The Senkaimon opened silently in the nighttime outskirts of Karakura Town.

Reishi light poured through the seam, casting a faint blue glow across the wild grass.

No wind tonight. The blades of grass were perfectly still. Only the faintest hum of reishi from inside the gate spread through the silence.

Seijūrō stood before the Senkaimon. Tōshirō Hitsugaya stood at his side.

Rangiku Matsumoto, Ikkaku Madarame, Yumichika Ayasegawa, Renji Abarai, the advance squad took their positions one by one, each fully kitted out in combat attire, their Zanpakutō catching the moonlight in distinct, separate gleams.

Ichigo Kurosaki stood beside the gate.

The airflow from the Senkaimon blew his orange hair straight back. He'd been quiet for a while now.

"Mr. Seijūrō, do you really not need me to come along?"

"I'll have to refuse, Ichigo. This is an internal matter for Soul Society. There's no reason for you to get pulled into it."

Seijūrō stood at the edge of the pillar of light, turning his head to look at him.

"What do you mean, no reason? I'm already in it. From the day Rukia was sentenced, I've been there for every single thing. And besides—"

Ichigo pulled out the pentagonal Substitute Shinigami Badge. "Aren't I a Substitute Shinigami?"

Seijūrō was quiet for a moment.

Substitute Shinigami.

Emiri Tsunayashiro had been the one to first tell him about it.

Later, as the Kidō Corps merged with the Gotei 13, he'd gradually come to understand the full scope of the plan.

The Substitute Shinigami Badge was a monitor and a limiter both. That alone was bad enough. But the Substitute Shinigami project itself made Seijūrō's skin crawl.

They were actually planning to use Ichigo as bait to draw out someone else.

Against a kid who had done nothing but help Soul Society, Seijūrō felt nothing but shame.

But Ichigo, standing in front of him, probably knew none of it.

He'd simply accepted the badge, and kept on protecting everyone he wanted to protect, in his own way.

"Then wait until you officially receive a dispatch order."

Seijūrō reached out and clapped Ichigo on the shoulder.

Once this was all over, he would have to tell him everything. Ichigo had the right to know.

Seijūrō turned and walked into the Senkaimon.

Hitsugaya gave Ichigo a small nod, then led the advance squad into the pillar of light one after another.

The Senkaimon's reishi glow swallowed their figures one by one. Then it flickered once against the dark, and was gone.

On the wild grassland, only a few trails of bent grass remained, and Ichigo, standing alone.

"It's the Captain-Commander and the others. They're all waiting up ahead."

Hitsugaya pointed beyond the screen of light. His short silver-white hair shifted faintly in the dim glow of the Dangai.

Rangiku followed behind him. Ikkaku walked through the center of the formation with Hōzukimaru resting on his shoulder. Renji and Yumichika walked side by side at the rear.

Everyone saw the familiar figures waiting beyond the screen of light.

Captain-Commander Yamamoto stood at the front, both hands folded over the top of his cane, his white haori catching the soft moonlight of Hueco Mundo. Shunsui Kyōraku leaned nearby, his straw hat pulled low. Soi Fon stood on the other side, arms crossed over her chest.

Seijūrō followed the direction Hitsugaya was pointing.

Beyond the screen of light. On the white desert of Hueco Mundo.

Sōsuke Aizen stood perfectly still. The Arrancars flanked him.

"Captain Hitsugaya! It's Kyōka Suigetsu!"

Hyōrinmaru was already out of its sheath. Ice-blue Reiatsu exploded from the blade. The sword carried enough high-density Reiatsu to freeze anything in its path, and where the blade swept, the walls of the Dangai cracked into a web of fine ice fractures, the dragon's tail coiling in its wake.

Fury burned in Hitsugaya's eyes. "Got you, Aizen."

Seijūrō pulled back with Shunpo. The edge of Hyōrinmaru grazed his shoulder, and bone-deep cold seeped through his shihakushō, leaving a thin layer of frost across the fabric.

Whatever he'd shouted, Kyōka Suigetsu had already twisted it into something else inside Hitsugaya's head, maybe a taunt from Aizen, maybe nothing at all.

