Ichigo almost couldn't believe what just occurred. He watched the skinny Arrancar, who nearly tore Grimmjow's upper body, walk towards him and the girls, with his insanely large fused axe crescent moons being dragged on the sandy ground. He could see that the Arrancar was grinning, showing off perfectly clean white teeth. He felt a bit unnerved, seeing how this Arrancar was walking around for a fight, and tearing apart Grimmjow. Ichigo wasn't sure if the Espada was even alive anymore from that.

He swore that Nelliel uttered the name "Nnoitra", as if she knew him. Just who was this guy? No Arrancar would be so dumb enough to just charge at them after finishing the battle against Grimmjow. Was he one of the Espadas? He needed to know who this guy was. "Hey, who are you?!" he asked in a firm tone, but the Arrancar didn't say anything. Instead he kept up that smirk of his, not bothering to answer as if all of them were beneath him. "Are you an Espada?!" Ichigo asked yet again, hoping that at least this guy could answer that. Yet the Arrancar still kept up the silence. This irritated Ichigo. "I asked you a question! Now answer me!" this time, he demanded.

Nelliel gave a cold glare at the Arrancar. She knew who he was. Well, now that her memories came back to her at least. And quite frankly, she was disgusted with him. After all this time, he hasn't changed one bit since she met him. Nelliel gripped the handle of her sheathed sword tightly, exhibiting a look of silent anger dawned upon her. "I believe he asked you a question, Nnoitra." she spoke in a cold manner. "Don't you think it's rude not to answer that? Or are you still that incompetent brute like before?"

The grinning face that was previously seen from Nnoitra changed to a look of annoyance flashed at him. "Just what rights do you have on me, woman? You're not even an Espada anymore."

"Ugh… nngh…" everyone except Nnoitra were shocked to see Grimmjow still alive, as he gave Nnoitra a weak glare, barely able to move around anymore. "Nnoitra… you bastard…" he swore at him.

Nnoitra looked over at the beaten Grimmjow with an irritated look on his face. "What the fuck is this? You're still alive?" he jumped right over at everyone's heads and went ahead to finish Grimmjow off once and for all. However, Ichigo reacted first by stepping between both Arrancars, as he put his black sword above his head and blocked Nnoitra's axe weapon, stopping it between the opening of the crescent moons. "Huh?" Nnoitra was confused by this unexpected action. "Hey, asshole, what do you think you're doin'?"

Ichigo glared at the Arrancar. "I was gonna ask the same thing to you! What kind of a guy would attack someone who can't even move anymore?!"

"Tch!" Nnoitra responded by swinging his weapon, pushing Ichigo away from him. He proceeded to look down at the beaten Grimmjow, as he was franky disgusted at what he just saw. "You are one pathetic loser, Grimmjow! First you somehow lose to this guy, and then you have him protect you! You really are a disappointment!" he exclaimed before turning his attention back to Ichigo. "Hey, Soul Reaper, what was your name?"

"The name is Ichigo Kurosaki." he answered, preparing his weapon for another fight again. He wasn't exactly at perfect condition for another fight, with some of the wounds that Grimmjow gave him. But nonetheless, he still had plenty of energy to fight back with. He was nowhere near his limit, so that was good to know.

"Ichigo, eh?" Nnoitra made a smirk once more. "I'll make sure to remember that. But the thing is…" he raised his axe weapon as it rested right next to him. "IT'LL ONLY BE FOR SHORT MOMENTS BEFORE YOU DIE!"

Ichigo widened his eyes when Nnoitra swung his blade down right at him. A large chunk of wall had been destroyed from that strike, along with a set of debris shown from the sand. Ichigo was seen jumping from one chunk of rock to another before he leaped away. Sensing danger, he put his sword in a vertical position that stood next to his head, as Nnoitra already got in front to strike him in the head. Ichigo's sword blocked the massive weapon that tried to behead him, but he was in shock at the sheer power that held. 'What the hell?!' Ichigo looked over at Nnoitra, who was still smirking the whole time. 'He looks so scrawny, yet his strength is incredible! His strikes are stronger than Grimmjow's!' Ichigo thought, right before he crashed into the sand.

Ichigo got up, and he looked above to see Nnoitra strike him down, only for Ichigo to raise his blade above his head to block against one of the crescent moons instead of going between them. Ichigo felt his knees buckling up from the pressure from the blow. This guy was strong, that much was for sure. But it couldn't be because he was tired, right? He didn't feel tired. Yet here he was, struggling to hold this guy down. Something told him he would have to take this guy more seriously, and not hold back like he did against Grimmjow.

Ichigo got pushed back again as Nnoitra overpowered him in their brief clash. Ichigo glared at him, as he now held his sword with just one hand. This guy had to be an Espada. His attacks and speed were far greater to be some random Arrancar. And now of all times he had to be under attack, just when he thought he could get Orihime out of here somehow. He really should have known better than that.

This was when he saw Nelliel making a Sonido as she appeared in front of him. He was taken by surprise from this, seeing the woman draw her sword and pointed it right at Nnoitra. "Stay back on this one." Nelliel told him. ''This is my fight now."

Ichigo was taken aback by this. "What are you talking about?" he asked, wanting to know what the reason for this was. Why did she want him out of this fight?

"Listen to me, you've done more than enough here. You did most of the heavy work by yourself ever since you got to this place. Don't you think it's time you tag out and let me take care of this? Besides… " Nelliel took the time to give a fierce glare at Nnoitra. ''This one is a bit more personal for me. You can take Orihime with you while I keep Nnoitra busy."

Ichigo looked at her oddly. For a brief second he considered letting her fight this guy by herself, but there was a feeling in his gut that there was more to it then that. He didn't buy it.

"What's this?" Nnoitra's expression became a mix of amusement and annoyance, as he held his weapon over his shoulder. "You decide to fight me after all this time, Nelliel?" the Arrancar had a scowl on his face now. "Have you finally decided to take your revenge? I'm rather busy at the moment. My interest is at that Soul Reaper right now."

"I wouldn't necessarily call it revenge. I prefer to call it a payback for what you've done all those years ago. Or are you only fighting Ichigo just to avoid fighting me?" Nelliel asked. "If so, I see your mindset hasn't changed to that being of an animal."

"Watch your tongue around me!" Nnoitra rebuked with a harsh tone. "I'm not like how I was before!" he released his tongue now, showing off a tattoo of a number 5 on it. Ichigo and Nelliel were surprised by this, but they kept their composure. "That worthless scum that's lying on the ground beated the hell out of you before you managed to defeat him." he looked over at Ichigo. "And I'm stronger than he is."

Ichigo casted his eyes at Nelliel. "Should I know what's going on? I get the vibe that you two know each other."

"You could say that." Nelliel answered, not averting her eyes away from Nnoitra. "He's the bastard that cut my mask off that got me kicked out of Las Noches and stranded at Hueco Mundo, along with losing memories of my past."

Ichigo widened his eyes by this before he took a turn to glare at Nnoitra. "Bastard…" he swore at him before turning back to Nelliel.

"I told you enough as it is. You just get out of here and take Orihime with you. I should at least be capable of holding him out on my own." Nelliel told Ichigo as she looked at him from the corner of her eye, urging him to get out of here. "This a personal matter now."

Ichigo scowled at this. "Sorry, but I can't do that."

"Listen, if you're worried about my safety, that's cute and all but I'm more than capable of—"

"—Taking care of yourself, I know that." Ichigo kept persisting, as he now grabbed Nelliel by her shoulder. "I know this is something personal for you, but this is no time for that. I get that I was being an idiot when I wasn't taking Grimmjow seriously, but you shouldn't do something like this either. Don't you think it would be faster if both of us worked together to take this guy out?"

Nelliel contemplated about what he offered. One side of her wanted to take care of this by herself and teach Nnoitra a lesson… the same thing she had been doing for who knows how long, no matter how many times she humiliated him, he always kept coming back for more until it came back to bite her when dropping her guard. And she had to say that enough was enough.

