Chapter 37: Anyway, Let's Exploit a Bug First
"?"
She slowly drew out a question mark, then immediately slipped into the role of an overworked employee, sighing dramatically:
"You let me take all that pain for you, and this is the attitude I get?"
"Why do you think I'm the king and you're the mount?" Mizuma's mouth twitched. "Don't play dumb—I saw you trembling and sneaking glances at me."
"Just because I can move doesn't mean I'm not in pain… You try it, see if you don't keel over worse than me…"
Ryugetsu hissed through her teeth, shivering as she propped herself up and stubbornly shuffled over to her desk. She grabbed a bottle of cola, twisted the cap a few times, failed miserably, and finally handed it to Mizuma with teary eyes.
He popped it open with a click and handed it back, watching his zanpakutō guzzle soda like a starved soul as he asked,
"You're the one directly taking the Divine Sword's spiritual pressure—you must know it better than I do. Any ideas?"
"...Ideas, huh? Not none."
Ryugetsu gulped half the bottle in one go, her face looking a little less pale. Wiping sweat from her forehead with a tissue, she finally said,
"Well, that agony wasn't for nothing. I've at least figured out something about the sword."
"Let's hear it." Mizuma drank the rest of the cola, feeling oddly nostalgic.
"If we miss out on a treasure like this, neither of us will sleep easy."
"Easy for you to say! Maybe go find someone else to share the pain with, huh?" Ryugetsu rolled her eyes weakly. "Look at me—like a delicate flower impaled by a red-hot iron bar… I call you Master, can't you act a little more like one?"
"Why does my zanpakutō talk like a walking lewd joke?"
"...You really have to ask?"
"Ahem. Not important."
Mizuma turned away. "Time's short. Just tell me your plan."
Ryugetsu gave him a resentful look, then wrapped herself tightly in her blanket like a silkworm cocoon, leaving only her head poking out.
"In short—the Divine Sword's core property should be 'mirroring.'"
"Mirroring? Not time?"
"No. What you sensed was just its auxiliary 'scanning function.'"
Ryugetsu sighed.
"Think of it like Braille for the blind. The time-aspected reiryoku acts as the sword's sensory system. Once it comes into contact with external spiritual pressure, it can read that information—then adjust its own nature to match the target, establishing a channel and transferring reiryoku."
Mizuma thought for a moment, then offered a gamer's analogy:
"So basically… an auto-refill mana potion?"
"Exactly," Ryugetsu nodded. "Forget about attack power—for anyone holding it, they'd basically never run out of spirit energy again."
"But that still doesn't solve the part where it blows me up."
"Then you'll be disappointed."
"Huh?"
She mimed lifting a barbell:
"That thing's got at least a few hundred Kenpachi-worths of reiryoku. We're not even a fraction of that. You expect a kid to swing a hammer that weighs a few tons?"
"...Fair point," Mizuma sighed. "So what's your plan?"
"If we can't use it, we take it with us."
Ryugetsu puffed her chest proudly.
"Funny coincidence—the energy it uses to sense and link with others is the same type as mine: time-based reiryoku."
"Meaning?"
"I can trick it. Make it feed power into itself." She jabbed a trembling thumb at her chest.
"Once it enters self-loop mode, you won't need to worry about exploding."
"Confident?"
"No idea. Wanna try?"
"Yeah!"
---
A short while later, the Divine Sword's blinding light began to fade.
Urahara dispelled the crimson barrier surrounding himself, Lisa, and Kensei, then turned his gaze toward the center of the arena—where something strange was happening.
The crystal encasing the sword began to tremble… then liquefied, turning into floating layers of transparent fluid.
The liquid rippled, then surged toward the sword's hilt, flooding into it in seconds. The sword lost its support, fell—and was caught neatly by the mysterious "messenger."
An instant later, the bound red dragon's head snapped upward in terror. With a shriek, it was yanked backward, turning into a streak of crimson light that was also absorbed into the sword's hilt.
Kensei: "...?"
Lisa: "...?"
Turning around, they noticed the blue barrier blocking the exit had vanished as well.
The two looked ready to bombard him with questions, but Urahara motioned for them to wait and stepped forward, asking,
"So—it's handled?"
"Obviously," Mizuma replied lightly, weighing the Divine Sword in his hand.
"Mission accomplished."
He'd really done it.
Following Ryuugetsu's plan, he'd tricked the sword into looping its own energy—basically making it charge itself. Whether it'd short-circuit later didn't matter; what mattered was that the sword was now his.
For some reason, both the crystal and the red dragon had been drawn into the sword's internal energy circuit, absorbed in a way he couldn't yet explain. But there was no increase in weight, so… future research project.
Looking at it now, though, the sword's actual use seemed… limited.
With his current power, breaking that loop would be suicide. So for now, the Divine Sword was little more than a really tough metal stick—a glorified battery backup for when he ran low on reiryoku.
Which, to be fair, had never once happened.
"Looks like the barrier's gone."
Urahara scratched his head, smiling.
"I'll take Kensei and Lisa for treatment. What about you? Reporting back to your family?"
"I've got… other matters to handle."
Mizuma waved it off vaguely.
"Dragged into a mess this big, aren't you at least going home to check in?"
"Eh, no need…"
Urahara chuckled.
"I am still a Gotei 13 captain, you know. Got plenty of paperwork waiting."
---
TL: Maybe I should've changed the Divine Sword to something else but oh well..it is what it is ig.
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