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Ren was surprised to see this forest. He had thought that Khorne had burned it down when he had finished sucking up as much of Ren's blood as he could. But it seems as if Ren had misunderstood what had really happened.

'No. Not misunderstood. Khorne had lied to me. He has hidden away a piece of one of my souls! Haha. This is good. This is excellent.

I kept saying that I would put him in his place. I kept saying I would teach him a lesson. I was like one of those criminals who would threaten the hostage but would never hurt anyone. But this?

I swear Khorne. You will suffer for this. If you can hear me, you will suffer. I care not if you were a god. I will become a god slayer on the day I get you back!'

Ren walked along the path that he had walked so many times before. He had reached the tree that he always fed his blood. It no longer looked like it was dying but the tree was filled with life and vitality.

Ren placed his right hand on the tree and could feel even more life force coming off from it than he had first thought. He then placed his head on the tree to whisper his apology.

"I'm sorry for abandoning you all these years. Even if he had hidden it from me, it was still my responsibility to confirm the truth with my own eyes. I hope that you will forgive me."

Ren had his eyes closed and could not see that someone had left the tree. A woman stood behind Ren with tears in her eyes.

"I have never blamed you, Master. It was all that other spirit's fault!"

Ren was surprised to hear a voice come from behind him. He turned and saw a woman with green skin, green hair, and tree bark that formed a bra and panties. Even though it was his first time seeing her, Ren felt like he had known the spirit all of his life.

Ren kneeled before the spirit and gave his apology once more.

"I understand that you do not blame me but I shall apologize once more. I also must request something of yours. Alone, I am not confident enough to beat Khorne. Please! Please loan me your strength."

The spirit helped Ren to stand before she kneeled before him just like he did to her.

"My strength is yours to use as you please. Please know my name. I am Dryae."

Ren felt something awaken in him and a strong amount of energy filled him. The trees around him looked livelier, the sky bluer, and the wind seemed to truly be whispering to him.

"My ability surpasses most zanpakuto spirits. You do not need your blade to use either my shikai or bankai. As long as you stand, you will always be able to use me. As for what I am capable of..."

---------------

Ren spent hours talking with Dryae to catch up on missed times. He also used the time in his inner world to practice Dryae's abilities without worrying about affecting the environment around him.

When he came out of the inner world, it was already late at night. Ren could hear arguing on the lower level so he decided to walk down and see what was going on.

Ren saw Suzuka Kenpachi, her lieutenant, the former lieutenant of the 8th division, and several officers of the 11th division trying to pick a fight with Tier, the Tres Bestias, Kyou, and Shin.

On the side, the 10th division and 9th division officers were watching from the side with interest. As long as neither side went too far, they were not planning to interfere.

When Ren arrived and saw what the situation was like, he frowned. Cyan saw Ren frown and nudged the main two provokers, Emilou and Shin, to calm down and let Ren handle the situation.

The others also saw Ren arrive and quieted down as they waited for him to say something.

"What are you guys doing? No need to argue with the former strongest division. We will settle this with a battle of strength."

Ren turned to the current Kenpachi to explain what he was thinking.

"Our 5 strongest are missing their zanpakuto so I think the least you can do is not interfere yourself. You select any two of your officers while I select 2 of mine. We will also pick 5 shinigami who have not yet achieved shikai to join them. The battle will be 7 on 7.

The winner gets to officially be called the strongest division for the next 100 years. Do you accept?"

Suzuka let out a laugh when she heard Ren's words.

'He wants to take on 2 officers from my division with 1 officer who was a double-digit and another person who had only recently achieved shikai? He has grown too arrogant from being compared to me.'

"Fine. I accept. We will hold the battle tomorrow at noon in your training field. The winner will be decided by the referee. Who do you want to be the referee?"

"Same as when we earned our titles as captains. Captain Unohana can be the judge since she will be neutral."

"Fine then. I hope you do not come up with an excuse tomorrow when my division proves why we are the strongest."