In the Soul Society, All I Want Is to Coast into Retirement

"Our Shinigami's Flash Step is slower than a Hollow's Sound Steps, and slower than your Flying Crane Legs?" Yamabuki Chidori sneered. "First I'll cut off your limbs and turn you into a human stick, then drag you back for interrogation. I should be able to pry some intelligence out of you."

The muscles on Martin's face twitched nonstop. The five Spirit Bows in midair appeared once more and fired simultaneously.

Yamabuki Chidori instantly appeared in midair, shattering all five Spirit Bows with one slash. Then he appeared before Martin in an instant and drove his blade into Martin's thigh!

"Yes! Like that! Struggle a little more! The more you struggle, the happier I'll be." Yamabuki Chidori sneered. "I'm counting on trading you for half a month's salary!"

"Fuck!" In despair, Martin raised his Spirit Bow and launched one final attack at Yamabuki Chidori. However, the arrow was weak and powerless, and the Spirit Arrow it fired flew crookedly. Yamabuki Chidori did not even dodge; he simply caught the Spirit Arrow with one hand.

He had originally intended to crush the Spirit Arrow casually, but the moment his fingers touched it, the arrow instantly collapsed into primordial Reishi and was directly absorbed into Yamabuki Chidori's body.

"Holy shit!!!" Yamabuki Chidori was so startled he nearly jumped.

"Holy shit!!!" Martin stared at him in shock. "How can you control Reishi?"

"I fucking want to ask you that! How can I control Reishi?" Yamabuki Chidori stared blankly at his own hand. Shinigami did not have this ability—Yamabuki Chidori would stake his salary on it.

Actually, on his first day here, he had discovered that his body could absorb small amounts of Reishi and raise his Reiatsu. At the time, he had not paid it much mind, thinking he simply had an unusual constitution. After all, he was a Child of Destiny!

But this was completely different from before!

He had actually absorbed a Quincy's attack directly!

Suddenly, a very bold thought appeared in Yamabuki Chidori's mind.

"Your name is Martin, right? How do you Quincy control Reishi? How did you form that Spirit Bow?" Yamabuki Chidori demanded.

"I will never tell you. Just kill me!" Martin had already guessed what the Shinigami before him intended to do.

"Kill you?" Yamabuki Chidori pulled out his sword and stabbed down at Martin's hand. Each stab was shallow, and with a final flick of the blade tip, he peeled the skin off Martin's hand.

He had secretly learned this sword technique from Gen'en Kinra. He had not expected it to come in handy now!

"Even if you carve me into a thousand pieces, I won't tell you!" Martin was a tough one.

"I like tough ones!" Yamabuki Chidori grinned viciously.

What happened next made Martin completely break down. Yamabuki Chidori actually used Kido to heal his hand, then continued peeling the skin from it the same way.

"You... you... are you a demon from the Bible?"

"Tell me! How do you Quincy control Reishi? Show me. Don't try any tricks, or I have plenty of ways to make you wish you were dead." Yamabuki Chidori said.

Martin might have been tough, but he could not endure Yamabuki Chidori slowly scraping away at him bit by bit!

"I... I'll only teach you once. Watch carefully!" Martin extended his injured hand. Reishi from the surroundings rapidly gathered in his hand and finally formed a bow.

"Watch closely... holy shit!"

Silencing Witnesses

"Holy shit!" Martin stared at Yamabuki Chidori in utter shock.

Because he saw that Yamabuki Chidori was holding a Spirit Bow identical to his own.

"You're not a Shinigami at all! Are you really a Quincy?" Martin asked in terror.

"Quincy my ass! I'm a genuine, red-blooded Shinigami!" Yamabuki Chidori stared at the Spirit Bow in his hand with a horrified expression.

Because he had never encountered a Quincy before.

Nor had he learned the Quincy ability to control Reishi. He had never imagined he possessed such talent.

And the Shinigami absolutely could not be allowed to learn of it.

After all, the Quincy had already appeared. Before long, war would break out between the two sides, and then he would have no way to explain his ability!

If they said he was a Quincy, he had a genuine Zanpakuto!

If they said he was a Shinigami, he possessed a power Shinigami did not have.

Moreover, with the boost from his title of Child of Destiny, he learned anything incredibly quickly. He had only watched the Quincy method of controlling Reishi once, yet he had already learned most of it.