Kyōka Suigetsu didn't just disrupt vision. It disrupted all five senses.

There was no way to prove to Hitsugaya who he was.

Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Renji moved at the same time.

Rangiku's Haineko dissolved into smoke and came in from a blind angle, targeting his legs.

Ikkaku drove straight at him from the front, the spear tip of Hōzukimaru hammering through the air like a storm, throwing off a rapid screech of displaced wind.

Renji's Zabimaru split into segments and whipped toward his back. Yumichika's Ruri'iro Kujaku unfurled its four blade wings like petals opening, flooding the dim Dangai with light sharp as noon.

Four attackers, four angles. Every escape route sealed.

Their eyes were clear and sure. Their movements left no gaps.

There was no other option. He had to,

He released his Reiatsu.

Hitsugaya's Hyōrinmaru froze in midair. The ice-blue Reiatsu still flickered along the blade, but the arm holding it couldn't move another inch.

Ikkaku went straight down. His body simply couldn't take the pressure, he couldn't push himself back up. His fingers still clung to the shaft of Hōzukimaru, nails dragging across the ground with a harsh scrape.

The Reiatsu slammed Rangiku's Haineko back from smoke into its solid blade form and pinned her in place. She couldn't move at all.

Renji's Zabimaru hung rigid in midair, its segmented blades letting out a fine metallic tremor under the pressure.

The light across Yumichika's Ruri'iro Kujaku flickered once, twice, then died completely in the dead silence.

"Don't move. You're all under the influence of Kyōka Suigetsu right now."

Hitsugaya's sword arm stayed frozen in the air.

Rangiku's lips moved. She was trying to say something, but the Reiatsu was crushing her throat, and no sound came out.

Ikkaku lay flat on the ground, breathing in ragged heaves.

Renji and Yumichika looked at each other. They couldn't make out each other's expressions clearly, but they could both feel the other's confusion.

In that same instant, a figure was already on him.

Sōsuke Aizen appeared directly in front of Seijūrō. His Zanpakutō carved a clean arc straight for his throat.

On pure instinct, Seijūrō drew his Asauchi. The blades met with a metallic shriek that cracked through the air.

The reishi sparks at the point of impact lit up both their faces. Aizen's smile hadn't changed, that same easy, unhurried curve. In Seijūrō's eyes was the reflection of the squad members still down on the ground behind him.

The moment their blades crossed, he used the recoil to push back and send Aizen stumbling several steps.

But the instant he forced Aizen back, black curtains rose.

Black walls shot up from the ground all around him at once, rising like tombstones, sealing him in completely.

His first thought was Kurohitsugi.

He could escape with Shunpo, the closing speed of Kurohitsugi wasn't beyond him. But the moment those walls snapped shut, they would swallow the entire advance squad still lying helpless on the Dangai floor.

He didn't run.

He readied himself to hold it with Dankū.

Then he realized the walls weren't Kurohitsugi.

There was no reishi flow across the surface. None of that scorching density unique to Hadō.

Caja Negación.

A black cube materialized out of nothing, sealing him off from everything around him. The walls closed above his head and cut off the last sliver of light.

But this Caja Negación was nothing like any he had seen before.

Across every panel of the cube, eerie blue Hōgyoku markings flowed and pulsed.

Not ordinary reishi light. This was the will of the Hōgyoku itself moving through the walls, each pattern breathing slowly, like a living thing opening countless eyes in the dark.

The reishi density far exceeded anything a normal Caja Negación could produce. When his fingers touched the wall, the blue markings contracted. When he pulled his hand away, they spread back outward, some kind of self-repair mechanism.

"Teacher."

Aizen stood outside the Caja Negación, watching him through the wall of flowing blue markings. He raised his right hand and pressed it lightly against the wound on his shoulder.

"This is a Caja Negación reinforced by the Hōgyoku. You cannot open it from the inside. I placed the weak point on the exterior — it can only be undone from out here."

He lowered his hand from the wound and let both arms hang at his sides.

