Where Are Those Black Stockings You Promised? / Hollow Spirit

With difficulty, Yamabuki Chidori opened her eyes and found herself lying on Unohana's lap.

"Why are you all looking at me like that? What happened to me? I remember I was ambushed by Quincy and poisoned!" Yamabuki Chidori asked with difficulty.

"It's alright, it's alright, it's all over now, it's all over now," Unohana said softly.

Baraggan, Coyote Starrk, and Katoru Hatsunoya were looking at him strangely.

"You just caused quite a ruckus. Several of us almost died at your hands," Coyote Starrk said with a wry smile.

"Huh?" Yamabuki Chidori looked completely bewildered. You guys almost died at my hands? Do I have that kind of ability?

Katoru Hatsunoya said, "Yamabuki, you must tell me what happened to you. If you don't explain clearly, I can't let you return to Soul Society. If you go berserk again, Seireitei won't be able to handle it."

Coyote Starrk recounted everything that had just happened, leaving Yamabuki Chidori completely bewildered. What? I Hollowfication? And went on a killing spree, slaughtering five Sternritter? Two of them were beautiful young women? And I even desecrated their corpses?

Except for the last one, I don't think I can do the others!

Everyone looked at Yamabuki Chidori, waiting for him to give them an explanation.

Knowing she couldn't hide it any longer, Yamabuki Chidori said gravely, "Now there's only one explanation left: the Soul King."

"The Soul King?"

Everyone in Soul Society knows this term, but very few truly understand its meaning.

Feng Katoru Hatsunoya asked, "The Soul King is the legendary ruler of the Soul Society. How do you know Soul King?"

Yamabuki Chidori touched her nose. "Originally, it wasn't related, but do you remember when Zero Division picked me up and took me to the Soul King Palace? I had a conversation with the Soul King."

As a High-Ranking Noble, Katoru Hatsunoya naturally understood the implications of this.

"The Soul King is omniscient and All-Knowing All-Powerful. He foresaw the Quincy invasion six months later, and also foresaw my death six months later. The only turning point was swallowing a piece of the Soul King's flesh," Yamabuki Chidori said. "The Soul King is the progenitor of both Shinigami and Quincy, and inherently contains both of these powers. As for Hollowfication, I am likely a side effect. If it weren't for this piece of the Soul King's flesh, how could my Reiatsu have increased so quickly?"

Katoru Hatsunoya secretly. When he first encountered Yamabuki Chidori, Yamabuki Chidori was just an ordinary Lieutenant. But in just two months, her strength has improved by leaps and bounds. It took two Vastolorde Menos Grande, two Captain, and six members of the Sternritter of ten Captain-level combatants, to barely subdue Yamabuki Chidori.

Even if he is a genius, his progress is too fast!

Only Unohana remained silent beside them, lost in thought.

"Should we continue our mission?" asked Katoru Hatsunoya. Their mission was to find the Quincy's lair, but plans can change quickly. What if Yamabuki Chidori lost control again?

"Alright, let's go back. I'll explain to the Captain Commander," said Yamabuki Chidori. As for Baraggan, he naturally went back to Soul Society with her.

With a bitter expression, Baraggan put on the handcuffs and returned to Soul Society with Yamabuki Chidori.

The group bid farewell to Coyote Starrk, and Yamabuki Chidori even gave Coyote Starrk a few bottles of wine she had brought with her. Both sides then went their separate ways.

Coyote Starrk originally thought he was too strong to have any friends, but now it seems...

"I'm still too weak. I need to find a way to become stronger."

Chapter 197: Where are the promised Black Silk Stockings?

"Everyone, I'm back ahead of schedule!" Yamabuki Chidori greeted the team Captain with great enthusiasm.

Yamamoto snapped coldly, "What's all the fuss about? What kind of behavior is this? You're the Chief Strategist of the Gotei 13. Why are you back so soon? Did something happen to you?"

"Captain Commander, you're so smart. You figured out we were in trouble right away," Yamabuki Chidori said with a smile.

Yamamoto's face was cold; I knew it wouldn't be good news!

"You all step back for a moment, I have something to say to the Chief Strategist," Yamamoto said.

