Chapter Summaries

Wien faced Yammy’s overwhelming Bala barrage so Nel could escape, but Nel stayed and healed his life-threatening injuries. After waking and finding Gillian-sized footprints, Wien suspected Nel had advanced and followed the trail to find out what happened.

• Wien and Nel fled Yammy toward a forest, but Yammy unleashed a barrage of Bala: Rage.
• Wien shoved Nel out of danger and used Lightning Strike to block part of the attack, then endured the remaining Bala and collapsed with severe injuries.
• Nel returned and used her healing ability on Wien, briefly surrounding him with dense pink spiritual pressure before he lost consciousness.
• Wien awoke after an unknown amount of time and found that most of his injuries had healed, while Nel and Yammy were gone.
• Wien found Gillian-sized footprints on the battlefield, suspected Nel had advanced, and followed the trail.

Wien tracked an unconscious Gillian across Hueco Mundo, hoping it was Nel while fearing it might be Yammy. After another Gillian attacked, Wien killed it and continued following his target, still uncertain of its identity.

• Wien questioned a wounded Mutant Hollow, learned that a clown-masked Gillian had devastated a group of Hollows, then killed the Mutant Hollow and resumed his pursuit.
• Wien caught up with an unconscious Gillian and recognized its witch-like mask, but could not tell whether it was Nel or Yammy.
• When a second unconscious Gillian approached, Wien marked his target with his Spiritual Pressure and watched the two Gillians fight.
• Wien attacked the second Gillian after both had spent their strength on Ceros, shattered its mask, and killed it.
• The Gillian Wien had been following devoured the fallen opponent, and Wien continued after it, hoping it was Nel.

Wien reached the Forest of Menos after following an unconscious Gillian for months, then began feeding it masks from Gillians he hunted. When the Gillian abruptly rushed away, Wien suspected an adjuchas had summoned it or a factional war had begun.

• Wien followed a Gillian for half a year, avoiding danger and letting it absorb Reishi as his own Spiritual Power neared its limit.
• Wien crossed a hill, saw the Forest of Menos, and entered it while continuing to track the Gillian.
• Wien decided to lure isolated Gillians to the Gillian he was following and feed it their masks so it could prepare to evolve.
• Wien ambushed a Gillian from a tree, shattered its mask with Shatter Slash, and carried the mask to the Gillian he was tracking.
• After swallowing the mask, the Gillian suddenly roared and charged away, leaving Wien to wonder whether an adjuchas had summoned it or a war had started.

Wien followed a Gillian to a clearing where two low-rank Adjuchas had gathered dozens of Gillians and forced them into a Cero melee. He slipped into the battlefield to find the Gillian he had marked, while the Adjuchas wagered on how long he would survive.

• Wien sensed an Adjuchas summoning Gillians and followed the marked Gillian toward the source.
• Wien detected a second low-rank Adjuchas and found the two, Kaslanine and Niji, facing each other across a clearing as Gillians gathered.
• The Gillians began firing Ceros at one another, and Wien concealed his Spiritual Pressure before entering the battlefield.
• Kaslanine and Niji noticed Wien and bet on how many rounds of Ceros he could survive, with Kaslanine predicting fewer than three and Niji predicting five.
• Wien remained calm and began weaving among the Menos Grande, waiting for a chance to act.

Wien exploited a clash between Niji and Kaslanine to gather Gillian masks and feed them to the Gillian he had been tracking. The Gillian awakened Nel’s Cero Doble, forcing the two Adjuchas to flee while Wien realized his long pursuit had finally paid off.

• Kaslanine broke the wager by directing his Gillians’ Ceros at Wien, who dodged and sent the blasts into Niji’s Gillian.
• Wien crippled Kaslanine’s Gillians, and Niji attacked Kaslanine after Wien urged him to seize the opening.
• Niji’s Gillians battered Kaslanine while Wien collected masks and fed most of them to the nearly evolved Gillian he had followed.
• Wien attacked the remaining Gillians to supply the Gillian with more masks, while Kaslanine was gravely wounded and fled after firing a final Cero at Wien.
• The Gillian swallowed Kaslanine’s Cero and returned it as Cero Doble, revealing that he was Nel; Niji and Kaslanine escaped with Sonído.

Wien watched Nel evolve into an Adjuchas before she entered hibernation, then stopped suppressing his own evolution and advanced to Gillian. After awakening, he learned about his new abilities and uncovered what had happened to Nel and Yammy.

