Second-Stage Shikai!

The customs of Hueco Mundo were truly fierce. Uchiha Yato had finally seen it for himself.

As the small army of pursuers closed in, the leading Menos Grande roared,

"Harribel, are you still unwilling to submit beneath Lord Barragan?"

The blonde Vasto Lorde did not answer. She merely raised her greatsword and looked at him coldly.

Then, without any further exchange of words, the two sides clashed.

In an instant, a rain of blood filled the sky, and severed limbs fell from above.

Two Adjuchas-class Menos Grande among the pursuers had their bodies crushed by overwhelming force, dying amid miserable wails.

Even after suffering severe injuries, Harribel was still, by nature, a lofty Vasto Lorde. As long as she regained the ability to move, she could instantly kill ordinary Adjuchas.

Unfortunately, this was Hueco Mundo. Menos Grande yearned for evolution, and their desire to devour outweighed everything else.

Faced with a Vasto Lorde whose destructive power had been reduced to less than a tenth, devouring her offered the possibility of evolving directly. It was a temptation the Adjuchas could not resist.

"Damn it! Stop crowding around her! Circle behind her!" the leading Adjuchas roared as he began directing the battle.

At the same time, he took three steps in two, stomped through the air, and sprang skyward like a coiled spring. With both arms clasped together, he smashed down viciously at Harribel!

He resembled a silverback gorilla. White chain bones protruded from his skin, extending from his spine all the way to his tail. His body stood a full thirty meters tall, like a small mountain.

With such enormous weight falling from such a height, coupled with the natural brute strength he took pride in, the force of this blow was unimaginably powerful.

As the leader of the pursuers, he possessed not only intelligence, but also combat power at the very peak of the Adjuchas class!

Boom!

A crash like muffled thunder rang across the desert.

Harribel's slender body was sent flying backward like a cannonball.

She smashed through an entire sand dune, plowing a deep trench hundreds of meters long across the ground.

"Pfft!"

The blonde Menos Grande spat out blood, but the tense situation afforded her not even a moment to catch her breath. Her greatsword swung again, brutally knocking away several attacking Adjuchas.

"Truly terrifying. Is this what a Vasto Lorde is? She can barely stand without swaying, yet she can still maintain this level of combat ability..."

In the distance, the ape-like Menos Grande leader landed. Watching Harribel fight desperately, deep wariness flashed through his eyes.

His own condition was equally terrible. He had just exchanged a full-force blow with Harribel. Though he had knocked her down, his arm had been severed by her greatsword, blood pouring down like a waterfall.

"But you're finished now."

After a grating sound, skin, flesh, and bone grew back savagely. In the blink of an eye, his severed arm had regenerated.

—High-Speed Regeneration!

Even among Adjuchas-class Menos Grande, such an ability was rare.

He flexed his newly regrown arm, calculated his remaining Reiatsu, and slowly bent his knees, intending to repeat his trick and leap high into the air for another diving strike.

However, in the next moment, the ape-like Adjuchas caught sight of something from the corner of his eye.

It was a tall skeleton, its body hidden beneath a voluminous dark purple robe, with only its head and fingers exposed. A golden crown rested atop its skull, while its hollow eye sockets resembled bottomless pools, sending chills down one's spine.

"Your Majesty!" The ape-like Menos Grande was scared out of his wits. Forgetting Harribel entirely, he turned and knelt before the newcomer.

"You came in person. This lowly one is overwhelmed... Please wait a moment. I will present Harribel's head to you at once."

"What loyalty," said the King of Hueco Mundo in a deep, intimidating voice.

"Come closer."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The ape-like Menos Grande prostrated himself, lowering his head.

He felt Emperor Barragan's bony fingers gently stroking his head.

"You are quite good. After you kill Harribel, I will reward you with her corpse, and also..."

The ape-like Adjuchas was ecstatic. Suppressing the urge to howl at the sky, he pricked up his ears, ready to hear the rest of His Majesty's words.

His wish was granted. He heard them clearly.

"...Hadō #73: Twin Lotus Blue Fire Crash."

Explosive flames appeared from nowhere, swallowing the Menos Grande's thirty-meter-tall body in an instant. The scorching heat gnawed at his bones and nerves, destroying him faster than High-Speed Regeneration could restore him.

"You... you aren't His Majesty!" As the flames consumed his life, the ape-like Menos Grande erupted with unimaginable ferocity.

"You're a Soul Reaper! Die here!"

He raised his fist and used his last bit of strength to slam it fiercely at his opponent.

Yato's brow twitched sharply as he sensed danger. In that split second, he transformed his Soul-Cutter Sword into the shape of the Uchiha Gunbai and held it before himself.

Though the Gunbai could not reflect physical attacks, it still neutralized most of the force.

Even so, Yato clearly heard the sound of his ribs breaking.

He was sent flying backward. While still in midair, he barely adjusted his posture, tensed his muscles, and prepared for the impact of landing.

However, the pain he had expected never came. He ultimately crashed into a soft body.

—It was Harribel.

She flew over and caught Yato. The two of them slammed into the sand together and rolled into a heap.

Even with a soft cushion, Yato did not feel good. Stars danced before his eyes as he swayed to his feet, only to find that the surroundings had somehow grown dim.

Looking up, the young man grimaced and revealed a bitter smile.

The pursuing Adjuchas had already tightly surrounded them. Their tall, bizarre forms blocked the cold light of the crescent moon, plunging the area into darkness.

The deaths of their leader and companions had not made them retreat. Instead, they had stirred up even greater savagery.

"Leave, Soul Reaper." Behind him, Harribel supported herself with her greatsword, refusing to fall.

"Their target is this Vasto Lorde body of mine. It has nothing to do with you. I'll unleash an indiscriminate attack and blast open a path. When that happens, take the chance and..."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me." The blonde Menos Grande paused, softening her tone as though pleading.

"Leave, Uchiha Yato. In Hueco Mundo, severely injured Menos Grande are devoured. That is the law of how strength circulates, like weeds in the World of the Living—they will grow back no matter what."

"Huh? Big sis, after you put it like that, how could I possibly run away alone?"

The young man turned and shot Harribel a look, then nodded toward the charred corpse in the distance.

"How do you think my fire-based Kidō is?"

"Very strong. It far surpasses your current Reiatsu level, but..."

"But it still isn't enough. Just as you said, if you want to burn away the weeds, you need flames that bring destruction."

Yato gently stroked the guard of his Soul-Cutter Sword.

Scarlet Eye, our relationship should be entering its next stage now, shouldn't it?

His Reiatsu surged forth, rising once more.

Within his scarlet eyes, three tomoe spun madly at an unprecedented speed. At last, they fused together before bursting apart violently, forming a new pattern.

They were a pair of black-and-red, six-pointed star-shaped Mangekyo!

He closed his eyes, adapting to this newfound power.

The next moment, tears of blood slid down his cheeks.

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