Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 50 - Experiment
"Do we have any Adjuchas-class with explosion-related abilities?" Wayne turned his head toward Jekain, thinking of the enemies they'd eventually have to face.
"We do." Jekain nodded. "Among our forces, two low-tier Adjuchas-class have explosion-type abilities. One creates parasitic explosive organisms. The other has an explosion-based Reiryoku skill that can apply the effect to Bala — but it can't work with Cero."
"What about ones who can produce high-grade spikes or other sharp projectiles?"
"Hmm... there is one Hollow Beast whose back is covered in spines. Its ability is to fight using those back spines, and they can be fired as projectiles." Jekain seemed to be putting together Wayne's intentions.
"Have the one who makes biological bombs and the spine Hollow Beast both come here."
"Yes, My King."
"My Lord, are we setting traps?" Having followed Wayne this long, Nel understood exactly how important traps were to them.
"Yes. We need to buy some time." Wayne nodded.
"Buy time?"
"Right. We need to buy time for ourselves, help buy time for Gatmont's side, and create some chaos while we're at it."
"Hmm..." Nel wore a look of confusion, raising a hand to tap at the lip of her Hollow Mask as though deep in thought.
"Gatmont led his forces in a breakout from the south and has nearly routed one full alliance's worth of enemies — but no matter how fierce he is, the Adjuchas under him will inevitably take losses. Facing close to two complete alliances in reinforcements after that, nearly a hundred Adjuchas-class strong, even Gatmont can't swallow all of them.
Our assault on the northern alliance is moving slowly, but we're aiming to minimize losses and loot resources, so all we need to do is give Gatmont some support and slow down the enemy's reinforcements.
As long as we keep the remaining two and a half alliances from linking up, Gatmont's battle will run smoothly. And to cut down the number of attacks our own side takes, I'm going to lay down a forward trap buffer zone.
I'll also push deep into the border territories between enemies to personally ambush isolated Adjuchas-class. After we wiped out Peromon, the other lords still don't know that the Adjuchas with assassination abilities is me, so I can work some more angles here, play the same trick again. Wear down their strength and stir up conflict.
That said, this only works once more. The moment they figure it out is the moment they launch an all-out assault. By then, Gatmont and we must simultaneously be annexing an alliance's territory, otherwise victory will be very difficult."
"Uhh... My Lord, I'm having a bit of trouble following." Nel scratched at one of her antelope horns, her face completely blank.
"Ha, that's fine, it's just simple tactical coordination. Too bad technology isn't more advanced here; otherwise there'd be even more tricks to play." Wayne laughed and reached out to ruffle Nel's hair where it spilled outside her Hollow Mask.
"For the time being, I'm leaving things here in yours and Jekain's hands. Don't go messing it up on me."
"Hehe, don't worry, Lord Wayne, Nel promises to complete the mission!" Hit with Wayne's head-pat again, Nel's tail swished back and forth with great enthusiasm.
Wayne didn't have to wait long. Jekain arrived at the meeting hall with the others in tow.
"Hail, My King."
"Hail, My King."
The two low-tier Adjuchas-class bowed.
"Mm, rise." Wayne gave a slight nod. "Tell me your names and the specifics of your abilities."
"My King, I am Henden. My ability is to fire the spines from my back. They can be restored using Reiryoku and don't need to be retrieved." The spine-covered Adjuchas resembled an enormous hedgehog, though its four limbs were far from short, it looked powerfully built.
"Can it produce them without limit?"
"Yes, My King. As long as my Reiryoku holds out. They only disappear when I die."
"Give me one to look at."
"Yes." Henden bent down, pulled a spine from his back, turned the pointed end toward himself, and placed it respectfully in Wayne's hand.
Wayne took it and gripped it, feeling out the texture and flexibility. He pressed outward on both sides to bend it and found the flexibility wasn't particularly strong, he snapped it with little effort. On the other hand, the sharpness was decent. He drew it sharply across his own forearm and opened a clean, considerable wound.
Every Hollow in the room went still. Their king... really did have a taste for the extreme.
He extended the injured forearm toward Nel. She understood at once, ran her tongue over the wound, and it sealed itself completely.
Having tested the spine's quality, Wayne concluded that with enough velocity, these could pierce mid-tier Adjuchas-class hide without issue. Actually killing enemies with them, though, was another matter entirely. Spine wounds were minor injuries to most Hollow Beasts, nothing to worry about.
"A good ability." Wayne nodded, then turned his gaze to the other Hollow Beast.