With a slight thought, Yamabuki Chidori controlled the vast amount of Reishi around him to form an enormous Spirit Bow, far larger than Martin's.

"Brother, you need to keep this matter buried in your stomach. You absolutely cannot tell anyone, understand?" Yamabuki Chidori said to Martin gravely.

Before Martin could nod, Yamabuki Chidori continued, "But I only trust the dead to keep secrets. You should go to hell. Farewell!"

The enormous Spirit Bow in the sky fired, blasting Martin so thoroughly that not even scraps remained!

Yamabuki Chidori hurriedly slapped his own cheeks, forcing himself to calm down.

"It's fine, it's fine, it's fine! As long as I silence everyone who sees this ability, it'll be fine! As long as I don't reveal this ability around the Shinigami in the future, it'll be fine! Haven't I been doing a great job as Lieutenant? It's fine, it's fine, it's fine!" Yamabuki Chidori kept slapping his cheeks.

He discovered that when his Reiatsu was not at full capacity, he could rapidly devour the surrounding Reishi to replenish his expended Reiatsu.

He had been in the Soul Society for over a month, but aside from his life-or-death battle with an Adjuchas, he had never fought with all his strength. That was why he had never realized his body could rapidly restore Reiatsu.

And the density of Reishi in the Soul Society was far greater than in the Human World, making this ability even more apparent.

In short, he would keep his power to control Reishi secret for now. He had to prepare a few trump cards for himself.

Yamabuki Chidori calmed his emotions, then took out a Hell Butterfly. "I am Yamabuki Chidori, Lieutenant of Squad One, currently carrying out a search-and-rescue mission. The mission is now complete. Please open a Soul Gate."

Soon, a Soul Gate opened behind Yamabuki Chidori.

After confirming there were no more enemies nearby, Yamabuki Chidori quickly entered the Soul Gate.

A few minutes after he left, a group of people appeared there like ghosts. They all wore identical white robes and had cold expressions.

The leader lowered his head to inspect the place where Martin had been blasted to pieces, then said in a deep voice, "This was done by a Quincy. Martin was killed by a Quincy. Return at once and report this to His Majesty."

Yamabuki Chidori finally returned to the Soul Society, feeling somewhat relieved. Not far away, Yamamoto suddenly turned and stared at him.

Yamabuki Chidori's heart skipped a beat. Why was the Captain Commander looking at him like that? Had he noticed something was wrong?

"Yamabuki, your aura is in disarray. Did you encounter a battle?" Yamamoto asked.

"Ah, I did encounter an enemy! Let's go inside and discuss it in detail. By the way, where's Hatsunoya and that fat guy Uncle brought back?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

Yamamoto pointed toward a nearby cell. Zendouji Yuuhin was tied up like a dumpling, and the restraints binding him were special torture instruments designed to suppress Reiatsu. Even with his natural strength, he could not break free.

Yamamoto led Yamabuki Chidori to the cell. The fat man was sitting angrily in the corner. The moment he saw someone enter, he shouted at Yamamoto, "I was just doing an experiment, and you sent people to arrest me! Is there no law? No justice?"

Yamabuki Chidori sneered. "We are the law."

"I see."

"Then what are you going to do to me?"

"Skewer you and roast you! You've got so much meat, you must have plenty of fat too. One bite and it'll be fragrant as hell..." Before Yamabuki Chidori could finish, Katoru Hatsunoya smacked the back of his head hard.

"It's almost mealtime. Are you trying to make everyone lose their appetite?" Katoru Hatsunoya said.

"Don't hit my head. I'm a strategist—I make my living with my brain. What if you knock me stupid?" Yamabuki Chidori said. Then he turned to the fat man. "I'll give you two choices. First: I skewer you and make barbecue. Don't worry, I'm very skilled at grilling. I definitely won't burn you. I've got chili powder and cumin ready. I'll roast you half-cooked, then give you a bite."

"Second..."

"I choose the second one." Zendouji Yuuhin answered without hesitation.

No matter what the second option was, it had to be better than getting skewered and turned into barbecue.

"No more hesitation?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

"No hesitation!"

"The second option is to join our Gotei 13. From now on, we'll all be on the same side." Yamabuki Chidori smiled.

"Since we're all on the same side, hurry up and untie me!" Zendouji Yuuhin felt like he was back on top and immediately became arrogant again.

