"How about it, Ichigo?"
Shinji attacked Ichigo while saying, "With my current attack speed, you are struggling very hard to dodge."
"If I truly attack with the intent to kill, you will be instantly killed!"
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
As if to prove his words, Shinji slightly increased his attack speed.
As a result, when Ichigo dodged, he could not transform his thoughts in time to evade. One wound after another began to appear on Ichigo's body.
"Ichigo-nii!"
Seeing this, Karin's heart tightened.
Beside her, Yuzu could not see Ichigo fighting Shinji, but from Karin's expression, she could tell the current battle seemed unfavorable for her brother.
Immediately, Yuzu could only tightly grab Karin's clothes, her eyes scanning ahead, trying to catch sight of Ichigo.
Boom!
Suddenly, powerful Reiatsu erupted from Ichigo's body. The storm formed by this Reiatsu directly blasted Shinji away.
'Finally could not hold back and Hollowfied?'
Seeing this, Shinji was overjoyed in his heart, placing his left hand in front of his forehead.
Simultaneously, Shinji's mood became much graver than before.
Without Hollowfication, Ichigo already possessed Reiatsu comparable to Yamamoto.
After Hollowfication, to what level would Ichigo's strength reach?
However, to Shinji's surprise, after the Reiatsu dissipated, he did not sense the slightest trace of Hollow Reiatsu from Ichigo.
"How is this possible?"
Shinji could not help but exclaim.
"Ichigo, your body definitely has Hollow Reiatsu."
"Logically, after using power of this level, you should already be facing the threat of the Hollow within."
"Why has the Hollow inside you not started devouring your mind yet?"
"Ah, that is also what I want to ask."
Ichigo looked up at Shinji.
"Hirako, why do you think the Hollow inside me must devour me?"
Shinji was stunned. "Ichigo, what kind of joke are you making?"
"Hollows only have the instinct to devour. Having Hollow Reiatsu inside your body, this Reiatsu's instinct will completely devour your soul, turning you into its nourishment!"
"Are you saying there are Hollows in this world that do not devour souls?"
"That is right."
Ichigo nodded and said seriously, "Hirako, Hollows are formed from souls with holes that have fallen."
"To fill the holes in their souls, they devour souls."
"But if, I mean if, the hole in a Hollow's heart is filled, is it still a Hollow?"
"Huh?"
Shinji was stunned.
'The hole in a Hollow's heart can be filled?'
'What kind of joke is this?'
"Hey, Kurosaki Ichigo, are you serious?"
"Hollows not only devour human souls, they also devour each other to achieve the goal of evolving themselves."
"But even after evolving to the peak of Hollows, the Vasto Lorde-level Menos Grande, their hearts can not possibly be filled."
"The Hollow holes on their bodies are proof of the emptiness in their hearts."
"That is right."
"But what if I say the Hollow inside me, its heart has already been filled, and there is no Hollow hole on its body?"
Shinji shook his head vigorously.
"Impossible!"
Ichigo extended his left hand and pressed it against his heart.
"The Hollow inside me comes from my mother."
"When Mom was pregnant with me, she unreservedly gave all her love to me."
"So, the hole in the heart of the Hollow inside me has already been filled with Mom's love."
"After losing Mom, it has been protecting me in Mom's place all along."
"So, how could it possibly devour me?"
Clang-
Hearing Ichigo's words, Isshin was so shocked that the Zanpakuto at his waist fell to the ground.
He never expected that the Hollow he sealed inside his wife over a decade ago would ultimately become the one protecting Ichigo in his wife's place.
Then what does he, the legitimate father, count as?
"How is this possible?!"
Yes, how is this possible?
Ichigo's words directly shocked all the Shinigami present.
"I know, saying this, you all probably do not believe it much."
"Then, let me show you the power they gave me!"
"They?"
Shinji and the others accurately caught the information contained in Ichigo's words.
Then, under everyone's gaze, Ichigo gripped the hilt of the two-handed sword with both hands.
"Zangetsu-"
Boom!
Black Reiatsu erupted from Ichigo's body, shooting straight into the sky.
