I return from death

Rising again, and again

Whose flames devour its flesh

Ignite again from the ashes

For with this power of immortality

Perfection's claim is my greatest Sin

A Predator Among Us

White Deicide X

The Phoenix

Gin Ichimaru, a prodigy born into this world within a mere century and a half, has seen much no soul born in Soul Society would believe. He witnessed the suffering of Rukonagi, the defiling of his closest friend, and the machinations of a man he swore to kill for most of his life serving him.

Committing countless acts of cruelty for Gotei and Aizen alike, he believed himself the closest to being capable of destroying him. Even when he saw the conception of the anomaly that is Ichigo Kurosaki, he had faith in his own schemes to fulfill his own objective.

Yet, ironically, it was Toshiro Hitsugaya who managed to achieve it amidst Aizen's pride facing Ichigo at his best. When his reiatsu disappeared, he felt numerous emotions. Anger, joy, relief and a sense of loss. What was he to do, now that the man he served and planned to betray, is finally gone?

Yet, the Hōgyoku fell into the hands of one he had been watching from the beginning: Aaroniero Arrururerie. Using surveillance equipment and a sharp gaze, he counted in his - then, her - to fulfill a plan hidden from his own knowledge. So when he, and the Primera, survived what others didn't, he chose to throw his lot in with her to see if she could reach what Aizen couldn't.

So, being here, in the highest of heights, he saw the creature known as Aaroniero Arrururerie, now draped in garments of cosmic lights and darkness. She appeared beautiful and terrifying, her mere glance causing him to take a cautious step back. With power beyond his ability to measure, he knew if he even appeared untrustworthy at this time, he would surely be erased.

Yet, her words spoken otherwise.

"It's time to change things, in this world," She said with a smile.

"What things?" Lilia asked first, being the only one of the two who appears unafraid of this new form of Aaroniero. Whether it's due to being transcendent herself or being trusting of Aaroniero, Gin couldn't say.

"I'll get to that," She said, looking back to the veil framed empty chamber where the Reio once housed. "But first, I'm getting rid of this grim decorum."

A wave of her hand, the curtains, the walls and ceiling all dissolved into particles of blue. Raising her hand up, came a seat of crystal, jagged spikes formed above the back and a series of veined slots around the seat. Sitting upon the chair, she looked to the two with both hands on the armrests.

"Restructuring the Royal Palace is going to take some time, as I need to find the right inspiration to make it look more appealing," She said decisively, leaning back with a sigh. "But, I need to address enemies we still have to deal with."

"The Gotei?" Gin asked with furrowed brows. "Didn't you leave them alive for a reason?"

"I have no plans on eradicating them," Aaroniero waves a hand dismissively. "They serve a purpose beyond contrived control. Left unchecked, common Hollows would unbalance the world if they devour and kill too many souls, let alone living humans. They are a necessity, even if evil."

"What if they storm the Royal Palace?" He asked.

"Oh they will," Aaroniero's eyes gleamed a bit wider with a smile on her face. "I'm counting on that."

"If that's the case," Lilia Starrk said, raising a hand in proposition. "Do you want me to take care of them?"

Aaroniero laughed. A musical yet pleased set of chuckles.

"I appreciate your offer, but I have a different set of people we need to deal with," She said, placing the hands upon the armrests. "The true enemy, in the shadows of the Soul Society."

Now Gin and Lilia looked to each other in confusion. Neither knew what she meant about this. Even Aizen himself didn't talk about any adversary beyond the Gotei, or perhaps forces lying in wait in the Royal Palace.

SHFT!

A sudden rush of air is felt, a pair of feet tapping on the floor of the Soul King's throne. Both Lilia Starrk and Gin Ichimaru looked back, both surprised to see the figure standing there.

Earlier

Szayelapporo Granz, former Cero Espada then turned Octava after years of experiments and research, is feeling pressured.

After being reborn with plentiful amounts of reiryoku through Aaroniero's Arbol, he felt confident he could outmatch any foe set before him. Even with base abilities he is far more powerful than he ever had been, even with all the abilities he plundered back in Karakura Town.

But after that body was destroyed completely by both Ichigo and Orihime, he found what few cells remained attached to Aaroniero became all that is left of his being. Due to the warning given about potential betrayal, he lied there, waiting for his chance to assume more power as she ate the Royal Guards.

