The young seated officer was stunned. Even though she had clearly lost, Captain Suì-Fēng's voice remained perfectly calm. Was she just trying to save face? He listened closely, his concern growing. Then, he heard her clear instructions.
"You'll need to run faster later! My Bankai is going to explode!"
A heavy silence fell over the training grounds.
Bankai? Did she just say Bankai?
The surrounding squad members stared with blank expressions, their minds struggling to process what they had just heard. It wasn't that the term was unknown to them. Quite the opposite—it was because they knew exactly what it meant that they were so stunned.
The Seireitei had a long and storied history, and the status of Soul Reapers was held in high regard. They hadn't faced a major war in over a thousand years. Most battles with Hollows occurred in the Human World or on the distant outskirts of the Rukongai. On the rare occasion that a Menos Grande of the Gillian class appeared, regular squad members were ordered to retreat, leaving the fight to those of Vice-Captain rank or higher.
This meant that it was entirely possible for an ordinary Soul Reaper to serve their entire career, from enlistment to retirement, without ever witnessing a captain's Bankai. The common understanding in the Gotei 13 was that achieving Shikai was the prerequisite to becoming a seated officer. For the vast majority of squad members, even reaching that first step was a lifelong struggle.
Because of this, Bankai was a term every Soul Reaper knew, yet it remained a distant, unfamiliar concept. It was the ultimate goal they all dreamed of during their academy days, a dream now buried deep within their hearts. It was an unattainable legend.
"Net of Devouring—"
Long Tao was the first to snap out of the daze. He gripped his Zanpakutō, still embedded in the ground, and desperately began to chant its release command. Whatever Suì-Fēng was planning, he could secure his victory as long as he activated his spider silk slash. All he had to do was call out his Zanpakutō's name again.
But before he could, a terrifying and violent spiritual pressure erupted from Suì-Fēng and surged forward. The words of Long Tao's chant caught in his throat. His body went rigid, his eyes widened in shock, and his mouth hung open, unable to utter another sound.
From a distance, Ōmaeda Marechiyo's tense expression finally relaxed as he watched events unfold exactly as planned. He chuckled to himself. 'Kid, now you get to experience what it feels like to be hit head-on by the Reiatsu of a Bankai.'
Ōmaeda couldn't help but recall the afternoon two days ago, when Suì-Fēng had taken him to witness her Bankai for the first time.
Two days earlier…
They stood inside a massive cavern deep within the Seireitei. Ōmaeda stared blankly at the sixty-meter-wide crater before him, feeling the violent, terrifying Reiatsu slowly fade. He stiffly turned his neck to look at Suì-Fēng, who had just appeared beside him with Shunpo and was now panting heavily.
"Is… is this your Bankai, Captain Suì-Fēng?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Yes, but it isn't complete yet," Suì-Fēng replied, catching her breath. She thought about the power of the original Jakuhō Raikōben before continuing her explanation. "I can only make it explode right here; I can't actually fire it like a projectile. The power is lacking, too—I'd say it's only at about one-tenth of its full potential."
This isn't powerful enough? Ōmaeda's eyebrows twitched. Look at this crater! It's huge and incredibly deep!
Despite his inner complaints, the heavy weight of worry in his heart finally lifted. It was a Bankai. Even if Suì-Fēng herself said it was incomplete due to her state of mind, it was still a Bankai. In that moment, all his fears about her losing the match vanished completely.
As a veteran Vice-Captain, he understood better than anyone the immense gap between the captain and vice-captain levels. Long Tao possessed the strength of a Vice-Captain, and a powerful one at that. But Suì-Fēng, even with only twenty percent of her strength recovered, now had a Bankai. Long Tao stood no chance. The sheer burst of Reiatsu from a Bankai release—five to ten times greater than a Shikai—was enough to instantly paralyze any Soul Reaper who couldn't use one. It was a difference in fundamental power.
After a moment of silence, Ōmaeda asked, "You said that if you become a captain, you can overcome your inner demon and complete your Bankai?"
"That's right!" Suì-Fēng's energy returned at his question, and she seized the opportunity to persuade him. "When I think about how I lacked the power to help Lady Yoruichi, my heart fills with pain! It was my failure that forced her to take such risks alone! Those feelings pushed me to achieve Bankai, but now I can't make any more progress. A voice inside me keeps telling me that if I can become a captain and stand in the same position Lady Yoruichi once held, I'll become useful enough to finally take the next step and perfect my Bankai!"
From the moment she decided to have Ōmaeda apply for her captaincy assessment, Suì-Fēng had prepared this story. She would frame the Bankai's failure, which was actually caused by her system, as an unformed Bankai influenced by an inner demon. A very explosive, unformed Bankai. In short, she had the Reiatsu and the destructive power. She was more than qualified. All she needed was to go through the assessment to fill the vacancy for Captain of the Second Division. Long Tao's challenge was a gift that had arrived at the perfect time.
"Alright, I'll submit the application for your captaincy assessment," Ōmaeda said after a moment of thought. What Suì-Fēng said made sense. She had always been known for her diligent training and unwavering loyalty to Yoruichi. After suffering such a devastating blow, her story about this mental block and her accumulation of power was entirely believable. "But first, we need a strategy for tomorrow's fight."
"Yes, Vice-Captain Ōmaeda!" Suì-Fēng smiled faintly. Her other plan was falling into place.
Facing Long Tao alone before fully mastering her new body's abilities would have been foolish. Her system's requirements were too high to help her at this stage, so she couldn't rely on it for a sudden comeback. However, her experience in her past life had taught her a valuable lesson: it's one thing to do what your leader asks, but you have to learn to communicate your difficulties and ask for resources. You have to know how to use the influence of others.
Ōmaeda was a seasoned Vice-Captain, a powerful man who could use Shunpo to chase down Yoruichi and drag her back to work. With someone that strong on her side, why would she try to handle everything herself?
So, Suì-Fēng laid out her problems—that she had recovered less than twenty percent of her strength. She also revealed her trump card: an unstable Bankai that would create a massive, localized explosion. She left it to the more experienced Ōmaeda to devise the tactics for victory. She would focus solely on executing the plan.
As she watched Ōmaeda stroke his chin, deep in thought, Suì-Fēng finally felt that her first battle in the world of Soul Reapers was becoming winnable.
Back in the training grounds…
"Bankai: Jakuhō Raikōben!"
Suì-Fēng's voice echoed across the arena. Long Tao stood frozen, watching in disbelief as she called out the true name of her Bankai. He gritted his teeth and forced his body to move, breaking free from the crushing weight of her Reiatsu. The effort sent a wave of pain through his body, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Without daring to hesitate for another second, he drew his Zanpakutō and used a clumsy Shunpo to flee from the center of the arena.
"Boom—!"
A massive wave of spiritual pressure exploded outward. The spectating squad members felt their legs give out, and they collapsed to the ground in heaps.
"Wh-what's happening?"
Their own spiritual power was so low that they couldn't fully comprehend the sheer scale of the Reiatsu, but their bodies reacted instinctively to the danger. All they could do was watch with wide eyes as a massive object, formed from condensed, high-energy spiritual particles, began to shimmer with an unstable light in the middle of the arena.
'Ugh… the system's interference is making it unstable. It's going to fail again!' Suì-Fēng thought to herself. 'But it doesn't matter if I can't fire it. As long as it explodes!'
The light detonated.
Just before the blast wave reached the fallen squad members, a protective halo of light quietly appeared.