Even in his weakened state, Angra's attacks weren't something the two could withstand.
In an instant, the twin Cero swallowed their bodies.
And worst of all, Hollow attacks were poison to Quincy.
Even a Schutzstaffel-class Quincy seriously injured once their body was tainted by Hollow power.
Let alone Bazz-B and Candice as they were now.
Most of their bodies were blasted apart in an instant.
Flames burned on Bazz-B, lightning on Candice, and they threw everything into shielding their vitals, but even so they were hurled far away, half their bodies mangled.
Angra flashed in front of them again. They'd landed close together; he aimed his palm at them and formed yet another Cero.
If he fired, those two would definitely die.
But right as he was about to release it, Bazz-B and Candice's faces twisted into smiles.
"Heh…"
They both showed eerie grins, and a moment later, their bodies lit up.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted from within them. Brilliant waves of light pushed back the darkness of Hueco Mundo.
It was like a sun rising on the far horizon, utterly different from Angra's earlier glow.
While Angra's light had been twisted and defiled, like a black sun that darkened Hueco Mundo, this detonation was pure and bright. Even the surrounding Reishi sands were assimilated and detonated as well.
In an instant, it was like a nuclear blast had gone off.
"Hee…"
A light, birdlike laugh rang out as a woman lightly alighted upon the Reishi sands beyond the blast. Looking at the explosion, she smiled.
"Baelz's stuff really is handy. My ability's evolved this far already."
"How is it, big evil monster? Those two were my human bombs!"
This was Bambietta Basterbine.
After consuming one of Baelz's nodes, she'd transformed inside and out.
Most obviously, she'd become more beautiful.
She'd already been a beauty, one of the Flowers of the Sternritter. Now she was even more stunning.
Her face was delicate as a flower, her clear eyes sparkling with nimble intelligence, while her entire being radiated a peculiar seduction. Every frown or smile seemed to draw people's hearts.
She'd become prettier—and stronger.
Her Schrift was "E – The Explode," the ability "Explode," which turned anything permeated by her Reishi into a bomb.
In other words, an undefendable attack—a kind of true damage.
On paper, she was the no.1 of the Bambies and extremely powerful.
Without their Schrift, she might not match the others, but with it, she was arguably the strongest among them in open combat.
After taking the Node, that apparent superiority had become a real one.
Now she wasn't limited to turning objects into bombs; she could freely create human bombs as well.
Just like Bazz-B and Candice just now—they had been human bombs created by Bambietta. Before she detonated them, they were indistinguishable from real people. No one could tell.
Not only that, she could fine-tune her human bombs at will.
The raw destructive power of this ability was one thing; its main terror lay in disguise, in the unexpected.
Like just now. Angra thought the two were on the verge of death, which was precisely when he let down his guard—and she detonated them.
At that point their bodies were already ruined, so the blast itself was smaller, but the damage could easily be greater.
The difference between being prepared or unprepared isn't just a matter of degrees.
Beyond that, she could make her human bombs look like allies. When they fought the Shinigami next, she could produce many bombs shaped like Shinigami, slip them into their ranks, then detonate them.
And aside from the Schrift upgrade, Bambietta had gained other powers as well. She felt that if she fully mastered her current strength, she could be the next Schutzstaffel member.
"Wow, Bambi."
The explosion continued to expand, like it might go on forever.
Everything caught in the shockwave was turned into bombs as well.
At this point, the blast had little to do with Angra. It was pure showing off; this wasn't a large-scale battlefield, and they only had one enemy. No need for such area-of-effect overkill.
The other four Bambies members appeared beside Bambietta.
Candice scowled. "Why'd you turn into me? Watching myself get blown up is disgusting."
"Shut it. Don't let your guard down. I don't think that blast killed him." Bambietta pouted, then said, "If we can take him down, His Majesty might promote us into the Schutzstaffel!"
