Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 68 - Hollow Night Firmament

One month passed in the blink of an eye. Wayne and the others had made full preparations, and every matter within the forest had gradually gotten on track according to Wayne's arrangements. All resources were flowing in steadily, and the birth of Adjuchas-class Hollows had begun to show more direction.

Resources were no longer scarce, and fresh blood was being produced in an endless stream. The entire forest had entered a virtuous cycle. Wayne no longer needed to worry about anything.

"King, the Emblems are complete and have been distributed to all subordinate Adjuchas-class." Timd walked up to Wayne, holding two disc-shaped Emblems in his hands.

"The disc material was made using Mude's ability, and Lord Jekain's sealing ability locked my Reiatsu split-body inside. When each of our comrades drips blood infused with Reiatsu onto it, my split-body will automatically sense it and form the Emblem's crest. The Emblem will only vanish when the Reiatsu's owner dies, and it will never revive a second time. This cuts off any possibility of counterfeits. King, these are for you and Lady Nel."

Timd presented the two Emblems to Wayne. With a flick of his finger, Wayne let a drop of blood saturated with his own Reiatsu fall onto the Emblem. Very quickly, the white Emblem revealed the shape of a greatsword, one that looked exactly like Wayne's Sky-Rending Greatsword no matter how you looked at it.

"These Emblems are excellent. In the future, when fresh blood wants to enter the Inner Circle, we can use this to find our own people."

"Yes, King. As long as I do not die, these Emblems will never disappear. And the funny thing is, I simply cannot die." Timd grinned slyly. After reaching mid-tier Adjuchas-class, the number of splits he could produce had increased even further. Besides, each Emblem only contained a sliver of Reiatsu, making a thousand of these things would barely affect him.

"Very good. Then everything is ready. It's time for us to set out." With those words, Wayne rose from the throne and looked down at the fifty-plus mid-tier Adjuchas-class gathered below.

"Comrades, everything is now ready. We will advance into the Inner Circle as the vanguard. I emphasize once more: the Inner Circle is extremely dangerous. No matter what, we must tread carefully as we develop. Find a suitable place to establish our territory."

"We obey our King's command."

"Move out!"

With those words, Wayne casually tore open space. A massive Garganta appeared abruptly in the air, and as it spread open, the fifty-plus Adjuchas-class set out. Accompanying them were over eighty captured low-tier Adjuchas-class. Though the captives had the numbers, before high-tier Adjuchas-class they had no chance of resisting.

Wayne's group stepped into the Garganta. This journey would not be short.

Using the Garganta was essentially the same as using the sands. Both could take you to a random location, but the Garganta at least brought a fixed group together, whereas the sands scattered everyone completely at random. Travel by sand was much faster, but considering safety, Wayne would rather spend extra time than risk getting separated from his own people.

Because of his spatial talent, even if they encountered a Restrictive Current inside the Garganta, Wayne was not afraid.

The length of the journey meant Reiatsu consumption, and the eighty-plus captives served their purpose here. Fortunately, since they were merely traveling, Wayne's group did not need to burn through too many rations. By the time they were drawing close to the Inner Circle, nearly thirty of the Adjuchas-class captives still remained.

The journey took Wayne and the others over half a year. The monotonous march bored Wayne to the point of nearly going stir-crazy. Fortunately, he had Nel by his side. When boredom struck he could pet the antelope head, or let Nel carry him while he dozed off and slacked around a bit.

Along the way, they ran into Restrictive Currents countless times, and the strain nearly drove the entire group to their breaking point. Fortunately, Wayne's spatial severance could shift the Restrictive Currents' positions. Without it, these fifty Hollow Beasts might never have made it out of the Garganta alive. That was perhaps why Adjuchas-class all traveled by sand rather than opening their own Gargantas.

"King, we should have arrived." The Nth time they opened the Garganta to check their route, the dusky yellow sky had finally given way to night. A bright moon hung overhead. Aside from colorful clouds drifting past it, not a single star could be seen in the heavens. The white desert reflected the moonlight into a shimmering glow, and countless petrified quartz trees, bleached pale, radiated an overwhelming air of death.

"Ah, we've finally arrived." Wayne looked out at the boundless moonlit scene and let out a quiet sigh of relief. The long march had at last reached its end. Though the journey had been grueling, they had endured it. Unlike the random teleportation of the sands, bringing over fifty Adjuchas-class through together meant they could look after one another, no risk of scattering and then struggling to regroup.

It had to be understood: the scope of Hueco Mundo's Inner Circle was far broader than the Outer Circle. If they were teleported to opposite ends, who knew how long it would take to find one another again.

Hearing that they had finally reached their destination, the Hollow Beasts filed out of the Garganta one by one, all of them curious about the Inner Circle's environment. Unlike the dim gloom of the Outer Circle, though this place was locked in eternal night, it was far, far better than the murky yellow filth they had left behind. The moment they stepped out of the Garganta, the Adjuchas-class could not help but draw deep, greedy breaths.

"Hah... hahhh... Just as I thought. The Reishi density in the Inner Circle is much greater than in the Outer Circle. Here, one could survive well even without hunting." Wayne took a forceful sniff of the air and marveled aloud. No wonder the Hollow Beasts of the Inner Circle grew faster than those of the Outer Circle. This Reishi density, several times richer than outside, was proof enough.

