"Jinteki Shakusatsu, Suzumebachi!"
Soi Fon almost didn't waste a single word—appearing and releasing her Zanpakutō in the same instant.
When the petite Suzumebachi formed like a stinger-shaped finger guard around the middle finger of her right hand, Soi Fon was already above Higashino Shuuichi's head.
"Just a vile thief. What's stolen will always be stolen!"
Staring at this Kuchiki Kōga who shamelessly wielded Shuuichi-sama's power, Soi Fon showed not the slightest mercy.
But her confidence-filled strike was met by the Shinigami below—wearing Kuchiki Kōga's face, yet in truth fighting as Higashino Shuuichi—who merely lifted a finger.
"Kongōbaku (Adamantine Blast)."
Higashino Shuuichi didn't even glance upward. A high-density burst of Reiatsu (Spiritual Pressure) bloomed at his left fingertips and compressed into a massive fireball that surged skyward.
It swallowed Soi Fon's small figure—and then detonated in a chain of rapid explosions.
The shockwaves stretched from above Higashino Shuuichi's head all the way to the edge of the sky.
"Does my Kongōbaku have that kind of power?
And wasn't Kongōbaku something that could only be released through a Zanpakutō?"
Within Kuchiki Kōga's body—inside the corner of the soul Higashino Shuuichi currently occupied—Kuchiki Kōga gaped at the scene, dumbfounded.
Higashino Shuuichi had only taken control of his body for less than two minutes, yet he was using his abilities with terrifying smoothness.
And at a level even Kuchiki Kōga himself couldn't reach.
"Has no one ever told you? A Zanpakutō is simply a shortcut and a tool for a Shinigami to develop their own potential.
Once you understand the essence of power deeply enough—once you can control Reishi (Spirit Particles) well enough—then even without a Zanpakutō, you can still use Shikai and Bankai.
Kidō (Demon Arts) works the same way."
Higashino Shuuichi said coldly after flicking his gaze toward Kuchiki Kōga in the depths of the soul.
The original Higashino Shuuichi couldn't have done this either.
But ever since that day—after a great battle with Unohana Retsu in Hueco Mundo, and then, through Aizen Sōsuke's Bankai, briefly fusing with his Quincy clone—Higashino Shuuichi's grasp of Reishi, and his control over it, had stepped into an entirely new realm.
Higashino Shuuichi even suspected that—even Aizen Sōsuke might not be better than him now at controlling Reishi.
Because that was a talent unique to Quincy.
Only those without overwhelmingly powerful Reiatsu learn to cherish Reishi.
It was a feeling Aizen could never truly understand.
"So… I can do that too?"
Kuchiki Kōga asked, still unable to believe it.
Higashino Shuuichi's answer was blunt.
"That isn't even a question. Aside from the power I used earlier to restore your body—power that belongs to me alone, carved into my very soul—right now, I am you.
What I can do, you can do too."
…It would just take some time. And talent.
"So next… watch closely. Learn well~"
That exchange between the two souls inside Kuchiki Kōga's body lasted, to the outside world, no more than an instant.
After countering Soi Fon's sudden approach, Higashino Shuuichi moved.
"Too slow! This old man saw everything!"
Komamura Sajin drove Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō forward in great strides to meet him head-on.
Just as Soi Fon had said—no matter how Kuchiki Kōga could copy Higashino Shuuichi's power, he was still not the freak that Higashino Shuuichi was. What Higashino Shuuichi could do, Kuchiki Kōga couldn't.
In short—
The advantage is mine!
And then Komamura Sajin watched Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's blade cleave straight through empty air.
An afterimage?
Komamura couldn't understand it. Even if it were Higashino Shuuichi himself, his Shunpō (Flash Step) shouldn't be able to reach that level.
"Komamura—behind you!"
Kuchiki Byakuya's voice rang out from not far away. He was gathering Reiatsu, about to use Kidō to support Komamura Sajin—but it was too late.
"I hope you'll live, Komamura-taichō."
Kuchiki Kōga's voice sounded from directly behind Komamura Sajin at the same time.
Komamura Sajin realized disaster was upon him—yet he couldn't change the ending.
Kuchiki Kōga's Zanpakutō pierced into his chest… and pulled out, dripping red.
"Gaki Rekkō (Fang Aura Rending Light)."
Higashino Shuuichi spat the words with icy calm.
Then, as Komamura Sajin dropped to one knee, he saw it—
from the chest of Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō in midair, more than ten streaks of green light suddenly burst outward.
