Hueco Mundo was a world of pure survival of the fittest, where the weak existed only as food for the strong.
And that was no metaphor.
In the endless hordes of Hollows that prowled Hueco Mundo, female Hollows tended to be weaker than their male counterparts and were the easiest prey to devour.
Because of this, Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun—three female Hollows—had joined forces to create a unique ability.
They would sacrifice a part of their own bodies, fuse those pieces together, and create a terrifying monster—something that could protect them in Hueco Mundo.
The monster had been given a name: Gaō.
Also called Konjūshin (Hybrid Beast God).
It contained the strongest parts of all three of them fused into one.
Its combat power far surpassed the three individually.
Even compared to lower-ranked Espada, it was not inferior in the slightest.
Toshiro knew none of this, which was why he stared at Gaō in utter shock.
"What… is this thing?!"
Looking like a mismatched chimera was one thing.
What truly shook him was the brutal reiatsu pouring off it—far more violent than his own.
Judging by spiritual pressure alone, this beast, as bizarre as it looked, was not weaker than the four Vasto Lorde-level Hollows floating in the sky.
It was hard to imagine that such a creature had been made by just three Adjuchas-level Hollows.
Apacci snorted and slapped Gaō's flank.
"Sung-Sun, why are you even talking to him? Gaō, go kill that bratty Shinigami."
Gaō roared.
Its massive body hurled itself toward the streets of Karakura Town, barreling straight ahead.
Everything in its path was smashed aside.
Nothing could slow its charge.
Toshiro gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand.
Hyorinmaru flared with biting cold as he cleaved down toward Gaō's thick neck.
"Ryusenka (Dragon Hail Flower)!"
"ROAR!!"
Gaō let out a deafening bellow and slapped its huge palm against the sweeping cold.
The instant they collided, Gaō's entire body froze solid, just as Mila Rose's had earlier.
But then it strained and flexed—
And shattered the ice from the inside out.
In that brief opening, Toshiro retreated at full speed, landing on a distant streetlight, eyes narrowed as he watched Gaō.
"That thing is strong… but it doesn't seem very smart. Maybe I can use that…"
He'd already used Ryusenka once just now—yet Gaō had still charged straight in.
Even when it broke free of the ice, it hadn't taken the chance to counterattack.
It was like a mindless beast attacking purely on instinct.
As that thought crossed his mind, Toshiro's expression suddenly changed and he leapt back again.
Boom, boom, boom!!!
Three Cero rained down from above, blasting his previous position to rubble.
Arms severed at the shoulder, Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun stared down coldly at Toshiro.
"Shinigami, did you forget about us?"
Even having sacrificed an arm each to create Konjūshin Gaō, losing a massive amount of power in the process, they weren't helpless.
Even with only one arm left, they were still genuine Adjuchas-level Hollows.
Their Cero…
Were just as lethal as before.
"Kyōkō Gonryō Rikyū (Radiant Thunder Spirit Palace)!!!"
Bleeding heavily, Jiro bit down hard and once more swung his Bankai-released zanpakuto.
Thunderous golden lightning crashed down from the sky like a waterfall, roiling and flowing as it surged to swallow Harribel into a lake of thunder.
Facing that strike, Harribel merely swung her blade with cool indifference.
"Danbaku (Severing Waterfall)!!"
A raging torrent of blue water erupted, swallowing the falling golden lightning and surging upward into the clouds.
Lightning and water clashed in midair.
The thunder that had filled the sky was completely consumed by the blue flood.
When blades and elements finally parted, Harribel stepped in with a burst of speed, bringing her sword down at Jiro in a ferocious arc.
"Ah!"
Blood and water sprayed together.
Jiro's body was hurled away, smashing into a wall in Karakura Town.
Blood flowed down his chest in sheets, staining the ground where he sat and painting the wall behind him red.
Staring at the gash across his torso, Jiro sucked in a few ragged breaths and tried to stand.
Every time he pushed himself up, he collapsed again.
"How can I fall here? I can't fall here…"
He glared at Harribel, unwilling to accept it.
This golden-haired woman was terrifying.
Throughout their fight, she had completely overwhelmed him.
She could easily block his thunder—
But he could not block her water.
Each slash came down like the weight of an ocean, carrying the grandeur of nature itself.
It was not something a single Shinigami could resist.
"Enough. It's over, Shinigami."
Harribel swung her blade, ready to finish Jiro off.
His pupils dilated.
