Chapter 129: [The Demon] and [The Kenpachi]
Muramasa's thoughts could not reach Äs Nödt.
Invisible shadows bound him in place. He couldn't move a finger. He could only watch as that skeletal figure, wrapped in reiatsu that burned like hellfire, walked toward him step by step.
The sight dragged Äs Nödt straight back into memories he wanted to rot and stay buried.
Six years ago, when he became one of the victims of Yhwach's The Antithesis, he didn't die cleanly. He was tossed into a hospital like a discarded tool, lying in bed like a terminal patient, unable to move, waiting for death in silence.
He was a devout believer. He feared hell.
So every second of that helpless waiting was saturated with the dread of dying. In his mind, the day he finally stopped breathing would be the day a demon crawled out of the abyss to harvest his soul.
Just like now.
This wasn't a hospital, yet he still couldn't move.
Kōga wasn't a demon either.
But the Hollow factors from Hollowfication were lethal poison to Quincy, and paired with that inhuman, ominous appearance, they stabbed straight into his trauma.
To Äs Nödt, this terror surpassed even a demon from hell.
"…But I'm not the man I used to be!"
The once gloomy, twisted Äs Nödt snarled and forced his reiatsu to erupt. His limbs warped. His neck stretched. Even the shadows binding him, even the ambient reishi itself, were pulled in as fuel for his Vollständig.
"Now I only fear His Majesty's rebuke! I won't be defeated, and I won't lose to anyone… [Tatar Foras]!"
A pentagram halo, sharp like a saw blade, formed above his head. Two thorny, wire loop reishi wings unfolded behind his back.
Blood seeped from beneath his eyes. The bones of his upper chest jutted into view. Stitches ran from his throat down to the hem of his lower body.
He looked like a bioweapon test subject. Or a patient whose body had been broken and rewritten by some plague.
For a moment, it was hard to tell whose form was more grotesque, his or Kōga's.
"Look at me… fear me!"
In this state, simply being seen should have let Äs Nödt seize the observer's nervous system.
Or it should have.
Kōga didn't react at all.
"Fear?" Kōga's voice was flat, almost curious. "I don't understand. Among the things reflected in my eyes, what is there worth fearing?"
"Impossible…!"
Äs Nödt's pupils shook.
"As long as there is life, it's impossible not to fear death! As long as there is fear, it's impossible not to be affected by my power!"
"Therefore, as long as there is life, it's impossible to be immune to me!"
"Death?" Kōga's tone rose, one crack at a time, as if something long sealed was being pried open with bare hands. "I don't think death is worth fearing."
"Because once, in the process of fighting someone, I craved death countless times."
"I experienced death countless times."
"How I wished I could lose my life and vanish from this world."
"And yet I couldn't even fulfill that small wish."
"I could only endure my soul being torn apart again and again and again!"
His voice climbed into a roar. Hollowfied reiatsu amplified it into a storm.
The ground around Äs Nödt peeled away, scraped raw by pressure alone. Even he raised his arms on instinct and stumbled back.
Without Vollständig, he would have been thrown flat. Maybe blown away entirely.
"I don't believe it…!" Äs Nödt hissed. "I don't believe there's anyone in this world who is truly fearless!"
He forced his power higher and higher, manifesting a giant wall of eyes that encircled Kōga from all sides.
It resembled [Senbonzakura Kageyoshi: Senkei], except the ranks were not blades.
They were eyes.
An enemy watched from every direction would be pinned by fear, unable to move. Closing your eyes wouldn't help. It would only deepen the terror, letting it echo inside the heart until the heart burned out.
Death by suffocation.
To put it bluntly, a one on one inside that wall meant you had no way to fight back.
And yet…
"Aaaaah!"
Äs Nödt screamed first.
He clutched at his arms as his reiatsu lurched into instability and tore at itself.
Because Kōga was under [Thorn Aura].
Any form of attack inflicted would rebound as 10% reiatsu damage.
The wall of eyes attacked like concentrated fire. Its effect was terrifying, but the reflected damage was equally brutal.
Worse, Kōga not only endured the mental strike, he was also being healed by [Vampirism Aura]. As the enemy harmed him, his own wounds and reiatsu stabilized and repaired.
