Mock Practical

On top of a large tower made completely of metal, a young girl with orange hair sat swinging her legs over the edge. This building was one of many in this large industrial complex. The location was long abandoned by their original creators and thus reclaimed by the Soul Society.

Due to issues in the past, a barrier was erected which could isolate the area from external senses. The distant sky was foggy and dark due to the barrier, but one could imagine the sky beyond. A young boy dressed similarly to the girl landed near the railings.

"Orihime, I've checked the perimeter again, and there were no issues. Are you sure you sensed something?"

The young girl was naturally Orihime. It had been a month since the incident at the academy and she had sorted out her emotions. Now was the mock practical for the juniors so she had to stay vigilant. With a stern look she turned to Oshino and nodded.

"I know my senses. Something is out there, beyond the barrier, looking for a way in."

During the last month, Orihime had filled the empty spot in her curriculum with an optional Advanced Barriers class. Generally only students who intended to enter the barrier corps would attend this class, but Orihime wouldn't turn down free knowledge. Not to mention needing a distraction from the loss of her professor.

One of the things she discovered was that even with a powerful barrier between her and another person, she would still be able to detect their presence. Orihime knew her spiritual perception was good but she did not expect it to be so incredible.

After learning all the knowledge on barriers, she was able to conclude that all barriers were essentially the same. The difference was control, spiritual power, and intent. The spiritual power invested into the barrier needs to far exceed the entity you want to protect against.

This is why barrier corps travel in teams. In order for the weak individuals to create a barrier strong enough to matter, they needed to pool their power together. The issue then came down to control and intent. That is why there are standard barrier spells, to help synchronize. Naturally a single person could use the same standard barrier and not need to worry about control and intent.

Therefore, Orihime spent most of her time on the edge of the training area. The juniors were facing off against dolls with artificial souls placed in them. The dolls were shaped like Hollows and programmed to fight like them.

Orihime was paranoid the moment they arrived here. Due to the strength of the barrier, communication was delayed by a week to reach the Soul Society. Therefore, if anything happened reinforcements would be slow.

Just as she was going to go patrolling on her own, she sensed that presence on the other side again. It seemed to have discovered something and it became more distinct to her perception. Suddenly, there was a slight tremor in the barrier. She turned to Oshino and abruptly ordered him.

"Call for reinforcements immediately! Whatever that is out there has decided to attack. Which means it is either confident to break in, or there are more coming."

Her intuition was correct. The first day here as the students began forming up and hunting down the puppets, she felt something was off. Hitsuraku had told her it was probably the gloomy weather, but she knew otherwise.

On the second day, the feeling they were being watched became stronger. Something was stalking them, trying to get inside. Now, on the third day, the barrier trembled slightly. It was not impactful enough to alarm everyone inside, but standing near the barrier it was obvious.

Oshino left quickly, maintaining a calm disposition in order not to alarm the juniors. He sent a message requesting immediate reinforcements and hoped the message would arrive sooner than a week.

Orihime had already appeared at the point of impact. The presence was still on the other side but it hadn't attacked again. This barrier had a powerful repulsive force that would damage whatever struck it, but Orihime's suspicion was that it wouldn't care much longer about such a thing.

There were only two enemies she feared at this point—the Quincy and Arrancar. Orihime was certain that it would not be the prior, therefore it must be the latter. Although Aizen's plans were delayed significantly, it does not mean they stopped altogether.

Outside of this barrier must be newly transformed Arrancar released to test their strength. What Orihime feared was that it would not be alone. She did not know why they were here, but there were not many places with a lot of denizens of Soul Society in the world of the living, so Orihime guessed that was related.

She sighed in relief. A whole month of time was bought for Ichigo to get stronger. This means he won't be in as much danger without her there. If he was able to master his Hollow powers by now, that would be even better.

A powerful energy leaked through the barrier, and small crack appeared. A Hollow with a broken mask, holding a giant sword, charged in through the hole before the barrier repaired itself. Orihime had predicted something like this happening and was already waiting with a present.

With two fingers pointed out towards the incoming Arrancar, a flaming pearl unleashed its hidden power and launched a beam of intense heat. This was naturally Makanko, which Orihime had only mastered a few days ago.

The Arrancer swung down its large Zanpakuto in an attempt to block the ray, but it was turned to molten metal instead. Without losing any strength, the beam continued at its torso. Once the beam made contact with its skin, the flames deflected in all directions.

"Tough bastard… Please just die!"

The residual heat bouncing off of its body was melting the protective Hierro layer, however its high-speed regeneration was repairing it. Fortunately, the damage outpaced the healing. The Hierro eventually turned to sludge and the beam sliced right through.

Orihime naturally wouldn't just leave a hole, she moved the beam all the way across, cutting the Arrancar into two halves. She let out a sigh and stopped the Kido. The limiter made it annoying to support the advanced Kido, but she was just able to launch two in a day.

"He didn't have a Resurreccion or a Cero. If my assumption is right, more will show with much stronger abilities. Captain Kurotsuchi didn't give me the unsealing method, so I only have one choice… Hogyoku."

[Analyzing seal… Accessing Akashic Records… Denied.]

"Is there any way? When will I get access to floor two?"

[Detecting Source Strand: 20 meters.]

Orihime was confused, but could feel the hogyoku leading her toward the dead Arrancar. When she was within arm's reach, the body vaporized and a small black strand of energy flew toward Orihime and fused into her body.

[Dormancy 72%... Next Ability Upgrade: 70%]

Orihime was shocked. That single strand increased the progress of awakening by half a percent. She was now completely sure this Hollow was transformed by the other hogyoku. What made her ecstatic was that she could absorb the energy from dead Arrancar.

"Looks like Aizen has just given me the greatest belated birthday gift ever. Keep them coming, you madman."

Not long after, another Hollow bore through the crack that wasn't finished repairing. It was horizontal with four legs, but also had a human upper torso. It drew its sword and swung down at Orihime.

Pale Reiatsu emanated from her arms and legs as she disappeared from its line of attack. She reappeared behind its large head and smashed its skull in.

With perfect control over her Reiatsu she was able to complete her version of Shunko. It was much slower than Yoruichi's, but the strength was equal if not higher. The only thing Orihime lacked was captain-level Reiatsu.

The Arrancar she instantly took out turned to dust and another strand of energy entered her. The feeling of absorbing that strange energy was quite addicting. She had to calm her mind or she was afraid she would go berserk.

"Seems there is some remnant will in the strands of energy. I should be careful not to absorb too much in a short time."

The failed Arrancar experiments were quite weak at the moment. Orihime needed to hurry and release the seal before the strong ones showed up. She maintained her Shunko at a low energy state so she was ready for the next one.

What Orihime didn't expect was an hour passing without any signs. She regrettably deactivated the Shunko and began to stretch out her spiritual perception as much as she could. The crack had completely sealed, but Orihime was worried the Arrancar would strike at a different location.

With her perception working at maximum, she began to Shunpo around the perimeter. On her way around, Hitsuraku intercepted her.

"What is happening? Oshino called for reinforcements."

"We're being hunted by things more powerful than regular Hollow. Deactivate the dolls and get the juniors to safety. I'll show those things who the real hunter is."