"What?"
"Only eleven seconds?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo can only last eleven seconds?"
"As a male high schooler at the peak of his hormones, isn't that a bit… underwhelming?"
In the real world,
inside the Visoreds' hideout—
the moment they heard the time limit of "eleven seconds,"
the pervy Sarugaki Hiyori and Yadomaru Lisa immediately went off the rails, deliberately teasing in a suggestive tone.
Honestly,
every time Kurosaki Ichigo hollowfied
and put on that handsome black tailcoat,
the two of them couldn't help wanting to drool over his body!!!
Especially now that,
thanks to the countdown video,
it had already been revealed that Kurosaki Ichigo would become a new member of the Visoreds in the future—
that thought had only grown stronger!
These two thirsty women
were just waiting for the day future Kurosaki Ichigo came knocking,
so they could use "let's exchange tips on hollowfication" as an excuse to lure him into a room and "spar" with him together all night long!
However…
right now,
after hearing it was only eleven seconds,
Hiyori shook her head and Lisa frowned, both clearly dissatisfied.
After all…
people always say:
"At thirty you're a wolf, at forty a tiger, at fifty you can suck the dust off the floor."
Let alone them—
they were already several hundred years old!
After holding their desires in for over a hundred years, a measly eleven seconds…
was nowhere near enough!!!
"Hey, hey, hey…"
"The two of you, kindly stop fantasizing right now!!!"
Hirako Shinji rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Their minds were always in the gutter.
Besides, Kurosaki Ichigo wasn't even officially an adult yet, was he?
That was seriously a crime!!!
Off to the side,
Aikawa Love, his hair puffed up like an explosion,
gave a more objective assessment.
"Honestly, I think it's fine. It's Ichigo's first time using hollowfication in an actual battle, after all."
"Being able to maintain it for eleven seconds is already pretty outstanding…"
Otoribashi Rōjūrō nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. If you think about it, when we first started, none of us were that much better…"
In his memory,
among the Visored captains, only Sarugaki Hiyori had been a born freak.
The very first time she hollowfied,
she'd managed to hold it for two and a half hours straight—
basically on par with "the chicken bro" as a benchmark of absurd stamina.
As for the rest of them,
they had only gradually extended their hollowfication time through long, later training—
training that had stretched over a span of a full hundred years!
Naturally, that wasn't something Kurosaki Ichigo in the present could compare to!!!
"Looks like…"
"Those eleven seconds are absolutely crucial."
Muguruma Kensei folded his arms, speaking in a low voice.
"In that limited window, Ichigo has to give it his all…"
"Otherwise, once that Espada gets a chance to breathe, even one-armed his combat power is nothing to scoff at!!!"
In short,
in the eyes of the Visored captains,
this battle was extremely important. It was tied not only to Kurosaki Ichigo's confidence,
but also
to the reputation
of the Visoreds themselves!
If Ichigo hollowfied and still couldn't defeat a severely injured Grimmjow,
then that would be a reverse humiliation—
it would imply that even though they had mastered hollow powers and became the Visored captains,
in the grand lineup of all the strong ones in the Soul Reaper world,
they were still just roadside nobodies!!!
——
Back to the video.
Under the audience's expectant gaze,
his hollow mask fully formed.
Kurosaki Ichigo's pupils turned a yellow-brown, his gaze icy cold.
The spiritual pressure surging from within his body
was as savage as a Menos, if not even more intense!!!
"What is that…"
Grimmjow froze,
his pupils sharply contracting—he was clearly intimidated.
His answer, however,
was Kurosaki Ichigo's figure, moving so fast it was almost like a roar of motion,
shunpo-ing in an instant right up to Grimmjow's face!
"Getsuga Tenshō!!!"
His signature move.
A slash swung straight toward him.
A crimson crescent-shaped wave erupted, enormous and spectacular, like a curtain sweeping across the sky.
The entire air above Karakura Town
was instantly dyed a blood-red hue by the shockwave of the blast!
As for the target of this attack,
Grimmjow's figure was immediately swallowed up—the battle was completely one-sided!
"So strong…"
"The power of hollowfication really is incredible!"
"Kurosaki Ichigo's spiritual pressure clearly jumped up an entire tier!"
"I even feel like, compared to Grimmjow, he looks more like an Espada right now!!!"
In the Seireitei,
the Soul Reapers of the Gotei 13 all let out cries of shock.
They were stunned by Kurosaki Ichigo's overwhelming power.
And they could clearly see
shades of Hollow Ichigo's fighting style in him!
Once again it was a perfect blend of Soul Reaper and hollow power.
This kind of perfectly balanced state
was exactly the sort of power
that most Soul Reapers deep down
secretly yearned for and pursued!
It was only because of the red line drawn by Soul Society's laws
that they couldn't actively seek out hollowfication.
Under these circumstances,
they subconsciously put themselves in Kurosaki Ichigo's shoes.
Through him—through the eyes of the protagonist—
they were vicariously experiencing the explosive surge of power after hollowfication,
and enjoying the thrill that came with it!
