Soi Fon leaned against the tree trunk.
She stared at the surrounding buildings, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"But those places are all set with barriers, and there is no shortage of barriers personally laid down by the Grand Kido Chief."
She spoke, her voice even lower than before.
"Before Tsukabishi Tessai became a wanted man, the Shihoin clan specifically invited him here. Even if we can reach the entrance, there is a high probability that we won't be able to open that barrier."
"The core spell of that barrier was set up by the Grand Kido Chief himself. In the entire Seireitei, besides him, how many people can dismantle it?"
She paused, turning her head to look at Hasumi Ren, who was about to say something.
"You studied with the Kido Corps before, I know, but how long did you study for?"
"Tsukabishi Tessai has researched Kido for hundreds of years. No matter how talented you are, it's impossible to..."
"Too narrow."
Soi Fon's eyebrows furrowed.
"What's too narrow?"
"Your worldview is too narrow."
Hasumi Ren shifted his posture, leaning his back against the tree trunk.
"Tsukabishi Tessai is indeed formidable. The barriers he sets up are not easy to dismantle."
"But there's always a way. Have you ever heard of Hankisho? Using a Kido of the same frequency to overwrite the original spell and tear open a gap in the barrier without triggering the alarm. I should be able to do that."
Soi Fon opened her mouth, her eyes full of doubt.
"Can you really do it?"
"I'll open your eyes today."
"..."
Soi Fon lowered her head, biting her lower lip, her pupils trembling.
Her toes tapped lightly against the branch, her ankle twisting back and forth.
After a long silence, she finally raised her head again.
"Are we... really going to do this?"
Hasumi Ren reached out and lightly patted the back of her head.
"Do you want to achieve Bankai or not?"
Soi Fon clutched the back of her head and glared at Hasumi Ren.
"The Tenshintai can allow a user to forcibly master Bankai within a few days. Urahara Kisuke used this exact thing to achieve his Bankai in less than a few days."
"What, do you think you're worse than him?"
Soi Fon's brow twitched, and Hasumi Ren continued.
"It's only because Captain Yoruichi isn't here right now. But if she were, wouldn't she give this thing to you to use? We're just helping her do what she would have done anyway."
Soi Fon's lips moved, but she couldn't say anything.
"Besides, you said it yourself. The Second Division cannot be without a captain. With a great war imminent, think about how much an additional captain-level combatant would boost morale. Isn't that the truth?"
Soi Fon's mind was a bit dizzy from Hasumi Ren's words. After hesitating for a moment, she asked in a low voice.
"How do you know Urahara Kisuke used the Tenshintai?"
"Urahara Kisuke told me."
Soi Fon gritted her teeth upon hearing this.
Makes sense.
She turned her head and glanced at the Shihoin estate again.
"If such a thing really exists, why isn't it widely used? If more people could use the Tenshintai to master Bankai, then the combat power of the Gotei 13..."
"Silly girl."
Hasumi Ren interrupted her.
"There is a threshold to using the Tenshintai. First, you must have the aptitude to become a captain. Second, your spiritual pressure capacity must be sufficient."
"Bankai isn't something just anyone can train to achieve. The Tenshintai merely compresses the training process; it doesn't create something out of nothing. Without that foundation, what use would it be to use it?"
He raised his hand and rested it on Soi Fon's shoulder.
"But you don't have that problem. Believe in yourself."
Feeling the warmth of Hasumi Ren's palm, with the moonlight spilling down and reflecting in his bright eyes.
Soi Fon felt her breathing quicken.
She lowered her head and took a deep breath. When she looked up again, the last bit of hesitation in her eyes had been suppressed.
"Then, I'll listen to you this time."
Hasumi Ren revealed a faint smile and patted Soi Fon's shoulder.
"Let's move."
Under the cover of night, both of their speeds were extremely fast.
Soi Fon knew the security layout of the Shihoin estate like the back of her hand. Which corridors had hidden sentries, which sections of the wall had gaps in patrols, which corners had blind spots in the surveillance spells—she could point them out with her eyes closed.
Hasumi Ren's Shunpo was incredibly brilliant, and Soi Fon had similarly undergone extensive stealth training. The two of them slipped through the tight security without anyone noticing.
They searched two locations in succession.
One was the backyard armory. The security level was high, but the space inside lacked sealing barriers, meaning it didn't match the specifications for storing heavy artifacts.
The other was the entrance to an underground secret chamber. The structure was complex, but after the two explored it, they found that it only stored emergency supplies.
Subsequently, they made their way deep into the inner courtyard.
This place was noticeably different from the other buildings. The walls of this building were engraved with extremely hidden spiritual patterns, forming a layer of defensive barrier.
On the outer layer, there was also a ring of extremely covert fluctuations hovering in the air half a step away from the wall—an alert barrier.
The two barriers were nested together, wrapping the entire building tightly.
Two guards stood at the entrance, wearing the Shihoin clan's crest uniforms, with swords at their waists.
Soi Fon spoke in Hasumi Ren's ear with a breathy whisper.
"I've never been here before. It looks like the specification level is very high, and the location is quite hidden. Could it be...?"
