Chapter 67: A Moment to Be Etched in History
Ichimaru Gin murmured, seemingly troubled, then the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.
"…Nothing could be better."
The Seireitei is vast in area, but its population is not too large. The twelve Division districts are located in the city center, surrounding the First Division, with the remaining fifty percent of the land rarely utilized.
For abandoned old market districts, there isn't even a plan for maintenance or reconstruction.
Shimiya Takeru and Ichigo, using their superb Shunpo, left the various Division districts and arrived at this deserted old market ruin.
As far as the eye could see, there were only dilapidated houses and withered, dead trees.
Neither of them had the mind to chat about this desolate scene, and they simultaneously cast their gaze towards the Captain Commander, who was sitting not far away, leaning on his cane like an ordinary old man.
"For someone so old, his legs are still so agile. Should I say it's truly befitting of the Captain Commander?"
Shimiya Takeru thought of what had just happened.
They were the ones who had used Shunpo to escape first.
Yet, in the latter half, this old man had overtaken them in a straight line, arriving here first and…blocking them.
In other words.
This was not the battlefield they had chosen.
Instead…it was the battlefield the Captain Commander had chosen.
"Shimiya, do you know what I'm thinking right now?"
Ichigo whispered from the side.
"You're not scared, are you?"
Shimiya Takeru's gaze was fixed on the old man as he casually replied.
"You got that right…"
Ichigo took a deep breath, his expression tight.
"I feel like I've skipped school and been caught by the school…Logically speaking, this kind of thing shouldn't matter to me at all."
"That's because, to you, those people are just faculty, school employees. They can't compare to this leader of the Shinigami, who popularized education in the Soul Society."
Shimiya Takeru was uninterested.
Just then, Yamamoto Genryūsai slowly rose. His strong, powerful voice swept over them like a blade.
"I'll commend you two for now."
"At your age, even my Shunpo couldn't match yours in the slightest."
"This earth-shattering talent, no one has surpassed it in a million years."
"However, precisely because of this…I cannot tolerate my most outstanding students since the founding of the Spirit Arts Academy, perhaps never to be seen again, straying onto the wrong path."
"That is why I am here."
"Before you commit any further, more egregious crimes, I will apprehend you two."
There was no overwhelming spiritual pressure, no raised voice.
Just by standing there.
Just by saying that.
Shimiya Takeru could feel an unprecedented pressure washing over him.
The old man's presence in his vision reached the sky, truly treading this world under his feet with just his two legs.
"Shimiya Takeru, Kurosaki ichigo, do you still remember my teachings?"
Yamamoto Genryūsai suddenly asked.
Striking at the hearts of both of them.
"Of course I remember…"
Shimiya Takeru was expressionless.
"Because my biggest flaw is that I can't play dumb, so I'll just say it directly…The power of a Shinigami transformed me, restarting my life. I'm very grateful for this power, and I have a good impression of Shinigami."
"Precisely because of this, I can't stand those powerless people, those who aren't even Shinigami, sitting high and mighty, holding the power of life and death over Shinigami. That makes me feel…that the gratitude I received, the effort I put in, my respect for the Shinigami profession, my affection for the Gotei 13…are all worthless and lowly things!"
"I want to drag them off their chairs and throw them to the front lines. Only those who survive deserve to point fingers at Shinigami, but they shouldn't even think about returning to that position, because that position…shouldn't exist in the first place."
"…"
Yamamoto Genryūsai's eyes were fully open.
His eyes, weathered by years and full of wisdom, showed no turbidity, reflecting the young man before him, whose heart burned with a great fire.
That inner fire seemed capable of burning away any enemy who dared to challenge his faction.
It could transform into a necessary evil, indifferent to others' criticisms, always holding his head high, making enemies fear him like a tiger.
"I remember too, and I remember very clearly."
After Shimiya Takeru finished speaking, Ichigo then revealed his thoughts.
"Rukia is a Shinigami, and protecting Karakura Town is her duty, so it's not really a merit. But that is where I was born, where my family and friends live."
"Rukia saved Inoue, and then brought Inoue along to continue protecting Karakura Town, implicitly protecting my family on my behalf. I am very grateful to them."
"So even a hundred years of imprisonment is hard for me to accept, let alone a death sentence for such a reason."
"I want to save Rukia, I want to help Orihime repay her life-saving kindness."
"Besides feeling that I have received their care, there is an even more important point: what they want to do…is exactly what I want to do."
"If I were to stand by and watch them suffer, I would regret it to the extreme, then completely deny my own beliefs, and become…no longer my former self."
"Old man, you said…this kind of growth would bring trouble to others and even the Seireitei, so you didn't want this to happen, which is why you advised me to strive to become stronger."
"I did as you said."
"During this time, I worked very hard to become stronger, to save Rukia, to overturn this judgment, and to…avoid growing through regret and bringing great trouble to everyone."
"Old man, in your opinion…is what I'm doing wrong?"
