Deep within the magnificently sandy castle of Las Noches, Yammy and Ulquiorra strolled into a faintly lit room obscured in darkness, the soft pitter-patter sound of their sandals echoing through the room as they approached the center. The dark silhouettes of numerous individuals could be seen sitting or standing here and there across the room upon unfinished concrete pillars. Upon a great construction inside the middle of the room, the silhouette of a man sitting on a marble throne could be seen.
Yammy dropped to his knees as soon as he reached the middle of the room, right in front of the large structure while Ulquiorra simply stood straight. "We have returned, Lord Aizen."
The upper side of the large construct suddenly lit up in a white light, unraveling the shadows from the man and revealing the traitorous ex-Captain of Squad 5, Sosuke Aizen dressed in a black Shihakusho and white coat.
The former Captain smiled kindly at his loyal subordinate. It seems his Zero Espada had taken quite a beating, if the numerous wounds, bruises, large amount of blood staining his white Arrancar uniform and the lack of an arm were any indication. It would be interesting to see who had done that kind of damage to him.
"Welcome Ulquiorra and Yammy. Tell me what you've accomplished during your trip to the World of the Living?"
"Yes sir."
Reaching for the left side of his face, the ever melancholic Ulquiorra plucked out his left eye as if it was an ordinary thing to do and crushed it in his hand like a fragile piece of glass. The shattered remains of the once-complete eye turned into different colors of light and flew across the room in a rainbow of shades; everyone closed their eyes to see what Ulquiorra had seen.
Aizen watched everything Ulquiorra had seen and experienced quietly, taking every detail into account. Nothing worth his attention had happened during his Espada's expedition to the Living World, though a few things stood out more than the rest. That healing power of the one named Orihime Inoue was interesting. A human capable of healing a mutilated arm to near perfection was nothing short of remarkable.
That aside, he failed to see how Yammy had actually received those other wounds. His lack of arm could be certainly understood since he had watched Ichigo cut it off during his battle. So then how did he receive all those blood stains and wounds?
"Ulquiorra, would you mind explaining why I can't see anything in regard to how Yammy had actually received those wounds?" he asked calmly, a small serene and peaceful smile on his face. Inwardly though, he was frowning. He hated secrets and mysteries he could not understand.
His mysterious ally Phantom was a prime example of that.
Ulquiorra was admittedly confused himself; pretty sure he had recorded everything… every little detail about the battle so that Lord Aizen could see it later. He was a not a man or Hollow to leave anything escape his piercing gaze, so then how could Lord Aizen and the rest not see what he had seen?
"My lord, I'm undoubtedly sure that I had recorded everything during the battle. I'm confused myself due to this unexpected turn of events." he answered honestly in an even tone.
Aizen knew that the melancholic Arrancar was not lying, that he was sure of. "Be that as it may, why don't you deliver your report verbally, not from the start but from the point where Ichigo Kurosaki was rendered unconscious?"
"Yes sir! After Yammy's battle with Ichigo Kurosaki, two humans entered the clearing and insulted Yammy. One of them matched the description of the man you had warned us about, one Haru Uzumaki. Like always… Yammy lost his composer and attacked them without a second thought, however, Haru Uzumaki was not the one who stopped Yammy like we had expected. His female companion, the blonde woman stopped Yammy and rendered him unconscious with two punches." Ulquiorra explained while Yammy lowered his head in shame and anger.
He hadn't expected that damned woman to be strong enough to render him unconscious with a single punch! Even now, he could feel the inside of his abdomen churning and twisting as if they were being run through a grinding machine!
"WHAT!" came several shouts of surprise from the gathered Arrancars.
Aizen gave his whispering Arrancars a scolding glance, silencing them instantly. He couldn't really blame them, considering that little tidbit was actually surprising.
"Continue."
"I had no choice but to retreat and deliver the report. Though I still consider our mission as complete."
Aizen raised an eye brow at the strange choice of words. "Care to explain?"
"Of course. The mission was to see if Ichigo Kurosaki was able to pose a threat to us, from what I had seen, he wasn't even worth killing." the green eyed Espada said evenly.
"You are soft!" a smug and arrogant voice sounded from the sidelines. Ulquiorra and Yammy turned towards the source of the loud voice and saw a blue haired feral looking man sitting cross-legged on a raised platform surrounded by several Arrancars, a smug grin on his face as he sneered. "If it had been me, I would have killed all three of them with the first strike!"
"Grimmjow."
"What the hell is wrong with you? If killing him was part of the mission, then obviously you and that oaf should have killed him!" Grimmjow sneered while his subordinates nodded in agreement.
"I agree. The boy stood up to you, I say you should have killed him regardless of him being worthy or not." Shawlong agreed stoically.
"Look at you, Yammy, you are a mess! Then you come back and tell us he wasn't worth killing! Sounds to me like you couldn't kill him!" Grimmjow taunted with a mocking grin.
