"Queen Harribel, the intruders have made it into Las Noche's!"

Where once a mastermind and his acolytes stood hoping to take the worlds under their control, now stood the last two survivors of the war that shifted the balance of power. Harribel stood on the ground before her throne, Grimmjow and Nelliel were with her, as were her faccion and a dozen other low ranking followers.

"Szayelaporro's traps still can be triggered, one of you return to his lab and start activating them!"

A couple of Arrancar broke away to do so. There was a muted growl of another explosion rocking the building. The wytches were getting aggressive.

"What the hell are these things?" Grimmjow asked openly.

"The one predator above us." Harribel replied angrily.

The blue haired Arrancar looked confused, then suddenly shocked as it dawned on him.

"No way! Demons?"

"I can't think of any other explanation either." Nel said while cracking her neck.

"Queen Harribel, the lab wanted to report a Garganta opening north of the palace. Three immense spiritual pressures emerged; they're moving at high velocity towards us!"

"Great. Soul Reapers too?" Grimmjow snarled, throwing on his coat and making for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think. Someone has to deal with them." He replied, crunching his fist angrily. "Besides, I think it's time we get a little payback."

Death and War rode at full speed towards the massive dome that Kenpachi identified as 'that place where all the badasses are'. Kenpachi lacked flash step, but he still kept pace with the Horsemen. A feat that came as a serious surprise to both nephilim. The group was a fair distance away, but they could still hear the resounding booms of magic being cast at the hefty defenses of the hollow 'capital'. Hell's siege engines were a sight to behold, great demon beasts ridden by entire teams of knights trying to manage their unruly mounts. They stood out like great twisting black weeds that tumbled atop one another at the foot of the building.

Another force still went against them. A rainbow of hollow energy beams vaporized the first layer of encroaching enemies. A group of arrancar, mere specs next to the demons, were in a circle in the air. Their white carapaces marred by the encircling cloud of duskwings that hit them wave after wave.

A new presence was with them, Kenpachi noticed the booming spiritual pressure a moment before the newcomer made himself known. Out of the corner of Death's eye he saw a glimmer of azure. He immediately shifted his weight to the left, throwing his horse off balance. The act pulled them down into one of the dunes, narrowly avoiding a plane of shimmering energy over their heads. War saw the attack coming towards him and rose his great blade to guard. The lightning like blast crashed into him, generating a violent shriek and a cloud of sparks. War made a great war cry as he actually snapped through the blast, scattering the raw reshi across the ground like a firework.

He threw himself from Ruin, letting the horse vanish in a puff of embers. The attack was foreign to him, which meant it probably was a hollow. It looked vaguely human in the distance. An amalgamation of some predatory feline and an armored warrior. It's long hair blowing in the growing wind. It's hand glowed where it had fired the attack, simmering like a fire.

Death was suddenly with him, having climbed back up from the pit below. The jingle of bells also noted the arrival of Kenpachi, who had evaded upwards during the attack. Not that he really needed to dodge.

"I've been out of practice. This one is mine." War said, staking his claim.

"Eh, I think I've seen this one already. Ichigo had a beef with him or something. I'm moving on, do what you like." The captain snorted, throwing his sword over his shoulder and continuing on his way.

"Ken-chan, don't you wanna see what Skull-Sword does?" Yachiru asked, perching on his head.

"Hey, that's true. Might be interesting."

His lieutenant laughed cheerfully, "what are you going to do Mask-man?"

Death responded to the nickname, shrugging in response.

"Make this fast. We've a war to fight." He called out, but the horseman payed it little mind.

The target vanished, his sonido making an empty thud as he vanished. He reappeared in the air, raising his fist for an attack. War calmly raised his sword to block. The Hollow struck down, his cat-like claws scraping against the dark sword. He bounded back into the air then flew froward across the ground, swiping upwards behind his defenses.

War grunted as he stepped into the strike, bringing his blade down with tremendous force. The fighter parried with the blades on his forearm. He quickly began to buckle, and grabbed the blade with the edge of his other hand, his claws barely holding against the tremendous strike. At the last moment he slid back, Chaoseater striking the ground with enough pure heat to fuse the sand to glass.

The Hollow screamed something in a human language. A series of blue shrds shot from his elbow. A couple hit War. They exploded like firecrackers, smoke pouring from the black charred bits on his chest. The attack had hardly registered against War's armor and pure strength beneath it.

The Hollow rolled backward, landing back on his feet. War charged, sweeping his blade around with incredible speed. The Hollow backed away, jumping to evade the second slice. The sword passed, but something suddenly halted his escape. War's hand gripped his leg viciously, pulling him back into the ground. He flipped Chaoseater around in his right hand and stabbed down, going for a kill strike. It was by a hair's breadth, but the hollow had managed to pull away. His arm burned as the blade dug into his bicep and the side of his ribcage.

