Chapter 113 - Birth of The Zanpakuto Spirit

(Early 250 Power Stone Challenge Bonus Chapter)

Another month went by in a flash. Adam did his routine as usual. However, there are some changes compared to using.

A week prior, a weird disturbance happened across all realms. The Reishi suddenly vanished at random. Disappearing seemingly out of nowhere and no one has any clue.

Adam being a Seated Officer has access to some information other Shinigami normally wouldn't know. But Gotei 13 is genuinely clueless of this development.

The sudden imbalance of Reishi between all realms caused much disturbance. Among them is the Hollows pouring out into Human world in the thousands and there's even sightings of Adjucas in the Human world while some Vasto Lorde tried to poke their head into Soul Society but immediately meet with fierce resistance by the Captains that was mobilized which emphasize the severity of this situation. Not just one or two Captains but all except the Captain-Commander and the 1st Division. All other divisions are fully mobilized to control the situation in both the Human world and Soul Society.

———

"14th Seat, Shiro. You will be tasked to lead your team to this location and clear out all the Hollows before they could march into the town and start slaughtering the people."

Adam listened to the Lieutenant explaining his objectives while pointing on the map and highlighted several key locations such as the town he will be defending and the location of the Hollows that are breaking in from Hueco Mundo.

"Yes, Sir!" Adam saluted before he left the command tent and met with his team of 20 Shinigami which contained all five of his roommates.

"Let's go." Adam gave his order before using Shunpo to quickly march toward the objective. His team followed closely behind but some didn't have good Hohō which forced him to slow down slightly to match their pace.

After almost 15 minutes of travel, Adam and his team arrived at the town.

"This…" Adam halted when he looked at the late Edo period Japanese town.

What caught his attention isn't the architecture or the Reiatsu signature that feel just naturally evil. It's the sign outside the town that's stated, 'Kuoh Town'.

'Hold on a second. Isn't this the Bleach world? Then why… huh?' Adam is struck with confusion unbeknownst to his subordinates that think he is wary about the reiatsu that reek of evil coming from the town. The

Evil isn't like Hollow's kind of evil. Hollow's Reiatsu signature usually exhibits feelings of hunger and thirst for violence to consume prey. This evil is more like a sinful type of evil, impure and filled with desire.

Then out of nowhere someone appeared. A white haired woman that looks gorgeous although exhausted and wearing a white dress underneath a purple magician robe.

"My name is Cleria Belial of the House Belial and I ask who are you people trying to enter the town under my governance?" She glanced over to the newly arrived group, shooting them an appraising look before Adam answered her question.

"We are Shinigami from Soul Society."

"Soul Society? Those hermits? Let me guess, you are here to deal with those soul eating freaks?" She questioned which Adam curtly nodded.

"Great! Those things suddenly appeared out of a crack in space and attacked the people in my town." She said angrily with indignation. "My peerage and I could barely defend against them because our magic isn't very effective against them and the reinforcement will take at least another two hours before they arrive." She sighed tiredly and looked hopeful at Adam and his team.

Hearing this, Adam nodded and explained his purpose here.

"I am the 7th Division, 14th Seat, Shiro, leading my team here to eliminate Hollow's presence." He introduced himself but the woman was confused with the alien terminology.

"I am Cleria Belial, the Devil in charge of governing this town." She briefly introduced herself.

"If you would. We will begin our work right now." Adam said to Cleria before he ordered his team to draw their blade and start eliminating the Hollows after seeing she had no intention to stop them.

Cleria follows but stays in the distance to watch and her peerage soon gathers around her as they whisper in hushes while Adam and his team clean up the Hollows rather effortlessly compared to the Devils.

Ignoring them, Adam gazes at the town. Demolished buildings, destroyed streets filled with craters and of course, victims of Hollows. Body without a soul, it's nothing more than an empty husk that still breathes and is alive. The victim's had their souls devoured by Hollows and an empty body is all that remains.

The few remaining Hollows escape the Shinigami when they are losing hard. The previous prey were weak and their ability called Magic is ineffective against them and emboldens their desire. However, everything changed when the Shinigami arrived.

