Deep within the underground cavern, Ronan had already devoured the Hollow crocodile that had delivered itself to him. Now, he stretched his body fully, his centipede-like tail coiling around a nearby rock pillar, his entire body radiating dark golden spiritual pressure.
His aura was rapidly climbing, reaching its peak in an instant. A dark golden pillar of light shot up from the underground cavern, burst through the sand, and soared towards the sky, startling Little Yellow Dog, who had been waiting in the desert for Ronan to complete his breakthrough.
"Roar!"
With the eruption of this dark golden pillar of light, some Freshman Hollows and powerful Hollows in the vicinity felt a spiritual pressure not inferior to that of a Hollow, and scattered in terror!
Not far away, a Giant Hollow, over five meters tall with a wingspan exceeding thirty meters, bore four wings that resembled neither moth nor bird. It gazed at Ronan's location with a hint of joy, then flew directly towards the spot.
"This is... a Giant Hollow evolving into a Hollow! Why would a Hollow appear in the New Territory? Indeed, Heaven helps me! This is the Hollow's weakest moment. If I can devour it, I will surely become a Hollow!"
Tilus Sandavici accelerated her flight as she thought of this.
Clearly, she had mistaken Ronan for a Gillian undergoing evolution.
"Woof woof woof!"
At this moment, the dark golden pillar of spiritual pressure had begun to slowly recede. As Tilus Sandavici approached, Little Yellow Dog, who had been waiting on the outskirts of the sand, felt the immense spiritual pressure drawing near and anxiously barked out to Ronan.
"Chirp chirp!"
The next instant, the sky seemed to darken in a flash. Tilus Sandavici had arrived, her wings like clouds covering the sky. Feeling the colossal presence above, Little Yellow Dog barked even more frantically.
Two iron feathers, like steel blades, sliced down from her wings, aiming to kill the troublesome dog-shaped Hollow below. Little Yellow Dog's reaction was swift; with a roll, he narrowly dodged the two iron feathers' attacks.
"Woof woof woof!"
Even as the iron feathers attacked, Little Yellow Dog did not forget to anxiously warn Ronan.
Seeing how slippery the little dog was, Tilus Sandavici bothered no longer with the insignificant dog-shaped Hollow.
Instead, she dived directly towards the pillar of spiritual pressure that was about to dissipate.
She intended to devour this newly evolved Hollow at its weakest moment.
"Iron Swallow Feather Kill!"
Tilus Sandavici flicked her wings again, sending dozens of iron feathers like arrows towards the very center of the light pillar.
Relying on this trump card, she had defeated countless Giant Hollows of the same rank. Now, using this move against a newly evolved Gillian, she was confident it would be no match, as most Gillians were mindless idiots.
However, the anticipated scene of countless iron feathers piercing flesh and causing the 'Gillian' to emit pained roars did not occur. Instead, there was a clang of metal.
Immediately after, the dust cleared, revealing a half-human Hollow with a body covered in golden tattoos, over twenty meters long, with a humanoid upper body and a centipede-like lower body.
Tilus Sandavici's gaze instantly froze.
"It's not a Gillian! It's a Giant Hollow like me? But this spiritual pressure is Hollow level!"
Without allowing herself to think further, and knowing that the strange Giant Hollow before her was not to be trifled with, she unleashed another Iron Swallow Feather Kill, aiming for the Hollow's most vulnerable eyes.
Seeing dozens of iron feathers strike again, Ronan neither dodged nor avoided them, seemingly not taking these iron feathers seriously at all.
"Clang clang clang!"
As Ronan flicked his right arm, these dozens of iron feathers were blocked. Tilus Sandavici saw that her iron feathers, which were superior to those of her peers, had not even left a mark on his right arm, and her heart immediately sank.
"Can we reconcile?"
Tilus Sandavici cautiously spoke. All previous signs indicated that this half-human Hollow should possess intelligence, just like her.
"First you attacked my pet, then you interfered with my advancement, and now you say you want to reconcile? Are you perhaps joking!"
Ronan spoke coldly, looking at the giant bird Hollow in the sky that was speaking human words.
"We can hunt other mindless Hollows together! We can even team up to hunt Gillians without a problem!"
Tilus Sandavici continued to tempt him, unwilling to give up.
"More meaningless nonsense. Is it true that the higher the intelligence, the more afraid of death?"
Ronan dismissively shook his head. Then, his giant tail lashed out, and a lightning whip shot from his tail, striking directly at the large bird in the air.
