Awakening

"Ah! My head hurts..."

The clamor of voices roused Kyoraku from his stupor, and immediately, the world began to spin.

He opened his eyes to find himself sitting against a wall, his wrists shackled to two iron rings embedded in the stone. The space before him was swallowed by darkness, the only source of light being a small oil lamp sitting a few meters away.

Memories of the moments before he lost consciousness came rushing back, and Kyoraku shuddered: Damn it, I've been kidnapped by those two bastards!

To think that someone would actually dare to kidnap the young master of a high-ranking noble house in the First District of the Rukon District, the place with the best security in the entire realm!

Kyoraku roared, "Is anyone there? You two, come out! Are you so cowardly that you can commit crimes but are too afraid to show your faces?!"

"Ah, Boss, it seems our young master has woken up!" a coarse, dull voice drifted from the distance.

"You go check on him first. I'll be there shortly."

Following the sound of light footsteps echoing through the dark, a short, stout figure gradually emerged into the dim light.

It was Kuramoto, one of the two men who had captured him.

Kyoraku's pupils dilated: "It's you again! You two bastards actually dared to kidnap me! Do you have any idea who I am?"

"My, my, Young Master Kyoraku, you really should calm down. Instead of throwing a useless tantrum, you'd be better off accepting the fact that you've been caught by us." Kuramoto's dark, round face broke into a smile that looked incredibly sinister in the flickering lamplight.

"Hmph! You two only managed to get the better of me because you relied on your size to gang up on me, bullying a child. Now that it's just the two of us, do you dare to face me one-on-one?" Kyoraku's body trembled slightly as he recalled the struggle before he blacked out, but his words remained defiant.

At the mention of a challenge, Kuramoto recalled the two blinding flashes of Byakurai that had streaked across the sky earlier, and a flicker of unease crossed his eyes. He quickly shifted his thoughts and said:

"Young Master Kyoraku, let's put aside the talk of fighting for a moment. Why don't you show some concern for your bodyguard instead?"

"Bodyguard?" A wave of suspicion washed over Kyoraku. He followed Kuramoto's gaze to his side and only then noticed Lin Nan, who was also shackled to the wall and still unconscious.

"Lin Nan!" he couldn't help but shriek.

How could he be here too? Wasn't he supposed to have gone back to my house to get the money?

A flurry of thoughts raced through Kyoraku's mind, but he couldn't process them clearly. He called out Lin Nan's name anxiously, but received no response.

Lin Nan's deathly silence filled Kyoraku with an inexplicable sense of dread.

"Young Master Kyoraku is certainly caring toward his subordinates; you're actually this worried about an injured bodyguard." Kuramoto picked up the oil lamp from the floor, walked forward a few steps, and placed it between Lin Nan and Kyoraku.

"Don't worry, he isn't dead, just a bit wounded. We didn't intend for it to come to this, but he resisted far too fiercely."

As the light intensified, Kyoraku finally saw Lin Nan's condition: his upper body was bare, his strong arms were tightly bound by ropes and suspended above his head; a thick bandage was wrapped around his abdomen, and dark red blood had already seeped through the fabric.

"What did you do to him?! You bastards!"

Seeing Lin Nan's injuries, Kyoraku was instantly consumed by rage. He thrashed his body and arms against the floor, attempting to break free from the ropes, his eyes radiating intense killing intent: "I'm going to kill you!"

Kuramoto had imagined a very different scenario. Surely, after seeing the price of blood, a sheltered young master like Kyoraku would be scared out of his wits? Then, whatever demands he made, the boy would surely agree to them in a panic.

However, Kyoraku's current state was like an enraged wolf, which caught Kuramoto completely off guard. The prepared speech he had ready was choked back in his throat by Kyoraku's roars. He couldn't even find an opening to interject.

Kyoraku spent a full two minutes cursing and struggling, yet he failed to break free from his bindings. Kuramoto simply stood there, stunned, waiting for two minutes.

Just then, in the darkness, the sound of somewhat chaotic footsteps accompanied by several beams of light drew near.

"Looking at how you're reacting to that unconscious boy, he isn't just your servant, is he?" A voice unfamiliar to Kyoraku spoke up as Iwamoto Raizo and his subordinates appeared in the dark room together.

As the light grew stronger, Kyoraku saw the newcomers clearly.

"Who are you?!" Seeing so many people following the man, Kyoraku felt a surge of unease, eyeing them with a mix of anger and vigilance.

Then, he saw the tall man, Masaki, walking behind Iwamoto with a limp, still favoring one leg, and he immediately understood: "You're the leader of these two? Why did you kidnap me?"

"My name is Iwamoto Raizo, and you would do well to remember it. One day, this name will echo throughout the Soul Society." Iwamoto Raizo glanced at the still-unconscious Lin Nan. "Is this kid your friend? He has decent skills. Was he a bodyguard hired for you by your brother?"

Kyoraku showed no surprise: "His name is Lin Nan, and of course I know he's strong. I don't need you to tell me that. You keep changing the subject—is there something you want to ask me but are too afraid to say?"

