Test Subjects

The enemies appeared quickly.

One was a humanoid, lizardlike Hollow over two meters tall. Another was a giant monkeylike Hollow wearing a white mask. The last resembled a giant crow and was taller than its companions.

Three hostile Adjuchas appeared before him.

To him, it was only natural to treat them like dolls in a dollhouse.

"A little white goat and a deer," Monkey said shrilly. "They match the description of the two Hollows who killed my subordinates around here."

"We'll crush them, then return and report to Lord Baraggan."

Crow agreed with his companion, who served the king of Hueco Mundo indirectly.

They had left their Hollow subordinates to evolve in the wild, only for the newcomers to kill them.

Apache answered with a sharp beam of Cero that scorched the fur around Monkey's chest, leaving a bloody wound.

"You pathetic monkey, I'm a reindeer. Cangya has wings, too. He's not a goat. Open your damn eyes before you start spouting nonsense."

"Damn." Cangya laughed and smiled at the furious Hollows as he patted Apache's head. "That's no friendly way to treat guests, is it?"

"Hey, you three, why don't we sit down in my cave and talk about the troubles in your lives? I'm a first-rate listener, and a professional therapist, too."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Apache retorted. "You pissed them off!"

"How dare you mock me, an attendant in Lord Baraggan's court?"

"You'll pay for this."

"Let the sinner die!!!"

The Hollows roared in fury and charged at him.

He vanished in an instant, leaving only a sonic boom behind.

A moment later, he appeared several meters away using Sonído, his speed far beyond the Hollows' reach.

"No need to get so angry. Oh dear." He took his hand off Apache's head and unleashed the full force of his Vasto Lorde-level Reiatsu.

"You were supposed to die, but that's not what I want. You'll become part of a great undertaking. Rejoice, you're dying for a great cause~."

The Hollows felt as though the sky were falling, and their souls trembled in fear.

His Reiatsu was tearing their souls apart.

"A... a Vasto Lorde?!"

"Just our luck. What's a Vasto Lorde doing here?"

"Damn it!!!"

They realized it too late. From the moment they had approached him with hostile intent, their deaths had been inevitable.

Standing behind Cangya, Apache felt only a small fraction of his oppressive Reiatsu.

Even so, it shocked her.

"Vasto Lordes are ridiculously powerful."

How wonderful would it be to have that kind of power?

She could say goodbye to a life of running and hiding and live as Cangya had said, without fearing that inevitable "end."

A longing not so different from jealousy welled up in her heart.

Alas, she was the kind of Adjuchas whose power barely grew even after eating Adjuchas-level Hollows.

Simply put, she lacked the potential to become a Vasto Lorde.

Breaking her promise annoyed her, and she gritted her teeth. "To hell with Vasto Lordes. I'm going to become the strongest Arrancar."

Earlier.

A gray snake with a white belly slithered across Hueco Mundo's white dunes.

The three pink spots on either side of her head and the three pearls hanging from her white, oyster-shaped mask all confirmed that she was female.

Walking beside the snake was a fierce lioness, her four legs covered in fragments of white armor.

What made the lioness special was her golden mask and the golden mane that spread out behind it.

The two female Adjuchas followed a blonde woman.

Compared to her companions, the woman was relatively small.

A light blue bodysuit covered her from her neck down to her lower body, blending almost seamlessly with her healthy olive skin.

White, bonelike armor covered most of her body, and gills grew along her limbs and ribs.

Sharp protrusions jutted from her shoulders like pauldrons, with the armor extending out from them.

A long tail extended from the back of her head, with a shark-fin-shaped feature in the middle and two jointlike fins at the end.

A huge white broadsword, like an elongated shark tooth, was fused to her arm.

She was a powerful Vasto Lorde.

"Oh, Mila Rose, walk in front of us. We might lose sight of you in the dark."

"Pfft, that snake bitch. How is she so tall?"

The snake and the lioness shouted at each other.

The snake raised her body, her white scales gleaming in the dark, and hissed a warning.

The lioness crouched low, her eyes blazing as she roared a challenge. They faced off like mortal enemies.

Tier Harribel shook her head.

Sitting in a cave was no fun, so Tier Harribel and her two companions wandered through the White Ash Desert that covered Hueco Mundo.

Sometimes, she stumbled upon Ancient Ruins inhabited by Hollows; sometimes, she found empty rooms; sometimes, she met people she could trust.

The feeling that a new discovery might lie ahead drove Tier Harribel to keep moving every day.

They were out wandering again today, but her companions kept bickering.

Sun-Sun, the snake Hollow, turned to their leader.

The serious expression that had suddenly appeared on Tier Harribel's face hinted at potential danger.

"Lady Harribel?"

Hearing the gravity in Sun-Sun's voice, Franceska Mila Rose lowered her growl. "Huh! Lady Harribel, what's wrong?"

"I sense a powerful Reiatsu." Tier Harribel stopped and held her companions back with her swordlike arm, her golden brows knitting with concern. "Perhaps there's a battle."

"It's none of our business," Lioness said. "Leave it alone, all right?"

Mila Rose's tone revealed her disregard for other lives, which she took for granted.

Tier Harribel had brought her and Sun-Sun together to protect one another from other Hollows, though Tier Harribel did most of the hard work.

Mila Rose didn't like getting involved in other people's battles.

"We'll observe from a distance," Tier Harribel told Mila Rose. "Follow me."

The calm and composed Vasto Lorde made a quick decision and rushed forward before her companions could respond.

Sun-Sun hissed, "Lady Harribel has more compassion for life than either of us. We should have accepted that by now."

Tier Harribel always forgave Hollows who tried to attack them and had even admitted that she hated killing.

Still, to help Sun-Sun and Mila Rose maintain their status as Adjuchas, she occasionally killed particularly troublesome Hollows.

But she wouldn't help them devour other Hollows to evolve further.

Sun-Sun and Mila Rose respected Tier Harribel because she had the ability to act as she pleased.

She was confident enough to travel throughout Hueco Mundo, except, of course, for Lord Baraggan's court.

Mila Rose dug her claws into the ground and leaped a great distance.

"Don't talk to me like I'm ignorant. I know how much Lady Harribel hates sacrificing others."

"But you're as impulsive as a child," Sun-Sun said with a soft laugh. "Lady Harribel, wait for us!"

"I'm going to kill you, bitch!"

A fierce lioness chased a snake across the white desert.