Slime Soul (Tensura x Bleach Crossover) (Patreon)

Chapter 1: The Path of Devouring

Later

After calming down and taking stock of my situation, with the always-helpful input from Great Sage, we came up with three essential goals.

First: stay the hell away from Las Noches. Especially if Aizen had already taken over the ruins Baraggan ruled for who knows how many years. I was nowhere near strong enough to contend with a Vasto Lorde, much less whatever iteration of the Espada existed right now.

Second: after confirming with Great Sage that this world was made up of spiritrons, it became clear this was one of the many universes created by Veldanava. The locals must have tapped into the spiritual aspect and called it reiryoku, using it for their abilities. Which meant I could gain skills from those I defeated and devoured, and possibly even evolve into a Demon Lord in the future. For that to happen, I’d need to go on a killing spree, hunting any hollows I could find. The best part? Hueco Mundo was basically a buffet. Hollows devoured souls to evolve, and Menos in particular were like all-you-can-eat combos, each one made of hundreds of souls.

Third: acquire a name and a human body, get out of Hueco Mundo as soon as I evolved, then figure out where in the timeline I’d landed before making any long-term plans.

“Alright. Great Sage, I’m not leaking out magicules anymore, right?” I asked, still hidden inside a hollow tree from the hollows roaming nearby.

“Answer. Correct. The user is not currently leaking magicules.” came Great Sage’s crisp reply.

“Perfect. Then I want you to focus most of your processing power, let’s say 90%, on figuring out ways to make us stronger, and leave the rest free in case I need help in a pinch.” I looked around my hideout to make sure no hollows were closing in.

“Answer. Great Sage was already doing that.”

“That’s my Great Sage,” I said happily, glad she was here with me. I shook my body and hyped myself up. “Okay, I was just offered a new life, and I won’t spend it hiding away like some scrub in a tree. There’s nothing to fear from common hollows, and if I play my cards right, I might be able to evolve pretty soon.”

“Sweet! You can do this, me… Crap, I really need to get a name for myself. But monsters can’t name themselves. Looks like I’ll have to pull a Guy and get the masses to name me. I just need to work it so I end up with something decent. Hm, I wonder if regular hollows count for that?” I rambled on, and not at all because I was procrastinating.

A few minutes later, the decision was taken from me. A couple of Menos lumbered toward the tree I was hiding in, and even though I was small, I stuck out like a sore thumb being bright blue and shiny.

“Well, here goes nothing.”

A lightbulb flicked on in my brain. Testing a theory, I opened my… mouth? (Do slimes even have mouths?) and sucked in a bunch of air, then blasted it out. A blade of wind shot forward and knocked down the dead tree in front of me.

A moment later, my hopes rose when I heard the familiar ping.

Skill: Wind Magic acquired.

Skill: Wind Cutter acquired.

“And with a way to attack, I no longer feel so afraid,” I said, not even glancing back as I hopped away as fast as my slime body would let me. Another idea struck.

Sucking in air again, I blasted it out, not to attack this time, but to propel myself forward at great speeds.

Skill: Wind Propulsion acquired.

Skill: Wind Gust acquired.

Unfortunately, I had zero control. I slammed body-first into a dead tree, the crash echoing as it toppled over.

“Note to self: practice all skills before using them in a fight. Don’t want to embarrass myself,” I muttered, shaking off the impact. My slime body quickly regenerated from the minor damage.

At least I’d managed to get away from the slow-moving Menos.

“Now to find some regular hollows,” I said, slinking off and thankful most hollows were stupid, unless directed by an Adjuchas or a Vasto Lorde.

=====

A While Later

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, not like this realm had a sun and the moon never moved, and I wasn’t about to bug Great Sage over something so trivial. What mattered was that I’d finally stumbled onto a few regular hollows wandering through the Menos Forest.

Peeking out from behind a tree, I spotted them crowded together, seemingly heading in a specific direction. Perfect.

I steadied myself, calmed my mind, and struck without hesitation.

“Wind Cutter! Wind Cutter! Wind Cutter!”

Three blades of compressed air ripped from my… mouth? Body? Whatever. The hollows didn’t even get the chance to scream before their heads hit the ground.

To my surprise, their bodies didn’t vanish like the souls purified by a Shinigami’s blade. That was a relief, it would’ve sucked to lose my best method of acquiring skills and souls this early.

“Inquiry. Would you like to use Predator on the dead bodies?” Great Sage’s voice chimed, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Yes,” I answered quietly. My slime body stretched and expanded, engulfing the corpses in a single gulp.

