Blade revealed—blood sprayed.
Urahara Kisuke caught Higashino Shuuichi's Zanpakutō with his own, yet the reiatsu (spiritual pressure) condensed around Higashino Shuuichi still carved streak after streak of blood across Urahara's body.
A shihakushō (Soul Reaper uniform) couldn't be completely destroyed, but Urahara's flesh couldn't withstand reiatsu that sharp.
"That's impossible! This is frozen time—why can you move freely too?!"
Tsukabishi Tessai stared at the suddenly appearing Higashino Shuuichi, eyes wide.
Higashino Shuuichi's performance had already surpassed what he understood of the world.
Urahara Kisuke, however, remained calm—there was even that faint, lingering smile on his face, as if everything were still within his grasp.
"Shinki Mosoku… that's your Zanpakutō's true Bankai ability. If I'm not mistaken, it can counter any ability, can't it?"
Blades split—figures scattered.
Urahara and Higashino Shuuichi opened distance once more.
Urahara wanted time to think and catch his breath, but Higashino Shuuichi wouldn't grant him even that.
Chōgetsu (Moon-Picking)!
Urahara's vision was sealed off for an instant—blackness became the only color in his world.
That invisible attack, like a specter moving through darkness, cut toward Urahara's chest.
"Kisuke!"
Tessai had already experienced being struck by Chōgetsu once, so he understood exactly what kind of danger Urahara was facing.
It meant losing all ability to judge and perceive the immediate threat.
Brief—yet lethal.
Urahara's eyes went blank.
His vision had been restricted, and his sensing was clogged in that moment… but that didn't stop his body from producing an instinctive counter.
Kōka no Tate (Crimson Haze Shield)!
A blood-bright reishi shield formed before Urahara. Higashino Shuuichi's blade struck it head-on.
Of course, that vivid shield couldn't withstand Higashino Shuuichi's slash—cracks spread, it shattered, fragments flew, and Higashino Shuuichi's Zanpakutō cleaved upward in points as the shield crumbled inch by inch.
It looked just as fragile as Tessai's Dankū had been—yet it wasn't quite the same.
"Scatter… Benihime…"
Beneath those hollow eyes, Urahara's lips moved faintly.
The surface of the Crimson Haze Shield—and every scattered shard of it—turned into crimson light and shot toward Higashino Shuuichi.
"So… will you keep cutting?" Urahara's mouth tilted slightly.
"Or will you eat this hit?"
"With that abnormal regeneration of yours… you'll definitely choose to tank it, right?"
That was the most normal, most rational choice. Urahara didn't doubt Higashino Shuuichi would do exactly that.
But Higashino Shuuichi withdrew.
And the speed of his retreat exceeded even Urahara's expectations.
In the trails left through the air, all that could be seen were afterimages—Higashino Shuuichi severing those crimson rays as he pulled away.
Urahara's eyes regained their light. Tessai arrived at his side at the same moment, and like Urahara, he couldn't help feeling puzzled by Higashino Shuuichi's choice just now.
After all, Higashino Shuuichi's recovery—beyond even a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow—was no secret among captain-level shinigami anymore.
Higashino Shuuichi could've ignored everything and gone for a trade of wounds—his most commonly used fighting style in the past, and also the most unsolvable.
"Ah… right. I almost forgot." Urahara sighed with a hint of regret. "After you returned to Soul Society, you served as Grand Blade-Hunting Chief for quite a while, working under the Tsunayashiro clan. For you, checking certain records would be as easy as breathing… so you already know what my Bankai is, don't you?"
Thinking it through, Higashino Shuuichi's abnormal behavior did make sense.
If he knew what Urahara's Bankai was… then of course he wouldn't keep using that old, brute-force strategy of trading injuries.
Because—
"Bankai: Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame!"
Urahara rested his Zanpakutō in his palm and stroked it lightly.
Behind him, a gigantic woman appeared—long hair tied in a classical bun, sleeveless kimono, limbs jointed like a puppet.
She wrapped Urahara gently in her arms.
In that instant, every object struck by the crimson light that had just exploded—ground, walls, anything they touched, anything those fragments touched—everything, including whatever that massive Benihime puppet woman touched at this very moment, all seemed to "come alive."
Kiii… creak…
Kiii… creak…
Within Higashino Shuuichi's sight, countless "people" and shinigami—some familiar, some not—were mass-produced on the spot.
Unlike Reigai, these "people" all bore obvious stitch marks, as if crudely sewn together with needle and thread.
"I saw it earlier," Urahara said, standing in Benihime's open palm, facing Higashino Shuuichi. "When you dealt with that giant monster Kabuma Sayako-san created, you used something like aging and viral self-disintegration. But after fighting this long, I haven't seen you use it at all."
