Chapter 132: He's Panicking! (Patreon)

Ichiro and Baraggan locked eyes in a silent standoff. Below, countless mindless Gillians and low-level Hollows charged through the barrage toward Ichiro. The Adjuchas were locked in fierce combat with the Future Warrior 2.0 units.

Three Future Warrior 2.0s had been destroyed, but one Adjuchas had also fallen.

From a power comparison perspective, Ichiro was slightly losing.

But don't forget, Ichiro's side could mass-produce.

Forget three for one. Even a ten-to-one trade would still be a win for him.

Yes, Hollows could grow quickly through devouring, but how much real strength did those hastily evolved Menos Grande actually have?

Unless they had exceptionally special abilities, like Wonderweiss, who was specifically cultivated by Aizen to counter a particular opponent, most were just worthless trash.

Ichiro could simply manufacture another batch. A few materials were nothing. And with the collected data, their combat effectiveness would actually improve.

Blasting Divine Machine was also, in Ichiro's view, just a data-gathering tool. He wouldn't feel the slightest bit of heartache if it were destroyed, because it was entirely transmuted through alchemy. As long as there was enough Reishi, he could make as many as he wanted.

What truly mattered was the data, the strengths and weaknesses revealed in this battle. Only by obtaining this information could he optimize further. So even though Blasting Divine Machine was being battered by the two Vasto Lordes below, he…

Hmm? Battered? Oh shit!

Ichiro's heart tightened. Though Blasting Divine Machine's destruction was within his plans, this was too fast. It seemed he needed to strengthen the Reishi network's processing power, or reduce the number of units being coordinated.

In terms of raw power, Blasting Divine Machine was absolutely dominant one-on-one. Against two, it might be slightly outmatched, but it shouldn't have been reduced to this state.

The reason was its lack of combat skill, or rather, insufficient processing power allocated to it. It was already a product forcibly stitched together with the Soul King's power, which demanded high computational resources. Adding coordination with so many units was too much.

But just because it was understandable didn't mean he had to accept it. Blasting Divine Machine could die, but it should at least exhaust every last bit of its energy and squeeze every ounce of value out of itself before it finally died. Dying this early was too big a loss.

So Ichiro raised his hand and fired two Hadō #73: Twin Lotus Blue Fire Crash, halting their attacks. At the same time, a Danku barrier stretched across in front of Blasting Divine Machine, buying it time to recover.

High-Speed Incantation combined with Incantation Abandonment, another breakthrough in Kidō techniques that had raised Ichiro's skill to a new level. Unfortunately, this was the limit of his current Barrage Style. Any further, and his Reiatsu wouldn't hold up, unless he used Bankai.

But Bankai was a different tier of combat entirely. So for now, Ichiro's Kidō research leaned toward precision control, achieving maximum output with minimum Reiatsu.

Of course, these techniques weren't for dealing damage right now. They were just buying time for Blasting Divine Machine. Half of its structure was biological tissue, and that tissue's original sample came from a Vasto Lorde.

Ichiro had discovered that when this biological tissue was integrated with other systems through the Soul King's power, it also gained High-Speed Regeneration properties.

This discovery had led him to make many modifications. For example, most of the external armor and main structure were now composed of this biological tissue, allowing its combat potential to be pushed to the absolute limit.

And indeed, after only two or three seconds of delay, Blasting Divine Machine was nearly fully restored.

The two Vasto Lordes' hearts gradually sank. As time passed, things were looking worse. Their losses were mounting.

Of course, amid their anxiety, they couldn't help but wonder, why hadn't His Majesty acted yet? With his power, he could destroy these things with a mere wave of his hand. Could it be...

But the thought was extinguished as quickly as it appeared. King Baraggan was supreme in their hearts.

What they didn't know was that Baraggan was also getting anxious. Time and time again, he had tried to act, but every time he saw Ichiro's eager stance, he held back.

He had to admit; he was genuinely afraid of Ichiro. In just half a year, this man had severely crippled Hueco Mundo. Countless Hollows had died because of him.

Most importantly, neither his subordinates nor any other Menos Grande could find their base of operations. They appeared and vanished without a trace, leaving behind "surprises" each time.

But after a moment's thought, Baraggan made up his mind. He couldn't let this continue. He had to act. If he didn't, he'd be left with nothing as the King of Hueco Mundo. Whether it was a bluff or not, he had to find out.

