Jan sighed helplessly upon seeing Hollow Jan, who seemed to be a bit different than before, snickering in front of him, “Kuhuhuhuhu.”

“Stop it already, I’m not scared of you,” Jan said firmly.

“Who said that I’m here to scare you?” Hollow Jan replied calmly.

“Then why are you here?” Jan asked with a cold stare on his face.

“You called me out, didn’t you?”

“So that’s how this room works…” Jan thought, then said, “I’ve never intended to call you out, I have nothing to say to you. Where’s my Zanpakuto’s spirit?”

“Kuhuhuhuhu, Zanpakuto’s spirit? Oy, oy, you thought I would let a weak Zanapkuto spirit take my place?” The hollow smiled wickedly, then paused for a moment and said, “I killed him.”

“So they fused, same thing…” Jan was thinking but the Hollow suddenly interrupted him, saying, “Same thing that happened with Ichigo?”

Jan’s eyes widened upon hearing this, and he couldn’t hide his surprise.

“Kuhuhuhuhu, I’m sorry did I surprise you?” The hollow sneered.

Jan sighed helplessly, then he took a deep breath, regained his composure, and said, “How much do you know?”

“Enough to see through your lies. I told you before, didn’t I? I’m you.” The hollow said, smirking.

“Lies? I never lied to you, we barely even talked!” Jan said.

“You’re lying to yourself!” The Hollow said with a bit of anger, “Why didn’t you use my powers before?”

“What do you mean?!” Jan's eyes suddenly widened.

He had a vision in his mind, reminding him of what happened before when the Royal Guards attacked him and Yamada.

“You weren’t trying to help, you wanted me to kill them!” Jan shouted.

“Tsk.” Hollow Jan got a bit irritated, and suddenly he extended his hand in front of him, and energy suddenly gathered in his palm, he grasped it, before it suddenly turned into a Zanpakuto.

“You wanted to prove to him that you’re worthy, but you’ve only shown me how unworthy you truly are!” Hollow Jan said, then suddenly flickered behind him and swung the Zanpakuto down on him.

Jan, who was almost caught off guard, didn’t have any choice but to roll to the side to evade Hollow Jan’s attack, then he stood up and looked left and right, “I need something to block his attacks.”

“Block my attacks? Why are you always thinking of how to block? ATTACK ME! KILL ME! Then take my power and use it as your own!”

As soon as he said this, Hollow Jan disappeared in thin air, then again appeared behind Jan and waved his Zanpakuto widely. Jan reacted this time and flash-stepped above him at the last moment, making a fist, only to find that Hollow Jan was out of his sight. Suddenly a kick came from the side, sending Jan flying to the white wall.

“This is boring! You can’t even release your Zanpakuto!” Hollow Jan said.

Jan weakly stood up and shouted, “That’s why I’m here you dumb hollow!”

“Kuhuhuhu, finally some truth in your words!” Hollow Jan laughed out loud, then said, “If that’s why you’re here, then I’ve already shown you how, didn’t I?”

“Yes. But what did you mean, saying that I’m not worthy?” Jan asked.

“You will never wield me, not until you show me that you are!” Hollow Jan said solemnly.

“And how do I do that?” Jan yelled.

“Kuhuhuhuhu, that’s for you to figure out.” Hollow Jan threw the Zanpakuto in his hand to the ground in front of Jan, the latter looked at it for a moment, then picked it up. However, the moment he did, the Zanpakuto suddenly turned into Reiatsu particles and dissipated. Jan's eyes widened and he raised his sight again to find that Hollow Jan was already gone.

“…”

Jan was left there stunned for a while–– How can I be this naïve?

Jan cursed and slammed his fist on the ground out of frustration. He truly didn’t expect to meet his Hollow there, and the lack of information didn’t help him either. The inner room was never explained in the manga; he stepped in without any preparation which led to this result. This situation he was left in proved to him that if he was going to survive in this world, he must not rely only on what he knows from the manga.

Jan thought he could just walk in and take control because he knew everything, but he got hit by reality.

“I am truly unworthy...” That’s what Jan thought at that moment, but then he suddenly shouted, “No!”

Jan suddenly stood up and Reiatsu burst out of his body, “Come out, you coward, I’ll show you! You’re the one! You're the one who’s unworthy to be my Zanpakuto!” Jan shouted.

“Kuhuhuhuhu, seems like you’re ready for round 2” Hollow Jan suddenly appeared above him and struck down, but to his surprise, Jan wasn’t there. He looked left and right and finally found Jan staring coldly at him from a distance...

“That’s more like it!!”

……

The battle between the two kept going, and every time ended with Jan’s defeat. But even after so many "rounds", as Hollow Jan would say, Jan didn’t give up, only that from time to time, he had to rest for a bit.

“Humph, Humph…” Jan was heavily gasping for air when he suddenly heard some footsteps.

“I’m still not ready!” Jan said annoyedly with his eyes closed.

“I think you are.” A calm voice suddenly came from behind.

This unexpected new voice startled Jan, making him open his eyes quickly.

This time, it wasn’t Hollow Jan, but actually someone else. A handsome slender man, with dark black eyes and of medium height, having unkempt dark-black hair except for a tightly tied braid at its end. He wore a loose-fitting, a black Shihakusho, over which he wore a white haori.

“W-Who are you?!” Jan was quite for a while before he asked.

“I’m Reio, people call me the Soul K-…” Before he could finish his sentence, blood suddenly spurted out of his mouth, smearing Jan’s face.

The man's eyes suddenly widened and looked at his chest to find that a Zanpakuto’s blade had pierced it. He looked lost for a few moments, as the blood had already tainted his white haori. His body finally slammed the ground, revealing the smirking face of Hollow Jan, who stood tall behind him, “Sorry, did that kill you? I was about to say that this room is already occupied!”