Chad had leaped right at Gantenbainne at the other side of the room they were in, with the true form of his right arm that had charged spiritual energy that was ready to fire. Gantenbainne was trying to get away as he kept on using his Sonido over and over in the air, but the human teenager just kept on keeping track of him by using his own variation to increase his speed.

'This human is way faster than I expected him to be! I thought I might have gotten a fair fight, but he's completely overpowering me ever since he came here!' Gantenbainne thought as he had kept on using his Sonido to get away, but the former Espada turned his head from behind to see green flicker of light beneath the human's shoes to see what he was using to keep up with him. 'And just what is he using?! That doesn't look like a Flash Step! It doesn't even look like a Sonido! All I see are just green lights beneath his feet! Just what is he using?!'

Gantenbainne had thought a little too deep, which was something that Chad had managed to notice and took advantage of as he had seemingly teleported and got in front of Gantenbainne. The Arrancar widened his eyes in shock when he saw the human get in front of him. 'Oh no! I won't be able to dodge this!' he thought, before Chad had unleashed a large beam of Spiritual energy right at him.

Chad landed back down on the ground again, waiting to see the state of what his opponent was in. There was a fairly large amount of dust in the room from the blast he just fired. "That last blow just now would have beaten me for sure." the large teen had heard Gantenbainne's voice over the smoke. "You really are something else, Yasutora Sado. Your power is indeed quite impressive. However… you do know I still haven't showed you my true power, right?"

The smoke had cleared up, and Chad had widened his eyes when he saw Gantenbainne again, but this time he was in his Resurección form. "I suppose it's time I show it to you! Dragra!" Gantenbainne had named his Resurreción, and had revealed his true form as well. Gantenbainne had cupped his hands together, and there were charges of pale orange Spiritual energy coming from his hands into one blast. "Prepare yourself, Sado! Dios Luegenos Perdone!" Gantenbainne yelled out his attack before he fired a large beam of energy towards at Chad. Chad seemed to have been standing in shock at the energy beam coming right at him, and for a moment it seemed like it actually went through him.

Most of the area in the room had been destroyed, and Gantenbainne had a small smirk on his face from the damage that he caused. That should finish him off. Though it was unfortunate that this fight ended so soon. However, Gantenbainne had a look of shock when he heard Sado's voice speak again. "Sorry about this, Gantenbainne, but I neglected to tell you another thing." the smoke in the room had started to clear up, and Chad was shown with practically no damage handed to him as he seemed to have blocked the attack with his right arm. "Earlier before I came here, my arm has gone through a metamorphosis before coming into Las Noches, evolving my right arm into its true form. There isn't a shadow of a doubt that the spirit of my abuelo resides within this arm. Abuelo had taught me how to use my strength to protect others."

"And find a way to use your big strong fists. Use them in a way to help this world."

He remembered it very well, to this very day he would never forget those words. "At first I didn't understand what he really meant back then. But when I first unlocked my power dwelved within me, I had finally found my purpose. This arm was made for defense. However there was one fact that I overlooked, I had another arm that was used for something else." the smoke fully cleared up, and Chad lowered his right arm just so that his newly awakened left one could be seen, and the sight of it made Gantenbainne gasp. "This other arm… is Diablo. Brazo Izquierda del Diablo." he showed his left arm.

Gantenbainne had widened his eyes in shock from the new found power within the human, not just that but the meaning of the word "Diablo" in general. "D... Diablo? The Devil?!" Chad had merely stared back at him. Gantenbainne began to regain his composure as he charged off another large amount of Spirit Energy from his hands and meshed into one large energy ball. "That's a pretty boastful name, Yasutora Sado!"

Gantenbainne fired off a strong beam of energy at Chad, but the human merely raised his left arm and grabbed the attack before he crushed it like it was nothing. It felt like he had a caught a tennis ball. "Here's another!" Gantenbainne had done the same thing, but the results became the same as Chad cherished the beam once more with no effort.

"When I'm in a battle, I usually prefer to fighting an opponent at full strength. I can't see any other way to fight someone like that." Chad said.

"I see then. Well, in that case, I suppose I should raise my strength at its maximum level as well!" Gantenbainne had began to charge another energy sized ball at its full power, but this time the ball had become more bigger. "Hraaaaaaugh!" Gantenbainne then threw the energy ball with everything he had, but the shape had turned to a dragon's head in doing so.

Chad raised his left arm again in an attempt to block the attack. When the attack clashed his left arm, the human barely even budged from where he stood. Gantenbainne gaped his mouth from this as once again, his attack had been easily crushed. Gantenbainne used his Sonido to get above Chad's head as he raised his leg to hit it, but Chad grabbed the leg with simple ease and threw Gantenbainne through a pillar. The pillar had fallen down on the ground to erupt a smoke. Suddenly there were yellow energy blasts that fired at Chad like bullets, but the human raised his right arm to block them.

The smoke cleared up and Gantenbainne could be seen again. But to the Arrancar's confusion, he couldn't see Sado in front at all. But it turned out that Chad had been behind him instead. Sensing this, the Privaron Espada had turned around, only to see Chad holding him with his right arm and began to push forward. Gantenbainne had been getting easily overpowered as he couldn't do anything to stop the charge. Chad had then pinned the Arrancar to a wall, and then he used his left arm to charge five tiny disks of energy from his fingertips before he clenched his fists.

"La Muerte." Chad had simply spoke the words before he thrust his fist upwards onto Gantenbainne's stomach. This caused a huge skull mark to form on the wall Gantenbainne's leaning on, and it broke apart all the mask fragments he had in his Resurección, reverting back to his base form.

There was an enormous chunk of wall that had been destroyed thanks to that attack. And as such there was large amount of smoke as well. Gantenbainne had been seen lying on the ground in defeat, having no more strength left to fight anymore.

The Arrancar saw Chad standing up right next to him before he knelt down. "I'd like to thank you, Gantenbainne. Because you fought me at full strength, I managed to grasp the full power of both my arms. So as a result to that, I decided to spare you. I should be able to survive battles ahead of me in the future."

Chad began to walk away from his opponent, but he stopped his tracks when he looked up to see actual skies above him. This got the human giant to get confused. 'I don't understand. Wasn't there a giant ceiling before? I know for sure we broke through inside. Outside of these walls, it always appeared to be dark outside. The moon never moved at all. So how come it's broad daylight all of a sudden?'

Gantenbainne could suddenly hear footsteps that didn't seem like Sado's at all. And he could feel a shadow that was above him that blocked the sunlight. Gantenbainne opened his eyes to see what was happening, and when he did this he became horrified when he saw who it actually was. "Ru... Run away!" Gantenbainne weakly called out Sado.

Chad turned around to see what was the commotion. When he did, he was in shock when he saw someone else in front of him. The person who stood at the front with an enormous weapon was none other than Nnoitra Gilga.

"Well, well, at the head of the pact, are you?" Nnoitra rhetorically asked Chad, having an arrogant smirk on his face while he had casually held an extremely large weapon from his back as he only stood there. Chad immediately saw him as a threat, and with that he began to manifest immediately both of his arms in a battle.

"NO! RUN AWAY WHILE YOU STILL HAVE THE CHANCE, YASUTORA SADO!" Gantenbainne screamed for the human to get away. This opponent here was over much more powerful than he could possibly imagine.

Chad had ignored the Arrancar's plea, and still went ahead to stand his ground. 'No. I have to take him down immediately while I have the chance. His movements seem to be slow. But I can tell with just a glance that he's skilled. Instead of waiting what he'll do first, it's better to end this now!' Chad began to run straight at Nnoitra. "It's okay! I'll finish this with one blow!" he exclaimed, but his opponent merely just stood there.

Chad then thrust his fist right onto Nnoitra's gut, and the force of the blow caused large amount of dust to be seen. Nnoitra had merely bended his back down, but despite this he held no visible damage whatsoever. Chad looked over up above, and he was in shock to see his attack had done nothing. "The fuck was that? You hit like a woman if that was your best shot."

The shock had then plastered into sheer horror from Chad's face. Before he knew, there was a stream of blood that flew in the air, and that blood was his when he had been cut down diagonally from his shoulder to all the way to his hip. Chad splat blood on his mouth before he fell down on the ground.

"I knew it." Nnoitra gave a glare. "You're just another weakling."

Within the halls of Las Noches; Uryu, Renji, Ichigo and Nelliel had all sensed that Chad's Spiritual Pressure had taken a tremendous decrease that seemed to be quite severe. Uryu and Renji seemed momentarily shocked, but they kept going down their paths, however Ichigo was in full shock at what he sensed despite how far he and Chad had been apart from one another.

Nelliel had seen the look of shock on Ichigo's face, as she too had sensed a massive downfall within one of his friends. "That was one of your friends, wasn't it?" Nelliel asked, her tone tied to comfort as she put her hand on his shoulder.

Ichigo didn't say anything to this, instead he only stood there as he was still in his Bankai form. "Chad can't be dead. We made a vow that all of us would return here alive."

