Yoruichi's pupils reflected the chaotic battlefield, or more accurately, one Uchiha face after another being covered by grayish-white bone.
She watched the Uchiha Clan Members perform the same ritual in succession—spiritual pressure fluctuating violently, grayish-white matter instantly wrapping around their heads, condensing into various hideous masks, and then shattering to reveal faces covered by deathly pale masks underneath.
It was complete; another Hollowfied State.
At first, this sight felt like a heavy hammer striking her heart.
The threat level soared with every newly appeared Hollowfied combatant.
Shock hit her nerves like wave after wave of cold tide.
But after more than a dozen consecutive instances, that tide began to freeze and solidify.
A sense of numbness gradually crept into her limbs and bones, saturating her gaze.
Quantity dissolved the miracle; the repeated scenes even took on a sense of absurd repetition.
Several top-tier Uchiha experts she knew had completed Hollowfication? That was expected; or rather, this situation itself should have been prepared for them.
But why?
Why were those following behind—the nobodies, the so-called "extras" whose full names might not even be known within the clan—also steadily completing this process one by one?
Was Hollowfication... such a simple thing?
Yoruichi's mind recalled the captains who had been Hollowfied by Aizen.
That was a distortion and tearing deep within the soul, a slim chance of survival that could only be grasped in a tragic, humanity-eroding trial of life and death.
Gambling with one's life, repeatedly tearing at one's own will at the edge of the abyss, eventually either gaining forbidden power or completely degenerating into a Hollow.
Behind every successful case were cruel tests of blood and tears, will and despair.
But this in front of her... what was this? Batch processing? Or did Hiroki open a Hollowfication assembly line?
Is this a cheat?!
Almost subconsciously, this word popped out.
Of course it was a cheat.
He had spent a full 10,000 points to commission the "System" to thoroughly optimize and configure Aizen Sōsuke's formula.
Who knew how many sinister traps and backdoors were buried in Aizen Sōsuke's things?
Hiroki was clearly afraid of this as well, so he would rather pay a huge price to have the system perform a "disinfection" and upgrade.
Even so, these 10,000 points were much cheaper than directly purchasing a finished Hollowfication ability from the system mall.
Looking around the battlefield now, seeing those Uchiha Hollowfied Warriors dressed in uniforms resembling the Onmitsukidō and moving with its cold, hard, and swift style, the last remaining doubts in Yoruichi's heart completely vanished.
This could never be a hidden trump card left by her father, Shihōin Kiyomasa!
Those outfits and combat styles were indeed one of the reasons she had been skeptical initially.
But now, coldly observing the explosion of power from these people, their terrifying combat literacy had increased geometrically after Hollowfication.
What kind of man was her father?
If he really had such an elite force hidden under his command, even if they were once a shadow-like Onmitsukidō reserve unit, her father would have definitely used them at a critical moment; he would never have let them remain hidden in obscurity until now, only for Hiroki to use them as a trump card!
Therefore, there was only one truth: these guys were all trained by that bastard Shihōin Hiroki himself—his private army!
She stared at Hiroki, who was commanding with composure and deep spiritual pressure amidst the crowd, her teeth itching: where on earth did this guy find such a freakish Uchiha Clan and train them like this without anyone knowing?
Now, the number of Uchiha elites possessing the Three-Tomoe Sharingan had reached a staggering fifty-plus.
Hiroki planned to have every single one of these fifty-plus Uchiha elites who had awakened the Three-Tomoe complete their Hollowfication!
However, the boost from Hollowfication was only so-so.
In Hiroki's system scan:
Uchiha Itachi (Second Class Spiritual Pressure · Hollowfied State)
Uchiha Fugaku (Second Class Spiritual Pressure · Hollowfied State)
Fugaku is quite impressive.
Uchiha Shisui (Third-Class Spiritual Pressure · Hollowfied State)
Tch, truly useless.
Uchiha Izumi, Yashiro, Inabi, Tekka (Third-Class Spiritual Pressure · Hollowfied State)
One can see here that the Uchiha main lineage's bloodline is truly powerful.
Setting Itachi aside, I didn't expect Fugaku to also reach Second Class in one go.
Plus their family's Second Pillar, tsk tsk, this bloodline.
As the last Uchiha Clan member participating in this experiment was wrapped in grayish-white matter with the help of his companions, successfully putting on the deathly pale mask symbolizing Hollowfication.
Yoruichi's gaze subconsciously bypassed them and looked toward the green figure at the edge of the battlefield.
Alright, the Uchiha Hollowfication corps is complete.
Next, it's time for... the Arrancar Nelliel!
The cold touch of metal pierced through the fog of consciousness, and Nelliel slowly opened her eyes.
What met her eyes was a soft but unnatural light source—like bands of light condensed from moonlight, evenly sprinkled on the pure white dome filled with precise geometric lines.
The air was filled with a mixture of disinfectant and some indescribable reishi polymer; it wasn't pungent, but it definitely didn't belong to the winds of Hueco Mundo she was familiar with, which carried sand and blood.
"Ugh..." An unconscious grunt escaped her throat as she tried to turn her neck, but her body felt unusually heavy, as if bound to the bed by invisible threads.
Where is this?
Fragments of her last memories came flooding back: the boundless sea of white sand in Hueco Mundo, an unexpected encounter, the swift shadow-like assault of powerful Uchiha Ninja, the bizarre eye power she couldn't break free from... She, a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, had actually been captured!
"Hmm?"
A slightly raspy male voice, tinged with a bit of laziness and playfulness, sounded beside her.
