Las Noches.
True to its name, it was a magnificent palace etched with eternal night, standing resolute in the heart of the pale desert.
A sweeping glance revealed towering columns propping up a pitch-black canopy as heavy as the earth itself, blotting out the moonlight and stretching toward the core.
Adjuchas marched in rigid lines like loyal soldiers, guarding the perimeter.
All leading to the throne.
Baraggan sat atop the highest seat of bones, one hand propping his cheek.
Ever since he'd truly claimed the pinnacle of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan had spent most of his time in this pose.
After endless eons, friends and foes alike had become rare novelties to him.
Infinite time seemed powerless to leave a mark on his body, which wielded 'aging' itself.
In his vast memory, the last fascinating figure was that bastard Ikomikidomoe, thousands of years ago.
But that fool overreached, storming the Soul King Palace to meet his end, vanishing without a whisper.
Baraggan had long decayed.
Naturally, he had enough self-awareness to know it.
Having endured such vast periods, he understood there were taboos in this world that must never be crossed.
Bound by these shackles and prohibitions, his existence had naturally grown long and dull.
Thankfully, a new amusement had cropped up recently.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
The crisp clack of high heels on Las Noches' dark tiles echoed closer.
With a rhythm light as a melody, a tall figure with a shock of pink hair stepped into Baraggan's view.
His frame was dainty compared to the Adjuchas lining the halls.
Another being at the apex of Hueco Mundo's ecosystem, a Vasto Lorde.
Yet Vasto Lordes varied wildly in rank and power.
At least, Baraggan, the king, and this jester before him were creatures of entirely different breeds.
As Baraggan's gaze fell, two Adjuchas flanking his throne stepped forward, addressing the pink-haired figure gravely.
"Lord Szayelaporro, Lord Baraggan has not summoned you."
But listen closely, and you'd catch a faint tremble in that Adjuchas' voice.
Fear of something.
The pink-haired figure merely flicked a glance at him, then raised a finger in a gun-like gesture.
"Piu! Wrong answer!"
"The one who woke up first today was Lord Yylfordt!"
The instant the words landed, the Adjuchas froze, then dropped to its knees, scrambling to flee.
But the next second...
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft...
The unlucky Adjuchas' body ballooned like a stack of inflating spheres. In a blink, it swelled from a few meters to over ten, its Hierro, bones, and mask stretched to near-transparency, pushed to the brink.
"L-Lord Bara… ggan…"
It let out a guttural wail.
But Baraggan's gaze didn't linger for a moment.
Bang!
With a resounding blast, the Adjuchas burst into a gory firework.
Yet Baraggan, Szayelaporro, and the other trembling Adjuchas watched in silence.
No one spoke for it.
That was the Hollows' world.
Rank, evolution, status, strength.
All absolute!
Only a Vasto Lorde could stand there and speak to another.
"Enough, Granz."
Baraggan's lazy voice drifted down as he regarded him calmly. "Adjuchas are valuable troops. Even the weakest can be thrown into the pit to fight and forge a stronger one."
"Don't waste my resources."
"Y-Yes~ Yes~"
"Lord Baraggan~"
Szayelaporro stretched his signature dual-tone drawl, sticky and nauseating as if two distinct identities coexisted in his human-sized frame.
Which, in truth, they did.
"But I've submitted plenty of experiment reports, haven't I?" Szayelaporro tilted his chin up, his tone rising imperiously. "You must know by now that I'm working on something unprecedented!"
"We're crafting a 'perfect being'!"
"Imagine it, a Hollow with a completed 'heart.' Doesn't that deserve you throwing all your might behind my experiments?!"
"It's a masterpiece, Lord Baraggan!"
His pitch climbed, fingers instinctively clutching his throat as he unleashed a near-manic shriek, eyes bulging.
Yet his lips curled into a matching wicked grin, a second voice chiming in.
"Exactly, exactly!"
"My brother's intellect is unmatched in all the world!"
"His alchemy could conquer anyone in the world!"
"You can trust him completely."
Then Szayelaporro's expression darkened. "Yylfordt, I've told you countless times don't interrupt me when I'm talking about my dreams!"
"Szayel, this is my body too!"
Halfway through, the two souls in that single frame started bickering.
Baraggan watched leisurely.
As a powerhouse who'd lived who-knows-how-long, he'd long stopped fussing over petty mental quirks.
Sometimes, he even wondered what it'd feel like to have two souls in one body.
That's the downside of boredom.
But his interest in this guy wasn't just about his peculiar condition.
The real reason was singular.
This chatterbox before him was a Vasto Lorde too.
One who'd survived a full-on assault from him, no less.
In Hueco Mundo, everything belonged to the strong.
That was this world's iron law.
"Shut it."
Only when their squabbling grated on him did Baraggan speak, his tone flat.
Szayelaporro looked reluctant.
Then Baraggan added lazily, "I've already sent Doragon out. Shouldn't be long before new materials arrive."
"Oh~ that trash!"
"But…"
"It'll do."
Szayelaporro kept that sticky drawl, nodding slightly, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes.
