"So you knew what I was after—and you still chose to draw your sword?"
The moment Bai Chen's Zanpakutō Wooden Dragon slid from its sheath, Tsunayashiro Tokinada's narrow eyes ignited with feverish excitement.
The wood-type Zanpakutō he'd been obsessing over…
was finally within reach.
That sensation—like his power was about to skyrocket—made Tokinada's confidence swell right along with it.
"Bai Chen…"
"You're going to regret that reckless impulse."
A cold chuckle leaked from his lips. The greed in Tokinada's eyes deepened—thicker, darker, uglier.
His arm trembled with excitement as he yanked his blade free, face twisted viciously, and then—
the ancient, drawn-out true release chant rang out:
"Drink the four seas, coil to the horizon—rewrite and carve all things beneath heaven!"
"Enrakyōten—!!!"
He held the long, sharp sword horizontally before him.
When the release ended, Tokinada's face split into a low, filthy, deranged grin.
And the Zanpakutō in his hand changed—visibly.
BOOM—!
A blinding white light erupted like a mirror-flash—
and then something bizarre happened.
"What… is going on?!"
"Why did Lord Tokinada's blade just… disappear?!"
"He's only holding a hilt now!"
"That's insane—!"
Outside the massive sealing Kidō barrier they'd just completed, the Tsunayashiro attendants stared, pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
No matter how wide they opened their eyes, all they could see through the glare was—
a bare, naked hilt.
The blade itself… had vanished.
"The edge and blade are gone…"
"A bladeless Zanpakutō after release?"
Bai Chen's gaze sharpened.
He wasn't panicking like the others—
but as he stared at that "bladeless" weapon, he could clearly feel it:
From within the hilt, a strange spiritual pressure seeped outward like a dark abyssal current.
Evil. Uncanny. Shadowed.
As if anyone who tried to command it had to pay with their life.
And that wasn't just a feeling.
As the Shikai finished, a thin line of blood slowly seeped from the corner of Tokinada's mouth.
When he grinned, the gaps between his teeth looked bone-chilling.
"Bai Chen…"
"You should feel honored."
"Not just anyone gets to witness the release of a true divine weapon."
Grip tight on the hilt, Tokinada drank in the surging pressure it poured into him.
His smile turned even more unhinged.
He looked like he'd become a full-blown madman.
And in his eyes, there was only one "salvation" left—
the power of Wooden Dragon.
Bai Chen released his own pressure.
RUMBLE—!
A deep, abyss-heavy wave of spiritual pressure burst out from him—crushing down.
In an instant it erased the oppressive, sickly influence Enrakyōten was spreading—
and even made the surrounding barrier shudder violently on all four sides, like it might collapse at any moment.
"A 'divine weapon' is supposed to be holy and radiant…"
"Doesn't that irony make you laugh?"
After suppressing the area with raw presence, Bai Chen curled his lips and mocked Enrakyōten to Tokinada's face—openly and without respect.
This time, Tokinada didn't snap like earlier.
Maybe the swelling power had given him a thicker skin.
Instead—
"Hngh—!"
Tokinada swung the hilt hard, driving it straight down and hammering the ground again and again.
The next moment—
BOOOOM—!!
The barren plateau convulsed like it had been detonated.
The earth warped upward, bursting into shattered rock—
and countless razor-sharp earthen spikes formed like spears, rising densely into the air and locking onto Bai Chen.
That sky-covering spectacle made the Tsunayashiro attendants outside the barrier gasp in fear.
"He can reshape the terrain over a huge area in an instant…"
"Is Enrakyōten a… earth-type Zanpakutō?!"
"A blade that controls the ground—how terrifying…"
But Bai Chen understood immediately.
"This should be the power of the Zanpakutō 'Tsuchi.'"
"Repeated strikes trigger the ground into upheaval."
"And Tokinada's spiritual pressure is strong enough…"
"…that the effect is amplified several times over."
Bai Chen could see the truth at a glance:
Tokinada was mimicking the 10th Division member Kurumatani Zennosuke's Zanpakutō—Tsuchinami.
