Alright, here we are back again with this story, time for the good ol' chapter five of this old boy.
Standard opening here to let you guys know, If you want to read ahead in advance, with the Big P fucking me over, you'll need to head over to my subscribestar. You can find it under 0jordinio0, no spaces in their search bar, simple enough. There's a bunch of advanced chapters up there already. For this, Stacking The Deck, Scaped(which isn't up here yet) Systematic Shinobi:Multiverse Mayhem, Remnant Version, Systematic Shinobi, A failed Future(another one not up here yet), Systematic Huntsman, Remnant Verison, Power, Power, A Scottish Dragon In This Wonderful World, Power,...and a bunch more shit. Heck, there's even Is It Wrong To Devour Monsters In The dungeon and a bunch of other shit.
And without further thingamajigs, chapter go.
"I gotta say, I expected a little more from you guys."
The comment that dripped from between Yukio's lips, was laced with utter and absolute boredome.
Standing atop one of the massive pillars of the Menos Forest, now broken in half, Yukio had his hand wrapped around the throat of a huge humanoid adjuchas, with a mask like that of a grinning snapping turtle.
"B-bastard!" Teres Holcan, the leader of the group of four Adjuchas that guarded the menos forest struggled feebly in his grip, his body shuddering, and no more.
It was all he could do considering his broken limbs, both arms and legs bent back unnaturally.
Yukio snorted as he eyed the massive hollow, as he said aloud, he had expected more. He remembered this guy and his fellows giving Ichigo and his friends quite a bit of trouble.
Was it just a matter of Ichigo and co not taking them seriously? Or was it because Yukio had hunted all of them separately?
Or perhaps he was simply far stronger than he thought?
As it was, this one was the last of the group. And the one who guarded the entrance to the upper level of Hueco Mundo.
"Damnit…so you're the one…." Teres glared at him feebly, "The one….that has been making Adjuchas disappear from all around Hueco Mundo, over the last few weeks?"
Yukio's eyebrow rose, "Who?" he asked blankly, before deciding, honestly, he didn't really care.
Green light lit up around the palm holding the adjuchas by the neck, before it erupted in a devastating bright beam of power that obliterated the adjuchas' neck and head in a fountain of gore.
He dropped the corpse and allowed the jaw of the draconic hollow mask around his face to crack open, before he inhaled.
Teres' corpse broke down into spiritual energy particles in moments, before being sucked up by him and devoured.
"There we go." Yukio laughed to himself as he finished, pulling his mask off and staring down at the hollow eye sockets staring back at him. He'd been at it for over two hours now.
Finding the other Adjuchas' guarding the menos after the first ape one, before devouring the gillian they watched over, then killing the guardians themselves.
He had to have devoured over sixty gillian now, maybe closer to seventy. And now, with this final one devoured, the spiritual power of his hollow mask, had surpassed the total amount of his own base reiryoku.
And yet, despite its total power increasing a good five times over since it evolved into that of an Adjuchas' mask, it showed no sign of evolving into that of a Vasto Lorde.
'Well, the power increase is no joke at least.' he hummed to himself. And he supposed, he should just be thankful that his mask hadn't hit some arbitrary limit. Every being had its limit after all, and there was only so high this masks power could rise to.
The same with him, only so high his own reiryoku could rise before it hit a ceiling. That was the whole point of creating hybrids as far as Aizen went after all.
Heck, if he remembered correctly, didn't Grimmjow's fraccion all hit their limits as rather weak Adjuchas? Probably not much stronger than any of the four guardians he'd just devoured.
'Guess that means my dragon hollow had some pretty good potential, lucky me.' Yukio grinned smugly.
That, or being made into an item by his fullbring increased its overall potential, perhaps its innate potential was a match for his own?
Whatever it was, it didn't matter for now.
Green light sparked around his feet and he moved, disappearing in a blur of speed, before appearing at the entrance to a cavernous stairway not far away, the stairway Teres had been guarding as the leader of his group.
"Well, no reason to stay around here any longer." Yukio shrugged to himself and walked into the cavernous archway, his feet echoing loudly with each step up.
Almost eerily so.
