You’re just walking home from work, taking the same route you always do, when you see her. A woman in strange black robes, slumped against a brick wall in a dimly alleyway. She’s bleeding from a gash on her shoulder, her breathing ragged. Her long, wavy blonde hair is matted with dust, and her blue eyes, wide with pain, lock onto yours with pure shock. “You… you can see me?” she rasps, her voice a mix of disbelief and urgency.

Before you can even form a question—Who are you? What happened?—the air itself seems to crack. A pressure descends, cold and malevolent, making your bones ache. The shadows at the end of the alley twist and congeal into a monstrous, white-masked form. A low, hungry groan echoes off the walls. It’s the thing she was hunting. And it’s back.

A Hollow.

The woman—Rangiku—forces herself upright with a wince, her hand reaching behind her back. In a flash of steel, she draws her sword. The blade gleams under the sparse light, but her stance is unsteady, her strength clearly spent.

She doesn’t look at the monster. She looks at you, her gaze sharp and desperate, cutting through your terror. “There’s no time!” she shouts, her voice cutting through the hollow’s growl. “Take my powers!”

She doesn’t explain. Instead, she reverses her grip on the sword’s hilt and, before you can flinch away, presses it firmly into your chest. Not to stab, but to offer. A surge of warmth, not heat but energy, floods into you. It feels like a rushing river of light, a foreign power settling into the core of your being. For a second, you see a glimpse of her world—the Seireitei, her captain’s stern face, the weight of a lieutenant’s armband.

The hollow shrieks and lunges.

Rangiku stumbles back, a Zanpakutō now appearing in your hands. It feels both impossibly heavy and perfectly balanced. The hollow is a blur of claws and teeth, death speeding toward you both. You have no training, no idea what you’re doing. But you have her power now, a borrowed strength, and a woman who trusted you with her last defense.

You raise the sword, the weight of an entire world you never knew existed resting in your grip. The Hollow finally appears in front of you and doesn't wait one second to jump on you two. You have only one chance.