Help! I am bound to Aizen!-Chapter 245

Chapter 245

Another 2-in-1 chapter

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“Shunhō: Jigoku Mud Truck!!”

Amid the dazzling flare of the Cero, Kaelith grinned. Blue flames engulfed his upper body, and wreathed in that fierce blaze, he charged forward like a maddened bull.

Harribel’s eyes went wide. She wanted to warn Kaelith that the opponent’s Cero was no ordinary one. But before she could speak, he was already rushing in.

Boom!!

The moment Kaelith’s Shunhō clashed against the Cero, a terrifying shockwave erupted, rippling in all directions. Harribel hastily raised her arms, generating a defensive layer of reishi. The violent air currents howled for more than ten seconds before gradually subsiding.

Waving away the swirling dust, Harribel peered ahead and saw the supposed “heroic figure” charging forward with wild laughter. In midair, Kaelith left a streak of brilliant blue behind him as he reached out to grab Neliel. Neliel, on the other hand, looked extremely wary, fleeing at high speed and leaving a long swath of green light.

A streak of blue and a streak of green spiraled through the sky like two strands of DNA.

“Heh heh heh… Little girl, there’s no escaping my grasp! Surrender peacefully, and you’ll be spared unnecessary pain!”

Kaelith’s grin was sinister, the flames around him making him look like a demon incarnate. Even Neliel—accustomed to the monstrous sights of Hueco Mundo—felt an involuntary twinge of panic. During that earlier head-on clash of Ceros, Kaelith’s upper garments had been burned to ash, revealing his lean, muscular torso. The sight made Neliel’s head spin.

Contrary to appearances, his fighting style, though seeming reckless, was actually full of technique and timing, again he would stomp on the air in a peculiar way, unleashing blasts of force to accelerate himself forward. Had she not possessed her own “hyper-acceleration,” she might already have been caught.

What frightened her most was that Kaelith hadn’t even drawn his Zanpakutō yet. Every Shinigami supposedly had a unique power that emerged by chanting a release command. Without knowing what his Zanpakutō did, she couldn’t act rashly.

She’d barely arrived at that decision when Kaelith, who had been matching her pace, suddenly sped up.

“One-Bone: Acceleration Mode!!”

With a fierce step off the air, Kaelith shot forward like a cannonball, hurtling toward Neliel. She had grown somewhat accustomed to this trick. Engaging her own hyper-acceleration and dragging along a green afterimage, she shifted sideways. Kaelith’s charge could only go in a straight line; if she ran sideways, she should be safe.

Or so she thought—until she noticed Kaelith flashing her a weird grin as he swept past.

“Rinbo: Hengyoku!”

What was that supposed to mean?

Neliel instinctively glanced around, checking if he’d laid some trap. Nothing. The space was wide open, nothing obstructing her path. Yet the very instant she concluded that, a sharp, stinging sensation sliced across her back.

Rip!

A deep wound streaked from her left shoulder down to her right lower back, sending blood spurting out. Neliel stared in shock as her strength drained away, and she plummeted from the sky.

Thud!

From hundreds of meters high, Neliel crashed into a dune, sending clouds of sand billowing up. Legs together, Kaelith slowly descended, like a Unit-06 that had just thrown the Spear of Cassius.

“Kaelith, thank you for helping me,” Harribel said, bowing slightly as she approached.

Kaelith only nodded, though he felt a faint pang of disappointment. When Sung-Sun told him a “weirdo” was chasing Harribel, the first thing that popped into his mind was Coyote Starrk. Considering Harribel’s strength, it might take a fully Hollowfied Arrancar to push her back. Kaelith had been anticipating that it would be Starrk and, by extension, Lilynette—mostly out of curiosity about their soul-splitting power. He definitely wasn’t excited to get more experimental subjects for a certain friend or anything like that…

But it turned out the one hounding Harribel was Neliel, which was fine but not nearly as interesting as Lilynette would have been.

