Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 313 - Base Raid

"How pathetic, Harribel." Wayne looked down at the mid-tier Vasto Lorde Arrancar who had become his prisoner. "What exactly have you been doing this past year?"

"My... King." Harribel's voice was barely above a whisper. Hearing the question, shame swept across her face. She forced her battered body upright and half-knelt before Wayne. "I'm sorry, my King... I failed to protect your territory in the east. Please punish me as you see fit."

For an entire year, Harribel had worked alone across the eastern reaches of Hueco Mundo, expanding Wayne's domain. Those were his orders. As someone whose life had been spared, who now served in atonement, she had not grown arrogant the way the three little ones had when left unsupervised. She had carried out every task Wayne gave her, faithfully, without complaint.

Yet when Wayne finally came to her, he found not only that she had lost his territory, but that she had been taken prisoner by the enemy. In that moment, Harribel fell into something close to despair. In her mind, perhaps death was the only atonement left to her now.

"Those words at least sound loyal." Wayne was unaware of the thoughts running through her head. The corner of his mouth curved slightly as he pressed on. "But tell me — why did those three useless subordinates of yours, upon learning you'd been captured, not come to us for help? Instead they charged in on their own and ended up beaten half to death by some small fry."

"They... they..." Harribel's eyes wavered, then went still with disappointment.

"You've been far too lenient with them. Every one of them has gotten too full of herself." Wayne's voice was cold. "Get up. We have work to do."

He flicked his hand. The four iron chains snapped apart. In an instant, the Reiatsu within Harribel's body began to flow again.

"Th-thank you, my King." With her ability to absorb Reiatsu restored, Harribel rose to her feet. Nel stepped forward and extended her hand, beginning to heal the wounds across Harribel's body.

"How much do you know about this place?" Wayne looked around at the surroundings, all ice-blue architecture, and spoke. The Wandenreich was far simpler than he had imagined. He had expected its full scope to be at least a city. Instead it was a single enormous palace, a massive structure wrapped in Reishi, with a cluster of buildings outside that could barely even be called streets.

Though, thinking about it, that made sense. After awakening, Yhwach had quickly seized Hueco Mundo, and after conquering Soul Society he had remodeled it into the form of the Wandenreich. He had little concern for territory he merely occupied in passing.

"I..." Harribel's expression fell. After being defeated by the enemy's leader, she had simply been thrown here and chained up. She knew nothing about this place at all. "I only know that their leader is very strong. Very, very strong. The blue Reiatsu he used made me feel like I was suffocating. I had no room to resist whatsoever."

"In one year you advanced from lower-tier to mid-tier Vasto Lorde. The pace is a little slow, but still not bad. When we get back, I want a full report from you."

"Yes, my King." Harribel didn't dare say more. Even with only the faintest trace of Reiatsu recovered, her sensing ability had returned enough to feel what surrounded her, and Nel's Reiatsu had already surpassed her own by a vast, vast margin. As for Wayne's Reiatsu, Harribel couldn't sense it at all. God only knew how much the king before her had grown in this short span of a year.

"Now. Follow me outside."

Wayne pulled Nel by her slender waist and took Harribel by the wrist. The next second, all three vanished from the ice-blue palace and reappeared outside the Wandenreich's main hall.

"Who's there?!" The Quincy soldiers left to guard the Wandenreich jerked upright at the Reiatsu signatures that suddenly appeared in the sky. How could their shadow realm possibly be invaded by enemies?

"The ones who are going to kill you."

Wayne's gaze was cold. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. A massive spatial rift tore open with a thunderous crack, and hundreds upon hundreds of Hollows and Arrancars came howling out from within.

"They're... all Hollows?! And every single one of them is Adjuchas-class or above!"

One of the Wandenreich soldiers saw the hundreds of creatures, some misshapen, some humanoid, appear all at once, and his face went white. He was a trained soldier, yes. But with his level of strength, he had never seen anything like this.

"Go inform His Majesty! Hollows have invaded the Wandenreich!"

"Too late." Wayne let out a cold laugh. He drew the Zanpakuto at his waist and pointed it straight down at the palace below.

"All dead within seven minutes."

ROAR!

Over a thousand Hollows let out a single earth-shaking howl. Reiatsu erupted across the sky and they surged downward toward the Quincy forces. In an instant, blood and flesh began painting a very different color across this empire of white and ice-blue.

