//------------------------------//
// Hueco Mundo: Resurreccion 
// Story: Bleach: Heart of a Hero 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Sombra stared at the area that was in front of him, taking in what was currently happening at the moment and thinking about what must have transpired before his arrival in the large chamber, while at the same time taking in the wounds that Renji had suffered during the battle and the fact that Uryu was in better shape than Renji. From what he could tell, from just a glance, some of Renji's wounds were self inflicted, no doubt in an effort to hurt the Espada that was near them, and Uryu didn't seem all that hurt from the battle, meaning that he must have been lucky to avoid being hurt in some manner, before he moved onto the next two individuals that he wanted to think about. Pesche and Dondochakka seemed to be confused by his sudden arrival, even though he could tell that they were remembering what he had told his friends earlier, and they weren't hurt at all, meaning that they must have avoided the fight that his friends had been in, meaning that they were either cowards or didn't like to fight period, but at the very least Nel would be happy that they were alright. After that he noticed another Arrancar standing nearby, a female one that had been staring at Uryu with a look of anger in her eyes, but the look in her eyes was replaced by one of confusion and fear, meaning that she was surprised by his sudden arrival and how much power he had, even if he wasn't showing his entire hand to everyone.

Once he took stock of what was going on, and knew that his friends were safe for the moment, he turned his head and glared at the Espada that was standing near his current position, where he noticed that the jacket part of his attire had been blown to pieces, save for a part near his right hand, and one of his shoes was missing... and then he glanced behind the Espada and noticed the number of strangely shaped Arrancar standing behind him, meaning that they were his Fraccion and followed his every command.

"So, you're the foe that Renji and Uryu have been fighting," Sombra spoke up, as he had noticed that the room had become quiet, no doubt because of his arrival and the fact that he forbid the Espada from going and changing his clothing to something that wasn't rags, to use the Arrancar's words, "Judging by the reiatsu that you possess, and my own knowledge from the others that I have seen, I believe that it is safe to say that you're one of the nine remaining Espada, a rank or two lower than Grimmjow if my estimates are correct."

"You are correct." Szayelaporro said, to which he clapped for a moment, as it was unusual for two enemies to figure out that he was an Espada without him saying anything to them, even though he had to tell Renji who he was and what his rank was before the battle started, before his hands returned to his side, "I am Szayelaporro Granz, the Octava Espada."

"The Eighth Espada, meaning you're two ranks below Grimmjow." Sombra stated, though he was still not seeing the reason behind why his friends were having so much trouble, other than the fact that it appeared that the Espada had a healing techniques that had caught both Uryu and Renji off guard.

"Indeed I am. So please, be at ease," Szayelaporro replied, though he wasn't too surprised that Sombra had been able to figure out where he rested on the scale of power, mostly because he already knew that the Arrancar had the potential to beat Grimmjow in a fight, but there was one thing that he knew that no one else knew and that would prove to be his trump card in this battle, "If you would give me a few minutes to change clothes, into something that's not a pile of rags at this point, then I'll gladly fight you and your friends until you're all dead."

"You talk big for someone whose weaker than Grimmjow," Sombra said, as it almost sounded like the Octava Espada felt that he had the upper hand with all the members of his Fraccion standing behind him, like he felt that they would be able to overcome him if the battle were to start, before he sighed for a few seconds and focused his attention on the foe he had come to defeat, "I was able to beat Grimmjow with only my Arrancar Zanpakuto and the power that came from it, so what makes you think that you can beat me?"

"This room is designed to seal away the powers of those that I fight, provided that I have a chance to study their reiatsu and spirit patterns." Szayelaporro stated, reminding most of the enemies he had been fighting of the fact that he had taken their powers away from them and left them with next to nothing, though where he expected to see fear on their faces he saw only interest, as if they were curious if he could do anything like that to Sombra, "Take the Shinigami, for example; he fought my older brother, Yylfordt Granz, when Grimmjow and his Fraccion attacked the World of the Living, and, by using some special bugs that I tagged him with, I was able to gain all the information I needed to seal his Bankai away. The Quincy, on the other hand, he had the honor of fighting that whore over there and the Exequias brought her to me once their battle was over, giving me a chance to study a good portion of his abilities and understand his reiatsu, so much so that I was able to reduce the damage of his last attack and keep it contained. The only recordings I have, in regards to your powers, are what Grimmjow told us after you bested him and what I was able to gain from the body of Dordoni, who you fought and severely wounded in your encounter, and it was all thanks to the Esequias that I have the information that I need to seal your powers as well!"

Sombra raised an eyebrow for a moment, as it sounded like hard work to study the individual reiatsu and spirit patterns that everyone possessed, as in him and his friends, and modify this palace to seal the powers of whoever his foes were, provided that Szayelaporro had the information he needed on whoever entered his domain. At the same time, however, he found that his Arrancar Zanpakuto was still glowing and he didn't feel any different, not that it would be easy for the Espada to seal his powers when he hadn't even demonstrated a fourth of the over all the battles he had been through in the last few months. As he considered all of that he was a little sad to hear that Dordoni had perished, meaning that the enemies he had stalled were some sort of execution squad, and he thought about who Uryu had fought, as in the Arrancar that was glaring at him, and knew that she had to dislike Szayelaporro for what he called her, as he knew that it wasn't nice to call a woman, even if she was an Arrancar, such a name.

"Hey Uryu, whose you're friend?" Sombra asked, as he figured that if he ignored the Octava Espada for a minute or two, and got the name of the Arrancar that had survived her fight with Uryu, he might piss off his soon to be foe and create an opening, but even if that didn't happen he was going to smile when he revealed his hand, and he even turned his head away from Szayelaporro to look back at Uryu and the Arrancar.

