Several days later.
Sarcophagus Stone Mine Laboratory, training ground.
In the center of the training ground, Sora sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.
Numerous crystal-clear blue lines covered the skin of his upper body.
He was training his Blut Vene ability.
Ever since returning from Hueco Mundo, he had been training in this facility.
Now, his Blut Vene could extend to his entire upper body.
The larger the area covered, the more difficult it became.
Once it covered his entire arm, the difficulty increased severalfold.
Fortunately, Sora had healing Kidō to treat himself, allowing for continuous trial and error.
Otherwise, his progress would not have been so fast.
Sora's brow twitched, and he opened his eyes.
He glanced at his panel. His Blut Vene had just leveled up.
[Blut Vene Lv 35 (0/700)]
"At level 50, Blut Vene should be able to cover my entire body,"
Sora thought to himself.
He gathered spiritual pressure in his right hand, forming a reishi blade.
He was going to use it to test the defensive power of his Blut Vene.
With a slight application of force, the reishi blade made his skin indent slightly but did not break it.
Blut Vene did not make the skin lose its flexibility.
As he applied more force, the blue lines of the Blut Vene sparked with reishi, and the blade smoothly pierced his skin.
"As the coverage area of Blut Vene increases, its defensive power also gets higher and higher. It's now equivalent to a low-tier Bakudō..."
Sora was very satisfied with this.
A low-tier Bakudō cast by him was not of ordinary strength.
A Shinigami below the rank of a seated officer could probably exhaust themselves to death without being able to break his skin.
"The advantage of Blut Vene is obvious. As long as I don't switch to Blut Arterie, it enhances my defense without any active effort."
Blut Vene and Blut Arterie were core abilities of pure-blooded Quincy and were extremely practical.
Once the Blut was set up, it would become a passive ability.
Sora took out his Denreishinki. The reason he had stopped was not because of the level-up notification, but because he had received a message.
Yoruichi's voice came from the device: "Professor I found the Quincy spiritual tool in my family's secret vault. Come and get it when you're free"
"Yoruichi is so fast. I just told her about it last night."
Sora felt a warmth in his heart. Yoruichi always took his words seriously. Often, things he mentioned casually would be done for him immediately.
Sora activated his Denreishinki and replied: "I'm free now. I'll come over to get it right away."
On the other side—
Yoruichi was lying on her bed, her feet propped up and swinging back and forth in the air.
She was reading a book.
This was a rare sight.
She rarely read books on her own initiative, and it had been like that since she was a child.
The book she was reading had been found in her family's secret vault.
It was a book about Quincy.
It was probably something confiscated from a Quincy by the Onmitsukidō.
It recorded some of the Quincy's customs.
"Ah... giving this... has such a meaning..."
After turning the page, there was no more content.
Yoruichi put down the book, feeling unsatisfied, and picked up a silver ring beside her, spinning it on her middle finger.
"If I give this to the Professor, will it cause a misunderstanding?"
Yoruichi looked conflicted. She rolled over onto her back, using the book as a pillow.
She raised her right hand, carefully examining the silver ring on her middle finger.
"What misunderstanding! This is a great opportunity to confess your feelings, Yoruichi Shihōin!!!"
A vibrant smile appeared on Yoruichi's face.
Just then, she sensed a new message on her Denreishinki.
"This reishi frequency... it's the Professor's private channel!"
Yoruichi took out the device and immediately sat up cross-legged.
The Professor's gentle voice came from the Denreishinki:
"I'm free now. I'll come over to get it right away."
"The Professor is coming over?" Yoruichi's heart leaped with joy, but then she saw the silver ring on her right hand and became flustered. "Oh no... I should have prepared!!!"
Yoruichi quickly replied: "Professor... I need to prepa... uh, I still have some business to attend to in the 2nd Division. Please come over tonight instead!"
The voice came back: "Then you take care of your business first. There's no rush."
Yoruichi breathed a sigh of relief.
"For such an important occasion, I need to prepare properly..." Yoruichi called for a maid. "Aoi, come help me get dressed!"
The maid poked her head in from the door, her small face full of confusion.
"My lady, isn't the festival still a few days away?"
"Don't worry about that, just hurry up!"
...
On a hot summer day, the riverside was not quiet even after nightfall. The sound of cicadas echoed from the woods.
Sora stood on the riverbank, gazing at the gurgling water under the moonlight.
