DANZA DE ESPADA 2
"Senbonzakura...Shuukei Hakuteiken..."
Ulquiorra was nearly consumed by the blast. Just as with Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou earlier in the day, the force of the attack pushed him back through the sand as he held it off with one hand. Soon, his back was almost pressing against the base of the towers.
When the attack subsided, Byakuya looked on, pensive. He was already critically wounded, but he wouldn't let it show on his face. However, he couldn't contain his shock when he found Ulquiorra completely uninjured. The Espada deflected the attack with ease, and it exploded benignly out in the desert.
"The odds are against you, Shinigami. Not even your Bankai can touch me." Ulquiorra said.
Byakuya remained stoic, Even with such limited reiatsu, he was still able to resist the Hakuteiken. Is he really that strong? Or does it have something to do with that extra presence in his blade? He leveled the Espada a simple glance, "Probability has nothing to do with this. I will cut you down."
Massive sword-blades rose from the ground behind him, and the Captain lunged forward, flickering light of the maelstrom of cherry-blossom petals raging on his heels. Ulquiorra maintained his stance, wondering why the Shinigami would attack him head on with such an obvious attack...but then his eyes went wide as he realized it was just a ruse.
Byakuya appeared behind him.
Senka.
Ulquiorra jumped high into the air with every muscle in his lithe frame. He felt a spot between his shoulder-blades that had been jabbed, but nothing more. Perplexed, the Arrancar wondered more about how Byakuya could have slipped through his Pesquisa in the first place, irregardless of the painless attack he'd mounted after doing so.
It didn't work? Byakuya wondered, summoning his zanpakuto back from its Bankai state. With his unmatched speed, he appeared again behind Ulquiorra, making a slice with his blade that was barely blocked with the pale figure's left arm. Ulquiorra raised his own blade overtop and jabbed at Byakuya's face, hitting only a few strands of black hair.
The two clashed again and again against their blades, Byakuya on the defensive. They landed roughly, Yammy's massive arm rising a small distance beyond them as they faced off again silently. Ulquiorra lunged forward and their blades clamored against one another, followed by nearly impaling Byakuya with a single thrust, striking him through his haori between his chest and arm. However, he suddenly paused as he looked up at the sky. Something familiar...and early...caught his eye. Byakuya noticed a peculiar reflection in his blade.
"It's the girl...she's alive?"
"Don't lose your focus for a second." He swiped his blade inward towards Byakuya's chest. Blood splattered in a wide arc on the ground, but the Captain refused to express his pain. Ulquiorra swung his sword and the blood on its blade splattered in a half-circle around him.
Bleeding, Byakuya held his defensive stance, "I don't understand...why would you lie about her?"
"I never actually stated that I had caused her any harm." Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes, "You, on the other hand...I have no qualms ripping to shreds. You shouldn't have interrupted me before." He leapt forward again and started jabbing his sword forward in a quick succession of stabs.
"What is he doing!" Orihime looked shocked.
"Looks like Captain Kuchiki got in his way."
She dropped to her knees and held the edge of the platform, "...Ulquiorra, stop!"
His eyes twitched slightly, but he did hold at that exact moment. Byakuya just looked stunned.
Ishida tried to pull the girl up from where she was crouched on the platform, "Careful! You're going to fall off...!"
Yammy heard the commission and turned his head, catching Kenpachi off guard as well. The two looked up and saw Orihime and Ishida descending on a reiryoku platform from the top of the dome. Yammy's eyes, however, focusing on the Quincy.
"Mala suerte."
"YOU!" He bellowed, "...You knocked me down to the bottom of the tower, BUT I'LL KNOCK YOU RIGHT DOWN TO HELL!" The Espada raised his arms and opened his mouth wide, energy starting to swirl towards him.
"Jeeze he got ugly..." Ishida quipped.
"YAMMY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Ulquiorra yelled, no longer caring for his current fight.
"Ishida-kun, get back!" Orihime said suddenly, "It's a Gran Rey Cero!"
"Inoue-san!"
As the Cero flew forward, Orihime prepared, "Santen Kesshun!"
Ulquiorra's expression changed from sharp focus to worry as his words fell on deaf ears, "Orihime!" He quickly pulled away from the battle and took off into the sky as Yammy's Cero intensified.
I don't believe it. He's going to force my hand like this? If only that damned Captain hadn't interfered...
Byakuya dropped to one knee and watched, confused, as the Espada took off, jetting through the air with all his speed.
He's worried...about the girl...?
He then collapsed, fainting from blood loss. He had managed rather well for the time he had continued fighting, but the impact of the Cero meant the end of the fight, regardless of how much harder he tried. His ears were still ringing the entire time he'd fired the Hakuteiken, and he could no longer fight the light-headed sensation washing over his brain.
