As the sun rose upon the day of the invasion. Ichigo, Uryu, Kyiv, Cang, Robert, Literro, Lille barrow Gremmy Hashwalth and Stark arrived in the meeting chamber. When they did so, several holograms of the other stenrriter filled the room, with Yhwach himself appearing in the middle of them and making his announcement.

'Alright, I will go over the planned attack so that everyone is clear,' Yhwach said while addressing his comrades.

'Ten of the sternrriter will defend the regional holds while the rest and the directors will defend the city. Meanwhile, Ichigo Kurosaki and two of my royal guards will invade Hecuo Mundo and assault Barragan and his remaining forces' the king then overlooks the rest of his subjects. 'Any questions?'

'I have one, bossman,' Stark called out.

'What about the shielded cities and my hometown? Are you sure you want all the sternritters to go to the front lines and protect this city?' the former Espada spoke up, making the rest of the terriers mumble angrily that a common hollow question their king. But Yhwach raised his hand to silence them.

'If our information is correct, then all the Espada will be within the outer skirts of the soul society to confront the Sternrriters directly, and if any other enemy forces attack the settlements within the world of the living, each sternrriter has an emergency portal sun gate that teleports to the nearest city where the attack has landed and if you desire it yourself included' Yhwach explained, and Stark then let out a sigh.

'Well, I guess that is the best offer I can hope for,' the former Espada mumbled as he lowered his cowboy hat.

'So our orders are clear then...' Hashwalth said. 'While the sternrriter go out to confront the Espada. Ichigo, Lille, and Gremmy will assassinate Barragan in Las Noches' grandmaster and then turn to face the Shinigami. 'Go now to the research and development center, and BG9 will have the garatana up and ready for your use.'

Sometime later, Ichigo and the two royal guards arrived at the research lab, where BJ 9 greeted them and in the center of his lab. The massive black portal led to the dark abyssal dimension between Hueco Mundo and the soul society.

'Now, before entering in there. Be aware that this is a one-way trip with no way going back unless another portal from this side is opened up' The cyborg Quincy explained, and Lille Barro rolled his eyes while Gremmy laughed.

'We already know that otherwise, we wouldn't be here, to begin with,' Barro mocked, making BJ grumble.

'Affirmative,' he said grumbly. 'Well, the entryway is open to you when you are ready.'

Later within the place of governance. A massive command room full of monitors and computers run by countless Quincy communicators, alongside an enormous screen that overlooked the entire room. At the head of the room stood Hashwalth, Robert Accotrone, and Uryu Ishida. The three highest levels of authority within the sternrriter order.

'Have you got a reading on the hollow invasion?' Robert asked out, and one of the Quincy commutators shook her head.

'No commander, not yet; however, we have detected multiple space-time disturbances from around the far off regions'

Jurgram then nodded. 'So the hollows are just starting to arrive within the soul society and on the outskirts.'

Uryu then turns to face the grandmaster. 'Are you sure that the rest of the holds have been executed before the invasion?' He questioned while Hashwalf sighed.

'We can only hope...72 hours is hardly enough time to clear out multiple holds that contain entire cities, and we can only pray that the shelters that were built are well hidden' his eyes then lowered. 'Either way, they are on their own.'

Uyru then remains silent for a moment. 'Then we'll just have to eliminate them as quickly as possible then,' he declared, and Robert nodded and agreed.

Meanwhile, at one of the nearby hold towns. NaNaNa Najahkoop, the Sternrriter of the Underbelly, was sitting on top of the roof of a tower, smoking a cigarette as he watched over the horizon with a grim expression on his face. Then one of his soldiers. An apprentice knight, who looked like an older man in his thirties with brown hair, approached him on the roof.

'Sir, the entire squadron is ready for deployment. What are your orders?'

NaNaNa looked at the apprentice knight for a moment and mumbled. 'Stand by until the hollows arrived. We are facing them off soon enough.'

The Quincy subordinate then looked at the sternrriter uneasily. 'Sir, you sure we shouldn't venture out? After all, if this squadron managed to deploy itself further out from this town, then maybe-'

'Maybe it would slow down the hollow hordes further?' The sternrriter mocked. 'Tch, you wish.'

The apprentice knight then looked confused. 'Sir?'

NaNaNa then turns towards his subordinate. 'Not all hollows are dumb beasts, lieutenant, and as my apprentice, you should know that better than anyone even if we were to head deeper into the outer territories. Some of the hollows would use that opportunity to ignore us and attack this very settlement while we are distracted.'

The apprentice knight, however, looked unconvinced. 'Even so, sir, I believe that with the strength of my men and you, we would overcome whatever obstacles the hollows throw at us regardless of how clever or powerful they are!' He declared loudly, and NaNaNa sadly shook his head.

'Then you have no idea what you are up against...' he muttered darkly. 'If you tried defending any of the shielded cities within the living world and faced the hollow hoards back then...you wouldn't be nearly as confident as you are now' he then turns his head to face his subordinate. 'And that is not even getting into dealing with the Arrancar.'

The brown-haired Quincy then looked uneasy. 'You had a bad experience with one?'

Najahkoop stood silent and then turned his head over the horizon. 'Like you, I once thought myself as invincible when I first became a sternrriter, and with my abilities, I thought I alone could fight off any hollow hoard or Arrancar that stood in my way...until the day I finally meet one. Which resulted in me getting crushed and left for dead ...and said Arrancar wasn't even an Espada.'

The apprentice knight then held his breath in horror as the sternrriter continued. 'Then, by the time I woke up, I saw that monster completely demolished that entire city. Laughing at my sorry ass state before leaving away in victory, Nannana glared at the older man. 'And now we will face that, said Arrancar others, like him and the Espada themselves.'

Then suddenly, the sky over the horizon began to darken as cracks in the air began to form, causing the apprentice knight to gasp in shock and horror. Yet NaNaNa merely focused his gaze, his expression barely changing.

'Be on stand by, lieutenant' The sternriter repeated his order. 'For we would need all the defenses we can get if we are ever going to survive this battle...let alone win it.'

Meanwhile, at the Quincy command center.

'Sir...' A Quincy communicator addressed Jurgram, who looked upward at the screen. 'The enemy has arrived...'