Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 31 - Desperate Flight

The battle in the Forest of Menos was over. Every surviving Gillian fell upon the enemy dead, tearing into the corpses before the Reishi could turn volatile. They had time. Plenty of it.

The Adjuchas were gathering spoils too, corpses of their opposing counterparts, stacks of Gillian Hollow Masks, all piled together. Unlike the Gillians, their distribution was decided by the Lord of the Northern Forest. That was part of the order. And after years of war, this harvest was so rich that none of the Adjuchas worried about their share.

BOOM!

Wayne was still staring into space when a five-meter corpse, some kind of aberrant Hollow, slammed into the ground in front of him. He looked up. The Lord of the Northern Forest's massive form loomed overhead.

"Ant. You performed well. You did not deceive this king." He had tossed the intact corpse over like a generous tip. "This is your reward."

"My thanks, my lord." Wayne inclined his head slightly.

"Ant. Give me your name."

"Ace Wayne."

"Hmm... Sir Ace Wayne. Your strategies proved their worth. These spoils are yours — enjoy them well. This king must feed."

"Yes, my lord. Thank you." Wayne kept his voice respectful. "My lord — when do we return to the Forest of Menos?"

"When the feeding is done. We will see if any Gillians seize the chance to evolve." The Sandworm Menos twisted his body and made his way toward the rear, where the spoils were piled.

Gillians evolving... Wayne's chest tightened. How long would that take? If Nel woke up during that time and couldn't find him, what then? And the Sandworm Menos had clearly been eyeing him for recruitment. If the creature evolved into a Vasto Lorde and headed for the Inner Circle, would Wayne be dragged along? That was not an outcome he wanted.

Yes, submitting now was about survival. But what came after survival? More slavery? The answer was no. Wayne understood endurance. That was why he had groveled. But the crisis was mostly past now. Once they returned, how could he stomach living under someone else's boot?

And not just any boot, a dragon's maw, a tiger's den. One swat and he'd be dead. The scene he'd just witnessed had only pushed his heart further from the Lord of the Northern Forest's rule.

One step at a time. None of it matters if I can't even get back to the Forest of Menos. Wayne shook his head, then turned to the Adjuchas corpse in front of him and began tearing in. This time, he wasn't just eating the mask. He was eating the whole thing. At this stage, he couldn't afford to waste a single speck of Adjuchas Reishi.

How much Reishi could one Adjuchas give a Gillian? Enough to push a newly evolved one to near-peak. But Wayne was different. Eager as he was to evolve, he still compressed every particle of Reishi as he devoured it.

He compressed ruthlessly. His spiritual power, which had barely climbed to the initial stage, stalled at the middle stage and rose no further. And his conversion speed was extreme, the Adjuchas was digested and absorbed almost before he noticed.

He didn't stop. There were still plenty of unclaimed Gillian corpses on the field. Wayne could snatch their masks and absorb them at top speed.

The Adjuchas, led by the Sandworm Menos, were busy with their own feast. The Lord of the Northern Forest was especially occupied, on the verge of Vasto Lorde, every shred of his focus was on devouring Reishi. He had no time to watch what Wayne was doing.

Wayne saw his opening. Snatching masks from corpses on the ground wasn't enough. The living Gillians on their own side, whenever an unconscious one wandered close, Wayne reached out and ripped its mask off without hesitation. In a field drowning in food, who was going to notice the death of the creature next to them?

And Wayne only took the masks. A claw through the body, then he moved on. One more corpse for the others to eat. They were happy about it.

He ripped the mask off another mindless Gillian and backed away. Since digesting that Adjuchas, he had consumed seventy or eighty Gillian masks. Half of them from his own side. He didn't care.

Days of hunting pushed his spiritual power to a new height. The accumulation inside him reached saturation, forcing him to stop and find somewhere to digest. Advance, pause, advance again, in the span of half a month, Wayne had reached the late Gillian stage. Peak was only a matter of time.

And time, for now, he had. Among the thousands of Gillians, three or four had actually reached the threshold for evolution. They had already burrowed underground to wait.

The Sandworm Menos, Lord of the Northern Forest, remained stuck at top-tier Adjuchas. He hadn't broken through. For the remaining Reishi he needed, he had no intention of devouring his own subordinates on the spot. That could wait until they returned to the Forest of Menos.

Another month passed. They had stayed in the Menos Graveyard long enough. All the Gillians who had entered dormancy completed their transformations. The Sandworm Menos now had three more Adjuchas under his command, a small ripple in his long existence. He ruled over a hundred Adjuchas, after all.

With the evolutions complete, the Sandworm Menos opened a Garganta and led his forces home. Wayne was given special attention, placed at Riat's side, carried through the air.

Flying with Riat, Wayne reached the Forest of Menos well ahead of the slow-moving Gillian horde. The moment he stepped through, he drew a long, deep breath. The Reishi here was so much calmer.

Compared to the violent Reishi of the Menos Graveyard, this was far easier to absorb. And Wayne needed to purge the contaminated Reishi from his body as quickly as possible. He began cycling his internal Reishi the moment he arrived, screening and converting. The Sandworm Menos, who had returned just before him, noticed.

The creature's body, grown even taller from the surge in Reiatsu, shifted slightly. The red eyes beneath his Hollow Mask narrowed. Unreadable.

"Sir Wayne." The Sandworm Menos's voice cut through his concentration.

"My lord." Wayne's heart clenched. He already knew what was coming.

"Sir Wayne, you rendered great service to this king's war. From this day forward, you will remain at my side and offer counsel. This king will bestow upon you endless benefits."

