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Chapter 10

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Part 3

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Las Noches

Hueco Mundo

Plans often don't survive the first contact with the enemy, friendly forces, or reality in general. It was a well-known 'feature.' For all its differences from the normal world, that maxim was very much true in Hueco Mundo. My revisited plan to go visit the Kurosakis, bringing gifts, ended up delayed shortly after I put it close to the top of my to-do list. At least this time it wasn't due to an unforeseen disaster, though the day was still young.

Tier came back, bringing company.

I glanced at the blond Espada, her companions, and re-evaluated that statement. A pissed off Harribel returned, carrying a child-sized Arrancar who had an uncanny resemblance with the Nelliel I remembered. She had two odd Arrancar in tow too. Those two I remembered – usually, after suffering under Aizen's most certainly not tender "mercies" Hollows ended up as more conventionally looking Arrancar. Not those two clowns, though on the other hand, their presence acted as an additional confirmation that Tier did indeed bring Nelliel back.

A Nelliel, who was child-sized, as expected, and was now hugging Tier's midsection and bawling her eyes out, to my Espada's obvious distress and displeasure. Tier held her old friend awkwardly with one hand while clutching her blade in death-grip with the other.

"You can blame Nnoitra for this." I waved at the amusing picture and got an angry growl in response, one that hopefully meant even more interesting times for a certain obstructionist. "Follow me. It's time for some science," I ordered and headed for Granz's facility.

My presence kept the clowns quiet. That was a good thing because Tier already looked ready to vaporize something or someone. I preferred my palace without any additional holes, thank you very much.

My resident crazy scientist, who despite his best effort failed to be as creepy and unsettling as Zash at her best behavior, perked up at our arrival.

"My Lord Aizen!" Granz smiled gleefully at me in a rather disturbing manner. "I've been working constantly to produce better scanning equipment." He continued happily. "I'm certain that in the future we'll glean even more useful information from these procedures!"

The way he looked, Granz was almost ready to begin bouncing on his heels in anticipation. He had a group of his minions, all-new from the look of it, approach carrying all kinds of hastily clobbered together equipment.

"Those are prototypes." Granz gave me an apologetic look. "Not as good as properly crafted equipment, however they should do until my damn minions could produce proper equipment."

This explanation sent my mind into plotting mode. I looked speculatively at Granz and wondered how fast he and his minions could build me a respectable industrial base. I'll be questioning him at length on that once we deal with Neliel, preferably before Tier lost what little was left of her patience and made a mess.

"Set them up." I looked around and noticed a nearby desk which was covered only by stacks of files, so nothing volatile and pointed at it. "Tier put Neliel over there."

My Espada looked uncomfortable at the child-sized Arrancar holding her mid-riff like a vise and still crying into her side.

Now, how to play this… A Kaido overpowered to hell and back by Yuriko? That might work. Thinking about the newest spirit residing in my head was enough to get her attention and she materialized in a shower of Reishin. Not only that, she got Kyouka out as well, without me calling out my Bankai. Nevertheless, I did feel the Reiatsu drain of sustaining them both.

My Zanpakuto looked around from where she sat on the ground with Yuriko held in her lap and raised a questioning eyebrow at me.

"Blame your daughter for this." I nodded at Yuriko. "Speaking about you, little one, I do need your help for a moment." I waved a hand at Neliel, who finally stopped crying and looked at my spirits with huge eyes.

"Fine." Yuriko nodded seriously.

I slowly walked towards Neliel with my best pleasant smile plastered all over my face. Meanwhile, my mind went through the various Kaido spells I knew, wondering which one would be best to use.

They all had one thing in common – first, the healing arts restored the patient's spiritual power to help stabilize them, and then use it as a fuel along with that of the healer to heal. The primary issue here was I had no intention of fully restoring Neliel's Spiritual Power, I needed as much of mine available as practical just in case. That in turn, ensured that this exercise was going to be more complicated than it should have been. Unfortunately, Orihime was still out and thus unavailable, and I wanted this particular issue handled now so I could concentrate on my other plots. Besides, with Neliel more or less restored, Tier would be available to make an object example or ten.

Speaking about Neliel, she fingered on the edge of the desk and it was only Tier's firm grip that held her in place when I approached. She struggled harder, to no avail, when I stood above her and placed my right palm over the scar on her forehead and her shattered mask.

