"Well, it looks like everyone is more or less okay" Urahara happily concluded as he joined everyone at the entrance.
"Oh, no, Kisuke..." A voice he perfectly knew whispered. "I don't know about the rest... But I'm NOT okay"
"W-What are you saying, Yoruichi-san?" He scratched the back of his head nervously.
"I told you not to do it..." She muttered with an enraged grin. "Now even Rukia saw me in that deplorable state"
"Oh, c'mon, don't say that. Your Cat-self is pretty cute, isn't she? Besides, she's way more honest..."
"Hehehehehe..." She laughed in response. "Just keep talking, Kisuke. All you do is give me more reasons to pay you back later" She started pinching his cheek harder and harder.
"Ah...Te-Te-Te-Te-Te-Te-Te...! That hurts!"
"All you're doing right now, is digging your own grave"
"*gulp* I... I'm sorry okay-"
"Hey, you!" Hiyori pointed her finger at him. "You didn't tell me that they were gonna join us!"
Urahara used that as an excuse to escape Yoruichi's grip.
"Oh, that... I thought it'd be a nice surprise!" He chuckled. "I gave Hirako-san a device that would allow him to open a Garganta inside Las Noches from the Dangai. They trained as hard as you did, in fact"
"That's not the problem! But... It's okay I guess" She crossed her arms and deviated her look.
"Where is Hirako-san, actually?" He inquired.
"He stayed behind to take care of the whole Demon army" Kensei replied.
"Oh, I see..." Urahara nodded. "He used his Bankai, didn't he?"
"We believe he did" Rose answered. "Though for obvious reasons, we cannot assure that"
"Hey, idiot!" She addressed Urahara. "What do you know about the baldy's Bankai? Cause I seem to be the only one who doesn't know and it's starting to piss me off!"
"To be honest... I don't know much about it. All I know is that he was banned from using it inside the Seireitei and, pretty much anywhere else"
"That's true. In fact, it's possible that this is the first time he uses it in more than a hundred years" Love added. "And don't get the wrong idea, none of us has ever seen Shinji's Bankai or knows what it is exactly"
"All I know..." Kensei noted. "Is that it doesn't distinguish friend from foe. It is an ability that affects everyone in his Reiatsu's area. That's why we had to get out as quickly as possible"
"Sorry to interrupt, but..." Harribel joined them, as she was on the other end with Gin and Grimmjow, though the latter was still knocked out. "Are you also friends of Urahara-san?"
"More or less" Rose replied. "We are Vizards, just like Love, Lisa, Hachi and Hiyori. I heard that you fought alongside them, so I imagine you understand"
"Yes" The silver haired man approached them from behind. "We know that much"
"Ichi...maru?!" Kensei looked at him in shock.
Rose and Mashiro stared at him in disbelief.
"Sorry for not re-introducing myself in a more... Subtle way, but I thought you were having fun, so I joined in"
"How are you...?" Rose was going to ask.
"We don't know that yet" Urahara replied. "Not for sure, at least, although I have my teories"
"Back to the task at hand..." Yoruichi said. "It seems your plan worked"
"Yeah, Kurosaki-san did well making sure that he didn't hide an inch of his power. Thanks to that, I was able to erase him completely" He nodded. "However, things are far more complicated"
"What do you mean?" Rukia asked, curious enough to stop taking care of Renji.
"The Demon said that Yama has also planned an attack on Soul Society"
Everyone was astonished by that declaration.
"Is that true? It wasn't some kind of bluff?" Yoruichi wanted to make sure.
"I don't think so. Kurosaki-san seemed to come to a better understanding with his enemy. But that aside..." Urahara got serious. "Yoruichi-san, go back to the shop and alert our guests about this"
"Guests?" Mashiro wondered.
"Almost the whole crew of Captains and Lieutenant-level Shinigami are in there currently" Urahara revealed. "I didn't mention that so that Kurosaki-san wouldn't be so worried about the current situation of the Seireitei, but they were already facing some serious trouble. "
"Who stayed in the Seireitei?" Kensei inquired.
"Of course, the Captain Commander and his Lieutenant" Renji predicted as he withstood a headache.
"That's correct" Yoruichi agreed. "Although we also have the case of Captain Unohana"
"The rest are all in the Training Grounds planning a counter-attack" Urahara added. "If we only knew something more to proceed in the best way possible..."
"In any case, you should at least inform them. Knowing that, they can decide what to do" Rukia said.
"I think it's clear then" Urahara concluded. "Everyone, go with Yoruichi-san. I'll stay here and wait for Hirako. We'll go check on Kurosaki-san"
"What about us?" Harribel asked him.
"Oh, you three should just go back to Hueco Mundo. It's your home after all, and it wouldn't be strange that Yama tried to take the Heart of Tsukoyomi in some way under these conditions" The shop owner answered.
"I understand. Good luck, everyone" She wished as she picked up Grimmjow, Gin folowing her.
"Wait a second, that means you..." Rose only noticed then.
"Yes... I came back as an Arrancar" Gin said his thoughts. "But when you all see Rangiku, please don't say anything. I'll talk to her when the time comes"
"Okay" They nodded, understanding.
The Arrancar left, followed by the Vizards and Soul Reapers.
"Kisuke..." Yoruichi muttered before leaving Jigoku.
"What is it?"
"Don't you dare die. I have yet to punish you for what you did"
"Oh, I'm looking forward to it" Urahara chuckled. "So you better take care too, Yoruichi" He dropped the honorific on purpose so that she would understand how worried he was.
"S-Sure" She nodded. "Idiot..." She thought as she disappeared through the portal.