He casually raised his left hand. A massive amount of black Reiatsu gathered, a Cero, a technique all Menos Grande could use.

Come. Let this old man see what you're really up to.

With that thought, the black-colored Cero shot toward the humanoid artillery platforms behind Ichiro. Seeing this, Ichiro sighed softly. There was no hiding it now. Both strategies were now doomed to fail.

Tch. Troublesome. Why didn't he use his aging power from the start?

Sighing, Ichiro instantly appeared before the black-colored Cero, opening his right hand. The silver patterns on his black glove shimmered faintly. After struggling against his hand for a brief moment, the massive black-colored Cero condensed into a black gem in his hand.

Baraggan's jaw visibly dropped a little.

Where did my Cero go?

Is it a sealing ability? Sealing my Cero into that black gem? No, it shouldn't be sealing. A seal wouldn't work against time. My ability can be investigated with enough effort in Hueco Mundo.

So either he's hiding something and deliberately misleading me, or he has another method of dealing with my power. But still... the Twin Stars of the Shinigami. Today, I'll show you that this old man's strength doesn't come from his ability alone.

A cold gleam flashed in his eyes.

Black Bala rained down like a storm.

Bala: Similar in principle to Cero, but much weaker, yet twenty times faster. It was normally used to clear out cannon fodder.

A flicker of helplessness passed through Ichiro's eyes. He had known it would come to this. The original plan was to bait Baraggan into using his aging power, then use alchemy to analyze and decompose it.

If decomposition failed, he'd fall back on the second plan, using spatial Kidō to transport the contaminated parts into Baraggan himself and eliminate him completely.

Now that plan had failed. Even if Baraggan didn't know about Ichiro's alchemy, he was unlikely to use his aging power again. If you could solve a problem with an electric fly swatter, would you launch a missile?

Of course, the gap wasn't that large, but the principle was the same.

With a sigh, the Soul King's Hand glowed faintly, releasing a large amount of pale blue mist-like energy that quickly formed an immensely wide one-way barrier, blocking the subsequent Bala.

Though the attack had only shot down a few dozen Future Warriors, Baraggan smiled. He had a rough idea of what gave Ichiro the confidence to face him. He had some method that could possibly counter his aging power.

But he hadn't come this far relying solely on that ability.

Baraggan strode through the air, step by step, emerging from Las Noches and ascending into the sky. His terrifying Reiatsu slowly spread outward. At the same time, he drew all of the death power that constantly surrounded him back into his body.

Seeing this, Ichiro sighed again. The plan had completely failed. But he couldn't retreat yet. This was their last operation in Hueco Mundo.

For the next few decades, or perhaps even centuries, the Central 46 would probably never allow them to set foot here again so easily. Since this was the last opportunity, they had to maximize every bit of the benefits they could gain.

His right hand gently rested on the first Zanpakutō hanging at his left waist, Sekai, as he softly chanted,

"Bankai: Banshō Sekai."

Elsewhere, Urahara and Yoruichi, who had split up from Ichiro, rode atop a giant Hollow Crow toward Ares's territory. At the same time, they adjusted their assignments once again according to the Hollow Crow's real-time intelligence.

Ares would be left to Yoruichi.

A few years ago, the three of them had to risk their lives and go all out just to barely defeat an ordinary Captain-level opponent. But now, without even fighting at full strength, ordinary Captains were no longer a match for them.

Ichiro had undergone Captain Unohana's special training, while the two of them had the backing of the Shihōin Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans. Their resources were no less impressive. For Yoruichi, Mimic Shikai combined with Shunkō was already enough to overwhelm an ordinary Captain-level opponent.

Of course, she still fell somewhat short of a Vasto Lorde.

But she also possessed Second-Stage Shunkō, that imperfect suicidal technique. Although Yoruichi's pride prevented her from treating it as a perfected technique simply because she possessed High-Speed Regeneration through Fullbring, she wasn't stubborn enough to reject it. As long as it could defeat her enemy, she didn't mind using it.

After all, Fullbring was also part of her own strength.

Ares was left to Yoruichi as her revenge.

Urahara's targets, meanwhile, were the seven extraordinarily powerful Adjuchas, several hundred Gillians, and the ever-growing horde of low-level Hollows gathering there.

The pressure on him was no less than Yoruichi's.