"Szayelaporro." Wayne called out to Szayelaporro just as he was about to charge forward.

"Hm?" Szayelaporro halted and turned back. "What is it?"

"If you want research specimens, figure out how to capture them yourself." Wayne smiled lightly. "You have free rein for the next seven minutes — but within the three days after that, I need a detailed analysis of Quincy power from you. And a summary of whether there's any possibility of integrating Quincy power under the effect of the Hōgyoku."

"Absolutely no problem, my most respected King." Excitement lit up Szayelaporro's eyes at the prospect of freely obtaining whatever subjects he pleased. He gave Wayne a smooth, gentlemanly bow, then led his created Hollow subordinates charging down into the crowd below.

"China, sense every enemy soul on the battlefield and relay their positions to our nearby brothers as best you can."

"Got it~" Yagami China raised her hand. A luminous white net of light descended vertically from the sky, instantly marking over a hundred Quincy in the vicinity. She watched their Hollows charge in like starving beasts.

"Nel, can you use the Law of Devourment to absorb the Reishi from these buildings?" Wayne turned to ask.

"No." Nel reached out and sensed briefly, then shook her head. "The Reishi arrangement in these structures has already solidified. I can't absorb it. It seems the Law of Devourment works better against living things — it can't achieve the same effect as the Holy Slave."

"Fine. If we can't absorb it, then just destroy it all." Wayne turned his gaze to Baraggan and Starrk.

Both understood immediately. They released their Resurrecciones simultaneously, blue and red Reiatsu surging upward in tandem. Then Infinite Resupply Cero and the City of Death began to rampage across the left and right flanks of the Wandenreich's main palace. Roads were blasted apart by Cero. Buildings crumbled to ash. The Wandenreich's main base was obliterated in moments.

Total time elapsed: under seven minutes.

"My King." As the horde of Hollows ravaged the battlefield, Timd spoke up from Wayne's shoulder.

"What? Did something happen with grandmother?"

"Grandmother is safe and unharmed for now, but..."

"Just say it."

"Just now, a member of the 12th Division came to grandmother's residence and found me. He asked me to pass a message to you."

"Hm?" Wayne raised an eyebrow.

"He said... his name is Akon. On behalf of the 12th Division, he is formally requesting aid from former 10th Division Captain Tsukishiro Hinamori."

"Oh?" Wayne raised an eyebrow. "Only on behalf of the 12th Division? The old man hasn't said anything?"

"He said his captain has already headed to the front lines and that he is currently in acting command. He had originally intended to find the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki, but he heard that Ichigo is trapped in Hueco Mundo and can't get away for now, so..."

"Heh. Ask him what the old man is doing."

"Understood." Timd quickly contacted the clone. The answer came back shortly. "The enemy entered through the Dangai from an unknown location and destroyed more than half of Soul Society in under ten minutes, killing over a thousand Soul Reapers. The Bankai of the captains of the 2nd, 6th, 7th, and 10th Divisions have been stolen. Among them, the 6th Division captain and vice-captain's Reiatsu have dropped sharply — believed to have sustained critical, life-threatening injuries. 13th Division Vice-Captain Rukia Kuchiki has been severely wounded. The Captain-Commander has personally headed to the battlefield."

"So the old man hasn't engaged the enemy yet." Wayne considered for a moment. "Tell him: Tsukishiro Hinamori is now the ruler of Hueco Mundo — Ace Wayne."

Timd reached out to the clone again. This time, the clone's side stayed silent for a long while.

Several minutes later, Timd relayed the response. "My King, the Soul Reaper named Akon says that he is now, in his capacity as temporary frontline communications officer and overall battlefield commander at the vice-captain level and below, formally issuing a request for aid to the King of Hueco Mundo, Ace Wayne. At the same time, in his capacity as 12th Division Third Seat, he is issuing a separate request for aid to Captain Tsukishiro Hinamori."

"Good. Now that's a proper request for aid." Wayne gave a slight nod.

He released his Reiatsu and let it wash across the entire battlefield as a command. "Attack window is over. Everyone ascend immediately. Cero sweep, then fall back to Tsukishiro."

ROAR!

A chorus of battle cries answered him. Every one of the thousand Hollows rose into the sky. Ceros of every color began gathering, from palms, from mouths, from in front of Hollow Holes. Over a thousand sub-class Ceros delivered one final, devastating bombardment upon the Wandenreich.

