The next day, at high noon, Higashi Shuuichi, having received word from the Kasumiōji Clan, openly requested leave from Unohana Retsu and set out toward South Rukongai's District 79.
"Kasumiōji…"
Unohana murmured softly, watching his figure fade from sight.
She had no idea what the nobles wanted from Shuuichi, but knowing their kind, it was unlikely to be anything good. Not that she cared much for the nobility's business either.
What did interest her was the increasing frequency with which the Kasumiōji had been calling Shuuichi away. Nearly once a month now.
Was it worth reporting to the Head Captain?
She shook her head gently—no need.
Let the nobles do as they pleased.
Shuuichi managing to latch onto the Kasumiōji was his own ability.
She only cared about when he'd finally be strong enough in kenjutsu to truly give her satisfaction.
At his current pace, perhaps seventy more years of training.
She looked forward to that day.
Meanwhile, it didn't take long for Shuuichi to reach District 79 of South Rukongai. According to the Kasumiōji's intel, three notorious criminals had surfaced there recently, each with over a hundred kills to their name.
Ordinarily, this would be a job for the 10th Division. But the Kasumiōji had intervened and delayed the assignment through their influence.
Before contacting Shuuichi, Yunoi Yōkaku had already sent two Bakyōtō assassins, aware that the Kasumiōji still weren't in a position to command active Gotei 13 Soul Reapers openly—especially one with Captain-class reiatsu.
But after the loss of former expeditionary commander Chidori Akira, the Kasumiōji still hadn't recovered in twenty years.
They simply didn't have any elite enforcers left.
The two Bakyōtō users were killed without even sending a message back.
Left with no choice, Yunoi summoned Shuuichi, instructing him to recover the Bakyōtō from their corpses and—if convenient—detain the three criminals for experimentation.
Shuuichi often found it laughable—Kasumiōji Mayu, the clan head, was so obsessed with becoming Soul Society's Sixth Noble House that he distrusted even his own family. Other than Yunoi Yōkaku, no one else in the Kasumiōji Clan even knew about the Bakyōtō project.
Which meant that anytime something involved Bakyōtō, not a single in-house Soul Reaper could be dispatched.
They were too scared of leaks.
No wonder Yunoi had developed ambitions of supplanting the family.
But that wasn't Shuuichi's concern. He was just a hired hand.
The relationship was strictly mutual benefit.
The Kasumiōji got to use his Captain-level power to abduct higher-grade Soul Reapers for their twisted research.
And Shuuichi? He used the opportunity to stockpile spirit particle constructs via his Zanpakutō.
Hisha—his Zanpakutō—had a Shikai ability called The Pacifist: Peach Garden.
It allowed him to create a separate dimension where time was suspended. Nothing from the outside world could affect what was inside.
On paper, it sounded absurdly overpowered.
But there were two drawbacks.
First: as its name implied, The Pacifist rejected Shuuichi himself. He couldn't enter it—not even a portion of his spiritual energy could cross over.
Second: while time inside the space stood still relative to the outside, internal systems still wore down. Anything alive—especially spiritual bodies—would slowly deteriorate as their reiryoku depleted through metabolic consumption.
So no living being could stay inside long-term.
But spirit particle constructs—Reishi Soldiers created through his other Shikai ability, Commander of Arms: Subjugate the Soul—didn't count as living.
Previously, working under Aizen, Shuuichi only ever extracted trace amounts of spiritual particles from Soul Reapers and had to hand it all over, so he'd never had the chance to store any.
Even once Aizen began targeting Rukongai civilians, the raw materials were meager.
They couldn't compare to what he could gather now under the Kasumiōji's protection—openly killing Soul Reapers for high-grade spirit matter.
And for Shuuichi, Reishi Soldiers were irreplaceable—serving as power reserves, scouts, brawlers, or even mobile kidō batteries.
The more, the better.
Above District 79, the skies were slate-grey, heavy with the scent of rain.
Shuuichi walked across its blood-colored soil, inhaling the frenzied, lawless air.
This was the edge of Rukongai. No order. Only violence.
Here, if you didn't have strength, even surviving a day was nearly impossible.
"Another one come to die?"
He didn't need to search.
The moment he stepped foot into 79, a tall, pole-like man with a square face and braided hair came swaggering up, carrying a chipped butcher's blade.
Before Shuuichi could reply, a sharp dagger came slicing at him from the side.
Clang!
He drew Hisha and deflected it with ease.
"Ooh~ A Soul Reaper, huh?"
From the direction the dagger had flown, a short, rotund man gnawed on something that might've been bone—human or otherwise—his other hand juggling several rusted knives.
Shuuichi said nothing, merely scanning both men.
He was waiting.
Sure enough, a third presence soon appeared—hundreds of meters behind the square-faced man.
Even from that distance, the reiatsu was… staggering.
"Wait… that pressure... are you serious?"
The confidence Shuuichi had in himself began to erode.
That blinding reiatsu—it was close to Unohana's level.
What kind of monster had emerged from Rukongai?
At that level, if the guy even breathed in his direction, it'd be a miracle if Shuuichi stayed standing.
Without hesitation, Shuuichi turned on his heel and ran.
So long as the mountain's still standing, there'll always be firewood to burn!
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For this week I will do more release depending on the power stones !
100 Power Stones = 1 chapter (in addition to the daily update)
So give stones if you want mooooar !