Chapter Summaries

Haruto and Isane discussed the dangerous Hollow-hunting graduation exam and how they might protect their classmates if the Hollows proved too strong. On exam day, Haruto’s group set out without Byakuya and prepared to judge when to intervene.

• Haruto told Isane that the captured Hollows might be more ferocious than wild ones and that ten Hollows would be hunted during the exam.
• Haruto proposed knocking their classmates out of the exam if the Hollows were too dangerous, but agreed they would decide based on the Hollows’ strength.
• Byakuya chose not to attend the exam because he had no interest in hunting Hollows and could join the Gotei 13 through his family.
• Haruto, Ayaka, Isane, Kiyone, and Nanao led the students toward the forest, where Mutsuki Shōkaku, teachers, and Tenth Division members accompanied them.
• Nanao asked when their group should intervene, and Haruto said they would follow the plan they had discussed before the exam.

Haruto and his classmates arrived at the site of their graduation exam and discovered that nobles had turned the Hollow hunt into a live spectacle. As Mutsuki Shōkaku faced the exam’s humiliating arrangements, Haruto promised he would bring every student back safely.

• Haruto and his classmates agreed to use Kakushitsuijaku to check the Hollows’ spiritual power and protect one another during the exam.
• Haruto entertained the group on their journey with games of Bao Huang and Dou Dizhu.
• Haruto recognized the exam site as a forest buffer where the students had cleared out wild Hollows months earlier, suggesting any Hollows there were Twelfth Division test subjects.
• Haruto explained that modified Hell Butterflies would broadcast the students’ Hollow hunt to nobles, who had arranged the spectacle despite its resemblance to an arena.
• Mutsuki Shōkaku went to meet the nobles and Daijiji Kū Seigen, and Haruto reassured her that he would bring every student back safely.

Haruto and his friends watched the sages announce a Hollow-hunting exam, whose powerful Hollows posed a serious danger to the students. As the teams prepared to enter the forest, Haruto assigned them a plan to locate and avoid their classmates while promising to bring everyone back.

• Haruto and Ayaka mocked the sages' speeches through a Hell Butterfly, and Nanao joined their private conversation by sensing their Reiatsu.
• Nanao explained that she had improved Hell Butterfly communication after the dangerous Konsō practicum incident six months earlier.
• The sages revealed ten caged Hollows, including one with Vice-Captain-level Reiatsu, and assured students that Vice-Captain Daijiji would rescue anyone in danger.
• Haruto judged the exam dangerously reckless and suspected the sages had underestimated the students' limited strength.
• Haruto formed a team with Ayaka, Nanao, Isane, and her sister, then used modified Kidō to track the other teams and told them to avoid Shunpo.

Haruto let the other squads enter the forest first and stayed behind because he suspected the strongest Hollow had not moved. Vice-Captain Daijiji Kū Seigen approached him and privately revealed his disdain for the nobles, ending by saying Haruto was different.

• Vice-Captain Daijiji ordered the students to begin the forest examination, and the other squads set off while Haruto’s group stayed behind.
• Ayaka suggested knocking out the other students, but Haruto stopped her and reminded her that the sages might disqualify them.
• Haruto’s group split up to pursue the squads, while Haruto remained in the clearing to watch for the strongest Hollow.
• Vice-Captain Daijiji approached Haruto, joked about his companions, and tried to draw him into a private conversation.
• Daijiji used a modified Tenteikūra to tell Haruto that he expected little from the nobles and then said Haruto was different.

Haruto negotiated with Vice-Captain Daijiji before discovering that a Hollow was hunting and killing student squads. He caught up with the sheep-headed Hollow, restrained it with combined Bakudō, and struck it with Raikōhō.

• Haruto agreed to discuss Daijiji’s offer after the graduation exam, then left to pursue the Hollow.
• Haruto noticed a squad’s Reiatsu signatures vanish and realized the Hollow was hunting students.
• Haruto rushed to the next squad’s location but found no survivors and confronted the sheep-headed Hollow.
• Haruto inferred that the Hollow could sense Reiatsu and use Sonído to move.
• Haruto trapped the Hollow with Sajō Sabaku and Rikujōkōrō, then hit it with Raikōhō.

Haruto fought a powerful goat-headed Hollow whose spatial abilities let it swallow and redirect his Kidō. The Hollow broke Haruto’s back and left him unable to move, then spoke to him as Haruto tried to stall for time.

