Those gigantic black tomoe…
They looked even more alien—more terrifying—than the shadowy form of the Soul King's Right Hand.
And that faint, half-hidden ocular pressure…
What was it?
"I only looked up once…!"
"…and I felt like my mind was being pulled under—like my consciousness was about to be taken over!"
In that instant—
Ukitake, Kaien, and the three watching outside the barrier all stiffened.
Their pupils shook violently.
Cold sweat poured down their backs.
"Thank goodness… Bai Chen still had a trump card!"
"But that ability… it's like an illusion technique…"
"Did he awaken it through a Zanpakutō?"
"How many tricks does this guy even have?!"
Ukitake's expression was complicated.
He couldn't help but marvel.
Forget the fact that Bai Chen possessed a healing power beyond Kaidō.
Forget the fact that he could heal without incantation.
Illusion techniques were rare even among captains—
yet Bai Chen was attempting to use it on Mimihagi itself.
Whether he succeeded or failed—
the sheer audacity of it shattered Ukitake's worldview.
And then—
something even more shocking happened.
"—It's stopped!"
As the three tomoe rotated,
as that chaotic ocular power expanded outward—
the one-sided suppression instantly flipped.
High above the dojo—
the black torrent that had been devouring everything
froze in place.
It wasn't resisting.
It wasn't swallowing.
It simply… stopped.
As if—
the Soul King's Right Hand had been hypnotized.
As if the moment those black tomoe appeared,
Mimihagi's hostile will had been dragged into a dream.
The ancient dojo's ceiling space turned eerily still—
the entire field became a black scroll unfurled across the air.
Unnatural.
Unsettling.
Suffocating.
"He… he actually did it…!"
"He actually hypnotized the Soul King's Right Hand!"
"What kind of eye-power is that?!"
Kaien and the others nearly lost their minds.
Just hearing the words "Soul King" used to make them tremble.
Yet Bai Chen had not only fought Mimihagi—
he had seized it by surprise and forced it into illusion control.
Even witnessing it with their own eyes,
it still felt impossible.
Their thoughts went blank.
They stood frozen like statues.
But Bai Chen's emotions were completely different.
His eyes glowed crimson.
A dark red shadow lay around his eye sockets.
Three tomoe turned slowly—
and the vast ocular pressure that dominated the battlefield spread from them like a tide.
"So the Sharingan's genjutsu actually works…"
"It pinned Mimihagi—and even locked its reiatsu in place."
Bai Chen's lips curled into a satisfied smile.
This was his first real battle after awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan—
and his opponent was a being above captain-class entirely.
To pull off an effect like this?
Perfect.
But Bai Chen understood the truth:
This kind of illusion-based immobilization succeeded because it was unexpected.
Mimihagi's will was on a different level.
It would not remain trapped forever.
The window he had was short.
Extremely short.
"I can't waste even a second."
Before the ocular power broke—
he had to flood Ukitake's body completely with the power of Seal-less Healing.
He had to rebuild the lungs.
Because only after the lungs were restored—
only after the "payment" was removed—
could Mimihagi's will be driven out.
What happened afterward?
Bai Chen couldn't predict it.
He could only do one thing:
Keep his promise.
Heal Ukitake completely—
and return to him the strength he'd never once been able to show the world.
BOOM—!!
Under Bai Chen's deliberate control,
the power of Wood Dragon surged without restraint.
A vast, emerald torrent poured down onto Ukitake like an inverted waterfall.
It seeped through skin and into blood—
penetrating deeper and deeper,
until the healing truly began.
"Will it… succeed?"
Outside the barrier,
Kaien and the others stared so hard their eyes nearly split.
They wanted a miracle.
They needed a miracle.
And the miracle came—
so quickly they didn't even have time to pray.
Less than a minute passed before the effect became visible.
"W-What?!"
"No… no way…!"
"Captain Ukitake's hair—!"
"It's… turning black?!"
Their voices cracked.
They watched in disbelief as Ukitake's long white hair—
white from years of drained vitality—
began to regain color from the roots.
It wasn't fully restored yet—
only a portion had turned dark—
but it proved one thing beyond doubt:
Ukitake's body was regaining life.
Then his complexion followed.
The pallor faded.
Warmth returned.
Color rose into his cheeks.
And when the regenerative life force finally reached deep into his organs—
Ukitake couldn't contain himself.
His voice shook as he blurted out—
"It's coming back…!"
"My lungs—my lungs really regenerated!"
"My organs… they're all like new!"
"Every cell in my body—"
"…it's overflowing with vitality!"
The more he spoke, the more he trembled.
And then—
without him even releasing reiatsu intentionally—
BOOM!!
A vast wave of spiritual pressure burst from his body.
So powerful it surged upward like a pillar—
and in that violent expansion,
it snapped him free from the suppression.
Ukitake's eyes widened.
His fingers moved.
His body responded.
He had regained control.
He was no longer a puppet.
"That isn't 'curing'…!"
"That's giving Captain Ukitake a second life!"
Kaien's mind reeled.
Even Unohana had been unable to solve Ukitake's condition.
Yet Bai Chen had rewritten the impossible like it was nothing.
For the first time,
Kaien genuinely questioned—
Who is the real healing captain here?
"…Thank goodness…"
Kiyone's voice shook.
Tears brimmed in her eyes.
From this day forward,
Ukitake would no longer be tormented by illness.
When she looked at Bai Chen again,
her gaze was filled with awe—almost devotion.
To her—
what Bai Chen had done felt like saving a world.
But Bai Chen wasn't finished.
Even as he felt relief—
his real focus sharpened.
Because this had always been part of the plan.
"It's time."
"If I use Wood Dragon's devouring technique now…"
"I can absorb that black reiatsu in the shortest time possible."
Without hesitation,
he raised his blade.
Wood Dragon stood upright before him.
Reiatsu poured into the hilt—
and in an instant he activated the secret art.
"Wood Dragon—Devour!"
Emerald reiatsu exploded outward—
branches, roots, and twisting vines surged into existence,
spreading in all directions like a living net.
They wrapped the frozen black torrent completely—
then climbed higher, reaching toward Mimihagi's shadow itself.
Devouring.
Absorbing.
Fusing.
Stealing the Soul King's power, piece by piece.
And that sight—
Bai Chen brazenly taking aim at the Soul King's Right Hand—
shocked everyone into silence.
"He… he's only been in the Gotei for less than half a year…"
"…and he's already daring to seize the Soul King's power?!"
"He's insane…!"
Ukitake felt fear rise in his throat.
Even with his hair returning to black—
even with his body restored—
there was no joy on his face now.
Only dread.
Because this involved the Soul King.
If anything went wrong—
the consequences would be catastrophic.
In suffocating silence,
the devouring continued.
Bai Chen did not hold back.
His ocular power could fail at any moment.
So he drove his reiatsu to its limit—
forcing the absorption faster and faster.
The black torrent that once filled the entire dojo—
began to shrink.
Visibly.
Rapidly.
That meant only one thing:
Mimihagi's manifested power was weakening.
And then—
a change occurred in Bai Chen's own reiatsu.
His once crystal-bright emerald glow—
began to deepen.
First to a dark jade.
Then—
to the same pitch-black hue as Mimihagi's power.
Black.
Heavy.
High-tier.
A complete transformation.
It wasn't just stronger.
It wasn't just denser.
It felt like his very life level—
his spiritual existence—
had stepped into a higher order.
A true evolution.
From this moment forward—
so long as his opponent stood below the Soul King's realm—
Bai Chen would possess a natural, overwhelming suppression.
Absolute.
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