Those massive earthen lances floating overhead were simply that ability, boosted by higher pressure.
"Bai Chen…"
"Facing hundreds—no, thousands—of spikes that can split the earth…"
"You'll have no choice but to respond with your Zanpakutō, right?"
Tokinada sneered, speaking like victory was already in his hand.
And it was true—if those spears landed, even incredible agility wouldn't save anyone.
Tokinada pointed from afar—
and the earthen lances screamed forward in a storm.
At that moment, Bai Chen finally responded—calmly, without haste.
"Awaken—!"
Wooden Dragon left the sheath again, the long, sharp blade held upright before him—
and the unique, thunderous release chant of a wood-type Zanpakutō rang out:
"Wood that pierces the heavens! Earth that shakes the world! Winds of nature's fury! Forests that move the clouds!"
"Release the power of nature—Wooden Dragon!"
Bai Chen's voice struck like iron.
His aura erupted without restraint.
A solid, overwhelming pressure blasted through the air and detonated the reishi itself—
the atmosphere boomed and shook, and the roar raced outward across the plateau.
"So terrifying…!"
"These two Zanpakutō are both monsters…!"
As brilliant green light poured from Wooden Dragon, the Tsunayashiro attendants finally hit their limit.
Faces ashen, knees stiff—terror clawed at them from the inside out.
Even with the clan's Kidō barrier shielding them, fear still seeped through.
If Tokinada wasn't standing there—if they weren't terrified of his retaliation afterward—
more than half of them would've fled on the spot.
Because this was only the release pressure—
and it was already shaking the barrier to the brink.
Once Wood Release techniques followed, the plateau near the Repentance Chamber would probably be blasted apart under forests and roots.
Tokinada, however, looked completely different.
Instead of fear—
he trembled with ecstatic excitement.
"Hah…!"
"Bai Chen—this moment…"
"I've waited for it for so long!"
He laughed like a madman, ignoring how his earlier earthen spikes had been scattered and crushed by Wooden Dragon's sheer pressure, turning into fragments that rained down in tons.
He was drunk on one thought only—
that he'd copied Wooden Dragon effortlessly.
But Bai Chen merely replied with a mocking smile.
"Tsunayashiro Tokinada… excited?"
"If I were you, the smartest thing right now would be—"
"Before Wooden Dragon's commotion draws the captains here…"
"Show off your 'copied' wood-type power in my face…"
"Then run."
Even though Bai Chen was supposed to be the "victim," he spoke like he was coaching Tokinada on how to survive.
That sarcastic tone hit like pure provocation.
Tokinada's irritation flared instantly.
"Bai Chen!"
"You're the one who got copied—you don't get to point fingers at me!"
Tokinada roared, then slapped his hands together and mimicked Bai Chen's earlier stance, laughing venomously:
"Bai Chen…"
"Feel it."
"Feel what it's like…"
"to be attacked by the very power of your own Zanpakutō!"
His sharp, hoarse laughter sounded like he could already see Bai Chen's "suffering."
Then, at the peak of his momentum, Tokinada spat out the same release chant—word for word:
"Wood that pierces the heavens! Earth that shakes the world! Winds of nature's fury! Forests that move the clouds!"
"Release the power of nature—Wooden Dragon!"
In that instant—
the "bladeless" Zanpakutō in Tokinada's hand, once gleaming like a mirror—
was swallowed by a lush green light.
The signature color of a wood-type Zanpakutō.
The omen of Wood Release about to erupt.
"Hah…!"
"Yes—this is it!"
"This feeling…"
"The overwhelming power to command forests and earth!"
As the power swelled higher, Tokinada's smile grew more and more grotesque.
Then, when the green glow finally faded—
the weapon in his hand was no longer a "bladeless" form.
It had fully transformed into—
a thorned blade almost identical to the one Bai Chen held:
same appearance, same shape, same color, almost indistinguishable.
Tokinada's wish…
had come true.
He had perfectly copied the power of Wooden Dragon.
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