"What in the world…"
It has now been a few days since Nel had been captured by Gojo and his team and what she saw during those few days completely changed her view of the world.
When Gojo entered Hueco Mundo and asked her for information about Las Noches, Nel had been sure that he would storm there with his teammates and fight a deathmatch with Espada.
But she was wrong. Completely wrong. The first thing she noticed was that all of them were now wearing a sort of special black cloak that completely covered their emotion of spiritual energy.
Hueco Muno was as large as a world if not more. At the very least, she had never seen the end. This means that it was nearly impossible to find someone who could hide their tracks so thoroughly without an unordinary level of luck.
Then, as if such a wonder wasn't enough to have such a technological wonder, Gojo proceeded in completely destroy her common sense.
"Haha. We became used to it but it's funny seeing this face on other people."
Lisa laughed thinly while holding a book of dubious content in her hand as she rested on a reclining chair.
This was the problem here.
The chair.
"....is he a god?"
She couldn't help but ask this question while gulping with difficulty.
On that day, after Gojo finished interrogating her, he proceeded to teleport them to another place simply. Since she had no memory of that place and couldn't even feel the Reiatsu of any hollows, she could only guess that this place was quite far from the base of operation of the Espada.
Teleportation was already something unheard of in her opinion. But Gojo then proceeded to smash everything she knew again.
With just a few waves of his hands and after a few minutes, in a place where there was once nothing now stood a gigantic castle that covered a few hundred square miles[1].
All spiritual being could use their own Reiatsu and the ambient Reishi in a certain limited manner but that was it. Gojo meanwhile seemed like an almighty god as he brought things from nothing in her opinion.
Lisa snickered. She could guess what Nel was thinking and knew why she was so awed. At their level, destroying such a castle was simply too easy. But this wasn't the problem. Creating was always more difficult than destroying.
His action proved that Gojo stood on another plane. A level that was simply absurd to glimpse at.
Even though Lisa knew that Gojo wasn't creating things from nothing but rather was converting and transforming the Spiritual matter, it was a no less impressive feat.
On earth, Gojo was a very powerful Shinigami.
In a place like Hueco Mundo or Soul Society? He was simply a monster whose limit couldn't be understood.
Lisa knew that Gojo needed in no way their help to deal with Aizen and only brought them to get a closure on that matter.
'Well, either way, I guess he is about to become even more of a monster.'
—-
"So, what do you need me to do?"
Hachigen Ushoda, a rather heavy warrior wearing a green suit asked Gojo, wonder evident in his eyes.
Before becoming a Visored and now a member of Deus, Hachigen was the vice-captain of the Kido Corps. It went without saying that Hachigen was an incredibly skilled Kido user.
His greatest achievement was to create his own system of Kido. Spells that were not classified nor numbered but were no less useful than the highest-ranked Kido.
His mastery lay in two things mainly.
Barrier and Time type Kido. Which incidentally were forbidden in Soul Society.
Because of those two specialties, Gojo and Hachigen hit off really well. Gojo taught his Veil and other barrier technique he knew to Hachigen while Hachigen introduced his mastery of time to Gojo.
Because of his pacific nature, Hachigen's time kido was focused on his barrier and allowed him to "Rewind" the time of things in the barrier he created. He mainly used this as a way of healing technique[1].
Gojo of course wasn't interested in such healing. His own healing techniques were no less powerful.
What interested him was the aspect of time since he wished to implement it in his skillset.
What if he could rewind the time of his enemies? It has to be said that Shinigami and Hollows didn't become weaker with time but rather became stronger.
But the opposite means that the younger they were, the weaker they would be.
Of course, there were some exceptions such as Zaraki. But Gojo didn't think that it was something common.
'I almost completely grasped it.'
Hachigen taught him how to bring time Backwards thanks to Tessai, who was once the Captain of the Kido Corps. He knew more or less how to stop time in a given zone.
It was because of the use of that time stop Kido that Tessai was also considered a criminal alongside Kisuke back then.
Past and present. The only thing he lacked was the future.