Nelliel sighed, seeing where Ichigo was coming from this. "Fine... I guess you're right. It would be faster if we took him out together."

"So, you two finally decided to fight me together, eh?" Nnoitra's grin returned to him. "That's fine by me. In fact, I'm glad this is happening. It would be taking out two birds with one stone. But you two should really pay more attention to your surroundings!" he exclaimed. "Tesla!"

"Sir!" Tesla made a Sonido from out of nowhere as he got behind Orihime and put his arm around her neck so he could pin her down on the ground. Orihime was surprised from this, but she still kept her ground.

"Hey!" Ichigo exclaimed in frustration. "Let her go!"

"Cut the crap!" Nnoitra pointed a finger at Ichigo, showing a delirious grin. "So you are one of those guys that think if his little bitch is safe, then they have a shot at taking a bastard down! That's not how it works, ya little dipshit! Now you might as well consider yourself dead…" he tilted his head. "Well, look at that, I already forgot your name."

Nnoitra threw his weapon at both Ichigo and Nelliel, with the crescent moon at front to pierce through their bodies. Ichigo used a Flash Step to get away from it, while Nelliel jumped backward to get out of the way. Nnoitra went after Nelliel now, as he leaped in the air to do the same thing as before, throwing his weapon at her while keeping his hand on the hilt. Nelliel began to use her Sonido to get away from the axe blade, now with the weapon being thrown at her over and over, but Nelliel still managed to dodge it regardless.

Nnoitra then turned around to swing his blade horizontally in the air, as Ichigo managed to get behind him. Ichigo ducked lower when the weapon came at him, missing him completely. Ichigo charged at Nnoitra as he swung his own blade horizontally in an attempt to cut off the Espada's head. Nnoitra ducked his head in time, as Ichigo missed to behead him. "You move very well! This isn't the first time you ever fought someone with a long ranged weapon, is it?!" Nnoitra exclaimed with a smirk.

"Second time actually!" Ichigo answered back, remembering the encounter he had with his Inner Hollow.

"Is that so?!" Nnoitra moved his weapon back, aa he managed to hit Ichigo's back with the hilt instead, making Ichigo grunt in pain as he crashed down on the sand.

"Honestly…" Nelliel made a Sonido as she got to Ichigo's side, helping him pick himself up. "Have you no shame at all? You barge right in here immediately after another battle has been dealt with. You don't even wait for the chance of someone to heal themselves before picking a fight."

"Are you fucking stupid?!" Nnoitra became irritated when Nelliel spoke. "This is a battle, you dumb bitch! A battle was never supposed to be fair! It is a monster born from unfairness and intolerance! I cannot stand that guy. I can beat that guy. I cannot forgive that guy. Do you understand now?!" Nnoitra began to walk toward the Soul Reaper and the former Espada. "Our enemies are made from all sorts of various reasons! The instant you make someone your enemy, you are at war at them until someone draws their final breath!" he proceeded to glare at Ichigo. "Bursting into your enemy's headquarters, acting like a showoff, and not expecting anyone to be gunning for you, is just a bad joke!"

Nelliel made a small, frustrated sigh. "You really are an ignorant fool, aren't you? You're still trying to prove you're better than everybody? I do admit that you have gotten much stronger since the last time we met, but your childish mindset hasn't changed at all. Your way of describing battles suits you quite well. You're a nobody who seeks battles, and wouldn't hesitate to attack his opponents when they're down just to prove you're stronger. You do everything you can to prove that."

Ichigo scowled at this. He could understand the enjoyment of a battle, even if it was done for just no reason but to fight. But going in to enjoy to prove you were better than anyone by striking opponents down for the count was sickening.

Nnoitra scoffed at this, looking more irritated at Nelliel. "You just love to lecture me, don't you? The weaklings who can't even stand to fight for themselves just deserve to perish! A fight was never meant to be fair to begin with! It's necessary to show off one's strength, if you don't then you might as well be weak! If I can get a good kick out of anything, it doesn't matter what I do in the long run!"

"I wouldn't bother giving you a lecture. All I did was just give you a reality check of how weak you really are." Nelliel retorted. "I guess all this time you were in denial."

Tesla and Orihime were watching the battle unfold. The Fraccion still held his arm around Orihime's neck, keeping her in place so that she couldn't move. However, Orihime wouldn't get to allow someone like him to just keep her hostage so easily like this. She would have to make an effort to help out Ichigo and Nel against the Espada.

Tesla could already see that the girl looked at him from the corner of her eye, thinking that she would get to escape him from under his grasp. "Don't even think about using your powers against me. While it is true that your power is quite tremendous, the spiritual bodies that organize into the Rikka are extremely fragile. Even I should be able to destroy them with ease. The only reason I do not do so is because your power belongs to Lord Aizen. Lord Aizen strictly ordered us not to attack your Rikka, unless we were attacked first. So for your sake, do not resist."

"... Really? And just who said I needed my powers to get out of this?"

Tesla was confused by this, right until Orihime grabbed his arm and proceeded to flip him over her, down to the sandy ground, something that greatly surprised him. Orihime began to run over to help out Ichigo and Nelliel, however she stopped her tracks when Tesla appeared in front of her by using Sonido.

"I warned you what would happen if you came to attack. Now you forced my hand." Tesla said, in a stern tone before he charged at Orihime.

Ichigo leaped right at Nnoitra, charging at him with a straightforward attack, making him have a clear opening. "Man, is that all you're capable of?!" Nnoitra exclaimed with amusement of seeing such a simple attack. He charged his weapon straight at Ichigo, but to his surprise, the Soul Reaper dodged by stepping beside it before he leaped right at Nnoitra with his sword in hand to stab the Espada in the face, who was left with an opening.

Nnoitra stepped aside to avoid Ichigo's blow, but not before he went on to grab Tensa Zangetsu by his bare hand. The sword slided past by the Espada's hand, as it was only able to just make sparks come out, not even an ounce of scratch was shown on Nnoitra at all. "What the hell?!" Ichigo was shocked by this. How did his sword not cause any damage to that?!

"What the hell was that? Does that sword only look sharp?" Nnoitra mocked Ichigo, before he went on to headbutt Ichigo, sending him flying through a boulder.

"You wanna test my sword instead?" before Nnoitra could react properly, he felt sharp pain as blood sprayed from his chest by a horizontal slash. Nnoitra looked down to see Nelliel crouching down, giving him that same look she used to. The one where she looked down on him. It infuriated the 5th Espada.

"You bitch!" Nnoitra angrily swung his axe blade down to smash her flat, but Nelliel used her Sonido to get out of the way before reappearing behind Nnoitra in the air and landed on the ground.

Nelliel looked at the wound that she caused on Nnoitra. She made a small frown when she looked at it. That was a little odd, she could swear that cut should have done more damage than that.

Ichigo carried himself up, as his hand grabbed onto a piece of a remaining boulder he crashed through. His eyes were looking at the battle that was carried on between the two Arrancars. "What was that earlier?" he asked himself. He continued to see how Nnoitra fought Nelliel, and he could clearly see that she was the one who kept him under pressure, using her speed and combine it with her powerful strikes to gain the upper hand, and he could notice that she was using sword techniques as well.

Despite all this, he could swear that even though Nelliel was gaining the upper hand, there was little damage shown on Nnoitra to begin with. What made it strange to him was how casually he was able to just grab his Tensa Zangetsu like it was just a wooden sword. The only time this ever happened was during his first battle with Kenpachi, with the giant being capable of grabbing Zangetsu without damaging himself. Because of Kenpachi's Spiritual Pressure being far larger than his back then, he couldn't sustain any damage until he resolved himself.