• Wien fed the remaining Gillian masks to Nel until she evolved into an Adjuchas, then heard her say she would soon hibernate and urge him to advance.
• Nel gave Wien a mark and memory fragments before her cocoon sank underground, and Wien began absorbing Reishi after finally relaxing.
• Wien consumed the last two masks and advanced to Gillian while sleeping in a surge of Reishi.
• The Forest of Menos spoke to Wien, explained that it would grant him knowledge, and gave him an understanding of Hueco Mundo's laws and Cero.
• Wien used Nel's mark to learn that she had forcibly evolved to save him, lost consciousness, and later drove Yammy away with Cero Doble.

Months after advancing to Gillian, Wien adapted to his new body, hunted with his Concealment ability, and cautiously cultivated near the sleeping Nel. When a powerful Adjuchas’s summons called the Menos of the forest to war, Wien decided to head toward its source.

• Wien learned more about Hueco Mundo and adjusted to his Gillian body, using his accumulated Spiritual Power to move and hunt more freely than ordinary Gillians.
• Wien used Concealment to ambush and eat a Gillian, then considered the danger posed by the Lord of the Forest North and chose to avoid the forest’s core while Nel slept.
• Wien set warning and restraining traps around Nel’s resting place, hid in a hollow tree, and used Soul Suck to absorb Reishi.
• A powerful roar from the forest’s core shook Wien with an Adjuchas’s summons, and he resisted the urge to obey it immediately.
• When the second summons came, Wien understood that it meant war and headed toward its source.

Wien followed a sandworm Adjuchas's summoned Gillian army into a Garganta and found himself in a battle between two Forests of Menos at a graveyard of Gillian bones. He tried to retreat from the battle, but the sandworm Menos Grande caught up with him and demanded to know where he was going.

• Wien concealed himself among the Gillians, devoured nearly a hundred masks, and learned that the sandworm Adjuchas had summoned thousands for war.
• The Gillian army entered a Garganta, and after a long journey Wien emerged in another part of Hueco Mundo beside a Menos Grande Graveyard.
• The two armies began fighting across the graveyard, and Wien tried to push his way toward the rear of the battlefield.
• Wien unleashed his Spiritual Pressure to force his way backward, but the sandworm Menos Grande used Sonído to land in front of him.
• The sandworm Menos Grande challenged Wien, who bowed and claimed he wanted to help win the war.

Wien persuaded the Lord of the Forest North to spare him and use his tactical plan against the Southern Forest. The Northern force began surrounding and destroying enemy Gillians, while the larger battle threatened to escalate.

• The Sandworm Menos Grande attacked Wien, but Wien blocked the strike with Negación and argued that strategy could win the war.
• Wien convinced the Sandworm Menos Grande to hear his plan, and the lord ordered Riate to take Wien to the Northern Forest’s Adjuchas commanders.
• Wien learned that the Northern Forest had more than sixty Adjuchas at the battlefield and roughly two to three hundred in total, and that the wars between forests took place every ten years.
• The Sandworm Menos Grande ordered his Adjuchas to divide their Gillian forces, encircle the enemy, and attack when he gave the signals.
• Wien’s encirclement trapped the opposing Gillians and inflicted heavy losses, beginning to intensify the battle.

Wien’s strategy of exhausting the Southern Forest’s forces before unleashing Negación and a coordinated volley turned the battle in the Northern Forest’s favor. The King of the Southern Forest escaped through a Garganta, leaving his forces to be defeated as Wien watched the portal’s disappearance.

• Wien persuaded the Sandworm Menos Grande to let the enemy Pseudo-Adjuchas spend their strength on successive Cero attacks before countering with Negación.
• Wien had the Gillians harass the enemy, and the Lord of the Forest North used more than sixty Negación barriers to shield his forces while they launched a devastating volley.
• The Northern Forest’s Pseudo-Adjuchas overwhelmed the Southern Forest’s forces, while Wien withdrew to observe their abilities and the Sandworm Menos Grande fought the King of the Southern Forest.
• Sadiyen used Negación to protect the King of the Southern Forest, then self-destructed to delay the Lord of the Forest North.
• The King of the Southern Forest escaped through a Garganta, and the Northern Forest’s forces defeated the remaining enemies as Wien watched the portal vanish.

