The Abyss's Gaze

The moment Tsuna's footsteps appeared on the Omotesandō, they immediately attracted the attention of the Soul King Palace personnel, Northern General appeared simultaneously.

After being resurrected from the Thousand-Year Blood War, Kirinj Tenjiro and his companions were summoned back to the Spirit King's Soul King Palace by the Soul King, according to Kyōraku's side, to deal with unknown dangers.

"I thought you'd never set foot in the Soul King Palace in your entire life."

Kirinj made a carefree joke, and everyone knew about Shunsui Kyōraku's heart. He thought that Tsuna wouldn't go to Soul Society until at least the end of his human lifespan.

A mere hundred years of human lifespan is but a fleeting moment for these divine generals who share the same fate as the Soul King.

"You guys aren't guarding your boss, but instead you've come out to greet me?" Tsuna glanced in the direction of the Inner Palace.

"My strength has reached its limit, and I am no longer able to participate in a more powerful war."

Shutara Senjumaru showed a hint of helplessness. Being promoted to the Zero Squad and having their bodies forged with the King's Key could indeed grant them power greater than many captains, but this also limited their talents. Beyond Bankai was simply out of the question.

Tsuna knew why Senjumaru would say such a thing. As soon as he stepped into the territory of the Soul King Palace, he felt a very strong and familiar spiritual pressure. The owner of the spiritual pressure was Shunsui Kyōraku.

Combined with the faint pink lines near the inner chamber, it's safe to assume that Kyoraku has activated his Transcendence Mantra, Summoning Kagome.

No wonder these three generals came to greet Tsuna. If it was a crisis that even Shunsui Kyōraku couldn't handle, they would have been no different from cannon fodder.

"Even summoning you back by the Soul King didn't make any difference," Tsuna sighed. What kind of security guards stand by and watch outsiders offer assistance?

"There's nothing I can do, little brother Tsuna, that's just how it is when you're not strong enough." Yachiru Unohana laughed heartily, she wasn't in her voluptuous state now, and even the slightest movement could make one's gaze tremble.

"By the way, why did you suddenly come to the Soul King Palace?" Kirinj asked.

"Your boss sent me here." Tsuna gestured with his chin towards the direction of the Inner Palace.

"Then hurry up, stop chatting with us here." Kirinj urged. Although he seemed unreliable, he was the most senior among them and the one who respected the Soul King the most.

"We'll talk later then." Tsuna waved his hand and flew towards the direction of the great internal energy.

Instead of rushing into the Soul King's palace immediately, Tsuna chose to circle around it, following Kyōraku's Beyond Bankai pink net structure towards the source of the net. Sure enough, he saw Kyōraku's figure on the side of the Great Inner Force.

At this moment, Shunsui Kyōraku stood somewhat dejectedly at a crack that had appeared out of nowhere. Like the other Bleach of the Patrol Squad, he was wearing Urahara's specially made Shinigami Uniform. Not far from him was a monster that looked like a Hollow, which he had trapped in a large net.

Kyōraku's attention was entirely focused on the crack in front of him, and he was trying to seal it by weaving a net with his Beyond Bankai.

"Kyōraku- nii," Tsuna called out, drawing Kyōraku's attention.

"Tsuna? What brings you here?" Upon seeing Tsuna's arrival, Kyōraku's furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and he waved to Tsuna.

"Doesn't the shopkeeper have specially Sealing Capsule? Why are you going to all this trouble?" Tsuna could easily tell that Kyōraku was trying to seal the rift using his own abilities.

"I wish this thing would work."

Kyōraku bitterly took out the same Sealing Capsule as Urahara from his pocket. He had never doubted Urahara's abilities, but he never expected that he would actually encounter a situation where the tool was ineffective.

"That shouldn't be the case!" Tsuna was equally puzzled. Urahara Kisuke couldn't possibly have created a half-finished product. He walked up to Kyōraku, took the capsule fragments, and glanced into the crack.

In that instant, Tsuna seemed to see an endless abyss within the crack, and beneath that abyss lay countless skull-shaped Resentment, and within that dense mass of Resentment, one eye was vaguely hidden...

With just one glance, Tsuna's back was soaked with cold sweat. A terror he had never faced before appeared before his eyes, something that no human could shake. If he had to categorize it, Tsuna felt it could be called a god.

His heart was pounding faster, frantically squeezing the blood through his body. The rise in body temperature eased Tsuna's fear of the depths of the rift. He kicked out, pushing himself and Kyōraku away from the rift at the same time.

"What are you doing, Tsuna!" Kyōraku was caught off guard by the sudden attack, but Tsuna's kick didn't do much damage to him, only making him move a little distance.

"There's something inside this crack!" Tsuna's expression was more serious than ever before.

"Something? How is that possible?"

It wasn't that Kyōraku didn't believe Tsuna's words, but rather that the explanation was too absurd; he had carefully examined the crack and there was clearly nothing inside.

"Shunsui Kyōraku, I have no reason to lie to you, this is just my intuition!"

Being addressed by his full name plus the word "intuition" greatly increased the credibility of Tsuna's words.

"What did you see inside?" Kyōraku had to seriously consider the possibility that Tsuna had mentioned.

"It's terrifying! It contains things that terrify me even from a single glance!"

