The Alchemist in Bleach

Let alone a Hollow, this guy can even hold his own against ordinary spirits from Rukongai.

Although he was reluctant, Ichiro didn't stop him. Anyway, it wouldn't make a difference if he had a little more time. It would be good for him to make some preparations.

Thinking this, Ichiro looked at the Hollow he had firmly bound, smiled slightly, and opened his palm, which was adorned with the Soul King's Hand, toward them.

……

Half an hour later, at Hueco Mundo.

"Hmm? The Sixth Special Forces has been mostly wiped out? Are you sure? They were equipped with two Vastodes. Even if one of them was newly produced, it shouldn't be so easy to eliminate. Have you found anything?" Barragan, sitting on the throne, frowned upon hearing his subordinate's report.

"Yes, according to their answer, an extremely powerful Vastodon appeared and instantly killed most of the team, including six Adjuchas. Afterwards, it fought two Vastodon at the same time without being at a disadvantage. The aftershocks of the battle even killed most of the Gillian and the three-headed Adjuchas! The Adjuchas that managed to escape were also severely injured and died after reporting the information."

"So, there are no eyewitnesses now?"

“Yes, although a few Kylian are still alive, their muddled reason can only barely obey orders and they can’t remember anything. Your Majesty, do you suspect… that they have defected?” Kelias raised his head slightly and said cautiously.

Betrayal is not uncommon in Hueco Mundo. In a place where the law of the jungle is laid bare, betrayal is all too easy.

However, that was before Aizen arrived. After Aizen arrived, he was extremely ruthless towards traitors!

Unless you betrayed him to curry favor with him, it won't have much of an impact.

Even so, many Hollows still defected. This was due to the chaotic nature of Hollows themselves, and this was also the most terrifying thing about Barragan. He had a group of loyal Hollows under his command!

Among these defecting Hollows, experimental subjects were the most numerous. Most of them were hastily trained, their power acquired too easily, and they were arrogant, haughty, and bloodthirsty...

So it's no surprise that Barragan would have this idea. After all these years of plundering, there are very few wild Hollows as powerful as them now. There aren't even many Vastodes, let alone one that can take on two at once.

"Yes, send someone to check out the battlefield, be careful, and see what the situation is."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Kelias bowed and replied, then disappeared from the spot, leaving Barragan alone on the throne, staring intently at the wound on the back of his right hand, a wound inflicted during his battle with Kamui, his greatest humiliation to date!

He, the mighty King of Hueco Mundo, actually needed a mere upstart to let him go and save his life...

He will pay for this humiliation sooner or later!

And so, the commotion surrounding Ichiro and his crew's first battle in Hueco Mundo quietly subsided...

The trick of altering memories, which Ichiro had envied so much in his past life, was incredibly easy for him now.

……

In a certain spiritual space in Hueco Mundo, Soi Fon and Gin were looking at the space that Ichiro had just created in surprise. Because it was a temporary construction, it appeared quite simple. Under their feet was black stone ground, and on the ground stood a few scattered square stone pillars.

A square, a regular square, will save Ichiro a lot of effort when constructing the spirit space.

"You even figured this out? I remember that's considered a high-difficulty technique even among Quincy, right?" Soi Fon said incredulously.

No matter how down on their luck the Quincy are now, their ancestors were once wealthy. Their advanced techniques are still very difficult to master, and now, Ichiro has actually managed to research and master them...

"To correct you, it wasn't research, it was learning. I traded a bottle of spiritual pressure medicine with the Quincy when we were trading. It was a long time ago. I don't know what those guys were thinking, trading something like that. The Quincy are really going backwards as they get older." Ichiro shook his head, somewhat sighing.

The deeper his research into the Quincy went, the more he regretted their loss. This civilization was once so brilliant, but now many of its traditions have disappeared into the annals of history, which is a great pity.

"Perhaps this is the downside of family inheritance. Their Quincy have an even stronger family mentality than we Shinigami. At least we have the Central Spiritual Arts Academy under the Commander-in-Chief as a systematic training institution. As far as I know, they pass on the tradition from father to son or master to apprentice. The decline of the Quincy can only be considered a major factor in Yhwach's defeat." Gin touched the stone pillar beside him and said with some emotion.

The ability to construct such a realistic and vast space within the gaps between spiritual particles is truly astonishing. It's hard to imagine that such a power could be possessed by a Quincy.

"Hey, why are you guys chatting like this? Keep looking for the Hollows and keep fighting, you still have the Captain-Commander's mission to complete." The three were chatting enthusiastically, but Kenpachi was getting a little impatient.

The reason he agreed to participate in this expedition was that he was looking forward to hacking and slashing, killing dozens of Vastods – the thought alone was exciting!

That would be so satisfying to chop!

However.......

The harsh reality dealt him a heavy blow...

