"Bankai..."
The instant those two words fell, Duan Mu was completely enveloped in a purple-gray radiance. An invisible fluctuation slowly spread out, extending from the icehouse to the surface, then from the Yorozuya on the surface across the entire District 38.
Slowly, this strange fluctuation continued to spread, until the whole western Rukongai was shrouded in the inexplicable waves.
"Mishiro Kugō!"
The purple-gray radiance slowly faded, revealing Duan Mu within.
Duan Mu's Zanpakuto had changed drastically. The hilt had become hexagonal, while behind it hung a white ribbon that was utterly at odds with the gray blade, yet somehow blended perfectly with it.
The white ribbon seemed to possess a will of its own as it wound around Duan Mu's arm.
Duan Mu himself was in an extremely bizarre state. His violet eyes held not the slightest trace of emotion. Anyone who met his gaze would feel as though they were... looking into the eyes of a god. Nothing within his sight could cause even the slightest emotional ripple in those violet eyes.
Or rather...
Everything alive was reduced to an object within those violet eyes.
Duan Mu could not describe what state he was in. His consciousness was perfectly clear, and his memories remained vivid.
Yet he felt that everyone and everything he had encountered throughout his life had become a distant passerby from a long time ago. No thought, and no person, could stir even the slightest emotion within him.
Strange~
But not frightening.
Because in this state, his concentration was absolute. Nothing could interfere with his judgment.
At that moment, he was in a mental state that erased the differences between things, life and death, waking and dreaming, allowing nature to run its course as self and other merged into one.
Above the Yorozuya, the funnel formed