Chapter 28

Halibel fought like a hurricane of sword strikes. Her skill with the sword was both powerful and nearly unavoidable. However, Ulquiorra's strength, speed and skill was a force to be reckoned with. In all aspects he was completely relentless, each swing or piercing attack coming at incredible force.

Halibel backstopped a little and started charging a cero on her sword. "Can you stop this, Ulquiorra?" She then unleashed a powerful wave of energy towards him.

Ulquiorra raised his left hand "Easily." The yellow energy collided with his hand. The amount of spiritual energy pushed Ulquiorra back a few feet, but then Ulquiorra managed to crush it.

"Is that the full power of your cer-?"

Halibel with remarkable speed appeared right in front of Ulquiorra in the middle of the air. Halibel brought down her glowing sword, but with his other hand, Ulquiorra raise his sword to stop it.

Behind the mask, Halibel grinned a little.

Ulquiorra's eyes widened.

As Halibel sword swung down and Ulquiorra's sword was in position to block it, Halibel drew back her sword slightly in mid swing. Instead of being blocked, Halibel sword missed him directly, but the powerful yellow energy backlash from her blade hit him nearly dead on.

Ulquiorra recoiled nearly a dozen feet from the blow. The left side of Ulquiorra's shirt was in tatters. A small burn was on his chest. Unfortunately, the pain and damage didn't seem to deter him after a few seconds.

"As expected of the warrior chosen as Aizen's 3rd Espada. Taking advantage of you sword's amazing energy properties to take down your enemies despite any defensive skills they might have."

Ulquiorra then stood up straight, and said unemotionally "However, this will only lead to loss on your part, no matter your position."

Halibel said in a quiet angry voice "That is yet to be seen."

"What do you expect to do? Even by some miracle you do defeat me, do you expect to be able to accomplish something? Ranko Saotome will die, and so will all of her friends."

Halibel argued "She was a member of the Espada. She may not have been initiated, but she was more than worthy of the ranks of one."

"I will do what I have to do to pay back my debts and fight as a true soldier for Aizen, no matter who the opponent may be. However, I will not become an executioner of allies for his sake. His goals do require sacrifices, yes. However I refuse to make those higher then they need to be."

Ulquiorra's eyes darkened. "Then I guess I have no choice but to subdue you until you see reason.

In frustration, Halibel charged and brought he sword down hard as Ulquiorra moved to block. However, in the split second Ulquiorra blocked the attack with his sword, Ulquiorra put his finger forward almost inches from her chest. Halibel's eye widened as the green energy started to charge.

(FLAASH)

Halibel just barely managed to sonido out of the way of the bulk of the beam, but enough of it blasted her backwards into the wall, and she fell into a crouched position.

Halibel tried to force herself up quickly, grabbing her sword, but Ulquiorra suddenly slammed down on her sword with his foot and pointed his zanpakuto right at Halibel. Halibel looked furious and unwilling to back down.

Ulquiorra answered her silence with a question "Were you under the delusion we were merely in a sword on sword battle? That I wouldn't use such tactics? Even with all your experience, you weren't prepared for that attack. Do you know why, Tia Halibel?"

Ulquiorra continued "It is because deep down, you were not prepared to give this fight your all, Tia Halibel. Deep down you know your true loyalty lies with Aizen, and Aizen alone, not a single arrancar you just recently trained with."

A look of doubt crept over Halibel's face. At that second, Ulquiorra' s palm quickly placed the palm of his hand on Halibel's face, and a green energy started forming on his hand.

Ulquiorra talked as if he was giving instructions. "I am about to fire a bala point blank at your head Halibel, which will knock you out for the duration of this pointless conflict. When you wake up, Ranko and her friends will be dead, and this hesitancy in loyalty will never be mentioned to Lord Aizen. There will be no repercussions beyond Ranko herself who dared challenge the army Aizen worked for years to build for his grand purpose."

For the next two seconds, Halibel didn't know what to do, thinking, "Can I resist, should I, what should I d-"

"BASTARD!"

Ulquiorra turned his head to the side just as Apache appeared, already in her doe release form, her hooved leg swinging right at Ulquiorra's face.

Halibel's eyes went wide. "Apache!" she thought alarmed.

"Foolish." Before the kick could connect, Ulquiorra grabbed her leg and swung her hard into the back side of the far wall, not holding back at all.

(CRASH) Apache's body crashed into the far wall at full force.

"Gaaaaahh!" Spit came out of her mouth from the impact. That one blow had more power then Apache could imagine.

Halibel yelled "You fool! Why did you come here? Ulquiorra is far too dangerous a person to face, you could die!"

Even with three cracked ribs, Apache managed to pry herself from the wall and stand up, almost completely straight. She then gave a honest smile and said,

"Your right. I could Halibel-sama. You're a lot stronger than me. You always have been, and you always will be, and trying to defeat a guy that knocked you down...(cough)...would be like instant suicide."

Apache managed to take one more step forward, and started charging a fully charged cero from her antlers toward Ulquiorra "(Cough) But you know what? I'd do it for you all over and over again. Just like that time so many years ago, and just like now. Because (cough) Ranko, Apache, Sun-sun, and,most of all you Halibel," Apache smiled gently "are my friends."

