Ashido drops Haruto on the ground.
"Hey... That hurt!"
"Hollow. Why are you here?"
"Hollow? That's what I am?"
"You're avoiding the question."
"Well..... Im here because i went into some kind of portal."
"You mean a Garganta?"
"A what?"
"Do you have any idea of how this World works?"
"Not one bit."
Ashido sighs and takes off his mask then wonders how Haruto is still alive in this Forest.
Ashido explains the concept of Hollows. He also taught about the Forest of Menos, traits of hollows, their mindset. Most importantly, how they evolve from a hollow to a gillian to adjuchas to vasto lorde.
"So... My race can... evolve and get stronger??"
"Yes"
"What do I have to do to do so?...."
"You kill and eat hundreds of hollows depending on how strong you are"
This brings a shock to Haruto. As he needs to kill in order to grow stronger.
"Isn't there any alternative ways?"
"There isn't any. Look.... The only way to grow strong is to kill and eat other hollows. The World of the hollows isn't a place with order, the most you can get here with some sort of law and order is by joining a group and the people will treat you like rubbish there. You will be used as a tool, monsters here only use others as stepping stones, they don't have an inch of care if you die or get injured. But you can keep your moral code of yours and not evolve at all."
Haruto contemplates. He wants to stray away from his sad past life. He wants to compensate for it....
He finally decides....
"I want.... To become stronger. Ashido.... I want you to train me!"
"No..... I have no reason to train a hollow like you"
"If you train me.... I will KILL Calveros and his subordinates to tie your loose end. I'll also take your place of hunting hollows for a while until you heal your injured arm."
Ashido weighs his options.... His hatred for hollows is still present, but since he's out of shape, he cannot do anything.
"We'll start. But only because it's beneficial to me."
Some time later.
We then see Haruto trying to control his spiritual energy.
"You need to control your spiritual energy. It proves to be useful if you apply it to your punches, if not, use it on attacks that require alot of spiritual energy. Fortunately, you have an immense amount."
Ashido then released a hollow that he captured while a back.
Haruto prepares his fists while the hollow charges.
He guards his body with his arms
"When hollows attack, their usually vulnerable. Most they could do is dodge it, but even so it's not easy since yoir distracted doing damage. So aim for their vital spots or wherever their not protecting!"
With this new knowledge in mind Haruto looks for weaknesses while he's blocking his attacks.
An Incoming punch from the hollow was immediately parried by Haruto and hit it's gut but with spiritual energy, dealing extra damage.
The hollow flinches in pain and shortly after, Haruto aimed for the head
Effectively killing the hollow.
Haruto approached the lifeless hollow's body.
He hesitates to consume it.
But he remembered that he wants to grow stronger and to stray away from everything related to his life. He hesitates but ultimately, he consumes it.
"Pretty strong for just recently being a hollow."
Ashido proceeds to release 4 at once.
"Hey! This is too much all at once!"
"You wont grow if you don't push yourself!"
Haruto knows that he'll be easily overwhelmed.
Haruto immediately comes up with a plan. A ranged attack.
He concentrates his spiritual energy, forming a beam. A Cero, it's weaker than what he saw from the Gillian earlier, but it is still surprising that he was able to use it in such an early stage
He aimed it at the hollows and they were decimated.
Ashido continues to release more countless more onto Haruto.
"You're not gonna make it easy for me, huh old man..."
We cut to the second where Haruto defeats all of them, barely scratched.
(He ate everyone that he defeated)
"You learn fast, hollow."
"But you lack speed, hollow. You can't dodge for anything, you're only defense is just blocking, and it is an unreliable technique when dealing with high damaging attacks. A prime example is your duel with Calveros"
We then cut to Haruto after sometime later. Where we see Haruto trying to learn to dash but he fails to even dash for 1/2 of a meter.
"Push with your legs!"
"It's literally what I've been doing!"
"Then do it better!"
5 Days have passed ever since Haruto started to train.
Haruto made himself a nickname among the hollows in the forest in just a short span of time "The curse brought by the shinigami"
We cut to a group of 4 composed of hollows, wandering around.
"Hey, we haven't seen Ashido for a while, do you think he's finally dead?"
"I damn hope so.... But there's this hollow that's rumored to be under Ashido."
"What do you think?"
When looked back. His friend was gone.
"Veiss??? Where are you??"
"Guys! We lost one!"
All thay remained readied their guard.
Until... One....
Then 2. Were gone and silenced, leaving only 1 left.
"Ashido!!! Come out!!!! Face me like a man!!!"
The next thing the hollows knew. An orange beam was coming at him, the attack only left his hip and legs.
Haruto emerged from the shadows and begun consuming the remaining hollows
Suddenly. A loud scream emerged from the trees. it was none other than Calveros himself.
He jumped down from a tree and shouted.
"I WILL END YOU FOR WHAT YOU STOLE FROM ME!!!"
Calveros lands on the ground, readies his fists.