Chapter 26: The Battle for Hueco Mundo Part 2

*This fanfic belongs to Melkor's Mercy, I don't own anything*

Neliel Vs Bambietta

An intense disdain radiated between the two females as they stood opposed to one another in stoic silence. The wild chaos erupting across the battlefield did little to distract them from each other as both prepared for battle.

Without a second thought, Nel rushed in with furious aggression. She flurried her zanpakuto in relentlessly precise strikes as she attempted to overwhelm Bambietta. The Sternritter could do little to counter her ferocity but managed to deflect the hollow's blows with both of her reishi blades.

Thinking fast, Bambietta jabbed one on the ground and leapt back. Nel charged towards her again, but soon felt an explosion erupting behind her. The arrancar braced herself through the blast, but this lowered her guard long enough for Bambietta to counter. The Sternritter followed up by igniting the ground beneath her in an enormous inferno.

Nel was immediately caught in an explosion as she attempted to sonido out of danger. She only half-managed to escape the worst of the damage. The two ended up clearing away a lot of weaker troops in their respective armies as nobody wanted to be in range of the explosive outburst it had already created.

The Espada was a bit roughed up and covered in several burns but appeared relatively fine. She was slowly regenerating from the glancing blow of the explosion moments prior. Bambietta shook her head at Nel and grinned, "You're acting awfully cocky over there, hollow whore! Have you forgotten how easily I kicked your ass last time?"

"No, I remember perfectly…and unlike you I learned from my mistake," Nel replied coldly.

Bambietta shook her head, "I highly doubt it."

A moment later the ground beneath Nel exploded without any indication. Nel quickly reacted by charging Bambietta again, only to be met with a hail of artillery blasts from seemingly everywhere. She wasn't able to avoid all of the blasts, which soon engulfed her in a firestorm of debris and sand.

After the blasts subsided, Nel stood further away and looked completely covered in soot as half of her clothes were now a burned crisp. She grimaced in pain as Bambietta sneered at her.

"Did you forget I could turn anything into a bomb that my Reishi touches? That includes the air and the ground. Haha, you haven't learned shit, you dumb hollow bitch!" Bambietta said venomously.

The teal haired woman's mouth twitched into a small smile as she sent Bambietta a hard glare, "Then why are you bleeding?"

"What!?" Bambietta said confused before immediately feeling the after effects of a devastating slash across her back. She felt blood shoot out of her wound and temporarily dropped to a knee in pain. Bambietta experienced a strange blurriness fill her vision and now found it more difficult to breathe.

"W-what the hell?!" Bambietta gasped for a moment trying to regain her composure. She tried to channel Blut Vene, but she found it incredibly difficult as her wounds slowly healed.

Nel held up her hand which had a healing slash mark over the palm, "I cut my hand with my blade and coated it in my blood…it should be doing it's work in your body right about now."

"You cheap bitch! Don't act so smug! You're a fool if you think we weren't prepared to deal with tricks like this!" Bambietta hissed as her Blut Vene dispersed over her body. A moment later, Nel watched as her wounds began to heal and the hollow blood was expelled from her body. The blood sizzled and hissed aggressively as it bubbled away. Nel sighed heavily at the sight as Bambietta quickly recovered.

"Stop wasting my time with all your little hollow tricks. You and I both know that you can't do shit to me in that form. So, how's about you fight me in your Resurreccion you tramp!" Bambietta taunted as she gave a 'come and get it' gesture with her hand.

Nel cracked a fist, "No point in dragging this out…I'll destroy you with overwhelming power!"

"Bring it bitch!" Bambietta laughed.

"Declare Gamuza!" Nel shouted as she held up her Zanpakuto.

Barragan Vs Gremmy

The Primera, now in his resurreccion, swung his axe at the smug blonde Sternritter. Gremmy once again imagined a colossal shield to block it. Much to his surprise however, the shield instantly began to rot away in hyper-accelerated entropy.

Mere seconds of contact with the miasma like aura around Barragan had caused the shield to dissipate into nothingness. Gremmy immediately imagined a giant sword this time as he attempted to parry Barragan's follow up cleave.

Once again, the sword quickly broke apart. Gremmy flew back a considerable distance and created an insanely huge arsenal of reishi machine guns. They all fired in a nonstop barrage towards the Espada but seemed to weaken and practically evaporate from his body upon reaching him. The ones that did get through were pathetically ineffective against the primera's hierro.

Gremmy laughed aloud in amusement, "Wow, what a cool power you have! How does it wor-"

Before he could even finish his question, Barragan used sonido and nearly decapitated the Sternritter from behind. Gremmy disappeared away again before shouting out to Barragan, "You're not making this very fun. I imagined this battle was going to be more interesting."

"Nothing you say or believe matters…you will die for daring to get in my way, boy!" Barragan growled hatefully.

"Now that's more like it, Mr. Skeleton man! You look like a lich…the best way to stop those are with templars!" Gremmy chuckled as a colossal clad white and silver knight manifested in front of him. The knight was glowing with tremendous spiritual energy nearly blinding the sky. A host of smaller ones appeared beside him.

"Let's see if you can take on my holy knights, hollow," Gremmy beamed.

The newly formed templars all charged in to engage Barragan in melee combat. He easily blasted the weaker ones away with one hit a piece. As they attempted to recover and reengage him, the knights began to decay away into dust.

Gremmy blinked hard several times in disbelief, "How are you doing that?!"

Barragan said nothing as he saw more of the warriors manifest before his eyes. Gremmy shook his head at the Espada, "No matter…anything I imagine becomes reality. I imagine my templars are immune to your powers!"

"How can you imagine away something you don't understand? You don't even know what's happening to them," Barragan countered as he smashed several charging templars back again. The knights instantly began to rot away again much to Gremmy's horror.

He glared in annoyance, "You…you can't do that! My knights are immune to your powers, I've imagined it!"

"Is that how your pitiful powers work? If that's the case, then they're useless against mine." Barragan replied as the largest knight was now the last foe standing.

Instead of attacking it head on as Gremmy expected he would, Barragan decayed the pillar it was standing on causing the templar to go falling down into the battlefield below.

"I Imagine you're going to disappear!" Barragan howled as he flew towards Gremmy at terrifying speed again. His encroaching form was the splitting image of death which caused great fear in Gremmy.

Gremmy nearly panicked as the primera swung his axe through the air causing a massive cloud of miasma to follow him. Moments later, Gremmy's largest templar appeared before him with angelic wings.

The massive warrior stopped Barragan's advance and forced his miasma cloud away. Barragan watched with curiosity as the angelic defender was covered in a golden white aura of protection. It seemed immune to the decay.

"I've figured it out…I imagine my angel is protected by a holy aura! Your powers can't work if they can't touch him!" Gremmy boasted.

"What a pitiful imagination you have," Barragan said almost disgusted.

Gremmy proudly regained his bearings as he floated behind his angelic defender, "Your powers can't work if I imagine that your miasma can't touch us."

"What makes you think it can't?" Barragan asked with a slow and almost evil laugh.

The Sternritter's eyes widened in horror as he saw the golden aura around his angelic protector beginning to flicker away slowly. He shook his head, "No! That can't happen! W-why can't I stop it?!"

