Decay

My Life Before Me

Revive

My Devotion To The Idol

Reap

The Spirit Of Blindness

A Predator Among Us

White Deicide VII

Evolved Evil

"Well, I think things are going very well, don't you?" Gin Ichimaru said with his usual cheer.

An attitude belying the fact they were in a set of quilted cocoons within a dark fabric space barely the size of a washroom. Lilynette had her mouth smothered, a fact she gnashed about angrily, rocking in place back and forth with muffled fury.

"Don't talk to me right now," Starrk pleaded with a depressed expression on his face.

"One Guard dead, and soon another one. I think I just felt her reiatsu diminished just now, actually," He declared with certainty.

"I just really regret being here right now," Starrk confessed.

"Don't feel bad you got swept up by the woman's fabric. It's not that humiliating to be caught off guard by a Royal Guard," Gin said, trying to placate to the Arrancar.

"I rather would have been hit by a giant spoon right now."

"Oddly specific," Gin tilted his head to the right.

As they spoke, a wave of light petered through the ceiling of where they are contained. Threads unraveled, a pair of boot wrapped feet tapped down to them, the red bloomed collar and black skin conforming suited Aaroniero. Waving a hand, the bindings surrounding the trio unwound, letting them fall to the floor before her.

"About time!" Lilynette snapped. Her face flush with relief and embarrassment after being strung up like some kind of sushi roll.

"It's done," She declared, ignoring what the small Arrancar said as her eyes met Starrk and Gin. "I've devoured Senjumaru Shutara. However that's where the good news ends."

"What do you mean?" Coyote Starrk asked with furrowed brows.

"The Royal Palace has been concealed by Shutara's divine weaving since we were occupied by Tenjiro Kirinji. And in being delayed by her, a man know as Oshou hid the Soul King's throne," She explained, her eyes looking back and forth between Gin and Starrk. "Based on what I've gleaned, as long as one of the guards survives and their designated palaces - those dish shaped cities we saw earlier - remains intact, all is required to bring them back is to speak their name."

"So they're under some kind of spell of reincarnation and immortality?" Gin questioned with a thin lipped frown. "How does that work?"

"Apparently the Soul King imbues his version of Ouken into their bodies, changing them completely on a physiological scale that separates them from normal souls that Shinigami are derived from," She explains, raising her own arm that pulsed an ominous trace of reiatsu that made up the Ouken she crafted. "My Ouken is artificial, sanctified from theirs, allowing me to override their divine calling. This allowed us to ignore any attempts to bar us, making me superior to any techniques they could have used to bar me," she lowered her arm, looking up at the vast fabric tunnel she made to the open blue sky. "I have a plan. Once I get us out of here, Ouetsu Nimaiya and Kirio Hikifune will attempt to intercept us. I want you three to stop them, so I can find this Eyeball Monk of Names these guys are so guarded about."

"So you want us to fight the other half of the Zero Division by ourselves?" Lilynette asked incredulously, swinging her arms about emphatically. "The guys stronger than all of the Shinigami put together?!"

"Yes," Aaroniero said with a smile, blinking curiously at the young Arrancar. "Is that a problem?"

"The first guy may have been a chump, but I feel their crazy reiatsu since you've been busy showing off," The Fraccion admitted, grimacing as she looked over at Starrk and then Gin. "They're stupid strong. We're tough, but I'm not sure we can-"

Aaroniero placed a hand onto Lilynette's head, violet eyes looking down into her pink eye. A rare expression of softness befell Aaroniero's face, her smile quiet as is her voice when she spoke, "I understand, but I have faith in your strength. Never doubt your own power, Primera," she continues as she drifted her gaze to Starrk himself, "you're both stronger than you realize. You just need to motivate yourselves, and you can overcome any gap set before yourselves."

Lilynette felt her face flush, her eye squinting shut as she felt the hand raise off her crown. She brushed a hand up over her mask covered head, Starrk and her both taking in what she said.

"But you're right, those two may still have cards up their sleeves that put them beyond normal contention," Aaroniero admitted, remembering how close she herself could have died to Shutara's Bankai.

Closing her eyes, she searched her many abilities and potential Aspects at her disposal. Sifting through them all, she found something else lurking there; someone she had a feeling somehow stuck around despite her best attempts of discarding him.

