"Judging from the outside... he already completely looks like a Hollow." Shinji Hirako stared at the gradually dispersing smoke inside the Shijū Saimon. "You'd better hurry, Muten Natsu."
As the settling dust slowly quieted, a savage silhouette gradually became clear.
Muten Natsu's body was now completely wrapped in white Hollow matter. His chest and shoulders were covered in chaotically growing spikes, his nails were sharp as blades, and a long tail had even appeared behind him. A casual flick of it made the air crack.
Eerie black ink moved across Hollowfied Muten Natsu's body, constantly shifting into strange images, like evil spirits wailing in grief.
A sudden sense of unease rose in Rukia Kuchiki's heart. As the Hollowfication deepened, the injuries on the Visored kept increasing.
If this continued, one person going in each time probably would not be enough anymore.
And that was with Muten Natsu not using the Hell Flames.
If he used the Hell Flames...
Black ink gathered across the skull mask on Muten Natsu's face, slowly giving off dense black smoke.
Then, with a light click as the skull mask's teeth closed together, the drifting black smoke instantly ignited into surging black fire!
As the Hell Flames burned, the sound of the white space breaking apart rang out without end. The collapse of the inner world was accelerating.
Both the Hell Flames and Hollowfication affected the stability of Reishi, which in turn worsened the collapse of the inner world, but Muten Natsu could no longer afford to care about that.
Even without using the Hell Flames, the inner world would collapse anyway.
Rather than that, it was better to use the Hell Flames to gain power and deal with the Primordial Form in front of him before the inner world completely fell apart.
In the past, whenever black cracks appeared in the white space, the Primordial Form would vanish because of the disturbance in the inner world.
But now, even though Hollowfication had pushed the inner world to the brink of collapse, the Primordial Form still remained. Most likely, it had gained strength from the Hollowfication.
If this dragged on, the Primordial Form would only grow stronger.
Feeling the swelling power inside him, Muten Natsu swung his blade at the Primordial Form.
As long as he defeated this Hollow within him...
The blade neared the Primordial Form, then suddenly gave a crisp sound. In Muten Natsu's disbelieving gaze, Myōki abruptly snapped, then shattered further and vanished into fragments.
Accompanied by a high, far-carrying cry, the white space began collapsing far faster than before, scattering away into the darkness.
The Primordial Form's figure also melted into the darkness and disappeared.
The black ink moving across Muten Natsu's body detached itself and swallowed the last remaining white.
Within the endless darkness, only Muten Natsu remained, alone.
The Hollow armor on his body and the skull mask on his head gradually melted away as well.
The burning Hell Flames went out with them.
The Hell's Eye on his forehead closed on its own, beyond his control.
Everything was stripped away from Muten Natsu, and he floated blankly in the darkness.
Then... he heard a familiar voice.
"Meow~"
A strange creature appeared in the darkness, giving off a faint white glow.
It looked like a black cat, but it had many shark-like features.
It had a shark's dorsal fin, a tail shaped like a shark's tail, and when it opened its mouth, layers of sharp fangs could be seen within. It was like a shark with cat paws.
A thought vaguely came to Muten Natsu. "Bokukō?"
This bizarre creature was Bokukō's manifested form.
And now that it had appeared here...
"Meow... meow..." Bokukō slowly walked closer. "Meow... Natsu... meow... Muten Natsu... you finally... used it, nya!"
At first Bokukō sounded awkward, but the more it spoke, the smoother its voice became. And within its originally hazy, animal-like eyes, a human-like madness gradually surfaced. "This is the first time we've met like this, isn't it, Muten Natsu, nya?"
Muten Natsu's vision blurred, and the Bokukō before him suddenly turned into his own appearance. The only difference was that its hair was snow-white, the whites of its eyes were black, and its pupils were the same snowy white as its hair.
Muten Natsu's pupils narrowed into slits, and his furry ears pulled backward. ...Wait.
He lowered his head and looked at his furry paws. "What is this...?"
White-haired Muten Natsu curled his lips into a smile. "Or maybe I should call you... Bokukō, nya?"
"The Primordial Form isn't the Hollow inside me." Muten Natsu's shark tail bristled and puffed up. "Bokukō, you're the Hollow inside me!"
"Right now, you're Bokukō." White-haired Muten Natsu popped a white Myōki from his palm. "You're the Shinigami inside me, nya."
Muten Natsu's shark tail puffed up even more, becoming much thicker than before.
If he was now the Shinigami inside white-haired Muten Natsu, then the one outside right now was...
