Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 90 - Bawabawa

Chapter Ninety

The next day, rested and ready, Wayne and Nel teleported back to the mountain range where Harribel made her home. She sensed Wayne's Reiatsu the moment they arrived and emerged from the cave with her three subordinates in tow. Shak, who had been waiting at the cliff's edge for word from Baraggan, had not followed, he had likely already set off to deliver the news.

"L-Lord Wayne." Harribel still wasn't used to it, but she addressed him as "lord" all the same. Calling him "my king", that was a hurdle she had yet to clear.

"Your subordinate Tia Harribel greets my lord." She dropped to one knee before him.

"G-Greetings, my lord." The Three Beast Gods knelt alongside their leader, though reluctance was written all over their faces. Harribel had clearly spent the night working on them. What exactly she'd said was anyone's guess, and Wayne couldn't be bothered to ask.

"Are you all prepared?" Wayne asked. A full night was more than enough for a group of only four Hollows.

"Yes, my lord." Harribel answered. Looking closely, none of the four carried any belongings. This place had been nothing more than a fixed shelter, somewhere to keep out the wind and... well, there was no rain in Hueco Mundo. Sandstorms, at most.

"Let's move. The trials ahead aren't suited for your subordinates. I'll send you all to my territory first. Your three will need time to settle in."

"Tch. He's just looking down on us." Apache clicked her tongue, though she kept the thought safely to herself.

"Yes, my lord." Harribel raised no objection. She understood Wayne's reasoning well enough. Three purposes: first, to integrate her subordinates into Wayne's faction as quickly as possible. Second, to let them run with Wayne's forces and have their rough edges worn down. And third, to establish them within Wayne's territory as a form of insurance against any complications while she accompanied him.

Harribel understood all of this. But given Wayne's methods and the sheer scale of the forces behind him, she felt the third reason was largely unnecessary. She was no match for him, and with hundreds of Adjuchas-class Hollow Beasts at his back, wiping out all four of them would require no real effort. He could simply roll over them.

They followed Wayne to the array core he had inscribed the night before. It was an extension of his spatial ability, using his own Reiatsu to construct a spatial node capable of transporting multiple bodies in a single jump. He could have taken them back one by one, of course. But he wanted to experience mass teleportation firsthand. This mattered for future battles: whether he could deploy multiple fighters onto the field in one move.

"Nel, stay here and help receive Baraggan. I'll take them back first to get settled."

"Understood, my lord."

Wayne's body shimmered with pale-gold Reiatsu. Moments later, all five of them arrived at his territory, landing outside the cliffs that overlooked his city.

"This is..." The three had never been teleported before. The sight stunned them.

Towering buildings and pavilions rose in every direction. The white sand that had once blanketed the ground was now covered by neat, even stonework. Walls stretching for hundreds of li enclosed the cliffs on three sides, sheltering hundreds of Hollow Beasts within. Among those hundreds, there was no fighting, no killing, every Hollow went about its work in orderly fashion, or rested in small groups of three or five. Aside from those actively using their abilities on assigned tasks, not a single one dared release its Reiatsu freely.

Harmony. That was the first word that came to all three minds.

"You're kidding. That guy is actually this powerful?" Apache stared, dumbstruck. She had heard Nel mention once that Wayne had been building his forces since he was still a lower-level Hollow Beast. But seeing hundreds of Adjuchas-class, plenty of them at peak stage, living together this peacefully shattered everything she thought she knew.

"Astonishing. Managing over a hundred Adjuchas-class Hollow Beasts so smoothly — this rivals Baraggan." Sun-Sun craned her snake heads as high as they would go, her entire serpentine body stretched upright just to take in the full sweep of the plaza.

"Astonishing doesn't cover it. This is staggering." Mila Rose wore an equally disbelieving expression. "How did he even do this?"

"ROAR!"

As Wayne descended, a sentinel-type Hollow Beast spotted his arrival and let out a long howl toward the sky, signaling to everyone present that their king had returned and was watching from above.

For a moment, every Hollow Beast paused. Every gaze turned upward toward the king standing atop the cliffs.

WHOOSH!