But that can't be the case with this guy. There was no doubt he was more powerful than Grimmjow, but his Spiritual Pressure couldn't be that large. He didn't feel such ridiculous power that made him buckle under his knees. There had to be something more to it then that. Ichigo looked over to see how Orihime was doing. He could see that she was having matters of her own to deal with, as she got engaged to a physical brawl against the Arrancar. Taking care of this guy by himself would be no problem to him, but seeing how Orihime was surprisingly gaining the upper hand, there would be no need for him to intervene.

As of now, figuring out the secret behind Nnoitra's powerful defense was his priority. It was only for a brief moment, but he felt as though there was a force that prevented his sword to cut through Nnoitra. He needed to know just what it was, and see to explore the weakness behind the truth.

Tesla rolled over backwards until he crashed through a boulder, with the crushed piece of rocks falling down on him. He was infuriated, as he got back up and glared at the human girl that was doing this to him. How could this be happening? It shouldn't be remotely possible for a human girl to be a match against an Arrancar.

Orihime took on her fighting stance, getting herself ready for another one of Tesla's attacks. She saw him use Sonido to boost his speed so he could gain some advantage against her. But in her eyes, the Arrancar moved quite slow, making her able to easily keep up with him. Tesla got in front of her, and threw a punch that was aimed at her gut. Orihime was able to counter by throwing her palm downwards, hitting Tesla's wrist in doing so, which made the Arrancar miss his attack.

Tesla hissed, feeling that same feeling of pain once more. But this pain felt different. Whenever this girl hit him with her palms, there wasn't any physical damage shown on him, but this pain felt as though it was coming from inside his body. How was that possible?

Tesla threw a kick at Orihime's body, only for the teen girl to raise her knee to block the Arrancar's kick. Orihime made a counter by jumping at Tesla and kicked him in the head, making him stumble backwards. Orihime went on the offense as she ran at Tesla, and hit him in the face with her fist. Tesla tried to hit the girl back, but she merely ducked her head before striking him in the torso by thrusting her palm.

Orihime saw Tesla grunt, before she went on to kick him in the gut, sending him flying backwards. 'It's good to know that all that month and a half of training is paying off.' she thought to herself. Besides improving on her powers, the Vizards also had her train in hand to hand combat, having to learn a few more martial arts besides karate. 'Seems that my new fighting style does seem to take effect… Well somewhat.'

The new fighting skill she picked up on was during the hand to hand training, something that Hachi did help her with to get the basics down. However, the use of this was extremely limited, only being able to guess randomly to attack someone's body without having some sort of perceptive vision. That wasn't to say that the damage couldn't be useful, as this fighting style provided more internal damage, rather than external. Orihime figured it was now as good time as any to use it against an opponent weaker than her.

Nelliel deflected the heavy weapon from her opponent with ease, as she twisted her body in mid air. She didn't need to see that Nnoitra had an opening handed to her, with his weapon nearly being blown back by her blow. The distance between them was just close enough for the former Espada to kick Nnoitra in the face hard enough for him to get sent through a nearby boulder. She landed gracefully landed on the ground with her feet.

At that moment, Ichigo showed up with a Flash Step, as he stood next by her side. "Are you alright?" Nellel asked, seeing some scratches formed on Ichigo's face.

"I'm fine." Ichigo answered her, but his attention seemed to be focused on their enemy that was trying to kill them before turning his attention back to her. "Hey, this might sound weird, but did you notice anything strange when you were clashing with him?" he asked, hoping that she would notice about Nnoitra's strange defense.

"Strange?" Nelliel looked at the teen with some confusion shown on her. "Not very much from what I noticed." she looked back at over Nnoitra, who was now starting to be seen once more. "Though there was something that bugged me. Anytime I did clash with him, I was able to cut him, but it never did as much damage as I thought it would."

"I was hoping you'd notice that." Ichigo said. "My sword wasn't able to even scratch him. I would understand if his Spiritual Pressure was far greater than mine, but it doesn't seem like that if he's only the 5th Espada. Yet it feels like something gets in the way when I do that."

"To be honest, it feels like that as well…" Nelliel commented, as she could now fully see Nnoitra again. "But all you would need to do is just strike him much harder than you tried before. You could use that Hollow mask of yours." she suggested.

Ichigo shook his head in a negative response. "No. It's risky. I only use that when I'm in deep trouble. I still haven't gotten the hang of it just yet, and it takes a ton of stamina out of me. I could hit him harder, but I need to try something else here. I gotta figure out what's the thing that makes his defense so damn tough, I can't just charge in blindly over and over."

"So what should we do?" Nelliel asked, curious to know on just what Ichigo had in mind.

"I think I'm gonna take the lead from here on out." Ichigo told her, as he started walking over to Nnoitra.

Nelliel was somewhat confused by this. "You're going to fight him by yourself?"

"Of course not, I still need you here." Ichigo looked back at her, showing her a rather serious look. "If that was the case, I would have you take out that Arrancar that Orihime is fighting. I need you to stay here till you intervene when an opening is made."

"Is there anything specific I would need to know when opening comes?" Nelliel asked.

"Why would you ask that? You've known this guy longer than I have." Ichigo simply answered her. "You should know when you see one. And as for me?" he made a smirk as he walked on the battlefield. "I have a plan."

Nnoitra watched as Ichigo was approaching him all by himself. Needless to say, he was a bit surprised by this approach, not understanding why that bitch wasn't helping him. "What's this now?" Nnoitra asked, as Ichigo stopped walking, being close enough to where he was at. "Are you going to fight me by yourself now?"

"Why does that matter to you?" Ichigo asked, as he pointed his sword at Nnoitra. "I'm not gonna fight you all alone because of some twisted change of mind that I can beat you, all I wanna do is just try something out. That's all."

Nnoitra scowled at this. "What the hell are you talking about? Do you have some death wish or somethin'? Just what makes you think you're able to take me on by yourself?!"

Ichigo prepared his fighting stance. "Who said fighting you alone was my intention?"

"Don't play smartass with me!" Nnoitra exclaimed, as he began to run over at Ichigo.

'Alright, here goes nothing.' Ichigo thought, preparing himself for the temporary solo fight.

Nnoitra raised his weapon above his head and brought it down on Ichigo, who responded by swinging his sword diagonally. Their weapons clashed against one another, both shown to buckle from one another. Nnoitra was shown to be smirking, and Ichigo was gritting his teeth, struggling to overcome Nnoitra's heavy blade. In the end, Nnoitra pushed Ichigo away from him, overpowered him with sheer strength. Ichigo immediately charged over again, as he began to make an onslaught of barrage, swinging his blade over and over at Nnoitra. The Espada was able to block almost all of them with his blade, though there had been a few close calls. This was happening while Ichigo was the one to push Nnoitra back, but he still wasn't able to make an ounce of damage.

Ichigo noted that Nnoitra was relying on the massive handle to block out his attacks, while also swinging his axe blade at him at the same. Nnoitra swung his axe down diagonally, which Ichigo blocked it by twisting his sword to put it over his head. Nnoitra striked back again by swinging at the same position, only just upwards. Ichigo quickly countered by swinging downwards between the crescent moons, only for that to get him overpowered and give Nnoitra a chance to attack him again. Ichigo hit the axe blade directly with his sword.

Once more did Nnoitra push back Ichigo away from him, giving each other another distance. This time Nnoitra closed it bt throwing his massive weapon right at Ichigo so he could pierce him in half, but Ichigo leaped in the air to get away from a lethal attack like that, making Nnoitra miss him in the process. While still in mid air, Ichigo leaped downwards at Nnoitra, with the sword still in his hands. When he got just close enough, Nnoitra pulled back his blade by grabbing onto the large chains and forcefully yanked it over so it could cut Ichigo. But the Soul Reaper managed to slice his shoulder first before he used a Flash Step to get away from the weapon. Nnoitra grabbed the handle and got it back, before seeing Ichigo right in front of him.

