The Meaning of Asura

After finishing the last document in the Feimou Corps, Hu stuffed the Denreishinki into his pocket and headed towards the public Senkaimon.

This afternoon, he went to Urahara Shop as usual. The training for the Dangai had been going on for some time, the seal on the Tsukabishi remained firm, and he was gradually getting used to using his power at 20% Reiatsu.

The corridor was quiet; his footsteps echoed off the stone walls, one after another. Turning the last corner, he saw a person standing Senkaimon.

Red hair, Shihakusho, and Zabimaru hanging from his waist. Renji was handing a document to a guard at the Senkaimon, while holding several sheets of paper in his other hand. His back was ramrod straight, and his shoulders were slightly raised, as if he was forcing himself to stand up for something.

"Renji- senpai?" Kou walked over.

Renji turned his head. His expression changed quickly—from a serious face to a forced smile when he saw Koko. "Yo, Koko. Using the Senkaimon? Going to the World of the Living again today?"

The smile on his face was like an ill-fitting garment.

"Senior, are you... going on a field mission?"

"Hmm, I guess so." Renji folded the remaining paper in his hand and stuffed it into his sleeve. "The Sixth Division has some things to take care of. I'll be going now; the team is waiting for me."

He patted Hu on the shoulder and walked past him. His footsteps were quick, and the echoes in the corridor overlapped and faded into the distance.

Hu stood there, watching his back turn as he rounded the corner. Then he turned around and handed the application for the Senkaimon to the guard. The guard took it and began recording it in the register.

The document Renji just handed over is on the table, not yet filed. The paper is face up, and the handwriting is neat:

Users: Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai. Time of use: 8:00 World of the Living Japan time today. Senkaimon destination: Karakura Town. Attached below: Restriction Seal application, two people, Squad: Sixth Division.

Rukia's stay had long since ended, Byakuya had been summoned for questioning by the Central 46, Renji... everything was pointing in the same direction.

Amber pushed his application forward, waited for the team members to board, then turned and walked into the Senkaimon. The feeling of weightlessness in the passage surged up and then receded. He stepped onto the land of the World of the Living, in front of Urahara Shop, where sunlight leaked through the gaps in the eaves.

He pushed open the glass door. Tessai Tsukabishi Yoruichi in charge of suppressing the Kōryū today. The black cat crouched beside the Senkaimon, its tail resting on its paws, and squinted at Kou.

"They've arrived?" Yoruichi's voice came from the cat's mouth.

"Um."

Tsukabishi pushed up her glasses. "Let's go."

The gray void of the Dangai unfolded overhead. Yoruichi had already transformed into human form, wearing a restraint device, and continuously outputting Reiatsu to freeze the Kōryū in an area. Tsukabishi stood opposite Amber, her hands behind her back.

"Today's practice focuses on the spatial application of Kidō Arts." Tsukabishi raised her hand, a pale blue light emanating from her fingertips. "I told you before that your Summoned Swords is essentially a spatial coordinate. You can use it, but you don't understand why it can become a coordinate. Within the Dangai, time and space are solidified, making them easier to perceive than outside. Today, try to sense the location of spatial nodes on your own, without relying on Jiku'a."

Hu nodded, and blue light shone in his silver eyes.

Tsukabishi began his demonstration. He tapped his fingertips in the air a few times, each landing point leaving a very faint spot of light. The spots of light were connected by extremely fine threads, forming a three-dimensional net. Then he released his hand, and the entire net trembled slightly, dissipating into points of light.

"Your turn."

Hu raised his hand and, mimicking him, touched the air. At the first spot, a spot of light lit up. At the second spot, the spot of light also lit up. At the third spot—when his fingertip touched halfway, the spot of light flashed and then went out. The light from the first three spots shattered simultaneously, as if it had been torn apart from the inside by something.

"The Reiatsu distribution isn't even enough," said Tsukabishi. "The amount of Reiatsu needed at each node is the same. Let's try again."

Hu took a deep breath and raised his hand again, but he still couldn't grasp the key points. There was no wind in the Dangai, but he could feel the shattered points of light leaking through his fingers, unable to hold on. Tsukabishi pointed out the problems again and again—the distribution of Reiatsu, the choice of nodes, the intervals of construction, and the depth of perception. Although Hu listened carefully and tried hard, he still couldn't succeed.

