Born From The Fear

With Demoura beaten by El Directo, Sado dispels his Fullbring and steps away. A ruined Aisslinger tries to raise one last tendril, but Uryu shears it off with a Heilig Pfeil, corrects him one more time about being a Quincy rather than a human, and tells him to warn Aizen to fear the Quincy who has entered Hueco Mundo. The chamber then begins to shake. Aisslinger reveals that the room is designed to self-destruct, since he and Demoura were the guardians tasked with destroying anyone who breached Las Noches by this route, and that their loss brings the whole structure down.

Ichigo, Sado, and Uryu scramble up the stairs as the passage floods with sand and caves in, bursting out onto the surface seconds later. Left behind, Aisslinger reflects that Aizen fears no one, which is why Hollows born of fear are drawn to his fearless path like moonlight, before the rubble buries him.

Above ground, the trio take in a bleached, barren desert dotted with trees that Uryu, snapping off a branch, finds are made of a quartz-like substance. On the horizon looms the immense palace of Las Noches, so large it throws off Sado's sense of scale. They agree Orihime must be held somewhere within, since there is nowhere else the Arrancar could hide her, and set off toward it, unaware that two figures watch from a nearby ledge.

This chapter belongs to volume 28, BARON'S LECTURE FULL-COURSE. Inside the fortress, the Espada assemble around their table and trade reactions to the breach, Zommari reporting the collapsed passage and Nnoitra relishing the news, before Aizen arrives with Gin and Tosen, announces the invasion, and offers everyone tea. The material was adapted into episode 145 of the anime.