"First off, she's not my friend." Uryu replied, though he had a hard time trying to figure out if Sombra was messing with him or if he was just asking to get a response out of him, before he glanced over to the Arrancar as well, "Secondly, this is Cirucci Sanderwicci, who introduced herself as Arrancar Number Ciento Cinco. Cirucci Sanderwicci, this is Sombra, the Dios Hueco that I told you about earlier."

"It... It's an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Sombra." Cirucci said, because now that she had felt the power that had been coming from the other Arrancar she could easily confirm what had happened to Dordoni, as she would have been a fool to not side with the Dios Hueco, "Is... is it true that you're taking Hueco Mundo and Las Noches back, as well as severing our ties to Aizen?"

"Yes. As the Dios Hueco I am taking back Hueco Mundo, including Las Noches, and I am accepting any Hollow or Arrancar that wishes to join me, just like Dordoni and Gantenbainne did," Sombra answered, as he figured that telling the truth was best at this point, because while his original plan had been to destroy the Espada and Aizen's plans, and his original plan didn't include seizing control of this entire world, he was growing used to being asked this question, and he now had the makings of a small but powerful army, "If you would like to join us, then you are more than welcome to. I do, however, have a question; do you like it when Szayelaporro calls you by that word?"

"What, you mean 'whore'?" Cirucci replied, to which she noticed Sombra nod his head, even though Szayelaporro let out a sigh at all the time they were wasting, before she shrugged in return, "Honestly, I've hated that word since the first days he called me it, but he's one of the Espada and I'm just one of the Privaron Espada... what could I do but simply stand there and let my 'superior' call me whatever he wanted?"

"Well then, that gives me something else to think about once this battle is over." Sombra said, because he didn't approve of Szayelaporro calling Cirucci a whore, as it almost sounded like he was using his position as an Espada to get away with badmouthing those that were his allies, before deciding that it was time to get back to the reason that he had come over here in the first place.

"Like I said, your powers have been sealed by my palace." Szayelaporro stated, though he was surprised that Sombra felt that he could win a battle with nothing more than his pair of Zanpakuto, because based on what he had heard he needed both the Arrancar Zanpakuto and the powers it granted him to defeat Grimmjow and that he needed the Shinigami Zanpakuto and it's powers to defeat one of the strongest Captains Soul Society had, so if he sealed both of those powers his foe had to be helpless, "There is nothing you can do to beat me."

"That, Szayelaporro, is where you are wrong." Sombra replied, to which he held his right arm out and pointed the tip of his Arrancar Zanpakuto at the Espada, who raised an eyebrow for a moment, before he turned his head back towards his friends and allies, "Guys, you might want to take cover... things are going to get interesting and I don't want any of you caught in the crossfire."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Renji said, to which he hightailed it and hid behind one of the large sections of the floor that had been ripped up when the giant Arrancar had pulled itself from the floor, though once he was there the others joined him, but only Pesche and Dondochakka were truly terrified of what was going to happen next, and that was because they seemed to be cowards.

"Please, do you really think you can beat me with just your swords?" Szayelaporro asked, because without any of the special powers that the two blades offered Sombra, and he had some information on what both of them did, he knew that this fight was as good as his, and then the legend of the Dios Hueco would die down for another thousand years.

"When did I ever say that I was planning on using Shokyo doing this fight? I'm only going to use Rey and the power that sleeps inside myself," Sombra stated, though at the same time he turned his hand and made sure that the tip of his Arrancar Zanpakuto was pointed back towards his hidden Hollow hole, "Make them tremble, Rey de la Oscuridad."

Szayelaporro watched in disbelief as Sombra's Arrancar Zanpakuto brightly glowed for a moment, more so than what it had been doing the entire time he had been in the chamber they were in, before a pillar of black energy erupted from the ground that was around Sombra's hooves, which went right up to the ceiling and stopped there as the chamber shook under the power that was being released. He immediately considered this to be an impossible act, as he had set the entire palace up to seal the powers of those that he had data on and while he didn't have all the data on Sombra's abilities, like he did for Renji and Uryu now, the room should have stopped his Resurreccion from happening, and yet the palace was failing him. A few seconds later the pillar seemed to turn into a solid mass that started to pull itself apart, the shadowy fragments disappearing into the various shadows that lingered all over the chamber that they were in, and his eyes widened as he gazed upon his foe, while at the same time Renji and the others peeked out from their hiding spot to see what was going on for themselves.

In front of Szayelaporro rested a mass of shadows that seemed to dance in the nonexistent wind, but after a moment those shadows started to pull back as well, revealing the form of Sombra standing there, though as more of the shadows pulled back everyone noticed that he was no longer wearing his Shinigami attire. This time around Sombra was wearing the iron armor that his pony self had been wearing, back when he and his past self had battled for control over his body and his power, and found that he looked like an ancient king that had taken to the battlefield, as opposed to the knight that he appeared to be when he used his Bankai. A few seconds later more of the shadows retreated from his body and an iron crown appeared on his head, identical to the one that he possessed a few minutes ago, though that was followed by the shadows restoring to him his lush red cape, making him look like the form that Rey took on when they battled each other, and when his eyes opened the strands of purple energy returned in full force, along with his crimson eyes being surrounded by the grayish sap green colored sclera, completing the dark look he had possessed a lifetime ago. The only difference between his Bankai and his Resurreccion, to Renji and Uryu anyway since they had seen the Bankai in action, was that Sombra had no weapon... but, when they considered what he was able to do in the past, they knew that such a thing wouldn't slow him down at all.

"Im... Impossible. You shouldn't have been able to release your Resurreccion!" Szayelaporro commented, as the chamber had been designed to prevent this sort of thing from happening, because he had studied all the times that they had records of Sombra's powers and knew that he had cracked the code like he had for the other two, but this just made him wonder if the power of the Dios Hueco couldn't be sealed by what he had created.

