That strange spiritual power continued to pour in.
While dodging the attacks of the Adjuchas illusion, Hasumi Ren split his attention to monitor the system prompts.
The prompts continuously updated, the numbers for the Hogyoku's awakening rate climbing steadily.
0.6%... 0.8%... 1.0%... 1.2%...
Finally, upon reaching 1.5%, the prompts stopped.
Ren stared blankly for a moment.
The Hogyoku's awakening rate hadn't moved in a long time, remaining stuck at 0.05%, and he hadn't known how to increase it.
Ren's mouth twitched slightly.
*'What is this? Is Aizen Sosuke using the Hogyoku to do me a favor?'*
But a moment later, realization dawned on him.
*'No, this isn't a good thing.'*
Just like those squad members who couldn't withstand the Hogyoku's power, failing the Hollowfication process and having their souls dissipate.
This was clearly Aizen using the Hogyoku to forcefully Hollowfy him. He wanted to turn him into a Hollowfication test subject as well.
Ren's heart sank as a sense of crisis washed over him.
Aizen was actually making his move against him.
That man was no longer satisfied with mere probing.
He wanted to eliminate him.
He could put on a bit of an act against an illusion, but how was he supposed to react to being Hollowfied by the Hogyoku?
*'Do I have to expose my Hollowfication ability?'*
Ren found himself caught in a dilemma.
Meanwhile, not far away, inside a ruined building.
Aizen stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze passing through the wooden window to land on Ren.
His brow gradually furrowed.
The Hogyoku's energy was continuously being injected, already exceeding the dosage required for a normal experiment.
But Ren...
The young man was still dodging the Adjuchas's attacks. His movements were agile, his reactions swift—he was completely unaffected.
No, it wasn't that there was no effect.
Aizen could sense that the Hogyoku's energy had indeed entered Ren's body.
But that energy vanished without a trace, swallowed up like a stone dropped into the ocean.
There was zero reaction.
It was as if there was a bottomless abyss within the young man's body, devouring the Hogyoku's power entirely.
Aizen's eyes narrowed slightly.
This wasn't right.
He had conducted so many experiments, yet he had never encountered a situation like this.
Even the test subjects with the strongest spiritual pressure would exhibit violent reactions the moment the Hogyoku was injected—pain, struggling, the tearing of their very souls.
But Ren was acting as if nothing had happened at all.
Aizen looked down at the Hogyoku in his hand.
The small crystal still emanated a faint blue glow, but the flowing light within seemed... a fraction dimmer?
Aizen's pupils contracted slightly.
*'Is it just my imagination...'*
*'Or did a portion of the Hogyoku's energy actually disappear?'*
He focused his senses, carefully feeling the Hogyoku's state.
A moment later, his frown deepened.
He couldn't definitively tell if the Hogyoku's energy had decreased, which left him feeling slightly irritated.
Aizen fell silent.
He watched the white-haired young man in the distance, who was still dodging the illusion's attacks, a flash of unprecedentedly complex emotion crossing his eyes.
*'Why?'*
*'Why is the Hogyoku ineffective on him?'*
*'Just what is so special about his body?'*
*'Should I continue with the plan to eliminate Hasumi Ren?'*
Countless questions churned in Aizen's mind, yet he couldn't find an answer to a single one.
He took a deep breath, suppressing those complicated emotions.
Now was not the time to delve into this.
The commotion here was already significant enough; continuing might attract unnecessary attention.
Aizen cast one last look at Ren.
The young man was still tangling with the Adjuchas illusion, his movements as agile as ever, his breathing still steady.
It was as if absolutely nothing had happened just now.
Aizen withdrew his gaze.
In the distance, a pitch-black rift suddenly appeared behind the Adjuchas illusion.
A Garganta.
"That will be all for today."
Aizen murmured to himself, as if speaking to the illusion, or perhaps to himself.
The Adjuchas glanced back, then leaped into the Garganta.
The rift slowly closed, vanishing into thin air.
