Karakura Town

Kuwashii talk of her pull had little sway on his thoughts, her talking was enough to entertain him as his zanpakutō shimmering continued. Though his head tilted towards the side for the correction she gave. He would guess that Death was now the outcome for she had no idea what lengths he went through just to get his freedom.


Yet still the Shugō was not something he would enjoy. His thoughts went back to the stubborn men and women of the Central 46, and their warning. Had he not been acting he would be more than happy to kill them all, had it not been for timing. For the moment his smile shifted before the voice of the other spoke to the question he had asked about Tomi.

The Detective said:

"So a criminal ceases to be a criminal should they not commit any new crimes? Are you a child?"

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“To those that know me well enough would say so!”


“You must be the one to have looked into me! Judging by your words, you must be the Gumshoe of the trio!.”



Laughter came out as he would take a turn towards the man that spoke. His head shook before his hand raised up, fingers forming a circle where he would look through it to the man. One eye closing as he focused on the man, uncaring of Kuwashii’s rising reiatsu, as the detective spoke of capital theft, yet still he never did take his eyes off the man, while his free hand shifted down to his right outer pocket, before stopping himself.


“A fair trade don’t you think? Freedom for the death of a family? Honestly the se-”

Kuwashii said:

“So many dead noble clans”

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“I never said they were noble”


His smile slowly faded away from his face, an exasperated sigh came out. Up until now, he had kept a joyous demeanor, he was excited about interacting with another Shinigami that was not Sumire, even if their goal was to arrest him. Kuwashii reiatsu and reiryoku flow was surging through her, she was gearing to attack, yet still he never faced away from the Detective. His fingers forming that circle shifted to snap.





Lines began to form around Kuwashii’s position, four above moving to connect with one another, another four moving down, and another four forming around her shoulder, all quickly connecting with one another as her vision went from clear to teal like colour. Boxing her entire head and shoulders in.


As for the lanky one he had surged his reiatsu and pushed forward he would crash into a barrier that illuminated itself once he had made the contact. Its colours shifting across its domed shape, due his physical contact with it. It was one solid barrier that he had quietly formed around himself during the beginning conversation, but there was still more to come.


As several black spheres with lights would finally reveal themselves, 47 spheres surrounded the dome barrier, Several exploded, knocking the lanky Shinigami around before the flames made contact with the Barrier. In which the barrier began to dissipate the beams flame towards the side due its curvature where some of the flame would catch the grass on fire, and spreading around, with one moving towards the Lanky one.


How could he set this up? Barriers were simple constructs, reiryoku made manifest, while beginners often have their barriers made in the same colour and tone as their reiryoku, they required no name to be spoken nor prep time when making a simple barrier. He opted to make the simple dome shaped barrier, one solid unit easily made yet took some small amount of time to make invisible. It was the first shimmer of his zanpakutō that allowed him to create this barrier, solid and uniform with enough strength to withstand and hold back Kuwashii’s blast, but he wasn’t going to leave it to chance, Shinigami like her have a weird way of surpassing their limits. Each change of the image he made had him reinforce his barrier, as he needed to expel some reiatsu to change the image while at the same time strengthening it. yet still his zanpakutō was shimmering, as if he wasn’t stopping, until his hand lifted up and off of his zanpakutō.


As for the black spheres it was Hado #77 Hakanai Sekai. He had spoken way earlier in a low tone, combining that with Bakudō #26. Kyokkō the spheres he made were invisible to the naked eye. Along with being difficult to detect via sensing. From the detectives point of view, he would see the arms raise and clap together, where in which the barrier that boxed in Kuwashii from the shoulder up would slice into the woman’s body, slicing through skin and muscle to break her bones, before dissipating, no he didn’t want her to die so quickly, for the first time in his life he wanted someone to suffer.


