As Makiya swung the long blade in his hand, a sea of bright red fire instantly ignited the earth. A massive spiritual pressure pierced the heavens, and an inexplicable pressure echoed through space, causing even the floating Baraggan's body to tremble.
"Quite a formidable Soul Reaper," Baraggan chuckled disdainfully, though he grew wary. To have risen from a mere Hollow to his current position, Baraggan was no brainless fool. Once an enemy displayed their strength, his instincts for caution were sharp.
Knowing the enemy wouldn't be easy to handle, Baraggan stopped holding back. Black mist surged out, filling the sky like man-eating black pythons coiling and rolling over one another. Carrying a power that could rot anything, the mist swept toward Makiya.
The black mist of death occupied half the sky, staining the firmament of Hueco Mundo a deep ink-black. 'Senescence' even attempted to corrode the very space itself. In the face of this power, every Menos within a ten-kilometer radius trembled, crawling on the ground and unable to move.
Further away, Hollows and Menos who saw the black curtain on the horizon immediately turned tail and fled, wishing they had been born with extra legs.
However, some battle-hungry Menos stopped their hunting and climbed to high ground to watch the battlefield, terrified of missing a spectacular duel.
Though Baraggan called himself the King of Hueco Mundo, he had not yet subjugated everyone. There were two other powerhouses capable of rivaling him. Their subordinates, catching wind of Baraggan's movements, scrambled back to their masters to report.
"Hey, hey... with that kind of ability, is Makiya going to be okay?"
Uhara, who was modifying a tracking device, suddenly felt a heart-stopping aura wash over him. Turning his head, he saw the terrifying black mist about to reach him. Under the influence of the mist, the white sand on the ground aged and decomposed further, turning into even finer dust.
Uhara stuffed the unfinished tracking device into his pocket and retreated repeatedly, jumping onto a high tower. He looked toward Makiya with worry. 'The opponent clearly has a rule-based ability. How does Makiya plan to counter it?'
"Insignificant Soul Reaper, wail before senescence!"
Watching Makiya be swallowed by the black mist, Baraggan wore a smug yet bored smile. He had long since grown tired of such battles. No matter the enemy, they would all fall before his black mist, eventually being consumed and turned to bleached bone.
Even the bones left after death would be so rotten that they would crumble into a thousand pieces with a single step.
'Although this Soul Reaper's presence was impressive, he seems to be a useless fool who's all bark and no bite. Since he was so easily swallowed by the mist of Respira, the outcome is decided.'
"How boring. For once my fighting spirit was piqued, yet it ended so quickly. I might as well go find Harribel for a fight later. This time, I will make her submit to me."
Inside the boundless black mist, Baraggan was thinking idly when he suddenly realized that the mist he released was rapidly decreasing. That Soul Reaper seemed to be using some method to consume his Respira.
No, it wasn't just consumption—it was absorption!
Baraggan sensed it carefully and widened his eyes. Though being a skeleton meant he had no eyeballs, the darkness within his eye sockets fluctuated violently, revealing that his heart was far from calm.
"That Soul Reaper is actually absorbing... senescence? How is that possible?"
Baraggan, who relied entirely on his innate talent, was stunned. Throughout all the battles he had fought in his life, he had relied on the power of aging to bulldoze his way through everything without any need for tactics. Faced with this bizarre situation, he was at a complete loss.
'Just what kind of ability can absorb senescence?'
"Cree... Cree..."
A faint chirping sound spread rapidly through space.
In the distance, Uhara thought he heard a crisp cry coming from the black mist. When he tried to listen intently, the sound vanished, as if what he had heard was merely a hallucination.
"Nirvana, Chisato!"
The release command echoed through the surroundings. Makiya's voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed to vibrate in the depths of everyone's hearts. A clearer phoenix cry rang through the world, and a speck of bright red fire suddenly appeared within the black mist.
The light grew larger and larger, like a primordial fire born from death itself. Bursts of vitality spread outward. Even from a distance, Kisuke Uhara could feel this majestic presence.
"Is that... Makiya's Zanpakuto? Could it be another form of Shikai?" Uhara's eyes widened. In his memory, the Shikai of Makiya's Zanpakuto didn't feel like this.
Unlike his previous release which controlled Reishi, this current aura was filled with hope and vitality, yet mixed with senescence, making it incredibly eerie.
Kisuke Uhara's Zanpakuto, Benihime, was very special. Depending on the release command used, Benihime would manifest different abilities and focuses, allowing him to choose the right tool for the situation. It was highly versatile, so he guessed Makiya's blade might be similar.
Gripping Benihime, Uhara stood on high ground, his gaze fixed on the battlefield, ready to intervene at any moment.
But a second later, he realized his worries were unfounded.
Bright red flames appeared within the black mist. At first, it was just a faint spark, looking as though it might go out at any time.
