The Point of Convergence

After the Mōcāng blue Reishi dissipated, the cold, sharp, and murderous Reiatsu completely vanished from beneath Sōkyoku Hill. But in the center of that ravaged forest, something remained.

Hu knelt on the ground; the wounds weren't deep, and the bleeding had already stopped. He was fine, since if Hu died, Mōcāng would also die. Mōcāng had no reason to kill Hu unless absolutely necessary.

The pain that accompanied the flood of memories has gradually faded, but the memories remain.

The cold corpse of his mother before him, the helplessness and loneliness of wandering the Demon World, the shame of being Brainwashing and transformed, and his younger brother who was his adversary—these memories and emotions that once belonged only to Vergil remained in Amber's heart.

The emotions in those memories are like puddles left on the beach after the tide has receded, each one quietly reflecting the gray sky.

The warmth of the sunlight on his skin, the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves, the touch of Fon Shaoling's sleeve brushing against his arm when she squatted beside him—all of these were still there, but it felt as if there was something separating them, distant and blurry, as if they were coming from the other side of a very thick glass.

He knew he should stand up. Mōcāng had already gone back, the battle was temporarily over, and Shaoling and Yin Ge were still watching from the sidelines, worried about him. He should stand up to put their minds at ease, but he couldn't do it yet; too many negative emotions prevented him from doing so.

Fon Shaoling squatted beside him, without saying a word. Her fingers were clenched inside her sleeves, her nails digging into her palms.

She didn't know what he had been through, but she recognized Amber's current appearance—physically healthy, but spiritually lost. She had seen that expression before, in the Second Division a hundred years ago, when she looked in the mirror every morning after Yoruichi left.

As for the silver side,

After Yin was grabbed by the collar by Fon Shaoling, before she could even straighten her askew collar, it was grabbed again from the other side.

The force was much greater than that of the Fon Shaoling, pulling him back half a step. Gin was forced to turn around, facing the single eye protruding from the eyepatch.

A golden Reiatsu emanated from Kenpachi, like some kind of suppressed impatience—like a starving beast going hunting but failing.

"Ichimaru, what exactly happened? Why did that guy suddenly disappear?" Kenpachi's voice was like rusty iron scraping against each other.

Gin looked at Kenpachi with his usual smile, but fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Kenpachi was furious. He had been eagerly anticipating a battle, but his opponent had vanished right before his eyes. It was like a plate of meat being served to him, only to be snatched away before he could even pick it up.

"That was probably what Zanpakuto looks like after it materializes." Gin pointed to Koko kneeling on the ground and explained, "The owner of that Zanpakuto is that little kid kneeling over there. It seems that Koko wanted to Zanpakuto and gain Bankai through battle. But as you saw, it didn't go very smoothly."

Kenpachi followed Gin's finger and glanced at Koko, the guy with a vacant look in his eyes, kneeling on the ground, unable to stand up. He was carrying his sword, his brows furrowed, and he remained silent for a long time. Then he released his grip on Gin's collar.

"What a disappointment."

Kenpachi traveled a long way, expecting a formidable opponent. Instead, he was met with a guy who couldn't even control his own sword.

Kenpachi didn't want to stay there a second longer. He turned around, shouldered his sword, and walked back, the bells in his hair jingling. Yachiru was perched on his shoulder, Ikkaku was carrying Reiatsu Recovery Potion, Yumichika followed closely behind.

Yin stood there, letting out a long breath. He had already prepared himself to fight Kenpachi, take a few blows, and get a painless result so that everyone could save face.

Kenpachi silently thanked Kenpachi hundred times in his heart, then turned around and walked towards Amber.

Kenpachi's side:

The four members of the 11th Division walked out of the ravaged woodland. Kenpachi walked quickly, the flattened ancient tree trunks and the cracked craters passing by him, but he didn't care at all; it was the same scene he always saw.

Yachiru lay on his shoulder, clutching Kenpachi's hair with both hands, her legs swinging back and forth in front of his chest. Usually, when she swung her legs, she would hum a song or point to things like ants on the ground, birds in the trees, or holes in the clouds for Kenpachi. But she wasn't doing that today.

"Kenpachi," Yachiru suddenly spoke, her voice serious, unlike her usual playful tone. Kenpachi didn't respond and continued walking forward. "I don't want this."

Kenpachi paused for a moment. Yachiru rarely spoke in this tone. Usually, she would either cling to his back and act cute or ride on his head and give him orders. You could count the number of times she was serious on your fingers.

Ikkaku stopped in his tracks, with Yumichika following behind. The two exchanged a puzzled look.