"I guess that means your palace isn't as perfect as you believed it to be." Sombra stated, though at the same time he stared at the enemies that were currently in front of him, as he knew that it was time for them to get started fighting and he was curious as to how many of them would chose to go against him, "Now then, shall we get the show on the road?"

"Fraccion! Destroy him!" Szayelaporro commanded, as with all the various strengths and abilities that he had grafted into the Hollows that became his Fraccion, along with the addition of the healing aid ability, he knew his followers would be able to put a dent in the foe that stood in front of them.

Sombra held his right hand off to the side for a moment as the shadows vibrated, something that the now advancing members of the Fraccion ignored, though he pulled out a weapon that resembled a scythe from the shadows, the only differences between his and an ordinary scythe was that the handle of his was straight from the head piece downward, where halfway down a black crystal was attached to the joint as the lower half of the handle diagonally faced the ground near his hooves. The head of the weapon seemed to be made out of a single black crystal, one that had been separated into two different sized pieces with the smaller fragment facing Sombra's direction, while the cutting part had the majority of the crystal, and it seemed very sharp as the group stared at him. Before Szayelaporro could say anything, and even call out a command for his Fraccion to pull back, Sombra flashed through the air and time seemed to slow down, only for each member of his Fraccion to have deep gashes cut into their bodies as they were tossed around like they were rag dolls, all of which indicated that Sombra was moving faster than he expected and that the chamber wasn't doing anything to restrict his powers in the slightest.

When Sombra touched the floor again he was facing the piece of the floor that Renji, Uryu, and the others were hiding behind, where he stood straight and swung his scythe like he was getting the blood off of it, before snapping his fingers and caused the Fraccion to drop to the ground, all of them killed in a matter of seconds, though he followed that up by turning back towards Szayelaporro.

"Such a waste. Your Fraccion was made up of Gillians, all too weak to do much without surprising their enemies or using your chamber to their advantage." Sombra commented, though at same time he let go of the scythe and it simply floated in the air near him, where he occasionally twirled his right hand or fingers and the weapon danced to the tune that he seemed to be playing, before his eyes darted back towards the Espada, "Szayelaporro, I'll tell you what I told Grimmjow when we dueled in the World of the Living; release your Resurreccion. It's your only chance of surviving this battle... even if the chances of you surviving are incredibly low already."

"Wh... What did you do to my Fraccion?" Szayelaporro asked, because now, thanks to the wounds that they had sustained, his only source of healing aids had been decimated, meaning that if he were to battle Sombra and survive he wouldn't be able to heal at all.

"Isn't it obvious? I killed them." Sombra replied, though now he was wondering if his enemy was starting to lose his mind, even though it honestly didn't matter to him at this point, because if Szayelaporro went too much longer without revealing his true power he was just going to strike him down and be on their way, "I call this weapon Guadana de la Desesperacion, or Scythe of Despair, and it is one of the dark weapons that I used during my time as the king of the Crystal Empire, as the mere sight of it caused many to lose hope and succumb to the shadows. It also served as one of the main weapons I used in my battles against those that tried to topple me, though now it serves as a weapon to use against my foes, and I could channel the shadows along it's edge to create empowered attacks, like an energy wave. Szayelaporro, make your move and decide your fate... I grow tired of you doing nothing."

Szayelaporro stared at Sombra for a few moments, trying to determine what was the best course of action at the moment, fighting the powerful Arrancar and his unknown abilities or falling back and trying to figure out those abilities for a future battle. As he did all that he remembered Grimmjow's warnings, that Sombra was strong and that he believed that the activation of the Arrancar's Resurreccion would only increase his power more than it already was, and while he could confirm that he still didn't feel the desire to serve the Dios Hueco, meaning he still wasn't at that level yet. He still wanted to change his attire, but seeing how his opponent wasn't giving him the opportunity he guessed that he could move on with the battle anyway, and most of the Resurreccions that he had seen in the past generally gave their user some form of attire to replace what they had been wearing earlier, and he was no exception to that observation. In the end he came to the only conclusion that made sense to him, to which he sighed and gripped the handle of his Zanpakuto once more, but while he drew it he planned on making sure that Sombra suffered for what he had done before the battle was over.

"Very well then, I shall show you my power." Szayelaporro replied, as he realized that the same thing had happened to Grimmjow, he had been pushed into a corner and had chosen to show his enemy what he was really capable of, though he disliked associating himself with the Sexta Espada, "Sip, Fornicaras."

Sombra watched as Szayelaporro raised his Zanpakuto until it was high in the air, where it remained for a moment, before he started to swallow the blade as it released a purple glow from his mouth, indicating that he was finally releasing his Resurreccion and using his full power. Szayelaporro's body then swelled to a much larger mass, much less than what he had seen when Aaroniero transformed, before releasing spiritual energy into the air, which covered the Espada's immediate vicinity in a fine mist that for a few moments, no doubt to hide his transformation. When he could see his foe again Sombra noted that the lower half of the Espada's body had become a multitude of purple tentacles reminiscent of a sea anemone, though that was soon followed by his feet extending from under the tentacles, which were replaced by a  layered dress-like garment moments later. Szayelaporro's upper torso, on the other hand, became a segmented and form-fitting gray garment, with white sleeves extending from the elbow and down to a wide opening at the wrist that reveal a purple interior, where three small dark purple extensions span upward from the elbow, while four long dark purple strands, that looked like falling drops, hung from the underside of the sleeve itself. Szayelaporro's hands turned white as his fingertips become slightly elongated and purple, while his hair gained various purple drop-like strands as well, and his mask seemed to take on the shape of a headdress with fan-like coverings on both sides of his head.

