Strengthening Plan

"How could this be?" Ichigo muttered, marveling at Tsuna's wild imagination. "Does every sinner become a force of Hell?"

"No, not everyone can bear Resentment. Sinners, you've already seen those Ichigo couldn't bear it."

Upon hearing Tsuna's words, Ichigo immediately thought of the mindless, zombie-like Sinners he had seen on the first level of Hell. "Indeed, those people didn't look like they had any fighting ability at all."

"Does the existence of the Hell Will serve to select those Sinners suitable for battle?" Ukitake also showed a thoughtful expression. "The Gates of Hell have existed for countless years, and have absorbed countless Sinners, yet only these five truly possess combat power?"

"No matter what, it's unbelievable, isn't it?" Urahara Kisuke added with a smile, "Therefore, the appearance of these Black Blade people in the World of the Living and their attack on Ichigo must be a test from Hell against the World of the Living. Perhaps even the Black Blade himself doesn't realize he's being used."

"Why bother guessing? Why not just ask?" Tsuna towards the lava, and several humanoid creatures made of red lava crawled out from it.

"The resurrection speed is quite fast. It seems there's a lot of Resentment contained in this magma. Hell has really gone all out." Urahara said to Ichigo while taking notes, "Ichigo, you can handle the others. Just keep that Black Blade."

"Hehe, mission accomplished!" Ichigo hadn't vented his anger enough, and these unkillable punching bags were just too good to pass up.

Ichigo didn't even wait for these Sinners to fully revert to human form. While they were still in their magma-muddy state, he grabbed the black bow and began smashing them apart with all his might, letting them coalesce only to be smashed apart again...

Ichigo his anger brought knowing smiles to everyone's faces. By letting out his anger, Ichigo wouldn't be easily affected by his emotions during battle.

On the other side, the humanoid figure left behind by Ichigo gradually revealed its facial features, Urahara called out, "Tsuna."

Tsuna understood immediately, and just before the Black Blade reverted to its original form, Arnold's Handcuffs Black Blade already on its wrists.

"Congratulations on your arrest. Everything you say will be used against you in court," Tsuna joked.

"Let go of me! What kind of bastard dares to grab me like that!"

Black Blade reacted violently. Countless years in Hell had made him weary of Chains and the like, Tsuna deliberately stepped on his landmine by handcuffing him with Chains, causing Black Blade to explode instantly.

It's no wonder Black Blade looks down on handcuffs; he also has nearly ten invisible Chains of Hell on him. Compared to that, these handcuffs are child's play.

"They truly won't shed tears until they see the Yellow River."

Purple flames spread along the Chains connecting the handcuffs toward Black Blade. A series of clicking sounds rang out on Black Blade's body, and soon Black Blade was locked in a pile of iron rings, leaving only his head sticking out.

Only then did Black Blade realize how terrifying these handcuffs were; he had no way to break free from Tsuna's restraints and could only bluff.

"I'm not even afraid of death, do you think this will do me any good? Isn't it just adding another cage to a cage? I'm enjoying it!"

In response to Black Blade's provocation, Tsuna simply tightened the handcuffs slightly, and Black Blade immediately let out a painful cry.

It's true that Sinners like Black Blade are fearless of death, but Tsuna has plenty of ways to keep them alive while subjecting them to prolonged suffering.

"I ask, you answer." Tsuna loosened his grip slightly. "Are you the only powerful Sinners in the entire Hell?"

Black Blade had just breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't help but want to curse. Before he could even utter a word, intense pain struck again. This time, he couldn't even make a sound of pain because Tsuna had his throat locked.

Seeing that Black Blade was about to speak rudely, Tsuna immediately raised his pain level by one. Black Blade was rolling his eyes, feeling the pain on the line between life and death.

This feeling of being uncomfortable living, unable to die, and even being deprived of the right to express his pain was rapidly destroying Black Blade's mind. He wanted to beg for mercy more than once, but he couldn't do anything.

This time, Tsuna didn't intend to stop easily. Instead, he plopped down on the Black Blade lying on the ground. He had no interest in outsmarting the Black Blade; this torture was bound to penetrate to the bone.

Since he wasn't going to die anyway, and since the person in front of him was a complete scoundrel with no reason to pity him, Tsuna sat down, letting the Black Blade suffer under his buttocks, deciding to ignore it.

After a long while, even Ichigo had finished venting his anger and returned, Tsuna finally got up and loosened the tension on the Black Blade.

Black Blade gasped for air. Even after being tortured in Hell for so many years, it hadn't been as profound as this Tsuna. How did he manage to control it so well, dancing wildly on the brink of life and death?

Tsuna didn't say anything, just squatted in front of Black Blade, staring at him, as if to say that if Black Blade said a single wrong word, the torture would continue.

