Sixteen years later, World of the Living, Karakura Town.
In the dead of night, a window on the second floor of the Kurosaki Clinic suddenly opened, and an orange-haired teenager jumped out.
"It's really annoying to come out and disturb people's dreams late at night!"
The orange-haired teenager identified the direction of the abnormal Spiritual Pressure he sensed. With a thought, Reishi condensed under his feet.
Whoosh—
The orange-haired teenager speeding through the air was the Quincy, Ichigo Kurosaki.
He sensed abnormal Spiritual Pressure appearing in Karakura Town and rushed over to deal with it.
"Oh no, there seems to be a Shinigami nearby. I must deal with the chaotic Hollow before the Shinigami arrives!"
Ichigo Kurosaki sped up.
He now possessed the strength of an elite Quincy; ordinary Hollows were no match for him at all.
But his teacher had arranged holiday special training for him: to race against the Shinigami stationed in Karakura Town.
He needed to eliminate the chaotic Hollow before the Shinigami arrived.
Ichigo Kurosaki soon arrived at the scene of the incident.
A Menos Grande with a bone ring was lying on a house, tearing off the roof, trying to grab the humans inside.
"Is it a Menos Grande from Hell again? Menos Grande from Hell are appearing more and more frequently!" Ichigo Kurosaki looked worried. "It's just as Teacher said, the Three Worlds are becoming increasingly unstable..."
The environment of the World of the Living had changed a lot in recent years. In his childhood memories, he had never seen such a Menos Grande.
But in recent years, spatial rifts appeared occasionally in the World of the Living. The other end of these rifts connected to either the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, or even Hell.
This Menos Grande with a bone ring came to the World of the Living through a spatial rift connected to Hell.
"Hey!" A black Reishi bow appeared in Ichigo Kurosaki's hand, attracting the bone ring Menos Grande's attention.
Just as the bone ring Menos Grande was momentarily stunned, a Heilig Pfeil pierced through its head.
"Easy peasy!"
Ichigo Kurosaki went forward to check the house with the torn roof. The humans inside had been knocked unconscious by the Menos Grande's Spiritual Pressure, but he arrived in time, and there were no casualties.
"The Menos Grande should have just come out of a spatial rift."
Judging that the spatial rift through which the bone ring Menos Grande came might still exist, Ichigo Kurosaki searched around.
Spatial rifts had no Spiritual Pressure fluctuations and could only be observed with the naked eye.
"Found it."
The spatial rift was behind an apartment building, almost as tall as the building itself.
The current Three Worlds were riddled with holes and had extremely weak self-repair capabilities. Such a spatial rift would take several days to disappear. To prevent more Menos Grande from coming through, Ichigo Kurosaki chose to repair it actively.
Mobilizing the Spiritual Pressure in his body, he squeezed the edges of the spatial rift to seal it.
"This kind of work is really physically draining. The spatial rifts in the past would repair themselves very quickly. That was nice!"
Ichigo Kurosaki missed the world of his childhood a bit. Repairing such a large spatial rift consumed a lot of stamina.
"Time to go. The Shinigami will soon... No, they seem a bit slow this time. Did they encounter enemies elsewhere?"
He sensed the Shinigami's position and found that the Shinigami squad had actually encountered enemies too.
"The Shinigami's Spiritual Pressure seems to have weakened..."
The Shinigami seemed to be in trouble. After hesitating, he decided to go and have a look.
Activating Hirenkyaku, he vanished from the spot instantly.
A moment later, Ichigo Kurosaki arrived at another battlefield.
"They don't seem to be official Shinigami. Is it a trainee Shinigami squad?"
Ichigo Kurosaki saw some unconscious Shinigami lying on the ground.
Most of the Shinigami weren't wearing the common Shihakushō but the uniform of the Shin'ō Academy.
A battle was taking place in the air. Ichigo Kurosaki quickly aimed his Reishi bow at the black shadow in the air.
To his surprise, the black shadow's opponent wasn't an official Shinigami, but a trainee Shinigami wearing the Academy uniform.
This trainee Shinigami seemed even more formidable than the official Shinigami.
Ichigo Kurosaki drew the bow and nocked an arrow. The Heilig Pfeil shot rapidly towards the black shadow.
However, the black shadow didn't dodge or evade. It actually slapped the incoming Heilig Pfeil away directly.
Moreover, the deflected Heilig Pfeil hit the trainee Shinigami in the air directly.
"Ah!"
The trainee Shinigami screamed and fell from the sky.
"Crap!" Ichigo Kurosaki's face turned dark. He didn't expect his arrow to hit the Shinigami. He hurriedly activated Hirenkyaku to catch the falling trainee Shinigami.
"Are you okay?!"
Ichigo Kurosaki called out urgently.
"Of course not!"
The petite black-haired girl with short, flipped-out hair bit her lip.
The Heilig Pfeil had pierced her abdomen, injuring her significantly.
"I didn't mean to." Ichigo Kurosaki said awkwardly. "I know a little medical art..."
"He's coming!" The black-haired girl saw the black shadow in the air floating towards them and hurriedly warned, "Don't be careless! Neither of the two teachers was his match!"
The only two Shinigami lying on the ground wearing Shihakushō were the instructors of this batch of graduating trainees.
"Leave it to me."