Yet as time passed, surrounded by the black mist, the spark didn't die. Instead, it burned stubbornly brighter, using the black mist as fuel.
Makiya stood silently in the center of the boundless black mist. Everything around him was pitch black, obscuring his vision. Chisato was held firmly in his hand as phoenix flames burned over his skin, his spiritual pressure fluctuating wildly.
The massive amount of black mist seeped into Makiya's body through every pore. The bright red flames appeared extremely excited. Every aging of the phoenix heralded an even more blazing rebirth.
The flames on Makiya's skin flickered incessantly. As he absorbed more black mist, the flames gradually aged, forming an egg-shaped shell that completely enveloped him.
The black mist seemed inexhaustible, but under the acceleration of the power of senescence, Makiya broke from the shell in an instant. The newborn phoenix flames were purer and hotter, and with them, Makiya's spiritual pressure surged.
"It really works!" Makiya's eyes lit up. Chisato's intuition was correct. Hueco Mundo truly held the key to his evolution. By consuming the energy of these Menos, he could advance further in a short time.
'Perhaps if I consume every famous powerhouse in Hueco Mundo, I might even be able to achieve Bankai.'
The power of senescence around him was endless. Since Baraggan was being so generous, Makiya was in no hurry to kill him, content to treat the old man as a power bank.
With every nirvana, Makiya's spiritual pressure experienced a significant increase.
Simultaneously, he secretly collected a portion of the senescence and stashed it inside a glowing purple spherical object in his robes.
Surrounded by the dazzling phoenix fire, under the effects of accelerated aging, Makiya went from hatching to his prime in just a few seconds. The bright red flames flickered like a dancing phoenix. Every feather was composed of pure flame, radiating vitality. Even the earth at his feet, which had been ravaged by corrosion countless times, miraculously sprouted a single tender bud.
"Hmph, a strange ability." Baraggan snorted, his eyes filled with murderous intent. He had fought countless enemies, but Makiya was the first to treat senescence as food. Even Harribel, who was only slightly weaker than him, could only resist senescence through immense energy output.
He realized that Makiya's ability was his natural enemy. He immediately increased the output of Respira. A massive amount of black mist—the symbol of senescence—surrounded Makiya, forming a giant sphere, vowing to trap and kill him within.
As the concentration of black mist increased, even the phoenix in its prime struggled against the power of aging. The bright red flames gradually dimmed, as if the bird had reached its twilight years.
The dark red flames protected Makiya in the center, like a dying star no longer able to radiate heat and light recklessly, struggling just to illuminate its immediate surroundings.
Outside, Baraggan, maintaining Respira with all his might, cackled. He believed the enemy was about to be taken down, just like all the other fools who had challenged him before.
"Overestimating yourself. Even if you have some tricks, no living thing can resist aging. It is the most fundamental rule of the world!" Baraggan laughed smugly while floating in mid-air. "And as the master of this rule, I am invincible!"
"Wake up, 'Invincible One.' Your enemy is utilizing your ability." A cool, mature female voice rang out from high above. Baraggan's skull instantly displayed a human-like expression of surprise. He knew exactly whose voice that was: Harribel, the powerful woman he had always desired to subjugate.
But Harribel was the last person he wanted to see right now. He was currently focusing entirely on maintaining Respira. If Harribel took this opportunity to sneak attack him, Baraggan knew he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
Tier Harribel, whose aspect of death was Sacrifice!
The tall Arrancar stood in the sky like a beautiful thorn flower blooming in the night of the desert. Her skin was like fine porcelain, glowing with a cold luster that stood in stark contrast to the desolation of Hueco Mundo. Her golden hair was exceptionally dazzling, and her eyes were like the clear deep sea, reflecting cold arrogance and resolve.
Most importantly was Harribel's attire. A small skirt made of white bone spikes was wrapped around her waist, and two long, slender pieces of bone extended from her back to her front, barely covering her chest.
Aside from that, her other clothes barely served to cover her, highlighting a style where the areas one would expect to be covered were exposed, while the places that could be exposed were heavily armored.
"Baraggan, withdraw your Respira immediately. That Soul Reaper is consuming your power." Harribel's voice reached Baraggan's ears, and he felt a mix of belief and doubt.
Soon after, massive fluctuations came from the distance, followed by several figures appearing one after another in the sky.
Ulquiorra Cifer, a Menos in the form of a black-winged demon.
Nnoitra Gilga, a slender Menos with horns on his head.
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Zommari Rureaux, Yammy Llargo...
The high-level combatants of Hueco Mundo had gathered here in an instant. In the distance, Kisuke Uhara broke into a cold sweat!
'What's going on? Usually, I can wander around Hueco Mundo for half a day without seeing a single Menos, but today they're all gathering for a meeting?'