The three Seated Officers were not quite dead yet. They still had a breath left because Rei had deliberately spared them, and he had not damaged their Hakusui or Saketsu. People like them did not die so easily.
After absorbing their Reiryoku, Rei gave them a swift death and left their bodies there. Then he quickly departed...
"I was wrong. Expecting a bunch of children to keep a secret was pathetically naive!"
Rei was annoyed at his own naivety too. Fortunately, the Seated Officers who had come this time were not strong. If a Captain-level fighter had come, he would already be dead.
Someone like him, who had no cheat, could only keep his head down until he had the strength. The more attention he drew, the faster he would die.
When it came to keeping a low profile to stay alive, the experienced Yanis had offered advice long ago: in the Soul Society, where some semblance of order existed, he should show no mercy after exposing his ability and kill everyone who had witnessed his devouring ability.
Rei had not listened then, and as a result, he had drawn an investigation by the Gotei 13. In the Seireitei's eyes, they themselves represented justice in the Soul Society, and anyone who stood against their system was an enemy.
Rei's act of absorbing ordinary souls' Reiryoku put him at odds with the system, so the three Seated Officers had attacked without hesitation the moment they discovered he was responsible.
Yet the Seated Officers' assessment of Rei's strength had led to their defeat and deaths... But while the Seated Officers had fallen, the Seireitei had not.
Because of the fierce battle that had erupted here, someone found some ordinary Soul Reapers assigned to slay Hollows in the district and asked them to investigate.
The ordinary Soul Reapers were terrified the moment they saw the scene. Three Soul Reapers had been slain here, and their Hakudō, the sign of life in a spiritual body, had completely vanished. All they could do was quickly report it to their superiors.
The Research and Development Institute did not exist yet, so extracting Reiatsu from the scene and the like was simply impossible. Cases could only be investigated through manual examination of the scene. As a result, most cases ended up unsolved, with the truth impossible to uncover.
This case was no different. The Seireitei was somewhat shaken to hear that three Seated Officers had been killed and promptly sent the Captain of the Tenth Division and the Captain of the Eighth Division to investigate together...
"What astonishing destructive power!"
Shunsui Kyōraku, the flamboyantly dressed Captain of the Eighth Division, marveled at the sight, though he showed no sign of tension.
"Judging by the traces at the scene, all three gave it their all. Together, they would have been more than a match for a lieutenant. The opponent's strength is clear enough... Damn bastard. If I catch him, I'll chop him up and feed him to the fish..."
The Captain of the Tenth Division was a tall, middle-aged man named Shiba Kūsei, the current head of the Shiba Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans.
"Captain Shiba, our opponent has long since fled. We only need to have people watch in secret. He certainly won't seal away such a useful ability..."
"True. We can't alert him again."
Kyōraku proposed a strategy of waiting, and Shiba Kūsei, having no better option, could only agree. Three of his subordinates had died, so how could he not be angry?
They did not sit idle, however. At least Kyōraku went to the taverns to ask around, while Shiba Kūsei went to the pleasure district to inquire.
Sometimes Rei was lucky. Shiba Kūsei found the last girl whose Reiryoku Rei had absorbed, but unfortunately, the girl had not seen what Rei looked like either.
If Rei had gotten carried away after absorbing her Reiryoku and ended up baring himself to the girl, his portrait would surely be circulating among all the Soul Reapers.
Rei had fled five days before the two captains arrived. Even though absorbing the three Seated Officers had increased his strength considerably, he still had no intention of setting himself against the Seireitei.
This time, he did not wrap himself in black from head to toe. Instead, he found a few pieces of hemp cloth and wrapped them around himself. He also changed direction, heading straight from there to District 22 of South Rukongai.
Now, five days later, Rei had just arrived in District 24 of South Rukongai. He had made it this far thanks to Yanis teaching him how to use Sonído.
Since Yanis was inside Rei's body, Rei only needed to have him convert his Soul Reaper Reiryoku into Hollow Reiryoku, then use it to unleash Hollow abilities.
It was not just Sonído, either. Rei could fire Cero and Bala and even open a Garganta; they simply required more Reiryoku...
The town here also had commerce and was not so poor. At least many people could enjoy life after a leisurely day's work.
Rei had acquired plenty of money after killing the three Seated Officers. He bought himself a change of clothes and a bag of candy, which he put in his pocket, and walked with his left hand tucked inside it.
Yanis, meanwhile, was frantically chewing candy in the pocket, letting out wails from time to time and frightening passersby...
"It's so delicious! It's intoxicating! Boo-hoo-hoo~"
"I don't even know how many hundreds of years I've been a Hollow. My memories of life disappeared long ago... So this is what candy tastes like?"
"Boo-hoo-hoo~ I want watermelon! Watermeloooon!"
Moved, nostalgic, and filled with sorrow, until he finally roared for watermelon, Yanis at last understood that Hueco Mundo, where he had once lived, was a depraved and deathly silent hell to begin with.
There, the only things Yanis could taste were the flesh and blood of other Hollows and their crunchy masks. Those were the only two things he had been able to eat.
"Watermelon is expensive. One piece costs enough to feed me ten meals. I need to save my money for food!"
Whenever Rei ate, he usually put some food in the bag for Yanis to try. Only now did Yanis understand how foolish and ignorant he had been to think of nothing but devouring souls to grow stronger.
As a rational Adjuchas, Yanis thought Baraggan ought to go to the Soul Society and plunder some things to take back and play with. Then Hueco Mundo would not be so boring...
