"That voice…"
"Grimmjow!!!"
"Crap… so in the future, the Espada really do invade the human world?!"
Even though the image on the screen
had not fully formed yet,
Grimmjow's voice alone was enough to make Hueco Mundo explode into an uproar!
Even the expression on the figure seated upon the throne,
Aizen,
subtly changed because of it.
"This part of the footage…"
"Should be happening after we've already descended upon Hueco Mundo, right?"
"Is this because of an order I give? Or is it… that Grimmjow invaded the human world on his own without permission?"
With Aizen's temperament,
he naturally disdained nitpicking over blame.
However,
the meaning behind each possibility was completely different.
If it was an unauthorized invasion of the human world, then that would mean…
Grimmjow's actions were out of control!
And once that happened, anything could happen next!
For all they knew, literally anything could happen!
The Hollow power sleeping inside Kurosaki Ichigo's body
would also be further awakened by that battle!!!
"Captain Aizen…"
"Do you think there's a chance Kurosaki Ichigo will go to Hirako Shinji and the others in order to master his Hollowfication?"
As the person in this world
who understood Aizen the best,
Gin Ichimaru immediately guessed the line of thought behind Aizen's speculation.
"Exactly…"
Aizen nodded, expression unreadable.
"In the middle of a battle, his personality gets replaced,
his body is forcibly taken over…"
"Anyone who goes through something like that is bound to be traumatized. Kurosaki Ichigo will be no exception…"
Aizen spoke in an absolutely certain tone.
From Kurosaki Ichigo's point of view,
after he rescues Kuchiki Rukia, at that moment in time the thing that troubles him most
will definitely be how to face
Hollow Ichigo—the time bomb lurking inside his body.
Finding a way to deal with that problem
would unquestionably be what troubles Kurosaki Ichigo the most right then!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…"
Gin curled his lips in a fox-like smile.
"So that means… this little invasion of Grimmjow's is very likely going to further help Kurosaki Ichigo master his Hollowfication!"
"His power, and his combat strength, will soon jump up another whole tier…"
Meanwhile,
inside the video—
Grimmjow's figure dropped from the sky.
With a feral grin, hands shoved in his pockets, he bared his teeth in a vicious smile.
"This is bad, Ichigo, fall back!!!"
Feeling Grimmjow's terrifying spiritual pressure washing over her,
Kuchiki Rukia couldn't help blurting out a shout.
However,
the very next second—
"Splurt—!!!"
A blade-like arm pierced straight through her body.
Her shihakushō was savagely torn open,
and Kuchiki Rukia, one-shot at point-blank range, collapsed to the ground coughing blood.
Such a brutal scene
instantly triggered a huge reaction inside Seireitei!
"???"
"Kuchiki Rukia's down again?"
"Is she one of those people who automatically turn into a rookie the second they step into the human world or something?"
"Otherwise… how come she's always the first one to get flattened every single time!"
"I really feel for Captain Kuchiki. He just finished getting wrecked by Hollow Ichigo, and now his little sister immediately gets skewered!"
"The Kuchiki clan really is nothing but a walking power-bank for the Arrancar, huh?"
At this moment,
the Soul Reapers of the Gotei 13 were speechless.
She'd practically turned acting hurt into a full-time profession;
Kuchiki Rukia's acting skills were getting better and better.
The only downside was that it really screwed over Kurosaki Ichigo.
The second he saw a companion go down,
he naturally didn't hesitate—at lightning speed,
he swung "Zangetsu" and charged into battle against Grimmjow!
"Clang—!!!"
And yet,
in the face of that overwhelming difference in spiritual pressure,
even Kurosaki Ichigo's sword strikes couldn't break through Grimmjow's defense at all.
He was knocked back with a bare-handed parry from Grimmjow!
The sight of this
instantly made morale surge throughout Hueco Mundo's Arrancar army!
"Not bad, not bad…"
"Earlier the Soul Reapers were getting steamrolled all the way through the newbie-level Kurosaki Ichigo's run, beaten until they were in total disarray…"
"Grimmjow, up to this point, you're looking pretty dominant…"
Nnoitra laughed excitedly,
rarely taking the initiative to praise his usual rival.
"But remember—don't forget…"
"Don't go poking random holes in Kurosaki Ichigo!"
The dark-skinned Arrancar Zommari spoke up solemnly.
Because the previous set of episodes
had featured Hollow Ichigo's stand-in performance, which was simply too shocking,
the Espada had now,
by tacit agreement, accepted an unwritten rule.
They had already raised Hollow Ichigo's threat level
up to the same tier as Aizen himself!
Put bluntly,
they could let the main character use them for level-grinding,
show their faces a bit and gain some screen time in front of the audience.