Urahara sighed as he walked back into the main path, ready to encounter a fierce battle.
"People like Yama are definitely not the type to give up with simple talk... I can only expect the worse from Kurosaki-san's meeting with him, though I'd really like to hope that is not the case"
~~~~X~~~~
"Kon, where did this girl come from?" Ishida asked him as he went through the buildings at a fast pace.
"From Soul Society it seems, but I don't know much more. Some weird guy with green hair is after her, but aside from that, nothing" Kon replied bitterly.
Ishida made a call.
"Chad, did you find anything?" He asked, as Chad had gone to investigate the parking lot where Kon found Nozomi.
"Not something that can trace her back, but there's definitely remains of Spiritual Energy. Whatever is going on, is clearly connected to the incident in the Seireitei"
"What? Incident?!" Kon asked bewildered.
"I'll tell you in a moment" He told the Mod Soul. "Thanks, Chad. Could you go look for her in the Park Area? I'll check the other side"
"Yeah, no problem. Be careful, Ishida"
"Like always" He hanged up.
"So?" Kon insisted. "What's going on?"
"It all started with some Lieutenants and Captains disappearing after coming to the Human World. Later, we found out said people were here, as they managed to escape the Koutoutsu in the nick of time. Don't ask me why that is, but that's what happened"
"Damn..." Kon was in shock.
"They were now looking for Kurosaki, but of course, we just told them he was busy with the Oni. We left them at Urahara's Shop and asked if they knew something else. Apparently, someone has taken over the Seireitei from the inside, though we're still trying to decipher who it was"
"Could it be that green haired guy? He looked suspicious enough, I swear!"
"Perhaps. But finding this girl seems to be the priority right now. Whoever's behind this, needs the girl to fulfill its plans, so it's top priority. In fact, I also informed the Shinigami at the Training Grounds, so they also sent a couple people on a search for her"
"Oh, I hope she's alright"
"Also, don't get the wrong idea... I'm not doing this for the Shinigami" Uryuu clarified.
"Well, I kinda expected you to say that, to be honest" Kon chuckled a bit.
"The only reason I'm doing this is because... It's what Kurosaki would've done"
"By the way... I heard you've started training Yuzu, didn't you?"
"Hmph" He pressed his glasses. "I'd say 'training' is pushing it quite a bit. I've just been teaching her the basics of her powers and making sure she understands the responsibility it means"
"I see... Did Ichigo ask you to do that?"
"I... I think he did" He remembered how he told him to take care of his sister, despite him not understanding it at the moment. "But the one who fully explained it was his father. I wasn't sure about it at first... But I know I'll be a better teacher than Ryuuken at the very least"
"Good luck with that! Now... I think it's better if I go somewhere else to look for the girl" Kon said as he thought of the different possibilities.
"Yeah, the larger the area we cover, the better. Call me if you find something, but don't be reckless. You're not powerful enough to engage in combat"
"I know..." He muttered in reply, bothered by that fact. "Anyways, I'll get going, Ishida"
"Sure, do your best"
~~~~X~~~~
Ichigo continued attacking the sphere of corpses relentlessly, sending the bodies flying as he damaged the layers of the cocoon.
"Cero Luna!" He blasted a big one from his horns. "Good, it seems that he's weaker to Light-based attacks. I wonder if..." He looked at his hand as he remembered how Urahara modified Kurohitsugi. "No... I'm not ready for that, but I could try something else, although it would be risky to use so much Reiatsu in a single attack without knowing its effectiveness. I should just stick to Cero Luna and Getsuga with my Hollow Zanpakutou" He finished thinking.
Ulquiorra did the same, using the Light Cero, as well as Lanza del Relámpago to destroy the clones that were rising from the floor, as well as from the layers Ichigo destroyed.
"This has no end..." He thought with a frown as he used Revolución del Relámpago.
Nel used her lance to attack from the distance, throwing pink Reiatsu blasts that were on pair with her Lanzador Verde.
"Lluvia Verde!" She said as a column of frenzy pink Reiatsu rose from her lance, dissolving a group of clones.
This was not enough to stop the walking dead. The white humanoid beings were still increasing their numbers as time went through.
Ulquiorra, of course, wanted to end this as soon as possible, to make sure that Orihime was alright, but it was clearly gonna take a lot longer than he wished.
"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo said as he sliced another layer of the cocoon, getting closer to the center. "Just a bit more..."
However, this meant that his two partners would get a whole new deal of enemies to take care of.
Ulquiorra used Chauve-Souris' wind attacks to clear the way after he saw himself surrounded by a multitude of creatures.
"Tormenta de Murciélago!"
Nel, on the other hand, was completely overwhelmed. After all, she couldn't use Cero Luna in Segunda Etapa, and neither did she have an elemental prowess so great to disperse her enemies like the Primera Espada could.
"Dammit..." Ulquiorra thought. "It might be too much for her to handle. But I gotta save her, otherwise, Ichigo won't be able to continue... Or maybe he'll explode and destroy it all... In any case, nothing good can come out of this" He flew in her aid, as she was clearly unable to escape that wall of bodies. If only she could turn them into dust...
Unless... She reduced them to ashes!
"Yoruichi-san... Thank you for everything you taught me" She said with a smile, happy to find a way out of that hopeless situation. "Shunkou!" From her body, pink flames emanated violently, burning the faceless beings just by rushing straight into their crowd.
"Well, looks like she could get out of that on her own" He smiled, feeling relieved that Nel was strong enough. "She's probably the one doing the greatest effort after all... Aiming to stand by Ichigo's side as an equal, despite his clear superiority to any Arrancar. I should also go beyond my own capabilities... In order to protect her" He thought about Orihime.
