I do not own Bleach nor Clock Tower. They belong to Tite Kubo and Capcom, respectively.


CHAPTER 07 – TRUE PURPOSE

Soul Society, 12th Squad's Research and Development Institute

In the same previous dimly-lit room, two figures stood next to the so-nominated spiritual wave detector. One of them was Hiyosu, the big-headed scientist, and the other was Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the 12th Squad captain and the former's superior.

"Report, Hiyosu." The captain ordered to his underling.

The scientist inputted a few commands at the detector's keyboard and displayed a few readings at the equipment's large screen. "Two out of the five targeted spiritual signatures have disappeared. Most likely, obliterated. The remaining three are still active, but they don't seem to be in London anymore." He informed.

Mayuri frowned at that report. "Two down and the others not there anymore? So where are their presences coming from?" he demanded, his tone now denoting impatience.

"They are still in the Living World, but inside an isolated realm within its boundaries. Even the sensors are having troubles to detect them, so we can't pinpoint their exact location." Hiyosu pointed out, which unnerved the captain even more.

"Are you saying we can't locate them?" the chief scientist angrily shouted. "What the hell Nemu is doing? It's about time she came in contact. Hasn't she sent any reports yet?"

"No, sir. Not yet." The underling answered, almost murmuring, out of fear of his boss.

The captain was ready to outburst in rage, when another of his underlings showed up in the room. It was a tall male Shinigami, with short, spiked black hair, and tiny horns on his forehead, wearing the same lab coat as the others.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, I bring urgent news." The newcomer said.

"What is? Speak up, Akon!" an annoyed Mayuri grumbled.

"We received a request from lieutenant Kurotsuchi to have her limit lifted. She claimed to be in a safe area, where it won't affect the Living World." Akon reported.

That piece of information seemed to ease the captain's anger, as the usual maniacal grin returned to his face. 'I see. Looks like things are still on the move, after all.' He mused.


Unknown place

Alyssa, Uryuu and Nemu stared at the Arrancar's Resurrección in dread, although the Shinigami woman didn't change her stoic demeanor. Even after a direct hit of the Quincy's powerful release, Harold still stood there, unharmed.

"How's that possible?" Uryuu questioned, shocked and a bit weary from his release. "My Licht Regen didn't put a single scratch on him. It had been more than enough to defeat John Haighs last time."

The monster snorted at that comparison. "I told you not to put me in the same level as those two morons you have fought. My Resurrección's Hierro (Spanish: Iron) is the strongest among the Subordinates. It can't even be compared to theirs."

"'Hierro'?" Alyssa wondered.

"Our Arrancar defense. By condensing our spiritual energy, we can form an invisible protection layer over ourselves. Only high-level Arrancars can create a steel-strong Hierro" he gloated, showing a heck amount of overconfidence by revealing this information. Then he pointed one of the swords at them, in a taunting stance. "Hence those pitiful arrows of yours will never pierce through my skin."

The trio found itself thunderstruck: not only that guy was fast, but also the most resistant Subordinate. Indeed he was in a whole different level from the previous ones. Though Alyssa knew it shouldn't have come as a surprise: she recalled Chopper being able to block even her Rooder release in the past, and having to fight him twice in a row. Eventually, she had managed to defeat him, but only with the old Rooders' help. Now that they weren't around, she wasn't so sure if she could take the monster down again, especially with his powers enhanced.

"Now, brats... you should have realized none of you stand a chance against me. Just give up and I promise you a quick death." He mocked. Alyssa and Uryuu narrowed their eyes at him.

"We're not done yet." Shouted the young Quincy, shooting a projectile at the enemy. So did Alyssa. Harold didn't even bother to dodge the pair of arrows, as he simply swatted them away like nothing. That move left him open, so Nemu seized the chance and shunpo-ed to him, aiming for a side kick at his head. The blow connected. However, the Arrancar just stayed still, not budging even an inch. It was as though he hadn't felt the kick at all. Fast as a lightning, he brought his fist onto her and punched her away, sending her airborne next to her companions. They ran to her side, but sighed in relief as they saw she was fine.