Doragon was the first test subject he'd created after joining Las Noches.
Though experiment was generous, it was more like gauging Hollow instincts.
Back then, with Baraggan's backing, he'd rounded up hundreds of Adjuchas across Hueco Mundo, locked them in Las Noches' basement, and pitted them against each other in relentless duels to kill and devour.
From that endless gauntlet, Doragon emerged the victor.
The result, though, was predictable.
A winner forged artificially like that lacked something crucial compared to Vasto Lordes shaped by eons of natural struggle.
Szayelaporro studied it for ages before pinning down what that something was.
The missing link in their Hollow holes.
A heart.
Hollows were beings who, having lost their hearts, drowned in endless slaughter and consumption over time.
Like mindless zombies, they stuffed themselves with food, never sating their hunger.
But that ceaseless carnage wasn't entirely pointless.
At certain evolutionary thresholds, they'd naturally grasp the deepest obsession in their will.
That was the key to rising from a Gillian, fused from hundreds of Hollows and climbing higher.
Loneliness, decay, sacrifice, emptiness, despair…
The void left by a missing heart could only be filled by a true one.
That's why Doragon, a mere glutton, ranked among the weakest Vasto Lordes.
But just as Szayelaporro turned to leave...
Both froze in unison.
Szayelaporro's eyes widened, a manic gleam sparking as if he'd sensed something.
He glanced at Baraggan.
"That trash is dead, huh?"
Baraggan turned slowly toward Szayelaporro. "Either way, he died for your cause."
"Granz, it's yours to handle."
"Of course!"
Szayelaporro buzzed with excitement, pinching his pinky. "But but but! I've got some experiment tweaks to sort out first."
"Do as you like."
Baraggan waved him off.
Szayelaporro's steps quickened, lighter than ever, as he darted out of the hall.
Once outside, his eyes blazed with feverish zeal.
Looks like he'd get to meet another interesting Vasto Lorde.
How… thrilling.
Musing, he rounded a corner, striding toward the pitch-black underground lab.
As Hueco Mundo's greatest researcher, he had his own domain.
His boots clicked on hard steps, his voice lilting like a song as he chanted softly.
"The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth."
"To a virgin pledged to a man of David's line, named Joseph; the virgin's name was Mary."
"The angel approached her and said, 'Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.'"
"Mary was greatly troubled, pondering what such a greeting could mean."
"The angel said, 'Mary, you've found favor with God. You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.'"
By the time his melodic recitation ended, Szayelaporro reached the lab's depths.
A light flared before him.
Two rows of Adjuchas lined up, crucified on massive crosses.
Look closely, and you'd see their bodies bore distinct feminine traits.
And every single one sported a huge, swollen belly.
Up close, their Hierro shimmered near-translucent, faintly glowing.
Occasional, faint whimpers broke the silence.
Thick, intricate tubes pierced their bodies, some even cracking their vital masks.
Sticky blood pooled on the floor.
The air reeked of iron.
Szayelaporro faced it all like it was a masterpiece, arms wide, exhaling in bliss.
"Gabriel!"
"This is… the true path!"
"How curious."
"What would a Hollow born with a 'heart' look like?"
....
Not long after Doragon's death.
Both the Gotei 13 in the Seireitei and the expedition force, now camped in the Hueco Mundo, detected multiple Reiatsu disturbances across Hueco Mundo.
A massive number of Adjuchas, driven by some unknown force, began clustering into small groups, some with a handful, others with a dozen or more.
As if bracing for something.
Even Kinroku's side felt the strain.
To him, these Adjuchas posed no real threat, but he had hundreds of regular squad members and seated officers under his command!
For them, forget Adjuchas even a Gillian was a foe they could barely handle.
The Shinigami teams sent out to scout faced heavy resistance. A few squads were wiped out clean.
For Makoto's group, though, it wasn't much of a danger.
More like a delivery service.
…
Whoosh!
A fish-like figure darted through the desert, Harribel's gaze sweeping the surroundings, feigning ignorance as she cautiously swam toward an Adjuchas corpse sprawled at a dune's edge.
But the moment she neared it...
Boom!
Several nearby dunes erupted with massive Reiatsu signatures.
Shock flashed in Harribel's eyes.
An ambush!
Without a second thought, she twisted and dove back the way she came.
But Hollows had their own survival tricks.
A four-armed Adjuchas slammed the ground, upheaving a vast swath of desert sand.
It flipped Harribel right out of her burrow.
"Still trying to run?!"
"Fool!"
"You're surrounded!"
Five Adjuchas materialized around Harribel as she hit the ground.
One nodded in confirmation. "Sure enough, this is the fool Lord Doragon was tracking."
"Don't smash her body!"
"Got it!"
But just as their encirclement tightened, a mocking smirk curled Harribel's lips.
"The ones surrounded… are you."
The next instant, two tiny figures appeared at opposite ends of the Adjuchas pack.
Makoto and Saitō grinned in unison.
See?
Fishing tactics were the fastest way!
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
If you want to read up to 50 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (removespace)