"Destruction Beam."
Once again, a pure black beam of light shot out from Haruki's finger, piercing straight through the body of a Menos Grande.
Despite the Menos Grande's massive size, having its vital point pierced meant it could no longer regenerate. It eventually collapsed onto the white sands of spiritual particles.
Given the Menos Grande's size, its fall was like a building collapsing, sending a shockwave that flung the white sand into the air.
Haruki frowned as he looked at the Menos Grande lying before him.
Theoretically, an ordinary Menos Grande should be at the level of a seated officer, perhaps even a high-ranking one.
But this Menos Grande didn't have a soul ability. What a...
piece of trash!
He wondered what the conditions were for a Hollow to possess a soul ability. Did they need high intelligence, like Metastacia?
If that were the case, then Aizen really needed to speed up the process of turning Menos Grande into Arrancar. Only then could Haruki obtain more abilities.
Damn it, he needed to play both sides!
He wanted the soul abilities of Shinigami, and he also wanted the soul abilities of Arrancar!
If possible, he'd even take the soul abilities of Quincy!
No one would complain about having too many abilities, and Haruki certainly hoped to amass as many as he could.
By now, Haruki had no idea what was happening outside, or even whether Tanimoto Tetsu was still alive.
Since he had permanently acquired Tanimoto's soul ability, 'Destruction Beam,' even if Tanimoto's favorability towards him dropped below 80 or if Tanimoto died, Haruki would still retain the ability.
Therefore, he couldn't use the presence or absence of the 'Destruction Beam' ability to determine whether Tanimoto was still alive.
Thinking of this, he greedily absorbed the spiritual particles of Hueco Mundo.
The concentration of spiritual particles in Hueco Mundo was much higher than in the Soul Society. If one could adapt to this environment, their strength would only grow.
Moreover, such dense spiritual particles were more conducive to training.
In this environment, his accumulation of 'Black Sun' had also grown stronger.
Haruki walked over to the fallen Menos Grande's corpse and sat down on it.
After resting for about ten minutes, he was about to stand up when he suddenly sensed the spiritual pressure of a Hollow.
The Hollow wasn't hiding its spiritual pressure, and it wasn't approaching quickly. Haruki stood up from the Menos Grande's body, feeling that the Hollow's spiritual pressure was far stronger than his own.
"Could I have run into a future big shot?"
Haruki frowned slightly. Although he wasn't particularly strong now, Hueco Mundo hadn't yet undergone its evolution.
After Aizen Sōsuke officially became the King of Hueco Mundo, he used the Hōgyoku to trigger a collective evolution of the Hollows. So, even though Haruki was alone in the world of Hollows, as long as he wasn't too unlucky, he shouldn't be in much danger.
After all, Hueco Mundo was vast, and the number of Vasto Lordes was small. Scattered across such a vast world, it was likely that an ordinary Hollow would never encounter a Vasto Lorde in its lifetime.
Haruki's earlier comment about finding Starrk was mostly a joke. How could a Shinigami like him go looking for a Hollow?
But now, he felt like he might have actually run into someone powerful—at the very least, a mid-level Menos Grande!
With his current strength, dealing with lower-level Menos Grande wasn't a problem. After all, Gillians, despite their massive size, were just clumsy targets for his 'Destruction Beam.'
However, starting from the mid-level Menos Grande, the Adjuchas, Hollows became much more agile. While his 'Destruction Beam' could ignore defenses, it didn't have a guaranteed hit.
At the speed of an Adjuchas, dodging his 'Destruction Beam' would be relatively easy.
But running wasn't an option. Although the Hollow was approaching slowly, if it decided to chase him, Haruki doubted he could outrun a mid-level Menos Grande with his current strength.
Of course, if it came down to a fight, he wasn't afraid.
Because he still had the 'Black Sun,' which he had been accumulating for a long time!
Continuously infusing it with spiritual pressure, the power of the 'Black Sun' had grown to a level even Haruki couldn't fully grasp.
If all that spiritual pressure were released in one burst, it would likely rival the powerful attacks of a captain's Bankai.
As long as the approaching Hollow wasn't a Vasto Lorde, Haruki could still hold his own.
However, upon seeing the form of the approaching Hollow, he thought he might be able to save the 'Black Sun' for later.
What appeared in Haruki's line of sight was a Menos Grande shaped like an antelope, slowly walking towards him.
This form, combined with her soul ability known as 'Size Manipulation,' instantly revealed her true identity to Haruki.
Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck!
The former Tres Espada, who was later turned into a child, Nel, after being betrayed by Nnoitra. At this point in time, she was still a powerful Vasto Lorde.
Although she was strong, she likely posed no threat to him.
As Nelliel approached, she saw the fallen Menos Grande and Haruki standing atop it. She tilted her head in confusion. "A Shinigami? In Hueco Mundo?"
"Trust me, I didn't want to be here either," Haruki shrugged.
"Someone just had to send me here. Don't worry, I mean no harm to Hollows."
"A Shinigami... saying they mean no harm to Hollows?" Nelliel said, clearly surprised.
"Well, you can think of me as an outlier among Shinigami. I... dislike killing and prefer peace."
Haruki gave a light smile. "Even in Hueco Mundo, if no one comes after me, I won't go out of my way to attack Hollows."
"You're a strange one."
Seeing this, Nelliel stopped and then turned around.
"In that case, I don't need to avenge my comrade."
With that, she prepared to leave.
"Comrade?" Haruki said with interest. "Hollows have a sense of camaraderie? Did you know this Menos Grande?"
He knew a bit about Nelliel. Although she was a Hollow, she wasn't the traditional kind of 'evil spirit.'
Among Hollows, she was relatively kind and disliked killing.
Her talk of revenge was likely just a tough act.
"..." Nelliel remained silent for a moment before saying, "Hollows have their own kingdom. If you don't want to die, you should return to your Soul Society as soon as possible."
Haruki thought for a moment and then said, "You seem like an outlier in Hueco Mundo, and I'm an outlier in the Soul Society. Since that's the case, why not be friends?"
"...?" Nelliel was stunned. She said in surprise, "A Shinigami... wants to be friends with a Hollow?"
"What's wrong with that?" Haruki smiled. "Didn't I say it before? I dislike conflict. Other than the things I'm interested in, the allegiances of others don't concern me."