The surroundings returned to a state of calm.
Amidst the ruins, Ren came to a halt.
He looked in the direction where the Garganta had disappeared and let out a soft breath.
*'It seems Aizen has stopped for now.'*
He straightened up, stretching his somewhat sore muscles.
To make his act convincing just now, he had pushed his Shunpo to the absolute limit.
Ren's gaze swept across the area.
The members of the Tenth Division were currently slumped on the ground, expressions of terror still plastered across their faces.
"H-Hasumi 4th Seat," one of the squad members stammered, trembling. "Did that Hollow... leave?"
Ren nodded.
"It looks like it."
The squad members breathed a sigh of relief. Some even collapsed flat onto the ground, gasping for air.
But soon after, a look of confusion crossed some of their faces.
The Hollow's appearance had been bizarre, and its departure was equally inexplicable.
It was far too strange...
At that moment, Ren walked over to them.
"Can you still walk?"
The squad members struggled to their feet. Though their legs were still shaking, they could at least manage to walk.
Ren nodded.
"Gather yourselves. We are heading back to the Seireitei."
He paused, his gaze falling on the spot where the dissipated Hollowfication test subjects had been.
Only a patch of scorched black marks remained there.
Ren fell silent for a moment before turning around.
"Let's go."
Late at night, in the Fifth Division Vice-Captain's office.
Aizen sat at his desk, the report on the Hollowfication experiment spread out before him.
However, his eyes were not on the report.
He simply sat there quietly, gazing out at the night sky through the window.
In his mind, he repeatedly replayed everything that had happened today.
The Hogyoku was injected, yet Ren had absolutely no reaction.
But his intuition told him that this was impossible.
Aizen had studied the Hogyoku for years; he knew its properties like the back of his hand.
The power of the Hogyoku was absolute.
It could awaken the latent power hidden deep within a soul, allowing a Soul Reaper to break past their limits and touch a higher realm.
It was effective on all living beings.
*All* of them.
But today, an exception had appeared.
Hasumi Ren.
The Hogyoku's power acting upon him was like a stone thrown into a pond—it hadn't even stirred up a single ripple.
*'Why?'*
*'What exactly is inside his body?'*
Aizen recalled the details he had observed previously.
Ren's conversation with that silver-haired boy.
Those few words had always bothered him.
Aizen's eyes narrowed slightly.
*'Does that young man actually know something?'*
*'But how did he do it...'*
Aizen fell silent.
He thought back to Ren's performance just now.
Facing the Adjuchas's attacks, his reactions, his cries for help, his order for the squad members to fetch Unohana.
Everything seemed perfectly normal.
But it was precisely because it was so normal, so perfectly reasonable, that it appeared exceptionally suspicious.
It was highly counterintuitive.
Aizen stood up and walked over to the window.
Outside, the night was deep.
In the direction of the Fourth Division, a few scattered lights could faintly be seen.
That young man named Hasumi Ren should have already returned to his barracks by now and be resting.
Perhaps he was rejoicing at having narrowly escaped disaster, or perhaps he was puzzled by the events of the day.
Perhaps... he was also contemplating his next move.
Aizen's gaze was as deep as an abyss.
*'Kill him?'*
The thought surfaced once more.
But it was quickly suppressed.
Killing him would be too much of a waste.
Without figuring out the anomaly within him, Aizen found himself somewhat reluctant to eliminate him so simply.
If he could unearth his secret, it might just provide some new breakthrough in the development of the Hogyoku.
After all, this was the very first time a Hogyoku experiment had yielded such a bizarre anomaly.
Aizen turned around and walked back to his desk.
He sat back down and picked up the report.
But his eyes still did not fall upon the report.
He merely sat there in silence, staring at the flickering lamp.
Aizen had already begun to ponder the next opportunity to test Hasumi Ren, his gaze growing increasingly profound.
Immediately after, a thought arose within him unbidden.
*'If only Hasumi Ren would willingly cooperate with the experiments, that would be wonderful...'*