Loyalty Gets No Mercy

Senbonzakura appeared in front of Muramasa at the right moment.

"Muramasa, go. I will stop Rukia and Senna."

Muramasa relaxed slightly. The Hollows alone might not hold them long enough, and this was the critical point. If Rukia or Senna stopped Koga's release now, everything Muramasa had done would be wasted.

"Good. I leave them to you."

Muramasa used Shunpo and landed on the small island at the center of the lake.

Rukia stared at Senbonzakura.

"Senbonzakura, why are you still helping Muramasa?"

Senbonzakura only scoffed.

On the island, Muramasa began chanting. His words broke the illusion barrier hiding the seal. The island's appearance collapsed, revealing the truth beneath the fog.

A black coffin stood there, pierced through by four golden halberds.

"Muramasa!" Rukia tried to rush forward with Senna's help.

Too late.

Reiatsu shot from Muramasa's eyes into the black coffin. A terrifying pressure erupted from within and blasted the four halberds away.

The man sealed for centuries was finally free.

Ichigo reached the battlefield just then.

"Muramasa!"

Tensa Zangetsu cut toward him.

Muramasa was already at his limit. He barely blocked the blow.

Ichigo's real target was not him.

He flashed to Rukia's side.

"Are you all right?"

Rukia shook her head.

"I'm fine. But I think we were too late."

Ichigo looked toward the open coffin.

A withered man stood inside it. When his eyes opened, his already powerful reiatsu swelled several times over.

"So that is Muramasa's master," Ichigo said. "Koga Kuchiki."

It was hard to believe a Soul Reaper sealed for centuries could still carry that much power. His reiatsu rivaled high-level captains.

Muramasa looked at the familiar stranger with a tenderness that felt almost painful.

"Are you awake, Koga?"

Koga said nothing. He held a broken Zanpakuto and stared at Muramasa.

"Muramasa?"

His voice was cold.

Then he stabbed the broken blade into Muramasa's stomach.

No one had expected it.

There was no affection in Koga's eyes.

"Why?" Muramasa stared at his master in disbelief. "Why would you do this? Were we not partners?"

He fell to his knees.

"You did not answer me," Koga said. "When I was about to be sealed, I called for you. I called and called, but you refused to lend me your strength."

Muramasa looked utterly lost.

"You called me? I heard nothing. Truly, nothing. I waited for your call the entire time."

His voice shook.

"If you had called, no matter when, no matter what the situation was, I would have given you all of my power."

"But I heard nothing for so long. When I finally emerged, I learned you had been sealed. That is why I tried to release you. That is why I kept going..."

Muramasa reached toward him.

Centuries of imprisonment had not given Koga reason. If anything, his mind had twisted further.

He ignored Muramasa's grief, pulled the broken blade free, and kicked him away.

"If you were not there when I needed you, then you have no meaning."

"I am the Soul Reaper who gave birth to your power. You only need to do as I command."

Muramasa clutched his wound.

"Then are we not still partners?"

"Partners?" Koga's voice was full of contempt. "You are only a blade. A tool. Do not forget your place."

Koga raised his weapon to kill him.

Byakuya appeared in front of Muramasa and blocked the strike.

"Byakuya?"

"Brother?"

Ichigo and Rukia both shouted in relief.

Byakuya looked at Koga with open disdain.

"You call your Zanpakuto a tool and then try to kill it. You have no right to call yourself a Soul Reaper."

Muramasa himself had not expected Byakuya to protect him.

Koga studied Byakuya's scarf and hairpieces.

"The Ginpaku Kazahana no Uzuginu and Kenseikan. You are of the Kuchiki family?"

"I am Byakuya Kuchiki, the twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki family."

Koga's mouth twisted.

Byakuya's eyes cooled further.

"Do not speak my grandfather's name so lightly. A man who stained the Kuchiki honor has no right to mention him."

Ichigo and Rukia were both struggling to keep up.