"Let me observe for a moment. These two barriers look very much like the handiwork of the Grand Kido Chief. I've seen his method of setting up barriers before."
Hasumi Ren studied the two layers of barriers. After looking for a while, he confirmed it was indeed Tsukabishi Tessai's handiwork. The spell architecture was of the same style as the spatial barriers he had learned before.
The spiritual pressure nodes were densely distributed, and the phase conversion frequency of each node was different.
If broken with brute force, before the first barrier even shattered, the second would completely seal off the entire area.
Following Hasumi Ren's signal, Soi Fon followed him in evading the guards' line of sight, and the two circled to the back.
"Do you have a way?"
In the bushes, Soi Fon lowered her voice and looked at Hasumi Ren, her heart pounding nervously.
"Watch closely."
Hasumi Ren raised his right hand.
Spiritual pressure condensed at his fingertips, and dozens of extremely fine spiritual pressure threads extended from his fingers, reaching toward the two layers of barriers.
Soi Fon widened her eyes, not daring to breathe.
She watched as those threads accurately found the redundant nodes of the barrier and drilled into them with extreme precision and stability. Then, they began to vibrate in sync with the barrier's frequency.
Until the vibration frequency of the spiritual power threads completely matched the frequency of the barrier.
Soon, a few extremely fine cracks appeared on the barrier.
At the edges of the cracks, the spiritual pressure threads were gently pulling, propping the cracks open to prevent them from closing.
The cracks slowly expanded from the size of a palm to half the width of a person, just enough for someone to pass through sideways.
The entire process did not trigger any alarms. The alert spells and defensive spells didn't even flicker once.
Soi Fon's expression could no longer be described as merely shocked.
Her eyes stared at Hasumi Ren, as if she were getting to know him all over again from head to toe.
"You..." Soi Fon's voice caught in her throat. "This is a barrier written by the Grand Kido Chief himself..."
Something that many senior members of the Kido Corps couldn't achieve in their entire lives, yet Hasumi Ren had gone from making contact to completing the dismantling in less than a moment.
"How... how did you do that?"
The corners of Hasumi Ren's mouth curled up slightly.
"Hankisho, you should know it. It's a high-level Kido technique. The principle is to use the exact same Kido to wear down the opponent's Kido."
"I utilized a bit of the principle of Hankisho to prop open this section of the barrier."
Soi Fon listened, completely dumbfounded.
She knew of Hankisho, but could it actually be performed to such a degree?
Hasumi Ren didn't tell Soi Fon that he had also used some space-time Kido techniques to freeze a portion of the barrier.
That was what he had learned from the fragments that dropped from Tsukabishi Tessai on the night of the Captains' Hollowfication.
But saying all that would be a bit too shocking. So as not to frighten Soi Fon, Hasumi Ren chose to omit that part.
She wouldn't understand it anyway.
"Alright, let's go."
The two secretly entered the barrier and vaulted in through the attic window.
The space inside the secret chamber was not large. The shelves were filled with sealed artifacts; some were encased in crystals, and some were locked in spell boxes.
Soi Fon followed behind Hasumi Ren, her gaze sweeping over those shelves. She wasn't unfamiliar with these collections of the Tenshiheisoban. Yoruichi had occasionally mentioned a few to her in the past.
"Whoa, this one looks pretty cool..."
Seeing Hasumi Ren staring intently at a small trinket, Soi Fon grew exasperated and reached out to tug at him.
"Stop looking and don't touch anything. Hurry up and find the thing you're looking for."
"Right, right."
Hasumi Ren searched the surroundings and found the Tenshintai placed in a corner at the deepest part of the secret chamber.
Its appearance was just that of a human-sized white dummy. Its shape was round and smooth, with faint spell patterns flowing across its surface.
Hasumi Ren picked up the Tenshintai, confirmed it with a glance—this thing was easy to recognize—and casually tossed it to Soi Fon.
"Is this it..."
Soi Fon caught it and hugged it to her chest, her heart racing.
"We got the item. Let's pull out."
The two retraced their steps, vaulting out and exiting the barrier.
Hasumi Ren turned and walked to the crack in the barrier. He raised his hand to condense the spiritual pressure threads again, repairing the redundant nodes back to their original structure.
The barrier was restored to its original state, leaving no traces behind.
After leaving the Shihoin estate, Soi Fon felt as if she were in a dream, completely dazed.
Looking at Hasumi Ren beside her, Soi Fon, having held it in the whole way, still couldn't resist asking.
"Since when did your Kido get so strong?"
Hasumi Ren smiled upon hearing this.
"Haven't you noticed? I'm actually strong everywhere."
Soi Fon froze for a moment. Looking at the look in Hasumi Ren's eyes, she seemed to have thought of something. Blushing, she scoffed at him.
"Indecent."
Soi Fon looked at the Tenshintai in her hands and asked in confusion.
"Now, where are we going to use this thing?"
Hasumi Ren didn't speak, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
Sokyoku Hill Underground Cavern.
There were no changes here compared to the last time he visited, only that it seemed much emptier.
Soi Fon looked around the place, her eyes filled with surprise.
"This place is..."
