Scorching flas swept across the ground, boiling everything in their path.
Higashi Shuuichi's arms were completely burned to ash. And yet, monts later, two fresh limbs extended from his shoulders — unblemished, whole.
Infinite regeneration.
The power of the Soul King's shard — it was this that gave him the confidence to wield such a self-destructive Hadō.
Before him lay a charred corpse, nearly reduced to cinders.
"Fourth... Oni... Resurrect..."
Jumbled words slipped from Makizō Jin's lips, too weak to make sense.
Shuuichi furrowed his brows and stepped forward.
One clean stroke.
A severed head dropped to the blood-scorched ground.
Shuuichi gave silent respect to Makizō Jin's unbreakable will and monstrous vitality — but rcy had no place here.
Suddenly, the sky tore open.
A rift — not a Garganta, sothing else, darker — split across the heavens.
Two black pillars descended, impaling Makizō Jin's ruined body and head, dragging him back through the void.
It was over in under two seconds.
The crimson sky returned, undisturbed.
As if nothing had ever happened.
Shuuichi only stared at the rift's vanishing edge for a few quiet seconds before turning away.
That wasn't a place he had the right to covet — not yet.
Tonight wasn't over.
Elsewhere in Seireitei, Third Division Captain Kamikawa Ren'nosuke lay broken amid the rubble. His zanpakutō stood impaled in a collapsed rooftop barely twenty ters away — but the gap might as well have been a thousand.
"Kamoji will never succeed... they'll never make it past the Head Captain..."
Both arms severed, his spiritual pressure plumting, Ren'nosuke could already see his end.
"I don't work for the Kamoji Clan."
The speaker was a blind man with wild hair, clad in a standard shihakushō. He seed like just another seated officer, yet the reiatsu rolling off him rivaled that of any captain. Worse — he had mastered Bankai.
When had Captain-level power beco so cheap?
Ren'nosuke didn't understand.
"If the Kamoji fail to seize victory, and you're found soaked in a captain's blood... you'll have no path left," he warned.
The reflection of fla danced on the blind man's blade.
Ren'nosuke closed his eyes.
"I was going to retire next year..."
A bitter smile curled on his lips. His final breath passed, soft and silent.
anwhile, Ninth Division Captain Muguruma Kensei was still mired in a Hollow assault on the outer districts.
Thirteenth Division Captain Ukitake Jūshirō remained stranded in the Human World.
Fourth Division's Captain Unohana Retsu had already dealt with four foolish Hollowfied Shinigami effortlessly and was now calmly watching the carnage consu the Noble Quarter — but she had no intention of intervening.
Only one captain remained with the freedom to act:
Twelfth Division's Captain Hikifune Kirio.
Standing just outside her division barracks was a man in glasses — the current Lieutenant of the Fifth Division: Aizen Sōsuke.
He had been standing there for so ti. Not entering. Not leaving.
Waiting.
If Hikifune Kirio dared step outside tonight, she would share the fate of the two captains already lost.
And so, Seireitei — deprived of its captains — lay bare before the rampaging Bakuyō Corps, whose strength, twisted by Hollowfication, had risen to horrifying levels.
Ruin. Slaughter. Madness.
These would forever stain this night.
Within the Kamoji main hall, Kumo'i Yōkaku stood entranced, watching the chaos unfold.
This was everything he'd worked toward — every piece ticulously placed for this mont. And now... he could go further.
If the Bakuyō Corps slaughtered the Nobles... if they inflicted serious damage upon the Gotei 13...
Then he would have leverage — enough to make even Yamamoto Genryūsai co to the table.
He truly believed it: if he survived tonight, the Soul Society would be his to bargain with.
"Lord Kumo'i."
A familiar voice echoed behind him.
Yōkaku didn't turn around. "Our tiline's moved up. Shuuichi, go to the Central 46 — support the Bakuyō Corps there. Stall the captains at any cost. I know you've stored up enough Reishi soldiers over the years. This is where they—"
He choked mid-sentence.
Eyes wide, he looked down at the hole in his chest — cleanly pierced through.
"Your plan moved up," Higashi Shuuichi said coldly, stepping away. "But mine didn't. Everything is proceeding exactly as I intended."
Thud.
Kumo'i Yōkaku collapsed to his knees, one trembling hand clawing toward the head seat — the very throne he had dread of for years.
But from behind, Shuuichi's voice offered no rcy.
"Hadō 73: Sōren Sōkatsui."
Flas roared.
The house of Kamoji burned.
The dream — the man — reduced to cinders.
Shuuichi didn't flinch.
Kumo'i had to die.
Unlike Kamoji Mayu, he knew too many secrets. About the Bakuyō Blades. About Higashi Shuuichi himself.
"The next step... is devouring more Bakuyō Blades."
Standing in the center of the burning Kamoji estate, surrounded by mutilated corpses of noblen and retainers, Shuuichi showed no emotion.
The Bakuyō Corps deployed to the Central 46 wouldn't delay the captains long.
Even with caution toward the underground prisons, those veterans wouldn't take long to break free.
Which ant ti was short.
How far Raika, his Bakuyō Blade, could evolve... would depend on how efficiently he moved tonight.
"But I'd wager..."
A grin played at his lips.
"Right now, in terms of clean-up efficiency, there's no one in Soul Society more effective than ."
He let his left hand hang loose, Raika's blade gleaming.
"Advance — Bingzhe! Detest war: Peach Blossom Field!"
Thousands of Reishi soldiers surged forth from the dinsion known as Taoyuan, spilling into the streets.
Under Shuuichi's control, they raced toward the rampaging Hollowfied Shinigami — awaiting the mont the Gotei captains broke free from the Central 46.
And then?
The purge would begin.
At the sa mont, two fresh students who had just enrolled at Shin'ō Academy found themselves caught in the fallout.
Ichimaru Gin ducked behind a pillar the mont the first corrupted Shinigami appeared.
But Kisaragi Shūsuke stood frozen.
Staring at the monster approaching — a creature consud by Hollow madness — his lips parted.
Disbelief cracked his voice.
"...Father?"
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