You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"Captain Unohana."

Yoruichi tossed her soaked purple hair and said in a low voice, "We searched the entire area of ​​Jin, but we couldn't find a single survivor, witness, or body—Ukitake and the others just vanished into thin air."

Unohana slowly rose, raindrops dripping from her hair, her voice still calm: "No battle, no struggle, not even a trace of spiritual pressure eruption, only a few remnants of Kido..."

"That's incredible."

Yoruichi squinted, raindrops sliding down her eyelashes: "What did Mayuri Kurotsuchi say?"

Both of them were experienced captains, but this was the first time they had encountered such a situation... To be honest, their first thought was that there was a "traitor" inside. Someone had suddenly attacked Ukitake and Hikifune when they were completely off guard, and the two were defeated instantly without any power to resist.

—Apart from that, it’s hard to explain how two captains could be taken away so easily.

"He is exploring deeper areas, but there is no news yet."

Unohana tilted her head slightly, gazing at the desolate street shrouded in rain and mist in the distance. "Captain Kyoraku is also searching on the other side, but..."

Before she could finish speaking, a sharp fluctuation of spiritual pressure suddenly came from afar, and the two of them turned their heads simultaneously—

At the end of the pitch-black rain curtain, a golden flame shot into the sky, and the powerful spiritual pressure made everyone's hearts tighten.

"This fluctuation... is it an illusion?"

"At this time?"

What a coincidence!

Yoruichi and Unohana exchanged a glance and vanished from their spot in an instant.

……

A humanoid phantom rampages through the ruins!

Its body was twisted and enormous, standing a full three meters tall despite its humanoid form. Its bloated head was covered by a half-pig-face mask, with ferocious fangs protruding from its mouth, dripping corrosive saliva. Each swing of its weapon was accompanied by the screams of the Shinigami members and the collapse of their spiritual pressure.

arms?

This Hollow actually fights with sword-like weapons, which is truly rare.

"Acting Captain! Requesting backup!"

A team member clutched his torn shoulder, staggered backward, and blood gushed from between his fingers.

However, Mayuri Kurotsuchi simply stood still, his golden pupils slightly contracted, and a morbid excitement curled at the corner of his mouth. His fingertips lightly tapped the hilt of his Zanpakuto, producing a faint "tap-tap" sound, as if he were calculating some kind of data, or perhaps some kind of rhythm.

After Kiryu Hikifune's disappearance, he unexpectedly became the acting captain of the Technology Development Bureau, but he clearly didn't care about his "subordinates".

"Interesting... Really interesting..."

He murmured to himself, his voice filled with barely suppressed fervor, "To maintain his rationality at this level of Hollowfication? No... is he just instinctively wielding his Zanpakuto...?"

His gaze was fixed on the humanoid phantom, as if he were looking at a rare treasure rather than an enemy on the battlefield.

"Captain Nie! If this continues, the entire team will be wiped out!"

Another team member screamed, his voice filled with despair.

"What a hassle!"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi finally moved. He slowly raised his hand, and standard Captain-level spiritual pressure surged forth, its eerie blue light shimmering in the rain.

"Binding Path—"

"!"

The humanoid Hollow seemed to sense his gaze, and suddenly turned its head, its single crimson eye beneath the mask meeting Mayuri Kurotsuchi's gaze for a moment.

"Oh no!"

"Ouch! Ouch!!!!"

The next second, it let out a deafening roar and charged straight at Mayuri Kurotsuchi!

"Heh... So you finally noticed me?"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi neither dodged nor avoided the attack; instead, his smile widened even more. "Normally, I wouldn't have this opportunity to kill my own captain so legitimately—"

Just as Hollow's blade was about to strike Mayuri Kurotsuchi, a silver chain suddenly shot out from the side and tightly wrapped around Hollow's neck!

"Sixty-three chains of binding!"

