The conversation between the Squad 8 Shinigami and the prison guard caught Sora's attention.
"Captain Hikifune provided us with tranquilizer guns, giving us a chance to restrain the Reigai before they could self-destruct," the escorting Shinigami said. "You guys in the prison squad can interrogate them first, but be careful not to kill them. They might have some important information."
"I see. Don't worry, once they're in the underground prison, they're not in control of themselves anymore!" the prison guard laughed.
The guards escorted the two Reigai to their cells, placing them in separate ones and assigning four guards to monitor them closely.
Sora slipped into a guard's shadow and followed to observe the Reigai's condition.
The two Reigai captured by Squad 8 were spiritual bodies with a certain amount of spiritual pressure. One was comparable to an ordinary squad member, while the other had reached the standard for entering the Spiritual Arts Academy.
Sora also wanted to see if the prison guards could extract any information, so he left a shadow in the corner as his eyes and then proceeded to Muken.
Upon arriving in Muken, Sora called out into the dark depths:
"Saitō Furōfushi."
Soon, the girl with purple pigtails emerged from the darkness.
Sora pulled her directly into his shadow space.
"Miss Saitō, I've found the material needed to make the 'Voice of Hell'," Sora said, taking out the shells he had collected in Hueco Mundo from his reishi space pouch.
"It's quite large. These aren't easy to find in the Soul Society, are they?" Saitō Furōfushi picked up a shell to examine it. "Is this a Hollow's shell?"
"Yes. Neither the Soul Society nor the World of the Living has snail-type souls this large, so I went to Hueco Mundo to look for one." Sora nodded and continued to take out pastries, snacks, and fine wine from his pouch.
Seeing the treats, Saitō Furōfushi's face lit up with joy. "You're much sharper than my former lieutenant! You even remembered my preferences!"
The first time Saitō Furōfushi had asked for snacks, she hadn't specified what kind.
Sora had prepared a variety of common snacks and paid attention to her preferences as she ate.
This time, he brought only the ones she had eaten the most of.
Sora's small detail made Saitō Furōfushi very happy. She took a skewer of Hanami dango and said while eating, "Then let's begin. This Kidō formula is a bit complex..."
Saitō Furōfushi picked up the tools Sora had prepared and wrote down some characters and symbols on a piece of paper.
"Use your spiritual pressure to carve these words and symbols into the shell's interior," she said. "You need to do it without damaging the shell. It requires a high level of spiritual pressure control, but since you have captain-class strength, you should be able to do it, right?"
Sora picked up the paper and looked at it. "No problem."
Saitō Furōfushi rummaged through the pile of Hollow shells and picked out a large conch with a seven-layered spiral structure. "This one. Seven rings is just right. The 'Voice of Hell' my grandmother gave me also had seven rings."
Sora took the large conch shell and began to carve the characters and symbols.
Each layer of the spiral-shaped shell required different characters and symbols to be carved, a difficult task for an ordinary Shinigami.
But Sora was skilled in healing Kidō, and the Katori Style of swordsmanship also demanded high levels of spiritual pressure control. Carving these into the shell was easy for him.
Thirty minutes later, Sora successfully carved the characters and symbols into the large conch shell.
"Your spiritual pressure control is excellent. You succeeded on the first try!" Saitō Furōfushi praised. "Next, you need to lie in wait for a Gate of Hell in the World of the Living."
"When a gate opens, chant the incantation in front of it to draw the Hell reishi leaking from the gate into the runes of this conch. Then, this 'Voice of Hell' will be complete."
Saitō then explained the precautions for using it: "I don't recommend you use the 'Voice of Hell' outside."
"As I said before, it sometimes receives information from Hell, and this information often has the power to bewitch people's minds."
"Be careful when you use it. If you are frequently exposed to this bewitching power, even with captain-class strength, you won't be able to avoid having your mind controlled."
