Aboard Vimana, Gilgamesh sat upright on his throne, gently stroking Yoruichi Shihouin in her black-cat form as she curled in his arms.
Normally, Yoruichi would have been so content under his touch that she was nearly asleep.
But this time, she couldn't calm her thoughts. She stared at everything aboard Vimana, her cat eyes filled with shock.
She was simply too curious about Vimana's origins.
She opened her mouth several times, but couldn't figure out how to ask.
It should be the ability of his Zanpakuto, right? As for his spiritual pressure, maybe he has an item that can conceal it... Yoruichi couldn't help thinking.
Yoruichi immediately dismissed the possibility that Vimana was a divine artifact.
The idea of Vimana being a divine artifact was even harder for her to accept than the idea of it being a Zanpakuto.
The Shihoin Clan was hailed as the "Divine Armament Clan" and possessed many divine artifacts.
Yet all the divine artifacts owned by the Shihoin Clan paled in comparison to Vimana.
Yoruichi simply couldn't imagine who could have forged a divine artifact like Vimana.
Although Renji Abarai and Rukia had known about Vimana for a while and had been aboard before, they were still awestruck, no matter how many times they saw it.
Vimana wasn't moving very fast. Gilgamesh was deliberately keeping its speed down so that Yoruichi could experience it more fully.
Under the radiance of the Star of Omniscience, Gilgamesh already knew that Yoruichi acknowledged his ability to be a king, but she didn't believe he could successfully found a kingdom.
Gilgamesh also knew there were many obstacles in the way of his path to establishing a kingdom.
But he was confident he could clear them all away.
This time, Gilgamesh had gone to District 79 with territorial expansion as only a secondary objective.
His main goal was to show Yoruichi what he could do and make her understand that he had the power to succeed.
Vimana was only the beginning.
A few minutes later, even with Gilgamesh controlling its speed, Vimana had carried them over the forest and reached Tobiume in District 79.
Tobiume was about the same size as Inuzuri, but its living conditions were countless times worse.
Theft, brawling, murder... Such evils were commonplace.
Corpses lay everywhere along the roadside.
It was nearly impossible for children to survive in a place like this.
Even adults who lived there for long would eventually suffer mental problems.
Tobiume was already this bad, and it was only District 79. Beyond it lay District 80, the worst of all.
Even Gilgamesh could hardly imagine just how terrible District 80 might be.
Vimana stopped in the air above the center of Tobiume and began to descend slowly.
Naturally, Vimana had already attracted the attention of Tobiume's residents.
When they saw the Ship of Light, made entirely of gold and emeralds, their first reaction wasn't wariness, but naked greed.
Pairs of bloodshot eyes stared intently at Vimana as it slowly descended, like hungry wolves.
As Vimana descended, Renji Abarai and Rukia finally got a clear view of Tobiume.
Though they had always lived in the backward, impoverished, and suffering Inuzuri, they still couldn't stop their hearts from trembling when they saw Tobiume with their own eyes. An uncontrollable fear rose within them.
When they noticed the people gathering around and saw their undisguised, greedy eyes, a chill shot from the base of their spines to the tops of their heads, and goose bumps rose all over their bodies.
Alarm bells rang in their minds, telling them that those before them weren't human, but demons in human skin, and that they had to flee at once.
To be honest, this was Yoruichi's first time visiting District 79 in Rukongai, too.
She had only ever heard how chaotic and wretched the districts beyond District 78 were, so she had never even considered going there.
She'd thought District 79 couldn't possibly be as bad as she imagined.
But after seeing it with her own eyes, she realized her imagination had been far too mild.
This wasn't a place where people could live. It was Hell itself.
A place like this shouldn't exist in the Soul Society. It belonged in Hell.
After all, the souls who came to the Soul Society hadn't been wicked beyond redemption in life.
Why should they come to the Soul Society only to suffer?
They had probably arrived in the Soul Society imagining all the wonders it held, never dreaming that they would end up in a Hell like this.
Yoruichi's heart grew heavy.
For no particular reason, memories of the Soul Society's splendor she'd witnessed over the years flashed through her mind.
The rich feasted while the poor froze in the streets.
How ironic. Who could have imagined that in the midst of the Soul Society's splendor, such a dark abyss existed?
As Yoruichi's thoughts churned, Gilgamesh slowly rose from his throne.
Vimana hadn't landed completely. It remained suspended in midair.
Seeing this, the gathered criminals grew restless.
As they jostled one another, the slightest friction sparked another fight.
The scene quickly descended into chaos.
Severed limbs and chunks of flesh littered the ground, and before long, blood had stained the earth red.
Renji Abarai and Rukia watched, their pupils trembling violently.
The scene of demons slaughtering one another, as if in Hell, was too much for them to bear.
Renji Abarai even ran off to the side and began to vomit.
Rukia was faring no better.
Just as Rukia was about to lose it, Gilgamesh walked over. His expression didn't change at all as he took in the scene, though a cold glint shone in his wine-red eyes. He shouted, "All of you, stop this at once!"
Gilgamesh's voice was young, but it held enough domineering authority to make anyone's heart tremble, and every person there heard him clearly.
But the criminals caught up in the chaos were already immersed in their slaughter, and completely ignored his words.
Under the radiance of the Star of Omniscience, Gilgamesh could clearly see that the people below had become puppets ruled by desire, greed, and bloodlust.
That was exactly what he needed.
If he could subdue them, they would become a powerful vanguard for expanding his territory.
Yoruichi opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But before she could speak, Gilgamesh spoke again. "Fools! Look up at the sky! This is the last mercy I will show you!"
Yoruichi didn't understand what Gilgamesh meant.
But soon, she saw a golden ripple suddenly appear in the sky, facing the ground.
Then the enormous tip of a sword slowly emerged from the golden ripple.
The tip was so huge that the part already exposed was larger than Renji Abarai's entire body.
And that was only the tip. It was hard to imagine how huge the whole sword would be.
Yoruichi's pupils trembled violently. She couldn't help asking, "What... what kind of sword is that?!"
"This sword is called Igalima."
"It is also known as... the Mountain-Slaying Sword!"
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