Memories from his childhood flashed through Luke’s mind once more. Those scenes had haunted countless sleepless nights. He hated those people—and he hated the helpless child he had once been.
Self-loathing?
Luke fell into thought. For a long time, guilt had tormented him, but he had already moved on.
Because he knew his master and senior sister would not want to see him remain trapped in the past. He would avenge them, but more than that, he would climb to the very peak of martial arts.
But if it was not self-loathing, and he was certain that he was human, then why did he see such a scene in the depths of his soul?
By the time class ended, Luke had made no progress with resonance. He could only decide to make a deeper attempt tonight.
There were too many eyes in class, and Sosuke Aizen had plenty he could not conveniently say. Although he had admitted to Luke that he had already achieved Shikai, he had never displayed it before their instructor or classmates.
That evening, Luke returned to the dormitory with a slightly weary body and immediately climbed into bed.
But he was not planning to sleep. Today, his session with Instructor Unohana had only been a light taste of the usual ordeal, so he still had plenty of stamina left.
Tonight, he intended to thoroughly investigate the matter of his Zanpakuto—or rather, the problem with his own soul.
Before he began, he glanced over his current status panel.
[Explorer No. 404040404, your base attributes are as follows:]
[Constitution: 17 (+2)]
[Strength: 16 (+1)]
[Agility: 17 (+2)]
[Spirit: 22 (+2)]
[Charisma: 6]
[Luck: 1]
His attributes had changed significantly. His Constitution had improved because Unohana had cut him open repeatedly over the past two months. His body had gained a measure of resistance through the endless cycle of damage and reconstruction.
His Agility, meanwhile, had benefited from his development and study of Flash Step. As he adapted to high-speed movement, his neural reaction speed had improved considerably as well.
Strength had increased the least, mainly because he had not done any specialized strength training.
As for Spirit, although he had not trained it much, Shin'o Academy’s meditation method truly was an excellent way to raise both Spiritual Might and mental strength. Unlike his training in other fields, cultivating Spiritual Might was fundamentally a straightforward process of raising raw numbers, so the improvement showed more clearly in his attributes.
To clarify, every one of his attribute increases was related to the growth of his Spiritual Might. Spirit simply had the closest connection to it.
Shin'o Academy currently assessed him at Spiritual Might Rank 16, though Luke felt that he had only just crossed that threshold.
Sosuke Aizen had said that he learned a Zanpakuto’s true name could activate Shikai when he reached Spiritual Might Rank 17. That was probably a lie. Still, judging from the subtle way Aizen had said it, Luke felt that if Aizen had possessed an Asauchi at Rank 17, using Shikai would not have been a problem for him.
Then there was no reason Luke could not do the same.
With that thought, Luke calmed himself and used Shin'o Academy’s resonance method, sending his consciousness deep into his own soul.
Seeing that Luke had entered the proper state, Sosuke Aizen turned out the light early and began his daily grind as well.
Luke found himself walking beneath a pitch-black sky. He did not know what lay ahead, nor was there any path back.
He did not know whether he had stumbled upon the right trick, but this resonance felt different from all the previous attempts.
After taking another step forward, he felt a sharp sense of weightlessness. Then the entire world began to shake.
Whispers rose beside his ears again, accompanied by agonized wails that sent chills down his spine.
He fell. And fell. He had never descended through this "abyss" for so long before.
His instincts screamed at him to stop the resonance, but his curiosity about the secret hidden in the depths of his soul made him endure and continue downward.
It was as though he had pierced some kind of barrier. His vision blurred for an instant, and when it cleared, he saw... purgatory.
It was a violet-black purgatory. Endless violet-black flames rolled through rivers of magma. Like living creatures, the flames twisted their bodies, devouring the surrounding air and releasing deafening roars.
The sky was blanketed by heavy smoke. From time to time, dark-red lightning tore across the heavens, illuminating the screaming faces of tortured souls.
Amid the boundless heat and suffering stood an enormous cage, silently rising from solidified magma. Its surface was covered in violet-black demonic markings that twisted like vines.
At the base of the cage, a dark-red door slowly opened. Beyond it lay bottomless darkness, from which came the clatter of chains.
The instant the door opened, Luke could no longer hear the chaotic cries. The world suddenly became much quieter, leaving only the crash of magma and the rolling roar of flames.
That door seemed to possess some strange magic that drew Luke forward.
Strangely, a single step carried him over the magma and flames, bringing him directly before the cage’s entrance.
A cage?
Confusion rose in Luke’s heart. Why had he instinctively decided this was a cage?
The structure before him was clearly nothing more than an irregular mound of hardened magma. Yet even before the door had opened, he had known it was a cage.
He took another step forward and looked through the dark-red door. All he saw was profound, endless blackness.
At that moment, a massive wave surged behind him. Flames erupted like pillars, and dark-red light spilled into the pitch-black cage.
For that single instant, Luke saw what was inside.
A jet-black figure was bound by countless chains. They looked as though they had been forged from the hardest divine metal, giving off a faint, cold gleam.
The imprisoned body was like an abyss—black and unfathomably deep. As though sensing Luke’s gaze, it slowly raised its head.
In the faint light cast by the flames, Luke saw its sunken eyes. They shone with cold indifference and brutal cruelty, as though even endless ages could not wear away its hatred.
Then the wind rose. The wind of purgatory carried the scorching stench of sulfur, sweeping up endless ash and scorched earth. It danced through Luke’s seemingly insubstantial body and poured into the cage, eventually settling over the figure—yet even that could not conceal the majesty of the imprisoned being.
Is this... my Zanpakuto?
Luke felt as though he had gained a fragment of understanding, yet he was even more confused. Unable to hold back, he asked, "What is your name?"
The figure in the depths of the cage met Luke’s gaze. But Luke received no answer.
What answered him was a roar.
ROAR—
It was a roar that seemed capable of shattering countless worlds, carrying hatred and unwillingness that had endured through innumerable eras.
That roar was violent. Mad. And also... lonely.
As the demon-god-like figure roared, the entire world of purgatory trembled.
The heavens collapsed and the earth split apart. Magma rose like a tsunami, while flames shot through the sky like meteors.
Luke stood before the cage. Behind him towered a magma tsunami of immeasurable height, while violet-black flames curled around him like dancing spirits.
Amid that world-ending scene, Luke did not move. His expression remained calm as he stared at the figure within the cage.
Just as he was about to ask another question, a violent gale erupted beneath his feet and swept him into the sky.
The world spun around him. Then Luke abruptly opened his eyes in bed. That demon-god-like figure had directly "kicked" him out.
He looked outside and saw that dawn had already begun to brighten the sky.
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