"Do yourself a favor and shut down whatever dangerous idea you're cooking up in that head of yours."
Arisawa Sōma's warning cut through the tense air. "This is the outskirts—not a dead zone."
Hearing that,Kisaragi Akira reluctantly pulled back his spiritual pressure, letting the reckless idea he'd just come up with die an early death.
Honestly, his thinking was simple.
Since they couldn't pinpoint where the threat was coming from, then why not just wipe out the entire area with overwhelming firepower?
His Kaidō Specialization skill reduced the cost of spellcasting by fifty percent while doubling the spell's destructive force.
Sure, his spiritual pressure wasn't exactly overwhelming…but with this cheat-like ability backing him up, he was fairly confident he could spread Red Smoke Step over everything his eyes could see.
And if he could use that?
It would be an instant kill.
Unfortunately—
No. He couldn't.
"I already swept the entire forest using spiritual pressure sensing," Sōma said calmly, analyzing the situation as though assessing a research sample. "There's nothing. Not even the slightest disturbance. That leaves us with only three possibilities."
"The enemy's spiritual pressure is far higher than ours," Akira continued, picking up the thread, "or they're using some kind of method to block spiritual pressure detection."
He turned to the north side of the forest. That direction opened into barren wildlands—rolling hills stacked like layers of ink, forming fragmented patterns across the horizon.
"Or…" Akira narrowed his eyes."The source of danger is coming from far beyond this region."
He felt sure of it now.
For someone to evade a lieutenant-level detection range…only a captain-level powerhouse could do that.
But someone like him?Just a student at the Academy of Spiritual Arts?
There was no reason to send a captain after him.
From the intel squeezed out of the assassins, the rebels had only dispatched this single small squad.
To their leader, killing a bright young talent from the Academy already counted as giving face—they'd sent several elite reapers, after all.
Getting wiped out was never even considered a possibility.
Given the current situation, the real danger had to come from somewhere else.
Just as Akira was wondering whether he should go check out the distant hills, a heavy, resonant hum thundered across the forest.The ground began shaking violently—like a dragon rolling beneath the earth.
Both young men exchanged looks.
In neither pair of eyes was there the slightest hint of fear.Instead—curiosity.
And quite a lot of it.
While his danger instinct still hadn't sent up any alarms—
Kisaragi Akira, relying shamelessly on the fact that Arisawa Sōma was vastly stronger, prepared to head directly toward the source of the tremors.
Clearly, every person possessed a certain amount of "self-destructive instinct" in their bones.
Some just hid it better than others.
Meanwhile—Twelfth Division Research Facility.
Nemuji Mayuri stood hunched over a laboratory bench, his face slathered entirely in white paint, bloodshot eyes bulging with manic fury.
"Confirmed! Spirit-wave measurement calibrated!"
"Wait…"
As the massive monitor before him lit up with a radar-like image, Mayuri burst into wild, cackling laughter.Only for his grin to slowly collapse.
"This frequency… It's a Menos-class signature?"
"The location—northwest of Zenteiji Temple… sector three-six-zero-three."
"And… there's a Hollow Cluster Circuit reaction, too…"
He suddenly grinned.
"I remember now… that clueless little brat."
"What terrible luck. To run straight into a Menos incursion."
"He's as good as dea—"
Before he could finish, a cool voice interrupted him.
"Not necessarily, Mayuri."
Sudara Chizuru, pale-skinned and elegant, stepped up beside the enormous monitor. Her refined lips curled in faint amusement as she observed the flashing red markers.
"How arrogant," Mayuri hissed without turning. "Walking into another researcher's private lab without permission…"
Then again, only one person could slip past him unnoticed:
That infuriatingly smug woman—Sudara Chizuru.
"Calling this an intrusion is a bit dramatic," Chizuru replied lazily.
Her eyes remained fixed on the markers representing the Hollow presence.
"I'm far more interested in those two boys."
"I'd like to see what kind of performance they can muster under conditions like these."
…
Kisaragi Akira stared at the swarm of spider-like Hollows rushing toward them, eyes wide.
"Correct me if I'm wrong… but we're still in the Soul Society, right?"
"The great Soul Society. Headquarters of the Shinigami.Why is there an entire Hollow colony here!?"
Arisawa Sōma exhaled a long, weary sigh.
To be honest, even he had no explanation.
In his understanding, Hollows of this size and number shouldn't exist anywhere near the Soul Society.
Judging from how the earlier battle played out, these spider Hollows probably lived deep inside the mountains—or underground.
As for why they were suddenly erupting in such numbers…
Well—
It might have something to do with a certain someone flooding the mountainside with Red Smoke Step, causing chain explosions that destabilized an already fragile spatial boundary.
Or, it could be something else entirely.
"Sōma, we should run."Akira's expression darkened. "A Hollow horde of this size… even for the two of us, it's—"
But before he could finish speaking—
He realized Arisawa Sōma was gone.
Akira: "???"
Wow.Unbelievable.This kid looked all upright and reliable, but when it came to pushing teammates under the bus, he was smooth as butter.
Seeing the horde closing in and the ground shaking even harder, Akira didn't waste a second.He bolted after Sōma's spiritual pressure trail.
He liked doing reckless things, sure.But facing hundreds of Hollows? Maybe even a Menos among them?
Nope.
Recklessness wasn't the same thing as suicide.Two very different categories.
When Akira finally caught up, he found Sōma chanting a spell he'd never heard before—voice low and steady.
"…jagged spires, sink and scatter… pale light, fall into the bottomless abyss… ignite the burning sun… illuminate the four corners…"
"Kaidō #57—Earthshift Waltz!"
The instant the words left his mouth—
The ground behind them split open with a deafening crack.Layers of earth rose like raging waves, stacking upon each other and shooting skyward.
Two towering ramparts formed—and between them, a chasm so deep it seemed to swallow light itself.
"Holy—"Akira sucked in a breath. "Okay, wow. That's definitely you, Sōma."
"But if you're this incredible, why not just turn around and wipe out the Hollows?"
Sōma shot him a look normally reserved for hopeless idiots.
Just then, something in Akira's clothes vibrated violently.
The Hollow Cluster Circuit.
He pulled it out, and before he could inspect it with spiritual pressure—a voice suddenly spoke from inside.
"Hello, hello. Can you hear me?"
Akira froze.
This thing… had a communication function!?
"This is Sudara Research HQ," Chizuru's voice flowed through with refined clarity. "Our readings detect a Black-Kisha species cluster in your vicinity. Cause unknown."
"But more importantly—among that group, a Menos-class Hollow's spiritual pressure has been confirmed."
Her tone carried genuine concern.
"Young man—until backup arrives…do try not to die."