Bleach: Starting with Marrying Retsu Unohana

“It’s really nice here.”

Araki sighed, but still acknowledged the 'grandeur' of the Barragán Palace.

Araki was too lazy to correct Barragan's aesthetic sense; someone else would do it later. After praising Barragan, Araki used his Zanpakuto to create a 'green hot spring' in the center of Barragan's palace...

Well, this 'hot spring' is similar to the 'hot spring' that Araki built for the Shinigami outside the Forest of Nocturne, but there are some differences.

"This is an evolution pool. As long as you throw a Hollow's 'corpse' in, it will produce a continuous stream of evolution fluid, helping the Hollows immersed in it to evolve faster! At the same time, this evolution pool can also display the potential of each Hollow..."

"In other words, if you encounter some Hollows that you value, you can let them soak in the liquid to see if they have the potential to evolve into a 'Vagumo'! Unfortunately, the liquid in this evolution pool is ineffective against the highest-ranking Hollows."

Araki explained the purpose of the 'hot spring' in front of them to Barragán.

"Um?!"

When Barragan heard that the hot spring in front of him could help Hollows evolve, his expression immediately changed.

Then he heard Araki say that the evolution pool was ineffective against 'Va', to which Barragan could only nod helplessly to Araki: "I understand!"

Although Barragan felt a little regretful, there was nothing he could do about it. After all, under normal circumstances, 'Voidwalker' was the pinnacle of Hollow evolution!

To achieve another breakthrough, we need to introduce the concept of "Hollow" becoming a "Shinigami"...

"Then I'll leave 'Ballegane' to you! Protect my 'evolution pool' well."

"If you make any discoveries, you should know how to notify me."

Araki then disappeared from the spot.

"Um……"

After seeing Araki leave, Barragan immediately straightened up and bowed slightly in the direction Araki had gone to show his respect for him.

"And one more thing……"

"While your 'palace' is indeed 'impressive,' don't you think it's far too dark here?"

After hearing the sound, Barragan did not see Araki's figure. Araki was obviously too fast, and he was already gone, leaving only echoes on the ground.

"It's too dark..."

Barragan sat on his throne, muttering Araki's words.

He pondered for a long time, and finally, Barragan seemed to have come up with a brilliant idea. He raised his head and roared at the dark palace, "Guards!"

"My king, I am here!"

As Barragan finished speaking, one after another, Adjuchas-level Hollows emerged from around the dark palace. In fact, these mid-level Hollows had always hidden around Las Noches, in places untouched by moonlight, simply because their emperor had said not to wander around in front of him unnecessarily, as it would be an eyesore…

"Your Majesty, that guy in the white haori just now, could he be the Grim Reaper?"

"I heard from my brothers stationed inside the Great Void Forest that a group of Death Gods has come into the forest and is hunting our companions like madmen. Do you think I should lead a team to wipe them out?!"

A nosy Adjuchas approached Barragán and began to fawn over him.

"Did I ask you?"

Upon hearing this, Barragán turned his head toward Naacchus and asked in a cold voice.

"Forehead……"

Sensing Barragán's coldness, Adjuchas felt a chill run down his spine. He knew he had displeased Barragán, and immediately looked at him, explaining, "No! Your Majesty! You know I am utterly loyal to you, you know I didn't mean it that way, I..."

"Did I say I asked you?"

Barragán rudely interrupted the Adjuchas's explanation and continued to ask questions.

“You, you didn’t ask me.”

Adjuchas's voice trembled unnaturally.

"Very well! According to the rules of Hueco Mundo, you can die now!"

As Barragan spoke, he reached out his hand toward Naachukas, and instantly, the dark power of 'aging' swept toward Naachukas.

"Wow~"

Without pain or screams, Naachukas shattered into a pile of white sand the instant he was touched by Barragan's power.

"What did you all just see?!"

After Barragan destroyed Naachukas, he questioned the remaining mid-level Hollows.

"Your Majesty, we saw nothing!"

The mid-level Void Realm cultivators bowed their heads, pressing them firmly to the ground, and answered respectfully.

“Very good! Go find me some glowing things. I remember that a very strange Hollow has emerged near the ‘Great Hollow Forest’ in recent years! They have a light bulb on their heads that can glow, and that light bulb can also transform into a weak lure to attract even weaker prey! Haha, what a weak ‘Hollow,’ even their abilities are so weak! Find me these strange Hollows, I want to use the lights on their heads to decorate my palace!”

Barragan has lived in Hueco Mundo since ancient times, and he has seen far too many kinds of Hollows, including more than a dozen ghouls like "Kiba". However, these ghouls have extremely limited power and do not even have the ability to evolve into "Killion"...

Among the myriad types of Hollows, there is one that even Barragan remembers vividly: a Hollow with light bulb-like lures on its head designed to attract prey. Though not particularly powerful, it was quite intriguing.

Oh, right, that ethereal shape looks like an anglerfish.

"As ordered!"

After hearing Barragan's words, the group of 'Acchucas' exchanged glances and then answered in unison.

"Alright! You may all leave! I'm getting tired."

"I hope that when I wake up, I will see a hundred of those empty heads."

Barragán casually waved his hand at the kneeling Adjuchas, indicating that his men could leave.

"I'll understand later!"

Upon hearing this, the Adjuchas' eyes blazed with fighting spirit. They were determined to collect one hundred of those Hollow heads before their companions!

Grand Fisher: "Don't come any closer!"

