The aftermath of the Vasto Lorde's retreat left Seireitei uneasy. Though the sky had returned to its usual silver sheen, tension lingered in the air like residual smoke. Repairs were underway, and reinforcements patrolled every district wall, but the real battle, it seemed, was only just beginning.
Lan Yan stood atop the roof of a quiet barrack, watching the horizon. His side still ached from the Hollow's strike—a reminder that even now, danger wore many masks.
Then he felt it.
A pulse.
Not the raw savagery of a Hollow. Nor the disciplined flare of a trained Shinigami.
It was something else.
Something wrong.
FWOOM!
A blast of force slammed into the rooftop below, sending tiles cascading. Lan Yan leaped back just in time as the structure exploded upward—revealing a figure clad in torn black robes, bearing both a shattered Hollow mask fragment and the tattered remains of a Shinigami haori.
His spiritual pressure was wild, flaring in jagged bursts of red and violet.
"I've been waiting for you," the figure rasped, stepping out of the smoke. "Lan Yan… the golden prodigy. The one they whisper about."
Lan Yan's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
The man bowed slightly, mockingly. "Kutsuki Renjiro. Former lieutenant of the Eighth Division… former candidate for Hollowfication. Current weapon of necessity."
He grinned—and Lan Yan saw the glint of fangs behind his human teeth.
"You're a hybrid," Lan Yan said flatly.
"More than that. I am the future they feared. What happens when the chain is broken… and reforged."
Renjiro lifted his hand. Black spiritual flames erupted around it, forming a jagged, cleaver-like blade.
"Let's see if your precious light can outshine my darkness."
Before Lan Yan could draw, Renjiro vanished.
SHUNK!
The blow landed behind his shoulder—barely dodged by a twist and flash step. Sparks flew as Zhuoyin parried the follow-up.
Lan Yan skidded back, boots carving into the stone walkway. Renjiro stood poised, smiling through the heat.
"You're fast," Lan Yan murmured.
"You haven't seen anything yet."
Renjiro's Hollow energy exploded outward. Mask fragments clustered around his jaw and left eye. His blade howled with reiryoku, and a trail of black mist flowed from his steps.
Zhuoyin pulsed in warning. He's unstable. That power isn't bonded—it's devouring him.
Lan Yan nodded. "Good."
CLANG!
They clashed again, blades ringing across the barracks as energy shattered the air around them. Renjiro's strikes came in unpredictable flurries—erratic, fueled by Hollow rage, but backed with trained precision. He wasn't some mindless monster.
He was a soldier. Broken. Reforged.
And he hated everything Lan Yan represented.
"You're everything I was supposed to be!" Renjiro bellowed, his mask extending across his face now. "Chosen. Admired. A Shinigami with control!"
Lan Yan dodged, spun, and slashed upward—grazing Renjiro's mask. Fragments flew.
Renjiro screamed and countered with a point-blank Cero.
BOOM!
The rooftop cratered. Smoke and flame billowed out.
Lan Yan emerged from the blast, cloak singed, blood at the corner of his mouth—but his eyes burned brighter than ever.
"That's why you failed," he said. "You wanted strength, but not responsibility."
Renjiro snarled. "Shut up!"
He lunged again—only for a flash of gold to arc from Lan Yan's blade.
SLASH!
Renjiro stumbled, bleeding across the chest.
Lan Yan didn't stop.
FWOOSH!
Zhuoyin flared into full release—not Bankai, but enough.
Light gathered around Lan Yan like falling stars, reflecting in Renjiro's cracked, Hollow eye.
"I don't pity you," Lan Yan said. "But I won't let you go."
Renjiro coughed, sinking to one knee. "You think this… ends with me?"
He raised his broken sword, laughing despite the blood. "You think… I'm the only one they made?"
Lan Yan stepped forward, blade gleaming.
"No," he said. "But you'll be the last they test on me."
With a final sweep, light engulfed the rooftop.
When it faded, Renjiro lay unconscious—his Hollow features receding, mask crumbling like ash.
Lan Yan exhaled and looked at the stars above.
Somewhere, the puppet strings were twitching.
And someone was watching their hybrid pawn fail.
Author's Note:
Kutsuki Renjiro: Hollow-Soul Reaper hybrid. Ambition twisted into hatred.
He got his moment… and Lan Yan gave him the ending he deserved.
But what if he wasn't the only one?
What if there are more?
Hybrids. Experiments. Weapons of desperation.
Lan Yan fights with light. Lanran sees with illusions.
And both are now hunted.
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