The wind of Hueco Mundo travelling up and down through the stairway howled in his ears. It gave the distinct vibe of 'un-life', and was so dark he could barely see anything in front of him.
There wasn't even any torches or anything installed to provide light.
Good thing he was just him.
With just a thought, his scouter was summoned into existence, this time spread out over both eyes and lit up with night vision, illuminating the massive spiralling staircase in bright green to his vision.
It was actually almost annoying how long the staircase went on for.
Sure, he could easily traverse the distance rapidly no doubt with his Bringer Light, but that wasn't the point.
'What retard designed this place?' Yukio huffed, eyes rolling behind a golden visor. It too narrow, no light and was overly complicated in design, spiralling and everything despite the fact it was just a staircase nobody of note would be using!
It took a good twenty minutes of straight walking upwards for him to reach the top and another archway to come into view.
'Finally. Honestly, Aizen must have shit taste when it comes to decorating,' Yukio snorted, 'Shoulda spent time converting Momo or something, get a woman's touch up in this shit.'
She'd have contributed more in her existence at making a decently nice stairway over anything she would accomplish later on anyway.
Finally, as he stepped up to the top, he walked out into a wide spacious room. Hundreds of feet long and wide, the floor of gleaming dark blue tiles, and the walls like that of pristine white marble.
And hey, it even had lights!
Actually, that did bring up a question, "How the fuck does this place get electricity?" Yukio wondered, crossing his arms in thought.
Was it even electricity? Or did they use some kind of spiritual energy thing? Soul Society had computers and crap long before they were invented in the human world didn't they?
Questions to ask if or rather when he went to Soul Society.
"I'm sure it would fly over your puny brain, intruder," a voice input snidely from the presence he'd been ignoring, "Now, who might you be? And why have you come from the forest of menos?"
Yukio looked over at the speaker, and snorted in pure amusement as his eyes locked on the hollow.
Or rather the arrancar.
Not much of one mind you. The only human feature he could see at all, was grey hair and the top right of a human face, one eye with blue tattoo's around it. The rest of his head was covered in a large beak hollow mask, while his body was covered in a white mantle cloak, and robe bottom that dangled in the shape of a diamond, four spindly dark grey arms with crooked long scarecrow like fingers.
"You look ridiculous," Yukio broke out into a loud guffawing laughter, "Seriously, you look like a turd bro!"
The Arrancar gaped at his disrespect.
Or so Yukio assumed, he couldn't quite tell with how much of his face was hidden. Nor did he care.
He looked fucking stupid!
"You…you bastard!" Aisslinger roared or rather shrieked, his voice was far too high pitched for a roar, "You dare!?" he thrust his spindly fingers out, all twenty of them lighting up with orange spiritual energy.
Before erupting in a rapid fire of blasts, twenty into forty, into eighty, into one sixty.
In seconds, hundreds of tiny bullets of spiritual energy hailed towards him.
And hit nothing but air as he disappeared in a blur of speed, swinging around and getting to Aisslinger's side before the arrancar even realise, "Bad move buddy," Yukio grinned at him, driving his elbow into the arrancar's visible eye. It felt like slamming it into a brick wall, but it didn't stop the arrancar from lurching back in pain, allowing Yukio to turn on his feet and whip out his other arm, catching the arrancar with a lariat around the throat and driving him into the ground with so much force the ground buckled and broke beneath him, great chunks of debris being sent flying, "You're all DPS, but a glass cannon otherwise. Your build is trash mate, I'd say delete your account and start over, but life doesn't work that way sadly. But hey, you're exp will be put to good use by me."
Honestly, he didn't even see a zanpakuto on this guy. So, was he already in his resurrecion?
But he was so weak!
Even his reiryoku that he could feel, wasn't that much higher than any of the adjuchas guarding the menos forest.
In fact, considering his build and how easy he took him down now…he'd hazard a guess and say that Teres was stronger than this guy.
He wasn't even using his mask or his fullbring, just his raw base strength.
Aisslinger trembled below him, and for a second Yukio thought he was going to either struggle in some futile manner, or beg and plead pathetically for his life.
