Chapter 25: Execution of the Plan |
The Seireitei was vast, far exceeding any district in the Rukongai, and each of the Gotei 13's divisions occupied a significant amount of territory.
Beyond the barracks and residential quarters intended for the Shinigami, there were various archives and databases compiled over thousands of years. Additionally, there were specialized facilities like the Maggot's Nest.
It was no exaggeration to say that each division's headquarters was comparable to a small city, equipped with every necessary amenity and even recreation zones.
In the northwestern region of the Second Division's barracks lay such a recreation area, featuring training grounds, hot springs, and other leisure facilities.
Yeruashi sat relaxed in a small hot spring about six meters in diameter, a snow-white towel draped over his shoulder.
Steam and mist swirled over the surface of the pool, testament to the high temperature of the water.
The heat of these springs would be unbearable and even dangerous for an ordinary human, but for a soul, it was divine.
Yeruashi had experienced the most luxurious hot springs in every world he had visited, but a spring composed of reishi was in a league of its own. It provided a sensation that was not just different, but far more pleasurable than any mundane bath.
Next to Yeruashi, who leaned back against the rocky edge of the pool, the upper half of Lilith's head was visible, while her mouth and chin remained submerged in the warm water. From Lilith's habitually indifferent and stoic expression, it was impossible to tell if she was actually enjoying the soak.
Since then, Soi Fon had always greeted Yeruashi with a calm, indifferent nod, as if what had happened between them carried no weight at all.
Yoruichi, on the other hand, had become noticeably closer to Yeruashi. She now frequently burst into his home without warning and pestered him over various trivial matters. Yeruashi didn't mind in the least; life could become quite dull if every girl he knew behaved like Lilith.
'It's about time you started moving,' Yeruashi thought.
'Aizen.'
He whispered the name softly, staring up at the wide night sky through the rising steam.
The daily routine and work of a Shinigami were beginning to lose the novelty they had at the start. Yeruashi was waiting for Aizen to take an action that would make his life a bit more colorful and exciting.
With his Eyes of God and the Illusory Clock, Yeruashi could easily peer into any moment in time or any location, but doing so would strip his life of all surprises and suspense.
Just as he was reflecting on this, a figure holding a towel appeared directly behind him.
Whoosh!
The figure pounced forward like a cat and dove skillfully into the hot spring, soaring right over Yeruashi's head.
Splash!
The resulting spray drenched the relaxed Yeruashi, while the ripples pushed back Lilith's neat, white hair.
Lilith merely narrowed her eyes slightly at the newcomer and remained perfectly still.
"Goodness... couldn't you maintain at least a shred of dignity as the twenty-second head of a Great Noble Family, Captain Shihoin?" Yeruashi remarked with a chuckle, wiping the water from his face.
Once the waves settled, Yoruichi stood up, wrapped a towel around herself, and sat down beside Yeruashi. "Ha! Look who's talking," she teased. "You'd better watch your own shady dealings!"
Yeruashi shook his head and pulled the white towel from his shoulders, letting it float in the water before him.
Meanwhile, Yoruichi lifted her slender legs and kicked them playfully, sending soft ripples across the surface of the spring.
She grinned and pouted theatrically when she noticed Yeruashi's movement. "Hey, stop acting like a prude! It’s not like you’ve never been to a mixed bath before."
Yeruashi gazed at the night sky. "Of course I have. But such ventures usually ended with crowds of pushy, intrusive women appearing out of nowhere."
"Well, in your case, that's actually a valid concern..." Yoruichi admitted.
She leaned back against the rocky rim and looked up at the beautiful night sky.
She had crashed the hot springs specifically because Yeruashi was here.
In fact, on her way in, she had spotted a group of girls responsible for maintaining the springs. They had been huddled behind the entrance curtain, peeking eagerly and excitedly at this specific pool.
"Over the past month, more and more souls have been disappearing from the streets of the Rukongai," Yoruichi said casually, still looking at the sky. In reality, she was watching Yeruashi's reaction out of the corner of her eye.
His response was perfectly normal. "Is that so? That certainly warrants attention. It’s quite strange..."
