The girl wore a lieutenant's wooden badge. She gave Rei and Maki a few mildly surprised looks, but perhaps because Rei had turned down Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's invitation, she did not come over to invite him to join the Gotei 13 either.
Rei could more or less guess what they were talking about. They were probably saying that he was one of the more dangerous people in Rukongai and that they needed to keep an eye on him.
Even so, they would not pay him too much attention. There was no telling how many people like Rei, who could release their Zanpakuto, lived in Rukongai. They simply behaved themselves in front of Soul Reapers. Those who did not no longer existed.
In the past, some groups had tried to overthrow the Seireitei. Their leaders had even been able to use Bankai, but they had been short-lived, wiped out by the Gotei 13.
Throughout the history of the Gotei 13, Soul Reapers had defected almost every year, most of them from the lower ranks.
The underlying reason was that lower-ranking Soul Reapers had no option to "leave the Gotei 13." Anyone who wanted to leave would be handed over to the Nest of Maggots, where the Second Division was responsible for keeping them confined.
They had committed no crime. Simply because the Seireitei's existing rules deemed them potential threats, those who wanted to leave were found guilty and locked up indefinitely...
The only people who could retire normally were captains and lieutenants, or members of the upper and great noble families. Even then, they had to surrender their Zanpakuto upon retirement to reduce the threat they posed to the Seireitei.
These rules had all been established by the highest governing body, Central 46. That bunch of useless trash decided all the Seireitei's affairs with their mouths...
The moon hung high in the silent night sky, and insects chirped ceaselessly in the wooded mountains. Inside the barrier cast by the Soul Reapers, the shaken residents whispered among themselves.
Even with the Soul Reapers protecting them, the residents could not sleep. The snoring coming from nearby sounded particularly strange. Following the sound, one could see Rei fast asleep with his tachi in his arms, while Maki kept a wary watch over their surroundings beside him.
They had thought the night would pass like this, but at two in the morning, a terrifying pressure came from the sky not far away. Rei jolted awake, and another, even more terrifying pressure followed.
Rei looked around. The Soul Reapers around him had all tensed up, and even the red-haired female lieutenant wore a grave expression. She had already been informed of the enemy's strength...
"This is... that guy from earlier, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi. But that other heavy, evil Reiatsu—is it a Hollow? It's terrifying..."
Rei recognized the Reiatsu that had arrived second as Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's. He judged the first to be a Hollow's, but he had never seen a Hollow with such enormous Reiatsu.
What was more, that Hollow was different from the others. Its build was more like a human's. Rei had slain quite a few Hollows, and in his experience, the larger a Hollow was, the greater its Reiatsu and strength.
Clang!
Rei had no choice but to believe it. The sound of weapons clashing rang out from the sky, followed by a terrifying shock wave.
The two continued to clash. The Reiatsu released each time filled Rei with fear, and the Soul Reapers were drenched in sweat. The ordinary people fared even worse, huddling together in fright. Staying close helped lessen their fear.
The humanoid Hollow and Kuruyashiki Kenpachi each released their full Reiatsu. They fought at incredible speed, their high-speed collisions scattering the clouds in the night sky.
"What terrifying Reiatsu! But... Kuruyashiki Kenpachi still seems to be taking it in stride..."
Seeing powerful fighters in combat, Rei walked straight out of the barrier to get a better sense of their strength. A fierce gale of Reiatsu struck him in the face.
"Hey, you, boy! It's dangerous out there. Get back inside!"
A Soul Reaper standing beside the young lieutenant shouted as soon as he saw Rei leave the barrier. The young lieutenant looked over as well.
"Thanks for the concern, but you'd better worry about yourself!"
Rei tossed back a casual reply, then fixed his eyes on the sky. The situation there had changed. Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's Reiatsu had grown stronger, and dozens of white spheres had appeared around him, like Gluttonous Beans with their mouths wide open.
"You little..."
"If he wants to come out, let him watch from outside!"
The Soul Reaper who had failed to stop him wanted to say more, but the red-haired young lieutenant stopped him. From what she could sense, the Reiatsu Rei was releasing was at least at a Seated Officer's level, and he apparently had yet to recover fully.
The Gotei 13 made a conscious effort to guide the strong in Rukongai into becoming Soul Reapers. The Gotei 13 did not excessively mistreat the people of Rukongai either, since it was an important source of recruits for Soul Reapers.
"What are those? Kuruyashiki's Zanpakuto ability? They look more like evil spirits..."
Rei saw the Gluttonous Beans around Kuruyashiki Kenpachi join forces to block the humanoid Hollow's attack. Then, the instant the Hollow tore open the sky, they moved to intercept him again, preventing him from escaping into the black space.
"You've got some nerve addressing the seventh Kenpachi by name," the young lieutenant said as she walked over to Rei and gave him a slight smile. "I'm Shusuke Ihana, lieutenant of the Fifth Division. And you? Brave boy who fought a horde of Hollows!"
The fact that Rei had addressed Kuruyashiki by his surname led Shusuke Ihana to judge that he was a little proud and lacked a sense of awe, traits characteristic of young people.
"Nangong Ling. I only fought the Hollows because I didn't want to die. It's nothing worth praising. In the face of death, a person's strength is bound to surpass what it was before."
Rei automatically ignored the first part of what she said. You did not strike a smiling face, much less a beautiful lieutenant, so he introduced himself modestly.
"Hehe, what an interesting name..."
