c12 - The Leopard King Style
Ye Chuan devoured at the same time as Qunxu within the Forest of Menos in Hueco Mundo.
Somewhere in the arid expanse of Hueco Mundo's desert, a battle raged. Ji Li'an, with a cracked white mask etched with jagged blue markings, stood bloodied but firm, facing off against another Hollow. The air around them was thick with residual spiritual pressure and fragments of shattered Gillian masks littered the sands evidence of a devastating confrontation.
If Ye Chuan were present, he would've immediately recognized this Hollow an anomalous Gillian he had encountered when he first entered Hueco Mundo.
The opponent before Ji Li'an was about three meters tall, lanky with an angular frame. His mask, an inverted triangle, bore a painted smile reminiscent of a grotesque clown. Ten razor-sharp claws extended from each hand like elongated blades.
Surrounding them were the remnants of fallen Gillians limbs strewn about in eerie stillness. Clearly, Ji Li'an had been through a savage clash.
"You impudent creature," the clown-like Hollow snarled, spiritual pressure lashing out. "You dared to slaughter my entire horde! Submit now and become my loyal vassal. I, Sta Mrev, shall spare your life and grant you audience with the Great Lord Baraggan Louisenbairn!"
Sta Mrev clearly a self-proclaimed Adjuchas glared at Ji Li'an, his spiritual energy turbulent with suppressed rage.
"You expect me to kneel?" Ji Li'an scoffed, his deep voice echoing through the dunes. "One day, I will crush Las Noches, slay Baraggan, and take his throne as King of Hueco Mundo!"
With that, Ji Li'an opened his jaws and fired a luminous red Cero directly at Sta Mrev.
"Cero... huh? Fine," Sta Mrev muttered, raising his hands skyward and forming his own Cero with precision.
"BOOM!!"
Their Ceros collided midair, erupting in a thunderous explosion. The desert was shaken as gales of wind swept through, scattering sand like a storm. When the dust cleared, both Hollows stood locked in place unscathed.
Sta Mrev's expression twisted with fury. To have his Cero match a Gillian's, even an anomalous one, was unthinkable. And worse Ji Li'an was already wounded. If word of this reached Las Noches, his credibility would crumble.
But as a being who had already transcended the Gillian stage, Sta Mrev composed himself.
"You fool," he said coldly. "Do you not see? I am an Adjuchas. Your evolution stops here."
To his surprise, Ji Li'an burst into laughter his voice unusually humanlike.
"Hah! Adjuchas, you call yourself? You're a pathetic hybrid clinging to evolution by cannibalizing weaklings! A defective body permanently stunted!"
"You...!"
Sta Mrev's mask flushed crimson in fury, its clownish features distorting grotesquely.
"ROAR!"
He erupted with violet-black spiritual pressure, condensing a volley of Bala in both palms rapid-fire spiritual bullets launched furiously at Ji Li'an.
Simultaneously, he vanished using Sonído, reappearing beside Ji Li'an and attempting to plunge his clawed fingers into the Gillian's neck.
But Ji Li'an also flickered with a slow Sonído and narrowly avoided the strike, then leapt above him and brought down a colossal bone-like foot.
BOOM!
The sand exploded beneath the impact as Sta Mrev was driven several meters into the ground.
CLANG!
With a burst of force, Sta Mrev crossed his claws overhead and blocked the massive foot, the friction sparking as claws met calcified flesh.
"Wretched Gillian!" he snarled, blasting a shockwave of spiritual pressure and forcing Ji Li'an back.
Now fully released, Sta Mrev rose with hands interlocked in a ritualistic seal. Purple-black reiryoku coiled around him like a serpent.
"El Mordisco del Mal The Bite of Evil!"
With a demonic howl, he lunged like a beast, face contorting into a spectral skull, and bit deep into Ji Li'an's neck. Acidic spiritual energy melted through the thick armor of his throat.
But Ji Li'an reacted swiftly, blood spraying as he seized Sta Mrev's torso in one massive hand.
"Got you," Ji Li'an said, his voice calm despite the pain.
His left hand clenched tightly, spiritual pressure forming a crushing grip.
"Fool!" Sta Mrev cackled, even as his body began to dissolve. "My body emits corrosive reiryoku you'll perish faster than I will!"
Yet Ji Li'an showed no sign of hesitation. Instead, he lifted the thrashing Adjuchas to his maw.
"Let's test your words see if you dissolve me, or if I digest you first."
"No wait! You can't be"
Sta Mrev's voice cut off as Ji Li'an bit down, devouring him whole.
"AAARGH!"
The anomalous Gillian howled in agony, spiritual acid burning through his insides. He collapsed to one knee in the sand, trembling.
Hours passed. Ji Li'an lay motionless until, slowly, he rose again.
The gaping wound on his neck had stopped bleeding. His ragged mask began regenerating, and a dark violet hue pulsed faintly beneath his skin.
A satisfied smirk curled across his face.
"This spiritual pressure... still not enough to force evolution. And he called himself an Adjuchas?"
He looked down at his clawed hand, then clenched it into a fist.
"I'm no ordinary Gillian. The name... of this king... is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."
---
Meanwhile, deep within the Forest of Menos, Ye Chuan wandered the fog-shrouded pathways, his spiritual pressure subtly shifting.
ROOOAR!
A distant howl pierced the silence.
Ye Chuan's eyes lit up. "A lone Gillian?"
He followed the sound and soon came upon a mindless, towering Gillian its mask a warped featureless visage, swaying as if in agony.
"Still a dumb beast," Ye Chuan muttered, licking his lips. "But you'll do nicely."
Without hesitation, he lunged forward, his claws glowing with hunger.
"Let's test how far I've come."
---.