"It is," Yoruichi agreed with a nod. "Even the Panther Clan has been secretly kidnapping souls with high spiritual pressure from the Rukongai. It’s a flagrant violation of the law. Council 46 wasted no time in passing judgment, and our Second Division is responsible for carrying out the sentence."
Currently, the Soul Society was inhabited by only two races: souls and monsters. However, souls were divided into two types: human and non-human.
Non-human souls included individuals like Sajin Komamura, a member of the Wolf Clan and a future captain. The two most numerous groups of these non-human souls were the Wolf Clan and the Panther Clan. The former consisted of various canine-like souls, while the latter comprised feline-like souls.
"Interesting," Yeruashi said, sounding surprised. "So our next mission is the extermination of the Panther Clan?"
Yoruichi stretched her supple body and spoke slowly, like a lazy cat. "I've already called for a general assembly. I decided to relax in the springs before heading out... and, of course, to see the precious reaction of my adorable lieutenant."
"I must ask you to never use such adjectives to describe me again, Captain Shihoin."
Precious? Adorable?
'What is wrong with this cat-woman?' he wondered.
'And this Panther Clan, deciding to take the stage at this exact moment...'
'This is Aizen's doing, isn't it?'
By a "happy and totally random" coincidence, the task of wiping out the Panther Clan had been assigned specifically to the Second Division. It was impossible for the division's lieutenant to skip a mission to eliminate one of the two largest non-human soul clans.
Now he was being forced to leave the Seireitei.
'Not bad, Aizen. Not bad at all.'
"...is something wrong, my darling Lieutenant Hatake?" Yoruichi asked, licking her lips like a predator. "Your reaction really was quite sweet. By the way... you have a pretty decent physique, kid."
She hadn't just jumped into the spring; she had taken her time covering up with the towel. Seeing a young man maintain his composure and self-control in such a situation made him seem genuinely charming to her.
"Yours isn't half-bad either, Captain Shihoin," Yeruashi replied calmly as he rose from the warm water and headed straight for the exit. "Let’s go. We shouldn't delay if the order came directly from Council 46."
Lilith stood up silently and shook her hands, letting her snow-white hair fall. She stepped gracefully onto the rocky edge and followed Yeruashi toward the exit. As she walked, her long white hair dried instantly, settling smoothly over her shoulders.
Yoruichi, still basking in the warmth, turned her head and pouted. "But I just got here!"
"Lieutenant!"
As soon as Yeruashi stepped past the simple curtain at the entrance, he was greeted by two pretty girls in cherry-blossom-colored kimonos, holding dry, white towels.
They synchronized their movements to offer him the towels, trying their best to look like they were doing ordinary work, but their beet-red cheeks and the way their eyes kept darting over his body gave them away.
Yeruashi took a towel without a word and kept walking.
He had dealt with similar situations in other worlds, so he had long since developed an immunity to such things.
*
A short while later.
About two hundred Shinigami had gathered in the central square of the Second Division's headquarters. Approximately one hundred and fifty were from the Second Division itself, while the rest belonged to the Onmitsukido.
The elite of both groups were present, as ordinary Shinigami would be useless in the upcoming mission to annihilate the Panther Clan.
Yeruashi and Yoruichi arrived at the square together.
Notably, Soi Fon was among those assembled.
The Second Division was forced to commit almost all its core strength to this mission, as the Panther Clan was a formidable group of non-human souls with unique skills and abilities.
"Is everyone here?"
Yoruichi, now wearing her white Captain's haori with the black numeral 'Two' on the back, approached the ranks and addressed Soi Fon.
Her playful, flighty cat-like persona had vanished, replaced by the majestic and cold aura of the Captain of the Second Division.
"Yes, Captain!" Soi Fon replied loudly.
Yoruichi scanned the gathered Shinigami before giving the command in a sharp, steady voice: "Move out!"
The Captain took a few measured steps and then broke into a fast run toward the exit, with two hundred Shinigami following her in perfect unison.
Soi Fon and Yeruashi ran just behind Yoruichi, flanking her on either side.
Yeruashi looked around with interest as they left the headquarters.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The two hundred Shinigami moved silently and efficiently behind their captain, just like shinobi on a high-stakes mission.
