Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 40 - Ability Review

Three days after Wayne regained consciousness, a thoroughly bored Nel finally sensed the Reiatsu fluctuations from his breakthrough. She hurried to where Wayne had been hibernating, made every preparation she could think of, and even brought two Gillian masks along, then settled in to wait for him to emerge.

Roughly half a day later, a pale-gold beam of light burst from the earth.

The overwhelming Reiatsu shot straight into the sky, instantly surpassing Nel's own in both quality and quantity. She had reached Adjuchas first, yes, but one thing had to be remembered: even back when Wayne was still a Gillian, his Reiatsu had already measured on par with a low-level Adjuchas. All that steady accumulation had finally found its release, and surpassing Nel took nothing more than an instant.

"Lord Wayne!" Nel watched that towering pale-gold Reiatsu tear into the sky, her eyes bright with excitement. Who wouldn't want the one they followed to be powerful? Only a Hollow already plotting betrayal would ever wish for a master weaker than themselves.

AWOOOOOO!

The moment he was free, Wayne launched straight up from underground and let out a long howl at the open sky, his Reiatsu erupting outward in a single flood of pale gold. The entire forest region trembled. Weaker Hollow beasts caught in the shockwave simply ceased to exist.

"That feels incredible!"

The suppression of the breakthrough had lasted too long. The moment he emerged, Wayne let everything go.

"Welcome back, my lord!" Below, Nel bowed her head from the ground, her tail swinging back and forth behind her in undisguised excitement.

"Nel, it's been a while." Wayne dropped from the sky and landed beside her, reaching out to ruffle her head. "Thank you for holding watch all this time."

"Hehe~" Nel soaked up the praise without any shame. She handed him the two mask pieces, then stepped back, tail wagging harder than before.

"By the way — how long was I out?"

"About a year."

"That long?" He'd felt nothing of it. "Your hibernation was only around half a year, wasn't it?"

"Maybe it's different for every Hollow?" Nel had no real answer for that. "Either way, Lord Wayne's breakthrough went smoothly. Things were quiet here. Oh, and I've had the local Hollows very well-trained."

"Ha, you've worked hard." Wayne knew full well what leaving Nel alone here for nearly a year had meant. No freedom to hunt, no way to roam, she'd burned off the restlessness by dealing with the lower-ranked Hollows in the area. It really had been hard on her.

"Now that I'm out, we'll be heading back to the Forest of Menos before long. Less than five years left until the plan moves."

"My lord, what exactly are we planning to do?" Nel had never asked. She only knew Wayne intended to stay in the outer ring until the next Forest of Menos War broke out.

"Revenge." Simple as that. "I want revenge against the lord of the Northern Forest — those insects and Hollow beasts who drove us out."

Thinking back, Nel remembered it clearly. After completing her own breakthrough, she had tried constantly to find Wayne through the mark she'd left on him, but felt no trace of his Reiatsu anywhere. It wasn't until the day Wayne suddenly appeared and released his Reiatsu to activate the mark that she finally learned where he was. If she hadn't moved fast enough, if she hadn't pulled him out before that insect-Hollow's attack landed, Nel would probably have gone after the entire Northern Forest alone. The outcome didn't need much imagination. Her bones would have been cold for five years by now.

"Yes, Lord Wayne. We'll wipe out every last one of those filthy insects!"

The memory still made her furious.

"Before that, though, I need to sort out my current condition." Wayne said. "Come on — we head back to the Central Forest first." He extended one finger and pressed it lightly against the air. A pitch-black crack split open.

Inside the Garganta, the half-antelope, half-human Nel carried Wayne, now returned to his human form, on her back, walking at a steady pace. It wasn't that Wayne was taking advantage of her. He needed time to process his new strength and settle into his current state. The skills acquired during the breakthrough had to be reviewed, and he had to adapt to the Reiatsu he now held as quickly as possible.

First, his body.

Wayne had always been a humanoid Hollow, and after advancing to Adjuchas he'd returned to his old height, just under two meters. His Hollow Hole, like Nel's, opened above the chest, between the collarbones.

The bone and exoskeletal layer covering his body had transformed into Hierro, fitting against him like a second skin, like a high-collared garment. The old skirt-armor had evolved into a light fitted shape that wrapped cleanly around his lower body. The old helmet of a Hollow Mask had become something smaller: an inverted-V war-face mask covering only his cheeks. Along the sides of the mask, near his eyes, the material curved outward in raised arcs, like a bat pressed flat against his face.

With the helmet gone, long pale-gold hair had grown from the back of his head. Somehow that detail made him look more human than anything else. The elongated bone blades had evolved into sharp, keen claws that no longer interfered with his right hand's grip or movement. His left hand stayed just as agile as before.

The difference was evolution. Wayne's more dexterous left hand could now materialize weapons through Reiatsu, the same way Nel could manifest the Lanzador Verde. Wayne could shape both ranged and close-range weapons on his left hand. That was skill, not an intrinsic trait of his nature.

"If I lay it out in terms of data, my abilities and traits can be mapped out fairly clearly now." On Nel's back, Wayne began sorting through everything, speaking mostly to himself.

Ace Wayne. Early-stage Adjuchas.

Trait: Concealment.

