"Hadō #4… Byakurai?"
"Pierced straight through the Head-Captain's Jōkaku Enjō?"
"Am I dreaming?"
When they saw Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni's body pierced by Higashino Shuuichi's single Byakurai, most of the captains erupted into chaos.
It had already gone beyond common sense.
Because the Head-Captain's reiatsu was considered the ceiling of shinigami power—an accepted truth in Soul Society.
And that meant one thing:
On Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, a low-level Kidō "upset" should be practically impossible.
It used to be completely impossible.
Higashino Shuuichi's Byakurai forcibly rewrote that belief.
But how did he do it?
No one knew.
To Soul Society, Quincy Schrifts were still a blank slate.
And no one could possibly know that Higashino Shuuichi could draw strength from a fabricated future—
even if he could only bring out half of that power.
Yet with Higashino Shuuichi's terrifying body, and the utterly unreasonable Soul King fragments embedded in his soul…
his counterattack still hit like a hammer.
But even so—Byakurai, even with the property of "omnipiercing," couldn't solve the problem of the Jōkaku Enjō that was about to swallow him whole.
The gigantic flaming hand was about to close.
Higashino Shuuichi stood trapped inside, showing no sign of escaping.
Soi Fon didn't know what kind of emotion she was carrying as her gaze drifted toward the tiny hole Byakurai had punched through.
If it were her… she would treat that hole as her lifeline.
She would gather everything she had and burst out through it.
"Shuuichi-sama… he'll do that too, right?"
She couldn't help thinking that.
And then she viciously shook her head.
No—she was the Captain of the Second Division. At a time like this, if she wasn't helping the Head-Captain, then fine—but why was she thinking about how the "enemy" could survive?
What kind of captain did that make her?
But no matter how many times she scolded herself, her eyes still clung to that hole.
She kept waiting—hoping—
for a silhouette to appear.
What Soi Fon forgot was something painfully simple.
Physical attacks couldn't harm Higashino Shuuichi in the slightest.
Standing inside that flaming hand, Higashino Shuuichi didn't need to run, and didn't need to defend.
He just needed to keep walking—straight toward Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni.
The high heat kept scorching his skin, trying to devour him.
But every time it burned away a piece, new flesh grew in its place.
Sometimes, the flames couldn't even burn as fast as he could regenerate.
One step.
Two steps.
When Higashino Shuuichi walked out of the colossal flaming hand, the shinigami finally realized—
what they'd seen earlier was just him showing off.
A body almost completely intact was proof enough:
even Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, "the strongest shinigami of the last thousand years,"
even the inhuman temperature brought forth by his released Zanpakutō…
couldn't do anything to the current Higashino Shuuichi.
Even Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni himself frowned.
Did Higashino Shuuichi's stamina… have no ceiling?
Based on Higashino Shuuichi's former condition, he should've been collapsed somewhere unknown by now—dead tired, unconscious.
But now?
Not only was his body fine—his mental state was superb.
"You've become… different," Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni said, staring at Higashino Shuuichi as though watching someone reborn from fire.
"You already said that," Higashino Shuuichi shot back.
"It's your spirit. And your soul."
"Something has remade you—into what you are now. Am I wrong?"
At last, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni proved he deserved the title of the strongest shinigami of a thousand years.
He'd found the thread.
"Does it matter, now?" Higashino Shuuichi asked.
He stepped to within a hundred meters and raised his blade.
There wasn't much reiatsu gathering on the sword. To the others, the pressure of this strike even felt weaker than those "casual" Ittō Kasō slashes from earlier.
But when Higashino Shuuichi lowered the Zanpakutō—
the world seemed to sink with it.
Every fraction the blade descended, the sky felt a foot lower.
It was the accumulation of momentum, the breakthrough of force.
To shinigami, that was the sensation.
To Higashino Shuuichi, it was simply another Schrift—pulled from another fabricated future:
the Schrift E — "Explode," stolen from the idol-girl Bambietta.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"What a slash!"
Blood sprayed.
Perhaps Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni could have dodged that strike—
in a way that would've looked… less dignified.
But the Captain of the Eleventh Division, Zaraki Kenpachi, ensured the Head-Captain kept his authority intact.
Looking at Zaraki Kenpachi on the ground—nearly cleaved in half, his body held together by only a few strands of flesh, more air going in than out—Higashino Shuuichi said with faint regret,
"Stepping up like that… not very Kenpachi, but very Zaraki."
Then a massive manta ray screamed across the ground and, just as Zaraki Kenpachi's body was about to hit, swallowed him whole.
"Fly… Minazuki."
Unohana Retsu's Shikai.
Higashino Shuuichi couldn't possibly mistake it.
After all—he'd once had the faintest of thoughts about her.
Unohana Retsu decided to offer Zaraki Kenpachi one last tenderness, to finally close the knot of a thousand-year entanglement between them.
Because compared to Higashino Shuuichi now…
Zaraki Kenpachi was simply too weak.
So weak that Unohana Retsu didn't even feel like raising her blade against him.
Higashino Shuuichi straightened, eyes drifting toward the distance.
From four directions, captains arrived one after another.
Shiba Isshin of the Tenth Division.
Aizen Sōsuke of the Fifth.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth.
And even… Kisaragi Shūsuke, who had temporarily cleared up misunderstandings with them and earned brief trust.
"Heh… in the end, they were only four mindless Gigai puppets."
"Fighting on instinct alone… against captains who get serious, that's simply not enough~"
Higashino Shuuichi smiled—elegant, unhurried.
There was no panic on his face.
For these captains to deal with the "First-Gen Captain" puppets this quickly, with Kisaragi Shūsuke's help—
naturally, it was because that top-tier mole had "betrayed" at the perfect time.
