"Unbelievable! What immense spiritual pressure the Lord is exerting!"
"Now isn't the time for that—if he continues this outburst, the entire space of the Underworld will lose its stability!"
Under the weight of this crushing spiritual pressure, the surrounding space began to emit faint cracking sounds. Soul fires from all directions were tossed about like autumn leaves in a storm by the erupting Reiatsu, leaving the landscape in total disarray.
Shisui and Yakumi used Shunpo repeatedly to retreat. Yet, even from a great distance, they could clearly feel the majesty of this spiritual pressure as if it were pressing directly against their faces. The emotions and will contained within it imposed a sense of suppression they had never felt before. Both realized that Kenma was becoming truly serious.
Boom!
A band of light, tall enough to pierce the heavens, exploded. Countless rays of light fell, scattering in all directions and reaching every corner of the world. As these lights drew closer, Shisui and his companion saw clearly that they were essentially invisible threads.
The target of these threads was not the soul fires scattered across the ground. Instead, they latched onto the earth that carried them, the vast sky that enveloped everything, and the gray mist that obscured their vision.
The two men looked at each other again, their shock reaching its limit.
"The Lord is—"
"He's contracting the entire Underworld!"
Their previous assumption had been utterly wrong. They had thought Kenma created such a grand spectacle to connect with all the wandering souls in the Underworld, but they never imagined the final result would be so terrifying. Kenma's vision was grander than anything they could have conceived.
To contract an entire world of the dead—such a thing was beyond their imagination, something they hadn't even thought possible.
As time slowly passed, the rays of light filling the sky suddenly trembled slightly before gradually fading into invisibility.
"Phew, it finally succeeded."
Kenma breathed a sigh of relief as the clear light on his blade subsided. A strange sense of relaxation washed over his heart. He slowly sheathed his sword.
"Thus, the contract is complete!"
Shisui and the others were right. Kenma's goal this time wasn't something as small-minded as contracting a specific soul. It was the very world beneath his feet—this realm of the dead.
Ever since his heart-to-heart talk with his Zanpakuto, this idea had been brewing in his mind. Since his power of connection originated from the Soul King—even allowing him, a traveler from another world, to maintain a fundamental link with the Soul Society so he could live there normally—what would happen if he exerted this powerful ability to its fullest and connected himself to an entire world?
Once the thought took root, it became unstoppable.
The Soul Society possessed the Soul King; its weight was too great and it was too closely linked to the Three Realms and even Hell for him to make a move there yet. But besides the Soul Society, he had other worlds at his disposal.
After two years, his spiritual pressure had finally become sufficient. Back during the rebellion of Kuchiki Kōga, he had only just touched the threshold of Second-Class Reii. However, over these two years, the spiritual pressure of Fugaku and Shisui had grown to the Captain level, and the clansmen with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan had reached the level of Vice-Captains.
Added to that was Urahara Kisuke, who had broken through to Second-Class Reii, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who had stepped into the Captain class, and the diligent cultivation of his other contractors. Together, these people provided Kenma with a leap in growth, allowing him to reach First-Class Reii—a level extremely rare even in the Seireitei or the greater Soul Society.
Such intensity of spiritual pressure was rare in the world and was enough to support a connection between him and an entire dimension. This coincided perfectly with Luffy's crew setting sail again, and Kenma's gaze naturally fell upon Brook, who served as a link to the Underworld.
Now, it seemed his plan had gone off without a single hitch. Everything had unfolded according to his design.
This immense spiritual pressure, combined with the high-level authority of the Soul King, had thoroughly linked him to the world beneath his feet. From now on, he and this Underworld were bound by an ironclad contract of shared destiny. As long as the Underworld existed, his existence would not perish.
The only way he might be affected would be if a celestial civilization suddenly appeared in this world of pirates and used a planet-destroying ship to turn the globe into dust. But was that even possible?
Furthermore, he didn't just have this world. The Pure Land of the Ninja World, the Hidden Realm of the Jujutsu World, and the afterlives of various other worlds would eventually be his.
What surprised him even more was that connecting with the Underworld, despite the grand scale, only consumed a single "slot" of his capacity. It was no different from connecting with a single wandering soul.
'Because I am connecting to the world as a whole, it counts as a single entity, just like an individual soul.'
After Kenma sheathed his sword and the world-shaking phenomena faded, Shisui and Yakumi appeared behind him.
"Lord, what you just did—"
"Could it really be the entire Underworld?"
Hearing their tense and hesitant questions, Kenma slowly turned around. Under their expressions of utter disbelief, he let out a soft laugh.
"Yes, Shisui, Yakumi. My vision was a success."
The smile on Kenma's face was genuine and full of relief. But to Shisui and Yakumi, the shock of seeing him smile was no less than the shock of his grand feat.
Yakumi took it a bit better; he had been stationed in the Pirate World and hadn't had much contact with Kenma, only knowing his master as a stern individual. Shisui was different. He served at Kenma's side daily and was intimately familiar with his demeanor. Yet, he had never seen Kenma smile before. Not even on his wedding night.
Shisui had always assumed his master suffered from some form of facial paralysis. But now, he was seeing it with his own eyes. Lord Kenma was actually laughing.
"Lord... it is you, isn't it?"
As Shisui's words fell, Yakumi looked at him in disbelief. Hearing this, Kenma laughed again.
"Don't worry, Shisui. I'm fine."
"It's just... I suddenly feel very happy. Truly happy."
It was a feeling of fulfillment unlike anything he had felt before. The fears that had plagued his days and the nightmares he could never escape had completely vanished in this moment, leaving his heart clean and light.
Watching the smile on Kenma's face, Shisui's expression shifted from astonishment to realization. A heartfelt smile of his own began to spread across his face.
"So the Lord really can smile—"
This was truly wonderful. He could finally be at peace. Snapping back to reality, Shisui quickly knelt on the ground, his voice filled with sincere joy.
"I offer my congratulations to the Lord! Such a feat is truly earth-shattering. I only wish for the Lord to take further steps until he reaches the very peak!"
Yakumi followed suit, kneeling quickly. "Congratulations to the Lord on the success of this endeavor! I offer my greetings!"
"There's no need for such formality. Rise."
Kenma helped the two of them up, and the smile on his face gradually receded. Looking at the two Uchiha before him, his expression turned solemn, and his voice carried a deep weight.
"From this day forth, I am the Lord of the Underworld. As long as the Underworld remains, I shall not perish."
He looked at the two men as they stood, his eyes flashing with a startling brilliance.
"And if I do not perish, you shall never fade away!"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]