A massive phantom of a woman in a sleeveless kimono stood upon the boundless desert, exuding a heavy, oppressive aura.
Countless indistinguishable threads darted and gathered wildly, instantly stitching up the wound on Urahara Kisuke's back.
At the critical moment, enduring the agonizing pain, he had forcibly released his Bankai.
However, just as Urahara Kisuke prepared to lock onto Aizen with his Reiatsu and deliver a heavy blow...
He was shocked to find that the figure who should have been standing behind him had vanished at some unknown point.
In his place, three pillars of berserk Reiatsu shot straight into the sky.
A tyrannical aura raged across the battlefield.
Grimmjow brushed the dust off his body. The charred marks on his skin, caused by the Hadō, healed at a visible rate.
In the blink of an eye, he had completely recovered.
Ulquiorra and Nnoitra were the same.
Although Urahara Kisuke's combat talent was quite impressive, a Kidō cast without its incantation was not enough to end this battle.
After a moment of shock, he abruptly retreated, first putting distance between himself and the three of them.
Even though he hadn't gotten a clear look at the ambusher's face, he could bet Naraku Sora's brain on it—it was absolutely Aizen Sōsuke.
This guy had finally exposed himself.
For the safety of the Soul Society, he had to escape Hueco Mundo, no matter how steep the price.
*'I must go back and expose Aizen's true colors!'*
With this thought, Urahara Kisuke's gaze gradually firmed. He lowered his Zanpakutō, letting its tip touch the silver sand beneath his feet.
Environmental modification!
In an instant, the boundless desert transformed into surging waves. Layer upon layer churned forward, instantly climbing to a height of a thousand meters, crashing down toward Grimmjow and the others like a collapsing mountain range.
There was no chanting of Kidō incantations, nor was there an explosive burst of Reiatsu.
The Zanpakutō's Bankai, much like Urahara Kisuke's own abilities, stirred up massive waves from the most subtle of beginnings.
Looking at the monstrous waves bearing down on them, a flash of excitement crossed Grimmjow's eyes.
*'As expected, the King has me in his thoughts.'*
*'Such a formidable enemy is exactly what I wanted!'*
"Cero!"
The moment he raised his hand, without any charging, an azure light flashed and erupted, followed immediately by a piercing beam that tore through the sky.
The dazzling pillar of energy lit up the night sky, forcefully tearing through layer after layer of sand waves.
Explosive roars rang out incessantly as massive shockwaves surged in all directions. The heavy pressure crushed the silver sand below, causing it to emit a loud crunching sound.
As an exclusive technique formed by highly condensed Hollow Reiatsu, the destructive power of a Cero changed according to the user's Reiatsu.
The stronger the Reiatsu, the more powerful the Cero.
If this were still the Grimmjow from his Adjuchas days, facing Urahara Kisuke's Bankai would have resulted in his instant defeat and death.
But after completing his evolution, he now had the power to put up a fight.
While Grimmjow attempted to clash head-on, Ulquiorra opted for a flanking assault.
Before they set out, Naraku Sora had made it very clear.
They could break his bones, but they absolutely could not kill him.
Therefore, they had to hold back their strength and keep their destructive power within a controllable range as much as possible.
As for Nnoitra, due to his relatively weaker strength, he failed to react in time and was immediately swallowed by the endless sea of sand.
He was completely submerged within it.
Terrifying power pressed in from all directions, squirming inward like a living creature, as if trying to completely crush him to pieces.
The sound of a Sonído flashed by in an instant. An expressionless face appeared in his line of sight as a powerful Reiatsu instantly locked onto Urahara Kisuke, and a cold blade slashed down toward him.
The light of the blade erupted.
In an instant, countless crisscrossing, sharp fissures appeared across the desert. Under the blade's sudden strike, the Bakudō defense cleanly shattered into countless flying fragments.
Urahara Kisuke hastily moved to intercept the attack.
Even though he had been the first to release his Bankai, facing the combined assault of these three, he had already fallen into a disadvantage.
Aizen stood at the edge of the battlefield, calmly watching the distant fight.
He hadn't originally planned to come, but after hearing a certain someone say they wanted Grimmjow and the others to test Urahara Kisuke's limits, he followed along out of curiosity.
The facts proved that Naraku Sora's judgment was indeed unique.
Even with the top combatants of Las Noches joining forces, they still couldn't take him down in a short amount of time.
Under the circumstances where neither side understood the other's abilities, Urahara Kisuke was actually able to forcibly claw back some ground by combining his Bankai and Kidō.
With such strength, he would be considered a first-rate expert even within the Gotei 13.
Except for his Reiatsu, which was a bit on the weaker side.
But with Urahara Kisuke's talent, making up for that shortcoming wouldn't take much time at all.
Nnoitra had never encountered such a troublesome enemy.
When he broke through the blockade of the sand waves and used Sonído to appear right in front of Urahara Kisuke, he was immediately surrounded by countless imperceptible threads.
His proud Hierro couldn't provide the slightest bit of protection.
In just a few short seconds, stitch marks appeared on his body. Immediately after, his flesh and blood tore apart, and countless bright red fascia, resembling nerves and blood vessels, floated in the air, still tenuously connected.
His bones were exposed.
Bizarrely, despite such severe injuries, he didn't feel a single ounce of pain.
Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame: Living Body Modification!
A trace of exhaustion flashed in Urahara Kisuke's eyes as he fiercely swung his Zanpakutō in a horizontal slash behind him.
Instantly, countless sparks flew.
