The battle was over.
A shinigami captain fought against an underground champion; the result was a barren land of at least ten miles in the Seireitei. Possibly hundreds were injured and millions displaced, a great chunk of the Academy grounds would need to be reconstructed... it would take years to recover.
It was not an incident that could be ignored and the five captains who landed near the two collapsed bodies knew as much.
They saw those two monsters lying down side by side in a bloodied state, funnily enough, or perhaps not, those captains could easily tell the reason for their collapse, and it was terrifying.
"One collapsed due to Reiryoku depletion, the other due to mental trauma. Whatever the effect of Kamishiro-kun's Zampakutō was, Zaraki Kenpachi couldn't take it" A man with white hair approached, he knelt down and rubbed Kenpachi's right arm where the veins were still popping up as blood flowed madly... as if he was still suffering even in unconsciousness.
He was the captain of the thirteenth division, Jūshiro Ukitake.
They could immediately tell due to how much his veins were protruding and the purple of his skin, that Kenpachi had been infected by some kind of powerful poison.
Next to Kenpachi, Ryōma lay down on his stomach tightly holding Hebimaru and Shitsutora in each of his hands. The captains saw something that nearly pierced their souls.
*click*
*click*
*click*
While being held by Ryoma, Hebimaru shook on its own and crackled against the ground still glistening in that purple hideous light; It was as if the sword wanted more, it was desperate for more blood.
"Terrifying~ was this a fight between two Captains or something? This Kamishiro really can pull out a fight~" One of them was Shunsui Kyoraku, a lazy-looking man holding a bottle of sake as if he had been 'casually' strolling around during the fight, he was the captain of the 8th Division.
Aizen approached Ryōma but before he could do so much as get closer, Unohana flashed in between both bodies and the Zampakutō; her Zampakuto transformed into some sort of weird green gigantic manta-ray creature and took both of the bodies into its mouth.
All in front of the frowning Aizen.
"I understand we all have questions, but I believe the livelihood of these two is the most important. Given the severity of their wounds, I may have to treat them personally".
Upon her words, several frowns furrowed, they could have seen just seconds ago before the creature took them in, how Ryoma's wounds were healing to the eye. He also collapsed due to the depletion of Reiryoku, not due to his injuries.
However, before they could say anything, she flew away.
"Let us not waste time, Minazuki".
The creature flew away, leaving behind a catastrophe that the present captains would have to deal with.
"Captain Unohana is right; it doesn't matter how many questions we have, it won't serve no purpose if there is no one to answer them. In the meantime, I will contact Commander Yamamoto... with the intensity of that Reiatsu even he must have felt it. A summoning to all captains to deal with this disaster is in order and we must begin a reconstruction process" Ukitake said and prepared to go.
"Ukitake..." Kyoraku mumbled with a concealed giggle.
"Hmn?"
"That young man... you think he's normal?" He asked that question; Ukitake looked towards the fifth captain present, Isshin Shiba, as if asking him the same mentally.
"He is an oddity, but when have we not seen oddities? I know a thing or two about him, so I guess–"
"You could entertain our questions, Captain Shiba" Sosuke Aizen cut him off with a smile.
Isshin frowned mysteriously, "As much as I can, yes... but don't trust my knowledge".
There was tension and uncertainty, but they knew answers wouldn't be coming anytime soon.
...
'This is terrible... I fucking knew this was going to happen, Ryōma!'
Flickering from building to building, Kurayami carried Sakuya and Mikoto away from the scene before relationships could be drawn; she had a grim expression filled with anxiety.
"Why are we coming this way? Where did she take Ryōma!?" Mikoto screamed against the wind, her hair was a mess.
"We can't go, you can't go. He should have known something like this was going to happen... perhaps Captain Unohana taking him is the best result for now, I'll take you both out of the Seireitei"
"No!"
*WHOOSH!*
Sakuya did a manoeuvre that shocked Kurayami and released the grasp the latter had on her waist, falling harshly on a rooftop.
"I won't go if it's not with Ryoma!" Her gaze looked determined, but she didn't see the strike to the back of her neck coming and fell unconscious.
Mikoto gasped when she saw Kurayami put Sakuya on her shoulders and walk towards her. Although nervous, she gained a fighting stance.
"We would never leave Ryōma–"
"Listen, Mikoto... this is not simple at all. It was supposed to be a sparring fight. Now Ryōma has the eyes of everyone in the Seireitei on him. Everyone saw how strong, unique and quirky he was, and everyone asked themselves questions as to how could a nobody suddenly defeat one of the strongest Captains in combat... it is not the best moment for you two to be here, got it? It doesn't matter where he was taken, you and I don't have the power to do anything now!"
The blonde girl bit her lips, so hard she almost tore them off, "T-Then what can I do?!"
"The only thing you can do is get stronger... leave the rest to me, I'll try to do something, okay? But we must go now".
Mikoto reluctantly took Kurayami's hand, she looked back one last time towards the centre of the Seireitei and promised herself if Ryōma didn't return, she'd go look for him.
**
**
Countless spiky snakes coiling around his body, rugged scaly skin and a beautiful yet dangerous gold purplish tone, tightening up posessively. He then felt something rather soft and tender touch his chest, a delicate hand grasped his chin and when his eyes opened, a pair of eyes beyond nightmares coupled with beauty beyond dreams.
'Master. It is me, Hebimaru~'.
Ryōma woke up in a black environment, confined to a table and tied up with chains. There was no light to be seen except for that single stone bed and sand... it was like a different world.
"Holy shit... when she said about the experiments, she wasn't joking" He mumbled, trying to break free from the shackles but unable to... when he checked, those restraints had shining runes on them, Kidō.
Soon, light began to shine inside the gargantuan room as a massive door opened. Into it walked a gorgeous traditional lady wearing white haori and holding a candle, she closed the door behind her and darkness reigned once more.
"It took less than expected..."
With a swift move, her hair was undone and cascaded down like seeping darkness. Whether deliberate or not, she walked forward with slow steps towards Ryōma who couldn't help but be captivated despite the situation.
"...?"
She took a seat on a chair that was close to Ryōma's stone bed and put the candle to the side.
"... are you going to torture me, Retsu? Your loose hair suits you better, by the way" He asked and complimented with a slightly nervous smile.
She giggled, "Confident as always".
The captain took out her Zampakutō slowly and then made a swift cut on her wrist. She coated the tip of the blade with her blood and poked the candle. As if her blood was flammable, her sword was set ablaze with a greenish colour flame. She swung it around and the flames spread across the room, lighting it up.
"Cool~".
Ryōma was able to get a better view of the room that resembled some sort of abandoned catacomb with stone beds.
"Torture? What would be the sense of doing such? It would do nothing to you. You are one who thrives in pain, just like me".
Rather, she used Kidō to untie him and sat back down on her chair. Ryōma rose, confused.
"The purpose of those restraints was a little experiment of mine to determine your true nature, Kamishiro Ryōma-kun" She rubbed her bleeding wrist and in less than a minute her wound was closed.
"Those restraints should have limited any Kidō you could be using to regenerate yourself, like me. By doing this experiment I was able to accurately gauge that your regenerative capabilities are physical and naturally inherent to your Reishi".