A horde of Menos Grande—over a dozen Gillian.
Even the lowest-tier Gillian was an insurmountable calamity for the vast majority of Soul Society's inhabitants.
The reactions of the surrounding "wholes" made their helplessness all too clear.
Only a select few could remain indifferent.
Unohana Yachiru happened to be one of them.
Faced with the earth-shaking roars, the woman stood calmly, as if basking in a gentle breeze.
Suddenly, Unohana tilted her head, her gaze tender as she looked at Fujimiyagi Makoto beside her and asked:
"Makoto."
"You can handle this, right?"
"Huh?"
Makoto was stunned by the question.
What did she mean, "you can handle this"?
Shouldn't the leader of the action team—Unohana Yachiru herself—be charging ahead, demonstrating her unparalleled martial prowess?
Please don't give him that "you're fully buffed, now go" look, Unohana-taichou!
"Can't do it?"
Unohana seemed slightly puzzled.
The subtle shift in her tone sent a bone-chilling dread through Makoto, as if his life hung by a thread. His mind instantly cleared:
"Understood."
"Mm."
With that, Unohana tucked her hands into her sleeves and stood quietly in place.
The surrounding squad members, however, grew uneasy. One of them whispered, "Unohana-sama, sending Assistant Instructor Fujimiyagi alone seems a bit..."
"Silence."
"Yes!"
Snapping to attention, they saluted.
A single word from her was enough to silence them all.
The intimidation of the most notorious villain in history was truly terrifying.
Makoto slowly drew his Asauchi and strode toward the Gillian horde, stepping past villagers crawling out of their collapsed huts.
At first, his pace was slow, but it gradually quickened—into a jog, then a sprint. The Reishi under his feet grew increasingly active until, in a burst of Shunpo, he shot forward a hundred meters.
A lone figure with a sword, streaking toward the sky like a meteor.
The first time anyone saw a monster over a hundred meters tall, the sheer scale would naturally evoke fear.
But once one's strength surpassed a certain threshold, these towering black beasts became little more than oversized target dummies.
At this moment, Makoto's heart burned like a furnace—fueled by both fear and excitement.
"Ikotsu!!"
The explosive Reishi under his feet propelled him to unprecedented speeds. His left fist, wreathed in a dense concentration of spiritual particles, slammed into the massive mask of the central Gillian in an instant.
A thunderous explosion echoed across the sky. The penetrating force of the punch, just like the night he shattered the杀气巨石, left a crater in the center of the bone-white mask, which stretched dozens of meters wide.
Spiderweb-like cracks radiated outward.
Until, finally—
The entire head exploded into fragments.
The sheer force sent the Gillian's elongated body toppling backward.
"BOOM—!!"
The sheer weight of the Menos flattened vast swaths of land.
[Fist Technique +5]
By the time the first Gillian collapsed, the others emerging from the rift still hadn't grasped what had happened.
Makoto, like a dwarf weaving through a forest of giants, used the falling Gillian's momentum to launch himself toward the one on the left.
At the same time, his right hand rested on the hilt of that chattering, worthless sword at his waist. The hyper-speed from his Shunpo carried him over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
In that fleeting moment, Reishi condensed along the edge of his Asauchi, building power.
Then—
He swung.
A torrential wave of sword pressure swept forth, splitting the nearby Gillian's mask clean in half—bisecting it horizontally.
[Swordsmanship +3]
Killing two Gillian in the opening salvo was Makoto's current limit. He wasn't fast enough to do more.
The remaining Menos finally reacted, their masks glowing with crimson Ceros that sealed off every possible escape route.
Pillar-like beams of destructive energy crisscrossed the battlefield, reducing mountains, rivers, and earth to rubble as easily as toppling toy blocks.
Makoto could only weave through the deadly grid, biding his time—until the moment he spotted an opening.
Then, with decisive precision, he delivered another Ikotsu or sword strike.
Even for him, a Gillian's Cero was no joke.
These giants might be slow, but their sheer spiritual power was undeniable.
"BOOM!"