"Imagine what would happen if it touched you…the nothingness of oblivion would claim you," Barragan laughed in a dramatic, intimidating way.

Gremmy seemed greatly disturbed by this as Barragan was beginning to get inside of his head. His momentary fear and doubt was all it took for his powers to lapse and cause his angel to decay away completely.

"Is that doubt I see in your eyes, boy? Perhaps you can imagine your own death at my hands no?" Barragan laughed wickedly.

"I-I imagine you dead!" Gremmy shouted fearfully as Barragan slowly flew towards him.

Much to his horror, it wasn't working. Barragan chuckled cruelly, "I highly doubt that. You can't just imagine your fears away, boy…they're not going anywhere, and neither am I!"

"W-what are you?!" Gremmy demanded almost terrified at his inability to stop Barragan from fully destroying his angelic defender.

"Death!" Barragan shouted furiously.

Grimmjow Vs Bazz B

After the initial dust and explosions settled, Bazz B watched with shock as Grimmjow was now in a feline form with long blue hair. The Espada gritted his teeth hatefully at the Sternritter, "I've killed three of you Sternritters already! You're next mohawk!"

Bazz B could barely even react in time to Grimmjow's ridiculous speed as the feline hollow pounced him. The Espada's elbow blade glowed blue as it swiftly cut against Bazz B's side.

The Sternritter was thankful that he activated his Blut Vene in time as Grimmjow could have easily cut him in half with the opening attack.

He watched with anticipation as Grimmjow began to blink around him at supersonic speeds leaving countless afterimages and causing disturbing grinding sounds. Bazz B launched multiple burner fingers towards the swift Espada but was unable to hit him.

'This guy is way too fast to follow. I'm going to have to use area attacks to slow him down.' Bazz B thought as he stomped his foot against the ground. This caused a crater to erupt in all directions as fire shot out beneath his feet.

Already expecting Grimmjow to move in for another strike, Bazz B immediately swung his flame sword in a devastating arc towards his side. With his other hand he used his burner finger two to send out a double flame streak covering his other side at a lower angle.

Although his flame sword missed the ducking Grimmjow, the burner finger swipe successfully slashed the Espada at point blank range. Grimmjow was unable to recover fast enough as Bazz B held up his free hand and shot a burner finger 1 through his leg.

Grimmjow howled in pain as he now had a hole through his leg. He wasn't able to move as fast now which gave Bazz B enough time to actually start swinging his flaming arm blade at him.

The Espada caught Bazz B's wrist as the blade came down in an overhead swing.

The two briefly pushed against one another before a vortex of fire began to surround them. Bazz B spoke seriously, "Feeling the heat, hollow?"

Not one to be caught off guard again, Grimmjow instantly dove to the side to dodge Bazz B's burner finger from his free hand. It narrowly avoided shooting him through his chest. The flame beam shot into the distance as it missed the swift hollow. Grimmjow followed up by charging a point-blank cero at Bazz B's side.

Seeing what was coming, Bazz B quickly formed a flame shield to guard himself as he couldn't move in time to dodge the cero. The resulting destruction blasted Bazz B a considerable distance away as well as annihilating countless soldats in the distance.

Nnoitra vs Mask de Masculine

Mask de Masculine charged in towards Nnoitra with bravado and excitement much to the arrancar's disdain. The burly wrestler attempted to deliver another powerful punch, but his fist never quite made it as Nnoitra caught it in his palm.

The one eyed arrancar squeezed as hard as possible against the man's fist as he slid back. With his full strength, Nnoitra regained his footing and pushed Mask back a bit. The Sternritter's eyes widened as a grin crossed his face, "You're mighty strong, arrancar! Few can match me in battle of strength!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Nnoitra roared as he swung his axe in with his free hand. Mask effortlessly stopped it as he grabbed the axe by its blade. He then threw his entire body weight over Nnoitra's arm causing the arrancar to go plummeting to the ground and his weapon to come lose from his hand.

Before he could recover, Nnoitra found himself on the ground in a grappling match with Mask. The burly wrestler put him in a headlock as he attempted to retrieve his axe, "Not so fast, hollow! This is a battle of fists and strength, not blades!"

Nnoitra couldn't breathe as Mask forced a sleeper hold on him. He attempted to maneuver upright with his legs but was quickly forced down to one knee with Mask's leg over the back of his. In his current position, he could do little to pull the man's arms off his throat, so thinking fast, Nnoitra flung himself back allowing for enough room to deliver a devastating elbow across Mask de Masculine's face.

Seizing the opportunity to bust free, Nnoitra immediately proceeded to trip the wrestler Sternritter and reverse their positions. Without a shred of mercy, Nnoitra then tried to force his fingers into Mask's eye sockets as he pushed him down.

"Wipe that fucking look off your face!" Nnoitra howled as he caused blood to come spilling out of Mask's eye sockets. The Sternritter cried out in pain as Nnoitra hatefully squeezed as hard as possible.

"No! Mask! Get up Mask! You're the champ! You can't lose!" a voice sounded out of nowhere.

Nnoitra didn't let it distract him from what he was doing, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see another quincy…or so he thought. It looked like some pudgy, goofy, and completely ridiculous looking kid.

"You're the hero, Mask! Stop this bad guy!" the kid shouted again.

Before Nnoitra could realize what had happened, Mask immediately grew in strength as he effortlessly broke free. With furious might, the wrestler leapt up and clotheslined Nnoitra. He spun in several flips before landing on his back.

The espada recovered quickly and looked up to see Mask de Masculine flexing proudly. The recent injuries to his eyes appeared completely gone now much to Nnoitra's disbelief.

"What the hell?!" Nnoitra said confused.

"You can do this, mister Mask! Pummel this guy for the Quincies!" the kid shouted.

Nnoitra wasted no time diving for his axe as Mask charged him again. Luckily, he got there just in time to swing it at the incoming Sternritter. This time, the arrancar held onto his weapon with both hands, which allowed him to overpower Mask's attempt to catch it again.

As the wrestler struggled against the weapon. Nnoitra lifted it higher and moved in closer to deliver a powerful front kick towards the Sternritter. Mask went flying a considerable distance back but managed to regain his bearings before falling over.

The arrancar took this time to glance at the ridiculous looking child who had been cheering from the sidelines. The kid flinched in fear as Nnoitra glared at him.

Without hesitation, Nnoitra appeared behind him and attempted to bisect the boy in two. His attempted murder was unsuccessful as Mask appeared to block the attack.

"You leave the innocent fans out of this, monster! If you want to hurt him, you're going to have to go through me…Mask de Masculine! The SUPERSTAR!" the Sternritter bellowed proudly.

Nnoitra jumped back yanking his weapon free and thought for a moment, 'This guy's so retarded…why did I have to fight the lame one? What's with that stupid ass kid too?'

"Superstar! Superstar! Superstar!" the boy shouted proudly.

The arrancar's single eye widened with disbelief as he saw Mask visibly become buffer. He blinked for several seconds as if he couldn't believe it.

'Did he just become larger?' Nnoitra thought shocked.