"I'm sure that he's still alive." Nelliel tried to reassure the teen. "I mean, at least I think."

Ichigo turned to look at the woman, his face that held silent anger from the looks of it. Nelliel slightly gulped when she thought she phrased it wrong. "I don't think he is dead though. I can still sense him… somewhat…"

Ichigo turned his head around again. Nelliel then let her hand go when she sensed a big increase from Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure that had her eyes go wide. "Let's go. We are not wasting anymore time than we have already." Ichigo told her, before he stopped the increase.

Suddenly Ichigo started sprinting in front of the halls much faster than he ever had before, almost leaving Nelliel behind him. "Hey! Wait up!" Nelliel called out as she started going after him.

Ichigo had ignored her calls, instead his mind had now been focused on the fury he had in himself now. 'All I can do now is believe that Chad is still alive! We made a vow that we would come back alive! I am not letting anyone die!' it reminded him of the same feeling of dread he had once before when he first invaded the Soul Society. 'Whoever did this is going to pay!'

Orihime could be seen in her room again, as she had been standing on the only source of light that emitted here. She had just sensed Chad's Spiritual Pressure take a frightening sharp drop. She had badly wished she could just get out of here and go ahead to heal him. But she couldn't do that at all.

She turned her head when she heard the sound of her door opening up, and there it stood Ulquiorra in front of her, and another Arrancar that had carried a little truck that had tray of food for her. "I suppose you already sensed what happened. That fool, Nnoitra, wait impatient and went ahead to go out, even though he was ordered not to do so in the first place." Ulquiorra informed.

Orihime merely stared back at him. "I know that Chad isn't dead." she told him. "I could sense the fight going on."

"Whatever the case, your meal is ready now." Ulquiorra looked like he only ignored what she said, and the Arrancar had left the room at that point.

"I'm not in the mood to eat food right now."

Ulquiorra gave the girl a blank stare again. "Until Lord Aizen says otherwise, staying alive is one of your duties. So eat. I am not asking you to do that." he ordered her, but this girl still hesitated. "Or unless you prefer to have me shove the food down your throat? Or would you like to be strapped down and receive the food intravenously?"

"All I know is that Chad is not dead."

"Your defiance is understandable, but it's ultimately pointless. Whether he's dead or alive doesn't matter either way. What would you even want me to do? Do you expect me to just reassure you? To confirm whether or not he's still alive? That's a rather pathetic attempt. I am not here to comfort you either physically or psychologically." Ulquiorra had continued on to berate her. "I don't even understand why you're so fixated on whether he's alive or dead."

Orihime had given the Arrancar a quizzical look. "When this battle is over, all of your friends will be dead anyway. And that's the truth you refuse to accept. Why does it even matter if one is killed off sooner than the rest? They should have realized that the moment they stepped foot to this place that this was going to happen."

Orihime had her hand on her arm, as she had clenched it. "Stop it…"

Ulquiorra didn't bother to listen to her. "If they didn't realize that, then they were fools to begin with. If they didn't even realize that, then they deserved to die from their own stupidity." he saw the girl widen her eyes, almost looking at him in sheer disbelief. "It's not even worth the effort to remember any of them. If I were in your position, and I found out that my comrades invaded a place like Hueco Mundo, I would just be amazed at how utterly hopeless they are, and as such all of them deserved to die."

Something inside Orihime had snapped at that moment. Her mind had occupied with anger that was rarely seen from her. Her body felt like it ran by itself as she ran over to Ulquiorra, and in all her anger she slapped him in the face as hard as she could.

Ulquiorra had merely tilted his head from the slap. He turned his eyes to look at her, and she had taken breaths as if she was tired from what she heard from him. "Don't… mention… another word about them!" she exclaimed, but her breaths were heavy, and she was still feeling tired. "Just shut up already! And get out!"

This didn't seem to phase the nihilist though, as he had started to leave the room. "I will come back here in 1 hour. If you hadn't eaten your food until then, then I'll bind you and shove the food down your throat instead. Don't be surprised if that actually happens." he told her before he had left the room and closed the door, leaving Orihime all by herself.

Orihime had clenched her fist with her hand, as silent tears have come out of her eyes. She had silently wept. "Ichigo…" she called out for him, even though she knew he wouldn't just appear out of nowhere in front of her. "Please, come here soon." she pleaded. "I hate this place…"

Some time had passed by now.

Ichigo and Nelliel had found themselves running into another room within the canopy of Las Noches. At least they finally found another room to be in instead of the same halls over and over. However Ichigo had fully stopped his tracks when he had now sensed Rukia's Spiritual Pressure decrease tremendously. Actually it was way too low to sense for his tastes.

Nelliel stopped as well when Ichigo had done the same thing. "Something wrong?" she asked the teen as he had a worried look on his faces. She then widened her eyes again when she sensed a sharp drop from one of the Soul Reapers she met before.

"Rukia's Spiritual Pressure…" Ichigo spoke, with sweat coming out of his face. "It's—"

"Oh? So you actually noticed?"

Both Ichigo and Nelliel turned around to see a light that shined through a gate, and along with the flight of stairs stood Ulquiorra on top of them. "And here I thought you were just some kid that only relied on brute force to get your way. But I'm actually surprised you have some pretty decent sensing capabilities."

Ichigo looked up at the teal eyed Arrancar. "It's you…" he said, remembering the first few times he saw him. First being at their very first encounter, and the second when he saved Grimmjow against him.

"It has been quite a while, hasn't it, Soul Reaper?" Ulquiorra had started to walk down the set of stairs, all while he kept his eye on the two people below him.

"You're the one that they call Ulquiorra." Ichigo said.

"Oh? How odd, I don't remember you telling my name before."

'Ulquiorra? Hold on… where did I hear that name before?' Nelliel thought to herself. 'I don't ever remember meeting this guy before. Is he someone new? I do feel like I remember hearing about it.'

Ulquiorra had then reached at the very bottom of the stairs. "Well, whatever. At any point, Rukia Kuchiki is dead." he simply told the boy without a care in the world. Ichigo had widened his eyes in shock from the news. Rukia… dead? No, that couldn't be the case. He felt a severe sharp drop, but she couldn't be dead. "Actually, to be more accurate, she and Espada number 9 have killed each other at the same time. Her body had been slashed all over the place, and she was impaled by a spear. She couldn't have possibly survived all of that."

"Hang on a minute." Nelliel had interjected in this. "How can you be sure that she really is dead? Granted her Spiritual Pressure had dropped by a lot, but that doesn't just mean that—"

"Cognition Synchronization." Ulquiorra bluntly answered her. "That was one of Noveno Espada's abilities, and one his many responsibilities as well that he had to fulfill. He is able to convey information on enemy he's up against."

"Let me out! Let me out of here!" Orihime had pounded her fist at the closed door she was trapped in. She gave everything she had, but her efforts were just futile, as she was still far too weak from the healing she gave earlier. "Please! Just let me out!" she yelled out her voice for just anybody to let her go and heal Rukia.

Orihime could just see it clearly from the information she was given to by that Espada. She could see Rukia just barely clinging onto her life anymore, and could just barely move as well, yet she still kept on trying to move. To save her. "Let me get out… please…" she cracked her voice as she had learned onto the door. "Just let me heal her... I can't take it anymore." she cried out.

'Guess I could call it good that we shouldn't go fight this guy right now. He's already giving me dangerous vibes.' Nelliel thought as she and Ichigo had started to walk away from Ulquiorra.

"And just where exactly are you headed?" Ulquiorra asked the both of them as they walked away from him.

"Isn't it obvious? We're heading to save Rukia." Ichigo told him as he stopped his tracks.

"I believe I just told you that she's dead."

"You think that's going to stop me? Saving Orihime is my top priority right now, but I'm not going to leave out my friends behind as well."

"I see you're quite stubborn. But don't you think it's not wise to leave without killing me first?"

"I don't have time to mess around with you. I washed enough time than I already have. Fighting you is the last thing I should be doing right now."

Not worth his time, huh? He'll see about that. "Not worth your effort? So you need a reason to fight me then?" he should see if provoking him would work. "How would you react if I told you that I was the one who had forced Orihime Inoue to come into Hueco Mundo?" Ulquiorra could see Ichigo clenching the grip on his sword tighter than before, and he looked like he could barely contain himself. "How does it feel, knowing that you were completely powerless to do anything to help at all? I don't see the point on why you would try to save someone who did betray you. It just shows that person was never meant to be trusted, being nothing but garbage to begin with."

That had it. Ichigo completely snapped as he used a Flash Step and immediately attacked Ulquiorra with his sword. Ulquiorra merely raised his arm to block the sword, but the force of the blow sent the Arrancar flying backwards before he crashed through a pillar.

"Not another fucking word out of you!" Ichigo barked at him. "Do you realize what the fuck you've done with that?! Because of you, almost everyone is calling Orihime a traitor!"

