Chapter 46: The Weight of the World on a King's Shoulders |
Harribel cast a calm and indifferent gaze toward Baraggan.
'You have misunderstood everything, Baraggan.'
'I am merely passing through, following my master.'
By attaining a fragment of the evolution of the Six Paths, Harribel had ascended to a new level of development. Her Reiatsu now transcended that of any ordinary Vasto Lorde Hollow.
Therefore, it was only natural that she felt no pressure whatsoever while standing before Baraggan.
Following Harribel's words, an ominous red glow flared within Baraggan's empty eye sockets, betraying a deep-seated rage: "Your master?! So you are willing to bow your head to anyone but me... the ruler of Hueco Mundo?! Harribel!"
Baraggan's furious gaze first swept over Starrk and the others, then settled on the figure of Yeruashi, who stood at the head of the small group: "This Reiatsu... are you a Shinigami or some unique species of Hollow? No matter, it is of little consequence now... have you truly come here to challenge me, the sovereign of Hueco Mundo?!"
Accompanying Baraggan's authoritative words, all the Adjuchas present in the throne hall began to release their Reiatsu, focusing it entirely on the unwelcome guests.
Baraggan was the supreme king and lord of Hueco Mundo!
"No."
Yeruashi looked at Baraggan and spoke calmly as he paced slowly through the hall: "I am merely passing through."
"Passing through..."
"You said... you are just passing through?!"
Baraggan whispered in stunned silence, but then he snapped back to his senses and rose from his throne with a roar of indignation.
However.
Whoosh!
Just as the insulted King of Hueco Mundo prepared to launch an attack, his hollow eye sockets met Yeruashi's eyes, which were emitting a pale golden radiance.
Accompanied by this light, an invisible force, incomprehensible even to Baraggan himself, surged from Yeruashi's body.
This power instantly enveloped the dark sky of Hueco Mundo above the throne hall and then pierced through several layers of space.
A magnificent flower then blossomed across the firmament, possessing ten mysterious petals that shrouded the entire sky, each one representing a fold in space.
Directly from the center of this beautiful and enigmatic flower, encircled by the ten massive petals, a dense and strange pulse erupted.
The realm situated beyond this flower not only possessed a much higher concentration of Reishi than Las Noches but was also filled with other strange and unfathomable energies.
"What in the world is this?!"
Baraggan exclaimed in shock, witnessing this beautiful and completely incomprehensible scene.
Why...
Why was there a passage directly above his throne room leading to another dimension, separated from Hueco Mundo by several layers of space?!
Yeruashi flew toward the center of the flower with an air of nonchalance, paying absolutely no attention to the bewildered Baraggan.
Baraggan, who had been watching the events unfold with his anger and irritation entirely forgotten, cried out in concern when he noticed Yeruashi's movement: "Stop... where do you think you're going? Tell me what lies there at once! Everything here belongs to me, the great kin—"
Boom!!!
The words of the self-proclaimed King of Hueco Mundo were abruptly cut short by a terrifying pulse, bringing Baraggan an overwhelming sense of oppression he had not felt since becoming a Vasto Lorde!
Even more shocking and frightening was that this pulse did not originate from Yeruashi, but from a petite girl with long, snow-white hair and crimson pupils, who was flying after him toward the spatial rift in the middle of the sky.
"!"
Baraggan stared with disbelief and confusion at the figure of Lilith, who was gracefully ascending into the sky above the throne hall.
Who is this strange girl...
How can she possess such a terrifying presence?!
"Father did not intend to trouble himself with the vermin crawling at the entrance of our home, but I think... it's time to clean up."
Lilith cast an indifferent glance at Baraggan, smoothly drawing her Zanpakuto from its sheath.
Vermin...
Vermin?
Vermin!!!
Baraggan initially felt confusion and profound shock, but those emotions were ruthlessly washed away by an indescribable fury and rage that even the thought of the girl's terrifying presence could not suppress.
"I... I am the great ruler of Las Noches and the King of Hueco Mundo! How dare you call me... vermin?!"
Following those words, a frightening dark purple mist surged from Baraggan's figure toward Lilith.
Whoosh!
The stone floor of the throne hall was covered in countless fine cracks and turned to dust the moment it came into contact with the terrifying mist.
However.
As the mist approached Lilith, she indifferently swung her Zanpakuto.
In the wake of her movement, a blinding, blood-red radiance flared, seemingly splitting Baraggan's dark purple mist in two, along with the very sky and earth of Hueco Mundo.
Baraggan froze in place as if struck by a petrification spell.
Crack!
A very thin, clean diagonal line appeared on the golden crown adorning the self-proclaimed king's skull, which then extended across the entire bone structure.
"Oh..."
Baraggan opened his mouth and reached out a hand toward Lilith, intending to do something, but ultimately the upper half of his skull slid smoothly along the diagonal cut.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
The two halves of the golden crown and the severed portion of the skull fell onto the stone floor of the throne hall at Baraggan's feet.
Then, the remnants of the dark purple mist dissipated without a trace, and Baraggan's spiritual power began to fade rapidly.
"Your... Your Majesty?!"
The numerous Hollows present in the throne hall cried out in shock, refusing to believe the reality of what was happening.
Baraggan Louisenbairn, the greatest and most powerful of the Vasto Lorde, who had ruled Las Noches and Hueco Mundo for countless years, was... was defeated in a single blow!
"Who... who are you..."
The final words escaped Baraggan's mouth before his body began to disintegrate into countless Reishi particles.
Up until the very moment of his death, he could not comprehend who this strange and unfathomable girl truly was—someone capable of crushing him, the King of Hueco Mundo, like a common ant!
