The world was presented in a way differently to a man who used only Reikaku to maneuver around. While possessing keen senses of smell, taste, touch and hearing none were quite on par with his ability to use the Reishi of the Soul Society to give him a clearer picture of the world. While more difficult in the World of the Living, with time and training, he found himself quite capable of altering the scope of his Reikaku to create a sense of panorama 'vision' that allowed him to witness things in a black and white canvas.

The Reiatsu emanating off living beings, from small to great, would create brighter auroras within the dimly lit world his Reishi sense permitted him. This helped him become a skilled combatant and complement his swift reflexes in combat to be more slippery than any could credit him to be. His fight with the Kidō Captain is testament to that, showing off precedence and motion that rivaled that of his alleged genius colleague, Gin Ichimaru.

"Tsukuyomi."

But then, his enemy spoke one word and her Reiryoku -the heart of power within a Shinigami- magnified the Reiatsu by a high multiplier. His blind eyes widened with his spirit detection gave him the visual comparison of a star exploding off her form. Flames that only he could see trailed outward streaked across the heavens, causing him to get chills and shake. Sweat trailed down his neck and brow at the threatening level of pressure being exerted upon his own being.

"Whoo! That's some Reiatsu you have there, Kidō Captain," Gin commended, a surprisingly calm smile still splayed across his face while his uniform buffeted in the high altitude winds that surged across him as much as his comrade. Sparks imitating stars trailed up and down the regal robed woman as she held a lunar glowing staff with a full moon pulsing rays behind her head, giving her a divine visage. Her glowing eyes didn't bother addressing him but kept watch of his comrade. She didn't reply, causing him to sigh with a shrug. "That's cold, Miss. I'm complimenting you and everything."

A flicker of light would all that Kaname could perceive. To the light-haired partner, he'd open his blue eyes wide as he'd turn to notice a halo whir behind him. Milliseconds later, it detonated in a blinding flash of Reishi, obscuring the blind man's senses while sending a blistering wave of heat flapping in the air. A steaming signature he'd notice spiral down to the ground with an audible crash in the cityscape.

"She attacked from a distance remotely in such a time span? It's like she utilized a Bankai," The right hand of Aizen thought as he noticed her slow approach.

"Now that I've dealt with your partner," Tanrei spoke lowly, her lunar disc pulsing ominously behind her while pupiless glowing eyes stared forth. "I'm coming for you, Aizen's second."

Kaname could only smirk slightly at this, despite his pressured and sweating form.

"If you intend to come at me with such power," The blind Shinigami replied as he angled his Zanpakutō upright. "Allow me to show you mine."

"Don't be foolish. No Bankai of yours can enable you to escape death-"

A laugh breached the air between the two, as a hand was raised up to be placed over his mouth and nasal area, eyes splayed around his brows. When a purple accented wave of blackness overtook him, did Captain Kakushi open her eyes wide at the sight. A Reiatsu of immense property escalated and overtook the skyline, creating a damning curtain of darkness that quickly spread like a canopy. Sunlight vanished and within the eerie inky void emerged one white figure.

A single line crossed vertically down a white helm that encompassed all but his dreads, giving him a blank and emotionless visage. What was amplified apart from his power was animosity and malice. Such a choking force was something that not even a Bankai could produce.

"Hollowfication?!" The Kidō Captain queried aloud, her right hand gripping against the stave in her clutches.

"Now you understand, Kidō Captain," Commander Tōsen declared in a guttural voice, taking a single step forward. The next one he took placed him directly before her, sword arm raised and already pulling down in a fierce stroke. "And now you'll die!"

Steel split apart a bright substance, tearing it in half before his blind gaze. But was the shape of a woman now became two halves of a moon. With his eyes widening behind his mask, he quickly performed Shunpo to evade an instantaneous explosion of spherical force. As soon as he righted, he sensed a number of orbs manifest around him, numbering in the dozens.

Converging on his position, he resorted to bathing his blade in the fire of Haien. Cutting through each with inhuman speed and ferocity, he batted away the explosive balls of Reishi from detonating through the all-consuming tongues of his spell. It wasn't till a hand reached out of one orb and caught his wrist did he realize his folley.

"Insei," A whisper penetrated his being from the point of contact, his form catching aflame and rocketing down into the earth. Flattening the urban terrain within a city block, steam rolled off the shoulders off the Commander, his head ringing from the force of his impact. The mask cracked slightly above his head while lacerations formed on his shoulders and his blood oozed down his legs. Looking up, he heard an ominous voice declare the next phase of attacks; in the form of white fireballs raining from the heavens down towards him. "Hinotama!"

Responding in kind, he raised a free hand to rapidly fire Shakkahō at each meteorite spell he could conceive. When a cacophony of explosions popped in the air, a dozen more still streaked down towards his vicinity. With his sword wielding hand he extended a finger that emitted a lime colored marble of Reishi before stretching it upward and releasing a dark growl with a green pillar of firepower ejecting to the sky, "Cero!"

The resulting connection of energies resulted in an elliptical explosion, shaking the cratered earth and blistering across Kaname's scuffed skin. It was within the light of the blast did he hear as much as see Tanrei land casually to his left. Turning to jettison swiftly towards her, his blade met her staff; the connection of which sent him reeling back in a wave of searing moonlight.

"Ngh!" Kaname snarled as the lower left and upper right part of his mask were cracked from the velocity of his enemy's parry. Skidding back on his heels he witnessed a bolt of lightning the scale of which could've been mistaken a high class spell. But as he narrowly dodged with only his left arm scalded from the attack, he saw from the distance that only a single finger was pointed towards him with the hand still gripping the staff. "She used Byakurai to such an extent...and my Hollowfication is just barely contending with her. What power is this?!"