I concentrated, muttering the necessary incantations, and felt my Spiritual Power transform into healing energy, which I poured straight into the old wound. I could sense Yuriko's help, more and more power humming through me and shifting in ways I honestly couldn't fully comprehend. The emerald glow enveloping my arm became blinding in intensity, and I could feel the scar tissue under my hand slowly vanish, leaving behind smooth, soft skin. I poured more and more power into the Kaido, really everything Yuriko was providing and transforming. It was a weird sensation, being mostly a channel and vessel for the power instead of the one fully shaping and directing it.

At any rate, it was working, and that was the important part. I could sense Neliel's mask begin to reform. It was a slow and arduous process, on that was anything but pleasant for the child-shaped Arrancar. Neliel struggled for all she was worth, though Tier thankfully kept her in place while the rest of us did our magic trick. Eventually, she froze and a soft "Ah!" came from the blinding glow obscuring her. I could sense Neliel's mask fully reform and then she began shaking and expelling a tremendous amount of Reiatsu. For a moment I wondered if I kriffed up by the numbers. I relaxed a heartbeat later when I could feel Neliel slowly begin to grow. Within a couple of minutes she was the size of a tall young woman, who had her modesty barely concealed by the rags of her childish outfit.

I let the Kaido go and the blinding healing energy quickly dissipated, letting me see Neliel in all her glory. Her rags did very little to cover her.

The restored Arrancar looked around in confusion until her eyes fell upon Tier. At that point, they shone in recognition and glee. A blink of an eye later, Neliel was glomping my Espada for all she was worth.

"I'm leaving Neliel in your capable hands' Tier. You'll be making an example of Nnoitra tomorrow, in public." I said and put a mark against one of my goals in my mental to-do list. It was time for a bit of rest, then tomorrow morning I would be cleaning up house in earnest.

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Part 4

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Las Noches

Hueco Mundo

Tonight was supposed to be my first night of proper relaxation. All defense systems and spells were online and updated. My more or less reliable minions kept the less than reliable ones were under observation. Not to mention that most in the latter category were too scared to do something particularly stupid, and Unohana wasn't trying to kill me for good through wild sex.

Kyoka and the Hogyoku were safe in my inner world so hopefully, there would be no trouble from that corner.

That meant I could finally crash in my rarely used bed situated deep within the obscenely protected inner chambers of my apartment. And I could get some sorely needed peaceful sleep for the first time since awakening in Soul Society.

It didn't last long. I felt like just closing my eyes and dozing off when the world shook. Piercing alarms fit to raise the dead got me on my feet, standing in a defensive position. All my senses went on overdrive seeking the source of danger. I could feel Spiritual Power spiking from multiple familiar sources. The two largest being Tier and Nnoitra.

So much for my minions keeping the peace until tomorrow.

I flash-stepped away and soon reached the courtyard where the confrontation took place. My pristine villain fortress of doom now had several brand new holes. I could sense low ranked Arrancar and the odd regular Hollow running for cover. Tier and Nnoitra clashed with each other all over the courtyard. The buzz of Sonido and the distinct echo of metal slamming into metal soon drowned all other sounds.

While I couldn't see Tier's face due to her uniform and the bone mask below it, her posture, her every movement radiated pure fury. She also had a shallow bleeding wound slicing through her left temple. It bled profusely marring her blonde hair and staining her pristine white uniform.

Nnoitra either pulled another sneak attack, or Tier baited him into it. Either way, I would need to make a proper example of him when she finished with the fool. Perhaps I would need to discipline my Third Espada as well if she went out seeking trouble tonight despite my orders.

Either way, I was going to let Tier vent first and enjoy the show.

It was immediately obvious she outclassed Nnoitra both in speed and strength. The fact that his Zanpakuto was relatively large and rather unwieldy, did him no favors. While he could dodge and parry some of her strikes, every third or fourth connected. Only Nnoitra's enhanced Hierro and the fact that despite appearances, he wasn't a complete imbecile kept him from dying from thousands of wounds. He kept channeling Reiatsu and thus further strengthening his iron skin, not to mention using it as a kind of ablative armor to protect himself. Nevertheless, Tier made him bleed. Here and there, her attacks broke through everything Nnoitra could throw at them, and soon he was covered in bleeding gashes. His wounds sizzled as his high-speed regeneration kicked in.

Tier's wound was healing much slower than it should have. That was yet another thing to investigate.

