Death: Starting as the Guardian of Avici Hell

In the blink of an eye, the figure vanished from the spot.

When it reappeared, it had already rushed into the vast sandstorm, taking advantage of the moment when Szayelaporro's attention was entirely focused on the Cero.

Slash!

As a Vastod who has climbed step by step to the top, Arturo may not know the so-called swordsmanship and slashing techniques of the Grim Reaper, but his rich combat experience is enough to make anyone tremble with rage.

Even if the captain-commander of the Gotei 13 came, he wouldn't dare say he would definitely surpass him in experience.

But as a long-time rival, Szayelaporro was no less formidable at this time.

At the critical moment, a long bone sword grew from his palm, its tentacle-like hilt blocking Arturo's explosive attack.

As he flipped his wrist, the blade suddenly shot upwards, aimed directly at the opponent's throat.

It was as if Arturo was deliberately trying to scam him.

As the movements paused slightly, a heavy, sticky spiritual pressure surged down like a tidal wave, enveloping the blades in both hands, surging and clashing.

"Being sealed away by Death has certainly taken away a lot of fun, but for the past two thousand years, my only pleasure has been not having to see your disgusting face again."

With the blade pressed against his skin, Arturo looked arrogantly at the familiar face before him, a face that feigned elegance.

"Fighting against other Hollows or powerful Shinigami, such as Yamamoto Shigekuni, is always immersive, allowing one to enjoy the wonderful taste of blood and fire."

"But fighting with you only makes me feel unbearable extreme torment."

Szayelaporro's lips curled into a mocking smile.

"But……"

"I am very happy with this kind of battle."

The spiritual pressure surged, and the two figures suddenly parted ways, flying backward.

As soon as he regained his footing, Arturo saw a scene that made him question the meaning of life.

Szayelaporro placed his right hand behind his head and pulled a longsword covered in patterns and reliefs from his spine, stained with specks of blood.

At the center of the sword hilt is a face that appears to be screaming, somewhat resembling Szayelaporro, and is in extreme pain.

“In the years you’ve been gone, I’ve never let my guard down for a moment.”

In Arturo's suddenly contracted pupils, the longsword swept across, instantly covering a distance of hundreds of meters, the sharp wind striking a vital spot.

Caught off guard, they panicked and dodged.

But a scratch still appeared on his face, and blood seeped out.

Immediately afterwards, the wound began to rapidly fibrose, turning into something like wood, constantly releasing potent toxins and decay.

The numbness penetrated deep into the bone marrow and flowed to every part of the body.

The silver sand beneath their feet began to surge, and one vortex after another appeared, from which countless spider-like creatures crawled out.

They scrambled to cling to Arturona's temporarily immobile body.

Its long, menacing mouth suddenly pierced through the skin from deep within its abdomen.

Arturo could clearly sense that his life force was draining away at an extremely rapid rate, and in his rage, a powerful spiritual pressure erupted.

The blazing, pure white beam of light roared outwards, transforming into a white torrent that swept across the land.

The strange creatures that had been feeding on his body evaporated instantly, but at the same time, they also caused a powerful self-destruction.

Throughout the entire process, Szayelaporro never placed his hopes on these methods.

His purpose in doing this was simply to disgust this "friend" he hadn't seen for two thousand years.

If possible, it would be best to draw a little more blood and limbs, place them in a petri dish, and save them for future experiments.

The foul smell of gunpowder and dust spread in the violent wind.

boom!

A magnificent, radiant light burst forth, instantly erasing the elaborate schemes that Szayelaporro had painstakingly devised.

"Never willing to fight openly and honestly."

Arturo emerged from the pillar of light, his cold gaze fixed on Szayelaporro in the distance.

"Even with power several times greater than before, they still prefer to use these despicable and low-level methods."

"That's exactly why I hate you."

"You researchers, your hearts are all dirty!"

Raise your finger, feint!

The condensed spiritual particles intertwined and swirled, transforming into a sharp spear that violently tore through the air in front of it, breaking through Szayelaporro's spiritual pressure defense.

The light flashed, the buzzing trembled, and the sound surged forward.

Arturo appeared abruptly above Szayelaporro and, without warning, unleashed a powerful whip kick.

