Battle of Bamboo Creek Plain (1)

The setting sun slanted westward, bathing the streets of Bamboo Creek Plain in warm orange-red light.

Keiko walked home with a spring in her step, carrying a jar of spirit wine. It came from the best winery in Bamboo Creek Plain and had cost her and Shimizu nearly half a month's savings, but she didn't mind one bit.

Shimizu was very happy today.

The man named Tosaya had returned—the man Shimizu had spoken of countless times, who had stood by him through the hardest days of that dark era. Someone he had thought he would never see again had suddenly appeared on his doorstep.

Shimizu had begged her for ages to buy the best wine, saying he wanted to give his old friend a proper welcome.

Keiko smiled at the memory of how excited and nervous Shimizu had looked.

This is wonderful.

The Sizhuzhai incident had felt like the last of their misfortunes. Everything had improved since then—Shimizu had recovered, the doors of Shin'ō Academy were about to open to him, they had a shop and a home of their own, and even an old friend lost for years had returned.

Life will only get better.

With that thought, Keiko turned the corner and saw their shop.

Then she froze.

The entrance was a mess. The bench outside had been overturned, and several deep cracks ran across the door, as though something heavy had struck it.

And Shimizu—

Shimizu lay motionless in the doorway.

"Shimizu—!"

Keiko dropped the wine jar and rushed over like a madwoman. The jar shattered against the ground, filling the air with the aroma of spirit wine, but she paid it no mind.

She fell to her knees beside Shimizu and reached out with a trembling hand.

"Shimizu... Shimizu, wake up... Please don't scare me..."

There was no blood on Shimizu, but his face was pale, and his brow was tightly furrowed. Keiko gently patted his face, tears streaming uncontrollably down hers.

"Shimizu... I'm begging you... Wake up..."

Shimizu's brow twitched.

Then he slowly opened his eyes.

"Kei... Keiko?"

Keiko threw her arms around him, crying too hard to speak.

Held in her embrace, Shimizu froze for a few seconds, then gently patted her back.

"It's all right... I'm all right..."

Keiko released him and looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

"What happened? Where's Tosaya? Weren't you two..."

Shimizu's expression stiffened.

Then a complicated look entered his eyes.

"Tosaya..."

Half an hour earlier.

Shimizu and Tosaya sat on the bench outside, chatting happily.

Tosaya spoke of his years on the run, while Shimizu talked about his days with the Fon Clan. The two traded stories as though they were back in the days when they had fished by the river.

"By the way," Tosaya suddenly asked, "how are things for you... in the Fon Clan?"

Shimizu's eyes lit up.

"Wonderful!" He instinctively sat up straight. "The Fon Clan has been really good to me. Instructor Cilian has often been guiding my training lately, and my other colleagues treat me well too. They don't look down on me for my poor aptitude. They say that as long as I work hard, I'll make it into Shin'ō Academy someday."

Tosaya's smile faded a little.

"Is that so..."

"And then there's Princess Shaoling—the Fon Clan's princess," Shimizu continued. "Even though she usually has a lot of clan affairs to handle, she treats the people under her very well. You have no idea, Bamboo Creek Plain owes everything it is today to the Fon Clan..."

"Enough."

Shimizu froze.

Tosaya had lowered his head, making his expression impossible to see.

"Tosaya?"

"I said, enough."

Tosaya raised his head.

His eyes were slightly red.

"The Fon Clan, the Fon Clan, the Fon Clan... It's all you ever talk about." His voice grew low. "Do you know how desperate I was when those people took me away? Do you know what my days were like in those places?"

Shimizu opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Every day, I wondered when I could escape, when I could come back." Tosaya's voice grew louder and louder. "But when I finally escaped and returned, this place had already become the Fon Clan's territory."

He stood up and looked down at Shimizu.

"How are those nobles and powerful clans any different from the Fon Clan now? They're all the same!"

Shimizu stood up too.

"They're different!" he said. "The Fon Clan is different! They genuinely care about Bamboo Creek Plain and the people who live here—"

"What do you know?!"

Tosaya seized Shimizu by the collar and hauled him up.

Shimizu struggled, only to find that Tosaya's grip was astonishingly strong.

"Let me tell you something." Tosaya leaned close to his face, his eyes frighteningly red. "These nobles, these people with power and influence—not one of them is any good. You think they're good now because you haven't seen their true colors yet."

Tosaya's grip left Shimizu struggling for breath.

"When they finally show their true colors," Tosaya said, his voice as though forced through clenched teeth, "it'll be too late for regrets."

Then everything went black before Shimizu's eyes.

"After that, I don't remember anything."

Leaning against the door, Shimizu finished recounting what had happened.

Keiko covered her mouth, tears still streaming down her face.

"Then... what about Tosaya...?"

"He's not the Tosaya I knew anymore." Shimizu lowered his head. "I don't know what he went through, but now he's... dangerous. He hates the Fon Clan. He might do something foolish."

Keiko looked at him.

