Chapter 74: Forgotten Blood Ties
The small child pulled out a fragment of glass which they hid from behind, and he quickly tried to stab Kensei. But of course, Kensei quickly caught the attack and swiftly knocked them out with a chop to the neck.
One of the men from the group grabbed onto some nearby debris, and threw a heavy stone at Kensei which he destroyed with a simple fist. It didn't take long for him to wipe out the whole group, except for one guy at least.
Kensei was standing over the unconscious bodies of the prisoners, while holding one badly beaten one that was barely breathing by the collar.
"You! How the hell did you all get out?"
He was gasping for air as he answered.
"A strange girl freed us. She could control the restraints that bound us, and she set us free. She was carrying a strange boy with her too. I asked them where they were going, but she only told me she was going down."
"DOWN!??"
Kensei quickly realized where she was headed too. He quickly dropped the prisoner and was about to head to the prison, but then he was suddenly attacked by several more Vasto Lordes.
He then noticed that Kai and Yuki had snuck away while he was busy with the prisoners.
"Dammit! If I don't get there in time, those kids are going to die!"
Yuki and Kai were on their way to Squad 1's base. From there it wouldn't be that hard to enter the underground prison. But what they found was very surprising.
Squad 1's base was oddly empty. The members of squad 1 were absent. Not even the cowards which should've been hiding here or any civilians seeking refuge were here. They were just gone. Not even any corpses to indicate death.
Squad 1's base was also partially destroyed, but what was really surprising was the giant hole the width of a building in it's centre. Kai stood at it's edge with Yuki not caring for his safety. As he stared down into that eternal abyss, he could feel it. The familiar spiritual pressure of a Fullbringer.
"She's down there. I can feel it. Since you followed me all the way here, are you going to come too?"
Yuki wasn't sure. She was just going along with the flow of this situation. But since she had nothing better to do, she ultimately decided to follow him anyway. Before the two could even go down however, they felt a frighting presence behind them.
"Hey!"
They turned around, only to see a tall, slender but muscular man behind them. He had strange but short cut white hair, and his eyes had a sense of divinity in them. He was bare foot and shirtless, with the only clothing covering him was his white shorts.
They couldn't sense his spiritual pressure, but they could defiantly tell this wasn't an opponent they could beat.
Yuki was about to draw her Zanpakutō, but the man flash stepped in front of her, and rested the palm of his hand on her Zanpakutō. Yuki couldn't even comprehend his speed.
"Your awfully brave? Or was that your instincts?"
This wasn't the first time Yuki had encountered absolute power. But this person was something else entirely. Her instincts told her not to look at the man, for if she did she would die.
"Look at me, and state your name."
The man forced Yuki to look at her by forcing her chin up, but the second they made eye contact, the man was a little frightened.
"You! But how?! Your still alive after all this time?! And why are you here of all places!?"
He quickly looked at Kai and noticed something peculiar about him as well.
Particularly with his wakizashi Zanpakutō and Kurenai who was resting on his shoulder.
"I was only interested in who would notice what happened first but, it seems I'm going to get a lot more involved with this than I intended."
He flash stepped in front of Kai before quickly kicking him into the massive hole. Yuki shouted his name but the man returned back to her. He forcefully grabbed her by the neck, and threw her into the air.
Yuki was about to cast a Kido spell but before she could even finish chanting, the man flash stepped in front of her again and smashed her into the ground.
"Hurry up and release your Zanpakutō. Or can't you even do that?"
Yuki quickly got up and finally drew her Zanpakutō. As she did she called out it's name.
"Bring the world into submission, Saku Hitokōri!"
Her Zanpakutō transformed into its Shikai state once more, and Yuki wasted no time in attacking. As she slashed at the air, several frozen ice spikes emerged from the ground, instantly making their way up towards the man.
"Is that all?"
The ice spikes suddenly grew even more which surprised him a little. They completely enveloped not just him but the entire area, freezing the place. The man just easily shattered the ice as he walked out of it unharmed.
"Not bad, but it could use some work-"
Yuki's blade suddenly lit on fire as it scorched with great power. She lunged at the man and prepared to slice his neck, but then he caught the sword with his right hand. He weakened his grip on the sword, which allowed Yuki to break out and back away.
"Girl. What is your name?"
She said with hesitation in her voice, "Yuki Tsubokoniri."
A droplet of sweat fell from his forehead as that name was one that he knew. His voice trembled and shivered when he then asked.
"Who raised you?"
That question was surprising, but Yuki didn't have any other choice but to answer.
"I didn't have any single parent looking after me. I was passed around in the village I lived in, but there wasn't anyone I could really consider a parent."
The man cursed to himself, but now it was time for Yuki to ask her some questions.
"Who are you!? And what happened to the other prisoners?"
"I'm a former Soul Reaper who was locked on the 7th floor of the prison. The name I went by was Jin Gotetsu, but my real name is Jin Tsubokoniri. The two of us are brother and sister."
The truth was sudden and shocking. Yuki didn't feel any lie in his words, but she didn't want to believe them either. She didn't quite know what to say to her supposed older brother. 'Where were you?' 'Why am I only hearing about you now?'. All these questions but she just couldn't say them.
"If only our foolish parents hadn't sided with that bastard Tachibana, then this would've never happened."
The mention of her parents confused her, now there were even more questions she had to ask. But rather than that, something else come out of her mouth.
"How did you get out?"
Yuki didn't understand what she herself had said. The person claiming to be her brother was shocked too. So many questions yet she decided to ask 'that'. Instead Jin just laughed.
"I guess that means you don't care about that burden they left us with. Not like it matters now anyway. I got out the same way all the other prisoners did. That strange girl freed us. Someone from an upper floor tried to stop us, but Nine, another prisoner of the seventh floor probably killed him."
Sakugo had released all the prisoners from the seventh floor and above, and Kai still sensed her spiritual pressure in that place.
This allowed Yuki to identify the likely purpose of this invasion.
"The attackers goal!? They're trying to free Sōsuke Aizen?"