"Really! Hurry up already!"

"The honey is so sticky!"

Seeing that scoundrel Makoto cozying up to Senjumaru again, Saito, still tasked with her role, couldn't stay seated. She shouted toward the pair with unrestrained fervor.

This suited Senjumaru's intentions perfectly. The elegant beauty wore her usual serene smile.

"Anyway, that's the situation." She said.

"Do your best, Makoto-kun."

Makoto's retort caught in his throat.

In the next instant, Senjumaru's fingertip pointed sharply at him.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The blade ropes binding Makoto began to move, like a chainsaw revving up, scraping across his body with increasing speed. Despite his Hierro, he could still feel the cold bite of the metal blades. The pace grew relentless.

Yet, Makoto was no longer the ordinary office worker of his past life. Countless battles had honed his mindset, allowing him to channel his focus entirely into his body. He knew Senjumaru's words rang true: if Hierro was possible, other abilities could be too.

Hollowfication… could it be?

In that moment of realization, Makoto's lazy demeanor vanished, his gaze sharpening. Though his Shinigami powers were gone, a fierce momentum erupted from him. Through countless life-or-death struggles, his spirit, energy, and mind had amassed to an extraordinary peak under the [Wall of Sighs]. Saito, facing him, sensed his intense focus, a faint light glinting in her single eye.

"There's a chance!" both Senjumaru and Saito thought in unison.

Simultaneously, Makoto felt a power unlike his Shinigami abilities surging within, a wild, uncontrollable force, like a beast lurking deep within. Unlike the dark Reishi he wielded with precision, this Reiatsu was chaotic, frenzied, and untamed. Yet, this chaotic energy formed a unique structure within him.

If a Shinigami's Shikai and Bankai were the light of the soul, born from deep resolve, Hollow power was a disordered ascension of flesh, achieving transformation through sheer accumulation, like sifting through a genetic junkyard for accidental progress. Hierro was one such "evolutionary fluke."

Uncontrollable, yet instinctive, this power felt etched into his very being.

Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!

The blade ropes around him moved too fast for the eye to follow, countless fine blades forming a whirlwind, sparking against his Hierro. A piercing noise filled his ears. Closer inspection would reveal the blades pressing deep into his seemingly delicate skin, carving profound marks. His clothes were shredded into tatters.

"Hey! Senjumaru!" Saito's heart clenched. Ignoring the sticky honey beneath her, she leapt from the sofa, shouting, "You promised it'd be fine! Makoto has no Shinigami power now!"

"Don't move!" Senjumaru's confident demeanor remained unshaken. Her eyes, fixed on the closed-eyed Makoto, gleamed with excitement, her breathing heavier. This is from within a Shinigami's body…

"It's coming!" She exclaimed as a pure white flame, like a firefly, flickered behind Makoto.

Saito froze. Then, Makoto, bound by ropes, lifted his head. A vertical pupil, brimming with bestial intensity, flashed in his eyes.

Clang!

His form vanished from the whirling blade locks. A special Kido array on the ground blazed with light. A gust of wind followed, and the ragged young man appeared before Saito, unstoppable, his arms open in an undeniable embrace.

Instinctively, Saito reached to stop him but halted, noticing something. Thud! They crashed to the ground, honey splashing over them. Saito, ignoring her pinned leg, stared at Makoto's face.

"Makoto?" She ventured.

"Huh?" Makoto, confused, looked up at her.

Before they could process, Senjumaru rushed forward, crouching before Makoto. Two skeletal hands caressed his face while another pair framed it like a camera, snapping his condition. Her dignified smile faltered, overtaken by a researcher's fervor.

"So that's it!" She exclaimed. "The Hollow power within a Shinigami's soul manifests like this? Or does every human soul have a Hollow side, fully expressed only in transformation?"

Ignoring their confusion, Senjumaru's remaining skeletal hands held Makoto's face, her intense gaze scouring every detail, muttering hypotheses.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Saito, her face flushed, yanked Senjumaru back with honey-coated hands. She was way too close!

Makoto, however, stared at the Reishi frame formed by Senjumaru's hands, reflecting his altered visage: a crimson burn across half his face, spreading from sideburns to forehead, a single horn curling skyward, and a beastly vertical pupil. Neither Hollow nor Shinigami, yet he felt nothing.

His heart raced. He recognized this form, akin to Kenpachi Zaraki's Bankai in the Thousand Year Blood War arc, a "beast" mode devoid of reason but brimming with overwhelming power.

"Makoto!" Saito's calls snapped him back. In that brief pause, the surging power receded like a tide, the Hollow energy extinguishing like a flame without fuel. His face's marks faded, returning to normal.

Senjumaru pounced, her six skeletal hands clutching him, her voice icy and rapid. "Hold it longer! Just a bit more, and I'm done! Wait!" Her voice nearly broke.

But Makoto's horn had retracted, leaving only smooth skin. He looked at her helplessly. "I couldn't control it."

Senjumaru's resentful glance mirrored an unfulfilled desire. Sighing, she said, "Makoto-kun, always so quick to finish won't satisfy a greedy woman like me."

"Shut up!" Saito, catching the innuendo, interposed herself, claws out. "Who Makoto satisfies is none of your business!"

Senjumaru, unfazed, reviewed her photos, nodding. The experiment confirmed her theories, and that fleeting danger…

Her elegant eyes locked onto Makoto, hungry for discovery, chilling Saito.

[OO MAI GO TO!]

A childish voice from Makoto's Zanpakuto piped up.

[Senjumaru-chan's staring, she wants to tie him up as a slave!]

Saito's vigilance spiked, her gaze sharpening. Senjumaru, however, eyed the Zanpakuto with a cryptic look before turning away casually.

"That's it for today. Next time, Makoto-kun should last longer."

"Next time?!" Makoto protested. He wasn't some pervert craving bizarre experiments!

Senjumaru, matter-of-fact, replied, "You realize how unique you are, don't you? If Adjuchas and below lacked reproductive capacity, I'd suspect you're a Shinigami-Hollow-Quincy hybrid."

Makoto gave her a deadpan stare. Such bold words from an elegant beauty were jarring.

"Of course." Senjumaru added cautiously, "that's not certain. The Soul Society has no record of a Shinigami marrying a Vasto Lorde and conceiving. Another topic for research."

Makoto, inexplicably guilty, averted his gaze.

"In any case, Makoto." Senjumaru continued, "You're unique. Whether future Shinigami can wield Hollow powers depends on our research."

"Offspring?!" Saito latched onto the key point, stammering, "Your experiment… involves Makoto having kids?"

Senjumaru turned, smiling seductively. "If needed, I wouldn't mind taking part myself."

"I'll end you here!" Saito drew her blade, only for Makoto to restrain her, intrigued by the notion.

Amid their bickering, Senjumaru glided out on her wheeled sandals, eager to document her findings.

…

As the scene shifted from wartime tension to daily chaos, a stark contrast brewed in the Soul Society's shadows.

Splash!

Blood pooled on the dark tiles. A tall, bald man, half his body charred, his face nearly carbonized, stood silently. Blood flowed from a wound splitting him from shoulder to abdomen, forming a stream at his feet.

Sensing spatial ripples in the Wandenreich, Quincy arrived. Recognizing the figure, they froze.

The lead Quincy captain spoke with difficulty, realization dawning.

"That's…"

"Bert-sama!"

***

Bonus Chapter:

100 Power Stones = 1 BC

300 Power Stones = 2 BC

500 Power Stones = 3 BC

700 Power Stones = 4 BC

1000 Power Stones = 5 BC

***

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