Kuchiki Sōjun suddenly realized that he had been silent more times today than in the past year—maybe even longer.
He had originally assumed Kisaragi Akira was the type to act without thinking. But the way Akira viewed the situation was far more long-sighted than he had expected.
Even though Sōjun grew up in the rough districts of Rukongai, he knew all too well the filth hidden beneath noble society.
So when he thought Akira was talking seriously with him, the moment Akira casually mentioned "the Shihōin family's offer", Sōjun completely shut down.
Add… add more to the price?
How?!The Shihōin family had thrown out their next head of house as a bargaining chip—with a buy-one-get-one-free bonus!
Sōjun lowered his gaze, looking at his own thin frame, then looked at Akira—already lost in obsessive self-training again. He immediately abandoned the idea.
Even if he agreed, Akira absolutely wouldn't.
Forget it. Let things take their natural course.
Since Akira had backing now, those bastards should restrain themselves a little…
Leaving aside Sōjun's dangerous thoughts, Kisaragi Akira had already sunk fully into his world of self-cultivation.
After his battle with the Gillian-class Hollow Kurokiza, he realized just how many weaknesses he still had.
He had trump cards, yes—but they all required preparation time.
One couldn't just yell about "invoking the deity" and expect the gods to come running.Without the proper medium, and with his current level of faith in the One-Eyed Great Deity, he probably wouldn't even get a whisper in response.
And he couldn't rely on Aizen always being nearby to cover him, distract enemies, or pull aggro.
Right now, he didn't have many ways to grow stronger.
But the ones he did have were extremely effective.
One — imprinting the Kidō seal of Red Flame Cannon.Two — raising his spiritual pressure through focused training.
The first was dangerous but fast.The second was safe but slow.
Naturally, Akira decided to do both.
After greeting Sōjun, he practically bounced out of the hospital room. He looked nothing like a proper patient—more like someone who had just been released from prison and immediately ran off to grind experience points.
Watching him go made Sōjun even gloomier.
His own injuries were far lighter than Akira's, yet he would probably be stuck hospitalized much longer.
Fourth Division Training Grounds — Captain Unohana's Private Dojo
Third time's the charm—since Captain Unohana was still occupied elsewhere, Akira slipped into her small wooden cabin again, making himself at home like he owned the place.
The quiet, spacious environment was perfect for someone obsessed with self-improvement.
With two previous experiences under his belt, re-engraving the Red Flame Cannon Kidō pattern went much smoother.
Heat flooded across his skin, blooming instantly into a vivid, searing red, as if his body had been painted with fresh blood.
The burn didn't just sting—it erupted from deep within, rushing through him in a heartbeat, like being thrown into the heart of a blazing furnace, every drop of moisture in him steaming away.
As the engraving progressed, his body temperature shot upward, quickly surpassing what any normal Shinigami could endure.
The air around him warped, distorting his silhouette until he looked almost abstract.
The difficulty of imprinting the Red Flame Cannon pattern was clearly several times higher than White Lightning.
Partly because the design itself was more complex.
But more importantly—As the Red Flame Cannon engraving grew more complete, it began to clash with his White Lightning pattern.
The two Kidō had incompatible elemental traits.To achieve perfect fusion, he needed time—time for the conflicting forces to grind against each other and settle.
Right now, Akira felt like he was sitting in the core of a smelting furnace from hell.
Flames swirled around him, tightly cocooning him, burning everything within reach.
But his stubborn will kicked in once again. Compared to his childhood in the ruthless Rebellion District, this level of pain was still well within his limits.
Time trickled by.
In the warped heat haze, new black markings emerged, crawling across his skin like serpentine tattoos, lending him a strange, ominous air.
But Akira kept his eyes tightly shut, unaware of any of it, wholeheartedly focused on completing the Kidō seal.
At last, when the final stroke landed, his eyes snapped open.
A flicker of fire flashed through his pupils. The blazing aura around him gathered in an instant, shrinking and condensing before painting a brand-new fiery sigil on the ring finger of his left hand.
"It's done!"
Compared to before, Akira could clearly sense the transformation in his spirit body—his already strong base physicality had taken another solid step upward.
At the very least…If he had to face Kurokiza again, even without invoking the deity, he could fight with a bit more dignity.
Though… his SP bar would still be a problem.
Sure, he could fight.But only for a very short while.
To reach a point where he could fight Kurokiza evenly—or defeat him head-on—he needed to seriously beef up his spiritual pressure.
Thinking this, Akira brushed the soot off what remained of his clothes, pulled out a fresh Shinyō Academy uniform, and changed into it.
If there was one thing he had plenty of, it was clothes.
Every daily sign-in gave him either shrine-priest outfits or academy uniforms, and sometimes even the occasional girls' uniform.
Speaking of today's sign-in…
Akira froze.
Because Kuchiki Sōjun had interrupted him earlier, he had completely forgotten to draw today's reward.
He casually activated the Daily Sign-In.
Three seconds later—A light bright enough to burn out his retinas exploded before him, forcing his eyes shut.
"Whoa—Golden Legend?!"
He faintly heard an exaggerated, heroic voice echoing through the air.
The ridiculous fanfare instantly raised his expectations.
What could it be?
Star Platinum?The World?Or maybe… Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist?!
No one could resist the call of ORA ORA.No one!
Reward Generated:
[Bare-Hand Combat Level +5. Current Level: 28]
He had previously leveled up bare-hand combat from 22 to 23 after punching Kurokiza to death with his literal fists.
Now with an extra five levels… he shot straight to 28.
A wave of new unarmed combat knowledge surged into his mind, rising and crashing like stormy waves until everything settled into perfect comprehension.
"Well… better than nothing, I guess."
Akira sighed. His soaring expectations evaporated instantly, and he went right back into training.
The improvement was minor, but still something.
Daily sign-ins only exploded with good luck after suffering through long streaks of misery.
Someone once said, "Life is just rise, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall…"
Fortunately, Akira's life wasn't quite that tragic.
Even though the Kidō engraving worsened his injuries, it also refined his spirit body.
So—
Minor wounds were nothing.
Nothing could stop him from grinding harder!
The moment he thought about how he was stuck recuperating while Aizen was studying at the Academy, his heart clenched painfully. He could barely breathe.
Driven by this conviction, he quickly re-entered training mode.
Meanwhile—
Rukongai East District, Area 32 — Sandate Temple
A devastated forest clearing.Scorched earth.Shattered trees.
Researchers and members of the Second Division had begun carefully investigating the battlefield, searching for clues explaining how a Hollow managed to break into Soul Society.
But to the south—
Faint ripples shimmered in the air.Eyes hidden behind the distortion watched silently from the light.
Spiritual pressure was gathering.
Even further south, another slender figure was wrapped in the same shimmering distortion, brown eyes calm as he stared at the blurred silhouettes ahead.
Killing intent slowly spread through the forest…