(A/N: Wow, I've never been in a better mood for some fight scenes let me tell you. I think this is also the first time I've edited this series twice in a row. Of course I know some of you are not going to be too happy with me by the end of this chapter).

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Tales of Symphonia

3rd Person pov

Friends at his side, Ichigo and the others made their way to Aizen's office and attempted to locate the entrance to the Gladshiem.

"Does anyone even know where this thing is?" Ichigo asked after a few minutes of searching.

"Aizen's only ever been the one to meet with Album Atrum in his domain face to face as memory serves. He's never taken anyone with him. The portal is in his office though," Hitsugaya said. "Of that I have no doubt."

"Well we can't give up," Colette said as she stood behind Aizen's desk. As she walked past it, she tripped and grabbed the knob on one of the drawers. Said knob turned out to be a crank, which caused the wall behind Aizen's desk to fly up, revealing a pitch black, swirling portal with a purple and blue ethereal energy field around the sides of it.

Genis palmed his face. Leave it to Colette's clumsy luck to find the entrance to a magically guarded Labyrinth.

"This must be it!" Marta exclaimed.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" Ichigo dashed into the portal.

"Hey, wait up!" Sheena called after him, following suit. Everyone followed one by one into the portal. However, such an action was the wrong thing to do. Every entrance into the portal was considered an individual traveler. Everyone would be spilled out into a completely different location within the Gladshiem. Had they held hands they would've been able to move as a group and had they gone as one big group, perhaps they would've prevented the many tragedies and loses that would await them inside.

10th Division Battlegrounds

Regal, Lavirna and Serina were aggressively engaged in their battle with Captain Akari Mari and Vice-captain Homura Yuna. The battle was far from even. Mari and Yuna had a very heavy advantage against the trio even though they were outnumbered. They had a coordination of teamwork that, despite being comrades in arms, Regal, Lavirna and Serina couldn't hope to match.

"Heaven's Charge!" Regal dashed towards Yuna with his full body weight and slammed into her before slamming past her from the other direction, knocking the wind out of the young looking Vice-captain. Regal's valiant attack was rewarded by receiving the side of Mari's shield to his neck. The wise captain saw Serina chanting and sent her shield spinning towards the half-millennia old elf and knocked her out of her chant as the shield bashed her in the torso and then boomeranged back into the back of Serina's head. Mari caught it and bent over backwards to block a few arrows that were being sent her way by Lavirna.

"Yuna, I think it best you don't hold back, our enemies are quite strong," Mari suggested.

"Hai, Mari-sama," Yuna said and drew out her sword and pointed it towards the ground in between her legs with both hands on the blade. "Motivate, Yogo Kekai!" (Championed Vigilance) Yuna swung her hands up towards the sky as the blade transformed into a two-handed long sword. The hilt and handle became black with spikes protruding from the hilt. The blade was symmetrically shaped and bladed on both sides. The flat end of the blade was painted black with red runes, spelling out the Zanpakuto's name, running up along the length. With a fierce swing a mighty gust of wind erupted towards Regal.

"Air Thrust!" Serina shouted. Her spell was cast as a defensive maneuver to stop Yuna's attack.

However, in the time Serina had prepared her assault, Mari had converged on her location and made to smash Serina in the side of her torso with the side of her shield.

"Heaven's Charge!" Regal charged towards Mari, but was stopped as Yuna got in his way and slashed at his abdominal level. Still bound by her earlier Kido, Regal leapt away from the assault, unable to protect Serina as Mari's shield connected…with Serina's armored gauntlet. She turned and made to deck Mari in the face, but the tenth division captain disappeared with a burst of Shunpo.

"Trick Arrow: Bomb!" Lavirna set off an explosive arrow as she felt the change in air pressure from Mari's Shunpo step and got the captain right in the she reappeared. The sleeve of Mari's Shihakusho was badly damaged and her left arm was somewhat singed, but Lavirna hadn't inflicted any real damage.

