Hello again readers. Hope you all had some good holidays. There's nothing new or important to put out, so I'll just keep this brief and let you all get to the awaited chapter. Hope you all enjoy.

(A/N: There are references and uses of kidō techniques in this chapter that are not a part of the Bleach anime or manga. These kidō spells are the creation of 'draconichero18' from DeviantArt, and credit for it goes to him. The names and descriptions of these kidōs are used with the creator's permission.)

(I DO NOT OWN BLEACH; ITS CHARACTERS, NAMES, LOCATIONS, OR STORY! THAT HONOR BELONGS SOLELY TO TITE KUBO AND HIS TEAM! ONLY THE OC, AND RANDOM NAMES NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOKS OR ANIME ARE MY OWN!)

(The Fallen Princess: Part 2)

Quatro Espada's Palace, With Renji's Group, 10 Minutes Prior

Everyone came to brief stop when they suddenly felt the building vibrating again, but much more noticeable than before. Renji scoffed and glanced down at the floor. "Kami, whoever it is those idiots are fighting, they're not holding back." he mumbled under his breath.

Hearing him, the others nodded in agreement and Uryū had a serious expression on his face. "Then we need to hurry. Somehow, I'm getting the feeling that the battle is not working in Ichigo and the Arrancar woman's favor."

"I agree." Rukia said with a nod. "But the question is… What do we do with 'her' once we get there?" she added, turning her gaze towards Mila-Rose.

Uryū glared at the woman with contempt. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that whoever Ichigo is fighting is quite powerful. Too powerful for Chad to handle, and I say this with no offense meant, my friend." The large teen nodded once to show he understood before Uryū turned to Rukia. "And you are still recovering from your previous battle, and I doubt you will recover enough by the time we arrive to be effective. So, since we 'have' to take this woman with us, you and Chad will stay back and keep an eye on her, while Renji and I offer what assistance we can. Agreed?"

The others nodded and turned to continue their run towards the lower levels, but the Quincy stopped once more and stared down at the floor with narrowed eyes. "Tim?"

Renji looked down as well and tried to feel out for the Lieutenant's spiritual pressure. After a few seconds, he was able to feel a faint trace of it. "You're right. Tim's down there now. But…"

Uryū nodded and glanced up at Renji. "He's not alone. Someone else is with him, and this person's spiritual pressure feels familiar."

"It's Grimmjow." Mila-Rose spoke up, getting everyone's attention.

"Grimmjow? The Sexta Espada?" Rukia asked, getting a nod. "What the hell is 'he' doing here? Did he follow Tim here?"

"I don't think so. At least, not in the manner you are thinking." Uryū responded. "I felt both of their spiritual pressures appear at the same time, and in the same location."

"Does it feel like they're fighting each other?" Chad asked.

"No… and that's what puzzles me. I can feel that they're moving, but they are moving together."

Renji blinked then tilted his head. "They're what?"

The Quincy shook his head and sighed heavily. "I don't know. Nothing about this situation is making any sense. We need to hurry and figure out what is going on. Let's go."

With a nod from the others, the group continued their trek down towards the lower levels.

Quatro's Palace, First Floor, Present

"Hah!"

Flames burst out from Timothy's punch that was blocked by Artiélla's Kesshun. The woman grinned and turned a number of her remaining twenty-one wings at him, firing beams of powerful energy at the Lieutenant. Just before the beams were able to make contact, he vanished once again through one of Kitsune's flames. At the sound of Grimmjow's maniacal laughter, Kova turned with a scoff to see the Sexta Espada charging in with a wide, happy smile on his face.

"You just don't learn very well, do you, Grimmjow?" she said with a matching smile, easily blocking his attack.

"Hah! I guess not. But what does it matter?" he returned, buzzing away to avoid the beams as well. "A fight's a fight. That's all I care about. You should know this by now." He charged forward again, dodging left and right to avoid more beams along the way.

Kova scoffed and effortlessly blocked the Espada's attack yet again, then blocked a follow-up from behind from Timothy. "This is honestly getting very tiresome. Seriously, the brat and the green-haired bitch put up more of a fight." she grumbled.

"Thy servant that is weaker than the cool breath of morning…"

The woman glanced at Timothy and grinned. "Kidō? Really? So disappointing." Wings turned to the Lieutenant, but he vanished again before they could fire.

"... Enhance your energy into the justice of hate…" Timothy vanished again when she fired more beams in his direction while stopping another attack from Grimmjow. "... To bring about a new age of dawn."

The man disappeared yet again, but when he reappeared, he swiftly vanished again. Kova glanced around her to see the man appearing and reappearing in different locations, almost instantaneously. By a quick estimation, she guessed his speed was faster than Ichigo's flash step. She growled in her throat while constantly blocking Grimmjow's assaults.

"Hadō #55…" Timothy chanted, seemingly from all sides. Artiélla could quickly see that she was surrounded by at least thirty clones of Timothy, all with outstretched hands. "Budosen!"

The man's palm glowed with a bright, orange color. Not knowing which Timothy was the real one, Kova used over half of her wings to create four barriers around her and one overhead. She waited for the attack to come… but it never did. Puzzled, she peeled away the barrier a bit to glance out, but all she saw was Timothy and Grimmjow charging forward with their swords.

'What happened to his kidō?' she wondered to herself, turning her barriers around to intercept the attacks.

Both of the men's blades struck her barriers, where she then turned some of her wings to fire multiple Zanshuns in return. However, she was interrupted when a blast of energy suddenly struck her from behind and exploded. She grunted in mild pain from the hit and glanced around to see that there was no one there. 'What the…?'

"Hadō #48…" Kova turned back to Timothy, who had regained some distance and had his palm outstretched towards her. "Furea Shakunetsu!"

Scoffing, Artiélla brought a barrier up to block his kidō while also stopping another attack from Grimmjow on her flank. The Lieutenant vanished immediately after firing his kidō and reappeared on her opposing flank in mid swing. Bringing up a third barrier, she easily blocked his blade and glanced at the incoming kidō…

But it was gone.

Her eyes widened a fraction in surprise. 'What the hell?'

She grunted again when she was hit with a searing flash of pain on her back. Bursts of fire erupted from the impact, and as she brought up a healing barrier around her, she once again turned in the direction the attack came from. But like before, there was nobody there. She couldn't even detect any faint traces of spiritual pressure of who could have launched the attack. It only took a second longer for her to realize something.

'Those attacks… Those were from the brat's missing kidōs. But… how did…' She turned back to stop another of Grimmjow's charges and glanced over to see Timothy chanting for another kidō attack.

"Hadō #61, Raikōhō!"

Narrowing her eyes, she focused on blocking Grimmjow's next attack, followed by a reappearing Timothy with her shields, all the while keeping her peripherals on the incoming kidō. Just like the previous two, this one vanished into thin air as well. 'How is he…' Turning her wings at her attackers, she forced them away by firing more beams of energy. Her healing completed, she lowered her barrier and continued to fire at the dodging duo.

Instincts suddenly kicked in, warning her of an incoming attack, and she flicked a barrier around to stop the Lieutenant's kidō attack from before. Sparks of lightning exploded outwards, and her barrier struggled a little to contain the power behind the attack. 'He's somehow teleporting his kidō attacks, but how?' It only took a moment for her to figure it out and she narrowed her eyes in anger. 'That damned brat is using those flames of his. Tsk!'

Turning, she stopped an uppercut from Grimmjow and turned more wings towards a chanting Timothy. 'I knew he could use those flames of his to teleport others, but I never thought he could do it with kidō as well. Well, now that I know his trick…'

Timothy, avoiding her attacks, finished his chant and sent a second Raikōhō in her direction. Just like the others, it too vanished just as Timothy reappeared from behind her. With a nudge from her instincts, she knew the kidō attack would hit her from the right flank. Forming a barrier, she used it as a ram, hitting Grimmjow in the side and sending him off his feet…

Right into the path of the incoming kidō.

Grimmjow cursed to himself just before the attack hit him, flooding his body with a powerful, electrifying blast of energy. Being an Espada of middle rank, the kidō was not as damaging as it would have been for others, but it still hurt, and the Espada grunted loudly in pain before dropping to a knee. "Damn it…" he hissed.

"Grimmjow! Look out!" Timothy yelled, and he only had a split second to look and see an incoming wave of beams coming at him before buzzing away through sonído. He reappeared next to Timothy, holding his side, and growling at Kova.

"Damn, Tim… that actually packed a punch."

The Lieutenant glanced at his partner and nodded. "Sorry. I didn't expect her to figure it out so fast." he whispered. "Shoulda known that she would."

Grimmjow scoffed and stood up straight while Kova sneered. "It was a smart plan, but now that it's gone, we gotta figure out a new one."

Timothy nodded and smirked. "I've still got a few ideas. Problem is, the one I have in mind right now will take time to prep. So, you ready to go again?"

The Espada laughed and crouched low into a stance. "What kinda question is that, Tim? You know damn well I'm always ready for a fight!" he roared before vanishing through sonído, followed by Timothy.

Kova chuckled in her throat and swiftly blocked the men's attacks. "I'll give you credit…" she began, firing at them with more wings. "That wasn't a bad plan." She blocked another sword swipe from Timothy and a cero from Grimmjow. "I'll even admit you caught me off guard with that one." She fired a pair of beams at an incoming Timothy, who raised his gauntlets to block them.

"Cero!"

She glanced over towards Grimmjow, firing the signature attack for hollows, and grinned when she saw his cero vanish in the same manner as Timothy's previous attacks. "That won't work anymore." she mumbled, turning a barrier to intercept the cero, now coming from above.

