NOVEL WEB Chapter 9: CHAPTER 9
> [I checked the history and found there was no date in this history, and every page was scribbled with the words "benevolence, righteousness, and morality."]
[I couldn't sleep anyway, so I kept reading through half the night. That's when I finally saw the truth written between the lines—two words: "eat people."]
[Oops. Wrong script.]
---
> [Yhwach has finally activated the Fourth Auswählen.
Well, well.
Isn't that a surprise?]
> [Friendly reminder: Now's the time to use the Suilong Mirror—
Wait, no.
The Hōgyoku.]
---
I'm going blind.
My body's collapsing.
My heart has been on the verge of arrest for hours.
Even my internal organs are barely functioning.
Since the first day I arrived in this world, there's been a persistent (and possibly unhinged) stalker named Yhwach whispering into my ear:
> "I will kill you."
And now—
"What's happening?!"
"Could this be… the 'holy' you spoke of?!"
Urahara Kisuke's expression twisted in shock as a sudden realization struck him.
> "There's someone who wants me dead."
> "My body is falling apart."
> "But now..."
---
Holy!
Fear!
Darkness!
Destruction!
Recreate the world!
Somewhere, faintly—
I can still hear Yhwach muttering madness into my ear.
The pain is unbearable.
Power is draining.
But even so—
Kanbaru slowly lifts his head, smiling:
> "Come on, Yhwach."
> "Let's see if you kill me first... or I kill you."
> "When I wake up, my soul will still be mine."
No hesitation.
Kanbaru unleashes his Reiatsu, violently ripping the seal off the box.
> "Yhwach?"
Wait—
Wasn't he annihilated by Genryūsai Yamamoto over a thousand years ago?
Then why is Kanbaru speaking as if Yhwach still exists?
...Could it be—?
A horrible chill coils in Urahara Kisuke's spine.
A terrifying hypothesis forms.
> Yhwach… is alive?
> Still existing?!
Analyzing Kanbaru's cryptic comments, Urahara swiftly draws a shocking conclusion.
But there's no time to dwell.
He looks up—and freezes.
For the first time—
Urahara Kisuke's face loses composure.
"Manager… that is—!"
Tessai Tsukabishi's throat bobs. Even his normally unreadable eyes shine with disbelief.
> "That's… confirmation."
> "The Hōgyoku has acknowledged Kurosaki Kanbaru."
> "It's initiating fusion on its own!"
Urahara's mind reels.
As the creator of the Hōgyoku, he's spent over a century studying its nature.
But it never recognized him.
It never tried to fuse with him.
Nor with Yoruichi.
Not even Tessai.
But now—Kanbaru, this unpredictable anomaly—has been instantly accepted?
How?
How could Hōgyoku show active fusion on its own?
No answer comes.
---
The Hōgyoku floats upward, glowing faintly.
No words. No command.
It simply drifts—
—and slips straight into Kanbaru's chest.
Like a concept bypassing matter, it pierces through his clothing and disappears beneath the skin.
> "Tessai!"
Urahara shouts, face grim.
No more orders needed.
Tessai immediately erects a heavy spiritual barrier.
They both know—
If Aizen is monitoring even a hint of the Hōgyoku's reactivation,
They're in danger.
But for now—
That's a problem for later.
---
Kanbaru, however, feels only conflict.
His Reiatsu is hemorrhaging.
Yet at the same time, it's expanding.
Draining—
Growing—
An impossible contradiction.
And then...
Balance breaks.
The growth overtakes the drain.
Reiatsu begins to explode outward.
Mountains of spiritual pressure surge beyond comprehension.
Yhwach's subconscious activation of Auswählen now collapses under the Hōgyoku's overwhelming dominance.
---
RUMBLE!
The shop shakes.
The barrier groans.
Even the residual Reiatsu is oppressive.
Urahara Kisuke's face hardens.
Pressure.
Terror.
Crushing weight.
Breathing becomes a struggle.
It's as if they're standing before a higher-dimensional being, yet bound by mortal flesh.
He hasn't felt like this since the Soul King's palace.
---
For the first time in decades—
Urahara Kisuke feels powerless.
> "Did he just... break his limit?"
His bucket hat lifts slightly in the gale of spiritual pressure, revealing dead fish eyes gone dead serious.
This isn't human.
No—this isn't even inhuman.
This is beyond category.
---
Hollow?
Shinigami?
Quincy?
It doesn't matter.
> "What the hell is he?"
> "To earn Hōgyoku's approval immediately…"
Tessai, still reinforcing the barrier, mutters:
> "What terrifying temperament."
> "That thing has the power to overwrite the world's laws…"
> "And it accepted him."
Urahara breathes out slowly.
> "Kurosaki Kanbaru… you've truly blindsided me."
The swirling blue-violet Reiatsu coils like smoke around Kanbaru, pulsing with every heartbeat.
Urahara knows that glow.
It's Hōgyoku's own spiritual essence.
He watches it merge deeper, rhythm synchronizing with Kanbaru's core.
---
Finally—
The tremors slow.
The fluctuations settle.
And the Hōgyoku is… gone.
Absorbed.
> "Initial fusion appears complete," Tessai mutters, sweat beading on his brow.
He'd been terrified that a single misstep would send a signal flare to Aizen.
But somehow… the worst didn't happen.
> "Amazing," Urahara whispers.
> "He fused with it."
> "And it accepted him—body and soul."
This is no accident.
No whim of fate.
Yoruichi warned him not to underestimate this kid.
At the time, Urahara thought she was exaggerating.
But now…
> "She saw this coming better than I did."
---
Silence settles.
Only the faint pulsing of Reiatsu remains, like an echo of thunder after the storm.
Urahara finally speaks again:
> "Mr. Kurosaki."
> "The next questions I ask… are critical."
> "They might determine the fate of our world…"
> "...and whether we remain allies."
> "So please—"
> "Answer truthfully."