Hearing Akon's report, Mayuri Kurotsuchi extended his sharp nails and swiped across the screen.
As he carefully reviewed the data, his gaze grew increasingly profound.
"Heh... this frequency... it is almost as if something is constantly gnawing at the surface of the World of the Living, causing the 'walls' there to wear thin."
"Could it be a riot in Hueco Mundo? Or perhaps those remnant Quincies are causing trouble?" a researcher guessed.
"Be precise. As scientists, we require evidence. There is no need to voice such tedious hypotheses."
Mayuri scoffed coldly, his eyes locking onto the constantly fluctuating red dot near Funbari Hill.
There was a very faint signal there, yet it possessed a bizarre wavelength.
That signal did not belong to a Soul Reaper, nor a Hollow, nor a human.
"Three anomalies in a single month... It seems the barrier of the World of the Living is being disrupted by some foreign entity..." Mayuri suddenly let out a spine-chilling chuckle, resting his long purple nail against his chin.
"In places unknown to me, interesting things are happening..."
"Director, are you planning to..." Akon looked at his captain with a slight headache. Usually, nothing good came from him making that expression.
"Pass down the order. Prepare the Senkaimon."
Mayuri turned around, his gloomy gaze sweeping over the members of the Department of Research and Development. "I am going to make a personal trip to the World of the Living."
"Eh? But Captain Shiba only recently went missing. Head Captain Yamamoto might..."
"I will submit an investigation report regarding the Spiritual Pressure imbalance in the World of the Living. Although that old man is stubborn, he has no reason to reject my professional advice on matters concerning the stability of the world."
Saying this, Mayuri paused and looked back at the continuously blinking map.
"Funbari Hill... I hope the test subjects there do not spoil before I arrive."
Meanwhile, at Funbari Hill.
Asuka's figure tumbled out of a massive footprint crater left by the Menos in a sorry state.
It was a monster that towered like a mountain.
A pitch-black cloak-like body, a pale long-nosed mask, and a pair of giant eyes flashing with a violent red light in the darkness—
This was a Gillian-class Menos.
Although the Gillian before them looked clumsy, its movements were actually quite fast.
Coupled with the Spiritual Pressure field radiating from its body, Asuka's movements were becoming increasingly sluggish.
"Damn it... How did I run into a Menos? Did that shady merchant Urahara set me up?"
He knelt on one knee among the rubble, panting heavily.
The webbing of his hands had split open, and warm blood slid down the hilt of his sword.
Just moments ago, he had attempted to sever the Menos's ankle, only to be injured by the recoil from its absolute defense known as Hierro.
His long sword felt as though it had struck an iron pillar; aside from a shower of sparks, it had not inflicted the slightest bit of damage.
"Amidamaru! Think of something!"
"Young Master Yoh, I am but a mere samurai... I have truly never dealt with a situation like this!"
"Things will work out in the end!"
Yoh Asakura's somewhat exhausted shout echoed from a short distance away.
Whenever the Gillian's giant foot stomped down, Yoh always managed to dodge by a hair's breadth using comical postures—such as a clumsy barrel roll or a bizarre twist of his body.
The seemingly soft and laid-back boy was currently sweating profusely as he evaded the attacks, brandishing his wooden stick.
"Amidamaru, I am counting on you!" The wooden stick in Yoh's hands lit up with a faint fluorescence.
"Hah!"
A pale blue wave of sword aura slashed against the Menos's mask.
However, to the Gillian, this was probably equivalent to a mosquito bite.
"Are you still not leaving, Yoh Asakura?" Asuka stood up straight and shouted sternly at the battered boy. "Your spiritual power and your samurai are completely useless against this monster!"
"You never know until the very end."
Yoh panted while forcing a smile that looked worse than crying. "Besides, if I abandon you here and run away by myself, I will have nightmares every time I go to sleep."
"You are impossible." Asuka was momentarily speechless and could only help Yoh cleave a flying boulder sent hurtling by the Gillian's movements.
'Is there any way... Is there any way to turn this situation around...'
In the shadows hundreds of meters away, the hilt of Benihime was already trembling slightly.
"Kisuke, are you still not going to act?" Yoruichi Shihoin crouched on a tree branch, her body tense like a black panther ready to pounce at any moment.
