Chapter 519 - 519 The Espada Depart

"What! Ulquiorra is dead!!"

After hearing Gin's words, the Arrancar side were all shocked, then quickly broke away from their respective opponents and gathered beside Gin.

Seeing this, the Shinigami side also chose to cease fighting, as they did not have an absolute advantage over the Arrancar. Forcing a decisive victory would only lead to both sides suffering losses.

"Tch! What's this? Even though Ulquiorra was an Espada, I didn't expect him to be so useless. If that's the case, he might as well have given his position to me."

Luppi suddenly said with a look of disdain.

Among the Arrancar participating in this operation, the highest ranked was, of course, Starrk the Primera. However, the one actually in charge of the operation was Ulquiorra, the Cuatro Espada.

Earlier, after learning that Orihime was in Soul Society, Ulquiorra had formulated a battle plan: have Starrk, Yammy, Luppi, and the others attack the Living World to draw everyone's attention. Upon hearing the news, Orihime would naturally choose to return to the Living World. Meanwhile, Ulquiorra would act alone, seizing the opportunity to capture Orihime and take her back to Hueco Mundo.

To be fair, the plan Ulquiorra devised was very good, so the other Espada did not object to his command. Only Luppi harbored some dissatisfaction with Ulquiorra.

Although the Espada had rankings, they did not have a strict chain of command. A higher-ranked Espada did not have full authority over lower-ranked ones.

Luppi was inherently proud and arrogant. Having just replaced Grimmjow as an Espada, he was naturally displeased that his first mission after gaining the rank involved Ulquiorra giving him orders.

So, upon hearing that Ulquiorra was dead, Luppi not only felt no sadness but even made sarcastic remarks.

However, Starrk, the Primera Espada, upon hearing Luppi's words, couldn't help but say: "Hey, Luppi, Ulquiorra was our comrade! How can you say that? Don't you care at all that Ulquiorra is dead?"

As he spoke, Starrk's expression became very dejected, clearly saddened by Ulquiorra's death.

Most of the Espada were cold, ruthless, and brutal beings who would not feel sorrow even if a comrade died. But Starrk was an exception.

Because he had once been too lonely and isolated, Starrk placed great value on his comrades internally. Even Aizen had only recruited Starrk under the guise of 'comradeship'.

So, hearing such heartless words from Luppi, Starrk couldn't help but feel somewhat displeased.

"Enough, Starrk. And Luppi. The one who killed Ulquiorra was Hitsugaya Toshiro. So it's not that Ulquiorra was incompetent, it's just that the enemy was too powerful."

Gin tried to mediate.

"It was Hitsugaya Toshiro... No wonder he never appeared. So he went to deal with Ulquiorra instead. It seems he saw through our plan from the very beginning."

Starrk said, suddenly understanding.

Starrk's main task in this operation was to keep Toshiro occupied. But in the end, Toshiro never appeared.

Although Starrk was a bit puzzled, he didn't think much of it and simply went with the flow, slacking off the entire time and 'throwing the fight' with Kisuke.

It turned out that Toshiro knew their plan from the start, completely ignored Starrk and the others in the Living World, and went straight to deal with Ulquiorra.

"Alright, everyone, your mission has failed. It's time to go back. After all, Hitsugaya Toshiro has already returned to the Living World. If you don't leave now, you won't be able to."

Gin seemed to sense something and looked gravely towards the southern direction of Karakura Town.

"But, Gin, Grimmjow left the group on his own. He should be fighting Ichigo right now. Shouldn't we find him and take him back with us?"

Starrk frowned.

"No need. By the time he comes back, Hitsugaya Toshiro would probably have arrived here first."

Gin refused.

"But... how can we just abandon a comrade?"

Starrk could never do something like abandoning a comrade.

"No, it's not about abandoning a comrade. Don't worry, Starrk. Aizen-sama already made preparations before coming."

Gin said, smiling with narrowed eyes.

Crack, crack, crack...

As Gin's words fell, cracks suddenly appeared in several places in the sky. The cracks grew larger, forming black holes.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Golden beams of light suddenly descended from the black holes, enveloping Gin, Starrk, Yammy, Luppi, and all the other Arrancar. Even Grimmjow, who was fighting fiercely with Ichigo in another part of Karakura Town, was covered by a golden beam.

"This is… Negación!"

The Advance Team's members and Kisuke, who had been planning to hold the Arrancar back after hearing that Toshiro had returned to the Living World, waiting for him to arrive and deal with the enemy, stopped in their tracks upon seeing the golden beams.

Because the Advance Team's Shinigami and Kisuke knew that once Gin and the Arrancar were enveloped by Negación, they were no longer in the same space, making it impossible to harm them.

Perhaps Toshiro, Yamamoto, or others had ways to break Negación, but at least no one present had that ability. So, they could only watch helplessly as Gin and the Arrancar left.

Swish!

Just as Gin and the Arrancar departed, Toshiro's figure flickered and instantly appeared on the scene.

"Am I too late? Well, whatever. Even if I had arrived in time, trying to keep them here would have been more trouble than it was worth."

Although Gin, Starrk, and the other Arrancar got away, Toshiro wasn't too disappointed.

This was, after all, the Living World, not the Dangai.

If they had been in the Dangai, Toshiro could have acted without restraint, killing Starrk and the others just as he had killed Ulquiorra.

But unfortunately, this was the Living World. Toshiro had to be cautious and couldn't act freely.

Top-tier Beyond-Captain class existences like Starrk weren't so easy to kill. If Toshiro couldn't fight seriously, he couldn't have kept Starrk and the others there either.

"Captain Hitsugaya, Ichimaru Gin, who just came to the Living World, mentioned that you killed an Espada named Ulquiorra."

Kisuke asked.

"Ah, that's right. Ulquiorra tried to ambush Orihime in the Dangai, but I ended up killing him."

Toshiro explained.

"And Inoue-san? How is she?"

Kisuke continued asking.

"She's fine. However, I had her temporarily return to the Seireitei. The situation wasn't resolved yet, and bringing her back to the Living World rashly might have been dangerous."

Toshiro said.

"Is that so? Well, as long as she's alright. Since the enemy has left, I'll be heading back too."

Having said that, Kisuke left alone.

Toshiro and the others also returned to their respective places.

…

Karakura Town, Inoue Residence.

Orihime still hadn't returned from Soul Society. Rangiku was bustling about in the living room, setting up communication equipment.

Toshiro watched Rangiku work. After she connected the equipment, the large screen on the wall flickered, and Yamamoto's figure appeared.

Toshiro immediately spoke: "Captain-Commander, I have important matters to report to you."