Moments later, a familiar stream of notifications rolled in informing me of my new skills, but two stood out immediately:

Extra Skill: Reiryoku Manipulation acquisition successful.

Skill: Spatial Magic acquired.

“I see… so that means…” I concentrated on the first, and sure enough, a crimson glow gathered before me. I unleashed it in a single beam that scorched the forest floor. “…I can now use Cero and a Garganta to travel to the human world.”

The explosion was loud enough to wake the dead, or at least draw more hollows in my direction. I turned to face them, a strange new feeling stirring deep inside me.

I will not die here, I swore silently as I unleashed Wind Cutters in rapid succession, slicing through anything that dared come close. Even if I have to devour everything and everyone, I won’t die in this shitty world.

Using Thought Acceleration with the help of Great Sage, my movements felt almost automatic, precise, unstoppable. Hollow after hollow fell before me, and with each kill, my resolve hardened.

I don’t care who I was before, or how I even got this power. I want to live. No… I want to thrive. Aizen, Yhwach, Soul Society, Zero Squad, Fullbringers, the Espada— my thoughts grew darker with each name. None of them will stand in my way.

When the carnage finally ended, silence blanketed the forest. Dozens of hollows were consumed, their power now part of me.

And then it clicked. That strange sensation in my chest finally had a name.

“Ah… so that’s what this is.” I murmured, slinking off to find a quieter place to hide. “Bliss. I’ve never been this happy before.”

“Now to recover my magicules before I try my luck on a Gillian.”

=====

It was handy being able to shove all my rampaging magicules into my stomach. Without that, I had no doubt I’d be like a beacon, drawing every hollow in the area straight to me.

While I rested, Great Sage kept busy upgrading my current skills. Strangely, even after killing at least fifty hollows, I hadn’t gained nearly as many skills as I first expected. After the first ten, I stopped receiving new ones entirely. Instead, Great Sage used their energy to strengthen my existing skills, storing the excess away in my stomach.

I did get one very handy bonus, though: the ability to pose as a hollow with Mimicry.

That was what I was doing now as I drifted through this endless, maze-like forest in search of a Gillian. At least the form I’d taken had wings, which made travel a lot easier.

It didn’t take long to spot a dozen Gillians lumbering aimlessly.

Hovering in midair, I studied them cautiously. My Mimicry had fooled regular hollows, but I wasn’t sure about Menos.

Thankfully, the big idiots didn’t even glance my way. Relieved, I approached the straggler at the back. Without warning, I fired off the biggest Wind Cutter I could muster, aiming point-blank at its mask.

To my dismay, all it did was crack the mask slightly. The Gillian howled in pain and finally noticed me.

“Fuck,” I muttered, unleashing two more Wind Cutters before retreating. The crack widened, but not enough. Worse, the hollow’s jaw opened before it glowed red as it began charging a cero.

Unlike mine, this one was massive, and still growing. The only relief I had was that the other Gillians ignored us.

“Notice. It is advised that subject retreats for now. The amount of energy opponent is gathering might prove harmful to user.” Great Sage warned.

“I still want to try one more thing before that.”

Charging my own cero, I darted closer, fired at its jaw, and retreated in the same breath. My beam forced its mouth shut, and detonated its own attack inside its head.

The explosion rocked the air. When the smoke cleared, I saw its mask covered in cracks that spread slowly but surely across its surface. The Gillian froze, staring blankly for a few seconds before toppling over like a felled tree.

I waited in the air, wary. When it didn’t rise, I descended onto its neck just below the mask.

“Let’s see how far I still have to go to reach my goal.”

Reverting to my original form, I expanded and devoured the Gillian’s body whole. I didn’t even pause, I immediately used Mimicry again and got out of there.

Moments later, Great Sage bombarded me with reports of new skills. But that wasn’t what I wanted to hear first.

“Notice. A total of 566 souls have been devoured. 99,434 souls remaining in order to induce Harvest Festival and evolve into a Demon Lord without Demon Lord Seed. That is an estimated amount of 199 more Gillians.”

“That many, huh?” I muttered. I couldn’t decide whether to be frustrated or relieved. There were hundreds of Gillians in the Menos Forest, but hunting that many would definitely draw attention, especially since I still didn’t know the timeline.

“Great Sage, from your estimation, how many times stronger did I get from devouring that Gillian?”

“Notice. After accounting for all new skills and upgrades to existing ones, subject is estimated to be eleven times stronger.”

“Eleven, huh…” I settled back into my usual hidden spot, letting my body relax into its true form. I wonder how much stronger Adjuchas are, and how many souls I’d gain from eating one of them?

