The Way of Ruler and Subject

"What? Devour you?" Wien could hardly believe his ears. It was the first time he had ever heard such a request. "Why? Don't you want to take a chance on surviving after you advance?"

"My king, I know my own constitution better than anyone," Inora said dejectedly.

"I don't have vast Spiritual Pressure, nor do I have a constitution capable of holding more Spiritual Power. If not for the nature of my ability, I might have become someone else's rations long ago.

"Even if I'm fortunate enough to advance into a Gillian, I'll have a better chance of surviving if I retain my consciousness. If I'm unlucky enough to lose it, sooner or later I'll become part of another Gillian's Spiritual Power. Rather than let that happen, I'd rather become part of yours and continue to accompany you in battle."

"...What are you saying?" Wien sounded displeased.

"A fine bird chooses its tree, and a worthy minister chooses his lord. My king, to become part of your Spiritual Power would be the highest honor for me. I hope you'll grant my request," Inora said resolutely.

"I..." Wien was somewhat taken aback. "Sigh... prepare to advance first." Without giving Inora a clear answer, Wien turned and ran into the forest. Inora slowly rose and gazed in the direction Wien had disappeared, then, after a long while, turned and walked toward the pit where the Hollows had once advanced.

Two days later, Wien arrived at the edge of the pit with several Elite Hollow corpses. He tossed them down, along with a High-Level Hollow's mask.

Wien had found even this much prey only after searching more than half the forest. It showed just how thoroughly he and the others had drained it. If the forest was to recover its former vitality, it would be almost impossible without three to five years.

"Inora, is this enough?" Wien shouted down into the pit.

"More than enough, my king. Please move farther away." Inora stepped forward, tore off an Elite Hollow's mask, and stuffed it into his mouth. At the same time, he began adjusting his Spiritual Pressure to its best state for the coming advancement.

Hearing that, Wien retreated to a dead tree behind the pit and began watching Inora inside. After a long while, the howl unique to a Gillian rose from the pit.

Woooaaaargh!!

The enormous wail echoed through the forest. Wien's gaze, however, never left the pit despite the roar filled with Spiritual Pressure.

Then Inora's enormous figure rose from the pit after his advancement, his back to Wien.

"Did it work?" Wien muttered to himself. But Inora, his evolution complete, did not turn around. He merely stood there without a word.

"Inora!" Wien called toward the pit, but received no answer. That worried him.

Just as Wien was about to jump down from the dead tree and go check, Inora moved.

Inora slowly turned around, his enormous face directed straight at Wien. When Wien saw the huge mask on his face, his heart sank.

He had seen that mask too many times before. The pointed nose and the ugly, clownlike face meant that Inora, too, had lost consciousness during his advancement.

"Screeeaaargh!" With a furious roar, the unconscious Inora opened his great mouth, and a dark red light began to gather. It was a Gillian's signature skill, Cero. Its target was the only living thing in front of him: Wien.

Sensing the threat of the Cero, Wien retreated at tremendous speed, using Shadowless Strike to flee the dead tree where he had just been standing.

The instant his figure flashed away, a dark red beam struck, accompanied by the muffled boom of air bursting under pressure, and burned the dead tree to ash.

"Damn it!" Wien cursed under his breath and immediately flashed a hundred meters away. Looking at the enormous figure nearby, he hesitated. Should he leave, or listen to Inora and kill and devour her?

A second Cero quickly gathered in front of Inora, once again aimed at Wien a hundred meters away. Seeing this, Wien pulled away, preparing to leave Inora and the forest behind.

"A fine bird chooses its tree, and a worthy minister chooses his lord. My king, to become part of your Spiritual Power would be the highest honor for me. I hope you'll grant my request."

Just as Wien was preparing to leave, Inora's words echoed through his mind again. For some reason, they weighed on him more now than they had before Inora's advancement.

In his confusion, Wien dodged the incoming Cero with a sidestep, then stepped forward and arrived in front of Inora.

Facing the mindless Gillian, like a puppet, Wien's right claw stirred gently.

The brief silence passed in an instant. After two Ceros missed, the Gillian changed its attack and swung a huge hand at Wien.

Pfft! Screeeaaargh!!!

Wien was not sent flying by the blow. Instead, a huge hand flew through the air, trailing scarlet blood, accompanied by the Gillian's agonized scream.

This time, Wien did not dodge. Instead, he slashed viciously at the huge hand whistling toward him.

In an instant, the Gillian's blood stained Wien's body red.

Giving the Gillian no chance to attack again, Wien flashed forward repeatedly with Shadowless Strike, breaking through its defenses and severing the tendons in both its ankles.

