The Menos rampaging through the Seireitei were gradually growing fewer.
Aizen hadn't left Baraggan many usable Arrancar to begin with, and under the desperate resistance of the remaining Shinigami, this grand-scale assault on Soul Society by the so-called ruler of Hueco Mundo quickly dwindled down to just a handful of battlefields.
Among those, the fiercest, most eye-catching, the one that drew the gaze of every Shinigami who managed to free themselves up—
Was that colossal structure: Las Noches.
Not many Shinigami knew that, inside that Las Noches, Higashino Shuuichi's reiatsu had vanished for a short time.
But at this moment, the vast majority of the remaining Shinigami in the Seireitei all saw the same thing: high above the Seireitei, a rift opened in the sky, distinct from a Garganta. From within, a single Shinigami dropped down.
That Shinigami's name was Higashino Shuuichi.
"That spot…"
Aizen was no exception.
One second earlier he had felt a faint twinge of regret at sensing Higashino Shuuichi's reiatsu disappear; the very next, he was pleasantly surprised by Higashino's reappearance.
More importantly, it was where Higashino appeared.
If Aizen remembered correctly, back when Squad Zero had descended upon Soul Society to take away the then–Twelfth Division Captain, Kirio Hikifune, that had been exactly how they made their entrance.
So, did this mean that, for some reason, Higashino Shuuichi had gone up to the Royal Palace?
Aizen found this a bit baffling. But that was fine—once things calmed down, he could simply ask Higashino about it.
"Aizen-sama, you're not going to keep watching?"
Seeing Aizen turn to leave, Tōsen Kaname, clutching his weakened body, couldn't help but ask.
"No need. The result is already obvious. If Shuuichi still dares to come back, that means he's confident he can defeat Baraggan.
And as for Baraggan—he's already played every card he has.
So the final outcome… there's no need to watch to know it~"
Aizen shook his head, leaving Tōsen with the sight of his departing back.
Although there had been a small hiccup in the middle, things were ultimately unfolding as he had planned. There was no further reason for him to linger in Soul Society. The priority now was to hurry to the Human World, rendezvous with Gin there, and then have the two of them return together.
"Is that so…"
Compared to Aizen's confidence, Tōsen Kaname clearly had far less faith in Higashino Shuuichi's choice.
He frowned, those hollow eyes sunk in darkness turning toward Las Noches.
In his view, Higashino Shuuichi was being reckless this time.
Since he had already escaped, there was no need to rush back so soon.
Their objective had already been achieved; leaving the remaining Baraggan to Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni wasn't exactly impossible.
Of course, Higashino Shuuichi's answer to that would be: "Impossible"!
"Atedis!"
Inside Las Noches, looking up at Higashino Shuuichi plummeting straight down from the sky, Baraggan shouted loudly.
"Understood, Baraggan-sama. Fall silent—An'ya no Mori (Forest of the Dark Night)!
Higashino Shuuichi, in front of me, you will not use even a single drop of spiritual power!"
Atedis Utori sprang up from the ground, charging toward Higashino Shuuichi as if intending to stop his descent with his body.
But Higashino Shuuichi knew full well that this was just Atedis trying to reach him as fast as possible, to use his own reiatsu to cancel out Shuuichi's reiatsu.
This time, Higashino Shuuichi had no intention of letting Atedis get his way.
"Kidō, Jigoku: Shokeikyoku (Hell: Execution Etude)!"
In Hell, Ikeda Kōsuke—already on his last legs, on the verge of being expelled from Hell's ranks—looked on in despair as that infernal power poured into his body, using him as a medium to reach Soul Society.
If he could do it all over again, on the day he first saw Higashino Shuuichi and Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, he would have turned and run without a second thought—run as far as he could!
"…But then again, isn't this a kind of release as well?"
In the end, as he felt his body about to be forcibly expelled from Hell, Ikeda Kōsuke allowed himself a wry, genuine smile.
Looking back on his storm-tossed life, to conclude it this way… was not the worst of endings.
Meanwhile, in Soul Society, ash-gray currents swirled around all of Las Noches. Everywhere they touched, the decaying aura from Baraggan's Resurrección withdrew on its own.
"What is this? Why can you still use Kidō?!"
Atedis was utterly shocked.
As one of the newer Arrancar manufactured during the period when Aizen was mass-producing them, Atedis knew very little about Higashino Shuuichi. By that point, Higashino had already, on the surface, completely cut ties with Aizen.
So Atedis had no idea that these abilities had already been exposed before.
Baraggan, however, knew.
During a prior clash with Higashino Shuuichi, he had seen this spell once already.
The power from Hell was that unreasonable. Forget Atedis's Resurrección—even Baraggan's own aging ability couldn't function in the face of such power.
But because he had seen it before, Baraggan also knew all too well the weakness of Jigoku: Shokeikyoku.