"…"
Yamamoto Genryūsai fell silent again, not because he was rendered speechless, but because he realized something.
He realized that the aura of these two outstanding geniuses was already completely different from the beginning.
Fear, tension.
They vanished the moment they recognized their true feelings through words.
In their place was a calmness, a surging tide beneath that calmness.
Its name was "Resolve."
For men who have found their resolve.
At this moment, nothing more needs to be said.
The unparalleled old man also disdained doing such unnecessary things.
His knowledge was the history of the Gotei 13.
History would tell him what to do in such a situation.
Whoosh!
He spread his arms.
The white haori with the character "One" fluttered, carried far by the wind to hang high on a flagpole, seemingly symbolizing its supreme authority.
"—!"
Yamamoto Genryūsai removed his upper garment, revealing his seemingly slender but actually muscular, battle-scarred, iron-hard body.
The cane inserted into the ground also shed its outer disguise, and an ancient, even slightly worn-looking Asauchi appeared before Shimiya Takeru and Ichigo.
The moment the old man gripped the hilt, a "boom" erupted, and a towering pillar of fire burst forth behind him.
That was spiritual pressure.
Spiritual pressure that was pure to the extreme, scorching to the extreme, terrifying to the extreme!
It shot straight into the sky, clearing away the dark clouds and dyeing the sky red, as if it had become a sea of fire hanging overhead.
"Come, you brats."
"Let me see…your bravery in daring to express dissatisfaction with the ancient order of the Soul Society."
"But I hope it's not just talk, otherwise I'll have to retract my previous assessment of you."
The two were silent, each taking a fighting stance.
Shimiya Takeru slowly lowered his body, hand on the hilt of his sword. His center of gravity was much lower than usual, and more aggressive; his barely contained sharpness made him difficult to look at directly.
The moment Ichigo gripped the hilt, the air around him roared as if exploding.
The first to act was neither the Captain Commander, nor Shimiya Takeru, nor Ichigo.
It was the flagpole, unable to withstand the hot wind, that toppled over.
A soft, subtle sound.
Like a battle horn being blown.
The three burst forth almost simultaneously, their figures moving so fast they seemed to merge with the void, making their subsequent sword clashes appear to occur in a higher dimension with a different flow of time.
It was impossible to see or count how many collisions occurred.
First, countless sparks erupted, then a terrifying force exploded and spread from the center, creating a hundred-meter-wide crater. Though not deep, its surface was scorched and cracked, clearly having only endured the…aftermath of high-concentration spiritual pressure!
Shimiya Takeru flew backward, still in mid-air, a gleaming blade rapidly growing larger in his retina. He forcibly controlled his body to evade this seemingly fatal slash.
At the same time, he agilely whipped out a kick, managing a fluid exertion of force even in that position. The immense power bestowed by dragon blood made this kick burst the air.
However, what was considered a fatal slash was merely a casual swing for the old man.
There was no talk of old strength fading and new strength not yet born.
…Despite this, Yamamoto Genryūsai still used his left arm like a shield to block the kick aimed at his head.
Shimiya Takeru felt as if he had kicked a reinforced concrete wall.
Even worse, he could have used his sword to parry and defend, but he used his arm instead…where was the sword?
Whoosh!
A blood-red streak of light shot forth, taking the place of Shimiya Takeru and intercepting the old man's merciless descending blade.
A violent explosion ensued.
Shimiya Takeru used the shockwave to create distance, his narrowed eyes seemingly catching the enemy's movement through the flash. Without a word, he unleashed a "Shichisen."
Seven invisible Kido threads converged in mid-air, piercing through the wave of light like a sharp spear.
While Ichigo was improving his Bankai proficiency, Shimiya Takeru was also refining the many techniques he had mastered, striving to develop more uses for them.
The continuous "Shichisen" that sliced through Sōkyoku before, and the current "One Instant Seven Kills Unification," were all part of the results.
Sacrificing the area of effect, the destructive power was completely concentrated at a single point.
Solely to launch a surprise attack when the opponent was not paying attention, severely injuring them.
"A good technique, but the precision is a bit off. If it could be twisted into a single rope, it might make me retreat half a step after a few decades or a hundred years."
Yamamoto Genryūsai's spiritual pressure surged, and a towering sea of fire overwhelmed the flash. He held his sword horizontally in front of him, unmoving. The seven Kido threads struck the blade and shattered, their trajectories forcibly altered, continuously generating a series of sparks from friction.
"Is that so? I think it's not bad at all."
Shimiya Takeru slammed his sword back into its sheath, severing the Kido threads, then chanted in a low voice: "Bakudo #63—Sajō Sabaku!"
It had been said before that Kido threads are spiritual pressure compressed into thread-like form, serving as ready-made "casting material." To a certain extent, they can even mitigate the performance drop caused by abandoning the incantation.
To master "Yuisen" and enhance its power, he had invested a great deal of effort into Kido.
Now was the time for it to bear fruit.
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