3-5 Those Who Embrace Fear

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

(It's dark. This must be what Muken is like.)

(Something's here. A Hollow? No, it's...)

(It's something else.)

(Something terrible.)

*Gasp*

Huh?

I decided going any further would be too dangerous. First, catch your breath.

So this is your Bankai, Captain?

Suzumushi Tsuishiki, Enmakorogi. That is the name of my Bankai.

You certainly have fear in your heart, but I still don't sense any of that fear from your sword or your words.

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

Fear takes on many shapes. The pitch-black world you saw just now is fear incarnate for all of us.

If a being who did not fear at all existed, that being would not be a human, a Soul Reaper, or a Hollow. They would be a demon from some unknown realm.

A demon?

Those who have no fear are doomed to become demons. The same goes for you and me. The more fear we shed, the closer we become to heartless monsters than warriors.

We can never forget this.

I can't imagine you becoming something like that.

I have never known light, nor the colors of this world.

Captain?

If I ever came to know these things...

If I were only to see hope and happiness in my newly altered scenery of the world and forgot what it means to be afraid...

...then, at that moment, I would no longer be a warrior.

For the path that we walk, for our pride as Soul Reapers, and even for the very world we are sworn to protect, we must continue to embrace fear.

When you come across a path that you have yet to walk, or pride that you have yet to know, or a wholly unknown world...

...there is no guarantee that the place you are standing will remain peaceful forever.