Chapter 291

Chapter 291: Chapter 291

For an ordinary Zanpakutō wielder, attempting Bankai only days after receiving a blade would have been absurd.

A person normally needed years of Jinzen simply to understand their Zanpakutō properly, followed by the far more difficult task of gaining enough recognition to manifest and subjugate its Bankai.

Rayleigh’s situation had always been different.

Soul Blade allowed him to create the weapon, give it a name, and establish the abilities that belonged to it, so he did not need to spend years searching for information he himself had placed into the blade.

That did not mean he automatically possessed the power of its original Bleach wielder, since a Zanpakutō scaled with the person using it.

His Senbonzakura was Rayleigh’s Senbonzakura. His Hyōrinmaru was Rayleigh’s Hyōrinmaru.

Their output depended on his own Reiatsu, control, and experience rather than granting him another Shinigami’s strength simply because he had reproduced the same sword.

Shinsō was no different.

Rayleigh wanted to know how much of its Bankai his current Level 4 vessel could support.

He walked deeper until he found another large chamber, this one long enough that the opposite wall stood several hundred meters away.

Several monsters were already inside, but Rayleigh ignored them for the moment and looked at Shinsō.

The blade remained quiet, and there was no resistance.

"Then let’s try it."

He lowered the sword.

"Bankai."

His Reiatsu surged through the chamber.

"Kamishini no Yari."

The change was almost subtle compared with his other Bankai.

No enormous structure appeared behind him, and the room was not buried beneath ice or blades.

Kamishini no Yari remained in his hand, its appearance changing little enough that someone unfamiliar with the weapon might have wondered whether anything had happened at all.

Rayleigh knew immediately that everything inside the blade had become sharper, faster, and more compressed.

One of the monsters finally attacked.

Rayleigh pointed Kamishini no Yari toward it, and the creature died before the sound reached him.

The blade had extended, pierced the magic stone and returned so quickly that the monster’s body remained in its charging posture for another heartbeat before collapsing.

Rayleigh’s eyes narrowed. He had felt the movement through the hilt, yet he had still barely seen it.

"That’s ridiculous."

The next attack came from behind. Rayleigh turned, and Kamishini no Yari flashed.

The monster fell.

A third tried to run rather than fight. Rayleigh waited until it had crossed nearly the entire chamber before moving his wrist, but the distance made no difference: the blade reached it and returned almost instantly.

Rayleigh looked toward the opposite wall. This was the part that interested him most.

Shinsō’s Shikai already possessed excellent reach, but Kamishini no Yari took that principle to an entirely different level.

The Bankai’s true advantage was not simply becoming longer; its extension and contraction were so fast that once Rayleigh had a clear line toward the target, ordinary reactions became almost useless.

Still, he knew that was not the real secret of the blade.

Gin Ichimaru had hidden that part carefully.

Rayleigh turned toward the largest monster in the chamber.

It had remained farther back while the others attacked, a broad creature covered in thick dark armor that protected most of its body, its magic stone buried deep enough that an ordinary thrust from the front would have needed to pass through several layers of muscle and bone before reaching it.

Perfect.

Rayleigh did not aim for the magic stone. He aimed for the shoulder.

Kamishini no Yari extended, pierced the armored flesh, and immediately contracted.

The wound was narrow, and the monster roared, apparently confused by an attack that had failed to strike anything vital.

Rayleigh looked at the blade.

For an instant during its retraction, a tiny section of Kamishini no Yari had turned to dust.

A fragment had remained inside the monster, and that was the Bankai’s real weapon.

Rayleigh raised the sword slightly.

"Kill, Kamishini no Yari."

The fragment activated, and the monster’s roar stopped.

Its body convulsed once as the poison spread from inside the wound, destroying the cells around it with terrifying speed.

The thick armor protecting the creature meant nothing because the attack was already beneath it.

The monster took two unsteady steps before it collapsed, its body dissolving around the broken magic stone.

Rayleigh watched until nothing remained.

"So that’s the dangerous part."

The blade vibrated faintly.

Everyone who saw Kamishini no Yari extend would naturally focus on its speed and reach.

Those abilities were dangerous enough by themselves, but the real killing method required only a shallow wound and a fragment too small for the enemy to notice.

Against something with overwhelming durability, that difference could matter far more than simply hitting harder.

Rayleigh resealed Shinsō.

The release had consumed a noticeable amount of spiritual pressure, but much less than sustaining something as large as Senbonzakura Kageyoshi across an entire battlefield or restructuring an area with Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame.

That made sense.

Kamishini no Yari concentrated almost everything it did into a narrow attack, so it was not stronger than every other blade he owned, but built for a different job.

Rayleigh sat on a large piece of stone while allowing Spirit Healing to restore the Reiatsu he had spent.

His current six personal Zanpakutō covered very different roles now: Senbonzakura remained his strongest wide-area weapon when he needed to control large numbers of enemies, Ruri’iro Kujaku could drain and investigate spiritual energy, Hyōrinmaru dominated terrain and large-scale elemental combat, Sakanade destroyed perception, and Benihime remained his most versatile blade, especially when he needed barriers, ranged attacks, or controlled restructuring.

Shinsō filled the gap between them.

When Rayleigh knew exactly what needed to die and did not want to destroy everything around it, he now had a blade capable of reaching that target before most opponents could understand that an attack had begun.

That was useful, perhaps a little too useful.

Rayleigh looked down at Shinsō.

"Don’t get any ideas."

The Zanpakutō gave no response.

Rayleigh stared at it for several seconds.

"Sakanade has already taken the position of troublesome sword."

Shinsō remained perfectly still.

Somehow, the silence felt worse.

Rayleigh sighed and stood.

"That makes six."

He fastened the sealed blade at his waist beside Benihime and started back toward the upper floors.

He had obtained what he came for: Shikai worked exactly as intended, Bankai was stable under his current Reiatsu, and Kamishini no Yari’s hidden poison functioned without any problem.

There was no reason to stay underground and turn a weapon test into another expedition.

For once, Rayleigh intended to leave the Dungeon while nothing was trying to kill the entire city.