'He wasn't kidding when he said his defense had gotten stronger.' Uryuu thought, a bit impressed for none of the attacks having any effect.

"Now it's my turn." Harold announced, just before jumping absurdly high and launching one of his chain blades at the youngsters. They quickly dispersed to avoid the sweeping attack, as it hit the ground and opened a large fissure. Before the Arrancar could withdraw the weapon, the two archers fired more arrows at him. But it proved itself useless, because the projectiles got simply deflected, causing no damage.

Prior to the landing, the monster suddenly vanished out of their sights and reappeared in front of Uryuu, ready to slash his sword down at him. The young Quincy lifted his bow and managed to block the attack, but Harold kept pushing his sword against the bow, in an attempt to subdue the opponent. Eventually, the spiritual warrior fell to his knees, overpowered by the assassin's massive strength.

"How long do you think it's gonna hold? This bow of yours isn't a shield." Harold hissed, surrounding his other sword with a blue aura. Then he swung the sword at the bow, shattering it immediately and making a gash at Uryuu's shoulder. The young man let out a cry as he staggered back a little, pained by the wound.

The monster prepared to strike at the now defenseless Quincy, when an arrow hit him square in the face, distracting him. Taking the opportunity, Nemu used her Shunpo to grab Uryuu and help him escape, soon regrouping with Alyssa (who had shot the arrow).

"Uryuu, are you okay?" Alyssa asked to her partner.

The young man nodded, his hand placed over his wounded shoulder. "Yes, it's nothing serious." He assured, despite the large crimson stain on his white mantle.

"He he. You're only postponing the inevitable, brats," Harold taunted. "As I said, nothing can pass through my Hierro."

The trio stood there, staring at the enemy, pondering what to do next.

'Seems like I'll have to use it sooner than planned.' Uryuu mentally concluded, as he reached behind his back and pulled one of the silver appendages hanging from his belt. Next, he held it at eye level.

"Ha, what do you intend to do with that little thing?" the Arrancar arrogantly spat. In response, a glowing blue thin blade emerged from the appendage, much resembling a Star Wars light saber. For a split second, the monster's eyes widened in surprise. "Ho ho. Nice trick!" he sarcastically commented.

"I present you Seele Schneider (German: Soul Cutter), one of the greatest Quincy artifacts." Uryuu proudly explained, as the blade gleamed more intense. Alyssa beheld her partner's new weapon in awe. Not only it was beautiful and elegant, but it also seemed very powerful. Before she could make any comments, Uryuu cut in.

"Alyssa, stand back. I'll handle him." He warned. The girl however widened her eyes at that request.

"Uryuu, you can't be serious about fighting that Subordinate just by yourself." She protested.

"Arrows won't work on this guy. Close quarter combat is more befitting for this situation," he turned to Nemu. "You too, lieutenant. Since you don't have your zanpakutou, you shouldn't fight this enemy barehanded." The Shinigami said nothing though. She just stood there, deadpanned, to which Uryuu took as a positive answer. So he turned back to Harold and got himself into a kendo-like fighting stance.

However Alyssa wasn't willing to let him fight alone and positioned at his side, with her right arm extended forward. Uryuu had opened his mouth to protest, when the girl's hand started glowing green. As the glow increased, she motioned her arm in a diagonal arc out, leaving behind a green fiery trace (which strangely not burning her hand). Only then, Uryuu realized that light had emanated from her clover pendant, shaping itself into an actual flaming sword. By that, the girl looked at him, slyly smiling.

"You're not the only close ranged fighter here." She pointed out, getting into the same fighting stance as Uryuu.

The young man couldn't hold a chuckle at that. So that was how she summoned her pendant's powers: by materializing some sort of weaponry out of it... practically in the same way as his Quincy cross. The more time passed, the more he got convinced how similar Quincies and Rooders still remained, no matter how long both factions had been divided. 'God, life's surely full of surprises.' He mused, turning his attention back to the enemy.

Nevertheless, the Arrancar didn't look fazed. He was convinced that, in case of a close ranged fight, his swordsmanship expertise would surpass theirs. "Whatever. Those fancy swords of yours won't make any difference." He disdained. Instantly, he launched himself towards the youngsters, eager to shed more blood. Alyssa and Uryuu also dashed at him, ready for a swords clash.

