A Sudden and Painful Power Up?

When Kisuke woke up, there were two flowers on each of his sides and the first thought that entered his mind was, 'Who would have thought I'd reach this point someday. A harem? Looks like the previous world rubbed off on me more than I had imagined.'

Kisuke knew that despite his personality being unchanged, his bottom line and moral values already were. However, he didn't regret anything and would continue on this path that he'd already stepped on, not just for himself, but also for those who believed in him.

After admitting it to himself, Kisuke sighed in relief as if a huge weight left his shoulders. Fully accepting his reality, the small doubts within his eyes had finally disappeared and were replaced by a bright conviction.

As his mindset went through a small but monumental change, the Hougyoku that had already fused with his body suddenly reacted, prompting Yoruichi and Kuroka to wake up due to Kisuke's aura suddenly shifting. "What's going on!?", asked Yoruichi in concern.

"I don't know.", replied Kisuke while he prepared to strengthen the seal on his rising energy levels, "Sorry, but take me to a quiet place."

"On it, nya!" Kuroka immediately left the bed and activated the teleportation circle that she'd prepared long ago in case they needed to escape from their rented house.

It didn't take long for Kuroka's teleportation magic to take effect and they reappeared in a clearing in the middle of a forest just a few seconds later.

Yoruichi and Kuroka then jumped away from Kisuke while materializing their clothes and Yoruichi additionally threw four kunai knives around Kisuke, erecting a powerful barrier, "Are you going to be alright?"

Kisuke sat cross-legged and closed his eyes before replying, "...Yeah... I think so."

His unsure answer made Yoruichi and Kuroka only more worried, but they didn't say anything else, lest they disturb his concentration. Instead, they each went to do something they thought could help. While Yoruichi strengthened the barrier around Kisuke and added additional layers to it, Kuroka used her Senjutsu and Youjustu to create a mist and an illusion that would deter anyone from approaching their spot. Seeing that, Yoruichi also added a layer of a sound-insulating barrier to the surroundings for better camouflage.

Meanwhile, Kisuke carefully watched the movement of his energy and asked his partner, 'Benihime, any idea on what's happening?'

'Not too sure either. But if you want a guess from a third party's perspective, I think the Hougyoku just granted your wish. Aside from that, I don't have any other guesses.'

'My wish, huh? I really have no idea how this mess of a ball works.'

'Well, the fact that you can't recreate it anymore despite following your previous procedure is already a testament to that,' replied Benihime with a chuckle, 'Your guess that an invisible hand assisted both you and Aizen in creating that thing has become even more believable.'

Kisuke became quiet one more time as he tried to control his energy that was about to go berserk. However, even after strengthening the seal, the Hougyoku didn't stop. Kisuke had to find another way to calm these energies down or his body would break down.

Unlike Aizen who had an unnaturally enormous amount of Reiryoku to begin with, Kisuke's soul wasn't accustomed to such pressure. He could let his soul slowly adapt to this, but that would take some time and he didn't have that kind of time right now.

After trying a few things out but to no avail, Benihime suddenly spoke in his mind again, 'Why don't you just let it go?'

'And die?', asked Kisuke.

'That's the problem with you. You're too logical. Your instincts are also telling you to let go, aren't they? Why don't you give up and try trusting your guts this one time?'

'That's essentially the same as trusting this broken wishing orb to do whatever it wants.'

'What are you so afraid of? I'm here with you, remember?'

Kisuke became silent once again as he contemplated Benihime's words. As it was now, the Hougyoku would break through his seals and that may cause more damage than letting it 'explode'. And indeed, Benihime correctly guessed that his instincts had been telling him to just let it go do its job.

All this time, he had been trying to find the reason why he was feeling this way to justify this instinct and go with it, but he couldn't. He could also try sealing the Hougyoku completely as he'd already prepared for something like this, but he also had a feeling that if he were to do this, a great opportunity would be lost. Right now, Kisuke was torn between 'safety' and the 'unknown future'.

A few minutes later, Benihime spoke up again as she noticed that the situation had reached a critical state, 'If you want to do something, you have to do it now.'

Thankfully, Kisuke didn't let her wait and answered, '...Fine. This is my first real gamble.'

As he reached a decision, Kisuke removed all the seals which kept the Hougyoku at bay.

Yoruichi and Kuroka immediately noticed the change in Kisuke and moved according to it. Yoruichi opened the top portion of the barrier and Kuroka cloaked Kisuke's surroundings and upwards with her illusions.

A split second after they did so, a crimson beam of light emerged from Kisuke and parted the sky. If it wasn't for Kuroka's illusions, the inhabitants of the Dizara Region would have noticed this crimson pillar that pierced through to the Heavens.

Of course, despite their best efforts to hide this spot, they couldn't fully contain the energy fluctuations from Kisuke and it attracted numerous Gods and some sensitive people.

"Kuroka, extend the confusing mist three kilometers more. We have to buy as much time as possible.", instructed Yoruichi.

Kuroka nodded and released the Ki that she had been saving. Black flames started fluttering around her, red patterns appeared on her face and the number of her tails increased to nine. A large red Magic Circle then appeared below her, making the mist around them not just extend for three kilometers in all directions but also a lot thicker, making it almost impossible to navigate through it.

Meanwhile, Kisuke closely watched the changes happening in his physical body and soul without interrupting any of it.

The first thing that happened was that the Hougyoku started saturating his soul with Reiryoku to the point of almost making it implode. Kisuke experienced untold pain as foreign Reiryoku invaded his soul, however, he didn't do anything about it and continued watching stoically.

When his soul almost couldn't take it anymore, the Reiryoku from the Hougyoku suddenly flowed in a different direction. More specifically, towards the core of his Falna.

While being shocked, Kisuke and Benihime witnessed how the energy produced by the Hougyoku got absorbed by the Falna completely. Even then, the two of them only watched for a couple of seconds before they understood what must be done.

Falna, the God's blessing, wasn't Kisuke's. So what he had to do was to wrest it completely away from the system governing this world.