Chapter Forty One:

Aizen watched through the security feeds as the intruders each stumbled into battle, he wasn't surprised when Ichigo became the first to overpower his opponent, it was more or less what he wanted. Allowing his attention to shift from the struggling strawberry for a while, he took notice of the screen monitoring Renji Abarai in his battle against one of Grimmjow's Fracción, Yylfordt Granz. Smirking slightly, he turned the audio on so he could listen for a while.

Renji was throwing the extending blade of his Zanpakutō forwards, twisting his wrist to force it to arc to the left, knocking out a row of large blue pillars while narrowly missing the slender blond figure of his opponent. Hissing as he wiped the deep cut on his cheek, smudging blood across his skin, the Fukutaichou darted to the side as his assailant appeared out of nowhere, slashing him across the back as he dodged.

Aizen watched as Renji seemed to peer off to the side, apparently able to sense the roiling reiatsu of his companions as they each encountered their own battles, he could just about make out the distress on his face and chuckled to himself.

"Cocky, aren't you, to look away in the middle of a fight?" The blond Arrancar then shot towards him, twisting under the extending blade of Zabimaru as he impaled the redhead in the side, smirking wildly, "Is this the best Soul Society has to offer?"

"Tch," Renji spat blood, hunching over as he glowered at his enemy, quivering faintly from the pain blossoming warmly across his skin, "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Why don't you tell me, Shinigami?" Came the sneering response.

"Division Six Fukutaichou, Renji Abarai." He growled, gripping the hand that was grasping the sword still impaled in his side, squeezing firmly before yanking himself back, clenching his teeth against the grunt of pain that threatened to escape him, "Bankai!"

While tossed backwards by the force of the unleashed power, Yylfordt easily skidded to a stop and clicked his tongue impatiently as the vast bone structure of the huge snake headed Bankai was revealed to him, "I am Yylfordt Granz, Números Quince. Skewer Del Toro!"

The current leader of Las Noches sat back in amusement, resting his chin on the back of his hand thoughtfully as he watched the enlarged form of the bull-like Arrancar ploughing its way through the Shinigami's Bankai, blood splashing the walls. His chocolate brown gaze then turned to one of the other screens, his interest coming to rest on the sight of Rukia Kuchiki being constricted by the release form of Luppi Antenor.

Rukia was struggling valiantly as one of the eight tentacles belonging to the Arrancar in front of her, tightened dramatically around her middle, crushing her ribs in on themselves and leaving her rasping for breath, her vision becoming blurred as the taste of bile reached her senses, blood pounding in her ears as the coldness of the room made her quiver within his grasp.

Aizen was certain she was going to be the first confirmed fatality on the side of the intruders, and was almost disappointed that she would be dealt with so quickly, however he sat forwards with renewed interest when he saw her relax and move just enough within her binds to bring her hands together.

"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens! Bakudō 61: Rikujōkōrō! Hadō 73: Sōren Sōkatsui!" There was no tremble in her voice as she recounted the dual incantations flawlessly, releasing the beam of yellow first, six wedges spearing Luppi around his waist, immobilising him as the twin beams of brilliant blue flame rocketed towards the startled Arrancar.

The moment the Kidō made contact, the tentacle ensnaring her loosened enough for her to slip free, hitting the floor hard and crying out as her leg twisted under her weight, light headed and struggling to her feet, Rukia drew her Zanpakutō at last.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." The gentle ring of bells followed the release of her Shikai was followed by the pale ribbon that swirled from the pommel, "Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"

At her command, she turned her Zanpakutō upside down, the white blade glowing brightly as she made a slashing motion towards where Luppi was still recovering from the severe scorch marks over his lithe body, his eyes like daggers as he threw his tentacles towards her again, gasping in surprise as a cylindrical blast of ice shot from the floor to the ceiling, capturing his appendages within its frigid confines, drawing a screech of pain from his lips.

"I will not fall so easily, Arrancar, not while my Nii-sama is imprisoned in this place." Came the hiss from her lips.

