"Hmph. Insolent brat."
Unlike Sombravida, Barragan had no patience for dismissal.
When Ulquiorra uttered "Leave. Or die," the Skeleton Emperor's pride flared.
His spiritual pressure surged.
A black tide of decay — Respira — spread outward like a rotting storm.
The gray trees nearest him began to crumble instantly.
Ulquiorra did not panic.
He simply stepped sideways.
A flash of Sonído split the air.
Respira grazed the clearing — devouring bark, soil, and stone — but missed him entirely.
Then—
A dark green Cero formed at Ulquiorra's fingertip.
He fired.
The beam cut through the spreading edge of Respira, detonating it mid-expansion and disrupting its forward momentum.
It did not erase Respira.
But it displaced it.
Sombravida's eyes narrowed.
"Not lightning."
Barragan gave a low sound.
"Compressed Cero discharge. Dense enough to destabilize my outer decay field."
Sombravida understood.
Ulquiorra's power wasn't elemental thunder.
It was pure, hyper-compressed reiryoku.
Precision over volume.
Respira decays matter over time.
But if the attack is instantaneous and energy-dense, decay has no window to spread.
Sombravida exhaled.
So the earlier assumption had been wrong.
No elemental law.
Just overwhelming spiritual compression.
"Boy," Barragan said coldly, "assist."
Sombravida stepped forward.
His left hand formed the Sky-Splitting Greatsword.
He vanished.
Shadow-step.
He reappeared above Ulquiorra and brought the blade down.
Ulquiorra raised a bare hand.
Clang.
Spiritual pressure collided.
Ulquiorra's physical strength, enhanced by partial Arrancarization, held firm.
"Why," Ulquiorra asked flatly, "are you interfering with my solitude?"
"We don't wish to kill you," Sombravida replied mid-exchange. "We want cooperation."
Ulquiorra disappeared.
Sonído.
He reappeared behind Sombravida and thrust a claw forward.
Sombravida twisted space.
The strike passed through warped air.
Barragan advanced again.
Respira surged from beneath like a rising tide.
Ulquiorra leapt skyward—
But Sombravida had already opened a spatial seam above him.
Respira was redirected.
It grazed Ulquiorra's right arm.
Flesh decayed instantly.
Bone exposed.
Ulquiorra's pupils contracted slightly.
He focused reiryoku.
High-Speed Regeneration activated.
Black flesh reformed over white bone within seconds.
Sombravida's assessment sharpened.
Canon confirmed.
Ulquiorra possessed regeneration rivaling top-tier Espada.
Sombravida retreated slightly.
Colorless Cero began gathering at his fingertip.
Simultaneously—
A spatial distortion concealed its trajectory.
Barragan understood instantly.
He expanded Respira into a wide field.
Forcing Ulquiorra's movement patterns.
Ulquiorra countered with rapid-fire Cero bursts, cutting openings through the decaying mist.
Sombravida fired.
The invisible Cero detonated from beneath Ulquiorra's feet.
Space fractured outward.
Ulquiorra was slammed downward.
Respira enveloped him.
Explosion.
Dust and black decay swallowed the clearing.
Then—
A pulse.
Dark.
Heavier than standard Cero.
Ulquiorra emerged from the smoke.
His body was burned and partially decayed—
Right arm missing.
Left leg fractured.
Torso charred.
Yet—
His expression remained unchanged.
Reiryoku surged.
High-Speed Regeneration restored him completely.
Then—
At his fingertip—
Black energy condensed.
Not dark green.
Not emerald.
Black.
Dense beyond normal Cero.
Barragan's skull-flame flickered.
"…Cero Oscuras."
Sombravida's eyes widened slightly.
So early?
Ulquiorra spoke softly.
"You persist."
He fired.
BOOM.
The black beam roared across the clearing.
Sombravida raised a spatial barrier instinctively—
It shattered.
The blast launched him backward violently.
Barragan evaded via Sonído, but even he was scorched along the edges of his cloak.
The ground where the beam passed was not merely destroyed—
It was gouged into a deep trench, reishi destabilized.
Sombravida regenerated while sliding to a stop.
"That power…"
Barragan answered coldly:
"Cero Oscuras. A Cero variant accessible only to high-level Arrancar."
Sombravida steadied himself.
"It's stronger than Gran Rey Cero."
"Yes," Barragan confirmed. "Gran Rey Cero amplifies lineage authority. Cero Oscuras amplifies compression and destructive density."
Sombravida exhaled slowly.
So the hierarchy was clearer now:
Standard Cero
Ability-infused Cero
Gran Rey Cero
Cero Oscuras
No mythical "law-destroying" beam.
Just raw destructive supremacy.
Ulquiorra hovered in the air.
Uninjured once more.
His voice was colder now.
"You force escalation."
Barragan's aura thickened.
"Brat. You possess power. But you lack domain."
Respira surged again—
This time tighter.
Denser.
Sombravida stepped beside Barragan.
"We can't win through brute exchange," he said quietly.
Ulquiorra's regeneration and Cero Oscuras advantage tilted raw offense in his favor.
Barragan could injure him.
Sombravida could injure him.
But killing him before he reacted?
Unlikely.
Ulquiorra raised his hand again.
Another black sphere formed.
Sombravida's heart beat faster—not from fear—
From realization.
Cero Oscuras destabilized space on impact.
That density—
If he could learn it—
Combine it with spatial law—
Sombravida's eyes sharpened.
Desire ignited.
He would master this.
He would surpass it.
Black Cero.
Cero Oscuras.
Whatever name it bore—
He would learn it.
And then—
He would go further.
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