"You're certainly able to think quick on your feet, ain'tcha!" Nnoitra exclaimed before jumping in the air and brought his weapon down at Ichigo, who proceeded to use a Flash Step to dodge that attack.

"Same goes for you!" Ichigo replied back, but Nnoitra used a Sonido to go after him. Ichigo widened his eyes when he sensed that Nnoitra was just directly behind him, just about to horizontally swing his blade at his head. Ichigo managed to duck down in the nick of time when the blade swung at him, and making his own counter when getting up, he turned around to slice Nnoitra's chest, only for sparks to come out flying once more. 'Something is blocking me!' Ichigo thought to himself before Nnoitra turned his weapon to another side and thrusted his handle to hit Ichigo in the face. Ichigo made another Flash Step to avoid getting hit.

"What's the matter with you?" Nnoitra asked with a smirk as he made his weapon rest on the ground, turning around to face at Ichigo. "You should have been better to tag team with Nelliel against me. Don't you get it already? Your sword can't cut me!"

Ichigo made a scowl, resting his sword diagonally against his chest. He needed to know just what was with that defense. He could at least confirm that it felt as though there was some force that prevented from cutting through the Hierro. But what was it? Maybe if he could somehow get him to talk… "I just don't get what the hell is going on. Why is it that every time I try cutting you, nothing happens at all."

"Haha!" Nnoitra chuckled from being asked by a question such as that. "This shouldn't go on without saying, but out of all the Espadas that exist, my Hierro is the most strongest there is!" he boasted. "There's nothing that's able to be cut by a Soul Reaper!"

"Strongest Hierro?" Ichigo raised his eyebrow, forming some confusion around his face.

"I already showed that your sword will never be able to cut me, no matter what different methods you try, or how many times you go at it, your sword will never be able to cut me!" Nnoitra exclaimed.

Something felt odd about that statement. There were doubts in Ichigo's mind from those words. He knew for sure that Nelliel was able to cut him earlier, after all blood spilled from him. If there was was such a thing as the strongest Hierro, shouldn't that belong to the strongest Espada that was ranked far above him? Nelliel was able to cut him, and she was ranked number 3, or used to be at least.

"Let's see how true your words do hold up…" Ichigo held his sword with one hand, gripping it at the front. 'The sword that blocked me did feel as though that something pushed me back. It was a strong force… wait a minute…' Ichigo widened his eyes, as he started to get an idea on what was going on behind Nnoitra's defense. 'Could it be that the feeling I got was Spiritual Pressure? But how?'

"You're wasting your time!" Nnoitra launched his hammer mace at Ichigo's legs in an effort to badly injure them, but Ichigo launched a Getsuga Tenshou to counter against the weapon. It worked as the Espada's mace was thrown back, something that took Nnoitra by surprise.

Ichigo charged over at Nnoitra once more, with his sword being from behind. He got just close enough to start swinging it diagonally to slice through Nnoitra's neck. Once again, this had done nothing but put through more scrapes instead. Ichigo put both his hands at the handle and put through more effort at cutting Nnoitra. He managed to get around halfway through cutting his body before Nnoitra kicked him in the abdomen, getting him away. Ichigo held his gut from the pain on that blow handed to him.

'So that's how it is... I think I finally get it now. His Hierro isn't only working automatically, It's operated by something else as well. I never felt something like that when I fought that big guy, or Grimmjow, or hell even with Ulquiorra.' Ichigo thought, coming to terms with the work behind Nnoitra's defense. He furrowed his eyebrows, making a small frown. 'So if his Hierro is backed up by his Spirit Energy, the only way I'll have to come close to damage is counter my Spirit Energy against his, making it higher than his. But I'm using everything I have in my Bankai state. How do I make it go higher without using my mask?'

Nelliel was watching the battle unfold, clearly noticing Ichigo's struggle against Nnoitra. At any point of time, she could interfere with the fight and give Ichigo a helping hand, but she still had to stand back till she saw an opening handed to her. 'How long will it take him to figure out Nnoitra's Hierro? Or unless he figured it out already? All I know is that I gotta put trust in him to figure out a proper counter against that Hierro of his. He has to have some plan to fight him alone.' she thought to herself, still keeping up her guard to detect the right time to strike.

Orihime made a sweep kick, getting Tesla to trip down on the ground and fall on his back. Tesla used his Sonido to get strike Orihime from behind, but the girl reacted in time by elbowing the Arrancar's gut, making him gasp out loudly. Orihime added another combo of performing a spin kick on Tesla's hip, before punching him in the face.

Tesla got thrown back while still keeping his feet firmly on the ground. He took out his sword from its sheath, and used Sonido to get next to Orihime's side, grabbing her arm so he could give her a deep wound. Orihime used her other hand to grab Tesla's right wrist, where the sword was held on that arm, preventing him from moving it any closer to cut her arm. Orihime proceeded to make a backflip while still holding Tesla's wrist, right before she landed on her feet and got directly behind Tesla. The Arrancar was grunting in pain, with his arm being somewhat twisted from the position it was held from behind cause of the girl.

Orihime didn't waste time, instead she kicked Tesla's back and let go of his arm, as Tesla fell down on the ground face first. Tesla gritted his teeth, as he started to pick himself up by using his hands and feet. He turned back to look at the human girl, who was just handling a Hollow like him so easily. Nothing he did could even put a scratch on her.

It was ludicrous, even if she somehow wasn't human she shouldn't be giving him such a hard time like this. He wasn't being left with much choice on his hands, as the option that was still open was to use his Resurección against her, to give him some fighting chance.

"Crush…" Tesla put his sword in a horizontal position, as he started to glow with green and yellow energy. "Verruga!" his body started to be covered by a wind that surrounded his entire body. The transformation lasted in an instant, as Tesla's Resurección form was revealed. Orihime widened her eyes when she saw what he looked like. Tesla took the form of a large, warthog-like creature. His mask grew to cover his entire face, and also produce a pair of tusks. His hair also grew into a mane, and on his chest are six exclamation point-like markings, three per pec.

"Uh oh…" Orihime started to step backwards, seeing the large creature starting to approach her.

"You won't find it so easy to beat me in this form unlike before. Do not worry, I will not kill you as you are still important to Lord Aizen." Tesla spoke, looking down at the teen girl. "However… do not expect me to take you lightly!"

He threw a fist down at Orihime, who quickly used her defensive shield to defend herself from the attack. The shield seemed to have been able to withstand Tesla's hit without so much as a problem. Orihime tried to think of something for herself, to gain some advantage on her side, knowing that her normal attacks wouldn't be able to leave a dent on a thing like that.

Tesla lifted his leg and put it down in an attempt to squash Orihime, but the girl rolled out of the way and started to run at the opposite direction.

"Haagh!" Nnoitra swung his mace at Ichigo, who proceed to duck down from the crescent moons that went at him, and managed to get in front of the Espada before going ahead to make a diagonal slash at his neck, only proving to do nothing.

Nnoitra yanked his weapon back by pulling the chains. Ichigo tried to cut the chains that were connected to the weapon, only to be met with another failure as he wasn't even able to cut those as well. 'Did he manage to make those chains more durable as well?!' Ichigo thought as he used Flash Step to get to another side. Nnoitra swung his blade downward at the Substitute, who swung his sword upwards to counter the blow. Their weapons clashed for brief moments before Ichigo made his turn by swinging his sword and hit the flat side of Nnoitra's blade, though Nnoitra pushed Ichigo's sword back by swinging his mace diagonally and wasted no time to swing it down at Ichigo to cleave him in half.

Ichigo used a Flash Step to dodge the lethal blow and get behind Nnoitra, but instead of swinging his sword down he used a Getsuga Tensho. Nnoitra turned around to look at Ichigo just enough to be met by the Getsuga, taking a blow like that from point blank range. "Gaargh!" Ichigo heard Nnoitra exclaim in pain from the blow, and he used a Flash Step to dodge when he saw the mace swung in front of him.

