Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 181 - Counterattack — Clash

Time slipped by. In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.

Wayne never once left his Reiatsu-absorbing barrier during that year, and Jekain kept it running without a hitch. They fed nearly five thousand Gillian and over a hundred Adjuchas-class Hollow beasts into it. All of them became nourishment for Wayne's power. Even with his uniquely compressed constitution, that massive harvest only pushed his Zanpakuto's strength up by twenty percent. By the old Vasto Lorde standards, Wayne had now recovered half his former Reiatsu. Combined with his Soul Reaper spiritual power, he was fully capable of fighting a Vasto Lorde. Only two things held him back, his concealment and spatial abilities still hadn't returned, cutting his combat effectiveness sharply.

But a year of absorption had given him enough strength to wrestle with his enemies. Today was the day he emerged from seclusion to return to Hueco Mundo and take back his fortress.

"My King, we've gathered roughly eighty Adjuchas for this counterattack. The enemy still outnumbers us two to one." Jekain approached after the assembly. "How do we fight them?"

"We eat them batch by batch." Wayne rubbed his neck. "The Negación technique we used when we first started building our forces in Hueco Mundo — it still works. No one's gotten rusty, have they?"

"Of course not, my King. While you were away, every combat unit trained on the battle methods we established back then. Every brother's Negación use is razor-sharp. Aside from high-ranking Adjuchas, all Hollow beasts hunt in squads of at least three. Casualties are minimal, and our success rate and haul have stayed high."

"Good. Then we stick to the old way — swallow their hunting squads batch by batch. Once we're ready, we hit the castle directly."

"Yes, sir!"

Wayne ordered Jekain to open a Garganta. Over eighty Adjuchas set out together and returned to Hueco Mundo.

Within half a month they reached a position roughly thirty kilometers from the castle and dug in. Timd hadn't been idle over the past year. He had sent his clones to scout near the castle repeatedly, tracking the occupying Hollow beasts' movements. After more than a year of observation, he had learned their pattern: each hunt dispatched ten to twenty beasts, splitting into four directions simultaneously, with one hunting cycle lasting ten days. Casualties happened, but they were almost always minor, large-scale deaths were rare. And because Wayne had already subdued the Hollow forces within a hundred-mile radius when he ruled this land, the occupiers had it easy. If not for Aizen's interference, Wayne would still be king here.

All his earlier efforts had become a gift to someone else. With a Vasto Lorde-class Menos leading them, the smaller powers offered no resistance. They submitted quickly. As long as they handed over a fixed amount of resources on schedule, they were left largely unshackled, no need for a costly rebellion.

"My King, in a few days a hunting squad will head our way. Ten to twenty of them. My clone is already concealed closer in. Once I see their faces, I'll be able to identify some of their abilities."

"Good." Wayne nodded. "Then we wait on their path and let them come to us." He cast one last glance toward the castle, then turned and left.

The horn of the counterattack had sounded.

Less than three days later, a small group of Adjuchas-class Hollow beasts barreled straight into the net Wayne had laid. Their highest Reiatsu was only mid-tier High-class. Fourteen Adjuchas in all. The moment they stepped into the trap, their death sentence was sealed.

"Stop!" The squad leader, a dinosaur-like Hollow, caught a whiff of danger and ordered his team to halt. Too late. They were already inside Jekain's spatial confinement. Turtles in a jar. No escape.

BOOM!

Jekain's spatial seal snapped open. Timd's high-grade Hollow Beast Mines rained down like a storm. Explosions roared without pause, giving the hunting squad no time to react. When the poison mist cleared, nearly sixty Hollow beasts and Wayne descended on them in a frenzy. The remaining twenty stood watch outside the barrier, guarding against any outside Hollows spotting the fight and rushing back to sound the alarm.

The prepared against the unprepared. Wayne devoured the entire squad clean. The enemy didn't leave a single word behind. After the battle, Wayne kept the Hollow Masks of five mid-tier Adjuchas for his own advancement. The rest was divided among his forces to keep their Reiatsu at full strength.

The whole harvest took less than two hours. Wayne ordered the battlefield swept clean, then they moved on and found a new position to set the next trap.

Dozens of days after that squad vanished, the Hollows back at the castle noticed they were one team short. They concluded the squad must have been eaten by a passing powerhouse. Scouts went out and found nothing. Over ten days had passed, even if Reiatsu traces had lingered on the ground, they were long gone by now.

The scouts returned empty-handed and faced no punishment. The law of the jungle was nothing new. Maybe those dozen-plus Adjuchas had the bad luck to run straight into a Vasto Lorde. Entirely possible. After the fruitless search, the Vasto Lorde leader dropped the matter and kept sending out hunting squads. Wayne's patience had paid off.

No surprises. Wayne ambushed and swallowed another sixteen Adjuchas in one go, then moved immediately, following intel from Timd's clone to hunt down the other squads.

