Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 183 - Fragments
“Ace Wayne?” Karlov’s Reiatsu rippled. Then fury flooded his face. He knew exactly who Ace Wayne was.
Decades ago, Ace Wayne had ruled this western land, lord over vast swaths of territory. Karlov, back then, had been nothing. Just another nameless member of a small western tribe.
Wayne’s subordinates had come demanding submission. When the tribal chief refused, they cut him down where he stood. Leaderless, the low-ranking Hollows scattered. Some died. Others fled.
Karlov was one of the lucky ones. Stumbling through his escape, he somehow accumulated enough Reiatsu to break through to Vasto Lorde. He carved out a new faction in a remote corner of the west. Then, a little over a decade ago, a routine scouting run turned up something strange, Ace Wayne’s forces had vanished. So Karlov marched his people in, seized the castle by force, and crowned himself king of the mountain.
He’d asked around. The story was always the same: Ace Wayne’s faction was gone. Wiped out by some powerful figure, the rumors said. Never confirmed.
And now some Soul Reaper had the nerve to stand there and claim the name. Did this fool think Karlov had spent centuries in Hueco Mundo for nothing?
“Ace Wayne was a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow.” Karlov leaned forward, ready to crush this impostor whose Reiatsu didn’t even reach Vasto Lorde level. “What exactly are you pretending to be?”
“There are things you aren’t capable of understanding.” Wayne drew his Zanpakutō slowly with his left hand. “Vasto Lorde-level Reiatsu? Fine. Let me show you what that looks like.”
He gripped the hilt. His right hand traced the flat of the blade, and the Sky-Rending Greatsword settled into his grasp. Behind him, the Hollowfied Wayne materialized: Levi, the embodiment of his Zanpakutō. Both of their Reiatsu erupted at once, surging and merging. Wayne’s power spiked. In moments it shattered the Adjuchas ceiling and slammed into early-stage Vasto Lorde.
“What?!” Karlov reeled. The Soul Reaper’s Reiatsu had just skyrocketed, and it felt like Hollow Reiatsu now.
Pale-gold energy rose in steady waves. Wayne’s strength kept climbing.
At its peak, Wayne swept the greatsword diagonally. A massive sword beam tore toward the enemy. The strike mirrored the one he’d thrown outside the castle walls, but this one hit several times harder. Only now did Karlov realize the figure outside had been a phantom. His side hadn’t landed a single point of damage.
BOOM!
The sword beam shattered. Karlov stumbled backward. His right arm was shredded, then restored itself in an instant. Reversion was proving remarkably useful.
“That power...” Cold sweat beaded on Karlov’s forehead. “Definitely Vasto-level.” Reversion could restore his body, but it still burned Reiatsu. If his reserves ran dry, death wouldn’t be far behind.
“Two ways to finish him.” Wayne tracked the shifts in Karlov’s Reiatsu, pale-violet eyes narrowing. “Drain him dry... or take him out in one blow.”
He chose the latter. Draining meant risking a self-destruct, a bad trade. One decisive stroke. Simple. Brutal. He launched himself skyward. “Comrades — cut them all down. The big one’s mine.”
“Yes, my King!”
Eighty-plus Hollows shot forward as one, crashing into an enemy force of fewer than fifty.
Morale could decide a battle. Wayne’s side had started at half the enemy’s strength. But through careful planning, they’d traded fewer than ten of their own for over a hundred of the enemy’s. That ten-to-one ratio had lit a fire in his forces. Now, with fewer than fifty Adjuchas-class enemies left, his eighty Hollows had no reason to lose. They threw themselves into the fight without hesitation.
High above the melee, Wayne and Karlov ascended together.
“You claim to be Ace Wayne?” Karlov watched him warily.
“Yes. I am Ace Wayne.” Quiet. Steady. “Surprised?”
“Ace Wayne was a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow. You’re a Soul Reaper. How could you possibly be him?”