Other things were still swirling in Amber's mind. The words on that application form: Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai. Twenty. Restriction Seal.

This sounds like they're heading to capture Rukia, and once Rukia is brought back, it means the story is about to enter the next chapter, and Aizen will resurface. Can he stop Aizen from obtaining the Hōgyoku?

He can't even control his own power right now, how can he handle the major events to come?

Could this backfire and ruin what could have been a relatively bright future?

Should he just watch things happen and do nothing?

"Alright, alright, that's enough for now." Urahara clapped his hands, interrupting the lesson.

Hu's finger remained suspended in mid-air, shattered specks of light falling from its tip.

Urahara emerged from the shadows of the entrance, his cane-sword in hand.

He walked to the opposite side of Amber, planted the knife on the ground, and rested his chin on the hilt. "Ye Xing, let's try a different approach. Moving around a bit will help change your mood."

Tsukabishi looked at him, remained silent for a moment, then turned around and walked towards Yoruichi.

"Is Mr. Urahara coming in person?" Ko asked, a little puzzled, Urahara hadn't personally taught him before.

Amber always thought that it was because the seal on the Tsukabishi had not been broken and the Shikai could not be used, so it was not yet time for Urahara to attend class.

"Ye Xing, Mr. Tsukabishi is having a hard time teaching you." Urahara's tone was as casual as if he were talking about the weather. "Your head is full of too many things right now, your thinking is too complicated. You can't learn anything."

Hu did not speak.

"So..." Urahara drew his sword, swung it casually, and his smile faded. "I plan to knock all those things out and then give it a try."

"Alright then. I'll also place a seal on myself. Without Shikai, my Reiatsu will be reduced to your level, and I'll only use Kidō below Sequence sixty. That should be fair enough, right?"

He raised his hand and made a few strokes on his wrist. A pale golden line flashed and disappeared into his skin.

"Come on," Urahara beckoned.

Seeing that Urahara was serious, Ko lowered his center of gravity, Shunpo), and slashed out with his sword. Urahara turned slightly to the side, the blade grazing his sleeve, missing by half an inch.

"What are you hesitating about?" Urahara slashed backhand, cutting a gash on Koko's wrist. Koko winced in pain, Jiku'a almost dropped his grip.

Amber stepped back, touching her wound, unable to believe that Urahara would actually do such a thing.

"What's wrong? You look surprised. Why do you think I won't hurt you? This is during a battle."

Urahara walked towards Kohiro, his leisurely pace resembling that of someone strolling through a shopping mall.

Amber gritted her teeth and charged forward again. The Phantom Blade condensed in her left hand, its blue light dimmer than usual. She thrust out her sword, which Urahara parried with his blade, causing the blade to deflect. A second strike followed, Urahara was no longer there. He Shunpo to Amber's side, the tip of his blade aimed at Amber's ribs, and plunged down without hesitation.

With a "rip," if Hu hadn't retreated in time, the blow would undoubtedly have pierced his chest.

Amber covered her cut and kept her distance. Urahara remained expressionless. "Why did you run away?"

The Summoned Swords coalesced around Amber, its tip aimed at Urahara. He waved his hand, and five swords shot out simultaneously. Urahara merely drew a half-circle with his sword in front of him, and all five swords were shattered.

"What can this Summoned Swords, which is as thin as glass, do? You think you can fight the enemy with something like this?"

Amber gasped for breath, the area where Urahara had scratched her throbbed with each rise and fall of her chest.

"What's wrong? Are two minor injuries affecting your mobility?"

Amber charged forward again. She slashed with Phantom Blade and Jiku'a alternately, but Urahara parried them with just one hand holding the sword, barely moving his feet.

"What a disgrace." Urahara Kaku cut through Amber's shoulder with his sword. "Do you know what Instructor Cilian used to be called?"

Koko screamed in agony as his shoulder was pierced. Urahara, however, remained calm, gripping his sword and kicking Koko away. As the blade swiftly withdrew from Koko's shoulder, Koko screamed again.

"If you don't know, I'll tell you now." Urahara's voice was utterly cold. "It's Asura!"

Hu was covered in blood, and the pain made it difficult for him to open his eyes.

"In Soul Society, the Soul Reaper is proficient in all sword techniques is called Yachiru, and the strongest Soul Reaper is called Kenpachi. Ye Xing, what kind of Soul Reaper do you think can be called Asura?"