Yet the first thing that surfaced in his mind wasn't fear—
It was the image of Genryusai.
"Captain-Commander… I'm sorry. I've disappointed you…"
He closed his eyes in despair.
Even after finally using the Bankai he'd hidden for hundreds of years…
He still wasn't a match for these Arrancar.
High in the sky, leaning on his cane with calm steadiness, Genryusai watched it all.
He no longer merely observed.
He swung Ryujin Jakka with a sudden roar.
"Little girl… don't underestimate Shinigami."
His blade swept down.
A tidal wave of flames roared forward like a flaming tsunami.
The fire itself seemed to become a blade, cutting down everything in its path and even cleaving two skyscrapers in half, setting them ablaze from top to bottom.
The deluge of water Harribel had created to strike Jiro never reached him.
It evaporated under the intense heat, vanishing as steam.
Harribel was forced back dozens of meters before she managed to dodge the Captain-Commander's terrifying strike.
"So this is the power of the Shinigami Captain-Commander?"
She shot a grave look at Genryusai.
He was still only in shikai—
Yet the destruction caused by that single swing was already on another level entirely.
If she hadn't avoided it in time…
The slash would have cut her cleanly in two, reducing even her bones to ash.
"AAARGH!!!"
A scream of agony suddenly tore through the battlefield.
The surrounding Shinigami looked over—and froze in shock once more.
In her duel with Barraggan, Soi fong's right arm had become a bare, skeletal limb.
There wasn't a shred of flesh left—
Only stark white bone.
She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stop screaming.
Glancing at the skeletal arm, she stared at Barraggan with extreme wariness.
"You bastard… just what is that ability of yours?"
She had been trying to land Nigeki Kessatsu with Suzumebachi, aiming to kill this former king of Hueco Mundo with two strikes.
But as her arm drew near, Barraggan had merely brushed it with his hand, and her limb had rotted away into pure bone in an instant.
If she hadn't trained under Yoruichi and mastered hoho…
It wouldn't have been just one arm.
Her entire body might already be a skeleton.
"Shinigami, give up your futile struggle," Barraggan said flatly. "In my presence, the only path before you is death."
He had indeed been beaten down by Cole earlier—
But that was because the enemy had been Cole.
Facing someone on Soi fong's level, he was still the invincible king of Hueco Mundo, still the skeletal emperor who brought all things to decay.
Thinking of this, Barraggan didn't even bother to release Resurrección.
He simply walked toward her.
Beside Soi fong, Omaeda stared at the approaching Barraggan, nearly wetting himself.
His hands and legs were shaking uncontrollably.
"Captain, we should retreat while we can! There's no way we can fight someone like that!"
He had never seen such a terrifying Hollow.
Barraggan had barely moved—yet somehow he had already crippled Soi fong's arm.
In his mind, only the Captain-Commander could handle someone like this.
"Shut up!"
Soi fong shot him a cold glare and forced her reiatsu to surge.
"Bankai!!!"
"Jakuhō Raikōben (Hornet Thunder Whip)!!!"
Her spiritual pressure exploded, multiplying many times over.
The slim, needle-like blade of Suzumebachi turned into a massive golden missile strapped to her arm.
Unlike Suzumebachi's Nigeki Kessatsu, which killed quietly with two precise stings…
The Bankai Jakuhō Raikōben destroyed with a single overwhelming blast.
Because it caused such a huge commotion, Soi fong—head of the Stealth Force—had never used her Bankai in front of others.
But things were far too dire now.
She no longer cared about secrecy.
Soi fong retreated swiftly, anchoring the cable connected to the missile into a skyscraper wall.
That would help absorb the recoil.
Once she was set, she aimed the golden missile at Barraggan and roared.
The missile fired, streaking across the sky as a lance of golden light.
Barraggan's expression didn't change in the slightest.
He seemed to pay Jakuhō Raikōben no mind at all.
Boom!!!
The golden warhead detonated.
The explosion thundered like a bolt of lightning striking the ground.
A massive cloud of smoke swallowed Barraggan's figure.
The shockwave ripped outward like a violent storm, scouring the surroundings and tearing holes in the clouds overhead.
"Did I get him?!"
Soi fong barely spared the sky a glance.
Her gaze was glued to the drifting smoke.
She wasn't fond of her Bankai, but she knew exactly how powerful it was.
And yet Barraggan's presence, his overwhelming aura and status as former king of Hueco Mundo, made her doubt herself.