"Ha!" Ichigo yelled as he destroyed another layer with a powerful swing of his Zanpakutou.
Out of the flesh barrier, a tentacle came out.
"What the...?" Ichigo murmured as he saw the tentacle point him and shoot a laser.
"Be careful, Ichigo!" Nel told him, as that whole layer seemed to have beam-shooting tentacles.
This layer wasn't made out of undead bodies, but of pink living flesh. They were approaching the center.
"We should help him" Ulquiorra told Nel as he flew close to her, though not so much, due to the heat of her flames. "But we can't forget about the clones that are approaching from the periphery"
"I have an idea" She lowered her flames. "But we need to be in the same spot, otherwise you'll get caught in the fire"
Ulquiorra nodded in response, heading towards Ichigo.
"Ulquiorra, did something happen?" Ichigo asked as he evaded a powerful beam while managing to cut one of the tentacles.
"Nelliel has an idea to finish this more quickly. She's smart, and has proven to be really powerful, so I decided to trust her"
"Good. Show me, Nel!"
"Ichigo..." She smiled as she galloped to him, charging her lance to the limit, preparing her strongest attack yet. "You two stay close to me!"
"Alright!" Ichigo gladly accepted.
"Ok" Ulquiorra nodded.
As she got to their position, she pointed her lance to the sky and aimed at the flesh cocoon.
"Witness my strength, Ichigo. All the barriers I've breached, all the limits I've broken... It's all because of you" She thought as multiple pink beams were blasted away from the tip of her weapon. "Lanza de Luz Gamuza!"
The tentacles were destroyed by the explosions caused by Nel's attack, just like the surrounding undead creatures.
"Nel..." Ichigo smiled proudly as he beheld the power of his Queen with adoration. "You're amazing"
The violent cocoon screeched in agony as that final layer was destroyed, leaving nothing but a web of meat that weakly held a great white orb tainted with Darkness.
The web fell to the floor, unable to continue growing due to the unprecedented damage it took.
"Did she do it?" Ulquiorra wondered.
However, on top of the orb, stood the one being that hadn't taken any particular decision during the fight.
"V?!" He thought, only realizing in that point that it hadn't done anything to stop them earlier.
There it stood, holding the grotesque weapon as it prepared its last straw.
The sword that is not a sword.
The sound that is not a sound.
The face, that is not a face, gave them a last glimpse as it used the sword to carve a hole into itself, where the mouth should be.
It puked a white bodily fluid for a couple seconds as it prepared itself.
"Ichi... I'm scared" Nel trembled a bit, half disgusted and half confused.
"What is that thing doing?" Ichigo inquired.
A second later, his answer came in the form of a sword release.
"Become one... Legion"
The light from the orb where it stood started embedding its body as the Dark Core ascended from the center of the sphere, its corrosive dark energy filling the Duke's empty chest as it embraced the unfathomable power Yama had collected for so long.
While not the whole strength of a being was turned into Negative Energy, the obtained amount was enough to even surpass Yama in terms of raw power.
The body of the Duke grew a lot in size, becoming three times bigger than the corpse it used to be. The 'V' on its face, shifted upwards (Λ) and then bent itself to form the sign of the end:
Ω
Yama was clearly the Alpha, while Neberu simbolized the Omega.
They didn't fully understand what was going on, but they could tell it was bad, awfully bad.
Ichigo and Ulquiorra blasted a Cero Luna towards the creature, only to find that it wasn't significantly damaged by this.
The being extended its arm like it was made of rubber and grabbed the Primera.
"Ulquiorra!" Ichigo and Nel came to his aid.
The strong grip of Neberu was pressing Ulquiorra, menacing to tear him apart, crushing his body beyond what his abilities could heal.
Nelliel activated her Shunkou once again, readying a blazing attack.
"Lanzador Verde: Llamarada"
"Maybe Light attacks don't really work against this thing" He thought. "In that case... Cero Medianoche!"
The pitch black Cero was aimed at Neberu's shoulder.
The dark beam along with the pink Reiatsu shot managed to separate the arm from the main body, freeing Ulquiorra.
"Ungh..." He complained as he fell to the ground, quickly healing himself to keep fighting.
"Are you okay?" Nelliel asked him, since his body looked really out of place.
"Am I okay...? Of course" He said in reply proudly, quickly healing and reassembling the broken limbs. "But it's not a nice feeling, believe me"
Neberu simply regenerated its lost limb from the main body, not minding the attack at all.
"This one's gonna be tough" Ichigo sighed with bother."Tougher than anything we've encountered so far"
"But we might still have a chance. Remember that its gestation was not complete, so it hasn't developed correctly" Ulquiorra reminded. "Maybe, we can still do something if we can destroy the Dark Core that feeds it"
"True. But earlier... Your Light attack had no effect. It's like its body is made of pure Light, while just the heart is Dark" Nel noted.
"In that case... We have to reduce it to the heart and destroy it in that moment with an obliterating Light attack" Ichigo deduced.
"Sounds like the only option so far" Ulquiorra agreed.
"Let's do it then" Nel agreed.
Neberu flew into the air as it charged a Light and Dark beam from the Dark Core, forcing them to dodge quickly through the morbid chamber.
~~~~X~~~~
Yama stepped into Las Noches, blasting the main gate away along with its guards.
"You are a nuisance" He chuckled as he easily broke in.
One of Rudbornn's clones saw what had occurred, informing the main body of the event.
