Sōgyo no Kotowari!
One of Sōgyo no Kotowari's twin blades shot toward Kyōraku in an instant!
Kyōraku's pupils shrank. He'd had plenty to drink, but once in a real fight, even ten days and nights of drinking wouldn't dull his combat senses!
He hurriedly leapt back, but the blade still grazed him, carving a deep wound across his chest!
"You're not Ukitake…"
Using Shunpo to keep distance from the "Ukitake," Kyōraku asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"
"…How did you notice?" The fake Ukitake frowned slightly. At that distance, if Kyōraku hadn't been on guard, the strike should have punched right through his body.
Not just left a wound like now.
"Even if Hitsugaya is about to become the Thirteenth's lieutenant, Ukitake wouldn't know yet," Kyōraku said, studying the "Ukitake" before him.
Unbelievable…
Truly unbelievable.
Exactly the same—not only the appearance, but the spiritual pressure as well.
"You suspect me because of that?" the "Ukitake" asked.
"You're not the real Ukitake." Kyōraku tipped his hat brim. "If he were, he'd never say something like that."
"For us, even the slightest difference is enough to raise suspicion."
Squelch!
Kyōraku's pupils blew wide. In that instant, a blade punched straight through his chest!
"Got it. I'll learn that."
From behind him came a painfully familiar voice!
Kyōraku grit his teeth and slowly turned his head—and sure enough…
Another version of himself!
The "Kyōraku Shunsui" said softly, "Too careless… Kageoni—that's not our style."
Kageoni!
That was one of Kyōraku's Zanpakutō abilities—enter the shadows, then suddenly emerge to launch a surprise attack.
Squelch!
As the blade withdrew, blood sprayed from Kyōraku's chest and he collapsed heavily to the ground.
But the instant Kyōraku hit the ground, the entire street erupted.
"Hadō #57. Daichi Ten'yō!"
Rumble—
The rolling tremor of the earth immediately alarmed the surrounding Shinigami. Both the "Kyōraku Shunsui" and the "Jūshirō Ukitake" frowned. The "Ukitake" hoisted Kyōraku's body from the ground and, after only two or three steps, vanished from Shunpo's sight.
"Captain Kyōraku?!"
Soon, large numbers of Shinigami rushed over. All they saw were the broken street—and a brow-knitted "Kyōraku Shunsui" who looked as if he'd just fought someone.
"Kyōraku…"
Kuchiki Byakuya appeared swiftly as well. He glanced at the frowning, seemingly contemplative "Kyōraku" and asked, "What happened?"
The Sixth District was the Sixth Division's turf to begin with, and Damo House was close to the Kuchiki family's ancestral grounds, so he hadn't taken long to arrive.
"Someone… ambushed me," the "Kyōraku" said slowly. "They were fast—and wore a Hollow mask…"
"…" Byakuya frowned as well. "Kisuke Urahara?"
"Unclear for now. We need to report to Captain-Commander Yamamoto."
"Seems the drink hit me a bit early tonight…" Kyōraku said. "Let's go see what the Captain-Commander says."
…
"…"
Yoshio had, of course, felt the spiritual pressure of Daichi Ten'yō. He knew the "imaginary bodies" had made their move.
These bodies were born from particularly strong "fixations" in the captains' pasts—those ideas were extracted by Roka Paramia's Resurrección: Telaraña, then fused with the Reversal Body under the Hōgyoku's power.
Once formed, most of their behavior was governed by those past "thoughts."
Roka Paramia could forcibly control one with Resurrección: Telaraña, but only one at a time—and if the target was especially strong, control was difficult.
So even Aizen probably didn't know what these phantoms would do.
Judging from the traces and direction of the spiritual pressure, they had clearly targeted Kyōraku first.
These phantom bodies had no Hueco Mundo memories and appeared directly within Soul Society, so Yoshio wasn't worried they'd expose the existence of himself and the others.
Still—going straight for a captain. Bold.
With that, Yoshio quickened his pace home.
He needed to try the Spirit Split as soon as possible.
He returned swiftly to his safehouse, set it up to appear as if he'd come home and fallen asleep, then sat cross-legged on the bed.
He activated the gatekeeper ability again—no one could enter without his permission now, unless they defeated him.
Spirit Split!
He triggered the ability at once and felt himself enter a dark, unknown world.
It was dark, yet countless currents floated within, gathering into a mysterious glow.
This was his spirit body…
At this moment, Yoshio gradually grasped the essence of Spirit Split.
Select a portion of a person's soul and separate it to form a second body.
Yoshio thought for a moment and decided to split off part of the Hollow factor within his soul first.
After selecting some black gases emanating an evil aura, he felt a ripping sensation—like tearing paper—and something in his soul seemed to crack.
No pain—just a strange itch. When Yoshio opened his eyes again, he found a puddle of black sludge before him—and another self.
Two viewpoints: one was his main body; the other was the puddle of black mud in front of him.
Was this the Hollow portion of his soul?
If he were a Hollow…
Would he become a puddle of black muck?
Well, it certainly looked ugly enough.
He couldn't handle dual perspectives just yet, but to his surprise, his mental power hadn't diminished; even after separating the Hollow factor, he could still Hollowfy.
It was just that the duration had drastically shortened—once able to maintain it for half an hour, he'd now reverted to only a few seconds like at the very beginning.
"I'll give myself a name…"
Staring at the puddle of black sludge, a name surfaced in his mind.
"Angra Mainyu…"