Why would someone from Las Noches target a weakling like her?
Harribel's streamlined, fish-like form darted through the desert under the pale moonlight, her teal skin clinging tightly to her mature, curvaceous frame. Exaggerated arcs formed at her chest and hips, tapering down where her legs fused into a massive tailfin.
Still an Adjuchas, she was a giant mermaid, her body stretching over three meters long.
Yet her head and neck were encased in a pale bone mask, with a sword-like shark fin jutting from the center of her spine.
Only her eyes remained exposed.
The relentless explosions behind her sent waves of terror through Harribel, words failing to capture her dread.
Adjuchas were the most unstable stage in Hueco Mundo's ecosystem.
In their evolution, every Adjuchas had to fight and devour their kind endlessly, only emerging as a Vasto Lorde if they triumphed.
But along the way, if even a sliver of their mask was consumed by another of equal or greater rank, their growth would halt forever.
Trapped as an Adjuchas for eternity.
Thus, every Adjuchas carried an unspoken fear of evolution.
Harribel was no exception.
So when battling her peers, she always steered clear of any major threats, roaming Hueco Mundo's fringes alone.
Cautious. Precise.
Baraggan Louisenbairn of Las Noches was at the top of her avoid list!
But somehow, three days ago, this random Vasto Lorde had shown up, demanding she return with him under Las Noches' banner.
She had no clue why, but Harribel knew one thing, nothing in Hueco Mundo came free.
So, escape first!
Four days and nights she'd fled, yet freedom still eluded her.
In her mid-thought, a sharp jolt of alarm spiked in her chest.
Danger!
Shhh!
Another Cero slashed through the air, carving a kilometers-long scar across the pale desert.
Harribel dodged by a hair.
Behind her, the Vasto Lorde's hands morphed into sword shapes, eyeing her coldly.
But as their chase wore on...
Both Harribel and the Vasto Lorde snapped their heads up, gazing into the distance.
Two unnaturally potent Reiatsu signatures pulsed there.
The instant she sensed them, a fierce resolve flared in Harribel's mind!
Stir the waters!
"Damn it!"
At the same moment, the Vasto Lorde clocked her intent. Ignoring Szayelaporro's orders to "capture her alive with body intact," it cranked its speed up a notch!
Having roamed Hueco Mundo this long, it knew how rare an Adjuchas with such blatant feminine traits was.
Boom!
An explosive burst erupted from Harribel's last landing spot, kicking up a tidal wave of sand.
But her body had already burrowed deep underground, diving like a true fish, racing full-tilt toward those two Reiatsu sources.
She had to drag others into this!
…
"Here it comes, here it comes!"
"Makoto, you're pretty clever, huh!"
Saitō stood still, brazenly unleashing a surge of Reiatsu.
She held her Automated Task Processor but didn't need its screen anymore, the target's Reiatsu was so blatant, closing in fast.
The purple twin-tailed girl peered into the distance, her single eye glinting, a wicked grin curling her lips. Her little tongue flicked out, tracing her lips unconsciously.
But the instant Makoto reached out, she seemed to foresee it, yanking her tongue back with a playful smirk. "You! Think I'd fall for that twice?!"
"Bleh~"
"Idiot!"
Makoto withdrew his hand, a touch disappointed, muttering under his breath, "Saying that like I'm some kinda guy…"
"Huh?"
Saitō eyed the tabi on his scabbard, then his face, scoffing, "Yeah, Makoto-kun's kinda dumb after all. Not smart at all."
"Watch me steal your kill!"
"Hey, hey, hey!?"
As the two bantered—
Harribel, facing a life-or-death crisis, burst from the pale desert below with a boom.
Her sleek, mermaid frame erupted from the ground, leaping amid a massive sand cascade. Her gaze flicked to the two atop the dune, radiating Reiatsu without restraint.
A jolt ran through her.
So small.
Vasto Lordes?
No!
Shinigami?!
Having survived Hueco Mundo this long, Harribel knew its ecosystem well enough not to botch something so basic.
But why were Shinigami here?!
Before her thoughts could settle, her massive form crashed into another patch of pale desert with a bang, diving back underground.
Yet neither Makoto nor Saitō spared her a glance.
Both fixed their eyes on a tiny figure streaking across the desert's surface like an arrow, kicking up a plume of smoke, their gazes steely.
Saitō's grin grew even brighter.
But Makoto cut in first, "Let me take a crack at it."
"Who said I'm letting you?!" Saitō's single eye widened as she glared at him.
"An opponent with this kind of reiatsu doesn't come around often." Makoto spoke casually, planting his little broken blade into the dune. His neck cracked audibly as he twisted it.
Seeing this, Saitō seemed to catch on to his plan. A flicker of surprise flashed in her lone eye, her smile widening brilliantly.
"You're way crazier than I thought."
"It's not that bad."
Makoto's grin was calm and steady.
To break through his limits in Kidō and Hakuda, achieving mastery of all four skills and stepping into Tier-3 Reiatsu... wasn't there an obvious way?
System!
Let me test your limits!
My beloved talent!
His zanpakuto caught wind of his intent, its childish voice dripping with mock resentment as it grumbled.
[You call me 'beloved' when you need me, then 'old hag' when you're done!]
[Pah! Jerk.]
[Go catch that mermaid for me!]
[I wanna get cozy with a mermaid!]
Saitō heard it, glancing at Makoto, then at the blade, before it clicked.
"Eh? So it's you zanpakuto talking!"
"You're just realizing that now?!" Makoto shot back instinctively.
But the next second, a humanoid figure appeared before him.
