Oathbound, under the waxing moon. [Ulv/Magnolia]

Whirling blades, a flurry of fists, the never-ending waltz of death and destruction; would it ever end? Sometimes Magnolia would stop and ponder, before dismissing it as the way of the world. Today was one of those days when thoughts ran unbidden through her mind when the weight of reality would grate and grind upon her soul.

"Magpie, you know it was their choice. You've never taken a life unjustly." Raijin's rumbling voice echoed in her mind; her inner spirit projected it's emotions of warmth towards its host. In her inner world, Raijin was looking out towards the horizon solemnly.

" Does it matter, Raijin? A thousand, ten-thousand a million? How can I ever justify the number of lives I've taken, the number of families I've destroyed? How am I any different from those I fight? " Magnolia's inner turmoil, the root of her trauma was from this one fact: She knew how painful it was for families to be destroyed, yet she was doing it to others.

"No, I guess, in the end, it indeed won't matter. If you want reality, here it is Magnolia: You are a murderer. Still, just as you've taken lives, you've also saved lives. You have fought against what you have perceived to be injustice, never betraying the ideals you have.

I would say the citizens of Victoria would think of you as a hero. Demons might think of you as a mass murderer. In the end, those with power will be haunted by it. You are my Queen. I will always support your choices unconditionally. " Raijin's response was deliberately harsh, it was clear the zanpakuto spirit had had enough of Magnolia's whining.

A derisive snort escaped Magnolia's nose as her feet dug into the white sand below. Her golden eyes peering out across the endless night sky before her, before sweeping across the endless sands that surrounded her.

Her mind strayed from what lay before her as she stared at the emptiness, thinking about the realm she had left behind, the unfinished crusade that she had put on hold to aid the reality that she currently found herself within.

She had found many things in this world that she hadn't expected to, and for that she was grateful. However, eventually, she would return to the world she was from, to destroy the rotten foundations that kept it from growing to greater heights. The greedy sects that ruled over it, the powerful beings that lived in debauchery, that lived like fake gods upon the lies they had sown for thousands of years. She would destroy it all.

Right now though, in the present, what was important was gauging the strength of a certain individual. Someone who through their two lives had sought to be by her, a comrade that she could trust. She had called them here, to the endless sands to see if they would be strong enough to fight by her side. Magnolia was tired of losing those that were important to her, and refused to do so any longer.

At last, Ulv's familiar energy signature filled the endless sands. Magnolia's golden eyes shifted to face the auburn-haired woman as she appeared from a crack between worlds. A small smile blossomed on her lips, but it was a smile that would fade in an instant, fleeting, like a mirage.

"Ulv Auber, I didn't know if you would come or not." Magnolia's voice was faintly bemused but weary and somber. The warrior made no move towards her comrade, instead, remaining stock-still.

Under the moonlight, the tattered kimono that garbed Magnolia's body looked fierce and lonely. Her toned and chiseled arms aglow. Her feet standing shoulder-width apart, toes pressed firmly against the sand that lay beneath them.

" Your strength, it might just be strong enough now." Magnolia commented with a sigh, a tremor running through the ground as the faintest hints of azure graced her skin and the faintest crackle of lightning arcing from her arm to the ground. The scimitars that rest lightly upon her hips began to rattle faintly, electricity in the air being drawn to them slowly.

" When this war is over, If all goes well, I plan on bridging the gap between realities once more. I will return to the soul society that I am from and I will destroy the sects that rule over it. Before that though, I have to discern something very important. " Magnolia's somber tone, the slight edge that lay within it, and the way that the ground was thumping, all of it brought with it a sense of off-kilter, almost like a storm was just on the horizon.

"That you are strong enough that I don't have to worry about you perishing. So come at me." Magnolia spoke plainly, before the sand surrounding her exploded upwards into a seething, churning mass of raw power. Her energy would ripple outwards like a natural disaster, lightning bolts ripping through the sands to turn it to glass. Huge spikes of sand turning into jagged teeth that stuck from the earth, glass shards falling from the sky like jagged hail, which would smash into the ground littering it with spine-like projections.

"Let's get something straight. It's going to be you that ends up eating shit face first." Magnolia's voice echoed throughout the sands before Ulv finally threw her attack.

The land was torn asunder, the ground heaving up towards the midnight sky. Vorpal winds exploded outwards, roaring like behemoths as they shattered all that lay in their path. It was impressive really, the amount of power that lay in that punch was enough that the turbulence spilled over into the stone forest that lay miles beneath their feet, the shockwaves alone pushed sand away from their position, like a gigantic tidal-wave to create dunes in the surrounding landscape. It was titanic, a magnificent show of force. Still...

