A.N.: So, this chapter has been really difficult for me. I've gone back and forth on whether to include Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa in the story. The reason why is because it doesn't carry the narrative weight the way it had in the canonical story, which ramped up his rivalry with Ichigo to eleven and proved that he was the strongest Espada, a narrative weight that doesn't belong in this fanfiction. However, I am well aware that a lot of people will cry foul if I didn't include it, hence the struggle to write the next few chapters and make them convincing. In the end I just decided to flip a quarter to finally end the argument.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Several minutes ago…
Las Noches; Above the Dome

One of the walls on the tower burst open, spilling the two combatants onto the stone canopy of Las Noches.

Angrier than he'd ever been in his life from the loss of Orihime, the Hollowfied Ichigo let out a anguished cry of rage while attacking the stoic Espada, his black sword almost burning from his furious spirit energy.

Ulquiorra blocked Ichigo's attacks but even he could see why Aizen was so interested in Ichigo's power. Blood dripped down his arm, a wound among many from Ichigo's constant firing of his Getsuga Tensho. His shirt had been blasted off, revealing his ivory white body and his Espada tattoo on his chest, covered in blood. Loathsome as he was to admit it, Ulquiorra understood just how powerful Ichigo was.

The horned Substitute crashed into his opponent with the force of a freight train loaded with dynamite. Eyes full of rage glared at Ulquiorra behind the mask. Gripping his sword with his clawed hands, the Hollowfied Ichigo blasted his hated enemy with a point-blank Getsuga Tensho, sending him flying away.

"HAD ENOUGH?!" screamed the angry Ichigo, stomping his way towards Ulquiorra.

"Hardly."

Despite the large gash across his chest, Ulquiorra calmly stood up and turned to face the irate Ichigo. As his senses picked up what was happening below the dome, his expression flickered. "It would seem I underestimated the capacity of your friends."

"My friends?" The words unsettled Ichigo and put a dampener on his seething rage. Calming down helped him sense the people directly below him. He felt the battling spiritual pressures of Rukia, Kisuke, Nel and… "Orihime?" he gasped in surprise, his anger evaporating like steam when he realized his dear friend was still alive.

Nodding, the Fourth Espada calmly put up a stance. "It seems your friend's powers were greater than even Lord Aizen anticipated. She managed to survive getting devoured by Aaroniero and killed him from the inside."

Amidst the battling pressures below his feet, Ichigo also detected one that was familiar yet foreign to his senses. "Is that…Yoruichi?" The anger returned and he looked back up at Ulquiorra with anger flashing in his eyes. "What have you sick bastards done to her?!"

"I have done nothing. That would be Szayelapporo's handiwork. He desired to experiment on a captain and turned her into a Hollow. I did not care about the particulars but he mentioned adding cybernetics to her body."

The relief he'd felt from Orihime's survival was quickly replaced by the indignity of what'd been done to Yoruichi. "How…dare you…treat my friends so shamefully?!" Ichigo raised his arm to hurl another powerful Getsuga Tensho at the quiet Espada.

The air burst with a sonic boom. Ulquiorra slipped beneath Ichigo's guard and appeared at his unprotected right side, finger pointed at the boy's shoulder. "Do you know what the difference between you and me is?" he asked as a green orb pulsed at his fingertip. "You might wear the mask of a Hollow. But you're only Human. And that makes you a weakling."

The blast hit Ichigo hard but he was strong enough to withstand it. After the blast ended, he looked up to see Ulquiorra standing in the air above him, looking down at him. And it was then that Ichigo noticed something bizarre about the Arrancar's appearance. Namely the cube embedded in the Hole in Ulquiorra's throat. "What is that?" He sensed his own energy coming from the cube.

"Did you not listen to me earlier? Lord Aizen gave us a gift to crush you. This cube is the key to our Mejorada Resurección. And with it, I'll show you that a Human playing Hollow is no match for us. Nor is he of any use to Lord Aizen." Pointing his sword at Ichigo, Ulquiorra's eyes flashed with an emotion Ichigo had seen in them before: malice.

"Imprison: Murciélago."

The cube in his throat erupted, enveloping the Espada in a large vortex of black and red energy. Ichigo put his guard up but felt like he was being overwhelmed by the Espada's pressure until he finally emerge, reborn in his Mejorada Resurección.

Though the name of his release meant Bat, Ulquiorra now had the appearance of a fallen angel. The ebon hair he sported was now a ghostly white, long and untamed. Behind him flapped four large black wing and a tail that burned with black and green fire at the tip. From his hair grew horns made of green and black spirit energy. His Hollow hole had now moved to the center of his chest, now heart-shaped and brimming with Ichigo's spirit energy. A black robe covered his lower half.

The dark angelic Espada floated down to the ground, letting Ichigo take in his new appearance and realize the gravity of his situation. "You should have obeyed while you had the chance," Ulquiorra warned, taking a step towards the cautious Ichigo. "Now I'll drag what's left of you to Lord Aizen. If you're lucky…" his eyes, now gold, narrowed at the boy, "perhaps he'll be generous enough to put you back together piece by piece."

A spear of burning green and black energy flared to life in the empowered Espada's grasp. Ichigo steadied his blade and responded by raising his spirit pressure to the max. Ulquiorra responded in kind and they both leapt into the air, their weapons colliding.

