Katori Nanatsuki pulled his Zanpakutō from Kasumioji Tora’s throat and lifted his severed head.
Blood gushed out in torrents, quickly staining his robes—but Nanatsuki had no energy left to care.
"Thirty-six..." he muttered, tossing the corpse aside.
There were already 35 identical corpses lying nearby.
He had now killed Kasumioji Tora thirty-six times!
His hands were going numb from all the swinging!
Though Kasumioji Tora was a guard captain, he usually lived a pampered life. His skill in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Shunpo was poor—relatively easy to deal with.
If his sword-fist-ghost abilities had even been on par with a seated officer, Nanatsuki probably wouldn’t have lasted this long.
Even so, Nanatsuki was seriously worn out.
At the beginning, he could kill him without taking a scratch.
Now, he had to suffer some wounds just to bring him down.
If not for Kaido Self-Regeneration constantly restoring him, he would’ve collapsed long ago.
The worst part? Nanatsuki still had no idea what Kasumioji Tora’s limit was. He didn’t know how many more times he’d have to kill him before this dream ended.
Nanatsuki used the brief lull to recover his strength, eyes locked on the black mist—waiting for Kasumioji Tora to reappear.
Kasumioji Tora’s mind wasn’t calm either.
That opponent was a monster!
It was the first time he’d seen a Shinigami use Kaido so masterfully during battle.
Trading injuries to inflict wounds wasn’t working at all!
He regretted not making time to train his Zanjutsu, Hakuda, or Shunpo.
He’d relied far too heavily on his Zanpakutō’s ability. Ever since achieving Shikai, he’d looked down on traditional combat forms.
In his view—
If the enemy’s Reiatsu was weaker, he could drag them into a dream and wear them down.
If the enemy’s Reiatsu was stronger, he couldn’t drag them in anyway—so sword-fist-ghost skills would be useless.
Kasumioji Tora stood at the edge of the black mist, unwilling to recklessly charge in.
He only had a few dream loops left. He couldn’t afford to waste them!
After observing from the mist for a moment, he sensed that Katori Nanatsuki still had enough power to take him down.
Luckily, he still had one last card to play.
"Third Layer Dream—Eternal Slumber Dream."
This was the final layer. If he had any other options, he wouldn’t have used it.
Because this technique came with risk—even to himself.
The first two dream layers were his own creations.
But this final layer... meant entering the enemy’s dream.
In this space, the enemy would forget they were dreaming—while he would remain conscious.
His advantage would be amplified infinitely!
But it was still the enemy’s dream. Everything inside was unknown—he had to be cautious.
The black mist thickened, and the entire dreamscape began to shift violently.
Nanatsuki’s presence vanished from his field of view.
He had to find Katori Nanatsuki, now lost within the dream—and kill him.
The rain fell slantwise, sliced into ribbons by the streetlights.
Beyond their reach, the darkness was deeper than midnight, too murky to make out any detail.
Nanatsuki stood beneath a lamp, soaked through and completely unaware.
He’d had a few drinks—his head was swimming.
He rarely drank, but today, frustration weighed heavy on him.
Looking back on the last two decades, he had always been honest and hardworking.
When facing unemployment, he started his own business.
Once a BBQ shop. Once a hotpot place.
Through sheer effort, he went from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in savings.
In his whole life—
He had never owed this much money.
Suddenly, Nanatsuki shivered—he thought he heard something in the distance.
"Someone fell in the river!"
"Call the police!"
"Anyone know how to swim?!"
"I do!" Nanatsuki shook off the haze and ran toward the voices.
As he moved, the scene ahead grew clearer—a riverside embankment came into view.
But after he left, the human-shaped shadow by the streetlight remained.
Moments later, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows outside the lamplight’s reach.
"Found you." Kasumioji Tora stared at the embankment. "What a bizarre place..."
As someone from the main Kasumioji family, he’d seen quite a lot. But this dream showed him strange things he’d never encountered.
Some buildings were massive—taller than mountains, radiating crushing pressure.
Some things were intricate and mysterious—like the glowing lamp in front of him, clearly not lit by fire.
Kasumioji Tora stepped forward, hurrying after Nanatsuki to strike him down.
As he passed under the lamp, the human-shaped shadow on the ground suddenly swelled.
The shadow turned into a solid black mass, rushing toward him.
Alarmed, Kasumioji Tora immediately used Shunpo to escape.
But even Shunpo couldn’t help him avoid the attack.
The shadow wrapped around his body, and his world spun violently.
When he came to, he found himself lying on a metal examination table.
The dream had shifted again!
Kasumioji Tora’s heart sank. Some dreams were non-continuous—what happened one moment might have nothing to do with the next.
That’s why he rarely used this technique unless desperate.
Even as the master of Yumemaku, he couldn’t predict what might happen in an enemy’s dream.
One wrong move, and he could be trapped inside.
He tried to move—but his limbs and waist were locked in place by metal clamps. He couldn’t leave the table.
Trying to call upon his Reiatsu to break free by force, he realized...
He couldn’t summon it!
This was the first time he’d experienced this in a dream. He broke out in cold sweat.
’Calm down... I need to stay calm to figure a way out...’
He forced himself to steady his breath and looked around.
There were many metal tables here—and he wasn’t the only one strapped to one.
In fact, the others looked... familiar.
His eyes widened.
Katori Batsu’unsai?!
So many of her?!
Katori Batsu’unsai had been the former Captain of Squad 8. She’d only stepped down a few years ago—of course he recognized her.
All around, the tables held people who looked exactly like her!
No—more accurately, people who resembled her.
Tall, short, fat, thin, young, old—there was a wide range.
But they all shared one thing in common: a striking similarity to Katori Batsu’unsai.
Then, from his right, he heard a faint sound.
Turning his head, he saw a white figure.
’There was no one there a second ago...’ Kasumioji Tora fought down his fear and studied the figure.
From the back, it was clearly a slim woman.
Her jet-black hair was tied up by an intricate golden hair ornament, revealing a pale neck beneath it.
Beneath her white robe extended six golden skeletal arms, each holding a tool—scalpel, thread, forceps, scissors...
And Katori Nanatsuki, the one he was searching for, lay on the table in front of her.
The sound he’d heard seemed to be the squelching of flesh being cut open.
The white-robed woman appeared to hear him. Slowly, she turned, revealing half of a hauntingly beautiful face:
"Oh? Another one’s woken up..."