Ichigo felt desperation overwhelm him. He hacked and slashed at the Hollows around him. He was good, he knew that, but even he was breaking under the sheer numbers of the enemy.
Little black soldiers all in neat rows.
We had gathered for the final battle, so assured that we would win, lined up in neat rows, waiting. Ichigo could remember questioning this strategy, better to hit and run, he thought. But the higher-ups had assured him, it would be a slaughtering of their enemies. Soul Society would win and beat back the Hollow invaders.
Just as they had every time.
Yet all the other times only a few Hollow had fought. This time it was thousands, millions of Hollows, of all ranks, gathered and ready.
It was a slaughtering, but not the way the ranked officers thought it would be. Ichigo had watched as Shinigami and Hollow alike fell, and piled up until they were climbing over piles of bodies to continue to clash. It went on for hours/days/months. It was impossible to tell what time it was, if you got distracted, you died.
Ichigo was sure he would remember this day/night for the rest of his life. However long that was.
Little black soldiers, lined up to die.
At one point he found himself back to back with Byakuya, who was bleeding from multiple wounds. They fought together for a while, clearing a space around them before they were separated by the tide of battle. Ichigo's Shihakusho was ripped and drenched in blood. The blood of Hollows, his own, and the Shinigami who had fought near him.
Little black soldiers, fighting to survive.
Ichigo had learned to suppress his hero instinct in this battle. In this battle it was not practical to race off to swoop in to save someone. He could not abandon his place in line. He had to hold his position to give the healers a chance to help the wounded.
Every one in a while, when he would start to be overwhelmed, he let loose with a Getsuga Tensho to give himself a bit of space. He had to keep Zangetsu in his regular, knife-like state to conserve energy. There were enemies all around, in front of him, above him; there was also the possibility of tunneling hollow, according to a division of Shinigami that had fallen victim.
Little black soldiers, torn and bloody.
Ichigo saw a girl near him, looking so much like Yuzu, get swallowed up by a frog-like Hollow and screamed out his frustration at not being able to help any of his friends or allies. Not being able to know if they were alive, wounded, or even-. No, he had to concentrate.
He heard an unearthly roar, and glanced up to see the Vaizards killing flying Hollow, keeping them from getting near a transparent orange barrier that must have been created by Hachi.
Ichigo turned his attention back to the fight just in time to block a claw from impaling him.
Where were the Espada?
Surely they would want a part in this. Ichigo could sense them, barely, hovering at the edge of his awareness. Ichigo let loose another Getsuuga Tensho, and found himself next to Renji.
"Hey, Kurosaki, when this is all over, how about we go get some Sake?" the redhead was trying to bring forth some of their usual banter, but Ichigo could hear the strain in his voice.
"I'm underage Renjii." He growled out, slicing Hollow in half, spraying himself with blood. He was beginning to think that some alcohol would be good right about now. Maybe it would help him forget what he had seen today.
"That's too bad. I guess I'll just have to drink some for you then." Ichigo let out a burst of laughter, that definitely was not hysterical. Renji grinned over at him and was about to continue when a Menos Grande screamed and let loose with a Cero, frying Shinigami and Hollow alike. The two boys looked up to see a line of five of the beasts coming towards them, with more emerging from a hole in the sky.
"Hold my spot for awhile, alright, Kurosaki?" Renji said, and knowing the answer, quickly released into Bankai and used Shunpo to confront the colossal monsters. His sword made quick work of them and he moved on to the ones leaving the gaping wound in the sky.
That was all I saw before I was pulled back into the battle. I tried my best to cover both my own area and Renji's but it was inevitable that some slipped through. I tried to make sure that only the weakest ones made it past me.
Renji didn't come back.
I tried not to think about it, not let it distract me. I tried to tell myself that he was just helping someone else that he was still fighting elsewhere. Tried to ignore the fact that I could no longer detect his spirit pressure.
Little black soldiers, stand or die.
Various attacks whizzed by. I saw the two different sets of blue arrows that marked the Ishidas. They had come, recognizing the fact that if Soul Society fell, the human world was next.
I had seen one or two of Hana's blasts light the sky in red as his sword expelled energy.
Razor sharp petals had raced past me, enveloping me in a rush of sparkling pink, drawing not a drop of my blood, and hit an incoming hollow, tearing it to shreds, and then moving on to the next.
I had heard Ikkaku's battle-crazed voice screaming out the word, "LUCKY!" and had seen him plowing through Hollow like a bulldozer.
The hollow around me had shattered into chunks of ice once, clearing a wide strip of ground, though I could not tell if it was Rukia or Toushiro who had created it.
Kenpachi's mad cackles and crushing reiatsu had erupted a bit farther off and had seen the bodies fly into the air.
The tide was turning, the Hollows were beginning to thin out, Ichigo let his Shoulders sag as he relaxed the tense muscles there, relieved.