"We definitely have to fight, but not now. Don't forget, our main purpose for this trip is to weaken Las Noches's elite forces. Although we are strong, we can't deal with that many Vastodes. And most importantly, there are Arrancar in Las Noches that are no less powerful than you and me. It's not good to alert them. We should slowly whittle them down. We've already made a good start. Now we just need to hold on."

"Tch~ Troublesome!" Despite Ichiro's seemingly reasonable explanation, Kenpachi didn't care about any of that. He curled his lip and said, "How about this, you guys fight quietly by yourselves, and I'll go and chop them down by myself!"

"Captain Kenpachi, I understand how you feel, but this operation is very important. I hope you can cooperate a little." Soi Fon frowned and tried to persuade him as well.

"Slap slap~" Yachiru suddenly appeared on Kenpachi's shoulder, her chubby little hand slapping him across the face. In the quiet space, her voice was unusually loud. "Kenpachi, you have to listen to Sugar. I promised the old man (Captain-Commander) before we came."

"Tch~" Kenpachi curled his lip, impatiently turning his head away. "I know, I'll just follow orders. I shouldn't have come."

"No, Kenpachi, we'll do it your way." However, to everyone's surprise, Ichiro actually agreed to Kenpachi's plan. Even Kenpachi himself looked at Ichiro with astonishment...

He was just reckless; he's not stupid. It would have been better to operate discreetly this time. There would be plenty of opportunities to strike later. He was just instinctively retorting and venting his frustration...

Who knows...

"Of course, not now. Before you act, I need to ensure your safety. Once I'm ready, you can do whatever you want, even storm Hueco Mundo."

"Really?" Kenpachi looked at Ichiro with doubt, but after receiving an affirmative reply, he nodded excitedly. "Okay! Then tell me a time!"

"Wait for my notification."

"Understood. I'll go practice my swordsmanship to the side first. Anyway, I don't understand what you're saying." After saying that, he excitedly led Yachiru to a corner of the spirit space.

"You're really something, you even managed to fool this guy." Over here, seeing Kenpachi, who had been as stubborn as a mule just moments before, now sitting obediently to the side, Soi Fon showed a hint of admiration on her face. When it came to fooling people, Ichiro was just as good as that annoying guy.

"Fooling him? I'm not fooling him. Once I'm ready, I'm really going to let him go and chop it himself." Ichiro glanced at Soi Fon in surprise, then took a few steps forward, gathering spiritual energy between his hands, and workbenches rose up from the ground.

"Are you sure?" Soi Fon frowned, looking at Ichiro with a puzzled expression.

She didn't understand. The tactics they had just used were quite good. If they had continued, although it wouldn't have lasted long, they could have at least used them for now. In that time, they could have devised a more comprehensive plan instead of directly executing a completely new plan that seemed so unreliable.

Ichiro leaned back against the workbench and said with a smile, "I'm sure, and it's not just him going out to kill directly. The two of you will also go out to carry out the assassination mission. You'll split into two groups, one to charge in and the other to assassinate. Of course, this is after I've prepared emergency escape devices for you."

"This is a huge risk for you, and it's very likely to attract the attention of Las Noches. Do you know what kind of trouble we'll face if our operation is exposed?"

"I know, don't be so nervous, let me explain." Ichiro reassured Soi Fon and continued, "The current plan is quite good, but it will be exposed sooner or later, or rather, it won't be able to be used many times if it's not exposed, because we don't have such a powerful Vasto Lorde. A fake is a fake, and it will be exposed sooner or later. And when it's exposed, it will reveal a lot of things, such as our plan. At that time, Aizen's side may launch a full-scale attack directly, so..."

Ichiro paused, took a breath, and continued, "Why don't we split our forces and send Kenpachi to the front lines to engage them in direct conflict? This will certainly attract their attention, but you should know that there's a saying: 'A single tree cannot support a forest.' A single fighting force has negligible impact on the overall situation on the front lines."

Therefore, since the opponent is not fully prepared, they only have two choices: one, to fight Kenpachi head-on and take him down at any cost, eliminating one of the top combatants of the Thirteen Divisions. This possibility is relatively small, but it exists. So I will prepare an emergency escape device for Kenpachi to prevent the opponent from having this opportunity to make a move.

The second option.......

"Heh~~~" Ichiro smacked his lips, which were a little dry, took out a bottle of cola with his right hand, took a sip with relish, and then said.

"The second option is to avoid battle. First, determine Kenpachi's target, and then consciously redirect our forces to completely avoid Kenpachi. Instead, use low-level Hollows to block him. This is the most likely plan because with Kenpachi and Yachiru's intelligence, they can block him every time. There's no need to clear any signs of retreat; they will definitely not be able to find us."

"Hmm?" X2

Kenpachi and Yachiru, who were arguing inexplicably in the distance, vaguely heard Ichiro call their names and immediately turned their heads in curiosity.

