ROOOAR!
Dozens of deep, resonant bellows echoed once more, but this time they poured from the mouths of the once-frail, harmless Pluses.
Their burning spiritual bodies crumbled into ashen flakes, crystalline flames entwined with rising currents to reduce them to cinders.
The village they'd called home was now bathed in golden radiance from the sky to the soil.
It encased Makoto's group like hamsters beneath a glass dome.
Standing close, Makoto could see it clearly, as the elder ignited, his face writhed with gray-white matter surging forth like a bone mask.
The telltale sign of a soul's disintegration.
And it wasn't just the Pluses.
Every household's water jars, the river flowing past the village, all erupted with a torrent of fine, pure-white Reishi motes.
The ladle at Makoto's feet shimmered the same way.
The water's tainted!
"Don't go near!"
He seized the girl lunging forward, dragging her back as he retreated from the room, his body tensing rigid.
"Unohana-sensei!"
"Be on guard!"
Outside, the shinigami instinctively rallied around Unohana, drawing their Zanpakuto and forming a protective ring, wary of their surroundings.
As for who was truly protecting whom?
That didn't matter.
Unohana stood motionless, her gaze lifting to the amber Negación dome overhead.
Negación...
A Menos Grande's special technique to shield their kin.
The beam descending from the sky created two isolated dimensions the moment it activated, untouchable from either side.
Yet, due to its unique nature, anchoring it in place transformed it into a formidable trap.
Its duration hinged on the reiatsu of those ensnared, against a captain, it might hold for mere hours.
They'd clearly walked into an ambush.
Yet a faint, intrigued smile crept onto Unohana's lips.
This thrill of danger, she didn't dislike it.
At that moment, an even greater wave of Hueco Mundo fluctuations pulsed from all directions, dwarfing the earlier disturbance.
Even without glancing at the Shutara Alert Device, Unohana knew its surface would be a sea of red dots.
Fractured rifts splintered across the sky.
One by one, colossal Gillians thrust their bone claws through the gaps from Hueco Mundo, just as before.
But what they cradled in their palms froze every accompanying Shinigami in place.
Some were beastly, others stood upright, a few hovered, and one resembled an insect.
In sheer size, they paled beside the hundred-meter-tall Gillians, their forms less chaotic than freshly spawned Hollows.
Yet the towering black pillars of Gillians hoisted them aloft like vassals bearing royalty.
All Adjuchas.
"Oh my?"
A bovine Adjuchas, crouched in a Gillian's palm, peering down at the Shinigami below with a puzzled rumble, "Not wounded comrades, then? I'd hoped for a feast. Still…"
It bared a wide, toothy grin.
"…Shinigami will do."
From that bovine maw gleamed rows of razor-sharp fangs.
Adjuchas could only ascend to that final realm by ceaselessly devouring their own kind.
Stagnation meant regression.
Click! Clack!
Makoto traced the sound.
Beside him, a Shinigami clenched his teeth, his trembling hand gripping his Zanpakuto.
"To the death, we shield our Master!"
Even half-broken, he roared his rallying cry.
Loyalty! Devotion!
Unohana, however, merely lifted her gaze to the scant handful of Adjuchas in the sky. The flicker of intrigue that had sparked moments ago dulled, fading into indifference.
If one were to paint her expression vividly,
That's it?
Her eyelids drooped, shadows pooling in her gaze. "What a tiresome trick."
"Unohana-sama?"
Before the Shinigami ahead could question her, Unohana stepped forward, her pace deliberate. Her right hand settled on her sword hilt, drawing her Zanpakuto as she advanced.
"Follow!"
Makoto knew exactly whose shadow promised safety in this chaos. He sprang into step behind her.
But before he'd gone a few paces...
Boom!
A shadow plummeted from above, kicking up a storm of dust.
As the other Menos Grande roared, a bone scythe, meters long, arced downward, poised to cleave the foremost Shinigami's skull.