With [Super Regeneration] stacked on top, Kōga could grind Äs Nödt to death without ever throwing a punch.
"Damn it… how can this be!"
"You rely too much on your own ability," Kōga said, and there was no mockery in it, only a strange pity, like someone staring at a reflection of their own past. "You always want to toy with your enemies until they die, letting them drown in despair."
"That's why you fell into this bottomless abyss of pain."
That pity ignited Äs Nödt's rage.
"If I kill you directly, I won't be injured again! And you'll never get to act like a winner!"
Reiatsu surged.
The wall of eyes vanished.
Äs Nödt's form warped again as he entered the ultimate state of [Tatar Foras], becoming a gigantic monstrosity, like the demons and beasts from Human World myths.
"It's time to end this! Kuchiki Kōga!"
He slammed his palm down.
"It is time," Kōga said quietly.
He didn't dodge. He didn't block.
Because the strike smashed only the bridge, and a phantom that was never real.
"A fake? Where is the real body… where did you go?!"
Äs Nödt's massive body froze.
Because the voice didn't come from any direction.
It rang from inside his own heart.
"You tell me."
"Aaaaah!"
Pain erupted through him.
Indescribable. Total.
Äs Nödt screamed like the Shinigami he had once tortured to death. He couldn't breathe. He rolled on the ground, thrashing.
His reiatsu went chaotic, ripping his own body apart.
In the end, he bled to death.
Only then did Kōga reappear.
More precisely, he walked out of Äs Nödt's corpse.
The sight was so wrong it looked like a Zanpakutō materializing into the world from within its owner.
In a way, that wasn't entirely false.
Kōga had once possessed a special ability.
By injecting reiatsu into an enemy, for example, by wounding them and letting his reiatsu seep in through the cut, he could interfere with their five senses.
But after his battle with Shimiya Takeru, after being "subdued" by [Izanami], something in Kōga changed.
After Hollowfication, that ability transformed.
He gained the power to invade the enemy's inner world.
Much like Muramasa.
He didn't need to "attack." He only needed prolonged contact with his reiatsu, and the instant the enemy's reiatsu became chaotic and their composure cracked, he could slip inside.
So from start to finish, Kōga never truly "made a move."
He only released reiatsu and advanced step by step.
He satisfied the first condition.
Then he applied pressure.
Forcing the opponent to attack.
Forcing the opponent to eat reflected damage.
And when Äs Nödt's reiatsu finally collapsed into disorder, the second condition was fulfilled.
Inside Äs Nödt's heart, Kōga didn't bother with subtle sensory tricks.
He twisted the opponent's heart directly.
Like grabbing skin and twisting it.
The damage was small.
The pain was not.
And if that was what skin felt like, then twisting a heart was… absolute.
Äs Nödt, suffering pain akin to having his soul shredded, only wanted release. He activated the principle of [Kekko] to tear himself apart.
Bleeding out was the natural conclusion.
"Do you feel it now?" Kōga said softly, staring at the corpse. "True fear isn't death."
"It's a fate worse than death."
"So what does rebuke matter? If he could kill you, you should feel lucky."
"Because you won't become like me."
"After being rebuked countless times, living a life worse than death in this hellish world, forced to kill pathetic people like you, and forced to save another group of pitiful people."
He paused, then his voice hardened into something that cut.
"But as long as I walk this path of redemption, there will be no hesitation in my heart."
"Not even a shred of fear."
Kōga looked back at Äs Nödt's massive corpse.
The Hollowfied bone shell peeled away, piece by piece, revealing not a skeleton, but living muscle. A handsome face.
The face he should have had, back when he was meant to be the Kuchiki Clan's son in law, before the seal.
Even [Super Regeneration] had never been able to restore that.
Yet now, under the overlapping effects of [Thorn Aura] and [Vampirism Aura], his body was being maintained in a way that resembled Unohana's relentless restoration.
"Times have changed," Kōga muttered. "I never imagined I'd walk through Sixth Division territory with this face again, killing enemies for them…"
He turned toward Muramasa, who was approaching.
"Is it over, Kōga?"
"Not even close."
