Chapter 26: A Rift Opens Up! Luffy vs. Ichigo!

Ulquiorra looked up and spotted Ichigo on the top of the pillar. He quickly rebounded and flew upwards. Then Ichigo appeared behind Ulquiorra and grabbed him, tracing it up the top. Ulquiorra appeared on the other side of the pillar, looking for Ichigo. In a flash, Ichigo appeared and charged towards him. Ulquiorra prepared to block but was knocked to his ground. Then Ichigo appeared, trying to cut with his sword but the espada jumped back to dodge. Ulquiorra tried to throw the lance again but Ichigo appeared in front of him and grabbed the weapon with his hand. 'Impossible! ...With his bare hand?!'

Ichigo destroyed the weapon, causing a huge explosion. As the smoke cleared, Ulquiorra's eyes widen as Ichigo swung his sword and cut him down.

Ulquiorra glared up at Ichigo. "Damn it all." He cursed. "I never thought it was possible. To be defeated by a hollowified human, it's completely ludicrous." Then Ichigo forcefully put his foot on Ulquiorra's head and charged up a cero. "I should've that known there will be no mercy. It's so typical of a hollow. Go ahead. After all, I've lost to you. My life no longer has any meaning. Do it." The cero was fired, engulfing Ulquiorra and Ichigo in the blast.

Inside the palace, more exequias continue to grow from Rudobon's 'branches' and fell to the ground, each with a sword in hand. Rudobon laughs evilly as his soldiers slowly approached Renji, Chad, and Rukia, ready to attack them. "As you can see, you're outnumbered." He said. "Any farther resistance is meaningless."

"El Directo!" Chad fired a huge blast from his hand towards Rudobon, creating a huge smoke cloud. When the smoke cleared, some of the exequias fell to the ground as the others created a barrier with their bodies in front of Rudobon. Rudobon laughed his soldiers released the barrier.

"What's the matter?" Rudobon taunted as more exequias grew from his branches. "Did I not make myself clear? There are no limits to my powers. My branches can grow forever and give birth to countless soldiers."

"Damn!" Rukia cursed. "He produced a whole army in moments. And he's using them as a shield." Rukia narrowed her eyes as the exequias marched towards them. 'There's only one way. But how do we create that opportunity?'

"Hey Rukia!" Renji said, getting Rukia's attention. "Was I mistaken or were you the one who said 'leave them to me'? We're not going to get anywhere we continue to fight this way."

A drop of sweat ran down Rukia's cheek as the exequias marched closer to them. Then an idea popped into her head. "Chad! Renji!" Rukia said, catching the boys' attention. "I'm going to use Hakuren to stop the soldiers from moving on us. Chad, at that point, you take the frozen soldiers and destroy as many as you can. Renji, you deliver the finishing blow with Zabimaru. Everyone ready?!"

"Time to kick some ass." Renji said, glaring at the arrancars.

Rukia stabbed her sword into the ground as four ice particles floated up. She took a stance and said, "Tsugi No Mai: Hakuren!" A huge wave of snow appeared from the tip of sword and headed towards Rudobon. The exequias quickly created their barrier in front Rudobon and took the blast instead.

"Brazo Derecho del Gigante!" A huge black shield appeared on Chad's arm. Chad fired a huge blast at the frozen wall, destroying a part of it along the exequias trapped inside.

Rudobon covered himself from Chad's attack as Renji lashed his snake-like weapon towards the arrancar. "Hikotsu Taiho!" The snake-like charged up a blast inside its mouth but more soldiers appeared and jumped on the weapon, causing it to the ground.

"Dammit!" Renji cursed.

Rudobon let out another laugh and said, "I must say that I am impressed with that team effort. It was very smart. First you freeze my soldiers to create an opening. Then you attack without a moment of hesitation. It was an inspired adept but you made a critical mistake in your planning. Regardless of what technique you use, there's no way that it would ever be effective against me because my loyal and infinite army of soldiers will protect me from harm. This fight is coming to an end. As a show of respect for all of your hard work, I'll use my greatest strength to finish you in order to minimize your suffering."

Then Rudobon noticed something is in front of him. He looked down and saw Rukia kneeling with her sword in the ground and a trail of ice that reached to his roots. "What's that?!"

"Juhaku!" Rukia said as the ice glowed white and grew up to Rudobon himself. "It seems that you're the one who made the mistake here." The ice continued to grow onto Rudobon's branches and breaking them.

"Damn you!" Rudobon cursed. "You were after my branches all along!"

"Exactly," said Rukia. "Our combined attacks were all part of a plan to get close to you. If your power was to produce soldiers like fruit from a tree, then the answer to stopping you would be simple. All we have to do was freeze the branches from where the soldiers were growing. We all know that fruit doesn't grow on a frozen tree. You shouldn't have been so cocky and displayed your powers. It helped me understand how to stop you."