His inner thoughts were short lived when Mask sucker punched him in the gut a split second later. As he keeled over in pain, Nnoitra felt the man's massive arms wrap around his waist. Mask got behind Nnoitra now and laughed heartily, "WELCOME TO SUPERSTAR SUPLEX CITY!"

Nnoitra dropped his weapon as Mask began to repeatedly suplex him over and over again causing ridiculous destruction to the landscape. This went on for who knows how long, and even against his impressive hierro, Nnoitra could feel the effects of the damage.

By the time it finally stopped, the arrancar felt completely dazed and incoherent. He felt Mask's powerful foot then stomp down over his head causing them both to go sinking into a deeper crater. The wrestler left his foot over Nnoitra's head as he began to flex.

"Count down for me, James!" Mask said to the goofy looking boy.

"1…2…" the boy shouted the first two seconds, but before he could say the third, Nnoitra erupted upward breaking free of the pin. Mask went flying into the air as a massive uppercut launched him off the arrancar.

Nnoitra retrieved his Zanpakuto again and shouted furiously, "Enough of this god damn bullshit! Your ass is dead! Pray Santa Teresa!"

Mask landed on the ground just in time to see Nnoitra beginning to transform into his Resurreccion. He beamed with eager excitement, "Now things are about to get interesting!"

Cang Du Vs Grimmjow's Fracciones

"Let's see what you're all made of then," Cang Du said carelessly.

Yylfordt looked over at the others, "Formation 3 guys…and get in your resurreccions. There's no point in trying to hold back with Sternritters.

"Good point," Di Roy nodded.

"I was just about to suggest the same thing," Shaw Long nodded.

Cang Du watched with boredom as the five arrancars all entered their various resurreccions moments later.

He looked unfazed by their altered appearances or increased power levels. The Sternritter simply spread his arms in a low stance causing bladed claws to shoot out of his gauntlets. Cang Du glared at the hollows in stoic anticipation waiting for them to make a move.

Wonderweiss Vs Robert Accutrone

The arrancar was much faster than he was expecting, but Robert Accutrone moved with matching speed as the two charged one another. The arrancar fired off barrages of balas during his advance whilst simultaneously dodging the Sternritter's gunfire. The two played this cat and mouse game of shoot off before Wonderweiss finally closed the distance. With focused dexterity, Robert Accutrone narrowly avoided a hand through his chest.

He spun around and fired a point blank reishi blast directly at the hollow's head. Wonderweiss ducked just in time to avoid it, but a number of other forces caught in its wake were not as lucky. Reaching to his side, the Sternritter pulled out a blade with his other hand.

The sword resembled a sabre that one might expect a military officer to carry around. With the sabre in one hand and the pistol in the other, Robert Accutorne unleashed a combination of slashes and shots towards the swift Espada.

Wonderweiss managed to avoid the blade, but not all of the gunshots. They easily pierced through his hierro causing fresh blood to spill from his open wounds. Wonderweiss quickly regenerated, but a moment later he felt unbelievable agony filling his body.

Wonderweiss grimaced as he slumped over to a knee. Robert Accutrone looked at him sternly, "Not many hollows can withstand purified reishi hollow-points from my Reishi Bolter."

The Sternritter brandished his large pistol and he pointed it back down at Wonderweiss. As he prepared to fire a headshot into the arrancar, Wonderweiss rolled over and charged up a cero. As he came up, the arrancar fired it nearly point blank at the Sternritter.

To his complete shock, a swirl of energy formed around the man's form causing the energy to fly into some type of portal. Wonderweiss' eyes widened with concern as a second portal opened up to his side firing the cero right back at him. He leapt high in the air to avoid the crossfire but was swiftly shot out of the sky by another charged gunshot.

Wonderweiss went freefalling to the ground moments later with numerous gunshot wounds covering his body.

Femritters Vs Arrancar Girls

Candice charged a massive torrent of lightning in her hands and threw it into the charging arrancars. The various hollow girls all dispersed and quickly regrouped around her a moment later.

Their swift approach was immediately cut short as Meninas blindsided them with a charge. Most of them dodged, but Menoly and Mila Rose were unluckily caught in the attack as Meninas sent both to the ground with a simple knock down.

Loly looked concerned as Meninas nearly stomped on the downed Menoly. Luckily, she jumped away in time, but this left a massive crater in its wake. Mila Rose ran in to reengage Meninas and swung her blade as hard as she could.

Instead of dodging it, Meninas grabbed Mila Rose by her wrist and began to squeeze. The lioness arrancar cried out in pain as Meninas' super strength crushed her. Before she could do anything else, Meninas felt Menoly grab her from behind with her scorpion claw appendages.

She used her scorpion tail to repeatedly sting the Sternritter, causing Meninas' strength to diminish. The somewhat ditsy looking Sternritter immediately threw her body weight back and broke out of Menoly's grasp. She spun around and delivered a powerful kick towards Menoly, but as her kick went out Loly wrapped her leg in bony hollow arms.

Loly struggled immensely against Meninas' vastly superior strength, but her successful interruption had given Apacci an opening to scissor kick Meninas in the face. The Sternritter went to the ground a moment later much to Liltotto's disbelief.

The arrancar girls' successful combo was short-lived, as Candice began to blast torrents of lightning at their location. Once again, the girls all dispersed as Candice created a maelstrom near their location. This gave Meninas time to regroup with her, causing the combatants to end up back in another standoff.

"Watch yourself next time, Meninas…Hollows like to swarm," Candice stated as she kept a glare focused on the arrancars.

"These arrancars are tougher than they look," Meninas noted as her expression became more serious.

Candice shook her head, "Not really…these aren't even Espada. These are their trash tier foot soldiers by the looks of it. Let's take these skanks out and move on to real opponents!"

"Oi! Who are you calling a skank you green-haired tramp!? Have you even looked in a mirror lately?!" Apacci immediately voiced with disdain.

Candice gave her a condescending laugh, "You mad, goat girl?"

"Goat girl?! I'm a deer you blind bitch!" Apacci shot back angrily.

"You're nothing but venison then, because you're delusional if you think you're a match for a Sternritter! I'm going to fry you with my lightning!" Candice countered.

Meninas looked over at Candice concerned, "Candice, one of them is missing!"

"What?!" Candice shot back. Unfortunately for her, Meninas' warning came too late as a white figure coiled around her a second later.

Candice hissed in pain as Sung-Sun bit her. With Candice now temporarily immobilized, the others all rushed Meninas again. Menoly and Mila Rose each grabbed an arm, while Loly held her legs. The three struggled with their full strength and held her down as Apacci charged towards her. The deer arrancar impaled Meninas in the face with her front horn causing her to go towards the ground.

As the four hollow girls rapidly clawed and slashed the downed Meninas, Candice wrestled free of Sung-Sun. The snake arrancar narrowly avoided being fried as lightning blasts shot all around her. Getting annoyed with the elusive snake, Candice held up her arms and caused a massive thunderstorm to appear overhead.

Sung-Sun's eyes widened with terror as lightning swirled into some type of vortex. Candice then began to rapidly fire lightning strikes from the sky forcing the arrancar to retreat. Sung-Sun quickly dove back beneath the sand to avoid the lightning strikes and burrowed her way back towards the others.

