(T/N: This is the bonus chapter!! Thanks again everyone for the support!!)
The Flamebound Armor of Dust didn't necessarily need to take the form of a giant. Due to time constraints, Nanatsuki only managed to condense a single sword-wielding arm.
The afterimage trailing from the golden flame longsword resembled a half-risen sun, radiating dazzling brilliance through the air.
When the golden flame longsword struck the Thorned Hollow, it sent the creature flying.
Boom!
The Thorned Hollow slammed into the ground, shattering most of the thorny bone spikes along its body. The raging flames on the golden longsword began to spread across its form.
After detaching from the ancient Menos's skeleton, the Thorned Hollow had become significantly faster, but its bone armor was no longer as tough as before.
The pain shooting through its body brought sudden clarity to the Thorned Hollow's eyes.
Only now did it realize—this Shinigami in front of it was terrifyingly strong, far beyond what it could handle.
In that moment, only one thought remained in the Thorned Hollow's mind: Run!
Struggling, it tried to wriggle free from the golden flame longsword pinning it down, hoping to flee.
But by the time it thought of escaping, it was already far too late. Nanatsuki had no intention of letting it go.
Dust and gravel surged in the air once more, merging with the waves of heat, forming another massive flaming golden hand.
Nanatsuki raised his golden flame longsword. Just as the Thorned Hollow attempted to bolt, the left side of its body was skewered into the ground by the sword's reversal.
The golden flame giant hand seized the other end of the Thorned Hollow's body and pulled hard.
"!!!"
The Thorned Hollow let out a bloodcurdling scream as its body was torn clean in half by the overwhelming force.
The creature wasn't made entirely of bone, its central section consisted of a long strip of flesh.
Once split, its blood rained down like a storm.
Both halves of its body flailed in agony like broken worms.
The golden giant hand raised one piece of the writhing corpse and smashed it repeatedly against the other half.
BOOM!
After over a dozen strikes, both halves finally fell silent.
"This must be an Adjuchas-class Menos! And Sensei defeated it so easily!" Shihōin Yoruichi was stunned.
Back during her time in the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force, it often took a team of skilled Shinigami to slay an Adjuchas, yet her teacher had done it alone, and so effortlessly.
The two flaming hands and the golden flame longsword slowly dissipated. The Shadow Space vanished as well, and the Zanpakutō returned to Nanatsuki's hand.
He slowly approached the Thorned Hollow to check its condition.
He hadn't killed it, just knocked it out.
This Hollow might be the same glowing Thorned Hollow that Ulquiorra had encountered. It was worth studying, so Nanatsuki decided to bring it back.
He pulled out several vials of strong anesthetic and injected them into the Hollow's body.
Only after getting closer did Nanatsuki notice: the lower half of the Thorned Hollow had two rows of insect-like legs clamped tightly around a long, narrow bone.
"What is this?" he wondered, eyeing the bone tightly held by the appendages.
The bone was around ten centimeters long. For some reason, the moment he laid eyes on it, Nanatsuki felt a deep, undeniable longing.
A Reiatsu Blade formed at his fingertip, slicing through the bug legs wrapped around the bone.
He picked up the bone. In that instant, he understood the source of his desire, this was a fragment of the Soul King's body!
Then, a disturbance rippled through his shadow.
Several black tendrils emerged from within it, wrapping around the bone's shadow.
Moments later, the anomaly disappeared. The shadow tendrils seemed like nothing more than a hallucination.
Nanatsuki glanced at Shihōin Yoruichi, who was still inspecting the other half of the Hollow and hadn't noticed the change in his shadow.
Looking down again, the bone still cast a shadow. But he knew, something within that shadow had already been absorbed. Now, it was merely a regular shadow under the light.
The Soul King was the keystone stabilizing the three realms and also the god who created them. Even his shadow held divine power. What Nanatsuki had absorbed was a portion of the Soul King's Shadow.
That sliver granted him a small increase in his control over shadows.
Most noticeably, it had slightly strengthened his Bankai's secret ability.
He could already copy another person's ability by interacting with their shadow. Originally, the copied ability retained 10–50% of its true power depending on the opponent's strength.
Now, after absorbing that fragment of the Soul King's Shadow, both the lower and upper limits had increased slightly. However, since the fragment was so small, the overall improvement was under 10%.
Nanatsuki estimated that absorbing ten such fragments would enhance it by roughly one full tier.
He carefully stored away the Soul King's Bone. If he were to one day forge a Hōgyoku, he would also need fragments of the Soul King.
He hadn't expected to gain something like this on the trip.
However, Nanatsuki didn't believe the Soul King's Fragment had originated from the Thorned Hollow. If it had, the Hollow wouldn't have been so weak.
It was far more likely to have come from the Ancient Menos that the Thorned Hollow had attached itself to.
Most fragments of the Soul King had scattered across the three realms, and many were no longer unclaimed.
They often fused into souls and reincarnated with them.
Souls infused with the Soul King's Fragment held great potential.
But they could also become Hollows.
That massive Ancient Menos had likely once been such a soul.
Just from using its old remains, the Thorned Hollow was able to unleash a Cero Oscuras, proving the original Hollow had once been a Vasto Lorde-level powerhouse.
The remnants of the Ancient Menos still retained its Reiatsu. A Vasto Lorde-class Menos was exceedingly rare, even a corpse was invaluable.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Nanatsuki called over Yoruichi, and the two of them packed the remains into a Reishi Shell and took them away.
A few days later, in the Headmaster's Office at the Spiritual Arts Academy
"Department Head Katori, this is the list of new students for this term. It's a small class, only one group. I'll leave them in your care. Let me know if you have any questions." Kotetsu Ayane placed the list in front of Nanatsuki.
He picked it up and quickly spotted several familiar names: Aizen Sōsuke, Kotetsu Isane, Azashiro Sōya, Shiba Isshin, and Yadōmaru Lisa.
He had arranged for his disciples, who had yet to officially begin school, to enroll in this year's class.