Not the First Battle

"O sovereign! Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Scorching heat and turmoil, across the sea, march toward the south!"

"Hado #31—Shakkaho!"

Deep within the desert, the low chant spilled from the lips of Natsuki.

His speech still carried a faint accent and lacked fluidity, as he had not been learning the language of this world for very long, but this did not hinder his ability to perform Ghost Way.

The incantation of Ghost Way had no strict requirements regarding accents; the essence of the words seemed to be the formation of a unique rule-based power, one that brought order to the chaotic reishi of the world, allowing the Shinigami to manipulate these particles with their own spiritual power and unleash a formidable force.

Therefore, as long as the meaning of the words was expressed accurately, it sufficed.

The more precise the expression, the better the arrangement of the reishi in the world, the easier it became for the user to drive this power with their own spiritual energy, and the greater the power of the resulting Ghost Way.

Conversely, if one were to forgo the incantation and recite only the "name" of the Ghost Way, while it could still stir the reishi of the world, the resulting combination would be scattered and chaotic. To leverage such power in this state placed immense demands on the strength and control of the Shinigami's own spiritual energy; not only was it exhausting, but the resulting power was mediocre at best.

The latter was the advanced technique of Ghost Way: "Incantation Abandonment"!

Of course, these theories were not taught to Natsuki by Watanabe Yuji, but were deduced by Natsuki himself during his study of Ghost Way. He possessed an extremely profound level of control over his own spiritual energy, and when casting Ghost Way, he could keenly sense the reishi in the world palpitating in rhythm with his chanting.

For a Shinigami, this sensation was known as "Spiritual Perception." Unlike humans, Shinigamis were accustomed to using not just their five senses in battle, but their Spiritual Perception—or rather, they relied upon it most of all.

The five senses could be deceived, but Spiritual Perception could not.

Unlike other Shinigamis, Natsuki's Spiritual Perception was exceptionally sharp.

He did not know if this was a unique talent of his own, but it had certainly helped him a great deal.

Take the present moment: his perfect control over spiritual energy allowed him to cast Ghost Way with ease, while his sharp Spiritual Perception allowed him to precisely locate the movement of the Hollow ahead, enabling him to slam the Shakkaho directly into his target.

Thick smoke billowed up from the desert floor.

From within the smoke, a humanoid Hollow rushed out, wounded. Despite its human shape, it let out a roar like a wild beast.

Natsuki's figure darted across the desert, executing Shunpo. In an instant, he arrived beside the Hollow. The Zanpakuto hanging at his waist was drawn, and with a single swing, a flash of cold light fell upon the Hollow's mask.

The Hollow's roar ceased abruptly.

Its mask cracked, and finally, its body collapsed to the ground, dead.

There was no need to dispose of the corpse. According to Watanabe Yuji, whether it was a Hollow or a Shinigami, both were composed of reishi. Upon death, unless special measures were taken to preserve the body, they would soon dissolve into pure reishi and scatter into the world.

As long as the reishi existed, after the passage of long ages, it could reform into a new soul.

Whether that new soul was the same as the original existence, however, no one could say for sure.

But one thing was certain.

When a Shinigami used a Zanpakuto to kill a Hollow, it was an act of liberation; it was not slaughter, but salvation.

In contrast, the Quincy were different.

Hollows killed by a Quincy did not even leave reishi behind; the traces of their existence were completely annihilated from the world. Therefore, if one ever encountered a Quincy slaughtering Hollows, one did not need to think twice—stopping them was the right thing to do.

Natsuki did not know what kind of past Watanabe Yuji had, but he seemed to know many things and appeared to have had contact with the Quincy. When informing Natsuki about matters concerning Shinigamis, he had let slip a few words about the Quincy.

After Natsuki slew the Hollow.

Not far away, beneath a sand dune, a figure suddenly burst through the sand and leaped out.

It was Watanabe Yuji.

Executing Shunpo, he arrived at Natsuki's side in an instant. "Well done. As for a first battle, I didn't even do as well as you did back then."

Practical combat was the best training.

Although Natsuki had been sparring with the members of the Expeditionary Force, those sessions were purely practice, and knowing there was no danger to his life, he had inevitably grown lax. Thus, once Natsuki had roughly grasped the four basic abilities of a Shinigami, Watanabe Yuji had him begin real combat immediately.

This was Hueco Mundo, where there was no shortage of Hollows. Because they were in the outer reaches, most of what appeared were ordinary Hollows; Menos Grande appeared occasionally, but the probability was not high.

Soon, he had found a lone Hollow, leading to the scene of Natsuki's battle.

"It was just an ordinary Hollow."

Natsuki did not grow complacent because of Watanabe Yuji's praise.

In Hueco Mundo, such ordinary Hollows were as numerous as the hairs on an ox.

Above them were the Menos Grande.

And even among Menos Grande, a Gillian was little more than cannon fodder.

If the Hollow before him had been an Adjuchas or a Vasto Lorde, he might have felt a sense of pride.

"Besides, this doesn't count as my first battle."

Natsuki added to Watanabe Yuji.

Although the first encounter had been somewhat inexplicable, the target of his first battle had indeed been that massive Gillian.

Watanabe Yuji was stunned upon hearing Natsuki's words, recalling the scene he had witnessed back then.

He had been quite surprised to confirm that the Menos Grande had been killed by a soul who had accidentally picked up a Zanpakuto. This was why he had chosen to keep Natsuki in the Expeditionary Force and provide him with guidance; he was certain that Natsuki was an uncut gem who, with a little instruction, could become a powerful Shinigami.

And so it had proven.

Over the past half-year, Natsuki's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. Aside from learning the language, he had made achievements in all four basic abilities of a Shinigami.

His hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship could only be called passable, but his Shunpo and Ghost Way were absolutely excellent.

Coming back to his senses, Watanabe Yuji noticed that after saying that, Natsuki had become distracted. He couldn't help but ask, "Are you still thinking about that time?"

Natsuki nodded. "If, as you say, that Menos Grande was killed by me, then at that moment, I should have awakened my Zanpakuto. Only then would it have been possible to kill it."

"But since then, I have followed the methods you taught me, constantly attempting to resonate with my Zanpakuto, yet I have never been able to hear its voice, nor master my Shikai."