"Soul Eater."
Raizen Kō did not raise his voice.
He merely extended his hand toward the fallen body of Captain Osaki Masahiro.
Behind him, a dark-gold vortex manifested silent, dense, and gravitational. It did not howl like an ordinary Hollow's feeding instinct. It pulsed with control.
Osaki's body began to dissolve.
Not flesh.
Reishi.
Spirit particles unraveled from his form, separating into luminous fragments that were drawn inexorably into the vortex.
Within moments, nothing remained.
The Forest of Menos returned to stillness.
Raizen Kō closed his eyes.
The influx of Reiatsu was noticeable but not overwhelming. A Captain-class Shinigami possessed substantial spiritual density, yet compared to the evolutionary thresholds of an Adjuchas approaching Vasto Lorde, it was merely a refinement, not a breakthrough.
However
Something else shifted.
Deep within his soul.
A subtle tremor.
His mask.
He felt it.
Not physically but spiritually.
A faint loosening sensation, as though the boundary between Hollow and something beyond had thinned by a fraction.
His eyes opened slowly.
"…So this is the effect."
Arrancarization in its natural form is exceedingly rare. The majority of Hollows require external intervention such as the power of the Hōgyoku to remove their masks and stabilize the transition.
Yet certain exceptional individuals like Coyote Starrk had achieved partial self-evolution through sheer spiritual density.
Raizen Kō's lips curved faintly.
"If I continue devouring Shinigami… refining rather than merely consuming…"
It was not raw Reiatsu that mattered.
It was structure.
Shinigami souls were ordered. Balanced. Anchored to Zanpakutō spirits.
Consuming such souls did not merely increase power it altered composition.
A slow metamorphosis.
Not yet visible.
But undeniable.
Raizen Kō exhaled slowly.
Devouring Humans in the World of the Living was crude evolution.
Devouring Shinigami?
That was refinement.
And refinement was what separated Adjuchas from true transcendence.
Meanwhile
Deep within a hollowed tree trunk in the Forest of Menos
Amagai Shūsuke stared at the communication sigil glowing faintly in his palm.
Twelve lights.
Each representing a member of the expeditionary squad.
One light brightest of all flickered violently.
Then extinguished.
"…Captain Osaki."
His throat tightened.
Dead.
A Captain of the Gotei 13 had been erased in mere minutes.
Amagai's fingers trembled.
The Reiatsu he had felt earlier the suffocating density was unlike anything he had experienced before.
That Hollow…
No.
That being.
"I must become stronger."
The words escaped in a whisper.
His purpose had always been singular.
Revenge.
Against Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
The man who executed his father.
Joining the Hueco Mundo expedition had never been about duty.
It was about tempering himself in blood and survival.
If he could not even endure against a single high-tier Menos
Then how could he ever stand before the Captain-Commander?
His hand moved to the weapon at his waist.
Not his Zanpakutō.
The other blade.
The Bakkōtō.
A forbidden weapon capable of amplifying spiritual power at the cost of the wielder's life force. A relic not sanctioned by the Gotei 13.
He drew it slightly.
The weapon pulsed.
Hungry.
Unstable.
Then
It vanished from his grasp.
Amagai's pupils contracted.
A presence stood behind him.
Raizen Kō examined the steel, fork-shaped weapon between his fingers with measured curiosity.
"So this is the Bakkōtō."
Unlike a Zanpakutō, it had no spirit.
No inner world.
It was a parasitic amplifier forcing Reiatsu into violent expansion through artificial means.
It could overwhelm even a Zanpakutō temporarily.
But at catastrophic cost.
Raizen Kō felt the blade tug at his Reiatsu.
It demanded energy.
"Interesting."
He allowed a thin strand of dark-gold lightning to flow into it.
The weapon convulsed violently.
Then
He increased the voltage.
The Bakkōtō shrieked in spiritual resonance before falling silent, subdued.
"Tools," he murmured, "should remember their place."
"You !"
Amagai drew his Zanpakutō instantly.
"Sever Raikazuchi!"
The blade transformed, its hooked edge igniting with flame-like Reiatsu.
He charged.
Reckless.
Desperate.
Raizen Kō did not even draw his sword.
He raised a hand.
A compressed pulse of Reiatsu struck Amagai mid-charge.
The Lieutenant-level Shinigami was hurled backward, crashing into the inner wall of the tree trunk with a violent crack.
The difference in density was absolute.
Amagai struggled to stand.
Raizen Kō stepped forward.
"You seek revenge against Yamamoto."
Amagai froze.
"You hate him for executing your father."
Silence thickened.
"How ?"
Raizen Kō's gaze remained unreadable.
"How I know is irrelevant."
He lowered the Bakkōtō slightly.
"What matters is this: You will never defeat him."
The words struck harder than any physical blow.
"Even if you achieve Captain-level power, you will not reach him. His Ryūjin Jakka alone incinerates battlefields."
Amagai's jaw clenched.
Raizen Kō continued.
"You cling to pride. To identity. Shinigami. Hollow. Black. White."
He stepped closer.
"This world does not operate on morality. It operates on power."
Lightning crackled faintly around his form.
"Hollows devour to evolve. Shinigami purify to maintain balance. Both are functions of the same system."
He looked directly into Amagai's eyes.
"If you wish to surpass Yamamoto… you must abandon the illusion that power belongs to one side."
Amagai's breathing slowed.
His thoughts warred within him.
Everything he had been taught
Everything he believed
Collided with reality.
Raizen Kō extended his hand.
"Submit."
Not as prey.
Not as servant.
As a subordinate.
"I will grant you strength beyond what the Gotei 13 can offer."
Silence.
Long.
Heavy.
Then
Amagai lowered his head.
He knelt.
"My lord… grant me the power to fulfill my revenge."
Raizen Kō did not smile.
He formed a compressed sphere of dark-gold lightning.
It was not lethal.
Not yet.
He flicked it forward.
The sphere entered Amagai's mouth in a flash.
Amagai convulsed as it embedded within his spiritual core.
A mark.
A seal.
Not unlike the method Raizen Kō had once used to control Grimmjow.
The lightning settled.
Amagai's Reiatsu stabilized.
He remained alive.
Bound.
Raizen Kō turned away.
From this moment forward
The board had gained a new piece.
And Raizen Kō was no longer merely evolving.
He was beginning to build.
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