"You're not thinking of backing out, are you? We have it in writing, with your signature right there!"
Yamamoto's eyes widened as he stared suspiciously at Batsu'unsai, looking as though he might swallow her whole if she so much as reached for the agreement.
He'd just raised his cup to take a drink when her remark made his hand jerk.
The sake nearly went down the wrong pipe, sending him into a violent coughing fit. His face turned bright red before he finally managed to catch his breath.
"Relax, relax. I'm not backing out."
Batsu'unsai waved dismissively.
"I was only lamenting a missed opportunity."
"Hmph. You'd better not be."
Yamamoto continued watching her warily.
"Don't think I'm some senile old fool you can easily trick!"
If she tried to snatch Kazuma's deed of sale back, he was fully prepared to kick her straight out of the room.
"Oh, come on. Do I really look like someone who breaks her word?"
Batsu'unsai shook her head with a helpless smile.
"We already agreed on the price, so naturally I won't change it afterward. Business depends on trust, after all."
She might love money, but raising the price after a deal had already been finalized would be dishonorable.
Poor Kazuma, meanwhile, was still trapped in that chaotic space, surrounded by the ancient founders of the Great Noble Clans and uncertain whether he could even escape.
He had absolutely no idea that his beloved wife had already sold him off like livestock.
If anyone else heard about this, they'd surely shed tears on his behalf.
...
Chaotic Space
"What the hell do you four old bastards actually want?!"
Kazuma finally snapped.
"If you've got the balls, come over here and fight me properly! If I don't beat your faces into a pulpy mess, my name isn't Kazuma!"
He could no longer tolerate the four founders' silent treatment.
Kazuma had absolutely no idea how long he'd been trapped in this godforsaken place.
There was no proper sense of time, and his existence had gradually devolved into an endless cycle of drinking and sleeping.
Drink.
Sleep.
Wake up.
Drink again.
His flask was practically empty.
And through all of it, those four ancient bastards simply stood there.
They watched him drink himself stupid, watched him sleep, watched him wake up and start drinking again, yet never made the slightest move.
Kazuma had lost track of how many arguments he'd tried to start.
He'd hurled every insult he could remember at them, repeatedly recycling some of the nastiest profanity known to humanity.
Nothing worked.
The four founders didn't react.
Not a twitch.
Not a frown.
Not even the slightest movement in their expressions.
"Come on!"
Kazuma gestured furiously at them.
"Can one of you at least react a little? Frown! Glare at me! Do something!"
He pointed accusingly at their expressionless faces.
"You standing there like four wooden statues while I curse my lungs out is seriously embarrassing me!"
Kazuma felt his mental defenses collapsing.
This was a level of despair he'd never experienced before.
"All right, fuck it!"
His patience finally broke completely.
"You want to lure me into some trap? Fine! You really think you can actually kill me?!"
Kazuma no longer cared whether there was a trap waiting for him.
He attacked.
The four founders, however, remained frustratingly calm.
They clearly had no desire to engage Kazuma directly.
That only made him more impatient.
He had far too many important things waiting for him outside. If these bastards continued stalling him here indefinitely, the situation in the Three Worlds might completely change before he managed to escape.
Enough was enough.
Kazuma drew his Zanpakutō and exploded forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Whoosh!
His blade swept horizontally toward the four founders.
They reacted immediately.
Rather than meet the strike head-on, all four retreated at high speed.
"Where are you?"
Kazuma muttered while pursuing them.
"Where the hell are you hiding?"
Even while chasing the four visible founders, his spiritual perception continuously swept through every corner of the surrounding chaos.
He hadn't forgotten about the missing Shiba founder.
The last thing he needed was for that old bastard to suddenly jump out of some undetectable hiding place and stab him in the back.
Kazuma kept pursuing.
The four founders kept retreating.
Unfortunately for them, Kazuma's Shunshin 2.0 was considerably faster.
The distance between them steadily shrank.
"Die!"
Kazuma roared.
His Zanpakutō tore through the air toward the Ise founder, who'd fallen slightly behind the others.
Her expression changed sharply.
She raised her Zanpakutō in a hurried attempt to block.
Crack!
Kazuma's blade smashed straight through it.
The Ise founder's Zanpakutō snapped cleanly in two.
At this point, Kazuma was thoroughly enraged.
He looked less like a Shinigami captain and more like a god of slaughter, every swing of his blade carrying terrifying force.
None of the four founders dared meet him head-on.
A clean hit from one of those attacks might not kill beings of their level outright, but it would absolutely leave them severely wounded.
Then, after the Ise founder's sword was destroyed, something changed.
The four stopped retreating.
Kazuma immediately slowed.
"What?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"Finished running?"
A faint sneer appeared on his face.
"Or did you finally decide you're strong enough to kill me?"
His words were mocking, but internally he remained fully alert.
There were four of them.
Every one was dangerous.
One careless mistake here could end very badly.
Then Kazuma's instincts screamed.
Danger.
Four strange, overwhelmingly powerful forces were suddenly rushing toward him from different directions.
'Shit!'
Kazuma immediately tried to react.
Before he could move, four shadows flashed around him.
The founders closed in from every side at once, trapping him directly in the center.
Kazuma's expression hardened.
'This is bad.'
There was no longer any reason to hold back.
"Hadō #78: Zangerin!"
Kazuma drew once again upon the immense immortal power within him.
Violet-gold radiance erupted from his body, brilliant enough to resemble a purple sun blazing inside the dark chaos.
At the same time, Hokushin Raitei in his hand burst into dazzling light.
An enormous violet blade of energy formed around it and swept outward with devastating force, immortal power woven throughout the attack.
The four founders reacted instantly.
Each of them produced a strange-looking weapon and held it in front of themselves.
Kazuma's immortal-infused sword light slammed into the four weapons—and vanished.
Kazuma's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"What the fuck?!"
He stared at the four bizarre weapons in disbelief.
They had actually absorbed an attack empowered by his immortal power.
What the hell were those things?
And more importantly—
if these old bastards had possessed something this ridiculous all along, why hadn't they brought them out earlier?