Demon Slayer: The Journey That Began When I Became Yoriichi's Sister

Chapter 625 Yuko's Mask

Kensei Rokusha clenched his fists, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

I feel like killing someone.

Kisuke Urahara pressed his palm down, reassuringly saying, "Well, if you still want to talk to Ikuko, there will be other opportunities later."

Yuko raised her hand to interrupt: "Sorry, I refuse to communicate with idiots."

"Huh?! What are you saying, woman?! Do you believe I'll beat you to a pulp?!" Kensei Rokusha's temple veins bulged as he made a move to punch Yuko.

"Calm down, Kensei!" Hirako quickly hugged him.

Hiyori offered a consolation: "We don't want to collect your corpse."

Kensei Rokusha trembled all over.

Kisuke Urahara broke out in a cold sweat and said to Ikuko, "Even so, at least you should overcome your inner fear, Ikuko, right?"

"Now that everyone else has mastered the technique of becoming ethereal, their strength has improved compared to before. I believe that suppressing your berserk state should not be a problem."

"An inner emptiness?" Yu Zi looked slightly confused, then realized, "Ah, you mean that?"

Yuko raised her hand, and a spiritual pressure belonging to the void suddenly burst forth from her palm.

As she smeared the spiritual pressure onto her face, a mask made of red, white, and black, with some pale gold trim, appeared on her face.

The mask, like everyone else's, was a somber, bone-white color that covered the entire face. However, the left and right sides of the mask presented a different appearance.

The mask on the left resembles half a butterfly with outstretched wings, with smooth, elegant lines that extend diagonally upwards to the temple.

The surface of the butterfly wings displayed faint blood-red veins, as if flowing with an ominous red light. The veins did not appear strange or disgusting; on the contrary, they had an unusually delicate feel.

The right half of his face was entirely white with a cool tone, and there were three pitch-black claw marks on his forehead that looked like those of a giant beast.

The whole place was dead silent.

After a moment of silence, Hiyori pointed at Ikuko and said indignantly, "Why is her mask so cool?!"

Is this the problem?!

Everyone broke out in a cold sweat.

Kisuke Urahara asked in surprise, "When did you succeed?"

Although they weren't watching Yuko every moment, the process of overcoming the intangibility was very dangerous without anyone else present.

This doesn't just mean that the person in danger is at risk; if handled improperly, it could even put humanity in danger.

“No.” Yuko pulled at the mask on her face, and the Hollow’s spiritual pressure dissipated in her hand. “I did not defeat the Hollow by fighting it in my inner world like they did.”

Hiyori stared wide-eyed at Kisuke Urahara: "Huh? There's a second way?"

"Uh..." Before Kisuke Urahara could even speak, Hiyori jumped up and beat him up.

"You damn bald guy! You just want to see me humiliated, don't you?!"

"Wait! Wait! I don't want to either..." Kisuke Urahara was pinned to the ground, hastily parrying Hiyori's punches, afraid that she would damage his handsome face.

Yuko stepped forward, picked up Hiyori, and put her aside.

Hiyori had a dark expression the whole time.

So what if you're tall? You bastard!

Believe it or not, she'll grow taller than all of you later!

“I don’t know what happened either,” Yuko explained calmly. “I only know that it seems to be thanks to my Zanpakuto.”

Everyone looked puzzled: "A Zanpakuto?"

“That’s right. Whether it’s a Hollow or a Zanpakuto, once it enters our bodies, it becomes a part of us,” Yuko said calmly. “You should understand that, right?”

Kisuke Urahara seemed to remember something, his eyes twitching slightly as he sat up from the ground: "You mean..."

"Hmm, it seems the butterfly has taken control of the virtual part."

Kisuke Urahara wiped his face, at a loss for words.

"...What do you mean?" The group was still somewhat confused.

What does this have to do with Zanpakuto?

"This is roughly what happened."

Yuko recalled for a moment.

……

"Butterfly, are you alright over there?"

After temporarily resolving the issue of Hirako and the others' invisibility, Ikuko once again entered her inner world.

Yuko looked around. Today, her inner world was like a sunny day; the sun didn't feel hot, and it was very comfortable.

When it was first invaded by the Hollow, many things in my inner world were being eroded by the power of the Hollow, but now it seems that the problem has been solved and everything has returned to normal.

Yuko walked quickly to the corridor. In front of the courtyard, a girl named Butterfly was leaning against a pillar, playing with a mask in her hand.

