Rukia was able to defeat Aaroniero, but the battle is far from over. Many of Fairy Tail's wizards were faced with Noches Espada and many powerful enemies faced off against some of Fairy Tail's strongest. Right now, Nagato was looking out for Lilly and Igneel to keep them safe.

"You two should really find a place to hide." Nagato said. "You shouldn't even be here in the first place."

"No way." Lilly said.

"We want to save Orihime too." Igneel said.

"I know you do, but this is going to be dangerous." Nagato said. "This isn't a place for kids like you to be here." Nagato failed to notice Noches Espada's soldiers heading right for them, but Lilly did.

"Open, Gate of the Pegasus!" Lilly called Pegasus to help them out and he used his light magic to knock them all away. "You could have a little more faith in us."

"She's got you there." Pegasus said. "Lilly's become a lot stronger since she first gained my key. Nagato, I know you want to keep them safe, but we're going to need all the help we can get."

"I take it you already know what's going on." Nagato said.

"About how Orihime is the key to that crystal tower so these creeps can recreate the world? Lilly's filled me in and I've been keeping my eyes peeled." Pegasus said. "Now, stay focus. We have company." He looked over to the side and Nagato followed his sight and they were met with Zommari.

"You Fairies truly are persistent. Why do you insist in interfering?" Zommari questioned. "I will have to teach you not to interfere in the matter of others."

"Our Persistence"

…

Chad

Chad told Ichigo to keep moving while he stays behind to fight Nnoitora. That proven to be more trouble than he thought for Nnoitora has shown to be a lot stronger than he looked. Chad was thrown into a wall and lay against the ground with him being beaten down. Nnoitora had a bored look on his face.

"This was more boring than I thought." Nnoitora said. "That guy you told to run looked a lot stronger. I better get to hunting him down or someone who's stronger." Chad wasn't going to let that happened as he got back up. "Are you still breathing?"

'I can't give up.' Chad told himself. 'I have to beat this guy. He might be stronger, but I'm not going to give up. No matter how tough the opponent is, I have to keep fighting.'

"Just stay down." Nnoitora tossed his weapon at Chad, but Chad jumped up and used his Take Over Magic with both his arms. "I see you got your second wind."

"Take this!" Chad said as he landed down and went to attack him. Nnoitora grabbed the chain and pulled back his weapon. Nnoitora swung it down, but Chad was able to block it.

"You'll have to do better than that." Nnoitora said as he pushed down and his weapon was pushing through easily. Chad acted fast and moved out of the way before he lost an arm. Chad undid the spell on his right arm, but there was still a nasty cut.

'How did he do that? He was able to cut through my take over like it was made of butter.' Chad wondered.

"Let me tell you something about my weapon." Nnoitora proclaimed. "This weapon is called the Santa Teresa. The blades are enchanted. You can try and block my weapon as much as you like. It's not going to make a difference because I can cut through anything with this."

"You can cut through anything?" Chad said.

"That's just what I said, idiot." Nnoitora said. "It would also seem that your magic involves the use of your arms. I wonder…..would you be able to fight if I cut them off?" Nnoitora has proven himself to be a sinister man with no sign of showing any mercy.

…

Orihime

Ulquiorra guided Orihime to the tower. He led her inside and they waited at the top. Even the inside was nothing, but crystal. Orihime stood face with what would surely be her demise.

"So what now? Are you going to use it?" Orihime said.

"I do not have the power to do that." Ulquiorra said. "Only Lord Aizen is able to do that. We shall wait here until he returns."

"Why does he have that power?" Orihime asked.

"As you know, this tower has the ability to shape the world to however the user sees." Ulquiorra said. "Lord Aizen needs to make sure it is to his view. You could do it easily yourself, but Lord Aizen knows a spell that will block out your way of thinking so that he can control the power. What will happen to you is that your life will be lost."

"I've been meaning to ask about that. How do I play a part in it?" Orihime said. "I recently found out that my hairpins are the source of my magic. Why don't you just take them and not me?"

"A good question." Ulquiorra said. "Surely you must know that more powerful magic is, the more demanding it is. While the person who created this tower sought out to revive his lost family, it came at a price. It's not enough just to have those hairpins. We need someone to guide the magic energy, a sacrifice, and it has to be someone that can use the magic in the hairpins. Since you are able to use Rejection, you're the only option."

"I see." Orihime said as she finally had an understanding how this whole thing works.

"Don't try to get any ideas." Ulquiorra said. "If you use this tower before Lord Aizen returns to stop everything, your friends will pay the price for it. I can easily take away the hairpins and without them, you will have no power to do anything."

"I don't need to try anything." Orihime said. "Now that Ichigo and the rest of the guild is here, they'll do everything they can to stop this. As long as they have something to fight for, it doesn't matter how strong the enemy is."

"Yes, I've noticed that behavior myself." Ulquiorra said. "This guild of yours will just continue to get in our way. In the end, it will all be for nothing. They're like lambs to the slaughter."

