Aizen stepped outside the massive Descorrer that he and his men went through to travel to Karakura Town. He could see the town that was just under 70 meters below where he was standing. It looked so defenseless that Aizen almost pitied how easy this would have been… that is if this was the real Karakura Town to begin with.
If he was correct, this should be a fake replica, and all the Captains should be coming by at any second now, as he finished his telepathic speech to everyone that resided in Las Noches recently. Despite his disappearance, he wasn't the least bit worried about how things would go down. While he and his army would be busy taking out the Captains, he would leave everything up to Ulquiorra until then.
Ulquiorra burst through the dimension he was previously trapped in, finally managing to get out as he stood in front of the throne chair. He understood the message from Lord Aizen on what he needed to do.
Orihime widened her eyes in shock, turning around where she sensed a familiar Spiritual Pressure. She was taken by surprise when sensing who it really was. She didn't get it. Didn't Grimmjow say that it would have taken him around 2 or 3 hours for him to come back? She wasn't sure how much time passed by, but she was certain it couldn't have been 2 hours. Orihime heard footsteps, and in mere seconds she saw Ulquiorra in front of her, standing next to the throne chair.
Ichigo widened his eyes as he could sense Ulquiorra's Spiritual Pressure coming from the 5th tower, where Aizen said Orihime was held at now. With him were Kenpachi and Nelliel, with Kenpachi having been finished giving his explanations as for the rest of the backup of creating a Fake Karakura Town and having all the Captains be prepared to fight Aizen and his lackeys.
However, he refused to go back home after all that happened. Not until he at least rescued Orihime and beat Ulquiorra, and only then would he go back to save his hometown, and potentially the entire world as well. He knew what he needed to do. "Hey, Kenpachi, a while back you said that my duty was to protect Karakura Town, right?" Ichigo gripped tightly on the handle of his sword, looking over at the tower where Ulquiorra and Orihime were at. "Well, you're wrong. My duty is to protect those around me. I won't act as a thoughtless machine."
Kenpachi didn't say anything. And with that, Ichigo set off and went after to save Orihime again. With everything that has happened to him, he refused to leave anyone close to him behind just to save the lives of most strangers on the planet. Honestly, what was he even thinking when he was talking all of that to Rangiku? What kind of state of mind was he in to just spout all that? Was it all the recent shock that he went through that was changing his mindset to something unhealthy and possibly dangerous?
He didn't really get what was going on... but honestly, with all that happened today with him… his mind really felt sharper than before, and strength was just burning up inside of him. He won't be swayed by something like that again.
"Are you afraid?" Ulquiorra asked, as he started to make small steps towards the girl. "You are useless to Lord Aizen now. There is nothing that can protect you now. You are alone. You will die here all by yourself, with no-one to witness it." he got closer to her, before he stopped just about a few meters from her. "So I'm asking you… are you afraid?"
Orihime just gave the nihilist a long, hardened look. It was that same look of resistance she gave him before, the one where hope sparked brightly within her. "There is no need for me to be afraid…" she saw Ulquiorra widen his eyes from the answer she gave him. "Because my friends came here to rescue me."
Ulquiorra didn't show any reaction to the reply he was given with, but the statement itself was just baffling. "What nonsense… you say you hold no fear because your friends came here to save you? Just what makes you think they'll be able to accomplish a task that's only fulfilled in a fantasy?"
Orihime was becoming rather confused on why the Arrancar's viewpoint was filled with so much negativity, why he kept his constant berate of everything her friends are doing will be full of failure. It certainly wasn't spoken through arrogance. "Because my friends don't make any empty promises. I was worried for them through all the pain they would be put through, but the thing is… they were aware of the dangers they would be in. If they managed to come here this far, then they may as well finish what they started. If any of them were stuck in the same position I was in, then I would have done the same thing they're doing, just like what happened to Rukia." she told him as she firmly stood her ground. But she still didn't understand what he was trying to do. All of his efforts to make her doubt became futile, so she didn't understand what point Ulquiorra was trying to make here.
Ichigo managed to get closer to Orihime's location, his rush temporarily came to a halt when he saw a massive wall standing right in front of him. He looked up to see a large tower, and he could sense Orihime's Spiritual Pressure all the way from where he was at now. Except there were also dozens of Spiritual Pressures just right above from where he was at.
Ichigo leaped over the large chunk of wall just to see what all those numbers of Spiritual Pressures were about. He stood in the air, seeing the same Arrancars that tried to attack him and Nelliel after his fight with Dordonni came to a conclusion. He made a small smile, as for a minute he was worried on how long he would have been held back to get to Orihime, but upon a closer inspection, he was worried for nothing with how weak all of them were despite their massive numbers. But still, he didn't wanna waste any time to begin with. He needed to hurry.
"Invasor. Ichigo Kurosaki has been spotted." the main leader of the Exequias spoke out, as he stood out among his minions from the front lines. He took out his sword and lunged at Ichigo, locking his sword against his when they clashed, but Ichigo barely moved from his spot. "I am Rudbornn Chelute, the captain of the Exequias. And I have come to claim your life."
Ichigo pushed him away with a swing of his sword. "Sorry, but I don't have the time nor the patience to deal against someone like you. Now get out of my way." he ordered.
"That is fine." Rudbornn raised his sword, and his army was prepared to charge in at any time. "I do not have time to waste on you — GUGH!" Rudbornn got kicked by Ichigo, as he got sent through the wall, causing a hole to appear where he got kicked through.
"Maybe you didn't hear me right the first time, but I told you before to get out of my way. I'm not going to repeat the same thing again." Ichigo remarked with annoyance in his tone. He looked over to where the rest of the soldiers were, and they remained stagnant. Now that their leader had been defeated so easily, they didn't have anyone else to lead them, and as such they became hesitant and fearful of what they should do. It was a basic strategy in a situation such as this, especially if war were to be commenced. "Anyone else make a step forward, and you'll end up in a worse position than your leader did." he threatened, holding his sword in a vertical position to launch a Getsuga if anyone moved forward, and with a swing he would eliminate all of them.
It was at that moment that Ichigo saw a long segmented blade being swung at, and it managed to tear through some of the soldiers. Ichigo was surprised when he recognized the shape of the sword, and he turned around to see Renji, Chad and Rukia coming to his path. He was relieved when he saw them.
"Hahahaha! There's more to where that came from!" Renji howled as he set his blaze back before getting ready to swing it again.
"Really glad to see some friendly faces here!" Ichigo exclaimed loudly enough for all of them to hear, although he noticed that Uryu wasn't with them. "Your timing couldn't be more perfect!"
"El Directo!" Chad called out his attack as he leaped straight at the wall, but his right arm turned into the state it had been before it evolved back in their sparring. He gave a direct punch against the wall, and as such it started to break apart before it became destroyed, and the soldiers started falling down.