Yoruichi Shihouin emerged from the rain, delivering a powerful flying kick that slammed the Hollow to the ground. She then turned and glared at Mayuri Kurotsuchi, her voice filled with suppressed rage:

"Why were there so many casualties? This kijutsu is not difficult to deal with!"

"Well~"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi shrugged, his tone flippant: "Don't get so worked up, Captain Shihouin. Science always requires sacrifice... Besides, I've already found the answer."

His gaze returned to the struggling phantom, his smile gradually fading, replaced by a chilling calm.

"This is not a naturally born Hollow... but a monstrosity artificially created using Captain-level Shinigami as material."

"Captain-level Grim Reaper..."

Yoruichi thoughtfully turned her gaze to the Hollow figure who was getting up from the ground and beginning to resist the binding spell.

"Could it be that……"

"Please adopt a proper attitude. This is the esteemed Director of the Technology Development Bureau—Lord Hikifune Kiryu."

Upon hearing that name, the humanoid Void suddenly looked up. Its hideous features, covered by a pig-face mask, still vaguely revealed its former appearance.

Yoruichi's pupils suddenly contracted!

"impossible!"

Yoruichi's exclamation was swallowed by the torrential rain, but her movements were faster than her voice. Her figure vanished instantly, dodging the red Cero of the humanoid Hollow.

No warning!

Despite being controlled by the Bound Spell, she was still able to unleash a Cero instantly. If Yoruichi hadn't been there, another captain might have fallen victim to it.

"As expected of Captain Heifune, even after losing his mind, he still... tsk! Don't worry, I'll end your suffering as soon as possible!"

Golden lightning exploded on his body, and the "Shun-Hoo," a fusion of Kido and Hakuda, erupted instantly. The Kido power formed by spiritual pressure wrapped around his entire body, releasing visible heat from his shoulders and evaporating the surrounding rain into mist.

boom--!

She stomped through the ground, her figure flashing like lightning. Just as the Hollow form of Kiryuu broke free of its chains, Yoruichi's fist slammed into its chest!

The first move!

The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible. The hollow chest caved in, and the massive body flew backward, crashing into several ruins.

But Yoruichi did not stop. Her figure followed closely, catching up with Hollow before it even landed. This time, she attacked from the side of its head with a kick that resembled a long whip.

Her right leg rose high, crackling with violent lightning, and slashed down like a battle axe! The void's skull twisted and deformed under the heavy blow, and a trace of pain flashed in the single eye beneath the mask—it briefly regained consciousness before being swallowed up by madness and chaos again.

"Is it too late...?"

Yoruichi's heart skipped a beat, but her movements became even more swift.

She spun around and delivered a spinning kick, striking Hollow's knee precisely. With a sickening cracking sound, Hollow's legs twisted completely, and he collapsed heavily to his knees.

The sounds of rain, thunder, and rapid breathing mingled together.

Yoruichi landed in front of Hollow, looking at the face covered by the mask, trying to find a remnant of rationality within it.

"Captain Yizhou... Is that really you? Can you still hear me?"

The void did not answer, only letting out a low growl as it struggled to get up. But its spine had been broken by the powerful impact, and it could only lie prostrate on the ground like a dying beast.

"It's a blessing in disguise that you don't have the ability to regenerate at super speed... otherwise I would have really killed you."

Yoruichi sighed with relief. The usually cheerful and optimistic girl couldn't help but frown now, but she tried to accept the situation and comfort herself.

"It's alright, I can only say that Captain Hikifune is unable to exert his original abilities when he loses his rationality... If it were a captain who is good at swordsmanship, it would be troublesome."

"...Yoruichi."

"You've arrived, Captain Unohana."

A familiar voice came from behind her, and Yoruichi felt relieved and turned around.

"I've already resolved the matter. What about you? Where did the band leader of the Jing Band go?"

"Huh? Why are you wearing a mask?"

Chapter 580 I will carry on her legacy (laughs)

A blood-red illusion unfolded before Unohana's eyes.

