The early morning light was faint, casting warm spots of light on the floor through the exquisite window frames of the Shihōin Clan residence.
Shihōin Hiroki, a veteran'slacker' who had'served' as the Vice-Captain of the Sixth Division for six years, was enjoying this calm, uneventful day in a perfectly standard 'lying flat' posture.
His entire body was sunk into a soft sofa, the back of his head resting on Chizuru's warm, soft thighs, with the faint, reassuring scent of incense from the maid lingering around his nose.
His eyes were half-squinted, his fingers lazily swiping across the screen of the 'mobile phone' modified by his system.
Various streams of information from across the universe scrolled across the screen... Hiroki watched with great interest, a satisfied curve hanging on the corner of his mouth, as if all the clamor of the outside world had nothing to do with him.
Sixth Division affairs? Naturally, the capable Uchiha Izumi would handle them.
That young girl was surely sitting meticulously in the Captain of the 6th Division's office at this moment, writing furiously in the face of a mountain of documents.
Izumi had long since grown accustomed to Hiroki's 'trust,' and even seemed to enjoy it—it gave her immense autonomy and room to operate.
Hiroki only needed to provide direction at key moments, or toss out a 'Izumi, I'll leave it to you' whenever he found something troublesome, to continue his pleasant leisure time.
As for occasions requiring a public appearance, those were left to Shisui.
This subordinate was currently representing Hiroki, sitting in the guest seats at the Seireitei Academy graduation examination ceremony.
As for that kid Byakuya, his talent was indeed astonishing; under his near-masochistic hard training, he had already successfully kicked that mediocre Ginjiro out of the fourth seat and been promoted as the new fourth seat.
However... as for the Third Seat position... the face of Kurahashi Maki, which was always calm and perhaps even excessively indifferent, surfaced in Hiroki's mind.
This woman was a true paragon of 'the wise man submits to circumstances.'
Back when Hiroki used thunderous methods to purge the noble factions of the Kuchiki Clan line, within a short period, the noble branches dependent on the Kuchiki Clan were uprooted by him, with two-thirds of them cleared away!
Among them was even a high-ranking noble family of distinguished status! One must know that in the entire Seireitei, there were only about twenty high-ranking noble families.
After this bloody storm involving core nobles, the Gotei 13 maintained an eerie silence, and the Central 46 Chambers seemed to have suffered collective deafness.
This deterrent power sent a bone-chilling cold through the upper echelons of the entire Soul Society.
The Kurahashi Family was on the brink of collapse at that time. Kurahashi Maki, a woman who usually acted like an invisible person in noble circles and whose life trajectory was as boring and low-profile as a standard rich young lady's template, was forced to reveal her hidden strength only when her family's survival was at stake—
After being'saved' by Hiroki, she made the 'wisest' choice: she directly swore her loyalty to Hiroki himself.
Not to the Shihōin Clan, nor to the Sixth Division, but to 'Hiroki' the person.
She knew very well that the life, death, honor, and disgrace of her entire family were tied to Hiroki's single thought.
Hiroki had no objection to this; after all, a subordinate who was powerful, knew how to judge the situation, and whose entire family were hostages was very reassuring to use.
Her easily defeating Ginjiro to seize the Third Seat position was merely a natural progression.
It was just that this woman quickly retreated back into her shell, continuing to play her role as a noble lady with zero presence, as if her previous thunderous methods and sudden rise had never happened.
Hiroki sometimes even felt she was being low-profile a bit too deliberately, but it didn't matter, as long as she was useful and stayed in line.
Just as Hiroki was scrolling through gossip news and lamenting that 'it's another peaceful day,' a sudden change occurred!
An indescribable, massive spiritual pressure, like a physical giant hammer, slammed ruthlessly against the spatial barrier of the Seireitei without warning! Immediately following that, another equally violent spiritual pressure, filled with a bloody aura of slaughter, erupted suddenly and collided with it fiercely!
BOOM—!
Even from a distance, Hiroki seemed to hear the sound of some invisible barrier shattering. An aftershock of a powerful reishi storm instantly swept through the Shihōin Clan residence; the cherry blossom trees in the courtyard shook violently, and fallen leaves flew everywhere.
Chizuru's body tensed instantly, a flash of alertness appearing in her eyes.
"?!" Hiroki snapped his eyes open, his originally lazy gaze instantly becoming sharp.
He nearly sprang into a sitting position, staring fixedly in the direction where the spiritual pressure erupted—the Seireitei Academy!
"What's going on?!" Alarm bells rang in Hiroki's heart.
This spiritual pressure... one of them was full of violence and chaos, like a suppressed volcano suddenly erupting, carrying a hint of something he was extremely familiar with... Is this Yomi's?
The other was like a bottomless pool of blood, containing an eternal, unyielding killing intent and fury.
"Damn it!" Hiroki cursed under his breath, his fingers swiping rapidly across the phone screen, instantly connecting to Shisui's communication.
"My Lord?" Shisui's voice came through, accompanied by huge roars, explosions, and the panicked screams of the crowd in the background, making it exceptionally noisy.
"What happened over there?!" Hiroki's voice carried an unquestionable urgency.
"Miss Yomi... she... she seems to have gotten carried away in the fight!" Shisui's voice was full of helplessness and tension.
"..." Hiroki felt a surge of anger rush to his head. This crazy woman!
"Who is she fighting?!" Although he already had a guess in his heart, he still needed to confirm.
"It's... Captain Unohana!" Shisui's voice carried a hint of trembling; clearly, the intensity of the battle on site was beyond imagination.
"It's over!" Hiroki's heart sank.
Unohana Retsu! The first kenpachi! She was a peak existence of First Class Spiritual Pressure, a battle maniac!
Yomi, this lunatic, going up against an even older lunatic—it was simply like Mars crashing into Earth!
With Yomi's stubborn, crazy streak, once she completely lost herself in the fight and was pushed to a dead end... she would definitely use the power of Hollowfication!
"Sigh... can't you just let me have some peace?!" Hiroki scratched his hair irritably.
Once Yomi exposed her Hollowfication ability, the consequences would be unthinkable! The current Seireitei loathed the power of 'Hollows' and viewed it as an absolute taboo.
At that time, Yomi would have no place left to stay and would have to flee to the Human World or Hueco Mundo!
"Can you stop them?!" Hiroki asked Shisui, holding onto a final sliver of hope. If Shisui could use genjutsu or some other method to make the two of them calm down a bit... "My Lord... this..." Shisui's voice was full of bitterness and powerlessness, "Their spiritual pressures have completely entangled and collided, forming a spiritual pressure storm! Let alone getting close, even approaching slightly could result in being torn to shreds!...This subordinate... is powerless!" The massive explosions coming from the scene seemed to confirm Shisui's words.
"Sigh... forget it!" Hiroki decisively gave up on his fantasies, his voice becoming cold and resolute, "Go organize the evacuation of people nearby! Shino Academy students, faculty, everyone without enough strength—evacuate them as far as possible!"
"Ah... yes!" Shisui immediately took the order, and the communication cut off, as he clearly went to execute the emergency evacuation mission.