Chapter 22: The Beginning of the Conspiracy |
The 7th District of the southern Rukongai.
Night had fallen over the eastern edge of the district, where green plains stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
A cluster of brilliant stars speckled the dark night sky, and the emerald grass swayed gently under a faint, welcoming breeze.
But the tranquil atmosphere was tainted by a scent carried on that very wind.
The smell of blood!
"Behind you, Commander!!"
One of the Stealth Force members cried out in alarm, his eyes fixed on the figure of Soi Fon nearby.
Soi Fon’s eyes narrowed as she lunged forward, narrowly dodging a blade that whistled toward her spine.
She snapped her head around, her gaze sweeping over the massive blade in an attempt to find its wielder.
Behind that skeletal arm—which seemed to be an extension of the blade itself—hid an ephemeral, blurred figure that appeared to exist in a separate dimension from its own weapon.
The surrounding ground was littered with blood-soaked corpses. Some were members of the Stealth Force, but the majority wore different attire.
No.
It wasn't the shinigami uniform of the Gotei 13, but rather an ornate, high-status dress belonging to a noble family.
Whoosh!
As she dodged the surprise attack, two more terrifying Hollows materialized directly at Soi Fon’s sides. One took the form of a three-meter-tall praying mantis with razor-sharp bone scythes, while the other was nothing more than a massive, grotesque head supported by skeletal spider legs.
Without hesitation, the Hollows launched a frontal assault.
Clang! Clang!!
Soi Fon first parried the faster mantis's strike before jumping and spinning through the air with feline grace to evade the second monster.
The spider-headed Hollow tracked the jumping Soi Fon and unhinged its jaw, revealing an identical, smaller head inside.
Vwoom!!
A concentrated stream of dark energy erupted from the inner head’s mouth, surging toward Soi Fon while she was still mid-air.
A Cero!
In this perilous moment, the petite Soi Fon arched her body with incredible flexibility, performing a masterful mid-air contortion to evade the blast.
But as she strained her body to the limit to avoid the Cero, the large blade of the invisible attacker lunged for her back again. In her current position, it was far more difficult to dodge.
By now, she had already released her Shikai, which took the form of a golden gauntlet with a sharp stinger on the middle finger. Soi Fon's Suzumebachi was perfect for assassination, but it was ill-suited for an open battlefield where she had to parry the heavy, powerful blows of multiple Hollows.
Whoosh!
Soi Fon gritted her teeth and forced her body to twist, kicking off the flat of the blade as it grazed her skin and landing softly on the blood-stained grass a short distance away.
Cold sweat beaded on Soi Fon’s forehead, and her left hand pressed against a bleeding wound that ran from her shoulder down to her lower back.
Since the cut wasn't too deep, it wouldn't immediately impair her movements, but if the battle dragged on...
'Damn it...'
Soi Fon ground her teeth, watching as two Hollows rushed her once more, while the third vanished back into the shadows, waiting for the perfect opening.
She and her Stealth Force squad were on a mission to eliminate the Akabane clan, a minor noble family that had been secretly conducting experiments strictly forbidden by the Central 46.
Everything had gone without a hitch.
Armed with precise intelligence, the Stealth Force had easily wiped out most of the Akabane clan members, including their head, who fell to her Shikai.
But just as Soi Fon was preparing to lead her men back to headquarters, these Hollows appeared out of nowhere, seemingly drawn by the sudden spike in spiritual energy caused by the massacre.
It would have been fine if they were ordinary Hollows or even a few Gillians. Soi Fon was confident she could handle two or three Gillians alone. But her squad had been ambushed by a breed of Hollows she had never encountered before!
Their Reiatsu was roughly on par with a Gillian, but their abilities and combat styles were entirely different!
Of the three targeting her, one possessed extraordinary speed and agility, another was slow but boasted powerful long-range attacks, and the third—the most problematic—could turn invisible. The combination of the first two was troublesome enough, let alone the third attacking from her blind spots!
Even for her, it was nearly impossible to track the Reiatsu of the third Hollow once it vanished.
'What on earth is going on...'
Soi Fon whispered tensely, glancing at the blood on her left palm before turning her sharp gaze back to the approaching monsters.
As a shinigami, Soi Fon had fought Hollows countless times, but this was her first time facing such coordinated and unusual opponents!
In reality, the mantis Hollow was giving her just as much trouble as the invisible one because... it was faster than her!
This was why Soi Fon felt forced to stand her ground despite the dire situation. If she tried to flee, the mantis would catch her easily, and with the invisible one lurking nearby, a retreat would turn into a death trap.
Whoosh!!
The mantis Hollow blurred, closing the distance instantly and lashing out with its bone scythes. Soi Fon could do nothing but dodge the strikes, which combined lightning speed with lethal sharpness.