They rampaged inside it—ripping, roaring, destroying—until Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's enormous body collapsed to the ground before Komamura Sajin did.
"How… could this…"
Komamura Sajin bared his teeth and fell, unwilling, to the earth.
What had just happened?
How did he get taken down by Kuchiki Kōga so suddenly?
Was Higashino Shuuichi's power really… that terrifying?
"Using Saimin-jutsu (Hypnosis Technique) to affect a captain who's already in Bankai is extremely difficult…"
The real Kuchiki Kōga, in the corner of the soul, was still shocked—even though he'd braced himself for it.
"That's only because you don't understand the Kidō you created."
Higashino Shuuichi's reply was flat.
Kuchiki Kōga badly wanted to snap back—
Why does it sound like you, an outsider, understand my hypnosis Kidō better than I do?
But when he thought about Higashino Shuuichi's past achievements—Soul Society's strongest common-born Shinigami in history after Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, the only one to reach such power with Fourth-Class Reiatsu talent—
…then this happening to Higashino Shuuichi didn't feel so unreasonable.
Geniuses always got special treatment.
At the same time, Kuchiki Byakuya's attack arrived.
Countless cherry-blossom petals.
Not long ago, Kuchiki Kōga himself had fallen beneath this very attack.
A Kuchiki Kōga who refused to recall Muramasa had no better way to deal with Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.
"If you need to, you can call Muramasa back. I can help you persuade Muramasa."
Times had changed.
After learning Higashino Shuuichi had a plan even more radical than his own, Kuchiki Kōga wasn't completely opposed anymore to recalling Muramasa.
And he believed that to deal with Kuchiki Byakuya in this form—even with Higashino Shuuichi possessing him—he'd need Muramasa back, complete.
Otherwise, in sheer Reiatsu volume, they weren't Kuchiki Byakuya's match.
But the moment he voiced that thought, Higashino Shuuichi rejected it.
"Did you forget? It's been a while. Do you really think your Muramasa can still be intact under Kyōraku Shunsui's full-power assault?
When dealing with Muramasa, that guy doesn't have to hold back the way he did with you."
Higashino Shuuichi had considered it—but after sensing Muramasa's current state, he could only abandon the idea.
Because Muramasa had already been beaten into a candle in the wind by Kyōraku Shunsui. Before long, it would return to Kuchiki Kōga's Zanpakutō in a near-death state—and in that condition, relying on it was obviously impossible.
Hearing that, Kuchiki Kōga felt a bit awkward.
He'd forgotten that detail.
But if they didn't recall Muramasa…
What would Higashino Shuuichi use to withstand Kuchiki Byakuya's Bankai?
Higashino Shuuichi answered with action.
"Arrogant dragon, defiled earth—an unstoppable fury, the origin that jolts awake from nightmare—howling wind, raging flame, biting frost, roaring thunder, and the very ground itself—burst forth to break all sin, return without obstruction—destroy all, return all things to the beginning!
Hadō no 99: Goryūtenmetsu (Five Dragons Destruction)!"
Five azure dragons burst from the earth, tearing free like they'd hatched from stone.
Those petal-blades carved marks into the dragons' bodies—but they still weren't enough to stop them.
Because Senbonzakura Kageyoshi looked terrifying, sure… but in truth, splitting one attack into so many pieces inevitably weakened the power of each individual "petal."
That was a result Kuchiki Byakuya couldn't avoid, no matter what.
And Higashino Shuuichi had one advantage no ordinary Shinigami possessed—also the only "cheat" he could bring into Kuchiki Kōga's body after possessing it:
A fragment of the Soul King's body—
Infinite regeneration.
Kuchiki Byakuya frowned, because he saw Kuchiki Kōga stepping onto the bodies of the five flying dragons and charging straight at him.
No matter how many Senbonzakura blades Kuchiki Byakuya directed at Kuchiki Kōga, the other man looked like nothing was happening—his speed never slowed.
And every time Senbonzakura left a wound on Kuchiki Kōga's body, it healed almost immediately.
It made Kuchiki Byakuya recall a rumor about Higashino Shuuichi—
that Higashino Shuuichi's Shinigami body had inherited power from after his Hollowfication, gaining the high-speed regeneration unique to the Great Hollows.
Could it be that Kuchiki Kōga's copied power included even this absurd, troublesome ability of Higashino Shuuichi's?
"No… this isn't speculation. It's certainty."
Facing Kuchiki Kōga, now already in front of him, Kuchiki Byakuya told himself so.
Then he swept his hand forward.
Countless blades gathered into a shield in front of him, trying to block Kuchiki Kōga's strike.
