Chapter 153
"Simple."
Haruto took a firecracker out of his pocket.
"The Thirteenth Division doesn't have many elites, but their numbers are still considerable. As long as I ignite this Cloud Piercing Arrow..."
This is a disposable spirit tool that Kaien Shiba commissioned Captain Ukitake to purchase in bulk from the Twelfth Division using the Shiba Clan's assets after the Konsō incident, in order to ensure the safety of the squad members. It can adapt to various environments and send signals to the surroundings.
"Call out!"
Haruto casually lit the tail of his spirit tool.
Before long, his text message will be transmitted from near to far, reaching every Hell Butterfly of the Thirteenth Division of the Soul Reaper.
"I dare not say that a thousand troops would come to meet us, but at least eight hundred soldiers would rush to the north slope."
"..."
Faced with Haruto's rambling chatter, Naa Ichihara wondered for the first time if she had entrusted herself to the wrong person; but since she had already made up her mind, she naturally wouldn't change it easily.
"Come with me."
"No."
Haruto casually flicked the Tōzanshō, and the Kyokkō completely obliterated the Kidō Sakai Shukugo.
It was covered up.
Haruto gently pressed his hand on Naa Ichihara's shoulder.
The intense battle with the Kidō had caused her tight-fitting dress to slip down slightly, revealing her slender and smooth shoulders.
It smells delicious and is very smooth.
"You can just give me directions, or it'll be faster if you follow me."
"Whoosh!"
Rooftop of the Yoshiwara District in Yoshiwara Ward.
"You should have said it was here earlier."
A familiar, brightly painted gate appeared before Haruto's eyes.
"After directing for so long... are there any special footwork requirements here?"
"Your understanding of the Kidō is truly remarkable."
Naa Ichihara praised sincerely.
"This door is imbued with an extremely complex Kidō."
To reach the doorway to the 'reality' before us, there are five levels and eighty steps, all of which must be climbed according to a specific stride length and frequency.
"..."
A magical artifact that possesses both stealth and spatial effects.
If her only concern is self-preservation, then even Captain-level wouldn't be able to easily find Naa Ichihara hiding behind this door.
Whether it can be broken remains to be seen.
Certainly.
Haruto definitely wouldn't say this outright. If Naa Ichihara really was that kind of person, then she wouldn't care about the lives of those thousand people at all.
"Thump."
The two of them stepped onto the last tatami mat at the same time.
"Click."
Naa Ichihara removed the butterfly-carved hairpin from her bun and slowly inserted it into the center of the door like a key.
"Whoosh."
The ornate sliding doors slowly disappeared into the empty space on either side.
"This is really..."
The ceiling was covered with a dense array of prayer ropes, and the surrounding walls were completely covered with talisman paper.
Our ancestors were once wealthy!
--Haruto really wanted to say that.
Because every "ritual" prop he looked at was a genuine, high-quality spiritual object.
After much thought...
Naa Ichihara walked towards the center of the room.
"It seems like this is the only thing you'd be interested in."
Haruto followed closely in his footsteps.
What is that?
Without a doubt.
All the magical artifacts around were sealed, including the door that had just been opened... Clearly, the aura of that thing could not be easily leaked out.
Instead of answering directly, Naa Ichihara began to recount her secret:
My family comes from the Soul King Palace.
The Soul King Palace.
A separate space located directly above the Seireitei.
The area of the Soul King Palace is very large. In addition to the Soul King's Soul King Palace Inner Court where the Spirit Soul King resides and the Soul King Palace Main Approach, there are actually many people living there, whether it is the Zero Division's exclusive Zero Division Detached Palace or the royal district on both sides of the Outer Road.
They were separated simply because of their different statuses—commoners and royalty.
The Soul King's Blade and Soul King's Shield, which appear in the original work, originated from the commoners living in the Soul King Palace.
That was an era even earlier than a thousand years ago.
"The two ancient Menos Grande defeated the then-young Shigekuni Yamamoto and stormed the Soul King Palace located at the top of the sky."
"..."
Haruto knows this story.
The ancient Menos Grande Ikomikidomoe and Hueco Mundo's King Baraggan once joined forces to storm the Soul King Palace —unfortunately, both were quickly defeated by Ichibē Hyōsube Zanpakuto, while the latter had half his power erased and was banished back to Hueco Mundo.
"Before the Zero Division could make a move, the first to intervene was naturally the Soul King Divine Soldiers... one of our ancestors was among them."
This shows that Naa Ichihara was not lying.
"You guys haven't fought before?"
"Yes."
You know the answer without even needing to answer.
The fact that Ichibē Hyōsube had to personally take action shows that even the other members of the Zero Division at the time (specifically referring to Ōetsu) were helpless against these two Menos Grande.
When facing these enemies, the Soul King Divine Soldiers were no different from ordinary soldiers.
"Then what?"
"Because they failed to fulfill their duty to protect the Soul King, our ancestors were banished from the Soul King Palace to the Soul Society by the royal family."
"... It's perfectly reasonable."
Haruto nodded.
This is exactly what Haruto understands about nobility—the royal family is naturally part of this system—but rather than being exiled by the royal family, it's more accurate to say they were abandoned by the Zero Division.
After all, the person with the most influence in the Soul King Palace was not the Soul King, but Ichibē Hyōsube during the same era as the Soul King.
But this matter...
Naa Ichihara might not actually know.
"So, that thing was your travel expenses?"
"I don't know about that."
Naa Ichihara shook her head.
"How our elders acquired this item is not recorded in the clan; all that remains is the requirement that it be protected."
"Then why give it to me?"
The two were already standing in front of the wooden box that was tightly bound with hemp rope.
"In a life-or-death crisis, if the entire clan agrees, it can be used to secure a way to survive."
Naa Ichihara continued to explain.
"The entire clan?"
"I'm the only one left in the Ichihara Clan."
"..."
These words sounded truly melancholic, Haruto could probably understand Naa Ichihara's state of mind at that moment.
Yeah, right!
Naa Ichihara's attire is enough to determine her mental age.
Whether I can sleep at night is hard to say, but I've definitely lost interest in these trivial matters.
The reason for doing this...
I'm afraid half of them are just trying to shirk their responsibilities.
"So now it's a life-or-death crisis?"
"I almost died because I had no children. Isn't that a life-or-death crisis?"
"... you're right."
That's enough banter.
Naa Ichihara gave a signal with her eyes, then handed her seat to Haruto.
"Click."
With a crisp sound as the box opened, the items arranged on the square tray came into Haruto's view:
"This thing..."
It was a pinkish, sac-like organism with a roughly circular shape.
Although Haruto didn't study medicine, he had at least attended two classes of Kaidō school and had some basic understanding of human anatomy.
The organ in front of me.
In modern medical understanding, this is an extremely difficult part to observe and pinpoint, but it is quite common for the Soul Reaper.
Below the fourteenth thoracic vertebra, between the two kidneys.
--What is usually referred to as the "life gate" in ancient texts:
Hakusui.
"The Hakusui of the Soul King"
Just as Haruto was about to turn around and ask, he heard Naa Ichihara's affirmative voice beside him.
"..."
"Tsk."
Haruto's teeth were so strong that there were no gaps to make the sound of him gasping for air, but this did not hide his surprise and excitement in the slightest.
The Soul King's organ.
Dismemberment sounds extremely cruel, but when such a treasure is placed before one's eyes, no one can control their desire.
Among the confirmed ones are the heart and both hands, which, when taken individually without any enhancement, possess the strength of First-Class Reii; if they can merge with the soul of a powerful being, they can even reach the realm of Transcendent.
This is just Reiatsu, not ability.