Trust Me, I'm a Great Prophet

"You first, or me?"

"You go first, I'll wait a bit..." Yoruichi replied to Urahara with puffed-out cheeks, looking quite displeased.

"Stop dawdling, will you! We don't have to sleep tonight, do we!" Hongjiang slapped his thigh and shouted, though despite his words, he was clearly just a spectator looking for a show.

"The blade's name is Kurenai!" Urahara didn't keep Hongjiang waiting; he slowly drew the Zanpakuto from his waist and added, "She's an interesting girl."

Hongjiang felt a bit embarrassed hearing Urahara's words. Look at how he introduced his Zanpakuto—even if it sounded a bit perverted, he truly treated his blade as a partner! Thinking of himself, he felt genuinely ashamed.

It was strange to have such thoughts at this moment, but as a transmigrator, it was no exaggeration to say that Hongjiang understood the Zanpakuto Kurenai even better than Urahara himself.

Kurenai is a Kido-type Zanpakuto. Its Shikai release command is "Awaken, Kurenai." Once in Shikai, the blade can convert spiritual power into a red light used for offense.

However, unlike ordinary Zanpakuto, Kurenai can change its attack mode through four different release commands after Shikai, which is quite similar to Hongjiang's Jiagui.

"Sing, Kurenai!"

As soon as Urahara finished speaking, a red light shield appeared from the tip of Kurenai, blocking in front of him. It appeared to be a defensive form.

"This form is mainly for long-range attacks and defense, though it is primarily defensive. I call this defensive technique the Blood Mist Shield. The reason I'm demonstrating this is because it relates to the next form." Urahara didn't drag it out and immediately spoke the next release command: "Burst, Kurenai."

Densely packed small spikes instantly appeared on the surface of the red light shield. Without lingering, these spikes left the shield surface and transformed into countless red light arrows, shooting toward a giant rock in the distance and instantly reducing it to dust.

Clearly, this wasn't a primary form of Kurenai, but rather a counter-attack method used after deploying the Blood Mist Shield.

"Bind, Kurenai." Without explaining to the two, Urahara swung his long blade and directly activated the third form.

Densely packed red threads radiated from the blade, crossing in the air to form a net. The rocks that had been shattered by the red light arrows were pinned in mid-air before they could even hit the ground.

Urahara vanished from his spot with a Flash Step and appeared in the center of the floating debris in less than a second. He plunged his sword into the ground and leaned his hands on the hilt, looking like a magician performing a levitation act.

"The final form, Play with fire, Kurenai!"

One after another, red fireballs emerged from the ground like bubbles, lining up and rushing toward the debris suspended in mid-air.

The debris that came into contact with these red fireballs burned like cotton, and before long, they vanished without leaving a single trace behind.

"Clap, clap, clap!" Hongjiang sat on the ground, clapping like a seal, acting like a child who had never seen the world.

He wasn't acting; firstly, the difference between watching in person and on a screen was too vast, and even having seen it before, he was still shocked.

Secondly, Urahara hadn't held anything back and had displayed his Shikai in its entirety. Giving a round of applause for such sincerity was well-deserved.

Like his Jiagui, Kurenai was a Zanpakuto capable of both offense and defense.

Although there was the constraint of release speed, unlike Jiagui, Kurenai's wielder was meant to attack from mid-to-long range. Coupled with the Burst mode to push enemies back when they got close, the release speed wasn't actually that important.

It had offense, defense, a counter-attack for error correction, and methods for crowd control and area-of-effect damage! In a sense, Kurenai was even more perfect than Jiagui.

"That's a truly fine blade, Urahara!" Hongjiang praised, then turned to Yoruichi at his side. "Don't just stand there, hurry up, it's your turn!"

Yoruichi rolled her eyes, and a wave of cold air instantly enveloped Hongjiang. If he weren't genuinely curious, he would have almost chickened out and stopped her from showing her Shikai.

The main event of the night had finally arrived. He was extremely curious about Yoruichi's Zanpakuto. In his past life, she preferred to become a captain empty-handed rather than carry a Zanpakuto—just how trashy must this sister's blade be to reach that point?

"Yoruichi! Yoruichi! Yoruichi, thump, thump, thump!..."

"Shut up!" Yoruichi barked at Hongjiang's idiotic behavior, then walked over to Urahara's side, gritting her teeth. After Urahara gave her an encouraging look, he walked over and sat next to Hongjiang, joining him as a spectator.

"The blade's name is Flame Heart!" After drawing her Zanpakuto, Yoruichi leaped high into the air, gripping the sword with both hands above her head. "Shatter, Flame Heart!"

Even though the Zanpakuto in her hand was a short blade, as the Shikai was released, it ignited into a bundle of flames, looking like a burning, long-handled giant hammer.

Immediately after, the flames retracted from the tail of the hammer upward, finally disappearing completely into the hammerhead, revealing a pitch-black, long-handled giant hammer covered in fire patterns. One could never have guessed its original form was an inconspicuous short blade.

"Kido-type Zanpakuto, ability: Explosion!" Yoruichi said, slamming the giant hammer heavily in front of the two spectators.

She controlled the distance well; the kicked-up dust stopped just before reaching them. Hongjiang silently gave Yoruichi a thumbs-up in his heart, but he felt like something was wrong.

"Did she just say... explosion?"

"So, should we be running now?"

Whether to run was indeed a question, but Hongjiang didn't have time to decide. Accompanied by a loud bang, everything in front of them turned crimson, and the ground trembled slightly. It really had exploded!

"Way of Binding #81, Danku!"