Initially, he thought that he would have to learn it by himself but thanks to the information he got from Nel, he knew that it wouldn't be necessary.
"So your next target is Barragan?"
Yoruichi asked nonchalantly. She remembered what Nel said about Barragan.
The man was one of the oldest hollows alive and was once recognized as the King of Hueco Mundo.
She would have scoffed at that, but if Nel wasn't exaggerating the power of that person, then his power over time was indeed something to look out for.
A power that could bring death to everything.
Nel speculated that the only reason Aizen beat Barragan so effortlessly was only thanks to his Zanpakuto power.
But she also added that even without it, she was sure that Aizen would have won. Just in a somewhat more difficult way [3].
Still, this proved that the ex-king of Hueco Mundo was no pushover.
Gojo also had to be careful because even in an infinite distance, time still existed. His [Infinity] was the ultimate shield but it could still be affected by space-time-based attack.
This was the case with the Hado #90 that Aizen used last time and it should be the same with that skeleton.
Even then, Gojo had no fear.
Many things could change in twenty years, even Shinigami, and Gojo wasn't at the same level as he was twenty years ago.
"Let's complete Limitless first."
Sitting on a chair he created with his eyes closed, Gojo let his security to Yoruichi, while he delved into the soul world of his sword.
Appearing on the throne, next to Kogo, Gojo looked at the world that was slowly becoming complete and grinned.
Since he had already re-obtained the strongest shield [Infinity], it was time for him to get back his Strongest spear.[4]
Meanwhile, as Yoruichi watched Gojo fall in trance, she took out a marker with a mischievous smile on her face.
"Let's draw on his face."
Hachigen could only laugh with a speechless expression.
[1]: Imagine Elsa and replace Snow and ice with Spiritual particles.
[2]: Initially, people thought that Inoue's healing was time-based so Hachigen decided to teach her for a bit. Though later we found that Inoue wasn't rewinding time but rewriting reality (or negating it). Still pissed at the waste of such a potentially OP Character.
[3]: In bleach, Gin affirmed that Aizen wasn't the boss of Espada just because of Kyoka. But also because he simply surpassed them all. Since Gin spent more than a hundred years observing Aizen in order to kill him, I think he knows what he is saying.
[4] Those who knows Jujutsu should easily guess what I am talking about. For those who don't, no need to worry. It will be explained next chapter.
(AN: Finally completed Vol 8 on Patreon. Really took a long while. But I am basically writing two chapters everyday for SHK recently so sorry if I can't give more time to Gojo.)
[Las Noches]
"Hah~I am bored! When will those so-called enemies appear?"
"Hey! Be careful with what you are saying. Aizen-sama ordered us to keep guard."
In front of the gate of Las noches, two Arrancar of a rather low rank were busy discussing.
The problem of the matter was the current high tension that was getting on their nerves slowly but surely.
"I mean. It has already been two months, right? Aside from attacking Lord Nnoitra and Lord Neliel, nothing much happened."
"Huh. You forgot those rumors about the so-called sword demon that had appeared in the south?"
The arrancar that was complaining shut up.
Indeed, while nothing much happened, every now and then the number of Arrancar
would go down.
At first, no one understood what was happening but with a few survivors there and here, they were able to piece some clues.
A crazy man.
A man with bells in his black hair.
A man that was more terrifying than a hollows.
A man that was more bloodthirsty than a Vasto Lorde.
Such a man…
"It's only a rumour. I don't believe that this guy exist."
"But what about the dead then?"
"How would I know!? Perhaps they were eaten by some other hollows?"
The two of them were about to enter another heated discussion when they suddenly felt a chill on their back.
Straightening their back and adjusting the hold on their swords, the two acted like proper guard but were completely ignored by the two men that were walking out.
'Espada.'
Their breath hitched when they recognized the two of people.
Espada #10 Yammy Llargo
Espada #2 Ulquiorra Cifer
'Did they hear us?'
'They heard us, right?'
'Are we fucked?'
The two guards spoke with their eyes but thankfully for them, until the moment those two left, they never spared a glance at them.