The most interesting thing to Sombra, about the entire transformation, were the four long gray branch like structures that could be called wings, despite the fact that he clearly couldn't fly with them, and each of them had twelve evenly spaced red strands that resembled falling drops... and, with just a short glance at them, Sombra knew that the wings were dangerous, meaning that he'd have to remove them at some point during their battle.

"The wait is over." Szayelaporro declared, because despite the fact that Grimmjow would flee at the sight of Sombra's Resurreccion, and he was fairly sure of that statement, he still felt that he could win the battle and deliver their enemy's head to Lord Aizen, regardless of whatever powers he still commanded, "How it is time for your demise!"

Sombra watched as a dark colored liquid burst out from Szayelaporro's back and flew into the air for a few moments, where the droplets started to fall on the entire area around the Espada, but since he knew that there had to be a specific purpose behind this technique he extended the shadows and formed a barrier around his friends so they wouldn't be bothered by the attack and he used his speed to avoid the droplets before they could touch him. At the same time he noticed that the droplets that had hit the floor seemed to do nothing, which didn't sit well with him as his horn glowed a little more, where he magically gathered all the droplets that had struck the floor and pulled them into a single sphere as he flashed around the chamber. Szayelaporro seemed to be following him, intending to strike him with the droplets for some reason, and Sombra ensured that all of the droplets in the air never reached the floor by pulling them into the sphere as well, effectively making the attack entirely useless in the grand scheme of things. It took Szayelaporro a few moments to realize that nothing was going to happen if he continued to launch more of the droplets out of him, so he decided to cancel the attack and the last of the droplets fell towards the floor, where Sombra drew them into the sphere he had been building... and then, just to be sure that it was nowhere near him, his friends, and his new allies, Sombra hurled it through the air and watched as it struck the Espada in the chest, who merely glared at him in return.

"I don't know what those droplets were supposed to do, but I know it was in my best interest to avoid them." Sombra stated, though at the same time he shifted his fingers and his scythe came near him again, because if this was all his opponent's Resurreccion could do he was just going to end the battle now and move onto the next enemy.

"They're supposed to land on my opponent, or opponents, and create a copy of them that has the same abilities and form that they do," Szayelaporro replied, because at this point he know knew that it would be hard for him to reach his foe with the liquid that he had expelled from the back of his body, but at the same time he had a few other abilities that he could use to regain his hold on this situation, "It's called Carbon-Copy, though this is the first time that I've actually had someone avoid all of the droplets by simply dodging them and using the speed they possess... I guess Grimmjow was right when he told us about your speed, though I never thought I'd be saying something like that."

"That's an interesting ability you have. I'm glad that I stopped the droplets from touching me." Sombra said, as he could already imagine the sort of damage that the palace they were in would take if there were multiples versions of himself attacking him, because he was sure that the entire place would come crashing down on top of them, but that one thought told him how he was going to restore Uryu and Renji's powers, "Now then, I believe it's time that we kicked things up a notch and got serious... or as serious as I can get with an opponent such as yourself."

Szayelaporro started to open his mouth, so he could inquire as to what Sombra was talking about, though that was before he noticed the shadows in the room moving like they had a mind of their own, no doubt because Sombra was controlling them, and he watched them as they sunk into the corners of the chamber, only for cracks to start appearing on all of the walls that were in the chamber. His eyes widened as he understood what Sombra was doing, he was going to destroy the palace that they were standing in and restore the powers he had taken from his companions, but even as he though about that, and started to wonder how he could counter it, Sombra smiled as the cracks started to glow with a sinister dark color. In that moment Szayelaporro figured something out, his opponent was using a combination of his own control over the shadows and his reiatsu to do what he was seeing, like setting a trap and then springing it whenever he desired, but at the same time he knew that his palace was not built to withstand the pressure of losing all of it's walls and the ceiling. A few moments later the walls and ceiling exploded as they were ripped apart, scattering dust and debris everywhere around them, and at the same time Szayelaporro had to use another one of his own techniques to protect himself from the falling rubble... but when he emerged he intended to make Sombra pay for making a fool out of him, first by removing his companions and then destroying his true foe with the rest of his power.





Grimmjow had been as careful as he could be in making sure that both Orihime and Sora followed after him, even though Sora was the one carrying his sister, because they needed Grimmjow to keep his eyes and ears, as well as his senses, open while they were traveling through Las Noches. Sure, he had wasted a few precious minutes in dealing with both Loly and Menoly, outright killing one of them in the process while scaring the other one, and had wasted another few minutes on letting Orihime heal the two that had tormented her and her brother, even if it meant bringing Menoly back to life in the process. Grimmjow had no idea why she was like that, how she could be so kind and compassionate to those that had been so horrible to her, and yet he was amazed by what she was able to do, which was great considering that they were going to need that power to undo the damage that Ulquiorra had done to Ichigo. Honestly, he wasn't too surprised to find that the Cuatro Espada had gone after Ichigo, not after he caught the emotionless Arrancar studying something about the Substitute Shinigami, a point that Orihime made sure he remembered, which happened after his failed assault on the World of the Living... as best he could figure out there was something special about Ichigo that made certain enemies follow his movements and Ulquiorra was doing just that, and that was why he had gone out of his way to take Ichigo down before he reached his destination.

His attention shifted for a moment as he felt the decreased pressure of Ichigo's reiatsu, as they were now running through the sands outside the building since it was a quicker mode of transportation instead of running down the halls where Ulquiorra might find them, and smiled as he beckoned with his head and flashed up to the pillar in question... and as he came to a stop he found Ichigo laying on the floor in front of him, to which he gently shifted his body so he could see his chest, finding a hole punched into his sternum.

