After the battle, the desolate land.
The cold wind was still wailing, but it carried a sense of hollow silence, the aftermath of surviving a catastrophe.
Within a radius of several miles, the earth looked like a chessboard trampled by a titan, covered in crisscrossing giant fissures and bottomless frozen craters.
And vast areas of glass-like ground, formed by being melted by high heat and instantly frozen, smooth as a mirror.
The air was filled with residual violent Reishi turbulence, and the mixed scent of ice and fire embers told the harrowing tale of the battle that had just taken place.
Isshin Shiba used Engetsu to support his body and struggled to stand up, the frost covering him falling off with a rustle.
He looked around at the apocalyptic scene with lingering fear, then glanced at the icy figure lying quietly in the distance, unable to help but exhale a long puff of white breath, lamenting:
“Ha…
that was close!
This Hyōrinmaru is truly worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Ryūjin Jakka; I almost really went down.”
Yanagawa slowly sheathed Tenshin at his waist, shook his head slightly upon hearing this, his gaze still locked on the fallen Hyōrinmaru.
“Hyōrinmaru’s own power is indeed terrifyingly strong.” Yanagawa’s voice carried a hint of imperceptible fatigue, but more so the calmness of an analyst.
“But the battle just now, especially that final Shikai Hyōketsu, its power and level of loss of control likely weren’t just a manifestation of Hyōrinmaru’s own will.”
“That golden energy played a key role; it made Hyōrinmaru’s power more manic, more aggressive, and more unstable.”
He paused, then added:
“Moreover, judging by its ability to influence Hyōrinmaru’s true form, it is definitely not simple.”
The two rested briefly to let their chaotic Reiatsu settle, then walked together, stepping on the shattered frozen earth and ice crystals, moving toward where Hyōrinmaru had fallen.
Hyōrinmaru lay there quietly, his tall body curled up, the two crossed blade scars on his face still striking, but with less cold majesty and more weakness.
The light purple kimono he wore was damaged in many places, stained with ice dust and dirt.
Most notably, the golden mark that had been flickering on his forehead had completely vanished, leaving only a faint, light-colored mark that looked as if it had been scorched by high heat, and even this mark was slowly fading and dissipating.
When Yanagawa and Isshin approached, Hyōrinmaru’s tightly closed eyelids twitched slightly, then slowly opened.
His violet eyes no longer held their previous chaos and fury.
At this moment, although these eyes still carried the inhuman quality typical of a materialized Zanpakutō spirit, they had regained clarity and a kind of…
deep exhaustion, along with a trace of imperceptible confusion.
He stared quietly at the two who had approached, not speaking immediately, nor showing any intent to attack.
“Hyōrinmaru?” Yanagawa spoke first, his voice calm, with a tone of confirmation.
“…Mn.”
Hyōrinmaru’s response was very soft, carrying a texture like metal rubbing against metal, but it was clearly audible.
He struggled, seemingly wanting to sit up, but his body swayed, and he finally lay back down powerlessly, merely casting his gaze toward Yanagawa.
“Was it you…
who dispelled that…
“In a way.”
Yanagawa crouched down to look Hyōrinmaru in the eye.
“How do you feel now?
Has that golden energy completely disappeared?”
“It has disappeared…
or rather, it has been completely exhausted.”
Hyōrinmaru closed his eyes, seemingly carefully sensing his own state, and opened them again a moment later.
“Thanks to you, otherwise, I’m afraid my consciousness wouldn’t have been able to recover so quickly.”
His tone carried a hint of lingering fear, as well as a trace of gratitude.
“What on earth is going on?”
Isshin couldn’t help but interrupt, asking the core question.
“Why did you lose control?
And why were there two people, Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Sōjirō Kusaka, who awakened you at the same time?
This completely violates the rules of Zanpakutō!”
At the mention of these two names, a complex light flashed in Hyōrinmaru’s violet eyes—recognition and apology.
He was silent for a few seconds, seemingly organizing his words, recalling the memory shrouded in chaos and golden light.
“This matter…
its root lies in when I first awakened, responding to the call of that white-haired boy.”
“A strange golden energy, as if falling from the extremely high sky, ignored all obstacles and poured directly into my body.”
A look of pain appeared on his face.
“That power…
it was incredibly overbearing, carrying a higher level of rule-interference, and it forcibly distorted my will.”
So that was it!
A look of realization flashed in Yanagawa’s eyes.
It basically matched his previous speculation.
Sōjirō Kusaka’s Hyōrinmaru was not the true Zanpakutō, and the “Twin Hyōrinmaru” phenomenon—the root of it all pointed to that mysterious golden energy that had descended from the sky!
“It really was caused by that mysterious golden energy,” Yanagawa said in a deep voice, his brows slightly furrowed.
“But where did this power come from?
The sky?
From some extremely high place…”
He suddenly turned to Isshin and asked:
“Captain Isshin, with the Shiba Clan’s information channels, has anything unusual happened in Soul Society recently?”
Isshin had been listening intently; when asked by Yanagawa, he was stunned for a moment, then rubbed his chin, showing a thoughtful expression.
As the head of a branch family of the Shiba Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Families, and also the Captain of Squad 10, he could indeed access many classified pieces of intelligence that ordinary Shinigami or even regular seated officers could not know. The source of this chapter is g.com.
“Anything unusual…”
He repeated in a low voice, his brain quickly filtering through the various information he had received recently.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, his eyes widened sharply, and he slapped his thigh.
“I remember!
A few days ago!
It was the day of the King’s Seal transfer!”
“King’s Seal?” Yanagawa’s gaze sharpened.
“Yes!
The King’s Seal!”
Isshin’s expression turned serious as he began to quickly explain.
“The King’s Seal is one of the oldest and most powerful artifacts in Soul Society, containing unimaginable power capable of rewriting local rules!”
“Its existence and location are top secret.
For safety, every few decades, the location of the King’s Seal is transferred under top-secret conditions.”
“The entire transfer process is under the highest level of Reishi shielding and spatial blockade.”
He paused, looked at Yanagawa, and then at the weak Hyōrinmaru on the ground, his voice carrying a trace of incredulous speculation:
“A few days ago…
it just happened to be the day of the new King’s Seal transfer!
Although the specific time and route were top secret, the news of the transfer itself was not entirely unknown among the high-ranking nobility and Captains.”
“If…
I mean if, during the transfer, the power of the King’s Seal leaked for some unknown reason.”
“And this leaked power just happened to…”
Yanagawa interjected, his gaze sharp as a knife as he looked at Hyōrinmaru.
“Pass through layers of blockades and, at some extremely coincidental space-time node, fall into Hyōrinmaru, the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō, which was in its critical awakening phase.”
Isshin nodded vigorously, his expression extremely grave.
“Yes!
That is the only explanation!
The source of that golden power is very likely the King’s Seal!”
“The King’s Seal leaked power for some unknown reason during its transport, and Hyōrinmaru unfortunately became the recipient of this leaked power!”
At this point, all the clues spliced together seamlessly like a puzzle.
The source of the mysterious golden power: an accidental leak during the transfer of the King’s Seal.
The reason for Hyōrinmaru’s loss of control: intrusion and distortion of his will by the power of the King’s Seal.
The truth behind the “Twin Hyōrinmaru” had finally surfaced.