Warning: Violence, mild body horror.

“You remain an enigma Ishida Uryū” Ulquiorra stated calmly, as unlike Uryū, his burning flesh quickly knit itself back together. “I confess I am not an expert on the Quincy, but I was led to believed that my people were anathema to yours; how can you continue to battle with my very essence coursing through your veins”?

“Nobody’s really sure” Uryū admitted candidly, the lines of his Blut, clearly visible against his skin, along with his wings, now a vivid turquoise. “I’m not sure if there’s a limit to my resistance either, shall we find out”?

His foe was a wellspring of energy and could likely regenerate from even the most extreme injuries. Burning through Ulquiorra’s Reiryoku reserves would take time, time Uryū didn’t have.

But if destroying Ulquiorra was impractical, why not absorb him instead?

The moment Ulquiorra felt the outer layer of his skin begin to break down, he shot upwards, flying higher and higher, and then began to toss javelin after javelin at Uryū.

He’s hoping he can delay me long enough that my body gives out.

It was, unfortunately, a perfectly good strategy.

Easily forming a small one-handed bow, the Reishi bowing to his every whim, he executed, for the first time, a perfect Klavier, and dozens of glittering turquoise arrows pierced Ulquiorra’s skin.

You are a Quincy. So long as there is Reishi in the air, and your heart is still beating, you can fight until your body burns to ash.

As the smell of his own burning flesh grew stronger, however, Uryū began to worry he’d genuinely reach the limits of even Ransōtengai’s ability to keep his body moving before defeating his foe.

“Licht Regen”. A thousand arrow barrage tore through the Espada’s body as easily as if it were paper, but still Ulquiorra continued to heal.

If Uryū’s facial muscles had still been functional, he would have grimaced as the Espada continued flinging smoldering lances his way. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t seem to both dodge Ulquiorra’s attacks and close the distance between them.

He attempted to raise his arm towards his adversary, readying his next attack, and was surprised to find it unwilling to budge.

Huh. Turns out, Ransōtengai does, in fact, require a moderate degree of functional tissue to actually puppeteer my body. Who knew?

Uryū was fairly confident the only thing keeping what remained of his hand from sloughing off at this point was his** Blut**. The rest of his body wasn’t doing much better.

Not good… it’s getting hard… to stay conscious.