Seeing Meninas was unable to move, Candice charged towards the other four hollows. This conducted a tempest of lightning around her as she moved in and blasted away the rabid hollows. Meninas began to heal with her Blut Vene and turned towards Candice, "Thanks."

Candice didn't bother acknowledging her gratitude as she stared down the arrancar girls once more. All of them were breathing heavily and covered in Meninas' blood by the looks of it.

"Candice…I think I got poisoned. My strength is diminishing," Meninas said as she began to breathe heavier and strain a bit.

"I'm done wasting time with these hollow whores! Use your Vollständig, Meninas! We'll put an end to them!" Candice bellowed.

Meninas nodded as the two Sternritters called upon their higher forms. As they transformed, Liltotto quickly voiced her concern to Yuzu, "Things are getting crazy…Vollständig this soon against the arrancars? I didn't realize the hollows were this powerful."

"Liltotto…what should I do?" Yuzu asked fearfully as she finally managed to regain a sense of her clarity. She still seemed a bit shell-shocked from the battle but was more alert and aware of her surroundings now.

"Just…stay here. I'm not going to let anyone kill you, Yuzu. Candice and Meninas should be able to take out these arrancars with their Vollständigs," Liltotto spoke reassuringly.

As their transformations finished, the five arrancar girls all gasped in shock at the sight of the angelic winged Sternritters. Candice's angelic form had aesthetically charged lightning wings and a crackling halo. Meninas' wings were simpler, but they were much larger than Candice's and had a likeness to heart shaped angel wings. Both of course were enveloped in pure white-blue reishi, and they were nearly blinding.

Candice immediately formed a lightning bow after her transformation. As she nocked a colossal lightning reishi arrow, the arrancars all took cover and fled as far as they could. The entire battlefield around them was electrocuted violently as the arrow blasted the entire area apart.

"It looks like you got them, Candice." Meninas remarked as she looked around cautiously.

After it was over, Candice smirked proudly, "Guess that was overkill huh?"

"There's still plenty of hollows left to fight," Meninas reminded her as the two descended back to the ground and looked around the war-torn battlefield for more enemies. From safe distances away, they could see all the various hollows and quincies still clashing in the massive battle. Many of the closest Soldats seemed to be cheering for the Sternritters, but due to their distance and the sound of fighting, Candice and Meninas could not hear them very well.

"Yo, Liltotto, you going to join this battle any time today?" Candice asked as she looked at the young blonde loli. The blonde Sternritter's eyes were wide as she looked past Candice and Meninas.

"What are you looking at, Lil-chan?" Meninas asked concerned.

Meninas and Candice both turned around a moment later when they heard a whistle. To their utter disbelief, the five arrancar girls were all alive and mostly unharmed.

"What?! How are you all alive?!" Candice demanded angrily.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Apacci said with a smirk of her own.

The arrancars all looked a bit burned and covered in glass. Candice quickly picked up on this and realized it, "I see…you hid underground. Don't think that trick will work twice on me!"

"As if we'd need to take cover again. You Sternritter bitches are about to get a real taste of what we can do!" Apacci threatened.

"Apacci, are you being serious right now? We haven't actually perfected it yet. It could have unforeseen consequences," Sung-Sun voiced her concern.

"Damn right I am! You know what to do girls! Make Ayon!" Apacci shouted.

Candice's eyes went wide as the five arrancars all began to glow brightly. They all tore off pieces off their bodies causing a link of blood and spiritual energy to bind them all together. At first, just their arms disappeared, but shortly afterward, all five hollow girls disappeared into this budding amalgamation as it began to transform.

"What the fuck is that?!" Candice gasped with horror as the five arrancars fused into one giant hollow.

It towered over everything standing as tall as a building, and it appeared to be some type of fusion of the five arrancars' hollow forms. The creature was a massive bipedal chimera. It had hooves and deer like legs that were covered in the same fur as Apacci. Its arms were similar to a lion's claws. Its entire torso was armored like some type of exoskeleton and many spikes protruded from it. From its back came large four spiny appendages with barbed tips. The creature also had a snake for a tail. Its head was covered in some skull like helmet that had the shape similar to that of a deer. It had large fangs and massive antlers as well. Overall, the chimera hollow was a terrifying sight to all nearby quincies.

"Did they just fuse into one hollow?!" Candice gasped.

Candice's question was answered with a devastatingly fast and deadly swat from the creature. Before she could recover, a massive cero formed over its antlers as it fired the blast at Candice. Thinking fast, Candice countered with as much lightning as she could.

Her attack was somewhat successful in holding the cero back, and she quickly used this time to get out of its way as it overpowered her reishi. Meninas took this time to close in on the creature and tried to punch it as hard as she could.

Even with her super-enhanced strength, Meninas barely budged the hollow much to her shock. "Uh oh…" Meninas said concerned as Ayon swiftly kicked her away with tremendous force. During its brief distraction, Candice began to rain lightning strikes down upon the chimera enveloping it in a maelstrom of lightning Reishi.

While it appeared effective at damaging the hollow, it successfully tanked through the attack and turned its gaze back to Candice.

"Fuck! Liltotto, we could use some help with this damn thing!" Candice shouted as she began to fly around and dodge the colossal monster throwing in whatever attacks she could.

Meninas wasted little time returning and moved in to seriously combo the large hollow from behind as it pursued Candice.

"I need to help them. That…thing is tanking all of their attacks!" Liltotto remarked urgently to Yuzu.

"No, don't leave me alone here," Yuzu pleaded as she tried to clutch onto the smaller Sternritter.

Liltotto flaked her off and looked at Yuzu seriously, "We're fighting for our lives right now, Yuzu. If we don't stop that thing it's going to kill us! Don't do anything reckless but try using your schrift to help us if you can."

"Wait! Liltotto-chan! I don't know how!" Yuzu called out as the blonde loli moved in to help Meninas and Candice.

Now alone on the battlefield, Yuzu looked around petrified as she didn't know what to do. 'How can I help them? I…I can't do anything!' Yuzu thought to herself as she crouched low and covered her ears.

"Yuzu Kurosaki?!" a voice sounded out of nowhere, drawing Yuzu from her daze.

She screamed fearfully when she saw Zommari in front of her. The hollow was in his release state and looked horrific. He stood tall in armored bone-like skin with a burly muscled frame. His release form resembled bone armor all over his body with skull shapes adorning both shoulders, his chest, and knees. In each of these skull shapes' eye sockets were yellow glowing eyes.

"Get away from me!" Yuzu screamed as she inadvertently blasted the hollow back with a wave of reishi.

Much to Yuzu's surprise, she actually attacked a hollow. She began to shake as Zommari quickly recovered and used a sonido to return.

"Wait! I am going to get you out of here!" the espada tried to explain, but Yuzu was not even listening to him as she now had her bow out.

Fearful tears were in her eyes as she nocked a silvery blue arrow. She wasted no time firing a volley of shots towards Zommari, but all of them missed due to his impressive speed.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Zommari tried to tell Yuzu as he reappeared directly in front of her.

Before Yuzu or Zommari could say or do anything else, a burning Grimmjow flew directly between them skidding through the sand.

