I Died and Became a Hollow, But I Get Stronger by Being an Idiot Chapter 25: Dancing Before Death

I didn't know what day it was. Or what year. Or what ti. In Hueco Mundo, it was always night. The eternal darkness above stretched on forever, and the barren desert below never changed. And in the middle of all this emptiness, one thought had gripped my mind like a chain:

I wanted to live forever.

I didn't care what I looked like. I didn't care how many other Hollows laughed at . The weak died, the strong devoured them, and the foolish got themselves killed. But ? I was going to exist forever. Even if I had to be the biggest idiot in Hueco Mundo to do it.

Which is why today, I set my sights on a place no sane Hollow would willingly approach:

Las Noches.

Not Aizen's fortress — not yet. This was the old Las Noches. A massive open-air stronghold at the center of Hueco Mundo, ruled by a being whispered about in fear:

Baraggan Louisenbairn. The King of Hueco Mundo.

The walk there took… who knows how long. The sands stretched endlessly, and my massive Gillian fra trampled over dunes without a care. Hollows scattered at my passing, knowing better than to get involved with a six-story idiot like .

Finally, the looming silhouette of Las Noches appeared on the horizon. It was colossal, more of a ruin than a castle, with no roof and barely any walls. But that was by design. Baraggan didn't believe in walls or ceilings. The endless black sky of Hueco Mundo was his ceiling — the domain he claid as his own.

And there, at the heart of the open court, surrounded by a crowd of Adjuchas and Gillians, sat Baraggan.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him.

A skeleton.

Not a Hollow mask. Not flesh twisted by hunger or madness. A true, fleshless skeleton, his body draped in a tattered cloak of black and crimson. His empty eye sockets burned with an eerie, unnatural light, and atop his skull rested a jagged, golden crown.

He looked like a Grim Reaper. Or maybe Death itself.

And in that mont, a dangerous, reckless idea popped into my head.

I was gonna dance.

Because if Death himself sat before , I wanted to prove sothing.

That I wasn't afraid.

That even a fool like could laugh in the face of the King of Hueco Mundo.

That no one — not even Death — was gonna stop from existing.

I stomped into the open court.

Every Adjuchas and Gillian turned to look, eyes narrowing in surprise, confusion, and disgust. I could feel the tension in the air thicken. No one disturbed Baraggan uninvited.

No one but .

Baraggan's empty gaze settled on as I ca to a stop in front of his throne.

"A Gillian…" his voice rattled like bone on stone, ancient and heavy, though laced with curiosity. "What do you seek, fool?"

I grinned under my mask.

And then — I danced.

I flailed my massive arms, stomping my feet in awkward, lumbering rhythm, the ground trembling with every step. Hollows scattered, shouting in disbelief. Adjuchas sneered. A few cackled.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: 'Dance of the Idiot' activated. 220 EP]

And I laughed. Because for once, the eternal, suffocating stillness of Hueco Mundo was broken by sothing ridiculous. Sothing alive.

Until I felt a presence beside .

A powerful one.

A tall Adjuchas — one of Baraggan's attendants — appeared at my side in a blur of sonido. His hand crackled with dark energy, and without hesitation, he struck.

I felt my entire form quake as the blast sent crashing into the stone floor. Pain erupted through my massive body, and for a mont, I thought I might lose consciousness.

The court went silent.

Then a voice, cold and absolute, filled the air.

"Enough."

The pressure lifted. I gasped for air and looked up.

Baraggan still sat on his throne, one bony hand lazily resting on the armrest, his empty sockets locked onto mine.

"Let the fool live," he said, his voice like a death knell. "He amuses ."

I couldn't move for a mont. I lay there, aching, yet smiling inside. I'd stared down Death, made a fool of myself, and survived.

But more than that… sothing strange glimred in Baraggan's cold, dead gaze.

Recognition.

As if he'd seen the sa stubborn, defiant refusal to die that had once burned in his own hollowed-out soul.

As the court returned to its usual grim silence, I pushed myself up.

I was still here.

Still alive.

Still dancing in my own way.

And one day — I'd live forever.

Even Death would have to accept it.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: 500 EP. Total EP: 18,500/1,000,000]