The Adjuchas-class Menos all widened their eyes in horror, their voices trembling with disbelief.
"Ggio-sama..."
They couldn't believe what they were witnessing.
Ggio Vega was just as stunned, but before he could process what was happening, a slender yet powerful hand suddenly clamped around his throat.
In an instant, his upper body was lifted clean off the ground.
The surrounding Hollows barely dared to breathe. They turned in panic, their gazes locking onto a small, thin figure standing before them.
A fierce wind howled through the battlefield, stirring up a storm of sand that raged like coiling dragons in the sky.
Amid the swirling chaos, the figure suddenly flexed his right arm, effortlessly swinging Ggio's massive body as if it were nothing more than a mere ragdoll.
Then, with a violent motion, he slammed Ggio into the ground, sending up a billowing cloud of white sand.
A vast and pure Reiatsu blanketed the area, suffocatingly heavy, plunging the once-silent desert into an even deeper, deathly stillness.
"Shinigami... why are you here?"
Ggio rasped, forcing the words from his dry throat as he stared at the young man before him, his eyes flickering toward the Zanpakutō at his waist.
But before he could finish speaking, his severed forelimbs had already begun to regenerate at an astonishing speed.
With a snarl, his freshly regrown, razor-sharp claws lashed out toward the young Shinigami with blinding ferocity.
"You never learn, do you? Yuhime!"
The young Shinigami's voice was quiet yet carried an undeniable authority.
A sudden shimmer of light appeared behind him, and in an instant, a white-haired beauty clad in flowing feathered robes emerged like a specter.
Her luminous eyes sparkled, but there was nothing warm in her gaze—only cold, decisive intent.
With a mere flick of her delicate hand, two razor-sharp wind blades shot forth.
The air itself seemed to be torn asunder in their wake, producing an eerie, piercing whistle.
And just as swiftly as she had appeared, the mysterious woman vanished like the wind.
Whoosh!
The wind blades struck, followed by two muffled thuds.
Ggio's claws were severed in an instant, blood spraying in all directions.
The searing pain forced a guttural, agonized scream from Ggio Vega.
Masatsuki Aozaki stood motionless, his cold gaze fixed on the now-trembling Hollow before him.
Slowly, he raised his other hand to his lips and blew softly—mockingly, as if scoffing at Ggio's powerlessness.
His once-intact black cloak was now in tatters, a torn sleeve fluttering in the wind, exposing an arm as pale as fresh snow.
"So, that Cero just now... was it you and the ones behind you?"
Masatsuki Aozaki's voice was calm, devoid of emotion, like the still surface of undisturbed water.
"I never expected such a 'warm' welcome the moment I arrived in this world."
He paused, his brows furrowing slightly as if pondering something.
After a moment of silence, he muttered to himself, "Should I consider this bad luck? Or a stroke of fortune?"
With that, he casually tore off what remained of his ruined cloak and tossed it aside.
As the fabric fell away, an overwhelming Reiatsu surged forth, crashing over the battlefield like a tidal wave.
The sheer weight of it bore down on everyone present, an oppressive force unlike anything they had ever felt before.
"Just now, that little kitten called you Sung-Sun. Is that your name?"
Masatsuki Aozaki turned, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips as he locked eyes with the massive serpentine Hollow behind him. His voice remained eerily composed.
Sung-Sun, despite being several times Masatsuki Aozaki's size, shuddered under his gaze like a frightened child.
After a brief hesitation, she nodded honestly and replied,
"Yes, Sung-Sun is my name."
"Good. I like honest, well-behaved kids."
Masatsuki Aozaki nodded approvingly, his smile carrying an unsettling sense of amusement.
His gaze then shifted past Sung-Sun, falling on the two figures behind her.
"And you two... you must be Apacci and Mila Rose?"
Apacci and Mila Rose swallowed hard.
Even with their naturally fiery tempers, neither of them dared to act recklessly in the face of such overwhelming pressure.
Despite their fear, they gritted their teeth and answered in unison, "That's right."
At that moment, Ggio, unable to suppress his fury any longer, roared,
"Shinigami brat, how dare you ignore us!"
As his words fell, his previously severed arms regenerated once more.
However, Masatsuki Aozaki remained unfazed by Ggio's provocation.
His brows furrowed slightly, and his grip on Ggio's neck tightened.
Ggio immediately felt his strength drain away, his body going limp and powerless.
Then, with blinding speed, Masatsuki Aozaki's other hand plunged into Ggio's chest—only to withdraw just as quickly.
A sharp, tearing sound echoed through the battlefield as a radiant Soul Orb, shimmering with an enchanting glow, appeared in his grasp.
And with that, Ggio's life force was extinguished.
The once-powerful Adjuchas-class Menos had been effortlessly slain.
Of course, this outcome was only natural.
After all, Masatsuki Aozaki's current strength had already reached an unfathomable level.
Even if Ggio Vega had evolved into an Arrancar, he still wouldn't have stood a chance.
"Ggio-sama!"
The surrounding Hollows cried out in horror.
"Hm… quite a few of you."
Masatsuki Aozaki cast a brief glance at the gathered Menos, but within his eyes, a flicker of insatiable hunger burned.
Without hesitation, he began chanting, his voice carrying an eerie calm,
"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy. Boil forth and deny. Grow numb and flicker. Disrupt sleep. Crawling queen of iron. Eternally self-destructing doll of mud. Unite. Repulse. Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!"
""Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi!" (Black Coffin)
The moment his voice ceased, a massive black cube, as dark as ink and exuding an ominous aura, surged from the ground.
In an instant, it expanded at an alarming speed, swallowing up all the Menos behind Ggio.
From its obsidian walls, countless shadowy blades burst forth, glinting coldly as they spread like a relentless tide.
The sheer number of these piercing blades formed an overwhelming, inescapable prison of death.
The Menos, caught within this horrifying spectacle, had no time to react.
Before they could even move, their bodies were assaulted from every direction—pierced, slashed, and torn apart.
Agonized screams filled the sky, each one more wretched than the last.
Inside the Kurohitsugi, the Adjuchas were subjected to a torment akin to being shredded by a thousand blades.
The unbearable pain wracked their bodies and minds, and their cries were the only way they could release the crushing agony.
With a mere wave of his hand, Masatsuki Aozaki dismissed the massive black coffin, which vanished without a trace.
As he gazed at the battlefield, now littered with the battered and broken bodies of Adjuchas, he slowly extended his hands—reaching toward them like a reaper collecting his harvest.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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