Bleach: The Path to Transcendence

"Cough, cough… Just one shot, and I'm already completely drained?"

Vritra weakly gazed at the massive crater before him, the result of his own Cero blast. A satisfied smile crept onto his face—it had about half the power of that aberrant Gillian's Cero.

As one of the signature abilities of Menos, a Cero wasn't something he should have been able to use at this stage. And yet, he had done it while still in the Adjucha phase.

"Am I a genius?"

He scratched his masked head with a pale, clawed hand, pride evident in his tone.

"It's not very sustainable, though. And the charge-up time is too long… For now, I can only use it as a trump card."

Feeling the last dregs of his spiritual energy fading, Vritra spun his long tail and burrowed into the sand. Soon, his entire body disappeared beneath the surface.

The entire Hueco Mundo was composed of high-density reishi, meaning he could passively recover just by staying in this world. But with his energy reserves depleted, he was vulnerable to attacks from other Hollows. To avoid such a scenario, he suppressed his presence and hid underground, waiting for his strength to return.

Hours later, Vritra felt his spiritual power had recovered enough. Emerging from the sand, he took a deep breath—or at least, the Hollow equivalent of one.

After half a month of exploring, he had mapped out the distribution of Hollows in the sand sea. If he went any deeper, he risked running into Gillian hordes or even Adjuchas. That was a battle he wasn't ready for. Instead, he decided to return to the outskirts, where he could devour weaker Hollows in large numbers. Once he became a Gillian himself, he would push forward again.

Moving through the sand, his nearly eight-meter-long body was silent, his suppressed reiatsu ensuring no one noticed his presence.

Boom!

Boom!

Rumble!

As he made his way back, Vritra suddenly noticed tremors rippling through the sand. Explosions echoed from a nearby battlefield.

"A fight… and a brutal one at that."

Taking advantage of his cloaked presence, Vritra cautiously approached the source of the noise.

What he saw left him stunned.

"Is this… a Hundred-Hollow Devourment?"

A Hundred-Hollow Devourment was a rare phenomenon where over a hundred Gillians were caught in a brutal struggle, consuming each other in a frenzied battle. The last one standing would evolve into an Adjuchas.

"A stroke of luck!"

Vritra immediately reinforced his suppression technique and hid deeper in the sand, waiting for an opportunity.

The battlefield was chaos—every combatant was a Gillian, a rank above him. But with his presence concealed, he slithered unnoticed among them.

"This ability is amazing."

He observed the battle with interest, hoping to scavenge some remains.

Suddenly, he noticed a particular clash.

A Gillian resembling a massive octopus was being overwhelmed by two nearly identical hyena-like Hollows. The only difference between them was the length of their fangs. Their teamwork was coordinated, suggesting intelligence beyond the norm.

The short-fanged hyena Hollow distracted the octopus, entangling its eight tentacle-like limbs in combat. Meanwhile, the long-fanged one waited for the perfect moment to strike.

"Schlkk!"

Its fangs, sharp as blades, pierced the back of the octopus's head.

The octopus let out a shriek of pain, its limbs thrashing wildly. Then, its massive maw spewed out a flurry of bubbles—each one an explosive trap.

As soon as they made contact, they detonated, engulfing both hyenas and the octopus itself in a chain reaction of destruction.

"Not bad. Even though it got itself caught, it still had a backup plan. But self-destruction in a Hundred-Hollow Devourment? Even if it escapes those two, it won't walk away unscathed."

Vritra watched with amusement.

The long-fanged hyena Hollow was thrown back, its body covered in gaping wounds. Blood poured from it in crimson waterfalls.

With a furious roar, it raised its right claw. The limb instantly swelled in size, its four claws sharpening into steel-like blades. Then, it swung down at the octopus.

Slash!

Four deep gashes tore through the octopus's back, sending dark green blood spraying into the air. Along with it, a massive chunk of its bone mask shattered and tumbled down into the sand.

Seeing this, the short-fanged hyena Hollow rushed forward, excitement gleaming in its eyes. Just as it was about to claim the mask fragment—

Whoosh!

The sand beneath it trembled.

A Hollow shot out—humanoid from the torso up, but with the segmented body of a centipede below. In a flash, it snatched the mask fragment and disappeared back into the sand.

"Awoo!!!"

The short-fanged hyena Hollow froze in disbelief, then let out an enraged howl.

But no matter how much it raged, it couldn't sense the thief's spiritual presence anymore.

The long-fanged hyena noticed as well, but with the octopus still fighting back, it had no choice but to focus on its current battle.

Far from the battlefield, hidden beneath the sand, Vritra grinned at his stolen prize.

A massive white mask fragment, nearly half the size of his own body.

"Now that… was a clean steal."

Without hesitation, he burrowed deeper into the desert, putting more distance between himself and the battle. He doubted those hyena Hollows could track him, but he wasn't about to take any chances.

Only after two hours of cautious retreat did he finally relax.

Surfacing briefly to confirm no other Hollows were around, he dove ten meters deep and examined his prize.

Then, with a snap of his jaws, he took a bite.

Crunch. Crunch.

"Not bad. Tastes kinda like seaweed crackers."

But more importantly—this mask fragment contained far more reishi than anything he had devoured before. Even compared to the remnants of that aberrant Gillian, it was on a completely different level. After all, one was a discarded limb, while this…

This was the very core of a powerful Hollow.