Across this river was the Shihōin clan's territory. He was waiting here for Yoruichi.
He had come to get the spiritual tool, but Yoruichi had said she would be getting off work late and had arranged to meet him here at this time.
"It's a little strange... wouldn't it be better to wait at her house?
The scenery here is nice, though."
Sora wasn't sure why Yoruichi had chosen this meeting spot.
However, this was also the necessary path from the 2nd Division to the Shihōin estate, so Sora didn't think much of it.
After waiting for a while, Sora's spiritual sense twitched. He sensed Yoruichi approaching.
"Why is she coming from the direction of the Shihōin estate?"
Sora looked up in confusion towards the opposite bank.
On the other side, a figure in a pure white dress had appeared at some point.
The corner of Sora's eye twitched.
Standing on the opposite bank was Yoruichi Shihōin.
She was wearing an attire completely different from the Shinigami style.
She wore a white dress and long white gloves.
The splendidly dressed Yoruichi slowly walked across the sparkling water.
"Hehe Do I look pretty"
After landing in front of Sora, Yoruichi lifted her skirt and spun around.
As she spun, the tips of her hair gently brushed against Sora's face, and a faint fragrance entered his nose.
"Wait, what's with this outfit?!"
Sora found it hard to imagine seeing Yoruichi in something like a Western-style wedding dress.
"I had it made based on a drawing in a book!" Yoruichi asked with a beaming smile, "Do I look pretty~"
The Shihōin family's tailors were very skilled. In just one day, they had created a garment non-existent in the Soul Society, based on a single portrait from a book.
"With your figure, you look good in anything," Sora couldn't help but ask, "What book were you reading that had this style of clothing?"
"A Quincy book!"
"Quincy... that makes sense... in the human world, only the countries they once ruled would wear clothes like this."
Sora scratched his face.
In the past, the Quincy had a vast empire in the human world.
"I found the spiritual tool you wanted, Professor. Hold out your left hand~"
Yoruichi put her hands behind her back, her face full of anticipation.
"Why the left hand..."
Sora was a bit puzzled, but he held out his left hand anyway.
Yoruichi took his hand and placed a silver ring on his middle finger.
"The book said that when you give a ring to the one you love, you have to wear this kind of dress~"
Yoruichi said bluntly, her orange eyes sparkling.
She stared intently into Sora's eyes, waiting for his answer.
"That's a wedding dress... it's supposed to be worn during a wedding."
"Huh?! A we... wedding? The book... the book didn't say that!"
Yoruichi's cheeks turned bright red. She had intended to use this opportunity to express her feelings, but she had misunderstood the book's content.
Just as Yoruichi was at a loss, Sora said softly:
"But... I like this gift very much."
...
In his room, Sora raised his left hand. The surrounding reishi quickly gathered towards the silver ring on his middle finger.
After gathering on the ring, it expanded into a blue spirit bow and a Heilig Pfeil.
Yoruichi touched the arrowhead, her eyes shining with wonder.
Sora was demonstrating his Quincy power to her.
Yoruichi had been pestering him all night, wanting to see it.
Sora had no choice but to let her experience his Quincy power for herself.
"You really have mastered Quincy power!"
Yoruichi was convinced.
She had been a bit skeptical before, wondering how Sora could have such a power.
But after he let her experience it firsthand, she had no choice but to believe.
"My Quincy power comes from the Soul King."
Sora revealed a part of the truth.
It wasn't entirely wrong to say so.
His Quincy power was taken from the Kurosaki clan and originally belonged to Yhwach's bloodline.
But after being processed by the giant eye, it no longer had any connection to Yhwach.
And since the giant eye was a creation of the Soul King, by extension, the power came from the Soul King.
"The Soul King does indeed have Quincy power..."
As a member of the Shihōin clan who knew many secrets, Yoruichi had read in ancient texts that the Soul King possessed Quincy power.
"But, why is the Professor connected to the Soul King?"
Yoruichi asked, puzzled.
"That has to do with my origin," Sora said slowly. "In all the three realms, only the Soul King, the Royal Guard, and Batsu'unsai know of this."
Sora was having a deep conversation with Yoruichi.
He had thought carefully before saying this. Yoruichi was now the head of the Shihōin clan, and he needed her support for certain matters.
The Shihōin clan already knew a lot about the Soul King, so telling Yoruichi was fine.
"The Professor's origin?"
