The Fierce Battle with Ulquiorra (5)

Ichigo Kurosaki's attack is far from over!

Just as Ulquiorra retreated, Ichigo Kurosaki Zangetsu in his right hand once more!

His eyes shone with a brilliant golden light, and his right hand swung the long sword down from above at the retreating Ulquiorra, delivering another powerful slash!

"Getsuga Tenshō--!"

The second golden crescent slash was thicker and more ferocious than the first, the Roar as it charged towards Ulquiorra like a golden dragon!

Ulquiorra was still in the process of retreating and had no time to completely dodge this wide-ranging slash!

But he is, after all, the 4th Espada, and his strength is among the top in Hueco Mundo!

At the critical moment, he raised his left hand, extended his index finger, and at the tip of his finger, a deep, almost black, dark green Reiatsu was condensing and compressing at an astonishing speed!

"Cero." His voice was as calm as still water, as if he were simply stating a fact.

The next moment, a beam of dark green light, as thick as a finger but so condensed it seemed capable of piercing through everything, shot out from his fingertip! It was not an ordinary Cero, but a "Black Cero" that had been compressed to the extreme and whose power far exceeded that of a normal Cero!

The golden Getsuga Tenshō and the dark green Black Cero collided violently in mid-air!

Boom--!

A deafening explosion erupted in the air between the two! Golden and dark green light intertwined, entangled, and annihilated, forming a massive energy sphere before exploding with a deafening roar! The violent shockwave tore apart the surrounding air, sending sand dunes tens of meters high into the Desert below!

When the smoke clears and the light fades...

Ichigo Kurosaki remained standing in place, his twin swords gripped tightly, his Reiatsu surging like a turbulent sea, and his eyes flashing with golden light. His chest rose and fell slightly, but his gaze was fixed ahead like that of a hawk.

Ulquiorra, hovering dozens of meters in the air, gently flapped his magical wings, his pale face still expressionless.

But his hands were trembling slightly.

That's the hand that just made the Cero.

His gaze fell on his slightly trembling fingertips, then slowly rose and landed on Ichigo Kurosaki.

"I never imagined..." His voice remained flat, but the content of his words was enough to shock anyone who knew him, "You were actually able to shatter my Black Cero."

He paused, and something seemed to be slowly burning in his emerald green eyes—not anger, not killing intent, but something purer, belonging to a true strongman... the fighting spirit.

"You've definitely gotten a lot stronger, Ichigo Kurosaki."

For the first time, he called out his name in its entirety.

But then, his voice suddenly turned cold, and the already profound Reiatsu around him began to rise at an even more terrifying speed!

"But--"

He raised his hand, which had been trembling slightly but was now steady. He spread his fingers, as if sensing something, or perhaps releasing something.

"Do you think this is all the strength I have?"

The moment the words fell--

A Reiatsu ten or even a hundred times more terrifying than before erupted from his body like an ancient behemoth that had been dormant for ten thousand years finally awakening!

The Reiatsu was so strong, so concentrated, and so pure that it was no longer a simple "dark green," but rather almost pure... pitch black!

Under the impact of this Reiatsu, fine cracks began to appear on the surrounding pale stone pillars, the Desert below began to churn like boiling water, and even the full moon in the sky seemed to lose its luster in the face of this Reiatsu!

Ulquiorra's white robes instantly transformed into countless tiny Reishi particles under the impact of this Reiatsu, enveloping his entire body before bursting away with a bang!

When the light faded, what appeared before Ichigo Kurosaki was a completely different Ulquiorra!

His upper body was completely naked. On his pale skin, starting from the Hollow Hole in his chest, a jet-black line spread like a vein all the way to his waist. His lower body, from the waist down, had completely turned into pure black—not just a simple change in skin color, but as if his entire body had merged into darkness. His arms, starting from the elbows, had also turned the same jet-black, with sharp, demonic black claws extending from the fingertips.

