"Our Flash Step can't outrun a Hollow's Sound Steps, but you think it can't outrun your Flying Crane Legs?" Yamabuki Chidori sneered. "I'll cut off your limbs, take you back, and question you. We're bound to pry something out of you."
The muscles in Martin's face twitched. Five Spirit Bows appeared in midair again and fired together.
Yamabuki Chidori appeared above them in an instant and shattered all five bows with one slash. Then he flashed in front of Martin and drove his blade into Martin's thigh.
"That's it! Keep struggling! The more you struggle, the happier I'll be." Yamabuki Chidori sneered. "I'm counting on you to get back that half-month's pay!"
"Fuck!" In despair, Martin raised his Spirit Bow for one last attack. The shot was feeble, and the Reishi Arrow flew crookedly toward Yamabuki Chidori. He didn't even dodge. He caught it in his hand.
He had meant to crush the Reishi Arrow, but the moment his fingers touched it, it broke down into raw Reishi and flowed straight into his body.
"Holy shit!" Yamabuki Chidori nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Holy shit!" Martin stared at him. "How can you control Reishi?"
"That's what I want to ask you! How the fuck can I control Reishi?" Yamabuki Chidori stared blankly at his hand. Soul Reapers couldn't do that. He'd stake his wages on it.
He had noticed on his first day here that his body could absorb small amounts of Reishi and increase his Reiatsu. He hadn't thought much of it then. He'd assumed he had an unusual constitution. After all, he was the Child of Destiny!
But this was nothing like that!
He had just absorbed a Quincy's attack!
A wildly bold idea sprang into Yamabuki Chidori's mind.
"Your name's Martin, right? How do you Quincies control Reishi? How did you form that Spirit Bow?" Yamabuki Chidori demanded.
"I'll never tell you. Just kill me!" Martin had already guessed what the Soul Reaper in front of him intended to do.
"Kill you?" Yamabuki Chidori pulled out his blade and stabbed at Martin's hand. None of the cuts went deep. At last, he flicked the tip upward and peeled back the skin.
He had picked up that sword technique by watching Gen'en Kinra. He hadn't expected it to come in handy now!
"You can cut me to pieces, but I still won't talk!" Martin had a backbone, at least.
"I like a man with a backbone!" Yamabuki Chidori grinned savagely.
What happened next broke Martin. Yamabuki Chidori healed his hand with Kido, then peeled the skin off it again the same way.
"Are... are you a demon from the Bible?"
"Tell me how you Quincies control Reishi! Show me. And don't try anything clever, or I'll make you wish you could die," Yamabuki Chidori said.
Martin might have had a backbone, but he couldn't endure having flesh shaved away bit by bit.
"I... I'll only show you once. Watch closely!" Martin held out his injured hand. Reishi gathered rapidly from all around them, forming a bow in his palm.
"Did you see that—holy shit!"
Silencing the Witness
"Holy shit!" Martin stared at Yamabuki Chidori in shock.
Yamabuki Chidori was holding a Spirit Bow identical to his own.
"You're not a Soul Reaper at all! Are you really a Quincy?" Martin asked, terror filling his face.
"Quincy, my ass! I'm a Soul Reaper through and through!" Yamabuki Chidori stared at the Spirit Bow in his hand, just as terrified.
He had never dealt with Quincies before.
Nor had he learned how they controlled Reishi. He had never imagined he had a talent for it.
And he absolutely couldn't let the Soul Reapers find out.
The Quincies had appeared. Before long, war would break out between the two sides, and how would he explain this ability then?
Call him a Quincy, and he had a genuine Zanpakuto.
Call him a Soul Reaper, and he wielded a power Soul Reapers didn't possess.
Thanks to his title of Child of Destiny, he learned everything incredibly fast. One demonstration of how Quincies controlled Reishi had been almost enough for him to master it.
With a slight shift of thought, Yamabuki Chidori drew vast amounts of Reishi from the surroundings and formed an enormous Spirit Bow, far larger than Martin's.
"Brother, you need to take this secret to your grave. You can't tell anyone. Understood?" Yamabuki Chidori told Martin gravely.