"Nageki-sama" Rudbornn informed him of what had just occurred. "There's a high level Demon inside the walls of Las Noches. Main Entrance to be exact"
"Dammit..." Nageki nodded, pressing a button that started an alarm.
Immediately, the Legion of The Serpent along with the Espada were notified of the attack.
All the Espada inside started moving towards the area, ready to engage in combat.
"What happened, Satya?" Bryssling asked his partner as they ran towards the place.
"Aum, it seems that we're under attack. We weren't informed of anything else, but it can't be good"
"Nageki-san said that he would only play the alarm if the threat was of high level" Lilynette reminded them. "Whatever it is, we must give it our all... Kick about, Los Lobos!"
"Discipline, Castigador!"
Satya looked at his blade with doubt, not sure about releasing his true power.
Lilynette noticed his expression and felt a need to help him.
"You're worried about using your Resurrección, aren't you?" She sweetly asked.
"Aum..." He nodded.
"I wasn't conscious when you fought, but I heard you are able to immerse others into an illusion of unbearable fear. Is that correct?"
"Aum... I feel like, something bad could happen"
"I guess you would..." She understood his feelings. "Back when I became an Arrancar, I was also scared. Me and my friend couldn't control our Reiatsu, so we ended up killing weaker Hollows just by approaching them. Because of that, we were pretty lonely, but at least we had each other"
"Aum..." Satya agreed. "I don't want to hurt anyone, not my friends, if they consider me that..." He confessed.
Bryssling looked at him amazed as he heard that. He never thought the boy was so afraid of loneliness.
"Don't worry, Satya-kun. Everyone here is really strong, and accepts your power as much as they accept your being" Lilynette assured him.
"Aum, but Kurosaki-dono said... That I had to learn to control it and... I'm not sure I can do that"
"I'm sure you can. You just've never gotten the chance" She stopped him for a moment and put her tattooed hand in his shoulder. "You're not evil, Satya-kun. Neither are your powers. If you don't want to hurt your friends, then you have to make your sword understand that feeling"
"Aum" He nodded understandingly.
"Go ahead then!"
"Aum. Thank you, Lily-nee" He smiled at her, which was a pretty rare sight. "Disperse... Escalofrío"
Ashido had also gone along with the Tres Bestias to the appointed zone, encountering Orihime along the way.
"Ashido-san!" She called him.
"Inoue-san...?" Ashido replied, stopping to speak to her.
They had already introduced themselves, as Orihime asked Ashido about his transition into a Hollow.
Strangely enough, the trio didn't react to the fact that he was speaking to her, but probably that was because they were fixated on something much more shocking on her neck.
"She is...!" Apacci murmured.
"...An Arrancar?!" Mila Rose completed.
"...A Whole?" Sung-Sun did the same, but differently.
Ashido got worried about the fact that she was out from the palace in that moment, knowing that she wasn't the fighting type.
"What are you doing? That alarm is sign of maximum danger"
"I know, but that's the reason I came" She replied. "If anything happens... I want to be there to help"
"Oh... I see" He had heard about her outstanding healing abilities. "But even so, please be careful. Do you need us to take you?"
"Thanks, but, while I'm still getting used to my abilities, I don't wanna get in the way. Don't worry, you four should just go ahead, I'll get there in a while"
"Wait a second..." Apacci stopped her. "That mark... Are you linked to... Another Arrancar?" She asked.
Orihime smiled as she was reminded of it.
"Yes!" She cheerfully replied. "I'm a Whole, just like you, right?"
Apacci blushed as she was discovered.
"How did you...?"
"Cause Ashido-san has three beautiful marks of different colours around his Hollow Hole. A red pair of deer antlers, an orange-red lioness head and a pink snake... It's so unique and pretty, I would've never thought that was a possibility!" She giggled.
The other two also blushed in the back. Only Mila Rose's void was in sight, but it clearly showed a lightblue mark of skeletal Dual Blades.
"Yeah..." Ashido looked away awkwardly. "I couldn't pick a single one of them. I love them all in a special way so... Things turned out like this"
"I think it's wonderful. Congratulations!" Orihime applauded. "Oh, sorry for meddling and delaying you!" She apologized.
"No, don't mind that" Ashido let it go. "I'll tell the rest you're coming as well. Take care. Let's go, girls"
"Y-Yes!" The three replied, going behind him.
"Everyone is finding their other half... It is so beautiful" Orihime thought as she kept moving, clumsily trying to use Sonido, yet not actually pulling it off.
"Hey!" A girl's voice called.
"Huh?" She looked back. "Oh, it's you! It's been such a long time! How have you-"
"Shut up. It's definitely not the time for that!" Loly spat, Menoly by her side. "I'm not gonna ask how, but I see you're an Arrancar now, so you might as well use your powers correctly"
"Sorry but... I thought it'd be easier so I didn't ask Ulquiorra... But I've been thinking and really trying...!"
"Well it's not enough!" Loly shouted.
"I'm... Sorry..." Orihime replied sadly.
"Loly..." Menoly tried to calm her down a little.
"Argh... Look, I don't wanna be so harsh, but I know what you're capable of, and you're gonna be needed. At this rate, it will be too late for when you arrive" Loly said in a more comprehensive tone.
"I... I thought I could do it" Orihime muttered.
"And you can" Menoly said. "But it might be too soon for you to just go on your own. You were just a human before, so it's to be expected that you don't know how it works. Let us help you, it'll be a quick lesson"
"Really?" She was filled with hope.
"Don't take this the wrong way, we're just doing this cause Las Noches is at stake" Loly crossed her arms. "Now, I think the first thing you gotta do, is feel your powers instead of thinking about how they work"
"Feel... Okay!" She replied as she took the tip, starting the tutorial.
