Ten years flew by after Kuruyashiki Kenpachi awoke.
"You still can't remember anything?"
Sōgo, Lilynette, and Tier Harribel gathered around Kuruyashiki Kenpachi and asked him.
"Other than the name of my Zanpakuto, I can't remember a thing!"
"But going by common sense, I'm probably a Soul Reaper!"
"Except Soul Reapers apparently can't use Hollow powers, can they?"
"So, honestly, even I don't know what the hell I am!"
"Hahahaha..."
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi laughed without a care. Over those ten years, besides learning the name of the Zanpakuto in his hand, he had also successfully tamed the Hollow within him, yet he still hadn't recovered a single memory of his past.
"It may be because your soul suffered two severe blows. Presumably, two life-or-death battles caused you to lose all memory of your past."
Dressed in a tailcoat and looking like a butler, Szayelaporro held a stack of analytical reports as he spoke to Kuruyashiki Kenpachi.
"Really?"
"So someone knocked my brains out in a fight?!"
"Hahahaha... That really does sound like me!"
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi roared with laughter. Although he couldn't remember what kind of person he used to be, he simply felt that his former self was someone who would do something that stupid.
"So, what do you plan to do next? You've mastered your powers over these ten years. Do you want me to send you back to the Soul Society? Or do you intend to return with me in a few years?"
Sitting in a beach chair, Sōgo asked Kuruyashiki Kenpachi.
"Hmm, well, I'd better go back with you! If I suddenly go berserk again, I'm afraid I'll damage the Soul Society. One careless move, and I might even kill an old comrade..."
After hearing Sōgo's words, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi shook his head. He still felt it was safer to stay by Sōgo's side, although the safety he meant wasn't his own, but that of everyone around him.
"There's no helping that."
Sōgo nodded lightly, agreeing with Kuruyashiki Kenpachi. Keeping him nearby really was the best option. If he fell under the control of his Hollow powers again, as he had ten years ago, Sōgo could intervene and stop him in time.
Time flew by, and this time, a full fifty years passed...
Over those fifty years, Sōgo spent less time playing with Tier Harribel and Lilynette and focused on controlling the Spiritual Pressure within him. After all that time, Sōgo's Spiritual Pressure... disappeared!
"Sōgo, I really can't sense even a trace of Spiritual Pressure from you anymore. What happened?"
"There isn't something wrong with your body, is there?"
Lilynette looked curiously at Sōgo Shihoin, full of questions about the changes in his body.
"My approach used to be to suppress the Spiritual Pressure inside me, but I discovered that the more I suppressed it, the more violent it became. Eventually, it all spilled out of my body, to the point that it began threatening the lives of those around me. So, over these past few decades, I tried a different approach. Instead of deliberately suppressing it, I kept releasing it, letting my Spiritual Pressure rise again and again. In the end... I surpassed the limits of a Soul Reaper."
Sōgo Shihoin spoke to them with a grin.
"You surpassed the limits of a Soul Reaper?"
"As expected of Lord Sōgo!"
Tier Harribel praised him sincerely.
"So does that mean you've gotten even stronger now, Sōgo?"
Lilynette asked curiously.
"Hahaha... Stronger or not, I've always been invincible."
Sōgo Shihoin chuckled at Lilynette's words. Since he had always been the strongest, even growing stronger now didn't really feel any different.
"You really are a monster, aren't you?"
Wearing a white coat sewn by Szayelaporro, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi chuckled at Sōgo Shihoin's words. At first, he had been quite interested in fighting Sōgo Shihoin, but as his own strength grew, he realized that the true strength of Sōgo Shihoin, whom he had always treated as his hypothetical opponent, had shown him only the tip of the iceberg. After that, he gave up comparing himself to Sōgo Shihoin. There was no comparison to be made between a person and a monster.
How strange... By my calculations, Lord Sōgo should have been able to surpass the limits of a Soul Reaper forty-five years ago. Why did it take so much longer than I predicted?
Or could it be... that Lord Sōgo hasn't been breaking through the limits of a Soul Reaper all these years, but pushing himself further after already surpassing them?
If that's the case, Lord Sōgo Shihoin has now completely surpassed the bounds of my understanding! Can my plan still succeed, then?
Szayelaporro's expression was somewhat conflicted. He was excited that the ultimate life-form he admired had grown even stronger, yet troubled by his inability to complete his plan.
"Now that I've completely mastered my powers, it's time to return to the Soul Society."
"Do you want to come with me?"
Sōgo Shihoin asked the four before him.
"Of course!"
Lilynette, Tier Harribel, Szayelaporro, and Kuruyashiki Kenpachi answered Sōgo Shihoin without a moment's hesitation.
The Soul Society.
The Stealth Force was a special force that, like the Kidō Corps, operated independently of the Gotei 13.
And today was the day Yoruichi Shihōin, head of the Shihoin clan, took office as commander-in-chief.
Inside an ornate palanquin sat Yoruichi Shihōin, dressed in lavish ceremonial robes, as noble and beautiful as the princess of some country. In fact, as the only girl in the direct line of the Shihoin clan, one of the Soul Society's Five Great Noble Clans, Yoruichi Shihōin could indeed be called a princess.
"So beautiful! So noble..."
Petite, with straight-cut bangs and dressed in a skintight black outfit, Shaoling Fon stood among the members of the Stealth Force. Her eyes were full of admiration as she gazed at that noble lady. Noble! Powerful! Beautiful! In Shaoling Fon's eyes, Yoruichi Shihōin perfectly fulfilled every fantasy she had of the ideal woman.
Yet fantasies often shattered in the very next second.
"Big sister! I'm back!"
Halfway through the inauguration ceremony, a figure in white blocked the ornate palanquin's path and greeted Yoruichi Shihōin.
"Who are you, daring to obstruct the inauguration ceremony of the Stealth Force's commander-in-chief!"
Several black-clad members of the Stealth Force stepped between the palanquin and the figure in white, angrily demanding an answer.
"Aha! Welcome back!"
Yet in the next second, Yoruichi Shihōin, dressed in her splendid robes, ran out of the palanquin without any regard for appearances and embraced the figure in white.
(End of chapter)