"Hado 73: Soren Sokatsui!" Yuna attacked the half-elf archer with the blue flame Kido.

"Damage Guard!" Lavirna's self-defense barrier arte was well founded, but hardly enough to stop the incoming blast and she took the attack right into her chest, ripping into her hard leather armor and revealing a bit of cleavage at the center of her chest. Lavirna reached behind her back for an arrow to fire, but Yuna was already behind her. Thankfully Regal had already arrived to guard Lavirna's rear.

"Spin Kick!" With a fierce roundhouse kick, Regal let drive his greave towards Yuna's body, but she blocked with her blade. With a flare of her spiritual power a stalagmite erupted from beneath Lavirna and Regal sending them spiraling through the air like whirling copters falling from the trees…only they were spiraling up not down.

"Thunder Arrow!" Serina fired forward the high level spell at Yuna, but her assault was stopped by Mari getting in between them.

"Bakudo number 81: Danku!" Leaving the Kido shield to do its job, Mari reappeared behind Serina and lifted her up by the back of the neck before throwing her behind her with a high amount of force. Using Shunpo Mari caught up to her thrown target and drove her shield straight into Serina's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and plowing her into the ground. She then returned to Yuna's side as Regal and Lavirna got over their disorientation.

"This is awesome Mari-sama! You don't even need your Bankai!" Yuna cried happily.

"As long as you are my sword and I am your shield, nothing will defeat us," Mari smiled at her. Yuna nodded firmly.

"Trick Shot: Wind!" Lavirna fired off another arrow at Mari, but her shield protected her. However, Lavirna's shot was a distraction to disorient Mari from Regal's attack as he slid down low to trip her. Yuna saw this in advance and attempted to cut Regal off by hacking at his right flank just before he broke into his sliding attack. An arrow from Lavirna, knocked off the precision of Yuna's blade just enough that she wound up simply cutting off a chunk of Regal's hair and slicing him paper-cut deep along the cheek. However, the display had given Mari enough time to react to Regal's advance and as he slid towards her she readied a Kido.

"Hado 31: Shakkaho!" She hit Regal right in the face knocking him to the ground. Yuna stood over Regal and affixed her sword over him preparing to use his abdomen as a pedestal for her Shikai. Lavirna took her bow and whacked Yuna in the side of the head with it. Her bow shattered into splinters, doing nothing except annoy Yuna and cause her to step away from Regal.

M-my bow. The surprised look on Lavirna's face was wide eyed. She knew very little magic, without her bow she was as good as useless in this fight. Regal, from his downed position tripped Yuna, causing the vice-captain to fall towards his right. Regal got to his feet, but Mari was right behind him and bashed him over the back of the head with her shield, sending him to the ground. "Aqua Edge!" Lavirna's magic did little more than dampen the left side of Mari's face and her shoulder. Lavirna was surprised when a blade suddenly came in contact with her back, sticking out through her navel, the holder was Yuna. Lavirna hacked up blood.

No. Regal said, turning his body and pushing his head up off the ground.

Lavirna looked down at the sword protruding from her body. Frightened blue eyes reached towards the blood pouring from her body and Lavirna looked at the blood on her hands. This blood…it's mine…there's so much. This feeling of nothingness…am I…dying? Regal got to his feet and prepared to attack.

"No! Stop!" Regal charged forward, but back handed shield bash from Mari prevented him from doing anything..

Yuna withdrew her blade from Lavirna's body and slashed her along the back. Lavirna staggered forward. I can't feel anything…everything's going white…black…uuuuuu. Lavirna let out a weakened cry as she fell forward. Her eyes rolled back into her head and all of the mana drained from her body. Yuna had slain Lavirna.

She swung the blood off her blade. "One down."

"And two to go," Mari said turning to look at Regal. She made to attack only for a black crescent of energy with a yellow outline to slam right into her.

"Mari-sama!" Yuna rushed to her captain's side.

