There was no light.
There was no sound.
He could not even sense the existence of Reishi.
Yoriichi opened his eyes, yet could not tell whether he had truly opened them. All around him was boundless darkness, which had swallowed even his own body completely.
He instinctively tightened his grip on Hekyō.
The feel of the hilt told him he was still alive.
"Breath of the Sun, burn away all Hollow filth."
Yoriichi drew his Zanpakuto and said softly, "Hekyō."
There was no response.
The blade remained dark gray. No golden-orange flames appeared, nor did the familiar sun Reiatsu rise.
Yoriichi tried breathing again.
But there was no air here.
His chest did not rise or fall, and his Reiatsu could not circulate along its familiar path. No matter how he called, Hekyō remained silent.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Yoriichi felt panic.
He swung his sword.
The blade struck nothing. There was not even the sound of it cutting through the air.
Darkness lay ahead.
Darkness lay behind him, too.
Yoriichi walked forward for a long time, but nothing around him changed. He could not tell which direction he was going, nor how far he had actually walked.
Here, time seemed to have lost its meaning.
Perhaps only a minute had passed.
Perhaps years had already gone by.
Yoriichi stopped, his fingers gradually tightening.
He thought of everyone on the battlefield.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto was facing Wonderweiss, Aizen remained completely unscathed, and Ichigo had yet to reach the World of the Living.
Yet he was trapped here, unable to do anything.
Calm down.
Yoriichi spoke to remind himself.
But his voice did not carry. Even those words could only sound within his consciousness.
The Void Prison did more than seal away power.
It also cut