"Hadō #54, Haien!"

Kova scoffed and flicked another barrier towards him, but his attack vanished as well. Coming up behind the vanishing attack, Timothy charged forward, fist held back for a punch. Flames burst outwards from his fist when it impacted the barrier, then once again when he followed up with another punch before leaping back to avoid more Zanshun beams. After blocking the next attack from Grimmjow, she glanced around, looking for the missing cero and kidō, but saw nothing. Timothy flashed up to her for another punch, but he was effortlessly blocked by another barrier before vanishing again.

"Cero!" Grimmjow said with a wide grin.

The woman scoffed and turned to intercept the attack with a barrier, but just like the others, it vanished too. This was followed by another cero from the Espada and a kidō from the Lieutenant. Over and over, the two men would alternate between close-ranged attacks and either a cero or kidō. But even after nearly a dozen attacks, not one had reappeared like she expected. Like last time, it only took a moment for her to piece the men's tactics together. 'He's storing their attacks somehow… But I don't recall the brat's power being able to do anything other than simply teleport between those flames. So… where are these attacks of theirs going?'

"Hadō #63, Sōren Sōkatsui!"

"Cero!"

Kova growled in her throat and turned to see the Espada's cero vanish, presumably along with the kidō. "I am growing tired of this." she voiced aloud, blocking a punch from Timothy and a sword swipe from Grimmjow.

"You could always just give up." the Lieutenant snarked, throwing another punch.

"As if." she returned with a flurry of beams.

The man leaped away before vanishing, reappearing on her flank. "Always worth a try." he said as he punched again. Flames exploded from his hit, temporarily obscuring him from view and allowing him to switch himself with Grimmjow, who was swinging down with his blade. Because the barrier was still in place, it absorbed the attack with no effort, along with the following flurry of swipes from the Espada.

"Getting tired yet?" he jokingly asked.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What a stupid…" She paused to turn around and block a punch from Timothy, who swiftly vanished.

"Hadō #63, Sōren Sōkatsui!" he yelled from a different direction.

Growling again after seeing this kidō vanish as well, she lowered her barrier against Grimmjow and swiftly gave him a sweeping kick to the head. Dodging at the last second, the Espada buzzed away to avoid the barrage of Zanshuns that followed. "Damn it…" she seethed.

Fighting the orange-haired teen and the former Quinto Espada was nothing. One was simply a powerhouse that relied on her physical power, and while the other was quite fast with his shunpo, it was still shunpo, and could still be predicted to an extent. The Lieutenant's power, however, allowed him to move to any location in an instant without the spiritual trail sonído and flash step left behind, and thus made it hard to predict. No to mention that his power allowed Grimmjow to do the same. Add in that he could use said power to teleport not only people, but objects and attacks as well? It made for a difficult, if not impossible, fight for others. But for Artiélla Kova, this power only served to prolong the battle and piss her off.

She glanced at one of the numerous flames that surrounded the field and snarled. She knew from past recordings Aizen had shown her and the Espada that the flames could be destroyed, and yes, she could easily target a number of the flames at once, thus limiting the brat's ability. However, between having to use Kesshun to block attacks from the two men relentlessly attacking her, using Zanshun to counter or drive them back, and having to use Kisshun to heal and restore lost spirit energy, even with twenty-four wings available she found herself unable to deal with the flames at the moment. Not to mention she needed to keep some of her wings ready to defend for when Timothy eventually decided to use the missing kidō and ceros against her. And then there was the realization that, if he could use the flames to teleport not just kidō, but a hollow's cero as well, then it stood to reason that him being able to do the same with her own attacks was a high possibility.

If it was just the brat, she could have easily finished him off by now, but add in the unexpected, mid-rank Espada as well, then things became much more difficult. And it wasn't like she could trap either of them like she did with the orange-haired brat, the Lieutenant would just simply teleport either of them out of the barrier. It infuriated her that she was starting to consider to herself that she might not be able to handle the pair on her own, not with this style of fighting. Not that she would lose the battle, not by a long shot, but that the battle would take a very considerable amount of time to finish; time she had no intention of wasting.

If she just could get rid of Grimmjow, then she could more easily deal with the Lieutenant. But again, if she focused only on the Espada, it could leave her open to the other's hidden attacks. She knew that Ulquiorra was in the vicinity, she felt his spiritual pressure the instant he arrived in the palace and was likely watching the battle from afar. She wanted to call out and have 'him' deal with the traitorous Espada she faced while she dealt with the Lieutenant. However, if he had yet to get involved in the battle, then it meant that he was likely under orders to observe and do nothing else. She guessed that the only reason he would get involved would be to prevent her from killing the brat and Lieutenant, or to prevent her very unlikely capture. So, he couldn't be counted on.

Kova snarled as she blocked a double attack from both sides, followed by another double from the front and rear. Grimmjow stayed and continued attacking with his sword, while Timothy jumped back and fired another kidō. Unlike the others, this one didn't vanish and continued until it was blocked by her barrier. Golden streaks of electrical energy flashed outwards from the impact as she raised another barrier to stop a downward punch from Timothy who was now above her.

"You two are really pissing me off now." she snarled, turning some of her wings at him and firing. The Lieutenant simply vanished to avoid the counter, reappearing to her left and firing another kidō, only for it to vanish.

That was another problem. The longer the battle took, the more kidō and ceros the pair would 'save up'. Already she mentally counted close to twenty attacks unaccounted for, and the number was only rising. Yes, constantly firing these attacks would eventually drain them of their spirit energy, not to mention that storing these attacks had to be draining as well on the Lieutenant. But at this rate, there was no telling how many attacks they would have stored by the time they did tire out. While she doubted that she would be defeated, even if they hit her with everything at once, it would likely still leave her in a poor condition afterwards. She had no intention of allowing that to happen.

Turning around, she blocked another double attack from the front and right flank, and a cero and kidō that did not vanish from the rear and above. Using two of her wings to quickly replenish herself, she used the remaining ten to force the duo back again. They both vanished, reappearing together a few yards away. The battle came to a brief standstill as the two sides faced each other.

"You can't win this, brat. As you can clearly see…" She held her arms out wide and gave them a sneering grin. "I can easily stop all of your attacks while also keeping myself in top shape. You two, however, will eventually fall." She lowered her arms and chuckled. "I'll grant you that it may take longer than I would like to defeat you, but in the end, you will be defeated."

Grimmjow scoffed and rolled a sore shoulder. "Yeah? Well, who cares?" he challenged, making her narrow her eyes in anger. "I'm actually having the time of my life right now. Today's been the best ever for me." He laughed loudly and gave her a fanged grin. "I live for a fight, and both you and Tim here have given it to me. I honestly couldn't be happier. Even if all you're doing is standing there and taking our hits, I can still let loose and not hold back. This is great!" he said with glee.

"Grimmjow…" Timothy scolded under his breath. "Enough."

"What?" the Espada returned, looking at his partner. "You gonna harp on me for having fun?"

Timothy growled and grabbed Grimmjow by the collar. "We have a plan; don't go and ruin it for your own entertainment, you idiot." he scolded.

Grimmjow scoffed and swiped Timothy's hand off him. "I'm not. But that doesn't mean I can't have my fun as well, you know."

"Oh? You mean your plan to hit me with all of those ceros and kidō you're saving up with all at once? Please. Your plan is so blatantly obvious even a newborn could figure it out." Kova mocked, crossing her arms while her wings rotated in a circle behind her. "I'll admit that I had no idea you could do that, and while the two of you are proving to be more challenging than the carrot-head and the traitor, the end will still be the same."

Timothy and Grimmjow glanced at each other, grinned, then turned back to Kova. "Oh? So, you think me and Grimm 'saving up' our attacks is our only plan?" the Lieutenant sneered.

The grin fell from Kova's face, and she narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean? Why else would you do it?" she questioned.

"Easy." he returned, and the pair dropped into their stances. "Target fixation."

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

Her eyes widened a fraction before she turned and swiftly brought up a barrier to stop the now recovered Ichigo's attack.

"Hinotama Surasuto!"

Scoffing, Kova formed a second barrier, blocking the fireball from Timothy, then a third to stop his following punch.

"Cero!"

A fourth barrier formed to stop Grimmjow's attack from above while Timothy continued to attack with a flurry of punches. "You were so focused on us…" He vanished, replaced by Grimmjow with his sword, while he reappeared behind her to fire a barrage of fireballs. "And looking out for our missing attacks…"

"Justa Subsónica!"

Kova growled and formed yet another barrier to stop Nel's lance charge from the flank. She shifted one formed barrier around to block more punches from Timothy, and another for Grimmjow's second cero. "You neglected to keep an eye on the rest of the field around you! Hadō #61, Raikōhō!" the Lieutenant finished from the left.

Forming a fifth barrier, Kova blocked the kidō and used the other four to stop a follow-up punch from Timothy, a Tenshō/melee combo from Ichigo, and a sword swipe from Grimmjow. "Lanzador Verde!" At Nel's voice, Kova formed a sixth barrier to intercept the former Espada's thrown lance. The lance impacted the barrier and sparks were formed as the weapon struggled to break through.

'So, they kept me focused on them, buying time for the other two to recover enough to rejoin the fight. Clever, but still not enough.'

"Cero!" Flicking her eyes towards Grimmjow's new position to her right-rear, she moved a barrier to stop the attack.

With her now forced to utilize eighteen wings for her six barriers and having to use two more to keep up her healing Kisshun barrier to replenish he energy, totaling twenty wings in all, she was left with only four wings to attack with, or to form a seventh barrier should they finally decide to use the kidō and ceros they had saved thus far. She realized then that, if they chose to use their stored attacks against her now, it was unlikely she would be able to stop them all. Even now, they still would not be able to defeat her, but the end result was something she wanted to avoid.