A Cero suddenly lanced toward the village.
Before anyone could react, Unohana flicked her sleeve with effortless grace.
"Whoosh—"
The massive orb of condensed Reishi was swatted aside like a bothersome insect, detonating in a fireball that lit up the sky for dozens of meters.
Unohana glanced upward, her hands still tucked in her sleeves, watching Makoto's desperate battle with a faint frown—as if dissatisfied with something.
Behind them, the pink-haired girl who had clung to her grandfather stared blankly at Makoto's life-and-death struggle in the sky, lost in thought.
---
While Makoto was busy fighting alone, on a hill across the river, within a massive Reishi barrier—
A white-haired old man strode among the members of the Kidō Research Bureau, inspecting the large-scale spatial Kidō array being maintained by dozens of people, his expression grave.
Ahead of him, a young man with a silver-woven scarf and two hairpins shaped like stars hurried over to report:
"Kyouraku-sama!"
"The Shihōin family's portion is complete!"
The boy looked no older than thirteen or fourteen, his eyes still red-rimmed, but his face was tightly composed.
"Ginrei."
Kyouraku Shōgo's expression softened slightly as he addressed the youth. "How are things at home?"
"Thank you for your concern, Shōgo-sama."
Shihōin Ginrei bowed his head, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke. "My father's funeral has been entrusted to my uncle."
"I requested to come to the front lines myself."
Kyouraku Shōgo patted his shoulder.
"Stay strong."
"Only by making the entire Seireitei aware of the Genji School's threat—by mobilizing all noble families at any cost—can we hope to avenge your father."
"Yes."
Shihōin Ginrei's eyes burned with hatred as he nodded firmly.
Kyouraku Shōgo smiled faintly. "Still, if today's operation succeeds, we'll at least take a chunk out of Yamamoto's hide."
"Shōgo-sama?"
Ginrei looked at him in confusion.
The old man gazed toward the distant village.
"Just watch."
---
After a prolonged stalemate, the Gillian emerging from the rift were finally wiped out.
"Thud."
Makoto dropped from the sky.
Exhausted.
But at least it was over.
"Big brother, here's some water."
As Makoto staggered back, the girl who had been shouting at them earlier shyly offered a gourd dipper, her voice soft.
"Thanks."
Makoto reached for it.
But the moment his fingers touched the dipper, Unohana's sword sheath "smacked" it out of his hand.
Unohana stood silently nearby, her tone flat.
"Lesson one for today."
"When outside, never casually accept items from strangers."
"Huh?"
Makoto blinked.
The girl, thinking her earlier behavior had angered the noble, trembled as she bowed to apologize.
But Unohana didn't even glance at her.
Instead, she pointed her sheathed sword at Makoto and said coldly:
"Lesson two."
"Why were you using Ikotsu and swordsmanship separately earlier?"
Unohana's confusion was palpable.
Makoto, however, only grew more bewildered.
Using fist techniques and sword techniques separately?
What kind of question was that?
Just as Unohana was "lecturing" Makoto—
"W-What's happening?!"
"Shinigami-sama! Help—!"
The elder who had just entered the doorway looked down at his body in horror. His skin was rapidly turning ashen, a searing pain surging through him as he let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"Grandpa?!"
The girl, still on the ground, froze before shrieking.
Unohana and Makoto both turned.
And it wasn't just him.
Throughout the village, the residents who had narrowly escaped the Menos' rampage suddenly froze in place.
Their bodies were mottled with stone-like gray patches, floating particles of light drifting upward like dandelion seeds.
And it wasn't just them.
Even two of the Shinigami accompanying Makoto and Unohana had stiffened, their bodies engulfed in raging spiritual flames. Unable to even scream, their forms melted like white gelatin, streaming into the sky.
These human-shaped pyres shot upward, piercing the heavens.
The remaining Shinigami backed away warily, scanning their surroundings for enemies—but found none.
"How slow."
Only Unohana murmured.
The moment she spoke, a golden dome of light enveloped the village and the surrounding miles.
Negación.