Yamabuki Chidori had someone settle Zendouji Yuuhin first. Then his expression gradually became grave. The moment Yamamoto saw that look, he knew something major had happened. But he did not press him. Once the two returned to the office, Yamamoto shut the door.

"There are no outsiders now. Tell me what happened." Yamamoto said.

Yamabuki Chidori spoke in an extremely solemn tone. "This time, when I went to the Human World, I was attacked by Quincy."

Yamamoto was not particularly surprised. He merely nodded slightly.

From the moment the Gotei 13 had been founded, they had borne the responsibility of protecting the Soul Society.

"They did not speak to me at all. They attacked immediately. It seems they have already made Shinigami their targets. I killed one of them, but I was afraid reinforcements would come, so I didn't bring back the body." Yamabuki Chidori said.

He had been blasted into dust anyway. At most, Yamabuki Chidori could have swept his ashes into a bag and carried them back.

"How strong were they?" Yamamoto asked.

"The Quincy I fought was fairly ordinary, but I felt their abilities seemed to restrain Shinigami abilities..." Yamabuki Chidori asked tentatively.

Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy—these three powers were inherently in conflict. Logically speaking, two different powers could not possibly coexist in one body.

I'm talking about you, Kurosaki Ichigo.

The Three of Us...

Shinigami power restrained Hollow.

Hollow restrained Quincy.

Quincy restrained Shinigami.

Logically speaking, it was impossible for one person to possess two utterly opposing powers at once.

Like ice and fire.

If you forcibly fused ice and fire, all you got was steam.

In the future, Aizen's research into the conversion between Shinigami and Hollow required countless test subjects before he succeeded in creating Shinigami Hollowfication and Hollow Shinigamification.

The only ones capable of perfectly merging Quincy and Shinigami powers were Kurosaki Ichigo and, a thousand years later, the Tsunayashiro Clan's artificial human, Sanageyama Hiko.

And the latter could perfectly fuse all three powers only thanks to Sternritter V, The Visionary, Gremmy. Using the power of his imagination, he kneaded those three conflicting powers together perfectly.

Yamamoto did not deny it. Quincy abilities did indeed restrain Shinigami to some extent, but it was not absolute.

Absolute strength was the foundation of everything.

"Quincy?" Yamamoto pondered for a moment, then threw the question back at Yamabuki Chidori. "Yamabuki, what do you think of the Quincy?"

But Yamabuki Chidori looked distracted, his head lowered as though he were thinking about something.

"What's wrong? Were you injured?" Yamamoto asked quietly.

Yamabuki Chidori jolted, then gave an awkward smile. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about something. By the way, what did you ask?"

"I asked what you think of these Quincy." Yamamoto repeated.

"We are destined to have a vicious battle with the Quincy in the future, just not now." Yamabuki Chidori analyzed.

The war between Shinigami and Quincy would certainly happen after the Gotei 13 had been fully established, when all thirteen Captains would slaughter their way through the enemy!

And the Quincy from a thousand years ago did not have Schrift or Perfect Sanctification. Their combat power was not as exaggerated as imagined.

Their conventional strength was definitely not greater than the Soul Society's. The only uncertain factor now was whether Yhwach possessed that bugged ability, All-Knowing All-Powerful.

What if they took the initiative?

What if they attacked the Quincy before they had fully matured?

That would not work either. They knew far too little about Quincy abilities, and those Quincy had no fixed residence. Forget fighting them—whether they could even find them was unknown.

Meanwhile, the Soul Society was right here. The enemy could come whenever they wanted and leave whenever they wanted. The enemy was hidden while they were exposed. It was too passive.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

Seeing Yamabuki Chidori's troubled expression, Yamamoto chuckled and lightly patted his shoulder. "Don't make that face. No matter how many enemies come, this old man will cut them all down."

Had he been pushing this young man too hard?

Putting every burden onto the boy's shoulders.

"If you have any difficulties, tell me. As long as I can solve them, I will help you." Yamamoto said with a smile.

"Captain Commander! Can I get next month's salary in advance?"

"Get lost." Yamamoto laughed and scolded him. He could still joke around. It seemed Yamamoto had not worked him hard enough.

The two smiled at each other, and the tense atmosphere instantly vanished.

Yeah! With the Captain Commander here, what the hell am I panicking for?