"Here I come!" Momo let out a sharp cry, and two balls of flame shot toward Wayne.

Tobiume, a Kidō-type Zanpakutō that lets its wielder channel Reiatsu through the blade, forming fire blasts to hurl at the enemy.

As the fight dragged on, the three juniors had gradually grown more accustomed to the pressure of Wayne's Reiatsu. On top of that, Renji was now pushing his Reiatsu to its limit, helping the other two bear some of the load. That was what finally gave Momo and Kira a window to actually put out attacks.

Momo fired volley after volley of fireballs at Wayne with Tobiume, while Kira used the distance to his advantage, lashing out arcing sword beams and coordinating with Renji's Zabimaru for ranged fire.

BANG! BANG!

Wayne weaved between them, and when he felt like it, simply punched incoming attacks apart with his bare fist. He was having a great time.

"No good, no good — too slow, too slow. Put some effort in." He taunted them even as he dodged. What he didn't advertise was that he was also steadily increasing the amount of Reiatsu he was releasing. Without them even noticing, he had been quietly pushing their adaptability further and further. Beyond that, he was studying the way the three of them fought.

On the whole, their combat style had no fundamental problems. The issue was what happened once a prolonged engagement set in. Burst-style ranged output like theirs would eventually become a liability. He needed to make them understand that.

Another quarter-hour passed. Wayne stopped, pulled his Reiatsu back, and all three of them sagged with relief and collapsed flat on the ground.

"How are you holding up?" Wayne walked over to check on them.

"So tired..." Momo fell back and stared up at the sky, sweat trickling down her forehead. Fighting against Wayne had drained an enormous amount out of her.

"I felt like I was suffocating." Kira tugged at his collar, trying to let cold air in. "Is that really your power, Big Brother Tsukishiro?"

"Only a fraction of it." Wayne shrugged. "Not bad, Abarai — you held out that long going full burn."

"Hah... hah..." Renji said nothing. He cracked one eye open to look at Wayne, then closed it again and went back to gulping down precious air in great heaving breaths.

"All in all, your Reiatsu resistance has improved considerably," Wayne said. "Unfortunately, your fighting methods still need work." All three interns looked up at him between gasps.

"Abarai — with Zabimaru, your ranged attack can only fire three times before you have to pull it back. That right?"

Renji didn't answer. He just lay there on the ground and gave a single nod.

"Then that's a weakness." Wayne explained. "As a ranged option, it's an advantage — but the moment its pattern gets read by the enemy and you keep using it anyway, that advantage flips into a liability." He paused. "Zabimaru is a physical-type Zanpakutō. Close-quarters combat is your strength. Why not pour your effort into melee, and then at the instant you've forced the enemy back, follow up with Zabimaru's ranged attack for the killing blow?"

Renji's eyes opened slightly wider. He seemed to be genuinely considering forms of combat beyond simply charging in.

"Same goes for you, Kira. Wabisuke is a special Kidō type. But it only triggers its effect when the blade physically connects with the enemy. So why are you standing in place firing sword beams? Can those sword beams even activate Wabisuke's ability?"

Kira shook his head. "That's true. But in a fight like this, just moving feels like an enormous effort."

"Then keep training." Wayne's tone went flat. "Train until you can move freely even under captain-level Reiatsu."

The moment he finished, he raised his Reiatsu again. The brief window of rest the three had just scraped together vanished instantly.

"And another thing — the four fundamentals of Zankensoki. Have you all completely forgotten them? Sure, they're trained separately, but in a real fight you need to combine them. Fine, Shunpo is still out of reach for you — but what about your Kidō? All three of you have more natural talent for Kidō than I do. So use it."

Back and forth they went, Wayne teaching and berating in equal measure, piling pressure on all three of them for the rest of the day. By the end, the three of them had gone almost numb to it.

It was just Reiatsu suppression. Who cared anymore.

And so, under Wayne's relentless grinding, the three juniors finally screwed up their courage and began throwing everything they had at him. At last, near the very end of the session, they combined Momo's fire barrage with ranged techniques including Shakkahō, and singed a faint scorch mark onto the corner of Wayne's sleeve. Only then did the day's training officially end.

