"Even if it costs me my life, I will open a path for you!"
Ashido's words stirred the two Shinigami.
"What are you talking about? How could we abandon our captain and run..."
"If the captain isn't leaving, we aren't leaving either!"
Even Kensei and the others were fired up, clamoring to stay and help.
"We can already deal with 'Gillians.' We can stay and help too."
"Yeah, we can't just stand by and watch them die..."
"Abandoning comrades goes against the Kuchiki family code."
Just then, a piercing alarm sounded throughout the expeditionary camp.
The camp's alarm had been triggered, an alarm that only sounded when a major enemy was invading.
The reishi shield protecting the camp had also been activated. A hemispherical blue barrier enveloped the entire encampment.
Everyone left the warehouse and quickly sensed the spiritual pressure fluctuations coming from outside the camp.
"Not good, the Menos are about to attack!" Ashido's face paled.
The Shinigami in the tents also heard the alarm and gathered before Ashido, even those afflicted with the Hollow poison dragged their weakened spiritual bodies to assemble.
"Captain, the spiritual pressure detectors have picked up a large number of spiritual pressure readings outside the camp! There are over a hundred 'Gillian'-class Menos alone, and countless normal Hollows!"
The intelligence from the detectors brought despair to all the Shinigami of the expeditionary force. They knew full well that over ninety percent of them were poisoned and completely unable to handle the current situation.
"Captain, take the comrades who aren't poisoned and break through!"
"Yes, we'll stay behind and cover your retreat!"
The poisoned Shinigami, knowing their chances of escape were slim, decided to stay behind and buy time for their comrades to live.
"Those who wish to retreat, prepare yourselves! I will create an opening for you, and you will break through! For my comrades who choose to stay, I will fight with you until the very last moment!" Ashido turned to the group that had brought the supplies. "Miss Saitō, Professor Katori, you take the students and retreat with the others."
However, just as Ashido finished speaking, a sudden change occurred.
The reishi shield protecting the camp flickered several times and then rapidly dissipated.
With the shield gone, the entire camp was left defenseless before the Menos army.
"What's happening! Why was the reishi shield shut down?!"
The sudden turn of events threw the expeditionary force into a panic.
Without the shield, the Menos only needed to bombard the camp with Ceros from outside to bring about their complete annihilation.
The core of the reishi shield was at the very center of the camp. Standing there was a female Shinigami with long, wavy blonde hair. Her Zanpakutō was plunged into the shield's core.
The core had been destroyed by her Zanpakutō!
"Kako Fukushima, what are you doing! Why did you destroy the reishi shield's core!" the Shinigami of the expeditionary force demanded.
Ashido's eyes narrowed. He used Shunpo to appear beside Kako and immediately drew his sword to strike her.
Kako displayed an extraordinary reaction speed. Her entire upper body bent backwards, dodging his slash.
Then, she pushed off the ground with her hands and flipped backwards, creating distance between them.
"Still thinking of breaking out?" Kako's voice suddenly changed, as if two different vocal tones were overlapping. "You will all stay here!"
Ashido's face turned ashen. "You're still not dead! You've possessed someone else!"
Kako Fukushima had been parasitized by that Hollow!
What Ashido found unbelievable was that he had personally dealt with that Hollow, yet here it was, alive and well, and had destroyed the reishi shield's core.
'Kako Fukushima' laughed loudly. "Hahahaha—what you destroyed was just a part of my body that I split off. In reality, the first thing I did after entering your camp was to move my main body and hide it!"
The corners of 'Kako's' mouth stretched wide, splitting to a grotesque degree that distorted her delicate face.
Then, many wrinkles appeared on her tight, elastic skin. But these were not the wrinkles of old age, but the natural folds that formed after flesh and skin separated.
A mass of white substance pushed open the skin of her face and swelled out from her mouth.
The irregular white mass floated in the air. Its shape and texture reminded Sora of a slime.
After the white mass left 'Kako's' shell, her entire body seemed to have had its bones and flesh sucked out, leaving only a layer of skin and a shihakushō to fall to the ground.
