Chapter 308: Aizen's Wrath
Whoosh!
With the distinctive sound of Sonído tearing through the air, Ulquiorra's figure appeared.
He looked toward the courtyard with some surprise.
There, two figures were engaged in intense combat.
Along with him were Tier Harribel, Nelliel, Grimmjow, and others.
They had all sensed Satoru's combat Reiatsu and came to see what was happening.
Seeing the figure fighting Satoru, they were momentarily stunned before realizing.
"Is this... Lilynette?"
Nel exclaimed in surprise.
Harribel nodded: "It seems she and Starkk have swapped roles, now she's leading the battle.Many Hollows actually held rather dissatisfied attitudes toward Starkk.
Although this guy had terrifying talent, able to become an Arrancar naturally just by sleeping all day, this gap had been erased by the Hōgyoku.
Now everyone is an Arrancar, all at similar levels.
The only differences are their Resurrección abilities and combat experience.
You, Starkk, your ability is just firing Ceros, and as for combat experience... let's just say it has a certain innocent beauty.
How can such a vase-like character keep occupying one of the Three Great Generals positions?
Initially not recognized by everyone, Tier Harribel had already turned her reputation around through combat.
And what about Starkk?
Still sleeping every day!
More and more Arrancars were growing dissatisfied with him, preparing to challenge him.
Now that Lord Mitsugi had made his move, it was the perfect opportunity to see Starkk's true capabilities!
Grimmjow stared intently at the central courtyard, afraid to miss even the slightest detail.
However, the scene before them made everyone's expressions turn rather interesting.
Lilynette's fighting style was completely opposite to Starkk's.
Starkk always preferred wielding dual guns, suppressing enemies from a distance with Ceros.
With his endless stream of Ceros and terrifying Reiatsu, this tactic had proven consistently effective for him.
The God of Bullying Noobs.
Yet Lilynette simply tossed aside her dual pistols.
Gripping the twin blades formed from condensed Reishi, she charged right up to Satoru, engaging him in close-quarters swordplay.
The discarded pistols weren't idle either.
Infused with Starkk's soul, they possessed a degree of autonomous action.
Eager to hand all future battles over to Lilynette and retire early, Starkk cooperated fully.
Hovering behind Lilynette, he continuously fired Ceros, effectively becoming two pistol-shaped funnels.
Laser swords in hand, floating funnels at her back.
Meanwhile, Satoru on the opposing side soared and darted, blue flames jetting from his shoulders.
Now that's the real deal.
Watching the two flicker and shift positions rapidly in combat, Nel remarked with surprise:
"I never imagined the same abilities could produce such vastly different results when wielded by another."
A long-range agile fighter had been stubbornly turned into a melee combatant by Lilynette.
And she was performing quite well, arguably pioneering a new approach.
Compared to the spectators outside the arena, Satoru could more keenly feel Lilynette's overwhelming pressure.
If he had encountered an opponent like Lilynette back when he first conquered Las Noches, he might have genuinely faced some trouble.
Perhaps he'd even have needed to call Aizen for assistance.
Starkk's base stats were exceptionally high, on par with his cheap senior brother, if not slightly superior.
Only his terrible execution made him seem weak.
Now with Lilynette at the helm, while her technique wasn't exactly refined, she at least fought boldly, unleashing every skill she could toss out.
Just like now, facing his Risō Jakumetsu, Lilynette hadn't been broken through defensively even once.
Not because she understood Risō Jakumetsu's ability, but because she never adopted a defensive stance from start to finish—only attacking, slashing, and hacking relentlessly.
She could be called the maiden version of Kenpachi.
Satoru shook his head slightly.
Clearly, he was an elegant swordsman, so why did brutish brawlers always pop up around him?
With a sigh, he exchanged blows with Lilynette, parrying and countering move for move.
Observing Satoru, Harribel cast a peculiar gaze his way.
Although Lilynette was strong, perfectly showcasing the caliber of a Three Great General, to Satoru, that level was probably child's play.
Why had the fight dragged on so long without a decisive outcome?
She looked closely at Satoru.
And noticed that he seemed to be pondering something.
Satoru held his twin blades, maintaining his combat stance while his mind wandered.
Soon, Lilynette noticed it too.
The girl was thoroughly incensed.
After all, she was the highest-ranking of the Three Great Generals—how could she be treated with such contempt?
She swung her light swords faster and with greater force, trying to snap Satoru back to attention.
