Saros led the charge up the mountain.
Barragan signaled, and his forces followed.
Sombravida remained concealed at the forested base alongside Harribel. Nel stayed near Barragan.
Sombravida required Nel's spatial marker as an emergency escape coordinate. Meanwhile, he and Harribel intended to investigate the sealed ruins from the rear flank.
Midway up the mountain, sub-class Hollows from both factions collided.
Cero detonations lit the slope.
Steel-like Hierro clashed.
Subsbus descended from above with nine Vasto Lordes under her command.
Of Saros's five Vasto Lordes, three engaged Barragan's side. Two moved to intercept Subsbus's elites. The remaining low-tier Vasto Lorde stood beside Subsbus as a personal guard.
Thus the Vasto Lorde battlefield balanced itself.
Subsbus halted on the slope, facing Saros.
"Saros… how resourceful," she said, voice smooth and dangerous. "You even dragged Barragan of the East here."
Her fox-like mask tilted.
"But… you seem short a few subordinates. Did you misplace them?"
Saros raised his blade. Pale-blue reiatsu gathered along its edge.
"Enough talk."
A slash.
Compressed blade-reiatsu shot forward.
Subsbus flicked her wrist.
Four razor-thin arcs of spiritual pressure tore through the air.
A sub-level Hollow between them was instantly shredded.
Clang!
Saros intercepted.
The impact rattled his arm.
He masked the surprise.
Subsbus's output had increased.
Was she approaching the next threshold?
Or already past it?
The two Vasto Lordes advanced simultaneously.
Behind them, sub-levels clashed in overwhelming numbers.
Barragan's forces outnumbered Subsbus nearly two-to-one.
But three additional Vasto Lordes descended from Subsbus's side, reinforcing her lower ranks.
Balance restored.
"Little one," Barragan said calmly to Nel. "Go."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Nel launched forward without hesitation, reiatsu flaring.
She collided with the remaining low-tier Vasto Lorde.
Hyper-acceleration.
Emerald Lance.
Close-quarters combat.
Though still Adjuchas-class, Nel's combat refinement and reiatsu density allowed her to contend evenly. Her movements were efficient, precise—techniques Sombravida had drilled into her repeatedly.
Barragan observed but did not interfere.
If necessary, Respira could erase the opponent in an instant.
Elsewhere, Barragan's death-aspect pressure subtly interfered with nearby battles—decay spreading slowly but deliberately.
At the mountain's rear, Sombravida surveyed the battlefield.
"All Vasto Lordes are engaged," he murmured.
"Time."
He placed a hand on Harribel's shoulder.
A spatial fold opened.
They vanished.
Behind the mountain lay a vast crimson basin.
Magma flowed through fractures in the earth.
At the basin's center—
A massive sealing array.
Ancient.
Complex.
Not freshly constructed.
The craftsmanship suggested power beyond ordinary Vasto Lorde.
Residual reiatsu beneath it pulsed faintly.
Sombravida narrowed his eyes.
"The seal's degraded."
Harribel examined it carefully.
"My lord… the entity beneath is unstable."
Sombravida extended his perception.
What lay beneath possessed reiatsu comparable to a high-tier Vasto Lorde.
But the pressure felt… distorted.
Ancient.
Dense.
Predatory.
Yet diminished.
"This is no longer what it once was," Sombravida said quietly.
Centuries of sealing.
Continuous extraction by Subsbus.
Its original state was unknowable.
But what remained was still formidable.
"Releasing it is reckless," Harribel said calmly.
Sombravida smirked faintly.
"Reckless can be useful."
He opened a narrow spatial corridor behind them—linked to Barragan's rear formation.
An emergency exit.
Then he and Harribel began condensing Cero simultaneously.
"On my mark."
They fired.
Twin beams struck the weakened nexus of the seal.
The formation shattered.
The ground convulsed.
A roar tore through Hueco Mundo.
Not merely loud—
It carried weight.
Ancient reiatsu exploded upward.
The mountain trembled.
Cracks spread through the basin floor.
Magma erupted violently.
Sombravida instinctively shifted Harribel behind him.
"That… was louder than expected."
The ground split open.
Something rose.
A colossal reptilian Hollow.
Over one hundred meters long.
Ten meters tall even when hunched.
Crimson scales edged like blades.
Forelimbs thick with muscle.
Claws designed for dismemberment.
A white mask covering the upper face.
Fanged jaws exposed.
Its tail bristled with jagged protrusions.
Every feature optimized for predation.
It inhaled.
Its reiatsu expanded violently outward.
Yet—
There was no intelligence in its gaze.
Only hunger.
Instinct.
It glanced briefly at Sombravida.
Dismissed him.
Then it turned.
Toward the front of the mountain.
Toward the source of long-term extraction.
Subsbus.
Sombravida's eyes narrowed.
"Ah… so that's your grievance."
The Ancient Hollow leapt.
Each stride shattered rock.
It crossed the mountain in seconds.
"Let's go," Sombravida said calmly.
He pulled Harribel through the spatial fold.
Back at the main battlefield—
The roar shattered momentum.
Subsbus froze mid-exchange.
Her pupils constricted.
"The seal…!"
She felt it instantly.
Saros staggered back under a sudden surge of her spiritual pressure.
"Who released it?!" she snarled.
Her mental tendrils lashed outward.
She forced Saros back with a violent psychic strike.
"Retreat!"
All Vasto Lordes on her side disengaged.
Sub-level Hollows scrambled to regroup.
Saros halted his advance.
His formation consolidated defensively.
Barragan merely watched.
Then Sombravida reappeared beside him.
"You did this," Barragan stated flatly.
Sombravida grinned faintly.
"Curiosity."
Barragan clicked his tongue.
"You brat."
Another roar.
The Ancient Hollow reached the summit.
It stared down at the battlefield.
Countless Hollows.
A feast.
Then—
It locked onto Subsbus.
The one who had siphoned its power for years.
Its jaws parted.
Reiatsu compressed violently.
A colossal black Cero began forming at its mouth—
Dwarfing even a Gran Rey Cero.
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