As Kaelith was pondering this, Neliel sprang out of the sand pit. Half-human, half-antelope, she flipped in midair and landed steadily on the desert floor. Glancing up at Kaelith floating overhead, her eyes were full of shock.

This Shinigami…was unbelievably strong. No wonder Harribel had seemingly sided with him. With power like that, surrender might indeed be reasonable. Neliel took a deep breath, her grip tightening around her lance. Even if she lacked the upper hand, she’d never allow someone to trample Hueco Mundo unchecked. If this man planned to destroy the realm, he’d have to step over her body first!

Seeing Neliel’s resolute look, Kaelith arched an eyebrow curiously. “You’re Nel, right?”

“Don’t address me so familiarly.” Her voice was icy.

Kaelith acted as though he hadn’t heard. He cocked his head. “If I recall, you’ve never been the sort who relishes bloodshed or combat. Why attack Harribel?”

In a calm tone, Neliel repeated what she had told Harribel. Kaelith sneered. “So allying with a Shinigami can’t possibly be ‘justice?’ I never expected someone who claims to stand for righteousness to have such a narrow perspective.”

“Who decided Hueco Mundo can only belong to Hollows? A Shinigami might also want to own land bathed in moonlight. I haven’t committed any wrongdoing. Why am I automatically on the wrong side just because I’m a Shinigami? That’s malicious discrimination. A Shinigami’s life matters too!”

Neliel fell silent for a few seconds. Then she shook her head. “No, you’ve got it wrong. If Hollows and Shinigami were evenly matched, we could talk about balance. But as it stands, Shinigami overwhelmingly dominate. Our only advantage here in Hueco Mundo is the vast, elusive terrain. If a Shinigami enlists help from a few Hollows and launches a large-scale invasion, it’s catastrophic. As a guardian of justice, I have to stand with the weaker side. You are my enemy.”

Kaelith burst out laughing. “You stand with the weaker side? Fine. Then how about a deal: I, Kaelith, swear never to guide an army of Shinigami here. Meanwhile, I’m already facing Senzo Tsunayashiro and Baraggan’s pursuit all alone. In that fight, who’s weaker?”

“…”

Neliel paused to think. A few seconds later, she spoke quietly. “Relatively speaking…you are the weaker one.”

“Exactly!” Kaelith clapped his hands. “Then you, as a knight who protects the weak, have an obligation to protect me. As long as I don’t break our contract by bringing a Shinigami force here, you’ll safeguard me until those two give up hunting me. How about that?”

“Wait…” Neliel hesitated.

Kaelith narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong, Knight? Is it because I’m a Shinigami that you don’t care if the strong crush me?”

“No, that isn’t—”

“Then you do discriminate against me?”

“I…”

Neliel stood there, at a loss. She thought for a long while. It all came down to the same conclusion: Baraggan was undeniably near the top of Hueco Mundo. The so-called “traitor” Shinigami had enough power to strike deals with him. Together, they commanded numerous Adjuchas and Shinigami forces.

Facing such a huge alliance, Kaelith was definitely the underdog. As one sworn to justice, she had a duty to protect him—and in doing so, could also keep an eye on him, ensuring he never led an invasion of Shinigami here.

Firming her resolve, she nodded. “Very well.”

Bending slightly at the waist, Neliel declared in a formal tone, “I, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, hereby make my vow. For the duration of this pact, I shall do all in my power to safeguard…” She paused.

Harribel cut in softly, “Kaelith.”

Neliel inclined her head. “To safeguard Kaelith, and in return, Kaelith will not lead any Shinigami force into Hueco Mundo. This contract shall last until he is free from Las Noches’s pursuit.”

Kaelith grinned, raising a hand in a thumbs-up. Neliel gave a thumbs-up in return, their fingers meeting in midair.

“Contract complete!”

