XX-level Hokage

Chapter 51: The Soul (Part 2)

The afterglow of the setting sun lingered on the streets of Karakura Town, and the orange-red light shone through the windows into Ichigo Kurosaki's room.

The room was a bit messy, with textbooks and notes piled on the desk and a few school uniforms casually tossed in the corner. Ichigo was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding his Zanpakuto, his brow furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.

"Hey, Ichigo! What are you spacing out for again?" A sharp voice suddenly broke the silence of the room.

Ichigo looked up and saw a small rag doll standing on his desk, hands on its hips, looking at him with dissatisfaction. It was a rag doll that looked like a little lion, with yellow fur, round eyes, and a red scarf tied around its neck.

However, the doll's expression was nothing like its cute appearance; instead, it exuded an arrogant air. "Soul, shut up," Ichigo waved his hand impatiently. "I don't have time for you right now."

"Hmph! You're always like this, treating me like I'm invisible!" Soul jumped up, waving his short arms, and said indignantly, "I am..."

Transforming souls! Much more powerful than a half-baked Grim Reaper like you!

Ichigo rolled his eyes, too lazy to pay attention to Kon's boasting. Ever since Kon was stuffed into the doll's body, he had been causing a ruckus in Ichigo's house.

Although Ichigo appeared impatient with Kon, deep down he didn't actually dislike the noisy little guy. "Ichigo! Dinner's ready!" Yuzu's voice came from downstairs, clear and full of energy.

"Okay!" Ichigo replied, standing up to go downstairs. However, Kon jumped onto his shoulder first, saying smugly, "I want to go too! Yuuki's cooking is much better than yours, you idiot!"

"Get down here!" Ichigo reached out to grab Kon, but Kon nimbly dodged and slid down his arm into his pocket, only his little head sticking out.

"Let's go, let's go, don't keep the traveler waiting!" said the bag with a grin.

Ichigo sighed helplessly and had no choice but to take Kanon downstairs.

Inside the restaurant, Yuuko and Karin were already seated at the table, which was laden with a sumptuous dinner, its aroma filling the air. Seeing Ichigo come down, Yuuko immediately flashed a bright smile: "Ichigo, come and eat! I made your favorite fried shrimp today!"

"Thank you, Yuuki." Ichigo nodded and sat down. His soul peeked out from his pocket, its eyes sparkling as it eyed the food on the table, its mouth practically watering.

"Ah! Kon's here too!" Yuuki noticed Kon, happily took him out of Ichigo's pocket, and placed him on the table. "You can eat with us too!"

"My dear traveler! You are so kind!" Soul, moved to tears, immediately pounced on a plate of fried shrimp and began to devour them. Xia Li, watching Soul eat, couldn't help but laugh: "Soul really can eat! He's clearly a rag doll."

"Hmph! I'm a modified soul! Eating is no problem for me!" the soul mumbled between chewing on fried shrimp.

Ichigo watched this scene with a slight smile on his lips. Although Kon always caused him trouble, his presence made the house seem a bit more lively. However, this peace did not last long.

Suddenly, the air in the room became heavy, and a cold aura seeped in from outside the window. Ichigo's brows furrowed instantly, and he stood up abruptly, his gaze sharp as he looked out the window.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Yuuki asked anxiously.

“There’s a Hollow aura,” Ichigo said softly, gripping his Zanpakuto tightly. “A Hollow?” Karin asked nervously, “Where?”

“It’s nearby.” Ichigo quickly walked towards the door, then turned back to Yuuki and Karin and said, “Stay home and don’t come out.”

"Ichigo, be careful!" Yuzu called out worriedly. Ichigo nodded, pushed open the door, and rushed out.

Soul jumped off the table and followed behind Ichigo: "Hey, Ichigo! Wait for me!" "Why are you following me?" Ichigo asked as he ran.

"I'm the one who transformed PoPo! How can I let you steal the spotlight all by yourself!" Hun said resentfully.

Ichigo didn't say anything more. He knew that although Kon was sharp-tongued, he was reliable in crucial moments.

On the street, the sun had completely set and night was beginning to fall. Ichigo and Kon quickly ran towards the source of the Hollow's aura.

Soon, they stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse. The warehouse door was tightly closed, but a low roar came from inside, as if some huge creature was stirring within.

"This is it." Ichigo gripped his Zanpakuto tightly, took a deep breath, and pushed open the warehouse door.

The warehouse was dimly lit, with only a few rays of moonlight filtering through the broken windows. In the center of the warehouse, a gigantic phantom stood there.

Its body seemed to be made of black sludge, twisted and ugly, with a white mask on its face, from which red light flashed.

"Roar!" Hollow let out a low growl and lunged at Ichigo.

"Ichigo! Watch out!" Kon shouted, jumping onto Ichigo's shoulder.

