Death: Then stood in the sky.

Vastod Vastod Vastod!

These damn scum!

We'll have to kill them all sooner or later!

By any means necessary, at any cost!

"Let's go back."

Ulquiorra drew his finger across the sky.

Sizzle—

The pitch-black passageway unfolded.

Noitra glanced over and knew that across the way was the Arrancar's stronghold, Las Noches, and what awaited him was a period of confinement—ostensibly to calm down.

Oh.

How arrogant!

Just like Nellyel did back then.

Noitra stepped inside, and before being swallowed by the passage, he turned back and shouted, "I will kill you sooner or later, including that Lie you mentioned."

As he spoke, he made a provocative throat-slitting gesture, then walked in laughing wildly.

Aoshi retorted with a cold laugh, "A stray dog."

Noitra paused, his face contorted in shock, and his blood pressure spiked, but he still didn't turn back.

That kid's mouth is still so sharp.

But it doesn't matter, he'll find that Lie he mentioned sooner or later!

Then, kill her!

"Boring."

Ulquiorra, hands in his pockets and expressionless, muttered a sarcastic remark and stepped inside.

hum-

The black passageway seemed to be pulled up by a zipper, completely closed.

Here, everything has returned to its original state, a deathly silence, with only the endless yellow sand still covering the sky, a desolate wasteland.

"We're...we're saved!" Nel poked her head out from Seiji's collar, making his collar look a whole size bigger. So Seiji sometimes had a hard time understanding how those female floaters could possibly go unnoticed.

Are people as indifferent as passengers on a bus, or as blind as colleagues in the break room?

"You... Grim Reaper, are you going to kill Nel?" Feeling that she was no longer of any use, Nel blinked her tear-stained eyes and asked anxiously as she sensed Seiji's gaze.

“Of course…” Qing Si said with a straight face.

Without any hesitation, Nilu pouted and burst into tears.

Aoshi originally wanted to tease her some more, but seeing Nel's pouting lips and her little hands hanging down in a pitiful, tearful manner, he decided to play the role instead: "Of course not."

"R-really?" Nilu asked, her face full of pitifulness, sobbing, "You really won't kill Nilu? You're not lying to Nilu?"

"I never lie." Qing Si said seriously, though he occasionally liked to tell little lies.

“You said lying gets you struck by lightning.” Nilu tilted her head and thought for a moment.

I'll say it anyway, no matter what, lightning won't strike me dead.

Aoshi: "I never lie. If I lie, I'll be struck by lightning."

Boom! ...

A loud bang suddenly came from the empty sky.

Qingji: "???"

Nilu: "???"

The two looked at each other, and Nilu's big eyes welled up with tears again, giving him a look that said, "You're not lying to me."

Aoshi suddenly felt a little embarrassed. No, it was just a little careless with his word choice, was it really that big of a deal?

He immediately added, "I didn't lie to Nel."

Now, the sky was silent.

No, are you being too nitpicky about words?

You'll be punished for fishing!

Aoji shifted his gaze, pulled Nel out of his clothes, and then put his hands under her armpits to bring her eyes level with his.

"Nilu".

"what?"

"Do you want to work for me?"

“Nielu…neel needs to think about it…”

"Meals are provided."

"Really...really?!"

"It's genuine, you know I never lie."

Aoshi put Nel down, then took out a piece of candy and handed it to her: "You must be very lonely, struggling to survive in this desolate Hueco Mundo, struggling to find a gap to live among those greedy Hollows."

Nilu took the candy, lowered her head, and put it in her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

Because that sweetness is mixed with countless days and nights of torment and bitterness, it really doesn't taste good.

"So, Nel, do you want to be with me?"

Chapter 28 Hey Wang, let's have a little banter!

It was still a desolate, empty circle. Two black dots moved forward little by little in the swirling sandstorm, and the footprints they left behind were quickly buried by the yellow sand.

"Nilu, come on, tell me something funny."

“This… this is something Nel can’t do…”

"That's a good idea! You were able to do it before, so try to remember!"

Aoshi turned his gaze to Nel, who was holding his hand with her small hand, and said seriously.

“I really forgot about this.” Nilu’s face crumpled as she continued to try to open the black cavity, but the black cavities she opened were all strangely shaped, and it was hard to imagine what they led to.

So she immediately put on a look that said, "I'm so weak, so pitiful, so helpless. Please don't scold me, please, please."

