Three days later, everyone was resting to restore their depleted Spiritual Power, however, they couldn't properly do so because they can't believe what they are seeing right now.
"And that settles it." Kisuke looked at his work and dusted his hands in satisfaction.
The old man in the middle was still there, the raging flames were still trying to destroy everything around it, and the skeletons were still roaming around, full of hate. However, neither the flames nor the skeletons could find anyone to pour their hatred into.
Yamamoto's Zanpakuto still dominated the 50-meter radius territory but it didn't expand beyond that even without the Reiatsu of the 5 strong individuals pushing back against it.
The reason for this is because Kisuke locked the territory within a barrier that brought them into another dimension just like how he hid his base on Mars. It's not as complicated or as strong as the one he did on his base since one could break away from this one by just teleporting outside of the barrier. However, it became a very effective barrier if the one trapped inside it didn't know any spatial movement techniques.
Kisuke walked around the barrier to check for any holes before walking inside Yamamoto's territory. Despite the flames licking him, it didn't actually touch him and there is no heat emanating from them. After all, what they were seeing right now is just a visual and auditory illusion of what's happening in another dimension.
"...What did you do?" Chika Shihouin asked after standing up and imitating Kisuke by walking inside the flames. To his surprise, there really was no heat that could be felt.
"Sent this place into a pocket dimension. Since that place is being supplied with necessary air and energy from the outside, he won't be suffocated. He also has a Magic body so he won't be starving to death." Kisuke casually answered while walking around the cross legged Yamamoto, 'I can check his situation from here, but as expected, if I want more in-depth details, I'll have to be within the same space as him.'
But of course, while everyone listening understood the words he just spoke, they couldn't understand what it meant.
"In other words, the old man is safe and won't be able to hurt others?" The bespectacled woman asked.
"For now."
"For now?"
Kisuke turned away from Yamamoto and faced the woman he didn't know, "Yes. It's a tricky barrier that's hard to get in and get out of, however, there's still a limitation to its durability. If the old man keeps increasing the power he's releasing, he'll soon forcefully destroy it."
And as soon as he said that, everyone saw that the flames started getting smaller.
"So he can hear us. This is a lot better." Kisuke muttered while turning back to him, "Old man, I'll be looking for a way for you to get out of those controlling black chains, but for now, I'd like it if you could keep yourself in check. If you think you can't hold on anymore, just intensify your flames so that it would be obvious to us. That way, even if you can't talk, we'll still see when we need to take action."
There are no further changes within his surroundings but Kisuke knew that he heard him.
Kisuke then turned back to the group and said, "Let's move to the other side of the mountain before we talk. I know you guys have a lot of questions, but not here."
Gin stood up from the ground and dusted himself, "Why?"
"These black chains control their host through emotional distress. While we could have a safe talk, we don't really know what's going to trigger it so it's safer to just move the complicated talks away from here lest we cause something irreversible."
Chojirou also stood up from the ground and said, "I'm staying here."
Kisuke nodded at him and said, "That's what I was going to ask you. Although these chains could bring the old man to further ruin through emotional distress, the opposite is also true and possible. It seems that you know him well so accompanying him through these hard times could slow down his descent to insanity. Who knows, maybe a miracle could even occur."
After finishing his piece, Kisuke flew off.
Everyone else looked at Chojirou who's now looking at Yamamoto with a melancholic, but also relieved expression. After a few seconds, each of them followed Kisuke one by one with Gin the last remaining.
"I'll be fine," Chojirou said without looking back.
"I see. But remember this, you're also in the same state as the old man Yamamoto. If those Black Chains trigger their effect, not just you, but you'll also bring him down with you. Be careful."
Chojirou nodded, "I will. Thank you for everything until now."
"Thank me later. We're not yet done." Gin turned around and jumped into the sky.
Gin soon arrived where everyone was and saw that there was a nice round table and chairs set up for everyone to sit in comfort, '...Just who is this guy?'
As soon as he arrived, a round of introductions started going and Kisuke guessed, the bespectacled woman was one of the founding members of the Gotei 13 named Katori Batsu'unsai, the first captain of the 8th Division.
Naturally, Kisuke introduced himself as Belial, and Chika and Furoufushi kept their word and didn't tell anyone his real identity.
"Before we start talking about what should we do with the former Captain Commander, I first want to hear about the other founding members of the Gotei 13 and the former Captains that have arrived at this place throughout the years." Kisuke started.
Right now, 7 out of 13 founding members were already accounted for. He wanted to know what happened to others, including the other Captains that are strong enough to be sent to Hell.
Furoufushi leaned her body on the table and answered, "Three of us have already died... As for the rest of the Captains, most of them were hunted down or eaten."
Kisuke and Gin's eyes widened at her statement, "Hunted down? Eaten?" Asked the former. Since he never really asked, this is the first time Kisuke has heard about this.
"Hunted down by the [Chained] to gain more strength. Eaten by unknown monsters in the depths of Hell. It's as simple as that."
Editors:
28th00: Ah, that’s gonna be fun. I guess the Super Hollows had to go somewhere, huh?
Chika and Katori remained silent as Furoufushi explained the situation in Hell as they understood it.
After the first Quincy Great War, the founding members of the Gotei 13 didn't reach Hell at the same time as they all aged differently. However, Furoufushi, Chika, and Katori are all in agreement that they wish that they all died at the same exact time. Because maybe, that way, they wouldn't find themselves in the situation they were currently in.