"Your Nii-sama?" Luppi snarled, yanking at his tentacles experimentally as he tried to break them free, "You sure are arrogant, like all Shinigami."

"No." She almost whispered, lifting her sword again, "It is not arrogance. Someone as sarcastic and mocking as you would never understand, as I do, that I must have belief in my friends as well as in myself. I am Rukia Kuchiki, of Division Thirteen, and I will make you regret taking my Nii-sama. Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

Aizen sat back as he sensed Luppi's reiatsu disappear amidst the avalanche of freezing cold air, leaving Rukia panting heavily, yet victorious. He raised one perfect eyebrow in surprise, not having expected her to have grown so much in such a short space of time, she was truly impressive and had great potential to get even stronger. Why, she hadn't even stopped to ask the name of her attacker.

Eyes narrowing, Aizen straightened just a little in his seat, "What do you want, Gin?" He murmured, sensing the mans approach.

"Ne, Aizen Taichou, I was wonderin' if ya had noticed all the fightin' going on in the lower levels, but I see that ya have." The silver haired fox came to a stop as he looked down at the screens, "My, my they have been makin' a mess."

"Indeed," the brunet mused, glancing towards another of the monitors, "Hm, those two have found quite an interesting enemy."

"Those are two of Ichi-Berry's Human friends, aren't they?" Gin leaned closer to the screen, getting a good look at the battle field, "Oh my, is that..."

"Chelute Rudbornn, the Exequias." Aizen confirmed, "It will be interesting to test the power of a Quincy."

"A Quincy?" The silver haired man clapped his hands twice in excitement, "May I join ya to watch? It has been some time since I've even heard the word, let alone seen one."

"As long as you remain quiet, you may stay." He reclined in his seat, the Humans' fight was already well under way, with several hundred of the Exequias' Calavera clones attacking in his stead while he watched on from afar.

"Santen Kesshun!" The Human woman threw her hands forwards, watching as the triangular shield repelled an attack that would have severed her husbands' arm from his shoulder, following instantly with a sharp shout of, "Koten Zanshun!" Her offensive sprite flew forwards, carving his way through multiples of the cloned enemies before he returned to her side.

"Thank you, Orihime!" Ishida called over to her, smiling momentarily before returning his attention to the battle, firing volleys of arrows into the mass of bodies, watching as they struck down individuals who were merely replaced by more at a rate he could barely contend with.

The pair managed to move themselves closer together, covering each other where they could, Orihime's quick skills allowing her to negate most of the incoming damage while healing what couldn't be avoided. It was arduous for them both, even while a Quincy could function better in places with highly dense reiatsu, he was being pushed to his limit while trying to both attack and defend against so many numbers.

Letting out a rare curse as he felt his wife being torn from his side, Ishida abruptly released his control over his bow, instead reaching around for the belt of Seele Schneider at his hip, drawing one with a flourish he began ducking and diving through the never ending horde of enemies, seeing a flash of burnt orange hair somewhere ahead of him.

Using Hirenkyaku to move across the room, he shot towards where he could see his wife, twisting at the last minute to dodge an incoming attack, he released a small hiss as his thigh was snagged by a blade, hastily shoving his own soul-cutting sword through the skull of the body responsible. He dropped down beside his wife, tucking her under his free arm protectively, anger growing as he saw a triad of cuts across her body.

"Uryū." Orihime's voice was timid but her smile was comforting as she looked up at him, "I have a plan. If you can get me to the main body, I think I can defeat him, or at the very least leave him open for you to finish off."

Glancing towards the Arrancar who had introduced himself earlier as Rudbornn, he swallowed, not wanting to put her in any further direct danger, however, they were fast running out of options, "Alright. Hold on to me."

She gave him a single nod before releasing a startled squeal as he shot into the air with her, glancing towards the blood splashed floor, her stomach lurched at the height they had so easily reached, flinching as the cloned skeletal faced creatures began to follow their path, her chest tightened at the speed her husband began to move at, darting and weaving his way from one side of the room to the other, the world turning into a mesh of blurred colour around them.

