Chapter 2
The Angel Fights The Gluten
Konan soon found herself in a dark, slightly lit area where she stood face-to-face with a tall figure in white, an Arrancar. It wore a tall mask with eight holes in it uniquely lines up in rows of two. Its' outfit was customized: it wore a dress garb that covered its' entire body as opposed to the normal jacket and hakama. It also wore a frilly nobles' coat that acted as its' replacement jacket and a single white gentleman's glove on its' left hand.
"Looks like you're my opponent," said the figure in a high-pitched voice, though it soon changed to a lower pitch, "I guess you'll have to be my next victim."
Konan was not surprised by two voices from the same opponent, she knew Zetsu, who to had the same characteristic. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"Most of your friends are dealing with 9 other Arrancars that are of a whole new Level," it answered, "While you're dealing with me, the 10 that I'm referencing, including myself are known as the 'Espada', the 10 Swords."
"10 Swords?" Asked Konan, "And you're one of them?"
"Correct, I happen to be a Low-Ranked Espada, with 1 being the most powerful," It answered, "Allow me to introduce myself." It moved its' bare hand and removed its' mask, revealing the face of a mid-aged man with black hair and light-blue-eyes.
"I am Espada Number 9," He answered with a normal voice and a cruel smirk, "Aaroniero Arruruerie, and I'm here to kill you."
Konan glared at the Espada, uncertain why his voice kept changing so suddenly. "You? Kill me?" She asked, "I'd like to see you try..." Parts of her body slowly peeled away along with her clothing in sheets of paper squares.
Aaroniero raised his eye-brow at Konans' transformation. "Paper?" He muttered to himself.
"I am Konan of the Akatsuki," she added several sheets of paper floated around her, folding into themselves, "The Angel of The Village Hidden in the Rain, don't take me lightly." The squares folded into shuriken and launched themselves at the Espada.
Aaroniero vanished as the shurikens were avoided, appearing behind Konan with his sword, drawn. "I should say the same to you!" He shouted confidently as he slashed Konan through the waist. The two pieces fell down. "All to easy." He scoffed. He then noticed something odd…
"Paper?!" He uttered. The two pieces of Konan scattered into many pieces of paper squares. "A Fake!" He growled as he looked around to spot the real one.
"Up here." Said a voice as Aaroniero looked up, he saw the real Konan with more paper shurikens, surrounding her as wings of paper formed from behind her back, waving her hand and making the shurikens fly downward at Aaroniero.
The Espada quickly spun his sword as it glowed and changed shape. Rankle the Seas and Heavens, Nejibana!" (Twisted Flower.) He called. The glowing stopped as the sword took a different shape; A cross between a trident, a bishamon-yari, a Japanese Spear, and a ji, a Chinese Halberd with a crystalline appearance. Like the ji, it bore a horsehair tassel, although it was blue instead of the traditional red; similarly the two side blades are straight with concave edges as opposed to the usual crescent blades of the bishamon yari. The end of Nejibana turns into a corkscrew, or a drill shape. Water flowed freely from both the trident and the end. Spinning the weapon deflected the paper shuriken. "You should know that I have the experience of a fallen Sou Reaper," He commented, "His powers and experience are mine to command!"
"A Soul Reaper?" She asked.
"Yes," Answered Aaroniero, "I was never like this, oh no, I used to be a creature called a Hollow, a soul that, after death, becomes a creature who feasts on other souls. Soul Reapers are sent to slay us in the World of the Living, but sooner or later I become an Arrancar, that absorbed a shape-shifting Hollow combined with a Soul Reaper, and now their powers, as well as the Soul Reapers' Zanpakutō, are mine!" He pointed his weapon upward as waves crashed upward at Konan, striking Konan with crashing waves of water.
Konan was sent flying downward as Aaroniero quickly caught up to Konan and thrusted his weapon at her, thought Konan quickly scattered into thousands of pieces of paper, and soon recollected herself from a safe distance, merging to her regular form.
