The yellow Cero tore through the forest in pursuit of its target, missing them by just a hair. Averstruz's nimbleness was enhanced by his Resurrección, but his feet could only get him so far in combat against Halibel. The Espada was closing in on him fast, always one step ahead of him with his Sonido. Once she had changed forms, the end of the fight was inevitable.
"Giro de Corte!" Averstruz launched his attack out of desperation, hoping he could knock a tree down to slow Halibel as he made an escape. Rudbornn said he would send him back up in due time! "Where are those damn Calaveras?!"
He made a sharp right, weaving between two trees and came face to face with Tia. He tried skidding to a halt and running back the way he came, but Halibel was done chasing him.
"No more running!" she ordered. With one swing of her giant blade, Avertruz's left leg was severed at the knee. The bird fumbled and rolled, his momentum preventing his stop. He collided with a fallen trunk, his spine slamming into it full force.
A portion of the Arrancar's mask fell off his face as he hacked up a mouthful of blood. He tried to reach for the broken fragment, but Halibel appeared beside him and stabbed through his wing. Pinned down and flightless, he was beaten. The Tres Bestias soon joined them, back in their base forms.
"Mercy!" Averstruz pleaded Halibel, "Please! I beg of you! I'll tell you anything! Just don't kill me!"
"So you're even more of a coward than I thought," Tia sneered, "No wonder you'd work for the Quincies."
"So how long we gonna keep this punk alive?" Apacci asked, kicking sand in Avertruz's face.
"Once we get the answers we need."
"Man, you women are too soft!"
Halibel and the Tres Bestias turned to see Grimmjow walking up to them, hands in his pockets. The panther glared at a frightened Averstruz, then at Tia. "I run out all this way and you're here having a chat with your enemy. Why ain't he dead yet?"
"He's a follower of the Wandenreich, Grimmjow," Halibel said, "And we need to find out why. If you would stop thinking about killing for once you'd notice the Quincy cross on his cloak."
Grimmjow took a look at the symbol, seemingly disinterested. "So what? We beat those bastards years ago. I killed one of 'em, too… Something you sure as hell couldn't do."
If Tia wasn't pissed before, she was all kinds of it now.
"Is that all you give a damn about?" Tia snarled, removing her blade from the traitor's wings as her reiatsu flared up. Mila and Sung-Sun took a step back, while Apacci grinned devilishly. This was going to be fun. "There are much more important things to worry about than being the strongest!"
"Really? Coming from the one who makes me fight her to gain a seat beside her and her gal pal on the throne!"
"That has nothing to do with me being stronger than you, you fool!" Tia shouted, "You're too much of a wreck loose to have any sort of leadership position! All you want to do is fight and kill! You jump into everything like a wild animal!"
"Newsflash, shit for brains!" the Sexta roared, clenching his fists, "I am an animal! We both are! So get off your high horse and stop acting like you're any better than I am!"
"I learned to control myself! That's the one thing you lack! It doesn't matter if you're stronger than me, because you damn might well be! I'd be happy to give you more respect the day you start acting and fighting like a ruler should!"
"Oh, so if I kiss up and act like a good boy then I get my reward! Bull crap! I should kick your ass right now!" Grimmjow placed his hand on Pantera's hilt, ready to go at the shark.
"I wish I had snacks for this," Apacci leaned in and whispered to Mila.
Tia pinched her brow, shaking her head. "You are truly helpless, Grimmjow."
"Then add me to the list of all the other things you failed at. If I'm gonna even consider changing myself it damn well wouldn't be because of you."
That hurt.
She didn't show it, but it did. It was instances like this that Tia wished Nel was here to handle.
"I'm not fighting you," Tia said, getting the last word in before turning back to Averstruz, "I have to deal with this scum. Now, where were we?"
In that moment, all the Arrancar present felt Nel's reiatsu rise in the distance. And as quick as they had detected it, it vanished. Something was happening back at Las Noches.
"The hell was that about?" Grimmjow said, looking into the distance, "Nel get bored or something?"
"I don't like it," Tia replied, putting her anger with the other Espada aside. There were more important matters at hand. "Mila, Apacci, Sung-Sun. Stay here with the prisoner. I'm going to find out what that was about. Don't kill him unless he forces you to."
The three Fracciones nodded in compliance. "Yes, Miss Halibel!"
Halibel walked right past Grimmjow, not even looking at him. "If you really want a fight, you might get one if you come with me."
"Are you gonna chew me out if I don't behave?" he spat back.
She ignored that, and ran off.
"Hey!" Grimmjow exclaimed, chasing after her, "That meant yes, you idiot!"
