The wind across Karakura rooftops tasted different now.
Sharper.
Metallic.
Like something heavy in the air was waiting to burst.
Rukia sprinted across the cityscape with the grace of someone who'd done this a thousand times. Ethan followed close, landing on each roof panel with a softer, more careful step. He wasn't a front-line Shinigami — his body read the world differently. He felt pressure not as a challenge, but as data.
And the data was wrong.
PING.
A soft, translucent flicker appeared in the corner of Ethan's vision.
> [NOTICE: Variable spiritual density detected.
Trajectory: West-southwest.
Pattern: Non-Hollow distortion overlapping Hollow signature.]
Ethan felt his stomach tighten.
There it was again — the second signature shadowing the Hollow.
The Panel never gave dramatic flair; it didn't yell "DANGER!" It just… nudged. Like a quiet voice clearing its throat.
Rukia didn't notice the flicker, but she sensed Ethan's focus shift.
"Is it the same presence from before?" she asked without slowing.
"Yeah," he replied. "Stronger now. Like it's reacting to the Hollow."
Rukia exhaled through her nose — not fear, but a measured frown.
"There shouldn't be two anomalies in the same area."
A beat.
"…There shouldn't be even one."
Another boom shook the air, this one closer. A Hollow roar echoed down the streets — high-pitched, aggressive, hungry.
Rukia leapt higher and launched herself across a wide street, cloak flaring.
Ethan followed, landing on a streetlight and climbing up to the next rooftop.
He glanced at the Panel's lingering glow.
"Can you identify what's overlapping the Hollow?"
A soft ripple answered.
> [INSUFFICIENT DATA.
Pattern resembles: Boundary Intruder.
Estimated probability of Hybrid classification: 63%.]
Boundary Intruder.
That… was new.
Before Ethan could dwell on it, Rukia suddenly halted on a tall rooftop overlooking a residential block.
"There."
Ethan landed beside her.
And saw it.
---
A Hollow That Didn't Belong
Its mask was jagged — cracked along the left side as if something had clawed from the inside.
Its limbs were uneven, one swollen with reiryoku, the other thin and twitching.
It crawled on all fours through an intersection, leaving gouges in the asphalt.
Rukia's breath hitched.
"That's not…"
She shook her head. "Hollows don't mutate like this without reason. Something interfered with its formation."
Ethan didn't respond.
Because the Hollow's reiatsu wasn't stable.
It pulsed like a heartbeat.
Flared like sparks.
Then dipped suddenly into a void-like low.
And each time it dipped…
The second signature rippled in response, like it was inhaling the Hollow's exhaled reiatsu.
Ethan felt the temperature drop.
"Rukia," he whispered, "I think something is feeding off it."
Rukia's eyes widened slightly.
"That's—"
ROOOOAAAAR!!!
The Hollow snapped its head up, scenting the sky.
Rukia straightened.
"It's noticed us."
Her foot slid forward in a combat stance.
"This is mine. Observe, stay back, and do not engage."
Ethan almost nodded.
But the Panel blazed again.
> [ALERT: Incoming threat is not solely the Hollow.
Secondary entity approaching.
Distance: 147 meters.]
Ethan's heart kicked.
"It's getting closer."
Rukia didn't take her eyes off the Hollow.
"The secondary presence?"
"Yes."
"That shouldn't be possible. Nothing masks its reiatsu that completely."
"Well—" Ethan muttered, "—it's doing it anyway."
CRASH!
The Hollow lunged upward, leaping onto a building, claws skittering across tile. Rukia vanished in a blur of shunpo, reappearing on a lower roof to intercept.
Ethan moved to track her, but—
PING.
A new message.
> [ADVISORY:
Hybrid signature increasing.
Vector altered.
New target: Rukia Kuchiki.]
Ethan froze.
His blood ran cold.
Not him.
Not the Hollow.
Rukia.
He looked to the far side of the residential block…
And felt it.
A thin ripple, not reiatsu but pressure — like the air being bent around a moving blade.
Something was coming.
Fast.
Ethan didn't think.
Didn't ask permission.
Didn't follow protocol.
He stepped off the rooftop and sprinted down after Rukia.
---
Rukia vs. the Mutant Hollow
Rukia met the Hollow head-on. Her blade flashed in a clean arc and sliced off its front left leg in one precise motion.
The Hollow shrieked and stumbled, crashing through a row of trash bins.
"Stay down," she commanded sharply, lifting her sword again.
Ethan landed several rooftops back, chest tight.
He could see the secondary ripple coming closer — an invisible current pushing through the night.
"RUKIA!"
She didn't look back.
"Ethan! Stay clear!"
He ignored her.
"Something else is coming! Look to your right!"
Rukia pivoted instantly—
But the presence moved faster.
A distortion shimmered against the streetlamp across from her — like a smudge in reality, a faint humanoid silhouette bending the light around it.
Ethan saw its outline clearly.
The Hollow did too — it shrieked in terror, not rage.
Rukia's eyes widened.
"What—?"
PING.
> [WARNING: Hostile signature fully materialized.
Classification: UNKNOWN HYBRID.]
Ethan swallowed hard.
"Rukia—behind you!!"
She spun — too late.
The Hybrid blurred forward.
It didn't roar.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't speak.
It simply appeared behind her, one hand reaching for her back, fingers extending like bone blades.
Rukia brought up her sword just in time.
CLANG!!
Metal screamed.
The force sent her skidding backward across the asphalt.
Ethan's heart slammed in his chest.
Rukia caught herself, boots digging furrows into the ground. She glared at the creature — now visible:
Humanoid shape.
Mask fragments clinging to one side of its face.
White Hollow-like arms ending in clawed, bone-sharp digits.
A thin Shinigami-like silhouette underneath.
Rukia's shock was evident.
"…This is impossible."
It crouched low, poised to spring again.
Ethan's Panel flickered violently — the first time he'd seen it behave almost… agitated.
> [CRITICAL ALERT.
Engagement predicted to surpass Rukia Kuchiki's safety threshold.]
Ethan took a step forward.
"No—no, no, no—"
Rukia didn't look at him, but her voice cracked with warning.
"Ethan—DO NOT move!"
But the Hybrid was already shifting its weight.
Ethan saw its target.
Not Rukia anymore.
Him.
The Hybrid lunged.
Ethan felt the world compress, the pressure slamming into him like a collapsing tunnel—
The Panel flared so bright it nearly blinded him.
> [REQUEST: Do you wish to activate Emergency Protocol?
Y/N]
Ethan didn't know what the hell "Emergency Protocol" meant.
But the Hybrid's claws were already inches from his face.
His answer was instinct.
"YES!"