But instead-
"DEMOOORRAAAAAAAAA! HELP MEEEEE!" Aisslinger shrieked in terror, calling for help.
Yukio blinked, before laughing, "You really are a big turd aren't you?" he laughed. Before reaching up with his other hand and summoning his mask into existence once more, "This isn't multi zone pvp mate." his hollowfied voice echoed eerily with a menacing dual hiss.
And then Yukio squeezed and Aisslinger gargled in agony as the fullbringer crushed his throat in his bare hand.
As he watched the life fade from Aisslinger's eyes, and felt the ground begin to rumble beneath him, and the sound of massive footfalls echo, the boy sighed and shook his head, "I honestly expected more from my first experience with an arrancar." the blonde sighed.
How boring.
He let go of Aisslinger as he passed away, gurgling going to nothing as the light left his single visible eye.
And then as he died, a massive towering behemoth of a hollow barrelled into the room. Giant, easily over fifteen feet tall. Dark of skin, with messy springy locks, and long orangutuan like arms, a buggy fly looking mask covering the top of his face
And ran right into the massive green cero that then erupted from Yukio's palm.
The huge green beam punching a hole straight through Demora's chest and stomach, leaving a gaping bloody hole behind, all organs erased.
Demora ran a few steps more, the death blow being so fast his body didn't even realise he was already dead.
Before abruptly his massive legs buckled and the huge arrancar fell face first into the blue tiled floor, dripping blood everywhere
"You know, the Cero is way more powerful than it's ever depicted against guys like Ichigo." Yukio hummed, eyeing his glowing green hand.
Everything he'd used his Cero against so far, had been fucking obliterated with zero issue.
He shook his head, letting the green light fade away from his hand and eyed the two arrancar corpses, "So weak man," he sighed. Well, that was to be expected he supposed, even Uryuu and Chad molly whopped these two in a complete one sided no damage run, "Well, at least I'll get my hands on some arrancar reiryoku for my mask." he shrugged.
Then something clicked, "Ah shit, wait isn't Aisslinger the one that knows how to make natural arrancar?" Yukio snapped his fingers in annoyance, he'd meant to pick his brain to see if he knew more on the subject than Yukio did.
Well, whatever.
He was pretty sure he already knew what was needed anyway, he could remember the process Aisslinger himself went through when turning Grand Fisher into an arrancar.
'Which actually won't happen now, I should make sure Ichigo kills that dumbass hamster thing when it turns up.' Yukio thought, before shrugging and allowing the mouth of his mask to crack open once more and inhaling deeply as he began devouring the arrancar corpses.
Well, one thing was certain about tonight.
He was eating good.
Hueco Mundo was a place beyond comprehension in its size, an endless, barren expanse of white sandy dunes under an inky, starless sky that never changed. It was as if time didn't exist here. No day. No night. Just the ever-present black void above and the hollowed-out wasteland stretching infinitely below. The only life to be found in this realm was the endless parade of Hollows, creatures born of hunger and suffering, constantly seeking to devour each other to climb higher on the food chain.
As he sped across the desolate sands, his boots barely skimming the ground, he could feel the empty wasteland stretching for miles in all directions. He had a destination in mind, Las Noches, the towering fortress of the Arrancar, Aizen's domain. But more than that, he was after a target, a specific Hollow he intended to hunt and consume: Runuganga, the massive sand guardian who ruled over the dunes outside Las Noches.
That was the last prey he was going for, after that he was dipping right back out to the human world.
Yukio had while not expected his journey to be filled with a feast of hollows, still expected there to be scattered Hollows of varying power levels, ready to be devoured., especially the dumb ones that worked on pure instinct. Sure maybe not adjuchas, but he traversed hundreds of miles and didn't even spot a single gillian, Hell he hadn't even come across any singular one of the low-tier base Hollows that should have been everywhere up here, lurking behind every dune, beneath every shadow. This world thrived on death and consumption. There was never any shortage of prey here.
And yet… as he raced across the sands, something gnawed at the back of his mind. He hadn't even heard a single eerie hollow howl at all.
No Adjuchas.
No Gillian.
Not even a single lowly Hollow scuttling through the sands.
Nothing.