*'Among the current enemies, this stoic-faced guy is the strongest.'*
*'Of the other two, one is obsessed with clashing head-on, and the other is completely restrained by my modification abilities.'*
*'Therefore, as long as I take down this stoic-faced guy in front of me, I can completely turn the tide of this battle.'*
Although he saw the dawn of victory, Urahara Kisuke didn't dare to relax in the slightest.
Because from the start of the battle until now, that ambusher who was suspected to be Aizen had only appeared once.
Even though he didn't know the other party's true goal, he absolutely could not let his guard down.
The silver sand beneath his feet had been completely modified. Any living creature that stepped into the range of his Reiatsu could not escape his perception.
*'Everything is under control!'*
The roar of clashing metal echoed across the battlefield. Materialized Reiatsu turned into a torrent, sweeping majestically in all directions.
"Soul Reaper, you are very strong."
Through their crossed blades, Ulquiorra calmly stared at the face opposite him.
"It will be difficult to take you down in my current state."
"Therefore, please be careful."
Urahara Kisuke's expression turned strange; he had actually heard a trace of goodwill in the other's tone.
*'Are the Arrancar Menos of Hueco Mundo all this kindhearted?'*
Just as he was pondering the enemy's intentions, Ulquiorra suddenly used Sonído to retreat, widening the distance between them.
"Imprison, Murciélago!"
The moment his words fell, a dark green pillar of Reiatsu shot into the sky. A heavy sense of oppression crashed down upon the desert like an overturning ocean.
The originally deep sky had, at some unknown point, become covered by thick, heavy clouds.
Patter.
With the fall of the first raindrop, as if it were some kind of signal, the rain instantly intensified. The continuous downpour acted like a curtain, obscuring all vision.
Urahara Kisuke looked at the scene before him in shock, his face full of disbelief.
*'We've been fighting for half the day, and now you're telling me you weren't using your full strength just now?'*
*'Why is every single one of them as despicable as Naraku Sora?'*
At the same time, two more terrifying pillars of Reiatsu rose from the ground, causing the boundless sea of sand to violently tremble and roar.
The momentum of the countless falling raindrops turned into a tide, even pooling into lakes in the low-lying areas.
Vast Reiatsu transformed into ripples, running rampant through the torrential rain.
Urahara Kisuke suddenly felt his scalp go numb.
*'If I could still put up a fight just a moment ago, now there's nothing left but a dead end.'*
*'I'm just a seated officer; I shouldn't have to bear such a heavy burden.'*
After releasing their Resurrección, the three of them used Sonído to scatter and stand in a surrounding formation, trapping Urahara Kisuke in the middle.
Feeling the viscous Reiatsu surging all around him, Urahara Kisuke revealed a bitter expression.
*'I'd like to ask, is it still too late to surrender now?'*
When the battle flared up once again, a surging storm of Reishi shot into the sky, submerging the entire world as if doomsday had arrived.
By the time Urahara Kisuke woke up again, he felt as though there wasn't a single part of his body that didn't ache.
His entire body felt as if it had been repeatedly run over by a heavy truck.
His flesh and blood had collapsed, and his bones were completely shattered.
Fortunately, this was just a hallucination brought on by being excessively beaten.
After simply sensing his condition, Urahara Kisuke confirmed that all of his current injuries combined were not as severe as the single slash Aizen had given him.
*'Speaking of which, where is this?'*
He opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings.
What greeted his sight were two rows of figures dressed in white attire, each bearing a different expression.
The three he had fought earlier were impressively among them.
For a moment, Urahara Kisuke felt his scalp tingle and his breathing stop.
*'Could it be... are these all Arrancars?'*
*'Has Hueco Mundo actually developed to such an extent?!'*
*'I thought it was just some minor skirmishes, but I never expected Aizen to have secretly built up such a massive faction.'*
*'What exactly is he trying to do?'*
*'Is he planning to overthrow the Soul Society?'*
Thinking of this, Urahara Kisuke subconsciously compared the strength of both sides.
In terms of foundational combat power, Hueco Mundo was clearly stronger than the Soul Society.
A random Gillian was not something a regular Soul Reaper squad member could handle; it would require at least a seated officer.
As for high-level combat power, if the strength of all these Arrancars was roughly on par with each other, he feared even the Captains of the Gotei 13 wouldn't be their match.
Of course, this comparison had to exclude the Head Captain.
But even so, it was utterly terrifying.
If Hueco Mundo truly intended to attack the Soul Society in the future, the outcome would likely be no better than the previous Quincy Blood War.
Just as Urahara Kisuke was pondering how to transmit this intelligence back to the Soul Society, a voice suddenly rang out from above.
"Kisuke, are you satisfied with the welcome ceremony I prepared for you?"
Urahara Kisuke subconsciously raised his head, looking toward the direction the voice came from.
On the throne, Naraku Sora rested his right cheek on his hand, observing the scene below with great interest.
When he got a clear look at that figure, Urahara Kisuke's pupils instantly shrank, and his heartbeat stopped.
"..."
His expression turned sluggish. Countless thoughts exploded in his mind, as if a pot had boiled over, instantly turning his brain to mush.
*'Could it be that my speculations have been wrong all along?'*
*'The true mastermind behind the scenes isn't actually Aizen, but the seemingly reckless and witless Naraku Sora?'*
Thinking of his own past actions and the suffocating gap in martial prowess between them...
Urahara Kisuke's heart instantly turned to ash. Completely losing the strength to struggle, he lay flat on the cold ground.
"Guh, just kill me..."