The Tres Bestias watched the Espadas sprint across the sand before vanishing with Sonido. Mila sat down on the log above Averstruz and stabbed his wing with her sword, pinning him down as Halibel did. Sung-Sun began patching up his leg to prevent him from dying of blood loss. She produced a small vial from her dress and poured it over the severed leg. Upon contact the liquid began to sizzle and bubble.
"Ouch!" Averstruz cried out, "What the hell is that stuff?!"
"Snake venom," Sung-Sun replied, "Stops the bleeding. Poisons you. You'll be dead in 24 hours."
"Wh-what?!"
"Ah, don't worry!" Mila laughed, slapping the prisoner upside the head, "She's kidding!"
"Really?"
"Yeah…It's actually only eight hours."
"I would like to ask you a second question, Espada," BG9 asked. Nel was still in disbelief with her Resurrección – her actual self – was just ripped from her. Hollow power was toxic to a Quincy, but the one before her was seemingly not affected at all by it! "Did the Soul Society inform you of our ability to steal Bankai?"
They had, but Nel said nothing. She learned that during the first invasion numerous Sternritter had used special medallions to trap Bankai abilities in, but Urahara and Kurotsuchi had deduced a counter to their theft.
"It was a rushed procedure in creating the medallions," BG9 continued, "That lead to several fatal and exploitable errors. A previous version of myself fell victim to it: poisoning from Hollow reiatsu. It lowered my processing time and allowed my defeat. However, this past decade has given me time for… modification."
'First version?' Nel was confused, but had to be on guard. Rudbornn and his Calaveras were slowly advancing up the staircase towards her, having waited for BG9 to steal her power before attacking. This did not stop the Quincy from continuing his speech.
"Lord Ywhach had tasked me in creating the medallions through my Schrift of The Knowledge, placing an ounce of my power within each one to assist in the capture of Bankai. Through my own optics, I can understand and gain knowledge of any ability I see before me and claim it as my own. Therefore, once a medallion could be exposed to a released Bankai, it could capture it. Until now I could not steal the powers of Resurrección, but with the assistance of my comrade Rudbornn, that is no longer an issue."
Suddenly, BG9 rushed her. She raised her sword to meet his, his mechanical strength equal to hers. She dodged an incoming strike from behind with Sonido, a Calavera attempting to get a sneak attack in.
"That is impossible!" Nel shouted. She fired a small Cero at the staircase, sending a group of advancing troops flying back down below. "A Quincy like yourself should die from a Hollow's power within you."
"Correct, Nelliel. But you are wrong in one assumption… This new version of myself was not born as a Quincy, but as a Hollow."
"What?"
BG9 opened up his chest plate, and to Nel's shock saw a black hole within the center of his inner mechanisms.
"The power of The Knowledge was never tied to a singular occupant body. All things are capable of learning knowledge. Adapting. Understanding. It is a power unlike no others, for one does not have to be a Quincy to wield it. Hence the reason my body is mechanic. A robot is not alive on its own. It does not have spiritual power inherently. It is simply a vessel for the power to utilize. The fatal complication of my last body was its composition: it was made purely of Quincy based reiatsu, hence it could be infected by Hollow power and prevent The Knowledge from being able to perform properly."
"So I'm speaking to a power itself right now? You're not even alive?"
"It depends on your point of view. Do you view yourself as alive? With this cybernetic body created from Hollow reiatsu, and the sentience of The Knowledge I feel quite alive. And that is all because of Rudbornn."
The leader of the Calaveras appeared beside Nel, and she narrowly dodged his sideways slash. She glared at the traitor before running to strike. "Why, Rudbornn? You even helped us repel the few Sternritters we encountered just after the war ended! Were you working for them, too?"
Rudbornn shook his head, meeting blades with her. "A ruse, Nelliel. I had to appear loyal to you for this to work. Not that those women were involved with our plans, anyways. This has been in motion long before the war ended, before Ywhach's demise."
A tentacle wrapped around Nel's ankle, and threw her away from Rudbornn into the wall behind her. BG9 walked over and stood beside the conspirator.
"I served the Espada for so long," Rudbornn continued, "And yet with my Arbol, my power to create life itself, I was never considered to join your ranks even after Aizen was defeated. The moment Aaroniero was killed, I should have become the Novena Espada. But once that idiot Yammy saw me as nothing more than collateral damage in his final rampage, I was nothing more than an afterthought who could make fodder for Halibel's training sessions!"
Nel stood to her feet, having to slice away another one of BG9's tentacles that stabbed at her stomach. Rudbornn used the opportunity to get in close, and nearly sliced the Espada across the chest.