"Ichigo! You just go on ahead and save Orihime! We're gonna take care of the leftovers over here!" Rukia called out, her sword already being transformed in her Shikai state as she became ready to activate her dances.
"Already on it!" Ichigo nodded his head before he resumed back to what he was doing before, going to where Orihime's location was at.
Rudbornn crawled out of the debris he was in, holding his wrenched gut in pain as he saw Ichigo leaving. The captain looked over where all his soldiers were lying at, and this was something that infuriated him. "You fools… you shouldn't get distracted by uncertainties as minor as this!"
"Ridiculous… no matter what you may think, the fate of your friends has already been decided. Even if your location is discovered, that doesn't change that you're going to die. There is no turning back from that." Ulquiorra looked at Orihime with that same bland stare of his, as he continued to bring down her so-called hope. "Sharing your feelings with someone when you're on the verge of death… brings some sort of comfort to you humans. It's an instinct to help minimize your fear and sorrow. But in reality, it is impossible to know someone else's emotions. Empathy is simply a meaningless human delusion."
Orihime gave the Arrancar a glare of her own, and although not coming off intimidating, it made the nihilist more interested. "You're not completely wrong… you may not be able to feel the exact same things as someone else. But when you care about each other deeply, you can put your heart a little closer to them. I think I'm starting to understand that may be what putting your hearts as one might mean…"
"Heart?" Ulquiorra didn't understand what this human was talking about. He remembered her mentioning it earlier, but that word made no sense to him. He saw it a foolish concept, everything she preached about this held no meaning. "You toss that word around so casually, as if it's something you hold at the palm of your hand." he glared back at the girl, giving a calculated gaze.
"Believe me… I don't think I fully understand it either. It's not exactly a simple subject to go on about, but I do understand it is something that can make people attach their feelings together, understanding one another and growing faith. And that's what I have in my friends. I do have hope in them. And this is something that managed to become a reality once. If that was something that could happen once, they could do it again." Orihime told him, still attaining her ground.
"And that's where you're wrong. My eyes can see everything. Nothing exists that I can't see. So if I can't see it, then it's not real. I have come to fight under that assumption. Tell me… What is this heart you keep on talking about?" Ulquiorra began to walk closer to Orihime. "If I tore a hole in your chest, would I see it? Or if I split open your skull… would it be there?"
A sudden rise of power made Ulquiorra stop his tracks, as an onslaught of a familiar Spiritual Pressure was being released. Something burst through the ground behind where Ulquiorra was standing at. He turned around and saw there was nothing there to begin with. He widened his eyes when he sensed Ichigo was behind him, floating in the air before he went ahead to kick the unprotected side of Ulquiorra's face, launching him through several pillars.
Ichigo got down on the ground and gave Orihime a comforting smile, before he went to glare at Ulquiorra, who started coming out from the smoke and stood in front of where he was at. "Don't even think about taking another step close to her." Ichigo threatened him.
Ulquiorra rubbed the spot where he got hit by. He had to admit, it did feel… painful. He then looked back at his enemy. He could already tell he's grown far stronger than before in their previous battle. "I was going to stay away from her. My responsibility was assigned for me to protect Las Noches until Lord Aizen returned. I have received no order to kill this girl. Until those orders come, I will allow her to live. You, on the other hand… are a different matter. Killing you is synonymous with protecting Las Noches. I shall eradicate you…" Ulquiorra then began to unsheathe his sword, and pointed it right at Ichigo. "With my sword."
Ichigo grew a smirk from this. "I figured you would have done something like this. On my way here, I was wondering if you'd draw that thing against me. For your sake, you'd better have. Now that you did, I'm curious to know if you see me as an adversary now?"
"At the very least, I acknowledge you as a threat worth destroying." Ulquiorra replied.
Ichigo's smirk grew bigger from this. "Then it's a good thing you drew that sword from the start. Because you're about to find out I'm not the same person who fought you earlier…"
With that said and done, both Ichigo and Ulquiorra lunged at one another at the same time, both holding their swords with a single arm before they clashed. Both of their colorful Spiritual energies were being released from their bodies.
Halibel watched the large flames that surrounded Aizen, Gin, and Tousen all at once by the old man that did this. She didn't really see any way on how they could get out. Despite this, she wasn't worried about damage being done to Aizen, however this did cut down their firepower, at least for a while. So it may end up problematic for them to fight against multiple Captain level Soul Reapers.
What made it worse for her was that she still didn't get to meet Ichigo Kurosaki. The most she did know was sensing his battle against Grimmjow, and his Arrancar-like Spiritual Pressure. But despite this, she needed to get those thoughts at the back of her head. She was on a mission right now.
"What a dilemma… stuck with our enemies, while the boss is stuck in there. Oh, whatever shall we do?" Barragan spoke out, speaking to Aizen in a sarcastic manner.
Halibel looked back at her companion, giving off a strict look. She was aware that Barragan was not the most fond of Aizen, in fact if she were to guess, he may be the one that dislikes Aizen the most out of all the Espada. "I suggest you be more careful when you do talk about Lord Aizen."
Barragan looked back at the woman, prompting a glare of annoyance. "And I suggest you mind what you say to me as well, Halibel."
Halibel didn't look away from Barragan, instead she kept her strict glare. Barragan snapped his fingers, and one of his Fracciónes from behind knelt down as they held a large sized covered carpet. Poww, Abirama, and Ggio fully released the carpet, and from inside started to show bones and skulls alike. The bones started to form together until it fully formed to that of a throne chair, to which Barragan folded his arms and sat down on it. "Seeing as how Aizen is caught up, I will be the one giving orders here. And I will not stand for any complaining."
Starrk shrugged his shoulders, seeing no problem whatsoever. "No complaints here." he commented, but that comment made Lilynette angrily bonk him on the head. "Ow! What the hell do you think you're doin', Lilynette?!"
"Dumbass! Why're you taking this so lightly?! Besides, why don't you just—"
"And here they go again…" Mila Rose rolled her eyes as she listened to Starrk and Lilynette bicker with one another. "Damn they're annoying."
Barragan looked over at Yamamoto. "The Juurechi below our feet is a fake that you substituted the real thing with a replica you constructed in Soul Society, isn't that correct? Before he got surrounded by the fire, Aizen said we need to destroy the Soul Society and obtain Juurechi. But is it really necessary to go through all that trouble?" he saw Yamamoto opening his eyes now. "I figured from what was said earlier it went down like this: There are 4 pillars that are erected on each side of the town, and used the power of the pillars to swap out the entire place. So what would happen if we destroyed those pillars?" he looked over at one of his Fraccióne, who stood beside him. "Now, Findor."
"Yes, sir." Findor put his mouth on his knife-like protrusion, and started to make a loud, piercing whistle that attracted everyone's attention from the use of Silbido. The sound waa something that aggravated Komura.
