[SYSTEM: ALERT ISSUED FOR SECTORS THREE THROUGH EIGHT!]
[SYSTEM: REPEAT!]
[SYSTEM: ...]
...
"It! It's actually catching up!"
Ishida Uryu spoke with a hint of dread as he stared at the massive wall of flesh chasing them like a runaway locomotive.
"If you have time to look back, you have time to run faster. If the Kotsotsu catches you, it's all over,"
Yoruichi warned from the front.
"But what about Asakura-kun? He should still be behind us! You don't think..."
Inoue Orihime shouted anxiously. Yoh Asakura had entered much later than them; could he have already been swallowed by that thing?
"Don't worry, Orihime. There's no way a guy like him gets taken out by something like this."
Arisawa Tatsuki reassured Inoue Orihime, even though she also felt a sense of concern deep down.
"She's exactly right! You just worry about yourselves!"
Just as Yoruichi finished speaking, Ishida Uryu let out a cry of terror.
"Waaaaagh!"
Everyone whipped their heads around to find that the cloak draped over Ishida's shoulders had been snagged by the Kotsotsu.
"Ishida! Dammit, why did you have to wear those ridiculous clothes!?"
Ichigo Kurosaki saw this and reached for the Zanpakuto on his back to attack, but Yoruichi cut him off.
"Don't! The Kotsotsu is a cleaner; no attack will work on it! Once it catches you—"
Before she could finish, a flaming arrow streaked through the group. The Kotsotsu chasing them was pierced through and detonated, leaving nothing but burning wreckage in the fire's wake.
"Yo. Is this as far as you've gotten after all this time?"
Yoh Asakura dispelled his Oversoul and waved at the group ahead.
"Asakura-kun! You're safe!" Orihime cried out in delight.
"And here I thought you'd been swallowed by that thing ages ago," Tatsuki added, her words belying her relief.
"Mr. Yoruichi... what was that you were saying about no attack being able to hurt the Kotsotsu?"
Ichigo's lip twitched as he questioned the cat.
"..."
Yoruichi remained silent. However, recalling Kisuke Urahara's explanation that Shamans used a power that didn't belong to this world, she felt a sense of resignation.
"This kid defies all logic. Fine, if we don't hurry the gate will close! Run!"
...
Just as the gate began to shut at the last moment, the group finally made it into the Soul Society without further incident.
Aside from Yoruichi, everyone was visiting this realm of the dead for the first time. They looked around like tourists in a new city, but saw nothing except rows of untidy thatched-roof huts.
There wasn't even a single soul in sight.
"This is the outskirts of the Soul Society, commonly known as 'Rukongai.' It's the poorest but also the freest place here..." Yoruichi explained.
"What? It doesn't look that different from our streets. Ah! I get it! That must be where the Soul Reapers live!"
Ichigo didn't wait, immediately dashing toward the far more grand-looking buildings in the distance.
"You idiot! Stop! You're going to get yourself killed!"
As she spoke, the sound of heavy wind pressure rapidly approached. A massive wall plummeted from the sky, slamming into the ground just meters in front of Ichigo. The impact sent a shockwave through the earth, jolting everyone where they stood.
"It's been a long time since I've dealt with this..."
Everyone looked up to see a figure as large as a giant.
"Trespassers trying to enter the Seireitei without a permit... I finally have some work to do. I'll give you a warm welcome..."
"Get over here!"
Having no patience to wait for Ichigo to finish showing off, Yoh Asakura used his Furyoku to pull. The giant's massive body seemed to transform into a ball of energy, converging into Yoh's hand.
In the end, a Spirit Ball—significantly larger than usual—blinked its honest-looking eyes, looking around stupidly like a newborn baby.
"Huh?"
The Spirit Ball, the group, and the cat all questioned their reality at once.
*Wait... is this right?*
"Yoruichi, what was this guy's name again?"
Yoh asked, holding the giant Spirit Ball up to Yoruichi, who was currently wearing a "shocked cat" expression.
"He... he is the guardian of the West Gate, the Hakudo Gate. His name is Jidanbo," Yoruichi stammered.
Her sense of unease surged. She had a gut feeling that her original plan was about to be utterly shattered.
"Got it."
'Wait, what do you mean "got it"!?'
"Wait!"
Watching Yoh raise the massive spirit fire high and then lock his gaze onto the two giant axes lying on the ground, Yoruichi knew her premonition was coming true.
"Jidanbo in Giant Twin Axes!"
"OVERSOUL: THE GIANT GOD SOLDIER!"
A super-giant, several times larger than the original Jidanbo, appeared in their vision, casting a massive shadow over everyone.
Its exaggerated figure stood half a torso taller than even the wall that had fallen from the sky.
To the Soul Society that rejected him, Yoh Asakura delivered his first small dose of Shamanic shock.
It wasn't just Yoruichi, Ichigo, and the others who were nearly scared out of their wits. The Rukongai residents—already hiding due to the intruder alert—and the Soul Reapers of the West District, who could see the massive head over the gate, were equally terrified.
"Is... is that Jidanbo?"
Shuhei Hisagi asked Izuru Kira beside him, his voice uncertain.
"It... doesn't quite look like him... and was he always that big?"
Gin Ichimaru, who had been waiting for his cue to appear, suddenly snapped his squinted eyes open. His gaze held a sense of scrutiny and evaluation as he looked at the massive figure.
The Oversoul Yoh called "The Giant God Soldier" raised its twin axes high, aiming for the Hakudo Gate—a gate that had stood for a millennium and had never been breached.
"Banzai: Giant God Smash!"
Yoh and the giant shouted the name of the ultimate move that originally belonged to Jidanbo.
The massive twin axes, imbued with both Furyoku and Spirit Energy, slammed into the Hakudo Gate with terrifying force.
There was only a moment's pause before the blades broke through, but as they impacted and destroyed the wall, fine cracks began to spread across the axes themselves.
In the end, neither the weapons nor the gate were spared.
Reverting to his original form after the Oversoul dispelled, Jidanbo first looked at the handles of his shattered axes, then at the equally ruined Hakudo Gate—the gate he had guarded for over three hundred years.
Tears of anguish gathered in his massive eyes and poured down like waterfalls. His thick lips trembled, and mucus streamed from his cave-like nostrils.
"My axes... the gate... my axes! MY GATE!!!"
"They're broken! Waaaaah! Everything's broken! Waaaaaaghhhh!"