"So… shall we begin?"
Ren spoke in a quiet voice as he stepped into his mansion and stood at the center of the wide hall, his eyes slowly shifting between the three faces waiting for him.
Xenovia stood firmly, carrying herself with the composure befitting a former knight, while Yuuma tried to hide her nervousness behind a faint smile. Mahiru remained silent, her hands clasped together in front of her as if trying to brace herself for what was about to happen.
As for Irina… she was absent.
In the end, she refused to join. She simply couldn't turn her back on the fact that her parents had served the Church their entire lives. Switching factions wasn't something she could do so easily—unlike Xenovia, who had always followed her heart more than her duty.
Ren exhaled slowly, then reached toward a small table beside him.
He took out three pristine white chess pieces, their surfaces glimmering beneath the chandeliers: a Knight… and two Pawns.
He lifted the Knight first, staring at it for a moment before turning his gaze toward Xenovia.
It was obvious… this piece had always been meant for her.
Then he placed the two Pawns before Yuuma and Mahiru, offering a small smile that conveyed confidence more than anything else.
"This will be your beginning," he said in a steady tone, "the first step on the new path you've chosen to walk."
Ren had made up his mind long ago—carefully deciding which race each of the girls would be embodied as. The choice wasn't random; it was the result of long thought, balancing their personalities and hidden potential.
For Xenovia, he saw raw strength and an unbending will. That was why he intended to make her a Visored. It was the race most suited to her—half Shinigami, half Hollow—balancing controlled power with hidden chaos… just like her.
Yuuma, however, was different. Her flowing spiritual energy, endurance, and talent for ranged combat made the choice unmistakable: a Quincy. Ren felt that her natural abilities would flourish under that race, as if she had been born for it.
Then there was Mahiru… the quiet, shy girl who carried something dark inside her, something that rarely surfaced.
Ren chose to turn her into a Hollow. Not out of cruelty, but because she alone possessed that inner emptiness, that faint spark of suppressed power that only awakens when pushed to the edge of breaking. He knew this embodiment would stir the strength she always tried to bury.
And so… with every decision he made, he carved a new path for them—one different from their pasts, yet deeply connected to what he saw in the depths of their souls rather than at their surfaces.
With the help of the Hōgyoku, Ren planned to push Mahiru even further than a mere Hollow. That initial form was never enough; the raw power of a Hollow—dangerous as it was—remained incomplete and unstable.
That was why he intended to evolve her into an Arrancar—to grant her a balanced blend of rational strength and the savagery lurking within.
Unlike the Visored, who were Shinigami that gained Hollow powers, the Arrancar were Hollows that gained Shinigami powers… and that difference meant everything to Ren, especially concerning Mahiru.
She always hid her true self behind quiet smiles and hesitant words.
And so, a transformation from the inside out—from a dark Hollow core refined by Shinigami power—was the most fitting for a girl who feared showing her true self but carried a strength deep inside her, waiting only for someone who could set it free.
In this way, Ren wasn't just granting her power… he was giving her a new identity she could finally accept.
There had been another option for Mahiru—to become a Fullbringer. But the requirements to refine that power were extremely complicated and troublesome.
Even Ren himself hadn't approached that power yet, fully aware of how much training and concentration it demanded, along with the mental and physical risks it involved.
And for Mahiru—at her core still an ordinary human—it was nearly impossible to refine that power successfully.
It wasn't just about controlling energy; it required immense self-awareness and mastery over internal emotions, something Mahiru barely possessed in her daily life.
Thus, even before her evolution began, it became clear that the Fullbringer path was out of the question. The most suitable choice for her was to become a Hollow, and then an Arrancar through the Hōgyoku—the path that would grant her strength without erasing her human essence entirely.
And with that, the white chess pieces drifted toward the three girls as if their own spirits guided them. Each piece sank into the unconscious girl's body, surrounding her with a soft silver glow—gentle, yet brimming with power.
As the light flowed through their bodies, hidden and fundamental transformations began to form, following the nature of the races Ren had chosen:
Xenovia's body rippled with the power of a Visored—between disciplined strength and the hidden chaos of a dark mask.
Yuuma's body trembled softly with Quincy energy, as if her spirit were bleeding into a pure spiritual radiance.
Meanwhile, Mahiru's body seemed to awaken with a dark emptiness glowing within, slowly molding itself into a Hollow—bearing hints of the strange Hōgyoku energy preparing her for a future Arrancar form.
Every touch of light was a rebirth, and nothing in their world was the same as it had been a moment before.
Ren stood calmly, the Hōgyoku embedded in his chest shimmering with a radiant glow that reflected across the hall like a faint, powerful aura. He controlled its energy with extreme precision, guiding its power to stabilize the girls' transformations—keeping everything gentle, preventing chaos.
In a low, confident whisper weighted with undeniable power, he murmured:
"Bakudō #∞. Mugen Kusari."
The tip of his finger glowed with a transparent light—barely visible, yet overflowing with crushing reiatsu capable of suppressing any burst of energy.
Suddenly, invisible chains materialized around the bodies of the girls in mid-transformation, lightly wrapping around their arms, legs, and sides.
These chains acted like gentle yet firm restraints—a tool Ren used to ensure nothing spiraled out of control, especially with Mahiru and Xenovia, whose bodies were beginning to show traces of strange white material forming and coiling around them due to the violent energy shifts.
Every chain, every touch of the Hōgyoku, every glimmer of light was a precise balance between power and control—between creation and chaos—turning the scene into a majestic dance of energy between birth and destruction.
...
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