In fact, this level of Reishi density was a natural feeding ground for Nel. With her absorption ability, even without hunting she should be able to grow rapidly here. If Nel had not followed Wayne for revenge back then but had come directly to the Inner Circle instead, she might well have already stepped into the Vasto Lorde realm by now.

"My lord, this area is too open. It doesn't seem suitable for us to establish a stronghold," Nel said, surveying the surroundings. Aside from ridge upon ridge of sand dunes, there was only the crescent moon and drifting clouds to break the darkness.

"Right, we need to find a suitable place." Wayne looked around, then used Air Flash to gain altitude and gazed into the distance. The result made his jaw drop. For tens of thousands of kilometers in every direction, there was nothing that could serve as cover, an endless, unbroken expanse of sand dunes.

"It seems we still have to keep moving." Wayne shook his head and descended.

"There's nothing here. We need to keep moving." He pointed into the distance. "Let's head west first."

"Yes, my King." The Hollows acknowledged.

"Jekain, have the captives spread out in a herringbone formation at the front and advance first," Wayne ordered.

"Yes."

Besides serving as rations, the captives also served as bait and pathfinders. Unfortunately, these Hollow Beasts had no idea what Wayne's group intended. They could only trudge at the very front under the coercion of force.

The march stretched on for several days with no danger whatsoever. Perhaps that was simply the nature of the vast Inner Circle: either you encountered no enemies at all, or the moment you did, it was likely a force of considerable size.

After roughly three or four days, the captives at the front finally collided head-on with the first enemies they had encountered in the Inner Circle, a group of a dozen or so mid-tier Adjuchas-class. Judging by their sharp claws, fangs, and mouthparts, these Hollow Beasts were the more combat-oriented kind, and their battle techniques were not weak.

With Hollow Beast Mines in hand, however, as long as the enemy had no high-tier Adjuchas-class, this battle posed no great threat to Wayne.

But combat-oriented Hollow Beasts were a different breed. Both their vigilance and their fighting ability were genuinely impressive. Even under the cover of Hollow Beast Mines — items that were nearly unbeatable against anything below mid-tier Adjuchas-class — three Adjuchas-class still managed to flee the battlefield, and in doing so they took the lives of over ten of their own captives. Using only a split-second gap in the fighting, they vanished to who knew where, leaving behind only a few Adjuchas-class corpses for the Hollows to divide and consume.

"The first battle was decent enough, but the further we go, the more dangerous it gets. Our bait is running low." Wayne was not satisfied, more precisely, he was not satisfied with the Hollow Beast Mines' performance. Against Adjuchas-class with high combat power and high vigilance, the mines had been at least half as effective as usual. Two of them had actually been able to shake off the poison mist almost immediately. The Inner Circle was no simple place.

"My lord, those three Adjuchas-class headed north. Should we pursue?" Nel asked.

"Forget it. We continue heading west." Wayne thought it over and let them go. Pursuing might well lead to a stronghold, but he had no way of knowing how many enemies were entrenched there. Worse, survivors had slipped away, which meant knowledge of his Hollow Beast Mines would likely reach the enemy. That gamble was even more dangerous than carving out a fresh area from scratch.

They pushed on westward for several more days. Finally, at a cliffside, Wayne found an enormous reef-stone forest backed against the cliff face. A fairly good place to hide.

"My lord, look at that reef-stone forest over there." Nel pointed into the distance.

"It's a decent spot. Let's go take a look first." Wayne made up his mind and led his people toward it, reminding his Adjuchas-class to stay alert as they walked. A location he found appealing was very likely already occupied by another force's Hollow Beasts.

About three hours later, Wayne's group arrived outside the reef-stone forest. The place was utterly desolate, completely devoid of any sense of life. Turning it into a thriving stronghold would be no small challenge.

But it was still better than an endless white-sand wasteland.

"Have the perception-types ascend. Negación team, provide cover," Wayne ordered.

Several perception-types rose into the air and began scanning the surroundings at full force.

"My King, no Reiatsu traces to the north."

"None to the west either."

"The east is wasteland. No traces of life there either."

"King! South of the reef-stone forest! A large concentration of Adjuchas-class Reiatsu — roughly thirty of them!"

"So there are enemies after all." The eyes behind Wayne's Hollow Mask narrowed. "Forget it, let's keep our distance for now. It's not yet time to deal with them..."

"But, King, their Reiatsu is very strange."

"Oh?" Wayne frowned.

"Their Reiatsu... is gradually disappearing."

"Disappearing?" Wayne was thrown. How could it disappear, and gradually at that? Was there some terrifying existence over there cutting them down one by one?

"Forget it. This place isn't safe to linger. Let's first—"

"King! There's an incredibly terrifying Reiatsu heading straight for us!" The perception-type's voice spiked with panic.

"It's extremely fast! We'll see it any moment! The Reiatsu is off the charts — absurdly high, so high that... UWAAAH!"

The words weren't even finished before a shockwave of Reiatsu rolled over the entire area. The perception-type Hollow was sent flying outright, with no chance to even deploy Negación.

The Reiatsu hit Wayne like a wall of pressure, crushing the breath from his lungs. The Adjuchas-class behind him fared far worse. Several of the low-tier captives simply came apart under the force of it, crumbling away into fine dust.

"Th-this Reiatsu... it's Vasto Lorde level!"

➤ Next: Coyote Starrk