Harold targeted the Rooder girl first, attempting a side slice, which was promptly blocked by her sword. Uryuu didn't waste any time and went in his partner's aid. The Subordinate saw him coming and quickly pushed Alyssa away, whirling around to defend against the incoming blade. As the attack was blocked, Harold instantly passed to the offensive, advancing and swinging his jagged blades at the young man with such ferocity, that Uryuu could barely keep up with the blows.

"What's wrong? All you do is defend," Harold provoked, still mercilessly attacking. "Spent so much time with your bow that unlearned how to use a sword?"

Uryuu ignored the taunt and just focused on blocking the slashes, while being forced back.

Suddenly the assassin raised his foot and kicked his opponent in the chest. Uryuu wasn't expecting that, so he ended up pushed to the ground, almost losing his grip on the blade. Harold then turned to face Alyssa, who was now darting at him, her sword raised above her head. She tried to swing it down at him, but he rapidly side leapt and missed the attack. Before the Rooder could straighten herself up, he threw one of the chain blades at her. But instead of cutting, the weapon wrapped itself around her legs, being promptly pulled afterwards and making her fall with a yelp.

It was Uryuu's turn to intervene, who, having previously got himself back up, brought down Seele Schneider at the Arrancar. The blow didn't connect however, as Harold deflected it with his arm guard and sonido-ed away from him. Once the monster was far enough, the Quincy helped Alyssa back on her feet.

Pissed off by the constant disturbances, the assassin decided to finish it now. "Damn annoying insects! I'm done holding back." He announced, as his swords started glowing blue once again. He jumped towards his opponents and, in mid-air, began to rapidly spin, the stretched chain blades spinning as well, greatly increasing his attack radius. This sudden move had caught the two spiritual archers by surprise and they hardly had time to lift their blades in order to defend themselves.

Seele Schneider and the Rooder flaming sword, however, proved themselves incapable of completely shielding their wielders against the rotating attack. The razor wind caused by the air pressure, added to the weapons' impact, resulted in such a violent clash that ended up sending the youngsters yards away.

Time seemed to slow down as they flew through the air, blood gushing out of the multiples cuts on their arms and torsos, until they fell hard on their backs. For a few moments, neither of them could muster the strength to get up, as they clenched their teeth and winced in pain, as if they had been thrown in a fan. Alyssa, particularly, was taking it the hardest. Because she had been out of actual combat for all those years, she had grown unused to this kind of pain.

Harold stopped spinning and looked down at the fallen warriors. "He he. Liked that? In the end, those swords of yours served for nothing." Then he approached the Quincy. "Now, to finish the Quincy-boy off..." He said, preparing to give the coup de grace...

"Limit release." Murmured a female, almost inaudible, voice.

That's when a massive spiritual power abruptly started pressuring through the entire area... massive enough to lift small pieces of debris from earth. The Subordinate stopped in his tracks the moment he felt it, astounded by its magnitude, just like the two youngsters, who were still conscious enough to sense it. As they looked around for the owner of that enormous power, they spotted a huge blue pillar of spiritual energy rising up to the sky. But what really caught their eyes was the pillar base: the Gotei 13 lieutenant, Kurotsuchi Nemu.

Unknown to them, a thistle-flower symbol, tattooed on her upper left breast, was fading out while all of this happened.

Harold stared in shock at the Shinigami woman. Since she wasn't currently taking part in the battle, he just had assumed she had given up and, therefore, had practically forgotten about her, leaving her to be dealt with later. But now, such power could not be ignored. Where did all that energy came from? Why hadn't he noticed it before?

As the energy stream ceased, Nemu slightly flexed her knees, as though in preparation to sprint. "Engaging target." She robotically said, suddenly disappearing out of everyone's sight. A half-second later, she reappeared just a few inches from the off-guard Subordinate, delivering a roundhouse kick to his head, which sent him airborne right into a nearby tombstone, crashing it altogether.