There it is. Wayne's eyes half-closed. Joining the Sandworm Menos meant losing his freedom. And the creature didn't have much time left before his next advancement. When he became a Vasto Lorde, he would leave for the Inner Circle. If Wayne was still a Gillian then, he'd be nothing but food. No chance of survival.

And if they ran into a real threat in the Inner Circle, the Sandworm Menos wouldn't spare a thought for protecting him. Wayne had no illusions about that.

"My lord." Wayne chose his words carefully. "This subordinate would be honored to join your ranks and offer counsel. But my strength is far too low. I fear I would only hold you back."

"It is of no consequence." The Sandworm Menos flicked his tail. "You are here to advise, not to fight. If you are willing, the Gillians in this forest are yours to hunt freely."

To anyone else, it might have sounded like a grant of power. To Wayne, it was empty. Hunt freely? He'd already been doing that. The words meant nothing.

"I am grateful for your generosity, my lord. But your advancement is only a matter of time. When that day comes, I will still be an ant at your side — would that not tarnish your reputation? If you would permit it, give me time. Once I have advanced, I will follow you without question."

"Ace Wayne." The Sandworm Menos's voice hardened. "Are you refusing this king's invitation?"

He understood exactly what Wayne was doing. Evolving from Gillian to Adjuchas required dormancy, and judging by Wayne's Reiatsu, that process would not be short. Time the Sandworm Menos did not have.

And there was the matter of his potential. If he let this little insect evolve unchecked, and Wayne turned out to be a combat-type Adjuchas, subduing him later wouldn't be easy. He wouldn't lose, no. But if Wayne decided to run, stopping him wasn't guaranteed.

If he couldn't be used, he couldn't be allowed to live. The killing intent rose in that instant.

"This subordinate would never defy your will, my lord. I have simply thought it through — following you now would only delay your advancement." Wayne felt the danger pressing in. His mind raced for a way out. But against absolute power, his pitiful Reiatsu was a paper shield.

"Hmph! Ace Wayne, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!" The Sandworm Menos's Reiatsu erupted, crushing down until Wayne could barely breathe. But Wayne had grown used to this insane pressure. Suffocating, yes. Paralyzing, no. "One more chance. Join this king's service, or else... hmph!"

"My lord is a top-tier Adjuchas. Why trouble yourself over a tiny Gillian like me?" Wayne knew there was no exit. The tension in his chest let go. If he was going to die anyway, he might as well speak his mind and then run like hell. Maybe there was still a sliver of a chance. "Since my lord insists, then forgive this subordinate, "

BOOM!

An invisible Cero erupted from Wayne's mouth before the sentence finished, his concealed Cero, born of his unique ability. It wasn't aimed at the Sandworm Menos. It detonated at his feet, blasting up a wall of dust and debris. An orange-yellow Negación followed instantly, encasing the Sandworm Menos and the smoke together.

Cero and Negación, back to back. Wayne bolted into the forest in the opposite direction, already suppressing his Reiatsu and blurring his form as he ran. Moving weakened the concealment, but it was better than nothing.

BANG... BANG... BANG!

He'd barely taken a few steps. Inside the Negación behind him, the Sandworm Menos was already hammering the barrier with his massive tail, trapped for the second time by the same trick. His rage was incandescent. But Wayne was still only a Gillian. With enough distance between them, the Negación wouldn't hold for long.

The orange-yellow barrier shattered like glass and dissolved into the air. The smoke around the Sandworm Menos scattered under the explosive burst of his Reiatsu.

When it cleared, his fury only deepened. Wayne was gone. All that stood before him were a handful of Adjuchas, waiting for him to emerge from the barrier.

"Useless! All of you — useless! You can't even catch one Gillian!"

It wasn't entirely their fault. They had been worried for their lord's safety, and without orders, no one dared act on their own. The only one who had given chase was Riat, the Sandworm Menos's most trusted aide.

A speed-type Adjuchas against a Gillian. There was no suspense. The Lord of the Northern Forest let his anger cool and waited for Riat to return with the ant who had provoked him once too many times.

Dozens of minutes passed. No sign of Riat.

Perhaps the little insect is simply too good at hiding. The thought settled in his mind. An ant was still an ant, no matter how strong. A giant's stomp would always crush it. That hierarchy was carved into his bones.

Three more hours passed. Still no Riat.

The realization struck him. This time, his judgment had been wrong.

"Yadelus." He spoke the name casually.

A small Adjuchas spider Hollow scuttled to his side. "Master. Your orders."

"Find Riat's Reiatsu."

"Yes." Yadelus bowed, then turned and spread its eight legs wide. Green light blazed in the eyes behind its Hollow Mask. An invisible pulse howled outward, a Detection Wave. This skill was the very reason Yadelus had earned a place at the Lord of the Northern Forest's side. At Adjuchas level, its range covered nearly half the forest, from the core position, at least.

A moment passed. Yadelus turned back, its voice trembling.

"M-Master... within my detection range... there is no trace of Riat's Reiatsu."

"What?" The word barely covered it. The Sandworm Menos knew Riat's strength well. His first instinct was that they had simply moved beyond detection range. But this forest was vast. Even flying at Riat's top speed, there was no way to clear it in a few hours. How could there be no trace?

"Return to the Northern Forest Nest. Probe again." Clinging to a last hope, the Sandworm Menos gave the order. The line of Hollow beasts fell in behind their lord, and with a rapid chain of Sonído, they sped back to their lair.

➤ Next: The End of the Pursuit