Chapter 689 The King of Hueco Mundo's Reputation Spreads Far And Wide

Aaroniero's bloated, ugly octopus true form was fully revealed under the moonlight, letting out an earth-shaking roar.

Rukia gripped her Sode no Shirayuki tightly and stepped forward, standing before Kanae.

"Captain Kanae, please leave this opponent to me. I will personally execute this scum who has defiled Lieutenant Kaien's memory."

Hearing Rukia's request, Shinobu instinctively frowned. Sensing the increasingly close Reiatsu from the direction of Wall Rose, she objected urgently:

"There's no time for that! Many Hollows are coming this way. We need to finish him off quickly."

At least a dozen Adjuchas-class Reiatsus were converging from all directions. Vasto Lorde-class Hollows had probably also been alerted.

However, Kanae raised her hand to stop her sister's objection, her gaze falling on Rukia's pale face.

"Alright. Make him pay for defiling Lieutenant Kaien's memory."

Then, Kanae turned and issued orders to all the team members behind her: "Everyone, spread out and hold off the other Hollows coming to reinforce. Buy Rukia time."

"Once she's done, we all withdraw immediately and return to the Soul Society. No lingering, no dying. That's an order."

The expedition Shinigami didn't hesitate. They quickly formed a defensive formation inside the gate.

The Adjuchas that poured in from Wall Rose were immediately driven back by concentrated slashes and Kido.

Behind the frontline of her comrades' flesh and blood, Rukia stood alone before Aaroniero.

At first, the ugly octopus monster looked down on this petite female Shinigami, sneering as it swung its tentacles to unleash Nejibana's water blades: "What's wrong? With your backers now, have you forgotten about me, your Lieutenant?"

But this time, Rukia's blade had no hesitation.

Sode no Shirayuki's ice froze those water blades and Aaroniero's tentacles into ice sculptures. Then her blade precisely pierced through the head hidden among the tentacles... his true form encased in a glass test tube.

The sound of ice shattering echoed through the streets of the Maria District. Aaroniero's roars grew fainter and fainter, until, along with his bloated body, he shattered into frost-covered fragments.

Meanwhile, the outer perimeter, where Kanae and the others were holding off the Menos Grandes, was reaching its limit.

Seeing Rukia finally finish her fight, Kanae drove back the Menos Grande before her with a single slash and shouted, "Everyone, fall back!"

But Megumi, Kotonoha, and the others were secretly anxious.

There was still so much they wanted to investigate.

Was the master of this city the person they were thinking of?

But there were natives of this world present, so they couldn't openly share their true thoughts.

Just as everyone was preparing to retreat through the gate, they suddenly noticed that the gate was now silently blocked by two figures... one tall, one short, standing firmly in their way.

The slenderer figure placed his hand on his sword hilt, his voice entirely emotionless: "That won't do."

Yoruichi, who had just been breathing a sigh of relief, saw this and her amber cat eyes widened.

The slender figure at the gate was none other than one of Makoto's strongest Vasto Lorde... Ulquiorra Cifer.

And the burly figure beside him was his partner, Yammy Llargo.

Now that he had achieved Arrancarization, Yammy was still muscular and imposing, but he was now indistinguishable from a normal human except for his above-average height.

Yammy tilted his head, glancing toward the end of the Maria District's street, at Aaroniero's shattered remains, and let out a contemptuous snort.

"Tch. What a waste."

Ulquiorra ignored his companion's grumbling. Without a word, he slowly walked toward Kanae and the other Shinigami.

Though he was only of average height among these Shinigami, with each step he took, the overwhelming intimidation radiating from him forced the expedition members to retreat half a step.

Unquestionably, a Vasto Lorde.

Yoruichi, perched on the wall, gritted her teeth.

'This is bad.'

'No matter what, these brats couldn't possibly defeat Ulquiorra.'

Yoruichi's mind raced, wondering whether to immediately revert to her human form and use her new abilities to buy these kids a few seconds to escape.

Just as Yoruichi was scratching her head in desperation and Ulquiorra was drawing his blade to strike, Megumi suddenly stepped forward from the ranks, "We've come to pledge our allegiance to the King of Hueco Mundo."

As soon as she said this, the air seemed to freeze.

The expedition members all gaped in disbelief, wondering if their ears had gone bad.

Even Ulquiorra, who usually kept a straight face, was genuinely taken aback.

During those few seconds of Ulquiorra's silence, Megumi frantically signaled Kotonoha with her eyes.