And that earlier attack
had not let anyone down. The spectacle really was intense!!!
"Heh heh…"
"Three seconds have already passed now."
Behind his blue-and-white mask,
Kurotsuchi Mayuri's eyes rolled around as he commented with dark amusement,
"Which means… at most Ichigo only has three more chances to attack. It doesn't sound all that stable, does it…"
"True…"
Komamura Sajin nodded.
"At this rate, just each of us saying a single sentence—nine seconds would pass in no time, wouldn't it?"
Sure enough—
just by chatting like this for a moment,
another three seconds were gone.
However,
inside the footage,
the swirling smoke and shockwaves still hadn't dispersed.
Kurosaki Ichigo, meanwhile, was standing calmly in place.
His relaxed demeanor
made the Gotei captains start to doubt their own sense of time.
Could just a few seconds…
really feel that long?
It was absurd!!!
——
Later,
when the blast finally cleared,
Grimmjow's wounded state was revealed on screen—
and once again, it caused an uproar in the real world!
He was,
from head to toe, covered in blood and his clothes were ripped to tatters.
Grimmjow looked utterly miserable.
Even his sky-blue short hair
had been dyed red by blood!
He no longer had even a shred of the dignified bearing
an Espada was supposed to have.
He looked pathetically wretched!!!
"Damn it…"
"To think he hurt me this badly!"
"This is all that idiot Tōsen's fault! If not for him…"
"If I still had both arms, there's no way Kurosaki Ichigo would've beaten me up this badly!!!"
In Las Noches,
Grimmjow ground his teeth in fury.
Once again he glared viciously at Tōsen Kaname.
If Aizen weren't present,
he probably would have exploded on the spot!
Given their long-standing grudge,
and Grimmjow's explosive personality,
there was no way he'd hold back—he'd definitely try to settle things with Tōsen right then and there!!!
"Grimmjow…"
"Don't panic. Ichigo's hollowfication time doesn't have much left."
"In fact, starting from the moment I say this, you can begin counting down…"
Ichimaru Gin curved his fox-like smile,
speaking in that sing-song mocking tone of his.
"Tch…"
"It had better be like that…"
Grimmjow shoved his hands into his pockets and spat in annoyance.
"Just eleven seconds, and he thinks he can beat me?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo is dreaming!!!"
However—
right after he finished talking,
Grimmjow saw on the screen
Ichigo in the future flash step in close again—
launching two Getsuga slashes that sandwiched his future self from front and back!
Another explosion of spiritual-pressure shockwaves.
This time,
Grimmjow was finally seriously injured.
Even though, while falling,
he managed to launch a Cero in retaliation,
he still ended up
getting cleaved cleanly by Tensa Zangetsu!
From start to finish,
he was almost completely dominated.
Hollowfied Kurosaki Ichigo,
in front of the entire world,
was playing him like a spinning top—beating him down mercilessly!!!
However…
this sequence of footage
also made most of the viewers pull strange faces. Something felt off.
"???"
"What… is going on?"
"Those eleven seconds still aren't over?"
"Seriously! Why does it feel like Ichigo's 'eleven seconds' of time flow has nothing to do with the eleven seconds we understand!!!"
The audience was totally dumbfounded.
For a normal person, eleven seconds was nothing more than the time it took to breathe—at most long enough to take a sip of water.
Forget delivering lines—
even getting through a complete sentence would be cutting it close.
And yet for our protagonist Kurosaki Ichigo, eleven seconds meant:
tons of dialogue!
Saying "there's no time to explain" while still explaining a whole bunch,
and swinging his sword over and over!
Shunpo, sword strikes, Getsuga Tenshō—
a continuous flurry of offense, and the viewers had watched him unleash series after series of it with their own eyes!
Even now,
at this very moment of everyone's complaining—
the hollow mask on Ichigo's face still hadn't vanished.
It looked like someone had welded it onto him!
Saying it would disappear was clearly just messing with people—purely to troll the audience!
It was completely ridiculous!!!
"A new cheat code, huh?"
"One that lets you customize how fast time passes…"
"That's even more broken than my 'aging' power…"
Even the skeletal king Baraggan had to admit defeat.
His ability—Aging—accelerated the flow of time to make enemies rot away, their bodies eroded into bone by darkness.
But—
even such a rule-type power
still couldn't compete with Ichigo's infinite time!
On this point,
Baraggan was speechless.
And he secretly felt glad he wasn't Ichigo's opponent.
Otherwise…
the only thing he could be proud of
would also end up losing in disgrace to the other guy's protagonist hacks!
With Baraggan's pride,
the former ruler of Hueco Mundo had no intention of suffering that kind of humiliation!!!
——
After that,
under the audience's collective "my life is a lie" stares,
those absurd eleven seconds even stretched long enough for Ichigo to
grab Tensa Zangetsu with both hands
and go toe-to-toe with Grimmjow in a drawn-out sword clash.
Finally…
only when his blade cracked and his hollow mask at last shattered,
did it end!!!