"Itsygo..." a voice said, to which Grimmjow turned to the left for a moment and spotted a child-like Arrancar, a little girl from the sound of her voice, hitting the ground before she looked up, where she had some tears in her eyes as she stared at Ichigo's fallen form, meaning that she must have been traveling with him and Sombra until the more powerful Arrancar had deviated from the pack, before she noticed that he was even there, "G... Grimmjow... the S... Sexta Espada!"

"Hey, don't worry about Ichigo kid." Grimmjow replied, to which he walked over to her and smiled, as this had been part of the reason that he had rescued Orihime and Sora in the first place, before he rubbed her damaged mask and caused the tears to stop, "He's not dead yet, not by a long shot... and I brought someone that can help him. You can heal him, right Orihime?"

Orihime and Sora appeared in the entrance of the area that Ichigo had been knocked into moments after Grimmjow did, not in time to see him move Ichigo a little, but that didn't stop them from seeing the hole in his chest that had been punched into his body by one of the other Espada. Orihime wasn't surprised to hear that Grimmjow was asking her if she could do something, as she was still trying to determine the limitations of her own powers, but after seeing the state that Ichigo was in she nodded her head and spoke the words, allowing two of her Flowers to move into formation and form a barrier around Ichigo as she focused on what she needed to do.

"What happened to him?" Sora asked, because this was the first time that he had actually seen Ichigo in such a state, as Yoruichi had carted Ichigo off to someplace where he could rest while they were in Soul Society and most of his wounds had been healed by then, even if Orihime had to use her power after Aizen fled to make sure he didn't bleed out, but this was the first time he found Ichigo in possession of such lifeless eyes.

"Itsygo was tryin' ta protect me and he got hitted by a Cero." the little Arrancar, who called herself Nel, explained, but she was much calmer than she had been moments ago, because the sudden arrival of Grimmjow, who had promised that Ichigo would be okay, stopped her from crying her eyes out again, "He also got kicked really hard. Itsygo only got hurt cause I was here..."

"Hey, it's not your fault he got hurt. It's because his opponent was Ulquiorra." Grimmjow replied, speaking to both Sora and Nel at the same time, while also letting Orihime understand that the Espada he was talking about had no mercy for those that were his targets, "Ulquiorra has this odd quirk of his, one that I'm not sure he even notices that he has himself, but he has a habit of stabbing opponents that catch his eye in the same area that his Hollow hole is located in, just like I have a habit of stabbing weaklings in the same area that my own Hollow hole is in. I don't know how much damage Ichigo was able to inflict on Ulquiorra during their battle, before it came to this, but we have some time before he replaces his damaged clothing and discovers Loly and Menoly in your room... and they're bound to tell him the truth, that I took the two of you against Aizen's orders to keep you in that room."

"O... Orihime?" a voice asked, to which all of them turned towards the healing barrier for a moment as life returned to Ichigo's eyes, causing tears of happiness to form in both Orihime and Nel's eyes as Sora stood beside his sister, leaving Grimmjow to keep an eye out for any enemies, "Nel and... Sora? Grimmjow?! What are you..."

"I'm not here to fight or kill you, if that's what you're thinking." Grimmjow replied, as he meant what he said earlier, when he told both Orihime and Sora why he was busting them out of the room they had been confined to, and that didn't stop him from flashing his signature grin, "I'll tell you what's going on later, after..."

"After what, exactly?" another voice asked, to which Grimmjow froze, as he could have sworn that they had more time than what they had been given, before he turned around and found Ulquiorra standing in the opening of the area that he had knocked Ichigo into, "What are you doing, Grimmjow? Why are you intentionally healing an enemy that I defeated? Why did you remove the woman and her brother from the room I put them in, when Lord Aizen entrusted the two of them to my care?"

"Let me make one thing clear; I'm done taking orders from someone that's going to get us all killed." Grimmjow replied, though he knew that if Ulquiorra had any expressions he would have shown some level of shock at his statement, but at the same time he focused on the glare that the Cuatro Espada was giving him, "I know you, of all the Espada, have felt the air of Hueco Mundo shuddering every now and then with the frequency increasing over time... Sombra's coming into his power as the Dios Hueco, our world is telling us that it is happening, and you go out of your way to fatally wound one of the people that he calls his friends. I barely did anything to him and he not only beat me into the ground, but he also removed my arm and reduced it to ash, so I can't imagine what sort of pain he'll put you through when he finds out what you did to Ichigo. You should reconsider your options, Ulquiorra, and join us... I'm sure Lord Sombra would love to have someone of your power join forces with him."

"I see... so it's treason." Ulquiorra said, though as his body shifted, the telltale sign that he might be getting ready for an attack, Grimmjow sprung into action and charged towards the Espada that was going to try and stop them, where he swung his right hand and let his target block the attack as their reiatsu bashed heads for a moment.

Grimmjow, having expected that to happen, smiled as his reiatsu gathered in front of the palm of his right hand for a few seconds before he released a Cero that knocked Ulquiorra backwards, or made him jump backwards since it was hard to tell what the Cuatro Espada was doing. In the following seconds Ulquiorra flashed through the air and appeared above his head, which was a tactic that he sometimes used in battle, and Grimmjow noticed that he was pulling his reiatsu together to form a Cero in front of his right pointer finger, which was aimed directly at him. Fortunately Grimmjow had been expecting this to happen and raised his right hand into the air, allowing the Cero to touch the palm of his hand as Ulquiorra's eyes widened for a moment, which was when he used a little bit of his reiatsu to form a Cero that caused both of theirs to detonate, blowing away the ceiling of the room they were in and the upper part of the pillar, but it was for a good cause. Ulquiorra went flying back through the smoke, with his eyes trying to find his target, and that gave Grimmjow just enough time to dig something out from his pocket as he flashed into the air behind his opponent, where he reached out of the dust that was around him and grabbed onto Ulquiorra's jacket... and, as Ulquiorra turned to look at him, he barely noticed Grimmjow moving the edge of his jacket a little to reveal his Hollow hole, where Grimmjow slipped a tiny black cube into the center of his Hollow hole.

