Aced Nott!!!"
The name echoed across the battlefield, and instantly, the expressions of the Quincies who were present changed drastically. Shock and disbelief spread across their faces. Even the members of the Sternritter who were watching the scene unfold from a distance could not hide the tension in their eyes.
Aced Nott—the Sternritter whose holy letter was F, the embodiment of Fear. Among the Quincies, his name carried weight, for he symbolized pure dread itself. He was known to be one of their strongest warriors, someone who could twist the battlefield simply by existing. His ability, tied directly to fear, was one of the most dangerous powers among the Sternritter.
To his fellow Quincies, Aced Nott was not just formidable—he was someone who could even crush a Shinigami armed with Bankai. His presence was enough to tilt the balance of battle. Yet, right now, that very same Quincy was being smashed into the ground.
A violent impact shook the earth, smoke and dust rising into the air as his body was driven down.
"Uuuaaaahhh!!!"
A scream tore through the haze, the voice of Aced Nott himself. He was a warrior of immense strength, but being struck by Ulquiorra Cifer, who had revealed his Segunda Etapa—the second stage of his Resurrección—was a completely different level of destruction. That single blow had been enough to wound him so severely that his scream carried the raw pain of a body breaking apart.
Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the voice stopped. The silence that followed felt almost unnatural, as if the scream itself had been his final cry before death claimed him. To those watching, it seemed Aced Nott had perished in that instant, silenced forever in a single clash.
Ulquiorra hovered above the impact zone, wings spread, his pale green eyes unblinking. His expression remained as cold and empty as ever, not betraying even the faintest hint of emotion. His voice cut through the smoke with the sharpness of ice.
"You are not dead yet. I can still feel your reiatsu."
Indifferent. Calm. Merciless.
That was Ulquiorra Cifer—the former Fourth Espada during Aizen Sōsuke's reign. The Espada each represented a form of death, and Ulquiorra's aspect was nothingness. His very existence embodied emptiness, a void without warmth or care. To him, emotions were meaningless. Whether his opponent was weak or strong, he never underestimated, nor did he offer mercy. He simply destroyed, carrying out the will of nothingness with ruthless precision.
Facing such an enemy, any thought of trickery or ambush was pointless. Aced Nott, hidden in the dust, abandoned the idea of a surprise attack. His voice, colder and sharper than before, rang out:
"Vollständig… The Cowardice of God!!!"
The words themselves seemed to twist the air. In that moment, the full power of his holy letter ignited, and his body underwent a terrifying transformation. His figure emerged from the smoke, altered beyond recognition.
Circular halos with jagged spikes crowned his head, giving him a twisted, divine appearance. Blood dripped beneath his eyes, streaking down his face like crimson tears. His chest and upper body bore exposed bone, a grotesque armor that blurred the line between angel and corpse.
Black gloves covered his arms, while a skin-tight white robe clung to his body. From his back extended two eerie spirit wings, shaped like thorny rings, with faint golden markings trailing down from his throat to the hem of his robe.
He looked neither human nor angel, but something in between—an abomination, a fallen seraph twisted into the likeness of a demon stitched together by madness.
In this state, his holy power of fear grew exponentially stronger, radiating with suffocating intensity.
Aced Nott raised his hand with a casual motion, his voice quiet yet chilling.
"The Giant Eye Wall."
The sky above them split open with horror. Out of the air itself, thousands upon thousands of enormous black eyes appeared, opening all at once. They formed into a grotesque wall of glaring orbs, each eye staring downward with unblinking malice.
The effect was immediate.
Those who looked upon the eyes felt their souls quake. An uncontrollable fear took root deep inside, spreading like poison.
"Damn it! What… what did that damn bald freak just do?!" Sarugaki Hiyori's voice cracked as she stumbled backward, her bravado slipping away. "Why… why am I so scared…?"
Her eyes darted across the endless wall of eyes, and every time their gaze fell upon her, her body trembled harder. It was as though her very veins were being filled with fear itself, suffocating her from the inside.
She was not alone. Even the strongest of the Shinigami captains faltered. Hitsugaya Tōshirō, the prodigy of ice, felt his face stiffen, his breath shorten. Jūshirō Ukitake, calm and gentle even in the worst of times, could not hide the unease etched across his features. The eyes did not discriminate—captains, lieutenants, or soldiers, all who were caught in their sight felt terror claw into their hearts.
The Quincies who had been watching breathed a collective sigh of relief. Seeing Aced Nott unleash his full form reassured them of his power. Confidence returned to their voices as they laughed mockingly.
"Idiots," one sneered. "This… this is the true strength of a Quincy!"
Another jeered, pointing toward the Shinigami who were trembling. "Look at them! Unable to resist even for a moment. This is the terror that belongs to us!"
They knew Aced Nott's ability well. The F for Fear was not just a name—it was absolute. Any enemy caught in the gaze of his eye wall was instantly consumed by dread. Their legs would fail them, their hearts would pound out of control. Even closing their eyes brought no salvation. The fear was internal, unavoidable, feeding upon itself until it consumed everything.
In the end, no matter how powerful the opponent, their spirit would collapse. Their very heart would burn out, leaving them gasping, suffocating, and dying in paralyzing terror.
And yet—
A hush fell.
One of the Quincies froze, his confidence suddenly cracking as his gaze turned toward Ulquiorra. "Wait… why doesn't this guy… react at all?"
The silence spread like wildfire. Every pair of eyes, Quincy and Shinigami alike, turned toward the Arrancar hovering in the air.
Ulquiorra stood unmoved. His expression was exactly the same as before—calm, blank, cold. The wall of eyes glared at him, yet his face betrayed nothing. No trembling, no fear, no reaction at all.
But to their astonishment, Ulquiorra's face showed nothing at all.