The smoke cleared up quickly, revealing Nnoitra once more. Though it wasn't very much, Ichigo could still see that there were some burns that covered Nnoitra's body. The Espada frankly looked annoyed by this. Despite how little it was revealed, there was still some damage shown on Nnoitra.

Nnoitra checked his body that was covered in some burns, though the said burns were barely there to begin with. He looked back at Ichigo, who was still keeping his guard up. "Why did you stop at that attack?" Nnoitra asked, wanting an answer given to him. Instead, Ichigo remained silent on his part. "Oh, I see how it is. You think just because you gave me some lucky burns, that you have a chance of beating my by yourself now. Is that how it is?!" Nnoitra pointed his mace at Ichigo.

"Luck?" Ichigo quirked one of his eyebrows, giving Nnoitra a questioning look. "I dunno about that, why don't you keep fighting and find out?"

Nnoitra leaped at Ichigo, his weapon hung by both of his hands from behind and swings it upwards at Ichigo, who merely used Flash Step to get out of the way. Nnoitra saw that Ichigo only got away, to separate himself further from his opponent. Nnoitra did the same attack pattern once more, only this time he swung his weapon downwards. Ichigo used Flash Step once more, except now he was in the air. Nnoitra looked up from above to see where Ichigo was at. When seeing he was in mid air, the Espada was frustrated from this. "Hey! What the fuck is the matter with you?! Get over here and fight!" Nnoitra exclaimed, prompting Ichigo to come down and finish their fight.

Ichigo made a response, the one being a taunt where he moved his hand and waved it back at himself, daring Nnoitra to come at him instead. "You little shit!" the provoking worked, as Nnoitra jumped in the air to come after Ichigo. He swung his weapon at Ichigo's hip so he could cut him there, but Ichigo got away further by doing Flash Step again. Nnoitra was becoming more infuriated by the Soul Reaper acting passive now. "Get over here and fight!" Nnoitra called out, now launching his weapon as a projectile at Ichigo.

Ichigo could see the projectile coming at him. Instead of making a counter, he only dodged once more via Flash Step, making the projectile miss him. Nnoitra pulled his weapon back and kept turning his head around to locate where Ichigo was. He turned around, and looked down to see that the teenage Substitute was now seen all the way down at bottom ground again.

Nnoitra grit his teeth, scoffing at what Ichigo had been doing. "What is his problem here? First he challenges me, and now he's just avoiding me! Well then, if that's how we're gonna play…" Nnoitra threw his mace in the air before catching the large chains with his hand. "Let's see how he's like when he can't see!" he began to spin his massive blade with just one arm, and Ichigo looked to see that Nnoitra began to make a whirlwind with how much force he was spinning that weapon of his.

From a normal glance, it would look as though it was a small tornado. There wasn't anybody seen in it from an outside perspective. From inside the whirlwind, Nnoitra threw his weapon down at Ichigo to where he was at the ground. Nnoitra felt something connect, but suddenly he forcefully got pulled down when someone grabbed the chains. The whirlwind cleared up, and he was shocked to see that Nelliel, now beside Ichigo's side, was the one that pulled him down below with her bare hand. Nnoitra wasn't able to react in time when Nelliel grabbed him by the face with her hand before pinning him down at the ground. Nnoitra widened his eye when seeing Ichigo jumping from above to cut him through his forehead. Nnoitra got out of Nelliel's grip by rolling over on the ground, getting away from the both. Ichigo's sword only cut the ground. Nnoitra rolled over enough till he got up, pulling his mace back before grabbing it by the hilt.

"Well that's just weird…" Ichigo said, looking down at the ground before he looked over at Nnoitra.

Nnoitra scowled at this. "What are you talking about?"

"Earlier in our fight you told me that you possess the strongest Hierro out of all the Espada. Yet right now, you backed away from my last strike. If you were so confident about your Hierro, why didn't you try to take that last attack of mine?" Ichigo asked, questioning Nnoitra's last reaction. "It wasn't able to cut you before, so why did you just try to dodge that last strike?"

Nnoitra glared at Ichigo, his scowl becoming deeper. "Isn't it obvious?! You would learn by now that dodging is an instinct! It's a reflex that's needed to defeat your opponent!"

"But dodging an attack from an opponent who's presumed to be far lower than you shouldn't have been such an issue now, would it?" Nelliel wasn't convinced by Nnoitra's words. "Dodging means it's dangerous. That last attack was dangerous to you now, wasn't it?"

"I guess that Hierro isn't really as tough as you made it out to be." Ichigo said. "Otherwise, it wouldn't have been cut that easily."

"What did you say?!" Nnoitra scoffed at what he was just told.

"You can't just tell someone that your Hierro is the strongest there is, only for it to be cut down minutes later. You looked rather shocked when that happened." Ichigo pointed out. "You were right when you said that Hierro of yours is durable, so far it's the toughest I ever felt. But through each clash I came in contact with, something kept bothering me. I wanted to know just what was up with that Hierro."

Nelliel looked over at Ichigo in curiosity. "It's why you also wanted to fight Nnoitra by yourself for a while, because I felt that strange feeling as well."

This was where Nnoitra widened his eye, a look of shock coming across his face as realization started to dawn upon him.

Ichigo nodded his head, noticing the look on Nnoitra's face. "That's right, I didn't have anything else in mind but to come up with a hypothesis; that being if his Hierro did work on its own like this guy said, or if it was operated by something else. That's why I needed to prove if my hypothesis was correct or not."

"And just what did you get?" Nelliel asked, wanting to know just what Ichigo got.

"It was actually both." Ichigo answered her, which was something that confused Nelliel and Nnoitra. "His Hierro really did work automatically like it does with other Espadas, but there was something else that separated him from the others. But if it was just like how he said it was, he would either have a Spiritual Pressure so large that it wouldn't allow him to be cut by either of us, but that first one would be incorrect, considering you were able to damage him earlier on in the battle."

"Eh?" Nnoitra seemed rather confused by Ichigo's conclusion.

"Wait, what do you mean both of your theories were correct?" Nelliel needed to know on just what Ichigo was talking about.

"It was easy figuring it out after the first few tries. It appears that he has two types of Hierro. One is the standard Hierro and the second is his special Hierro that he add as a layer on top of the first, it is enhanced accordingly by his Spiritual Energy. A fake out or a tag team would be the perfect way to attack. No wonder why he appear to be the type who fights 1v1." Ichigo explained the topic.

"So in other words the first variation of his Hierro is a decoy while the other attacks. It was just an idle boast to begin with. Each Espada is unique from one another with their appearance, their personality, and some of their skills. Guess we found out what Nnoitra's skill was." Nelliel could see that Nnoitra was more confused by this. "Meaning it is very possible to cut him down. And all it would have to take is put much more effort into our power and speed to properly damage him?" she looked back at Ichigo for confirmation.

"Sure does." Ichigo nodded his head.

"I don't understand just one thing, if you did figure out what I did a while back, then why did you keep on fighting me?" Nnoitra asked.

"The answer to that is rather simple, I had to keep taking guesses at your regular Hierro and your enhanced one, just so I would be able to know how thick both versions are." Ichigo swung his sword from behind, creating a dust of smoke in doing so. "Thanks for that. I think I'm able to get a general idea how strong your skin is now. All I have to do that is just sharpen my Spiritual Pressure…" he crouched down as he rested the tip of his sword on the ground. "I think I might have an idea what to do against that."

Nelliel looked at Ichigo from the corner of her eye, noting on the new demeanor he was pulling. 'What's gotten into him all of a sudden? It's as if though his mind has become sharper and slipped past my notice. Earlier before he mostly pushed past his enemies without much thought, but as of now he's being more cautious and relies on strategies. Where did he get all this?'

"What to do against…" Nnoitra was practically in shock. The kid didn't actually mean he found a way to counter against his Hierro, did he? And in such a short amount of time as well? No, he had to be bluffing. 'Does he think he can actually cut me now?!'

