The air inside the Tsunayashiro estate's hidden chamber crackled with tension.
Akira and Aizen stood before a towering archive vault, its walls etched with wards in an ancient dialect of Kidō. Inside, pages of conspiracy rustled faintly in a spiritual draft—the fruits of centuries of noble deception.
But they weren't alone.
"Impressive," said a voice behind them, calm and cruel. "To have made it this far… I suppose the rumors weren't exaggerated."
A man stepped forward, adorned not in Gotei 13 attire but in ceremonial robes of deep violet—noble regalia. His spiritual pressure pressed like iron.
Lord Enji Tsunayashiro, distant cousin of Tokinada, and enforcer of internal discipline.
His eyes landed on Aizen. "And you—always watching. I wondered how long before your gaze turned upward."
Then to Akira. "But you… You're just a mutt with divine blood. You should've died in District 80."
Akira's hand tightened on Zhuoyin's hilt. "Funny. I was thinking the same about you."
The Battle Begins
Enji moved first, flash-stepping with practiced grace and lashing out with a high-level Hadō—number ninety, without incantation.
Akira met it head-on.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Auto-Counter Initiated. Zhuoyin's DARK FORM ACTIVE. Kinetic redirection algorithm engaged.]
A pulse of shadow swallowed the Kidō blast. Akira burst forward, blade trailing void energy.
Enji parried with a blade of his own, its edge wreathed in blue-white fire. "You'll need more than parlor tricks."
"Good," Akira said, eyes glinting gold and black. "I'm bored of those."
Their blades clashed again and again, the chamber groaning with the pressure. Light and darkness spiraled from Zhuoyin's edge with every swing.
Meanwhile, Aizen vanished.
Enji blinked. "What—?"
Aizen reappeared behind him, blade to his neck.
"Kyōka Suigetsu," Aizen whispered.
The illusion broke. Enji's parry missed air. Aizen's real strike came from the front, forcing Enji to stagger.
"You're not the only one who plans five moves ahead," Aizen said.
Enji snarled. "You underestimate the Tsunayashiro. I was raised in a chamber of illusions!"
He cast a spell that blanketed the chamber in refracting mirrors of Kidō. Illusions layered on illusions.
[SYSTEM INTERVENTION: Initiating Pattern Disruption Protocol. Zhuoyin SYNC with Kyōka Suigetsu — Compatibility 72%. Engaging CROSS-SYNTH EFFECT: Shadow Reflection]
Akira's next strike ignored the mirrors entirely, cutting through false space like it wasn't there.
Enji gasped, blood spilling from his shoulder.
"You're syncing?" he breathed. "Your blades are syncing?"
"We're not alone in this fight," Aizen said. "You nobles think in terms of bloodlines. We think in bonds."
Enji screamed and unleashed his final move—a forbidden Bakudō meant to lock down spiritual signatures and compress them to nothing.
But Akira had already vanished.
"Too slow."
A shockwave split the chamber.
Akira's strike hit home, his blade crackling with a swirling helix of light and shadow. Enji fell, unconscious but alive.
The Escape
Alarms blared across the estate. Spiritual beacons flared red.
"We don't have much time," Aizen said, grabbing a crystalline orb from Enji's robes—evidence, encoded with names, experiments, and the sigil of Tokinada himself.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Route Mapping Protocol Engaged. Shadow Slip Pathway Calculated. 12.8 seconds to interception.]
Akira opened a rift of shadow under their feet.
"Let's move."
The brothers vanished as the chamber erupted with incoming reinforcements.
In the silence left behind, Enji stirred—only to find the archive vault door left wide open, its secrets stolen.