Back home, Momo took a quick wash and collapsed straight into bed without eating dinner.

Seeing that, Wayne smiled faintly. He went down to the basement, retrieved a spirit herb, and set it beside Momo's bedding.

A full day of that, it would surely count for something when the internship came around in a few days.

Wayne already knew Aizen would be meddling during the internship. The main purpose was to build his prestige among the new recruits, giving himself first pick when it came time to select candidates for his experiments.

On that front, Wayne had offered suggestions in line with the original story, advising Momo to join the 5th Division, sending Kira to the 3rd Division, and leaving Renji to go to either the 6th or the 11th.

Aizen found that acceptable. After all, the three of them had been brought up by Wayne. Setting aside whether they would eventually join his camp, the connection to Wayne meant that even if he moved against them later, those kids wouldn't blindly retaliate at the first opportunity. In Aizen's eyes, they were hostages, already delivered.

The day of the internship arrived. Momo, Kira, Renji, and the others passed through the gate together, heading to the World of the Living.

"Tsuki-kun, come along and watch." In the shadows outside the Senkaimon, Aizen stood with both Wayne and Gin Ichimaru behind him.

"I'll pass, my lord." Wayne shook his head. "I have an appointment with Captain Unohana."

"Is that so." Aizen smiled quietly. For anyone else, he might have been displeased, but Wayne was currently a significant contributor to his research, and he did not concern himself with the refusal. "What a shame. You'll miss seeing the results of our experiment firsthand."

"I can't be late for Captain Unohana. She'll make me pay for it." Wayne spread his hands.

"Fair enough." Aizen didn't press him. He opened his own Senkaimon and stepped through alongside Ichimaru, heading to the World of the Living to see the outcome for himself. "Then we'll meet again afterward."

"See you around." Ichimaru gave Wayne a small wave.

Wayne turned and left once the two of them were gone. He had no real interest in what Aizen was about to do. That outcome was already set. And with Aizen there in person, he wasn't worried that Momo and the others would actually be killed. They were hostages delivered straight to his doorstep, why would Aizen let them die so easily?

The only unfortunate thing was that Wayne had no way to contact Timd right now. Otherwise he might have made a trip to Hueco Mundo to set some preparations in motion against Aizen's eventual move for the Hōgyoku. He turned it over from every angle and settled on going to find Unohana for a sparring session. It was one of the best tools he had for raising his own strength. And the techniques he was developing through his understanding of sword intent were far more flexible than any Reiatsu-based ability, far harder to pin down and counter.

After that, Wayne and Unohana returned to Muken. This time he wasn't late, so Unohana didn't torment him too badly. They simply fought for three days and three nights straight. At some point during that stretch, Kenpachi Zaraki caught wind of it from somewhere and came crashing into Muken uninvited, demanding to join in. Unohana put him down with a single stroke. After being healed, his lieutenant Yachiru led his "corpse" back home, and he slept for a solid three days.

Three days later, Wayne emerged. Momo and the others returned from the internship the same day.

Back home, Momo recounted the whole thing to Wayne. Sure enough, during what should have been a standard exercise against ordinary Hollows, Aizen had intervened and forced a Gillian and an initial-stage Adjuchas into the mix. The three of them had all achieved Shikai, and they struggled hard, but they took down the Gillian-class Hollow. Against the initial-stage Adjuchas, however, they could only hold their ground. They had no way to win. Fortunately, Aizen arrived "just in time," pulled all three of them back from the edge, and the internship concluded without further incident.

No surprises in the assignments either. Momo and Kira ended up in the 5th Division, while Aizen packed Renji off directly to the 11th Division.

The days that followed settled into a relatively calm rhythm for Wayne.

He ran back and forth between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, joining Aizen in experiments on Arrancarification and Hollowfication, helping fabricate artificial Hollows. On the side, he continued practicing sword techniques with Unohana and steadily building his Reiatsu. He also kept looking for any opportunity to contact Timd and Jekain, trying to work out a plan for opposing Las Noches down the line.

