Chapter 1190 Chain Removal
Kisuke was stunned and thought that he heard it wrong, "...Corpse?"
[You heard me correctly.] Tiamat replied. And after a few seconds of contemplation, she added, [Turn around.]
Kisuke obediently turned around and looked at the worm-infested land. He had an idea as to why Tiamat wanted him to look at them but he didn't like to think about it.
Nevertheless, Tiamat still asked him, [If we're currently standing on a corpse, what are they?]
"...Maggots... And if they're maggots..." Kisuke slowly turned back at the endless chasm because he heard a buzzing sound. A few seconds later, an almost 100 feet long grotesque, and misshapen fly emerged from the darkness. The problem was , this isn't the only source of the buzzing sound as many more were coming from the abyss.
"...Fuck..." Kisuke immediately pulled out Tiamat and released her, turning her into a green-tinted longsword to prepare for battle. He wanted to teleport away, but there was a strange wave of Magic Power that made it hard to cast it without using a significant amount of time, 'If the worms are already that scary, what can an adult fly do? Captain-level?'
Kisuke thought of it as a joke, but as the fly approached, its aura also covered the entire surroundings, and it was not as funny anymore.
He gripped Tiamat's handle and prepared to bisect the approaching giant insect, 'I'll cut this one down, retrieve its carcass, and escape.' Tiamat received his will and the Reiatsu-Ki surrounding her blade sharpened to the utmost level.
However, before they could do anything, something else appeared from the darkness. Both Kisuke and Tiamat didn't notice its approach because it had the same color as its surroundings and didn't emit any aura. But as the clanking sound and the series of metal-to-metal clashes became louder and louder as time went on, they finally found out what it was.
Countless streams of black chains, the same ones that the [Chained] have on their bodies, came out and wrapped around the giant fly in front of Kisuke and started dragging it down.
The fly let out a deafening screech but it could do nothing against the chains and was slowly being dragged back to where it came from.
It wasn't just the fly in front of Kisuke, but also the flies trying to fly up from the cliff. Their buzzing wings weakened as time went and soon enough, it became silent once again and even the giant worms behind Kisuke all disappeared under the earth, leaving behind large swaths of holes.
[Master, we've seen what's out here so it's better to leave now and arrange your thoughts.]
Kisuke woke up from his stupor and just wordlessly set up multiple teleportation points and anchors in the region before leaving.
.
.
.
Within the unmarked valley, it was Batsu'unsai Katori's turn to guard the former Captain Commander.
The whole environment is still the same as when Kisuke left them a year ago. Although there were no changes, the former members of the Gotei 13 think this was a good thing because they were already hopeless from the beginning that Yamamoto would be able to keep himself sane.
In their time, they were seen as ruthless criminals, but all the founding members of the Gotei 13 knew that Yamamoto was the worst of all of them. As such, he also had the heaviest sins that have always weighed on his heart. Thanks to the peaceful times, his stone-cold heart thawed and became that of someone with morals. In turn, however, it couldn't support the weight of his actions of the past.
Yamamoto also knew that this was inevitable so when they settled down, he liked saying that the moment the demon of fire sees the world again, it'll also be the last time they'll see it.
At first, they didn't understand what he meant by that, but when they heard what happened when the Quincies attacked, they finally figured out that his strength was held up by his cold-blooded heart. The moment he lost it, he also lost his edge. Wanting to protect something also means not destroying it with your own hands.
Batsu'unsai watched Yamamoto for a few moments and sighed before turning to her side, "You've been staying here all this time. Aren't you tired?"
"That's funny, Katori-san." The man sitting not far from Yamamoto replied, "If there's someone tired, it would be Eijisai-dono."
Batsu'unsai let out a short breath and turned her attention back to Yamamoto while muttering, "Your loyalty is as strong as ever."
"But you guys, on the other hand, changed a lot," Choujirou replied.
"In a bad way or in a good way?"
Choujirou didn't say anything for a few seconds until, "Both, I guess?"
Batsu'unsai looked up to see the sky that they could never breach and said, "Well, it has been a long time. And those chains didn't help at all."
Choujirou looked up to her and asked, "How did you release yourselves from these chains, by the way?"
"It's not really the same for everyone since everyone has different realizations. However, the most fundamental thing is to reject Hell itself. And by doing so, you lose your right to use the Hell's Blessing and your immortal body ceases healing itself."
"You say that, but why can that strange man called Belial use it? I don't feel the existence of chains on him."
"I asked Chika and Furoufushi about that, but they are keeping his identity a secret. Probably a deal with him so that he'll help out. Thanks to him though, we could contain Captain's rampage. If that went on, the other [Chaineds] would have probably already found us. Who knows what they'd do to him."
"What about you? What do you think of him?"
Batsu'unsai thought for a bit before answering, "Sketchy is the word that comes up to the top of my head. Actually, very sketchy. I can't see why those two trust him so much."
At her description of the strange man, Choujirou was reminded of someone, "Is the list we got of those still alive after the Quincy War accurate?"
"I think so, yes. Ichimaru Gin was able to confirm it."
Choujirou then looked down with a worried expression, "Then we should probably start looking for that man."
"That man? Who?"
"One of the most dangerous individuals out there, Urahara Kisuke."
"How dangerous are we talking about here?"
"He could easily turn the entirety of Soul Society upside down if he really wanted to."
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