Chapter 1
"Shield, your sword has been broken," Yhwach addressed the little girl with the auburn hair. The Quincy stepped away from the unconscious Ichigo lying among the rubble and continued, "Must we continue this?"
Orihime flinched yet still poised to do battle. Yhwach smiled as he hurled a swarming mass of dark energy towards her. It dissipated as a triangular shield faintly glowed in front of the girl.
Hn, thought the Quincy King. The young girl wore a pitiful determined look on her face. The broad must be too keen on continuing the fight that the boy started and failed to finish. He sent another wave, this time behind him directed towards the defenseless boy on the ground.
Hisss.Yhwach briefly glanced behind him to see the same result – his energy dissipated as it made contact with the triangular shield. It faded out of existence only to reappear below the body of the boy and his broken Zanpakutou, lifting and swiftly carrying them across the ground towards the girl whose stare did not falter.
"Cheeky," teased The Almighty, as a gust of wind blew their clothes. He sent a larger wave as the body was amidst being lowered on the ground. It swallowed half of the destroyed throne room only to disappear mere moments later, to reveal that the shield is still under the boy but one angle was bent in such a way to block the attack.
"Amusing," he jeered. In all honesty he expected for the shield to easily break, as what he has seen from his visions of the past. The shield the broad just used was the Santen Kesshun – Three Sacred Links Shield – a tri-linked shield capable of rejecting whatever is outside it, therefore cancelling and rejecting all possible damage a force could inflict. It was what happened earlier with all energy waves he sent – they did not just vanish into thin air. All were rejected out of existence just like there was no attack in the first place.
Suddenly, small lights sprang forth from both sides of her head and formed an oval-shaped dome around the boy's unresponsive body.
"Life has already left that boy's body," he taunted. Although he said that the boy is practically dead, he knew for certain that the little girl is capable of resurrecting the deceased. The Soten Kisshun – Twin Sacred Return Shield – summons two of her sprite-like creatures to form an oval shield around her specific target and heal the damage they sustained. However, healing is not the term per se; rather the girl rejects what is inside the shield and returns it to the state it was before receiving any damage while simultaneously erasing it out of existence. Essentially speaking, the target never received damage at all.
Typical. This is how she fights – defend, heal and attack – all one trick ponies without further planning on what would be her next move. She will not even move from her spot and would lose her resolve immediately after firing her offensive shield. It was what made her weak, vulnerable and susceptible to sneak attacks. "You are not fit to fight. Stick to your dolls, little miss," he teased.
Her next move would be Koten Zanshun – Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield – a technique with so much wasted potential. Although branded out as the only offensive capability out of her roster, it is a shield that rejects both sides of the target while erasing their existence altogether. Its nature cannot be compared to that of Shinigami's soul purification, nor a Quincy's ability to destroy one's soul. It is far more sinister as it takes away the very existence of one's being, erasing them altogether from history.
How a mere and naive broad of a human came up with a set of cruel abilities is beyond him.
A light streak zoomed towards him and cut across his right cheek. He bled, and his eyes focused on the girl, her hair flowing like a dancing fire in the wind. She used her Koten Zanshun, and now is his chance to counter attack. He hurled a mass of energy that swallowed them. Just as he was about to tune out the amount of force, a striking whistling sound echoed among the blackness of the dark mass, and a speck of golden light twinkled like a star in the night.
It grew larger and larger.
Faster and faster
Nearer and nearer
He raised a shield of his own, but he was too late to block it, and it sliced across the right part of his chest – exactly where the boy hit him with Zangetsu. The sea of dark energy faded and he saw he girl behind the triangular shield holding both of her had in front of her. She still wore the very same determined expression she had when they first started this battle.
"Interesting," Yhwach smirked, wincing. A little girl dared to defy him, a god! He caught himself from boisterously laughing. He quickly gathered reishi on his feet and sped towards the girl. She is fast, and he shall pulverize her in her own game. He was about to send a sharp spear-like tendrils of dark energy towards her when she suddenly manifested the triangle on her feet and surfed towards him.
She summoned her single sprite and prepared to attack. He smiled as he manifested and brandished his broadsword in front of him. The broad lost her main defense the moment she used the triangle as a pathetic imitation of a Quincy's reishi platform.
He slashed with might but it only met the shield, not bent like the previous. Rather, it was the whole flat triangle protecting her whole person, with her standing midair.
The longer that this farce goes on, the more than it is impressed in me that the girl is a Quincy, he thought to himself.
A light parried his sword, sending his arm away and bringing his attention back to the girl. He used the momentum to spin around and thrust the blade at her. It shattered the middle portion, leaving a gaping hole for him to attack. Again, he thrust the sword directly towards her bare midsection but the hole closed, trapping the blade. She raised the shield upward and sideward. His grip loosened as she successfully took the sword away from him. She flailed it and threw it across the wind.
Yhwach immediately hurled a dark wave towards the girl, hitting her squarely in her chin, and sending her further into the air. Orihime skidded, grazing her knees and elbows by the impact. Yhwach smiled triumphantly as the little girl weakly and slowly stood in place. She wiped her brow with her arms as she carefully took her battle stance. Four lights gathered around her, the three forming a triangle floating on her right arm, while the other one swirling lazily on her left. She is a picture of a medieval knight.
"Pathetic," he jeered, as he summoned another energy sword on his right hand while covering his left arm with a vortex of wild and thrashing black-colored energy. He made a slicing movement with his left hand and an array of tendril spikes formed and homed towards the little girl.
She moved her right hand and quickly blocked the attack he sent. He sped towards her, raising his sword and brought down his sword upon her while she was blocking the spikes. The triangle shattered into tiny little shards, sending them away into the wind. The force made the girl off-balance, baring her vulnerability to further attacks.
Yhwach laughed boisterously as he sent another array of black spikes. It quickly shattered upon contact with the single stroke of light. He seized the girl and brought his sword upon her. The blade slid to the side as the human parried his attack with her triangle shield. He held tighter at his sword's hilt, keeping the shield from parrying his blade, as he swung harder. The triangle flickered out of existence as the girl was sent again feet into the wind.
He appeared inches away from the girl in a split second, holding her tightly by her cheeks as he raised her painfully above. The girl choked as she struggled and clawed to escape but it only made him tighten his hold on her. "Tell me young girl, what is it that motivates you to fight?" she did not speak as she looked straight at him with undecipherable eyes. It gnawed at him. It sparked his ire for whatever reason unknown even to him. He gritted his teeth in annoyance as he forced her to look at the boy below. "Is it that boy?"
She did not answer. He had enough of this charade. He positioned the tip of his blade exactly where her heart should be and was about the thrust when it shattered. It loosened his grip on her, and along with the girl's hand chop, his fingers finally released her. Freed, she used his body as leverage and kicked him squarely across the face with her right foot. It sent him reeling, and while he was distracted, the girl formed a small Santen Kesshun shield on her palm and struck his chest with it. Combined with its ability to reject whatever is outside the shield, the Quincy was pushed several feet away.
"You!" he growled.