A Predator Among Us

by Demod20

Aaroniero Arruruerie, the Novena Espada is perhaps the most unique and intriguing member of the 10 best Arrancars in service to Sosuke Aizen. In a surprising turn, Aaroniero finds itself thrust into a very much different war than what was perceived in the events of Canon. How far will the Novena go to get what he wants and who will be left standing in the ashes of battle?

7. A Dark Sky's Rain

The Sky darkens

Lightning Falls Like Rain

The Sky Falls Through The Dark Clouds of Thunder

Swords Clash and the Sandy Sea Parts Under Their Feet

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White Palace, Throne Room

---

It was all before his gaze. Every battlefield, every action, and every casualty was before the Leader of the Arrancar Army. With a mug of tea in his right hand, steam ebbing into the darkened room that caught the floating screens' gleam, and another pressed against his leaning left jaw. A content smile spread across his face, his eyes filled with the many images shifting and presented before his vision.

On one side was the allied forces. Culminating from Ryoka who do Kisuke Urahara's bidding, Shinigami who act on the aging Captain Commander's orders or go against him in favor of following their friends into the lion's den; as well as his alive and well former Tres Espada, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. It amused and intrigued him how they all banded together against him, using means of which they themselves didn't become aware of or put together at the last moment.

On the other was the Vanguard. A collaboration of imprisoned dissenters, in-fighting rogues, and Privaron Espada. The one who openly challenged his decision of replacing her and her colleagues with the stronger successors, Rana Zolinder, appeared to have made the most remarkable comeback. Most of her allies, whether they knew it or not, were observed with keen eyes that saw more than simply a desire to win.

It was a desire to return from the fall of grace they all received.

"I see your project succeeded after all, Szayelaporro Granz," Sosuke spoke softly to himself, briefly pausing his voiced out thoughts with a sip of tea. Setting the mug down, he continued as he reclined further back in his seat, watching the Privaron Primera lock blades with the Ryoka boy he nearly killed on Sokyoku Hill. "by taking samples of Menos tissue, rapidly grow and then condense it into a capsule form you were able to make a remarkable breakthrough. Your FEED pills have become a vital ingredient into increasing the strength of my army. The Vanguard, those of irrelevant strength, are proving that as they fight significant obstacles that have defeated half of my Espada."

Looking back up at the screen, noticing a number of the other Privaron combat the other allies, he noticed the one named Rukia Kuchiki. He watched her dance gracefully within the air, avoiding invisible arms that lashed out and try to ensnare her. As her movements came close, she attempted to get close in on Angelle, only for the latter to evade with her own retreating motions.

A knowing smile revealed pearly white teeth, his hand reaching out to the console at his left armrest.

"Kaname," Aizen called.

"Yes, Lord Aizen?"

"Are the forces prepared?" He inquired.

"All except the Upper Four, Captain."

"Please do and fetch them. I wouldn't want them to miss what comes next," Aizen ordered with a calm tone.

"Understood..."

"Something the matter?" The White General asked with a slight angled turn of his head.

"Ulquiorra Cifer is still out of contact."

"Still trapped in the Negacion, hm? That's alright," Aizen clasped his hands in front of his face, hiding his visage below the bridge of his nose. While his eyes reflected the many oscillating images switching before him, he continued speaking, "we can manage without him. After all, there is a probability that the Vanguard will fall to Kisuke and Yamamoto's forces here. Between him and Yammy, Las Noches will be in better hands than a roving band of dissidents."

"And if the Vanguard do best their enemies?"

"Then Ulquiorra can do as he sees fit with them. If he wants them to join us, we'll be expecting reinforcements. If not, then they served their purpose," Aizen coldly retracted his entwined digits, placing one on the left armrest and the other to retrieve his mug.

"Understood. I'll send out the order for their presence here at once."

With the audio cut between General and Commander, the prior raised his cup to his lips. Pausing his drink to lock eyes on the screen of Rukia's face, he widened his grin before taking a sip. Setting down the cup, he spoke to himself with a sense of revelling, "Soon, the curtains will fall, and my time to move will come. When it does, my use for this world will be at an end...as well as all those who serve me."

---

CHAPTER 7

A Dark Sky's Rain

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"Let me out of here!" Lilynette snarled, ramming her shoulder into the golden barrier. But, just as the last two dozen times, she felt a sharp pain as a bright electric discharge of repulsion knocked her back on her side. Grimacing, she looked up and saw a distant glimmer of light, followed by another one. The more significant lights sent waves of sand rolling over the dunes, thundering or shaking the ground beneath their feet.

Ever since Ichigo took charge, their fights gradually shifted away from their midst and just over the horizon. Much to her dismay, Nelliel went after them, joined by a host of unmistakably Shinigami signatures. To her relief, she had yet to feel her Reiatsu decline, but she couldn't tell for how long.

Turning back on her heels, she looked at the originator of the protective dome covering their heads. With a childish glare, she pointed at Orihime and then outside, "Didn't you hear me, dumbass?! I said to let me out!"

"No," Orihime said calmly, her eyes overshadowed by her bangs, hiding what emotion that she was feeling. "we need to stay here."

"What?! And hide like cowards?! No way!" Lilynette stamped her feet indignantly, balling up her fists, raising them up towards the human girl. "I don't know about you, but I'm not backing from a fight! Not when a friend I had lost has just returned! So let me out or I'll-!"

"What can you do?" Orihime asked softly.

"W-What?" Lilynette answered aghast, not expecting the retort from the girl.

"What can either of us do?" Orihime asked again, though the quivering in her lips looked more apparent. Raising her face, tears welled up in her eyes as she pulled her knees close to her face, wrapping her arms around herself in a pathetic way. "I-Ichigo told us t-to stay. Nelliel wouldn't want you going out anymore than he would."

"Yeah, but-!"

"This is the only thing I can do! Stay behind and keep people safe! Ichigo wants it, and that's what I'm doing! He doesn't need me when...when...when he has someone like her beside him!" Orihime hiccuped as she continued to ramble, causing the young Arrancar's features to soften. Looking toward the horizon where the explosions were the fiercest, carrying over in wind that wrapped waves of sands around her dome of rejecting energy, she could feel the one her heart ached over. Turning her head so her face could be buried into her crossed arms and huddled knees, she mumbled out, "I'm just a burden. The only reason he came here is because I didn't trust my friends to be alright. That fear of them being lost crippled my faith in them. What's more, I was too afraid to tell the man I loved how I felt!"

Looking down in a solemn manner, Lilynette heard Orihime sniffle a little while longer before hearing her final words, "No. We're staying here so we don't get in the way. I-It's not much but it's something. The least we can do is not be more bothering than already have been."

Silence befell the two as more distant explosions were seen and heard. As the shockwaves sent howling winds to caress or shake the barrier, Lilynette kept her gaze fixated on Orihime. For the longest time she reflected on what was said, and looked at her own hands. Gripping and unfolding her hands, she narrowed her eye at Orihime.

"You're not weak," Lilynette spoke firmly.

"W-What?" Orihime raised her head, blinking away her tears.

"Are you deaf? I said you're not weak," Lilynette said confidently, throwing her arm around in emphasis.

"B-But...I mean...Ichigo said-"

"Forget what that Shinigami said and listen to what I have to say!" Lilynette rebuked, causing Orihime to recoil and bat her eyes rapidly at the adolescent appearing Arrancar. Taking a stamping step forward, she pointed at her with meaning as she continued to bark. "I dunno anything about your relationship problems or what led you here in the first place but I can tell you by just looking that you aren't weak! I know I don't have power like the rest, but that's fine by me. But you?! Do you even know where you've been and who've you spoken to?!"

"H-Huh?" Orihime blinked with confusion. Her mind became flooded with comedic question marks, flowing around on a background of white as her head blew a wind of emptiness through her ears.

"Who did Aizen send to get you? A Numeros? An Experimental Hollow? He sent Ulquiorra! He's one of Aizen's strongest and his most loyal subordinate in all of the Espada! I heard from Starrk that you entered the Throne Room and how calm you were. You didn't even flinch until you saw Aizen. Do you realize how freakin' strong they are?! Their combined Reiatsu didn't even register to you until you noticed Aizen's overshadowing the rest," Lilynette said with certainty, her face twisted in a look of frustration as if what she spoke should have been apparent. Seeing the dumbfounded look on Orihime's face was proof enough that she had no idea. Smiling that her words got through to her, she placed her hands on her hips and stuck up her chest as she yelled further, "that means you, a human, are somehow on par with the Espada. I don't know where you hide your strength Orihime, but I can tell you one thing that goes against what you've been told by everyone else. You! Are! Not! Weak!"

It was like a hammer shattered the house of mirrors inside her head. Orihime's arms fell to her side and her mouth hung open dumbly as wide as her eyes stretched. She never considered being able to stand among strong, imposing people as a sign of strength. Back in the World of the Living, she thought Ichigo's power was the only thing that mattered, but ever since she departed she hadn't felt any strength other than from Aizen. Even as Ichigo grew in strength, there didn't feel a gap between them. She had been watching without feeling his strength encompassing hers.

Was her weakness all just an illusion she fabricated in her head?

"Boy, you're so clueless I swear you and Nelliel could compete for the airhead game," Lilynette sighed in an aggravated tone, rubbing the bridge of her nose as her visible eye clenched tight.

It was during the sound of another explosion that masked one that happened all around them. A bright, vibrant hue of crimson overcast caused both girls within to raise their arms to shield their eyes from the flash of light. Even as the orange-yellow tongues licked at the exterior of the barrier, it did little to damage it as the sand billowed away and showed down over the repulsion field.

"Fuckin' great! That field is tough to not even be rattled by a Cero!" A harsh, feminine voice cried out from a dozen meters away.

Blinking away the stars in her vision, Orihime tried to peer through the haze of heat created by the explosion. While it did little to strain her or the shield, it was enough to give her a near heart attack. A pair of figures was clear, slender and familiar, enough to give her the chills at hearing such a unforgettable voice.

"I know that voice," Lilynette voiced Orihime's own thoughts, but did more than simply stand down. She kept on her feet and raised a hand to wave indignantly at the source, "Loly! Are you trying to kill me or what?!"

"Hey, is that who I think it is?" Another voice muttered aloud, almost deafened by another cascading wave of pressure from a distant explosion.

With two pairs of feet sprinting up to get a closer look at the barrier, the couple halted a good meter away. To the observers' left they could see Menoly, the slicked back blonde haired Arrancar with a hollow mask fragment and hole over her right eye. On Menoly's left was the livid Loly, who's own mask hole resembled her companion in a uncanny way. Her black pigtails practically rose up and down with every breath, her petite hands balled up with pent up aggression for the one behind the dome.

The one that disgusted her to no end.

"Well-Well-Well. If it isn't the Primera's brat? You're a long way from your lofty quarters, ain't ya?!" Loly spoke with a sneering tone, tilting her head up at an angle to show her disdain towards them.

"Shut up!" Lilynette snapped back, leaning forward with a stomp, holding up her left fist with indignation at the Numeros, "I can go wherever I want! I don't need Starrk's permission to walk around in Las Noches. Least of all from the likes of Aizen's pets!"

"Shut your trap, kid!" Loly barked back, her own eye practically bulging with greater anger than she could control.

"G-Get a hold of yourself, Loly," Menoly tried to console, raising her hands up to dissuade from what looked like one of many times, "we shouldn't be doing this. That's Lilynette Gingerbuck. She's like a kid sister to Starrk. If she gets involved with what you're planning-"

"Then it's her dumbass fault, now isn't it?!" Loly snarled, turning around to backhand the other Arrancar across the face. Sending her falling back onto her haunches, she didn't even bother wiping the blood her knuckles drew from the abusive strike. Turning back to sneer at Orihime, she pounded her fist into the shield, hissing as her punch rebounded from the shield, "come out, you witch! I'm going to make you regret what you did! Accept your fate!"

Lilynette could only glare past the film of gold that kept them apart. She had no idea why this particular Arrancar was upset. Was it really because she stole Aizen's attention while she was here? She knew that two were personal aides to their benefactor, but was there anything more to it?

Looking over her shoulder, she could see Orihime keeping her kneeling posture. Her eyes stared with resolution and composure she knew herself couldn't have. Her silver-grey eyes weren't moved by the threats and angry disposition of the Arrancar. Whatever bad blood that arose between them, Orihime seemed aware of it but didn't relent under the pressure.

"I don't get it," Lilynette thought as her sole pink eye stared at Orihime's unbreakable visage of determination, "earlier she was blubbering like a sad idiot. Now she's being taunted and threatened, she's not even budging. Is she trying to do some form of passive aggression? She just gives whole new meaning to the word strange, though it could be just because she's human..."

The sound of metal grating out of a scabbard caught her attention, causing her to turn back to see Loly armed with a tantou. Seeing it in her possession caused her to blink inquisitively, trying to wrap her mind around how she even carried the weapon. When the realization dawned on her, she almost gagged in knowing reflex.

"Loly! Stop!" Menoly called from her haunches, on the verge of standing up but too terrified of what her compatriot was about to do. "think about what you're doing! Aizen could be watching you, right now!"

"If he was, do you think she'd have replaced us?!" Loly cried out, the sight of angry tears being made known to her and those watching on with bewilderment. "I...I felt important being by Aizen's side. He made us feel special...and...and...and this freakshow stole that from us!"

Pointing her weapon at Orihime, it caused Lilynette to glower and Orihime to recoil from such vile anger pointed at her. For some reason, she couldn't help but pity her, that she stole something without even meaning to. Her anger was unjustified but her feelings were nonetheless hurt.

"I-" Orihime tried to speak, but doing so only caused Loly's disposition to turn from bitter grief to pure rage.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY A WORD!" Loly shrieked. Thrusting her dagger forward, she turned ninety degrees to the right, placing her left palm over the pommel. With a further snarl, her body became emblazoned with a thick purple aura of Reiatsu that sent howling winds pistoning around her limbs.