His lips were moving at the same yet his words were not heard, if he was able to read lips though he would see the words Hadō before the barrier’s colour blocked the rest of his speech. If they looked closely though they would see his hand holding his zanpakutō once more, where he stood still, eyes locked and watching the Detective closely. For in his eyes that man was the most dangerous of the trio for his ability to get rid of kidō with that zanpakutō. While again his zanpakutō shimmered, glowing brightly every few seconds.

“I’ll let you all in on a little secret, I casted Hadō number 96, Ittō Kasō. I’ve discovered away to delay the spell’s activation, but one wrong move and I take us all out. But we only got a certain amount of time before I go ‘BOOM!’”


“Take your leave now and you might escape the blast radius”


Whether they believed him or not, they could see the shimmering of his zanpakutō, and sense his reiatsu finally shifting, as it came out, it would be difficult to sense through his reiatsu consealing cloak but it was possible with such a powerful spell coursing through him, as the reiatsu was venting out through his wrists enough for them to feel it.

Toru→[Elk]→Rokka→Kuwashii
​

Rokka existed primarily as a spectator to the initial song and dance; his preference for detaining the co-conspirator gave them an edge. Not in the way some might perceive as a hostage scenario—that was not the intention—but instead as a potential loose end being suspended. Alongside that, any catastrophic measures Elk took would be at the risk of compromising his partner. It would not be the hand of any of the trio, but his own carelessness that could lead to her untimely demise. Not only that, but there was a further check that this left room for, one that relied on external coordination.

While banter was thrown about and tensions rose, another Senkaimon opened just above the complex they occupied. Reinforcements? No, if that were the intention, they would have shown their faces earlier when this siege was coordinated. It was something else, for sure. Yet, what that was wasn't a matter for the present. It concerned no party caught in the secluded chamber. What mattered in the moment was a matter of apprehension or liberation.

For the detective, he was a man of swift and effective results; had things been less tricky and his present company less inclined to deliberation, Elk would have been cut down when he first entered the room. And yet he was spared in that moment—a decisive end exchanged for a more secured venue as well as the humoring of his companion's wishes. Though that very kindness extended by the trio was met with a mixed response. An immediately defensive stance, distractions, and attempted spellwork—either he lacked the facilities to negotiate or was genuinely that dishonest of a soul. In either case, it made it evident to Rokka that he was simply the liability he presumed he was.
​

Rokka's eyes narrowed out of annoyance at the response. A willing confirmation of his naivety, to top it all off. With that, there would be no further words humored. His foot tapped in some unseen rhythm as the man worked through more words—empty ones that served only to detract from his true intentions.

Even as the fugitive tried to claim a 'delayed' Ittō Kasō, Rokka remained unmoved. It was a rather transparent play—the desperate bluff of a man who realized his control over the situation was slipping. He had all the time in the world to make a much more refined move, and yet here he was, a hare surrounded by the hounds of the Gotei 13. If any of it were true, the scene would be playing out differently. Not to mention the logistical fallacy of it all. It didn't take a master of Kidō to know that a spell born of sacrifice was too unstable to rein in. This farce was as childish as his previous banter; he just hoped the others would not fall for the illusion.

He looked briefly between his allies and the overly confident fugitive, piecing together a scene in his mind as if he were planning out pieces on a chessboard. It was nothing more than a wink, but his mind etched together a series of potential outcomes. An action, a reaction—the boons and the consequences.

He noted the man's attention on him, something he'd exploit. Multitasking wasn't everyone's strong suit, especially under intense pressure. As the incongruent rogue tried to work his magic, Rokka pushed forward. His speed honed forward with a strong lock on Elk. The grip on his weapon alternated as he swung at a rate that outpaced his stride by several times. Forwards, backwards, upwards, downwards—a blade dance woven a thousandfold. Through the blitz came a swipe of his arm, dragging from his chest and outward to his side. A glint flickered within that arc, vanishing as quickly as it took light. Trailing its short-lived vibrance came a subtle tug at Elk's collar, as if his garment were yanked by that gesture despite the distance that still remained between the two men. A gap that narrowed even more within the next stride.

