Karin's words immediately caught everyone's attention.
"Can you show us?" Ryūken asked.
"I can try."
Karin left the dining table and moved a little farther away. She then closed her eyes and began circulating the power of the Quincy Schrift within her body.
Reishi gathered in her hands. White motes of light condensed into a shape, forming a pair of gloves over Karin's hands.
"Power like Tsunayoshi's?" Ichigo guessed. In his experience, Tsunayoshi was the only person he knew who used gloves as weapons.
Ichigo immediately took a kick to the backside.
"Idiot. Think with your Quincy brain. What do you think those gloves are?"
Ichigo carefully examined them before answering uncertainly, "Is that... Vollständig?"
"More precisely, it's an incomplete Vollständig. She hasn't even activated a Quincy Cross yet. It's more like the state Uryū was in when he first started learning to use his Quincy powers," Tsunayoshi analyzed.
"Even so, that's incredible. Is this really Karin's first time awakening her Quincy powers?" Uryū asked in astonishment.
Ignoring combat technique and looking only at her overall power level, Karin had already reached roughly the level Uryū possessed when he first entered Soul Society.
Her talent was frankly absurd.
"Perhaps it's simply talent. Karin has been able to see spirits around her since she was very young," Tsunayoshi speculated.
"Really? How come I didn't know that?"
"That is precisely why Karin calls you her idiot big brother."
Tsunayoshi could only sigh. Sometimes, Ichigo's obliviousness was beyond even his understanding.
"Karin, can you sense what ability your Vollständig possesses?" Ryūken asked, already taking notes again.
"Hm? It's nothing special. I can just compress Reishi into a sphere much faster now."
Karin spread her hands and pressed them inward toward her chest. A fist-sized sphere of Reishi appeared in her palms.
"A Reishi sphere that big?"
In Ryūken's mind, Karin's Spirit Bow was already beginning to resemble a slingshot.
After all, firearms were inconvenient if you wanted to constantly change the caliber of their ammunition. A slingshot, on the other hand, was much simpler. You could use projectiles of practically any size.
Karin continued compressing the Reishi sphere until her hands began to tremble, but she could not compress it any further.
"This is all I can do for now. Maybe I can compress it further after training."
Looking at the Reishi sphere in Karin's hands and her incomplete Vollständig, Tsunayoshi smiled thoughtfully.
"Karin, why don't you try kicking that sphere?"
His suggestion left Karin momentarily stunned.
She stared at the sphere in her hands, and her thoughts began to wander. Although the sphere wasn't quite the size of a soccer ball yet, couldn't she simply compress more Reishi into it?
She continued compressing the Reishi until the sphere reached roughly the size of a soccer ball.
Karin then flipped her wrist, letting the sphere fall naturally. Just before it touched the ground, she drove her foot into it with all her strength.
Bang!
The sound was both the impact of her kick against the Reishi sphere and the explosive rupture of her shoe.
An ordinary shoe simply couldn't withstand the force of the compressed Reishi.
The sphere shot away much faster and farther than the small projectile Karin had launched earlier.
Only after quite some time did everyone hear a tremendous explosion in the distance.
Watching the cloud of dust billowing far away, it was obvious that Karin's attack had considerable power.
"That's incredible, Karin!"
Ichigo stared toward the distant blast in amazement.
That attack was already no weaker than the first Getsuga Tenshō he had ever learned. With some proper training, Ichigo didn't even dare imagine how powerful Karin could become.
"Uncle Ryūken, you've already got some ideas about how to develop Karin's abilities, haven't you?" Tsunayoshi asked.
"Yes. The power of her incomplete Vollständig has already given Karin a rudimentary ability to fight. Her Reishi spheres can be used offensively either by throwing them or kicking them."
"However, she has no corresponding defensive protection for her feet, so some of the impact from her kicks is transferred back onto her own body."
Ryūken crouched beside Karin. The back of her foot had already turned bright red.
"My current plan is to put the Spirit Bow aside for now. Her primary training should focus on Blut Vene and Hirenkyaku..."
As always, Ryūken's training plan was extremely detailed.
"I mostly agree with your idea, Uncle, but I suggest that Karin's subsequent Vollständig development focus on her footwear. It might be easier that way."
Tsunayoshi pointed at Karin's feet.
"Her shoes? But Vollständig isn't like Fullbring. She can't simply decide what ability she wants and have it manifest in a fixed form."
Ryūken wasn't particularly convinced by Tsunayoshi's suggestion.
"I just think that starting from her shoes will let her complete her Vollständig training faster."
Tsunayoshi turned toward Karin.
"Karin, when you kicked that sphere just now, what were you thinking about?"
Recalling that kick, Karin felt that she had simply wanted to use the technique she would use to kick a soccer ball and send the Reishi sphere flying.
She answered somewhat uncertainly,
"Soccer."
"I thought so too. Those gloves also look a lot like a goalkeeper's gloves."
"If your Vollständig really incorporates your personal interests, then the other half is bound to be a pair of soccer shoes!"
"Uncle Ryūken, goalkeeper gloves are meant for defense. Karin's gloves might do more than simply compress Reishi. You can test that later. And if all four limbs eventually gain corresponding Vollständig equipment, you can increase her close-combat training. Ryūki can help with that."
Ryūken continued writing in his notebook.
Karin, meanwhile, sincerely thanked Tsunayoshi.
Compared with bows and arrows, she was far more interested in soccer. The fact that her hobby could actually become a combat ability made her extremely happy.
Just then, Tsunayoshi's phone rang.