More baffled than hurt, Harold lay among the debris, his expression blending rage and confusion. 'How did she...? I couldn't even see her when she attacked me.' His mind rushed. Soon, rage took over, as he jumped back to his feet. "YOU BITCH!" he yelled, throwing his chain blade directly at her.

Nemu however simply sidestepped and let the weapon pass straight. As the blade passed, she managed to grab the chain behind and promptly yanked it, the monster being pulled along. Once he was close enough, she gave a powerful uppercut to his chin (almost cracking his goatee mask in the process) and sent him flying up again. He let out a grunt the moment he fell soundly on his back.

"How's that possible?" the Arrancar shouted, as he stood up. "Moments ago, none of your attacks could even make me budge, let alone escape my eyes. How come you've got so powerful?"

The raven-haired woman stared at him, in her ever-blank expression. "My seal has been removed. Now, I'm allowed to fight at full power." She answered.

At the confused look on both the assassin and her companions' faces, she continued. "During missions, all captains and vice-captains have a seal placed in their bodies in order to purposely restrict their powers up to 20%, further avoiding any collateral effects to the Living World." She paused, then resumed the explanation. "However, we are now in an isolated dimension from the Living World, hence Seireitei had granted me permission to release the seal."

From confusion, the expression on their faces switched to astonishment (in the Arrancar's case, fear too). '20%? She was using only 20% of her strength?' seemed to be common thought rushing in both Uryuu and Alyssa's mind right now. One could only imagine what was rushing in the Arrancar's.

Not wasting any more time, Nemu shunpo-ed, instantly covering the distance between her and Harold. Before any reaction, she threw a palm strike to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Even more enraged, he swung his blade at her, but she caught his wrist in mid-attack and, while keeping his arm on a hold, delivered an elbow thrust right to his nose, the impact making him stumble back.

Noticing his bleeding nose, Harold was now fuming, smoke almost erupting from his ears. His weapons started glowing again and he begun spinning rapidly, in the same manner he did with his previous opponents. Nemu watched the rotating attack advancing in her direction, but it didn't seem to disturb her. Instead of running away, she ran towards it and, once she was close enough, she rolled under the spinning chain blades and extended her both legs out, landing a double flip kick to his mid-section. That blow halted the attack and knocked the monster onto the ground. It took Harold several moments to register that.

While he lay flat there, the lieutenant jumped over him and began a sequence of quick and strong punches to all over his body. The punches were so fast that her fists looked almost like a blur: an external observer would only see the Subordinate's body twitching up and down, at the rhythmic sounds of slams.

Having previously recomposed themselves, yet still weary from the wounds, the two spiritual archers watched the battle, dumbfounded. They were amazed at how the lieutenant was beating the hell out of the man who had beaten the hell out of them. Unnecessary to say, being saved by a Shinigami wasn't exactly sitting right with Uryuu. Well, that was becoming a common occurrence anyway...

That continued on, until Nemu stopped her pounding and looked at her foe. His body just lay there, motionless, like he was dead. And he could be too: he was all bruised, his eyes had turned pale, a thread of blood leaked from his mouth, and mainly, the giant crater formed around his body, due to the punches' impact. The lieutenant knew he wasn't though: by sensing his dark energy still lurking inside, she concluded he had been only knocked out.

By then, Uryuu had approached the crater, Alyssa following behind. From the edge, they glanced at the fallen Arrancar at the Shinigami's feet. "Is he dead?" the Rooder girl asked.

Nemu shook her head. "No, he is only unconscious."

"Good." The Quincy replied, stepping forward and preparing his blade for the finishing blow. Alyssa, however, stood right where she was, unsure what to do: that assassin was a scoundrel, no doubt, and much likely he deserved to die. But, to kill in cold blood an already incapacitated foe, that was something she couldn't totally endorse. For now, she was feeling divided between telling Uryuu to stop or simply letting him do it. Nemu, however, noticed what Uryuu was about to do and walked in front of him, holding her hand up.

"Sorry, Quincy-san. This Arrancar has more value to me, alive." She remarked. This made his face turn into a scowl.

"You must be joking! He's too dangerous to be kept alive!" he protested.

