Watching Gin wounded in the distance, Higashi Shuuichi realized... he might've gone a bit too hard.
Still—no problem. If needed, he could always pretend he couldn't maintain Yomi Basara's Shikai and release it.
"Give it up, Gin. Whatever you're planning, come back with me and accept judgment. You might still have a sliver of hope."
Shuuichi finally understood why people in the original anime always indulged in pointless speeches.
It really was a great way to buy time.
"Heh… Shuuichi-dono, in your current state, I doubt you can keep this up for much longer."
Gin saw through him. Saw that Shuuichi was holding back, trying to take him alive.
Beneath his smirking words, a flicker of admiration passed through him.
Even now, Shuuichi was still too kind.
Gin pressed a hand to the ground.
"Hadō #57: Daichi Ten'yō!"
Earthen chunks lifted like butterflies, swirling upward and forming a twisting vortex around Shuuichi.
"It's pointless, Gin. You've got nowhere left to run."
Shuuichi didn't even need to act.
The white orb-creatures born of Kuryashiki Kenpachi's Zanpakutō swarmed the dirt like they'd just scented a meal.
Snap. Crunch. Gone.
"Mu-Tō Renjin!"
Gin wasn't done yet. Like a beast lashing out in desperation, he charged again.
Shuuichi calmly raised his sealed Zanpakutō, Heisha, blocking each strike with precision—Kuryashiki's unparalleled combat instinct guiding his hand, white orbs intercepting every angle.
He knew what Gin was waiting for.
Because he'd sensed it too.
His Tenjō Tenra had already detected the approach of that man.
"Sing, Suzumushi!"
A sudden cacophony burst around him—deafening, mind-numbing buzzing. Shuuichi's ears rang.
White bands of cloth spiraled in from nowhere.
The technique that would one day evolve into Senban Hakushaku—a high-tier spatial Kidō perfected by Aizen's subordinates.
"Suzumushi Nishiki: Benihikō!"
Rain. Razor-sharp fragments cascaded from the swirling bands like steel locusts.
Chomp!
Another feast for the orbs.
Crispy. Satisfying. Mediocre.
Shuuichi could practically feel the pleasure fed back from them.
"I remember you. You're Ninth Division Fifth Seat—Kaname Tōsen, right?"
He looked up and exhaled.
Good.
If Tōsen had arrived, then the other Captains must've already been overwhelmed by Hollowfication.
It meant Urahara Kisuke and Great Kidō Chief Ōetsu Nimaiya couldn't be far behind.
"You're too slow, Gin."
Tōsen ignored Shuuichi and reprimanded Gin calmly, his tone sharp with disappointment.
Gin didn't defend himself.
"Go Bankai, Kaname. He's not someone we'll take down so easily."
Gin hated to admit it—but despite five years of growth under Aizen and the Hōgyoku, his strength wasn't enough. Not against Shuuichi.
Without Tōsen's help, he wouldn't just fail the mission—he might not survive at all.
"Bankai again?"
Shuuichi raised an eyebrow like he'd just heard something mildly amusing.
"Is that so?"
Tōsen could see the act for what it was. If he hadn't known Shuuichi was also Aizen's man—the oldest one among them—he might've been fooled.
No wonder Aizen had entrusted this critical task to him.
He raised his blade.
"Bankai: Suzumushi Tsuishiki – Enma Kōrogi!"
In an instant, a dome of spiritual pressure formed around them—a thick, oval-shaped barrier that sealed off all five senses.
Shuuichi was plunged into nothingness.
No sound. No sight. No touch. No reiryoku.
Just a void.
But he didn't panic.
Not because Tōsen knew his true identity.
But because…
"Devour all… Garaku Kairō."
He whispered.
His own senses may have vanished—but the white orbs, born of Kuryashiki's Zanpakutō, had none to begin with.
They didn't need to hear or see or smell.
They existed for one function only—to devour the reiryoku of any target Shuuichi marked for destruction.
In less than a minute, the dome began to disintegrate.
Light returned.
And with it, the first sound he heard:
"Mu-Tō Renjin!"
Gin's voice. He hadn't believed for a second that Tōsen's Bankai would hold Shuuichi.
And he was right.
If those creatures could eat even his poisonous dust, what chance did a spiritual dome have?
In the end, finishing Shuuichi was Gin's task alone.
But this time—no orbs came to Shuuichi's aid.
Not because they couldn't—but because there were too many poison fragments lodged inside him.
Eating the dust would mean eating most of him, too.
No different from Gin detonating it himself.
"Shoot to kill—Kamishini no Yari!"
Gin struck.
Shuuichi's body was torn apart again.
Tōsen moved in with practiced efficiency, preparing the final blow.
The two acted in perfect sync. A deadly combination.
But they were trying to kill a man who even Aizen praised for his combat cunning.
"Eryū."
Suddenly—all the reiryoku in Shuuichi's body froze.
Even the poison dust.
Had the toxins ignited, he'd be dead.
But frozen mid-trigger—they were harmless.
And since his reiryoku was now coming from Kuryashiki's imprint, not his own…
"Proud dragon, defiled earth. Rage unstoppable, source awakened from dreamless slumber—
Wind, flame, frost, thunder, stone—shatter karma, clear the path—destroy all and return all to the origin!
Hadō #99: Goryū Tensei!"
The earth roared. Dragons screamed.
Everything—the battlefield, the skies—collapsed under the weight of the spell.
And the instant he cast it, Eryū's stasis failed.
The poison ignited.
But it didn't matter.
Neither Gin nor Tōsen had time to react.
The five dragons tore everything apart.
When the dust finally settled—
Shuuichi still floated, hovering above the ruined battlefield.
Gin and Tōsen lay wrecked below, barely conscious.
Even now, Kuryashiki's reiryoku towered above theirs.
With it, the true might of Goryū Tensei was far beyond what their current level could withstand.
Maybe… if Gin had a few more years…
But the world didn't wait for what-ifs.
Had Shuuichi not been sealed, he wouldn't have even needed Kuryashiki's strength.
Time and experience—that's what Gin still lacked.
Well, everyone except the cheaters.
Just as Shuuichi opened his mouth to deliver one last mocking line—
A familiar voice brushed past his ear like wind.
"Don't overdo it, Shuuichi~"
He felt the blade pierce his heart.
A surge of power flooded into him—violent, unfamiliar, searing.
He hadn't sensed it.
Not at all.
"…Tch. Of course."
Shuuichi smiled bitterly.
And then—
his body spiraled into madness.