Serina stood over by a nearby rooftop over by the raised platform this battle was taking place on. She had lost her hairband that kept her hair in a ponytail and was standing with a scowl on her face that wouldn't look out of place on Ichigo. Leaping from the rooftop she landed near Regal.

"Are you all right?" Regal asked.

"I'm fine, just got the wind knocked out of me back there," Serina breathed. "We don't have a warp step thing like the Soul Reapers do so it took a while to get back here."

Serina and Regal suddenly felt a thick, dense, reiatsu as Mari began to sit up from the ground. She rose to her feet as a bright garnet aura flowed around her. She extended her shield out to her side, allowing the surface to face towards the sky. "Bankai," She said, gritting her teeth. Her energy surged even higher. A whirlwind of energy surrounded her and transformed what she was wearing. Along her feet, up to her thighs were garnet colored, and ore composed, metallic, knightly boots. There was a golden protrusion along the kneecaps over her hakama. Along her arms, similar gauntlets formed. A golden, spiked protrusion extended out from the elbows. The gauntlets ran all the way up to Mari's shoulders. In place of her kosode, shitagai and haori, Mari was wearing ruby red chainmail under a garnet breastplate that was segmented into seven horizontal lines. The armor had two circular protrusions allowing Mari's breasts to be secure individually rather than pressed to her chest. Upon her head, Mari was wearing a dark crimson metallic helmet with protrusions going past her ears shaped like dragon wings. There was a guard on the helmet that ran down from the center of her forehead until it reached the tip of her nose. In Mari's left hand was a sword. The blade was glowing white and the handle was shining and golden. "Kokikoken Shinkutenpura!" (Noble Guardian, Crimson Templar)

Bankai! Serina recalled the details she knew about Bankai: proof of captaincy or being captain level, the true form of the Zanpakuto, and lastly it made the user five to ten times stronger. The red head swallowed.

Regal had seen only a few Bankais in his time: Ichigo's, Byakuya's, and Soifon's. He and Serina were barely holding up against Mari's Shikai and such combination between her and Yuna had killed Lavirna. Now that the tenth division captain had brought out her Bankai, Regal wondered if perhaps the battle was lost.

"Are you prepared?" Mari asked and swung her sword out at her side.

Regal barely had a chance to blink before Mari's shield slammed into his body, sending him flying away into a pillar. Mari turned and slashed at Serina with her sword. The elfish girl took a step back. "Wind Blade!" The attack clanked against Mari's armor as if it were a fly smacking into a car windshield. Mari simply gave a displeased sigh and attacked with her sword, narrowly missing Serina as she jumped backwards to avoid getting hit. Mari attempted to back hand smash Serina in the side with her shield, but Serina cartwheeled backwards and to the side to avoid being hit. She held her arms up so that her right arm was behind her and her left was held out in front of her, elbow bent. "Jolt!" Serina switched the positions of her arms, sending out a ball of lightning out towards Mari. It came in fast, but to Serina's surprise, Mari managed to dodge without the need for Shunpo. Yuna suddenly appeared next to her, using her large blade to block an incoming flat foot kick from Regal. She pushed the blue haired president off her blade and stood with her back against her captain's left arm.

"Surely you can see this is fruitless. Give up now and you will be spared while you still remain conscious." Mari promised, speaking authoritatively.

"We cannot," Serina said. "Our journey must complete itself. Album Atrum is a tyrant he must be stopped."

"He has always been our god. A tyrant perhaps, but he is a beneficial one nonetheless," Mari said.

"Then it appears talking serves no purpose. I abhor violence, but you leave us no choice," Regal stated.

"Bring it on," Yuna said with a grin.

Serina and Regal both ran forward to attack at close range. Mari and Yuna disappeared before both even got halfway. Serina was given a firm blow to the back of the head by Mari's shield and Yuna planted the spiked pommel of her sword into Regal's back.

I can't use any of my advanced spells like this, Serina thought as she and Regal switched positions with Mari and Yuna. Now they were the ones back to arm and arm to back and their attackers were the one facing them. I could if Regal could hold off our combatants, but they're too well coordinated and far too strong for Regal to take on at once. I couldn't ask that of him. One spell won't be enough to defeat them anyway.