"It's nothing, I was just praising you for being smart."

"Oh, thank you, Sugar!" Yachiru waved her little hand at Ichiro, then started arguing with Kenpachi again.

Soi Fon, Gin: ......

That's truly well-deserved of the praise...

Ichiro could tell from their expressions that they understood. He smiled and continued.

"So, this is the time for the two of you to step in and assassinate those Vastodes who were evacuated. You just need to be responsible for killing them, and I will take care of the rest. I will make sure that this matter is carried out in secret."

"What if all these Vastods gather together?" Gin thought for a moment, looked up at Ichiro, and asked curiously.

"Impossible. Unless Aizen doesn't want Las Noches. These artificial Vastodes are different from those Hollows that have evolved into Arrancars. They were created quickly, and their power came too easily. They can't control their power well, and they can't even withstand high-intensity battles, let alone fine spiritual pressure control."

One or two would be fine, but if there were too many, the massive spiritual pressure would render the area around Las Noches barren! No Hollow below Adjuchas would be able to survive! So this is impossible; in fact, if it did happen, it would be more advantageous for us.”

Yin was stunned for a moment, then realized that even for Shinigami, those at the vice-captain level and above needed to use special methods to suppress their spiritual pressure when going to the human world, in order to prevent the powerful spiritual pressure from directly crushing ordinary people.

Lower-level Hollows are no different from ordinary people in front of Vastodes, so instead of racking their brains to think of ways to suppress spiritual pressure, it's better to simply prevent them from gathering.

With the current strength of Las Noches, there's no need to worry about being taken down by anyone, unless the Captain-Commander just uses his Bankai right there!

But in this situation, even if you come to all of them, it won't make much of a difference.

"Kenpachi and Yachiru will handle the frontal assaults, Gin and I will handle the covert assassinations, and what about you? You'll be in charge of logistics? How are we going to ensure they don't know about Vasto Lorde's death? We're not just going to kill one or two!"

“I know, first of all, this is it.” Ichiro took out a bottle of red liquid and showed it to the two of them. “I will give you this liquid later. The number on it will correspond to a Vastode. What you have to do is to pour this liquid on the body of the Vastode after you kill it. If you don’t have a body, it doesn’t matter. Just find any Kylian and force it down its throat.”

Sensing the chaotic spiritual pressure emanating from the bottle, Soi Fon and Gin exchanged a glance, and Soi Fon said, "Do you know which Vasto Lordes are here?"

"We don't know yet, so my mission is to infiltrate Las Noches, provide you with intelligence, and cover up your operations!"

------------

Chapter 309 Awakening

"Infiltrate Las Noches? Is it really necessary to take that risk?" Soi Fon frowned, somewhat puzzled by Ichiro's purpose in doing so.

"There are some things I want to figure out, and I have to go."

"What could be so important that it would make you take such a big risk?"

"Yes, something important."

Soi Fon: ......

Seeing that Ichiro wouldn't say, Soi Fon didn't press the matter further. She looked at Ichiro's workbench and said, "Is there anything we can help you with?"

"No need, you guys just need to rest. You can't help anyway, just make sure you're in good shape."

“…Fine.” Soi Fon and Gin exchanged a helpless glance and walked to the side.

Soi Fon leaned against a stone pillar and began to close her eyes to rest. It was her first time fighting Adjuchas, and her heart was somewhat unsettled.

She had seen Adjuchas before. She had seen many of them when she came to Hueco Mundo with Yoruichi and the others. Some were lively and energetic, some were lying on Urahara's bastard's experimental table, and some were dissected by Ichiro and Urahara.

In either case, she never faced him directly; it was always Yoruichi and the others who did it. Moreover, given her strength at the time, even just the corpse of Adjuchas could exert immense pressure on her. If it weren't for Yoruichi, she might have collapsed long ago.

Even so, before this, Adjuchas was still a towering mountain in her heart!

Suddenly having traversed the legendary mountain described in ancient texts, she was momentarily disoriented. As she calmed down, a jumble of thoughts surged within her. She needed to find some peace and quiet...

If only Yoruichi were here right now...

For some reason, Soi Fon started reminiscing about the time she spent with Yoruichi. Unlike in the original story, although she was also defecting, Soi Fon wasn't actually angry like she was in the original story because of Ichiro's presence.

Because she knew very well that Yoruichi definitely hadn't betrayed her, or rather, them. Otherwise, Ichiro would never have been so carefree in the Seireitei; there must have been some reason!

The reason she accepted the suggestion of the former head of the Seigen family to take over Yoruichi's original position was mainly to investigate why Yoruichi left Soul Society, and why he left her...

Thinking this, Soi Fon glanced resentfully at Ichiro, who was engrossed in his work. It's all that guy's fault!

He clearly knows everything! But he's incredibly tight-lipped! He's a mystery person every day!