"Hahaha, feel the despair!" Kumoi's twisted voice echoed through the banquet hall as his tendrils of flesh and blood lashed out wildly.
"This is the immortal body painstakingly created by Lord Akutagawa. If the plan hadn't been exposed, I wouldn't have wasted it here!"
The core fragment in his chest pulsed with an eerie red light, each beat accelerating the regeneration of his wounds.
"Immortality, huh? Let's test that!" Zaraki Kenpachi laughed maniacally and charged forward, his Zanpakutō crashing down with immense spiritual pressure. "This should be strong enough!"
Kumoi didn't even try to dodge, the blade pierced straight through his chest.
Strangely, countless fleshy tendrils suddenly extended from the wound and wrapped around Kenpachi's arm.
"Captain Zaraki!" Shiba Isshin quickly slashed his sword, cutting off the tendrils and pulling Kenpachi back to a safe distance.
"Tsk, disgusting." Kenpachi shook off the numbness in his arm, a serious expression appearing on his face for the first time.
"Useless!" Kumoi triumphantly whipped his tendrils. "Lord Akutagawa said that unless the core is destroyed instantly with spiritual pressure beyond captain-level, otherwise—"
"Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!" Kyōraku Shunsui suddenly fired from the side, and a blue kidō beam shot out like a thunder cannon.
However, Kumoi merely sneered and waved his hand his tendrils intertwined into a net that absorbed the entire high-level hadō.
"Captain Kyōraku, this level of attack barely tickles me!"
"Soon, you'll be the one calling me Lord Kumoi, hahahahaha!"
Kyōraku took a step back, frowning, a cold sweat breaking on his wrinkled forehead. Usually calm and relaxed, even he struggled to remain composed in this moment.
The Kasumiōji, no, the Tsunayashiro family. What kind of monster had they secretly created behind the Kuchiki family's back?
The situation reached a stalemate for a moment.
The captains' attacks were either absorbed or nullified, while Kumoi's clones spread further through the banquet hall.
Rurichiyo stood behind Kūkaku, shielded by her body, her face completely pale as she watched the guards she once knew transform into abominations.
"Old man…" Ukitake looked weakly at the elder who still hadn't moved. "If this continues…"
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni slowly opened his eyes, a long-lost murderous intent appearing on his weathered face.
"Enough."
Just those two simple words instantly raised the temperature in the entire hall.
The old man removed his captain's haori, revealing a muscular, scar-covered torso. The moment Ryūjin Jakka was drawn from its sheath, the air distorted from the immense heat.
"Kasumiōji Kumoi, a sinner like you must be executed by my hand!"
"All things in the universe, turn to ash—"
"Ryūjin Jakka!"
Yamamoto gripped the sword with both hands, and a mighty spiritual pressure formed a vortex of visible flames.
"Burning Hell!"
Dozens of whitish flames erupted from the ground toward the ceiling, burning away all spirit particles in their path.
Kumoi's crazed laughter froze on his face. He instinctively pulled back all his tendrils to form a shield, but it was like a praying mantis trying to stop a war chariot.
"No! This can't be... "
The flames devoured his scream.
When the fires subsided, all that remained was a blackened skeleton kneeling in place, and the Bakkōtō core in his chest had turned to dust.
The scattered flesh masses also spontaneously ignited and turned to ash in an instant.
"Is it… over?" Shiba Kūkaku lowered the arm shielding Rurichiyo and sighed in relief.
She had never officially been part of the Gotei 13, nor had she ever witnessed the Head Captain fight.
This was her first time seeing such a sword attack, so terrifying it truly frightened her.
But not only Kūkaku; even Kyōraku and Ukitake, who had been with Yamamoto the longest, were still deeply shaken by the old man's "casual" Shikai strike.
Even Aizen Sōsuke in the corner wasn't exempt. He pushed up his glasses, a trace of admiration flickering in his heart.
As expected of the strongest shinigami in a thousand years, this level of spiritual pressure even put some pressure on him.
Of course, only a little.
Just when everyone thought the Head Captain had ended Kumoi in one blow, Arata suddenly felt a powerful sense of wrongness.
He sharply noticed that one of the fingers on the charred skeleton seemed to move.
It wasn't an illusion, it really moved!
"Everyone, be careful!" he rushed to warn, but it was already too late.