"What is that?" Mashiro Kuna flashed backward, her eyes beneath the Hollow mask fixed on Muten Natsu's direction.
Bang!
A bone-white claw struck the ground, and violent Reiatsu swept away the drifting smoke, revealing a bone-white beast.
Hollowfied Muten Natsu had now completely lost his human shape. The chaotic spikes that had previously covered his body were all gone, replaced by thick, layered armor of exaggerated heft, with black smoke flowing through the gaps.
He was down on all fours. Heavy white armor encased his body, making his shoulders and back look even more massive. His legs had been extended by white Hollow matter into an animal-like reverse-jointed structure, and a long tail swayed behind him, its tip trailing wisps of black smoke.
The skull mask covering his face was now burning with quiet black flames. The flickering fire formed the translucent shape of a beast's head, like some phantom tiger, ferocious beyond measure.
"This is bad... Hachi!" Shinji Hirako shouted. "Open the barrier and let Mashiro out!"
Hachigen Ushōda had only just started changing his hand seals. Before Kokō no Jōmon could open, Hollowfied Muten Natsu had already attacked, his beast-like body lunging straight at Mashiro Kuna.
Mashiro Kuna had been staring at him the whole time. The instant he moved, she immediately flashed to the side to dodge.
She was already fast to begin with, and with Hollowfication activated early on, her speed had increased even further.
But the moment she completed that dodge, Hollowfied Muten Natsu dropped both claws to the ground, adjusted his angle, and kicked off with both legs, crashing after her even faster than before.
Mashiro Kuna dodged again, slipping to Muten Natsu's rear flank.
Hollowfied Muten Natsu's body jerked, and his long tail whipped around like a lash.
Mashiro Kuna tapped off the ground with her toes and pulled away once more, flashing beyond the tail's range.
Then a line of cold light flashed.
From the tip of Hollowfied Muten Natsu's tail, a short inward-curving blade suddenly sprang out. It was none other than the Myōki that Muten Natsu had held before.
With both the tail and Myōki, his attack range suddenly expanded. Mashiro Kuna had no time to complete a fourth dodge.
"Santen Kesshun!" Orihime Inoue's voice rang out. Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon from the Shun Shun Rikka flew through the Shijū Saimon and stopped in front of Mashiro Kuna, opening a triangular golden barrier. "I reject!"
The barrier solidified instantly, and then Myōki shattered it at once.
Even so, that instant of obstruction bought Mashiro Kuna precious time.
She shot through the now-open Kokō no Jōmon and escaped to the outside of the Shijū Saimon.
"Crush it. Tengumaru!" Love Aikawa, his rest over, charged back into the Shijū Saimon and swung his enormous spiked club at the pursuing Hollowfied Muten Natsu. "We meet again!"
"It's Love's turn again already?" Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi ran a hand through the wavy blond hair Muten Natsu had torn off earlier. "Kensei, up to now, what's the longest anyone's inner battle has lasted?"
"Sixty-nine minutes and two seconds. Hiyori's." Kensei Muguruma still had blood on his head from the earlier fight, and his expression was grim.
"How long has it been now?"
"Sixty-five minutes and thirty-two seconds."
There were eight people in the Visored. Hachigen Ushōda was responsible for the barrier, and the other seven were rotating through ten-minute shifts. By the time it returned to Love Aikawa, seventy minutes should have passed.
But Mashiro Kuna, Lisa Yadōmaru, and Hiyori Sarugaki had all failed to last the full ten minutes.
Shinji Hirako frowned. "Hachi, get ready to seal-kill."
"Wait!" Rukia Kuchiki shouted. "Muten, he..."
"He's already on the verge of becoming a full Hollow." Shinji Hirako's gaze was cold. "You've seen his Hell Flames. You should know how terrifying he'd be if he completely lost control!"
"Then you also know how dangerous it would be if the seal-kill fails!" Rukia Kuchiki's eyes were firm as she tightened her grip on her Zanpakutō. "Compared to seal-killing him, my odds are better. I prepared for this day for exactly this..."
"And me too!" Orihime Inoue called out, summoning the Shun Shun Rikka. "My power should be able to help him return to normal."
"Shinji, let them try." Hachigen Ushōda spoke with difficulty. Maintaining a barrier on the level of the Shijū Saimon was a heavy burden even for him. "This girl's power is very similar to mine, but also different. Maybe she really can do it... At the very least, they should be allowed to try."
Shinji Hirako warned irritably, "If this fails, all of you will die!"
