77 (Super Long)

Author's Note: Someone asked for a long chapter so I thought I would try out a single long chapter and see the response from it.

Edit: Over 2.2 K words

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Ren appeared in Hueco Mundo and looked around surprised. Even more surprising, Dryae was standing right next to him. It took a moment to remember what happened just before.

"Dryae. We are inside of the other sword's inner world, aren't we?"

The Zanpakuto Spirit nodded at Ren. She was looking at the desert with interest. Even with the lack of trees and life, the world was still an interesting environment that attracted Dryae's attention.

"This place is so interesting. It even looks like the sky is always nighttime. I have never seen that before. What kind of things live here?"

Ren realized that Dryae had never been to Hueco Mundo. The first few times he went, she was being suppressed by Khorne. While later on, he never went there but let his officers go in his stead.

Due to still feeling guilty over the incident with Khorne, Ren made a silent vow to take Dryae to more places that way she could see as many places as she wanted.

"This is Hueco Mundo, land of the Hollows. Or at least this being's interpretation on it. The night sky there is much prettier. I'll make sure to take you there some other time."

Dryae nodded enthusiastically. She could not wait to visit the various places. As a spirit of nature, what interested the Zanpakuto spirit most was new or unique environments. The pair were about to continue talking when they heard a loud roar that nearly made Ren's ears bleed.

Large tornadoes began forming and sweeping through the land. The duo saw them and ignored those tornadoes since they were no threat but began looking for the being that summoned them. Ren was able to find it due to his reiatsu sensing while Dryae could use her ability to communicate with nature to find it.

Far off into the distance, a titan-sized being stood tall. This being was a Hollow. It had a pure white body and was over 50 meters tall. The giant, humanoid creature had a long torso and elongated arms which reach almost to the ground. Its forelimbs ended in large claws, while its legs were much shorter.

The Hollow did not have a visible neck; instead, its head is an extension of its body. Its forehead was covered in hexagonal markings, while a structure extended from its nose back across its cheeks, ending in large circles just beside the hexagonal markings. A long beard extended from beneath its small Hollow Mask

This was Ikomikidomoe, a legendary Hollow. The creature was an ancient being and had caused massive amounts of devastation. Ikomikidomoe had been able to defeat Yamamoto in his younger years, before the man got his zanpakuto, and was only able to be put down once the Royal Guard stepped in.

The duo of Ichibe and Oetsu sealed the Hollow in a zanpakuto which made it the first, and only, zanpakuto with a spirit that resided in the sword without a shinigami imprinting their own.

Ren and Dryae looked at the large creature with interest in each of their eyes. Ren because he had never seen a Hollow that could make two Royal Guard members step forward while Dryae was more interested in such a unique animal.

A loud voice was heard from all directions even though the pair knew where it was coming from.

" A shinigami and a woman dare yo enter my domain? You wish to die, I presume."

Without letting the pair respond, Ikomikidomoe began charging a cero from his small mask and fired it toward Ren and Dryae.

Seeing the red beam of energy firing towards them, Dryae held up her left hand with countless, large, and thick tree branches that emerged and blocked its path. Before the cero could get too close, it detonated when it hit too many trees and causing a large crater.

Ren looked at the tree branches that remained and then the crater that was in the desert. He looked at Dryae with surprise in his eyes while the spirit flashed him a smile.

"You still have a lot of work to do, Ren. My trees aren't as fragile as you have been using them for. "

Ren nodded and agreed. With the durability that the tree branches had just displayed, Ren could tell that they were truly much more powerful than what he had been using before.

'If I could use them to such a scale, I'm sure that I could beat Oetsu and Senjumaru. As for the monk, we can talk about it another day.'

"It seems like this guy will not agree to just let us take over his body. Do you want to take the lead while I back you up, Ren?"

Ren nodded in agreement. In the inner world, although Ren could use his nature powers, it was better to let Dryae do it. That way, he could focus on combat but could also see how the spirit used them to their fullest ability in hopes that he could get to her level one day.

A small choker appeared around Ren's neck while a greatsword appeared in his right hand and a spear appeared in his left. A crown appeared on Ren's head before it melted and turned into purple, heavy armor that covered all of his body except for his head.

While Ren was getting ready, Dryae lifted her hands and began changing the weather. The dryad changed the weather into a sandstorm and firestorm that covered the entire area. The powerful sand blocked the pair from being seen by Ikomikidomoe from a distance while the fire also did damage and block the line of sight as well.

"Let's do!"

Ren stepped forward and began charging toward Ikomikidomoe. As he was planning on using his reishi to walk in the air, Ren felt a tree branch appear right under his feet. Smiling to himself, he ran forward step by step with each branch covering him.

Within moments, Ren appeared in front of Ikomikidomoe. After arriving in front of the Hollow, Ren attempted to cut off its entire left arm. Using his blade, he was able to leave a deep wound into it as he passed by but when he turned to look at the wound, it had already healed.

'Healing so fast? This guy can heal like the 4th Espada.'

Ren began to turn around to try and attack but to his surprise, the massive figure disappeared for a moment. He then felt a large amount of wind pressure coming from behind him.

