Placing his net-like hand out, Darwin stares at the incoming attack without caution.
But to his demise, the thin, high pressurised attack pierced through his arm like jelly, splitting in two.
It whizzes past Darwin's face, leaving him a small graze and a change of demeanour.
Surprised, Darwin screams from the depth of his lung, echoing throughout the Fourth Stratos.
The Reiatsu radiating from within exploded, applying an enormous pressure and shaking the very roots of the Stratos.
Shaken up, Harribel who was buckling on her knees faintly said, "Darwin…"
'I didn't come here just to kill you. I'm here to help you recover like I wished I did for my father!' Lifting her head up, her eyes blazed with renewed vigour, determination and trust.
The entire floor felt the Darwin's immense power, the ones who are closest to him are feeling the brunt of it, as some are laying their breathless bodies on the concrete below.
—-
"Hmm~" A white haired man with pale skin watches the scene from a far with composure as an enormous influx of wind breezing past his fluttering outfit.
He is wearing a patterned striped green and white bucket hat, a green uniform and black haori, a sheathed blade adorned to his waist, and geta sandals clanking the ground below.
He quietly mutters, "Fourth Stratos might be more interesting than I thought."
With hurried footsteps, he approaches the chaotic marketplace with haste.
—-
Harribel strikes Darwin with her shark hand coated in a bright blue, high pressurised edge.
"Come to your senses Darwin!"
With Darwin's subtle tremor movements and a small tint of light radiating from his eyes, he takes the full brunt of her attack.
Piercing through him creating cascade of blood, she looks at Darwin with confusion.
"Why didn't you dodge like you did before?!" She slouches, resting her forehead on his chest and tearing up.
She pondered at that point of time.
What does it mean to lose your friends and soon another?
"Ahh—!"
This result wasn't what she had intended.
'Harribel!'
The voice within her mind rumbles.
'Why are you still living in a fantasy?!'
The faint horrors of the past comes back biting her.
'Do you really think your ideals will be heard throughout Hueco Mundo?!'
"I just want my friends and I to be happy?" She whispered, her voice trembles as the water pour out from her eyelids, slowly.
'Happiness is a short and insidious killer, placing you in the worst predicaments.'
"Why is that? Father."
'Even though you keep calling me father. I don't hate it.'
The voice chuckled.
'A flower bud born in a midst of a battlefield. You are bound to understand the harshness of reality.'
But, with the quickest steps, the white haired man cloaks the two individuals and himself.
Darwin's body shutters, after, he briefly falls unconsciousness, pulling back his explosive Reiatsu from a quick backhand.
"I will be needing the two of you."
In an instant, the three were whisked away to the shimmering light.
—-
—[First Stratos]—
Nearing the entrance to the Second Stratos, the three of them teleported to the lingering geta sandal footsteps.
"Interesting." The mysterious white haired man who looks considerably young observes them more up close.
His voice epitome of laid back, he said, "Well."
Harribel asks with a look of concern and confusion, "Are you here to help us?"
Rubbing his chin, he said ambiguously, "Who knows."
Giggling to himself while covering his mouth with a paper fan.
With a look of rememberance, he said clasping his hands, "I forgot to introduce myself."
Gazing towards Harribel with a deathly look, "I am Urahara Kisuke. I hope that you do not take any drastic measures." His tone darker than the abyss of Hueco Mundo.
Harribel looks back unamused with Darwin's unconscious body laying on her thighs.
Returning to his giddy self, he whispers, "I guess you do understand."
"These Stratos are filled with boundless knowledge you Hollows can reap."
Placing his finger tips on his head, he shakes with a sigh.
"It wouldn't be pleasant to have this fella put on a stake would it."
"…" Walking back and forth nearby, he ponders to himself on what to do.
"I will help you." While his voice was laid back, his body language says otherwise.
Walking closer to Harribel, he whispers, "Can you bring him with me."
Knowing that Darwin's body was on the verge of death, she had no choice but to agree.
Signalling her to pick up the pace, both Harribel carrying Darwin and Urahara dash their way out of the First Stratos and back on Menos Forest.
—-
—[Urahara's Hidden Research Facility]—
Opening up a passage, Urahara looks back to Harribel and smiles, "This way."
Before they head inside, she asks quietly, "How can I trust you?" Her gaze carries lingering skepticism.
"Well there really isn't any place safer than this one." He said playfully.
She In turn nods while following suit, "I guess I have no choice."
Walking down a stairway, Urahara tells Harribel, "When we reach the bottom, I will need to check up on the man."
Unresponsive, she looks ahead, blank, her thoughts clouded with many things that has happened today.
"…"
"It's for his sake." He reassures her while she was revealing a darkened expression, laced with many sorrows.
"His Reiatsu bubbling within him is running rampant."
"This enclosed space hides his enormous Reiatsu, so don't worry about that."
Caressing the thick grey walls, Urahara releases a tiny portion of his Reiatsu showing that the walls will not leak it.
Reaching to the crux of the facility, he gestures her to place him on top of a bloodied dissecting table.
"His body isn't regenerating from one hypothesis."
Leaning closer, she asks with concern, "What is it?"
"It's Reishi." His voice low and firm.
Continuing his short lecture with seriousness masked over his face, "Reishi acts as life force for individuals in a soul state."
"To give you an understanding. His body is beyond physical repair—his energy is being drained constantly."
His face sours, "Like a leaking vessel. He will eventually dissipate to nothingness."
Harribel grips Darwin's cold hands tightly with sadness smearing all over.
"I hope you do not cause him harm." She whispers, her voice hinting at the brink of despair.