"So this is the trump card that gave you the courage to challenge me again? Laughable, Higashino Shuuichi. Yes, this move lets you ignore my aging ability—but so what? It can't touch me. The more you use it, the more damage you inflict on yourself.
You're just repeating your past mistake!"
Baraggan leaped up from the ground, avoiding the ash-gray currents and the skeletal hands reaching for him.
At his reminder, Atedis also realized something: his ability wasn't completely ineffective, it was just that it simply didn't work on that one Hell-type Kidō of Higashino's. Any other reiatsu Higashino released, he could still cancel out as before using his own reiatsu as a medium.
It was as if everything had been reset to how it was earlier.
Then, under the gaze of Baraggan and Atedis, Higashino Shuuichi let out a cold snort, raising his zanpakutō and pointing it toward the sky.
"How could a sparrow comprehend the ambition of a swan? How could an ant grasp the heavens beyond its reach? Without form, without force, without law, without rule—march forth and return in triumph!
Bankai (Final Release), Shinki Mosoku (Unfathomable Gods and Demons)!"
In that instant, Higashino Shuuichi connected with the special mechanism Ōetsu Nimaiya had forged within his zanpakutō—sacrificing one of his original Bankai abilities ahead of time, using a "borrowed corpse" as the price, in exchange for a single chance to experience his complete, true Bankai.
With a dull thud, Higashino Shuuichi hit the ground. At the same moment, Jigoku: Shokeikyoku vanished from around him.
That wasn't something he'd done on purpose.
Rather, on the other side, Ikeda Kōsuke's time was simply up.
Hell had kicked him out of "the family home," making him the first sinner since Hell's birth to enter, undergo its transformation… and then be thrown out.
Higashino Shuuichi's Kidō was, in essence, just using the Kabuma clan's divine sigil from before to quietly open a "back door" for himself. Now that Ikeda Kōsuke was no longer in Hell, that door naturally closed.
Of course, that didn't mean Higashino Shuuichi would never again be able to use this Kidō. As long as he was willing to go back to Hell and reconstruct another divine sigil, everything could operate just like before.
But that was all for the future.
Right now, in the present, what Baraggan and Atedis saw was this: after Higashino Shuuichi loudly declaring his Bankai, not only did nothing particularly special happen, even that troublesome Hell power they'd been struggling against disappeared.
From their perspective, this Bankai was a bit…
"Cheap theatrics! Higashino Shuuichi, do you think I don't know your habits by now? Saying one thing during battle while doing something else entirely—deliberately using your words to mislead us. In truth, you're out of options, aren't you?
You've realized that your precious Hell power can't do anything to us!
Hahahaha, Higashino Shuuichi, I've seen through all your tricks!"
Baraggan thought back to his past battles with Higashino Shuuichi. Even back then, Shuuichi had loved to play these word games with him. In those days, Baraggan had been naïve enough to believe every incantation he heard.
The result was that he'd been tricked every time—and had missed several chances to heavily injure or even outright kill Higashino Shuuichi.
This time, Baraggan had learned his lesson. He would not be deceived by Higashino again.
Higashino Shuuichi, fully engaged in battle mode now, merely replied blandly:
"You talk too much."
At the very moment he achieved his complete release, Higashino Shuuichi had learned from his zanpakutō what its true Bankai ability was.
There was only one. And it was the only one.
And just as he had suspected, this ability was more than enough to pass judgment on a duo like Baraggan and Atedis—one that even Aizen himself would find troublesome to face head-on.
Then Atedis saw Higashino Shuuichi move.
One step. That was all.
From Atedis's point of view, it was like this: Higashino Shuuichi, hundreds of meters away from him a heartbeat ago, placed his left foot forward—and in the next instant, Higashino's figure filled his entire field of vision.
"What just happened? How did you suddenly appear in fron—"
Atedis's eyes were wide with disbelief.
Even using sonido, wanting to cross that distance under his constantly active spiritual sense, and brazenly appear right in front of him—that was impossible.
At least with sonido, you could still clearly see reiatsu gathering when it was activated.
But just now, Higashino Shuuichi hadn't given off the slightest irregularity.
Everything looked so normal that he might as well have been taking a casual stroll.
What terrified Atedis even more was that his entire body refused to move. He couldn't even circulate his own reiatsu to cancel out the reiatsu pouring off Higashino Shuuichi.
"What did you do to me?!"
As an experimental-type Arrancar, Atedis wasn't supposed to have much in the way of emotions to begin with. Yet this time, he felt something very specific.
He was afraid.
And that fear… came from the unknown.
But Atedis didn't have to wrestle with it for long.
Because, with a single clean, moon-splitting slash from Higashino Shuuichi, his head and body went their separate ways.
So, at what moment had his ability stopped working on Higashino?
Right—it had been ever since the moment Higashino Shuuichi declared he was using a new Bankai.
