Chapter 15: The Sword-Hunting Hollow
"Scatter and break through to call for reinforcements!"
"Yes!"
With no time for elaborate strategies, Marechiyo barked the order, and everyone dispersed, sprinting in different directions.
Marechiyo deliberately chose a route opposite to Seireitei.
As he fled, he glanced back—sure enough, the Menos Grande's white form fluttered through the night, pursuing him like a bat.
This confirmed his tactic was correct.
A higher-ranking Shinigami made for more enticing prey.
By leveraging this, he could draw the enemy's focus, allowing his subordinates to escape.
Those who survived would not waste his "sacrifice," undoubtedly using their Jigokuchō to seek aid from Seireitei at once.
Rukongai was so close to Seireitei.
With his masterful Shunpo, he could likely evade the enemy long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
But heading away from Seireitei, while initially luring the enemy, meant he couldn't rendezvous with the arriving backup. A change of course was necessary.
Just as Marechiyo veered, the Menos Grande fired a sudden Cero.
Not to kill, but to block his path.
The abrupt explosion and shockwave severely disrupted Marechiyo's Shunpo.
Seizing the opportunity, the Menos Grande closed in rapidly.
"Gegetsuburi!"
Ōmaeda hurled the massive iron ball with force, but while this move worked on ordinary foes, this Hollow was clearly no common enemy.
With particularly rich combat experience, he deftly sidestepped the attack.
Then he swiftly closed in along the iron chain, launching a sudden kick to the face like kicking a ball, sending Marechiyo flying over a hundred meters into the forest, carving out a bloody path through the trees.
"Bastard, you actually hit my face!"
Marechiyo wiped the blood from his nose, cursing aloud while growing increasingly heavy-hearted and uneasy inside.
Too strong.
Aside from being a bit slow, no weaknesses had been discovered yet.
The probability of turning the tables was low, while the chance of getting killed was quite high.
When facing such an opponent, retreat is the best strategy.
Just as Marechiyo planned to continue fleeing, the large Hollow suddenly surged forward, its speed now more than double what it was before!
"What?!"
This change made Marechiyo's pupils contract.
Almost instantly, the large Hollow appeared right in front of him.
This speed couldn't possibly be described as "a bit slow"—it was ridiculously fast!
"You wanted to buy time, and I wanted to get further away from Seireitei, so that you wouldn't discover my secret."
The Menos Grande grabbed Marechiyo's wrist—the one he had instinctively raised to counterattack with his sword—and firmly restrained it mid-air.
Secret? What secret?
Marechiyo didn't understand, but he knew he had been deceived.
The opponent had simply realized that members of the Onmitsukidō were harder to capture, and didn't want to let anyone escape who might expose certain secrets during the hunt, which would draw special attention from the Gotei 13 afterward.
That would definitely cause unnecessary trouble for the opponent, leading to loss of benefits.
So it deliberately let the others go, then forced him away from the main group, creating a private one-on-one environment where it could act freely and without restraint.
"You bastard..."
Suddenly, Marechiyo noticed the opponent's peculiar gaze again.
This time, being closer, he understood its meaning.
The curses on the tip of his tongue turned into exclamations.
"Your target is my Zanpakutō?"
Yes, the opponent was looking at his Gegetsuburi with that strange gaze.
"See, too easy to discover. But instinct is really hard to control, so I have to be careful. Otherwise, if discovered by Shinigami, it wouldn't be very friendly for me."
The Menos Grande grinned.
The sight of three heads smiling simultaneously was utterly terrifying.
But its purpose was even more horrifying upon closer thought.
"What benefit do you get from doing this?!"
A trace of panic emerged in Marechiyo's heart—this was the first time a Hollow had coveted a Shinigami's weapon. Could it be...
"Isn't it obvious? Of course... to eat."
The Menos Grande extended three tongues to lick its teeth, its cruel and greedy gaze lingering on Gegetsuburi.
"Even I'm surprised that as a Hollow, I can evolve by devouring Shinigami weapons. But this probably relates to my ability to consume metal and the fact that Shinigami swords appear to be metal-made."
"Zanpakutō are much tastier than metal, especially those wielded by powerful Shinigami. It's just too bad I only realized this a few years ago. If I had discovered this one or two thousand years ago, I would have long become the king of Hueco Mundo."
