The sound of clashing metal echoed across the desolate Wastelands.
Soi Fon had shut her eyes tightly—yet the expected impact never came.
"Just observe from here."
Shimo's voice drifted into her ears.
She opened her eyes, dazed, and met Shimo's calm gaze.
"This enemy is far too strong. You're not equipped to deal with it."
Her face flushed red.
A captain being protected by a lieutenant… it stung her pride.
But reality spoke louder than ego. She had to admit—perhaps Shimo was right.
The enemy, this seemingly mindless Hollow, had first pretended to be weak, lured her in, and then delivered a calculated killing strike.
Its combat instinct was sharper than most sentient foes.
Shimo's Zanpakutō intercepted the incoming blade, giving Soi Fon a chance to retreat. Yet even with this sudden switch, White showed no disruption.
Its glowing red eyes locked firmly onto Shimo.
The spiritual pressure in the area—which had previously blanketed everything—now focused solely on him.
"Looks like I'm the real target," Shimo thought.
He had a suspicion: this whole incident was likely Aizen's attempt to probe his limits again.
"A pawn isn't useful unless you know everything about it."
White's mouth—lined with sharp, tight-packed teeth—suddenly opened wide.
A red light flickered from within.
Spiritual pressure surged at lightning speed into its mouth.
Cero!
Time Acceleration!
Shimo didn't have a Hollow's Hierro (iron skin). A direct hit at this range could kill him.
Shihōin Stealth Step – Silent Veil!
A black haori fluttered in place, but Shimo himself had vanished.
The Cero obliterated the garment and blasted forward, digging a massive crater into the ground.
But White wasn't done.
Its jaw still agape, red light surged again—multiple Cero blasts, fired in rapid succession, all aimed at Shimo.
"Missed at point-blank range..."
"And you still aim at me?"
With a trace of disdain in his eyes, Shimo vanished again via Shunpo.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each blast thundered across the battlefield.
From afar, Soi Fon watched, a grim expression darkening her face.
Her perspective had changed.
From initial dismissal... to concern... and now: fear.
"This Hollow… it really does possess Vasto Lorde-level power!"
She glanced at the butterfly-shaped mark she'd left on White's black armor—no effect at all.
Now she understood.
Her spiritual pressure was far inferior.
Suzumebachi's Nigeki Kessatsu couldn't activate because the power gap was too wide.
Shimo, on the other hand, knew even more.
"This is the same Hollow that nearly overpowered Isshin Shiba in his Shikai."
Back then, Aizen ambushed Isshin from behind, preventing him from using Bankai.
Had Misaki not arrived, Isshin might've died in the Human World.
In the chaos of the detonations, thick smoke filled the battlefield.
Spiritual turbulence raged across the Wastelands.
The density of spiritual energy here rivaled even the Seireitei.
Shimo once tried forming platforms to fly upward—but the density made it impossible.
"Guess I'll have to fight on the ground."
Hadō #73: Sōren Sōkatsui! (Twin Lotus Blue Fire, Crash Down!)
Twin blue flames flared in Shimo's hands and exploded outward.
BOOM!
A massive shockwave rippled through the impact zone.
And yet... a menacing red glow shimmered nearby.
A strong spiritual pressure prickled against Shimo's skin.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū! (Splitting Void!)"
A translucent wall materialized before him, just as the dust was scattered by a searing red beam—
Cero!
White had dipped its head low—horns glowing red—and launched a direct Cero from its bull-mask.
The blast shook the air.
Shimo could see the turbulence forming around the Cero—Wasteland spiritual energy reacting wildly.
Cero vs. Dankū.
He hadn't had time to chant the incantation. An unchanted spell is far weaker.
"Can it hold...?"
Honestly, Shimo didn't know.
Over the past year, he'd spent most of his time either in Mayuri's Dangai research or in personal sword training and Zanpakutō meditation.
Every advancement on the Staircase of Time brought him a boost in power.
He had now reached the 9,999th step.
But paradoxically, that made it harder to gauge his true strength.
"Maybe it's time to go all-out…"
As Dankū began to crack, the thought surfaced in his mind.
From afar, Soi Fon saw the fractures forming.
Her heart tightened.
"I have to help him—!"
Just as she prepared to act—
BOOM!!
A wave of overwhelming spiritual pressure erupted.
Like a tsunami crashing down, it blanketed the entire Wasteland in an instant.
Soi Fon froze, wide-eyed.
"What the—?!"
"That reiatsu… it's Shimo?!"
"This is… absurd!"