I'm just a weak little fish.

I don't have much strength.

I often forget how to use the ventriloquism.

Okay.

What else can we do? We chose it ourselves, so we have to accept it.

It's not good to get someone and then dump them; that would make you just like a scumbag.

Qing Si never thought of himself as a scumbag. He just had a bit too much love and wanted to protect more lovely girls. Who can say that this isn't a kind of great love?

Moreover, this time we really made a fortune.

Because this is Neriel!

Despite her current appearance as Nel appearing weak and frail, even referring to herself as a nobody, her true identity is the 3rd Espada, a former member of the Espada!

He is the highest-ranking Arrancar of the Vasto Lorde class, the king who reigns supreme over the entire Hueco Mundo!

How many Vastods are there in the entire Maze?

The 1st Espada, Koyatai Stark the Lone Wolf.

The 2nd Espada, the Skull Emperor Barragan Ruisenbon.

The 3rd Espada, Queen Mermaid, Tia Heribel.

The 4th Espada, the Blackwing Demon, Ulquiorra Cifer.

And then... that's it!

At least that's how it appears on the surface!

Although Seiji knew that there was another extremely special individual hidden among the Espada—the 8th Espada, a scientist whose madness was no less than that of Nekomaru, Sal Apollo Grandz.

As the highest-ranking Vastrock, Sal Apollo, due to his own imperfections and in order to truly evolve into a perfect life form, chose to actively split and degenerate into the Adjuchas class, retracing the path of the Vastrock class.

Therefore, the number of Vastodes that are openly known is really only a few.

Nel's rank is among them, standing at the very top of Hueco Mundo!

Further analysis of why Barragan, as the King of Hueco Mundo, did not choose to attack Nel and Heribel leads to a similar conclusion.

Their combined strength might be somewhat inferior to Barragan's, but it certainly wasn't to the point of overwhelmingly dominating him.

Otherwise, given Barragan's arrogant and tyrannical personality, he would absolutely not tolerate these two Variant-class beings being active in Hueco Mundo without choosing to join his ranks.

So how strong is Bayergan?

He overwhelmed several captain-level combatants head-on, forcing them into a fierce battle and even a series of defeats, leaving them completely helpless. In the end, he still had to rely on the power of his own rules to kill himself!

This gives a glimpse into the terrifying power of Vastod!

Although... Nelielu is just Nelielu now, and can't even unleash one-thousandth of her former power.

Aoshi's gaze fell on Nel again, and Nel blinked her big eyes.

So who invented this little thing, Nel? It's so cute!

Of course, Seiji is also looking forward to Nel regaining her powers and returning to her mature, older sister form.

Slip.

Are you drooling?

No, it must be because I'm hungry.

How could mere female beauty possibly make me reveal such an ugly state!

"Nilu, what level can you achieve with your current power?" Seiji asked curiously.

A clear, delicate voice rang out, and Nilu muttered embarrassedly, "Miscellaneous fish, miscellaneous fish, complete miscellaneous fish."

Despite being an Arrancar, she couldn't even defeat the lowest-ranking Hollow, making her a disgrace to the Arrancar class.

Well, that's normal.

Aoshi stroked his chin, not at all surprised. After all, it was a fact that Nel's mask had been shattered, but this only proved Nel's strength.

Despite being in a weakened state and only briefly reverting to her adult form, Nel was able to overwhelmingly suppress Nnoitra, leaving Nnoitra terrified and questioning her existence.

If Nnoitra hadn't been so exhausted by spiritual pressure that she couldn't hold on any longer and reverted to her loli form, she would have truly been reduced to ashes.

Even during the bloody battle, Nel did not return to her peak condition. She could only rely on the device provided by Kisuke Urahara to freely switch her body size, thereby enabling her to maintain a fighting form for a period of time.

Even so, she was still able to completely suppress the unruly Grimjow.

This is truly top-tier combat power!

The more he thought about these things, the more uncontrollably the corners of Aoshi's mouth began to turn.

"?"

Nilu was scared by the stares.

Seiji, who had almost turned into a dragon king, came to his senses: "Do you know any Hollows that can open the Black Hole?"

Although he also wanted to be as cool as Ulquiorra, drawing a black hole in the sky with his fingernail, he unfortunately couldn't do it.

Opening the Black Hole, including the reverberation, is based on the Great Void's innate control over spatial abilities.