Iwamoto found the brat in front of him quite interesting: "You're not afraid? Why do you assume I want to ask you something, rather than just kidnapping you for ransom?"

Kyoraku wasn't fearless, but other matters had pushed his fear aside. His brain worked at high speed; he had to extract as much information from them as possible.

"Don't beat around the bush, Mr. Iwamoto. Since you dared to kidnap me, you must know exactly who I am. If this were about ransom, you have plenty of targets better than me—the Omaeda House, for instance, is far wealthier than mine."

Iwamoto Raizo laughed heartily, a rare look of admiration appearing on his face: "You really are a clever brat! It's true, I'm not after ransom. I'm after your brother, Kyoraku Seishu."

Kyoraku Shunsui was stunned for a moment, then immediately grasped the crux of the matter.

Money wasn't the goal, and noble status wasn't the goal either. The one thing his brother possessed that he did not was the status of a Soul Reaper.

"You are... rebels?"

A look of disgust crossed Iwamoto's face, though he remained composed: "Rebels? Is that what they tell you brats? You understand nothing.

My clan has served the Four Great Noble Houses for generations, even helping them establish the Seireitei. And yet, we are the ones labeled as rebels.

Is it because we wanted to claim a share of the power that didn't belong to them in the first place? Does that make us the rebels they claim we are? Tell me, is that right? Is that fair?"

Kyoraku was somewhat confused by this. While he knew of the Four Great Noble Houses, those events from thousands of years ago were of no interest to someone his age.

"Whether it's fair or not has nothing to do with me, and it's not for me to decide."

"No, Kyoraku Shunsui. It has everything to do with you. It concerns whether your family will be able to continue after we achieve victory." Iwamoto wiggled his index finger. "As the second son of the Kyoraku House, you should also shoulder the responsibility of revitalizing your family, shouldn't you? Especially when, in the future, your brother falls in battle..."

"Bullshit..." Kyoraku was startled by the final sentence, and he couldn't help but tremble again.

Although his relationship with his older brother had been lukewarm since he'd grown old enough to understand things, hearing someone else say that his brother would die in battle still filled him with fear and rage.

"Don't worry, I'm not talking about now or anytime soon. I'm not capturing you to do anything against your brother." A smug smile appeared on Iwamoto Raizo's face.

"As you said, we exist to rebel against the Seireitei. Perhaps your brother once mentioned something to you regarding the Court Guard Squad or other intelligence. As long as you tell me everything you know, I can guarantee that in the future battle against the Seireitei, I will show mercy to your brother;

Furthermore, once our masters have obtained the qualifications to serve the Soul King, your Kyoraku House will be able to continue its glory."

"You're dreaming. Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you!" Kyoraku gritted his teeth and said viciously.

Lin Nan opened his eyes to the familiar dim corridor once again.

"Here again. Sigh, I didn't expect to be sent back here after only a few days." Lin Nan subconsciously touched his stomach.

"That person was actually able to break through my defense. Is he as powerful as Unohana? How have I never heard of this person... Could he be someone who exists within the original setting?"

"...Forget it, now is not the time to think about this. Outside, they must have already kidnapped both me and Kyoraku. The most important thing right now is to find a way to become stronger before we get killed, and then find an opportunity to take Kyoraku and escape..."

He nodded imperceptibly, turned around, and neatly pushed open the wooden door of the Playback Room. What came into view was still that flickering display screen--

Detected shell damage...

Warning: Shell repair not yet complete, damage exceeds load limit!

Warning: Torso damage detected!

Cutting off spiritual pressure shell protection function...

Terminating spiritual pressure shell transmission...

Shell repair interrupted...

Initiating emergency body repair program...

Body repair in progress...

Spiritual pressure internal circulation started...

Warning: Spiritual pressure shell protection lost, please proceed with caution...

Friendly reminder: Loss of spiritual pressure shell will lead to increased exposure of spiritual pressure, please act carefully and do not panic excessively...

A long string of characters scrolled up from the bottom of the screen line by line. It was the first time Lin Nan had seen this machine display so many prompts at once, which made him feel a bit nervous for a moment.

Although he didn't quite understand it, the words "spiritual pressure exposure" raised a question in his mind.

Does shell damage cause spiritual pressure exposure? I used to think this spiritual pressure shell only had defensive properties. Now it seems, could it have been hiding the traces of my own spiritual pressure all along?

Lin Nan's brain raced, quickly deducing the possible truth.

"The reason those Soul Reapers were surprised that I could survive in Unohana's hands must be because the spiritual pressure I displayed was inconspicuous. If I possessed spiritual pressure like Yamamoto's, no one would have been so surprised."

He muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on the cold-glowing monitor.

On the left side of the display, the familiar tree menu appeared, with the battle playback against Iwamoto Raizo prominently listed.

Lin Nan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to click on the video, but his gaze returned to the line of text still displayed in the center of the screen.

"Spiritual pressure... internal circulation?" Lin Nan touched his chin with some confusion.

"What does that have to do with internal secretion?"