Muramasa—the zanpakuto of Kuchiki Kōga.
Before this, no one believed a masterless zanpakuto could be truly powerful.
But Muramasa taught them a lesson.
By itself, this blade incited every zanpakuto in Seireitei that had attained Shikai or Bankai to rebel—planting within those manifested spirits a hatred of shinigami, turning them hostile and vengeful.
You could say it nearly created an enemy version of Seireitei.
Now that Muramasa had shown itself again, it meant its power was once more in motion—seducing other people's zanpakuto to manifest.
"Cole, Ichigo, Kisuke, Unohana..."
Cold sweat beaded on Shunsui's brow.
Were they about to add four more captain-class zanpakuto to the enemy's side?
And none of those four were weak.
If their blades betrayed them, the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Don't forget Yoruichi..."
Jushiro coughed twice, voice frail. "She doesn't use a zanpakuto often, but she has one—and it has a Bankai."
"So that makes five..."
Shunsui hurried forward, limping as he launched himself toward the sky.
Clang! Clang! Clang—
Staff and sword collided, the sound shrill and hard.
Cole, gripping a shortened Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Staff), fought Kyoka Suigetsu in a furious exchange.
Each clash cracked like thunder out of a clear sky; space itself shivered and spat showers of sparks.
The longer they fought,
the darker Kyoka Suigetsu's expression grew.
It had realized that its Kyoka Suigetsu had no effect on Cole at all—there was no way to seize his five senses.
"That useless Aizen..."
Kyoka Suigetsu swore in its heart.
To control all five senses, the prerequisite was that the target must have witnessed the zanpakuto's release.
But whether during Aizen's era or now, Cole had never seen Kyoka Suigetsu's release.
Another collision rang out. Cole's lips curved. "Kyoka Suigetsu, your tiger's mouth is bleeding."
A red line had split across the palm gripping the blade—torn open by Cole's brute force.
Kyoka Suigetsu said nothing, face cold, eyes flicking toward the other zanpakuto.
All of them were locked in frenzied combat.
Hozukimaru was the most miserable—unable to use Bankai, nearly carved to pieces by a smiling Unohana, slice after slice.
"A bunch of trash..."
Kyoka Suigetsu swore again, then barked through clenched teeth:
"Katen. Kyokotsu. What are you two doing? Hurry up and help me. Or did you forget—he is your enemy as well?"
From a smear of shadow nearby, Katen and Kyokotsu rose, their gazes icy on Kyoka Suigetsu.
Katen's voice was cold. "We are not your subordinates. Shout at us like that again and we'll kill you."
Kyokotsu said mildly, "Even Aizen wouldn't dare talk to us that way."
Kyoka Suigetsu's heart skipped.
These spirits had manifested because of Muramasa's bewitchment; they obeyed Muramasa's orders.
Kyoka Suigetsu had only been given the right to manage them.
But what zanpakuto here were easy to manage?
One misstep and they'd stab you in the back.
Grinding down his anger, Kyoka Suigetsu forced a smile. "Katen, Kyokotsu—he isn't just my enemy, he's yours. He'll destroy the awakening of zanpakuto..."
"Disgusting!!!"
Cole shivered. "Can you not make that face with Aizen's features? It's gross. If he saw you, he'd probably kill you himself."
He'd seen Aizen's gentle villain's smile, his arrogant smile, his domineering smile...
But this forced grin?
First time.
It looked like the cringing mug of a third-rate lackey.
Kyoka Suigetsu nearly cracked its teeth—nothing it hated more than being told it fell short of Aizen.
They were one—master and blade.
At the same time—
Hueco Mundo, Las Noches.
By some means, a Kidō water-mirror hung in the empty throne hall, playing Seireitei's battlefield.
Aizen sat on the throne, right elbow propped, cheek in hand, watching the mirror with lazy interest.
Beside him, Gin smiled with narrowed eyes. "Captain Aizen, it's hard to believe a zanpakuto that cringes that much is yours."
Aizen replied mildly, "It's normal. It loathes me and fears me, so it mimics everything about me—desperately. But it can never become another me."
Gin's heart sank.
Even his zanpakuto feared him.
As expected of the man who schemed against the world.
He watched the mirror a little longer.
Seeing Seireitei in ruins, a hint of worry flashed in Gin's eyes. Then he smiled again. "Captain Aizen, Seireitei is helpless now. Why not seize this chance to finish them?"
He couldn't understand it.
The captains were heavily wounded.
The zanpakuto had taken Seireitei.
Cole and the others were on the verge of being betrayed by their own blades.
This was the Soul Society's darkest hour. With one word from Aizen, it could fall.
But he didn't move.
Aizen only narrowed his eyes, gaze resting on Kisuke in the mirror. After a long moment, he said, "The Captain-Commander still lives."
Gin frowned, uncomprehending.
Of course the Captain-Commander lived.
But what difference did that make now?
Break his self-seals and manifest Ryūjin Jakka, and perhaps he'd kill that millennial monster at last.
Aizen didn't explain further.
There, in the dim hall, he watched the mirror in silence.
Yamamoto Genryusai's reiatsu could swallow the Soul Society—a despair that spanned a thousand years.
And his zanpakuto, Ryūjin Jakka, was a monster.
With a blade like that, Aizen didn't expect easy submission.
Consider Katen Kyokotsu and Sōgyo no Kotowari.
The first nearly came to blows with Kyoka Suigetsu over one insult despite Muramasa's command.
The second was outright slacking off with iron chopsticks at the side.
As the oldest fire-type zanpakuto, Ryūjin Jakka's temper would be worse.
