Everlasting Reflections: The Moon Underwater

Arc II: Dawn of Dreams

Chapter 48: Revival of Espadas III


"Yes, I can see that… the way he is working for you," Ulquiorra spoke which made Harribel a bit more uneasy than she already was. "Besides it seems you have acquired a new and more powerful form than Resurreccion," She spoke in order to distract him from the topic. "Yes, even he hasn't seen this form of mine," He replied while referring to Aizen. "Hmm… so, what will you do now, Ulquiorra?" She asked. "I think the most sensible thing for me to do would be, to follow the one who has given me this second chance." He replied to her before walking out of the room.

Meanwhile, in the Battle of Fake Karakura Town…

As soon as Kisuke Urahara appeared there, Aizen rushed towards him in order to finish him off by a powerful sword swing backed by his monstrous spiritual pressure. However, the Shinigami in sandal and hat not only dodged the attack but also trickily placed a seal on his wrist. Now without wasting any moment, he constrained Aizen with multiple Bakudos and finally attacked him with the Hado 91, Senju Koten Taiho. The next moment, Aizen appeared right behind Urahara with a new appearance. Half of his face was covered with Hollow Mask remnant along with armor and tentacles on his upper half body which were made up of the same material. Once again he tried to attack Urahara and ended up receiving a similar outcome in the form of another seal no his other wrist. Now two circular energy seals appeared on Aizen's wrists and all of a sudden his entire body got engulfed inside an oval-shaped explosion of extremely dense Kido energy. "It's not over yet… he will be coming out of that in no time," Urahara spoke to everyone after landing on the ground.

After some time at a significant distance away from there...

Sesshomaru, Harribel, Ulquiorra, Orihime and Uryu Ishida arrived at the place where Barragan and Stark died. They were able to sense the fierce spiritual pressure which was coming from the clashing energies in the battle. "It seems that we are not so late," Uryu spoke to everyone. "Urahara-san must have been trying to capture Aizen using Kido just as Tessai-san told us," Orihime spoke as well. "Yes, it will definitely buy us some time. Now let's go Inoue-san," Uryu replied to her.

When both of them rushed in the direction of the battle but Sesshomaru and Harribel didn't then Ulquiorra stopped all of a sudden and asked them. "You don't want to fight against Aizen?" Sesshomaru answered, "I will eventually join the battle but for now I want to revive the remaining two Espadas."

"Hmm," Ulquiorra responded while concluding that he must be talking about Stark and Barragan. "Ulquiorra, with you on the frontlines we will have ample time to revive them and then convince them to fight from our side," Harribel said to the fourth Espada.

"I see… I don't think Aizen will need more opponents while facing me," Ulquiorra replied them before he swiftly headed in the direction of Aizen.

Afterward, Harribel brought Sesshomaru at the location where Stark's lifeless body fell after receiving the deathblow by the hands of Shunshui Kyoraku. Now she backed off to a sophisticated distance while Sesshomaru unsheathed his Tensaiga in order to revive him. The Daiyokai was able to see the hoard of the minions of the Netherworld surrounding Stark's corpse. He didn't waste any moment in destroying every single one of them with a single swing of his Tensaiga while Harribel was observing him attentively since she wanted him to revive her Fraccions as well.

Now Stark slowly opened his eyes and he saw Sesshomaru and Harribel with confusion as both of them were standing right in front of him. "You… you have revived me, I was dead… have you revived Lilynette too? Where is she?" Stark abruptly spoke to Sesshomaru just after getting revived. "She should be alive now," Sesshomaru responded. "Try calling her," Harribel told him.

"Lilynette? Hey… Lilynette?" Stark shouted as soon as he got up from the ground and waited for some response but even after a few moments he received no reply from her. "She isn't responding… perhaps, she is…" Stark spoke in a worrisome tone but was interrupted by a familiar voice that shocked him as well. "Stark! Stark! I'm here… I was just shocked to find myself alive," Lilynette's voice echoed from his pistol.