…

Aizen was on his way to offer support when he saw Kaelith and the others returning. Besides Harribel, there was someone new. He looked inquiringly at Kaelith, and Neliel, alarmed to see another Shinigami, also glanced over for an explanation.

Smiling, Kaelith gestured toward Neliel. “Sōsuke, this is Neliel. She’s my new bodyguard. Like Harribel, she’s a Vasto Lorde—very powerful. You know how dangerous Hueco Mundo is for someone as weak as me, so I’ve hired a guard.”

Aizen: “…”

The amount of information was overwhelming. Ignoring that silly remark about Kaelith being weak, the rest was startling enough. In just a short time away, he’d gotten another Vasto Lorde on his side. According to Aizen’s intel, there were fewer than ten Vasto Lordes in all of Hueco Mundo. Yet Kaelith alone already controlled three of them if you counted Harribel, Neliel, and Szayelaporro. At this rate, his top-tier fighting force nearly matched Las Noches.

Aizen observed Kaelith’s goofy grin and lifted a corner of his mouth. As expected of someone he had set his sights on—Kaelith had a natural gift for winning allies. He gave Neliel a polite nod by way of greeting.

Kaelith then turned to Neliel. “Nel, this is my counselor, Aizen Sōsuke, courtesy name Wolong, religious name Fèngchú.”

“Looking across the Soul Society, aside from me, he’s the top mind when it comes to strategy. We’re like insulin and hyperglycemia—tightly bound, deeply connected. Even coming here to Hueco Mundo, I can’t go without him.”

Understanding dawned on Neliel. So it was just one companion, not a whole Shinigami army. That didn’t really break her oath; Kaelith still seemed to be the underdog in a conflict with Las Noches.

…

Back in the lab, Kaelith introduced Szayelaporro to Neliel. She eyed the pink-haired weirdo in silence. Though she’d had little direct contact with Las Noches, she did have a sense of their capabilities. Plenty of Adjuchas, but very few Vasto Lordes—maybe only one or two. Yet here Kaelith was, with two under his command already. Counting herself, that made three Vasto Lordes on his side. Suddenly she wondered who really was weaker.

Just then Kaelith sighed. “I hear that Emperor Baraggan has a mystical power. Even a Vasto Lorde can be finished off if he touches them with it. Numbers don’t matter against such a terrifying force.”

Neliel gave a slight nod. That made sense. Kaelith might have exaggerated a bit, but it was true that Baraggan possessed a special ability, something that made him nearly unbeatable once he unleashed it.

Her thoughts settled, Neliel remained silent. Meanwhile, Kaelith glanced at Szayelaporro. Over his time dealing with Szayelaporro, he’d discovered why Szayelaporro hadn’t grown stronger: unlike most Hollows focused on power, Szayelaporro cared almost entirely about research.

He’d been working to enhance his unique skill by altering the “underlying code” of his existence, splitting his soul to create a new body more easily modified, in hopes of evolving. Whether it would succeed or not, the cost was a massive downgrade in combat ability—likely why he ended up only ranked eighth in the original timeline.

Kaelith considered “helping” him along, splitting Szayelaporro’s soul now. Then he’d have only two Vasto Lordes left, ensuring Neliel’s loyalty would remain firm… Heh heh.

Sensing Kaelith’s stare, Szayelaporro stiffened, feeling raw malice, as though the man wanted to drag him down to hell. Had his earlier heresy while talking to Aizen been revealed?

Awkwardly, he forced a smile, cold sweat trickling down his spine. He had always seen Kaelith as gentle enough—but apparently, when provoked, Kaelith radiated this terrifying pressure. His respect for Kaelith climbed another notch.

Watching them, Aizen quickly guessed what had transpired. Only Kaelith would pretend to be weak and ask to be “protected.” Aizen himself could never pull off such a stunt. After Kaelith finished convincing Neliel, Aizen stepped over.

“Kaelith, don’t forget why we’re here.”