"Not good… this blood isn't just corrosive
it's poisonous!"
Raizen Kō felt the flow of Reiryoku within his body abruptly stagnate, as though thick sludge had been poured into his spiritual veins. His movements slowed perceptibly, and the once relentless assault faltered.
Sensing the shift, the Chameleon Hollow, which had been forcibly suppressed beneath him, began to recover its ability to move.
The moment of reversal came instantly.
Raizen Kō attempted to withdraw, but it was already too late.
Pfft!
Two massive bone thorns, gripped tightly in the Chameleon Hollow's forelimbs, pierced straight through Raizen Kō's back!
"Gah—!! This beast can actually wield weapons?!"
The Chameleon Hollow had clearly scavenged these bone lances from the remains of other Hollows, using them as crude but lethal armaments.
The twin spikes tore effortlessly through the hardened keratin layer protecting Raizen Kō's back, driving deep into his flesh and sending waves of searing agony coursing through his entire body.
Since his arrival in Hueco Mundo over two months ago, Raizen Kō had evolved with remarkable speed not because of brute force, but because of his human consciousness, allowing him to hunt strategically and accumulate power with precision.
Yet in direct one-on-one combat of this intensity, he still lacked experience.
The venomous blood, the sudden counterattack, the superior rank of his opponent
All of it combined into a near-fatal misstep.
And worse still, his opponent was a Giant Hollow, a full rank above him.
Despite this, Raizen Kō forced himself to remain calm.
Because he understood something very clearly:
If he allowed the Chameleon Hollow to dictate the rhythm of the battle even for a moment…
He would die.
"Flash Lightning!"
With a furious roar, dark golden lightning erupted violently from every segment of Raizen Kō's body.
He could not yet project Flash Lightning over long distances but fate itself had placed the enemy in contact with him.
The bone thorns embedded in his back became perfect conductors.
Zzzzt—!!!
A terrifying current surged directly through the Chameleon Hollow's arms and into its core.
The creature convulsed violently, trying to release the bone weapons but Raizen Kō would not allow it.
He clamped down on both forelimbs in a brutal backhand grip, while his centipede-like tail coiled tightly around the Hollow's torso, binding it completely.
Ignoring the agony of the spikes buried in his flesh, Raizen Kō continued to pour lightning into the beast without restraint.
"Die."
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Moments earlier, the Chameleon Hollow had held the advantage.
Now, its entire body blackened and split under the relentless current, smoke rising from every wound.
Its voice faltered, and desperation finally replaced arrogance.
"I ... I was wrong! Spare me! I swear I'll never… never torment dogs again!"
Raizen Kō stared down at the pleading Hollow beneath him, his mask hiding his expression but not the cold in his voice.
"Abuse dogs? You think that's why I'm killing you?"
A faint sneer crept into his tone.
"No. I'm killing you because I want to eat you."
Then his voice dropped, sharp as a blade.
"And you don't regret what you did.
You only regret that you're about to die."
The lightning did not weaken.
Raizen Kō understood perfectly if he hesitated now, the Chameleon Hollow would launch a final, desperate counterattack.
The Hollow continued babbling frantically.
"You can speak! That means you're like me you kept your human memories! We're the same kind! We can hunt together! With you and me, even a Menos Grande can fall!"
Raizen Kō remained unmoved.
"Since you chose to become a hunter…
You should have been ready to become prey."
His mouth slowly opened.
Black-red Reiatsu condensed before it.
Cero.
Previously, he had fired Cero through his fingers but with both hands restraining the enemy, he was forced to release it from his mouth. The charging time was longer, the control rougher but it was still lethal.
The Chameleon Hollow, now identified in life as Ampere Jinshiro, realized instantly what was happening.
At this distance, survival was impossible.
"You lunatic! At this range, you'll be injured too!!"
Raizen Kō did not answer.
The Cero reached critical density.
BOOM—!!!
A thunderous explosion swallowed the battlefield.
Dust, sand, Reishi, and fragments of shattered bone erupted outward in all directions.
Ampere Jinshiro's End
Before becoming a Hollow, Ampere Jinshiro had been a criminal in Karakura Town.
From childhood, he delighted in torturing animals. Cats, dogs, anything defenseless.
His cruelty escalated with age robbery, assault, murder.
In the end, he was gunned down by police during a violent crime.
Yet even death did not erase his obsession.
He transformed into a Hollow, retaining his sanity, his memories, his depravity.
In mere years, he advanced from Freshman Hollow to Giant Hollow.
And in his arrogance… he chose the wrong prey.
As the dust slowly settled, Raizen Kō stood amidst the devastation.
His body was battered, cracked, bloodied.
"Cough… cough…"
He violently hacked, bracing himself against the shifting sand.
Fragments of mask and scattered flesh lay everywhere.
Ampere Jinshiro had been obliterated.
Raizen Kō reached behind himself and tore the two bone thorns from his back.
Gurgle.
Dark crimson blood spilled from the twin wounds.
"Gah…!"
Pain twisted through him but his eyes shone with unmistakable satisfaction.
He had slain a Giant Hollow.
Alone.
And not just any Giant Hollow
An intelligent one.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
The small dog-shaped Hollow cautiously returned.
Clamped in its jaws was a broken fragment of Ampere Jinshiro's mask.
Raizen Kō immediately understood.
He took the fragment and casually tossed it into his mouth.
As the high-density Reishi dissolved within him, warmth surged through his body.
His injuries began to regenerate.
The poisoned Reiatsu flow smoothed out.
His spiritual pressure stabilized once more.
The dog Hollow stared up at him, eyes bright, tail wagging furiously
Or trying to.
Its tail, scorched earlier by Raizen Kō's Cero, refused to cooperate, resulting in an awkward, wiggling display.
"I was hunting," Raizen Kō said flatly.
"Saving you was incidental."
Then his tone sharpened.
"If there's nothing else, get lost.
Or I might eat you next."
The dog Hollow froze.
Raizen Kō turned to feast on the remains of the Chameleon Hollow
Then paused.
He picked up a small chunk of meat and tossed it toward the dog Hollow.
"Eat. Then leave."
For Raizen Kō, it was nothing more than a scrap.
For the dog Hollow… it was larger than its entire body.
The small Hollow dragged it aside and began eating with desperate urgency.