Reishi Control

Listening to Shinra Bansho's explanation, Akira Morisawa could not stop his expression from twisting slightly.

What kind of bizarre metaphor was that?

Zangetsu used the image of king and horse. How imposing was that?

His own Thumbelina-sized spirit used true partner and attendant?

How could she slander such a pure, kind young man this way?

He had spent every training session focusing fiercely on a single attendant and had ignored the true partner. Did that not prove he was loyal?

What? It did not?

Who said it did not?

Akira silently complained to himself, then clicked his tongue helplessly and asked, "So the Bankai training for more than a year, and all those countless times you killed me, were entirely for the sake of letting me hear your true voice?"

Shinra Bansho's voice returned to its cotton-candy sweetness, with a small trace of grievance.

"What else? Master Jam-Jam's will is something I must obey."

"Under the influence of Master Jam-Jam's subjective will, that attendant was nearly about to rise into the real position. Only when Master Jam-Jam completely abandoned conscious bias in a near-death state, or fell into an instinctive frenzy in battle, could you possibly hear my true voice."

After a pause, Shinra Bansho sounded even more wronged.

"But in the outside world, Master Jam-Jam stays away from danger every moment. You barely seem interested in fighting at all."

"About that..."

Akira reminded her with great seriousness.

"Is there perhaps a chance that the reason I have no interest in fighting outside is because you drain me dry inside the mental space?"

Shinra Bansho widened her eyes in disbelief. "Eh?! Is that why?"

Akira answered irritably, "What else? No matter how sturdy a master I am, after collapsing seven or eight times in nightly training, I need to rest during the day and enter a peaceful, enlightened state."

Shinra Bansho blurted out, "Really? Is it not because Master Jam-Jam is cautious and deeply scheming, so you dislike using rough methods like combat to solve problems outside?"

"..."

Akira went still.

"Slander. That is slander! When have I ever been cautious and deeply scheming?"

He tried hard to recover his image.

"If my inner self were truly that terrible, how could it possibly give birth to a Zanpakuto spirit as pure as you, Shinra Bansho?"

"Hiss..."

Shinra Bansho inhaled as if struck by enlightenment. Her small fist tapped her palm.

"Master Jam-Jam, that makes sense. I cannot refute it at all."

Then she drifted back in front of Akira and folded her arms over a chest that was, strictly speaking, not there.

"In short, Master Jam-Jam has finally recognized the real me, instead of mistaking an attendant created by Master Jam-Jam's own subjective will for the true partner. That is a wonderful thing."

Akira nodded.

Information about Shinra Bansho's true ability surfaced in his mind.

Reishi Control.

In outward appearance, it shared some similarities with the Quincies' Reishi Absorption, but in essence, it was completely different.

The Quincies' Reishi Absorption was fundamentally the forced absorption of reishi from every surrounding thing, then forcing that reishi to become weapons for battle.

Shinra Bansho's Reishi Control was far weaker in terms of brute interference with external reishi, but it could use the reishi under its control to produce all sorts of incredible changes.

And although Shinra Bansho's metaphor of true partner and attendant was strange, it was not entirely wrong.

Whether it was the grass-based healing ability Akira displayed on the surface, or the exaggerated wood-style offense and defense he had believed in through his own subjective understanding, both were derivative forms built from the ability known as Reishi Control.

As for Shinra Bansho's description of the true partner arriving with a group of attendants, only for Akira to be dazzled by the attendant he thought was most beautiful and bury himself in developing that one attendant while ignoring the true partner...

She really was not falsely accusing him.

The only difference was that Shinra Bansho, as the true partner, could theoretically create countless different attendants to satisfy all kinds of needs Akira might have.

For example, the wood-style ability Akira had misunderstood at first was a derivative form that Shinra Bansho had built from nothing through Reishi Control, based on Akira's expectations and understanding of Wood Release.

'And it seems this does not have to be limited to constructs based only on my own imagination and understanding...'

Akira moved his will. The grass beneath and around him rapidly decomposed into reishi, gathered toward his hands, and slowly condensed into the shape of a spear.

It was the Shikai form of Ikkaku Madarame's Zanpakuto, Hozukimaru.

The next instant, however, Hozukimaru dissolved before it could fully take shape.

"It failed. As expected, it is not that simple. I cannot construct other Zanpakuto? That seems a little useless," Akira said, disappointed.

Shinra Bansho, feeling looked down upon, immediately bristled and protested.

"Is that not obvious? The original wood-style ability was a branch ability Master Jam-Jam created according to your own subjective will. In essence, it still counts as a derivative form of Reishi Control."

"But what Master Jam-Jam is trying now is to use reishi to completely copy a Zanpakuto with the same ability from nothing. A similar shape alone could never be enough."

Akira raised an eyebrow, catching another meaning in Shinra Bansho's tone.

"Oh? Then how could it be done?"

"At minimum, Master Jam-Jam would have to fully record and analyze the fluctuations and structure of another Zanpakuto," Shinra Bansho said, sounding uncertain.

Akira's eyes brightened.

Zanpakuto were born from the souls of Shinigami. In essence, that meant their fluctuations and structure could be recorded and analyzed through the fluctuations and structure of a Shinigami soul.

Forest Seeds could continuously gather leaking reiryoku to replenish Akira, and they also had a certain possibility of reverse recording and analysis.

'This idea... has a real chance of working.'

Although Shinra Bansho sounded somewhat guilty, Akira's gaze sharpened faintly. He understood the enormous potential hidden in this possibility.

Whether the copied Zanpakuto was powerful was not the key.

The key was that it could be used from the shadows.

For example, if the Zanpakuto Shinso assassinated a Seireitei noble at midnight, no Shinigami would doubt that Gin Ichimaru was the culprit.

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