"This guy is this strong?"
Feeling the force transmitted through the javelin in her hands, Nelliel was shocked.
Yammy was only the Diez Espada. In theory, he should be the weakest among the Espada.
But, just from that earlier strike, he was considerably stronger than the Quinto Espada, Nnoitra.
One must know, in the fight against the Quinto Espada Nnoitra, Nelliel didn't even need to release her Resurrección to win.
And after Nelliel released her Resurrección, Nnoitra was instantly killed.
Yet, even this version of Nelliel was forced back several steps after blocking Yammy's attack?
"Ulquiorra, how could you just die like that?"
Red Reiatsu erupted from Yammy's body, causing his body to grow a bit larger again.
But compared to the previous time, Yammy's power increase this time wasn't as significant.
On one hand, it seemed Yammy had already touched his upper limit.
On the other hand, it was also because, at this moment, the sadness in Yammy's heart outweighed his anger.
Ulquiorra was a 'pet' acknowledged by Yammy.
Compared to Kukkapuro, Ulquiorra was stronger and could accompany him for a longer time.
So, towards Kukkapuro, Yammy would scold him.
But towards Ulquiorra, Yammy would listen to Ulquiorra's instructions.
"You, go keep Ulquiorra company too!"
Red light blazed in his eyes. Yammy opened his mouth wide. Immense Reiatsu gathered in his mouth, condensing into a huge red orb of light.
"Cero!"
Boom!
A massive Cero over five meters in diameter was fired by Yammy downwards.
The brilliance of the Cero was so intense that Rudbornn and Nelliel on the ground felt the sky had turned red.
"Damn it, how can there be such a terrifying Cero?"
Rudbornn exclaimed in shock.
Faced with an attack of this magnitude, even if his Calavera Legion had more numbers, they would be wiped out in one wave, right?
"Whew, scared me... so it was a Cero..."
Contrary to Rudbornn, after seeing Yammy's attack was a massive Cero, Nelliel instead breathed a sigh of relief.
Against other attacks, Nelliel might be in more danger.
But for Nelliel, the Cero, the Hollow's strongest attack, was actually the least threatening thing.
Because Nelliel's own ability was [Cero Doble]!
Its ability was to swallow an enemy's Cero, then fuse it with her own Cero and fire it back.
Even though the Cero she faced now was the largest she had ever seen, Nelliel wasn't afraid.
Immediately, Nelliel closed her eyes. As the Cero was about to hit, she opened her mouth and began to inhale deeply.
Inhale...
Under Nelliel's breath, the massive Cero fired by Yammy began to flow into Nelliel's mouth like hundreds of rivers converging.
Then, this red Reiatsu was directly assimilated by Nelliel's Reiatsu into pink. After adding her own Reiatsu, Nelliel fired the Cero in her mouth outwards-
"Cero Doble!"
Boom!
The pink Cero shot straight into the sky, directly enveloping the upper half of Yammy's body.
Boom-
"Damn it-"
After the pink torrent of Cero dissipated, Yammy's entire body was charred black, smoking. He swayed a few times, then collapsed to the ground.
Yammy, as large as a small hill, falling caused the surrounding ground to tremble as if from a small earthquake, raising several waves.
After the tremors subsided, Yammy's Reiatsu had already begun to disperse.
The hill-sized body turned into black Reishi, finally scattered by the wind.
"Not bad. You've grown a lot, Nelliel."
Kyoya's voice sounded in the ears of Nelliel and Rudbornn.
They looked up to see Kyoya slowly descending from the sky.
"Kyoya-sama!"
Seeing Kyoya, golden stars flashed in Nelliel's eyes. She released her Resurrección form and tried to pounce towards Kyoya.
"Alright, Nelliel, be a bit more composed."
Kyoya extended a hand and pressed it on Nelliel's head, stopping her from jumping into his embrace.
Over these years, Kyoya had focused his efforts on the tug-of-war with Azashiro in the Rukongai, paying almost no attention to Hueco Mundo.