"Discovered by Urahara Kisuke, and then transformed into a secret base. He and Captain Yoruichi would occasionally come here to train privately."
"What?!"
"Alright, bring the item here."
Hasumi Ren took the Tenshintai from the frozen Soi Fon and thrust it into the ground, signaling Soi Fon to stab her sword into it.
"Stab your Zanpakuto into this thing. It will forcibly manifest your sword spirit. Then, you need to use your own strength to make it submit."
Seeing this, Soi Fon took a deep breath, drew her Zanpakuto, and aimed the tip of the blade at the core of the Tenshintai.
She paused for a breath, and then thrust it in forcefully.
The Tenshintai began to expand and deform the moment it came into contact with the Zanpakuto. Reishi surged from the surface of the dummy and reassembled in the air.
A humanoid outline gradually took shape. It was a phantom-like figure of a petite woman, wearing a yellow and black striped outfit, just like a wasp, and her right arm was a massive metal stinger.
"Make it submit, Soi Fon."
"For you, who have mastered Shunko, this shouldn't be difficult."
Hasumi Ren retreated to the edge of the rock wall, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest.
Soi Fon rolled her wrists, looking at the sword spirit that belonged to her.
Although she didn't know how things had developed to this point, since they were already here...
"So, you're saying I just have to beat her into submission, right..."
Spiritual pressure exploded around her shoulders and back.
The Reishi airflow of Shunko surged from her shoulders, dragging out two churning shockwaves in the air.
She lowered her body, her center of gravity leaning forward. The tips of her toes lightly ground against the floor, and then she vanished from her spot.
The sword spirit disappeared as well.
The deafening sound of their first collision echoed through the cavern.
Hasumi Ren leaned against the rock wall, closing his eyes to rest.
Four days later, Hasumi Ren finished his division duties and came here once again.
Within the messy cavern, there was only an exhausted Soi Fon lying flat on her back on the ground, her Zanpakuto resting beside her hand.
Her Shihakusho had been soaked in sweat who knew how many times. Her hair clung to her face in a messy tangle, her lips were slightly cracked, and her fingertips were still involuntarily twitching.
But Soi Fon kept her eyes open, staring at the cold light of the spirit ores on the dome ceiling, the corners of her mouth slowly curling up.
The name Jakuho Raikoben... she finally knew it.
Hasumi Ren walked over and squatted down. One arm slid under the crook of her knees, and the other supported her back, lifting her entire body up.
Soi Fon didn't struggle. Feeling the warmth and safety brought by the crook of his arm, she naturally rested her head against Hasumi Ren's shoulder and closed her eyes.
"You've worked hard."
Soi Fon hummed vaguely and fell into a deep sleep.
Several days later, the application from Eleventh Division Captain Hasumi Ren recommending Second Division member Soi Fon to participate in the captain's assessment was delivered to the First Division.
On the same day the application was submitted, the notice for the assessment was issued, faster than Hasumi Ren had anticipated.
At the judges' seats of the Head Captain's training grounds, Yamamoto Shigekuni sat upright in the center, with Kuchiki Ginrei and Unohana Retsu sitting on either side.
"This sure is frequent. I didn't expect Old Man Yama's recruitment order to be this effective."
Kyoraku, who was watching the excitement from the other side, stroked his chin. Then he glanced at Hasumi Ren, who was beside him as the recommender, and then at Soi Fon in the middle of the assessment grounds. A hint of suspicion flashed in his eyes.
As perceptive as he was, he instinctively felt that the atmosphere between these two was weird.
'Is it just my imagination...'
Soi Fon stood in the center of the training grounds. She wasn't tall, but she stood very straight.
Her background was very clean: a subordinate noble to the Shihoin clan, serving the Shihoin clan for generations. There was nothing to pick at.
After demonstrating the basic skills of Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido, came the core assessment standard for a captain: Bankai.
The spiritual pressure of Soi Fon's Zanpakuto was completely released in that instant. The ground of the training area buzzed from the shock of the spiritual pressure, and the several First Division members watching instinctively stepped back half a pace.
Yamamoto nodded slightly.
Although it still seemed a bit unfamiliar and immature, it was indeed a genuine Bankai.
Yamamoto stood up and announced on the spot that she had passed the assessment.
After a brief moment of thought, Yamamoto gave his arrangement for Soi Fon.
"From this day forward, Soi Fon will take up the post of Captain of the Second Division."
Soi Fon sheathed her sword, dropped to one knee, and bowed her head in salute.
When she stood up, Hasumi Ren saw her fingers trembling slightly.
The inauguration meeting for the new captain was held in the First Division's main assembly hall.
Yamamoto Shigekuni sat at the head seat.
Kuchiki Ginrei, Kyoraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jushiro, Unohana Retsu, Hikifune Kirio, Shiba Isshin, Hasumi Ren, and Soi Fon—the eight active captains took their seats in order.
After introducing the new Captain of the Second Division, Yamamoto's voice was deep and solemn.
"Although the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Divisions remain vacant, time waits for no one."
"Today, what we must discuss is the combat plan against the Wandenreich."
"If anyone has any thoughts, speak them boldly."