Ability Review

Three days after Wien regained consciousness, the thoroughly bored Nel finally sensed his Spiritual Pressure fluctuate as he advanced. She hurried to the place where he was dormant and made every possible safety preparation, even bringing two Gillian masks. All that remained was to wait for Wien to emerge.

About half a day later, a pale golden light burst from the earth. Vast Spiritual Pressure surged into the sky, instantly surpassing Nel's current Spiritual Pressure in both quality and quantity. Although Nel had been the first to reach the level of an Adjuchas, Wien had already possessed Spiritual Pressure on par with an early-stage Adjuchas when he was a Gillian. After accumulating ample strength and finally unleashing it, Wien had reached this point. Surpassing Nel had taken only an instant.

"Lord Wien!" Seeing the vast Spiritual Pressure surging into the sky, Nel's eyes filled with excitement. Who wouldn't want the person they followed to be powerful? Perhaps only those Hollows who were always plotting betrayal would want their master to be weaker than themselves.

"Woooooaaaaargh!!!!"

The moment Wien emerged, he shot straight from beneath the ground into the air and let out a long roar at the sky. His Spiritual Pressure burst forth in an instant. The entire forest trembled under the pale golden Spiritual Pressure, and some of the weaker Hollow beasts were obliterated by the roar.

"That felt good!"

Perhaps he had been suppressed for too long during his advancement. The moment Wien emerged, he let himself loose.

"Welcome back, my lord!" Below him, Nel bowed respectfully from the ground. Her tail, however, swished back and forth behind her, making her look thoroughly excited.

"Nel, it's been a long time." Wien descended from the sky and came to Nel's side, reaching out to pat her head. "Thank you for guarding me all this time."

"Ehehe~" Nel was delighted by Wien's praise. After handing him the two masks, she stepped back, her tail swishing even more vigorously.

"By the way, how long was I asleep?"

"About a year."

"That long?" Wien himself hadn't felt the passage of time at all. "I remember you were only asleep for about half a year, weren't you?"

"Maybe every Hollow is different?" Nel had no real understanding of it either. "Anyway, your advancement went smoothly, Lord Wien, and it's been peaceful here. Oh, and I trained the Hollows here very well, too."

"Haha, thank you for all your hard work." Wien knew that leaving Nel here alone for more than half a year without being able to hunt freely must have been stifling, which was why she had passed the time with the lesser Hollows here. It really had been hard on her.

"Now that I'm out, we'll be returning to the Forest of Menos soon. There are less than five years left until our plan, too."

"My lord, what exactly are we going to do?" Nel had never asked about Wien's plan. She only knew that he intended to remain in the outer region until the next Forest of Hollows War broke out.

"Revenge," Wien explained simply. "I'm going to take revenge on the lords of the Northern Forest, those insect Hollow beasts who drove us out back then."

Recalling what had happened, Nel still remembered how, after completing her advancement, she had wanted to find Wien using the mark she had left on him, but had been unable to sense his Spiritual Pressure at all. It was only when Wien suddenly appeared one day and released his Spiritual Pressure, activating the mark, that Nel learned where he was. If she hadn't moved quickly enough to save Wien before that insect Hollow attacked, perhaps Nel would now have gone alone to challenge the entire Northern Forest. Of course, there was no need to imagine the outcome: Nel's bones would certainly have been cold for five years by now.

"Yes, Lord Wien, we have to wipe out every last one of those stinking bugs!" Nel was furious as well when the events of that time came up.

"But before that, I need to sort out my current condition," Wien said. "Come on, let's go back to the Forest of Menos in the center first." As he spoke, Wien gently tapped a finger in the air, and a pitch-black rift abruptly opened.

Inside the Garganta, Nel, half antelope and half human, walked slowly along, carrying Wien, who had resumed his humanoid form, on her back. It wasn't that Wien was bullying Nel; he needed some time to sort through and digest his own strength and current condition. He also needed to organize the new skills he had acquired during his advancement and adapt to his current Spiritual Pressure as quickly as possible.

First was his form. Wien was a humanoid Hollow to begin with, and after advancing to Adjuchas, he had returned to his former height of just under two meters. Like Nel's, his Hollow Hole had opened above his chest, between his collarbones.

The bone and keratinous layers covering his entire body had also turned into Hierro, fitting tightly against him like a high-collared garment. His former skirt armor had transformed into a light suit of armor that wrapped tightly around his lower body. His helmet-like mask had also changed into an inverted V-shaped demon mask that covered only his cheeks. Parts of the mask arched upward on either side of his eyes, making it look like a bat resting against his face.

Long, pale golden hair had grown from the back of his head where the helmet had receded, making Wien seem more human. His former slender bone blades had transformed into sharp claws, which no longer interfered with his right hand's ability to grasp things or form a fist. His left hand remained flexible as well.

The difference was that, thanks to his evolution, Wien could now use Spiritual Power to conjure weapons with his favored left hand. Just like Nel's Lanzador Verde, Wien could conjure ranged and melee weapons in his left hand. Of course, this was a skill, not an innate trait of Wien's.

"If I put it in terms of data, I can probably categorize my abilities and traits more clearly." On Nel's back, Wien began muttering to himself as he organized the information about his abilities.

