Sacrificial Ritual, Seizing the Soul King's Power!

At the end of East Rukongai lay the Seventy-Sixth District, Nigoku.

A massive, ancient building stood upon a barren expanse. Black and white adorned its roof, outlining patterns so bizarre they defied description.

Unlike the chaos of Zaraki District, Nigoku District, at the end of East Rukongai, held little more than deathly silence.

Even when souls from other districts occasionally came here to pay respects and worship, they retained the habit of arriving and leaving in haste.

During the rites, they looked flustered, as though they were thieves.

Yet Nigoku District was somewhat unusual today. Several dozen people in varied attire, radiating intense spiritual pressure, walked respectfully across the wasteland.

They escorted several heavily wounded, unconscious captives toward the ancient building.

Their expressions were fervent, as if they were on a pilgrimage.

The barren land seemed like some monster capable of devouring all sound. Though dozens moved together, not the slightest noise spread through the surroundings.

Until...

They stopped a hundred meters from the ancient building.

The leader wore a white Ceremonial Haori over gray robes, his long black hair tied into a ponytail that hung down his back.

Judging by his appearance alone, he bore some resemblance to Jushiro Ukitake, though he seemed somewhat older.

The man pressed his hands together and lowered his gaze. Tangible spiritual pressure rose around him, writhing ceaselessly like a living thing.

"Begin the sacrifice!"

His hoarse voice seemed to serve as a signal. The others immediately drew the blades at their waists and, without hesitation, slashed down at the captives' necks.

Splat—

Flesh tore apart, and crimson blood sprayed into the sky like fountains, adding a different sort of color to the wasteland.

Blood seeped into the earth in an endless trickle.

Black patterns emerged across the ancient building. The blood seemed to breathe life into them, continuously gathering upward.

One eye after another appeared within those patterns.

Spiritual pressure spread out, covering the entire wasteland and enveloping everyone beneath an endless weight.

Buzz—

A faint tremor of the surrounding spirit particles directly forced the group to their knees. Their expressions twisted, their skin reddened, as though they were enduring the utmost agony.

Yet their expressions only grew more fervent. Their gazes toward the ancient building became ever more devout, like fanatics on a pilgrimage.

All the black patterns gathered atop the roof until they formed an incomparably massive arm.

An emotionless eye slowly appeared upon the back of its hand.

The moment that eye opened, the flow of spirit particles across the wasteland froze completely, and nearly everyone's movements stopped in place.

Only the leader, driven by surging spiritual pressure, barely remained capable of moving.

He forced his eyes wide open. Blood faintly spattered from the corners of his eyes, and his pupils were filled with bloodshot veins, giving him a savage appearance.

"Great Mimihagi-sama, accept this sacrifice!"

"Noble blood, bodies, and divided souls!"

Su Feng stood at the edge of the wasteland, gazing toward the ancient building in the distance. A power resembling a Kido Barrier had sealed off an area several hundred meters wide.

The spirit particles in the air within had nearly come to a standstill, and even spiritual pressure was completely suppressed within the body.

The colossal black arm stood above the ancient building, shooting straight toward the dim, heavy clouds overhead.

Not the slightest emotional fluctuation could be seen in its enormous eye.

"Mimihagi, the Soul King's Right Arm?" Confusion flashed through Su Feng's eyes. Wasn't this thing already stuffed into Jushiro Ukitake's body?

The current turn of events had somewhat exceeded his expectations.

Rangiku Matsumoto and Nanao Ise beside him were even more stunned by the scene in the distance, their mouths hanging open as though their entire worldview had been shattered.

"What... exactly is happening?!"

"There was absolutely no mention of this in the intelligence!"

They could not understand it.

The shadow atop the massive arm spread downward, covering a hundred-meter radius until it devoured even the corpses lying on the ground.

Vast spiritual pressure erupted once more, like an enraged volcano.

"Cliff of stillness, wind of sparks beyond reach, divine power unseen by reflection."

A member of the Ukitake Clan began chanting a Kido Incantation. Bolstered by spiritual pressure, his resounding voice spread throughout the wasteland, forming echoes that lingered without end.

"Darkness gathers, offering the power of souls in sacrifice."

"Follow the heart's desire, guide it into this body."

He spoke at an extremely rapid pace, completing the Sacrificial Ritual in an instant.

As the Kido Incantation ended, the black patterns spread across several hundred meters instantly contracted and gathered, all converging upon his body.

The next moment, countless patterns emerged beneath his skin, forming one emotionless eye after another.

His spiritual pressure, originally only at the Sixth-Class Spiritual Might, suddenly erupted, breaking through its limits again and again until it reached the level of Third-Class Spiritual Might.

The others around him were even sent flying by that spiritual pressure, crashing heavily into the ground.

"Creating a god?"

Su Feng watched the scene before him, deep in thought. "So the Ukitake Clan really found themselves a shortcut."

He had roughly understood this group's purpose.

They used the lives of Ryūdōji Clan members as the price, sacrificed them to this "Mimihagi-sama," and exchanged them for tremendous power.

However.

In Su Feng's memories, Mimihagi was a god who offered up everything he possessed except his eye, while protecting it.

But now, let alone the eye, even the spirit particles contained within had been entirely stripped away and claimed by that Ukitake Clan member.

He had truly eaten it clean down to the bone.

With the disappearance of the "Soul King's Right Arm," the stillness barrier it had maintained vanished as well. Spirit particles resumed their flow, and a faint breeze began to rise.

The ritualist standing in place suddenly turned around. The exposed eyes across his body rolled in their sockets, all turning toward Su Feng and the others.

"All who spy upon the ritual must die!"

Surging spiritual pressure erupted, and shadows blanketed the sky, making the wasteland even darker, as if night had fallen.

"Though I failed to stop this Sacrificial Ritual."

Su Feng lightly pushed with his left thumb, and a glint of cold light flashed. "I can still avenge you."

"Rangiku, Nanao, deal with the others."

"I'll handle this one..."

But before he could finish, another spiritual pressure emerged from the distance.

"Scattered beast bones!"

"Spire, red crystal, steel wheels. Motion is wind, stillness is sky. The sound of clashing spears echoes through the empty city!"

A voice weak and exhausted inside and out drew closer from afar.

"Cough, cough, Hado #63: Raikoho!"

The next moment.

Golden lightning illuminated the dark sky, and the roar of an explosion spread across the entire wasteland!