"Very well," She reopened her eyes, a white branch protruding from her right shoulder, a skull formed followed by a waft of flesh, then white cloaked fabric and a singular blade sheathed on the left. Pink hair with a jagged line above the left temple with a pair of mask fragment glasses fell over a sharp featured, fair face with pearly pink eyes.

Unlatching from the branch, Lilynette quivered at the sight of the familiar Espada being reborn before her. Coyote Starrk just stared in annoyance, and Gin smiled in recognition of him.

"So, I've been found out after all, hm?" Szayelapporo Granz said, turning to peer with a cheshire grin at Aaroniero. He turned halfway to face her, long sleeved glove wrapped arms raising with a chuckle. "And I feel every other of my probing bacteria, along with my scattered reiatsu, has been reduced to just this one. I see this is my final revealing that you allowed, eh, Aaroniero?"

"Your last hijacking failed when you got destroyed by Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue. I kept you around because I still have use for you," Aaroniero stated aloud, staring at the smug intellectual of the Espada with a guarded appraisal. "The Royal Guard here are cut to half their forces, but I don't want to leave anything to chance. You are to assist my comrades in dealing with two of them. I'm going to find their boss and end this charade."

"Sounds good," Szayel affirmed, adjusting his spectacles with a smirk while eyeing the Primera and Gin. "I'll do my best to keep you both alive, for Aaroniero's sake."

"Just don't be a creep or get in our way," Starrk dryly dismissed with a roll of his eyes. "And I'll watch your back. As Primera, it's my duty to look out for any comrade of mine."

"My my, how assertive of you to talk that way," Szayel said, turbing to look at Lilynette and then Starrk. "I wonder how you've been influenced to change your usually dour and reclusive nature to be more…proactive."

"You're the smart one," Starrk huffed, cocking his head to the side with annoyance at the bespectacled man. "You tell me."

"I see," Szayel murmured, cupping his chin and looking down at his own feet. "So you don't even know, hmm. Curious."

"Or maybe we just don't want to spill our guts to you, glass wearing creep!" Lilynette snapped, jabbing a finger at the tall slender Arrancar.

"My dear sweet Lilynette," Szayel muttered, leering down at her with a menacing grin. It gave her shudders from the shadow that draped his visage at her, glasses concealing his eyes in the sky light glaring off the lenses. "I have no idea what you mean."

Clapping, Szayel and Lilynette turned to see Aaroniero the one who made the sound. Seeing all of their attention on her, the transcendent being smiled as she lowered her arms to her sides.

"Shall we go, then," She asked, tilting her head to look straight upwards. "To the Throne of God?"

Kirio stood at the edge of the entrance pathway, a launchpad directly behind her where it'd ordinarily propel the guards or guests from one place to the next to the cardinal palaces surrounding the Soul King's observing view.

From afar she beheld the enormous woven chrysalis of thread that had been unveiled since Shutara's death. It formed a beautiful cocoon, easily the size of her palace where the entrance to the Soul Palace itself presided. Ever since she felt her reiatsu become erased, the spell concealing her woven threaded barriers unraveled and told her all.

Her normally plump form slimmed down to an image recognizable to those that knew her over a hundred years ago. Long purple hair with curls at the end languidly flowed down her shoulders and back, her black lips formed a frown with her violet brows. Her Zanpakutō sheathed at her side, she had already concluded her task in storing Kirinji in a safe place.

"This isn't looking good," She heard from behind, not turning to see Ouetsu Nimaiya had returned, trotting up calmly next to Kirio's right. When he walked up, she cast a glance at the sword sheathed in a strap over his padded vested back. It had a white scabbard, a black threaded handle with a cloud shaped bronze guard.

"For you to bring that Zanpakutō, it must be," Kirio noted aloud, looking forward with a grim determination. "Perhaps we all should have fought in concert from the beginning. Victory could have been far quicker and easier to achieve."

"You know that's not how the Zero Division does things," He intoned, not looking her way while keeping his eyes on the massive threaded form Shutara wove. "You remember when you first got here, Kirio? We told you to leave that sentiment of unity and cohesion the Gotei imbued you since the Shinō Academy. We Royal Guards use any tactic we deem necessary. It may not always seem the most efficient but there's never a pointless means behind it. Even Shutara's sacrifice gave us time to prepare and coordinate a counterattack."