The blackened skeleton suddenly exploded, and from the smoke, a figure shot out—Kumoi, once again in his human form!
His skin was cracked all over, but he grinned wickedly as he pulled a strangely shaped long dagger from his chest.
The blade was entirely black, and in the hilt, a constantly spinning eye was embedded.
"You've forced me to resort to this!"
Without hesitation, Kumoi crushed the eye; a dark purple liquid gushed out and formed a spreading black hole in the air.
"This is the final gift Lord Akutagawa left me. Please accept it! Hahahaha!"
A terrifying suction force exploded instantly, and the nearest Kasumiōji guards were literally torn apart.
The captains stabilized themselves with flash steps, but Arata, who stood closest to the black hole, was a fraction of a second too slow.
"Arata!" Unohana Retsu tried to reach him, but was thrown back by the violent surge of spirit particles.
"Sensei! Get everyone out, quick!" Arata channeled all his spiritual pressure into his feet, but the black hole still pulled him closer and closer.
He was already at the limit of resistance, yet still couldn't break free of the suction force of that strange black hole.
How had the Kasumiōji family managed to create a power akin to a black hole?!
He'd sooner believe it was that bald monk pulling strings from the shadows!
Arata turned to take one last look at the terrified Unohana Retsu and Shiba Kūkaku, speaking as if leaving a final testament: "Sensei, please take care of Rangiku for me!"
At the last moment before falling into the black hole, Meigetsu slashed a brilliant crescent that precisely severed Kumoi's wrist.
"Aaaah——!" Kumoi widened his eyes and screamed; his wrist and the strange long dagger dropped to the floor.
In that instant, the black hole began to collapse unstably, and Arata's figure vanished into the warped vortex.
"Arata!" Kūkaku screamed and tried to chase after him, but Unohana Retsu firmly held her back.
"You idiot!" Zaraki Kenpachi furiously swung at Kumoi, but was repelled by a golden barrier that appeared out of nowhere.
An elegant figure descended from the ceiling and gracefully caught the falling black sword. "Oh? Looks like I arrived a little late after all."
The newcomer, with long green hair and wearing a luxurious kimono, was none other than Tsunayashiro Akutagawa, special envoy of the Tsunayashiro family—one of the Five Great Noble Clans.
"Lord Akutagawa!" Kumoi reached out as if seeing salvation, but Akutagawa stepped on his hand.
"Worthless." Tsunayashiro Akutagawa smiled as he crushed the tiny bones in his hand. "You couldn't even complete such a trivial task properly."
He glanced over the ruined banquet hall, paused briefly on Rurichiyo, then fixed his gaze on Yamamoto Genryūsai.
"Captain, my incompetent subordinate seems to have caused you quite a bit of trouble."
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, and Ryūjin Jakka flared up again. "Tsunayashiro Akutagawa, do you admit your guilt?"
"Guilt?" Akutagawa theatrically spread his arms. "I'm only here to retrieve stolen family property. As for what Kumoi did…"
He casually nudged the nearly-dead Kasumiōji Kumoi with his foot. "A traitor like him who sought to destroy Soul Society's order, you may punish him however you wish."
Then, he bowed gracefully.
On his way out, he gave one last meaningful glance to the spot where the black hole had disappeared, a strange smile at the corner of his lips.
"Arata–kun…" Unohana Retsu knelt at the place where the black hole once gaped, her fingers brushing the cold floor.
There was no trace of spiritual pressure left as if that young man had never existed.
"Captain Unohana…" Shiba Kūkaku helped her up, red-eyed. "Please pull yourself together, Rangiku–nee is still…"
At the mention of Rangiku, Unohana's pupils suddenly contracted.
She turned to Rurichiyo in Kūkaku's arms; the little girl had cried herself into exhaustion.
"Lady Kūkaku," she called softly, "please take Lady Rurichiyo to Squad Four. She will still be needed to take over matters regarding the Kasumiōji family."
——
At that same moment, on the other side of the black hole.
Arata crashed hard onto an abandoned street, Meigetsu trembling beside him.
He struggled to stand and saw the blazing sun high in the sky and shabby straw-roofed huts on either side.
"Hey, you punk over there!"
"Where the hell did you come from? Don't you know this is Lord Saita's territory?!"