Chapter 677 Yoruichi: Giving You The Blow

Naruki City.

This city was under the jurisdiction of the 10th Division.

Tonight, heavy rain was pouring down. Two 10th Division Shinigami in Shihakusho were hurrying through the rain.

Their destination was Karakura Town, the territory of the 13th Division.

"Why do we have to help the 13th Division? Don't they have their own people?"

One of them wiped the rain from his face, his tone full of undisguised complaint.

Being sent out in the middle of the night to clean up someone else's mess was enough to ruin anyone's mood.

They had just received an emergency order from the Seireitei, requiring them to immediately proceed to Karakura Town to reinforce the 13th Division.

The other sighed and patiently explained, "There's no helping it. You know the 13th Division's Captain's health condition. When they're short-handed, they have to pull from other divisions. We're the closest."

The complaining Shinigami grew more agitated, his words becoming sharper: "If his health is that bad, he might as well retire. There are plenty of excellent graduates from the Shin'o Academy now. Like that Hitsugaya kid. And I've heard there are plenty of beautiful female graduates too... why keep a half-dead Captain in that position?"

"The Soul Society doesn't have that many people right now."

Before he could finish, a teasing, familiar voice came from behind him.

The two Shinigami whipped their heads around, their pupils contracting simultaneously.

The newcomer had short black hair, wet and plastered messily to his forehead by the rain. The white Captain's Haori on his back stood out vividly in the rain.

"C-Captain Shiba?! Why are you here?!"

Isshin stroked his chin, looking toward the distant Karakura Town.

"I sensed some unusual Reiatsu in Karakura Town, so I came."

His tone was still casual, but his next words turned serious. "You two won't be able to handle it. Get back to the Seireitei."

Both Shinigami's expressions changed.

They knew in their hearts... that was an enemy only a Captain could deal with.

…

Karakura Town.

The heavy rain poured down, shrouding the entire city in a gray curtain.

Isshin stood alone on the rooftop of a tall building, the hem of his Shihakusho flapping in the wind and rain.

According to reports from the 13th Division, an extremely powerful Reiatsu had been detected in this city.

But each time, it only lasted for a brief moment before disappearing, as if deliberately taunting the Seireitei's surveillance network.

'What exactly did it want?'

'Searching slowly would take too long. Better to lure the enemy out.'

With that thought, Isshin placed his right hand on his Zanpakuto's hilt and unleashed his Captain-class Reiatsu without reservation.

The Reiatsu erupted from his body like a volcanic eruption, blasting a massive hole in the rain curtain above him.

Suddenly, as if responding to Isshin's provocation, an equally violent, even stronger Reiatsu erupted from the other side of the city.

Isshin's expression changed dramatically. He whipped his head toward the source of that Reiatsu.

But before he could fully turn around, a black afterimage had already shot to his front.

His brain didn't even have time to think. His body's instincts drew his blade for him.

The two swords clashed violently in midair. Sparks burst through the rain, illuminating the two rain-soaked faces.

It was then that Isshin finally got a clear look at his opponent.

It was a Hollow with massive bull horns, a white face, and a black body.

It had a humanoid silhouette, its two arms fused with long blades.

At the center of its chest, where a Hollow hole should have been, there was instead a strange, glowing substance, like a still-beating heart embedded within.

'Wh-what the hell is this thing?'

Isshin was shocked.

From its size, it was undoubtedly a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow. But it was completely different from the Vasto Lorde he had fought during the Hollowfication incident over eighty years ago.

'Normal Vasto Lorde had human-like intelligence. But this Hollow's eyes held only pure, frenzied killing intent.'

'What exactly was this?'

"Raaaargh—!" White let out another earth-shaking roar.

Its arms suddenly surged with power, the Reiatsu on its blades soaring. It pressed Isshin and his sword back step by step. Isshin's feet carved two deep trenches into the rooftop's waterproofing, splashing mud everywhere.

"Damn! This level is something ordinary Shinigami could never handle. On second thought, should I be happy about this?" Isshin gritted his teeth, desperately holding his ground, with a bitter smile on his face.

The muscles in both his arms bulged. His Zanpakuto creaked under White's heavy pressure.

Originally, the ones who should have been sent to the Living World to provide support tonight were his Lieutenant, Matsumoto Rangiku, or the Third Seat, Hitsugaya Toshiro.

But when he saw those two deployment orders in the division barracks, he had a sudden urge to escape the mountain of paperwork on his desk. So he had come himself.

Compared to sitting in the office wrestling with an endless pile of documents, he was better suited to direct action.

He hadn't expected to run straight into a super-hard target.

At a secret research facility jointly established by Makoto and Aizen in the Living World,

Inside the deepest monitoring room, the two factions were gathered in front of a wall of screens showing a live feed of White's battle with Isshin.

"That's... Isshin? He's already a Captain now."

Yoruichi stood beside Makoto, her golden eyes fixed on the figure on screen locked in a fierce battle with White. A complex surge of emotions rose in her heart.

Isshin was the uncle of her close friend, Shiba Kukaku. Back when she was still the Captain of the 2nd Division, Isshin had only been a Lieutenant of the 10th Division.