The massive body pitched forward. Wien seized the chance to counter, using Shadowless Strike to flash to the Gillian's neck. A long-prepared Shatter Slash fell, gleaming silver with Spiritual Pressure. The next second, the Gillian's enormous head flew into the air, blood gushing from its neck.

Boom!

The enormous head landed in front of Wien. The red light in the clown mask's eyes gradually dimmed, until it finally went lifeless.

Wien looked at the lifeless Inora before him without the slightest sign of emotion.

After a long while, Wien raised his right claw toward the huge corpse and slashed down hard once more, cutting off a piece of flesh. After the slash, he picked up the flesh with his right claw, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed in great bites.

Once in his mouth, the flesh quickly turned into a dense stream of Reishi that flowed into Wien's body.

Wien sped up. Slash, grab, chew, then repeat. Like a reincarnated hungry ghost, he devoured the enormous Gillian bit by bit.

He did not know how much time had passed before only the Gillian's head remained in front of him.

Wien had eaten every other part of the body, including the severed hand and the black cloak made of Reishi.

Wien had devoured all of Inora.

Looking at the last remaining head, Wien spread his right claw and slashed twice, once horizontally and once vertically. His five bone blades divided the enormous head and its mask into dozens of pieces of flesh.

Fortunately, a Hollow's body consisted only of flesh and an outer covering formed from Reishi. Otherwise, the sight of blood and brains spilling everywhere really would have made Wien shrink back.

Hesitating no longer, Wien picked up the pieces of flesh and stuffed them into his mouth one by one. Only when he had completely devoured Inora did the bloody scene come to an end.

This was the second time Wien had devoured a Hollow whole since coming to Hueco Mundo, after his first Rations.

Unlike the first time, however, Wien felt none of the nausea he once had. Instead, like a true Hollow, he devoured Inora completely without any emotion.

After finishing his meal, Wien began circulating the Spiritual Power in his body, compressing and refining the dense Reishi he had just consumed.

Only after Inora's Spiritual Power had been completely refined did Wien's tiny figure relax a little.

Wien let out a long breath and looked up at the dim yellow sky. A sense of resolve quietly arose in his heart.

"Watch me, Inora." Wien reached out and gently pressed a hand to his chest.

"I'll break past the limits of a Gillian and become an Adjuchas, a Vasto Lorde, or even something higher and more powerful. I'll make sure your sacrifice is rewarded!"

Several days later, Wien left the forest where he had lived for years and headed west toward the Inner Circle.

The reason he headed west was information he had learned while talking with Inora and Feisilin'na before Feisilin'na advanced into a Gillian.

There were three Forests of Menos in Hueco Mundo's Outer Circle, located in the north, center, and south respectively.

The forest where Wien and the others had lived lay west of the central Forest of Menos, close to it.

But a Gillian could be summoned by any of the Forests of Menos. There was even a rumor that a conscious Gillian had once been summoned by the northern Forest of Menos while at the edge of the southern one, and had crossed half the continent of Hueco Mundo to reach its destination.

During that long journey, the Gillian had passed through countless small strongholds and devoured countless elite and high-level Hollow beasts, evolving into an Adjuchas before reaching the Forest of Menos.

After arriving, the Adjuchas began hunting the local Gillians relentlessly and became the king of the northern Forest of Menos. Of course, that had been hundreds of years ago.

Whether that Adjuchas was alive or dead now was beyond what Hollows of Inora and Feisilin'na's level could know.

After learning this, Wien had immediately suggested taking Inora and Feisilin'na west with him, as far from the Forest of Menos as possible. That way, after evolving into Gillians, they would have a better chance of surviving the journey to the Forest of Menos.

But Inora and Feisilin'na had tactfully rejected the idea. In their words, although it could improve their chances of survival as Gillians, the danger would multiply while they were still High-Level Hollows.

If Wien went alone, it might not be too difficult. After all, he would be much more agile on his own. Even if he could not win a fight, he could still break through an encirclement and escape.

But taking Inora and Feisilin'na along would be less convenient. If the three of them were surrounded in some area, the two would surely hold Wien back, given their fighting strength. Though Wien did not think it would be too difficult, they were adamant that they did not want him to take more risks.

Thus, after devouring Inora, Wien set out alone. He traveled west, and none of the strongholds he passed could stop him.

After all, aside from flying Hollows and those on the ground that also possessed speed-boosting Spiritual Power Skills, almost no Hollow beast could keep up with Wien's Shadowless Strike at this stage. His movement speed could definitely be called the fastest below Sonído.

Of course, if Wien was truly fortunate enough to advance into an Adjuchas, combining Sonído with Shadowless Strike's straight-line thrust would certainly raise his combat strength to another level.