As three high-level sub-class beasts surrounded and attacked, Ulquiorra said indifferently, "Naive!"
With a jolt of Reiatsu, the thorns snapped in two. Then, Sonído to face the three high-level sub-class beasts, slashing his hand with a fierce chop, and the rightmost one was cleaved in two.
Ulquiorra's current Reiatsu, even without the Hōgyoku enhancement, has reached 4.2 car, several times stronger than those few trash spirits with a maximum Car Reiatsu.
With another swift chop, the high-ranking sub-level creature in the middle reacted. Its chest, where the chop struck, quickly petrified, and with a thud, it screamed as it plummeted from mid-air toward the city wall.
Although his body was cracked and stone chips flew everywhere, at least he wasn't killed in one blow.
"Slowing!"
The one on the far left is a high-ranking sub-level bull with a human body. It has a pair of large horns on its head that are twice the size of its head. It raises its hands and roars to the sky. This is the ability that the Big-Horned Bull evolved when it became Adjuchas.
This move, to Ulquiorra's astonishment, forcibly slowed Ulquiorra's movements by dozens of times.
"Now's the time!"
Seeing that Ulquiorra was about to draw his knife, Big-Horned Bull roared Thorn Hollow below.
"Well done!"
Thorn Hollow seized the opportunity and threw out a small yellow cube with its vines. The yellow cube instantly grew into a cube with a length, width, and height of five meters, enveloping Ulquiorra within it.
Seeing that Ulquiorra was sealed, Thorn Hollow continuously released thorny vines to crawl all over the Bright Yellow Cube, even blocking the Ulquiorra brothers' vision.
"Huff... huff... I'm exhausted! That was incredibly strong!" the Big-Horned Bull panted heavily.
The mere few seconds of restriction depleted most of the Big-Horned Bull's Reiryoku, leaving him extremely weak with less than 0.5 cartloads of Reiatsu remaining.
But it was all worth it. If Ulquiorra were to unleash his Zanpakuto, even a hundred more guys of their caliber would be dead.
According to Szayelaporro, the difference in Reiatsu between them reaches its maximum after Ulquiorra unleashes his blade, and his Slowing is estimated to be nullified or negligible.
Slowing by tens of times doesn't mean that Ulquiorra can't move at all; it just means that an action that originally took 0.1 seconds now takes five seconds.
Because Ulquiorra was too strong, the two main generals on Big-Horned Bull's side couldn't spare anyone to deal with Ulquiorra when they needed to deal with the Grim Soul Reaper wielding the Greatsword, so they could only try to restrain him.
This Sealing Device was designed for Ulquiorra, but it has its limits. According to the Reiatsu read by Szayelaporro, it can only trap Ulquiorra for half an hour.
This is far inferior to the 'Negación Bandits' created by Aizen in later generations, but by exploiting a time difference to ambush and kill Zero, the chances of victory are greatly increased...
Because Baraggan was surrounded by the aura of death that could cause people or objects to age rapidly, Zero had just launched two ranged attacks with Kidō and was about to Bankai when he sensed that Ulquiorra's Reiatsu had disappeared.
Turning around and glancing slightly, Zero met Ulquiorra's apologetic eyes and couldn't help but be speechless... How could someone like that be schemed against?
"Hehehe, don't worry, you'll soon follow in his footsteps."
Baraggan grinned, his skull-like mouth wide open, as his two henchmen arrived.
"Hmph, I'll deal with you, you old skeleton, first. Bankai — Blood Blade: Peerless."
Zero's electronic music remained completely unaffected. He was only slightly surprised by Ulquiorra's sealing, but it wasn't enough to shake him. After all, after his Bankai, he could kill Baraggan and Szayelaporro even by himself.
A terrifying Reiatsu suppressed the entire area, blood-red clouds appeared in the sky and heavy rain fell, and the Adjuchas all looked up in awe, Zero's aura instantly soared...
"Lord Ulquiorra is restricted by an unknown method, similar to Negación space!"
Blood Panther Group Adjuchas, with his sharp eyes, not only saw Zero's Bankai, but also Ulquiorra being Sealing by a bright yellow object. He reported the situation to Grimmjow.
"Hmph, foolish fellow, didn't even use his full strength from the start, got ambushed by the henchmen..."
Grimmjow openly insulted Ulquiorra, causing his subordinates who had charged alongside him to feel ashamed...
What do you mean by "lackeys"? Please, those are Baraggan's personal guards, their strength and abilities are top-tier in Adjuchas...
Grimmjow, not allowing the Adjuchas to continue their fantasies, charged ahead towards the direction where Ulquiorra was sealed, with his subordinates following suit.
While Zero was using his Bankai, Baraggan began to retreat frantically, his Sonído never stopping; he had no intention of standing still and letting Zero cut him down.
Are you afraid, Your Great Emperor?
Zero quickly caught up, covering the distance of Baraggan in a Sonído. Zero was the first in a long time to force the King of Hueco Mundo, who possessed the power of aging, to flee.
While feeling humiliated, Baraggan secretly resolved to tear the corpse to pieces to vent his hatred.
Clang!
As Zero swung his sword, Baraggan first reconstituted his shattered Great Axe, using all his Reiatsu to withstand the attack.
Then a slightly shorter figure suddenly appeared behind Zero and slashed at him with a weapon with a row of barbs.
After Bankai, Zero's movements were incredibly swift. He completed the transformation in a Shunpo and forcefully swung his sword to strike the man draped in Burlap. With just one blow, he sent the man plummeting downwards, crashing into a large section of Las Noches's wall.