Bazz B came charging over with his flame sword, but he was distracted when he saw Yuzu standing there. He quickly noticed Zommari's proximity and immediately swung his flaming reishi sword towards him.

Zommari appeared further back and looked on with concern as Bazz B now stood in front of Yuzu. The mohawk Quincy looked at her seriously, "Still alive, Kurosaki?!"

"Bazz B…" Yuzu managed to say his name as they briefly made eye contact. Grimmjow came barreling back in with his elbow blades but was stopped when Zommari blocked him.

"Wait, Grimmjow! That's White's sister! We need to retrieve her!" Zommari spoke urgently to the other Espada.

Grimmjow narrowed his gaze at Yuzu disbelievingly, "What?! Are you sure?!"

"I'm positive. I saw her through the android's memories. White said her name was Yuzu Kurosaki," Zommari explained.

"Well get her then…I'm still fighting this wannabe tough guy with his stupid mohawk!" Grimmjow replied.

"Stupid Mohawak?! Fuck off you crazy cat man!" Bazz B shot back.

Yuzu hid behind Bazz B now as Zommari tried to approach again. He spoke as calmly as he could, "Yuzu Kurosaki, we mean you no harm. I want to take you to safety. It's what your brother would want."

"Ichi-nii?" Yuzu said uncertainly as she looked between them and Bazz B. To her surprise, Bazz B didn't appear to be protesting it as Zommari came closer.

"The high king is on his way here right now. I will ensure your safety until his return," Zommari explained.

'Shit…I'm not ready to blow the secret just yet. I need to keep up appearances a little while longer until her brother gets here!' Bazz B thought urgently as he grabbed Yuzu and pushed her back.

This brief distraction gave Grimmjow to perfect opportunity to swipe him from his blindside knocking Bazz B to the ground.

"Shit!" Bazz B growled as he tried to get back to Yuzu.

Yuzu now stood alone in front of Grimmjow and Zommari, both of whom terrified her. She backed away slowly and shook her head, "I…I don't-"

Before Yuzu could finish her sentence, a large figure crashed down and landed heroically in front of her. He had a winged helmet, a cape, and had long blonde hair.

Bazz B's eyes widened with horror, 'Fuck…what's Gerard doing over here?!'

"Who the fuck is this guy?!" Grimmjow hissed with disapproval.

"Sternritter M, Gerard Valkyrie…and I'm afraid I cannot allow you to take Yuzu Kurosaki, hollows," Gerard replied.

"Just try and stop us then!" Grimmjow shouted as he swept in for a quick attack. To his astonishment, Gerard parried his attack with his sword. Grimmjow could barely react in time as the massive Sternritter shield bashed him a second later. The feline Espada went flying towards the ground from the simple attack.

"Go help the others deal with that giant hollow, Bazz B. I'll handle these two," Gerard dismissed Bazz B.

"I have this under control!" Bazz B tried to protest, but he was immediately silenced by a simple look from the elite Sternritter.

"Also, you might want to use your Vollständig against Espada…assuming you're trying to win here." Gerard followed up calmly.

'Fuck…why do I get the feeling they're onto me?!' Bazz thought fearfully.

He obeyed the command and left Gerard to fight them as he took off in Ayon's direction. The creature was ridiculously powerful as it was holding its own against Candice, Liltotto, Meninas, and even As Nodt now.

'Four Sternritters can't take that thing down? What the hell is it?' Bazz B wondered as he moved in to help them.

Neliel Vs Bambietta

"Getting tired, arrancar?!" Bambietta demanded as she herself was panting heavily.

Nel caught her breath and shook her head, "Not even close!"

They had been fighting nonstop for a while now and were both getting rather exhausted. Nel had been gaining the upper hand extensively ever since going into her resurreccion, but she was gravely concerned with the fact that Bambietta still hadn't activated her Vollständig.

"That's funny, because you look used up and finished to me," Bambietta laughed.

"Then come and finish me off…if you can!" Nel taunted her.

The Sternritter laughed at Nel's confidence, "I guess you forgot that I still have Vollständig!"

Neliel watched with stoic concern as Bambietta's holy form finally activated. The last time she had faced off against Bambietta's full power, she lost. Her training and the Hogyoku enhancements had proven useful in putting up a better fight this time around, but Nel was genuinely surprised by Bambietta's increased power.

'She's stronger than the last time we fought…I guess losing to Ichigo must have pushed her to train harder as well. How am I going to defeat her? I'm exhausted,' Nel brainstormed briefly as Bambietta finished her transformation.

Nel kept a stoic expression plastered on her face as she patiently waited for Bambietta to make the first move. In truth, she was also still trying to catch her breath. Bambietta looked completely rejuvenated now much to the arrancar's disdain.

The centaur espada grimaced in annoyance as Bambietta flew over her and rained down a barrage of explosive ordinance. She swiftly dodged the attacks, but they were much larger and undoubtedly far more powerful now.

The battle continued like this for a while as Nel continuously dodged Bambietta's attacks while looking for an opening. She attempted to impale Bambietta midair on several instances, but to her annoyance, Bambietta was able to outmaneuver her in the air far more successfully.

'I can't do anything to her if she can fly that quickly. My resurreccion isn't well suited for dealing with this type of opponent. All of my projectile attacks are dodged, and my stronger ones would take too much time to use before she got a hit off on me. I'm literally powerless to stop her,' Nel thought frustrated.

"What's the matter, hollow? Don't tell me you're giving up already!" Bambietta smirked.

Nel growled at her condescending opponent, "This isn't over yet! I'm still breathing am I not?!"

"It's funny you would mention that, because I've grown tired of you now," Bambietta responded callously as she held up her hand and closed it violently into a fist. Nel immediately realized what was happening, but it was too late to get away as a reishi bubble formed around her entire location.

'No! It can't end like this! I can't fail Ichigo and the others!' Nel thought desperately right before it exploded. The shockwave and blast radius from this attack stretched across most of the battlefield, knocking down many lesser soldiers and causing sand to blow in all directions.

When the blast receded, Nel was now revealed to be half dead in a crater with most of her clothes burned and her resurreccion now gone. The Espada appeared unconscious now much to Bambietta's satisfaction.

She smugly flew down and went closer to personally finish the Espada off, but before she could reach Nel, the Espada's fracciones all blocked her. Gantenbainne, Cirucci, and Dordoni all appeared heavily beat up, but the three arrancars stood ready to fight.

Bambietta practically laughed at them, "More hollows? What a joke…wait, I remember you guys. Weren't you her little friends?"

"Shut up Quincy! You're not going any further!" Gantenbainne bellowed angrily.

Bambietta shook her head in amusement, "Is that right? How exactly do YOU three clowns expect to stop me?"

"With force…you're NOT going to kill Neliel so long as we're breathing!" Cirucci bellowed with fiery aggression.

"She's done for, and you three just committed suicide by getting in my way!" Bambietta roared as she ignited the landscape with explosive power.

Dordoni did his best to negate it with wind as Gantenbainne moved in to grab Nel's unconscious body.

"We're no match for this foul woman. We should get Nel out of here and fall back!" Dordoni exclaimed seriously as they quickly regrouped.

