Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 71 - Chance Information

"My King, we have mapped out the surrounding Adjuchas territories and the areas you wished to explore." In the conference hall, Jekain began his report to Wayne.

Time moved fast in the desolate Las Noches. In the blink of an eye, a full year had passed since Wayne and his group arrived. In that year, Wayne had finished constructing the stronghold at the Cliffside, established a Garganta to the Forest of Menos, sent men back to report on current conditions, and brought in large quantities of resources for resupply.

"After using the interrogation methods you taught us, we finally got some useful information out of one of Baraggan's subordinates. Our Cliffside stronghold faces east. About half a year's journey in that direction brings us to Baraggan's territory. To avoid detection, we didn't push deep into his domain to seek contact. As for Tia Harribel — the one you wanted to locate — we dispatched envoys to make contact. They returned to our territory recently. According to their report, Harribel has no intention of joining any faction. Her subordinates also appear to harbor strong hostility toward male Hollows, and they rejected our invitation outright.

Along the way, we passed roughly seven or eight locations occupied by Adjuchas, but for safety we didn't send anyone in to reconnoiter. We only had our sensor-types scan each site from a distance and recorded the positions.

To the northeast of our territory lies Rodfolles's domain. We attempted to make contact, but it failed. Rodfolles imprisoned our Adjuchas envoy, and three days later we sensed his Reiatsu disappear. Perhaps they killed him during interrogation, or perhaps our Adjuchas chose to self-destruct."

"Hmm..." Wayne's eyes narrowed. Rodfolles had never appeared in the anime, likely a Vasto Lorde-level Hollow native to Hueco Mundo. The real purpose of that contact attempt had been to probe whatever abilities related to Ultra-Rapid Regeneration the creature might possess.

He had reached High-Class Adjuchas, yet his regeneration speed had stagnated completely. His recovery rate was only a hair faster than an ordinary Adjuchas.

Maybe he would never learn Ultra-Rapid Regeneration in this lifetime. But he needed a direction at least. Szayelaporro, for instance, restored his stamina instantly by consuming subordinates he had created himself. To Wayne, that method was no different from swallowing a living pill.

If he could learn something similar, or fold that kind of technique into his own technology, the losses among his Adjuchas subordinates would drop considerably in the future.

Speaking of Szayelaporro, his backstory from the anime deserved a mention. Szayelaporro was also a Hollow transformed from a human. In life, he had been an alchemist, obsessed with experiments on living things. His older brother was a human general who could supply him with prisoners of war for experimentation, which meant Szayelaporro already carried considerable research experience before he ever died.

Later, the two brothers were killed together in war and became Hollows at the same time. Once Szayelaporro became a Hollow, he devoured his brother along with the experimental subjects wandering the World of the Living. That first act of consumption triggered his evolution: he became a conscious Gillian, the first stage, and made his way to Hueco Mundo.

With that consciousness intact, he spent a long stretch of time hunting and devouring. Slowly, he built strength enough to rival a Vasto Lorde. Eventually Baraggan summoned him and made him a researcher in Hueco Mundo. It wasn't until Aizen arrived that Szayelaporro became the Octava Espada under his command.

The truth was more complicated. Szayelaporro had once been Aizen's Cero Espada. But his fixation on life research drove him to split off a second soul, Ilfort Grantz, and that act caused him to degenerate back to Adjuchas-class. Aizen removed him from the Espada entirely.

It was only after he mastered the life-research technique known as Annunciation that he rejoined the Espada's ranks, reclaiming the position of Octava Espada.

All of this was knowledge Wayne had pulled from memory. He recalled wondering who that particular Hollow was back when he was still Adjuchas-class, but circumstances at the time hadn't allowed him to think it through.

Coming to Las Noches had finally given him the time to work through the intelligence on the various Hollows from the manga.

In the current timeframe, Szayelaporro hadn't yet crossed paths with Baraggan, and his level had probably not reached Vasto Lorde either. So Wayne had begun casting a wide net to search for Szayelaporro's trail, hoping to intercept him and bring him into his own camp before Baraggan got to him first.

The problem was that he only had fifty Adjuchas to work with, and the long process of expanding territory had ground them down. Of his original force, forty-three remained. Seven Adjuchas had already died during exploration.

"Set contact with Rodfolles aside for now. Tell me about the Adjuchas strongholds nearby. At this stage, hunting has to come first."

"There are six strongholds within range of our territory. The nearest is to the southwest — about three days' travel. We've already posted men to watch the area. If they make any unusual moves, we'll have warning in time to respond."