• Haruto trapped the goat-headed Hollow with Bakudō and attacked it with Raikōhō, but it swallowed the blast and spat it out through a phantom mouth.
• Haruto unleashed Hyōga Seiran, but the Hollow broke free, swallowed the ice, and redirected the attack at him.
• Haruto blocked the returned Hyōga Seiran with Dankū, then drew Zanka no Tachi as the Hollow charged.
• The Hollow dodged Haruto’s strike with Sonído and smashed into his back, breaking his bones and leaving him badly injured and unable to move.
• Haruto tried to buy time while recovering, and the goat-headed Hollow told him that his combat strength ranked among the top three in the hunting ground.

Haruto discovered that the goat-headed Hollow was a Gillian who had regained its self-awareness by using Soul Reapers and their Reiatsu to forge armor. With Haruto badly injured and the Hollow transformed, Daijiji arrived to fight beside him.

• Haruto learned that the goat-headed Hollow had adjusted its Reiatsu to deceive Soul Reapers and that it had used its clones to gather Reiatsu.
• The Hollow revealed that it was a self-aware Gillian, then transformed into an armored Menos Grande using spatial vortices.
• Isane and the others told Haruto that Hollows had self-destructed and drawn sixth-years into spatial vortices; Haruto told them to return to the stands while he handled his opponent.
• Haruto used Reiatsu to force his damaged body upright and insisted that he still had a chance against the Menos Grande.
• Daijiji arrived and joined Haruto, who confirmed that their earlier plan was still possible.

Daijiji revealed that he had helped the Twelfth Division capture the sheep-headed Menos Grande and joined Haruto in fighting it. After the Hollow nearly killed Daijiji by turning his attack against him, Haruto saved him with Bakudō, and the two recognized that they had underestimated their opponent and each other.

• Daijiji told Haruto that the Hollow's spatial ability could be suppressed with Bakudō and revealed he had helped the Twelfth Division capture it decades earlier.
• Daijiji released his Zanpakuto, Stele, and overwhelmed the sheep-headed Menos Grande with his strength and speed.
• Haruto realized the Hollow had reflected his controllable Hyōga Seiran before, and warned Daijiji that its ability had more uses than Daijiji expected.
• The sheep-headed Menos Grande opened a spatial vortex that redirected Daijiji's own slash toward his neck.
• Haruto cast Rikujōkōrō to briefly restrain Daijiji's slash and save his life.
• Daijiji thanked Haruto, admitted he had underestimated the Hollow and Haruto, and prepared to continue facing their opponent.

Daijiji unleashed Gravestone’s army of captured souls against the goat-headed Menos Grande, but the Hollow opened a Garganta and used Gillians to consume the spirits. After devouring the Gillians, it evolved into a humanoid Adjuchas and erased Daijiji with a crimson blast, leaving Haruto stunned.

• Daijiji aged himself and summoned the souls stored in Gravestone, then asked Haruto to keep the Zanpakuto’s ability secret.
• Daijiji sent the hundred souls against the goat-headed Menos Grande, whose ability opened a Garganta and brought forth Gillians.
• The Gillians devoured the summoned souls despite their counterattacks, leaving Gravestone as a lifeless stone.
• The goat-headed Menos Grande devoured the Gillians and transformed into a humanoid Hollow with a white goat skull mask.
• The newly evolved Hollow fired a crimson blast that erased Daijiji and his Zanpakuto while Haruto watched.

Haruto faced a cunning Adjuchas that had engineered its capture to reach Soul Society and feed on souls raised by Daijiji’s Zanpakuto, while cutting off communications and attacking the assembled nobles. With help still unreachable, Haruto tried to hold it back, but the Adjuchas overwhelmed his Kidō and blasted him away.

• The Adjuchas revealed that it had spent decades observing a Soul Reaper who could provide the souls it needed to evolve, then arranged to be captured and brought into Soul Society.
• The Adjuchas sent five energy spheres in different directions, including two toward the stands where sages and nobles were gathered, and cut off Haruto’s means of communication.
• The Adjuchas explained that it had disrupted the Twelfth Division’s observation post and achieved the balance needed for its evolution.
• Haruto cast Rikujōkōrō, but the Adjuchas evaded it with Sonído and attacked from behind.
• Haruto layered Tōzanshō shields and used Dankū to create an opening, then attacked with Hyapporankan and Sajō Sabaku, but the Adjuchas shattered his defenses and sent him flying with a red blast.

Haruto was nearly killed by an Adjuchas, but Isane, Ayaka, Kiyone, and Nanao arrived to help him. The Adjuchas overpowered the group and left Haruto desperately defending them from a barrage of Bala.

