Chapter 10: Soul Separation |
"Just acquire the power of a Soul Reaper if you want to grow stronger so badly."
'...Soul Reaper power?'
Lilith fell into deep thought upon hearing Yeruashi's suggestion.
Having followed Yeruashi for the past few days, she had gained a fairly profound understanding of various aspects of the Soul Society's structure, including the significance of a Soul Reaper's power.
Yeruashi nodded, his pupils shimmering with a pale gold light. Activating his Eyes of God, his gaze pierced through Lilith's form, meticulously examining every shred of her strength and even the essence of her soul.
"Your body was fashioned from the power of the God Tree. This energy consists of two parts in perfect equilibrium—Yin and Yang, or rather, physical and spiritual energy balancing each other. It was this stable, balanced power that was granted consciousness through my Rinne Tenseigan."
"Since I obtained the power of evolution, my own flesh has entered a state of ceaseless development, which influences you as well. This means your body is also gradually evolving, but such growth brings certain complications—it disrupts the balance between your spiritual and physical energies."
Yeruashi's grave voice echoed in Lilith's mind.
Lilith nodded in realization. "...And obtaining the power of a Soul Reaper leads to the development of the soul, which will allow me to restore the balance that is gradually being eroded between my physical and spiritual energies."
Yeruashi smiled with satisfaction.
Lilith immediately grasped the core of the issue.
"I couldn't avoid this myself, either," Yeruashi continued.
The power of evolution he had gained in the One Punch Man world had provided an immense development of his cells, not just physically, but in terms of energy as well.
This resulted in his physical energy becoming significantly more potent than his spiritual energy.
In truth, this wasn't an insurmountable problem.
Was his soul too weak to control his body?
No such issue existed, as the soul and body were tightly interconnected.
For instance, when Might Guy utilized the Eight Gates Released Formation, his physical strength and energy multiplied far beyond the power of his soul, yet he still faced no issues with control.
The emergence of such an imbalance didn't carry tangible side effects. It didn't particularly matter if a being possessed an exceptionally strong soul or an exceptionally strong body, as long as they themselves remained in a stable state.
However, having a weakness in the spiritual aspect could put one at a severe disadvantage when facing an opponent who specialized in spiritual attacks.
Achieving balance might not provide a massive surge in raw power, but it would prevent clear vulnerabilities and allow one to deal with any type of opponent with equal efficiency.
"Father already knows how to do this, doesn't he?"
Lilith's voice rang out in Yeruashi's mind.
Lilith addressed Yeruashi as her older brother in front of Hisana, since they had initially introduced themselves as siblings, but in private communication, she continued to call him Father.
"Of course."
Yeruashi spoke relaxedly, "To master the power of a Soul Reaper as quickly and smoothly as possible, one must first adopt their fundamental form—the soul form."
Since both he and Lilith were born in another world, their souls were naturally different from those in the world of Bleach. In fact, Yeruashi had begun contemplating a way to bridge these differences the moment he arrived in this era.
"Mr. Yeruashi, are you... planning to live here?"
As they continued to communicate telepathically, Hisana whispered to him, noting that they had stopped at the edge of one of the streets in Rukongai.
Yeruashi finished his conversation with Lilith first, then smiled at Hisana. "No, we are heading to one of the central districts."
He intended to move toward the Seireitei at a leisurely, relaxed pace, studying the process of becoming a Soul Reaper along the way. Practicing during a slow journey seemed like the best choice for their current situation.
"...Alright."
Hisana, who had been cradling Rukia in her arms this whole time, nodded obediently.
She would follow Yeruashi wherever he intended to go, let alone to a more prosperous district of Rukongai. In truth, Hisana had dreamed of traveling to one of the central districts before, but she simply lacked the strength to cover such vast distances.
*
One month later.
Lilith hovered gracefully inside a recently constructed log cabin. Her long, snow-white hair fluttered in the air like a beautiful white lily. After a moment, she slowly lifted her eyelids and looked with her crimson eyes at Yeruashi, who stood directly before her.
Yeruashi raised his hand and placed his palm against her chest, then gave a gentle forward thrust, emitting a stream of invisible force from his hand.