"Stop, stop! I was wrong! Please tell me your question from before." Black Blade even used polite language; during the torture, he had indeed forgotten the question Tsuna had asked.

"Forget it, you do it, shopkeeper. I'll just be the executioner." If he could find someone in this area who knew more than Black Blade Black Blade, he wouldn't have bothered playing mind games with him.

Urahara concealed his cunning, fox-like smile with his folding fan and repeated Tsuna's question.

Tsuna stood to the side, and this time, Black Blade had no chance of getting away with it. He quickly told Black Blade what he knew.

"Of course, it's not just a few of us. Hell has existed for countless years, and there are countless Sinners Sinners who can use their Resentment, especially those who already possessed power before entering Hell. They are the pinnacle of this world."

Why haven't we seen any other Sinners?

"That's because I deliberately set this place up as a stage for liberation. If those stronger Sinners knew of Ichigo Kurosaki's existence, would I even have a chance to break the Chains? Their place is deeper inside."

Black Blade felt like a joke and even cut the Chains, only to be shackled again.

"Where does your strength rank among the Sinners?"

"Me? If the others are small-time thugs, I'm just an ordinary person. Those powerful Sinners are like conglomerates." Black Blade's thinking still retained World of the Living habits.

"How many of those powerful Sinners you mentioned are there?"

Black Blade laughed, a disdainful laugh. "Do you think an ordinary person could know the exact amount of a chaebol's assets?"

"Then the next question is, how do you become stronger? Is it by fighting against the Hell Will?" Urahara didn't dwell on it; knowing more information was the most important thing at this moment.

"Pretty much. Those who die at the hands of the Hell Will are not qualified to use Resentment. Each time we escape death, we will become stronger."

Urahara and Ukitake exchanged a glance. Just as they had guessed, Hell Will was part of the Hell's Strong Army Project. The torment day and night was only to select for stronger warriors.

"One last question: are you sure you're the only one in Hell who saw Ichigo's video?"

"Don't underestimate the temptation to break your Chains. Even those at the very top would not hesitate if given the chance to regain their freedom."

"And in the past two days, during my entanglement with Ichigo, did you see anyone else appear?"

This also proves that Black Blade wasn't lying, and further confirms Urahara and the others' guess that Black Blade's appearance was deliberately chosen by Hell.

How could someone see sights beyond the world? How could someone erect an altar in the wilderness and bring Chains Sinners to the World of the Living to snatch people?

All of this points to one thing: Hell is deliberately letting the Black Blade Black Blade run away and cause trouble in the World of the Living, even going so far as to cause trouble for the Soul King candidate Ichigo Kurosaki.

Why Ichigo, and not Tsuna was fighting fiercely with the Monk? Perhaps it's related to Tsuna's identity as an outsider. Even Hell didn't discover Tsuna's existence, but instead focused their attention on the native Ichigo.

"I've asked everything I wanted to ask, Tsuna, you can handle this now." Urahara needed to quickly organize the information and his thoughts.

Black Blade had never experienced death in such a joyful and exhilarating way; his face practically screamed, "Kill me already, don't torture me!"

Without saying another word, Tsuna kicked the Black Blade back into the lava. Without even struggling, the Black Blade was swallowed up by the lava and sank to the bottom.

"It's basically certain that Hell has the idea of testing the Three Worlds, and the Black Blade is the one it chose—an ordinary Sinners who couldn't be more ordinary," Urahara concluded.

"Taking advantage of Soul King King's weakness to test him, and with Ichigo still in the mix, suggests it might want to devour the Soul King candidate, not wanting Ichigo to replace Soul King and become the pillar of stability for the Three Worlds..." Ukitake paused, realizing the prologue wasn't a good description, "Pillar."

"Doesn't that mean we're in great danger in Hell? This is their territory!" Ichigo said.

"That's one way to put it. Let's put aside the other intelligence for now. Ichigo, let's go back to the World of the Living first," Urahara said.

"It's probably too late." Tsuna poured cold water on the idea, his eyes fixed on the back of the altar. "I'm afraid someone wants us to stay here forever."

"What?"

Ichigo and the others quickly followed Tsuna's gaze, and the giant skeleton that was standing next to the lava actually moved!

Not only that, Black Blade and his men never climbed out of the lava again. Instead, the lava began to churn on its own, turning into a pool of red soup that covered the skeleton.

The crimson magma washed over and transformed into flesh and blood, gradually evolving into the body of a giant skeleton. The muscle tissue began to grow, all four limbs remained intact, and even the skin tissue had completed its transformation.

Although this person's size is somewhat similar to that of the Hell Will, they are completely unrelated. This person, whose flesh and blood have regenerated, looks more like a human than the Hell Will.

However, describing it as a human is not quite accurate. This giant had thick fur on his arms, cheeks, and other parts of his body. No human has such thick fur.

"This person looks somewhat similar to Captain Komamura?"