"I commend you, right hand of Aizen, for putting up such a fight. Without that mask, you would've ended up just like your comrade," She stated aloud as if it was fact. Seeing his wounds regenerate in disturbing motions back to full vitality, save for the damage done to his mask, made her scowl. "However, it seems I'm only doing less than what is required to bring you down. In order to make sure there is no room for error, I shall erase you completely."

"Do your worst, Shinigami," Kaname snarled through his mask, a line beginning to ebb across where the jawline would be located. "I've just begun to tap into my Hollowfication!"

"Then my next spell shall obliterate you."

As she spoke with certainty, light surrounded the Visored's body. An immense pressure forced him to buckle and kneel towards the earth. While he struggled he looked up to see a myriad of colors swirling into the apex of her upraised staff. Air swirled around them like a typhoon, kicking up soil and debris while her glowing frame chanted aloud with a spiraling vortex of Reishi gathered into her ceremonial weapon.

"Hidden behind the glare of creation; bathed in obscurity, paving the path of illumination within the abyss. Despair, and repent in the eye of twilight! Sight, vanish; sound, mute; and sensation, grow numb. Be gone from this realm into the bosom of oblivion!"

She spoke, the colors forming a red sphere of a blood moon at the tip of her staff. Its pressure creating heat that made the Hollowfied man bead sweat and cringe at such Reiatsu. Paralyzed by her hand, he could only stand and watch as she swung her weapon to bear upon him.

"...Secret Hadō, Hitsuki-!"

A grinding sound interrupted her lunge, followed by a whoosh of wind. The halo of light that bathed her dimmed, her emerging pupils dilated and her mouth gaped in shock. Her feet skidded to a halt and the crimson orb vanished within her weapon's edge. Turning to look behind her shoulder, she was in time to see disc fall from its hovering space, landing in two clean cut halves.

"Ichimaru!" She realized aloud, turning her head to see a distant incision through a building that perfectly stretched for over a kilometer. As she analyzed the fact that her enemy could use Bankai from a distance that she felt a sudden wave of pain hit her. The feeling of steel rush through her abdomen and escape her backside, ripping straight through her cloak made her turn to see the cracked mask of Kaname in front of her. Beyond the damage she made on his facial protection, there was a disturbing gnarled line formed across his jaw, seeming to thicken even as she spat blood out onto his dirtied front. "Grk!"

"You left your guard open, Kidō Captain," Kaname snarled, his sword buried deep into his enemy. With his left hand raised, forming a green ball of Reishi, he muttered under his breath. "And now, you will perish!"

With a jutting thrust it was only through a rising thrash of the staff that his Cero was redirected. A mighty thuum of green overcast the pair, energy so dense and focused that its mere proximity tore the meager bindings holding up Tanrei's veil. With her olive toned face exposed, her lips stained of blood spoke gutturally as her left unarmed hand grasped the Commander's sword wrist tightly.

"Bakudō #91," She intoned, his skin becoming that of granite on the point her palm wrapped around, losing all warmth a living spirit body could possess. Quickly, the Kidō's flow took it up towards his elbow while also stringing back towards his digits. "Juzō."

Aizen's right hand man was about to lose his own right hand; if not more so. Damning the consequences, Commander Tōsen let out a animal growl as he formed another Cero in his left hand. Letting it loose at the point of his upper arm, he annihilated the petrifying limb, save for the single hand still attached to the sword embedded into her abdomen. Backing away with a Shunpo, he hunched over and clenched his stump with visible huffs with raising and descending motions of his shoulders.

"A wise choice, Kaname Tōsen," Tanrei spoke evenly, perspiring from the pain of having his weapon still adjoined within her flesh. "I fear your comrade has handicapped me as much I intended for you. You're both to be commended for showing such skill and power to withstand all that I have to bear upon you."

"Don't patronize me, Kidō Captain," Kaname groaned aloud, his stump soon gushing with viscous fluid and blood as new nerves overlayed with flesh, tendon and bone. Bare of its previous affects, the drying limb flexed and twitched, then gestured towards her. A wordless cast of Kidō formed around the hilt of his sword, sending it shooting out of her waist with a gasp on her part. Grasping his hand over the hilt, he crushed the petrified hand and dusted his weapon free of the grit, waving it with acute inspection. "You may have pushed me, but in the end, I will triumph. Your arcane Shinigami ways will gather like dust while our way will step upon your bones."

"I'm still standing, Commander," Captain Kakushi jeered, her free hand already finishing the inner workings of restoring her flesh and mending internal Damage. With a firm grasp on her staff with both hands, she became alight with a still impressive silver colored Reiatsu. "And I will keep standing till I've brought you down!"

Chapter 15 - Enter the Death God Hollows

Garganta had opened in the dozens across the expanse of Fake Karakura Town. Where the Shinigami had been fortified, they'd be centered around the most. Exiting them was entities varying in size and shape but all donning the same uniform. White cloaks of particular tailored taste and style with weapons ranging from the simple katana attributed to the kin they've acquired powers to, while others are more elaborate to even unorthodox. All could be seen with holes visible or invisible to their enemies with mask fragments to remind themselves as much as their foes who they really are.

They are, the Arrancars.

Near the center of the battlefield, all of the horde within a kilometer radius had been eliminated. What was tens of thousands were reduced to a mere few hundred in the outermost perimeter of the mock city. Urban cityscape was lightly damaged from the collision of the 11th Division's combat specialists, their Captain basking in the dissolving blood of a mountain of bodies that were deteriorating around him and his officers.