Before Martin could nod, Yamabuki Chidori went on. "But I only trust the dead to keep secrets. So go to Hell. Goodbye!"
The enormous Spirit Bow overhead fired, blasting Martin into nothing.
Yamabuki Chidori hurriedly slapped his cheeks to calm himself down.
"It's fine, it's fine, it's fine! I just have to silence everyone who saw me do that! As long as I don't show this ability around Soul Reapers, I'll be fine! I've done a good job as Lieutenant, haven't I? It's fine, it's fine, it's fine!" Yamabuki Chidori kept slapping his cheeks.
He discovered that whenever his Reiatsu wasn't full, he could rapidly absorb nearby Reishi to replenish it.
He had been in Soul Society for over a month, but apart from his fight to the death against an Adjuchas, he had never fought with everything he had. That was why he hadn't known his body could restore his Reiatsu so quickly.
And since Reishi was far denser in Soul Society than in the Human World, the effect would be even more pronounced there.
In any case, he would keep his ability to control Reishi secret for now. He needed a few cards up his sleeve.
Once Yamabuki Chidori had calmed down, he took out a Hell Butterfly. "This is Yamabuki Chidori, Lieutenant of the First Squad. My search-and-rescue mission is complete. Please open the Soul Gate."
Soon, a Soul Gate opened behind him.
After making sure there were no enemies nearby, Yamabuki Chidori hurried through it.
A few minutes after he left, a group appeared there like ghosts. They all wore identical white robes and had cold expressions.
Their leader examined the spot where Martin had been blown to pieces. "This was done by a Quincy. Martin was killed by a Quincy. Get back and report it to His Majesty."
Yamabuki Chidori finally returned to Soul Society and relaxed a little. Not far away, Yamamoto abruptly turned to stare at him.
Yamabuki Chidori's heart skipped a beat. Why is the Captain Commander looking at me like that? Did he notice something?
"Yamabuki, your Reiatsu is unsettled. Did you get into a fight?" Yamamoto asked.
"Ah, yeah. I ran into an enemy. Let's go inside and talk. By the way, where's the fat guy Hatsunoya and that old man brought back?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.
Yamamoto pointed to a cell nearby. Zendouji Yuuhin was bound hand and foot in restraints designed to suppress Reiatsu. Even with his prodigious natural strength, he had no hope of breaking free.
Yamamoto led Yamabuki Chidori to the cell. The fat man sat fuming in a corner. As soon as he saw them, he shouted at Yamamoto, "All I did was run an experiment, and you sent people to arrest me! What happened to justice? What happened to the law?"
Yamabuki Chidori sneered. "We are the law."
That settled that.
"Then what are you going to do to me?"
"Skewer you and roast you. With all that fat, you're bound to be juicy. One bite, and the flavor—" Before Yamabuki Chidori could finish, Katoru Hatsunoya smacked him hard on the back of the head.
"It's almost mealtime. Do you want anyone to be able to eat?" Katoru Hatsunoya said.
"Don't hit my head! I'm a Staff Officer. I make my living with my brain. What if you knock the brains out of me?" Yamabuki Chidori turned back to the fat man. "I'll give you two choices. First, I skewer you and barbecue you. Don't worry, I'm great at barbecuing. I won't burn you. I'll have chili powder and cumin ready, and once you're roasted to a nice medium rare, I'll even let you have a bite."
"Second—"
"I choose the second," Zendouji Yuuhin said without hesitation.
Whatever the second choice was, it had to beat being skewered and barbecued.
"No need to think it over?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.
"No!"
"Your second choice is to join the Gotei 13. Then we'll all be on the same side." Yamabuki Chidori smiled.
"Well, if we're on the same side, hurry up and untie me!" Zendouji Yuuhin immediately grew cocky again.
Yamabuki Chidori had someone settle Zendouji Yuuhin in. Then his expression gradually turned grave. Yamamoto knew from the look on his face that something serious had happened, but he didn't press him. Once they reached the office, Yamamoto shut the door.