"Being rejected by a comrade you were supposed to fight alongside is incredibly painful." Yachiru grabbed Kenpachi's hair, pulling him slightly to meet his gaze. Her eyes were unusually wide, her clear pupils devoid of their usual mischievousness, filled only with a quiet and resolute quality. "That guy just now, during the battle, he exuded a very, very sad feeling. He wasn't enjoying the fight at all. That's wrong."

Ikkaku instinctively opened his mouth. "That guy named Amber can't even control his own knife, what's the point of helping him? A guy like that doesn't deserve to fight the captain." As soon as he finished speaking, a water arrow accurately hit his bald head.

"Shut up! You bald man!"

"What did you say?!" Veins bulged on Ikkaku's forehead, his hand already on the hilt of his sword. "Lieutenant Kusajishi, you come here—"

Yumichika lunged forward, pressing his hands firmly against Ikkaku's shoulders, forcing him to stay rooted to the spot. "Ikkaku, calm down, calm down..." he whispered, almost in Ikkaku's ear, "Offending her won't get us anywhere."

Kenpachi looked at Yachiru's slightly puffed-out cheeks, her round face full of stubbornness. He sighed, letting out a sound like the grinding of cast iron from deep in his throat.

"Just this once. But let me make it clear first, I can't be of much help."

Yachiru blinked, then grinned. She grabbed Kenpachi's hair, directing him to turn around, and started swinging her legs against his chest again. Ikkaku watched his captain being ridden like a horse by his Lieutenant, and finally released his grip on the hilt of his sword.

"Let's go." Yumichika patted him on the shoulder. The four 11th Division turned back again.

As Kenpachi carried Yachiru back to the woods, Gin glanced back at them and instinctively took a half-step back. His hand remained imperceptibly on the hilt of his sword, and his squinty-eyed smile returned, though the curve of his lips was slightly stiff.

"Captain Zaraki, you're back again? If there really isn't a fight today—"

Kenpachi ignored him. He put the Zanpakuto down from his shoulder, the tip of which struck the ground, cracking the stone slab. Then he sat down, leaning against a flattened ancient tree stump, his one eye fixed on Koko, who was gradually recovering.

"Hey! How much longer are you going to stand there like that? If you're feeling unwell, just throw it up."

Amber looked up at the giant who had suddenly turned back. Kenpachi sat there with an expression that said, "Even I have patiently sat down."

Yachiru slid off his shoulder and landed on the ground, looking up at Amber with bright, sparkling eyes.

Ikkaku sat down against another tree stump, arms crossed, saying nothing but not leaving.

Yumichika stood in the corner, his fingers gently tracing the Zanpakuto on the ground as he surveyed the chaos.

Yin looked at the group of people and slowly released his hand from the hilt of his sword. He walked to Hu's side and sat cross-legged on the ground. "Little Hu, if there's anything bothering you, you can talk to your brother."

Fon Shaoling turned and sat down on the other side of Amber: "Amber, if you're feeling down, talking about it will make you feel better."

Kenpachi was facing Amber, with Yachiru Kenpachi him.

A little further away, Ikkaku against a tree stump, Yumichika sat beside him. Everyone sat down, and Amber looked around at the people sitting around. Amber took a deep breath and slowly sat down on the ground.

He didn't answer Fon Shaoling's question directly, but instead lowered his head and gently stroked the back of Jiku'a's blade with his fingertips. The blade trembled slightly, and the pale blue light flickered, like some kind of silent comfort.

"Shaoling, Brother Yin, can I tell you a story?" His voice was soft, but everyone heard it.

"Once upon a time, there was a family of four. The father was Legendary Devil Hunter, and the mother was human. They had twins." Hu began to tell the story, using the simplest words. "Their father was very powerful, powerful enough to form an army by himself and fight against the entire world."

But one day, the father suddenly disappeared. No one knew why. He vanished completely from their lives, as if he had evaporated into thin air.

"The mother hid with her two children. But the enemy's men were everywhere, and they were eventually found. The mother hid the younger brother and went to find the older brother alone." Amber's finger rested on the back of Jiku'a's sword. "But on her way to find her brother, she died."

"My brother was also attacked by the enemy. In the face of death, Awakening the power left by our father. He broke through the enemy's obstacles and returned home, only to find our mother dead, and our younger brother nowhere to be found..."

Yachiru clung to Kenpachi's trouser leg, leaning against him with unblinking eyes, even her usually restless hands were still. Ikkaku, at some point, lowered his arms from his chest and sat up slightly.

"And so, the older brother survived because of his father's support, thinking his younger brother was dead, while the younger brother survived because of his mother's protection, thinking his older brother was dead."

They each survived, but in completely different ways.

Amber continued, "After that incident, my brother began to crave power. He felt that if he was strong enough, Mother wouldn't have died. If he was strong enough, Father wouldn't have disappeared. As long as he was strong enough, he wouldn't lose anyone else."

