The Long-Overdue Rescue / The First Kenpachi's Fighting Spirit

Couldn't even this many Gillians withstand that Kidō?!

Just what kind of monster had he provoked?!

Seeing the young man slowly lower his hand and look over, the Adjuchas shuddered all over, forgetting even the pain of his wounds.

"No—!"

"Wait, don't come any closer!"

"I'll be good and go back. I won't attack you again!"

"..."

As he begged for mercy, he backed away with all his might, hoping to reach the rift and return to Hueco Mundo.

But resisting the Kidō just now had consumed too much of his Reiatsu.

And given that monster of a Soul Reaper's skill with Shunpo, he would probably be cut down the moment he opened a Garganta.

"Go back?"

Having just disposed of over a dozen Menos Grande in one fell swoop, Kyōsuke Kuchiki looked perfectly calm.

He even gave a gentle smile. "Why don't you call some more of your Gillians? Maybe I've already run out of Reiatsu, and you can turn the tables."

That one fire had sent his proficiency soaring to 94%.

A few more windfalls like that, and he might become invincible outright.

At that moment, the smiling Kyōsuke Kuchiki looked like a demon to the Adjuchas.

Thinking Kyōsuke was saying the opposite of what he meant, he shook his head repeatedly.

"I can't! I don't have any more subordinates to summon. Please spare me!"

"I'll never hurt anyone again."

"What? You can't summon any more? Then you're no use to me!"

With that, Kyōsuke swung his blade.

As he slashed, he spun sharply, his body following the blade until he was behind himself.

The Adjuchas, who had been on his knees begging for mercy, had used the last of his strength to perform Sonído and get behind Kyōsuke.

"I knew you wouldn't behave!"

Having anticipated his opponent's "flash," Kyōsuke landed from his Shunpo and smoothly returned his blade to its sheath.

Behind him, the Adjuchas he had cut while using Shunpo froze in place, unable to move.

Soon, the Adjuchas's mask shattered.

Then he slowly fell to the ground, his battered, scorched-smelling body dissolving into Reishi.

One stroke of Kyōsuke's blade ended the Adjuchas's painful and sinful life.

Looking at the Heaven Communicating Talisman Art among the Eight Extraordinary Skills on his system panel, now at 95%, he nodded in satisfaction.

What a perfect, fulfilling day. I'm exhausted, but I've gained so much!

Soon, he would be able to unlock another of the Eight Extraordinary Skills.

I wonder which one it'll be. The Grand Luo Insight, which can see through everything, or the Twin Hands, which can control people's hearts and heal any injury?

Chapter 27: The Long-Overdue Rescue

"Wasn't it agreed that they were just a bunch of students who hadn't graduated...?"

Watching the Adjuchas dissolve into Reishi on the ground, Kyōsuke murmured softly, as though he had remembered something.

After repeating those words, his gaze flickered.

Ordinary Hollows acted on instinct, their minds twisted like those of wild beasts.

To satisfy the emptiness in their hearts, they devoured other Hollows and souls.

Once they had devoured a certain number, ordinary Hollows evolved into Gillians with no self-awareness.

But when a Gillian reached the level of an Adjuchas, the strongest soul within its body would take control, allowing it to regain self-awareness.

But as long as Adjuchas had not evolved to the higher level of Vasto Lorde, they could regress.

Only by devouring spirit bodies of the same level could they avoid regression.

It was precisely because they had self-awareness that they feared regression and losing consciousness.

Naturally, they also understood cooperation.

The Gillians and Adjuchas that had appeared out of nowhere, the all-too-coincidental location of the Konsō practical...

He could figure out who was behind it even with his toes.

"What a nuisance."

"Why does this guy stir up trouble every day? Can't he behave himself?"

Kyōsuke couldn't help sighing.

And should he take this Hollow's corpse back to Soul Society or not?

If left to break down naturally rather than being purified with a Zanpakuto, the Hollow's body would remain for a long time.

That was why spirit bodies of Third-Class Rei'i had to undergo a squad funeral rite.

Their Reiatsu was too powerful for their Reishi to return to the cycle of the three realms through natural decomposition.

That was when the Soul Reapers who maintained the world's balance and order needed to draw their blades.

"We won!"

"We survived!"

"Long live Lord Kuchiki!"

The few Soul Reapers left at the scene wept tears of joy, cheering and embracing one another.

"Stay away from me!"

Seeing the stationed Soul Reaper looking at him just as eagerly, Gin Ichimaru tightened his grip on Shinsō.

He wasn't into that sort of thing.

