Once more, Silas found himself traversing the plains of Hueco Mundo. He searched again for Sol, holding the collar in his hand.
A week had passed with no sign of that Great Hollow. Sol's absence was perplexing, gnawing at Silas's patience yet again. Had a mere Hollow truly vanished into the labyrinthine depths of the realm, or was this purely a tactical retreat?
"Patience…" Silas muttered, a touch of frustration lacing his voice. It was one of his strongest virtues, something he had learned over time.
Sol was the type driven by both primal instinct and emotion. He could go into hiding, but his urge to belong would ultimately betray him. Their paths would inevitably cross again.
Silas, on the other hand, had other reasons for this particular journey. It was time to check on his newest assets.
He made his way toward the ruins, where he had sent Nel and her companions. He observed the scene unfolding before him from a distance, his presence cloaked.
There was an unexpected sense of normalcy within the crumbling ruins that sheltered the group. Halibel's fracción lounged against the rocks, their expressions no longer stern but relaxed, tinged with amusement.
Nel, her childish exuberance infectious, was attempting to teach Pesche and Dondochakka a bizarre dance she had invented in that same hour. Her fracción, ever the odd couple, stumbled through the movements, their exaggerated expressions drawing unexpected laughter from both Nel and Halibel's fracción.
It was a picture of domestication—a rather foreign scene. Not even in the animated series did Nel remotely find Halibel's fracción appealing. Watching them be friendly toward one another was almost surreal.
Then Silas understood why: Halibel.
She watched herself from afar, a sense of enjoyment in her eyes. This Great Hollow, well-known throughout Hueco Mundo for her strength and cool demeanor, seemed approachable. The change within her was subtle yet undeniable.
Nel's childlike presence, boundless energy, and innocent charm must have chipped away at the Great Hollow's stoic facade. Halibel had never been known for sentimentality. She ruled through strength, leading her fracción with an iron fist.
Yet, here she was, entertaining a little girl and her eccentric companions. Nel's open heart and infectious spirit were the keys to softening her defenses.
Silas continued watching, feeling a mixture of satisfaction and contentment with what this could mean. Things weren't proceeding exactly as planned, but he could always make adjustments later. As long as this group stayed put, they should have no problems being protected under Halibel's care.
Pleased with his observations, Silas decided to withdraw.
As he turned to leave, a thought struck him—a possibility both disturbing and potentially advantageous. Did Sol split himself in two after their last encounter, as the Great Hollow was known to do? The lingering absence of his immense spiritual power seemed to suggest it, but there was no indication of Starrk and Lilynette running across the deserts.
He filed it away mentally—another puzzle piece to be pondered at a later time.
Returning to the Soul Society, the collar weighed heavily in his pocket. There was no need to rush back to his laboratory. The collar was complete; Sol would eventually resurface, and more experimentation could wait another day or two.
Instead, impulsive curiosity guided him towards a different destination.
He looked at the Senkaimon in the laboratory and analyzed its components. This Senkaimon belonged to Kisuke and served as a gateway from the Soul Society to his life in Karakura Town. Kisuke himself couldn't traverse through it because he was banished.
Silas also couldn't fully pass through because it would forcefully open the portal on the other side, thus alarming the shopkeeper or whoever was present. What he needed to do was either create his own Senkaimon or a spell that could let him traverse to and from the Soul Society and Karakura Town.
After months of diligent practice, something like that wouldn't be difficult. He periodically turned on the Senkaimon to try and absorb the portal's contents. When that failed, he took a different alternative.
Grabbing his cloak, some chains, and metallic materials, he traveled through the Senkaimon and entered the precipice world. The street sweeper would have his senses hindered, allowing him to stay here for as long as needed. Even if it appeared, Silas could always destroy it, much like Aizen did after merging with the Hōgyoku.
Silas, whose abilities surpassed those of Aizen, was simply that much more powerful!
There, in the center of the precipice world, he tried to form a portal that could lead to the other side. It wasn't difficult, quite similarly to how he creates a Garganta. The only stressful part was trying to locate the place he needed to traverse through.
One portal opened, but when he went through a metal frame strapped to the end of a chain and pulled it back, the chain was ablaze. That portal might have led him inside a volcano, or perhaps a time when the when the earth hadn't even fully formed.
When he threw in another metal piece, he found himself unable to reel the chain back, no matter how much strength he used. This was a big phenomenon. For wherever that portal led, it might have either killed Silas or, worse, kept him trapped there forever.
Who knows?
Not willing to give up, Silas vividly imagined Karakura Town and threw another metal piece into the shimmering light. He then quickly pulled the chain back. On top was an uncooked box of noodles. He verified the label to be from Tokyo, Japan.
Whether this was the same path he wanted to take, it was the best he could muster for now. As such, he stepped through the portal.
A shift in his vision, and he found himself standing in a local convenience store. Silas recognized this store. It was the same place where Rukia was taken by Gin and Byakuya. Why, of all places, the portal led him here, he didn't consider.
What was important was that he was in Karakura Town!