Mere feet from each other, Rokka laid a pair of slashes: the first eradicated any ambient defenses, the second simply missed the mark. Just shy of the fugitive, his sword whiffed on by. Was this hesitation? Panic? Whatever it may be, the Sixth's Third bolted backwards away from his target, matching his previous path in reverse. Coinciding with that inverted rush, an immensely strong flow of wind pulled fiercely along the criminal, his hair and garments frantically fluttering towards where the officer had just swung. It would feel as if his very breath were being snatched, his skin hammered and dragged, and his body beckoned to follow Kūkyō's slice.

As the detective cleared space, he did not lighten his grip on his weapon, instead opting to remain ready just as he did in his initial advance. His other hand, however, reached into the breast of his attire, fishing out a single Kan. He moved the coin between his fingers, admiring the shine of it before closing his hand around it, thinking over the multitude of ways it could be used even in this moment, finding value even without a product in sight.
​

Toru→Elk→[Rokka]→Kuwashii

​

---

The barrier forms and cuts into Kuwashii as Elk had designed and planned. She drops to a knee, her eyes completely white, devoid of pupils and iris alike. She appeared as if she had lost consciousness in that moment with the flames of her Shikai vanishing entirely. In all her rage she failed to see through what Elk was planning. Being caught in his web like this would undoubtedly cast her in a bad light once she returned to her peers back in Ninth Division. For whatever reason the traitor did not commit to killing her, applying just enough force and pressure to immobilize her. This is an insult to injury for her, to tell her she is not worth killing, that she is not worth the full attention or effort. It wounds her pride and soul more than her body.

A Star Never Dies

Her flames had vanished but something else happened to the room in the wake of their absence. The ambient light of this room begins to grow, more than any artificial light source could provide and with it heat came as well more than her Reiatsu or Shikai were giving off. One minute Kuwashii was on the ground and the next she was standing on her feet, bleeding from her shoulders and had the spell that damaged her remained it would have shattered due to the release of her Reiatsu. Those void like eyes were not a state of unconsciousness but a sign of unbridled rage. At the ceiling of this room, adjusted/scaled for the size of it, hovers a star. Not the kind of star people would draw with the five pointed ends but a true to life, and what Kuwashii would call “scientifically accurate”, Star.

It boils and churns, plasma bursting forth from its surface, dark spots occasionally appear and vanish along its surface as it slowly spins and rotates on a perfect axis. Despite being a star it is not impossible to look at directly almost as if it were designed in a way so all can gaze at the beauty and majesty of a true star without shielding their eyes. But that is the nature of this Zanpakuto, its power is not light but heat.
​

(象牙色 頂点: Ivory-white Apex)

A Bankai, Elk is now faced with the power of a Bankai controlled by the most volatile member of this triplet. She has no qualms about burning everything away, she attempted to slay his Shihoin cohort but thankfully his barrier protected himself and his conspirator.

But there is something more pressing beyond all of this, how did she survive the Kido used on her by Elk? Well, as much as he was trying to not underestimate her, he still hit that small percentage chance regardless. Kuwashii suffers from some unknown muscle abnormality that makes her muscle density higher than normal. The sort of muscle density, if in anyone else, would make them abnormally strong without ever having to train or lift weights. When these muscles are enhanced with Reiryoku they become a boon of added berserker strength without the mental debuff of a berserker, although this can be debated with Kuwashii at times. Not only is there offense but defense as well, acting as another layer of armor beneath her skin, armor that had barely been breached by the spell that was purposely held back to spare her.

