Chapter 58 - Despair (1/2)

Ichigo and Ulquiorra continued to clash swords. As they fought, Ulquiorra glanced over at Starrk and saw that he had not moved from his spot. 'Why is he just standing there? He didn't look into his eyes...so why would-'

”You shouldn't be looking the other way!” Ichigo said as he swung his blade at Ulquiorra's face. Ulquiorra ducked away to avoid a fatal blow but a cut forms on his cheek and drips with blood.

”Kurosaki Ichigo, you've grown faster than anticipated.” Ulquiorra said as he wiped the blood from his face. As Ichigo prepared to charge at Ulquiorra, Ulquiorra raised his palm towards him and a green light began to form.

”Getsuga Tensho!” Ichigo yelled as he swung his blade towards the green beam of reiatsu heading at him. His zanpakuto and the Gran Ray Cero clashed and cancelled each other out in a massive explosion of black and green reiatsu.

”It appears Tousen has just fallen to Uchiha and Starrk is currently not in the right state to fight. I'll have to wrap this up here.” Ulquiorra said as he flew high in the air and raised his blade in front of him.

”Enclose, Murcielago.”

The sky became dark as black and green reiatsu fell like rain on the city. Ichigo looked up in surprise at Ulquiorra's massive reiatsu as it rained down on him.

----

”Starrk wake up!” A small arrancar girl with light green hair yelled at Starrk, who was standing completely still and unresponsive.

”Dammit I said wake up!” The girl yelled as she punched Starrk in the throat.

”Gahhh!” Starrk yelled as he grabbed his neck from the pain. ”Lilynette? What are you doing here?!”

”I followed you. And here you are taking a nap during a mission you jerk!” Lilynette yelled back.

”That Uchiha guy...I didn't look into his eyes...so why was I-” Starrk remembered the moment just before he felt his entire body shackled to the ground with heavy chains where Itachi pointed a finger at him. ”So that's how he got me.”

”Lilynette, go back to Hueco Mundo. I need to finish my part of the mission. Looks like things are getting out of hand.” Starrk commented as he felt the rain of Ulquiorra's reiatsu hit his skin.

”Fine…” Lilynette replied before running off to open another Garganta.

”Now...to find that woman.” Starrk closed his eyes and focused on the surrounding reiatsu with his Pesquisa.

”Found her.” Starrk said as he vanished from his spot with a loud boom.

----

”How are you holding up Itachi?” Ichigo asked as Itachi appeared next to him after quickly finishing up his fight against Tousen. Both of them looked up at Ulquiorra who was flying high above them.

”We'll have to coordinate our attacks to fight him.” Itachi suggested as he manifested his armored Susanoo.

”I'll attack him from a distance with long range attacks. When you find an opening, hit him with everything you have.” Itachi said. Ichigo nodded as Itachi began to infuse reiatsu into his eyes.

”Amaterasu.”

Ulquiorra's pesquisa managed to sense the oncoming Amaterasu and he instantly used Sonido to leave his spot. With his sharingan, Itachi tracked Ulquiorra's movement and continued to follow him with Amaterasu as Ulquiorra continued to bȧrėly dodge it with consecutive use of Sonido.

'This guy's fast. I can bȧrėly keep up with that speed.' Ichigo thought as he watched Ulquiorra vanish and reappear as he tried to dodge amaterasu by leaving Itachi's line of sight. Eventually, part of his arm catches on fire with Amaterasu but Ulquiorra kept moving despite the loss of momentum.

Itachi stopped amaterasu as Ichigo found an opening to charge in at Ulquiorra.

”Getsuga-” Ichigo said as he began charging his zanpakuto with reiatsu only for Ulquiorra to immediately cut off his own arm and throw it at Ichigo.

As Ichigo dodged the burning arm, a thin green light appeared right in front of his head. Barely able to react, Ichigo moved his head to the right as half of his mask shattered and the spear flew past his head.

”Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of Lunacy. Boil Forth and deny.” Itachi said as he began an incantation while Ichigo attempted to fight Ulquiorra.

As Ichigo tried to comprehend what had just happened, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him, grabbing him by the face before throwing him down to the ground, completely shattering Ichigo's mask. As Ulquiorra stood high above where he threw Ichigo, he sensed a large increase in reiatsu building up from behind him.