By now, the show had gathered an auspicious audience. All Espada save for my crazy scientist had assembled around the courtyard to watch the duel. Parts of their Fractions soon joined them too. Kaname and Unohana Flash-stepped to flank me. The Shinigami from my squad, on the other hand, had the good sense to bunker down in their designated quarters. They were aware they had no business getting involved in such a clash of titans.

"Trouble in paradise?" The former Kenpachi murmured, just loud enough for me to hear her over the clash of steel.

"A bit of sorely needed housekeeping." I could feel her Reiatsu pulse with excitement.

Tier appeared above Nnoitra and delivered a two-handed slash aimed at his head. If it connected, it might have been just enough to split his head in two. He did manage to parry with his double-crescent-shaped weapon, however, the strength of the blow was still enough to drive him into the ground. The impact drove up a huge cloud of sand and briefly obscured them from view.

My Third Espada jumped up and her Zanpakuto lit up the area with a golden glow. I could clearly feel her Spiritual Power condense. It was sharp, furious, and enticing. A heartbeat later, she unleashed it at Nnoitra just as he dug himself out of the sand. The resulting explosion and shock-wave messed up the courtyard even further.

Nnoitra's Reiatsu spiked in fury. It tingled with pain and mindless anger. A moment later, we could see him. He stood within a smoking crater. The Fifth Espada had blocked the attack with his weapon, yet his right hand was a charred mess. I could clearly see blackened bone and cooked muscle.

Tier went after him again and at that point, Nnoitra made his largest mistake to date. The spike of Spiritual Power that surrounded him led to only one conclusion – he was about to release his Resurrection. A big no-no within my bloody palace.

I began chanting in my head, while Tier went on the offensive, determined to keep Nnoitra from releasing his Zanpakuto. She unleashed multiple Ceros and Balas on her way down, while her blade glowed with even more condensed power. Nnoitra responded in kind and some of the audience had to either run for cover or use their power to negate the Third Espada's wild attacks.

Meanwhile, I kept chanting. Those two already wrecked enough of my palace, thank you very much. Before Tier could reach Nnoitra, she unleashed her Ola Azul then used Sonido to get out of the way. My treacherous Espada bit through his tongue even as his power spiked to unacceptable levels and unleashed a Grand Ray Cero. The gargantuan energy beam swallowed Tier's latest attacks and kept ongoing. It sliced through the ceiling, shattering a large portion of it. The mere after-effects shook the whole palace.

"Pray, Santa Teresa!" Nnoitra roared in triumph.

At the same time, I unleashed my binding spell. "Bakudo 79: Nine Sunlight Trap." This Bakudo had a misleading name. It produced no light. It didn't unleash the fury of a star. Or perhaps it did, depending on how you look at it.

Eight black ravenous spheres formed around my arm and flew at Nnoitra. They arrived to surround him just in time for his Resurrection to kick in. A ninth singularity formed in the center of his chest, completing the binding. They pulsed with darkness, swallowing all light, and as much of the Espada's exploding spiritual power as they could.

This Bakudo used pseudo singularities to bind the target in place. They did it not only by exerting their localized gravitational forces, which were enough to shred most Shinigami and Hollows alike. The black holes also ravenously devoured all the Spiritual Power leaked by the target, which was the point of the exercise. Without this binding spell, Nnoitra's release would have fully wrecked this part of my palace.

At this point, Tier's Reiatsu spiked up in a most delicious of ways, which was unfortunately not something I could allow to proceed any further. I Flash-Stepped in front of her and firmly grabbed her sword arm and shook my head at her. Her green eyes widened at my sudden appearance.

"That's quite enough, Tier. We'll be having words about your conduct tonight. However, first I need to make an example."

I shoved Tier in the general direction of her Fraction and Neliel. It was a bit easier than it should have been due to her surprise. After that, I Flash-stepped to appear in front of Nnoitra.

He was in his released form, complete with four arms covered by a milky-white carapace. Each hand held a huge scythe-like blade. Frankly, he looked utterly ridiculous, even though in this form he was one of the more powerful beings in existence.

"Nnoitra, I wish I could say I'm disappointed by this." I shook my head while speaking in a chiding tone. "Yet, this is precisely the foolish display I expected from someone like you."

The Bakudo still held, pinning him like an insect on display.

"What am I to do with you, hm? What do you think you deserve for disregarding my orders?" I smiled at him using Aizen's Number One smile.

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