Hueco Mundo the endless white desert beneath a hollow moon.
In a remote region far from Las Noches, an Adjuchas-class Hollow in the form of a sleek, blue-maned leopard tore through its prey.
The corpse beneath its claws was another Adjuchas.
Crimson spiritual particles dissolved slowly into the air as the victor devoured its defeated kin, absorbing the residual reishi in accordance with the law of Hueco Mundo evolution through consumption.
Suddenly
The air distorted.
Reishi currents trembled.
A ripple spread through space as if an unseen membrane had been pierced.
"Whoosh!"
From within the warped distortion emerged a grotesque, spiny fish-like Hollow roughly two meters in length. Its body bristled with hardened bone protrusions, and though its appearance was ungainly, the density of its reiatsu confirmed it as an Adjuchas-class Hollow.
Simultaneously
"Whoosh!"
A massive crimson goat, nearly eight meters tall, descended from another direction, hooves igniting the sand beneath it with residual heat from condensed spiritual pressure.
The leopard paused its meal but did not look up.
The spined fish floated slightly above the sand and spoke in a hoarse voice:
"Our sovereign, the mightiest Vasto Lorde in this region, extends his will to you. To serve beneath his dominion and become his fang is the greatest honor a Hollow can receive."
Silence.
The leopard continued eating.
A low growl vibrated in its chest.
The fish's eye twitched.
"You dare ignore me, Barnes?"
Its voice rose sharply.
"Perke teach this stray beast its place!"
"Meeeeh!"
The Red Mountain Goat inhaled sharply, gathering reishi within its throat before releasing a burst of flame-infused Cero toward the leopard.
The attack tore through the air
But the leopard vanished.
A clean Sonído.
The remains of its prey still clamped between its jaws.
Barnes stiffened.
"That speed…!"
In the distance, the leopard swallowed the last of its meal, green blood dripping from its fangs before it licked it away slowly.
Its golden eyes gleamed.
"Two scavengers… you chose the wrong hunt."
A blue flash
Sonído.
The leopard appeared behind Barnes, jaws snapping toward the only exposed section of his body his tail.
At the final instant
Space warped.
Barnes slipped sideways through a spatial distortion, barely escaping the fatal bite.
Sweat-like condensation formed across his bone-plated body.
"If not for my spatial shift…"
He did not finish the thought.
Losing a limb meant loss of reishi density and loss of evolutionary potential.
He retreated into midair and began firing Cero in rapid succession.
"Rumble!"
Scarlet beams tore across the desert.
Each missed.
Each evaded by precise Sonído.
Sandstorms erupted.
Through the dust, the leopard charged not at Barnes, but at Perke.
The goat barely had time to react before claws descended.
Barnes fired again
But the leopard vanished mid-strike.
The Cero struck Perke directly.
"MEHHHHH!"
The explosion engulfed him.
When the smoke cleared, charred bone armor cracked across his back. Flesh smoldered, but he remained intact.
"Barnes! Watch your aim!"
"I— that wasn't—!"
The leopard reappeared beside Barnes.
A whip of its tail sent the fish crashing violently into the dunes.
Sand erupted.
Perke roared and formed a dense sphere of Cero between his horns before firing point-blank.
The leopard did not dodge.
It answered with its own Cero.
The beams collided.
"BOOM!"
Reishi shockwaves flattened dunes for dozens of meters.
When the dust settled
Perke lay defeated in a crater, smoke rising from his body.
The leopard exhaled calmly.
"Remember the name of the one who kills you."
Its voice carried pride.
"I am Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."
Its claws ignited with condensed blue reishi.
Eight crescent-shaped blades formed around its forelegs.
"Desgarrón."
The blades descended
"Bang."
A dark humanoid figure stepped between predator and prey.
The blue blades shattered instantly.
Fragments of reishi scattered harmlessly across the desert.
Grimmjow's pupils narrowed.
Before him stood a tall Hollow clad in blackened armor-like bone, reiatsu so dense the surrounding air distorted.
Raizen Kō.
The spiritual pressure radiating from him did not merely dominate the battlefield
It suffocated it.
Grimmjow felt his breath hitch.
"…Vasto Lorde?"
Raizen tilted his head slightly.
"You've grown."
Recognition flickered in his golden eyes.
He remembered the feral Gillian with abnormal instincts from years ago.
Now evolved into Adjuchas.
Grimmjow grinned despite the pressure crushing down on him.
"Good. I was getting bored."
He fired a fully-charged Cero at Raizen's face.
Raizen did not move.
He raised one hand casually.
The Cero bent upon contact with his reiatsu and detonated harmlessly to the side.
Silence followed.
"Is that all?" Raizen asked calmly.
Grimmjow roared and charged with Sonído.
Claws aimed for Raizen's throat.
Raizen moved once.
A single step.
His hand shot forward and grasped the back of Grimmjow's neck mid-lunge.
The impact halted instantly.
Grimmjow's limbs thrashed, but he could not move.
Raizen lifted him effortlessly.
"Strength without awareness," Raizen said quietly, "is merely noise."
Dark-gold reiatsu erupted outward.
The density difference was absolute.
Grimmjow's body began compressing under overwhelming spiritual dominance.
His frame shrank.
His claws dulled.
Within seconds, he was reduced to the size of an ordinary wildcat, suspended helplessly in Raizen's grip.
This was Raizen's evolved ability Ruyi.
The manipulation of size and scale through overwhelming reiatsu control.
However, the law was simple:
It functioned only against those whose spiritual pressure was vastly inferior.
Grimmjow's eyes burned with fury.
Not fear.
Fury.
Raizen observed him carefully.
"A promising Adjuchas," he murmured.
Then his gaze shifted toward Las Noches in the distance.
The air trembled faintly.
Events were moving.
And Raizen Kō intended to stand at the center of them.