Haliblel's eyes widened with emotion.

(SLAM)

Before Apache could fire her cero, Ulquiorra sonido'd forward and smashed his foot into Apache's stomach, to Halibel's horror. Apache's body crashed deeper into the wall, her cero dissipated, and she slumped down to the floor.

Ulquiorra pointed his sword to the unconscious Apache, "I don't understand. You are not truly necessary to Aizen, and to casually throw your life away against a much stronger opponent. How very foolish." He drew back his sword, and stabbed downward.

*CLANG*

Just as Ulqiuorra's sword stabbed downward toward Apache's heart, Halibel appeared right next to Ulquiorra, her hollowed-out sword placed right in the center of Ulquiorra's katana. Ulquiorra widened his eyes as in a split second, Halibel twisted her right hand and her sword upward, sending Ulquiorra's katana flying upwards in the air. In the same second, she switched hands with her katana, and with incredible force, smashed Ulquiorra in the face with her elbow.

Ulquiorra was sent all the way across the room with magnificent speed, the force of the blow knocking him to the very edge of the wall.

As Ulquiorra's sword fell down from above, Halibel grabbed it by the handle and threw it with blinding velocity right towards Ulquiorra's face. His eyes widened as he moved his head to the side just as the sword impaled itself into the wall.

Ulquiorra's eyed his own sword and retrieved it as he commented to Halibel "That was very foolish, handing me back my own sword. But why in such a way-"

Halibel interrupted, her tone of voice different from before. "I didn't do that to give you back your sword. I simply missed your head...Ulquiorra Schiffer!" She said as she looked off to the side.

Ulquiorra eyes widened as he turned back to Halibel. "What?"

Enormous spiritual aura, unusually high even for Halibel was now gathering around her. "Your right, Ulquiorra Schiffer. It is hard for me to raise my sword against my own ally, the organization I swore loyalty to, even if it's for a friend. My heart wasn't fully into it, and that is why I was losing."

Halibel then turned her eyes directly toward Ulquiorra, her eyes livid with fierceness "But then I remembered...the sole purpose behind that sworn loyalty, because of Apache's intervention."

Halibel regarded Apache, who was still behind her. Unconscious...but alive.

Halibel shouted "It's to protect my friends so they don't get hurt! To assemble all of us together, so that we may fight together, and protect each other! That is the Espada I wanted to join! And anyone who doesn't understand that, and targets my dear friends, is my REAL ENEMY!"

Halibel's spiritual pressure then skyrocketed to an enormous level. Yellow spiritual energy started flowing through the room in torrents. Ulquiorra's eyes suddenly went wide. The Tres Espada's 100 percent had now just been released.

…,

Halibel sonido'd a mere 6 inches away from Ulquiorra's face, her sword coming down on him with incredible power. Ulquiorra brought his sword up to block, but the magnificent force of yellow spiritual energy was nearly bringing him down to his knees.

Halibel put her other hand on the back of her sword and whispered "Cero."

Ulquiorra's shock face went into full effect.

(BLAAAAAAAST)

Ulquiorra sonido'd 10 feet away from Halibel, but not without almost half of his body and uniform badly burned.

Ulquiorra launched forward with incredible speed to counterattack with an upward strike, but Halibel blocked it without even looking. Predicting that, Ulquiorra sonido'd right on the opposite side of Halibel with a downward blow, but Halibel turned and faced the surprise attack head on, and after five seconds knocked him back again.

Ulquiorra was no longer taking Halibel's onslaught lightly. He simply couldn't. One second of hesitation and Halibel would tear him to pieces. With each swing came a massive surge of energy that destroyed all building material around them.

Ulquiorra suddenly sonido'd to back up from one of her powerful swings, then suddenly charged a quick green cero right at her. "Cero."

Halibel's eyes grew fiercer as she tightened her free arm in front of her body. She then launched her hand to the side, hitting the incredible green cero "HAAaaaah!" And deflected it to Ulquiorra's amazement.

She then launched her sword hand forward and yelled "Ola Azul!" She sent a tried and true energy attack heading straight for him.

Ulquiorra muttered, "Foolish. Such a weak attack."

Ulquiorra parried Halibel's powerful attack with a well angled sword swipe, but suddenly Halibel appeared right behind him to his left at a perfect blindspot.

Ulquiorra muttered, "Impossible." Ulquiorra started to turn around, but it was too late.

"OLA AZUL!"

(CRASH)

The attack at close range hit Ulquiorra direct on the chest, blasting him backwards, with a significant cut on his chest.

Ulquiorra parried Halibel's next strike, but Halibel's leg shot out with incredible force into Ulquiorra' chest, knocking him backwards even further.

Ulquiorra's eyes suddenly widened "This battle has gone on far enough." Suddenly he rushed forward, blowing away a huge amount of the floor beneath his feet and wall around him.

Ulquiorra next swing came with surprising power and knocked her into the wall. Ulquiorra sonido'd forward with incredible speed to end her fight, but even alarmed by Ulquiorra's sudden increase in strength, she managed keep her guard up. The two's swords clashed at close range with deadly force.

