Chapter 173: Ignite
A breath in. Focus locked.
Matsushita Yusuke's right hand shifted slightly, closing into something close to a grip.
CRACK.
As if something invisible had descended from above, it wrapped around Zaraki Kenpachi's body in an instant.
"..."
Zaraki's eyes went wide. He looked around without a word.
The azure world around him had changed. Countless black threads materialized, drawn out of the air itself, seeping in bit by bit, weaving into the space around him like threads pulled steadily from a spool.
Innumerable lines of light appeared in rigid, perfectly straight formations, intersecting and colliding, braiding together, tracing the shape of something unmistakably cage-like.
This was not a good sign.
He had to get out. But successive layers of Bakudo had locked him completely in place. There was no room to push back, no leverage to work with. All he could do was watch as a turbulent net of reishi spread through the air above him, descending until it swallowed him whole.
Matsushita Yusuke watched every stage of it unfold, his gaze briefly flickering. Then his right hand turned, and he spoke quietly.
"Kurohitsugi."
The word landed.
A pitch-black cube expanded into existence in an instant.
Countless black spines intersected and sliced through the interior. Threads woven from reishi pierced through in alternating patterns, top to bottom, side to side. Like a precise and methodical experiment, the cube ran through a continuous cycle of dismantling and reassembly. From the outside it flickered without pause, shifting like a mirage.
Unohana, watching from above, showed a flicker of genuine admiration.
Not bad at all.
As someone who had lived through a thousand years of warfare, Unohana's familiarity with Kido was extensive. The most advanced forbidden techniques were not new to her. She had encountered them more times than she could count.
Which was exactly why she could deliver her assessment with authority.
A modified Kurohitsugi.
It retained the original structure and framework but the method of attack had been adjusted. Standard Kurohitsugi worked by partitioning a region and running reishi-formed threads through it in a dense, precise pattern of piercing and cutting. That much was evident from how it had always performed. Case in point: Aizen drops a chant-free Kurohitsugi, the big dog takes a brief stroll around the inside, and ends up flat on the ground covered in blood.
What Matsushita Yusuke had done was something subtly different.
He was using the reishi that formed Kurohitsugi itself to deconstruct and constantly reposition, creating a region that was not fully sealed the way a standard Kurohitsugi would be.
Without question, this was a more technically demanding version. One that required far greater precision.
The raw power, execution speed, and attack density had each shifted slightly. But from Unohana's perspective, the more pressing question was one she could not quite answer.
She did not understand it.
Why do it this way?
Working backward from the results, the real intent was not hard to see.
A Kurohitsugi built this way was, at its core, an economical use of reishi output.
She had not used this approach herself. But with her depth of experience, Unohana's assessment came quickly.
Without needing to separately generate dedicated attack constructs, roughly half the normal reishi expenditure was sufficient.
From a Kido development standpoint, this was genuinely commendable. Simplified execution, preserved lethality, substantially reduced cost. If not for the fact that the precision required to replicate it was beyond almost anyone else, Matsushita Yusuke could probably build a lasting reputation on this technique alone.
But the underlying question had not changed.
He was in Bankai. Ichion Enpo was active. He was operating at his most complete level of reishi mastery. Why would he still bother conserving output at all?
Unless.
Something clicked.
He has a far more outrageous plan in mind. Something that needs an enormous reserve of reishi to build from.
The thought had barely formed when she saw Matsushita Yusuke tilt his head back.
He looked up at the open sky and drew a slow, deliberate breath.
The Kido-type Zanpakuto at its furthest reach.
Ichion Enpo.
The ability: within a defined domain, achieve reishi-level control and complete understanding over everything inside. Given that the fundamental substance of Soul Society itself was reishi, within the domain's boundaries, Matsushita Yusuke could command everything within it without exception.
He wasn't about to start declaring himself the supreme existence in all of heaven and earth. But in this space, at this moment, he was its absolute master.
So.
Something unprecedented. Something that might not make any rational sense to anyone watching from the outside. That seemed about right.
A bright gleam came into Matsushita Yusuke's eyes.
He held the Kurohitsugi output steady. At the same time, both hands lifting slightly, he pulled every last remaining portion of his reishi into motion.
Standard Hado was an effective output form. Those techniques had been refined over generations, tested by time, efficient in cost and sufficient in lethality. The optimal choice by any measure.
But.
He didn't care about the cost right now.
With Ichion Enpo active, Matsushita Yusuke was connected to the entirety of the space around him. Within the domain, he could freely share and direct every particle of reishi at will.
So he was going to bring out something devastating.
At the moment the thought crystallized, the entire space seemed to pause.
Matsushita Yusuke's awareness spread through every corner of the domain. Like a sovereign under absolute authority, his will moved through everything without resistance.
Reishi as the smallest unit.
The entire expanse of space, governed by that will, began to move in close and unified purpose.
The air tightened.
Not only Unohana, hovering far above. Even Tosen at a distance could feel it, the atmosphere drawing itself inward, compressing, approaching something taut and irrevocable.
Something was coming. Something was about to happen.
Matsushita Yusuke stood at the center of the domain. Azure light reflected in his eyes. He looked toward the Kurohitsugi in silence, expression somewhere between calm and something close to amusement.
As Unohana had correctly deduced, he had conserved reishi output to reduce expenditure.
But the modified Kurohitsugi had also reinforced the binding function. A restraint technique in its own particular way. Another variation on a Bakudo, perhaps.
Not that he had any interest in debating the classification right now.
There was only one thing on Matsushita Yusuke's mind.
He was going to ignite this entire domain.