It Wasn't His First Battle

"Ruler of the heavens! Mask of flesh and blood, all things, take flight and spread your wings, and don the name of humanity! The heat and the chaos, rolling back across the sea toward the south, stride forth!"

"Hadō #31—Shakkaho!"

In the desert, a low incantation came from Natsuki's lips.

His speech still carried a faint accent, and he wasn't very fluent. After all, he hadn't been learning this world's language for very long. But that didn't affect his ability to use Ghost Way.

Ghost Way incantations had no requirements regarding whether one spoke with an accent. The essence of the words seemed to be the formation of a unique force of rules, bringing order to the Reishi that was chaotic throughout the world. Then, under the control of a Soul Reaper's spiritual power, the Reishi could be set in motion and made to erupt with immense force.

So long as he could accurately express the meaning of the words, that was enough.

The more accurately the words were expressed, the better the Reishi in the world would align. The less effort it took for him to propel that force with his spiritual power, the greater the power of the Ghost Way he could unleash.

Conversely, if he abandoned the incantation and recited only the Ghost Way's "name," he could still stir the Reishi in the world. But in that state, the Reishi would be loosely arranged. Stirring that power placed enormous demands on a Soul Reaper's spiritual strength and control over it. Not only was it exhausting, but the resulting Ghost Way was also mediocre.

That was the advanced Ghost Way technique known as "Incantation Abandonment"!

Of course, Watanabe Yuji hadn't told Natsuki any of these theories. Natsuki had arrived at them himself while learning Ghost Way. He had an exceptionally firm grasp of his own spiritual power, and when using Ghost Way, he could keenly sense the Reishi in the world stirring in response to the incantation.

For Soul Reapers, this sensation was known as "Spiritual Perception." Unlike humans, Soul Reapers relied not only on their five senses in battle; they were also accustomed to using Spiritual Perception—or rather, it was what they relied on most.

The five senses could deceive, but Spiritual Perception could not.

Unlike other Soul Reapers, Natsuki's Spiritual Perception was unusually keen.

He didn't know whether it was a talent unique to him, but it had certainly helped him a great deal.

For instance, right now, his perfect control over his spiritual power let him use Ghost Way with ease, while his keen Spiritual Perception allowed him to pinpoint the Hollow's movements ahead of him and slam Shakkaho into it.

Thick smoke billowed up from the desert.

Through the smoke charged a humanoid Hollow, wounded. Although it had a human shape, the roar from its mouth sounded like a beast's.

Natsuki leaped across the desert and used Shunpo. In an instant, he was beside the Hollow. His Zanpakuto, which had been hanging at his waist, slid from its sheath. With a flash of cold light, his strike landed on the Hollow's mask.

The Hollow's roar abruptly ceased.

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

There was no need to dispose of its corpse. According to Watanabe Yuji, Hollows and Soul Reapers alike were made of Reishi. After death, unless their bodies underwent special treatment—such as being preserved—they would soon turn into pure Reishi and disperse into the world.

So long as the Reishi remained, after a long passage of time, it could form a new soul.

Whether that new soul was the same as the original, however, was impossible to say.

But one thing was certain.

When a Soul Reaper killed a Hollow with a Zanpakuto, they granted it release. It wasn't slaughter; it was salvation.

Quincies, by contrast, were different.

Hollows killed by Quincies left behind no Reishi at all. Every trace of their existence was utterly erased from the world. So if they ever encountered Quincies slaughtering Hollows, there was no need to think too much about it. They simply had to stop them.

Who knew what Watanabe Yuji had been through? He seemed to know a great many things, and he also seemed to have encountered Quincies before. When he told Natsuki about Soul Reapers, he had mentioned the Quincies in passing.

After Natsuki killed the Hollow,

a short distance away, beneath a sand dune, a figure suddenly burst through the sand and sprang out.

It was Watanabe Yuji.

Using Shunpo, he reached Natsuki's side in an instant. "Well done. For a first battle, you did better than I did back then."

Real combat was the best training.

Although Natsuki had been sparring with the others in the Expeditionary Force, sparring alone was bound to make him slack off, since he knew his life wasn't in danger. So, once Natsuki had gained a rough grasp of the Soul Reapers' four basic abilities, Watanabe Yuji had sent him straight into real combat.

This was Hueco Mundo, where Hollows were plentiful. And because they were in the outer region, most of the Hollows they encountered were ordinary ones. Menos Grande appeared now and then, but not very often.

Before long, he found a lone Hollow, and so Natsuki ended up fighting it.

"It was only an ordinary Hollow."

Natsuki didn't let Watanabe Yuji's praise go to his head.

Ordinary Hollows were a dime a dozen in Hueco Mundo.

Above them were the Menos Grande.

And even among the Menos Grande, Gillian were little more than cannon fodder.

If the Hollow he'd just fought had been an Adjuchas or a Vasto Lorde, then he might have felt proud.

"Besides, this wasn't my first battle."

Natsuki added this for Watanabe Yuji.

Although his first battle had been rather inexplicable, his opponent really had been that enormous Gillian.

Hearing Natsuki's words, Watanabe Yuji was taken aback. He thought of the scene he'd witnessed back then.

He had been quite surprised to learn that the Menos Grande had been killed by an ordinary human who had accidentally picked up a Zanpakuto. That was why he had later decided to keep Natsuki in the Expeditionary Force and teach him. He was certain Natsuki was a rough-cut gem who could become a powerful Soul Reaper with just a little guidance.

And that was exactly what had happened.

Over the past six months or so, Natsuki's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. Besides learning the language, he had also made progress in all four of the Soul Reapers' basic abilities.

His Hakuda and Zanjutsu were merely passable, but his Shunpo and Ghost Way were definitely excellent.

When he came back to himself, Watanabe Yuji noticed that Natsuki had also drifted off after saying that. He asked, "Are you still thinking about what happened back then?"

Natsuki nodded. "If what you said is true, and I was the one who killed that Menos Grande, then I must have awakened my Zanpakuto at the time. That's the only way I could have killed it."

"But afterward, I kept trying to resonate with my Zanpakuto using the method you taught me. I still couldn't hear its voice, much less master Shikai."