"How can you say that? You were one of us." Orihime said.

"Are you still holding onto that? It was all a facade." Ulquiorra said.

"What I mean is that you should understand what we're like." Orihime said.

"I don't." Ulquiorra said. "I don't understand why this guild would take part in a fight they know they can't win. There are some philosophies of this guild I don't understand. None of that matters at this moment. All we have to do is wait for Lord Aizen and that shall be the end."

….

Uryu and Renji

Renji got reunited with Uryu during the whole battle. Not long after they did, they were faced with another member of the Eight Hollow Swords, Szayelaporro. Renji unleashed some of his lashing spells and Szayelaporro was freaking out as he did his best to avoid them.

"Is this guy really a member of the Eight Hollow Swords? He's acting like a pushover." Renji said.

"Careful, Renji. We can't fall for any of his tricks." Uryu said as he prepared to launch an arrow and fired. Szayelaporro panic again and narrowly avoided it.

"See, Uryu? He's acting like a nervous wreck." Renji said.

"I might be a member of the Eight Hollow Swords, but I'm a scholar and a pacifist." Szayelaporro said. "Please try to go easy on me."

"After what your guild buddies did to our friend and that comment you made about Rukia, no way." Renji said. "You dug your own grave and now you've got to lie in it."

"Let's finish this, Renji." Uryu said.

"Slash Lash!" Renji shot out the elastic metal and Uryu fired another arrow. Szayelaporro was scared and didn't want to get hit, but all of a sudden he had a change of personality. He grabbed the metal and the arrow each with two fingers. "What the hell?!"

"I knew something was up." Uryu said.

"Yes. I thought I put on a little show." Szayelaporro said. "Ulquiorra has shared your information with me, but I wanted to see it firsthand. I was trying to make this a little more exiting, but I grew bored."

"You sneaky bastard." Renji said.

"Take a look at his feet." Uryu said as Renji looked down. "We didn't even get him to move a single step. He was playing us the entire time."

"I was hoping to put on more of a show, but I'm afraid you two extras mean nothing in this broadcast." Szayelaporro said and held up his hand. Uryu and Renji were expecting an attack, but something different came. They both felt some sort of pain in their stomach like Ichigo did and they dropped to their knees.

"My stomach! What the hell is this? It feels like I swallowed a few knives." Renji said.

"Wait a minute, Ichigo said he felt something like this before Orihime was taken." Uryu said. "I take it that you're the person who turned into Sora and tricked us."

"I see my acting is as great as I am brilliant." Szayelaporro said.

"What did you just do to us?" Renji said.

"I meant what I said earlier. I really am a pacifist." Szayelaporro said. "So I learned a form of magic where I don't have to dirty my hands or even lift a finger. It's known as Virus."

"I've heard of that magic. It's a form of Black Magic and a sinister one at that." Uryu said.

"Correct. If I wanted to, I could create a virus to kill the both of you by infecting your hearts or your brains, but then I wouldn't get to see you squirm." Szayelaporro said with an evil chuckle.

"You sick freak." Renji said as he tried to get back on his feet.

"Nope." Szayelaporro and moved the virus to Renji's right leg. He couldn't move or even stand on it as he dropped to the ground.

"Damn. He moved the virus to my leg. I can't move it." Renji said. Uryu knew they needed to do something before Szayelaporro decides to end this. He reached behind him and pulled out a capsule.

"I'm afraid our little show comes to an end." Szayelaporro said. Before he could do anything, he saw one of Uryu's arrows fly at him, but he moved to the side. He saw Uryu back on his feet and he looked healthy as a horse. "What?"

"Uryu, how are you on your feet?" Renji said.

"I'll just have you squirm again." Szayelaporro said as he tried, but he didn't felt anything from his magic. "What's going on? Why isn't it working?"

"Renji, here." Uryu said as he passed down another capsule. "Drink it, quickly." Renji took it and swallowed the small batch quickly and he felt much better.

"Wow." Renji said as he got back on his feet as well. "Uryu, what did I just shove down my throat?"

"It's a special magic potion I invented myself." Uryu said. "When Ichigo told me how one of our enemies has that kind of magic, I grabbed some. This potion clears away any illness or pain."

"Amazing. Wendy must be jealous." Renji said.

"However, it's difficult to make." Uryu said. "That small batch for you and me was all I have and it's affects are only temporary."

"How long do we have?" Renji said.

"Fifteen minutes. So we need to end this fight before time runs out or we'll be dead." Uryu said. Fairy Tail's persistence is helping them keep the fight going, but it's making the battles difficult. With such a short amount of time, can Uryu and Renji actually defeat this foe?

…..

Ichigo: Though I would never admit it, Uryu is one of the smartest guys I know. He can make a good analysis and when he has a general idea of the situation, he knows what to do to overcome the challenge. It's when he's pressured that he truly shows his handy work.

Next Time: Fifteen Minutes

Ichigo: Time is ticking with lives on the line.