Cero

"Achoo!"

He sneezed involuntarily.

Although there was no real discomfort, in a situation like this, overthinking was its own kind of self-reassurance.

Acting alone meant he had to be extremely cautious.

Maybe he should have brought someone more trustworthy along.

Shiba Isshin rubbed his hands together and let out a helpless sigh.

It was his fault for not planning things properly, but making impulsive decisions was just the kind of thing the head of the Shiba clan would do.

Ahaha, he brought this on himself.

His thoughts wandered as he spotted a familiar figure in the distance. Seeing the person, Isshin raised his right hand cheerfully and called out:

"Yo! Thanks for holding down the fort!"

The squad member in a Shinigami uniform hurried over, his expression excited.

"Captain, you… you actually came?!"

He was one of the 10th Division's stationed officers in the Human World, personally assigned by Isshin, so the two were quite familiar with each other.

"I was a little worried about you guys, so I thought I'd check in personally."

Scratching the back of his head, Isshin gave a helpless smile.

"Hah… but looking at things now, I guess there wasn't much need?"

Following the patrol map for his inspection, he found that everything was surprisingly peaceful—if not outright uneventful.

If it weren't for the multiple incident reports Hitsugaya had forwarded, Isshin might have suspected someone was covering something up.

"So, nothing happened on your end either?"

The squad member looked confused, completely unaware of any trouble.

—Those who hadn't been attacked had no idea what was going on.

That only made Isshin's carefree smile waver slightly as a sense of unease crept in.

If the situation was this one-sided, there was usually only one explanation.

"The power gap between the two sides is so overwhelming that the victims don't even realize what killed them."

A giant crushing an ant was an effortless act.

But the most terrifying part was that the ant never even realized what had ended it.

He could hardly imagine what kind of being was behind these attacks.

After all, for someone to display that level of combat power in the Human World… Just thinking about it made his skin crawl.

Isshin was sure that even he couldn't pull that off.

"The Human World's spiritual energy is too thin—if it were a Shinigami, they'd have to consider that."

"Then… could it be someone related to the Hollowfication incident decades ago?"

"Hollows, on the other hand, wouldn't be restricted by such limitations…"

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the increasingly anxious expression on his subordinate's face.

Deciding not to dwell on it, Isshin dismissed his own speculation.

Bringing unnecessary pressure onto his subordinates was just poor leadership.

Come on, Isshin, you're the Captain of the 10th Division!

"Alright, I'm going to do another patrol and check on the situation. If anything comes up, use Kido to contact me."

"Ah! Speaking of that! Captain, we could actually try using a phone instead!"

"Huh? What's that?"

Being in the Human World meant adapting to technology.

The squad member enthusiastically pulled out the device from his belt and gave a simple demonstration.

"It's a communication tool used by humans here… Captain, it's really convenient! It's just a shame that Soul Society doesn't have a signal yet, so we haven't been able to develop it."

As a noble, Isshin wasn't exactly a stranger to technology, and he wasn't a stubborn traditionalist either.

After playing around with the phone for a bit, he seemed genuinely intrigued.

"This is pretty nice! Get me one."

It was practical and useful.

If only Soul Society had them—who'd bother with Kido messaging then?

"Uh… that might be a little difficult…"

"Huh? Why?"

"You need an ID or a credit card to get a contract. Otherwise, you won't be able to pay the bills, and the number will stop working…"

"…???"

Isshin's face was a picture of pure confusion.

Realizing this would take a lot of explanation, the squad member braced himself and tried summarizing it as simply as possible.

His explanation was a bit scattered, but Isshin was sharp enough to catch the key issue.

"So, I need some Human World stuff for this? That's a bit of a hassle… Besides, I guess I don't really need it in Soul Society right now."

Forget it.

Laughing, Isshin handed the phone back and turned away without hesitation.

"I'll wait for the Research & Development guys to figure this out first. Then I'll try it."

Clearly, he had no patience for the process.

And since his interest had faded, he didn't linger. Striding away, he called out cheerfully:

"I'm going to check on the others. Won't stay here too long—see you! Let me know if anything happens!"

He arrived with energy, and he left just as quickly.

His subordinate watched him disappear into the distance and finally sighed in relief.

No matter how approachable he was, a captain was still a captain. The pressure was real.

And yet, he couldn't shake the lingering thought—

What the hell was going on?

Why did their normally laid-back captain suddenly come to inspect the Human World?

Did someone screw up big time?

The answer was unclear.

All he could do was sigh as he gazed in the direction Isshin had left.

And besides…

He stretched out his right hand, catching something drifting from the sky.

