Bleach: From the moment I was invited by Squad Zero

Chapter 92 The Lone Wolf

"What's your name?" Liu Chuan spoke first, as if starting a casual conversation. "Koyatai Stark," Stark replied, gazing at the distant sea of ​​sand, his voice weary. "My name—no one's called me that in a long time. Anyway, nobody cares."

"Self-destruction?" Liu Chuan's gaze fell on the hollow hole in Stark's chest. The edges of the hole were smooth, as if it had been naturally integrated with his body.

"Moreover, the level of completion is quite high; spiritual pressure, physical form, and rationality have all reached a perfect balance. It's truly—"

Amazing evolution.

Stark turned his head, glanced at Liu Chuan, and his curiosity deepened: "You know about the 'Arrancar'?"

"I've done some research," Yanagawa said calmly. "The evolutionary path of Hollows, from the lowest level Hollows to Gillian, Adjuchas, and finally Vastod."

The vast majority of Hollows evolve under the influence of instinct and the desire to devour, while the "Hollowface" paused, organizing his thoughts.

"That's a higher level of evolution, a return to the essence of the soul."

Liu Chuan's gaze seemed to penetrate Stark's body, seeing the essence of his power: "The Void is a fallen soul that has lost its heart, with a hole in its chest that yearns to fill the void."

"Broken Face" signifies the rediscovery of a form closer to humanity and a higher level of rationality.

This usually requires external intervention, but it can be accomplished autonomously.

'

His tone was filled with undisguised admiration and a thirst for knowledge: "This means that, over the long years, you have, through your own strength and will alone, reversed the degenerate nature of the void and broken through the shackles of evolution."

The difficulty of this is far beyond imagination.

"Ah—probably. Being too strong isn't a good thing either. If you get even a little closer, they'll—shatter."

He raised his hand and casually pointed to the empty rocky ground around him, and the weathering Void corpses on the sand further away. "Looking for someone to talk to—but there's no one. Sleeping, waking up, spacing out—the cycle repeats itself."

As time went by, I almost forgot why I even existed.

His words were plain, without complaint or sorrow, simply stating a fact.

But that deep-seated sense of emptiness and loneliness spread silently like a cold tide.

As Asido listened, his grip on the knife tightened and loosened slightly, his eyes flickering as if he were recalling his centuries-long journey through the Great Void Forest.

The years spent in solitude and companionship were merely his loneliness, yet he still had "hunting" and "protecting" as his anchors.

The loneliness of the masked figure before us is a true, utter "nothingness."

Looking at Stark, at his languid demeanor so contrary to his immense power, Liu Chuan suddenly felt a sense of resonance that even surprised himself.

It wasn't sympathy or pity, but rather a sense of familiarity, as if I were seeing traces of some kind of "kind".

He thought of his past self.

I recalled how out of place I felt when I first arrived in this world.

They were all "outcasts." The Starks were ostracized by their own kind because they were too powerful, and they were alone for many years.

Liu Chuan suddenly spoke, his voice calm: "Excessive power will create a disconnect between you and the world around you," making it difficult to establish a normal connection.

Stark's eyes shifted slightly, refocusing on Liu Chuan's face.

This time, the inquisitive glint in his eyes was no longer just curiosity about the "powerful Grim Reaper".

"You—" Stark spoke slowly, his tone no longer completely indifferent, but carrying a barely perceptible hint of hesitation and confirmation, "It seems—I understand?"

Liuchuan did not answer directly.

"I wouldn't say I understand. It's just—"

He paused, gazing at the eternally pale sky of Hueco Mundo.

"Coincidentally, I was also walking on a road that not many people walked on, and occasionally I felt—a little lonely."

Silence fell upon the rocky ground.

Only the wind continues to blow tirelessly, whipping up fine sand, sweeping across the lonely broken face, the calm Grim Reaper, and the silent watcher.

A dialogue about power, loneliness, and existence that transcends race and stance quietly unfolds in this desolate land of Hueco Mundo.

Stark's unfathomable loneliness resonated with the solitude of the "lone wolf" in Yanagawa's words, creating an indescribable connection in the air.

At that moment, Liu Chuan suddenly raised his head and looked calmly at Stark.

He offered a proposal that would leave anyone familiar with the relationship between Shinigami and Hollows speechless: "Stark," Yanagawa began, his tone calm to the point of casualness, "would you—become my ally?"

,,

""

The air seemed to have been sucked out instantly.

Asido suddenly turned his head, his eyes wide open!

Companion?! What did Yanagawa just say?! Inviting a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow to become his "companion"?

This is simply absurd! Absurd! Death Gods and Hollows are mortal enemies etched into the very essence of the soul, symbols of the eternal opposition between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo!

Inviting Xu to become an ally? This is completely beyond anything Asi has learned in his centuries of fighting!

For the first time, Stark, who was sitting on the rock, showed a violent fluctuation in his seemingly indifferent expression!

His pupils contracted, clearly reflecting Liu Chuan's face.

His fingers, resting on his knees, curled unconsciously, and even the hollow in his chest seemed to tremble slightly with the pause in his breathing.

"—Companions?" Stark repeated the word, his voice heavy with doubt, astonishment, and a hint of instinctive repulsion. "Me? With you? A Shinigami and a Hollow?"

He looked down at the empty space on his chest that represented nothingness, then looked up at Liu Chuan, his gaze seemingly checking whether the other was conscious.

"We are enemies. When we meet, we fight, or we avoid each other. That's the normal thing." His logic is simple and direct, stemming from the survival rules of Hueco Mundo over countless years.

"For most Shinigami, this is indeed the case; purifying Hollows is their duty and creed."

Liu Chuan nodded, not denying Stark's statement, but he didn't stop there.

He slowly stood up, his pure white Zero Division haori standing out even more against the pale background of Hueco Mundo.

His gaze calmly swept over Asid, who was still in a state of extreme shock, before finally settling back on Stark. His voice was steady, carrying a rationality that transcended mere position: "But Stark, I am not an ordinary member of the Gotei 13. I come from the Zero Division, and my primary responsibility has never been simply to purify Hollows."

>