"Are you afraid?"
The top of the fifth tower, the throne room.
Cuatro Espada Ulquiorra Cifer, the single Arrancar entrusted with guarding Las Noches, asked the woman standing resolutely before him.
Now that her role as enemy bait was known and everything had proceeded as planned, nothing protected her—Inoue Orihime. Neither Commander Hinamori nor Ulquiorra himself would pay mind to a worthless human.
The woman would die here, touched by no one, completely alone.
But.
"I'm not afraid."
Inoue Orihime repelled that fear.
"When everyone came here, at first I was a little happy... and then extremely sad. Why did they come, I wondered."
"..."
"But feeling everyone fight and get hurt... I thought it was terrible, just terrible."
She didn't want her friends injured. She wanted them safe. When she thought that, she realized something.
"If anyone among them disappeared like me... I'd definitely do the same thing they did."
It might be impossible to think exactly the same as someone else. But you can cherish each other and place your heart a little closer to the other person.
And that is what it means.
With a crystal-clear voice, Inoue Orihime said so.
That is...
—What it means to "unite hearts."
Silence dominated the throne room. Sorrowful yet filled with strong will, those large eyes stared straight ahead. Strong eyes that a powerless person facing death could never possess.
"...Heart?"
Suddenly realizing, Ulquiorra found himself questioning the woman before him.
"You humans speak of it so easily. As if it rests in the palm of your hand."
The Arrancar recalled. Once, he was a grotesque Hollow born fallen into darkness, possessing no skin, mouth, nose, or ears. The only world he knew was what those eyes reflected—white and black. That was everything in this world to him.
And there, something called a heart could not exist.
"The Commander also said so. That you are a being who can know the whereabouts of that vague and uncertain 'heart'... its true form."
"...That person said...?"
That was the one thing Commander Hinamori Momo never taught Ulquiorra. And when she said she knew someone who could teach him what she couldn't.
Ah, as expected.
You know it.
"What is a heart?"
The Arrancar asked. Approaching step by step the human who held that answer.
"If I tear open that chest, will I see it inside? If I crush that skull, will I see it within?"
The Arrancar stood before the human's eyes. And reached out toward that place they repeatedly touched.
But just before Ulquiorra's fingertips could touch Inoue Orihime's chest.
"Get away from Inoue."
Breaking through the great hall's wall with explosive sound, another human appeared.
Another who possessed the same "heart" as the woman.
***
Each time swords clashed, wall-like wind pressure struck her body. Watching her precious beloved and the Arrancar who'd cared for her fight, Inoue Orihime stood frozen, pressing her bursting chest.
She didn't want them hurt—Orihime had just said so. But that wasn't only thinking of the friends who'd come to rescue her.
"...When I fought you before, it felt like fighting a machine or stone statue. But now, I can read your movements a little."
"...What did you say?"
"Did my movements become visible because I approached you Hollows... or perhaps..."
—You approached us humans.
Ichigo, who'd torn Ulquiorra's clothing, speculated about his change. Perhaps because they crossed swords directly, he sensed something.
"I approached you humans?"
But when those words dissolved into the hall, the Arrancar youth's swung zanpakuto split the floor.
"...I see—you seem quite pleased that you can now keep up with this level."
And immediately after, Ichigo's figure suddenly vanished into explosive dust.
"Guh... damn it!"
"Kurosaki!"
"Have you forgotten? Your Getsuga, which couldn't defeat me even with your mask out, is useless however you use it."
Fast, tremendously so. Ichigo was driven into disadvantage by godspeed movements leaving not even afterimages. Even slashes wrapped in Getsuga, even Orihime's Santen Kesshun erected to protect him—all were powerless before the unrestraining Cuatro Espada.
Were those words the Arrancar youth's sore spot? His face showed no emotion. But to Orihime, the furious attacks—as if offended by provocation—seemed to speak of Ulquiorra's heart.
—What is a heart?
Ah, what a... what a sad question. The girl's mind filled with his sculpture-like expressionless face.
Kurosaki's speculation might be correct. But probably, that phrase held a far, far more cruel meaning than they imagined.
That question wasn't from simple curiosity attracted to the invisible. Just as Orihime's brother lost it upon becoming a Hollow, the Arrancar youth was a single Hollow struggling to reclaim what he'd lost.
Having realized that, Orihime could no longer think of him as an enemy.
"Ulquiorra... you..."
The youth said honorifics were unnecessary for Hollows like them. But precisely because of that, the girl absolutely wanted to call him that.
Only that person showed interest in the "heart" possessed only by fragile humans. Yammy, Grimmjow, Luppi, Nnoitra. Among the fearsome Espada overflowing with terrifying power and pride that Orihime had met, only he.
Only Ulquiorra Cifer—like her friends, she found herself not wanting him hurt.
"Uuulquiiioooor~raaa."
Suddenly, a low male voice echoed through the throne room.
In the rising dust cloud, breaking through the hall floor appeared that massive man—Orihime knew him.
"...Looks like you've completely recovered, Yammy."