Ichigo Kurosaki nodded gently and placed the black-haired girl on the ground.
Looking up at the black shadow in the air, he carefully sensed the shadow's Spiritual Pressure fluctuation. He found that its Spiritual Pressure wasn't like a Hollow's, but rather had an aura of Hell.
"Is it a sinner from Hell?"
Ichigo Kurosaki frowned.
That black shadow could easily slap away the Heilig Pfeil just now; its strength was extraordinary. Naturally, he wouldn't be careless either.
Ichigo Kurosaki switched Reishi weapons; a blade-less handle appeared in his hand.
Compared to the Reishi bow, he actually preferred and was better at using a Reishi sword.
In the next moment, Reishi condensed a blade on the handle.
Whoosh—
Ichigo Kurosaki arrived in front of the black shadow and slashed down.
However, his slash hit nothing but air.
The black shadow didn't dodge or block; instead, Ichigo Kurosaki's Reishi sword suddenly dissipated.
"The Reishi was drained away!"
Ichigo Kurosaki's pupils shrank. It wasn't the first time he had encountered this situation.
In fact, he was very familiar with it!
In a Quincy civil war, if the gap in strength between two sides was huge, the situation where Reishi was drained by the stronger side would occur.
During his training, when fighting against his elders, Ichigo had experienced the feeling of the environmental Reishi being drained by the opponent.
This black shadow was a powerful Quincy!
Before he could think more, a sharp pain came from his abdomen.
Bang—!
Ichigo Kurosaki was kicked in the abdomen and smashed onto the ground.
"Cough, cough—"
"Are you okay?"
The place where Ichigo Kurosaki fell was not far from the black-haired girl.
"He is a Quincy!"
"A Quincy?"
The black-haired girl was stunned. When the black shadow attacked the Shinigami squad, it didn't use Quincy methods, so she had no idea about the enemy's identity.
"And a very strong Quincy. His Reishi gathering ability is far superior to mine. I can't control the external Reishi..."
Cold sweat broke out on Ichigo Kurosaki's forehead. This situation was extremely disadvantageous for him. Most Quincy methods required utilizing Reishi from the external environment. Without being able to manipulate external Reishi, his strength would be greatly affected.
"Are you not his match?"
"I consumed a lot of Spiritual Pressure repairing the spatial rift just now... haven't recovered yet..."
If the enemy were a Menos Grande, Ichigo Kurosaki could use the environmental Reishi to deal with it without consuming much Spiritual Pressure. But now, unable to manipulate the environmental Reishi, he could only use his own Spiritual Pressure to fight the enemy.
"You repaired a spatial rift before coming here?" The black-haired girl couldn't help but open her mouth wide. "Alone?"
"Yeah..." Ichigo Kurosaki nodded.
The black-haired girl's expression tightened. After the drastic changes in the Three Worlds, space had become extremely unstable. Even repairing a spatial rift had become a very difficult task, usually requiring a Shinigami squad led by a Lieutenant-class Shinigami.
Yet, the orange-haired teenager in front of her had accomplished such a feat alone.
At this moment, the black shadow also floated down.
"Extremely foolish... to think of using Quincy abilities to attack the King of Quincies." The black shadow spoke slowly.
"King of Quincies?" The black-haired girl's eyes widened, and she immediately retorted, "Impossible! The King of Quincies, Yhwach, was eliminated by Professor over ten years ago!"
"And if you were the King of Quincies, you should have been able to kill us with a casual strike!"
The black-haired girl hadn't forgotten that she had exchanged a few blows with this guy claiming to be the King of Quincies just now.
"Sora Katori's disciple..." The black shadow snorted coldly. "I only have a remnant soul left; my strength is not what it used to be. But it is enough to kill you. Offer up your lives to celebrate my return from Hell!"
After finishing speaking, the black shadow reached out to grab the black-haired girl.
"Stop!"
Ichigo Kurosaki shouted loudly, gathering all his Spiritual Pressure into his fist, and punched the black shadow, knocking it back.
"You go first!" Seeing that the black shadow was merely knocked back, the black-haired girl understood that Ichigo Kurosaki was not the black shadow's match.
"No, I can't leave you alone." Ichigo Kurosaki panted slightly. "Hold on a little longer; someone will come to support us!"
The Spiritual Pressure he just erupted should have been sensed by his elders. Before long, reinforcements would support them.
The black-haired girl looked at the slowly approaching black shadow, gritted her teeth, and said: "Professor taught me a way to transfer Spiritual Pressure. I'll transfer my Spiritual Pressure to you!"
After being injured, the black-haired girl had lost feeling in her lower body and couldn't continue fighting at all. But her Spiritual Pressure was still there and could be transferred to Ichigo Kurosaki.
"Shinigami have a way to transfer Spiritual Pressure...?"
Ichigo Kurosaki was stunned for a moment. Looking down, he saw the black-haired girl's Zanpakutō had already pierced into his body.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
Ichigo Kurosaki was shocked. Why did this woman suddenly stab him?
However, in the next moment, he felt a Spiritual Pressure distinct from a Quincy's surging into his body.
Influenced by the Shinigami Spiritual Pressure, a power hidden deep within Ichigo Kurosaki's body was awakened, erupting with a powerful Spiritual Pressure.
By the time he came back to his senses, a broad-bladed Zanpakutō had appeared in his hand.