Shimizu was silent for a while.

"Keiko, do me a favor."

Keiko nodded.

"There's a long box under the bed. Bring it to me."

Keiko turned and went inside, soon returning with a long box in her arms. It wasn't large, but it was heavy.

Shimizu took the box and opened it.

Inside was an Asauchi.

Its sheath was jet-black and its hilt plain, but a sealing talisman was affixed to the blade, giving off a faint trace of Reiatsu.

Keiko froze.

"This is..."

"Instructor Cilian gave it to me privately after the Sizhuzhai incident." Shimizu stroked the sheath, a complicated look in his eyes. "He said I already had enough aptitude, and that this Asauchi would help me grow. It was a reward for not disgracing the Fon Clan at Sizhuzhai, and also an apology for failing to protect me."

He gave a bitter smile.

"But since I've never even attended Shin'ō Academy, he placed a seal on it. Unless I qualify for admission or reach the Shikai stage, I can't even draw it from its sheath."

Keiko looked at him.

"You're going to..."

"Yes, I'm going to find him." Shimizu tightened his grip on the sword. "Tosaya is my friend. I can't just do nothing when he's become like this."

He stood up and looked at Keiko.

"Things might get dangerous tonight. Find somewhere to hide and don't come out."

Keiko caught hold of his sleeve.

"Shimizu..."

Shimizu turned back.

Keiko's eyes reddened again, but she didn't cry. She simply looked at him.

Shimizu smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't leave you alone again. I swear!"

Carrying the Asauchi, he ran toward the Fon Clan.

Deep within the Fon Clan's grounds was a spacious courtyard.

The last rays of the setting sun spilled into it, casting a warm glow over the stone paving. The attendants had long since been dismissed, and the courtyard was empty except for one person sitting beneath the eaves.

Fon Shaoling wore a dignified kimono, her hands folded in her lap as she gazed quietly into the courtyard.

She was waiting for someone.

"Is this the graveyard you chose for yourself?"

A raspy voice came from the shadows in the courtyard.

Fon Shaoling did not move, merely listening in silence.

"Fon Shaoling..."

The voice drew out her name, filled with bone-deep hatred. "...Or should I call you Soi Fon's little sister?"

A hunched figure emerged from the shadows.

He wore shabby clothes, his hair was streaked with gray, and his back was badly hunched. But his eyes glowed an eerie red in the setting sun.

Tsuchimikado Kōmei.

Fon Shaoling finally turned her head and looked at him.

Then she smiled.

"I wondered who it was." Her voice was light, tinged with mockery. "So it's the Tsuchimikado Clan's... survivor. Or should I call you Patriarch Tsuchimikado?"

Hongming narrowed his eyes.

"You remember me."

"Of course I do." Fon Shaoling stood and straightened her sleeves. "After all, your performance that night was truly memorable."

Her gaze fell on Hongming, and her lips curved into a meaningful smile.

"You killed your own wife and daughter, then hid under their corpses and played dead. A 'patriarch' like that would be hard to forget."

Hongming's expression stiffened.

Fon Shaoling continued, "How did it feel to use your wife's and daughter's corpses as a blanket? Was it warm?"

"Shut up!"

Hongming's voice grew shrill.

"You think I wanted to do that?! I had no choice! It was—" Hongming found it hard to say it, the humiliation of that night impossible to shake.

She looked at him, her eyes holding neither anger nor hatred, only a calm appraisal.

"You have no strength and no talent. All you ever did was throw your weight around by relying on your clan, and when it fell, all you could do was hide among the dead to save your own skin. You're a complete waste!"

Hongming clenched his fists.

"But what are you trying to prove by coming after me now?"

Fon Shaoling tilted her head.

"That you're different now?"

Hongming suddenly laughed.

His laughter was harsh and grating, like rusty pieces of iron scraping together.

"Different?" he repeated. "Of course I'm different. Power isn't about how much wealth you have, how noble your birth is, or how many people you command. Only now do I understand that true power is strength of your own!"

The hunched figure slowly drew closer.

"And the power I possess now is beyond your imagination."

The air around them began to tremble. Reiatsu surged from Hongming, growing stronger and more terrifying by the moment.

"Do you know how long I've waited for this day?"

His voice had changed as well. It was no longer raspy, but carried an eerie echo.

"Waiting until those Onmitsukidō were no longer around you, until you were all alone. Soi Fon's little sister? Status is the most useless thing in this world. Come, let me—"

Fon Shaoling gave a soft laugh.

Hongming stopped speaking.

Fon Shaoling looked at him, her golden eyes holding no fear, only a hint of mockery.

"Do you think I dismissed everyone to give you a chance?"

She raised her hands and untied the sash of her kimono.

The dignified kimono slipped from her shoulders and pooled at her feet. Beneath it was a tight-fitting black combat outfit.

It bared her back, cinched at the waist, and perfectly fitted the curves of her body—the outfit Soi Fon had worn as commander of the Onmitsukidō, the battle garb of the Second Division Captain.

