As their voices faded, an intense black and white light erupted from the two figures.
The two colors flooded young Ichigo’s vision, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut.
In the next moment, the brilliance gradually dimmed, condensing into two spheres of light—one black and one white.
Understanding what to do, young Ichigo stepped forward and reached his hands into the spheres.
The black orb in his left hand took shape first, and a black short sword appeared in his grip.
Its design was peculiar; the end of the hilt was connected back to the blade.
Though called a short sword, it was about sixty centimeters long—which, for the current Ichigo, felt like a great sword.
The white orb in his right hand followed suit.
This was also a black blade, but a true sword, roughly one and a half meters long.
Its design was equally strange, with a hollow opening in the middle of the blade’s length.
With one long and one short sword gripped in his hands, Ichigo noted that neither looked like a traditional blade; neither had a crossguard.
The long sword, in particular, created a jarring sense of incongruity—even though young Ichigo seemed to hold it effortlessly, the weapon was taller than he was.
“Two…
Zangetsu?”
The moment the blades formed, Ichigo understood.
A powerful force surged through his body.
It wasn’t a void or something without a foundation; it was a tremendous spiritual power.
At this level, calling it mere spiritual power was insufficient—it was Reiatsu, a pressure so immense that it could weigh down an ordinary soul.
“Now…
what am I?”
Looking down at his arms, young Ichigo realized that his raincoat had vanished.
In its place was a black kimono, with a thick red cord draped across his shoulders and wooden geta on his feet.
It wasn’t necessarily strange, but it was certainly unconventional.
“…A Shinigami?”
In the next moment, a voice inexplicably surfaced in his mind, telling him that this was the appearance of a Shinigami.
The voice was calm, sounding exactly like the man in black from before.
*Crack—*
Before he could think further, another fissure suddenly ripped through the black space.
Unlike the previous cracks, which seemed to have reached their limit, this one spread rapidly, covering the entire dimension almost instantly.
Then, everything went dark, and the black space shattered completely.
…
His vision returned, and everything was as it had been when young Ichigo first woke up.
“I’m back.” Looking at the dual blades in his hands, young Ichigo murmured softly, “It feels like a dream.”
Glancing at his mother, young Ichigo sensed her condition as if by instinct.
He discovered that the Reiatsu from his Blut Vene was still active on her wounds.
Relieved, he shifted his gaze toward the massive monster nearby.
A Hollow!
It was as if his very bloodline told him; he knew the name of the creature before him.
He tightened his grip on the hilts.
Reality told him that this thing had wounded his mother, and therefore, he could not let it go!
“Strange?” The Hollow stared at young Ichigo, confused.
“Why do I feel this sense of distortion…
and how did you suddenly become a Shinigami, you brat?
Weren’t you just a delicious little snack a moment ago!”
“You…!!”
*Swish—*
The words were cut short as a thick whip manifested, striking toward young Ichigo with lightning speed.
The violent sound of tearing air told him this was no mere bluff!
Unable to react in time, young Ichigo relied on his instincts and the experience gained from years at the karate dojo, swinging the long sword in his right hand to block the fierce strike.
*Squelch—*
“…Eh?!!!”
Under the Hollow’s horrified gaze, the whip—its strongest and hardest weapon—had simply snapped clean off after colliding with that black long sword that looked so mismatched with its owner!!
“What the hell are you, kid!” The Hollow screamed, though it honestly took a huge step backward.
“What is wrong with you?!”
“Eh?” Only then did young Ichigo realize what had happened.
Looking at the black long sword, he muttered to himself, “Am I actually this strong?
No, maybe this guy is just too weak?
After all, I only just became a Shinigami.”
“You bastard!!”
Feeling ignored, the Hollow roared, but its body spun around, and it began sprinting away in a desperate rush.
‘What kind of monster is that?!!!’
In truth, while this Hollow might not have been top-tier, it was by no means weak.
It would have been difficult for anyone below the level of a Shinigami Seated Officer to take it down.
Even if a Seated Officer had come, it would have been nearly impossible to slice through its whip in a single blow.
However, by a stroke of terrible luck, it had encountered young Ichigo—an existence born from a convergence of countless coincidences and miracles.
“Eh?”
Watching the figure flee in terror, young Ichigo paused, and then his gaze sharpened.
He wasn’t some soft-hearted saint; his mother had been wounded so badly, and there was no way he would just watch the culprit escape.
As if responding to its master’s will, the Reiatsu within his body unconsciously converged into the long sword in his right hand.
Once the Reiatsu entered the blade, it was as if it were being pulled by a magnet; all the energy gathered at the tip, where a pale blue light began to bloom.
‘What is that?!!!’
Sensing the change in Reiatsu behind it, the Hollow glanced back while running and immediately accelerated.
It poured all its Reiatsu into its legs, sprinting forward for its life.
‘That kind of Reiatsu…
I’ve never heard of anything like it, damn it!!’
As more Reiatsu was injected, the light at the tip of the blade grew more intense.
Soon, it reached a critical point; the light stopped shifting, and young Ichigo felt that he could no longer push any more Reiatsu into the sword.
‘Run, run, run, run!!!’
Having covered some distance, this was the only thought left in the Hollow’s mind.
Suddenly, it spotted the rushing river, stopped without hesitation, crouched to build power, and leaped violently toward the opposite bank.
[Now!]
A peculiar tone echoed in his heart.
Ichigo understood once again, his determined eyes locked onto the Hollow leaping through the air.
In the next instant, he swung the long sword!
[This is the power of Zangetsu!]
A flash of pale blue light erupted, and a massive, crescent-shaped slash was released from the tip of the blade, flying straight toward the Hollow in mid-air.
[Its name is—]
*Crash—*
The crescent slash sliced diagonally through the Hollow’s body.
Its figure froze in the air as a crack appeared on its mask.
In the next heartbeat, the crack extended from the top of its head down to its legs, splitting its body in two and claiming its life.
[Getsuga—]
Looking up, the Hollow’s body dissolved into specks of white light and vanished into the air.
The massive crescent slash did not disappear after passing through the Hollow; instead, it soared toward the sky, scattering the gloomy clouds above to reveal the pure white moon.
[Tensho!!]