"All of the Espada are tied up right now…we can retreat, but I don't think anyone can help us fight. Also she's pretty fast from what I've seen, so I doubt we could outrun her," Cirucci stated as she and the others took brief cover beneath the fallout of Bambietta's attack.

"We can't let her kill Nel. Running isn't really a viable option right now, and I know for a fact we won't be able to defeat her. The best thing to do is hold her off until someone arrives to help us," Dordoni replied urgently.

As if it were divine providence, a figure arrived shortly afterward in front of the arrancars. It was none other than Gin Ichimaru. The sly and foxy Shinigami captain turned back to look at them with a smile, "You three look like you need help."

"Shinigami! I've never been so happy to see you before!" Dordoni said somewhat relieved.

Nobody else could follow up with any input as another explosion enveloped their location a moment later.

"Bakudo number 44: Sekisho!" Gin immediately created a barrier of significant quality to block Bambietta's attack.

After the smoke cleared, Bambietta was now much closer. The Sternritter looked shocked when she saw Gin standing there with an amused expression.

"A Shinigami?! I almost forgot about you guys…" Bambietta grimaced angrily as Gin stood patiently.

"I see no reason to hold back against a foe of your caliber. You are a danger to everyone. Bankai…Kamishini no Yari," Gin said smoothly as he drew his zanpakuto.

A moment later, it glowed a blinding white before a stream shot out of it. This stream was revealed to be the blade itself as it moved at blindingly fast speed cutting apart a swathe of landscape and unfortunate foot soldiers caught in its path. It was remarkably precise at missing hollows though.

Gin skillfully weaved his bankai around Bambietta preventing her from making any big attacks. She was now on full defensive as she tried to distance herself from the blade. To her utter shock, it continued to grow in size and follow after her no matter how sporadically she flew or how far she went.

Unfortunately, Gin's successful counter of Bambietta's offense was short lived as another Sternritter came out of nowhere.

This one was burly and large with black hair. Gantenbainne, Dordoni, and Cirucci all quickly realized it was Driscoll Berci again.

"You weak little hollows thought you could run away from me?!" Driscoll laughed as he charged in with his Reishi spear.

Gin redirected his bankai a moment later to intercept the man impaling him immediately. Driscoll spat out blood as Gin's blade receded back for a deathblow.

The deathblow would have been successful, but Bambietta immediately bombed the entire area again despite Driscoll being in the blast radius.

Dust blinded the landscape but was blown away as Gin widely swung his Zanpakuto in a heavy gust of force.

As the dust cleared, Gin quickly noticed Driscoll's body was covered in a blue veiny glow as he began to heal. He smirked with arrogance as he pulled out a medallion, "You don't need that bankai, Shinigami. I'll take it from you."

Gin quickly tried to recede his bankai before the inevitable happened, but he was too late as he felt his bankai drain away into the medallion that Driscoll was holding up. His zanpakuto was now in its shikai form much to his shock.

'This isn't good. Sternritters can steal bankais!? I wonder why they haven't done this to the hollows yet…unless maybe they can't,' Gin briefly reflected as Driscoll now had his bankai.

Nel's Inner World

Nel jerked upright as she opened her eyes and was confused when she noticed her surroundings. No longer was she on a battlefield fighting against Bambietta, but instead she now found herself in some type of oasis.

The Espada looked around with uncertain caution as she tried to make sense of the situation. "Where am I?" Nel asked aloud to herself.

Her question was unexpectedly answered a second later from a familiar voice, "You know this place very well, it is your only refuge in this vast desert."

"What? Who's there?!" Nel asked as she glanced around in all directions for the voice's source.

"I am," the voice answered as a form took shape in front of her. The Espada took a step back with shock when the figure completely manifested. It looked a lot like her but was different in many ways.

Her other self had massive coiled horns that came from her head. They looked goat like and demonic. The other Nel's mask fragment was also much larger and appeared to be some type of full skull helmet. It covered most of her head minus her face, but her longer teal hair still extended down her back. This other Nel had fur the same color as their hair. It covered all of her satyr like legs from the waist down, but over her furry thighs were white and black armor that almost seemed to match her mask fragment. Her arms were fully armored in a similar manner and her torso had a midriff breastplate that left her bare stomach exposed. From her waist the seamless transition of fur to skin could be seen. Several red and black tribal markings covered her exposed skin and especially her face. Her eyes were black and pink, which seemed to match the spiritual power that was radiating off her body.

"Are you…me?" Nel asked uncertainly.

The other Nel nodded, "The fact that you are even asking that is part of the problem."

"What happened? The last thing I remember was fighting that Sternritter? Am I dead?" she wondered.

"You are in your inner world right now…but you will die soon unless you can manifest your true powers," the inner Nel explained.

"Are you my Segunda Etapa?! Please, tell me what I must do to unlock my powers!" Nel pleaded.

The other Nel shook her head, "You and many of your friends will die soon unless you can save them."

"I know that! So help me already! What must I do?!" Nel demanded.

"You keep looking to others to give you the answers…but the only one who truly knows that answer is you. Nobody is going to save you this time, Nel…you have to face your fears and save your friends," inner Nel replied.

Neliel felt hot tears roll down her face as she spun around frantically, "I'll do anything to save them! It can't end like this! I can't fail Ichigo like this!"

"You can hide in the oasis and let your friends die, or you can go into the desert and save them. The choice is yours," the voice responded.

Nel tried to make sense of the words as she looked around at her surroundings again. Her inner world was literally a beautiful oasis surrounded by a harsh desert on all sides. Perhaps it was symbolically linked to her fear.

"Go to them…" the inner Nel repeated.

"I…I'm scared," Nel admitted as she took several steps towards the edge of the oasis. On the horizon were grimdark clouds and barren landscapes. They looked empty and terrifying.

"Choose now, Neliel…this refuge won't last forever. Your only salvation lies through the valley of death," inner Nel explained.

From the distance, Nel could hear the echoes of people's voices. They sounded like Gantenbainne, Dordoni, and Cirucci. From the sounds of it, they were in trouble.

"I have to protect them!" Nel shouted as she began to run as fast as she could into the direction of the voices. As she advanced, the sky got visibly darker, and the voices of despair grew louder. She continued until there was nothing but darkness.

Finally, she reached a distant light in the distance. As she ran up to it, Neliel felt her inner world change as she was now in Las Noches, overlooking a balcony. From its heights, she looked out over the lands below. She saw arrancars everywhere and a beautiful city surrounding the palace. Large statues of the Espada decorated the surroundings pillars of the palace.

Tears filled her eyes as she took in the entire scene…it was a perfect world. It was a world she desperately wanted for the hollows of Hueco Mundo and a world that Ichigo was trying to build.

Seconds later, she felt herself get knocked back as a massive explosion enveloped the entire city below. She looked around everywhere seeing Shinigami and Quincy alike butchering hollows in the streets. "No! I won't let you destroy this world!" Nel shouted at the top of her lungs as she dove off the balcony with righteous fury.

"Nel! Get up! We need you!" the espada heard Cirucci's voice. It sounded like it was coming from far away.

"I won't let you kill my friends!" Nel bellowed as spiritual energy engulfed the entirety of her inner world.

