Chapter 26: Igris vs. the Menos Grande — Arriving in Hueco Mundo
Narrator POV
The Menos Grande was already partially out of the portal, still gripping the edges of the sky as if they were nothing more than curtains it could pull apart at will. Its immense figure emerged little by little—imposing and terrifying. The cracks spread wider at its passing, as if the very heavens surrendered to its presence.
Rukia, who had arrived just in time to witness its appearance, stood completely still. Her wide eyes reflected a deep terror mixed with disbelief. Her body trembled for an instant; her words escaped as a whisper, laden with awe.
"Th-that's… a Menos Grande. I've only ever seen them in textbooks... I never imagined I'd see one with my own eyes…"
And it was no exaggeration. Compared to the other Hollows that had been roaming the area, the Menos was a colossus. Its elongated, humanoid figure towered like a living skyscraper.
It was draped in a massive black cloak that flowed like a living shadow, revealing only its bony, pale hands with blade-like nails and boots of the same hue. Its mask—a grotesque parody of a human face—had an exaggeratedly long nose and an empty, emotionless expression.
Ichigo watched with a mix of tension and excitement. The situation was dire, but something within him stirred with the rush of adrenaline.
"It's pretty big… almost funny, actually," he said with a faint grin, though his tone couldn't quite hide his unease.
At that moment, the Menos Grande began to open its mouth slowly, as if savoring the fear that filled the air. The nearby Hollows tried to flee—but it was useless.
With terrifying speed for its size, the Menos's long tongue lashed out like a whip, piercing through the nearest Hollows with horrifying precision. Their bodies fell heavily to the ground—but not for long.
With a sudden yank, the tongue retracted, dragging the bodies back into its mouth. Then, with a dry, muffled crunch, the Menos closed its jaws and devoured its own kind. A suffocating silence fell over the battlefield.
Rukia, Ichigo, and Uryū were paralyzed, speechless. What stood before them wasn't just an enemy—it was a monster that had consumed the rest of its kin without hesitation.
Uryū frowned deeply. A bead of sweat slid down his cheek as he felt the overwhelming spiritual pressure radiating from the Menos Grande. It pressed against his chest, as though an invisible weight were forcing him to kneel.
"T-that thing…" he swallowed hard, his voice tense. "It's a monster. It ate the other Hollows without a thought… How the hell are we supposed to defeat that?"
Beside him, Ichigo let out a small laugh—reckless, defiant, and absurdly human—as he tightened his grip on his Zanpakutō.
"Heh… with something that big, what's the point of thinking? Just cut, cut, and keep cutting! It's the only way!" he shouted—and without waiting for a response, he charged straight toward the Menos.
He ran with determination, then leaped with a cry and brought down a frontal slash toward the giant's leg. But the result was disappointing: his blade barely managed to scratch the Menos's tough hide, as if he had struck a living fortress.
Unfazed, the Menos lifted its leg and, with a simple kick powered by sheer brute strength, sent Ichigo flying like a bothersome insect. His body shot through the air for several meters before crashing violently into the ground.
"Ichigo!"
Uryū rushed to him immediately, finding him half-sitting up, a cut on his forehead dripping slowly.
"What the hell were you thinking!?"
"Well… I figured if I chopped it up like a vegetable, we could keep slicing until only the head was left," Ichigo replied with a nervous smile, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
Uryū stared at him in disbelief and frustration—just as a new threat revealed itself.
The Menos Grande slowly opened its mouth again, and a blazing light began to gather within it.
A Cero. Energy condensed into an incandescent sphere, and the air around it trembled from the crushing spiritual pressure. The argument stopped immediately.
Rukia's eyes went wide as she shouted in alarm at the growing orb inside the Menos's mouth.
"Ichigo, dodge it! If that hits you, you'll be reduced to ashes! That attack—it's a Cero!" she cried, her voice filled with urgency.
Ichigo, however, could barely react. He watched tensely as the energy swelled, blinding and unstable, like a miniature sun on the verge of exploding.
Then, in a flash, a figure moved like lightning through the shadows.
A blur of black and blue streaked across the air at such blinding speed that it was barely visible to the naked eye. It pierced straight through the Menos Grande's chest as if it were nothing, interrupting the Cero before it could be released.
A roar of agony shattered the silence as the colossus staggered backward, its enormous body trembling under the weight of a true wound.
This wasn't like Ichigo's shallow slash to its leg—this cut was deep, lethal, and bled dense spiritual energy like black mist.
The figure landed gracefully and firmly on the ground. Black, gleaming armor covered him completely, radiating an oppressive aura, while a tattered cape fluttered behind him like a living shadow. In his hand, a sword still crackled with spiritual energy from the strike.
It was Igris.
"W-what is that…? It has spiritual pressure, but… it doesn't feel like a Shinigami," Rukia whispered in confusion.
A few meters away, Urahara watched silently, his signature fan half-hiding his face. His eyes, however, were fully focused on Igris.
"Interesting… the same knight who intervened to save Inoue. Fast, precise, and strong enough to grievously wound a Menos Grande… What kind of summoning is this?"
Ichigo, still recovering from the earlier blow, stared at the imposing figure in astonishment.