There were people with awakened Reiryoku here too, but Rei did not intend to keep using his ability to absorb them. After all, this was too close to where he had killed the three Seated Officers.
Two months passed in a flash, and Rei arrived in Inuzuri, South District 78. During his two-month journey, he had devoured another six powerful figures who could release their Zanpakuto, all relatively well-known people in Rukongai.
Inuzuri was desperately poor. There was little food, the souls did not even wear shoes, and their clothes were covered in patches.
The largest settlement housed more than ten thousand souls. A river whose water had turned yellow ran through it, and quite a few people were fishing in it.
While killing someone in the previous district, Rei had heard there was an expert here whom even Soul Reapers posted to the area would visit, so he had come looking.
The news he received, however, disappointed him. The man had died in battle a month ago. No one knew whom he had fought, but supposedly the fight had lasted less than half a minute before he died...
"Boss, it's too hard to find powerful souls here. The Gotei 13's system has recruited all the experts. Why don't we go to Hueco Mundo? There's nothing to worry about there, as long as you're strong enough..."
Yanis suggested that Rei go to Hueco Mundo to grow stronger. As long as he had the strength, he could keep devouring Menos Grande to improve himself. In Yanis's view, Rei was already very strong, and with his Zanpakuto's ability and Yanis's guidance, he had nothing to fear from any Hollow below Vasto Lorde.
"Yanis, you said yourself that there's fighting and killing there every day. Don't you hate it there?"
Rei's eyes lit up, and he was somewhat tempted, but going there would also cause him a lot of inconvenience, wouldn't it?
"Of course I hate it, but... if you were stronger, I'd feel a little safer too. After all, if you get killed, I won't be able to escape either..."
In the end, Yanis was still looking out for himself. Even though he had already merged into Rei's body, he was still afraid of death.
"That's not very pleasant to hear, but I really should grow some more. I'll take a look around South District 80, then circle back to the North District and make a trip home... Finally, I'll set off for Hueco Mundo!"
Rei made the decision on the spot. He had grown strong enough in the Soul Society that it was difficult to find a decent opponent to train against in Rukongai.
If he did not want to join the Gotei 13 now, going to Hueco Mundo to continue training was a good choice.
Rei naturally intended to join the Gotei 13. His plan was to become a captain through a challenge as soon as he joined, then use that position to approach the pinnacle of power—the Soul King!
No one wanted to be ordered around by others, and only by growing stronger could they change their circumstances. Rei believed that as long as he became stronger than the Soul King, he could certainly overthrow his rule...
In his previous life, the Thousand-Year Blood War had still not finished by the time they graduated. So, at this point, Rei did not yet know that the Soul King was a human swine who could see and hear nothing. He still believed the Soul King was a normal person...
South District 79 was even more chaotic. The 78th District had at least had a river where people could catch fish, but there was jack shit here. Even the trees on the mountains had withered and yellowed, showing that there was a shortage of water.
It was not just people with awakened Reiryoku fighting and killing here. Ordinary people also joined the battles to seize drinking water. Rei had only just set foot here when he encountered three waves of suicidal attacks.
Why call them suicidal? These people saw Rei cut down their companions one by one, yet instead of being afraid, they desperately pressed forward.
Rei even saw six people ganging up on a Ragged Hollow. They had no Reiryoku around them at all. They were simply seeking death; they had grown sick of this world.
There were many experts here on the level of Genji and his companions back then. Almost every small group had one or two...
"Say, the people here are really strange. Why does every one of you act as if you have some deep grudge against anyone you see? You know perfectly well you can't beat me, so why don't you run?"
Rei put the question to the leader of the fourth group to launch a suicidal attack, who lay on the ground. The man was still shouting for Rei to hurry up and kill him, and Rei could read no fear of impending death in his eyes.
The man had only one eye, and blood was still flowing from his chest. The same was true of his subordinates. Perhaps Rei had unconsciously developed the habit of letting people bleed rather than killing them immediately.
"Hmph, you don't know? Then again, one look at your clothes and it's obvious you're some young master from the districts closer in. Fine, I'll tell you..."
The one-eyed man looked down on Rei, but he did not hold anything back. He said slowly, "I took the Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy entrance exam three times, but I couldn't get in. Meanwhile, people from Soul Reaper families can get in without any trouble."
"I saw it with my own eye. A guy whose Reiryoku assessment was worse than mine got in, just because his parents were Soul Reapers too."
"Later, I met a guy who'd left the Gotei 13 without permission. He said ordinary Soul Reapers only get to throw their weight around in Rukongai. They can't even hold their heads up in front of the nobles inside. The Seireitei is even more disgusting than Rukongai..."
"We're like stray dogs, with no strength to resist those people at the top. A single word from them can affect our entire lives. Since we can't change our fate as stray dogs, we might as well die. Maybe our next lives will be better..."
"Cough, cough. I've said enough. It's time to send me on my way. Talking this long while bleeding really hurts!"
After coughing several times, the one-eyed man began begging for death. Rei wasted no more words, absorbed his Reiryoku, and finished him off.
"A world even more disgusting than Rukongai? Tch. For people like you who have no strength, of course it is. No one is born into fairness. You can only rely on yourselves to challenge the old system!"
Rei muttered to himself. He had known all this long ago. The Five Great Noble Clans were the true rulers, and the Soul Reapers were merely their guards.
These people who sought only death had resigned themselves to their fate. They had neither the courage nor the strength to challenge it.