"You say that, but two guards dead under an hour doesn't speak volumes for my confidence in our victory," Kirio admitted dourly.

"We're not out of this yet," Ouetsu replied with a smirk, looking at Kirio past the rim of his shades. "Besides, Oshou will see to it they never even find the throne. This will be all over soon."

"You're right," Aaroniero said, appearing behind either guard, her flowing black cloak brushing against theirs, causing both of their eyes to bolt open wide. "This will be over soon."

Nimaiya unsheathed his sword, moving faster than Kirio could grasp her own weapon. His sword arched out, a blur of steel that poised to cut her neck from behind.

CLANG!

Stopped by a sudden appearing blade by one Coyote Starrk, the image of Aaroniero disappearing in a streak of black away. He tried to pursue with a vaulting leap, but is stopped by a sudden small Arrancar's racing form; instead of her swinging scimitar, his face smacked straight into his face in a comical impact.

"BUWAAAH!" He exclaimed, rebounding away to land in a backwards tumble away on the floor.

Kirio leaped past the pair, shooting reiatsu off her feet in a streak of momentum to chase Aaroniero. Drawing her sword, she readied to cut her down as she accelerated across the heavens to slash at her retreating form.

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice spoke behind her. She turned, suddenly seeing a hand grasp her by the hair-

Vwoom-KRAAAK!

-throwing her in a blur, crashing her straight into the obelisk of colorful threads with a rippling impact, shaking it in place along the narrow highway hovering in the sky. Wincing, she wrenching herself up, seeing the one responsible hovering the air; as if standing in the sky like in the Material World.

"Hello there," A soft red haired Arrancar said, draped in black accented white, a hooded cloak wrapped around a shape conforming uniform with a kama skirt covering his white pants down to a pair of white accented black heeled shoes. Running a gloved hand through his hair, he smiled decadently down at her. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Espada Octava, Szayelapporo Granz. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Kirio glared at him. This being felt different from Aaroniero. Just as strong, perhaps, but had a different wavelength in his reiatsu. She could tell just by looking into his eyes; their intent is very different, which made him a virtual unknown.

Rising up to her feet, she held her blade to the side. Jumping from the spot, she swung her blade around in an arc towards his neck.

He leaned back, arms extended as he fell back to freefall head first to the ground below. Kirio chased him down, blade held in both hands, her Haori rippling with her hair as she caught up with his descending frame. Arching her blade in a overhead strike with them both descending upside down, Szayel swings his gloved hand out and deflects it in a sparking parry; leaving not but a scratch on the glove with no sign of piercing his skin.

With the same hand, he punched at her face, releasing an orb of reishi that streaked out. Passing through her body harmlessly as she faded away through Shunpo, it shattered a hole through the fabric wound tower of Shutara's, shaking the ground below.

Reappearing behind him with another slash, both still upside down as they kept falling, he twisted around and deflected the next one with his other hand, eyes staring at her past a slew of sparks coming off the Zanpakutō and his Hierro. Locking eyes, the two nearly touch the floor with their heads, only to both evaporated, shunting space with faster than sight ability around the sky of the Soul Palace's entrance.

Just as they fought against one another, Gin himself walked up to a rising Nimaiya who scratched his head and hiding his embarrassed expression.

"Man oh man, I feel foolish for getting caught off guard like that," Ouetsu spoke, chiding himself with a wagging finger and a cloud guarded blade held aloft at his side. "This certainly is not my best day. I hope you forgive my poor showing. A guy like me usually is on top of his game."

"It's alright, nobody's perfect," Starrk remarked.

WHAM!

A small fist punched his crotch, doubling him over much to Gin and Nimaiya's surprise.

"Why you gotta be polite? He's the enemy, isn't he?! Politeness is the last thing you should be giving them, stupid!" Lilynette rebuked her other half with fist shaking frustration.

"Urrrrrrk, my balls. I'll never be a man again," He moaned out in anguish with his body shaking and head touching the ground.

"Stop your winging, Starrk! You're the Primera, ain't ya?!" She asked with incredulity, palming her face and stretching it down with exasperation.

"You know, that isn't very nice to do to a man," Ouetsu commented.