Thus, every light bulb used to light up the night in Las Noches was made from the head of a Hollow of the same race as Grand Fisher.

"That way, when Lord Araki visits Hueco Mundo again, my palace won't be as dark as it is now."

"I'm sure that Lord Araki will be able to feel my respect for him from those glowing heads."

Barragán was brimming with confidence at that moment.

Although he didn't possess Aizen's 'divine skill' to transform the entire 'Lost in Las Noches' into an artificial canopy, he was adept at making the most of waste...

A huge chapter of 4,000 words!

Chapter 69 We have no rivals ahead!

When Araki returned to the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force's camp, he saw the ground littered with the remains of Hollows and a group of ragged Eleventh Division members.

"Captain, you're back!"

When some of the team members saw Araki return, they subconsciously nodded to him as a sign of respect.

However, most of the team members stood outside the hot spring pool, staring at the data floating above it, seemingly lost in thought. Even the squad leaders, including Nobukatsu, Zenjouji Yubin, and Saito Immortal, were surprisingly silent with Araki, all appearing withdrawn and isolated...

"This ranking is pretty much what I expected."

Upon seeing this, Araki first glanced at the data on the leaderboard. Currently, Araki was still ranked first with 320 points, followed by Uno with 280 points, and then the squad leaders including Nobuaki, each of whom had more than 100 points. As for the ordinary members of the 11th Division, they had no points at all...

This was pretty much what Araki had expected. It was normal that the ordinary members of the 11th Division couldn't defeat Killian, but in Araki's opinion, the scores of Uno and the other squad leaders were a bit low.

"What's wrong with them?!"

Araki then approached Uno Retsu, who was standing nearby, and asked him about it.

"Ara~ Araki, you're back~ Looks like you've finished your business!" Upon hearing Araki's words, Uno Retsu greeted him first, then looked at the group of sullen Eleventh Division members and gently shook his head: "As for these guys, they were naturally discouraged by you! After seeing you easily take down over thirty Killian, they thought these 'lower-level Hollows' were nothing special, but in reality, these Hollows are surprisingly troublesome~"

"After Zenjouji Yupin killed eleven Killion with her Zanpakuto, she stubbornly put down her Zanpakuto and tried to crush the heads of Killion with her bare hands. She was then severely injured by the Cero of dozens of Hollows!"

"Ah this..."

Araki was speechless upon hearing this. Did Zenjoji Yubin really think she was some old man from the mountains?

They're even planning to put on a show, punching a Hollow with their iron fist?!

Before he could even throw a punch, he was taught a lesson by Hollow's Cero...

Araki commented, "Terra has collapsed!"

"In order to retrieve the 'corpse' of Zenjoji, the executioner was also caught in the Hollow's Cero. After killing twenty Gillian, he withdrew from the battlefield early..."

"That immortal idiot unleashed his Zanpakuto's Bankai the moment he entered the 'forest,' completely exhausting his spiritual pressure! As a result, after defeating fourteen Killian, he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and was picked up by me..."

"As for Captain Shijima and Captain Reikotsu, one has been taking advantage of the chaos, while the other has been studying Killian's corpse ever since entering the forest! And then there are the remaining members of our Eleventh Division. Although they are very strong, it's still too much of a stretch to ask them to deal with a Hollow."

Mao told Araki about the results of the first expedition of the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force to the Great Forest of Menlo.

After Mao finished his work report, 'Immortal', 'Executor of the Martial Code', and the others all lowered their heads... They were truly ashamed; it was too humiliating. It would have been understandable if they had been defeated by 'Vaxu' or a dozen 'Adjuchas', but because of their momentary carelessness, they had been caught off guard by a bunch of weaklings. It was truly pathetic...

If the old man guarding the Seireitei heard this, he'd think that all the first captains had become useless after arriving in Hueco Mundo! If it were recorded and kept in a book, and future generations looked it over, their descendants would probably point fingers at them and laugh, saying, "Haha, the first 13th Division is nothing special, they were actually taken down by a bunch of Killian, they're only at Kensei Muguruma's level!"

Incidentally, the reason why Uno Retsu only killed more than twenty Killian was not because of her strength, but because Uno never took the initiative to attack the Killian. She was watching the entire battlefield and seeing which side's soldiers were in danger so that she could intervene to help them.

"This is truly a huge failure!"

Araki's eye twitched slightly after hearing Uno's words. The first Gotei 13 captain hadn't even shown his full strength! It seemed that both the captains and the soldiers' combat experience was limited to dealing with humanoid beings like 'Shinigami' or 'Quinness'...

When facing the Hollows, no one had enough experience, and many combat techniques used against humans were simply unusable, which led to the first siege of the Hollow Forest ending in such a 'dejected' manner...

However, Araki was not worried at all; he had plenty of time to help these members familiarize themselves with the power of the Hollows.

"The team desperately needs a big win to boost morale!"

Upon hearing this, Uno Retsu smiled faintly at Araki.

"I understand~"

Araki nodded in agreement.

"Damn it, how can these Hollows be so powerful?!"

"Do we really have a chance of winning against that kind of monster?"

"Damn it! Hueco Mundo is simply not a place for people like us..."

The members of the Eleventh Division soaked in the hot spring, their eyes filled with endless gloom as they watched their wounds heal. The liquid they were using to help them recover was made from the corpses of the Hollows that the captains had hunted. In other words, they had become a burden to the captains.

"Everyone! Look over here..."