Which meant that the Bankai did do something. Its effect simply wasn't obvious.
Atedis really wanted to tell Baraggan about this conclusion of his. Unfortunately, he no longer could.
The good news was, if he got lucky, he might be able to run into Baraggan in the next world and share his findings with him there.
"This is impossible!!"
Baraggan had lost count of how many times he'd said those words today.
And every single time, he'd meant it from the bottom of his heart.
In the face of Atedis's Resurrección ability, Higashino Shuuichi shouldn't have been able to display such blatantly over-the-top power again. For a Shinigami, reiatsu formed the foundation of everything they did. If that reiatsu were infinitely cancelled out, then that Shinigami should be nothing more than a cripple. That was a conclusion Szayelaporro had derived from countless experiments. It simply couldn't be wrong.
"Shi no Tameiki (Death's Sigh)!"
Fine. Baraggan knew Higashino Shuuichi wouldn't answer his questions.
Even with Atedis fallen, he, Baraggan, was still invincible.
A wave of decaying aura rippled out like a disturbance on the surface of water.
It spread outward rapidly.
"I'll admit you're a bit of a handful again now. But Higashino Shuuichi—first you somehow escaped a dead-end situation, then you pulled some trick to take down Atedis. Just how much strength do you think you have left in you now?"
From Baraggan's perspective, this was the most logical way to think about it.
The only problem was, a Higashino Shuuichi in this state couldn't be measured by "logical" standards.
Because his zanpakutō's fully released Bankai ability existed for one purpose only:
Victory.
After easily dispatching Atedis, Higashino Shuuichi stood in midair with his blade in hand, allowing Baraggan's aging aura to wash toward him.
A hundred meters. Fifty. Ten. Three. One…
And just as the aging aura was about to touch Higashino Shuuichi—
It vanished.
All of it. Including the other waves of aging spreading out in all directions.
"What's going on? What is this…?"
Now Baraggan was the one panicking a little.
Was Higashino's previous ability still active? But this didn't feel like that…
Or was all of this merely an illusion Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu had cast on him?
Baraggan conjured up multiple explanations in an instant—but no amount of mental gymnastics could save his physical body.
As he watched that same aging aura erupt from within his own body, Baraggan broke.
He had never once imagined he would die at the hands of his own power.
"No! This is an illusion! This is fake! You must be using some illusion to deceive your king again!!"
Baraggan tried to talk himself into winning the rematch.
He failed.
After the outburst came the inevitable end.
Higashino Shuuichi simply stood there in silence before the spot where Baraggan's body had turned to bone and been scattered by the wind, looking a bit dazed.
It had all been… a bit too easy.
Even though, once he learned his zanpakutō's true Bankai ability, he had already predicted this outcome—once it really played out exactly as he'd imagined, Higashino still couldn't help feeling a certain unreality.
After all, not even ten minutes earlier, those two had killed him once when working together. Now, simply by fully releasing his zanpakutō, Baraggan and Atedis became completely helpless before him.
"Shinki Mosoku…"
Higashino Shuuichi whispered the name under his breath.
As it turned out, his zanpakutō's Bankai ability was simple to describe: based on Higashino Shuuichi's understanding of an enemy's ability, his zanpakutō could automatically generate the most optimal counter ability and hand it to him for use.
The downside was that the ability generated for a given enemy could only be used against that enemy. Moreover, the generation was based purely on Higashino's own knowledge.
If his understanding of the enemy was off, or if the enemy suddenly pulled out a brand-new ability, the ability he'd been given might fail to produce its intended effect. He would have to update his understanding and regenerate a new ability.
For example, just now when he needed to deal with Atedis, his zanpakutō had simply replaced the "attribute" of his own reishi so that the reishi he manipulated no longer matched any entry in Atedis's "material library." That instantly nullified Atedis's ability.
Or, in Baraggan's case, influenced by Higashino Shuuichi's own memories and awareness, his zanpakutō had given him, for a limited time and solely for use against Baraggan, the ability to manipulate space—allowing him to dump all of the aging aura Baraggan released straight back into Baraggan's body and recreate the Espada's "classic" canon death.
"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated"—Higashino Shuuichi had to admit that this ability lined up perfectly with the mental image he'd always had of his own zanpakutō.
And, in a way, it suited him as a transmigrator rather well.
The only pity was that this was just a timed trial version.
If he wanted the full version of this ability, with his current strength there simply weren't enough "big events" left for him to grind through. The fastest way would be to head back up to Squad Zero and take a shortcut via Ōetsu Nimaiya.
With that thought in mind, Higashino Shuuichi was already standing before Baraggan's Hollow core.
He plucked up the core he'd deliberately preserved with his spatial ability and popped it into his mouth.
Two crunches. Hm. Nice and crispy.
Once it entered his body, it was nice and warm, too~
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.