"I'll be careful. That mind-influencing power from Hell is indeed terrifying. Captain Takezuna is a prime example," Sora nodded. "Actually, I want to communicate with your grandmother, Miss Saitō. Once I've finished making the 'Voice of Hell', I'll bring it to you here in Muken."
Saitō Furōfushi touched her eyepatch and smiled. "Then there's no problem. This eye of mine can block that bewitching power."
After finishing their business, Sora didn't leave immediately. He stayed a while longer because the shadow he left in the prison saw the prison squad Shinigami beginning their interrogation of the Reigai.
Sora took a pot of wine and chatted and drank with Saitō Furōfushi while keeping an eye on the situation in the prison.
Through his shadow's perspective, Sora saw two Shinigami enter the cell.
Their features were distinct; the man and woman were both tall and thin with similar appearances, likely siblings.
Sora quickly recalled hearing Kensei Muguruma talk about his experiences in the prison squad, mentioning these two Shinigami. They were seated officers of the 9th Division.
According to Kensei, these two had somewhat dark personalities and were very skilled at interrogating criminals.
When they entered, they were pushing a small cart carrying various interrogation tools.
"The effect of the drug is about to wear off. Just wake him up," the tall, thin woman said.
The tall, thin man took a long tube from the cart, unscrewed the cap, and held it under the Reigai's nose. A volatile drug immediately rushed into its nasal cavity.
"Cough, cough, cough—" The Reigai was startled awake by the extremely pungent smell.
After waking up, the Reigai surveyed the cell and the two Shinigami before him. He quickly understood his situation and immediately tried to mobilize his spiritual pressure to activate the self-destruct Kidō implanted in his body.
"Don't waste your energy," the tall, thin man sneered, patting the Reigai's face. "Your spiritual pressure has been suppressed. No matter how you try, you won't be able to mobilize it."
The Reigai's eyes widened in anger, glaring at the man.
The woman took out a tool bag and spread it open, revealing various instruments of torture hanging inside.
"This is the first time interrogating a Reigai. I wonder how much pain a spiritual body like yours can take..." The woman picked out a needle several centimeters long from the bag.
"Let's start with the easiest one," she said, pinching the Reigai's finger and inserting the long needle into the gap beneath its fingernail.
"AAAAAHHH!!!" A horrifying scream erupted from the Reigai's mouth, and it struggled frantically, trying to escape the pain.
But its hand was held firmly by the woman, making escape impossible.
Her movements were very slow; she needed to prolong the Reigai's suffering as much as possible. As the needle was slowly pushed in, the Reigai's screams grew more and more tragic.
A slight smile appeared on the woman's lips, as if she were enjoying the pleasure of it.
"No matter how many times I hear such wails, they always bring joy to my body and soul~" the tall, thin man chuckled.
"What are you doing to me!" the Reigai screamed.
"It seems you can't wait..." The man walked to the cart and picked up a scalpel. "Rest assured, my technique is a bit more delicate."
Under the Reigai's terrified gaze, the tall, thin man slowly approached with the scalpel.
...
Half an hour later, the Reigai's psychological defenses were shattered.
"I'll talk... What do you want to know!"
These two Reigai were not trained agents. The only reason they could self-destruct so cleanly was because they believed their death was just another form of rebirth.
"What is your purpose? Why were you there?"
"We are new students at the Spiritual Arts Academy... We were captured on our way to report to the academy..."
The information the Reigai gave was not difficult to verify. A simple check with the academy would confirm its truthfulness.
However, Sora, hidden in the shadows, was stirred.
These two Reigai had actually passed the academy's entrance exam!
If they hadn't been found during this screening, they would have likely infiltrated the Spiritual Arts Academy!
"What did you plan to do at the academy?" the man continued to ask.
"To spread the faith of the 'Great God of Soul Soil' among the students... to have them join us..."
"'Great God of Soul Soil'? Some wild god from the Rukongai..." the woman sneered.
