[Las Noches]

 

Sitting on his throne, with Ulquiorra on his right and Barragan on his left, Aizen looked at the Espada. The elite team he had created here in Hueco Mundo. There was still much work to be done and he wasn’t satisfied with all of them, but this would do for now.

 

“So we are currently lacking three members.”

 

One of them noted idly, looking at the seats that should have been occupied by Nelliel, Nnoitra, and Grimmjow. 

 

“There is no need to wait for them. Since they engaged the enemy, I believe only Nelliel has a chance of escaping. As for the others…”

 

“Even Nnoitra?”

 

While Nnoitra wasn’t the strongest Espada, they were all in accord that he had without a doubt the strongest defense. But from what Aizen was saying, it seemed that even that wouldn’t be enough.

 

At this question, Aizen gave a humorless smile while looking in a certain direction with his remaining eye.

 

“When two beasts meet each other, the only outcome is the death of one of them.”

 

He chuckled a little then, “Prepare your Fracciones and all the Numeros. We are in a war.”

 

Outside of the top 10, all the Arrancars ranked from 11 and up were called Numeros and were ranked not by strength but simply by time of birth. In Aizen’s mind, outside of Wonderweiss Margela, the 77th ranked Arrancar that he had created especially to deal with Yamamoto and a few others of this type, all the other Numeros were nothing more than cannon fodder.

 

Outside of those cannon fodder, some of the Numeros were part of the personal group of the Espadas. Those were called Fracciones and while the members of such groups were still weaker than the Espada themselves, all of them were all more or less equal to vice-captain level Shinigami or a little below and in they attacked in groups, could even put a Captain level in danger, thereby making them more useful than the rabble. 

 

He doubted that Gojo came with the Soul Society so his ally should be the previous experiments that managed to flee with Kisuke and Yoruichi's help.

 

‘This will be interesting to observe. A group of Shinigami turned hollows against a group of Hollows turned Shinigami.’

 

—----

Back in the outskirt of Hueco Mundo, both Grimmjow and Nnoitra were facing Zaraki. The tension between the three was steadily rising and they knew that the fight would happen at any moment.

 

For Zaraki though, this moment was the paroxysm of happiness. He wanted to fight powerful warriors and right here, right now were two great targets.

 

How long had it been since he could truly move his sword with the intent to kill at all cost? 

 

The first one to break the silence was none other than Nnoitra as he asked with a haughty expression. He hated how his body had trembled, even if slightly, because of Zaraki. In fact, he was utterly livid and the only way to wipe away this stain was to wipe out that shinigami.

 

“What is your name, Shinigami?”

 

“Zaraki Kenpachi.”

 

“Then, remember this name for I will personally erase you. I am the Espada #4 Nnoitra Gilga!”

 

Nnoitra began to laugh maniacally as he blasted his Reiatsu at full power, causing even Grimmjow that stood not far away to grunt slightly.

 

Taking his Scythe-like weapon with two inverted crescent moons as blades, Nnoitra used Sonido, the equivalent of the Shinigami’s shunpo, and reached Zaraki in but a blink of the eyes.

 

“Fall.”

 

Bringing his weapon down with all his might, he could already imagine Zaraki being crushed or split in two by his power. At least, this was what he thought,

 

“Hum…”

 

Groaning a little, Zaraki blocked the attack with some apparent difficulty, causing Nnoitra’s grin to stretch like there was no tomorrow.

 

What followed was a series of blows and the sound of steel as their weapons clashed again and again against each other.

 

The strength of the two fighters were clear to see for Grimmjow who stood away, but even then, there was a feeling of incongruity. Something that he couldn’t quite place in his mind. But then, when he finally looked down at their feet, he realized where that problem came from, 

 

“Nnoitra….”

 

After taking a few steps back from his relentless onslaught, Nnoitra threw an irritated glance at Grimjoww. 

 

“What!? You better not fucking ask to help me, or I will slaughter you!”

 

If it was in a normal situation, Grimmjow would have taken offense at those words but now he was too shocked to do so.

 

“Look…Look at his feet.”

 

Nnoitra was speechless at first and was about to throw a barrage of insults before he looked down by instinct more than anything else.

 

“You fuckin…”

 

He swore while growling out like a wounded beast and for that he was. Even all his defeats combined against Neliel had never angered him so much.

 

After all…From start to finish, despite his onslaught and all the power he used…Zaraki never took one step.

 

“Well, it seems like you caught me. Though it’s a little disappointing, I wondered just how long it would take you to realize.”

 

“Are you bored, Ken-chan?”

 

Zaraki ignored the murderous glare of Nnoitra and cleaned his ear with his little finger.

 

“Yeah, that I am.” I gave him so many advantages but even then he is lacking.

 

The current Eyepatch of Zaraki was one specially created by Kisuke. He had become so much stronger compared to his past self in Soul Society that only Gojo and Unohana, as well as Kisuke when he actually accepted to fight him, could give him a feeling he was truly fighting. 

 

This was why Zaraki asked Kisuke to create an eyepatch even more effective than his previous one in suppressing his power. Even then, his opponent had proven to be sorely lacking.

 

“Goodbye.”

 

Lifting his sword up, Zaraki swiftly brought it down, almost nonchalantly. This attack of his caused Nnoitra to laugh gleefully/ So much in fact that he did not even bother escaping from the attack.. He might not have the strongest attack but he undoubtedly had the strongest defense. 

 

“Do not bother! My Hierro is the strongest in the history of all Espada. There’s no way the swords of you Shinigami could ever fucking cut—me? Huh?”

 

This was as far as Nnoitra got before he feel the painful sensation of his body being nearly cut in twwo

 

*Splash!* 

 

“Huh? M-my Hierro?”

 

Reiatsu could be used as a sort of armor so that people with weaker Reiatsu couldn’t hurt the ones with higher. The Hierro was a technique that pushed this reality by having it done consciously, thereby increasing massively the defense for the same amount of Reiatsu.

 

But….Nnoitra could only watch in disbilief as the body he was so proud of was nearly reduced to nothing in one strike.

 

“Damn, you were saying? Something about me not being able to cut you? Heh. I guess your Hierro or whatever ain’t so tough after all.”

 

Zaraki grinned before turning around. Now that Nnoitra was down, he held no interest in Grimmjow since the man was obviously weaker. At least, the current fight had been a good way to warm up a little.

 

“Wait for a little you dipshit!”

 

Zaraki stopped when he heard the unexpected voice, 

 

“Oh? Still alive? You are stronger than I thought.”

 

Currently, Nnoitra's right part of his body was nearly completely destroyed, blood poured like there was no tomorrow but Zaraki could see that his opponent's wounds were already slowly closing. Causing him to click his tongue in wonder.

 

“Do not fuck with me, fuck head! I am Nnoitra! and I will not let a bastard like you mock me any longer.”

 

His eyes blazed with fury as he uttered those words with all his hate and thus, he finally used,

 

“Let me show you the strongest technique of us Espada.”

 

His power bellowed even as he focused on going all out. 

 

[Resurrecion [1]]

 

“Pray! Santa Teresa! [2]”

 

He would kill that bastard. No matter what. Even if it was the last thing he would do on this earth. Thus swore Nnoitra as he used his final form.

 

[1]: Returning Blade.

 

[2]: Praying Mantis

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