But from this battle, it seemed Nelliel and Rudbornn were much more reliable than he had imagined.
In the original work, Nelliel at this time was still in her child-like form with leaking Reiatsu.
Even if she briefly regained her power in an emergency, it was only the form from over a decade ago.
Although she could suppress the unreleased Quinto Espada Nnoitra, she was not a match for Nnoitra after he released.
Now, because Kyoya healed Nelliel's injuries over a decade earlier and taught her for some time, Nelliel's strength had directly risen a level.
Nnoitra, even after releasing, was instantly killed by Nelliel.
And Yammy, after releasing and swelling to his limit, was also killed by Nelliel.
Although this had a lot to do with Nelliel's own ability, if Nelliel's basic strength wasn't sufficient, could she have swallowed Yammy's Cero?
"Ehehe..."
"Kyoya-sama."
After Kyoya and Nelliel finished speaking, Rudbornn came before Kyoya, placed his right fist over his heart, and bowed to Kyoya.
"Apologies, Kyoya-sama. I have failed your expectations..."
"No, Rudbornn. I should say, you have responded well to my expectations."
"But, Kyoya-sama, I couldn't even defeat the last of the Espada..."
Seeing Rudbornn like this, Kyoya shook his head.
"I'm not consoling you."
"Didn't you notice?"
"After Yammy released, the number on his arm representing his Espada rank changed?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Kyoya say this, Nelliel exclaimed, "Kyoya-sama, that number can actually change?"
"I thought only Aizen-sama could change it."
Over these years, Nelliel had never slacked off in her training.
By her own estimation, her current self was at least two or three times stronger than she was over a decade ago.
If she returned to Las Noches, she estimated she could challenge the top two.
But the number on her back had never changed.
Perhaps it was because she hadn't initiated a 'rank challenge'. Or perhaps only Aizen could change this number. So, Nelliel hadn't paid much attention.
But now, hearing Kyoya mention it, she didn't expect this thing could actually change.
"What number did Yammy's change to?"
"Zero!"
Kyoya didn't hide it at all.
"After Yammy releases, the '1' in the number '10' on his arm disappears, making Yammy number 0."
"That is to say, the Espada are not from the Primera to the Diez Espada, but from the Cero to the Noveno Espada!"
"The Cero Espada?"
"So that's it..."
Nelliel understood.
She found it strange. In the Espada of Las Noches formed by Aizen, Yammy was always the Diez Espada. But over all these years, Nelliel had never seen Yammy initiate a rank challenge.
So, in fact, Yammy was actually the Diez Espada.
"So, Yammy's strength is the strongest among the Espada?"
Nelliel asked Kyoya curiously.
Kyoya shook his head. "You also fought against Yammy. Do you think that guy's strength deserves the title of strongest Espada?"
Nelliel lowered her head in thought, then finally shook her head.
Indeed, Yammy in that form was strong.
But Nelliel wasn't a pushover either.
Even if she hadn't ultimately killed Yammy with [Cero Doble], she didn't think she couldn't fight against Yammy in that form.
"Kyoya-sama, although Yammy in that form was strong, compared to those two, he was still lacking quite a bit."
"Correct."
Kyoya nodded. "Yammy's strength was decent, but just that."
"He's roughly about your level."
"Without particularly powerful abilities, you two have almost no chance of defeating the Segunda Espada, Baraggan Louisenbairn, and the Primera Espada, Coyote Starrk."
"Oh? Kyoya-sama knows the strength of Baraggan and Starrk?"
Nelliel asked curiously.
Her rank among the Espada was directly assigned by Aizen.
After becoming the Tres Espada, Nelliel had never challenged the two above her.
Instead, the Espada below her would challenge her from time to time.
Among these, Nnoitra was the most frequent.
This was mainly because Nelliel was too kind.
Other Espada, when faced with challengers, would kill them without hesitation to assert their Espada authority.
Only Nelliel… those who challenged her ultimately didn't even get severely injured, let alone die.