"I will proceed to the World of the Living and make it the true battlefield. Karakura Town's location is exceptional — as the Jūreichi, there is no better ground for a final battle. Once everything is finished, once the three realms are unified, I will return and let you out. Please be patient, Teacher."

The walls of the Caja Negación slowly closed before his eyes.

Hitsugaya on the ground. Ikkaku flat on the floor. Rangiku pinned in place. The confused glance shared between Renji and Yumichika. Aizen's smile. The moonlight of Hueco Mundo. All of it sealed away behind that curtain of shifting blue.

The last gap closed. The walls locked shut.

Inside the Caja Negación, there was nothing but darkness.

The kind that swallowed every color whole.

Seijūrō fired a Byakurai into it. The blue-white bolt shot from his fingertip and was devoured the instant it left his hand, no arc, no trail, nothing.

He tried Shakkahō. Same result. The fireball was still burning as it coalesced in his palm, but once he released it, it was like throwing a flame into a bottomless well. No sound. No light.

He threw a Kurohitsugi. Thousands of strikes detonated simultaneously inside the cube, Reiatsu hammering against the walls like a downpour.

A few hairline fractures appeared across the blue-marked surface.

They lasted a moment. Then a faint blue glow seeped into the cracks — like countless tiny hands pulling them shut, and the walls smoothed back to perfect and unbroken.

He lowered his hand.

He untied the Asauchi from his waist, set it across his knees, and sat cross-legged in the dark.

It had been a very long time since he'd been truly trapped.

The last time was the bottom of Muken.

He spread his senses outward. The walls of the Caja Negación cut off every external signal.

He closed his eyes. He laid the Asauchi flat across his knees.

Aizen had known he would make that choice. That was why he'd won this round.

➤ Next: At This Moment, No One Is Absent

Chapter 83 - At This Moment, No One Is Absent

Aizen's plan worked.

The sealed teacher remained in Las Noches, under Ulquiorra's watch.

Aizen took the Arrancar main force to the World of the Living. The Gotei 13 would receive word and send reinforcements, and when they did, the Espada lying in wait inside the Seireitei would strike from within.

Three fronts, simultaneous pressure. Any single one breaking through would decide the war.

Barring the unexpected, it was over.

But the unexpected came anyway.

Or, was it really unexpected at all?

Rewind to the moment Seijūrō and the others left the World of the Living.

The Senkaimon's reishi light flickered once across the overgrown field on the outskirts of Karakura Town, then dissolved into the night.

Iwakizhi Tetsusai stood at the edge of the grass, bent flat by the reishi currents, hands tucked inside his wide sleeves. Behind his round-framed glasses, his eyes caught the faint blue pinpoints still lingering where the gate had been.

He watched the night sky settle back into calm. A long silence. Then he spoke, almost to himself: "Opening a Senkaimon on demand, anywhere, any time. From the first seal to a stable passage — the whole process in a few breaths. No amplification devices from the Research and Development Bureau, no auxiliary Kidō, everything handled by a single person." He paused. "In the entire history of the Kidō Corps, he may be the only one who could do it."

He drew his hands from his sleeves and nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It seems I have nothing left to worry about where the Kidō Corps is concerned. With him there, seals and barriers are already more than a full grade above where they stood during my tenure."

Kisuke Urahara turned and walked toward Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Kurosaki-san." He folded his fan with a soft click against his palm. "We think it would be wise to make direct contact with the Soul Society."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well — the opponent is Aizen. An extra measure of caution seems appropriate. The advance squad has already departed, but if something happens to them on the way, sitting here waiting won't accomplish anything. Someone needs to make the trip personally and deliver the latest intelligence — that the advance squad from the World of the Living has moved on to Hueco Mundo."

"Right. Then I'll head out now—" Ichigo reached for Zangetsu.

"No need to trouble yourself, Kurosaki-san."

Urahara unfolded his fan just far enough to cover the corner of his mouth, that smile a shade too pleased. "I've already sent Yoruichi-san. She's faster. Just stay ready, if something breaks, you can move at a moment's notice."

The Dangai.

Dark red Reiatsu raged through the narrow passage in a howling storm.

Two completely different powers slammed into each other. Slime sheeted down the precipice walls and splattered across the slick stone floor in fine sprays.

