Outside the basement, two Inukami Group members stood guard.
Hearing the cries from within, they didn't open the door. Instead, they covered their ears and stepped back.
They didn't know what was inside the basement.
But whenever someone crossed the Inukami Group's boss, he'd lock them in there.
Soon after, chilling screams would echo out.
A while later, the screams would stop.
And everyone locked inside would vanish—gone without a trace, neither alive nor dead.
After this happened enough times, people steered clear of the basement.
Their fear of the boss ran bone-deep.
Not long ago, three underlings who botched a job were sent to another country for gender reassignment surgery, causing a stir in the group.
Yet no one dared plead for them.
The boss's methods were just too ruthless.
Many suspected a devil backed him, his cruelty too extreme for a mere human.
So, despite the desperate cries from the basement, the two guards didn't dare open the door. They covered their ears and kept their distance.
They weren't about to risk their lives over it.
Meanwhile, having witnessed this, Morpheus cast a teleportation spell, appearing instantly in the basement.
The captives, still unaware, suddenly collapsed into a deep sleep.
Sleep magic.
After putting them under, Morpheus turned his gaze to the Hollow.
"You."
The Hollow was bizarre, resembling an oversized humanoid lizard covered in scales.
Seeing Morpheus, it froze in shock.
"You know me?" Morpheus grinned. "That's perfect. Can you laugh for me?"
"Laugh?" The lizard Hollow eyed him warily, confused by the bizarre request.
Morpheus tilted his head. "Not willing? No problem, I'll help."
He snapped his fingers, casting a spell to stir the Hollow's emotions.
Devils excel at manipulating human desires and emotions. Having accessed Rizevim's memories, Morpheus was well-versed in such magic.
With a slight tweak, he provoked the lizard Hollow's emotions.
After all, Hollows were born from human souls, their essence still human at the core.
Stirring its emotions was child's play for Morpheus.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
The lizard Hollow burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Morpheus's eyes lit up, gleaming with certainty.
That laugh. It was that laugh.
He recognized it clearly—the same laugh from when his predecessor was devoured. This lizard Hollow was the culprit.
His predecessor, limited in knowledge, had mistaken it for a yokai.
Now it was clear: it wasn't a yokai, but a Hollow.
Better late than never. Morpheus had found the one who ate his predecessor.
Time for vengeance.
Boom!
Morpheus raised his hand, pressing down lightly. The air grew oppressively heavy, an immense force like a hammer smashing into the Hollow.
Gravity magic: twentyfold gravity.
A force that could crush a human into paste slammed into the lizard Hollow, nearly flattening it.
Blood spurted from its body.
Human souls don't bleed.
But once a soul becomes a Hollow, its body materializes with energy, regaining blood.
This "blood" wasn't human—it was reishi.
The reishi, shaped like blood, splattered the floor, then quickly evaporated, vanishing as if it had never been.
Only the lizard Hollow's wails and roars remained, its bones and cells nearly crushed by the overwhelming gravity.
In that moment, it suffered unbearable agony.
Morpheus was unmoved. When the Hollow devoured his predecessor's body and soul, it showed no mercy.
Why should he?
He didn't hold back. Summoning hellfire, he roasted the Hollow in its flames.
He made it experience a fate worse than death.
To keep it from burning to ash too quickly, Morpheus infused it with just enough power to endure the hellfire longer.
After setting this in motion, he leisurely read the Hollow's memories.
His expression darkened.
The lizard Hollow wasn't naturally formed.
It was artificially created.
A mastermind used their knowledge to create Hollows in the human world, ordering them to attack humans and collect souls.
His predecessor's soul wasn't eaten by the Hollow—it was taken and delivered to this mastermind.
And that mastermind was none other than a traitor from the Soul Society.
A former captain of the Gotei 13.
Kisuke Urahara.
If Morpheus hadn't seen Bleach, he might have believed it.
The information came from the Hollow's memories—it couldn't be fake.
But Morpheus had seen Bleach and knew Kisuke Urahara's character. The man wasn't a saint, but he wasn't this depraved.
Creating Hollows to attack humans and harvest souls? That didn't sound like Urahara.
Morpheus leaned toward a frame job.
Someone was impersonating Kisuke Urahara, creating these Hollows to attack humans and collect souls.
If anyone traced the Hollows' memories, they'd point to Urahara.
He was clearly a scapegoat.
Of course, this was just Morpheus's theory. What if this world's Urahara had fallen?
In this chaotic, stitched-together world, anything was possible.
The odds were slim, pitifully so, but not zero.
So Morpheus decided to visit Karakura Town and have a chat with Kisuke Urahara to see what he had to say.
***
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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