Meanwhile, getting closer to the red towers, Yama closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the Heart of Tsukoyomi.
"I know you're around here... I can feel it" He murmured.
"Not so fast" Pesche pointed his Zanpakutou at him. "Go on, Dondochakka"
"Keep your ground... Estatua"
He turned into the great tri-faced statue, immediately summoning a group of attack beasts.
"Scavenge... Escarabajo!"
Pesche went into his Resurrección, understanding the danger of the situation.
"Tsk... You really think you stand a chance against me?"
"We don't know who you are... But you are clearly not a scout. I can feel it, you're a Prince... Or maybe one of the Four Horsemen, aren't you?" Pesche deduced, making a clear mistake.
"Ahahahahah... No, no... I'm, a bit higher than that" Yama grinned evily.
"It can't be...!"
"Hmph. Looks like you get it now" He drew his sword.
"PESCHE!" Dondochakka tried to alert him.
But it was too late. Yama easily went through him, cutting all his limbs in an instant.
"Nel-sama..." He fell unconscious due to the damage.
"And now... It's your turn"
"UWWRAHHH!" Dondochakka yelled with rage as he ordered all the attack beasts.
"Oculus Ex Inferni!" A hundred eyes appeared behind him, a half shooting beams of Light and the other half of Dark element, quickly erasing all the attack beasts and dealing great damage to Dondochakka as well.
"Kgh... Nel...sama" He was also knocked out.
"Hm... I could just finish them right now, but that would be no fun. These are that woman's underlings after all... Maybe I could order Neberu to keep them alive for a while so I can plan a better way to torture them" He smiled with that twisted thought. "Now, where were we?"
He could smell the Heart of Tsukoyomi, feeling it closer than ever.
"It's here, there's no doubt. Even if I have never been able to see it with my own eyes, I just know it"
Before he could continue his search, about a hundred Arrancar decided to block his way. It was the Legion of the Serpent.
"Y'er not passin' through here" One said with a rusty voice.
"Kurosaki-sama gave us one job, and we're gonna give it our all to do it" Another one added.
"Even if we die, at least we'll buy enough time so that the Espada arrive..." An older one raised a double handed axe.
"You... Hollows...!" Yama seemed to explode with rage. "No matter what I want, no matter where I go... There's always some god-damned Hollow in my path!"
All the members of the Legion released their Zanpakutou in a loud yell roar that echoed through Las Noches.
Ready to die, the warriors simply charged towards Yama like an avalanche, trying to suffocate the Demon in a chaotic barrage of berzerk attacks.
"So you're all just gonna bash right in... How stupid and futile, but then again, that's so like you..." He muttered as he saw the stampede like it moved in slow motion, his senses as sharp as he could get them. "Drown in the insolence of your being... Apassionata Ex Machinea!" A thousand arrows of Light and Dark fell from the sky, instantly killing about half of the unit, turning them into blood and ash. Yama still hadn't gotten a single scratch.
"Kgh..." One barely hanged to life.
"Fuck!" Another one wanted to fight, but quickly saw it was impossible.
"No... It's not over yet!" Another one roared, blasting a red Cero at Yama from behind.
The Demon dodged the laser without even looking and in the next instant, he kicked the Arrancar, breaking his body in two.
"Tch... The only damage you could do was stain my elegant clothes with your impure blood. I'll make sure to cleanse this whole place along with this Kimono"
"Damn you... Demon!" Another one spat from the sand.
"Pfft... Do you have any idea of why I'm here?!" He spouted at them all. "Exactly. Because I was damned, and no, that wasn't because of my schemes in Takemagahara... I was damned from the very moment of my birth!"
"That doesn't mean you must take out your anger and frustration in them" A man the Demon recognized said.
"That voice..." He looked at the source. "Long time no see, Primera Espada"
"It's been quite some time since that" Nageki replied. His skin was of a dark grey color, as he had changed it into a special material to face him. "I should have foreseen that you would do something like this if Ichigo went after you"
"Yes, you're right, you should have... But it's too late for that now. I've come for the Heart of Tsukoyomi. I know you hid it somewhere, so give it to me now and this carnage will stop"
"As if that meant anything... As soon as you fulfill your goals, you'll just come back here and repeat the massacre of that day, only that you'll leave no survivors this time"
"I don't see how that is a problem for you. Rumor has it you want to die. If that's the case, I believe the quickest way is giving me what I'm asking for" Yama extended his hand.
"And what happens with all the other Hollows who want to have an actual life?"
"Please don't lie to yourself, Alchemist. We both know you don't really care about such thing. Nakagawa Nageki, Ascalon Aragon, Quasimodo Gandolfi... None of them have ever cared about the others, cause deep within themselves, they know that they cannot and will never feel what the other people do. You are just a sociopath Mugetsu manipulated into believing he could be useful to a society, when all he cared about was of you to be of use to him!"
"That's not true. I knew Mugetsu, I knew Yukari, I knew the Espada! And while I never felt true empathy for them, I understood deep in my mind that they had goals with an equal value to mine" He replied stoically. "Ichigo, Nelliel and everyone else is the same. Even if I'm never gonna comprehend this feeling, I know they are my friends, and that's all I need to risk my life for them"
Yama frowned with rage as he realized that it would be impossible to move Nageki's will with that alone.
"There must be something I can use..." Yama said, slashing his sword against Nageki.
The sempiternal Arrancar replied with his sword as well, barely withstanding the hits from the ruler of Hell.