Urahara had just been about to release the Blood Mist Shield, but Hongjiang acted a step faster, erecting an invisible wall in front of them that blocked the incoming Flame Tide entirely.

"To be able to skip the incantation for Kido above level 80, you truly are our Kido master."

"You scared the life out of me!" Hongjiang had no heart to respond to Urahara's praise. Yoruichi's nerves were just too thick; this explosion wouldn't have seriously injured him or Urahara, but if it weren't for him, they definitely would have been singed.

"Yo, you two are fine after all!" Yoruichi said lazily to the two unharmed men. Hongjiang finally understood: her nerves weren't thick; she had intentionally tried to blow them up!

"You've gone too far! This is attempted murder!"

"Exactly! You should have just slammed it right into your own face earlier!"

Even as slow as Hongjiang was, he could see that something was wrong with Yoruichi, but he didn't understand where the problem lay and could only seek help from Urahara.

Urahara didn't speak, only pointed at the Zanpakuto hanging at Yoruichi's waist. It seemed the problem originated there.

Hongjiang thought perhaps Yoruichi felt her Zanpakuto was too weak and embarrassing, making her angry, so he comforted her: "Even if your blade isn't as good as Urahara's, it's still very strong. It's not embarrassing, don't be angry!"

"What 'very strong'! What 'not embarrassing'!" Yoruichi instantly turned into a lit powder keg, repeatedly pounding on Hongjiang's shoulder.

"Yoruichi is from the Shihoin family, and this Zanpakuto is indeed a bit ill-suited for her..." Urahara explained, taking the opportunity to pull the two brawling people apart.

"So what if it's Shihoin! Does that mean someone from the Shihoin family must possess the strongest Zanpakuto?"

"Onmitsukido..." Urahara continued to remind him.

Fine, Diezuka Hiroe had forgotten about that for a moment. The Shihoin family led the Onmitsukido, and while the Onmitsukido appeared to be an army that carried out punishments, they were actually a legion of assassins.

And Yoruichi, who was destined to be the head of the Shihoin family, would certainly become the commander of the Onmitsukido. For the leader of an assassination unit to have such a flashy Zanpakuto was indeed somewhat inappropriate.

"Hey, don't be angry. Even if your blade is a bit too artistic..."

"A bit too artistic? I feel like this blade is a joke!" Yoruichi couldn't help but burst into tears. "The future leader of the Onmitsukido is actually a fireworks technician? Isn't that hilarious!"

"You don't necessarily have to be the Onmitsukido leader. Wouldn't it be just as good to be a frontline attacker?" Diezuka Hiroe continued to comfort Yoruichi, but it wasn't very effective; Yoruichi just kept on crying.

Diezuka Hiroe's head was spinning. Between his two lives, he had lived for nearly fifty years, yet he had absolutely no idea how to handle a crying girl. Who could have guessed that in his previous life, Yoruichi didn't use her Zanpakuto simply because it was too flashy?

Right, in his previous life, Yoruichi didn't use her Zanpakuto. Thinking of this, Diezuka Hiroe quickly said, "Then let's just not use this blade. Let's pretend it doesn't exist at all!"

"Are you trying to make me look even more embarrassing!" The anger that had finally subsided was reignited. Yoruichi rushed up, grabbed Diezuka Hiroe by the throat, and said, "What Soul Reaper doesn't carry a Zanpakuto!"

"What, no... the Kido Corps... don't they?"

Hearing this, Yoruichi calmed down a little, realizing that Diezuka Hiroe wasn't mocking her, and she slightly loosened her grip. Having regained his life, Diezuka Hiroe took two deep breaths and continued, "Your Hakuda is so excellent, and with the Shihoin secret Flash Step, you can become a captain-level figure even without a Zanpakuto!"

Yoruichi let go completely and thought about it. Diezuka Hiroe's words did make sense. Those two in the Kido Corps didn't have Zanpakuto, yet they truly possessed captain-level strength, which proved that there was no direct link between a Zanpakuto and whether one could become a captain.

However, compared to Kido, Hakuda had its limitations. In the nearly thousand years since the Onmitsukido was founded, there had never been a commander who didn't rely on a Zanpakuto, so Yoruichi still felt uncertain about Diezuka Hiroe's claims.

"Is... is that even possible?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Diezuka Hiroe countered before continuing, "If they can become captains based solely on Kido, and since they are both ranked among the four major combat arts, why can't Hakuda do the same?"

"The limits of Hakuda are visible. While Kido has them too, those two have already developed higher-level Kido..." Yoruichi still felt unsure.

"Then why don't you just raise the limits of Hakuda yourself?"

"It's not the same." The more Yoruichi spoke, the lower her head dropped, and the less confident she felt. "It's not hard for me to create new moves, but that doesn't fundamentally improve Hakuda."

"Then you must improve it fundamentally!" Diezuka Hiroe held Yoruichi's shoulders and said with a sincere expression, "I believe you can do it!"

"You believe in me that much?"

"Of course, I'm from the future, after all!"

"You really can't tell a lie, even claiming to be from the future..." Yoruichi looked at Diezuka Hiroe's sincere eyes and broke into a smile through her tears, rubbing her eyes as she said, "I suppose I'll have to help you keep up the lie. In the future, I will definitely break through the limits of Hakuda!"

Yoruichi didn't know that Diezuka Hiroe had truly traveled back from the future, but that didn't matter. She was indeed encouraged and decided to walk a difficult path that no one had traveled before.

Perhaps in Diezuka Hiroe's eyes, he had only spoken of things he already knew. But in reality, because of him, the future he had seen had already quietly changed.

Diezuka Hiroe, this butterfly from the future, had officially flapped his wings for the first time.