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Several months had passed since Wayne left the forest and began traveling west.
Wayne had Shadow Step, but it consumed Reiatsu, which meant he rarely used it.
Only in uninhabited stretches where he was absolutely certain of his safety would he spend the Reiatsu to advance in continuous Shadow Step bursts.
Even so, the sheer scale of Hueco Mundo was beyond anything he had imagined.
It was said to exist in balance with the human world and Soul Society.
The population of creatures here was roughly equal to the combined total of both.
Going by his memories from his previous life, humanity had reached seven billion on Earth by that point.
He had to assume this world ran to similar numbers.
Which meant the Hollow count in Hueco Mundo could only be more, not less.
There were no vast oceans here, the landmass almost certainly dwarfed the World of the Living many times over.
Over those months, Wayne passed through a number of small outposts.
He never ventured too deep into any of them, not traveling alone.
He could kill a Gillian on his own, sure, but grinding through a rotating battle against dozens or hundreds of Hollows, with a relentless pursuit to follow, was more trouble than it was worth.
So whenever he passed one of those outposts, he hunted enough prey at the outer edge and kept moving.
Clean, simple, no unnecessary complications.
As for the Hollow lords who held those strongholds, most never bothered to question his passage.
After all, the one passing through was an enemy they couldn’t read, at least their equal, possibly beyond.
That was not a pair of eyes any of them wanted to meet.
After months of walking, Wayne felt as though even his emotions were slowly being worn flat.
Alone for months, no one to speak to, no one who noticed he existed.
Nothing but the endless cycle of hunting and consuming.
The closest thing to conversation was the occasional last words from an enemy before they fell.
Dull.
But Wayne never lost sight of his goal.
Get far enough from the Forest of Menos.
Complete his advancement.
Improve his odds of survival.
Then, just as he had settled into the expectation that he’d maintain this rhythm all the way until his breakthrough, a small and unexpected interlude shattered the solitude that had gone on for months.
A desolate stretch of desert.
Not a single withered tree in sight, nothing but endless drifting sand in every direction.
To pick up his pace, Wayne had chosen to travel in continuous Shadow Step bursts.
No one around, no reason to conserve Reiatsu.
He pushed forward at full speed.
And then, completely without warning, on the far side of a sand dune in this barren wasteland, a fight was already underway between two wildly mismatched opponents.
“Hm?” Wayne came to an abrupt stop.
He had already sensed the two surges of Reiatsu colliding just beyond the dune.
Judging by the force of their clash, it was a battle between a freshly advanced high-class Hollow and a peak elite-class Hollow.
Only one rank apart on paper, but the gap in Reiatsu between them was enormous.
“Hollows, out here?” He scanned the surrounding terrain and the question surfaced, though he dismissed it just as quickly.
This was Hueco Mundo.
A Hollow could be lurking anywhere.
In a wasteland this barren, the two had probably stumbled across each other while searching for a place to rest.
The high-class Hollow had spotted the weaker one and been seized by the urge to consume.
That was what had started the fight.
Wayne crept toward the dune, suppressed his Reiatsu, and peered down at the battle below.
A half-man, half-lizard high-class Hollow was locked in combat with an elite Hollow in the shape of a disk-antelope.
From the look of things, the disk-antelope Hollow was already close to her limit.
Wayne gave it ten exchanges at most before the lizard-man broke through her defenses and finished her off.
That was, of course, barring any surprises.
And at this moment, Wayne was exactly that surprise.
At the crest of the dune, he slowly circled around to the lizard-man’s blind side and waited for the right moment.
He had gone almost the entire trek through the desert without hunting.
Not for lack of want, there simply was no prey out here.
A Hollow could survive in Hueco Mundo without feeding, but the faint hollow ache in his gut and the gnawing emptiness in his Reiatsu were a constant, low-level discomfort he couldn’t shake.
He had been pushing west for days without stopping.
The appearance of these two Hollows all but decided their fate.
They were going to be his next meal.
The lizard-man was freshly advanced and hadn’t yet adapted to his new strength, that much was obvious from the fight.
The two were still evenly matched, neither side pulling ahead.
The main reason, perhaps, was that the disk-antelope Hollow was making no large attacks that would drain her Reiatsu.
She relied entirely on her agile body to dodge, or used her hard disk-antelope horns to absorb blows head-on, seemingly content to outlast her opponent rather than overpower him.
After more than ten exchanges, she was still holding on.
Watching the stalemate drag out, Wayne the patient fisherman could no longer sit still.
“Forget it.
