The Espada and Elsa had been gathered in another large room with a rectangular table with seats for every member of the Espada, and for Aizen and Amelia, who had yet to arrive. This room also had excellent yet simpler decor, with a small group of maids in the corner who were responsible for serving those present tea. They had done so once all of the Espada had gathered and would also serve Aizen and Amelia when they arrived.
"So how many rooms like this do you think this place has?" Jaecar asked looking around while still in awe of the surroundings.
"Heh. A lot?" Elsa remarked with a sarcastic tone and expression.
"Why don't you two ask Aizen or whoever is working as your head servant?" Cayo suggested, with his head resting on the table.
"What happened to you?" Elsa asked in wonder and a raised eyebrow.
"I'm bored." The Espada replied with a yawn.
"W-What? You're bored?" Alvis asked in surprise.
"You hadn't noticed?" Cayo asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"W-Well, you do seem different than usual." The young man remarked in confusion.
"Didn't you have anything to do during these past few days?" Jaecar asked.
"I did. Actually, I had 20 perfectly shaped things to do during all this time. But after spending more than one day in bed, just going at it non-stop I decided to stop." Cayo replied, lifting himself from the table.
"R-Really?" Alvis asked in disbelief.
"What? If I had gone at it without stopping, I would eventually get bored. That's what tends to happen when you do something for long periods of time with few breaks in-between." Cayo dryly informed with another yawn.
"Then, what did you do during the rest of this time?" Elsa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I drank a little. Walked a lot. Especially when I got lost…" He began to reply, when Jaecar interrupted.
"Didn't you ask anyone for directions?"
"Hey! I was scared they would think less of me. And I wanted something to do." Cayo replied, with a laugh.
"So, outside of that… I also did some sparring." He finished with a light grin.
"T-That is unexpected." Elsa said flatly.
"Did you think I would spend this entire time banging my servants?"
"Yes." The other three simultaneously replied in a deadpan.
"Huh!? Why did you think that!?"
"I-Isn't that what you do most of the times?" Alvis asked, while hiding his reddened face sipping his tea.
"I… I guess you would fall under that impression. Especially since most of the time I am not this bored. And sex is among the most enjoyable things to do…" Cayo replied, falling into a strange, even contemplative silence.
"What did you do Alvis?" Jaecar asked.
"W-Well I…" Alvis began to reply, before being abruptly silenced by the black cat that jumped on to the table.
"He trained." Yoruichi flatly replied.
"A lot." Alvis added in a semi-embarrassed tone.
"And has improved a little. Still, he should be ashamed of himself for letting someone of his level get out maneuvered by me several times." Yoruichi remarked, stunning both Jaecar and Elsa.
"Did you train?" Rylen asked, looking at Leinas.
"A little." She replied, to which the elder frowned.
"You should take this more seriously. If it was up to me, I would never have begun training you. However since Aizen requested it, I decided to oblige. That being said, outside of me, you are the only one who knows of this ability, and is still alive. Do not waste it." Rylen growled sternly.
"Listen to him. It is a useful ability." The Dragon Lord casually added in a growl.
"What does it matter to you?" Leinas hissed as she narrowed her eyes.
"Like I said, it is a useful ability. If you find yourself without a weapon, it would allow you to properly defend yourself. Lack of training could result in serious damage to your body. Like you have already experienced previously." The Cero Espada replied dryly.
"Fine. I'll get back to it when we get some more free time." Leinas said, sighing in defeat.
"Hm. The sooner the better." Rylen added.
"So, Juno. That Ulquiorra is quite the looker.~ I would imagine it must have been hard to get any proper rest with him around.~" Annika playfully chuckled.
"P-Please do not imply such things." Juno remarked, wanting to put a quick end to the subject
"Oh. My apologies. I forget that you are far too worried about Aizen, to consider such things.~" Annika said, to which Juno's face lit up.
"Either way, I just wanted to point that Ulquiorra seems like a very capable individual.~" She added, in a more serious tone.
"H-He is." Juno spat out, recomposing herself.
