By the time Silas returned to the hotel and in his body, almost eight hours had already passed since the incident. He had walked the entire thirty miles!

　　Never had he felt more tired in his life. At one point, a Hollow dared to attack him upon sensing his weakness. He had easily disposed of it with a single strike. When he understood that his strength had slightly decreased, he knew he had to extract the HMgyoku.

　　Silas lay there in his body, resting against the wall inside his hotel room. Rukia was still sound asleep. If he had enough energy, he would have performed the extraction by now. And there was a complication: he first needed to be in his Soul Reaper form.

　　His only reason for returning to his body was to help him recover. So he closed his eyes and tried to restore his spiritual powers.

　　The seal that was placed on him was strong, causing an imbalance within his Soul. But the longer he stayed in his body, the more he felt his powers returning. He only needed a little bit of time to rest, and he would take what was rightfully his.

　　While waiting, he considered the change in his eye-colour. Despite not being in his Soul Reaper form, his eyes hadn`t reverted to normal. A phenomenon like this was new to him, even by this world`s standards. All he could link it to was a passage he once read in the Holy Bible: The light of the body is the eye (Matthew 6:22).

　　Silas had been sent to a godforsaken world, so now his eyes had reflected that world`s true nature.

　　He opened his eyes and stared at the floor. He was exhausted in every sense of the word. His legs ached from all the walking, and his head was still slightly dizzy. But his spiritual powers were gradually recovering. He only needed a little bit more time.

　　Thinking an enemy was nearby, he shifted his eyes, only to see Rukia turn on the bed. She was about to wake up. Silas still wasn`t ready.

　　The only thing that could fix his predicament was the thing inside her Soul. He should have taken it the instant the two were alone for that brief moment, but he hadn`t taken into account that his powers would be sealed. Now the HMgyoku had to be his. Now Rukia`s purpose had to be fulfilled.

　　"Ichigo&?" she said, waking up. Her voice held a sleepy warmth, a stark contrast to how he felt. She shuffled up, rubbing her eyes. "Hey, when did I fall asleep?"

　　Silas said nothing. His unblinking gaze was fixed on the floor, creating a shadow to hide the upper half of his face. An unsettling feeling churned inside her, but she ignored it. Instead, she plopped down next to him, the floor rumbling as she settled in.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

　　"Come on, don`t sulk. Did we do something fun last night? Wait...!" A playful smirk then curled her lips. "Don`t tell me we shared our first kiss out here and I fell asleep on you?"

　　His stomach lurched, but not due to her flippant comment. Rukia, oblivious to his inner turmoil, giggled. "Don`t worry, you weren`t that& awful." In truth, the two had never made lip-to-lip contact last night. Rukia`s tone shifted slightly. "I know I`m not exactly the romantic type... Sorry for falling asleep."

　　When he failed to answer, an edge of concern entered her voice. "Ichigo? Seriously, are you okay?" She placed a hand on his shoulder. Silas hadn`t flinched; her touch felt wrong, but it highlighted the alien sensation crawling under his skin.

　　Rukia leaned in, her eyes narrowing. Her small fingers brushed a damp strand of hair away from his forehead. "You feel hot... Are you sick?"

　　Then Silas felt it; he felt a stagnant amount of his powers had returned. Her eyes widened. Her gaze was drawn to his, fixated on the reflection in his pupils. They weren`t brown. They were sickly, glowing yellow. Panic twisted her delicate features. "Ichigo? Your eyes& What`s—"

　　He moved before she could ask. In a flash, her body was dangling off the ground as she was being held by her neck. She struggled to breathe, her eyes staring at him. Never had she seen him look at her that way. They were by no means the same caring gaze that she had been warped into believing were real.

　　"Sometimes, I wonder if you things really do die."

　　When she heard that, something struck her heart. Her survival instincts kicked in, trying to break free from his grasp. But Silas`s grip became tighter. He was planning on using a spell to knock her out again, but choking her until she fell unconscious worked just fine.

　　Her nails scratched futilely at his granite grip. Her legs could no longer muster any strength to kick him as she gradually lost oxygen.

　　Just then, Silas`s brows furrowed. Without hesitating, he dropped her and ran toward the balcony.

　　Rukia took a deep breath of relief. Confusion filled her as she watched him take a step on the rail and pop a soul candy in his mouth. Silas entered his Soul Reaper form while his body leapt in the other direction.

　　"Plan eighty-two," he relayed, flying forward. With one nod, the artificial soul dashed away with his body.

　　Rukia lay there, coughing. Everything had happened so fast that she couldn`t make sense of his actions.

　　What was plan eighty-two?

　　In the event that something unpredictable happened while he was still in his body, the artificial soul was to run away with the extraction tool and hide. He understood how dangerous it was to have someone like Rukia by his side, so he created this contingency plan in case something went wrong.

　　He could practically hear Rukia`s faint voice calling at him as he flew fast away from the hotel. Without looking back, his speed increased, ignoring her attempts at trying to stop him. What could she do in her state?

　　But the real question was: what could make the likes of Silas Wren execute this plan? What could make him go on a desperate run, leaving behind Rukia, the HMgyoku, and the extraction tool?

　　Not long ago, he sensed not one, not two, but three captains from the thirteen court guard squad. And one of them was Kenpachi Zaraki!