He made his way towards the training section of Los Noches; he has been there only once before but that had been only to take a tour of the castle but he still knew where it was due to his sharp memory. He would then wonder why he was to be requested by Ulquiorra to meet him at his destination. "Ulquiorra knows that I have not achieved any of my resurrections but what does he really truly want to see from me? I can't think of a logical reason to this other then he wishes to test my power, to see if I'm still worthy of being called an espada which indeed might be the case since everyone else has a release. I'm going to dwell on this later, for now I'll just do as he says." Then he thought about how Ulquiorra & Orihime's hidden feelings towards each other. "I do know my sister has a crush on Ulquiorra, that indeed has to be true, but Ulquiorra honestly seems to believe it's something different then the obvious fact it's love, unless he actually does not know what that is, if that's the case then it's truly sad but I guess only time will tell." He reached his destination to where his short term fate awaited, thus he stepped in to witness Ulquiorra drinking tea. "I figured you couldn't consume anything other than blood as a vampire Ulquiorra?" "The strain that I hold allows me to consume normal foods; however I still need blood to survive." "That makes me curious, where do you receive your blood, I'm going to assume from Szayel since he performs operations and the like." "Then you would be correct, however he too does not know I'm a vampire." "I like how you're the most loyal Ulquiorra, but you are also hiding the most secrets at the same time. You sir, are one sly son of a bitch." "I'm going to ignore that you had insulted me." Ace would be confused replying. ""But I was not trying t-" "Enough, I shall test your power to see if you have grown or not since becoming a hollow, it also allows me too test if you received your resurrection as you should have." He hadn't but he did not want to let Ulquiorra know that he was lazy, which he wasn't at all since he actually trained in his subconscious to grow stronger.
The elder emospada would set his tea down upon the nearest surface before walking towards the teenage arrancar, advising him. "Draw your Zanpaktou; do not worry about me as I know you won't harm me in any manner due to how low your rank is nuevo." Ace would draw Rascacielos immediately after hearing this, barking back. "I'm going to show you that rank does not matter Ulquiorra, it's just a false system to judge others on how Aizen thinks how powerful he thinks we all are! You're going to see for yourself right now, I'll prove it by cutting you." "Those are very big words Ace, but we shall see if you can even touch me." This would initiate combat between them as Ace would stab at Ulquiorra to which he foresaw thus deflecting his blade away with the palm of his right hand, knocking Ace off guard to which he took this opportunity to back hand his opponents face which sent him to the floor. This caused Ace to put two fingers beneath his nose then withdraw them to see blood on both his index and middle fingers, indicating he was bleeding from his nose. Grunting in anger, he rose to his feet to ready his blade once more for an all out power attack which Ulquiorra was always ready for such an occurrence, but he would notice something as Ace's red reaitsu began to flare wildly. "This shouldn't be possible if he is ranked ninth; his reaitsu is higher than Zommari's no wait, Grimmjow's right about now! I should tell Lord Aizen to estimate the ninth to qualify him for a new rank, but he may see him as a threat therefore he may kill him. No I shall not report this to him; he could prove as a useful fighter as others could underestimate him." His thoughts were followed by a shout from Ace as he unleashed a powerful slash that approached Ulquiorra, so he put a hand out to deflect it to which he successfully had before pointing his index finger towards the younger espada. The above average nuevo would prep himself for the other's impending attack.
Ulquiorra would then mutter a simple word "Cero." thus firing a rather large green cero at him to which his block was easily overpowered by the immense ray. He felt immense pain throughout his body, as the vampire's cero over swept him causing to go on all fours onto the floor, grunting in pain. "As I said previously, your power shall never surpass my own, now pick yourself up, we are finished here." A few moments would pass before Ace would glare at Ulquiorra, with a supreme amount of determination within his eyes. "N-no! I don't care if you are more powerful then I am….that isn't the goal! I said I would…..cut you, I plan on seeing that…through!" He then proceeded to push himself up, his power steadily increasing to which Ulquiorra noted. "His power is on the rise once more! Could it be possible that I unintentionally made him achieve his resurrection?!" Ace's outfit began to change; his outfit would resemble that of a gown with his hollow hole being visible upon his chest. Ace's mask would then change from being that it covered is lower jaw, to covering his upper jaw, the next change was that Ace's tear markings changed to being larger, then Ace would sprout red bat like wings from his back as his aura turned black but still had a hint of red. Ulquiorra was baffled mentally by the striking similarities. "First it was his natural post hollowfication traits that resembled mine but now, his resurrection is almost a carbon copy of mine! How could such a thing be possible!?" His thoughts were to be interrupted by Ace who slashed vertically downwards across Ulquiorra's chest with his crimson aurical blade, which resembled his dual edged blade from his old shikai, giving the superior a minor cut causing him to bleed slightly. "I told you, I would cut you Ulquiorra, but thank you actually. You made me achieve my resurrection but I know that was unintentional." He would then quickly regenerate from his wound, quite surprised but his face had always hid that.
"I must say, I'm indeed impressed on how much power you truly have Ace, I should tell Aizen about this however but due to risk's, he will not be told as the situation could potentially cause consequences that can further jeopardize the ranking system but you as well, that I wish to avoid at all costs." Ace would shortly revert to normal after he mentioned this to him, feeling a bit relaxed because he certainly did not want to witness Aizen's power first hand. "So you do care for me all along eh?" "Be silent, I only said that to reassure you that no harm will come from this, not that I care for you." "I get it Ulquiorra; it was only to poke fun at you not to insult you in any sort of way." "Hmph, we shall convene at a later point but for now, you may return to do whatever you may please, as long it's within my approval." "Heh, otherwise I wouldn't know you as the man you are anymore but I simply just want to go see Tier right now." "That can be arranged, please follow me." "Sure thing boss." Thus they left the room, with a now ever more powerful ninth espada.