"Even Menos Grande are part of the tournament?! Perfectlet me test my newly mastered Shikai!"
A young noble, clad in a regulation Shihakushō yet adorned with ornamental insignia marking his lineage, grinned with reckless excitement as towering Gillians descended from the Garganta overhead.
Without waiting for orders, he drew his Zanpakutō.
"Bloom!"
His Shikai release rang out sharply as he lunged forward.
But someone nearby immediately shouted in alarm:
"Wait! Their masks don't bear suppression seals! These aren't bound Hollows!"
Indeedunlike the tournament Hollows marked with Kidō crests that suppressed their Reiatsu, the newly arrived Menos Grande radiated immense, undiluted spiritual pressure.
These were wild.
Untamed.
Battle-hardened.
The first Gillian swung a massive arm downward.
There was no elegance.
No technique.
Just overwhelming force.
The noble's Shikai shattered under the impact.
A heartbeat later
His body split cleanly in two.
Silence fell for half a second.
Then
Blood rained.
One half of his torso dangled from the Gillian's jaws, twitching weakly before being crushed.
"No!!"
From the elevated pavilion, a middle-aged aristocrat staggered forward, eyes wide in horror.
"My son!"
Panic erupted across the viewing platforms.
The tournament had become a massacre.
"Vice-Captain Yamada! Save him! Save my heir!"
The noble turned desperately toward Yamada Seinosuke of the Fourth Division.
Though the Fourth Division specialized in healing, their officers were fully trained combatants. Yamada drew his Zanpakutō instantly, prepared to enter the barrier.
But someone moved first.
A flash of Shunpo tore through the air.
Ito Makoto had already entered the battlefield.
Steel sang.
Reiatsu flared.
With precise, unadorned strikes, he severed a Gillian's arm at the elbow, then bisected another through its mask.
Unlike the reckless nobles, his movements were controlledeconomical.
Efficient.
From the central pavilion, Kasumioji Rurichiyo watched without visible distress.
Only when Ito entered the field did a faint light flicker in her eyes.
Without hesitation, she removed her outer noble robe, revealing a standard Shinigami uniform beneath.
"Ito Fourth SeatI'll assist!"
She stepped forward and vanished in Shunpo, entering the barrier.
At the moment her foot crossed its threshold, a subtle fluctuation passed through the barrier's framework.
Outside
Yamada Seinosuke led multiple seated officers forward.
But the barrier repelled them.
His eyes sharpened.
"This structure has changed…"
He raised his hand.
"Hadō #31 Shakkahō!"
A red sphere of flame roared forward
And dissolved harmlessly against the barrier surface.
"Hadō #33 Sōkatsui!"
Blue fire detonated
Again, no effect.
The barrier absorbed the impact like a still ocean swallowing pebbles.
Worse
A dense mist began forming within, obscuring visibility.
Yamada's expression darkened.
"This event was authorized under Fifth Division jurisdiction. Inform Captain Aizen immediately!"
A subordinate vanished in Shunpo.
Yamada clenched his jaw.
He had agreed to attend at the subtle urging of Tokinada Tsunayashiro.
A miscalculation.
Inside the barrier
Gillian Reiatsu pressed down like a collapsing sky.
Ito assessed instantly.
Too many.
If allowed to scatter, civilian nobles would be slaughtered before Seireitei could mobilize a proper response.
He raised his blade.
"Shatter the boundaries… Annihilation God."
Reiatsu erupted.
A square-shaped field of distorted air expanded outward, overlapping the arena's interior space.
Annihilation Domain Four Directions Field.
Unlike his usual concentrated deployment, this manifestation covered kilometers, thinning its destructive output but maximizing suppression radius.
Within the field
The Gillians' movements slowed.
Their Reiatsu stuttered.
Spatial pressure distorted their balance.
Ito exhaled sharply.
"First Form Tremor."
He flicked the blade.
Invisible shockwaves rippled outward.
Dozens of Gillians convulsed as internal vibrations disrupted their spiritual cores. Not fatalbut paralyzing.
He deliberately restrained his output.
Releasing Captain-class Reiatsu openly would raise questions he was not prepared to answer.
It was enough.
He turned toward the final sealed gate.
Behind it
A far denser Reiatsu churned.
Not Gillian.
Higher.
He entered.
Beyond the gate lay a narrow corridor formed from layered Bakudō structuresclearly a hidden containment chamber.
At its end
A humanoid Hollow stood bound to the wall.
Approximately five meters tall.
Dark blue body.
Disproportionately large head.
Multiple pale arms extending behind iteach pinned by glowing spiritual spikes.
Chains bound its torso.
Bandages infused with Kidō sealed its eyes and mouth.
Its Reiatsu was immense.
Adjuchas-class.
Near the upper threshold.
Stronger than a typical Adjuchas, yet not approaching the overwhelming density of a Vasto Lorde.
Ito's gaze sharpened.
"Wonderweiss…"
The Hollow froze.
A muffled sound escaped beneath the bindings.
Ito cut the seals.
The bandages fell.
Large, childlike eyes blinked.
"Who… are you?"
The voice was soft.
Innocent.
Contradictory to its monstrous form.
So this was Wonderweiss before Arrancarization.
Unmodified.
Unbroken.
Which meant
This operation was not Aizen's.
Aizen had no need to conduct experiments here when Hueco Mundo was fully under his influence.
This was independent interference.
Ito spoke calmly.
"I'm not your enemy. I'll return you to Hueco Mundo. Do not resist."
A pause.
"…Okay."
The chains fell away under several precise slashes.
For one heartbeat
Stillness.
Then
Wonderweiss lashed out instinctively, spiritual pressure spiking violently.
Ito's eyes hardened.
He released restraint.
Thirty percent amplification surged through him.
Captain-class Reiatsu flooded the corridor.
In an instant, his blade rested against Wonderweiss's throat.
The Hollow froze.
"Be still," Ito said quietly. "Or I end you."
The pressure alone was enough.
Wonderweiss trembled
Then lowered his head.
Outside
Rurichiyo walked calmly across the battlefield.
She did not assist the immobilized Gillians.
Instead
She approached the bisected noble who still clung to consciousness.
"Lady… Head… save me…"
His voice was barely air.
She knelt.
Smiled gently.
"Of course."
A silver-white blade manifested in her hand.
Slender.
Engraved with intricate, unnatural patterns.
It was not a standard Zanpakutō.
It pulsed hungrily.
Without hesitation
She drove it through his chest.
A wet inhaling sound followed.
The blade absorbed his Reiryoku directly.
His body withered into nothing but discarded cloth.
She caressed the weapon fondly.
A faint, unhinged smile touched her lips.
"Patience," she whispered to the blade.
"So much pure spiritual energy…"
Her eyes lifted toward the mist-filled battlefield.
"Tonight, you shall feast."
And beyond the fog
The real hunt had only begun.