After making some distance from the region where he was attacked, Kisuke set up another camp to study the worm that he'd just killed.
He spent a few days dissecting the worm to figure out how it was able to get through his barrier. After careful experimentation, because he only had a part of a sample, Kisuke found out that the absorbing powers came from its black sharp teeth that also act as filters to clean and purify the Magic Power before transporting it through its body using special nerves.
Aside from that, Kisuke also found out that those worms don't store the bulk of their energy in their flesh and blood. Instead, it seems that these special nerves gather in one spot though he doesn't really know where that is, "These guys probably have a core somewhere in their body. My best guess would be at the latter end of their body, buried deep inside the ground. That's a pretty good defense mechanism."
Kisuke then grabbed the black powder, which was the worm's teeth that he pulverized to examine, "I can use these."
But even with these discoveries of potential weakness that he can use against these worms, he was worried. First of all, these worms are not Souls, meaning, they have their own bodies that are not made out of Magic. They are a new species that suggested many things about the inner workings of Hell.
Second, he couldn't estimate just how many of them existed out there, 'While they don't seem to exist near settlements, I could only guess that there are abundant numbers of them at the edge of Hell if they can attack like that in groups. A Lieutenant-class Shinigami can defeat one with ease, but 5 of them simultaneously? They are going to have a hard time. And what if there are millions of these worms under the ground? With how wide the Hell is, I wouldn't be surprised if there are billions of these things. If they decided to attack all at the same time, it's going to be a disaster.'
'And the third problem.' Namely, the giant worm. It's obviously a special variant and the damage it could cause eclipses that of the normal worms, 'It's capable of blasting a hole through space but I doubt it can do that repeatedly considering how energy-intensive a blast like that is.'
[Are you going to continue your exploration?] Tiamat suddenly asked.
"I intend to. I still haven't figured out how those guys sense their surroundings and I really want to see the edge of this world." Kisuke started packing up again.
[They are using Magic Power waves to sense their surroundings.]
Kisuke's hands stopped and turned his head to his tanto blade, "But I didn't feel anything?"
[It's a very fine wave that almost matches the environment's frequency. It's no surprise that you didn't notice it. Even I didn't notice and only figured it out when I thought back to anything strange that time.]
Kisuke rubbed his chin and asked, "Do you think Ki assimilation will work?"
[It covers your presence by fusing your own aura to nature itself, so maybe? You can only try.]
"Alright. If I can't avoid these worms, I'll get around them first."
[You're not going to catch more of them?]
"I want to, but I don't think it's a good idea to make them wary of my presence right now. In the first place, I don't have much time. It's about time I visit the former Captain Commander to try a few things."
[Oh right. You found a way to extract those chains some time ago. Are you going to remove them?]
"I want to, but I'll hold back for now. You said it yourself. Those chains have the same scent as Hyousube Ichibei."
[Not exactly the same, but it does remind me of him.]
This past year, he had already concluded that there was no point in sparing Szayelaporro Granz and his colleagues. As they were just unnecessary threats, he didn't want to wait for the Seireitei to eliminate them. While the Seireitei were being careful about how to deal with them, Kisuke is pretty confident that he could just annihilate them. After all, they're just babies who just started to learn how to use [Hell's Blessing] aka, Pseudo-Demonic Power.
His otherworldly knowledge is enough to make it backfire on them.
But after linking the existence of these black chains to Ichibei Hyousube, he hesitated and opted not to mess with them for now. Not until he figures out what Ichibei has to do with these guys and what it really means to remove these chains from the [Chained].
Kisuke finished up and teleported again.
.
.
.
Kisuke was able to confirm that he could hide his presence from the worms by expertly manipulating Ki. However, the happiness from this discovery quickly subsided by what he's seeing right now, "What the heck is this?"
[There are at least a thousand of them just in this spot.]
On the ground that has already become lifeless, are countless worms of varying sizes, crawling and intervening with each other, "And I can feel more of them under."
[Ignore them and go to the edge. We're near and I feel like we can finally find answers to our questions.]
Kisuke stared at the worms for a few moments before teleporting away once again. Each time he teleports, the worms would feel his presence and would look up. However, Kisuke's not there anymore so after a few minutes of looking around, they continue with their business of chewing the ground, absorbing all the power in it for their growth.
It's the same when he reappeared. They'd all look up but since Kisuke is hiding himself, they'd soon return to their business of nonstop eating. This action caught Kisuke's attention and he thought, 'So the reason why they haven't made their way to the inner regions is that they're busy eating dirt?'
If they live off the Magic Power present, Kisuke could understand their actions because unlike any other worlds he has been in, the concentration of Magic Power in Hell's ground is several times compared to others.
After a few more teleportations, Kisuke finally reached the edge which was a dark and endless cliff, "Finally... That took a while."
Kisuke looked down and sent down his senses but found nothing, 'How does gravity work in these parts? It's still pulling downwards.'
He then looked up and saw that the barrier that was protecting Hell from the void also went down along with the cliff. He wanted to jump off but something was telling him that that was a very bad idea.
While Kisuke is busy inspecting everything in the surroundings, Tiamat suddenly speaks up, [Oh... So that's how it is...]
"You found out something?"
[Yes. Now I'm sure that you are currently standing on top of a corpse.]