Kova still had one more trick in her sleeve. Using it would be risky in this situation, but it would be a great help for when they hit her with those missing attacks. Deciding to risk it, she pushed all her barriers against her foes, forcing them away from her. "I am done with this!" she snarled.

At her beckoning, all of Kova's twenty-four wings formed up behind her, and just like the previous two times, they all split in half. To everyone's horror, Kova's twenty-four wings suddenly became a staggering forty-eight. They watched as the wings began flying into two opposing, diagonal rings around Kova's body. Raising her hands at her sides, the wings all stopped and turned towards the group, their tips glowing with charging Zanshuns.

"I wanted to avoid this because I'm still learning to control this much at once. But I assure you, my control is more than enough at the moment to finish you all off!"

"Oh shit…" Timothy mumbled, then vanished while the others used sonído and shunpo to avoid the barrage of attacks.

The group's focus instantly switched from offense to defense as they were forced to move from one location to another to avoid the onslaught from Kova. Here and there, one of them would try for either a ranged or melee attack, only to abandon it to avoid a nearly instant counter. "Holy crap!" Ichigo said as he avoided another Zanshun beam. "She's pissed!"

Timothy reappeared, instantly having to raise his gauntlet to block a beam before vanishing again. "No shit, Sherlock!" he yelled back from his next location, then vanished again. "What tipped you off?!"

"I swear…" Nel started then buzzed to a new spot. "If you two…" She buzzed away again and tried to throw her lance, but like before, she had to abandon the attack to avoid a pair of beams aimed at her. "Start fighting now…" Again, she used sonído to avoid another attack, nearly bumping into Grimmjow in the process. "I'll beat you both…" She buzzed away, and at her next location, she managed to throw her lance before having to move again. "Into next week! Cero!"

She was able to fire her attack and dodge in time, but both her lance and cero were blocked by two barriers that quickly formed around Kova. Nel growled as she moved to another location, where she realized she had a big problem. Her lance, once it had run out of forward momentum, dropped to the ground where it waited for her command to return. The problem was that she needed to remain in place for the few seconds it took for it to return to her hand, the few seconds that, with Kova's endless barrage of Zanshuns, she couldn't get. Until she could get those few valuable seconds, she was essentially unarmed. Kova noticed this, and she grinned as she took a step forward, planting a foot on the former Espada's lance and keeping it in place.

"Damn!" she hissed under her breath. More beams were fired in her direction, and she swiftly buzzed away.

Timothy growled in annoyance as he teleported to another location. He wanted to switch out Kitsune's power for Akuma no Tokei's, with his perception-altering ability. It would be a perfect way to end the fight quickly, but like Grimmjow, he too was not fully recovered, and he doubted his remaining spirit energy would last long enough for the ability to reach full effectiveness. There was also the feeling he was getting that they were being watched, and he had no intention of giving Aizen the chance to find a counter to his new power just yet.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo called with a swing of his sword. His signature attack flew towards Kova, and she raised a barrier to intercept it.

"Hinotama Surasuto!" Timothy followed with an air punch towards the same spot.

The substitute's attack, followed by the Lieutenant's fireball, struck the barrier at nearly the same time. The force of the duo attack actually forced the barrier back a bit, but it was the faint, 'crackling' sound that drew the Lieutenant's attention. Glancing over, he caught a brief glimpse of the barrier before Kova dissipated it to use the wings to attack. It was only for a fraction of a second, but he could swear he saw something different about the barrier after the attack.

He vanished to avoid a beam, then again to reappear next to Ichigo. "Hey…" he whispered, getting the teen's attention. "When I tell you…" The pair flashed away from more beams, reappearing together at the next spot. "Hit her with two…" They moved again and continued at the next location. "Tenshōs in the same spot on her right." After a quick nod of understanding, the pair split up.

"Cero!" Nel called, firing a pink beam of energy back at Kova, which was easily blocked before she had to move again. Glancing back, she saw that her lance was still trapped under Kova's foot and unreachable for the moment.

"Nel!" Timothy whispered after appearing at her new location, startling her. "When I say to…" Like before with Ichigo, the two of them would vanish and reappear together at the next location to continue their talk. "Attack her left side…" Another move, followed by a second, and he continued. "With your strongest cero." Not waiting for a response, he vanished while she buzzed away in a seemingly never-ending game of dodging.

Laughter had quickly turned to growls of anger for Grimmjow when he found his fight had gone from fun to annoying. In the past few minutes, he had only been able to get one single cero off, and as things were, he had very little chance to get close enough with his sword. He, along with the others, never expected their opponent to be able to split those wings of hers in half again. With all four of them, they were finally able to push Kova to the brink, but now that she had forty-eight of those damned wings, none of them could barely get any attacks in.

Suddenly, Timothy appeared at his side. "Grimm!"

"What?" he returned in a snarl before the pair vanished.

"When I say…." They had to move again before the Lieutenant could continue. "Hit her with your best cero…" They had to move three times more until he was able to continue. "From the rear." He vanished before Grimmjow could respond and the Espada scoffed.

"Tsk. What makes him think she'll even give me the damn chance?" he grumbled.

Over and over, almost endlessly, all four members of the group were forced to move to avoid Kova's attacks. All the while, the human-turned-Arrancar was laughing maniacally, arms outstretched as her multitude of wings continued to fire at her enemy. Her pool of spirit energy was kept topped off by not one, but two Kisshun barriers around her. As she had mentioned, she was having a difficult time in controlling all of her wings at once, as seen a few times when a few of them had fallen out of sync and failed to fire, but it was more than enough for now. Yes, they were all dodging her attacks right now, but eventually one of them would slip up and get hit. Patience was what she needed right now, so, while it was annoying her to no end how elusive her opponents were, she would eventually end them all.

"Getting tired yet?" she mocked aloud.

"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled back between dodges.

The woman sneered as she watched her four opponents repeatedly use their respective methods to quickly dodge her seemingly endless barrage of attacks. Here and there, one of them would manage to get an attack of towards her, but like before, a quick barrier would easily stop it. And because she had two Kisshun barriers around her replenishing the spirit energy her Zanshun attacks were using, she could almost literally keep going for forever, while her opponents would eventually tire out; and judging by how they were starting to slow down compared to earlier, that eventuality was not that far out.

Without so much as a flinch of a finger, she raised two barriers to stop a cero from Nel and a fireball from Timothy before returning an attack of her own. She glanced at the former Espada and scoffed. "Honestly, the four of you are all pathetic. Surely you must have seen by now that my power is endless. While I stand here, keeping myself in top shape, all of you will only tire yourselves out more. Just give it up, and maybe I'll be considerate enough to make your deaths quick."

"Not gonna happen!" Ichigo yelled, firing a Tenshō with a swing of his sword.

Kova rolled her eyes and effortlessly blocked the attack. "Fine. Then I'll be sure to make all of you suffer, slowly. While I can't kill you and the other brat, those two traitors are another story."

"Like he said…" Timothy spoke from behind, fist held back. "Not gonna happen. Ichigo! Now!"

Raising a brow in curiosity, Kova turned back to the substitute to see that he was once again wearing his hollowfied mask. "Time to end this." he said in a dark, twisted voice.

"Let's see you try." she returned, bringing up a barrier as the teen swung his sword and not one, but two black Getsuga Tenshōs were fired from his blade.

"Grimm!" Timothy followed and she glanced to the side just as the Espada appeared with a buzz, his hand glowing blue with a charged cero.

Kova snorted and brought up a second barrier as the cero was launched.

"Nel!"

Glancing to her left, she saw Nelliel appear with her own cero ready to fire. "Haven't you already tried this, attacking from different directions?" she challenged.

Raising up a third barrier for Nel, then a fourth to stop a punch from Timothy now at her front, she grinned as all four barriers successfully stopped all of the attacks. "Weak." she taunted with a sneer.

"Just getting started." Timothy returned with a grin and a second punch. "Move!"

As one, all four members of the group instantly vanished. Kova was only confused for a moment before her eyes widened in surprise when she suddenly found herself completely surrounded by numerous ceros and kidō spells. Front, rear, sides, even from above, the attacks came from everywhere. "Damn…" she cursed, raising a fifth barrier above her.

All of the attacks hit her barriers near simultaneously, pushing them back against her. She pushed back harder against the forces of the attacks, but she quickly discovered that it wasn't just the force of the attacks themselves she had to fight against, but also the resulting explosions of power from the hollow and soul reaper powers reacting against each other. She then heard a cracking sound and she turned to see that her rear barrier was starting to fail. Another crackling sound told her that a second barrier was about to give out as well. She growled in her throat and swiftly pulled up a second set of barriers behind the first.

Timothy and the others were not being idle. While the Lieutenant was drawing on his reserves of saved kidōs and ceros, he and the others were launching even more ranged attacks to keep the pressure on. Right after Grimmjow fired another cero, Timothy turned to him. "Grimm, hit Nel with a cero." he instructed.

While confused at first, it only took the Sexta Espada a second to realize the man's intention. Turning towards the teal-haired woman, he sent a cero in her direction. Also realizing his intention, Nel intercepted the attack, absorbing it into her mouth before swiftly turning and sending the cero, mixed with her own, at Kova. A hollowfied Ichigo suddenly appeared at her shoulder, swinging his blade, and launching a black Tenshō behind the cero. Both attacks struck Kova's right-side barrier one behind the other, and with the current barrage she was facing, it was enough to finally overwhelm it. There was a loud, shattering sound in the air as the first barrier on Kova's right side shattered like glass. The remaining power of the attacks continued until it hit the second barrier behind the first.