"that is……"

The butterfly raised its head and smiled slightly: "You've come, Yuko."

She straightened the mask in her hand, making it clearer for Yuuko: "It's the power of the Hollow."

"I've already mastered it."

……

"That's what she said." In the real world, Yuko said this.

Everyone's mouths dropped open slightly.

Hirako looked at Urahara Kisuke with a troubled expression: "Then what are we working so hard for?"

Kisuke Urahara was somewhat embarrassed. "Well, this..."

“Yuko’s Zanpakuto is indeed relatively gentle.”

"To some extent, that makes sense. However, the Zanpakuto's power is the power of a Shinigami. Under normal circumstances, even if the Zanpakuto's spirit has the will to protect its master, it should not have the ability to defeat a Hollow."

Otherwise, the Shinigami himself could handle the Hollowfication, and there would be no need to enter the inner world to fight him.

Yu Zi said calmly, "Perhaps the illusory soul that invaded my body is weaker."

Kisuke Urahara: "...That might be the reason, but..."

The essence of Hollowfication is not about using a powerful Hollow's soul to invade a Shinigami's body; a Hollow capable of defeating the Captain is not so easy to find.

The essence of Hollowfication is the conflict between the two different attributes of Shinigami and Hollow, and it has little to do with the strength of the power itself.

But can you really say there's absolutely no connection?

Still there.

If the void spirit that invades the body is very powerful, then the improvement one can gain after becoming void after defeating it will be even greater.

However, theory is one thing, but when it comes to putting it into practice, it turns out that it doesn't work at all.

That's what happened back then when the soul disappeared.

The Hollow's soul wasn't powerful, but the spiritual power of the wandering souls in Rukongai was too weak to withstand the Hollow's erosion. They didn't even have a chance to go berserk and become monsters before they were directly annihilated due to the imbalance of power.

This is why Aizen was willing to risk using Captain-level Shinigami for experiments.

According to Kisuke Urahara, Aizen's Hogyoku experiment clearly hasn't progressed to that stage yet. Even if he corrupts Hollows like Hirako, who are captain-level Shinigami, their strength is only at the level of ordinary Hollows. They wouldn't even be able to reach the higher-ranking Adjuchas, let alone the highest-ranking Vasto Lorde.

Finally, Hirako covered his face, hunching over, and said, "I feel like today was exceptionally hard."

Everyone silently nodded in agreement.

"You're getting a good deal and then acting innocent." Yu Zi's eyes flickered slightly. "It's rare to see someone increase their strength so easily."

Hirako's eyelids twitched: "So, should I thank that bastard Aizen?"

"As long as you know."

"..."

In the end, no one made a move. Firstly, they were too exhausted to fight back. Secondly, they felt they were no match for them.

Of course, the main reason is that the barrier's maintenance has reached its limit and is simply insufficient to support them in unleashing their full power.

They are still fugitive prisoners, so they can't afford to cause any more trouble.

The blurring issue hasn't been truly resolved; it just means that unexpected outbursts won't occur normally anymore.

However, to maintain the ethereal state for a longer period of time, more training is needed, especially in terms of mental and physical exertion.

Currently, Hirako and the others can only maintain their ethereal state for a few dozen seconds, or even less than a minute.

Surprisingly, the one with the most outstanding Hollowfication talent is Kensei's second-in-command, Kunan Shiro.

While others could only maintain their ethereal state for a few dozen seconds, she had already extended it to three minutes.

However, Yuko still couldn't understand why the ethereal state couldn't be maintained for long. She clearly didn't feel anything and could maintain it for as long as she wanted.

No one wanted to say anything about it.

After living together for a while, Hirako and the others separated from them under the pretext of cultivation and began to move freely in the mortal world.

Meanwhile, Yuuko, Yoruichi, Kisuke Urahara, and Tessai Tsukabishi settled down in a city inhabited by humans and lived as artificial bodies.

Because of the wealth they acquired by robbing the rich to help the poor, they lived a relatively comfortable life.

Yuko, who was used to living alone, still felt that living in a group was more suitable for humans. However, she sometimes wanted to wander around by herself, so her whereabouts became somewhat unpredictable, and she would go out for walks by herself from time to time.

This world is very similar to the world she used to live in. It is in the early 20th century, in the midst of rapid industrial development, and everything is thriving and moving forward at a rapid pace.

