Chapter 355: Hyosube Ichibe

"Slash the name, not the flesh."

H'el didn't rely on his physical instincts to fight. Instead, he observed the rules of composition between spirit particles and used his knowledge to calculate and simulate everything within the Shikai universe, manifesting spirit particle techniques accordingly.

The crisis he felt wasn't a physical sense of danger but an unsettling feeling of an unknown he couldn't compute, causing a temporary breakdown in his Shikai universe calculations.

H'el turned his head slightly and saw a bald man wielding a massive brush, aiming to strike him from behind.

The man with the brush had a broad face, thick eyebrows, a long beard reaching his chest, a wide nose, and a tall, strong build. He wore a Shinigami uniform under a white, wide-sleeved haori with the Zero Squad emblem on the back. A large crimson rosary hung around his neck, and he wore high wooden clogs. His eyes were like bronze bells, glaring with intensity.

It was Ichibe Hyosube!

Born in the chaotic world a million years ago, he was one of the few special beings from that time, alongside the Soul King and the founders of the five great noble families.

Ichibe Hyosube was the leader of the Royal Guard's Zero Division, bestowed the name "Monk Who Calls the Real Name" by the Soul King, signifying his ability to reveal true names, hence also known as the "True Name Monk." He was the one who had named everything in the Soul Society.

H'el never expected that even before he reached the Soul King Palace, the leader of the Zero Division, the Royal Guard sworn to protect the Soul King, would descend and ambush him.

H'el frowned slightly, intending to step aside and avoid the True Name Monk's brush attack. However, his ankle was firmly gripped by Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, delaying him for just an instant. In that moment, H'el felt the brush strike his back.

But... there wasn't much pain.

'Poof!'

H'el leaned forward, his eyes widening with shock. He suddenly felt that something strange and uncalculable had happened. The universe within him trembled as if the True Name Monk had struck out three thousand worlds from H'el's being, now hovering before him in the sky.

Of the three thousand dark spheres representing these worlds, fifteen hundred began to tremble, becoming hazy and quickly dissipating, releasing the remaining spirit particle energy they had absorbed.

A thin ocean of spirit particles appeared around the remaining fifteen hundred dark spheres, some being absorbed instinctively while others were drained by Urahara Kisuke's barrier, dissipating into the outside world.

An even stranger feeling struck H'el.

He felt that his name was now only half intact, leaving him utterly puzzled.

He tried to use the remaining fifteen hundred worlds to calculate what had happened, attempting various interferences, but the results were uncertain.

Because now, his name was simply: H'el.

His name had been cut in half.

And... it felt perfectly reasonable!

It was as if, from the moment of his creation, his name had always been H'el.

It was entirely logical.

H'el found himself in a bizarre state where he was aware his name had been halved but still felt it was completely rational.

This eerie feeling set off alarm bells in H'el's mind.

From a distance, Aizen Sousuke, watching from Noble Street, squinted slightly behind his black-framed glasses, gazing at the tall silhouette of the True Name Monk within the barrier. His expression was subtly conflicted as he muttered, "Even someone like that has to come out to deal with H'el... could he be in trouble?"

Aizen furrowed his brow, sensing something was off, but unable to pinpoint the issue. His frown deepened.

Nearby, Ichimaru Gin, smiling with narrowed eyes, responded, "I have quite a bit of faith in H'el."

At the Academy...

Among the students taking shelter, Matsumoto Rangiku clasped her slender fists to her chest, her face filled with concern as she prayed softly, "H'el..."

As she prayed, she tilted her head slightly, her delicate brows furrowing in confusion... why did it feel so strange to call him H'el?

"Have you noticed? But it's no use!

Paint it black, Ichimonji!"

The True Name Monk behind H'el, his mouth surrounded by a thick beard, opened and closed as if laughing loudly. He activated his Shikai, not giving H'el a moment to breathe.

H'el's brows furrowed deeply. He swung his Zanpakuto toward Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, who still held his ankle.

'Clang—'

The True Name Monk's Shikai release was incredibly swift, as if he could foresee every move H'el made.

The brush's bristles had transformed into a blade, emitting no detectable spiritual pressure, intercepting H'el's Zanpakuto with its edge, preventing him from slashing at Yamamoto.

Looking up, H'el saw the True Name Monk grinning broadly, with eyes so white they made one's scalp tingle.

"Your sword no longer has a name!" the True Name Monk said with a wide grin, his eyes glaring menacingly.

The Shikai ability of Ichimonji, the True Name Monk's Zanpakuto, remained "Slash the name, not the flesh." Its extended power allowed it to remove the names of whatever its blade touched, rendering weapons nameless and stripping them of their power.

H'el's Zanpakuto, perfectly suited to the True Name Monk's black ink, lost its name the instant their blades touched, disintegrating into spirit particles in his hand.

"Is it black?"

H'el could perceive an abnormality, a twisted rule concerning color within the sight of living beings. He pondered deeply.

He had never encountered such a bizarre, spiritual pressure-defying ability before. It felt like an inevitable rule—once covered by the black ink, it was bound to hit.

The attack was based on the concept of color, involving a complex entanglement of spirit particles, a phenomenon H'el had never been able to analyze before.

"Yes, indeed!"

The True Name Monk responded with a wide-mouthed, seemingly hearty laugh, continuing to swing his Ichimonji, aiming to kill H'el at his weakest.

In the sky, the fifteen hundred worlds trembled and faded, their once dark spheres beginning to glow with traces of blue spirit energy, as if they were on the verge of disappearing.

But the next moment, they stabilized, holding their ground firmly.

A new Zanpakuto, black as pitch, began to re-form in H'el's hand, extending to a sharp point.

"Are you erasing all the black?"

H'el's brows furrowed slightly as he spoke, gripping the Zanpakuto tightly once more.

"From the external appearance of color to the micro-level particles that form black, everything tied to the essence of black in the visual spectrum disintegrates," H'el muttered, deep in thought.

"This ability also seems to erase the names of Zanpakuto, stripping them of their power. But that doesn't matter. Even if my Zanpakuto loses its name at the moment of its erasure, I can immediately deduce its name from my Shikai."

"Moreover, even if you erase my Zanpakuto's name again, it won't change anything. My Shikai isn't dependent on the existence of the Zanpakuto itself."

H'el's gaze, though slightly furrowed, was locked onto the True Name Monk, who was still wielding his Ichimonji.

For a split second, the True Name Monk's expression froze, a trace of alarm flashing in his heart.

He's too dangerous

°°°

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