Nelliel turned her head with difficulty, her vision focusing.
Standing not far away was a man wearing a white haori with black patterns and a magnificent family crest.
His dark brown hair was somewhat messy, a faint, half-smiling curve hung at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were bright and sharp, as if they could see into the depths of one's heart.
Even from a distance, Nelliel could feel the surging and profound spiritual pressure contained within him, like undercurrents beneath a calm sea surface.
He was casually playing with an irregular crystal that shimmered with a bizarre ghostly blue light—the Hōgyoku, an ominous object created by Urahara Kisuke and delivered to him by Yoruichi not long ago.
Hiroki looked at the somewhat dazed Nelliel lying on the special Spirit-Restraining Alloy Operating Table, and the curve of his mouth deepened slightly.
He deliberately used a clinical, even somewhat surgeon-like tone of announcing good news, articulating clearly:
"You're awake? The surgery was a success; you're a cute girl now."
"..." The air seemed to freeze for three seconds.
Nelliel's emerald eyes blinked blankly at first, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
A... girl? Wasn't... wasn't she one already?
What kind of successful surgery was this?
She tilted her head in confusion; this abrupt information made her already muddled thoughts short-circuit even more.
She subconsciously wanted to check her body, her consciousness sinking inward... "Ah?" Finally, a short and uncomprehending syllable escaped her mouth, her face full of a giant question mark.
She tried to understand the intent of those words; did it mean her soul form had been changed?
But it didn't feel like it?
Hiroki seemed to "realize" only then. He let out a soft "oh," showing no embarrassment for having said the wrong thing; instead, it was more like the mischievousness of a successful prank.
He shrugged and corrected himself in a relaxed tone: "My mistake... just a joke to lighten the mood."
"..." Nelliel was completely speechless.
The man who captured her seemed to have thoughts more erratic and unpredictable than the spatial rifts in Hueco Mundo.
Joking in this environment? A sense of grievance and helplessness at being toyed with welled up inside her.
However, with his interruption, the immense panic and hostility she felt upon waking were diluted quite a bit.
She took a deep breath, tried to calm her mind, and began to seriously sense her own state.
Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
First was the lying position.
She found she wasn't lying on her side, but... completely flat on her back.
That in itself was nothing, but the problem was—where was her massive lower body, the gazelle-like Hollow body covered in hard bone armor? Where was that heavy, power-filled sense of presence?
She realized with horror that the feeling was completely wrong!
That powerful lower half of her Hollow body, which made up the majority of her mass... was gone?!
A strong sense of dissonance swept through her entire body.
She tried to use her consciousness to sense that part of her body, but the feedback she got was empty.
A terrifying hypothesis rose in her heart: could that "girl" comment not have been a pure joke?
That surgery... what exactly did it do to her? Divided her body? Stripped away her Hollow Core?
Nelliel's face instantly turned pale, and cold sweat almost broke out.
Great power was the foundation of her existence, the key to her survival in the cruel Hueco Mundo, and the basis for her attempt to find a path to peace.
Without power, everything would vanish like bubbles!
Hiroki had been observing her reaction, from the initial incomprehension to the grievance of being teased, and now to the immense panic rising from sensing the abnormality.
When he saw genuine fear beginning to pool in Nelliel's eyes, he finally withdrew his overly playful expression and asked in a slightly more serious tone:
"How do you feel?"
Nelliel couldn't care less about the other person's attitude anymore; she immediately sank her entire mind into self-detection.
Once, twice... she carefully sensed every single change in her body.
The spiritual pressure core... that thick sense of power belonging to a Vasto Lorde was still there!
The position of the Hollow hole... below the collarbone, normal.
The gazelle Hollow mask... still on her face!
But... that powerful horse-like lower body, which served as a major carrier and releaser of her power... it indeed felt different!
It was no longer that heavy, massive, wild sense of physical presence; instead... it had become more condensed, more restrained, as if compressed and reshaped.
She moved tentatively... hmm? Her "leg"? No, it felt more like two legs!
Slender, human-shaped legs!
She could feel the presence of toes!
"It feels..." Nelliel spoke hesitantly, with great confusion and a hint of relief at having survived,
"...actually... not bad?"
At least the power core was still there, and her spiritual pressure hadn't been weakened much; only her form had been forcibly changed?
She tried to release a sliver of spiritual pressure, and a sense of oppression far exceeding an ordinary Arrancar spread out, proving that her essence as a Vasto Lorde had not changed.
This made her breathe a small sigh of relief.
Hiroki nodded in satisfaction, as if her answer was within his expectations.
"Good, then." He tossed the Hōgyoku in his hand, turned his gaze toward this ghostly blue gem, frowned slightly, and began to complain as if talking to himself:
"But... is there something wrong with this Hōgyoku?" He leaned in to look closely, his finger rubbing the uneven surface of the crystal,
"Urahara Kisuke's unfinished product, its effect is so... crude? It just reshaped the form directly? There was no refined guidance process at all, relying purely on Nelliel's own subconscious 'desire for a human form' to drive it?"
He recalled the energy storm displayed on the monitoring screen just now; that wasn't guidance at all, it was more like the Hōgyoku's energy forcibly "pouring in," bluntly compressing and reshaping the massive Hollow Core energy of Nelliel's lower body into a humanoid form and merging it into her upper body.
The process was wild, simple, and direct.
Why does it feel like Nelliel isn't very bright? Or rather... His gaze turned toward Nelliel, who was still in a state of shock and adapting to her new body.