While thinking they caught Adam in an ambush. However, they were sorely mistaken. They fearlessly when they were getting diced up by Adam before they even realized Adam had drawn his blade.

"Sir! Another garganta opened 600 Meters north of the town!" A Shinigami walks up to Adam to relay his finding.

"Continue with the extermination. I will set up a barrier around the town to stop the Hollows from entering." Adam orders before he uses Shunpo to move into the middle of the town.

"Yes, Sir." The senior Shinigami saluted and lead the team in Adam's stead.

Once he is in the middle of the town. Utilizing his Kidō, Adam tried to erect a barrier that repels any Hollow from trying to enter the town. This should make their job of keeping the normal people safe, much easier.

Guiding his Reiryoku, Adam poured them into the spell matrix to create the eye of the formation or barrier before a blue dome made of Reiryoku expanded out until it covered the entire town. Then the barrier attracts ambient Reishi to strengthen the barrier's durability.

"Wow! I guess the story is true! The Soul Reaper from Soul Society is strong. I doubt even a High-Class Devil can break the barrier since it pulls in ambient energy to strengthen and repair itself." The woman from earlier strolled in along with her peerage members who looked very wary of Adam. She touches the Eye of the Formation in hope to understand the mechanic behind the barrier's self-reinforce and repair ability. But it was beyond her ability to comprehend a different magic system.

Prior to this mission, Adam received a brief reminder about other supernatural races that lived on the Human world. They never specified which supernatural races it was and Adam naturally assumed they were mentioning spiritually aware beings that scattered the world in small quantities like priest and priestess, exorcist, etc. However, he didn't expect to find Devils.

The existence of the Devil and the name of this town, Kuoh Town. Unmistakably, this is DxD. But… how? Isn't this supposed to be Bleach world?

At this point, Adam didn't want to think too much about it anymore. DxD world is a mixed bag due to the power levels and the insanity of their power system where touching tits can allow a pervert to power up strong enough to kill even gods.

Anyway, Adam didn't interact much with Cleria Belial who Adam remembers was the former governor of Kuoh before the two siblings of the Maou. It seems Soul Society chooses to maintain their distance with other supernatural races and will not interfere with anything outside of their jurisdiction.

"This barrier will prevent any Hollowe from entering into the city. Please stay within it while we take care of the Hollows." Adam said to Cleria and about to leave but she stopped him. He also noticed the subtle hostility coming from her peerage members.

"I am the governor of this town. I am the one responsible to protect this town. So, please let us assist you too." She requested.

Adam looks at the Devil and her face has that expression of determination that rather dies than says no. Which means it's pointless to refuse her because she will stubbornly come regardless. Since he has no order to protect the supernatural people and only the common human, Adam allows it.

"Suit yourself." Adam said before he used Shunpo to regroup with his team fighting Hollows outside the town.

———

Returning to his team, Adam noticed they basically handled themselves well. Most of the Hollows have already been killed and they are basically just cleaning up the remaining ones.

"Good job everyone." Adam said when he arrived and announced his presence.

"Team leader, you arrived late. We already take care of most of them." They smiled and boasted how they were able to finish the battle before Adam could arrive.

"Just a bunch of common Hollows, I can wipe them out in just a few minutes. What is there to boast about?" Adam shrugged and walked to the few injured Shinigami who had gathered in one place waiting for him to give treatment since Adam knew how to use Kaido.

"Anyway, since we are done here. Let's return to the town and standby for more attack. We never know how long this will last." Adam sighed because there is too little information about this occurrence and being clueless is something very unbearable.

When the Devils arrived, they saw the battle already ended and Cleria pouted because she couldn't see the Shinigami in action.

Shinigami is an illusive faction within Japan which has their own realm almost like a pantheon. They have their own exclusive realms which are under their god's authority like the divine realm of other pantheons. They have a god that only has a title and no name which is known as Soul King. Other than that, there isn't much known information about Shinigami as a whole other than they being a spiritual species rather than physical and they are very strong. Strong enough that the three fragmented biblical factions wouldn't even dare to anger them.

"Ahh! Their speed is annoying! I barely just arrived and they were done fighting and left." Cleria wanted to throw a tantrum and would have done so if not for maintaining her image in front of her peerage.

