At Las Noches, Baraggan had already sheathed his Resurrección and returned to normal. A large table of food and wine was laid out before him, with his subordinates standing to his left and right below the throne.
Except for the fact that his subordinates are now Arrancar, everything seems the same as before, and he is once again the king of this world.
After putting down his empty glass, Baraggan asked his subordinates, "How many Arrancar have you recruited?"
"Report: As of noon today, the Arrancar has 120 Arrancar, and three of them have reached the Blade-level Arrancar."
The artificial sun has lost its sky, but the Arrancar has come to prefer using its old timer to keep track of time.
The Blade-level Arrancars mentioned in the report are those who, although they are Arrancars Adjuchas, already possess the power to compete for a position among the Espada, at least meeting the required Reiatsu.
During the decade or so that Zero was absent, Baraggan recruited soldiers on a large scale. He was no longer as complacent as before, but instead constantly strengthened his power by absorbing various Menos Grande.
"So-so! Didn't they find a new Vasto Lorde?" Baraggan irritably, picking up the refilled glass from the Attendants and downing it in one gulp.
"Uh, no, the 7th Legion lost six Adjuchas, twenty Gillian, and over a hundred Giant Hollows. They encountered Picaro..."
"Hmph, you wretched brat..." Baraggan cursed, crushing his wine glass in his hand. Then he asked, "What about the two women? What did they say?"
"I'm sorry, they refused again."
Baraggan fell silent upon hearing this. In the end, he had no true Espada under his command. Szayelaporro had already hidden himself in some corner and no longer showed himself, while the other Espada completely ignored Baraggan. Picaro even wanted to kill him.
Therefore, Baraggan began his plan to find new Menos Grande and help them become Arrancar, making them his allies.
Starrk, the first of the Espada, has gone missing; Baraggan and Picaro are fighting each other because no one is holding them back; Ulquiorra and Grimmjow are traveling together again, supposedly after searching for their former master, Nangong Ling, for a long time, but unfortunately they have recently given up.
Nel and Ye formed an alliance and established their own power. Baraggan tried to recruit them several times to cleanse Hueco Mundo, but they refused each time... Crescent Moon Valley became the base of their power.
"Let's figure out how to get rid of that brat first! Pasake, Modier, Leiluo, if the three of you share that brat, you should be able to advance further!"
Baraggan had been preparing for a long time, decided to take action against Picaro today. These three Blade-level Arrancars were specially trained by him for this purpose.
"Your His Majesty, even now, we have absolute confidence that we can help you deal with an enemy."
"That's right, we could deal with Tier Harribel and the others first, but they've repeatedly refused His Majesty's invitation."
I agree.
The three Arrancars whose names were called were full of confidence in their own power, so they wanted to fight the Espada, who were on the same level as Baraggan.
"You..."
Baraggan was about to speak, a chilling aura enveloped the entire shattered Las Noches. He wasn't sure if it was Reiatsu.
Because just as he was trying to sense it carefully, the aura seemed to disappear without a source; moreover, the surrounding Arrancar beings were completely unaware, as if nothing had happened.
"Baraggan, what's wrong?"
Noticing that something was wrong with Baraggan, Modier asked a question. He and the other two exchanged glances, and all three saw the confusion in each other's eyes.
Baraggan asked in a deep voice, "You... didn't feel anything?"
He doubted his own feelings for a moment, but the chilling sensation grew stronger, as if it were rushing towards him...
"No."
When the three answered in unison, Baraggan was stumped: 'Why is that? I'm stronger than them, yet I feel fear, while they feel nothing... Is it a dimensional difference?'
At this moment, Zero really wanted to shout into the desert: Hueco Mundo, your emperor has returned!
But recalling his final, life-saving explosion, which surely killed his Vassal inside the Sky Cover, Zero lost all interest.
Baraggan's intuition was correct. After ascending to high altitude and identifying its direction, it rushed towards Las Noches, which, from a distance, was already a pile of ruins.
However, because the previously built Las Noches was too high, there is a section of the remaining broken wall that is still over three thousand meters high, and can be seen by anyone who is not blind.
In this world filled with Reishi, Zero's speed was too fast; a distance of hundreds of kilometers was covered in just a few minutes. Dressed in rags, he stood proudly in mid-air, atop the throne of Baraggan.
Baraggan remained motionless on his throne, waiting for the source of this chill. Most importantly, he considered himself king and no longer wanted to run away... In the end, he found it, and he lost his voice, falling into silence.
Who are you?
"How dare you disrespect His Majesty? Get down here!"
"What's going on with the guards? Did they let some unknown guy into Las Noches?"
The Arrancars lined up on both sides, shouting loudly. More than ten years ago, they were low-level guards who had been transferred to Arrancar. When the Arrancars were being transformed, they were just sent into the warehouse in batches and had never seen Zero. In addition, Zero's appearance had changed a lot at this moment, so they naturally couldn't recognize him.
The three Blade-level Arrancar who recognized him trembled. They were all veterans who knew the power of Espada and the great man standing above them... who was practically the heavens of Hueco Mundo.