"Thank goodness the blood doesn't stain, otherwise I'd truly look unfashionable," Yumichika mused aloud as he grinned at the sight of blood disappearing into onyx dust that disappeared into the air.

"Madarame, sir!" 6th Seat Maki Ichinose, a man of lean build with a crop of raven hair that gathers near the middle of his brow with the rest parted away. With a Shikhakushō designed to be sleeveless and a hooded shirt worn underneath so it could be seen hanging over the top of his back, he gave a stern look at their surroundings. "By the feeling of this Reiatsu, I feel the Arrancar are approaching."

"Finally," Ikkaku declared with a ravenous smile, turning to see a number of sizable portals rip open the fabric space in a literal fashion. "That was barely a warm-up. I hope these can put up a better fight."

"If its all the same to you, I suggest we stick together this time-"

"I don't do team-up battles!"

"They won't give us that option," Yumichika replied even-toned.

Grimacing, Ikkaku cocked his three part spear on one shoulder, watching their enemies walk out of the dark fissure interrupting the scenic urban vista. From there they could count from all four cardinal directions as the Garganta sealed behind them up to twelve Arrancar. Their build suggests a largely masculine group which suited the few hundred Shinigami fine; not they'd care if they were women, they just preferred a better fight when it came to these kinds of clashes.

"Look at what we got here. Cocky bastards, all of 'em," The burliest of the Arrancars, #65 Tanque, proclaimed as he stood two heads taller than anyone accompanying him. Strapped with a sleeveless uniform with a black sash, attached to it being a bastard sword of onyx design. With his mask fragment being that of an ape, covering his eyes to lapse over his crown while the rest of his head was bald, beady eyes observed the numerous Shinigami with blades raised with their superiors behind them with guarded expressions. "Oi! Is this them combat Division we heard about?"

"Affirmative," Tazón Mantequilla, Arrancar #66, declared in a monotone. His sun-colored hair was swept in a crest near the back of his head, his fragment consisting of a complete jawbone akin to a canine. Blue eyes stared ahead while his sword was drawn and in hand, a curved scimitar with a furred tassel of white. "It looks like nearly their entire Division's forces are here. One Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, their combat specialist, is the big one standing behind them."

"Then I don't need to worry about these small fries, do I?!" Tanque cried aloud, much to the alarm of his comrades. Grasping the hilt of his blade, he unsheathed it with a brandishing blur. A flare of orange Reiatsu engulfed his body that sent a shockwave careening against the earth, blasting away the unseated members of the 11th Division. Only the Officers stood their ground, glaring forth as the Arrancar disappeared in his own dispersing Reishi. "Pound, Símico!"

Revealed from the tumultuous force of Reiryoku was a grey furred, white skull masked Gorilla Arrancar. Towering above his comrades, he beat his chest and let loose a roar. The Reiatsu produced a sonic wave that blistered the officers and made his allies grimace with displeasure. Kenpachi meanwhile stared ahead with a smile, his bells chiming in the air from the wind.

Without any verbal provocation, the ape Arrancar charged forth in a blur of momentum. Reapers who tried to act as a wall were crushed underfoot, excited breaths unleashed from its mask as he charged forward. When the officers aimed to stop him, he used Sonido to bypass them, leaping up into the air with Reiatsu bleeding off his upraised arms while descending towards their Captain.

"TAKE THIS!" Tanque bellowed, his inhuman fists impacting with a bright blast of Reishi that created a dome of Reiatsu that blew back friend and foe alike. Revealed beneath the vapor his eyes widened at seeing his fists didn't budge a raised sword, held horizontal along where his gargantuan knuckles had struck. "W-What?!"

"That's disappointing," Kenpachi deadpanned, his hand twisting and the blade releasing a geyser of yellow Reishi. In the arc of his sword stroke, his enemy was perfectly bifurcated from the knuckles along his arms through his torso. As he gaped with his bloodied remains thrown back into a pile, the Arrancars looked on with shock as the Captain turned to observe each of them with a single eye, his Reiatsu bearing down on them like a sword held against their throats. "Tell me he isn't the strongest you got; cause that was just damn pitiful."

"That dumbass! He got himself killed by being too greedy," Tazón swore aloud as he rose and dusted himself off. Glaring at Kenpachi he looked at the Officers leering at them with blood lust in their eyes. "Deal with his underlings. Only an Espada is capable of bringing that monster down-"

The Arrancar found himself cut off when a pair of small feet slammed into his face. The force and speed of which smashed his mask, cracking his skull open as he'd fly backwards like a cannon ball. When the other Números stood up they balked at the sight of a young pink haired girl hefting a wheel adjoined Zanpakutō, still in its sheathe. Grinning childishly, her Reiatsu brimmed about like a feral animal, eyes glowing rose as she spoke quietly.

"Kenny thinks you're too weak. That makes him sad," Turning to look at the Arrancars as they backed away, she glowered with a slasher smile stretched across her visage. "I kill people who make Kenny upset!"

Their screams echoed the landscape as they were beaten and broken before the small girl. Even the risen Division looked on apprehensively at the brutality of which she destroyed the enemies. They looked to one another, wondering what to do now that the enemies were bested singlehandedly.

"What the Hell are you all lollygagging about?!" Kenpachi bellowed out, his voice a gong to everyone's ears. Waving his sword about, he glared at them with a sneer etched onto his jawline. "There's more assholes to cut up, and I won't have the old man get on my ass about us not committing. Kill them all, wherever you can find them! I'll join you when I've had my fill of competent fighters."

