345. The Sloth

Rukia continues her fight with Rudobōn. Meanwhile at the top of the dome of Las Noches, Ulquiorra releases his Zanpakutō and attacks Ichigo with frightening speed and power. Ichigo barely saves himself from getting his head sliced off his shoulders.

Summary
Rukia continues her fight with Rudobōn, destroying one of his Calaveras. Rudobōn asks if she was afraid of the god-like power of his Zanpakutō, Árbol, and its power of generating an unlimited amount of faithful Calaveras for him to command. More Calaveras sprout from his branches and immediately attack Rukia. He then goes on to say that even with the power that Aizen gave him, he was unable to become an Espada. Suddenly Rudobōn turns around and looks up at the fake sky of Las Noches, noticing that Ulquiorra had broken through the dome to the top.

Ulquiorra, on top of a pillar, starts to tell Ichigo that several things forbidden to do inside the dome, one of which is for Espada Cuatro and above to release their power. He says that if one does so, it would destroy Los Noches. With a burst of black spirit energy, Ulquiorra releases his Zanpakutō. Ichigo watches in shock as the black spirit energy falls from the sky like rain. Ulquiorra tells Ichigo not to let his guard down for an instant before suddenly appearing right in front of Ichigo, ready to slash him. Ichigo reflexively uses Getsuga, saving his life. Only a portion of Ichigo's Hollow mask was sliced off. Ulquiorra said that if he didn't do that, his head would be at his feet.

Characters
Characters in order of appearance:
 * Rukia Kuchiki
 * Rudobōn
 * Orihime Inoue
 * Uryu Ishida
 * Ulquiorra Cifer
 * Ichigo Kurosaki