But if, heaven forbid, they really tried to kill him,
the show would be over, and all of them would just be handing out experience points to the blade spirit of "Zangetsu No. 2."
That invincible Hollow absolutely would not play around with anyone!!!
However…
this was Grimmjow's first time officially appearing on screen as a true villain.
Right now he was way too hyped up to care about any of that. He brushed it off:
"Tch… spare me the lecture. Just shut up and sit back while I force Kurosaki Ichigo right to the brink of death!"
"Chances like this, where I get to corner Kurosaki Ichigo, only come once in a lifetime!!!"
Grimmjow sneered,
convinced that once the later battle footage was revealed,
from then on,
no matter who he ran into,
even in front of Aizen himself,
he'd be able to straighten his back with pride and brag that he'd once brutalized the little Spirit King!
Tell him that wasn't the best feeling ever!!!
And sure enough—
(after this, the video fast-forwards.)
"Bankai—!!!"
To defeat Grimmjow,
Tensa Zangetsu appears along with his black-tailed coat.
Kurosaki Ichigo swings his Zanpakutō and continues his close-quarters struggle with his opponent.
Only,
because he is constantly distracted,
worrying that Hollow Ichigo could jump out and cause trouble at any moment,
the combat strength Kurosaki Ichigo displays in this fight
is not only lacking in confidence, it's actually far below what he showed on Sōkyoku Hill
against Kuchiki Byakuya!
The result—
is that he keeps getting beaten up,
repeatedly pummeled by Grimmjow's bare fists,
absolutely thrashed three times over.
Only when he finally fires off a glowing red Getsuga Tenshō
does he barely manage to leave a single slash-mark on Grimmjow's body!!!
"Ahhh…"
"So that's it—during Urahara Kisuke's ranking of future battles, those marks on my future self that wouldn't go away…"
"turn out to have come from this moment!"
Inside Las Noches,
Grimmjow's lips curled upward as understanding dawned on him.
Right now,
watching himself on the screen acting so outrageously arrogant, pushing his opponent around,
Grimmjow was thoroughly satisfied!
At the very least, he'd done something none of the Soul Reaper captains had managed to do!
As the first Espada chosen to fight,
he had cranked the difficulty of this new "dungeon" up by a full notch,
giving main character Kurosaki Ichigo no small amount of trouble!
He had perfectly set the bar for all the comrades who would appear after him.
This screen time—
Grimmjow gave himself full marks!!!
Only,
what happened next
instantly sent the viewing atmosphere into an uproar all over again!!!
Because…
"Ichigo…"
"What is it you're hesitating over…"
Hollow Ichigo's voice,
that unique electronic tone, suddenly rang out.
Like a nuclear warhead,
it slammed straight into the hearts of the audience,
making the entire world explode with shock!
"Holy—?!"
"Hollow Ichigo! It's him!!!"
"Having hacks really is great… the Hollow King just logs into the account anytime, anywhere!"
"Last time he completely stomped Kuchiki Byakuya! Grimmjow's about to be in the exact same kind of trouble, right?"
Hollow Ichigo
really did deserve his status as a presence whose charisma
was on par with Aizen's own.
As the blade spirit of "Zangetsu,"
he only had to shout once, and countless viewers exploded with excitement!
They were all eagerly looking forward to what would come next,
hoping this king-like Hollow would once again take over Kurosaki Ichigo's body
and give that endlessly loud-mouthed Grimmjow a proper beating!
"Ya-re ya-re…"
"Didn't see that coming… Hollow Ichigo's popping up this frequently!"
"Don't tell me that later on, during the Thousand-Year Blood War! he's also going to jump out like always and take a swing at Yhwach?"
Gin narrowed his eyes at the screen, suddenly imagining the possibility.
The "old man Zangetsu"
was just a split-off aspect,
clearly co-existing with Hollow Ichigo and both being parts of the Zanpakutō "Zangetsu."
So,
when facing the true King of the Quincy, the future dark Soul King,
the fight scene
would no doubt be even more explosive, shaking the entire Bleach world to its core!
However,
Gin's train of thought
was immediately cut off by Tōsen Kaname:
"Instead of thinking so far ahead, why not focus on what's right in front of us…"
"By the looks of it, Grimmjow is in serious danger next…"
Tōsen spoke in his usual cold tone.
Even though he and Grimmjow had always disliked each other,
as the overall commander of the Arrancar,
and considering everything from Hueco Mundo's perspective,
Tōsen still didn't want to see
three Espada already getting taken out right at the very start of this new arc!
If that happened,
then in comparison,
Hueco Mundo would immediately look far weaker than the Soul Society again!
Only,
these words,
once Grimmjow heard them,
made him, standing at a distance, curl his lips in a cold, disdainful snort:
"Tch…"
"You that eager to see me get taken out?"