I’m done waiting.” His gaze sharpened.
He leapt off the dune.
His original plan had been to move in only after both sides had exhausted themselves, it was rare to have entertainment worth watching.
But with the fight showing no sign of ending, he had no desire to keep wasting time here.
Besides, even if he had to take them both at once, it wouldn’t be a challenge.
So he stopped waiting and charged straight at the two Hollows still locked in combat.
AWOOOOO!
The moment they felt Wayne’s Reiatsu, the lizard-man let out a terrified shriek and immediately abandoned the fight, scrambling backward as fast as he could manage.
But how could his speed ever compare to Wayne’s with Shadow Step?
In a single breath, Wayne had caught up.
He raised his Blade Claw and drove a Shattering Slash straight down, and the lizard-man Hollow was split in two on the spot.
One strike.
Done.
Wayne snatched up the lizard-man’s Hollow Mask and stuffed it into his mouth, then turned his gaze toward the disk-antelope Hollow standing not far behind him.
She hadn’t run.
Maybe it was the weight of Wayne’s presence.
Maybe her Reiatsu had already been completely spent, leaving her four legs trembling too badly to carry her anywhere.
She simply stood there, frozen in place where the fight had just been, all four legs shaking without stop.
The crushing pressure of Wayne’s Reiatsu held her completely still.
Wayne walked toward her.
He raised his right claw and prepared to finish her off, but as his hand came up, something stopped him.
Beneath the Hollow Mask, he caught sight of her eyes, dim, hollow, yet filled with a silent plea.
Just a faint glimmer of light beneath the mask.
A tiny, almost imperceptible shift.
But that small flicker was enough.
His raised claw slowed, then stilled.
“Sentient?” A trace of surprise in his voice.
Eyes that held even a hint of light beneath a Hollow Mask, that was unmistakably the mark of awareness.
“…Forget it.
You can go.” He stood there for a long moment, and for a reason he couldn’t quite name, the words came out.
He lowered his right claw.
Maybe it was simply that he had gone too long without speaking to anything with actual awareness.
That faint glimmer of intelligence in her gaze had been enough to soften something in him.
“The carcass is yours.” He shook his head and turned to leave.
He still had ground to cover, and now that his Reiatsu was replenished, there was no reason to linger.
But just as Wayne took his first step away, a soft, feminine voice stopped him dead.
“…Thank you.” He spun around instantly.
His Reiatsu locked onto the creature that had just spoken.
The voice had come from the disk-antelope Hollow behind him.
“You can talk?” Wayne said, almost by reflex.
“What did you just say?” “I said…
thank you.” The sudden lock of Wayne’s Reiatsu made her legs tremble again, but Wayne had already spared her life moments ago.
Surely he wouldn’t change his mind just because she said thank you.
She had made her decision.
The disk-antelope Hollow pressed on carefully.
“I am deeply grateful that you spared my life.
But Kardes was your kill — I have no right to any part of him.” “Kardes?” Wayne glanced back at the lizard-man’s body lying nearby.
“You two knew each other?” “Yes, my lord.” The disk-antelope Hollow gave a small nod and explained.
“Kardes and I had been hunting together as partners.
Our abilities complemented each other, so we agreed to work as a team.
But not long ago, Kardes advanced to high-class Hollow.
Then we wandered into this wasteland, and when prey went unseen for too long, Kardes turned his killing intent on me.” “Oh?” Wayne’s eyes lit up.
“You two understood cooperation?
Tell me how it worked.” “Kardes was skilled with Paralyzing Toxin, while my speed and defense are both considerable.
So after Kardes hit a target with his venom, I would move in to hold it down and keep it there until it collapsed.” “And you weren’t affected by the toxin yourself?” Wayne pressed.
“I have a degree of toxin immunity and a Healing Ability.” Under that crushing Reiatsu, she had no choice but to lay everything out.
A single lie, even the faintest shift in her own Reiatsu that would come with it, however small, could cost her her life.
Pop.
A quiet, sharp sound.
Wayne opened a small cut on his left hand.
Drops of blood ran down the back of it.
He extended his hand toward her.
She understood, and stepped carefully forward on all four hooves.
She stopped just in front of his hand, extended her tongue, and licked the wound.
The moment her saliva touched the cut, it closed at a visible speed.
The wound was small, but the evidence was plain enough.
“Not a bad ability.” Wayne looked at the back of his already-healed hand.
A slight smile crossed his lips.
“Then I think you understand what I mean.” “I don’t have a choice, do I?” She understood perfectly.