"Ho? You're weaker than I thought you'd be. After all these years, I imagined you would create a grudge and train in order to kill me when the time comes. Wasn't that the true reason you've been alive all these millions of years?"
"Wrong. It's true that I failed back then..." He remembered how helplessly he was defeated, before witnessing his best friend's wife get murdered along with his child. "But Mugetsu was stronger than an empty desire for revenge!"
"You don't know. After all, you've never told him that the baby had just been born when I murdered the two! Ahahahahaha!" Yama laughed like a maniac.
"That would only give him more grief than he already experienced" Nageki closed his eyes bitterly for a second, only to open them at the next instant with sheer determination, his fuchsia irises burning with it. "No matter what you say, you won't make me doubt... Segunda Etapa"
The terrain around them started shaking as Nageki changed its composition multiple times, thinking of a strategy to defeat Yama.
"I see... You've gotten better at this!" Yama said as he evaded a cloud of toxic gas that emanated from burning mercury.
Nageki instantly changed the gas back into oxygen and hydrogen, so that it would not spread through the rest of Las Noches.
Yama fell into a pool of blazing magma as soon as he came back into the ground.
"Tsk... How unoriginal" He said as he flew out of it, only to encounter that the atmosphere around him had raised its temperature to a point all gases turned into plasma, generating lightning bolts all over the area he was. "Ungh!"
Nageki had gotten him, but so little wouldn't be enough, and he was getting out of Reiatsu, as those chemical reactions took a lot of energy from him.
"I gotta end this quickly, but I can't use such a devastating technique in this place" He thought about turning the hydrogen of the air into a hydrogen bomb. "Guess I'll just have to go back to the basics..." He went into Etapa Final.
"You wouldn't...!"
Nageki smiled.
"You're right, I can't use my strongest powers in here because of everyone's safety, but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna give up" He had a new Philosopher's stone he turned into dust to use as catalyst. "Gran Rey Cero Alquimista!" A crimson red Cero that then shifted colours went through Yama with its more than obliterating potential.
"Damn you, Nageki!!!" Yama spat as he tried to absorb the energy with his Zanpakutou.
"Lucifer could only absorb Reiatsu in one state at a time. Due to this, nature-shifting attacks couldn't be absorbed successfully" Nageki remembered, as he had faced the Demon King while Mugetsu was protecting the rest of Las Noches from the Angels and the Four Horsemen.
All of the Arrancar in the vast area of the desert saw the rainbow-like beam that rose to the sky.
"Something's going on" Harribel noticed.
The Shinigami and the Vizards had already left through a Garganta into the Human World.
"You go" Gin told her. "I'm not so strong, I'll just stay with Grim-"
"No" The Espada woke from his slumber. "I already had my nap. I'm going with you, Tier" He smiled, ready to have a new battle.
Nageki panted as he saw his surroundings. There was dust and sand everywhere, so it was hard to tell if he had won or not.
"Even if that was not enough to kill him... *cough* *cough* Argh...! It should be... Enough to stop him..."
His thoughts were interrupted by a great pain that went from his back and came out his stomach. Yama hadn't given up.
He was completely wounded and even had lost an arm. He had put his Katana in the sheath, and used his only hand to attack Nageki.
"Wrong. Nothing is enough to stop me, from what's rightfully mine!" He spouted, holding the black box where the tesseract was stored and pulling his arm out of Nageki's body.
"What the...?" Nageki muttered, vomiting blood. "How did you know...?"
"Cause Kurosaki and Mugetsu aren't the only heirs to Tsukoyomi's legacy..."
"You don't say...!" Nageki widened his eyes.
"Yes. The first son of Tsukoyomi- No. The ONLY true son of Tsukoyomi, is me!" Yama revealed to Nageki, as he started regenereting his lost limb. "Son of the banished Tsukoyomi, and the High Goddess Amaterasu... That's me, Sorayama, God of Energy"
"I see... That's the why"
"Yes. That's the reason for my deep hatred of you Hollows. While my father neglected me, he gave his own life to create a whole lineage of creatures as if they were his children, with Mugetsu as its head!" Yama bitterly admitted. "He gave him everything! Power, time, company... And what was left for me?! That's right... There's nothing for me here..." He grinned outraged.
"That's not... Mugetsu's fault... Neither... Ours..." Nageki, weak, refuted.
"I know. But my old man is long gone, and all that's left of him are this thing, you Hollows and Kurosaki's Zanpakutou. All I can do to take out my misery on him now, is destroy everything he ever loved. I'll eradicate both your existence and my mother's. The fact that I'll stand on top of everything afterwards is just a bonus"
"Fufufu..." Nageki laughed. "So the one wasting his life on a meaningless revenge turned out to be none other than you..."
"You have no idea of how this feels... In fact, you have no idea of how anyone else feels" Yama coldly said. "The reason sociopaths and psychopaths get obsessed over every little thing is cause they're empty inside. The only ones able to truly savour the suffering they create is us, sensitive enough to rejoice in the pain of the people we hate the most"
"Say what you want... I still feel glad of not being a miserable... Like you...!"
"Is that so? We'll see who is more miserable... Ænima" Yama put the black box in a space inside his Kimono and placed his palm on Nageki's head. "Show me... Your greatest fear..."
Sorayama knew that the Arrancar needed to have something else aside from his failure during the raid. There had to be an unspoken secret only he knew.
He looked between forgotten memories, seeking something important, yet stored in the dark corners of oblivion.
Finally, between the haze of his mind, he could see it.