Although Yuko lived a long time in her previous life, she hadn't actually left her homeland much.

She doesn't feel lonely traveling alone; she can still talk to the butterflies.

It's not that I didn't think about inviting Yoruichi, but she refused, saying she was too lazy to move around.

This lazy cat is definitely best suited to lying on the eaves and taking a nap.

This time, she traveled to many places.

Time slips away quietly, and before we know it, skyscrapers have sprung up all around us.

While Ikuko was away on a trip, a major event occurred in Karakura Town.

……

In the present world, inside a laboratory.

"What was the result?"

A dark figure walked in from outside the door.

Wearing black-rimmed glasses, Aizen Sousuke is now the captain of the Fifth Division, dressed in a white captain's haori.

"Oh dear, not yet."

Inside the laboratory, Gin Ichimaru, the captain of the Third Division, wearing the same captain's haori, squinted as he turned around.

"Oh dear, not yet."

“It’s a pity…” Tosen, who was sitting in his seat, turned around. “Although we successfully gave the Hollow the ability to become Hollow, the toxicity is too strong. Not to mention ordinary souls, even a troop-level soul cannot withstand it.”

"I see. Since we've gradually pinpointed Hirako Shinji and the others' location, wouldn't it be killing two birds with one stone to force them out and conduct the Hollowfication experiment at the same time?"

……

Meanwhile, a heavy rain began to fall from the sky.

Shiba Isshin, then captain of the 10th Division, came to the human world to investigate a death report from a Shinigami stationed there, and met up with two Shinigami stationed there at his destination.

“It’s raining…”

Zhibo stood on the high building, gazing up at the sky.

"What do we do? He wants us to go back..." Below, the two Grim Reapers began to discuss.

"Stop joking around, are we going back to Soul Society?" another person disagreed. "If we really do that, we'll get points deducted."

"Anyway, let's hide here for now. I think it should be fine to leave it to the captain to handle."

Just then, Shiba Isshin, who was on the high-rise building, felt an evil spiritual pressure approaching.

With the unfolding of Captain-level spiritual pressure, Shiba Isshin drew his Zanpakuto from his waist.

"So powerful! This is Captain Shiba's spiritual pressure..." The two men's expressions of surprise froze on their faces as their heads were torn apart.

Blood spurted out instantly.

"Damn it! Isn't it reacting to the size of the spiritual pressure?" Shiba Isshin instinctively jumped off the building to check, when a dark shadow rose from the ground in the rainy night and landed directly behind Shiba Isshin with a bang.

Shiba Isshin slowly turned around, and a dark figure stood on the edge of the rooftop.

"What... is this thing?"

"A black void?"

Standing in front of Shiba Isshin was a creature entirely black, with a white bone mask on its face, two sharp horns on its head, and a void in its chest blocked by something that was filled with something that looked like flesh and blood.

"To get this, his whole body is pitch black, and his Hollow hole is blocked by something, but his spiritual pressure is definitely hollow."

Shiba gripped his Zanpakuto tightly and assumed a fighting stance.

call out!

The strange Hollow suddenly launched a surprise attack, heading straight for Isshin Shiba.

……

"That's surprising. Isn't that the captain of the 10th Division? What's he doing there?"

In the laboratory, Aizen and the others who were monitoring the Hollows discovered the presence of Isshin Shiba.

"No report of his attack has been received."

"Oh dear, could it be that they acted without authorization? This could cause problems."

"What does it matter? This is an unexpected gain." Aizen stared at the monitor, a hint of interest appearing in his eyes. "I want to observe more closely."

……

Karakura Town, the residence of the Quincy, the Ishida family.

"It seems there's a rather powerful spiritual pressure moving around... one is a Hollow, and the other..."

Having lost her family, Masaki Kurosaki, who was adopted here, sensed a terrifying spiritual pressure emanating from the rainy night.

Masaki Kurosaki ran out of the room.

"Where are you going, Masaki?" Ryugen Ishida leaned against the wall and called out to stop her. "I know without even asking, just give up."

"Aaron..."

"How many times do I have to tell you before you understand?" Ishida Ryugen said calmly. "We Quincy just need to appear after the Shinigami are dead."

"And when it comes to the attack, we can just leave it to Katagiri and the other mixed-bloods."

"Masaki, you should really think about your position."

"We pureblood Quincy cannot shed blood easily."