"Poison, Escolopendra!" With a shout, Loly's body took a dramatic transformation. Arms twisted and extended with grotesque snaps, forming what appeared to be tendrils coming out of tall bones sitting atop her shoulders. Cracking, the limbs became akin to a centipede's, with hundreds of tiny clawed toes running up and down along their mass. Similar aesthetic changes were made to her revealing wardrobe, forming clawed fingers revealing a line of supple skin from her neck down to her navel. Carapace leggings adorned her lithe legs, while rings of mask fragments looped over her head and pigtails, giving her a menacing appearance.

"Eugh, gross!" Lilynette recoiled, finding the appearance that Loly took to be repulsive to her eye.

"Let's see how that shield of yours handles this!" Loly snidely commented with a devilish grin. With a step forward, she twirled one of her long tentacles in a side sweeping stroke to the dome. Despite the obvious amount of muscle packed within the limb, it did little more than cause an audible clap against the shield.

"Heh!" Lilynette smirked with a sigh of relief, jabbing a finger at Loly, "you talk tough, but you're not getting through this barrier if all you have is bigger arms!"

"Is that so?" Loly asked with a sinister grin stretched across her face.

A noxious smell followed by bubbling liquid once again redirect the young Arrancar's ears. Looking hesitantly over, she withdrew a few steps with horror at what she saw. In the exact shape of the tendril's outline was a viscous mass of acidic goo, melting and eating away at the surface of the repelling energy. Within seconds the golden shell shattered around the area of impact, making it all the less impenetrable that she believed it to be.

"My power allowed me to apply toxic excretions from my tentacles," Loly began to explain, raising her rightmost limb over her head, allowing to arch over and touch the ground five meters behind her feet, "they eat away and corrode anything they come into contact with. Flesh, stone, sand, steel, even Reishi!"

Another clap of insect-like flesh crashing over their heads, causing a dark obscuring veil of bubbling poison to form over their heads. Cracks webbed over the dome's top, spreading in a straight line over where Orihime knelt. Seeing this caused the girl to buckle and try to scurry away from the imminent rain of acidic liquid.

"Die, you bitch!" Loly shouted with murderous glee.

Just as a hand-sized piece of slime began to peter down towards Orihime's head, Lilynette kicked off the sand and tackled her through the backside of the protective shield. To her luck, they were able to easily break through the rearmost section of the dome, its defensive integrity already collapsing with two major breaks in its field, shattering into pieces soon after. But to her chagrin, a small dribble of poison managed to latch over her left bicep.

"NGH!" Lilynette grunted with pain, biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. She didn't want to scream. She didn't want to give her enemy that satisfaction.

"Lilynette!" Orihime cried, her eyes wide with alarm at seeing the girl hover over her with an obviously painful wound.

"Be quiet, you idiot!" Lilynette hissed, keeping her hand barely from touching the affected wound. Beads of sweat already ebbed around her face as she tried to fight back against the pain that flooded through her body. Shakily standing up to her feet, her body stumbled back and forth, thick rivulets of purple smoke rising up from her flesh as arm slowly became overwhelmed by the acidic goo.

"How does that feel, brat?! Soon that slime is going to spread, not just eating away your arm but the rest of your body. Nothing will be left!" Loly cackled madly, her eye sporting crimson veins webbing out from her single pink iris.

"W-Why are you hurting her?!" Orihime cried out, hurriedly standing to her feet while raising her hands up, clenched into fists of helplessness, "if its me you want, then attack me. Don't hurt someone so much weaker, let alone who doesn't deserve it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" Loly asked in a level, cold tone. As distant explosions thundered in the distance, sending fierce winds to blow over the sandy wasteland, the Numeros dragged her tentacles behind her. In her wake was a thick aura of poisonous smoke, while the sand itself bubbled, slowly distending the grains downwards behind Loly's armored feet.

"B-Because she isn't the one you're angry at! I'm the one who made you mad. I don't know why, but I'll allow you to harm me if you just leave her alone!" Orihime proclaimed, swinging her arms to either side as she bravely stepped forward.

Loly couldn't help but gasp, her eye widening with disbelief, twitching erratically. She questioned what she heard for a few moments, let alone what she saw. With her face contorting in between anger and understandable confusion, she uttered aloud in a barely audible voice, "What...did you...say?"

"Keep her out of this! Take my life instead of hers! She doesn't need to die for me, let alone anyone else!" Orihime said bravely, continuing to walk forward with arms outstretched, moving past the trembling Lilynette while her eyes kept locked on the deranged attacker. Stopping a good five meters away, she stared ahead, speaking in a solemn tone, "no more hiding. No more running away. I'm taking responsibility for myself and not letting anyone else get in the way. If you want to hurt me, hurt me. If you want me to suffer, I'll suffer. If you want me to die...then...I'll die."

Silence swallowed the point of conflict of the four women. A stoic look of resolve shined vibrantly over Orihime Inoue's face. A hidden look of awe was shown over Lilynette Gingerbuck's visage as she struggled to stay standing without screaming outright. Menoly Mallia stared in wonderment at the girl who was ready to forfeit her life, feeling a foreign surge of guilt choke at her throat and swell in her stomach. Loly Aivirrne looked petrified, as a flash of emotions crossed her eyes and quivering lips.

Her face crumbled, tears threatened to spill from her eye once again, while teeth chattered within her jaw. Tendrils began flailing around her as she heaved heavy breaths, not comprehending what was happening in front of her. There was no way a witch like her could be so selfless. Her power to bring back lives was meant to torture the afflicted, not save them. She wasn't compassionate; humans hated hollows and she hated humans.

"No! NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!" Loly shouted at the top of her lungs, her tentacles smashing the ground around her, causing gouts of purple smog to spew up as bubbling slime overlapped the sand around her. A look of crazed anger flashed across her eye as she glared at Orihime once again. Shrieking with abject emotion, she flailed her tentacles around her threateningly, "there's no way you'd give up your life to me so willingly! I tortured you! I tried to kill you, and I'm still trying! You're no saint, you're a witch! I'm going to put an end to this farce and make sure you can't look at me so pityingly aga-guh!"

Within her tirade, a head-sized ball of energy rocketed forward, slamming into her face. With her body jerking back a couple feet out of shock more than pain, the sound of an explosion was sounded right around the same time. Barely able to shake away the ringing sensation blurring her vision, she saw Lilynette standing, half of her arm scorched as if it was marred by a fire. No sign of her slime was seen, as her left arm twitched and spasmed from pain of the newfound burn that was received.

"What the Hell happened?! Where did the poison go?!" Loly asked with a contortion of renewed anger donning over her face.

"I used a piece of myself to burn it away," Lilynette admitted grimly, sweat caking her face and body as a sign of exertion. "I'm not as good as Starrk, but I can do what he does on a smaller scale. If your poison eats up everything, even Reishi, then I'd have to use part of my soul to make it disappear!"

"Your soul?" Loly asked incredulously, on the verge of disregarding everything the diminutive Arrancar said.

"That's right," Lilynette nodded, reaching up with her good arm to palm the air over her hornless side of her mask. Digging her fingers into the recess, as if it was hollow from within, she pulled out a long, oblong guarded scimitar, gripping the katana hilt hard as she held it one handed defiantly at the Numeros. Gritting her teeth, she employed Sonido with a forward leap, moving herself towards Loly with weapon in hand, "I don't care if I'm weak! I'm not letting you hurt Orihime because you're sick in the head!"

"Lilynette, don't!" Orihime reached out with alarm crossing her features.

"Stupid kid!" Loly sneered, seeing Lilynette swing her blade towards her as if it was in slow motion. Even her lumbering tentacle seemed to move like a quick drawn sword, as Lilynette's body hung in mid-charge, unable to stop what was coming. Crashing into her blade with enough force to shatter it into pieces, the rest of the insectoid limb cut and rammed into Lilynette's upper body.

"GULK!" Lilynette gurgled out amidst a gasp, feeling the wind knocked out of her as her body was sent flying backwards. Her back skipped across the sand, flipping head over heels before being halted by a swiftly manifested Santen Kesshun. Sliding down, the Arrancar's skin soon bubbled up a thick gas of toxic fumes, spewed forth as the slime began to eat away at her chest, arms, and neck. Such intense imbuement of toxins was put into her body that foam began to spurt up from her mouth, coating her chin and lips as her eye spastically looked side to side in a fit of intoxicated panic.

"LILYNETTE!" Orihime screamed, feeling her hands reach up to cup over her mouth.

"Tch, serves the brat right," Loly growled, twirling her tendrils around her body as she slowly approached Orihime from behind. Seeing the girl's shoulders heave as sobs echoed from her mouth, her hands barely keeping it muffled. Glaring disdainfully, she raised a tendril over her head, hissing with promise, "don't worry. She may die in a minute or two, but I'll make sure you both go to Hell together!"

It was during the moment the insectoid muscle rushed down to slam over their bodies that something snapped in Orihime's mind. Like a twig crushed between two delicate fingers, an ominous silhouette shadowed over the young Inoue's face, only showing pinpricks for pupils. The sight of someone about to die, the knowing of an imminent threat coming to claim her life and someone she cherished. It was the redundant bell that rang every time a friend of hers came to save her, bailing her out, keeping her from harm.

But there was no rescue. They were all busy fighting, keeping the dangerous enemies away. They couldn't come for her this time. A crazed woman was going to kill her and this innocent young girl. Something she kept repressed, a pot of boiled emotions that has simmered and swelled within her over the months finally reached its breaking point.

She finally had enough!

Just shy a foot away from Orihime's orange blonde hair emitted a golden shockwave of pressure that flashed from her body. Like a hammer hitting a ragdoll, Loly found her eye widened as a wall of force rebounded her limb and bludgeoned into her body. Carried along with a visible elliptical wave of transparent energy, the Numeros found herself flipping head over heel before crashing onto her back.

"What...the fuck...just happened?!" Loly choked out with surprise, feeling an enormous weight overlap her body. Barely able to push herself up onto her haunches, she saw a distant Menoly pale at what she saw. Straining her neck, she barely turned her face around before a wave of cycloning sand pounded into her face. Raising a tendril over her eye, she peered past her enormous limb to see something that caused cold sweat to crawl down all exposed skin on her body.

Orihime was slowly standing to her feet, her cape and hair whipping around her body wildly as she stood within the apex of what looked like a twister of sand. It obscured her visage in a silhouette of gold and white, the prior being a shining light that bristled over the latter linen that hugged her curvesque frame. Her hands balled up into fists, shaking with her shoulders, sparkling tears flowing into the torrent of spiraling grains and wind that flowed around her.

"This Reiatsu...it...I've never felt anything like it!" Loly thought aghast, her eye shrinking into a dot as she stared at the avatar of emotion that brought up a power she didn't know dwelled within her. "it's like I'm standing in the presence of an Espada...a strong one! What...what the Hell is she?! Is she really a human?!"

"HOW COULD YOU?!"

Hearing that shriek caused Loly to practically shrink at what turned its head at her. Gone were the gentle yet immovable silver grey eyes. Now were pupiless golden pools of light, glowing brighter than the aura that radiated off her cream silken body. Teeth bared, cheeks stained with tears, she stood beside a shield entombed Lilynette. As she fixated her attention to her, the sign of poison and damage to Lilynette Gingerbuck began to unravel like a hand on a clock.

"I GAVE YOU MY WORD I'D LET YOU HAVE YOUR WAY WITH ME! I ONLY WANTED YOU NOT TO HURT ANYONE ELSE! I ASKED ONE THING AND YOU COULDN'T HELP YOURSELF!" Orihime bellowed in a tone that seemed inhuman, coming from her. Her voice echoed across the sand, giving her the personification of an angry goddess looking down at a lowly mortal. It was everything that Loly could fear...and loathed at the same time. She sneered as Orihime raised a hand towards her in a condemning fashion, "I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HURT ANYONE ELSE AGAIN, YOU HORRIBLE PERSON!"

"Go ahead and try, you-!" Loly began to bite back, forcing herself up to her feet, finding it nearly impossible to stand upright before the whirlwind of Reiatsu that choked her. Like iron weights culminating with a oxygen robbing atmosphere, she felt her words leave her as soon as they came. Wheezes left her open mouth as she stared incredulously at her nemesis.

Twisting her face into a snarl, she swung her limb back before throwing it forward with a purposeful step forward.

"Koten Zanshun!"

Only to find a streak of light rip through the vortex of wind, splitting through her hurtling tentacle. Her eye shakily turned to look at her arm, watching one half split off from the shoulder and collapse beside itself on the ground. The part that was still connected to her, bled profusely to the point where it showered onto the severed half.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Loly screamed in horror, finding herself almost collapse to her knees with agony. It felt like molten metal had dipped over her entire limb, making her wounded tendril writhe in the air as much as the split part spastically grind itself into the sand, creating a thick smog of toxic smoke around it.

"I-I couldn't even see that attack. Was that Kidō? Reishi? What tore through Loly's arm like that?" Menoly thought with bewilderment, finding herself straining to push herself off the sand with both hands. She heard a faint whizzing over her head, causing her to look up, setting her sight on what looked like a black-red colored insect. Seeing it return to fly swiftly around Orihime under the cover of the whirling sand, her mouth dropped open as realization dawned upon her, "that tiny thing...was her weapon?"

"You...You...You WITCH!" Loly screamed, raising her good left tendril to point at Orihime. A faint, crackling orb of purple light formed on the extended limb, the makings of a Cero underway. With an eye on the verge of disappearing behind white hot rage, she chanted out loud, "I'll kill you! Kill you! Kill! Kill-Kill-Kill-Kill-Kill-Kill-KILL YO-!"

She found herself halted just short as another streak of bifurcating light lanced through the orb of Reishi. With a choked squeal of indignant pain, Loly shrieked as her arm was split in half identically to the other. Another gout of smoke rose up as the sand bubbled viscously, while copious amounts of blood showered over the limb. Only this time, it had been too much for her to resist.

Unable to find breath beyond the pain, Loly dropped to her knees, slamming her face into the ground before her. Tears leaked out of her single eye as she tried to desperately draw in breath. It felt like the aura Orihime projected was going to strangle the life out of her, after crippling her with a mere two blows.