He raised the longsword along his spine, attempting to block the attack.

A piercing, deafening explosion.

Szayelaporro shook his hands, and the longsword formed from his spine cracked in several places. The powerful impact sent him flying backward instantly.

Before he could react, Arturo struck again.

Sound!

The menacing longsword spewed out a violent tail flame, and as the figure, enveloped in spiritual pressure, leaped up, it cleaved down towards Szayelaporro's head!

A surge of spiritual pressure erupted, transforming into an indestructible shield to block it.

The incomparably sharp longsword pierced through layers of defense in an instant, and amidst the howling light, it cleaved a huge gash in Szayelaporro's neck.

Immediately following that chilling wound, an angry Cero was unleashed without reservation.

The violent impact instantly obliterated the head, erasing that nauseating, mocking smile.

The scent of Szayelaporro Granz carried away on the wind and vanished completely into the desert.

The once smooth sandy surface was now riddled with ravines and looked utterly wretched after the two men's battle.

Arturo stood quietly, looking at his masterpiece, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

Have I become stronger?

Or has that guy gotten weaker?

Szayelaporro, who once ran rampant in Hueco Mundo, died so easily?

Despite the disbelief, looking at the mangled corpse beneath his feet, which couldn't be faked, Arturo chose to believe that he had accomplished what he had never been able to do before.

Vastodes Sápó Glanz, expelled!

Out of caution, Arturo did not choose to devour the corpses on the ground, nor did he even touch the spirit particles.

Based on his previous experience with Szayelaporro, in addition to his despicable and underhanded methods of attack, he also made modifications to his own body.

If you're not careful, you could fall into a trap.

Arturo glanced at the corpse, a hint of undisguised disgust flashing in his eyes, before following the moonlight toward the horizon.

Zomal Luluco alone is not enough to restore him to his former glory.

He needs more and stronger Hollows.

Shortly after Arturo left, a dark purple worm slowly crawled out from beneath the charred and melted sand, its strange, straw-like mouthparts sucking at the dying spirit particles in the air.

It only stopped sucking when its body turned completely black.

After determining its direction, the worm burrowed back under the sand and disappeared from the battlefield.

……

……

In the boundless silver desert.

A herd of dozens of Kyrians wandered silently under the moonlight.

These enormous individuals, some tens or even hundreds of meters tall, resemble giant whales swimming in the deep sea, exuding a chilling aura.

“Under normal circumstances, the Kyrians would not be gathered together so peacefully.”

Aizen explained, "Unless there are higher-level Adjuchas in the Hollows, under the absolute suppression of the evolutionary chain, Gillian, who only exist on instinct, simply cannot resist the Adjuchas's commands."

He glanced down at the spiritual pressure tracking radar in his hand, where the red dot symbolizing Arturo was positioned directly behind the Hollow Group.

“Taking a detour may take more time, but the risk will be correspondingly lower.”

Should we avoid it?

Naraku chuckled: "Me, avoid their sharp edge?"

After running around in the Hueco Mundo for so long, it would be a real shame to let go of the experience points we finally encountered.

Although it's unclear how much sin this wave of virtual beings has, even a mosquito's leg is still meat.

Aizen nodded; this answer was not at all unexpected.

"Half for each person, and the body should ideally be intact."

The research value of the Kylian is not high. He had captured a few when he came to Hueco Mundo before, but gave up after a brief study.

Its structure is too chaotic; both its body and soul seem to be products pieced together from hundreds or thousands of phantoms.

Normally, Gillian are evolved from more than a hundred ordinary Hollows devouring each other. Under the fusion of spiritual pressure, this situation is quite normal.

However, after devouring more of its own kind and evolving to the Adjuchas level, the originally chaotic soul will return to its independent existence.

Such miraculous evolutionary behavior has exceeded the current scientific scope of Soul Society, and even Aizen does not understand the underlying principles.

Therefore, those cyrians on the verge of evolution are even more valuable for research than bichucas.

And there just happened to be a few of these beings among the opposing group of Void creatures.

Its massive body soars into the clouds, resembling a walking mountain peak.

"I'll go first."

Naraku grinned and lowered his body slightly towards the group of Hollows ahead.