"I see… I should have expected as such from something like that." Ulquiorra had walked out of the damaged pillar he was thrown at, showing basically zero damage handed to him. "If that wasn't the case, then that would have meant there was a miscalculation on our part."

Ichigo widened his eyes by this before he gave a glare to the nihilist Arrancar. "You bastard…!"

"So have you found a reason to fight me now?" Ulquiorra then casted his eyes on Nelliel. "And what about you, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck?"

Nelliel quirked her eyebrows in some confusion that this Arrancar somehow knew her name. "You know who I am?"

"I wouldn't just come here without knowing information of my enemies. You and I have never met until now." Ulquiorra said. "You must think I was someone new because we haven't met, well you were sadly mistaken. Though I suppose it might make sense considering the amnesia you have when you got kicked out of the Espada."

Nelliel had slightly hitched her breath out of this. "Wait… you know what happened to me?"

"I can't exactly say the full details, but let's just say you would be better off to answer to the 5th Espada if you do meet him, you might recognize who he is."

Nelliel was more confused by this. 5th Espada? She couldn't really know anyone very well by that ranking. She could say he was making this stuff up, but something told her that couldn't be the case. "But let's just say you haven't been kicked out because of something you did, if that was the case you would have just been stripped off your rank and become a Privaron Espada instead. But let's just say that one degenerate of a moron had been responsible for your banishment because of his fragile ego. Because of his stupidity, it was quite a pain to replace a 3rd Espada."

Nelliel seemed to be shocked by this. Ichigo himself also seemed quite surprised. "I was the third?! For real?!"

"Oh? I would have thought for sure that you would have remembered that. But oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter. In the end, the search results for replacement had been worth the effort to do so. Because the current 3rd Espada is much more powerful than what you were capable of back then, especially in your current state." Ulquiorra remarked. "But the reason you were here is because you were looking for someone else, weren't you? You were hoping that you would meet him instead of me right now."

Ichigo was getting confused by this. "Wait, what are you talking about?" he asked.

"The man that she was looking to fight against and defeat as quickly as possible." Ulquiorra answered the Substitute. "But unfortunately for her, things have changed a lot since she left. She's quite outdated as to what happened around here."

Nelliel was more confused than before. "What are you talking about?"

"The Espada that you're referring to is no longer here." Nelliel had gaped her mouth from this. "Well… more so the original body is no longer there to begin with. Nor would he ever be there to begin with. The Espada 0 known as Cien Granz no longer exists. You could say he has more so been replaced."

Nelliel had been shocked by this. Her mouth had been slightly agape before she gave a small glare to Ulquiorra. "You're bullshiting me. You can't be serious!" she yelled at him. "There's no way someone as powerful as him could just be replaced like that!"

Ulquiorra hummed at this. "Perhaps I should have phrased that better. What I meant by that is that Cien has carved his own soul and split it into two halves."

"But… how?!" Nelliel had been more shocked by this. "You can't just be able to carve your own soul like that!"

"That is indeed true. However the first half of the soul, Szayelaporro, is a scientist. He wouldn't just be dumb enough to split his soul like that without some plan to make it safe. So as a result of this, Cien Granz had now split back into the two halves that used to be together, Szayelaporro and Yylfordt Granz. The reason was for this is that Szayel had seen Yylfordt, his older brother, as a burden to him so he casted him aside. As a result both have gotten much weaker than before. Yylfordt wasn't even worth becoming an Espada. It took Szayel a while, but eventually he regained his former place again as an 8th Espada." Ulquiorra explained.

Nelliel had taken hitched breaths from all this. "It can't be…" she murmured to herself in shock. "This can't be real. They split back. And Szayel is roaming around…"

"That's right. And from what I heard, one of the Soul Reapers, Renji Abarai, is out fighting at this very moment."

"No…" Nelliel started to shake her head in denial. "Nononono, anyone but him!"

Ichigo had been standing the entire time, listening to the conversation between these two. Zero Espada? Cien Granz? Just what were they going on about? Just how dangerous was this guy? If this Szayel guy was just the 8th Espada now, just what made him sound so dangerous? "I don't understand." Ichigo spoke. "Just what makes this Szayel guy so dangerous? I mean if he's just number 8, he shouldn't be so dangerous should he?"

"It's not his strength that's worrying about, it's his personality that's scary to begin with." Nelliel said. "I was hoping that I'd fight him as Cien, since when he wasn't in battle he was just ranked Espada 100, and he could easily be taken down. But as Espada 0 that's a whole different story. As Szayel he's the brains of everything he does… and it makes me sick." she lowered her head down as she almost went ahead to pull out her sheathed sword. "That man… he is the heartless among the heartless. There is no ounce of good in him whatsoever. He's a monster that never should have existed to begin with."

Ichigo almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. For this guy to make Nelliel be so disgusted with this guy, he couldn't begin to imagine on just what this guy was like. What made him worried was that Renji was stuck fighting that guy.

Ichigo made a sigh before he started to speak. "Alright... I think that's about enough right now. This Szayel guy is already starting to make me tired of listening to him. And most of all, I'm getting tired of listening to you." he pointed at Ulquiorra. "As I already said before, I don't have time to waste anymore. Hearing your chat already did that enough as it is. And you clearly won't let us get through unless we pass by you first." Ichigo pointed his blade at Ulquiorra before he grabbed the handle with both his hands. "Nelliel, since I'm in a really tight schedule, we can't give him a full fledged fight. So if you don't mind, I'll be coming at this guy at my full power!" there was red and black Spiritual Pressure that was coming out of his body. "Let's do this!" he exclaimed before there was an enormous amount of smoke that cleared the room when Ichigo had jumped as high as he could within the massive room.

Ulquiorra could see that the smoke was evaporating rather quickly, and he could sense the boy in the mask as he saw him getting higher in the air. "Let me guess, you're about to use a Getsuga, aren't you?" he guessed.

He hadn't been exactly wrong. Ichigo was seen more clearly in the air, however when the smoke had fully cleared, Ichigo had been seen with his Hollow mask on his face. Needless to say this shocked both Ulquiorra and Nelliel from this.

"Hyaagh!" Ichigo had shown his blade that had started to glow in black energy with the red outline it showed. "HAAAAAAAGH!" Ichigo shouted as he charged down right at Ulquiorra and swung his energy glowed blade at him. Ulquiorra had stood there and attempted to stop the attack by raising one arm to block it. The two of them had made contact with one another, and the powerful force that was emitting had Ichigo from behind cause strong ripples on the ground from the black energy that came out of him, completely tearing up the ground from behind. With Ulquiorra he had tried to stop the attack with a single arm, but even the powerful Arrancar had trouble as the ground beneath him formed a tiny crater around the size of his feet. "RAAAAAAAA!" Ichigo screamed ferociously as he was pushing with all he got, and eventually he had sent Ulquiorra flying back.

Ulquiorra had crashed through the multiple pillars from the force of the attack that he couldn't stop. Despite this he didn't really feel pain from the crashing he was through, but instead he was just in shock at what he was even looking at. Ulquiorra made a backflip while in mid air and planted his feet onto another pillar before he started to leap back, eventually destroying the pillar he landed at himself. He was completely stunned, and very puzzled by what was before him. 'What is that form he has?! And this Spiritual Pressure that he's releasing, it's exactly the same as an Arrancar! But how is that possible?!' Ulquiorra just couldn't help but wonder. He then widened his eyes when he saw what Ichigo was doing now.

Ichigo had swung his dangerously glowing black blade in a circle, and the energy wave that was getting released was completely tearing out the ground where he had swinged the sword till it had gotten above his head. Ichigo had then looked at Ulquiorra right in the eye. "Prepare to die." Ichigo spoke, and now it was time for the final blow to kill this Arrancar. "Getsuga Tenshou." he said, before he sent the Hollowfied Getsuga directly at Ulquiorra.

The Getsuga had completely tarnished the ground as it had kept on moving. Ulquiorra got back on the ground at that very moment, and he went ahead to try to stop it again with his bare hand. The attack had contacted against his hand, and due to this the winds were blowing wildly. Ulquiorra felt the ground beneath him shaking up before it formed another tiny concrete. Ulquiorra didn't know if it was just him, but he swore that the attack just got bigger than before. Almost immediately after the contact, Ulquiorra felt that the attack has gotten more stronger than it has just seconds ago. It forced the Arrancar to use both of his hands to stop the attack. But the Getsuga still didn't stop at all, in fact it became stronger than before. Ulquiorra had now struggled to stop the attack even with both his hands. He could feel that he was starting to get pushed back. "Impossible!" Ulquiorra exclaimed in shock, and before he realized it the Hollowfied Getsuga had completely engulfed him. Not only that but the black attack had destroyed all of the pillars at the front, and even damaged the walls as well as they have been heavily scarred.

Ichigo had taken heavy breaths from the amount of energy he had just unleashed. Though he did hope this would at minimum badly damage the Arrancar, those attacks he had just used drained him heavily of his Spirit Energy. He still had the mask on him, but Ichigo knew he only had moments left before his timer fully ran out.

