"What is... this?"
A dark red world, with no up, down, left, or right, and devoid of any matter.
The entire world was filled with a red glow; everything within sight was meaningless.
"Hello, Kuchiki Rukia."
Rias appeared in this world, causing Rukia to instinctively step back.
However, simply making such a movement was utterly meaningless.
Attack?
Defense?
Evade?
Everything would be destroyed; in a world where nothing existed, every action was pointless.
Rias reached out, and a sliver of light bloomed.
Under the effect of a unique Formula, Kuchiki Rukia's entire body was scanned.
From her spiritual body to her inner soul, tracing the light within the soul.
Soon, Rias saw what she was looking for.
"The Hōgyoku."
Rias's expression softened slightly as she murmured, "It seems my luck is quite good."
Her hand slowly reached into Rukia's soul. Since Rukia herself had no connection to the Hōgyoku—unlike the close bond of a Sacred Gear—Rias easily pulled the Hōgyoku out.
"What is this?"
Rukia watched in astonishment as Rias removed the Hōgyoku from her chest.
"Someone placed this inside your body for their own purposes."
Rias explained, then added, "Although this item doesn't belong to you, it was taken from your body after all, so I will give you a corresponding reward."
"A reward..." Rukia felt that nothing was wrong with her body and said warily, "There's no need for a reward."
"Are you sure?"
Rias smiled. "Even if Shiba Kaien and Shiba Miyako will die in the future, it doesn't matter?"
"What?!"
Rukia exclaimed.
"You can consider it as me having the ability to foresee the future."
Rias said nonchalantly, "I can help you, purely as a reward. But if you refuse my reward, I won't owe you anything."
"..."
Rukia clenched her fists.
She couldn't be sure if what Rias said was true, but for now, Rias didn't seem to have any ill intent.
If—just saying if—she missed this opportunity.
The woman she admired, the superior who had kindly helped her, could have had a chance to be saved, but she failed to seize it... Just thinking about that possibility made Rukia tremble.
Taking a deep breath, Rukia asked cautiously, "May I ask, what will you do?"
"It's simple."
Rias took out two amulets and a magical device, saying, "This is a simple magical device capable of storing souls."
"Give these two amulets to them. If nothing happens, they won't activate. If they die, their souls will be directly absorbed by the power within the amulets and transferred into the magical device."
The power of Shinigamis and Hollows is based on the soul forming a spiritual body, thereby gaining the ability to fight.
Ordinary souls have no spiritual power, or rather, their spiritual power itself constitutes their soul. Without external conditions to break the boundary, they cannot absorb reishi to transform it into spiritual pressure.
These souls gradually weaken and are converted into reishi; in the Soul Society, they are known as 'Pluses'.
souls without spiritual power don't need to eat or drink; they simply fade away naturally.
souls with spiritual power form a more resilient spiritual body. Even if attacked by a Zanpakutō, they will bleed but won't suffer irreparable injuries.
A spiritual body and a soul are essentially the same, except one has spiritual pressure to protect itself.
To use an analogy, the soul is like muscle, while the spiritual body is like skin.
Without spiritual pressure, a spiritual body cannot be formed, making being attacked a very dangerous matter.
The amulets and the magical device are a set. If something happens to the spiritual body—whether it's being devoured or dying—the amulet will forcibly clear the spiritual pressure composing the spiritual body and then transfer the pure soul into the magical device.
"Whether you believe me is up to your judgment. Whatever choice you make won't affect me in the slightest," Rias said.
Rias added, "By the way, let me remind you, it's best not to speak of this. Otherwise, while I won't have any trouble, you will be the one who ends up unfortunate."
"Any more questions? If not, I'm leaving."
"To be honest, I have a mountain of questions," Rukia sighed, deciding to lower her guard.
Because the gap in strength between the two was too vast, she could feel how terrifying this red world outside her body was.
A world composed purely of unknown energy with extremely high density; although it didn't affect her, her instincts could sense the terror of this power.
If the other party had malicious intent, she could be annihilated in an instant.
"May I know your name?"
Rukia straightened her expression and asked.
"My name is Rias Gremory, and I come from a Other World."
Rias responded, "See you when we have time, Rukia."
As the words fell, Rukia was transferred out.
Afterward, Rias held up the Hōgyoku.
The outermost layer of the Hōgyoku was a transparent barrier. The barrier was very strong, locking the Hōgyoku firmly inside.
However, now that the Hōgyoku was within Rias's domain, there was no way it could escape.
With a thought, she instinctively unfolded a Magic Formula to analyze the outer barrier, and then the Power of Destruction within the domain destroyed it.
In the next moment, the Hōgyoku flickered with a dazzling light.
A glazed color like starlight, incomparably beautiful.
A heartbeat-like vibration appeared, resonating with Rias.
"Not bad."
Rias thought to herself, writing her soul essence into it.
Although the Hōgyoku has its own will and is considered a 'living' item, it isn't necessarily considered life.
Because the Hōgyoku is essentially still a tool, its way of thinking is very simple. Unless its user orders it to evolve on its own, it will always maintain an item-level mindset.
Essentially, it wasn't much different from the magical devices Rias created; it contained a special will and would not reject Rias.
Although she was confident she wouldn't follow in Aizen's footsteps, Rias preferred turning two wills into one rather than just having a resonance between master and servant.
"Did it fail?"
Rias murmured.
Compared to an Asauchi, trying to assimilate the Hōgyoku with soul essence was simply too difficult.
Kisuke Urahara's Hōgyoku was made from the souls of Hollows as raw materials, but it was already equivalent to a product of a higher dimension.
Furthermore, the Hōgyoku is different from an Asauchi; it already possesses its own will.
Even with Rias's near-Transcendent power, her soul itself had not yet achieved a qualitative change.
Rias even suspected that no one in this world could truly control the Hōgyoku.
However, if Jibril were here instead, it would probably be a different outcome.
After all, there is no boundary between Jibril's physical body and soul; one could say the body is the soul.
At the same time, the soul density of 'life' is incomparable to that of ordinary biological beings, even for a pure-blooded High-Class Devil like Rias.
In terms of life forms, there is a huge gap even between a Devil King and the Flugel.
And this gap even includes Sirzechs, who cannot be classified as a devil!
"This is just a semi-finished product; the finished one will surely be even more astonishing."
If the Hōgyoku formed from Shinigami souls in Aizen's hands were added, creating a cycle of the two extreme powers of Shinigamis and Hollows, it could be truly perfect.
And this perfection is not one where no further progress is possible; it should be called a 'Foundation of Perfection' instead.
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