"I'm...so...pathetic!" Loly thought with an angry clench of her eye, grinding her face into the sand. She wished she could disappear, burrow her disgraceful body out of sight and mind. This abomination, something she couldn't call human or anything she'd recognize, offered her unholy compassion and kindness where she showed none. And then, when she refused it, she was effortlessly cut down, crushed underfoot and looked down upon. "just kill me! I know you want to! I deserve it after all, right?!"

The howl of the wind roared all around her as the Reiatsu of her enemy pulled her down like gravity. Every second that passed for the Numeros prolonged her injuries, making time itself pain incarnate. She ground her molars together impatiently, her body practically writhing as she wished to bury herself into the sand and disappear like the pathetic creature she was.

Orihime's eyes bored into the hateful creature who sought nothing but her own suffering and the suffering of those she cared about. Her emotions swirled within her like a maelstrom, like the roaring air that siphoned around her. But now, after hurting her, making her scream out in pain she felt a familiar pang within. Her heart felt regretful but her stomach churned with righteous fury for what the girl had done and attempted to do.

Looking down at the slowly waking Lilynette, Orihime's gaze returned back to the ironically bowing Loly. Breathing slowly she began to reign in control over herself. The wind, in sync with her breath, died down to a gentle breeze till the sound of the distant battles became audible once more. The Reiatsu was still there, just as the golden aura flourished over her like a shine of transparent armor.

She didn't want to make the mistake of lowering her guard.

"I'm letting you go now," Orihime spoke out loud, causing the writhing Arrancar to stiffen and become still with attentiveness, "I never wanted to harm you from the start. I think you knew that, even while you tried to humiliate and hurt me. But you hurt someone who was innocent, not involved, and someone I can call a friend. I couldn't forgive that and now you're paying the price.

"If I let you go, you have to promise me to let go of this grudge. I'm not sure where this anger towards me came from or why you're jealous of me. I can tell you one thing, I have no ties to Aizen and I don't plan on staying. If you want to be by that man, you can have him. As far as I'm concerned, there are other people who deserve your affection and attention much more than he does."

With that, she let go of her emotions entirely, causing her aura to disappear in a wink. She noticed that Loly didn't move or do anymore than twitch. She could feel her Reiryoku was far from in danger, but she knew that her wounds kept her from being a threat. Sighing with relief, she turned on her heel to check on Lilynette...

...only to see a tall man with a hole in his neck, draped in white, and a canine jaw bone wrapped around his collar bone like a necklace.

"Eep!" Orihime yelped, leaping back a foot before dropping into a martial art stance Tatsuki taught her. With a scrunched up face and a steeled pair of eyes, she pursed her lips together in an adorably upset manner. "stay back youuuuuu!"

"Relax," The Arrancar said with a dry tone, "I'm not here to nab ya or anythin'. Got no orders to do so, and quite frankly, could be kind of a pointless drag."

"Oh," Orihime blinked, lowering her arms, feeling more relaxed against the man. Seeing him look down at barrier encased, yet clearly dazed Lilynette, he blew a offhanded raspberry. Pointing at the girl, she began to ask, "you know her?"

"Whatcha doin' in there, Lily?" The older Arrancar inquired.

Blinking a few times, Lilynette practically pounced up, only to find her body ricochet back into the sand. Grunting with pain, she furrowed her brows at Orihime, fixing a glare at her, "Orihime, you can let me go now!"

"Oh, right! Sorry!" Orihime said with a sheepish apology, bowing as she released the Souten Kisshun field.

"Starrk!" Lilynette cried out as she leaped up to glomp the man in midair. Comically, she was denied the pleasure as his fist materialized over her head and knocked her into the ground. As she groaned in a spread eagle fashion, Starrk lazily stuck his gloved pinky in his ear while pressing his foot on her back, "gaugh, you're heavy! Get off me!"

"I had to comb all of Las Noches looking for you, Lily," Starrk said in an annoyed tone, his right brow twitching with plain irritation, his right sole grinding into her back, "it took me ten minutes. Ten. Minutes. You storming off made me exert more than I wanted to and now I'm in a bad mood. Whatcha goin' to do to make it up to me, huh?"

"I-I-I'm sorry, S-S-Starrk!" Lilynette choked as she writhed like a hooked fish underneath his foot, "I-I-I was protecting my friends! Y-Y-You weren't doing anything s-s-so I did!"

Hearing that caused Starrk to relieve the pressure on her back. Looking up at Orihime, whom just blinked with bewilderment at their antics, and then over to the pair of Numeros in the distance. With a sigh, he stepped off Lilynette and bent down to pick her up by the scruff of her jacket.

Putting her back onto her feet with a thud, he scratched the back of his head idly as he looked over at Orihime once more, "I think I get the gist of what happened. Sorry if she caused you any trouble."

"Oh no! She wasn't any trouble, hehe!" Orihime hastily apologized, forcing up a smile as she waved with insistence.

"You're a bad liar, Orihime," Lilynette commented with a dry, half-lidded stare at her.

As another round of distant explosions sounded, a single sphere whistled through the air at an incredible speed. What they wouldn't know was that it was one of Angelle's Bala Mente, having been deflected awry from the air, angling unintentionally towards them. While Orihime gaped at the ball heading for them, Starrk idly looked over his shoulder.

"Talking here isn't safe, it seems," Starrk commented nonchalantly as his right hand swiveled in a deflecting manner, the back of his glove batting away the Bala into a distant set of dunes. The loud thunderclap and the flash of light that caused the Bala's explosion shortly after displayed its power, as well as the testament to Starrk's handy parry.

Gulping, Orihime recognized him as one of the Espada present from Aizen. The strangest thing was that she hadn't felt him approach, despite him being an Espada. Even when he tossed the Reishi ball away, she didn't feel his release of Reiatsu.

"He must be a master of Reishi control if I can't feel it being used like that," Orihime surmised, just as Starrk turned to walk towards the pair of exhausted Arrancars.

"You two," Coyote Starrk called out, crossing his arms over his chest in as much of an authoritative manner as he could muster, "Aizen wants you at the White Palace. Pronto!"

"L-Lord...Aizen?" Loly groggily said, her body reverting in a wafting purple haze to her sealed form. Long cuts were lacerated from the back of her palm all the way up to her shoulder. Angry red, the scars that would be left behind could look unbecoming, causing an uncomfortable knot to form in her stomach.

"Yeah, it seems that the time for the operation is about to pass soon. He needs all available hands to show up. That means even you two," Starrk said matter-of-fact. Unfolding his arms, he pocketed his gloved hands so he could stare at the crouching Menoly, noticing she had approached Loly tentatively. From the bruise marked on her face, he could deduce she wasn't the culprit in this incident. Nodding towards her, he softly spoke, "make sure she gets bandaged up before you get ready. Wouldn't want that seen by our supreme commander, now do we?"

"Y-Yessir," Menoly nodded, reaching out to touch Loly, feeling no resistance as she looped one arm around her neck while wrapping her free arm around her waist. Seeing the dagger nowhere in sight, she assumed it was returned back to its hiding spot, making her roll her eye. "c'mon. Let's head back."

"Right," Loly whispered hoarsely. Before they made it a few steps, Menoly could see Loly's stare was fixated on the ground. There wasn't anything in her gaze, as if she was contemplating something she had never considered. She could only wonder what she'd be like and if she'd even recover.

With a Sonido, the pair disappeared, leaving behind the decayed battlefield behind.

"Those two always rubbed me the wrong way," Starrk admitted aloud, stroking his chin as he sensed them gain distance away. Looking over at Orihime, he noticed her gazing at the most fiery of lights in the distance. At a glance, he could already tell who was there and who was combatting. "you going to be okay on your own? You might be safer at my Palace. Not going to be used for anything while we're gone anyways-"

"It's alright," Orihime said calmly, a genuine smile spreading across her face as she turned to face the Espada, "I'll manage on my own. Lilynette helped me find the courage to stand on my two feet. I'm not going to hide so soon, not when I know I can help someone."

"Well, just make sure you pick your battles wisely. That's all the advice I can give," Starrk said solemnly, nodding to her before looking down at Lilynette. Placing a hand on her head, he briefly felt it shrugged off, seeing her reach out and wrap her arms around Orihime's waist.

"I'm proud of ya," Lilynette said with a big grin, feeling a hint of a tear well up within her eye, "thank you for protecting me."

"No, I have to thank you," Orihime said with a fond smile, rubbing her hand over the emerald tressed locks of the young Arrancar. Exchanging grins, her eyes sparkled with appreciation as she released her, "without you, I don't think I could have found my true strength."

"Yeah, you probably would have been helpless without me," Lilynette bragged with a cheeky tone, crossing her arms behind her head as she chuckled.

"Take care, young girl," Starrk said with a wry grin, placing his hand on Lilynette's head, "no matter what happens, just know that I'm glad to call you a friend of ours."

With that said, Starrk and Lilynette seemed to evaporate from the air. Orihime blinked inquisitively, turning her head back and forth, dumbly realizing they left too quick for her to notice. Hearing another rumbling explosion in the distance, she narrowed her eyes, turning on her heels to face it.

"I don't know what I can do yet, but, I'll be here when you all need me," Orihime said softly to herself, feeling her cape flow around her in tune with her orange blonde locks. With a smile, she pumped her right fist in the air, shouting out, "do your best, everyone!"

---

"What a peculiar Reiatsu that was," Szayel said out loud, his gaze peering into the distance where a violent gust had come from a minute ago. "it definitely was Orihime Inoue's, but I never felt it in such raw potency. Was this why Aizen valued her presence here? I must perform a few...tender experiments on her, once I'm finished up here."

Turning back to the task at hand, he looked down at the loathsome Captain, sprawled on his hands and knees. Hissing wheezes came out of every breath, the sight of sweat beading across his face was visible. What's more, blood seemed to seep around the corners of his mouth and from his nostrils, showing signs of further torture had been administered upon him.

Smirking, the Arrancar raised up the open doll replica of Mayuri, jiggling the body part duplicates like candy in a jar, "Still conscious, Captain?"

"You...insignificant...bastard!" Mayuri snarled, looking up with an enraged glare at him, "don't think you can get away with th-gulk!"

"And there goes the pancreas," Szayel sang too-sweetly, crushing a pink colored piece into bits, causing Mayuri to hurl up a bounty of bile and blood from his mouth onto the sand underneath him. Sighing, he fished out a number of other pieces as he grinned maliciously at him, taking time to look at the Lieutenant of his. Much to his annoyance, she stayed outside of his range and seemed to have finish piling up the corpses of his minions she sent scattered earlier.

Rolling his eyes, he raised up three pieces, juggling them in between his digits as he spoke, "It's sad to see your subordinate uncaring to your condition. You must be an especially cruel taskmaster if she's idle to your plight. Then again, I won't say I'm a saint, but at least those under my service care about my well-being, provided that I brainwashed them in order to do so..."

"Pathetic creature!" Mayuri choked, his eyes staring at him in a crazed manner as his breathes continued to labour out, "you have no idea who you're dealing with!"

"Is that so?" Szayel asked, crushing a piece that read 'Trachea' on it, sounding a grotesque snap heard on the Captain's throat. Following that, Szayel crushed another in between his middle finger and ring finger, labeled 'Heart', causing a lifeless look to form in the Shinigami's eyes. Finalizing that, the Espada crushed in between his forefinger and thumb, labeled 'Brain' resulting in a blank look appearing within his enemy's eyes.

With his head lurched back at an angle, body arched upwards with mouth gaping open, his body squatted stille and inert. No sounds of pain or outrage were heard from the nemesis. Drool and fluids leaked out of the ear canals, the nostrils, and mouth with equal measure, assuming that the body was rejecting all loose fluids now that there was nothing living within.

"N-No way!" Renji gasped, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open with shock, "C-Captain Kurotsuchi was...killed?!"

"Dammit!" Uryū swore aloud, weakly heaving as his blood stained teeth ground against each other, "can nothing stop this monster?!"

Laughing out loud in hysteria, Szayel leaned back with Mayuri's doll in hand. Placing a hand over his face, he began to mock him verbally while blind to all things transpiring around him, "You called yourself a Captain?! What a joke! Your poisonous exterior hid a fangless fool. While you may have baffled me upon arrival, you are nothing but a has-been, someone reaching for genius but never grasping it. Death comes to all those who oppose my greatness!"

"M-Master S-Szayelaporro!" Verona, the dutiful egg-shaped Fracción remaining at Szayel's side, said in a quivering tone.

"What is it?" Szayel said with a frown, his hand remaining over his face, refusing to retract from his backward leaning posture.

"Th-The...the...S-S-Shinigami...!"

"What are you babbling about?!" Szayel leaned forward, uncovering his face to look at his subordinate. Instead of turning to look behind him, he saw something leaning straight into his face. A long tongue hung out, overlapping the chin in a defiant manner, creating a chilling look as two eyes embedded within a painted face pointed in opposite directions.

"I got youuuuu~" Mayuri chimed out while holding his expression.

It took a few moments for Szayel to process what had happened, his eyes peering forward through his mask fragmented glasses. With a high pitched yelp, Szayel's eyes widened to exponential proportions as he staggered back in a hasty retreat. Hands upraised in a defensive manner, he began asking in a shocked manner, "W-What the Hell is this?!"

"My-My," The esteemed Captain sighed, patting off the sand that clung to his Haori in an exaggerated manner. Rolling his head side to side, audible pops were heard with exhalations of relief followed after that. Using a spare hand to wipe off the excess fluids staining his face, he grinned at his startled enemy, visibly taunting him with how right as rain he appeared.

"I don't get it! How?!" Szayel pointed at Mayuri with a free hand, his tone and expression looking bewildered at the phenomena that occurred before him, "HOW IS IT THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?!"

"Here I thought that bastard was going to die easily at the hands of this freak, but this? His tolerance to pain and endurance must be incredible to withstand that amount of damage," The Quincy commented idly, peering warily at the Shinigami he loathed more than anything.

"Hold on," Renji said with a hesitant tone, his sharp eyes boring into the back of the Captain Kurotsuchi's coat from his hobbled position, "something isn't right. What is he doing that deflects the damage like that?"