By choosing to spare her he inadvertently handicapped his own damage output against her. She raises her massive, charred, blade into the air with a single hand and brings it down shortly after Rokka makes his move. The blade slams into the ground, however she is nowhere near Elk at this point. Maybe her blind rage has made her literally blind, but this isn’t the case. From the star above plasma erupts towards Elk at the same speed as the blade being dropped, this stream of plasma then curves moments before hitting the barrier to mimic the arc of a blade cutting.
​

(先導光; Leading Light)

Layered that barrier may be but it is unnamed, it lacks weight, it lacks purpose given to it. A Kido Master should know and understand that names and incantations hold great significance and weight and without them a nameless barrier is only as good as a wall with no renown. None of his spheres seemed to be surrounding her as he believed his plan to incapacitate her was more than enough and required no more effort than that. Whatever he was saying was lost to her ears, she was done listening, done trying to reason. She tried that, opened a line of communication only for him to spit in her face at the attempt. His only options now are death or destruction. Threatening his own life via suicide by Kido would only make her job easier, but she doesn't want that, she wants him to struggle, to fight back. She wants him to suffer for taking her kindness for weakness.

The attack makes contact with the barrier, the weight of a Bankai level attack outweighs the existence of a nameless barrier, no matter how much mortar and bricks are laid within it. The barrier shatters and its fragments ignite and burn away as the arc of plasma seeks to rend Elks entire being of flesh into nothingness.

---

Toru→Elk→Rokka→[Kuwashii]​

As unfortunate as it is, there is no going back now, the fight is under way and the outcome is binary. Death is assured, and one side will be dead by the end of this encounter. The barrier that was erected around Elk in the midst of conversation does not find Toru slamming into it, he doesn’t even come in contact with it. The path taken by Toru was and is intended to avoid coming too close to the spellcaster, Elk Hoshi. A path taken around the outside and then to the back. Had Toru ran into the barrier, he might not have spotted the black orb that is encroaching upon his position. Fortunately he’d already positioned himself behind Elk and with that parasol opened out towards him. The previous intention was to protect the unconscious Shihōin, but the traitor had done enough to render Toru’s attempt null and void. Now, that parasol is guided towards the approaching orb and with no more than a thrust of his arm forward, the orb seeks to explode but is rendered harmless as it fizzles upon contact with the altered sheath of his Zanpakuto. The dispersal of that initial threat gives Toru a brief respite that he uses to assess the situation before him.

Beyond the other black orbs that litter the area around the Hoshi, the biologist’s eyes catch Rokka, plotting from a comparatively safe vantage point. Further along, the Tsunayashiro notes the enforcer, her head encased in a barrier that presumably seeks to lop off her head, or at the very least completely crush her neck. Toru was likely to have attempted to move towards Kuwashii in her aid, but the circumstances drastically change as the room alights with a sweltering heat and a near blinding light. A new star dawns upon the room and is almost like a call to action for both Toru and Rokka.

The detective is the first to make his move, a controlled blur of metal seeks to dismantle any and all defences surrounding, creating an opening for himself and others just the same. With a brief exhale, Toru follows suit. A swift step back places Toru further away from any of the black orbs, a safe distance for now and in tandem, his left arm flicks upwards, flinging the parasol upwards towards the newborn star. The parasol vanishes in the light, no shadow cast upon the scene below. Another step pushes Toru to trace his previously travelled path along the outside of the center that is Elk. If the Hoshi’s eyes can trace the blur of movement that is Toru, he might notice two very familiar things to a Kido master. The movement of Toru’s lips, an incantation, the motions of his now free left hand as the trace a symbol into the air rapidly. His right arms swing in tandem with his steps, mirroring one of his legs at all times as if hiding another motion. Another spell perhaps?

The nature of fighting multiple opponents at once is sure to be clear now to Elk. To direct his focus from one threat is to lose track of another. If Elk decides to follow Toru, then his reaction to the cascade of plasma may be delayed. If he chooses to focus on the incoming attack of the enraged Kuwashii, then he may find himself at the mercy of another plot from the cunning detective. If he chooses to track Rokka, then perhaps he is to miss what comes from Toru next. With the Bankai of Kuwashii bringing forth a stream of lethal plasma towards Elk, Toru makes use of that and the now back pedaling Rokka.