That was followed by a number of wide white and dark purple lines appearing in the air around Ulquiorra for a moment, wrapping around him not a few moments later as they formed a cube around Grimmjow's target, before the cube disappeared and Ulquiorra, who had been inside it, disappeared with it.

"What... did you do?" Orihime asked, though at the same time the protective shield she had summoned to protect herself, Sora, and Nel disappeared as the three Flowers associated with it returned to her hairpins, as she was curious as to what had just happened to Ulquiorra.

"Aizen gave each Espada a Caja Negacion, a Negation Box, to punish our subordinates." Grimmjow replied, though at the same time he lowered himself down onto the area in front of the group and looked down at his right arm, as it was burned from the two Ceros colliding with each other, "It's a powerful tool that can permanently seal weaker Hollows in an alternate dimension, but they're not meant to be used against the other Espada... so Ulquiorra, with his reiatsu, should be able to break out of the alternate dimension in two, possible three, hours, giving us enough time to enact my plan."

"Your plan?" Ichigo asked, as he had been quiet since Ulquiorra revealed himself, because he wasn't ready to fight someone like him again, and based on what he had seen in the World of the Living he had the feeling that Grimmjow was here for him.

"We're going to heal you back to what you were at before you fought Ulquiorra," Grimmjow said, though even as he said that Orihime surprised him once more, as she extended the healing barrier so that he was included in the healing, and he knew that because the burns on his hand were disappearing, "actually, we'll heal the both of us back to one hundred percent. Once we're both ready, and both Orihime and Sora are ready to go, the five of us will head out to where the rest of your friends are and make sure that they're okay, healing them as necessary, before meeting back up with Sombra and whoever he's managed to recruit. After that... well, it's up to the true Lord of Hueco Mundo to tell you..."

Grimmjow paused when he felt the awakening of a sinister power coming from where Szayelaporro's palace was located, indicating that Sombra must have been annoyed with something and was showing off his Resurreccion, and at the same time he felt bad for the Espada that had caused Sombra to do what he was doing, as that meant that Szayelaporro was either going to die or be tormented until he saw the light that he had seen earlier. Not even a few minutes later he felt the air shudder as he heard an explosion, where he guessed that Sombra had to have destroyed the building that he was currently fighting in, meaning that the group could afford to take their time while Orihime healed them, because he didn't want to interrupt Sombra when he was in the middle of a fight, not after what happened the last time he fought the powerful Arrancar and lost his arm. He could tell that the others were surprised by what they were feeling, and that he wasn't too shocked by the reiatsu, but for the most part they knew to keep their mouths shut as they waited for him to tell them they were moving out... even if he was planning on spending the next few minutes feeling the battle that was unfolding in Szayelaporro's ruined palace so he could determine just how strong Sombra was when he used the power that had been his before he became an Arrancar.





Renji and the others that were inside the dark dome watched as the dust and rubble finally came to a stop, the shadows somehow protecting them from any sort of damage, once more surprising them by the type of power that Sombra had access to, before finding that the palace was destroyed, revealing the open area of Las Noches once more. Renji wasn't surprised that Sombra would destroy the palace, just in case it had more secrets that Szayelaporro was planning on revealing to them over the course of their fight, and he was glad to find that his power had been restored thanks to the destruction of the palace, meaning that Uryu's powers had been restored as well. Pesche and Dondochakka stared out at the ruined palace with surprise written on their faces, or at least that was what Renji thought was on Pesche's face since it was hard to tell what he was thinking without actually saying anything, while it was rather easy to tell what Dondochakka's expressions were because he always revealed what he was thinking. Cirucci, on the other hand, stood there with a look of amazement on her face, as Sombra hadn't used a Cero to obliterate the palace, he used a power she had never seen before and was quite amazed by what she had seen, making her even more interested in what else Sombra had in store for them to witness.

As he took stock of what everyone was thinking and feeling, however, he noticed that Szayelaporro must have been buried by the rubble and that he had to be fighting his way back to the surface, but at the same time he didn't see Sombra anywhere, making him worry that something had happened to the Arrancar that had assisted them.

"What happened to Sombra?" Renji asked, as he refused to believe that the Arrancar had been crushed by the rubble that had fallen because of him destroying the walls and ceiling of the palace, but at the same time he was having a hard time pinpointing where their friend was located, "Did he leave?"

"No, he's still here." Uryu replied, to which he noticed that Cirucci nodded her head, which made sense considering that she was an Arrancar and might be able to follow Sombra's reiatsu better than they could, before Uryu glanced around as he sought out where their friend was hiding.

Before anyone could say anything the shadows that were below the rubble moved for a moment and a shadowy figure, looking more like a wraith or a specter that had a head that resembled Sombra's, burst out of the rubble, though as they watched the figure took on a more normal form and Sombra, still in his Resurreccion, landed near them, where he waved a hand and the dome vanished as his scythe appeared near him.

"That was my Shadow Form power," Sombra said, knowing that his friends and new allies were curious as to what sort of power he had used to avoid being crushed, even though he could have just used another barrier to protect himself from the rubble, but he felt like making sure a few more of his abilities were working like they were supposed to, "basically I become one with the shadows and take on a shadowy form that allows me to move around however I wish, and the best part is that I cannot take any sort of damage in his form and could attack my enemies at the same time."