• The Adjuchas charged a Cero as Haruto lay too injured to escape, but Isane arrived and used Itegumo to obstruct the Hollow while healing Haruto.
• Ayaka used Makeup to blur the Adjuchas’s black-and-white coloring and weaken its Reiatsu, while Kiyone struck it with her war hammer.
• The Adjuchas sent Kiyone flying and attacked Ayaka, but Nanao arrived and protected her with Dankū as Haruto raised Tōzanshō.
• The Adjuchas shattered their defenses, grabbed Nanao and Ayaka, and slammed them into the ground, reducing their life signs to less than a tenth.
• Haruto caught the two girls with Tsuriboshi, then raised an earthen slope and reinforced it with ice to shield the group from the Adjuchas’s many Bala.

Mutsuki Shōkaku saved Haruto and his allies from an Adjuchas’s Cero with her Zanpakuto, but her devastating counterattack left her apparently dead and barely injured the Hollow. As the Adjuchas prepared to attack again, Haruto stood up beside Isane.

• The Adjuchas’s Cero overwhelmed Haruto’s Kidō defenses, and Mutsuki Shōkaku arrived to absorb it with her Zanpakuto.
• Mutsuki Shōkaku released her Zanpakuto and struck the Adjuchas with a blood-moon slash that split the forest and destroyed half its body.
• The Adjuchas regenerated, explained how Mutsuki’s attack had nearly defeated it, and concluded that her power had cost her life.
• Haruto saw Mutsuki’s shattered Zanpakuto and lifeless body while Nanao, Ayaka, and Kiyone lay unconscious and Isane tried to treat her.
• The Adjuchas prepared another Cero, and Haruto braced himself against Isane and slowly stood up.

After Mutsuki fell, Haruto understood his sorrow and responsibility, united with his other self, and released his Zanpakuto, Seisen. He survived the Adjuchas’s Cero and stood ready to fight while Isane treated the others.

• Haruto realized that accepting sorrow and becoming part of Soul Society would let him release his Zanpakuto.
• Haruto gripped his Asauchi, united with his other self, and released a vast surge of Reiatsu that broke through to Fifth-Class Reii.
• Haruto drew his Zanpakuto and called its Shikai, Seisen, as the Adjuchas prepared its Cero.
• The Adjuchas fired its Cero, but Haruto protected Isane and the others inside a Tōzanshō shield.
• Haruto asked Isane to heal the others, then told the Adjuchas that its Cero had been full of openings.

Haruto explained his Zanpakuto’s flowing-water ability and used its speed and cutting power to overwhelm the Adjuchas. After reflecting a powerful Hadō back at his opponent, Haruto pursued him through the smoke and landed another slash.

• Haruto taunted the Adjuchas and explained that his Zanpakuto attached flowing-water Reishi to nearby targets, letting him move rapidly with a technique he called Waterfall.
• The Adjuchas threatened the injured Kiyone and the others, but Haruto assured him that Tōzanshō would protect them.
• Haruto appeared behind the Adjuchas and cut through his Hierro, nearly bisecting him before he could dodge.
• Haruto fired Senju Kōten Taihō, and the Adjuchas swallowed and redirected the Kidō projectile with his spatial ability.
• Haruto blocked the redirected attack with Kyōmon and reflected it back, then met the Adjuchas as he fled the blast and slashed him again.

Haruto defeated the armored Adjuchas by combining his Zanpakuto’s flowing-water ability with a reverse strike, then cleared the barrier as the sun came out. He walked toward Isane and asked Seisen to keep working with him, though the Zanpakuto did not answer.

• The Adjuchas transformed into a heavily armored form, increasing its Reiatsu and trapping Haruto’s Zanpakuto in its bone armor.
• Haruto revealed that he could still use his Zanpakuto’s ability while attacking at close range and struck the Adjuchas with Zanka no Tachi.
• Haruto followed with a reverse strike using Seisen’s spine, shattering the Adjuchas’s body.
• Haruto waved away the bloodied Tōzanshō, letting sunlight shine over the ravaged land.
• Haruto approached Isane and asked Seisen to keep working with him, but the Zanpakuto stayed silent.

Haruto helped Isane stabilize the injured students after defeating the Adjuchas, then explained the battle to the arriving reinforcements. He revealed his newly attained Fifth-Class Reii and Senju Kōten Taihō, leaving the others to reckon with his strength and his ties to the Kuchiki Clan.