'Kako' was not the only one to change. Several other Shinigami also opened their mouths, and white matter poured out. Their bodies, as if drained of flesh and bone, left behind empty skins and uniforms that crumpled to the ground.
All of this white matter gathered together, forming an even larger white mass.
The white mask on it proved that this floating mass was a strangely shaped Hollow.
An Adjuchas!
Sora was certain. This was an 'Adjuchas'-class Menos Grande!
Its spiritual pressure was far beyond that of an ordinary 'Gillian.'
"I spent so much effort just to bury you all here. You cannot escape!" The slime-Adjuchas's voice was now only a deep, grating male tone. Kako's voice had completely disappeared.
At the same time, outside the camp, dense, tall black figures had already closed in.
A massive, oppressive group of 'Gillians,' like a range of small mountains.
"You all be careful. Do not split up. The 'Adjuchas'-class Menos is not limited to just this one in front of us," Sora warned the students.
He could sense another 'Adjuchas'-level spiritual pressure outside the camp. The swarm of Hollows outside was being commanded by that one.
"Captain Ashido, it seems that even if we are to retreat, we'll have to deal with these Hollows first!" Sora used Shunpo to appear beside Ashido, drew his Zanpakutō, and inverted the blade. "Bankai: Shosō Kaijin!"
The Zanpakutō melted like ink and sank into the ground.
Then, the black shadow on the ground spread outwards at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
Soon, the Shinigami in the camp, the 'Adjuchas,' and the swarm of Menos outside were all pulled into the shadow space.
"You can use Bankai?!" Ashido suddenly felt as if he had been in Hueco Mundo for two or three hundred years.
In his memory, Katori Sora was, at best, an excellent Professor, his own strength far from that of a true powerhouse.
But now, Katori Sora had completely shattered his old impression.
He was a captain-level powerhouse!
Ashido's heart instantly eased. With a captain-level ally here, the Menos's plot might not necessarily succeed!
Sora's Bankai was like a shot of adrenaline for all the Shinigami. Everyone's spirits were lifted.
"Such powerful spiritual pressure! It's captain-level!"
"It's a Bankai! We have a chance to break through!"
"The transport squad sent a captain-level powerhouse? By the Soul King, did the Soul King hear our prayers!"
"You fool! It's not the Soul King who brought us hope, it's that Professor from the academy!"
"I've only been in Hueco Mundo for two or three years. Has the academy changed that much? For these students to be taught by a captain-level powerhouse is so enviable..."
Akane Saitō stared dumbfounded at the pitch-black shadow space. She now understood why Katori Sora could instantly kill a 'Gillian.' It was because he was a captain-level Shinigami!
Sora's Bankai also caused a commotion among the Hollows. This was something they had not anticipated.
They had thought the expeditionary force was already meat on the chopping block, but such a change had occurred, and the situation had suddenly become unpredictable.
—ROOOAR!!!
A high-pitched roar came from outside the camp.
This roar, from an 'Adjuchas,' was the signal for the attack. The Menos surrounding the camp all opened their massive mouths, and huge red flashes of light began to gather.
"Numbers are meaningless before me. In my shadow space, all shadows will be dominated by me," Sora said, raising his right hand and clenching it in the empty air.
The shadow space instantly surged like a rolling tsunami.
Over a hundred giant shadows burst forth from the black ground—they were the shadows of the 'Gillian'-class Menos.
The shadows of the 'Gillians' coiled around their own upper bodies, locking onto their throats and heads, twisting their masks to face the sky.
The next moment, over a hundred red Ceros shot out simultaneously, all aimed at the sky.
The hundred red flashes converged in the air, erupting with even more terrifying power.
—BOOM!!!
The terrifying shockwave annihilated countless stone pillars and even affected the desert layer above the Forest of Menos.
Somewhere in the Hueco Mundo desert—
Three Hollows were discussing their next destination.