'Shit!' Ren slashed back with his greatsword to counter the blow coming toward him. The pair clashed with one another but unable to take the force of the blow, Ren was sent flying hundreds of meters away before he crashed into the ground.

When he landed in the desert, a large amount of sand was kicked up. Once the dust cleared, Ren could be seen laying in the sand with his right arm bent at a weird angle while the rest of his body seemed fine. Ren looked down at his arm and pulled on it until it was in place once more.

'Fuck! That hurts. I need hierro or something. Even if I can heal, I prefer more defense.'

Just as Ren was about to begin his counterattack, he saw something terrifying through the sand and the flames. Ikomikidomoe began laying eggs out of his arms. The moment the eggs hit the ground, they turned into various Adjuchas-looking Hollows of various animals that were pure white.

'What the fu...'

Before he could even finish his thought, Ikomikidomoe let out a roar. A bright light appeared around the giant hollow that pierced through the sand and flames. Once the light disappeared, Ikomikidomoe appeared once more but in a new form.

No longer a giant and monstrous beast, Ikomikidomoe now looked more humanoid and much smaller. It was still 3 times the size of Ren and looked pure white with angel wings. One could finally have a proper look at the mask that was on the hollow's face and it looked surprisingly artistic.

The reiatsu it was giving off was monstrous. Before, it was on a level that was below Ren. The only thing it had going for it was its size and physical strength. But in this new form, Ren had no choice but to admit that Ikomikidomoe could rival him with just reiatsu alone.

Seeing that the battle was going to be a long one if Ren did not use some of his more powerful techniques, Ren decided to get serious since it seemed that Ikomikidomoe was as well.

'Dryae. Buy me some time. I'll send the 3 Tomb Stalkers in as well. You guys just need to get me 3 minutes of this guy not getting in my way.'

'Got it! I can even get you 10 if you need it. And if your plan does not work out, we will use Plan E!'

When he heard that Dryae was ready to use Plan E, Ren swore to himself that he would not get it to that point. He still had nightmares about using the weakest and smallest meteor himself. If the master of the technique and person who did not know how to hold back used it, he was sure that he would die even all these years later and much stronger than back then.

Ren immediately used his Gift of Beast and summoned his 4 enormous Tomb Stalkers. The giant centipede-like creatures went under the ground and made their way towards the Hollow army.

Ren lifted his sword and began to quietly sing as white flames began to surround him. The temperature of the inner world instantly increased.

Feeling the danger that Ren was giving off, Ikomikidomoe let out a roar and sent his hollows forward. Before the Adjuchas-class hollows could move forward too much, the Tomb Stalkers raised out of the ground and began tearing into the Hollows.

The groups began a melee while also launching ceros and energy beams at one another. Both sides seemed evenly matched which meant that neither would come out victorious in a short amount of time.

Seeing that his forces were occupied, Ikomikidomoe decided to charge at Ren himself. Dryae jumped between the pair and summoned countless tree branches to strike at the Hollow.

"Tsk. You think that you can defeat me? A mere maid?"

Ikomikidomoe tore through the tree branches that got in his way but was surprised to see that some of them had actually managed to block his strikes.

"Who do you think is a mere maid? I am a pure force of nature!"

Dryae stood in front of the large Hollow without fear on her face. Tree branches grew all around her while she held a bokken in her left hand.

The Hollow and Zanpakuto Spirit stood facing each other. Neither was underestimating the other and knew just how dangerous that the other could get if they were careless.

The first to make a move was Ikomikidomoe. This was because he could hear the singing coming from behind Dryae as well as the increase in heat.

The tree branches around him began to constrict around Ikomikidomoe and Dryae, trapping both in a cage. No one could see what was happening within the large cage of tree branches but the sounds of the pair clashing over and over for the next few minutes.

'Ren? You done? Cause I am kinda in trouble here.'

'You can clear out now. It is too late for him to stop it but you also need to escape so you don't get caught up in it.'

Dryae did not need to be told twice. The cage of trees constricted as more and more layered on top of it. Dryae faded outside of the branches while loud roars and the clashing of flesh and wood could be heard from inside of it.

When she emerged from the cage, Dryae appeared to be severely injured. Purple blood was flowing down from the wounds on her body while several pieces of her wood armor were broken off. The Zanpakuto spirit looked down at the injuries on her body before she began to use shunpo to get as far away as possible.

Ikomikidomoe kept roaring as he tore through the branches. Several explosions could be heard inside of the cage as Ikomikidomoe used cero without regard.

When he finally emerged from the cage, Ikomikidomoe appeared perfectly fine even though he was fighting Dryae so much and had used cero in such a confined space. Due to his powerful healing abilities, Ikomikidomoe was impossible to defeat without taking it down in one blow.

Seeing Ren surrounded by white flames, Ikomikidomoe began flying toward Ren while charging a black and red cero. This was Ikomikidomoe's gran rey cero which should have only been able to be used by Espada.

Ikomikidomoe flew in front of Ren and felt his entire body burning. The heat around Ren was not something that ordinary beings could withstand. This was the heat that could match the sun but even Ikomikidomoe was able to be near it and survive.

The Hollow launched his cero at point-blank range but the moment he did, Ren had finally finished singing. With the singing over, Ren said one word before the world went white.

"Sunburst!"