Neliel, Hueco Mundo

"Time to die!" Driscoll Berci laughed as he swung Gin's Bankai into the Shinigami and arrancars.

The attack was immediately deflected with violent force as black and pink spiritual energy flooded the area. Dordoni, Cirucci, and Gantenbainne all gawked as Neliel was now awake again…in a new form.

"It can't be...did she awaken Segunda Etapa?" Dordoni said with sheer astonishment

"Segunda Etapa…she achieved it?!" Cirucci said with amazement and disbelief.

Gin seemed calm despite the lack of his bankai, but looked slightly roughed up from his fight with Driscoll. He turned towards Nel and widely opened his eyes.

The Shinigami said nothing, but his mind was racing, 'Another hollow achieved Segunda Etapa…I don't know whether to feel relieved or horrified by this.'

Bambietta looked horrified by the newly transformed and fully healed Nel, "What the fuck?! Did you just transform again?!"

"These Sternritters stole my bankai somehow, Neliel-san. Would it be possible for you to kill that one and help me get it back?" Gin asked Nel as he pointed at Driscoll.

Nel didn't even say a word as she immediately appeared next to Driscoll. He could barely react in time as the empowered espada formed an energy lance in her hand. She repeatedly jabbed it towards Driscoll, which he pitifully tried to parry.

Many of her attacks easily broke his defense and punctured the man's body. He was clearly not very good at using Gin's bankai, as even its speed and power could do little to counter her vastly enhanced powers.

"Bambietta! Help me! I can't activate Vollständig while I'm using this guy's bankai!" the man cried out for her aid.

Driscoll's heart sank into his chest when he realized that Bambietta was charging up a super bomb. It swelled dozens of times her size and blindingly filled the night sky.

"W-wait! You'll kill me if you throw that here!" Driscoll protested.

Seeing what was happening, Nel charged a colossal pink and black cero over her horns. She aimed it upward and countered right as Bambietta threw the bomb. The resulting aftermath was devastating as it caused fire and debris to rain down upon the battlefield.

When the attack was over, Bambietta looked shocked to see Nel mostly unharmed, and Driscoll completely burned. Gin had successfully endured the blast with Bakudo as well as Nel's Fracciones. The Espada briefly looked between Bambietta and the downed Driscoll before walking over and stabbing an energy lance through his chest killing the Sternritter.

Bambietta felt fear building up as Nel reared the lance back and threw it at her. She expectedly dodged the attack, but she was not expecting it when Nel flew after her in the sky. The Sternritter was powerless to hold back Nel's attacks and was bludgeoned repeatedly in the air until she was finally knocked out of the sky.

The Sternritter smashed into the ground, but wasted no time getting back up when she saw Nel pursuing her.

Seeing that the tables were now turned, Bambietta began to fly away in a swift retreat. Nel was honestly surprised to see Bambietta was fleeing. She would have kept pursuing, but her brief overlook of the battlefield quickly revealed a major problem. Both Grimmjow and Zommari were struggling against one of the Sternritters.

Wasting no time to help her friends, Nel descended and immediately intercepted Gerard Valkyrie. The Sternritter was easily manhandling Grimmjow and Zommari by the looks of it.

All three of them seemed surprised by her sudden arrival as Nel power kicked Gerard back. Grimmjow was bleeding heavily but looked mostly intact. Zommari was struggling to stand and had a relieved look in his eyes at Nel's arrival.

"Nel?! Is that you?!" Grimmjow said shocked at her new appearance.

"She achieved Segunda Etapa…" Zommari said slowly with amazement.

The feline arrancar shook his head, "How?!"

"There's no time to explain, Grimmjow," Nel replied calmly as she stared down the recovering Gerard Valkyrie.

"That guy is one of the elite Sternritters, Lady Nel. He's trying to stop us from getting White's sister," Zommari explained the situation.

Nel's eyes widened with confusion, "Ichigo's sister?"

She looked behind Gerard and was surprised when she saw a young looking teenage quincy. She was obviously a Sternritter but looked very out of place on the battlefield.

"That's Ichigo's sister?" Nel said surprised.

"You hit hard for a girl. I am impressed. One of your strength would have made a worthy shield maiden," Gerard remarked with admiration in his voice as he walked back over.

Zommari looked over at Grimmjow, "Help Lady Nel…I am getting Yuzu Kurosaki away from here."

Zommari used a very swift sonido to appear behind Yuzu and grab her. Gerard was about to bash him, but he was stopped when Nel kicked him as hard as she could in the opposite direction.

"Get her out of here Zommari! Grimmjow and I will fight this guy!" Nel announced.

Zommari nodded in acknowledgement as he hurried away with Yuzu in his grasp.

Yhwach and the other Elite Sternritters

Lille Barro was looking through his sniper rifle at the various battles happening around them. His eye widened when he noticed something shocking, "It looks like one of their Espada just activated a second release form."

"What?! Haschwalth sounded surprised for the first time in forever.

"She's fighting Gerard right now…it looks like the hollows are trying to take the girl. They must know who she is somehow…that's strange because we never told them. How would they know?" Lille wondered.

"BG9," Yhwach replied coldly, "I sense his life force."

"What? I thought they killed the scouts though," Askin remarked.

Lille refocused his sniper rifle and spotted BG9 fighting against Giselle and her zombie Jerome, "It seems like the hollows have a hold on him. I'll take him out."

"No…shoot the hollow controlling him," Yhwach replied.

Lille looked through his scope and spotted Szayel behind BG9. He held his rifle steady, "One shot…one kill."

Before he could fire however, something hit his rifle knocking its shot off its trajectory. The elite Sternritter grimaced angrily when he realized who was responsible.

There in front of the elite Sternritters and Yhwach himself stood Sosuke Aizen.

Giselle vs Szayel

The battle between the two puppet masters was in full swing now. Szayel was in his resurreccion with many arrancar minions around him as well as BG9.

Giselle's zombie Jerome was half destroyed now as he had been repeatedly used as a meat shield for the Quincy. He was about to fall apart by the looks of it.

'Jerome isn't very powerful…I need to get away from here and find a better Zombie,' Giselle thought to herself.

"Your little zombie minion doesn't appear to be in good condition. I doubt he'll last much longer. BG9, if you would, please kill this abominable woman. She is starting to annoy me with her immunity to all of my abilities," Szayel commanded. The android Quincy began to fire repeated Reishi blasts into Giselle but she kept up the now half destroyed corpse of Jereome as a shield while she advanced.

Thinking fast, Giselle tossed it at BG9 before disappearing in an eruption of blood. Szayel looked around confused at the Zombie girl's sudden disappearance, "BG9, run a scan and find her."

"Scanning…Sternritter Z, Giselle Gewelle, not found…" BG9 responded robotically.

"Not found?! You're telling me she just up and disappeared?!" Szayel huffed with annoyance.

"Affirmative…too many fluctuating energy signatures make tracking impossible currently. Recommendation…destroy all corpses on the battlefield," BG9 replied.

Szayel sighed as he nodded, "Very well. Let us find some. Minions, make sure you bring the payload with us too."

Giselle

Now a considerable distance away from Szayel, the zombie Sternritter briefly took cover. She looked around the battlefield with a patient observation, 'Gremmy is still fighting that Espada…where's Bambi-chan at?'

