Chapter 1181 God of the Sword
Kisuke asked Flanna to warn Ophis and Lilith regarding their Zanpakuto while he returned back to Japan in contemplation, 'I messed up. Just because it's natural doesn't excuse me for not noticing something very obvious. It's not that Hyousube Ichibei knows the names of all Zanpakuto but he's the one who granted them instead of the Shinigamis and Arrancars who owned them.'
Kisuke soon reached the meeting place with Soifon and thought to himself, 'I wonder if Aizen-san figured this out? Maybe it's because of this that he wanted to discard his Zanpakuto but still retain its ability.'
Although he really had a complicated relationship with Benihime, Kisuke still couldn't understand Aizen's point of view on why he decided to discard his Zanpakuto until now. Benihime has always been a part of his life and there's no question that Benihime was a part of his own soul. Maybe because of that, it felt so natural and he failed to question something so simple.
"What's the long face?", all of a sudden a voice came from his side and when he turned around, he saw Soifon staring at him.
"How can you be sure of what's behind my mask?"
"Although I hate to admit it, I've known you long enough to figure out what expression you're making just from your body language." Soifon really hated to admit it on his face but his current expression terrifies her, "So what's the bad news?"
Kisuke shook his head with a sigh, "Nothing. I just overlooked something crucial."
"It's not going to be detrimental to us, is it?"
"I noticed it before anything bad could happen, so it's fine." Kisuke then took out the same tools to extract Soifon's blood and flesh and immediately went to do his work methodologically.
And while Kisuke was busy with his work, Soifon sent a telepathic message to Kisuke through Magic, [The Seireitei is finally moving. They want to secure a piece of territory in Hell.]
[Where is it?]
[I'm not really sure but they seem to be targeting a wide plain and intended to build an outpost there.]
[But even with personnel completely trained in Magic, I doubt they'll do something this big with all the threats looming.]
[It's still a secret and even I am not sure of its authenticity, probably to avoid the leak of information since we don't exactly know where Szayelaporro is getting his information from, but it seems that Captain Kurotsuchi was able to develop a drug that significantly reduces our opponents' regenerative ability while also putting them in extreme pain as they restore themselves.]
[That's amazing. How did he do it?]
[I'm still gathering information with my men and the Visual Department but I suspect that he secretly travels to Hell with the captured Aaroniero Arruruerie to experiment with him.]
[Aaroniero, huh? Nothing really beats a live sample. Maybe I should catch one for myself too.]
[In any case, with funding and support from the nobles, things are moving incredibly fast and the first pioneers might be leaving today consisting of the members of the 12th Division with the aforementioned nobles' private army.]
[No one else volunteered?]
[Several Captains wanted to go too but the Captain Commander forbade them, at least this and the next batch of the pioneers.]
Kisuke finished his work and cured Soifon's wounds with his Magic, [Thanks for the heads up. I'll probably start moving too. I can use their movement as a smokescreen.]
Soifon narrowed her eyes at him while fixing her clothes. It was already proven that he indeed had a few bugs roaming the Seireitei, 'But what exactly is the information he doesn't have? Or is he pretending not to know?' To this day, Soifon was still figuring out how much information was flowing to him from the Seireitei with only small successes.
"Well then, I'll be taking my leave. I have to return to my barracks to prepare some of my men to go with the pioneers."
Kisuke didn't stop her and Soifon instantly disappeared from his sight. As soon as he felt her presence disappear, Kisuke suddenly spoke out loud, "I think it's about time we speak, isn't it?"
A few seconds later, from the shadows of the abandoned alley, footsteps began to ring as the sound of wooden sandals hit the concrete ground.
Kisuke turned around and soon enough, light hit the figure of the stalker, "This is the first time we're meeting, I believe? Nice to meet you. You can call me Belial."
The dark-skinned man with thick, black hair that is shaven and dyed green on the sides of his head completely stepped out of the shadows and also introduced himself, "I wonder if it's really our first time meeting, but nice to meet you too. I'm Nimaiya Ouetsu."
Kisuke instantly became wary due to his first remark but he still retained his calm demeanor, "The Third Officer of the Zero Division, God of the Sword, I see. It's an honor to meet you. However, this isn't the place to have a proper conversation. If you don't mind, I have a place in mind that no one will bother us."
"Lead the way, Belial-san. I've also wanted to talk to you for a long time. I just didn't expect Kurotsuchi-kun's Magic Concealing Cloak not to work. When did you notice?"
"Half a year ago."
Ouetsu's eyes widened, "So around the first time I started following that lass, yet you pretended not to notice me. Also, did that lass notice me too?"
Kisuke shook his head, "No. It works perfectly fine. But to us who have been mastering the art for years, we know several ways people hide their presence so we have several detection methods to counter them." He then turned around towards the direction of the mansion Serafall bought and started walking.
Ouetsu didn't say anything and continued hiding himself. He only started following Kisuke when he took some distance from him, 'This guy has a familiar scent of a Zanpakuto... But where have I met him before?'
Kisuke, on the other hand, wondered if he could trust this guy because the moment he started asking the questions that he wanted answers to, it was going to be risky for him, 'According to Kyouraku-san, he's the only guy who thinks slightly different from the rest of the Zero Division. But to what extent exactly? In any case, I have to figure out what's the true identity of Hyousube Ichibei's Zanpakuto. Right now, that's the only clue I have to escape from his control over names.'
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