Three days later, early morning.
At the outermost edge of the Rukongai, in a desolate wasteland far from the Seireitei and beyond even the usual gathering places of souls, Yanagawa and Isshin quietly appeared at the center of the barren landscape.
They had deliberately avoided every possible observer and chosen this dead zone that even Hollows rarely visited.
In Yanagawa’s hands was a rectangular device about the size of an ordinary bookcase.
Inside it was the Tenshintai created by Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
Isshin rubbed his hands together, excited but wary of the unknown, as he examined the device.
“So if we use this thing on a Zanpakutō, it can call out the sword’s true form?
Still, Yanagawa, isn’t choosing a place this remote a little too cautious?”
Yanagawa carefully placed the Tenshintai on a relatively flat boulder and looked over the barren surroundings.
“Forcibly materializing the true form of a Zanpakutō is, by nature, an interference with the rules.”
“The process, the result, and even the manifested Zanpakutō spirit itself are all highly unpredictable.”
He paused.
“And this time, we are summoning Hyōrinmaru, the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō.”
He turned to Isshin.
“No one can predict what state Hyōrinmaru will be in after being forcibly drawn into reality.”
“If this were done inside the Seireitei, even a small accident could cause immeasurable damage and uncontrolled spread.”
“At least here, the impact can be minimized, and we have enough room to respond.”
Isshin understood the weight behind those words.
He put away his joking expression and nodded.
“Makes sense.
If Hyōrinmaru goes berserk and freezes half the Seireitei solid, that’d be one hell of a mess.”
Yanagawa said no more.
He removed a long, narrow cloth bag that had been slung across his back and laid it beside the Tenshintai.
The cloth bag was dark gray, old-looking, and even carried a faint layer of dust.
It had clearly not been used in a long time.
Yanagawa slowly untied it, his movements gentle, as though touching a sealed memory.
From within, he drew out a Zanpakutō.
Isshin’s eyes were immediately drawn to it.
“So that’s your Zanpakutō?”
The scabbard was a plain silver-white, without any ornate decoration.
Only near the guard were several extremely fine markings, like naturally formed flowing water.
The hilt was similarly simple, wrapped in dark anti-slip cloth.
Yet the instant Yanagawa’s fingers closed around the hilt, Isshin keenly sensed the thin, chaotic reishi in the surrounding air tremble ever so slightly.
It was not an outburst of spiritual pressure.
It was more like resonance between the reishi and the blade itself.
Yanagawa lifted the sheathed Zanpakutō but did not draw it.
He merely held it quietly.
Seeing Isshin’s curious gaze, he explained:
“The blade’s name is Tenshin.”
“Tenshin?” Isshin repeated, savoring the name.
“Sounds powerful already!
What’s its ability?
Come on, tell me!”
Yanagawa’s gaze lowered to the silver-white scabbard.
“Its ability is vibration.”
“Vibration?” Isshin froze, then seemed to understand.
“Oh!
Like earthquakes?
Or sound-wave attacks?”
Yanagawa shook his head.
“It’s difficult to describe precisely.
You’ll see it if the chance comes.”
He paused, then added, “But I still cannot perfectly control this sword’s power.
Even a slight deviation may trigger unpredictable chain reactions or backlash against myself.”
“After my Zanpakutō awakened, I realized that until I fully mastered it, using it in an environment like the Seireitei—with its stable reishi structure, dense buildings, and large population, would be too dangerous.”
“If I made even the smallest mistake, the result might not be as simple as destroying a single building.”
He glanced at Tenshin in his hand.
“So I rarely use it.
Most of the time, it remains sealed away.
Naturally, I never carry it with me inside the Seireitei.”
Isshin clicked his tongue in amazement.
No wonder Yanagawa was reluctant to use it.
The thing was practically a walking unstable bomb, and one of unknown consequence.
Yanagawa gently secured Tenshin at his waist and looked back at the Tenshintai on the rock.
“What we are about to face is Hyōrinmaru.
No matter what state it is in, the power of the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō cannot be underestimated.”
“I brought Tenshin as insurance.”
He looked across the barren land.
“Here, even if Tenshin’s power slips slightly out of control, the damage will be relatively limited.
There is less need for restraint.”
“Got it.”
Isshin also grew serious and placed a hand on his own Zanpakutō.
“My Zanpakutō might not be as unusual as yours, but I can handle ordinary fighting just fine.”
Everything was ready.
Yanagawa extended his right hand.
A faint light glowed at his fingertips as they hovered above the Tenshintai, aimed at the reishi-sensing array embedded in the device’s center.
“Then… let us begin.”
Yanagawa first took out two Zanpakutō.
Their scabbards differed slightly, but the length and curve of the blades, especially that restrained yet unmistakable icy spiritual pressure, were nearly identical.
They were the two Hyōrinmaru: one belonging to Tōshirō Hitsugaya, the other to Sōjirō Kusaka.
“This is…?” Isshin asked, confused.
Yanagawa did not explain immediately.
He first took Kusaka’s Hyōrinmaru and inserted it, hilt downward, into the special groove at the Tenshintai’s center—the part designed to receive a Zanpakutō’s spiritual imprint.
The surface circuits of the Tenshintai continued to flow with dim blue light.
The device hummed faintly, and a reishi vortex turned slowly.
But nothing else happened.
“Huh?
No reaction?” Isshin leaned in, then looked at Yanagawa.
“What’s going on?
Is the Tenshintai broken?
Or did Mayuri give us a defective one?”
Yanagawa showed no surprise.
Instead, his eyes flashed with understanding.