Her feet touched the floor of the platform Rudbornn was stood on, he had released his true form at the very start of their conflict, the spine-like bone branches that cardinally struck out from his body were frighteningly effective at growing new clones, but as she came face to face with him she felt her fear melt away.

"My humble apologies for keeping you waiting, Rudbornn-san." She bowed her head to the man, closing her eyes momentarily as she felt burning flares of Ichigo's reiatsu somewhere within the palace, "My name is Orihime Ishida, I will be your opponent."

"Good evening, Human girl. You are brave to face me alone." He sounded rational, yet there was blood thirst there behind the pleasantries.

"No... Not brave..." She lifted her gaze slowly, glowering across at him with the heated determination of a sun, "Angry."

Aizen tapped a finger to his lips, her powers were truly fascinating that was for sure, he had never seen anything quite like it. She almost seemed to encroach into the territory of a God. On the outside, she seemed weak; uncertain of her strength; reliant on others, and yet the moment she had sensed Ichigo's reiatsu something had changed. She had changed. She held herself tall, proud, confident. He imagined from the way she behaved that once upon a time her control over her offensive techniques had been poor, she didn't appear to be the sort of person to take pleasure in hurting anyone, enemy or ally, but there was growth, pain and change.

Orihime lifted her hands, staring into the empty eyes of the Arrancar, "Sōten Kisshun."

A vibrant wave of orange energy washed between them, engulfing the Exequias before he could react, his fists instantly slamming against the barrier in an effort to escape, yet he couldn't even place a crack in it.

Her expression darkened, only slightly, the strain of her power increased under his aggression but she persisted, "I reject!" She called out.

Gin nearly fell out of his seat as Aizen stood abruptly at the sight of her power, watching as the brunet rested his hands on the console, leaning over it almost hungrily, lips slightly apart, eyes widen, breath catching with an eagerness that was rarely revealed by the man.

Rudbornn was screaming, twisting and convulsing as his Resurrecciōn form was regressed against his permission, bone branches uncoiling, unravelling, shrinking back into his body, growths on his arms and skulls of his clones crumbling into meagre fragments of dust around his feet. His yells of pain turned guttural, desperate, pleading as his body almost seemed to turn inside out with the force of her rejection, the sound of cracking, breaking bones was a loud echo that seemed to bounce around forever inside the barrier.

There was no mercy in her eyes, no pity, no remorse. She had felt all of those things in the past, allowed herself to fall victim to people far crueller than she could ever be. She had been hurt, tormented, twisted by them, broken and rebuilt by the man she loved. She owed it to him to be strong enough to defend them and their children from the monsters under their beds, and the monsters inside their heads.

She drew one hand off to the side, lifting her fingers and touching one of her blue hair pins, her usually warm eyes narrowed coldly, "Koten Zanshun. Finish him, Tsubaki."

"What is she?" Aizen asked aloud, more to himself than to his comrade, "Such power, it heals and revokes. Temporal regression? Spatial regression? No... It's a complete rejection of events. At her very will she can undo whatever she desires."

"How can a mere Human have that kind of power?" Gin asked, frowning faintly.

"It would be almost impossible." The brunet mused, his eyes narrowing slightly, "Unless... They are his friends from the World of the Living, friends he had as a child... Could it be... Could it possibly be..."

If he hadn't been concerned before, Gin was now. He had never heard Aizen so ecstatically excited about something that he failed to answer a question in proper fashion, he gulped softly, "Aizen Taichou? What do you think caused her powers?"

