Resentment

The third level of Hell is a gray sandy expanse covered with neatly arranged golden skulls.

"This is the final level of Hell, the graveyard of the Sinners," Ichigo explained. "The ash and sand we're stepping on are the remains of crushed Sinners bodies, and as for those skulls, there's no need to elaborate."

"Gray sand?" Urahara pulled out a small, clear bottle, filled it with a little sand, and asked, "Don't you guys think this Threefold Hell looks familiar?"

"The first layer, with its cubes of varying sizes and long streets, mimics the appearance of the World of the Living. This third layer of gray sand makes you think you've arrived in Hueco Mundo at first glance. So what about the second layer? What does that boundless sea represent? Could it be Soul Society?"

Urahara's conjecture sent a chill down their spines, Ukitake even asked, "This Hell corresponds to the Three Worlds that Soul King- King transformed. Could it be that Hell wants to evolve its own world through these things?"

"I don't know. If the guess is true, the prototypes of the three worlds already exist. Then what keeps them running in Hell? Reishi? Or something else?"

"I think I know that!" Ichigo raised his hand and spoke up. "When I was fighting Black Blade here, he said that the source of the Sinners ' power is Resentment, and the stronger the Resentment, the stronger they are."

"Assuming he wasn't lying, then it's understandable that those Sinners in the first level who lost their negative emotions became walking corpses; they had no use to Hell," Tsuna speculated.

"Then let's have a good talk with this Black Blade, Ichigo. How much further?" Urahara asked.

"Once we get over those two sand dunes, we'll see where they revived. Follow me." Ichigo didn't hesitate and prepared to run forward.

"Running is too slow, let's fly, please, Tsuna." Urahara tossed a black belt into Tsuna's hand.

Tsuna Urahara's meaning. With the battle imminent, every bit of energy was crucial. He fastened his belt around his waist, which had a forked connecting strap to secure the other three people.

"Ready, let's go!" With a boost from the Sky Flame, Tsuna flew in the direction Ichigo pointed. Urahara and the other two were pulled up by Tsuna and entered flight mode together.

At the destination indicated by Ichigo, there was a small altar made of piled stones, surrounded by a circle of stone pillars, with two large hands raised upwards at the front.

Inside the altar was a gigantic humanoid skeleton pierced through by instruments. Beneath the skeleton lay the core of the altar: a pool of crimson lava.

Black Blade and several other slain Sinners crawled out of the lava and quickly returned to their original humanoid forms; they had been reborn here.

"Black Blade, what's wrong with you? Didn't you say Ichigo Kurosaki would definitely come looking for revenge? What the hell are those white-clad figures that suddenly appeared?!"

The Sinners are not a collective; they were deceived by the Black Blade's lies and came here to lure Ichigo Kurosaki into Hell so that they could break the Chains of Hell.

Now that the objective has not been achieved, the blame and accountability are naturally all being placed on Black Blade.

"So annoying!"

Black Blade threw the Black Blade in his hand, which hit the man squarely in the chest. After all, this was Hell, and he didn't care about life or death.

The person who had been hit continued to nag at Black Blade, Black Blade clutched his forehead, trying to suppress the throbbing pain from his frustration. How could he not want Ichigo Kurosaki to appear?

It's all because these bastards provoked the people guarding the door, otherwise Black Blade would have already kidnapped Ichigo's sister again.

"Stop arguing, look, what's that?" a relatively calm Sinners asked, pointing to the distant sky.

Those were four black dots. Upon closer inspection, they were clearly not Sinners from Hell, nor were they outsiders. Most importantly, Ichigo Kurosaki was among them!

"Hahaha! Ichigo Kurosaki, you really did come!" Black Blade laughed as he drew his weapon; his chance to escape was about to return!

Black Blade and the others could see Ichigo, Ichigo and the others also noticed the Sinners around the altar. Ukitake and Ichigo's eyes fell on Urahara, Urahara was in charge of everything within Hell.

"Those Sinners can't die, right? Let's kill them all first!"

Urahara Kisuke's gentle smile was masked by a chilling undercurrent. Back at the Ishida Residence, he knew Ichigo wanted to vent his anger. What could be more satisfying than blocking the enemy's respawn point and unleashing a devastating attack?

Sure enough, the next moment Ichigo's face turned red, and he looked excited. "Then I won't be polite, shopkeeper!"

Ichigo's appearance immediately changed. He gripped a black bow in his hand, the blue Reishi bloodline filling every part of the Spirit Bow. With the combination of Fullbring and Quincy power, he prepared to use this powerful arrow to declare his rage.

"Tsuna, get out of the way!"

Tsuna immediately ripped off the belt around his waist and Flash Step beside Ichigo. "Be careful, don't actually break their Chains."

"Don't worry, that's why I only used Fullbring and Quincy powers!"

Previous speculation suggested that Ichigo's ability to sever the Chains of Hell might be related to the power of the Soul King's constitution, which is why Ichigo deliberately refrained from using the powers of the Bleach and Hollows.

