And far more explosive!
Boom!
Pink cherry blossoms scattered from the explosion of cold black flames, faint golden patterns visible across their surfaces.
Muten Natsu held Myōki in one hand.
Two mangled bodies floated beside him as he controlled the eerie cherry blossoms and sent them sweeping toward the Bankai-wielding Reigai of Sajin Komamura.
A gust of wind swept past.
The seemingly delicate cherry blossoms carved wounds across Sajin Komamura's body.
Black patterns bloomed from those shallow cuts.
The overlapping patterns suddenly expanded.
The Reigai Sajin Komamura and Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō shattered together.