"What I am feeling right now?" Little U touched his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breath caused by his excitement. In this moment, it was as if he had attained a profound realization. He closed his eyes, savoring the sensation with every fiber of his being.
Meanwhile, Ren turned his gaze toward Lilynette. Seeing her face filled with anticipation, he grinned. "Remember: pull your punches."
"Wooohooo!!"
Their silhouettes vanished instantly. With unspoken synergy, they moved far away from Little U so as not to disturb his meditation.
High in the sky, as if sharing a single mind, they both unleashed a Cero at the same time!
Swish!Rumble!
The white and green Ceros collided, erupting into a pillar of fire that licked the heavens.
"I didn't expect my Cero to turn white. Not gonna lie, it's pretty cool!" Ren's lips curled upward. He was in a fantastic mood!
Not only had he reached the Vasto Lorde level, but he had also transcended the ordinary limits of that class to reach the level of an Arrancar. While both Little U and Lilynette were also Arrancars, if one looked at someone like Baraggan—who had lived for countless ages—he was essentially still a Vasto Lorde at his core, having never truly reached the stage of a stabilized Arrancar.
What did being an Arrancar mean? Simply put, it was the equivalent of a Captain-level Soul Reaper who had mastered Bankai and then gained Hollowification on top of it. One's power was at least doubled!
After reclaiming his "Heart," Ren had broken through in one giant leap, evolving into an Arrancar and becoming one of the most powerful beings in Hueco Mundo.
"Tear them apart! Los Lobos!" Lilynette roared. Suddenly, several emerald-green spirit wolves appeared around her. The aura emanating from each wolf was no weaker than that of an average Adjuchas!
"Hey, hey, hey! You were hiding a dangerous move like that?!" Ren was shocked. He had known Lilynette for quite a while, yet he had never seen this technique.
"Hehe! This is my strongest move. A little warning: whatever you do, don't let them bite you. Otherwise... heh heh heh~" Lilynette laughed deviously.
"I'm starting to get a little scared now~" Ren crossed his arms. Though his words claimed fear, his face bore a crooked, confident smirk. Not a trace of actual tension could be seen.
"You brat! Your personality got even worse after your mask broke!" Lilynette huffed in annoyance. She commanded: "Go!"
Awoooo—!!
The green wolf pack let out a series of howls and turned into afterimages as they lunged at Ren. Ren's body flickered. With a light pop, he vanished from Lilynette's field of vision.
"I can't see him?!" Lilynette was stunned. She couldn't track Ren's movement trajectory at all. Did this mean his speed was now far beyond hers?
"Speed is weight. Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Ren's airy voice drifted into her ear. Without time to think, Lilynette instinctively unleashed a Cero. In an instant, with Lilynette as the center, she fired countless Ceros in every direction. The entire sky seemed covered by a grass-green curtain, turning the black void into a sea of emerald!
Ren had moved far away long ago. Looking at the rain of "bullet hell" Ceros, even as an Arrancar, he felt a cold sweat.
"Terrifying! You're telling me anyone can dodge this kind of fire suppression with Sonido?"
Ren now understood why Lilynette was the Primera Espada. Spirit wolves that struck the soul, combined with zero-cooldown, zero-charge Ceros—who in Hueco Mundo could actually beat her?
Watching the mushroom clouds blooming where the Ceros struck, Ren shrunk his neck and yelled to Lilynette: "STOP!!!"
The green curtain vanished. Lilynette looked down at Ren on the ground, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry! I got a little carried away~"
"That wasn't being 'carried away,' that was trying to murder me!" Ren snapped.
Lilynette just scratched her head. The moment she heard Ren's voice earlier, a sense of crisis had surged in her heart, causing her to lose her judgment and push her Cero Metralleta to the limit. If Ren hadn't called out, she could have kept up that barrage for days without tiring.
They returned to Little U. Upon seeing them, he spoke plainly: "I feel something attracting me from over there. Let us go."
"Sure, lead the way." They had no destination anyway; anywhere was fine.
As the trio set off with Little U leading the way, a figure far in the distance watched the aftereffects of Lilynette's barrage with profound shock.
When did a powerhouse like this emerge in Hueco Mundo? A sense of vigilance rose in Baraggan's heart. He had intended to find trouble with them, but now he decided to reconsider. "Withdraw."
Baraggan flickered away. Seeing their boss retreat, his subordinates scrambled to flee even faster.
When Ren and the others noticed movement in the distance, they only saw a massive cloud of dust. "What happened over there?" Ren asked.
"Who knows? Probably a sandstorm," Lilynette said dismissively. Little U didn't even give it a glance, continuing forward.
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, four Hollows were hiding in the sand, shivering.
"Boss! Those people are so strong. Are we still going that way?" a lion-like Hollow asked, covering its head. He was looking at a humanoid Vasto Lorde beside him.
The Vasto Lorde was covered in white bone-like armor, leaving only blonde hair and emerald eyes exposed. Her right hand held a massive shark-like sword with visible gills. This was the future Third Espada, Tier Harribel.
At this point, she was not yet an Arrancar, just a Vasto Lorde. Following her were her three future Fracciones: the snake, the lion, and the deer/horse thing. Feeling the lingering, terrifying Reiatsu in the air, Harribel thought of Baraggan's recent attempt to recruit her. She had refused, and knowing his temperament, he would surely retaliate.
"Change direction," Harribel said. "We will avoid them."
Following Little U, the group arrived at a grove of trees. They weren't real trees, just dead husks of wood. A few weak Hollows sensed their Reiatsu and fled instantly.
Little U walked straight into the heart of the grove. Under the bewildered gazes of Ren and Lilynette, he lay down on a patch of earth and fell into a peaceful sleep.
"You called us all the way here just to watch you sleep???" Lilynette's head filled with question marks.
Ren, however, stared at the ground beneath Little U in disbelief. "There's actual soil up here? It doesn't look man-made. Could this be the ultimate secret of Hueco Mundo?"
Intrigued, Ren and Lilynette sat down beside Little U. The moment they got close, Ren felt a comfortable energy envelop him. It was an indescribable feeling—safe, calm, as if he had returned to a mother's embrace.