The special ability of her Shikai was 'Death in Two Steps.' Suzumebachi’s first strike left a black butterfly-shaped mark on the victim’s body, marking them for the next hit. Death was inevitable if Soi Fon managed to strike that same spot a second time.
While this ability was terrifyingly effective against other souls, it was less efficient against these Hollows. Their heavy attacks were difficult to block with her gauntlet-style Shikai.
If she could parry their blows and immediately counter with her stinger, even these strange Hollows wouldn't be a match for her.
However, Soi Fon couldn't find an opening to counterattack after dodging. Not only were the Hollows dangerous individually, but they also fought with uncanny teamwork.
"Aaaargh..."
As Soi Fon struggled against her three opponents, a scream echoed nearby. Another Stealth Force member had fallen while trying to hold off the fourth Hollow.
This fourth Hollow, possessing Gillian-level Reiatsu, took the form of a nightmare with eight massive bone arms. The remaining squad members were trying to restrain it with their combined strength, but it was clear they were losing.
The power gap was simply too vast!
The Stealth Force members accompanying Soi Fon were quite strong compared to average Gotei 13 shinigami, but they were far from the level of a Lieutenant. Even united, they couldn't deal any significant damage to the beast.
Their superior numbers allowed them to land hits, but their strength wasn't enough to pierce the creature's hide.
In contrast, every successful strike from the Hollow resulted in a grievous wound or instant death.
Yet, they were forced to hold the fourth enemy back at the cost of their lives, because if they failed, Soi Fon wouldn't last a minute against four of them. Fighting four such dangerous foes at once was beyond her current capabilities, especially since she had not yet mastered Bankai or reached the level of a Captain.
"Hold on a little longer!!"
Soi Fon dodged another strike and gritted her teeth, stealng a glance at the battle nearby.
All they could do now was fight with everything they had and pray for reinforcements to arrive in time.
If either side faltered or retreated, everyone would die.
Every Stealth Force member present understood this perfectly, but screams and willpower weren't enough to bridge the gap in power. Perhaps some people could become several times stronger simply by getting angry and shouting, but that was certainly not their story...
Unfortunately, the fate of this world did not favor Soi Fon, let alone the ordinary members of the Stealth Force.
Fate truly existed.
The current Yeruashi could clearly sense its presence and its influence on the world.
The essence was simple: the future of those with a strong fate would naturally trend toward the most favorable outcomes, while those with a weak fate lacked such luxury and were more likely to find themselves in disasters.
If one were to look into the future of someone like Ichigo Kurosaki, they would find that the vast majority of paths led to a favorable end. When most options at every crossroads favored him, it would be extremely difficult for the future to take an unfavorable turn.
This was precisely why Yhwach had been defeated.
If the protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki was favored by 99.9 percent of future possibilities, then the relatively less important Soi Fon was favored by only 5 percent.
Without outside interference, Soi Fon would have only a five percent chance of making a breakthrough and surviving, while the other ninety-five percent of paths led to the ignominious death of a supporting character.
But all of that was rendered moot by one fact...
This battle had been doomed to face outside interference from the very start!
Locked in a life-and-death struggle against three lethal Hollows, Soi Fon pushed her combat skills to their absolute limit. Kido, Hakuda, Shunpo... every technique she knew was combined with maximum efficiency.
The battle, which looked more like a deadly, refined dance on the edge of a blade, continued for nearly half an hour.
Eventually, Soi Fon had no choice but to leap upward once more to evade a killing blow.
Just like before, as she moved through the air, the blade of the invisible Hollow lunged for her back! But unlike the previous time, Soi Fon was now wounded and exhausted.
Even in perfect condition, she hadn't been able to escape a wound in a similar situation. Now, her physical fatigue and the drain from her existing injury made dodging nearly impossible.
Is this the end?
'Yoruichi-sama...'
'Forgive me, I failed...'
As Soi Fon watched the blade inexorably closing in on her back from the corner of her eye, Yoruichi's image flashed through her mind.
But a moment later, that image was shattered into pieces.
The sudden appearance of a figure with silver-white hair wearing black shinigami robes interrupted Soi Fon’s final vision.
Soi Fon’s eyes widened in shock.
The newcomer raised a hand and calmly pressed an open palm against the wide blade that was about to pierce her back.
Boom!!!
At the moment of contact with the seemingly ordinary and fragile human palm, the massive blade ground to a sudden halt before shattering into a thousand pieces along with the skeletal arm.
The gap in Reiatsu was insurmountable.
Captain-level Reiatsu could utterly suppress and crush that of a Lieutenant.
The difference was like steel against sand.
A simple touch was all it took!
Whoosh!
Yeruashi swung his Zanpakuto with casual ease.