Now, in the blink of an eye, this unserious uncle had become a Captain in his own right.

At that thought, Yoruichi glanced at Makoto and Aizen, who were watching the fight with amusement, and silently added: 'But this Captain's time is probably up.'

'Being targeted by these two monsters at once, if he managed to get back alive, it would be the greatest miracle in the Soul Society's history.'

"It possesses the power of a Hollow and also wields the combat techniques of a Shinigami."

Aizen commented in an academic tone. "Unfortunately, it lacks intelligence. Otherwise, it could have defeated this 10th Division's Captain by now."

Based on the first few exchanges, whether in terms of physical strength or the diversity of attack methods, White's power completely surpassed Isshin's.

The reason the battle had dragged on was simply that White lacked intelligence and had clear shortcomings in combat details and tactical judgment.

"Burn, Engetsu!"

Just then, Isshin finally released his Zanpakuto.

Blazing flames wrapped around his blade. Rain evaporated into white steam before it could even touch the metal.

The heat of the flames burned a massive circular gap in the rain curtain around him.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

Isshin gripped his sword with both hands and swung it fiercely. A huge, crescent-shaped blade of flame tore through the rain, roaring toward White.

Compared to the Getsuga Tensho his future son Ichigo would use, this version was imbued with Engetsu's flame properties.

But White didn't back down.

Between its massive bull horns, a dark red energy began to condense and compress, eventually forming an unstable spherical Cero.

The dark red orb shot out from between the horns, trailing a distorted tail of light, and met the Getsuga Tensho head-on.

The two energies collided violently in midair. Reishi and flames tore at each other. The shockwave turned all the surrounding rain into mist.

After several seconds of stalemate, the Cero gradually overpowered the flame Getsuga Tensho. The dark red orb consumed the last of the flames and shot straight toward Isshin.

At the critical moment, Isshin dodged sideways.

The Cero grazed his shoulder, its scorching residual heat burning a patch of charred marks onto the edge of his Captain's Haori.

Looking at the violent explosion caused by the Cero's impact in the distance, reducing an entire block to rubble, Isshin gritted his teeth and glared at White. "You've been causing trouble in the Living World for this long without being detected by the Soul Society. Someone must be covering for you... Who is it?!"

The only response was White's silent growl and the sound of rain dripping against its blades.

Isshin ground his teeth. "Not talking, huh? Doesn't matter. Whatever you say won't change the fact that I'm going to kill you now."

He took a deep breath, holding his Zanpakuto horizontally before him.

"Bankai! Tensa Engetsu!"

An even more violent Reiatsu erupted from Isshin's body.

Flames exploded from the blade, engulfing him in a pillar of fire that shot into the sky.

When the flames faded, the Zanpakuto in his hands had become longer and sleeker. Its blade was pitch-black, with only a dark red gleam along the cutting edge.

His once loose Captain's Haori had also become more form-fitting, the wide sleeves tightening into lines resembling suit cuffs.

The form was remarkably similar to the future Ichigo's Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu.

Seeing this, Makoto couldn't help but think, 'Father and son indeed.'

"Is it okay to let a Captain use Bankai in the Living World? The Reiatsu release will soon be noticed by the Soul Society."

Gin had his hands clasped behind his head.

"It doesn't matter."

Psykos replied.

"If it can't defeat a 10th Division's Captain, who is only mid-tier among the Captains, before the Soul Society sends reinforcements, then it's a failed product."

The moment Psykos finished speaking, the scene on the screen changed dramatically.

In his Bankai state, Isshin swung again with Getsuga Tensho.

This time, the Getsuga Tensho was compressed to its utmost limit. It was no longer the massive, sweeping blade of energy from before, but a thin, sharp black slash.

But White's response exceeded everyone's expectations.

It raised its right arm high. The arm fused with the blade suddenly erupted with blue-white Reiatsu.

The light rapidly expanded and extended, forming in the blink of an eye a massive Reishi Cleaver, easily forty or fifty meters long.

The blade was covered in dense Reishi patterns, emitting an ominous blue glow in the rain.

Then, it swung that forty-meter blade hard against the Getsuga Tensho.

"What?!"

Isshin's expression changed again.

Not only because his Getsuga in Bankai had been blocked, but even more so because he recognized the nature of the technique White had just used.

It was clearly a Quincy's Heilig Pfeil!

Only released in a far more savage form.

'That was impossible.'

'Merging Shinigami and Hollow power was already enough. Now it had Quincy abilities too?'

'What kind of monster was this?!'

"Raaaaargh—!!!"

White let out another earth-shaking roar.

It raised both arms above its head. Two blue-white Reishi Giant Blades simultaneously formed in its hands.

It swung those two forty-meter cleavers in a storm of attacks against Isshin.

White, combining the three different power systems, completely overwhelmed Isshin in his Bankai state in terms of raw stats and versatility.

But seeing this, Gin couldn't help but comment, "Compared to its usage of Shinigami and Hollow powers, isn't its use of Quincy power a bit too simplistic?"