"What the hell are you?" The Hollow snarled as he snapped free of War's grasp.

"Horseman." War replied plainly, ripping his sword back from the ground.

He drew back, preparing to engage one of the sword's chaos abilities. But he hesitated a moment before unleashing. Another newcomer. He turned back just in time to guard against a volley of powerful bolts, the last of which actually knocked him down to one knee.

Death's scythes were already out, and he was scanning the sky for the interloper. A radiant glow from above, and the beating of great wings. In it's hands was a great energy weapon, one that Death had become all too familiar with during the last battle between Angel and Demon.

"I know those wings." Death called out.

The being descended, landing on the ground before them. His enormous wings beat once, throwing a wave of dust around. He had the massive cannon slung in one hand.

"You dare to attack a horseman, Searphim?" War snarled, Chaoseater pointed in the general's direction.

The great white mane of the Angel was luminous with the glow behind his metal eyepatch. He looked between the wide eyed hollow and the Horsemen, and smirked.

"I assumed I could deal with two threats at once. It appears I was wrong." He boomed.

"Abaddon." Death's eyes narrowed, "hell has already incurred the council's wrath. Must we remind heaven too of their place?"

"Do not forget that our last fight was a stalemate. While I would gladly finish you now Death, bigger things are at work. If hell moves, then the Hellguard shall move against it." He said with radiant pride.

"And I'll assume that afterwords you'll extend the offer of protection to the Hollows? A simple outpost to protect against Demonic incursions? No, you take your hunters back to the border worlds. We shall deal with this."

Abaddon held his head up in contempt, "I will not recall my forces until I am guaranteed that the demonic influence is lifted from these lands."

"Hey. You look pretty tough." Kenpachi smiled venomously at the Archangel. Everyone could tell where this one was going.

"Well well, seems someone has managed to top your bloodthirst, War."

The horseman simply scowled. The Hollow began to move away, nursing the bloody wounds the nephilim's destructive sword had inflicted. Before he could sonido, a warped gunshot pierced the air. His shoulder armor cracked, and he descended to his knees. There were too many now, he could never fight all of them.

"You don't get to leave. Your power is greater than that of those mongrels I've destroyed this far. What is your rank?"

His teeth clenched as he slowly worked is way back up to his feet, "rank? I don't have one of those anymore."

"That's right. You were one of the espada. Didn't Ichigo kill you?" Kenpachi noted, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

Grimmjow grimaced as he remembered the day of their war. The orange haired soul-reaper had faced him head on. And he had lost.

"What the hell is this. Soul Reapers and Angels? This just isn't my day."

"Do you still serve the ruler of this world?" The Angel asked, encouraging him by cocking one of the devices on the Redemption Cannon.

"I'm the only king here!" He turned around suddenly, his claws suddenly glowing with reishi. Not a cero, but something even greater.

War readied his blade for the attack. Abaddon leveled his weapon at the Hollow and peppered the area with shots. Before they hit, Grimmjow launched his ten translucent blades. The first wave soaked up the shots, reflecting them away before breaking apart with the followers shooting forth. War activated his chaos ability and cleaved through the five blades the chased after him, shattering the final one with a punch from his left hand gauntlet. The angel shot a couple out of the air, having to guard with the side of the gun when the third one could not be stopped. Though something strange happened when he did, the batteries of the cannon seemed to be flooded with the energetic reishi. The mechanism overloaded, and it detonated, smoke billowing from it's ports and throwing Abaddon backwards. His sword withdrew, striking apart the final blade. His fur pauldrons had been singed by the cannon's explosion, and his beard was trimmed ever so slightly by the strike.

War was about to make a move, when Abaddon suddenly called for him to hold. He trained his blade on the hollow, and lunged, his wings propelling him at incredible speeds. The hollow had no chance to move. He was still reeling from War's hits and was exhausted from using his ultimate attack. A shadow passed before him at the moment before he would have received a second hole above the one in his stomach.

Death's scythe caught Abaddon's blade mere centimeters from the hollow's skin. His scythe locked against the claymore's hilt. The angel's free eye turned to him expecting some explanation.

"Someone who's been to this city might be useful."

The angel held his gaze with the reaper for a moment, then slowly backed away.

"I didn't think Death was in the business of saving lives." He turned away and withdrew the sword, "I've demons to kill. Do what you will horseman, we will see each other again soon."

The brothers said nothing further as the Angel spread his wings and flew away to join his hunting party at the foot of Hueco Mundo.

"Heh. Death huh?" Grimmjow grinned weakly, "you think I owe you for this?"

The reaper's orange eyes narrowed on the hollow, "Think what you wish. Regardless, you will take us to the city; whether you 'owe' us or not."