The first one to go was Saizou Sakahone, the oldest of them all. He didn't die of old age. Saizou knew that his time was almost up but he still couldn't give up his bloodthirst. So as his final act of brilliance, he went to the Hueco Mundo and began a massacre that took the lives of countless Hollows. He died in battle, but they never thought that it was the start of their tragedy.
Upon the old man's death, the rest of the founding members of the Gotei 13 realized that they were the greatest threat to the peace they fought so hard for. So in the coming years, without saying a word with each other, some took their own lives while some followed Saizou's footsteps.
Even without an agreement, it was decided that Unohana and Yamamoto would stay behind to keep the Soul Society military running for the future generations to come.
"I won't go into detail about who went in first because that's not important. The crucial thing is that we were fooled by Sakahone. Not knowing what it meant to be [Chained], some of us were tricked into thinking that we could do whatever we wanted and those who didn't follow what he wanted were killed with some success. This is a gross oversimplification, but that's the gist of it."
Furoufushi clenched her fist tight but immediately loosened it along with a long sigh, "Thank God though that we were able to survive long enough to remove our chains."
Kisuke almost chuckled because Furoufushi suddenly started thanking a nonexistent God, "And these unknown monsters?"
"We call them unknown monsters because we don't know what they are." Chika answered, "We knew some people who ventured deep into unexplored regions and some witnesses said that they were eaten by some unknown entity from far away. To this day, we're still trying to figure out the veracity of these reports but since none have returned alive from exploring the depths, we don't have any information about it."
Kisuke closed his eyes to think, 'Sounds dangerous, but with a remote [Homunculus], I should be able to explore it.'
He then tossed the idea to the back of his head and continued asking, "What about the [Chained] gaining more power?"
"We are also not sure ourselves." Furoufushi scratched the top of her head, "Since we're not [Chained] ourselves, we don't know where they got the idea of killing other strong individuals grants them more power. However, it's a fact that only those who still have the black chains on their bodies are capable of manipulating or utilizing Hell's Blessing. It's one of the reasons why we attacked you when we first met."
Kisuke nodded before turning his attention to the quiet Gin, "What about you, Ichimaru-san? Will you share your method of leaving Hell despite being an [Unchained]?"
At Kisuke's questions, the three former captains' eyes all widened and hurriedly turned their heads to him, "You can leave Hell!?" Furoufushi shouted.
Gin was momentarily startled by the sudden attention to him but instantly recovered his demeanor and feigned a cough to clear his throat, "I don't really mind but I doubt any of you could replicate it."
"Anything will do, what is it!?" Furoufushi and the other two don't intend to leave Hell but there are also other people like them. If there's a method, they want to make proper countermeasures against it, 'The Human world will be overrun by them who can't let go of the fact that they're already dead.'
Gin smirked and answered, "Technically speaking, I'm still one of those people who you call [Chained], however, I managed to get off it by letting my Hollow side take over the chains."
The three former Shinigamis were confused by his words but Kisuke's figurative light bulb lit up, 'So that's it! I forgot that he's one of Aizen's men and should have also awakened their Hollow side. Since he never used it back then, I assumed that he just didn't receive the awakening of the Hougyoku.'
.
.
.
Kisuke returned to his base after hiding the spot where Yamamoto was sealed. Meanwhile, the other former captains left to search for Unohana and Juushirou. Although their characters would allow them to reject the whispers of the black chains, they still need to search for them before the other side finds them.
Kisuke wanted to help them as he wanted to reduce the risk of their enemies increasing but he had more important things to do.
"Benihime, are you ready?"
After a few seconds, Kisuke received a reply, [Anytime.]
"Alright. Tiamat, return to me."
A few seconds later, a tanto blade appeared in his hand, [Since you're calling me, will it be a dangerous venture?]
Kisuke nodded while hiding the tanto blade within his sleeve, "Incredibly so. There's even a chance that my identity will instantly be revealed the moment I step into that place."
[And if that were to happen?]
"We'll escape to Hell." Kisuke made his way towards another room where yet another portal could be opened.
Kisuke stood in front of the door where the portal would be opening and took a deep breath while strengthening his disguise, 'I have more than 20 escape routes prepared. That should be enough, no?'
Kisuke then activated the portal and immediately jumped into it while also immediately closing it. The darkness around him felt very heavy and he could tell that he was going through several barriers that stopped spatial manipulations. However, these barriers were 'outdated' compared to the Evie and Etoulde technology of the space jump.
A second later, Kisuke found himself standing on a suspended half-circle white platform. Connected to this platform is a long paneled path suspended in the air, leading to a large floating cylindrical structure.
Kisuke first looked up into this cylindrical structure before pulling out the tanto blade from his sleeve and muttering, "Descend, Tiamat."
Unlike the previous instance, there was no 'Goddess' descending to this plane of existence. The tanto blade in his hand immediately transformed into a green-tinted longsword with Dragon horns for its handguards.
And as quietly as his Zanpakuto transformed, two figures also appeared out of nowhere, bearing their blades at Kisuke, "How bold. This isn't a place you can just step into casually." The one on his left, swinging down a small blade with a curved tip attached to a long wooden pole, muttered.
"How did you come in?" Asked the one on his right while her golden skeleton arms rushed towards Kisuke.
Editors:
28th00: Time to raid the Soul King’s palace where the Evil Monk resides! They’re real fucking evil.