"I didn't think this would be ... this FUN!" A boisterous laugh left Magnolia's lips as she made an open palm, space itself distorting around her as a massive influx of spiritual energy congregated onto her palms surface. As the roaring wave of destruction neared her, she thrust her palm forth, and the true chaos would begin.

It was blinding, the chaotic vibrating mass of power that exploded from her palm was mighty enough that in the first split second after, the sky was dyed blue in the hue of Magnolia's fierce spiritual energy. Then the massive explosion of reishi would crash headlong into the attack that was sent her way. Then, the reishi began to expand, a mass of untamed destruction that would arc up into the sky above, and shoot down into the bedrock beneath it. Space itself shuddered, much like a how an Espada brought Garganta's into this realm, the sand was blown away like buckshot for tens of miles from the subsequent blast.

Next, Stone was jettisoned from the blast zone in house-sized chunks into the skies above, flying for many tens of miles before smashing into the sands to cause craters, practically meteors once they smashed back into the ground. The stone forest that lay beneath their feet was vaporized as well, vibrational storms and kinetic energy turning what lay below into dust, a hole many miles wide, and tens of miles deep lay in the wake of the two titanic forces.

Finally, the aftershock ripped past the combatants, shattering many more miles around them as tidal waves of sand barreled through the landscape like seething snakes, they would rip up any of the small dead tree's they encountered, before shooting off into the distance.

"If that is all you have, then it won't be enough. " Magnolia's voice rose in the silence that was left in the wake of those mighty attacks. Soon, in a flash of electricity, she would appear right before ulv, lightning exploding from her twin fists, which would blur as the words exploded from her mouth.

"Sōkotsu!"

These twin fists would impact Ulv's abdomen with an extreme force more likely than not. The power of her iron fist technique and demon shattering blows compounding upon her immense strength. Double bone, it was a technique that, when considering Magnolia's own might, was enough that it could shatter many miles of the landscape around them if there had been any left.

The air exploded in the aftershock of Magnolia's titanite fists colliding with Ulv's powerful gauntlets. The skies howled with the wind currents that blew outwards like raging storms. These otherworldly forces which fought against one another, they changed the landscape around them with every collision that occurred.

"Soup? Does she understand my resolve? She's likening the intent of my will to food?" The Cogs in Magnolia's mind spun as her feet skid across the air backward, her short, spikey hair ruffled by the winds that billowed past her body. "She likens the honoring of memories in such a manner?" The thought ran rampant in her head before she launched forward, lightning expunging from her form.

Giving Ulv no time to recover, Magnolia appeared right in front of her once more, Her open palm moving forward at speeds which easily exceeded the speed of sound; The open palm moving in at exceedingly fast speeds as it would grasp the Hem of Ulv's clothing. From there, Magnolia's arm would draw her inwards, her elbow moving across to strike towards Ulv's face with enough force to shatter her nose. Both strikes would be near-instantaneous due to timing and speed. Of course, If Ulv had managed to react in time, Magnolia would have released her, her feet moving backward to give ground in a feint.

"Ulv, do you understand why I'm doing this? " Magnolia's voice carried the meager expanse of the distance between them, her feet planting firmly on the air beneath her, as she would finally draw the scimitar that lay against her hips. Maybe it was Ulv's comment on food in something so important that had the Warrior, who didn't understand the analogies of Earth so worked up; Or, it could be that the pressure she had faced so far, the memories of another that dwelled within her, and the need to ensure that she protect everyone she could with her power.

All of these things, which had been foreign to her when she had come to this universe, now were so important to her. Shuten, the Gotei, Ulv, Henrex, even Shunsui.. and the callous Abalia. These people had shown her that the world could be better. It was not a path that she'd follow on her own, but rather a way of living she could bring back to her own universe. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that these people had given her hope, had shown her the way forward. So far, it didn't seem like Ulv understood the gravity of her words. No, it seemed like Ulv did not understand the power of her will.

How could she show her? How could she make Ulv understand the agony she was willing to undergo by allowing a stranger to fight her battles alongside her?

"Do you understand that for me, this is not merely an obligation, but the culmination of my path? " Magnolia said aloud as Ulv would begin to notice the qualitative change in the air around Magnolia. "Do you understand the friends, family, and comrades I've left behind to become strong enough to honor the wishes they had?" Magnolia thought to herself.

The faintest of Sigh's escaped Magnolia's lips as thunder boomed in the distance, the phenomena of clouds having slowly appeared in the backdrop of Hueco Mundo's starry sky. Ulv had once gotten a mere glimpse of it, but now she could easily feel Magnolia's Lightning Qi as it began to interact with the world around them.

"This may seem trivial to you, but the fate of my own dimension lay upon my shoulders. My realm and it's fate is my own Tribulation. But it's okay if it seems trivial to you... " It would look like a spark of lightning would escape Magnolia's eye as she spoke those words.