"How did I not realize before?" He chuckled. "Of course. You would've never been able to change that bloody harlot without some trick"
"Ngh..." Nageki fell miserably in the sand as he recognized his own failure. "I'm so sorry, Nelliel..."
"I would kill you now, but I think you're gonna be way more sorrowful in that state, rotting every day of your existence knowing, that you were never able to accomplish anything. In everything you ever tried, you failed, and the one thing you successed at, is nothing, but an abhorrent lie..."
Before Yama could continue grieving Nageki, however, he saw himself surrounded.
"This is as far as you go!" Harribel told him.
"Tch... Who's this guy anyway?" Grimmjow looked down on him due to his ragged appearance.
"I don't know, but we must get rid of him" Ashido declared.
"And punish him for the deaths of all these soldiers" Bryssling added, readying his tentacles.
"There will be no forgiveness" A mature Satya stated.
"How unsightly..." Lilynette mourned over the dead.
"My, my... What a mess he made" Gin sighed with bother.
"Haha! Looks like you have no idea of who you're speaking to..." Yama grinned as his arm had just finished regenerating. "Ungh!"
He couldn't get his Katana out, as he suddenly felt the lack Reiatsu reminiscent from his actions to survive Nageki's Cero.
"Heh, looks like it won't matter as you can't even fight!" Grimmjow spat proudly.
"Everyone!" A girl's voice yelled from the distance.
They all looked back, all except Harribel, Grimmjow, Satya and Gin who didn't lose a single movement of the Demon.
Orihime tripped in the sand before joining them all in the remains of the fierce battle.
"We told you to be careful when returning to normal speed!" Loly reprimanded her, while Menoly just sighed.
"Sorry..." Orihime knead her head.
"Inoue-san" Ashido remembered she was coming. "Looks like we're gonna need a lot of your help in the end"
"No problem!" She cheerfully accepted, but then she noticed the Demon everyone was surrounding. "No... You!"
"What's wrong, Inoue-san?" Lilynette asked.
"That man... H-He is...!" She could barely say it, fear stealing her voice with every word. "The King of Jigoku... Yama!"
Everyone was shocked for a second as they heard that. They weren't dealing with a mere grunt. That was the Lord of Hell himself.
Yama took that single second to rush outside of the circle of Espada, grinning as he got the golden opportunity to not only escape, but punish the traitor in the process.
"Drown in an ocean of darkness... Ulquiorra!!!" Yama yelled triumphantly as he tore Orihime's body apart with a single hand, destroying all her inner organs in her chest and stomach.
"INOUE-SAN!" Was heard in unison as the people realized what had occurred.
~~~~X~~~~
"Arghhh!" Ulquiorra felt a deep pain go through his Hollow Hole.
~~~~X~~~~
"You won't get away, Yama!!!" Grimmjow and Harribel tried to get him.
A dimensional cut of darkness stopped them right in their tracks though.
"R-Ren!" Yama muttered.
"You could've told me to come with you, Yama-san" A man of pale skin, gray eyes and wild greenish-yellow hair said.
He was wearing a dark robe with silver chains and shackles hanging. He was holding a long Scythe.
"*cough* It doesn't matter anymore, just get us out from here"
"Okay... It will be easy since the Seireitei is in our hands" He indifferently noted. "Seku already unleashed 'The Plague', so there's nothing to worry about"
"I see. Excellent"
"You won't get away with this!" Harribel shot a yellow Cero Luna at them, but Ren easily blocked it by rolling his scythe.
"You're funny, woman..." He reminded her of Ulquiorra a bit. "You cannot kill Death"
Following those words, Ren created multiple sickles that came after her.
"Tier!" Grimmjow slashed Reiatsu waves to push the weapons away.
"Would you look at that, Yama-san?" Ren said. "These Arrancar are getting stronger, aren't they?"
"Ren!" Yama ordered.
"Okay, okay..." He sliced a Kimon in the space. "When you wanna go on to the next life, come see me" The man invited.
As soon as the two disappeared, all the attention was centered on Orihime.
"Princess! Please hang on!" Loly and Menoly cried, the first holding her tears while the other simply let it all out.
While they were jealous of her at first due to Aizen's interest in the girl, they couldn't deny that she was the most pure hearted person they had ever met, and seeing her like that, was simply unbearable.
For everyone else, it was a similar feeling.
The Tres Bestias also felt really sad, as she had been the one that healed their wounds after the battle in Karakura.
"Grimmjow, go to the Training Grounds of that man, now!" Harribel ordered. "Inoue-san, you have to resist a little bit"
Orihime smiled as she felt her life fading away.
"I... I don't think I... Will make it..." She almost whispered, as her body was completely destroyed, not even having lungs to breath. "Just tell... Ulquiorra... I... Love..."
Her brown eyes lost all life as she finished those words.
"You gotta be kidding me...!" Harribel covered her mouth. She had never been so touched by a person's death, but seeing the girl that had healed her and her family like that, added to the fact that she knew what feelings meant now... It was too much.
"This has to be a lie...!" Lilynette started crying.
"Damn..." Even Bryssling thought it had been hard.
"This is bad..." Gin felt sad as well.
"No way...!" Ashido punched the sand floor.
"Just... Why?" Satya wondered, not understanding how good people could suffer that kind of fate.
"What... What are we gonna possibly say to Ichigo... And Ulquiorra?" Harribel sobbed.
Everyone mourned over the death of the girl, surrounded by corpses and wounded Arrancar that would likely die without the indicated care.
Unknown to them however, the girl's body had stopped responding, but... Was that really the end?
Inside the Zanpakutou on her side, a different opinion was held by six different spirits.
