The giant Hollow earthworm was massive beyond comparison; even with only part of its body remaining, Yekawa still looked painfully small beside it, no more than one seventh or one eighth of its size.
He devoured every strip of flesh with greedy focus. If the blood seeping into the Desert had not soaked too deep to retrieve, he would have eaten the sand itself. He had even tried before. Knowing from the stories of Hueco Mundo's nature that everything here was made of high-density reishi, he once attempted to swallow the white sand to boost his spiritual pressure. After choking himself half to death several times, he gave up in irritated defeat.
Soon the enormous remaining corpse, far larger than his own body, was completely consumed. This time, unlike all the previous feedings, Yekawa finally felt the long-absent sensation of fullness after swallowing half of the earthworm Hollow.
Roar.
Thin wisps of dark golden spiritual pressure spiraled around his body, tightening and rising until he could no longer suppress the call building in his chest. A long roar cut through the air, echoing across the white dunes.
Am I finally evolving?
Sensing the shift inside himself, a faint smile stretched across Yekawa's pale masked face. A deep comfort washed over him, soothing him so thoroughly that for a moment it felt like he had returned to his previous life and someone was massaging every inch of his body.
A dark golden pillar of spiritual energy burst from him, ripping upward into the sky. Within the spinning column, Yekawa's form began to reshape, the force of evolution pressing against every bone and strand of reishi in his being.
The pillar lasted only ten seconds before dispersing. As the golden glow faded and the dust thinned, Yekawa's new form emerged.
His former body, once four to five meters long, now stretched to nearly seven or eight meters, almost twice its previous size. His centipede-like limbs, once pale, were now marked by dark golden lightning patterns. Even the mask covering his head, smooth and pale like a helmet, now carried streaks of dark golden lightning.
His humanoid upper torso was laced with interwoven black and gold, giving him an even more demonic edge than before.
I've evolved into a Powerful Hollow.
The realization brought a surge of exhilaration.
From half a month of wandering and from everything he remembered from his past life's knowledge of Bleach, Yekawa had pieced together a clearer understanding of Hueco Mundo's Hollow hierarchy.
In the story of his previous world, Hollows were divided only into ordinary Hollows and Menos Grande. Menos Grande were further separated into the towering Gillian, the mid-class Adjuchas, and the elusive Vasto Lorde.
But after personal experience, Yekawa learned that even ordinary Hollows had their own structure.
First Stage — Freshman Hollow. He and the Lizard Hollow he killed when he first appeared belonged here. Newly formed, lacking in devouring and experience, their strength depended mostly on their human soul's power before death. The reason Yekawa crushed that Lizard Hollow was simply because his human soul had been stronger.
Second Stage — Powerful Hollow. This was Yekawa's current stage after his first evolution.
Third Stage — Giant Hollow. The earthworm Hollow that the anomalous Gillian annihilated with a single strike belonged to this rank.
Fourth Stage — Gillian, the lower-class Menos Grande. Formed from at least a hundred Giant Hollows devouring one another, they were the entry point to true Menos-level power. More than ninety percent were identical in form and completely lost all consciousness, becoming lumbering killing machines controlled by Adjuchas.
Only a rare few retained intelligence and continued devouring to pursue evolution. These were the unique Gillians, like the one Yekawa had encountered. Some Gillians, however, were fallen Adjuchas. When Adjuchas suffered severe injuries in their desperate evolution battles and lost essential parts of themselves, they could degenerate into Gillians while maintaining their former body structure. These were far stronger than ordinary Gillians.
Fifth Stage — Adjuchas, the mid-class Menos Grande. Evolved from unique Gillians through constant devouring. Smaller than Gillians but far more refined, they commanded Gillians and possessed advanced abilities like Cero and Sonido. They had one fatal limitation: a single bite from another Menos of equal or higher rank, even a small wound, halted their evolution permanently. From that moment on, they could only struggle to avoid falling back into Gillian form. Becoming a Vasto Lorde would forever slip out of reach.
Sixth Stage — Vasto Lorde, the upper-class Menos Grande. The apex of Hueco Mundo. Born rarely or evolved from particularly exceptional Adjuchas, they were usually human-sized and wielded tremendous power. A single Vasto Lorde could match a Squad Captain from Soul Society.
There is still an endless road ahead.
Though pleased with becoming a Powerful Hollow, he refused to celebrate. In the later arc of the Bleach storyline, even Vasto Lorde-class Arrancars struggled against true monsters. What could a small, ant-like Powerful Hollow accomplish?
With the timeline unknown, the only correct strategy was simple and brutal: grow stronger as fast as possible. Otherwise a passing shockwave from two Adjuchas fighting might reduce him to dust.
The urgency dug into him again. He quickly familiarized himself with his new body and discovered two fresh abilities that filled him with unexpected delight.
Ability One — Camo. He could now suppress his spiritual pressure until it nearly vanished. Only beings with spiritual pressure more than a hundred times stronger than his own could detect him.
Ability Two — Flash Lightning. Lightning arced along the segments of his centipede-like lower body, intensifying his speed and power in close-quarters combat. Unfortunately, it could not be projected as a ranged attack.
These abilities paired with Hueco Mundo's Desert terrain made him a perfect hunter. His evolution would accelerate.
As for long-range attacks, I have those too.
A faint smile crept beneath his mask. Images of the anomalous Gillian's Cero flashed through his mind. He raised his pale right index finger and aimed ahead. A coil of black and red spiritual pressure gathered at the fingertip. Five seconds later a black and red beam burst outward, hurling across the dunes.
Rumble.
A thunderous blast shook the Desert, throwing sand into a spiraling cloud.