The other Captain left for the time being, leaving only Yamamoto and Yamabuki Chidori in the room.

"Tell me, what happened? Something that could force you back must be serious!" Yamamoto had already prepared himself mentally for all sorts of things.

Yamabuki Chidori gave a dry laugh, "Captain Commander, I can tell you what happened, but you have to promise not to deduct my salary. My salary has already been deducted for half a year, and I still have a family to support. I really can't afford to keep deducting like this!"

"You smooth talker! Hurry up and tell me," Yamamoto said.

Yamabuki Chidori scratched her head. "Actually, it wasn't a big deal. We just encountered Quincy on the way there, and they were key members of the enemy. But don't worry, we only encountered six people in total. I've already killed five of them, torn to pieces. The last one was seriously injured and escaped back to their base. I was afraid of alerting their main force, so I didn't dare to chase after them."

Yamamoto stared at Yamabuki Chidori without saying a word. He knew this kid too well. If it were just something like this, would there be any need to withdraw prematurely?

"Anything else?" Yamamoto asked.

Yamabuki Chidori coughed lightly. "And also... I accidentally Hollowfication, the kind where I lose myself!"

Instantly, a terrifying sense of oppression washed over us.

Yamabuki Chidori was terrified that the Old Man might chop her up if he got upset.

"Hollowfication? You've turned back? Are you alright?" Yamamoto asked.

The Hollow Power are mutually restraining. Before this, no Soul Reaper Hollowfication; Yamabuki Chidori was the first.

"I don't know, but I heard from Unohana and the others... it seems quite dangerous! I came back mainly to ask you for leave. I want to figure out what happened to my body. You won't refuse me, will you?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

Yamamoto remained silent. He knew best what strength Yamamoto Yamabuki Chidori was at the moment; she was arguably the strongest person in the Gotei 13 after himself. For him to utter the word "danger," it was clear that this matter was far from ordinary.

"Okay, I'll give you a long vacation. Don't come back until you've resolved your health issues," Yamamoto said.

"The Captain Commander is the best to me. I'll be going now." Yamabuki Chidori left the First Division Barracks with a smile, and ran into Unohana as soon as she stepped out.

It seems she came here specifically to wait for him.

"Alright, let's go home together!" Unohana and Yamabuki Chidori returned home together. The two of them didn't say a word on the way, and the atmosphere was very awkward. Yamabuki Chidori already guessed what the other wanted to ask.

Once home, Unohana locked the door immediately.

Then, with a serious expression, he questioned, "Now you can tell me, what exactly happened to your body? Your previous form was Quincy power, right? Don't bring up the Soul King Soul King. Before we met again, during our duel, you displayed power beyond that of a Shinigami. That kind of talk might fool others, but it won't fool me."

The moment Yamabuki Chidori's expression fell, he knew Unohana was going to ask that question.

"Okay, okay, I understand, I'll tell you the truth. Actually, I really don't know what changes have happened to my body! Really! From the day I became a Shinigami, I discovered that I could control Reishi, which means that the Quincy power within me is innate. Also, before that, when I went to Hueco Mundo to do extermination, I unintentionally awakened Hollow abilities. At that time, I only had Cero, and later, when I fought you, I awakened Hard Skin and Super Regeneration. But now it seems that these are not all." Yamabuki Chidori said bitterly.

The soul's degeneration into nothingness is a very mysterious process.

Why did the Soul King divide the world into Three Realms?

Because Hollows constantly devoured souls in ancient times, the Soul King predicted that the world would be destroyed sooner or later if left unchecked. Therefore, he divided the world into Three Realms: the living live in the Human World, souls live in the Soul Society, and Hollows live in Hueco Mundo.

Even so, they still couldn't completely get rid of the problem of the Void devouring souls.

At the same time, the void is also formed from the soul, and the void itself is a spiritual body. This means that if the void is completely eradicated, the world will still collapse more rapidly.

This is an unsolvable problem.

Furthermore, in the Four Great Noble Clans arc, Kisuke Urahara himself admitted that Hollows were born earlier than Soul King, and that one does not need the Hollow Power to become Soul King Substitute; all that is needed is to gather the power of a Shinigami and Quincy. Ideally, one should possess a fragment of Soul King within their body, which is what those Fullbringer lead extremely miserable lives do.