After what seemed like hours, Mayuri finally made a gesture, stretching his hand out towards Szayel. It was enough to make the Arrancar flinch, raising hands up in a guarded position. A few seconds later the hand formed a mock deaf sign next to Mayuri's right, covered ear, wearing a cheeky golden grin as he asked coyly, "What's that you said? Sorry, I couldn't hear anything but an idiot blabbering nonsense."

"Tch!" Szayel sneered, withdrawing a number of muscle tissue parts presiding around the abdominal area. Crushing them into his palm, he saw Mayuri jerk around and spew out blood from his mouth once again. Chuckling, he grasped more pieces from inside the toy, commenting idly as he crushed them one by one, "it's good to see the doll is still working. Now please stand there and feel anguish as I crush your body, bit by bi-"

"Stop that."

The Octava paused in his crushing of body pieces at hearing those two words. Looking up, he saw Mayuri withdraw a tissue from his coat, wiping away the fluids that were ejected out of his mouth and nostrils. The fact he looked more annoyed than anything caused a baffled anger to swell within his chest.

"I'm getting real tired of that parlor trick," Mayuri said with a sigh, tossing the tissue idly into the wind.

It was those words that sent Szayel over the edge.

"DAMMIT!" Szayel swore out loud, throwing the doll onto the ground, uncaring if all the pieces scattered across the sand. As his subordinate scurried back fearfully, Mayuri tilted his head to the side curiously at his enemy. Raising his foot up, the Espada began to slam his foot over and over on the upper half of the doll, creating a cacophony of audible crunches and snaps to be heard emanate over the Captain's frame. "Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!"

Visible distortions of body spasms were seen, but Mayuri didn't as much flinch this time around, let alone acknowledge any attack on his person. He chuckled as Szayel crushed the remaining innard pieces lying in front of his feet, heaving heavily with irritation.

"This is impossible!" Szayel exclaimed, waving his arms in emphasis while occasionally gesturing to Mayuri in an accusing manner, "what the Hell are you?! I crushed your vital organs! Tore apart your muscles! Snapped your bones! There shouldn't be anything left of you! How?! What power are you using to keep you alive?!"

"Come now," Mayuri waved dismissively, "I'm a scientist, not a magician. I have no such power that defies logic. The fact of the matter is, your power has become so damned boring!"

"B-Boring?!" Szayel gasped, at a lost of words for what his incredible power was described as.

Without skipping a beat, Mayuri stretched a hand towards Szayel's first pair of victims, slouching near the immobilized Arrancars that lied on their faces in the dust, "You see that Quincy? I have a very cautious nature. Any time I come across a new enemy, I always ensure that I lay a trap sometime during our engagement. One of my favorites is by infecting my opponent's body with countless numbers of surveillance bacteria."

"You...what?!" Uryū gasped out loud, finding his eyes stare with shock at his personal nemesis.

Fixing a sidelong glance at the Quincy, the Captain's smile stretched with a pleased sadism within his golden eyes, "That's right. Ever since we parted from our battle, I've recorded and catalogued every important change to your body's anatomy, physiology and change in environment. Every conversation, every encounter with the other Ryoka, and every battle up to this point. I've witnessed it all like reading pages from a book. Though, to be fair, most of the contents of the life you've lived since our separation has been mundane to completely droll."

"Bast-gulk!" The sole heir to the Ishida legacy began to shout, finding fresh waves of bile and internal fluid rush up his throat. This sent him into a sporadically coughing fit, one of which caught the alarm of the downed Lieutenant next to him.

"Stop wasting your energy! You're only making it worse!" Renji insisted with a lower tone.

Clearing his throat, Mayuri realigned his gaze with the glaring Espada's, raising his hand back up to point at the ground prone Quincy, "By studying his most recent fight with you, I've discovered a number of your habits, methods of fighting, and even your basic abilities. This includes your ability to create replicas of an enemy and then toying with their five senses in order to damage them from the inside out. With this in mind, I came up with a simple solution: Replace all of my bodily parts with false ones, disabling any harmful effect you'd have on my person."

"R-Replaced...your...body parts? That's...that's...THAT'S NONSENSE!" Szayel shrieked, throwing his arms to each side with emphasis. Reaching up, he observed his hands as he voiced his thoughts aloud, occasionally glancing up and pointing accusingly at Mayuri as he rambled, "I mean, it has hardly been a little over an hour since I revealed this ability. Not only is it physically impossible to accomplish what you say, there shouldn't be any way your body could survive in such a state. Your body would be nothing more than blood, tissue and nerve endings! It's impossible for you to live through such a process!"

"You doubt my genius?" Mayuri queried with a blank stare. Sighing, he shook his head sagely, tapping his long-nailed finger against his cheek as he spoke, "Here I believed you to be of an intellectual mind, Espada, but I guess not one scientist can comprehend the entirety of another's work. If you want to know so badly, I'll give you the grisly details."

Raising both hands, he dramatically waved them over his entire being while a smile stretched from ear to ear with glee, "Every Spiritual being possesses a complex weave of pressure points that controls the rise and fall of Reishi within their body. Shinigami and Arrancars have more similar natured systems, as they are beings closely related with anatomies of almost identical form. Each of these nodules pulsate Reiatsu, controlling the human equivalent of body parts to function accordingly. But as you have discovered, science can alter and break rules that are established for material beings.

"During my surgery, I placed specialized microbes within each of my spiritual system's pressure points. These special artificial factories copy and replicate the genetic memory of my body's functions. Each and every one of them has the capacity of running my entire form's major and minor necessities. In short, I am puppeteered by my dozens of genetic memory banks, stringing my body along like a puppet through the system rather than the musculature and skeletal parts. Even organs are unnecessary with my kind of body, as everything is being run purely by self sustaining Reishi batteries until my body recreates new parts to run on."

It was enough of an explanation to render Szayel speechless. The depths of the knowledge and expertise his Shinigami counterpart possessed continued to baffle him. Not only did he have a grasp over Reishi particles and other species' physiologies but he also knew how to work it into his own advantage. Beads of sweat visibly trailed down the Espada's scalp as he planned to use a more...radical method for his enemy's disposal.

"It's kind of sick, but I almost think I inspired the idea," Uryū muttered to himself, earning Renji's attention as he looked on with disgust at the Captain, "during our battle, I introduced an ability he had never seen before. Ransōtengai, the ability to use my own Reishi like puppet strings to move my body when I'm paralyzed or unable to use it for any reason. He's probably using those pressure points as anchors to thread his Reishi throughout his body in order to move, but is doing it in an artificial way that doesn't take concentration or skill to use."

"Sounds like him," Renji nodded, finding himself doing a double take at the Quincy next to him with a dawning expression, "wait, you can move even when paralyzed?!"

"Yeah. What about it?" Uryū inquired back curiously.

"Why haven't you used it when his guard was off and fire an arrow at his head?!" Renji whispered harshly, hoping the Arrancar wouldn't hear him.

"Idiot! You don't think I've already thought of tha-kak-kak-kak!" Uryū coughed up more bodily fluids, leaving him wheezing and looking distinctly more pale, "it's taken all I have no just to keel over and die. Controller over senses or not, my entire stomach is likely ruptured in several areas. Unlike Shinigami, I can't simply walk off this kind of injury!"

"Knew there was a catch to it," Renji huffed with a bummed tone.

"Plus, even I was to start using it, the maniac could have just killed me when he realized breaking my insides wouldn't cut it," Uryū murmured even lower, fixing his glance at Szayel, "though, I could use it now that the dolls are out of his possession. May have to if we want to get out of this...alive?"

The Quincy found himself trailing off as he witnessed something change about the enemy. It caught the attention of the Captain and downed Lieutenant as well, as the winged tendrils had the sacs of flesh beneath them expand in a way that sounded sickening. When they grew up to the expanse of a melon, one after another popped, releasing what was seen as hundreds per sac explosion of what looked like purple and white spheres the size of a thumbnail; each of them etched with the distinctive appearance of miniature skulls with insidious grins emblazoned over their surfaces.

With thousands of them spreading out, it looked like a new nefarious ability had been revealed by Szayel's hand.

"What are these?" Mayuri asked with a tilt of his head, genuinely perplexed by what he was seeing.

"In terms your tiny mind can understand, they're spores," Szayel proclaimed with a smile, watching them spread like dust in the wind, noticing how they came closer and closer to his desired targets. After they had done so, the Arrancar began to wrap his fleshy limbs around in a globe, shielding himself from the outside. His voice however reached the ears of those on the outside, "that double as explosives."

"Nemu!" Mayuri called out immediately, practically summoning her by his right flank.

"EEK!" Verona squealed with alarm, immediately burrowing himself into the sand as far as he could dig.

Almost all at once, all of the black a cacophony of thunderous blasts radiated across the debris field that used to be the palace. Orange and golden tongues of flames flourished out like a tidal wave, decimating the standing piles of rubble that scattered across the kilometer stretch of sandy wastes. With a pillar of smoke exuding from the point of origin, it took only a few minutes before the dust finally settled.

"Ahhh," Szayel sighed with a smile, unfurling his meaty shield, only slightly bothered by the burns plastered over his additional limbs, "do you have anything to say now, Captain?"

"I do, actually."

"Ngh?!" Szayel flinched, finding himself looking at a glimmer of light past the fading smoke. Revealed behind what looked like a diamond shaped barrier of silver-hue, giving it the impression that it was crystalline in structure. Small webbed cracks spread sporadically across its surface, showing the impressions of the multiple explosions that had been caused by his spore bombs.

"Your confidence in that last attack is quite sad. Next time, please try not to tell your enemies what your intent is before you guarantee it succeeds," Mayuri chided lightly, his smile returning as the shield shimmered in a dispersal of shattering Reishi particles.

"And what can you do?!" Szayel goaded, waving a hand in a beckoning manner with a visible sneer, "you may have a brilliant mind, capable of analyzing and planning for my own techniques. But that doesn't mean a damned thing if you don't have the power to back it up. Why you even graced yourself on the battlefield is beyond my comprehension! You're not fit to wear that co-ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

Throughout the Arrancar's rhetoric, Mayuri's eyes seemed to roll around like marbles in a jar. His irises oddly pointing in every which way direction, a visual sign that he couldn't care less of what his Espada enemy had to say. His last shout caused his eyes to realign back at their center, sighing with aftermath, "Shut up."

"W-What?!" Szayel snarled, balling his fists at his side.

Casually, the Captain reached for his Zanpakutō resting before his pelvic region, grasping the hilt with an audible squeeze. Pulling it out in a methodically grated manner, causing the metal to grind against the scabbard as it was extracted, Mayuri explained, "You're so damned noisy. If all you have to say is nonsense, then I guess I have nothing else to discuss with you. Bankai, Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō."

It was then that the totality of the Shinigami's Reiatsu bore upon the Espada's senses. It was nauseous, like inhaling a putrid stench while coming off in wafting waves of a disgusting beast. A powerful, repulsive beast that projected a crimson glow around him as his sword began to warp and change shape, seeming to spew upwards to form something of great stature over his head.

Even then it was enough to cause the Arrancar to take a few recoiling steps back. It was a beast; a horrible disgusting looking creature. With the body of a caterpillar that wriggled behind and over the Captain and his compatriots, it withheld a yellow skinned humanoid body closely resembling a child. Upon its summoning a loud wailing shriek announced its awakening, with wide blank eyes staring down at him while a small mouth grinned predatorily at him. With a crimson cloak wrapped around its neck and a silver ring hovering over its head, it truly looked like a symbolic and absolute abomination.

The mere sight of it sent the Arrancar into a gibbering mess, "What's going on?! Where did that creature come from?! What the Hell is that?!"

Before an answer could even be given, a dark cloud of purple colored smoke spewed from the apparition's mouth. Flooding the ground in front of Szayel, it easily flooded the air with its noxious vapor cloud, flowing well beyond any point of which he could try to flee to. Not that he could focus on escaping, at the moment.

"What is this?!" Szayel questioned, finding that the merest touch of the gas on his skin caused dark purple splotches to appear on his face, "bacteria? Really, I can easily dispatch something like this-!"

Before his hand, alight with a cerulean glow of probing Reishi at his forefingers, could reach his affected skin it too began to be overridden by toxins. Coughing in surprise, he felt a noxious sensation overwhelm his body, with body parts quickly becoming engrossed in the dark color of the poison infecting his body. Turning to his right and left, his sacs swelled up with healing juices, giving him hope as he reached out with shaky hands to gain their restorative properties. But in a matter of seconds to pass, every single sac aligned on his branch-like wings became swollen with purple dyed infectious material, exploding and spewing out dark colored poison onto the ground soon after.

"Dammit! If only I had time, I could...I could-!" Szayel trailed off, finding his body becoming tainted worse and worse by the foreign poison that flooded his body, "damn-damn-damn-DAMN!"

Laughing, Mayuri watched with twisted amusement as his Bankai raised up over the Espada's grounded frame and opened its mouth wide. By the time Szayel realized what was going to happen it was far too late. With a horrified shriek leaving his throat, a mighty crash followed the immensely proportioned monster's head into the sand, its putrid maw consuming the Arrancar whole.

"What a sad way to go, Arrancar," Captain Kurotsuchi commented with a sadistic gleam in his eyes, "now I'll never be able to stuff you inside a jar, Szayelaporro Granz."

---

"Someone's Reiatsu disappeared," Aaroniero thought as the battle raged one. Using the Calavera that was stationed closest to the battle ongoing with the other Ryoka, Nelliel's Fracción, and the newest arrivals she was able to gain a semblance of what has happened. The mere sight of it caused her to shudder slightly of what was going on even as she saw it through her other body's eyes, "even as someone who thrives on the devouring of others, that's a bit nauseating to see. Not how I pictured your end, Szayel, but you were always a bit too cocky for my liking."

Returning her attention on the battles at hand, she noted her Calavera facing Angelle was having the most trouble of the two.

