As she lay in this grave, Chessebelle felt something she hadn't felt in a very long time. Anger bubbled up in her at an alarming rate-normally the Shinigami would keep it in check, but she could feel her heartbeat in her ears along with a high-pitched ringing, unable to focus on much aside from the fact that this beast was keeping her from making sure Ikkaku was alright.

Suddenly, everything went silent, as she focused on his spiritual pressure. Something was wrong. And she needed to find out why.

"Is that all? What a bore!" Apacci was still in the air where she left Chessebelle, hands on her hips with, unsurprisingly, a bored expression. She put one finger in her ear as she picked at who knows what and surveyed the rest of the Gotei 13, seeing as she had already killed her own opponent-which was, in fact, a poor choice on her part, she thought to herself.

Blood was running down her forehead, staining the top of her white hairline, but the twelfth division member was beyond reasoning and filled with a resentment so strong for this arrancar that it fueled her as she struggled to stand.

Bracing her feet against the crumbled cement, Chessebelle used her shunpo to confront the beast. Moving to where Apacci had headbutted her, she swung her leg with enough force to make the air hiss, aiming for Apacci's waist.

The fact that she was still alive was enough to catch Apacci off-guard, let alone that she was trying to attack her. The fraccion took the sharp kick, a cry of pain coming from her as she soared through the air and into the building behind her, glass shattering around her.

Rather than laying in the pit like her opponent, however, Apacci quickly recovered with a growl of irritation, yanking the bracelets on her wrists and hurling them at Chessebelle.

The scientist watched carefully as the rings sped towards her, unsheathing her zanpakuto and swiftly deflecting them with two strikes, sending them back the fraccion's way.

Apacci gave a war cry, already lunging back towards Chessebelle without retrieving her chakrams, her fist in the air with a bala charged and aimed for the shinigami's chest.

Chessebelle moved quickly, spinning to the side and bringing her leg back up to be brought down on Apacci's forearm with enough force to make her give another howl of anger and pain, buckling from the hit.

Jumping back, the shinigami took a sharp intake of breath as the chakrams returned to their owner. She noted a lock of her hair falling lazily through the air and the burn on her cheek, her fingers finding their way to a cut on the soft skin.

Glaring at Apacci, Chessebelle's body was tensed and ready to move at the slightest motion from her opponent.

These feelings were all consuming, the burn from the cut on her cheek and the pain radiating from the top of her forehead only intensifying this disdain for this woman in front of her. She was an enemy of the Gotei 13 and a hindrance to her own mission, as she stood between herself and Ikkaku.

This sudden rage made its ugly head known as Chesebelle used her shunpo to propel herself towards Apacci, the arrancar now holding her chakrams and returning the glare to the shinigami.

They clashed, Apacci holding her chakrams above her head in a curved X shape as Chessebelle brought her wakizashi down on the taller woman. The force took the two women down, each getting closer to the other as the sound of metal on metal screeched in their ears. Glancing behind her, Apacci realized she was going to be hitting the ground in a moment if she didn't do something.

Bringing her head down slightly, a red cero started to form on her horn only inches from Chessebelle's face, slate hues watching carefully-calculating her solution. Just as the cero went off, the pressure from her zanpakuto was gone, her cero blasting into an after image of the shinigami, Chessebelle suddenly behind the fraccion and jamming the base of her zanpakuto into the back of her neck where her skull met her spine.

Apacci groaned in pain, swirling to meet Chessebelle's foot in her gut and being thrown into yet another building. Before she could move, the white-haired woman was in front of her again, her zanpakuto moving quickly, slicing the air with each strike as she brought it down on the arrancar.

While Apacci had been caught off-guard by the Gotei member's speed, her strength wasn't anything that hadn't been experienced before, her arms moving quickly to parry each of the strikes of the wakizashi without her hierro breaking.

Chessebelle, however, was surprised by the durability of the fraccion's hierro, none of her attacks landing.

"Is this it? You're part of the frontline for this?" Apacci yelled, sick of this game as she formed two balas in her hands and fired them at Chessebelle at point-blank range. "You're embarrassing, Soul Reaper!"

The shinigami tried to avoid them the best she could, performing a quick back handspring, her zanpakuto scratching the ground with an ugly noise as she landed in a crouch, her front leg out to the side as she caught her breath.

Her shihakusho sleeves were completely burnt off at this point, having already been tattered from the Head Captain releasing his zanpakuto. The skin on her collarbone and upper chest were singed, her sternum area bubbling from the burn.

Chessebelle grabbed a scrap of her shihakusho and wiped her face, smearing the blood over her pale skin, attempting to keep it out of her eyes as she blinked rapidly at Apacci.

Apacci glanced towards her sisters, Milarose and Sung-Sun having fun with a blonde bimbo and a timid schoolgirl by the looks of it. Neither of them had performed resurreccion, nor did either of them even look harmed, whereas the two lieutenants they faced were already in shambles, just like the shinigami in front of herself.

Chessebelle glanced towards Ikkaku's pillar, her eyes widening with a fear she didn't realize she had felt before.

His pillar was broken.

Where was he? Was he hurt? These panicked thoughts took over, immediately fleeing her battle and attempting to reach him.

"You're not going anywhere, bitch," Apacci roared as she moved forward and grabbed Chessebelle's wrist, tugging her towards her roughly before bringing her chakram from her free hand to the shinigami's face.

Emilou Apacci had finally summoned something that hardly ever saw the light of day.

"Flutter, Monaku Cho."