"Intelligence speed is always the problem." Wayne frowned. At this stage he had no good method for transmitting information over long distances. Within his own territory, a long howl and a burst of Reiatsu could cover a few kilometers at most. Any farther, and he needed other Hollows to relay the signal down the line. Functional, but crude, not something that could ever be called reliable.

"How many Hollows are we looking at over there?"

"According to our sensor-types, roughly twenty-seven Adjuchas. Three of them are High-Class."

"Three..." Wayne turned it over for a moment. "If the ambush is clean, we should be able to take the whole group." He had made up his mind: this would be a sneak attack. "Jekain, tomorrow, leave a few Adjuchas to guard the stronghold. Everyone else comes with me. We take that territory in one bite."

"Yes, my King." Jekain lowered his head. "But, my King — if we face twenty-seven Adjuchas at once, won't our own losses be significant?"

"Bring a large stock of Hollow Beast Mines. Lead the Adjuchas to surround their territory, but hold the attack." Wayne thought for a moment. "Twenty-seven Adjuchas — if we can take them all, that's a serious resource haul. But to keep our losses low, I'll go in first and clear out a few on my own."

"My lord, isn't that too dangerous?" Nel worried from the side. "They have three High-Class Adjuchas. If you go in alone..."

"I'll be fine. If things go wrong, I'll signal. We haven't used the smoke bombs much since the Northern Forest raid, so they're ready to go. Red means I'm in danger — everyone comes to pull me out. Green means the danger's resolved. White means charge in all at once. Otherwise, if you get no signal, hold position. Surround them, but don't advance without my order. If the enemy Adjuchas push out, use the Hollow Beast Mines to break free. If one of their High-Class makes a move, fire a yellow signal flare, that'll actually make my work inside easier."

"Understood, my lord. Take care of yourself out there. Three High-Class, the moment we drop one, the rest stop being a real threat." Nel stamped a hoof. A year of feeding in Hueco Mundo had pushed her Reiatsu close to the Adjuchas peak, and her speed was already a step ahead of Wayne's. But if this operation went well, Wayne's Reiatsu would close that gap in a hurry.

Since arriving in the Inner Circle, the Adjuchas in their group had all come to understand the same thing: without top-tier combat power, their unit couldn't survive Las Noches. So over the past year, aside from mapping the surrounding terrain, they had funneled most of their spoils to a select group of their strongest fighters, secure a certain level of self-preservation first, and worry about everything else after.

Wayne didn't need explaining. He was a natural resource sink. Nel had her innate absorption ability and could pull natural Reiryoku directly from the sand, so her consumption stayed manageable. But under Jekain there were two other capable fighters who carried the burden of the group's peak combat strength. They were also the most likely to break through to High-Class Adjuchas first.

Tasks assigned, Wayne got the team moving. Three days was nothing by a Hollow's reckoning, barely a blink against their long lifespans.

They arrived near the target stronghold without incident. Wayne ordered Nel to wait outside, activated his Concealment, and slipped in alone.

The so-called stronghold was nothing more than a silver birch forest occupied by twenty-odd Adjuchas. No defenses, no traps, no mechanisms. Compared to Wayne's own stronghold it wasn't even in the same conversation, and he entered almost effortlessly. The only thing that slowed him down was watching for any specialized sensor-types that might pierce his Concealment.

He moved slowly, deliberately. None of the Adjuchas noticed a thing.

In a corner of the stronghold, Wayne spotted an isolated Adjuchas. He didn't bother with it, just noted its Reiatsu signature and pressed on toward the center. He had to locate and neutralize the High-Class Adjuchas first. If the others got spooked before that, he'd be in a very difficult spot.

Moving deeper, he logged the positions of seven more Adjuchas along the way. Then, in the heart of the silver birch forest, he found them: three High-Class Adjuchas, resting.

Two leaned toward beast-type forms, resembling lions and tigers. The third was an Aberrant Hollow, its body covered in reddish-brown bristles, its Hollow Mask hidden completely beneath them. It looked like a mound of hay. There was no telling where its actual body was.

Wayne considered his options and decided to start with the two beast-types. Their shapes were at least legible. If they were physical-type Hollows, this fight was winnable.

He crept to within range of all three without triggering so much as a twitch. They were all High-Class Adjuchas, yes, but Wayne's Reiatsu could firmly suppress others of the same rank, and his ability development ran well beyond what an ordinary Hollow could manage. His charged Concealed Cero was less than ten meters away, and the enemy still hadn't felt a thing.

