Chapter 183 Wrath vs Thunder (183)

If Gabriel could, he would have added even more advanced barriers, but he wasn’t about to show all of his cards just yet. The barriers he put up right now were strong enough to withstand the combined force of two Yamamoto-tier fighters duking it out inside.

The strongest barrier he had in his back pocket was designed to contain fighters on the level of the Royal Guard using their Bankai inside—any more than that, and the thing would start to crack.

He would keep studying it, but oh well.

Meanwhile, in the arena, no movement could be seen yet. Grimmjow was stretching a bit; this would be a good warm-up for him.

Hrólf stood in the center of the arena, his massive hammer resting firmly at his side.

The Sin of Wrath cracked his knuckles, his sharp Hollow teeth bared in a grin. “Let’s see if you’re worth the effort.”

“Hahahahaha!” The man’s boisterous laugh echoed for everyone to hear. “You speak as though you’ve already won!”

Grimmjow grinned back. “Show me what you got.”

And almost instantly, Grimmjow blitzed toward the Viking.

CLANG!

A huge wave of wind slammed against the barrier. The arena shook a little bit, and right in the center, a deep crater had formed in the stone.

Looking closely, one could see that Hrólf had raised his hammer in time to block Grimmjow’s razor-sharp claw strike.

“You will need far more than that to defeat me, Draugr.”

Grimmjow leaped backward, landing lightly a few feet away.

“You’re better than I thought.” Grimmjow grinned wider. Maybe this man could prove slightly interesting to him after all.

If one looked closely at the arena floor, you could see it was actively regenerating—not slowly, either. Five seconds after the clash, the stone had fully healed, leaving no sign of damage whatsoever.

And that was for a very good reason. You see, the ground itself was made from a living Hollow. Yes, the sand beneath their feet was a living entity. Ever since Gabriel had learned that Hueco Mundo was the corpse of a giant Menos, he had thought: ‘Hey, that’s a damn good idea.’

So now, the sand of the arena was a living Hollow that regenerated any damage done to it and fed off the blood spilled during battle. It automatically collected DNA samples, which Gabriel later used for his experiments. Yes, it served multiple purposes—and yes, that meant he now had Byakuya’s DNA, along with the genetic data of every fighter who stepped into the ring.

Furthermore, the barriers did more than just block attacks; they analyzed the absolute fuck out of the Reishi in the air. Basically, everyone who fought in this arena had their combat data harvested so Gabriel could build better test dummies for them to face in the future.

It was a win/win for everyone involved.

Grimmjow’s abilities were a bit on the tricky side—not that they were hard to beat, mind you, as you could technically just kill him in one move if you were strong enough. It was just that Grimmjow’s Hierro was leagues above the average Hollow. Your ass would need Kenpachi-level strength just to dent that shit, so your best bet would be through hacks, unless your raw strength was in the top five.

Suddenly, the crackle of electricity filled the air.

Hrólf rushed toward Grimmjow, swinging his hammer down toward the Hollow. The glowing runes carved into his skin flared brightly as his strength seemed to double… triple… quadruple.

Oh damn, wasn’t that just neat.

Grimmjow met the man’s attack head-on. His nails glowed with spiritual energy as he countered with a point-blank Descarón.

BANG!

The sound of metal and reiatsu clashing echoed loudly. The arena floor beneath them cracked anew, the sheer pressure of their collision rippling out to be felt by everyone in the stands.

“Let’s see how much you can handle!” The man’s muscles bulged aggressively as the power behind his strike doubled once more.

BOOM!

As the explosion settled and the debris finally cleared, the scene came into view.

Grimmjow stood a couple of feet away from the Viking. His right arm—the one he had used to clash directly against the man’s hammer—was completely gone.

Only a mangled lump remained.

Meanwhile, up in the stands, the Northern faction was having an absolute blast.

So much for all that boasting the Hollow King had been doing! Their captain had this 100% in the bag; he could take a hundred Sins by himself.

You could tell that Hrólf was really feeling himself now.

“So this is who I should worry about?” he mocked, glancing up toward Gabriel. “Is this the Hollow I should be afraid of?”

He was met only with a calm, pleasant smile. Gabriel didn’t look worried in the slightest.

“Guess you can back up your words, huh?” Hrólf smirked, turning back around.

Only to be greeted by the sight of Grimmjow’s arm regrowing instantly. There was no slow, agonizing regeneration where you watched the bones, muscles, and skin slowly knit together.

One second there was just a mangled lump, and the next, his entire arm was completely healed.

Which was pretty bad news for the opposition. This level of healing and instantaneous regeneration was far beyond what standard Hollows should have been capable of.

This was Cell-level healing.