"He is a very capable individual. I-I am very fortunate to have been given someone like him as my head servant." She calmly added.
"Lucky you." Carmyn spoke, joining the conversation.
"Is there an issue with your servant~?" Annika asked
"He has a major personality issue! First thing he did when he meet was call me short! I mean, does he not know how to properly treat his superior!?" The small Espada growled in annoyance.
"Hehe. It would seem he didn't.~" Annika remarked with a chuckle.
"But we are sure you ratified the situation." Juno said seriously.
"Exactly. Knocked him over the head. and since then have been keeping him in line." Carmyn announced triumphantly.
"As expected of someone as wise as you." The forth ranked Espada said in respect.
"I guess. My servant also has some issues. Not as bad as yours, but still might be a problem in the future." Annika thoughtfully commented.
"How so?" Carmyn asked with a curious head-tilt.
"He sees him self as the supreme figure in the palace, except for me. Meaning he rarely does anything I ask him directly, always ordering someone else to do it. That being said, he has great taste when picking the ones to do said tasks.~"
"…"
Carmyn was about to say something, when their senses picked up on the arrival of Aizen and Amelia. The duo took their respective seats, and as if on cue the maids served the duo tea, while also replacing the cups of the others with freshly filled ones. Upon having done this they left.
"I hope none of you have had any issues with their head servants. Even you, Naz'da'gar after having obtained one for yourself." Aizen cordially stated.
"Actually, mine had some personality issues." Carmyn pointed out.
"Hmm. I understood that those were taken care of, correct?" The Shinigami remarked, to which she frowned.
"Indeed."
"Alvis, I hope training went well." He said.
"I-I have made some improvements. Thank you, for your concern." The young Espada informed with a head bow.
"And there are many others to be made." Yoruichi quickly added.
"One step at a time. What matters is that you are getting results from this training." Aizen remarked.
"Putting that aside, we can move on. I am certain everyone was given information on the current incident taking place in the cemetery in E-Rantel, correct?" Amelia said in a serious tone.
"Yes." The Espada all replied.
"Good. From what we know the group of Momon and Nabe have already gone into the cemetery, however after they went in the number of undead at the gates has increased, meaning no one else can get through. That being said, the Espada will selflessly send two of their members to aid the adventurers that are trying to handle the incident." Amelia informed.
"Along with that duo. Four others will be sent. Jaecar and Rylen will go, with Jaecar using his abilities to inform us on what Momon and his companion are doing. Rylen, you will aid the other duo in making sure no undead manage to make it over the surrounding walls…" Aizen began, but was interrupted by Cayo.
"We can do that!" He excitedly announced, placing a hand on Alvis's shoulder.
"Your enthusiasm is welcomed, Cayo." Amelia said, looking at Aizen who gave her a nod.
"For those that will help the adventurers, I pick Leinas and Naz'da'gar. Given the undead nature of the enemy, you two are among the more qualified for this situation."
"As you wish." The Dragon Lord growled.
"If you insist." Leinas sighed, not happy with having to help those who openly despise them.
"I am sure the both of you will do your best. We leave for E-Rantel in 10 minutes." Aizen announced as he stood up.
In front of the closed gates to the E-Rantel cemetery, was a rather sizable crowd of adventurers. Some had already gone in, but got either killed or injured by the undead vultures and wraiths that seemed to be actively killing anyone that went in, as well as a hundred undead skeletons on the ground. Because of that, the gates had been closed and now the several men involved were trying to come up with a useful strategy.
This process was brought to a swift end when some picked up on the presence of an approaching duo, which they quickly recognized as Leinas and her armored companion Nazz, of the Espada.
"What are you two doing here!?" Several growled, as the duo stopped.
"The Espada Mercenary Company, kindly provides two of its people to aid in this situation." Nazz calmly informed.
"To hell with that! We don't need people like you here!" A young adventurer roared out.
"I feel exactly the same way, but orders are orders, so we don't have the time for this." Leinas coolly remarked.
"As if we are supposed to believe the Espada would give anyone, anything for free!" Another spat out.
