Three days had passed since Natsuro obtained that half-finished Hōgyoku.
Nothing unexpected had happened. He had thought that Kisuke might come to him to retrieve the Hōgyoku, but in reality, nothing of the sort occurred.
During these three days, Meikyō Shisui also completed the initial stage of her transformation from a "normal" soul into a Hollow.
At this moment, Meikyō Shisui had completely changed from her former pure-white palace robes into a set of black clothing, streaked with faint traces of blood-red.
Her once calm and lovely features, after completing this first stage of transformation, now appeared somewhat eerie. Her blood-red eyes seemed to flicker with a strange light.
Most striking of all, parts of her body were now adorned with bony ornaments: a bracelet encircling her wrist, a necklace of bone visible along her exposed collarbone and across her forehead slanted a mask of pure white bone.
When Natsuro saw Meikyō Shisui's new appearance, he was surprised. The transformation from the cold aloofness of their first meeting to this eerie allure… was truly a great change.
"Surprised, Master Swordsman? This is the result you've always wanted, isn't it~" Meikyō Shisui teased lightly.
"Mm, not bad." Natsuro nodded, gazing at the bone mask on her forehead. After her initial transformation into a Hollow, she hadn't actually put on the mask, it was more like the Arrancar of the Visored Corps.
This, he thought, must be the outcome of his insistence on not letting her transform into a Hollow through despair.
It also meant he had skipped the entire process of raising her from Hollow to Arrancar, a process during which she likely wouldn't have been cooperative. For example, her Bankai might have been unusable to him.
Now, however, with her directly becoming an Arrancar without undergoing normal Hollowfication, that weakness no longer existed.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Even so, her transformation was still drastic. If he had taken the easy route and truly used despair as bait to make her fall directly into Hollowhood…
The result would have been obvious: Meikyō Shisui would have become a ferocious Menos Grande. Since her soul had been tempered by Natsuro's spiritual pressure, her power would probably have rivaled Coyote Starrk himself.
Of course, Natsuro was confident he could suppress such a Meikyō Shisui. But at that time, would she still acknowledge him as her master sword, obeying without complaint or rebellion?
Now, at least, he could feel that while her personality had changed considerably, her essence had not.
She still recognized him as her sole sword master.
At this moment, Meikyō Shisui looked at him with a faint, wicked smile. She had been worried her transformation would make him reject her.
But it seemed, as expected, he was indeed her master.
She narrowed her eyes, staring at Natsuro intently. She knew she had changed, but such change was inevitable, the price of Hollowfication. And truthfully, this outcome was already favorable.
"All right, tell me about the changes," Natsuro asked, avoiding her heated gaze.
"In terms of sheer power, not much has changed. But in the essence of strength, I've gained Hollow power. I suppose this would give me an edge against the Quincy." Meikyō Shisui frowned slightly as she spoke.
"Is that so?" Natsuro frowned too.
"However, I can still become stronger, though it will require a vast amount of spiritual energy."
"My spiritual energy isn't enough for you?" Natsuro was surprised. In this world, if his spiritual energy was ranked second, no one could claim first, not even Sōsuke Aizen.
Meikyō Shisui shook her head. "Master, when I was transforming with the Hōgyoku's power, I realized this metamorphosis depends on how much spiritual energy I absorb. In fact, I could start evolving again right now."
"But if I do, my power might not grow much, and it wouldn't be of great help to you."
"I see." Natsuro nodded. He understood.
In that case, he would ensure she absorbed as much spiritual energy as possible before undergoing further evolution.
"Go ahead, try absorbing my spiritual energy." Natsuro thought for a moment before saying this.
"Yes, Master." Meikyō Shisui nodded. Then a terrifying suction burst forth from her blade, greedily pulling his spiritual energy into herself.
The rate of absorption was like pulling the plug on a bathtub full of water.
This was only possible because Natsuro's reserves were so vast. An ordinary Shinigami's spiritual energy would never even fill a bathtub, and they'd be instantly drained dry.
"Stop." Natsuro halted her.
After all, this was the living world. Even though Karakura Town was a spiritual hotspot, its reishi concentration couldn't possibly keep up with Meikyō Shisui's absorption rate compared to his output.
So he decided not to feed her spiritual energy here.
Meikyō Shisui obeyed and stopped.
"Looks like I need to find a proper place for seclusion," Natsuro said. The Soul Society was out of the question, if he absorbed spiritual energy so openly, he would surely be discovered.
If it were only him absorbing energy, it might not matter. But nurturing a Hollow with it? If discovered, no explanation would save him; he'd be branded an enemy of the Gotei 13 immediately.
Still, he thought of the few people in the Gotei 13 with whom he had good relations, and he didn't want things to come to that.
So the location was basically decided. The next issue was how to disappear for a long time without drawing suspicion.
Natsuro sighed, shaking his head. Troublesome.
At this moment, he held the blue-black Hōgyoku in his palm. Meikyō Shisui had in fact taken less than three days to complete her transformation, just over two days really.
Yet he could feel the Hōgyoku's power had diminished considerably.
Was this truly all the power it had?
He was doubtful. Although the Hōgyoku continued to absorb reishi from the air to restore itself…
Something felt off. Kisuke Urahara had once used the Hōgyoku to Hollowfy an entire group, the Visoreds.
But from the looks of it now, the Hōgyoku didn't seem capable of completing a second Hollowfication even for Meikyō Shisui.
Could the Visoreds really be that much easier to Hollowfy than her?
In truth, Natsuro had misunderstood the Hōgyoku. It wasn't that its power was weaker than before, nor that Meikyō Shisui was harder to transform.
In reality, even if several more Zanpakutō spirits like her appeared, the Hōgyoku could still Hollowfy them without issue.