Giselle's observation quickly locked on to the sight of Nel in new hollow form fighting against Gerard Valkyrie, 'Did she win against Bambi-chan? That's surprising.'

The Zombie Quincy then spotted a massive chimera-like hollow battling multiple Sternritters. It seemed to be faring well against them much to her surprise. 'Candice, Meninas, Bazz B, Liltotto, and As Nodt are all fighting that thing? Impressive. Where is Bambi-chan though…if she's dead I can resurrect her.'

The zombie girl's inner thoughts were cut short when she finally spotted Nianzol and Berenice. They were both fighting against a swarm of lesser arrancars by the looks of it. Despite Nianzol's incredible defensive power, he was not faring as well offensively against them.

Giselle swiftly moved in towards their battle. Ggio was rabidly pouncing and attacking Nianzol, but to no avail.

"Can you get rid of these guys already? They're starting to get annoying," Nianzol said to Berenice.

"Hey guys, do you need some help?!" Giselle chirped as she ran up next to Berenice and Nianzol. Both looked a bit shocked by her sudden appearance.

"Fall back for now, we can't take three Sternritters on!" Ggio ordered the others as they all fled back immediately.

"Pfft, these hollows are very cowardly…" Berenice remarked with amusement at Barragan's Fracciones retreating.

Giselle walked right next to Nianzol and Berenice and laughed, "Well, it doesn't make tactical sense for them for fight three of us. The hollows are actually smart about how they fight. Survival is more important than glory."

"Why aren't you fighting right now, Giselle?" Berenice asked with disapproval in her voice.

"I was looking for some zombies," Giselle replied honestly.

Berenice shook her head, "Well go find some then!"

"I already have," Giselle said darkly.

"What?!" Berenice gasped as blood encircled the three Sternritters in a massive orb.

Nianzol's powers predictably negated it from himself, but he immediately felt many sharp pains puncturing his skin all over his body.

"I placed a few surprises in your coat the other day, Nianzol. Direct attacks are useless against you, but how can you negate something that's in your skin?!" Giselle said maliciously as the Sternritter began to hemorrhage from some unknown means.

He cried out in absolute agony and felt a horrible itching cover his entire body.

"Blood mites…one of my secret abilities. It's a very convenient way to slip your defenses. Nobody ever suspects them," she replied almost evilly.

"Giselle, what are you-" he didn't get to finish his reply as the zombie managed to bind him with blood. Berenice and Nianzol could only watch with horror as Giselle channeled her own blood through his wounds causing his entire body to spasm in agony.

Berenice immediately tried to kill the Zombie with a Heliig Pfeil, but she quickly felt Giselle grab her arm. Blood mites crawled off of Giselle's body and began to burrow their way into Berenice's skin. "My powers don't work directly on living Quincies, but if my blood gets inside of your body and makes it way to your heart then it is able to take hold."

Both Sternritters tried to activate their Blut Vene, but upon doing so, Giselle's blood flooded their bloodstreams causing both to lose their wills completely. Moments later their skin darkened into a greyish corpse like color.

'A shame I had to play this trump card so early, but oh well. I should go find Cang Du now that I have them.' Giselle thought to herself.

The zombified Nianzol and Berenice mindlessly followed her as Giselle began to search for Cang Du.

"Berenice use your tracking ability and find Cang Du for me," Giselle ordered her zombie.

"Where is Cang Du?" Giselle asked blankly causing her to immediately change directions and point.

Giselle looked at her with a wide grin, "Such useful powers…too bad you never put them to good use. Luckily, you have me now to remedy that problem."

Without delay, Giselle and her two Zombies headed for Cang Du's direction.

Cang Du vs Grimmjow's Fracciones

Cang Du had successfully killed every one of Grimmjow's Fracciones. He pulled his iron claws free from Yylfordt, his final victim, and shook his head.

"What a bunch of weaklings," Cang Du said aloud as he looked around for another opponent. His moment of respite was short-lived as Giselle arrived moments later. The scarred Sternritter turned to notice her immediately.

His eyes widened a bit when he saw Nianzol and Berenice were zombies.

"Giselle? What are you doing over here?" he asked stoically.

"I came to back you up," Giselle said as innocently and cheerily as possible.

The other Sternritter immediately brought his guard up, "Do I look like I need your help? Why are Berenice and Nianzol zombies?"

"They died to some powerful hollows I'm guessing…I found their bodies and thought I'd bring them back into the fight." She explained with a goofy smile.

"I don't need your help…" he replied slowly as Giselle approached.

He watched with disgust as Giselle immediately went to resurrecting the five dead arrancars around him. Their mangled corpses all reformed and healed through Giselle's necromancy as they all stood back up.

"Thanks for getting me all of these zombies, Cang Du. I really appreciate it," Giselle thanked him with an innocent grin.

"You're one sick and twisted bitch…get the fuck away from me freak," Cang Du remarked.

"By the way…are you feeling itchy right now?" Giselle asked.

Cang Du's eyes widened with shock as he immediately felt an itch on his body. Without hesitation, his entire body solidified into iron as he charged towards Giselle with intent to kill.

His attack was unfortunately futile against her as Nianzol winded him off trajectory. The Sternritter spoke with fury in his voice, "What the fuck, Giselle? Are you trying to kill me?!"

"I think it's time for an interrogation, don't you Berenice?" Giselle laughed.

"Oh fuck," Cang Du remarked when Berenice stepped forward.

"Are your powers truly capable of stopping Giselle?" Berenice asked lifelessly.

Cang Du felt his will wavering a bit as he stopped attacking.

"I…Yes they are!" Cang Du said as willfully as possible.

"Are you truly loyal to the Wandenreich, Cang Du?" Zombie Berenice asked.

Unable to stop himself, the Sternritter answered immediately, "Not by choice."

"That's good to know," Giselle beamed.

"Why are you trying to kill me, Giselle?!" He managed to ask.

"You want to lower your iron guard…don't you?" Berenice asked.

"No…no!" Cang Du tried to stop himself as he felt compelled to lower his defenses.

Zombie Berenice took another step forward, "Do you think Giselle is loyal?"

"No…" he answered.

"Then what have you got to lose?" Berenice asked.

Finally, Cang Du's will was nullified as his body turned back to normal. Moments later, Giselle bound him in blood.

"Damn you, Giselle!" he said with hatred as the itch overwhelmed his body.

"Now now, don't be so angry, Cang Du…you and I both want the same thing," Giselle remarked as the man was fully zombified.

After he was a full zombie, Giselle beamed proudly, 'Three Sternritters and five arrancars…excellent. Nianzol and Cang Du should be able to protect me from mostly anything now. Plus, Berenice's powers are useful for tracking and weakening others. These arrancars will also make useful bargaining chips later too. Now's a good time to find Yuzu-chan.'

"Berenice, find Yuzu for me," Giselle commanded.

"Where is Yuzu Kurosaki?" Berenice asked blankly before locating the young Quincy.

Giselle quickly followed with her entourage. Zombie Berenice pointed in the distance a moment later, "Bambietta is pursuing her."

"Nice…I don't want to leave Bambietta behind either," Giselle grinned evilly.