Instead, he is forced out, and every bit of him left is all that he has. Even the double he generated felt like more exertion than he thought. Amidst the battle against another Kirio, he discovered a major flaw in this rebirth.

The Aspects he had acquired in his earlier body, is severely limited since born from Arbol. He grimaced, finding this out as he tried to summon Angelle's Aspect only to find it missing. In fact, most of the Aspects he could use right now are entirely removed. Rudbornn's Arbol itself even felt restrained, able to only create a copy of himself and only one at a time.

It's like he knew what my intentions were from the start! He thought with an irritated expression clearly on his face.

"What's with the dour look?" Kirio asked, swinging Ginbatta around his guard in a slash across his chest. "Losing your nerve?"

"HNGH!" Szayel growled out, his chest expelling a burst of destructive reishi, purging any dormant organisms she has landed with the strike. Though it left a bloody wound across his chest, at least it kept her Shikai from casting the dreadful consuming critters to eat his body to pieces.

"That looked like it hurt," Kirio mocked, coyly casting a worried look over her eyes. "Do you want to stop and have a break? I can make some more food if you wish?"

"Don't taunt me!" He yelled out, slashing a fissure of energy at her. Phasing through her afterimage, the Captain descended with a two handed stroke. Meeting it with a rising stroke, both forces of reiatsu blasted across the crater with intense fervor.

"I won't be mocked by the likes of you," Szayel snarled, his two hands trembled under the strength of her blade. "I am beyond the likes of mere Shinigami!"

"Then why not show me instead of ranting?" Kirio asked, grinning at him jeeringly. "Unless you're afraid of what I might do next?"

"Shut!" He began to say, taking one hand off to rev up a scarlet colored Cero, throwing it at her body in a blaze of pinkish-light at her with a howl, "UP!"

He didn't realize until the last second his error. A glimmering silver wave of sparkling metal swiftly overtook his Cero, her body rising up in a Shunpo, watching the organisms draw near.

"I'll just destroy them-!" He said raising his blade to hit the tangible threat before his eyes.

"Houshoku Bakudan," Kirio muttered, snapping her fingers.

A bright light shrieked into being, followed by a yellowish explosion, engulfing her opponent across his body. He staggered back, blood spraying from burns and his glasses cracked across his face. Hacking out a cough, he waves off the smoke, grinding his teeth as he cast a glare at the elevated Kirio.

"I probably should have mentioned," She said, sweeping her hand over her forked blade with a tender smile, eyes casting a menacing glint in them. "I can control these things that my Zanpakutō creates, the little bugs. In order to cease their endless cycle of consumption, I can force all the reishi they've eaten to explode, killing them and damaging my foe with the equivalent force of whatever they're eating.

"So, your method of targeting all foreign reishi bodies may work in killing them preemptively," She added, swishing the blade around herself, smiling down at him mockingly. "But my ability to freely detonate them renders that moot, doesn't it?"

Szayelapporo's eyes widened with incredulity. Was he, a perfect being, put on the backfoot? By another scientist who believes they know better, someone who had been sequestered in the highest of heights, for a mere century?

No.

He's not going to lose.

Not again!

Breaking a smile out over his face, Szayel flipped his blade around inverse in grip.

"I think it's time to stop beating around the bush, as they say," He said, erecting it up above his mouth, "and get down to the killing!"

Kirio watched with intrigue as he stretched a tongue out to meet the steel he began swallow.

"Sip."

A roar of deep scarlet and pink reiatsu erupted upwards, bubbling like an overflow of sickly flesh and liquid. Spreading across the former Palace's grounds till it flooded the distended crater with the substance, it evaporated into the air, leaving a hazy mist over his transformed body.

"Fornicarás!" He declared, smiling anew, purple tipped fingers spreading from greyish, dull violet hands; each one attached to a total of six arms. A dress of dripping tissue dressed his body from the neck down, with a skirt of deep purple tear shaped tendrils. From his back protruded four sets of corded muscle, wide eyes grotesquely opening along them, tear sacs of dark crimson hanging beneath them, with rows of deranged smiling teeth beneath each wing. Apart from the violet painted over his eyes, a set of three vertical eyes opened over his forehead, each one a different color, from left to right is yellow, to red and then black. His hollow lens glasses lied as a pair of frames over the purple painted eyes, staring up at her with a perverse grin of triumph over his face.

