Amid a group of burning buildings, Peridia hide within the rubble to heal and put herself back together. At the same time, they were looking for the Forth Espada Nnorita, who was stalking the area while trying to devise a plan to combat the Arrancar's Segunda Etapa.

Judging from the battle beforehand, The Hierro of Nnorita didn't just transform into a forcefield surrounding his body. But instead, it is divided into two layers. The first one is the condensed spiritual power that covers his body and pulverizes anything that gets near him to dust, and the second layer that enchants his skin and body by several times that.

This means that to pass his defenses, one must not only have a strong enough body to resist the spiritual pressure of his first layer but an even more potent offense to pierce through the second one at the same time, and unfortunately for Perida, even with Blunt Vene her nerves are not nearly strong to get through the first.

But all that means is she will have to get a little creative.

The Soundtrack of Choice: Daemon Battle Theme

The Sternritter burst out of the rubble to confront the Forth Espada, who grinned in delight.

Quincy...I was wondering when you would show up!' he giggled menacingly. 'Otherwise, I might have leveled this entire area just to draw you out!'

Pernida then huffed. 'As in more than you already have?' she retorted sarcastically. 'How charming...' She then spread her nerves throughout all the ruined buildings and reformatted them into gain stone arrows. 'But I am afraid this dance has gone on far enough!' The Compuslerory then launched all the stone arrows at Nnorita, but he just stood still as they vaporized into dust when they got in contact with his spiritual pressure, much to his amusement.

'Don't tell me that you have sunk so low as to throw pieces of rubble at me, Quincy...' he readied his glowing yellow-bladed arm. 'Because we both know it an't going to do shit to me!'

Pernida then growled. 'You want to bet on that?' she challenged, and immediately the ground gave way to Nnorita as hundreds of nerves sprouted out from it and aimed directly at the Espada, who quickly sliced them apart in a single swipe.

'While that defense of yours might disintegrate everything around, it is far from invincible and can be overwhelmed!' Pernida boasted while continuing to fire dozens of stone arrows at Nnorita. 'And when that moment happens, my nerves will be able to make contact with your body and turn you into nothing more than bloodied meatball!' she then flew up into the air with the wings of her holy form and extended all of her nerves into the ground beneath her feet and uprooted it into a massive tilde wave of earth and rubble at the Forth Espada.

But Nnorita merely scoffed at the attack heading towards him. 'And it seems you misunderstand what my Segunda Etapa does for me,' He declared before lowering his body, jumping at the tidal wave of earth and then rapidly spinning himself so fast that he became a bright yellow buzz saw that instantly plowed through the tidal wave and blast it apart. While Perida could only gasp in horror at what happened, and before she knew it, The spinning Espada was right behind her!

Thinking quickly, Perida flies further into the sky to get as far away from her weaponized foe as possible. But the spinning buzzsaw continued to follow her no matter where she went. Then, in a moment of frustration, Perida sent out dozens of Blut Vene enchanted nerves at the Buzzsaw...only for them to disintegrate the very moment they came within an inch of it and in the next moment proceeded the shred the Sternritter in half before she could even do anything else, before falling straight down to the ground.

As the beaten Quincy struggled to get herself up from the ground, Nnorita turned off his Buzzsaw form and then slowly walked up to her. 'In case you didn't get it after that exchange. My Segunda Esapda doesn't just give me a fancy defense, but turns my entire body into a living weapon capable of tearing apart anything caught in its grasp' He placed one of his bladed arms at her neck. 'And you trying to overwhelm that weapon with your nerves and rubble was no different than trying to overwhelm a cyclone by throwing shit at it' The Espada then pressed his blade down on Pernida's neck until it began to bleed and, upon seeing that he grin in satisfaction. 'Though I wonder... how often I have to tear you apart until you stay dead!'

SoundtrackOf Choice: Six Times Of Ordinary Flamenco

However, before his blade could slice through the Quincy or do worse, the Espada sensed someone attacking him from behind, and in an instant, he turned himself around and blocked a sword that Chad wielded in his Armored Titan form.

Nnorita then smirked. 'So you too decided to come back,' he looked at the sword in Chad's hand. 'And brought a neat little toy, too,' he snickered. 'Too bad that it doesn't save you or that girl!'

Chad then smirked. 'I wouldn't dismiss the flames of my Ailbino's Fullbringer after all...' He glared directly into Nnorita's eyes. 'They still managed to scorch through your body.'

Suddenly Nnorita widened his eyes in horror when he saw the golden sword alight in the bronze fire. But instead of radiating heat or burning through his arm blade, it broke it down to an atomic level, as the bonds that held the reshi of his weapon together dissolved.

In a panic, Nnoitra then stepped away from Chad and rearmed himself.

'So you managed to use your old man's sword, huh?' He sneered. 'Well, even so, it still doesn't matter!' He roared while his Spiritual pressure skyrocketed around his body before folding around itself to enchant his Heiro. 'Against concentrated Spiritual power, that blade at best would just leave soot marks on me, while I can still tear you and Quincy to shreds!'

Nnorita spun around, transformed into his buzzsaw form, and immediately rushed at Chad. Who then places the Flams of Liberation on his head.

'Plegamiento De La Llama' (Folding of the Flame), The Director announced just before the Espada could hit him. At the last second, he sliced his blade into a spinning saw, and to Pernida's shock, Chad managed to cut through it with his sword and force Nnorita out of the form and have his right horn cut off.

Baffled by what just happened, the 4th Espada turned around and saw that the Flames of Liberation was coated in white hot bronze-colored flames, likely concentrated to the point that it could now severely harm his body even in his buzzsaw form.

