"Why can't you let us live!?"
An Adjuchas roared furiously, his voice echoing through the desert.
"Why should Sung-Sun and the others be spared, while we're the ones condemned to die!?"
Another Adjuchas immediately echoed his resentment, his face twisted with anger.
"No! We don't want to die! We're even stronger than Apacci and the others—we can be far more valuable as subordinates!"
More Adjuchas began shouting, their emotions running high. Their once fearful expressions had contorted into something savage and unhinged.
Chaos erupted among the Adjuchas of Las Noches, their enraged howls rising one after another, as if they were on the verge of overturning the entire sea of sand.
Findorr, watching from the sidelines, tensed.
His expression was equally grim as he turned to Abirama and whispered,
"Abirama, this isn't good. If they start fighting, we'll use the chaos to escape. A being this powerful appearing in Hueco Mundo—we have to report this to His Majesty!"
Abirama furrowed his brows slightly before giving a small nod, signaling his understanding.
Though unease stirred within him, he chose to follow Findorr's plan.
At that moment, an overwhelming Reiatsu blanketed the desert, suffocating and oppressive.
The very air felt thick and heavy, as if an invisible force had pressed a towering mountain onto their backs, making even the simplest movements difficult.
Faced with the frenzied Adjuchas, Masatsuki Aozaki merely shook his head and said in a calm, indifferent voice,
"You have no worth alive."
Sung-Sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose, though Adjuchas themselves, held an irreplaceable place in Harribel's heart—so much so that she was willing to lay down her life for them.
Taking in the three meant gaining Harribel's allegiance, a rare Vasto Lorde-class Menos in Hueco Mundo. In essence, it was securing her loyalty.
A dozen Adjuchas—no, even dozens or hundreds—could never compare to the value of Harribel alone.
As for these Adjuchas before him? They weren't particularly strong, nor was there a Vasto Lorde willing to die for them.
To Masatsuki Aozaki, their existence simply had no value.
"Hadō No. 4: Byakurai!"
Whoosh!
A bolt of white lightning roared like a silver dragon, surging from his fingertips and streaking across the air in a dazzling arc.
It moved as fast as true lightning, so swift that the very air around it compressed, producing a deep, crackling boom.
And its target—was the figure floating in midair.
Abirama, the red-feathered, white-faced griffon, Baraggan's devoted follower!
Findorr screamed in terror, "Abirama, look out!"
A deafening explosion followed, the sheer force of the blast seeming to tear through space itself.
Blinding white lightning surged forward, nearly consuming Abirama whole.
Frozen in shock, his limbs trembled uncontrollably, as if drained of all strength. His body refused to obey him.
His face was as pale as a corpse, devoid of blood. Even his mind had stalled—he had no idea what had just happened.
At that moment, a massive Menos, resembling a sea turtle, suddenly appeared before him. Its sturdy body shielded Abirama from the fatal blast that had been mere inches from piercing his chest.
The electricity tore through the Menos' thick shell, passing straight through—only to rip into Abirama's wings!
"Findorr..."
Snapping back to his senses, Abirama crashed to the ground, gulping dryly, his throat parched.
Findorr, having completed his throw, narrowed his eyes slightly and waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't get careless just because you can fly. That man is far beyond anything we can handle."
"What a formidable knight," Masatsuki Aozaki murmured.
He held Oswell's soul in his hand, inspecting it carefully, weighing it lightly in his palm. A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
His gaze drifted over to the red-feathered griffon lying on the ground.
Abirama, struggling to move, suddenly felt something. He raised his head and locked eyes with Masatsuki—only to be struck by a wave of sheer terror, his entire body shuddering violently.
Just a single glance.
Yet in that instant, the suffocating aura of death and overwhelming pressure he'd just escaped came crashing down on him once more.
Even with Findorr's protection, Abirama felt a crushing sense of doom surrounding him, as though he had been plunged into an abyss of eternal frost.
"It's pointless," Masatsuki said with a shake of his head, his voice tinged with regret. "If you're going to die anyway, why not face it with the same courage as Oswell?"
He turned away, a trace of mockery flickering across his face.
He hadn't immediately cut these feeble creatures down.
After all, what he sought wasn't mindless slaughter—it was strong, valuable souls.
If he'd only wanted to strip them of their ability to fight, a single Byakurai would have been enough to reduce their bodies to nothing but ash.
"Who gave you permission to save him?"
Masatsuki Aozaki raised his blade, its edge gleaming with a chilling light. Around it, pure white Reiatsu flickered and pulsed, burning like a brilliant, ghostly flame.
Narrowing his eyes, he casually glanced at Findorr, standing not far away.
That single glance sent an unbearable chill down Findorr's spine.
It felt as though the very sky above him was collapsing, the ground beneath his feet fracturing apart. A suffocating, crushing pressure engulfed him, pressing down with an inescapable force.
Under this immense Reiatsu, Findorr felt utterly insignificant—a mere insect on the verge of being crushed into dust.
He could sense it clearly.
The Reiatsu radiating from this Shinigami far surpassed that of most in Las Noches.
It was second only to the two top Vasto Lordes—Szayelaporro and Baraggan.
At this moment, Masatsuki Aozaki exuded an aura so overwhelming it stole the breath from the air.
Pure white Reiatsu surged around him in turbulent waves, spiraling into a massive vortex, as if seeking to swallow the very world itself.
With terrifying speed, he closed the distance toward Findorr, the one who had dared to interfere.
The Adjuchas standing between them shattered in an instant, cleaved apart beneath his blade.
Screams filled the air.
Limbs flew, blood rained down, and in the blink of an eye, Masatsuki appeared before Findorr, his figure drenched in crimson.
A flash of steel—
A deep gash opened across Findorr's chest, torrents of blood spilling forth.
The cries of agony ceased.
Abirama, only just having regenerated his limbs, looked up—his eyes widening in horror.
Everywhere he looked, the bodies of the fallen lay still. The once-chaotic battlefield had plunged into eerie silence.
Before he could utter a word, a sharp pain pierced his chest.
Scalding-hot blood spilled onto the sands.
A gleaming white blade had run him through.
A slender hand plunged into his chest—then withdrew.
The world before him faded into darkness.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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