“You don’t recognize me.” Wayne swung the Sky-Rending Greatsword once, then leveled it at Karlov. “But surely you recognize this sword. I ruled here. The moment I was gone, the likes of you came crawling out? You thought you could walk all over me?” His Reiatsu surged. Another sword beam ripped outward, and this time Wayne didn’t stay put. He charged alongside it, driving straight at Karlov.
BOOM!
The beam shattered. Crimson seeped from Karlov’s arm. Before he could activate his ability, Wayne’s blade was already closing in.
CLANG!
Wayne’s greatsword crashed against a conjured Reiatsu shield.
“Oh?” Wayne raised an eyebrow. “You had that the whole time and you’re only bringing it out now?”
“Save it!” A faint green light pulsed across the shield’s surface. Wayne pulled back immediately. The light rippled, then detonated, compressing the surrounding air into a violent burst. A faint spatial distortion flickered at the edges.
Wayne’s eyes went wide. A spatial shockwave? He can generate a spatial shockwave? Or, does this bastard have a fragment of Spatial Law?
“How... are you doing that?” Wayne’s brow furrowed.
“None of your business.” Karlov retracted the shield and began restoring his body.
“Back when I worked with Baraggan, he said the Time Law and the Spatial Law share a strong resonance. That’s why he was willing to cooperate with me. If this guy holds even a small fragment of Spatial Law alongside a fragment of Time Law... using both in tandem?” A glint of naked greed flickered through Wayne’s eyes. “He has to die. Even without the Laws, I need that Hollow Mask.”
He planted the Sky-Rending Greatsword upright. His Reiatsu erupted to its absolute limit.
Ban... kai!
Pale-gold Reiatsu blasted skyward. Soul Reaper and Hollow energies intertwined, fusing together. Wayne’s presence climbed to a terrifying height. The combined pressure shoved Karlov back two steps involuntarily.
“What... what is happening?!” Karlov had clearly never seen anything like this.
At the center of the pale-gold storm, Wayne stood armored. His left hand gripped the Sky-Rending Greatsword. His right was sheathed in horn-like plating, claws extending from the fingertips. From the right side of his face, a white Hollow Mask spread outward from his eye. This was the highest form he could currently drive from his Zanpakutō, the Hollow Fusion Form. The state he called Bankai.
Wayne had always kept meticulous control over his Hollow Reiatsu. Even when releasing his Zanpakutō, he could fight with Soul Reaper power alone. Using Levi’s power required converting Hollow energy into Soul Reaper Reiatsu. But when he chose to, he could unleash both at once. This fusion form was his combat peak, his Bankai.
“What... is that?!” Karlov was stupefied. Soul Reaper and Hollow Reiatsu fused together. What kind of Bankai was this?
“Whatever your ability is.” Wayne’s voice came out doubled, Soul Reaper Wayne and Hollow Wayne speaking as one. “Today, you die.”
WHOOSH!
Sonído. Karlov had no time to react. A sharp pain screamed across his back, his senses shrieking a warning. Too slow. Karlov barely started to guard when Wayne’s sword came down.
Shattering Slash!
THUD!
The Sky-Rending Greatsword carved through Karlov’s Hierro like paper, leaving a gash so deep it hit bone.
“You—!” Karlov spun. Wayne was already gone. The next instant, pain bloomed from the front.
Karlov threw up his Reiatsu shield, desperate to block.
BOOM!
The same shield that had pushed Wayne back moments ago shattered like glass. The impact carried both Reiatsu types fused together, it crushed the shield outright and drove straight into Karlov’s shoulder without slowing.
Shadow Step!
Wayne flicked his wrist and dragged the greatsword down. Karlov’s entire right arm came off.
“Damn it!” Karlov ripped himself backward, throwing up layer after layer of shields while Reversion struggled to heal him. Wayne gave him no room. A pale-gold sword beam slashed out. The shields split apart. A gash tore from Karlov’s shoulder all the way down to his abdomen.
Shadow Step, Frenzied Dance!
No breath. No pause. The relentless chain of strikes left Reversion unable to keep pace.