Kirio herself felt a chill run up and down her spine, seeing and feeling an enormous difference of power between the two selves. Rather than a factor of ten, akin to a Shinigami's Bankai, she felt it to be far greater.

"I see now, Aaroniero," Szayel said with elation, looking around at his released state, grinning with clarity. "You gave me this new release state with those Aspects I was missing! Truly a greater gift couldn't have been given to a better Arrancar such as I!"

Kirio narrowed her eyes, her smile no longer present. She realizes now why he tried to single her out for himself. He wanted to test new powers he didn't have before; meaning any data she extrapolated using Oshou's knowledge is going to be useless.

Lancing around her back, she widened her eyes as a shadow fell over her. Turning around, she saw a row of teeth widen out to bite down with a gleaming eye staring jeeringly at her. From the shoulder down, he crushed down her appendage into its gullet; even as she stabbed it into the eye, a shower of grotesque clear fluid and blood splattering over herself.

Leaping back, she snapped her fingers, causing the winged face of teeth and bleeding eye explode in a large detonation.

Just as quickly she jumped back, another rising blur of flesh rose up behind her. Before she could swing her blade, it is knocked out of her grip, her body constricted in a tight grip of writhing flesh. A single eye looked down at her with a squinting glare, a mouth opening over and around her. A solid lump squeezed her through, churning her unarmed and wounded form, down the winded appendage till it reached his upper left side.

Among the tear shaped sacs, her body filled it up, her shape pushing and struggling, to no avail. Rubbing the outline, Szayel smiled as he licked his lips cruelly.

"Your reiatsu tastes delicious, Captain," Szayel said, laughing aloud as her muffled wails play like music to his ears. "Or, more than likely, it's not you, but another one of those pesky Reigai. You probably planted a bomb, or thought you could be clever and use those organisms against me. But you see," he trailed off, eyeing a shadow that loomed in the distance, sword in hand and glaring at him with a neutral expression on her visage. "If I analyze the reishi quality of another organism, I can create countermeasures that weaken, to outright nullify their effects. It ordinarily would take far more time I have available; fortunately, in this new body, I am not limited to such a degree."

She'd watch as the shape shrank, and the cries quiet. Within a minute of ingestion, Szayel had digested and absorbed all the cellular data with the abilities and reiatsu it possessed. Even his exploded wing sprouted out anew, a sick squelch of fluids as regeneration seemed easily done without any sign of fatigue to Szayel.

Absorbing my Reigai likely gave him knowledge about my Zanpakutō. If I give him too much time, he may even learn how its used, She surmised with a frown.

"I guess I can't afford to use any half measures," Kirio replied, stretching her sword up above her head.

"Bankai," She uttered, the air around her suddenly quieting and a sense of ominous dread cast over to Szayel. The forked shape of her sword fused inward, forming a singular razor tip, leading to a thin metal tube leading to a handle that sprouted out a number of roped bands that wrapped around her arm. Ending in a bulbous pauldron with an inscription of kanji over the face in bright red, reading "Death" on it. Kirio's eyes gained a menacing light as she uttered the name of her Zanpakutō's evolved state. "Gin Hakaisha!"

Szayel paused.

Everything around her vicinity is eroding, the air, the ground below and the flecks of energy about her is snuffed by a wave of destructive power the likes of which exceeded anything he's witnessed.

The only thing he had to compare it to is Orihime Inoue's Tsubaki, which rejected phenomena in a straight line; combined with Ichigo's raw destructive power in his Bankai, every cell of his and the residual reiatsu was erased completely.

I haven't finished analyzing the data, and she knows it! He realized, visibly sweating at her trump card wielded in hand. If I can't decipher the spiritronic pattern of this weapon, she might actually-!

Kirio descended, a wraith of purplish white, moving faster than ever before. The edge of the weapon hummed in thrusting at him. Whiffing over his head, the Arrancar turned to shadow, his spirit dispersing into particles while snaking away from her path.

Her eyes swept the earth, looking at the swift pattern of shadows moving across the broken soil. Seeing what she is looking for, she struck; thrusting her palm, she shot a Kidō into the ground, uprooting Szayel from the darkness.

"Found you!" She yelled, throwing herself again at him with another thrust at his body.