Kōga sensed dense Quincy reiatsu spreading through every direction and bared a grin that never would have existed in his old self.
He didn't look like a man redeeming himself.
He looked exactly like the "demon" Äs Nödt had feared.
In the Eleventh Division's jurisdiction, within a Japanese style courtyard one street away from Kusajishi.
Quilge Opie stood atop an ice mountain, glowing reishi wings spread behind him, a Quincy pentagram hovering above his head.
He was already in Vollständig.
"Oh."
As if he sensed something, he turned to the distance. A flicker crossed his cold, bespectacled face.
"Äs Nödt has been eliminated. Distressing."
"A loyal backbone of His Majesty has fallen."
"Fortunately, I have also removed quite a few obstacles on my end."
He withdrew his gaze and looked down at the corpses beneath the ice mountain.
Reigai of Captains and Lieutenants.
One was Hitsugaya Tōshirō.
The ice mountain he stood on came from [Hyōrinmaru].
Quilge Opie was about to move, to eliminate the powerful enemy who killed Äs Nödt, when hundreds of figures poured into the courtyard from every street.
They wore no uniforms.
Yet their movements were perfectly synchronized.
Expressionless.
Like puppets moved by a single hand.
"Hm?"
Surrounded by hundreds, Opie looked… puzzled.
Their movements were uncanny, but their strength was low. They weren't even proper Shinigami, not even true spiritual bodies.
At best, they were moving reishi flesh.
Then those "reishi flesh lumps" raised their hands and began chanting in unison.
Their layered voices shook the air. The reiatsu vibrations made the iceberg tremble.
"Oh ruler! Mask of flesh and blood, all creation, flap your wings and soar, that which bears the name of man…"
"Oh ruler! Mask of flesh and blood… truth and restraint… stand with claws upon the wall of dreams that knows no sin."
"Scattered bones of beasts, spires, crimson crystal, steel wheels…"
"Oh ruler! Mask of flesh and blood…"
"Faintly revealing a turbid crest, an unruly, arrogant talent…"
"Shore of a thousand hands, unreachable dark honored hand, unreachable azure sky archer…"
Hundreds of mouths.
Hundreds of Kidō.
Bakudō and Hadō intertwined in combinations that exceeded normal casting by dozens of times, converging into a single, terrifying torrent.
Their chant speed was insane. Their reishi condensation was surgical.
Each one moved like a Kidō specialist on Hinamori Momo's level.
The fused Bakudō and Hadō wave swallowed the iceberg and the Quincy on it.
The concentrated fire pushed destructive power to the limit.
Everything visible was annihilated.
Even space tore open, exposing pitch black fissures.
And yet, within that wreckage, something remained intact.
A cage.
Inside it, unharmed.
"This is a rather impressive 'greeting gift.' Any Quincy other than me would have become ash."
Quilge Opie's voice was calm.
"Don't you agree, Zaraki Kyōgen?"
The cage slowly opened.
Quilge Opie stepped out of the shattered Garganta, boots crunching onto Soul Society soil.
He looked at the hundreds surrounding him and remained composed.
Then he spoke the name of the one pulling the strings.
Ripples spread through the air.
Zaraki Kyōya revealed himself, his cold expression grave.
"Was that just now… a barrier?"
"Wrong." Opie smiled. "It was a seal."
He raised his chin as if reciting scripture.
"I am Quilge Opie, Sternritter 'J.' My schrift's ability is [Jail]."
"As the name implies, it creates a reishi cage to imprison enemies, or myself."
"Since it's called 'Jail,' its sturdiness speaks for itself."
His eyes narrowed, and his smile sharpened.
"So you should not have appeared before me just because I called your name."
Quilge swung the reishi saber attached to his body.
A wave of spiritual pressure surged outward, unfolding into a strip like seal that wrapped around Zaraki Kyōya, like a caged bird.
"Zaraki Kyōgen. Not a [special war power], but worth attention."
"A dangerous individual who once required Squad Zero's intervention."
"So we know your abilities thoroughly."
He adjusted his glasses and spoke with satisfaction.
"The 'greeting gift' I mentioned wasn't the Kidō."
"It was you."
Zaraki Kyōya stared at the seal around him.
