Tamura Kazuki was one of the most outstanding students of this year's Shino Spiritual Art Academy. During the assessment, she faced a formidable opponent—a hollow that resembled an oversized mouse.
After careful observation and some initial feints, she uncovered its primary weakness: its vision was extremely poor, relying entirely on its acute hearing and swift movements. Seizing this knowledge, she used White Thunder to generate misleading sounds, creating a diversion. The moment the hollow was disoriented, she struck with precision, delivering what she believed to be a fatal blow.
Relief washed over her as she thought she had successfully completed the assessment and earned her place as a fully-fledged God of Death. However, her victory was short-lived. To her horror, the hollow she had just cut down did not fade away; instead, its spiritual pressure surged, its body contorting and morphing. Within seconds, it transformed into a monstrous rat-headed humanoid, its grotesque mask cracking apart to reveal something even more horrifying beneath.
Realizing the fight was far from over, Tamura steadied her breathing, tightened her grip on her blade, and charged forward once more. This time, she channeled her entire spiritual energy into her sword, striking with all her might. But to her dismay, the blade barely left a scratch, only sending a few sparks scattering across the hollow's hardened surface.
"Squeak!" The now half-human, half-rat monstrosity shrieked in fury. With a powerful swipe of its claw, it sent Tamura's sword flying from her hands. As the creature advanced on her, step by step, she desperately reached for the Breaking Border Pill given to her by the examiners. But when she crushed it, expecting salvation, nothing happened. Fear gripped her—something had gone terribly wrong.
Outside the Barrier,
"O Lord Lander, mask of flesh and blood, flapping wings that soar high, essence of humanity! Truth and restraint, ignorant of the greatest wall of dreams—stand before me!"
"Way of Destruction 33—Blue Firefall!"
Makoto Ito, no longer concealing his strength, chanted in full incantation, unleashing a torrent of azure flames that tore through the darkness of the night. The monstrous creature, engulfed in the inferno, let out an agonized roar. Its flesh writhed as the blue fire consumed it, while its tentacle-like appendages flailed wildly.
Seizing the moment, Ito dashed forward, his blade crackling with pure white lightning. With a single, decisive strike, he cleaved through the burning monstrosity.
A thunderous boom echoed through the battlefield. The once-terrifying abomination—an incomplete Arrancar formed from a powerful Gillian—was reduced to lifeless fragments.
"Is this… the strength of a student?"
Rimi Oi, standing nearby, could hardly believe what she had just witnessed. The same grotesque creature that had nearly overwhelmed her was vanquished in mere moments by Ito's flawless execution. She swallowed hard, feeling an unexpected mixture of awe and fear.
"Oi! What are you standing around for? Go help the other students!" Ito's voice snapped her out of her stupor.
Shaking off her shock, Rimi Oi immediately rushed toward the other barriers spread across the mountain slopes.
But the situation was far worse than she had anticipated. Within the barriers below, all thirty-two students—originally meant to undergo their assessments—had transformed into incomplete Arrancars. The Breaking Border Pills, their supposed safeguard, had mysteriously lost effectiveness. Someone had tampered with the parameters of the barriers, rendering the pills useless.
Though these newly formed Arrancars were only as strong as high-tier Hollows, they still vastly outmatched the students, who were now on the brink of annihilation. Worse still, the barriers were too widely dispersed—saving them one by one would be impossible within the time they had left.
"It's over…" Rimi Oi muttered in despair, her mind spiraling into panic. "If they all die here, I'll be held accountable… I'll be dragged before Central 46 for trial. The 18th Seat I was just appointed to… it'll be stripped away!"
Suddenly, she felt an immense surge of spiritual pressure behind her. Spinning around, her breath caught as she beheld Makoto Ito, his eyes sharp with focus, his presence overwhelming.
Standing firm, Ito muttered under his breath:
"The evil spirits and monsters that plague this world… The gods and saints that crumble into dust… Annihilate them all."
A pulse of dark golden spiritual energy radiated outward. In an instant, Ito's blade underwent a drastic transformation. Its form shifted into a bone-white weapon, its blade elongated and razor-thin. The hilt extended, curving into an intricate, skeletal jaw. A delicate yet sinister iron chain trailed from the handle.
"A gesture of the Annihilation God—Shatter."
Makoto Ito gently swung the long sword in his hand, and the blade began to emit a faint vibration. In the next instant, the thirty-two barriers below shattered, and the monstrous creatures trapped within them exploded into a gruesome spray of blood and flesh.
"Insanity!"
Even the barriers that had once confined the students crumbled to dust.
Tamura, frozen in fear, could only watch as the monstrous rat's giant claws closed in, mere centimeters from her forehead. She had already resigned herself to fate, squeezing her eyes shut in despair, waiting for the inevitable end.
"Father… Mother… I'm sorry… I've failed you this time…"
A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
Then—warmth. A sudden heat splashed across her face. Seconds passed. Tentatively, she reached up and touched her head, confirming that it was still attached to her body. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
The monstrous rat that had loomed over her was no more—reduced to nothing but a splatter of blood and viscera, staining the ground and even her own face.
"Am I… saved?"
Before she could fully process what had happened, a sharp voice pulled her back to reality.
"What are you standing there for? Move! Now!" Rimi Oi called out urgently.
Still dazed, Tamura instinctively activated her Shunpo and rushed to Rimi Oi's side.
Meanwhile, Makoto Ito stood motionless, eyes locked onto a dark fissure forming in the air before him. From within the gaping hollow, two black-green claws stretched outward, grasping for the living world.
"Senior Oi, take everyone back to the Soul Society," Ito said firmly, never taking his eyes off the emerging threat. "If you stay here, I'll have to divide my focus to protect you."
His words were blunt, but Rimi Oi wasn't offended. She knew he was simply speaking the truth. In this battle, her presence would only be a liability.
Without hesitation, she activated the return interface, leading the thirty-two surviving students—each of whom had just barely escaped death—back to the Soul Society.
"Mr. Ito, thanks to you, not a single student perished today. Please, take care in the battle ahead!" Rimi Oi called out before vanishing with the others.
The aftermath of the battle was grim, but considering the overwhelming odds, the results were nothing short of a miracle. Because of Makoto Ito's decisive actions, all thirty-two students survived, with only two casualties among the Ninth Division's soldiers.
It was, at the very least, a victory amidst tragedy.
Among those saved, Tamura couldn't suppress the deep unease in her heart.
"Senior Oi… will Ito… be okay?"
She had long admired Makoto Ito from afar—the prodigy who had ascended through the academy's ranks at an unprecedented pace, skipping six levels in a single year. But she had always felt too insignificant to voice her admiration.
And now, he was staying behind—alone—to face an unknown horror.
Rimi Oi glanced at her and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. He'll be fine."
Despite her own fears, her conviction was unwavering. She had seen that expression, that unshakable aura, before.
Only two people had ever carried such an overwhelming presence: the former Captain of the Ninth Division, Kensei Muguruma, and the current Captain, Kaname Tōsen.
Makoto Ito… was no ordinary warrior.
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