Cold. Trembling.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
A ceiling?
Neliel Tu Odelschwanck slowly opened her eyes, the word, long forgotten and almost alien, surfacing in her mind, leaving her momentarily stunned.
Thud.
Her body struggled to rise from the wooden cart, sealed with Reishi-binding barriers.
As she propped up her limp form and glanced around, an entirely unfamiliar scene met her gaze.
A caravan trudged through the desert.
A massive twenty-wheeled prison cart, large enough to hold a giant Adjuchas, rumbled forward, pulled by two Adjuchas. The cart itself resembled a small fortress rolling across the sands.
There were four such prison carts in total.
But now, aside from the one she occupied, the others stood empty.
Members of the Hollow Division flanked the caravan, moving leisurely alongside the procession, chatting idly with their companions.
At the forefront was a small squad of Shinigami clad in black Shihakusho.
Some, still wary of their unusual "allies." occasionally glanced back over their shoulders.
Leading this group, naturally, was Makoto and his entourage.
Yet even this cautious, close-quarters coexistence was something unimaginable in the old Hueco Mundo.
Neliel stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
Having survived in the dog-eat-dog world of Hueco Mundo for countless years, her days and nights filled with slaughter and devouring, the brutal law of survival had long been etched into her bones.
But precisely because of this, witnessing Hollows and Shinigami coexisting under some shared "rule" Stirred an indescribable feeling in her heart.
Order… was that it?
Could a Hollow truly yearn for order?
Even if it meant living like livestock?
Neliel found her own thoughts almost laughable.
Yet, as her gaze drifted to Makoto at the front, a strange emotion flickered in her eyes.
"It's definitely your doing, isn't it?"
"Absolutely."
As the girl murmured softly, almost wistfully, a calm voice interrupted from directly above her.
"Awake already?"
"Even sooner than that lord predicted."
The moment the voice sounded from the top of the prison cart, the Antelope Knight, caught mid-murmur, flushed red and jerked her head upward.
"Huh? Um!"
"I… just woke up."
Neliel lowered her head slightly, her ears burning.
If not for the natural mask-like markings on her cheeks, her blush would have been unmistakable.
Harribel leapt lightly from the cart's roof, slipping through the wide bars of the cage, designed to confine Adjuchas, far too large for her near-human frame, allowing her to slide through with ease.
She took a few steps and crouched beside Neliel, her fingertips gently brushing the bandages on the Antelope Knight's body. A hint of surprise colored her tone from behind her mask.
"You expelled all foreign Reiatsu with just High-Speed Regeneration?"
"Impressive."
"Did you enhance your restorative abilities during your evolution?"
Neliel's soft abdomen and chest were prodded a few times. Unaccustomed to such boundary-less interactions after centuries of solitude, the girl instinctively curled her hooves, the chains clinking loudly.
Only then did she notice the heavy runic chains binding her hooves, hands, and even her small goat-like tail.
Clearly, neither the Shinigami nor the Hollow Division had any intention of underestimating a warrior who could hold her own against Makoto-sama for even a few moments.
Raising her head to meet the gaze of the female Vasto Lorde, who seemed to have evolved from a shark-like form, Neliel responded, "I'm not particularly skilled at High-Speed Regeneration."
"Probably… Makoto held back when he struck."
"Is that so?" Harribel didn't seem overly surprised.
After all, she herself had been targeted by that man back when she was still an Adjuchas.
Though no one spoke of it openly, everyone knew that Captain Makoto, a figure of considerable influence in the Soul Society, had a particular interest in both humanoid and non-humanoid beings.
With that thought, Harribel's gaze instinctively drifted to Neliel's lower half.
A fluffy, plump goat-like rear.
Hiss!
A sudden chill ran down Neliel's spine. She curled her hooves tighter, her broad tail sweeping down to cover herself as best she could.
Harribel withdrew her gaze, her tone neutral. "Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Tier Harribel, current Captain of the Hollow Division."
"Barring any surprises, we'll be working together from now on."
"You're the second Vasto Lorde in this corps."
As her gaze shifted away, the prickling sensation eased.
Though the woman's assertion that Neliel would submit to Makoto rankled slightly, the Antelope Knight responded politely, "Neliel Tu Odelschwanck."
"What exactly is the Hollow Division…?"
"Haven't you noticed?" Harribel pointed outside at the Adjuchas marching in formation through the desert like a disciplined army. "Those are all members of the Hollow Division."
"By rank, they're equivalent to seated officers among the Shinigami."
"Huh?" Neliel froze, stunned. "They're not captured slaves?"
"Slavery? How could that ever win loyalty?"
Harribel's tone carried a trace of a sigh, tinged with resignation. "Hollows are pragmatic creatures."
Clearly, this wasn't the first time Harribel had explained this to a new "comrade."
Though hearing such words from a Vasto Lorde felt somewhat strange, Neliel understood.
A moment's thought made it clear: in a place like Hueco Mundo, a collective uprising of Hollows could have catastrophic consequences.
"I see." The Antelope Knight murmured softly.
Deep within, a flicker of curiosity stirred for this place where Hollows and Shinigami coexisted.
Is this really okay? she wondered.
