It happened in the middle of the routine.
No alarms. No hostile reiatsu surge. There is no visible Frozen Eclipse Beacon expansion.
Just a shift.
In the courtyard of the 11th Division, a seated officer swung his sword in a downward arc, dividing a training post cleanly in half. The blow was precise. Revised. Exactly as drilled.
The post fell.
A second later, the sword vibrated.
Not by impact.
By something else.
The officer frowned and steadied his grip.
The vibration stopped.
He dismissed it.
Seireitei. 2nd Division Barracks.
On the other side of the Seireitei, in a hallway of the 2nd Division headquarters, another Soul Reaper stopped in mid-step.
Her zanpakutō tugged lightly at her hip.
Not outwards.
Downwards.
As if reacting to a pressure that had not yet reached the ground.
She put her hand on the hilt.
The sensation stopped.
There are no fluctuations in the surrounding reiatsu. No orders were issued. No enemy present.
She continued walking.
The reports started coming in within an hour.
Minor. Dismissible.
Momentary instability. Brief vibration of the handle. Delayed spiritual echo after routine exertion.
Individually meaningless.
Collectively disturbing.
Seireitei. 6th Division Barracks.
In the 6th Division, Byakuya Kuchiki was standing infront of an open window, the air inside the barracks was abnormally still.
Senbonzakura rested next to him, sealed.
It had been silent since the meditation chamber.
Too quiet.
Byakuya's eyes moved slightly as footsteps approached behind him.
Renji, calmly:
"Captain, 3 divisions have reported irregular zanpakutō reactions in the last 2 hours."
Byakuya didn't turn around:
"Define irregular."
Renji responded:
"Delayed response to stimuli. Minor vibration after completed actions. In one case, a release command resonated twice."
Silence.
Byakuya's gaze remained fixed on the horizon beyond the walls of the Seireitei.
Byakuya asks:
"Has the Frozen Eclipse Beacon expanded?"
Renji responded:
"No, Captain. Your perimeter remains stable."
Stable.
The word dragged on unpleasantly.
Seireitei. 12th Division Laboratory.
In the 12th Division's laboratories, equipment flickered softly as data streamed across suspended screens. The technicians exchanged glances but said nothing until a weak, irritated voice through the room.
Mayuri, irritated:
"That is not fluctuation, it's latency."
Mayuri Kurotsuchi adjusted a dial with clinical precision, his eyes squinting behind painted lids.
A sword rested on a reinforced table infront of him, confiscated from a lower ranking officer after repeated "anomalies".
He tapped the scabbard once with a gloved finger.
Nothing happened.
He tapped it again.
A heartbeat later, the sword emitted a faint pulse of reiatsu.
Mayuri's smile widened, then murmured:
"Oh, how inconvenient."
The pattern became undeniable by nightfall.
Blades weren't rebelling.
They weren't failing.
They were responding out of sequence.
Strike first, vibration later. Pronounced command, resonance after. Heartfelt emotion, the steel responded too late.
Across the Soul Society, zanpakutō were experiencing the same temporal displacement that Urahara had measured in Ichigo.
Not weaker.
Mistimed.
Rukongai. District 68.
At the edge of the Rukongai, where the Frozen Eclipse Beacon stood in silent balance, the air shimmered faintly around the pillar of dark ice.
It didn't grow.
It didn't pulse.
It simply existed.
And within its radius, the emotional variation continued to flatten, not into obedience, not into desperation, but into calm and alignment.
Far from the Beacon, the first true consequence manifested itself - the bond between Soul Reaper and Zanpakutō, forged through shared emotions and reflected will, depended on immediacy.
If the emotion came late, so did the steel.
Seireitei. 6th Division Barracks.
Back at the 6th Division, Byakuya placed his hand lightly on Senbonzakura's hilt.
He didn't draw it.
He didn't order it.
He just touched it.
For a moment nothing happened.
Then, weakly, the blade pulsed.
After.
Byakuya's expression did not change.
But something settled behind his eyes.
Byakuya, quietly:
"This is no longer an isolated thing."
Renji, stiffened:
"Captain?"
Finally Byakuya turned, staring:
"The disturbance is no longer centered on the Beacon. It has started to affect bonds."
The World of the Living, Karakura Town
In the World of the Living, Ichigo Kurosaki stopped mid-step when a stranger sensation passed through his palm - neither pain, nor heat.
Recognition.
A pulse that did not originate from him.
It faded quickly.
Too fast to examine.
He frowned, not realising that at that very instant, dozens of swords throughout the Soul Society had belatedly vibrated in unison.
Steel responding to something that had already happened.
Rukongai. District 68.
In the stillness beneath the dark pillar of ice, nothing moved.
No voice spoke.
There is no directed will.
The system remained stable.
But its stabilisation was no longer contained.
It had begun to interfere with the oldest truth of a Soul Reaper - a sword must respond when called.
And now, across the realms, they were answering - a little late.