The true difference lay in Natsuro himself.
His memories of the Shinigami were too fragmented. He simply didn't recall the Hōgyoku's true nature.
Its ability wasn't just to break the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow. It functioned more like a wish-granting device.
The reason Kisuke Urahara believed the Hōgyoku's ability was to break that boundary was because that was what he wished it to do. The Hōgyoku merely realized his desire.
The Hōgyoku's true power is to manifest what lies within one's heart, developing reality according to one's inner wish, though the condition is that the wielder must possess the strength to make that wish possible.
In other words, the wishes fulfilled by the Hōgyoku are limited to what the wisher themselves has the ability to realize. Even if the probability of achieving it is extremely small, it can still be made possible. But if the probability is zero, then the Hōgyoku cannot make that wish come true.
For example, if there were an object like the Hōgyoku in Naruto, and a member of the Uchiha clan obtained it, they could rely on the Hōgyoku to directly awaken the Sharingan, or even the Mangekyō because they already possess the latent potential for it.
However, if someone without Uchiha blood were to obtain the Hōgyoku and wished to awaken the Sharingan, then no matter how hard they wished, it would be impossible.
(PS: Theoretically, doesn't this mean all Ōtsutsuki descendants have the potential to awaken such eyes? For example, the Uzumaki or the Senju?)
And so, since the Hōgyoku was in Natsuro's hand, it naturally sensed his thoughts.
Natsuro's desire had always been simple and pure, he wanted to become stronger.
Did Natsuro lack the potential to grow stronger? Of course not. Even without the Hōgyoku, he could still grow more powerful.
The issue was that this Hōgyoku was only a half-finished product. It did not have the power to directly fulfill Natsuro's wish.
But although it could not strengthen Natsuro himself directly, it could do so indirectly, through Meikyō Shisui.
Meikyō Shisui was his weapon. If she became stronger, then Natsuro's own strength would also increase.
Meikyō Shisui's wish had been nothing more than Hollowfication. So after she completed that, there should have been no further changes. However, because of Natsuro's desire, a path of further evolution had opened for her.
Of course, this was also possible only because Meikyō Shisui inherently possessed the potential for such transformation.
Thus, he had indeed misunderstood the Hōgyoku, it was not weak at all.
Unfortunately, since he did not know the Hōgyoku's true ability, Natsuro could not understand this.
Before long, Natsuro gave up on thinking about it. He wasn't a researcher of the Hōgyoku anyway, and had no idea about its true mechanism. Maybe Kisuke Urahara could see through it if he knew.
He glanced at the sky. It was already late, so he decided not to disturb Kisuke at such an hour.
After all, for safety's sake, he had said it would take three to five days, so there was no rush.
The next day, he brought Meikyō Shisui with him to the Urahara Shop.
"You finally came. I thought you'd taken my thing and run off with it," Kisuke Urahara said with a bright gleam in his eye, finally feeling relieved.
But then he grew puzzled. Natsuro didn't seem to have changed at all.
Even Arrancar and Shinigami had visible differences, such as bony ornaments, but Natsuro showed none of these traits.
"I only needed this thing to accomplish a small goal. After that, it's useless to me. Why would I keep it?" Natsuro said, tossing the Hōgyoku casually to Kisuke.
Kisuke caught it just as casually.
From their attitudes, it looked as though the Hōgyoku were nothing more than some trivial trinket.
Watching this, Yoruichi and Tessai both twitched at the corners of their eyes. They knew the Hōgyoku's miraculous properties, within the Soul Society it would be regarded as a calamity-level treasure.
"Hm? What did you do with it? Why is so much of its energy gone?" Kisuke frowned as he inspected it.
"Who knows? I only used it to help my Zanpakutō undergo some changes. After that, it became like this," Natsuro replied.
"Your… Zanpakutō?!" Kisuke gave him a sharp look.
"Is that not allowed?" Natsuro countered.
"It's not that it's not allowed, it's just… I thought you wanted the Hōgyoku for yourself…" Kisuke gave a wry smile. Until now he had assumed Natsuro who was already so strong, was risking Hollowfication to enhance himself.
But it had been for his Zanpakutō instead?
As for whether a Zanpakutō could Hollowfy, Kisuke didn't really doubt it.
Through his research, he had long since known that what dwelled within a Zanpakutō was a Shinigami's soul. And since it was a soul, it could undergo Hollowfication.
But could this really make one stronger? Kisuke remained skeptical.
More importantly, did Hollowfying a Zanpakutō really consume so much of the Hōgyoku's power?
When he had treated all the Visoreds during their Hollowfication, it hadn't required nearly this much.
So, was Natsuro lying? But he had already returned the Hōgyoku. Was there any reason to lie?
Based on what he knew of him, this must be true.
"Looks like you don't really understand why either." Natsuro noticed Kisuke's lingering doubt and commented.
"Perhaps," Kisuke said.
"Drink with me. After this, it might be a long time before I come back again." Natsuro tossed a few bottles of alcohol to him.
"Oh? You grab the Hōgyoku and now you're ready to skip town? So heartless~" Kisuke replied in his usual flippant tone, no longer dwelling on the matter of the Hōgyoku's usage.
"Mm. I'll probably be going into seclusion in Hueco Mundo for a long while," Natsuro said frankly, not hiding his plan.
"Seclusion, huh… looks like you gained quite a bit this time," Kisuke muttered in surprise before nodding.
"Indeed. It was a great help. Otherwise, I'd have had no choice but to let Meikyō Shisui fall into Hollowhood, which would have surely harmed her. I never wanted that, so I had to borrow your Hōgyoku."
With that, he revealed the true reason he had taken the Hōgyoku.
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Currently on Chapter 508 - The Assault on Soul Society