Demon Slayer: The Journey That Began When I Became Yoriichi's Sister

Chapter 618 Research on Virtualization

On the surface, Yuko appears to be perfectly normal, but inside her body, due to the intrusion of the void's soul, the two are locked in a state of internal and external conflict.

"How do you feel?" Kisuke Urahara asked with a hint of interest, showing no pity for his friend's plight. "How are the changes in your body?"

"Can you tell me more about it?"

Yoruichi couldn't help but glance at him: "Are you a demon?"

"Haha~" Kisuke Urahara chuckled and scratched his head. "Isn't it because Ikuko is very sensitive to her body's condition?"

"So I wanted to take this opportunity to see if I could understand the changes in the situation."

"This is also to help others recover better."

It's important to know that Hirako and the others only realized something was wrong when their infection relapsed and their bodies began to change.

It's quite impressive that Yuko was able to detect the problem beforehand.

Yuko endured the discomfort and sensed the general changes in her body: "I can feel the power of the void invading, like a virus, frantically destroying the original body structure."

"Given this state, I think even if the Hollow's soul completely squeezes the Grim Reaper's soul, the imbalance of power will cause the body to collapse."

Kisuke Urahara was surprised for a moment, then nodded slightly: "That's right. When the symptoms of a Hollowfied soul worsen, it will exhibit a state where the original soul and the Hollow soul coexist, thus becoming a monster that has lost its mind."

"That is, the state that Captain Hirako and the others are currently exhibiting."

"Finally, not only the boundaries of the soul, but also the boundaries between the soul itself and the outside world will be broken."

"Self-destruction beyond one's own will, which you call physical collapse, I call soul suicide."

Tetsuzai understood a little and said in a deep voice, "Is this how the residents of Rukongai disappeared?"

"Yes, because even the Grim Reaper might not be able to successfully contain a void soul, let alone an ordinary soul. In the process of transformation, the soul would probably self-destruct because it could not bear the void."

"Because the souls of both sides cannot form a good confrontation phase."

"It's also thanks to Captain Hirako and the others being captains with incredibly strong souls that they've been able to hold out until now."

"I'm trying to block the invasion of the void, but the effect isn't very good." Yuko carefully sensed the changes in her body.

Yoruichi quickly asked, "Is the regeneration speed not keeping up?"

“The intrusion of the ethereal is too tricky.” Fine beads of cold sweat began to appear on Yu Zi’s forehead. “How should I put it? I have absolutely no experience with the intrusion of this strange ability.”

"And because it's so chaotic, it's really difficult to make a judgment... Waaah..."

Yuko suddenly spat out a mouthful of bone-like liquid.

Yoru tensed up slightly, and then heard Yuko say with some difficulty.

"I feel a little nauseous." Yu Zi wiped her mouth and turned her head away.

"...Just don't throw up everything you just ate." Suddenly, I wasn't nervous anymore.

To be honest, Yoruichi is much calmer now.

At least this guy hasn't lost his mind yet.

However, at this moment, Yuko's condition took a sharp turn for the worse. Ominous white lines began to appear on her skin, spreading like a spider web, and her eyes faintly glowed with a golden light. A dark substance appeared in her eyes, seemingly eroding the whites of her eyes.

The spiritual pressure also began to become blurred and uncertain, both familiar and strange, and began to become frenzied and chaotic.

This is exactly the same thing that Hirako and the others experienced. Soon, the Hollow Mask will begin to cover the entire face, forming a mask that looks just like Hollow.

"Yuko!" Yoruichi's pupils contracted slightly. "Move them quickly!"

"Back off!" Wo Ling Tiezhai roared, his hands already forming hand seals. "Something's wrong. Prepare to use Time Stop!"

Kisuke Urahara stopped him, his expression turning serious: "Wait! Let's observe further!"

"No! We can't take the risk!" Yoruichi said anxiously.

Yuko raised her hand with difficulty to interrupt: "Wait, I'm still alive."

"My consciousness is fine; it's just that my body has been corrupted."

"Let me catch my breath."

Yoruichi's tension came to an abrupt end once again.

"..."

What do you mean by "take it easy"? Can this thing even be slowed down?

Just then, the Zanpakuto at Yuko's waist suddenly emitted a faint light.