"I am sure there will be more opportunities in the future, Cleria-sama. Why don't we return to the town for now." One of her peerage members advised.

"Right. It's almost time for my brother to arrive." Cleria mutters before she ultimately decides to return and get some rest.

———

For the next few hours, Garganta opens up a few times every hour and it has been exhausting for the Shinigamis because they can't really catch a break.

Also, there is Cleria Belial's older brother, Diehauser Belial and the troops he brought along. If not for this reinforcement, Adam doubted his team could still continue to fight.

Sensing another Garganta opened up, the Shinigamis stood up and ready to fight despite their visible exhaustion. However, Adam ordered them to rest.

"Let me handle this. You all rest and regain your strength. This is an order." Adam said to his team before he set off and stood on the building at the edge of the town.

Adam lifted his head up a little and saw a tear in the sky which opened up to a black void where numerous monstrosities with white masks on their face, crawl out and march on to the town.

He pointed his right arm with two fingers pointed out and aimed at the Garganta before he chanted the poem.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast!"

Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring.

Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm.

The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!"

Yellow light appeared around Adam before they condensed into a swirling yellow orb before his finger.

"Hadō 63: Raikōhō!"

The yellow orb turned volatile as destructive yellow lightning sparks danced around before they condensed and shot out a pillar of lightning at the Garganta and exploded violently, causing the very air to quake and tremble and even the building briefly shook from the air pressure.

The aftermath of his Kido spell where the majority of the Hollows died before they could leave the Garganta and only a few dozen manage to make it to the Human world. But even then, most of them are heavily injured.

Shooting a bunch of Byakurai at the Hollows took care of it and he sat on the roof to rest. Using full power Raikōhō is quite draining, almost one fourth of his total Reiryoku was used for that spell.

But, for some reason. Adam looks very excited as he opens his System menu and opens his profile menu immediately.

[Zanpakuto Spirit nurturing progress, 100%]

[Zanpakuto Spirit had awakened an ego. Host can begin Jinzen meditation to begin communicating with the Host's Zanpakuto Spirit.]

"Finally…" Adam mutters before he takes his Asauchi and places it on his lap. Then he closed his eyes to begin his meditation.

Since Adam had meditated quite a lot, he easily entered the mental state of meditation and then he dived into his inner soul to find his Zanpakuto Spirit. He can vaguely sense the direction of the Zanpakuto Spirit. There is a bond that connects him and his Zanpakuto Spirit like a string tied to his wrist. He can feel it and sense where it was connected to.

Once Adam reached the end of his string, he found himself transported into space…? Like outer space. A dark, black and purple space filled with white dots like stars in the night sky.

He sees no one in here as he turns his head around and above and below but he couldn't see anyone in here which left him scratching his head.

Adam then tried to use the invisible string again to sense where the spirit was and the result was the Spirit was right in front of him.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Adam tried calling for the Spirit.

Then out of the sudden, two white dots appeared and the space suddenly brightened up in purple glow which revealed a slime? It looks like a blob of slime with purplish fluid-like things swirling around it. Adam recognised what this thing was.

"IX, the Aeon of Nihility?" Adam muttered in shock as everything seemed to make sense now. His Semblance and the Fragment of Nihility.

The blob of slime seemed to be trying to nod as he saw its face slide up and down with its round eyes turning flat like it was closing its eyes.

His Zanpakuto Spirit literally just admits its name is IX. Does this mean he can now start using his Zanpakuto for real since he learned its name?

His Zanpakuto Spirit suddenly nodded again even when Adam said nothing to it.

"You can read my thoughts?" Adam asked and once again, it nodded.

"Well, you are literally inside my soul. So it's normal I think." Adam figured before he looked at the gigantic blob of space slime. "Are you really the Aeon of Nihility, IX?" Adam wondered as it just looked too good to be true.

The space slime turn it's head around. Then suddenly Adam felt something enter his head. It was a strand of thoughts. Basically, his Zanpakuto Spirit explains it is not IX but a small fragment of IX's soul. It is just an ego constructed by the System's creator to manage the power in the Fragment of Nihility and it was created using the template of IX contained inside the fragment.

