Originally, this had only been an experiment. Even if it failed, at worst Amagai Shūsuke would die, which meant little to Yekawa.
The Bakuyōtō what truly mattered was already in his possession. Without Amagai, he could always recruit another tool-bearing subordinate in the future.
Yet unexpectedly, through what could only be described as reckless improvisation, the Hollowfication experiment had actually succeeded.
"As expected of something related to Aizen… even a fragment carries monstrous potential."
"ROAR!"
Amagai Shūsuke, having lost his sanity after Hollowfication, charged like a rabid beast. He raised his Zanpakutō and hacked forward without restraint.
All composure was gone.
Only instinct remained.
"His Reiatsu, speed, and raw strength have all increased… but he's sacrificed reason."
Facing the frenzied barrage, Yekawa did not even bother drawing his blade. He simply raised his hand and used it like a sword, parrying every strike with effortless precision.
Even Hollowfied, Amagai was nowhere near Yekawa's level. At his current Captain-class strength, Yekawa could suppress him in a single exchange if he wished.
Dark golden lightning gathered along Yekawa's right hand.
In one smooth motion, he thrust it forward.
Like a steel spear, his lightning-clad hand pierced straight through Amagai's left shoulder.
"ROAR!"
Instead of retreating, the pain only drove Amagai deeper into madness.
Yekawa glanced at the bleeding wound and shook his head.
"No High-Speed Regeneration?"
So the transformation, while successful, was incomplete. Its level was nowhere near Kurosaki Ichigo's Hollow White—nor even Kaname Tōsen's perfected Hollowfication.
At best, it rivaled the Visored.
After playing with the berserk Amagai for several moments, Yekawa grew bored.
"Clack."
He snapped his fingers.
The compressed lightning sphere hidden within Amagai's body instantly activated. Threads of electricity burst outward from inside him, locking his muscles and freezing him in place.
Yekawa stepped forward and flicked his finger across the jagged white mask.
Crack.
The mask shattered.
In the same instant, the crimson spikes along Amagai's limbs dissolved, and the Hollow hole in his chest faded as though it had never existed.
"Bang."
Returned to human form, Amagai collapsed unconscious.
Half a day later, he slowly regained awareness.
The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was the Bakuyōtō flying toward him.
He instinctively reached out and caught it.
"I'll return this to you for now," Yekawa's voice echoed calmly. "Train here. If you wish to serve me properly, you must at least reach Captain level."
By the time the words faded, Yekawa had already vanished.
Only Amagai remained, kneeling in torn robes, staring blankly at the blade he had lost and regained.
He recalled the overwhelming power he had felt during Hollowfication.
"Hollowfication…"
His eyes burned with renewed clarity.
Lord Yekawa had not deceived him. That was power beyond Shinigami limits.
"Hahahaha…"
"With this strength… I will surely…"
"Surely…"
…
At the outer edge of Hueco Mundo's endless desert, Yekawa drew a horizontal line through space.
A Garganta opened.
Ito Makoto the Shinigami clone glanced once at the main body before leaping into the darkness beyond.
The clone had entered Hueco Mundo under the pretense of a Human World Garrison mission and had now remained for nearly a month.
Halibel had been subdued.
The Bakuyōtō acquired.
The Arrancar path advanced.
For the clone, this journey had been a complete success.
It was time to return.
Though the spiritual monitoring device had shown no abnormalities meaning Soul Society had not discovered the unauthorized excursion carelessness would be foolish. The Garrison assignment lasted only three months. One had already passed.
After sending the clone away, Yekawa resumed his search.
…
Night descended upon Hueco Mundo.
Pale moonlight spilled across the wasteland. The forest ahead appeared like twisted skeletal hands clawing at the sky, resembling the entrance to some underworld abyss.
Deep within the forest lay hills formed entirely of Hollow corpses.
A true mountain of the dead.
Beneath those grim monuments, two naked figures sat quietly.
One was a tall man with short, slightly curly dark brown hair, lake-blue eyes, and faint stubble along his chin almost resembling a harmless uncle.
A broken mask fragment hung like a necklace along his jawline.
A perfectly round Hollow hole marked his chest.
Beside him sat a small girl with short light-blue hair. A purple flame-like marking framed her left eye, and a broken horned mask covered half her face.
Both were Arrancar.
Under the moonlight, a massive black figure approached the centipede-armored Menos Grande.
Yekawa.
After parting with Amagai, he had wandered here by chance. Combined with the overwhelming Reiatsu saturating the area and the mountains of corpses, the conclusion was obvious.
"No Hollows within a hundred miles…"
"So this is why."
Before him sat the original Primera Espada Coyote Starrk and Lilynette.
Starrk had been the first being in Hueco Mundo to naturally evolve into an Arrancar. Weaker Hollows who approached him were crushed by his passive spiritual pressure. Loneliness had driven him to split his own soul, creating Lilynette.
In Yekawa's eyes, that method was crude.
Splitting one's soul reduced total combat potential.
Far inferior to his own clone.
"You two just sit here all day?"
Yekawa walked forward and sat beside Starrk as though greeting an old acquaintance.
Starrk slowly turned his head.
"You… are fine?"
His speech was slow, unused to conversation.
Yekawa responded by releasing his own Reiatsu.
The corpse mountains trembled violently.
Lilynette gasped as the air thickened.
Only when Starrk placed a hand on her shoulder did she steady.
"…I misjudged."
"You're a Vasto Lorde too."
"And you've begun Arrancarization."
Starrk's lazy expression sharpened.
His spiritual pressure erupted outward.
It pressed down like an invisible ocean.
Yekawa did not retreat.
He answered with his own.
Two vast spiritual pressures collided beneath the moonlight, splitting the silence of Hueco Mundo.