Behind him however, Nelliel had walked slightly backwards from all the spectacle that she had witnessed before her. If it weren't for the fact she hadn't seen it, she never would have believed what Ichigo had just done. The damage he had done was just unbelievable. Half the entire room they were in seemed badly damaged, not to mention the grounds themselves were horribly carved from that energy wave attacks Ichigo unleashed. But that mask… that mask on his face… the energy she felt was the same thing of an Arrancar, and the power was undoubtedly that of an Espada as well. But how was this possible? A Soul Reaper couldn't just have the energy of an Arrancar.

The tired Substitute had turned around to look over at her, the eyes he had just surprised her. "H-Hey… you alright? I probably should have… warned you… to stay back a little." She saw him panting within the last few words he spoke.

Nelliel took a step backwards from him. "Who… who are you?" she asked. Don't get her wrong, she knew exactly she was looking at Ichigo, but this person before her felt completely the opposite. Not to mention his Spiritual Pressure felt much more aggressive and ruthless, almost as if this was a completely Ichigo she was looking at.

Ichigo widened his black and yellow eyes from this. "W-What?" he didn't seem to understand what she meant by that. Was it the mask? It had to be. Why else would she look so surprised? Was it really that mind blowing?

Before the two of them could talk any longer, both of them were shocked when they sensed Ulquiorra's presence, who was still very clearly alive. Out of both of them, Ichigo was more shocked. Not just he wasn't alive, but more so he barely had any injuries on him. He more so had slightly tattered clothing, and he did have tiny trails of blood leaking out, but that was about it.

"I must say, I'm quite impressed. Even using both of my hands, I couldn't stop that attack, you even managed wound me, albeit a little you still managed to do it." Ulquiorra said, as the smoke became clearer to see him. "But… was that your best shot?"

Ichigo made a hitched breath from this. His most powerful Getsuga had done so little damage? Not to mention he was very tired from the amount of energy he released. Ulquiorra had sighed from this. "I take it from the look on your face that it was. How unfortunate." he then aimed his finger Ichigo as he had started to charge a green Cero. However Ulquiorra had just noticed trails of blood on his fingers, and this made the Arrancar widen his eyes in shock. The green Cero from his finger had gotten bigger, and the shape of it became more wild, and the color of it became more of a darker green as well. 'No! The Gray Rey Cero! I didn't mean to use that! I can't stop it!' he thought.

Ulquiorra couldn't stop when he fired his own Gran Rey Cero at Ichigo. Ichigo had been in shock from the sheer power coming out of it, but he regained his composure and could do just one more Getsuga to try to minimize the damage. "Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo shouted as he released all the remaining energy he had left in him.

"NOOOO!" Nelliel screamed in horror as she started to run forward to get in front of Ichigo so she could save him.

The Gran Rey Cero had pierced through the wall easily, and it continued onto the canyon of Las Noches, causing a massive explosion to occur by that any Espada would have been able to sense easily, and there was smoke filling the air bed that came out of there. The explosion was so powerful that the wind forces became so massive it ripped apart the towers, and it blast towered over the clouds at it's peak. And it was so massive that it could have been seen all the way in the horizon. Not only that but the atmosphere was also distorted as well.

Nelliel, who was now in her Resurección form, carried a badly injured Ichigo with her while she was running away in another room, going as fast as she could on the sands she was running by.

"Hey! Ichigo! Are you alright?!" Nelliel asked frantically as she carried Ichigo, who only responded with weak groans. This got her more worried. "Come on! Wake up already! This is no time to take a nap!"

Before she knew it, Ulquiorra had appeared right next to her. Nelliel turned her head around in shock at the speed that this Arrancar was capable of. She couldn't react at all when Ulquiorra kicked hard enough to send her to a nearby pillar tower. Nelliel and Ichigo have crashed right through it and were stuck under a rumble.

Ichigo had gotten stuck on the front, and he slowly started to get out of while groaning in pain in doing so. More than half his Bankai cloak had been damaged, and most of the left side of his body showed awful injuries that looked like he suffered from bad burns and awful injuries, not to mention that most of his face had been covered by blood.

Ichigo panted heavily as he got off the rubble, but he became surprised when he saw Ulquiorra directly in front of him. "I must say, I am quite impressed by both of your reaction times. I suppose I should show a bit of a thank you on stopping my Gran Rey Cero, that was not intended to be aimed at. You used your Getsuga, and she used her Cero to minimize the damage of the Gran Rey Cero, and after that the woman transformed into her Released State so she could use try to absorb my Cero as well." Ulquiorra had reminded Ichigo before he casted his eyes to see Nelliel being stuck under the rumble before she reverted back to her base form. "It's a good thing she had done that. Through all those efforts she made, she managed to minimize the damage of my Gran Rey Cero to somewhere around 10th to 20th of its full destructive capacity. If that hadn't been the case, the entire Las Noches may have possibly been destroyed."

Ichigo couldn't help but just be guilty that someone else had risk their life to save him instead of the other way around. The thing that he hated the most was that it made sense for her, as insane as that was, as she clearly had more power than him at that moment. "However, you have barely done anything to stop that at all. And whatever form you took earlier, while quite impressive, doesn't seem you can maintain it for very long. And I'm going to assume you have no more tricks up sleeve. If that is the case then you should just give up while you have the chance. Do so and I may spare your life." Ulquiorra remarked, taking a few steps closer at the heavily damaged Ichigo.

However he was within Ichigo's distance. So with the last desperate effort he had in himself, he grabbed his sword and put it right into Ulquiorra's Hierro, something that somewhat surprised by this action. "Hey... I have another solution… how about you go fuck yourself?" Ichigo panted heavily, his body feeling so much pain from just moving like this. "My friends and I came here with one goal in mind, and no-one here is going to surrender like that." he tried to desperately run through him, but his blade just couldn't cut through. "I assume that you're the leader of the Espada, since I saw you being the whole brains out of the operations. If I… if I manage to defeat you here, then the rest would just be a cleanup."

Ulquiorra only looked at him for a few seconds before he sighed. "I see, though I'll have to say that you're sadly mistaken." he grabbed Ichigo's blade, and he let it cut through the white clothing he had. When he had done, Ichigo had just watched in utter disbelief from what he was seeing.

There was a marking on Ulquiorra's chest, and his number showed 4.

"You... You're just number 4?" Ichigo muttered the words as he had lowered his blade from heavy it felt to him now.

Ulquiorra nodded his head. "Correct. I am Espada 4, Ulquiorra Schiffer, out of all the Espada that I'm with, my power is only ranked fourth." Ichigo had looked at him, as if hopes have started to become crushed. Ulquiorra had raised his hand before he marched it forward and shoved his hand right through Ichigo's chest, causing a hole to be formed in him.

Nelliel had looked at this with horror shown incher eyes. She had immediately tried to move around the rubble she had been trapped in. "Noooo!" she shouted in terror as she raised her arm to move forward, but it had very little avail.

Ulquiorra barely casted a glance at her before looking back at the shocked boy. "Ichigo Kurosaki, just give it up. You cannot defeat me. Even if you were somehow lucky to kill me with that attack, there are still 3 more Espadas who are more powerful than I am." he told him as he let his hand go, and it sprouted out more blood from the hole on Ichigo's chest. "Even if you do somehow get back up over a 1000 times, the results will always be the same." he then began to walk away before Ichigo had fallen down on the ground in defeat. "Not only that, but it appears that I highly overestimated you. Though even if you had not met my expectations, it's clear that your potential is dangerous if you were continued to grow, so that is why I must eliminate you at once." the blood from Ulquiorra's hands had now dripped from the hole he put the boy in. The Espada had now began to walk away from the room. "If you can still somehow move in that condition, leave Las Noches at once. If you can't move, then die in that spot. Either way, your journey ends here, Soul Reaper." he had fully left the room, his form no longer being visible.

Nelliel had still tried to move, despite how much pain shot in her body, she was still struggling to get the rubble off of her. But even then she knew that Ichigo was in critical condition now and she had to help him. "Ichigo!" she called out for him. "I-I'm coming! Please, just hang in there!"

Ichigo's body had started leaking his black and red energy, and there was nothing that could have been done to prevent this. His Bankai sword had suddenly shattered into tiny little pieces before the said shattered sword's energy also started to leave, reverting his black Bankai sword back to its overgrown sized Shikai.

He was dying.

He knew it. His body had started to be covered by his own pool of blood that was leaking from the hole in his chest. He had just lied there on the ground, and he couldn't do anything to move. Hell he could just barely retain his consciousness at this point. Since he was dying now, the color of his eyes have now become more lifeless, barely gaining any life in them at all.

