Chapter 11: Overdrive!

"Zzzla!"

Lightning crackled as it enveloped Vritra's body, his thunder whip lashing out relentlessly. Each strike felled a giant Hollow, their massive bodies crumbling under his overwhelming might. Now that he had ascended to the rank of a Giant Hollow, his mastery over Flash Thunder had reached new heights.

"Snap!"

With a single, devastating lash of his lightning-infused whip, a worm-like Giant Hollow was cleaved in half at the waist. Without hesitation, Vritra's massive tail followed up, activating Soul Devour.

"This Soul Devour truly brings me joy!"

As he slaughtered his foes, he continuously absorbed the fallen Hollows' spirit energy, causing his own power to surge with each kill. Instead of growing fatigued from battle, Vritra only became stronger—an unrelenting killing machine, harvesting the lives of these Giant Hollows without pause.

With every swing of his whip, another Giant Hollow perished.

Just as he finished off a giant ape-like Hollow with a crack of his whip, three more lunged at him from behind, their claws poised to tear him apart.

But just as their talons were about to reach him, Vritra vanished in an instant—Sonído.

Reappearing a hundred meters away, he finished absorbing the ape Hollow's energy before turning his gaze upon his would-be attackers. A cruel grin spread across his masked face.

"No need to rush. Your turn is coming soon!"

Seeing Vritra's overwhelming strength, the once-chaotic battlefield turned into a united front—all the remaining Hollows abandoning their own fights to gang up on him.

But it was futile.

To Vritra, slaying these so-called "equals" was no different from butchering livestock.

One by one, the Giant Hollows fell, until only a single survivor remained—a deep blue-scaled lizard Hollow, trembling as it beheld the carnage. Its spiritual pressure was weak compared to the others, revealing that it had only recently ascended to the rank of Giant Hollow. That was why Vritra had saved it for last.

Now, watching its kin mercilessly slaughtered, the lizard Hollow trembled violently, its body instinctively recoiling in fear. This was terror on a soul-deep level.

Vritra didn't even spare it a glance before cracking his whip once more.

"Snap!"

With a crisp sound, half of the lizard Hollow's body was blown apart by the lightning whip.

Just as Vritra was about to activate Soul Devour and drain it dry, something unexpected happened—the ruined half of the Hollow began rapidly regenerating. Flesh sprouted like writhing tendrils, merging and reshaping at an astonishing speed. In mere moments, the Hollow was whole again, though its body was slightly smaller and its spiritual pressure had noticeably weakened.

Vritra's eyes widened in shock, then filled with wild joy beneath his pale mask.

"This is… High-Speed Regeneration!"

"Hahaha!"

"I've searched everywhere for this, and it falls right into my lap?!"

He erupted into laughter.

Without hesitation, his massive centipede-like tail coiled tightly around the lizard Hollow, locking it in place as he activated Soul Devour. But this time, he wasn't just absorbing energy—he was stealing its ability.

The moment Vritra obtained Ability Plunder, High-Speed Regeneration had been at the top of his list. It was an ability exclusive to only the strongest Hollows, typically only found among Adjuchas-class Menos or higher. He had assumed it would take him ages to acquire, yet here it was—hand-delivered to him in the Great Hollow Forest.

"This place truly is a treasure trove for me!"

The lizard Hollow let out muffled, agonized cries as Vritra flooded its body with Flash Thunder, burning it from the inside out. Then, in one swift motion, he shoved his tail into the creature's gaping mouth and activated Soul Devour.

It wasn't some personal quirk of his—this was simply a necessary requirement for stealing abilities.

The Hollow's limbs twitched uncontrollably as its body convulsed.

In the next moment, its form began to shrink rapidly, its once-massive frame withering down to a mere four to five meters in length.

"It… regressed? It turned back into a Strong Hollow?"

Vritra was momentarily stunned.

To test his newfound ability, he summoned golden arcs of lightning between his fingers and sliced his own forearm open with a quick motion.

A fresh wound split across his pale, chitinous skin, dark red blood flowing freely.

Then, in an instant, the wound sealed shut. New flesh wriggled into place, completely restoring his arm. If not for the lingering traces of blood, even he would have thought it had never been cut at all.

Vritra grinned, his laughter echoing through the Hollow-infested forest.

"High-Speed Regeneration! I have it now!"

In the world of Shinigami, raw power wasn't everything—brutal efficiency was key. Battles between the strong were often decided in a single exchange. With High-Speed Regeneration, unless his opponent utterly overwhelmed him, he could force them into a war of attrition.

More importantly, once he evolved into an Adjuchas, any major injury would halt his evolution, forever dooming him to stagnation. But with this regeneration… that concern was gone.

Vritra could no longer contain his excitement.

His gaze drifted back to the now-pathetically small lizard Hollow.

Without hesitation, he activated Soul Devour once more—not to steal an ability this time, but to completely consume it.

The once-mighty Hollow that had granted him High-Speed Regeneration was erased from existence.

"It's not that I wanted to eat you," Vritra mused, "but you've lost your power. You've regressed to a mere Strong Hollow. There's no way you'd survive in this place."

"Rather than struggling in vain, wouldn't it be better to become part of something greater? You should be grateful—I'm giving you a path to eternity!"

He shook his head, as if troubled.

"Sigh, I really am too softhearted. This isn't good."

Thus, Vritra's first battle in the Great Hollow Forest ended with nineteen Giant Hollows slain—or rather, eighteen, since the lizard Hollow had been reduced to a Strong Hollow before its demise.

Yet, more than the number of enemies he had defeated, the rewards he had gained were monumental. Not only had his spiritual pressure surged by over ten percent, but he had also obtained High-Speed Regeneration—an ability that would change the course of his evolution forever.

He clenched his fists, sensing the newfound power coursing through him.

"Eighteen Giant Hollows… and only a ten percent increase in spiritual pressure?"

His thoughts turned to the mutant Gillian he had encountered upon arriving in Hueco Mundo. That creature had terrified him back then.

"I wonder… how do I compare to that monstrosity now?"

....

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