This was the first time those two guards felt how good it could be to be ignored by those in power.
—--
"Why did you stop me?"
Like what the two guards thought, they really were near death. If Ulquiorra hadn't stopped Yammy then, nothing would have been left of them.
"Killing them is not only a waste of time but would only reinforce the unease in the hearts of the soldiers. This is an extremely bad way of using those resources. Highly inefficient."
"... Hum. Well, if you say so."
Yammy snorted but didn't insist. Amongst all of the Espada, the only one able to 'tame' Yammy like this was Ulquiorra. Not even Aizen inspired this much respect in him.
In his opinion, Ulquiorra was the ultimate form of what a warrior should be.
"Either way, don't you think we should do something?"
"Simple, kill the rumour. No rumours, no unease?"
Even for Yammy who hated to think too much, the solution of Ulquiorra was clearly a little too simple.
But…A wide ferocious smile formed on his face,
"I have eaten more than enough during those two months. I am bursting with energy. What do you say? Let's hunt that sword demon or whatever?"
Ulquiorra stopped for a few seconds as he considered the implications that would follow and finally nodded once he was sure that nothing would go wrong.
"Let's kill that sword demon."
There was nothing to fear. No matter how strong the enemy was, could he be stronger than the two of them?
It was with such a mindset that the Espada #2 and #10 rushed toward the place where their target had last been sighted.
They held supreme confidence in their power and could in no way see how they could lose.
—-
"Weak."
The sound of splash sounded while the white desert of Hueco Mundo was dyed red.
Standing up not far behind, Grimmjow looked as Zaraki dispatched another Arrancar.
"Hey! Cat face! I believe I asked where I can face strong opponents."
Grimmjow grimaced but did not complain. Ever since he had been captured by Kenpachi, he had been sending the bastard to different danger zones in the vain hope of destroying him.
But all of this had proven to be fruitless.
"I already told you to capture Espada if you want to fight so much."
"I can't. Espadas are like super rare food near extinction. Gotta savour them carefully."
Grimmjow groaned, as a battle maniac himself he understood where Zaraki was getting at and this was why it was all more the more confusing.
Grimmjow remembered the day of Nnoitra defeat.
During the fight, Zaraki had been rather frightening but that was all.
Still…The moment Nnoitra tried to attack the pink-haired little girl that seemed to be stuck on his back….Grimmjow swore that even the most frightening Hollow would pale in comparison to that man.
Like a shura from hell, he moved at a min boggling speed and crushed Nnoitra as if the high-ranked Espada was but a child facing the wrath of a bear.
It was brutal.
With the face of an Ashura, Zaraki tore apart, slashed, crushed and reduced Nnoitra in nothing but a bloody mess.
After witnessing this, Grimmjow had given up on life totally for he knew that he had no chance of ever winning.
Still, he did not give up and tried to transform to at least die an honorable death but it was there that Zaraki surprised him,
"Follow me and guide me."
Grimmjow did not know what took him over then.
Was it the chance of survival?
Perhaps so but Grimmjow didn't fear death as such it wasn't the complete reason.
If he had to be honest, it was because Zaraki was strong.
Not an incomprehensible strength like Gojo and Aizen, but rather the kind of strength that made your blood boil and wish to fight even if a little more.
Grimmjow recognized this strength and admired it.
This was why he accepted.
Of course, if he was asked, Grimmjow would only snort and proclaim to have been coerced. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Anyway, with all those you killed, some Espda are bound to come after you."
"Heh, as long as they are stronger than the previous one, everything is alright."
Zaraki looked at the horizon with hope etched on his face. He truly hoped that he wouldn't get disappointed.
Meanwhile, a little further in Hueco Mundo, after a few months of meditation…Gojou was finally opening his eyes again.
----
AN: I am participating at a contest. Fantasy Festival. The story is called Midnight Prince. some of my old readers might know it as Netori Prince previously. A story I had in mind for two years now. Give a try. I hope you will like it.
Here link:
https://www.webnovel.com/book/midnight-prince_24908760405236305 would appreciate it if you could give reviews and put it in your collection.)