Chapter 123 - 123: Cero? I Can Do That Too! Black Truth-Seeking Orb!
Hand-seal-less activation.
The instant Bai Chen brought his palms together, he entered Sage Mode.
Deep crimson markings spread from the corners of his eyes across his cheeks. His entire presence shifted in an instant—mysterious, elevated, transformed.
Around him, over the surface of his black shihakushō, a visible spiritual mantle formed—an aura-cloak born from his body's constant absorption of surrounding energy in Sage Mode.
Skin and robe alike were veiled in that dense black sheen of reiatsu.
His appearance…
His pressure…
Everything about him now radiated something utterly untouchable.
And that new form detonated the Visoreds' emotions all over again.
"What… is this?!"
"Bai Chen… actually Hollowfied?!"
Behind his mask, Shinji Hirako's pupils expanded to their limit. Shock and disbelief swallowed everything else.
Just moments ago, when Bai Chen spoke of a "Hollowfication duel," Shinji had dismissed it as provocation.
Because how could a rising prodigy of Soul Society—one who'd reached near the pinnacle in mere months—possibly wield Hollowfication?
A taboo power.
A condemned power.
A traitor's power.
And yet Bai Chen had just transformed.
But something didn't match.
"Is that really Hollowfication?!"
"There's no mask!"
"His eyes aren't the Hollow yellow-brown either!"
Hiyori Sarugaki's voice cut in, sharp with suspicion.
Her fear was real—but so was her doubt.
Because what Bai Chen displayed didn't resemble any Hollow state they knew.
No mask.
No sclera shift.
Only those red markings…
Still—
his explosive surge in presence after transformation, and those familiar face-patterns, undeniably echoed Hollowfication.
Even Hiyori couldn't find a better explanation.
Love Aikawa stroked his beard and spoke slowly:
"I don't think this is Hollowfication."
"What he's doing… looks more like a Quincy technique."
"Reishi gathering."
He had lived decades in the Human World. He'd crossed paths with surviving Quincy families more than once.
And what Bai Chen was doing—forcefully pulling spiritual particles from the environment—resembled Quincy fundamentals.
But magnified.
Violent.
Indiscriminate.
Even the reishi stabilizing the outer high-level Kidō barrier was being drained—its structure beginning to destabilize.
Love's analysis didn't calm anyone.
It made things worse.
"Quincy and Shinigami are mortal enemies!"
"How could Bai Chen use Quincy power too?!"
"His abilities are getting more ridiculous by the second…"
Shinji felt a surge of frustration.
Before Sage Mode, Bai Chen had already seemed omnipotent.
Now he apparently wielded Quincy-like power too—enhanced beyond recognition.
Shinji suddenly felt the crushing contrast:
decades of hiding…
versus Bai Chen's meteoric ascent in half a year.
It felt like wasted time.
Meanwhile, Bai Chen examined his own state with satisfaction.
"Just as expected."
"The system-refined Sage Mode didn't disappoint."
He glanced at the black spiritual cloak enveloping him.
He could feel it clearly:
Without conscious effort, everything within miles—
free reishi in the air,
latent particles inside matter—
was being forcibly drawn into him.
Continuously.
Endlessly.
Which meant—
as long as Sage Mode persisted,
his power would keep increasing.
And the answer he'd wanted most was now clear:
Sage Mode had no time limit.
No decay.
No drain.
No instability.
Like Hashirama's—but beyond.
That was the most terrifying part.
"If this is the boost in the relatively low-reishi Human World…"
"Then in high-density realms…"
"Soul King Palace… Shadow Realm…"
"The amplification would be monstrous."
His eyes burned with anticipation.
Then he looked up at the Visoreds again.
"I've already confirmed what I needed."
"I don't have the patience to drag this out."
Black spiritual wind erupted around him, shaking the abandoned warehouse until it groaned toward collapse.
"Use your strongest techniques."
"We'll decide the outcome… in the next exchange."
That confidence—
that inevitability—
ignited the Visoreds' fighting spirit.
"Don't look down on us, Bai Chen!"
Shinji stepped forward first.
At the tip of his blade, crimson energy condensed—
Cero.
Behind him, the others followed instantly.
Kensei.
Love.
Rōjūrō.
Hiyori.
Eight Visoreds—eight crimson Ceros—locked onto Bai Chen simultaneously.
The entire field filled with searing red radiance.
They would fire together.
Annihilation by convergence.
And yet—
Bai Chen only smiled.
"Cero?"
"I can do that too."
"You probably haven't seen one."
"A Vasto Lorde–class Black Cero."
"And mine…"
"…is something beyond that."
He raised his hand.
Palm open.
Reiatsu compressed to an extreme singularity.
In less than a heartbeat—
a black orb formed before him.
An elongated sphere of condensed annihilation.
A Truth-Seeking Orb of dark spiritual force.
The moment it appeared—
space itself warped subtly around it.
And the Visoreds felt it.
Not fear.
Not dread.
Death.
Real, immediate, unavoidable death.
Their breathing nearly stopped.
They knew instinctively:
If that orb detonated—
their eight Ceros together wouldn't matter.
The warehouse—
the high-level Kidō barrier—
the entire area—
would be erased in an instant.
Reduced to nothing.
And even in Hollowfication—
they would not survive.
That black Truth-Seeking Orb hovering before Bai Chen…
was pure, undeniable extinction.
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