They soon left the Seireitei behind, racing through the nighttime streets of the Rukongai.
At roughly the same time, in the Fifth Division's barracks, Aizen put down the book he was reading by the dim light of a candle and looked out the window.
'They’ve departed.'
'It's time to begin the execution of the plan.'
*
It was difficult for non-human souls to live among ordinary souls because their appearance stood out too much. Consequently, the Panther Clan preferred to reside in isolated, rugged mountain regions.
Most of the clan lived in the wilderness beyond the 80th District, an area that wasn't technically part of the Rukongai.
If the investigation into the mysterious disappearances hadn't revealed that the Panther Clan was kidnapping souls from the Rukongai's outer districts, no one in the Seireitei would have spared them a single thought.
The journey to the edge of the Rukongai didn't take long for powerful Shinigami like Soi Fon or Yoruichi, but the rank-and-file couldn't keep up with them, and teleportation Kido was forbidden. Thus, the trek to the outskirts took several days.
During one of their brief rests, Yoruichi, Soi Fon, and Yeruashi held a meeting.
"The Panther Clan's settlement is located here," Yoruichi said, unfurling a worn parchment map. One half showed an ordinary plain, while the other depicted a complex, labyrinthine mountain range.
Under normal circumstances, the Gotei 13 didn't care about the situation beyond the 80th Districts, but their intelligence capabilities were never to be underestimated. They had detailed maps of many areas in Hueco Mundo, let alone the remote corners of the Soul Society.
Although the map showed the Panther Clan occupied only a third of the mountains, the territory was actually quite vast. In addition to the general area, their main lair was clearly marked.
"What’s the attack plan?" Soi Fon whispered, studying the map intently.
Yoruichi spoke seriously, pointing to several spots. "We must not underestimate the Panther Clan's overall combat power. According to our information, their current leader is extremely strong. To keep casualties to a minimum, we won't spread our forces too thin."
"We’ll first crush their outlying settlements with a swift strike, then converge on the main lair."
"The attack on the main lair will come from two directions—east and west. Yeruashi, you will lead the western flank."
Yoruichi looked at him.
Yeruashi nodded calmly. "Understood."
Normally, a mission of this scale shouldn't be handled by a single division. The Panther Clan was not only numerous but also quite powerful. However, the Ninth Division was busy investigating the disappearances, another division was monitoring Hueco Mundo, the Fourth Division couldn't be sent on an extermination mission, the First Division was guarding Council 46, the current Kenpachi had terrible relations with the other captains, and Captain Jushiro Ukitake was ill. The Gotei 13 had far less free combat power than it appeared.
Therefore, Captain-Commander Yamamoto had ordered the Second Division—which boasted two captain-level combatants in Yoruichi and Yeruashi—to handle the mission themselves. The Third Division had been placed on standby to provide immediate support if necessary.
"Remember... this mission is far more dangerous than everything you’ve done so far combined. Don't you dare relax just because you’ve achieved Bankai, or you might lose your life," Yoruichi said, looking Yeruashi directly in the eyes.
Though Yeruashi had proven his skills over the last six months, and Yoruichi still suspected he was more than he let on, if her guess was wrong, he was merely an incredibly talented but inexperienced young Shinigami. This mission would be a trial by fire; he might face an opponent on par with a Gotei 13 captain!
Yoruichi had never actually seen Yeruashi’s Bankai in action, so she couldn't judge if his strength truly reached that level. If it didn't, even a moment of carelessness could be fatal.
"Rest assured, Captain."
"I won't make any mistakes."
Yeruashi nodded solemnly.
Satisfied by his focused attitude, Yoruichi stood up and addressed the other Shinigami nearby. "Break time is over! Move out!"
*
At roughly the same time, in one of the Rukongai's districts, a sharp blade lunged toward the back of the Ninth Division Captain, Kensei Muguruma!
A moment later, his reiatsu vanished.
The sudden disappearance of a Gotei 13 Captain's spiritual pressure was a catastrophic and shocking event that sent ripples through the entire organization.
The Captain-Commander immediately summoned all available captains and decisively dispatched three of them, along with the Vice-Chief of the Kido Corps, to the scene of the incident!