Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 43 - Avoiding Strength, Striking Weakness

"Who the hell is it?!"

In the Central Tree, Great Lord Gatmont had reached his breaking point. Over the past year, not only had his close friend Isrut been assassinated, his entire faction had crumbled from within. Mutual suspicion poisoned both sides, and Hollows from the left and right camps alike kept turning up dead. The culprit remained unknown.

Of the thirty-six Lords, only eight still followed him. The rest had started building their own power bases, already stoking conflicts. Civil war was inevitable.

And it had all started with Isrut's death.

In the span of that year, Gatmont had cultivated a new sensory-type Hollow, but the instigator behind all the chaos still hadn't been found. Under the new sensory surveillance, two Adjuchas-class Hollows that no one had ever seen before had appeared within his subordinate Yinfeng's forces.

The unfamiliar Reiatsu signatures let Gatmont lock onto those two Hollows immediately. Combined with the peculiar nature of Yinfeng's abilities, he was nearly certain the original assassination had been Yinfeng's work.

But over the course of that year, Yinfeng's forces had fought on his behalf multiple times. In the last half-month alone, Yinfeng had taken serious wounds shielding Gatmont from a sneak attack. That was enough to chip away at some of his suspicion.

What he didn't know was that every bit of it had been Wayne's design. The sneak attack on Gatmont, Jekain stepping in to take the blade, all of it staged, all of it engineered to drain suspicion.

Wayne himself had never let Gatmont see his concealment or spatial abilities. He'd relied on his raw Reiatsu to sell a simpler story: that his power was a temporary internal surge, nothing more.

Nel's side was equally understated. As far as anyone watching was concerned, she was just a Hollow who could use Sonído. Lanzador Verde, Cero Doble, she had never used any of it in front of the others.

Between the two of them, Wayne and Nel had been quietly filed away as non-combat types. Not worth watching.

Over time, Gatmont's guard dropped. Wayne kept operating right under his nose, and the plan moved forward.

Continuing to support Gatmont would make enemies of the rising factions, but at this stage, Gatmont still held the largest force. Unless all four factions attacked at once, any single faction that moved independently would get crushed.

"My Lord. The rebels have sent someone to negotiate."

The nine remaining Lords were still mid-council inside the Central Tree. Yinfeng sat off to one side, watching quietly. Wayne and Nel stood flanking Jekain, who was passing as Yinfeng, listening to everything.

Trouble never came one problem at a time. Before anyone had figured out how to calm Gatmont down, one of his Adjuchas-class subordinates came in with urgent news from outside.

"They're demanding that you cede most of the western forest's resources, my Lord. And they want an explanation for the recent assassinations of Adjuchas-class across the various territories."

"In their dreams!" Gatmont's Reiatsu surged, raw and wild. "Those treacherous, backstabbing scum — I should have wiped them all out the moment their hearts turned. Should have done it then and there."

About two months prior, the Central Forest had held its final full assembly. Every Lord with divided loyalties had finally snapped during that meeting, the constant assassinations of their subordinates had pushed them over the edge.

The factions had come to blows. Gatmont suppressed them with full force, but the Lords scattered and fled rather than break. Since then, five factions had carved the forest into five corners, each developing independently. Wayne's Lord faction held the eastern stretch. Under Jekain's quiet hand, three territories were already theirs.

"All Adjuchas-class, hear me! Muster your Gillians immediately. Prepare for full combat operations!"

"My Lord, the combined Adjuchas-class numbers of the four factions already far exceed ours. A direct engagement risks devastating losses." The newly promoted sensory-type Hollow had an alien shape, it resembled an oversized plankton, limbless, drifting through the air on countless tendril-like appendages beneath its body.

"Between the various Lords and their forces, they have close to a hundred entry-level Adjuchas. We have around fifty. Your Reiatsu is formidable, my Lord, but two fists can't fight four hands."

"Don't you think I know that?" Gatmont snarled, but he hadn't lost his head entirely. He knew what a fight to the last would cost him. After a war of mutual destruction, he might not have one in ten Adjuchas left standing.

"My Lord, I have a proposal." While the others were still fretting, Jekain rose to his feet. "Rather than meeting them head-on, we avoid their strength and strike their weakness. Hit fast and hard — pick off the weaker factions one at a time. Make an example of them."

"Oh?" The eyes behind Gatmont's Hollow Mask sharpened slightly, catching a glimmer of hope. "Let's hear it, Yinfeng."

Ever since Jekain had thrown himself in front of a blade for Gatmont, his standing had been climbing. His battle record didn't hurt either. Quietly, without anyone quite naming it, Jekain had become the most trusted Lord in Gatmont's camp.

