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"Hands of a thousand realms, the shadowed palms that reach where light cannot, the archer whose arrows graze the heavens. The road where radiance falls, the wind that sparks the flame—when all converge, let there be no doubt."
"Light Burst… Eightfold… Nine Paths… Celestial Sutra… Swift Treasure… Grand Wheel.A gray turret draws its bow toward the horizon, fading in a pale shimmer—!"
"Hado Number Ninety-One: Senju Koten Taihō!"
The chant echoed, wrapped in spiritual pressure, rippling outward over Karakura Town. Golden hair fluttered in the wind.
Kisuke Urahara stood with his back to the camera, the hem of his green coat snapping sharply in the air.
His face couldn't be seen while he chanted.But the sheer force that surged from him—and the way the air warped ever so slightly around him—made one thing clear: this shopkeeper had been hiding something terrifying.
"So… this is a Shinigami's Kido?"
Stark stared blankly at the screen.The lazy indifference that usually clung to his face was gone.
In its place was the look of a man who'd just discovered a whole new world.
Yes.The top-ranked Espada—Coyote Stark himself—was so excited he actually trembled.
"Hey, hey, hey… Stark, can you chill for a second?"Lilynette, sharing a body with him, rolled her eyes hard. "You're the first Espada! Can you at least act like a powerhouse? This is embarrassing!"
Honestly.All this fuss over a Kido spell?
Who cared what number it was—wasn't it just a Shinigami technique?Why freak out like this?
"No…"
Starrk (Coyote Stark) shook his head, barely even hearing her. His eyes gleamed."As far as I know, Kido above Number Ninety… are basically legendary. Even in Soul Society, only a handful can cast them."
"Legendary?"
Lilynette frowned. "So by your logic, that geta-wearing weirdo… is actually a pretty strong Shinigami?"
"Exactly."
"Looks like that ranking really wasn't lying. I doubt anyone's still underestimating Urahara."
Stark swept his gaze across the hall.
Silence. Not a whisper in Las Noches' throne chamber.
Every Espada—every Arrancar—wore some mix of fear, shock, awe.
And this was only the chant.Just the prelude.
No one needed imagination to guess what would happen once Senju Koten Taihō actually fired.
It would be overwhelming.
Meanwhile,Seireitei—2nd Division barracks.
The atmosphere in the captain's office was identical.Dead quiet.
On the screen,the sky over Karakura had turned dark.After the chant ended, Urahara's spiritual pressure surged upward, forming hundreds of floating, dark crimson spikes of light.
They hung suspended, quivering violently.Each one radiated destruction.
A swarm of death, blotting out half the heavens.
"Wh… what the… holy crap."
Ōmaeda had been silently gaping for so long he practically forgot how to speak.He finally forced out the curse, his chubby face trembling as cold sweat rolled down his temples.
"Captain… Urahara's going all out like this? Isn't this too much?!"
Just moments ago, before the chant, he'd had the same thoughts as the Arrancar—wondering if Urahara was really that strong.
Sure, he knew the man's history.But in Ōmaeda's mind, Urahara had always felt more like a scientist.Someone who tinkered alone in a lab—not someone who screamed "combat monster."
A hundred years ago,when Urahara was captain of the Twelfth,he barely ever left his office except for captain meetings.He spent nearly all his time on experiments, all the way up until he defected.
Because of that,aside from Yamamoto and a few others, almost no one actually knew how strong he was.Among old veterans, many even thought Urahara might've been the weakest of the captains back then.
"Full incantation… Kido Number Ninety-One…"
Soi Fon finally snapped out of her shock.What she felt was far stronger than Ōmaeda's reaction.
Back then,because she was jealous,she had disliked Urahara from the start—saw him as lazy, irresponsible, a bad influence on Yoruichi.Even after he became Twelfth Division captain, the distaste never left her.
Until now.
The scene unfolding before her shattered that entire belief.
High-level Hado was brutally hard to learn.Soi Fon, even as a captain, knew this painfully well.
She specialized in assassination, not destructive spells—yet she had tried learning them long ago and never even got close.
That was whyseeing Urahara doing this so casuallystruck her even harder.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a Kido above Ninety… it's horrifying…"Ōmaeda wiped his forehead again.
Then all the light-spikes shifted.In perfect unison.
Under Urahara's command, every single one locked onto Aizen—still fused with the Hōgyoku.
It was about to fire.
"If this hits… even a captain-class Shinigami could be annihilated instantly," Soi Fon said, her tone tight and serious.
"No way… seriously?!"Ōmaeda slapped both hands over his mouth.
Instantly killing a captain?That was way beyond terrifying.
"So that's why Urahara ranked in the top fifteen… just this one fully-chanted Ninety-One is enough to justify it."
Ōmaeda finally dropped all doubt.
Even the prideful Soi Fon admitted she was outclassed.That alone proved how few people in all of Soul Society could withstand this technique.
"Fine… I'll admit it. Urahara is strong. I misjudged him back then…"Soi Fon gritted her teeth, clearly unwilling but honest.
Veteran that he was, Ōmaeda immediately recognized her tsundere mode kicking in.
"Captain, don't worry! The ranking's just started. Maybe you'll end up higher than he is!"
"…Possibly."
Her eyes sharpened again.As one of the few female captains of the Gotei 13, Soi Fon's pride was iron-clad.She didn't believe she was weaker than anyone.
If Urahara could rank—then surely the fastest captain in the Gotei 13 could too.
That was the thought swelling in her chest—
—right as the screen moved again.
"Go."
Urahara pointed, Benihime in hand.
Hundreds of crimson beams streaked forward like a meteor shower, carrying apocalyptic force and roaring across the sky.
The atmosphere ruptured.The clouds detonated.
Pure destruction swallowed everything.
"This… this is unreal!!!"
Ōmaeda's eyeballs practically shot out of his head.He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Soi Fon stood stiff, face solemn.
When the beams exploded, she felt her soul quake.
And then—the entire screen was consumed by a flood of blazing red light.
The first ranking broadcast ended there.
"..."
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