The scent of scorched spirit energy still lingered in the air long after Lan Yan's duel in the training hall. Word spread fast—too fast. By midday, whispers of his overpowering Reiatsu and unnatural affinity with his Zanpakutō were already ricocheting through the marble corridors of Shin'ō Academy like wildfire.
But Lan Yan? He remained silent.
He sat cross-legged beneath a rustling sakura tree, its blossoms trembling in the highland wind. His sword—Zhuoyin—lay across his lap, motionless but humming with invisible tension as if eager to move again. He wasn't meditating. He was listening.
To her.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" he asked softly, eyes closed.
Zhuoyin didn't answer in words, but a warm shimmer coursed through the blade. A silent affirmation.
The world around them grew still.
Until—
BOOM!
The earth trembled, followed by a distant, unmistakable CLANG! of steel meeting steel.
Lan Yan's eyes snapped open.
A hell butterfly fluttered into view, its wings glowing with urgent blue light.
"Priority Mission: South Rukongai District 72. Hollow incursion. Immediate response requested."
"Trouble never knocks," Lan Yan murmured.
By the time he landed at the site, the air was thick with the pungent reek of Hollow blood and broken spirit particles. Dozens of recruits from Class Three had already arrived, but they were in disarray—clustered, nervous, uncoordinated.
"Class Two!" a voice barked behind him.
Lanran appeared like a ghost, his expression calm, his Zanpakutō already drawn.
Lan Yan smirked. "You beat me here?"
"I was closer. Besides, I figured you'd get distracted by poetry under a tree."
Their banter was cut short by a screech that shattered the sky.
FWOOSH!
A massive Hollow tore from the treeline—towering, with bone-plated limbs and a mouth like a furnace.
The recruits faltered. Even some who had passed the entrance exam with flying colors struggled to remain upright under its oppressive spiritual pressure.
Not Lan Yan.
And not Lanran.
With a flick of his wrist, Lan Yan's Reiatsu surged outward—golden, searing, and terrible. The Hollow froze, its spiritual instincts screaming danger, and turned toward him.
"Back off," Lan Yan ordered the other students. "This one's ours."
The Hollow opened its jaws—and fired.
A roaring torrent of crimson Cero shot toward them, tearing up the ground in a searing wave.
Lanran's voice remained eerily calm.
"Lan Yan."
"I know."
"Bakudō #81: Dankū."
A transparent barrier snapped into place, catching the Cero dead in its path. The explosion lit up the forest like dawn, but the brothers remained unmoved.
Lan Yan stepped forward.
"Zhuoyin," he whispered.
The blade glowed.
"Shatter the boundary of light—Zhuoyin!"
CRACK!
Zhuoyin's blade erupted in radiant gold but now laced with a pulsing void. The golden light twisted and spiraled—merged with ink-like shadows. Twin forces—illumination and obscurity—coiled around Lan Yan's frame like twin dragons.
His second release was—a dual-phase manifestation of light and darkness.
The Hollow reared back, sensing danger. It never got the chance to flee.
Lan Yan vanished.
BOOM!
He reappeared inside the Hollow's blind spot, fist slamming into its mask before it could even comprehend he'd moved.
CRACK!CRASH!
The Hollow shattered in midair, spiritual particles dissipating like sand under a wave.
The battlefield went quiet. Silent.
No one said a word. Not even the instructors who had arrived moments before to provide backup.
Because, at that moment, everyone realized it.
Lan Yan hadn't just passed a test.
He'd set the curve ablaze.
Author's Note:
Zhuoyin… now with light and shadow.
Lan Yan walks the razor's edge between radiance and oblivion.
Lanran wields illusion. Lan Yan bends photons.
And together?
Two sons of light, brothers of devastation.
Next time: Bloodlines. Burdens. A new enemy in the mist.
Stay tuned.
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