This Hollowfication serves as a wake-up call for Yamabuki Chidori.

The ability to control emptiness is not so easy.

Of course, if he hadn't successfully Hollowfication this time, he might have already been killed by those Quincy.

As expected, Reiatsu theory was utterly crushed in the face of rule-based abilities.

If we're just talking about Reiatsu, Yamabuki Chidori is miles ahead of Justin, but the fact that his ability can ignore all rules and directly affect his body is simply outrageous!

"I've already asked the Captain Commander for leave. I'll spend the next period of time figuring out the Hollow Power, until I completely master it," Yamabuki Chidori said.

Although he could use the Hollow Power before, it was ultimately only superficial; this time it was different.

After this Hollowfication, he could clearly feel that his Reiatsu had become turbid; in short, he was no longer pure.

Back when he frequented online forums, he saw netizens making comparisons between Shinigami Quincy, and Hollows, and clearly, among these three types of beings, Hollows possessed the highest talent.

His abilities are all exceptionally outstanding.

It possesses the Cero for ranged attacks, a body stronger than a human, the Sound Steps for Spatial Movement, Super Regeneration, and Hard Skin!

With so many terrifying talents, yet a thousand years later, Hueco Mundo Hueco Mundo a bunch of worthless scoundrels.

There were only a handful of capable individuals, and in the end, during the Thousand-Year Blood War Quincy launched a massive invasion of Hueco Mundo, yet only Tier Harribel stood up to resist in the vast Hueco Mundo.

It's fair to say they played a winning hand terribly.

This Hollowfication tells Yamabuki Chidori that the Hollow's potential is far greater than this. If he can make good use of this power, he will have another trump card in the Blood War six months later.

Unohana nodded. "In that case, I'll definitely stand by your side. Go ahead and do it without worry. If you lose control, I'll cut you down like I did last time."

Um... that's not necessary!

Chapter 198: The Hollow Spirit

The techniques of Soul Reaper Hollowfication and Hollow Soul Reaperization of Hollows were rendered obsolete before the Hogyoku was created, as these two powers were inherently incompatible and no one had imagined that they could be fused together.

Compared to Shinigami and Quincy, the Hollow Power is more uncontrollable, and Yamabuki Chidori's Hollowfication in Hueco Mundo perfectly illustrates this point.

After regaining consciousness, he had completely lost his memory of that time, only vaguely hearing someone say that they wanted to wear Black Silk Stockings for him to see, but he didn't know if it was Unohana.

Seeing Unohana carrying a knife, Yamabuki Chidori didn't dare to go over to verify, pretending she hadn't heard those words.

One of the most classic scenes from the anime I watched was when White Ichigo and Ichigo discussed the "King and Horse" issue.

White Ichigo compared himself to the king's horse, but if this power gets out of control, who knows if the horse under the king will wear a crown and become the new king.

Although the Hollow Power is uncontrollable, it is still one's own power. In other words, the vessel of this power is hidden in one's own Inner World, but one has never discovered it.

Moreover, whenever their lives are threatened, the Hollow Power to save their lives; their self-healing abilities are far superior to those of Shinigami and Quincy.

"I will enter the Inner World in a moment. If my body undergoes any changes, wake me up immediately." Yamabuki Chidori arrived at the training ground below, sat down by the hot spring, gently closed his eyes, and called out to his Blade Spirit. His communication with his Zanpakuto had always been smooth, and he was pulled into the Inner World by his Blade Spirit in a second.

However, when Yamabuki Chidori entered her own Inner World, she discovered that the situation was more serious than she had imagined.

He still remembered what the Inner World Inner World looked like when he first entered it. It was a pure white world with a giant Rubik's Cube's Cube floating in mid-air, representing the power of this space. After he learned Bankai, the originally pure white world became a red and white dichotomy.

Half the sky was pure white, and the other half was pure red.

But now... why has my Inner World turned rainbow-colored? Did I eat a rainbow? Or will I be able to vomit rainbows like some mentally challenged goddess when I'm drunk in the future?

