Gabriel and Harribel fought this creepy dude. Though while fighting, Gabriel noticed a piece of the guy in Harribel... yeah, that ain't happening.
He alone was allowed in there.
Plus, was this man really planning to do some slick shit while Gabriel was here?
Gabriel barely had to do shit—just mainly making sure to remove any piece of him anytime they spawned on her.
She didn't even need him for this fight. The only reason it may have seemed like she struggled in the beginning was quite simple.
She had gained this power like five minutes ago and had zero control over it.
However, now, on the battlefield, her battle instincts kicked in, and she began to shift into high gear.
Szayelaporro, noticing this, couldn't help but pause.
'This is getting dangerous,' he thought to himself as he barely managed to get out of the way of one of Harribel's moves.
This woman was dangerous.
BZZZT—BOOM!
"You're not planning on running away now, are you?" Gabriel had a smile on his face, his palm resting against the man's back.
"Me... run away from you? You're overestimating yourself."
How the fuck does one get so much arrogance while getting their ass beat?
Oh... yeah, he must think he could beat them—that they were only a threat because they were working together.
Which, to be fair, he wasn't wrong. They were still a threat by themselves, though.
Plus, that strange ability of his—he could probably come back to life if he got killed. Such a shame he met Gabriel today.
Gabriel used his fire, which burned the man and even sent the great Szayelaporro flying toward Harribel.
BZZZT—BOOM!
The man barely managed to use Sonído to avoid the tsunami that was aiming to end his life.
"Petty tricks like this will not defeat me," the man said arrogantly...
"You talkin' mad smack for someone who de-transformed."
Looking down... yeah, he was no longer in his Resurrección. But how?
...
That fire—did it perhaps contain some sort of drug that disabled his ability to transform?
"As if this would stop me," the mad scientist added... before running away.
Heh...
Heh...
BZZZT—BOOM!
Gabriel could be seen, his hand touching the man's chest—he had Sonído'd right in front of him.
"It was never the fire... was it?"
Gabriel was stunned. Wow, he figured it out. Congratulations to him for not being a complete dumbass.
He had his head shoved so far up his ass, he didn't even notice every time Gabriel had distorted his soul.
Szayelaporro Granz's head exploded as his body began to twist itself in front of Gabriel. He was becoming nothing more than a grotesque, compressed sphere of flesh, still pulsing faintly with lingering spiritual energy.
The guy was strong... but the second he allowed Gabriel to touch him, it was GG. You never wanted to be touched by Gabriel during a fight.
Gabriel compressed the man's soul into a ball—all of his power and ability, all of it, compressed into this little sphere.
If he wanted to have a solid chance to face Barragan, he would need strength.
Absolute strength.
Taking the ball, he ate it. He had a decently hard time swallowing it—it tasted weirdly bitter, but that was not what mattered.
Gabriel's body began to change once more... his aura shifted...
Power surged into his body. He had just absorbed a Vasto Lorde—not just any Vasto Lorde, but a Vastocar.
This was a huge buff.
Apparently, the pink-haired idiot was actually pretty strong. He was just horribly, and I do mean horribly, outmatched...
Fighting someone whose power allowed her to comfortably fight from afar, and a man with the ability to transfigure his soul.
The test subjects he so badly wanted to experiment on... yeah, somehow, against all odds, they killed him.
If he had attacked before Dordoni and Cirucci, then he would have had a much better chance. Still probably would've lost, though. Gabriel's transfiguration was busted, and he was quite literally a big "nu-uh" to all of the man's attacks.
Gabriel's hollow body now practically resembled a human, with the fur he had left on his arms vanishing altogether.
His horns now practically resembled a crown.
He took in a deep breath, feeling as if his very existence was being changed. His eyes were closed—he was at his most vulnerable right now.
Trusting Harribel to protect his body while he took care of the millions upon millions of souls that had now entered his body.
He began to slowly destroy them—one by one.
Then in groups of ten.
Then groups of 10,000.
Then in groups of 100,000.
Then finally, in the millions.
He erased any sign of personality or will, turning them into a blank state. Once that process was done, he fused them with his body.
Once that was done, he noticed he had a lot of excess energy. Well, since it was there, he might as well just allocate his stats.
His gaze went toward another part of his soul. It was wild... it was hungry. It desperately needed food.
The energy from that part of his body felt off. Probably some shit he picked up from trying to attain that primordial energy that lingered in the sands of Hueco Mundo.
On one hand, he could become an Arrancar right now and go home and probably pipe his wife.
On the other hand, he could feed all the energy into that side of himself for a lot more power.
.....
Time Skip.
As Gabriel opened his eyes, his Reiatsu flared once more. His hollow mask was still there, looking like it hadn't been touched at all.
Meanwhile, Gabriel's Reiatsu felt suffocating. Harribel, for one second, thought she saw death in his aura. She thought she saw the Grim Reaper in there.
Gabriel's energy felt primal.
Meanwhile, with Barragan...
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS DEAD?!"
To say the old man was mad would be the understatement of a lifetime.
Before the Hollow could say anything, Barragan's Respira had consumed him. He was dead... not even his bones were left behind.
Everyone else in the throne room shook. This was the terrifying power of the God-King of Hueco Mundo.
As Barragan was about to vent his anger by plowing one of his female Arrancar and then killing her if she did bad...
A familiar feeling washed over him.
"Ikomikidomoe," were the words that left the man's lips.
That Reiatsu felt so primal, so raw, so old.
It could only have been...
No, Ikomikidomoe was no longer in Hueco Mundo.
The God-King of Hueco Mundo shall kill this new Vasto Lorde.
Totally not because he was scared of the boy's growth.
Like, come on, he only went from Dordoni and Cirucci's level to a level equal to, if not a bit beneath, his own in a couple of weeks.
Pfft... as if he would be scared.
The boy could train for 100 years and never reach his level...
"Seems like I cannot trust any of you guys to do it... I will do it myself," the man said arrogantly.
He would kill this boy himself—preferably in less than a month.
Maybe a week... can't be too sure.
Back with Gabriel...
He could be seen holding Harribel bridal style as he carried her back. Sure, she wasn't injured, but only heaven knows the shit he had planned.
Though, for now, as much as he would want to explore this chocolate delicacy, he would make sure she at least had decent control over her power.