Even with the barrier set up by Hachigen, under this Reiatsu impact from Ichigo, cracks began to appear one after another.
"Not good!"
Seeing this, Hachigen immediately clasped his hands and began chanting Kido incantations.
"Brethren-in-arms withdrawing for the distance of 8 sun and standing still..."
"Blue bolt, white bolt, black bolt, red bolt; sinking into the ocean together seeking redemption..."
"Gate of the Dragon's Tail!"
With Hachigen's shout, numerous pillars of Reishi appeared, condensing into a shield-like wall that appeared in front of Ichigo.
"Gate of the Tiger's Bite!"
A gear-like gate tore through space and appeared on Ichigo's left.
"Gate of the Turtle's Armor!"
On Ichigo's right, a large number of hexagonal Reishi Shields combined to form a hexagonal gate, connecting with the Gate of the Dragon's Tail and the Gate of the Tiger's Bite, forming a 'U'-shaped gate surrounding Ichigo.
"Gate of the Bird's Wings!"
Giant blades connected to numerous long spiritual energy sluice gates, like enormous double wings, sealed Ichigo's rear, completing the final gate.
Finally, the Reiatsu of the four gates transformed into an oil-paper umbrella shape, sealing the top, directly completely sealing Ichigo within this Kido barrier.
[Four-Beast Blockade Gate] was a sealing Kido created by Hachigen himself.
The strength of this barrier was such that even the 2nd Division's Captain, Sui-Feng's Bankai, [Jakuho Raikoben], could not destroy it.
However, under Ichigo's Reiatsu, this barrier was almost burst by the Reiatsu when Ichigo released his Zanpakuto.
"Such powerful Reiatsu!"
Hachigen sucked in a cold breath.
No one present felt it more deeply than him.
After all, the others' perceptions were blocked by his Four-Beast Blockade Gate.
Boom-
Before Hachigen could dispel the Four-Beast Blockade Gate, an even stronger shockwave directly blasted the Four-Beast Blockade Gate apart, allowing Ichigo's figure to appear before everyone again.
As the dust settled, Shinji and the others looked at Ichigo.
They saw that the two-handed sword in Ichigo's hands had now become two Zanpakuto, one long and one short, held in Ichigo's hands.
"Hirako, I have to admit, your Zanpakuto's ability is very strong."
"But it is not without weaknesses."
Saying this, Ichigo raised the Zanpakuto in his hands and drew a circle around himself, one in front and one behind.
As Ichigo swung his Zanpakuto, he left a golden ring of light around himself.
When the rings of light drawn by Ichigo's two Zangetsu connected end to end, they suddenly erupted outward-
Boom-
A powerful shockwave spread. Shinji had no resistance whatsoever and was directly severely injured by this move from Ichigo.
"Pfft-"
Falling to the ground, Shinji spat a mouthful of blood.
"How is this possible?"
Today, it seemed Shinji would only say these four words.
Compared to a Hollow whose heart was filled, the fact that the weakness of his Zanpakuto's ability was broken by Ichigo was what Shinji could not accept.
All along, Shinji had been very confident in his Zanpakuto's ability.
Whether one-on-one or one-against-many, Shinji believed his Zanpakuto's ability was the strongest.
One-on-one, his Shikai could achieve a 'first-encounter kill'.
One-against-many, Sakanade could alter the perception of enemies and allies, making enemies kill each other. Shinji only needed to wait until they fought until only one remained and then finish them off to achieve victory.
But today, his confidence was shattered.
His Shikai was directly broken in a one-on-one by an all-directional, no-dead-angle attack.
So what if attacks were reversed?
The other guy directly used a map-wide attack. As long as Shinji was within the attack range, he would be hit.
"Ichigo, although you have shown powerful strength, the stronger you are, the greater the danger once you are devoured by a Hollow."
Kensei glanced at Shinji and said solemnly to Ichigo in the sky, "What you said earlier about a Hollow with a filled heart and no Hollow hole on its body is, after all, only your one-sided statement."