Throwing a wing in its path, he watched it disintegrate in a blast of blue. Leaping back in a burst of Sonído, he regenerated the wing, sending out all four wings to crash into her. A swing of her arms destroyed all in her path, the merest scratch enough to elicit instant destruction.

"Tch!" Szayel growled out, sprouting out double, then triple the appendages to lance out to strike her while backing away at top speed. Numbers proved useless, every appendage bursting to nothing as she launched herself swiftly at him. The Bankai destroys all in its path, each rapidly generated appendage reduced to sparking oblivion.

The more she pursued, the more he pressed on analyzing the Reigai he absorbed.

Ginbatta is a Zanpakutō that remotely controls microscopic organisms that she gives birth with her transcendent powers. Her reiatsu activates them at Will, and can even destroy them for explosive effect, He realized, his mind reeling with information as he kept unleashing more and more teeth bared arms at her.

Seeing her adeptly deflect and destroy each limb sent to push her back only intensifies his concern. At this rate, he may well die before discovering the key to her Bankai!

"You're wide open," A voice said behind him, causing him to reel and slash with a clawed upper and lower arms of his left. There he saw a Kirio, whose eyes sparking out as she emerges from the ground with Ginbatta slashing each of his limbs.

"Houshoku Bakudan," The Reigai said, Shunpo backed away in a flash of his arms taking an immense explosion that throttled him backwards.

Right into the path of the Bankai wielding Kirio. He turned to shadow at the last second, forming a hollow space, her razor tipped weapon passing through harmlessly as he slithered below and reformed behind her. Brandishing all four of his wings, each eye revved up tendrils of light that connected with his upper middle eye.

"Quartet Córnea Cero!"

Faster than she could react, he unleashed a massive surge of crimson reishi, the Cero Córnea piercing through her back out of her chest. She gaped out, staggering forward with the Bankai dispelling in her hand and returning to a katana once more. As her body fell to the ground, smoke billowed out from the uniform, revealing it to be a doll with a gaping hole through a wooden body.

A decoy! Szayel realized, feeling another surge of reiryoku as the 'Reigai' Shunpo to his back. Stabbing through his chest, her flickering blue eyes returned to their usual bright color, a pair of lenses seen in the gleam of light of her reiatsu. With his chest gored open by the Ginbatta, she'd say with a grim smile unseen by him.

"Bankai, Gin Hakaisha!"

His body erupted instantly destroyed across the chest cavity. Arms followed with it, a waving soaking erasure that swept his very being. Reaching up his head, a sudden rush of white fluid came and a blur of purplish-grey tissue leaped out of the disappearing head.

"Gabriel," He said, turning to face Kirio's shocked visage as she righted herself upwards. Clapping his hands, moist fluids flowing down his reborn Resurrecion clad body, the other hands placed at his hips and stroking his long light red hair back.

"Well done, Captain Hikifune! Very well done!" He applauded her, waving all six arms as his wings unfurled with jeering smiles and squinting glares at her, matching the half lidded stares of his upper forehead ocular lenses, his normal eyes staring ahead with a much more confident stare her way.

"You are a lot harder to kill than I thought," She said with a furrowed brow. "The last time I used this Bankai, my opponent didn't last more than a few seconds. To think I had to use all of my Reigai to even get myself the opening to even land it."

Stretching his right middle arm forward, he wagged it, clicking his tongue while staring disapprovingly at her, "There's no need to act composed for my benefit, Captain. After all, we're the only ones here. And I can tell you with certainty," spreading his smile ear to ear, his voice deepening with malicious glee, "I've already figured out how your Bankai works."

Kirio visibly sweated at this. Even if a bluff, the fact he could outmaneuver her so efficiently away from her ultimate ability shows just how strong he is. Gripping her weapon, she moved in a straight blur, thrusting her weapon at his center.

Only to feel her freeze in place.

Stopped just inches away from his chest.

Why can't I move?! She thought, her face straining with shock and confusion.

To her gaze, she saw a number of eye-shaped marks over her uniform and skin, landing on her arms, legs and shoulders. As such, she felt her weapon pull back against her control, away from Szayel; whose wings have large eyes shining with spread pupils, glowing purple with visible indicator as part of his machinations.