"Keep it coming!" Timothy yelled as he punched the air, sending a fireball at Kova's overhead barrier from above.

The force of the shattering barrier from the right, along with Timothy's overhead attack was just enough to throw Kova slightly off balance. To keep her footing, Kova took a step back, then another, and before she could realize her mistake, Grimmjow was suddenly right in front of her kneeling down. She cursed to herself and moved to stop the Espada, but it was too late. Just as quickly as he appeared, he was gone, along with Nelliel's lance.

"Hey! Green-hair! Catch!" Grimmjow yelled from his new location before throwing the weapon.

With a buzz, Nel appeared in the weapon's path, expertly catching it, and turning it towards Kova. "Justa Subsónica!" With a boom, the woman disappeared, reappearing at Kova's front and hitting the barrier. Like before, the first barrier shattered, allowing Nel's lance to continue and hit the second. Her attack still had enough power behind it to crack the barrier, but not quite make it through.

"Come forth 'o Lord of lightning, ruler of the night skies." While trying to hold back Nel, Kova glanced to see Timothy a short distance away with his glowing hand held up. "Claw out from your berated barrier so that all who walk upon this earth may receive your punishment. Hadō #70, Gekko Kaminari!"

The energy in his hand coalesced into a large, blue ball of electrified energy before being launched at Kova from the rear. Ichigo suddenly appeared between her and the incoming attack and swung a Tenshō as well before vanishing again. She had little time to react before the teen's attack struck, followed by the high-level kidō. Again, another barrier was destroyed, but the second barrier held up, if only barely.

"Cero!" Grimmjow yelled. Kova snarled as her left barrier was hit by the Espada's attack, followed by one of their saved kidōs. This time, the outer barrier held, but another hit would likely destroy it as well.

"Hadō #61, Raikōhō!"

And just like that, her third barrier was shattered. Now feeling the increased drain on her spiritual energy from the onslaught, Kova pulled up a third healing barrier around her as she reformed her shattered defensive ones. "Lanzador Verde!" Before her new barriers could fully form again, Nelliel's lance struck her right-side shield, sparks flying as the weapon struggled to break through.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo called, swinging his signature attack towards the same spot as Nelliel's lance. To the group's relief, the combo attack was enough to shatter the second barrier and strike Kova directly.

Kova grunted from the hit as she was thrown off her feet and back against a nearby pillar. "Hammer her!" Timothy coached as he charged forward with a punch.

Still a bit stunned from the previous attack, she couldn't get a defensive barrier up in time and the Lieutenant's punch struck her. She felt the burning pain as numerous flames erupted from the punch and she yelled in fury as she swung a fist back at him. Her wrist was caught by a suddenly appearing Grimmjow, who followed Timothy's punch with a swing of his sword. With no time to raise a barrier, Kova instead placed a single wing in the blade's path. Its metallic body was enough to stop the blade, but it was destroyed in the process. With a loud roar, Kova turned every single wing towards the duo and swiftly fired a full barrage of Zanshuns.

Both men backed away to avoid the attack just as Nel appeared on the woman's left side, her lance held back. "Lanzador Verde!" she called before throwing the weapon.

Because, in her fury, all of Kova's wings were busy firing at Grimmjow and Timothy, she was unable to get a barrier up to stop the lance. For the first time, Kova yelled in pain as the weapon struck her body and sent her flying once again into another pillar. "Don't stop! Give it your all!" Nel shouted as her lance reformed in her hand mid-charge.

In the distance, Ulquiorra continued to watch the fight, pondering on if he should interfere or not. The situation had seemed to become worse now that his new companion seemed to be on the complete defensive, and struggling at that. It left him in a dilemma. Per Aizen's instructions, he was not to interfere in the fight, only to observe Timothy and see if he would use this strange new power of his and find out exactly what it did. But so far, the man had yet to use it again, and it seemed to the Espada that he might not.

Unlike the other Espadas, possibly even Ichimaru and Tōsen, he was aware of Kova's true identity, that the being was once the human known as Orihime. In fact, per Aizen's request, he was present when the man had used the Hōgyoku on her, effectively turning the woman into a Visored. The reason for this was simple; to keep an eye on her and teach her how to utilize her new powers and show her how things worked in Las Noches. Put simply, he was made to babysit their new addition. Honestly, he didn't mind the meaningless task, since it was a direct order from Aizen, but also because the woman tended to behave herself, for the most part.

Another order he was given in regard to the woman was that he was to prevent her possible capture. This was where his problem was. Since he was instructed not to interfere in the fight, only to observe, how was he supposed to keep her from being defeated? With the way things looked at the moment, he was going to fail one of the orders Aizen had given him. The situation greatly annoyed the Quatro Espada.

"Don't move." a calm, yet aggressive voice instructed from behind.

Turning his head, Ulquiorra glanced at the four… no, five beings behind him. Of course, he wasn't surprised they were there. He could feel their spiritual pressures long before they had even reached the bottom floor of his palace. He could have easily dealt with them, even before they had reached the lower floor, but again, it would have meant having to disobey Aizen's order to observe Timothy Durn. And besides, not a single one of them, even should they all fight together, could stand a chance against him, especially considering how weak and worn out they currently were.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at Uryū, who had his Quincy bow pulled back and pointing an energy arrow at him. "I have no intention to fight you at the moment. Lord Aizen has given me no orders to deal with any of you. However…" He turned his body around to face the group fully, hands in his coat pockets. "Should you feel foolish enough to engage me, that will be a different matter." he warned.

Uryū narrowed his own eyes back at the Espada. "Then why are you here?" he questioned.

"That is none of your concern, Quincy." he answered, unmoving. "My business is my own, and that of Lord Aizen. It is advised you leave here, while you are still able."

Renji stepped forward, brandishing his zanpakutō. "I don't think so. You're that Espada from Karakura Town, Ulquiorra, right?"

"Indeed. And if any of you have any sense, you must surely know that none of you are a match for me. Attempting to fight me would only prove to be a foolish and fatal mistake."

"We don't want to fight you." Rukia jumped in, stepping forward as well. "Honestly, we would prefer not to fight any of you Arrancars if we can help it."

"All we want is our friend back and we'll leave." Chad added. Ulquiorra glanced at him and noticed that he had a female Arrancar slung over his shoulder. It only took a brief instant to see that the woman was one of Harribel's fracción.

"We don't want any more trouble from you or your friends." Uryū said, getting the Espada's attention again. "Just give us Orihime and we can go our separate ways."

"Interesting." Ulquiorra spoke under his breath. "You are a Quincy, one whose sole purpose is to eliminate hollows like myself, yet you are willing to let one live. How contradictory." he commented.

"You're right." Uryū confirmed. "It is my purpose to destroy hollows, but there are some things that take precedence over that. Protecting the innocent being one of them."

"... I see. So, you came here only for the girl, and nothing else? You stand in the very fortress of Lord Aizen, the man whom you and the soul reapers have sworn to kill, yet you do not intend to locate him?"

"His time will come, eventually. But no, our only mission is to save Orihime, nothing more." Rukia said with a nod.

The Espada glanced down at the shorter woman. "And what makes you believe that you 'can' save her? There is just the eight of you, against a fortress of several hundred Arrancar, ten Espada, and a man who possesses powers near that of a God. Surely, even trash like you can see such a feat is folly. Did you think that someone Lord Aizen would go out of his way to capture would be so easy to retake? That said person would not be under considerable guard? How foolish."

"Say what you want, hollow." Uryū snapped, regaining Ulquiorra's attention again. "Orihime is our friend, and all of us would die to save her. Did you think all of us came here not prepared to die? I can assure you; you are wrong if that is the case. Now, quit stalling, and tell us where she is." he demanded.

Once again, Ulquiorra found himself conflicted on what to do. If he were to engage the four before him, it was likely the fight would be drawn into the one he was supposed to observe. But if he were to allow them to continue, they would join the fight against Kova. While the odds were stacked against her, it was still possible for her to triumph in her fight; but if these four were to get involved, then her defeat, and capture, was essentially guaranteed. Either way, he would fail his mission.

A thought then occurred to him. Could this all be Lord Aizen's intention? Was this whole situation another of the man's experiments? Or a part of his plan altogether? Ulquiorra prided himself on being able to read others, quite efficiently, but Aizen was one he couldn't get a grasp on. The man was cunning and intelligent, a combo that made him very dangerous and very unpredictable.

Footsteps lightly echoed through the room, along with the sounds of the distant fight. Everyone, minus Uryū who kept his focus on Ulquiorra, turned to see a tall, slender man with pink hair, and a mask that resembled glasses. "Ah, Ulquiorra. Just the man I was looking for. I hope I'm not interrupting." he said in a calm, yet somehow sinister tone.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at the man. "Szayelaporro. What is it?" he returned.

The Octava Espada gave what appeared to be a kind smile, but Ulquiorra knew better. "I hope you'll forgive me, but it would seem Lord Aizen has requested your presence in the throne room. I, meanwhile, am to take your place in observing matters here. I do hope this is not an inconvenience." he said with a slight bow, arm across his midriff.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes and took a breath, somewhat relieved that his dilemma was resolved. "Very well. And what of the trash before us?" he asked, looking at Uryū.

The pink-haired man shrugged. "Lord Aizen mentioned nothing about them. And, considering that, at least to my knowledge that is, no further orders beyond what was already given 'have' been given, I make the assumption that our original orders still stand, and that they are to be left to their devices. Have you received any further orders in that regard?" he asked with a grin.