A bead of cold sweat slid down Kyōraku's forehead. What on earth was this thing that even Tsuna feared?

Thinking of this, Tsuna and Kyōraku turned around and looked at the palace behind them in perfect unison.

If there's anything in this world that even Tsuna can't handle, it's probably only a power on Rei's level.

"That's the situation. An invisible force has sealed this crack, and we can't seal it through normal means." Tsuna waved his hand. "Save your energy, Kyōraku- nii."

Kyōraku wisely withdrew all the pink lines around the crack, but his eyes remained fixed on it, ready to act should any further changes occur.

Tsuna didn't choose to leave either; he just stood on the side of the crack and kept watch with Kyōraku for a while.

Half an hour passed, and apart from the monster that had initially sprung out, the rift remained unchanged, hanging there as if it were a natural part of the world.

As for the monster that first flew out, it has already been taken away by Senjumaru for experiments.

"Could it be that we're overthinking it? These cracks aren't harmful?" Kyōraku withdrew his power, Beyond Bankai.

"No!"

A golden light flashed across Tsuna's body. He was wearing skull armor Hell Derivation, and he mobilized his spiritual pressure to try to forcefully close the crack.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't repair it like the crack outside London.

"This is an invasion!" Tsuna released the Hell Derivation power from his body. "It's Hell anchoring itself to our world. Hell's target is probably..."

Tsuna doesn't need to say it anymore; the purpose of this rift being opened here is probably to deal with the Soul King.

Kyōraku's face was very ugly. As the highest leader of the Gotei 13, protecting the Soul King was one of their duties. Now that Hell had opened its gates near the Inner Palace, this was definitely a slap in the face to Seireitei.

"Kyōraku- kun, how long has it been since you received any news from the Kōtetsu Clan?" Tsuna asked.

The Kōtetsu Clan, once one of the Five Great Noble Houses, threw all its members into Hell in order to suppress Hell.

Tsuna only learned last time that only three members of the Kōtetsu Clan survived, two of whom respectively possessed the power of the Soul King's left and right legs. Through opposition and unity, they used the power within Hell to slow down Hell's own growth.

The remaining beautiful woman was the last head of the Kōtetsu Clan, who had once hosted Tsuna and his group when they broke into Hell.

"No." Kyōraku's lips were a little pale; he had a bad feeling. "Since you returned from Hell, we haven't received any news from the Kōtetsu Clan."

This is truly terrible news. As everyone knows, no news is equivalent to being out of the running, and being out of the running is equivalent to...

"Tsuna, what's on the other side of Hell?" Kyōraku had to ask; as the Captain-Commander, he needed to utilize all available information to prepare.

"I saw an abyss made of Resentment, and from within that abyss, an eye stared at me through a crack." Tsuna recalled the scene, his palms sweating again. "Just one glance, and I didn't even have the courage to confront it..."

Based on Tsuna's words, Kyōraku deduced that the power on the other side of Hell was very likely far greater than Yhwach's Thousand-Year Blood War.

After realizing that the danger was beyond his comprehension, Kyōraku became less nervous. He figured that if the sky were to fall, someone taller would hold it up, and things he couldn't handle himself could be left to higher-ups to deal with.

Furthermore, given that this crack stands there so casually, it's perfectly reasonable for the Soul King to eliminate any viewpoints near his home.

"It seems we can only ask the truly the Almighty being in this world." Tsuna turned around and flew towards the Inner Palace. Just then, the Soul King was also looking for him, hoping to gain some insights.

Upon landing in the Inner Palace palace, Tsuna immediately spotted the two guardian generals, a tall, stout man and a thin, frail man, standing guard at the edge: Monk and Ōetsu Nimaiya.

Since their powers were stripped away by the Soul King, they were left with only the most basic abilities of recording and blacksmithing, and their daily lives consisted of serving as the Soul King's servants and guarding Soul King.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi..." The Monk opened his closed eyes a crack, and although he had lost all his strength, his gaze was as sharp as ever.

What advice do you have?

Although the Monk's current state was basically caused by Tsuna, Tsuna never dared to underestimate him just because the Monk had lost his power. That old man has lived too long.

"Only now do I understand why Soul King chose you." The Monk stared at the crack in Hell. "The world's wedge is no longer a tool for maintaining stability. Enemies have long coveted our world. Only you, full of vigor, have the potential to lead the world to survival amidst this crisis."

The Monk devoted his entire life to maintaining the stability of the Three Worlds, and in his view, the core of all this was the wedge called the Soul King.

Who the Soul King is is not important; what matters is establishing a stable foundation for the Three Worlds.

Whether something succeeds or fails is not important; what matters is having that wedge that can stabilize the world forever.

The Monk once believed that as long as the stability of the Three Worlds was maintained, enemies could be kept outside the walls.

Only after the cracks in Hell appeared in the Soul King Palace did he realize that the wedge was also unimportant. The Soul King still existed, yet Hell dared to come and provoke him. This was all to say that the policy that the Monk had adhered to for over a thousand years was fundamentally wrong.

Soul King's vision was ultimately more far-sighted than that of the Monk. Rather than the monks who sought to maintain the status Monk, Soul King chose the newcomers of the new era, the new people who dared to challenge the old order. They were the new hope for the Three Worlds in this crisis.