"That's... incredibly unfair." Renji commented, as that sounded like an ability that could easily be abused, if it did exactly what Sombra said it did, and yet he had the feeling that there was more to this than what they had seen, but before he could say anything else the ground shook, indicating that their enemy wasn't done yet.

As Sombra expected Szayelaporro wasn't done yet, as the Espada must have covered himself with his wings and enlarged the red strands for form a protective cover around him, because a globe shaped object pushed itself from the ground and rose into the air, before the strands shrunk and pulled back, revealing an undamaged Szayelaporro, who was glaring down at Sombra as he touched the floor.

"My, my. Look at what you've done to my palace... how will I ever explain this to Lord Aizen?" Szayelaporro inquired, though at the same time he seemed to be thinking about something, as he was more interested in finishing off Sombra than even bothering with the enemies that were behind him, because if he could take out the main target he'd be able to crush all of them instantly, "Very well, I guess I'll fight you myself... and show you the true power of my Fornicaras."

Sombra stared at the Espada as one of the wings rushed towards him and attempted to flank him, though he waited for a few seconds for the red strands to enlarge once more before phasing into his Shadow Form and slipped right through the cracks that had been formed as the strands attempted to close around him, before returning to his normal state seconds later. Before Szayelaporro had a chance to retract the exposed wing, or even send another one out to grab him while he was distracted, Sombra raised the scythe and swung at the exposed wing, where he loosed a black energy wave, much smaller than a Getsuga Tensho, and severed the limp instantly, causing Szayelaporro to scream in pain for a moment as he lost the limb. The next target that the Espada went after, instead of fighting Sombra, was his friends, but he was actually expecting that and the shadows responded to his desires, as several sharp spikes rushed out of where they were hiding and penetrated some of the enlarged strands on the remaining three wings, almost binding Szayelaporro to the spot that he was standing in. Sombra wasted no time in moving in for the next attack when that happened, as not a few seconds later the three remaining wings went flying through the air, all of them falling down around the ruined area that they were fighting in, before Szayelaporro backed away for a moment, as he now understood what Grimmjow had been saying about Sombra.

Instead of attacking his opponent in the normal way, in his physical form, Sombra shifted back into his Shadow Form and rushed at the stunned Espada, where he avoided the hand that reached for him before swinging the scythe, opening a diagonal gash in his opponent's body that went from his left hip and stopped at his right shoulder, all while blood burst out of the open wound as Sombra separated himself from the weak Espada.

"Besides acting as a cover for you, what were those wings supposed to do?" Sombra asked, because if the 'true power' of Szayelaporro's Resurreccion rested in those four wings than his opponent was as good as finished, as there would be no way for him to win the battle that he was in, and he let the scythe float nearby to see if his foe would talk, otherwise he'd end this here and now.

"I had another power, Teatro de Titere, or Puppet Theater, that required those wings to use them," Szayelaporro stated, because right now his best plan of attack was stalling his opponent while he silently gathered his reiatsu, without showing Sombra what he was doing, because if his Resurreccion's abilities didn't work than he figured he'd try something else before his opponent struck him again, "Normally I would envelope my opponent, or one of them as the case would be against you and your companions, and create a voodoo doll of them, where I could inflict pain on a foe by hitting the doll and crushing the organs that were inside it, by opening the doll, in a way that deals no damage to who it's supposed to be, to remove the pieces that resemble organs. Without my wings both it and Telon Balon, my Curtain Ball ability I used when you dropped the ceiling, are useless and most of my powers are gone... until I drop out of my Resurreccion and go back into it at a later date."

"I see... so in other words, your finished." Sombra said, which meant that there was no reason for him to do anything to the Espada anymore, not when most of his power had been stripped from him by his actions, before he flexed his hand and the scythe returned to him, as he guessed it was time to end this.

"No, your the one whose FINISHED!" Szayelaporro replied, to which he was grateful for all of his blood that was in the area around them, as it was easy for him to dip his fingers on both his hands into the blood and create a pair of circles in front of him not a few seconds later, where both of which seemed to be aimed directly at Sombra as his reiatsu flared and the lightning-like strands pulled themselves together, "Take this, Gran Rey Cero!"

The first Gran Rey Cero was definitely meant for Sombra, as not a few seconds later Szayelaporro fired the attack and it raced through the air, intending to strike Sombra down for his actions, but before it could reach him Sombra swung his arm and the head of the scythe caught the Cero, knocking it off course as it soared into another structure that was nearby and blew up the upper part of the building. As the first one missed it's target, however, the Espada grinned as he turned towards Sombra's friends and fired the second one at them, where Sombra flashed through the air and raised his left hand towards the attack, where he stopped it before it could go any further and threw it to the side, where it exploded when it touched the ground, while at the same time Szayelaporro looked at him with a look of shock on his face. Sombra, on the other hand, reflected over how weak those two Gran Rey Ceros were, as the one that Grimmjow had fired had more power behind it, and it was either because his focus had been split between the two attacks or that was just the gap in the power between the Octava Espada and the Sexta Espada. Normally anyone that attacked his friends, just like he had attempted to do, would either suffer fatal injuries or they would die, but this time he was still in the mood to see if another one of his powers was still usable, to which he called upon the shadows once more and they started to gather.

Uryu, Renji, and the others watched as the shadows gathered together in a pool behind Szayelaporro for a moment, who stared at them with a look of shook and fear on his face, before they formed a elegant looking mirror that had a darkened glass staring at the Espada... before shadowy tendrils erupted from the glass surface and wrapped around Szayelaporro's arms and legs, eventually pulling him into the mirror before he was trapped in whatever world Sombra had sent him to.