Her gaze was locked onto Asuka, who was being completely suppressed by the Menos, her eyes filled with anxiety.
"That is a Gillian. Even if it is the lowest class of Menos, to him right now, it is no different from a god."
"I know, Yoruichi-san. The reason I sent out those Spirit-Attracting Talismans was precisely to lure out this Gillian..."
Kisuke Urahara leaned behind the tree trunk, the brim of his hat pulled low, casting a shadow that obscured his expression. "But... it is still missing a little something..."
"Without sufficient pressure, that door will never open."
"And did you see that boy swinging the wooden branch? He is not a Soul Reaper... nor a Quincy... He is fighting using a power we do not understand... Just what is..."
"What if he dies?!" Yoruichi turned her head, a trace of anger in her tone. "Kisuke, we are not like Aizen. We cannot just watch young Asuka march to his death!"
"That is why I am already prepared."
Kisuke lifted his head, revealing a single eye glinting with a cold light. "My hand is already on Benihime. The moment that Menos threatens their lives, I will eliminate it immediately."
"But if it comes to that, this pressure test will be a complete failure... Perhaps he will become mediocre as a result."
Yoruichi fell silent.
She looked back at the battlefield, gritting her teeth as her nails dug deeply into the tree bark.
At the center of the battlefield, the situation had deteriorated to the absolute extreme.
The Gillian seemed to have finally lost its last shred of patience with these two little monkeys jumping around.
It ceased its sluggish movements. Its chest began to heave violently, and the surrounding Reishi frantically gathered into its gaping maw.
A crimson light flared at the tip of its mask.
That was—a Cero!
"Oh no!"
Yoh's face turned deathly pale. He could feel the devastating power contained within that impending strike; it was an energy level he simply could not comprehend right now.
"Yoh! Dodge, quickly!" Amidamaru roared loudly in his mind.
But the Gillian's Spiritual Pressure lock made Yoh's movements incredibly stiff, like a frog being stared down by a snake.
"Damn it..." Asuka stared fixedly at the red light.
'Is this really the end?'
'No, that is not right.'
Asuka's gaze fell upon Yoh.
The samurai on him was a soul that refused to depart after death.
And Yoh, through some special method, was able to overlay that soul's power onto his own body.
He had heard Yoh call it "Spirit Integration."
'Spirit... Integration...'
A crazy, audacious, and even suicidal idea exploded in Asuka's mind.
"Hey! Yoh Asakura!"
Asuka suddenly erupted with all his strength, lunging fiercely toward Yoh. Before the Cero could fully form, he grabbed the boy by the collar.
"Listen to me! If you do not want to die, do exactly as I say!"
"Eh? Eh! Asuka-san?" Yoh was startled.
Asuka's eyes revealed a kind of madness, a look that only a gambler backed into a corner would possess. "You can feel my soul, right!"
Yoh froze for a moment and instinctively nodded. "Yeah, although it feels a bit strange, your soul is definitely..."
"Then pull it out!"
Asuka's voice exploded like a clap of thunder in Yoh's ears.
Yoh's eyes widened in sheer disbelief, temporarily forgetting even his fear.
In the world of Shamans, the soul and the physical body were unified. Forcibly separating them meant the end of one's life.
"W-What are you saying? That will kill you! Even though Shamans can guide souls, forcibly extracting the soul of a living person is murder!"
"But I am not a living person!" Asuka urged anxiously, his hands pressing down hard on Yoh's shoulders. "There is no time to explain! I am already a wandering soul who has died once before!"
"Just like how you controlled Amidamaru earlier, strip my soul from this body, and then... integrate me into yours!"
"But..." Yoh hesitated.
This completely exceeded the scope of his understanding.
"There is no time to dawdle! That monster's attack is coming!"
Asuka pointed at the Gillian. That mass of red Cero had expanded to its absolute limit, and the surrounding space was even distorting due to the intense heat.
"Yoh Asakura! Did you not say that 'things will work out'? Right now, this is the only way!"
Asuka stared into his eyes, enunciating every word clearly. "Trust me. I understand the rules of the dead better than you do. Only by extracting my soul can the real me be unleashed!"
In the distance.
Kisuke Urahara's expression changed.
"What is he doing? That madman!!"
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