At that moment, Harribel tilted her head toward the distance, gesturing. "Look, we're almost there."
…
At the expeditionary force's headquarters, inside the main tent, Tenjiro set down his pen, the toothpick in his mouth bobbing as he chuckled, sensing the unmasked, colossal Reiatsu signatures approaching.
Kotetsu turned to him. "Tenjiro-senpai?"
"Is it finally settled?"
Tenjiro muttered under his breath, "With that kind of Reiatsu flare earlier, I thought something major had gone down."
"Huh?" Kotetsu blinked, still processing.
The next moment, a group strode in, dust clinging to their forms as they lifted the tent's flap.
Makoto wore his usual carefree demeanor, but Katori's pale, bandaged appearance made both captains in the tent tense.
"Makoto-sama!" Kotetsu, the acting captain, clearly lacked the seasoned composure of his seniors.
Seeing Katori, one of the original captains, wrapped in bandages and looking battered from a hard-fought battle, his entire body stiffened.
"What... what happened?"
"No need to worry." Makoto waved dismissively, grinning. "Acting Captain Kotetsu, go summon all members ranked third seat and above for a meeting."
"Hueco Mundo's run into a bit of trouble."
Even Tenjiro's eyes narrowed at those words.
For him to call something "trouble." it couldn't be trivial.
"…Talk about bad luck."
…
As Makoto's group entered the tent, the Hollow Division' Adjuchas members filed into their own base.
But…
"Calling this a base? It's more like a cave." Neliel observed.
The cart carrying her was dragged slowly into a rocky cavern, positioned at an angle to the expeditionary force's camp.
The narrow entrance was pitch-black at first, but after a dozen meters, the space opened up.
Standing in the cavern's center, Neliel realized the entire mountain had been hollowed out by Adjuchas. Glowing plants clung to the ceiling, casting a soft, radiant light that illuminated the otherwise dark interior.
In this light, she began to discern the mountain's structure, resembling a circular tower.
A spiral stone staircase wound upward from the base, carving a straight path along the inner surface.
Along one side of this path were irregularly shaped, hand-carved stone caves, some fitted with doors. Occasionally, an Adjuchas, looking rather haphazard, poked its head out, bickering with neighbors.
The rare clamor of voices echoed faintly within the hollowed mountain, too indistinct to make out.
Neliel, seated in the prison cart, stared in disbelief.
It felt almost unreal.
"Hey, Harribel!" a scorpion-like Adjuchas called from a high cave, its tongue flicking across its bone mask as it shouted, "Caught more 'fodder' today?"
"By the merit rankings, it's my turn to feed, don't forget to log my capture points from the last mission!"
Despite facing a Vasto Lorde, the Adjuchas showed no deference, its tone bordering on brash.
Yet its words adhered strictly to protocol.
"Tch, lucky bastard." another Adjuchas muttered, eyeing the cart with envy.
No one made a move, though.
The Hollow Division' rules were ironclad, with rewards and punishments enforced rigidly.
It was this strict discipline that forged the corps' current order.
Undoubtedly, every word and action of the Hollows here was shaped by three centuries of blood and iron.
"No." Harribel replied, unfazed by the brash tone. "This one's a comrade, personally captured by Makoto."
"I'd advise you not to get any ideas."
Silence fell over the scene.
Not just because the "captive" in the cart bore the petite frame of a Vasto Lorde, but because of the name "Makoto", almost a taboo among them.
The Hollow Division' formation mirrored the Gotei 13's bloody history, each step stained with violence.
From capturing targets to maintaining order, eliminating traitors, and hunting deserters, every process over three centuries claimed at least a third of the corps' Adjuchas.
Now, some Adjuchas in the corps had reached their soul's limits early on.
Harribel herself had evolved from Adjuchas to Vasto Lorde at an extraordinary pace over those three hundred years.
Their rapid growth stemmed from the early days when "unruly" members were plentiful, providing ample benefits for those who followed the rules.
But Makoto's fearsome reputation had burrowed deep into their souls, inescapable.
Noticing the eerie silence, Neliel turned to Harribel, puzzled. "Is Makoto that respected among them?"
Harribel's expression, hidden behind her mask, grew slightly complex. "…You could say that."
As she spoke, the cart was pulled into a shadowy underground cave, the Reishi-sealing barriers on its surface glowing faintly.
Once the cart stopped, Harribel leapt down from the bars, retrieved a stamp from a nearby rock shelf, and pressed it lightly to Neliel's chest, leaving a teal mark.
"Huh? What's that?" Neliel rubbed the spot, feeling no trace of dye.
"A tracking spirit seal." Harribel said calmly. "In short, don't even think about escaping."
"With his strength, no one gets away."
"If you can, I'd prefer you follow orders willingly."
For a moment, Harribel hesitated, as if recalling something. "He's not actually that bad to his subordinates."
"As long as you obey…"
With that, she turned and left without looking back.
"Wait!" Neliel, curled in the cart's corner, instinctively reached toward her retreating figure.
Soon, the dark cell fell completely silent.
"Not that bad… huh?" Neliel murmured, her fingers brushing the spirit seal on her chest, her mind replaying the recent scene.
Unbeknownst to her, a faint pink glow shimmered in the depths of her eyes.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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