"Shuuichi-sama!"
Kisaragi Shūsuke appeared, saw Higashino Shuuichi surrounded by captains, and immediately shouted toward him.
He said nothing more.
He knew Shuuichi-sama would understand what he meant.
He wanted to fight.
He didn't want Shuuichi-sama to carry the infamy alone.
He was willing to stand beside him—against all of Soul Society.
But the response Kisaragi Shūsuke received was only Higashino Shuuichi's slight shake of the head—
and then, firm as iron, commanding and unquestionable, a declaration thrown at every captain like a gauntlet:
"All of you came?
Good. Then I'll be honest with you~"
"The Bakuyōtō that Kisaragi Shūsuke carries—yes, I hid it."
"Kisaragi Shūsuke's betrayal—yes, I lured him and threatened him."
"Matsumoto Rangiku—same."
"Kuchiki Kōga—no exception!"
"I'm that kind of man—a villain, a hopeless traitor of Soul Society!"
"The Hollow power has made me terminally sick;"
"and the Tsunayashiro clan's 'mercy' makes me want to vomit!"
"Requiem is today's theme song!"
"If you want to try me—come on. Don't hold back."
"Because the lives of those nobles…"
"…only come once."
Higashino Shuuichi spread his arms wide before every captain of the Gotei 13.
This "confession" wasn't an apology at all.
It was a challenge letter—addressed to the entire Gotei 13.
"You really are unbearably arrogant, Higashino Shuuichi."
"Do you even know what you're facing right now?"
"The strongest of Soul Society—every captain of the Gotei 13."
Aizen Sōsuke adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on his nose and smiled as he spoke.
"So what?" Higashino Shuuichi looked around with contempt, as if nothing on earth was worthy of his attention.
"Shatter… Kyōka Suigetsu."
Aizen Sōsuke released his Zanpakutō—though not its full truth.
It was the "humble" version he liked to show others, a heavily nerfed Kyōka Suigetsu that only lightly disturbed vision, hearing, and spatial perception.
And that single act was like a starting pistol.
The second round of the captains' war against Higashino Shuuichi officially began.
"Go… Kamishini no Yari."
Ichimaru Gin, ever protective of his image and skilled at reading the room, had already prepared his sneak attack while Aizen and Higashino Shuuichi were still talking.
This time, he prepared more thoroughly.
His Kamishini no Yari really did pierce straight through Higashino Shuuichi's body.
But Ichimaru Gin didn't feel joy at all.
Not because he cared about any "debt" between them.
To be honest, that debt had long since snapped.
What felt eerie was this—
he seemed to have truly killed Higashino Shuuichi…
in front of every captain in Soul Society.
"Rangiku… listen, I can explain. I didn't mean to—"
Ichimaru Gin stared at the childhood friend he'd yearned for, pain tearing through him.
He swore it—he only meant to put on a show.
His Kamishini no Yari had already been tested; Higashino Shuuichi could block it easily.
So stabbing straight at a vital point should've been fine. It would even raise his standing in the eyes of Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni and the older captains.
Who could have guessed that the Higashino Shuuichi of that moment was already a dying lamp—
one breath away from going out?
…Wait.
"That Rangiku…?"
Ichimaru Gin's eyes slowly cleared.
He realized he'd forgotten a great many things—how the last battle ended, what they did afterward, how much time had passed since then.
Normally, he would never forget.
Unless he never experienced it at all.
Unless everything up to this moment had been—
The scene flipped.
Ichimaru Gin found himself back on that familiar battlefield.
But this time, the one his Kamishini no Yari had killed…
wasn't Higashino Shuuichi.
It was Matsumoto Rangiku, who had thrown herself forward to block the strike for him.
"NO!!!"
Ichimaru Gin's scream tore his throat raw.
Why?!
And—why was Rangiku even here?!
What was happening?!
Bloodshot veins spread across Ichimaru Gin's eyes—something rarely seen.
And only then did a calm voice drift into his ear:
"Do you like the fabricated future I built for you?"
Ichimaru Gin's eyes widened.
Because that voice…
was Higashino Shuuichi's.
But wasn't this supposed to be Aizen Sōsuke's ability?
No—impossible.
Because Ichimaru Gin was absolutely certain:
before he was caught by Kyōka Suigetsu, he had already touched the blade.
To him, Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu should have been completely ineffective.
So then—
Before he could think deeper—before he could analyze what "fabricated future" even meant—
Aizen Sōsuke suddenly appeared right in front of him.
And with Ichimaru Gin utterly unprepared—
Aizen drove a blade through Ichimaru Gin's heart.
Ichimaru Gin's mind was already a mess.
And then it wasn't.
Because he lost consciousness entirely.
Watching Ichimaru Gin suddenly fall from the sky, the other captains were stunned.
What… just happened?
And looking at that horrifying wound—
"In that instant… what on earth happened?!"
That was the biggest question in almost every captain's mind.
Schrift I.
Fictional Fantasy.
A fabricated future.
This was the second stage of Higashino Shuuichi's development of his Schrift I, after reclaiming his Quincy clone.
Using his own experiences as a blueprint—and with "hands-on practice" borrowed from Aizen's methods—so long as Higashino Shuuichi had time, and with the Soul King's left leg in his soul as fuel…
he had no doubt it could eventually create a fully "real" fabricated world—
not something that could be so easily exposed like it was now.
But that was a small matter.
After Ichimaru Gin collapsed in inexplicable fashion, Higashino Shuuichi swept his gaze across the remaining captains who could still fight.
His lips curled into a smile.
"Well then… the classic question."
"Who's next?"
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