"You want to be Schutzstaffel?" Liltotto said around her popsicle, looking bored. "With your personality, you'd drag those other four into your mess."
Bambietta was about to retort when her expression changed—someone had suddenly appeared before her.
The five women all stiffened. None of them had seen how he'd moved.
Angra looked at the five with calm, indifferent eyes. He slashed his hand sideways like a knife, and in the next second, Bambietta's chest felt like it was splitting open from top to bottom.
"!"
Her eyes widened. She'd never expected Angra's power to reach this level.
"Gigi!" Liltotto shouted. "Save Bambi!"
"Got it!" Giselle very much wanted Bambietta's body as one of her zombies, but she knew this wasn't the time for infighting.
If they didn't get rid of this guy, they would be the ones to die.
Bambietta was still a huge asset right now.
"Hyaah!"
The Bambies simultaneously released Vollständig. Meninas threw a punch; with the Schrift "The Power," her raw strength was tremendous.
But Angra caught it in one hand, wrapping her fist in his aura, clamping down, then flinging her aside with a wrench of his arm.
Boom!
Meninas crashed squarely into Liltotto, who'd just been about to activate her power; the two of them were knocked out of the battlefield.
"Thunderbolt!"
Candice shouted, calling thunder down from above. Massive bolts crashed down—but Angra had already disappeared.
"What?!"
Her pupils shrank. "He dodged lightning?!"
"That's right…"
Angra appeared behind her, a hand resting on her shoulder.
Candice's eyes bulged even more. It felt like an insult. She spun to strike, but Angra vanished again.
He appeared behind her once more, this time with his back to her. "So this is the Wandenreich's Quincy. Nothing special."
"Stop running if you've got guts!"
Candice spun around again, lightning blades forming in both hands as she slashed toward him.
Before she could finish turning, Angra's finger touched her chest—right on her huge breasts.
"Cero."
He spoke quietly.
A lance of light bored through her torso and continued on, detonating in the distance with a thunderous boom.
"Bast…ard…"
Candice stared at Angra, eyes full of disbelief and fear. She looked down at the gaping hole in her chest, gritted her teeth, then slackened and collapsed into the sand.
"I'm not the type to spare flowers," Angra said calmly. "If you want a reason…"
He raised his hand again, forming another Cero.
"…it's because I'm a Hollow."
Boom!
Before he could fire, multiple beams of light streaked toward him, not caring about Candice at his feet, engulfing him in a chain of explosions.
Boom, boom, boom!
The blast was fierce, but Angra walked out unscathed.
He eyed Bambietta. "Looks like that little girl's power can even drive out Hollow poison. In that case… I'll have to adjust my strategy and take her out first."
"Idiot! You think I'll let you?!" Bambietta shouted. "Explode!"
She entered Vollständig as well, crimson wings flaring from her back, a halo forming as her reiatsu erupted.
The shockwave of her spiritual pressure blasted outward, but Angra didn't so much as flinch.
After merging Nodes into these people, he knew they had changed and grown stronger, but not exactly how strong.
Now was the perfect chance to test Bambietta.
Of all of them, Tokinada had digested the most Nodes, about four-fifths.
Bambietta had fused with roughly half of one. The particle not only added a special ability but boosted reiatsu, base stats, and enhanced her innate Schrift.
By fighting Bambietta, he could extrapolate how strong the others might become.
Seeing her fully unleashed, Angra didn't rush. He decided to watch first and see what she could do.
"Good. As long as we're in Hueco Mundo, His Majesty can't see. That saves me the headache of Baelz nagging at me," Bambietta said with a cold smile. "Die!"
With Vollständig active, the Reishi around them surged together. She created countless Reishi explosives, now wreathed in flame-like scorch marks.
In a flash, hundreds of bombs hurtled at Angra.
At that power and density, Angra couldn't just stand there and tank them. As he moved to dodge, he felt his body turn to stone.
Demonic Allure Eye.