Yet, Satoru remained in his absent-minded state.
The most infuriating part was that even while distracted, he could instinctively target her weak points.
After great effort, Lilynette finally found an opening and hit Satoru with a Cero from Starkk's gun.
Success!
Her eyes lit up.
But as the smoke from the Cero cleared, she was speechless to find that aside from a torn section of his Shinigami Uniform, Satoru's body beneath was completely unscathed.
Just which one of them was the Hollow here?!
Lilynette couldn't help feeling an urge to curse Satoru.
Right then, Satoru suddenly declared:
"So that's how it is... I've attained enlightenment!"
"?"
Satoru burst into hearty laughter.
"I see... No wonder, even though our abilities are similar, I could never figure out how that guy did it."
"So it's just this kind of trickery!"
Under Lilynette's puzzled gaze, Satoru looked at her.
"Lilynette! I'm going to reward you! Thanks to you, I've finally figured out how to walk this path!"
"Huh?"
Lilynette blinked, not understanding what Satoru was talking about.
But before she could ask, she saw Satoru charging toward her with loud laughter.
If he were just charging normally, she wouldn't care—they could just keep fighting.
The problem was, this guy wasn't taking any defensive posture at all.
From her perspective, Satoru seemed like he was coming to beg for death!
With confusion in her heart, she withdrew half her strength and swung at Satoru's shoulder.
Unexpectedly, when there were still a few meters between them, Satoru's body suddenly shattered, turning into particles of light.
"?!"
Lilynette's eyes widened, somewhat frightened.
What was happening?
Had she unconsciously awakened some new ability that directly sliced Satoru to death from a distance?!
Just as she was surprised, Starkk's voice suddenly sounded in her mind—
"Be careful! Lilynette!!"
The spectators couldn't help but gasp coldly.
From their perspective, they could see clearly.
Satoru charged at Lilynette, then his entire body shattered into particles of light.
These light particles maintained their forward momentum, passed through Lilynette's body, and appeared behind her.
Then, they reformed into Satoru's figure.
Satoru threw away his dual swords and reached out to grab the dual guns that Starkk had transformed into.
BANG!!!
Holding the dual guns, Satoru directly smashed them together.
Inside the guns, Starkk's soul was instantly dazed and lost all consciousness.
By the time Lilynette turned around, Satoru was already pointing the guns at her head.
Although without Starkk's consciousness the guns could no longer fire Ceros, this gesture already implied the outcome.
If Satoru hadn't attacked the dual guns earlier, but had directly attacked Lilynette's main body... or after knocking out the guns, instead of pointing them at her, had stabbed her with his swords...
The young girl pouted.
"I lost."
"Hohoho, that means I've won!"
Satoru grinned, his face full of triumph.
Seeing him like this, Lilynette couldn't help but laugh.
This guy was really a weirdo.
With Satoru's strength, defeating the Three Great Generals wasn't surprising at all.
But seeing how happy he was after winning made her feel much better too.
Hmph, it seems this young lady is still quite impressive. Even this guy Satoru gets so happy after defeating me.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, she asked curiously:
"By the way, Satoru, what was that move you used earlier?"
"It's a new technique I developed inspired by you and Starkk."
Satoru looked at his palm.
Previously, when he asked Aizen for help with the heavy Reishi, he had actually spent considerable effort researching it himself.
If Sōya Azashiro could use his Reishi analysis ability to convert heavy Reishi into normal Reishi, there was no reason he couldn't do it too.
But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't succeed.
Satoru thought that Sōya Azashiro might have some special ability that others couldn't learn.
Until today, when he saw Lilynette and Starkk's Reishi decomposition and reorganization, something suddenly clicked in his mind.
At the moment Lilynette dispersed, he sensed the Arrancar's unique Reiatsu, similar to that of a Shinigami.
Recalling the past encounter with Sōya Azashiro in the Central Great Prison, when that fellow self-dispersed, he could also detect a faint trace of Hollow aura.
At the time, he hadn't paid much attention to this detail.
Now, witnessing Lilynette's maneuver, Satoru suddenly understood.
By preemptively embedding Reishi with opposing attributes throughout one's body and abruptly activating it during combat, one could instantly scatter their physical form into a Reishi state.
For Hollows like Lilynette, it required using Shinigami Reiatsu to disperse themselves.
As for Satoru, he had pre-filled his body with Hollow Reiatsu.