"Tsuki-chan." After the barrage ended, Yagami China ran to Wayne's side. "Almost ninety-nine percent of the enemy soldiers are dead. A few are still barely clinging to life. Should we leave some of our people behind to finish them off?"

"No need. Have Szayelaporro implant explosive toxins and surveillance bacteria in the survivors, then leave them to carry the news back." Wayne's voice was completely flat. "What are our casualties?"

"Sixteen sub-class fighters killed in action. Two lower-tier Vasto Lordes were wounded in suicidal attacks from the enemy — not life-threatening."

"A bit unexpected, but still a good result." Wayne hadn't anticipated that these ordinary soldiers would have enough tricks to wound Vasto Lorde-class Hollows. "Pull out. Tell everyone to get back and recover fast, we still have a lot to do."

He raised his hand and tore open a spatial rift. Aside from Szayelaporro and his subordinates, who were still administering the toxins, the remaining thousand-plus Hollows poured back through. The entire raid had not exceeded ten minutes from start to finish. The enemy's stronghold was gone.

"Ten minutes. Yhwach's power of causality didn't calculate my attack." Wayne's eyes were calm. "It seems Aizen in Muken deserves a great deal of credit for that this time."

He had not counted on escaping unscathed. Yhwach possessed the power of omniscience and omnipotence, and coupled with the Quincy's communication capabilities, there was a very real chance that the moment he launched the assault, Yhwach would have returned in time to intercept him and trap him inside the Wandenreich.

Wayne had anticipated that. That was partly why this attack also carried the strategic intent of relieving pressure elsewhere by striking a different target. But ten minutes had passed, Yhwach hadn't appeared, and Wayne had attacked freely. That pointed to only three possible explanations.

First: Yhwach was being held in Soul Society under the control of Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu.

Second: Yhwach's power had not yet fully recovered. He was unable to use his omniscience and omnipotence for perception.

Third: in Yhwach's own calculations, killing Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto was far more important than preserving his own base.

Regardless of which answer was correct, Wayne didn't care. Even if you are omniscient and omnipotent, as long as I stand in a space you cannot find, you cannot fully perceive my intentions. And besides, Wayne's Law of Illusion and Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu were cut from the same cloth. Anyone wishing to perceive Wayne's thoughts was not going to find it any easier than dealing with Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu.

Within two minutes, all of Wayne's forces had returned to Tsukishiro. After confirming that the entire battlefield had been fully poisoned, Wayne used a spatial jump to return to Hueco Mundo.

Ten minutes. The Wandenreich's base had been destroyed by Wayne. One wondered whether Yhwach would appreciate this particular gift.

Back in Hueco Mundo, Wayne immediately locked onto Kisuke Urahara's Reiatsu. By this point, Ichigo Kurosaki had already defeated Quilge and was heading to Soul Society to provide reinforcements, but on the road there, the Garganta that Kisuke Urahara had opened was sealed by Quilge using his own ability, "The Jail," trapping everyone inside a Reishi cage of his creation within the Garganta.

A faint spatial ripple.

Wayne dropped down directly beside Kisuke Urahara.

"Hey. Not done fighting yet?" Wayne spoke up first.

"Wayne?! And Nel as well." The sudden appearance and that Reiatsu wavelength made cold sweat break out on Kisuke Urahara's brow. But once he made out who it was, he let out a quiet breath of relief. "Sure enough, the spatial Reiatsu fluctuation I sensed about ten minutes ago was you, wasn't it?"

"Ah. You all looked like you were having so much fun that I went off to take care of some other business for a bit."

Wayne looked toward the battlefield. Quilge now had a massive hole blown clean through his right chest, clearly Kisuke Urahara's work. Yet even that thigh-sized penetrating wound hadn't finished him off. Instead, Quilge had used the Quincy technique Ransotengai to temporarily restore himself, then launched a sneak attack from behind, taking down Kisuke Urahara, Orihime Inoue, and Yasutora Sado in a single blow.

"Wasn't Ichigo keeping him completely on the back foot? How did he end up getting taken out in return?"

"Got careless for a moment. Didn't think that guy could still move after taking damage like that." Kisuke Urahara laughed sheepishly. With Wayne here now, he let his guard down. There was nothing left to worry about on this side. He had also been keeping in contact with Akon all along, so he naturally knew that Wayne had accepted Soul Society's request for aid, in his capacity as the King of Hueco Mundo.

➤ Next: The Battle of the Seireitei