"So its jealousy, then!" Nel shouted at the bull, jumping backwards to dodge, "Isn't that something petty to use as an excuse to turn against your brothers and sisters?"
"What you see as petty I see as an injustice. I deserved so much more, and once the Wandenreich arrived in Hueco Mundo for the first time I made sure Lord Ywhach felt right at home. I struck a deal with him: if he spared my life, I would grant him the easiest path to Halibel. He was very pleased with my willingness to cooperate. And through him, I met BG9."
"I approached Rudbornn shortly after," BG9 followed, "His situation made him an optimal candidate for partnership in my machinations. I had done numerous calculations for the outcome of the war, and found there was a less than .0000018542% of Ywhach being defeated alongside myself, among many other equations. Thus, I had to make preparations for these unlikely but still slightly possible outcomes. Rudbornn agreed to assist me, and led me to the remnants of Szayelaporro Grantz's laboratory where I could conduct my actions. Using the bodies of resistant Hollows Ywhach had slaughtered, their bodies were broken down and melded into my current vessel. Before the invasion of the Soul Society, I copied The Knowledge into the developing vessel and connected it to Grantz's super computer, where I absorbed all the information he had saved within."
That put Nel on alert. Grantz had kept many secrets from the other Espada, even from Lord Aizen. If BG9 really had access to everything the mad scientist had known, this entire situation could become much worse.
Six tentacles emerged from BG9's back, their tips concentrated into a small space above his head. A green sphere of concentrated reishi began to swell in the center, expanding at a rapid pace. Unable to tell if the robot was using Heilig Pfiel or a Cero, Nel decided not to absorb it with Cero Doble and dodged the incoming blast. She jumped upwards, but did not realize it hadn't just fired once: it was following her, a steady beam being projected from the core above BG9. It suddenly increased in speed, and caught her from below. The explosion knocked her back into the wall behind her, but she landed on her feet. She clutched her stomach in pain, but there was little time to recover.
Rudbornn stood aside as more of his soldiers engaged Nel, keeping her busy as he revealed more of the truth to her. "It took up until now for BG9's body to be at optimal strength to be able to handle the power needed to steal Resurrección. Additionally, the power of The Knowledge still gives him the ability to manipulate reishi in the same manner as a Quincy. Being a hybrid Hollow, the procedure did leave him without the power to perform his own Resurrección. But that won't be necessary for our plans."
A Hollow with the power of a Quincy. It wasn't too crazy of an idea; Nel had learned Ichigo was a mix of both of those things plus Shinigami, plus the artificial soul Hikone Ubuginu had the powers of both alongside Shinigami and Fullbring abilities. Still, there was something more disturbing about a cold, calculating machine wielding such deadly potential.
"And what exactly is your plan?" Nel demanded, surrounded by Calaveras. The theft of her powers was beginning to affect her, feeling much more worn down that she usually would be after this much combat.
"I think we've told you enough, for now," Rudbornn sheathed his blade, and raised one finger towards her. Bone white reiatsu began to gather around it and swell. Nel could feel his power, and knew what was coming.
When had Rudbornn learned to generate a Gran Rey Cero?!
Nel tried to run, but BG9 had used the Calaveras around her as a distraction to wrap his tentacles around both of her feet. Before she had a chance to cut them away, Rudbornn appeared right in front of her and fired at point blank range.
The explosion rattled the room, blowing a whole in the wall behind Nel. From the dust cloud, her body was tossed out into the base of the throne room. Nel was aching, pushing herself up with Gamuza off the floor to her feet. The moment she was upright, she felt her legs go weak and collapsed back down. Why was she losing this much energy so fast?
Urahara's bracelet.
She looked at her wrist, and could see a large crack forming down the center of the device. The Gran Rey Cero must had damaged it! She was losing her spiritual pressure needed to stay in her adult form!
"Oh no," she breathed, huffing as she watched the crack continue to spread before-
*POOF!*
A large pink cloud popped as Nel changed form. The infant Espada sat there, confused, still gripping Gamuza as BG9 and Rudbornn approached her.
"Scary monsters…" little Nel sobbed, curling up into a ball, "Stay away!"
"How unfortunate for you," BG9 said, using one of his tentacles to pick Nel up and hand her over to Rudbornn, "But worry not. This is an optimal situation for us."
"Halibel should be on her way soon," Rudbornn said, "I will send a squad of troops to greet her."
"Yes. She will defeat them handily, gaining a sense of hope and a chance at ultimate victory. On the contrary, it will be the last victory she ever has."