Wien escaped the Sandworm Menos Grande’s attempt to recruit him by blasting him with a concealed Cero and trapping him in Negación. The Sandworm Menos Grande later discovered that Riate, who had pursued Wien, was missing too, and ordered his followers back to their nest to search again.

• The Sandworm Menos Grande rewarded Wien for his service and planned to wait in the Menos Grande Graveyard while Gillians evolved.
• Wien devoured Adjuchas and Gillian Reishi, reaching the late Gillian stage before the group returned to the Forest of Menos.
• The Sandworm Menos Grande ordered Wien to stay by his side as a strategist, but Wien refused and asked to wait until he evolved.
• When the Sandworm Menos Grande threatened him, Wien fired a concealed Cero and Negación, then fled into the forest.
• The Sandworm Menos Grande broke free and sent Riate after Wien, but Riate failed to return.
• Yadelusi could not detect Riate’s Spiritual Pressure, so the Sandworm Menos Grande led his followers back to their nest to search for him.

The Lord of the Forest North searched the forest for Wien and Riate, unaware that Riate had cornered Wien and left him near death. Just as Riate’s final Cero was about to kill Wien, Nel appeared as an Adjuchas and returned the attack with Cero Doble.

• Yadelusi searched the Forest of Menos but could find neither Riate nor Wien, so the Lord of the Forest North sent his Adjuchas to search the forest.
• Wien’s Concealment and careful movement kept Riate at a distance during their chase, but Wien eventually exhausted his Spiritual Power and was exposed.
• Riate blasted off Wien’s arm with a Cero, then overpowered Wien’s counterattack and left him grievously injured.
• Riate fired a final Cero at Wien, who gave up resisting and thought of Nel as he waited for death.
• Nel arrived, swallowed Riate’s Cero, and fired a pink Cero Doble back at him, revealing that she had advanced to Adjuchas.

Nel rescued Wien by killing Riate, then helped him escape the forest through a Garganta toward the Forest of Menos. After stopping to rest and replenish their Spiritual Pressure, Wien began regrowing his severed arm.

• Nel countered Riate's Cero with Cero Doble, then killed him with two throws of Lanzador Verde.
• Nel healed Wien's stump by licking it, and Wien thanked her before they left the forest with Riate's mask.
• Nel opened a Garganta, and she and Wien traveled through it toward the middle of Hueco Mundo while discussing her evolution.
• After several days, Wien and Nel left the Garganta to find food and rest in a small forest, where they devoured the Hollow beasts.
• Wien rested for a day and saw a few centimeters of his severed arm begin to grow back.

Wien and Nel hunted through the Central Forest, allowing Wien to grow close to Pseudo-Adjuchas strength while Nel protected him. After local Pseudo-Adjuchas restricted their prey and one lord attacked them, Nel killed the attacker, and Wien decided to use the opening to expand their territory.

• Wien and Nel entered the Central Forest to hunt Gillians and help Wien advance, while avoiding the core area for the time being.
• Over the next year, Nel hunted for Wien, who devoured more than a hundred Gillians and grew powerful enough to approach Pseudo-Adjuchas strength.
• Wien realized that local Pseudo-Adjuchas were diverting Gillians and forcing the pair toward their territory.
• A Pseudo-Adjuchas lord attacked Wien and Nel, but Wien's Cero matched the attack and Nel impaled the lord with Lanzador Verde.
• Nel swiftly killed the lord and absorbed his corpse, and Wien decided they would expand into the newly open territory.

After Doruni’s death, the Central Forest’s ruler sent Waruta, Gasukādo, and Yinfeng to negotiate with Wien and Nel or eliminate them if talks failed. The three arrived as Wien and Nel began building a base, leaving them facing three hostile Adjuchas and planning an escape.

• At a meeting in the Central Forest, the great lord learned Doruni had died and ordered Waruta to offer Wien and Nel Doruni’s territory in exchange for tribute and service in the coming Holy War.
• The great lord assigned Gasukādo and Yinfeng to accompany Waruta, with Yinfeng tasked with trapping Wien and Nel and calling for help if negotiations failed.
• Two days later, Waruta argued that Wien and Nel’s intelligence and combat ability could make them valuable allies, while Gasukādo insisted he wanted to fight them.
• Wien and Nel chose a hill surrounded by Forest for their base, and Nel teased Wien about eating an Adjuchas before he was ready to advance.
• Three Adjuchas arrived, and Wien told Nel to prepare to use Negación on him so they could escape through a Garganta if they found an opening.