"…I see. This isn't something that breaks quickly. It deserves to be called a seal."
"But how many can you seal?"
"What?"
In the next instant, Quilge's eyes widened.
All hundreds of "people" transformed into Zaraki Kyōya.
The Zaraki Kyōya inside [Jail] lowered his head, collapsed, and dissolved, as if his energy had been drained.
"A clone!"
Displeasure flickered through Quilge's eyes. He snorted and dispelled the cage.
"So you witnessed my earlier battle and raised your vigilance."
"You drove gigai as pawns."
"And you created a clone with spiritual pressure."
"But what does it matter?"
Hundreds of "Zaraki Kyōya" lunged at Quilge Opie all at once.
As they closed in, their bodies charred and cracked.
"A Shinigami sacrificial Hadō?" Quilge's voice was cold. "Who would let you succeed."
His wings spread.
His reishi absorption maximized.
The atmosphere surged toward him.
The ground cracked and began to dissipate.
The charging gigai had their skin peeled away. Their bodies dissolved into pure reishi, vanishing before they could detonate themselves into hundreds of [Ittō Kasō] and crush him along with [Jail].
Not only that…
Even Zaraki Kyōya himself suffered damage.
Even without the true body present, Quilge was confident.
"I told you. Your abilities are no secret to us."
"You fuse with reishi bearing substances. Anything you fuse becomes your body."
Destroying those fused substances damages you."
"And the ability to absorb reishi is your natural enemy."
"It strips your life force, tears your soul, and steals your power."
He spread his hand, as if presenting a truth to a classroom.
"This is Quincy."
"The absolute subordination of reishi."
"Only I in the Sternritter have reached this level."
"Even if [Jail] can't hold you, I am still your nemesis."
He inhaled slowly, sensing the feedback from the aura.
"I can feel it. My spiritual pressure is being damaged."
"That's Shimiya Takeru's tricks."
It confirmed his judgment. He had harmed Zaraki Kyōya.
On a distant rooftop, a noble figure appeared.
Quilge noticed at once.
"This time," he said, "it shouldn't be a clone."
"If you try [Jail] again, forget it. I know your release speed now. From this distance, I can react."
Zaraki Kyōya's voice was as flat as a machine.
"React." Quilge lowered his head, adjusting his glasses. His smile carried a strange depth.
"Driscoll died because he failed to use [Seikessen] in time, relying on [Kekko]. That wasn't enough to withstand your fusion."
"But if you think that works on me, you are seeking death."
"Apart from fleeing, you have no options."
"Or will you rely on Shimiya Takeru's Kidō tricks?"
"Those reigai thought the same."
"They still died by my hand."
"From that, it's clear Shimiya Takeru's Kidō is nothing special."
"Like him."
"Only superficially impressive."
"Zaraki Kyōgen, a smart weakling like you shouldn't fail to see that."
"You shouldn't resist so stubbornly."
"Smart weakling?"
Zaraki Kyōya's expression shifted.
"In your view, am I weak?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Quilge's eyes gleamed, and the hunger in them wasn't aimed only at Zaraki Kyōya, but at the entire Soul Society.
"I know your past."
"Born to nobility. Your clan abandoned martial strength for wealth."
"That wealth attracted wolves."
"They divided your property, then executed hundreds of the Mochizuki Family on false charges."
"Even you and your sister, attending the Spirit Arts Academy, were thrown into an execution ground as entertainment."
"Gladiators."
"Fighting Hollows for empty promises."
"Your sister fought and died, dragging a Hollow with her."
"And then they called a second Hollow."
"If the asauchi in your hand hadn't awakened…"
"Your fate would have been obvious."
Quilge's voice remained calm, like a lecturer reading history.
"Zaraki Kyōgen, the eighth Kenpachi. You possess talent."
"When your Zanpakutō awakened, you slaughtered everyone."
"You killed the seventh Kenpachi."
"Captains and hundreds of Shinigami were helpless."
"In the end, Squad Zero descended."
"Logically, you should be a [special war power]."
"But you are not."
"Partly because your ability threatens few Quincy."
"But the greater reason is simpler."
"You are too weak."
He tilted his head slightly.
