"Darkness Wave Eye!"
An invisible wave enveloped the entire Las Noches. Even though the surrounding walls of fire were still burning fiercely, the bright red light they emitted became dim and obscured, as if some force had swallowed the radiance, plunging the world into darkness.
"What kind of strange ability is this now?" Baraggan kept retreating, his Respira never stopping for a moment. A massive amount of 'Senescence' swirled around him, determined to wither any energy that approached his body into nothingness.
In this state of absolute defense, Baraggan breathed a sigh of relief. No matter the ability, it relied on energy to function. In this state, he was practically untouchable by any technique. Even if Makiya used that sword art that had frozen everyone in an instant earlier, he was confident he could escape smoothly.
"He's a complete monster." Harribel, lying on the ground unable to move after being flooded with energy, let out a long sigh. She closed her eyes in resignation, silently feeling the changes within her body.
She didn't know exactly what Makiya had done to her, but the law of Hueco Mundo was the survival of the fittest—the winner takes all. As the loser, she could only passively accept whatever came her way.
Makiya moved his feet slowly. The range of the darkness shifted in sync with his movements. The Wave Secret Records of the Asura class flashed repeatedly through his mind.
'Abandon the light, train without ceasing... even the darkness shall eventually become my friend...'
The darkness around Makiya grew even denser. A mysterious fluctuation pulsed in Baraggan's heart, like a mental shock, making him feel as though he were being watched by countless invisible eyes.
'The endless black sky expands, as countless pupils float in the void...'
Vast cracks appeared in the sky above Las Noches. A hair-raising transformation took place high above as fine, web-like fractures spread across space. A strange, eerie crimson light flickered around Baraggan.
The light seeped through the darkness like blood, and then countless crimson pupils emerged in the night. They looked like mysterious creatures from sub-space, pressing against the crumbling walls of the world, silently peeking into Hueco Mundo.
Every gaze seemed to carry a chill capable of freezing the soul. Their vision ignored the 'Senescence' permeating the air and shone directly into the depths of Baraggan's heart.
"You monster..." Beneath Baraggan's pitch-black skeletal mask, his eyes began to lose focus. The space around him cracked continuously; fractures were everywhere—above, below, left, and right.
In all his years as the King of Hueco Mundo, he had encountered powerful opponents, but never a creature like Makiya, who brought nothing but endless panic and despair.
He couldn't win. He was completely outmatched. The opponent had too many tricks, and each one was more bizarre than the last. Just where did this monster come from?
'Are Soul Reapers these days really this strong?'
Makiya swung his long sword. An invisible wave of power radiated from the tip. Techniques inherited from the Sword God further extended the reach of the Darkness Wave Eye. The two class systems created a miraculous chemical reaction in this foreign world.
Countless crimson eyes began to flicker violently. With a deafening roar, they exploded. Using Baraggan as the epicenter, the surrounding space shattered like fragile glass, and Baraggan's body shattered along with it.
The splintered Great Menos did not die immediately. The powerful Hollow power within him gave him unparalleled vitality. The 'Senescence' surrounding him also lost control as the space shattered, spreading across the vast sky.
"Wait, no!"
Baraggan's terrified screams echoed from within the dark void. While a Great Menos possessed tenacious vitality, 'Senescence' was the natural enemy of life. His fragmented body, exposed within the black abyss, was rapidly corroded and annihilated.
Hollow power erupted repeatedly. A Gran Rey Cero suddenly burst forth, only to be quickly extinguished by the aging process. It was like a shooting star flashing across the horizon—brilliant but fleeting.
A large amount of black mist rose from Baraggan's tissues as he tried to use 'Senescence' to resist 'Senescence'. However, it was all in vain. Such an act was merely like drinking poison to quench thirst. Amidst Baraggan's howls, the boundless black mist expanded, swallowing the last traces of the Great Menos's presence.
His power collapsed, his Hierro crumbled, and his snow-white skeleton returned to nothingness. Even the massive twin-bladed battle-axe that had been with him since his weaker days dissipated bit by bit within the 'Senescence'.
'Am I really... dying like this?' Despair projected from Baraggan's skeletal eyes. Time seemed to stretch infinitely in this second, and long-lost memories of his past life flooded his mind.
The lantern of his life flashed before him—death, wandering, falling into a Hollow, and then surviving in a daze for countless years. Then one day, he finally regained consciousness, drove the wolves to devour the tigers, awakened special abilities, and rose to become the King of Hueco Mundo.
In the end, while he was at home drinking fine wine and watching the show, two Soul Reapers he had never seen before suddenly arrived and shattered his dream of being king.
"Hmph... Haha... Hahaha! Stranger... cough... I did not die by your hands... In the end, the only thing that could kill me was my own power... Hahaha!"
His physical form completely vanished. Before the last fragment of his skull was annihilated, Baraggan vibrated his Hollow power, and his aged voice pierced through the darkness into Makiya's ears.