"Yessir!" The mass majority of standing Shinigami left in a rush of leaps, sprints and Shunpo. The only ones brave enough to comment as they left their stalwart superior was the officers of the highest rank.

"Seems the Captain is pissed," Yumichika idly commented.

"No shit. The ballsy one of the lot challenged him and he didn't even get budged," Ikkaku drawled with a solemn expression etched onto his face. "Ever since Ichigo Kurosaki fought him to a draw, he's never had a content moment of training. Even his fight with the two Captains ended disappointingly. He just wants another fight that'll push him to the limits."

"Well, who knows? Maybe he'll get that chance with the Espada?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't worry," A chiming voice of a cheerful child made both of them sweat. Neither of them dared to look towards the blood soaked Lieutenant as she easily skipped with her sword dragging behind; it too covered in the viscous life flow of the enemies she bludgeoned to death. "Kenny said he got a feeling the strongest one will come to him. After we messed up so many, it's bound to get somebody's attention."

"S-She makes a valid point," 6th Seat Ichinose finally spoke aloud, nervously looking at his two seniors as he ran with them. "If they weren't accompanied by anyone with established rank, it most likely will alert others of their demise. An Espada will seek out the strongest and end them prematurely, that is certain."

"Tch, it's not like our Captain will get his ass whooped. Not even that crazy Ryōka could kill him," Ikkaku barked back with annoyance, staring ahead as they raced to other prominent Reiatsu of Arrancars. "No one can put that man down for good. Not in a million years."

As their thoughts dwelt on the matter, Kenpachi sighed. Looking at his sword he grumbled at the lack of voice speaking to him. He had hoped that, if he found a worthy opponent, he could connect to it and get stronger like that one kid had done. But after years of treating it like a tool, he expected it to give him the cold shoulder.

Looking around, he suddenly got a chill running up and down his spine. It was a feeling that felt so nostalgic...like so many years ago. Even his clash with the strawberry didn't give him this sensation. Turning to look over his shoulder he looked to see an Arrancar that stood solemnly with a melancholic stare. Beside him was a younger looking girl, with a horrified expression etched on her face, complemented with a pair of hands cupped over her mouth. She looked like she was going to be sick...something annoying to the Captain's sight, but didn't dissuade his attention to the canine boned necklace wrapped around the Arrancar's neck, just above a hole embedded in his upper torso.

"So, you were the one who killed them?" Coyote Starrk inquired with a voice that could easily be mistaken as deadpan.

"Nah, that was my underling. But I did kill the big one; total wuss in the end," Kenpachi honestly proclaimed with a dry laugh, raising his bloodied sword's flat to rest against one shoulder. Grinning ferally his eye locked onto his. "What? Friends of yours?"

"Comrades," He replied.

"So? You gonna get revenge for 'em?"

"See, that's the thing. It's not in our nature to avenge each other," He drawled out in response, casting a glance at Lilynette. She couldn't speak, her eye already moistening as she sensed no trace of Reiatsu among them. Even the eviscerated Tanque had no shred of life left. Closing his eyes he sighed, then reopened them, eyes blazing blue while the entire scenery seemed to transform into a howling abyss of unrepentant pressure. Like a thousand daggers of ice scraping across his flesh, Kenpachi could only look on with a mixture of delight and abject terror at the blue-eyed Arrancar in front of him. "I'll make an exception, this time. Just for her..."

Kenpachi could only let out a guttural laugh, his body letting loose an excited burst of power at the feeling he received. Even as his skin perspired, he rushed forward, his cloak billowing and his bells ringing. Leaping forth he'd swing his sword and let loose a ferocious attack; one that'd shatter the earth, rip the air and send a flash of gleaming gold around their vicinity.

The fight of his life was on!

"Did you feel that?"

"Yeah," Shūhei replied to Izuru, his eyes steeling towards a pack of Números in their released states before them. While a drove of Shinigami lied dead amidst them from their initial arrival, the interference of the Kidō members and Officers helped repel their assault on the tower. The ones in front of them happened to be the strongest...but were abysmally lower than the Reiatsu they had felt spiking in the middle of the city. "Seems like Captain Zaraki's facing one monster on his own. It's only a matter of time till the other Captains face the Espada."

"Which means we should probably go on the offensive before we face an Espada on our own?"

"I pray to any higher powers that you didn't just jynx us, Izuru," Shūhei groaned with a slant to his eyes aimed at his direction.

Their talk was interrupted when an avian Arrancar flew between them, bladed wings crashing into their defending weapons. Twisting around in a blur, it'd unleash a forceful wind of Reiatsu, pushing them in opposite directions. During this moment, a Jaguar Arrancar appeared behind Izuru's frame while a Tiger Arrancar next to Shūhei. With both clawed hands alight of Reishi they swung them in unison with an explosion of power that'd shockwave before the combating Shinigami contending with their own varying enemies.

"For Lieutenants, you should know better than to let your guard down so casually. This is a battlefield after all," The Vulture Números declared, its eyes narrowing behind the holes of its mask elongating from its face. Eyeing the wisps of smoke sent by his comrades he noticed something peculiar. Sticking out from one was a hooked shaped sword, fully intact and deflecting the claws that aimed to tear him apart. The other was a reverse pair of scythe blades attached to an iron pole handle.

"Was that it?"

"Here I thought, you reprimanded us for good reason," Izuru finished after Shūhei's query. Lowering his blade, the Arrancar's arms felt heavy, almost as if they were filled with lead. When the Shinigami swung his sword that he was barely able to defend, he struck it two more times...then felt the incomprehensible density of his own limbs drag him down to the earth below. Smashing onto the floor, the blonde Lieutenant just looked somberly below as he swiftly intercepted, yanking his sword upward in a decapitating motion to sever his opponent's head. "But I guess, you were the one who thought too casually of us Lieutenants."

