"My Lord, please come this way!"
Jiwa Barnes' grotesque, bone-spiked fish face twisted awkwardly into something resembling a flattering smile.
After passing through a stretch of withered yellow trees and skirting around a bizarre, stagnant swamp, Raizen Kō had done little these past few days but travel.
"Still not there?" Raizen Kō asked coldly. "If I find out you're lying to me, you already know what will happen."
He stared at the strange fish Adjuchas in front of him, his crimson eyes narrowing slightly.
"My Lord, rest assured your most loyal servant Jiwa Barnes would never dare disappoint you!"
Despite those confident words, Raizen Kō had been following this creature for days without encountering anything worthwhile. Along the way, let alone Adjuchas, he had barely come across any Gillians.
There had been a fair number of ordinary Hollows, but to the current Raizen Kō, hunting such weak prey was nothing but a waste of time.
The endless travel made him increasingly irritated, and more than once he had considered simply devouring Jiwa Barnes on the spot.
However, he restrained himself.
After all, Adjuchas-class Menos were extremely rare in Hueco Mundo to begin with. Moreover, Hueco Mundo's territory was incomparably vast clearly larger than both Soul Society and the Human World combined.
Since arriving in this world, Raizen Kō had only explored a tiny fraction of it.
Therefore, even though his current strength had already reached a level comparable to that of a Gotei 13 captain, he did not allow himself even a trace of arrogance.
Especially since, according to the original timeline, Aizen Sōsuke and his two subordinates would soon arrive in Hueco Mundo to subjugate Baraggan Louisenbairn and begin the large-scale Arrancar experiments.
Even within Hueco Mundo itself, there were countless unknown dangers. Who could say how many Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande beings never mentioned in the original story might be hidden in its deepest regions?
After several more days of travel with Jiwa Barnes, Raizen Kō finally sensed a powerful surge of Reiatsu.
"My Lord," Jiwa Barnes said cautiously, "the Adjuchas living ahead is named Taan Verik. He is a lone wolf. Among Adjuchas, his strength is considered top-tier."
Raizen Kō followed the direction indicated by the fish's tail.
Deep within the dense forest ahead lay a large pond and the intense spiritual pressure he sensed was emanating from there.
"You stay here," Raizen Kō ordered coldly. "Don't even think about running. Or I'll detonate the lightning sphere inside you immediately."
The strange fish trembled and hurriedly hid to the side without daring to make a sound.
Raizen Kō, however, did not approach the pond directly.
Instead, he extended his right index finger. A mass of black-red Reiatsu gathered at the tip, condensing into a dense sphere before transforming into a beam of destructive energy.
"Let's start with a greeting shot."
"Bang!"
A Cero blasted straight into the pond.
It was only an ordinary Cero not the Gran Rey Cero but even so, its destructive power was terrifying.
The entire body of water, dozens of meters wide, erupted into the sky as a massive column. The extreme heat instantly evaporated a large portion of it, filling the area with thick white mist.
"ROAR!"
A furious, pained roar echoed from within the rising vapor.
A massive figure slowly emerged.
It was a hippopotamus-shaped Adjuchas, roughly the size of a normal hippo from Raizen Kō's previous life. The only differences were the bone-white Hollow mask on its face and the pitch-black Hollow hole beneath its neck.
At this moment, its body was covered in wounds, with almost no unscathed skin left. Its enraged eyes glared at Raizen Kō as if trying to tear him apart with sheer hatred alone.
Taan Verik could not understand why, while he had been peacefully resting, a shameless Vasto Lorde would suddenly attack him out of nowhere.
When he turned and saw Jiwa Barnes trembling in the distance, everything became clear.
"Jiwa Barnes, you despicable, ugly fish! You actually led this Vasto Lorde here?!"
The strange fish said nothing, merely stuck out its tongue in mockery before scurrying several dozen meters farther away.
"Damn you!"
Taan Verik roared furiously.
Opening his massive mouth, he condensed a black-red Cero of his own and fired it directly at Raizen Kō.
Yet Raizen Kō remained standing calmly in place, showing no intention of dodging.
Just as the Cero reached within a meter of him, he slowly raised his left hand.
With a casual motion, he grasped the roaring beam of energy in his palm.
Then, with a slight squeeze
The Cero dissipated into nothingness.
Watching his full-power attack vanish so effortlessly, the hippo Adjuchas felt despair creeping into his heart.
"Is this what you call top-tier Adjuchas strength?" Raizen Kō muttered, shaking his head in disappointment.
"This one's Reiatsu is indeed far higher than the others I've encountered, but it's still only about thirty to forty percent of my own. Even his Cero is weak and lacking impact."
After calmly receiving the attack, Raizen Kō spoke again.
"Taan Verik, I've taken a Cero from you. That should settle your grievance."
He extended his palm, forming a crackling sphere of dark golden lightning.
"Now I'll give you a choice. Swallow this lightning sphere, swear loyalty to me, and you live. What do you say?"
Although Taan Verik was far inferior to Raizen Kō, he was still the strongest Adjuchas Raizen had encountered so far. That was enough reason to consider recruiting him.
To stand against the future threats of Aizen Sōsuke and Yhwach beings who would shake the Three Realms Raizen Kō needed subordinates of his own.
Until now he had refrained from building a faction only because his strength had been insufficient.
But now, he possessed the confidence to do so.
After all, the power of numbers was not to be underestimated. A major reason the great villains of the original story ultimately failed was precisely because they ignored the strength of collective forces.
Taan Verik stared at the unstable lightning sphere in Raizen Kō's hand.
He understood perfectly that swallowing it would mean surrendering his life and freedom forever.
Letting out a defiant roar, he shouted:
"Never! Taan Verik will fight for freedom until the end! I will not bow to anyone!"
The hippo Adjuchas inhaled deeply and unleashed a torrent of murky air. The wind rapidly expanded, turning into a massive tornado that ripped up soil and trees as it rushed toward Raizen Kō.
Seeing this, Raizen Kō sighed softly.
"What a shame."
In an instant, he used Sonído to vanish from sight, bypassing the hurricane completely.
Appearing directly in front of Taan Verik, he drew his blade in a swift horizontal arc.
"Boom!"
The moment the sword moved, a sound like explosive thunder echoed through the air.
Thunderclap Slash.
Against such a resolute opponent, Raizen Kō granted him the respect of a decisive strike.
"Pfft!"
The blade passed cleanly through Taan Verik's hardened hide as if cutting through soft tofu.
His massive body was split cleanly in two.
"Soul Eater."
Without hesitation, Raizen Kō activated his devouring ability.
For an opponent who refused to submit, completely consuming him leaving nothing behind was also a form of respect.
From afar, Jiwa Barnes watched the scene in trembling terror.
"Vasto Lorde are truly frightening…"
He had no idea that the being he so feared was, in reality, still only a Gillian.
Meanwhile, Raizen Kō felt waves of pure spiritual energy flooding into his body.
"Hah… now this is the feeling."
Before long, all of Taan Verik's Reiatsu had been fully absorbed and refined.
Raizen Kō estimated that his own spiritual pressure had increased by nearly thirty percent.
Turning his gaze to the strange fish cowering nearby, he saw Jiwa Barnes shaking pitifully.
"My Lord, you already ate Taan Verik, so you can't eat me anymore, right…?"
Raizen Kō's expression darkened.
Without a word, he kicked the creature flying several dozen meters away.
"Stop talking nonsense," he said flatly. "Take me to the next Adjuchas immediately."