"No. Very well. I will report to Lord Aizen as instructed." Ulquiorra responded. With a flick of his wrist, a garganta appeared next to him and he turned to enter, stopping to glance at the group of invaders. "You may consider yourselves fortunate, for now. Be warned though, such fortune may not save you the next time we meet." With that, the Quatro Espada stepped through the dark portal, which closed behind him and left the group alone with the Octava Espada.

Uryū swiftly turned and pointed his bow at Szayelaporro. "I take it you were told not to interfere with us?" he questioned.

Granz grinned and bowed. "Of course. My orders and intentions are merely to observe you all. Nothing more, I assure you. Why, I do not even have my zanpakutō with me, as you can see."

The group indeed noticed that the man was seemingly unarmed, but not one of them believed that it meant he wasn't still dangerous. "Just stay out of our way, Arrancar." Uryū demanded, lowering his bow.

The Espada held his arms out wide. "Of course. By all means, you are free to do as you wish. Just ignore little ol' me." he said with a 'cheery' smile. It unnerved them all.

Slowly, the group moved away from the still-smiling Espada. Renji led the way, with Rukia and Chad, with Mila Rose still on his shoulder, in the middle, and Uryū keeping an eye on Granz at the rear. The Quincy almost raised his bow again as Szayelaporro raised a hand and started waving. "Farewell, my dear Mila Rose. I hope you are having a good day." he teased.

Mila Rose growled in her throat at the man, inwardly shivering at the man's smile. Chad felt it and glanced back at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked quietly.

"I know we're supposed to be enemies and all, but… watch out for that one." she warned in a whisper.

Uryū glanced at her with a raised brow. "What do you mean?" he questioned.

She gave him a firm glare. "He's dangerous. Very dangerous. Don't let that smile of his fool you. That bastard is a sadistic maniac. Anyone who becomes one of his 'test subjects' are never seen again."

"So… is he some sort of scientist?" Rukia asked.

The Arrancar woman scoffed. "He calls himself that, but trust me, that man is evil, even by hollow standards. Just watch your back with him."

Uryū narrowed his eyes. "And why tell us this? As you yourself said, we are enemies."

"Because no one, not even soul reapers deserve what that bastard would do to you. Trust me. Don't believe me, that's your problem. I'm just being nice here." she grumbled.

"Thanks for the warning, but right now, we've got other things to worry about. Like the fight ahead of us." Renji stated.

"Agreed. We should hurry. I can feel the others and hear them fighting, so they should be just up ahead." Rukia said with a nod.

"Then let us hurry." Uryū concluded as the group started running towards the fight. Every few seconds, the teen would glance behind him, making sure that Granz wasn't following them. But the pink-haired Espada remained in place, his freakish smile still on his face. Begrudgingly, he had to agree with Mila Rose; the man was definitely not someone to fool with, and he hoped that he wouldn't get involved in the fight.

Watching the group run away from him, Szayelaporro's smile remained as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small, palm-sized, oval, blue device, and began rolling it from one hand to the other and back with a hum. "Now then…" He glanced down at the device and his smile grew wider. "Let us see how effective your new improvements are, my tiny friend." he said to himself.

Kova roared in anger, firing more Zanshuns at her foes just after another of her barriers were shattered and another wing destroyed. Compared to her original forty-eight, she was now down to forty-three, five having been destroyed already. She now had four Kisshun barriers surrounding her, not only to recover lost energy, but now to heal injuries sustained from attacks that managed to break through her defenses. On the plus side, Timothy was sending less and less of those saved attacks at her, and since she had not seen him vanish anymore since they started their assault, it meant he had to be almost out of those saved attacks. The loss of her five wings were no matter, some time to recover would allow her to easily replace them later on.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Turning, Kova flicked up a barrier and stopped the attack, only for the barrier to shatter a second later by Nelliel's following cero.

Another barrier was broken a moment later by a combo of Grimmjow's cero, and a double punch from Timothy. This was followed by yet another hidden kidō summoned from the Lieutenant that hit her from the rear, sending her forward. Catching her feet, she turned with a yell of anger and fired more Zanshuns at the two men, only for them to vanish. "This is really pissing me off!" she raged.

"Good." Timothy snarked, throwing a punch from above. "Ready to give up yet?"

Kova gritted her teeth and screamed as she fired even more Zanshuns at him. "Fuck you!" she raged further.

"Tsk, then quit squeaking like a mouse and do it." Grimmjow taunted with a grin, making the woman even more furious.

With a roar bordering on insanity, she turned every one of her wings, including the ones she used for healing, out against them, firing a Zanshun in every direction. Suddenly, the group found themselves on the defensive again as they tried to avoid being hit. Moving around was easy for Timothy with his instantaneous teleporting, and for Ichigo with the enhanced speed his Bankai gave him, enhanced further by his hollowfication. But for Nelliel and Grimmjow, their sonído, while fast, was just barely enough to keep them from being hit.

"Think you made her angry enough?" Ichigo grumbled as he flashed from place to place.

"Shut up, carrot-head!" Grimmjow returned, narrowly avoiding a hit.

"It works in our favor." Nel said as she, too, almost received a hit.

"And how is that?" the blue-haired Espada returned.

"She's so focused on hitting us now…" Timothy started, vanishing to another location. "She's not healing or replenishing her energy."

"She'll eventually run out at this point." Nel added.

"So, making her angry…" He buzzed away, then again, before he could finish. "Makes her stupid. Fine by me." he said with a grin. "Hey, angel lady!" he called out, making Kova snap her gaze to him. "You can't hit shit. You gotta try harder than that."

Kova balled her fists and yelled as she started focusing more attacks at the Espada. He almost regretted it when he was almost hit once again, cursing to himself at the near miss.

"Is that all you got?" Ichigo taunted further, and Kova's attention was redirected once again.

"To hell with what Aizen says! I'll kill you all!" Artiélla raged.

"Then quit yapping and start doing. I'm getting bored here." Timothy mocked with a grin.

Kova snarled as she turned and rapidly charged and fired a cero in his direction. "Die!"

Nelliel scoffed and rolled her eyes as she buzzed to a new location. "You boasted that none of us could hurt you, yet we have done so over and ov…" A pulse of pain erupted from inside her, making her eyes go wide. The sudden disruption made her lose her footing and she tripped on her own feet, landing on the floor in a crash.

Kova noticed this, and with a wicked smile, she turned no less than twenty wings in her direction, Zanshuns quickly firing at her. "Nel!" Timothy yelled, instantly appearing at Nel's side and holding up his gauntlets to block the attack.

The barrage of attacks hitting at the same time was no match for Timothy's defenses, which easily broke, and he was sent flying into a pillar several meters away with a loud grunt of pain. "Tim! Nel!" Ichigo called out.

The teen quickly flashed to where Timothy was prior to stop another barrage while Grimmjow appeared and swiftly took Nelliel away from harm. The teen fought against the attack, but it was quickly proving to be too much for him as well. All the while, Kova was laughing maniacally as she continued to fire Zanshun after Zanshun. "Not boasting anymore, are you?!" she mocked.

A short distance away, Grimmjow appeared behind a pillar, trying to hold onto a transformed Nel. He set her down as she wreathed on the floor, holding her chest in pain. "Hey, Nel, what the fuck's wrong with you?" he asked in mild concern.

She couldn't answer, all of her focus on the torturous pain that wracked her body. Her voice was choked in the pain, so no words could leave her lips. Grimmjow moved to help her, but stopped when he felt a rush of odd spiritual pressure burst from the woman's body. Nelliel continued to thrash on the floor, her four hooves kicking out in random directions and Grimmjow had to take a few steps back to avoid being kicked. "What the hell?" he mumbled, confused on what was going on.

"Get away from her!"

Grimmjow turned towards the voice and quickly jumped back to avoid a blue arrow of energy barely missing his face. Recovering, he looked to see four more people running up to them. And not just any people, but the other members of Timothy's rescue team. The black-haired boy, Uryū if he recalled, pointing a drawn bow at him, with the red-headed soul reaper now standing between him and a downed Nelliel. "You stay back, Espada!" Renji demanded.

Grimmjow raised his hands up in surrender. "Hey, hold up, hothead. We're on the same side here… kind of." he said.

Uryū narrowed his eyes. "Same side? What are you talking about? And what are you doing to this woman here?" he demanded.

"I didn't do shit to her. She just… collapsed on the ground a minute ago. I've got no idea what the hell is wrong with her. As for the 'same side' part, well… that's a long story." he mumbled.

Renji held up his zanpakutō threateningly while Rukia dropped to her knees next to Nel, carefully avoiding her random kicks. "Nel, what's wrong?" she asked in a calm voice. Nel didn't answer, only continued to wreathe on the floor.

"Rukia, is she okay?" Renji asked, keeping his eyes on Grimmjow.

The short woman shook her head. "I don't know. Something is wrong with her. Her spiritual pressure is… wrong. Nel, can you hear me?" she tried, but again, received no response beyond more thrashing. Worried, she glanced up at Renji, fear in her eyes. "Renji, something's wrong here. Her spiritual pressure is running wild, like she can't control it anymore."

Renji gritted his teeth in a snarl. "You bastard, what did you do to her!" he demanded.

Grimmjow growled back in response. "I told you! I didn't do shit to her! This happened on its own! Now, if you're done fucking accusing me of shit, we need to get back there and help Tim and Ichigo. That bitch they're fighting is no fucking joke." he snapped, pointing his thumb back in the direction of the fight.

"And just who is it they're fighting? I don't recognize the spiritual pressure." Uryū asked.

