In a secluded cave within a virtual circle, Ren examined the fragments of the Spirit King in his hand, glowing with a pure white light.
"Eat it! Eat it!"
A voice echoed incessantly in Ren's mind. He hesitated momentarily but then decisively swallowed the fragments of the Spirit King.
"No! I won't eat it!"
Ren roared, summoning his power:
"Ghoul Soul!"
A dark golden vortex surged behind him, locking onto the fragments of the Spirit King. Unlike the conventional method of absorbing spirit king fragments to consume their soul energy, Ren chose to completely integrate them into his own power through his Ghoul Soul.
At first, the fragments resisted stubbornly, but under the terrifying suction of Ren's vortex, they eventually dissolved into pure white spiritual particles and were slowly devoured.
The moment these special particles entered his body, Ren felt as if he were enveloped by a warm current, white light swirling all around him.
"What a strange sensation!"
It felt almost like returning to the womb, being nurtured once again. A transformation was occurring within Ren's very being.
"This is..."
He noticed that although his spiritual pressure had increased only slightly, the hollow hole in his chest had shrunk, and the mask on his face had also diminished.
"Is this happening because I subconsciously desire to break the mask? The Spirit King's fragments, after transforming into pure spiritual energy, are subtly pushing my evolution forward. But this isn't like breaking the mask with a Hōgyoku—this is true, independent evolution!"
He recalled how in the original history, Starrk's mask and hollow hole were much smaller compared to the other Espada.
"Could the ultimate form of breaking the mask be to completely erase all traces of being a Hollow, becoming indistinguishable from an ordinary human?"
Lost in thought, Ren became fascinated by the possibilities, eagerly anticipating how he would look after consuming enough fragments of the Spirit King. He had a strong premonition—if he could obtain three more fragments of the same size, he would surely succeed in completely breaking his mask!
Three days later, on the office desk of the Yuhua Welfare Home in Shihua Town, a resignation letter lay neatly in place.
Before leaving, Ito Makoto treated the Ginjo Kogo to one last hamburger before returning to the Soul Society.
Ginjo Kogo glanced at Makoto Ito's discarded gigai, which lay abandoned on the floor of an unfinished building.
"Eh, leaving your body out in the open doesn't seem like a big deal."
With that thought, he dragged the gigai to a secluded wasteland behind the welfare home and buried it in an empty patch of land.
Through his centipede clone, Makoto Ito observed the scene and couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Inside the reception hall of the Thirteenth Division.
"Ito, you must have had quite the relaxing time in the Human World these past three months!"
Renzaburo Ozawa, the officer in charge of the handover, grinned knowingly as he took the mission report from Makoto Ito.
Makoto could only respond with a helpless smile before formally completing the handover. Afterward, he immediately made his way toward the Eleventh Division barracks.
As he approached, a graceful figure stood waiting by the wall. When she saw him, she quickly stepped forward.
"Lord Ito... you're back."
"Oh, it's you. What brings you here?"
Recognizing the figure as Tamura Kazuki, a fellow recruit from his class, Makoto Ito examined the tall young woman—her round glasses, the small tear mole at the corner of her eye—and inwardly sighed.
"If I don't approach you, why do you keep coming to me? You do know the kind of reputation I have, right...?"
As Makoto studied Tamura's slender figure, a mischievous smile played on his lips.
"Lord Ito, I wanted to ask... how can I get my Zanpakutō to respond to me? Back at Shin'ō Academy, you were able to communicate with yours successfully."
Tamura had long admired Ito Makoto, and ever since he had saved her during the entrance exam, her admiration had turned into something more. Whenever an opportunity arose, she would volunteer for tasks that involved the Eleventh Division, hoping to see him. Learning that Ito had been assigned to the Human World had left her disheartened for a while, but today, having heard that he was returning, she seized the chance to intercept him on his way back.
"Tamura, communication with your Zanpakutō isn't something that happens overnight. It takes time..."
Hearing this, Tamura's expression fell.
However, before she could despair completely, Makoto added:
"That said, I do have some experience in this area. I can give you a few pointers."
Tamura's face immediately lit up, a blush rising to her cheeks.
Watching her reaction, Makoto inwardly sighed.
"You're blushing again? Seriously, what am I, a heartthrob protagonist now?"
After exchanging a few more words, Makoto and Tamura parted ways. He continued toward the Eleventh Division barracks—only to be met with a sudden and familiar surge of spiritual pressure colliding in the distance.
"This presence…"
The moment he sensed the two powerful spiritual pressures, Makoto Ito immediately rushed toward the source!
Upon arriving at the Eleventh Division's training grounds, he spotted Ayasegawa Yumichika and Kusajishi Yachiru standing at the edge, watching the match unfold.
"Yo, little Ito, long time no see!"
"You're back, Ah Ito!"
The two greeted him warmly the moment they saw him.
"Long time no see, Vice-Captain and Senior Yumichika!"
Makoto Ito responded politely, but his attention was locked onto the two figures clashing in the training grounds.
One combatant was a towering man with a muscular build, wearing an eyepatch over his right eye. He wielded a Zanpakutō riddled with nicks and cracks—it was none other than Kenpachi Zaraki, the captain of the Eleventh Division.
Facing him was a bald, heavily-built warrior—Madarame Ikkaku, the division's Third Seat, who had been in seclusion for intensive training.
Ikkaku grinned wildly as he clashed with Kenpachi, his Zanpakutō, Hōzukimaru, shifting into its split-trident form. Both fighters bore numerous wounds of varying severity, though Ikkaku seemed to be in worse shape.
"Hmph, Ikkaku, you've been training all this time, yet you've only grown a little stronger. Your progress is nothing compared to Ito's!"
Kenpachi scoffed, effortlessly swatting away Hōzukimaru's segmented attack with a single-handed swing of his blade.
"Oi, Captain, don't underestimate me! I've got a surprise for you!"
Ikkaku smirked confidently.
Makoto Ito narrowed his eyes. "Senior Ikkaku is this confident… could it be?"
Ikkaku lunged forward, his grin widening. Hōzukimaru shifted back into spear form, thrusting toward Kenpachi's chest with full force.
Kenpachi, unfazed, didn't even attempt to dodge. Instead, he seized the spear's head with his right hand, then swung his blade with his left, slicing through Hōzukimaru in a single motion before casually tossing the severed weapon aside.
Clang!
The broken spearhead clattered onto the ground.
"Hmph, is that all you've got?" Kenpachi frowned, clearly unimpressed with Ikkaku's improvement.
Yet, despite Kenpachi's dismissive words, Ikkaku remained undeterred. He picked up the broken pieces of Hōzukimaru, his grin widening.
"Oi, Captain, you better not blink now!"
With a determined glint in his eyes, Ikkaku forcefully rejoined the severed parts of Hōzukimaru.
"Bankai..."
"Wait, Ikkaku!"
Ayasegawa Yumichika, watching from the sidelines, immediately called out to stop him.
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