"Grimmjow, it was clear, I know you saw what happened. That damned blond woman beat me up!" Yammy replied with a frown. He still couldn't believe a woman had beaten him with two punches! Two punches! Actually it wasn't two punches, more like one finger flick and one punch, but still it was humiliating! Preposterous!
The blue haired Arrancar snorted mockingly. "That's so pathetic, you mean to tell me a woman beat you up with two punches!"
Yammy growled and stood up, clear anger evident on his face. "Pathetic huh, I'll show…"
He was cut off when Ulquiorra raised his hand and stopped him before he could do anything. "Grimmjow, I don't think you understand, that boy is no danger to us… yet."
The blue haired Arrancar looked confused. "Huh?"
"Lord Aizen is not worried about his current power level; it's his growth rate that is the problem. We learned that the boy possesses tremendous potential. Right now his power is unstable, if he doesn't self-destruct; he might prove useful to us in the future. That's why I let him live." Ulquiorra explained calmly, though he kept the part about being forced to let the boy live, to himself.
Grimmjow was not convinced one bit, his pride and honor would not let him back down from an argument. "What if he doesn't join us and becomes too powerful, what about then?"
The emotionless Espada gave him a cold and even look. "Then I'll get rid of him myself. You can't complain about that, can you?"
The blue haired Espada let out a low growl of irritation.
Aizen smiled his usual calm smile. "Well then, I'll leave that matter in your capable hands, Ulquiorra."
The Arrancar nodded and gave a slight bow. "Thank you, sir"
"You are dismissed."
Aizen watched as his subordinates left the room one after the other. He was still confused about the strange events that had occurred during his two Espada's visit to the World of the Living. As much as he hated asking for someone's help, it seems he would have to ask his ally, Phantom, about this.
Phantom! Can you hear me. he asked mentally, knowing the enigma entity would hear him.
The air suddenly felt heavy, the marble floor cracked under the enormous pressure that rained down upon the room, even Aizen was struggling to maintain his composure. He couldn't comprehend how an entity could create a pressure so heavy and suffocating that it was hard to even breathe properly. What was even more terrifying was the fact that he had a feeling this wasn't the full extent of the pressure.
"Mortal, why have you summoned me here?" Aizen was barely restraining himself from shivering due to the sheer deepness of the malicious and cold demonic voice, not mention that he couldn't pinpoint the source of the voice since it was coming from all directions.
"Were you here during the report delivered by one of my subordinates?" he asked calmly, trying to regain his composure. That, unfortunately for him, was proving far too difficult.
"I'm everywhere but nowhere at all."
Aizen frowned at the vague and curt answer but continued nonetheless. "So I assume you saw and heard what he reported."
"Indeed. Though I fail to see why my assistance would be desired."
Aizen knew he had to speak fast lest he anger the entity. "I was curious about the powers possessed by the human girl named Orihime. I have a few theories but need confirmation. Based on my assessment of the situation, I think she is either reversing Time or Space in order to regress an object to its former state."
"You would be wrong, Mortal. It's the power to reject all sorts of phenomenon, the power to return objects to its former state of existence before the involvement of an external changing force. A fascinating ability to say the least." the entity replied in its deep and regal demonic tone.
Now Aizen was even more intrigued, already a plan forming in his head on how to use this ability to his advantage. Though that would have to wait, he had other matters to worry about.
"What do you think stopped Ulquiorra's ability from recording those two human's battle with Yammy? My subordinates claim to have battled with them yet there is no visual proof." Aizen asked curiously. He hated the fact that he would have to ask for someone else's assistance to solve a mystery.
"There are two ways through which you can fool the kind of abilities that your Espada possesses. One is if the individual is of higher plane of existence since he or she can change the nature of his ability or make the ability useless in their presence, like myself. The second… to a much lesser extent is by Illusions."
"Illusions? I didn't realize someone else would have the power to create illusions other than myself." Aizen mentally frowned at the thought that Phantom could change the nature of an ability, since that would make controlling him a lot harder.
"Do not make false postulation, imprudent mortal! There are many who can cast illusions of higher caliber than you can even imagine." Phantom's booming voice resounded through the large room.
Aizen gritted his teeth in anger and hatred, detecting the sheer smugness and self-satisfaction in the entity's voice.
"So you believe they used illusions to deceive Ulquiorra's ability?" he asked pointedly.
"Precisely."
The former Captain smiled a soft smile. "Thank you, that would be all"
"Keep an eye on your subordinate, the one named Grimmjow. I sense he will do something foolish. So typical of you mortals."
The pressure vanished, signifying the disappearance of the fearsome and demonic entity from the room, leaving behind a seething Aizen. This had been regular occurrences, whenever the entity would appear, he would insult him many times throughout the conversation and unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it. Granted this was their third conversation, but still it was degrading for someone of his caliber!
He often wondered just how powerful this being truly was to be able to simply appear before him as soon as he said a word. No matter, everyone would fall down before him as soon as he killed the Soul King and declared himself a Kami! Even Phantom would be out of his league!