Urahara Shunpo to close the distance to Amber, and with a swift slash, left another long scar on Amber's chest, blood gushing out.

"The most ruthless Soul Reaper!"

As Urahara spoke, he left a knife wound on Amber's chest:

"Soul Reaper known as Asura doesn't necessarily possess superb swordsmanship!" A splatter of blood erupted from Amber's chest...

"And you don't need to have a brilliant mind!" Amber's clothes were completely soaked in blood.

"But its fighting stance will definitely be the most ruthless, the most ferocious, and the most relentless." Urahara's sword was like a brush dipped in too much ink; a light flick could spill a large amount of blood.

"Cowardice leads to defeat, hesitation to death! This is the name of Commander Cilian, known as the Asura!" Urahara's way of addressing Cilian, as he recalled Cilian, returned to how he was when he was under her Cilian.

"And now, the one on whom Asura places his hopes is a vase dressed in fashionable training clothes, hesitant in battle, and screaming when stabbed a few times?" Urahara flicked the blood-soaked knife, wiping away all the blood, and Amber fell to the ground, blood pooling in her eyes.

"What a joke!"

Hu lay in a pool of blood, gripping the knife, his knuckles white.

Urahara stepped over Koko's body, the knife grazing Koko's cheek, leaving a very thin line of blood. "If you can't withstand the pressure, how about I release you now?"

"I have no power right now..."

"So what?" Urahara said calmly.

"Huh? I said I don't have your kind of power..."

"So I'm asking you what's wrong with that?!" Urahara almost shouted angrily, glaring at Amber.

"We couldn't beat him even a hundred years ago! The full power of the Kidō of the Tsukabishi was blocked by that guy with a single, unincanted Dankū!"

Do you know how many team leaders there were back then?

The gap between us and that guy is the same as the gap between you and us right now! Or even greater!

"Would we give up fighting him because of this?"

Hu's body froze.

It was only then that Koko realized that Urahara and his group had known of Aizen's power for a hundred years, yet they still wanted to fight him. The passion flowing through their veins was what made Koko so addicted to the Soul Reaper anime. For some reason, Zangetsu's release command suddenly echoed in Koko's ears:

Forget your fear, look ahead; move forward, don't stop; retreat only leads to aging, cowardice invites death!

"Cilian has truly misjudged this time." Urahara, seeing Amber's vacant eyes, was also disheartened. He decided to abandon Amber's training and, according to the original plan, let the Hōgyoku disappear along with Rukia. Yoruichi and Tsukabishi also showed expressions of disappointment.

Just then, Amber let out a hearty laugh from the pool of blood, followed by a surge of unstoppable blue Reiatsu.

The three who sensed this Reiatsu were greatly surprised. This Reiatsu was different from the previous one; it was flamboyant, unrestrained, and sharp!

Blue light flickered in Amber's silver eyes, and her hair gradually turned silver-white until it was half black and half white. Blue Reiatsu lifted Amber up.

He raised his left hand, Phantom Blade condensed in his palm. The blue sword light was brighter than ever before, but its edges trembled slightly.

He looked down at the sword. Tsukabishi said that the Phantom Blade he was releasing now represented his true progress in mastering this Kidō. Jiku'a was sealed away, and there was no Zanpakuto to process the parts he didn't understand.

Amber grinned, raising his right hand, his Reiatsu gathering in his palm. It didn't form a sword, but rather the purest, most compressed Reiatsu, wrapped around the surface of his palm like an extremely thin film of light. He pressed the Reiatsu of his right hand onto the edge of the Phantom Blade, wiping it from the guard to the tip, bit by bit.

Like sharpening a knife. A second infusion. The first layer constructs the blade, the second layer applies a layer of Reiatsu to the edge. That layer of light adheres to the blade, filling in any uneven points and stabilizing the trembling edges.

The Phantom Blade stopped trembling. The blue light on the sword subsided, no longer exploding, becoming calm and solid, just like when Shikai. The sword was still the same sword, but there was an extremely thin, almost invisible layer of light at the edge. That was the Reiatsu that had been infused a second time, filling in all the uneven nodes.

Urahara's eyebrows twitched slightly at the sight. It reminded him of the past, of when Cilian was still leading the team, and their swords had become dull from cutting, but a whetstone popped out of the Thousand-Mechanism Gauntlet and they sharpened their swords again—a scene strikingly similar to Amber's current state.

