Specks of pink light soon appeared in Baraggan's field of vision. As long as [Hadō #91・Senjū Kōtentaihō] landed solidly, it would be enough to completely level these ruins to the ground.
Baraggan rested his clasped hands on his lap. His posture was like an emperor watching a performance, showing not the slightest hint of impending doom.
As for the Adjuchas who served Baraggan here, they submitted to him because of his overwhelming strength, but that did not mean they were weak themselves.
Without needing any orders, these Adjuchas stepped in front of the throne of white bone. They all opened their mouths, and dark red orbs of light gradually solidified within them.
Cero—a beam-like flash created by highly concentrating Reiatsu and releasing it all at once—had always been the signature technique of Menos-class Hollows. Even a Cero fired by the lowest-level Gillian possessed a destructive power that could not be underestimated.
And the Ceros fired by these elite Adjuchas taken under Baraggan's wing were not only far more powerful, but the speed at which they gathered Reiatsu was also much faster.
[Hadō #91・Senjū Kōtentaihō] boasted a higher overall concentration of Reiatsu than any single Cero on the opposing side, but each of its individual 'shells' was only roughly equivalent to a standard Gillian's Cero.
These Adjuchas possessed high combat intelligence. They spotted the weakness of [Hadō #91・Senjū Kōtentaihō] almost at a glance. Without any verbal communication, they simply tilted their heads slightly, each taking responsibility for intercepting a few of the incoming blasts.
Just as [Hadō #91・Senjū Kōtentaihō] was about to swallow Las Noches, dozens of Ceros were unleashed simultaneously. The dark red light resembled an invisible, gaping maw of blood; anything that fell into it would be instantly reduced to a pool of gore.
Right at that moment, the meteor shower-like descent of [Hadō #91・Senjū Kōtentaihō] suddenly changed. As if guided by a pair of invisible hands, or as if passing through an unseen funnel, the scattered beams of light traced a bizarre arc and converged together.
This left the confident Adjuchas with absolutely no time to react. Even if their minds and bodies could keep up, it was already too late to charge another Cero.
The pink comet falling from the sky slammed viciously into their dilapidated palace. A scorching gale whipped up a sky full of yellow sand. The deafening roar was so immense that, let alone rupturing eardrums, an ordinary person caught in it would likely be vibrated to pieces.
Meanwhile, Kōe, who had used the Boundary-Breaking Talisman to return to Resen's initial hiding spot, knew full well that his attack had achieved the desired effect through his Kōki mask, even though the violent storm hadn't reached him yet and the sound was still a distance away.
Even though these Adjuchas were considered elites in Hueco Mundo, they still lacked experience fighting Shinigami—or rather, top-tier Shinigami.
Aside from a small number of Menos with special abilities, once a Cero was fired, its trajectory could not be altered. This was common sense in Hueco Mundo, but it was not common sense among Shinigami.
Even after a Shinigami cast a Kidō, it was still possible to control it. For someone like Kōe, whose control over Reiryoku had reached a microscopic level of precision, even if he couldn't turn a level 90-plus Hadō into a homing missile, he could still alter its trajectory within a ninety-degree radius.
Of course, possessing enough absolute strength allowed for a certain degree of carelessness.
The swirling sand dispersed, and the booming echo faded away. Las Noches still looked like a pile of ruins, and not a single one of the Adjuchas who had fired blanks was injured. Aside from the addition of a crown-wearing figure standing with his back to them, nothing had changed.
"We beg for Your Majesty's forgiveness! It is our incompetence that forced Your Majesty to act!"
The Adjuchas present all dropped to one knee in unison. If Baraggan hadn't intervened at the very last second, Las Noches would have already been reduced to flying ash. They, too, would have suffered varying degrees of damage, losing their chance to evolve further, or perhaps even regressing into mindless Gillians.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to go in your stead and make the wretch who troubled you pay the price they deserve!" Seeing that Baraggan did not answer, one quick-witted Adjuchas rolled his eyes and hurriedly spoke up. The other Adjuchas, seeing this, chimed in one after another. After all, the one thing the emperor before them could not tolerate was the incompetence of his subordinates.
The Adjuchas, kneeling behind Baraggan, couldn't see it at all, but at this moment, their Great Emperor Baraggan was covered in fine, cherry-pink lines.
Compared to the straightforward Hollows, Shinigami employed far too many little tricks in combat. The fine lines currently on Baraggan's body were another Kidō that Kōe had hidden within [Hadō #91・Senjū Kōtentaihō], designed to suppress the opponent's Reiatsu.
However, thinking that such a minor trick could completely suppress Baraggan was obviously impossible. The cherry-pink lines grew thinner and thinner on Baraggan's body at a visible rate.
The moment they completely vanished, a heavy Reiatsu instantly blanketed Las Noches, and simultaneously, Baraggan's figure disappeared from his own palace.
"Your Majesty!"
Baraggan's subordinates shouted from behind and hurriedly followed after him. They knew their emperor was truly furious this time. His own lair had nearly been wiped out, yet he hadn't even seen his opponent's face. To Baraggan, this was an absolute insult.
But because his Reiatsu had been briefly suppressed, Baraggan had lost track of Kōe's Reiatsu signature for a short period.
Therefore, by the time he arrived at the location where he remembered Kōe last being, there was no one left. When his subordinates caught up, they could only stare at Baraggan, who was clenching his fists tightly, not daring to breathe too loudly.
"A lowly Shinigami dares to step foot into my territory?!" Baraggan turned his head. The kneeling Adjuchas felt as though they could hear the sound of fury burning within his body. "Find him! I want him kneeling before me! I will personally snap every bone in his body and crush every inch of his flesh! I will make him realize just how foolish it was to come here!"
Meanwhile, Kōe had absolutely no awareness that he had thoroughly enraged Baraggan. In fact, he had completely tossed the Hollow's existence to the back of his mind. He had succeeded so easily; compared to the likes of Azashiro Sōya and others he had dealt with in the past, Baraggan really couldn't pique his interest.
Taking advantage of the brief window where Baraggan's Reiatsu was suppressed, Kōe had already used the Boundary-Breaking Talisman held in stasis by Resen to return to Szayelaporro's laboratory once again.
It could be said that in his brief exchange with Baraggan, Kōe had not only managed to slightly blindside his opponent with a hidden Kidō, but he had also used three pairs of Boundary-Breaking Talismans to play Baraggan so hard it made his head spin.
Even though he had only fired a single strike without even looking, a massive hole had already been blown into the laboratory's main doors by Kōe.
For someone like Kōe, who could visualize Reiryoku, even acting as a robber was a highly technical profession. The door had been blasted open with absolute perfection—a fraction more power would have accidentally damaged the precious 'flora and fauna' inside, and a fraction less wouldn't have opened it. As it stood, it was neither too much nor too little; it was just right.
In truth, during this short span of time, the Great Emperor of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan, wasn't the only one who had been completely styled on by Kōe. There was another top-tier Menos in Hueco Mundo who had suffered the same fate—Szayelaporro Granz.
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