"You fight like a girl," He sneered triumphantly, "Even Szayel can fight better than that!"
"I don't know who this 'Szayel' is," replied Konan, "But I'm far from beat." Her wings reappeared and spread greatly as more paper shuriken flew at Aaroniero.
"That old trick?!" He asked insultingly as he spun his weapon to deflect them, but soon found himself surrounded by sheets of paper that were snuck into the currents of his waves. Those sheets glowed instantaneously, his eyes widened as multiple explosions happened around him. There was a big cloud of smoke. Has Konan won?
The smoke soon cleared, he was nowhere to be seen. Konan was surprised! No one could survive multiple, close-range explosions from Paper Bombs.
"Over here." Snarled Aaroniero. Konan looked behind herself at the Espada. Some of his clothing was broken, and the spear-end of his weapon was blown off. His jacket was burnt and scathed. His left glove was destroyed, revealing a deformed, brown-tentacled appendage with a gaping maw at the center, surrounded by various tentacles. Konan seemed shocked to see the unusual appendage. Apart of his face was blown off, revealing a part of a red, glass dome. "You seem surprised to see that I survived," huffed Aaroniero, "I used Sonido (Sound) to get away before all of the explosions could get even get to me." His face started to melt away.
"It looks like we have no choice but to reveal our true appearance." It sighed as the flesh soon melted away and Aaroniero soon revealed its' true look; In place of a normal head, it had a large, cylindrical glass capsule filled with red liquid, with two small Hollow heads suspended within its confines. The two heads are both tattooed with the number 9 and tend to talk in tandem when revealed, giving the effect of two people speaking in turn, which explained why two voices were taking back and forth. The upper head spoke with a deep voice, while the other spoke in a high-pitched, childlike voice. Each head appeared to have its own level of individuality.
Konan seemed horrified beyond her level of composition. "What...are you?" She asked.
"If it's about our faces, keep it to yourself. We got tired of hearing people's thoughts about them a very long time ago," Said the high-pitched head, located towards the bottom of the tank-like head, followed by the low-pitched head in the upper part, "But we shall answer; We are the only low Ranking Arrancar accepted into the Ranks of the Espada:" Both soon reintroduced themselves in unison, "Espada 9, Aaroniero Arruruerie! And we have the Ability to evolved infinitely thanks to Glotonería!" (Gluttony)
"Glotonería?" Asked Konan, keeping her distance.
"Yes," it answered as it held up its' teethed-appendage, "Our Zanpakutō, or Soul Cutting Sword, wasn't the weapon we were using, no, it was a possession of the Soul Reaper we spoke of, this is our true weapon you see before you. We have used this to devour dead Hollows that have made their way back to Hueco Mundo." (Hollow World)
"So you've gained the powers of those fallen creatures, plus that Soul Reaper, thanks to that...thing on your arm?" Ashe asked.
"How perceptive," it chuckled, "We will now show you the true power of our Greed!" It held up its' deformed appendage and shouted; "DEVOUR HER! GLUTONERIA!"
Its' lower half soon shifts and bubbles, and soon morphed into a huge, purple blob-like mass that resembled a incredibly bloated invertebrate, with dozens of stubby tentacles and large mouths complete with teeth. It was bubbling everywhere, showing horrific smiles amongst its' purple mass.
Konan was disgusted by Aaronieros' new appearance. Konan formed several chakrams from her special paper sheets and launched them at Aaroniero. Aaroniero quickly deflected the chakrams with the remaining Nejibana and quickly launched himself at Konan, swinging his weapon everywhere. Konan kept dodging, landing on the floor again with several cuts on her.
"YOU'RE FINISHED!" Shouted Aaroniero as if he'd already won, "AND YOU'LL SOON BE DEVOURED, AND WE'LL HAVE A NEW SKILL TO ADD TO OUR COLLECTION! YOU HAVE NO HOPE OF FACING OFF AGAINST THE 33,650 HOLLOWS WE HAVE ENGORGED OURSELVES WITH!"