Aaron-Rukia was in the middle of the air, catching her breath as she stood a dozen meters on a parallel altitude to her foe. The petitely shaped Arrancar was quite nimble and quick, having enough reflexes to evade any attack she couldn't deflect or reflect with her transparent limbs. These protruding tendrils of psionically controlled Reishi appeared like pulsing pseudopods that flattened and flexed intermittently, with their ends changing shape from a bludgeoning tool to an extra hand itself. While barely visible to the naked eye, it was only thanks to Aaroniero's specialized Pesquisa she was employing from a far distance that she could see them as if they were painted in vivid detail.

"You're annoying me," The Arrancar finally spoke, her voice unnervingly still as her words left her lips. A direct contrast to the livid glare that twitched sporadically on her formerly cute face, just as the environment around them continued to rage on a neverending battle.

"El Directo!" Called Aaron-Chad directly below their feet, as the statuesque Calavera thrust his right arm forward. With a fiery column of destructive Reishi flowing forth like a guided missile of flames, it hurtled towards the grounded Croc Arrancar. As it neared him, the even larger Shinigamified Hollow brandished his executioner's axe, fueling its edges with burgundy tongues of virulent energy.

"Trazo La Muerte!" Sin cried out in his Hollowfied tongue, swinging the behemoth weapon in a vertical swing. Following his attack a cross-bones shaped rotating windmill of bisecting energy was produced, cutting through the air like an energized buzz saw. Cleaving through the explosive pyre's head as if it were flesh, the ten meter tall skull-adorned Reishi axe spun forward with the clear intent of cutting down his Hollow-like enemy. Illuminated with a cerulean overcast formed by the walls of Reishi that harmlessly flowed on either flank, Sin's eyes noticed something rush in between his attack and the Ryoka's failing one.

It was Nelliel, with sword held out in a horizontal defensive posture.

When the swiftly rotating windmill of energy struck her sword, her heels quickly dug into the sand and hair billowed back in a whipping fashion. Gritting her teeth, she focused with closed eyes. Opening her mouth wide, the energy that made up the powerful technique was dragged into a irresistible vacuum. As the last of the energy was gobbled up, Sin narrowed his eyes with remembrance and disdain at the Tres' special ability.

Just as he readied to attack the Arrancar, he noticed that Aaron-Chad had disappeared from his placement of fire.

"Behind me!" Sin realized with a quick pulse of his Pesquisa, propelling himself to his right with a rapidly deployed Sonido. Enormous heels tapped onto the sand just as the Ryoka axe kicks with his right foot, cleaving the sand in half, sending it in a upheaving explosion of force. Spinning his weapon in his right hand, he quickly launched himself back at his stalwart opponent, swinging his weapon in a horizontal stroke to his target's right flank.

"Ngh!" Raising large shield arm, Aaron-Chad took the brunt of the incoming attack, absorbing and dispelling its force through his limb. Upon using the reflexive maneuver, he also noticed Sin swinging his left arm to thrust his giant fist towards his face. Unable to react accordingly, a crimson explosion of a Bala launching upon the row of knuckles hitting his form, the man was sent flying across the battlefield.

Just nary a handful of meters just behind Byakuya's stoic form, the human bodied warrior crashed within a recess of the sand. Even as the uproar of sand and shockwave caused his dignified attire to whip violently about, the Captain hardly skipped a beat, twisting his sword hand in accordance with his continual assault on his own enemy. Spiraling through the air his Senbonzakura chased the graceful and swift Sverrie, whom smiled and locked her eyes distantly on the Shinigami with a decadent desire.

In the background, Sin found himself reeling in surprise as Nelliel's Cero Doble was unleashed upon him. Deployed in a crouched, uppercutting swing of her sword, the pink hued blaze of light was narrowly deflected by the long handled weapon of his axe before the force sent him off his feet. Landing half a dozen meters away he dispelled the barreling arc of Reishi just in time to hit Nel's sword with his axe in mid leap, creating a visible warp in the air just prior to sending her flipping backwards.

"Damn, Sin's tougher than I remember," Aaron-Chad thought as he struggled back to his feet, visibly grimacing at the sensation of heat and rattling his body took from the Bala infused punch. Briefly taking his gaze away from the ongoing battle the Shinigami and the reformed Espada was having, he craned his neck up to see Aaron-Rukia staring down Angelle, both of which seemed to stare intently at each other.

Crouching on his legs, the Ryoka launched himself into the air with a lightning swift pliant rush from the sand upwards. Rearing back his fist, his right shoulder discharged a wafting jetstream of Reishi in preparation for his upcoming attack. With a silent proclamation he sent a volatile shot of El Directo at his enemy in the sky, effectively taking her attention on Aaron-Rukia for a split second.

"Please," Angelle droned out, idly craning her left wrist upwards, causing three of the psionic arms to grapple the volatile beam in the air. Like bending Reishi in a similar move to one redirecting the flow of water, the Arrancar spun it around in a halo rotation in the air perpendicular to her hovering frame. Sending a dismissive gesture of her hand, the whirling beam of light was sent right back at Aaron-Chad's hovering frame, aiming to take him straight out of the sky.

Two things transpired that went against her liking.

The first was when a wry grinning Aaron-Chad side-stepping the telegraphed strike to his left, allowing his own redirected attack veer down to the ground below. Uncannily she witnessed the pyre of light roar down towards the battle between Captain Kuchiki and Sverrie, the latter stared wildly up at the incoming energy column heading in her direction. With a lance of razors at her back and the beam of light heading towards her graceful sprint's direction, she had little choice but react accordingly in order to resist damage.

In a bright cerulean eruption of energy that sent a bristling wave of pressure to lap at Angelle just as the fire of the explosion rocketed upwards she noticed the second thing that was against her wishes. With her return glance forward, she barely had time to notice the tip of Sode no Shirayuki lancing forward, aiming to split her skull straight down the middle. Bending her upper body back in a radical split second of swift movement, she felt the icy edge of the sword split a few hairs as it passed over her head. Watching it spin over her head, she strained her head to see Aaron-Rukia far away, holding onto what looked like a rope of ice attached to the ribbon affixed with the weapon's pommel.

"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"

A heartbeat was skipped just as the psychic Arrancar found herself staring down a brilliant eclipsing circle of white form over her horizontally aligned body. Freezing Reishi flooded the air, rocketed down to the ground and spurning upwards, creating a perfect crystalline smooth pillar of ice in its wake. Upon fully solidifying, the sword was whipped back into the Shinigami's hand with an audible clack, allowing the ice to crumble and rain down as snowflakes to the earth below.

"Angelle's immobilized," Aaron-Rukia thought with a nod sent towards Aaron-Chad, whom gestured with a thumb's up. Watching him rocket back to assist Nelliel in their fight against the Warden, the Shinigami-bodied Calavera heard the distinct cracks sound in her ice-formed tower. Turning her gaze, she grimaced as the entire column of frozen moisture was ripped apart, revealing an upright and enraged Angelle. Slivers of ice clung to her hair but little else, showing more in the trails of her psionic limbs seemed to have shielded her at the last moment before breaking free of her frozen prison. "for about a total of ten seconds. Terrific."

"Annoying. Annoying. Annoying!" She whispered out twice before snarling out, balling her fists in upraised fashion. As violent cracks of Reishi danced around her clenched digits and knuckles, rays of luminous beams escaped the cracks of her hands. Opening them slowly, marble sized orbs of hyper compressed spirit energy crackled and rotated between her splayed out fingers. "I rip things apart that annoy me. Piece. By. PIECE!"

Down where the El Directo was detonated, within the trails of smoke that was circled by the petal-laden scenery was Sverrie. Nary a scratch laid upon her beautiful frame, as the once bare-handed Arrancar now brandished her feather-guarded rapier in hand. With silken smooth hair flowing in the wind, the Privaron Espada smiled at Byakuya as she nodded her head in the direction of Angelle, "That doesn't look good, does it?"

Byakuya's eyes merely glanced up at the Arrancar above, confirming what he had sensed upon the energy's priming. It was similar to the same Bala he had used a level eighty Bakudō to deflect. Multiplied over a set of ten, he knew the damage was going to be devastating when they were unleashed.

Returning his gaze back towards Sverrie, his eyes widened at seeing her a mere meter's distance. A thrust of her blade aimed for his head made him reflexively whir to his right, and then a hand outstretched, with its single forefinger sliding across his lips. In what felt like a sudden throb in his chest through a mind-numbing shock through his brain, Byakuya's movements halted altogether, causing the spiraling airborne blossom razors to remain suspended in the middle of the air.

"Indiscriminada Amor," Sverrie whispered with a smile.

"Shit, what just happened?!" Aaron-Rukia thought from above, having noticed the recent move made by the Privaron. With a recoiling step back followed by a bead of sweat crawling down her Calavera's scalp, she muttered out loud, "she didn't just-"

"DIE!" Angelle's voice cried out as she hurled the first handful of smaller psychic Bala.

It was by the skin of her teeth that she reverted her attention back to the incoming projectiles heading her way. Thrusting her left hand towards the collection of pink colored marbles of Reishi, she muttered out a hasty chant just before they could strike, scribbling indistinct lines within the air. With her body engulfed in a crimson blanket of Reiatsu, she barked out loud, "Bakudō #9, Geki!"

A heartbeat later, the five marbles of compressed Reishi halted in the middle of space. Glowing with an aura of wispy red light, they were now completely in Aaron-Rukia's control. Though shaky breaths came out of Aaron-Rukia's mouth, the look of dumbfounded exasperation on her enemy's face was worth the effort.

"You're in the way," She spoke lowly, rearing back her outstretched arm before thrusting it forward, "so get lost!"

"You piece of-!" Angelle bit back, hurtling the other handful of micro-Bala at her enemy's, causing them all to strike each other at once. The result was a wind-knocking shockwave that struck them both just shy of the blast wave that came after. A conical explosion of infernally twisting energies, the elliptical thrust of high pressure wind lapped onto the ground as the bottom-half of the Bala blast speared into the sand below in a fiery impalement.

Amidst the blast, two figures were sent hurtling out of sight on opposite ends. Angelle, wincing and covered with burns while Aaron-Rukia looked to be in similar condition. With both of them crossing just outside the perimeter of the established battlefield, the true menace began to rear its head upon all combatants.

"That's it, my darling," Sverrie cooed, stroking her left hand over Byakuya's left cheek in an adoring manner. Having been shielded by another Dankū upon the reflexive command by her newest slave, she relished the look of pure commitment in the man's previously stoic eyes. Even a small smile stretched across his stone wall visage, making it all the more obvious he had succumbed to her power. "your mistress thanks you for protecting her."

"I'll do anything you desire of me, my immaculate blossom," Byakuya spoke softly.

Giggling at the pet name, she knew it was only in her slave's nature to respond in kind. She knew each person she imbued Indiscriminada Amor upon had a different way of showing their devotion and love towards her. She had even tried it on the former Primera, a permanent mark of loathing she has for her to this day. It had been a wonderful night they spent together, in her point of view...

Shaking her head to dispel the reverie, she turned her head towards the far corner of the battlefield, "There are a number of sickening creatures over there. Will you help me feel more safe by cutting them and crushing them?"

"Sverrie," Byakuya said softly, holding a familiar edge to his voice as he turned his sword around to reform it back into its sealed state. Turning on his heel, he walked in the direction she mentioned, all the while she kept within a step behind him, smiling broadly at his latter words, "I'll kill a billion creatures, innocent or guilty, in order to keep that smile from leaving your face."

---

"No!" Aaroniero thought as she saw the cunning Privaron make off with Byakuya, steadily moving away from the battlefield. Looking to her Rukia-bodied Calavera, she knew it was too soon before she could get back up. By the time she'd awake from unconsciousness, she'd have to use healing Kidō in order to dim aroused suspicions. She was only thankful she had used a spell to jettison herself away from the blast before it could overtake her entirely. She couldn't speak for Angelle but she looked to be unconscious as well.

Turning her attention to Aaron-Chad, she noticed that he was continuing to clash with Sin. Even with the combined help of Nelliel, the two of them were struggling to handle the surprisingly experienced Arrancar. She could only guess how Sin had so much combat prowess and power on his side. If they lost their battle against him, the likelihood of the Gotei coming out victorious could be even less probable.

Turning her attention to Chōjirō, she could see that he was having his own problems to deal with regarding Soto.

In a blur of swift swordplay, the Lieutenant and the Privaron exchanged a flurry of sword strokes at each other's proximity. Electrical purple sparks blended with emerald tongues of Resihi from the prior and latter's weapons. Looks of fierce determination crossed their visages as they determined to break through one or the other's impeccable guard.

But, in the corner of his eye, he saw Captain Kuchiki walking ahead of the Privaron Espada. Unlike before where he was hellbent in destroying her, he seemed unnervingly relaxed in her presence. From the feeling of his Reiatsu, he could feel it was muddled and distorted by something else. Dilated pupils and a mouth opening partway caused him to realize something that Aaroniero hoped: Byakuya was being manipulated.

"Captain!" Chōjirō tried to call out, using Shunpo to evade a downward swipe by Soto's dual sickles, carving the sand in a shower of upheaved grains.

Turning his head to look over his shoulder, Soto clicked his tongue against his teeth. Returning his gaze back to the Lieutenant, he ground his sickles against each other, creating a grating sound as he spoke lowly, "It's too late. Unless Sverrie wants to, that man is stuck under her thumb. Not even our Primera could shatter the spell she placed under years ago."

"Move aside!" Lieutenant Sasakibe shouted with a look of urgency, swinging his blade aloft to his right side.

"You should worry of defeating me first, Shinigami!" Soto growled out, swiping both sickles across the air in a reaping motion. That movement was enough to send crimson tears through the air, with severing Reishi particles rushing towards the Lieutenant as a means to take him apart. It was an attack that seemed to overlap the Lieutenant's person in a matter of a few seconds.

That was, till a thunderclap followed a violent eruption of violet-colored electric Reishi pouring through. It was thin, in the shaped outline of the Lieutenant's Zanpakutō, carving through the Arrancar's left side as he narrowly leaped to his right to evade the attack.

