Chapter 1203 Bait

"Will that be alright?" Tiamat, who had been silently following Kisuke suddenly asked, "She's teaching her own realizations as something basic."

"She probably wanted to try something out. And if she's successful, this may be the key to further advancement of instructing roles." Kisuke stopped walking and turned to Tiamat, "What about you? What did you think of that?"

"Don't ask me about those things since I won't be able to provide you with any suitable answers. I don't remember when or how I was born nor when and how I came to use my abilities. As far as I could recall, I'm already me as it was before Chaos betrayed my sister and me.", Tiamat answered without any particular expression on her face, "If you're hoping for some wisdom from me, you'll be utterly disappointed."

Kisuke stared at her for a few moments before sighing with a small smile, "I only wanted to check if they're going to be fine. I didn't want those old men and women underestimating them."

Kisuke then turned around and used Flash Step to leave the place. Tiamat on the other hand, turned to the direction he left and melted into the ground, disappearing entirely.

At the same time, the whole field shook as Tanis demonstrated to others what they could do with Ki in terms of strengthening their bodies.

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Since Kisuke just had to wait for Yamamoto and the others to gain sufficient control over Magic Power and Ki to face against the [Chained], he decided to resolve the issue that he had been setting aside, and that was finally reestablishing communication with his contacts on Soul Society.

Kisuke came back to the world of the living alone because according to Tiamat, she only had to stay in Hell to confuse and prevent it from realizing Kisuke's existence. And since Tiamat's current abilities were way weaker than before she wouldn't be able to defeat even a single Captain-class Shinigami, the world itself won't see her as a threat and won't engineer a scenario where she has to be eliminated.

Kisuke first wondered how this world could have such apparent decision-making, but after remembering that Hell, and most probably the realms above it were born of someone's dead body, it all made sense for a sliver of will to survive and direct things directly or indirectly and act as a self-preservation system that had gone rogue.

'I thought that I just had to prove that a lynchpin isn't needed to preserve the world, but if the Soul King didn't intend the world to be made this way, then it'll be a lot more complicated... And if I'm not wrong, Hyousube Ichibei is the counterbalance that the world had created to stop the Spirit King.'

While contemplating this and just about to step into the light, Kisuke stopped for a moment, 'I guess it'll be better if they came to me. It'd also better explain the girls' sudden disappearances.'

Without donning his disguise and restricting his Reiatsu-Ki, Kisuke started walking around Karakura Town.

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"Captain, urgent report." Nanao barged into Kyouraku's private quarters with a tablet in her hands.

Kyouraku didn't mind this and just continued sipping his alcohol, "I hope it's not something big again. It's been one giant headache this past week."

Nanao sighed but she couldn't reprimand her Captain from consuming alcohol since it was his time off and he had been stressed this week, "I don't know if this is headache-inducing but Urahara Kisuke was reportedly spotted in Karakura Town."

Kyouraku immediately placed down his glass and turned around to face Nanao, "How accurate is the report?"

"This only came in a few minutes ago but it came from multiple sources. We can trust it. Also, Captain Soifon, Captain Kuchiki, Captain Hirako, and Captain Yadomaru are making their way to Karakura Town to confront him."

"What about Kurotsuchi?"

"He's staying within his barracks, for now."

Kyouraku sighed to himself. He really hates that his current position doesn't allow him to move as he pleases, 'I wanted to control what Urahara could do to a certain extent but who would have thought that he'd directly attack the Soul King Palace all of a sudden? I clearly overestimated myself.'

"How about the Soul King Palace? Any news from them?"

Nanao shook her head, "Same as before. Communication was cut off. Even if the Central 46 tried getting into contact with their relatives up there, there's no answer. Even Nimaiya Ouetsu who came down some time ago to do a secret investigation is out of reach."

"...Speaking of which, what's Central 46's ruling? They should have issued it by now."

While fixing her glasses, Nanao saw a few new lines appearing on her tablet, "It came in just now. Gotei 13 is to capture Urahara Kisuke. If not possible, immediate elimination is recommended."

"Hooh... These old coots still don't understand the situation. Have they not realized that he might be on Aizen Sosuke's level?" Kyouraku sneered when he heard Nanao's words, "Tell Toshirou and Rukia to prepare to move at a moment's notice." Kyouraku stood up, intending to go to Central 46 to try to stop any unreasonable ruling that may put the Seireitei as a whole in danger, 'I have to remind them that Hell is watching our every movement in the world of the living. If they suddenly attack, it'll be a disastrous loss for us.'

Before he exited the building, Kyouraku turned to Nanao once more, "Oh, and please inform Ichigo-san of Urahara's appearance. Even if there's a brawl, he should be able to stop it." Kyouraku was just a bit concerned that Byakuya and Lisa would directly attack Kisuke.

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Late evening, in a park where there were only a few street lamps present, Kisuke sat down on a bench while eating a box of takoyaki and secretly sending people away from the vicinity.

Kisuke didn't have to wait for too long. When he was on his third bite, Kisuke spotted multiple people emerging from the shadows with Soifon leading the group and one other person coming from the opposite direction.

"Oh my~ What a grand welcome. How did you find me? Hell's Blessing should be hiding my presence."

Soifon furrowed her brows and wondered what he was up to this time, "Thanks to a certain group of people, we learned how to detect your so-called Hell's Blessing. Shouldn't you have received that information from Szayelaporro?"

Since Soifon could be seen by normal people, she was wearing casual attire and a hoodie as opposed to the other Captains besides her. Meanwhile, Byakuya and Lisa directly pulled out their blades in preparation for a fight.

"Geez... Hold your horses." Shinji immediately reacted and blocked the path of the two. After they stopped, Shinji then turned his attention to the other person who came, "And what are you doing here, Ichigo?"

"I heard that Urahara-san appeared so I came to see what's going on." The man with orange hair answered.

They all stopped a few feet away from Kisuke who is still casually eating his snack to gauge him. On the other hand, the person in question was trying to figure out what his next step was because his initial plans were thrown out the window when he felt a door to Hell opening near them, 'Now then, who's coming out and why?'