Sōgyo no Kotowari!
One of the blades of Sōgyo no Kotowari instantly thrust toward Kyōraku!
Kyōraku's pupils dilated. Although he had drunk a lot, when it came to a real fight, even after drinking for ten days and nights, Kyōraku still possessed sharp enough reflexes!
He quickly retreated, but the blade still grazed him, leaving a large gash across his chest!
"You're definitely not Ukitake..."
Kyōraku used Shunpo to create distance between himself and 'Ukitake,' then said in a deep voice, "Who are you?"
"...How did you notice?"
'Ukitake' frowned slightly. At that distance, if Kyōraku Shunsui hadn't been on guard, that strike should have pierced straight through his body.
Instead, it only left a shallow wound.
"Although Hitsugaya is going to the 13th Division as vice-captain, Ukitake... doesn't know about it yet," Kyōraku said, carefully examining the 'Ukitake' in front of him.
Incredible...
Truly incredible.
It was an exact replica—not just in appearance, but even in spiritual pressure.
"Just because of that, you suspected me?" 'Ukitake' asked.
"You're definitely not the real Ukitake," Kyōraku said, lowering the brim of his hat. "If it were him, he would never say something like that."
"For us, even the slightest change is enough to become evidence for suspicion."
Thud!
Kyōraku Shunsui's pupils dilated sharply as a blade suddenly pierced through his chest from behind!
"I see. I'll keep that in mind."
From behind him came a voice he was all too familiar with!
Kyōraku gritted his teeth and slowly turned his head, only to find...
Another version of himself!
'Kyōraku Shunsui' said softly, "Too careless... Shadow, this isn't like us."
Kageoni!
This was one of the abilities of Kyōraku's Zanpakutō, allowing him to enter shadows and launch surprise attacks by emerging from them.
Splat!
As he pulled out the blade, blood gushed from Kyōraku's chest, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.
However, the moment Kyōraku hit the ground, the entire street began to tremble.
Hadō #57: Daichi Ten'yū!
Rumble...
The ground shook violently, startling the nearby Shinigami. 'Kyōraku Shunsui' and 'Ukitake Jūshirō' frowned. 'Ukitake' quickly lifted Kyōraku's body and disappeared with a few Shunpo steps.
"Captain Kyōraku?!"
Soon, a large number of Shinigami arrived, only to find the shattered street and a 'Kyōraku Shunsui' who seemed to have just been in a fight.
"Kyōraku..."
Kuchiki Byakuya also arrived quickly. He looked at the seemingly deep-in-thought 'Kyōraku' and asked, "What happened?"
The 6th Division was responsible for the 6th District, and Damoya was near the Kuchiki family's ancestral grounds. It didn't take long for him to get here.
"Just now... someone attacked me," 'Kyōraku' said slowly. "They were fast and wore a Hollow mask..."
"..." Kuchiki Byakuya frowned slightly. "Urahara Kisuke?"
"Not sure. We need to report this to Old Man Yama."
'Kyōraku' said, "Looks like I sobered up a bit too early tonight... Let's go see what Old Man Yama has to say."
...
"..."
Haruki naturally sensed the spiritual pressure fluctuations of Daichi Ten'yū. He knew the 'simulacra' had made their move.
These simulacra were born from the captains' intense 'memories,' extracted by Loly's Negación threads and fused with the Soul Simulacrum under the influence of the Hōgyoku.
After their formation, their actions were largely driven by these 'memories.'
Of course, Loly could forcibly control them using her Negación threads, but she could only control one at a time. Moreover, if the target was particularly strong, control became difficult.
So, what these simulacra would do was something even Aizen couldn't predict.
But judging from the spiritual pressure traces and direction, they had clearly targeted Kyōraku Shunsui first.
For these simulacra, they had no memories of Hueco Mundo. They appeared directly in the Soul Society, so Haruki wasn't worried about them exposing their existence.
However, attacking a captain right off the bat? These guys had some guts.
Thinking this, Haruki quickened his pace home.
He needed to test the 'Soul Split' ability as soon as possible.
Haruki quickly returned to his safe house, adjusted the settings to simulate him coming home and going to sleep, and then sat cross-legged on the bed.
He activated the Gatekeeper's ability once more, ensuring that no one could enter the safe house without his permission or defeating him.
Soul Split!
Haruki activated the ability in an instant, immediately feeling as though he had entered a dark world.
This world was dark, but countless streams of energy floated within it. When these streams intersected, they seemed to emit a mysterious light.
This was his soul...
At this moment, Haruki began to understand the 'Soul Split' ability.
He could choose a part of his soul and split it off, forming a second body.
Haruki thought for a moment and decided to split off the part of his soul that contained Hollow elements.
After selecting some black, malevolent energy, Haruki felt a tearing sensation, as if he were ripping apart a piece of paper. A faint crack echoed in his soul.
There was no pain, just a slight itch. When Haruki opened his eyes again, he found a pool of black sludge in front of him, along with another version of himself.
This was a dual perspective—one from his original body, Haruki Kōun, and the other from the pool of black sludge in front of him.
Was this the Hollow part of his soul?
If he were a Hollow...
Would he be a pool of black sludge?
Well, this sludge looked pretty ugly.
Haruki was momentarily overwhelmed by the dual perspective, but to his surprise, his spiritual power hadn't decreased. Although he had split off the Hollow elements, he could still use Hollowfication.
However, the duration of Hollowfication had significantly decreased. Originally, he could maintain it for half an hour, but now it was back to just a few seconds.
"Let's give you a name..."
Haruki looked at the pool of sludge, and a name suddenly came to mind.
"Angra Mainyu..."