The moment the kimono fell away, her loose hair gathered itself into two distinctive braids that drifted behind her.

Fon Shaoling—at this moment, she was Soi Fon.

She raised her head and looked at Hongming.

"You're quite right. I agree that strength of one's own is true power."

She raised her right hand and drew the Zanpakuto from behind her waist.

Its blade was short, and its hilt bore a bee-shaped pattern.

"Sting All Enemies to Death! Suzumebachi!"

Reiatsu erupted in an instant.

Hongming's expression changed.

"You... you aren't..."

"Aren't who?" Soi Fon looked at him. "Not that princess who only knew how to handle clan affairs? Not that younger sister who needed people to protect her?"

She smiled.

In that smile, there was pride, mockery, and a trace of unspeakable complexity.

"Tsuchimikado Kōmei, you came to find me for revenge, yet you don't even know who I am? I'll tell you, this generation of the Fon Clan has only one girl, and that is the current Soi Fon! I never had a younger sister!"

Mad hatred flashed in Hongming's eyes.

"I don't care who you are! You're going to die today!"

Immediately, his Reiatsu began to surge.

A nauseating aura mingled with the madness of a Hollow and the resentment within human nature. It overflowed from Hongming, spreading bit by bit like black sludge.

Hongming's body began to change.

That stooped figure grew taller bit by bit. His bones emitted crisp cracking sounds, his joints twisting in reverse before returning to normal. Something writhed beneath his skin like countless snakes slithering under the flesh.

"Do you know..."

Hongming's voice also became different, no longer that of the raspy elder, but carrying a bizarre echo, as though countless mouths were speaking at the same time.

"I've been waiting for this day. Waiting for a chance to let you see--"

His back split open voluntarily.

Countless black insects poured out from the fissure.

Densely packed and overlapping, they cascaded from Hongming's body, converging, piling up, and writhing behind him. Meanwhile, under the shroud of the swarm, Hongming's body began its Hollowfication.

White bone substance pierced out from beneath his skin.

First his shoulders, two thick bone spurs piercing through his clothes with their tips still dripping with mucus. Then his spine, bulging section by section to burst through the clothes on his back, forming a ferocious ridge of bone. Finally, his face--

His face split open.

From the center of his brows to his chin, a vertical fissure opened, exposing the densely packed insect eggs within. Those insect eggs writhed, ready to hatch at any moment.

But the next second, the fissure closed again.

White bone substance covered it over, forming a bizarre armor.

Black-purple armor, its surface covered with tiny holes, dense as a honeycomb. Those holes weren't decorations--they were alive. Countless insects poked their heads out from the holes and then retracted them, going in and out as though this armor itself were a massive insect nest.

The head armor resembled that of an insectoid queen, bearing compound-eye-like patterns. In the mouth position were openable and closable armor plates; whenever he breathed, the plates would part to reveal the writhing swarm inside.

Most terrifying of all were those eyes.

Beneath the ferocious armor, those eyes were still human--filled with madness, greed, and a bottomless hatred.

Hongming raised his hand, looking at his armor-covered fingertips.

"This is power..."

His voice came from beneath the armor, carrying a bizarre echo.

"Power that I spent ten years trading everything I had for."

He looked at Fon Shaoling.

"You're right, the past me was trash, and I only knew how to hide. But now--"

He spread his arms.

The swarm behind him seemed to hear a command, scattering instantly before gathering again to form a pair of huge wings composed of countless insects behind him.

"I don't have to hide anymore."

His smile seeped out from under the armor, ferocious and frantic.

"Come on, Soi Fon. Let me see just how strong you are!"

The Completed Form--Tsuchimikado Kōmei, manifested completely.

Soi Fon raised her right middle finger, wrapped in Suzumebachi which had transformed into a gold-and-black gauntlet, and slightly crooked the finger blade that resembled a bee stinger.

"Come."

Meanwhile, at the front gate of the Fon Clan.

Tosaya stood before the gate, followed by a dozen figures. They were all Completed Forms, and chaotic Reiatsu radiated from each of them.

He looked at those closed heavy doors, his gaze somewhat weathered.

"Lord Tosaya," a Completed Form behind him asked in a low voice, "shall we attack?"

Tosaya was silent for a few seconds.

Then he took a deep breath, and his Reiatsu began to surge.

He raised his hand, lava condensing in his palm.

Right at that moment, a voice came from behind.

"Big Brother Tosaya!"

Tosaya's movement stopped.

He turned his head.

Shimizu was carrying that Asauchi, standing panting not far away.

Tosaya looked at him, his gaze complex.

"Shimizu... why did you chase after me?"

Shimizu gripped his sword tightly, walking closer step by step.

"Big Brother Tosaya, what are you doing? What are you trying to do to the Fon Clan?"

Tosaya did not speak.

Shimizu looked at those Completed Forms, some of which had already undergone Hollowfication and donned pale armor, and his expression turned pale bit by bit.

"You... what is this..."