Instead of pushing Lilith's physical form back, Yeruashi's movement pushed another identical figure out of her.
This displaced figure, which bore no difference at all from the original, was actually Lilith's soul. However, it did not appear ghostly or ephemeral; rather, it seemed material and tangible, like an ordinary person of flesh and blood.
"It is done."
Yeruashi gave Lilith's soul a quick inspection and nodded, while simultaneously catching her slumped physical body with his right hand.
Lilith was capable of separating her soul from her body on her own, but doing so would leave her in an ephemeral ghost state, completely different from the state of a Soul Reaper, whose bodies are composed of Reishi and can even bleed.
He had spent the last two weeks pondering how to endow Lilith with a soul made of Reishi, which was the primary condition for obtaining the powers of a Soul Reaper. Now, it appeared everything had been successful.
"So this is the spiritual form of a Soul Reaper..."
After separating from her physical body, Lilith needed a moment to adapt to her new state. She could no longer hover in the air and stepped her dainty white feet onto the wooden floor of the cabin.
Lilith raised her hands before her and clenched them into fists, trying to feel this entirely new condition. "The power of my Dojutsu has been partially preserved, but I have completely lost my chakra and other abilities..."
"As expected."
Yeruashi nodded. "Adapt to your new form calmly. I will keep your physical body with me for now."
Following these words, Lilith's body, held in Yeruashi's hand, emitted a white glow and was suddenly drawn into his palm.
"Very well."
Lilith nodded.
In reality, separating Lilith's soul and imbuing it with Reishi had been a merely intermediate and relatively simple task for Yeruashi.
Now it was time for the main challenge!
Since Yeruashi himself was far stronger than Lilith, performing the exact same operation on himself would be significantly more difficult. To make matters worse, the power of Six Paths evolution he had gained in the One Punch Man world threw a wrench in the works.
Along with the massive strengthening of his flesh and energy, the bond between his body and soul had grown equally strong. It would be extremely difficult for him to separate his soul from the shackles of such a powerful physical shell. One only had to look at the nature of the monsters born from his power to understand this.
Those monsters possessed incredibly powerful physical bodies, yet they completely lacked Reiatsu. Their souls shared such a potent bond with their physical flesh that they eventually merged with it, leaving no possibility of separation.
"Now for the hard part."
Yeruashi took a deep breath.
The subsequent process would be quite arduous, but it was a fundamental requirement for obtaining the power of the Soul King, and thus, it had to be done.
*
Five years later.
Throughout these five years, no significant incidents occurred in Rukongai.
The investigation of Rukongai and Hueco Mundo conducted by the Gotei 13 squads was soon scaled back, as it yielded no results whatsoever, though the incident itself was documented in detail.
The Gotei 13 also dispatched several Soul Reaper squads to the remote parts of the southern Rukongai region to find traces of Yeruashi.
However, since Yeruashi could freely see both the past and the future, no one could ever find him unless he wished to be found. Not to mention that Retsu Unohana did not assist the Gotei 13 in these searches. She didn't even provide a sufficiently detailed description of his appearance, so any search for Yeruashi was doomed to utter failure from the start.
Nevertheless.
The fact of his existence was also documented.
A peaceful and quiet atmosphere reigned in District 5 of the southern Rukongai region, as it was located in the vicinity of the Seireitei. Whether in terms of environment or security, it was as different as heaven and earth compared to the remote districts of Rukongai.
On the bank of a river sat Yeruashi, calmly and serenely holding a simple wooden fishing rod. Perched on his neck, her tiny hands holding onto his head, was a small girl about two or three years old.
This was, of course, Rukia, Hisana's younger sister. Due to a much longer lifespan, a soul has longer stages of maturation, which is why Rukia appeared to be only two or three years old.
Splash!
Yeruashi gently flicked his rod, pulling out a fairly large fish.
"Great job, Big Brother!"
Rukia clapped her hands and exclaimed joyfully.
As mentioned before, the maturation of a soul occurs much slower, but the speed of psychological development is no different from a human's. The current Rukia had the consciousness of roughly a five or six-year-old child.
