Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 35 - Assembly and Negotiation

The death of a lord meant the region would temporarily fall ungoverned. The lord had been an Adjuchas himself, and there were certainly other Adjuchas among his former subordinates, but his overconfidence had ultimately gotten him killed at the hands of Nel and Wayne.

With no leader, and no new lord yet to emerge, the resources within the territory would inevitably be picked apart by every other Adjuchas in the area.

So, taking advantage of the chaos, Wayne could push a little deeper inward and hunt for more.

Elsewhere, in the Central Forest, at the very heart of its core region, a colossal spirit tree pierced the clouds. Its radius spanned nearly a thousand meters. It was almost certainly the tallest tree in the entire forest.

Inside that trunk, dozens of Adjuchas-class Menos had gathered. A meeting was underway.

The crisscrossing interior had been hollowed out into a massive chamber. Nearly forty mid- and high-tier Adjuchas-class Menos were seated throughout it. On a lower level, dozens of low-tier Adjuchas stood on platforms encircling the inner trunk, forming a ring around the enormous central root. At the very top of that root sat a humanoid Hollow roughly four meters tall.

"Doruni's Reiatsu has vanished." On the right side of the main trunk, an elder humanoid Hollow who resembled a tree-man spoke quietly.

"That fast? How long has it even been?" Across the chamber, several towering Hollows exchanged bewildered looks. Doruni had been one of the thirty-six lords of this Forest of Menos. The region where Wayne was operating had been his territory.

It was Wayne and Nel's arrival, and the sheer weight of Nel's Adjuchas-class Reiatsu, that had put the core region on alert. The Adjuchas here had detected her immediately.

At first, they hadn't been concerned. Sooner or later, they assumed, this strange pair would wander into the core region on their own, and things would sort themselves out naturally.

In this vast forest, not every Hollow wanted to enter the core region. And the Hollows gathered there didn't accept just anyone. They only welcomed those who proved to be kindred spirits. Adjuchas, after all, needed other Adjuchas as a food source.

What no one had expected was that after entering the forest, these two newcomers simply hunted along the periphery and showed no interest in venturing deeper. That had infuriated the local lord, Doruni.

The Gillian resources in his territory were being steadily devoured by one Adjuchas and one Gillian. How could he not be furious?

So when the core assembly convened, he volunteered to go probe them. "Probe" was the word he used, but in truth, Doruni was confident his Reiatsu outstripped the Adjuchas's, and he dismissed the Gillian beside her entirely. He went alone. His plan, the moment they met, was to kill them outright and absorb the Adjuchas's spiritual power for himself.

What he never anticipated was that this trip would make him someone else's meal.

"What are your thoughts?"

The question came after a long silence. Every Hollow in the chamber turned its gaze upward, toward the highest point of the tree hollow, the great lord who had ruled over them for centuries.

"My lord, I believe these two Hollow-beasts are far from ordinary. If we allow them to hunt freely in the forest, sooner or later they will encroach on the other lords. I say we exterminate them and eliminate the problem at its root." A lord on the left side put forward his view.

"My lord, Doruni most likely attacked them on sight — which is why he was killed. I believe we should attempt to negotiate. If we can bring them into our ranks, it may be an excellent opportunity to strengthen our forces." Another Hollow offered a different opinion.

"We need to remember — in a few years, our battle with the Northern Forest will begin. According to intelligence, the North-South War two years ago ended with the North winning by a staggering margin. Right now, every single Adjuchas-class Menos is a precious asset. We can afford to lose Gillians. We cannot afford to keep losing Adjuchas."

Those words stirred a fresh wave of unrest through the chamber. They had long grown accustomed to costly stalemates. For countless years, the war ritual between the three great forests had never truly broken in any direction. But now the scales had suddenly tipped, and it hadn't only dealt heavy losses to the Southern Forest, it had sounded an alarm for the Central Forest as well.