"Alright, let's give this a try." Ichigo's blade started to get wrapped in a familiar state of black and red energy, seemingly about to unleash another Getsuga Tenshou.

"Are you for real right now?" Nnoitra looked at Ichigo like he was some idiot. "Have you already forgotten that technique of yours wasn't able to work against me?!"

Ichigo didn't say anything, but instead his reply was backed by his action as he lunged at Nnoitra. ''Graaaaaagh!" he made a battle cry as he swung his sword, but instead of releasing the Getsuga, he still managed to keep it from firing and compress it within his blade. Nelliel and Nnoitra widened their eyes from this, with Nnoitra instinctively putting his mace at front to block the Getsuga from attacking him. Their weapons clashed once more, but this time Ichigo was able to push back Nnoitra. "Haaaaaagh!" Ichigo yelled out as he seemed to be overpowering Nnoitra.

'What the hell?! He's compressing that Getsuga of his! When did he do that?!' Nnoitra thought to himself as he kept getting pushed back. ''That's enough!" he exclaimed in annoyance as he swung his weapon, sending Ichigo away from him in the air.

It wasn't until Nelliel came in front, and managed to slash Nnoitra across his chest. Nnoitra didn't have enough time to react on enhancing his Hierro, and as such there was blood spilled from him. "Shit!" Nnoitra sweared, backing away from the former Espada. Nelliel leaped forward to go after Nnoitra, her body moving elegantly while poking her sword forward. Nnoitra thrusted his mace forward as well to cut through Nelliel's body, but she merely side stepped out of the way and put her sword against the back of Nnoitra's weapon, preventing him from getting it back. "What the fuck are you doin'?!"

Nelliel didn't bother to answer him, but instead she gave him a look that Nnoitra saw she was still looking down on him. It wasn't until Ichigo came back right at Nnoitra's side, who had his sword in the air and was about to strike it down on Nnoitra. The 5th Espada widened his eye, and he moved his left arm to enhance his Hierro there. "If you're planning on cutting me, I told you it won't—" Ichigo cut him off when he struck his sword down at his arm, the black and red energy coming out from the sword. It wasn't until that some blood began to pour out from his arm, albeit there was little of it. Nevertheless it still made Nnoitra shocked by this, and because of his lack of attention to Nelliel, she took this opportunity to kick him in the gut, sending him flying back.

"You bastards!" Nnoitra exclaimed in irritation, right before he pulled his tongue out, and a glimmer of golden yellow energy came from his tip. He was charging a Cero blast.

"Shit!" Ichigo was about to get ready to dodge away from the attack when Nelliel stepped in front of him. "What are you doing?!" he asked her, not knowing why exactly was she just standing there and not bothering to move.

"There's nothing to worry about that Cero, I know just the right method to stop it." just as Nelliel said that, Nnoitra went on to fire her Cero at the both of them. Nelliel raised her hand and managed to catch the Cero with ease. Ichigo was surprised by this, but that surprise turned into shock when he saw her starting to absorb the Cero in her mouth. She sucked every drop of it until there was nothing left of it.

Then Ichigo became dumbfounded when he saw Nelliel fire the Cero back from her mouth, on top of her own pink Cero as well. Nnoitra stood in shock before the combined Cero hit him directly head on, causing a powerful explosion to occur by from the attack. "Wha… what the hell was that?" Ichigo asked, pointing his finger from the explosion.

"Oh right, I forgot you never saw this from me." Nelliel sheepishly rubbed her head with a goofy grin as she turned to look at Ichigo. "What you just saw was my technique, Cero Doble. It allows me to absorb a Cero from any Hollow, and combine it with my own Cero to fire it right back at them, the attack being more powerful than their original."

Ichigo blinked his eyes from that. "That's… convenient to know…" he looked over at the explosion that Nel caused, making a small frown in doing do. "Damn, he's still alive."

Nelliel looked over to where Ichigo was looking at, and she could still sense Nnoitra's presence within the curtains of the smoke. "You're right…" she murmured, lowering her sword down before looking directly at Ichigo. "But he shouldn't have too much energy left. Can you do me a favor and finish him off instead?" she could see Ichigo was giving her a puzzled look. "It's just that… you would be able to do it quicker against Nnoitra rather than I would."

Ichigo didn't fully understand, but nevertheless he nodded his head and began walk over to where Nnoitra was at. This stopped rather quickly, when a tremendous spike in Spiritual Pressure increased, making his and Nelliel's eyes widen in shock. He could recognize it belonged to Nnoitra. And it did as all the smoke that was seen before just vanished, and there stood Nnoitra, whose body was covered in golden energy. But the Espada looked as though he could barely stand anymore, and beneath him was a pool of his own blood. The sleeves on his Hierro were completely gone, along with his overgrown spoon-like hood.

"You… fuckin' dipshits…" Nnoitra's words contained hatred in them, glaring venomously at both Ichigo and Nel. "Like I would ever die… against the likes of you!" he could barely clench onto his weapon, glaring daggers at his enemies. "I... I... I…" Ichigo couldn't believe that there was a Hollow hole on Nnoitra's other eye, the one where that eye patch of his covered was gone as well. "I AIN'T GONNA FUCKIN' DIE!" he raised his weapon upwards, about to head to the next level. "PRAY, SANTA TERESA!"

Gusts of wind were being released as Nnoitra began to enter in his Resurección state. Ichigo and Nelliel were practically covering their eyes so that the sand couldn't hit their eyeballs. "What the hell is going on?! His Spiritual Pressure is increasing like crazy!" Ichigo yelled.

Nelliel hadn't said anything, only watching as Nnoitra went into his Resurección form. There was a glimpse of cold sweat from her forehead, as she became worried about their odds now. She felt as though she should go into her Resurección as well to counter against the powerful Spiritual Pressure being released here. Never did she think that day would come against Nnoitra.

The wind started to settle down, indicating that Nnoitra's transformation was finished. When Nnoitra was seen once more, both the Soul Reaper and the Arrancar were surprised by what they were seeing. They saw the new form of Nnoitra, who gained 2 extra set of arms, which took on an insect-like carapace and clawed hands, with each hand holding large scythe-like weapons as well. The scythes themselves resembled the appendages of a praying mantis, having a small golden tassel at the end of each staff. He also gained a golden marking extending from his forehead to below his right eye, as well as a pair of horns on his head resembling a crescent moon, with his left horn longer than his right. He gained several white, tendril-like appendages around his torso which extend over the sides of his abdomen. His Hollow mask also changed, becoming torn, with the teeth extending over the hole itself.

"Now then…" Nnoitra made a smirk, showing off a calmer demeanor like how he did before. "Where were we?"

Tesla brought his leg down on Orihime's shield, only for it to do nothing before Orihime backed away. "Tsubaki!" she yelled out, summoning her attack type fairy to counter against Tesla, which succeed as she managed to cut Tesla's hand that reared at her.

"Nngh!" Tesla backed away as he clenched his hand from the pain he felt, as it bleed.

'I'll need something stronger than this.' Orihime thought to herself, having a small bead of sweat from her head, becoming worried on just how to beat this Arrancar. Sure, she wasn't having much problems at defending herself, and she was able to inflict damage on the Arrancar, but the problem was it wasn't as much as she wanted it to be. 'Tsubaki has gotten stronger, but it's just not to finish him off. I need something better than this.' she thought to herself.

It was then that both Orihime and Tesla could detect a tremendous spike increase of Spiritual Pressure. They turned their heads around to see that it was coming from Nnoitra entering his Resurección state. "This tremendous Spiritual Pressure… it belongs to Master Nnoitra… it's truly incredible." Tesla said, before looking back at Orihime.