"Chirp!"
Tilus Sandavici was directly struck by the incredibly fast lightning whip and plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily into the sand.
Immediately, Ronan used Sonido, flickering to appear in front of Tilus Sandavici. He placed his right hand on her bird head and unleashed a Cero.
"Bang!"
A huge explosion enveloped the sky with dust.
Immediately after, a hurricane rose from the ground. Tilus Sandavici, with a bloody hole in her head, rapidly flapped her wings and retreated at high speed, hoping to put distance between herself and Ronan.
Alas, all was in vain. Before Ronan, who had already mastered Sonido, Tilus Sandavici's proud speed was simply negligible.
"Impossible, you're not even a Hollow, so how do you possess Sonido and Cero!" Tilus Sandavici, seeing Ronan continuously use Cero and Sonido, instantly lost all will to resist.
"Tilus Sandavici is willing to submit to you and serve you as master, my powerful master!"
Ronan, who had been about to deliver the killing blow, instantly stopped upon hearing the bird-shaped Hollow's words.
"You are Tilus Sandavici?"
"Yes, my future master!"
After receiving the bird-shaped Hollow's affirmative answer, Ronan could not hide his excitement.
However, he still had no intention of letting the bird-shaped Hollow before him go. Immediately, his centipede tail lashed out, and a thick lightning whip shot forth again. Seeing this, Tilus Sandavici's four broad wings on her back detached themselves. She actually permanently sacrificed her own organs to temporarily gain explosive movement speed, hoping to evade Ronan's lightning whip attack.
Ronan observed Tilus Sandavici, who now looked somewhat strange as a wingless bird, with interest.
"Quite decisive!"
This act of self-mutilation indeed allowed Tilus Sandavici to evade one lightning whip, but what about the second?
Ronan followed with Sonido and unleashed another lightning whip. Tilus Sandavici, however, was not afraid. Gritting her teeth, her tail, like a long whip, met the lightning whip.
"Sizzle!"
The lightning whip, like a peerless divine blade, directly severed Tilus Sandavici's cautious tail. Immediately, Ronan struck decisively, gripping the bird's head with both hands and twisting sharply. Tilus Sandavici was instantly decapitated.
He then carefully examined the giant bird's form. It indeed matched the image of Tilus Sandavici from the original work.
It should be known that in the original work, Tilus Sandavici was former Espada member NO.105, who had become an Arrancar from an Adjuchas.
However, at this moment, she was not even a Hollow. Clearly, Ronan's current timeline was still a long way from the original storyline, which meant he had a long period to develop.
Only then would he have the capital to seize more benefits in the original storyline and ultimately achieve transcendence.
In the original work, Tilus Sandavici had a considerable role. She first appeared in the Arrancar arc, was defeated by Ishida Uryū, and then was resurrected as a zombie by Mayuri Kurotsuchi to fight the Quincy in the Thousand-Year Blood War. However, now she was killed by Ronan before she could even grow.
This action would certainly have some impact on the original storyline, but Ronan cared little for any impact.
Who told her to provoke Ronan? Thinking of this, Ronan directly plunged his centipede tail into Tilus Sandavici's corpse. Immediately after, the massive bird corpse instantly vanished into thin air.
This was one of Ronan's new abilities gained upon evolving into a Giant Hollow—Soul Eater. He could directly absorb the opponent's reishi through the mouthparts on his tail. From then on, he would no longer need to ravenously devour the opponent's corpse every time, which would inevitably lead to significant loss of the reishi contained within. Soul Eater, however, could perfectly absorb the opponent's reishi.
Furthermore, Soul Eater could allow Ronan to permanently acquire one of the opponent's abilities. However, this ability acquisition could only be used once, so Ronan had to be extremely cautious in choosing which ability to acquire.
In addition, he also gained a second new ability—Clone: He could split his own physical body to create a clone that shared the same soul. However, splitting a clone required consuming his spiritual pressure. Since he had just evolved, reckless use could very likely cause him to fall in rank, so he temporarily did not plan to use this ability.
Moreover, his old abilities, Camo and Flash Lightning, had both been enhanced to varying degrees. Ronan's Flash Lightning could now transform into a lightning whip for long-range attacks.
And he had also prematurely mastered Sonido!
In summary, Ronan's evolution into a Giant Hollow this time had brought about a qualitative improvement in his strength. He estimated that he could now even defeat a Gillian.