Yoruichi realized the following words were important and immediately sat up straight.
The wedding dress she had worn last night was too restrictive for movement, so she had taken it off as soon as she got back.
"You should have heard that Batsu'unsai brought me back from the Rukongai, right?"
"Yes, we all heard that from Grandmaster..."
"You command the Onmitsukidō, so you should know that Batsu'unsai participated in the 'Captain Completion Project'."
"Yes... what does that have to do with you, Professor?"
Yoruichi was slightly taken aback. Although she didn't know the specifics of the project, she quickly realized what Sora was about to say. "A Reigai?!"
"My spiritual body is Batsu'unsai's Reigai."
Sora nodded.
"Grandmaster's Reigai?!"
Yoruichi was shocked. Her first reaction was disbelief. "Can a Reigai really grow to this extent?"
Judging by the timeline, if Katori Sora was a Reigai, he must have been created before the technology was sealed.
As far as she knew, the Reigai technology at that time could only create a Reigai with a Spiritual Authority of the 20th Class.
"The Reigai is just a vessel."
Sora shook his head and continued, "Within my spiritual body, there is also the 'Soul King's Shadow'."
"Huh?!"
Yoruichi's mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg.
"I don't know if you know about Jūshirō Ukitake's background."
Although Sora used Ukitake as an example, his own situation was actually completely different.
The Soul King's right arm within Ukitake's body was a separate entity.
It was merely possessing him.
Ukitake himself was not the right arm.
But Sora was the 'Soul King's Shadow' itself.
After this 'Soul King's Shadow' merged with the Reigai, it became an independent individual.
"Although the situations are somewhat different, both of our spiritual bodies contain a fragment of the Soul King."
Sora did not explain the difference.
"Captain Ukitake..." Yoruichi came to a realization. "I see..."
As the head of the Shihōin clan and commander of the Onmitsukidō, she knew more than other Shinigami.
She knew a little about Ukitake's situation.
"Captain Ukitake's case can be said to be a coincidence... so how did the Professor come to be possessed by the Soul King's Shadow?"
Yoruichi had a new question.
"That has to do with the Royal Guard. It was Shutara Senjumaru who sewed the Soul King's Shadow into Batsu'unsai's Reigai," Sora said.
"The Royal Guard..." Yoruichi frowned, connecting it to the 'Captain Completion Project'. "They wanted to use the Soul King's power to cultivate a Reigai, to create a new spiritual core for Grandmaster Batsu'unsai to replace?!"
"Are they going to dig out the Professor's spiritual core?!" Yoruichi's brow furrowed.
She would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen!
"Batsu'unsai voluntarily gave up on that plan," Sora shook his head. "I also have a new solution. As you know, we obtained a lot of Reigai research data from Tetsuya Miyamoto's lab last time. The technology has now broken through its bottleneck. Developing a spiritual core that can bear Batsu'unsai's spiritual pressure is only a matter of time."
"That's good..." Yoruichi was relieved.
"Possessing the Soul King's Shadow is not necessarily all good."
Sora gave Yoruichi a heads-up. "As the head of the Shihōin clan, you should know the Soul King's current state."
"Yes... although it's a bit hard to say, but..." Yoruichi frowned. "The current situation in the Soul Society and the Soul King's predicament were indeed brought about by the five great noble families."
"It was also the Soul King's own choice."
Sora said.
The more one knew, the more one understood that the Soul King's power was far beyond what the five great noble families could compare to.
Becoming the linchpin of the three realms was his own choice.
"That's what the Shihōin ancestors said as well," Yoruichi nodded. "The Soul King made a sacrifice for the stability of the three realms. But why did you say possessing the Soul King's Shadow isn't entirely a good thing, Professor? Will you be influenced by the Soul King?"
"There are no signs of influence at the moment, but if something goes wrong with the balance of the three realms, people like Ukitake and I will have to step up," Sora said.
"The balance of the three realms... with the Soul King supporting it, there shouldn't be any problems, right?" Yoruichi asked, puzzled.
"Nothing is certain in this world. For one thing, the Lord of Hell has been making frequent moves. He might do something to harm the three realms in the future. I must be prepared to face any crisis."
Sora looked at Yoruichi seriously. "Yoruichi, I need more fragments of the Soul King."
The Shihōin clan had a long history and had witnessed the division of the Soul King. They should also have some fragments in their collection.
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