Because Ichigo's Bleach and Hollow powers are gradually merging and showing signs of evolving to a higher level, who knows when two other powers might be added? If they were to break the Chains Hell, wouldn't that be great for the Sinners?

The combination of Fullbring and Quincy powers is even purer, preventing Bleach and Hollow's power from entering. Therefore, Ichigo was prepared to fight in this form from the moment he entered the room.

As he spoke, a beam of light the size of a millstone shot out from Ichigo's Spirit Bow, its spiritual pressure continuously outputting like a laser pointer, sweeping across the several Sinners near the altar.

The beam of light was incredibly fast; the first Sinners it hit was instantly devoured, and then, under Ichigo's sweeping attack, it swallowed another person, sending two Sinners to their deaths in quick succession.

At this moment, the Sinners reacted, either retaliating or dodging. Ichigo's arrow only eliminated two Sinners.

"Pity."

"That's about enough, let's get started, shopkeeper, Ukitake."

Tsuna the lead and appeared in front of a Sinners, holding a fireball containing terrifying spiritual pressure, Burning Supernova.

The fireball propelled the Sinners towards the lava. Tsuna didn't intend to kill the Sinners, but rather to see if the lava would harm Sinners as well.

It had an effect. The Sinners fell into the lava thrashed about a couple of times before gradually sinking to the bottom. Seeing that he was out of breath, his body turned into a ball of lava and disappeared.

Urahara Kisuke appeared behind another Sinners, and behind him emerged a woman in a red kimono— Urahara's Bankai, Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame.

Before the Sinners could even react, he was instantly dismembered by Red Princess. Urahara, seemingly taking notes with great interest, remarked, "So that's how it is. The Sinners's body isn't purely a spirit. Could this be what they call Resentment?"

Although he was at odds with those Sinners, he was suddenly left alone, and the urgency of being at a disadvantage prompted Black Blade to make a hasty move.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!"

The Black Blade shouted Ichigo's name, fueled by the intense Resentment Ichigo felt from not severing all his Chains last time. It unleashed a Black Blade blade of light at Ichigo.

Counterattack! Counterattack now! As long as Ichigo dares to counterattack, the Black Blade will open its arms to welcome him. As long as he can escape this Hell sea of suffering, being slashed by Ichigo Kurosaki is no big deal.

However, to Black Blade's surprise, the moment his attack left his weapon, the black blade light returned to him. Until his death, he never understood why his attack had turned on him.

"Two Elements Fish Painting - Impermanence Diagram." Ukitake slowly floated down, holding a folded scroll. Since they were attacking together, he also used the power of his Bankai.

"Kisuke, Sogyo no Kotowari's ability is effective." This was Ukitake testing the effect of his Zanpakuto's power on the power of Resentment. If Sogyo no Kotowari was ineffective, Ichigo would then have to counterattack the Black Blade.

"Understood. Also, the sudden increase in the strength of the Black Blade's attacks is related to Resentment."

The moment the Black Blade was swung, Urahara sensed from him the same power that Sinners —that, it seemed, was Resentment.

After completing the recording and analysis, Urahara didn't even glance at it before throwing the dismembered object into the lava. The poor Sinners was nothing more than Urahara's plaything.

Then, Urahara manipulated Red Princess to scoop up a handful of liquid from the magma, seal it, and explain to the others, "This magma is also composed of Resentment; it's not unreasonable that they would be resurrected here."

"So, Resentment is like the Reishi of the Three Worlds, the main energy used to maintain the operation of Hell?" Tsuna asked.

"You could say that I haven't seen any records of these Sinners ' abilities and appearances in Soul Society, which means they were likely directly accepted by the Gates of Hell in the World of the Living or Hueco Mundo." Urahara was very confident in his memory.

"Black Blade said that his sister was murdered, so he took revenge on those people, and later indiscriminately retaliated against any family with a sister," Ichigo quickly added, though it was unclear whether this was a Black Blade or the truth.

"If it's true, then Wu Di is truly a scoundrel," Tsuna sighed, then added insult to injury for Ichigo, "Ichigo, next time don't trust people so easily, especially those Sinners."

Another purpose of Hell is to exile the most heinous criminals from the Three Worlds. It can be said that none of those Sinners are innocent.

Ichigo scratched his head awkwardly. Out of sympathy for his brother, and because Yuzu had been kidnapped, he hadn't thought much about it. Now that he thought about it, a scoundrel is a scoundrel. No matter how eloquently they speak, it doesn't change the fact that they have fallen into Hell because of their sins.

"So this Black Blade comes from a human in the World of the Living. In other words, Resentment can make a human without extraordinary combat power become powerful. Judging from the current situation, their combat power is in no way inferior to that of an ordinary Seated Officer, and that Black Blade even has the potential to surpass the Vice-Captain." Urahara Kisuke was still taking notes.

Tsuna Urahara's words, Tsunayoshi uttered a terrifying conjecture. "Could I understand it this way: Resentment is both the energy that powers Hell and a means for Hell to train its troops?"

"As long as one harbors Resentment, even if one was just an ordinary person in life, one can become a powerful warrior?"