Kasumioji Shin had found the hidden vault and successfully retrieved several Exchange Blades from his personal collection.
"The blades are secured. Let's take care of business before heading back to the Precipice World," Kasumioji Shin said coldly.
The vault was also located in the Fuwai District, and when he led his clansmen there, they had passed over the back mountain of the Katori-ryu Dojo.
There, they discovered Katori Nanatsuki and the others training.
Although they hated Katori Nanatsuki to the bone for ruining their plan and leading to their exile, they didn't immediately reveal themselves or launch an attack.
Their Zanpakutō had already been confiscated.
And Katori Nanatsuki possessed the strength of a high-seated officer. Without their Zanpakutō, they weren't confident they could defeat him. So they decided to secure the Exchange Blades first, then return for revenge.
These five were the Kasumioji clan's top-tier fighters.
With the enhancement from the Exchange Blades, their strength had skyrocketed—now on par with two lieutenants and three seated officers.
This was the power the Kasumioji clan had spent years accumulating.
They reentered the forest and quickly found Katori Nanatsuki and his group near a pond.
One man raised his Exchange Blade—it looked like a beehive, the blade riddled with countless tiny holes.
"Go, Nest of Devouring Spirits!"
"Summer's the worst—mosquitoes everywhere, and we're in a damn forest too," Muguruma Kensei grumbled as he waved away the insects. "Ain't there a Kidō to repel mosquitoes?"
"Of course not," Hirako Shinji rolled his eyes. "Just use Reiatsu to drive them off."
"Fair point. But I can't just keep releasing Reiatsu constantly—it's exhausting."
Despite his complaints, Kensei gave in and released his Reiatsu to scatter the pests.
"It's not working?" Kensei blinked.
Ordinary mosquitoes shouldn't be able to withstand Reiatsu. And yet, despite his release, they remained unfazed—some even landed on his skin and started sucking his blood.
"These aren't normal mosquitoes!!!"
Kensei suddenly felt his Reiatsu being drained, while the mosquitoes feeding on him swelled grotesquely.
He slapped one flat.
And it exploded like a Reiatsu bomb.
BOOM!
Hirako Shinji was blasted off his feet by the shockwave and hit the ground hard.
Looking up, he saw Kensei lying flat, blood gushing from his arm—a serious injury.
"Damn it! What are these things? Are you okay?!"
"Cough cough... still alive... stop shaking me—it hurts like hell!"
Kensei winced, certain his arm was fractured.
"Why the hell did it explode?!"
The others rushed over to check on him.
"Everyone, be careful! These mosquitoes explode!" Shinji shouted.
Nanatsuki's Zanpakutō blazed with searing flames as he stepped forward.
Crimson Tide!
A streak of fire cut across the air, and a swarm of mosquitoes dropped from the sky, incinerated.
"These aren't natural. We've got enemies nearby," Nanatsuki muttered, taking a quick look at Kensei's injuries—thankfully, the damage was limited to his arm.
"Shine, Raibyō!"
Yoruichi's short blade surged with arcs of electricity as she threw it into the sky. It expanded into a web of lightning.
It was like swinging an electric racket into a swarm—the air crackled and snapped as mosquitoes were zapped mid-flight.
Nanatsuki took the moment to use Kaido on Kensei, reconnecting the broken bones in his arm. But before he could fully heal the wounds, the next attack came.
A rift tore through the forest floor.
Nanatsuki instantly used Shunpo to appear in front of it, Reiatsu bursting as he slammed his fist into the ground.
Steel Fist!
BOOM—
A crater exploded outward, shattering the incoming attack on impact.
Then he raised two fingers, and thrust them sharply forward.
Finger Sword!
A blade of Reiatsu shot from his fingertips, piercing a large tree.
A muffled grunt echoed from the forest.
The Finger Sword had struck true.
"All at once!"
Five attackers burst out of the woods.
Nanatsuki's eyes narrowed as he saw their weapons.
Exchange Blades.
Kasumioji remnants?!
He quickly shouted to his disciples, "I'll hold them off—fall back!"
"Sensei! We can fight too!"
Nanatsuki scanned the attackers' Reiatsu levels and issued orders:
"Rie, Isane—get Kensei out of here!"
"Come on, I can still fight!" Kensei protested, but was swiftly hauled off by Hoshino Rie and Kotetsu Isane.
Nanatsuki stood firm against Kasumioji Shin and Kasumioji Ryō.
He planted the black blade in his hand into the earth. At once, both Shin and Ryō froze in place.
"Balance, Datenshinkotsu!"
Nanatsuki drew Datenshinkotsu, aiming to eliminate one of them instantly.
His target: the strongest Reiatsu among them—Kasumioji Ryō.
Nanatsuki vanished on the spot.
A heartbeat later, four afterimages flickered into place around Kasumioji Ryō.
Katori-ryu: Quadrant Shun Strike!
Splat!
Kasumioji Ryō was slashed four times—two of those strikes instantly triggered the special effect of Datenshinkotsu!
"Impossible—n-no—!!" Ryō's face twisted in horror.
His body began to break down and disintegrate.
Even with the power-up from the Exchange Blade, which should've made him untouchable to most lieutenants, he had been shredded in a single exchange by Katori Nanatsuki.
All that remained was half his body, lying on the ground, helplessly watching himself fade away.
"Why... am I dying here...?"
Nanatsuki felt weakness surging from within—his Reiatsu had dropped sharply. He quickly swallowed a Spirit-Converging Pill.
The weakness began to fade.
He took a moment to assess the battlefield.
Kasumioji Shin was no longer paralyzed by the shadow bindings, but the sight of Ryō being instantly killed had frozen him in place.
The other three enemies were fighting the disciples.
Shihōin Yoruichi had one pinned down by herself. Aizen Sōsuke, Kobane Jin'emon, Hirako Shinji, and Azashiro Kana were holding off the other two.
The disciples all seemed to be holding their ground—Nanatsuki felt a sense of relief.
He lifted his blade, Kagehime, from the ground and murmured,
"Kasumioji Shin... You just don't know when to quit."
Kasumioji Shin still didn't dare move forward, too shaken by Ryō's swift defeat. "What the hell is that ability?!"
Nanatsuki smiled faintly. "The kind that can kill you. You left the Precipice World just to die here?"
Kasumioji Shin's eyes bulged with rage.
"Staying in the Precipice World is just a slow death!
The nobles exiled there in the past—how many of them actually survived in peace?
Rather than rot away, I'd rather gamble everything!"
Retrieving the Exchange Blades had been a huge risk. The Precipice World near Soul Society was monitored closely by the Seireitei. Entering and leaving in secret could get them caught.
"Looks like you had a stash of Exchange Blades hidden in the World of the Living," Nanatsuki said, narrowing his eyes.
"Seems Seireitei's inspections weren't as thorough as they thought.
Well... since you're so eager to go to hell, I guess I'll do you the favor."