Chapter 652 Ulquiorra Gets a Protagonist Moment

Feeling the oppressive weight in his chest, only one thought crossed Ulquiorra's mind... he absolutely would not leave alone.

But just then, across from him, the fully transformed Gun Devil, whose size could truly be described as 'sky-covering', slowly raised its enormous right arm made of countless guns.

Gun barrels were densely packed together, each one glowing with dark red energy.

That giant arm pointed directly at Yammy and Ulquiorra. The mere wind pressure from raising its arm blew away all the surrounding white sand.

If Yammy's size was like a small Ten-Tails, then Yu in his full Gun Devil form was truly on a level beyond the Ten-Tails.

Just by raising his arm, before even attacking, the overwhelming shadow had already completely engulfed Ulquiorra and Yammy.

Boom—!!!

A single gunshot exploded.

Even the shockwave from the gunfire caused the desert in this area to tremble violently.

A dense barrage of bullets poured down like a storm. Each bullet was wreathed in dark red Conqueror's Haki's arcs, leaving countless crimson trails in the air.

Ulquiorra, who had immediately used his Resurrección again, felt his dark green pupils contract sharply.

Without hesitation, he formed a Reishi Sword, flapped his wings, and shot forward like a dark green afterimage, charging head-on into the overwhelming barrage.

"Are you insane?!"

Yammy screamed, his voice nearly drowned out by the roar of gunfire.

In his field of vision, Ulquiorra's figure was as tiny as a fly charging into a tsunami.

Ulquiorra didn't answer.

He swung his Reishi Sword to its absolute limit, the blade light weaving an impenetrable defensive net before him.

Under his full resistance, the sky-covering barrage was split open. Countless bullets were cut in half by the blade, scattering like blossoms and veering off their original trajectories, landing on the surrounding white desert.

Each falling bullet fragment triggered a small mushroom cloud, turning the entire area into a sea of flames.

But the density of the barrage was simply too great. Even with Ulquiorra blocking with all his might, many attacks still landed directly on him.

Bullets tore through his Hierro, pierced his muscles, and shattered his bones.

In Yammy's eyes, Ulquiorra's body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.

As he flew, his limbs began to disintegrate.

By the time he crashed heavily to the ground, he was almost nothing but a tattered upper torso. Blood and flesh covered the severed ends of his limbs, and his blood spread rapidly across the white sand.

"Cough, cough!" Ulquiorra coughed violently, thinking to himself that this was bad... his lungs had been pierced!

His High-Speed Regeneration ability, even among the future Espada after mass Arrancarization, was undeniably top-tier. As long as his head and internal organs weren't completely destroyed, he could regenerate.

But now he was in serious trouble.

His lungs, stomach, and several other internal organs had been pierced by shrapnel.

Without timely treatment, even he would be in danger of death.

"Damn it!!"

Yammy let out a deafening roar, dragging his massive body in front of Ulquiorra, shielding his half-destroyed companion behind him.

Yammy's strength was nothing in front of a super Vasto Lorde like Yu, but at this moment, he had no time to care about that.

"Ulquiorra, use your High-Speed Regeneration and run! I'll hold him off!"

"Holding me off? You?"

Yu in his full form let out a cold laugh, accompanied by the sharp grating of fangs.

He raised his giant gun-arm again. Countless gun barrels aimed at Yammy simultaneously, dark red energy glowing in all of them in unison.

"Fine. I was planning to kill you anyway."

Just as the Gun Devil's massive barrels began to condense an increasingly fierce dark red Cero, dyeing Yammy's huge body crimson—

Thump!

Ulquiorra, who in the original work never understood what a 'heart' was for his entire life, seemed to hear the sound of a heartbeat.

The oppressive feeling in his chest suddenly found an outlet.

Evolving from Gillian to Adjuchas, and from Adjuchas to Vasto Lorde... as long as you had enough potential and talent, theoretically, it was possible through either endlessly devouring other Hollows' souls or through daily training.

But to reach the level of Arrancarization, especially self-Arrancarization, required some kind of catalyst.

Starrk's catalyst was his desire to no longer endure endless loneliness, so he split his soul into two.