Behind him, the enormous demonic wings still remained, but they were no longer the dark green of before; instead, they were a pure, seemingly all-consuming black. Dark red patterns flowed across the wing membranes, like blood vessels or some kind of ancient incantation.

The Reiatsu emanating from him was beyond simple description; it was an almost tangible sense of oppression, a terrifying pressure that could make any living being tremble from the depths of their soul. Just standing in front of him, Ichigo Kurosaki could feel his breathing become difficult, his heartbeat become heavy, and his muscles tremble slightly uncontrollably.

This is...

Segunda Etapa...

Ulquiorra Cifer —the eternally expressionless figure who holds the 4th seat of the Espada —finally revealed his true, most terrifying form.

His voice, emanating from those pale lips, remained flat and lacking inflection, yet at this moment it sounded like the voice of a demon god from the deepest abyss, "Of the Espada, only I can achieve the Segunda Etapa."

He paused, his eyes, now completely dark gold, silently watching Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Even Lord Aizen has never seen such a posture before."

The moment the words fell--

His figure disappeared.

It's not movement, not teleportation, but a true, complete disappearance from all perception!

Ichigo Kurosaki's pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints! His fighting instincts screamed a warning, but he didn't even have time to determine where the danger was coming from!

In that critical moment, he could only rely on that vague, almost intuitive sense of danger to suddenly duck, bend over, and roll forward!

Laugh--!

A jet-black claw grazed almost his scalp! Wherever the claw passed, the air was torn apart, emitting a shrill scream!

Ichigo Kurosaki rolled to his feet and suddenly turned around—

Ulquiorra was standing to one side of where he had just been, still in the gesture of reaching out.

He slowly retracted his jet-black claw, tilted his head, and his dark golden eyes quietly watched the disheveled Ichigo Kurosaki. The moonlight cast a long shadow behind him, making him look like a demon god emerging from the abyss of Hell.

His voice remained calm, yet carried an indescribable, condescending sense of oppression. "You actually managed to dodge my attack."

He paused, then slightly raised his jet-black claw, the nail gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the moonlight.

"However, only to this extent--"

His figure disappeared again.

"That won't do."

Ichigo Kurosaki didn't even have time to think; he could only rely on instinct once again, frantically sprinting, rolling, and jumping forward!

Behind him, streaks of pitch-black claws, like a leech, repeatedly tore apart the spot where he had just stood, leaving deep furrows in the Desert and lingering marks of tearing in the air!

Under the moonlight, two figures, one in black (Ichigo Kurosaki) and one even blacker (Ulquiorra), engaged in a life-or-death chase and battle that would be recorded in history on this vast Desert!

The crowd in the distance...

Orihime Inoue covered her mouth, tears silently streaming down her face. She watched the figure struggling on the brink of death, narrowly escaping fatal attacks time and again, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Mr. Liu Hao..." Her voice trembled so much she could barely form a sentence, "Ichigo... can he really win?"

Liu Hao stood quietly, arms crossed, his gaze as deep as the sea.

He did not answer.

He simply watched the figure running, tumbling, and struggling under the moonlight, and gazed at those amber eyes that never dimmed even in the face of dire straits.

Then, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

It was an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible curve.

But within that curve lies trust, expectation, and a certain certainty that only those who truly understand Ichigo Kurosaki can comprehend.

"Keep watching, Inoue- kun." His voice was calm as still water. "The real show is just beginning."

Ever since Ulquiorra displayed that devastating Segunda Etapa form, the battle has become one-sided.

Each flap of his enormous, ferocious black demonic wings was accompanied by a terrifying pressure capable of tearing space apart; the Moonlight Sword he wielded was no longer simply dark green, but mixed with deep black, and each swing carried an aura of annihilation.

Despite Ichigo Kurosaki's tenacious will and fighting instincts, the tide of battle had turned against him. He was like a small boat in a storm, swaying precariously under Ulquiorra's relentless onslaught, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.