Kotonoha's cheeks flushed bright red, but she mustered all her courage and stammered out her line: "Y-yes! We greatly admire the King of Hueco Mundo, so we c-came specifically to..."

Just then, Yoruichi suddenly leaped down from the wall.

She thought, no matter what, she had to keep these kids alive.

With that thought, Yoruichi said to Ulquiorra and Yammy, "Yeah, yeah... that guy likes pretty girls, right? So I brought them here as a gift for him! How about that? Pretty high quality, huh?"

Hearing this, Rukia, who had just defeated Aaroniero, was completely dumbfounded.

Isane, standing at the back of the group, blushed bright red.

'Wait... I had to offer myself too?'

At that moment, Ulquiorra, having recovered from his brief shock, looked away from Yoruichi and slowly scanned the bodies, including Aaroniero, and the countless Gillian remains scattered across the ground.

"If that's really the case... how do you explain all this?"

Clearly, Ulquiorra recognized the cat-form Yoruichi.

But he couldn't just let these Shinigami go based on Yoruichi's obviously fabricated story.

Yoruichi sighed, putting on a helpless tone: "Oh, you know how it is. These Menos Grandes are usually hostile to Shinigami. Young Hollows are just too hotheaded. I didn't even have time to explain before they attacked. They're just the lowest-level Gillians anyway. Psykos can breed a few more batches to make up for it."

"Anyway, that's how it is. I'll handle things from here."

Ulquiorra frowned, turning to Yammy beside him.

Yammy, who was all brawn and no brains, simply spread his hands and rolled his eyes at Ulquiorra, clearly having no useful input.

After a few seconds of silence, Ulquiorra sheathed his half-drawn Zanpakuto and uttered three words flatly:

"...Follow me."

He truly wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

Since he couldn't judge, he would just take everyone to Las Noches and let Makoto decide.

Under the escort of Ulquiorra and Yammy, the Hueco Mundo Expedition Team was forced through the inner gate of Wall Maria and headed toward Las Noches.

After passing through Wall Rose, everyone could distinctly feel the atmosphere change.

The streets here were even more oppressive than those in the Maria District.

The Hollows living here were all Adjuchas-class, and many had already achieved Arrancarization. They were almost indistinguishable from ordinary humans, except for the different-shaped bone mask fragments still on their faces.

They watched the group of Shinigami being escorted through the streets with appraising eyes.

Walking in the middle of the formation, Kira couldn't help but whisper, "What... what's going to happen to us?"

Ikkaku, his bald head held high, snorted, "What's there to be afraid of? At worst, we die."

He had joined the Gotei 13 to fight and die under that man's command.

He didn't fear death itself.

His only regret was that he wished he could die more gloriously.

The Shinigami who had taken on the Hueco Mundo Expedition Mission were basically all fearless warriors.

But even if they weren't afraid of death, many still felt some regret inside.

Take Renji, for example.

Ever since Rukia had been adopted by the Kuchiki Clan, he had buried those misplaced feelings deep in his heart. But in countless sleepless nights, he couldn't help but imagine some impossible scenarios.

For instance, becoming a retainer of the Kuchiki Clan, forever protecting Rukia...

Tch. It was just like those useless protagonists, only thinking of pathetic fantasy.

After passing through the third wall, Wall Sina, the number of Hollows around them suddenly decreased.

At a glance, the grand white streets were practically empty. Only the massive white palace at the city's center could be seen in the distance.

But even so, the moment they stepped into this area, the entire expedition team's expressions changed in unison.

Several of the weaker members nearly stumbled and fell.

Because almost simultaneously, they felt several overwhelmingly terrifying Reiatsu.

"So... this is where the Vasto Lorde live?"

Rukia swallowed hard.

"Hurry."

Ulquiorra, walking at the front, urged coldly without looking back.

They were escorted all the way to the main gate of Las Noches.

When they finally reached the foot of the palace, everyone stopped in unison.

Because a massive black-furred hound, wearing a white bone helmet, was lying in front of the palace gate. Its sheer size was suffocating.

Just lying down, it was taller than Wall Sina, its head nearly touching the crescent moon in the night sky.

Its six eyes slowly blinked beneath the bone helmet. Each breath kicked up a gust of wind strong enough to blow a person away.

"This is a Vasto Lorde too?!"

Renji and Ikkaku shouted in unison. The two fearless 11th Division's members looked at each other.

It was too huge!