Wayne raised a hand. A wave of pale-gold Reiatsu spread outward, signaling the Hollows below to continue their work. The moment they sensed that gentle pale-gold aura, each one bowed its head in acknowledgment, then returned to its task. Only Jekain used Sonído up from the plaza below, landing before Wayne and dropping to one knee, awaiting orders.

"Jekain, meet some new companions." Wayne made the introductions. "Harribel you met yesterday. These are her subordinates — Sun-Sun, Mila Rose, Apache."

"Yes, my king." Jekain acknowledged the words and gave the three a simple nod. As a subordinate himself, he had no need to greet them the way he would Harribel. "Hello."

"This is Jekain — my partner and the administrator of this territory. From now on, you'll report to him."

"Yes, Lord Wayne." The three exchanged glances, then turned to Jekain. "Greetings, Lord Jekain."

"Jekain, arrange their quarters. Have Timd take them through literacy instruction. Once you've assessed their abilities, assign them duties."

"Yes, my king." Jekain bowed his head.

"Literacy instruction? What's that?" Mila Rose's lion head tilted, with no real grasp of what written knowledge meant.

"An important strategic skill. You'll understand once you've learned it." Wayne offered no further explanation. That was Timd's job. As for taking them out hunting, that depended on how well they integrated. Wayne had no use for unknown variables that might drag down his forces' success rate in the field.

Of course, once he had a clear picture of their abilities, if the benefits were significant, he wouldn't mind taking the risk. Nor did he need to worry too much. Harribel was in his hands, and that alone would keep the three in line.

"Alright. The rest is yours. I still have a campaign to join with Baraggan. If anything urgent comes up, have Timd notify me."

"Yes, my king." Jekain nodded and watched Wayne depart.

"Then follow me — I'll introduce you to the others."

"This... yes, my lord." Watching Wayne hand them off so casually left the three briefly at a loss. But they followed Jekain down all the same. Hopefully the time ahead would bring them some growth.

On the other side of things, Wayne brought Harribel back to her base. But when he glanced over at Nel, he found her playing beside... what exactly was that?

Next to Nel, a Hollow Beast barely reaching her shin, shaped like a loach, was circling around her. Nel was stepping around it with all four limbs, seemingly bullying, well, playing with the little creature.

"Nel." Wayne called out softly, interrupting the game.

"Hm? My lord~" Nel heard his voice and Sonído'd directly in front of him. "My lord, you're back."

"Yeah. What are you..." Wayne tilted his head, eyeing the loach-like Hollow Beast.

"Ah, that one." Nel put two fingers to her mouth and whistled. The loach Hollow Beast came waddling over.

"Hehe. I got bored, so I went poking around nearby for something to pass the time — and I found this little one."

"Bawa! Bawa!" The loach Hollow Beast seemed to understand Nel's words, crawling over and bawa-ing at her. But the moment it got close and registered the two Vasto Lorde-class presences looming before it, the little thing started shaking like a leaf.

"A lower-level Hollow? Surviving here in Hueco Mundo?" Wayne's interest was piqued. In the inner reaches of Hueco Mundo, lower-level Hollows almost never survived, any passing Adjuchas could flatten one underfoot without a second thought. This one had been lucky to run into Nel. Still, the little creature had guts: a lower-level Hollow, actually able to withstand the teasing of a peak-stage Vasto Lorde like Nel.

"Nel, we're leaving."

"Oh, okay, my lord." Nel looked down at the loach Hollow Beast. "Little one, goodbye. Everything out here is terrifying. With your strength, you'd better burrow back underground and head to the outer circle."

"Bawa, Bawa!" The little loach seemed to understand. It flicked its tail, darted a quick lap around Nel, and seemed to carry just a hint of reluctance.

"Interesting little one. It's developed a conscious mind, but can't speak." Wayne crouched down, reached out, and gave the loach Hollow Beast a poke.

(ΩДΩ)

"Bawa! Bawa!" The loach Hollow Beast nearly fainted on the spot. The pressure was simply too much. It curled into a tight ball and dared not move.

"Hehe, it's cute, isn't it, my lord?" Nel was showing it off like a prized treasure.

