"You bastard!"
Captain-Commander Yamamoto roared—but it was too late.
With the Tsunayashiro estate completely swallowed by the black ocean, the eerie, mask-shattered Arrancar slipped into Hueco Mundo. As the Garganta closed, his trail vanished.
Yamamoto's face darkened. He hadn't expected that even taking the field himself, he'd still fail to stop the enemy—and the Tsunayashiro Clan had been snatched from under his nose.
A blatant slap in the face!
He narrowed his eyes at the scorched Suì-Fēng.
Judging from reishi traces, Suì-Fēng had fought that Hollow just now, a back-and-forth—and in the end she seemed careless, got stabbed, then rushed forward as if controlled.
From that, the opponent likely possessed captain-class combat strength.
And that mask-broken Hollow might have other trump cards.
"Kisuke Urahara…"
Yamamoto Genryūsai muttered, puzzled:
"Was this all your doing?"
He recalled intel from Mayuri Kurotsuchi about a "Parasite Hollow." From the situation earlier, the enemy indeed seemed to possess a parasitic ability.
That included Suì-Fēng, who appeared to be controlled. Could the mastermind behind this incident be the "Parasite Hollow"?
Thinking that, Yamamoto glanced at the collapsed Suì-Fēng, and his pupils shrank—her body looked noticeably translucent!
"…"
Yamamoto frowned and moved toward her, but suddenly sensed an anomaly in the reishi.
He spun and slashed.
Fwoom!
Flames surged toward the strange reishi signature, intense heat crushing outward—but as the fire passed, nothing was there.
Not good!
Yamamoto whirled back—Suì-Fēng, whose body had been faintly translucent, had disappeared?!
…
"How disgraceful, Captain Suì-Fēng."
In a dim Seireitei laboratory, Mayuri Kurotsuchi sneered at the Suì-Fēng he'd just recovered. "If I'd been any later, you would have dispersed."
Burned by flame and wracked with pain, Suì-Fēng still sat up, clutching her chest. "It's fine. I was prepared for this when facing the Captain-Commander."
"What matters now is I've found Kisuke Urahara's trail."
"Karakura Town…" Mayuri said in a dangerously eager tone. "Excellent. I'd like to test myself against him, to see whose power is superior."
"I won't spare him—or that woman…" Suì-Fēng gritted her teeth. "The woman who abandoned me, and the man she left Soul Society to save before Central 46—I will…"
"Kill them both!"
"Foolish." Mayuri said coldly. "Spar with Yoruichi if you must, but if you stand in my way…"
"What did you put in my body?" Suì-Fēng heard the implication and blanched.
"A little punitive mechanism," Mayuri said, flicking a finger. A moment later, agony tore through Suì-Fēng as if a powerful current shot through her body.
Enduring the pain, Suì-Fēng hissed, "Hmph. We'll see. If I finish that woman and you haven't wrapped up your fight yet, blame your own incompetence!"
"Interesting. You think your ability can surpass my science?" Mayuri stepped close, slightly fevered with zeal. "Both you and I are merely 'isolated souls.' Seeing you like this, I'm curious—if I continuously absorb reishi, can I perpetuate my existence?"
"You'll be my first test subject!"
Mayuri understood his current state: a temporary soul formed from a special intention fused with some power.
Suì-Fēng paled at his words. She knew his nature well. These imaginary bodies were guided primarily by reinforced "intent," yet they truly possessed the original memories and abilities.
In terms of power, they were even stronger than their originals! Otherwise, how would the Tenshintai gain from training?
But their weakness was constant reishi consumption; once depleted, they vanished.
Now Mayuri proposed to sustain himself permanently by devouring reishi, which terrified her.
Before Mayuri could act, another imaginary body appeared.
Tōsen Kaname stepped from the darkness and said coldly, "Enough, Mayuri. If you need a subject, use me."
"Oh?" Mayuri looked at him, surprised, then mused, "Didn't know you'd attained such selfless virtue."
"My purpose is to 'kill every member of the Tsunayashiro Clan.' That's the basis of our collaboration. Now that the family is gone, my purpose is gone as well," Tōsen said icily.
"A pity I only personally killed the main family. The branch families were slain by the Hollow."
So the culprit behind the Tsunayashiro massacre was Tōsen Kaname's imaginary body.
Imaginary bodies exist primarily by virtue of intense "intent." Even if Tōsen loathed the Shinigami collective, that intent focused chiefly on the Tsunayashiro Clan.
Thus, once they were annihilated, he lost the meaning of his existence. That's why, although they retain their originals' memories, their behavior can diverge greatly.
"I see."
Mayuri smiled with wicked delight. "Since you insist, I'll gladly oblige."
"I'll be gentle, Captain Tōsen~"
…
Elsewhere, in a barren stretch of Hueco Mundo.