"Who the hell is that guy? And where did he come from…?" he asked aloud, as if anyone could answer.
The air grew heavier. The Menos Grande roared again—this time in fury, but also in caution. The hunter had arrived… and now, it was the prey.
Igris ignored everyone around him. He wasn't there to impress or to explain. He had only one mission: to drive the Menos Grande back—and force it to return to Hueco Mundo.
f speed, his figure turned into a blur. Though massive in size, the Menos was clumsy, slow, and lacking true intelligence. To Igris, it was nothing more than another target on the list. The Menos tried to strike him with a brutal kick, but Igris dodged easily, twisting through the air like a fluid shadow.
In a single motion, his sword slashed deep into the giant's leg, provoking another deafening roar.
He leapt upward with immense strength, quickly gaining height as if the sky itself were just another battlefield. In Igris's mind echoed the command of his master:
"Break it. Shatter its mask. That's the key to making it retreat."
So that's what he would do.
"No way… He actually hurt the Menos Grande!" Rukia exclaimed, frozen in disbelief at what she was witnessing. "Who is he? Urahara!"
Urahara turned his gaze toward her, though his focus never left the knight wrapped in shadow and blue light.
"Miss Kuchiki, I'm just as surprised as you are. I have no idea who that knight is… but one thing's for certain—he's powerful," he said, eyes following Igris's movements, increasingly impressed.
Igris advanced steadily along the Menos's body, each step precise and deadly, evading a sudden strike from the creature's massive tongue. In a clean, precise motion, he sliced it off with his sword, forcing the Menos to recoil in pain, shaking the very air around them.
Then came the final strike. Igris launched himself once more, his sword gripped tightly, his spiritual energy blazing like a living flame. He descended in a devastating diagonal slash, the blade aimed directly at the Hollow's mask.
With a thunderous impact, the sword pierced part of the mask, leaving a deep crack that shattered its once-perfect symmetry. The Menos Grande howled, staggering as its energy began to destabilize.
The Menos let out a guttural roar and clutched at its mask with one of its bony hands, trying to cover the fractures that had begun to form. Fragments of white bone fell slowly, crumbling as if its pride itself were turning to dust. It stumbled backward, grasping at the sky as if it were a curtain it could open and close at will.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Akira prepared to execute his risky plan.
He activated the skill [Stealth], obtained after eliminating ten assassins. His body seemed to blend with the surroundings, becoming invisible to ordinary sight as well as to magical or spiritual detection. It was as if the very air refused to betray his presence.
However, the ability came at a cost: it required 200 MP to activate and consumed 10 MP per second. And Akira didn't like wasting cursed energy—he preferred to save it whenever possible.
While the Menos continued retreating, desperately trying to return to Hueco Mundo to regenerate its mask, Igris stood upon its shoulder, stoic as ever—like a dark sentinel overseeing its withdrawal. There was no need for orders. He knew his master was near… and he would follow him, even into hell itself.
The witnesses—Rukia, Ichigo, Uryu, Urahara, and the others—watched in silence as the titan once again distorted the sky with its hands, reopening the portal to the underworld. The scenery wavered briefly, as if reality itself were being stretched, and then, with one last tremor, the hole sealed shut as though it had never existed.
Ichigo clenched his fists, frustrated. His gaze lingered on the figure of Igris, who vanished alongside the Menos the moment the sky returned to normal. A sharp sense of helplessness stung within him. He was strong—but not strong enough. He hadn't been able to do anything against that creature… and that infuriated him. It made him feel weak.
.
.
.
.
Akira landed face-first on the sands of Hueco Mundo with a heavy thud, raising a small cloud of white dust. He had clearly miscalculated the portal's height… and the angle of the fall.
"Mental note… practice dramatic entrances. Making a fool of myself isn't the best way to start an interdimensional expedition," he grumbled, spitting out a bit of sand and standing up while brushing himself off with irritation.
Beside him, Igris landed gracefully on his feet, the poise of a trained warrior, silently watching as his master recovered. Both lifted their gaze to examine their surroundings.
Before them stretched the desolate expanse of Hueco Mundo: a perpetually gray sky—like an open wound across the heavens—hung over a vast desert of white sand and uneven dunes.
In the distance rose cracked cliffs and dark quartz formations resembling dead, twisted trees devoid of life. There was no vegetation, no wind, no sound—only the heavy atmosphere saturated with spiritrons, the spiritual particles that gave the place its eerie substance.
"This place smells like poverty," he remarked with his usual sarcasm, pulling a cloak from his inventory and draping it over his shoulders. "I'll scout around a bit. Good work, Igris. Take a rest."
The knight nodded solemnly and, without a word, merged back into Akira's shadow as if he had never existed.
Akira stood alone, gazing over the dead world. He knew he was standing in dangerous territory—very dangerous. Here, there were no rules, no morality, no allies. Only hungry, merciless creatures that would try to devour him at the first opportunity.
But if he wanted to grow… if he wanted to become stronger… this was the perfect place. And he was ready—well, more or less—considering he'd probably be attacked every five seconds by Hollows.
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End of Chapter.