"I agree, not nice at all," Gin nodded with a lean of his head.

"Why am I the only one trying to take this seriously?" Lilynette groaned to herself.

A sudden rush of light charged ahead, passing over the lime haired Arrancar's head. Eye wide, she looked over to its source, seeing Ouetsu dropping to the floor, the arc of light narrowly missing him - slicing his hair as the line of light disappeared from Gin.

A hand holding out his wakizashi blade lowered, a creepy smile now present on the Shinigami's face as he saw Nimaiya look over with a trickle of sweat running down his cheek.

"Hm, I thought I had you for a second there," Gin remarked, swinging his arm aside in a flourishing gesture. "Guess it won't be so easy, taking a Royal Guard down."

"And I almost lost my head there," Ouetsu replied in kind, hopping back to his feet, turning sideways to keep either set of enemies in his sight.

Sighing, he raised his blade up before his shades eyes, his reflection looking back at him.

"Guess now's a good as time as any to call upon your help," He murmured, taking the sword close to his mouth, his lips inches away from the flat of the spiritual metal.

"Praise," Ouetsu spoke with reverence. "Aisubeki Gādian."

The blade glowed blue, then producing a column of azure smoke from the sword that swirled and twisted into the sky above them. Expanding in a spiral upwards till it surged high above, a silhouette took shape, darkness gaining form with appendages and bright red eyes within the fog. Swirling locks flowed back, gold became gilded into the shadows, casting a brilliant halo of shimmering rays.

Then, it dispersed, revealing something none there save Ouetsu could have expected.

As the upper part of the smoke unveiled with a swing of six muscular arms, a humanoid figure is revealed. Blue skin enamored a busty chested woman, a thin cloth of black barely wrapped around her jugs, leaving most of it to bounce with her gestures. A red tattoo of an eye surrounding a red gem at the forehead complemented the red eyeliner, long lashes opening to show red ruby rings for eyes. Golden bracelets with red jewels embedded along each arm jingle, broken links of gold chain links audible clink with her arms swinging about. A smooth abdomen clenched, swaying hypnotically like a belly dancer, her waist possessing a ghostly red silken skirt that melded over the column of azure smoke. Six layers of golden bands held her swaying shadowy locks in place as an intricately braided ponytail from her head, fingers all painted red with golden trimming.

Smiling with dark lips, she twisted her back with audible pops, all six sets of shoulders cracking and twisting out stress within them. Afterwards, she dove downwards, tackling Ouetsu to the ground.

"Tsu-Tsu! I missed you so much!" She cried out with a high pitched lilt, kissing his face and caressing him all over with her many arms. He smiled sheepishly, her hands stroking him fondly as she smooched across his blushing face. "How are you? Have you been eating enough? Are you in good health? The other hussies still stringing you around?"

"I'm fine, baby, really," He insisted, standing up as the large Zanpakutō clinged to him with petting strokes. "You know I can't trust you on your own outside of battle. The chaos nearly leveled the Palace last time I left you for five minutes."

"I just hate it when you are doing things away from me," She confessed, leaning her head on his shoulder while eyeing him possessively. "I'm the only Zanpakutō you need. Just stop hanging with the others and just let me take care of you, okay?"

"It's that kind of attitude that makes it hard on me," He admitted with a bead of sweat comically falling down his brow. "You know I got other responsibilities. I can't abandon it all just for selfish happiness."

"Then should I kill them?" She asked casually.

"Keep talking like that, and Oshou may seal you worse than I ever could," He warned.

"Okay, time out!"

Their conversation cut short, Aisubeki Gādian looked over at the source with Nimaiya. Lilynette looked irritated, her face slightly flushed at how the Zanpakutō appeared. Raising a hand, she pointed her finger at her, and asked with indignation, "The Hell is that, a prostitute?! That can't possibly be your Zanpakutō!"

"Eh?" Aisubeki asked, her red ringed eyes arching as a vein twitched above with instant anger. "You want to run that one by me again, you little punk?"

"I call it as I see it," Lilynette replied angrily, eyeing her up and down with her pink eye. "I don't know what's worse. The fact I don't see a weapon on your skank ass, or that you're showing more skin than most strippers I've seen!"