"Boring pride." Makiya shook his head. Chisato pierced into the dark void. A massive amount of flames released from the blade, intertwining in the air to form a giant bright red net of fire, wrapping the darkness within it.
Baraggan's ability was indeed good, but as a Hollow, he wasn't suited to be a subordinate. He was the type to harbor treacherous thoughts, or perhaps the pride of a king simply wouldn't allow him to live under someone else's roof.
In the original story, Baraggan pretended to submit to Aizen while actually plotting a rebellion. Even when he finally died on the battlefield, he used the last of his strength to hurl his axe at Aizen.
The flames of Chisato continuously compressed and gathered the masterless 'Senescence'. Some was absorbed into Makiya's body, while the rest was fed to the Phoenix Fire Hogyoku to be slowly digested later.
The space shattered by the Darkness Wave Eye began to heal slowly. Looking through the dark fragments, Makiya could see numerous Kototsu still wandering in the nearby space, not yet dispersed.
Just then, two powerful auras soared into the sky, causing even Yammy and Grimmjow, who were still fighting, to pause briefly.
Makiya descended from the sky, following the auras to find their source—Harribel and Ulquiorra, who had just completed their transformations.
The two looked completely different than before. Harribel's change was especially drastic; she was almost unrecognizable.
Her signature bone armor and skirt were gone, replaced by a fashionable white stand-up collar midriff top and a white long skirt. The bone mask that once covered her face had vanished entirely, revealing a refined and cold visage.
The top had long sleeves, and the high collar covered the lower half of her face, but it featured a unique opening in a certain conspicuous area.
Her bronze skin and messy blonde hair complemented each other perfectly. One glance was enough to tell she was a wild, untamable leopardess. She wore a plain white skirt that trailed to the floor, but the waistband seemed a size too large, hanging loosely on her hips and revealing her beautiful muscle lines.
Notably, there was a patch of white cloth on Harribel's abdomen, its purpose unclear.
In reality, that was where her Hollow hole was located.
Makiya gave a deadpan look.
'How strange. I only injected the power of the Phoenix Fire Hogyoku to trigger their evolution. How did their outfits change too? Do they automatically get new skins when they level up?'
The slave contracts from that erotica master didn't work in this world at all, but Makiya wasn't without insurance. Chisato's spiritual pressure had silently merged into their power systems during their evolution. If he wished, he could detonate the energy inside them in an instant.
On the other side, Ulquiorra had also changed into a new set of clothes—a stylish white robe. After his voluntary Arrancar transformation, some mask fragments had remained on his head, but they were now gone, revealing his short black hair.
Both had obtained their own blades. A long sword hung at Ulquiorra's waist, while Harribel's sword was on her back—wide and short, barely longer than her impressive bust.
"I... actually evolved." Harribel wore an expression of disbelief. She stood there, clenching her fists. The feeling of overflowing power at her fingertips made her feel as though she could punch a hole through Hueco Mundo.
This was, of course, an illusion. After a rapid increase in strength, one needed extensive combat practice to fully master it.
After becoming an Arrancar, Harribel regained a portion of her humanity. Her facial expressions were vivid, and her mannerisms were much more human than before.
"Of course. Did you think I was lying to you?" Makiya landed in front of them. "Anyone who has spent time with me knows I never lie."
Harribel and Ulquiorra fell silent. They didn't know how to respond to that.
"So, how do you plan to deal with us?" Ulquiorra asked the most critical question.
"I've been researching how to break the boundary between Soul Reapers and Hollows lately. I need some powerful subjects for experiments, and you two happen to fit the bill."
Makiya pulled out the purplish-red Phoenix Fire Hogyoku, its radiance flashing briefly before them. "Of course, you'll benefit greatly from this process. Well... to be precise, you'll likely gain benefits, with a small chance of something going wrong."
Having already tasted the benefits, the two chose to accept. Most importantly, Makiya was strong enough. In Hueco Mundo, strength was everything. The Menos respected the strong. Makiya had single-handedly dominated a group of them; losing was simply losing.
Here, the one with the biggest fist gets everything. Submitting to the strong was not shameful; many Menos even took pride in it and actively followed the powerful.
"Then what should we call you? Master, like Yammy does?" Harribel crossed her arms beneath her heavy burden, supporting the weight on her shoulders.
Women with such massive assets always had this trouble. Carrying that much weight was naturally exhausting and interfered with movement during battle.
Flat-chested Soi Fon: 'Please, let me bear that burden!'
"Whatever you like. My name is Makiya. You can call me Master or just Makiya. I don't care." Makiya shrugged, looking completely indifferent.
Once powerful enough, he stopped being sensitive to how others addressed him. Only weak creatures overreacted to such things.
"Very well, Master."
"As you wish, Lord Makiya."
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]