Grimmjow was ready for some more.

His regeneration was quite fast for a Sin. In terms of regen speed, he stood as third, behind Lucius and Lazarius—and that was only because Lazarius’s immortality made him regenerate so quickly. Also, while the guy was a Lesser Sin, his regen was still remarkably fast. Though, of course, their regeneration was nowhere near the level of the Horsemen; those fuckers had instant regen by now.

Grimmjow internally pondered the Viking’s hammer.

‘He destroyed my arm with brute strength and cauterized it with lightning.’ That was the main reason he hadn’t healed sooner—the sheer power behind those blows was insane.

It seemed he would have to take this seriously.

“GRIND, PANTERA!”

Instantly, the hybrid transformed.

His appearance changed drastically into something far more feline and predatory. His teeth became jagged and sharp, his hands turned into black claws, and his feet became black-clawed paws similar to a cat’s, complete with a slender, whip-like tail that grew longer than his body. His hair became long and flowing, and the teal markings around his eyes enlarged and extended to the tips of his ears, which swept back into a cat-like shape. He lost his distinctive jaw mask, which was replaced by a sort of helmet-like headgear covering his forehead. His clothing changed into a form-fitting, white segmented armor reminiscent of his original Adjuchas form, with razor-sharp blades protruding from his forearms and calves.

His grin became considerably more feral.

And his power… it exploded. His Reiatsu came pouring out like an ocean, making the entire city tremble under its weight.

Somewhere else entirely…

A certain man who no longer wore glasses paused in his secret lab, feeling the vibration.

Even in his hidden base within the Soul Society—yes, that was where his secret lab was located; he could have chosen the Garganta, but Gabriel had a monopoly on that place, and his ass wouldn’t be caught dead trying that shit in Hueco Mundo, making the Soul Society the safest option—that spiritual pressure still reached him. And it wasn’t even Gabriel’s.

“How interesting,” Aizen murmured softly. It seemed the Hollows’ power had increased far faster than he had anticipated. However, this was no big deal.

He looked down at his hand, where a strange object glowed with eerie energy. Then he turned his attention to the man lying on the operating table. White fluid leaked out from the subject’s eyes, nose, and every pore across his body.

“Another failure.” Aizen felt a mild flicker of disappointment. His Hollowfication attempts were not as successful as he wished; it seemed very few people could survive the process. Or rather, they were simply too weak to handle it.

The subject rose from the table like a corpse brought back to life, a crude Hollow mask forming over his face as he let out a guttural roar—only to be crushed into nothingness a second later by Aizen’s suffocating spiritual pressure.

No, it was more like the Hollow aspect had completely devoured the soul. That meant if he wanted a proper test subject, he would need someone exceptionally strong. He thought of a certain noble Captain, but that was a project for later.

Back in the arena…

Grimmjow had finished his transformation, standing there in all of his panther-like glory.

“Don’t get scared now—I’m just getting started!” Grimmjow’s feral smile stretched wide across his face.

Hrólf’s face lit up with a wild grin. “Bring it on, Draugr!”

The Viking rushed at Grimmjow at full speed, and Grimmjow blitzed forward to meet him halfway.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The reinforced arena shook with every brutal collision.

The Shinigami delegation watched the exchange with growing unease. “He’s keeping up with him…” one of them muttered under his breath.

Shunsui narrowed his eyes. No… that wasn’t quite right. Hrólf wasn’t merely keeping up; his physical strength was genuinely monstrous. Every time his hammer connected, Grimmjow was forced to absorb an enormous amount of raw kinetic force. And unlike Lucius, who had simply stood there and ignored everything Byakuya threw at him through spatial hax, Grimmjow was actually engaging in pure, raw close combat.

There was no Infinity protecting him. No effortless spatial barrier.

Just two absolute monsters exchanging blows.

“Interesting,” Ixbalanqué murmured from the stands. The Southern Branch leader leaned forward, watching Grimmjow’s movements with keen interest. “That Hollow is taking the blows directly.”

Hrólf laughed uproariously as he brought his hammer down once more with earth-shattering force. “COME ON! WHERE IS ALL THAT CONFIDENCE?!”

Grimmjow caught the descending hammer with both bare hands. The crushing impact forced his knees to bend and cracked the stone beneath his paws, but his grin only widened. He lived for moments like this.

The video below shows the kind of intense, fast-paced hand-to-hand choreography and impact that matches their brawl.

A/N The f happened to NovelPhoenix, i tried reading some bleach fic for inspiration and some naruto fic, why are they all chinese.

Anyway, next chapter will be long, since i want to focus alot on the powersystem of the north.

Next chapter title probably going to be some shit like the god of thunders.