"Orihime, your Shun Shun Rikka can pass through the barrier, so you stay out. As for me..." Rukia Kuchiki drew her Zanpakutō, and scenes from the past howled through her mind. "At least this time, he won't lie to me again."
"Rukia..." Orihime Inoue murmured softly. Her hand lifted halfway, wanting to stop her, then slowly withdrew.
"Hachi, get ready to open it!" Shinji Hirako let out a long breath. "The entire Visored will go in together and make an opening for them."
"Don't order me around, baldy." Hiyori Sarugaki lifted her Zanpakutō and, under Rukia Kuchiki's startled gaze, snapped irritably, "What are you staring at? He ended up like this because of us. Did you seriously think we were just going to ignore him?"
"I was only caught off guard before." Mashiro Kuna bounced in place, loosening up. "This time I won't get careless again!"
Kensei Muguruma lowered the timer in his hand. "The fact that you can say that already means you're being careless. Just stay behind me."
Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi flicked his wavy blond hair. "A Hollow isn't going to compensate me for my hair."
"You all sound like manga characters saying "no no" while still trying your best to go along with it." Lisa Yadōmaru pushed up her glasses. "If something like this is happening in real life, it absolutely has to be appreciated up close. Love, get out of the way!"
Even as they spoke, Love Aikawa and Hollowfied Muten Natsu had already clashed several more times.
Now fully Hollowfied, Muten Natsu no longer had the cunning he showed before, but his strength and speed had increased enormously. Every move carried overwhelming force, and he was nearly pressing Love Aikawa down with sheer power.
A claw slammed down, completely ignoring Tengumaru's spikes and forcing the giant weapon into the ground. Black smoke flowed through the gaps in the armor and spread out in silence.
Love Aikawa gripped Tengumaru with both hands, and flames burst from the spiked club, forcing Muten Natsu's claw away.
Love Aikawa seized the chance and swung Tengumaru as he charged at Muten Natsu.
Muten Natsu lifted his head and took in a deep breath. The black smoke swirling around him shrank inward for an instant, and then...
Boom!
The black smoke exploded outward and turned into cold black flames that swept through the area.
Love Aikawa was blown back by the shockwave. He barely managed to steady himself, looked up, and saw Hollowfied Muten Natsu already lunging straight at him.
Unlike before, it was not just black smoke pouring from the gaps in the armor. Cold black Hell Flames had ignited along both of Muten Natsu's arms, his back, and the end of his tail.
"Play. Kinshara!" Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi passed through Kokō no Jōmon and released his Zanpakutō. The Asauchi in his hand turned into a long whip with a golden flower for a head. It wrapped around Love Aikawa's body and yanked him backward.
Muten Natsu's pounce missed, and he immediately swept his claw sideways.
As he swung, even more black smoke broke away from his arm and exploded ahead of him into clusters of black fire, chasing after Love Aikawa's body.
"Blow away. Tachikaze!" Kensei Muguruma swung his short blade and released thread-thin blue cutting winds, scattering the black smoke before it could explode. "We have to deal with that smoke before it blows up..."
Before he could finish, some of the black smoke had already clung to Love Aikawa during the long fight. It suddenly exploded, sending out a rolling blast wave.
Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, who had just pulled Love Aikawa over beside him, was hurled away by the blast, his flesh torn and bloody.
"The tail!" Lisa Yadōmaru warned. "Watch his tail!"
More and more black smoke was gathering toward Muten Natsu's tail, where it had already become a nearly dead, absolute black.
"That's..." Mashiro Kuna immediately put on her Hollow mask. "He's charging it up!"
If the instant explosions were already that powerful, then if he charged it for a long time...
Rukia Kuchiki drew her Zanpakutō. "Dance. Sode no Shirayuki."
White ribbon danced through the air in a circle, and the pure-white blade gave off a faint chill.
Staring at Muten Natsu, wrapped in Hell Flames and shaped like a raging beast, Rukia Kuchiki took a deep breath and drove the tip of her blade into the ground.
The first mark was carved into the earth, and tiny ice crystals rose from it and drifted upward.
In front of Rukia Kuchiki's eyes appeared the image of Muten Natsu's first Hollowfication, and of herself lying helpless on the ground.
The blade pierced the ground a second time. Rukia Kuchiki's hand trembled slightly on the hilt as she remembered the feeling of the blade sinking into Muten Natsu's chest.
The blade stabbed down a third time, and Muten Natsu's furious accusation, wreathed in Hell Flames, thundered in her ears.
The blade went into the ground a final time. Shattered ice crystals before Rukia Kuchiki were enclosed by four clear rays of light.
"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"