An innocent maiden was bound to the execution frame.
A youth condemned for grave crimes stood alone in front of the execution, barring its path.
The towering flames painted him in a golden glow, reflected in her violet eyes.
"Muten..." Rukia Kuchiki pressed her lips together. "So you really came."
"Rukia," Muten Natsu said, holding her gaze, "will you run away with me?"
"You idiot..." Tears slipped down her cheeks on their own, yet Rukia Kuchiki smiled as if a weight had lifted. "I was the one who suggested that first."
"A Sōkyoku spear with destructive power on par with millions of Zanpakutō..." Suì-Fēng stared at Muten Natsu in the air, jaw tight. "Again... he blocked it again!"
The man who had been defying Seireitei all this time had shown up before the Sōkyoku once more, throwing down a challenge to all of Seireitei.
Kikōō let out a long cry and beat its wings, pulling back to open distance.
That earlier strike had been nothing more than a casual blow meant to carry out Rukia Kuchiki's execution. But now that Muten Natsu had appeared, Kikōō seemed to recall old memories. Its blazing red eyes widened as a dreadful power began to gather, building toward an even more terrifying attack, one meant to wipe out both Rukia Kuchiki and Muten Natsu together.
A single eye opened on Muten Natsu's forehead, his black hair whipping like flame. "I regretted not burning you back then."
Fire churned over Kikōō's body, scorching the air until it warped.
Then a black wooden staff, attached to a rope, shot up into the sky and looped around Kikōō's neck.
Jūshirō Ukitake, the one who had thrown it, planted his shield into the ground, his eyes steady.
Suì-Fēng caught sight of the crest on the shield and instantly understood what Ukitake was trying to do. "Stop them!"
"Huh? What?" Marechiyo Ōmaeda froze. "Me?"
That was a captain-level opponent.
"He's..." Suì-Fēng shouted. "He's trying to destroy the Sōkyoku!"
"Hey, Captain." Shunsui Kyōraku pinned the staff anchoring the rope firmly to the ground, then flashed a breezy smile at Jūshirō Ukitake, an old classmate, a colleague now, and a friend for life. "You kept me waiting."
"Sorry," Jūshirō Ukitake said. "Breaking the seal took some time. It was a lot more complicated than I expected."
Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake drew their Zanpakutō together and drove the blades into the two grooves on the shield.
Reiatsu surged up the rope into the sky, turning it gold in an instant.
The flames around Kikōō went out completely. With a sharp, ringing crack, it reverted to its spear form.
Only it was broken in two.
It all happened far too fast. Muten Natsu's sudden appearance had drawn everyone's attention, and Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake moved with perfect timing. By the time the others reacted and tried to intervene, the severed Sōkyoku had already begun to fall.
Muten Natsu had not expected this. He looked down and met the eyes Retsu Unohana lifted to him.
She raised a hand and pressed it to the center of her collarbone.
Muten Natsu drew a sharp breath. In the next instant, his entire left arm burst apart in hellfire.
Surging black flames condensed into a half-transparent arm, swelling larger and larger in midair.
It caught the broken Sōkyoku.
Whoosh.
The black fire surged, wrapping the Sōkyoku completely and burning it. That bone-chilling blaze shot up to the sky and then poured back down, swallowing Muten Natsu whole.
"Muten Natsu!" From this close, Rukia Kuchiki could see it clearly. The rampant black flames were consuming his body, trying to set him alight completely.
Under the burning of hellfire, the power within the Sōkyoku spear flared even more violently. That terrifying force now rampaged through Muten Natsu's body, completely out of control.
Then... let it out.
He swept his burning left arm. A cold flash cut through the air, and the crossbeam at the top of the frame snapped in half.
Hellfire burst from the break and devoured the entire frame.
The force restraining Rukia Kuchiki vanished. Her body dropped, falling freely.
She kept her eyes on Muten Natsu above. The frame melted and warped in the black flames, gathering toward him.
A rapid series of fine cracking sounds rang out as pitch-black scales spread over Muten Natsu, wrapping his body.
Spirit Weapon!
The tip of the Sōkyoku spear carried destructive power equal to a million Zanpakutō, and the execution frame itself possessed defenses meant to withstand destruction on that same scale.
During the execution, the Sōkyoku spear's destructive power multiplies dozens of times the instant it severs and pierces a Shinigami's body.
Even that level of devastation can be withstood by the execution frame.
So what Muten Natsu needed to do was simple.
Use hellfire to destroy the frame's structural stability, melt it down, and forge it into a Spirit Weapon capable of containing the Sōkyoku spear's power.
Black armor spread across his body. The dark scales rose upright as the surging hellfire was drawn into them.
The black flames split at his shoulders, forming nine silk-like streams that floated behind Muten Natsu.
He moved faster than the falling Rukia Kuchiki, catching her in his arms. With a sweep of his hand, he released ink blades, then used Shadow Stealth to shift sideways through the air, avoiding the captains below as he fled into the distance.
"Scatter... Senbonzakura."
Byakuya Kuchiki swung his blade. Pink cherry blossoms filled the sky, shredding the ink blades to pieces.
Shadow Stealth could no longer be used, and the aerial support Muten Natsu had relied on earlier had already been destroyed by hellfire. With no foothold left, he inevitably dropped toward the ground.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's eyes shifted slightly. At once, his lieutenant, Chōjirō Sasakibe, gave chase after Muten Natsu.
"What are you standing around for!" Suì-Fēng barked. "Go after him!"
"Ah... right!" Marechiyo Ōmaeda snapped out of it and hurried after them.
Retsu Unohana retrieved her Zanpakutō. "You should go as well."
Isane Kotetsu nodded and followed.
Muten Natsu hit the ground. The scaled fingers encasing his hand closed around the collar at Rukia Kuchiki's neck and crushed it with ease.
He pointed toward the distance. "That way!"
"Muten..." Rukia Kuchiki frowned, but in the end she ran in the direction he indicated.
Even this time... am I still unable to fight at your side?
"Rukia!"
Orihime Inoue, who had been hiding herself with Ririn's help, revealed herself. As Rukia Kuchiki drew near, she placed a sword in her hands.
"Muten Natsu asked me to give this to you."
"Orihime!"
There was no time for reunion or words. The moment Rukia Kuchiki gripped the hilt, a strange tremor ran through her heart.
"Sode no Shirayuki..."
Muten Natsu had brought her Zanpakutō.
Rukia Kuchiki bit her lower lip.
Not someone to be rescued.
But a partner who would fight beside him.
"The others are all being held in the underground rescue prison beneath the 4th Division's Integrated Relief Station," Orihime Inoue said, taking Rukia Kuchiki's hand. "Let's go save them!"