"That's enough!" An older gold ranked adventurer roared, placing himself in between the crowd and the duo.
"Now is not the time for this!" He sternly added.
"But…" someone else tried to say, but he continued regardless.
"We may have our differences, but right now we have a mutual problem on our hands. If we do nothing about it, those undead will break out and overrun the city. Are all of you going to allow it, just because of some petty rivalry!?" No one dared argue against him when reminded of what was behind the locked gates in front of them.
"Nicely put. Now, if you don't mind we need to get up those stairs." Nazz said, looking at the crowd.
Rather slowly the group of men opened a path for the duo, who quickly made their way up said stairs, joining some of the guards on top of the wall.
"I must say I am surprised to see the Espada here." The guard said.
"Do you have anything against it?" Leinas coldly asked.
"Not at all. At this point, we just want to put an end to this."
"That's what we came here to do." Leinas remarked, jumping to the other side of the wall.
"If you will excuse us." Nazz added, before doing the same.
Leinas landed in front of a small group of low level undead, who were easily taken care of by a simple swing of her spear as she took it from its resting place on her shoulder. Nazz who landed not too far from her, cracking the ground underneath as a result, and found himself right in the middle of another group of undead. He disposed of them with a single sword swing.
Another large swarm of undead approached, and the armored figure of Nazz simply charged straight through, either blowing the skeletons into bits of bone from the impact, or skillfully relieving them of their heads with sword swipes so swift and quick, the guards and adventurers watching on top of the walls could not track his movements at all.
"A-Amazing..."
A younger adventurer quietly commented, completely awestruck by the martial prowess of the armored Espada, who then looked at his silver plate in dejection.
"T-Those moves! T-That footwork! What martial arts school did he go to!?" Another young silver ranked adventure commented.
"Don't you kids know anything about the Espada? Rylen Tsezguerra is among their number as their first ranked." The older gold ranked adventurer from before added.
"W-Wait! THE Rylen Tsezguerra!? That great man!?"
That alone was enough to silence all present, when the gold ranked adventurer spoke up again.
"That's not all. That female warrior down there that you were so quick to be rude to is Leinas Rockbruise, known as 'Heavy Explosion', and formally one of the Four Imperial Knights of the Baharuth Empire."
Audible gulps could be heard from the crowd as that information sank in. The Four Imperial Knights are the strongest elite military unit of the Baharuth Empire, whom serves as the personal guard of the Emperor, Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix. They are tasked with carrying out the emperor's will, and in terms of authority in the Imperial Army, they would be considered equal to the rank of a general. Despite their disdain for the Espada, the thought that they had talked down to someone like that, who was plowing through hordes of undead made them shiver.
Leinas was indeed plowing through the undead hordes as she gracefully twisted and twirled her adamantite spear with a speed and athletic ability that made the adamantite armor she wore look like it weighted nothing at all, as she did a backflip that put at least 5 meters worth of distance between herself and a group of 30 undead. She then took up a stance as she pulled back on her spear.
[Explosive Barrage]!
In a flash Leinas charged forward, and executed her [Martial Art] that created incredibly fast series of thrust attacks. These generated concussive explosions that blew apart the group of undead, and scattered their remains as if they were autumn leaves in the wind. This was similar to the [Slashes of Light] in that it creates multiple thrusts to attack group targets, or one large, singular target.
The female Espada was looking around for anymore undead within her range, when a single undead vulture darted towards her, which was taken out by Nazz's sword before she could react.
"Try not to drop your guard that much." Nazz chuckled, picking up his sword.
"Likewise."
Leinas chuckled as she said this, pushing him aside as she used her [Divine Battle Aura] art to pour her fighting spirit into her spear, giving it properties equal to holy magic weapons, so it would have the necessary effect to damage the two wraiths that was approaching them. In a single leap, she closed the distance with them, and a streak of white light was all that was seen as they dissolved into nothingness.
"Not bad. Still, we should start pushing forwards." Nazz remarked in a tone that would make one think that he was smiling.
"Agreed. If we stay here, it will take the entire night for them to get to us." Leinas coolly remarked.