"I'm surprised Ulquiorra. This is the first I've ever seen you truly angry…Ulquiorra Schiffer." She thought to herself "I'm not wrong. While his spiritual energy is still stretched very thin, as is mine, he's was now showing the first signs of physical and mental fatigue. He's even showing anger. So, I have to keep pressing... forward!"

Halibel pressed down with her sword with one final push as she knocked his sword to the side and brought her saber down unto Ulquiorra's shoulder.

Ulquiorra grimaced slightly from the pain. It took all of Ulquiorra's strength to keep the blade from tearing him open.

Ulquiorra frowned even deeper than usual as Halibel was slowly overcoming him. He said in cold frustration, "I don't understand. You wield such power, even greater than mine in a sense, yet you refuse to use it when the power to crush your enemy is necessary, and only truly bring out your power in the defense of weaker subordinates. Subordinates that will inevitably die because of their lack of power. I just don't understand it."

Halibel's face was more serious than it ever has been "That is why my sword is pointed toward you, Ulquiorra Schiffer. You REFUSE to understand. I pray to God that you do someday."

Suddenly Ulquiorra's left hand tightened on Halibel's sword, gripped it tight, and started lifting it out of his shoulder despite the enormous force Halibel was putting into her strike with both hands.

Ulquiorra's hand didn't waver as Halibel's sword struggled to get her sword out his grip, despite the power flaring from it. Ulquiorra now raised his sword with his other hand, and looked ready to stab Halibel.

Ulquiorra looked at Halibel darkly and said, "Like I said, this entire fight was pointless from the beginning."

"Did I miss the party or something?" a familiar voice shouted.

Both Ulquiorra and Halibel turned to where the voice was coming from.

In walked a man with blue hair, arms in his pockets, and a gigantic grin on his face.

Halibel exclaimed "Grimmjow!"

Ulquiorra stared at the man suspiciously "What are you doing here, Grimmjow?

The awesome bastard with blue hair said casually "Just coming to a little decision, Ulquiorra. I've decided that Ranko needs to be taught a lesson." Grimmjow raised his right hand towards Halibel, as a full power red cero started to charge in it, "I'm going to give the little bitch the payback she deserves."

Halibel glared at him "Grimmjow, you bastard."

Grimmjow grinned, charged the cero to its max and fired...after changing the angle.

Ulquiorra's eyes widened as the red beam blasted into him, overtaking his already weakened defenses.

Realizing this was her only chance, she yelled to herself "Now! Gran RAY CERO!" Halibel yelled as she quickly cut her own hand and blasted Ulquiorra not even a second after Grimmjow's blast hit him. The combined red and chaotic yellow cero blasts caused an enormous energy shockwave that tore through wall after wall after wall until the energy was spent, carrying Ulquiorra along with it.

Ulquiorra was blasted clean the walls and fallen in the rubble, burned deeply into his chest, and was completely unconscious.

Grimmjow smiled, glad to see that Ulquiorra was put into his place "Heh. Serves him right if you ask me. But what did you say to me about not firing Gran Ray Cer-"

"Shut up." Halibel said dully.

"Sure, sure." Grimmjow grinned again at successfully teasing her. He was in too good of a mood.

Halibel turned and looked at Grimmjow suspiciously "Grimmjow, why did you help me? Or more specifically, why did you help Ranko?"

Grimmjow paused for a second and said "Help Ranko? Be serious! If anyone is going to beat the stuffing out of Ranko, it's going to be me! I'm not ever going to be a pawn in helping somebody else do it. And I'm not going to let the odds get stacked against a rival of mine either! I doubt even Aizen himself could beat Ulquiorra and Barragan at once."

Halibel said with worry "But to be honest, not even I can beat Barragan. How will Ranko-?"

"I helped you beat Ulquiorra cause he's one smart, cold, sonofabitch. But Ranko will win against Barragan, I'm not worried about that."

"Why's that?" Halibel asked curiously.

Grimmjow answered with confidence, "Cause there's one thing that Barragan never got when he became number 1. And that's a brain. And if I know Ranko, fighting someone like that after swearing to defeat him will be no trouble at all."

Halibel was silent for a moment to consider his words, when her eyes suddenly widened "Wait. Apache! Did she survive-?"

Grimmjow interrupted, "Take a look." he pointed. Out of the entrance where he came from, Hisana appeared carrying Apache's body, now in normal form.

"Hisana?" Halibel said in surprise.

Hisana smiled and bowed "Halibel-sama! I'm so glad to see you safe! Apache underwent through some organ damage and bone breaks, but after a few nights of healing she should be all right."

Despite her status, Halibel bowed deeply in gratitude "You have my eternal gratitude Hisana. Thank you. But how did you manage to-"

Grimmjow gave a small smile with his eyes closed and said "I decided to take her along with me. No point in letting Barragan and Ulquiorra's stupidity get everybody else killed. She quickly retrieved Apache-chan seconds before I announced myself and she got her out of here quick."

"...Out of compassion?" Halibel asked.

Grimmjow raised his eyebrows at her with a superior grin, "Common sense. It's hard being the only person who uses his head around here."