If happiness truly exists in this world, then it must be something like boundless nothingness.
Nothingness means there is nothing at all, and nothing left to lose.
If that is not happiness, then what is?
Everything the eyes can see will eventually vanish from sight.
Everything the hands can touch will eventually slip from their grasp.
Even the battle taking place at this very moment will eventually come to an end.
The victor lives. The loser dies.
The loser returns to nothingness, and the victor will one day become the loser, returning to nothingness as well.
Even if someone could keep winning forever, once there were no opponents left, the victor would no longer be a victor. He, too, would return to nothingness.
The Moonlight Sword collided with the Zanpakutō, and the Reiatsu that burst out from the impact snapped the towering spire atop Las Noches in two.
Ulquiorra beat his wings, avoiding Kenpachi Zaraki's pursuit, then shot past him at high speed and sliced open his shoulder.
Before the spray of blood could even hit the ground, Kenpachi Zaraki had already turned with a savage grin and swung his blade at him.
So...
"In a meaningless battle like this," Ulquiorra flashed behind Kenpachi Zaraki, driving the Moonlight Sword toward his back, "what exactly are you enjoying?"
What had he gained from this battle?
Why... was he smiling so happily?
"Do you even have to ask?" Kenpachi Zaraki grabbed the Moonlight Sword, clenched his fingers, and crushed it by force. Then he raised his Zanpakutō high and brought it straight down. "The fight!"
His black demon wings whipped up a violent gale as Ulquiorra rose into the air and opened the distance. "Enjoying the fight...?"
Ulquiorra hovered above him, looking down at Kenpachi Zaraki from on high. "What is there to enjoy in a meaningless battle like this?"
"Hah?" The smile vanished from Kenpachi Zaraki's face, and he rolled his neck in irritation. "You're saying fighting is meaningless?"
"Then tell me," Ulquiorra said as a new Moonlight Sword formed in his hand, "what meaning is there in a battle whose outcome is already decided?"
"Hmm..." Kenpachi Zaraki picked up a stone, tossed it lightly into the air, watched it fall, and then crushed it under his foot. "Does that make it clear?"
The falling stone...
A faint light flickered in Ulquiorra's emerald eyes.
A stone thrown into the air would inevitably fall.
For the stone, that outcome was predetermined.
But in the instant it soared upward, it was reflected in his eyes, different from every other stone.
Because of that brief flight, Ulquiorra would remember that stone.
"Even if the outcome of a battle is predetermined," Ulquiorra murmured softly, as if he had understood something, "does the process of the battle still shine with a unique brilliance?"
Ulquiorra seemed to be beginning to understand Kenpachi Zaraki's way of thinking.
This Shinigami was like that stone, savoring that fleeting moment of flight.
"Hah?" Kenpachi Zaraki pointed at the crushed stones beneath his feet. "I meant that no matter how high you fly, I'll drag you down and crush you!"
Brick and stone shattered as Kenpachi Zaraki shot into the sky, slashing at Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra beat his wings and dodged, then flung the Moonlight Sword from his hand.
Boom!
Ghostly green light exploded, and a new Moonlight Sword formed in Ulquiorra's hand.
He realized he had misunderstood. There had been no deeper meaning in Kenpachi Zaraki's words. It had been a simple statement.
This Shinigami... when did he get there?
Ulquiorra sensed the presence beside him. The instant he turned and swung the Moonlight Sword, the jagged Zanpakutō had already fallen.
His enormous demon wing was split open. Before the Moonlight Sword in Ulquiorra's hand could reach Kenpachi Zaraki, a kick struck him in the chest, and under that terrifying force, his entire body plummeted uncontrollably to the ground.
Ulquiorra looked up into the sky. Kenpachi Zaraki descended from within the crescent moon, his Zanpakutō splitting the bright moonlight and swirling dust as it flashed with a cold, chilling gleam.
His claws dug into the brickwork. Ulquiorra bent his arms and dragged his body aside, avoiding Kenpachi Zaraki's attack.
The brutal pressure of the katana carved a furrow across the roof of Las Noches, and the gale that followed sent Ulquiorra's slender body flying.
The Moonlight Sword stabbed into the brickwork. Ulquiorra twisted his body, trying to rise.
Bang!
Ulquiorra's instinctive reaction made Kenpachi Zaraki's foot, which had been aimed at his chest, land on his arm instead.
As Ulquiorra rolled away, the pale arm wrapped in the sleeve of his white robe was forcibly torn off.
Ulquiorra beat his wings and steadied himself. The blood spraying from the severed arm gathered together and grew into a new arm.
"That's it..." Kenpachi Zaraki crushed the severed limb beneath his foot. "Don't panic. Don't let your guard down. Don't waste your focus thinking about boring crap. That's how you really enjoy a fight!"
Waste my focus...?
Ulquiorra's grip on the Moonlight Sword tightened slightly as the demon wing on his back finished regenerating.
In that instant just now, he truly had not had time to think about the meaning of battle.
"A predetermined outcome? The meaning of battle? The fight's already started, and you still have room in your head for meaningless things like that?" Kenpachi Zaraki's eyes opened wide. "If you really think fighting is meaningless, then beat me and prove my efforts don't mean a thing!"
Kenpachi Zaraki rested his Zanpakutō on his shoulder, the corner of his mouth rising in an arrogant grin. "Assuming... you can."
"...That's right." Ulquiorra dispersed the Moonlight Sword in his hand. "For someone like you, who enjoys battle, the way to prove battle is meaningless is not through words, but through strength."
Ulquiorra finally understood.
In Kenpachi Zaraki's eyes, aside from battle, even thinking about meaninglessness was itself meaningless.
"How pitiful..." Ulquiorra's emerald eyes deepened. "In a meaningless life, you cling to meaningless battle like a lifeline, lose yourself in it, and still try to use it to deny me."
How sad...
"Only by showing you true despair will you realize how ridiculous your actions are." Ulquiorra slowly closed his eyes, and the dark green tear marks on his cheeks turned black. "Then open your eyes and look closely... at what true despair really looks like."
Gloomy darkness spread outward, covering even the bright moonlight.
Shattered stones floated up, only to be crushed into fragments by the erupting Reiatsu.
An ominous Reiatsu spread and then contracted, wrapping completely around Ulquiorra.
Then his tattered robe vanished. Black fur covered his legs, spreading upward to wrap around his waist and abdomen, then extending behind him in the shape of a long robe. His long tail cracked the air apart, and the helmet he had worn before was reduced to stark white horns. His flying black hair grew even longer, forming a sharp contrast with his deathly pale skin.
"Resurrección, Segunda Etapa." Ulquiorra's forearms were likewise covered in black fur, and his hands resembled the claws of a bat. "Among the Espada, only I can perform Segunda Etapa of Resurrección. Even Aizen-sama has never seen this form."