But Nemu nonchalantly stayed still. "Mayuri-sama ordered me to collect samples of those new hybrids. Bringing one alive would certainly be of more value for experimentation."

At the mention of that name, Uryuu felt his blood boil. "To hell with what that bastard wants! I will..."

He was abruptly interrupted when he felt something wrapping around his foot, just to be pulled and dragged away, afterwards. Once everyone else figured out what had happened, the young man was already stretched out on the ground, a foot pressed against his chest to prevent him from standing and a sword tip only a few inches from his neck. It was Harold, who, while the trio ranted among themselves, had recuperated his consciousness and took the chance to strike. Still laid on the crater's center, he had scanned around for the closest person nearby, except for Nemu (obviously not to risk getting another pounding). That ended up being Uryuu, so he had discreetly reached for his chain blade and, in a blink of eyes, threw the weapon at him. He had achieved capturing the Quincy and now rendered him hostage.

"Uryuu!" Alyssa shouted, wielding her flaming sword. Nemu didn't say anything, but she also prepared to dash at the enemy.

"Woah, don't move!" the Arrancar warned, bringing his blade closer to the hostage's throat. The girls were forced to hold their horses, or it would endanger their fellow warrior. "One step closer... and this guy here... is a goner!" he threatened between breaths, as Uryuu ineffectively struggled to move that foot out of him.

The Shinigami woman, in her inner thoughts, couldn't explain why she was hesitating. Obeying her captain should have been everything for her. As the 12th Squad vice-captain, she had a mission to fulfill, so even if the young Quincy got killed, it shouldn't have mattered to her. Even so... for some reason... she didn't want him to die. 'Why?' was the question hammering her mind. It bothered her to no end not understanding what was wrong with her.

Although still sore from the previous beating, seeing that everything was again under control, the Subordinate grinned. "Now, Alyssa... how about a trade? If you accept it... your partner here... and the one in the Clock Tower... shall be spared." He proposed.

The brunette raised an eyebrow at that, suspicious. "Spared? Weren't you sent here to kill Uryuu?"

"That was part of the reason. But, given the current odds..." he glared at Nemu and continued. "I won't be able to achieve everything... so I'll stick to the primary objective."

Alyssa frowned. There was more than just killing Uryuu? What would that be? They wanted revenge, of course, but she truly doubted it was the primary objective, let alone to spare Uryuu and Dennis for that. In fact, if it was revenge, it would have made more sense if they killed them both to maximize her suffering.

"In exchange for what?" she questioned, regarding the trade he had offered.

A devious smirk crossed the assassin's face. "In exchange... you shall hand over yourself for the Ritual of Engagement."

Those last words hit the girl like a brick wall. Her eyes widened, her lips parted in shock. Actually, shock being an understatement: it was absolute terror! She felt her entire body going numb, remaining like that for several seconds until she could sort her thoughts out to reply.

"Liar," she muttered, her mind refusing to accept what she was hearing. "You're lying!" she repeated, in a louder tone. "Why are you carrying that wretched ritual out again? I'm no longer fifteen, so what's the point?"

"That you don't need to know," Harold coldly spat. "Just give me your answer: will you save your friends... or not?"

Rage and dread was plastered all over Alyssa's face. All of a sudden, every single horror of that nightmarish day rushed inside her mind. The memories of that gruesome ritual seemed to pursue her for the eternity. When she had thought it was finally gone, those demons appeared out of nowhere and started haunting her over and over. She clenched her fists as she glared at the Subordinate's mocking face, right before her.

On his part, Uryuu had heard the entire conversation. He immediately recalled the references on that 'Ritual of Engagement' in the journals he'd read. And judging by Alyssa's reaction at that name, it could only be assumed it was something horrifying. Horrifying enough to might have caused a trauma on her, maybe even being the reason she had quit the Rooders' path. Now he had an idea of why the journals pages on that issue had been ripped out. Despite not knowing the details, he concluded this ritual shouldn't be allowed to happen, no matter what.

"Alyssa, don't do it! Don't accept the..." he shouted, but got roughly shut by the Subordinate, who crushed him harder to the ground.

"Quiet, you!" Harold ordered, turning again to Alyssa. "Your answer, Rooder!"