Yellow lightning detonated around Yoruichi Shihōin, scorching the air into jagged, blinding arcs. Her deep purple hair whipped upward in the Reiatsu wind like open flame.

She ran the walls of the Dangai at full speed, each footfall burning a blackened print into the stone.

Across from her, the golden-haired Arrancar with the same brown skin. Tier Harribel. Third Espada.

Her Zanpakutō was already in Resurrección. Three braided plaits of blonde hair whipped wildly in the storm.

Hirviendo's dense superheated water vapor met Shunkō's lightning in the confined space. Every collision shuddered through the precipice walls. White steam and yellow arcs twisted together until the whole passage burned murky gold.

Yoruichi caught the counter-momentum from a clash and flicked sideways, two light taps of her toes against the wall, sliding past the edge of Harribel's attack range like a black cat. She moved too fast for an afterimage to form, only a few residual arcs in the air proved she had been there at all.

"Come on, come on. You're intercepting one messenger, and they sent you for this?"

The corner of her mouth held that familiar easy smile. Her gold eyes gleamed in the lightning.

Harribel didn't answer.

She watched Yoruichi's figure vanish into the depths of the Dangai. Then she looked the other way, the direction the messenger ninja had already fled, slipping free in the moment Harribel was tied down.

Two targets. Neither retained.

She deactivated her Resurrección. Her long blonde hair fell back over her shoulders. Her fingers tightened slightly on the hilt.

She had learned from Ulquiorra's experience. This time she went straight to Resurrección from the first exchange, no reserves, full intent to end it fast from the opening strike.

And that woman had still gotten away.

Her speed was above Zommari Rureaux's.

Harribel didn't pursue. She couldn't catch her. And the mission was already over.

The Gotei 13 received the intelligence and split immediately into two forces. A squad of Sajin Komamura, Soi Fon, Byakuya Kuchiki, and Kenpachi Zaraki moved toward Hueco Mundo to determine the state of the advance squad. The main force marched for the World of the Living under the Captain-Commander's orders.

The reishi glow of the Senkaimon lit up the field again. Yoruichi walked out of the pillar of light, her clothes still carrying the scorched marks and steam residue from the Dangai.

She took the towel Iwakizhi Tetsusai held out, wiped her face, and gave a brief account of what had happened, the messenger intercepted by Harribel in the Dangai, Yoruichi moving in to buy time, the messenger breaking free during the opening she created, the intelligence now delivered to the Soul Society.

Kisuke Urahara set down his teacup. He was quiet for a moment. "The advance squad, I'm afraid they've walked into his trap."

Silence settled over the living room.

Ichigo stood in the doorway. He had listened to the whole report without a word.

He didn't speak now either. He just turned and walked toward the corner of the room.

Kon was sprawled on the sofa flipping through a manga with his stuffed paws. He saw Ichigo coming and hadn't even managed to look up and ask "what's wrong" before Ichigo grabbed him by the head.

Ichigo reached into the stuffed toy's mouth, pried out the Soul Candy, tilted his head back, and swallowed it.

Kon's plush body slumped limply against the sofa cushions, glass eyes staring up at the ceiling with an expression of pure innocence.

"Urahara-san. Please open the Senkaimon to Hueco Mundo."

Ichigo picked up Zangetsu and slung it across his back. His orange hair caught the dim living room light with a faint glow.

Yoruichi leaned against the window, arms crossed.

Her gold eyes gleamed faintly in the dark, and for once her tone had shed most of its usual ease.

"You're certain? Right now, they might be waiting for exactly that."

"Yeah. I'm going."

He looked up at her. "Seijūrō-san has helped us too many times. Whatever's waiting over there, I'm going."

"I'm going too!"

Orihime Inoue was on her feet.

"Hey! Inoue! Hueco Mundo is too dangerous, you can't—"

"I'm going!"

Her voice jumped, sharp and unsteady. The rims of her eyes went red.

She almost never sounded like that. It was rare enough that Ichigo went still, rare enough that Sado lifted his head from the far wall, rare enough that Ishida's hand stopped halfway through adjusting his glasses.