One could say, challenging Nelliel allowed those Hollows to understand the strength gap between themselves and the top three Espada, with no life risk. So why not?
"Mhm."
Seeing Nelliel curious, Kyoya didn't hide it.
"The Segunda Espada, Baraggan Louisenbairn, is the former king of Hueco Mundo."
"Thousands of years ago, another king of Hueco Mundo, equally famous as Baraggan Louisenbairn, invaded the Seireitei, defeated Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, and entered the Soul King Palace through the Seireitei."
"He was ultimately defeated by the Captain of the Royal Guard, Hyosube Ichibe'e, who was stationed in the Soul King Palace. But the matter didn't end there."
"Because of the invasion by the King of Hueco Mundo, Hyosube Ichibe'e entered Hueco Mundo and sealed half of Baraggan Louisenbairn's power."
"That is to say, the current Baraggan Louisenbairn only has half of his original strength."
"Of course, compared to Baraggan's power, what's most terrifying about Baraggan is his own ability."
"And precisely because of this, even though Baraggan had half his power sealed, he is still the king of Hueco Mundo!"
"Oh? What ability is that, to be valued so highly by you, Kyoya-sama?"
"Aging!"
"Baraggan wields the power of aging, of decay."
"Anywhere touched by his Reiatsu will age and decay as if centuries have passed."
"One could say, this is a powerful ability involving the 'time' domain."
"Hiss-"
Just from Kyoya's description, Nelliel and Rudbornn could imagine the terrifying nature of the Segunda Espada Baraggan Louisenbairn's ability.
"Good, good..."
Nelliel patted her chest and sighed in relief. "Good thing I never challenged him back then. Otherwise, I'd probably be dead by now."
"But, Kyoya-sama, if Baraggan is so strong, he still can't defeat Starrk?"
The ranking of the Espada, although assigned by Aizen, if an Espada was dissatisfied with their seat, they could directly initiate a rank challenge.
As the former king of Hueco Mundo, Nelliel didn't believe Baraggan wouldn't want to become the strongest in Hueco Mundo and reclaim his lost status.
But from the time she left Las Noches until now, over a decade, Baraggan remained the Segunda Espada.
Clearly, he had fought the Primera Espada, Coyote Starrk. But obviously, he hadn't been able to reclaim the NO.1 position from Starrk.
"Mhm. As for Starrk, he doesn't have any special ability."
"What he possesses is immensely vast Reiatsu."
"Your Arrancarization was guided by Aizen using the Hogyoku."
"But Starrk's Arrancarization was achieved by himself, spontaneously."
"After you became Arrancar, you gain Shinigami powers and become stronger."
"But Starrk turned into Arrancar because he wanted to become weaker."
"What?"
Nelliel covered her small mouth, her eyes showing disbelief.
'In this Hueco Mundo, there was actually a Hollow who didn't want to become stronger, but wanted to become weaker?'
"You heard right, Nelliel."
"Starrk's own Reiatsu was so strong that even Adjuchas-class Menos merely staying near him would have their souls crushed by his immense pressure and die."
"Starrk's Arrancarization split his own soul into two parts to suppress his own power, yet he accomplished the feat of self-Arrancarization."
"But even so, Starrk's Reiatsu is the strongest among the Espada."
"He doesn't need any other abilities… he can just fire Ceros."
"And the Reiatsu needed to fire a Cero is, for Starrk, but a drop in the ocean."
"Therefore, Starrk can virtually fire Ceros infinitely."
"Even if Baraggan's aging ability is strong, in the face of Starrk's infinite Ceros, he could only end in defeat."
"Reiatsu for infinite Ceros..."
Nelliel previously felt her strength was pretty good.
But now, after hearing Kyoya describe the abilities of the First and Second Espada, she suddenly felt her own Tres Espada position was too weak.
Facing those two, she was far too lacking.
"Then, Kyoya-sama, we killed three of Las Noches's Espada. Will Aizen-sama send Baraggan and Starrk to attack us?"