Tamura Yao was one of the outstanding Freshmen of the Spiritual Arts Academy this year.
At this moment, she was locked in combat with a Hollow that resembled an enormous mouse. After several cautious exchanges, she finally discovered its fatal weakness. Its eyesight was extremely poor, to the point of being nearly useless. It relied entirely on sound to locate its prey and react.
After identifying this flaw, Tamura Yao immediately adjusted her strategy. She first cast White Lightning repeatedly, deliberately creating excessive noise to disrupt its senses. Then, seizing the moment when the Hollow hesitated, she lunged forward and delivered a decisive strike with her Asauchi.
Just as she felt a surge of joy, believing she had successfully completed the assessment and was about to become an official Shinigami, a chilling realization struck her.
The Hollow whose neck had been severed did not purify or dissipate. Instead, its spiritual pressure surged violently, growing stronger rather than weaker. Its body began to twist and expand, bones cracking as its form reshaped itself before her eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the mouse-like Hollow transformed into an upright, grotesque monster with a humanoid torso and a mouse's head. Portions of its hideous mask peeled away and fell to the ground, shattering into fragments.
Tamura Yao's heart sank.
She steadied her breathing once more, gripped her sword with both hands, and charged forward again with all her remaining resolve.
However, the strike she unleashed this time, infused with her full spiritual pressure, only produced a few weak sparks upon contact with the Hollow's hardened surface.
"Squeak!"
The half-mouse Arrancar let out a furious roar and flicked its right claw. The blow sent Tamura Yao's Asauchi flying from her grasp, spinning through the air before clattering to the ground.
As the monstrous Hollow advanced step by step, its shadow looming over her, Tamura Yao could only grit her teeth and crush the World-Breaking Pill she had been given earlier by the examiner.
To her horror, nothing happened.
The World-Breaking Pill was completely ineffective.
Outside the barrier.
"O, ye who dwell in the heavens, mask of flesh, all creation, flapping wings, ye who bear the name of man! Truth and temperance, unknowing of the wall of dreams, stand only upon it!"
"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"
Ito Makoto no longer held back. Without hesitation, he unleashed a fully incanted Sōkatsui with all his might.
A pale blue flame erupted into existence, roaring skyward and illuminating the originally pitch-black night sky.
"Roar!"
As the pale blue flames scorched its flesh, the massive Arrancar's black-hole-like maw let out a shrill, agonized roar. All dozen or so of its thick tentacles spasmed violently, writhing out of control.
Ito Makoto followed up instantly with a Shunpo, appearing in midair as he unleashed a Thunderclap Slash.
"Rumble!"
The thunderous sound was followed by a White Lightning-wrapped blade of pure destruction that split the massive fleshy sphere cleanly in two.
"Splurt!"
The originally terrifying and incomplete Arrancar, transformed from a Gillian, was annihilated in just a few swift moves.
"This is… a Freshman's strength?"
Oi Rimi, who stood nearby, could not help but swallow hard as she watched Ito Makoto effortlessly slay the monstrous Menos Grande, an existence she had been utterly powerless against moments earlier.
"Examiner Oi, what are you spacing out for? Hurry and save the other Freshmen!"
Ito Makoto's sharp shout snapped Oi Rimi out of her shock. She immediately turned and rushed toward the cluster of barriers scattered across the mountain range below.
"Too slow, there's no time!"
Within the barriers below, all thirty-two Freshman Hollows originally prepared for the assessment had completed their transformation into incomplete Arrancar.
Even worse, the World-Breaking Pills prepared beforehand had lost all effectiveness. Someone had clearly tampered with the barrier parameters, rendering the pills useless.
Although these incomplete Arrancar were only comparable to powerful ordinary Hollows, they were far beyond what Shinigami Freshmen could possibly handle.
The barriers were too scattered across the terrain. Saving them one by one was simply impossible.
"It's over, it's completely over. If all these Freshmen die here, I'll definitely be judged by Central 46. I was only promoted to Eighteenth Seat last month!"
Oi Rimi stared at the chaotic scene below, despair gripping her heart.
Suddenly, an overwhelming spiritual pressure surged behind her.
She turned sharply.
Ito Makoto was holding his Asauchi horizontally before him, his lips moving as he murmured:
"Demons and spirits, all creation, gods and saints, all turn to dust. Annihilation God!"
A dark golden spiritual pressure erupted violently, and the Asauchi in Ito Makoto's hands underwent a dramatic transformation.
It became a snow-white bone blade, as if forged entirely from polished bone. The blade and hilt grew slimmer, the guard elongated and curved outward on both sides, and a thin iron chain hung from the back of the hilt.
"Annihilation God, First Form: Tremor!"
Ito Makoto merely flicked the long sword in his hand.
The blade vibrated faintly.
At the same instant, all thirty-two incomplete Arrancar trapped within the barriers below exploded into bloody pulp.
"Crackle!"
The barriers that had imprisoned the Freshmen shattered simultaneously, collapsing into fragments of spiritual light.
With the monstrous rat's claw hovering mere centimeters from her forehead, Tamura Yao had already closed her eyes, despair flooding her heart as she silently awaited death.
"Father, Mother, little brother… I'm sorry. This time, I couldn't live up to your expectations…"
A single crystal tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
Suddenly, warmth splashed across her face. A sticky liquid spattered against her cheeks.
After a brief moment of confusion, she reached up and touched her head, confirming that it was still firmly attached to her neck. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
What greeted her was a crimson scene of carnage. The monstrous human-rat that had towered over her moments before was now nothing more than a pool of blood, some of it splashed across her face.
"I've been… saved?"
Still dazed, Tamura Yao heard Oi Rimi's urgent voice ring out.
"What are you still standing there for? Hurry and come over!"
Snapping back to reality, Tamura Yao used Shunpo and rushed to Oi Rimi's side.
Meanwhile, Ito Makoto stared ahead at the two massive dark blue claws extending from the rift to Hueco Mundo and spoke in a solemn tone.
"Senior Oi, please take the other students back to Soul Society first. If you stay here, I'll have to divide my attention to protect you all."
His words were blunt, but Oi Rimi showed no displeasure. She understood perfectly that Ito Makoto was telling the truth. With her current strength, she would only become a burden.
She immediately opened the interdimensional passage and led the thirty-two surviving Shinigami cadets back toward Soul Society.
"Lord Ito, thanks to you, none of the thirty-two Freshmen were killed. Please be extremely careful in the battle ahead."
Oi Rimi addressed him respectfully, deliberately using the title Lord.
Because of Ito Makoto's decisive intervention, none of the thirty-two Freshmen were injured or killed. Only two accompanying Squad Members from the Ninth Division had perished.
Under the circumstances, this outcome was already a miracle.
Inside the interdimensional passage, Tamura Yao looked at Oi Rimi with a troubled expression.
"Senior Oi… Lord Ito… he'll be alright, won't he?"
As one of the most outstanding Freshmen of the year, Tamura Yao had long noticed the handsome young man named Ito Makoto, the genius who had completed six years of training in a single year. She had admired him for a long time, yet her self-consciousness had always prevented her from expressing her feelings.
Now, knowing that Ito Makoto had saved everyone and was staying behind alone to cover their retreat, worry filled her heart.
"Don't worry. He'll definitely be fine."
Oi Rimi replied with unwavering confidence.
Her strength might have been lacking, but her judgment was not.
That gaze, that presence, that overwhelming aura… she had only ever seen it on two people within the Ninth Division.
One was the former Captain of the Ninth Division, Kensei Muguruma.
The other was the current Captain of the Ninth Division, Tōsen Kaname.
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