What had once been a war where each forest could harvest Adjuchas with manageable losses had become a one-sided rout. That was not good news for anyone here.

"Hmm..." The humanoid Hollow on the high platform sank into thought. "Attempt negotiation first. Grant them Doruni's territory. In return, they will pay annual tribute to this king and take part in the Sacred War when it comes. If they refuse..."

As he spoke, a terrifying killing intent bled off the lord's body.

"Varta, since you proposed the negotiation, you will handle this."

"Yes, my lord." The humanoid Hollow named Varta bowed and accepted the order.

"Gascard, you will go with Varta. If that Adjuchas refuses, you know what to do."

"Hmph. When the time comes, I'll make sure they regret it." The one called Gascard was the Hollow who had argued loudest for battle. Standing eight or nine meters tall, he was clearly a power-type Hollow-beast.

"My lord, I also request permission to go." Suddenly, a dragon-headed humanoid Hollow-beast standing under three meters tall stepped forward.

"Oh?" The great lord on his throne let out a note of curiosity. "Why?"

"I believe that for an outside Adjuchas to eliminate Doruni in such a short time, they must be a battle-hardened fighter. Even at low tier, their Reiatsu won't be low. If we rely on Varta and Gascard alone and the opponent decides to take us down with them, casualties will be unavoidable.

But my abilities can prevent exactly that. And if negotiations break down, my abilities can guarantee us a path of retreat."

"Hmm..." The great lord considered for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. Yinfeng, you will go as well. If talks collapse, keep our losses minimal, pin the enemy down, and send a signal for reinforcements. You have two days to prepare. I will have forces on standby."

"Yes, my lord."

With that, the dragon-headed humanoid Hollow-beast named Yinfeng stepped back into the shadows and slipped out of the great tree hollow.

"Hmph. Who needs a distress signal? I can put them down myself." Gascard muttered under his breath, then left the chamber with a crack of Sonído.

Two days later, the three dispatched Hollows regrouped and set off toward their target at a run.

They moved fast. At this pace, they would reach the enemy's location within a few hours.

The journey was not as quiet as one might expect.

"Tell me, Varta — do we really need to parley with arrogant thugs who don't know the rules? Why not just finish them off?" Gascard said, his tone flat with contempt.

"It's not that simple." Varta replied from behind him, voice steady. "Yilao's perception is never wrong. That Adjuchas only just advanced, and they still managed to kill Doruni in that short a window. Like Yinfeng said — this is a battle-savvy Adjuchas."

He glanced back at Yinfeng, who followed in silence without a word.

"And what puzzles me even more is that this Adjuchas has been accompanied by a Gillian the entire time. That suggests both of them have remarkably high Sentience. Otherwise a cross-class pairing like that simply doesn't happen. With that level of Sentience, if we can bring them over to our side, I believe they'll be a significant asset in the Central-North War."

"Stop singing their praises!" Gascard's irritation sharpened. "Whatever you say, I'm not letting them look down on us. I'm settling this score one way or another." He slammed his arms, heavy as morning-star flails, hard against his chest.

"Hey, newbie. When the fighting starts, don't let them run."

Gascard turned to look at Yinfeng.

Yinfeng didn't even glance at him.

"Tch. Ungrateful." Gascard curled his lip.

"Leave him. That's just how he is." Varta smoothed it over. "You know his temperament — hasn't he been exactly this cold on every mission we've run together? Anyway, when we make contact, I'll approach first. If talks fall apart, we move then. Plenty of time."

"Hmph. Fine." Gascard was unhappy about it, but he nodded.

"We're close." After a long stretch of silence, the taciturn Yinfeng at the rear finally spoke.

At those two words, the other two immediately sensed an unfamiliar Reiatsu. They slowed their pace and moved toward its densest point.

On the other side of the forest, Wayne and Nel had been moving deeper for two days, searching for a suitable place to settle.

