Bleach Seireitei's Discipline Captain - Chapter 158
“I once observed Tokikaze from Muken,” Jich? Tsumuya said calmly. “A very peculiar Shinigami. No matter how closely I observed him, I still couldn’t discern his essence.”
“Kekekeke!” Yuro Zazaniya laughed seductively, her graceful body swaying back and forth. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a hundred years!”
“Calling it ‘close observation’ when you were clearly spying—truly worthy of a man with ‘sword’ in his name!”
Jich? Tsumuya remained silent, realizing that ever since escaping from Muken, Yuro Zazaniya had become increasingly talkative. He couldn’t understand the change, so he chalked it up to his Zanpakut?’s pathological nature.
But when he remembered that a Zanpakut? is forged from a Shinigami’s soul, he fell into self-doubt. Was Yuro Zazaniya’s madness a reflection of his own?
After pondering for a while, Jich? realized he was overthinking. Though the Zanpakut? is shaped from a Shinigami’s soul, it doesn’t mean they are identical. Yuro Zazaniya simply represents one aspect of his personality. The madness was only a part of it.
Yes, that must be it!
Convinced, Jich? stepped forward, ready to break the seal on the container holding a gigai.
However, at that moment, a bizarre sound echoed through the warehouse, like hundreds of surround-sound speakers stacked together, creating waves of noise.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
“Oh, it’s a little rat sneaking in while the master’s away!”
As the voice finished, a giant light screen unfolded above the warehouse, revealing a crazed face painted in black and white.
“Let me introduce myself—the new captain of the Twelfth Division and the master of this warehouse—”
“The great Kurotsuchi Mayuri!”
Golden eyes zoomed in on the screen, distorting into something both eerie and deranged.
“Nemu, pull up the relevant data.”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Jich? Tsumuya, the Eighth Kenpachi. One hundred and fifty years ago, he used mysterious means to destroy Kenpachi Kuruya’s internal organs and kill him, thus inheriting the title of Kenpachi. Due to some concealed crime, the Royal Guard intervened, and he was ultimately imprisoned in Muken.”
“All of this information was provided by Central 46.”
“Recently, at the captains’ meeting, he boldly proclaimed his intent to eradicate all Hollows, even cutting off their source!”
A strange, grotesque creature resembling a mix of a temple bell and a giant catfish appeared on the screen, its shapeless face adorned with the same manic grin.
Like Yuro Zazaniya, ever since Kurotsuchi Mayuri became captain of the Twelfth Division, the entire Research and Development Bureau had sunk deeper into madness, reflecting the unhinged atmosphere of their new leader.
“And here’s a fresh piece of intel—the battle at the Ninth Division!”
Nemu, her fingers short and stubby, excitedly called out, “The criminal Jich? Tsumuya used advanced Kido like Bakud? #57: Earth’s Revolving Dance and Had? #63: Raik?h?, yet still failed to achieve anything. Under Captain Tokikaze’s fierce assault, he fled the scene in disgrace!”
“So pitiful, truly pitiful!”
“Kekeke, isn’t that right?”
Jich? Tsumuya faced the crazed figures on the screen in silence.
While in Muken, he had observed Kurotsuchi Mayuri several times, but because the man spent most of his time in the Maggot’s Nest, he hadn’t learned much.
A pitiful creature outdone by Urahara Kisuke.
“What’s with that look in your eyes?!”
Mayuri’s fragile nerves were pricked. Though he couldn’t read minds, he instinctively felt an intense aversion toward Jich?.
“Pointless conversation,” Jich? remarked with a hint of pity. “An inheritor of someone else’s legacy—I have no interest in you.”
“Continuing this is a waste of time.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jich?’s body began to emit a faint white glow, growing brighter as if he was about to disappear.
However, moments later, the light dissipated, leaving him standing there unharmed.
“Kukuku, curious, aren’t you?”
The face painted in black and white reappeared on the screen, this time devoid of madness, replaced by a chilling calmness.
“I don’t know the exact nature of your ability,” Mayuri said, cracking his fingers loudly, the sound as if his bones were being crushed. “But based on our prior analysis—”
“You fuse your spiritual particles with those of the air or objects, maybe even with buildings, the ground, or the bodies of Shinigami.”
“Sorry, but it’s unlikely your ability can fuse with souls just yet.”
Mayuri released his thumb and index finger, letting the other six fingers of his hand droop limply as if all the bones had been broken.
Watching this display, even the composed Jich? couldn’t help but twitch.
For once, Yuro Zazaniya remained silent as though someone had pressed a mute button on her.
“Given this theory,” Mayuri continued, attempting to restore his fingers, “you seem to know everything happening in the Seireitei, even down to the precise location of the gigai storage warehouse.”
“So, we can boldly hypothesize that your Zanpakut? has fused with the entire Seireitei’s spiritual particles?”