He spent several minutes building the charge. This Cero carried the full weight of dense, compressed Reiatsu, its power already pushing into Flash of the King Hollow territory. The moment the charge locked in, pale light bloomed at Wayne's right claw as his Space-Rending Slash took shape, all while he held Concealment steady.

He released the Cero straight at the lion-type Adjuchas on the left.

In the same instant, he was already behind it. His claw drove into the lion's neck.

The claws sank deep. The lion-type Adjuchas seized up in agony, unable to move. The Concealed Cero punched clean through its body a heartbeat later. Combat ability: gone. One High-Class Adjuchas, down instantly.

He hadn't split the attack between both targets on purpose. Wayne's rule was simple: better to cut off one finger than to nick all five. One instant kill beat two wounded enemies who could still fight.

The lion-type collapsed. Wayne drew the Sky-Rending Greatsword in the same motion and threw a Dimension Slash at the tiger-type Adjuchas. The tiger-type lurched backward, dodging the slash, but that dodge cost it any chance of reaching the lion-type in time.

Wayne followed through and swung at the lion-type's wounded neck. The massive head left its shoulders and spun skyward. Blood sprayed in a wide arc, and Wayne's form snapped back into visibility.

BOOM!

A vivid crimson Cero screamed toward him. The Aberrant Hollow had registered the attack the moment it landed and already shifted position to return fire.

Wayne grabbed the lion-type's Hollow Mask and bolted, heading for the positions he had marked on the way in, where the isolated Adjuchas were.

Void Flash. Spatial movement. He shifted positions at a pace that left no time to track. He had to kill as many as he could before the group fully woke up.

He blurred back to the first isolated Hollow's position and dropped Concealment entirely. His Reiatsu crashed down on the mid-rank and lower Hollows around him, pinning them. Sword up, one clean strike, Hollow Mask torn free, then gone again. The dual effect of Concealment and spatial movement meant those scattered Hollows had no time to react. Even when they registered the deaths, their first instinct was to freeze in place, go to full alert, or move toward the source, not chase.

He fled and killed in the same motion. Besides the High-Class Adjuchas, he dropped five Mid-Class Adjuchas in that single run, devouring every Hollow Mask as he went. He was nearly through the edge of the stronghold when the tiger-type and the Aberrant Hollow cut him off from the front. A few seconds later, mid-rank Adjuchas filled the space at his back.

"You killed our people and you're just going to walk away?" The tiger-type's eyes locked hard onto Wayne. That first exchange had rattled him, and he hadn't fully shaken it. But when he measured Reiatsu, they were all High-Class, and his side had over twenty Adjuchas to one. There was no reason they should lose.

"Rich lady, hungry hungry, food food." Wayne stuffed the last Hollow Mask into his mouth.

?

"Sir, am I correct in interpreting that as an insult?" The tiger-type's eyes narrowed. His Reiatsu began bleeding out slowly. He had the feeling Wayne was mocking him in a language he simply couldn't parse.

"Nah. Complimenting you." Wayne fired a signal flare into the sky. Red.

Then he was already moving, straight to the Aberrant High-Class's side, where he slapped a Negación onto it, turned, and launched a Cero at the tiger-type. His body flickered with Void Flash and he plunged into the cluster of mid-rank Adjuchas.

Zero Storm!

Pale-gold Reiatsu ignited around him. As it surged upward, streaks of pale-gold lightning gathered and came crashing down through the Hollow group.

But these weren't the mindless Hollows from the Forest of Menos. They were seasoned fighters. The moment lightning started falling, they scattered, dodging individually and probing for angles to hit him. One slipped through, Wayne caught the charge, but not cleanly, and he ate several solid hits in the chaos.

Even so, Zero Storm was an ultimate technique. Every Hollow it tagged lost combat ability on contact, dropping and convulsing where they stood. Of the roughly twenty mid-rank Adjuchas, at least half went down in one sweep.

That left Wayne with nothing in reserve for the tiger-type. He had only harassed it once with a single Cero.

"You're dead!" The tiger-type launched itself upward. Its front claws flashed with a bone-deep cold. Ice-type. Wayne raised his sword to meet it, steel met claw, and ice crept up his left hand, locking it fast.

He dropped the greatsword immediately, stepped back with Void Flash, and flooded his left hand with Reiatsu, cracking the ice before it could freeze his hand stiff.