Trait Ability: Conceal Reiatsu, physical presence, attacks, and all things related to one's own power, reducing them to an imperceptible state.

New Trait: Space.

Trait Ability: Distort space. More adept at breaking apart the fabric of space than an ordinary Hollow, not through brute force, but by using one's own influence to alter spatial fractures.

The Space trait was the second one bestowed upon Wayne by the Forest of Menos. As things stood, both traits still had room to grow, but that growth would likely have to wait until his next advancement.

For now, Wayne could only use both traits to extend and develop his existing skills. No further qualitative transformation was possible at this stage.

Skills.

Cero: Condense Reiatsu at the mouth, hands, or other positions and release it as a high-output beam of spiritual light. Destructive power is extraordinary. A standard Gillian-level Cero is dark red; every Adjuchas-class Hollow possesses a Cero of a specific color. Wayne's normal Cero, without the Concealment trait applied, is pale gold.

Concealed Cero: Combining his Concealment trait, release a colorless, invisible Cero. At the current stage, Wayne can already fully conceal the Cero at Adjuchas level, only the ripple produced at the instant of release cannot be hidden.

Space-Rending Cero: Combining the Space trait gained after his advancement, Wayne can distort space at the moment the Cero fires, causing it to strike from unexpected angles. At the current stage, this technique still has enormous room for further development.

Bala: Condense Reiatsu and release it as a specialized spiritual-force projectile. Destructive power is weaker than a Cero, but its speed is twenty times greater.

Bala: Silent Kill, An invisible Bala produced by combining his Concealment trait. Because the Bala moves so fast, the Reiatsu ripple it generates is nearly imperceptible.

Bala: Ethereal, Fire countless Balas into distorted space, causing them to strike the enemy from all directions simultaneously.

Possessing two distinct traits had developed the Hollow fundamentals to the fullest extent possible. In that regard, Wayne was already more than capable enough. The only limitation was that he couldn't yet fuse the two traits perfectly. If he could, the Cero and Bala might develop further still.

Garganta: Use Reiatsu to forcibly tear open space, drawing out a path through the dimensional boundary, ultimately allowing travel to Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or the World of the Living. A skill only a handful of powerful Hollows can learn. Wayne was fortunate enough, or rather, owing to his Space trait, to have mastered it directly, and with greater proficiency than most.

Negación: Create a separate dimensional space completely cut off from the outside world. Can only be deployed for allies, and whoever is protected by the Negación cannot have another deployed for them during that time. Because it is a spatial-attribute ability, Wayne intends to keep developing further applications of the Negación going forward.

Sonído: Similar to Shunpo in effect, but different in nature. Sonído is rooted in the Space trait, not an instantaneous movement like Shunpo, but a spatial one. Combined with the Space trait, Sonído still holds enormous untapped potential for Wayne, and it cannot be detected by Pesquisa.

Space-Rending Slash: The advanced form of Shattering Slash. Concentrate massive Reiatsu onto the blade-claw of the right hand and deliver a powerful close-range strike. Applying the Space trait allows the slash to tear through space itself, dealing damage through the rift. After evolving to this stage, the technique's power no longer falls short of an Adjuchas-level Garra de la Pantera, though who knows how far Grimmjow has come by now. If they clashed at this moment, which of them would come out on top was still anyone's guess.

Shadow Flash: The advanced form of Shadow Step. Building on the original straight-line penetrating strike, it adds enhanced mobility and combines Sonído with Concealment. The result is the ability to close in on an opponent without a sound or a trace, then land a powerful direct blow to repel them instantly.

Shadow Waltz: Using Sonído as a foundation, combined with the Space trait, deliver multiple rapid slashes in quick succession, each carrying knockback, capable of toying with an enemy at will. Consumes a tremendous amount of Reiatsu.

Zero Storm: The advanced form of Lightning Strike. Consume the majority of one's Reiatsu and condense it into a burst of spiritual light that descends like a thunderstorm, unleashing a wide-area Reiatsu attack against all enemies within one kilometer. Equally massive in Reiatsu cost, it functions as a large-scale clearing technique. At present, a single Zero Storm is enough to level a small forest stronghold anywhere in Hueco Mundo.

Manifested Weapon: Sky-Rending Greatsword.

After advancing to Adjuchas, Wayne's control over Reiatsu had become far more natural and fluid. Materializing weapons was no longer a challenge. The Sky-Rending Greatsword was what Wayne shaped to compensate for the limited striking power of his left hand, its nature similar to Nel's Lanzador Verde, its form that of a one-handed sword. It could equally serve as a medium for executing any of his other techniques.

"That's roughly everything I've got right now." After working through all of it, Wayne let out a slow breath. "It seems like what the Forest of Menos gave me still has a lot of untapped room. Once this revenge is settled, I can study it properly. That might help a great deal when the time comes to advance again — and besides, what exactly did the Forest give me? It doesn't feel like it was just one kind of ability."

"Lord Wayne, what are you muttering about?" Beneath him, Nel glanced back over her shoulder without breaking stride.

"Ah, nothing." Wayne shook his head. "Just a few things I haven't worked out yet. Nothing important." He patted her on the head. "Let's move, back to the Central Forest."

"Yes, my lord!"

➤ Next: Jekain Once More