Somewhere deep within the Forest of Menos.
Four colossal white-barked trees twisted together unnaturally, their massive branches interlocking high above the forest floor to form a grotesque nest suspended in the air.
"ROOOAR!"
A harsh, distorted roar echoed from the nest.
A Hollow, barely four to five meters tall, with a humanoid upper body and a massive serpent's lower body, raised its head toward the pale sky and howled. Its mask bore jagged fangs and a crown-like crest.
Then it turned its cold gaze toward another Hollow standing beside it a half-human, half-scorpion creature and spoke in a voice dripping with contempt:
"Ian Grey, you worthless filth. The two hundred Gillians I placed under your command have vanished without a trace.
And you dare claim you did not steal and devour them yourself?"
As the words fell, its serpentine body lashed outward like a whip.
The scorpion-like Hollow was sent flying dozens of meters, crashing violently out of the nest and through the branches below.
Ian Grey scrambled back up in a disheveled state, blood trickling from cracks in his mask. He knelt immediately before the serpent Hollow, lowering his head in forced submission.
"Great Lord Hubert Allen, those missing Hollows were not devoured by me. I have already discovered the culprit who slaughtered your subordinates. Grant me permission to lead a force and hunt him down!"
The half-snake Hollow gazed at Ian Grey with amusement, savoring the humiliation written across his broken form.
"Hmph. A degenerate like you whom I crushed myself—would not dare secretly consume my army. Very well. Go. Slay that rebellious inferior creature… and bring me his head."
"As you command, my great master!"
Not long after, Ian Grey, in his grotesque half-human, half-scorpion form, led a vast procession of ordinary Gillians away from the nest among the towering trees, his expression dark and venomous beneath his cracked mask.
Halfway through their march, Ian Grey's massive tail suddenly flicked backward.
With a wet, sickening sound, it impaled the nearest Gillian.
He lunged upon it and tore the Hollow apart in a frenzy.
"Hateful… hateful… hateful!"
Only after venting his rage did Ian Grey regain control.
The remaining Gillians trembled, confused and terrified, too mindless to understand what had just occurred.
Ian Grey had once been an Adjuchas roaming freely through the Forest of Menos.
A lone predator.
He despised commanding these unintelligent Gillians.
Until the day he encountered Hubert Allen whose power rivaled his own.
Though individually equal, Hubert Allen commanded an army.
Under a brutal group assault, Ian Grey was defeated.
Worse still, his body was deliberately crippled, shattering his path toward becoming a Vasto Lorde forever.
Then came imprisonment.
Deprived of hunting, the constant leakage of Reishi from his ruined form forced his power to collapse, degrading him from Adjuchas into a special Gillian—a grotesque aberration between ranks.
As the final humiliation, Hubert Allen implanted serpent venom deep within Ian Grey's spiritual core, enslaving him as a commander over ordinary Gillians.
And now
Ian Grey led over a hundred Gillians toward a singular destination.
Elsewhere in the Forest of Menos.
Raizen Kō continued his relentless hunt.
Over the past several months, he had relied upon Camo, masking his Reiatsu while infiltrating Gillian groups and executing ambushes with terrifying efficiency.
By his own rough estimation, he had already devoured more than a hundred Gillians.
His Reiatsu had grown more than tenfold since first entering the Forest of Menos.
Yet strangely
Despite consuming so many Gillians, his form showed no signs of evolving into a Menos Grande.
His size remained just over twenty meters, unchanged.
"Could it be that merely devouring Gillians is insufficient for my evolution?" Raizen Kō pondered silently. "Must I hunt an Adjuchas to force my transformation?"
In the original Bleach canon, such stagnation was unheard of.
Yet
There had never existed a Hollow capable of slaughtering Gillians like livestock while still remaining below Menos rank either.
With that thought, Raizen Kō felt strangely reassured.
Just then, another lone Gillian appeared in his perception.
Raizen Kō drew his Zanpakutō and advanced.
A single heavy diagonal slash cleaved the Gillian in two.
His tail extended, forming a dark golden vortex at the stinger's tip, devouring the corpse completely.
Almost immediately, he sensed yet another Gillian to his left front.
"Heh… what a coincidence."
A faint hint of conspiracy entered Raizen Kō's thoughts.
Yet he did not slow.
With his current strength, even facing an Adjuchas was no longer unthinkable.
As for a Vasto Lorde?
If one wished to kill him, it would not bother with bait it would simply erase him.
After eliminating the second Gillian, Raizen Kō sensed a third.
"Interesting."
He followed the trail deliberately.
And just as he devoured the third Gillian
The surroundings shifted.
Heavy footsteps echoed from all directions.
Raizen Kō found himself encircled by a massive host of Gillians.
Then, a figure stepped forward.
A humanoid Hollow, barely seven or eight meters tall less than half Raizen Kō's size.
Its lower body bore enormous scorpion claws, a massive stinger dragging behind it.
Most striking was the human palm-sized
hollow carved directly into its crimson mask.
"An Adjuchas?" Raizen Kō narrowed his eyes.
"No… this is a degenerated Adjuchas a special Gillian."
Raizen Kō's fighting spirit surged.
Since entering the Forest of Menos, he had only encountered low-level Giants and mindless Gillians.
The last intelligent Hollow he had faced was Tilus Sandavici in the desert.
Now
Finally.
An intelligent opponent.
Ian Grey, meanwhile, stared at Raizen Kō's towering form and the colossal Zanpakutō in his hand, confusion filling his eyes.
"What a strange Adjuchas… Why are you so obsessed with hunting such inferior Gillians? And that blade… it resembles something belonging to the invading Shinigami."
Raizen Kō nodded slightly inwardly.
"He mistakes me for an Adjuchas… then my Reiatsu has already reached that tier."
He neither confirmed nor denied it.
Instead, his gaze sharpened, brimming with battle intent.
Ian Grey seemed to understand.
He raised his clawed hand, signaling the restless Gillians behind him to halt.
He wanted
A direct confrontation.