Ace Wien, early-stage Adjuchas.

Trait: Concealment.

Trait ability: Conceals his Spiritual Pressure, form, attacks, and other things related to his abilities, rendering them undetectable.

New trait: Space.

Trait ability: Distorts space and is better at breaking down its structure than ordinary Hollows. Rather than forcibly breaking it with power, he alters spatial rifts by drawing on them himself.

The new trait was the second trait the Forest of Menos had granted Wien. Judging by his current state, both traits still had room to improve, but that might have to wait until Wien advanced again.

At this stage, Wien could only use these two traits to expand upon his skills. He could not bring about any further qualitative changes.

Skills.

Cero: A flash in the form of a high-spirit-energy beam, created by concentrating Spiritual Power at the mouth, hand, or another location. Its destructive power was astonishing. An ordinary Gillian-level Cero was dark red, while every Pseudo-Adjuchas Menos Grande had its own specific Cero color. Wien's normal Cero, without the Concealment trait applied, was pale gold.

Concealment Cero: An invisible, colorless Cero released by combining it with his Concealment trait. At his current stage as an Adjuchas, Wien could completely conceal his Cero; only the fluctuation produced at the moment of release could not be concealed.

Space-Bending Cero: Combined with the space trait acquired after his advancement, this allowed Wien to distort space as he fired a Cero, causing it to strike the enemy from different angles. At present, this technique still had a great deal of room for further development.

Bala: A special Spiritual Power projectile formed and released by concentrating Spiritual Power. It was weaker than a Cero, but twenty times faster.

Bala: Hidden Kill: An invisible Bala created by combining it with his Concealment trait. Because a Bala was extremely fast, the Spiritual Power fluctuations it produced were almost imperceptible.

Bala: Ethereal: Fired countless Bala into distorted space, causing them to attack the enemy from all directions.

Having two different traits allowed him to develop the basic skills of a Hollow to their fullest extent. In that respect, Wien was already sufficiently outstanding. He still couldn't combine the two traits perfectly, however. Otherwise, the abilities of his Cero and Bala might have been developed further.

Garganta: Forcibly tore open space using Spiritual Power, creating a path to the Dangai that could ultimately lead to Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or the World of the Living. It was a skill only a few Menos Grande could learn, yet Wien had been fortunate enough—or rather, thanks to his space trait—to master it directly and use it even better.

Negación: Created a separate space completely isolated from the outside world. It could only be used on companions, and while protected by Negación, they could not release another Negación. Because it was a spatial ability, Wien would further develop his use of Negación in the future.

Sonído: Similar to Flash Step, except that Sonído was a spatial technique. Rather than instantaneous movement like Flash Step, it was spatial movement. Combined with his space trait, Sonído had a great deal of room for development as far as Wien was concerned, and it could not be detected by pesquisa nerves.

Space-Splitting Slash: An advanced form of Shatter Slash. It concentrated a massive amount of Spiritual Power into the Blade Claws on his right hand, unleashing a powerful close-range attack. By applying his space trait, the slash could tear through space and damage the enemy. Having evolved to this stage, the skill was no less powerful than an Adjuchas-level Pantera's Claw. Wien didn't know how far Grimmjow had progressed now, either. If they faced each other now, it was still unknown which of them would be stronger.

Shadowless Strike Flash: An advanced skill derived from Shadowless Strike. Building on the original straight-line piercing attack, it enhanced mobility and combined the traits of Sonído and Concealment. It allowed him to move silently and undetected to an opponent's side, then drive the opponent back instantly with a powerful direct strike.

Shadowless Strike Dance: Based on his Sonído and combined with his space trait, it delivered a rapid series of slashes that knocked the enemy back. It could leave an enemy at his mercy, but consumed an enormous amount of Spiritual Pressure.

Zero-Type Storm: An advanced skill derived from Lightning Strike. It consumed most of his Spiritual Power, gathering it into a flash of Spiritual Power and unleashing a wide-area Spiritual Pressure attack on enemies within a kilometer, like a thunderstorm. It likewise consumed an enormous amount of Spiritual Pressure and was a wide-area clearing skill. At present, a single Zero-Type Storm was enough to destroy a small woodland base in Hueco Mundo.

Conjured weapon: Rift-Splitting Greatsword

Advancing to Adjuchas had made Wien's control over Spiritual Power much more deft. Conjuring weapons with Spiritual Power was no longer difficult for him. Rift-Splitting was a melee weapon Wien had conjured to make up for his left hand's lack of offensive power, with properties similar to Nel's Lanzador Verde. It took the form of a one-handed sword and could likewise serve as a medium for Wien to use his various skills.

"That's roughly what my abilities are at present." After sorting out his abilities and traits, Wien let out a long breath. "It seems the ability the Forest of Menos gave me still has a lot of room for development. Once this revenge is over, I can study it thoroughly. That might be a great help for my future advancements. And what exactly was the thing the Forest of Menos gave me before? It seems it wasn't just an ability trait, was it?"

"Lord Wien, what are you muttering to yourself about?" Nel asked, turning her head as she walked beneath him.

"Ah, nothing." Wien shook his head. "There are just some things I haven't figured out, but they aren't important." With that, Wien patted Nel's head. "Come on, back to the Central Forest!"

"Yes!"