The situation when Kardes had first brought her on as a partner had looked much the same.
The only difference was that Kardes had never possessed anything close to Wayne’s terrifying Reiatsu.
“Respected my lord, I am willing to become your subordinate.” “Hmm…” Wayne circled slowly around her, running the numbers.
A Hollow with a Healing Ability was a rare find.
She was still an elite-class Hollow who hadn’t yet advanced, but with some cultivation, he believed she could develop into something even more exceptional over time.
That was reason enough to keep her.
He finished his circuit and gave her a light pat on the back.
Her frame was noticeably larger than a disk-antelope from Earth, and given his own height, climbing astride her was perfectly feasible.
The thought was barely finished before he lightly jumped up onto her back.
The sudden weight made her stagger for a moment, but she steadied herself quickly.
With his Reiatsu suppressed, Wayne in his human-shaped form wasn’t particularly heavy.
She could manage it well enough.
Even so, his little maneuver earned him a flicker of wordless grievance from her, she said nothing, and she didn’t resist.
The strong ruled, and that was simply the way of things.
“Ha.
Let’s move.
That lizard-man’s body is all yours.” Wayne laughed, and the Hollow beneath him grasped her role without further complaint.
She stepped forward and walked toward Kardes’s remains.
She didn’t open her jaws and tear into the carcass, though.
Instead, she brought her nostrils close to the body.
What had already dissolved into Reishi flowed out of the corpse and poured directly into her mouth.
“Hm?” Wayne blinked.
“What ability is that?” “I’m not sure.” She gave him exactly that answer.
“I can also bite into prey directly, but absorbing this way ensures the maximum Reiatsu is preserved without any waste.” “Not just preserved — this is practically the divine art of erasing all evidence,” Wayne muttered under his breath.
When a Hollow fed, its prey would gradually dissolve into Reishi and disperse into the air.
That process was like a fragrant dish sending its aroma drifting outward, even while you were still eating, it could draw other predators in from a distance.
Most Hollow beasts would find somewhere safe after a kill, return to their territory, or consume on the spot and clear out fast.
But this absorption ability completely eliminated the risk of Reishi leaking out.
That genuinely deserved to be called a divine technique.
“Tsk.
I’m starting to think keeping you was one of my smarter decisions.” “My lord, what did you say?” She was still feeding and hadn’t caught his quiet murmuring, but as his subordinate, she needed to hear every instruction he gave.
Missing one could cost her the right to live she had only just barely obtained.
“Nothing.” Wayne shook his head.
“Let’s get acquainted.
My name is Ace Wayne.
Just call me Wayne.” “Yes, Lord Wayne.” She said respectfully.
“And you?” Wayne asked.
“Nelliel.” She said softly.
“Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck.” “Nelliel?
That name sounds familiar.
Like I’ve heard it somewhere.” Wayne turned it over in his head.
“If my lord doesn’t mind, you may call me Nel.” “Oh, Nel.
Wait — Nel?
Nel!
What the — you’re Nel!” The belated realization finally hit, and he understood at last why that name had snagged at him.
The Antelope Knight, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, Aizen’s former Third Espada, a Vasto Lorde-class Arrancar.
Supersonic speed, saliva with healing properties, and Cero Doble.
He went through everything he knew about her, piece by piece.
In his previous life he hadn’t been particularly invested in this kind of anime, but even that couldn’t dim the glow of a main character’s halo.
Not recognizing her would have been strange.
“No wonder.
Ha.
I never imagined I’d meet you like this.
A Hollow with the potential to reach Vasto Lorde, and here you are, my subordinate — getting ridden by me, no less.
Fate really does have a sense of humor…
even for Hollows.” “Lord Wayne, is something wrong?” She felt him talking to himself on her back in a string of words she couldn’t follow, and she couldn’t help but ask.
“Nothing.
Just feel like I stumbled onto a real treasure.
Haha.” His laughter left Nel thoroughly at a loss.
She didn’t press.
She simply felt a quiet, helpless exasperation at having ended up with such an erratic superior.
And yet, unbeknownst to her, it was this seemingly unhinged, human-shaped Hollow who, from this very moment, had already begun to change her life completely and irrevocably.
“Lord Wayne, where do we go from here?” Nel asked once she had finished feeding.
“Keep heading west.” Wayne said.
“Straight west — find a small patch of forest to claim as our territory, set up a base, and go from there.” “Yes.” With her orders received, Nel’s hooves scraped at the sand.
Then she began to run westward.
Behind them, the wasteland settled back into the silence it had always known.
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