But even the colors of a rainbow are different from the pure colors seen after rain; the colors in one's own Inner World appear more murky and filthy.

Just like how both are white, Origami Tobiichi Tobiichi's white is an old man's white, Accelerator's white is a murky and distorted white.

Yamabuki Chidori felt that the colors in her Inner World were more like they had been tainted by the legendary Color Out of Space, making people feel intensely uncomfortable just looking at them.

"Little Red, Little White, where have you two run off to play? You didn't even know your house was robbed? Are you there? If you are, say something." Yamabuki Chidori shouted at the eerie, distorted space, but the two Blade Spirit that were always guarding this place were nowhere to be seen.

"No need to shout. They can't hear you." A childish voice appeared behind Yamabuki Chidori. Yamabuki Chidori turned around stiffly and saw a little girl standing behind her.

Her slightly pale skin was paired with a pure black gothic-style long dress, her white hair covered half of her face, and she held a strange Pumpkin Lantern in her hands, with the one eye that was exposed staring straight at her.

Black Gothic Lolita? Why is this kind of lolita in my Inner World? It's amazing! Ahem, I definitely didn't have any dirty thoughts deep down. I like gentle and considerate older sisters, definitely not this kind of little loli. I, Yamabuki Chidori, am definitely not a lolita fan.

"Little sister, what are you doing here? Are you lost? How about I take you home?" Yamabuki Chidori asked with a smile, her hand already gripping the hilt of her Zanpakuto. Something was definitely amiss; this little girl's sudden appearance here was definitely suspicious. Could this be the Hollow Power within her?

This is so cute!

If all fakes are like this, I'd be willing to support a whole football team of fakes.

"I am you, and you are me. This is my home, and my existence was agreed upon by Xiaobai and Xiaohong." The loli said in her clear and elegant voice, "You can call me Void Spirit, which represents the ethereal part of your soul. When you were on the verge of death, Xiaohong and Xiaobai handed over control of your body to me. Only I could save you then. It was a decision made by the four of us."

Yamabuki Chidori couldn't figure out what this little girl was up to, so she could only watch her movements warily.

"Don't be afraid, I know what you're thinking. Don't forget, I can hear your thoughts here," the little girl said calmly.

"Then... little sister, how can I completely control you? Do we have to fight?" Yamabuki Chidori realized that she had awakened her powers through fighting in the past.

Little Red Hong and Little White are the same; I don't know why they both like fighting so much.

"No, I'm not like those two stupid women who've grown muscles in their brains. I prefer to solve problems with reason," the Hollow Spirit said.

Yamabuki Chidori's expression was strange. Hollows have always been seen as symbols of cruelty and terror, but this little girl who represents the Hollow Power was now saying that she wanted to solve problems with reason.

This doesn't align with my own understanding.

"Do you know how the ethereal is created?" The Hollow Spirit walked over step by step, carrying Pumpkin Lantern.

Yamabuki Chidori certainly knew that negative emotions in the soul, when they reach a certain level, will affect the soul and lead to its degeneration into emptiness.

"So, I am your negative emotions, and your task is to find ways to make me happy. I am a part of your soul, not an illusion. If you want to see the Hollow Power, I can show you this child." The Hollow Spirit raised the Pumpkin Lantern in its hand, and in the light of the Pumpkin Lantern, a huge, eerie figure appeared behind the Hollow Spirit.

It was a gigantic creature, entirely pale white, resembling a rotting Tyrannosaurus Rex with its bones intact. However, it was hundreds of meters long and exuded a sinister Reiatsu. At this moment, it was coldly staring at Yamabuki Chidori with its eyeless sockets.

The source of the bizarre scenes in the Inner World is this Tyrannosaurus Rex Hollow.

"Everyone experiences negative emotions. You're no exception, but you're better at controlling them than most people. However, in the moments before your body dies, this control completely collapses, causing the Hollow Power to erupt. To fully control this power, do more things that make you happy. All the unhappy things you encounter, all the unhappy emotions you experience, I will ultimately bear. Alright, what's the thing you want to do most now?" the Hollow Spirit asked.

After a long silence, Yamabuki Chidori cautiously said, "Wear Black Silk Stockings and step on me!"

"Go to hell!!!"