The emptiness was eerie. Hueco Mundo should have been crawling with Hollows, fighting, feeding, growing in power. It was their nature, their law. Yet here, in the vast expanse between him and Las Noches, there was only silence. The more he pushed forward, the more the stillness became oppressive.
Yukio slowed to a stop, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the horizon, trying to sense any trace of spiritual pressure. His scouter flickered to life, scanning everywhere within view, sweeping the area for any signs of movement, any sign of life. But there was nothing. Just the cold, dead sand and the endless night.
"What the hell…?" he muttered under his breath, his voice echoing faintly in the emptiness.
It didn't make sense. Even in the most remote areas of Hueco Mundo, Hollows were always present, drawn to one another by their insatiable hunger. But here? It was like something had wiped the slate clean.
Something wasn't right.
Yukio's instincts were screaming at him. The silence wasn't just eerie. It was wrong. Every inch of his skin prickled with unease, his senses on high alert, though there was nothing no Hollows, no spiritual energy, no threats lurking in the shadows. Just an unsettling emptiness that stretched for miles.
Granted, not that his pitiful ability at sensing spiritual energy was proof of anything, he couldn't sense shit unless it was right in front of him currently, but still!
He gritted his teeth, the green glow of bringer light getting brighter, his body blurring into motion as he tore across the sands at breakneck speed. The pale green energy flickered and sparked around him, propelling him forward. Yet, the silence persisted, oppressive and unnatural, weighing down on him the faster he moved. His irritation grew. He should have encountered something by now, anything, even one of those tiny little lizard hollows, but it was as if the world had been scrubbed clean of life.
Yukio made a claw with his fist and raked it across his face, allowing his draconic hollow mask to snap into place over his face. The rush of power was immediate, exhilarating. His speed doubled, tripled and more, and his surroundings became a blur of white dunes and pitch-black sky as he made a beeline for Las Noches. Whatever was going on, he wasn't going to let it stop him. He didn't care what was going on, not really, he just wanted to devour his target and leave.
As he neared the towering fortress on the horizon, his nerves finally began to settle. Las Noches loomed ahead, as ominous and massive as he remembered, beyond massive, it was the size of a literal small country . The faint silhouettes of its spires stretched high into the night He almost allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Because soon he would be out of this place.
'Not that I'm scared or anything, whatever is causing whatever this is, I can probably deal with anyway.' he told himself. It was just weird.
And then, the sands below him began to shift.
The ground beneath him trembled as if stirred by an ancient force, and the dunes around him rippled. Yukio skidded to a stop, his eyes narrowing as he watched the sand rise, swirling and coalescing into a massive form before him. The wind howled as the particles twisted together, forming the shape of a titanic, humanoid Hollow.
Runuganga.
The guardian of the sands stood before him, towering high into the sky, its body composed entirely of the very desert of Hueco Mundo. Massive arms, like pillars of earth, stretched outwards, connected directly to the vast expanse of white sand beneath. Its hollow eyes gleamed down at Yukio, and the ground rumbled as it let out a low, guttural growl, "Intruder….!"
Yukio allowed himself a grin beneath his mask. Finally!
Runuganga let out a deep, rumbling growl as its massive hands slammed into the ground, causing the sand beneath Yukio's feet to suddenly shift. The dunes tore apart, spiraling downwards into a massive pit, the hallmark of a deadly ant lion trap designed to suck its prey beneath the surface and crush them under tons of sand.
But Yukio merely snorted, his expression hidden behind the hollow mask, though his voice dripped with smug amusement. "Sorry, big guy, but that won't work on me."
As the sand churned beneath him, Yukio lifted one foot and stomped it down with authority. Bringer Light flared from his foot in a flash of green energy, crackling outwards, weaving into the very souls of the sand itself. The shifting dunes froze in place, trapped under his control. He felt the resistance, the desperate tug of Runuganga trying to maintain control over its dominion, but it was too late—the souls of the sand obeyed him now.