More veins throb along her brow, the blue on Aisubeki's face darkening to near purple with visible anger.

"You want to die?" Her voice deepening, a hint of a sultry growl escaping her thin lipped sneer.

"Better than seeing your whorin' face!" Lilynette snapped back, scimitar bared up in threatening gesture.

A pair of bonks silence both aggressive females, Ouetsu and Starrk punching down on their respective partners to make them shudder with eye bulging pain.

"Knock it off," Both Coyote and Ouetsu say to their mutual halves.

Lilynette rubbed her head, a tear in her wincing eye as she scowled back up at Starrk.

Nimaiya rubbed her head as Aisubeki's sore spot as she visibly held back tears.

"I-I'm sorry," She apologized meekly, her arms hugging him and herself while trying to wipe away the beginning traces of tears.

"I need you to focus, Aisu," Nimaiya said affectionately, his gaze shifting to the standing Gin and Starrk as he kept speaking. "These guys are dangerous. That's why I got you. The others can't handle combat of this level like you can. Can you help me right now?"

"Yes," She nodded, affirming with a renewed smile that brightened her countenance. "I can help you, Tsu-Tsu. Just put your trust in me, and I'll wipe them out."

"That's more like it," Ouetsu said, adjusting his shades as he tightened his grip on the sword hilt. "Let's wipe the floor with these guys!"

In the next moment, Gin and Starrk leaped back, the large Zanpakutō slamming two of her fists straight at into the floor. It rippled like water, with Lilynette tumbling backwards from its swift undulations. As she somersaulted with the warping ground, she saw a swell of light emerge beneath her.

Following an explosion of fire, her outline disappearing from view.

Shing-CRACK!

A teleporting slash came at her back, only to be deflected by an elegant double edged blade with a circular handle. Glowing blue, Starrk - with a squirming Lilynette held under one arm - fired a Cero into the Zanpakutō's person from his chest.

To his surprise, the top set of arms split the reishi like an oncoming waterfall, swirling it up above her head to be molded into a brighter blue orb that gleamed like a star.

"Have this back," She mused, clasping the wrists as she hurtled it down at the Primera, his body escaping the blaze of fiery blue reishi in a rapid use of Sonído.

As he dodged, Gin appeared at Nimaiya's flank, slashing his blade towards his face. The smoke rose up with his hilt, an outline of the katana forming in his grip within the smoke deflected Gin's strike, and the dozens of other slashes that followed, aimed at his person.

Yet he had to dash backwards, avoiding another slash of another sword held in the other middle arm's grip. The bottom set of arms of Aisubeki gestures at the air, hands clawing out as if clenching at something.

Both Gin and Starrk felt something manifesting around their bodies. Like a cage of reishi, it sprung into being where her lower arms pointed, and then brought the two at high speeds towards her two mid-armed swords.

The Primera flexed his reiatsu in a blaze of deep blue, the reishi around him shattering like glass. Vaulting over the sweeping sword of Aisubeki, he counterstrike with a slash of his own. The top set of arms caught his blade with a clap, an elbow of the mid-left slamming into his chest.

POW!

"Gah!" The Arrancar gasped, feeling the wind knocked out of him as his chest sparked of Hierro bracing the impact. Thrown back with Lilynette, his sword is sent thrown back at him, forcing him to turn his head as it crashed into the floor behind him; his cheek received a nick from a scathing glance of his own blade nearly running between his eyes.

Gin evaded a series of sword swings from Ouetsu and Aisubeki, the smoke submerged katana and the double-edged blades swiftly arching the air in dizzying streaks of steel. His smile retained, his white wrapped form dancing about while backing away to the color threaded tower he came from. The two lower hands of Aisubeki clapped together, parting to unveil a swirling sphere of translucent glass material.

Cracking, the wrists shot forth, unleashing a salvo of glass shards filling the air where Gin stood upon.

"Buto Renjin!"

In a rapid succession of arcing light, a storm of blades ran into the mystic projectiles, crashing into the swords of Aisubeki and of Nimaiya. Catapulting then across the floor, the pair thrown clear off the Soul Palace ground into the vast empty sky. Flowing up and around the empty canopy of Heaven, the two people crashing upon Kirinji's palace grounds with a distant boom.