A new ability Bambietta had gained from the Lascivious Node. All it took was eye contact to petrify a target.
Petrified targets couldn't move—and they became brittle.
In anime, Humans are oddly hard to kill with beams.
But rocks?
Not so much. Blowing rocks to dust is perfectly fine.
As Angra turned to stone, the explosions struck. Hundreds of blasts erupted at once in the same spot.
The hail of detonations sent waves of Reishi sand sweeping across the battlefield, even covering Bambietta's allies.
"Bambi…"
Back on the scene, Meninas and Liltotto stared in shock. They hadn't expected Bambietta to become this strong.
"Hahaha!"
Bambietta laughed. "No matter how strong you are, you can't do anything under this kind of attack!"
"Is that so?"
As she exulted, a black spear punched out of the explosion and pierced her right shoulder. It didn't pass through; instead, it rapidly dissolved into black mud, pouring into her wound.
On the outside, the sludge spread over Bambietta's body, trying to completely engulf her.
Her eyes went wide. She felt like she was suffocating. "Idiot! Help me!"
Giselle was busy working on Candice, so only Liltotto and Meninas were free.
Liltotto made a pained face, then sighed. "Fine. It looks nasty, but we don't have a choice."
Her mouth twisted and elongated, stretching all the way to Bambietta. She opened her jaws wide and gulped.
In one go, she devoured all the black mud covering Bambietta.
"Ugh! Lili, you drooled all over me!" Without the sludge, Bambietta relaxed, but she was drenched.
"Watch your drool at least!" she shouted.
"You idiot!" Liltotto's face was twisted with discomfort; the mud sat heavily in her stomach, and Bambietta's complaint made her snap. "You think I wanted to lick you, you bitch?"
"This stuff tastes vile!"
"What?!" Bambietta yelled. "You wanna fight?!"
"Like I'm scared?" Liltotto fumed. She'd just saved Bambietta's life, and not only did she get no thanks, she got insulted?
"Hey, hey…"
Meninas could tell this was going bad. "Our enemy is that Hollow, remember? Don't fight each other now!"
But by then, neither of them heard her.
All they could see was each other.
Bambietta attacked first, hurling waves of bombs at Liltotto.
Liltotto snapped her jaws wide and swallowed all of Bambietta's explosives.
Meninas tried to step in, but nearly got caught in their blasts.
"My malice isn't something you can just swallow."
Angra appeared beside Meninas. He didn't attack her—he just said calmly, "Eat the wrong thing, and you'll have a very bad day."
"You…"
Meninas's eyes went wide and she retreated instinctively. Angra simply smiled. "I'm not interested in you anymore."
"What?" Meninas blurted.
"Let me handle this."
A red vortex swirled into existence, and a young male Quincy stepped out, barely 1.7 meters tall and still looking somewhat boyish.
"Baelz?"
Meninas was pleasantly surprised. "Why are you here?!"
"Obviously to save you."
Angra snorted. "You're Baelz, huh? Interesting. You're not like the rest. You must be a big shot among the Quincy."
"Hardly." Baelz said mildly. "There are plenty stronger than me. I'm just an ordinary scientist."
"'Ordinary'?"
"Anyway, it doesn't matter what I am. How about a ceasefire?"
"Heh… you people came after me first." Angra's voice turned cold. "You think you can just walk off with them?"
"Can you really keep fighting in your condition?"
Baelz said, "The Monk of the Royal Palace took your power and forcibly split off the Hollow King. If you insist on continuing, I'll oblige…"
As he spoke, he unleashed a deep blue reiatsu that collided with Angra's black aura.
The clash of reiatsu made Meninas, still conscious, freeze in shock.
She'd never imagined Baelz was this strong.
He was Liltotto's younger brother and had only joined the Sternritter later on. Though he'd been promoted into the Schutzstaffel on the back of his research ability, everyone had believed it was purely for his science.
