Seventh Division
"My foolish student, didn't I repeatedly tell you to guard that Asauchi carefully?"
Kazuma shook his head with a helpless expression as he used star power to heal Rukia's injuries.
"How could you be stupid enough to hand it over to Yama-jii? Don't you understand how treacherous and dangerous people can be?"
Concern filled his eyes, though his mouth never stopped lecturing her.
As a veteran schemer himself, how could Kazuma possibly have failed to recognize what had really happened?
For one thing, Rukia's mouth had been stuffed so tightly that she couldn't defend herself. Even if she'd been allowed to speak, she probably wouldn't have been believed.
More importantly, Rukia would never have had the courage to destroy part of the First Division grounds. Even if someone doubled her courage, she wouldn't dare behave recklessly in such a solemn and intimidating place.
Kazuma had also heard every word of the whispered conversation between Chōjirō and Yamamoto.
He'd understood the entire situation from the beginning.
There were two reasons he'd still whipped Rukia.
First, he needed to put on a convincing performance for Yamamoto and show that he'd properly punished his troublesome student.
Second…
Ever since the last beating, he'd discovered that whipping someone felt strangely satisfying.
He'd found it difficult to resist doing it again.
"Then why did you hit me so hard?!"
Rukia sobbed uncontrollably, tears streaming down her cheeks as she spoke through her misery.
She'd been completely innocent, yet she was the one who'd suffered.
"Oh, my poor foolish student. Your teacher didn't want to do it either!"
Kazuma wore a deeply pained expression as he spread his hands helplessly.
"But if I hadn't beaten you, Yama-jii would have forced me to pay for the courtyard. Your teacher doesn't have that kind of money, so I had no choice but to let you suffer a little."
Inwardly, however, Kazuma was delighted.
A student could survive the occasional beating. Protecting the money in his pocket was far more important.
What was a little physical pain to Rukia compared to preserving his savings?
The more he considered it, the wiser his decision seemed.
Still, Kazuma needed to soothe her wounded heart.
He walked toward a corner of the room and pressed a hidden switch. With a faint mechanical sound, a concealed door slowly opened, revealing a collection of rare wines.
"Come now, my good student. Stop crying."
With an expression of genuine pain, Kazuma carefully selected an old and extremely valuable bottle.
"Try this. Consider it a small gesture of compensation from your teacher."
Rukia stared at the wine.
She was still deeply resentful, but the temptation proved too strong. Her sobbing gradually stopped.
"Hahaha! That's more like it."
Seeing that she'd accepted being sacrificed, Kazuma immediately assigned her another task.
"Rukia, pack your belongings and head to Karakura Town. Take Sayafushi to Batsu'unsai and tell her she can keep it as a kitchen knife."
"Teacher, are you serious?"
Rukia wondered whether she'd misheard him.
"You want her to use this sword for chopping vegetables?"
"Of course. That's exactly what it's for."
Kazuma nodded as though there were nothing strange about the decision.
"Now hurry up and get going. Also, once you reach Karakura Town, don't come back for the time being. You'll be stationed there."
"I understand, Teacher."
In truth, Kazuma had made this arrangement for Rukia's growth.
Her current strength was already impressive, but her combat instincts and practical experience remained painfully lacking.
Keeping her in the World of the Living would let her hunt Hollows, sharpen her abilities, and quickly build up valuable experience.
Kazuma also planned to speak with Aizen when he found an opportunity and ask him to send members of the Espada over for Rukia to practice against.
With those elite mobs taking turns fighting her, Rukia's experience would rise faster than a rocket.
Meanwhile, Rukia packed her belongings while imagining Batsu'unsai using the terrifyingly sharp Sayafushi to prepare dinner.
She rolled her eyes.
One careless swing would probably split the entire kitchen in half.
"You've already seen how powerful the sword is."
Kazuma appeared to read her thoughts and offered another warning.
"Remember to tell Batsu'unsai to be careful with it. Make sure she doesn't cut the house apart."
"But I still want to come back."
Rukia abruptly stopped packing.
"Why do I have to stay in the World of the Living? Lying around in Soul Society is much more comfortable."
All she wanted was to be a lazy bum — eating, sleeping, waking up to eat again, and repeating the cycle forever.
That was true happiness.
"Just treat it as a vacation."
Kazuma coaxed her like a child.
"Besides, it's been a long time since you saw Ichigo and the others. Don't you want to meet them again?"
Kazuma had gone to extraordinary lengths to guide this future heroine onto the right path.
"Oh… fine."
Rukia reluctantly resumed packing.
She had no idea she'd just walked straight into another of Kazuma's traps.
Her dream of continuing her lazy life had already been destroyed.
Soon, the Espada would begin challenging her one after another until she finally became a properly qualified Shinigami.
...
Once Rukia departed for her new assignment in Karakura Town, the Seventh Division's paperwork naturally fell back onto the shoulders of Iba Tetsuzaemon, the ever-reliable workhorse who never complained no matter how badly he was exploited.
Kazuma, meanwhile, settled into a painfully repetitive routine.
Every day, he either drank, wandered aimlessly around the Seireitei, or returned home to drink some more.
Then he woke up and did it all again.
Time passed quickly, yet the conversion of the power within his body remained unbearably slow. He hadn't even turned a third of it into immortal power.
Worse still, the wounds he'd taken from his battles against the will of Hell and the Soul King Palace's spiritual barriers kept stubbornly clinging to him without the slightest sign of recovery.