Meanwhile, Jaecar had found a high spot on one of the larger mausoleums at the edge of the cemetery. With his enhanced eyesight that allowed him to watch something from a maximum distance of 24 miles, this allowed him to perfectly view what the duo of Momon and Nabe were doing. This coupled with his special ability, [Angel's Blessing: Hunter's Guiding Eye], allowed him to share his sight with someone else. This enabled Aizen to see the scene from the confines of their manor in E-Rantel.
From the Espada's eyes Aizen watched the most interesting of things, as Nabe held her own against a Skeletal Dragon, which was already enough to prove that her strength was beyond that of a normal individual. Yet, he was certain that she was not going all out. His senses had told him that much.
Momon on his end seemed to be swinging mindlessly at his opponent, showing a visible lack of skill as a warrior. This made Aizen think that that was indeed the case and the undead was simply not a trained warrior. However, his superior abilities allowed him to hide that fact from those that were weaker than him, and not on a level they could pick up on this, which the strange woman he was facing could.
The woman appeared to be around 20 years old, with short blonde hair, and delicate features that gave her a cat-like appearance. Her armor was made from the medals of adventurers of various ranks. Aizen concluded that these were trophies of sorts for her. Her weapons were stilettos she wore on her sides, though she also seemed to have a mace-like weapon as a backup.
Nabe continued to impress as she not only held her own against one Skeletal Dragon, but also did the same when another joined the fray. Not only did this show him how strong he suspected her to be, but also showed how much stronger Momon could be, given the fact that he noticed how she placed herself below him, as a servant would do their superior.
After a while of playing around with Momon, his opponent attacked twice, both times Aizen was able to once more confirm the undead's lack of skill as a warrior. However, in the second attack he noted that Momon was unaffected by a blow to what should have been his eyes, which began to give the idea that perhaps Momon was not a being with flesh that could be affected by such blows.
Then, it happened, as Momon gave out a command and the entire tone of the battle changed, as Nabe changed a maid-like uniform with shining armored portions, and the image of Momon faded, replaced with a robe-like uniform, and a bleached skeletal face. What happened after did not shock him, as they won their respective fights, all the while Aizen had an amused smirk at his face.
"What is amusing you so much, Aizen?" Amelia asked from her seat.
"As expected, Momon and Nabe are even more than they seemed." The Shinigami replied.
"Is that an issue?"
"I do not think so. Still, I require more information." Aizen coolly informed.
"Oh? From who?"
"The ones they defeated."
[Aizen-sama, what should I do?] Jaecar asked, via his ring.
[You can deactivate your ability, but do not leave the area until told otherwise.]
"So, what are we going to do? Since I assume they are dead."
"I need to speak to Annika." Aizen replied.
Leinas and Nazz had easily cleared the undead swarming the gate, thus allowing the adventurers to enter the cemetery and together they began to fight their way through the grounds. Things were going rather well. So much so that the Espada no longer were the ones at the head of the group. This meant that even when they picked up on the incoming enemies, given the speed one of them displayed they had to fake surprise, as the adventurers heading the group were slaughtered by a masked fiend.
Shocked and horrified gasps went through all of those present, especially when a bulky and bandaged colored undead joined the masked attacker. They were the mid-tier undead Jack the Ripper and Corpse Collector, summoned by "Momon" to clear a path and after sent back to hold back the adventurers in case they made it through the gates.
"These two are on another level." Leinas said, taking her stance.
"Remember to hold back." Nazz mumbled.
"We'll handle this." She announced to the rest of the group
"B-But…" one tried to argue in shock, but Nazz interrupted.
"Move on ahead we will hold them."
"I'll take the masked guy." Leinas said.
"Good choice."
The duo lunged at the two undead. Jack reacted first going straight for the two Espada with Leinas placing herself between him and her partner. Jack went for a downwards slash, which Leinas deftly avoided by throwing herself back, which she followed up by pointing the tip of her spear at the undead and lunging herself forward.