"You can thank my former colleague, Zommari Roureaux, for this ability, Amor," He explained, walking up ahead, sliding a finger along the rod part of her Bankai up to her trembling rope bound hand. "As I was saying, your Bankai uses a special frequency when discharging your spirit energy into a target at the tip. It's such a volatile amount and at such an intense vibration that anything that it touches is destroyed instantly. I can see why such a Bankai is forbidden, for fear a prolonged fight could reduce the Seireitei's bountiful energy in the atmosphere be completely destroyed."

"So? You've won," Kirio spat, her eyes glaring at him with disdain. "Devour or kill me so I may be rid of your gloating."

"But that's such a waste, Captain," Szayel replied, grasping her face and stroking her hair with two hands, while a decadent smile spread across his visage. "No, I see why Aaroniero has achieved so much. Why her evolution outpaced my perfect immortal form. It's because of that Shinigami body used as a medium for even further growth of power."

Hikifune's eyes widened in horror, watching a grotesque expulsion of tissue and flesh unfurling from the Arrancar's mouth. Skin unraveled, row upon row of tendrils of deep purple and black spiraled out of his being, dragging all of his monstrous being into a shrieking mouth. Agonizing seconds of pain, veins throbbing like fire and eyes rolled back, her marked figure shaking in place, unable to fight back against the defiling of her body.

And then, silence.

Fluid oozed from Kirio's mouth, pooling below at her feet. Black marks faded away, her skin paling and veins receding. A smile spread perversely across her cheeks, black lips smirking as hands raised up and clenched with experimentation. An awful blackish-pink reiatsu erupted mightily from her, strawberry-pink curly hair rising up with her coat as she declared aloud with triumph.

"Szayelapporo Granz, the Phoenix, has been reborn!" She laughed out, a demented cheer as she stood over the ruined leathery covering where her Arrancar form remained. Traipsing away, she grinned to herself, stretching her senses out to her surroundings.

The top of the Reio's obelisk is shaved clean by an immense power. Smiling to herself, she knew where to go next.

"Captain Hikifune?" Gin asked, a brow arched and head tilted to the side. "What's with that look on your face…?"

"That's not the Royal Guard," Lilia said, narrowing red eyes at the woman. "That's Szayel's reiatsu!"

"Correct!" Szayel replied with a snap of her finger, gesturing over her bosom with pride. "I've possessed the body of this crown jewel over Shinigami. Such exquisite control over reishi and near limitless reserves, along with a strong build fitted for battle. How could I not take advantage of such a good vessel to continue displaying my perfection?"

"Stealing her body feels a little creepy, though," Gin replied with a thin lipped look of disgust. "I mean, I know, Aaroniero did it first but I didn't really like that either. Couldn't you have just eaten her to get stronger?"

"No, this is better," The seated Aaroniero cut in, causing both of her peers to look her way with Szayel. A smile spread across the visage of the divine lithe woman, her cross-shaped eyes looking at Szayel approvingly. "You went the path I wished you to take. With a Shinigami body as formidable as a Royal Guard, you will be far less prone to being destroyed in such a fragile Arrancar shell you had been harboring in."

"My gratitude, most esteemed one," Szayel bowed her body to the white haired divine being. "Now that we have disposed of the Zero Division and you becoming the Reio, what are your aims now?"

"I was getting to that," She said, picking up where she left off as she addressed the trio. "When I devoured the Reio, I gained the power of clairvoyance. The Soul King's eyes allowed me to peer into the future; one that can uproot the foundation of all realms to being undone in a sheer abyss of chaos."

"The enemies in the shadows," Lilia pressed, her eyes narrowing with seriousness.

"They're known as the Quincy, a Clan of Humans who wielded the terrible power to destroy Hollows and remove them from the cycle of rebirth," Aaroniero began to say, her eyes blinking slowly, an image of the white clad corps razing Soul Society and storming the Soul Palace as clearly as she could see the three in front of her. "They are the Wandenreich, reformed after fleeing complete genocide by the Gotei over a thousand years ago. Their leader is returning from death, and with him, a number of powerful individuals that are comparable to the Espada and Gotei combined."

All three fell silent.

Enemies stronger than both the Espada and Gotei 13 combined? It seemed too absurd to believe. How could humans, let alone an army built in secret, be forming right under everyone's noses?