The Espada ran his hands through his hair with a groan. "You won't believe me, but the bitch is actually that friend of yours you're looking for."

Renji raised a brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Grimmjow growled in annoyance. "Exactly how I damn well said it. The woman those two are fighting is the Orihime girl."

Uryū narrowed his eyes in anger. "We're not in the mood for your tricks, Espada."

"It ain't no trick, trust me. Short version: Aizen did something to your friend with that magical rock of his, and now she's some kinda human slash Arrancar hybrid. Don't ask, cause no, I don't know the details. All I know is that that woman is, or used to be, the friend you've been looking for."

Everyone's eyes went wide in horror. "He didn't…" Rukia breathed, still trying to comfort a thrashing Nel.

Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, he did. And seeing as we're short on time here, can we cut the rest of the questions till later? We gotta get out there and give those two a hand."

Renji and Uryū glanced at each other for a moment before the Lieutenant finally sighed. "Fine. But if this is some sick, twisted…"

Grimmjow waved him off. "Yeah yeah yeah, you'll gut me or something like that. Now shut up and let's deal with that bitch." With that, the Espada vanished in a buzz.

Renji turned around to Rukia and looked at Nel's wreathing form. "Anything you can do to help her?"

The woman nodded and held a hand over Nel's head. "Oh great fairies of the Netherlands, sweetly sing your song of glory to soothe the savage beast. Bakudō #6, Suimin." Her hand and Nelliel's body glowed blue for a moment before it faded. When it did, Nelliel suddenly stopped thrashing and went still. Raising her head up, Rukia placed it in her lap, stroking the Arrancar's hair gently. "I put her to sleep, but with how wild and violent her spiritual pressure is right now, I have no idea how long it'll last." Renji and Uryū nodded and turned to leave. "Renji…" she called, stopping the two men. "Do you… Do you think what he said was true? That… That Aizen did something to Orihime?" she asked fearfully, tears in her eyes.

The pair were silent for a moment. "It is Sōsuke Aizen we are talking about." Uryū finally answered. "A man like him; with the power he can control… I do not believe anything is out of the realm of possibility with him involved." With that, both of the men vanished, leaving Rukia and Chad alone to watch over a downed Nelliel and Mila Rose.

"Let me see her." Mila Rose spoke up. Chad glanced at Rukia for permission and got a nod in response. Setting the large woman down on her feet, the pair watched as she came to a kneel next to Nel. Raising a hand, she rested it against Nel's forehead, narrowing her eyes a moment later. "You're not wrong. Something is wrong with her spiritual pressure. It's… It feels like she lost control of it or something."

"Do you know what could cause this?" Chad asked.

The woman shook her head. "Beats me. I've never seen anything like this before. At least, not like this. I've seen hollows lose control of their powers before, and watched as they were consumed by them, but this is something else. I can't really describe it." she said with a shrug.

"Were you two close? I mean, before Aizen turned on her?" Rukia questioned.

Again, Mila Rose shrugged as she sat down. "We're not friends, if that's what you're asking. More like… acquaintances. On good terms, so to say. She didn't bother us, more than the occasional simple, polite conversations, and we didn't bother her."

"I see." Chad mumbled.

"Mila Rose…" Rukia spoke, getting her attention. "If what Grimmjow said is true, about… about our friend… did you know?"

The woman scoffed and gritted her teeth. "Fuck no! This is the first I'm hearing of it. And you can believe me when I say this news is just as shocking to me as it is to you. I knew Aizen was a twisted guy, but I never figured him to be this twisted. Believe it or not, I actually didn't mind your friend. Sung-Sun even took a liking to her. And even if I didn't like her, I'd never wish this kind of fate or whatever on anyone. I'm a hollow, but I'm not cruel." she defended.

"And do you think any of the Espada knew?" the shorter woman asked further.

Again, Mila Rose shrugged. "No clue, but I don't think Lady Harribel knew. That, or she knew and was either ordered or decided not to tell me, Apacci, and Sung-Sun."

Chad looked at Nelliel's sleeping form for a moment before turning to Rukia. "Do you think Mr. Urahara will be able to help Orihime and Ms. Nel?" he asked.

Rukia took a breath before answering. "Honestly? I don't know. With how intelligent he is, I want to say yes, but… It's entirely possible that this could be something even he can't fix. All we can do right now is find a way to get her back home so Kisuke can take a look at her. As far as Nel…" She paused to also look at Nel's form. "Again, I don't know. But regardless, they're not our biggest problem right now."

Chad looked at her in confusion for a moment before it clicked. "We can't get back." he realized, earning a nod from Rukia.

"Right. With Nel down, we have no way to open a garganta to get out of here even if we do manage to get Orihime." she confirmed.

The pair went silent until Mila Rose spoke up. "I'll open one for you." she said in a low voice, surprising the pair.

"And just why would you do that?" Rukia challenged with a glare at the amazonian woman.

"I already told you." she snapped back with a matching glare. "I might be a hollow, but even 'I' find something like this to be unforgiving. Aizen used that Hōgyoku thing to change all of the Arrancar, but even if we all had different reasons to do it, we still willingly allowed it to happen. Your friend, however, is another matter. This was obviously forced on her. Not only that, but he's also forcing her to fight her friends. It's beyond wrong. So yeah, I'll help you get her back home."

Rukia raised a questioning brow. "You do know that if you 'did' help us, Aizen would know, right? And I seriously doubt he would look kindly on that."

Mila Rose gritted her teeth in a snarl. "Yeah, I know. Even before Lady Harribel accepted his proposal to become an Arrancar years ago, I never trusted the man. None of us did, really. But circumstances at the time left us with no choice, so we accepted his offer. Or rather, Lady Harribel did, and me and the others followed her. Like I explained to your friend here…" She turned towards Chad, who nodded. "Apacci, Sung-Sun and I don't care for Aizen, and we only serve him because Lady Harribel serves him. That's all there is to it."

"If that's the case, wouldn't you be going against this Harribel as well?"

Mila Rose clenched her fists and nodded. "Yes, I would. But… knowing Lady Harribel like I do… I know she would understand. Honestly, I feel that, if she were in my position, she would possibly do the same thing. She is no saint, none of us are, but she is understanding, especially towards females."

"What do you mean?" Chad asked.

The woman scoffed and waved her hand at him. "It should be no surprise to you that female Adjuchas are rare, and female Vasto Lorde even more so. Lady Harribel was a Vasto Lorde, while me and the others were Adjuchas. You might come across a few hollows that decide to group up to improve their chances of survival, but normally it's every hollow for themselves. Every hollow, regardless of evolution, is a possible target for other hollows, and females are no exception. It's common knowledge that female hollows tend to be weaker than their male counterparts, meaning that they are targeted more. Lady Harribel knew this, and kinda made it like a mission of hers to help any female hollows she came across. Sung-Sun was the first one that joined her, then myself shortly afterwards. Apacci was the last to join our group before Aizen found us after we found ourselves in a battle we couldn't win. Aizen saved us, though I'm willing to bet it was part of his plan from the start, and then he offered for us to become a part of his army."

She took a breath and sighed heavily. "The others and I were against it, and even warned Lady Harribel not to trust him, but she still accepted. We would never abandon her, so we accepted as well. It wasn't long after that Nelliel here joined his ranks as well. Nothing was ever said, but her and Lady Harribel kinda established a mutual understanding to look out for one another, both being the only female Espadas in a world filled with killer males. So yes, while I'm sure Lady Harribel would be furious at me for 'helping the enemy', I doubt she would hold it against me in this situation. God knows I'd never hear the end of it from Apacci and Sung-Sun though."

Rukia starred at the woman for a moment, then turned to Chad. "What do you think, Chad?" she asked.

He looked at Mila Rose, nodding a few seconds later. "I think we can trust her. To be honest, I think she should come back with us."

Rukia raised a brow in surprise. "Are you serious?" she asked, getting a nod in response.

Mila Rose snorted with a grin. "Yeah, not happening. Look, just because I find what Aizen did to your friend to be wrong in many ways, and that I'm willing to help you get her out of here, it doesn't mean I'm going to change sides or anything. Lady Harribel saved and protected me, so I owe her more than you can imagine." she said, crossing her arms. "I'll stay with her until the day I die, and nothing will change that. Not even the potential death warrant from Aizen. Once I help you get your friend back home, we're enemies again. Simple as that. It's nothing personal; I actually think we'd get along if not for obvious circumstances."

Chad gave her a saddened nod. "We understand. I hope we don't have to fight each other again."

"Same here." she replied with a nod.

"Well, I hope their fight doesn't take much longer. I don't like the idea of that pink-haired guy watching us from the shadows. He's up to something. I'm sure of it." Rukia fretted.

Mila Rose nodded again. "Agreed. Aizen wouldn't send him here just to watch. He's got something planned."

"We should be ready to leave the moment their battle is finished." Chad advised, getting a nod of agreement from Rukia.

"With Ichigo, Tim, Uryū, Renji, and, oddly enough, Grimmjow, its five-on-one. As long as someone else doesn't show up to get in the way, they should be able to finish this quickly. I hope."

Ichigo grunted as he deflected a Zanshun beam with his blade, flashing away a second later to avoid another. A short distance away, Timothy was also struggling to avoid being hit. He could only see out of one eye, the other closed to avoid the blood from getting into it. The blood came from a gash on his head from being thrown into the pillar after defending a downed Nelliel. To make matters worse, both men were starting to tire out. Ichigo's hollow mask was breaking apart from use, and Timothy was rapidly running low on spawnable flames. Between his punches, having to use his flames to teleport others as needed, and not fully recovered from his earlier battle with Grimmjow, he was down to only a third of his flames, and that number was quickly declining.