Nazz having made his way past Jack attacked the Corpse Collector, trying to take him down with a vertical swing which the brute managed to catch easily. Not being bothered by this, he continued his attack, punching the undead in the face with his other hand. The blow seemed to stun the undead long enough for him to regain his weapon and land a strike on the Collector's shoulder, which only managed to slightly cut it, leaving only minor damage. Nazz was about to continue his assault, when a swing from the brute sent him into the ground.
Leinas found herself being thrown into a tree in an attempt to escape Jack's deadly swings. Ducking under another one of his attacks, Leinas witnessed as the wayward swing sliced clean through the tree. Taking this opportunity, Leinas thrusted her spear upwards, landing a clean hit through the creature's neck and into it's skull. Much to her surprise, it continued to squirm. More precisely, trying to wildly swing at her.
Getting back to her feet, Leinas used the distance created by the spear to push Jack away from him, leading to it letting out some horrifying moans and gasps. Still, the undead seemed to be more than capable to continue attacking wildly, so she activated her [Explosive Thrust] as she closed the distance between her and the undead, before stabbing him in the abdomen. The resulting concussive explosion of air sent pieces of the undead flying everywhere, leaving behind only the lower half of the body.
For his part Nazz was also dodging most of his opponent's blows. That was until the Collector managed to grab his free hand and pull the Espada towards him. However, this was Nazz's plan, because as soon as he was close enough for what seemed to be a bear-hug, he rammed his sword into the brute's neck. This was followed by a quick yet brutal move, as Nazz moved his sword to the right, slicing through the Collector's neck almost beheading it. However, he had managed to sever the spine, meaning his foe was unable to move, and open to the true beheading that followed.
"Are you two alright?" The adventurers that had not gone on ahead asked rushing to their side.
Even if the battles had been rather quick, all of them had felt the presence of the two undead and the power behind their attacks. They also noticed what they could only describe as being two individuals giving their best to quickly take them out, so much so that they now seemed to be heavily panting. Such show of bravery and spirit had not gone past them, as they rushed to their side and tried to offer them their help.
Some even went as far as presenting them with a potion, since they saw in the Espada the heavy hitters their group needed. Even, if some had moved on ahead while the Espada fought the undead duo, many believed that they might not make it that far especially if there were any other strong undead out there. However, the Espada had proved themselves able to take them on, so it only made sense to make sure they could carry on the fight.
Of course, these potions were quickly dismissed in favor for a small break, where a small group of adventurers would stay with them, while the rest moved on. It took some convincing, but the adventurers agreed to the plan and moved on, leaving a team of 10 behind.
Meanwhile, Cayo, Alvis and Yoruichi, were left to wander around the cemetery walls just in case any undead tried to climb over. Having nothing to do, they would exchange random topics of conversation, but nothing concrete. that was until Alvis decided to speak up about what had been said before the meeting.
"S-So, if you don't want us to think that you only think about sex, w-why do you act like it?"
"Oi. Like I said, it's among the more stimulating and pleasing things you can do. Why shouldn't I talk about it?" Cayo lightheartedly argued.
"You must really enjoy it then." Yoruichi remarked with a chuckle.
"I really do." Cayo replied with a laugh.
"If you only talk about having fun and enjoying yourself… W-Why are you here, why are you with us?" Alvis asked in a confused tone.
Cayo stopped, and turned around to look at his younger companion. He didn't seem that affected by the question. He eyed Alvis for a moment, before sighing, turning back around and beginning to walk away, continuing on with his task.
"Well, I like you people, so that's a big factor." Cayo replied.
"I-I'm serious!" Alvis growled in aggravation.
"I know. But that is a factor. Basically, you are asking why someone who seems as shallow as me is helping change the world, right?" Cayo stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, I... Yes."
"Hmmm… I think it can be explained as a rich-boy's attempt at doing something that will leave a real impact in history. You see, I am the youngest child of a rather wealthy family and if not for having become an adventurer, I probably would have taken over the family business. Well, not really take over, but more be a figure head for my father, and the people he has running the actual business. So, I found myself choosing between a life of wealth, luxury, and women while working as a figure head, or a life where I actually do something for the world, and still have women. As you can see, I chose the latter, and after I meet Aizen, I thought what greater impact can one have outside of changing the world? That is why I am here. To do something meaningful with my life." Cayo said with a serious tone and expression that seemed out of place on the Octava Espada.