The sound of thunder echoed across the desert. White devil and black angel dueled in the bleak purgatory of sand. With all the raw power of his Hollowfication, Ichigo threw himself into the fight, ready to tear Ulquiorra apart. Thanks to his training, he was capable of fighting evenly with Halibel in her Resurección, finally able to match her indomitable strength. But this was back when he thought his mentor and lover had been near the top of Aizen's totem pole.

Only now did he realize the truth in Ulquiorra's words. The Espada was able to push him back with little effort. Flapping all four of his wings, the demonic angel summoned a whirlwind to send Ichigo crashing down onto the dome.

"Grrrrrrr!" growled Ichigo, trying hard not to lose heart. He needed to focus. "You…won't…win!" Ichigo knew he had to finish this now. Halibel was counting on him. His friends were counting on him.

His baby was counting on him.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

The black blade in Ichigo's hands pulsed with a mad fire of red and black energy. Pouring all his anger and rage into his attack, Ichigo hurled the crescent-shaped attack at his adversary. His golden eyes narrowing, Ulquiorra held up a hand to block the attack. Ichigo was satisfied when he saw the Espada be engulfed by a massive explosion. He waited for the smoke to clear but found Ulquiorra still alive, albeit his arm bloodied from the effort.

"Hmm, you're stronger than I gave you credit for." Ulquiorra methodically noted his injured arm, surprising Ichigo with his High-Speed Regeneration. "You seem surprised. Did your teacher never tell you that my regeneration abilities are the greatest among the Espadas?"

Ichigo mentally cursed. That attack was him at his strongest and it'd only inflicted a flesh wound. And it'd easily healed. "My mistake was aiming for the wrong spot. Let's see how well your regeneration works when I take your head!"

"And your second mistake was assuming I'll give you the chance."

A finger pointed at Ichigo. A black Cero formed in front of it, ready to return the favor for Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho. Ichigo didn't wait for him to fire and jumped into the air to avoid it. The black Cero erupted from Ulquiorra's fingertip, narrowly missing the five towers and blasting the desert behind the fortress, causing a geyser of sand.

Sweat dripped down Ichigo's back. He didn't want to admit it but the power gap seemed to grow wider with each display of the Espada's strength. He clenched his sword's hilt while trying to think of a strategy. 'I don't know if I can take him alone. Maybe if I could find Halibel and we fought him two on one…'

As soon as that thought entered Ichigo's mind though, he saw something behind Ulquiorra on the far side of the dome. When his eyes honed in on it and he saw what it was, every atom of his body went cold with fright. "No! Halibel!"

Halibel lay in a pool of blood at the feet of a blue-haired Arrancar with a feral appearance. Her white sword was in pieces and her right arm had been ripped off at the elbow. Her body was a roadmap of gashes and claw marks. Even from far away he heard a groan of pain come from her bruised lips when the Arrancar stomped her head with his clawed foot.

Looking up, Grimmjow grinned when he saw Ichigo. His face might have been masked but the wicked man could guess what his expression was. "Glad you could finally join us. I'm hoping you aren't as big a disappointment as your bitch teacher." He stomped down on Halibel's head again, earning a scream of pain from the woman. "Whose top dog now, bitch?" he sneered down at her.

The sight of the woman he loved being cruelly tortured made Ichigo see red. "GET YOUR FOOT OFF OF HER!" Dashing past Ulquiorra, Ichigo let out a Hollow roar as he charged at Grimmjow. "HOW DARE YOUUUUUUUU?!" He raised his sword over his head…

STAB!

"Gackkk!"

Looking down, Ichigo saw a black hand burst out of his stomach. Behind him, Ulquiorra shook his head with disdain. "You were so rattled you completely forgot about the opponent in front of you. In the end, you were only Human. How pathetic. Your master said that she remained with you because she felt Human. Clearly you infected her with your weakness."

Ripping his hand out of Ichigo's guts, the ebon Espada raised a hand. He wasn't going to use his Black Cero. Instead he was going to use something far worse. Four green and black orbs appeared at the tips of his black wings.

"Tormenta de Murciélago."

The four orbs burst at once, creating a tornado of black energy that engulfed Ichigo. The Substitute didn't even had time to scream before he was assaulted at point-blank range. His mask shattered and his body was blasted almost to pieces by the raw force of Ulquiorra's attack.

Still held down by Grimmjow's foot, Halibel could only watch in horror as her student and lover fell to earth, his body a blackened husk, Tensa Zangetsu spilling out of his hand. Most of Ichigo's vibrant orange hair had been burned away and he looked unrecognizable. Unable to maintain his Hollowfication or even heal, Ichigo's Hollow hole closed up but his grievous wounds remained. "Ichi…go…" she grunted.

Scoffing with disdain, Ulquiorra floated down and grabbed Ichigo by his ankle, dragging him over to Halibel and Grimmjow. A bloody trail followed them as he dragged the half-dead boy to his master. His golden eyes finding Halibel's, Ulquiorra showed her the same disgust he displayed towards Ichigo. "Consider this punishment for your rebellion, traitor. You chose the wrong student."

"Tch!" Grimmjow scoffed as he looked over at the bleeding, burned Ichigo. "This kid was worth all the trouble? We might as well kill them both and be done with it."

"I agree." Ulquiorra tossed Ichigo over to Halibel, the boy's beaten body landing right next to hers. "But we have our orders. Let us finish the rest of the intruders and hand the trash over to Lord Aizen." He saw Halibel reach out to Ichigo with her remaining hand and promptly stomped it. "It is pointless to keep resisting, Halibel. You two are beaten."

"It's over. You've lost."

To be continued