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Currently at chapter 121
"Why are you going there?"
Standing outside the shadow space, Kurosaki Kanbaru's Reiatsu was as chaotic and wild as an awakening god of war. He carried injuries across his body, but none of them affected his forward momentum.
His blue-purple Reiatsu cracked and rippled like a wildfire. The aura pulsed madly with a suppressive heaviness, distorting the air like a boiling mirage.
Even now, after leaving the shadow space, his body was still visibly evolving.
The fusion state of Hōgyoku's third collapse stage had not yet stabilized. Like molten steel being cast into form, every step Kanbaru took was accompanied by the sound of cracking bone and flesh refining itself.
And right before him—
A tall, slender man blocked the path.
A man with half of his face covered in a white bone mask, dressed in the black haori of a former captain—his gaze deep, ancient, and unreadable.
Aizen Sōsuke.
"That path leads to Seireitei," Aizen said softly. "Shouldn't someone like you go somewhere… else?"
Kanbaru's feet didn't stop. His expression was calm.
"Where I go isn't up to you to decide."
"You're evolving," Aizen commented, glancing at the spiraling spiritual particles around Kanbaru. "The Hōgyoku has responded to your will—but incompletely. You've merged with your own fragment, haven't you?"
Kanbaru nodded slightly. "I have."
Aizen's eyes gleamed. "Interesting. So you've touched the limit of the third collapse. That explains the paradox I felt earlier—your Reiatsu isn't just changing, it's transcending classification. You're no longer simply Shinigami, Quincy, or human."
"I'm not trying to be anything," Kanbaru said. "I just don't want to die."
Aizen chuckled. "That's a reasonable goal. Unfortunately, reason doesn't matter much in Soul Society. You're heading to retrieve my Hōgyoku fragment, aren't you?"
"I don't like half-finished things," Kanbaru replied. "If I'm going to be cursed by this orb, I might as well take the whole burden."
"I wonder," Aizen said with a faint smile, "if you understand what happens when two Hōgyoku fragments reunite."
"I don't," Kanbaru said honestly. "But it's better than staying stagnant. Evolution doesn't wait for permission."
Aizen's eyes narrowed.
The air between them warped.
Then—
"Do you think you're stronger than me now?" Aizen asked suddenly.
Kanbaru didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked up at the sky. "No. But strength isn't just Reiatsu, or Kido, or Bankai."
He lowered his gaze and locked eyes with Aizen.
"It's also about how far someone is willing to go."
Aizen was silent for a long moment.
Then, he stepped aside.
"Go ahead," he said.
Kanbaru paused. "You're not going to stop me?"
"I already tried to control the Hōgyoku once," Aizen replied. "Now, I'm curious to see what happens when someone else walks that road."
Kanbaru took a step forward, passing by Aizen.
Just then, Aizen added in a whisper:
"But beware... the Hōgyoku doesn't simply grant wishes. It reflects your deepest truths. If you're not ready to face them, it won't be evolution—it'll be dissolution."
Kanbaru didn't stop walking.
But he did mutter under his breath: "I've already died once. What's a little ego death compared to that?"
As he stepped into the Soul Society proper, alarms were already starting to ring in the distance.
Boom!
A wall of Kido light exploded in front of him.
A group of Onmitsukidō agents led by a cloaked woman blocked the narrow street.
"Freeze!" shouted the lead agent. "Unknown spiritual entity! State your identity!"
Kanbaru raised his hands.
"Kurosaki Kanbaru," he said. "Shinigami registration revoked, Quincy heritage unrecognized, and currently... Hōgyoku host candidate number two."
The Onmitsukidō agents flinched at the words. Even their training couldn't stop the primal fear that name evoked.
But before any of them could react, a blur of black and purple dropped from the rooftops—
Shihōin Yoruichi.
Her golden eyes locked onto his.
"Tch. Kanbaru, why is it always you causing the biggest messes?"
"Because I'm efficient," he answered.
"You're a walking spiritual crime scene," she snapped.
But she didn't attack.
Instead, she crossed her arms and said, "You're heading to the 1st Division vaults, aren't you?"
Kanbaru blinked. "How did you—"
"You're not subtle, brat."
A moment of tense silence passed.
Then Yoruichi grinned. "You've got ten minutes before I'm officially 'ordered' to stop you. Use them wisely."
Kanbaru smiled. "Thanks, Yoruichi."
"I'm sterilizing you later," she said. "Spiritually."
He burst out laughing and dashed forward.
Behind him, Yoruichi whispered to herself, "He really is becoming something... else."
---
Meanwhile, deep beneath the 1st Division barracks…
The true fragment of the Hōgyoku pulsed softly in its stasis field, unaware—or perhaps too aware—of the war heading its way.
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