"Huh, four eyes seem to be up to something interesting."
Grimmjow chuckled.
He had to admit, black lightning was actually a welcomed change to the repetitive routine of his.
Of course, the ever heroic Ben was in the know of the strange phenomenon. Grimmjow honestly could get along with the shape-shifter quite well. It was just his strength and attitude that infuriated him if he had Tennyson's strength he could rule as king undisputed.
"That electricity...it was Kevin's for sure."
The duo gazed at the odd castle that seemed to be formed from a litany of pearls. The castle supported gargoyles on the odd stack of pearls that appeared.
"So I was correct."
The blue and brown haired young men turned around and saw Barrragan.
"Old man!"
"Gramps!"
Barragan's eye twitched. He was an old man who had dark skin and only one eye. His hollow mask fragment was in the shape of a crown atop his white slicked back hair.
"Damn brats." Barragan mumbled.
He looked over the castle, and the exterior was charred, and its ornaments were broken.
He descended towards the duo of young men, both raising a steady guard.
He walked past them, charged a brilliant crimson Cero, and fired.
The light and wind of the attack forced Ben and Grimmjow to brace themselves. The light caused by the number two Espada took the very light of the artificial sun.
A wide hole was blown in the castle of the mad scientist.
"What the hell was that for?!"
Barragan barely reacted as the two young men tried to yell into his ears.
"The brat might be dead already. There is no need to be delicate. Come on."
The elderly man grabbed the two by the scruff of their necks and dragged them into the number eight home.
...
Several wind blades destroyed the faulty remnants of the scientist's defense system.
Barragan swung his axe without any change in expression as if the world bored him.
"Damn..."
"You could say that again."
The Sexta Espada and the newest addition to their ranks looked awe struck. Barragan's aspect of death was death by aging.
He ruled the land as the grand magistrate of time. His power was the ability to slow down time around him.
That went for living and inanimate objects. However, he still lost to Aizen, which only spoke volumes of his power.
"Foreward."
The former king walked ahead and slashed his axe before him and destroyed whatever stood before him.
The two young men followed reluctantly, Ben had healed their earlier injuries.
However, their clothing were in tatters, so Ben gave Grimmjow a new appearance via the nantes in his watch.
Both wore casual clothing, the blue haired man had a black shirt, a jacket with white lines, jeans and Convers.
Ben sported white tank-top with green stripes, baggy dark pants, and all a black hoodie that he tied around his waist.
"Hey Gramps, lf you don't mind what was this place like when you were in charge? Sung-sun told me that you were basically the king of Hueco Mundo. "
Barragan released a tired sigh at the green eyed young man's question. His own brown ones were locked forward, as he swung his large axe like a fly swatter.
"It was different. I drew out the different territories alongside other ancients like me."
"Ancients?" Ben had a puzzled look.
"Really, really old Hollows, we are all basically ancient monsters. But, monsters like old man here have seen it all."
Grimace put his hands in his pockets after he spoke. He resented the old man due to his title and power. He was supposed to be the new king of Hueco Mundo.
It was his right after he clawed up to the top and evolved into a Vasto Lorde.
"Dang, you really are old, but I'm pretty sure this frog I know still got you beat in that category."
Ben chuckled as Grimmjow looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Barragan paused for a second before he resumed his act of destroying the castle.
Light.
As the latest wall was reduced to rubble, a green light filled their dark corridor.
The group left through the hole and landed in the central lab. The room was cylindrical in shape. One half of the room was dedicated to a group of monitors, and the other was storage from tools to tables to bodies.
At the center was an emerald vertical oval.
The trio shared glances and approached, Barragan shoved his hand through without hesitation.
...Nothing happened.
The elderly man then dived in.
"Ha! The old bastard still has some courage in him. See you on the other side, Tennyson!" The spiky blue haired man leaped through.
"Urgh, him and Kevin are going to get along just great... or kill each other." Ben followed suit after his comrades.
...
Spiders, centipedes, bears, and flying monstrosities formed from the bodies of humans attacked the flying alien hybrid.
Blood rained down on the forest as the beasts died in droves.
Szaeyl flew from tree-top to tree-top his grotesque tendrils pierce the branches a faint purple glow could be seen.
The brighter his limbs glowed, the more invigorated he seemed. He combed back his long hair, and his deep purple eyes looked below him.
...Nothing.
"Well, it appears I gave him the slip. Ugh, they never come willingly, and broken goods make for terrible test subjects."
The Octo Espada had a complex look.
"Hmm, why did my absorption stop?"
His answer arrived in the form of a crystal fist.
Szaeyl was struck in the chest, and the brute force made his rib cage cave in.
He narrowly dodged a time-ray and nuclear blast combination.
Kevin's monstrous form emerged from the tree. It looked like bark that was slowly becoming flesh, as hard would become a plethora of various materials.
The hybrid's wings beat and shined, and then he disappeared from sight.
The Espada looked annoyed while he nursed his indented chest.
His six other eyes extended his field of vision even farther than normal. Both sight and spiritual senses, however, his foe could absorb energy and matter.
His ways of doing damage were greatly reduced but not zero. After madness never disappears, it slumbers.
Kevin reappeared in a burst of sparks and tremendous light, a punch aimed for Szaeyl's skull.
Szaeyl released an energy wave that was absorbed by his opponent.
The abomination halted as his onyx eyes took on a light pink hue for an instance.
That was all the time the pink haired man needed. The nails of his wing hands stabbed into the beast's chest.
Kevin felt his mind slip even further. His unique biology allowed him to ignore the pain. However, the mad scientist forcefully flooded his body with his maddening energy.
"Now fall into madness and rampage until you can't anymore -"
The Espada was silenced by a violent explosion of fire, nuclear energy, gravity, electromagnetism, and temporal energy.