"Tōsen Kaname… stop pretending you're worried about Hueco Mundo!"
"You're just trash!!!"
Grimmjow had barely finished cursing
when the footage shifted—the camera swung over to a close-up on Kurosaki Ichigo's face,
allowing the audience
to clearly see
that at the corner of his left eye—where the Hollow mask had previously formed—
his eye
was gradually being swallowed up by black.
This was an obvious sign that Hollowfication was beginning!
At the same time…
Hollow Ichigo's electronic voice rang out again:
"If you're not confident…"
"Then just let me handle it!!!"
Those words
instantly pushed the viewing atmosphere to a climax.
The expectations of the audience
hit their absolute peak at this moment!
"Perfect…"
"Hollow Ichigo taking the reins again isn't a bad thing for me right now…"
"Taking advantage of this opportunity, I can learn and absorb another huge batch of top-tier real-combat experience!"
Even Kurosaki Ichigo himself
had his eyes sparkling by now; he clenched his fists excitedly,
eagerly anticipating
that thanks to the main-character perks, he would soon harvest another experience pack.
Maybe,
this time, he might even pick up one or two Hollow-related skills.
That would be ideal…
You could say
that nearly everyone in the world
had their eyes firmly glued
to Ichigo's eyes on the screen.
They were all waiting
for the remaining part of his eyeball to be completely dyed black.
That moment
would mark Hollow Ichigo's next over-the-top, flashy entrance!!!
However…
just when the tension had built to this thrilling peak,
an unforeseen interruption
suddenly ruined everyone's mood!
"Rip—!!!"
All of a sudden,
the sound of space itself being torn open echoed out,
and the image on the screen spun and shifted rapidly.
It no longer focused on Kurosaki Ichigo,
but instead swung over to the air behind Grimmjow.
There,
a black rift opened—
Tōsen Kaname's dark-skinned figure stepped straight out of it!
"???"
"What the hell?"
"Is that Tōsen Kaname… here as backup from Aizen?"
"A blind guy, not using his life to serve his boss, and instead jumping in here to steal the scene?"
"Well, whatever. If he also joins the fight, that just means together with Aizen it'll be three for three!"
"Gives us even more chance to watch Hollow Ichigo go one-versus-two and slaughter two captain-class powerhouses in his invincible form!!!"
Although the viewing had been suddenly interrupted,
and the audience felt seriously annoyed, venting their frustration like crazy,
almost everyone—
including the Arrancar army in Hueco Mundo—
had the same initial reaction: they subconsciously assumed Tōsen was here to help!
Either that, or
to cooperate with Grimmjow
and drag Kurosaki Ichigo back to Hueco Mundo alive!!!
However,
Tōsen's next lines made it clear this was absolutely not the case.
"Put your blade away, Grimmjow…"
Tōsen spoke in an unmistakably commanding tone.
"?!"
"Tōsen?"
Grimmjow frowned,
completely blindsided that Tōsen would appear at this timing and crash his fun.
"Unauthorized attack on the human world…"
"Unauthorized deployment of five Arrancar…"
"Grimmjow, your actions are in total violation of orders!"
"For this, Lord Aizen…
is extremely angry!!!"
The moment he heard Aizen's name,
Grimmjow's expression changed; the killing intent in his eyes faded, replaced by fear.
In the end,
although he was extremely unwilling,
Grimmjow still obeyed the order. After throwing out a few harsh parting lines,
he followed Tōsen back to Hueco Mundo.
And because of this,
Hollow Ichigo's screen time vanished!
He no longer had any chance to appear!
The audience's emotions,
which had been whipped up so high before,
now rebounded into disappointment several times stronger,
and they couldn't help raging:
"Damn it!"
"Tōsen Kaname, you idiot!"
"Couldn't you have shown up five minutes later?!"
"What we want to see is Hollow Ichigo—White Ichigo's stylish performance! Not you, some random dark-skinned guy!"
The sentiment was unanimous; the comment feeds were filled with curses, echoing late into the night!
Just as Aizen and Urahara Kisuke had long suspected—
in order to find a way to control Hollow Ichigo's power,
Kurosaki Ichigo finally took the initiative to seek them out!
He approached the Visored,
asking them for help, hoping… to learn how to Hollowfy!!!
And when this scene was revealed,
Hirako Shinji and the others rushed over, instantly overjoyed!
"Looks like…"
"This old lady didn't guess wrong, huh!"
"Hmph, ha… I told you he'd come looking for us sooner or later!!"
"As expected of the one who became our comrade from the very day he was born!"
"With the main-character halo on our side, our Visored Corps is about to make the greatest comeback ever!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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