"So, Shuuichi-kun… I have a bold guess. I know you won't answer me, but hear me out anyway—does your Zanpakutō's Bankai only generate specific countermeasures against specific abilities? And once the corresponding ability disappears, the special ability your Bankai produced… disappears as well?"
Urahara lifted a finger and pointed.
"Kyōraku Shunsui" sprang up from the ground and slashed a red Kidō no Yaiba (Kidō Blade) toward Higashino Shuuichi.
Higashino Shuuichi cut it down with a swing—yet "Kyōraku Shunsui" used that moment to close the distance, pressing right up to Higashino Shuuichi—
"Bankai: Jakuhō Raikōben!"
A massive crimson missile extended outward along "Kyōraku Shunsui's" body—whose frame exploded apart under the strain of that level of reiatsu.
The warhead stopped less than a centimeter from Higashino Shuuichi's nose.
To freely remodel anything within the range his Zanpakutō could touch—this was the power of Urahara's Bankai.
Once, Urahara had limited that power to "scientific" modifications. But after he went to the West Administration and witnessed former Twelfth Division Captain Miyazaki Sakai Masato's wild, unrestrained development of Reigai, Urahara gained an entirely new understanding of his own Bankai.
In theory, his Bankai could remodel anything—shinigami and Hollows included.
A body made on the spot like this was definitely less stable than a true Reigai… but precisely because it was less stable, it carried more possibilities.
Like right now—using "Kyōraku Shunsui's" appearance and reiatsu to unleash Soifon's power.
"No wonder… my Shinki Mosoku didn't react to Urahara Kisuke's Bankai at all."
The moment Higashino Shuuichi saw that puppet wearing "Kyōraku Shunsui's" face unleash Soifon's Bankai, his confusion was instantly resolved.
This was a brand-new application that didn't exist in his memories—a special power Urahara had developed after the butterfly effect of everything Higashino Shuuichi had changed.
If he tanked this "one-hit kill" head-on… he'd die, wouldn't he?
Higashino Shuuichi had no doubt.
Soifon's Bankai was never weak—what limited it was her "weak" reiatsu compared to later monsters.
Give that Bankai enough reiatsu to support it, and even gods could be slaughtered.
And when Higashino Shuuichi tried to counter with his own Bankai ability, he discovered something else—Shinki Mosoku couldn't take effect on this "one-hit kill."
Because the entity firing the "one-hit kill" had already blown apart.
Like a skill in a game that required locking onto a target—only for the target to vanish mid-cast.
"So that's another weakness…"
Higashino Shuuichi sighed inwardly.
Still, learning this flaw in his true Bankai was a good thing. Once he went to train and deepen his understanding under the Zero Division, he could develop targeted solutions to patch it.
As for right now—
Right in front of Tessai and Urahara, Higashino Shuuichi threw his Zanpakutō away at the final instant before Jakuhō Raikōben detonated.
Inside this gray, frozen time, the massive explosion erupted—but after the shockwave passed, Higashino Shuuichi—whose body, like everyone else, had fallen into a frozen state—remained completely unharmed.
"In frozen time, you can't harm objects that are affected by the stop," Tessai explained to Urahara after seeing that. "That's the rule of the world."
Because at the last moment, Higashino Shuuichi had ended his Bankai state—allowing Tessai's time stop to affect him.
How to put it… it felt a little unfortunate—yet also not that unfortunate. Because Urahara hadn't wanted to kill Higashino Shuuichi at this point anyway.
In Urahara's plan, Higashino Shuuichi still played an indispensable role.
But then… why was there that faint disappointment in his chest?
Urahara looked at the completely frozen Higashino Shuuichi and shook his head. To think of exploiting the world's rules in a split second—without any mental preparation—to avoid a fatal wound…
In all of Soul Society, there was probably only one man who could do that: Higashino Shuuichi.
"What terrifying battle instinct…"
Urahara couldn't help but marvel as he watched Higashino Shuuichi's motionless body.
And it was precisely because Higashino Shuuichi was that strong that he qualified to become a key chess piece in Urahara's plan. Otherwise, most people didn't even deserve the chance to be a piece.
Yet the longer Urahara stared, the more something felt off.
It was as if Higashino Shuuichi was missing something.
What was it?
Urahara replayed the way Higashino Shuuichi had fought earlier.
The current Higashino Shuuichi, and the earlier Higashino Shuuichi—
He remembered.
The Zanpakutō!
Higashino Shuuichi had no Zanpakutō on him right now!
Logically, after ending Bankai, his Zanpakutō should also have been affected by the time stop—lying quietly somewhere near him.
But now, there was no trace of a Zanpakutō anywhere around Higashino Shuuichi!