The group looked on in horror as the duo was engulfed in the Gran Rey Cero. A strange silence befell them as they watched...waiting...looking through the smoke in anticipation of the expected falling bodies.
Yammy seemed especially pleased with himself, though he wasn't quite as observant, simply thinking he'd entirely obliterated the pair, "That's what he gets...now, where was I?"
"You are a fool, Yammy." Came a voice.
To everyone's shock, Yammy's especially, Ulquiorra's wings emerged first from the smoke. They were wrapped up around his body protectively, his eyes lowered. Behind him, Orihime's shield was still up, and she had her eyes clenched shut. Ishida touched her shoulder, looking on in surprise to see the Espada spread his wings and shake off burnt skin as he assessed the new situation.
"Inoue-san...look..."
She opened her eyes, and through her shield, saw Ulquiorra, having entered his first released state.
"U-Ulquiorra!"
Yammy could hardly contain his irritation, "What the Hell, Ulquiorra! You didn't lift a finger to protect that girl before...and now, you'll use your zanpakuto for her!"
"Don't you understand anything?" Ulquiorra barked, "The woman isn't supposed to die. There's a reason for it."
"Like I care! She's just one little girl!"
"The whole reason Aizen-sama brought her here in the first place was to split up the forces of the Gotei 13! Killing her leaves them no reason to stay in Hueco Mundo!"
"So what!" Yammy barked, "We'll just break their Garganta machine and kill them all so they don't leave!"
"That's where you're mistaken." Ulquiorra sneered. He turned to Orihime and Ishida, but his eyes were trained on the Quincy, "I'm about to take your place as the object of Yammy's ire. I suggest you take Orihime to the ground and brace yourselves."
"Brace ourselves...? Just draw him away." Ishida asked.
"It's not him you need to protect yourselves from." Ulquiorra explained, then pointing at the roof, "It's me."
"Your...your reiatsu...is shattering the ceiling!"
"Yes."
"So...that's why you forced your fight with Ichigo to the roof before. Going into your released state down here would implode the dome..." Ishida said, mostly to himself.
"There isn't much time." Ulquiorra said, though turning his gaze to the brave woman who'd been so determined to block the attack herself, "Orihime. What I said before, about your level of skill being too low to reach Kurosaki...I was wrong. Come what may...you are the only one strong enough to protect your friends. Remember that."
The girl was dumbstruck by the Espada's words, but she nodded, "I will."
"Now that you're done chatting it up over there, you wanna explain how I'm 'mistaken'?" Yammy interrupted.
Ulquiorra lifted his eyes away from the woman and turned back to the giant before him, "You're mistaken in that 'we' will be doing anything. I have no intention of helping you anymore...and you alone don't have the power necessary to kill either of these Captains that remain."
"HAH! Don't make me laugh! I'm the Cero Espada, ranked even higher than you! That means I'm stronger than everyone...and YOU gotta do what I say now! If I say 'Kill the Captains for me' then you have to do it!"
Ulquiorra scoffed in his own right, "Me? Take orders from you? Absurd. It seems that this mental slip has let you forget your proper place. Allow me to enlighten you."
Beneath the winged Espada, Orihime and Ishida arrived on the debris-field where the other Shinigami had gathered. Rukia approached quickly, "I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that Cero shoot at you guys!" She said in a rush, "Is it true what that smaller Espada said!"
"No time to worry about that right now." Orihime said, "The roof is about to come down!"
"Wait, girl." Came Kenpachi's voice, and he descended quickly with Yachiru on his shoulder and Byakuya under his arm, unconscious, "Looks like he broke a nail and fainted." He said with strange satisfaction.
"Nii-sama!" Rukia cried out.
"Captain Kuchiki..." Orihime whispered, "I'm sorry...I didn't think things would get so out of control in only five minutes. I'll fix it. Souten Kisshun." Her hairpins activated and the healing light came over the fallen Captain. She stepped and turned, then raised her arms out, "Santen Kesshun!" A larger dome covered the group.
Renji looked out past the dome, "What about Captain Kurotsuchi?"
Ishida smirked, "Ah, he'll be fine. He'd be a terrible mad scientist if he let some falling rocks break his toys."
"Ah...yeah...and Nemu is a bit of a beast... She'll probably get stuck doing all the work..."
"Yeah..."
The two recalled the memory of her digging into Szayel's lab and shivered.
"Inoue..." Rukia's voice came, looking up from her unconscious brother, "I know there isn't any time to explain, and I won't ask you to try anyway. Just...answer me one thing...you're okay, right?"
The orange-haired girl softened her eyes and nodded, "I'm okay. For once, I'm really okay."
"...All right. We'll leave it to you."
Ulquiorra held out his hand and formed a lance therein, "It's time I showed you the difference in our power...the difference between an Adjucas with a wildcard rank...and a true Vasto Lorde."