Pausing as if remembering the silver haired fox was in the room, Aizen lowered himself back into his seat, pressing his fingertips together precariously, "The night I met Ichigo and inadvertently used the Hōgyoku on him instead of his parents there were rivets of energy that shot out of the Hōgyoku. One of them impaled Ichigo, giving him the immense power he now wields, the others fired out of the house. I never suspected anything of it, but perhaps those tendrils sensed Ichigo's reiatsu on the bodies of his friends, due to the close contact they would have, and as such... Afflicted them as well. If that is the case, which I think it may well be, things will only get more interesting from here on."

Acknowledging the information with a small sound at the back of his throat, Gin noticed how Rudbornn's reiatsu disappeared and a quick glance at the monitor confirmed his defeat via the pool of crumbled dust within the Human girls' barrier, before he moved his attention to the last of Ichigo's Human allies, interested to see how the fight would unfold.

Chad ran towards the Arrancar, it was easy to see the bright orange afro even amidst the smoke roused by their close quarters combat, violent clashes of fists and feet made far more destructive than they should have been by their over the top strength.

The Arrancar, who had identified himself to Chad as Gantenbainne Mosqueda, had released his true form which revealed elongated, heavily dome-shaped armour plating and dragon head blades at his wrists, to say nothing of the tail running aggressively down his back.

In terms of strength, Chad knew he was outmatched, but the flares of reiatsu he had sensed from his friends was spurring him on, making him hit harder and faster than he would normally have been able to. He had to find Ichigo. He could almost smell the taint of darkened reiatsu that seemed to waft across the entire palace from the orange haired Shinigami, he feared for his safety, and for the safety of anyone who dared get in his way.

"El Directo!" The usually quiet man roared, throwing his demonic right arm forwards as a burst of charged reiatsu blasted forth, tearing across the space towards his Arrancar enemy. He wasted no time in making sure the shot connected, rushing forwards to follow up with another devastating series of punches.

Thrown backwards by a harsh strike to his middle, the large Human hit a wall, sliding down it until he was crumpled on the floor, panting heavily as a few beads of sweat and blood rolled down his face, pooling together on his chin before dripping their way free.

Hits were hailed upon him viciously and without a break, certain his body would surrender to the impending darkness that threatened to overwhelm him as he received several lashes to the head, he felt the depths of his power calling to him, drawing him in, encircling him in a glowing protectiveness that made the pain fade from the forefront of his mind.

Body moving of its own accord, his left hand, his human hand, rose from his lap, catching one of Mosqueda's huge arms in his grasp, his eyes filled with the need to protect and a sharp shout left him, armour not dissimilar to that on his right arm, rippled across his skin, swallowing his left arm whole in a flurry of white and red.

He felt stronger, felt faster, felt better. His mind was alive with new possibilities, fingertips glowing with give pale blue disks of energy crackling threatening as he clenched his new fist, "La Muerte." The words came from his lips without him knowing them, his arm shooting forwards, striking the Arrancar in the chest.

There was a second of motionlessness, silence, crisp white noise. Then, Mosqueda's armour shattered, a large demonic skull punching its way into the wall behind him, branding its mark there forever more.

Aizen released a small breath as he watched the fight come to an anticlimactic ending, despite his initial interest in the Human boy's powers, he wasn't as impressed with him as he was with the girl. Closing his eyes for several long moments, he heard Gin get up and leave, the door to the room closing sharply behind the fox.

Tapping his fingers to his lips, the brunet rose to his feet, allowing his eyes to open on the one screen that forever held his interest. Ichigo. He could feel him, even while he was still so far away, his reiatsu had grown stronger and more prominent. But so had that darkness. His Hollow was worming its way to freedom. It was so close now... So close to toppling over the brim, like a cup filled with too much tea. A single droplet, a single splash was all it would take and...

He let out a soft sigh, lips curving at the corners into a smirk. Everything was going according to plan.

With a snap of his fingers and a flicker of his own reiatsu, a messenger appeared on bended knee in the room behind him, head bowed low, and he spoke in a quick yet even voice, "Have our Séptima, Sexta, Quinto and Cuatro Espada head to the lower levels to round up our guests. Instruct them to leave Ichigo Kurosaki untouched."