But then Nnorita noticed something else about the sword that made him smile.

A chip along its blade.

It was small and could barely be seen through glowing fires that it folded itself around. Yet it nonetheless shows that the Fullbring can only harm him at the expense of damaging itself.

And both Director and Espada knew which one could damage the most.

Pernida looked at Chad and then Nnorita and tried to step back into battle. But he put his arm in front of her to get her to stop.

At first, Quincy wanted to protest that she could still fight; however, she sighed in resignation by looking at Chad's eyes and following his gaze to her flickering blunt vein.

She was too exhausted to continue, her constant regeneration had pushed her reserves to the absolute limit, and she could barely conjure nerves from her body anymore.

Thus as much as it goes against her morals as a doctor, she has to allow Sado, a minor, to take this battle on his own.

Peridia then lightly bump Chad on his shoulder before turning around. 'Don't get yourself killed, okay?' She said before dashing away in a burst of the flying step.

'Don't get yourself killed...' Nnortia mocked while readying his blades, 'As if either she or you can prevent me from doing that.'

The Soundtrack of Choice: Find The Fire

Both Director and Espada then stared down at each for a few moments. They looked for anything resembling an opening to exploit or weakness to purge.

Then without warning and hesitation, the two lunged and struck out at each other in a rapid fury of strikes, with both trying to overcome the other, as chips formed on both the Flames of Liberation and the Scyth arms of Nnoitra' each time they clashed against one another.

Realizing that attacking Chad was doing more harm than good. Nnoitra then leaped away from his enemy and fired a massive Cero Ocereus from the tip of his tongue, which vaporized hundreds of rows of city blocks before him and pushed Sado back. Then in retaliation, the Director swung his sword into the pitch-black blast. Cutting it in half and dispersing it, but then Nnorita appears behind and Chad, who at the last moment turns around and blocks a strike from one of the Espada's arm blades, which results in cutting halfway into the flames of Liberation. Much to Sado's concern and Espada's satisfaction. Yet this action left the latter open, allowing Chad to strike his fist into Nnoitra's stomach, pushing him back, and he staggered in surprise; Sado used the opportunity to slash his blade across Espada's chest, cutting through his skin and leaving him bleeding.

Yet despite the wound given to him, Nnoitra continued to smirk. 'You are just delaying the unavoidable Sado!' The Espada taunted. 'While that blade may harm me, it is still not enough to kill me, and when it eventually wears down and breaks, you will have nothing left tonight to fight with!'

Sado, however, remains calm and stern and points the Flames of Liberation at his arrogant foe. 'If a weapon can harm its target, then there is every reason to believe it can slay them' He glared at the Espada's severed horn and chipped-armed blades. 'Especially if it can also break apart their enemy's weapons.'

Nnoitra then growled and later grunted upon feeling the pain of the cut across his chest and then looked at his chipped-armed blades.

'Tch..well, if that is the case, then I should stop playing with you and start finishing you off in a single strike!' He loudly declared and lowered his body, and Chad realized what his enemy was about to do and immediately rushed toward his foe.

But by then, it was too late.

'Ciclón Dorado (Golden Cyclone) He muttered, and immediately, the entire area was consumed in a massive bright yellow cyclone of blades that shredded apart everything within it before expanding over half a mile, as buildings, pavement, and the earth itself grind away into dust. Then when the attack ended, all that was left of the district was a massive crater several stories deep.

Save for a small patch of land in the center that lay untouched, and the one who stood on it was Sado and his enemy Nnoitra. His massive armored body was covered in deep cuts and wounds, While in both of his hands, The flames of Liberation, which once shone brightly, now looked pale, battered, and cracked. Yet despite its ruined shape, the sword managed to pierce through The Espada's chest and his back on the other side, seemingly landing a fatal blow on the Espada.

...But Nnorita merely laughed in triumphant joy as he pushed Sado into the crater below, and when he did, the sword finally snapped apart in half. With his energy spent, the Director lay on the ground in silence.

'Idiot!' the Espada shouted. 'Did you think I wouldn't anticipate that you would make another desperate attempt to finish me off, that I wouldn't predicate something so obvious from you!' He continued to rage while looking down at his fallen enemy. 'I expect that you would force yourself through my ciclón dorado regardless of the wounds dealt to you so long that a fatal blow could be landed on me' He then pulled the other half of the blade from his chest and tossed it next to Chad. 'So at the last minute, I shifted at an angle that would make you miss every one of my internal organs, leaving me suffering nothing more than a flesh wound!' The grinning madman then raised his blade arm. 'And now that you have used every single one of your trump cards, I will finally take my revenge on you, Yasodona Sado!'

Chad moaned in agony as he looked at the Espada above him. Who readied himself to make a charge at him and deliver the final blow.

But even then, he couldn't help but smile.

'Nnoitra...'The Sado muttered. 'I knew that you were never a foe to be underestimated, even when I had the means to harm you, and I also knew that alone wouldn't secure victory' He then narrowed his eyes. 'In fact...Perbida and I both knew that.'

The Espada then looked at Chad in confusion about what he was saying until suddenly, his body moved and bent on itself...

...and then a horrible realization hit him.

'And so...' Chad lifted the hand that held the Flames of Liberation, and from its palm, several nerves were willingly out of it. 'We came to a compromise

Then, before Nnorita could curse out another word, he suddenly felt all his limbs broken and twisted apart, with every one of his organs crushed into mulched by the nerves that spread across his body—causing blood and gore to gush out from his mouth, nose, eyes, and open wounds before collapsing to the ground in defeat.