Initially, Rukia had called Yeruashi 'Uncle,' but since that made him feel old, he asked her to call him something else. Old age was the last thing a man waging a brutal and merciless war against time wanted to feel...
Yeruashi didn't mind at all accepting the very cute and cheerful Rukia as his younger sister.
"Let's head back."
Yeruashi gripped Rukia's ankle to ensure she didn't fall from his shoulders, then smoothly stood up and carefully lowered her to the ground.
Rukia ran to the bucket of fish and tried to lift it with her small hands. In truth, she already possessed enough strength to carry a bucket of water, but due to her short stature, she was forced to raise her arms high in front of her just to lift the bucket off the ground, which looked quite amusing.
Yeruashi first took the bucket of fish from Rukia with a smile, then scooped her up with his free hand and walked leisurely toward home.
They still lived in a simple log cabin.
Over these five years, during their long journey from District 75 to District 5 of Rukongai, they had built a simple hut and made a brief stop in each of these districts.
"Welcome back."
Hisana greeted them immediately.
After these five years, Hisana had also grown noticeably, going from roughly thirteen or fourteen to about fifteen or sixteen years old. As they say, she had matured significantly in all aspects...
Lilith hadn't changed at all over the years, unlike Hisana and Rukia. In fact, this wasn't too surprising, as the growth rate of souls can vary wildly; some can still look like children after decades in the Soul Society.
"Prepare the fish."
Yeruashi handed the bucket to Hisana.
Although she appeared only fifteen or sixteen, psychologically she could already be considered an adult. The current Hisana possessed a very gentle and elegant temperament, and she was an excellent cook.
After the fish was handed over and Rukia followed her into the kitchen, Yeruashi returned to his room and closed his eyes.
It really had turned out to be a very difficult task.
For him, attempting to separate his soul from a much stronger flesh was akin to trying to pull himself out of the water by grabbing his own hair.
The experience gained during the separation of Lilith's soul helped Yeruashi find the right path. He gradually detached his soul from his flesh, using Reishi as an anchor, much like slowly uncorking a bottle of champagne with a corkscrew. This process proceeded extremely slowly because the imbalance between the power of his flesh and his soul was too great.
After a full five years, his soul was finally very close to complete separation from his flesh. Only a few metaphorical nuts and bolts remained to be unscrewed to finally cast off the shackles of the flesh.
Yeruashi closed his eyes and gathered a large amount of Reishi, beginning to slowly turn the screw symbolizing his soul and the nut symbolizing the shackles of his flesh.
After a few minutes, Yeruashi felt his soul finally separate from his flesh! He immediately took a step forward, but his physical shell remained in place while only his soul moved forward!!
Silence.
The newly emerged soul looked no different from his flesh and appeared material, as it was composed almost entirely of Reishi.
"At last..."
Yeruashi smiled with satisfaction, thinking that the subsequent steps would be much easier. Now he needed to obtain a Zanpakuto to use as a focus for developing his spiritual power and honing his Reiatsu.
He would be ready to head to the Soul King Palace and attempt to seize Zero's power once the volume of his spiritual energy and control over his Reiatsu reached the necessary level.
After quickly adapting to his new state, Yeruashi looked at his physical body. Accompanied by a flash of pale gold light in his pupils, the space before his eyes smoothly distorted and took the form of a golden vortex, swallowing his physical body.
Although the development and evolution of his Dojutsu were linked to the user's physical energy, its essence was a converter of spiritual energy. Therefore, Yeruashi could use most of his Eyes of God abilities in Soul Reaper form, just like Lilith.
The ability he just used was similar to Kamui, but in reality, it was an entirely different spatial technique. It didn't move Yeruashi's physical body to another dimension; it altered the fragment of space it occupied. As a result, Yeruashi's physical body first shrunk to a tiny size, comparable to a cell, and then hid within his Dojutsu.
This was one of the abilities of the Eyes of God—the manipulation of space through shrinking and enlarging.
'Now it's time to head there... I wonder how much Unohana's swordsmanship has improved over these five years?'
At the thought of Unohana, a faint smile lit up Yeruashi's face.