"You don't have an ounce of fear for your own power," Lieutenant Hisagi declared gutturally, pulling up a chain with the hissing sound of revolving metal. Before his opponent could pull back, the secondhand scythe ripped him in half in a merciless pile of gore. Turning around as the Vulture Arrancar began to turn and run, Shūhei spun his weapon around again and sent it spiraling towards the last of the three, bifuricating him in a single stroke. "That's why, you're no match for us."

It was after he felled his enemy that he felt an almost unrecognizable Reiatsu flare up in the distance. Throughout the battles he was facing here he felt his Captain muddled throughout and then seemingly evaporate, replaced by another. Now he could tell too clearly that it was his estranged superior, now mingled with the power of a Hollow's. He felt sick to his stomach, yet an urgency was felt when he himself was clashing with a lesser Reiryoku than him; one that belonged to the Kidō Captain.

"Izuru, can you-"

"We've got things contained for the moment," Izuru declared, looking over his shoulder as the other Officers were pressuring the Arrancar. Even with the casualties that were swiftly taken by invisible 4th Division members to be tended to and redeployed later, the Arrancars were pushed back several paces for every step they took. Now less than half the numbers they arrived with, it looked as if the united numbers of the Northern front had stood fast against their enemies.

"Thanks," The scarred warrior nodded with a brief smile, erased as soon as he employed Shunpo.

Sighing, the Lieutenant turned to go help his allies until he saw a familiar coat of white. Looking up his face beaded sweat and his revealed eye dilated. Throughout the sounds of battle it died down as a single thin grin bore upon him with equally thin eyes staring at him, complemented by a pale complexion and a head of lavender. The Reiatsu was as familiar as it was crushing...

"...Captain Ichimaru?" He croaked as the man's slightly scuffed shoulders and back showed virtually no damage from his scuffle with the Kidō Captain.

"Hello, Izuru. Fancy seein' you here, holdin' your own," The Commander opened his eyes slightly, his smile only thickening. "Now that Aizen and Kaname is indisposed, let's have a little talk you and I."

It was simply chaos; albeit controlled, but still maddening. The battle between the Onmitsukidō's Corps' Patrol, Elite and Detainment was like cat and mouse. The lesser of their numbers used distraction tactics and disorienting measures to keep the Números from getting the upperhand. While numbers and organization was their best tool, the Arrancars were still individually stronger than the vast majority. The only advantage was the skills they brought to the table and genuinely employed with greater effect against Arrancars who've never fought seasoned Shinigami.

So when Omaeda saw his 3rd Seat comrade explosively connecting a gauntlet punch into an Arrancar and sending him flying through several structures, he didn't question it. Even his own bumbling frame rapidly moved in ways he hadn't felt obliged using in years. Among the Lieutenants who stood up to the Ryōka, he alone was able to track his movements with perfect clarity...he just didn't possess the endurance to withstand his Reiryoku.

After dispatching a charging Arrancar with a Shunpo swipe of his Gegetsuburi, he noticed a squad of noteworthy Números got past their defenses. Turning to look back at his Captain, not far away was sparring with a wrist-bladed feral masked Arrancar. While initially it'd look like she was being pressured, he didn't feel stress at all from her Reiatsu nor did she receive any significant damage.

She was controlling the tide of the battle through pure analysis of an Arrancar's abilities.

"CAPTAIN!" He cried out, seeing no enemies in his vicinity to jump him while calling out to his superior. "There's some strong guys gathered by the pillar!"

"And what do you expect me to do about it? Handle it yourself!" She retorted in between blocking a few bladed strikes and bracing for a kick to her midsection. "Ngh! I'm a bit busy at the moment...!"

"But-!"

Her retort would be silenced as a damning sensation trickled over everyone's spines. Looking over with a paled expression, he noticed one of them was rising from a throne made of bones. Dark skinned with a white crown, the mustached man bore a scar over one eye while staring down a member of the Kidō Corps. The other Seated Officers who stood in his path were killed individually by each of his Fracción, barring the other two he sent as a means to occupy the Shinigami.

"You will not pass! I swear it-!"

"Swear to me," Baraggan Louisenbairn proclaimed as a arm stretched out with a finger bent back. By the time he raised a barrier, it'd shatter like glass, followed by his head being blasted off his shoulders. As blood smeared across the foot of the pillar, the Espada looked up at the steep structure with a sigh. "There's a triple layered Kidō surrounding it for protection. How naive."

Reaching forth, his hand palmed what looked like a transparent field that stood strong no matter how hard he pressed. Then, a crimson layer of Reiatsu emanated from his palm and a gradual effect took hold over the material. Swiftly it began to recede and become malleable, something his palm could wrap around. In a ripping gesture, a loud thunderous pop followed a gust of wind that alerted the Onmitsukidō in the vicinity.

"The barrier! He broke through the Kidō Captain's barrier!"

"Protect the pillar!" The last of the militia shouted as they swiftly rushed to intercept the five Arrancar.

Unfortunately it was within those moments that they were greeted by the might of Barragan's subordinates. Findorr Calius smashed his mask to a mere fraction of its former size, giving him a boost of strength to swiftly slash his foes down; Choe Neng Poww headbutted one to rocket away while swinging his lumbering arms with surprising speed to catch a few others in the crossfire; Abirama Redder howled with raucous laughter as he cut down his foes with gleeful abandon; and lastly, Charlotte Chuhlhourne grinned with decadent enjoyment at each Shinigami that came within his space.