With that simple motion, which seemed to carry no special force at all, the body of the invisible Hollow was torn to shreds and dissipated into the air. Simultaneously, the two other Hollows on the ground froze in place before dissolving into countless Reishi.
Yeruashi then turned his head toward the Stealth Force members' struggle with the fourth Hollow and smoothly swung his blade in their direction.
Flash!
A small shockwave of energy sliced through the air, passing precisely through the Hollow's neck and severing its head. The menacing monster, which the Stealth Force couldn't even scratch, was like soft tofu before Yeruashi’s attack.
In an instant, the Hollow crumbled into spirit particles and vanished without a trace.
The only sign of its existence was the perfectly straight gouge left in the ground by Yeruashi’s swing.
"Everything is fine now," Yeruashi said calmly after annihilating the four threats.
Hearing his voice, Soi Fon snapped out of her daze and parted her lips to speak, but at that moment, the world turned black, and her body pitched forward.
After more than thirty minutes of grueling combat against three Hollows with Reiatsu nearly equal to her own, combined with her untended wounds, Soi Fon’s body had finally reached its breaking point.
"Hmm... the wounds are superficial, but the blood loss is severe."
Yeruashi caught the falling Soi Fon and did a quick check of her body. After assessing her condition, he concluded she had no critical injuries other than the large but shallow gash on her back and the resulting loss of blood.
Yeruashi paused for a moment, gripping the unconscious Soi Fon by the shoulder with his left hand. He then ran the index and middle fingers of his right hand—which were emitting a soft, emerald-green glow—down the length of her wound, from her shoulder to her waist.
"Ah... ah..."
As Soi Fon roused from her faint—triggered by extreme mental exhaustion and the sudden release of tension—she let out a soft moan of pain from the large wound on her back.
Yeruashi pulled his hand away and spoke impassively once the bleeding had completely stopped. "You were bleeding heavily."
"...Thank you for the help," Soi Fon whispered, quickly turning her head away.
She pulled her small shoulder out of Yeruashi’s grip and sank slowly to the ground, not waiting for his reply.
Yeruashi couldn't help but smile as he used his God's Eyes to see the faint blush on her face as she looked away.
This girl...
Had he actually managed to set her on the right path?!
'Aizen: it seems you’ve forcibly added another girl to my list... I used to think such things were pointless since they flock to me in crowds anyway, but this time, it was actually quite helpful.'
Yeruashi chuckled and shook his head.
He didn't even need to look into the future to know these Hollows were connected to Aizen; they were far too unusual.
Hollows with weak Reiatsu often have diverse forms, but once they reach the Gillian level, their evolution follows a nearly identical path, lacking unique forms or abilities unless they evolve into an Adjuchas.
But an Adjuchas's Reiatsu is usually on par with a Gotei 13 Captain.
It wasn't hard to deduce that an ambush by several Hollows with such non-standard traits targeting Soi Fon at this specific time must be linked to Aizen.
Meanwhile, in the middle of a quiet, desolate wasteland several kilometers from the battlefield, two figures were hidden.
A transparent image hovered in the air before Aizen, who was masking his presence with specialized Kido.
Aizen adjusted his glasses and shook his head as he watched Yeruashi provide first aid to Soi Fon. "Just as I thought."
"He is immune to Kyoka Suigetsu. No... perhaps the issue lies with his special ability."
Earlier, when Yeruashi had demonstrated the unique ability of his Shikai, Aizen had suspected he might have bypassed the influence of Kyoka Suigetsu.
The initiation of Kyoka Suigetsu’s absolute hypnosis had gone too smoothly, without a single hitch, but Aizen’s intuition told him that Yeruashi shouldn't be so easy to ensnare. In Yeruashi's case, perfectly normal behavior was seen by Aizen as abnormal and suspicious.
Furthermore, his Bankai's ability was likely time-based, just like his Shikai. Aizen understood perfectly that time-related powers could counter his Kyoka Suigetsu. For instance, abilities like erasing time or reversing its flow could simply undo the very act of the absolute hypnosis being initiated.
This could lead to massive complications. To minimize the risk of failure during the execution of his plan, the vast majority of shinigami—including Lieutenants and Captains—had to be under the influence of Kyoka Suigetsu.
The risk would skyrocket if any Captain or Lieutenant remained unaffected.
Therefore, as soon as Aizen developed suspicions regarding Yeruashi, he decided to conduct a test while simultaneously observing the results of his recent experiments.
It was a failure on all fronts.
The modified Hollows were a flop, and Yeruashi had not fallen under Kyoka Suigetsu's spell.
"...That guy is dangerous, isn't he?"
The squinting teenager standing behind Aizen smiled and whispered.
Aizen turned and said calmly, "Let’s go. We need to make urgent adjustments to the plan."
"..."
Gin Ichimaru took one last look toward Yeruashi and Soi Fon before slowly following Aizen into the distance.