Multiple openings of Garganta started showing up at different locations from the town. "I know where those pillars are located. It is a standard practice to construct something like that in the 4 cardinal directions at the edges." Barragan spoke, as all of the Gargantas started to become wide open, revealing a set of Hollows.
"AHHHHHHH!" Omaeda put his hands on his face that covered shock, thinking it was all over from here. "This is terrible! The secret is out!" Omaeda kept turning around, seeing the Hollows now discovering the pillars and began to attack them. "This is really bad! If they end up destroying those pillars, then the real Karakura Town, which we went out of our way to send to the Soul Society will return! And you know what that means?! The real Karakura Town will return here and become a battlefield!" Omaeda began to scream in his frenzy panic.
"Quiet down, you fool…" Yamamoto spoke firmly, silencing Omaeda's outburst. "How naive do you take me for? I would never allow for these pillars to be unprotected!" Omaeda looked to be confused as for what the Head Captain was talking about. But it was then that the Hollows started getting wiped out, and on the pillars were revealed to be Ikkaku, Izuru, Yumichima, and Shuhei, having been stationed to guard each pillar individually. "I have stationed capable fighters to guard these pillars."
Time passed by for both sides in Fake Karakura and within Las Noches as well, as each side engaged in their own set of battles, each of them fighting for their lives at stake. And such was a similar case within the 5th tower, the battle where Ichigo and Ulquiorra was taking place.
Ichigo leaped by Orihime's side, making a battle cry as he charged at Ulquiorra, before swinging his sword at him. Ulquiorra met this strike by bringing his sword against Ichigo's, to which he was getting pushed back while the ground behind him was being damaged from the force of the impact. Ichigo gave Ulquiorra a defiant look, slowly pushing him back. Ichigo pushed through Ulquiorra's sword before swinging his blade in a horizontal manner to strike Ulquiorra's head. The Espada jumped in the air to avoid the blow before coming back down, raising his sword to cut through Ichigo's head in a diagonal downward swing. Ichigo managed to counter this by raising his sword above and repelled Ulquiorra's strike. They clashed with one another, and made the ground beneath them crumble apart.
Ichigo was seen leaping in the air, with Ulquiorra being right above the boy as he swung his sword right at his face, to which Ichigo managed to block the blow, but got sent flying back. Ichigo made a backflip to set himself properly, his feet landing on a pillar before he leaped forward again, making the section of the pillar break apart. Ichigo swung his sword horizontally at the Espada, to which his opponent used Sonido to get away and got on the ground. Just when he did that, Ichigo got right behind him by using Flash Step and swung his sword behind Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra barely evaded the attack, using his feet to get around Ichigo's side. But Ichigo quickly turned around to swing his sword wildly back at Ulquiorra, pursuing him relentlessly. Ulquiorra was having difficulty dodging and countering Ichigo's attacks with his own, making the two enter in high speed combat, their forms being fast enough to move as blurs to the naked eye, save for Orihime who kept up with their movements. However it was getting clear to her that Ichigo was gaining the upper hand so far.
Ulquiorra used his Sonido to appear behind Ichigo, and strike him from behind as well. Ichigo turned around to block the attacks coming at him, being pushed back on his feet. It was then that the two of them clashed their swords, the ground beneath them forming cracks as neither of the two gave in. "Tell me… what's the point in continuing?" Ulquiorra asked as their swords buckled under their weight. The question caught Ichigo by surprise. "The Garganta is closed, those of you who are injured fighting against Espadas have nowhere else to go. You will spend your time without direction or purpose, and eventually die by our hands. In a short time, Karakura Town will disappear, along with the Soul Society. They will be destroyed by Lord Aizen after he creates the Ouken. You will have no way to stop that from happening."
Ichigo glared at the nihilist, giving a defiant look with a scowl shown on him. "Motherfucker… you think it's gonna be that simple?! Just who gave you the right to decide that?!" he started to push his sword further. "Don't underestimate me! We're not even close to finishing this! We have the 13 Court Guard Squads to stop Aizen! And if that isn't enough… then I'll stop him myself if I have to! And by doing that, I'll beat you first, and then I'll destroy Aizen after that!" Ulquiorra's foot was staggering against the ground, something that took him by surprise. "Hraa!" Ichigo cried out as he pushed Ulquiorra back by a Getsuga, sending him flying in doing so.
Ulquiorra got pushed all the way back until his feet landed on a pillar, and he pushed a part of it away when he deflected the Getsuga and lunged back at Ichigo, to which the Soul Reaper charged at him at the same time. "You're going down and I'll make damn sure of that! After all of this is over, I'm gonna be taking Orihime back with me, this time for good!" Ichigo exclaimed as he went past Orihime again, still coming at Ulquiorra, who charged his Cero before firing it. Ichigo used his Getsuga at the same time the Cero was fired as well. Their attacks clashed all at once, and it became a struggle who would get to overpowered who. "Haaaaaaaaagh!"
An explosion occurred from the clash, with smoke being enveloped, blocking Orihime's view to see what was going on. She heard the sound of a clash occur before seeing Ichigo and Ulquiorra dashed away at the opposite sides where they previously stood, gaining distance from one another. Orihime saw that Ulquiorra had taken damage, with a cut that was engraved on his right shoulder, making blood spew out of it.
Ichigo lunged at Ulquiorra once more, his sword being raised above his head before bringing it down at the Espada. Ulquiorra turned his sword vertically to block the strike from cutting his body. The ground beneath them buckled, with Ulquiorra getting pushed down by Ichigo's might. He tried to make a counter by raising his leg to kick Ichigo's head, to which he ducked down and swung his sword, managing to slash Ulquiorra's leg before the Espada leaped in the air and came back down. "Take this!" Ichigo exclaimed as he fired off his Getsuga in the air, managing a direct hit as Ulquiorra got repelled back further, until he used his Sonido to get away and came up right behind Ichigo.
Ichigo turned around and put his sword diagonally as he stepped aside when Ulquiorra tried to pierce him from behind. Ulquiorra's sword merely striked past Ichigo's sword and missed cutting him through. The two started going at it back and forth, with Ichigo seemingly pushed at the back, blocking against Ulquiorra's attacks. Ulquiorra then pushed his sword forward, and Ichigo managed to push his own sword to the front to block this, but he wasn't completely able to stop the thrust as Ulquiorra's sword managed to nick through his shoulder, making Ichigo grunt from the pain. Ulquiorra put his index finger next to the sword's guard and began to charge a Cero at him.
Ichigo widened his eyes when he saw this, and in that moment he remembered he was pinned to a similar situation when he fought against Byakuya in his dome. At that moment, Ichigo brought his hand forward to counter the Cero. The Cero itself was fired, but it was then that Ichigo's palm gleamed in a strange combination of a red Cero, and black lightning being formed on the inside of the Cero before firing it back at Ulquiorra's Cero. The contact of the blast made an explosion occur from the close proximity.