He abandoned everything in pursuit of power. Emotions, attachments, warmth, humanity—he left these things behind one by one, thinking that this would make him run faster. He never rested, never allowed himself to stop. Because if he stopped, he would remember his mother's face...

Fon Shaoling's expression was somewhat gloomy. She had also lost her parents and brothers in her childhood, and she knew what that felt like.

"Later he encountered the enemy leader." As Hu recounted this, he unconsciously clenched his fists, once again feeling the humiliation Vergil had suffered.

"He thought he was going to take on a challenge. He thought he already had enough power, but he didn't understand his opponent at all. He was too eager to prove himself, so he couldn't see the trap."

"After the enemy won, they transformed him into the Black Knight. They erased his memories, twisted his will, and turned him into their henchmen."

The boy who once pursued power to avoid being controlled by anyone ended up becoming a puppet manipulated by others.

Having lost his loved ones and resolved to gain power, he found himself standing against his last remaining family member. Amber chuckled softly as she said this, a hint of self-mockery in her voice.

"What..." Fon Shaoling's voice was extremely soft, so soft that it almost dissipated in the wind, but it seemed to be choked by something, and stopped abruptly.

Gin turned his head slightly to look at Koko's profile, his narrowed eyes devoid of any smile. He felt that if the assassination attempt on Aizen failed, his fate might not be much better than Koko's.

He sighed inwardly, no wonder Hu could see through him; it turned out that he and Hu had such similar experiences.

"Later, his younger brother broke free from his control. When the two met again, the younger brother was no longer the younger brother—he had grown up, become stronger, and was holding his father's sword."

The older brother, defeated by his younger brother and just freed from his puppet form, was covered in wounds and delirious, yet he chose to leave again, alone, to continue his pursuit of greater power, only to be defeated once more by his family...

This was his end.

Amber raised his head. He looked at the people sitting around him. "The guy who experienced this is inside me now. When I came to Soul Society, Jiku'a separated, suppressed, and locked him deep inside my soul for the safety of my soul."

He not only possesses the same power as me, but also all my battle memories, as well as my negative past that I find difficult to confront.

Amber looked down at her hands. "The condition for completing Bankai is to defeat him."

But I can't do it. When I fight him, those memories and emotions flood back. I can feel the grief of my mother's death, the loneliness of being alone in the darkness, and the self-blame and resentment of being powerless.

"I don't know what to do, I don't know how to face him."

His voice finally began to tremble with the last few words, a sense of powerlessness welling up from the depths of his heart.

He can wield his blade against the Mōcāng, and he can also learn to use the dual-structure Beowulf. He can also practice the operation of the Summoned Swords; all skills can be improved.

But he didn't know how to face the darkness surging from within the Mōcāng.

The silence lasted for a long time. Only the wind whistled through the broken sections of the ancient tree.

Fon Shaoling spoke first, "I used to have five older brothers, but they all died in the line of duty. When my last brother died, I was just a child, just like the one in your story."

"Growth is always accompanied by bitterness, it's just that the bitterness we experience is a bit more intense." Her fingers clenched her sleeve slightly, then relaxed.

After Yin finished speaking, she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes into slits.

"Xiao Hu, I don't have any grand principles. I've never been good at saying those kinds of things since I was little." He spread his hands and shrugged. "But over the years, I've done some bad things and failed quite a few times."

I won't argue or deny it; the past is still there. I've just learned to live with it. Bankai isn't something you can master in a day or two. You'll learn how to live with it eventually. It's not your enemy, Koko. It's a part of you."

Yachiru stood up from next to Kenpachi, walked up to Kotori, looked up at him, and simply stood on tiptoe, reached out and gently patted Kotori's head.

"Don't be sad. It must be painful to be rejected by a friend, but he didn't mean to hurt you. He's just been apart from you for so long that he's forgotten how to talk to you properly."

"Just like Xiao Jian sometimes gets angry at me, but he's not really angry." She winked at Hu. "He's very sad, so you should keep going to find him, just like I found Xiao Jian."

Kenpachi leaned against the tree stump the entire time, arms crossed over his chest, one eye half-closed, as if he were about to fall asleep. Only after Yachiru finished speaking did he let out a muffled groan from deep in his throat, "That was troublesome."

He slung the Zanpakuto had been resting beside him back onto his shoulder, stood up, and looked down at Amber. "You guys who can Bankai, you're all making things far too complicated. Ikkaku!"

Zaraki reached out to Ikkaku, Ikkaku understood immediately and handed him the potion. Before anyone knew what he was going to do, he poured the potion down Amber's throat.

"Drink this and then have a fight with me! Thinking like this will never end; the answer is always hidden in the battle!"