[Hueco Mundo]
This world, once forever shrouded in despair and deathly stillness, where even the wind carried the scent of dry bones, was now undergoing an unprecedented transformation.
The eternal night that had never changed since ancient tis seed to have been forcibly torn open by an invisible pair of giant hands.
Above the sky, it was no longer that suffocating pure black, but instead began to glow with scattered points of faint light.
That light pulsed like breathing across the sky, gradually spreading out, coating this pale desert in a faint glow that felt almost sacred.
Compared to before, the entire Hueco Mundo seed to have suddenly co alive.
"So this is what you've been doing?"
Hikifune Kirio stopped on the massive white stone steps in front of Las Noches, looking up at the unbelievable sky. Her full chest rose and fell slightly, her eyes filled with undisguised shock.
As a researcher who had recently been probing the essence of Soul Society, she understood better than anyone what this ant.
This world was undergoing a drastic change, moving toward sothing better.
Hueco Mundo had originally been the dumping ground of Soul Society and the Human World, a lawless place that no one cared about.
Its very purpose was simply to contain those resentnts and negative spirit particles that had nowhere else to go, so that Soul Society could remain stable.
But now, the light appearing in the sky was far more than a simple visual change.
It was the light of another world, forcefully projecting itself in, rging with Hueco Mundo.
This was the tangible manifestation of two completely different worlds, their rules beginning to fuse.
She could even clearly sense that the spirit particles drifting in the air were rearranging themselves according to a formula she had never seen before.
This kind of deep-level restructuring of rules was so shocking it could rival the mont she had once touched the essence of soul creation.
To the point that the hand holding the silver chain loosened slightly without her noticing.
At the other end of the chain, Shutara wore her Zero Division robes, though the red marks on her snow-white skin were still striking.
Feeling the slack in the chain, she just rolled her eyes and leaned against a massive stone pillar, completely giving up.
'No hope at all.'
No wonder she'd been brought to Hueco Mundo. This was already Rosse's territory.
Or rather, Hikifune Kirio was willingly letting herself be driven by him.
"A world shouldn't have nothing but endless darkness, don't you think?"
Rosse stood in front of the two of them, one hand behind his back, his white cloak of the Hollow King fluttering lightly in the breeze.
He watched the changing sky with a faint smile, his tone calm, like that of a creator.
"Even though what you're doing is pretty rebellious…"
Hikifune Kirio took a deep breath, pulling her gaze away from the sky and turning it to Rosse, "But honestly, if I were a native of Hueco Mundo, I'd raise both hands in support of you."
She wasn't just flattering him.
To a pure researcher, introducing new variables ant new truths.
Rosse had forcibly connected an entirely foreign world system into Hueco Mundo, bringing it back to life. He had truly given this world a new beginning.
"You're not even from Hueco Mundo, and yet you switched sides faster than anyone," Shutara sneered coldly, her hoarse voice echoing across the empty steps.
She also believed Rosse's actions were terrifyingly bold.
To rge Hueco Mundo into another world entirely was no small matter.
But as soone born in Soul Society, she would never praise an invader's madness.
"Hah?", Hikifune Kirio raised an eyebrow indifferently and deliberately shook the silver chain in her hand, making a crisp clinking sound, "Switched more completely than you? Look at you now. Your bones have practically gone soft, haven't they?"
"Shut up! Hikifune Kirio, shut your mouth!"
Shutara shot upright, glaring at her, her usually proud eyes nearly spitting fire, "When did I surrender? I was defeated and captured! I was forced!"
She clenched her teeth. Even though her body had developed miserable conditioned reflexes from the humiliations she'd endured, her mind still refused to yield.
"Sure, sure. You're noble. You weren't captured."
Hikifune Kirio waved her hand dismissively, clearly too lazy to argue with soone acting ntally split.
She gave the chain a casual tug, pulling Shutara forward a couple of stumbling steps, "Co on, take around and let see what's changed in Hueco Mundo. There's a lot more interesting stuff here than when I ca before."
Compared to bickering with Shutara, the restructuring laws of the world in front of her were far more appealing.
The three of them walked along the corridor outside Las Noches.
"I'm a bit curious."
Hikifune Kirio spoke as she observed the gradually changing density of spirit particles around them, "With the power you've shown, you should be able to easily give Hueco Mundo real vitality, right? Like making plants grow or changing the geological structure. But you haven't done that. It's still this barren desert landscape."
Why had Rosse brought Hueco Mundo into his world?
Just to expand territory?
"There's no need for that kind of extra vitality. In a world of spirit particles, isn't the purest essence the cycle of souls? This place is naturally suited to be a destination for death."
Rosse answered with a smile, as if it were obvious.
"Have you lost your mind?", Shutara let out a mocking laugh, unable to hold back, "You're planning to make Hueco Mundo the Soul Society of your world? Aren't you afraid your originally pure world will be filled up with these evil spirits full of malice? That's the worst possible cycle!"
Hikifune Kirio stopped, turned around, and looked at Shutara with a strange expression, like she was looking at an idiot.
"You're supposed to be a smart researcher. How could you say sothing so lacking in basic sense?"
Hikifune Kirio sighed and shook her head with pity, "Has he bullied you so badly lately that even that brain you're so proud of got broken?"
"What do you an that's wrong—"
Shutara was about to retort out of habit, but suddenly froze before finishing.
As a mber of the Zero Division, she imdiately realized the flaw in her logic.
The reason Hollows existed in Hueco Mundo, violent by nature and ford from accumulated negative emotions, was entirely because the Soul King had set this cruel system at the very beginning of creating the three realms.