This technique had one prerequisite: precise control over the amount of Reiatsu.
Too little, and it wouldn't accurately break the interconnecting chains between Reishi particles, failing to disperse oneself.
Too much, and one would genuinely scatter completely—unless possessing a Zanpakutō ability like Sōya Azashiro's, it would be equivalent to immediate self-destruction.
For others, such as Aizen, they'd probably never attempt such a move in their lifetime.
Even if curiosity got the better of them and they wanted to try it once, they'd need extensive calculations and thorough preparations before daring to proceed.
Satoru was different.
His intuition told him where to place the Hollow Reiatsu and how much to use—he simply followed his instincts.
Sure enough, he succeeded on the first try.
Another day of cheating death.
Satoru felt quite satisfied.
He glanced at the spectators nearby:
"Where's Sōsuke?"
"In the laboratory building."
Nelliel pointed in a direction.
Satoru thanked her and vanished on the spot with a swoosh.
Ulquiorra raised a hand slightly, as if wanting to say something.
But seeing Satoru was already gone, he stopped.
...
...
"Sōsuke!!!!!"
The shout began hundreds of meters away, but by the time the drawn-out cry ended, the source was already outside the door.
The moment the voice faded, the laboratory door slammed open with a bang.
Aizen took a deep breath, feeling as frustrated as if he'd been forced to deal with Komamura.
He rubbed his brow and turned around with clear displeasure.
"What is it?"
He'd been constantly harassed back in Soul Society, and now even after coming to Hueco Mundo for some peace, the pestering continued.
Was this bastard treating him like Kisuke Urahara?
As the thought crossed his mind, Satoru walked in with a cheerful grin.
Under Aizen's questioning gaze, Satoru declared triumphantly, "I've found a solution to the heavy Reishi problem!"
Aizen narrowed his eyes.
Had Urahara achieved results before him?
Tch, what an unpleasant man.
"Speak."
Aizen turned on the nearby screen, ready to benefit from whatever Satoru had gleaned from Urahara.
Satoru began recounting what had just happened.
At first, Aizen was taking rapid notes.
But as he wrote, his hand gradually stilled.
He turned his head, fixing Satoru with a terrifying gaze.
Sensing the shift in Aizen's aura, Satoru paused and looked at him.
Aizen took a deep breath, his voice carrying a long-absent anger as he said:
"You... used this untested method on yourself the first time you discovered its possibility?"
"Uh, yeah, but don't worry! I'd already mentally simulated it beforehand. The success rate was extremely high—basically impossible to fail!"
Extremely high?
Basically impossible?
Aizen couldn't help but smile.
Satoru almost thought he could see black smoke rising behind Aizen.
"Satoru... it seems I've been neglecting my supervision of you lately."
"Starting today, you'll remain by my side to study fundamental theoretical knowledge."
"We'll begin with Reishi science!"
Horror dawned on Satoru's face.
"Why this extreme punishment? Why?!"
Aizen's gaze turned frigid, as if looking at a filthy insect crawling out of mud.
"For someone like you, only sufficiently cruel punishment can instill even a pitiful shred of caution."
Satoru quickly protested, "Wait, Sōsuke, let me explain!"
"Not only had I already simulated it and confirmed the procedure was safe... but even if something went wrong, I could just use Enrakyōten's ability to mimic Sōya Azashiro's Zanpakutō and pull myself back!"
"I had double safeguards before attempting this!"
Aizen nodded.
"Good, I understand."
Satoru grinned, hope shining in his eyes.
"Reishi science alone isn't enough. You'll also re-study the basic human anatomy courses you never finished at Shin'ō Academy."
"Why?!!"
Legend says Satoru's screams echoed throughout that entire day.
Sensing the profound, almost tangible despair emanating from the laboratory, the Arrancars dared not approach the building.
Finally, after forcing Satoru to study for five days and administering a simple comprehensive exam, Aizen temporarily released him.
Looking at Satoru who appeared like a dead dog bereft of life, he spoke calmly:
"Satoru, pull yourself together. There's something I need you to do."
"Huh?"
Satoru lay face-down on the table, turning his head with numb, lifeless eyes.
Aizen picked up his teacup and took a gentle sip.
Then he said:
"I want to undergo the Hollowfication procedure."
"You stay on site to provide backup and prevent chaos."
Upon hearing this, Satoru's eyes suddenly lit up.