Clang!
A piercing clash of weapons rang out. With his full Reiatsu released, every one of Rei's strikes was incomparably heavy, leaving Hirako unable to fight back.
"Hirako!"
"Stay back!"
Hirako's friends nearby wanted to help, but he shouted them down. He knew better than anyone what his friends were capable of.
Hirako had been busy defending himself and already had five or six small cuts from sword energy. When he seized an opening and thrust his sword at Rei, Rei covered his left hand in Reiatsu and caught the back of Hirako's incoming blade...
"Damn bastard..."
Those were the words Hirako spat out before he fell. Rei had slashed his shoulder hard, and the massive blood loss, combined with the fight he had just forced himself through, made him pass out on the spot.
"Hirako? The Visored..."
Rei seemed to remember who the young man called "Hirako" before him was. According to his memories of Sunday-night anime marathons in his previous life, this person was the first member of the Visored, Shinji Hirako.
"You guys are his companions, right? Why aren't you carrying him away for treatment? He really will die if you're too late!"
"Huh? Th-thank you for showing mercy."
"Quick, quick, quick!"
"Hang in there, Hirako!!"
Seeing that Rei hadn't finished him off, the dozen or so people nearby immediately began wailing as they brought gauze to stop Hirako's bleeding...
Quite a few civilians had seen it too. Though they were terrified of Rei, who had defeated Hirako, they were also grateful that he hadn't finished Hirako off and had spared him.
Rei walked straight into town. No one dared stop him anymore.
On a distant mountain, a pair of large red eyes in the dense woods had watched everything from beginning to end. They were a Hollow's eyes. Seeing two individuals with tremendous Reiryoku appear, the Hollow drooled and let out a strange laugh...
Yanis was one of three Hollow scouts Baraggan had sent to Soul Society. He possessed intelligence no different from a human's and was an intermediate Menos Grande, an Adjuchas.
He had a rather useful ability that was perfectly suited to gathering information: he could drive the sharp stinger on his tail into his prey's brain and obtain the information they knew.
After arriving in Soul Society, Yanis hadn't hunted everywhere like those unintelligent Ragged Hollows. He specifically chose those with Reiryoku to eat, and he was careful with every hunt, even making sure to erase his footprints.
Yanis had long since completed the task Baraggan had assigned him. After reporting on Soul Society and the Gotei 13 to Baraggan, he had secretly returned to this paradise full of "food."
Here, Yanis didn't have to worry about being hunted by his own kind, because he was practically a king among them. The "food" here was also much weaker than him; he only needed to avoid the captains and vice-captains among the Soul Reapers.
If he launched a surprise attack, Yanis was even confident he could kill Captain-level opponents before they released their Zanpakuto abilities...
This time, Yanis had set his sights on two souls in the town. Rather than attack them himself, he quietly summoned the Lesser Hollows hidden in Soul Society.
Finding that there weren't enough Lesser Hollows, he even returned to Hueco Mundo and led five Gillians and more Lesser Hollows over. He intended to devour the two souls with such impressive Reiryoku.
At nine that night, the night breeze was cool, and the stars twinkled in the sky.
Hirako opened his eyes and found that all his wounds had been bandaged. He was wrapped up almost like a mummy.
"Ahh, that hurts!"
"Don't move yet! Your wounds haven't healed!"
Hirako slowly sat up, pulling at his wounds and grimacing in pain. The friend keeping watch beside him stepped forward to stop him.
"Where's that guy?"
"Probably resting at the inn! We didn't fight afterward."
Hirako's friend naturally knew he was asking about Rei and told him what had happened.
"He showed mercy? Tch..."
"What's with that face? You made it out alive, at least. Smile!"
"Ha, haha, ah... That hurts like hell!"
"Hey, hey, hey, if you can't laugh, don't force it!"
Seeing the mummified Hirako looking displeased, his companion forced him to laugh, only for Hirako's wounds to be disturbed again. His companion thought it was all because Hirako had pushed himself too hard...
Rei was in a state of Zan Zen. He had already sensed two people keeping watch outside, probably because they were worried he would cause trouble in the town.
In his inner world, Rei kept pressing the man who was Blood Drink's manifestation to tell him how to perform Bankai, but Blood Drink always gave the same answer: "Defeat me, and I'll tell you."
Every time the stubborn Rei heard that, he drew his sword and charged, clashing noisily with Blood Drink. He had lost count of how many times they had fought, and he had never once defeated the blood-drinking demonic sword in his inner world.
Most of Rei's moves came from Blood Drink. If he fought using techniques Blood Drink also knew, he was bound to lose unless he could think of another way to fight.
In his inner world, Rei fought Blood Drink again and again, only to fail again and again. Then a Hollow's roar came from the outside world, and Blood Drink kicked Rei out of his inner world...
The moment Rei returned to reality, he saw a Hollow's enormous fist crashing toward him. He held his Zanpakuto across his body to block the heavy blow, but the tremendous force sent him smashing through a wooden wall.
After dodging another punch, Rei steadied himself and leaped at the large common Hollow, which stood more than ten meters tall. With one slash, he shattered its mask.
"Hollows again?"