Matters were made much worse by the sudden loss of Nelliel, of which Timothy was unsure of the cause, and the temporary loss of Grimmjow, who took her away from the battlefield. The four-on-one fight suddenly became a two-on-one in an instant, and the two men were feeling the pressure from it. With two less people for her to worry about, Kova was showing no mercy with her onslaught of attacks. With having to constantly block and/or dodge, Ichigo and Timothy had no chance to even consider trying to counterattack the woman. To their relief, as little as it was, Grimmjow reappeared in a buzz behind Kova with a swing of his blade. He was forced to abandon the attack when a number of her wings turned to him with charged Zanshun beams.

"This is bad." Ichigo commented, avoiding another attack.

"Yeah, no joke there." Timothy agreed, using a flame to teleport away.

"At least help is here." Grimmjow informed, he, too, having to avoid more attacks.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.

"Ran into your friends when I took Nel out of the area. They weren't exactly happy to see me though." he joked. All three of them were flashing, buzzing, or teleporting over and over to avoid Kova's endless attacks.

Timothy glanced at the Espada with surprise. "Renji and the others are here?!"

"Yup, and I gotta say…" a familiar voice added, followed by a matching form appearing beside Kova with a released zanpakutō. "You guys seem to be slacking."

"Renji!" Ichigo called out in relief.

The red-headed Lieutenant swung, only for his blade to be stopped by a barrier. He scoffed and quickly flashed away to avoid the counterattack. "So, the Espada wasn't lying." he commented from his new position at Timothy's left. "It really is Orihime." he snarled.

Timothy nodded before teleporting away. "Yeah, it is." He confirmed from his new location.

"Can we assume her powers are the same as Orihime's?" Uryū asked, appearing above Kova, and firing a barrage of energy arrows that were absorbed by another barrier.

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, but far more powerful. She can use all of Orihime's powers. Her shield, her healing barrier, and, as you can see, her Koten Zanshun."

"But unlike our Orihime…" Timothy teleported up to Kova and punched, hitting yet another barrier before moving back again. "She can use a lot of them at once."

To prove his words true, Kova grinned and fired multiple Zanshuns at all five of them at once while also pulling up a pair of healing barriers as well. "That's right. My powers are far more efficient than that bitch's." she confirmed.

"Any chance we can save her?" Renji asked in worry as he swung his sword. His released zanpakutō extended out towards Kova, the tip of the jagged weapon striking a barrier and bouncing off.

"Other than somehow knocking her out, which I'm not sure we can do…" Timothy stopped, unable to say the worst.

Uryū narrowed his eyes in anger. "I see." he hissed. Coming to a stop on the woman's right side, he reached back and drew one of his Seele Schneider from his holster. Bringing it up, he held it to his bow and drew it back like an arrow as the energy blade phased into being. "Then that means we must end her." he said in a dark tone.

Kova glanced at him and gave him a fanged grin. "Oh? So, you're willing to kill your friend?" she challenged as she brought up a barrier to block him.

"Unlike the others, I do not shy away from what needs to be done. If killing you, and in effect, killing Orihime, is the only way to save her now, then I will do so without any remorse." With that, he released his Seele Schneider. The bladed weapon flew through the air with impressive speed, striking Kova's barrier a second after release. Kova's grin widened before falling as the weapon literally ate through her barrier. Swiftly bringing up a second, followed by a third, she watched in horror as the Seele Schneider tore through all three. She had only a fraction of time to quickly buzz away before being hit with the weapon.

Having access to all of the real Orihime's memories, now being a part of her soul, Artiélla knew all of Uryū's Quincy abilities, as well as the others'. But this strange, bladed weapon was new, something not even Orihime knew about. As such, she never expected it to bypass not one, but 'three' of her barriers in a row, and still nearly hit her had she not avoided it. She glared at the black-haired teen in fury with a snarl. "What the hell was that? How the fuck did you break through my barriers so easily?!" she seethed.

Her eyes went wide in shock when she suddenly detected that the Quincy was now behind her, a second Seele Schneider drawn. "My Seele Schneider cuts into a person's spirit energy, breaking apart its bonds and allowing me to absorb it. Your barriers are powerful, there is no denying that, but not even they can stand up to it."

With that, he released his weapon. In defiance to his words, Kova brought up five barriers, one behind the other, to stop it. But like before, the Seele Schneider tore through them. It made it past the first four, but they had managed to slow the weapon enough that by the time it reached the fifth, it did not have the velocity to make it through the fifth and hit her directly. Kova's grin returned with a dark chuckle. "Seems that they can, Quincy." she said as she turned her wings toward him and started firing.

With a wisp of Hirenkyaku, Uryū vanished to avoid the attack. Renji appeared from behind with a swing of his sword but was blocked by another barrier. This was followed by an attack on her right by Timothy, and her left by Grimmjow. She then raised a barrier to block a Tenshō from above by Ichigo.

"Only to an extent." Uryū commented, firing a third Seele Schneider from the front.

Swiftly raising five more barriers to stop the projectile, she laughed as it tore through the first four only to be stopped by the fifth. But that laughter was halted when she saw that there was a barrage of energy arrows right behind it, all targeting the wings from her broken barriers. With numerous shattering sounds, six of her wings were instantly destroyed by the arrows. In fear, Kova instantly buzzed several meters away, coming to a stand before the five men with clenched teeth. "What the hell…" she snarled in her throat.

Uryū stood straight and adjusted his glasses. "As I told you, my Seele Schneider cuts into your spirit energy. Hitting your barriers may not affect you directly, but it does affect those shards that produce said barriers, thus weakening them enough for me to easily destroy them. By my count, you now have only thirty-seven of them left. A number that will continue to decline the longer you face me."

Kova growled through her teeth in fury. "Damn you all. I'll kill you."

Timothy took a step forward and pointed a finger at her. "We don't want to kill you; we want to save our friend. But that doesn't mean we won't if we have no choice. Give up now, and maybe we can find some way to undo what Aizen did and split you from Orihime."

The woman scoffed and glared at him. "I already told you, we're one soul combined, idiot. You can't split us apart, not without killing us both. Not even your miracle-worker Urahara can help. Besides, why the hell would I split from her? Her powers are now mine, and splitting from her would only make me lose those powers. Fat chance of that happening. These powers and this body are mine now. Mine! I'll die long before I ever let you take them from me. And I'd gladly take the naive bitch with me."

"Then it would appear we have no choice." Uryū said as he drew another Seele Schneider from his back and drawing his bow with it. "For Orihime's sake, we will try to make this as quick and painless as possible." With that, he released his weapon.

Kova swiftly buzzed away, having to raise a trio of barriers to block Grimmjow, Renji, and Timothy when she reappeared. Noticing movement above her, she raised another barrier to stop a hailstorm of energy arrows from Uryū. "Getsuga Tenshō!" Clenching her teeth, she brought up a fifth barrier to stop the substitute's attack.

"Cero!"

Turning to her left, she saw that Timothy was gone and Grimmjow's cero was in his place. The beam of energy struck her barrier, and she heard a cracking sound as the barrier threatened to give way. "Hinotama Surasuto!" Glancing to her right, now Renji was gone, and Timothy was in his place thrusting a fist forward. He struck the barrier, flames exploding outward, and like the barrier on her left, this one began to crack as well. She then heard a yell overhead and she knew that Ichigo was above her and swinging his blade. Yet again, with his attack a third barrier threatened to give way.

"Take this!" Renji yelled, coming in from behind. Flicking a barrier over, she blocked the attack and was a bit relieved when the barrier held without signs of strain.

"Move!" Uryū shouted, and as one, all four men close to her instantly flashed away. "Heilig Pfeil!" Kova's vision was instantly obscured by the hail of hundreds of energy arrows from literally all directions. With final cracking sounds, her two damaged barriers fractured while the others she had put in place struggled to hold back the onslaught.

"Oh power that lies at the root of all creation, oh memory inscribed in ages past…" Kova turned to see Timothy standing a short distance away, his index to pinky fingers pointing towards her. At the tip of each finger was a small mass of red, green, blue, and yellow energies. "Hear my call, and arise before me with your catastrophic power. Hadō #75, Shikodaidama!"

One after the other, each of the balls of energy shot from a finger towards Kova. There was an explosion of fire, then a massive burst of wind, followed by a cascade of water, then finally a barrage of massive boulders. Each one of the attacks impacted an already strained barrier, breaking them one-by-one until four barriers were destroyed. It was made worse by the Quincy's endless rain of arrows, which struck seven of the wings of the recently destroyed barriers, destroying them in the process and now leaving her with only thirty left.

With a roar of rage, Kova tried to use what few wings she had that were not either protecting or replenishing her to strike back at the black-haired teen. With a series of Hirenkyaku, Uryū easily avoided the few attacks Kova was able to send at him. "Give it up. This fight is over, you need only to realize it." he stated in a stern voice.

"Never! I'll kill you all!" she raged.

The five men continued to attack her randomly, Uryū's barrage of arrows stopping only for the brief instant to allow said attacks without hitting his teammates by accident. "You are down to only thirty of those barrier devices left. It takes three to form a barrier, and two to heal yourself. With the five of us attacking you at once, forcing you to double-up your protective barriers, it leaves you barely able to counterattack, or replenish your spirit energy. The longer you struggle…" With another broken barrier, followed by a second, Uryū's arrows managed to destroy three more of her wings, now left with twenty-seven. The teen flashed into place above her, a Seele Schneider drawn back. "The weaker you become. Eventually, you will be left with nothing to fight with."

