Chapter 5

Substitute Soul Reaper, I can see that ignoring you before was a mistake.

Although your Spiritual Pressure has left you, I can no longer allow you to live.

Gh!

Renji. Uryu. Chad.

All of you, step aside at once!

Sorry, pal. In case you haven't noticed, we don't take orders from an enemy. So go ahead and take your best shot.

If you want to kill Ichigo, you're gonna have to go through us.

He's been our friend for a long time, and we're not going to hand him over to you without a fight.

Friends, you say? Tell me something, Substitute Soul Reaper, because I don't understand. Why do you people keep using that word?

Why do you always cling to that one word when your backs are against the wall?

............

What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?

See! Friends are meaningless! A solitary life is the only true validation of existence!

I organized my invading army without help from anyone.

I empowered that force, and it is now about to annihilate the 13 Court Guard Squads, the same group that refused to give me my due.

And by resurrecting myself as a Mod Soul, I was able to harness the true power of my Zanpakuto, a power that I could not control in my original form.

This is truly the ideal existence of solitude that I have strived for! Hahahahaha!

Guh!

You! What is the meaning of this?!

Hmph! It means you've been punked! Hahahaha!

That voice sounds like Kon?

You stupid dummy! You fell for it, didn't you?! What do you say to that, genius? Why don't you just kiss my ass and scram?!

You little rat! How were you able to do that?

So. You really want to know?! Okay, how did it go again?

Well, it all started with Mayuri liquefying his body to fake his own death so he could seek out Kageroza's lab where he ended up helping me defeat my imposter.

Then we decided to remove the Soul Candy from Lieutenant Kurotsuchi's Reigai and replace it with Kon's and voila! The rest is history!

So you have me to thank for everything!

You didn't really do anything!

What?! Oh yes, I did! You see this? This is a Mod Soul with your spirit energy!

I kept my promise to you, Ichigo! Now get out there and save Nozomi!

Heh. Yeah, you got it, Kon!

You sorry excuse for a Mod Soul!

Oh yeah? I'm better than the ones you created! Yours are just slaves, doing your bidding! At least I have some free will!

Go get him, Ichigo!

Bankai!