Now that Rosse was rging Hueco Mundo into his own world, he would naturally adjust its underlying logic like a programr modifying code, adapting it to his world.
At that point, this violent Hueco Mundo would transform into the Soul Society of that new world, becoming an orderly system managing the cycle of life and death.
"In your world… was there never a place specifically for handling the transformation of souls?"
Shutara frowned, her gaze complicated as she looked at Rosse.
"That cos down to differences in the nature of worlds."
Rosse patiently explained with a smile, "Your world was created by the Soul King using supre power. First ca spirit particles, then matter was built from them. In your system, Soul Society is even more fundantal than the Human World."
He paused and pointed at the changing sky above, "But my world is different. It evolved naturally over a long period of ti. Matter ca first, and only under extrely rare conditions did consciousness and souls erge. In our world, souls cycle through nature in other ways. There's no centralized Soul Society to manage them."
"I see… what a strange world. Without spirit particles, the natural cycle must be completely different. Fascinating…", Hikifune Kirio muttered, completely absorbed.
"Or maybe," Rosse spread his hands, a faint smile on his lips, "your world is the strange one? A world forcibly shaped by a creator for a specific purpose is bound to differ in its underlying logic from naturally evolved worlds."
"So we're the unusual ones… maybe even the distorted ones?", Hikifune Kirio fell into thought.
Recently, through her research into the essence of the world, she had indeed sensed so contradictions and flaws within the structure of the three realms.
But she had never been able to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
Now Rosse's words felt like they had opened a completely new door.
Perhaps if she could one day visit Rosse's naturally evolved world and study it firsthand, she could fully understand where the flaws in Soul Society lay.
"Hey! You two, that's enough!"
Watching them calmly discussing worldviews, Shutara felt a surge of absurdity.
She glared at Hikifune, "He's made it perfectly clear! Hueco Mundo is being devoured by his world! At this rate, Soul Society and the Royal Palace are next! As a mber of the Zero Division, don't you have any thoughts at all? Are you just going to stand by and watch him rewrite the rules set by the Soul King?"
"So what?"
Hikifune Kirio shrugged innocently, her full figure relaxing completely, "I'm just a weak, pitiful woman obsessed with research. What does it matter to who rules the world?"
She idly played with her fingers, "I just want to study the changes in rules when these two worlds rge. As for what Soul Society becos in the end, that's not my concern. I'm not its master, after all."
Besides, in Hikifune's view, this was just a grand fusion.
It wasn't one side erasing the other completely.
As long as she still had a lab and the freedom to pursue truth, whether Soul Society swallowed Rosse's world or Rosse swallowed Soul Society didn't really matter to her.
"You heartless bastard! You'll regret this sooner or later!"
Shutara clenched her teeth in anger, wishing she could rush over and bite Hikifune.
But just as her words fell, Rosse's large hand lightly covered her smooth back, his fingers tracing down the curve of her spine.
"Mm!"
Her body stiffened instantly as if struck by electricity. The anger she had just been showing deflated in an instant like a punctured balloon.
She collapsed helplessly, obediently pressing against Rosse's leg, that humiliating haze returning to her eyes.
Seeing her go from shouting one second to completely subdued the next, Hikifune Kirio sneered inwardly.
Regret? Nah, she was smarter than that.
If she had stubbornly resisted today for the sake of dignity, she didn't believe she would have walked out of Las Noches intact.
She didn't care much about her body, but if she ended up like Shutara, reduced to a plaything whose body only knew submission, with only her mouth left to satisfy Rosse's twisted tastes, that would be true regret.
Shutara probably didn't even realize that this state of hers was exactly what Rosse liked most.
But Hikifune could see it clearly. She knew exactly what Rosse was doing.
She had no intention of becoming a toy.
Fortunately, while Rosse had his twisted tastes, he wasn't the kind who wanted to turn everyone into one.
The three moved quickly.
Before long, they crossed the vast desert and arrived at the edge of Hueco Mundo, where the drastic changes were taking place.
At the boundary, space was visibly collapsing inward and solidifying. The once vague and chaotic border was gradually turning into a tangible barrier.
At that boundary, a dazzling pillar of light shot straight into the sky like a blade, illuminating the dim world completely.
"What is that?"
Hikifune Kirio narrowed her eyes, bracing against the intense fluctuations of spiritual pressure, trying to see inside the beam.
At the very core of the light, she could faintly make out a tall figure with brilliant golden hair, floating in midair.
"One of your Espada?"
A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.
Even from her limited knowledge of Hueco Mundo, as a top-tier Shinigami she could clearly feel that the woman in the beam was now emitting spiritual pressure that even slightly surpassed her own.
"Tier Harribel. His Prira Espada."
Shutara leaned in Rosse's arms. Though her body was weak, she still snorted lightly and gave the na.
Though she had been imprisoned in the dark depths before, and later trapped on the throne in Las Noches after the worlds began rging, she actually knew quite a bit.
Because when Rosse was in a good mood, he would occasionally bring other won along.
At least among the prominent female Arrancar in Las Noches, she recognized most of them.
That feeling… honestly, she didn't want to rember it at all.
And yet, despite having lived for countless years, in those cold tis when she was alone, she would still recall those monts when Rosse was there.
She didn't know whether those mories were just too impactful, or whether Rosse had done sothing to her body and soul.
Instinctively, she felt it was the latter.
After all, she was Shutara Senjumaru. It couldn't be that she herself was the one with the problem, right?
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