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In the vast, boundless silver sand sea, Arrancar lay scattered.
The Arrancar team, originally nearly twenty strong, now had fewer than three members capable of standing.
Terror filled every face, and their gazes turned towards the distant dune peak.
A figure sat there, clad in black rags, his eyes slightly downcast, revealing a sense of dejection and helplessness.
Beside him, a girl in the same black rags peered down with great interest.
"Starrk, Starrk, look quickly, those guys… their masks seem to be incomplete just like ours!"
The girl jabbed the middle-aged man beside her heavily in the waist with her elbow.
But Starrk did not respond to her.
Compared to those Arrancar, his full attention was on the lightly stepping man behind them.
The man wore black soul reaper uniform and a white haori over them.
When the haori fluttered in the wind, the characters "eleven" could be vaguely seen embroidered on it.
His figure was tall and slender, like a towering peak.
Long black hair cascaded like a waterfall onto his shoulders, gently brushing his fair skin, exuding a soft and mysterious aura.
From afar, he seemed like a gentle, elegant young master.
But… this was undoubtedly just an appearance.
Since his birth in Hueco Mundo, Starrk had lived for an extremely long time.
Yet, standing before this man now, he felt an unprecedented pressure.
This pressure did not come from the oppression of spiritual pressure, but from a deep-seated fear within his heart.
It was as if a slight misstep would lead to his complete erasure from this world by the other party.
"You are different from us, and different from Hollow."
"Are you the King of Hueco Mundo, the one they call 'Shinigami'?"
He gazed at Aozaki Reiji before him, asking with an unruffled voice.
"You are right, I am a 'Shinigami'."
Aozaki Reiji nodded slightly, indicating his agreement.
Strictly speaking, "Shinigami" is merely a professional title, not a type of life form.
And ordinary Shinigami belong to the concept of "whole" life, which is opposite to "Hollow".
Although his current life level has surpassed the scope of "whole" spiritual life.
It was perfectly fine for him to call himself a Shinigami.
As long as Yamamoto still allowed him to stay in the Gotei 13, he was a Shinigami…
Aozaki Reiji looked at the two on the dune, a strong interest in his eyes.
As expected, these two were precisely the people he was interested in—
Coyote Starrk and Lilynette Gingerbuck.
As for Starrk…
A decadent middle-aged man, with nothing much to say other than his high spiritual pressure.
But Lilynette was different, she had to be talked about properly!
She had soft, light green short hair, purple flame patterns adorned the mask beside her left eye, and her pinkish-purple eyes sparkled like jewels.
In short, this girl was absolutely adorable, with a promising future!
After returning to Las Noches, he must have his personal designer Aizen design a beautiful new outfit for her.
At this moment, Starrk frowned slightly and asked:
"Are you here to kill us? Or… do you want to force us to submit to you, like them?"
Although he had never truly seen a Shinigami, he knew a little about the rumors concerning them.
In his past understanding, Shinigami and Hollow were mortal enemies.
When the two met, a life-and-death struggle was inevitable, with only one side surviving.
However, today made him re-evaluate Shinigami.
The group lying on the ground, like himself, were all individuals with broken masks.
They claimed that Shinigami ruled Hueco Mundo, and they had come by order.
This meant that the Shinigami who ruled Hueco Mundo did not necessarily have to kill Hollow when facing them.
Aozaki Reiji smiled slightly, reassuring him:
"You don't have to worry, I have no interest in taking your life."
"However, I've only been in charge of Las Noches for a few years, and I'm in need of powerful combatants like you."
He and Aizen frequently traveled between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo and would not stay in Hueco Mundo for long periods.
Although Tosen Kaname was still a nobody in the Gotei 13 at the moment, there was enough time.
Aozaki Reiji and Aizen could also use Kyōka Suigetsu to conceal him and help him remain stationed in Hueco Mundo.
But his strength was too weak to bear the heavy responsibility of guarding Las Noches.
As for Nelliel and Harribel.
Under Aozaki Reiji's careful guidance, they had indeed made significant progress.
However, compared to top Arrancar like Baraggan and Szayelaporro, there was still a certain gap.
Starrk's lips curved slightly, revealing a hint of mockery:
"Oh… hearing you say that, does it mean I should be grateful for your mercy?"
Aozaki Reiji waved his hand lightly, smiling indifferently:
"No need to be polite. If you must give thanks, then thank the lovely young girl standing beside you."
"Her name is Lilynette, right?"
"If it weren't for the pretty little Arrancar next to you, I would have crippled you and dragged you back."
"…"
Starrk was speechless for a moment.
Although they were dual souls split from a single entity, Lilynette was far weaker compared to him.
In the past, whenever danger arose, it was always through his power that they overcame it.
He never expected that today, it would be the other way around, and he would have to thank this noisy girl.
"Thank you very much, Lilynette."
Starrk said, looking at the girl.
The short, light-green-haired girl beside him finally couldn't hold back her temper and stood up with a "whoosh."
She gestured wildly at the two of them, muttering:
"Huh!? Why are you listening to him so much? He's our enemy!"
"And you, you dare to say I'm pretty, I'm going to get angry! I'm really going to get angry!"
"Take this, you better prepare to die obediently!!"
Before her words finished, Lilynette leaped up, drawing a gleaming large scimitar from the broken horn of her helmet.
However, she had barely jumped half a meter high when a thick, strong hand firmly grabbed her head.
"Starrk, what do you want to do?"
Lilynette pouted, complaining angrily.
Starrk sighed helplessly and explained:
"Haven't you noticed? That man is clearly within my spiritual pressure range, but he isn't affected by my spiritual pressure at all."
"That man is definitely not an opponent you can handle."
"Hmm… Although I don't want to fight, it seems there's no other way now."
"If you want us to submit to you, you can't just talk the talk without doing anything, can you?"
Although he had only recently met Aozaki Reiji, Starrk, with his keen insight, sensed an unusually strong aura of death from him.
On the surface, this man seemed gentle, always smiling while conversing with him.
But Starrk could detect the hint of danger hidden behind that smile.
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