Landing on the ground not far ahead of Gin, Starrk let Lilynette drop to her hands and feet, quickly bouncing back up next to his side. Looking over at the distant palace that he had been throttled to, Coyote let out a belated sigh.

"This guy seems strong," He mirthfully admitted, scratching his head with reluctance. "I don't think I can afford to hold back on him."

"Yeah, he seems to be a bonafide warrior, through and through," Gin admitted, walking ahead to join Starrk as he kept his thin smile and squinting expression at the Arrancar. "I think we have our work cut out for ourselves here."

A sudden whoosh came at them from behind Gin, landing upon the flooring nearby. The three looked over, seeing Nimaiya looking none worse for wear apart from a trickle of blood from a cut just above his brow along his hairline. Aisubeki herself floating behind with her middle arms crossed beneath her breasts, the top lacking fingers beneath her head into her ponytail, and the bottom placed at her curvaceous hips; all while casting a narrow eyes glare of crimson rings.

"Damn, that Shinso packs a punch," Ouetsu exhaled, patting the debris off him with a toothy grin. "Or should I say, Kamishini no Yari?"

"Oh, so you could tell?" Gin asked with a faux surprised sound escaping his lips. "I'm impressed. Your forging of Asauchi extends to your knowledge of Zanpakutō and their names?"

"Of course," He raised a finger up, wagging it while cheekily smiling with the cloud puffing sword in hand. "I know the whereabouts of every Asauchi I've ever crafted. I only know their names thanks to Oshou, and he's the one who's bestowed them their names before they even take form."

"This Monk of yours," Starrk asked, narrowing his eyes over at Ouetsu. "Is he the strongest one of you guys?"

"Strongest? That label doesn't do him justice," He laughed, shaking his head while rubbing his brow. "It's because of him that we're even here as an organization. The man's importance supercedes nearly everything that's come after him, with only the Soul King being the one above of everything. His power comes from what and who he is, rather than anything banal like rank or skill."

"So how would you rank yourself in terms of combat ability?" Coyote pressed further.

Cupping his chin, Nimaiya rubbed it thoughtfully. Giving it some thought as he hummed aloud, he raised a hand to form a sign that he could emphasize with.

"Between the five of us, I'd consider myself as 2nd to Oshou in terms of fighting prowess. But as far as power is concerned, I'd say I'm 3rd, with Kirio above me and Oshou on top. For responsibilities, I'd say I'm also in the middle in importance."

"You're only third in power?" Lilynette blanched with owlish blinks. "You feel like you're way stronger than that."

"It's really my harmony with Zanpakutō that draws out my true abilities," He confessed, blade clenched in hand as he eyed them through his shades. "I'm tougher than most Shinigami in the Gotei, but without a good sword, I might as well be a toothless cripple. Just like how even the mightiest Zanpakutō means nothing if their Shinigami can't wield them properly."

"You're awfully curious for Hollows," Aisubeki stated, her upper arms stroking her hair with a flop of her pony, stretching idly over her posturing body as she stared skeptically at Lilynette. "You seem to be different than most Arrancar I've met. I understand why the others may defile Heaven, but you don't seem to have a desire that's apparent. What drives you to invade the Soul Palace so recklessly?"

"None of your business!" Lilynette snapped.

"It literally is my business," Aisubeki intoned with a serious drawl. "I am Aisubeki Gādian, my purpose is to seek out defilers of the sacred grounds of the Soul King and eliminate all who aren't guests of his most Holy. Your refusal to tell me only ensures I don't spare you, regardless of your naive nature."

"Why you-?!"

"We seek to know who we were," Starrk admitted, causing Lilynette to stop short. She turned her head, pink eye staring in amazement at the normally withdrawn and passive man she's known her whole life speaking so directly. It felt like a fire is burning inside, one she could feel in her chest as well.

Something that happened since Orihime had touched their souls.

"Oooooooh," Aisubeki blinked, her eyes radiating a red light of intrigue, a smile spreading across her statuesque face. "I like you. A Hollow who wishes to know their past self is a rarity. Your hunger and past sins usually bury such a wish, but you're more unique than I anticipated!"

"Two Arrancar who share the same wavelength, like a Shinigami and a Zanpakutō," Ouetsu adjusted his shades, his countenance turning serious as well. "You are an interesting pair. It's a shame that you have to die, but, I feel honored to have met you at all."