He felt it slipping, crumbling; his very existence was being scorched, eradicated, crushed, pulled apart, and aged into nothingness.
After the light and force of the explosion died down, Kevin stood or rather flew alone.
"Strong brat." Barragan came at Kevin with a lethal overhead swing aimed at the towering monster's neck.
The wild mane of hair laced with spikes came to life.
A shockwave resounded as an axe met durable white hair.
The tree tops were destroyed by the sheer physical force of their clash.
"Geezer." Kevin mumbled as he blocked the old man's strike he deflected the secondary strike attack from Barragan and gained distance.
The large trees that towered in this odd world even grander than any skyscraper on Earth were on the brink of collapse. Twisted blood from the mad scientist's abomination covered branches the size of highways.
Fires were present on the building sized leaves, which caused the forest to drown in smoke.
Some parts were uninhabitable thanks to radiation, sections of the area were overrun by purple diamonds, and others were just fields of dust.
"I don't know how, but you have the same power as me."
Barragan was really astonished despite his nonchalant demeanor. A piercing sensation was infuriating him as soon as he entered this world.
He was surprised to see some with the ability to age things to dust like himself. Sadly, for the monster, there could only be one master of decay.
The two prepared themselves as they gathered a tremendous amount of energy.
The two became two meteorites, one of black and white and the other of blood red energy. Their speed caused the surroundings to break down.
Barragan swung his axe, nape, shoulder, and elbow. The axe was a hurricane delivered blow after blow against the abomination.
Barragan was getting frustrated.
Each attack struck. The feeling of the metal meeting hardened skin was there. Despite that, the sensation of steel slicing through flesh never arrived.
"Ancient fossils." Kevin grumbled, which sounded like a beast like a roar.
Kevin threw multiple punches at the old man. His attacks were like hypersonic missiles.
The sound barrier was destroyed multiple times over.
Within Barragan's vision several ribbons purple, green, red and bronze approached with deadly speed and murderous intent.
The three of the four ribbons slowed down, all except the bronze. The attack slipped through the slowing effect he emitted and struck.
"Ahh!" His ribs were on the verge of shattering, but he was resilient. From the gaps of his crown several crimson spheres manifested and discharged at his command.
"Bala!" A handful of crimson orbs were fired directly at Kevin's eyes, the abomination reeled back from the pain. That knowledge gave Barragan all the motivation he needed to strike with even more vigor.
His large black axe became a hurricane, the wind created by the attacks made the surrounding branches and large leaves be drawn to them like metal to a magnet.
Kevin covered his eyes. This made Barragan tighten the grip on his weapon as well as his teeth.
"Die, for trying to challenge me." Those were the last words Kevin heard before he experienced a world of pain. A wound that stretched from his left shoulder nearly all the way down his pelvis appeared and it felt like it carried the weight of the entire world behind it.
He fell. His massive frame was heading for a catastrophic impact to the ground where the massive trees grew.
The old man looked on, uncaring as he hefted his axe on his shoulder.
"Come out you brat." Barragan commanded and waited for a moment before he heard the sound barrier shatter again and was met with a red manta-ray humanoid.
The alien simply flew there unbothered as if nothing occurd.
"Hmm, not concerned for your friend? Ehcathl Santa is one of my more brutal moves, it was the move I used when I fought that damn trailblazer Yamamoto." The alien took on a complicated face.
"Cool...I guess. But, I'm sure Kev's alright. Word of advice, you might want to take a step back." The advice of the alien was not implemented before he even realized his torso obtained a new slash that was identical to the one he gave to the abomination.
"What-?!" The manta ray's eyes were glued to the highest point of the tree covers.
There was where Barragan found the being he had attempted to cut down, he flew above the former king and looked down upon him with pity.
"Ya! Seems like the old geezer really has gotten old, mind if I take a swing at him next?! Ha!" Grimmjow spoke from behind the old man, as he, the monster and Tennyson surrounded him.
The second Espada laughed dryly: "Oh, is this how things end with a band of thugs as my executioners?" The one to answer him was neither the amalgam or the ever battle ready sixth Espada instead it was the alien shapeshifter.
"No, today isn't the day you die, it's the first day of the rest of your life. After all, you hate 'him' even more than us, right?"
Barragan curled an eyebrow.
...
In the meeting room of the Espada Gin, Tosen and Aizen had taken their seats.
Soon ten crystals appeared seemingly out of thin air. Each crystal was transparent, however they each possessed a number that ranged from one to ten etched within.
The crystal with the number eight shattered before the trio.
"The first casualty. Things are in motion as we speak." Aizen spoke to his fellow betrayers, Gin simply nodded Tosen remained silent until he stood up and began leaving.
"Oh, Tosen, where are you from now?" Gin asked in his whimsical smile upon his face.
"Off, to deal out justice to the man who took away my friend from me." Tosen opened the Garganta he dove into the black void off to Soul Society.
Aizen sat back as he pondered his next move, his attention then went to Gin.
"Gin, tell me how is project Chronos developing?"
...
The Noble realm of the Seireti was home to the five royal families that have safeguarded the world since its inception now faced with a terrifying foe.
"M..Muken he was banished to that hell." The head of the Tsunayashiro family had a sword through his shoulder as all around him were the corpses of his other family members. The once pristine ancient Japanese house now became a place of death and decay; the compound was compromised and the record keepers of the Soul Society were exterminated.
Kaname Tosen wore a white mask with a single slit in the middle, his mask was stained in blood as he ruminated on the man's word.
"He's there of all places? I can't access that place without the Head Captains or Central 46's authority."
Kaname felt all the strong spiritual pressures move in the direction of the fight between the three low tier Espada. He took the opportunity and left he had no more business.