The 'Dust-Binding Lightning-Flame Armor' didn't necessarily have to form the shape of a giant. Pressed for time, Sora had only condensed a single, sword-wielding arm.
The afterimage left by the long golden flame sword was like a half-sun, radiating a dazzling light in the air.
The flame sword struck the thorn-jungle Hollow, carrying it away.
BOOM—
The Hollow was slammed violently into the ground. Most of the thorny spikes on its body were shattered, and the flames from the sword began to spread across its form.
After detaching from the ancient Menos's skeleton, although its movement speed had increased significantly, the spikes on its body were no longer as sturdy.
The pain caused the thorn-jungle Hollow's eyes to clear.
Only then did it realize with a shock that the Shinigami before it was terrifyingly strong, not an opponent it could match.
At this moment, only one thought remained in its mind—
Run!
The thorn-jungle Hollow struggled, trying to break free from the golden flame sword pressing down on it so it could escape.
But it was already too late. Sora would not let it get away.
Sand and rock rolled through the air again, merging with the heatwave, and another giant, golden-flamed arm condensed.
Sora lifted the long flame sword. Just as the Hollow was about to take the opportunity to escape, one end of its body was pinned to the ground by the flipped-over blade.
The giant golden flame hand grabbed the other end of the Hollow's body and pulled with all its might.
"—ROOOAR!!!"
The thorn-jungle Hollow let out a bloodcurdling scream as it was torn in two by the immense force.
It was not made entirely of bone; a long strip of flesh ran down its center.
After its body was ripped in half, flesh and blood rained down from the sky.
The two severed halves, like a broken earthworm, writhed in agony.
The giant golden flame hand, holding one half, smashed it down onto the other half on the ground.
BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM—
After more than a dozen strikes, both halves of the body went still.
"That's an 'Adjuchas'-class Menos, right! The professor dealt with it so easily!" Yoruichi was utterly shocked.
When she was with the expeditionary force, it had taken the coordination of several skilled Shinigami to slay an 'Adjuchas.' Yet her professor could do it alone, and with such ease.
The two giant golden flame hands and the long sword slowly dissipated. The shadow space also rapidly vanished, and the Zanpakutō returned to Sora's hand.
He slowly approached the thorn-jungle Hollow to check its condition.
He hadn't killed it, only knocked it unconscious.
This Hollow might be the glowing thorn jungle Ulquiorra had encountered. It had some research value, and Sora planned to take it back with him.
He took out several vials of potent anesthetic and injected them into the Hollow's body.
As he got closer, Sora saw it clearly—at the lower end of the thorn-jungle Hollow, there were two rows of body structures resembling insect legs.
"What's this?" A thought stirred in his mind. He noticed that the two rows of legs were tightly clamped around a long, thin piece of bone.
The bone was about a dozen centimeters long. For some reason, when Sora saw it, an undeniable craving rose from the bottom of his heart.
A spiritual pressure blade formed at his fingertip, and he sliced through the insect legs coiled around the bone.
Sora picked up the long bone. In that instant, he understood why he had felt that way—
This piece of bone was from the body of the Soul King!
Just then, a strange movement came from within his shadow.
Several black tentacles emerged, wrapping around the bone's shadow.
A few moments later, the anomaly in the shadow vanished. The tentacles that had appeared seemed to have been just an illusion.
Sora glanced at Yoruichi and saw that she was still on the other side, examining the other half of the Hollow's body, and hadn't noticed the change in his shadow.
He looked down. The bone still cast a shadow, but he understood that something within that shadow had already been absorbed by him, turning it into an ordinary shadow cast by a light source.
The Soul King was the lynchpin that stabilized the Three Worlds, and also the deity who created them. Even his shadow contained a divine strangeness. What Sora had just absorbed was a part of the 'Soul King's Shadow.'
After absorbing it, his ability to control shadows had increased slightly.
The most direct manifestation was that his Bankai's ability had become a little stronger.
He could replicate others' abilities through their shadows. Originally, the power he could replicate was about one to five-tenths of the original's, depending on the target's strength.
After absorbing this part of the 'Soul King's Shadow,' both the upper and lower limits of his replicated abilities had increased slightly.
However, because a single piece of bone contained too little of the 'Soul King's Shadow,' the increase was not much, less than one-tenth.
Sora estimated that he would probably need to absorb about ten such fragments to increase it by a full tenth.
He put the Soul King's bone away. If he were to create a 'Hōgyoku' in the future, he would also need to collect fragments of the Soul King.
He hadn't expected such a harvest when he came here.
However, Sora felt that this fragment did not belong to the thorn-jungle Hollow. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so weak.
This fragment was most likely something that belonged to the ancient Menos Grande.
Most of the Soul King's fragments were scattered throughout the Three Worlds, and most were not without an owner.
The fragments would merge with souls and be reincarnated along with them.
Souls that possessed fragments of the Soul King all had high potential.
These souls also had the possibility of becoming Hollows.
That massive ancient Menos was likely a soul that had carried a fragment of the Soul King.
The thorn-jungle Hollow, just by using the remains of the ancient Menos, was able to release a 'Gran Rey Cero.' This showed that in life, the ancient Menos must have been a powerhouse in Hueco Mundo, no less than a 'Vasto Lorde'-class superior Menos.
The remains of the ancient Menos still had residual spiritual pressure. 'Vasto Lorde'-class Menos were very rare, and even their remains were hard to come by.
Sora didn't let them go to waste. He called Yoruichi over to help, and the two of them packed the remains of the ancient Menos into a reishi space to take away.
...
A few days later, at the Spiritual Arts Academy, in the Director's office.
"Department Head Katori, this is the list of new students for this term. There are fewer new students this time, only one class. I'll be leaving this class to you. Please take a look and see if there are any problems," Ayane Kotetsu placed a class roster in front of him.
Sora picked up the roster. He quickly found the names of Sōsuke Aizen, Isane Kotetsu, Sōya Azashiro, Isshin Shiba, and Lisa Yadōmaru.
He had arranged for all his disciples who hadn't yet attended the academy to enroll in this year's class.
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