She saw herself from a thousand years ago standing atop a mountain of corpses, her black hair stained with blood, and blood droplets from her Zanpakuto forming a scarlet string of beads.

That "she" was smiling—not a gentle smile of healing the wounded and saving lives, but a smile devoid of warmth, like the slight curve of a sword blade as it is drawn from its sheath.

There was no longing for anything beautiful in those eyes...

"Finally... do you remember?"

The murderer in the hallucination asked softly, her voice completely overlapping with her own.

"I never left."

The voice of the inner demon came from within, "The so-called captain of the Fourth Division is nothing but your clumsiest disguise."

The rain washed over her face, but couldn't cleanse the bloody stench deep within her soul. She realized that every treatment she had received over the past thousand years had been nothing more than bandaging her restless heart.

Thirst!

This feeling has never left me.

They thought they had gotten rid of it, but in reality, it had been accumulating heavy burdens like a dammed lake!

"How ridiculous!"

Two voices rang out simultaneously: "Use the hand that saves to suppress the heart that kills."

The right hand, covered in bone armor, rose uncontrollably, slowly overlapping with the bloodstained palm in his memory.

The white substance spread to the side of her neck, making a chilling crackling sound. She suddenly realized—it wasn't just the void that was eroding her, but that she was embracing her sealed nature.

How did the virtual come into being?

Aside from a few special beings, most of the Void were initially “human souls that had lost their hearts.” They lost themselves while wandering through time, thus falling into chaos and being dominated by the instinct to “complete” themselves. They would constantly devour human souls, as if this would make their own existence more whole.

For ordinary Shinigami, Hollowfication means that their inner weaknesses and emptiness have become larger, and they need to fight against their negative self, or rather, their primal instincts, in order to regain their rationality—a challenge that is almost impossible to complete.

Captain-level Shinigami have already mastered Bankai, which is a high degree of control over their own consciousness. Therefore, they have a certain resistance to Hollowfication. Even if they cannot reverse the spiritual particle erosion, they can maintain their mental state for a long time.

—But the flower of the rabbit is different.

She doesn't have inner demons... or more accurately, her current state is more like that of an inner demon!

This is the inner demon called "Unohana Retsu" that arose in Yachiru after her defeat in a battle with a certain man hundreds of years ago.

Now, it's just that we're taking advantage of the opportunity of being virtualized to break through this self-imposed constraint.

"Kenpachi Zaraki..."

She heard herself and her inner demon whisper the name simultaneously, her tongue tingling slightly, as if tasting a long-lost thrill, "This time... I must..."

The last barrier of reason shattered.

When Unohana looked up again, one of her usually gentle eyes had turned completely crimson, and the curve of her lips was exactly the same as it had been a thousand years ago, with even the slightest muscle tremor perfectly replicated.

"—Let's kill to our hearts' content!"

Reality and memory overlapped at this moment. The spiritual pressure of the first Kenpachi soared into the sky, shaking the rain curtain within a hundred meters into mist. For some reason, it seemed to flash with blood light in the flashing light and shadow.

She casually tore off her white haori coat, and her fingers, encased in bone armor, gripped the hilt of her Zanpakuto.

"Ah...how foolish of me, why did I only realize it now..."

The moment the scabbard shattered, the first Kenpachi seemed to hear the roar of a demon awakening.

Her consciousness was shrouded in a thick fog, and all she could hear was the roar of her blood rushing through her ears. Something was tearing her soul apart—it was the "Sword Demon" that she had sealed away for hundreds of years, now roaring and breaking free of its shackles.

"What's this……"

Now, she seems to realize that she has become "virtualized".

"When exactly... it's pointless anyway."

She looked down at her right hand, her fair skin slowly being covered by the ghastly white bone armor. Her braided hair had come undone at some point, and her soaked black hair almost blended into her Shinigami uniform in the rain.