"Whoosh!"
Raizen Kō activated Sonído, his massive form vanishing in a ripple of compressed Reishi and reappearing instantly behind the towering Gillian.
Compared to the Menos Grande's nearly hundred-meter height, Raizen Kō whose body stretched just over twenty meters appeared almost insignificant.
Almost.
His centipede-like tail lashed out like a living chain, coiling tightly around the Gillian's massive leg.
The pale, bone-like limb was instantly bound.
Without hesitation, Raizen Kō triggered Flash Lightning.
"Zzzzt!"
Violent arcs of crackling electricity erupted from his tail, coursing directly into the Gillian's body through its skeletal limb.
It was less an attack and more a merciless execution disguised as a "foot massage."
"ROOOAR!!!"
The Gillian howled toward the sky, its voice shaking the forest. Only then did it finally register Raizen Kō's presence behind it. Its enormous head twisted around, mask-like face contorting as its massive mouth opened wide.
A black-red Cero began condensing rapidly between its jagged teeth.
Raizen Kō's eyes narrowed.
With a powerful jerk of his tail, he pulled sharply.
There was a sickening crack.
The Gillian's legs were ripped clean off.
"ROAR!!!"
The Menos Grande screamed again, its colossal body losing balance and crashing violently into the forest.
"RUMBLE!!!"
Giant Menos trees shattered beneath its falling mass, Reishi scattering in clouds.
The half-charged Cero detonated inside its own mouth, erupting upward in a blast of distorted spiritual pressure.
Raizen Kō did not waste the opening.
A lightning whip formed instantly in his grasp and snapped downward with brutal precision
Splitting the Gillian cleanly in half from crown to core.
Just like that, the lone Menos Grande was decisively annihilated.
Raizen Kō drifted down slowly, his mask tilted toward the remains. His gaze focused on the sharp bone spines protruding from the Gillian's neck.
Only now did he fully confirm that the two bone spines he had once obtained from the Chameleon Hollow indeed originated from a Menos-class Hollow.
Originally, he had intended to forge those spines into dual blades upon evolving further.
But now
His defenses had grown too formidable.
Those spines could no longer pierce him.
Thus, he had absorbed them long ago with Soul Eater.
Raizen Kō raised his tail high once more and activated Soul Eater again.
Dark-golden Reiatsu erupted from the spike at its tip, spiraling outward and forming a massive vortex of Reishi.
In moments, the Gillian's bisected corpse was completely absorbed.
As the surging spiritual pressure flowed into his body, Raizen Kō spread his arms slightly, his posture relaxed, expression filled with unrestrained satisfaction.
"…Comfortable."
He had not expected that devouring a single, lone Gillian would boost his Reiatsu by nearly sixty percent.
Feeling the roaring power within his core, Raizen Kō stretched lazily.
Now, even in a direct Cero clash, he was confident he could crush that Gillian with ease.
"But how would I fare against that… mutated Gillian from before?"
Though he remained technically a Giant Hollow and had not yet fully evolved into a Menos Grande, ordinary unintelligent Gillians were no longer a threat to him.
With his current strength, unless he encountered an Adjuchas commanding a swarm of Gillians, his survival was virtually assured.
As for encountering a Vasto Lorde
There were only a handful in all of Hueco Mundo.
Raizen Kō refused to believe his luck was that catastrophic.
Moreover, he still possessed his divine concealment skill: Camo.
Raizen Kō estimated that with Camo active, even ordinary Adjuchas would struggle to detect his presence.
His confidence swelled.
Activating Camo, Raizen Kō slipped deeper into the Forest of Menos.
Unlike the endless deserts of Hueco Mundo, the Forest of Menos lacked white sand. He could not burrow and vanish beneath dunes.
And since Camo concealed only Reiatsu not physical form his travel speed slowed considerably as he focused on erasing tracks and avoiding exposure.
Along the way, Raizen Kō encountered numerous lone Giant Hollows.
He slaughtered and devoured them one by one.
Truly, the Forest of Menos was a treasure trove for a being like him who possessed Soul Eater.
His efficiency was leagues beyond traditional Hollow consumption.
Other Hollows had to tear apart flesh and devour it piece by piece slow, vulnerable, and inefficient.
Worse still, Hollow corpses gradually dissolved into Reishi, dissipating into Hueco Mundo's air if not consumed quickly.
And during feeding, Hollows had to guard against ambush.
One lapse and either the prey was stolen, or both hunter and prey became someone else's meal.
Raizen Kō clicked his tongue.
"Good thing I don't need middlemen skimming profits."
Soon, his attention locked onto a new target.
A Giant Hollow shaped like an electric eel, faint blue currents pulsing across its translucent body.
Raizen Kō sensed it instantly.
"If I absorb its Reiatsu… Flash Lightning should evolve even further."
He began pursuit.
The eel Hollow was exceptionally fast—even among Giant Hollows.
Raizen Kō had to chain Sonído repeatedly just to close the distance.
A lightning whip tore through the air, striking toward the electric eel as it swam midair ahead.
The eel surged forward nearly a hundred meters, shrouded in crackling blue arcs but Raizen Kō's lightning was faster.
It slammed into the Hollow, blasting it out of the sky.
Raizen Kō flashed forward, appearing instantly before it.
The segmented limbs of his centipede tail swept horizontally
Severing the Hollow cleanly at the waist.
Soul Eater activated.
The electric eel was consumed entirely.
After a short while, Raizen Kō slowly opened his eyes.
A lightning whip glowing with dark-golden light reformed in his grasp.
"As expected…"
A trace of wild delight surfaced beneath his mask.
Devouring the electric eel had not drastically increased his Reiatsu
But his understanding of Flash Lightning had deepened profoundly.
Originally, the lightning whip had felt like a weapon formed from external energy.
Now
It felt like an extension of his own body.
It lengthened and shortened at will.
Softened or hardened at his command.
As if it were a true organ rather than a technique.
Just as Raizen Kō reveled in this newfound mastery
A peculiar Reiatsu brushed against his perception.
Faint.
Unstable.
Like a candle flickering in a storm.
Yet unmistakably different from a Hollow's.
If Hollow Reiatsu was roaring flame
Then this was frozen steel.
"…A Shinigami?"
Raizen Kō carefully traced its origin.
The spiritual pressure was extremely weak now posing no threat to him.
Only then did he proceed boldly, curiosity overriding caution.
"Should be… right here."
Following the Reiatsu, he reached a dense cluster of massive Menos trees.
Yet found nothing.
After searching carefully, he finally realized
The Reiatsu was coming from a narrow hollow within one of the trees.
Given Raizen Kō's massive size over twenty meters long even his upper body alone towered nearly ten meters tall.
It was no surprise he had overlooked a hollow barely half the height of a human.
With no choice, Raizen Kō extended his tail into the hollow
And pulled out two objects.
"It's actually…"