In a moment of blurred consciousness, Yuko's consciousness began to drift away from the real world and return to a place she was familiar with.

Butterfly House.

"...What does this mean?" Yu Zi stared blankly at the blue sky.

Please! She's incredibly busy right now!

What's going on here?

Even if you want to tell her the true name of Bankai, does it have to be at this time?

"That's not true."

Seemingly understanding Yuko's expression, Butterfly replied silently.

"What's going on?" Yuko regained her senses and noticed the strange changes at the Butterfly Mansion.

The once clean and tidy surroundings began to be covered by clumps of white, bony mucus, even covering the eaves. These ethereal substances seemed to be trying to devour the entire Butterfly House.

"This is your inner world, so changes in the outside world will directly affect this place, and even I will be affected."

The sound of butterflies rang out again.

Yuko looked down into the corridor and saw that the butterfly's delicate face was covered in white, bony fluid, making it look like a wriggling creature.

Yuko looked slightly disgusted: "How should I put it... it's a bit disgusting."

Butterfly's lips twitched: "Yuko, your face looks the same way."

Yuko subconsciously touched her face and found that it really was there!

But it doesn't matter.

Yu Zi asked bluntly, "So, you pulled me into the room at this point because you must have something important to tell me, right?"

Butterflies don't usually cause trouble, so if they've approached her now, perhaps they have a way to stop this situation.

Although her current condition isn't too bad, the erosion from the ethereal nature is making her regeneration ability somewhat difficult to manage.

"I just saw some idiot who still couldn't use her Zanpakuto even though I had already told her how to use it, and suddenly I got a headache." Butterfly put one hand on her forehead, seemingly quite helpless.

"Huh?" Yu Zi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what she had done and slammed her left hand into her right palm. "That's right! How could I have forgotten about you!"

Isn't this the perfect time to forcefully influence the blurring effect through interference?!

There are two points to note regarding Yuko's ability to interfere.

First, there are almost no restrictions when it acts on itself.

Second, when acting on external objects, the Zanpakuto, the body, or the method of attack must touch the other party, or in other words, there must be something that needs to be intervened.

The spiritual pressure covered by long-range slashes is often only a portion of an individual's spiritual pressure, so it can effectively interfere.

However, if direct intervention is carried out, it will directly affect the entity itself, and will most likely weaken its abilities.

This is why she can interfere with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's long-range slashes, but finds it difficult to directly interfere with the old man Yamamoto in close combat.

Because the difference in spiritual pressure between the two sides is too great, the impact of the interference is extremely limited.

But as the butterfly said, she can directly interfere with the process of blurring.

Even if it can't fully restore her, since it directly affects her, it should be worth a try.

"Thank you, Butterfly. I'll go back and try it now."

Almost without staying for even a minute, Yuko's mind returned to the outside world.

Outside, the group was starting to get anxious.

Because Yuko suddenly stopped moving, and the bony material on her face was spreading, it was about to cover half of her face. At this rate, it would probably take less than three minutes for the mask to completely cover her face.

At that moment, Yu Zi suddenly raised her head and woke up with a start.

Yoruichi: "Ikuko?"

"It's me, I have a good idea." Yuko replied simply, then drew her Zanpakuto from her waist and began chanting her Shikai incantation.

"Disorder, formless butterfly."

"What?" Everyone looked at her in surprise and doubt, not understanding what she wanted to do.

Interfere with itself, and remove the illusion.

The etherealization didn't disappear directly due to the interference as she had expected. But it wasn't a complete waste of time either; the erosion of the etherealization slowed down considerably, but it still couldn't be considered a viable method.

Even she needs to constantly use regeneration to suppress the erosion within her body; this might not work on others.

Should we lower the requirements?

Interfering with itself, balancing the void.

A man surnamed Lu once said that if you want to open a window here, everyone will definitely not allow it, but if you advocate tearing down the roof, they will come to mediate and agree to open a window.

First, make a big request, then gradually reduce it, just like bargaining.

It is not necessary to completely remove the ethereal state, but rather to maintain it in a relatively balanced state with the body.

As Yuko issued the order, the intervention began.

The wriggling bone material began to stop, ceasing all movement as half of Yuko's face transformed into a mask.