Rolling with his leap, the Privaron struggled to stand only to fall momentarily to his knees, "His attack is winding me?"

"You haven't dealt with electricity much, have you?" Chōjirō asked rhetorically in a chiding tone. Raising his sword in a facial dividing line, tendrils of high voltage in purple color snaked up and down his rapier. With the Shikai alight with brimming Reiatsu, the Shinigami stated confidently, "if you continue this battle, you will taste defeat of the worst kind. Painful and unforgiving."

"Tch," Soto murmured, finally finding himself standing to face his enemy across the distance. Leaning left to right, the Arrancar then sped forward in a rapidly deployed Sonido, his sickles glowing brightly with an outpour of emerald Reiatsu. It was enough to put the Shinigami back on the defensive, the aura of Reishi defusing his electrical properties his own Shikai possessed. Powerful shockwaves radiated from their exchange of blows as he swung his sickles one after the other, pushing him across the sandy wastes.

"I won't let you get the chance to fire that Zanpakutō again!" Soto declared, slamming an outraised foot into the Shinigami's solar plexus.

"Gah!" Sending him flying across the expanse of distended sand, Chōjirō rolled with the kick to skid to a halt on his hands and knees. Watching Soto rush forward, he knew he needed time to manifest a proper offense. Raising his left hand up, an azure flame rolled along his fingertips as he muttered in a quiet chant, "Glisten as you fall into the arms of the Mountains, Land, and Seas. Fold over your protective silk with precious gems. Scatter light and cast aside darkness..."

"What are you plotting now?!" Soto snarled as he appeared over him, both sickles in hand, swinging down with a curtain of crimson Reishi unleashed over his head. What he didn't anticipate was an inverted pyramid of turquoise color sprouting out in thin air, causing his downward descent to be repelled along with his attack. Flipping backwards he landed with a dragging skid, beheld Chōjirō's visage behind the transparent barrier he erected.

"Bakudō #73, Tozanshō," Chōjirō spoke with declaration, finishing the full incantation of his Kidō. The shimmering crystal was easily the size of a house, in the shape of a pyramid and in a reverse position compared to his prior sealing Kidō.

"Another barrier? Is hiding and defending the only thing you can do against me, Shinigami?!" Soto shouted with frustration.

"I have to admit, in a battle of attrition, you can surely best me," Chōjirō said factually, raising his sword over his head as he spoke. A gout of electricity sprang upwards, bypassing the barrier's top and crackling high up into the sky. As the visual sporadic flashes of violet hued energy crackled in front of the Arrancar, he finished, "but at full power, my Gonryōmaru is one of the strongest Zanpakutō in Gotei 13. It is not boast, it is fact."

"That powerful? In that case," Soto said with a grim smile, inverting his grip on both sickles before slamming their pommels against each other, the blades' edges pointing downwards like claws. "I'll just have to beat you before it reaches full power. Pounce, Astuta Lagarto!"

In a fiery eruption of howling wind and teal light, Soto quickly transformed from his Shinigami body into a reptilian humanoid form. Black hair formed a shoulder length mane that sprouted outwards in a spiky demeanor, a single armored helm formed a pair of eye-slits over his nose and upper visage. With arms withholding a pair of large scimitars carved out of bone, his lower body sported a pair of raptor like legs, with sharp boned talones affixed to where his toes used to be. Armored cuirass and cloak with scales tied down to his body, his look was further more intimidating by the thick aura of indigo that shined around his person.

"Let's see if you can charge up that Zanpakutō faster than I can demolish that shield of yours!" Soto declared with animosity, leaping forward with both bladed arms ready to slam into the shield at full power.

---

"Dammit! I can't find anyone who can stop him!" Aaroniero swore to herself from afar. From what she could tell from a quick scan of her Pesquisa, there wasn't anyone who could lend a free hand. Her Rukia Calavera was down, Aaron-Chad was tied up helping Nel fight Sin, Chōjirō was pinned by the Privaron Segunda and Ichigo was off fighting Rana.

She could feel the Calavera that watched the end progress of Mayuri's match with Szayel. As much as she desired to move her away, she didn't risk having a Captain feel an abnormality on the move. Of all the Captains, she didn't want him to be suspicious.

But then, she realized someone who was beyond everyone's attention. Not even the Vanguard forces, staying a healthy distance away from the La Muerte endowed battlefield, had sensed her or bothered to approach her. The one who briefly fluctuated a power that could prove invaluable to them all.

Wasting no time, Aaroniero began to carve her fingers into the sand until she crafted ink out of her own Reishi. Drawing on her arms, she made the necessary preparations for the Kidō required. With a brief inhale, she placed her palm on the blue square making up the conduit for the spell, before muttering lowly, "Bakudō #77, Tenteikūra!"

As a vibrant tree of Reishi expanded from ink placed onto the sand, she expanded her Kyokko spell to compensate for the flux of Reiatsu that might be felt. She knew at this point in time that if she were distracted now, her link with the Calaveras could be disoriented. She now knew why Rudbornn remained adamantly out of the way his own Calaveras when they fought. Focusing his own movements in sync with puppeteering his minions would be maddeningly difficult.

"Orihime!" Aaroniero's voice cried out through the telepathic spell.

"Rukia? Why are you talking in my head?"

"Not important!" Aaroniero shook her head, almost forgetting that she was using her own voice instead of a Calavera's. "listen, the others are in trouble. I need you to go and help them out!"

"Wha-?! Who?!"

"The Shinigami Officers," Aaroniero said grimly, her eyes narrowing ahead over the bright communication Kidō, illuminating a bead of sweat crawling down her right cheek, "I think Byakuya has been turned by the enemy...and is going to start attacking his allies!"

---

"Get back here!" Sentarō shouted out as he thrust his arm forward, sending his man-sized Boomerang soaring through the air. Chasing down the rapidly sprinting Sedosa, the arrow shaped weapon carved a trench of sand as it hovered and spun over the sand in pursuit. Just mere meters away from the Arrancar, the enemy woman could be seen spinning her scimitars around her wrists before slamming their pommels together.

A thunderous crash by Mōkin, and Sedosa disappeared in a flash. Reappearing twenty meters above in a blur of Sonido, her dual swords had combined into a bow, with tensile silken string stretched across the backs of the blades. Pulling back, an arrow of similar material oozed out of a thin slit in her palm, forming the liquid steel into a thin shape in order to form the arrow she desired. Letting go with an audible crack, the projectile sang through the air as it aimed to hit Sentarō before Mōkin had a chance to rise up and bludgeon her.

"I got your back!" Kiyone shouted reassuringly, hopping out from behind her fellow 3rd Seat. With a graceful swing of her arms in a downward swipe, the pliant steel silk formed a rectangular shield in front and above their heads. The result was enough to shatter the arrow, leaving the force of the projectile to create a buffet of wind from the attack's impact.

"Thanks," Sentarō said with a grim smile, raising his gauntlet in an upward fist gesture.

Sedosa wordlessly narrowed her eyes behind the cowl of her hood, her dark colored lips pursing with irritation. Looking down, she suddenly noticed the boomerang spiraling underneath her, creating a twister of cerulean Reiatsu in its wake. Kicking off the air, she narrowly evaded the ascending metal whirlwind's attack, letting herself freefall with her back facing the ground.

During her descent, she saw a human-sized fireball roar up towards her altitude declining person.

"Tch!" She hissed with realization, barrel-rolling away from the pink tongues of fiery Reishi. Feeling the waves of heat permeate the failed attack, she now descended swiftly to see the bun-adorned Lieutenant with a steaming Shikai in hand. Forming another arrow in hand, she drew the string back to her cheek as she took aim, letting go a trio of arrows.

"Bakudō #39, Enkōsen!" Momo chanted out with both her sword guarding hand and her unarmed one upraised. In a blink of an eye, a spinning dull yellow disc spun over her head, shattering the arrows upon impact.

"Dammit!" Sedosa swore under her breath, twisting her lower body so it was pointing down upon landing softly on the sandy earth. Before she even considered facing the Lieutenant, Nanao appeared behind her. Turning to face the force her Pesquisa detected, she was in time to raise her right scimitar to hit an outstretched shield. With her body spinning around with sword in hand, Nanao narrowly missed Sedosa's head, passing mere inches over the top of her cowl as she bent her neck back. Eyes blinked as she saw a distortion appear around the sword, as if a form of invisible Reiatsu had flowed across its metal frame. Sword swing completed, a shriek was heard emitted in the air shortly followed by a shockwave that struck a sand formation nearly fifty meters in the distance.

"What was that? A shockwave of Reiatsu?" Sedosa queried as she cartwheeled away from Nanao's position, briefly backpedaled away from the astute Shinigami. Looking over to her right, she noticed Patros in the distance. Growling she shouted out to him, "Would it kill you to come help?!"

"As a matter of fact, it will," Patros dryly bit back, his body shimmered a handful of meters to the left. Doing so allowed him to dodge a spiraling wave of ice that erupted the sand and froze the upraised grains where they stood.

From what Sedosa could see, the last of the Shinigami Officers, was keeping Patros from interfering as he had been attempting to throughout their scuffle. But what she saw so far was that it mattered little whom was matched up with who. Each one of the enemy possessed an adept knowledge and skill in the Kidō Arts, were quick on their feet, and didn't lack anything in the category of power. None of them were of Captain Class material entirely on their own, but they were all in combination enough to put her on edge.

"Seppen Jinpū!" Isane cried out, making a wide sweep with her sword that not only covered the area facing Patros but towards Sedosa as well. Within the indigo hued Reiatsu fueled wind was a storm of snowflakes, as large as a shuriken, numbering in the hundreds. As they sang, the wind howled upon the approach of the two enemies it attempted to attack at once.

"Nivel Diez!" Patros called out, as he grasped hold of the hilt for his sword. With a blindingly swift Iaido swing of his blade, an impressive arc of solar hued Reishi was let loose towards the wind of razor sharp snowflakes. Striking the wind and the ice at the same time, it caused a vibrant explosion in the middle of the ground, sending flame-ridden steam to flood the sand before their eyes.

At the same time, Sedosa combined her scimitars into a bow once more, forming an arrow faster than before. Before the transparent threaded arrow reached behind her cheek, she blew a gout of purple colored tongues of Reishi to light the body. Letting it loose with a thunderclap of force, a searing lance of light tore a five meter wide hole through the Reiatsu fueled wind of ice. Missing Isane's body within a hair thanks to a well timed Shunpo, the arrow continued on past the battlefield before exploding a vivid violet lit pillar of flames beyond their battlefield's horizon.

"My Fuego Seda missed," Sedosa realized narrowing her eyes at the painted overcast of the blast that nearly took apart her target, "that ice filled wind must have derailed my aim and slowed it down. Next time I won't let it-"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the overhead roar of a familiar twister of Reiatsu. Looking up, her mouth was agape and her hidden eyes widened. There above was the glider, spinning wildly down, now endowed with a curtain of crimson-orange tongues of fire. It had only occurred to her mere seconds ago that one of the Lieutenants fired up a fireball that had missed her entirely, right in the same direction as the ascending glider.

"He sent it upwards to build momentum for its descent and fueled its destructive power with the flames!" Sedosa realized with a look of knowing dread, feeling as if she had only a few seconds left to escape.

Trying to move, she felt as if her feet were bound by something, making them unable to move. Looking over where Momo stood, the last telling signs of a fabric of light refracting Kidō. What was hidden appeared to be a golden rope of binding energy, wrapping around both of her ankles from the Lieutenant's outstretched hand. A look of grim determination etched on her face told her all she needed to know.

They had planned to pin her down from the beginning.

"Not getting away this time!" Sentarō hollered from the distance. When she cast a vehement glare his way, he grinned and swung his gauntlet down to punch the sand before his feet, crying out loud, "Suiryoku!"

With an additional plume of blue light upon the protruding edges of the glider, a jetstream of cerulean flames corkscrewed within the center of the crimson fire, creating a pink-scarlet pillar of Reishi. Heartbeats of movement could be seen in intricate slow detail as the force of the incoming attack blew away the sand and whipped Sedosa's hood and cloak wildly. A look of horror crossed her face as the fire endowed Mōkin rushed down to crush her absolutely.

"Sōkatsui."

Just as suddenly as the attack was about to obliterate the Arrancar, so too was a pillar of Reishi formed from the air to crash into the head of the spiraling twister of fire and metal. The explosion that unfolded was enough to create a sizable spherical expanse of flames following the shockwave that whipped all observing parties of their attire and hair. Spinning from the blast was a soot covered glider that crashed a dozen meters away, leaving a crater prone Sedosa, groaning from the explosion's impact and Momo who was sent flying off her feet into a ditch of sand.

"W-What happened?" Sentarō asked with a bewildered flurry of eye blinks.

"Was that a Kidō that hit your Zanpakutō?" Kiyone asked after swishing her head to the location of the downed glider, embedded partially in the sand, and back to the source of the attack. What she saw was baffling to her mind. Unable to form words, the fellow 3rd Seat turned his head and saw the origin of the attack, causing him to look on with confusion.

"Is that...?" He began to ask.

"Captain Kuchiki?!" Isane cried out with surprise.

Indeed there he stood, just a dozen meters from their circle of battle torn sand within the La Muerte site. Having been so occupied with their exchange with the two Arrancars they hadn't even bothered to see what his status was with his own skirmishes with the Vanguard in his area. From the look of things he looked unharmed, but the way he stood and the demeanor of his appearance was far from comforting.

Worse, he seemed to wear a disturbing smile, complemented by a far-off look in his eyes. Standing right next to him a mere foot away was a beautiful Arrancar, with a mask circlet worn around her crown, hidden mostly by her silky hair. The rest of her body was almost completely on display with see-through silk wrapped over her luscious and voluptuous figure. A feather-guarded rapier in one hand while another propped fetchingly on her hip, she bore a dark smile and an enticing gaze at the site of stunned faces before her.

"That was close," Sverrie cooed out, "I almost thought we couldn't get here in time. Are you okay, Sedosa?"

