Chapter 1236 Return to the Spirit King Palace part 2

[Are you going to dive into that? It looks like it's specially designed for you and you alone.] Benihime talked to Kisuke who started backing off to a relatively safe distance.

"That's indeed prepared for me, isn't it? I can feel my own Reiatsu from those roots and branches. The moment I get in between those, it'd suck me dry within an hour or two."

[You're underestimating yourself again. While it's designed to instantly kill anything that matches your aura, those things will still take a while to drain everything out of you.] Tiamat also joined in the conversation, [But you won't really be in a fighting stance once you're surrounded by that, especially with the current state that you're in.]

"Looks like it could even detect my Magic Power signatures so they must have had Kirio-san prepare for this as soon as I left after my last attack. As expected of the creator of the Mod Soul and the authority of food and vitality." Kisuke stood still and observed the roots and branches while his Hollowfication was being undone and Tiamat returned to her tanto blade form, "Too bad for her that she has no way of predicting otherworldly spiritual abilities."

As soon as he finished his monologue, a small emblem appeared on Kisuke's forehead and an aura of darkness engulfed his entire body. And as soon as this darkness emerged from Kisuke, the roots and branches also stopped reacting and moving, signifying that they couldn't feel Kisuke's presence anymore.

The Stralit Clan's inherited ability, [Shadow], uses the user's own Reiryoku, however, the aura it emits is generally the same across all the boards. If someone who knew of the Luxeux clan were to see Kisuke right now, they could immediately tell where he came from and his allegiance. And to anyone who's involved in ExE to some degree, this someone is practically everyone with how recognizable their clans are.

Of course, no one in the current world has that kind of knowledge.

[This is cheating.] Benihime felt bad for Kirio Hikifune who prepared something complex and enormous, only to meet an ability that Kisuke technically scammed out of someone.

Kisuke regenerated his Shihakushou and kept Tiamat in his sleeve. From his inventory, he took out a fresh green and white striped bucket hat and placed it on his head, "Shall we give her a surprise?"

The next second, Kisuke transformed into a black blob and shot upwards. A minute or two later, Kisuke reached the roots and branches that could be described as thick intertwining trunks now that he had come close to it. Kisuke felt danger from them but they didn't react at all even when he touched one of them.

Attaching himself to the tree matter, Kisuke became a shadow that swam through the maze of giant roots and branches.

'Looks like the [Shadow's] veil is effective.' Kisuke thought while carefully monitoring everything that was happening around him and the current state of his own body.

Kisuke then used the surrounding shadows to pinpoint where he was exactly and thankfully, Ichibei was not around because this would be the stupidest thing that he'd be doing around his presence.

'Found it.' After a few minutes of searching and processing through all the information he received, Kisuke found the cleaved Royal Palace which was now covered in dense tree matter. Upon further searching, he found that there are two life signatures in it and they are precisely the lynchpin and its current guard, Kirio Hikifune.

But the moment he found them, the slim Kirio instantly opened her eyes and hurriedly stood up to look around.

[It's going to be disastrous for you if she makes any adjustments now.] Benihime reminded Kisuke.

'I doubt she could make changes to this enormous structure before I could reach her.' Kisuke thought to himself as his shadow darted through the maze and soon reached the chamber where Kirio was guarding the crystalized Yhwach and where her roots and branches didn't reach.

Kirio saw a shadow extending from the only entrance to the chamber and wanted to attack it. Nevertheless, she stopped because she figured that it was going to be just a useless effort.

A second later, Kisuke emerged from the shadow with a dark aura smoking out of him.

"...How did you do it?" Kirio asked with a very concerned expression, "It shouldn't be possible with just a Reiatsu hiding cloak nor with that Magic since these roots actually look for soul signature. Or is it that despite how you look, you're not actually Urahara Kisuke."

The darkness around Kisuke receded and the emblem on his forehead disappeared. Immediately after, Kisuke's Reiatsu went back to normal as he said, "It's me, Kirio-san. Just a few tricks I learned."

Kirio frowned at him and replied, "That's some nifty trick... It even impersonated another soul. I can't fathom how that works."

Kisuke looked around and saw that the roots and branches didn't breach the chamber which confirmed his guess, "I guess this 'barrier' can't get inside?"

"It's called the Cage of Immortality, a ramped-up version of the Cage of Life that I used against the Quincies. I just didn't expect that you'd bypass all of it." Kirio sighed to herself while taking out her Zanpakuto with a spatula made out of bone as its handle, "Because the lynchpin has to hold the world as a whole, it's attuned to be as neutral as possible. Even if it's a technique that absorbs a very specific Reiryoku, any false positives are going to be disastrous and would go against the purpose of setting it up in the first place.

"Say... Kisuke-chan. Why are you doing this? Do you really intend to destroy these dimensions?" Kirio asked with a forlorn expression. Even though it has been a long while, Kirio was Kisuke's teacher and she even considered him as her one and only disciple.

"Hyousube-san should have already told you that I don't intend to do any of that." Kisuke answered while pulling out Benihime from her scabbard, "I'll be honest though, since I'm talking to you Kirio-san. I want the King of the Quincies to do something for me. Well, I guess the side effect of that is removing the lynchpin from the equation and I don't intend to replace him with anyone."

Kirio sighed once again after staring at Kisuke's eyes for a few seconds, "Sadly, regardless of your reason and whether that's good or bad, it's my duty to protect the lynchpin. I apologize but I would have to eliminate you here."

Kisuke's eyes widened and hurriedly looked behind him, only to see the roots and branches receding back at blinding speeds and flowing towards Kirio.

As a result of this, Kirio's warm Reiatsu became very heavy from its density which reminded Kisuke of Aizen's Reiatsu in the midst of his transformation.

"Bankai..." Holding the Zanpakuto with both of her hands, golden light emerged from her eyes, "Gourmet of Life and Death; The Final Banquet of Reversal."