"So the missing students and administrators were all captured by you, their swords taken before they were cruelly killed?!"
Marechiyo's pupils trembled violently.
"My original intention was to capture them and force them to lure stronger Shinigami, but I never expected the seemingly easier target—the kid—to be unexpectedly stubborn. Even with conflicts among themselves, they showed no intention of yielding. How utterly tactless."
"On the other hand, the older Shinigami was much more manageable than those two brats, showing signs of softening his stance. So I locked him in the cave, planning to persuade him slowly."
The Menos Grande's tone was filled with regret.
"And just at this moment, you showed up. To be honest, I'm both angry and pleased. Though my plan was interrupted, my objective seems to have been achieved."
"So, would you like to cooperate with me? You're much stronger than that guy who's probably buried under the rubble now, and likely more sensible too. You'd make a more suitable partner for me—the future King of Hueco Mundo, Kers Kucabura."
Marechiyo was taken aback by these words, suddenly understanding.
"So this is why you've been talking to me so much?"
"Then, what's your answer—?"
Kers' expectant expression was mixed with murderous coldness.
To be honest, being forced to endure such ominous and powerful Reiatsu at close range was extremely unpleasant.
Having a blade at your throat was more comfortable than this.
Yet surprisingly, Marechiyo showed no trace of fear, even feeling somewhat amused. His rough voice carried contempt.
"Hey, Menos Grande."
"It's Kers Kucabura."
"I don't care what you're called. In my eyes, you're just a brutal Hollow. I don't know what choice that unlucky bastard who got crushed would make, but if because of me you start looking down on Shinigami—especially high-ranking ones—the Captain would definitely kill me."
"So you mean to refuse?"
"If I must say, I'm making the same choice as those two stubborn brats."
"...Is that so? Then you can all die."
After a moment of silence, Kers' two heads began gathering blinding crimson light from both sides.
"Well, I expected this reaction."
Marechiyo took a deep breath, then raised his Reiatsu to its peak. No matter what, he couldn't just wait for death.
"To think you could recruit Shinigami? For a tactless Hollow like you, I'll just have to show you the backbone of the Second Division!"
Squelch!
Suddenly, almost without any warning, a sharp blade tip pierced through Kers' chest.
A few drops of blood splattered onto Marechiyo's face.
The latter was so shocked he lost his voice, his violently erupting Reiatsu halting for an instant.
"What?!"
This time it was Kers' turn to be shocked and furious.
He grabbed Marechiyo's arm and threw him backward.
But the ambusher had anticipated this, withdrawing the blade and crouching low to avoid being hit.
Judging by the figure's posture, it was clearly Sōma.
"Waaaah!"
Marechiyo, now transformed into a human cannonball, screamed in mid-air, completely devoid of his earlier bravery in confronting the Menos Grande.
Sōma's pupils glowed blue from his Reiatsu surging to its limit.
His crouched body burst forth like a leopard, his Zanpakutō sweeping upward in a slash. A cold gleam flashed—more chillingly beautiful than moonlight—directly slicing open the inside of Kers' wrist. The wound was deep enough to reveal bone, and dark red blood sprayed through the air.
In pain, Kers released Marechiyo, sending him flying uncontrollably.
Fortunately, Yuyu reached out from a tree and accurately grabbed his collar, then swung into the forest like Tarzan.
"You're seeking death!"
The enraged Menos Grande, intent on retaliating against Sōma, found its feet encased in rock that erupted from the ground.
Though it broke free from the unnamed Bakudō cast at full strength by Rindō within seconds, that brief window was enough.
A thick, golden bolt of lightning, fierce as a thunder beast, shot from afar and struck the Hollow with overwhelming force.
Amidst dazzling flashes of light and scattered fragments of charred flesh, the severely wounded Hollow followed in Marechiyo's footsteps, sent flying like a kite with its string cut.
But that was not the end.
In the direction it was flung, Ichigo, who had been lying in wait, seized the opportunity without hesitation. Leaping out from the bushes, he flashed forward and delivered a horizontal slash, cleaving the Menos Grande's battered body into upper and lower halves.