"So, will you allow me to use the Shikai and Bankai?" Adam inquired and his Zanpakuto Spirit nodded but gave him a reminder.

The reminder was Adam is allowed to use both Shikai and Bankai immediately due to the Nature of his Zanpakuto Spirit, an ego created by his System instead of the actual Zanpakuto Spirit. So, his Zanpakuto Spirit cannot act like a normal Zanpakuto Spirit and needs the wielder to be worthy first before using the power. However, the whole reason why most Zanpakuto Spirit need the wielder to be worthy first before granting Shikai or Bankai is because it is a test to see if they can properly use the given power or not. Since there is no test, Adam can use the Shikai or Bankai regardless if he is prepared or not. Which is the same situation as giving a pinless grenade to a child and telling them to have fun with it before letting them loose in a public park. Bad things are bound to happen and best case scenario, he could drag down an enemy with him before he dies.

Learning this information, it makes Adam a little wary to even use his Shikai.

When Adam stopped talking with his Zanpakuto Spirit and focused on his Zanpakuto blade, his spirit became dim once again like prior and the white dots that indicate its eyes vanished as it returned to its sleep. Then Adam suddenly felt his body was hurled out from the Zanpakuto Spirit's space and then he woke back up in reality a few minutes into his meditation.

Adam can feel a great change in himself. Mainly his Reiryoku which tripled which now almost reached 400k which is Lieutenant level of Reiryoku. However, his presence changed. Normally, a Shinigami will unconsciously leak out Reiatsu and it will linger around the Shinigami which helps indicate their power level. But for Adam, his Reiatsu is nonexistent and it even passively absorbs and devours ambient Reiryoku and Reishi.

Adam looks at the Notification Tab that keeps making sound and he immediately knew he hit the jackpot with his Zanpakuto.

[Absorbed ambient Reiryoku, +5 Reiryoku]

[Absorbed ambient Reiryoku, +4 Reiryoku]

[Absorbed ambient Reiryoku, +4 Reiryoku]

…

…

One new notification appeared every five seconds. He also noticed the Reiryoku steadily drop in gain as the ambient Reiryoku is getting thinner. But what if he enters Reiryoku and Reishi dense places like Soul Society and Hueco Mundo? He basically will be grinding passively since improvement of his Reiatsu also improves his physical strength. Couple that with Quincy's Reishi manipulation technique, Adam would in theory be nearly impossible to kill and infinitely stronger as long as he has an abundance of Reiryoku and Reishi to absorb and devour.

"This gain is unimaginable. With this, maybe I could do it." Adam looks at the description of his Zanpakuto's Shikai and Bankai ability in shock and amazement, especially his Bankai.

His bankai is nothing special like the other Captains with wondrous effects. His bankai basically only enhance his Shikai power to a new realm and add a few more abilities. One of them is that he can absorb the power of his opponent. So, if that's the case. Couldn't he steal Aizen's Zanpakuto? One of the most broken and overpowered Zanpakuto in the Bleach series.

Thinking about this makes him incredibly excited. He could barely hold back his deranged and maniacal laughter. He is going to kill that Aizen and steal his power. Why stop at that? He will steal his memories and everything. Obtain the Hogyoku and transcend his limit. Become what Aizen failed to be. With power. With all these unimaginable powers. Is there a need to still fear the Outer God?

"Yes… as long as I have these powers. The power that shall break my shackles." Adam stopped laughing and a cold icy glint flashes through his eyes.

So why if Aizen is a genius? Can his brain outperform a supercomputer? So what if Aizen has hundreds of plans? He could create millions in mere minutes.

If the current Aizen is the one after fusing with the Hogyoku, Adam might be afraid. But the current Aizen isn't and his Kyoka Suigetsu didn't even work on him especially now that he awakened his Zanpakuto. The current Aizen is nothing more than a slightly stronger Shinigami and nothing more. A prey, a fruit ripe for the taking and Adam wouldn't hesitate.

—————

(Well, I admit the Bleach world part is very rushed and lack of depth in lore. Mainly because I know very little about it and don't know what to write. But this is training arc, nothing important other than getting more power. However, look forward for the HI3 world soon. We are going to get Adam a new little sister. )