---
Genmoku District
A trio cloaked in black stood in silence.
A Kido barrier kept them hidden from sight.
"Yaaah… terrifying reiatsu," murmured Gin Ichimaru.
"Not many in the Gotei 13 can compare to this…"
Though his voice was teasing, his expression was unusually serious.
At the moment Shimo's power exploded, Gin's eyes even opened wide.
"Didn't think Kyōraku Shimo was this powerful…"
Tōsen, blind as he was, could not see.
But he felt it—crushing, like a wall of force swallowing everything.
He trembled at the thought: what if he were standing in White's place?
"The deeper the veil, the more ambition it hides."
Aizen's voice remained calm, betraying no emotion.
"Kyōraku Shimo's ambitions perhaps exceeded even the Seireitei."
Both Gin and Tōsen looked surprised.
Aizen rarely spoke of others this way.
But Shimo… was the exception.
"Let's go. White has served its purpose."
Without looking back, Aizen turned and vanished.
Gin and Tōsen followed.
---
Shimo exhaled softly.
"Miscalculation…"
"I didn't expect the Stairway of Time to amplify reiatsu this much…"
He had seen Kyōraku Shunsui's power before.
This was beyond that.
The Cero—mostly absorbed by Dankū—was completely vaporized once Shimo's spiritual pressure burst forth.
White screamed in rage, roaring like a cornered beast.
He no longer had intelligence—just instinct.
And instinct told him: close combat.
But White didn't realize—
That was Shimo's specialty.
White charged, his blade-like arms swinging with feral precision.
His speed rivaled even Soi Fon's Shunpo.
Shimo raised his blade to meet him—steel met steel.
A whirlwind of strikes followed—so fast they blurred.
Sonic booms roared across the battlefield.
Sparks flew as sword clashed against blade-arm.
Secret Sword: Light Snow.
This was Shimo's own version of the legendary Ichito-ryu—now fused with his own sword style.
Had White possessed higher awareness, he might have noticed—
His slashes were slowing down.
Snowflakes began to swirl.
Murderous aura chilled the battlefield.
"Suspend the space... Akatsuki."
His calm voice echoed like a final verdict.
Within a 100-meter radius, the air groaned under pressure.
A long crimson blade rose.
Spiritual pressure condensed.
Limitless Sword: Infinity.
Brilliant light burst from the blade—
And swallowed White whole.
Moments later, a system notification rang in Shimo's mind:
[Mission Complete – Distributing reward…]
[Congratulations! You've unlocked: Peak Kido Mastery!]
A torrent of knowledge flooded his consciousness.
A splitting headache surged—then vanished.
He shook it off, absorbing the mastery of Kido arts.
To his surprise—he now knew every Kido spell save for forbidden and reversed types.
---
Soi Fon had never looked away.
She tracked their spiritual pressure the entire time.
And then… White's pressure vanished.
Only now did she fully comprehend—
The gap between her and Shimo.
An opponent she couldn't scratch—
Shimo had dealt with effortlessly.
Aside from his destroyed haori, he didn't even have a speck of dust on him.
"All this time… he's been humoring me."
She thought back on the year she spent chasing him down, obsessed with Yoruichi's whereabouts.
Shimo had never retaliated—just slipped away, over and over again.
A blush of guilt crept onto her face.
She understood now. Her actions… had been misplaced.
Soi Fon glanced toward him, her gaze complicated.
"He… dissolved into reiryoku?"
Shimo blinked in surprise.
"Looks like Aizen left a failsafe in White."
"What a waste."
"If I had even a scrap of that body… we could've changed the course of this war."
Mayuri would've been able to uncover something with it.
Shimo had the ability to use Cease All to preserve remains.
But without containment gear on hand, he let it go.
He used Shunpo and reappeared beside Soi Fon.
She was still lost in thought.
Until—
Flick.
A light flick on her forehead.
"Hi. What're you spacing out for?"
Shimo withdrew his hand, mentally noting, Nice texture.
Soi Fon snapped out of it, flustered.
"N-Nothing. Just thinking about the mission…"
Shimo sighed.
"So? Just report it honestly."
She hesitated.
"But… about you hiding your strength…"
He tilted his head.
"What if I said I didn't even know what my own power was just now?"
He was half-joking.
But—
"I believe you!" she said instantly, nodding.
"...You believe that?"
"Even that ridiculous explanation?!"
She nodded again, earnest and stubborn.
Shimo circled around her with growing doubt, then placed a palm on her forehead.
"Did that Cero fry your brain?"
-------------------///
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