"Ichigo!" Orihime called out in worry.
Ulquiorra was taken by surprise from this sudden development. That move that was just used was Kido… but it looked like a Cero as well. Just what in the world did he do? "You managed to withstand my Cero without relying on that mask of yours. You truly have grown more powerful… however… the way you managed to use that last attack just now…" Ulquiorra saw Ichigo getting ready to fight once more. "That move you just used… was that Cero or Kido just now?"
Orihime widened her eyes when she heard that, and looked back at Ichigo. "To be honest... I'm as surprised as you are. It wasn't really my intention to do that in the first place. This might come off as a surprise, but I was actually trying to use a Cero like your own instead." now it was Ulquiorra's turn to widen his own eyes instead, having not expected a response like that. Ichigo made a smirk when he saw this, and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… I've been seeing so many Ceros now that it's something it's stuck with me by. Same with a few Kido spells I've seen. All I did was try to imitate that on my own. I guess it's just something that came to me on instinct…"
'So that's what he did just now… out of pure instinct he managed to use a blast that combined both Cero and Kido into his own, just by observing them several times. Just what in the world is he? How could he just manage to accomplish that by simply watching others?' Ulquiorra thought to himself, as the longer this was going on the more surprises that came from this Soul Reaper. 'However… despite how he's able to do it, that blast was clearly very unstable. And he doesn't seem to know how to control it. If he makes one wrong move with that attack, he could bring down this entire tower.'
Ichigo charged back at Ulquiorra and horizontally swung his sword to strike his head, but Ulquiorra managed to block it by putting his sword vertically next to him, but the blow still made his body stagger. Ulquiorra then got pushed aside till his back met against a pillar, and Ichigo swung his sword at the same place as before, but Ulquiorra ducked his head in time, and Ichigo only slashed through a section of the pillar. Ulquiorra saw an opening, and went to make a thrust through his sword at Ichigo's throat, to which the latter stepped aside to avoid it. Ulquiorra then made a barrage of high speed thrusts with his sword, but Ichigo kept on dodging each time, and leaped away backwards, with Ulquiorra following him as the pillar Ichigo cut before starting falling down on them.
'You're doing just fine…' Ichigo told himself in his mind. 'I can see his movements. I can react to them without much trouble.' he began to remember back to the first time he fought him, remembering all the details of Ulquiorra's fighting movements and defenses. 'Not to mention that his fighting style hasn't changed, even when unsheathing a sword in a fight. It's just the reach of his arm strikes he used up until now just got longer.' he thought to himself, all while he continued to dodge the high speed barrages. 'But this has gone off long enough…' Ichigo then grabbed Ulquiorra's wrist, clenching it tightly, and this action took Ulquiorra by surprise. 'It's time to end this!' He proceeded to give a diagonal slash, cutting Ulquiorra's shirt and going through his skin, making his wound gash out from the base of his neck to his chest.
Ulquiorra backed away from Ichigo, and at that moment the pillar crashed down on the ground. Ulquiorra looked down on where he got cut before looking back at Ichigo. "Well damn… that Hierro of yours sure is a tough one. Although, I gotta say... I am kinda disappointed in how this is turning out to be, if this is the best you can do." Ichigo said.
"Really?" Ulquiorra asked, curious as to know of this reasoning. ''And why is that?"
"Compared to our last battle, I couldn't read any of your movements at all. I had to take guesses on the limits of your attack, speed, defense, reaction, and so on. Maybe it's because you used that Gran Rey Cero and couldn't see very much, but it felt like I was up against a statue or a machine." Ichigo told him, remembering all the moves he could make out from the first time he fought Ulquiorra. ''But as of now? This fight feels more like a warm up match than a real fight. So how is it that I'm able to read your moves so well this time?" Ichigo gained a smirk. "Maybe it's because ever since that encounter, I've become more like a Hollow. Or maybe… it could be because you've become more human." he taunted him.
That did it. Ulquiorra shoved his sword through the ground, which made the ground split up of massive boulders behind the Espada and levitated, along with releasing some of his Spiritual Pressure as well. "Did you just say... I've become more human?" Ichigo couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn that there was a tone of incredulousness coming from the Espada. "I see… you must feel very proud of yourself that you're able to have kept up at this meager level. Let's see how long you will last when I become serious..." suddenly, Ulquiorra increased his Spiritual Pressure output, making Ichigo widen his eyes, as the power increase was unlike anything he sensed up until now.
Ulquiorra disappeared in an instant and hovered right above Ichigo's, bringing his sword to cut him in half, but Ichigo looked up at this and used Flash Step to get away, getting onto the top of the boulders that Ulquiorra made. It was then that Ulquiorra appeared behind Ichigo, and Ichigo went on to slash him as he turned around, except Ulquiorra used Sonido to appear behind again, striking Ichigo's blind spot. But Ichigo still managed to react in time and blocked the sword.
'He wasn't kidding at all! His speed and power are completely different than what they were minutes ago!' Ichigo thought to himself, leaping away on the ground, with Ulquiorra coming right at him. Ichigo kept on blocking Ulquiorra's strikes with his own while making counters. 'He's not playing around anymore, he's full on serious! This is gonna be harder than I thought!'
Ichigo swung a horizontal strike at Ulquiorra's neck, which Ulquiorra managed to block. Ulquiorra made a thrust with his sword to cut through Ichigo's gut, but Ichigo deflected the strike by swinging his sword downwards and kept their blades locked. Ulquiorra was pushing his sword around, and Ichigo tried to pin it down. Both separated their weapons before they started clashing once more, but now the combatants were using Flash Step and Sonido to gain some edge over the other.
Orihime continued to watch this, keeping her eyes focused as the two were going at it. Ichigo made a quick backflip to evade Ulquiorra's strike, and also leaped away when Ulquiorra caught up to him and tried to slash him, only to miss. Ichigo then got behind him and tried to cut through his back, only for Ulquiorra to use Sonido and get behind Ichigo instead. But Ichigo still managed to react to Ulquiorra's attack and evaded by using Flash Step.
'Damn, I don't think I'll be able to fight well in a place like this. It's too restricted, I'm gonna need to have more open space here!' Ichigo thought as he leaped away in the air, and Ulquiorra went after him. To his surprise, Ulquiorra fired off a Cero at him, which in turn caused Ichigo to crash through the walls, and made a large hole to cover through. Ulquiorra went on to go after Ichigo.
Orihime bit her lower lip in worry when she saw this happening. She wanted to go out to see how the battle was going, and guard Ichigo just in case he wouldn't be able to dodge or block a fafal attack. Her mind had been so busy focusing on Ichigo that she failed to notice someone was lurking behind her. She yelped in surprise when she felt a pair of hands grab her from behind and held her. Orihime turned her eyes to see who grabbed her, and to her surprise and annoyance, it turned out to be Loly and Menoly.
