Chapter 7: Ainicht
Unlike the chaotic era when Kurosaki Ichigo was active, the past few decades in Soul Society had been peaceful.
Too peaceful.
No major uprisings, no great heroes or villains making waves.
Even a simple Gillian subjugation could now be considered a "large-scale operation."
Peace, of course, was a blessing—
but it had a price.
The newest generation of Shinigami lacked real combat experience.
(With the obvious exception of the Eleventh Division.)
Take Mizuma, for instance.
Despite holding the rank of Fifth Seat in the Eighth Division, the total number of battles he'd actually fought in was barely twenty—
and all of them consisted of beating up random small fry Hollows during patrols.
It was hardly the kind of experience that built battlefield instincts.
Even so, he could tell one thing at a glance:
the Hollow in front of him was absurdly weak.
Her stance was unstable.
Her grip sloppy.
Her focus wandered.
And she was subconsciously stepping backward.
Adjuchas-level? Seriously?
Ordinary Hollows aside—
Menos-class Hollows, from Gillian onward, were born from piles of corpses and oceans of blood.
Even lazy types like Starrk possessed extraordinary combat sense.
As for the others who clawed their way into the Espada?
They were all monsters forged by endless slaughter.
A Menos could be bad at fighting, sure—
but not cowardly.
At least not from the start.
So who in the world was this weirdo?
Feeling a deep sense of dissonance, Mizuma raised his hand and decided to test her with a small combo.
"Bakudō #63 — Sajō Sabaku!"
A golden chain shot forth, twisting through the air like a spirit serpent before coiling tightly around the Hollow.
"Hadō #63 — Raikōhō!"
A blazing flash of golden-white lightning burst from his palm, roaring forward like an artillery shell—
and slammed directly into the Hollow's head.
Battle over.
When the light faded, the Hollow's beautiful white hair was puffed up from static, her entire body scorched black.
Then, with a dull thud, she fell face-first to the ground.
Mizuma: "...???"
Wait, what?
That's it?
She's down?
You're telling me you're an Adjuchas?!
Apologize to Nnoitra and Grimmjow right now!
You've just humiliated your entire species!
If he went back and bragged that he'd taken down an Adjuchas in just two moves, no one in Seireitei would believe him.
They'd laugh him out of the barracks.
To be sure she wasn't faking it, Mizuma fired another Byakurai for good measure.
She only twitched on the ground, reiatsu fading into nothing—
like a fish flopping helplessly on land.
So she really was that weak?!
Even so, he remained cautious.
He cast several high-level binding spells around her, then leaned against the doorway, lost in thought.
Strangely…
Even though he'd won effortlessly, he felt more exhausted than after his very first field mission.
Damn it. Return my carefully built-up tension, you fraud…
---
Ainicht slowly regained consciousness.
She tried to move—
only to find herself bound tightly in place, unable even to stand.
She was still in her workshop, sitting in her own chair—
but now, standing before her, was a man in a Shihakushō.
A Shinigami.
Right.
He'd defeated her.
"I'll ask, you'll answer. Understand?"
His tone was flat, his eyes oddly empty, as though he'd just lost something important.
The seriousness in his voice, however, made her heart seize up in fear.
She nodded frantically.
"Name?"
"...A–Ainicht Bionis."
"What are you doing here?"
"I was ordered by Lord Szayelaporro to look after his experiments… and to build my autonomous defense dolls."
"Recently, a Garganta appeared in Soul Society—one that won't close. Many Hollows have come through it. Do you know anything about that?"
So that was what he wanted.
At that moment, Ainicht's heart turned to ash.
Tears welled up instantly, spilling down her cheeks like a flood.
"...?"
Mizuma was completely thrown off.
What the hell? Why do I suddenly feel like the bad guy here?
He hadn't been imagining it—this Hollow really was acting like a soft, timid girl.
Her mask, cracked at the upper-left corner from his Raikōhō, revealed one watery eye trembling with fear.
The air around her was so fragile, so pitiful, that the Shinigami who came to protect the innocent now looked more like a villain interrogating a defenseless maiden.
And worse—
his comm line to Urahara was still open.
If anyone overheard this conversation…
God knew what kind of rumors would spread about him.
Ainicht sniffled, then hesitantly began to speak:
"Th–That was…"
"Speak clearly!"
"Eep—!!"
He instantly regretted it.
He'd only raised his voice to stop the situation from getting any weirder—
but it backfired spectacularly.
She was now so terrified she'd stopped crying altogether.
At this point, ignoring the titles and power levels, it was obvious which one of them looked more like the criminal.
I'm done. Just end me…
Ainicht, voice quivering, finally confessed:
"I was acting under Lord Szayelaporro's orders… I was releasing my ability into Soul Society, sending Hollows through the Garganta to hunt souls for research material…"
The other end of the comm erupted in noise—
members of the Research and Development Bureau whispering and shouting over each other in rapid technical jargon that Mizuma didn't understand a single word of.
At this point, he dropped all pretense of kindness and questioned her coldly:
"Continue. Who is Szayelaporro?"
"L–Lord Szayelaporro is… a research officer of Las Noches."
That wasn't new information, so Mizuma didn't press on it.
"You said 'releasing your ability'—what exactly does that mean?"
"...I wasn't originally a Menos," Ainicht stammered, choking on her words.
"But I can open Garganta more easily than other Hollows. Lord Szayelaporro noticed and made me devour many Gillians… He said I might become useful in the future…"
"I see…"
So that's it.
A buffed-up lab rat—
a Bronze-rank mindset thrown into a King-tier match.
Getting obliterated was only natural.
"Later… I evolved into an Adjuchas. As long as something contains my stored reiryoku, it can sustain a Garganta. This experiment was meant to test the ability's duration…"
Her voice broke into sobs.
"I didn't want to do it, but… if I disobeyed Lord Szayelaporro, he would have killed me… S–So I had no choice…"