"How can you be so sure?" Gin asked, his squinting eyes opening to stare skeptically at her. "Aizen hadn't mentioned this army before. I don't doubt its existence, as most Captains are educated on the destruction of the Quincies. Yet, for them to return as such a major threat seems far fetched."

"Agreed," Szayel nodded, waving an arm around for emphasis. "I've only seen one Quincy and he seemed far less of a threat compared to the Captain Shinigami I've encountered. Perhaps you are overstating their strength?"

"You wouldn't have brought this up if you didn't think they're strong," Lilia said, making both skeptics look at the Primera as she looked to them without batting an eye. "These Royal Guard were incredible, far stronger than most Shinigami I've seen. If there's a secret organization hiding in the shadows of Soul Society, who knows better than Reio himself?"

The two paused, looking away while having furrowed brows.

"Regardless if you believe it or not, I must act before they have a chance to strike," Aaroniero said, her own eyes coolly staring at her Hōgyoku embedded left hand with thoughtfulness. "The Gotei 13 may eventually galvanize an offensive, but none of them have ability to truly threaten me. The Quincy, however, are our natural enemies. They must be purged, once and for all."

Szayel smiles, feeling excited by this prospect of conflict. Lilia nodded stoically, understanding the gravity of this potential future threat. Gin simply smiled cagedly, hiding behind his guise of a cold serpent in the face of an unknown.

"I already have devised a means of how to reach them," Aaroniero said with confidence, raising her right hand up towards the balcony where they stood across from her. "But we're short on numbers. Let me correct this."

The floor below them spread outward, the top of the obelisk becoming a wide disc of white. With the railing sent out a great distance, a broad dome is made and leaving a large skylight hole of the blue canopy of the heavens filtering light through. Standing near the crystal throne, the three began to see luminous flames of various colors sprouting out of pale white trees.

Flesh, bones and muscles are knitted together, following detailed visages and cloaks of white with black borders. Hair came from scalps where they once had, eyes opened and mouths breathed out air. Life restored into them, they looked around, seeing each other and began taking stock of their surroundings.

"The Hell am I?" Yammy Llargo spoke first, the ogre shaped behemoth on a swivel at his new surroundings. "Am I dead? Or am I back, somehow?"

"This feels familiar," Grimmjow Jeaguerjaques said, his blur frocked hair bristling as he looked at the various people around them. They retained appearances he recognized, most being Espada or demoted to being Privaron. His eyes met Nnoitra Gilga's, his single eye glaring his way.

"You!" He snarled, his body erupting with a powerful gale of reiatsu across the ground they all stood upon. "You backstabbing shitbag!"

"Oh," Nnoitra grinned mockingly at Grimmjow. "You remember. I figured I hit you so hard you forgot how weak you were to not block such a basic attack."

"Bastard!" He growled, hands cracking at his sides in wiggling twitches.

"Oh boy," Gin stated, smile intact as he saw the familiar silhouettes as all having been eaten by Aaroniero. "You didn't just make puppets this time. They're all acting independent, and ready to tear each other apart."

"They're no use to me without their strong wills intact," Aaroniero remarked, leaning her head into an upraised Hōgyoku embedded fist. "Besides, I've missed their banter. It's far more lively with them, than in an empty tomb the Reio left behind."

"You say that like there's no bad blood," Lilia said, seeing Grimmjow and Nnoitra mock each other back and forth from the distance. He saw Zommari look their way, visibly sweating at the sight of the three; especially Aaroniero sitting behind them.

"IS THAT YOU, AARONIERO?!" He bellowed out, causing all of the awakened figures to look her way. A mixture of emotions, both fear and anger, rippled out like water among them. They could tell, without even feeling her power, that she is mountains above what they had.

"You ate us…!" Angelle Cooney shouted, a Numeros and Vanguard Arrancar, visibly trembled at the sight of her. "Why are we here? Did you not torture us enough?!"

"Is it not obvious?" Sverrie Alessi said, a smile playing at her lips, her dark hair resting over her shoulders and her white cloak lying over her translucent white robes with a black sash wrapped around her pelvis, the feather guarded rapier sheathed at her left hip. "She seeks to use us for our power, so she doesn't need to do anything."

