Chapter 1173 Flames of a Great Man

As soon as Soifon had left, Kisuke also made his way to the deepest and most secluded corner of the underground facility. There was a closed large metallic door and after operating a few switches, it opened to reveal a very small space. Within that small space, a portal manifested, showing a scenery that was very similar to the Underworld.

Kisuke stepped through the portal and immediately fell down directly onto the massive manor in the middle of Oath Town.

Some of the citizens of the town saw Kisuke's arrival but only gave a quick glance before going on with their day. After all, they've already seen this scene occur multiple times.

Kisuke got off the roof and went through a window where a guard was waiting for him, "Where are they?"

"They've been out for more than three weeks. However, they sent and left a message for you a few days ago, Sir Belial." The guard answered while passing a sealed envelope containing a letter to Kisuke.

Skeptical, Kisuke first examined the envelope itself before moving to open it. Since he had no proof that it was really the leaders of Oath Town who sent this letter, he had to be careful.

As there wasn't anything special in the letter, Kisuke proceeded to read its contents but only found a messily drawn map with few directions at the bottom. Kisuke looked at the guard and asked, "How did you receive this?"

"Through the mayor's messenger bird."

"I see. Thank you for your work. I'll be leaving first."

"Have a safe journey."

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Kisuke ended up traveling for a whole day even though he sped up as much as he could to reach his destination, 'If I've guessed it correctly, Saito-san and Shihouin-san should have already made contact with Ichimaru-san and Sasakibe-san. But it could also mean that this is a trap.' This also made him realize that Hell was a much larger place than he initially anticipated.

As he neared the place marked on the crude map, Kisuke immediately donned his disguise 'Belial'. And while he was at it, he noticed that the surrounding area has noticeably become drier and the temperature was constantly rising even though it's the coldest time of the night, 'So they really found him.'

What's more surprising, however, is the fact that he couldn't see a hint of flames that should be raging now along with the rise of temperature. Kisuke thought that if it really was him marked on the map, he should already be seeing something akin to a small sun lighting up the region.

Thankfully, this was soon answered when he passed through a mountainous region and saw a 50-meter radius area lit on fire, and around it were five individuals trying to contain the flames and the skeletons emerging from it.

Kisuke immediately stopped flying, hid his presence, and watched what was happening from a distance for now while crossing his arms.

He first looked at the source of the heat and found an old man quietly sitting cross-legged in the middle. Kisuke wasn't entirely sure if that man was the man he was expecting because aside from the familiar attire and build, there was nothing else that he could identify him with as he didn't have a face.

More specifically the old wrinkled man's head doesn't have any flesh and could only see a black skull with a faint red light within his eye sockets.

Kisuke was only able to confirm that the man he was looking at was the former Captain Commander Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto thanks to his Ryuujin Jakka sticking out of the ground behind him.

As for the skeletons around him, Kisuke had already guessed that they were from Yamamoto's Zanpakuto's ability to summon the corpses of those it killed.

As for the five people, Kisuke was familiar with four of them and had already been expecting their presence when he came here. Those who tried to abduct Ichigo's son, Chojirou Sasakibe and Gin Ichimaru and those who he had been in contact with and the ones running Oath Town, Furoufushi Saitou, and Chika Shihouin.

Kisuke's eyes finally landed on the last person and it was someone he didn't know. She was a petite woman with pale skin, large eyes, thin eyebrows, and large breasts. She had black hair arranged into large bangs and a hip-length segmented ponytail tied up with red ribbon, and wore large, thin-rimmed glasses in addition to the standard captain's haori over a shihakushou, as well as red sandals, 'If she's one of the founding members of the Gotei 13 too, then there's only one person with a description like that.'

But while Kisuke was staring at her and trying to figure out his identity, the woman's head suddenly snapped in his direction and their gazes met, 'Hmmm? How?' Kisuke asked himself, surprised.

The woman cut off the skeleton's head that was coming in her direction before pointing her Zanpakuto in the form of a naginata with a white double-edged blade, a golden shaft ridged at both ends with a rubber grip-like texture, and a large golden tassel tied in a three-loop knot at the opposite end of the blade.

".ho ar. .ou!?" The woman shouted. Thanks to the distance, the strong blowing wind, and the rustling leaves of the trees, Kisuke could barely hear her words, however, he could understand her question that was accompanied by dense killing intent.

The other four immediately noticed her action and turned to the direction she was facing.

While Gin and Chojirou were confused at his appearance, Furoufushi and Chika were relieved when they saw him. Immediately after that, Furoufushi angrily gestured to Kisuke to help them out if he was here while Chika explained the situation to the other three.

Without much choice, Kisuke approached the group while feeling the temperature around increasing significantly but not as much as he expected.

As Kisuke landed more than ten meters away from Furoufushi, the latter immediately lashed out at him, "If you're already here, then help out! It's very hard for us to contain this, you know?! I don't think we'll last for another few days…"

"If you're not going to last that long, what's the point of me helping out? Or more importantly, what's the point of stopping this if you have no plan of addressing the root cause of this?", replied Kisuke while analyzing the situation further.

"You're smart, right?" Furoufushi asked while cutting the skeleton that was approaching, "We're hoping that you'll have a solution for this before the old man loses control of himself... But it took you three whole weeks to get here."

Kisuke didn't say anything immediately and looked around more. A few more seconds later, he finally understood the situation, or at least, what was happening right now. Furoufushi and the others are using their Reiatsu to create a wall and contain the heat. Meanwhile, Kisuke has guessed the old man Yamamoto is trying to reign in his raging powers but that's obviously not working as the flames were only getting worse.

"How long can you last, exactly?", asked Kisuke deciding what course of action he should take.

But instead of Furoufushi, it was the woman he didn't know who answered, "Three days. If Furoufushi were to release her Reiatsu, she could hold on for another two days just by herself."

Kisuke looked at her for a few moments to contemplate the feasibility of what he wanted to do, "Three days, hmmm... I guess that's enough, but it's cutting it a bit close."

"You have a plan?", asked Furoufushi with a hopeful expression.

Kisuke nodded while starting to fly off, "Yes. But it'll take some time. After the third day, I'll give everyone a signal. At that moment, please push back against the old man with everything you have. I'll just need a small window when his flames are not as strong as this."