[He can almost hear the sound of the gears grinding in Shin's head, what there are of them, clacking and clicking and stuttering and not quite stopping like the clocktower he spends so much time in; Night and Day are both stopped now, after all, and perhaps in the near future Shin's will stop too.

And then his own, and on, and on.

But Ulquiorra has stared death and the void beyond existence in the face more times than he can count, by now, and even if he will do his utmost against it he refuses to run away from it, and he refuses to countenance others trying to do it crawling along in his sight.

It's hard to say whether that's a failing of his, or something else, but regardless in the moment he just watches Shin storm off without any change in expression. This isn't a fight anyone will win, but at least it's quiet again now.]