• Haruto reassured Isane as she treated the wounded, then reflected on his muted grief and his Zanpakuto’s emotions.
• Kuchiki Sōjun, Byakuya, Kotetsu Nanako, Kiyōnosuke Yamada, Lisa Yadōmaru, and Shinji Hirako arrived to provide aid and investigate.
• Kiyōnosuke Yamada determined that Mutsuki Shōkaku had died from exhausting her Reiatsu while protecting the students, not from a Hollow attack.
• Haruto told Byakuya and the others that the Adjuchas had targeted Captain Daijiji’s Zanpakuto and had been weakened by Mutsuki’s attack.
• Haruto disclosed that he had reached Fifth-Class Reii, mastered Senju Kōten Taihō, and had previously learned Hyōga Seiran, making his connection to the Kuchiki Clan explicit.

Haruto avoided joining the Sixth Division and reflected on Seisen’s versatile abilities and his growing strength, while wondering whether his fused souls might let him wield two Zanpakuto. The next day, he and the others carried Mutsuki’s belongings to the graveyard, where Hoshino Kurumadani completed the sending-off ceremony.

• Kuchiki Sōjun defended Haruto’s use of Senju Kōten Taihō, and Shinji Hirako stopped Lisa Yadōmaru from pressing him about it.
• Kuchiki Sōjun said he did not intend to invite Haruto into the Sixth Division, and Haruto agreed to wait until he had caught up with Kōga.
• Haruto considered Seisen’s ability to alter the flow of things, enhancing his attacks and movement, and wondered whether he could wield two swords because his soul was fused.
• Haruto and the others carried Mutsuki’s clothes to the graveyard at Ayaka Kurumadani’s home, where Hoshino Kurumadani ended the sending-off ceremony.

After the Adjuchas attack killed fifty Shin'ō Academy students, Haruto and the surviving graduates attended their graduation ceremony and chose divisions. Nanao and Ayaka joined the Eighth Division, while the other graduates’ choices remained to be made.

• The Central 46 Chambers dismissed the Twelfth Division vice-captain posthumously and barred Mutsuki Shōkaku and Daijiji Kū Seigen from burial in the Gotei 13 cemetery, so Ayaka’s family handled Mutsuki’s burial and the Tenth Division had to arrange Daijiji’s.
• Haruto and the other survivors returned to the Shin'ō Academy, where the Seventh Division escorted the coffins of fifty students killed in the graduation exam to the Gotei 13 cemetery.
• Haruto and his injured companions arrived at the graduation ceremony as representatives from across the Gotei 13 and the Kidō Corps gathered to recruit the five surviving graduates.
• Nanao chose the Eighth Division, and Shunsui Kyōraku accepted her despite his initial awkwardness.
• Ayaka also chose the Eighth Division, explaining that she wanted to be independent rather than follow Haruto around.

Haruto refused Tessai Tsukabishi’s offer to join the Kidō Corps and chose to pursue a place in the Gotei 13. Tessai gave him a Kidō Orb for a powerful lightning Hadō, and Haruto continued toward the divisions as Marechiyo Ōmaeda greeted him.

• Tessai Tsukabishi offered to teach Haruto the pinnacle number ninety-nine Kidō if he joined the Kidō Corps.
• Haruto declined Tessai’s invitation, saying he preferred to join the Gotei 13.
• Tessai gave Haruto a Kidō Orb for his number eighty-eight Hadō, Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō, and Haruto accepted it.
• Haruto continued past the First Division, where Genshirō Okikiba nodded to him.
• Marechiyo Ōmaeda greeted Haruto, and Haruto showed him the Kidō Orb.

Haruto declined the Fifth Division and accepted gifts and attention from several divisions before telling Jūshirō Ukitake he was interested in joining the Thirteenth Division. Ukitake acknowledged the division’s desperate need for members and recognized that Haruto had been promised two number ninety-nine Kidō.

• Marechiyo Ōmaeda gave Haruto a Kukai Box from Yoruichi, who had inferred that he needed it.
• Chikane Iba praised Haruto’s training, while Captain Unohana left with Isane and Kiyone to return to the busy Fourth Division.
• Haruto declined Shinji Hirako’s offer to join the Fifth Division, and Shinji blamed himself for failing to help Komatsuzuru.
• Ginjiro gave Haruto glasses chosen by Byakuya, and Jin'emon Kotsubaki praised Haruto’s sword before inviting him to visit the Seventh Division.
• Haruto told Jūshirō Ukitake he wanted to join the Thirteenth Division, and Ukitake noted that the division was severely short-staffed.
• Ukitake guessed that Tessai Tsukabishi had promised Haruto two number ninety-nine Kidō, and Haruto confirmed Kuryūtenmetsu and Bankin Taihō.