As Rokka lands from his retreat, Toru slips in behind the detective and finally with that he shifts both his arms into motion. The right flicking forward with a whoosh in a coordinated motion with his left as that arm thrusts outwards, aiming straight at Elk. The spell is complete and just as he emerges from behind Rokka, he yells out a single word.
​

Of course, Toru does not stop there, his path continues as he maintains that path he’d set, retracing his previous motions and eventually ending up where he had begun, a ‘comfortable’ distance off to the left of Kuwashii. He stands at the ready, his right hand briefly rummaging within his Shihakushō for a small white needled pouch. The display put on by Kuwashii is one of impressive might, but also worrying recklessness and if needed, he is prepared.​

[Toru]→Elk→Rokka→Kuwashii​

“Good call! You knew it was a bluff!”

The Detective was far too late to act and had done nothing to stop his ally from being boxed in and sliced into. As for the other one, whose name eludes him, avoided his defenses just keeping out of the blast radius of each one, while the Detective made their way closer and closer, slashing at his orbs and slicing through the first barrier. Elk’s eyes watched closely before his body flickered, leaving behind an translucent image of himself where the Detective’s nail passed through.

His movements were sporadic at best, often changing direction, in a split second, but he was finally able to catch on to where the lanky shinigami had gone, he had been trailing the Detective. He was fast for sure, far faster than the Detective, but it wasn’t his speed that he picked up on. It was his kido, the flow of it allowed him to see what he saw when he was back in the academy, a flow that was not quite there. Adequate enough for a novice, but enough for Elk to take notice, along with the zanpakutō being gone.

As for the detective, it was the movement of his arm, a blink and you miss it moment, where the man’s fingers had been brought up close to grab what he could best describe as nails, as to what nefarious purpose he could not surmise what they do, though the Detective’s usage of it was certainly something that should be avoided. Several steps were made, with speed clones appearing and quickly fading as they appeared till finally Elk’s body had appeared behind the Detective, spear pointed back and quickly jabbing forward to stab right into their Saketsu and Haksui in rapid succession. The spear’s head had begun its spreading of rot in the Detective, their only option now was stay as calm as they can be without spreading the infection further.

While his free arm was raised upwards, palm facing towards the lanky Shinigami in which Hadō #33. Sōkatsui was unleashed in a large wave, one that covered a wide area. Leaving no room to maneuver out of. he wasn’t just fighting for himself, their threat, or rather the Detectives choice of words would have stated that Tomi would be in trouble had he not either killed or capture these three, he wanted to capture them but now he was forced into the latter option, both for his freedom and Tomi’s,


“That’s certainly a neat little trick you had going on there. You’re fast with your hands, having the nail in your hand and tossing it but… It was noticeable”


“As for you lanky one, I had trained amongst the best in the kidō corps, I have seen how they wove spells with their reiryoku, I could detect how well one is, your speed gave you your advantage, but your spells are what allowed me to catch you.”


In all the commotion that had ensued he had not been paying attention to the largest threat of the fight. Kuwashii. For he had thought she was down for the count,but he was right about her, she was a freak of nature, one that could surpass her limits, he was sure that the spell would break into muscle and bone, but judging by her blast going through he couldn’t dodge it as it was going directly for Sumire’s location.


“What? Still here?”


His hand raised up as three teal barriers formed in front, each one large enough to be the size of a danku while he began to speak out.

“Bakudō #55: Seido Kagami!


Bakudō #81. Dankū!


Bakudō #90. Shinpi Kagami!”


In rapid succession all three barriers formed, with the weakest in front being the unnamed barriers, followed by Seido Kagami, where it showed a reflection of the blast coming, then Dankū, and finally Shinpi Kagami each one more durable then the last. The last two were considerably strong, and he had poured a lot more into his defences than he should have, his eyes were shifting blurring, then white spots began to appear in his vision. He knew it wasn’t enough. As it was ripping through each barrier, danku giving way, till it connected with the last.