Swords flashed and shadows danced, Reiatsu clashed and roared.

On Ichigo Kurosaki's body, the wounds were increasing at a visible rate. Each wound was not deep, but as they accumulated, they gradually slowed his movements and made his breathing increasingly heavy. Red Reishi blood seeped from the countless wounds on his body, soaking his tattered Shihakushō and leaving a series of shocking bloodstains on the sand.

However, in this seemingly hopeless situation, a subtle change is quietly taking place within Ichigo Kurosaki's body.

Ever since Ulquiorra's words, "Your mind is no longer focused," had awakened him, his heart gradually calmed down. He stopped thinking about Inoue's safety, Aizen's threat, and whether he could win—only one thought remained in his mind: fight, focus on the battle before him, focus on every breath, every swing of his sword, every dodge.

As this focus returned, the faint golden light deep within his left eye began to become clearer and more solid. It was no longer a fleeting stress response that only occurred when one was near death, but a stable and continuous presence.

At the same time, a faint, pure white halo, like moonlight, quietly appeared on the tip of the long sword Zangetsu, which he held in his right hand. The halo was so faint that it could not be detected unless one looked closely.

Ichigo Kurosaki himself didn't even notice this subtle change.

His entire focus was on dealing with Ulquiorra's relentless offensive.

Ulquiorra seemed to have sensed something as well. His emerald green eyes would occasionally sweep over the tip of Ichigo Kurosaki and over his left eye, which was gradually turning gold, during the intervals between his attacks. But even so, his offensive did not slow down at all; on the contrary, it became even more fierce.

He wanted to see just how much brilliance this human being could unleash in dire circumstances.

Pressure, constant pressure, pressure that feels like it's going to crush you.

Under this extreme pressure, Ichigo Kurosaki's Reiatsu began to rise quietly in a way that he himself could not perceive. It was not a deliberate outburst, nor a premeditated release, but rather like a dormant volcano, with magma slowly rising under the pressure of the earth's crust.

Finally, after a fierce confrontation--

Like two colliding meteors, the two intersected and separated under the moonlight, each landing on a massive stone pillar.

Ichigo Kurosaki knee, panting heavily, sweat mixed with blood dripping from his face. He lowered his head, his hands gripping his twin swords tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Ulquiorra stood quietly on another stone pillar, his magical wings fluttering gently behind him. His emerald green eyes, like an ancient, unchanging icy pool, coldly gazed at the humans below.

Just then--

Call--!

A sudden whirlwind of Reiatsu erupted from Ichigo Kurosaki's body without warning!

The whirlwind wasn't violent; rather, it enveloped him instantly in a strange, almost gentle way! The whirlwind was pure white, like the first snow, yet it faintly revealed golden specks of light, shimmering with a mysterious glow under the moonlight.

The whirlwind came suddenly and went quickly.

In an instant, the pure white Reiatsu vortex dissipated just as it had appeared.

But after they dispersed, Ichigo Kurosaki, standing in the same spot, was completely different.

He slowly stood up, his movements no different from before, but his entire demeanor had undergone a dramatic change.

His eyes, which were originally amber, had now turned completely into a brilliant golden yellow in the left eye, while the right eye remained amber, but had become deeper and sharper than before. In the left eye, the shape of the pupil also seemed to have undergone a subtle change, faintly showing a kind of inhuman, ethereal vertical pupil.

On the left side of his head, a curved, jet-black horn emitting a faint, eerie glow has now grown from his once smooth forehead! The base of the horn is hidden among his orange hair, and the tip is slightly upturned, like the mark of some ancient demon.

The long sword Zangetsu he held in his right hand—the one that had accompanied him through countless battles and always appeared as a deep, dark Zanpakuto —had now completely transformed into something else entirely.

Pure white.

Pure white, without any impurities, like pure white condensed from moonlight.

The blade retains its original broad shape, but its jet-black color has faded, replaced by a pure white that is warm and smooth like jade yet incomparably sharp.