The Forgotten Ones
The battle raged around him, but Harry wasn’t focused on the rogue spirits anymore. The obelisk was breaking.
Even as Ichigo fended off the attackers, Harry could feel the pull of the energy inside it, a force ancient and restless. The whispers in his mind had grown louder, but now, they weren’t warnings.
They were stories. Memories.
He gritted his teeth, spinning Shi no hōyō in a wide arc to push back a charging rogue. Instead of pressing forward, he stepped back, studying his enemies.
Their movements were sharp, desperate—but not mindless. They were fighting with purpose.
And that’s when it hit him.
They weren’t trying to kill him. They were trying to stop him.
“Wait!” Harry’s voice rang out, his spiritual energy flaring.
Ichigo, mid-swing, hesitated just long enough to glance at him. “What?”
Harry stepped between them and the obelisk, lowering his scythe but keeping his guard up. “They’re not attacking for the sake of it. They’re protecting the seal.”
Ichigo frowned. “From what?”
Harry turned to the leader of the rogues—the scarred man who had spoken before. The others still held their weapons, but they hadn’t attacked yet.
Harry took a slow breath. It was time for answers.
The Truth of the Seal
The scarred man’s glowing eyes flickered as he studied Harry. “You’re more perceptive than I expected, heir of Shi.”
Harry clenched his jaw. “Stop calling me that and start explaining.”
The man let out a dry chuckle but finally lowered his weapon. The others followed suit, their aggressive stance shifting into something more neutral.
Ichigo still looked ready to swing at the first sign of trouble, but he let Harry take the lead.
The rogue leader gestured toward the cracking obelisk. “You can feel it, can’t you? The energy inside? It’s not just spiritual pressure—it’s rage, hunger, sorrow.”
Harry nodded. He could feel it. A pulsing, suffocating force beneath the stone, pressing outward like a tide trying to break free.
“This seal was placed here centuries ago,” the man continued. “Not to protect the Rukongai—but to imprison those the noble houses and the Gotei 13 deemed unworthy.”
Harry’s grip tightened on his scythe. “What do you mean?”
The rogue’s eyes darkened. “We were once Soul Reapers, just like them.” He motioned toward Ichigo. “But we were cast aside—left to die when we refused to follow orders that would have doomed innocent souls.”
Ichigo’s scowl deepened. “And the seal?”
The man’s voice grew bitter. “The noble houses, the Central 46… they called us dissidents, dangerous souls unfit for Soul Society. Instead of executing us outright, they bound us here—locked away, our spirits never allowed to pass on.”
Harry’s breath caught. They weren’t just rogue spirits. They were prisoners.
“You were abandoned,” he muttered, realization dawning.
The man nodded. “Forgotten by the balance you claim to protect.”
Harry turned to the obelisk, watching as the glowing cracks spread further.
He understood now. They weren’t trying to release whatever was inside. They were trying to stop it.
Because whatever was bound beneath this shrine… wasn’t them.
What Lies Beneath
Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. “Let me get this straight—you guys were sealed away by Soul Society for disobeying orders, and now you’ve been stuck here ever since?”
The rogue nodded. “The balance is a lie, Ichigo Kurosaki. Not all souls are given a chance to find peace.”
Harry clenched his fists. This wasn’t what he had been taught. He had spent the last few weeks studying the philosophy of balance, learning about the duty of the House of Shi. But this? This was wrong.
“This isn’t balance,” he said quietly.
The rogue leader’s expression softened slightly. “No. It’s not.”
A deep rumbling shook the shrine.
The obelisks’ cracks widened, dark energy leaking from within. The very ground trembled beneath them.
Harry turned back to the seal, heart pounding. “If you’re not the ones breaking it… then what is?”
The rogue’s voice was grim. “The thing they trapped beneath us.”
Before Harry could respond, the seal shattered.
A wave of dark energy exploded outward, nearly knocking them all back. The very air seemed to twist and warp, as if reality itself was bending under the weight of whatever had just been released.
And then, from the depths of the shrine, it emerged.
A towering figure, its form shifting between shadow and bone, its eyes glowing with a hunger beyond anything Harry had ever seen. Its very presence felt wrong, like it did not belong in this world.
The rogue spirits all tensed, weapons raised.
The leader’s voice was tight. “They didn’t just seal us away.”
He turned to Harry, his expression filled with grim understanding.
“They sealed away a monster of their own making.”
And now, it was free.