Bleach: Aaroniero Vs. Nelliel - Which Espada Would Win?

Many powerful fighters populate the world of Bleach, including the Soul Reapers, the guardians of Soul Society and custodians of dead souls. They all wield Zanpakuto in combat, but so do the ten fearsome Espadas, the most powerful Arrancar of all. They are ranked #1-10 -- with one exception-- and two notable characters among their member are the Espadas Aaroniero and Nelliel.

Aaroniero Arrurruerie is unusual even among the Espadas, being a gluttonous creature that has eaten an astonishing total of 33,650 Hollows. His powers are great, despite him being a Gillian-class Menos, and seems a likely candidate to take on Nelliel, the former 3rd Espada, though they never fought in the series. Will Nelliel triumph, or has Hollow evolution left her behind in favor of Aaroniero?

Aaroniero's body is highly unusual, and that's not by accident. He is only a Gillian-class Hollow and never evolved into the Adjuchas stage like Grimmjow and the other Espadas did, but he found a way to make up for it. Instead, Aaroniero used his unique ability, Glotoneria, to eat countless other Hollows and add their strength and abilities to his own. He is an entire army of Hollows in one, strong enough to become the 9th Espada, while most other Gillians end up as Fracciónes, minions to the other Espadas.

Aaroniero can use the abilities of any other Hollow he has eaten, and even morph his body into their likeness. He also ate Metastacia, the mutant Hollow that ate Kaien Shiba, and Aaroniero used Kaien's likeness (and Zanpakuto) to fight Rukia and push her to the limit. This clearly puts him on par with a Soul Reaper Lieutenant, even without releasing Glotoneria's full power. He also has an adequate Sonido and is skilled at acting like the people he's eaten.

Aaroniero's released form is a mass of tentacles and mouths, and he can use his tentacles to grab and slap his enemies, as he did against Rukia. In this form, his humanoid torso sits atop the bodily mass, and he can still use the Zanpakuto of Kaien Shiba if his enemy gets in close. However, Aaroniero is vulnerable to attacks to the head; his actual body has two heads, which float in a glass tank filled with strange red liquid. If the tank is shattered, the heads will suffocate, and Aaroniero will die.

Nelliel was unusual among the Espadas in that she had a sense of nobility to her, like a knight. Unlike the thuggish Grimmjow and Nnoitora, she didn't enjoy fighting and was disgusted by the idea of fighting out of instinct, hatred or for the glory of it. To Nelliel, fighting was a grim duty that must serve a noble purpose, making her rather similar to Lieutenant Izuru Kira of the Gotei 13, although they never met. Nelliel also had two Fracciónes, Dondochakka and Pesche.

As a warrior and the 3rd Espada, Nelliel was quite powerful. She had a katana-shaped Zanpakuto named Gamuza, and had incredible skill with it, augmented by her natural strength, speed and agility. Time after time, she would defeat Nnoitora Gilga with ease when he was the 8th Espada, and even after Nnoitora became #5, Nelliel could still stand up to him. She is also proficient in unarmed combat and has the unique ability to eat an opponent's Cero blast, combine it with her own and fire both back at the enemy.

Nelliel's release, Gamuza, turns her into a centaur knight, complete with a lance. She can throw it with extreme speed and precision, drilling right into her enemy and mortally wounding them. With these powers, Nelliel could have still served among the Espadas by the time Ichigo arrived in Hueco Mundo, but she was betrayed, injured and abandoned, cutting her Espada career short.

Whenever he gets a chance, Aaroniero will use a disguise to fool his enemies and trick them into lowering their guard, usually by become Kaien Shiba. However, that wouldn't work on Nelliel, who doesn't even know who Kaien is. So Aaroniero could only assume Kaien's form to use the Reaper's mighty Shikai, Tachibana. Kaien was a powerful Soul Reaper, to be sure, but Nelliel was ranked 3rd among the Espadas, and never stopped being Espada-worthy, despite all the time since her betrayal. Nelliel can outmaneuver Aaroniero as Kaien and protect herself and, should Aaroniero try to fire a Cero, Nelliel could eat it and return it with her Cero Doble technique, which would obliterate if he doesn't dodge it Aaroniero.

Kaien's Shikai won't cut it, so Aaroniero would have to use his release next, and become a great blob of Hollow body parts. However, Nelliel has the speed and technique to avoid his many tentacles and even cut them off. Of course, Ceros isn't an option, but not even the Bala technique would be enough to hit Nelliel. To end things, Nelliel would use her own release, Gamuza, giving her a ranged option in her lance, which she can hurl at her giant enemy with great precision. Aaroniero would be too big and slow to dodge, and Nelliel's lance would pierce any defense to strike his head, shattering the glass. Aaroniero would then suffocate and die within seconds, leaving Nelliel as the winner.