Rei looked out over the town, where screams rang out everywhere. People fled in panic as Hollows of all shapes excitedly chased them, devouring them as food at will. The sight was sickening.
Though the law of survival, where the strong preyed on the weak, existed everywhere, Rei was still furious to see the Pluses, who were human like him, being hunted and killed.
"I'm going to kill every last one of you in one go... Slaughter on a whim—Blood Drink!"
Rei released even greater Reiatsu than he had during the day. The Ragged Hollows swarmed toward him, and even the Gillians headed his way.
A slash through the mask could kill a Hollow instantly and turn it into Reishi, but if he cut an arm or its body, it would only bleed, not die. Rei wanted them to bleed.
As Rei deliberately drew their blood, Blood Drink's blood gauge quickly filled, and his attack power and Reiatsu surged. Rei no longer held back. Terrifying sword force shot in all directions, cutting down every Hollow in a single stroke, no matter how big it was.
Just as Rei was getting caught up in the killing, two Gillians approached. They opened their huge mouths beneath their masks, gathered red Ceros, and fired them at him.
Rei dodged the first, but the second had clearly anticipated where he would land and struck him head-on...
"Hehe, did it hit? Too easy!"
Yanis excitedly flicked his tail. He had controlled the Gillians to fire the Ceros. This was an Adjuchas's authority over Gillians: they could control the dim-witted Gillians in battle.
The intense heat from the two Ceros set the wooden houses ablaze, sending thick smoke billowing everywhere. Quite a few souls were caught up in it and died.
Under Yanis's control, the two Ceros hadn't been charged to their maximum power, so they surely couldn't have killed Rei. Yanis used Sonído to move closer.
"Where is he?"
Yanis voiced his question. There was only a large crater where the Ceros had struck, and the answer he received was a red greatsword piercing through the Reishi flames.
"Damn bastard..."
The red greatsword had come within a hair's breadth of hitting Yanis, but he dodged with Sonído. He still had the reflexes for that much. The fastest movement technique among Soul Reapers was Shunpo, while the fastest for Hollows was Sonído.
"That Reiatsu... You're no ordinary Hollow!"
The chain on the hilt was yanked sharply, and Blood Drink returned to Rei's hand. He looked at the entirely green Hollow before him with some excitement. A Hollow this strong was a rare sight!
Rei was a little worse for wear. Only one sleeve remained of his upper clothing, and his upper body had been burned in several places by the Ceros. He had used Blood-Coagulating Slash to offset some of the damage, which was why he hadn't been seriously injured.
"Hehehe, you're no ordinary soul yourself! How about it? Want to live on as a part of me!?"
Yanis was startled by Rei's strength. The fact that he had come through that situation without serious harm proved that this soul wasn't weak.
"Become a part of you? Don't make me laugh..."
Rei quickly backed away. Blood Drink's blood gauge began to fall, and the burns on Rei gradually healed. By then, about a sixth of Blood Drink's blood gauge remained.
What's going on? More than eighty percent of the Zanpakuto's blood gauge has disappeared, and his Reiatsu has dropped too, but his wounds have healed. Does he use his Zanpakuto's ability to increase his attack power or heal himself...? That's right, that must be it.
Reiatsu was practically a measure of combat strength, and Yanis knew that well. Sensing something was wrong, he said, "Hehe, the fuller the Zanpakuto's blood gauge, the stronger your Reiatsu? And the less blood it has, the weaker you are, but you can restore your strength? What an impressive ability..."
Even a Hollow can figure out my ability? He's no simple opponent!
Rei's eyes widened a little. This was the first time anyone had seen through his Zanpakuto's ability, let alone his Hollow beast brothers who were only concerned with finding food. Honestly, it was the first time Rei had encountered such an intelligent Hollow.
"Not bad, Green-Skinned Hollow! But as for the details... come ask me after you're dead!"
Still, Rei pretended not to know whether his opponent was right or wrong. After all, he wouldn't concede even if he lost, and he wasn't stupid enough to explain his abilities to an opponent.
Yanis was ten meters tall, and neither his Reiatsu nor his techniques were ordinary. Those were clearly abilities only a Menos Grande possessed, so Rei guessed that this Hollow might be an intermediate Menos Grande, an Adjuchas.
"Green-Skinned Hollow? You're asking to die!"
Yanis was furious. In fact, Rei wasn't wrong. Apart from his head, which had a white mask with black six-pointed-star stripes, the rest of him was entirely green. Even his nascent hair, styled into dreadlocks, was green.
An irritated Yanis used Sonído to come at him, transformed his right hand into a blade, and slashed at Rei from behind...
Here it comes, that high-speed movement technique!
Rei had already seen Yanis use Sonído. This time, with his nerves taut, he reacted and raised his sword to block the attack.
Yanis's first attack was stopped. He lengthened his tail, turned its tip into a stinger, and thrust it at Rei in a perfect arc. Rei, who had been prepared, jumped backward and evaded the deadly tail strike.
Boom!
Yanis used Sonído again and appeared behind Rei. His hand blade struck Blood Drink once more, and Rei swung his greatsword, blocking Yanis's attacks again and again.