Ichigo swiftly swung his Zanpakuto to block the Hollow's attack. However, the Hollow's power was far greater than he had anticipated, and he was forced back several steps, his arm going numb.

"This guy... is not simple." Ichigo gritted his teeth and charged forward again.

Soul watched anxiously from the side. He knew that his current body was not capable of participating in the battle, but he did not want to just stand by and watch. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration, jumped onto a nearby shelf, grabbed an iron pipe, and threw it at Void.

"Hey! Big guy! Look here!" Soul shouted.

Xu was hit on the head by the iron pipe. He turned around angrily and looked at Hun. Hun took the opportunity to jump onto Xu's back and pounded Xu's back hard with his small fists.

"You bastard! Don't underestimate me!" Soul shouted as he fought.

Enraged by Soul's actions, Xu began to twist his body wildly, trying to shake Soul off. Soul clung tightly to Xu's body, though he was dizzy from the shaking.

He felt dizzy, but he still didn't let go.

"Ichigo! Now!" Kon shouted.

Ichigo immediately understood the Soul's intention. He rushed forward, swung his Zanpakuto, and slashed fiercely at the Hollow's head.

A blue light shot out from the Zanpakuto and struck the Hollow's head directly. The Hollow let out a shrill scream, and its body began to disintegrate, eventually turning into black smoke and dissipating into the air.

The battle was over. Ichigo, panting heavily, sheathed his Zanpakuto. His soul jumped off the Hollow's back, looking somewhat wolfish, but with a smug smile on his face.

"How about it, Ichigo! You can't do without me, can you?" Kon said smugly.

Ichigo glanced at him, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Hmph, you're barely somewhat useful." Soul grumbled a few words of dissatisfaction, but quickly laughed again.

He knew that even though he was just a rag doll, he could still do something for Ichigo and for this family. The two walked out of the warehouse together, and the night breeze gently blew by, carrying away the tense atmosphere of the battle.

Ichigo looked up at the sky; the stars twinkled faintly in the night. "Let's go home," Ichigo said.

"Hmm!" Soul jumped onto Ichigo's shoulder, and the two walked together toward home.

At that moment, Ichigo suddenly felt that perhaps the existence of souls wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

Chapter 52: The Unkillable Hollow

As the setting sun bathed the classroom windows in an orange-red hue, Ichigo Kurosaki was slumped over his desk.

The pen nib left intermittent ink marks on the notebook, and he looked up at the window for the third time.

From the third floor, you can see the cherry blossom trees by the playground. Those branches, which should be blooming in spring, are now strangely twisted, as if they have been twisted into braids by an invisible hand.

"What are you daydreaming about again?" Chad's voice came from behind.

The transfer student, who was two years older than Ichigo, was looking at a cardboard box full of art supplies. The shadow fell over Ichigo's desk. "The headmaster wants you to move the sports equipment." Ichigo was about to get up when a sharp, pricking chill suddenly ran down the back of his neck.

He turned his head sharply and was met with a pair of murky yellow eyes—a monster wearing a white mask was hanging upside down outside the window, its spider-like limbs gripping the window frame, and its mouth, split to the roots of its ears, dripping with viscous liquid.

"Hollow!" Rukia's warning rang out simultaneously with the sound of shattering glass.

Plaster dust rained down as Ichigo grabbed a chair and hurled it at the monster. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rukia Kuchiki rushing towards him from the end of the corridor, her shihachi robes fluttering like black butterflies.

The spider let out a shrill cry like a baby crying, and its eight legs suddenly stretched out and pierced through the wall, causing the entire wall to collapse with a crash. Chad, carrying a cardboard box, ran backward, scattering his art supplies all over the ground.

"Run!" Ichigo swung his new Zanpakuto, severing two claws that were attacking his classmate. The foul-smelling purple blood splattered onto the desk and hissed.

"It's no use, Kurosaki-kun." Rukia leaped up, stepping on the overturned desk, her sword, Sode no Shirayuki, tracing icy paths through the air. "This level of Hollow normal slash..."

Before she could finish speaking, the severed Hollow claw suddenly regenerated, wrapped around her ankle, and slammed her to the ground. Ichigo's pupils contracted sharply.

He saw Rukia smash three desks before stopping, blood dripping down her pale chin. Countless granulation tissues sprouted from the wounds of the Spider Hollow, and it was completely healed in the blink of an eye.

"How is this possible?" His hand holding the knife trembled slightly, and the bandage on the hilt was soaked with cold sweat.

“Delicious…” The illusory mask cracked open, revealing a tongue covered in barbs, “especially that one with orange hair…” The ceiling suddenly collapsed, and chunks of cement rained down.

Ichigo dragged Chad down the corridor, and behind them came the deafening crash of the entire classroom collapsing. The corridor at dusk was now like hell.

Emergency lights cast blood-red shadows through the dust, and a spider slowly crawled out from the ruins, each of its toes adorned with fragments of students' schoolbags.

