Soifon slowly opened her eyes, but before she could open them fully, she felt her entire body scream in pain, "Ugghhh... Haa... Haa... What happened?" She can't remember what happened nor why her body is in so much pain right now.
"You're finally awake. Good morning."
Soifon heard an incredibly annoying voice which made her head hurt more. She tried to sit up but her body wouldn't follow her instruction as she wanted.
"Stay down. I've healed you until there won't be any future repercussions or scars, but not enough to allow you to move around. Since there's nothing urgent, it's better for you to recover naturally as much as possible."
She turned her head to the side and saw Kisuke's face looking at her. It was then that her memories of yesterday came rushing in.
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"H-Hollowfication!? And on top of an Advanced Shunkou!?" Soifon shouted. However, the most concerning thing she saw is that his Hollowfication didn't have any mask which puts him either in Ichigo Kurosaki's or Aizen Sosuke's category. In Ichigo's case, he received the Soul Palace and Ichibei's help to achieve the state that's above 'Shinigami' but it is obvious that Kisuke wouldn't be able to receive that kind of treatment even if he requested it. In that case, she asked, "D-did you follow Sosuke Aizen's path?"
"It's similar, but not quite the same." The oppressive aura around Kisuke has started calming down but Soifon knew well enough to not think that he's letting up. With all her might, Soifon gathered as much Reiatsu of her Shunkou as she could in front of her to create a sturdy barrier.
"But that's not important." Kisuke continued, "As I've told you, do your best to stay alive."
'That's what I'm trying to do!' Soifon internally screamed as she pushed her Spiritual Channels to their limits and gritted her teeth.
Kisuke slowly took a step forward but on his next step, he quietly disappeared and reappeared in front of Soifon's barrier, throwing out a fist wearing a blood-red gauntlet.
As soon as his fist touched the barrier, a massive shockwave that leveled and cut down the surrounding rocks and boulders exploded out, creating a thick dust cloud.
But faster than the dust cloud could spread, Soifon was ejected out like an uncontrollable rocket, "Kuhhh!" Soifon continued gritting her teeth and did her best to recover her rattled Reiatsu. Thankfully, she wasn't injured and her Shunkou was not completely eradicated so she's still able to fight back.
However, she didn't have the time to celebrate and felt a massive amount of Reiatsu being gathered in a familiar manner, 'Cero!' Soifon instead guessed and revived her dying wind while also shaping them into a thin blade.
A beam of blood-red light exited the dust cloud and went straight towards Soifon.
In response, Soifon waited for the right timing before swinging down the blade made out of her wind, cutting the incoming beam in half. But even after successfully defending herself, Soifon didn't stop her hand and continued the arc of her almost invisible blade until it reached behind her where Kisuke was already standing and ready to attack her.
As she swung up, Soifon was thinking what she should do next and while doing so, her blade reached Kisuke's flank. Only after the blade cut half of his body, Soifon realized that something was weird and when she completely cut him, only then she understood what happened, 'Crap! It's a Gigai!'
Nevertheless, it was already too late as she felt something like a hammer smashing her side. When she darted her eyes to her side, Soifon saw Kisuke casually standing on her side with his fist on the side of her stomach, "Damn y..."
Soifon's Shunkou dispersed and she couldn't even continue her words with blood flooding her throat. And it wasn't just from her mouth but also all the available orifices were bleeding and numerous wounds sprouted throughout her whole body. It was then that Soifon lost her consciousness and started falling.
Kisuke returned to his normal form and hurriedly caught Soifon before she dropped to the ground, "What? Although I put a substantial amount of strength behind it, it shouldn't be enough to reduce her like this." Kisuke murmured to himself.
Only after treating her and examining her condition did Kisuke realize that it wasn't just his [Reverberation] that twisted her organs but also her own Shunkou that resonated and cut her up from inside.
"That was dangerous... I didn't think it'd have an effect like that." Kisuke nervously wiped his sweat upon discovery.
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Kisuke helped Soifon sit up and the latter checked where her wounds were but found nothing, "Why does it still hurt so much?"
"Because the damage is internal, which is harder to heal. But even if I could heal it, I won't. You have to remember this pain and recover naturally."
"I didn't think you're such a sadist."
"I'm not. You only ended up like that because your own Shunkou went out of control and attacked you from inside."
Soifon's eyes widened and she became silent.
"Figure out where it hurts and match it with how you control your Shunkou. If you're lucky, you'll be able to find the root cause and remedy it. If this keeps happening whenever there's a disturbance inside you, you're better off not using it if you don't want to accidentally die."
Soifon was still silent, but only for a few moments, "...I know." She answered while slowly nodding and looking at her own hands.
She sighed to herself while clenching her hands before turning back to Kisuke and asking, "When did you become an expert in Shunkou?"
"As part of learning various arts to expand our versatility, Yoruichi and I extensively researched it for years before having our own versions of Shunkou that's compatible with our Zanpakuto."
"And you have the same answer for your Hollowfication?"
Kisuke nodded, "But no one on your side seems to be using it?"
"All research about it or attempts to do it has been forbidden by the Central 46. While there are people who are willing to undergo it, it's still frowned upon and the success rate isn't even that high. More importantly,"
Kisuke continued before Soifon could finish, "They don't want another Hougyoku to be created, huh?"
Soifon nodded, "If anyone is discovered to be researching towards it, it's an immediate capital punishment. Only those who have the Hollow powers before the Quincy Invasion are allowed to have it."
'It's a very strong addition of military strength if they could utilize Hollowfication, but I guess they don't want another Aizen to be born.' Kisuke thought to himself but couldn't help but scowl, 'Those idiots. If they don't want it misused, they should have allowed it while under their control. Or maybe these power-hungry nobles are already doing it in secret and creating their own Hollowfied Shinigami soldiers.'
He then glanced at Soifon, 'Even if she is the Chief of Onmitsukidou and now handles the Virtual Department, it'll still be hard for her to see what they are up to. I only realized this thanks to this conversation. I should make my preparations just in case.'