“Bloom and show your beauty Fuhai no Megami”

She had sat there in the zanpakutō world, watching and smiling as she heard those wonderful words, cackling echoed throughout Elk’s mind as it was the first time he had willingly used bankai, and with that large flower petals began to form around his body, wrapping him in a cocoon like state, anyone that would get close would suffer its consequences, as the petals themselves had the ability to melt away flesh and bone with ease. It would be unfortunate for the Detective, as Kusari no Shokushu had now begun to mutate and transform into Kyoufuu no Shokushu



As the flower bloomed to spread its spores Elk Hoshi stood at the center of it, his face unamused and finally taking the threat more seriously eyes seeming to have a pattern of a star, while his last barrier rung his arm raised up and two fingers pointed up as a black and teal spiritual energy formed then sparked outward.



“Hadō #90. Kurohitsugi (黒棺, Black Coffin)”

Another box formed around Kuwashii, black and teal, before the gravity had hit her body, forcing her to go back down, once again before spears spiked out from it all, slicing into Kuwashii quickly, to stop her beam from pressing any more forward. She wasn’t just facing down the power of his bankai boost alone, but the Hōgyoku as well. For it saw his desire for his freedom in full effect, and was finally granting him what he wanted, Freedom through power, replenishing his reiryoku. Even if Kurohitsugi was only a third of its power.





Toru→[Elk]→Rokka→Kuwashii
​

Oversight

A decades-long retribution spun about—delayed by the Soul Society’s intervention, but finally coming to a head.

The defector of years past had managed to corner himself despite ample time for preparation. The opening of a Senkaimon launched a desperate sprint for Elk Hoshi and his co-conspirator to pack up shop and find a new way to maintain their desired freedom and forbidden experimentation. Yet the nearing stride of
six outstretched legs drew closer, cornering the traitor beneath the industrial sector. It was here he stood his ground, acting as a line to buy time for his companion to clear out. Barriers aligned, weapons drawn, eyes honed forward—Elk stood ready for a confrontation.

And in that wait came a visual of his pursuers. The first paid no mind to him at all; the focused Shinigami darted past, severing the obstructions in his path with eyes set on the scrambling scientist beyond the gatekeeper. In a flash, he had detained her, rendered unconscious and bound by restrictive cuffs. It all ended unceremoniously. Some protector Elk was, allowing his only true ally to fall as if she were nothing more than a pawn. During this, the other two officers made their way into the chamber, approaching at first with a deceptively measured demeanor despite the armed defector at the room’s epicenter.

A verbal display followed—an empathetic appeal to the dogs of the Seireitei, or perhaps merely a distraction to buy further time. All the while, Hoshi kept an eye on the man who had slipped beyond him. He was desperate. Having failed to establish any meaningful preparations, banter and underhanded tactics were all he could muster to maintain his fleeting liberties.
​

​

Banter, however, did not prove effective; it degraded rapidly into a battle. As the affair heated up, Elk's focus was split, cut between the trio that occupied his arena. The odds were immediately outside his favor, yet he tried his best to contest them. Misplaced priorities ruined any real traction in the opening act: he merely occupied the detective and the biologist while turning the majority of his focus to the fiery Kuwashii. He clearly saw her as the only real threat, believing the other two to be nothing more than a nuisance.

Elk focused the majority of his offensive front on the Ninth Division officer, erecting destructive barriers with the intention of incapacitating her right then and there, all while making the other two dance to a rhythm of explosive, hidden Hakanai Sekai orbs. But what he lacked was true conviction. Had he put absolute focus on Kuwashii, she might have unraveled. Yet the singular intention he did hone in on proved crippling—a fatal paradox. Lining up his main assault against her played directly into the other two’s plans. Rokka, from the jump, planned on being nothing more than a distraction, never needing to land a direct blade stroke on Elk to spell his undoing, while Toru slipped between conventional lines to inlay his own sneaky brand of opposition. Not one of the reapers coordinated a defense for each other; they didn’t need to. So long as the fugitive downplayed the severity of the situation, his own arrogance would be his downfall.