Wien and Nel met Waruta, Kasijiade, and Yinfeng, who demanded that they join the Central Forest under their lord. Wien and Nel rejected the offer and launched a surprise attack, leaving the fight underway.

• Kasijiade attacked Wien with two Bala, but Wien knocked them aside and learned that the three Hollows had come to demand an explanation for Doruni's death.
• Waruta introduced himself and his companions, then offered to recruit Nel into the service of the Central Forest's lord.
• Wien and Nel insulted the three Hollows and signaled their plan to attack, while Waruta offered Nel control of the territory in exchange for tribute and obedience.
• Wien fired a Cero at Waruta as Nel charged and threw Lanzador Verde at Kasijiade.

Wien and Nel survived a fight against three Pseudo-Adjuchas after Yinfeng betrayed Waruta and Kasijiade, but Wien was left wondering what Yinfeng wanted. Yinfeng then knelt before Wien and welcomed him back as his king, calling himself Jekain.

• Waruta trapped Nel with Illusion Cage, while Yinfeng used Shadow of Restraint to block Garganta and prevent Wien and Nel from escaping.
• Wien and Nel prepared to fight the three Pseudo-Adjuchas, and Yinfeng asked Wien's name before beginning his attack.
• Yinfeng suddenly killed Waruta with a point-blank Cero, letting Wien and Nel turn on Kasijiade.
• Kasijiade tried to self-destruct, but Nel severed his head and Wien protected her from the blast with Negación.
• Wien offered to split the fallen enemies' masks with Yinfeng and leave, but Yinfeng knelt and welcomed him back as his king, identifying himself as Jekain.

Wien reunited with Jekain, who had been living in the Central Forest under the alias Yinfeng, and asked him to keep working undercover. Jekain returned to the Lord Circle with a fabricated account of the deaths of Waruta and Kasijiade, leaving the lords wary of Wien and Nel.

• Wien recognized Jekain as his former subordinate, introduced him to Nel, and heard how Jekain had survived and advanced while hiding in the Central Forest.
• Jekain explained that his sealing ability let him conceal their fight, and Wien asked him to return to the Lord Circle while Wien pursued his own plan.
• Jekain went back under the name Yinfeng and told the great lord that Waruta and Kasijiade had died after confronting two powerful outsiders.
• Yinfeng claimed that Wien had killed Waruta with a strange, nearly transparent Cero and that Nel had wounded him with an Emerald Long Spear.
• The lords realized the outsiders were a serious threat and worried that their presence could destabilize the Forest of Menos.

Wien left the Forest of Menos with Nel and began advancing in a remote wood, where Nel guarded him while he entered dormancy. During the advancement, the Forest of Menos spoke with Wien again and gave him a golden crystal before he awakened as an Adjuchas.

• The great lord ordered Elder Yi to send fifteen Pseudo-Adjuchas after Wien and Nel, but they had already escaped the Forest of Menos through a Garganta.
• Wien and Nel traveled for three days, then settled in a small wood several thousand kilometers from the Central Forest, where Nel made the local Hollow beasts submit and stand guard.
• Wien entered a camouflaged trench and fell dormant as a pale-gold cocoon enveloped him, while Nel watched over the area.
• Wien repeatedly lost and regained consciousness in a hazy state before hearing the Forest of Menos speak to him again.
• The Forest of Menos told Wien that it nurtured many children, declined to explain the Soul King, and gave Wien a golden teardrop crystal that could help him grow and grant him a new ability.

After advancing to an early-stage Adjuchas, Wien reunited with Nel and began reviewing his new form, traits, and abilities as they traveled back to the Central Forest. He planned to return to the Northern Forest in less than five years to take revenge on the insect Hollow lords who had driven them out.

• Nel sensed Wien's Spiritual Pressure surge as his advancement completed, and Wien emerged from underground with power that surpassed hers.
• Wien thanked Nel for guarding him, learned that he had been dormant for about a year, and told her they would soon return to the Forest of Menos before pursuing revenge.
• Wien opened a Garganta, and Nel carried him through it while he adapted to his Adjuchas form and reviewed his abilities.
• Wien catalogued his Concealment and Space traits, his new and improved combat skills, and his conjured Rift-Splitting Greatsword.
• Wien wondered about the Forest of Menos's gifts and told Nel to continue toward the Central Forest.