"Don't feel bad," Starrk responded, his aura flaring out in a massive surge of reiatsu that shook the ground and sky around him. Lilynette glared as one with him, feeling a hand grasp her head as they steeled themselves. "We're the ones who's going to be doing the killing."

Kick About, Los Lobos!

Disappearing from view, Lilynette's reiatsu merged into Starrk's, and the two transformed in a towering twister of bluish white energy. Dispelling in a swathe of vapor, Nimaiya and Aisubeki look on with surprise, seeing the fur coated, eye patched Arrancar with black tassels hanging from his sleeves and a pair of black, silver embroidered pistols in either hand.

"Let's go, Lilynette," He spoke with a fierceness that shined in his eye, resonating his resolve more than he ever had in the past.

"You got it, Starrk!" She replied, her pistols whirring to life.

"Time to kill, Aisu," Nimaiya spoke out as well, holding the blade with both hands. His reiatsu shining brilliantly with the large Zanpakutō woman, whom now unraveled her arms with outstretched anticipation and a broad smile painted on her face.

BOOM!

A sound as loud as thunder reached their position. Each combatant widened their eyes, looking to the source. A singular body streaked by, flying uncontrollably back with a pained and surprised expression across the face.

"Was that-?" Gin began to ask, only to see the distant figure rebound in a blur of black straight back to the highest peak of the Soul Palace.

Minutes ago…

Aaroniero finally reached it. The highest point of the Soul Palace. It seemes to have a row of marble pillars lined along a paved road, leading up to a higher platform but nothing else above it. The answer to the missing throne and its obelisk lied ahead, standing tall in the middle of the path.

"Welcome, Aaroniero Arrururerie," Ichibe Hyosube said with a broad smile, his bald head gleaming and his beard bristling with life. "I've been expecting you."

"I'm sure you mean Sōsuke Aizen," Aaroniero countered, staring away while maintaining a distance from the Shinigami. There appeared a black inked line behind the Eyeball Monk, having been painted by him no doubt.

"Oh no, I never expected him to get as far as you," He waved dismissively, pointing to her with a glint in his dark eyes. "I've been watching you closely since you possessed Rukia Kuchiki. You've intrigued me from the start, and also raised my concern."

"Really?" Aaroniero asked, a smile creeping up across her fair face. "You find me interesting?"

"More than that. I find you to be more threatening than many Hollows I've encountered in the eons I've existed," He admitted, drawing a long brown stave with a rectangular shape to it from behind. The blunt top had a crease almost a foot down, indication of a weapon sheathed beneath the covering. "Which is why, after you've proved yourself in killing Kirinji and Shutara, I decided that I must bring about an end to your mad ambitions myself."

"Good luck with that," Aaroniero snarked, her eyes flared up with a glow of white. A surge of reiryoku channeled a flash of space reaving force, throttling straight at the Zero Division Commander.

Ccccccraaaaaaaackkk!

A field of yellow lit up, the discharge of transcendent reiatsu fizzling out in front of Ichibe harmlessly. Aaroniero widened her eyes, seeing her technique rendered null sending a chill down her back.

"Okay," Ichibe sighed, pulling back his uniform sleeve to expose his large, brawny arm of his left. Winding it up, he grinned as he took a step back, pulling back his exposed limb. "My turn."

BOOM!

Aaroniero barely saw the palm, unable to react as she felt herself crashed back by an invisible wall that rammed into her. Streaking across the empty blue canopy of Heaven, she lashed out a tether of reiatsu straight into the tallest platform. Stopping short of falling back down into the abyss, she flung herself towards Ichibe in a blur of black.

Ichibe palmed the air, sending a blast of force that throttled Aaroniero away once more. Yet, a blow to the back of his head sent him staggering a step forward.

"An Afterimage, eh?" He chuckled, turning to look at Aaroniero rushing at him with a fist cocked. Sidestepping the punch, he palmed upwards, striking her in the chest; spiraling her straight up into the empty blue sky above.

To her surprise, she'd see a massive foot appear above her. She'd swung her arms in front of herself, bracing against a crushing impact that sent her crashing down. In her rapid descent, she'd barely make out Ichibe hefting the large wooden stave, rearing it back like a baseball bat.