Only when the heavens collapsed did they join the ranks of the Espada, because the First Espada had disappeared...
"Roll down? Okay!"
Zero smiled disdainfully and instantly landed in the middle of the crowd, letting them surround him as if he were an enemy. He slightly increased his Reiatsu, which had already reached beyond the Second Dimension.
In an instant, as long as the Arrancar are within a circle with a radius of ten meters around Hueco Mundo, their bodies instantly disappear, turning into wisps of Reishi energy that drift away into the world of Hueco Mundo.
"My hand, oh no, what happened?"
Some people happened to be right at the edge of the circle, but half of their hand was erased, and all they could do was scream in terror.
As Baraggan's personal guards, those dozen or so vanished Arrancar were at least of the Sharp-level, and some were even of the Commander-level... The Reiatsu of Sharp-level Arrancar could be comparable to that of Third Seat, and Commander-level Arrancar was at least at the level of Vice-Captain.
But it was erased just as it approached zero, which Baraggan, who had just begun to understand something, with a deep sense of fear.
"You lot can't sense my Reiatsu, so naturally you can't judge the level of my power," Zero explained as he slowly walked towards Baraggan. "But your own spiritual bodies can't withstand this power; at this close range, they would collapse instantly."
Baraggan had risen from his throne, but he chose to meet Zero's gaze, knowing full well the vast difference in power yet refusing to yield. He had been a leader for over a decade and did not wish to submit again...
The Great Axe suddenly flew from the back seat into Baraggan's hands, and he roared, "Respira..."
Boom! Sizzle!
Just as Baraggan was about to unleash his Resurrección, a surge of gravity caused by Reiatsu suddenly acted upon him, causing him to kneel on the ground instantly. The surrounding space was also torn apart by the gravity, creating several spatial rifts about half a person's height.
This was the effect of Zero deliberately lowering his Reiatsu. Just now, his Reiatsu was so strong that Baraggan only felt fear from the depths of his soul and did not have any actual spiritual sensations.
Zero reduced Reiatsu, which in turn reduced the existence of dimensions, allowing Baraggan's spirit to have a definite sense of it.
"Save your energy if you try to swing your knife at me! I'll stand here and not move; you could chop at me for a year and it wouldn't make a difference."
"Two choices. First, come with me to conquer the Soul King Palace. If you're lucky enough to survive, then manage the new Hueco Mundo with the Espada. Second, go to Hell now and enjoy a new life."
Zero remained expressionless. He was now dealing with Baraggan without even lifting a finger; the difference in Reiatsu was obvious, and there was probably no one left who could stand against him alone.
That's why Zero told Baraggan directly that he wanted to attack the Soul King Palace; he was extremely confident.
"Yes."
Baraggan had intended to offer some suggestions, but ultimately gave a simple reply. Zero then turned and left, not saying where he was going...
'What he means is that, at least Nangong Ling won't interfere with Hueco Mundo anymore. If I keep evolving and getting stronger, I might be able to reach that level, but...'
Baraggan glanced in the direction Zero had left, and his inner monologue began to waver. In the end, he didn't dare to be sure, knowing that he was almost at his limit.
Minutes before Zero's return, somewhere in the Menos Grande Forest, a short, dark figure was devouring an Adjuchas, while not far behind him were the expressionless Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, who was also frantically gnawing on his mask.
When Yanis realized something was wrong, he fled the Sky Cover Training Room, the dueling ground, and survived by sheer luck.
Later, when he encountered Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, he revealed his identity and mingled with them. It was he who guided them to find Zero at the Dangai in the Garganta.
As the part that was split off by the Hōgyoku, he sensed that Zero's power at that time ultimately disappeared into that large Garganta —it disappeared rather than dissipated—therefore he concluded that Zero had not died.
However, after searching for several years, the impatient Grimmjow eventually chose to give up. No matter how deep the debt of gratitude was, there was no need to expend so much effort to find a 'father'.
Ulquiorra also felt that continuing was pointless; following Grimmjow might have been more interesting, but he soon realized he was wrong; for years after ceasing the search, they had been killing the weak to amass power, which was utterly boring.
And Yanis, hoping to curry favor with them, simply followed them.
Even after the hunt was over, as they were devouring their spoils, a strange sense of dread arose...
"This feeling is... that guy is back?"
Yanis was most closely associated with zero, so he was the first to notice it.
"Don't be silly, that guy is dead. It's just a strange aura, not even Reiatsu. How could it be him?" Grimmjow offered his opinion, then added while eating, "Unless that guy crawled out of Hell."
Ulquiorra didn't say a word. In a flash, he leaped to the top of the Quartz Tree, then pierced through the sand to reach the ground.
"What an idiot! He's probably the only one who could instill this kind of fear in us!"
Even when Ulquiorra is cursing, he maintains an indifferent expression, but this statement already reveals his judgment.
He then began to increase his Reiatsu until it became a pillar of light that pierced the sky, so powerful that even Adjuchas, who was lurking thousands of kilometers away, could feel its Reiatsu power.
Zero, sensing Ulquiorra's Reiatsu, rushed towards them...