Yasutora Sado was running when he heard the noise and came to a halt. "What was that sound?"
"The big brother who was chasing us just now," the parakeet spoke up, "got attacked by the guy who was heading toward us earlier."
Yasutora Sado set the birdcage down. "You… you stay here."
"Uncle?" the parakeet asked, confused. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to save him."
"N-no, don't!" The parakeet flapped its wings anxiously. "Uncle! It's too dangerous!"
Yasutora Sado turned to look at the parakeet, realizing it had a point.
So he placed the birdcage up against the wall.
"No, you've got it wrong! I didn't mean it's dangerous because I might get run over by a car if you leave me by the road… honestly." The parakeet got straight to the point. "Uncle, you can't see spirits! You'll get killed!"
Yasutora Sado flexed his biceps briefly, then turned and sprinted toward the source of the sound.
"Don't go! Uncle! Uncle!"
...
"Damn it…" Ichigo Kurosaki glared at Shrieker in front of him, his punch smashing into the creature's arm. "Damn it!"
"Whoa~ so strong!" Shrieker grabbed Ichigo Kurosaki by the throat and slammed him against the wall. "Not bad at all. That combo felt like a massage."
This feeling of helplessness… Ichigo Kurosaki clenched his teeth.
The enemy he wanted to defeat was right in front of him, yet he couldn't do anything.
"You look…" Shrieker leaned in close, the mask nearly touching his face. "…pretty frustrated. I love—"
Bang!
Yasutora Sado arrived just in time, his fist crashing solidly into Shrieker's face.
"What?!" Shrieker's body lurched sideways. "You can actually see—"
"Good!" Yasutora Sado yanked Ichigo Kurosaki behind him and started throwing punches straight into the air.
"Hehe…" Shrieker retreated, widening the distance. "You scared me for a second. So it was just a lucky guess. I thought you really could see me…"
"Sado!" Ichigo Kurosaki rasped, his throat burning with pain. "Two steps to the right!"
Yasutora Sado stepped to the right without hesitation and threw a punch!
Bang!
Shrieker's massive body was knocked backward. "D-damn it…"
Something grotesque unfolded from his forearm, forming a pair of bat-like wings.
Shrieker flapped them and shot into the air, laughing arrogantly. "Hahahahahaha! What now? You can't do anything about this, can you?"
With control of the skies, things became much simpler.
Ichigo Kurosaki pointed upward. "It's flying!"
"Then…" Yasutora Sado wrapped his arms around a nearby utility pole. "It's over there, right!"
Electric sparks crackled through the air as the wires snapped. Yasutora Sado wrenched the pole free by force and hurled it straight into the sky.
"W-what?!" Shrieker couldn't dodge in time and was smashed hard into the ground.
"Sado! Nice one!" Ichigo Kurosaki rushed toward the monster, trying to seize the opportunity to pin it down.
This Hollow didn't seem as strong as the ones they'd faced before.
Yasutora Sado followed close behind, not daring to waste a single second.
"I really was underestimated…" As the two of them closed in, Shrieker showed no hint of panic. Instead, he let out a giggle. "Just the two of you?"
From atop the walls lining both sides of the street, pairs of crimson eyes locked onto them.
Ichigo Kurosaki noticed first. He was just about to warn the others when the owners of those eyes leapt down in swarms.
The two were slammed to the ground. Turning their heads, they saw that they were being pinned by bizarre creatures no bigger than human heads.
Their limbs were thin, the backs of their heads grotesquely swollen, their oval skulls stretching to nearly half the length of their bodies.
"They're my adorable clones~" Shrieker stood up leisurely, looking down at Yasutora Sado and Ichigo Kurosaki beneath the weight of the clones. "With your strength, there's no way you can break free—"
His voice was cut off by Yasutora Sado's furious roar. He suddenly surged upright, flinging more than a dozen clones off his body in one violent motion.
"What kind of monster is this?" Shrieker staggered back two steps. Then his eyes lit up with excitement. "If this keeps up, things might… get even more fun!"
The clones that had been thrown aside twisted their bodies midair, their claws squeezing hard against their bloated skulls.
A strange, slime-coated mass burst out from the slit between their eyes.
The mass split apart in midair, revealing thick, swollen leeches that rained down and clung densely to Yasutora Sado's body.
"Now comes the fun part~" Shrieker opened his mouth, his forked green tongue trembling as eerie sound waves spread outward and struck the leeches attached to Yasutora Sado.
Boom!
All the leeches detonated at once, blasting Yasutora Sado until his body was covered in blood.
"Sado!" Ichigo Kurosaki struggled desperately, but he still couldn't break free from the clones pinning him down.
He could only watch helplessly as Yasutora Sado collapsed right in front of him.
Not again…
In Ichigo Kurosaki's wide-open eyes, a strange blue light slowly surfaced.
A cold flash swept past. In an instant, all the clones pressing down on Ichigo Kurosaki were sliced apart.
He froze for a split second, then scrambled to his feet and dragged Yasutora Sado aside.
"Put him down," Rukia Kuchiki said as she activated healing Kidō, a soft green glow lighting up her hand. "I'll treat him."
Watching the wounds on Yasutora Sado's body gradually heal, Ichigo Kurosaki finally relaxed. He turned his gaze back toward Shrieker.
"A Shinigami?" Shrieker glanced toward Rukia Kuchiki, then fixed his eyes on the boy in front of him. "And there are two of them."
"Isn't this exactly what you wanted?" The single eye on Muten Natsu's forehead had already closed, the black veins on his body slowly fading away. In his open eyes, Shrieker's figure was clearly reflected. "You extracted that child's soul and placed it inside the parakeet to lure Shinigami out and hunt them, didn't you?"
"Lure the Shinigami?" Shrieker giggled. "I think you've misunderstood something."
"Hm?"
"Where should I start…" Shrieker reminisced. "When I was alive, I had a little hobby. Killing people."
Back when he was still human, Shrieker wandered from place to place, murdering at will.
Yūichi Shibata's mother was the last one.
"It was so interesting. No matter how many times I stabbed her, she just dragged her blood-soaked body around, trying to protect that little brat." Shrieker's crimson eyes narrowed in delight. "It was incredible. The ultimate thrill of killing. Even now, thinking about it makes my blood boil! But that brat made me fall to my death… I actually died because of a child!"