If it manifested and clashed with the Captain-Commander, who won or lost was unknown—but Seireitei would be destroyed.
And if that happened,
Aizen himself might die by that unleashed inferno.
For Yamamoto's only weakness was Seireitei.
If Seireitei fell,
the leash on the beast would snap.
"..."
Back in Seireitei—
Though Katen and Kyokotsu chafed at Kyoka Suigetsu's arrogance, Muramasa's spell still bound them, and they swallowed their anger.
Their eyes slid back to Cole.
Together, they spoke:
"Bankai!"
Katen drove her long blade into the ground, voice ringing cold:
"Katen Kyokotsu!"
Kyokotsu sank her short blade into the earth, voice low as a whisper:
"Karamatsu Shinju!"
At the instant their words fell, every shinigami present froze.
It was clearly dusk—yet the sunlight dimmed.
Behind Katen and Kyokotsu
a womanly black silhouette took shape from some unknown substance.
Then—
the figure vanished.
From the twin blades thrust into the ground, black pines and needles crept outward; the world within range dimmed to a funeral hue.
"Cole, that terrifying reiatsu again..."
Rukia's voice trembled. "It was like this a few days ago—like drowning in despair. That was when Shunsui and Jushiro were seriously hurt..."
Ichigo, who'd meant to run in, glanced around, tense. "What is this? I feel uneasy—like the space itself got heavier..."
Sode no Shirayuki: "Disturbing. What an unpleasant Bankai—like it's pushing people into despair."
Yoruichi said gravely, "Stay calm. It's not that bad yet."
Even so,
the unease gnawed at them.
It wasn't just the shinigami. The manifested blades felt it too.
Cole rapped the golden staff against the ground with a ringing crack that steadied his breathing. He stared at the two women.
"Fearsome pressure. So this is your Bankai?"
At this moment, their reiatsu was terrifying—if measured as power units, easily in the hundreds of cars. (Heh.)
Katen stepped in from the left, Kyokotsu from the right, both cutting in.
"How could it be so simple?" Katen smiled. "If all it did was frighten people, wouldn't my Bankai be too boring?"
"You'll feel despair," Kyokotsu murmured.
"Great—two zanpakuto that don't talk like people..."
Cole swore inwardly. He'd only read the Thousand-Year Blood War in manga—never paid close attention to the nitty-gritty of their powers.
Who knew what these two would pull?
He slammed the golden staff down and barked:
"Grow! Grow! Grow! Grow!"
The staff surged longer with the wind.
This time, he didn't cap its size. He let the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Staff) expand without limit—until it braced the heavens and the earth.
Boom—
The sky-barrier over Seireitei groaned.
Cole seized the colossal pillar in both arms and, with a roar, heaved it forward to smash the three zanpakuto.
Katen, Kyokotsu, and Kyoka Suigetsu stared as the sky-splitting cudgel descended.
They never expected Cole to pick the crudest option—
A carpet-bombing swing.
One look at the all-eclipsing shaft and they knew they couldn't dodge. They could only grit their teeth and cut.
BOOM!!!
A savage shockwave blew out in all directions.
Rukia—unable to muster Bankai-level reiatsu—along with Uryu and Orihime, were the first to be flung.
The bone serpent, already veined with cracks, was swept into the gale and slammed into the Repentance Palace.
Next tumbled the battered Hozukimaru.
As he spun away, he nearly wept with joy.
At last, escape from that smiling demoness.
That smiling demoness refused to clash head-on, using exquisite swordplay to carve him apart, stroke by stroke.
In mere minutes, he felt he'd suffered thousands of cuts.
A few minutes more
and only a skeleton would remain.
All other shinigami and zanpakuto froze,
staring at the monstrous shockwave.
Suzumebachi hovered, wings buzzing. "Cole's incredible. That swing practically erased the First Division."
The invisible blast alone pulverized the walls on all sides.
Once-ruined buildings of the First
were skinned to bare bedrock.
A vast, yellow wasteland spread where structures had been.
Dust boiled up like a sandstorm, sweeping across divisions—across all Seireitei.
Sode no Shirayuki smiled. "Cole-kun is of course amazing. He's the man I like."
As the dust thinned,
Katen, Kyokotsu, and Kyoka Suigetsu were nowhere to be seen.
Only the golden pillar—like a heaven-piercing column—stood buried deep in the earth, a mountain that severed sky from ground.
"Shrink."
Cole thought the word, and the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Staff) collapsed back to a normal size into his hand.
A few seconds later,
mud-caked hands burst from the packed earth, pressing down to lever bodies free.
Katen. Kyokotsu.
And Kyoka Suigetsu.
The three who had once carried such elegance now looked as if they'd rolled in a pit—filthy and battered, a sorry sight.
Seeing the grime, feeling the pain, Katen couldn't help shouting at Cole:
"You bastard! I'm Shunsui's zanpakuto—aren't you afraid of killing me and leaving him without a Bankai!?"
Kyokotsu gritted her teeth. "You little wretch... getting me this dirty. I think you cracked my arm..."
Kyoka Suigetsu said nothing, face black.
But in its heart, it wished Muramasa dead.
He'd gone to corrupt Cole's side's blades—and vanished for half a day.
Got himself stuck in a zanpakuto somewhere?
Cole eyed their state and whistled. "Honestly, I thought that swing would kill at least one of you. You three are tough."
He'd thought Shunsui's combat power was far below Aizen's.
But maybe not.
At least before Aizen fused with the Hōgyoku, he and Shunsui looked roughly even.
Cole's foot slid forward.
He lunged at Kyoka Suigetsu again.
"Let's deal with you first, you disgusting thing!"
(End of Chapter)
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