"Ha!" Rana crowed out, her fiery red hair complemented by her red cape with white pauldrons, with a white tube top, revealing her bronze tinted Amazon bodice to her white pants with a black bordered hakama. Her saber sheathed at her left hip, she strode forward, ebbing red flames of reishi as she walked towards her from the distance separating them. "You've got a lotta spunk pulling what you did. I felt it all, even though I was stuck with these people you ate, I could see what you're up to. And I gotta say, I like that moxie."

Soto Muerte looked on, his bangs hiding his bright eyes that kept a guarded look. His gloved hands were already on the handles of the double sickles he kept sheathed behind his back. On a moment's notice, he would act in support for her, regardless of her situation.

"That being said," The Crimson Queen sneered, her hand reaching for her blade, her red cape billowing out as she grinned, eyes flashing wide and her red reiatsu produced a massive shockwave that pushed most of the Arrancar back away from her.

"I don't want to fight beneath these other lesser Hollows, or Shinigami," She hissed, red eyes glaring heatedly at the seated Aaroniero. "Give me my rank of Primera back, and I'll consider fighting for you."

"That rank is already filled," Aaroniero replied smoothly, gesturing over to Lilia. "You may remember differently, but this is Lilia Starrk. She's my comrade, and has demonstrated capabilities far exceeding yours. So she keeps the spot."

"Lilia? Starrk?" Rana questioned, looking at Lilia with a cynical gaze. "You do look familiar. You're that moody looking guy Aizen promoted. One of the Hōgyoku enhanced Espada?"

"He never used that gem on me," She admitted, reaching a hand up to scratch her chin. "This is my true form, if you want to call it that. All this strength is my own."

"Tch!" She hissed, finding herself restrained at the feeling she got in her Pesquisa. Coyote or Lilia, it didn't matter. The facts were obvious: there is a world of difference between herself and Lilia Starrk.

"And for the record," Szayel raised a hand with a smirk. "I'm still a Hollow, just possessing this body for my own means."

"And I'm just tagging along for the ride," Gin shrugged with a grin.

"Okay, okay!" Rana dismissed aloud, letting go of her saber and placing her hands in her hips with an eye rolling huff. "I'm not ready to get my title back anyways. I can always do it later."

Breaths of relief were heard, and Soto stopped holding onto his concealed Zanpakutō.

"I get the gist of why we're here," Gantenbaine Mosqueda said, the orange afro Arrancar said while looking to his mutually reborn peers. "We're all going to kill some humans hiding in the Soul Society's shadows. We're going in blind, relatively speaking, since we don't know what they're capable of."

"It matters not," Patros said, the mustached blue haired Arrancar quickly inserting himself into the conversation calmly as he explained it from his own perspective. "They're also not expecting us to attack them where they're at, hidden away. And we have the element of using a power humans cannot resist; Hollowification."

"How sharp you are," Aaroniero said, lifting her face off her upturned fist and looking at her forces. "Yes, humans are susceptible to Hollowification in comparison to Shinigami who can resist the effects to a degree. But Quincy are more susceptible, due to the nature of their blood's purity. They cannot survive large amounts of Hollow cells flooding their veins; they self destruct if overly infected."

"Then we got this in the bag!" Yammy said with a raucous laugh, palming a fist loudly. "Let's go crush them to a pulp!"

"Calm yourself, Yammy," Tier warned, causing the brutish Arrancar look with disdain her way. With her face concealed by her long sleeved high collared jacket, her eyes coolly stared his way with a cold composure. "They've been building strength for nearly a thousand years. They may possess techniques or technology that can work around this limitation. We need to be mindful of any potential surprises they have for such an event, even with surprise on our side."

"How do we do that?" Mila Rose asked, her fellow two Fraccion both begrudgingly appearing to be at a loss what the best course of action is to be.

"I have the solution," A bull headed Arrancar said, walking forward with emphasis. Placing a black gloved hand over his chest, he spoke gratedly through his skull mask with a stoic certainty. "My Arbol can produce a limitless army. I can storm their base with such a large amount of forces that it will cause discord and confusion, separating themselves from each other. This will give an opening for the Espada to strike the bulwark of their elites, leaving their leader exposed."

"That's actually brilliant," Sedosa Belleza said, her eyes blinked with her mouth agape with surprise. "But…who are you supposed to be again?"

"Rudborrn Chelute of the Exequias," He replied.

"And they do what?" She asked.

