Chapter 83: The Summoning Contract
"ROAR!!"
The Shinigami, now completely suppressed by Yusuke, let out an ear-splitting roar. The ghostly flames swirling around its body suddenly surged, exploding outward and forming a dense barrier of flickering blue fire.
With its body now wrapped in protective ghostfire, the Shinigami no longer feared the searing flames of Ryūjin Jakka. The ghostfire automatically counteracted the sunfire that clung to Yusuke's blade.
However, the ghostfire was fundamentally weak to Yusuke's solar flames. The Shinigami had to burn far more spiritual energy to maintain it. Still, with a soul power greater than Yusuke's, the creature didn't mind the extra drain.
Gradually, the tide of battle began to shift.
No longer fully on the defensive, the Shinigami fought back viciously. It slashed relentlessly with its short blade, while also unleashing bursts of soul energy to trigger violent ghostfire shockwaves—spherical explosions about five meters wide. The effect reminded Yusuke of the Arcane Explosion spell from the game World of Warcraft in his previous life.
These attacks left Yusuke no choice but to retreat. If the ghostfire touched him, it would burn at his soul directly—something far more dangerous for someone relying on spiritual pressure to fight.
Keeping his distance, Yusuke took a moment to punt Hidan's severed head far away to avoid any collateral damage.
"Ahwoooo~~" Hidan's disembodied head wailed as it sailed through the air, leaving behind a musical, drawn-out note.
Facing the ghostfire-shrouded Shinigami—its twisted visage lit from below in an eerie blue—Yusuke couldn't help but admire it.
"No wonder it's called a 'Shinigami'... This thing really isn't easy to deal with. But that's exactly why it's perfect…"
His eyes sharpened.
"…for testing my Bankai."
He raised his arm and held Ryūjin Jakka horizontally before him.
"Bankai – Zanka no Tachi (Longsword of the Remnant Flame!)"
In an instant, the flames that danced along the zanpakutō—and the spiritual pressure swirling around Yusuke—were drawn entirely into the blade. The metal darkened, taking on a dull crimson-black sheen. The weapon looked scorched and rusted, as though its fire had died.
Off to the side, Hidan's severed head—watching from afar—began screaming in panic.
"You put your fire out! Your sword's gone rusty! You're finished! Get over here and let's run for it!"
The Shinigami, meanwhile, showed a rare flicker of confusion. Its opponent's fiery aura had vanished. The ambient spiritual energy around Yusuke was completely gone. Even his weapon's flames had been extinguished.
And yet…
Something about him felt even more dangerous.
But Yusuke gave the Shinigami no time to ponder. With Ryūjin Jakka in hand, he charged forward—silent and deadly.
Seeing the threat, the Shinigami immediately flared its power, summoning another spherical burst of ghostfire around itself.
This time, however, Yusuke didn't retreat.
He drove the tip of his blade straight into the ghostfire barrier.
At the point of contact, a piercing, radiant spark flared into existence—a tiny, blazing dot where sword met flame. In the blink of an eye, that spark exploded outward.
A torrent of crimson-gold fire erupted from the blade's tip, igniting the Shinigami's entire ghostfire field.
Within seconds, the pale blue flames turned to roaring, radiant gold.
Caught inside the inferno, the Shinigami let out a howl—a horrible, soul-chilling screech—as the searing sunfire tore through it from the inside out.
Despite being engulfed in crimson-gold flames, the Shinigami managed to endure—its immense soul power constantly generating waves of ghostfire to resist the burning.
Yusuke hadn't unleashed his full strength yet. Bankai was simply too powerful. If he went all out, there was a real risk of burning the Shinigami out of existence entirely—and that would ruin his plan to use it for crafting Yin Release chakra crystals.
But judging from how resilient the creature still was, its soul power remained strong. That was good enough for Yusuke.
No longer holding back, he activated the Dual Polarity Cursed Seal, drawing out more of the Nine-Tails' Yin chakra and channeling it into his Zanka no Tachi.
The Shinigami, now wildly burning through its ghostfire reserves, continued to resist—using sheer spiritual might to keep the surrounding flames at bay. Yet its body was visibly smaller, shrunk down by nearly a third.
Just as it began to recover slightly, Yusuke appeared beside it in a flash. Before the Shinigami could react, his sword was already mid-swing.
Instinctively, the Shinigami raised its short blade to block—but the moment it touched Yusuke's dark crimson-black zanpakutō, another violent eruption of crimson-gold fire surged outward, setting it ablaze once more.
The power of a zanpakutō and its techniques weren't fixed; they scaled with the user's spiritual pressure. Now that Yusuke had infused his blade with the Nine-Tails' Yin chakra, his spiritual pressure had soared—and so had the sword's destructive power. This latest blast was several times stronger than the last.
The Shinigami wanted nothing more than to retreat into its own dimension. But it knew the truth: even if it ran, the infernal sunfire would cling to its soul like a parasitic flame—it would eventually be consumed.
With a howl of agony, the Shinigami's fear turned to submission.
"…Save me! I submit! I swear fealty!"
It had begun to speak—startling, but not entirely rare. Many summoning creatures could talk: the toads, snakes, and slugs of the Three Great Lands were all capable of human speech, as were lesser creatures like Kakashi's ninja hounds, Guy's summoning tortoise, and the Ninneko clan.
While pleading, the Shinigami's body shrank again—now only about four-fifths of its former size. It clearly couldn't last much longer.
Yusuke, who had just raised his blade for a final strike, paused.
He changed his mind.
Quickly rummaging through his storage scroll, he pulled out a large summoning scroll—an unsigned contract he had prepared long ago, for this exact kind of situation.
Unlike the standard mutual-summoning contract, this one was a master-servant pact, with Yusuke as the dominant party.
"Please… I'm fading fast!"
The Shinigami cried out once more, its form continuing to shrink.
Yusuke moved fast. He unfurled the scroll, signed his name, and pressed a blood-stained thumbprint onto the summoning crest.
Time was of the essence—once the contract was signed, the Shinigami would be his to command. Any further loss of power would become his own burden.
Seeing the seal activate, the Shinigami tore a piece of its own soul and infused it into the scroll's formation array. The sealing crest glowed brightly—signaling a successful bond.
The contract was complete.
Yusuke immediately withdrew the lingering flames with Ryūjin Jakka, extinguishing the sunfire burning the Shinigami's body.
By now, the once towering figure—nearly five men tall—had shrunk to just under twice a man's height. Its spirit had been devastated.
On the side, Hidan watched the entire process unfold—utterly stunned.
He had never imagined that Yusuke would not only defeat such a terrifying monster… but also form a summoning contract with it.
"What the hell kind of mission did I accept…? You want me to fight that guy?!"
He shuddered and mourned in silence—for himself and for the already-dead Jūzō Biwa.
Yusuke glanced over at the now-miniaturized Shinigami and finally let out a breath of relief.
Despite losing a large amount of its soul energy, the Shinigami's soul density—the purity and refinement of its spirit—remained unchanged. That was why its size had decreased; its essence had compressed rather than degraded.
If its soul mass had dropped but its size remained the same, that would've meant a weakened, diluted soul—useless for refining high-grade chakra crystals.
But with the quality intact, Yusuke had exactly what he needed.
Ignoring the Shinigami's terrified expression, Yusuke carved off a piece of its soul. Right then and there, he refined a Yin Release Chakra Crystal.
The translucent, ghostly-blue crystal in his palm shimmered with dense, pure soul power.
Yusuke nodded in satisfaction.
"One down. Now, time to track down two more Tailed Beasts."