"Well, well… look who it is. Do you remember who I am?" Orihime looked annoyed when her eyes met Loly's. "Well, you probably don't. After all, why would a freak like you get to remember someone like me? But all of that is about to change. Because guess what, bitch, the time where you can just sit around the top of the stairs like this is over! Didn't you hear? Lord Aizen has no use for you anymore! That means that I can do whatever I want, and Lord Aizen won't get to punish me! I'm going to be taking back everything you stole from me!"
Orihime didn't really give in, but instead she grabbed Loly's grip and began to clenche it tightly. 'I don't know what their problem is with me… but they picked a bad time to do this right now.' she thought.
The battles that were occurring in the Fake Karakura Town began to heat up. Since the beginning of the fight, Lieutenants and a few Seated Officers have each fought Barragan's Fracciónes in their own terms, with most Lieutenants coming out as victorious against their opponents, all except Ikkaku who lost, and the pillar that he was supposed to guard had been destroyed by Barragan's Fracción, Poww, as the result of Ikkaku's neglected use of Bankai. Luckily, Poww was swiftly dealt with by Komamura.
And since that battle became over, it was now the turn of Captains to take over the battlefield, along with the other remaining Lieutenants to fight off the last remaining Espadas and Fracciónes. Shunsui and Jushiro were paired up against Starrk. Rangiku was paired to fight against Halibel's Fracciónes, to which Momo intervened in that fight later on. Soi Fon and Omaeda were paired against the last remaining minions of Barragan before they came to face Barragan himself, and finally Toshiro was up against Halibel.
Halibel watched as Toshiro kept swinging his sword to strike a blow at her, but all she did was deflect each strike with her sword as she walked backwards. She could tell that the boy certainly possessed skills, however his movements were slow and his attack power was very weak. She would hold this out, wanting to see the full extent of a Captain's power. Halibel swinged her sword at Toshiro's head, to which the young Captain raised his sword above to block the strike, but the force of the blow sent Toshiro flying away.
Toshiro stopped himself as he forced his feet to propel his balance back with how much force he was pushed with. Toshiro gave out a glare before using his Flash Step to appear right beside Halibel and strike her down by cutting through her hip, but Halibel didn't budge from her spot as she pressed her sword against the Captain's before kicking him in the gut and sending him away from her. Toshiro coughed up blood from the blow he was dealt, making a backflip to balance himself again.
Halibel merely stood where she was before, just waiting what her opponent would do next. She saw Toshiro using his Flash Step to appear above her, and Halibel brought her sword above her head as Toshiro struck his weapon against hers. "Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyourinmaru!" Toshiro called out the name of his Zanpakuto, activating his Shikai as he pushed his sword onwards at his opponent.
"Tch." Halibel scoffed while she was getting pushed back before she destroyed the ice dragon by cutting her sword through the dragon, destroying it in doing so. It was then she saw multiple ice dragons coming at her all at once, to which Halibel moved above in the air to avoid some of the incoming dragons, while taking the opportunity to cut through some of them down with her sword. Toshiro used Flash Step to appear in front of Halibel, making both of them be wielded in a dual lock with their swords, with Halibel only needing one hand to push through the young boy's. "I noticed that your Spiritual Pressure and focus increased. However, you'll need to try much harder than this…" Halibel spoke, giving off a strict glare to the boy. "At least try to give me some challenge here…"
Toshiro glared at the taller woman, and he proceeded to thrust his swords to cut the woman in some way, but Halibel kept blocking his attacks with striking ease. Toshiro then swung his sword down with all his might down at Halibel's face, except she managed to block the blow as well, not budging an inch from where she was standing.
Toshiro tried to figure out some way to overpower the female Espada, with the only option that came in his mind was using his Bankai, as all his previous attempts failed to even lay a finger on her. Toshiro then saw Halibel widen her eyes in shock, something that did confuse him. Her shock then turned to silent anger, as Halibel's sword began to glow in bright yellow energy. Toshiro widened his eyes, sensing a vast amount of power behind that sword, and as such he stayed away from Halibel and gained far distance away from her. "What is that?!" Toshiro asked.
Halibel closed her eyes, sensing the Spiritual Pressure that remained within her Fracciónes. She was relieved to know that they were still alive, but she knew they fell in battle by the Soul Reaper's Head Captain, injuring them. This was something that sparked anger within her. "Apache, Sung-Sun, Mila Rose… you have fought well." she said, opening her eyes to look back at Toshiro. Despite her anger, she would not take it out on a mere child. In fact, it would be better if she finished it off right here and now. "Rest for now." She felt a bit embarrassed at knowing where her number was located, but nevertheless she began to unzip her jacket, just enough for some of her breasts to reveal a number 3 on it.
Toshiro widened his eyes when seeing the tattooed number by itself. "Despite how powerful you are, you're still just ranked number 3?" he asked.
Halibel's expression turned that to somewhat of an insulted look. Though she had to say, it really did feel great that she felt wind blowing over her face, now with that forsaken mask no longer bothering her. "As powerful as I am?" Halibel gave off a glare at Toshiro. "I don't recall showing you even half of my power to you." she zipped back her jacket.
Toshiro waited to see what Halibel's next move would be. It was then that Halibel charged right at him, her glowing sword raised above her, and it made Toshiro start panicking. "Bankai!" Toshiro's body began to change. "Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" he exclaimed, with fear etched onto his tone. Toshiro barely managed to block the attack coming at him by covering a wall of ice in front of him, but Halibel cut through the wall like thin paper, and as such she managed to cut through Toshiro's body when she diagonally cut his chest, gushing out blood from him.
Halibel only watched as Toshiro was sent launching back down on the ground before crashing on it, making a crater in doing so. Halibel only looked down where Toshiro was at, seeing him struggle to move his body around, and saw the blood gushing out of his body. Halibel couldn't help but pity him. This whole fight was completely unfair. "Don't worry, you're not going to die with the injuries you have, however you won't be able to move around with the state your body is in. It would be for the best if you just stayed down. I wouldn't want to continue this fight, it would be like asking a lion to hunt down small ants." she warned Toshiro, giving him a firm look. "But if you choose to continue, you will eventually die. This is your first and final warning."
Toshiro breathed heavily, giving a glare at the Espada as he tried to get back up, but the wound she gave him affected him greatly. He already felt worn and hardly had a chance to use his Bankai. What could he do next? He was already panting like a dog while his opponent had yet to take him seriously, and worst of all she hadn't even used her Resurección against him either. 'There has to be some way to beat her…' he thought to himself, clenching his teeth as he gripped his sword tightly. 'But she's too powerful. And I doubt that she'll just stand there the whole time to prepare my attacks, not to mention some of them would take too much time. Damn it all… what do I do here?'