"We cannot just relax our vigilance towards you because of these things you mentioned that we have never seen."
"After all, we all experienced that kind of fear and helplessness back then. We sincerely hope you can prove to us that the Hollow inside you is harmless to you."
"Can not the two Zanpakuto in my hands prove it?"
Ichigo slowly descended from the sky and raised the Zanpakuto in his hands.
"As you can see, the two Zanpakuto in my hands now, one is the previous Zangetsu."
"The other is the Zanpakuto formed from the power of the Hollow inside me."
"Its name is also Zangetsu!"
"A Hollow actually became a Shinigami's Zanpakuto?"
Hearing Ichigo say this, the Visored members looked at each other, not understanding what was going on.
They simply could not tell whether what Ichigo said was true or false.
"So that is how it is."
At this moment, Kisuke finally nodded with understanding.
Hearing Kisuke say this, the Shinigami present all turned their gazes towards him.
Although they might have some complaints about Kisuke's actions, they still highly recognized his intelligence.
If Kisuke explained, they should probably be able to understand.
"Everyone knows, a Shinigami's Zanpakuto is not the Shinigami's weapon from the beginning."
"The predecessor of the Zanpakuto, the Asauchi, is forged by a person named Nimaiya Oetsu. This person is also called the [God of Sword]."
"But everyone might not know that the material used to forge Asauchi is actually also souls."
"Nimaiya Oetsu collects Hollow Reiatsu and Shinigami Reiatsu scattered around the world, using special techniques to forge them into Asauchi."
"Shinigami can use their own souls to utilize the spirits within the Asauchi, merging the spirits within the Asauchi with their own souls to obtain various abilities."
"Ichigo's situation is similar to Nimaiya Oetsu forging Zanpakuto."
"The difference is that Nimaiya Oetsu needs to forge the Reishi of Hollows or Shinigami through a series of forging methods to create them into Asauchi."
"While the Hollow inside Ichigo actively forged itself into Ichigo's Zanpakuto, letting Ichigo use its power."
"This way, the Hollow that has already become a Zanpakuto indeed can not cause any harm to Ichigo."
Hearing this, although unwilling, Shinji and the other Visored Shinigami had no choice but to give up on the idea of absorbing Ichigo into the Visored.
After all, if the Hollow inside Ichigo has indeed become his Zanpakuto, then does Ichigo still need to learn Hollowfication?
To this day, there has not been a single precedent of a Shinigami being harmed by their own Zanpakuto.
Even that Shinigami named Baishin hundreds of years ago was only sealed because he merged himself with his Zanpakuto and could not resist the devouring instinct of the Hollow that was the Zanpakuto's prototype.
If his Asauchi had been forged from Shinigami Reiatsu, perhaps Baishin would have become the founder of a new school in the Seireitei.
The method of merging with a Zanpakuto is not something only Shinigami who have achieved Bankai can nurture.
Moreover, after merging with the Zanpakuto, Baishin did indeed obtain even more powerful strength.
This is a better way to increase Shinigami's strength.
Unfortunately, unless it is someone like Ichibe'e, who can know the names of all existences in the world, no one can distinguish which of the Zanpakuto forged by Nimaiya can merge with Shinigami without problems, and which, after merging with a Shinigami, will gradually cause the Shinigami to be devoured by the Hollow's instinct...
Ichibe'e Hyosube is a figure from the same era as the Soul King.
His name and abilities were bestowed by the Soul King.
Therefore, the meaning of his existence is to protect the Soul King.
He is not interested in other matters.
"I knew Ichigo-nii would be fine."
Karin also breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
'It seemed Ichigo-nii did not lie to me.'
"Ichigo, earlier you said one of your two Zanpakuto is condensed from the power of the Hollow inside you. Then what about the other one? Is it Shinigami power?"
"No."
Ichigo shook his head.
"The Shinigami power inside me and the Hollow power are completely fused together, which is this Zanpakuto."
After raising the short sword in his hand to show it, Ichigo raised the long sword in his right hand.
"The power of my other Zanpakuto comes from my mother's Quincy power!"