Time slipped past. Before he knew it, twenty years were gone.

Over those twenty years, Wayne had kept pushing himself further and further.

What a pity, though, in all that time, he had rarely been able to meet with Nel, let alone speak with her in private. She kept herself shut away in her own quarters, and aside from her two subordinate officers, almost no one could get an audience with her. As for sending Timd to find her, that was completely out of the question.

During Wayne's time in Hueco Mundo, Aizen was almost always nearby, never once giving Wayne the chance to move around on his own. Even when going out to search for Hollow companions, Aizen would send Ichimaru and Tōsen along with Wayne. Meeting Timd privately was, simply put, next to impossible.

So Wayne let go of that hope entirely and turned his full attention to figuring out how to get close to the Hōgyoku.

Twenty years. The army under Aizen's command had kept growing. And Arrancarification, Aizen had fully mastered it. The number of Arrancar under his command had reached sixty, and the process had grown more and more refined.

This was a good moment to mention Szayelaporro. After a number of Adjuchas-class Hollows had successfully undergone Arrancarification, he petitioned Aizen to use the Hōgyoku on himself, wanting to be the first Vasto Lorde-class Hollow to evolve into an Arrancar. This deranged individual was so devoted to research that he was perfectly willing to experiment on himself.

As the process matured, Szayelaporro successfully became an Arrancar, and also became the first formally ranked member of the Espada, the 0th Espada. Once he had the power of Arrancarification in hand, however, he promptly lost all interest in the experiment itself and turned his attention as an Arrancar toward his own theories on the nature of life.

With that precedent set, Aizen began formally converting all of his Hollow subordinates, every last one of them, into Arrancar, whether they were newly recruited or old companions.

Coyote Starrk.

In accordance with his agreement with Aizen, Starrk came to Las Noches. When he arrived, a young female Arrancar wearing a horned mask walked beside him. According to Starrk's introduction, her name was Lilynette Gingerbuck, and she was his partner. Since the two of them had undergone Arrancarification on their own, Aizen had no need to grant them new power, but he did give them a companion who shared their abilities. At the same time, Starrk was branded with the number one.

Baraggan Louisenbairn. As the king of Hueco Mundo, being placed no higher than second among the Espada was a humiliation he couldn't stomach. But for the sake of revenge, he held his tongue and kept his seat.

Third: Harribel. Without any surprise, Harribel accepted Aizen's Arrancarification experiment. And even after gaining that new power, she made no attempt to defect or betray. Perhaps it was Aizen's strength and his personal magnetism. Perhaps it was something else entirely.

The fourth Espada: Ulquiorra Cifer. A Vasto Lorde-class Hollow drawn in by Aizen's charisma. He had turned down Wayne's invitation from long before, yet submitted himself to Aizen's pull. Wayne's private reaction to that: if you weren't so good-looking, I'd have cut you down right there. As for the taciturn Ulquiorra, he wasn't exactly well-liked across Las Noches, but every now and then he could exchange a few words with Wayne, which actually left Wayne pleasantly surprised. It wasn't until later that Wayne pieced together why. Ulquiorra had always had questions about being an Arrancar that he wanted answered, but he didn't dare go to Aizen, so he had come to Wayne instead. Wayne had already guessed what those questions were: the Resurrección, and the matter of the Segunda Etapa.

For now, Wayne didn't go into it with him. He told Ulquiorra that everything would have to wait until the dust had settled before they could discuss it properly.

Not long after, on one of the expeditions to bring in new companions, Gin Ichimaru returned with the Santa Teresa, Nnoitra Gilga, a high-tier Adjuchas. The reason Ichimaru had used to bring this praying mantis in was, remarkably, this: in our territory alone, there are at least five existences that could beat you flat. And so, in pursuit of a challenge, this battle-crazed creature followed Ichimaru back to Las Noches.

