(T/N: Hello everyone! This today's first chapter, 2 more to go!!
Don't forget to check out my new work: One Piece: Surrounded at Marineford? Yeah, I Don't Think So.
If you're enjoying this story, please drop some Power Stones and add it to your collection if you haven't already, it really helps me out and boosts the novel's ranking!)
"My Zanpakutō is up there. Looks like there's another level—we must be underground." Hirako Shinji glanced upward.
"Let's get our swords back first." Kuchiki Sōjun nodded.
After a Shinigami communicates with their Zanpakutō and learns Shikai, a subtle connection is formed. At close range, it's easy to sense its location.
Just as Shinji and Sōjun exited the dungeon, a violent tremor surged from above. Debris and dust crumbled from the walls.
"That's Saitō Akane's Reiatsu... but something's off. It feels... mixed with something else..." Shinji narrowed his eyes. "Kinda like... those white-robed souls."
"It feels like Akane's in serious danger..." Sōjun also sensed that something was very wrong.
After finding the stairs out of the dungeon, they discovered it had been built beneath a rocky mountain. More buildings were stacked up along the slope.
The source of Akane's Reiatsu outburst came from the mountain's peak.
At the summit, a group of green-armored Shinigami had gathered. Akane was bound to a stone pillar, her eyes lifeless.
A fracture had opened across her collarbone, and a dazzling multicolored orb was embedded in it.
Countless white-robed souls floated in the air, spiraling around her. The orb at her collarbone kept sucking them in as they drew near.
A spectacular white vortex of these white-robed souls had formed at the mountain's peak.
Shinji and Sōjun could both sense Akane's internal Reiatsu fluctuating wildly—like a spiritual bomb primed to blow at any moment.
The green-armored Shinigami atop the peak were entirely focused on the white vortex and hadn't noticed the two escapees from the dungeon.
"My Zanpakutō is in the building halfway up the mountain. Do we go for the swords first, or save her?" Shinji hesitated. He originally intended to retrieve the weapons, but without dispersing the vortex above, Akane's spirit body could explode at any time. Yet without their Zanpakutō, they'd have no chance of saving her.
"They've got numbers. We won't save her without weapons. I'll draw their attention—you sneak in and get our swords."
Sōjun raised both hands and began chanting:
"Scattered bones of beasts across the stars, spires, crimson crystals, wheels of iron! That which moves is wind, that which stills is void! Lances clash in echoes that flood the Hollow citadel!"
Sōjun unleashed his most powerful Hadō:
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"
Electric light exploded from his hands and shot toward the white vortex in the sky.
BOOM!
The Raikōhō struck the vortex, punching a gap into it and drawing all the green-armored Shinigami's attention.
After casting the spell, Sōjun took off running. Eight Shinigami abandoned the buildings and chased after him.
That gave Shinji an opening to slip into the mountain's structure. The three remaining guards at the summit didn't notice as he slipped into the warehouse.
He quickly located his Zanpakutō—and Sōjun's, which had been stored together. Grabbing both, he turned to leave.
But just as he stepped outside, his heart sank.
The white-haired man was returning—with Sōjun slung over his shoulder.
"This dumb Kuchiki lost way too fast! Couldn't even stall them for a bit longer?!" Shinji's face dropped. "I'm screwed now!"
Now without backup, even with the Zanpakutō, facing this many enemies would be nearly impossible.
Just then—
A bolt of lightning cracked through the air.
Shinji's eyes lit up with joy. That Reiatsu was unmistakable.
"Sensei's here!"
FWOOSH—Katori Nanatsuki, cloaked in lightning, appeared before the white-haired man.
He was holding Kuchiki Sōjun—and there was a severed arm still clinging to Sōjun's uniform.
The white-haired man froze. That arm looked terribly familiar. He glanced down—his own arm had been sliced clean off.
It was gone before he'd even realized he'd been hit.
His face twisted in disbelief. There had been no such powerhouse recorded in Soul Society intel—and the man wasn't wearing a captain's haori.
"A new prodigy in the last hundred years...? What Division are you from?"
Nanatsuki smiled. "I'm a teacher at Shin'o Spiritual Arts Academy."
"With power like yours, you could easily be a captain. And you're just a teacher?" The white-haired man frowned. "I am Ryūdōji Ganryū. Ever heard of the Ryūdōji Clan?"
Nanatsuki nodded casually. "I've heard of you. Exiled nobles, right?"
Trying to win him over, Ganryū offered, "A man of your strength shouldn't be wasting away as a teacher. Join the Ryūdōji Clan. Together, we'll retake Soul Society. I'll make you Captain-Commander of the First Division!"
"No thanks." Nanatsuki smirked. 'If I could conquer Soul Society with your bunch of weaklings, I'd do it myself.'
FWOOSH—Four more figures appeared behind Nanatsuki.
Azashiro Kana, Muguruma Kensei, Kobane Jin'emon, and Ōmaeda Kishinosuke had arrived.
Kobane had been lucky—he hadn't run into any enemies along the way and met up with them directly.
The vortex's spiritual pressure was so intense it had drawn them in from afar.
Once Nanatsuki sensed it, he rushed to the scene immediately.
"You guys disperse those 'Blanks'." Nanatsuki nodded toward the white vortex and tossed Sōjun to Kishinosuke. "Leave these guys to me."
"You're not getting past me!" shouted a green-armored Shinigami with a massive hammer.
But then—
A blast of scalding air rose behind him.
BOOM!
Nanatsuki's hand burst straight through the man's chest—no blood spilled. It had all evaporated from the searing flames on his arm.
Terrifying spiritual flames surged from Nanatsuki's body.
Shunkō: Crimson Tide form!
This form lacked the speed of Shunkō: Raikiri, but its destructive power was far greater—second only to Thunderfire Wild Blaze.
Nanatsuki crouched and ducked under a sweeping scythe, then spun with explosive force.
The green-armored Shinigami holding the scythe chain widened his eyes in horror.
His comrade—wielding a massive greatsword—was kicked into oblivion, body and blade shattering into chunks.
BOOM!
The blade exploded under the impact, sending fragments flying in all directions. Other green-armored Shinigami scrambled to dodge.
Those that struck Nanatsuki bounced off his overwhelming Reiatsu like pebbles on steel.
Nanatsuki's kick continued its arc, slamming into another Shinigami's gut and ripping his torso clean in two.
None of the green-armored Shinigami could even survive a single blow from him.