It was the first time Ika had heard the surname Nangong, and his given name was Rei. Did it mean he had nothing at all?
"Say... Lieutenant, may I ask you something? What level is the Hollow fighting Kuruyashiki Kenpachi...?"
Rei had originally wanted to ask whether the Hollow fighting Kuruyashiki Kenpachi was an Arrancar, but then he thought of Aizen, the leader of the Arrancars. He did not know where Aizen was at this point, so he could not speak carelessly and draw attention.
"Its level? It's a Menos Grande. Menos Grande are divided into three levels. The lower-level Menos Grande are called Gillians. They're enormous and move slowly. Since you survived, you should have seen one."
"The intermediate Menos Grande are called Adjuchas. They possess the same intelligence as humans and have evolved abilities of their own. They're stronger than Gillians and can control them too."
"The highest-level Menos Grande are called Vasto Lorde. Their strength equals or surpasses that of a captain, and only captains can deal with them. They're no different from humans in size. This one is a Vasto Lorde..."
Seeing that Rei could put aside his pride and sincerely ask for a bit of knowledge, Ika thought a little better of him and answered his question.
"The strongest level of Hollow? What terrifying Reiatsu..."
Another shock wave swept over them, and Rei could not help exclaiming. But inwardly, his assessment of Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's strength rose another level.
A Vasto Lorde was something only a captain could handle, yet Kuruyashiki Kenpachi could completely suppress this one with Shikai alone, and he had yet to use Bankai. It was easy to imagine how strong he was...
As the two talked, the battle in the sky was already nearing its conclusion. One of Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's Gluttonous Beans opened its gaping maw and bit off the humanoid Vasto Lorde's left arm.
"Damn it!"
The Vasto Lorde spoke in human words. A ball of red energy gathered in his remaining right arm. It was a move Menos Grande could use—a Cero.
A Cero was immensely powerful, capable of leaving nothing of its opponent when fully charged. But the Vasto Lorde clearly did not have that much time and fired it early. The result was miserable: the Gluttonous Beans swallowed the Cero in a single bite.
"It's over!"
"What?"
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi moved instantly in front of the Vasto Lorde and slashed diagonally with his blade. The wound ran from the Hollow's left abdomen to his right shoulder, and blood sprayed out.
"Bastard... I actually lost to a mere Soul Reaper... Lord Baraggan, long live Emperor Baraggan..."
As the Vasto Lorde fell from the sky, he was deeply unwilling to accept it. In the end, he cried out the emperor's name.
"Baraggan? The boss of Hueco Mundo? For Ibulin, a highest-level Menos Grande, to shout 'long live' for him, Baraggan's strength is probably not to be underestimated..."
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi put away his Zanpakuto with a serious expression. The Vasto Lorde he had slain was called Ibulin. He had given his name at the start, but had not stated his purpose...
The words also reached the mountaintop where Rei and the others stood. Shusuke Ihana was deeply shocked that Hueco Mundo actually had someone stronger than a Vasto Lorde.
Rei reacted differently. His face lit up with delight. He had not expected to hear so soon about someone from the story he knew from his previous life, the skeleton emperor Baraggan.
According to the stories told by the Sunday-night shut-in crowd, Baraggan ranked second among the Espada. He was the Arrancar who hated the main villain Aizen most, simply because he himself had been the king of Hueco Mundo, only to be replaced by Aizen...
For now, though, that had nothing to do with Rei. It only showed that Baraggan had not yet been replaced and that the villain had not appeared.
Even if he did appear, Rei did not care. Before growing stronger, he had no wish to join the Gotei 13 and be ordered around. If he did join the Gotei 13, he would certainly be aiming for the top position.
Hueco Mundo was a place of eternal night. A crescent moon hung unchanged in the sky for all eternity. There was no rain and no vegetation; wherever its moonlight shone, there was only desert and stone.
The only things that could be considered decorations in Hueco Mundo were the quartz trees standing in the desert. Quartz was a rock-forming mineral, not a plant at all.
Hueco Mundo was divided into inner and outer regions and covered a vast area. Baraggan occupied only part of the inner region. There, he had erected stone walls and named the place Las Noches.
The entire sky was the Sky Cover of Las Noches. Anywhere beneath the Sky Cover was Baraggan's territory... Yet the Hollows in remote regions paid him no mind. If one of his subordinates was caught alone, they would kill them all the same.
Baraggan wore a golden crown and a great black robe. The parts of his body exposed outside the robe were those of an ordinary human skeleton. He sat on a throne, with a large, battered bell behind him...
Baraggan had only intended to have Ibulin test the Soul Society's strength. If the Soul Reaper captains were too weak, he would go over and wipe them out. Instead, he had lost more than he had hoped to gain.
"Mere Soul Reapers actually managed to kill Ibulin? It seems we still know too little about the Seireitei... Send a few people to take out those expeditionary forces..."
"Yes!"
Baraggan's bones clacked as he spoke, and the Hollows below his throne trembled.
The death of a Vasto Lorde had made him furious, but he had no particularly good way to retaliate. He could only send people to the edge of Hueco Mundo to eliminate the expeditionary forces sent by the Soul Society.
"Also, who is willing to gather all the intelligence they can on the Soul Society?"
"Lord Baraggan, I am willing to go..."
"Your Majesty, I too would like to ease your burden..."
As soon as Baraggan said he needed intelligence, a group of bootlicking Adjuchas volunteered...