"No! The 'Great God of Soul Soil' is not some wild god! He is the god who governs death! You Shinigami, after death, you just dissolve into reishi. But for us believers, death is nothing more than returning to the divine kingdom of our god!" the Reigai became agitated.
The woman frowned and picked up a torture tool, wanting to calm the Reigai down.
Just then, the Reigai's facial expression contorted as if it were enduring some great pain.
A few breaths later, the light in the Reigai's eyes faded, its head lolled to the side, and it passed out.
"What's happening?" the man said, surprised. "He shouldn't have passed out."
The man once again took out the tube that emitted the pungent smell and held it under the Reigai's nose.
But this time, the Reigai was not choked awake by the gas. A white mucus slowly trickled from its nose.
The man's expression changed. He felt something was wrong and quickly checked the Reigai.
He discovered that the Reigai's brain had turned into mush.
"How is that possible! Wasn't his spiritual pressure restrained by the shackles? How did he manage to destroy his own brain?!" The woman's face showed utter astonishment. She couldn't accept that the Reigai had been destroyed in their hands.
"Perhaps someone implanted a type of Kidō formula in their brains that can be activated without spiritual pressure..." The man's face was grim. These two Reigai were important, and now one was destroyed before they could get much information.
Meanwhile, in Muken—
"The 'Voice of Hell' is reacting?" Saitō Furōfushi looked in surprise at the large conch in Sora's hand, which was faintly glowing red. She frowned. "This reaction... could it be that a Gate of Hell has opened nearby, and Hell reishi has spread here?"
The moment the interrogated Reigai lost consciousness, the semi-finished 'Voice of Hell' that Sora had made began to glow.
According to Saitō, this was the reaction of the runes on the device coming into contact with Hell reishi.
For an easy escape, Sora had also deployed shadow eyes in the prison. He used them to observe the situation outside.
However, he did not find any 'Gate of Hell' opening nearby.
If it wasn't an external situation, then there was a problem inside the prison.
Sora felt that the strange change in the Reigai was inextricably linked to the sudden appearance of Hell reishi.
"Let's go take a look outside." Sora dispersed the shadow space and returned to the pitch-black Muken.
Sora walked forward and found that the closer he got to the depths of Muken, the brighter the runes on the 'Voice of Hell' became.
"This Hell reishi is emanating from the depths of Muken!" Sora frowned.
"Could Muken really be connected to Hell?!"
Sora had previously speculated whether there was a connection between the prison and the real Hell. Witnessing such an anomaly today made it difficult for him not to link the two.
"Miss Saitō, there seems to be some rule affecting this space. I cannot enter the depths of Muken. Can you tell me about the situation there?" Sora asked.
"A prisoner like me, although I can enter the depths, I can only go so far," Saitō Furōfushi shook her head. "After a certain distance, I am also blocked by an invisible force."
"The light from the 'Voice of Hell' is fading..." Sora noticed the glow from the conch shell in his hand was weakening. "The concentration of Hell reishi here is thinning!"
"Chant the incantation now and seal the Hell reishi inside the 'Voice of Hell'!" Saitō said.
Sora nodded and began to chant: "With a soul of darkness as the guide, connect to the dark abyss, and listen to the Voice of Hell..."
As he chanted, the dissipating Hell reishi began to converge on the large conch shell in Sora's hand.
The shell instantly glowed with a brilliant red light.
A moment later, the external red light subsided, but the internal characters and symbols were now filled with red reishi.
Gurgle gurgle guu—
A strange, unintelligible sound came from within the large conch shell.
It had already established a connection with a soul in Hell.
Gurgle gurgle guu—
The shell continued to emit the strange, unintelligible sound.
"The one contacted this time is likely not a highly intelligent spiritual body," Saitō said. "Hell, like the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo, has a complete spiritual ecosystem. Not all spiritual bodies are highly intelligent beings."
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