Higashino Shuuichi's response was simple—and brutally direct.
He raised the Zanpakutō overhead with both hands. Flames gathered around him and the blade in overwhelming volume.
"Hadō no 96: Ittō Kasō (Single Blade Cremation)!"
This was a powerful Kidō developed by Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni based on his own Zanpakutō's ability.
As an extension of the strongest fire-type Zanpakutō, the reason Ittō Kasō was ranked only as Hadō 96 rather than 99 wasn't because its destructive power was inferior to Goryūtenmetsu.
If you spoke purely of might and destruction—
Ittō Kasō far surpassed Goryūtenmetsu.
The reason it sat at 96 was the cost.
Even if an ordinary Shinigami had the ability to cast Ittō Kasō, the moment they swung that blade, they might be burned to nothing before the swing even finished.
Even Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni himself—when he used it—would lose an arm to the flames.
That was why Ittō Kasō could only be placed at 96.
Because there were almost no Shinigami who could—and had the ability to—fully swing that blade.
That price wasn't something just anyone could endure.
But Higashino Shuuichi was an exception.
To him, the backlash of Ittō Kasō was practically nonexistent.
So when that blade came down—
the entire world instantly became a sea of fire.
Even the five azure dragons, who had just held their heads high in pride, could only prostrate themselves beneath the terrifying flames, wailing.
How could Kuchiki Byakuya possibly be spared?
Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough.
At the final stage of Higashino Shuuichi's downward swing, Kuchiki Byakuya concentrated the remaining Senbonzakura in front of himself, and only the hem of his clothing was burned away.
But as a result, after that single strike, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi had very few blades left that could still be used.
"In the end, this body's still a bit too weak. If it were Higashino Shuuichi's real body… maybe after that swing, there'd be no issue at all~"
Higashino Shuuichi—using Kuchiki Kōga's body—boasted shamelessly.
But it was also the truth.
If it were his true body, forget swinging Ittō Kasō once—even if he swung it ten times, a hundred times, he wouldn't even need to catch his breath.
But look at Kuchiki Kōga's body—
even after more than ten seconds, with infinite regeneration constantly triggering, those terrifying flames still clung to his arms, refusing to die.
It wasn't hard to imagine:
if Kuchiki Kōga himself, with his current Reiatsu, tried to swing that blade… he'd probably turn to ash before he even finished bringing it down.
"So Higashino Shuuichi's power… is that dreadful?"
Kuchiki Byakuya looked at Kuchiki Kōga and finally asked the question.
He had never truly fought Higashino Shuuichi. Everything he'd heard was rumor—secondhand.
The only time he'd ever witnessed Higashino Shuuichi act with his own eyes was back when Higashino Shuuichi had been summoned back by the Tsunayashiro clan, barging into the Captains' meeting to seek the position of Grand Blade-Hunting Chief.
But that fight had ended too cleanly, too effortlessly—there was little Kuchiki Byakuya could truly "feel" from it.
Today, though—through Kuchiki Kōga—he finally experienced the pressure those captains had once faced when they stood opposite Higashino Shuuichi.
To this day, many Shinigami refused to believe that Higashino Shuuichi—back when he was still only a vice-captain—could take on multiple captain-class Shinigami head-on by himself.
Now, Kuchiki Byakuya believed it.
"Maybe. Perhaps one day, when you have the chance to face him personally, you'll have a new—"
Higashino Shuuichi answered with a smile. He needed that reaction—to build up the image of his own strength inside Kuchiki Kōga's heart, so Kuchiki Kōga would follow him willingly.
But before he could finish, he felt it—
a terrifying presence locking onto him.
And it had been locked on for a long time, because the attack was already within arm's reach.
In the shadow at a distance, Soi Fon sat on the ground, gasping for breath, her eyes fixed on that faraway silhouette—its arms still burning.
She would make this damned thief pay the price he deserved.
Bankai: Ichigeki Hissatsu, Jakuhō Raikōben!
Kuchiki Byakuya's Senbonzakura Kageyoshi had actually been covering for this strike the entire time.
That was why Kuchiki Byakuya hadn't pursued offense aggressively—he'd leaned toward defense instead.
Even though Kuchiki Kōga's Ittō Kasō had exceeded both Soi Fon and Kuchiki Byakuya's expectations, the outcome was good.
At least, in the eyes of Kuchiki Byakuya and Soi Fon—
that Kuchiki Kōga had absolutely no way to dodge the one-hit-kill Jakuhō Raikōben anymore!
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.