Baelz had always been extremely low-key, rarely fighting. No one knew…
When had he become so powerful?
"…," Meninas was stunned.
"Hmph…"
Seeing that Baelz was no ordinary Quincy, Angra glanced at the still-brawling Bambietta and Liltotto. "We'll meet again."
Then he vanished.
Only after he was gone did Baelz let out a breath.
"Baelz…"
Meninas started to speak, but Baelz disappeared again, reappearing behind Bambietta.
He chopped her on the neck. She went limp and collapsed.
In another flash, he did the same to Liltotto, who also fell face-first into the sands.
"Baelz!"
Giselle came, supporting the gravely injured Candice. "Why did you come? And why let that guy go?"
"You were fighting the wrong target." Baelz said calmly. "Our enemy is the Hollow King's left hand that split off. That big Hollow just now had indeed transcended Vasto Lorde, but he isn't the one His Majesty personally ordered us to eliminate."
"There's no need to waste our efforts on him."
Transcending Vasto Lorde made him a Transcendent, but he still wasn't worth Yhwach's concern.
Granted, Yhwach didn't yet have that power now, but once fully restored, he would certainly have the capital to dismiss a mere Transcendent.
The left hand was a different story.
That thing was fundamentally on the same level as the Soul King—if not more terrifying.
Although lesser in quantity, it was enough to make Yhwach take it seriously.
"Let's head back."
Baelz said. "It's not safe here anymore. Back in the Empire, I'll treat you."
He believed that after this dramatic rescue and treatment, their favor toward him would soar.
Then he'd pick up a few more soul abilities.
Meninas hoisted Bambietta, Baelz carried Liltotto, and with Candice and Giselle the six went through the Sun Gate back to the Wandenreich.
Not long after they vanished, another Hollow appeared.
Baraggan's face was dark.
He'd felt the immense power that had just been unleashed here.
One side was Hollow; the other, unknown—not Shinigami, not Hollow, but equally strong.
Damn it.
When had Hueco Mundo gained so many monsters?
What did that make him, the self-proclaimed King of Hueco Mundo?
Baraggan had an obsession with power. He believed he alone was Hueco Mundo's king. Yet one terrifying monster after another had appeared.
The tremor earlier had shaken him to the core. In all his tens of thousands of years roaming Hueco Mundo, he'd never encountered reiatsu so fearsome.
He clenched his fists so hard his nails broke skin, blood dripping down his hands.
He was unwilling.
"Do you wish to obtain great power?"
A voice rang out—not in his ears, but in his soul.
Baraggan startled, spinning to scan his surroundings. "Who are you?"
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that I can make you stronger."
"Stronger?"
"Don't you want to be King of Hueco Mundo? Don't you want to surpass Aizen Sōsuke and Yoshio Kamado?"
Baraggan narrowed his eyes, death and rot spreading from him, turning the timeless desert even more withered.
"I can help."
The voice persisted.
"You possess absolute power. You should be omnipotent. You should be king. The first to surpass Vasto Lorde should have been you."
The voice in his ear was dripping with temptation.
"I can help you achieve it. I can grant you power that transcends the absolute."
"You can help me?" Baraggan's heart stirred. At last, he couldn't hold back. "How?"
"Devour this."
A tiny black point of light descended, like a black gem.
Baraggan reached out and caught it.
"What is it?"
"The source of power," the voice replied. "The core of the King of Hueco Mundo. Devour and digest it, and you will be the next king."
He stared at the black point, eyes burning with desire.
He clenched his hand. The winds of time scraped past.
After an unknown span, he opened his hand again.
The black speck was gone.
"Hey…"
He called out, but the voice was gone too.
Baraggan was momentarily dazed.
What had just happened?
There had been a black speck, but where was it now? Had he already devoured it?
When?
The voice was gone too?
Everything felt like a hallucination.
Immersed in a vision of gaining power, he came back to himself to find nothing had changed.
But his eyes now burned with naked ambition. He snorted and vanished.