"Huh?" She opened her eyes in a flower garden. "Everything seems... Calm here. What...?" She remembered what had just happened. "Oh, right. I died"
"Are you sure about that?" A male voice inquired.
"That voice...! Tsubaki?" She couldn't believe it. "But Ashido-san said that-"
"Kokuran disappeared from his Zanpakutou because he rarely used its power. Her spirit was eaten by the Hollow beast because of that. However, that's not the case with us..."
"Hello again!" Shun'ou saluted cheerfully. "We're so glad to see you again. I thought you'd never speak to us and we'd be trapped inside this sword forever" He sighed in relief. "But that didn't happen!"
"Woo!" The other four fairies flew happily around her.
"Everyone is here!" She was amused.
"Yeah" Tsubaki nodded. "We six compose the powers of your Zanpakutou: Flora"
"Flora? That sounds pretty!" She giggled. "I'm so happy to see you guys here! I can't wait to tell...! Ulqui-kun..." She remembered sadly. "I... I'm dying, am I not?"
The fairies looked at each other, deciding to explain the situation.
"Well, yes and no" Lily replied.
"What?!" She snapped.
"Look, Orihime, you just experienced an actual death. Your body can no longer be restored through Kaidou or your own regenerative abilities" Shun'ou explained.
"Then how...?"
"Because of your aspect of death" Tsubaki replied.
"I have... An aspect of death? Me?" She blinked in disbelief.
"Yes. And it is none other than... Denial" Shun'ou revealed. "Your stubbornness to accept reality has gifted you this power!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..." Lily chuckled. "You didn't accept to be powerless when all your friends were fighting Hollows back then, so you got our power"
"Then, you wouldn't let your friends die at any cost, so you developed an ability capable of restoring everything to a past state. That surpasses even space and time rules!" Shun'ou pointed out.
"And now, you wouldn't accept the fact that you and Ulquiorra would never be Whole, so you went as far as to become a Hollow and then an Arrancar" Hinagiku added.
"And all of that leads to this..." Tsubaki said proudly. "Orihime, you have the power to deny a certain aspect of reality, once"
"Wait... I don't think I get it"
"What Tsubaki is trying to say is, that you can come back to life by denying the fact that you died" Shun'ou said.
"Is that... Is that really possible?"
"Yes, but only for once" Lily clarified. "Maybe you'll be able to do it more times if you get stronger but... The only thing we can assure for now, is that this once, you've successfully escaped death"
"Oh my God..." She covered her mouth, not able to grasp her luck.
"We're glad you came to visit, Orihime..." Tsubaki said. "But I believe there are people back in Hueco Mundo that need you"
"Right!" She recalled her friends' sad faces, as well as the wounded that required her help. "What do I have to do?"
"Just order your Zanpakutou to deny your death and we'll do the rest" Shun'ou concluded, Baigon and Ayame nodding alongside him.
"Okay, thank you so much! I love you all!" She told the six. "Now then... Flora,
I deny this reality.
I won't accept it.
For as long as Ulquiorra needs me.
I won't leave this world.
I reject that fate.
Inoue Orihime is alive"
As she finished that sentence, her soul flew out of her Zanpakutou and everything became white.
Outside, everyone stopped their tears and grief as the pale corpse they were crying for was bathed in a golden-yellow barrier that restored the body in a magical way.
"What is...?" Loly muttered in disbelief.
"Is it possible...?" Menoly was the same.
The field dispersed into six lights that returned to the girl's Zanpakutou.
Orihime slowly opened her eyes again, to see herself surrounded by the Arrancar, along with Yoruichi, who had just been brought by Grimmjow.
"Hi, everyone" She said as cheerful as always, as if nothing had happened.
No, in fact, at least to her, nothing had happened. That was reality.
The death of Inoue Orihime at the hands of Yama was now fiction.
Inoue Orihime was alive. That was a fact.
Hi, everyone! A plot HEAVY Chapter today, I gotta say, and we're not over yet.
Honestly, at first I wanted to leave everything up to Inoue's death, but I'll be a nice guy for once and show you what happened.
After all... There is a greater problem at hand, but did you notice? I wonder, I wonder...
Reviews:
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Whoo! Excellent chapter! Loved this! So...the time has come to fight the mysterious enigma that is the Fifth Duke: V! Good luck Ichigo and co! You'll need it!
Also, I was thinking along the same lines of it being similar to a creature called Legion, but not from Castlevania. No, I was thinking of the creature from a Japanese Kaiju movie: Gamera VS Legion!
Reply: Nice to hear that, like always.
I saw a fragment of the movie (I imagined it would be something like that lol) and V is definitely like Legion from Castlevania, although the actual concept of Legion comes from the Bible, as a man was possessed by a group of Demons, so he couldn't be easily exorcised.
See you next time, although I'll hate myself so much...
I'm sorry. Evhron.
Glosary:
Lluvia Verde: Green Rain. Some people tend to translate Verde as Jade, but it's just green. Honestly, for a Spanish speaker like me, it sounds really dumb, but I guess Kubo thought it was cool.
Lanzador Verde: Llamarada: Green Lancer: Flare. Burning version of this attack, due to increased Fire element with her Shunkou.
Gran Rey Cero: Alquimista: The same old attack with Alchemist in the end. Nageki uses his abilities as well as a Philosopher's Stone to turn a Gran Rey Cero into this beast of an attack, able to wound Yama. Also, before anyone complains about power scaling, Yama hasn't released his sword, Nageki was Primera Espada, AND has lived for millions of years.
Flora: Exactly the same as in English. I know her ability is freaking Overpowered, but it's also very limited.