Makoto's form blinked into place before him.
His Zanpakuto rose and braced horizontally.
Clang!
The scythe clashed against his blade, sparks erupting fiercely.
Makoto's mind blanked.
This strength…?!
Even braced for it, the sheer force swept him aside, a sharp hiss sending him flying a dozen meters.
Crash!
He slammed into a nearby hut.
All eyes turned.
A serpentine Adjuchas reared upright, its mantis-like blade-arms glinting. An inverted triangular mask encased its head, its voice a shrill, grating cackle, "Hehehe, These few are mine, then!"
In the scant moments it gloated, the Shinigami behind rallied.
Four stepped forward in unison, hands raised, voices synchronized in a resounding chant.
"Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens."
"Combined Kidō."
"Hadō 73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
Bursts of Reishi flame coalesced into starry motes midair, fueled by their full incantation and joint casting. Even these few unleashed the spell's peak power, birthing a searing blaze of Kidō fire.
Rumble!
The torrent of flame engulfed the Adjuchas's frame, its roaring embers threatening to ignite a dozens-meter radius. Even standing nearby, the heat seared the skin.
The pink-haired girl, cowering behind the group, covered her ears, her eyes glinting with awe.
Amazing!
The thought barely flashed through her mind!
When a bone scythe slashed through the smoke, its razor tip tore through multiple bodies in an instant. Zanpakuto blades shattered like brittle biscuits, the air ringing with the sickening crack of snapping bones.
"Weak weak weak weak!"
"Utterly useless!"
The Adjuchas shrieked with laughter.
In a blink, several Shinigami lay cleaved in twain.
An intermediate Menos Grande was a foe these rank-and-file could scarcely face.
Yet, despite the carnage, the Shinigami charged forward with guttural cries, undeterred.
Shinigami and Hollows, such was their kill-or-be-killed bond.
Makoto burst from the rubble, his form cutting a straight line through the haze. Reishi surged around his fist, erupting like a tidal wave.
"Ikkotsu!!"
The heavy blow crashed down, striking a hastily raised bone arm. A crisp snap rang out, spiderweb cracks fanning across it in a lattice of fractures.
[Hakuda +10]
In a fluid motion, Makoto flipped his Zanpakuto, gripping it reverse-handed, and thrust toward the fissured gap.
Shnk!
The blade pierced through.
But it snagged midway, caught by the creature's Hierro, its steel-like skin.
This tough?!
Makoto's eyes widened.
ROOOAR!
The searing pain wrenched a low, mournful wail from the Adjuchas. Its left arm lashed upward, flinging Makoto, blade and all, through the air.
Beneath its mask, a pitch-black rift tore open.
A Cero.
Midair, Makoto twisted his stance. With a deft flick of his Zanpakuto, he deflected the Reishi orb aside.
Boom!!
Fire erupted at the village's heart, stirring a gust that danced through the chaos.
Before he could steady himself, the Adjuchas locked onto him as its prime target, lunging forward.
Its massive, razor-sharp mantis arms, blades dwarfing a human dozens of times over, moved with devastating power and uncanny speed. Their flurry was so dense, that no ordinary eye could track it.
Makoto could barely keep up.
[Oh no, oh no! You're about to be skewered into a meat kebab by that big mantis freak!]
[Zanjutsu +5]
[No way! You can't let that weird thing stab into you, it'll mess up your head!]
[Zanjutsu +5]
[Do you even know how to fight? This isn't how you do it, go for the lower vitals, Makoto-chan!]
[Zanjutsu +5]
A cascade of swordplay prompts chimed in his mind.
Though not as staggering as his bout with Unohana, the gap between him and this foe was far more than a mere sliver.
Truth be told, an Adjuchas far outstripped what any average Shinigami could hope to face.
Setting aside all else, the Hierro, that steel-like skin encasing their bodies, was beyond Makoto's ability to pierce. Dreaming of lopping off limbs as he might with lesser Hollows was sheer folly.