It was then that time itself froze still. Toshiro widened his eyes when he saw this happen, having not expected this, and being confused as well. "Now what's going on?!" Toshiro asked himself.
"Maybe you should just let me take over from here."
Toshiro became perplexed when he heard a voice start talking to him from behind. He turned around to see who it was, and saw it was his Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru. Except his shape looked… vastly different to say the least. Instead of the usual slim Eastern dragon that he did see, it was replaced by a massive, hulking, large ice dragon that towered behind him, standing over at four legs, its appearance taking on a far more Western-like dragon appearance. "Hyorinmaru…?" Toshiro was a bit taken back by the different appearance before him. ''What's going on here? What is all of this?"
"Listen to me, boy…" the massive dragon's head began to lean down at his wielder. ''Let me take over from here. It's clear as day that you don't stand a shred of chance of winning against her."
"What?" Toshiro was shocked by the offer. "What are you saying?"
"I'm asking you to lend my power to you. But the reason why I want to take over, is because your body wouldn't be able to handle the amount of power I would give, as your power is still too immature and needs more time to grow." the large dragon told him. "If you were to let me take over, it would be as if I'm the one wielding my power."
Toshiro began to understand where this was going. "I see then… so does that mean there would still be chances of us winning this battle?"
"I can't grant any guarantees, there still may be chances of us dying in this battle, but at the very least we should be more than enough match for her." Hyorinmaru replied.
Toshiro closed his eyes and thought about it. Honestly, what other choice did he have at this point? In his current state, he would die before he manages to reach Halibel. This may be his best shot to at least survive this. "Alright then." Toshiro opened his eyes and looked back at his opponent in the air. "I will leave the rest to you, Hyorinmaru…"
Time resumed once more. Halibel continued to see that Toshiro was starting to get back up. Not just that, but she saw Toshiro fly up in the air until he met up to her level. Halibel found this strange, she was sure she hit him hard enough to put him out of commission for a while, yet here he was coming back for more. Was it willpower that drove him? Either way, he shouldn't have much fight left in him. "I warned you what would happen if you choose to continue…" Halibel's sword glows the same bright energy she used earlier. "Ola Azul!" she exclaimed the name of her attack and fired an energy projectile at Toshiro.
But to her shock, Toshiro released massive amounts of Spiritual power that wasn't there before, and deflected the projectile by swinging his sword before he started coming at her at speeds she never saw him performing before, something that greatly took her by surprise. Halibel fired several more of her energy blasts, but Toshiro kept deflecting them until he got close to Halibel and swung his sword down at her, but Halibel raised her sword from above to prevent the strike from cutting her head. This time, Halibel was struggling to keep Toshiro at bay before Toshiro kicked her away from him.
Halibel grunted from the pain she felt when she got sent flying before stopping herself in mid air. 'Something is wrong here…' she thought as she looked back at her opponent. 'His strength, his speed, his Spiritual Pressure… they all increased exponentially. There's no way this is the same child that fought me just now. What happened to him?' looking at the eyes, Halibel could now see that Toshiro's eyes were purple, instead of the usual green color they held. Now she knew something was different about him. In fact, it felt as though she was up against a completely different opponent. "Who are you?" Halibel firmly asked, demanding for an answer. "I know you're not that same boy who fought me mere moments ago. What happened to him?"
Toshiro merely held his blade and pointed it horizontally to Halibel. "I am merely his guidance. All I did was just take his place for a while. Now, it would be better if you just focused all your attention to me. Because as of now, I am your opponent."
'Even his attitude is different. He's not just a child that's pretending to be an adult.' Halibel gave him a calculated gaze. That body may have been that of a child's, but the mind was far from one. At the very least this fight wouldn't be so unfair anymore. "Very well then, at least now I know I shouldn't underestimate you anymore." Halibel pointed her blade down, glaring at Toshiro. "But don't think that this means you'll defeat me just because someone took over the body. I crush you, and I will make sure you will not have the will to get up again." she spoke in a fierce and commanding tone, and Toshiro prepared himself for the worst. "Hunt, Tiburón!"
Halibel became completely enveloped by a heart-shaped surge of water, which closed around her to form a cocoon-like cyclone. Before long, Halibel cut herself out of this and emerged in her Resurección. Her clothes and Espada tattoo were gone. Hollowed fragments were extended on covering her nipples. She gained spaulders on her shoulders, which bear a resemblance to shark fins, and two ribbon-like protrusions on her back. A thin, spine-like structure forms on her stomach, spanning from her waist to the underside of her breasts. Halibel wore a mini-skirt, consisting of bones surrounding a dark undergarment. She wore a pair of knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves. Her weapon takes the form of a broad pata, which resembled an elongated shark tooth, featuring an unusual hilt with a hand guard which completely covered her hand. The sword possessed gill markings, along either side of the blade. Halibel's face hadn't changed, with the 2 blue lightning bolt markings on both sides of her face remained the same. Her hair removed the braids she had and bangs framed the side between her eyes, and her hair became fully free.
Toshiro, or rather Hyorinmaru, tensed up when feeling a sudden increase of power, and prepared himself for the worst to occur. "Now then… let the real fight begin." Halibel spoke in a sharp tone, readying her weapon against her new opponent.
Orihime kicked Menoly away from her, sending her down on the ground to where Loly was at. Orihime rubbed her hands, as she managed to dispatch the two Arrancars by herself. Well, they shouldn't be able to bother her for a while at least. Orihime looked upwards and saw that there were tons of holes covered through the walls and some on the ceiling, due to Ichigo and Ulquiorra crashing in here or firing energy blasts.
As of now, Ichigo and Ulquiorra continuously kept clashing with one another, sending shockwaves each time they kept colliding outside the 5th tower, something that the others far below could notice the amount of Spiritual Pressures being released. Neither Ichigo nor Ulquiorra could gain an edge over the other. So far the entire battle had them be evenly matched with one another. Both opponents began to take damage from each other, albeit little of it was shown.
It wasn't until Ulquiorra kicked Ichigo down, and added another combo of slashing across his torso, drawing out blood from him. Ichigo got launched back and grunted from the pain until he fired off a Getsuga as a counter against Ulquiorra, making the blast hit him head on. Ichigo crashed through the tower, causing another hole to appear as he hit down the ground before propelling himself. He then saw Ulquiorra appear in front of him using Sonido.
Ichigo thought about using his Hollow mask to give himself an advantage to turn the tables in this fight, but there would be a problem if Ulquiorra used his Resurección in time to fight back against him. And at that point, Ichigo couldn't be sure how long he could maintain his mask at this point, as he just recently made the mask stronger, and he doubted he could still master it. He saw that Orihime was relatively unharmed, although he was confused to see two Arrancar girls lying unconscious on the ground, having sworn that they weren't there before.