"My King, my name is Gesborud. My ability is to split off tissue and form larval bombs. The yield is roughly enough to wound a low-tier Adjuchas-class. But as my Reiryoku improves, the subsequent... subsequent output should increase as well."
"Give me a demonstration."
"Yes, My King." Gesborud rose. It was a Hollow Beast with a bloated, distended abdomen, a skull resembling a dung beetle's, moving on six thin spindly legs.
It leaned forward, and from beneath its great abdominal cavity, through a process of bodily fission, a small lump of flesh dropped to the ground. Within seconds it had taken the shape of a small grub.
Under Gesborud's control, the grub turned slowly in a few circles, then suddenly leaped upward, its body radiating a yellow-white glow. An instant later it detonated. At point-blank range, the explosive force was sufficient to blast a Gillian's skull clean to pieces.
"Do these bombs require your active control?"
"My King, they are synchronized with my Reiatsu. I can control them completely."
"And the range?"
"Within my sensing range, roughly... a diameter of only seven hundred meters." Gesborud's voice dropped slightly. His detection ability wasn't strong, and he was clearly a little ashamed of it.
"It doesn't matter. That's enough." Wayne nodded. "What happens to a bomb that moves outside your sensing range?"
"My King, the bombs I split off are small living organisms in their own right. Without my control, they enter Dormant State and remain there until they sense a sufficient Reiatsu fluctuation nearby, then they reactivate. If upon reactivating they are outside my control range, they detonate immediately."
"A fine ability." Wayne nodded. "Can one of your bombs have Henden's spines driven into it without detonating, all the way up until it enters Dormant State?"
"This..." Gesborud looked uncomfortable. Under his control, his bombs certainly wouldn't go off, but outside his range was another question entirely. "My King, I have never tried that."
"Then we try it and find out."
A short while later, everyone made their way to a clearing in the forest. Gesborud split off one of his larval bombs. Henden pulled a spine from his back and drove it into the grub's body.
"Eek..."
The grub shuddered, but under Gesborud's control it didn't thrash or detonate.
"Keep going — see how many will fit." Wayne gave a calm nod.
"Yes." Henden received the order and kept driving spines in.
Eek...
Eek!
The grub was quickly turned into a tiny pincushion. Roughly thirty spines jutted from its body, and still it hadn't exploded.
"My King, I can feel that this is lowering my grub's vitality. I believe... if any more go in, my grub will die." Gesborud looked pained. It was his own larval offspring being used like this. He could only follow orders.
"Mm, then stop." Wayne raised a hand.
"Jekain, Nel — go fetch two Gillians."
"Yes."
"Yes, My Lord."
Neither of them knew what Wayne was planning, but they did as told. Before long, both returned leading a Gillian each.
"Gesborud, withdraw your control first and let the bomb go dormant."
"Yes, My King." Gesborud stepped forward carefully. Normally he could control his bombs with ease, but right now the spines had destabilized it badly, making it extremely volatile. Even for him, this required care.
About a minute passed. Gesborud let out an involuntary breath. Only then did he bring the bomb into a stable Dormant State.
"That was a bit slow." The look behind Wayne's Hollow Mask carried a trace of disappointment.
"It is this subordinate's failing, My King. The spines left my bomb in an unstable state, and dealing with a bomb this unstable is something I have never done before, so I did not dare be careless."
"Ah, that's not what I meant." Wayne laughed and shook his head. "The 'slow' I was referring to was a different timing entirely. Anyway, let's see the results first."
"Yes."
Gesborud jumped down from the raised platform where the others stood, buried the bomb in the sand at the best observation point beneath it, then completely severed his connection to it and pushed the two Gillians toward its vicinity.
Sensing the approach of the two Gillians' Reiatsu, the grub in the sand stirred awake, and in the next instant launched itself out of the ground.
"Eek!"
BOOM!
The moment it burst from the sand, it blazed white and detonated. The two Gillians were sent tumbling by the blast wave. But after the wave passed, they wobbled back to their feet, appearing not to have taken serious damage.
"Hmm?" Gesborud spoke up.
"What is it?"
"The yield dropped significantly." He scratched his head. "At the usual force, those two Gillians would have been blasted into critical condition, possibly killed outright, of that I'm certain. And this time the grub's jump height seemed off too."
"Could it be that the spines damaged the larval bomb and caused the yield to drop?" Nel tilted her head and asked.
"This... this subordinate isn't entirely sure either." Gesborud thought it over, then shook his head.
"Let's go down and take a look." Wayne's expression stayed calm. He dropped from the platform first via Sonído. The other Hollows exchanged glances, none of them knew what he was actually after, and followed him down.
➤ Next: Hollow Beast Mine