Before Serina could think anymore, Mari held up her hand, palm facing towards the sky as a black flash of energy ran across it. "Hado 90: Kurohitsugi." Only through the boost provided from her Bankai could Mari use such a kido and with both Regal and Serina trapped inside the black coffin it was possible for the attack to crush them both.

"No!" Serina, with both her hands, pushed Regal outside the coffin's barrier as it engulfed her. Regal was disoriented as he watched the coffin consume the elf girl. The attack ripped right through her.

"Serina!" Regal ran towards the elf girl as the black coffin dissipated. Serina dropped to her knees and then collapsed upon the ground, bleeding heavily. The kido binding Regal, cast by Yuna, had finally worn off and he was able to rush to her side and check on her condition. Hado 90 was quite the stamina drainer so as long as Mari could get her heart rate down she would do so.

Serina was bleeding from two through and through wounds on either side of her navel. Two puncture wounds on the outer sides of her shoulders. A slash along each other arms. She also had two wounds puncturing her just above her breasts and eight on each of her legs: two on the front, two on the outer side, two on the inner side and two at the back. Serina's head and neck was the only area that had not received damage, but such a thing didn't exactly make things any better. Serina was in a lot of pain. Living beings could not sustain such wounds for long. "Re…gal." Serina's eyes were halfway closed. Her vision was fading, things were going black.

"Serina…please…we've already lost one friend. I don't wish to see a second die," There were tears in the man's eyes.

Dying…yes…I believe…I feel like I am dying. With tremendous effort Serina reached up her hand and yanked at Regal's collar, bringing his face down to hers. The blood in her mouth produced an awful aftertaste for the duke, but he could still sense Serina's unexpected feelings in her actions. Losing the last of her strength, Serina let go.

Regal looked at Serina bewildered. "S-serina?"

"Goodbye Regal…my love," Serina said with a smile. Her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side. The mana in Serina's body began to seep out and flow into the air as her body became cold.

"Serina…oh Martel…wake up!" Regal shook her body. "Serina…Serina. Serina?" He stopped shaking her, realizing it was pointless. Serina was gone. "Serina!" Regal held the dead elf girl tightly to him as he had done when Alicia had died. Regal let drop a few tears for her and then laid her down. He stood up, still feeling despaired.

"I told you, you should have given up," Mari said, resting her blade on her shoulder and putting her index finger against her cheek.

Regal's hands tensed. He was conflicted. He had switched to fighting with his feet because he would never use his hands as tools of death, but now, such devotion had caused a person very close to him to die when breaking such a vow could've saved her and possibly Lavirna too. Regal grit his teeth. There was only one course of action left for him.

Alicia…Martel…forgive me, He glanced down at Serina. Serina…I'm sorry. Blue and white energy began to gather around Regal before exploding outwards as he stood in place.

Wh-what…where's he getting all this power from? Mari wondered taking a few steps back.