Alvis was somewhat taken aback by what was said. Truly it was not what he expected from what he thought Cayo was. This explained why Aizen would have considered bringing someone like him into the Espada. Since, surely Aizen would have not even considered having a simple-minded womanizer join them.
"I-I see." Alvis mumbled.
"You're surprised right?" Cayo asked, with a rather warm smile.
"Well... yeah. I am."
"Don't think too much about it. We have stuff to do."
The clean up of the cemetery ended in the early morning. However, the Espada had left before a true victory was achieved, given the fact Nazz had taken upon himself to leave. Leinas for her part, decided to follow after him, seeing no reason to remain behind if her partner wasn't going to stay with her. However, she began to be suspicious of what was going on, when she noticed that he was going deeper and deeper into the forested part of the cemetery, until he finally stopped.
"What are we doing here?" Leinas asked.
"I'm going to settle some unfinished business. I'll leave it to you to inform Aizen." The Dragon Lord replied.
"Wait. W-What!?..."
Leinas could only let out a word of shock before the remote controlled armor shot up into the sky, causing a shockwave that sent even her stumbling onto the ground. Soon enough Nazz had vanished from sight, and Leinas was left to return to the manor while making sure no one saw her, and questioned why she was alone and no longer with her partner.
Having sent a warning before her arrival, Leinas was meet by Juno and Amelia, with her superior having a less then pleasing look on her face.
"And you didn't try to stop him?" Amelia asked.
"I didn't have the time to do it! He just took off." Leinas growled back.
"At least his real body is still here. Aizen felt the same disturbance as him, and went to speak with him about it. I guess that Nazz took it upon himself to go out and act upon it on his own. Ugh. No matter. for the time being we will allow this." Amelia informed, beginning to walk away.
"Did he tell Aizen what made him act like this?"
"He did mention that it was another Dragon Lord, but he didn't let slip who it was. However, from his reaction and what Aizen said, it must have been an enemy. Aizen even theorizes it might be the same being who fatally injured him in the past." Amelia replied, to which Leinas sighed.
Deep in a nearby forest to E-Rantel, a silver, platinum color scale mail armor was floating through the air, with a myriad of weapons orbiting it. The armor's construction looked a bit similarly to that of dragon scales. It had some sort of small sword-like insignia that was embedded in the middle of its chest. In addition, the helmet had long hair-like fabric on top, as well as a layer of fur around the two arms. The armor had a pauldron depicting a dragon on both shoulder sides with two horns that protrude from it. This was the remotely controlled armor of the Platinum Dragon Lord, Tsaindorcus Vaision.
The armor was making it escape from its encounter with the powerful undead he had stumbled upon. Its power had surprised him. So much so that his armor had been damaged by it. Still that only meant that only using that armor he wasn't a match for the undead. Deep down he felt that using his own body, a victory might have been possible.
The armor was flying at high speed, when the Dragon Lord picked up on something else coming his way at similar speeds. He froze mid flight sensing the familiarity of the approaching being. He turned in the direction of the being, when a broadsword bathed in purple aura came rushing towards him, impaling the armor in the gut.
The Dragon Lord found himself being sent flying and eventually crashing into the forest below, with the resulting impact creating a sizable crater, and scattering all of his own weapons. He was quick to act and try to pull the blade from his gut, fearing the effect the purple aura could have on his armor. However, the blade lifted itself away from him and into the air.
He expected another attack, but the blade simply floated several feet away from the crater. Tsaindorcus Vaision began to get back up, when his senses picked up on the presence approaching him once again. Hardening his resolve he prepared for combat, as he landed near the floating blade. He quickly recognized who it was from the armor alone, even if his senses had already confirmed who it was, as much as he didn't want to believe it.
"Long time no see." The Catastrophe Dragon Lord growled.