Orihime looked back, and widened her eyes when seeing Tesla was aiming his fist at her, but this time it was bended lower. Orihime reacted quickly by putting her shield in front of her, which once again blocked Tesla's fist. 'I have to do something here. I can't just keep running circles around this guy, I need to think of something to take him out with!' she thought to herself, but it wasn't until she looked up to see another fist aiming at her from above. Orihime made several backflips to get away from that attack, but she was surprised to see that Tesla jumped in the air so he could squash her with his feet.

Orihime reacted by putting her Santen Kesshun shield once more, but this time from above her. Tesla landed on her shield with one leg while putting his foot down on the ground, and Orihime gritted her teeth when she felt the force against her shield. Tesla backed his foot away before he stomped it down on her shield once more. 'Come on... I have to do something here…' Orihime thought as she kept putting up her defense above her, though she made sure to keep an eye on his second leg in case he did try to attack with that one as well. 'I can't just keep staying in defense forever! I have to fight back! I have to make a counter attack!'

It was then that Tesla started attacking her shield mercilessly, hitting it blow after blow with his fists. Orihime gritted her teeth, trying to think of something to fight back against the relentless attacks against the Arrancar. 'Need to fight back…' she kept thinking that. 'Have to… counter attack…' she closed her eyes, thinking on something to go with. 'Counter him!'

It was then at that moment that Orihime's triangular shield started glowing brighter than it usually was, with three sets of lines connecting to the middle of the space. Tesla attacked the shield again with his fist, but now Orihime's shield reacted on its own by producing a strong burst of energy, countering Tesla's attack by cutting him vertically against his torso, sending the Arrancar flying back in the air before he fell down.

Orihime blinked, trying to process what just occurred. "Wait… did I do that just now?"

"Come on! What's the matter?! Ya really just gonna stand there and stare all day?!" Nnoitra taunted both Ichigo and Nelliel, who have only been looking at Nnoitra's form for what felt like a minute by now.

Ichigo snapped out of his trance, making a scowl before he drew his hand on his face, about to head to the next level immediately. He drew upon the power of his Hollowfication, and dawned on his mask to add another boost in his power, not daring to attack him how he was now.

Ichigo immediately leaped over at Nnoitra, sword clutched in his hands as he was prepared to strike him down. "Aaaagh!" he made a battle cry as he charged over at Nnoitra, who was only just standing there, with a smirk shown on the Espada's face.

Ichigo striked his sword down at Nnoitra's neck so he could decapitate him, but when he struck it, nothing happened. Ichigo's black and yellow eyes widened in shock when seeing there was no blood drawn at all. "What the hell was that just now?" Ichigo slowly looked up to see Nnoitra's face, who seemed to be quite amused by Ichigo's slash. "Don't tell me that was everything you had?"

Ichigo wanted to pull back and get away, but it was too late when Nnoitra raised one of his scythes and struck it down on Ichigo's head, who barely managed to raise his sword above his head to block it, but it was immediately overpowered and as such the first scythe struck down Ichigo's Hollow Mask, shattering the entire mask in the process. "Your sword had no weight to your attacks whatsoever! Does your mask shatter that easily, Soul Reaper?!"

"GHAH!" Ichigo shouted when Nnoitra slashed him with another scythe that went from his shoulder to his hip, splattering a lot of blood in doing so. His Bankai cloak was now getting torn, as his torso was left exposed, along with some of his abs that mostly banaged, as they also bleed.

"Come on! At least try to put up some fight!" Nnoitra put a sadistic grin on his face before swinging down his other scythe and put it through Ichigo's chest.

"Gaugg!" Ichigo coughed up blood from his mouth as he felt the scythe easily pierce through his ribcage before Nnoitra forcefully pulled his scythe out, and proceeded to throw one of his weapons in the air before plunging his clawed hand into Ichigo's gut. Ichigo slowly looked down, taking deep breaths as he saw Nnoitra retract his arm back and grab his previously launched scythe just in that time. "Guh… kugh…" Ichigo couldn't speak properly, looking down to see he had a hole in his gut.

Nelliel looked at all of this, seeing all of this happen in a matter of seconds. She gaped hero mouth, horrified at Ichigo's bloody state before seeing him get kicked down by Nnoitra. "NO!" she screamed out, seeing the horrible condition on Ichigo's body. She placed her sword in front of her in a horizontal position, with her Zanpakuto glowing with pink bright energy. "Declare, Gamuza!"

There was a wave that intensified into a huge burst of Spiritual Energy that covered the surrounding area, blowing back boulders in doing so. Nnoitra was shocked to see Nel's Resurección form take place in front of him. The bursts of Spirit Energy were gone, and Nel could be seen clearly in her Released State. Nelliel took the form of a brownish-green ibex-like centaur, complete with a black horse's tail. The horns on her mask became longer and more curved, framing the sides of her face, particularly the cheeks. Her shoulders were covered by white spaulders that came across her shoulder blade to her neck. She has white elbow guards and white gauntlets. The parts of her arm that weren't covered by armor became covered by a black material, which also covers her hands. There is a white ring at the base of her tail. Her sword was replaced with a double-sided lance instead.

Nelliel glared at Nnoitra the entire time, rearing her lance back. "Lanzador Verde." she spoke her attack's name, giving off a tone of silent anger. She wasted no time at all and went on to throw her lance at Nnoitra, glowing in Spirit Energy.

Nnoitra widened his eye as far as it could possibly reach, seeing the lance coming at him at extreme levels of speed. "OH SHIT—" Nnoitra screamed in worry, seeing the lance spinning around like crazy, now being some sort of a spear as it aimed at his body. The Espada tried getting away so that he wouldn't dare to get hit by that. Nnoitra tried to leap away, but unfortunately the lance contacted through his arm, and now the lance began to act like a drill as it ripped right through his arm and began to drill on his shoulder. "GAAAAAAAGH!" he screamed painfully as he felt his bones starting to break apart. He was also getting pushed back through tons of force before crashing through a rock.

Nelliel only watched all of this occur as her lance was damaging Nnoitra, spinning itself till her weapon stopped, though it was still stuck in the 5th Espada's shoulder. She began to walk over to her former colleague, who to her surprise began to take her lance out with a painful grunt.

Nnoitra's breaths hitched as he successfully managed to take out Nelliel's double sided lance. "Sh... Shit." he cursed, gritting his teeth from the loss of one of his arms, and his shoulder now being broken.

But that wasn't until Nelliel saw that Nnoitra's arm grew back, and the once broken shoulder was now fully fixed. "Instant Regeneration?!" Nelliel exclaimed in shock with her eyes going wide, not expecting something like this to happen. And most of all, she didn't expect Nnoitra to have something like this, with Instant Regeneration being a rare case to have among the Espadas.

"Hey, Nelliel, remember when you used to call me a beast before?" Nnoitra got up, flashing a smug smirk. "How does it feel, knowing that you will lose against that same beast?" though if he were honest, it was a very good thing that his limb and shoulder were the only the thing he suffered damage from. That could have gone much worse, if that lance pierced through his entire body, it would have severely damaged his internal organs. If that happened, there would have been no chance to regenerate from something like that.

Nelliel became worried, now with her weapon not being by her side, there wasn't very much she could do to defend herself, as this form of hers was not well suited for close range combat. It was then Nnoitra used his Sonido to get behind Nelliel to slash her from behind, to which Nelliel used her own Sonido to get away from him and retreat to claim her weapon. It wouldn't be so simple, finding out that Nnoitra already got there before her. Nnoitra charged straight at her, and before long he used his Sonido to get behind Nelliel before taking the chance to slash at her back deeply, cutting from her shoulder to her hip, adding that to put his scythe through her abdomen, tearing a hole in her in doing so. Nelliel fell down, and the ground beneath her was starting to get stenched by her pool of blood.