Regal took a right lead stance. "I promised that I would never again use my hands as tools of death, but now that vow has cost me the life of someone very precious to me. And so, this one time, in vengeance for Serina's life, I hereby revoke that vow. Heaven's Charge!" Regal charged forward towards Mari, but instead of slamming into her with his body he let drive a fierce hard punch into her shoulder, sending her flying back. Yuna, angered, ran towards Regal with her blade. Regal knocked aside the massive weapon with his left fist. "Spin Kick!" He smashed Yuna in the gut with his greave, knocking her away. He brought his hands to his sides and placed his wrists against one another, curling his fingertips. "Electric Fire Stream!" Regal thrust his hands forward, keeping his wrists together and let loose a large, powerful, continuous stream of blue mana right into Yuna. The vice-captain went sailing away towards a pillar, which she crashed into and the broken pieces of it fell on her. Yuna fell unconscious from the mighty attack. That's one down. Regal then noticed Mari coming up from behind him and ducked and pivoted as took a swing at his head. "Hammer fist!" Regal balled one hand into a fist, clamped it with the other and whacked Mari over the head with them. A loud 'GONG!' sounded as his fists connected with the metallic helmet. "Somersault Kick!" Flipping backwards Regal kicked Mari at the breast part of her breast plate and landed a good distance away from her. "Electric Fireball!" Regal fired forward a blue, circular energy blast using the same motion he had used to unleash Electric Fire Stream. Mari deflected the attack with her blade. She then rushed at Regal and made to stab him with her blade, but Regal was ready. "Crescent Dark Moon!" Flipping over backwards, Regal smacked Mari right in the jaw as he flipped into the air and then smashed her in the side of her helmet with his foot as he spun in the air. Regal set himself right side up and shouted "Electric Fire Flash!" Regal lifted his open palms above his head and then thrust them down at chest level. A widened version of the electric fireball blasted towards Mari, but she blocked it with her shield. Regal dropped to the ground on one knee. Mari came rushing forward at him and attacked diagonally with her sword Regal jumped back and to the side and did so again when Mari came sweeping back with her sword in the opposite direction. "Heaven's Charge!" Regal took the opening he believed that was presented, but Mari blocked the punch with her shield. She then spun counterclockwise and made to cut Regal, but he acrobatically backflipped away and landed in a right lead stance.

"You're pretty good when you want to get serious," Mari complimented.

"I was serious before," Regal said. "What I am doing now is senseless violence and anger brought about by being unable to protect Serina."

"It's too bad it has to be like this. Someone with your kind of restraint would make an excellent Soul Reaper," Mari told Regal.

"It's very nice to receive a compliment from a lady such as yourself. I only wish the circumstances were different," Regal said, opening his palms.

"As do I," Mari said and charged forward again and sliced from down low and up on high at Regal.

"Spin Kick!" Regal slammed his foot into Mari's shield and used that as leverage to get behind her as he stomped his other foot into the ground. "White Wolf!" Mari staggered forward from the strike as Regal drove his fist into her back. He didn't do much thanks to the armor protecting her, but he didn't injure himself either. Mari used Shunpo and reappeared right behind Regal and smashed her shield into his back and then attempted to backstab him, but Regal, to her surprise, leapt up onto her sword and then drove his foot into her face. Her nose guard absorbed the impact, but now Regal had created a distance between the two combatants. White energy gathered in his fists. It was so intense that it was creating a blinding bright light around the entire area. "WHIIIITE…LUNAAAAAR…DRAGOOOOOON…SLAYIIIIING…CANNON!" Regal brought his fist forward firing of a beam of bright white energy. It was his fiercest technique, capable of wiping out an entire district of Meltokio. Regal figured someone as powerful as Mari could survive. The explosion was so fierce Regal couldn't see the damage he had done. He waited with his fists at the ready in right lead stance waiting for Mari's retaliation. His idling was met with a lightning bolt that ripped right into his chest. Regal staggered about, trying to stay on his feet as he clutched the wound as if that would do anything to stop the bleeding. Mari emerged from the blast. Regal had managed to blast off her helmet and destroy her shield, but ultimately no damage appeared visible. H-how?

"Tate Kabe (Shield Wall) is one of my Zanpakuto's most useful techniques. It grows my shield to cover my whole body. It makes me immobile, but it's good for blocking attacks such as yours. Bakudo 81: Danku would've never absorbed the damage my shield did, for the technique is much more durable than the Kido. I'm surprised there was enough damage leftover for you to destroy my helmet, but ultimately the outcome was decided before the match had even begun. You and your companions were outclassed and outmatched from the start. A mere Ryoka such as yourself could never hope to have beaten a captain," After saying that, Mari put both hands on her blade and slashed Regal down at an angle from his right shoulder to his left hip. Regal staggered about, feeling his world beginning to go dark. Serina. He had to find Serina. It was all he could think to do. He saw her body lying on the battlefield covered in dust from the battle that followed her death. Regal flopped onto the ground next to her and reached out and grabbed her hand with his, squeezing it tightly.