"As an instructor, I have seen countless men like you."
"So I can say responsibly."
"You are a weakling."
"You rely on your Zanpakutō's power."
"Your understanding of combat is shallow."
"You don't even think of yourself as strong, do you?"
Zaraki Kyōya was silent for a moment.
Then he said quietly, "You're right."
"Ever since the day I was pushed into the execution ground, I couldn't acknowledge my own strength."
"Even after killing my enemies, the emptiness didn't fill."
"I don't even know my Zanpakutō's release command."
"I just borrow her power like a willful child, acting recklessly, discarding emotion as useless."
"If things deviate from my wishes, I become anxious."
"If plans shift, I become troubled."
"Even though I know everything, I'm like someone trapped in darkness, unable to understand hearts."
"When Squad Zero descended, I didn't resist. I gave up immediately."
"And I knew of your existence, yet I did nothing."
"Seemingly rational, actually cowardly."
"Even without your counter, I can't escape being called weak."
"That's not right."
Quilge cut in abruptly, eyes fixed on him.
"You didn't fail to expose us because you couldn't defeat us."
"You didn't report Wandenreich to the Gotei 13 because you want Hollows erased."
"You wanted to use us to do it."
"We were one of your backup plans."
"Exactly."
Quilge's voice sharpened, confident.
"Quincy consider Hollows pests that must be eradicated."
"Your wish aligns with ours."
"That's why we didn't assassinate you."
"That's why we allowed you to fuse with Seireitei and discover the Empire."
"We were certain you wouldn't expose us."
"We were certain you were a natural ally."
"Even if we couldn't cooperate, we wouldn't be enemies."
"So I don't understand."
"You retreated before Squad Zero."
"But you stand before us, who are more terrifying than Squad Zero and share your interests."
"You came to an enemy that counters you completely."
"A fight you cannot win."
Quilge's eyes narrowed.
"I want the reason before I kill you."
"Curiosity."
"And teaching experience."
"So I can correct foolish youths like you in the future."
"Tell me."
"It's important to me."
"Foolish…" Zaraki Kyōya murmured. The corner of his mouth twitched, as if trying to smile. It failed, but it was more expression than he usually wore.
"I hated my family."
"They reeked of money. Profit was their religion."
"But in that filthy clan, there was one person of noble character."
"She tried to restore the martial strength our ancestors once held."
"That person was my sister."
"I didn't attend the Academy."
"I had no interest in power."
And yet…
"My talent was far above hers."
He stared into the distance, and something raw surfaced in his gaze.
"On the day we were pushed into the execution ground, I had no power."
"I was trembling before the Hollow."
"Despairing."
"Helpless."
"But my sister… she made a demand to the judges."
"They lied."
"Yet for a moment, I saw it."
"They were intimidated by her presence."
"Then she picked up an asauchi and fought."
"She dragged the Hollow down with her."
"I will never forget her eyes."
"When she charged, and when she died, there wasn't a trace of fear."
"Clearly weak."
"And yet she threw herself into danger for a vague hope."
"Doesn't she sound like the 'foolish me' you described?"
Zaraki Kyōya opened his eyes fully.
The look was familiar.
And also strange.
Because emotion was burning inside it.
"The reason I agreed to fight is simple."
"The look in the eyes of the man you called 'nothing special'…"
"It's the same look my sister had."
"I have regretted it more than once."
"If I trained earlier. If my Zanpakutō awakened earlier."
"I could have saved her."
"That man isn't my sister."
"But he made me realize who my sister truly was."
It was ridiculous, almost laughable.
"I fused with Seireitei. I watched the world."
And still…
"It took me years to understand this."
"My perception was so shallow I want to laugh."
He drew a slow breath.
"Regardless, I'm different from the Shimiya family."
"They treasure money."
"I treasure people like him."
"I will never let them be killed in front of me again."
"…I see."
Quilge shook his head, disappointment bleeding into contempt.
"So you've thrown yourself into idealism."
"Not just laughable."
"Pathetic."
"As expected, my judgment was correct."
"For a worthless weakling like you, there was never any need to suggest surrender."
He raised his saber, wings flaring.
