Farewell to Haruko  

Ailin had enough understanding about himself.

Was he strong?

Yes, very strong, and might even become extremely strong in the future!

However, he was still far from being invincible in the Soul Reaper world, at least in Ailin's opinion at the moment. He possessed the "Unlimited Blade Works," which allowed him to create "swords" with various abilities.

Especially in a world like the Soul Reapers' that had "Zanpakutō," Ailin could endow many abilities into the Zanpakutō as the "Shikai" and "Bankai" to use.

This point was also acknowledged by the ability of "Unlimited Blade Works." Because in this world, those were the abilities that belonged to "swords."

However, over the years, Ailin had been studying hard. Well, he took out all those powerful weapons from his memory and discovered that even with all of them, he still couldn't achieve "invincibility" among the Soul Reapers.

Among them, the most unsolvable one was Ichibē Hyōsube of the Royal Guard. His existence itself was equivalent to Soul Society.

He was given the name "Ichibē" by the Soul King and obtained the power of "name giving."

All things named by Ichibē Hyōsube possessed the "power" corresponding to their names. The names of everything in Soul Society were all given by Ichibē Hyōsube. In addition, the essential nature of Ichibē Hyōsube's existence was "black." 

All the "blackness" in the world belonged to him.

Relying on this essence, Ichibē Hyōsube conceived the oldest Zanpakutō that had existed before the birth of Zanpakutō - Ichimonji.

It could be said that except for the Soul King, Ichibē Hyōsube was the "invincible one" among the Soul Reapers.

It was precisely because Yhwach possessed the ability of "omniscience and omnipotence" that he could ignore Ichibē Hyōsube's power of "blackness" and "naming" and defeat him.

When thinking of these two, Ailin felt somewhat pessimistic. Perhaps only after seeing Tenjirō Kirinji and replicating his Zanpakutō, "Kinpika," could he make "Avalon" based on Kinpika's abilities and stand in an undefeated place.

As for defeating those two...

At least in the two-dimensional weapons that Ailin knew of, there was still none that could do that.

Unless he could create the divine weapons from those immortals and monsters in myths from his previous life, only then would he have the possibility of sweeping across the entire Soul Reaper world.

Abandoning those thoughts in his mind, Ailin looked seriously at Byakuya Kuchiki. "Byakuya, I brought you here and showed you so much, do you know why?"

"I don't know." Byakuya Kuchiki lowered his head and admitted his own shallow ignorance.

"Here, I demonstrated to you the power of Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Kidō, three of the four Shinigami combat forms. So what do you think the realm of Shunpo that is ranked alongside them can reach?" Ailin's words caused Byakuya Kuchiki's pupils to shrink.

That's right. Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Kidō possessed such great power. Then what kind of might would Shunpo, as one of the Four Shinigami Fighting Techniques, have?

"If Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Kidō are to attack the enemy with the greatest power, then Shunpo is to dodge their attacks with the greatest speed."

"And after dodging, quickly get close to the enemy, pull them into your attack range, and launch relentless attacks on them."

"Shunpo can also perfectly integrate with Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Kidō to maximize their power for the Soul Reapers to exert."

"Byakuya, you are the next head of the Kuchiki clan and also the candidate for the 6th Division Captain. Being low-key and modest should be your nature. Of course, it's not wrong for a youngster like you to want to stand out. But before you gain sufficient strength, arrogance will only make people see you as ignorant."

"For example, you kept boastfully claiming that your Shunpo had surpassed Captain Yoruichi of the 2nd Division. Do you think that Captain Yoruichi, known as the 'Goddess of Flash', has inferior Shunpo compared to a rookie like you who has only trained for a few years?"

"In this world, there may be those who can obtain in just a few days the strength that takes others hundreds of years of arduous cultivation to gain. But Byakuya, you have to know, you are not that kind of person."

"You may feel very powerful now, bragging about having surpassed Captain Yoruichi. But hundreds of years later when people talk about this, you may wish to stomp your feet hard enough to dig a hole the size of the entire Kuchiki residence into the ground."

***

Ever since going to Rukongai with Ailin, Ginrei Kuchiki discovered that Byakuya's entire being had steadied by a lot and was no longer as impetuous as before.

During this period, even when Yoruichi Shihōin came to provoke Byakuya, he just kept a straight face, training hard and treating the former "cat demon" as nothing.

This made Yoruichi Shihōin feel extremely bored. "Yo, Captain Ailin, long time no see!"

When seeing Ailin again, Yoruichi Shihōin was still as casual as ever, leaning her shoulder on him to greet him, acting as if Ailin's threat to Kisuke Urahara had never happened.

Since Yoruichi Shihōin didn't mind, Ailin naturally wouldn't take that matter to heart either. "Yeah, indeed been over half a year since we last met. You are still in your prime, Captain Yoruichi."

After smilingly responding to Yoruichi, Ailin shifted his gaze to the person beside her. After half a year, Haruko Kuchiki had lost some weight, but her mental condition was better than it was half a year ago. This made Ailin almost beam with joy.

As expected of the most intelligent person among the Soul Reapers. Even Soul Reapers who had been Hollowfied could be restored by him. For a trivial soul deterioration, there definitely wouldn't be any problems as long as Kisuke Urahara was willing.

From the looks of it, Kisuke Urahara's results were not bad so far.

"How do you feel?"

"Hmm, I feel much more relaxed than before."

Having been husband and wife for five years, although Ailin didn't say it explicitly, Haruko Kuchiki knew what he wanted to ask.

"It has been hard on you, Haruko." Ailin reached out and grasped Haruko Kuchiki's hand in his palm.

This was the first time Ailin had been so intimate with Haruko Kuchiki in front of others. It made Haruko somewhat shy as she secretly glanced at Yoruichi Shihōin, wanting to withdraw her hand yet reluctant to part with it.

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm still here, you know..." Yoruichi Shihōin knocked her forehead. These two, didn't they see what occasion this was? She was still around!

However, Ailin's performance also let Yoruichi Shihōin breathe a sigh of relief in her heart. At least Ailin was not a heartless and unprincipled man.

"Captain Ailin, Lady Kuchiki's problem is very serious. Although her condition has alleviated somewhat under Urahara's help, if the root cause is not thoroughly resolved, Lady Kuchiki's situation will become more and more dangerous."

"Hmm?"

Ailin's brows furrowed. That's not right.