Zanpakuto?
Kurosaki Ichigo's pupils contracted slightly. Who was the owner of a Zanpakuto this powerful?
"Sode no Shirayuki, leave this to me. You should retreat first," the strange man said. At his words, Sode no Shirayuki didn't say a thing. She simply used Shunpo and vanished from the spot.
Kurosaki Ichigo started to give chase, but stopped a moment later.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, where are you going?"
The strange man had called Kurosaki Ichigo by name, making both Kuchiki Rukia and Ichigo frown. Rukia quietly moved to Ichigo's side.
"This man is the Zanpakuto I told you about earlier, the one named Muramasa. He seems to be behind the Zanpakuto rebellion in Seireitei."
Ichigo froze at her words, then his gaze turned cold as he looked at Muramasa. "So you're the source of all this?" As he spoke, he raised Tensa Zangetsu and pointed it at Muramasa.
"Fine by me. What's the way to restore the Zanpakuto?"
"Restore them?"
Muramasa scoffed. Instead of answering, he asked, "Kurosaki Ichigo, what do you think a Zanpakuto really is?"
"Hm?" Ichigo frowned.
"A Zanpakuto is an extension of a Shinigami's soul. Its source of spiritual power is the same as the Shinigami's, and it exists alongside the Shinigami's soul! But..." Muramasa hadn't expected Ichigo to answer. He simply continued on his own.
But?
A vague sense of foreboding welled up in Ichigo, and he instinctively tensed.
Muramasa continued, looking at Ichigo. "But coexisting with a Shinigami isn't the only way for a Zanpakuto to exist. Zanpakuto have wills of their own. We're independent beings, too!"
Ichigo didn't argue. He held the same belief as Muramasa, at least when it came to how he'd never thought of Uncle Zangetsu as just a sword.
"So what?" Ichigo asked indifferently.
His reaction made Muramasa frown. Ichigo's unconcerned