"Damn it!" Rudobon said as his face is covered in ice.

Rukia's eyes widen as a giant hand came down and crushed Rudobon's body. "What?!" she exclaimed as she, Renji and Chad jumped down to the desert sand, a few feet away the new enemy.

"What the hell was that?!" Renji shouted.

"I think it's…" Chad said as the smoke started to clear, revealed the espada Yammy. "…Yammy!"

"Yammy? The espada that Captain Hitsugaya talked about?"

"That's right but he's not the same." Chad said, remembering his first encounter with the espada and how his arm was nearly torn off. "I fought this guy once before in the world of the living. He was pretty big back then, if I remember right. But he wasn't this big."

"Are you saying he can just change his size at will?!" Renji exclaimed. "How in the hell did he get bigger?! Was it some kind of growth spurt?!"

"No, but something definitely happened. It's looks like he's twice as big as before."

A red aura surrounded Yammy. 'Damn it!' he thought, remembering what Sanji and Uryu did to him. 'Those bastards are not going to get away this!'

"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU MISERABLE PISS ANTS!" Yammy roared. "I'M GOING SQUASH EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU LIKE THE BUGS THAT YOU ARE! I PROMISE I'LL BE THE ONE THAT KILLS YOU!"

Then a huge red blast landed behind Chad, Rukia, and Renji from the canopy above them. "What the hell is happening now?!" Renji shouted.

"It's coming from outside of the canopy!" Chad shouted.

Rukia felt something off and widen her eyes. "That spirit energy…could it be…Ichigo?" she said to herself.

The Straw Hats stopped moving when they saw the red blast coming from the canopy.

"Did you guys see that?!" Usopp asked scared.

"Yeah, we saw it!" Franky shouted. "The question is what was that?"

"I don't know but it came from the canopy above us." Robin said.

"What the hell is going on up there?" Zoro asked.

Back above the canopy, Orihime used her Soten Kesshun to protect her, Uryu, and Luffy from the blast of Ichigo's cero. The smoke started to clear and revealed Ichigo floating in the air, holding Ulquiorra's wing with half of his body. Ichigo tossed Ulquiorra's body to the side and slowly walked towards it.

Uryu looked with widen eyes as Ichigo approached the dead body and slowly brought his sword down towards his throat. He appeared beside Ichigo and grabbed his wrist. "Stop Ichigo." He said. "It's over. You've won the battle. It's true that he is our enemy but there's no need to emulate his body. You've won, Ichigo. Let it go." Then Uryu felt Ichigo's strength, trying to cut up Ulquiorra even more. "Didn't you hear me?! You've won. You have to stop now. If you go through with this, you won't be a human anymore! You have to stop now Ichigo!" Then his eyes widen as Ichigo's sword pierced through his stomach.

"No Uryu!" Orihime shouted worried.

"Damn it!" Luffy shouted in anger, trying to move his body. "What are you doing?! That was you friend!"

"Help…her…" Orihime's eyes widen when Ichigo's voice. "Must protect her…help her…I must…I will…protect her." Then Orihime saw a fist hitting Ichigo in face, pushing him back a step. Orihime behind her and Luffy standing up, retracted his arm.

"Luffy!" Orihime shouted in surprised.

"What's wrong with you?!" Luffy shouted at Ichigo in anger. "Why would you attack your own friend?!" Ichigo didn't respond but turned his attention to the rubber boy. "Fine if you won't answer, I'll just beat some sense into you then!" Luffy charged towards Ichigo. Ichigo tried to grab Luffy by the head but Luffy ducked and kicked Ichigo into the air. Luffy blew his body up like a balloon and twisted himself. He let out the extra air and flew towards Ichigo. "Gum-Gum…" Luffy started to throw a barrage up punches at Ichigo. "…Storm!"

Before the fists could hit Ichigo, he disappeared, causing Luffy to stop. "What the…where did he…" Luffy felt Ichigo's hand grab him by the neck and threw him next to Uryu. Luffy coughed up blood when he did the ground.

"Luffy, please stop!" Orihime pleaded. "It's my fault! I'm the one responsible for making Ichigo like this. It's because I made Ichigo help me. I've trained so I wouldn't be a burden. I chose to come to Hueco Mundo so I can protect my friends from getting hurt."

"Don't blame yourself." Luffy said to Orihime as he slowly got to his feet. Orihime looked at Luffy with sadden eyes. "It's not your fault. None of this was your fault so get it out of your head!" Ichigo slowly walked towards Luffy and Uryu and charged up a cero.

"Ichigo, don't do this!" Orihime shouted but it fell on deaf ears. "Please! Listen to me Ichigo!" Then Ulquiorra appeared behind Ichigo with a green lance in his hand and cut off one of Ichigo's horns, causing the cero to be fired at him but it missed.

To be continued…

Next Chapter: Looking for an Answer! Ulquiorra Dies on the Battlefield!