"Hello? Captain Urahara, you're back in the World of the Living? I'm at the Ishida residence. Yes, you can come directly here. Everyone's here."
After hanging up, Tsunayoshi immediately told Uryū,
"Captain Urahara and several other Captains are coming over."
Uryū said nothing more than that. He simply nodded and instructed the servants to prepare more fruit and food.
For the wealthy Ishida family, it was hardly an inconvenience.
"Kisuke is coming? Looks like this really can't be separated from the Gates of Hell."
Isshin pretended to be deep in thought as he gazed into the distance.
"Dad, do you know something about those Gates of Hell?" Ichigo asked.
"You've got some nerve asking that. If it weren't for you, you little brat, blindly trusting strangers, would they have been able to snatch Karin and Yuzu?"
Whenever the subject of the Gates of Hell came up, Isshin became furious.
At the time, he had been away obtaining medical supplies, leaving only Masaki and their two daughters at home.
The situation had been critical. Masaki had only managed to save Karin.
Fortunately, Ichigo had broken into Hell and brought Yuzu back. Otherwise, Isshin didn't even know how he would have punished the little hellion.
"I'd like to know what happened too. Ichigo, how could you trust those people so easily?"
Tsunayoshi was genuinely curious.
The circumstances had already diverged from what he knew, and he wanted to hear Ichigo's account and determine exactly how different events had become from the original story.
"Perfect timing. We wanted to hear it too."
Kisuke Urahara appeared with several others.
Following behind him were Byakuya Kuchiki, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Jūshirō Ukitake, and Kyōraku Shunsui, who had only recently become the new Captain-Commander.
After exchanging greetings with everyone, it was time for Ichigo to recount his embarrassing experience.
His face flushed red, but he steeled himself and began.
"Yesterday, that Gate of Hell that holds condemned souls suddenly appeared above our school. The gates opened, and several people dressed in black came rushing out."
"They immediately started destroying the school. Obviously, we weren't going to let them do that, so we fought them."
"There was something strange, though. There were invisible things around them that kept blocking our attacks. Then, at that moment, someone called Black Blade came out of Hell and helped us drive them away temporarily."
"According to Black Blade, they were an evil organization from Hell. They had been working to disrupt the world for a long time. His sister had died because of them, so he had been trying to stop those villains ever since."
"That's almost too cliché."
Tsunayoshi gave his assessment.
"But if it's Kurosaki, I can certainly see him falling for it."
Urahara nodded thoughtfully.
"He really does look incredibly easy to fool."
"Damn it! Are you going to listen or not?!"
Ichigo flushed with embarrassment and anger.
"Actually, we've already figured out most of it. Black Blade and the other group were working together. They used a classic diversion to make you lower your guard around your family, then took the opportunity to kidnap them."
Tsunayoshi calmly offered his guess.
"How do you know that?"
Ichigo stared at him in disbelief.
"It's a pretty standard plot. Even my novels don't use clichés that obvious anymore."
Tsunayoshi stabbed Ichigo with another verbal blow.
Then he continued,
"So what did they want after going to all that trouble to lure you into Hell?"
"The chains."
Ichigo stopped joking.
"The same Hell Chains that had been binding Yuzu. They're Sinners of Hell. They wanted me to cut the Hell Chains so they could escape from Hell."
"Sinners. Those are people who committed grave sins and were forcibly confined to Hell, bound by Hell Chains. Neither living nor dead, they are condemned to remain there forever with no possibility of escape."
Urahara supplied the explanation.
"Why you? Or rather, how did they know you could cut those chains?"
"Black Blade told me."
Ichigo recalled his words.
"He said that while he was in Hell, he saw me fighting a woman with purple hair. The shockwaves from our battle made their chains tremble. From that day onward, they began plotting against me."
Tsunayoshi and Urahara exchanged a glance.
The purple-haired woman was almost certainly Kirio Hikifune. That battle had taken place only recently.
At the time, Tsunayoshi and the Monk had repeatedly unleashed overwhelming amounts of power, destabilizing the worlds in the process.
Perhaps that was what had allowed the Sinners to realize that escaping Hell might actually be possible.
"Sorry, Ichigo. It looks like we can't really blame you for this. This may have been caused by my battle with the Monk."
Once Tsunayoshi explained it that way, everyone immediately understood.
The Sinners seeing Ichigo during the battle had merely been a coincidence. They had never actually managed to see the true source of the power they had sensed.
"I am curious, Kurosaki Ichigo. Can your power really cut those chains?"
Ryūken asked.
During his own experiments, none of the four spiritual power systems he had tested had been able to affect the chains binding Yuzu.
"Yes. I cut one of their chains before. While they were celebrating, I took the opportunity to escape with Yuzu."
Ichigo mistakenly thought Ryūken was accusing him of refusing to operate on Yuzu, and hurriedly explained.
"Uncle Ryūken, it's not that I don't want to do something about Yuzu's chains. The chains attached to her are too short. Even brushing them with my blade could end up taking her life..."
No one was listening to Ichigo's explanation anymore.
They were all thinking about why Ichigo was capable of cutting the Hell Chains.
And because the battle between Tsunayoshi and the Monk had occurred only recently, everyone already understood the circumstances surrounding that confrontation.
Their gazes gradually converged on Tsunayoshi and Ichigo.
A look of realization flashed through Urahara's eyes.
"It seems the key to severing the Hell Chains lies in the power of the Soul King."
Kurosaki Ichigo—the Soul King candidate. Sawada Tsunayoshi—the same.
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