"It's...it's a success?" The three of them were all surprised when they saw this.

Especially Kisuke Urahara.

It wasn't that he felt he couldn't succeed, but rather that the method to succeed was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

Although Yuko's spiritual pressure was still chaotic, a sense of stability could be faintly felt within the chaos.

"By the way, what do you think of this mask?" Yuko touched her cheek, turned to look at Hirako leaning against the wall, and asked curiously, "How does it compare to this guy's?"

"Is this the time to talk about this?!" Yoruichi cursed. "So, have you succeeded or not?"

"Half and half," Yu Zi sighed, somewhat taken aback by her passion. "Although it can't be completely eradicated, it can help the ethereal form achieve a stable balance with the original soul."

"At least there won't be a situation where the soul collapses."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with joy.

In this way, at least for the time being, we don't have to worry about Hirako and the others' physical condition.

Maintaining forbidden techniques is not an easy task.

"You're quite capable," Yoruichi said with a smile, patting Ikuko on the shoulder.

Yuko looked up at her: "So, what's this mask like? What color is it?"

Yoruichi's face darkened: "That's enough."

Yuko casually wiped the mask off her face, and the mask dissipated into spiritual particles: "The conflict within my body has not been resolved, but because it has been well balanced, I can also use the abilities of the Void."

As Yuko said this, she subconsciously clenched her fist: "I feel that both my physical strength and spiritual pressure have improved."

Kisuke Urahara remarked, "This can be considered a different kind of boundary-breaking."

"The key to the virtualization experiment lies in how to combine the virtual soul with other souls without causing the soul to commit suicide."

"Even a captain-level soul can easily run into problems when facing a chaotic soul like a Hollow over a long period of time."

"As for Yuko, you didn't rely on the Hogyoku and successfully stabilized the two through your own abilities. Breaking through the limit will be a natural progression from now on."

"Captain Urahara, how do you know so much about the Hollowfication experiment?" Tessai Tsukabiki suddenly asked, "Could it be..."

Kisuke Urahara quickly waved his hands: "No, no, no! You've completely misunderstood!"

"Stop arguing." Yoruichi interrupted their bickering, turning to look at Yuuko. "You just released your Zanpakuto, what exactly happened?"

"You were so secretive back in Soul Society, can you tell me more about it now?"

Yu Zi smiled slightly: "It's not that I wanted to hide it from you on purpose, it just happened so suddenly, I didn't expect it to be like this, and I didn't have time to explain more at the time."

“Actually, my ability doesn’t involve spatial movement through prisms, which is easy to understand from the release phrases.” Yuko held up a finger and explained, “It’s just that I haven’t been paying attention, so I’ve been using the wrong initial release.”

"An incorrect... initial interpretation?"

“Disorder, formlessness…” Yuko continued, “What I really want to express is the ability to disrupt everything.”

"That is, what is called interference."

"Interference?" Everyone was confused, except for Kisuke Urahara, who looked thoughtful.

Looking at the expressions of the three, Yuko sighed, "As expected, Kisuke is the second smartest person here; he understands things immediately."

Yoruichi was already used to Yuuko's sudden quirks, and her eyelids twitched: "Who's number one?"

"Of course it's me."

"hehe."

“It might not be easy to understand just by saying it like that.” Yuko stood up. “Let me show you directly how my abilities work.”

Before Yu Zi could finish speaking, her figure suddenly disappeared from the spot.

"It's Flash Step, but it isn't."

Yoruichi had noticed this during the battle, so it wasn't surprising: "There was no trace of movement, it was like spatial teleportation, appearing out of thin air."

"I thought it was just you who hid the prism."

"Of course not, it's because I interfered with the process."

"process?"

"The process of moving."

“I interfere with the process of movement and present it as a result, which is that I traveled from here to there using Shunpo.”

As Yuko spoke, her figure flashed into the cave.

Yoruichi's eyes widened: "Huh? There's no such thing!"

"Isn't this cheating?!"

Yuko wore a teasing expression, her face slightly dismissive, and said, "Is Yoruichi worried about losing her title as the God of Flash?"

"..."

She was so annoyed. Although she didn't care much about the title, she didn't want to lose it for no reason!