Tamura Yao was regarded as one of the most promising freshmen of the Spiritual Arts Academy this year.
At the moment, she was locked in combat with a Hollow that resembled an enormous, grotesque mouse. After carefully testing its reactions several times, she finally discovered its critical weakness it possessed extremely poor eyesight and relied almost entirely on hearing to track its prey.
Using this knowledge, she cleverly cast Hadō #4 Byakurai into the surrounding trees and rocks, creating bursts of noise to confuse the creature. Then, seizing the moment when it lost its bearings, she dashed forward and delivered what should have been a decisive strike with her Asauchi.
Just as Tamura Yao believed she had successfully purified the Hollow and passed the assessment, something horrifying occurred.
The Hollow, whose neck had clearly been severed and whose body was already beginning to dissolve, not only failed to fade away but instead began releasing an even stronger and more chaotic spiritual pressure.
Its body twisted and expanded, reshaping itself grotesquely.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into an upright, humanoid monster with the head of a rat. Worse still, fragments of its Hollow mask began to peel away unnaturally, as though undergoing some incomplete evolution.
Faced with this terrifying change, Tamura Yao forced herself to steady her breathing. Tightening her grip on her Asauchi, she charged forward once more, pouring all her Reiatsu into a powerful slash.
Yet the result left her pale with shock.
Her full-powered strike merely scraped across the creature's skin, producing nothing more than a few weak sparks.
"Squeak!"
The half-Arrancar Hollow let out a furious screech and casually flicked its claw, knocking Tamura Yao's Asauchi from her hands.
As the monster advanced toward her step by step, Tamura Yao trembled in fear.
Desperate, she crushed the World-Breaking Pill that had been given to her earlier.
But to her absolute horror, nothing happened.
The emergency item 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!"
Raizen Kō no longer held anything back. Chanting the full incantation, he unleashed the spell at maximum power.
A brilliant wave of pale-blue flames surged forward, illuminating the pitch-black sky like a rising sun.
"ROOOOAR!"
The massive fleshy Arrancar let out a deafening scream as the flames burned into its body. Its numerous tentacles thrashed wildly in agony.
Without hesitation, Raizen Kō followed up with Shunpo and executed a lightning-infused strike.
"Thunderclap Slash!"
"RUMBLE!"
Wrapped in crackling Byakurai, his blade cleaved through the creature in a single motion, splitting the grotesque mass cleanly in two.
"Splurt!"
The incomplete Arrancar, evolved from a Gillian-class Menos Grande, collapsed lifelessly after only a few swift exchanges.
"This… this is really the strength of a freshman?"
Oi Rimi, who had barely managed to survive moments earlier, stared in disbelief. The monster that had driven her to despair had just been eliminated effortlessly by Raizen Kō.
"Examiner Oi, what are you standing around for? Hurry and go save the other students!"
Hearing Raizen Kō's shout, Oi Rimi snapped out of her daze and immediately rushed toward the scattered barriers below.
But after only a moment, Raizen Kō frowned deeply.
"Too slow. At this rate, there won't be enough time."
Inside the remaining barriers, all thirty-two Hollows originally prepared for the assessment had mutated into incomplete Arrancar.
Worse still, the World-Breaking Pills that should have served as emergency lifelines had clearly been rendered useless someone had tampered with the barrier system in advance.
Although these imperfect Arrancar were relatively weak, roughly on par with stronger ordinary Hollows, they were still far beyond what inexperienced cadets could handle.
And with the barriers scattered across such a wide area, rescuing each student individually was practically impossible.
"It's over… completely over!" Oi Rimi muttered in despair. "If all these freshmen die here, Central 46 will hold me fully responsible. I just got promoted to Eighteenth Seat last month!"
At that moment, she suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of Reiatsu erupt behind her.
Startled, she turned around.
Raizen Kō stood silently with his Asauchi held horizontally before him.
"Demons and spirits, all creation, gods and saints, all return to dust Annihilation God!"
A deep dark-golden spiritual pressure exploded outward.
His Asauchi transformed dramatically.
The blade became pure white like polished bone. The guard elongated and curved sharply outward, and a thin chain appeared attached to the end of the hilt.
This was no ordinary release.
"Annihilation God—First Form: Tremor!"
Raizen Kō flicked his blade lightly.
The moment he did, the sword began vibrating at an almost imperceptible frequency.
At the exact same instant
All thirty-two incomplete Arrancar within the barriers below exploded violently into clouds of blood and shattered flesh.
"Crack!"
Even the barriers themselves collapsed simultaneously under the force.
Inside one of those barriers, Tamura Yao had already closed her eyes in despair.
The monstrous rat-Hollow's claw was only centimeters from her face.
"Father… Mother… little brother… I'm sorry. I couldn't meet your expectations…"
A tear slid down her cheek as she prepared for death.
Then suddenly, she felt something warm splatter across her face.
After a few seconds passed and she realized she was still alive, Tamura Yao cautiously opened her eyes.
The terrifying creature before her was gone.
All that remained was a puddle of crimson blood.
"I… I've been saved?"
While she stood frozen in disbelief, she heard Oi Rimi's urgent voice from above.
"What are you still standing there for? Hurry and get over here!"
Tamura Yao hurriedly used Shunpo and rejoined the group.
Raizen Kō, however, did not relax.
His gaze remained locked on the enormous Garganta hanging ominously in the sky ahead, from which two massive dark-blue claws were slowly emerging.
"Examiner Oi," Raizen Kō said solemnly, "please take the other students back to Soul Society immediately."
"If you remain here… I'll have to divide my attention to protect all of you."
His words were blunt, but Oi Rimi felt no offense—she knew he was speaking the absolute truth.
Without wasting a moment, she opened the return passage and began escorting the thirty-two surviving cadets back to the Seireitei.
"Lord Raizen," she said respectfully before leaving, "thanks to you, none of the freshmen lost their lives. Please be extremely careful in the battle ahead!"
Oi Rimi's form of address had unconsciously changed to one of deep respect.
Thanks to Raizen Kō's decisive intervention, not a single student had been killed only two accompanying Ninth Division Shinigami had lost their lives.
Considering the scale of the incident, it was already the best possible outcome.
Inside the interdimensional passage, Tamura Yao looked anxiously at Oi Rimi.
"Senior Oi… Lord Raizen… he'll be alright, won't he?"
As one of the top freshmen, Tamura Yao had long noticed Raizen Kō the young genius who had completed six years of training in just one. She had admired him from afar but never dared to speak to him directly.
Now, knowing he had stayed behind alone to protect everyone, her heart was filled with worry.
"Don't worry," Oi Rimi replied firmly.
"He will definitely be fine."
Though her own strength was limited, her judgment was not.
That calm gaze, that overwhelming presence she had only ever felt such an aura from two people in the Ninth Division.
One was the former Captain, Kensei Muguruma.
And the other
The current Captain of the Ninth Division, Tōsen Kaname.