Playing With Other Supernaturals

Chapter 1226 New Players

While gritting his teeth, Kisuke gathered Cero with his fingertips. As he turned around, he detonated it, placing an explosion between him and his assailants and allowing him to leave the opponent's effective reach.

Kisuke's chest was instantly scorched from the blast, but the damage was minimal compared to the cut on his back which was also covered in black ink.

As Kisuke tried to get away, he also found out that he lost a major part of his strength, 'It can't be...'

With the flames of the explosion clearing up, Kisuke saw who attacked him and could only click his tongue as he muttered his name, "Tch... Hyousube Ichibei."

"Dear me..." The bald Shinigami placed his glaive on his shoulder, "I don't really like when people like you call my name so please refrain from doing it. On a side note, you sure are energetic for someone who's called [Urahara Ki]."

Kisuke's regeneration capability was able to heal the wound on his back but the ink on it remained, 'Tiamat, any chance we could remove the ink?'

[None. The ink is just a physical manifestation or mark of his ability. If you can't deal with the underlying effects, there's no point in removing it.]

Ichibei's eyes then landed on Kisuke's Zanpakuto, "You brought out something ridiculous and even made Ouetsu make a container for it. Where did you get that? My... What an ugly thing you have there."

"And what an incredibly rude thing to say to a lady," Kisuke replied with a smirk. At this point, the screaming had already ceased as the chains almost finished devouring their 'prisoners'. What concerned Kisuke, however, was the fact that these black chains have now become connected to the oldest Shinigami in existence, "So you're the owner of this place. For someone who's hellbent on keeping the world's balance, you sure can do all the fucked up shit with a big smile on your face."

Kisuke could feel Ichibei's aura rising while the chains retreated back to his body and disappeared, fully showing what's their true function all along.

"I'm the overseer of balance, not the overseer of morals." Ichibei simply replied, "You people can't handle a job like this so I'm the only one who could do it."

"Ahh... That's true, isn't it?" Kisuke halfheartedly replied. He's trying to think of the things he could do but he couldn't help but be bothered that he can't remember his own name beyond [Urahara Ki], 'I know there's more to it... But... What a strange feeling. Tiamat, can you tell me my name?'

[...I can't. I'm connected to you through your soul. From my perspective, you've always been Urahara Ki.]

'Now that's terrifying.' Kisuke disappeared from his spot, reappeared behind Ichibei, who was still absorbing the chains and swung Tiamat with all the strength he could gather while aiming for his neck.

Ichibei tried turning around but found the air surrounding him had solidified, slowing his movements significantly.

With a flash of reflected light, Kisuke's blade landed on Ichibei's neck and went through it like a scalding knife through butter.

Kisuke witnessed Ichibei's head detached from his body but he didn't stop there and placed his free hand on his back while gathering a black Cero on it.

After detonating the strongest Cero that he could gather in an instant, Ichibei was instantly reduced to a thousand pieces with his flesh and blood rained down on the lands of Hell.

Kisuke, however, retreated with a sinking heart, 'One piece of bad news after another, huh? Give me a break.'

Because he felt that Ichibei didn't mount any real resistance against his attack, it gave Kisuke the idea that Ichibei didn't care about his efforts. And this idea soon became the truth when the flesh and blood started gathering back up like the time on them was being rewinded. As fast as Kisuke killed Ichibei, the latter also returned to life with ease.

Casually stretching his neck, Ichibei turned to Kisuke who was glaring at him, "That was a nice scratch. You better put more effort if you want me out of the game a bit longer, Human."

Kisuke sighed and pieced together the clues that gathered. Ichibei Hyousube is most likely the administrator of Hell seeing how he controlled the chains to devour the [Chained]. In addition to that, these chains aren't just for tying down his 'food' but also tying them to the world itself, "...That constantly calls their name, isn't it?" He loudly muttered the last bits of his thoughts.

"I really admire you for reaching that conclusion. You're on par with Aizen Sosuke for a reason. No, maybe more than him after you've acquired the ability to use the energy that I painstakingly gathered in one place throughout the countless eons."

Kisuke immediately understood that he was talking about the [Hell's Blessing], 'So the reason why the Magic Energy here is twisted might be because of him gathering all of them in a certain way?'

But the more questions answered the more Kisuke's heart sank since this all pointed him towards the fact that the entirety of Hell itself was under Ichibei's dominion. In other words, he would be similar to Chaos if he's within his domain, nearly omnipotent.

'Though, unlike Chaos' situation, I don't have near enough preparation to sever his connection to Hell. Heck, I'm not even sure if something similar would work since I used Tiamat's authority back then.' Even though Kisuke wanted to interrupt Ichibei's absorption of the chains, he couldn't think of any meaningful actions that he could take.

It's not that there is nothing that he could do, it's just that he's tied to him and he doubts that he'll let him go peacefully. And even if he could get away, he'd have no choice but to engage him once Ichibei goes after Serafall and the others.

Besides, considering what he heard from Benihime earlier, he's sure that he's not the only one crashing the party.

And as if the world was confirming those thoughts, long, multiple doors consisting of translucent sheets on a lattice frame appeared in the sky with several silhouettes outlined on the other side.

The next second, the doors opened, revealing the familiar figures which consisted most of the Captains and Lieutenants of the Gotei 13 and the other two members of the Zero Division.

"Fuck..." Kisuke couldn't help but mutter a curse while the corner of his mouth twitched, "I'd really like to be wrong sometimes."