Waking Up

Three days later, Kisuke finally woke up. Immediately sitting up and raising his arms, he shouted out, "I'm alive~!"

But as he did so, the veins and muscle tissue in his arms suddenly ruptured, spurting blood everywhere before his forearm bones made snapping sounds, "Oya?"

Around him, everyone was present and were making two distinct expressions. While Yoruichi and Kuroka were shocked, the rest of the Astraea Familia and Astraea herself were horrified at the sight of his arms suddenly being mangled.

The first one to move was Yoruichi with her immediately taking out two Elixirs and pouring both of them on Kisuke's arms while Kuroka hurriedly used magic to clean up the splattered blood and bits of flesh that were scattered around.

While Yoruichi blocked everyone's sight of Kisuke's arms with her body, Kisuke promptly went ahead and did a quick self-diagnosis. The first thing he noticed was that the Elixir wasn't actually affecting his wounds and would just slip off. However, as if he was in his full Vasto Lorde form, his arms started regenerating themselves without any input from Kisuke, and after a few seconds, his mangled arms were no more.

Going wider with his diagnosis, he immediately came to know that he couldn't use any Magic, Ki, or any of his Soul techniques. But after thinking about it, Kisuke thought that was normal. Even though the new type of energy coursing through his very being was a congregation of Demonic Power, Ki and Spiritual Power, it still followed a different set of rules.

As for his body, when his arms were broken like frail twigs, it didn't actually mean it got weaker. In fact, his body became a lot stronger in addition to his improved regeneration even outside of his transformation, making him invulnerable to most things. It was just that his new energy's circulation was too wild even for his vastly improved body.

By just simply swinging his arms and subconsciously using the method of control he was using for his Reiatsu-Ki, the new energy immediately exploded and mangled his arms, 'This is going to be tough...'

All of a sudden, however, Yoruichi flicked his forehead. Nursing his forehead, Kisuke looked at Yoruichi, "What?"

"You've got a large grin on your face. What's up?"

Touching his face, Kisuke felt that the corners of his lips were curled upwards before replying, "Nothing much. It's just that I'm about to learn something new again~!"

Technically, Kisuke became strong after the transformations that the Hougyoku had done to him. However, thanks to those transformations, especially to the type of energy that he used, he effectively became weaker as he couldn't use any of his techniques and could only rely on his durability, but was easily mangled through accidental self-destruction.

He could, of course, always relearn everything. However, unlike with Magic and Ki, Kisuke didn't have any references that he could use as this new type of energy transcended all the properties of Spirit, Magic and Ki. It would take a short while to regain his former combat prowess.

On the flip side, Kisuke estimated that even if someone were to cut his body into a thousand pieces, he still would be able to safely regenerate without any problems, making him almost an immortal. On top of that, even if he were to recover his former combat prowess, it wouldn't just stop at that. His progress would continue until he hit another bottleneck.

As such, the disadvantages and advantages of the transformation, or more accurately described as a chrysalis, became very clear. For Kisuke, however, the disadvantages were the ones that actually made him happy.

If he needed to learn something, then it means that it was something new. And learning about this new thing meant that new perspectives, insights, and discoveries were soon to follow, which would in turn increase the things that Kisuke could actually do outside of combat.

But much less than all of that, Kisuke really just enjoyed learning new things. Unlike Aizen who sought more power, Kisuke was a person who sought more knowledge.

Yoruichi sighed at his answer and said, "Take it easy... It seems really dangerous."

"My case is actually very safe...", replied Kisuke before grabbing his Zanpakuto.

Now that he couldn't control his power, it was actually Benihime who was keeping the blade's shape. If she were to leave it to Kisuke who couldn't do anything right now, it would just uncontrollably expand to suit his energy reserves.

Kisuke tried talking to Benihime but all he got was an angry aura reply. Benihime, compared to Kisuke, was in a much more difficult state. Even when Kisuke had changed his energy reserves to that of Reiatsu-Ki to also accommodate his physical body, it didn't affect Benihime who was a purely Spiritual Being.

But after the incident three days ago, Benihime had to accept the change or risk Kisuke dying from his physical body and soul body fusing permanently. As she had to become the linking bridge for the two, she had no choice but to be converted to suit the new energy type more.

Of course, this change didn't just bring advantages but also similar disadvantages to Benihime. Compared to Kisuke, however, Benihime didn't have any prior experiences with controlling a different type of energy, and much worse, this change technically overwrote her entire existence as a Zanpakuto. Both Kisuke and Benihime thought that they were extremely lucky that Benihime was able to keep what makes her, 'her'.

As such, Benihime was also having a tough time controlling her own powers to such a grade, that she couldn't even speak to Kisuke and could only let out an angry and frustrated aura.

With his arms fully healed, Yoruichi separated from him and Kisuke also slowly and carefully stood up, facing the people he was unfamiliar with, "Good afternoon, everyone. My name's Kisuke Urahara. It's a pleasure to meet you, ladies."

As he couldn't materialize his Shihakusho, Kisuke was currently wearing an attire that was typical of this world, linen clothing, that Yoruichi and Kuroka had put on to him.

"N-nice to meet you, too, Kisuke Urahara. I'm Astraea. It's great to see that you're finally awake after three days of rest, however, those arms... Are you truly fine?"

Even as he moved and spoke, Kisuke was trying all sorts of things to control the wild energy inside of him. So to not cause another explosion of blood and flesh, Kisuke carefully raised his left arm, but fast and fluid enough to not to warrant any unnecessary worries, "Astraea-sama, is it? Sounds really familiar. Thank you for asking, but I'm really fine. See?"

Still not convinced, Astraea asked, "B-but what happened earlier?"

At this point in time, Kisuke finally recalled where he heard Astraea's name. However, instead of mentioning that, he answered Astraea's question, "You see, I was cursed before coming to this land. This curse would spontaneously hurt me, but it would also cure me. Until this curse is lifted, I'll be suffering from the pain it will continue to bring."

Astraea's children became even more horrified by his story. As Mercenaries, they've already experienced breaking a few bones, but they couldn't imagine the torment they would receive if they were in Kisuke's shoes.

Of course, Astraea caught this lie but she didn't point it out as it was not her right to know what it truly was, "Is that so... If there's something we could do to lift that curse, please don't hesitate to ask us. We'll do our best to assist you."