Hearing her cry out, Sedosa rose up, staggering out of the crater that had formed from the blast. Soot and steam layered the top of her hood and cloak, with small bruises and burns peppering her exposed skin to show that she had received a minor portion of the strike. Narrowing her obscured eyes at her fellow Vanguard colleague, she clicked her tongue with approval as she gripped her scimitars in a relaxed manner, "No worse for wear, I suppose. Took your time, didn't you?"

"He played hard to get, but he's all mine now," Sverrie said with a giggle, leaning over to wrap her body around the Captain, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck as she purred over her prize.

"What is going on?!" Nanao cried out with an abject look of horror on her face, causing the Privaron to halt her coddling and cast a sneer at her. Seeing her point with a free hand, as her shield now sheathed her sword, she yelled out in a demand, "what the Hell did you do to Captain Kuchiki?!"

"Oh? Are you his subordinate?" Sverrie asked with a cock of her head to the side. Before the Lieutenant could continue speaking, she sighed and waved nonchalantly with her swordhand, "it doesn't matter either way. Unless I choose to, he won't cast his loyalty to anyone. Not even his allies."

"Why you-!" Isane began crying out with anger, pulling back her sword in preparation to attack the clinging former Espada.

"Cut her throat," She whispered into Byakuya's ear.

In an instantaneous bout of Shunpo, Byakuya appeared in front of the 4th Division 2nd-in-command. Despite her head jerking back with recoiling surprise, a blur of metal crossed over her neck. Moments after the coldly detached Captain turned his back on her, a gout of blood spurt out of a inch-wide cut made in her neck.

"Gulk!" Isane gurgled out with shock, dropping her sword to clench at her bleeding neck. As she fell to her needs, blood continued to seep between the cracks of her fingers, with more dark colored liquid overflowing from her mouth to drench her lower lips and chin. Her skin color could already be noticed paling with every second that passed by.

"ISANE!" Kiyone cried out with alarm, rushing to her side away from Sentarō.

Before she could make it far, Byakuya appeared behind her, causing her to stop short. Turning her neck slowly to look at the back of the Kuchiki Head's head, she felt a searing pain erupt from her chest. Two holes opened up within her precisely stabbed kosode, causing her to fall forward with a petrified look of fear over her widened eyes. Just as her face struck the ground, a pool of blood began to form on the sand beneath her, just as the veil of silk returned to form the katana just in front of her sand prone head.

"Kiyone!" Sentarō shouted with an outstretched arm, finding himself barely comprehending what happened. It was like when Captain Suì-Fēng attacked the two of them, tossing him into the air with a simple uppercut as if he was nothing but trash, leaving Kiyone for last. With their roles reversed, he couldn't help but feel a well of dread flowing out from his gut, paralyzing his limbs.

"Time for you to die," Byakuya said calmly with an entranced smile still plastered over his face.

It was those words that made Sentarō free himself of his own fear. Replacing self pitying dread with rage, Sentarō swung his gauntlet fist towards the slowly approaching Captain, magnetically commanding his burnt glider to rush towards his enemy. Tearing through the sand as if it was butter, the arrowhead-shaped weapon rushed towards the target beside Sentarō with a wave of blistering force that buffeted the 3rd Seat's body.

Blurring through the boomerang as if he phased through it, the Kuchiki kept smiling as he appeared in front of Sentarō. Not granting him time to react, the Shinigami swung his sword in a upper right diagonal arc. An eruption of blood following bisected cloth and silk came forth as Sentarō's mouth guzzled with the liquid with his backward fall from the single strike. Eyes rolled back as soon as his body struck the sand, coating the ground beneath him with blood just as Kiyone had.

"Very good! I'm so proud of you!" Sverrie called out with a bubbly tone, waving on towards the Captain from afar at the scene of gruesome attacks he left behind.

It was enough to forget about her own safety, as a ball of flames rushed towards her left. Leaping back in the air, she avoided the thunderous pink-hued pyrotechnic explosion, her body landed with a graceful tap on her bare soles. Turning her head to the left, she saw a look of grief-stricken rage upon Momo's face, as her sword already brimmed with flames for another attack ready.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Momo screamed, swinging her sword forward to thrust another fireball towards Sverrie. Before it could reach halfway, Sverrie smiled, watching a crimson orb telling of a Shakkahō crashing into her Zanpakutō's attack. With a blaze of orange and red filling her vision, Momo shrank with realization who shot it, and turned around to see Byakuya raising a sword over his head.

Before she could raise her sword to protect herself, Nanao appeared between the two, her shield deflecting the Captain's sword effortlessly. With apprehension flowing across her face, the Lieutenant cried out, "Captain! Get a hold of yourself! Do you realize what you're doing?!"

"Don't pay any mind to them, beloved," Sverrie called out louder than Nanao, causing the crouched Momo and Nanao to look over with a grimace at her smiling face. Pointing her unarmed hand towards the two, she commanded authoritatively, "crush them. I don't want to see a fraction of life left in those girls' eyes."

"As you wish, my love," Byakuya murmured, his smile continuing to remain as his sword strained against Nanao's shield. With a bristling wave of rising Reiatsu barreling down upon her, Nanao could compare the first strike that of a mere shove to a automobile crashing into her defenses. Slowly but surely, the shield was pushed back, causing a field of sparks to emit between the metal edge and circular disc.

"C-Captain...please!" Nanao begged, reaching up to grasp the sheathed sword embedded within the shield.

"Bakudō #63, Sajō Sabaku!" Cried out a feminine voice from beyond, causing a long roped chain to launch forth and wrap around Sverrie's form.

"What?!" Sverrie cried out with outraged surprise, looking over to her right to see the one responsible. "you-!"

"Isane!" Momo cried out with a relieved, tear-ridden smile.

There stood Isane, throat smeared with blood but healed thoroughly. A haggard look appeared over the Lieutenant's face from her brush of death followed by using such a high level Kidō. Having wiped the blood from her mouth, she held up her sword as she approached the Arrancar responsible for the tragedy that struck among them.

"The horror of turning comrade against comrade is one I will not allow to go unpunished," Isane declared with a bright gleam of hatred emanating from her dark eyes. Raising her Zanpakutō over her head, a swirl of frozen molecules imbued with an indigo light began to form over head.

Feeling the Reiatsu lift over showing concern and confusion of what was happening before the Captain's eyes, Nanao struck as quickly as she could. Instead of drawing her sword, she thrust her forefingers into the inner ring of her shield, muttering aloud quickly, "Hainawa!"

The hastily crafted Bakudō created a tangible rope of binding light, snaking over her shield and wrapping around the Captain's along with his wrists. Seeing this, the controlled Shinigami shook his weapon in his grip, desperate to shake free of his new bindings. A look of true fear showed on his face as he cried out to Sverrie, "My love-!"

"Entice," Sverrie said, a look of dry irritation crossing her face as she said this word.

"Rinbōsō Kaze!" Isane declared with a scream, swinging her sword with both hands forward, releasing a towering wave of ice shredding wind that blanketed the air in white as it rushed towards the Arrancar. Mere moments before meeting its destination Sverrie herself bristled with a bright scarlet aura, swiftly bursting out into what looked like a rose shaped eruption of Reiatsu. Repelling the wave of lacerating ice and shattering the Bakudō, a brilliantly lit shockwave jettisoned the distant trio of Captain and Lieutenants while Isane was sent skidding back on her heels by what followed.

Unveiled through a billowing wind of sand and steam was revealed a being of pure radiance. Unfurling in a sweeping motion was a white winged being akin to that of an angel, skin sparkling like gems but retaining its soft marble complexion of alabaster hue. The circlet that crowned her head now became a white feathered headdress, sliding over her black hair down her back to the top of her heels. Her hourglass waist was now bereft of the black sash, now adorned with a skirt of sewn feathers flowing back over her rump into a tailed segment. Legs retained their humanoid shape, with her bare feet now wearing anklets of sparkling gems giving her a mesmerizing aura that shined all over her person.

"Cisne," Sverrie said in a musical tone, her pink lips kissing the air as she smiled at the stunned Isane, idly glancing over at the slowly rising Byakuya, Nanao, and Momo. Chuckling, she knew they could feel her Reiatsu, well within a Captain Class on its own. Looking forward at Isane, she saw her raise her guard up, with both hands shaking as they held the sword before her.

"Don't be afraid," Sverrie sang in a soothing tone, slowly sliding over the sand as she approached her.

"Stay away!" Isane declared openly, her Zanpakutō swirling with indigo-lit Reiatsu and a funnel of icy wind following it.

"There's no need to resist," The Arrancar purred as she glided further, now only a handful of meters away from the Shinigami.

"Fubuki Hitōchi!" The Lieutenant cried out, swinging the Zanpakutō down to cut the beautiful enemy down.

A loud pang followed by cracks of shattering ice was sounded, as steel met flesh. But instead of her feathery, bare-skinned form, it had been grabbed midway down by Sverrie's open left hand. Effortlessly pushing back against the two-handed grip the taller woman had on the weapon, Sverrie giggled with amusement.

"Was that supposed to hurt? It'll have to take more than a little ice and steel to mar this beautiful body," Sverrie whispered in a sultry tone.

"I-"

"Shhhh," The Privaron shushed her, reaching up with her right hand grab the back of her head, pulling her face close to mesh with hers. Folding her wings around her as to obscure light and keep her from thinking of escape, her lips meshed with hers. Despite the initial revulsion, Isane couldn't help but feel a subtle warmth invade her body through her fingers in her scalp and the taste of her tongue. Even the feathers that covered her seem to sparkle like diamonds, causing her face to slacken and her grip falter on her sword. It didn't take more than half a minute before a visibly flushed Isane had completely succumbed, and was now at Sverrie's mercy.

Unfolding her wings, the Arrancar purposefully showed off her mouth folded over Isane's in a deep kiss, moaning aloud to torture the standing Lieutenants. Releasing her mouth with a wet plop, a dazed grin showed over the wettened lips of her newfound slave. Turning on her heels, she snaked her hands across her bosom and shoulders, working her way to be behind her as she stared off into space with a blank look in her eyes.

"Do you serve Shinigami, my pet?" Sverrie asked as she rubbed Isane's womanly frame in a possessive manner.

"No," She said softly.

"Are you willing to lay your life down for my sake and not theirs?" The Privaron asked, smiling cruelly at the two helpless Lieutenants, knowing they were too afraid with the Captain looming just a meter behind them with sword drawn.

"Yes, I will," Isane said with a giggle at this thought.

"Then allow me to take your life."

A wet splurch followed by an arm impaling Isane from the back out to the middle of her bosom. A look crossed from entranced acceptance to dawning realization what happened. With a mouth leaking of blood, her eyes dilated and her breath gasped, feeling the warmth recede and the knowledge of what happened return to full force. Shakily she looked down, trying reach towards the arm that protruded from her chest. With a sickening withdraw, the arm pulled back, leaving a large hole in her chest. Eyes drained of color and life were seen, her breath hitching just before breathing out a final gasp. Falling forward, the Lieutenant joined the host of bodies now bleeding out on the sandy battlefield.

"I only have need for one pet, sadly," Sverrie said in a bemusing tone, raising her arm up to drag her tongue across her bloodied arm. Smiling darkly at the two Lieutenants, finding Nanao hold back the more livid Momo, whose tears stained her cheeks. Suckling on her fingers of Isane's blood, she blew out a bloodied kiss before licking it clean of filth, "I'm glad you enjoyed the show. Sweet, Byakuya? Please kill these eyesores for me."

"As you command, my love," Byakuya said as he raised his sword back, causing Nanao to pale with knowing and Momo to tremble with anguish-fueled rage.

It was during this moment that a loud clang followed by a instantaneous wall of golden transparent light appeared in the blink of an eye. While Momo looked over her shoulder with her jaw dropped and Nanao blinked with startlement, Sverrie's eyes widened with genuine surprise. Even Byakuya's impeccably unmoved face of contentment was shattered by this sudden inhibiting barrier.

"What-hnnnngh?!" The Captain began to question, suddenly finding his left hand twisted around, forcing him to bend his knees. When he did, another arm put him into a stranglehold, causing him to contort with surprise. Raising his Reiatsu to the surface, he tried to warrant the intruder off but felt himself unable to muster the strength to rise or shake off his attacker.

"Get a hold of yourself, Captain!" Orihime's voice cried out as she held the Shinigami figurehead in place. She could only thank Tatsuki for helping her get the knowledge of martial arts to enable this maneuver. If she didn't know how to defend herself in close quarters, this might not be happening at this moment.

"Wait...who are you?!" Sverrie cried out, her visage twisting into a look of outraged annoyance.

"I'm Orihime Inoue," The girl responded with a fiery glare at Sverrie. Even as Byakuya's silver coat of Reiatsu died out, almost being smothered by her own glowing golden aura, she responded with a loud tone, "I'm friends with Byakuya's sister, Rukia!"

It was at that very moment that the struggling Kuchiki halted his writhes. A word, a simple word, sounded hauntingly familiar. It held a certain strong meaning to him that made him forget his blind adoration to Sverrie.

"Rukia?" Byakuya whispered out loud.

"Don't listen to her!" Sverrie raised her voice, sounding less gentle and more commanding. In emphasis she waved her blood soaked arm as she tried to get Byakuya's attention, "whatever she says doesn't matter! Kill them!"

Struggling to raise his head, Byakuya still felt a strong nagging sensation hammer inside his head. It was enough that it started to actually hurt, his eyes wincing shut and his mouth baring his teeth with a visible hiss. All he could see was a fluttering beauty that was Sverrie but a voice seemed to call out beyond it. It felt like it was someone he knew before Sverrie, if that were possible. Who's voice was it?

"Byakuya...please find my sister."

"Hisana!" Byakuya gasped aloud, his eyes widened with knowing as her face seemed to blend over Sverrie's.

"Please, do all that is in your power to protect her, and someday be the man who she'd be proud to call, brother."

"That's right...I-" Byakuya began to utter to himself when everything that had happened flashed before his eyes. His body shook and his skin paled, with mouth agape at the dawning of his actions. It was an expression hidden by Orihime, but seen by Nanao and Momo. A single tear seemed to trail down his face, eyes closing as his body felt slack under Orihime's grip, head bowed to further hide his face. "forgive me..."

