The Nature of Abilities

Kisaragi Taiho had clearly underestimated the Kasumiōji Clan's defenses.

The group of five was discovered the moment they infiltrated the Kasumiōji Clan. Under the death warriors' assault, Kisaragi Taiho might have been able to escape, but his companions would become the Kasumiōji Clan's prisoners.

To save his companions, Kisaragi Taiho had no choice but to reveal his true strength and fight his way into the Kasumiōji Clan.

However, Kisaragi Taiho had still underestimated the Kasumiōji Clan's death warriors.

Although the Kasumiōji Clan had no expert capable of matching Kisaragi Taiho, their clan possessed an even more sinister Moyao Blade.

After more than twenty death warriors had died in battle, the Kasumiōji Clan's death warriors finally managed to force a powerful Moyao Blade into Kisaragi Taiho's hand.

Moyao Blades were weapons forged by the Kasumiōji Clan using a unique method.

They had once competed with Zanpakuto to become the standard weapons of Shinigami, but were rejected because their side effects were too wicked.

In dealing with Kisaragi Taiho, the Kasumiōji Clan had gone all out, bringing forth the strongest Moyao Blade in their family.

This Moyao Blade had been stored away by the Kasumiōji Clan for centuries. After encountering someone with spiritual power as abundant as Kisaragi Taiho's, how could it possibly let him go?

And so, Kisaragi Taiho, who had been slaughtering enemies in every direction, fell.

Nearly all the spiritual power in his body was drained by the Moyao Blade, and he collapsed within the Kasumiōji Clan estate.

In the end, he was even controlled by the Moyao Blade controlled by the Kasumiōji Clan, charging into the First Division and raising his blade against his own teacher.

Everyone believed the incident had ended there.

But Ailin knew that after this, the Kasumiōji Clan began to decline as well.

More than two hundred years later, the Kasumiōji Clan's direct heir, a daughter, nearly had her entire family stolen away by one of her own retainers.

If Kisaragi Taiho's son had not changed his name to Tenkai Shusuke over two hundred years later, dragged Ichigo Kurosaki and the others into his revenge against Captain-Commander Yamamoto, the Kasumiōji Clan might truly have ceased to exist.

During this time, Ailin had successfully forged the Zanpakuto of both Kisaragi Taiho and that Young Shinigami, greatly increasing his strength.

Kisaragi Taiho's Zanpakuto in particular was a powerful Zanpakuto that had already achieved Bankai. After Ailin forged it, the feedback it gave him raised his spiritual pressure to the third rank.

That was the Vice-Captain level.

"Boom!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Beneath the fiery red sky, hundreds of longswords rained down under Ailin's control, slamming into the ground and erupting with tremendous power.

As Ailin's strength increased, both the firing speed and force of these longswords had improved considerably.

At present, the power of each longsword striking the ground was enough to rival Hado Number Thirty.

In other words, Ailin's attack was roughly equivalent to unleashing hundreds of Hado Number Thirty spells at once.

With just this attack, there were fewer than a hundred people in the entire Soul Society who could take it head-on without issue.

Well, that was counting even the hidden guards kept by the nobles.

"With my current strength, I can't be considered weak even among Vice-Captains."

Within his Inner World, Ailin looked at the devastation caused by his attack and nodded to himself.

Then, Ailin shifted his gaze to Sword Hill on the other side.

Fifteen Zanpakuto were now embedded in Sword Hill.

At the very center was Ailin's own Zanpakuto—Unlimited Blade Works.

One tier below it was Kisaragi Taiho's Zanpakuto, which Ailin had only recently forged.

Scattered sparsely across Sword Hill's middle slope were another thirteen Zanpakuto.

Compared to Kisaragi Taiho's Zanpakuto, these thirteen were far inferior.

Yet the fact that they could be embedded in Sword Hill proved that none of them were ordinary.

And that was indeed the case.

These thirteen Zanpakuto were all capable of Shikai.

However, because of the Soul Society's "rules," these Zanpakuto copied by Ailin could not be revealed to the public.

Two hundred years later, merely possessing the same Zanpakuto had led Central 46 to demand that one of two people be executed.

If they learned that Ailin possessed multiple Zanpakuto, would it not mean that either Ailin or the owners of these Zanpakuto had to die?

When that time came, was there even any need to consider whether the ones who died would be those people or Ailin?

Even if the people of Central 46 were all pig-brained fools, they would not allow someone like Ailin, with limitless potential, to grow.

From Kisaragi Taiho, Ailin had learned that the fastest way to grow stronger was to get close to the captains of the Gotei 13.

After all, each time he forged a Captain-level Zanpakuto, Ailin's spiritual pressure would receive an enormous boost.

Just like this time: Kisaragi Taiho's Zanpakuto had forcibly raised Ailin's spiritual pressure from nearly breaking through to the fourth rank directly to the third rank.

However, Ailin's current identity was that of a member of the Punishment Corps. Whenever he had no duties, he had to remain in the barracks, ready at any time for an emergency summons from above.

Those who missed an emergency summons would not receive leniency from the Worm's Nest simply because they were members of the Second Division.

Otherwise, Ailin would have long since wandered around the Seireitei, copied the Zanpakuto of every Shinigami he encountered, and forged them within his Inner World.

"If I want to get close to those important figures, both my status and strength need to improve."

"At present, my strength is roughly on par with the Vice-Captains of the other divisions. The troublesome part is how I should explain my Zanpakuto's abilities to others..."

Looking at the hundreds of Zanpakuto within his Inner World, Ailin lowered his head in thought.

At one point, Ailin's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's right. My Zanpakuto's ability is Unlimited Blade Works. Strictly speaking, it is actually Unlimited Sword Forging."

"I can't expose the Zanpakuto of the Soul Society, but if I can forge weapons from other worlds, then there will be no problem using them in the Soul Society!"

At that thought, Ailin's heart immediately burned with excitement.

Men remained boys until death.

After watching so much anime, who did not dream of wielding a divine weapon?

If he could forge all those weapons, then even if he could not use them outside, using them within his own Inner World would still be immensely satisfying.

Thus, based on the images in his mind, Ailin began gathering the elements of "swords" within his Inner World, forging those weapons buried deep in his memories.

"Appraise Creation Concept..."

"Envision Basic Framework..."

Countless blue lights flickered within the Inner World—Unlimited Blade Works. As time passed, one weapon after another emerged in Ailin's inner world.

If anyone well versed in anime culture saw the weapons within Ailin's Inner World at this moment, they would probably cry out in shock.