Harribel swung her great sword, deflecting an encroaching wave of grey-black Reiatsu erosion.
Her voice held not a trace of fluctuation. "I detest fighting. I have no interest whatsoever in your grand plans or your ambitions for kingship. Barragan, cease this meaningless entanglement."
"Meaningless? Hahaha!" Barragan let out a deafening, vicious laugh, his skeletal jaw opening and closing exaggeratedly. "That is not for you to choose, Harribel. In Hueco Mundo, power is everything! Since you refuse to kneel and submit..."
The eerie flame in his eye sockets suddenly turned fiercely malevolent, the aura of 'decay' becoming intensely thick, as if trying to drag everything around him into eternal annihilation.
"...then, becoming a part of my power is your only destination! I have yet to taste the flesh of a Vasto Lorde. Devouring you might allow my [Respira] to advance further. Your power is mine!"
As his words ended, Barragan's colossal body surged forward, wrapped in a towering grey tide. His battle-axe tore through space, carrying the terrifying law of force causing all things to wither, and ferociously chopped down towards Harribel.
This strike was far wilder than before, filled with the absolute desire to devour.
Harribel's gaze hardened, daring not the slightest negligence. Her orange-yellow Reiatsu erupted to its limit. Her great sword ejected a high-speed water current, meeting the attack head-on.
She knew Barragan was now truly intent on killing.
Boom!
The full-force clash of two Vasto Lorde-class Menos violently shook the entire outer perimeter of Las Noches.
The annihilation of Reiatsu produced dazzling flashes and destructive shockwaves, sending even some of the closer Gillian staggering backward, scraping away a thick layer of the sandy plain.
High above, hidden within the cover of Reiatsu, Setsuna and his group silently observed this battle for kingship.
Harribel's strength was indeed formidable, but she was still considerably weaker compared to Barragan.
After Barragan unleashed his full power, the tide of battle quickly turned for the worse.
"Compared to Szayelaporro's type, which leans towards research and conversion," Setsuna commented softly, "Barragan and Harribel truly embody the pure and powerful combat stance befitting the 'Vasto Lorde' level. Especially Barragan..."
His gaze locked onto the skeletal giant, thinking to himself, 'His strength is probably on par with Zaraki before he broke through [Emotional Omen].'
This was an extremely high evaluation. Barragan's decay ability was indeed an extraordinarily powerful one.
Zaraki licked his lips, his eyes firmly locked onto the battling Barragan below, his battle lust nearly overflowing. "That skeleton looks like he can take a lot of cutting!"
Yoruichi tilted her head. "Invade the Soul Society? Where does he get such confidence?"
Aizen shared the information he knew. "Perhaps he was inspired by Ikomikidomoe? That Menos once ruled Hueco Mundo alongside Barragan a thousand years ago and even managed to break into the Soul King Palace, though it was eventually made into a Zanpakuto."
Azashiro gazed intently. Although Setsuna had convinced him, making him recognize the true murderer of his sister, he still harbored a deep-seated hatred towards Menos.
Setsuna clapped his hands and smiled. "Since he wants to invade the Soul Society, let him have a good taste of a 'greeting' from the Soul Society."
The moment Setsuna finished speaking, Zaraki could no longer hold back. With a wild laugh, like a ferocious beast breaking free from its bonds, he turned into a meteor streaking down from the high sky, diving straight towards Barragan below.
"Hahaha! Skeleton, take this slash from me!"
He used no fancy techniques, merely pouring all his boiling battle lust and violent Reiatsu into his Zanpakuto. It was the most direct, powerful overhead chop.
Before the blade even arrived, the terrifying pressure already caused the eerie flame in Barragan's eye sockets to flicker violently.
He had just clashed fully with Harribel, with his old force was spent, new force not yet born.
Facing this sky-descending, overwhelmingly brutal slash, he could only, relying on his tempered battle instinct, barely hold his battle-axe above his head, while simultaneously twisting his skeletal body sideways as much as possible.
Clang!
A deafening clangor of metal resounded through the sky. Barragan only felt an indescribable great force transmitted through the axe handle, shaking his arm bones with ominous creaks. His colossal body was forcibly hammered downwards, his feet sinking deep into the sand.
After this strike from Zaraki was blocked and deflected, the remaining terrifying sword aura, like an out of control wild dragon, grazed past Barragan's side and violently slashed into the main structure of the majestic Las Noches behind him.
Rumble!
Amidst the terrified gazes of countless Menos, that pale palace, symbolizing the highest authority in Hueco Mundo, was neatly split in two along the trajectory of that light.
The remaining momentum of the Kenatsu did not diminish, tearing a huge, bottomless abyss stretching for dozens of kilometers across the ground, as if a bleeding wound had been carved upon the pale face of Hueco Mundo.
"Yo... you Shinigami! How dare you destroy my palace!"
Barragan leaped out of the sand crater, both shocked and enraged.
However, his roar had barely left his mouth when—
"Hado #91, Senju Koten Taiho."
A calm, rippleness voice, like a death god's whisper, sounded above his head.
Barragan looked up to see another Shinigami, having somehow already hovered directly above him, palms facing each other, terrifying Reiatsu compressing and gathering wildly within.
The next moment, a full fifty huge, scorching white light cannons carrying destructive purple rays, like judgment spears sent down by the gods, in a covering barrage, converged from all directions with no blind spots onto the area where he stood!
"What?" Barragan was terrified out of his wits, his anger forgotten. Grey-black Reiatsu frantically surged out, forming layered dark shields before him, while his battle-axe whirled like the wind, attempting to scatter those fatal Kido.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The continuous explosions completely engulfed Barragan. The scorching white and purple rays devoured the grey. Destructive Reishi turbulence tore at everything.
Although Barragan struggled with all his might to block and dodge, such a volley of high-level Kido, in such numbers and with such power, still left him utterly disheveled.
Shields shattered one after another. His skeletal body was covered in countless fine cracks from the afterwaves of the explosions. His luxurious black robe was torn and tattered. The eerie flame in his eye sockets even dimmed somewhat.
"Bastards! Where are my subordinates? Are they all dead? Attack together, kill these Shinigami!" Barragan roared with extreme fury between explosions, screaming towards the surrounding dense masses of Gillian and Adjuchas.
However, a scene that chilled him to the bone appeared.
Those Menos, which should have been utterly obedient to him, or at least should have been enraged by the invaders, still stood quietly in place, as if the fierce battle before their eyes existed in a completely different world from them.
"Th... this... what is going on?" The shock in Barragan's heart temporarily overpowered his anger and fear.
He had ruled Hueco Mundo for many years and had never seen such a bizarre sight.
In the sky, standing behind Setsuna, Aizen smiled as he sheathed his Zanpakuto, his movements calm and unhurried.