Uryuu clenched his teeth to prevent himself from screaming in pain, still trying in vain to pry the foot out of him. At the same time, he was pondering about his current options: he couldn't fight back the Arrancar, as his Seele Schneider had dropped out of his hand the moment he got pulled by the chain, and the others on his belt were behind him, obviously unreachable due to the fact he was lying on his back and pinned hard against the ground. He could summon his bow, nonetheless at this close distance, it would be useless against his restrainer. But if he did nothing, Alyssa would have to surrender herself for that 'god-knows-what' ritual, most likely for her own life. At end, there was just one conclusion: he would have to sacrifice himself in her place. It would at least give her the chance to finish this monster. 'If I have to die, I'll die as an honored Quincy.' He bravely mused.

Therefore, he turned his head to Alyssa and, once sure she was looking at him, he nodded, giving her a determined glance of 'go ahead'.

Alyssa seemed to have caught the message and, surprisingly, pointed her flaming sword forward and charged at the enemy, letting out a battle cry.

Harold displayed a bewildered expression, seeing the Rooder girl advancing against him, regardless of the fact he had a hostage. "Hey, didn't you hear? Stay back, or he dies!" he threatened, but to no avail: she was still advancing. Then, in an act of despair, he drew back his weapon to gather some momentum, and shot his blade towards the Quincy, ready to stab his neck mortally. Uryuu just shut his eyes, preparing to meet his demise...

Which never came, since the deadly blow was blocked...

Blocked by a violet-hued, hexagonal shield that had inexplicably materialized itself in front of the young man's head, defending him. The Arrancar found himself shocked at that. Where did the shield come from?

He didn't have time to ponder on that though, as Alyssa was now closely approaching him, her sword prompted for a thrust. Instinctively, Harold lifted his other blade to block it. It took only milliseconds, but time seemed much slower before the two weapons collided...

Until the Rooder's flaming sword pierced through the Arrancar's jagged blade, shattering it like glass.

The strike didn't stop however: with the remaining momentum, her weapon also impaled the monster through the stomach, its tip bursting forth his back, blood spewing everywhere.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" yelled the assassin, as what happened sank. He dizzily staggered back some steps, bleeding heavily due to the wound. "How... did you... pass through... my Hierro?" he groaned, blood soon dripping down his mouth.

Unknown to him, Alyssa was just as confused. She had only intended to push him away from Uryuu and maybe cause him a bit of damage, but she didn't expect to pierce through him. Gazing at her sword, she didn't know what to answer, until her partner, now able to stand, answered it instead.

"You want to know?" the young man said, massaging his chest area, sore thanks to the stomp. He fetched another Seele Schneider from his belt and activated it, showing its gleaming blade. "It was thanks to my Seele Schneider. I've weakened your Hierro." He stated.

Both Alyssa and the Subordinate stared at him, one of them, curious, and the other, shocked. "You're saying that petty sword of yours weakened my Hierro? Bullshit!" the Arrancar doubted.

"That was your mistake: Seele Schneider isn't a sword. Like a chainsaw, its blade vibrates at an extremely high frequency, of over 3 million times per second." That's when said blade begun making a buzzing noise. "Hence, it's not meant to cut, but to loosen the bounds between spirit particles," he adjusted his glasses and continued the explanation. "You know, the moment you said your Hierro is formed by condensing spiritual energy to layer yourself, I figured out I could gradually weaken it, slashing my Seele Schneider continuously against it. That way, Alyssa would eventually break through your defenses, even if I were defeated."

That last part left Harold choleric, as he reminded the Quincy only defending his swings. He had thought he was overcoming him, when actually his opponent was deliberately letting him attack, in order to enfeeble his Hierro. "You... sneaky bastard!" he cursed, in a suffocated voice.

"And that's not all. Seele Schneider still has another trump card," Uryuu proceeded. "We, Quincies, have the ability to absorb spiritual particles from the environment. Therefore, after loosening the bounds, we can easily claim for our own the spiritual particles from anything touched by its blade." He remarked, just as the enemy's chain blades (including the shattered one) and even part of his armor disintegrated into small snowflakes-like pieces, and got absorbed by the Quincy's body. With that, all the young man's previous wounds healed, as though they had never been.

