Tsubaki's grin faded.
"Did they take anything from her?"
"No part of Tobiume herself. They copied the spiritual output and the result of her ability, nothing more. If they had been capable of absorbing a Zanpakutō spirit, we would've had much worse problems."
Tsubaki nodded and let him work.
Rayleigh cleaned several small deposits from the groove, corrected two tiny deformations along the physical edge, and gradually fed his own spiritual pressure into the blade while checking the bond between vessel and spirit.
Nothing had cracked, and there was no sign that the monsters' draining ability had caused any damage to Tobiume's soul structure.
The irritation slowly faded as he worked.
By the time Rayleigh finished polishing the blade, Tobiume had relaxed considerably.
He offered the sword back.
"She's fine."
Tsubaki accepted Tobiume and immediately felt the difference.
"Much better."
"She says you need to stop using her as a club."
Tsubaki looked down at the sword.
Tobiume vibrated.
"That was necessary."
Another vibration.
"You're a sword. Sometimes swords hit things."
The blade vibrated harder.
Rayleigh watched the argument begin and wisely returned to cleaning his tools.
"She can hear you without you shouting."
"I'm not shouting."
"You're arguing with a sword in my workshop."
"You made the sword capable of arguing."
Rayleigh opened his mouth, considered the accusation, then closed it again.
There was no useful defense against that.
Before Tsubaki could continue, someone knocked against the open frame of the forge entrance.
Ais stood there with Gonryōmaru at her waist.
Tsubaki immediately looked toward Rayleigh.
"Another patient."
Ais walked inside.
"Gonryōmaru isn't sick!"
Tsubaki pointed at the blade.
"You brought it to a sword doctor."
Ais looked at Rayleigh.
"Are you a sword doctor?"
"No."
Tsubaki laughed.
Rayleigh gestured toward the empty chair before the exchange could become any more ridiculous.
"What happened?"
Ais sat down and removed Gonryōmaru from her waist.
"Nothing broke."
"That's already an improvement over the last major problem you brought me."
The guilt that immediately tightened Ais's expression made Rayleigh regret the joke.
He reached for the sword.
"I wasn't blaming you. Give me a second."
The moment his hand closed around Gonryōmaru's hilt, he understood why she had come.
There was no damage.
The reforged vessel remained stable, the surviving will carried over from the original Gonryōmaru was intact, and the connection between sword and wielder felt stronger than it had before the expedition.
What had changed was the way Ais's spiritual pressure moved through the blade.
Before, there had always been a faint pressure behind it, as though some part of Ais were constantly asking Gonryōmaru for more—more lightning, more speed, more power.
The sword had answered because it loved its wielder, even when doing so encouraged the same habits that had once driven Ais to force Bankai before she was ready.
That pressure was gone.
Rayleigh opened his eyes.
"It's not damaged."
Ais nodded.
"I know."
"Then why did you bring it?"
She considered the question for a moment.
"Gonryōmaru feels different."
Rayleigh looked down at the sword.
"Different how?"
"Closer."
That matched what he felt.
During the fighting in the Deep Floors, Ais had stopped treating Gonryōmaru's lightning as something she simply needed to release harder whenever an enemy grew stronger.
She shortened her attacks when the Enhanced Species began draining spiritual pressure, learned to guide stolen electricity instead of competing with it, and finished several opponents without releasing the blade at all when ordinary swordsmanship was the better answer.
More importantly, she had started listening.
Rayleigh rested Gonryōmaru across his knees.
"You finally stopped trying to drag the sword forward with you."
Ais looked at him carefully.
"Was I doing that?"
"For a long time."
He tapped the sheath lightly.
"You wanted strength badly enough that every improvement became a reason to reach for the next one. Shikai wasn't enough because Bankai existed. More lightning wasn't enough because you knew Gonryōmaru could eventually control much more. Even after the sword was reforged, part of you was still focused on getting back everything you'd lost."
Ais lowered her gaze.
She did not argue.
Rayleigh continued, keeping his tone matter-of-fact.
"Down there, you stopped doing that. You used what Gonryōmaru gave you, changed your approach when something didn't work, and listened when the blade responded. That's probably why it feels closer."
Ais rested one hand against the sheath.
"So I'm stronger?"
"Yes."
She looked up.
"Can I use Bankai?"
"No."
The answer came quickly enough that Tsubaki burst out laughing.
Ais looked mildly disappointed.
Rayleigh handed Gonryōmaru back.
"Closer doesn't mean ready. The fact that you're asking instead of trying to force it is already progress. Don't ruin that by getting impatient."
Ais accepted the sword and was quiet for a moment before nodding.
"I won't."
Gonryōmaru gave a faint vibration in her hands.
Ais looked down.
"I said I won't."
Another vibration followed.
Tsubaki leaned closer.
"What did it say?"
Ais answered with complete seriousness.
"It doesn't believe me."
Rayleigh covered his mouth to hide a smile.
"That makes two of us."
Ais gave him a quiet, betrayed look.
Rayleigh decided that was enough teasing.
"Keep training the way you did in the Deep Floors. Don't chase Bankai. When Gonryōmaru decides you're ready, you won't need me to tell you."
That seemed to satisfy both wielder and blade.
Ais returned Gonryōmaru to her waist and stood.
Tsubaki was already heading toward the door as well, apparently content now that Tobiume had stopped complaining.
Before leaving, she looked back at Rayleigh.
"So you're actually resting for a while now?"
"That's the plan."
"How long is 'a while'?"
Rayleigh considered it.
"A week would be nice."
Tsubaki laughed hard enough that he regretted giving her a number.
"I'll tell Hephaestus to start counting."
"Why does that sound like you're expecting me to fail?"
"Because I know you."
She left before Rayleigh could answer.
Ais followed more quietly, though she stopped at the doorway and glanced back.
"Thank you."
"For the maintenance?"
"For Gonryōmaru."
Rayleigh looked toward the sword at her waist.
"You're the one doing the work now."
Ais nodded once and left.
The forge finally became quiet.
Rayleigh remained among his tools for several minutes, thinking about the status update Hephaestus had given him and the two Zanpakutō that had just left his workshop.
Soul Blade rewarded great feats, and until now he had mostly considered that aspect of the Skill in terms of the additional Excellia it provided.
The Deep Floor expedition had made the other side much harder to ignore.
The swords were developing along paths he could not completely predict because their wielders were developing with them.
Tobiume had accepted Tsubaki changing the very shape of its vessel.
Gonryōmaru had survived its destruction through the bond it left behind with Ais and was now rebuilding that relationship on healthier terms.
ejibana and Arachne had become natural extensions of Ardi and Lyra rather than strange weapons they merely happened to carry.
Rayleigh had forged the beginning.
What came after belonged to them.
His gaze moved toward the five Zanpakutō resting around his own workstation.
Then he reached for a hammer.
He had promised himself a week without another crisis.
That did not mean he intended to spend it doing nothing.