Konan seemed surprised at how powerful his appetite for power was.
"WE HAVE NO ENEMIES! WE ARE AN ARMY! YOU HAVE NO HOPE!" It continued.
"I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you." Insisted Konan.
"Huh?" It uttered, "What do you mean?"
"I mean," answered Konan as she descended upward as she held her hand out to him, "You've bought me enough time to create your funeral, as long as we Akatsuki remain alive, we can always hope for Peace."
Suddenly, Aaroniero saw that two, ever-growing walls of paper were quickly being constructed on their own. Several Paper Bombs flew at Aaroniero, but it used Sonido to get away from the explosions, appearing behind Konan. It swung his Nejibana at Konan and ran her through, forcing her to gasp. But it wasn't her, it was another Paper Clone. Aaroniero gasped as it saw familiar glows on the sheets of the clone before it exploded, shattering the rest of Nejibana.
"WHAT?!" It shouted, and soon found itself surrounded by multiple Paper Clones of Konan with the Real One out of its' sight. As the Clones attacked, he swung his tentacles at all of them, destroying them.
"It's too late now," said the Real Konan as she was found above him, "I have you right where I want you." Aaroniero looked up, he then saw familiar glows on the surfaces of the paper walls. Aaroniero gasped, he was caught in a diversion!
"You may have the power of an Army of over 33,000 creatures in you," She continue, "But how will you stand up against the 10-Minute, Non-Stop Explosion of 600 Billion Paper Bombs?"
Aaroniero tried to fly at her through the walls, but was being held back by dozens Clones.
"It's over!" She called as she held out her hand.
Aaroniero, and Konans' Clones were soon caught in the ultimate explosion.
As said by Konan, the explosion lasted for 10 Minutes. No more, no less.
She quickly landed on the rubble created by the constant explosions once it was all done, panting and huffing. She used a lot Chakra to take on her Ultimate Technique, let alone used the paper Clones to distract the Espada long enough to use it. She gasped when she saw horrible shrieking.
One of the heads was seen among the dieing smoke. "SAVE ME, LORD AIZEN! SAVE ME! IT HURTS SO MUCH! IT HURTS! SAVE ME!" it screamed in agony as it was rolling around in its' own blood and juices, "YOU PROMISED ME IF I WENT WITH YOU, I'D BE FREE FROM ALL OF MY SUFFERING, DID YOU?! THEN WHY AM I IN SO MUCH PAIN?! IT'S MORE THAN I CAN BARE! I'M TELLING YOU, IT HURTS! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME!" It soon died horribly.
Beside it was the other head with a crack in its' head. "No way," Denied the other head, as painful as his injury was, he tried to remain calm, "This cant be happening...I refuse...to accept-" He exhaled his final breath before the crack enlarged which split him in two.
The Reign of Greed had ended, the Pure had won. Konan, greatful for her fortune, passed out peacefully.
This was a tough choice, Aaroniero would've won, but a few things were called into the Factor; Aaroniero may have had the power of over 33,000 Hollows, and the capabilities of a Vice-Captain Soul Reaper, not to mention that it was efficient with Sonido, but it was always too arrogant and greedy in battle due to its' seemingly "Infinite Evolution", constantly overestimating his capabilities against its' opponents, especially against an Akatsuki Member in which the Espada never fought before. Konan had the edge with strategies, range, and experience against those who have underestimated her before, such as Sasori of the Red Sand, and the supposed "Madara Uchiha".
Hope you guys like it, a big apology to Fanfic User Name "darkmachines", I know Aaroniero was your favorite Espada, but I did a lot of research, and it was very hard to come up with the answer _;
For those of you who like to post Reviews, don't let me stop you! The Next Battle will be here before you know it!