Just then, the ground beneath them started shaking, something that took practically everyone by surprise. It sounded as though something kept breaking in… and it was getting closer to them. Ichigo realized that someone or something was indeed breaking through here, as whatever was coming at them was breaking through here floor by floor. It wasn't until something crashed through their floor as well, causing a hole to appear in a manner similar to how Ichigo caused an entrance. And it turned out that the invader who caused the shaking had been none other than Yammy.
"Hey, Ulquiorra!" Yammy exclaimed as he climbed through the rubble he caused, making his appearance fully known. "I thought I'd come in here and back you up! Need a hand?!"
Ulquiorra turned around to blankly look at Yammy. "And just when did I ask for you to interfere? I don't need any help, and certainly not from you."
'Wait, he's…' Ichigo widened his eyes when remembering his fight against Yammy back in the Living World. 'He's the guy from back then!' but he was confused as to what the giant was doing here. Surely he couldn't possibly think of fighting him again, could he? Unless he's gotten stronger, Ichigo couldn't see any reason why Yammy would want to pick a fight with him. And even if he did get stronger since their encounter, Ichigo doubted he was anywhere close to the level of a 4th Espada.
"Ah, don't be such a stick in the mud! Besides, that Soul Reaper kid looks like he toughened up since I fought him! Let me have a crack at him!" Yammy replied with a smug grin.
"I see… it appears you've completely recovered. But I'll pass, your job doesn't revolve anything around here." Ulquiorra saw Yammy become confused by this. "You can either go back to sleep or find some Captains to fight against."
"Come on! What're ya talkin' about, Ulquiorra?! You can't tell me you're gonna have all the fun for yourself now, are ya?!" Yammy kept persisting, still keeping a grin that was far too eager.
"Your selfishness increases once you go into that state. That is your greatest weakness, Yammy. My final answer is no." Ulquiorra replied.
"Lighten up already! It's not like someone died or anything!" Yammy exclaimed as he began to approach the two of them, that was until he spotted Orihime just standing on the sidelines. "Hey, Ulquiorra! What's with that girl over there?! I heard that Aizen doesn't find her useful anymore! Can I kill her yet?!"
"Do whatever you please, it's none of my concern." Ulquiorra blankly told him.
This already provoked a reaction out of Ichigo, lunging at Yammy to kill him here and there with just one attack, but Ulquiorra already got in front of him and merely pinned his sword down against his. Ichigo grit his teeth, trying to push past Ulquiorra.
Yammy went to travel towards Orihime, and Ichigo tried to cut Yammy down before he could take another step closer, but with Ulquiorra getting in his way that became difficult. He knew that Orihime became stronger, and should technically be able to defend herself against Yammy, but the instinctive reaction to protect her overwhelmed him. Luckily he didn't have to do very much, as in that moment Uryu showed up through one of the holes from behind and shot an arrow on Yammy's shoulder, and although it hadn't pierced it through all the way, the effect still took an effect as Yammy gasped in pain as he knelt down on the ground.
"Uryu?!" Ichigo was surprised to see the Quincy show up, but he was relieved as well. That left one less of a problem out of his way.
"Don't let your guard down around your enemy, Ichigo. I can see you already have your hands full." Uryu turned around to look at Ichigo. "Don't worry, I'll take care of the big guy before you even know it."
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?!" Yammy got up and glared venomously at the teen Quincy. "And where did you pop off all of a sudden?!"
Uryu turned his head to look at Yammy. "I shot that arrow with that much power and it still didn't go through you? You're tougher than I thought." Yammy began to walk over where Uryu was at. "Careful now, I wouldn't step there if I were you…"
Yammy ignored this and continued to walk over to crush Uryu. But when he got a tad bit too close, an explosion was set off and enveloped Yammy completely. "AAAAAAARGH!" Yammy hollowed out in pain, and the ground beneath crumbled apart to a large hole.
"I told you to be careful. Because I may have outfited that arrow with an Arrancar landmine that I got from a very shady scientist…" Uryu spoke the last words with bitterness in his tone. He fully turned around to see that Yammy was hanging onto whatever surface he could hold onto, his form showing bad injuries over his body along with a couple of burns.
"Shit…" Yammy gave Uryu a hateful gaze. "You damn brat!"
"I would be able to hear you even from several floors below. You're the 'Yammy' fellow that Szayelaporro mentioned, right?" Uryu asked.
"Huh?! And so what if I am?!" Yammy rebuked. ''Why is that important to you?!"
"It's not, really. I was thinking on how sad it would be if I hadn't shown up here, you probably would have been rampaging for a little while longer." Uryu shot an arrow at the surface that Yammy held onto, and it became broken. Uryu deactivated his arrow at that moment. ''Mala suerte."
Yammy widened his eyes in shock before he began to fall down. "DAAAAAAMN YOUUUUUUU!" he screamed out in rage as he fell down, his back breaking through floor by floor as he continued to descend lower.
"On the way here I broke a few of the pillars on all the floors below. So I wouldn't be surprised if he fell down all the way to the bottom." Uryu explained before he turned back to look at Ichigo.
"Just what the hell took you so long to get here in the first place?" Ichigo asked as he still had his eyes on Ulquiorra.
"Kurotsuchi's Lieutenant took us to Captain Unohana to treat mine and Renji's injuries. The same Lieutenant also gave me these landmines she stole from Kurotsuchi himself. These things explode when an Arrancar enters into the radius of their Spiritual Pressure sensor. I carved out the ceiling of the floor below and planted one there." Uryu explained. "You got any other questions?"
"... Nah. That's about it, really." Ichigo turned his head to look at Orihime. "However… make sure to stay by Orihime's side right now. And I'm not really sure just how much she could handle my—"
"You don't have to worry." Orihime replied. "If you're worried about using your full strength because of my presence, don't let it bother you. Believe me when I say I can handle it…"
Ichigo nodded his head before looking back at Ulquiorra. "Sorry for this, Ulquiorra… but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to end this fight right here." he then put his hand on his face. "By using my Hollowfication!" Ichigo then gathered his energy and donned his Hollow mask in a ripping fashion. "Hraaaaaaagh!" he yelled out.
Ichigo charged at Ulquiorra, and Ulquiorra widened his eyes at the sheer speed Ichigo was coming at him. Ulquiorra barely managed to block Ichigo's strike that came at him, except it caused his sword to form a crack. Ulquiorra noticed this and widened his eyes. "Aaaaaaargh!" Ichigo pushed Ulquiorra away, with the force of his swing being strong enough to make the Espada crash through the wall behind him and get outside the tower.
Ulquiorra already knew that there was no way to beat Ichigo in his current state. He really had no other choice but to use his Released State above the canopy. Ichigo already got in front of him, and Ulquiorra fired off a Cero directly at him. Ichigo managed to block the energy blast by merely pointing his blade down, and managed to block the attack with ease while his cloak whirled up. Ichigo became surprised when he saw Ulquiorra was no longer in front of him, before looking up ahead to see Ulquiorra was getting away from him by flying in the air.