Would it really be enough?
A breeze swept across the sky, scattering the dust and smoke.
From within the remnants of the blast, Barraggan's voice drifted out, calm and dismissive.
"So this is the ability you're so proud of?"
Soi fong's heart sank like a stone.
He had taken her Bankai head-on… and he was still talking.
"…"
"Lilynette. Let's go—Resurrección."
High above Karakura Town, pushed by the combined assault of Shunsui and Ukitake, Starrk finally chose to release.
In his shikai, his ability was "unlimited loaded Cero"—he could fire Cero from any part of his body.
"About time, idiot Starrk." Lilynette huffed as her body turned into light and flowed into him. "Don't hold back anymore. Let's kill these two pests."
"Yeah, yeah…"
Starrk replied lazily.
Watching this bizarre scene, Shunsui and Ukitake both grew more serious.
"That was his fracción, wasn't it?"
"Their reiatsu frequencies are syncing completely."
Starrk's spiritual pressure erupted, nearly feral in intensity.
Both Shunsui and Ukitake felt the weight of it.
"So that's more like what the Primera Espada should feel like."
"Cough… His reiatsu is stronger than mine."
Under their gaze, Starrk's appearance changed.
A coat of fur draped over his body like a hunter's cloak, gray fur wrapped around his forearms and shins, and a pair of pistols appeared in his hands.
He looked like a hunter from some forgotten age—
One that hunted wolves.
Shunsui narrowed his eyes, stepping forward as he activated one of Katen Kyokotsu's games again to test Starrk's new form.
This time, Starrk caught the movement from the corner of his eye and raised both guns.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Twin streaks of azure light shot out.
Shunsui's pupils shrank; he swung his blades reflexively to meet the incoming shots.
Boom, boom!
The azure bullets were sliced apart and exploded.
Ukitake stared at Starrk, expression grave.
"The bullets in your guns… are Cero."
"That's right."
Starrk sat down in midair as if lounging on an invisible ledge.
"So, still feel like fighting? My earlier offer is still open, you know."
Shunsui charged again, swinging his swords with a wry smile.
"We're in the middle of a battle here, you know. Why are you so lazy about it?"
Ukitake flanked Starrk from the other side.
Seeing this, Starrk sighed and gave up on slacking off.
He aimed both guns at them.
"Lilynette. Let's do it."
The pistols in his hands answered with a voice of their own.
"Kill them!!!"
In the next instant—
A rain of azure Cero erupted from Starrk's guns, like a meteor shower that blanketed the sky.
The blue light filled every inch of their vision.
No matter where you looked, there was nothing but countless Cero.
Shunsui's jaw almost dropped.
"Isn't this… a few too many Cero?"
In a single second—
A hundred thousand Cero.
Since when were Cero counted in tens of thousands?
Wasn't this just a little too ridiculous?
Ukitake thrust his right blade toward the oncoming barrage.
"Bakudō 81: Dankū (Splitting Void)!"
An invisible barrier spread across the sky.
It was strong enough to withstand a Bankai.
Under the bombardment of Starrk's endless Cero, it lasted only two seconds before shattering.
Shunsui swung his twin blades as fast as he possibly could, arms moving so quickly they left afterimages in the air.
Even so…
There was no way to block tens of thousands of Cero.
After being blasted hundreds of times in a row, Shunsui, covered in soot and scorch marks, finally shouted at his partner.
"Ukitake, use Sōgyo no Kotowari already!"
Sōgyo no Kotowari could absorb all spiritual attacks, then amplify and send them back.
In a situation like this, it was practically a divine skill.
Ukitake gave a bitter laugh and swung his blades.
"There are too many Cero. Even with Sōgyo no Kotowari, I can't absorb them all."
Shunsui's mouth twitched.
No wonder this guy was the Primera Espada.
Just this "unlimited Cero" alone was broken beyond belief.
Elsewhere, Barraggan—who had nearly forced Soi fong into a corner—suddenly halted.
His expression darkened as he glanced toward Starrk.
"Those damned wolves again…"
He thought back to their last battle.
Starrk had refused to fight him up close.
Instead, he'd fired off tens of thousands of Cero a second from his twin guns, blasting Barraggan to the brink of death.
His ability of aging and decay had been completely useless.
If Aizen hadn't called an end to it at the last moment…
Barraggan really might have died at Starrk's hands.
(End of Chapter)
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