"It's getting hard for us to get any stronger by staying here," said a tall, thin Hollow. Its mask was shaped like a termite's head, with flat, double horns on its forehead and chin.
"Yeah, yeah, let's hurry up and go to the Forest of Menos. There are more opportunities to evolve there!" said another Hollow with a very large head.
"But..." the antelope-shaped Hollow hesitated. "I heard there's a high chance of losing yourself when you evolve into a 'Gillian,' and it's very difficult to evolve from a 'Gillian' to an 'Adjuchas'."
The antelope Hollow's entire head was covered by an antelope skull, while its body was a fleshy, half-human, half-antelope form.
However, her voice was clear and pleasant, a stark contrast to her skeletal appearance.
Just then, a violent tremor came from the ground. The sand dunes suddenly began to roll like ocean waves.
The three Hollows were like a small boat in a raging sea during a storm, tossed up by the surging waves.
—BOOM!!!
A red pillar of light erupted from underground, sending a huge section of the sand dunes flying into the sky.
A few moments later, the red pillar vanished, but the terrifying residual spiritual pressure in the air was still awe-inspiring.
The three Hollows scrambled out of the sand, looking disheveled.
"What was that?!" the big-headed Hollow spat out a mouthful of sand.
"That was a Cero, right? And it was fired from the Forest of Menos!" the thin Hollow said, struggling to push the sand off of himself.
The antelope Hollow walked a few dozen steps forward and saw a massive black circle—it was the mark left behind after that terrifying Cero had blasted through the desert.
The depths of the hole were pitch black; nothing could be seen.
Her spiritual sense was very keen. She could sense an extremely terrifying spiritual pressure fluctuation from within that darkness.
"It doesn't feel like a Hollow's spiritual pressure? Could it be a Shinigami?" she said.
"Maybe... we shouldn't go to the Forest of Menos after all!" the thin Hollow felt a sense of fear.
"I'm not going! The Forest of Menos is too terrifying!" the big-headed Hollow said quickly.
"Yeah, yeah, if we go there, it probably won't be long before not even our bones are left," the thin Hollow suddenly felt that staying in the upper desert was quite nice. He no longer wanted to go to the Forest of Menos.
"Let's go quickly. I feel this place is very dangerous too. We need to get far away from here!" The antelope Hollow felt that what they had just seen might have been the result of a battle between powerhouses.
The three Hollows left the abyss-like hole.
Within the hole—
Sora withdrew his gaze from above and took the opportunity to swallow a Nōreitan.
Controlling the shadows of over a hundred 'Gillians' at once consumed a considerable amount of spiritual pressure. Fortunately, his current reserves were ample and could withstand the consumption.
Outside the camp, the number of Menos had been reduced by more than half.
Under Sora's deliberate guidance, the Cero had exploded above the Menos' heads.
The combined power of over a hundred Ceros had even surpassed his expectations.
Thankfully, he hadn't let them explode directly overhead. Otherwise, while he could have used his shadows to evade most of the damage, the others in the camp would likely have been wiped out.
"For so many Menos to fire their Ceros at once is a rare sight indeed," Ashido was also deeply shocked.
It made him feel a sense of relief. With the camp's shield gone, he really had no way to deal with all those Ceros.
If Katori Sora hadn't been here, there would probably be very few of his people left.
"The 'Adjuchas' outside was killed by the Cero blast. The rest of the swarm is yours. I'll deal with this 'Adjuchas'," Sora said.
The slime-like 'Adjuchas' had just broken free from the shadow's restraints.
While redirecting the Ceros, Sora hadn't forgotten to bind the 'Adjuchas' that had infiltrated the camp.
This 'Adjuchas's' spiritual pressure was very strong, and even Sora's shadow binding couldn't hold it for long.
"Alright. The parts this 'Adjuchas' split off all have the strength of a high-ranking seated officer. The main body is likely even stronger. Be careful, Professor Katori!" Ashido nodded and led his Shinigami out to mop up the remaining Menos. Kensei and the others followed.
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