A visible layer of frost spread rapidly across the ground, radiating outward from the white-haired woman.
Muten Natsu stamped his foot, and swirling Spirit Ink rippled outward, shutting out the freezing air. "So it was you?"
The Reiatsu surrounding this woman was identical to the residual Reiatsu lingering in Rukia Kuchiki's wounds.
"Muten..." The woman raised a hand. "Give her to me."
"If you know who I am..." Muten Natsu appeared behind her. "Then why did you still dare to hurt Rukia?"
The woman's raised arm separated from her body and fell toward the ground.
Not a single drop of blood emerged from the wound. Before the severed arm could even touch the ground, it dissolved into snowflakes.
Muten Natsu turned and slashed again, cutting the woman in half.
"How can you be so cruel..." Her body scattered into a flurry of snow, then reformed into human shape some distance away. "It's all because of her..."
Sorrow stirred within her ice-blue eyes. The unharmed woman sighed, and her breath transformed into a bitterly cold wind. As snowflakes swirled around her, a pure white katana appeared in her hand.
"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"
A towering pillar of ice rose between heaven and earth, blocking Muten Natsu's path. The woman swung her blade and released another wave of freezing air.
"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"
A blast of frigid wind swept forward as a rapidly expanding wall of ice surged toward Rukia Kuchiki.
The crystal-clear ice gradually turned pitch black. Spirit Ink replaced the moisture in the air, condensing into the wall before shattering under Muten Natsu's control.
It froze and shattered over and over again until the cold was completely exhausted, never managing to approach Rukia Kuchiki.
That was...
Muten Natsu stared at the pure white katana in the woman's hand. "Sode no Shirayuki?"
A pure white blade, a pure white guard, and a pure white hilt.
An exquisitely hollowed oval guard, with an elegant pure white ribbon trailing from it.
The weapon in the woman's hand looked like a work of art. There was no mistaking it. It was Rukia Kuchiki's Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki.
And she had even used Sode no Shirayuki's techniques.
"If you recognize me..." The woman's snow-white hair fluttered in the wind, her ice-blue eyes reflecting Muten Natsu's face. "Then why are you treating me like this?"
She raised a hand and unleashed a howling blizzard. The freezing air surged forward, forcing Muten Natsu back to Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue's side, where he released Spirit Ink to defend them.
He could have dispersed the attack by forcefully releasing his Reiatsu, but Rukia Kuchiki was still unconscious. Carelessly unleashing it now could easily worsen her injuries.
The woman gave Muten Natsu one final look before turning and stepping into the Senkaimon. She vanished along with it.
"Muten," Orihime Inoue said, having heard the woman's words as well. "Do you know her?"
"No." Muten Natsu searched his memory but found nothing. "I've never seen her before."
"Mm..." Rukia Kuchiki made a faint sound and slowly opened her eyes.
Orihime Inoue's power was no longer what it had once been. Even such a brief period of treatment was enough to help Rukia Kuchiki regain consciousness.
"Rukia." Muten Natsu restrained his Reiatsu and approached her. "How do you feel?"
"Don't panic. I'm fine." Rukia Kuchiki coughed twice. "Something happened in Soul Society. The Zanpakutō have broken free from the will of their Shinigami. That woman just now was Sode no Shirayuki in materialized form."
On the way home, Rukia Kuchiki endured her discomfort and explained what had happened.
Not long before, she had just finished her work for the day and was preparing to leave and rest when an emergency summons arrived through a Jigokuchō.
Unlike their usual meetings, this gathering was held at the Sōkyoku.
Of course, just as usual, some Captains were absent.
Jūshirō Ukitake was unwell and unable to attend.
Kenpachi Zaraki had once again gone out into the wastelands beyond Rukongai to exterminate Hollows, with Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi accompanying him.
Aside from them, the other Captains and Lieutenants arrived one after another, but none of them had any idea what was going on.
Even Shunsui Kyōraku, usually the best informed among them, knew nothing about the purpose of the summons.
Then 1st Division Lieutenant Chōjirō Sasakibe appeared.
Far from answering their questions, his arrival only filled everyone with a growing sense of unease.
Before he could explain anything, Chōjirō Sasakibe collapsed to the ground, severely injured and unconscious.
While Retsu Unohana and Isane Kotetsu rushed to treat him, Suì-Fēng's sharp gaze snapped toward one direction.
"Who's there?!"
"Hmph..." A short-haired man in a white robe stepped forward, his eyes deeply sunken. "It seems you're waiting for someone... If you're waiting for the Captain-Commander, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."
"Disappointed?" Sajin Komamura immediately stepped forward and blocked his path. "You had better make sure your answer does not disappoint this old man. Who are you? What have you done? And where is the Captain-Commander?!"
"That sounds..." The man looked up at Sajin Komamura. "Almost like a threat."
"No." Sajin Komamura drew his Zanpakutō. "It is a threat!"
Sajin Komamura brought his katana down, but the man evaded the strike with ease.
"Roar, Tenken!"
Now that he had already attacked, Sajin Komamura had no intention of holding back.
"Tenken!"
A gigantic blade materialized out of thin air and came crashing down upon... Sajin Komamura himself.
"What?!"
Everyone was stunned. None of them had expected such a thing to happen.
"Well, well..." Shunsui Kyōraku adjusted his straw hat, his gaze turning solemn. "I really hope it isn't what I think it is."
"Roar, Tenken."
The man raised one hand, spreading five unusually long fingers.
"Tenken."
Boom!
Reiatsu swept outward, sending clouds of dust billowing through the air.
Within the dust, a massive figure gradually became visible.
The red-skinned man, flames pouring from his mouth, was even taller and more imposing than the already enormous Sajin Komamura. He held a katana in his right hand and a black rope in his left, his furious expression resembling a wrathful Vajra.
"You're..." Sajin Komamura's eyes widened. "Could... could you be..."
"Your conclusion is correct. There is no need to doubt it." The man seemed to see straight through Sajin Komamura's thoughts. "That is your Zanpakutō, Tenken, in materialized form."
The materialized Tenken seized the instant Sajin Komamura froze in shock. It whipped out the burning black rope, wrapped it around him, and violently dragged him forward before bringing its katana down.
Sajin Komamura had first been struck by his own attack, then lost access to his Zanpakutō's power, and finally had the enemy exploit the opening in his defenses. Naturally, he was in no position to resist.
Several Captains moved to rescue him one after another, only to discover something was wrong.
Their Zanpakutō would not release.
At the same time, multiple attacks came rushing toward them, forcing everyone back.
Several more figures appeared beside the man.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi fixed his gaze on a child with butterfly wings growing from his back, intense interest gleaming in his eyes.
"Oh~? Now this really is interesting, ne. What exactly is going on here, ne?"
"It's simple." The man answered with effortless calm. "Through the power of my Muramasa, your Zanpakutō have broken free from the bonds imposed upon them by you Shinigami and obtained... freedom."