Chapter 57 - Mirage

From the Garganta, two more figures walked out. One was a tall man with brown wavy hair and a faded goatee and the other was Tousen.

"Lord Aizen has grown interested in your abilities, Uchiha Itachi. He requested that I bring both you and Inoue to Hueco Mundo with me. But if you are to resist, we will not hesitate to kill you." Ulquiorra said as Tousen and the other Espada walked up next to him.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"

A large wave of cold reiatsu flooded the three of Aizen's subordinates and encased them in a thick layer of ice.

"Lieutenant Uchiha, Inoue are you alright?!" Rukia yelled as she ran towards them.

"Stay back!" Itachi yelled as the ice shattered and Rukia was grabbed by the neck by Ulquiorra.

"Stay out of this." Ulquiorra said to Rukia as he prepared to impale Rukia with his hand. Before Ulquiorra could impale Rukia, he immediately let go of Rukia as a black blade nearly slashed Ulquiorra's hand.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Ulquiorra said as Ichigo grabbed Rukia and retreated next to Itachi. As Ichigo carried Rukia, she looked up at his face, seeing the hollow mask and couldn't help but feel a sense of both awe and fear. Ichigo put Rukia down next to Orihime and stood next to Itachi.

"Can you still keep fighting? You just fought an Espada." Itachi asked as he noticed a part of Ichigo's mask was cracked away.

"Yeah, I can still keep going." Ichigo said as he put his hand over his face and refreshed his mask.

"For some reason, their goal is to capture Orihime. This will be an uphill battle, trying to fend them off while protecting her. Are you ready?" Itachi asked.

"I won't let them hurt or take any of my friends." Ichigo said resolutely as he put his blade in front of him.

"I will deal with Uchiha as I cannot look into his eyes." Tousen said to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra nodded and looked at the other Espada. "And what will you do, Starrk?"

"I guess I'll go for the woman." Starrk replied unenthusiastically. "But that Uchiha guy isn't going to let us past so easily is he…"

"Just don't look into his eyes." Ulquiorra responded as he turned to face Ichigo.

"Kuchiki, take Inoue to Urahara's Shop." Itachi ordered.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" Rukia responded as she and Orihime began to run away. Itachi looked at the enemies in front of him. 'That one named Starrk seems to be the strongest if I were to base it solely on reiatsu. I'll have to trap him first.'

There is a moment of silence as the two parties face each other, as if waiting for the other to make the first move.

Itachi breaks the tension as he raises his finger and points it at Starrk. "I'll deal with you first." Itachi said as Starrk looked at his finger, anticipating some sort of kido.

As Starrk stood there, Tousen charged at Itachi and Ichigo charged at Ulquiorra. He and Itachi clashed blades as they flash stepped around the area.

"So you've gotten your arm back." Itachi commented upon seeing Tousen's new arm. It was white and hollow like. "No...you were given a new arm."

"This is all...for justice." Tousen replied as he pushed himself away from Itachi and reached for his face. Itachi looked at him curiously as Tousen's reiatsu began to flare up and covered his face with a white mask with a single black line down the middle. Immediately after donning his mask, Tousen charged at Itachi at full speed, clashing again with Itachi but this time pushing Itachi back.

"I am no longer the person you fought before. Prepare to die!" Tousen said in a warped voice as he continued his ȧssault on Itachi.

'His speed, and power have drastically increased. He also has the power of Hollowfication, just like those Visored. And visual genjutsu wont work on him...' Itachi thought. As Itachi continued to hold off Tousen's blade, a glowing orange humanoid figure began to surround him. With the Susanoo, Itachi swatted Tousen away, sending him flying across the skies of the city.

'This will cause too much damage to Karakura town if we continue to fight like this. I'll have to end this now.' Itachi flared his reiatsu as armor began to form around the Susanoo.

"I will end this." Tousen said as he launched forward at full speed towards the Susanoo, only for his blade to deflect off the armor. Tousen continued to use sonido consecutively as he appeared all around the Susanoo and tried to cut it at different angles, only for each attempt to pierce it fail as his blade would bounce right off.

"Yasaka Magatama." Itachi raised an arm of the Susanoo as a string of reiatsu shot from its palm towards Tousen, enveloping Tousen in a large blast of orange reiatsu. Shortly after being hit, Tousen emerged from the blast, with his mask half broken and his body bleeding and burnt.

"For Lord Aizen...for justice!" Tousen said as he raised his zanpakuto upside down in front of him. "Suzumushi Hyakushiki, Grillar Grillo."

Tousen's body suddenly became wrapped in a dark reiatsu as his body morphed. As he grew in size, black fur began to surround his body as he grew several new appendages and a hollow hole. His originally plain mask began to shift into a shape resembling a cricket's head.

As the dark reiatsu faded, Tousen opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. A grin appeared on his face, revealing a row of spiky teeth.

Itachi stared directly on as Tousen slowly opened his eyes.

"Hahaha!. I can see! So this is the sky! The clouds! The-" Tousen's grin vanished as the sky began to turn red and the clouds became black. As he turned to see Itachi, he found himself unable to move, as if several large metal rods were impaled through his limbs.

"You may have gained your vision, but what have you lost as a result? You've always been one to preach about justice back in Soul Society, but what does your "justice" truly mean? Your "justice" is simply an illusion, not of your own world, but of Aizen's. Your "justice" is merely a vague concept shaped by someone else." Itachi's voice echoed.

"And who are you to preach me of justice. That right is reserved for Lord Aizen! If his justice is my world, then I will swear by it!" Tousen grunted.

"I see. If that is your answer, then your world will be devoured, in the world of Tsukuyomi." Itachi said as the sky began to swirl around. Soon Tousen found himself freed from the metal rods but instead, his entire lower body was submerged in water. As he looked at the water, he saw his reflection, not of his hollow body, but of his shinigami one. Tousen continued to look at the reflection, only for it to be covered by a reflection of the moon.

The world around Tousen began to shake. Tousen looked in the sky, only to see the moon falling towards him. Tousen could only watch as the moon came so close, that it swallowed the red sky until it eventually crashed into the ground in a massive explosion. As Tousen felt his body dissolving at a rate that even his instantaneous regeneration could not keep up with, he felt a sharp pain in his ċhėst and the apocalyptic world around him vanished.

Tousen looked down at his ċhėst and saw a large, glowing blade sticking out from it. As Tousen turned his head around, he saw Itachi's armored Susanoo, holding a gourd where the blade was coming from. His vision began to fade away as his soul was absorbed by the blade and sealed within the gourd.