Most of Hueco Mundo is similar—sands lightly infused with reishi and an unchanging moon shedding sparse light.
But this place was even more desolate—not because it lacked, but because it had more.
Negar Ruins—the place where White Hollows undergo Cocoon Transformation.
A Garganta yawned open, and with it came a light far brighter than moonlight; the air temperature spiked.
Yoshio stepped out. His back was scorched, a burning pain pricking his nerves.
"That old man hits hard."
Yoshio touched his back. His Hollow Super High-Speed Regeneration kicked in; the charred flesh steadily restored.
Many Arrancar lose Super High-Speed Regeneration after evolving, but Angra Mainyu apparently had not.
And this regeneration was potent—he felt even vital points could recover.
Strictly speaking, he was no longer a normal lifeform. It wasn't obvious yet, but he felt that once he grew stronger, his lifeform would metamorphose into "condensed malice."
However…
It was too early to dwell on that.
Time to review his gains.
Yoshio turned into black liquid again. The black ocean spread over the Negar Ruins, as if to swallow them whole.
But this time, he wasn't here to devour—he was here to "expel."
He released the Tsunayashiro estate onto a wide plaza amid the ruins, adding a brush of civilization to Hueco Mundo's decay.
Only structures remained; the Tsunayashiro members who had lived there…
Had already been digested.
Having merged with the estate earlier, he now understood its layout better.
He appeared beside a structure much like the third treasury.
The Tsunayashiro estate had five such vaults, but given Suì-Fēng's mention of a "seventh vault," there were at least two more scattered across Seireitei.
A million years of accumulation was truly immense!
He couldn't be sure each treasury held Soul King fragments…
As for the locks…
That was indeed a problem.
These vaults were set with extremely sturdy seals. Though the current generation of Tsunayashiro were generally weak, that didn't mean every generation had been.
The Five Great Noble Families were apex existences in Soul Society—descendants of five powerhouses from the chaotic era before the Soul King's birth. Bearing that blood, gaining exceptional reishi wasn't far-fetched.
From time to time, the Tsunayashiro produced very powerful members. A million years is long enough for anything.
So these seals wouldn't be easily undone.
But for Yoshio, it wasn't a big issue.
Angra Mainyu couldn't break them—but Yoshio could.
With another Garganta opened, Yoshio arrived from the Human World to Hueco Mundo.
He had no reason to stay in the Human World; where he'd been wouldn't lead to Kisuke Urahara anyway.
Upon arrival, Yoshio faced the vault and raised his hand.
Destructive Death Ray!
Destructive Death Ray ignores defense. No matter how sturdy the vault or how powerful the seal, it couldn't block this penetration!
In some respects, its piercing surpassed even Lille Barro's X-Axis!
A black Destructive Death Ray lanced out. A tiny gap formed in the vault door—not big enough for a person, but Angra Mainyu wasn't a person.
He liquefied and flowed through into the unknown-numbered treasury.
Inside were piles of gold and jewels, various ores, and some books. Unfortunately, not the Soul King fragments he most desired.
He picked up a book—an ancient historical text, uninteresting—and tossed it aside.
A quick sweep revealed this vault was more like a library, mainly recording Soul Society's history.
He didn't destroy the books; they'd be decent reading in his spare time.
He left and checked other vaults.
The second vault also held many books, but not all were histories; many recorded ancient secret arts, rituals, special Kidō, etc.
Valuable.
Yoshio collected them to study later.
In the third vault, he finally found Soul King fragments again. Only two cases, same as the first box—likely ten small fragments each.
The fourth vault had no Soul King fragments, but he found the Tsunayashiro's inherited artifact.
As head of the Five Great Noble Families, the Tsunayashiro had a military deterrent.
Enrakyōten—a Zanpakuto!
Enrakyōten is a very special Zanpakuto. It doesn't change with different soul infusions; its ability is fixed: copy.
It can copy other Zanpakuto abilities. See it once, and Enrakyōten can replicate it.
In many fan works, Zanpakuto commonly copy others' powers, but in Bleach canon, such a Zanpakuto actually exists. With it, your left hand could wield Ryūjin Jakka, your right Hyōrinmaru, Kyōka Suigetsu above, and Senbonzakura at your side.
But it had a major flaw: using it consumes one's soul—life force. Yoshio wasn't interested in life-draining weapons, but he kept it for research value.
Counting the earlier third vault, the five Tsunayashiro vaults' Soul King fragments were now fully collected.
Thirty before, twenty more now—fifty fragments total.
It sounded like a lot, but each was no bigger than a pinky fingernail. All together, they likely didn't amount to even a single Soul King organ.
Obviously, the Tsunayashiro hoard wasn't limited to these. There seemed to be more in external vaults.