None were able to even get close to their King.

"Pitiful Shinigami. It's a wonder how they've survived this long," Barragan raised a hand, preparing to destroy the pyre that helped stabilize the material replica land. "Perhaps it is because they've yet to face me."

In this instance, Sui-Feng ceased her activities. Even though the Arrancar she faced was the Espada's own Fracción, Ggio Vega, she had practically estimated the strengths and abilities of their kin firsthand. There was no need to keep up the game any longer.

"And now, in my battle form I will-!" Vega began to proclaim in his secondary transformation, till he felt a sudden whoosh of wind. Where his opponent was, she vanished, and had disappeared from sight. Looking over with shock, a similar sensation transpired over each and every member of the Segunda's men, stopping short of the elderly man. When he turned to strike, she leaped back and gawked at the feeling of rapid stillness that came over her charging arm.

"Kill her," He ordered with a sneer.

"Don't bother," She smiled coldly, the sight of multiple crests appearing on each of the Números. Raising her bloodied Suzumebachi, she proclaimed to the Espada forthright. "They're already dead."

As she said, in a chorus of horrified cries each one rapidly dissolved in a disintegrating fashion till each one resembled a butterfly crest. As it dissembled, it'd vanish into the wind like ash. Blowing into the air, the Captain's smile turned into a stern glare while the Espada looked unmoved.

"You kill my subordinates and expect a reaction? Anger? Frustration? Fear?" He queried, his form walking towards her casually. "What you did was no more expected than one to take out the trash. Anyone can manage it. In fact..."

In a moment, he was in front of her, making her eyes shrink to pins and her mouth gape. Even as she backpedaled a hand reached towards her, encased in a sphere of crimson. Let loose, a sudden Bala explosion ripped apart the air, darting forth to smash into several Números and a dozen Shinigami in the process as it wrecked the environment with its sheer longevity.

In the process, a Captain's Haori was all that was left to show in the aftermath of the destructive attack, disappearing in the wind as the energy ate it away.

"...see? Even one such as I can manage it," Barragan finished with a huff, as vapor ebbed off his hand.

Omaeda could only cry out one word with horror at what he witnessed, "CAPTAIN!"

"RAAAAAAAAAH!" Tōshirō Hitsugaya let out a loud cry as he unleashed a wave of freezing water in the form of a dragon. Smashing into the rabble of Arrancars facing him, he barely acknowledged Komamura dropping near him in the midst of the chaos. He used Tengen intermittently with a gesture to a sword strike, using his unpredictable activation speed to swipe away the ranks of their enemies. "It seems this bunch aren't anything to sneeze over, but their rush tactics are beginning to annoy."

"Not to mention, Cap...Kaname is out there weakening our Kidō Captain," Sajin mentioned as he combined his Zanpakutō's strike to offset a number of Números in midair. His fellow Captain capitalized on the matter, freezing them all in a matter of seconds. They'd fall, shattering to pieces while the white haired child prodigy took another moment to listen more to his fellow Captain. "I need to face him; to stop him. I cannot do it while remaining here."

"I can't force you to stay, but don't throw your life away for his sake."

"I don't intend to," The wolf-man intoned with a composed stare.

Sighing, Tōshirō looked about the battlefield. Despite some casualties the Arrancars incurred, they were supported well enough by the body of Kidō Corps along with substantial aid of their combined Officers' might. Rangiku and Ibe being chief among them. With their presence still nearby, he could count on them to take on opponents he couldn't reach.

"Then go, before I change my mind," He groaned as he closed his eyes.

"Thank you, Captain Hitsugaya. When my business is finished...I shall return."

"Don't make me hold you to that," Tōshirō wryly commented, just in time to see the animal spirit disappear in a flash.

A gentle tap sounding behind him followed by the thrum of an ocean of Reiatsu that quaked the earth made the Captain suddenly regret his comrade's vacancy. Turning around he stumbled with wide-eyed fear at the female Arrancar now staring at him with cool composure. Her zipped top's collar covered her jaw over her nose, a single sword handle jutting from the back to her right. Even without moving it felt like she could topple an army.

"Captain Hitsugaya of the 10th Division," The Espada spoke lowly, causing the young superior to tense and raise his blade upright with both hands on the hilt. "I've studied your combat style and abilities that Lord Aizen has provided me. After some careful thought, I considered you to be my greatest enemy of the Gotei 13; the task of eliminating you should be my own."

Without verbally retorting, the Captain raised his blade. The sky grew darker than before, the storm brewing even stronger than it had during the battle's start. But what's more, the park they battled in was suddenly drying up; moisture drawn from the soil and bark of the forest, surging into a massive winged dragon of ice. Roaring with red eyes, Tōshirō swung his blade and sent it crashing towards her.

With a single hand, she palmed the attack, vaporizing the construct of freezing water into a wave of undulating liquid.

"She melted Hyōrinmaru's ice?!" He thought with a start, watching the water swirl around her animatedly, as if she controlled it through sheer will.

"My name is Tier Harribel," The Espada declared as she pulled the zipper slowly up with her left forefingers while casually drawing her sword with her right pointer in the pommel's ring. As the broad blade was spun into her hand, the jacket top was opened, revealing in a flurry her jaw covered mask extending to the barest partitions of her impressive breasts; one breast in particular marked with the bold number 3. "Tres Espada."

In that demonstration alone, it didn't take long for Tōshirō to consider his choice of actions.

