Senna felt like she had experienced more fright today than in her entire life combined.
First, an unidentified guy suspected of being a Soul Reaper Captain forcibly convicted her, making her deeply realize what the adult world was like.
Then, another group of unidentified individuals suddenly rushed out, trying to take her away by force.
And then, just as she was completely bewildered, the burly man leading them was actually blown to pieces with a single punch by that seemingly young Soul Reaper.
*So, was everything that human said earlier true?*
*The beloved disciple of the Head Captain?*
*A powerful Soul Reaper on equal footing with the Captains of the Gotei 13?*
Senna began to feel deeply anxious about her bleak future.
*Falling into the hands of a guy like this, nothing good will come of it, right?*
Especially since a certain someone's hand was still resting in a place it shouldn't be.
Feeling the warmth coming from a certain indescribable spot, Senna took two sharp breaths of air. The smile on her face turned a bit ferocious as she glared at him.
"Lord Naraku..."
"Haha, sorry, force of habit."
Although he spoke words of apology, his actual actions did not change in the slightest.
Just as Senna was contemplating whether she should drag this guy down with her in mutual destruction, she witnessed a shocking scene.
Naraku Sora, with one hand still resting on the girl's waist and hip, suddenly thrust his other hand straight into the empty void.
From Senna's perspective, it looked as if that hand had vanished out of thin air.
Then, accompanied by a teeth-setting creak, the empty sky in front of them was forcefully torn open, revealing a pitch-black passageway.
The girl was so shocked that, for a moment, she even forgot to scold a certain someone to move his hand up.
*Is this a Garganta?!*
*How could a Soul Reaper possibly master such a bizarre skill?*
*Just who exactly is this guy?*
"You think you can leave after offending the Prison Warden?"
Naraku Sora grinned, revealing a smile typical of righteous individuals.
"It's not that easy!"
As he spoke, he carried Senna on one shoulder and expanded the Garganta with his other hand. Gathering a path of Reishi beneath his feet, he took a swift step forward.
The girl realized things were taking a bad turn and hurriedly spoke up.
"..."
However, before she could finish her sentence, her entire body was already enveloped in darkness.
"Eeeek—"
Her terrified screams rapidly echoed throughout the Dangai.
Senna considered herself a proper Soul Reaper, but strangely enough, she had no memory of ever experiencing anything like this.
Even though she had recognized the Garganta at a single glance just moments ago.
Feeling the biting cold wind brushing past her and watching the pitch-black environment flash by, Senna, who was bound by golden chains, subconsciously shrank her body.
In this unknown, dark realm, it seemed that only the Soul Reaper beneath her could provide a trace of warmth.
At this moment, she no longer cared about where his hand was placed.
"Damn it, that guy is still chasing us!"
Within the grayish Dangai, several figures dressed in green clothes moved rapidly, as if some evil spirit were chasing them from behind.
"We're already in the Dangai, and he still won't give up?"
"It doesn't matter. We'll lure him near the Valley of Screams, and then Lord Ganryū will deal with him personally!"
"No matter how strong that guy is, once he appears in the Valley of Screams, he won't stand a chance against Lord Ganryū!"
The members of the Ryūdōji clan quickly reached a consensus. Feeling the terrifying aura and Reiatsu radiating from behind them, they pushed their Flash Steps even faster.
Just then, a brilliant flash of light illuminated the area behind them.
A spine-chilling sense of danger rapidly approached. Without any hesitation, the group instinctively dodged to the side.
Having lived in the Dangai for hundreds of years, their perception of danger was countless times sharper than that of ordinary Soul Reapers.
It was precisely this powerful perception that had caused the burly man earlier to misjudge Naraku Sora's strength, leading to him being instantly slain in less than a single exchange.
Along with the descending danger, an incredibly thick pillar of azure light surged forward, wrapped in explosive flashes of lightning, and landed squarely on a distant mountain peak.
[Hadō 88・Flying Dragon-Striking Heaven-Shaking Thunder Cannon].
Divine punishment descended!
A deafening explosion rumbled, causing the hearts of the Ryūdōji clan members to skip a beat. Their eyes glazed over in shock, and their bodies trembled involuntarily.
This was on a completely different level from the number eighty-eight Kidō they knew.
As waves of dust swept across the area, the towering mountain peak was directly obliterated by more than half. Countless shattered rocks splattered outward, tumbling down in a massive cascade that triggered a small-scale landslide.
Now, they were beginning to doubt whether the ever-victorious Lord Ganryū could actually defeat the demon-like man behind them.
This could no longer be called human.
Not daring to delay for even a moment, everyone drew out all their Reiatsu and used every ounce of their strength, unleashing the fastest Flash Steps of their lives.
Their technique couldn't be called exquisite, but their speed was top-tier.
It had even reached the Captain level.
If it really came down to a race, a certain Captain of Squad Nine might not necessarily be able to outrun them.
Looking at the leveled mountain peak, Senna was dumbfounded.
She had thought the guy beneath her was a close-combat type Soul Reaper, excelling in skills like Hakuda, but she never expected his Kidō to be this terrifying as well.
*How can the gap between humans be even larger than the gap between a human and a dog?*
The terrified Ryūdōji clan members quickly fled to the vicinity of a certain Valley of Screams.
The Valley of Screams was a gathering place for lost souls within the Dangai.
Not all souls were successfully passed on to the Soul Society or turned into Hollows.