With reishi decomposed from hundreds and the surrounding matter devoured through Quincy absorption, his light wings expanded until they felt like they blotted out the sky.
The pentagram above his head gleamed brighter.
His spiritual pressure reached a frightening peak.
To Zaraki Kyōya, it was no longer inferior to Zaraki Kenpachi during his Shikai awakening against Ichigo in the past.
Meanwhile, Zaraki Kyōya's own spiritual pressure continued to fall.
It was the damage from having his fused reishi stripped away.
Yet he stood on the rooftop, calm, looking up at Quilge without flinching.
Then he spoke.
"You asked me so many questions."
"So I'll ask you one."
"I'm listening."
"You call me Zaraki Kyōgen."
"But do you know why 'Kenpachi' is called 'Kenpachi'?"
"…Because of Unohana Retsu?"
Quilge frowned.
Zaraki Kyōya's mouth curved into the faintest real smile.
"Correct."
"But I am an anomaly among Kenpachi, so my understanding differs."
"A sword cuts people."
"When a person is cut into two, it forms the character 'eight.'"
"So to me, Kenpachi, Sword Eight, means the strongest one who is best at cutting people."
"As a side note, I once had another title."
"Kamaitachi."
"Reserved for the Shinigami most skilled with projectile weapons."
"So."
"My sword can fly."
"What are you talking about?"
A bad feeling crept up Quilge's spine.
"Still don't understand?"
Zaraki Kyōya raised his hand and pointed directly at him.
"You absorbed all of my reishi."
"But that doesn't mean my reishi became yours."
"It only fused with your body temporarily."
"A Quincy manipulates reishi."
"But you cannot digest another's reishi and turn it into your own."
"Holding reishi that is equivalent to part of my body certainly harms me, because you tore it away."
"But if I actively control that reishi to fuse with you, the shock is reduced."
Quilge's expression finally snapped.
"Don't tell me…!"
"You're correct."
Zaraki Kyōya's voice stayed flat.
"I still retain control over that reishi to a certain extent."
"You only transplanted it onto yourself, on your body surface, on your wings."
"The isolation isn't high enough."
"Your body's distortion proves it."
"So while I talked with you, I stabilized my own reiatsu so the connection wouldn't break."
"And just now…"
His eyes hardened.
"The connection stabilized completely."
He glanced toward Shino Ward.
"I also have to thank the Kidō you despise."
"My fighting style is special. The aura buffs strengthened it more than expected."
"That let me hold on without fainting."
Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared use such a dangerous tactic.
"You bastard!"
Quilge tried to shut down Quincy absorption and Vollständig.
Too late.
A thin line appeared on his forehead, then split downward.
The disbelief on his face was cleaved cleanly.
The pentagram shattered.
His wings detonated.
Then his body split straight down the middle, cut perfectly in half.
Blood and fine snow mingled in the air.
The lifeless halves fell as reishi drifted like ash.
Zaraki Kyōya's gaze passed over the corpse.
"Just as you said, my fusion is blocked by your [Seikessen]. I couldn't pierce deep enough to shred your organs."
"So I used force from outside."
"I let the swords that flew onto you cut you in half."
"It wouldn't do to waste all the times you called me 'Kenpachi.'"
He paused, then added in a flat tone that somehow carried faint regret.
"By the way, I heard from Shimiya Takeru you can steal Bankai."
"You should've used it from the start."
"Instead, you fought with the petty thought of taking my Bankai and using it to kill me."
"Absorption is my natural enemy, yes."
"But that doesn't mean my control of reishi is inferior to Quincies."
"Even if my Bankai were stolen, Kuchiki Kōga would find a way to retrieve it."
"And if it truly came to that, I had other tactics."
"When you look at it that way, I was still fighting with certainty."
"So I can't call myself the kind of 'fool' who fights with slim hope and firm conviction."
"I'm not worthy of being compared to my sister."
"Or Shimiya Takeru."
"My passionate speech earlier lacked persuasiveness."
Zaraki Kyōya muttered to himself, not even noticing he had grown more talkative, like the Amamizukan of old.
And beside him, only he could see it.
A beautiful, sharp tongued woman, standing like an older sister, wearing a gentle expression.
.....
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