…
Another Node dealt with; only two remained.
The Shell That Clings Outside Matter Node was being purified by the Brainleaf Co., and the Two-Headed One Node was still gestating on the Tree of Evil.
Time was short, but there wasn't much left to do either.
Yoshio looked at the rebuilt Seireitei before him and couldn't help a small sense of accomplishment.
It was like playing a city-building sim and constructing a nation of his own. Seeing the neatly arranged buildings, he felt his own effort invested in them.
In just a few months, the enormous Seireitei had been rebuilt—equivalent to constructing a city larger than Tokyo in months, including clearing ruins and treating the injured. In the human world, it would have been a miracle.
But in a Reishi-based world where everyone had great combat capacity, it wasn't that shocking.
Plus, the new Seireitei's urban planning had been Yoshio's design. The layout of roads and districts was actually quite rational.
Though much remained incomplete, the central urban ring was done.
Yoshio had wanted to remake the Seireitei into a modern metropolis, but Yamamoto and Central 46 had firmly refused, insisting on preserving the Heian-period style.
Yoshio was speechless. It was this era, and they were still clinging to thousand-year-old aesthetics.
"Captain!"
Rangiku greeted him as he entered. "You're early today."
She looked in high spirits, and Yoshio knew why.
"Gin's out of the hospital?"
In that battle many captains had been badly injured, some driven berserk by the black mud.
Ichimaru Gin was among those affected.
If it had only been injuries, Unohana could have had them walking in months.
But those invaded by the mud were more troublesome. Even awake, they were hyper-aggressive.
So the black mud had to be slowly purged.
"Idiot, it's got nothing to do with him!" Rangiku's face flushed. "I'm just happy because I get to go to the World of the Living next!"
"I can buy cute clothes again!"
"Eh? Already your turn again?"
"Can't help it. Yachiru insists on staying with Captain Zaraki, so it's just me and Rukia on rotation." Rangiku said.
"I see…" Yoshio nodded. "Then I'll be counting on you two."
After chatting with her, Yoshio went back to the captain's office.
After months of repair, the Seireitei and Gotei 13 were back up and running.
Yoshio looked over a report with interest.
It said that the strange reiatsu in the western region of Japan in the Living World had vanished, and the frequency of Hollow appearances there had dropped.
Looked like Tokinada Tsunayashiro was nearly ready.
In two or three years, he'd fully fuse with his Node. Then it'd be harvest time.
After work that evening, Yoshio went home with Yamiko.
His house was one of the few untouched in the battle, thanks to Gatekeeper ability.
Unless someone beat him, his house would not be destroyed.
"I'm going to Hueco Mundo. Coming?" Yamiko said once they were inside.
"Hueco Mundo?" Yoshio asked.
"What for?"
"To stimulate the Quincy power in my body with Hollow power," Yamiko said. "I'm one step away from my evolution. Captain Aizen said I can use Hueco Mundo as a catalyst."
"I see…" Yoshio thought a moment. "I'll pass. Be careful over there, but… there aren't many in Hueco Mundo who can threaten you anyway."
Yamiko nodded, opened a Garganta, and stepped into Hueco Mundo.
After he left, Yoshio was bored and headed into the Hell of Solitude.
It had changed completely.
It no longer needed his Zanpakutō as support; it had become more like a real hell. Not enormous, but two or three times the size of Karakura Town.
He'd divided it into multiple regions. Most of the area was Defense Zone, the true Hell of Solitude: once trapped inside, you'd suffer punishment as if in hell.
Only a central square kilometer was for activity.
That square kilometer, a perfect square, was split into four zones: A, B, C, D.
Zone A was his research area. Zone B stored Seeds of Light. Zone C was a rest area for World Wing members. Zone D was an exile zone.
Some of his researched specimens were in Zone D, such as Kurosaki Masaki and Grand Fisher.