"Oh, okay… fine and now just shut up because that white-haired guy is up to something," Stark replied to her after taking a deep breath of relief. "No Stark, he is not what you are thinking," Harribel responded upon listening to his words. "Do you know him or you have also been revived by him?" He asked her in a serious tone. "I know him for a very long time… but what you need to know is, a few hours ago he saved me from the certain death by the hands of Aizen." Halibel answered Stark in an utterly serious manner. "What do you mean?" He asked confusingly. "Aizen tried to kill me after your death, just because he thought that we Espadas are not powerful enough… we were nothing more than just a few pawns at the palm of his hand," she explained further in a slightly gloomy tone.

"I never liked that guy, to be honest… he was always shady as fuck," Lilynette interrupted in between. "Shut up, for now, Lilynette," Stark scolded him in a serious tone. "You are… so serious," Lilynette uttered in a low voice upon sensing his mood. "So, it was all a lie, an illusion… we were never his comrades…" he muttered to himself in a low voice. "It is not the end of the line, Stark… we can still fight against him and stop him from doing more damage," Harribel responded to him. "I am all for it… Count me in!" Lilynette's loud voice echoed from the pistol. "Hmm!" Stark didn't say anything but from his expressions, it seemed that he was ready to face Aizen. "Now let me revive the last Espada, Barragan Louisenbairn," Sesshomaru spoke to both Stark and Harribel before he stepped ahead and started to pump his spiritual pressure into the Tensaiga.

On the other hand where Urahara and others were waiting for Aizen to break the Kido barriers…

Gin, Isshin, Urahara, Yoruichi, and Ichigo had noticed the energy release when Sesshomaru revived Stark. Aizen sensed it as well even though he was inside several layers of powerful Kido barriers and now he started to wonder about Sesshomaru and his motives behind returning to the World of the Living again. While both Urahara and Yoruichi were still confused about Sesshomaru's action, all of them got shocked to witness Ulquiorra along with Orihime and Uryu as they arrived there. However, the most shocked one was Ichigo since Ulquiorra died right in front of his eyes a few hours back. "U..Ulquiorra… you are alive?" Ichigo muttered shockingly. "Indeed I am, Ichigo… you are not seeing a ghost," he responded in his usual serious tone. "Actually, a white-haired demon named Sesshomaru revived him," Uryu said to Ichigo upon sensing that Orihime was being hesitant for some reason. "It seems that he has returned from the Hueco Mundo at the right time," Urahara spoke with a confident smile on his face. "Where is he?" Yoruichi asked. "He is close… Espada 3 Tia Harribel is with him. He wants us to stop Aizen until he finishes resurrecting the Espada 1 and 2," Ulquiorra answered her. "Wait… What? Why the hell is he reviving the dead Espadas, whose side is he anyway?" Ichigo asked abruptly. "Don't worry Ichigo, he is a friend… he won't do anything recklessly," Yoruichi replied to him. "Yes, don't worry about anything, just focus on Aizen… those Kidos won't be able to hold him for long," Urahara spoke to everyone in a serious tone while staring at the oval-shaped Kido barrier inside of which Aizen was struggling.

Meanwhile, where Sesshomaru revived Stark and Lilynette…

Sesshomaru had revived Barragan by now. The previous king of the Hueco Mundo was already in his Resurreccion form and he was silently observing Harribel, Stark, and Sesshomaru who were standing at some distance away from him. Now both Harribel and Stark were waiting for him to speak something to know his stand. However, Barragan didn't say anything but the next moment he shocked both of them by summoning the battle-ax in his hand.

"Barragan, I think you need to know a few things before you raise your weapon," Harribel spoke abruptly to prevent a possible unnecessary battle. "Harribel, I don't think you can tell me something which I can't anticipate at the moment," he replied. "None of us wants to fight against you, Number 2," Stark spoke in a serious tone while loading his pistols.


To be continued…