" Because all that matters to me, is that with these two hands I surpass the heavens, and I overturn the world that preys upon the weak. I will form my own sky. Now, shall I show you the summit? Shall I show you the gravity of what will also lay upon your shoulders if you choose to go with me" Magnolia's words would become somber, as it would look like the air would thicken around her?

"From the pinnacle of everything, return to the origin, and transcend your limits Shōten no ten no Megami" Her words boomed forth, as above her the heavens were rent apart by lightning, almost as if the tribulation clouds of old had descended upon the earth, angry that another dared challenge their rule.

A great and terrible force would expand from Magnolia, whose body was still invisible by the Lightning which had formed a solid pillar from the heavens to the earth. The storm clouds which had formed with that pillar as it's nexus would have lightning arc within them in a seven-mile radius. Soon, lightning would rain upon the earth, as if smiting anything that dared challenge them. The roaring and rumbling would build, before all the lightning in these clouds emptied upon the single person that stood at their center.

A halberd of lightning would crash through the pillar of Lightning, ripping it asunder. Meanwhile, for all those around her, the force of her will would bear down upon them with bone-crushing force. A breath of lightning would escape her lips, and her eyes would open. The very air, as if unable to contain her will would be baptized in fire, Roaring flames blasting outwards in a three-mile radius of her being, as she looked forward towards Ulv.

Then, that massive spiritual energy would shrink slightly, Refining itself to become far more potent then it had been previously. Her skin began to gleam faintly, and her spiritual energy would feel more like it was a part of the world, and yet above it. It was a sensation that if one had to put a word to it could only be described as one thing: Transcendent.

This was Magnolia, a being capable of traversing Nirvana.

"Nearing Apotheosis? Fighting Emotion?" The voice that escaped from the thunder and fire that scorched the land and shattered the skies was surprisingly empty. Thunder rumbled in the sky still, and finally, rain would fall upon the parched sands below. It was almost like the heavens had decided to take pity upon the earth, almost as if the heavens had sought to sate the parched sands below.

" It is not about fighting your emotions, but rather overcoming them. If you feel hatred, you must rise above and understand the reality of those you hate. If you feel sadness, you must understand why you are sad. " Magnolia's words echoed dully as she stepped out of the haze that had formed in her direct vicinity.

" I thought I knew what that meant, however since coming to this realm... I don't know. It's as if my worldview was similar to a frog looking out of a well. " She looked down at the spear of pure lightning that rested in her hand, her fingers clenching the shaft before she looked up at Ulv.

Then, her spiritual pressure would explode outwards, causing a maelstrom of natural energies to howl out as they displaced sand, causing sand storms around her as Magnolia vanished in a thunderclap. She'd appear in front of her armored friend, her energy purifying even further then it had been previously. It seemed even now, her energy was going under a qualitative change. Ascending further into nirvana, she was constantly compressing and refining her power.

The spear in her hands would jerk up, lightning expanding rapidly against the tip of the weapon. The brilliant yellow hues continued to build until it became blinding. The spiritual pressure when it neared Ulv would rapidly begin to decompress, the explosive force behind this attack being enough to easily level a mountain.

As if a testament to the power that rampantly sought to free itself from the rising bolt, space itself distorted faintly. Much like how a gran ray cero was capable of distorting space, this attack would be capable of doing it on a far larger scale. Miniature tears, similar to Garganta would form in the direct vicinity around them.

Soon, the sound would rush forth to catch up to the speed that these attacks had taken place, and Magnolia's words would rise, hopefully before being drowned out by the roar of the explosion that followed.

" Since coming here, the path that I thought was mine, I am unsure if it is the one that I must tread down. I am unsure because the people I have met have shown me a better way. My comrades, all of you, have shown me not only a better way but a way to become better. "

Her spear would shift from the upward jab to a sweeping slash, a brilliant blast of aura cascading outwards as it would light up the sky as if for a few moments day had finally come to this land of eternal night. Burnt ozone was easily smelt in the region around them.

"This world is my hope. The hope that things can be better because I have seen it. Yet, even now I try to think about the consequences of my own actions. The lives that have been slain, the families I've broken apart. It is a cycle of death and rebirth, how can I come to accept that? I don't have an answer for it, but I will keep searching." Her words were somber, with evident self-loathing as she formed a 10 foot azure bolt of lightning and hurled it at Ulv, it's force being capable of easily destroying a city block once it decompressed.

Finally though, when Ulv muttered those last words, they did not escape Magnolia, and a sad smile escaped her lips as boisterous laughter spilled out to fill the realm around them.

"This is not about death Ulv, but rather it's quite the contrary. My friends are my Hope. They are the bastion I receed to, the source of power that I draw from to continue to resist. I will not allow any more of my friends to die needless deaths. That is why I face you with the entirety of my strength. "