A few minutes earlier

On the rooftop of a skyscraper, the two Espada Nnortria and Wonderweiss overlooked the hotel where their enemies were staying. While spying on them through the balcony window and from what they saw, they were all having a rather pleasant conversation. But to the two Espadas, it was nothing more than a weakness to exploit.

'Well, this is quite a predicament,' Wonderweiss Margiela mused as he looked at the gathering of friends through a pair of binoculars. 'All these high profile people gathered in one place. Like deer in an open field just waiting to be gun down, and given these cloaks that hide our spiritual pressure, they can't even sense us.'

'Tch! A bit too easy for my taste!' Nnoitra bitterly dismissed...only to then sport a grinning smile. 'Still, I shouldn't be too disappointed, Because from what I have sensed from Kurosaki. His spiritual power, even from this distance, already rivals that of my own

'For him to defeat Grimmjow in his Segunda Etapa form, he better be,' Wonderweiss mused while turning his head to Nnoitra. 'So, how do you want to go about, boss?'

The fourth Espada then remained silent for a moment before smiling viciously. 'A grand ray cero should suffice.'

Wonderweiss eyes widened in shock at the suggestion...but then the look was subverted when the child-like Arrancar shared his leader's vile grin. 'So we are going with 'Big and flashy…me like.'

The blonde Espada then placed one of his thumbs on his mouth, bit on them until it drew blood, and then got into a stance in which he gestured both of his hands into a camera pose aimed directly at the hotel. At the same time, a purple cero began to form and charged within the opening of the Arrancar's palms. He then let his blood drip down his fingers and mix with the spiritual sphere, causing it to swell in power and discharge with electricity.

Which Wonderweiss procced to gleefully launched at the hotel room the Quincy, fullbringers, and Ichigo was staying at, along with an untold number of innocent people.

Due to the sheer magnitude of the cero's speed and the short distance it covered. Most civilians would barely be able to make out a blur when it was fired, and even a sternrriter would be hard-pressed to react to it. Let alone counter such an attack with enough power to devastate half the city and a large part of the ruined landscape beyond it.

But to Nnoitra, it was nothing more than a test to see Ichigo's new powers for himself. If he survived, the boy proved his victory over Grimmjow wasn't a fluke. If he died, he wasn't worth his time, to begin with. Either way would have worked in favor of the 4th Espada.

However, just before the cero hits its mark, a bright orange light suddenly basks the entire area, blinding Nnoitra and Wonderweiss and forcing the Arrancar to shield their eyes. Then when the light died down, they were left utterly speechless upon witnessing the sight before them. The great ray cero, a massive surge of raw destructive power that could level entire nations in a single instant, was caught inside an orange barrier as easy as grabbing a lightly tossed tennis ball. Even as the cero detonated from within, the shield held firm with it, not even shaking from the nigh unimaginable explosive force it had.

Then as The Espada stood in shock, they both noticed Orihime standing on the balcony behind the shield with her right hand stretched out and her fullbring on full display. With a face filled with determination.

'Sōten Kisshun...I reject,' she uttered calmly, and soon after, the barrier shield completely negated the contained grand cero out of existence—much to the disbelief of its launcher Wonderweiss.

'Th-that's impossible…' the blonde Espada muttered in continued bafflement.

'That great ray cero had enough power to make even a sternrriter unleash their vollständig to have a chance to survive a direct hit from it. Yet that girl just went on and negated like it was nothing!?' the blonde Espada stuttered. At the same time, Gilga quickly regained his composure, looked over at the orange-haired woman, noticed the golden X emblem on her business suit, and then smiled.

'Ah, so she is one of those fullbringers of Xcution then…hmpf well an't that peachy' Nnoitra muttered and then turned his back. 'Come on, Wonderweiss, we will regroup for now.'

The blonde Espada then looks at his boss in surprise. 'But I thou-'

'Don't jump to conclusions!' Nnoitra snapped. 'We are still going to kill them all tonight, just not right now, and besides…' he left off as he sported another grin. 'We should have our other members have some fun and tenderize them before taking them out to the slaughter.'

Wonderwieisss then opened his mouth and then smirked. 'Well, at least it would be entertaining to watch at the very least.'

And with that, the two Espada used Sonido to disappear. At the same time, their other teammates took the battle over for them, for now.

Meanwhile, in the hotel room.

Ichigo should have noticed it from the start.

From the light, the sound, the swirling of energy, and his use of that power. All of that should have clued him in that the king of all ceros had just been used with enough force to obliterate the hotel and half the city along with it. Yet before he could call upon his power, his full power to block, counter, or even take the cero head-on. A flash of light obscured his vision, and when it faded away, he saw Orihime on the balcony—catching the cero itself with her Sōten Kisshun and rejecting out of existence, which left Ichigo in such a state of shock and awe that he couldn't even think of any words to express it.

'Thank you, Inoue, for saving us, ' Uryu commented as he walked next to her, and the orange-haired woman turned her head and smiled.

'It was no problem. I just did decided it would be better to negate the blast instead of just blocking it. After all there is no telling what the aftermath of the blast would do if wasn't Properly contain' Orhime heartfully explained while Ichigo remained stunned.

'She…plan that far ahead?' Ichigo thought and then smirked warmly at her. 'She is even a better protector than I am…hmph, might even be jealous of her.'

'Oh, I am sure you were able to,' Ishida said somewhat dismissively though it still sounded like a compliment. 'However, the most important thing we need to do is learn how two Espada managed to infiltrate the city and find a way to stop them!'

'Oh, I am afraid the is much more than just two Esapda!' A dark, twisted male-like voice spoke out from the back of the living room, and when the rest of the occupants turned their heads to see who it was, that spoke to them. All of them, save for Ichigo, reacted in utter horror.

