Give Me Time Off, Compensation, and an Apology, You Bastards

Soul Society, the sewers.

Two figures, one large and one small, faced each other.

Wang Chuan wore a shihakushō, his whole body taut as he stared fixedly at the Gillian crouching opposite him.

He dared not relax for an instant. Although, later on, Gillians were just roadside fodder that Ichigo Kurosaki casually one-shot,

For most members of the Gotei 13, this thing was an enemy they could not hope to fight. If they ran into one, all they could do was pray their luck was good enough that day.

Constrained by the height of the sewer, the Gillian could neither stand nor float. It crouched there, blocking nearly his entire field of vision. It made no movement and had no expression to speak of, making its pattern of behavior impossible to read.

Wang Chuan could no longer see the Garganta that had expanded to fill the entire cross section of the sewer. He could still sense that it had not closed, and the uncertainty of whether anything else lay behind it left him uneasy.

But he could not spare the time to think about all that. Keeping an eye on the Gillian before him and waiting for the Second Division was all he could do. Closing the Garganta was beyond him.

The two faced off, neither making the first move.

Wang Chuan would have been delighted if the Gillian had kept on having a staring contest with him and wasting time.

Whether the mindless creature had seen through Wang Chuan's plan or received some order, it made the first move.

An enormous white, bony hand came straight at Wang Chuan.

"It's not very intelligent, so it can only use straightforward attacks like this? Then maybe I can take care of it too."

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!"

Several thick cords of yellow light instantly shot out at the Gillian's arm, attempting to bind it against the wall.

Wang Chuan had no intention of conserving his spiritual pressure. He rarely fought and did not know exactly what level his strength was at, but when facing a Menos Grande, he could not be too careful.

Thud—

The thick cords of light pulled the Gillian's arm straight against the wall.

The Gillian roared, and after struggling several times without breaking free, it reached out with its other arm.

"How clumsy. Looks like Gillians aren't that hard to deal with after all."

As he spoke, Wang Chuan prepared to cast Bakudō #4 again.

But a red light suddenly flared in the passage, narrow as it was for a Hollow.

"Damn it, I forgot about Cero! If it fires that, won't the whole passage collapse? Will I even survive?"

"Gate of Spirit, open!"

Wang Chuan was going all out. Faced with a Gillian preparing to fire a Cero, he had to drive it back or even defeat it before the blast was released.

Both his temples bulged, veins stood out all over his body, and his spiritual pressure began to soar.

The Zanpakuto in Wang Chuan's hand also began to tremble and hum faintly, as though something were about to emerge.

But Wang Chuan had no time to worry about that. He was constantly pouring spiritual pressure into his Zanpakuto while casting a Bakudō.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!"

This time, Hainawa pinned the Gillian's other arm as well.

Without hesitation, Wang Chuan gathered Reishi beneath his feet and combined it with Shunpo. In a few flashes, he arrived in front of the Gillian.

His Zanpakuto, infused with a massive amount of spiritual pressure, slashed viciously down at the Gillian's mask!

"Die!"

Crack, crack, crack.

A grating sound of breaking rang out continuously.

The Gillian stopped charging its red Cero and let out a pained roar. Its two bound arms struggled ceaselessly, damaging the surrounding pipe walls. It was clearly in great pain.

Just as Wang Chuan thought everything was going smoothly and he was about to severely injure or even finish off the Gillian, it suddenly vanished before his eyes.

No, it had not vanished. It had appeared behind him.

"Sonído?"

He rolled, dodging the sweeping counterattack the Gillian launched with its arm after teleporting.

Wang Chuan was breathing slightly hard.

The Gillian's mask had been split down the middle, the crack running almost to the bottom—but only almost. It fell a little short.

Roar—

Roar—

Two roars rang out, one loud and one soft.

Two? Could it be?

Wang Chuan turned around. Another Gillian had just crawled out of the Garganta.

Looks like I won't be able to go into space in the future. What a shame. I still wanted to live to see the grand finale.

No, how can I fall here? I've died more than once already!

I'm going to survive today!

"Gate of Spirit, fully open!"

This time, not only did both his temples bulge, but the spot between his eyebrows did too.

"Bakudō #30: Beak-Piercing Triple Flash!"

Three pointed beams of Reishi light shot straight at the new Gillian behind him. He did not seek to kill it, only to bind it and give himself time to thoroughly cripple or even finish off the first Gillian.

"Bakudō #39: Enkōsen!"

"Hadō #32: Ōkasen!"

A circular barrier of spiritual pressure formed around Wang Chuan. Caught between two Gillians, one in front and one behind, he first had to protect himself.

At the same time, a slender beam of flame sped straight toward the first Gillian.

There was almost nowhere to dodge in the cramped space. The first Gillian crossed its arms in front of itself to block Ōkasen.

Although Wang Chuan increased the spiritual pressure he put into Ōkasen, the Hadō still lacked the power to pierce the Gillian.

But Ōkasen could deprive the Gillian of its vision.

Heaven knew why a monstrous thing like that even had sight, but Ōkasen was certainly effective. Wang Chuan heard two piercing roars, proof that both Gillians had been hurt.