Faced with both problems at once, Kazuma felt an overwhelming sense of despair creep into his heart. A powerful weariness toward life gradually began taking root.
He could finally understand why that old bastard Adnyeus had chosen to sink into such a long slumber.
Living through endless days of boredom with absolutely nothing worthwhile to do was more than any normal person could endure.
Adnyeus had somehow suffered through a full million years before finally deciding to sleep. Kazuma couldn't begin to imagine how the man had survived that long without completely losing his mind.
"I can't keep wasting away like this!"
Kazuma clenched his teeth as he muttered to himself.
"I need to quit drinking! Alcohol has ruined me! If I keep letting myself go, I'll be completely useless before long!"
Having delivered that heroic declaration, his body immediately betrayed him.
Kazuma rolled out of bed, grabbed the wine jug beside him, tipped his head back, and took another enormous gulp.
"So sleepy…"
He held out for only a moment before closing his eyes and lying back down.
"I'll sleep a little longer. Tomorrow! Yes, I'll definitely pull myself together tomorrow."
He remained completely unaware that he'd already fallen into an extreme state of lethargy.
...
Night descended while Kazuma remained lost in a comfortable sleep.
Around midnight, a cold breeze slipped through the room and pierced him like an icy needle. He shuddered, opened his bleary eyes, and discovered he'd forgotten to close the window.
After lazing around in bed a little longer, Kazuma realized he could no longer fall asleep.
He dragged his weary body outside and climbed onto the roof.
Moonlight poured over him like flowing water, wrapping his body in a layer of silver gauze.
Kazuma pulled a small flask from his robes, took a quiet sip, and gazed up at the countless stars glittering across the night sky.
A sudden impulse rose within him.
'Great Emperor, do you know any incredibly powerful formations?'
Kazuma's eyes lit up as an utterly insane idea flashed through his mind.
He immediately focused his consciousness and entered his inner world to speak with Hokushin.
'I mean something really vicious — preferably one that can kill the enemy in a single strike.'
"I do know of such a formation."
Hokushin smiled faintly, holding a jug of wine in his own hand as he took a leisurely sip.
"It is known as the Shūten Seishin Taijin, the Grand Star Array of the circling heavens. It was among the supreme formations of the primordial age, powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth."
"Would that satisfy your requirements?"
"Absolutely!"
Kazuma shouted with excitement.
"Great Emperor, you rule over all the stars! This formation was practically made for me!"
His face shone with delight.
Then he carefully considered the conditions required to build the array, and his joy vanished as though someone had dumped a bucket of icy water over his head.
The Grand Star Array required the combined power of three hundred and sixty-five stars.
Not only that, but the Solar Star and Lunar Star — the two mightiest celestial bodies — had to serve as the central anchors of the formation.
The requirements were absurdly demanding.
Anyone capable of establishing such a formation would inevitably be standing at the very peak of existence, wielding power vast enough to shake heaven and earth.
Kazuma, who hadn't even reached the realm of the gods, was nothing more than a minor nobody by comparison.
He could fantasize about creating it, but actually doing so was as realistic as trying to grab the moon with his bare hands.
Kazuma let out a long sigh.
His previously straight posture collapsed, and he wilted as though every trace of strength had drained from his body.
"You have already placed the seven stars of the Big Dipper within Rukia's body."
Hokushin spoke calmly.
"Why not distribute the power of the remaining stars among other Shinigami in the same manner?"
"If each person carries one portion of star power, building the formation will become considerably easier."
Who was Hokushin Raitei?
He was one of the Four Sovereigns of Heaven, an existence of immeasurable status who held absolute authority over the stars of the cosmos.
His casual suggestion struck Kazuma like a flash of divine inspiration.
"Of course!"
Kazuma's eyes widened.
"Great Emperor, you truly deserve to be called an emperor! That single suggestion cleared away everything blocking my mind."
"How did I never think of something so brilliant?"
He left his inner world in a state of wild excitement.
Unfortunately, the joy didn't last long.
Once Kazuma calmed down and thought the matter through, another brutal problem appeared before him.
He now had a workable solution, but finding three hundred and sixty-five Shinigami and individually infusing each of them with star power would require an unbearable amount of effort.
Just imagining the workload made his scalp tingle.
It felt as though the sheer scale of the task might crush him before he even began.
More importantly, even if he somehow gathered that many Shinigami, he didn't possess the formation diagram.
How the hell was he supposed to build an array without the actual design?
'Great Emperor, I… I don't have the formation diagram!'
Kazuma, who'd been overflowing with confidence moments earlier, deflated once again.
'How am I supposed to arrange the array?'
He returned to his inner world with his head hanging and sought Hokushin's help once more.
"Look at you panicking as though the sky were falling."
Hokushin smiled faintly.
"Simply because you do not possess something, do you assume this emperor does not?"
He slowly raised one long, jade-like finger and lightly touched Kazuma's forehead.
A brilliant ray of violet light shot from his fingertip and sank directly into Kazuma's mind.
An enormous, incomparably profound formation diagram immediately began unfolding within the depths of his consciousness like a vast scroll.
Countless lines crossed and intertwined across its surface, while mysterious runes shimmered with strange light.
It resembled an entire universe of stars, boundless and impossibly deep. Merely looking upon it inspired instinctive awe.
Its complexity exceeded anything Kazuma could have imagined, as though it contained the most obscure laws and profound mysteries of heaven and earth.
It truly deserved its reputation as one of the greatest formations in existence.