Ichigo could still hear Nelliel desperately calling out for his name, but even then the hearing was getting weaker. He felt his body becoming more colder. 'Is this it? Is this where I finally die? It can't be. I-I was in these situations before, I can pull through this one, can't I? But… how? Nelliel is too weak, and all my friends are too busy fighting, and they can't make it in time. Orihime…' the promise he made to her that night. Was that gonna be just hollow? If he died here, then that promise he made would have been a lie, and all this that they went through in Hueco Mundo. He couldn't be sure if he could bare the look on her face if she found out that he died. If he did die here, all of this would have been for nothing. '... I'm so sorry. I wish I've done more.'

He started to remember back on his first meeting with Nelliel. He couldn't even scratch her in their first fight. He remembered her saying about how his swords skills just sucked. 'Nelliel was right... I really do suck at using a sword. Maybe there's more to just gaining power through just sheer brute force. I just wish that I've gained more strength. I just wish I would have been smarter so I could have approached this situation better. I just wish that I was more skilled as a fighter. Everyone... I'm sorry.'

Back in her prison room, Orihime had felt a swirl of a familiar energy that surrounded her body as she had sat on the couch. What she had felt only lasted for a brief few seconds before she hadn't felt it anymore. "I... Ichigo?!" the girl had murmured in shock at what she felt.

What she had felt had to be Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure, but something about it felt horribly wrong. It felt too weak. Way too weak for her liking. She didn't like that one bit. "No… please don't tell me it's true!" she remarked, holding her hands on her head, coming to the horrible realization that he was dying, just like Rukia was as well. "First it's Chad, then Rukia, and now Ichigo…" she gripped on her hair, feeling like she wanted to cry again. "Not him… please… just make it stop."

Orihime then heard the sounds of rustling coming from her door, and the sounds of it getting unlocked. Was that Ulquiorra? If he came to check on her food, it hasn't even been half an hour yet. Though maybe it was Halibel? If it was then she would be so relieved right now.

However it wasn't either of them.

"Well, well, look at that. The princess is all by herself…" the door had opened up, and it turned out to be Loly and Menoly. "Oh, Oriiiiiihime~" the one who spoke was Loly. "Let's play a little gaaaaame~" she had spoken in a more sadistic maner.

Orihime had gained a feeling of dread upon her.

Ichigo snapped his eyes open. He dialed his eyes around to see where he was at. His whole body had felt completely fine, as if he had become fully healed. He arched his back forward and began to stand up. He saw himself that he was still in Bankai state. Ichigo had touched his chest, and indeed he could still feel his skin.

"I'm… alive?" Ichigo questioned himself. He didn't understand this. Suddenly he started having flows of memories. His meeting with Ulquiorra, him activating his mask and using his strongest Getsuga, Nelliel running away with him, and Ulquiorra putting a hole in his chest. "No. That can't be. I had a frigging hole in my chest, but I don't feel it there anymore." he also looked to see his Bankai cloak had been fully restored as well. Did someone heal him while he was out? "Wait… have I been resurrected into another life?" he asked as he started to look around. "But… where am I anyways?"

He really had no idea where he was at. The place he was in seemed to look like that of a forest, with lots and lots of trees. Ichigo had started to walk around to the forest where he was at.

However he stopped his tracks when he was shocked to see that a monstrous bear had lunged at him from out of nowhere. "What the hell?!" Ichigo was stunned to see that the bear was much more massive than what he was. The bear lunged its claws at him, but Ichigo had jumped out of the way before he made a spin kick at the bear's head, knocking it down within a single blow.

Ichigo then looked in front to see some sort of a monstrous beetle bug flying right at him with large wings. Ichigo quickly used a Flash Step to get on the ground and started running away. "What the hell is going on here?! What even are those things?!" he asked himself as he stopped running, and turned his head to see if there were anymore creatures like the ones he just saw.

"Just calm down, there's nothing to panic about."

Ichigo turned around to look above at a man who was sitting at a massive tree branch, along that he had a hood on his face that made it hard for Ichigo to see what his face looked like. "Who the hell are you?" he asked the man.

The man's mouth turned to that of a confused frown before it shifted to a bland one. "Ah, that's right. This is the first time you've come here in your Bankai state. I suppose I can't blame you for not recognizing anything here." Ichigo looked at the man in confusion. "I'll just show it to you instead." he got up from the tree branch before he waved his hand and manifested the exact same black blade that Ichigo had.

Seeing the blade alone had Ichigo become surprised at this. He should know exactly who this was. "Zangetsu?!"

"Wrong." the man had pulled his hood and revealed his face, and it was indeed Zangetsu, but he looked much younger than before, and Ichigo could mistake that he looked to be around his age now. "That's Tensa Zangetsu to you. Get it right next time"

"Alright?" Ichigo was slightly taken aback by the sudden attitude. However a sudden realization came dawn on him. "Wait a minute… if you're here, then does that mean that this place is—?"

"Yes. This is indeed very different, but it's still your Inner World." Tensa answered him as he looked around. "Though not as I wanted it, it at least has a large forest. Better than being on those damn buildings."

"Uh… you alright, Zangetsu—?" Tensa turned to glare at him. "—Erm, Tensa Zangetsu. Still not used to that… but I don't get this, how did my Inner World change? I thought it was always supposed to be those buildings?"

Tensa had given Ichigo a deadpanned look at him. "You can't be serious right now. After all what happened, you're asking me this?"

"The hell is up with you?" Ichigo asked in confusion. What was up with this Tensa Zangetsu? He remembered the Old Man always being so calm and composed, just what was up with him?

"Don't mind him, he's always like that whenever you're in your Bankai."

Ichigo slowly widened his eyes in sheer shock. He turned around from behind to see his Inner Hollow, who had casually leaned behind a tree while looking at Ichigo with a smirk. "Yo. Been a while, hasn't it?"

Ichigo couldn't believe what he was looking at. This shouldn't be possible right now. "Y-You… but how?! You shouldn't be here!"

Hollow Ichigo looked at his teenage master with a slightly confusing look before he sighed. "Didn't I tell you during our last battle? If I didn't, then I must be some idiot. The last time we met I had to have told you that we wouldn't meet again unless you died. Now try to guess what happened."

Ichigo widened his eyes again when he remembered Ulquiorra putting a hole in his chest. "Wait… does that mean that I actually—?"

"There we fucking go. Now you caught up." Hollow Ichigo mockingly clapped his hands.

"Hold on a second—" Ichigo intervened. "—How does this change that my Inner World is completely different?"

Hollow Ichigo then looked at the king with irritation. How the hell did he lose to him? "You still don't get it, do you? Ichigo, how about you think for a second and consider everything that's happened to you. And now consider on what Tensa just said. Your Inner World is supposed to change whenever you do change in your Bankai."

"I do remember that when both of us went Bankai at the same time, my Inner World didn't change at all." Ichigo said. "And just what do you mean by everything that's happened to me?"

"Think about it for a second. A Soul Reaper's Inner World changes within the state of their Bankai, it's supposed to be the natural process of a person's growth. Compare our fight to what's happening now. All of those events that happened after our fight were starting to change you. Such as when realizing the term with your ideals being one step ahead of that." Hollow Ichigo explained. ''Whenever you feel grief, the clouds start raining. Whenever you lose hope, the buildings become smaller. And when you have given up, the world would have sunk in despair."

Ichigo still seemed to be semi confused. "Uhhh…"

Tensa sighed from up above. "To put this in simple terms, you're growing up. "

"Ohhhh!"

"You finally got something fucking right." Hollow Ichigo then began to make smirk as he had prepared his blade.

Ichigo then became surprised when his Inner Hollow leaped right at him as he swung his white blade at him. Ichigo prepared his black blade on instinct to place it horizontally. The two of them immediately clashed, with Ichigo getting pushed back in the air. ''What are you doing?!"

"Haven't you already figured it out?!" Hollow Ichigo made a wild grin. "You died! And now it's time for the horse to reclaim the throne and become the king again!"

Ichigo had glared at his opposite self. "You bastard…!" he exclaimed. 'He's gotten more stronger than what he was the last time!'

The two of them began to have their rematch.

Nelliel had started to get the rubble off of her from where she was stuck. Her uniform had shown to be slightly tattered from the efforts she had made. She had weakly started to walk to what she hoped was still alive Ichigo.

"Hang on, Ichigo, just till I at least heal something out of you." she said, as she had held her arm. However she had stopped moving when she saw that Ichigo's arms had started to move. This made her relieved. "Oh, thank goodness! You're still alive! Listen, try not to move too…" her words were stopped when she heard high pitched breathings coming out of him. Those breaths did not sound normal. "... Much? Ichigo?"

"Aaaaargh…" a hoarse noise came out of Ichigo's mouth before his body had crouched down. He moved his head upwards, but he had a maniacal smile, and his eyes had turned to black and yellow. "Hraaaaaaah!" he had shouted at the top of his lungs before white goo had sprouted out from the hole he had on his chest.

Nelliel was completely stunned by this. "Wha… what in the world?"

Ichigo's hands had dug onto the floor, his fingers turned into sharp claws, with some of his skin starting to peel off as it turned very pale. The goo spread out to his body as it made him more Hollow-like by the second. A tail had sprung out from behind, and his size had started to grow a little more bigger as well. And along that his hair grew much longer as well.

