The three were still heading towards Las Noches, when suddenly a flamboyant, pink-haired man grabbed Orihime and pulled her towards them.
"Ugh, those guys are such useless trash. If I hadn't separated from that useless older brother, I probably could have reached that level too. I really regret it."
Rukia and the others had an indescribable feeling when they saw this guy. Uryū said, "Who are you? Let go of Orihime!"
"I am the Espada, Szayelaporro. This woman is yours, just don't damage Las Noches, or that monster in the sky will go berserk. Sigh~ I'm leaving now, too bad for my research data."
"Why are you leaving? Aren't you Aizen's subordinates?" Rukia, completely bewildered.
"Huh? Aizen's subordinate? Tch~", Szayelaporro scoffed. "That's Soul Reaper. I'm Arrancar. Although I became Arrancar because of his power, I've done a lot for him. We're even. Now that the Endless Sea is attacking, I never intended to die here for Aizen."
"The Endless Sea?"
"You don't know? Then you don't know. See you again someday," Szayelaporro said, pushing Orihime towards Uryū, before heading off in a direction far from the three of them and Las Noches.
"Oh dear~ the escaped experimental subject."
"!!!?"
The three were startled by the sudden sound, and when they turned around, they saw Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
"Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi!?" Rukia asked, completely bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"Why can't I be here? Hueco Mundo is clearly more interesting and more suitable for my research than the World of the Living. I just heard that guy talking about his research materials, right? Hehehe, what a valuable discovery!"
With Mayuri Kurotsuchi headed towards Las Noches.
"Wait a minute, Captain Kurotsuchi!"
"Um?"
"Be careful not to damage the Las Noches."
"Ah~ I know, I heard you," Mayuri Kurotsuchi turned around and then back, smiling broadly, "Thanks for reminding me, bye-bye~"
"Is that your mad scientist captain?" Uryū asked, looking completely bewildered. "Is that guy really that good-natured?"
"I don't know why I'm not familiar with him," Rukia, echoing the sentiment.
Orihime was still a bit confused, but at that moment, another wave of Spiritual Power erupted. Orihime asked in horror, "Where's Ichigo? Is he fighting? With Ulquiorra!?"
"Orihime, calm down! You have no idea how strong Ichigo right now!" Uryū went over to comfort him.
"No!" Orihime broke free from Uryū, "You don't know! Ulquiorra isn't just Espada, he came from the Endless Sea!"
"What exactly is the Endless Sea? What happened to the Arrancar that came from there?"
"The Endless Sea is the base established by Jun Shimizu. Hundreds of years ago, he conducted experiments there to Arrancar Vastodes into Vasto Lorde! This caused many Vasto Lorde to evolve into Arrancars, and Ulquiorra was the first! He is the strongest of all the Arrancars! He is completely different from the later Arrancars! Moreover..."
Orihime tried to run to save Ichigo, but Sado, Uryū, Rukia hugged her together.
"Calm down! We can't get involved at all! That's no longer our territory!"
Orihime was still struggling fiercely, "Let me go! I have to tell Ichigo! Ulquiorra has a full set of enhanced equipment!! There's no way we can win!"
"Is that all you've got?" Ulquiorra gripped Ichigo's Tensa Zangetsu completely, rendering him immobile.
Ichigo removed his Hollowfication Mask, his Reiatsu at its peak, but he still couldn't even draw his sword. Ichigo hadn't expected that he wouldn't even need to draw his opponent's sword before he was about to use his ultimate ability.
But there's no other way, is there?
"Aww~!"
Tensa Zangetsu was suddenly pulled from Ulquiorra's hand, and dark green blood flowed from Ulquiorra's hand, but the wound healed in the next moment.
Ulquiorra blinked at Ichigo's strange posture, "Is this the power that defeated Nnoitra? As expected of the Child of Destiny, to possess this power in just half a year, but that's all it has to offer."
Ichigo transformed into a black shadow, but the next moment, a white shadow appeared beside him, parallel and face to face, and a hand slashed down at Ichigo.
Fortunately, Ichigo was in full War Demon form, focused entirely on battle, and reacted immediately. Because they were too close, he slammed his sword hilt into Ulquiorra.
However, this simple clash unleashed a Spiritual Power comparable to their strongest collision with Nnoitra, sending both of them flying. Then, the black and white figures immediately clashed again.
Ichigo Kurosaki realized he couldn't win by brute force; his opponent's speed was almost identical to his own, both in terms of movement and strength. How could this be!? Something must be wrong!
But he didn't know what was wrong, so he could only keep going! At the final step, he had no choice but to give it his all!
"Oh~!" Ichigo shouted. He was truly giving it his all, squeezing out every last drop of his strength, and his Reiatsu began to rise again.
While focusing all his energy on increasing his Reiatsu, Ichigo inevitably found himself in a precarious situation in other areas. He took several blows from Ulquiorra, but fortunately, Ulquiorra's attacks were with his hands, and Ichigo's Reiatsu was high enough that he wasn't stabbed in the chest like in the original story.
"Is that so?!" Ichigo shouted out under these circumstances. He hadn't been able to speak before, and the longer this state lasted, the harder it was to maintain his sanity. Ichigo had already done very well.
