In another valley not far from the valley where Yamamoto was trapped, Choujirou was checking himself after he was ridden of his chains and his former black skeletal arm returned to normal.
"How do you feel?" Kisuke asked with his notes out.
"...The compelling thoughts have disappeared, that's the first thing I've noticed along with the empowering feeling that was previously coursing through my entire body." Choujirou stretched out his limbs and released his Reiatsu. As he found out that nothing was out of place, he pulled out his Zanpakuto and released it. He inspected his blade and still found nothing worth mentioning, "Everything is normal."
"I see." Was Kisuke's short comment while looking at his notes. Aside from the Pseudo-Demonic Power leaving his body en masse, Kisuke found that he was not much different from someone with a Magic Body, 'This is truly amazing... I only kickstarted the process yet he still was able to retain his body that's capable of using Reiatsu. Did someone deliberately do this or is it a natural process polished through millions of years?'
Kisuke was leaning on the latter possibility, 'Especially now that I know that Hell is actually someone's dead body.'
Kisuke then turned to the other three who were present and asked, "How about you guys? How do you see this?"
"It's no different from us." Chika first states his opinion while going around Choujirou, "So an 'enlightenment' isn't really necessary?"
"As you've said, someone taking off his or her chains is very rare so I haven't seen it happen. Whether an 'enlightenment' is necessary or not, I don't know.", replied Kisuke. In the first place, the last documented case that it happened was decades ago. It also doesn't help that normal Hell citizens don't retain their memories for long if their souls are not strong enough and most of them just suddenly disappear one day without any warning. Presumably, to join the reincarnation cycle once again.
The five of them discussed what other changes occurred in Choujirou, but Kisuke was mostly concerned on what's its effects on the world itself, 'The Pseudo-Demonic Power in the area thinned to some degree not noticeable by my own senses.'
[Ever so slightly, the barrier and the world itself became 'weaker'.] Tiamat's voice suddenly resounded inside Kisuke's head.
Kisuke couldn't help but smile wryly, 'Then those [Chained] are really necessary for this world's ecosystem.'
[Yes. And these [Unchained] are parasites living off the land, providing no benefits.]
'And the weaker the world becomes...'
[The more those maggots dig into this body.]
'But why would Hell itself claim someone like Kazui?' Kisuke thought to himself until a certain individual emerged from his head, 'Szayelaporro Granz... He broke the balance so much that Hell itself is trying to balance it out... Though that's probably wrong too since Tiamat said that the [Unchained] provide no benefit.'
[Or maybe I'm the wrong one. In any case, we still don't have a complete and clear picture of how this world operates.]
Kisuke, however, had a clue pertaining to that missing piece, 'Maybe I should provoke the baldy again.'
"Looks like there are no problems. Let's release the old man now." Furoufushi immediately suggested.
In Kisuke's opinion, they need to wait for a few more days to truly be sure that there will be no problems. Nevertheless, he was also in need of progress right now so he agreed.
.
.
.
Feeling the familiar feeling of heat on his skin, Yamamoto opened his eyes slowly. For the first time in a while, light entered his eyes without the red tint he'd always been seeing ever since he reached this strange new world where he was constantly bombarded with desires for destruction and hunger for blood and flesh.
"...jisai! Eijisai!" Yamamoto's momentarily unfocused eyes focused when he heard a very familiar voice calling for him. The old man slightly turned his eyes and saw the ugly, almost crying face of his long-time and loyal subordinate, "Eijisai! Can you hear me!? Belial! Is there anything wrong with him!? He's been spacing out for a while now!"
"You're too noisy!" A deep and loud voice that felt like it sent a shockwave of authority suddenly stunned everyone.
But instead of cowering in fear, a drop of tears came running down Choujirou's face as he went down on his knees, "E-Eijisai... You're finally back."
Yamamoto stared at him for a few moments before sighing, "You're the first one who died. Why are you being like this? And since when did you start calling me like that again?"
Choujirou hurriedly wiped his tears and held Yamamoto's aging hand, "I'm glad... I'm really glad to have you back, Eijisai."
"Yo, old man. I can finally say that it's nice to meet you." Chika approached and greeted him with a nonchalant expression.
Yamamoto turned his attention to him and replied, "Shihouin... I never thought I'd see your face again." He then turned to the other girls smiling at him, "Saitou and Katori... You two still look the same."
"It's very hard to age down here." Furoufushi replied with a grin, "You, on the other hand, have too many wrinkles. Had they been stressing you too much?"
While they were greeting each other, Kisuke stepped back to bring down the barrier separating them from the rest of the world.
After a few minutes, Kisuke was able to take down everything and the surroundings went back to normal outside of the scorched ground. It was then that he realized that they stopped talking and all of them were looking at him.
Kisuke calmly turned around, lifted his right hand to his chest, and slightly lowered his head in greeting, "Nice to meet you, former Captain Commander Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni. My name is Belial. I'm glad to see you regain your mind."
Yamamoto stared at him intently and started walking forward with light strides, "It's thanks to you."
"I see that you still had a presence of mind despite the chains binding you. Sasakibe-san's efforts of keeping you company wasn't a waste."
"Ah..." Yamamoto slowly nodded, "I'm really grateful for it. It made me endure more."
And then, their conversation abruptly stopped.
Kisuke and Yamamoto stared at each other's eyes, trying to gauge one another. The other four didn't know why a strange tension was suddenly building up but before any of them could interrupt, Yamamoto suddenly asked, "I'm really grateful for your help and I'd like to return the favor, however, what is it that you truly want us to do?"
Kisuke was about to give him a non-answer but Yamamoto interrupted him, "Let's not waste each other's time. We're not kids that you can trick. I already lost my life once so I don't mind losing it again. You wouldn't get anything from me if I'm dead, right?"
Kisuke shut his mouth, 'He's still the same stubborn old man, but it seems that he knows that he can't be too conservative anymore.'
He weighed his options but he's still not prepared. Kisuke was thinking of forcing them to a choice by creating an unavoidable scenario, 'However, I still can't see any success with that. Do I have to be honest here?'
Yamamoto noticed that he was struggling and added with a stern expression plastered on his face, "If you can convince me, even with just words, I'll do what you want."
Kisuke was silent for a few more seconds and sighed, "That's a pretty big promise."
Yamamoto grinned slightly, "It'd actually take a lot to convince me."
Kisuke was taken aback because he didn't know that he could make a face like that. With a similar grin under his mask, Kisuke took on the challenge, "I want to abolish the Seireitei."
Before Yamamoto could say anything, four different killing intents, and Reiatsus came crashing down on Kisuke.