Nelliel had stood from where she watched, the entire spectacle of impossibility seen before her made the former Espada speechless. She saw that Ichigo's Hollowfication was already done, and he was at the same lizard form he was in when he fought the Vizards. She saw the Hollow monster grab the overgrown cleaver, and when he had done so there was the familiar black and red energy surrounding it, turning it back into the same Bankai blade it had moments ago.

She saw the lizard Hollow turning his head to look at her, but the yellow eyes it had had murderous intent at them. Nelliel had her eyes wide when she saw the monster changing at her with the sword. Nelliel quickly grabbed her sword and managed to block it by placing the sword horizontally. "What are you doing, Ichigo?! It's me! Calm down!" the monster didn't listen to her, instead it was only just trying to overpower her. Nelliel had struggled to take her ground due to her weakened state, but nevertheless she grabbed the handle with both her hands and stepped on her right, which had the Hollow monster stumble its footsteps.

The Hollowfied Ichigo had immediately turned around and leaped right at Nelliel, striking her down as it wildly swinged the sword like a barbarian at her. Nelliel had managed to block the strike by placing her sword diagonally, but the force of the blow had sent her flying backwards before she hit her back on the wall. Nelliel had gotten to her knees, and she saw the Hollowfied Ichigo attacking her again. Being desperate she had then kicked the Hollow's gut as hard as she could, sending him away from her.

Loly had fired off a Bala from her left fist at the door that Orihime had tried to run off to, but it became destroyed, and as such Orihime had been sent back to them.

"Ooooh, I'm so sorry." Loly had sarcastically said. "I just thought I could lend you a hand on opening the door."

Orihime had turned her head to give a small glare at the girls. "Aw, got something to say?" Menoly had mocked her. "Well don't just stand there like a wimp, say something."

"You know…" Orihime had clenched the carpet beneath her. "If you have nothing else to do with me and to insult, then I would appreciate it if you would just leave the room."

Loly and Menoly seemed to have been quite surprised by the comeback that came at them. However Loly was pleased by this human stretch that dared to talk back to her. Loly had gotten directly in front of Orihime as she knelt down with her, her fingers flossing on Orihime's chin. "Listen here, princess, just who the fuck do you think you are? You think just because you have a fancy room and spoke to Lord Aizen a few times you think that you're something special now? You think you deserved it all?"

"... I never said that I—"

"Say, I have an idea…" Loly then grabbed Orihime's hair and turned to look at Menoly with a wicked grin. "How about if she could help with that Cero problem you've been having lately?"

Menoly had grinned before she showed off her Cero, but the state of it looked rather unstable. Loly turned to look at Orihime with a fake concerned look. "We need your help! Menoly has been having a lot of trouble with her Cero lately! She can't seem to control it well, sometimes it just shoots out all on its own! And unlike my Bala, this one may actually kill you!" Loly exclaimed with fake concern, but in truth she was eager to see serious damage done to this bitch.

Orihime had taken a hitched sigh. "Listen… why don't you just take it outside for practice then? I never thought I'm just superior to everyone because I came here—"

"Bullshit! You can't fool me, bitch!" Loly exclaimed in anger. "I know your kind! You're just so full of yourself because you get to speak to Lord Aizen directly! I oughta teach you lesson! Get on your fucking feet!" Loly then forcefully grabbed Orihime by the throat and forced her to get up. She then raised her knee to hit the teenager on her gut.

Orihime however endured the pain, despite her energy still being very low, as she grabbed Loly's wrists and had them let go of her. "Enough." Orihime tried to speak firmly. "Listen, can we please just sort this out? I don't know what I've done to you, or what your problem is with me, but can we just settle this down? I'm not in a great mood right now."

Loly looked at her with pure disgust directed at her. "Shut your damn mouth!" she yelled before she punched Orihime's face, sending her back at a wall. "Fuck…" the Arrancar groaned as she clenched her fist in pain. "What the hell are you made out of? You must be some sort of freak!"

Orihime just lied there on the floor, she hadn't really felt much pain from that blow, as exhausted as she still felt and still quite low on energy. She only had scratches from that, but the longer this kept going, the more irritated she was getting by them. Orihime had gotten picked up by Loly and got pinned to a wall. "Learn your place, scum! And STOP looking like you're better than me!" Loly had halted murderous daggers at the girl she held. "I'm going to make sure that you regret being born!"

"Loly, don't you think you should keep it down a little?" Menoly asked. "You're being too loud—"

"SHUT IT! I think I have just the punishment for her! First I'll start by ripping out her fingers and shove them down her throat! And then—"

Before she could continue her psychotic rant, the wall of the room had bursted apart. All of the girls had turned to see what the cause was behind them. And at that moment it was Grimmjow who had casually walked inside the room.

When he had seen the shocked looks of both Arrancar girls, the Espada had smirked to himself. "Well, well, what do we have here? Was I interrupting something? Sure looks like it, for you two to waltz right in here when Ulquiorra or Halibel aren't around."

"S... So?! What of it?!" Menoly asked in nervousness.

"It's our business!" Loly boldly told Grimmjow. "And how did you get in here?!"

Grimmjow looked at them like they were stupid. "What do you mean how? It obviously wasn't through a wall."

"Why didn't you just use the door?!"

"Well, I would have, but somebody blasted it to bits, and it ruined the grand entrance already." Grimmjow sarcastically replied back, and then began to walk towards them.

"H-Hey! Don't mess with us you son of a—"

"Get lost." before the Arrancar girls could have the chance to react, Grimmjow kicked Loly in her stomach before he sent her flying in the room. But Orihime saw him easily. Grimmjow had seen Loly barely able to crouch on the ground and coughed up some blood in doing so. "Whoops, my bad. I guess I just don't know my own strength."

"Grimmjow!" Menoly yelled out in anger before she charged at Grimmjow with her Cero at hand.

However Grimmjow had casually put his hand out and easily negated the unstable Cero, something that shocked Menoly. "You really need to have more practice with your Cero. Here, let me show you how it's done." Grimmjow then began to charge a Cero of his own. He then released the blast, and it had wiped out half Menoly's face, torso, her right arm and her hip, wiping out some internal organs in doing so.

"Menoly!" Loly shouted of her friend's name before the lower half of the body fell down. She then proceeded to glare down at Grimmjow. "Y-You won't get away this! When Lord Aizen finds out about this, you're gonna be in huge trouble!" she threatened him.

Grimmjow had given the weak girl an annoyed glare before he started to walk to her. He grabbed her leg before he stepped his foot down on it. This immediately had Loly panic. "H-Hey! What are you doing?! Stop that! Stop!" she started pleading. "Listen! If you stop doing that, then I swear I'll keep this a secret between us!" Grimmjow didn't really seem to listen, instead he pressed his foot more harder, enough to eventually rip out Loly's leg. This made the Arrancar girl scream out in pain. "GYAAAAAAAHHH!" she screamed as loud as she could. "Y-YOU WON'T GET AWAY THIS! LORD AIZEN WILL FIND ABOUT THIS! AND WHEN HE DOES, HE'S GOING TO—!"

Grimmjow didn't bother to listen to her, but instead he raised his foot and stomped it down her head just so to shut her up. "Mongrels." Grimmjow insulted them. "As if you Aizen would actually give even two shits about some worthless bitches like you."

Orihime had looked at the taller man before her, but she was more so confused about his actions rather than the bloody scene right next to her. "W... Why did you—?"

"To repay you debt for my arm." Grimmjow looked back at her. Orihime had her eyes wide when she seemed to remember on what she had done few days ago.

Grimmjow them picked up Orihime by her collar and forcefully lifted her up in the air. Needless to say she was surprised. What could he want now? "W-What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? I didn't come here just to save you." Grimmjow held a cocky smirk. "If you really thought that, you must be one naive girl. I repaired my debt to you. So now it's your turn to accompany me now, and it's with a offer you might not turn down. However, you should heal up your face first. I don't like the thought of going with girls who have a bruised up face." he told her as he put her down on the floor again.

Orihime then rubbed her face, but all it had were some scratches that she thought were no big deal. Instead she ran over to Loly, and she heard Grimmjow calling her but she merely ignored it. Loly had struggled to get out from a ripped leg, and the Arrancar girl had seen the teenage girl getting over to her side, something she didn't like at all. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she demanded to know, but Orihime didn't really answer her where as instead she had fairies out. "Get away from me you freak!" Loly had slapped Orihime to send her back, but instead her hand felt like it came contact against a brick wall she couldn't break.

Orihime had beard through the slap, as instead she went ahead to heal back her leg, and repair an injury on her head as well. This had been finished in a matter of seconds, and Orihime then walked over to Menoly's body before she began to heal her as well. Loly began to look in disbelief as Menoly's gruesome body had begun to get repaired. The process of the healing was taking a little longer, but it was still working.