How do I swing a mightier strike?
Makoto parried and slashed with all his might, but the strain mounted as his stamina waned.
Each cut against that unyielding bone left only faint, fleeting scratches.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the deep imprint his Ikkotsu had gouged earlier.
"Why did you separate your Ikkotsu and Zanjutsu?"
Unohana's question echoed in his mind.
So that's what she meant.
Hakuda wasn't some rigid technique, it was the sublime fusion of spirit and will made manifest.
It could be a fist, a kick, or a blade!
If he could extend that sensation to his sword…
That single nudge sparked a flash of insight in Makoto's mind.
[Zanjutsu: Tier-8 ↑]
[Hakuda: Tier-6 ↑]
[Unohana-mama saw right through your flaw in a glance, Makoto-chan!]
[You'd better dive into her arms later and thank her properly with a big grateful hug!]
Two prompts chimed simultaneously on his panel.
But Makoto had no time to heed them.
Clang!
The bone scythe clashed against his Zanpakuto, rebounding with a crisp metallic ring.
Riding that immense force, Makoto's straw sandals skidded across the ground, sliding back a dozen meters.
His single-handed grip shifted and both hands now clasped the Zanpakuto tight.
A strange familiar sensation welled from deep within as if the blade melded into his very being in that instant.
No...
It was a part of his soul all along.
Even if it was a loudmouth.
The moment that realization struck, a faint Reishi glow shimmered across the Zanpakuto's surface.
His will fused into it.
Hiss... Exhale...
Inhale... Exhale...
Makoto planted his feet.
In his vision, only the Adjuchas loomed, mere steps away. All else faded to irrelevance.
"That hurt, kid!"
"But… finally given up, huh?"
"Or are you ready to fight for your life?"
"Hehehe..."
"Gahgahgah..."
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
From beneath that insectoid mask erupted a shrill, grating cacophony, so piercing and obnoxious it seemed to drill through eardrums, churning the mind into a nauseating slurry.
Until, at last, it unleashed a deafening roar, "All useless!!!"
The surface of its twin bone scythes flared crimson, a surge of ultra-dense reiatsu hardening its already blade-resistant Hierro into a substance tougher than steel. Then, with a sudden burst, those scythes shattered the sound barrier, stabbing toward Makoto with a relentless string of sonic booms melding into one continuous thunderclap.
In that split second, time seemed to halt around Makoto.
His world plunged into an inky void.
Even the press of his fingertips against his hilt felt agonizingly slow, serene, imperceptible.
Yet his body moved as if guided by a sense beyond the five, a flow so natural, so seamless, it defied comprehension. With blistering speed, he drew his Zanpakuto and swung forward in a single, unadorned stroke.
No buildup.
No shout.
No fury.
Just a simple, unremarkable slash.
With that lone strike, the darkness cloaking him shredded apart.
His will fused with the blade, resonating with his Zanpakutō for the first time. A flood of reiatsu poured into it, forging a razor-sharp edge along the Zanpakuto's surface, honed to perfection.
[First Form - Severing Strike]
The name flashed across Makoto's panel.
His steps were light as he brushed past the mantis-like beast, as if on a casual stroll.
In the shadow trailing behind him,
The Adjuchas's massive form stood oblivious, a hairline fracture tracing from its arms to its chest.
Clink.
The sword guard kissed the scabbard.
That towering body shifted, sliding diagonally from its lower half.
It crashed to the earth with a resounding thud, a dull echo rippling outward.
Every soul present stared, locked in awestruck silence, unable to tear their eyes away.
The girl shielded by the Shinigami gaped, her mouth hanging open, speech forgotten.
…
[First Secret Technique Created: Self-Sublimation Achieved ↑]
[Reiatsu Rank +1]
[Reiatsu: Tier-5 Lower → Tier-5 Mid]
[Unbelievable! Me and Makoto-chan tearing it up together, absolutely epic!]
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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