Though the Enemy Was Strong, It Fell in a Single Blow

The Soul King's Power, Shinigami power, and Menos spiritual pressure—the combination of three powers.

With Menos spiritual pressure as the core and Shinigami power as support, its overall structure had undergone considerable changes after devouring the Soul King's Power.

Su Feng had limited knowledge and could only identify this much.

The residual power of Mimihagi had been devoured by the monstrous Menos before him, causing its level of life to undergo a certain degree of evolution.

But it still had a considerable way to go before evolving from an Adjuchas into a Vasto Lorde.

Without a doubt.

This Adjuchas was by no means some mutated species from Hueco Mundo.

If nothing unexpected had happened, it was likely a special existence Aizen had modified or created through various means.

Although Hogyoku technology had yet to be fully perfected.

With Aizen's intellect, creating a Menos at the Adjuchas level was not particularly difficult.

Upon sensing Su Feng's spiritual pressure, the Adjuchas abandoned the remaining ruins. Countless eyes all over its body fixed fiercely upon the figure standing in the wind.

Between after-meal scraps and a lavish feast, even an idiot knew which one to choose.

A slender tongue extended from its blood-filled maw of sharp teeth, licking around the corners of its mouth with a scalp-numbing slithering sound.

As the Adjuchas shifted its body, cracks spread across the shrine's foundation beneath its unbearable weight.

Even just looking at it, this mountain-like colossal being gave off an inescapable sense of suffocation.

And when its spiritual pressure erupted, a surging, terrifying oppression instantly descended upon Su Feng, as though the sky itself were collapsing.

Above, heavy storm clouds swept in once again, blotting out what little light remained in this barren land.

At that moment, the only light came from the dense cluster of blood-red eyes on the Adjuchas ahead.

White steam-like vapor billowed from between its teeth in great quantities. Drool dripped down, corroding the already devastated foundation.

Seeing this, Su Feng's eyelids twitched. "It really added everything it could."

"Even its saliva is poisonous..."

Before he could finish, a massive shadow instantly closed in before him, engulfing him in crimson, greedy eyes.

A pillar-like arm slammed down. Before it even struck, the gale-force wind had already arrived!

Boom boom!!

The parched earth suddenly burst apart, forming a massive spiderweb-like crater centered on its hammer-like fist.

In terms of physical ability alone, Menos with the enhancement of Hierro were nearly a match for Shinigami of the same level.

And their destructive power was extraordinarily strong!

Su Feng used Shunpo to evade, narrowly slipping past the attack at a subtle angle.

A cold gleam flashed as Storm Howl left its sheath!

Wind Breath coiled around it, transforming into an unparalleled wind blade that slashed straight out.

Splat—

The sound of flesh tearing drowned out all else. Blood burst forth like a fountain, splashing across and nourishing this dry, desolate land.

Even as Su Feng flew backward, he raised his left hand and used the light of Kido to illuminate the path ahead.

"Hado #63: Raikoho!"

Golden lightning abruptly flared around him. Amid crackling sparks, it condensed into a deafening roar of thunder.

Although Raikōhō was only the sixty-third Hado, its power was still quite formidable.

Coupled with Su Feng's understanding of it, he could raise the power of Incantation Abandonment to half that of a fully chanted spell, or even more!

Rumble!

Thunder exploded between heaven and earth. A vast, brilliant golden radiance directly swallowed the lower half of the Adjuchas's body, its terrifying heat scorching the spikes and bone-white outer hide.

In almost an instant, nearly half of its Hierro was burned away, while the flesh beneath visibly melted and sublimated, turning into Reishi that dispersed into the air.

"Roar!!"

A furious, agonized howl echoed across the wilderness, while its tangible spiritual pressure surged wildly.

A straight line was gouged through the desolate ground, carving a massive trench hundreds of meters long that reached all the way to the shrine's foundation.

Once the light faded and the black smoke dispersed, the Adjuchas's battered figure appeared before Su Feng once more.

Nearly half of its cone-shaped body had been destroyed, and its right arm had been severed in the middle. Half an arm fell into the aftermath of Raikōhō and immediately turned to ash.

This was merely the first probing exchange of their battle.

Yet it ended in the Adjuchas's utter defeat.

However, Su Feng did not lower his guard because of this. Instead, he watched the scene before him with remarkable calmness.

He knew full well that this creature, into which Aizen had poured so much effort, would not be so fragile.

When dealing with Aizen, Su Feng had always exercised the utmost caution and vigilance.

Gurgle—

Charred flesh continuously writhed and bulged as white material swelled across the Adjuchas's body like bubbles.

Eyes sprouted one after another from those bubbles, scanning the world with crazed gazes. Bloodshot veins filled their eyeballs, lending them an even more eerie quality.

Flesh also sprouted and writhed from the stump of the Adjuchas's arm. In an instant, a complete, thick arm regrew, brimming with a sense of power.

"Die!!"

That simple word showed that this giant's intelligence was not as high as that of other Adjuchas, but the spiritual pressure it unleashed far surpassed theirs.

Buzz—

Its vast spiritual pressure shot into the sky, even triggering changes in the weather. The thick clouds were torn apart, and a huge hole spun above, like an enormous eye watching over this barren land.

Such terrifying spiritual pressure was naturally noticed by Jushiro Ukitake and the others.

Even though they had already left the Nigoku District and were heading toward the Seireitei at top speed.

When that spiritual pressure swept over them, some of the weaker noble members had their legs go limp and collapsed to the ground without a shred of dignity, despair surfacing in their eyes.

Rangiku Matsumoto stopped, her brows tightly furrowed as she looked back in worry.

"That's Menos spiritual pressure. Captain, he..."

After a brief moment of hesitation and concern, she decisively gave the order. "Nanao, I'll return to the Seireitei first to seek reinforcements. You're responsible for watching these people."

Before Nanao Ise could respond, Rangiku Matsumoto unleashed powerful spiritual pressure. Her graceful figure vanished from where she stood and sped toward the Seireitei.

She knew very well that against spiritual pressure of this magnitude, her strength was nowhere near enough to contend with it.

If she returned to the battlefield now, she would only become a burden to Su Feng.

Rather than that, she might as well return to the Seireitei as quickly as possible to seek reinforcements.

Besides.

With spiritual pressure erupting on this scale, the Seireitei should have noticed, right?

At the same time.

Within the Seireitei, inside the Department of Research and Development at the Squad 12 barracks.

Within the Spiritual Wave Measurement Research Division.

Crimson lights illuminated the entire Research Lab as piercing warning signals rang through it, tormenting everyone's eardrums.

A bizarre humanoid toad-like creature sat before a computer, his ten fingers adorned with strange rings as they frantically tapped across the equipment.

His eyeballs nearly bulged out of their sockets, and an indescribable madness seeped from his demeanor.

"A major incident!"

"A Menos whose spiritual pressure is infinitely close to that of a Vasto Lorde has appeared in the Nigoku District at the far end of East Rukongai."

"The final salvation amid the chaos has been shattered!"