"Puerta a las Tierras Sombrias, or Gate to the Shadowlands." Sombra explained, to which he waved a hand and the mirror floated into the air, just like the scythe did when he didn't want to use it, before he let the scythe do the same thing as he turned back towards his friends, "The world that I just sent Szayelaporro to is a world where one's fears are used against them, along with other things that are only known to them, beasts that might prey upon them, and unimaginable terrors that would leave any sane person too terrified to sleep for days if not weeks on end. There's a spell I developed that would trap someone who uses a certain type of magic on the doorway in their own personal nightmare until they're able to snap out of it, or if someone manages to do just that without being caught in the spell as well. I want to see if I can't convince our foe to see the error of his ways and change, otherwise I'll just end the fight and head out to whoever needs my help next... or maybe just continue on my way towards Aizen's location and end this war before it starts."

"I'm now convinced that it's a good thing that you're on our side," Renji remarked, because the more he learned about Sombra and his powers the more he was convinced that Soul Society was fortunate that they hadn't made an enemy out of him, despite the fact that the Captain-Commander didn't want to assist Sombra in this venture, "otherwise Soul Society would be completely screwed."

Sombra thought about that for a moment, because in his weakened state, after battling a Changeling Queen, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had beaten him, and when he tried to retake the Crystal Empire he had struck too soon, resulting in his body being shattered... but then he shook his head as he focused on the area around them once more, because there were a few new reiatsu signatures that were entering Las Noches and one was coming towards the area that they were in. His senses were proven correct as Captain Mayuri, now dressed with a new headpiece that made him look like a Egyptian Pharaoh and his teeth were golden colored, approached the group with his Lieutenant walking behind him, though the smile on his face reminded Sombra that he was likely here for the corpses of those that had been killed so he could experiment on them, something that he was going to have to correct before the Captain was allowed to leave Hueco Mundo.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, Lieutenant Kurotsuchi," Sombra spoke up, where the two Shinigami faced him as they arrived in the area, eying the scythe and the mirror that were floating near him for a few seconds before they looked at his new armor, which was different than his old armor, "I was certain that Captain-Commander Yamamoto said that Soul Society wasn't going to come here and fight Aizen's army. What changed your minds?"

"Oh, we were planning on invading Hueco Mundo from the start, our timeline just got shifted when the enemy stole that girl and her brother." Mayuri replied, though he couldn't fault the Arrancar for thinking that, as he and most of the remaining Captains hadn't been told this until they had all returned to Soul Society, before he glanced around for a moment and ignored the people that were near them, "I felt the presence of another powerful Arrancar over here, one that's supposed to be an Espada, and yet when I arrive I see that there aren't any enemies around with a reiatsu to match and no body to be seen. What happened to your opponent?"

"Oh, I banished him to the Shadowlands for a few minutes." Sombra answered, though at the same time he seemed to think about something as he glanced at the mirror again, where he found someone pounding on it and a smile graced his face, to which he flexed his hand and the two objects lowered down to where he was standing, "Ah, it seems that he's decided that he's learned his lesson... I'm eager to see if he's willing to change rulers."

Before Mayuri could say anything Sombra snapped his fingers and the mirror sprouted a few tendrils for a moment, where a few of them reached into it's center and pulled something out of it, where Renji and the others watched as a terrified Szayelaporro was pulled out of the Shadowlands and was deposited on the floor, before the mirror disappeared as quickly as it had formed.

"So, how did you like the Shadowlands, Szayelaporro?" Sombra asked, to which he knelt near the Espada, who seemed absolutely terrified of what he had been through for the last few minutes, before the strange Resurreccion shattered and Szayelaporro returned to wearing his ruined attire.

"It... was terrifying..." Szayelaporro replied, as what he had seen inside the mirror had been unlike anything that he had seen or heard before, making him wonder what else Sombra could do with his power over the shadows, because that power was completely different.

"It generally is to those visiting it for the first time," Sombra said, as the few ponies that he knew about that had practiced in Dark Magic, before his fall, had all delved into the Shadowlands and never came back, before he focused on the Espada once more, "So, are you going to follow Cirucci's lead and fall under your new lord, or am I going to have to bring an end to this?"

"First, I have a question." Szayelaporro said, where Sombra raised an eyebrow for a moment, as he was curious as to what the Espada could possibly ask him at the moment, but that was followed by him deciding that he might as well give him a chance and nodded his head, "How did you overcome the power of my palace, which is designed to seal the powers of those that I have information on?"

"You can't seal his powers... trust me, I tried." Mayuri commented, as it was something that the Captain-Commander had asked him to do, to see if he could seal Sombra's powers in case he turned against him, and he found that such a thing was impossible, "There's something special about his reiatsu that makes it impossible to seal his powers and restrict him to just using his Zanpakuto, and that's not taking his Kido into consideration."

"I... I see." Szayelaporro replied, as he recalled finding something like that in his own research and knew that it had to be true, before he sighed and sheathed his Zanpakuto, which was followed by him kneeling to the obviously more powerful Arrancar, "Lord Sombra, in light of what I have seen and what I have learned, I... I forsake the Usurper known as Aizen Sosuke and pledge to serve you for as long as you control Hueco Mundo."

"Good... now you have my permission to change into some better attire before we move out." Sombra said, referring to the fact that the first thing Szayelaporro had asked of him was to change his clothing to something that wasn't ruined, and knowing that he was talking to the scientist Espada he knew that he had to have an area that hadn't been blown up that contained more of his clothing.

As Szayelaporro nodded his head, and Mayuri looked at him with a look of interest in his eyes, Sombra glanced in the direction that Ichigo and Grimmjow's reiatsu were coming from, as it seemed like there was another Espada near them and that they might be battling someone that wanted them both dead... which served as the next destination for him to reach, while figuring out just how many Shinigami had come to Hueco Mundo and recovering the rest of the Arrancar that had chosen to serve him.