Chapter 686 Megumi's Zanpakuto

One night passed quickly.

Asuna, who had just finished a guard shift and gone back to sleep for a bit, crawled out of her tent and rubbed her still-sleepy eyes. "Is that cat still here?"

"Right here."

The gruff voice sounded from above her head, startling Asuna so much she stumbled and nearly fell.

She whipped her head around and saw the gruff-voiced black cat lounging on top of her tent.

"Hey! Don't just come into a girl's room!"

Flustered and angry, Asuna drew her Zanpakuto and swung it at the top of the tent.

Yoruichi leaped lightly onto another tent, glancing at the glimpse of cleavage visible from Asuna's disheveled collar. She sneered inwardly.

'Tch, what's there to be shy about, little girl? You're not even as big as me.'

Though after seeing Nel and Harribel in Las Noches's public bath, she had lost some confidence in her own figure.

But looking at this now, she didn't feel so bad about herself anymore.

After a bout of commotion, Asuna was panting from swinging her sword, while the black cat still perched effortlessly on the tent's peak.

Just then, the black cat stopped licking its paw and announced solemnly, "I've decided to go with you."

That was right... Yoruichi's decision after thinking it over all night.

Beating them and sending them back to the Seireitei wasn't an option... she felt that would just bring stronger reinforcements.

The only viable solution was to temporarily travel with the expedition team, guiding them away from the truly dangerous areas at critical moments, ensuring these brats who didn't know their place could make it back to the Soul Society alive.

Hearing the black cat's sudden request to join the team, many of the seated officers frowned in opposition.

After all, none of them knew the cat's true origins.

Talking was already strange enough. Living in a place like Hueco Mundo without a Hollow Mask made its identity highly suspicious.

Yoruichi didn't care about their suspicion. She lay on a protruding rock and said unhurriedly, "Suit yourselves. I'll follow you anyway."

With that, after the team packed up and began a new day of the expedition, Yoruichi just followed along at the back.

Seeing this strange cat tagging along like a little tail, Yumichika quickened his pace to walk beside Kanae. "Hey, Captain, are we really just going to ignore it?"

Kanae continued walking without turning back. "If it causes any trouble, I'll deal with it."

The reason Kanae allowed the cat to follow was that her Observation Haki had sensed no hostility from it.

Although she didn't know what its identity was or why it was following them, since it didn't seem to have any malicious intent, she decided to wait and see.

Hearing Kanae's words, Yoruichi was a bit surprised. She had been prepared for these girls to try to drive her away.

She hadn't expected this girl to be so open-minded.

Yoruichi had also considered another, more direct option: taking down the entire expedition team herself, then forcing them back through the Senkaimon to the Seireitei.

But she also knew that the 12th Division's Technology Development Bureau was tracking their Reiatsu fluctuations in real time. If they suddenly lost combat capability all at once, the Soul Society would immediately receive an alert and send stronger reinforcements.

Next time, it would probably be Captains coming.

And if that happened, no matter who came, any contact with Makoto's Vasto Lorde would likely spark an all-out war between Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society.

If that happened, she would be caught in the worst possible position.

On one side was the Soul Society, her homeland. On the other was... that bastard who, though a complete asshole, treated her fairly well.

So the best approach was still to let these girls see Las Noches's power for themselves and back off.

After two days of forced marching, the expedition team finally reached the outskirts of Las Noches.

Standing atop a high dune, the entire team looked down at the massive city rising from the white sand in the distance. Everyone was stunned.

"Rather than calling it Las Noches... it's more like a city of night," Rukia murmured. (T/N: Las Noches means Hollow Night Palace.)

Isane nodded unconsciously.

That's right. The palace before them was simply too enormous. Looking down from the dune's peak, it wasn't a 'palace' at all, but a complete, massive city.

Three giant ring-shaped walls divided the city from the outside in into three sections, each wall as tall as the Seireitei's outer walls.

Vaguely, one could see Hollows of various forms moving through the streets.

At the very center was a cluster of pure white castle towers, pointing toward the sky like bones under the moonlight.

Yoruichi walked to the edge of the dune, looking down at the magnificent city below, her tone carrying a matter-of-fact calmness: "Calling it City of the Night is quite fitting. In recent years, quite a few Hollows have started calling it that too."

She paused, raising a front paw to point at the three ring-shaped walls, like a tour guide introducing attractions: "Those three walls, from outside to inside, are named Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina."

"The outermost area within Wall Maria is home to high-level Gillians that have gained intelligence. They are worlds apart from the unintelligent Gillians you encountered earlier, which act purely on instinct and killing desire. Awakening intelligence is the most basic requirement for living in Las Noches."

"Inside Wall Rose live the Adjuchas. Their strength and intelligence are three levels above Gillians."

"And as for Wall Sina... do I even need to say it? The Vasto Lorde live there."

"And the King of Hueco Mundo's palace, Las Noches, is located at the very center within Wall Sina."

Yoruichi explained methodically.

Hearing the names of these three walls, Megumi and Kotonoha both stiffened, their pupils contracting to pinpricks.

Noticing their strange reactions, Asuna asked with concern, "What's wrong? Megumi-san, Kotone-san, you don't look well."

"N-no, it's nothing."

Megumi quickly composed herself, returning to her usual expressionless calm.

Then, she and Kotonoha exchanged glances.

In that brief meeting of eyes, both saw the same disbelief in the other.

Because the names of these three walls were identical to those of the three walls from another game world they had traveled to with Makoto decades ago... Attack on Titan.

At the time, Makoto had just returned from another world and had taken several of his wives to the Attack on Titan World.

The power level there wasn't particularly high, so Makoto had treated the whole thing as a vacation, spending most of his energy on sleeping with Mikasa and Historia.

But although the power level wasn't impressive, the truths of Attack on Titan's world... the world beyond the walls, the two-thousand-year racial hatred between Eldians and Marleyans, etc.... had deeply shocked the accompanying girls.

Makoto had no interest whatsoever in the entanglements between Eldians and Marleyans. His attitude was simple: whichever side his women were on, he took that side.

It was that simple.

Unfortunately, Mikasa and Historia had ultimately chosen to stay in the Attack on Titan World, hoping to use the powers Makoto had given them to slowly make that terrible world better.

Makoto hadn't forced them to leave. He just visited occasionally to, well, 'clear the pipes'.

Incidentally, Reiner, Annie, and other war criminals from the Attack on Titan World were still being held in Level 1 of Impel Down in the real world.

And now, nearly a hundred years later in the Soul Society world, hearing the names of those three walls again... how could Kotonoha and Megumi not be shocked?

'Could it be...' A guess simultaneously arose in their minds, but neither voiced it.

After all, there were still non-players like Rukia and Renji present. Some things couldn't be discussed openly in front of them.

Yoruichi didn't notice the silent exchange between the two female Shinigami. She continued in that gruff voice, "You can try a frontal assault if you want, but if you do, you'll immediately draw the attention of every Hollow in the city."

She deliberately glanced at the eager Ikkaku. "Especially you, baldy. Don't do anything stupid."

Another vein popped on Ikkaku's forehead.

Just then, Megumi stepped out from the formation.

She walked to the edge of the dune, drawing her dagger-like Zanpakuto, barely longer than a kunai.

It had to be said, this length of blade was indeed extremely suited for a member of the Onmitsukido from the 2nd Division.

Sui-Feng's Suzumebachi had a similar design. In the original work, Yoruichi's Zanpakuto, which rarely even had its name mentioned, was also of the short-blade type.

Then, under the gaze of the entire expedition team, Megumi held the short blade vertically before her, her pink lips parting to speak the release command.