"What is going on?" Ichigo asked. "Wasn't Byakuya here to save Koga?"

Senbonzakura appeared before them.

"No."

He explained how Byakuya had defeated him, learned Muramasa's true goal, and built a plan around it.

Ichigo and Rukia finally understood.

"So that is it."

Koga glared at Byakuya. His hatred for the Kuchiki family was deep enough to poison every word.

Before the fight could begin properly, Muramasa dragged his wounded body toward Koga.

"Koga. Use me. My power will always be at your side."

Even now, Muramasa showed no intention of betraying him.

The irony was sickening.

Muramasa had brainwashed other Zanpakuto into rebelling over pride, resentment, aesthetics, and even petty grudges. Yet he had been stabbed by his own master and still remained loyal.

The Zanpakuto who preached rebellion was the most faithful of them all.

Koga answered by lifting his broken Zanpakuto and shattering it with his own hand.

Everyone froze.

Muramasa stared as if the world had ended.

"You are only in my way now," Koga said. "Even without an unstable blade like you, my power is more than enough."

Muramasa broke.

Dark red reiatsu poured from him like a tide. From that spiritual sea, dozens of Gillians rose to block Byakuya's path.

Even abandoned and despairing, Muramasa still acted to help his master.

Byakuya sighed and prepared to cut them down.

A black Getsuga Tensho swept across the sky first.

"I still do not understand everything," Ichigo said, landing nearby. "But Byakuya, I know you are not our enemy. Go finish your fight. We'll handle this."

Rukia appeared beside Byakuya, her eyes full of trust.

Byakuya gave a small nod.

"Very well."

He called to his Zanpakuto.

"Senbonzakura."

Senbonzakura returned to blade form in Byakuya's hand.

Koga pulled one of the sealing halberds from the ground and faced him.

Those halberds were not ordinary weapons. Yamamoto and Ginrei had used one to break Koga's Zanpakuto in a single strike. Their spiritual conductivity and durability were extraordinary.

After a brief exchange, Koga smiled.

"As expected of the Kuchiki family. You do have the skill of a family head."

He pulled back.

"Then what about Kido?"

He pointed the halberd at Byakuya.

An original spell formed along its blade.

"Kongo Baku!"

A red fireball grew around the halberd's head as Koga poured reiatsu into it.

Byakuya dodged aside and raised one hand.

"Hado Number 33: Sokatsui."

The red Kongo Baku and blue Sokatsui collided evenly.

Koga followed with another self-made Kido.

"Gaki Rekko!"

Green beams of light fired toward Byakuya.

Byakuya had never seen the spell before. He evaded with repeated Shunpo until he understood the interval, then landed and fired back.

"Hado Number 4: Byakurai."

White lightning rained toward Koga.

Koga dodged the thick bolts rather than let them touch him. Once he understood Byakuya's rhythm, he accelerated suddenly and appeared behind him.

"Hyoga Seiran!"

Blue ice burst from the halberd, trying to freeze Byakuya in place.

"Bakudo Number 81: Danku."

Byakuya cast the high-level barrier without chant.

The spatial wall blocked the ice.

But Koga's reiatsu kept rising.

Hyoga Seiran curved around Danku, freezing even the Gillians nearby and wiping them out. The barrier behind Byakuya began to crack.

The ice swallowed everything in front of Koga.

Byakuya did not panic.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

Countless blades ground the frozen mass apart and gathered back into his hand as a sealed blade.

"Before my Senbonzakura, all of your Kido are only minor tricks."

The words struck Koga harder than the blade.

They were his own arrogance thrown back at him.

Koga snapped and charged with Shunpo.

Byakuya avoided the attack easily.

That was exactly what Koga wanted.

His rage had been an act.

While Byakuya moved through the air, Koga used a binding technique like Muramasa's. Muramasa's power came from him. Anything Muramasa could do, Koga could do as well.

Byakuya was fixed in midair by an invisible restraint.

But Koga had forgotten one thing.

Senbonzakura had not been restrained.

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