"What… is that?!"
"That huge black pattern… it's way too unsettling!"
"I only glanced at it once… and my soul felt like it was trembling… like I should kneel before it!!"
Outside the barrier—
The moment the three onlookers saw the enormous black sigil spreading across Jūshirō Ukitake's back—
a symbol shaped like a shadowed, half-open eye—
their faces drained of color.
They staggered backward instinctively, hearts pounding in raw fear.
And this was only the initial manifestation of the Kamikake.
Ukitake hadn't even begun the ritual.
Yet merely revealing the mark already carried an indescribable spiritual pressure.
"Just appearing… and it's already draining that much vitality and reiatsu?"
Unlike the others,
Bai Chen remained composed.
His gaze locked not on the symbol itself—
but on Ukitake's condition.
He could clearly sense it:
As the black eye-shaped shadow rose higher across Ukitake's back,
his life force was being siphoned away at terrifying speed.
Color fled from his face.
His aura withered.
In that instant, the captain's body looked as if it might collapse from total depletion.
"Captain Ukitake… are you alright?"
Bai Chen asked quietly.
He genuinely feared the worst—
that the treatment might fail before it even began.
If something happened to one of Soul Society's senior captains under his hands…
no one could shoulder that responsibility.
Facing away from him,
Ukitake coughed weakly.
Yet he still forced a gentle smile.
"My apologies… I must have frightened everyone."
"But there is no need to worry."
"This… is the true form of Lord Mimihagi."
"We should behold it with reverence."
Despite his failing strength,
his eyes shone with fervent devotion.
At the mention of the Soul King's Right Hand,
Ukitake looked less like a patient—
and more like a worshipper before a god.
"Are you ready?"
Bai Chen's tone turned solemn.
"As long as you can endure it, I can begin at any moment."
Standing so close to the awakened mark,
even he felt a faint stir of awe.
"Do what you must," Ukitake said calmly.
"Whatever happens… I accept it."
With that consent—
Bai Chen moved.
He drew Wood Dragon upright before him.
No incantation.
No ritual chant.
Just intent.
Unsealed Healing — Activate.
BOOM.
A torrent of emerald reiatsu erupted outward.
Blinding green light flooded the chamber—
filling every corner of the sealed dojo in seconds.
The pressure was so immense
that the onlookers beyond the barriers gasped.
"That reiatsu…!"
"It's practically materialized—!"
"It's even stronger than when he fought the Captain-Commander!!"
Of the three,
Shiba Kaien was the most stunned.
It's only been a week…
For Shinigami, that span was nothing.
Yet Bai Chen's spiritual pressure had surged again—
as if his growth simply ignored reason.
"…If it's this level," Kaien whispered,
"…he might really suppress the Soul King's Right Hand."
Hope ignited in his eyes.
Inside the barriers,
the emerald tide converged.
Every strand of Bai Chen's reiatsu
pressed directly onto Ukitake's back—
pinning the Kamikake seal in place
while Unsealed Healing surged inward
to regenerate the missing lungs.
Everything proceeded smoothly—
for one fleeting moment.
Then—
RUMBLE—!!
Without prayer.
Without sacrifice.
Without command.
The black eye moved.
"—It's awakening!!"
"The will of the Soul King's Right Hand has awakened!!"
"It's rejecting the external force!!"
The mark tore free from Ukitake's back—
rising upright into the air.
No longer a symbol.
But an entity.
A towering black silhouette
shaped like an immense, lidless eye.
Its presence alone crushed the air.
"…So this is it," Bai Chen murmured.
"The power of the Soul King."
His eyes burned.
This was no myth.
No scripture.
No legend.
Mimihagi stood before him.
"Then there's only one outcome now," he said softly.
"We see whose power prevails."
His emerald reiatsu roared downward—
far more violently than before.
Yes—
the Right Hand had awakened.
But Ukitake had not offered his life.
The vessel remained intact.
Which meant—
the fragment of the Soul King could not draw its full divinity.
Bai Chen was certain of victory.
The black eye reacted instantly.
Dark reiatsu surged outward—
expanding, swelling, resisting.
Green and black forces rushed toward each other—
like colliding worlds.
Outside—
"Even before impact… the barriers are cracking!!"
Despite layered Kidō and sekkiseki stone suppression,
the tenfold barriers trembled violently.
Kaien, Kiyone, and Miyako were already driven to the walls,
barely breathing beneath the pressure.
"So terrifying…!" Kiyone whispered.
"Even knowing Mimihagi saved Captain Ukitake… this form…"
"It feels like death itself."
Within the chamber—
the two torrents met.
CRASH—!!!
Emerald and abyssal reiatsu collided head-on.
The shockwave erupted instantly—
shattering three Kidō barriers into fragments.
White shards scattered across the floor.
Kaien and the others forced reiatsu into the remaining layers,
stabilizing them with everything they had.
Their faces turned pale from exhaustion.
Yet still—
they held.
But something else had already happened.
Something no barrier could contain.
Because Mimihagi was not merely a power—
but a fragment of the Soul King himself.
Its awakening ripple
pierced dimensions.
Far above—
beyond the skies of Soul Society—
within the sealed domain of the Royal Palace—
five ancient presences stirred.
The clash between Bai Chen
and the Soul King's Right Hand
had reached them
The Royal Guard… had noticed..
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