"Execute Aizen's enemies-"

"He cut down the other failed Privaron in the past," Gantenbaine explained with a dismissive gesture. "He's the clean-up crew."

"Why must you demean my duties?!" Rudborrn cries out, hand shaking with rage at him.

"It's because you were a kiss-ass, and I never cared for you," Gantenbaine said matter-of-fact.

"Why you-!"

"Enough!" Aaroniero called out, silencing the argument. Leaning back against her throne, she smiled at the assembly set before her. "I think the strategy is pretty sound. I'll make adjustments as necessary. However, I must give you all the necessary power to take on such enemies."

Raising her left hand, the Hōgyoku gleamed with a bright majestic light. Flowing out, each Arrancar felt a stirring within them, a powerful force imbuing straight into their soul. Their holes, the signs of their Hollowity, filled up with a white cross shape brand, and their bodies released an immense torrent of power over each of them. Even the brands of their ranks changed designation, shifting about and shine with an outline of white light.

"In order of the Royal Espada," Aaroniero said with a smile, eyeing each one as she names them off. "Primera Espada, Lilia Starrk.

"Segunda Espada, Tier Harribel," She elected, causing the blonde Arrancar to nod sagely in respectful acceptance; a sign that even the three Fraccion of hers looked pleased with.

"Tres Espada, Grimmjow Jeaguerjaques," She proclaimed, causing the blue haired Arrancar to look surprised and gleeful about the promotion all at once. He cast a smirk Nnoitra's way, who simply gave a silent scowl from his one eye.

"Cuatro Espada, Rana Zolinder," She names, the red haired Espada looking down at her scar had healed and turned to a prominent 4 above the cleavage.

"Quinto Espada, Soto Muerte," Nnoitra heard, glaring at Soto who simply remains unflappable at the announcement, causing him to seethe that his rank is removed from him.

"Sexta Espada, Sverrie Alessi," She heard, a simple smirk adorned on her face, eyes closed as she found irony her old rank had been restored.

"Septima Espada, Zommari Roureaux," He heard, much to his surprise that he kept his roll as before. He wondered if Aaroniero saw value in what he had in terms of ability? He pondered this as she names the next one.

"Octava Espada, Nnoitra Gilga," She said, causing the one eyed Arrancar to grind his teeth in anger, fuming at his demotion, even in this new life of his.

"Novena Espada, Gantenbaine Mosqueda," She declared, the orange afro Arrancar simply shrugged, just happy he got a title at all.

"Diez Espada, Angelle Cooney," She said, surprising everyone, including the horn mask fragmented Arrancar.

"Hey, what about-?"

"And you can keep your silly Cero rank, Yammy," She proclaimed, waving her hand around while rolling her cross-shaped eyes with a snort. "It's not like I don't think you're strong. I just don't think you're a conventional person, so you can be as you always were: a wild card."

"Ahh, thanks?" He scratched his head, wondering if he had been insulted or given a compliment now.

"Now that I've dictated the Espada, I can work out a plan of attack-"

"Hey, what about me?" Patros asked nasally.

"Oh right, I almost forgot," Aaroniero laughed, covering her face and waving him off. "You and Sedosa can be Fraccion to Sverrie. You seemed to work well with her in the past, after all."

"Oh-"

"-joy," Sedosa groaned after Patros, casting a wary glance at the Swan Arrancar who killed her in her previous life.

"And I, Lord Aaroniero?" Rudborrn asked with a hand placed over his chest with insistence.

"You can be my General of the Royal Army," Aaroniero declared without hesitation, grinning at how his countenance raised at hearing this. "I'm counting on you for your role in the upcoming battle."

"Of course, Lord Aaroniero!" He bowed to her without a second thought. "I'll fulfill my duties without fail! This I swear!"

"Kiss-Ass," Gantenbaine murmured.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I'll work out our battle strategy," Aaroniero Arrururerie said, crossing her fingers in front of her lap and smiling deviously. "And soon, we'll crush our last obstacle in our path for the new world of my design."

A/N: Fun chapter here. Between bringing in the Wandenreich as antagonists, even if not in a huge capacity, is a fun opportunity I couldn't pass up. And with Szayel winning a fight for a change that isn't just haxxing his way through a battle, we can now see how everything plays out from here. Hope you all enjoyed this update, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.