Although Katori Sora was the first to see this type of spiritual particle carrying a Hollow's aura, based on the Quincy's conversation, he guessed it was related to the "bait" they had mentioned.
He recalled memories from his past life; this "bait" must be an item used to attract Hollows.
From this perspective, the incident was no accident, but a man-made disaster!
For now, however, he had no time to think about it further. He used Shunpo to leave the rooftop and rush towards his students.
Yoruichi and Rii's injuries were severe and needed treatment.
When he had fought the Great Hollows, he had been mindful of his positioning, deliberately avoiding having the battle affect this area. The three students had not sustained any further injuries.
"Four Great Hollows were no match for the professor... not even a lieutenant could do that... the professor is just too strong!"
Although Yoruichi was seriously injured, her spirit was unusually excited.
"A battle is not a simple comparison of power," Sora said, a healing glow appearing in his hand.
"When facing multiple powerful enemies, the optimal strategy is to create a temporary one-on-one situation. Just now, I first killed the two isolated Gillians to avoid being surrounded."
He had chosen to bring the students in this direction with that in mind. Of the three remaining Gillians, one had been closer while the other two were farther away, giving him a time gap to strike.
A few minutes later, Sora sensed a spiritual pressure fluctuation. He looked up and saw a faint glow appear in the sky, followed by two gates materializing within it.
A Senkaimon! The reinforcements from the Seireitei had finally arrived.
The two gates in the sky opened. Two figures in white haori stepped out, with a dozen Shinigami following close behind.
"How reckless. The World of the Living can't withstand this kind of turmoil," Retsu Unohana said, frowning as she looked at Karakura Town, which was almost half-destroyed.
The Gillian's Cero had destroyed a quarter of the town in one blast.
"It seems there are no powerful enemies left here, though there are still some ordinary Hollows," the man next to her said, raising a hand. "You all go and clear out the remaining Hollows."
"Yes, sir!"
The man next to Unohana was the captain of Squad 11, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki. He had a wild appearance, with sharp eyes and messy black hair that stood up like wild grass.
Unohana sensed the spiritual pressure in and around the town and, finding many casualties, dispatched the Squad 4 members to treat the wounded.
Then, she and Kuruyashiki went directly to Sora's location.
"Katori-kun, your students are seriously injured," Unohana said softly. She had received intelligence before coming that academy students were undergoing their practical exam here.
"Captain Unohana, you've come at the right time. There are two heavily injured students here. I can't handle them alone," Sora said.
"The intelligence we received said there were Great Hollows and Quincy here. Did you take care of them all, Katori-kun?" Unohana asked, a healing glow appearing in her hands as she began to treat the students.
"I defeated the Great Hollows, but not the Quincy. They left on their own, probably because they guessed that Kurumatani-san and I had reported the situation," Sora said.
"Are the requirements for academy Professors so high now?" Kuruyashiki said, stroking his chin and sizing up Sora. "To be able to slay multiple Gillians on your own!"
"It seems your strength has improved quite a bit, Katori-kun," Unohana said, her gentle smile seeming as if it could wash away all worries.
However, Sora felt her gaze was a bit too intense and, remembering the experience of being cut down by her, couldn't help but feel a phantom pain in his abdomen.
"I encountered three Quincy," Sora quickly changed the subject. "Kurumatani-san and I met two on the way to Karakura Town."
"Yamashita-kun, Kawata-san, and the Stealth Force members were likely killed by them; by the time we arrived, we could no longer sense their Spiritual Pressure."
"Then Kurumatani-san held back the two Quincy, allowing me to break away and go to Karakura Town to support the students."
Unohana nodded. "Kurumatani-san is still alive. I just sensed his Spiritual Pressure and have already dispatched team members to treat him."
Sora continued, "Later, I met a third Quincy in Karakura Town. Although we didn't fight, I feel she is stronger than the other two, at least at the lieutenant level."
"What a shame! Those Quincy might have been 'big fish'. If only we had arrived sooner. I really want to fight a pure-blood Quincy!" Kuruyashiki said with a face full of regret.
The Quincy are a group that greatly values bloodlines. The strength of a pure-blood Quincy is generally much stronger than a mixed-blood. From Katori Sora's description, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki judged that the Quincy he encountered were most likely pure-bloods. Pure-blood Quincy are quite rare; even Kuruyashiki himself had never encountered one.
Sora took out a ball of spiritual particles. It was the soul fragments containing the "bait" that he had collected from the baby's body.
If not processed, these soul fragments would dissipate on their own, so Sora used spiritual particles to seal them.
"Captain, this is what I collected from the infant's corpse. I'm afraid this is the cause of this incident," he said, handing the particles to Unohana.
"The aura of 'bait'," Unohana recognized it immediately, and her face darkened.
She also realized this was no accident, but a man-made disaster!
"Based on the Quincy's conversation, it seems they weren't the ones who did it," Sora said.
However, the Seireitei would not take the word of a Quincy as evidence.
"I will report this matter to the Captain-Commander," Unohana said, putting away the particles.
After the Squad 11 members cleared out the remaining Hollows, the group returned to the Soul Society with the wounded.
With such a turn of events, the evaluation criteria for the exam would have to be decided after a further investigation.
After the Shinigami returned to the Soul Society—
Three black-robed figures appeared in the ruins of Karakura Town. They were holding instruments and scanning the area for residual Spiritual Pressure.
They needed to find out why their operation had not gone as expected.
"6th-grade Spiritual Power?!"
"What's going on? The reading in the Soul Society was clearly 11th-grade!"
"How can there be such a big difference?!"
"Is the instrument broken?"
"No wonder he could handle the Great Hollows!"
The three figures couldn't believe the values displayed on their instruments.
"Release some Spiritual Pressure. Let's test ourselves with the instrument," one said to his companion. After testing, they found the instruments were working fine.
"Did he hide his strength when he was in the Soul Society?"
"What would be the point of that... damn it... now we're going to be punished by the master."
"Forget it, let's just hurry back and report."
The three put on their hoods again and vanished.
After they left, a shadow on the ground shifted. If one looked closely, a single eye in the shadow, which occasionally blinked, was staring at the spot where the three had just been.
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