The 11th Division's training grounds were protected by three powerful Barriers erected by Zero, which blocked both sight and Reiatsu.
Ding ding!
Two identical red demonic shadows collided, their two massive straight swords clashing and clashing repeatedly, one slashing vertically while the other blocked horizontally.
Sparks flew everywhere, and the surging Reiatsu caused cracks to appear in the first layer of the inner Barrier. Several shockwaves followed, shattering the Barrier completely. Then, cracks began to appear in the second layer.
When only one layer of the Barrier remained, the two Zeros in their Bankai stopped fighting and gradually reduced their Reiatsu. Even in the ten or so seconds that they were exposed, their Reiatsu still made the Reishi in the air of Seireitei moist.
Normal Soul Reaper only sensed dampness, while more powerful Soul Reaper sensed a thick, viscous feeling, but they didn't know why... At this moment, only four people in the Seireitei could sense this Reiatsu...
Yama-jii was writing calligraphy, stopped and slowly looked towards the Eleventh Division Barracks. He seemed to see a crouching, blood-red behemoth roaring.
Aizen, who was engrossed in reading research materials, looked up and muttered to himself with interest, "Interesting. This level of Reiatsu is probably beyond the reach of ordinary Soul Reaper. How did he manage to do that?"
Kyōraku stared at the wine bowl. He had clearly reached a state of extreme balance, but he didn't move. Yet, the wine in the bowl rippled automatically.
Unohana was watering her flowers, and she looked up towards the direction of the 11th Division's training ground, as if she saw mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but there was no fear in her eyes, only a look of nostalgia.
"He's also suitable for this title! It would be interesting if they could meet again at their peak!" she murmured to herself before focusing her attention on watering the flowers.
Because the two Reiatsu were exactly the same, they did not realize that there were two zeros; unless they saw it with their own eyes, they would have no way of guessing.
The other Captain-level sensed something to varying degrees, but even these experienced captains could only frown and speculate...
"How is it? Not bad, right?" Yanis asked with a grin.
"If I had to give a quantifiable figure, it would be Eleven Cars in my Shikai state. However, my Reiatsu is already mixed with yours from the past. Whenever my Reiatsu breaks through a new level, it completely merges and undergoes a qualitative change. This time, it might be the truly perfect fusion."
After the Homogeneous Body melted, Yanis returned to Zero's body. Zero's feelings at this time were different from when he Bankai. At that time, he only felt that his Reiatsu was very heavy, and he almost killed himself before he could kill his opponent.
Although he gradually adapted to the intensity of Bankai, he still felt a sense of heaviness... This time was different; he felt an unusual sense of ease.
Even though his Reiatsu is stronger, it's different from before. Perhaps it's because his soul has also been completely sublimated.
The complete fusion of the souls of Vasto Lorde, Captain-level, produces power far exceeding the simple sum of its parts. Furthermore, their relationship differs from that of Hollows becoming Soul Reaper or Soul Reaper Hollowfication; rather, it is a mutual acceptance and fusion.
Zero rarely goes to Hueco Mundo anymore. After his Reiatsu underwent a complete qualitative change, the Menos Grande he received there could no longer provide him with much improvement... He did, however, secretly absorb a few runes, which finally allowed him to completely stabilize his Reiatsu level.
After Aizen completely escaped from Zero, he continued to train to strengthen himself. Only he knew that if he had dragged things out any longer until Kyōka Suigetsu lost its power, he would have been severely beaten.
Therefore, he felt joy, but never pride, and when they met again, he wanted to fight Zero with his own strength.
But this time, Aizen sensed Zero's Reiatsu, which exceeded the pinnacle of Soul Reaper. He felt that this was something that ordinary Soul Reaper could not achieve, not even Captain-level Bankai.
He suspected that there was something else in Zero's Reiatsu, which was why it was so terrifying. So Aizen secretly went to the 11th Division's training grounds to extract the Reiatsu that hadn't dissipated after Zero's training...
As expected, Aizen saw that a Reishi that originally belonged to Zero had been forcibly split into two Reishi, one belonging to Soul Reaper and the other to a Hollow.
"Captain Nangong! I originally thought your golden growth period would last a long time, and that your talent was so strong that you could continue to grow even after reaching the Captain-Commander level. I didn't expect it to be like this."
"The intelligence reports that you frequently travel to Hueco Mundo. It seems your purpose isn't just to Quincy, but also to devour or assimilate and absorb the power of Hollows."
The terrifying thing about geniuses is that they can use their brains. Aizen deduced the source of Zero's power simply by observing that a single Reishi contained two completely different powers.
This opened a door for Aizen ahead of time. Originally, he wanted to satisfy the Hōgyoku by plundering soul essence, and then use the Hōgyoku to mobilize his own talent to continuously and rapidly improve, but he saw another side to it.
What would happen if the Hōgyoku absorbed Hollow power? Would it grant me Hollow power after it's satisfied, allowing me to easily break through the pinnacle of Soul Reaper like Nangong Kenpachi and enter another dimension?
After Aizen's guess was correct, he rushed to Rukongai to find Hollows. Because Hollows were so large, he even invented a technique to condense them into small spheres of Reishi, allowing the Hōgyoku to absorb them even faster...
The feeding of Hollows to the Hōgyoku continued for nearly a year, with at least 10,000 Hollows being fed to it by Hōgyoku Aizen, but the Hōgyoku still showed no signs of being satisfied.