'No way… what in the world is she?!' Loly thought as she saw this girl just somehow repairing a body that shouldn't even be possible to heal anymore. Not only that but this bitch was healing them after what they've done to her. Instead of doing the doing the logical thing and just completely abandon them, she was just healing them. 'She… she's a monster!'

Ulquiorra had started to walk back into the massive halls of Las Noches with his hands being on his pockets. He knew just soon that somebody was going to scold at him for using a Gran Rey Cero in Las Noches, something that was completely forbidden for an Espada to use, especially for those who were ranked 4th and higher than him. His hunch had been correct on this matter as to when he had seen Halibel just leaning on the walls.

"That was completely careless of you." Halibel said, giving her comrade more of a glare with a stern look plastered onto her. "And here I thought that you of all people knew better than to release a Gran Rey Cero in the middle of Las Noches. You're lucky that it wasn't actually destroyed."

Ulquiorra had only stopped walking as he only got slightly ahead where Halibel stood from him. "That was a mistake on my part. Releasing a Cero as powerful as that would not have been an option on my part unless I went above the Las Noches canopy. I only meant out to kill the enemy when he was vulnerable with just a regular Cero. I didn't even realize I had blood on my fingers when I had done so." the Espada then looked at the blond woman, and he examined her face closely, now just noticing that her face was fully revealed, as it wasn't covered by the coat she usually had on her face. "What happened to your mask?"

"Hm?" Halibel touched her face again. "Oh, that? I had the girl to get the mask off of me. I made sure that there weren't any repercussions in doing so. Because truth be told, that mask was getting on my nerves." she then looked over at the damage that Ulquiorra had. "Though whoever you were up against must have been a strong opponent, quite some damage he put on you."

"My opponent was a… surprising case to say the least, but they're barely worth remembering." Ulquiorra told her before he started to walk away from her. "It's really not something to fuss about. And do you mind if you could stop raising your Spiritual Pressure? It's quite unnecessary."

Halibel looked at the 4th Espada in some confusion. "What are you talking about? I only raised it just a little bit because I was a little annoyed with my Fracciones' constant bickering. Don't you think you should be focusing on that other Spiritual Pressure that's coming from 3 Spirit Miles from here?"

Ulquiorra raised his eyes as he looked back at the blond Espada again. "What are you talking about?"

"Really? Just use your Pesquisa and you'll know what I mean." Halibel had then had a slight look of surprise on her face. "It... It just got stronger than before now."

Ulquiorra had done so, and when he had, he almost couldn't believe what he was sensing. This Spiritual Pressure was quite strong. But the thing that surprised him was this Spiritual Pressure was pure Hollow-like. It didn't make sense. Where did this come from? How come he was just sensing this now? After he finished off Ichigo Kurosaki, he turned off his Pesquisa and only focused on his healing since then. By not doing so, Halibel's Spiritual Pressure must have blocked out his senses until now. "I see, so that's what you meant… very well, I'll get to it." he told her before he began to walk in front.

"Where are you going now?" Halibel asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to change my clothes. I can't go out wearing something like this."

A red Cero blast had been unleashed within the pillar tower, and it caused a strong explosion to occur by from it, destroying the top of the pillar and causing smoke to appear.

Nelliel had been seen as she was standing at the ruined pillar now with all the outside light to be seen. She got kicked away by the Hollowfied Ichigo on her gut, which made her roll on the ground. She groaned from the pain she felt, and had now struggled to get up from her spot. Nelliel turned her head to look at the smoke clearing up and saw the Hollow monster that glared at her.

She wasn't sure if she was starting to see things or if the Hollow looked more different. The small spikes on his shoulders looked much bigger than before, now at the same heights where its head was at. The markings on the mask looked slightly different as well. Where instead of 9, there were now 10 markings on the left side of the face, and they were much thicker as well. On top of that it's physique was different as well, where the previous form looked a little skinny, it had gotten more muscular as well.

Nelliel had started to pant heavily from the exhaustion she felt. 'What the hell… he's gotten more stronger now. Not just that but he's faster as well. And he's absolutely relentless. The power he has… it's definitely that of an Adjuchas level Espada, and it's a very strong one as well. Damn it... I don't know how much longer I can handle this.' she thought to herself as she started getting back up.

The Adjuchas Hollow had started running more faster than it had before, and it managed to smash Nelliel's face with its bicep, making her fall down on the ground. Adjuchas Ichigo had tried to bring its sword down at Nelliel's head, but the former Espada just barely managed to roll out of the way in time. Nelliel had used a Sonido to appear behind the Adjuchas Hollow, as she had diagonally slashed his back, making the Hollow grunt out. Before Nelliel knew it, the wound had already healed like it was just some scratch. "Instant Regeneration…" Nelliel murmured.

The Adjuchas Ichigo growled before he turned around and proceeded to slash her from behind, though Nelliel had blocked the blow she was still sent back flying. "Damn… he's stronger in my current state now… if only I had at least half my strength now." she murmured out to herself before getting back up again. "I don't have a choice… I'm sorry, Ichigo." she had looked at him with some guilt shown at her before she placed her sword horizontally, preparing to use her Released State once more. "I shouldn't be doing this with the current state my body is in, but I don't have a choice. Though I'm gonna feel a lot of pain after I'm done using this."

Because of the Adjuchas' brute of a mindset, it had begun to leap right at Nelliel again, not giving her time to use her Resurección. Nelliel ducked her head and went ahead to thrust her sword with both her hands, but the Adjuchas had grabbed the sword with its bare hand and threw Nelliel like a toy. Nelliel had fallen down on the pillar, feeling her strength getting weaker.

Adjuchas Ichigo had started to walk towards Nelliel, preparing to give out the final blow as it raised its sword to end her for good. He only managed to make it about halfway before he suddenly stopped moving. Nelliel had crouched down, seeming confused on why he just stopped.

At that very moment, Grimmjow had made a Sonido as he had stood up in the air while he carried Orihime on his shoulder. He had stood there as he had seen Adjuchas Ichigo getting onto his knees, with a woman close to where he was at as well. Orihime had seen this Hollow, and she seemed genuinely surprised at what she was looking at. Grimmjow on the other hand had looked far more confused than anything.

"What the hell is that?" Grimmjow asked more to to himself, he knew that thing was a Hollow, but the question was more so on just what was it? Where did that even come from? The only reason he came here was more so to get to Kurosaki and have the girl heal him so they could have their last fight.

Orihime was only just watching the Hollow get into its knees. "Ryaaaaaagh!" she heard the Hollow screaming out. The sight of it alone seemed as though something was wrong with it. However something about this Hollow seemed off to her. It was more so its Spiritual Pressure and its long orange hair. It seemed somewhat… similar to her. Could it be that… no… it couldn't…

The Adjuchas Hollow had continued to scream out in anguish, as it started to show more and more signs of him cracking. His Hollowfied hand had reached onto the mask and began to ferociously attempt to tear it apart. It began to make howling noises from the pain that shot at him, but nevertheless he continued onto it. "GRAAAAAAGH!" it screamed as it had started to swing his sword wildly like a barbarian, and there were mixes of black and blue energies coming out. It then had finally had enough strength to tear out the mask. "HYAAAAAAAAAH!" there were major collisions of the energies that have shot upwards.

Because of this happening, almost every single of the Espada have felt the unknown Arrancar energy themselves, along with Ichigo's friends sensing it themselves. The Espadas had mixed reactions that consisted of confusion, interest, and shock by some as well.

The Adjuchas Hollow had only just stood there before its entire body had bursted apart, and inside there had showed Ichigo once more, with his clothes still being torn out, with his sword reverting back to its Shikai form. All of the Hollow parts left his body as they completely bursted apart in existence. Ichigo himself had collapsed onto his knees, holding himself from falling thanks to the support of sticking his blade into the ground.

"Wha… what the hell happened to me?" Ichigo took heavy breaths to himself, being confused as to everything that happened. He looked over to the beaten and tired Nelliel, who just looked at him in shock. "Ne — Nelliel? What happened to you?"

"You… hold on — you don't remember anything?" Nelliel asked, as she had tried to get up but she found it very difficult to do so.

Ichigo shook his head in confusion. "No? Why? What even happened?" he then held his head, feeling a shot of pain coming from it. "Agh… my head… seriously, what happened?"

It was then again that Grimmjow had showed up between the two of them before he put Orihime down next to him. Needless to say, both Soul Reaper and Arrancar had been surprised. Grimmjow casted his eyes at Nelliel. "G-Grimmjow…? He - Hey… been a while, hasn't it?" Nelliel had given out a small smile at seeing her former comrade.

Grimmjow only scowled at her. "You sure seem to be in a sorry excuse of a mess you're in." he then casted his eyes at Ichigo. He walked towards him, having a more angered look on his face. "And YOU! You explain yourself right now!" he then grabbed Ichigo by his remaining clothing. "How the fuck did you just turn into a Hollow?! And then go back into being a Soul Reaper again?!"