One ambush could be a fluke. A second incident? Any clear-eyed observer would see it for what it was, a deliberate, targeted campaign. So even without the advantage of traps, Wayne had to devour every hunting squad before they returned to the castle. If even one of them reported back and alerted the Vasto Lorde leader, Wayne would lose the initiative.

Fortunately, this squad had fewer than twenty Adjuchas. Wayne had eighty, plus himself, a Soul Reaper with combat power on par with a Vasto Lorde. Surviving against Wayne's forces was harder than climbing to heaven.

But without traps, Wayne's forces had to fight head-on. After swallowing two squads by force, they took casualties. Four mid-tier Adjuchas were wounded beyond recovery and fell before their comrades.

"My King, Reuelas and the others can't hold on." Jekain delivered the report after the third battle.

"Let me see." Wayne's brow furrowed. He went to inspect the four.

"My King..." The four Hollow beasts lay limp on the ground, bodies riddled with wounds and gaping bloody holes. Wayne could feel their lives draining away. "This may be the end for us."

Reuelas's voice was weak. His gaze was not.

"Good brothers. Thank you for staying by our side all this time." Wayne reached forward and grasped a bone spur on the Hollow before him. "I know you never stood out in our ranks. But you've been with us since I became a Vasto Lorde, haven't you? I still remember us taking stronghold after stronghold together. It was your company that let our force climb to its greatest heights."

"My King..." Reuelas's Reiatsu rippled faintly. "I never thought... you would remember me."

"Of course I do. I'm proud to have comrades like you. You're the ones who guarded the throne while I lay dormant. You protected our force from outside invasion."

"Heh... to be remembered... by the King... I, Reuelas, can die without regrets." His skeletal body eased to the ground as if a great weight had lifted. "My King... I once heard Lord Jekain speak of how, back then, the comrades you favored were willing to be devoured by you. If... I am so fortunate... I wish to become part of your power. To fight at your side forever."

"A fine bird chooses its tree. A worthy minister chooses his lord. My King, to become part of your power is the highest honor I can imagine. I hope you will grant this."

Those words. Wayne had heard them before, from Inola, one of his very first subordinates.

Wayne had told Jekain that story. Jekain had told every Hollow beast. In their eyes, Wayne was not merely a King. He was faith. Undefeated faith. As long as Wayne lived, this force, this family, would never fall. That conviction had spread through every comrade under his banner. And now Reuelas felt it again, truly, deeply, the presence of his King, Ace Wayne.

"Very well." Wayne nodded. He drew his Zanpakuto and pushed his Hollow-self projection to its absolute limit.

"Comrades of mine — merge with my power. In the days ahead, I will show you vaster lands, and you will see our force rise again in glory."

"We are forever with you, our King." The four dying Hollows relaxed. Death no longer felt like terror. It felt like honor, the highest honor.

Wayne devoured them one by one. Everything, Hollow Mask, flesh, blood, all of it.

To outsiders it might look like any other feeding. To Wayne and his subordinates it was something else entirely. Those who knew Wayne understood their King was a picky eater. Aside from Hollow Masks, he rarely touched flesh and blood.

Having taken his four companions into himself, Wayne's Reiatsu grew. They moved to a position less than five kilometers from the castle and lay in wait for the last hunting squad.

Two days passed. A group of seventeen or eighteen Hollow beasts entered Wayne's area.

"Boss, I can't sense the other squads' Reiatsu." A perception-type Hollow spoke up. "Normally we'd link up with the main force by the time we're this close to the stronghold. But I'm not picking up anyone else out here."

"Probably held up by the hunt," the squad leader said dismissively.

"Boss, I think we should be careful. That squad disappeared barely ten days ago. If whatever wiped them out is still in the area, we're in real danger."

"Relax. The castle's right there — I can see the battlements from here. No one's ambushing us this close to home." The leader was an ape-like Hollow, carrying the corpse of a small Adjuchas on his shoulder, spoils of the hunt. The body was barely two days dead, its Reishi conversion still in early stages. The other squad members carried prey of various sizes as well.

"Once we hand this in, we get a nice long rest. Use the time to improve. You're all close to mid-tier High-class, right? Push to High-class and we'll all be a lot safer."

"Unfortunately, you won't get the chance."

The voice came from nowhere. Then a black barrier crashed down and swallowed them whole.

"Who's there!" The squad leader threw down his prey and readied for battle. But what hit him was the Reiatsu of over seventy Adjuchas. His breath caught. Only now did he understand why those other squads had never returned.

"Who the hell are you?! You dare ambush Lord Karlov's hunting squad!"

"So his name is Karlov." Wayne stepped out of the shadows.

"A Soul Reaper?" The Hollows' faces went cold. Mortal enemies, the kind you fight to the death. But confusion flickered beneath the hatred. Why were over seventy Hollows fighting alongside a Soul Reaper?

"Leave three alive. Split the rest." Wayne didn't give them time to talk. His tone was as casual as deciding what to have for dinner.

"Yes, sir!"

The Hollow beasts surged forward toward their meal.

➤ Next: Counterattack II