A feral grin split Makoto's face.
No words or signals needed.
In Hueco Mundo's vast desert, every creature was either prey or foe.
The instant their eyes met, killing intent locked in.
In a flash, Makoto's toes gripped tight in his straw sandals, his thighs and back tensing in sync. A surge of power coiled up his dragon-like spine, erupting into a near-terrifying force in his arm.
His fist gleamed with radiant Reiatsu.
"Ikkotsu!"
The Vasto Lorde's descending blade paused, its body instinctively shifting to dodge.
In that split second, fist met bone sword.
Ring-shaped shockwaves rippled outward from the sandy clash, scattering endlessly around them.
A deafening boom shook the air.
Saitō stood aside, her grin deepening.
As a slaughter enthusiast, nothing beat watching a lunatic like herself in action!
And Makoto…
He was way crazier than she'd imagined.
Everyone knew a Zanpakutō was a Shinigami's standard gear, the key to unleashing their power.
So how did Shinigami fight before the standardized Zanpakuto?
Exactly like this.
Fists! Kidō! Whatever they could grab!
A long ago, Zanpakuto was a rarity, only wielded by the elite few.
Hollows, in their rawest form, mirrored Shinigami without Zanpakutō.
And now, Makoto, a man of a civilized world tossed aside his weapon, choosing to brawl with these savage beasts in his primal state.
This was…
"Beautiful."
Saitō's gaze on Makoto shimmered faintly as she murmured.
Boom!
Another clash.
Makoto's fist met the unyielding bone sword head-on.
His bones trembled, his spiritual body quaking.
But...
Not enough!
If strength fell short, bolster it with Reiatsu. If Reiatsu ran dry, refine the point of impact, pushing it to its limit.
He knew Unohana could cleave it in two with one stroke of a scrub like this.
Yamamoto? One punch would pulp it into mush!
And don't get him started on the monk's hidden Kidō.
He was still miles behind…
"Hadō 73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
At point-blank range, Makoto roared, unleashing a high-level Hadō with devastating force.
The moment the shout left his lips, a blinding torrent of pale flames engulfed the diminutive sword-boned Vasto Lorde.
Still not enough!
Makoto pulled back, pointing at the Vasto Lorde as his voice thundered across the desert.
"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy. Boil forth and deny. Grow numb and flicker. Disrupt sleep. Crawling queen of iron. Eternally self-destructing doll of mud. Unite. Repulse. Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!!"
"Hadō 90: Kurohitsugi!"
For the first time in combat, he fully chanted a 90 Kidō, but it paled compared to Aizen's effortless slaughter of Komamura.
A towering black coffin erupted from the ground, swallowing the Vasto Lorde's tiny frame in an instant.
[Male Hollow? A male Hollow can still be a maiden! Stab it hard!]
[Kidō +10]
[Kidō Bottleneck Phase · Stage Two]
[Deathmatch in Progress, Kidō Bottleneck Breakthrough ↑]
[Kidō: Tier-7↑]
The moment the Kurohitsugi fully formed...
Makoto's ears rang with the familiar voice of his zanpakuto.
But from the depths of the black coffin, a Reiatsu tremor, stronger than his own erupted in sync.
"Cero!"
A Shinigami's battle against another Shinigami was, at its core, a clash of Reiatsu.
Shinigami versus Hollow? Same deal.
The instant that black-and-red Cero detonated, the fully chanted Kurohitsugi shattered, revealing the Vasto Lorde's scratched-up frame.
With a deafening roar, the Cero pierced the distance, hurtling straight for Makoto.
His Reiatsu flared beneath his feet, and he dodged in a flash.
The Cero shot past, aimed at where he'd stood.
Boom!
A mushroom-shaped cloud billowed up from the desert's heart.
Tough bastard…
Makoto eyed the Vasto Lorde's skin, slowly knitting itself back together, a flicker of wariness in his gaze.
A Vasto Lorde's Hierro was leagues beyond an Adjuchas'.
As he sized it up, the Vasto Lorde's eyes roamed over him too. After that brief skirmish, it acknowledged this Shinigami as worthy of standing on its level.
Still, it held the upper hand.
Its voice came slow and deliberate.
"Shinigami?"
"You fallen lot, why leave your cozy Soul Society to trespass in Lord Baraggan's domain?"
"It's far too early for your judgment day."
"Don't be so eager."
Beneath its calm demeanor lay unmatched arrogance.
Makoto's face, though, crept into a faint smile, one he didn't even notice, stirred by some subtle thrill. He countered with equal, if not greater, arrogance.
"Is that so?"
"But… the conquest of Hueco Mundo by Soul Society's already set in stone."
"And it's being carried out by us the Gotei 13."
The Vasto Lorde's eyes flashed with shock at those words.
No matter how much it scorned a lone Shinigami..
Soul Society…
Even Lord Baraggan dreaded that colossal entity.
Legend had it, thousands of years ago, a mighty Hollow both rival and ally to Baraggan stormed Soul Society, only to vanish without a trace, torn to nothing. [1]
That thought cemented its resolve to relay this intel to Las Noches ASAP.
Its gaze on Makoto sharpened.
"Then allow me to reintroduce myself."
"I am Doragon Azeras, one of the Four Generals under Lord Baraggan."
"A pleasure to meet you."
---
[1] Can you guess which Hollow is being referred to? In the novel Can't Fear Your Own World, it is revealed that this Hollow managed to defeat Yamamoto and wreak havoc on Soul Society. The situation became so dire that Ichibe Hyosube himself had to step in to stop it, as that Hollow sought to devour the Soul King.
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Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
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