"Stop it!" Orihime had called out, but she herself was in a mix of shock and confusion from what she had just seen. "Can't you see that he's horribly injured?!"

Grimmjow scoffed at this, but he had to remember the reason why he was even here. He then let go of Ichigo, whom had glared at him. "Look, I don't even know myself what the fuck just happened. All I know is that I lost consciousness and that was that. I didn't even realize I was being a Hollow."

"Tch." Grimmjow scoffed at the answer he was given, but nevertheless he had to get to work before it was too late. "Aren't you just good at answers…"

Ichigo then looked over at Orihime before looking back at Grimmjow again. "And just what the hell do you think you're doing with Orihime with you?" he asked in a firm tone.

Grimmjow merely ignored him before he turned his attention to Orihime. "You should know why I brought you here for. Now go heal him." he ordered her.

"Wait, what?" Orihime was completely confused by this. This Espada got her here just so that she could heal what was supposed to be his enemy? Why?

"Don't ask any questions! Just get to work!" Grimmjow ordered her again, and this time Orihime went ahead to do so as told before she had her bright barrier surround Ichigo. Grimmjow then looked at the Substitute again. "After she's done healing you, you and I are going one-on-one! It's time to settle the score with you at your full strength!"

Nelliel looked at the Espada in shock. "Hold on a second! Don't you think you should let him rest a little?! He just came back from whatever just happened to him!" she fully got up before she ran over at Ichigo's side.

"Rest?!" Grimmjow looked at Nelliel with an irritated look on his face. "You've got to be joking! And there's no time for that! Once this girl heals him, he'll be back on his feet like nothing ever happened to him! Just watch!"

Orihime had begun to heal on Ichigo's wounds. She had started to reject his injuries all while the both of them had looked at each other. "Who did this to you?" she asked him. 'This is strange… shouldn't there be some Spiritual Pressure surrounding Ichigo's wounds from how bad he looked? But… there's practically nothing in there.'

"A guy by the name of Ulquiorra." Ichigo answered her. "He was extremely powerful."

"I figured as much that it was him who did this." Grimmjow said, looking at Ichigo. "Did he by any chance put a hole in your chest?"

Ichigo looked at him with some slight confusion. "Uh yeah, he did, why?" he put his hand on the spot where the hole had once been, but now it was completely gone.

Grimmjow scowled. "I knew it. You could say that this is a particular trademark he does. Whenever he seems to find a prey that catches his eye, he has a very strange habit of gouging a hole in them at the same spot his Hollow hole does. I dunno if he's even aware of that himself." he then looked at his hand before he clenched it to a fist. "Next time I see him, I'll show him what it's like when you mess with someone else's prey!"

Almost as if fate itself had decided to test him on that challenge, Ulquiorra himself had appeared in front of everyone with the sound of a Sonido heard. And needless to say, it had everyone become tense around him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ulquiorra asked specifically to Grimmjow, but he didn't answer him at all. Instead he just walked up to him. "I asked you a simple question. What do you think you're doing on healing an enemy's wounds that I already defeated?" Grimmjow merely flashed a cocky smirk at him. "Refuse to answer, huh?" Ulquiorra then looked over at Orihime. "Then at least hand the girl back. She is under my responsibility now."

"Go fuck yourself."

"...What did you just say?"

"You heard me. But just so you're clear about my position… let me demonstrate!"

Grimmjow then lashed at Ulquiorra, who had been surprised by this action. Grimmjow lunged his hand at Ulquiorra, but the 4th Espada had merely blocked with his hand. Because of this there were waves of blue Spiritual Pressure coming out of both of them. "Don't think I don't know what's going on with you, Ulquiorra! You're scared aren't you?! Scared to fight to the death!" Grimmjow had then charged up a Cero on his hand before he fired it at Ulquiorra, however Ulquiorra had deflected the Cero away quite easily with his bare hand. "Deflected it, huh?! I knew this wouldn't be over with one sh—"

Ulquiorra used Sonido to appear above Grimmjow's head, something that the latter looked up to see a Cero charging from his finger. Grimmjow thought quickly as he smashed his hand on top of the green Cero. Doing this had caused an explosion to occur by, and it had Ulquiorra back away whilst in the smoke where he could not be seen. However it was then that Grimmjow had sneaked up behind Ulquiorra and pulled out his left arm to catch Ulquiorra's white cloth to reveal it slight more. Ulquiorra looked down at his chest to see something quite small enter his hole, and the Espada immediately recognized what it was. But it was far too late before Ulquiorra could have the chance to react when glowing purple and white thick lines surrounded him. "Damn…" Ulquiorra cursed, and before he knew it he had completely disappeared into thin air.

Grimmjow had returned to the location where everyone else was at a pillar, except that Orihime had been quick enough to put her shield in front of her and Nelliel. "What… what did you use just now?" Orihime had asked in confusion as to now did Ulquiorra disappear from thin air.

"Aizen gave each of the Espada something called a Caja Negación, which we could use to punish our subordinates." Grimmjow informed her. ''I used mine just now."

"Caja Negación?"

"It's a very powerful tool. They're little boxes that can permanently seal away a weaker Arrancar, however its power is limited. It was never made to use against an Espada, and considering Ulquiorra's power, I'd say we have somewhere around 2 or 3 hours at max before he breaks out." he looked at Orihime again. ''Now get back to work!" he ordered her.

Orihime had bitten her lower lip from this. "No."

Before Orihime knew it, Grimmjow had gotten in front of her as he choked her throat with his left hand. "Maybe you didn't hear me correctly, but what I said wasn't a question! Get to work!"

"What do you think you're doing?!" Nelliel rebuted.

"I won't do it…" Orihime had gagged. "If I just heal him, you're just going to hurt Ichigo… even more again. I don't want that to happen…"

Grimmjow was furious. He was not going to have any of this happen right now. "You little bitch!"

Just at that moment, Ichigo had bursted right through Orihime's healing barrier with brute force, as he lunged in and grabbed Grimmjow by the wrist. Ichigo gave the Espada a death glare, as he gripped the wrist as tight as he could. "Let go of her… or else... I'm going to make sure I break that arm of yours."

Ichigo had gripped on Grimmjow's wrist as tight as he could to make sure he backed up what he said, and Grimmjow had backed away as he pulled his arm back. "Orihime… don't worry about what's going to happen to me. Please… continue to heal my wounds. Just trust me on this." he looked back at Grimmjow, who's right arm seemed to be severely burned. "And since he's so impatient, heal his as well. And after that, heal Nelliel as well."

"Knock it off." Grimmjow scowled. "I don't remember asking for your pity."

"Pity? Hardly." Ichigo scowled back. "Don't you want both of us to fight on even ground at full strength? Or… are you planning on acting like a little bitch after all that talk you just made, to use some silly injury as an excuse when you finally lose?"

This had more than alone provoked Grimmjow lately, as he used his burned right arm to take out his sheathed sword and strike down at Ichigo, but he had blocked it with his Shikai sword as the two of them pressed contact against each other.

"Alright then! Bring it on!" Grimmjow made a cocky smirk on his face. "Let's have ourselves a fight to the death!"

Hey guys… oh man… this was a very long chapter to write. I mean holy shit this is even longer than my last chapter I had to do. I'm probably a grinding machine for this shit. I hope all of you are doing alright in the middle of the crisis we're in now.

Alright now to explain some things... I had the Chad vs Gantenbainne fight happen at first because I felt I had to do this one. Unlike in Canton where Chad got overpowered at the beginning of his fight before unlocking his true right arm. However in this story where Chad had unlocked his right arm more early, he had overpowered Gantenbainne at the very beginning instead.

I didn't really bother doing Uryu and Renji against Szayel fight, because all of that went exactly the same like in Canon in the Anime or Manga, whichever you prefer. For me personally I'd probably go with the Manga version simply because of the brutality there. Seriously, the Bleach Manga is way more brutal than what the Anime ever showed. Same thing with Rukia and the 9th Espada.

Speaking of Szayelaporro… for those who were somehow confused with the whole Espada 0 thing… go read the "Spirits Are Forever With You" Bleach Light Novels, because trust me it holds VERY important information that is absolutely necessary to read. Or at least gain information as much as possible.

For those who have read Spirits Are Forever With You, yes, I know the name "Cien Granz" is just Szayel's clone and that's not what he was called before. However in this case I would like to think that Szayel was actually called that during his Espada 0 days, well this was more so what my Co-Author suggested, and I agreed to it.

Also I would like to have a request. If any of you can please respond to this, I would like to have a Beta Reader contact me by reviewing or PM-ing me. So this way I can have this story become better, and improve on the writing more than I have now.

And also, I would really really like if you could somehow leave more reviews in this story. I know there are plenty of people who read this but don't really leave much anything. Waiting for months and months on it is just kinda frustrating. I just really wanna know what more other people really think of this. Some compliments. Some criticism I can try improve on, anything that's not too negative could be great. And I would really appreciate it.

And now… it's time for Ichigo's and Grimmjow's final showdown… and I am excited for that one.