"BANKAI!" He shouted with rushed alarm, raising his blade into the air as his opponent rushed forth on a wave of water. Her blade alight in a bright yellow coat of Reishi, he finished his release command as his body became encased in ice with violet flowers blossoming behind him near his impressive wings. "DAIGUREN HYŌRINMARU-!"

A sword swing followed a blast of Reiatsu, shattering flecks of ice from wings shielding him at the last moment. The woodland blew from the sheer force of her attack while the Captain's knees buckled. He could only sweat as he rose up to strike with rapidly freezing ice flowing with the current of his blade, meeting her searingly hot wave of water that effortlessly melted his own element. Booming waves of vapor discharged around them as they clashed, eyes locked with intensity filled the air.

In the distance, Rangiku could see her Captain's battle just as she had dealt with her own menagerie of opponents. They'd be replaced by the Tres Espada's Fracción, the Tres Bestias. From the feel of their Reiatsu, they put the other Arrancars she put down to shame.

"Well-Well-Well. It's the shorty Captain's bitch," Emilou declared with a toothy smile. "Can't wait to see the look on his face when I rip you to shreds!"

"Don't you mean, we?"

"Huh?! You're not gonna do shit, Franceska!" She jeered at her nearby cohort.

"Oh yeah?!"

"Please," Cyan Sung-Sung waved a sleeve covered hand with a roll of her eyes. "If anyone's going to beat her, it will be me. Not the two of you, for sure."

"WHAT?!"

"Hard of hearing? I can understand with such primitive intelligence when compared to me. I apologize for not using smaller words for you to comprehend," She snickered behind her uniform, suppressing the urge to outright laugh as they visibly became enraged.

"You three just made this a whole lot easier than it should've been," Rangiku spoke aloud, causing the three to look with surprise as she released her Zanpakutō into a large cloud of ash. "Growl, Haineko!"

Menos Grande, perhaps the rarest of Hollow to average Shinigami. Found only in text books, they seldom entered the World of the Living and largely inhabited their home dimension of Hueco Mundo. Even alone they possessed enough might to challenge a Captain to take the fight seriously; in a horde, they're significantly more troublesome for seasoned Shinigami to withstand, let alone put down. It was a task specifically assigned to the Zero Division, showcasing the less often initiative to engage such lumbering monoliths of Hollowfied might.

But to the Captain Commander, it was simply a chore for him to perform.

Leaving the defense of the tower to the Kidō Lieutenant and a handful of elite of their Corps, he leapt into the fray where the giants were 'poured' from the immense Hooleer. They had begun lumbering forth towards the towers, but turned their eyes to the spot of incredible Reiatsu. Acting more on instinct than intelligence, one Menos whipped out a tongue to squewer the old Shinigami-

-only to have it torn apart with a blurring crash of his cane.

"Sōkatsui," He muttered, gesturing his hand towards a handful of Menos in front of him. The result was a titanic wave of blue spell fire, erupting forth with such fierce power that it overlapped their upper bodies in the process. With only lower sections left, they keeled over and quickly disintegrated seconds after earth pounding drops to the earthen floor.

When a chorus of Ceros were primed, he turned to face them head-on. Slamming his cane into the melded body of red, he made a brief huff before casting the light into the horizon. As an explosion occurred in an unpopulated area of the war zone, he jettisoned forth to deliver a rapid succession of Shunpo punches, kicks and staff thrashes. Each successive hit shattered their masks, instantly downing the lot to crash thunderously below.

Steering his sight to several dozen more, he noticed that Hooleer was belching out another sea of Menos Grande. Almost as if it was birthing more consecutively with each disgusting spill, he knew that conventional means couldn't cut it.

"Reduce all creation to ash," Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto declared as his staff unfurled away to reveal his sword. Unsheathing it in a slow motion, he yelled aloud the name of his terrifying blade. "Ryūjin Jakka!"

The vicinity around him was engulfed in an inferno, flames so hot that the air cooked for a great distance. Even the Menos who marched towards them stopped their halt, realizing the potency of their adversary.

A realization that was all but too late.

"Taimatsu!" He growled out, unleashing a tidal wave of flames that flew at the speed of a fighter jet towards the horde. Crimson and gold tongues brushed against the clad bodies of black and white, blasting them apart and burning them away in a matter of seconds. Even the ooze that was manifesting more Menos were quickly reduced to ash within the churning hell fire.

With the Menos dealt with, he swiftly ascended to Hooleer as its enormous lighthouse scaled eye turned upon him. Even as a bright fissure of Reishi was prepared, his blade surged upwards and sent forth a titanic blast of fiery death to overwhelm it. Tissue blasted away to reveal bones, soon becoming consumed in the pillar of fire that surged into the hole of the Garganta.

During this last subsequent attack, a loud moan was heard followed by a considerable Reiatsu release. Turning to look to his left, what was a small child was that of an oddly shaped Resurreccion; bulging pauldrons with an obtusely cone shaped head. Glaring he swung his Zanpakutō towards it, only for it to catch it with ease...and for the flames in its grip to be snuffed out.

"Wha-?!" Was all that Captain Commander Yamamoto cried out when a surprising punch sent him sprawling down to the ashen wasteland. What should have been clad in continuously burning flames became erased of all evidence save for the charred earth. Rising up with sword in hand, Haori knocked off, he felt no power emanating from the still living blade in his grip. "The flames of Ryūjin Jakka have vanished. I take it you're responsible, pup?"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," Wonderweiss moaned out with a drawled out speech, a dumb smile stretching across his face.

"I see Aizen manufactured you for the sole purpose of sealing my sword. Did he take away your ability to communicate? To reason?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh," The Mod Arrancar simply took a few steps forward, hands balling up into fists indicating its intent was malicious. Rocketing forward with a sudden jolt, it'd rush towards the Captain Commander with its cumbersome frame aimed to pulverize him...

