With Urahara Kisuke, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, and the others gone, Las Noches fell silent once more.
However, everyone's expression now looked somewhat gloomy.
Although everyone except Grimmjow could tell that most of Kurotsuchi Mayuri's words had merely twisted right and wrong, there was one thing he had not gotten wrong.
They really were too weak—so weak that they needed Duan Mu to protect them.
Aizen had never protected them in the past. In his eyes, only the strong were qualified to follow him, and he had no need for useless trash that would hold him back.
Duan Mu was different. At first, they had not quite understood what he was thinking, but after spending so much time together, they had lost interest in investigating his thoughts. They simply felt that their current way of life was more comfortable than it had been under Aizen.
That had also caused them to relax—or rather, become negligent—and lose the most fundamental thing belonging to Hollows: the sense of crisis that came from the knowledge that failing to evolve meant regressing.
They could indeed easily keep Duan Mu.
But they had no confidence that they could protect him when those Quincies attacked again, nor could they resolve Duan Mu's predicament. This left everyone feeling intensely vexed and furious.
The meeting room fell silent. Tier looked toward Halibel and Stark, who were seated to one side, and was the first to break the silence.
"What was that form you displayed during the battle? A third Resurrección?"
In the old Las Noches, questions concerning an individual's abilities could be said to be the personal secret of every Arrancar. They were absolutely forbidden to investigate.
But the Las Noches of today no longer had such barriers.
As soon as she said this, everyone looked toward Halibel and Stark.