I shook off the thought. No need to get ahead of myself. “Alright, Great Sage. Lay it on me. What skills have I gained so far?”

As if waiting for the question, Great Sage began listing them.

“Skill: Body Armor acquired.

Skill: Coercion acquired.

Skill: Paralyzing Breath acquired.

Skill: Poison Breath acquired.

Skill: Steel Thread acquired.

Skill: Sticky Thread acquired.

Skill: Telepathy acquired.

Skill: Thought Communication acquired.

Skill: Voice Cannon acquired.

Skill: Corrosion Resistance acquired.

Skill: Magic Resistance acquired.

Skill: Spiritual Attack Resistance acquired.

Attempting to combine Steel Thread and Sticky Thread.

Successful.

Extra Skill: Sticky-Steel Thread acquisition successful.

Extra Skill: Heat Source Perception acquired.

Extra Skill: Shadow Motion acquired.

Extra Skill: Steel Strength acquired.

Extra Skill: Strengthen Body acquired.

Extra Skill: Ultra Smell acquired.

Extra Skill: Ultra Sound Waves acquired.

Attempting to combine Wind Cutter, Wind Propulsion and Wind Gust.

Successful.

Extra Skill: Wind Manipulation acquisition successful.”

“Notice. Subject currently lacks the unique skill Degenerate. Skill evolution limited until subject finds a similar skill. Recommendation. Devour more powerful hollows.”

“That’s already more than I thought possible,” I admitted, still a little stunned. “Don’t beat yourself up, Great Sage. I really appreciate your help so far.”

Strangely, she stayed silent at my thanks, as if unsure how to respond. I counted that as a win. From the start, I hadn’t wanted to treat her as just a skill, but as a companion. With time, hopefully she’d gain her own ego, and I’d gain an irreplaceable friend.

“Alright then, it’s decided.” I bobbed my slime body with determination. “I’ll go back and devour the rest of those Gillians to see if I can squeeze out more useful skills, then I’ll start hunting for an Adjuchas. There has to be one around here somewhere.”

=====

It didn’t take very long, by my standards, anyway, until I was back to 100 percent. I headed out and consumed the rest of the Gillian I’d left behind, this time dispatching all nineteen of them fairly quickly before devouring their corpses. After adding those souls to the total from before, I’d taken in eleven thousand souls.

If I had a Demon Lord Seed, I’d be evolving right now, I thought, a little annoyed. I didn’t let it slow me down; I vacated the area and looked for a new hiding spot.

I’d been in one place too long. Call me paranoid, but in a place like this, you keep moving.

As I’d suspected, I’d only picked up a few more skills from the Gillian, I wasn’t getting much more out of them. In fact, I hadn’t felt any real jump in strength after eating those nineteen, which confirmed my theory: I needed more powerful prey.

The only new ability I’d gained from that batch was Extra Skill: Water Manipulation, apparently some of the souls that made up one of the Gillian I devoured had proficiency with it.

To be honest, I had no precise gauge for how strong I really was; I hadn’t tested myself against anything remotely formidable. Gillians were tough but stupid; a Lieutenant-class Shinigami could handle them easily, though the Lieutenants I knew of varied greatly in strength.

If I faced an Adjuchas-class Menos, I’d have a better idea, I thought. Only capable Lieutenants could deal with those without suffering heavy injury.

I still didn’t even have a name, and I didn’t know how many days had passed since I arrived. It felt like days, but in here those days could easily be months. That’s just how weird time gets in this place.

I could travel to the human world with a Garganta now, but that would alert the Soul Society. I’d have a Shinigami on my tail almost immediately. And that’s not even considering Urahara or Aizen, both of whom monitored anomalies like this.

Only after I can defeat an Adjuchas without trouble will I even consider going there.

“Notice. After going over subject’s memories, there is a possibility of the being known as Ashido Kano being present in the Menos Forest. It is recommended that user devours such a being in order to gain access to the Shinigami’s abilities and to gain a human form once subject is much stronger.” Great Sage said, breaking me from my thoughts.

Ashido, huh? I muttered, recalling the fragments I had. He only appeared in the anime for a few episodes and was a bit stronger than Rukia at the time.

The idea of befriending him never crossed my mind, and why would it? I had no real connection to the man beyond those fractured memories. If it came down to it, I wouldn’t hesitate to do what I needed to advance my goals.

Besides, the chance to gain Shinigami abilities this early in my new life was too good to pass up over the silly notion of sparing an “innocent” man.