Hearing the cheers, Kyōsuke smiled, set his thoughts aside for the moment, and walked toward the group.

When they saw Kyōsuke approaching, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him with reverence and admiration, expressing their gratitude.

"Lord Kuchiki, thank you for saving our lives!"

"From this day forward, Lord Kuchiki, give the word and we'll brave boiling water and fire without hesitation!"

"From now on, joining the Sixth Division is my lifelong goal!"

Kyōsuke smiled and nodded to each of them in response.

As a member of the Kuchiki Clan, he had seen this sort of thing before and was used to it.

As one of the Five Great Noble Clans, the Kuchiki Clan carried considerable prestige, and people would seek to attach themselves to it from time to time.

But Kyōsuke could tell that these people had not come for the Kuchiki Clan, but for him, Kyōsuke Kuchiki.

And everyone spoke from the heart.

That made Kyōsuke feel he had saved the right people.

Although he hadn't saved them in hopes of a reward, he didn't want to save a pack of ungrateful white-eyed wolves either.

The stationed Soul Reaper also expressed his gratitude respectfully and politely.

He patted his chest and said, "Young Master Kyōsuke, if you ever have need of me, I won't so much as furrow my brow."

Seeing the deep exhaustion on their faces, Kyōsuke told them to rest for the time being.

In truth, his own stamina and Reiatsu were nearly spent as well.

After one fierce battle after another, he was exhausted too.

But Kyōsuke had mastered the Six Treasury Immortal Thief, giving his body greater resistance and endurance, as well as an astonishing ability to recover.

Even as he spoke, his Reiatsu and stamina had already begun to recover rapidly.

Otherwise, Kyōsuke could never have unleashed high-level Kidō one after another as though they cost nothing while fighting those Menos Grande.

Of everyone present, only the stronger, strong-willed Gin Ichimaru could still hold on.

Gin was now looking at Kyōsuke with a complicated expression.

Dozens of Gillians, plus a Captain-level Adjuchas.

Yet before Kyōsuke, they had been like a swarm of insects, easily crushed into dust beneath his feet.

The gap in their strength was simply too great!

He was suddenly very glad he had agreed to Kyōsuke's request to cooperate.

No... rather than cooperation, it would be more accurate to say he gave me a chance at revenge!

With strength and a rate of growth like that, he truly couldn't believe anyone would surpass the young man before him in the future!

Glancing at the distant Menos Grande still giving off Reishi, Gin asked in puzzlement, "Kuchiki... aren't you going to purify this Hollow?"

He was thinking of Kyōsuke's interests.

Leaving the corpse would naturally prove Kyōsuke's achievement, but it could also tell certain interested people something.

Even after everything he had been through, Gin had keenly realized that there was more to this attack than met the eye.

Even the stationed Soul Reaper beside them had only heard of a few Menos Grande attacks over the past century.

An Adjuchas invading the World of the Living of its own accord was rarer still.

Yet an event with such a tiny chance of happening had occurred just as the two of them came to take the Konsō test.

If that was a coincidence, it would be a grave insult to Gin Ichimaru's judgment.

Kyōsuke made no secret of it and answered casually.

"This corpse is my declaration of challenge. The person behind this will understand as soon as he sees it."

Before he could finish, a familiar Reiatsu fluctuation came from the sky.

Kyōsuke and Gin looked up to see a doorway appear out of thin air before them.

It was a Senkaimon.

It seemed the support team had arrived.

Just like in a certain type of movie Kyōsuke had watched in his previous life, the police and rescuers always arrived last, basically just to clean up the scene.

It seemed Soul Society was no exception this time.

Chapter 28: The First Kenpachi's Fighting Spirit

A flash of light appeared, the closed doors slowly opened, and more than twenty Soul Reapers emerged.

At their head was the Fourth Division Captain in charge of medical care, Retsu Unohana. At her side followed the Fourth Division's narrow-eyed lieutenant, Kiyōnosuke Yamada.

Behind them was the Fifth Division lieutenant responsible for support...

Sōsuke Aizen!

He had arrived!

Seeing him, Kyōsuke raised an eyebrow slightly and nodded inwardly.

Originally, he had only been suspicious and hadn't been entirely certain.

Now that this guy had appeared, he didn't even need to sound him out!

If Aizen had nothing to do with this, he most likely wouldn't have shown up.

Aizen liked plotting against others, and he liked showing concern for his victims even more.

Some naive Soul Reapers had been taken in just like that, sold out by this man and still making excuses for their captain.

This habit of returning to the scene of the crime to admire his handiwork was both the arrogance of a clever man and one of Aizen's weaknesses.