The Reiatsu reached its peak, and finally, Ulquiorra couldn't withstand it with his bare hands. Just as Ulquiorra was injured, Ichigo seemed to hear a shattering sound.
The battle paused briefly. At that moment, Rukia suddenly appeared below the two fighters and used the Tenteikūra.
"Ichigo! That guy has equipment that enhances himself!"
Ulquiorra pulled a bracelet from his hand and threw it down. "Now it's gone."
"Uh... this thing?" Ichigo was dumbfounded.
"You know the person who gave me this; his name is Jun Shimizu, he's the father of us Arrancar."
"Father?!" Ichigo remained completely bewildered.
"I don't know about others, but that's what I call him," Ulquiorra said, still expressionless.
"Wait, wait a minute!" Ichigo's Hollowfication Mask suddenly separated, startling him. He had to use his brain. "Aren't you Aizen's subordinate?"
"My father is Jun Shimizu, and I work under Aizen. Is that so hard to understand?"
The reasoning is impeccable, "But aren't Shimizu-san and Aizen enemies!?"
"Who told you they were enemies? Father and Lord Aizen have always been friends, ever since they met over six hundred years ago, and they still are today."
Ichigo was no longer just gasping in shock, but at that moment Rukia sent out a second message: "Orihime has been rescued, you can retreat now."
"You didn't touch Las Noches, did you?"
"Can you see if there's still Reiatsu over there?"
"Hmph~ A bunch of useless trash!"
"Hey~ Hey~", Ichigo couldn't stand this, "The Arrancars are your kin, aren't they?"
"My kin are only the brothers and sisters of the Endless Sea, not these created trash. You would never understand the superiority of the Arrancar."
What's so superior about it?
"My father said the same thing. He always told us that there is no such thing as superiority, but my reason tells me that we are the most superior beings."
Ichigo laughed, "We really can't understand each other, huh? I feel like you and Shimizu-san are quite similar. Shimizu-san and I sometimes don't understand each other either. In that case, we usually communicate with our swords. Come on!"
Ulquiorra placed his hand on his sword. "Have you seen my other siblings?"
"Uh, what do you mean?"
"Besides Nnoitra and me, none of my brothers and sisters have ever used a sword as their weapon. My sword was chosen for me by my father," Ulquiorra, drawing his sword as if performing some kind of ritual. "But I must admit, your strength is enough to make me draw my sword, yet you are still not superior enough."
"Enough with the nonsense! Let's fight!" Ichigo immediately pulled down his Hollowfication Mask and began to fuse. He knew that only in this mode could he fight Ulquiorra; there was no other way.
The two swords clashed, Rukia, using Shunpo, was sent flying by the shockwave of Spiritual Power. She didn't even dare to look back, because wave after wave of impact followed.
Ichigo went straight for the reckless. He had no other choice; nobody was telling him how to defeat Ulquiorra. Even Jun only told him to use his best skills against Ulquiorra, because it was impossible for him to learn a method to defeat Ulquiorra on the spot.
"Are you even human!? Your fighting style is even more reckless than my most reckless brother's!" Ulquiorra was also quite annoyed by Ichigo's recklessness. Ichigo's method was utterly unreasonable; he was just fast and would relentlessly chase after you and attack head-on.
"Haha! This is the method your father told me to use against you!" Ichigo also knows how to talk trash; the more you practice, the better you become.
"Really? I don't believe it. My father would never look down on me like that."
"Haha, you're something else! He said I had no other way to beat you, and this was the only way I had a chance! And that's all I know how to do! Ah~!"
Ichigo suddenly unleashed a burst of power, sending Ulquiorra flying. Ichigo instant, slashing again, but this time he severed Ulquiorra's arm, sending him flying once more. He felt something was off about this attack. Just then, Ulquiorra 'Ulquiorra arm Explosion.
Ichigo was blasted away by the powerful Explosion, but what followed was a Cero — the Gran Rey Cero. Ichigo was currently in Nnoitra's form, and the force of the Explosion hadn't dissipated yet. He had to take the full force of this combo, so Ichigo countered with his Cero.
A white figure appeared, Ulquiorra appeared above Ichigo, slashing down with his sword. Ichigo could barely defend himself before being sent to the ground. Then he saw Ulquiorra release his sword, all ten fingers glowing.
"Holy crap!" That's all Ichigo could say right now.
Ten Cero rained down. Ichigo dodged them if he could, and withstood them if he could, but there were just too many. He was blasted away in a sorry state, and thankfully, he wasn't instantly killed.
However, Ulquiorra was relentlessly close, Ichigo couldn't find any rhythm at all, giving him no chance to make an effective recovery, let alone successfully defend. He was sent flying again.
Ichigo is really suffering right now. He's been completely blasted into a ball, constantly flying around without stopping. It's so infuriating, so infuriating!
"I! Want! To! Fight! Back!" But it was all for naught; being used as a ball to be hit was still the same as being used as a ball to be hit.
Ichigo's anger grew higher and higher, until suddenly a string in his mind snapped.