"Mr. Urahara, you've only just finished warming up, where are you headed!" He used Shunpo), lunging forward, and unleashed a horizontal slash with his Phantom Blade. Urahara raised his sword to parry. Sword against sword, sparks flew.

"Thanks to you, I'm much more sober now. Let's have another round!"

The second sword strike was a vertical slash. The third was a diagonal thrust. Finally, there was a rapid thrust. Urahara could only block in place. Amber gave him no chance to catch his breath. He swung his sword with his left hand, his lips moving rapidly.

"You who reign supreme, mask of flesh and blood, all things, soaring wings, things bearing the name of humanity. Scorching heat and strife, rising southward across the sea, marching forward."

As he chanted, his sword never stopped. Each strike compressed Urahara's space to dodge, forcing him to parry and stand still.

"Hadō #31: Shakkahō"

As the last syllable fell, a crimson light exploded from the Phantom Blade's blade, and the entire sword burst into flames. He slashed down, the crimson sword energy wrapped in blue sword light, the two colors intertwined, striking Urahara's blade.

Urahara was forced back by the force of the attack.

His wrist felt slightly numb. The sealed Reiatsu was of the same level, and the power of the Kidō was similar.

Urahara looked down at his sword; there was a very fine scorch mark on the blade. "Use Reiatsu as a whetstone to smooth out any unevenness and make the sword whole again."

"Again."

Urahara lunged forward, his blade slamming down. Phantom Blade met it, the two swords clashing in mid-air. This time, he wasn't knocked back. He parried Urahara's blade with his left hand, while his right hand loosened its grip on the hilt, his fingers forming a Summoned Swords that materialized in his palm, which he then thrust towards Urahara's eyes.

Urahara glanced away; his eyes escaped unscathed, but his hat and a section of his eyebrow were cut off.

The Phantom Blade is the main weapon, Summoned Swords is the secondary weapon. The embers of the Shakkahō on the left have not yet died down, while the Byakurai on the right is already leaping across the blade.

He rushed forward.

With a horizontal slash of his left sword, crimson sword energy blocked Urahara's left retreat route. His right sword thrust straight forward, Byakurai exploding at the tip, forcing Urahara to retreat. Just as Urahara regained his footing, his left sword was already withdrawn, and the second Kidō) lit up on the blade— Bakudō One: Seal. The blade grazed Urahara's sword, and the binding force spread along the edge, Urahara's movements to pause slightly.

That's enough.

The right sword followed, the Kidō on its blade now changed—"Hadō #4: Byakurai." Lightning exploded at the sword tip. Urahara dodged to the side, the lightning grazing his sleeve, leaving a scorch mark on the edge. Amber didn't stop. The left sword followed, the third strike—"Hadō #31: Shakkahō." It didn't shoot from the sword tip, but the entire sword burned with crimson flames, slashing three times in succession. Urahara parried, retreated, and parried again. In this duel of equal-level Reiatsu sealed within, he held nothing back.

Amber's sword moved faster and faster. The chanting and slashing were no longer separate; as the prayer flowed from his lips, the sword had already drawn the trajectory of the Kidō in the air. Number thirty-three, Sōkatsui. Number fifty-four, Haien. The Kidō, which should have relied on a complete chant, was recited, loaded, and unleashed in the intervals between slashes. The gray void of the Dangai was illuminated by the sword light and the colors of the Kidō —blue, red, and purple, layer upon layer.

Urahara was finding it increasingly difficult to block, but a smile began to appear on his lips: Mr. Cilian was right after all.

However, as Amber became increasingly agitated, her Reiatsu solidified, and she broke through the seal in one fell swoop:

"Break free from your cage and soar high, Jiku'a!"

Accompanied by a sound like shattering glass, Jiku'a once again Shikai!

"So you were actually inspired by the release command of another Zanpakuto to break the seal, huh! Kou!" Jiku'a's voice echoed in Kou's ears.

Amber was still in a state of excitement Jiku'a was drawn, unleashing a Judgment Cut that cleaved through the void, which bloomed beside Urahara.

"Damn it!" Urahara quickly released the seal and increased his Reiatsu.

"Wake up, Red..."

Before he could even unleash his Zanpakuto, Urahara's right arm, which was gripping the sword, was sliced off!

Everyone present, including Amber, looked surprised.