They were the younger sisters of Kurosaki Ichigo.
The twin sisters possessed powerful spiritual energy. After all, their mother was a Quincy, and their father was a Substitute Shinigami.
It was only natural they would have such talent.
In the past, they had never dared to walk the streets at night.
Even at dusk, they would be careful to avoid those ghouls.
But that was all unnecessary now.
Cow-headed Horse-faced demons patrolled the entire city.
People lived in safety.
Just as the two sisters were walking home, a woman with an extremely alluring figure appeared in front of them.
"Ah... hello there, two lovely little sisters."
"Excuse me, who are you?"
"I'm a Preparation Goddess of the Eternal God Cult—a temporary priestess. Do you two want to join the Eternal God Cult?"
The Eternal Religion?
That was the shadowy organization that had appeared recently.
But why would she approach them?
The two girls looked shocked and a little frightened, even though the streets were bright and lively.
When had they fallen into darkness?
Wind gusted.
Countless ghosts appeared behind that alluring woman and knelt down together.
---
The answer became clear.
The woman in front of them was a priestess of the Eternal Church.
Kurosaki Yuko sat on the ground in fright, while her sister simply held herself tight.
The two of them were clearly terrified.
"Why did you target us?"
They were just elementary school students—why did they have to face something so terrible!
The attractive woman wore a strange smile as she spoke: "Because your father was once a Substitute Shinigami, and the Substitute Shinigami was condemned by our gods as a criminal.
If you join the religion and atone for your father's sins, then your father will die today and become a Horse-Faced Demon to pay for his crimes.
Make your choice. If you refuse, I'll go after Kurosaki Ichigo instead."
Was that even a choice?
A daughter's love for her father.
Even if it meant death, they had to protect him!
And so, purely to atone for their father, they had to fight with everything they had.
Kurosaki Natsumi broke free from her sister's grip, knelt before the alluring woman, and whispered: "Can I atone for him one at a time?"
"Are you testing my patience?"
"No... my sister is just disoriented. We are willing to join! We are willing to join..."
Hearing what her sister said, Kurosaki Yuko hastily added, fearing the other party would torture their father and brother over this incident.
Matsumoto Ranju looked at the two girls kneeling before her and pressed the mark of the Eternal Religion onto each of their foreheads.
Mortals couldn't see it.
Only the dead could perceive it.
"I have given you the mark. When you go home, remember to practice the divine law, and come to me for training at night..."
"Yes."
Kurosaki Yuko obediently answered.
The next moment, a gust of wind rushed past their ears.
The two sisters found their surroundings had returned to normal.
They glanced at each other.
Looking at the mark on each other's foreheads, they sighed in their hearts.
It seemed they couldn't play anymore.
That was the end of childhood.
Fortunately, their father and brother couldn't see this mark—otherwise it would truly be troublesome.
That night.
The two sisters went to the address Matsumoto Ranju had given them and began learning magical arts. From then on, there were two more lovely priestesses.
They held soul-purifying staffs.
Driving souls and purifying emptiness.
Their strength improved every single day.
---
Meanwhile, Kurosaki Ichigo remained in the mortal world, because there had been no intervention from Kuchiki Rukia.
...
A basement in the city.
A unshaven man frowned as he looked at the information in his hand.
"It's getting worse and worse. The world is falling. It seems the Soul Society is in big trouble..."
Urahara Kisuke leaned against the wall.
His base had been destroyed a few months ago.
Had it not been for Yeyi's help, he would have already become a slave.
It had been half a month now, hiding in this dark basement.
During this time.
The Substitute Shinigami appeared less and less frequently in this world, until some time ago, there was no news at all—replaced by the Eternal God's bull-headed horse-faced demons running rampant.
Yeyi had tested her opponent before and was almost broken by a whip.
After lying bedridden for twenty days, she recovered.
The whip in the opponent's hand seemed unremarkable, but it carried terrible power against souls.
Even a Gillian-class monster would fall to the ground after being struck by that whip.
At this moment, the black-haired beauty Ye Yi, who had been sitting on her knees, sighed: "We can't go back to the Soul Society anymore—the communication has been cut off, and intelligence can't be sent!
According to the last brief message we received, Seireitei has fallen."
When the Eternal Gods incited the hearts of the people and captured Seireitei.
Many Shinigami chose to escape from the Soul Society and come to this world to avoid the hunting, and most of them fell into the hands of Matsumoto Ranju.
But some death gods were lucky enough to be rescued by them.
Hearing her words, Urahara Kisuke said with a sneer: "Those old immortal things are totally unreasonable and deserve to die. How many unjust, false, and wrongful cases have there been in the past?
They're basically a group of beasts who rely on seniority to sell it out.
However, Captain Yamamoto didn't draw his sword—that I didn't expect."
The old man Yamamoto had no ruling heart.
Otherwise, those old stubborn fools would have been banned long ago.
However, the Substitute Shinigami were declining more and more.
Urahara Kisuke and Ye Yi chatted casually, when suddenly there was an explosion above their heads.
The whole basement shook instantly.
"No—we've been found!"
Urahara Kisuke immediately activated the space wormhole, taking Ye Yi inside. This time he even had to leave his own research behind.
Accompanied by a roar.
A figure appeared in this dark and damp place.
"Tch... that slippery mouse escaped again."
Matsumoto Ranju looked at the messy basement and said disdainfully.
This guy Urahara Kisuke was a genius—besides being a master priest, he was also creative.
Naturally, he had become a recruiting target of the gods.
Yet Urahara Kisuke not only failed to appreciate it, but cursed them as traitors and finally escaped with his own people.
Matsumoto was almost driven mad by him.
"My lord, what should we do?"
"Forget it—don't worry about him. Even if he continues working in this world, Urahara Kisuke won't be able to cause any major trouble. Remember to monitor the dimensional walls.
Don't let any Shinigami escape again!"
"Yes, my lord."
Kneeling behind the bull-headed horse-faced demons, they watched Matsumoto Ranju disappear.
She turned and destroyed this place.
All of Urahara Kisuke's research items were destroyed—nothing was left intact.
Clearly he had made those sinners very angry.
...
In the grass thousands of meters away, Kisuke Urahara fell.
The two of them were filled with joy.
"Well... that was a close call. If we hadn't set up a teleportation point, we would have been done for if we'd been caught this time!"
———
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