If Renji encountered Rukia in her current state, he would definitely be shocked.
So, let Hollowfied Rukia deal with Hollowfied Shiba Kaien.
As soon as the words were spoken, Yoshio had already charged toward Renji.
Of course, he absolutely wouldn't let Renji see his face, so he put on a mask as soon as he appeared.
This time, he didn't use Appearance Mimicry, because Appearance Mimicry also had a cooldown period of three days, which was the cooldown for most abilities.
Many of the souls he had obtained had this three-day cooldown, though offensive abilities like Destructive Death Ray and Fireball didn't—mainly the functional ones had cooldowns.
A void mask emerged, covering Yoshio's face, and in the next moment, he appeared in front of Renji, who was hiding in the quartz tree.
Renji's pupils dilated instantly, and he immediately swung Zabimaru, but Yoshio's speed far exceeded his.
Zabimaru had just been swung when Yoshio's finger touched Renji's forehead.
"Byakurai."
Yoshio said softly, and in the next moment, a surge of spiritual energy flooded into Renji's body. Light flashed from his hand, and Renji, who had been preparing to attack, lost consciousness and fell straight to the ground.
Byakurai was a special Kidō, a combination of Hadō and Bakudō, which could induce a state of lethargy and even make spiritual pressure disappear.
After doing all this, the mask on Yoshio's face vanished. He looked at the fallen Renji and said, "This place is actually quite suitable for training. Your reaction just now was pretty quick."
It had to be said that Renji and the others were all geniuses. Even Rukia, with slightly inferior aptitude, could comprehend her Zanpakutō's Shikai shortly after graduating, not to mention top students like Renji and Kira.
The reason Rukia was still just a squad member in the Shinigami ranks, not even the lowest-level seated officer, was deliberately arranged by her brother, Kuchiki Byakuya.
Because becoming a seated officer meant taking on seated officer-level missions, which could be very dangerous.
It had to be said that Kuchiki Byakuya, as a brother, performed quite well behind the scenes. If he could be a bit nicer to Rukia on the surface, it would be perfect.
Yoshio shook his head, then carried Renji back to where Rukia was.
At that moment, Rukia was fighting Aaroniero.
Aaroniero hadn't become an Arrancar yet. Although he had the ability to devour Hollows, he was essentially still a Gillian.
Moreover, with his strength, he was no match for Rukia at all.
Yoshio looked over and discovered Aaroniero's Souls Ability.
["Hollow Devour: Devour the opponent's soul, gaining their abilities and memories."]
He was like Baraggan, possessing an inherent ability identical to a Souls Ability.
And similarly, Yoshio's attitude toward him was the same as toward Baraggan.
Although he coveted this ability, there was no need to curry favor.
First, people like Baraggan and Aaroniero were hard to please; they were extremely vicious Hollows, unlike Starrk and Nelliel, who could be communicated with amicably—they were beyond saving!
Even after becoming Arrancars, they still belonged to the type deeply immersed in the essence of the void.
Making friends with such Hollows was really too difficult.
Second, it wasn't cost-effective.
Even if he went to great lengths to please such Hollows, the abilities gained wouldn't allow Yoshio to ascend instantly like Aizen's "Apotheosis."
Was the Hollow Devour ability that amazing? Didn't he already have the potential for infinite abilities? Third, sometimes the dead are more useful than the living.
In the original story, Szayelaporro was very interested in Aaroniero's abilities, especially the special liquid he used to sustain life, but due to Aizen's presence, he couldn't confront Aaroniero.
But regardless, Aaroniero, as an extremely special Hollow consumer, had immense research value; if he really died, Yoshio could collect his parts and maybe even sell them.
So, he didn't care about Aaroniero's life or death—he was just a somewhat special Gillian, common in Hueco Mundo.
At that moment, Rukia was fighting Aaroniero, who had transformed into Shiba Kaien.
"We don't need to fight at all, do we?"
Aaroniero said with a gloomy face, "Although I don't know what happened, you've turned into a Hollow now. We're both Hollows. Are you avenging this Shinigami?!"
After transforming into Shiba Kaien, he had released Shikai, but it was clear that even Shiba Kaien's abilities were no match for Rukia.
Rukia swung her massive scythe, closing in step by step. Once the scythe cut the body, even a Hollow's Super High-Speed Regeneration couldn't heal the wound.
In a short time, Aaroniero was already severely injured.
He possessed Shiba Kaien's memories, so he naturally knew the woman before him was Rukia Kuchiki.
But he didn't know what had happened to Rukia Kuchiki—why had she appeared in Hollow form with such immense power!
"I'm not trash like you."
Rukia made a bloodthirsty expression and said, "And..."
"Your current appearance really disgusts me."
Deep purple spiritual energy immediately emerged on Rukia's scythe. She swung it, and in an instant, a crescent-shaped slash shot out.
Aaroniero's trident quickly stirred the seawater, but the purple crescent slash directly cut through the water and pierced Aaroniero's body in an instant!
Aaroniero's eyes widened. Fortunately, while this slash had the property of ignoring defenses, it didn't prevent wound healing. He quickly activated Super High-Speed Regeneration to reconnect his severed body.
But Rukia's body shattered, and in the next moment, it reassembled behind Aaroniero. The scythe in her hand swung down heavily, leaving a long wound on Aaroniero's body!
A horizontal dark purple slash, plus a vertical scythe cut— the two wounds formed a cross, and in an instant, blood sprayed from the cross-shaped wound!
Blood splattered onto Rukia's face, making her already "dark gothic girl" image appear even more eerie and terrifying.
Looking at the suddenly fallen "Shiba Kaien," at his incredulous eyes, and watching his body quickly revert to Aaroniero's true form, Rukia retracted her scythe.
Yoshio arrived there, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Aaroniero's true body.
He pulled out a few test tubes from his pocket and collected the liquid and some tissue samples from Aaroniero's body.