Gabriel had powers, and he was going to use them.
And thus, his journey of getting stronger continued as he moved deeper within the Forest of Menos.
Time for dinner.
With that thought, he sneaked up on a Gillian. Before the beast even had time to react, Gabriel's claws glowed with a sinister energy.
He was using his ability—he dubbed it Idle Transfiguration, as it was a fitting name.
With a single swipe of his claw, the Gillian's body folded in on itself. Gabriel watched as the creature's limbs twisted at unnatural angles, as if its flesh had been reprogrammed on a fundamental level.
The Gillian let out a distorted, garbled screech before collapsing into a heap of grotesque, compacted flesh—an unrecognizable monstrosity of its former self.
One down.
Gabriel licked his lips.
Devouring the Gillian he had just killed, he noticed this was far more efficient. Instead of spending a good five minutes eating a Gillian, he now only needed thirty seconds, tops.
The next Gillian charged at him, its mask splitting open to fire a crimson Cero, but before it could release the blast, he warped its mouth shut.
Yup. He let the beast's own attack destroy its body from the inside. That was the second Gillian down.
Before he moved to the third Gillian, he made sure that his soul was the only soul in his body, stripping all absorbed souls of their individuality and making them fuel for his own growth.
His control over Idle Transfiguration was becoming more refined, more... fun.
He could pull off some insane shit with this technique.
A third Gillian tried to stomp him out of existence, its colossal foot descending upon him like a falling boulder. Gabriel simply pointed a claw upward and activated his ability.
The creature's foot cracked.
Then its entire leg.
Then its whole torso shattered like glass, breaking into hundreds of uneven pieces, each one dissolving into Reishi. He then watched as the Hollow turned into a little ball, which he promptly ate.
Anyway, he was still trying to redo that move—the one where black sparks flickered when he punched something.
He had decided to call it Abyssal Fracture.
But... he hadn't been able to do it again. Not after hours of trying.
Each time he attempted to replicate the effect, something felt off—as if the sensation of that perfect destruction was slipping from his grasp.
As if he wasn't focused enough.
Which meant he needed to fight someone stronger than him.
No matter.
He had killed plenty of Gillians while testing it out.
With a casual sigh, he opened his mouth and gathered a dense sphere of energy. It crackled violently, a swirling mass of destruction barely contained in his jaws.
Then he fired.
The Cero roared through the air like a scythe, slicing through six Gillians at once. Their towering bodies froze for a moment before cleanly splitting in half, their upper halves sliding off in slow motion before crashing to the ground.
Gabriel exhaled.
"Good. That's the good stuff."
The shit he could do was practically endless, and he knew it. This was why he wasn't scared of anything.
He would become Hueco Mundo's top predator.
Though, until that happened, he wanted to experiment more. Maybe, when he became a Vasto Lorde, he could strengthen himself even further.
His gaze drifted to the sand beneath him.
The power in the sand felt primal. So goddamn primal. Yet, it still felt like a Hollow.
Intriguing.
He decided to infuse some of that primal energy into his body.
He could feel it. Something within him was changing. His energy became more primal, more feral—way more powerful than before.
Gabriel felt it.
Whatever made up this sand was powerful.
It took him roughly two hours of transfiguring his soul to fully integrate that primal force into his system.
And he felt an immediate difference.
His Reiatsu flared, but it wasn't just Hollow-like anymore...
It felt primordial.
Heh, he could barely control it, so for now, he decided to hunt more Gillians.
Finding them wherever they hid, using his ability to devour them by the hundreds. It was simple since, you know, he could just turn those giant dildos into cube-sized snacks.
His ability had reached this level of overpowered bullshit, and frankly, he liked it.
As an Adjucha, he felt like his power was immense. Probably the strongest Adjucha in this forest.
Though, he was willing to bet that outside this forest, there were way stronger Adjuchas than him.
And, of course, Vasto Lordes—who, since they were an evolutionary rank above him, were naturally stronger.
He didn't write the rules. He just followed them... somewhat.
Looking at his fingers, he created five mini Ceros, one at each fingertip, and fired them off.
They seemed decently powerful.
Yeah, that seemed good.
But he needed to find more creative ways to use his powers.
He wanted to reach the top.
And he would not stop until he got there.
Because only when he reached the top could he rest assured that his loved ones would be protected.
Speaking of which...
The Gillian he had just slaughtered was transfigured to look like tacos.
"Just like Dad made them," he thought to himself.
As for seasoning?
He used the sand of Hueco Mundo.
Truly fine dining right here.
A/N
Dam