"Damn it..." was the last thing the Subordinate uttered, before dropping face first to the ground.

Nemu walked up to his body and sensed his spiritual power. There was none. He was dead for sure, this time.

'Pity I couldn't take him alive,' she mentally commented. 'But just the corpse shall be enough for experimentation, hopefully.' Then she approached the two youngsters, to check on them.

"Quincy-san, Alyssa-san, are you alright?" she asked.

Uryuu's eyes squinted at her for a moment, resisting the urge to rant on the raven-haired woman. She may had saved him previously, but by trying to keep the Arrancar alive, she ironically ended up endangering his life again. Nevertheless, the monster was gone now and he wasn't going to dwell on it. "Yeah. But please treat Alyssa. She's still hurt." He said, dispelling his blade. So the Shinigami woman did.

While Nemu applied the 'miraculous' ointment on Alyssa's wounds, the brunette couldn't avoid commending Uryuu for the fight. "That was great, Uryuu! I never thought you had such amazing skills!"

The young man felt his cheeks burn a little at her praise, so he pretended to adjust his glasses to hide his embarrassment. "Don't give me all the credit, Alyssa. It was all teamwork. The lieutenant had weakened him beforehand. And you're the one who gave him the finishing blow, remember?"

By saying that, something immediately came to his mind...

"That reminds me... how did I survive that stab?" he wondered. "That shield appeared out of nowhere and saved me. What was that?" he asked, hoping any of the girls could respond it.

At that, Alyssa curved a sly smile. "Do you still have that purse I gave you?" she asked, a faint tone of pride in her voice. Uryuu picked said object and opened it to see its content: it was a small hexagonal-shaped crystal, with a transparent light-violet coloration. He was about to inquire, when his partner answered ahead.

"It's a rare artifact called Sigil Stone. A magic stone that protects its bearer from deadly blows, but it can be used just once. This one you have has just exhausted its use."

Uryuu's eyes slightly widened at that explanation. That Rooder artifact worked just like Inoue Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka (Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield. *A/N: those little fairies on her hair-clips*), by summoning a force field to protect someone from external attacks. The sole difference was the duration: Inoue's spell could be used multiple times. He had to admit: the Rooders were more resourceful than he expected.

"And I assume you only charged at the Arrancar because you were aware I had this with me."

Her smile then faded and switched to a grim expression. "I know you wanted me to attack, even if it meant sacrificing your life," she said in a strained tone. "But I couldn't do it, Uryuu. I can't bring myself to sacrifice a friend's life just so plainly. I simply can't."

A grimace appeared on his face as well. He had presumed she had done it out of duty, however, despite her brave mindset, she still held a soft heart, something that could prove fatal for a warrior. But who could blame her? Weren't that kindness and altruism that made them different from Aizen and the Hollows? Besides, he wasn't the one to talk too: moments ago, wasn't he willing to give up his own life to give her an edge on combat?

"So... you gave me this stone as some sort of insurance. Why haven't you told me before?" he scolded her, although in a playful way. This seemed to lift the mood up a little, as her face lit up.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you'd have to use it," she replied in a sheepish tone. "But then, you haven't told me about your Seele Schneider abilities either. So, I guess we're even now." She kind of joked back.

All that talk made Uryuu think: she didn't know about his Seele Schneider, and he didn't know about her Sigil Stone. Yet, in the end, they had unconsciously set up a combined strategy, which surprisingly ended up working. It was almost as though their minds were telepathically synchronized. Everything led to only one conclusion: they thought very much alike.

"You know, Alyssa," he started, getting her attention. "I don't say this kind of thing often, as I usually prefer to work alone, but... we do make a good team."

She just smiled in response.


Phew, this was a quite a chapter to write. Fight scenes are always the toughest to describe. But I finally did it!

I know the Sigil Stone doesn't work like that (by summoning a shield), but I took some creative liberty to describe it similarly to Inoue's artifact and make it another connection to Bleach.

Any suggestions, corrections or doubts, I'd be glad to reply.