As they sprinted forward through the Garganta, a narrow, glowing floor of condensed reishi formed beneath their feet—thin, unstable, and semi-transparent. It shimmered like fragile glass suspended over an endless void, and each footfall sent out faint ripples of spiritual energy. One misstep… and they'd plummet into the chaotic reishi storm below, where even the strongest soul could be ripped apart.
Terrifying as it was, they didn't stop.
Uryuu ran with his arms tucked behind his back, maintaining balance with expert control. Chad powered forward in silence, his heavy steps carefully placed. Ichigo moved ahead of them, his senses stretched outward, scanning every inch of space ahead.
After what felt like an eternity of running through nothingness, a faint light appeared in the distance—cool and pale. They pushed harder, sprinting toward it, and with a final surge of effort—
SHWUMP!
—they burst out into Hueco Mundo.
Cold, dry air slapped against their skin as they landed hard on smooth stone. Aizen, seated atop his obsidian throne far away in Las Noches, slowly opened his eyes. The spiritual pressure hadn't gone unnoticed.
"They've arrived," he murmured, voice silky with satisfaction. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Just as I expected."
---
Ichigo, Uryuu, and Chad glanced around, catching their breath. They found themselves inside a towering, dimly lit stone corridor—high walls stretching up into shadow, white and bone-like in structure. The ceiling looked natural, yet artificial—etched with strange sigils that pulsed faintly in response to their presence.
"We need to get out of here," Ichigo said quietly, eyes narrowed.
He could already sense everything around them: hollows in the distance, the buzz of weak insect-like reishi skittering across the walls, and oppressive spiritual signatures deeper within.
"Yeah, let's move fast—and stay quiet," Uryuu added, adjusting his glasses. "This is a break-in after all."
Chad trailed behind, running his thick fingers along the smooth wall as they moved. "These walls… they're not normal. Denser than anything I've felt. Like they're infused with something living."
Suddenly—
THUNK!
A large, clawed hand slammed into the wall ahead. Dust fell from the ceiling as a towering silhouette leaned out from the darkness, red eyes narrowing.
A tall Arrancar stepped into view, white robes trailing behind him. His hollow mask fragment was jagged across his jaw, giving him the appearance of a grinning corpse.
"Run!" Ichigo barked, already turning.
They didn't hesitate. The group bolted down the corridor, their footsteps echoing against the stone. Ichigo's heart pounded—not out of fear, but urgency. He didn't want the structure collapsing on them. Not because of injury… but because this place was a maze. One wrong turn could strand them forever.
'Hueco Mundo… It's the most mysterious place in Bleach. Even the canon barely scratched the surface.'
Finally, light broke ahead.
They burst through the exit and skidded into the blinding white sands of Hueco Mundo's outer desert—an eerie, eternal night sky looming above them. But the freedom was short-lived.
Two new Arrancars stood waiting for them outside, lean and armored, both smirking with confidence. A moment later, the massive Arrancar who had chased them stepped out behind, his presence towering.
"I think you guys should handle them," Ichigo said, stepping back and casually folding his arms. "I'll be on the sidelines."
"Don't order us around. That was the plan anyway," Uryuu snapped, already forming his spirit bow using the Quincy cross.
Ichigo grinned.
Uryuu's forehead twitched.
Chad took his stance, his right arm shifting into its armored form with a pulse of energy.
The Arrancars launched forward, their forms blurring into motion.
BOOM!
A brutal flash of blue and green Reishi tore across the battlefield, kicking up dust and tearing chunks from the ground. Explosions echoed, buildings trembled, and the sky itself seemed to shimmer from the raw pressure being released.
From a rooftop, Uryuu Ishida stood tall—his spirit bow fully drawn, Reishi crackling around him like electric vines. His glasses reflected the chaos as he rapidly fired shot after shot, each arrow forming and vanishing in milliseconds.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Each arrow split the air, faster and sharper than the last. The Arrancar, clad in bone-white armor and a jagged mask, gritted his teeth as he used Sonído to blur and dodge, zig-zagging wildly across the field.
But Uryuu's eyes narrowed.
He was already adjusting.
'Your movements are predictable...'
Suddenly, the Arrancar shouted, raising both clawed hands high.
"¡Uña Tirotea!" he roared.
From his fingertips and shoulders, dozens of organic tubes extended, launching 108 missile-like projectiles in every direction. Each missile left behind a trail of teal light as they homed in with murderous precision.
Uryuu didn't flinch.
He calmly pulled back the string on his glowing bow. A disc of Reishi spiraled behind him, and from it, an entire volley of spirit arrows formed in perfect synchronization.
He let go.
FWOOOOOOOM!
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Each missile was intercepted mid-air, detonated by Uryuu's pinpoint shots. It was like watching a light show in the middle of war—one man calmly dismantling a barrage.
The Arrancar's eyes widened, sweat pouring.
"What?!"
Uryuu smirked faintly.
"That's cute, but I can fire twelve hundred."
Without another word, he raised his arm and released a single, concentrated pull—a wave of arrows, hundreds strong, shot forth in an elegant, blinding arc.
BOOOOOOOM!
The force of the impact leveled the landscape. Dust clouds rose, and silence followed.
The Arrancar was gone.
---
Meanwhile, Chad stood still, his right arm transformed into the towering bulk of his Brazo Derecha de Gigante. He faced another Arrancar, tall and lean with glowing yellow eyes and a smooth skeletal mask.
The Arrancar cracked its neck. "You're not moving?"
Chad stared, unmoved.
His eyes, blank. Emotionless.
Then he disappeared.
BOOM!
He was behind the Arrancar in the blink of an eye.
"I don't want to waste time."
The Arrancar barely had a chance to turn.
"El Directo."
Chad's fist collided with the Arrancar's midsection—a thunderous punch amplified with pure energy. The shockwave shattered the ground and sent the Arrancar rocketing back, tearing through boulders and collapsing rubble.
BOOM!
The crater left behind glowed faintly from the residual Reishi.
The Arrancar was done—defeated before his mind could even register the fight had begun.
Suddenly ground beneath them began to tremble.
"Crap! Self-destruction protocol!" Uryuu called out.
The trio dashed away just as the battleground exploded behind them in a spiral of collapsing reishi and sand.
They didn't look back.
Hueco Mundo had officially welcomed them—with blood, sand, and secrets.
.....
They now stood in the heart of Hueco Mundo—beneath a black, endless sky and upon a vast sea of white sand that stretched out in every direction. The air was dry and cold, with occasional dead, skeletal trees jutting from the dunes like forgotten gravestones. Towering far in the distance—yet still somehow looming—was Las Noches, the massive white fortress of the Espada.
It looked deceptively close, but the strange distortion of space made it impossible to judge its true distance.
"Man," Chad muttered, squinting. "That place is messing with my eyes."
"Yeah… how did Aizen even build that?" Ichigo said, folding his arms. "I swear, when I finish building my harem, I'm making a place like that. Gotta have taste."
Uryuu adjusted his glasses with an audible click. "A harem? You do know polygamy isn't exactly legal in Japan, right? Especially in Tokyo."
Ichigo just shrugged. "Yeah, but who's gonna stop me? The cops?" He turned, pointing at a swirling dust cloud on the horizon. "Anyway, let's go. I'm sensing something that way."
They sprinted across the sands, boots crunching over dry dunes until they finally stumbled upon a chaotic group—Nel Tu, the tiny green-haired Arrancar, and her two eccentric companions: Pesche and Dondochakka—whom Ichigo would now simply call Dondo to save his sanity. At their feet slithered the lovable giant worm, Bawabawa.
TO BE CONTINUED