"Damn it…"
"Son of a—finally, that damn mask disappeared!"
In reality,
Grimmjow swore furiously.
Watching his future self get thrashed by Ichigo nonstop,
he felt like eleven years had passed, that's how long it felt.
If the countdown video
allowed complaints or a report button,
Grimmjow would've called the cops already!
Or dialed some complaint hotline to report Ichigo for over-using hacks!
Resurrection.
Proxy fighters.
Infinite time, hundred-fold skill duration!
One cheat stacked on another.
Grimmjow really couldn't take it anymore. He was on the verge of losing the will to live!!!
Fortunately,
things weren't entirely hopeless.
In the subsequent footage, the video fast-forwarded continuously, jumping ahead—
until it reached the ending,
where this second round between Grimmjow and Ichigo
was unexpectedly interrupted yet again!!!
"?!"
"That's… Ulquiorra!!!"
Inside Las Noches,
startled exclamations rang out.
The Hollows and Arrancar were shocked to see that just as Grimmjow in the video was about to press the attack,
a pillar of anti-membrane light suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping his whole body.
At the same time,
Ulquiorra appeared.
He ordered Grimmjow to stand down and forcibly took him back to Hueco Mundo.
"?!"
"So that was Lord Aizen's order, huh?"
Seeing this,
the real Ulquiorra's green eyes flickered.
With his personality—cold and taciturn—
he didn't actually have many thoughts about the event itself.
But the reminder that came next
made Ulquiorra involuntarily furrow his brows.
"Tch…"
"Ulquiorra, stop interfering!"
"I've got this feeling that after you mess up Grimmjow's fun, Ichigo's next opponent is gonna be you!!!"
Yammy spoke in a confident tone,
grinning wickedly.
The reason he drew that conclusion
was because,
in the footage,
high up inside that pillar of anti-membrane light,
Ulquiorra lifted his gaze and, with an icy expression, mocked:
"So you've mastered all of your power?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo… you're nowhere near enough."
His cold contempt
showed he didn't take Ichigo seriously at all.
Just like that,
with a gesture that treated everything as beneath him,
Ulquiorra took Grimmjow and left.
The two of them ultimately disappeared from Ichigo's sight—
and this round of battle footage came to an end!!!
However,
Ulquiorra's mid-battle intervention
sparked confusion and speculation among the viewers:
"Captain…"
"What does that mean?"
"They'd clearly invaded us and were just about to launch a counterattack—why would they suddenly retreat halfway?"
"Why does it feel like they were carrying out some kind of mission?"
Inside the Urahara Shop,
Isshin Kurosaki stroked his stubbly chin,
casting Kisuke Urahara an inquiring look.
"It's probably a feint,"
after a moment of thought,
Urahara quickly gave an answer.
"?!"
"You're saying… the Arrancar weren't actually coming for Ichigo?"
Kurosaki Isshin was just as shocked by this explanation.
After all,
this whole round of the countdown
was mainly about revealing Zangetsu's evolution and Ichigo's growth.
And the fight scenes that had just played
were all centered on Ichigo.
If it wasn't about the protagonist,
who else could it involve?
"Hard to say for now…"
Urahara shook his head, and could only speculate.
"It's very possible they're targeting someone close to Ichigo instead."
Right as he finished speaking,
the transparent light screen flickered,
and a new clip began to play!
"Boom!!!"
In the boundary space surrounding Karakura Town,
Ulquiorra stepped out of the darkness, hands in his pockets.
Facing him,
were two Soul Reaper corpses lying on the ground—
killed by Cero blasts—
and…
a single lone figure.
Her expression panicked, her appearance pitiful—
Inoue Orihime!!!
"Woman, come with me. To Hueco Mundo."
"You don't have the right to choose. The only answer you're allowed to give is 'yes.'"
Facing the video feed,
Ulquiorra spoke in an uncompromising tone
as he strode toward Orihime, clearly intending to take her away by force.
"Lord Aizen requires your power."
"And my mission is to bring you back to him without a scratch…"
At the same time, under the glow of the screen,
with countless viewers watching—
especially knowing, in the setting of the Soul Reaper world, that this was the moment where the Hueco Mundo storyline would begin—
inside Orihime's body,
the power known as Shun Shun Rikka was slowly awakening!
The side-profile silhouette of Kurosaki Ichigo
that appeared along with this
instantly set off shockwaves.
The audience was stunned yet again!
"Wait…"
"This girl… she seems to be Ichigo's companion, right?"
"Is that Rukia? Or his girlfriend?"
"Just snatching her right in front of everyone like that…"
"Aren't you afraid Ichigo will chase you all the way to Hueco Mundo and fight you to the death?"
"Looks like the 'Hueco Mundo' dungeon is about to open!"
"Next, Ichigo's going to speed-run Hueco Mundo again!!!"
At that moment,
everyone realized that
after everything that had happened in the Soul Reaper world,
the same sort of storm was about to hit Hueco Mundo.
A reunion was coming—!!!
(End of Chapter)
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