Although Ares only commanded a handful of Adjuchas, every single one possessed Captain-level strength, making them far stronger than ordinary Adjuchas.

This was exactly why Ichiro had said the traces of experimentation were obvious.

It wasn't that he underestimated Ares.

He simply didn't believe Ares had the ability to recruit Adjuchas of this caliber on his own.

But whether there was a Shinigami backing Ares or not made no difference to them.

Ares had dared attack Yoruichi.

Even if the Shinigami responsible had informed them beforehand, Urahara would still kill them all the same.

"We're here. This is Ares's territory. It looks like he knew we were coming. Not only has he gathered a huge number of low-level Hollows, but he's even fortified the entire territory. You were right. This place is definitely important."

Looking down at the territory filled with war machinery, Yoruichi nodded.

"Heh. Naturally. Developing properly in Hueco Mundo has never been easy. Before Ichiro mastered Spatial Control, our own base struggled to develop as well. This place is no different."

"So how do we deal with it? Those things look troublesome."

Yoruichi pointed toward the war machinery below.

"They're manageable. I'll deal with them. You focus on Ares."

Yoruichi stared at Urahara for a moment before nodding.

"Understood. I'm going."

With that, she vanished from the Hollow Crow's back, racing straight toward Ares's Reiatsu.

Meanwhile, Urahara lightly pushed off with his toes and floated into the air, while the Hollow Crow shrank and perched upon his shoulder.

After teasing the lifelike Hollow Crow on his shoulder for a moment, Urahara took out a packet of powder from his storage equipment, opened it, and allowed it to scatter across the land below.

"Is the Shinigami behind all this an idiot? Or does he simply think we're fools? Doesn't he know Reishi is an inherently unstable substance?"

Shaking his head in disdain, he ignored the war machinery below as it gradually dissolved after being contaminated by the powder.

Then he continuously took out Hollow-type Tenshintai from his storage equipment and casually tossed them downward.

Unlike Ichiro, Urahara rarely focused on creating flashy tools or spectacular Kidō.

He preferred practicality and fun.

Take the powder just now, for example.

If it had been Ichiro, he would have added dazzling golden light effects, made it look far more impressive, then calmly folded his hands behind his back.

Likewise, instead of casually throwing out the Hollow-type Tenshintai as Urahara was doing now, Ichiro would have summoned them through elaborate Kidō formations.

Sometimes Urahara genuinely wondered.

Did someone really need all those flashy effects just to look cool?

Truly handsome people didn't need flashy embellishments to look cool.

As the Hollow-type Tenshintai scattered through the air, some absorbed the overflowing Reishi and transformed into Hollows before reaching the ground.

Others only transformed after being struck by Cero.

Some of the newly transformed Hollows were immediately destroyed by concentrated fire before they could even land.

But every one of them that died also dragged another Hollow down with it.

Urahara simply didn't believe those insignificant cannons fodder had enough potential to evolve into Arrancar.

Only the first few were eliminated that way.

Once the first transformed Hollow began slaughtering everything around it, absolute chaos erupted below.

The battlefield descended into complete madness.

After watching for a moment to make sure his preparations hadn't been disrupted, Urahara drew Benihime, shifted his footing, and charged toward the Adjuchas.

He couldn't allow them to interfere with Yoruichi's revenge.

"Forbidden Technique: Spatial Swap!"

A ripple of spatial energy spread outward.

Before the seven Adjuchas could even react, they suddenly found themselves standing before a lone Shinigami.

They stared at one another in complete bewilderment before baring ferocious grins.

A single Shinigami actually dared stand in front of them?

Did he really think he was their boss?

Watching the Adjuchas, whose anxious expressions had completely disappeared the moment they were teleported over, Urahara looked utterly baffled.

"Were you just putting on an act earlier? You don't actually want to save Ares at all, do you?"

"Who cares if that guy dies... Damn it, no! We're in a huge hurry! Move it! Stop blocking us from going to save Boss Ares!"

"..."

Watching the wolf-like Adjuchas, who were all talk and hadn't even taken a single step, Urahara fell silent.

Sure enough... There really was a Shinigami backing Ares.

Oddly enough, that made him less anxious.

These Adjuchas seemed fairly intelligent.

Perhaps he could obtain information about the Shinigami behind them.

After all, that person was the true mastermind.