The moment he arrived, he looked at Aizen and drew his blade without a word. Aizen trapped him inside Kyōka Suigetsu for six full days. Only when his stamina gave out entirely did Nnoitra finally go down.

After joining Aizen's ranks, he kept picking fights with every Hollow around him. At some point he learned of Nel's existence and tried to approach her. Nel didn't even acknowledge him. That cold indifference sent Nnoitra over the edge. He grabbed his blade and charged straight at her. Nel put three shots through him and pinned him to the wall, leaving him barely breathing.

But that did nothing to stop the deranged mantis.

According to Tōsen, the man had a deeply ingrained bias against women, so being beaten by Nel left him completely unable to let it go, and he kept scheming to ambush her. Wayne found out about it, and within two days he tracked Nnoitra down to settle accounts personally. Wayne cut him clean in half at the waist. Nnoitra only survived because of the medicinal treatment Szayelaporro had developed.

After that, Nnoitra turned noticeably more cautious. Whenever he spotted Wayne coming, he took a detour.

Nnoitra wasn't the only one carrying a grudge against Wayne. There was also the Pantera, Grimmjow.

It was practically a blood feud at this point. Perhaps because of that history, Grimmjow always looked at Wayne with barely contained irritation, without being able to quite pin down why. Maybe it was that he could feel the hostility Wayne held toward him.

On one occasion, while Wayne was in the middle of an experiment, Grimmjow accidentally disturbed him, and Wayne "accidentally" splashed a corrosive reagent onto Grimmjow. The two of them came to blows immediately. The outcome goes without saying. Wayne didn't cut him down, though. He just gave Grimmjow a thorough beating to teach him a lesson.

The Monk Who Calls the Winds, Zommari Rureaux. An Adjuchas-class Hollow Aizen had discovered on his own. No one knew what Aizen had used to win him over, but this Hollow worshipped Aizen with an almost incomprehensible devotion. Whether going out to recruit companions or to capture other Hollows, he always volunteered to be at the front, like a fanatical devotee.

Eight of the Espada had now been assembled. The remaining two, the ones Wayne had yet to encounter, were still out there somewhere. He was in no hurry. He would meet them sooner or later.

Of course, among the Espada, there was one very particular Vasto Lorde.

Nel.

Her situation was unique, so Aizen hadn't placed her under a formal Espada number. In truth, right after Szayelaporro, Aizen had gone to Nel first, and demanded she serve as a test subject. Nel had no power to refuse, and she allowed Aizen to reshape her.

Wayne could only stand to the side and endure it in silence. If any real danger had emerged during the experiment, he would have fought to the death to protect her.

The outcome, fortunately, was good. Nel successfully underwent Arrancarification. The lower half of a hartebeest vanished entirely, replaced by a pair of long, slender legs.

The evolved Nel did not thank Aizen. She simply took the long robe Wayne held out to her, draped it over herself, and returned alone to her quarters.

After Nel's Arrancarification, Aizen and Wayne had a brief exchange regarding her.

"Tsuki — when you have time, go and give her a tattoo with her Espada number." That was what Aizen said. "She doesn't seem to have any particular hostility toward you."

As one of the three Soul Reapers who had once driven her previous lord to his death, Nel naturally had nothing pleasant to show Aizen, Ichimaru, or Tōsen. But Wayne was different, Nel was unhappy that this newcomer Soul Reaper was siding with Aizen's group, but she had no cause to feel hatred toward him specifically.

"Yes, my lord." Wayne accepted the order. "What number should she be ranked at? Second?" He reasoned that since Nel had undergone Arrancarification only after Szayelaporro, the order of precedence put her at second, with the 0th being Szayelaporro, and the 1st being Starrk, who hadn't needed to undergo the process at all.

"Put her at third for now." Aizen replied. "I imagine the Emperor would not appreciate having a little girl ranked above him."

"Understood, my lord."

"One more thing, Tsuki." Aizen stopped him. "The Arrancarification experiments on Hollows are essentially stable now. It is time for us to begin moving into the next phase of our research."

"...Yes."

➤ Next: A New Phase of Experiments