"Seijūrō-san helped us so much! He might be locked up somewhere right now. He might be hurt. He might be carrying everything by himself, how could I just stay here? My power is healing. If someone is hurt over there, being there means I can save one more person. Ichigo-kun. I'm going."

Yasutora Sado stood up from the corner.

He didn't say anything. He walked over and took his place beside Ichigo, his dark brown eyes steady beneath his curly hair, just looking at him.

No speeches. No declarations. Just the one action.

Uryū Ishida pushed his glasses up and lifted his white Quincy coat from the sofa, draping it over his shoulders. Every button fastened with the same exact precision as always, not one out of place.

"Since Inoue-san is going, I have no reason to stay behind." He glanced at Ichigo. The lenses flashed once in the light. "And in the end, we do owe him."

Kisuke Urahara looked at the group in front of him. His fan stopped mid-air.

He laughed, a short, quiet sound, and snapped the fan shut.

"Isn't this exactly the same as when you went to rescue Rukia? Then again, that's just who you are." He turned toward the corner of the room. "What about you? Are you going?"

"I'm not."

Emiri's usual lightness was gone, replaced by something clear and absolutely serious. "The Grand Kidō Chief left me instructions before he went. If something happened to him, I was to work with former Grand Kidō Chief Iwakizhi Tetsusai to build a protective barrier around Karakura Town. Transfer the real Karakura Town to the Soul Society, the World of the Living cannot become a battlefield. So I can't go. He trusted me with this. I'll see it through."

"Two people handling a transfer that size isn't going to be very efficient, you know~"

The drawl came from the warehouse doorway.

Everyone turned at once.

Shinji Hirako was leaning against the doorframe, shoulder-length blonde hair stirring in the night breeze, that half-smile of his sitting exactly where it always did.

"How about three? Hey, Hachi, come help with the Karakura Town transfer. We can't afford to lose our last line of defense."

Hachigen Ushōda pushed half his bulk out from behind Shinji. Squeezing his round frame through the doorframe, he clipped Hiyori's head on the way through and got a kick in the rear for it.

"If the barrier needs to cover all of Karakura Town, two people's Reiatsu won't be enough. But with me added, we should be able to complete the transfer before Aizen arrives. Emiri-san, Iwakizhi-san, I'm in your hands."

He gave them both a good-natured smile.

Shinji turned to face Ichigo.

"Kensei, Rōjūrō, both of you go with Ichigo to Hueco Mundo. We have no read on the advance squad's situation right now. More Captain-level fighters is smarter."

Kensei Muguruma stepped out from behind Shinji. His short white hair caught the moonlight. He looked at Ichigo and gave a single nod, small and unhurried. The words that followed were pure Kensei: "Don't slow me down."

Ichigo looked at the people in front of him.

He didn't know what to say.

He thought back to the last time, in the Seireitei, when a group of people had been behind him, pushing him forward just like this. He'd thought then that he was fighting alone. Later, he found out he wasn't.

He'd known for a long time now that he was never alone. But every time, every single time, it happened the same way.

Before he could even open his mouth, someone was already standing next to him.

Not ordered to come. Not asked. They just came.

The same way he had decided, on his own, to go and rescue Rukia.

He raised his hand, settled Zangetsu across his back, and walked toward the Senkaimon.

Sado, Ishida, Kensei, and Rōjūrō followed, one after another.

Yoruichi stayed leaning against the window and watched them go, her usual smile in place.

Urahara turned his fan slowly, the shadow of the striped hat across his face, his eyes catching the reishi glow as the gate rose again.

Iwakizhi Tetsusai was already deep in discussion with Emiri about the barrier's specifics. Hachigen crouched on the floor sketching a rough diagram in the dirt with a stick. Emiri traced key reishi nodes with the tip of her folding fan.

Shinji stayed where he was, leaning in the doorframe, watching the direction of the gate.

Ichigo didn't look back.

He stepped through the Senkaimon. The reishi light closed around him.

The others followed. No one spoke. Only the sound of footsteps, rising and falling inside the pillar of light.

➤ Next: It Won't Take Much of Your Time