For standing before them was a man and a woman smiling sadistically at them like a group of twin predators. The man was wearing a black classy gentlemen's coat, pants, shoes, and gloves, His hair being an almost unnatural color of black that was combed back. While in the right half, his face was covered in a hollow mask, beside him was a woman wearing a beautiful Victorian design black dress. Yet her skin was ghostly pale, and her messy white hair looked as lifeless as a decayed corpse and also sporting a hollow mask on her left side. At the same time, both of them radiated with power that benefited Espada.

That alone would make even veteran fighters like Keigo, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and Ichigo concerned enough. But to Uryu, it was much, much worse.

'Retreat...NOW! Ishida shouted and immediately launched several capsules filled with liquid reishi that exploded when they hit the floor; the two Espada were standing on and unleashed a dust cloud that obscured their enemies' sight. Then by using the distraction, Uryu and the rest of the gang darted out from the building and down to the city street below. While Ichigo looked up, he saw that the entire top room of the hotel was destroyed, which made him confused about the white prince's sudden action.

'Okay…' Kurosaki began to say as he landed on the street sidewalk. 'Just who are those two, and why are we running away from them?

'Uryu then narrowed his eyes. 'Those two Ichigo are the couple 8th Espadas Aaroniero and Arruruerie, and it seems that they of all people somehow infiltrated the city.'

Ichigo's eyes then alight in recognition. 'Aaonerio and Arruruerie. Wait, does he mean the 9th Espada that Rukia barely defeated in my homeworld?' He thought back, and then Keigo stepped in.

'Wait…you don't mean the actual Arruruerie and Aaronierio, right?!' The brunette said with dread.

Uryu then gravely nodded. 'The same, and for them to be here means that all of Tokyo could very well be doom.'

'Doom!?' Ichigo blathered out. 'But isn't he just the 8th Espada! All of us working together could mop the floor with him!' The teen argued, which only made Tatsuki shake her head in disproval.

'Don't be an idiot, Ichigo!' Tatsuki Arisawa corrected him harshly. 'Those two may be lower-tier Espada, but they are also among the most dangerous. They have over a hundred thousand different hollow powers at their disposal, and through them, those monsters managed to take down entire shielded cities from the inside out since the war with the hollows started!'

Ichigo's eyes then lit up. 'Wait, over a hundred thousand, but the Aaronierio Arruruerie I was told of from Rukia said he had only had over thirty-three thousand hollow powers! Did those two somehow become stronger as well!?' Ichigo shouted in his mind in anxiety, and then he remembered the more human forms of the Espada instead of the two hollow heads in a jar Rukia also described them having. Then a horrible revelation came crossed the young boy's mind.

'Unless…' Ichigo thought hesitantly. Those two were able to evolve into Adjuchas! But those thoughts were put on hold when Aaronerio and Arrurerie suddenly appeared before the group in a flash of light, which resulted in everyone else taking a step back in shock. With none of them being able to track the couple Espada's movements.

'Oh, Aaroneirio…' the white-haired woman spoke in a smooth voice filled with venom. 'It would seem that none of them want to play with us.

'Indeed, Arruruerie,' the dark-haired man muttered in amusement. 'But that shouldn't stop us dragging them along anyway.'

Then Aaeronerio raised his left hand and snapped his figures, and immediately a whole gathering of civilians, numbering in the thousands, gathered around all the fullbringers and Quincy. Yet from what the group can tell, the supposed civilians weren't entirely human. Given that all their eyes glowed with blinding white iris and while their pupils and sclera were pitched black.

'After all, it would be impossible for them to resist playing with us. When our devoured kin infects their entire city.' Aarenerio boasted darkly, which sent a shiver down to Kursosaki's and the rest of his friend's spine, and then all of them took one more at the possessed civilians.

Before everything else went straight to hell...

Like an unearthly chorus of the damn, the possessed people began to wail and roar. Their voices turned from a human to that of an unholy beast. Before they proceeded, ripe opened their clothing and skin from their bodies to reveal themselves to be hollows. Having disguised themselves in their victim's bodies for you knows how long.

Yet even that wasn't the scariest part for Ichigo and his friends.

These hollows looked grotesque, Like the digested remains of a half-eaten meal and later reanimated by some mutated parasitic fungi. With their bodies composed of rotten purple and pink flesh, various octopus-like tentacles sprout among their shoulders, arms, and legs and the sides of the eye holes of their hollow masks, having yellowish, orange pulsing flame-like markings spreading out of them like an infection. Which reached across their foreheads and necks

To his disgust and terror, Kurosaki realized what the hollow's power was and who exactly they resemble.

Metastasis, the hollow that possessed Rukia's mentor and, to an extent, his cousin Kaien Shiba and not only does the Aarenerio and Arruruerie still have that power in this world. Still, they have expanded it far beyond what his other alternate counterpart could ever achieve with it.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Tokyo.

Robert Accutrone was in a near panic as he used his Hirenkyaku to blitz across the city to his destination, with Cang Du following right behind. The elder Quincy senses that Tokyo has been infiltrated by the dreaded Aarenerio and Arruruerie and several other Espada. While Uryu, Ichigo, and the rest of their friends are all caught in the conflict. Robert hoped that he and Cang would make it in time to help them; however, their movement stopped when two Espada appeared before.

Wonderweiss Margiela the 6th Espada and the hooded dark-skin man behind him.

'Well ain't this funny' The blond Espada crackled with laughter. 'Here, Nnoitra wanted the twin freaks to soften Ichigo and his buddies before going for the kill, and then you two suddenly show up if to take their place.'

Margiela then smiled viscously. 'Well, I didn't need to wait out for the slaughter after all!'

Robert and Cang Du then got into a fighting stance and readied themselves to face off against the two Espada for the fight of their lives.