The golden light coursing across the sky vanished completely as the tall, slender apparition dissipated.
The golden cracks that had spread like a dense spiderweb across the dome overhead began closing rapidly.
The moisture evaporated by the intense heat condensed again, falling in fine droplets onto the plaza's blue stone slabs.
The Phoenix Palace hall, which had seemed on the verge of falling apart moments earlier, returned to its former emptiness in the blink of an eye.
Clear streams of special Reishi water seeped once more into the dried-up spring pools in the floor.
The water flowed over the hall's floor tiles with a faint sound.
Yoriichi stood in the center of the hall and slowly slid Hekyō back into its sheath.
His memories already contained information about Di Jun, but Yoriichi had begun to form some vague guesses about why Di Jun would help him like this, though he had yet to confirm any of them.
He shook his head, pushed those directionless guesses aside, then turned and pulled open the heavy palace doors.
Outside, Ōetsu Nimaiya and Ichigo Kurosaki stood at the foot of the steps.
Ōetsu Nimaiya had put his sunglasses back on his nose, and his exaggerated afro was somewhat disheveled.
Beside him, Ichigo was holding his cheek.
Ichigo's original uniform had seven or eight tears in it, and he was covered in small cuts left by the Asauchi, looking utterly bedraggled.
Clearly, during the quarter of an hour Yoriichi had spent meeting that mighty figure, this Substitute Soul Reaper had suffered quite a bit.
Seeing Yoriichi emerge, Ōetsu Nimaiya immediately dragged Ichigo over.
"Oh, man, you finally came out!"
Ōetsu Nimaiya pushed up his sunglasses and sighed. "Just who was that in there? Even through those thick doors, I felt like my soul was about