"Hahahaha! Hahahaha!" Nnoitra laughed at Nelliel's state. "This is wonderful! It's actually over! Come on, Nelliel!" he raised his leg in the air before stomping it down to her head, adding insult by rubbing his foot against it. "How does it feel, knowing that you lost to the same beast you looked down on for too long?!" with a sadistic smirk shown on him, he proceeded to stomp down on Nel's neck. "This is what you get!" Nnoitra proceeded to kick her down several times before kicking her upwards in the air, sending her close to where Ichigo was.

"You… bastard…" Ichigo was trying to get himself up, being furious for what Nnoitra had done to Nel, but it was very difficult for him to do so.

Nnoitra walked over to the two of them. "I'll admit this much, you had me worried there for a second, but all your efforts were futile. Your luck ran out, so now it's time for the both of you to die." he said, as he raised two of his scythes in the air.

Ichigo couldn't believe this. He desperately tried anything to get out of this. But he was too weak now. This couldn't be where he dies. After everything he and his friends have been through to get this far, this couldn't be the end. 'This can't be it… if I die now, then everything I did to get here would have been for nothing! I need to do something!' it was then that he thought of something. In his pathetic state, this was extremely dangerous, possibly downright fatal, but it was a risk he would take to get Orihime, Nel, and himself out of here and retreat. With that said, Ichigo got his hand on his face and tried to summon his mask again.

Nnoitra could already see what he was trying to do. "What the hell do you think you're doin'? You can't possibly be thinking of using that mask of yours here."

Ichigo ignored him, and despite the nausea he felt from using the mask in his weak state, along with the blood loss from his body, he still tried to use it.

Except he would soon find out he didn't have to. As all of a sudden, something came bursting down between the group. "What the fuck?!" Nnoitra exclaimed, surprised by the sudden entrance.

"Is this the place?" Ichigo widened his eyes, recognizing immediately on who that voice belonged, along with the massive shape of a figure. "Yeah, this is the place all right…"

"What the…" Ichigo pulled his hand back. "Kenpachi… is that really you?"

Kenpachi turned around and looked down at the beaten Ichigo. His face shifted to annoyance. "What?" though his appearance was slightly different, having some bandages wrapped around his torso during his previous battle against Ichigo in the World of The Living. "You better hope that I am. Have you been beaten around so much that your brain is gone?"

"But…" while Ichigo was thankful for Kenpachi's appearance, he was confused as to how the bloodthirsty Captain even got here. "I don't understand… why are you here? I thought the Soul Society didn't want to get involved in this?"

Kenpachi didn't say anything, but he decided to reply by kicking Ichigo in the air till he crashed drown. "Alright, now just stay out of this and move along."

"You fucking asshole!" Ichigo exclaimed in irritation, as he was still down on the ground. "What was that for?!"

"You feeling better now?" Kenpachi asked nonchalantly.

"I feel like crap!" Ichigo replied back. "How did you even get here?!"

"Kisuke Urahara." Ichigo was surprised by this news. "A while ago, that guy was given a bunch of orders from the Old Man, that was back when everyone thought the showdown was set in Winter. One of those orders was to make some underground cavern called the Garganta. He was to make sure it was safe, so that the Captains could pass into Hueco Mundo." Kenpachi rested his sword on his shoulder. "Initially they thought it would have taken 3 months, but Kisuke claimed he would be done in one month's time."

"So!" it was then that Yachiru came out Kenpachi's haori as she sat on his other shoulder. "Since the hole was all patched up 'n stuff, Kenny and I came here!"

"Hmmm…" Kenpachi turned around and looked over at where Nnoitra's Fracción was fighting Orihime. "Hey, Yachiru, how about you have a playdate with that big guy over there. After that, you just stay somewhere and watch me fight. But first, take that woman somewhere else." he pointed to the injured Nelliel.

"You got it, Kenny!" Yachiru hopped out of Kenpachi's shoulder and proceeded to lift Nelliel's centaur body with her small arms, yet she did this as if Nelliel weighted like a feather before she put her down next to Ichigo. "Alright, let's do this!" she exclaimed as she waved her arms in the before she disappeared via Flash Step.

"Ugh…" Kenpachi groaned, having already sense that other Captains were in Hueco Mundo as well, despite being in different locations. "I swear, these guys never listen to anything I say. I told them I could take care of this by myself."

The Exequias execution squad have been seen from outside, standing over in front of the bodies of Yasutora Sado and Gantenbainne Mosqueda, who have still been stuck in the same positions for who knows how long. Though it turned out both of them were still alive, as they were twitching their fingers.

Rudbornn Chelute, the main leader of the Exequias, took out his sword so he could silently execute both the Privaron Espada and the Human. But that wasn't until there a wind trailing over them, which made him and his subordinates perk up, looking over to see Unohana and Isane standing rather close to them.

"Regrettably, it is no longer possible for me to tell you my name. But I suppose that's your fate." Zommari spoke, being inside the chambers where Aaroniero and Rukia fought one another. He was standing right next Rukia, who was in a near death state. He raised his sword in the air, as he was about to deliver the finishing blow to the Kuchiki. "Farewell, miss Soul Reaper."

Before he was about to deliver the final blow, he turned around to see that a Captain was standing from behind, and it was none other than Byakuya. "And who exactly might you be? Judging by your haori, I take it you are a Captain." Byakuya didn't say anything, though like Kenpachi, some of his body was covered in bandages from underneath his clothing. "I am Zommari Leroux, the 7th Espada. Now identity yourself, intruder."

"There is no need to answer you. We have all but one true identity. We are your enemies." Byakuya answered him.

"I see…"

"I am Retsu Unohana, Captain of the 4th Division of the 13 Court Guard Squads." Unohana answered the leader of the Exequias.

"And I am her Lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu."

"Captain?!" Rudbornn seemed rather shocked by this, having not expect a Soul Reaper and a Lieutenant to appear in a time like this.

"We have only come to heal everyone's wounds, we have no intention of fighting you. As long as you do not impede our efforts, we will have no intention of interfering with you. So I strongly suggest you to stand down." Unohana warned the Exequias squad. "It is your decision."

"And just who exactly might you be?" Szayelaporro asked in his Resurección, turning around to see who was behind him with all the ruined debris that was around him, along with Uryu and Renji lying on the ground as they suffered from destroying their bones and some internal organs from the dolls.

From behind was revealed to be Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Nemu who stood next to his side. Mayuri made a mad grin, showing off his visible yellow teeth. "Who am I you ask? Why, I don't see answering such a meaningless question like that…"

Nemu only looked on, answering nothing for herself. She only looked on the ruined battlefield that occured here. She was worried about what would happen if she happened, on some occasion, to be involved in a fight…

Alright… it's finally, finally finished. Chapter 40 of Overflowed Ideal of Reality is released. Man, this took way too long to release, and it's about time it is as well. I hope the wait was really worth it. As a result of waiting so long for this, I'm going to work on another chapter immediately after this.

Alright, now to explain some things. First thing probably being on Orihime's new fighting style she has. Basically this like an inspiration from the "Gentle Fist" on the Naruto series, and thought that would suit her well, considering that her powers couldn't have been the only thing that she practiced with, so why not include more hand to hand skills, since she is extremely good at karate and whatnot.

Another thing might be on Ichigo's intelligence, and yeah he did technically smarter, at least more on the battlefield level of that. Let's just say this happened after Ichigo's Hollow monster form was taken care of.

So why did the battle turn out differently? Well… I mean I could have had Nelliel fight Nnoitra by herself… but then I realized that Ulquiorra would eventually come back so I needed Ichigo to get involved in that to gain another zenkai boost of his to fight Ulquiorra later on. Because if he didn't get it… well he and Nelliel combined would have no chance of beating the 4th Espada. So this had to be changed.

Another thing I might have to give a warning is that… well I'm gonna have to retcon the whole thing on Ichigo working for the Daily Bugle, because it honestly doesn't make sense when thinking about it. I'll have to change the entire thing about that later down the line.

But now… IT'S TIME FOR KENPACHI TO FUCK SHIT UP! LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO!