What I always want, I could never have

Wherever I go, you'll always be there

Your face I'll never forget

My love is yours forever and ever

Even in death, when I leave you

A Predator Among Us

WHITE DEICIDE IV

I Love You

(Blood Soaked Melody)

Aaroniero is close. So close to entering the holiest of places among all Shinigami kind. The Royal Palace is within reach, now she has the Ouken in her body and possession. Even still, there stood a single person in her way.

Orihime Inoue.

She came to Hueco Mundo as a pawn in Sōsuke Aizen's schemes to lure Ichigo and other Captains away from protecting the artificial barrier enveloped over Karakura Town. But, she demonstrated strength and courage beyond her existence. Further and further, her reiatsu climbed, surpassing even the likes of most Espada Aaroniero has known.

Her power to reject all phenomenon, the Shun Shun Rikka is perhaps the only one that can destroy her precious Hōgyoku. And without the Hōgyoku, her new composite being could unravel, along with her mind.

Yet, her words are what disturbed the Possessed Shinigami the most.

I will save you. I'll bring them all back.

Grimacing, she raised a hand up in readiness while taking stock of her opposition.

As Coyote Starrk and Gin Ichimaru clashed with the new pair of arrivals, all the gathered allies of Shinigami, Visored, Quincy and humans stood around a broad circle encompassing her. They held weapons but didn't charge, not like before when Renji Abarai had displayed how well that worked.

None of them can harm me. Thanks to devouring the old man, I have knowledge of every ability displayed to him. Apart from the girl, you're all so far beneath me!

All eyes turned to Ichigo Kurosaki as he walked ahead of them all, his long hair swaying in the breeze. An unsettling calmness carried off his reiatsu, subdued and restrained. Stepping up beside Orihime, he put a hand on her shoulder and walked ahead of her.

"Everyone, stay behind me," Ichigo said, his face unseen as his eyes met Aaroniero's. "I don't want to catch you all, in what comes next."

"Ichigo, I can help," Orihime intoned.

"I know," He turned, smiling at her over his shoulder. "But stay behind me. I don't want my reiatsu hurting you."

She nodded, forcing a smile as well as he returned his gaze back at the possessed Shinigami.

"You must be a glutton for punishment, Ichigo," Aaroniero sneered, violet eyes narrowing at him. "I won't show mercy. I'll crush you to dust."

"That's fine," Ichigo raised his blade ahead, his left hand bracing his dominant arm. Inhaling deeply, his body began to bristling with a slow flicker of gold, flowing along his coat and animating his hair to rise up. Eyes glowed gold, his power rising to the surface in waves that began to wave out in greater volume with every passing second.

Then, he swung his blade up, darkness piercing the heavens in a massive column of reishi. A blaze of light threw out from the Substitute Shinigami, eyes shrinking as bent down, whipping his Getsuga clad Zanpakutō.

With a leap of black, Ichigo swung his blade around in an arc of sheer might towards an unfazed Aaroniero.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" He howled, a massive shearing of force folded over the small figure. Swirling around like a vortex, Ichigo Kurosaki generated another Getsuga, slashing out at the maelstrom of darkness that spun around Arrancar.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Then another.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

And another.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Ichigo's throat screamed, veins throbbing across his neck up his brow as he kept swinging his blade with waves of reiatsu blasting at the possessed being. Each one crashed into the other, the amount of power becoming a dizzying spinning darkness.

VMMMMMMMMMM!

A Hell that funneled up above Aaroniero, whose hand raised up in physical showing of her being responsible. Her palm clenched into a claw, the expanse of Getsugas condensing into a sphere, shrinking in size while maximizing its force to bear. Lowering down to spin with an ominous hum, casting shadows over the glowing digits of purple keratin and white snowflake veins.

Ichigo looked on with visible horror, unable to comprehend how all of his attacks were so easily bent to the enemy's control. Cold sweat crawled down his neck, realizing such a dense amount of reishi could inflict untold amount of destruction.

"Who should I throw this at, Ichigo?" Aaroniero asked, a twisted smile spreading across her face. "Do you think Orihime can reject it faster than it can reach her?"

As she said this, multiple things happened at once. A blur of swift movement entered Aaroniero's space, swinging a blade towards her face. It bounced off the air, followed by him dancing around, repeatedly trying to get close while a host of ghostly white tendrils of reiatsu surged out to lance at the swift Kuchiki Shinigami.

When that happened, Uryu let loose a torrential wave of arrows, all of them deflected by another invisible barrier she made with a glance. Byakuya sent forth thousands of razors as he evaded, Shinji fired off bolts of Kidō, others hurtling waves and bursts of attacks her way. Sajin Komamura swung a Tengen apparition blade, as well as Renji's Zabimaru and Rose's Kinshara. Kensei howled out as he came forth clad in his Hollowification just as other Visoreds all piled attacks upon their foe.

As the other Shinigami stood ahead of Orihime, urging her behind them, the orange haired girl began to get further and further behind a host of men and women launching a desperate slew of attacks at the Arrancar.

But she saw it, as much as felt it. Aaroniero isn't even fazed by all the assault upon her. She walked calmly, Ichigo frozen in place as he could feel what she did. The firmament separating heaven and earth of the power she put off herself, the whole of the surrounding environment warping as her reiatsu buffeted the attacks while also surging out with ghostly tendrils to pursue them.

Walking through their hail of attacks while locking her hateful glare at Orihime, her confidence rattled but didn't diminish. If anything, a mass of gold rose up further, shooting out into the air as she clenched her hands into fists in readiness.

Then, Aaroniero swung an arm to her side in a dismissive gesture.

Unleashing her reiatsu in an enormous eruption.

SSSSSSHHHHHHOOOOOOOOM!

An explosion of reiatsu throttled them all away, a concussive shockwave throwing all off their feet across the ground and into the sky in streaks of fire. All except Orihime were blasted away, the Arrancar striding over to her with the sphere of darkness in her grasp.

"Are you ready to die, Orihime?" Aaroniero asked, no longer smiling as she coldly raised her sphere of darkness.

Orihime stared back with fierce determination, her own aura waving about. Clasping her hands together, her hairpins transformed and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Aaroniero widened her own eyes, looking about as she tried to find them.

"Santen Kesshun," Orihime spoke, her voice echoing out as she swung her arms out. "I reject!"

Everyone felt her reiatsu awash over them. The harm that befell all unwound in seconds, their previous fatigue undone and their reiatsu surged forth. A visible barrier of gold had encompassed their immediate surroundings, covering the sky in its perimeter.

All the while giving Aaroniero an easy target.

"Don't do it," Ichigo hoarsely called out, leaping out in a blur of black, sword held with eyes wide with fear. "Aaroniero!"

The Arrancar swung her hand, her captured ball of Getsuga streaking out to connect - with a hooked blade that appeared inches in front of Orihime's chest.

Another identical blade pressing in front of the Possessed Shinigami's face.

"You-!"

SHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOW!

A piercing howl throttled out in an explosive blast of darkness, tearing across the expanse of Karakura Town and blowing away a perfect hole into the horizon. Hilltops, mountains, whatever lies beyond had completely been evaporated without a trace by the single stroke.

"I'm sorry for not stepping in sooner," Jushirō Ukitake said, a rare shadow fallen over the Shinigami as he lowered his two Zanpakutō blades and looked over at Orihime. "This is my responsibility. I'm going to face it, even if the worst comes to pass."

"Captain Ukitake," Ichigo spoke out, exhaling a breath of relief he didn't know he held.

"Stay by her side and don't leave it," He ordered, his dark eyes looking back at the cloud of smoke where Aaroniero stood.

She did, but she changed appearance again. Black colored Aaroniero, a collar of blood red flower petals lying beneath a skull conformed mask of black with a pair of pupiless violet eyes etched past a faceless visage. Her slender chest now appeared smooth, akin to a black fabric with violet highlights that stretched down and confirmed over her hands in a suit pair of gloves as well as heeled boots. The left hand still has the Hōgyoku, shining ominously as the right hand had raised up for Aaroniero's inspection.

"Unexpected, but I rather like the palate swap," A voice none of them had heard before said - higher pitched and playful - followed by a deeper, darker tone, "What do you think, Captain Ukitake? This befits a transcendent being much better, don't you think?"

Is that what Aaroniero sounds like? Orihime wondered, her eyes wide at the dark figure standing not far away from her. Her face was covered in sweat, her fingers trembled and her knees shook. Her reiatsu…I can't describe it. It's like it's an empty abyss that spirals into darkness!

"The only thing I have to say is I can see why my master fell to the likes of you," Jushirō sneered with disgust. "But it's good you're like this. I won't have to fight someone parading my subordinate's face, mocking them even in death!"

"Yes, death. A concept that I am familiar with," They started off, darkly, melodically sounding now like Rukia with a tilt of the head. "So are you, given how long you've staved off death for centuries, haven't you, Captain?"

"How do you-?"

"Please," Aaroniero dismissed with a wave of her Hōgyoku embedded hand, their voice shifting to Shunsui Kyoraku, "I have Shunsui's memories. It's no secret from me, how your body was offered up to something called Lord Mimihagi, in order to keep your body from dying to disease."

"Enough!" Jushirō snapped, his eyes wide and shrunken, his hands shaking the blades in tight grips. "I felt his death at the hands of Ichimaru. And yet you had to devour his dying remains while still being so strong already? Your gluttony is only challenged by your arrogance, Hollow!"

"No need to get upset," They replied in a sing song tone, ending with a mocking deep laugh as eyes narrowed, "it's unbecoming of a Captain of your reputation and status, Jushirō."

A sudden wave of immense reiatsu flowed out of the white haired Captain, a torrent of power that caused the nearby Ichigo to look startled. Normally docile, and reactionary, the cautious man is consumed by rage, veins throbbing about his pale skin and redness seeped into his eyes as he glared ahead at the entity that is Aaroniero.

"I'm going to end you, Aaroniero Arrururerie," Jushirō said, his voice and eyes full of hatred that Ichigo had never seen. A vibrant glare of silver shimmered with a pale white aura that rose up in incredible power for a normally I'll man. "I'm going to avenge every death you are responsible for!"

At first, the transcendent being had wide eyes, never seeing a man like this from the memories she's obtained behave this way. But as the seconds passed, the surprise quickly turned to amusement.

Then incredulous hilarity.

"Heh! Hahahahahahahaha!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The dual voices laughed out in a disturbing duet of mockery. It felt no fear for what Jushirō said, nor even of a power that is higher than his normal.

"What exactly are you going to do, sickly man? Bleed all over me?" They inquired with a swing of their Hōgyoku hand. "Even if you had even a comparable reiatsu, you can't even damage me. You're welcome to try, of course."

"Get away from here, both of you," Jushirō commanded, crossing his blades in front of himself. "If you stand too close, you'll only be caught up in this."

Bankai

Junzen Sogyo no Kotowari!

Ichigo grabbed Orihime and moved far away. As he did, he witnessed a distant twist of liquid reishi lapse over the distance before dispelling in a bout of steaming reiatsu. He saw a pair of rods with ropes connected to an empty disc floating in the air with its center behind his head; with fish swimming in opposing sides, one black and the other white, swirling a mass of white and black reishi as if it was water above his head.

"I don't have a memory of this Bankai," Aaroniero intoned with a raised brow past their mask. "Strange, I thought you were promoted to Captain by way of demonstrating the use of Bankai."

"It seems you don't know me as well as you think," Jushirō remarked with a forced smile. "It seems you only glean the memories you find useful, rather than their entirety."

"And what of it?" Rukia's voice emerged, her hand raising with emphasis. "One Shinigami's Bankai won't make a difference. I'm beyond that."

"Why not see for yourself?" Jushirō goaded with a sneer.

Aaroniero felt impatient. She was so close to her goal of removing the only threat to her power. After this, she can leave this husk of a town and go to her ultimate objective.

Yet, Jushirō felt inclined to challenge her so recklessly. This felt out of character, even for him.

Her eyes met Jushirō's, trying to place a cage of reiatsu around his body as she did on Uryu before. But, nothing happened, and silence came afterwards.

"What's the matter? I'm still here, Hollow," He mocked openly.

His Bankai, what did it do? I thought Sogyo no Kotowari just absorbed and fired whatever body of reishi it came in contact with. But, what does it do in Bankai?

Aaroniero tutted audibly, stepping forward and gesturing her right hand out - forming a familiar Zanpakutō in the shape of a trident, generating water that became a freezing rush of ice that orbited the spear as it became a pure translucent white color.

I'll freeze him in a single stroke, then devour his frozen corpse!

Jushirō suddenly flashed away, causing the transcendent being to halt her approach. Swinging around at his materializing body to her left, a single rod parried, the water and ice vanishing in a flash of light. The other rod, thrusting at her side, unleashed a potent warping wave of pressure, throttling Aaroniero's body across the streets and leveled piles of house debris.

Flipping over to her feet with a graceful tap, she changed the shape of her in a fluid motion; weapon to resemble Rukia's Sode no Shirayuki. Turning around to face the appearing Jushirō, she swung a massive of freezing reiatsu, only for both rods to clang loudly against her blade; pressing her body into the ground with quaking force, her feet driving into the soil below the asphalt.

"It's not just my attacks!" Aaroniero hissed, her sword grinding against Jushirō's pair of rods as she snarled out in Rukia's voice. "You're stealing my reiatsu to boost your own power!"

"All that power is now a burden to you, Aaroniero," Jushirō intoned out, gritting his teeth flashing as he slashed his right hand's pole in a slew of sparks.

In a flare of white, Aaroniero erupted from the residential area of the population depleted city, flying upwards from a comet of fiery reishi that clung to her black clothing. Jushirō pursued, swinging another blackish rod into her sword guard - cracking the air with immense strength.

The transcendent warrior narrowed her eyes at the Captain. Sparks flew between them, immense waves of reiatsu billowing off their frames and uplifting the land around them. Twisting the blade around, she drove it at Jushirō's chest, seeing it parried away while another rod swung around to drive into her side.

Lurching to one side, she didn't leave the ground as her feet rooted in place. Sweeping a hand out to grasp Ukitake's hand, the white haired Captain opened his eyes wide with alarm.

"Taifunami!" He roared out, sweeping his arms around to unleash a massive tidal wave of reishi. The blast leveled more of the city, driving the blackened Hollow across space into the hillside beyond his gaze. Wincing as he saw the impact, drops of blood tapped the rubble laden ground beside himself, stemming from a few gashes made on his wrist by a few holes punched through.

It almost got me, Jushirō intoned with a grimace. I have to be careful. Even in this Bankai, I don't know how long my body can last with the amount of reiatsu I'm absorbing from Aaroniero…

A swelling, violet light emitted in the distance, tearing through the trees and forming a massive orb of reishi. Jushirō tensed back up, arms raising the rods of his Bankai in readiness.

Screeching out with a voom, the blaze of volatile light reached his position in fractions of a second. In an arc his rod consumed the blaze, swinging his other rod behind himself.

Clang!

Right into a swinging blade that aimed for his back.

"You'll have to try harder to take me off guard than simply divide your attacks in two directions, Hollow," Jushirō sneered in derision at the black clad Arrancar.

A sudden pressure came from above, another flicker of a dark silhouette swinging a blade down towards his head. Firing the Cero up at him with a turn of his rod, he saw another appear at his left, kicking into his chest with a cracking pop.

"HNGH!" Captain Ukitake grunted, the reiatsu he absorbed buffeting it enough that he only felt his ribcage rattle but not shatter. Slamming a rod into the leg, scraping up the limb to smash the head, he felt another vestige of reiatsu appear behind him in triplicate all slashing at his backside.

"Bakudo #70, Tozansho!" Jushirō chanted out, a bright wave of blue raised up, shielding his backside from the slashes of blades that cracked the inverse pyramid barrier. Swinging his rods around in a circle, an immense whirlwind of power tore up the land and air around him, throwing the multiple Aaroniero copies into the air.

"Hado #33, Soukatsui!" Jushirō shouted, his rods firing a massive burning wave of reishi that tore away the effigies while carving a hole into the sky into the depths of space.

The Shinigami lowered his weapons to his side, looking around where his foe may be lurking now.

Twisting on his heels, he slammed his right hand rod into a shadow rising hand, the Apex Predator materializing out of the darkness of Jushirō's own shadow. His other arm thrust a trident forth, forcing the white haired Captain to deflect it with a flourish of his left handed rod; kicking the covered face with a powerful thuum!

Flung from place, Jushirō slammed a rod into their chest, thrashing them into the ground with a earth rolling shockwave. Raising his rods up, he drove them into the black covered body, cracking and blistering the exterior material with each connecting smash.

Pummeled further and further into the ground, the white haired man felt a familiar creeping feeling. A burning that flowed from his lungs, into his muscles and throbbed with a spiking agony.

"Gaulk!" The White haired man vomited blood, faltering in his attacks. As his blood splattered on top of the transformed Arrancar, did he feel the back push against his Bankai and rise up. Even as he sapped reiatsu that permeated in waves, the Captain could do nothing as his foe regained their footing.

"As I thought," Aaroniero spoke, her voice coming off in a bemusing tone as she rose up, violet eyes staring past a mask of black with a hint of a smirk behind the tightly woven fabric. "Your body can't handle this level of power. Where I have evolved in strength, you stole energy you can't hope to keep together."

"Big talk, coming from a parasite!" Jushirō snapped, swinging another rod into an upraised arm; creating a massive rift in the ground to the side, but didn't budge the evolved entity.

"I resent that remark," A deep timbre intoned, following through the rest of her words. "I am an apex predator. It's not my fault you Shinigami couldn't sense my intent until it was too late."

Grasping the rod, Aaroniero yanked the wheezing Captain forward. What came next is a painful thrust through his chest, the right arm spearing through without a weapon in hand. Ukitake's eyes wide in shock, his mouth gaping as more ichor oozed out of his throat.

"Your Bankai is truly the only one that could stand against me, even in this transcendent state," Aaroniero said softly, now prominently Rukia's cadence returned as she kept her arm lodged in the Captain's chest out the center of his back. "I only feared the Captain Commander's Bankai, for his Zanpakutō is the strongest of the entire Gotei 13. I destroyed it, but I never figured you to be such a thorn in my side," she stopped, grinning as she began to pull her arm back out with a sickly squelch, "But with you out of the way, I can kill Orihime Inoue, and ascend to the Royal Palace as Aizen wanted to."

Jushirō grasped her arm, trembling as he did. The violet eyes of the black demon bore into dark eyes that were beginning to glaze over, his face paling even further as the life left his body.

"You…can't…" He rasped out, struggling with desperate wheezes, "the balance of all realms…will be undone, if you do anymore damage…"

"What are you talking about?" Aaroniero inquired with furrowed brow.

"You don't…know? Oh gods," Jushirō rasped out in shock. "You did all this…without knowing?! How selfish of a being…are you?!"

"Explain quickly, you're bleeding out fast as it is," The Transcendent Being said with impatience.

"Not many in the Gotei know, but…the Soul King is more than a symbol or a deity. He's…the lynchpin of all existence…everywhere!" He exclaimed, trying to make the menace across from him understand. "If you somehow make it there, and defeat the mighty Zero Division…the Soul King maintains the Balance of all worlds. If you remove him, then you and everything collapses into annihilation!"

Aaroniero paused for a few seconds. This didn't make sense. Why would Aizen try to do this? The man is arrogant, not stupid. If the Hōgyoku could make him strong enough to surpass both Hollow and Shinigami, then, was he trying to surpass the Reio?

Or, was he going to remake the Universe itself?

"I see," Aaroniero said, a delighted accent lilting her voice. "Then if that's the case, I won't kill him. I'll simply devour him so the worlds won't collapse!"

"Wh-What?!"

It was the last response Jushirō got out. Ripping the arm out of his grasp and tearing his chest open, a spray of gore filled the air in an arc of gruesome expulsion. The light went out of Jushirō's eyes, skin chalk white and his body crumpled to the ground with a sickly thud.

"Foolish Shinigami! You thought you could deter me with such pathetic pleas?!" She cried out with a barking laugh. Whirling around she began to walk away, using her transcendent senses to look for Orihime.

After all, without her, there would be none left to stop her.

Yet, strangely, she couldn't sense her.

That can't be? Did they move her to a different dimension? Or is she headed to Soul Society?

Pondering this, a flare of gold filled the sky over her head. She looked up, recognizing the reiatsu that filled up a circumference of Fake Karakura. Not all, of course, but a significant chunk of which could be filled. She recognized the path, as being all the way where she grasped the Hōgyoku and then to where she had her most recent skirmishes.

"What are you planning, Inoue? Trapping me will delay me only so much," She bemused, trying to conjure what she is planning.

Then, she felt it.

Santen Kesshun

I Reject

Moments earlier…

Orihime's eyes glowed yellow as she held her arms out, her cloak flourishing in the aura of her majestic reiatsu she outputted as she focused. Surrounded by a barrier made by Hachigen, she had her presence subdued to the point it couldn't be felt. Ichigo stood to the side, flanked by others of the Gotei, Visoreds, Uryu and the rest.

He looked up in awe, having never seen Shun Shun Rikka produce a barrier of such a scale. The amount of growth she underwent since she had been lured into Hueco Mundo astounded him. He wondered where she got her strength, and the courage to keep fighting despite the madness they were faced with.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Nelliel spoke, earning a glance of his to his back as she looked up at the mystical light. "You say she's brought people back from death, but some people have been reduced to basic remnants of reiatsu at this point. Can she really pull them back together?"

"This is a test," Byakuya spoke, making the Arrancar look over his way. The Kuchiki stared at Orihime, his countenance unreadable as he spoke seriously. "I saw her bring back Shinigami I had slain as easy it was to breathe. Her power truly treads into the domain of God, to reject any phenomenon her reiatsu touches."

"Then, that means-"

As Ichigo trailed off, he felt it.

No, felt them.

Toshiro Hitsugaya opened his eyes. He gasped out, clutching at his chest. He faintly remembered something, a violent death that had swiftly overtook him.

"Aaroniero!" Gritting his teeth, he felt an enormous reiatsu restoring his body. He looked down, his default youth turned back and no signs of damage either. In fact he felt as if a swathe of divine like energy courses through his veins even as he clenched his hands closed and open again.

Another foot stepped next to him, causing the young Shinigami to tear around, grasping for his sword.

"How…you're alive?!"

"It seems so," The figure spoke, looking down at their hands, and then to the distant left. Toshiro looked with them, seeing structures, Shinigami foot soldiers and even Arrancar restored to life before their eyes, all with a mixture of confusion and awe at their return to life. "Orihime Inoue's Santen Kesshun, is truly beautiful, isn't it?"

"Then why now? What's happening-?"

"The Hōgyoku!" Sōsuke Aizen said, opening his coat to see nothing where it was in his chest. "Where did it go?!"

Toshiro had an epiphany. Aaroniero had taken the Hōgyoku shortly before his death. Yet, he didn't sense the Hollow. What did that mean?

What came next is a shuddering wave of reiatsu that billowed in the horizon. A pillar of violet light, pure and mighty echoed the interior of the horizon piercing the sky of gold up above.

A wave of dread passed over Toshiro and he knew the worst is about to come.

Jushirō felt himself cradled in a void.

Here he felt the embrace of death take him, as he has been destined to for nearly a thousand years of his lengthy life. Long ago, his family of lower nobility appeased to what many thought as a patron deity within Soul Society. Wishes were granted by this specter, a hand with an eye embedded within its palm in order to save those that prostrate themselves before it.

Lord Mimihagi was its name. It had sustained his life, suspended in a constant flux between life and death. He gave many thanks even as he took supplements of healing, rituals that helped keep him tethered to the being that graciously granted him salvation.

But now, the monster of his past he failed in destroying, had finally took his life after consuming his dear subordinate's body to walk within. He grieved, even as his reiatsu left his body. What good was he, a Shinigami, if those that died were taken away so cruelly and paraded about in such defiling mockery?

Then, he heard a voice within the blackness.

My son, child of Ukitake. It is not yet your time to return to the cycle.

Lord Mimihagi? He thought wistfully in this emptiness he felt surrounded in.

A piece of me has sought to restore you. Your destiny is at hand. Stand up, Jushirō!

A light appeared before his eyes, a pained brightness returning him to his senses. He inhaled, feeling a sudden rush of energy he never felt in his life. Black bangs obscured his eyes, and he looked in disbelief at. Righting himself up, he clutched at his hair, seeing his normally white locks were now a rich onyx hue.

"This…can't be!" Jushirō gasped out. He looked down at his body, the emaciation plaguing his arms down to his chest is gone, now replaced by centuries of rejuvenation, arms toned and muscles enriched. What's more, he felt it, deep down.

His power surged like never before.

At that moment, he saw the world around him restored. He felt numerous signatures that had been reduced to masses of depleted reiatsu whisk into being. Arrancar, Hollow, Captain or Espada, neither mattered under the heavenly light Orihime Inoue bestowed upon them.

A tentatively formed grin formed on Jushirō's face, his eyes seeing as much as Reikaku sensing the impossible transpire.

So this is Orihime's true power?

Though there had been a single outlier. Where restoration felt like an enriching feeling of rebirth to the Ukitake Clansman, a triage of screams tore into the sky.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAÀH!"

He turned his head quickly, seeing his foe wasn't too far away. The masked faces stretched on either side, a splitting of fabric revealing a pained Rukia before shifting over to Kaien, Chojiro, Shunsui and then Yamamoto. Hands covered the bulging distortion, rocking back and forth as incoherent cries racked the air with horror.

Crackles of golden energy snapped about, the mighty Shun Shun Rikka imposing power upon the transformed being made possible by the Hōgyoku. The tendrils of gold trying to tear away at the fabric and the body of Aaroniero, furthering the pitch and ferocity of pain she let out.

Her chest swelled out like a balloon, rising up in a terrifying scale that shot up to the sky in height. A great host of entities all cried out, Hollows and Humans, a dome of writhing flesh and blackened fabric wound too tight as it stretched over them all with their visages screaming in a horrific chorus with one another. An unseen pair of hands slowly balled into fists, violet eyes contracted and a flash of white light enraptured the whole of the monstrous form.

Then, in that light, a thunderous unison of voices all let out a terrible declaration.

"I WILL NOT BE UNDONE, ORIHIME INOUE!" Aaroniero roared out, the thunderous sound as powerful as the light that shot into the center of the golden sky. Crashing against it, waves of reiatsu pushed against the Santen Kesshun placed over the repairing city.

K-k-k-krrrrrrAAAAAAAAACK!

Jushirō looked up in terror, seeing golden glass rain down, awash the area with sparkles of amber colored flecks of reishi. The dome splintered, falling apart everywhere across the reformed Karakura Town.

Squelching sickly, the mound of spiritual bodies

shrank, vacuuming into a small ball of compressed reiryoku. Barely the size of a sports ball, it shuddered in the air it floated in, squirming.

Swelling outward, sickly splurts and squelches of viscous black fluid shot out, corrosive burning away upon the ground around her. Limbs shot out, ejecting with grotesque expulsion, unveiling familiar black-violet limbs with an elongating chest and head emerging. The red flower collar blooming out and Aaroniero's face sporting a torn mask, falling away as if pieces of a cocoon.

"I win," Aaroniero spoke with a smile, turning to look at Jushirō's face, violet eyes sending a shiver down his spine. Her hair became a thick rich mane of onyx, stretching down her back to her ankles, her body seemed taller and obtained a bit more muscularity to the previous slender appearance she regained.

"You look good, Captain Ukitake," She intoned with a smirk. "I see her Santen Kesshun banished the disease plaguing your body. You must feel joy, no longer burdened by it."

"I don't need your compliments, Aaroniero," Jushirō spoke bitterly, grasping his sword and rising to his feet. "Only your death!"

"You're welcome to try, but I really have wasted too much time here," She turned, her eyes fixating to a point in the distance. "Ah, I found her. A moment, Captain."

"Wait-!"

Without another word, she disappeared before Jushirō's sight.

Appearing right by Ichigo and the rest of the entourage.

"Shit!" The Substitute Shinigami recoiled, swinging his sword. Blinking, he saw his arm, holding his blade now in Aaroniero's left hand.

I didn't even see her move!

"Leave," Aaroniero spoke, her eyes flashing and the Substitute Shinigami flashed away; discharging like a comet across the streets and buildings of Karakura into the distance.

"Ichigo!" Nelliel cried out, leaping away to Ichigo's aid in a burst of Sonido.

Byakuya, Shinji, Sajin, Rose, Love and Kensei all struck at once around the Apex Predator with blades in hand. Before their gaze, a flare of purple reiatsu undulated, flourishing them all back in balls of fire away to land in clumps.

Turning on her heel, she reached for the Kidō, shattering it with a press of her fingers where Orihime stood.

Hachigen swerved in the way, throwing a haymaker enforced with several layers of Kidō barriers at her. Making contact with a thud, the transcendent being grinned behind it as Hachigen sweated in fear at what he saw.

Aaroniero grasped the Visored's arm and clenched; shattering the Kidō like glass and breaking his arm in a splash of blood.

"HNGH!" He winced out, followed by a kick that sent him flying away.

"Hachi!" Hiyori cried out, drawing her mask down as she leaped up with her serrated cleaver in hand. She wasn't alone, as Shuhei threw his chained scythes at Aaroniero while Izuru attacked from the other side with his crooked katana.

Aaroniero snapped her fingers, the three all vanishing in a flare of purple light and reappearing above, all their attacks colliding into each other. Kiyone and Sentaro froze in fear, Isane as well at all these capable warriors falling one after the other.

They were unable to move as Aaroniero took another step towards Orihime.

"Just stop it, Aaroniero!" Orihime said, her body orbited by swift of her Shun Shun Rikka spirits. It was enough to halt the terrifying being's advance, or so she thought.

Before she had time to erect a shield, the girl felt a hand grasp her neck, lifting her off the ground and squeezing tightly. Without stopping it, she spread her arms out, sending the hairpin spirits to form another Santen Kesshun over the midst, now rapidly healing anyone around her. The evolved being felt Ichigo's arm fly out of her grip and into the distance where restoring energy mended Ichigo assuredly, as much as everyone downed by Aaroniero recently.

"You never change," Aaroniero sneered, holding her sword up to the choking Orihime. "Why not at least fight back?"

"I'm…going to…save…everyone!" She choked out, tears falling down her face as she sweat in glistening resolve.

"You can't!" Aaroniero shouted. "The world can't be saved by just a single person! Death comes to all, and in the face of it, you spit on that cycle! I'll show you just how futile it is to deny it!"

A sudden waves of reiatsu came at her from two fronts. Looking to her left and right, her reiatsu snaked out in tendrils of light, deflecting a sudden arriving Jushirō, his Shikai swords in hand and Ichigo, his mask adorned over his face.

Both men, their powers pressuring the reiatsu back, closing the distance to the transcendent being. Without releasing Orihime, she twisted around and launched a pulsing wave of reiatsu at Jushirō, launching him away in a hurricane of force that leveled the reformed landscape into the barrier of Shun Shun Rikka.

Turning to face Ichigo, her blade clashed with Ichigo's, the blast wave erupting the earth and flashing the air with tremendous force. Without flinching, Ichigo retaliated with swing after swing, Getsuga burning along his blade as he attacked and countered Aaroniero's own swings.

None could get close, the pair releasing a staggering amount of pressure that billowed out and pushed them aside. The long haired being grew impatient, sprouting an arm that spiraled around her sword that clamped over Ichigo's face with a smash. The mask shattered, Ichigo tried to swing his blade only for it to be knocked aside, as a slew of arms sprouted out to spread eagle the Substitute Shinigami.

In a split instant, Nelliel burst from the ground, sword in hand to aim straight for the wrist that held Orihime. But it repelled in a sparking crack, making her gaps and then she too became engulfed by arms that Aaroniero grew out of her sleeves, all pale white opposed to the black clothing draped over her.

"I seem to be at an impasse," Aaroniero said, looking at either of them. "No matter what I do, these two don't yield. Even now, the Gotei and exiles are standing back, fathoming the futility."

"I'll tell you what I told, Ulquiorra," Ichigo rasped out, an eye peeking out between a hand smothering his face. "Being superior in strength is something I already knew. But I'll never give up, not because I want to win…but because I need to win!"

"I recall you needing Orihime to restore your body before you achieved your new Hollowification," She said, now looking to Orihime whom she kept in a firm grip. "Drop your Santen Kesshun, or I'll kill them both."

Orihime's eyes widened with fear. The barrier dispelled in a flash, her spirits hanging in the air with worry in their eyes. Even Tsubaki looked distressed, feeling dread fill his body.

"Now choose who dies," Aaroniero said simply. "The exile turned traitor, or the Substitute Shinigami."

"Just me! Let them go!" She strangled out.

"No! Kill me, Aaroniero!" Nel cried out.

"Don't do it, Aaroniero!" Ichigo spoke desperately, arms pressing against pale grips holding him back. "Aaronier-!"

A piercing shrill filled the air, and a gasp came out of Orihime's mouth. Blood splurged out, and her eyes widened in shocked pain. A searing hole drilled through her chest between her breasts out her back, gaping wide.

"Ori…hime," Ichigo gasped, his eyes staring in disbelief at what he witnessed. His body shivered, and his hands trembled under the pale hands gripping them.

Nel found words couldn't be conjured up. She felt weak, ingrained with a stupor of something dear to her and the one she loved had just been permanently damaged.

"Wish fulfilled," Aaroniero coldly proclaimed, releasing hold of Orihime's neck and dropping her to the ground with a sickly thud. Her eyes looked to either side, smiling as she felt familiar reiatsu returning in a flicker of swift movement behind her.

"I'm done here," She intoned, her arms dropping Ichigo and Nel to the ground. The arms slipped back into the fabric, the blackness rippling as liquid shadow before returning to its default smooth sheen. Turning on her feet, she faced Gin Ichimaru and Coyote Starrk, the last pair of her subordinates.

Gin had a gash above one eye and a few tears across his sleeves, but otherwise looked unfazed from his encounter with Isshin Kurosaki. His countenance felt muted and unreadable. But that is fine by her, as she doesn't need to know what a man like him is thinking.

Coyote looked stunned, his exposed eye shakily staring at Orihime's bloodied body, a tear falling down his cheek. He could feel Lilynette weep, her voice full of anguish while he just looked on in silence.

"It's time we go," Aaroniero proclaimed, breaking both of their thoughts and turning to her in acknowledgement. "She'll die soon. I made sure I struck her soul chain with a dense amount of reiatsu. She won't be coming back from this."

"I see," Gin intoned with a smile, his eyes glancing over at Ichigo. The man crawled over to Orihime weakly as he reached out to her. "Do you want me to kill him?"

"I appreciate your willingness to assist, but it's no longer a problem," Aaroniero said, turning to look stoically at the orange haired man grasp Orihime and cradle her in his arms. "I'll extend a mercy. They can all witness the new world I create once I reach the highest of planes."

"Then I'll open the way," Gin spoke with a nod, turning to unveil his wakizashi and push it into the air. Twisting it, he said a simple "Open," and a Senkaimon unveiled in the air. Pulling back with thuds that echoed the area, Aaroniero walked on ahead, joined by Starrk and then Gin.

Leaving behind Ichigo as he is joined by a number of the spirits around him.

"Orihime! Stay with me, I'll get someone to heal you!" He rasped out, his hands trying to staunch the bleeding over her chest.

She grasped one of his hands, squeezing it as she smiled.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't strong enough," She whispered out, her eyes looking into Ichigo's eyes. "But…I know, you are. You've always been strong. That's what I've liked about you."

"Stop talking!" Ichigo desperately begged, looking over to see Isane drop to their size and place hands over the wound, performing Kaido immediately. The spirits of Shun Shun Rikka descended, all looking at the hollow wound and stared at it with a collective disheartened expression. Isane's eyes widened, her mouth construing into a mortified expression as blood poured between her reishi she pushed into the wound.

"I-It's too much!" Isane croaked out, her eyes watering as she pulled her hands away shakily. "The reiatsu in the wound is so much…I can't heal her!"

"Where's Unohana?! Get her here!"

"Sh-She's-"

A sudden pair of feet tapped by, causing the three huddled people looked over. In shock they saw a woman, her hair flowing over her back and her sword sheathed in hand.

"-alive?!" Isane let out a shrill cry of surprise.

"I'm glad to see you well," Unohana said, though she had no smile as she looked over Orihime. "It's unfortunate I can't repay my gratitude to you, Orihime Inoue. You pulled me from death's jaws; a power I can't perform for you."

"What do you mean?!" Ichigo shouted.

"It means the damage clogging her wound is too dense for any healer to mend," The blonde spirit descended of the six fairy looking beings comprised of Shun Shun Rikka, speaking frankly to Ichigo while sadly looking at everyone else. "And what's worse, our powers don't work on Orihime. We can only reject other phenomenon, not hers."

"It's okay," Orihime whispered, her hand reaching up to brush against Ichigo's face. "I'm…happy."

"What?" Ichigo hoarsely reacted, his eyes wide with confusion at his bleeding friend.

"Yes. I healed everyone. I even saved those thought dead. Our home, and those who fought, can live again. Aaroniero was wrong that I couldn't do it," She responded, her eyes becoming dimmer as she breathed slower and quieter.

"But…you're going to die," Ichigo choked out, tears falling down his face and over her hand. He reached up and gripped it tight, closing his eyes as he shook his head. "I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't fast enough. I could have stopped it! I should've been better!"

"I know," Orihime nodded, looking around and seeing the Shinigami and Visoreds gather around her dying body. They all had a range of emotions. Sadness, regret, solemn understanding and anger. She felt privileged to have so many gathered around her, in her final moments, where her brother had only her to stand by him in the end.

"You'll get stronger Ichigo. It's what you do," Orihime turned to look at Uryu, whom also slid past the others to kneel beside her. "I don't know if it's possible but, can you do me a favor, Uryu?"

"Name it," He said without hesitation.

"Take care of Shun Shun Rikka for me?" She asked, the spirits all looked stunned at what she said. "They're spirit weapons, and draw power from a spiritually aware human to work. I know it's not your style, or if they're going to last long, but, can you do it for me?"

"Of course," Uryu nodded with a smile. "I'll do what I can."

"Nel?" Orihime turned to the teal haired Arrancar.

"Yes, Orihime?" She asked in return.

"Watch over Ichigo, please? He sometimes overdoes it, so he needs someone to take care of him. I know you'll be the one who can do this," She urged with a coughing fit.

"I can do that," Nel said, placing a hand into Orihime's other palm to give it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm…almost out of time. Soon I'll be seeing my brother, on the other side," She said, her eyes welling with emotion as they turned to Ichigo one last time. "And Ichigo? I have…one last thing to tell you."

"What?"

"I love you," She said, smiling as she did. Even as the young man looked stricken with grief as much as shock, she kept speaking, even as light left her eyes. "And I'll keep…loving you. Even after…I'm gone. So don't be…sad…"

Orihime's hand slipped from Ichigo's grasp, landing beside herself on the ground. The strawberry haired man shakily breathed, his hands raising up and eyes filled with tears. Clenching his head, he grinded his teeth together, groaning out as Nelliel embraced him tightly.

Then, Ichigo cried.