Even as thousands of eyes glared down from above—eyes that made even the bravest warriors feel their scalps crawl and their stomachs twist—he remained expressionless. There was no flicker of emotion, no hesitation, not even the smallest reaction. He simply stared back at the wall of eyes as though they were meaningless shadows.
Grimmjow let out a harsh laugh, his voice dripping with contempt.
"Idiot. Ulquiorra represents nothingness."
His sneer cut through the silence.
Nothingness—the coldest, deepest form of indifference. In that void, there was no room for fear, no place for doubt, no trace of emotion at all.
Even in the original records of his battles, it was said that Ulquiorra felt nothing, not even when his own death loomed before him. Fear, to him, simply did not exist.
"Nothingness!?"
Aced Nott's pupils widened. His voice shook, disbelief written across every line of his twisted face. He could not comprehend what he was witnessing. His power was absolute; his ability was to make others drown in terror. Yet here stood an enemy completely unaffected, a figure who looked upon his wall of eyes as if they were mere insects.
His opponent was not a man at all. He was nothingness incarnate. A being without fear.
Ulquiorra looked down at him, his expression unchanged. Slowly, with no sense of urgency, he raised his pale hand. Energy swirled into existence, condensing into a sleek, emerald spear of spiritual power. The weapon gleamed with destructive force.
He aimed directly at Aced Nott—and released it without hesitation.
"Impossible!"
The Sternritter's face contorted. His earlier coldness shattered, replaced by pure desperation. His body swelled grotesquely, twisting and expanding as though he were about to burst.
"God's Cowardice—Final Form!!!"
The roar shook the battlefield. Blood erupted from the sutured line that split down the center of his body, spraying outward as his form distorted further.
The transformation was horrifying. The outer layer of his skin peeled away and floated around his head like a grotesque crown. His bulging eyeballs strained outward, his ribcage tore open and exposed bare bone, his legs twisted unnaturally, bending at impossible angles. His body ballooned in size until he towered above the battlefield, his monstrous bulk rivaling the buildings of Seireitei.
He was no longer even remotely human. He was a demon, a colossal nightmare of exposed flesh and bone, a grotesque god of fear.
With a clawed, devilish hand glowing blue, he swung desperately at the emerald spear, determined to crush it.
But there was no salvation.
The spear pierced directly through his palm.
Emerald light exploded inside his body, threads of reiatsu racing through his enormous frame like veins of fire. His demonic figure quaked violently, expanding further, as though air were being pumped into him from within. He swelled larger and larger, grotesquely bloated, like a balloon on the verge of bursting.
"Uaaaaaahhhh! I won't give up!!"
His voice was a distorted scream, filled with madness. He thrashed, unwilling to accept defeat. Yet even as he roared, his body betrayed him.
The swelling reached its peak—
And with a deafening boom, his colossal form ruptured.
The explosion tore across the battlefield, shaking the heavens. A hurricane of sound and wind burst upward, scattering dust and stone. The very ground cracked and split, a massive crater tearing open where he had stood. Surrounding walls buckled and collapsed, reduced to rubble under the force.
And then—silence.
The world stilled once more.
In that instant, the Thousand-Year Blood War claimed another life. Aced Nott—the Sternritter who had defeated Kuchiki Byakuya and driven him into ultimate despair—was gone. His reign of terror ended, erased by Ulquiorra Cifer's merciless hand.
"He's dead… just now…"
The voices of the Quincies trembled as they stared at the massive crater, disbelief etched into their faces. They could not process what had just happened.
Aced Nott, one of the most feared members of the Sternritter, had been destroyed in single combat. No squad, no reinforcements—just him against Ulquiorra, and he had fallen.
The weight of that reality crushed their confidence.
"Let's go!"
The mechanical Quincy, BG9, immediately turned to withdraw, his voice sharp with urgency. He wasted no time; hesitation meant death.
But Grimmjow only grinned wider, the savage light in his eyes burning brighter.
"What's this? Ulquiorra gets to kill an enemy, and I haven't even started yet?"
His voice was mocking, but excitement dripped from every word.
Without waiting, his spiritual pressure erupted, violent and unrestrained. Blue energy flared around his body, forming jagged patterns like the fangs of a beast. He roared, his voice primal and wild.
"Grind—Pantera!!!"
In an instant, Grimmjow entered his Resurrección. His form shifted, white armor plating his body, his features taking on the sleek ferocity of a panther. His long blue hair whipped wildly in the wind as the transformation completed. Claws, sharp and lethal, gleamed in his hands.
With a single step, he vanished into blinding speed, reappearing as he charged straight toward BG9, as fast and deadly as a hunting cheetah.
Beside him, Neliel Tu Odelschwanck raised her zanpakutō. Her expression was calm, her voice steady as she addressed her fellow Arrancar.
"Grimmjow. End this quickly. There are still many Shinigami waiting for us to save."
For a moment, Grimmjow's eyes flashed dangerously, irritation sparking at someone daring to interfere with his prey. Normally, he would have lashed out at Neliel for stepping in. But her words struck a different chord.
Save the Shinigami.
The idea stirred something reckless and wild inside him. A cruel smile spread across his face.
"Heh… hahaha! That's right! Let's go save those trash…"
His laughter rang out as he slashed his claws forward, a predator drunk on battle.
Neliel did not waste her breath with further words. She lifted her blade high, her voice calm, yet carrying the weight of power.
"Sing—Antelope Knight."
Her long, lake-green hair swirled around her as her body glowed. In an instant, she transformed—half woman, half antelope, her form majestic and fierce. She grasped a heavy lance in her hand, her aura radiating strength and elegance.
Together, she and Grimmjow launched themselves at their enemies, Arrancar and Espada united once more in battle.
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