"A slightly familiar Reiatsu, Picaro? It shouldn't be that strong. Is this what you've been preparing for the past few months?"
Zero questioned Baraggan, who was gathering an aura of death around himself. Before Baraggan could speak, a sinister laugh came from below.
"Hehehe, haha, that's amazing! You really weren't lying to me, it's such an amazing toy!"
The short figure appeared, a boy of twelve or thirteen years old. His mask was broken, a typical Arrancar. The whites of his eyes were black, and his pupils were gold. The intensity of his Reiatsu made Zero feel slightly uneasy.
"How about this? So I shouldn't die, right? Picaro... sir!"
The "you" that Picaro mentioned appeared to be none other than the belated Szayelaporro. Szayelaporro addressed Pikalo with an honorific title to show his respect for the Picaro who had become one with a surge in power.
At this moment, Picaro's Reiatsu reached the level of Zero's complete Shikai plus Hollowfication. He was only slightly injured by the attack after Zero's Bankai.
Szayelaporro witnessed what had just happened and couldn't help but feel secretly pleased. This was the power of science; it could completely contend with someone who was invincible in a short time.
'That reckless Grim Soul Reaper probably can't possibly understand why Picaro has merged into one and why he's so powerful!'
Szayelaporro once again adopted a haughty demeanor. Even though his strength was inferior to Zero's, his gaze still held Zero in contempt. He despised all those who did not value science, including the so-called King of Hueco Mundo Baraggan.
On the surface, Szayelaporro appeared extremely humble, even adopting a very low posture, but in reality, he was more arrogant than Baraggan...
"You have wings? You actually have wings? I've decided, I'm going to kill you, turn you into a kite and let you fly forever, hehe, that would be so much fun!"
Picaro completely ignored Szayelaporro; he had his sights set on Zero, and it seemed he really wanted to turn Zero into a kite...
"Is that so? You used to have some psychological pressure about the image of someone killing children, but it seems you don't need this kind of pointless stuff anymore."
With zero increase in Reiatsu, his Hollowfication had never been released. Now, with the addition of Bankai, his Reiatsu reached Fifteen Trucks, completely entering the level he had set for himself— the First Dimension of the Top Soul Reaper!
With this level of strength, he was at the pinnacle across the Three Worlds. Even if Picaro, who had somehow become a single entity and released his Zanpakuto, Zero didn't think he could surpass him.
Zero needed to deal with Baraggan first to prevent his aging ability from slowly Respira him, but Picaro had no intention of standing idly by and charged towards Zero with a maniacal laugh.
"You little brat, you're asking for it!"
Zero's 'Blood Drink and thrusting' attacks, delivered with unparalleled skill, were so powerful that Picaro's face contorted in pain after just a few clashes; he had been severely injured by Zero.
He was slashed once and stabbed once by Blood Drink. The slashing sword struck his abdomen, instantly ripping open his belly; the stabbing sword came from behind and pierced his left chest, right in front of his heart.
'How is that possible? He defeated Picaro in just a few moves... Well, he has that move too.'
Szayelaporro, who had been measuring data, was taken aback to see Picaro defeated in the blink of an eye, but he managed to keep his composure.
Zero's sword was still piercing Picaro's body when Baraggan Sonído to give Zero an axe blow, but Zero reacted even faster, dodging the attack instantly after drawing his sword.
The Respira emanating from the tip of the Great Axe clung to Picaro's back, slowly Respira him. He didn't possess the Reiatsu or skills of Zero Bankai.
At this point, Picaro's Reiatsu was only 8 carts, insufficient to completely suppress the power released by Baraggan, and he could only wail in slow aging Respira...
"Ahhh, it hurts so much! Split infinitely! Locust Swarm!"
Picaro released his Zanpakuto amidst the pain, and the release phrase was different from the original "Let's play!" It was all forced out of him; otherwise, they wouldn't have merged.
The piece of flesh on Picaro's back, stained with the Respira, was enveloped by a Reiatsu after being released, and then forcibly separated from Picaro's body until it aged, Respira, and disappeared.
Picaro, who was missing a piece of flesh, showed no abnormalities and it quickly grew back.
Then, centered on the adult Picaro, hundreds of Picaro in blue Reishi form appeared around his body. The moment they appeared, they began to fly around Picaro's body at high speed, creating endless Wind Blades in the air.
"Baraggan, get out of the way! Picaro's attacks are indiscriminate!"
Reminded by Szayelaporro, Baraggan quickly Baraggan, asking, "Is it just an increase in the power after fusion? Is your sanity still the same as before?"
"His strength has indeed increased significantly, but in terms of reason, he may be more difficult to control than before..."
Szayelaporro paused here, then added in his mind, "But I put something inside him that made him very easy to control!"
After Picaro unleashed his strange sword with barbs, his Reiatsu only rose to the tenth level, but the hundreds of souls around him all carried considerable Reiatsu.
In fact, Zero's guess was correct. The merged Picaro completed its automatic Arrancar. Although Picaro's Reiatsu level was indeed lower than Zero's at this time, it did not mean that Picaro's attack power was weaker.
Hundreds of flying Reishi Picaro, each wielding a small sword, swarmed forward and thrust at Zero.
'This is... how is this possible? Who is it?'
As Zero raised his sword to defend himself, the wings on his back suddenly melted and disappeared, followed by his entire body adorned with an outfit symbolizing Bankai, and Zero completely returned to his Shikai state.
As he glanced around with a questioning look, he happened to see Szayelaporro's barely concealed, excited smile...