Releasing, the weapon struck the barrier she had above her, quickly breaking it and hitting the second. Not wanting to risk more wings being destroyed, she buzzed away to avoid the projectile, and her eyes went wide when she felt the teen was behind her, his fifth Seele Schneider drawn. "Damn you…" she hissed as he released.

The projectile tore through two barriers and she was just able to turn her body enough to avoid being struck directly. It proved to be a mistake, as doing so moved her right into the path of Timothy's fist. "Hinotama Surasuto!"

His fist struck her in the left shoulder, and she hissed in pain as flames enveloped her while being thrown away and into a nearby pillar. Her body crashed through it and continued until it dropped and skidded across the ground. "Cero!" Before she could recover, Grimmjow's attack struck her, the ground around her exploding from the force. Fighting through the pain, she saw a flash of movement and looked to see Ichigo above her, his blade glowing as he charged it. Quickly bringing up a double barrier to protect herself, she used another to try and heal herself.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" With a swing, the teen launched his signature attack at her. The attack hit her barrier and it was able to stop it, but not the follow-up attack from Renji's Shikai blade. The first barrier shattered while the second held up, but it was nearly destroyed as well with a following punch from Timothy. The eruption of flames from his punch also managed to destroy one of the wings from her recently destroyed barrier, making her snarl at him in absolute fury.

"Damn you all!" she yelled, using her remaining wings to fire Zanshuns at him to force him back as she made to get back on her feet.

"I don't think so." Uryū said from behind. Snapping her head around, she saw he had recovered one of his Seele Schneiders and was aiming it at her back. Still barely to a knee, Kova was unable to dodge when he released his weapon and was therefore forced to use more barriers to protect herself. Like before, the weapon easily broke through the first four barriers she was able to put up before being stopped by the fifth.

"Hadō #63, Sōren Sōkatsui!" Timothy called. Two bolts of blue energy shot from the two fingers he had pointed at her from the left side. Pulling up another barrier, it stopped one of the attacks, but the other one bypassed her and struck at the wings from her destroyed ones. In one attack, four more wings were destroyed, and she was left with only twenty-two to use.

There was no longer any doubt in her mind; she was fighting a losing battle. Unless she wanted to be killed or captured, she was left with only one choice: flee. With a defensive barrage of Zanshuns from every remaining wing she had, Kova managed to force her opponents back and get back to her feet. Snarling animalistically, she glared in hatred at the five men before her. "This isn't over. I swear I will kill you all. All of you will die by my hands!"

Timothy growled and turned to the others. "Don't let her get away!" he yelled and all five of them quickly moved to prevent her escape. Kova grinned before turning and buzzing away.

Or rather… she tried to. To her shock and horror, she remained in place, her sonído somehow failing. "What?" she whispered to herself. Gritting her teeth, she tried to use her sonído once more, but again, it failed. "What the fuck?!" she seethed.

All five men, noticing something went wrong, quickly stopped in place, and stared at her. Uryū narrowed his eyes at her in puzzlement, but his attention was drawn to Renji when the Lieutenant spoke. "What the…" To the group's shock, the Lieutenant's zanpakutō suddenly reverted from its Shikai state to its sealed state. "What the hell?!" he breathed in confusion.

"Hey! What the…?!" Ichigo spoke up. The others turned to the substitute and saw that his Bankai state just as quickly reverted back to his Shikai, but it turned to horror when his blade reverted even further to that of a standard-sized katana. Seeing as how his Shikai state was his 'sort-of' sealed state, having it regress further was beyond shocking.

"What the holy hell is going on?!" Renji shouted.

Uryū's eyes went wide before they snapped to his energy bow, which, while still there, was pulsing and flickering, as if something was trying to dissipate it. "Something's not right here." he breathed out.

Even Grimmjow, who was staring at his own blade, did so in shock and confusion. "The fuck? Pantera?" he called in his mind, and to his growing fear, he received no answer from his inner hollow.

Adding even more to the confusion was Timothy. None of them had any idea what was going on, but for some reason, he seemed to be the only one that wasn't affected. Looking at his hands, he saw that his Bankai gauntlets were still in place, seemingly unaffected in the least. "What the hell is going on?" "Kit, any ideas?" he asked his spirit.

"No, but I do feel something. It's… like something is trying to pull me away from you, or trying to split us. It's hard to explain. And it's… also familiar…"

Timothy narrowed his eyes at that. "Familiar? How so?"

"It has happened before." Akuma no Tokei suddenly spoke. "When we faced Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez in Karakura Town."

The Lieutenant's eyes went wide in remembrance. "That strange device he had… He was surprised that it wasn't working. You're saying this has the same feeling?"

"Yes. But it's much stronger this time. Not enough to do what it's trying to do, whatever that is, but it's definitely stronger than last time." Kitsune confirmed.

Timothy growled in his throat and turned to the others. "We need to get out of here, now!"

"What's wrong?" Uryū asked in worry.

Timothy cut him off with a swipe of his hand. "I'll explain later. But we need to leave, and now!"

"And what about her?" Grimmjow asked, pointing a thumb at Kova.

Timothy turned to her and noticed that whatever it was that was happening, it seemed to be affecting her as well, though not to the extent as the others. After realizing that her sonído wasn't working, now she was trying to use her wings to form her protective and recovery barriers but seemed to be unable to do so. "We bring her with us. We'll finish up with her after we get outta here." He then raised a palm towards the woman. "Bakudō #24, Kusa Netto."

A green ball of energy shot from his palm towards Kova before rapidly expanding into a net-like form. Before she could react, the energy net wrapped around her, trapping her arms at her sides. Her legs were suddenly drawn together, making her lose her balance. But before she could fall, Timothy appeared at her side through a spawned flame and flung her over his shoulder. "What the?! Get your hands off me, you bastard! Let me go! Let. Me. Go!"

"Shut up!" Timothy snapped over his shoulder at her. Turning back to the others, he gave them a worried look. "Can any of you use your respective flash steps or whatever?"

Grimmjow, Renji, and Ichigo shook their heads, but Uryū nodded. "For some reason, whatever this is, it doesn't seem to affect me as much as the others. I should be able to use my Hirenkyaku with no issue."

Timothy nodded. "Alright. Uryū, you take Renji with you, while I use my flames to bring Grimmjow, Ichigo, and her with me." he instructed, tilting his head towards Kova.

"Like hell! I'm not going anywhere with you fuckers! Let me go! Now!" she raged.

Renji stepped forward and around Timothy into Kova's view. "He said to shut up." he said in a stern voice before delivering a swift chop with his hand to the back of her neck, knocking her out. To their relief, her remaining wings burst apart into spiritual fragments before being absorbed by her body, her body then reverting to its normal state as her Resurrección fell away.

"Thank you." Timothy said in a sigh of relief.

"No problem." Renji answered as he bent down and picked up the woman's now sheathed zanpakutō. "Now, let's get outta here. We still need to get Rukia, Chad, Nel, and that Mila Rose woman."

Timothy raised a brow in confusion. "Mila Rose?"

Uryū narrowed his eyes with a growl. "Long story. We'll explain later."

The Lieutenant shrugged before spawning a pair of flames next to Ichigo and Grimmjow while Renji walked back to Uryū and rested a hand on the teen's shoulder. With that, all six individuals vanished.

A few moments later, Szayelaporro stepped out from behind the pillar he was observing the battle from. The man held his chin in hand, supported by the other arm crossed over his chest. Coming to a stop, he tilted his head left, then right, humming in thought before sighing. Lowering his arms, he raised the one that was held across his chest and inspected the object in his hand. The small, oval device was glowing a dull, yellowish gold, giving off a barely audible thrumming sound, like a slow heartbeat. The device continued to faintly glow while giving off its odd sound until he pressed his thumb to the top of it. After a brief second, the glowing faded away and the sound stopped. Szayelaporro instantly felt the empty-like sensation disappear.

"It would seem this was another failure." he mumbled in a depressed tone, his hand dropping back to his side as he lowered his head in defeat. "Lord Aizen will not be pleased with this." he continued to fret, sighing again. "But… then again…"

Raising his head back up towards the ceiling, he cupped his chin once more, massaging it in thought. "It did seem to affect the Quincy as well, not to mention his newest toy and Ichigo Kurosaki. I did not design it to do so, but this does show that there is some progress. If it can affect them…" A pleased, dark smile found its way to the man's face. "Then surely the experiment is not a complete failure, right? I'm sure this will please Lord Aizen enough to not get rid of me."

The smile turned to a maniacal one. "Yes, I'm sure it will."

Alright. This chapter was a tad on the longer side, nearly 16k words, so I hope it kinda makes up a little for the long posting time. Not giving out any spoilers, but I will say that things are about to slow down a bit as the 'Hueco Mundo Arc' starts to come to a close. But don't worry, we'll be back in Hueco Mundo again in the future, for those of you who might think the place a good spot for a vacation. You know who you are. Kekeke.

On a side note, over the past few chapters, meaning over the past year, I've received a few PMs from some of you requesting that I start doing an after-chapter 'interview' with the story characters. Basically, kinda breaking the 4th wall and having a sit-down conversation with the characters. To be honest, as fun as that might be, it really wouldn't be anything more than what already happens in the story on a normal basis. Plus, things like that tend to lead to possible spoilers, which I wish to avoid. So, I apologize for going against it.

On a second side note, and please bear in mind that this is only rumor-based at the moment, but I recently read that the Bleach series might continue past the 'Thousand Year Blood War' Arc. Again, just rumors at the moment, but you can be sure that I'll be keeping a watch out for any further news.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and hope to see you in the next one. Laters.