"What are you saying over there?! Whatever it is, I don't care!" Sverrie shouted frantically, desperately trying to regain control. Waving her arms insistently, she shouted further at him, "destroy them! Rip them apart! Aren't you listening to me?!"

"You know," Sedosa droned out, earning a sharp glare that caused the Privaron Octava to recoil with raised hands, "if you want, we can just take over and kill them. They should be no trouble with how few of them there are."

"I don't need your help. I have Byakuya!" Sverrie said insistently, turning her head to call out to her slave, "hey! What did I just say?! Kill them right now!"

"I think we should stay out of this," Patros murmured next to Sedosa, earning a sideglance from the hood adorned Privaron to the Numeros, "it seems this beast doesn't wish to have her meal spoiled. I rather see this played out than get my chest impaled, don't you?"

"But-!"

"Congratulations, Ryoka, Shinigami of the Gotei 13, and my former Tres Espada," A disembodied voice seemed to emanate from the sky, as if it was everywhere, penetrating everyone's minds.

There was no doubt on the petrified visage of Momo, the knowing glance of apprehension on Nanao, the glimmer of fear in Orihime's and the undeniable loathing in the Vanguard Arrancars' faces. It was the undisputed master and lord over Hueco Mundo: Sōsuke Aizen.

---

"You've fought well and bravely against my Arrancar Army. Half of my Espada lie dead, the Vanguard less than full strength, and my fortress infiltrated. Kisuke Urahara and Captain Commander Yamamoto chose wisely to send you all against me. However, my words aren't here to reassure but to demoralize. The whole purpose of your mission, to rescue Orihime Inoue was a ruse. I never required her powers to strengthen the Hōgyoku or restore its power. She was merely bait to lure you all here into Las Noches, away from the rest of your allies so I may cut you all off."

"What's he talking about?" Ichigo asked, both to himself and to his enemy standing before him.

"Why the fuck would I know?!" Rana snarled similarly to herself and to her adversary, her eyes joining his to look up at the sky.

"If that isn't the purpose...then why did kidnap Orihime? For kicks? What does he gain from luring us here?" Ichigo asked out loud.

Shortly after he said this, a thunderous thrum was heard radiating the air, as if a large door in the distance had been closed. Craning his neck to the distance, he felt a wave of abnormality disappearing, and the Reiatsu of Las Noches surrounding it returned to normal. Putting two and two together, he quickly realized that there had to been a means for the reinforcements to arrive so quickly within the fortress itself.

"Oh shit," The Substitute swore lowly with wide eyes of dawning ringing as loudly as the sealed doorway.

"They've cut us off!" Nanao shouted with a look of knowing alarm flashing across her face.

"Then, that means," Renji trailed off, looking over at the sickly yet very aware Uryū.

"I've sealed the Garganta that leads you back to Kisuke Urahara's shop in the world of the living. With you cut off, you won't be able to divulge information about the next stage of my plan nor get aid for what you'll be left to face."

"My-My, what a bothersome ordeal we have to overcome," Mayuri said, idly stroking his chin piece, patiently waiting to hear the rest.

"With all of you trapped here, in Las Noches, I will take my most elite fighters to our true objective. I will go to Karakura Town and forge the Ōken using the populace's one hundred thousand citizens and utilize the innate Jūreichi based within its proximity. From there, it will be a simple matter of ascending to Heaven itself and claim the ultimate prize."

"Lord Aizen...you're...planning to kill that many people?!" Nel uttered aloud with a horrified look crossing her face.

"They are...necessary if he wishes them to be dispatched for his sake," Sin said with a brief bout of hesitation.

"Sounds like your so-called revered leader isn't as holy as you'd like him to be," Aaron-Chad quipped in a level, accusing tone.

"I believe in Lord Aizen!" Sin shouted, ready to reengage had it not been for more words to be spoken.

"Because of the lack of spacings in our ranks, I'll delegate them out as we speak. Rana Zolinder will be the new Quinto. Soto Muerte is the new Sexta. Sverrie is the new Séptima. And of course, Sedosa will be the Novena. I'm counting on you four to dispatch the remaining offenders here. When that is finished or if you need further assistance, know that Yammy will head your way soon. And of course, I leave full control of Las Noches to Ulquiorra Cifer, the Cuatro. Expect him to show up in another hour or so."

"Oh Hell," Ichigo hissed, realizing just how bad it could get if he showed back up.

"Goodbye, Ryoka, my Tres, and Shinigami. If we cross paths again it shall be the end of this era and the beginning of the new one," Aizen finished speaking, his voice cutting off and a host of Reiatsu disappearing from everyone's senses.

---

"Looks like this changes things, huh?" Ichigo quipped at his female opponent, standing tall with his sword held aloft at his side.

"How do you figure that?" Rana asked with a hiss.

"The fact that Aizen is leaving you all to hang while the rest of his possy want to head to the true objective sounds like he's giving you all the pink slip," Ichigo explained with a wave of his hand, eyes glaring at Rana's barely visible crimson orbs, concealed by a row of fiery bangs. "I don't want to fight you. You may have hurt my friends but I'm willing to let that slide if you can help us get out of here. If we stop Aizen before he achieves his goal, everyone wins, right?"

"Ally with a Shinigami to defeat another Shinigami? Hehehehe...hehehehahahaha...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Rana laughed out loud with a backward tilt of her upper back up to her head. Using her spare hand, she clung at her face with the metal covered digits, dragging it down to tear apart her grin. Only a vicious sneer remained as her bright eyes burned as hot as embers from an inferno. Slowly raising her sword upwards, she spoke to the contrary, "my plan remains the same. Kill Shinigami. Kill the traitor. Kill any Espada left in Las Noches. Then, I go to this damned Karakura Town and kill Aizen along with anyone who stands in my way. It'll be a goddamned massacre by the time I'm done piling bodies and staining the earth with their blood! So if you think you have a chance because some ass on his stone chair decided to give me the damned number five...doesn't help your situation in the least bit!"

With her sword held over her head, its tip pointing to the sky, she turned it so the edge pointed to her right. A foul breath of ash escaped Rana's mouth as sparks crackled along her mane of brilliant scarlet hair, with a burning aura that gradually overtook her entire being. When her skin itself looked like it glowed a dim crimson, she uttered out in a guttural tone that sent a shiver down Ichigo's spine.

"CONQUER, REINA BESTIA!"

It was a release that Ichigo hadn't witnessed before. Dordoni's Giralda, Grimmjow's Pantera, Nnoitra's Santa Teresa, Nelliel's Gamuza...they all fell short of what he saw with his own two eyes. A bleeding light was cast over the environment as a sword the height and width of a skyscraper erupted from the sand in front of him. He had to leap back using his own superhuman speed to evade the vile tongues of Reishi composed of the rapidly rising Reiatsu signature residing from within. Brimming within was a single figure of scarlet, shifting and changing in shape over the course of the pyre of energy that brandished itself before Ichigo's eyes.

Then, as if an invisible hilt moved the blade of energy to the right, the enormous burning edge crashed into the sandy recesses and dunes. A giant rift of parted sand like a titan's sword parting the sea of gold. Even as tidal waves of grains rolled in either direction of the monolithic blade of massive Reishi, it all began to retract into the burning scarlet figure dwelling within. Twenty heartbeats later, the brilliant fiery aura was constrained around Rana's transformed body, showing the released state before the Substitute Shinigami in all of its terrifying glory.

The simple jaw-adorned row of teeth had risen up and formed a complete secondhand mouth of razor clenched fangs resembling daggers. White alabaster material resembling bone formed a helm over her entire head, with feral eye slits formed at an angle, allowing her red eyes to burn a vicious light through them. Her red hair formed a high-rised ponytail from the top of the helm, flowing down between her shoulders, now affixed with alabaster hued bone armor that possessed upward pointing spikes. With her voluptuous figure accentuated behind the rows of silver scales that wasn't covered by bonemail, her jagged scar above her cleavage now a glaring red that practically glowed from the sign of a mark that never healed. Down her legs now resembled a three-talon pronged foot similar to that of a lizard, similar to the claws stretching from her normal sized digits. Most impressively was the two and a half meter long bone hilt, guardless, double-edged claymore that resembled an enormous prehistoric beast's tooth.

"This is where the real fight begins, Shinigami!" Rana gutturally proclaimed through her tooth-aligned mask, heated breath escaping the spaces of her razor sharp exterior jaw's teeth. Spreading her legs, she raised the sword one-handed with ease, as if it weighed like paper in her grip. When she swung it down, the true weight of its force was made known to Ichigo.

A jagged light carved through the sand like rows of teeth riding a current like a demonic serpent. Raised as high as Ichigo was tall, they moved quick enough to be on par with the Bala Mente's speed that Ichigo bore witness to before it struck the Bakudō. Swinging his hand over his face with speed only he was capable of, a brief blackness consumed his face with burgundy outlines just before the razor toothed blaze of Reishi impacted.

Grating sounds were emitted as the rail of shredding energy struck a solid surface upon a typhoon of damning blackness erupted from Ichigo's vicinity. Like a F-5 tornado, it contorted into the subtly darkening sky that had been caused by another force, only now augmenting the sheer weight of the howling wind that whipped around in front of Rana's eyes. Standing tall and firm, she only used a spare hand to shield her eyes, peering through the cracks of what her helm allowed at the towering rotational wall of abysmal colored wind.

Crimson lightning bolts of intense Reishi struck out at random, impacting all across the Las Noches interior wastes. Each one that struck the top of a dune caused it to explode in a brilliant flash of scarlet-white light, leaving behind tongues of crimson Reishi in their wake before being snuffed out. Blistering wind pulsed and swirled around the battlefield they had erected themselves for. Even though it was a good handful of kilometers away from the La Muerte site, people from the outlying Palaces were sure to see the spectacle of outrageous power being projected.

With dark storm clouds cracking vivid dark red lightning, leaving behind ominous claps of thunder after each flash, the twister suddenly vanished. What was left was Ichigo Kurosaki, standing there in a aura of thick black Reiatsu, outlined by even deeper red light. Slight additional markings etched upon the mask cemented over his face, showing a pair of hollowfied eyes, burning irises and pitch black sclera to glare back at his opponent.

Rana was agape at what she felt and saw. Behind her stern posture and menacing visage she was baffled at the enemy she was facing. Enormous Reiatsu that seemed the reach out and touch the heavens, expanding into the horizon like a thick storm that sucked the air out of a lesser being's lungs. She could feel static along her exposed scaled skin, as the raw Reishi unleashed from his transformation continued to linger long after donning the mask. The latter detail caused her to clench her grip on her sword hard enough to shake it, as she could clearly feel both Shinigami and Hollow Reiatsu in tandem coming from her opponent.

"What the Hell are you?!" Rana asked silently, though her body burned with even stronger rage despite her initial apprehension.

"You're right, Rana," Ichigo said with a beckoning tone, slightly angling his blade up towards her as he stood strongly in the face of his enemy, "this is where we fight for keeps!"

Grinning behind her exterior row of teeth, she gripped the blade with both hands, body brilliantly blazing a bright scarlet light. Seeing her enemy do the same, only with a damning blackness outlined with deep red, she shouted with concurrence, "That's more like it! After all, this is a battle of life and death! One walks away and the other is left to rot! LET'S HAVE A TRUE HUECO MUNDO DUEL, ICHIGO KUROSAKI!"

Leaping forward in a blur of motion that left a wave of sand uproared from his feet, Rana followed suit. Both warriors met each other mere meters above the sandy ground, their swords clashing with a ringing that was deafened by the shockwave indenting and leveling the sand for dozens of meters around them. With a dark bubble of erupting Reiatsu expanding outwards till it struck the storm clouded skies, the two failed to realize the cataclysmic combination their competing powers had on their environment.

The false blue sky, filled with white clouds, slowly cracked and fissured across the immense canopy over their heads. Slowly, but surely, it was only a matter of time before the sky itself began to fall through the dark veil of their battle's storm that continued to rage on. It was the one thing that everyone wanted to avoid but couldn't any longer.

Las Noches' destruction is at hand!

---

A/N: Whew! That took awhile to update. I do apologize, the combination of weather conditions (below negative degrees here), New Year's blues (slow at work and depressing at home) I needed extra time to work on this Chapter on a more leisurely pace. Thankfully, from the way I see things from up here, it was well worth the wait. Hopefully you all agree as well

Let's go over a few things, shall we?

First on the list, Orihime. Kind of a poor thing to be neglected, used, and tossed aside so easily due to the small mind that Kubo had when he created this wonderful character. I in no space of the imagination ever loathed her. My only problem is that Kubo never tried to take any risks, like I did, to make her something MORE than a plot device, damsel, or just "that friend of Ichigo's,". While I had no real intention upon starting this story to give her the kind of development I had, I felt like she deserved it. Considering how she was able to stand in the presence of the Espada without ever feeling their passive Reiatsu smother her always struck me as odd. Only Aizen and the Hogyoku seemed to do that kind of thing, which is understandable due to them being godly powerful and the other a godly powerful marble. So I hypothesized that, because the way her powers work on will (moreso than even Ichigo's and other Shinigami's) I deduced that she had grown exponentially stronger without her even realizing it. In this instance, being in peril and watching someone at death's door pushed her over that edge, unlocking a good deal of the true power that dwelled within her.

Okay, with that biggie out of the way, I think I can lightly touch upon the others.

Mayuri's ability to just MOVE (let alone LIVE) without any real explanation how he can despite filling his body with "duplicate parts" that had no real meaning in the first place since Szayel crushed them all and didn't really faze the bastard. I came up with a more sciency explanation that fit Mayuri's expertise and repertoire. Even better, I had a nice callback to his experience with battling Uryū and using his knowledge of Ransōtengai for the basis of his specialized surgery.

I hope you all liked the various fights (and fanservice, ha!) I placed into this Chapter. Next Chapter will be amping up and wrapping up some fights so we can focus more on Ichigo vs Rana. Hope you're all as excited as I am for the next update of A Predator Among Us!