"Yeah, that Shinigami seems pretty strong now too. Let me at him."
Yammy Llargo. By chance, the first Arrancar encountered in Karakura Town now stood blocking their path in this Hueco Mundo battle's final phase.
"Getting demanding when you reach that state is your flaw, Yammy. Have you forgotten how often the Commander scolded you?"
"Ugh, don't remind me."
Ulquiorra rejected his comrade's assistance. But the grumbling Yammy suddenly raised his spiritual pressure and turned behind him.
"Then—I can crush that traitor over there, right?"
『!?』
The man's gaze fell on Inoue Orihime. The giant, face twisted in rage showing back teeth at the corner of his mouth, glared down at the powerless girl.
At that moment, beside Ichigo surprised by the intruder's sudden attitude change, Ulquiorra seemed to slightly widen his eyes.
"...Your business isn't here. Go back to sleep or clean up the captains below. Several stubborn survivors remain."
"Don't get it. That female brat received so much attention from that person, yet sided with that Shinigami—she's trash. Thought you, who served as caretaker and all, would've killed her first."
The man's intensity made Orihime involuntarily retreat.
"Ah, ahh..."
"Tch, Inoue!!"
Ichigo tried to rush to the approaching danger. But the youth who broke free from Ulquiorra and slashed at Yammy was stopped by the giant's single-handed zanpakuto.
"What... guah!?"
"Ha, thought it'd be like last time? Too naive, Shinigami!"
"Kurosaki!!"
Crack—an unpleasant sound echoed as Ichigo was punched away by the Espada's free left hand. The injury she sensed through the hastily cast Soten Kisshun was far more serious than imagined.
"Ahhh, pisses me off. Aaroniero, Zommari, that idiot Grimmjow and Nnoitra—all got beaten by trash like this...!"
"Guh, damn... Inoue!!"
And Yammy Llargo towered before Orihime's eyes.
Too weak to discern detailed strength differences at this spiritual pressure level. But the giant before her—his body, his power—seemed many times larger than in Karakura Town.
"Well then, hurry up and die."
Nothing remained. Nothing left to protect her. Her desperate Santen Kesshun broken like paper, utterly helpless.
Watching the Espada's swung left arm, Orihime prepared for death hearing her beloved's scream.
But.
"...Sting."
—Escolopendra—
Before the frozen Inoue Orihime, two new intruders blocked the way.
On their backs, shielding her from the giant—
***
"Hah? What're you playing at, bitches?"
"Haa... haa... you're all so annoying...!"
"This makes us even! Got it, human!?"
The two maid Arrancar who'd stopped skulking behind the great doors. Watching the trash barely binding Yammy's left hand to protect the woman, Ulquiorra was stunned by his own earlier action.
...Why? Why did I let Kurosaki Ichigo go to the woman?
The Espada was confused. Stopping him at that moment would've been easy. But a moment's bodily stiffness prevented it, and he'd found himself vaguely watching the Shinigami's back as he slashed at Yammy.
"Fall and melt to the basement with my poison! Pera Venenosa!"
"What, you...!"
The maid Arrancar tried collapsing the hall floor with their ultimate technique. Seeing the opportunity and joining in, Kurosaki Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho became the decisive blow, and Yammy fell to the tower's depths with a bitter scream.
But Ulquiorra, witnessing it all, couldn't move.
—You might have approached us humans.
Those words echoed in his mind.
The logic was unclear. But what Ulquiorra felt from those words wasn't just the emotion of insult. Something greater, resonating with some fundamental Hollow essence.
"...Sorry to keep you waiting."
"!"
Suddenly, the Shinigami's voice brought him back. Kurosaki Ichigo, who'd been conversing with the maid Arrancar, faced Ulquiorra with the three behind him.
"Here I go. This is what you wanted to see..."
—Hollowfication—
Darkness enveloped the surroundings. Clad in familiar, coarse, dense spiritual pressure, the Shinigami donned a Hollow mask with stigma running across half, immediately assaulting Ulquiorra.
『Haaaaaah!!』
"...!"
Strong. The mere slash carved through his zanpakuto like butter.
Blown outside the tower by the deflecting force, Ulquiorra fired his current maximum-power Cero at the enemy behind him.
Direct hit. The previous him would've ended there.
『...』
But Kurosaki Ichigo survived. Moreover, he'd deflected the Cuatro Espada's spiritual pressure unscathed.
"—"
『Wait, Ulquiorra!』
No arrogance or overconfidence needed here. Acknowledging disadvantage, Ulquiorra immediately decided to relocate, soaring toward the blue sky's heights above.
『...This is... above Las Noches' dome...?』
Standing atop one of many towering spires, he looked down at the enemy who'd pursued and arrived.
"...Two things are forbidden beneath Las Noches' dome."
One was the Cero existing for Espada—Gran Rey Cero.
And the other... Resurrección of Espada Cuatro and above.
Both were so powerful they could destroy Las Noches itself.
"—Lock."
...Show me, Kurosaki Ichigo.
How will your so-called "heart" struggle against this despair?
—Murciélago—
***
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