Determined to try again, he spent the next day pouring over the blueprint, dissecting each step, searching for another flaw. Finally, a glimmer of understanding. The lens was not properly channeling the flow of spirit particles.

　　With renewed vigor, Silas set to work. Adjustments were made, and calculations were re-evaluated.

　　Two more grueling weeks passed. Exhaustion gnawed at him, and his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Yet, this time, he was certain and meticulously confident in his adjustments. He stood before the device, its dim glow reflecting in his tired eyes.

　　With a trembling hand, he pressed the button.

　　The device activated like before. The soul steel coils pulsed with vibrant blue energy, the kyokuryu essence vibrated with contained power, and the lens shone a brilliant white light. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once.

　　His heart pounded in his chest, and he felt a sense of exhilaration knowing that he had succeeded. This was it. The key to the HMgyoku lay within his hands once again.

　　Silas wouldn`t waste a second. He knew precisely where his target was.

　　Rukia Kuchiki had already been born. Even better, Kisuke had already placed the HMgyoku inside of her Soul not long ago. This was evident because he had already been banished from the Soul Society and Rukia was currently in squad thirteen—something Silas verified when he last visited the Seireitei.

　　It was never expanded on when exactly Kisuke performed this act, but Silas speculated that it could only have been done close to the time of Masaki Kurosaki`s death and after Rukia Kuchiki graduated from the Soul Reaper academy.

　　During her tenure as a Soul Reaper under Kiyone Kotetsu, her superior at the time, she was stated to have lost her memories on a trip in Karakura Town. Fans of the series believed that this was due to Kisuke having placed the HMgyoku inside her Soul.

　　And Silas knew where she currently was: the barracks within squad thirteen`s district!

　　Night fell over the Seireitei when Silas arrived. Clad in shadows, he moved with practiced stealth. The district was quiet, bathed in the soft glow of moonlight.

　　Silas used his sensing ability and easily located where Rukia dwelt. Though it had been a lot of time since he`d last seen her, he still recognized her spiritual pressure.

　　Silas slipped in, his footsteps as silent as a whisper. Rukia was lying down on a futon inside a spacious room. He watched her, the faint rise and fall of her chests indicating she was asleep. So he approached soundlessly, the device clasped in his palm.

　　Months had been spent yearning for this moment, and now it was within his grasp.

　　He swiftly knocked her into a deeper slumber, grabbed her, and exited the abode without making a single sound. Nothing was going to stop him now. Nothing could.

　　Far out, on an open grassland, away from any Souls, he held Rukia`s body up in the air. The moon was directly behind her sleeping face, almost as if casting a long-awaited shadow that Silas had been itching to see.

　　Pressing the push-button, the device hummed, its glow intensifying. Swirls of blue spirit particles streamed around the two, channeled from the device.Stolen story; please report.

　　It was unlike the time it was used in the anime. No, the effects were different. Had the HMgyoku not been inside Rukia`s soul? Wrong! A strange sensation pulsed through her body as a hollow hole formed in her chest.

　　This was it!

　　Silas`s hand illuminated, indicating that he could reach into her soul and grab what he needed. He reached in, the process being painless, and felt a glassy object inside. Without hesitating, he grabbed onto it and forcefully ripped his arm right out.

　　The glow on his arm faded, and the device powered down before shattering. It was a one-time use. But that didn`t matter. Nothing matters now.

　　Silas held it with his fingers—the HMgyoku!

　　Turning it, he found it to be almost weightless. The strange luminescence it gave off was like the stars in the night sky. It shimmered rapidly as he attempted to pour in some of his spiritual powers.

　　This was, undoubtedly, it. The coveted object that could disharmonize the entire world, holding unimaginable power, was resting right in the palm of Silas Wren`s hand.

　　" " "

　　The return journey to the abandoned laboratory was a blur. Silas was so consumed by a heady cocktail of adrenaline and triumph that he almost forgot to return Rukia.

　　He would study the HMgyoku to learn more about it and then later complete it. As rewarding as it was to have it in his possession, this was still its incomplete form. The only way to form a full HMgyoku, as far as Silas knew, was to feed it a second HMgyoku. And that second one was in the possession of one other Soul Reaper: Aizen.

　　Silas didn`t need to worry about trying to take the second HMgyoku. Simply having this one, something that can alter the boundaries between Souls and Hollows, was more than enough. His goal was not merely to claim this particular HMgyoku but to isolate its properties and have it bend to his will.

　　Within the confines of his laboratory, he began his analysis.

　　The crystalized orb pulsed feebly, a small portion of its true power. His research on it consumed him, and he barely noticed the passage of time. Sleep became a luxury, food a forgotten necessity. It took time, but he managed to remove the seal. His singular focus was the HMgyoku, which was now in its dormant state.

　　Since this special device required the spiritual powers of someone who possessed twice the spiritual pressure of a captain, as well as sacrifices, its full power could only be released for a short time. This was proven by Aizen when he used it monotonously both before and after his defection.

　　But there was something Aizen didn`t have that Silas did. Silas, who bore almost every race in this world due to Ichigo`s body, had been feeding it his own immeasurable spiritual powers and allowing it to consume portions of his Soul!

　　By doing this, he could extend the short activation period significantly.

　　"It`s time," he heard a voice say in his head. Silas had almost forgotten about EnrakyMten attempting to take his life. And he had every right to forget.

　　He stood there in the heart of the dilapidated laboratory. The HMgyoku was held up in front of him, pulsing violently with seductive energy. There wasn`t a single indication of a smile on his face as he broke through the casing and plunged it into his own chest.

　　Pain lanced through him, quickly followed by an exhilarating surge of power. EnrakyMten manifested itself, wondering what was taking place.

　　The HMgyoku began resonating with his Soul. When EnrakyMten had seen enough, it caused black ethereal tendrils to pierce Silas`s heart. He coughed up a mouthful of blood in his palm, ignoring the spirit.

　　Silas felt the boundaries of his self-dissolving, the fabric of mortality fraying, replaced by something vast and unrecognizable. His form shifted, flesh twisting and reforming, infused with the raw energy of the HMgyoku.

　　EnrakyMten flinched as its black tendrils quickly turned into ash. It had lost its grasp on this otherworldly might.

　　Silas`s eyes burned with an incandescent light, a reflection of the universe-bending force now surging through him. Gone was the weak man constantly being tossed to and fro; what remained was something far more dangerous.

　　Lifting his newly wrought hands, the air crackled and warped around him. His orange hair had become a tad brighter as if it was bathing in light. More importantly, he could no longer feel any burden on his Soul.

　　"Jeremiah 51: 20," his voice resonated, laced with a cosmic power. "Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms!"

　　End of Volume II