While Elk was caught in his disjointed Kidō chain, Rokka advanced, moving within the man’s blindspot and seemingly going in for a direct attack. Each step forward was coupled with an even faster flurry of slashes surrounding him in every direction—a blade dance woven a thousandfold. His swiping appendage moved at angles uncommon to even the most seasoned Shinigami. This onslaught protected his pathing from any invasive attacks that drifted his way, erasing them with nothing more than the slightest touch from Kūkyō.

It was in this action that he laced another: the subtle tossing of specialized metallic nails stored within his garments. They launched toward Elk at a breakneck pace, though not one that exceeded Rokka's own stride. Rokka passed beyond those metallic tools and continued his maneuver. Occasionally, Kūkyō caused tiny fissures in the space around its cuts, removing the air from the space the blade occupied. These tiny rips acted as a further beckoning of the man’s attention as the influx of air tugged at and displaced the cloak covering Elk’s body.

Rokka resisted the rushing micro-vacuums and pushed onward, his blade plunging through the erected barrier and carving a path. Yet before Kūkyō even managed to erase the entirety of the barrier, those propelled nails slipped through the tear—striking Elk’s cloak to the ground before he even managed to perceive the destruction of his defense. The supernatural property of the nails bonded the woven cloth with the earth below, essentially molecularly fusing them together. Liberation through a simple tug would not be enough, warranting instead the complete severance or discarding of his shroud.

As Elk tried to shift away from where he stood—an action all too late—another slash was swung by Rokka. One that should have been for the fugitive’s neck instead slipped through the air beside him. The ferocity of this attack dwarfed the paper cuts left in the space along his trajectory several fold.

In an instant, the space was unnamed, removed, destroyed—all that remained was nothingness. And to fill that void, the surrounding atmosphere rushed inward with immense force. The sheer pull of this particular vacuum was enough to snatch air from one’s opened mouth, to strip moisture from the skin and eyes, and to drag fiercely at fabric and flesh alike. Rokka’s swing did not land upon the body of Elk, but it was an attack of an unconventional reality.

Why, when he was within arm's length and had the culprit hindered, did he not go for the throat? The reasoning lay in Rokka’s broader strategy. The first phase was his very presence being a heavy weight on Elk’s mind—a factor Elk assumed he needn't pay close attention to compared to the star that was Kuwashii, yet one that still bore immediate risk. The second phase was simply adding more stimuli than the fugitive could process. Where he might survive or mitigate a direct slash, an onslaught of sensory hazards would cannibalize him on the spot.

The spatial tear hungrily grabbed at the proximate traitor, demanding he occupy the space just as the air desperately tried to do. Rokka, in the meantime, distanced himself, creating space with a backward advance. He did not fear retaliation; he merely refused to be caught in his own trap.

While Elk fought against his predicament, panic set in. His breath grew shallow from the avarice of the void, his garment was captured by the earth, and the joint actions of the other two played out like clockwork. Even if he spared a moment to rip away the fabric, his footwork away from the vacuum was crippled both physically and biologically. His eyes became dry, his throat hoarse, his lungs struggling to hold air.

Simultaneously, Toru paced the periphery, disarming an explosive orb with the altered sheath of his Zanpakutō and using his movement both as a defense and as a means to align his positioning. Shifting within the visual shadow of Rokka’s stride, he released his weapon on a path set to impale the overwhelmed criminal.

As Elk struggled to gain visual clarity under the collapsing air, he noted Toru’s positioning and the absence of his weapon. But just as that clarity came to be, it was forgotten. Was Toru originally holding something? Did he have a weapon to begin with? No—he would have remembered it if he had. There was no threat; Toru never had a Zanpakutō.

Instead, Toru emerged from behind Rokka, his hand thrusting outward as he called forth his spell:
​

The crimson spell of Bakudō #9 leaped from Toru's palm, clinging to Elk with a fierceness that ensured no escape was possible. He was locked in place, caught in the crossfire of it all.

