Nelliel

"Destruction Death Ray"

Another beam of pure black light burst from Gaoyu's finger, piercing straight through the body of a huge Hollow.

The Hollow's body was enormous, but with its vital point pierced, it could no longer regenerate. In the end, it fell onto the white spirit-sand.

Given the Hollow's size, its fall was like a building collapsing. In an instant, it sent white sand flying into the air.

Gaoyu looked at the fallen Hollow before him and frowned.

In theory, even an ordinary Hollow of this size would be at lieutenant level, or even a high-ranking lieutenant.

But this Hollow didn't have a Soul Ability. What a...

piece of trash!

He had no idea what it took for a Hollow to possess a Soul Ability. Did it require high intelligence, like Metastacia?

If so, he'd have to get Aizen to complete the Arrancar transformation of the Hollows as soon as possible. That way, he could acquire more abilities.

Damn it, he had to have it both ways!

He wanted the Soul Abilities of Soul Reapers, and he wanted the Soul Abilities of Arrancars too!

If possible, he wanted the Soul Abilities of Quincies as well!

No one ever complained about having too few abilities. Gaoyu certainly hoped to have as many Soul Abilities as he could get.

Even now, Gaoyu had no idea what was happening outside, or whether Toru Tanimoto was dead.

He had permanently acquired Toru Tanimoto's Soul Ability, "Destruction Death Ray." Even if Toru's favorability toward him later dropped below eighty, or Toru died, Gaoyu would still have the ability.

So he couldn't use the presence or absence of "Destruction Death Ray" to tell whether Toru was still alive.

Thinking of this, he greedily absorbed more of Hueco Mundo's spirit particles.

The spirit particle concentration in Hueco Mundo was much higher than in Soul Society. If he could get used to this place, he would be able to bring out even more of his strength.

And such a dense concentration of spirit particles was also more conducive to training.

In this environment, his accumulation of Black Sun grew even stronger.

Gaoyu walked over to the fallen Hollow's corpse and plopped down on it.

He rested for about ten minutes. Just as he was about to get up, he suddenly sensed a Hollow's spiritual pressure.

The Hollow wasn't concealing its spiritual pressure, and it wasn't approaching quickly. Gaoyu rose from the corpse. The Hollow's spiritual pressure felt powerful—far beyond his own!

"Could I have run into some big shot from the future?"

Gaoyu frowned. He wasn't very powerful yet, but Hueco Mundo hadn't completed its evolution at this point.

After Sosuke Aizen officially became the King of Hueco Mundo, he used the Hogyoku to bring about a complete evolution of Hueco Mundo. So, even though Gaoyu was alone in the world of Hollows, he usually wouldn't be in danger unless he was terribly unlucky.

Hueco Mundo was simply too vast, and there weren't many Vasto Lordes. Scattered across such a wide world, an ordinary Hollow might go its whole life without ever encountering one.

Gaoyu's earlier talk about going to find Stark had just been a joke. How could a Soul Reaper go looking for a Hollow?

But now, he felt as if he really had run into someone powerful—at the very least, a mid-level Menos Grande!

With his current strength, he could handle a lower-level Menos Grande without much trouble. Gillians were huge, but to his Destruction Death Ray, they were just clumsy targets.

But starting with the mid-level Menos Grande, the Adjuchas, Hollows became much more agile. His Destruction Death Ray could ignore defenses, but it couldn't guarantee a hit.

An Adjuchas's speed would make dodging his Destruction Death Ray easy.

Running wasn't an option, though. He could sense that the Hollow wasn't moving quickly, but if they both started running, he probably wouldn't be able to outrun a mid-level Menos Grande with his current strength.

Of course, if it came down to a fight, he wasn't afraid.

Because he still had the Black Sun he'd been building up for a long time!

He had continually poured spiritual pressure into the Black Sun. Even Gaoyu could hardly imagine how powerful it was now.

If all that spiritual pressure erupted at once, it would probably be no weaker than a Captain's powerful Bankai attack.

As long as the Hollow wasn't a Vasto Lorde, Gaoyu could still give it a fight.

But after seeing its form, he felt he might be able to save the Black Sun after all.

A goat-shaped Menos Grande appeared in Gaoyu's line of sight, slowly walking toward him.

With that appearance and her Soul Ability, "Size Manipulation," Gaoyu immediately recognized who she really was.

Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck!

The future former 3rd Espada. Nnoitra would ambush her and turn her into the child Nel. At this point in time, of course, she was still a powerful Vasto Lorde.

She was powerful, but she shouldn't pose much of a threat to him.

When Nelliel approached, she saw the Menos Grande lying on the ground, as well as Gaoyu standing on top of it. Looking puzzled, she said, "A Soul Reaper? What are you doing in Hueco Mundo?"

"I didn't want this either." Gaoyu shrugged.

"Someone insisted on sending me here. Don't worry, I mean Hollows no harm."

"A Soul Reaper... saying he means Hollows no harm?" Nelliel said in astonishment.

"Well, just think of me as an oddball among Soul Reapers. I... don't like killing. I'm a peace-loving person."

Gaoyu smiled faintly. "Even in Hueco Mundo, I won't go after Hollows unless they come to kill me first."

"You're certainly a strange one."

Nelliel stopped, then turned around.

"In that case, I don't need to avenge my kind."

"Your kind?" Gaoyu asked with interest. "Hollows have a sense of camaraderie? Did you know this Menos Grande?"

Gaoyu knew a little about Nelliel. Though she was a Hollow, she wasn't an "evil spirit" in the traditional sense.

Among Hollows, she was relatively kind and didn't like killing.

Her talk of revenge was probably just an empty threat.

"..." Nelliel was silent for a moment, then said, "Hollows have their own kingdom. If you don't want to die, you'd better return to Soul Society as soon as possible."

Gaoyu thought for a moment, then said, "You're an oddball in Hueco Mundo, and I'm an oddball in Soul Society. Since that's the case, why not become friends?"

"...?" Nelliel froze, then said in astonishment, "You're a Soul Reaper... and you want to be friends with a Hollow like me?"

"What does that matter?" Gaoyu smiled. "Didn't I tell you? I don't like fighting. Unless something interests me, other people's positions have nothing to do with me."