And Ulquiorra's catalyst was accepting his own fate of nothingness, awakening at the moment he prepared to welcome death.

But now, Ulquiorra had gained a new understanding of his own life.

He had once believed his existence was meaningless. He had once tried to end himself to escape that emptiness. But the moment Yammy stood in front of him, he seemed to understand something.

Boom—!!!

Instantly, a dark green Reiatsu, more violent than ever before, surged from Ulquiorra's body.

The dark green light dyed the entire sky a deep, dark green.

Then, an even denser, more violent downpour of black Reishis fell from the sky.

The black raindrops, like living creatures, attached themselves to Ulquiorra's broken body, layer upon layer, enveloping him.

Sensing this strange and overwhelming Reiatsu, both Yu in his Gun Devil form and Yammy, who had already prepared to die, turned to look.

They saw Ulquiorra, wrapped in the black Reishi Rain, undergoing another change in his form.

When those black liquids finally dissipated, Ulquiorra, already in his Resurrección form, had transformed once again.

This time, pitch-black down covered his arms and his entire lower body, gleaming under the moonlight. Only his chest and abdomen retained their original pale white.

The Hollow hole in the center of his chest had grown larger, as if black liquid were flowing from it, spreading down to his abdomen, forming a dark vertical mark across his body.

A long, powerful tail extended from his rear, its tip sharp as a spear.

His horns had grown thicker, his black wings broader, and his entire form was more bestial than in Resurrección.

This was exactly the Segunda Etapa that Ulquiorra had shown in his final battle with Ichigo in the original work.

In the original, only Ulquiorra among all of Hueco Mundo had mastered this form.

Not even Aizen had ever seen this technique, because after awakening Segunda Etapa, Ulquiorra never revealed it in front of him.

That was why, among fans from his previous life, the debate over whether 'Ulquiorra was the strongest Espada' had persisted.

And now, this hidden power had finally awakened under the pressure of Yu's overwhelming force.

At this moment, not only were Yu and Yammy staring wide-eyed, but even other Menos Grandes outside this area sensed the abnormal Reiatsu.

Even Makoto and the others, miles away in Las Noches, looked up in unison, turning their gazes toward Ulquiorra's direction.

"I will make you... feel true despair."

Ulquiorra, in his Segunda Etapa form, stared coldly at Yu with his lifeless dark green eyes.

The next instant, Ulquiorra flapped his black wings, which were even larger than in Resurrección.

Before the sound of the air breaking could even reach Yammy's ears, his figure had already vanished from its spot.

In the blink of an eye, he had crossed several miles and appeared before Yu's sky-covering, colossal form.

Against the backdrop of the Gun Devil, his figure was as small as a speck of dust, but the oppressive aura emanating from him made even the Gun Devil take notice.

In that brief instant, a new Reishi Spear had already materialized in his hand.

No... this time, the spear was wreathed in wild lightning power. Pale blue arcs crackled along the shaft and tip, emitting a low, humming thunder.

This was the new technique Ulquiorra had mastered after awakening Segunda Etapa... the Lanza del Relámpago.

By condensing Reishi to their utmost limit and then infusing them with lightning attributes, its power and piercing capability reached an entirely new dimension.

But Ulquiorra's hand gripping the Lanza del Relámpago trembled.

Because its power was simply too great. The wild lightning energy rampaged uncontrollably along the shaft, making it difficult even for its wielder to fully control.

Left with no choice, Ulquiorra gripped the shaft with both hands to barely suppress the lightning power that could go out of control at any moment.

He held the spear with both hands, aimed it at the Gun Devil, whose size was tens of thousands of times larger than him, and brought it down.

Simultaneously, the largest gun barrel on the Gun Devil's forehead fired... Cero.

A dark red energy beam, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, met the descending Lanza del Relámpago head-on.

Boom—!!!!

An explosion capable of destroying a large city erupted over Hueco Mundo.

The light was so intense it turned the entire sky of Hueco Mundo as bright as day.

The shockwave expanded outward in a ring, blasting dunes for a hundred miles into the sky.

It was clear just how terrifying the power of these two combatants had become.