"Hard to judge the aesthetics of a loach shape... but having a little one like this around does seem kind of fun."

"My lord, can I keep it?"

"Hmm?" Wayne glanced sideways at Nel. In all the time she had been with him, she had never really asked him for anything. This was the first time, not counting when she'd asked him to bring back fruit from the World of the Living.

"If you like it, go ahead." Wayne nodded.

"Yay~" Nel jumped up, beaming. "Little one, did you hear? Lord Wayne said I can keep you~" She scooped the loach Hollow Beast up in her arms.

"Bawa~ Bawa~" The loach Hollow Beast had understood the whole exchange. It let out a sigh of relief, and then filled with joy.

Me. A lower-level Hollow Beast. With a Vasto Lorde-level heavyweight watching over me!

"Haha, starting today, you're my pet! Hmm... I'll call you Bawabawa!"

"Bawabawa~"

"Hmm?" Wayne's gaze sharpened slightly. A thought surfaced. "If I remember right, Nel had a pet in the original series called Bawabawa. Looked like a loach-type Hollow Beast too. What are the odds?"

Wayne stared at the little loach Hollow Beast, lost in thought. By his current assessment, he had already completely altered the trajectory of Nel's growth. And yet here in Hueco Mundo, she had still run into a pet exactly like this. Did that mean some threads of fate simply couldn't be changed? No, his involvement had absolutely changed Hueco Mundo's history. With his current Vasto Lorde-class power, he had undeniably set off an enormous butterfly effect. And yet this pet... could this really be fate at work?

Wayne shook his head. Whatever. Maybe it was just Nel's natural affinity drawing this little one to her on instinct. Though the Bawabawa he remembered from the original series was dozens of meters long. This little one...

"Probably hasn't evolved yet. After all, in the original series there's still a long while before Nel becomes an Espada. Though come to think of it, that might not be so far off now." Turning the timeline over in his mind, Wayne's expression drifted into a slight daze. Had he been slacking off lately? But then he glanced back at Nel, romping happily with Bawabawa, and let out a quiet breath. Maybe relaxing like this every once in a while wasn't so bad.

"Bawabawa, come here." Wayne called softly.

"Bawa?" Bawabawa, nestled in Nel's arms, turned its head toward Wayne, then hopped out of her grasp and came waddling over, looking up at this being it could never hope to match in a lifetime. Even without words, it understood: its true master was perhaps the king standing right before it.

"Since Nel has decided to keep you as her pet, with your current strength you won't survive even the Reiatsu shockwave from a single Adjuchas-class fight." Wayne crouched down and spoke to Bawabawa. Then he did something that nearly made Bawabawa cough up blood from sheer fright.

Wayne's left hand suddenly manifested the Sky-Rending Greatsword, and brought it straight down across his own right arm.

Blood sprayed in all directions with a wet splat.

w(O_O)w

"Bawa! Bawa!" The little loach was scared out of its wits, spinning frantically in place. It couldn't begin to comprehend what its overlord was doing.

"Eat it." Wayne endured the pain and spoke to Bawabawa, still spinning madly on the ground.

Σ(っ °Д °;)っ

"Bawa! Bawa!" The little loach was practically in tears from fright. How could it dare? What even was this? Its moment of glory?

Me, lower-level Hollow Bawabawa, having eaten a Vasto Lorde?!

"Be good. Eat it. It will strengthen you." Wayne shifted his Reiatsu, and a milky-white gel-like Reiatsu seeped out from his shoulder once more, rapidly forming a new arm.

"High-Speed Regeneration?" Watching from the side, Harribel had witnessed everything, from the conversation at the start, to Wayne severing his own arm, to the arm regenerating at speed. Wayne's actions were baffling, and they refreshed her understanding of him yet again.

She had assumed Wayne had already given everything in their fight. It turned out he had still been holding back. Factor in High-Speed Regeneration, and she simply wasn't enough to pose any real challenge to him.

At that thought, Harribel's estimation of Wayne rose yet another notch, whether for his fighting earlier, or for what he had just done.

➤ Next: Skip-Tier Evolution