"Bankai, Shinki Mosoku!"
Suddenly, within this space, a man dressed like a scholar clapped his hands together, and a deep voice echoed through the air.
Higashino Shuuichi's senses returned to normal—exactly as he'd predicted: Jakuhō Raikōben had detonated, and he was still unscathed.
Everything around them was calm and clear, like sea and sky after a storm.
"Heh… Higashino Shuuichi…" Urahara broke into a bright laugh—this one truly from the heart.
"This time, I learned something."
Ninety-nine point nine nine percent of people, in that situation just now, would've had no possibility of turning the tables.
But Higashino Shuuichi did it—by a route Urahara had never once imagined.
In Urahara's mind, the success rate had been a full hundred percent… until the existence of this freak called Higashino Shuuichi introduced the tiniest deviation into that "one hundred."
"Separating your Zanpakutō from yourself completely, letting it exist as an independent entity… so even if your body is affected, it doesn't affect your Zanpakutō's ability to act with its original power."
"Heh… what a simple idea, right? The moment you say it and do it, it's obvious. But until now, I'd never thought of it that way…"
Urahara was shaken by Higashino Shuuichi's groundbreaking leap of thinking. As a researcher, he even felt Higashino Shuuichi had opened a brand-new path he'd never considered.
If this were some country in the World of the Living, Urahara felt even giving Higashino Shuuichi a Nobel Prize wouldn't be too much.
But to Higashino Shuuichi, this wasn't worth any fuss at all. He was even curious—hadn't Urahara already seen Urozakuro, and known about Azashiro Kenpachi and his Zanpakutō Urozakuro, that kind of special existence?
After all, Higashino Shuuichi's method was modeled on Urozakuro and Azashiro Kenpachi's structure.
The only difference was that Urozakuro could act freely thanks to its innate Zanpakutō ability, while Higashino Shuuichi's "Zanpakutō acting independently" relied on preparation before departure—he'd found Urozakuro and, despite its exhaustion, had it mold a Kuchiki Kōga and use Muramasa no Sasayaki (Muramasa's Whisper) on Higashino Shuuichi's Zanpakutō.
A back-up plan Higashino Shuuichi had deliberately kept—because he'd suspected Tessai might enter the battle.
So in truth, this "method" wasn't new—most shinigami simply couldn't do it before.
His Zanpakutō returned to his hand. Higashino Shuuichi looked at Urahara and Tessai.
"I said it already. Today… you're not leaving!"
This time, Higashino Shuuichi truly felt killing intent toward Urahara Kisuke.
He didn't know what Urahara was plotting—but no matter what it was, if he killed Urahara now, nothing would matter anymore.
Only, Urahara had already found the weakness in Higashino Shuuichi's seemingly unsolvable Bankai ability in the clash just now.
"Don't speak too confidently, Shuuichi-kun~" Urahara smiled.
"From the fact you still haven't used a Bankai countermeasure against me, it's obvious your Bankai activation has conditions."
"Whether it can only target one person at a time, or it needs time to analyze the opponent's ability—either way, one thing is certain."
"Right now, you have no answer to my Bankai~"
Higashino Shuuichi swung a single slash—half the world became sharply layered.
That was his reply. Yet at the end of it, Urahara used Benihime's power to block it with ease.
Higashino Shuuichi understood: Urahara wasn't wrong. Until his Zanpakutō fully analyzed all the information of Urahara's current abilities, it couldn't generate the corresponding countermeasure against Urahara's Bankai.
That was the flaw of Higashino Shuuichi's currently incomplete Bankai.
So Tessai, understanding instantly, unfolded another forbidden-class Kidō:
Kūkan Ido (Spatial Transfer).
Compared to the spatial Kidō used by Hollows—or the Senpan Hakujya (Thousandfold White Serpent) style spatial Kidō developed by Aizen—Tessai's forbidden-class Kidō had no warning signs when activated, and its distance and destination weren't restricted in any way.
So long as he had enough reiatsu, Tessai could bring anyone to any location instantly.
And to this day, no one knew what price Tessai had paid to master such forbidden techniques.
At the very least, with Urahara helping hold the line, Tessai escaped right in front of Higashino Shuuichi's eyes—taking Urahara with him.
Higashino Shuuichi's Bankai could have stopped Tessai from using spatial Kidō, but just as Urahara had said—
As long as Urahara inserted himself between them, Higashino Shuuichi's Bankai ability couldn't bypass Urahara to directly affect Tessai.
"Next time, Urahara Kisuke… when we meet again—after I've mastered a complete Bankai from the Zero Division…"
"You won't have this kind of luck again."
Higashino Shuuichi stared at the place where Urahara and Tessai had just been, his eyes filled with unwavering resolve.
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