“As expected.”
He calmly removed Kusaka’s Hyōrinmaru from the Tenshintai.
“The Tenshintai is not malfunctioning,” Yanagawa said, looking at the blade.
“This was to verify one of my earlier guesses.
It seems the guess was correct.”
“What guess?” Isshin asked.
“The Tenshintai works by using high-density reishi resonance and rule interference to forcibly amplify and materialize the spirit hidden within a Zanpakutō.
Its target is the Zanpakutō’s core essence.”
As he spoke, Yanagawa picked up Hitsugaya’s Hyōrinmaru.
“If a Zanpakutō’s core does not reside within the blade, or is in some special state that the Tenshintai cannot directly reach, then the Tenshintai naturally cannot materialize it.”
He looked at Isshin.
“Kusaka’s Hyōrinmaru likely does not contain Hyōrinmaru’s true core.”
“It is more like an empty shell, a copy granted part of Hyōrinmaru’s power.”
Isshin sucked in a sharp breath.
“How is that possible…?”
“So the key lies with this one.”
Yanagawa said no more.
He inserted Tōshirō Hitsugaya’s Hyōrinmaru into the Tenshintai’s core groove with solemn care.
The next instant—
BOOM!!!
Unlike the calm from before, the Tenshintai shook violently.
Every dim blue reishi circuit across its surface erupted with blinding white light.
At the same time, a vast spiritual pressure burst forth from the Tenshintai like an ancient glacier collapsing, sweeping in all directions.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
Centered on Yanagawa and Isshin, the ground, rocks, and even the air within several hundred meters were instantly coated in thick, crystalline ice.
A current of extreme cold surged wildly.
Lead-gray clouds in the sky seemed to be stirred by an invisible hand, gathering rapidly.
Fine ice crystals began to fall, becoming a roaring blizzard in the blink of an eye.
This was Hyōrinmaru’s power to alter the weather.
“Damn, it’s cold!” Isshin shuddered, caught off guard.
He quickly circulated spiritual pressure to resist the chill, but frost still gathered on his brows and hair.
He stared toward the Tenshintai in shock.
Within the blazing white light, a massive dragon-shaped phantom made entirely of ice raised its head and gave a soundless roar before soaring skyward.
The dragon was lifelike, with scales and claws dancing in the storm.
It radiated an ancient, majestic aura of ice.
It was the symbol of Hyōrinmaru’s true form.
It circled and stretched within the blizzard, each movement stirring harsher winds and hail.
Yet the breathtaking scene did not last long.
After several turns, the huge ice dragon phantom seemed to be pulled by some unseen force.
It rapidly contracted and condensed.
The snow, wind, and ice crystals in the sky all converged toward the center.
The light gradually drew inward.
The dragon phantom faded.
Not far in front of the Tenshintai, at the heart of the blizzard, a tall figure slowly formed and solidified.
It was a man dressed in an ancient pale-purple kimono.
He stood tall, his expression cold.
Most striking were the two diagonal marks across his face, like deep crossing scars.
His hands and feet were not human.
They were covered in diamond-like icy dragon claws, radiating piercing cold.
He stood there quietly, surrounded by a freezing field that seemed capable of stopping all things.
His violet eyes slowly opened, as if endless glaciers and snowstorms were reflected within them.
Hyōrinmaru.
The manifested true form of the Zanpakutō.
“S-success?” Isshin said, startled but delighted.
Though his teeth were chattering from the cold, he forced a smile and raised a hand in greeting.
“Hey!
Hyōrinmaru!
We’re—”
Before he could finish.
Hyōrinmaru’s violet eyes snapped toward Isshin.
There was no sign of reason or communication in them.
Only cold, chaotic violence.
At the center of his forehead, a dazzling point of golden light, utterly unlike his icy nature—flickered violently like a living thing.
Whoosh!
Without warning, Hyōrinmaru casually swung his right hand, covered in icy dragon claws.
The ground before him exploded.
A huge pillar of ice, thick as a barrel, shot forward like a siege ram fired from a giant crossbow, tearing through the air toward Isshin.
“Careful!”
Yanagawa’s warning rang out almost at the same time as the ice pillar tore through the air.
He had been focused entirely on observing Hyōrinmaru’s condition.
The instant the golden light flickered and Hyōrinmaru’s eyes changed, he sensed something was wrong.
Isshin was a captain-class fighter, after all.
Using Shunpo, he avoided the attack.
“What the hell?!
Why is Hyōrinmaru attacking the moment he appears?!” he shouted, shocked and furious.
Yanagawa kept his gaze locked on the distant ice figure radiating chaos and violence—especially the dazzling golden light flickering on his forehead, completely incompatible with Hyōrinmaru’s own frigid spiritual pressure.
His senses expanded fully, analyzing the nature of that golden glow.
His voice was low and fast, carrying unprecedented gravity.
“Hyōrinmaru’s mind is being interfered with.
Look at his forehead!”
Isshin noticed the ominous golden light as well.
“What the hell is that thing?!”
“I don’t know,” Yanagawa replied rapidly, “but it is absolutely not Hyōrinmaru’s own power.”
“That energy is strange.
It is disrupting Hyōrinmaru’s will.”
“We need to exhaust it first, or temporarily suppress that additional golden power.”
“Otherwise, Hyōrinmaru will remain in this berserk state, unable to distinguish friend from foe.
There will be no way to communicate with him.”
As if confirming Yanagawa’s words, Hyōrinmaru’s forehead flashed violently again.
He let out a low growl filled with both pain and fury.