"I shall be with you soon," He told Serina. His head dropped down and he turned it to the side and closed his eyes halfway. "And you too…Alicia." The tension in Regal's hand slowly lessened until the life fully drained from his body.

Mari walked over to the pair of dead Aselians and looked at them, trying to make sure they were really dead. Convinced, she sealed her Bankai and put her sword away. Then she went over to Yuna, scooped her vice-captain up in her arms and departed from the battlefield.

Omake

15 years ago

"I'm back!" Mari announced as she walked into her office. Today was a regularly scheduled Captain's meeting. As usual, Yuna was patiently waiting for her on the couch of Mari's office.

She instinctively ran towards her captain as happy as can be. "Mari-sama!" She hugged her captain tightly as her head rested against her captain's able bosom. Mari let her arms loosely hang around Yuna. "I missed you," Yuna said.

"Yuna, I was only gone for an hour, same as usual," Mari reminded her.

"It felt like forever," Yuna said as though she were a little kid welcoming back her mother.

"Oh Yuna," Mari laughed, rubbing her hand through the top of Yuna's pine green hair. The captain of the tenth division lay down on her couch on her back. She stared up at the ceiling letting her left arm hang at her side and put the back of her right hand up by her forehead.

She sighed Things were rough nowadays with a new Head Captain in charge. The Blood Purge had taken a lot of the remaining captains by surprise. Aizen's promotion to Head Captaincy was no surprise after the sweep. He was the strongest one left. Mari was disgruntled that Album Atrum had neglected to eliminate Treva Hoshima. She thought for sure the man was worthy of death, but she would not question the lord of the Soul Society. She wasn't surprised at all by the declaration of Unohana's death. She always knew that woman was a demon.

The next thing to enter Mari's eyesight was Yuna's head peeking over her bust. "Are you tired taicho?" Yuna asked.

"It's not very easy these days. You're not as affected as I am by the change in head captaincy," Mari said.

"Is there anything I can do to help you taicho?" Yuna asked, her own breasts now pressing into Mari's. Mari smiled widely. Yuna knew that smile. She got off of Mari and suddenly clothes began flying off in every direction until both the captain and vice-captain of the tenth division were nude, holding each other and making out. Of course, in Mari's exhaustion she had forgotten to lock the door and her squad's current 6th seat, Hitsugaya Toshiro, was so focused on getting paperwork to his captain that he opened the door without knocking only to walk in on his captain lunged hungrily over his vice-captain with Yuna's arms and legs wrapped around Mari's back. Both looked at him. Hitsugaya tugged at his collar and turned bright red, not expecting to have walked in on what he had just walked in on. He cleared his throat and covered his eyes.

"I…I'll…come back later," He shut the door forcefully. Mari and Yuna heard him running down the hall shouting. "What has been seen cannot be unseen!"

Yuna turned her head to look back at Mari. "Should we stop?" she asked.

"Of course not." Mari said giving Yuna a hickey on the right side of her neck, causing her vice-captain to squeal loudly and the two went back to what they were doing.

End of Chapter 36

(A/N: I don't know why I wrote an omake after such a sad chapter ending, talk about your mood whiplash, but my rules are absolute. If it's not a 'to be continued' ending then I must write an omake…even if the ending makes you want to cry. Yes I just killed Regal, Serina and Lavirna. More people are going to die in this arc. Get used it. Just be thankful that revival is possible if returning to the original timeline is achievable. Good will triumph in the end…but the victory could be quite pyrrhic. Anyway, that's all for now. Before I go I leave you with this slightly altered that is very befitting of the situation. Feel free to answer as though they are actual questions though: Who shall live and who shall die? Who shall see ripe age and who shall not? Who by fire and who by water? Who by hunger and who by thirst? Who by stoning and who by plague? Who shall be secure and who shall be driven? Who shall be humbled and who exalted?)