"Ishida and Chad didn't come today either..." Homeroom teacher Misato Ochi flipped through the attendance sheet. "Well... they're basically adults already, so there's no need to worry too much. Alright, class is starting!"
Muten Natsu very cooperatively dropped onto his desk.
Misato Ochi glanced at him and acted as if she had seen nothing.
Even though there were rumors about him sleeping in class and getting into fights off campus, in his homeroom teacher's eyes, Muten Natsu was a very low maintenance student.
He was quiet, never made trouble, and had excellent grades.
Misato Ochi herself believed in a hands off approach to education. She did not concern herself much with far more troublesome students, let alone someone like Muten Natsu.
While the homeroom teacher was writing on the board, Orihime Inoue quietly slipped a small cushion into the crook of Muten Natsu's arm.
Quite a few classmates noticed and exchanged knowing smiles, their eyes warm.
Many of them then turned to look at Rukia Kuchiki, leaving her utterly baffled.
What happened?
Why is everyone looking at me?
But Rukia Kuchiki had already gotten used to being watched back in Soul Society, so she did not take it to heart. She simply lowered her head and studied tonight's training plan.
The appearance of the Arrancar had made everyone feel a sense of pressure.
Even though they knew Soul Society would not sit back and do nothing, they still wanted to work hard to improve their own strength, just in case.
Lately, Rukia Kuchiki had been training together with Orihime Inoue. The abilities of Shun Shun Rikka were similar to Kidō, and Rukia Kuchiki happened to be highly skilled at Kidō, so with what she had learned at the Shin'ō Academy and the guidance she had received from Retsu Unohana, coaching Orihime Inoue was no problem.
Muten Natsu's training was even simpler.
Sleep.
Then die.
Blood spraying from his throat blurred his vision. The instant Muten Natsu snapped out of his haze, a sharp blade was already upon him again.
No strange abilities. No overwhelming Reiatsu.
Every move of the Primordial Form was plain and straightforward, yet it could take Muten Natsu's life again and again with effortless ease.
After a long period of training, Muten Natsu had finally made a breakthrough. He could now swing two strikes.
If he got lucky, he could even finish a third strike before dying.
The pain of repeated death, combined with the frustration of losing over and over, inevitably pushed Muten Natsu toward irritability.
Fortunately, Myōki controlled the pace, reminding Muten Natsu to rest whenever necessary and preventing him from suffering a complete mental collapse.
When needed, he would even force him out of training.
Eat whatever he wanted. Drink whatever he wanted.
Not going insane was already a success.
"Again!" Muten Natsu took a deep breath, ignored Myōki's warning, and focused on the Primordial Form before him.
The Primordial Form shifted sideways in a measured step, and Muten Natsu's gaze followed it without pause.
The next instant, the Primordial Form vanished from sight.
Muten Natsu's eyes darted about, trying to catch the faint afterimage.
Left... right... behind... no.
Above.
The Primordial Form raised its long blade high and brought it down in a single slash.
Muten Natsu changed his footing, dodged to the side, spun with the motion, and slashed horizontally.
The Primordial Form turned lightly, actually stepping on Bokukō's blade to leap into the air, twisting midair before bringing down another slash.
Ink rippled open in front of Muten Natsu, held for a brief instant, then collapsed and vanished.
Just as Muten Natsu began to swing Myōki, the Primordial Form had already completed its landing and gathered force, shooting straight at him like an arrow, the sharp tip of its blade locked onto his heart.
He could not dodge it...
The angle of that strike was viciously precise. Muten Natsu had a chance to block with his blade, but because of his posture, he could not put enough force behind it. With his current strength, there was no way he could stop the attack.
Unless...
Black flames ignited along his arm. Muten Natsu swung his blade and knocked aside the Primordial Form's sword, then immediately followed with another slash aimed at its face.
At almost the exact same moment, black cracks appeared across the white space and began to spread at high speed.
The Primordial Form flickered and disappeared from Muten Natsu's sight.
When it appeared again, it was already behind him.
Muten Natsu's shoulder and half his chest split open, the savage wound filling with blood before tearing wider.
He let out a low roar and twisted around to swing his blade, but the Primordial Form was already nowhere to be seen.
His dying body recovered in a daze. Muten Natsu put away his Zanpakutō, forced himself to calm the agitation in his heart, and took deep breaths again and again until the black cracks in the white space completely faded.
[Hell Flames and Hollowfication both affect the stability of a Reishi structure]
[Using Hell Flames and Hollowfication can indeed increase your power]
[But they will also make the Primordial Form disappear]
"I know..." Muten Natsu rubbed his face hard. "I just got a little impatient."
[The best approach is to temper your basic combat ability with a stable state of mind]
[Hell Flames greatly increase strength]
[But they also deal severe damage to the body]
[Hollowfication can release more of the Soul's power]
[But it also affects the Soul's stability]
[During Hollowfication, the inside and outside of the Soul become connected]
[Which causes your consciousness to lose its restraints]
[The strength you feel at that moment]
[Is more the arrogance that comes from losing your sense of boundaries]
[Its effect on your mindset is greater than its effect on your actual strength]
[Chasing the power of Hollowfication in a rush for quick results]
[Is not the best choice]
"But it's the fastest choice." The Bokukō in his hand turned into the shape of a cat shark and crawled into Muten Natsu's arms. Muten Natsu rubbed Bokukō's head. "We do not have much time left."
Bokukō purred twice in delight, then suddenly bit down hard.
Muten Natsu fell silent.
Myōki's summary was painfully accurate. Chasing the power of Hollowfication for quick results.
That was exactly the state Muten Natsu was in right now.
According to Sōsuke Aizen, Shinigami had limits.
The four basic methods of Shinigami combat are Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kidō. Once any one of them is trained to a certain level, the barrier of the Soul itself creates a bottleneck in soul strength, making further growth impossible.
Looked at from the other direction, if someone wanted to gain the greatest possible improvement, the best method was to push at least one of those four, Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kidō, to the extreme first, and then use Hollowfication to achieve further growth.
If conditions allowed, the ideal state would be to raise all four to their limit first, and only then complete Hollowfication.
But after years of planning, Sōsuke Aizen's scheme had already entered its execution stage.
He defected from Soul Society to Hueco Mundo, and right after that, the Arrancar began to move.
The next Arrancar to attack would probably not be as easy to deal with as the last ones.
Within the same amount of time, the growth of basic strength was nowhere near the increase Hollowfication could bring.
Of course, there was a better option.
Muten Natsu pulled his hand out of Bokukō's mouth. "If I could use Bankai, I would not need to be so fixated on Hollowfication."
[Bankai requires the materialization of the Zanpakutō's true body and its submission]
[Leaving materialization aside]
[Do you really think I would submit to you]
Muten Natsu thought about it. "I still think there's hope."
[Anyone with a dream is impressive]