The Gillian before him had lost its vision and kept its arms crossed for the moment.

Wang Chuan made several leaps, moving past the Gillian's arms to avoid giving away his position through contact.

He then poured another enormous amount of spiritual pressure into his Zanpakuto, sending a massive wave of sword pressure toward the wound he had made earlier.

"Go down already, bastard!"

With an angry roar, he sent the wave of sword pressure splitting the Gillian's entire mask apart. Without losing momentum, it continued into the Gillian's head, piercing it completely and cutting a not particularly large wound out through the back of its skull.

The Gillian let out an even more miserable roar, which then abruptly cut off.

Wang Chuan was breathing even harder, but he knew he had probably killed the Gillian. Even if his lack of experience had kept him from killing it outright, it should be unable to counterattack for a while.

"Time to deal with you."

Wang Chuan turned around, only to discover that everything around him had suddenly been bathed in red.

Boom—

Hiss—

Wang Chuan held up his Zanpakuto, straining to hold on as he forcibly blocked the Cero. Enkōsen had shattered as soon as it touched the blast, but it had bought him a little time.

His body was pushed steadily backward, and the pipe wall beneath his feet kept breaking apart.

"Damn it!"

In the end, he could not hold out any longer.

"Where am I?"

Wang Chuan woke in dim surroundings.

"Didn't that Cero hit me? Where has it sent me now?"

"Do you hate?"

"Huh? Who's talking?"

"Do you despair?"

This time, Wang Chuan did not answer. He had a rough idea where he was.

"Do you still have the courage to move forward?"

Wang Chuan remained silent, giving no answer to the questions posed by the spirit of his Zanpakuto.

Or rather, the answers to those questions were already obvious.

Hate?

I suppose so. I hate my parents from my previous life for dumping me in an orphanage, and I hate myself for not visiting Old Madam Wang more often.

Despair?

That too. A banana peel sent me here. Even though I have a cheat, it's full of restrictions, and my strength grows very slowly.

The courage to move forward?

Huh? If I didn't have that, would I still be standing here? What a joke. Whether it was being an orphan, looking for work after graduation, the fact that I transmigrated, or those two Gillians outside, I never resigned myself to any of it.

After Wang Chuan finished thinking, brilliant light flooded the surroundings.

"Do you have courage? Do you dare grasp me?"

"What do you think, you guy who only answers questions with questions?"

Boom—

"Not mindless recklessness, but the courage to keep moving forward even after careful thought?"

"Shikai. Move forward, Surpass the Peak."

Surpass the Peak: crossing one mountain peak after another, perhaps afraid, but always moving forward, always swinging the blade.

In an instant, Wang Chuan's spiritual pressure soared, and it kept climbing, as though it had no limit.

"As long as I still dare to swing my blade, my spiritual pressure won't stop growing?"

His Zanpakuto had not visibly changed, but golden flames burned along the entire blade, lighting up the surrounding sewer.

The Gillian that had fired the Cero was still where it had been. The surrounding walls were badly damaged, but they did not appear to be collapsing. Apparently, that was because Enkōsen and Wang Chuan himself had taken most of the damage from the Cero.

Without wasting words, Wang Chuan leaped forward. A few Shunpo brought him before the Gillian, and he brought his blade down!

He was so fast that the Gillian could not react at all before Wang Chuan finished it off.

Compared with his earlier struggle, Wang Chuan now made it look effortless.

"Shikai really is the fastest way to increase my strength."

Especially with such an unreasonable Shikai!

But Wang Chuan did not dare keep using this Shikai. A Soul Reaper's spiritual pressure could not keep increasing over a short period; his spirit body would collapse.

Moreover, the longer this Shikai remained active, the faster its spiritual pressure grew, comparable to exponential growth.

The details would have to wait until later, because Wang Chuan sensed that the cleanup crew had arrived, so he sealed his Shikai.

Before long, a burly man with his hair in a Japanese chonmage, wearing a shihakushō with a high purple collar, gold bracelets, and a gold chain, arrived with a team.

Looking at the scene before him, the Second Division's lieutenant, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, was somewhat shocked. He could tell at a glance that this was not damage an ordinary Hollow could have caused.

"Senior Wang Chuan, are you all right?"

Sugimoto squeezed out from among the Second Division members and scrambled over to Wang Chuan, seemingly trying to assess his injuries.

"No."

"Where are you hurt? Is it serious?"

Sugimoto looked worried, and Wang Chuan rolled his eyes.

"Wang Chuan, right? You've got a good teammate," Ōmaeda said approvingly. "But first, tell me what happened here."

"It's simple. Because the Seventh Division's warning was inadequate and the Second Division's rescue was late, I, a member of the Fourth Division, faced six Hollows and two Gillians alone and won after a hard fight. Now I need to apply for work-related injury benefits, time off, and a reward."

Wang Chuan counted them off on his fingers. He had to get a proper break.

Sugimoto: "Six Hollows?"

Ōmaeda: "Two Gillians?"

"How is that possible?!" ×2, extra loud.