...instead, half of its torso was ripped off with a punch colliding into it, sending it streaking across the cityscape for nearly a kilometer.

"I've not been the strongest Shinigami for a thousand years based solely on my Zanpakutō's strength," The Captain Commander declared with pride, his fist lowering as he sensed his enemy's Reiatsu. Huffing he twisted his sword around to impale the earth, unfastening his Shikhakushō's top to fold over his waist. When Wonderweiss returned with its torso bubbling with regenerating flesh, he grasped his sword from the earth and his body emitted a fiery pressure all its own, burning the surface that surrounded his feet. "You're a sturdy one. Show me what you got, Arrancar!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" It let out a battle cry, rushing forth just as Yamamoto returned with fierceness none present could contend with.

The darkness soon came to an end. The light at the end of the void became brighter and those who walked roads of Reishi finally reached their destination. From the other side, a tear in space opened up, a rift in place where a host of Reiatsu were gathered. So when they surged from the other side, they'd be surprised to see Captain Kuchiki appearing along with the Officers sent to Hueco Mundo.

"Whoa, if it isn't the young prodigy of the Kuchiki House," Shinji Hirako commented as he lightly rested his sword against his trench coat adorned shoulder, complemented by a black tee with sleek beige slacks and brown dress shoes. As he acknowledged the Captain stepping out of the Garganta, along with the other half dozen officers he grinned at their surprise of seeing him while the aforementioned Byakuya retained a cold composure. "What? No hi for your long dead comrade?"

"I have no words for the deceased," The Noble Head replied as he closed his eyes, stepping past him and walking past the host of Visoreds. Appearing in front of Kisuke, his eyes reopened with the same stoic glare as he once had before. "Kisuke Urahara. Our mission is complete, but our destination to the battlefield has been cut off. Please escort us to the replica city at once."

"...lemme cut 'em-!"

"Knock it off, Hiyori," Shinji scolded with a roll of his eyes, chastising the red jacketed twin tail blonde while holding her back by the collar. To which she replied with a vaulting kick to his face, sending him sprawling back, nearly hitting the gaping Shinigami. Rising up to cover his nosebleed, his bulging eyes stared at her incredulously. "The fuck's wrong with you?!"

"You don't get the right to man handle me, you creep!"

"Yeesh, you're riled up today," A familiar voice to the crowd, causing the company of Shinigami-Hollow hybrids and Kisuke's own cohorts to look over in surprise. Walking out of the Garganta last with his friends last was Ichigo himself, a humored smile adorned upon his face while his hand held a teal haired Arrancar. While she looked on with apprehension, the grip of her heart's treasure kept her still while everyone looked even more flabbergasted than the enormous pole carried loot Mayuri sat upon. "What? It's like you're seeing a ghost."

"HA!" Mashiro laughed aloud, while Rose and Love looked on with curiosity.

"It seems that your hair's gone and grown in a mere few hours since we last saw ya."

"Indeed. Like a composer's manuscript before translating into a piece of artistic melody you've arrived like a butterfly from a cocoon," Rose finished after his star-fro's comment with a smile.

"Not to mention, his Reiatsu seems to have gone up a notch. What the Hell happened out there?" Kensei inquired with a gruff huff.

"And why are you hand holding that-!"

"We can discuss that later," Shinji proclaimed aloud, cutting off Hiyoriy as he straightened his coat and sheathed his Zanpakutō into its scabbard. Casting only a momentary glance at Nelliel whom looked back just as steeled, he turned and saw the younger Arrancar holding up Mayuri's stand. Smirking he tapped the back of his enfolded blade against his shoulder. "You certainly attract the strangest company, Ichigo. Though...I am glad you made it back, we should get a move on it."

"Indeed," Nanao concurred, her eyes briefly catching sight of Lisa whom shared a solid look. Even as her voice faltered, the woman she admired from long ago simply shared a smile to which caused her cheeks to flush. Straightening her spectacles she gestured her arm around and proclaimed. "We should head to the battlefield immediately!"

"Karakura Town is currently encased in a barrier made by my successor," Tessai debriefed them, gathering eyes upon him briefly. They'd see his normal shop apparel traded out for a black cloak folded over a simple purple muscle shirt and a pair of jeans with boots. "I shall bypass it on everyone's behalf."

"That sounds like a pla-," Aaron-Rukia spoke aloud, her glittering garments eyeballed by some but didn't escape the notice of what caught her speech. Looking around she realized the absence of one of them was missing...no, two. "Where did Ichigo go?!"

"Wha-?!" Shinji gawked while Kisuke simply laughed behind a fan and Byakuya sighed. "That Arrancar too! She's missing!"

"Lady Nel!" Pesche cried out aloud with Dondochakka. "She was right here and then, poof!"

"What do you think we should do, Qui-" Renji turned to inquire, realizing the clad white uniform man was also gone. "OI! THAT PRISSY QUINCY IS GONE!"

"Even Chad and Orihime," Yoruichi commented, her feet clacking upon the ground, now adorned with grey bulky armor that didn't seem to annoy her. Even her arms were clad in the stone looking material. "I guess they couldn't wait."

"We shouldn't either," Kisuke announced, clapping his cane upon the ground, moving away with a flourish of his emerald shop coat that in turn brought everyone else to move with him. "Let us go, to the battlefield."

"Yes," Aaroniero thought to herself with a deep smile and an unseen predatory glint in her eyes. "Let's!"

A/N: DONE!