Masaki still hadn't had her consciousness restored, but her eyes were more animated.
To avoid interference from Hollow instincts, Yoshio hadn't let her devour other Hollows, so she was still below Adjuchas level.
Grand Fisher was different—he was Yoshio's planned host for the Shell That Clings Outside Matter Node.
The stronger the host, the better the fusion result.
Yoshio had not only made Grand Fisher a Hollowfication-equivalent, he'd fed him many Hollows. He was now an Adjuchas.
The shell wasn't fully purified yet, so there was room left for growth.
Once they fused, Yoshio would have to release him.
He needed him to commit deeds befitting that Node's name to deepen the fusion.
But evolving from Adjuchas to Vasto Lorde wasn't easy.
Even with Arrancar-like evolution breaking the ceiling for stagnant Adjuchas, it was still a steep, arduous climb.
After checking that everything was in order, Yoshio headed to the Living World.
Kūgo Ginjō was looking for him.
Ginjō had fused with one of the Nodes; Yoshio knew everything he did.
He also knew what Ginjō wanted.
He arrived in the Living World and went to Hela's house.
It was late at night. Hela was still awake, preparing lesson plans—now a teacher at Karakura First High.
A knock came at the door. She opened it to find Yoshio.
"For you to show up, I take it the Soul Society is done cleaning up?"
She looked surprised.
Yoshio stepped in with a sigh. "More or less. It was a real hassle."
Hela closed the door and poured two glasses of water.
"So Karakura's going back under martial law?"
"Not that far. The rebuilding's mostly done, but the Gotei 13 took heavy losses; they can't commit as much manpower to patrol the Living World for a while." Yoshio shook his head. "But Karakura will still be assigned a lieutenant to guard it."
"That's not much. Just one person." Hela leaned back. "They're stretched thin."
Even without the old density of Seeds of Light, Karakura had become a super-high-spirit zone, very attractive to Hollows.
One lieutenant might not be enough.
"That's their problem," Yoshio chuckled. "How's Nezuko?"
"Asleep." Hela yawned. "School started again last week. They're cramming what they missed during the closure."
"The kid's worn out."
"She seems into science," Yoshio said. "Think she'll become a scientist?"
He found Nezuko's interest in math and science surprising, yet fitting.
She was genuinely into physics, chemistry, and math. At first she'd studied classical mechanics only because he'd promised her Kidō afterwards, but past that, she kept studying just because she liked it.
"Maybe she takes after you." Hela laughed. "The scientist gene."
Yoshio smiled. Ever since he'd received the Soul King "Big Cousin" buff, his words came with a bit of causality.
Though Nezuko wasn't his biological daughter, with the Kamado name and role of his daughter, she indeed might gain some inheritance.
Still, it was probably more due to the Blade that Rends the Heart.
That sort of mirrored preference likely came from the blade's power.
"So let her study," Yoshio said. "I only know Reishi science. Maybe Nezuko will one day merge it with material science."
"Anyway, I just came to check on you. Go sleep."
He finished his water and stood.
Hela had to teach tomorrow, so she didn't hold him back.
Yoshio turned off the light and went downstairs, planning a nighttime walk.
At the foot of the stairs, he ran into Kūgo Ginjō coming up.
Ginjō looked surprised. "Well, that's a coincidence. I was just looking for you."
Yoshio feigned mild surprise. "What brings you here?"
It wasn't odd that Ginjō knew this address—Nezuko had often gone to him to train Fullbring.
He hadn't come to Yoshio directly, just planned to wait for him near here—but had run into him instantly.
"I've got something to discuss. Let's talk." Ginjō said.
"You've got some nerve," Yoshio smiled faintly. "Even knowing Karakura's under heavy Shinigami watch, you stroll in like this."
"Do you really have the resources to chase me right now?" Ginjō laughed. "I don't know what exactly happened in the Seireitei, but I've noticed—hardly any Shinigami have shown up in the Living World for months."