Cold and damp.

It was starting to rain.

…

After making a full circuit of his patrol, Isshin hovered in midair, arms crossed, deep in thought.

And his conclusion?

Absolutely nothing.

No clues whatsoever.

The 10th Division Captain started second-guessing himself.

Was he just overthinking it?

Maybe nothing serious had actually happened…

But before that thought could settle, a sudden, overwhelming sense of danger engulfed him.

Danger!

His body reacted faster than his mind.

Without thinking, he instinctively shifted half a step to the left.

And in that brief instant—

A jet-black, ominously glowing beam of energy grazed past his face!

BOOM!!!

The deafening roar followed a beat later, as if reality was catching up.

The air around him trembled, a sharp pain blooming across his cheek.

A warm trickle slid down his face.

The metallic scent of blood reached him.

A lingering burn, like the aftermath of an explosion, filled the air.

Black lightning crackled ominously in the sky, twisting chaotically as it lingered like an afterimage of destruction.

This was…

While not entirely familiar, Isshin had enough training to recognize it.

"A concentrated beam of spiritual energy, compressed to the highest density."

Similar to Kido, yet fundamentally different.

A technique purely for attack and speed, abandoning any other unnecessary functions—

A manifestation of pure, instinctive aggression.

Lifting a hand, he wiped his cheek, feeling the sting and the lingering dark energy.

His expression hardened as he turned toward his attacker.

What he saw was an unfamiliar figure.

Milky white, serpentine in shape, its elongated body coiled and twisted unnaturally in midair.

Its long, floating whiskers swayed as its sharp claws flexed in and out, like breathing.

This was…

"A Hollow?"

His voice held uncertainty.

This creature's form was something he had never seen before.

But that uncertainty was quickly erased.

Because at that moment, its long snout parted, and a sinister black glow began gathering in the air.

The energy condensed violently, forming into an ominous crimson sphere.

A faint, eerie hum filled the air.

Isshin's expression darkened instantly.

This presence… this feeling…

There was no mistake.

This was a Hollow.

And in just this brief exchange, Isshin was sure of one thing—

"It was you, wasn't it?!"

His roar rang through the rain-soaked sky as he drew his blade.

His brows furrowed, and his anger was unmistakable.

"You're the bastard who attacked my squad and caused trouble in the Human World!!!"

No answer came. But it didn't matter.

Words weren't needed.

A Shinigami's duty was to eliminate corrupted souls.

And the enemy was right in front of him.

—By blood, it would be purified.

The enemy was right in front of him.

Through their brief exchange, Isshin was already certain—this Hollow was no ordinary opponent.

He couldn't afford to hold back.

Lowering his stance, his expression turned serious.

His loose-fitting haori rippled as his spiritual pressure surged, rising like an invisible tide.

The rain.

It was forcibly pushed away by the sheer force of his energy.

Centered around him, the very space seemed to distort, twisting unnaturally.

Such a display of power had only one explanation—

As a captain-level Shinigami, unleashing his full strength in the Human World was normally forbidden.

This fragile realm couldn't withstand the overwhelming weight of spiritual beings.

But now…

It was time to invoke emergency authority.

Punishment could come later.

Right now, all that mattered was eliminating this Hollow.

In the forcibly cleared 'vacuum zone' around him, Isshin prepared to unleash his full power.

"Ban—"

Before he could even finish speaking—

Splat!

A sharp, tearing pain burst through his back, accompanied by a sudden spray of fresh blood.

"?!?!"

Shock and confusion filled his mind as the release of his spiritual pressure came to a sudden halt.

His body instinctively tried to turn, but before he could react—

A Cero had already been fired straight at him.

There was no time to dodge.

"Burn, Engetsu!"

Flames erupted from his Zanpakutō, spiraling outward in a massive wave.

A roaring inferno clashed with the oncoming Cero, the two forces colliding violently.

BOOM!!!

The sky itself seemed to split apart as a blinding explosion engulfed the battlefield.

Emerging from the smoke, Isshin's form was battered—his uniform torn, his breathing unsteady.

Pain seared through his back, his mind racing.

'That attack… it was a sword wound.'

'Hollows don't use swords.'

'There's someone else—someone hiding in the shadows!'

But he couldn't sense them.

'Their presence vanished the moment they struck… How?'

'This is worse than I expected. The situation is far more dangerous than I thought.'

His expression hardened.

He was at a disadvantage.

He had no idea where the hidden enemy would strike from next.

And worse—

The real problem wasn't even the hidden enemy.

It was the Hollow in front of him.

Because—

It was absurdly strong.

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Powerstones?

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