In the warehouse, Jich?’s pupils contracted for a split second before quickly returning to normal.
These so-called scientists… Is their thinking always so outrageous?
“Hmm, your pupils changed for about 0.3 seconds. Looks like my hypothesis was correct.”
With his fingers back in place, Mayuri spread his hands wide, like a host welcoming a guest, a manic grin spreading across his black-and-white painted face.
“Based on that theory, I added a little something extra to the Research and Development Bureau’s building.”
“A substance called spiritual particle solidifier.”
“Curious why your particles can’t fuse?”
The smile on the screen stretched wider as if it would tear through to his ears.
“That’s because this comes from the power of the Spirit King himself!”
The spiritual particle solidifier was a substance developed from the body of an Adjuchas-class Hollow in the Reversal Region. It could fix spiritual particles in place, preventing fusion.
After a moment of panic, Jich? regained his composure.
Looking up at the enormous face on the screen, he said calmly, “I have to admit, your thinking surpasses that of most Shinigami. I used to think you were no match for Urahara Kisuke, but now I sincerely apologize.”
“Unfortunately, the Research and Development Bureau alone won’t be enough to keep me here.”
At his words, the gigai in the containers nearby began to move, stepping out one by one as if they had minds of their own.
“Scattered beast bones, spires, red crystals, and wheels of steel.”
“To the one who rules, the mask of flesh and blood, all things, the wings that soar—those crowned with the name of man!”
“Truth and moderation, the wall of innocent dreams…”
“Carve the Twin Lotus on the wall of blue flames, awaiting the abyss of far-flung heaven…”
“Perish, the black hound of Rondanini…”
In Mayuri’s astonished gaze, the gigai chanted overlapping Kido incantations, their voices blending.
In an instant, the spiritual pressure in the warehouse soared to an extreme.
Red light flickered intensely, and though the blaring alarms couldn’t drown out the Kido chants, the danger was clear.
“Unreachable hand of darkness, the unseen heavenly archer…”
“Foul waves, the ship of madness; boil! Numb! Flicker! Sleepless…”
“Gather eight winds and stirring starfire, from my hand’s guidance without doubt…”
As the Kido chants continued to layer upon one another, the spiritual pressure in the warehouse climbed to its peak like the sun blazing in the sky. At the same time, alarms blared across the Research and Development Bureau.
Most of the staff cowered behind Mayuri, their trembling figures pressing against the ceiling like a mountain of fear.
“Captain, if that Kido goes off, we’ll all be blown sky-high!”
“This is really bad!”
“I don’t want to die yet! I haven’t even found my sister!”
…
“Silence, all of you!”
Mayuri’s shout cut through the noise, silencing the lab.
He watched as the Kido glow grew blindingly bright, like a sun on the verge of explosion, almost a harbinger of doom.
Mayuri’s lips curled into a manic grin once again.
“Though your words pleased me a bit, I still need to correct you on something.”
“I’ve already surpassed Urahara Kisuke!”
As he finished speaking, the Kido incantations abruptly ceased. The gigai stood frozen, unable to move, their jaws no longer opening and closing.
The chanting stopped dead.
Jich? opened his eyes, staring at the golden eyes on the screen.
For the first time in a long while, his usually calm expression showed a hint of gravity.
The gigai glowed red as if they had reached a red-hot temperature. A faint heat spread through the warehouse.
The next moment—
Boom!!!
A terrifying explosion of light and heat erupted, unleashing waves of scorching air that obliterated everything in their path.
Walls collapsed, the ground cracked, and a burning sun rose over the Twelfth Division headquarters.
In the distance, the clouds shattered, dispersing into thin air as fiery pillars shot into the sky, the intense heatwave engulfing the area.
Sirens blared throughout the Seireitei as the captains turned their attention toward the Research and Development Bureau.
Amid the rubble of the Ninth Division, Ky?raku Shunsui wore a bitter expression, mumbling to himself:
“So this is what he meant by not disrupting the order of the Seireitei?”
“It’s been less than a day, and already two divisions have been destroyed.”
“If this keeps up, the whole Soul Society will be wiped out.”
“Is Jich? Tsumuya here to destroy the Hollows or the Shinigami?”
Other captains weren’t faring much better. Compared to Ichika, Jich?’s destructive power was far more significant. The two weren’t even in the same league.
…
In the wreckage of the Research and Development Bureau, a ghostly white figure suddenly appeared, standing amidst the devastation.
“Unbelievable…” Jich? muttered, “Premeditated or habitual—the early detonation of the gigai to stop the Kido incantations?”
“I hate that black-and-white-faced bastard,” Yuro Zazaniya grumbled, biting her fingers as if shaken.
“Why?”
“Because he’s crazier than I am!”
Jich? remained silent, and as the scorching wind hit him, his figure vanished from the ruins.
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