Royal Seal

After the battle, the wasteland lay desolate.

The cold wind still wailed, but it now carried the hollow silence of surviving a calamity.

For miles around, the ground resembled a chessboard trampled by a giant god, covered in crisscrossing massive fissures and bottomless frozen craters.

Along with vast stretches of glassy, mirror-smooth ground formed where earth had been melted by intense heat and instantly frozen.

Violent Spirit Particle currents still lingered in the air, the remnants of ice and fire mingling as if recounting the harrowing battle that had just taken place.

Isshin Shiba supported himself with Engetsu and struggled to his feet, frost falling from his body in soft rustles.

Still shaken, he looked around at the apocalyptic scene, then at the icy figure lying quietly in the distance. He couldn't help letting out a long breath of white mist and sighed.

"Ha... That was close! Hyōrinmaru really deserves to be mentioned alongside Ryūjin Jakka. We nearly got done in."

Liu Chuan slowly sheathed Heavenquake at his waist. Hearing that, he shook his head slightly, his gaze still fixed on the fallen Hyōrinmaru.

"Hyōrinmaru's power itself is indeed terrifying." Liu Chuan's voice carried a trace of barely perceptible fatigue, but even more of an analyst's composure.

"But that battle just now, especially that final Four Realms Freeze—its power and degree of loss of control were probably not merely an expression of Hyōrinmaru's own will."

"That golden energy played a crucial role. It made Hyōrinmaru's power more violent, more aggressive, and more unstable."

He paused before adding, "And the fact that it could affect Hyōrinmaru's true body means it's anything but simple."

After taking a brief moment to regulate their breathing and calm the Spiritual Pressure raging within them, the two walked together over shattered frozen earth and ice crystals toward where Hyōrinmaru had fallen.

Hyōrinmaru lay there quietly, his tall body curled up. The two crossed sword marks on his face remained striking, but much of their icy majesty had faded, replaced by weakness.

His pale violet kimono was torn in many places, stained with ice dust and mud.

Most eye-catching was the golden mark on his forehead, which had vanished completely. All that remained was a faint pale scar, as though it had been scorched by intense heat. Even that mark was slowly fading away.

As Liu Chuan and Isshin Shiba approached, Hyōrinmaru's tightly shut eyelids trembled slightly before slowly opening.

His violet eyes no longer held their former chaos and fury.

Though they still possessed the inhuman quality unique to a Zanpakuto manifestation, they had regained their clarity, along with a deep weariness... and a trace of barely noticeable confusion.

He silently watched the two men approach. He neither spoke at once nor showed any intention of attacking.

"Hyōrinmaru?" Liu Chuan spoke first, his tone calm but probing.

"...Yes." Hyōrinmaru's reply was soft, carrying the texture of metal scraping together, yet clearly audible.

He struggled, seemingly trying to sit up, but his body swayed before he collapsed weakly back down. He merely turned his gaze toward Liu Chuan.

"Was it you... who dispelled that... power?"

"More or less." Liu Chuan crouched down and met Hyōrinmaru's eyes. "How do you feel now? Has that golden power disappeared completely?"

"It's gone... or rather, it has been entirely depleted." Hyōrinmaru closed his eyes as if carefully sensing his own condition. A moment later, he opened them again.

"Thanks to you. Otherwise, my consciousness probably wouldn't have recovered so quickly."

There was lingering fear in his voice, but also a hint of gratitude.

"What exactly happened?" Isshin Shiba couldn't help interjecting, asking the most crucial question.

"Why did you lose control? And why did two people—Toshiro Hitsugaya and Sojiro Kusaka—awaken you at the same time? That completely violates the rules of Zanpakuto!"

At the mention of those two names, a complex light flashed in Hyōrinmaru's violet eyes—recognition mixed with apology.

He fell silent for several seconds, seemingly organizing his thoughts and recalling memories shrouded in chaos and golden light.

"The root of this matter... began when I first awakened and answered that white-haired boy's call."

"A strange golden energy seemed to fall from the heavens beyond all reach, ignoring every obstacle as it poured directly into my body."

Pain appeared on his face.

"That power... was incomparably domineering and carried the force to interfere with higher-level rules. It forcibly twisted my will."

So that was it! Understanding flashed through Liu Chuan's eyes. It basically matched his earlier speculation.

Sojiro Kusaka's "Hyōrinmaru" was not the true Zanpakuto body, and the root of the "twin" phenomenon also pointed to that mysterious golden energy descending from the sky!

"So it really was that mysterious golden power." Liu Chuan spoke in a low voice, his brow furrowing slightly.

"But where did this power come from? The sky? Somewhere impossibly high..."

He suddenly turned to Isshin Shiba and asked.

"Captain Isshin, with the Shiba Clan's information network, has anything unusual happened in Soul Society lately?"

Isshin Shiba had been listening intently. Caught off guard by the question, he froze for a moment, then stroked his chin thoughtfully.

As the head of a branch family of the Shiba Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Houses, and captain of the Tenth Division, he indeed had access to confidential intelligence that ordinary Soul Reapers and even most seated officers could never learn.

"Something unusual..." he repeated quietly, his mind rapidly sorting through the information he had received recently.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something. His eyes widened, and he slapped his thigh.

"I remember! A few days ago! It was the day the Royal Seal was transferred!"

"The Royal Seal?" Liu Chuan's gaze sharpened.

"That's right! The Royal Seal!" Isshin Shiba's expression turned serious as he began explaining rapidly.

"The Royal Seal is one of Soul Society's oldest and most powerful divine artifacts. It contains unimaginable power, enough to rewrite localized rules!"

"Its existence and location are top-secret. For security, its storage location is transferred under absolute secrecy every few decades."

"The entire transfer process takes place under the highest level of Spirit Particle shielding and spatial lockdown."

He paused, looked at Liu Chuan, then at the weakened Hyōrinmaru on the ground. His voice carried an incredulous speculation.

"A few days ago... just happened to be the date of the latest Royal Seal transfer! Though the exact time and route are top-secret, the fact that a transfer is taking place isn't entirely unknown among the upper ranks of the nobility and captain-class officers."

"If... and I mean if, during the transfer, the Royal Seal's power leaked for some unknown reason."

"And that leaked power just happened to..." Liu Chuan took over, his gaze as sharp as a blade as he looked at Hyōrinmaru.

"Pass through layer upon layer of seals and, at some extraordinarily coincidental point in time and space, fall into Hyōrinmaru—the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto—while he was at a critical stage of awakening."

Isshin Shiba nodded forcefully, his expression incomparably grave.

"Yes! That's the only explanation! The source of that golden power was most likely the Royal Seal!"

"For some unknown reason, the Royal Seal leaked power while being escorted for transfer, and Hyōrinmaru unfortunately became the recipient of that leaked power!"

At this point, every clue fit together perfectly like pieces of a puzzle.

The source of the mysterious golden power: an accidental leak during the Royal Seal's transfer.

The reason Hyōrinmaru lost control: the Royal Seal's power invaded him and twisted his will.

The truth behind the "Twin Hyōrinmaru" had finally surfaced.

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