Connecting with her face as if she's the ball.

KRAAAAAK-KOOOOOOM!

A crack of lightning, a rolling elliptical shockwave of bluish light and Aaroniero is sent soaring across the horizon in an azure blur. Her body zooms uncontrollably swift, arcing through the emptiness of blue.

Ichibe raises a hand up, his eyes peering at the fleeting speck of his foe.

"Perhaps I overdid that last hit," He mused aloud.

Distantly, a violet light flared out like a star, a rolling gale of reiatsu flourished out to whip his beard and Haori back with intense fervor.

Grinning, the Eyeball Monk saw his opponent return in a flicker of Sonído. She looked unharmed, visibly guarded but maintaining composure.

"Welcome back," He greeted cheekily. "I hope I didn't hurt you too badly. We are still getting warmed up after all, aren't we?"

"You're packing more of a wallop than the old man I consumed, that much is clear," She admitted, her violet eyes narrowing her vertical pupils at him with scrutiny. "Your way of fighting already seems more odd than your colleagues. What strange power do you possess?"

"Why not search my comrade's memories? Perhaps you can glean some truth there?" He asked.

"So, you know," She stated, rather than asking.

"Of course. All our lives are bound to the Soul King, and we can always sense what has happened to one another," He explained with a wave of his hand, keeping the other on his stave. "And since you are a voracious Hollow by nature, there was no way you would simply give up the chance to consume such a choice meal. After all it's not every day one devours one of the chosen."

Aaroniero smirked.

"Then you know what's going to happen when this is all over," She said, raising a hand over her head; plunging it down to the ground with a vibrant flash of purple light.

Ichibei's eyes widened, seeing the air around him spark and then blast upwards. A conflagration of reishi ignited the ground he stood upon, shooting upwards in a violet burst that stormed over the sky of the Soul Palace.

A storm that became severed by a swipe of a blade that emerged from a stave. Hissing steam wafted over the area surrounding the Shinigami, large eyes wide and his smile nearly gleeful in its broad display.

"That was a good move! You nearly got me with that one!" He complimented with cheer.

"I merely did what I had intended to from the start," She answered, a twinkle in her eyes as her smile deepened. "Whatever technique you used to nullify my reiatsu reaching you is something I bypassed when I focused on the ground instead of your body."

"Technique? You speak of my Reijutsu," Ichibei said with a smirk. "Though I think the current vernacular is Kidō, I think."

"Red to some is crimson to others," Aaroniero responded with a sigh. "It makes no difference to me if you use your own words for it. I know you have a penchant for knowing and controlling names; something Shinigami have dictation over as well."

"Words are words until they are given meaning," Ichibei said, his voice gentle as he hefted the stave's handle over his large shoulder. "Long ago, I saw that words held no meaning since everything and everyone had their own way to speak. It was all discord, no harmony among one another. Babble, you could even call it.

"But after a quiet night, I came up on it," Ichibe spoke, the stave shifting in shape in a glow of blue. The handle became broad, oblong near the head and rhe blade shifted to that of a black dyed brush; the sight of which perplexed Aaroniero.

"The power of bestowing true names," The Shinigami said, his eyes widening with his smile. "Do you want to hear what happens next?"

"Regardless of what you say, Ichibe Hyosube," She sneered, her aura rising up around her in a majestic glow of purplish white, her violet eyes gaining a silver hue that made her smile a chilling display of malice. "I'll be taking your head off your shoulders."

A/N: And here it is. The beginning of Ichibe vs Aaroniero! As I have noticed how our favorite body snatcher has curbstomped every Royal Guard thus far, I decided that to make things more interesting, I brought back an old favorite - Szayelapporo Granz - and pitted him against Kirio Hikifune, while our Primera and Gin take on Ouetsu and his Zanpakutō.

Nimaiya's Zanpakutō (or at least this particular one) had been an inspired design. Kinda reminiscing of Djinn, Hindu Mythology and such with the smoke, blue skin and multiple arms with a third eye tattoo, I think this is a unique spin that isn't too far away from possible Zanpakutō. I do hope it's well received, cause I'm going to enjoy writing how she (and by extension, Nimaiya) fights against Gin and Starrk.

Be expecting more Chapters on the way!