"You're not getting away that easily!" Ichigo exclaimed before he started coming after Ulquiorra. 'The damn bastard must have used his Sonido when he fired that Cero at me to use it as a distraction!' he thought to himself.
Ulquiorra then supposedly cut through the air itself, causing a hole to appear there before going right through it. This action took Ichigo by surprise, but nevertheless he broke through the roof as well and landed down on the new surface ground he was in. "What the hell? Are we above Las Noches' canopy?" Ichigo asked more so himself, looking around the new place he got in.
"You would be correct…" Ichigo looked above to see that Ulquiorra was now standing at a large pillar, looking down where he was at. "Under Lord Aizen's orders, there are 2 things forbidden to use below the canopy of Las Noches. The first being the use of Gran Rey Cero that only exists for an Espada. And the second is for Espadas under the rank of 4 and higher to unleash Resurección. Both of these are too powerful, and would most likely be capable of destroying Las Noches itself." Ulquiorra then pointed his sword at Ichigo. "Isolate, Murciélago."
Ulquiorra became enveloped by a massive burst of black and green Spirit Energy, and it fell all around Ulquiorra as green rain itself. Ichigo became tensed up when he felt a massive power increase unlike anything the Espada has shown before. When the rain stopped falling, Ichigo could now see Ulquiorra's Released State, and the appearance was something that took him by surprise. In this form, large, black bat wings formed on his back, his hair grew longer and wilder, and the remains of his Hollow mask centered atop his head, with two large horns extending outward to the sides towards the front. The lines on his face became black, broader, and more triangular, and his fingernails lengthen. His Arrancar attire became more form fitting and closed at the top, becoming more like a robe towards the bottom.
Ichigo made sure not to lose his composure. He readied his blade and tried to prepare himself when Ulquiorra would strike at him. For long moments there was nothing but a shroud of silence that settled between them, giving off an eerie atmosphere. Ulquiorra summoned a green javelin from his hand.
And then got directly in front of Ichigo, the javelin already next to the teen's neck. "What the—" Ichigo widened his eyes in shock when he saw this happening, and on pure instinct he put his sword against the javelin, using a compressed Getsuga to make the javelin stay away from him. A large surge of energy domes that were mixed between green and red spread throughout behind them both, the force of their attacks spread wind hurricanes that blew over.
Ichigo and Ulquiorra stood behind one another when the waves calmed down. "You reacted with enough time to use a Getsuga. A wise decision on your part. For if you hadn't done that… your head would be rolling on my feet." Ulquiorra said, turning his head to look at Ichigo.
Ichigo fully turned around to face Ulquiorra, giving him a glare, his mask being fully intact. "I'll admit… you caught me by surprise there. But I could still react to your attack in time and block it. Don't think this is gonna get easy just because you managed to release your sword, because I'm not gonna be going down without a fight."
"It would seem to appear that way." It was now Ulquiorra who fully turned around as well. "Your reaction is indeed excellent, and your speed and power are sharp to block my attacks… but let's see how long you'll last…"
Well shit, about time this got released. Now I'm getting to the second half of the Arrancar arc, so basically I'm halfway done, although this might technically last more quickly because I don't wanna waste too much time, especially with filler extended scenes in the Anime exclusive. Alright so let's break down on what happened in this and explain things.
Alright so the "Heart" talk between Orihime and Ulquiorra didn't exactly make Orihime become as submissive or at least sounds more confident. Technically because Ulquiorra's attempts at breaking Orihime have failed in this story and having more of a backbone, Ulquiorra's points just more so become barely acknowledged.
Ichigo vs Rudbornn… yeah of course he got one shotted. It's so weird how Ichigo looked to be held back so much in Canon… even though Rudbornn should be fodder to him, considering at that point Ichigo was on par with Base Ulquiorra. Granted he was pushed back by a lot of army, but he could have easily used Flash Step and a Getsuga and that would be that.
Ichigo vs Ulquiorra. It should already be clear in the story that this version of Ichigo is stronger than his Canon counterpart, so at the beginning of the fight he became dominant through most of the fight. But when Ulquiorra became serious, he and Ichigo were more evenly matched with one another. So because of this, it wasn't needed for Orihime to defend Ichigo (not much at least) from that one specific strike where she managed to react and defend against Ulquiorra behind Ichigo's back. Oh and also for that Kido and Cero combination Ichigo used, technically this was something brought up by my Co-Author on Ichigo being capable of learning Kido as well, however in this he only saw Byakurai and Shakkahou used in front of him, since Ichigo is supposed to be this being with unparalleled talent, but most we saw him was more so just power cliffing for himself. So a change does seem very nice to do.
Alright so you might get kinda confused about the Toshiro vs Halibel fight. I got myself to rewatch the entire fight between them, and holy shit, that fight is really badly written. It shouldn't be possible for Toshiro to just be a match for Halibel in any way, especially in her Resurección form. If anything, Toshiro should have been bodied throughout the entire fight. His last fight over a month ago was up against Base Yammy and had difficulty against fucking Luppy of all people. It took Toshiro an entire month to train, and he couldn't even beat Base Yammy, and he needed prep time against Luppy… not to mention that Toshiro said he needed to release his Bankai and Gentei Kaijo to be a proper match. Yet somehow… let's say 1 week later (because in Canon it took Ichigo and the crew 3 days to get to Las Noches) he's somehow able to be on par against the 3rd Espada… that doesn't make any sense. No amount of training of Toshiro in under like a week or less could somehow beat a 3rd ranked Espada, when it took him an entire month of training to be capable of beating Luppy… who's like a shit version of Espada 6. Oh and before this he BARELY beated Shawlong, who wasn't even an Espada.
I can go on but I think you get the point of this already. So here's what happened in this to make the fight make more sense. The matter of Hyorinmaru taking over Toshiro is a bit similar to when Ichigo got a physical amp by Zangetsu against Kenpachi. Now as for why this was the case and on Hyorinmaru having a different form... I can't really go into that one, since that would have heavy spoilers later down the line of exploring more of Toshiro's Zanpakuto.
Didn't really do anything for Rukia, Renji, and Chad against Rudbornn… well except on maybe having Nelliel join in the fight… since she doesn't really have much to do that. Didn't really do anything on Uryu vs Yammy because that was Anime exclusive. I don't really get why the Anime dragged out the fight that much. In the Manga, Uryu just planted the mines when he got there and that was that. For those who don't believe me, read Chapter 343 and 344 and you'll see then.
So now with Masked Ichigo vs first Resurección Ulquiorra… well let's just say that the fight isn't gonna be as one sided… but it's not really gonna make it be equal… that's all I can say on that one. I have a surprise for