Chapter 1176 Invading the Palace part 2

Kisuke blocked the spear-wielding Tenjirou Kirinji with Tiamat and Senjumaru Shutara's golden arms with his left hand covered with various Magic barriers.

Both of them were surprised mostly because both of them were not holding back and Kisuke blocked them without even being pushed back.

After the initial clash, Tenjirou and Senjumaru jumped back and took some distance to observe the intruder more. The question of how he came in was much more important than his presence here so they need more information to pull out any reasonable conclusion.

"Those strange geometric symbols, Magic, is it?" Senjumaru started first.

And that question was soon followed by Tenjirou's statement, "Not just that. I can smell the scent of both Shinigami and Hollow from you. Just who are you? Better yet, what are you?"

But instead of answering their questions, Kisuke just said in his distorted voice, "I'm not here for the two of you."

Tenjirou smirks and scoffs at him while taking a stance with his Zanpakuto, "That's not something for you to decide."

Senjumaru also prepared to attack but just as they were about to take a step forward, the strange man's presence suddenly started to become hazy, "Let's meet again on another occasion."

Tenjirou and Senjumaru were startled and hurriedly initiated their attacks. However, Kisuke didn't do anything and their attacks went through him as his body dispersed like a mist, "!?"

The next thing they knew, his presence was already deep inside the Spirit King's Palace. The two of them realized that the moment they jumped back, he had already gone past them.

"Should we follow?" Senjumaru asked Tenjirou.

Tenjirou silently stares at the palace before turning back to his city, "He's already there. Let's just prepare for the next intruders. We still don't know how he came in and if he's alone."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tenjirou disappeared.

Senjumaru stared at the palace for a few moments too before turning to her own city, 'It's only been more than a decade since the last invasion. I didn't think another one would happen so soon.'

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.

.

Standing in front of the crystalized man, Kisuke muttered his name, "Yhwach... So it's really you who replaced the Spirit King."

"He's the man who triggered a great war that cost countless lives and claimed that he hated violence and conflict." A man's voice suddenly resounded behind Kisuke, "Quite a hypocrite, eh?"

Kisuke was not surprised and turned his head sideways, "You should be one of the few people who realized that that isn't true."

The large and broad individual with a bald head, red eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a long black beard grinned at him and asked, "I'm not really quite sure what you're talking about."

Kisuke sneered at him and turned his head back to the sealed Yhwach, "You should have realized that Yhwach only absorbed the Spirit King because he saw his own defeat."

"And? What does that have to do with him being a hypocrite or not?"

'Because you intended to use Kurosaki-san as a replacement upon the Spirit King's death. That could potentially split the Soul Society apart, causing more unnecessary deaths even after the war. That's nothing to you because all you have to do is to balance things out, adding more to the tragedy.' Kisuke thought to himself. He didn't want to pan out the conversation because he was afraid that this perceptive monk would figure out more things about him.

Seeing that the strange man remained quiet, the smile on his face disappeared, "Are you here to destroy the lynchpin?"

"You wouldn't have allowed me to stand here if I really intended to do that."

"You have disrespected us who are guarding this place so I'd really appreciate it if your reason for stepping into this place is not because you just want to sightsee." An intense killing intent came pressuring down on Kisuke.

"Of course not. As much as I want to make a mess of this whole place, I just can't casually stroll in here." Kisuke finally turned around and faced the leader of the Zero Division, Ichibei Hyousube, "I just wanted to confirm something from the very first Shinigami born from Hell."

"Hooh... What an interesting statement to make.", Ichibei narrowed his eyes and held his gigantic calligraphy brush, "What do you want to know?"

"Who had an agreement with Hell? Is it the Spirit King or the Five Ancestors?" Kisuke asked straight.

However, Ichibei didn't answer and just directly swung his calligraphy brush. But just like what happened with Tenjirou and Senjumaru, Ichibei only hit a misty image. The strange man's presence was already gone.

Ichibei tapped the end of his calligraphy brush on the floor and muttered, "What a strange ability. It's neither Spiritual Power nor Hell's Blessing." He wanted to hit him at least once to figure out his name but it seemed that the other party already knew his ability quite well and didn't clash with him.

After thinking for a bit, he went outside of the palace and swung his brush a few times, leaving behind a black ink in the air which ultimately formed the word [Halt].

Within the Garganta, Tiamat talked to Kisuke, [That man is very dangerous. You're lucky to get out of there so smoothly.]

"No doubt. It went so much smoother than I expected that it actually scared me."

[Are you going to fight him?]

"I don't know about that yet, but most probably, yes."

[You can't win.]

"I won't deny that, but I already know someone who directly counters his abilities."

Kisuke's trip into the Soul Palace wasn't just to confirm that the lynchpin was functioning as intended, but also to confirm if Ichibei came from Hell because his [Ink] reminded him of the black chains. Although he didn't really receive an answer, based on his reaction, Kisuke was able to confirm that there's indeed an agreement with Hell with either the Spirit King or the Five Ancestors.

'Either way, I have to explore and know more about Hell to even understand Ichibei's connection with it and the Spirit King's warning.