Who wants to die?
Matsumoto Ranju was not the sort of person who had grown tired of living.
She knew she had to survive no matter what.
And if she could scrape together a little intelligence along the way, so much the better.
Meanwhile, Uozhihualie was still fighting.
She had already cycled through six rounds of opponents. She had tried again and again to break out of their encirclement, but these seemingly ordinary people relied on uncanny reaction speed to push her back every time.
*I'll have to use my release. Otherwise... I'm going to lose.*
The spiritual pressure that had surged from some distance away earlier had confirmed it. Hisugaya Toshiro was almost certainly finished. If she didn't break through these people's blockade, she'd never live it down.
Uozhihualie took a deep breath and invoked Ten Thousand Swords.
A violent shockwave tore outward across a hundred-meter radius.
Her chance.
The cult's believers fell back under the blast, and Uozhihualie seized the opening the instant it appeared.
Flash step.
She burst free of the encirclement and shot into the air.
She was gasping. Her whole body was drenched in sweat. If not for her physical conditioning carrying her through it, she estimated she would have been beaten down by a mob of ordinary soldiers long ago.
*This Eternal Religion has become a real problem in just over seventy days...*
Uozhihualie's expression was grim. She turned to locate Hisugaya Toshiro.
The moment she fixed her gaze on him—
A blazing firebird erupted from the ground.
*Boom.*
Her flesh clone dissolved in the flames.
Her Zanpakutō shattered.
Uozhihualie's eyes went wide. She hadn't expected this.
But her reflexes were sharp.
Even as she fell from the air, she launched a full attack.
"Hadō Eighty-Eight — Flying Dragon Strikes the Thief, Shaking Thunder Cannon!"
From her slender palm, a devastating kido blast streaked directly toward the masked figure on the ground.
At that same moment, Hisugaya Toshiro was hurled backward.
Matsumoto Ranju sank to her knees nearby.
The girl in black was clearly the enemy's leader.
The golden flowing flame rapidly shaped itself into an oval barrier in the air.
The kido strike was nullified on contact.
*Patter.*
Uozhihualie landed hard, expression dark, empty-handed.
"Are you the cult's leader?"
"No... I'm just an unknown pawn."
Young Sentao said it lightly.
Then Tosen walked out of the distant treeline.
He returned cradling the unconscious Hisugaya Toshiro, glanced between the two women facing each other, and smiled strangely.
"Well, well... Uozhihualie, you actually lost."
Uozhihualie had no patience for Tosen's needling. She said bluntly, "Come and help me. This girl is no ordinary opponent."
"All right. I'll help."
Tosen said it as if it cost him nothing, and rushed toward them.
An instant later, a violent wind struck Uozhihualie from behind. She had no time to react — she was driven straight into the ground.
Blood at the corner of her mouth.
"To think I'm a cult member as well... hehe. The high priest's methods are truly something. Four death gods caught in one sweep."
"Yes. Let's get moving — we need to secure these people."
"Understood!"
Tosen prepared to depart with Hisugaya Toshiro and Uozhihualie's subordinates in tow.
Hina Moritao placed her small hand against Uozhihualie's chest and sealed every trace of power inside her body.
Then, holding her prizes, she turned to the thoroughly dazed Matsumoto Ranju and said, "Come with us. We're heading back to headquarters."
"...Yes."
Matsumoto Ranju had no idea what to do.
Death god after death god defecting.
Who would be next?
Even captain-level traitors. It was downright creepy.
The fierce battle.
Ended there.
From start to finish, Seireitei had observed nothing.
Because the space here was fractured.
Sealed off by an enormous diaphragm barrier.
Aizen's brand-new ability — the fusion of spatial power and mirror beauty — had long since achieved this: a pocket world. Similar to a small sealed dimension, it could perfectly block all outside surveillance.
An observer from outside would perceive only a still painting.
*When this business is wrapped up, I should withdraw as well. There'll be quite a few people arriving soon...*
Lan Ran showed a faint smile and passed on the message.
Then vanished.
He would not reveal himself — not while he wasn't certain the Eternal Religion could take root and flourish cleanly. For now, it still needed to be kept under wraps.
And so a silver light swept silently through the sky.
Every soul outside the cult was hypnotized. Not one of them would breathe a word.
As a result, the Eternal Religion — which had been openly recruiting in the northern district of Liuhun Street — vanished overnight.
Just like that, it was gone.
——
The next day.
"What are you telling me — you can't even find where Hisugaya Toshiro and Uozhihualie went? Is this a joke?!"
Gengmu Kenpachi received the report from his subordinates and grabbed the man by the collar, dragging him face-to-face.
He didn't even notice the contempt in the man's eyes.
"My lord, let go... we really don't know, really we don't — they did go to the north of Liuhun Street, but there's no trace of them there now."
"Stand down, Kenpachi. What do you think you're doing?"
A deep, old voice came from behind him.
Gengmu Kenpachi turned his head. "Captain Yamamoto, this man is clearly lying. How could someone as powerful as Uozhihualie just disappear without a trace?"
The death gods filed reports on their investigations at regular intervals. But since this morning, not one had come in — and the people sent to check had found no signs of a struggle whatsoever.
Four living death gods, simply gone.
The residents said they had never seen any of them. What infuriated Kenpachi most of all — the Eternal Religion that had been on everyone's lips just yesterday had quietly ceased to exist as well.
Was this some kind of joke?
"He isn't lying. My people investigated the area just now. Same result: nothing. Which means there's only one answer..."
Kuchiki Byakuya emerged from outside, glanced at Captain Yamamoto, and said quietly, "Someone has suppressed the evidence. Or they have all entered another space."
The Soul Society was not an isolated dimension. There were also purgatory, Hueco Mundo, and similar realms.
If they had entered another world, that would explain it.
But — the residents knowing nothing about the Eternal Religion was the genuinely alarming part.
Either those people truly knew nothing, or their memories had been erased.
Whoever was working in the shadows had both tremendous power and an intimate knowledge of their movements.
The problem had grown very large indeed.
Even Captain Yamamoto felt the hair rise on his neck.