At the same time that Ophis started her rampage, keeping the Zero Division occupied, Kisuke, still in his Hollowfied form and with an incomplete name, arrived at the roofless 1st Division Barracks.
While leaving through the crack of space, he felt Ophis' outburst and immediately thought that she might have been forced to fuse back with Lilith. Kisuke knew that this was the most likely outcome, that's why he didn't want her to face Ichibei.
But in hindsight, Ophis was also the best match against Ichibei, not because of her sheer destructive power, but because of another facet of her [Infinity] which is True Shapeshifting.
Sure, pure destructive power might overwhelm Ichibei, but if he's an immortal in Hell, it won't be long before he finds a way around it. Ichibei's true nemesis was Ophis' True Shapeshifting ability.
Ichibei's True Strike Naming works by branding its target a name and subsequently changing the target's existence itself to match the branded name. Truly a terrifying ability that can only be resisted by a few things. And one of those things was Ophis' ability. Ichibei may be able to name Ophis whatever he wants, but Ophis will just declare and shapeshift herself back as 'Ophis, the Dragon God of Infinity', rendering his ability useless.
Kisuke also predicted that the other members would come to assist Ichibei but he's not too worried since Tenjirou, while capable of great healing, his only other ability is a destructive one. To a nigh-invulnerable Ophis, he's just a sitting duck.
Senjumaru, on the other hand, was somewhat unknown to Kisuke and he was sure that her ability wasn't just illusions and suspected that she may even have some fate-altering ability. But even if that's the case, Ophis herself could not be affected by fate-altering thanks to her status as a Transcendent, at least not of Senjumaru's level.
His basis? It's his own ability to 'weave'. Benihime's ability is altering reality itself so he could guess to some extent what his fellow weaver could do and he knew for sure that Benihime doesn't work on Ophis.
Benihime might have worked on Chaos but only on the body he created to interact with the world. Chaos' real body might have been the void itself and if he added that to the equation to mind, he's also pretty sure that Benihime wouldn't work. It's only through killing Chaos' mind or essence using Tiamat that he could stand where he is now.
Naturally, not all worries left his mind because there are still many things that he doesn't know regarding Ichibei, 'I don't know how he'll utilize Hell itself so I have to hurry... Not to mention, those maggots... I'm still not sure where they stand in this situation.'
Kisuke cleared his occupied mind and looked around more to investigate and the first thing he noticed was Flanna standing still in her Dragonoid Human form.
"Boss! You're here!" Flanna waved her hand to him but she didn't move from her spot.
"How is it?" Kisuke asked while walking towards her, intentionally ignoring everyone else to check on Flanna first.
"The hole Beni requested is done, but it looks like I won't be able to move for a short while."
"You messed up your output?"
Flanna looked at him with embarrassment and said while scratching her head, "I can now see why you're so intent on testing out things first. It's as you've said. I overestimated what this body could take at once and ended up frying some of my channels. It's not really a big deal since I can heal on my own just fine and the only thing I can't do is release that much power again for some time."
Kisuke became silent for a bit before asking, "...What about later? Do you think you can still do it?"
"The plan, right? I heard it from Beni earlier. Even in this state, I can still do it. It's just that you'll be alone from here on."
Benihime walked towards them and said, "What do you mean alone? I'm coming with him."
Flanna turned towards her and smiled, "I've always considered the two of you a set so my words are still technically true." She then looked towards the sword in Kisuke's hand, "And that's the same goes for you, Tia."
"Anyways!" Flanna returned her attention back to Kisuke, "I'll be fine, but what about you? It seems you got hit by something nasty."
Kisuke patted Flanna's head and said, "The next hurdle is something that can't be brute-forced. He may have cut down my overall strength, but not the effectiveness of my abilities."
Benihime let out a short breath before she was bathed in bright light. The next second, Benihime already disappeared and a cane appeared in Kisuke's free hand that just left Flanna's head.
"By the way, I also felt Gab's aura for a little bit. What's up with that? Was that the reason you're rushing things now?"
"It was just her image. Though you're correct to assume that she's one of the reasons." Kisuke looked up and confirmed that the barriers were starting to close up, albeit, slowly, "I'll get going. Knowing Kirio-san, I'm sure she prepared something for me."
Kisuke lowered his body and prepared to launch himself upwards.
"W-wait! Urahara!" Kyouraku tried calling out to him but the latter only turned to Mayuri and said before disappearing, "I'll leave it to you."
Mayuri scoffed while looking up and said, "Couldn't even be bothered to give more information."
"Forgive the guy, science man. You know he's busy. If it's answers that you want, I'll give you some while I'm resting."
"Hmmm... That's a good alternative, I guess." Mayuri snapped his fingers and the shackles on Shinji and Soifon unlocked and dropped down, "Follow me to my lab. I'll listen to you while preparing the necessary things."
"As long as you keep your hands off me, we're good," Flanna replied while shaking off the dust that had fallen on her and returning to her Human form.
.
.
.
A few minutes of flying later, instead of the Royal Cities and Palace, Kisuke saw a large 'hairy' ball in its place. And as he got closer, it became clear that it wasn't a hairball but a giant sphere made out of countless lively roots and branches, 'She covered the entire place with this? This won't be easy.' Kisuke thought while feeling that some of his vitality was already being sucked even before he got near the area.