"No one else is here. Tell me what happened," Yamamoto said.
"I was attacked by Quincies on this trip to the Human World," Yamabuki Chidori said gravely.
Yamamoto showed little surprise. He merely nodded.
From the moment the Gotei 13 was founded, it had borne the responsibility of protecting Soul Society.
"They attacked without saying a word. It looks like they've already made Soul Reapers their targets. I killed one of them, but I was afraid more would come, so I didn't bring his body back," Yamabuki Chidori said.
There was nothing left but ash anyway. At most, he could have swept some into a bag and carried it home.
"How strong were they?" Yamamoto asked.
"The Quincy I fought wasn't particularly strong, but I got the feeling their abilities counter ours..." Yamabuki Chidori watched Yamamoto's reaction as he spoke.
The powers of Soul Reapers, Hollows, and Quincies conflicted with one another. Ordinarily, two different powers couldn't coexist in one person.
I'm talking about you, Kurosaki Ichigo.
P.S. There's another chapter tonight. Please send a recommendation or a monthly vote if you can. Failing that, add this to your favorites. Thanks, everyone.
The Three of Us...
Soul Reaper powers countered Hollows.
Hollows countered Quincies.
Quincies countered Soul Reapers.
Ordinarily, two utterly opposed powers couldn't exist in the same body.
Like ice and fire.
Force ice and fire together, and all you got was steam.
In the future, Aizen would use countless test subjects in his experiments on transforming Soul Reapers and Hollows before finally achieving Soul Reaper Hollowfication and Hollow Soul Reaperization.
Aside from Kurosaki Ichigo, the only one who could perfectly combine Quincy and Soul Reaper powers was Sanageyama Hiko, an artificial human created by the Tsunayashiro Clan a thousand years later.
And Sanageyama Hiko's perfect fusion of three powers was thanks to Gremmy, Sternritter V, The Visionary. With the power of his imagination, he had molded those three conflicting powers together.
Yamamoto did not deny it. Quincy abilities did counter Soul Reapers to some extent, but the advantage was not absolute.
Overwhelming strength was what mattered in the end.
"Quincies..." Yamamoto thought for a moment, then put the question to Yamabuki Chidori. "Yamabuki, what do you make of them?"
Yamabuki Chidori seemed distracted, his head lowered in thought.
"What's wrong? Were you hurt?" Yamamoto asked quietly.
Yamabuki Chidori jolted and gave an awkward smile. "I'm fine. Just thinking about something. What did you ask?"
"I asked what you make of these Quincies," Yamamoto repeated.
"We'll inevitably have a fierce battle with them someday. Just not yet," Yamabuki Chidori said.
The war between Soul Reapers and Quincies would surely come after the Gotei 13 was fully established. Thirteen Captains would tear through them!
Besides, the Quincies of a thousand years ago had neither Schrifts nor Perfect Sanctification. They weren't as powerful as one might imagine.
Soul Society's conventional forces were definitely stronger. The one unknown was whether Yhwach already possessed that absurd All-Knowing All-Powerful ability.
What if we strike first?
Hit the Quincies before they've had time to grow strong!
That wouldn't work either. They knew far too little about Quincy abilities, and the Quincies had no fixed base. Forget attacking them; whether they could even find them was anyone's guess.
Soul Society, meanwhile, was right here. The enemy could come and go as they pleased. They were hidden while the Soul Reapers were exposed. It was a terrible position to be in.
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
Yamamoto chuckled at Yamabuki Chidori's troubled expression and gave his shoulder a gentle pat. "Don't look like that. No matter how many enemies come, I'll cut every last one of them down."
Have I been pushing this boy too hard?
I've been putting everything on his shoulders.
"If you run into trouble, tell me. If it's within my power, I'll help you," Yamamoto said with a smile.
"Captain Commander! Can I get next month's wages in advance?"
"Get out of here." Yamamoto laughed. The boy could still crack jokes. Perhaps he hadn't been working him hard enough.
They smiled at each other, and the tension vanished.
That's right! Why the hell am I panicking when the Captain Commander is here?
Before you continue