Just as the crimson hue overtook his form, a sharp pain jutted through his chest. Something had struck him—a weapon that seemed to materialize out of thin air. Toru’s Zanpakutō, its perceived existence maintained only so long as it was actively looked upon, had been erased from Elk's mind the moment his gaze shifted to Toru's empty casting hand. The forgotten blade carved deep into his chest, drawing ichor as it pierced his form. Another oversight, far more frightening than the last.

Yet even this was not the end. The air swelled with infernal, suffocating heat as the room was enveloped in the grace of a solar abnormality.

Through steel and torrential gales came Kuwashii’s reprisal—a ferocious response to the attacks laid upon her. Standing tall despite the blood on her shoulders, her eyes completely devoid of pupils, she raised her massive blade and invoked her release.
​

From the miniature star hovering at the ceiling, a cascading stream of pure plasma erupted downward in the arc of a descending sword.
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It was into this hellfire that Elk attempted his final defenses, mounting a prompt barrier network against the incoming Bankai-level attack. Barrier after barrier appeared, uniquely layered to mitigate the strike. But it was not enough. His constructs faltered under the force of a Bankai, the overstimulation of a punctured chest, the malicious pull of a spatial vacuum, and the presence of the duo standing just beyond.

The unbearable heat of Kuwashii’s attack far outpaced the physical boundary of her plasma arc. As fire and energy slammed into his constructs, Rokka’s spatial trap acted as a violent magnet. The low-pressure vacuum funneled the superheated plasma directly around the edges of the barriers, pulling the inferno straight into the tear beside the trapped Hoshi. His skin swelled and scorched under the oppressive flames. He need not be hit directly when the vacuum buried him beneath the thermal fallout.

Elk's body succumbed rapidly to the rage-fueled blast that slipped beyond his defenses, right up until his walls collapsed entirely, bringing the full brunt of her assault down upon him. Her retribution met him beyond his defensive measures—unraveling any follow-up, any future plans, scorched away by the weight of a star.

Elk mistook the less flashy actions of Toru and Rokka to mean they weren’t worthy of dedicated attention, yet focusing on them left him completely open to a brutal, direct execution from Kuwashii. Without proper planning, this siege was destined to end in his reduction to ash.

The fugitive's escape had come to an end after a decade without intervention. Elk Hoshi—an angry defector with a grudge against the institution he fought against—was reduced to cinders. An azure cube and a blood-stained sword remained among the debris. His ally, the one he claimed to protect but ultimately abandoned, was apprehended by the invading party.

The scene was eventually occupied by additional members of the Sixth and Ninth Divisions, brought together by an agreement with Mina Kyōraku and her brother. Their purpose was to prevent an escape, but upon the disappearance of Elk’s spiritual power, they plunged into the underground facility and retrieved the remaining fugitive for questioning, carrying her off to the Seireitei for detention. Her fate would ultimately be decided not by the Sixth or the Ninth, but by her own bloodline, as members of her clan sought retribution for her defection and the sullying of their noble name.

Any resources gained from the lab were analyzed after exfiltration. The Hōgyoku—incomplete as it was, inert as it remained—was secured within the deepest confines of the Seireitei, inaccessible to any single person for the foreseeable future. It was something that would not see the light of day, as no figure standing within the traitor’s underground facility possessed the spiritual power to operate it, and few within the Seireitei had the means to do so either.

This particular chapter was wrapped up, contained in the moment, and classified on a strict need-to-know basis. Elk and Sumire’s defections were known, but the Hōgyoku, the research conducted with it, and its ultimate whereabouts remained unpublished—a secret buried among the ashes.

Though the weight of the experience remained with Rokka, Kuwashii, and Toru, it served as a stark reminder of the fragility of order within the Soul Society. A single grievance, a single ego, could poison the waters. From wars to political interventions, defections to invasions, nothing was beyond causing catastrophic disruption. It stood as a lesson for them and for others of what must be protected. Yet some threads remained untraced—questions regarding Central 46’s involvement and the peculiar lack of oversight from the Shihōin regarding a defector among their own kin. A lingering ember that continued to burn long after the final light of Sendō Hikari.

TEN DAYS LATER

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