A catastrophe struck the Araki estate.
When the Kidō barrier finally dispersed, chaotic, despairing Reiatsu flooded the entire Noble District, instantly alerting the nearby stationed Shinigami.
At the same time, countless gazes turned toward the Araki compound.
The Shinigami closest to the area immediately rushed toward the estate to quell the upheaval.
But when they reached what used to be the Araki manor, the sight before them left them frozen in shock.
A towering abomination, several dozen meters high, loomed like a living mountain. Countless arms and legs sprouted from its twisted body. A head-sized maw, taking up nearly the entire face, gaped open, spewing highly corrosive acid.
In just a few breaths, the grand estate had been reduced to a smoking, dust-filled ruin.
And aside from that colossal monstrosity, the rest of the Araki clan weren't much better off.
Each hunched shape was roughly human, but warped with multiple arms and limbs, black hair covering their bodies—no different from their clan head.
Nothing human remained in those blood-red eyes. No reason, no emotion—only ravenous, primal greed.
The few who hadn't undergone any physical distortion were swarmed and devoured by their own family, ripped apart and eaten before even a full limb could hit the ground.
Once everything living inside the estate had been consumed, the abominations turned toward the "intruders"—the Shinigami who'd come to help—opened their maws, and lunged.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"
In their panic, a few Shinigami who reacted in time skipped the incantation, bolts of white lightning lancing through the night.
But that level of attack couldn't even scratch the mutated Araki clan members.
Just as the Shinigami were about to be torn apart, a steady, reassuring voice rang out from the rear.
"Hadō #63: Raikōhō!"
Blazing golden light detonated in an instant. Snarling arcs of electricity turned into visible torrents, sweeping across the battlefield and erasing several of the abominations in a heartbeat.
Under that heavy pressure, a gentle figure stepped forward, her face tense as she stared at the mountain-sized monster in the center of the ruins.
A pure white captain's haori stitched with the kanji for "Four" entered everyone's view, like a shot of adrenaline straight into their hearts.
The black-haired woman looked back, her beautiful, refined features set in seriousness as her gaze swept over the assembled Shinigami.
"We may usually handle logistics, but I am still a captain."
Her warm voice carried a note of quiet authority, her clear eyes moving across them.
"Fourth Division will be taking command here for now. All Shinigami below seated officer level fall back outside the estate. Everyone else, come with me."
"Yes, Captain Unohana!"
Because she'd been out on a medical call, Unohana Retsu had sensed the anomaly the moment the Kidō barrier dropped and had rushed to the Araki estate at top speed.
On her way, she'd assumed the Soul Shield membrane over Seireitei had malfunctioned and a Menos had breached the Noble District.
But once she arrived and saw the scene, she realized this was worse than a Menos Grande incursion.
"Body modification… and their Reiatsu is saturated with Hollow taint."
A several-meter-tall abomination loomed behind Unohana. Just the motion of its contorted body cast a massive shadow over her.
Its bloody jaws opened wide, a deafening roar tearing through the ruins before it hurled itself at her without hesitation.
And then, just as suddenly, it was sent flying back the way it came, crash-landing into a half-collapsed structure and kicking up a storm of dust.
Before it could even struggle back up, several pillars of light appeared out of thin air and pinned it to the ground.
Bakudō #61: Rikujōkōrō.
Watching the thrashing monster through the haze, Unohana's fine brows drew together. A faint confusion flickered in her gentle eyes.
"When it comes to the soul, that's not really my specialty… especially when Hollows are involved."
Dust billowed over the shattered ruins.
In a place like this, even seated officers had to tread carefully—a moment's carelessness and they could be seriously injured by one of the abominations.
But Unohana walked among the twisted monsters as if strolling through a garden, casually blasting aside anything that lunged at her with a single spell.
At the same time, her free left hand was casting an entirely different Kidō—something that had nothing to do with fighting.
"Black and white net!"
"Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns—footsteps, distant thunder, sharp peaks, returning earth, night ambush, sea of clouds, azure sequence, fullness of Taien—rush straight to the heavens!"
"Bakudō #77: Tenteikūra."
Her vast Reiatsu expanded outward, racing to the ends of the sky and punching straight into someone else's private space.
"Senjumaru, you've noticed the Reiatsu fluctuations at the Araki estate, right?"
In her lab, Shutara Senjumaru arched a brow, instantly catching on. "Oh? You're on-site?"
Unohana didn't waste words. She calmly relayed everything she'd found in the ruins, highlighting the parts she didn't understand.
"As we all know, hollowfication is like a deadly poison to Shinigami. It usually causes them to lose their reason and fully turn into Hollows—becoming monsters driven purely by instinct."
"What the Araki family discovered was a modification technique refined off that theory. They took a Hollow soul and body, converted them into a core, and then implanted that core into a Shinigami."
At that, Shutara couldn't help but sigh.
"Even though that 'refinement' still has severe problems, as an idea it's not a bad direction."
"Hold on—"
Unohana picked up an odd note in her friend's tone.
"You sound very familiar with hollowfication. Don't tell me you've already started researching it?"
"Maa, that's a secret, dear Retsu," Shutara's languid voice traveled back along the Reiatsu link. "If I've counted right, the brat should be there about now."
"What?" Unohana frowned, confused.
Before she could press further, a tens-of-meters-tall abomination appeared to her rear right like a walking mountain. Its grotesquely swollen arms, covered in fresh-grown flesh and capped with white bone plates like masks, slammed down.
A colossal shadow fell over them. Eyes scattered across its body fixed on the figures below as its arm came down like a meteor.
Unohana's gaze dipped slightly, a trace of icy killing intent flickering in the depths of her calm eyes.
But just as she was about to draw her sword, a completely unfamiliar Reiatsu surged into the battlefield.
It crashed down like a thunderclap.
Boom!
The building's remains collapsed, dust roaring into the sky.
The abomination that had made ordinary Shinigami falter just by standing there crashed to the ground.
Everyone stared, stunned, toward the churning dust.
A lone figure stood atop the corpse, Zanpakutō pulled free from flesh with a spray of blood.
The boy stood on the mountain of meat and grinned down at them.
"Good evening, Captain Unohana. I'm Naraku Sora, Ninth Seat of the Central Prison—here to steal—"
He coughed once, correcting himself.
"…help you out."