A portion of them, because they couldn't be passed on in time, would break away from the cycle of the three realms and fall into the Dangai. There, they would spontaneously gather together, forming a special Reishi space.
Accumulating over millions of years, this meant there was more than just one Valley of Screams within the Dangai.
And the valley before them, with its dark red ground, was the stronghold of the Ryūdōji clan.
"L-Lord Ganryū, your subordinates have failed your expectations. The mission was a failure."
The person speaking was equally burly, with dark skin, a massive nose, and eyes so small they were almost invisible.
Inside the Valley of Screams, a white-haired middle-aged man turned around, a trace of displeasure flashing across his weather-beaten face.
"We were just about to get our hands on her, but a Soul Reaper suddenly appeared and intercepted us. His strength was too overwhelming; we were no match for him."
Hearing this, the white-haired man frowned deeply, the displeasure on his face becoming even more apparent.
"All of you combined couldn't defeat him?"
The group lowered their heads, remaining silent.
"Useless trash!"
The white-haired man was furious. Just as he was about to reprimand them further, he heard another subordinate cautiously remind him:
"Lord Ganryū, not only did that guy refuse to let us go, but he also chased us all the way into the Dangai."
"If nothing unexpected happens, he will find this place very soon."
The white-haired man took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the urge to strangle these idiots to death.
"It's fine if he comes. Having mastered the ability to control Blanks, we are invincible existences within the Valley of Screams."
"Even a Soul Reaper Captain is no exception."
"As long as we kill him and take back the Shinenju, we can still use its power to achieve our goal of destroying the Soul Society."
As soon as his voice fell, an unfamiliar voice echoed from the nearby rock wall.
"Senna, did you hear that?"
"These people want to use your power to destroy the Soul Society. To prevent the destruction of the world, this Warden thinks it would be better to humanely destroy you ahead of time."
The girl resting on Naraku Sora's shoulder showed a hint of helplessness on her face and softly retorted:
"I don't understand what you're talking about. I'm a proper Soul Reaper, not some Shinenju."
Although the distance was a bit far, relying on her relatively decent Reiatsu, Senna had still clearly heard the conversation of the people in the valley.
As for Naraku Sora's words, she wasn't really afraid anymore.
Because being afraid was useless.
The massive disparity in their strength meant there was absolutely no room for resistance.
Moreover, judging by appearances, this guy was much better than those ugly misfits down below.
Most importantly, Senna didn't sense any malice from Naraku Sora.
From beginning to end, his attitude towards her hadn't changed.
Unlike the group below, who treated her as some sort of object, he treated her as a living, breathing person.
Although she didn't know why she had this strange feeling.
Senna still subconsciously chose to trust Naraku Sora.
Looking in the direction the voice came from, they saw a tall, straight figure standing on the stacked rock walls, like a stone monument standing tall in the wind.
Just looking at his posture, he seemed incredibly invincible.
Provided one ignored the Soul Reaper girl being carried on his shoulder.
"Are you the one who killed my clansman?"
The white-haired man's expression was extremely gloomy, and a red light seemed to flash through his pupils.
"Although his strength was lacking, he was still one of the few remaining members of the Ryūdōji clan. Since you dared to kill him, then—"
"Are you prepared to pay the price?"
As his voice fell, as if to confirm the white-haired man's words, the few people beside him instantly erupted with astonishing Reiatsu.
The dark red ground suddenly cracked open with countless fissures, and an endless number of white wandering souls rushed out from within, converging onto their bodies.
Their already exaggerated Reiatsu was instantly amplified, infinitely approaching the Captain level.
A man wielding a diamond-shaped heavy sword even let out a roaring "Ohhh!", and his relatively thin body began to expand continuously, filling with immense power.
Chaotic and viscous Reiatsu filled the entire valley, and a powerful sense of oppression surged forward in waves.
Feeling this suffocating oppression, Senna's small face turned pale.
What was happening right now had far exceeded her expectations. Although she still didn't quite understand what was going on, her not-so-bright brain felt that...
Now was the time to run away.
"L-Lord Naraku, how about we leave first? Once we return to the Soul Society and report the situation here, we can lead the other Captains back to deal with them."
Naraku Sora shot her a sideways glance and grinned.
"You don't actually think I can't beat them just because they got a little power-up, do you?"
Senna lightly bit her lower lip. She said nothing, yet it seemed as though she had said everything.
At that moment, the man wielding the diamond-shaped heavy sword used Flash Step to appear behind Naraku Sora. Feeling his power multiply several times over, his confidence was bolstered like never before.
He felt like he could tear a Soul Reaper Captain apart with his bare hands right now!
*Die, you foolish bastard! You don't understand Lord Ganryū's supreme power at all!*
The man's arms bulged, his muscles knotting together. The diamond-shaped heavy sword in his hands suddenly expanded several times in size, crashing down toward the figure in front of him like a massive stone pillar.
Boom!!
A deafening explosion erupted from the point of impact. The stone pillar-like heavy sword shattered instantly, and a fist wrapped in arcs of electricity continued forward with unabated momentum, landing heavily on the man's chest.
Bang!
His proud strength couldn't last even a single second against Naraku Sora. His chest caved in immediately, accompanied by the continuous sound of shattering bones.
A mist of blood scattered as half of his body was directly blown apart.
After casually disposing of one person, Naraku Sora stepped forward, slightly lowering his body. He looked into the valley, a fierce smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Who's next?"