"My Lord, among the four hostile factions, Gieras is the weakest. My investigation shows that aside from Gieras himself and two other Lords — all mid-class Adjuchas — the rest of his subordinates are low-class. Some are close to advancing, but as long as we cut off their resource supply, we can keep them pinned.

That said, this approach carries risk. The Central Tree is the symbol of the Great Lord's authority. If holding it becomes untenable, we may have to abandon it, let the four rebel factions fight over it themselves. That buys us time before they push further.

The western forest resources they're demanding can also be surrendered as a stalling tactic. Before we do that, though, we use Garganta to relocate any Gillians with consciousness, the ones we can actually use. The mindless ones, we save what we can.

Using that concession to delay their advance, we move to strike one or two of their Lords while they're still sorting out the spoils. Unequal resource distribution will fracture their coordination. We hit one faction, throw their formation into chaos, and then advance by retreating, consuming them piece by piece until nothing is left."

"Hmm." Gatmont went quiet. This plan meant surrendering his dignity as Great Lord, stepping down to the same footing as the others, just to survive. He sat with that.

"My Lord, those who achieve great things don't get tangled in small ones. We haven't found the wretch who's been sabotaging us from the shadows, but that person is almost certainly somewhere among the four factions. If we don't root them out before the Sacred War four years from now, we lose our right to participate. And when that happens, the insects of the Northern Forest will come looking for us. We're running out of time."

"Even so, if we consume all the factions, the Central Forest's overall strength drops considerably. After that, "

"My Lord, the wise adapt to circumstances. Once we've crushed the rebel Lords one by one, do you think those low-class Adjuchas will refuse to kneel under your name? And devouring them only makes us stronger. Whether we're facing the Sacred War or pushing into the Inner Circle, this is the path that works. All we need is enough combat power by the time the Sacred War arrives.

As for the Central Forest itself, once the rebellion is put down, the Southern Forest's monsters will still be badly weakened. That gives us room to breathe. Hold until the Sacred War ends, and everything stabilizes."

"Reasonable." Gatmont was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Then we move. Gieras's territory is in the southeast, I'll lead the strike personally. Yinfeng, take your forces east and push north, cutting off the other Lords' resources. Devour their Adjuchas-class or drive them west. Leave ten Adjuchas here to make a show of defending. Everyone else pulls out of the Central Tree. We start with those two territories."

"Yes, my Lord."

The Lords received their orders and dispersed. Wayne, Jekain, and the others filed out of the Central Tree.

East to north. Wayne turned it over in his mind as he walked.

Gatmont's decision had handed him exactly what he needed, free rein to strip the other Lords of their resources. And beyond Jekain, the three other Lords who had pledged loyalty were already his. Four Lord-class Menos, plus himself, Nel, and Jekain. Harvesting resources would be trivial. Clean, traceless, efficient.

"My King." Back in their own territory, Jekain dropped to one knee. "Our opportunity is here."

"It is." Wayne nodded. "Who's the closest Adjuchas-class Lord to our territory?"

"Peromon. Power-type, mid-class Adjuchas. Fights with his arms, raw strength. His ability uses that strength to trigger earthquakes and tear up terrain."

"Good prey." A cold light flickered behind Wayne's Hollow Mask. "Send our best sensory and scout-type Adjuchas into Peromon's territory. No lingering, no engagement. I want the terrain mapped and the Gillian distribution charted. We move after Gatmont launches his push on the south."

"Yes!"

A week later, Wayne moved out with Nel, Jekain, and the three Lord-class Menos under his command, heading into Peromon's territory.

Where their land bordered Peromon's, there was a stretch of low hills. Wayne had his subordinates excavate half of it, shaping the terrain into a natural hunting enclosure.

Then the three Lord-class Adjuchas used their summoning methods to draw nearby Gillians in. Jekain locked down the space. Wayne moved through the shadows, silent, picking targets apart. Nel followed behind, her absorption ability erasing every trace. Wave after wave of Gillians walked in. None walked out.

Resources poured in. Wayne's group grew stronger. With Gatmont keeping the other factions occupied, and those factions too busy squabbling over new territories to look east, no serious counterattack came. The operation ran without a hitch.

Weeks passed. The territory's resources began to thin.

Peromon noticed.

"Why have the Gillian numbers dropped so much?" he demanded, scanning his subordinates. "Not just the mindless ones, I haven't seen the conscious ones around either. What's happening?"

"My Lord, according to my sensory readings, a large number of Gillian Reiatsu signatures have been vanishing at the southern border. I suspect a large Sandy Expanse entrance may have opened up somewhere in the south."

"Send men to check immediately. If you find an entrance, seal it on the spot."

"Yes, my Lord!"

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