“Damn it all — retreat!” Wayne’s blows had shattered Karlov’s will to fight. He’d hit a wall. This time, he’d lost not just his subordinates, he was about to lose his castle too. Battered and bleeding, he forced his Reiatsu shield’s spatial shockwave, buying a window to flee.
“Running? Too late.” Wayne wasn’t letting him go. He still wasn’t sure what Karlov’s ability was, but once he swallowed that Hollow Mask, he’d find out.
“Let me show you something special.” Shunpo closed the gap. Wayne’s sword smashed through Karlov’s raised shield and buried itself in his shoulder. “This move’s borrowed. But to celebrate his return — savor it.”
Wayne’s expression sharpened with something close to exhilaration. Pale-gold Reiatsu poured into the blade.
“Getsuga... Tensho!”
A pale-gold crescent rose from the Sky-Rending Greatsword. A colossal lunar blade cleaved Karlov clean in two. The force didn’t stop, it raced toward the distant peaks and detonated. A hilltop kilometers away erupted into scattered gravel and sand.
“How... can... this...” Karlov, bisected, still clung to life. He pressed his remaining hand to his midsection, trying to trigger Reversion. Wayne seized the moment of weakness. He stepped forward, grabbed Karlov’s Hollow Mask, and swept the Sky-Rending Greatsword through a clean arc. The head came off. Before Karlov was fully dead, Wayne tore the mask free and swallowed it.
Vasto Lorde-level Reiatsu exploded inside him. Wayne was still in Hollowfication, he used his Hollow Reiatsu to neutralize the rampaging Reishi, then brought his Soul Reaper Reiatsu down to suppress, temper, and convert it.
Seeing Wayne settle cross-legged in midair, Jekain flashed forward with Sonído and wrapped him in Negación. Below, the battle raged on.
With Karlov dead, the remaining Adjuchas-level enemies collapsed. No surprises, Wayne’s subordinates wiped them out. The cost: over twenty Adjuchas-level Hollows lost on Wayne’s side.
Before the fallen could disperse into Hueco Mundo, Jekain ordered every corpse gathered and brought inside the Negación. Wayne could extract their Reishi whenever he was ready.
Wayne sat in the air, absorbing the Reishi within him. Jekain stood silent guard. The remaining Hollows cleaned the battlefield and began clearing the castle interior.
This place had been their home. One year after their king’s return, they had set foot on this soil again.
The refining didn’t take long, barely a month. But to strengthen himself further, after absorbing part of the Vasto Lorde-class mask, Wayne swallowed every Hollow Jekain had brought him. Partly to elevate his Hollow-state Reiatsu. Partly to keep them from fading into nothing. Even the enemy masks he had no desire for, his fallen comrades were different. He had to consume each one. It was their honor. He would not fail them.
A month passed. Inside the Negación, Wayne opened his eyes. Jekain waved a hand and dispersed the barrier.
“My King. You’ve emerged.”
“Mm.” Wayne nodded, exhaling long. He released his Hollowfication, sealing the power back into his Zanpakutō. “Casualties?” He’d been too absorbed in the process to count.
“Twenty-six of our own dead. Some, while they still drew breath, said they wished to be consumed by you. I gathered every fallen Hollow and sent them over, along with the spoils.” Jekain’s voice carried weight. “Still, we harvested over a hundred Adjuchas-level Hollows. The brothers have all grown considerably stronger.”
“Mm. They are our glory.” Wayne clapped Jekain on the shoulder. “Let’s head back. To the Forest of Menos.”
Jekain blinked. “My King, this place... we...” They’d just taken the castle. They were abandoning it?
“For certain reasons, we can’t return here to live. Not yet.” Wayne shook his head. “But we’ve taken it. How could we not put it to good use?” A faint smile.
“We’ll head back first. I’ll lay out the plan once we’re there.”
“...Yes, my King.”
---
P.S. Forgive the indulgence, with the Thousand-Year Blood War arc finally getting its anime adaptation, I couldn’t resist throwing in a Getsuga Tensho. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
➤ Next: Return