"To shake free of my ice that quickly." The tiger-type's voice carried a grudging note. "You really are something else."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that villains die from talking too much?" Wayne summoned the Sky-Rending Greatsword and threw a Dimension Slash at the tiger-type, then followed it immediately with a pale-gold Cero. By the time either landed, he was already sprinting away.

"Get back here!" The tiger-type roared, but the attacks kept forcing it sideways.

"Don't." The tiger-type had taken two steps in pursuit when the Aberrant Hollow spoke. "I'm sealed in here. If you go alone, it's one-on-one. You won't win."

"You can't break the Negación?"

"Give me time." The Aberrant Hollow spread its bristles wide, condensing them into a mass of whipping tendrils. It hammered the Negación's light wall in a frenzy. Nothing.

Wayne's Negación was not the standard kind. Layered with his spatial ability, its durability had climbed well above normal. Starrk might have cracked it quickly, but an Adjuchas didn't have the reach.

Wayne slipped past the edge of their Reiatsu perception, changed direction, clamped down his own Reiatsu, and came back.

His objective hadn't changed: kill every Adjuchas in this stronghold and devour them all.

He re-entered without attempting another stealth approach. Every Hollow here was already on full alert, and picking them off quietly was far less viable than it had been at the start. With the group clustered together now, any wide-area attack or targeted kill would draw an immediate response. The window for clean work had closed.

He had already sent the red flare. Now he just needed to hold until Nel and the others arrived.

"That High-Class Adjuchas ran off, so why is the Negación still up?" The tiger-type stood near the light wall, watching the Aberrant Hollow batter it relentlessly. The durability on this thing was absurd.

"He's still close by. Think about his abilities." The Aberrant Hollow's voice was measured. "The initial ambush, he can hide both his form and his Reiatsu. Then the Negación. And that long-range slash earlier. This Adjuchas clearly has spatial-type abilities on top of everything else."

"Dual-type." The tiger-type's gaze went cold. "If he has dual-type abilities, he's almost certainly the king of some gathering somewhere. And that red flare he sent up..." Realization hit. "Damn. He has reinforcements!"

"WOOOOAAAAHHH!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a long howl reached them from the distance. A moment later, Reiatsu signatures flooded in from every direction, dozens of Adjuchas.

"We're — we're surrounded!" The tiger-type understood too late. There was no way out anymore.

Nel came charging through the treeline before long, stopping directly in front of the tiger-type. Her Lanzador Verde was already in hand. She looked like she'd been waiting for an excuse.

Around her, Adjuchas touched down one after another and squared off against the defenders in a direct confrontation.

"Damn you!" The tiger-type spat a Cero imbued with ice-type power. Nel swallowed it whole. Ice ability or not, a Cero was a Cero, and Cero Doble didn't discriminate.

ROAR!

Nel hit back. The tiger-type dodged, and the instant its foot moved into Sonído, Wayne came out of nowhere and drove it into the ground with a single sword strike. Pinned and unable to move, it took Nel's pink Cero directly to the head.

That wasn't the end. Wayne followed the Cero by driving his Sky-Rending Greatsword through the tiger-type's midsection. Nel's Lanzador Verde came in at the same moment. The two of them moved in perfect sync, staking the tiger-type to the ground.

"Reap!" Wayne's order went out, and every Hollow in his force charged the remaining mid-rank Adjuchas with Hollow Beast Mines in hand. The last High-Class Adjuchas was still slamming against the light wall, going nowhere.

"D, damn you... who the hell are you!" The tiger-type was out of strength. It wheezed, turned its head, and demanded an answer.

"Me?" Wayne had no interest in giving his name. "Just a passerby."

"You... slaughter everyone you please... My King won't let this stand."

"Oh? You have a King? Is he Vasto Lorde? If not," Wayne's tone was flat, almost bored. "Then I'm sorry to say, you were always going to die today."

"Heh. My King may not be a Vasto Lorde, but he is more than enough to deal with you." The tiger-type managed a dismissive laugh even now. "His power isn't something you could understand."

"Is that right." Wayne smiled. Below the Vasto Lorde level, he hadn't met anyone yet who could make him retreat, or at least, not so far. "Say the name. Maybe I'll be a little afraid."

"My King's name — is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

BOOM!

Wayne's Reiatsu detonated upward in an instant. That quiet, steady pressure that had barely shifted all day cracked open, wild and violent, punching toward the sky.

"Grimmjow?" A beat of silence. Then the laugh came, sharp and unrestrained, building fast. "Hahaha! Grimmjow! I finally found you!"

➤ Next: Secluded Cultivation