Memories from his childhood flashed through Kurosaki Rei's mind once more—scenes that had haunted countless sleepless nights. He hated those people, and he hated the powerlessness of his younger self even more.
Self-loathing?
Kurosaki Rei pondered. For a long time, he had been tormented by guilt—but he had already moved past it.
Because he knew his master and senior sister would never want to see him stagnate. He would avenge them, and more than that, he would walk all the way to the pinnacle of martial arts.
But if it wasn't self-loathing, and he was certain he was human… then why did he see that kind of scene in the depths of his soul?
Until class ended, Kurosaki Rei made no progress with resonance. In the end, he could only decide to attempt a deeper dive that night.
There were too many eyes in class. Aizen had far too many secrets he couldn't casually reveal. Even though he'd admitted to already mastering Shikai, he had never once demonstrated it in front of teachers or other students.
...
That evening, dragging his slightly weary body back to the dormitory, Kurosaki Rei climbed straight into bed.
But he had no intention of sleeping. Today's session with Teacher Unohana had been comparatively restrained, so he still had plenty of stamina left.
He decided to seriously investigate the matter of his Zanpakutō—or rather, the problem of his own soul.
Before beginning, he glanced at his current status panel.
[Explorer No. 404040404, your base attributes are as follows:]
Constitution: 17 (+2)Strength: 16 (+1)Agility: 17 (+2)Spirit: 22 (+2)Charisma: 6Luck: 1
His attributes had changed noticeably.
The increase in Constitution was due to being cut down by Unohana repeatedly over the past two months—his body had gained a certain resistance through constant destruction and reconstruction.
The boost to Agility came from his development and study of Shunpo. After adapting to high-speed movement, his neural reaction speed had improved significantly.
Strength had increased the least, mainly because he hadn't focused on raw strength training.
As for Spirit—although he hadn't trained it much deliberately, the meditation techniques passed down by the Academy were indeed excellent for increasing Spiritual Pressure and mental resilience. Compared to his other forms of training, cultivating spiritual pressure was a straightforward numerical increase, which naturally showed up more clearly in his attributes.
One thing needed clarification: all of his attribute increases were actually tied to improvements in spiritual pressure—Spirit was simply the attribute most directly linked to it.
At present, the Academy officially recognized him as having sixteenth-grade spiritual pressure, but Kurosaki Rei felt he had only just stepped over the threshold.
Aizen had claimed that he learned his Zanpakutō's true name and achieved Shikai at seventeenth grade. That was probably a lie—but judging from Aizen's subtle expression at the time, Kurosaki Rei felt that if Aizen had possessed an Asauchi back then, achieving Shikai at seventeenth grade wouldn't have been a problem.
Which meant Kurosaki Rei had no reason to fail.
With that thought, he calmed his mind and used the Academy's resonance method, guiding his consciousness toward the depths of his soul.
Seeing that Kurosaki Rei had entered his meditative state, Aizen turned off the lights early and began his own nightly grind.
At that moment, Kurosaki Rei felt as though he were walking beneath a pitch-black sky, with no path forward—and no way back.
He wasn't sure whether he had grasped some key insight, but this attempt at resonance felt different from all the previous ones.
After taking a single step forward, he suddenly felt a powerful sense of weightlessness.
The entire world began to tremble.
Whispers returned to his ears, accompanied by chilling wails that made his skin crawl.
Falling—endlessly falling.
He had never fallen this long into the "abyss" before.
His instinct screamed danger, urging him to stop the resonance. Yet his curiosity about the secrets buried in his soul made him grit his teeth and continue downward.
It felt as though he had broken through some kind of barrier. His vision blurred for an instant—and when it cleared, he saw…
Purgatory.
A violet-black purgatory.
Endless violet-black flames roared and churned within rivers of magma. The fire twisted like a living creature, constantly devouring the surrounding air and releasing deafening booms.
The sky was shrouded in thick smoke. From time to time, dark red lightning tore through the heavens, briefly illuminating the agonized faces of tormented souls.
Amid this boundless heat and suffering stood a massive cage, formed from solidified magma. Its surface was etched with vine-like violet-black demonic runes.
At the bottom of the cage, a dark crimson door slowly creaked open. Beyond it lay unfathomable darkness, from which came the clinking of chains.
The moment the door opened, the chaotic wails vanished. The world grew eerily quiet, leaving only the sounds of magma surging and flames roaring.
That door seemed to exert a strange pull on Kurosaki Rei, drawing him forward step by step.
Miraculously, with a single stride, he crossed the raging magma and roaring flames, arriving directly before the cage door.
A cage?
Kurosaki Rei felt a flicker of confusion.
Why had he instinctively known this was a cage?
Clearly, the structure before him was nothing more than an irregular mound of magma and rock. Yet even before the door opened, he had known—this was a prison.
He stepped forward and peered into the dark crimson doorway.
Inside was only endless blackness.
At that moment, a massive wave surged behind him. Flames erupted skyward like pillars, and the crimson glow spilled into the cage.
In that instant, Kurosaki Rei saw what lay within.
A pitch-black figure, bound by countless chains.
The chains looked as though they had been forged from the hardest divine metal, emitting a faint, ghostly sheen.
The bound body was like an abyss—black and unfathomable. As if sensing Kurosaki Rei's gaze, it slowly raised its head.
Bathed in the dim light of the infernal flames, Kurosaki Rei saw its sunken eyes, glowing with cold, brutal light—an expression of hatred so deep that even endless ages could not erode it.
Just then, the wind rose.
The winds of purgatory, carrying heat and the stench of sulfur, swept up ash and scorched earth. They passed through Kurosaki Rei's seemingly insubstantial body and poured into the cage, settling upon that being—yet even that could not conceal its imprisoned majesty.
Is this… my Zanpakutō?
A sense of realization rose within Kurosaki Rei, mixed with confusion. He couldn't help but ask,
"What is your name?"
The figure deep within the cage met his gaze.
But no answer came.
Instead—
ROAR—
The roar felt as though it could shatter the heavens and annihilate all realms, carrying hatred and unwillingness accumulated over countless epochs.
It was violent.
It was mad.
And it was… lonely.
As the demon-god-like being roared, the entire purgatory world shook.
Heaven and earth fractured. Magma surged like a tidal wave. Flames soared like falling stars.
Kurosaki Rei stood before the cage, behind him a towering tsunami of molten rock, violet-black flames coiling around his body like dancing spirits.
Amid this apocalyptic scene, he remained motionless—calmly meeting the gaze of the figure imprisoned within.
Just as he was about to speak again—
A gale rose from beneath his feet and hurled him skyward.
The world spun.
He jolted awake on his bed.
That demon-god-like figure had quite literally kicked him out.
Kurosaki Rei raised his head and glanced outside.
The sky was already beginning to lighten with dawn.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/VoidInk08