After entrusting the task of capturing Hollows and ordinary Pluses to Sacrifice to the Hōgyoku to a few loyal subordinates, Aizen began other research, such as the fusion of Soul Reaper and Hollows.
Aizen was particularly curious about why Zero possessed Hollow powers. Didn't his power repel Hollow powers? If so, how did he resolve it? To what extent did the combined power of the two reach?
Aizen was curious about all sorts of things, so he began to condense the Hollows, which were condensed into small spheres, into a thick, liquid-like Reishi paste, and then injected it into the Pluses's body.
The first Hollowfication Experiment has begun...
When the experimental results were unsatisfactory, these people were too weak to withstand the power of the void and collapsed on their own. Almost everyone who was injected died. Those with Reiryoku managed to hold on for a while.
This is the very first case of the disappearing souls, which began 154 years before the start of the story.
However, the experiments are all conducted in various underground Laboratories, and currently there is no Research and Development Institute monitoring Rukongai. Aizen is also intentionally hiding them, so the Seireitei is unaware of them.
Having Reiryoku allows one to persist longer; does it require Captain-level ability to completely absorb a Hollow? Aizen had no idea.
In order to take a shortcut, he chose to target the only successful person, because only the successful person could tell him how to control the power of the void...
Therefore, Aizen needed to consult Zero, and it was a forced consultation; Zero had no choice but to answer.
For the past decade or so, Hueco Mundo Laboratory had given up on creating artificial Vasto Lorde because the costs were too high and the results were unsatisfactory. Ulquiorra directly ordered the experiment to be stopped, Visoreds simply couldn't afford to support those scientists' continued efforts.
The subsequent experiments mostly revolved around forcibly enhancing the Adjuchas' talents to increase their chances of becoming Vasto Lorde.
However, some scientists have taken a different approach, reversing the logic of Zero's concept of making ordinary souls and Soul Reaper Hollowfication, and proposing the idea of making Hollow Soul Reaper Hollows out.
He also believes that Ulquiorra is the representative of Hollows becoming natural Soul Reaper, with his human form, Zanpakuto, and Arrancar form symbolizing the Hollows gradually becoming Soul Reaper.
The scientist named Avogadro was insane; he believed he was absolutely right. Since Soul Reaper required the injection of Hollow power, Soul Reaper could simply be Hollowfication by injecting the power of Soul Reaper into the Hollow...
It's worth mentioning that Dordoni finally reached the critical point of becoming Vasto Lorde, but unfortunately, he just couldn't evolve, it seems that his talent stopped there.
Grimmjow, now a Vasto Lorde, is clearly still stronger. He remains arrogant and domineering, often clamoring to attack Soul Society when bored, but he's no longer as bloodthirsty as before; he's gradually grown tired of it.
He didn't know how many more masks he had to eat to become Arrancar, but it was disgustingly many. He ate thousands of masks every day, including those of Gillian, Adjuchas, and the Ragged Hollows.
This time, the specially made Hand Chicken finally crackled to life, and Ulquiorra received a report from his subordinates that a major discovery had been made...
Rei once again set foot in Hueco Mundo. This time, guided by an Adjuchas, he headed to a desert area on the outer edge of the sphere, where two very strong Reiatsu were said to reside.
Those two Menos Grande were just releasing their Reiatsu normally, but many Adjuchas didn't dare to approach them, mainly because they were too powerful. If they couldn't escape the high pressure after getting close, they might actually be crushed to death.
Zero appeared here with an incredibly long-range Sonído movement. There were two massive mountains formed from the corpses of Adjuchas, numbering at least two hundred—a truly terrifying sight...
"No wonder my men found so few Adjuchas when they scouted this area; you've all taken them all!"
Ling chuckled and said that the middle-aged man opposite him had been looking in his direction long before he arrived, and his face looked familiar.
Due to the fading of his memories from his past life, Zero rubbed his temples and thought for about ten seconds before finally remembering Starrk, the No. 1 Espada from his previous life.
... The only Soul Reaper episodes Zero watched in her previous life were episodes 277 to 283, just a few episodes. The rest were stories she heard from others. Her already limited information, coupled with the fact that her memories of her past life have faded for some unknown reason...
"No, they died on their own; it has nothing to do with us."
Starrk answered Zero in a deep voice, a hint of sadness and confusion in his eyes. He didn't want to lose these followers either; he just wanted to stay with them.
But these followers were too weak; they would die if they stayed with him for too long, which made him very uncomfortable... In order not to cause trouble for others, they had been standing still here for a long time, without any goal or direction.
"That's impressive! Do you guys have any plans or anything? If not, how about becoming my henchmen? Food, lodging, and entertainment all included. Plus, there are plenty of cute companions over there!"
Zero, seeing this confusing combination, directly presented the condition that some of the Menos Grande most desired—their kind.
"A henchman? You're so strong, do you even need subordinates? By the way, are your companions strong?"
Starrk hadn't spoken for a long time, and his voice was a little hoarse, tinged with excitement; he was moved.
"Of course you're strong! Even if they were weak, I could just make you as weak as them, right? You just can't control your Reiatsu. Many new Menos Grande are like that, including me in the past."
"Okay, we'll go with you!"
Upon hearing Zero's words, Starrk's eyes lit up; to him, Zero's offer was even more tempting...
'If we become weaker, then we'll definitely have many companions, right? He really is a good person!' Starrk for a moment, then pulled Lilynette to her feet and followed Zero away.