Yukio narrowed his eyes as the Bringer Light intensified, the pale green glow illuminating the night. The very sand dunes around them began to tremble and vibrate with power. Then, with a flash of green light, the enormous mass of Runuganga's towering body detonated, exploding apart in a cascade of sand and debris. Yukio's power tore through the layers of the adjuchas' body, stripping away the excess and revealing the much smaller, vulnerable core that lay within.
The hollow's mask, once intimidatingly large, now much smaller and vulnerable was jettisoned from the swirling mass of sand, cracking as the force of Yukio's energy ripped it away.
Yukio stood still for a moment, watching with hollowfied yellow eyes glinting in satisfaction. He raised his hand slowly, and in his palm, a bright green cero began to hum into existence, glowing with raw destructive power. The crackling energy pulsed, growing larger as it hummed with barely contained power.
"Bye-bye!" Yukio's voice was all cheer.
The cero erupted from his palm in a colossal beam of emerald energy, blasting forward with devastating force. The blast struck Runuganga's core, obliterating the adjuchas' body and annihilating half of its mask in an instant. The scream of the hollow was brief, drowned out by the crackling hum of Yukio's overwhelming attack.
As the beam faded, nothing remained of Runuganga but drifting particles of sand, the massive adjuchas utterly annihilated.
Yukio lowered his hand, his lips curling into a smirk beneath his mask. "Guess you should've stayed under the sand where you belong." he snorted mockingly.
Yukio's smug grin widened as he looked down at the remains of Runuganga. The battlefield was silent now, the massive adjuchas reduced to scattered particles of sand. He could feel the surge of energy crackling in the air, the remnants of Runuganga's spiritual power waiting to be claimed.
"Now, time for a snack." Yukio muttered, his hollow mask's jaw cracking open to devour the last of his prey. Maybe this time his mask would evolve, but even if it didn't, more power was always welcome.
Just as he was about to take in the remnants, a voice cut through the silence like a knife, stopping him in his tracks.
"Well, well… that was quite the performance."
Yukio's eyes went wide in shock, his entire body stiffening. He hadn't sensed anything. Not a single hint of spiritual pressure, not even the slightest trace of a presence. His heart pounded in his chest as he slowly whirled around, scanning the desolate landscape for the source of the voice.
And then he saw it.
Hovering silently in the air above him was a figure draped in the dark robes of a Shinigami. A ragged, tattered cloak hung from their neck, cascading over their form like a heavy curtain. Their face was entirely concealed by a blank, white hollow mask. But it wasn't an ordinary mask. Three sets of narrow eye slits ran vertically down its surface, each one pitch black empty eyeholes.
Yukio's hollowfied yellow eyes narrowed as he stared up at the figure. His mind raced, 'How the hell did they get this close without me noticing?'
Sure his spiritual sensing abilities were trash, but his scouter, not to mention his instincts with his mask on shouldn't have let him be snuck up on so easily!
The figure remained motionless, floating in the inky night sky, silent and unreadable.
Yukio clenched his fists, taking a half step back, every instinct in his body screaming at him to stay on guard. Because, just from this sight alone.
He knew who this guy was.
…He was a real problem.
Probably.
Most likely.
See, this was the kind of time where not knowing where he stood, could really bite him in the ass.
"Who the hell are you?" Yukio demanded, his voice a mix of caution and bravado, masking his and emotions as his mind ran a mile a minute.
He knew exactly who this bloody ass clown was. Still, what the fuck was this guy doing here?! How the hell did he just randomly come across him here?
The figure tilted its head slightly, the hollow mask's narrow eye slits giving no clue as to its, or rather his expression. "No rather, who are you here traipsing around Hueco Mundo?" Kusaka spoke again, calm, cold, and devoid of emotion. "Devouring hollows. Hunting them like prey. You are no hollow despite that mask, nor are you an arrancar, and you are no shinigami either."
Then he snorted, "Well, not that it matters, you have quite a substantial amount of spiritual energy, you will do just fine for raising the strength of my companions." he said, reaching into his cloak, and Yukio heard the sound of steel ringing as he pulled out his hand a moment later, blade upon his palm.
Yukio eyed the blade, the strongest ice zanpakuto in existence blankly, before pursing his lips and sticking his finger up, "Get fucked."
And then a blinding green cero erupted from the tip of his finger.