"..."
Starrk shook his head, looking at Baraggan's dispersing body.
In the past, from his perspective, only Vasto Lorde-level Hollows could even be considered as peers, but now one of them had been mercilessly killed right before his eyes.
On the other hand, the death of this proud and arrogant Baraggan Louisenbairn—who had imagined himself the master of all Hueco Mundo—at the hands of one of the Hollow King's followers was something Starrk had predicted the moment he realized they were heading for Las Noches.
Starrk was not overly shocked by Lilith's power; in his mind, the closest follower of the Hollow King should possess extraordinary strength, far beyond any of them.
Analyzing the force of that attack, Starrk concluded that even the four of them together could have done nothing against Lilith alone.
Furthermore.
Starrk felt that through Lilith's attack, he had caught a glimpse of Yeruashi's own might.
None of the inhabitants of Hueco Mundo were capable of opposing the Hollow King who had created this world.
Whoosh!
Lilith, who had just crushed Baraggan with a single strike, calmly returned her Zanpakuto to its sheath and then followed Yeruashi toward the spatial rift.
Ulquiorra, Nelliel, and Starrk took one last look at Baraggan's dispersing remains before flying with Harribel toward the spatial passage leading to the Hollow King Palace.
Harribel did not look back at the fallen Baraggan even once.
Only Baraggan's numerous subordinates remained in the throne hall, pinned to the floor by the unimaginable burst of Reiatsu that had accompanied Lilith's previous attack.
Now, these Hollows felt only a tremor throughout their bodies and an overwhelming fear that called out to the very depths of their souls.
Looking at the several figures disappearing into the spatial rift in the sky above the throne hall, only one short thought circled in the minds of the many Hollows.
Who...
Who are they?
...
The Hollow King Palace.
Initially, this independent dimension had no name at all, but Yeruashi eventually decided it should be called the Hollow King Palace, since Zero had named his personal dimension the Soul King Palace.
In fact, the beings who knew of this dimension's existence likely called it that anyway.
It was through the power of the Soul King and the Hollow King, who together created Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, that humans could find a second life in the form of a soul.
It must be said that despite this majestic and imposing name, the actual structure of this independent dimension was quite simple compared to the Soul King Palace dimension.
In this realm, there was only a beautiful blue sky and an immense stretch of land, over which towered a magnificent and elegant palace.
The space before the facade of the splendid palace resembled a glade strewn with countless shards of glass, emitting a beautiful and mesmerizing rainbow glow.
In the midst of this space, Yeruashi's figure appeared, walking slowly forward while surveying the facade of the majestic palace.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!!
Following Yeruashi, Lilith first emerged from the magnificent and mesmerizing spatial rift, followed by Starrk, Ulquiorra, and the others.
As Yeruashi and the rest walked toward the palace, a tall, thin figure emerged slowly to meet them, stepping out from the shadows of the palace's facade.
The figure had shoulder-length pink hair and amber-colored eyes framed by rectangular glasses.
It was easy to recognize this figure, provided one ignored the third eye in the center of his forehead, which featured concentric circles and six tomoe.
In the original story, he was the only scientist among the Espada under Aizen's command.
The Octava Espada—Szayelaporro Granz!
"I have been waiting for you for so very long."
"Hollow King."
Szayelaporro spread his arms wide and smiled, looking at Yeruashi, Lilith, and the others.
Lilith cast an icy, murderous gaze at Szayelaporro, placing her delicate palm on the hilt of her Zanpakuto.
"Ah, you really shouldn't do that, Lilith-sama."
Szayelaporro gave a nonchalant and welcoming smile, raising a hand before him.
Following this simple movement, which seemed to carry no particular power, an unimaginable pressure from the surrounding space crashed down upon Lilith's figure.
This pressure affected not only Lilith but the other members of the arriving group as well, including Yeruashi himself.
Boom!
Even Yeruashi's figure trembled under the influence of this inconceivable pressure, to say nothing of Starrk and the other Arrancars, who immediately fell to the ground.
This pressure did not originate from Reiatsu or anything of the sort, but from space itself...
From all of Hueco Mundo!
"Simply incredible, simply incredible..."
"The mythical Hollow King remains standing even with all of Hueco Mundo upon his own shoulders."
Szayelaporro tilted his chin up and spoke with admiration, clapping his hands.
Lilith, who was struggling immensely to stay on her feet by leaning both hands on the hilt of her Zanpakuto, addressed Szayelaporro: "What... what did you do?"
"Nothing special."
Szayelaporro said calmly, carefully adjusting his glasses: "I merely used the dimension you created to establish a special lever of power."
"The function of this lever of power is to transfer the weight of the entire Hueco Mundo dimension onto a small area."
"This independent dimension, perfectly inlaid directly into the dimension of Hueco Mundo without exerting any influence on its complex structure, is beautiful and exquisite, like a supreme work of art."
"It would have been a crime on my part not to attempt to make changes to such a beautiful thing."
Szayelaporro gracefully spread his arms and smiled proudly: "...so, how do you like my perfect creation?"
"I apologize for employing such a method, Hollow King... it is just that you are so powerful that I found no other way to defeat you than to use the entire world!"
Even the current Yeruashi was heavily constrained by this unimaginable pressure, for the dimension of Hueco Mundo contained nearly a third of the Soul King's power!
Originally, Zero was five times stronger than Yeruashi, so a third of the Soul King's power still exceeded the power of the Hollow King.
But Yeruashi merely smiled in response and spoke calmly, despite the unimaginable pressure of all Hueco Mundo upon his shoulders: "An interesting construction."