Bleach: The Path to Transcendence

"Hahahaha!"

Aaroniero laughed, his head thrown back, the sound echoing wildly in the empty space.

"What wonderful power! I can almost see the Espada ranks beckoning me!"

He laughed maniacally, waving his arms excitedly, reveling in the surge of spiritual pressure after devouring Metastacia.

Just then, a ray of sunlight from the artificial sun above shone unexpectedly on the handsome face that now wore the guise of 'Kaien Shiba'.

In a mere instant, that handsome face, with its hard lines and sharp angles, seemed to be instantly scorched by high temperature, vaporizing on the spot.

In the blink of an eye, it reverted back to its original form, submerged in the glass jar.

"Damn it, this skin can't withstand sunlight! Looks like I need Szayelaporro to make me a mask!"

......

Las Noches, the palace.

Aaroniero Arleri, his heart filled with trepidation, slowly stepped into the main hall.

He looked up at the magnificent structure before him, a feeling of indescribable longing welling up within him.

"Raise your head!"

A voice suddenly rang out, not loud, but seemingly containing the might of the heavens, causing Aaroniero to tremble.

Hearing this, Aaroniero slowly raised his head, his gaze following the direction of the voice towards the high throne at the front of the Las Noches palace.

There, he saw a majestic figure in white robes and golden hair. The man wore a smile, sitting quietly on the throne, yet emanating endless divine power, making it impossible to look directly at him.

"My King!"

Aaroniero's expression was excited, his voice tinged with a tremor.

The last time he had seen Ye Chuan, it was from afar, standing among the Arrancar army.

Now, this supreme king of Hueco Mundo had actually summoned him, which made Aaroniero, as a Gillian Arrancar, feel honored and proud.

"Not bad, this face suits you quite well!"

Ye Chuan looked at Aaroniero, who was wearing Kaien Shiba's face, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly, revealing a faint smile.

Aaroniero, however, had no heart to respond to Ye Chuan's words. His gaze was fixed on the eleven smaller seats below Ye Chuan's throne, arranged in ascending order. These seats belonged to the top Espada, the strongest in Hueco Mundo!

"King, I request a Espada ranking battle! I want to challenge the Tenth Espada, Zommari Rureaux!"

Aaroniero looked excited, his voice full of confidence and eagerness. He had just obtained new power from that special Hollow, greatly increasing his strength, and couldn't wait to challenge for the position of Espada.

"Ranking battle?"

Ye Chuan raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing Aaroniero's words, then a faint smile reappeared on his lips.

"Alright!"

Clearly, Aaroniero had become somewhat complacent after devouring Metastacia. However, Ye Chuan didn't mind, he just regarded it as an amusing spectacle.

......

A moment later, above the dome of Las Noches, the ranking battle arena was ready.

The purpose of this ranking battle arena was evident from its name: it was a special venue for those Arrancar who desired to challenge the Espada, as well as for battles between the Espada themselves.

After all, the combat power of most of the Espada members was terrifying, powerful enough to easily destroy Las Noches. It was out of such consideration that Rudbornn had specially set up the arena here.

Although the two protagonists of this battle, Aaroniero and Zommari Rureaux, did not possess the strength to destroy Las Noches, this was, after all, a challenge for the position of Espada, so this special arena was ultimately used.

Above the dome of Las Noches, it was pitch black, like an endless abyss. An invisible barrier permeated the entire space, isolating it from the outside world, forming an independent combat domain.

Zommari Rureaux stood on the battlefield, his eyes coldly scrutinizing the Gillian-class Arrancar Aaroniero before him, a cruel sneer tugging at the corner of his mouth. In his view, even if he was only the lowest-ranked Espada, he was by no means someone a Gillian Arrancar could easily provoke. This Aaroniero was simply daydreaming.

"Begin!"

Ye Chuan's voice came from the throne in Las Noches. Although he remained seated firmly on the throne, he had already used the spiritual particles floating above the dome to see everything in the battlefield.

"As you command!"

Hearing this, Aaroniero and Zommari Rureaux in the arena both moved.

Facing the famous Espada, Aaroniero did not dare to be careless and immediately unleashed his spiritual pressure.

In an instant, a trident appeared in his hand, with a spiral cone-shaped end and a long, azure tassel.

"Whoosh!"

As Aaroniero twirled the trident, raging waves, like water dragons, wrapped around Zommari Rureaux.

"Petty tricks!"

Zommari Rureaux immediately activated Sonído, easily dodging the onslaught of countless waves. But that wasn't all. Multiple afterimages appeared around Aaroniero, and instantly five identical Zommari Rureaux appeared.

"Buzz!"

The five figures simultaneously charged up a black and red Cero from five directions, aiming at Aaroniero in the middle.

"Rumble!"

As a result, only the Cero on the side was real, while the other four figures were decoys. Even so, it still caused considerable damage to Aaroniero.

"How was my Gemelos Sonído?"

In an instant, the five figures crisscrossed, changing positions again.

At this moment, Aaroniero, who had taken a Cero head-on and was in an extremely disheveled state, snorted coldly.

"Hmph!"

"Devour him, Glotonería!"

With a violent storm of spiritual pressure suddenly manifesting, Aaroniero entered his Resurrección state. His lower body instantly transformed into a grotesque octopus form, with countless purple tentacles covered in mucus, like a swarm of mad poisonous snakes, frantically strangling Zommari Rureaux. Wherever they passed, the air buzzed.

"Boom!"

A large number of tentacles, like steel whips, continued to pursue Zommari Rureaux. The range of pursuit was extremely wide, coupled with the water blades that occasionally struck, this dazzling rhythm of attacks greatly restricted Zommari Rureaux's Gemelos Sonído.

Zommari Rureaux did not expect that this unknown Gillian would have such strong combat power. The scale of destruction had already surpassed more than 90% of the Adjuchas Arrancar under Ye Chuan.

"Subdue, Brujería!"

Seeing this, he no longer hid his abilities and immediately drew his Zanpakuto from his waist, floating it in front of his chest, clasped his hands together, tilted his head, and the Zanpakuto then bent and squeezed out smoke to cover his entire body.

A moment later, the smoke dissipated. Black lines appeared on his face and jaw, his lower body turned into a pink gourd-shaped ball and floated off the ground, and as many as fifty eyes appeared on his body.

The fifty-odd eyes on his body shone with spiritual pressure, shining on Aaroniero at the same time.

Instantly, the dozens of tentacles that had been attacking him were frozen in mid-air.

"Pfft!"

In the next moment, to Aaroniero's shock, he was pierced by his own tentacles!