With the lord's death, every Hollow-beast under his rule had been freed from the suppression of his Reiatsu, and they had all grown restless. Those with Sentience began quietly drifting toward new hunting grounds in search of better resources. Those without it gradually lost their grip on the devouring hunger inside them, even though, technically, they had no hearts to lose grip of.

"Lord Wayne, this area looks good." Nel surveyed their surroundings. "There's a decent-sized hill to the west, surrounded by forest. If we carve into the hillside and clear the trees around it, we could build a solid base."

"Hmm?" Wayne looked at her with genuine interest. "It seems that since advancing to Adjuchas, Nel, not only has your Sentience grown, your tactical thinking has too."

"Isn't that because you're always muttering things in my ear that I couldn't understand, Lord Wayne? With the advancement, those words have started to make sense without me even noticing." Nel wagged her tail softly.

"Ha. Advancement really is something." Wayne let out a dry chuckle. "Alright, we'll set up here for now. Good ground for both offense and defense." He began laying out the plan for Nel, and she got to work quickly, starting to build their first shelter in the Forest of Menos.

"Oh, my lord, by every measure, your Reiatsu has met the requirements for advancement for a while now, hasn't it? Why do you keep putting it off?"

"That..." Wayne paused. It was true, he'd been ready to advance to Adjuchas for some time. But for Wayne, until the moment his power was compressed to its absolute limit, he simply had no desire to rush it.

The hardest stretch of being a Gillian was behind him. What was left was to hunt steadily with Nel at his side, accumulate, compress, repeat, until the day everything fell into place naturally. And he knew that day wasn't far off.

"Soon, probably." He said, unhurried. "I think one more mid-tier Adjuchas or higher, and I should be there."

"Giggle~" Nel let out a light laugh. "Other Gillians hunt their own kind or weaker Hollow-beasts, but you, Lord Wayne, talk about hunting Adjuchas like it's the obvious choice. If another Adjuchas heard that, I don't know whether they'd flee for their lives or charge in to settle things with you on the spot."

"Ha, that's because I have you, isn't it? I'm not the least bit afraid of an Adjuchas." Wayne laughed.

"Well then... Lord Wayne, there happens to be an Adjuchas right in front of you. Would you... like to eat?" Nel tilted her head up, the amber eyes beneath her Hollow Mask bright with mischief.

"...Cheeky girl." Wayne caught the teasing in her eyes and flicked her lightly on the head. It seemed that with her advancement, she'd started to grasp the difference between eating and "eating." "Now go chop the trees we need for today, "

He stopped mid-sentence.

His body gave a faint jolt. The crimson gaze beneath his mask slowly narrowed.

"Lord Wayne." Nel felt it too. She snapped into a combat stance immediately, stepping in front of him to shield him.

Three sharp bursts of rushing wind cut through the air. Three distinct Reiatsus locked onto Wayne at frightening speed. A heartbeat later, three hostile silhouettes came into view.

"Three of them." The red light in Wayne's eyes flickered. "Nel. If we can't win, run."

"What about you, Lord Wayne?" Nel didn't budge. She knew she could escape, that wasn't the issue. But Wayne, still at the Gillian level, had no chance of escaping from three Adjuchas-class Menos. None. "I'll cast Negación on you. Leave the rest to me."

"Don't be reckless." Wayne's voice was hard. "Against two, we might still have a shot. Against three at once, our odds are almost nothing. The amount of energy your Cero Doble can absorb has a ceiling. Push past it, and the Cero's Reiatsu will tear you apart from the inside."

"My lord..." Nel's voice softened, but the amber eyes beneath her mask held firm.

"The moment there's an opening, I'll rush forward. You cast Negación on me, let me take the hit. We use the time that buys us to crack open a Garganta. We run first. Everything else comes after."

"...Mm." Nel didn't argue. She eased back slightly, using Wayne's larger frame as cover, ready to release the Negación the instant he moved.

➤ Next: The Attack