Chapter 127: Endangered Ulquiorra
Inoue was completely taken aback by Ulquiorra's revelation, especially when she finally understood why Fiander had brought her up here.
"You mean... you're responsible for Kurosaki-kun becoming like this?"
After Inoue's voice fell, the demon Ichigo noticed that Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure had shifted, transforming into a black shadow once again.
Whoosh!
The afterimage appeared before several people in the blink of an eye. Ulquiorra raised his hand to counterattack, but was directly grabbed by the throat, with slender claws stabbing directly toward Ulquiorra's body.
BOOM!!
Suddenly, Fiander raised his leg and kicked the demonized Ichigo hundreds of meters away with a whip-like motion. All the glaciers along his flight path were crushed by his hurtling body.
"Kurosaki-kun!!"
Seeing this scene, Inoue's face turned pale with fright, but with the perpetrator right in front of her, she couldn't do anything.
"I should clarify—I didn't do this because I wanted to harm Kurosaki Ichigo specifically."
"It's simply that he is just a pitiful person, an ant manipulated by fate and the will of the world itself."
Fiander lowered his leg and looked at Ulquiorra, who was filled with genuine panic. He hadn't expected this usually cold individual to show such an expression.
When the demonized Ichigo had grabbed him just moments ago, a sense of impending death had engulfed his soul directly. He knew that if Fiander hadn't intervened, he would have died right then.
Although he had never been afraid of death—he'd been that way since his days as a Menos Grande—in this series of battles, Ulquiorra was gradually discovering his inner purpose, or the meaning of existence. To some extent, once Ulquiorra learned how to fear death, he began understanding the meaning of cherishing life.
"You mean you're helping Kurosaki-kun?"
Inoue asked again in astonishment.
"Help? That's not quite so noble. I simply want to use Ichigo-kun to help me achieve certain goals, but it would be beneficial to help him break free from fate's shackles in the process."
"Inoue, don't you care for Kurosaki Ichigo? Follow me, and I will show you the truth of this world, and Kurosaki Ichigo's eternal destiny."
At this moment, Fiander extended his hand toward Inoue, speaking with anticipation: "You should understand me—I rarely kill indiscriminately, because people who've crawled out of hell understand life's value even more."
"As for the occasionally unavoidable killing, it's simply a last resort to achieve my purposes."
"You have the power to fight alongside me, but both the Shinigami and Aizen fear your abilities. They won't teach you how to use and improve yourself, but I can train you."
While Fiander was speaking, a ten-meter-long black Cero sprayed toward them through all obstacles.
Feeling the energy in the black Cero, Fiander looked at Ulquiorra, who was covered in wounds. Even with a Menos Grande's High-Speed Regeneration, Ulquiorra had basically reached his limit.
"Can you still fight?"
Fiander's words made Ulquiorra feel uncomfortable, even though Fiander had saved him—he just felt irritated!
Whoosh!
Ulquiorra flapped his wings and created an air wave on the ground, causing Inoue below to cough from the stirred-up dust.
"Luz de la Luna!"
Ulquiorra pulled his hands through the air again, and a spear crackling with green spiritual energy appeared in his grasp.
Originally, when fighting the demonized Ichigo, he had maintained an advantageous position, but some balance within the demonized Ichigo's body seemed to have broken. What had been a half-demonized opponent was now completely covered by darkness and shadow.
When his body was fully mastered, the demonized Ichigo's aura became completely different from soul to body. Even Ulquiorra, who had already achieved Second Resurreccion and felt swollen with confidence, experienced genuine palpitation.
The Spirit Spear containing powerful spiritual energy was hurled violently from Ulquiorra's hand. During the spear's flight, the surrounding air twisted briefly, and it soon collided with demon-Ichigo's black Cero.
BOOM!!
A yellow flash directly illuminated the entire zenith space, a huge mushroom cloud soared skyward, and violent air waves destroyed all surrounding objects. Fiander stood before Inoue, snapped his fingers with a "pop," and a massive ice wall rose up, protecting the two behind it. The destructive explosion ahead didn't affect them at all.
Fiander looked at Inoue, who sat slumped on the ground with somewhat dazed eyes, clearly thinking about something, so he said: "Although sometimes I don't particularly like your approach—I think you're too idealistic."
"However, sometimes certain ideals aren't impossible, provided that you must have the power to control and suppress everything, so that your ideals qualify as ideals rather than ridiculed empty talk."
"Inoue Orihime, what do you think about what I've said? I'm different from Soul Society and Aizen—I don't need to rely on or fear your power."
"Because you've never seen a god jealous of another god."
Fiander spread his hands, his eyes shining with a brilliance called confidence—supercilious, contemptuous, and even disdainful.
"I refuse!"
"I will not cooperate with anyone who hurts my classmates!"
At this moment, Inoue was like a stubborn bird, blushing as she stretched her neck and glared at Fiander defiantly.
"Refused?"
"That's still within my expectations—not an unacceptable answer. Sometimes you're just so inflexible."
"Aren't you worried that I might threaten Kurosaki Ichigo and the others' lives to make you agree?"
Fiander glanced again at the battling demon-Ichigo and Ulquiorra.
"You won't. You said it yourself—you're different from Aizen and the others. I believe you won't break your word."
Inoue responded by catching the loophole in Fiander's earlier statement.
"What an inflexible person, but don't worry, Inoue Orihime!"
"Stay by my side, and I'll let you see—perhaps that's when you'll ask to join me!"
Fiander wasn't particularly concerned, extending his palms and placing them gently on the ice wall. Cold air overflowed, and the surrounding temperature began dropping instantly.
"The battle is almost over!"
Suddenly Fiander said something that puzzled Inoue. Over? Looking at Ulquiorra and demon-Ichigo still fighting in mid-air, Inoue couldn't see any signs of conclusion.
Seeing the confusion on Inoue's face, Fiander smiled, gently twisted his wrist with a creaking sound, and said: "I'm not referring to them, but to the struggle inside Kurosaki Ichigo!"
"Jilianka has the upper hand and looks like he's going to completely devour Ichigo and his Hollow's souls."
As soon as Fiander finished speaking, Ichigo's demonized body underwent another massive transformation. Blood-red aura overflowed from his form, and crimson beams shot outward from his eyes.
The black skin began falling off piece by piece.
The sudden change surprised Ulquiorra. He raised his hand to attack directly with a black Cero, but his opponent's speed was so fast his eyes could no longer track it. The moment he raised his hand, the still-molting Kurosaki Ichigo had already reached him, grabbed his arm, and yanked—the entire limb was torn away.
The nerve-tearing pain made Ulquiorra frown and grit his teeth without making a sound, but he hurriedly created distance and looked at his opponent with genuine fear.
"Huff..."
Exhausted, he was unable to use High-Speed Regeneration again, so he could only endure the pain, stop the bleeding first, and look grimly at the god-like monster in the air.
Finally, Ichigo, whose skin had completely peeled away, slowly opened his eyes with traces of red light, looked down at Ulquiorra below and mocked contemptuously: "Ant!"
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