Rukia stood up, supporting herself on the hilt of her sword. Her left sleeve of her Shinigami armor was completely torn, revealing a bloodied and mangled arm: "Listen carefully, the weakness of a Hollow is in their mask..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hollow's abdomen suddenly split open, shooting out hundreds of white threads. Ichigo parried with his Zanpakuto, the Zanpakuto rubbing against the spider silk and sparks flying.

The silk thread grazed his cheek, leaving a ten-centimeter-deep cut on the wall.

"Chad! Take the rest of you to the gym!" he roared, slashing his sword through the spiderweb, only to find the blade gradually freezing. Rukia's gasp was drowned out by the crackling sound of the spreading ice.

Ichigo looked down and saw frost creeping up the blade toward his wrist. The Hollow's compound eyes gleamed with a wicked glee: "Freeze, Shinigami." More threads attacked from all directions, trapping the two in a crystalline ice prison.

"Hado #31: Red Fire Cannon!" Rukia's Kido exploded in the ice wall, the heatwave carrying her and Ichigo as they tumbled into the stairwell. The mirror in the second-floor hallway reflected their battered state; Ichigo's school uniform was covered in ice shards, and Rukia's Summoning Blade had developed cracks.

“Listen,” she suddenly grabbed Ichigo’s collar, her breath laced with blood, “I don’t have enough spiritual power to activate the Red Fire Cannon a second time. I’ll be the bait, and you cut its mask…” Before she could finish, the entire school building suddenly shook violently.

The Hollow Spider crashed through three floors and fell from the sky, its spider silk hanging from its fangs gleaming with a ghostly blue poisonous light. The moment Rukia pushed Ichigo away, the poisonous silk pierced through her right shoulder.

light.

The young girl, like a puppet with its strings cut, crashed into the locker, the metal door dented into a human shape.

"Rukia!" Ichigo's roar echoed down the corridor, his Zanpakuto unleashing unprecedented spiritual pressure. As the blade struck the Hollow's neck, he despairingly discovered that the wound was rapidly healing.

"Why...why can't I kill him?!" Sweat mixed with blood blurred his vision as Ichigo mechanically swung his sword.

The spider let out a mocking laugh, deliberately letting its strikes land on different parts of the body, showcasing its terrifying regenerative abilities. The corridor walls were covered with crisscrossing force marks, like some kind of distorted modern art.

Rukia struggled to reach for the fallen Sode no Shirayuki, but her fingertips were pinned to the ground by spider silk the moment they touched the hilt.

“Game over.” The virtual toe pressed against her throat, a forked glans protruding from the crack in the mask. “Start with your stomach…” A cold glint flashed.

Chad rushed out carrying a plaster cast of human figures from the art room, and the fifty-kilogram sculpture slammed into the head of the charismatic figure.

Amidst the flying plaster fragments, the spider let out a painful hiss and temporarily released Rukia. "Run!"

Chad's left arm was cut by spider silk, leaving a deep wound that exposed bone, yet he still spread his arms to shield Ichigo.

In that instant, Ichigo suddenly noticed the crack in the Hollow's mask. Each time it regenerated, the crack near its right eye would heal with a half-second delay. Rukia! Is that a weakness? Before he could finish speaking, the entire corridor was suddenly sealed off by spiderwebs.

The Hollow's eight legs simultaneously pierced the ground, and the school building began to collapse like building blocks. "Now!" Rukia poured her last bit of spiritual power into Sode no Yuki.

The ice flowers blooming from the tip of the power temporarily froze the Hollow's lower body. Ichigo leaped up, stepping on the falling concrete blocks. His Zanpakuto drew a crescent-shaped arc in the sunset. The crisp sound of the mask shattering seemed to press the pause button.

The spider-like creature's regenerating buds suddenly writhed wildly, and its massive body began to swell.

"It's going to explode!" Rukia tackled Ichigo and tumbled down the stairs, a deafening roar echoing behind them. When the smoke cleared, the night sky was filled with stars.

Ichigo lay on the grass of the playground, the sirens of an approaching ambulance echoing in his ears. Rukia knelt beside him, bandaging his arm with her torn Shinigami armor. "That knife just now..." she hesitated.

“It was Chad who created the opportunity.” Ichigo gazed at the starry sky. “And when you froze it, the crack in the mask…” He suddenly stopped, turning to see Ruki.

Asia is dissipating in the moonlight, like ashes scattered by the wind.

"Hey! Your body?"

"Just a side effect of overdrawing spiritual energy." The young Grim Reaper waved her hand nonchalantly, her lower body now so transparent that the cherry blossom tree behind her was visible. "But you," she suddenly smiled slyly, "when you called my name just now, your tone rose an octave, didn't it?"

"No way!" Ichigo sat up abruptly, his bandages almost coming undone.