Bleach: The Espada Strike Back
Chapter 8 Ichigo's Beliefs; Tensa Zangetsu Released!
(Espada #8 Palace)
"Man I can't believe how warm it gets the further I go into this place, I gotta say Captain Kurosaki sure is impatient, I mean leaving me behind in a place like this isn't a very smart move, I'm pretty sure I made it clear to him when we first met that I don't know flash step then again it was a while ago maybe he just forgot, oh great not this again" said Hanataro walking down the long hallway of the Espada Palace but then stopped as he came across a fork in the road.
oOo
"So you're going to teach me the difference between arrogance and power are you handsome? Well then when is this lesson of mine supposed to start?" asked Seductora.
"It starts right now Espada" said Ichigo raising his sword.
"In that case I too will teach you the difference between arrogance and power Soul Reaper by slicing your flesh into ribbons and grinding your bones into a fine powder, now Reveal Lujuria!" said Seductora in a seductive tone as her scythe began twirling around her on it's on and surrounded her in a cyclone of wind which dissipated seconds later revealing Seductora's true form leaving Ichigo a little phased; her red hair changed from long and wavy to short and spiky, the blade of her scythe was now integrated into her shoulder with four more blades protruding from her body; one on each side of her waist and one on each side of her thigh, her skin turned a bright red and pale white with claws protruding from her feet and nails while red scar designs appeared over her eyes.
"What the hell is this?" thought Ichigo surprised.
"You seem shocked by what you see so allow me to demonstrate the power of my Lujuria starting this this little number" said Seductora as the scythe blade on her shoulder detached and began spinning at rapid speeds towards Ichigo.
"Time to go" said Ichigo using flash step to escape only to see the spinning blade still following him.
"You're speed really is impressive Captain however I can do this all day as I'm able to control the blade using simple hand movements furthermore handsome you've left someone unaccounted for" said Seductora changing the direction of her hand movements towards Momo.
"Shit" said Ichigo racing towards his injured Lieutenant's side.
*CLASH*
"Well that was rather brave of you" said Seductora seeing Ichigo deflecting her spinning scythe which was grinding against Zangetsu.
"Damn you, as I told you before Espada don't touch her!" said Ichigo in an angered tone.
"If this is how you wanna play in then you'll die first!" said Seductora retracting her spinning scythe and sent it flying in circles around Ichigo.
oOo
"Finally I think I hear him at the end of the hall, Captain Kurosaki that wasn't very nice of you to leave me like that after all I have to...wait what's going on here?" asked a panicked Hanataro standing just outside the open doorway and noticed Ichigo fighting the whirling blade then accidentally stumbled on himself.
oOo
"Oh a new player has arrived and a rather clumsy one at that" said Seductora noticing Hanataro's presence.
"Forget about him Espada you're fighting me!" yelled Ichigo parrying and deflecting the scythe blade.
"In that case take this handsome!" yelled Seductora driving the blade into Ichigo's back.
"AGH!" grunted Ichigo enduring the pain.
"Captain Kurosaki are you hurt sir? What about Lieutenant Hinamori?" panicked Hanataro asking too many qenstions at once and tripped over himself again.
"Hanataro shut up and listen take Momo and get out of here, take her to Unohana now!" demanded Ichigo, releasing a large amount of spiritual pressure, causing the blade lodged in his back to drop to the ground then threw his haori onto Momo's body.
"Yes Captain" said Hanataro in fear, getting to his feet again then took quick action in grabbing Momo's body hidden under Ichigo's haori and ran at his top speed away from the battlefield.
oOo
(Other side of Hueco Mundo)
"Yasutora Sado's condition appears to have stabilized Captain" said Isane still healing Chad alongside Unohana.
"Yes his injuries didn't seem as severe as last time but we must still remain vigilante Isane, not because of his condition because of how vulnerable he was to another assault, Senken Fujin seems much more ruthless in his methods compared to Aizen meaning we could of dealt with much worse upon our arrival, remember like I said last time this is Hueco Mundo the treacherous and brutal realm of the Hollows and the fact we're in the Menos Forest is even more of a reason to worry as it is the most unpredictable landscape within Hueco Mundo" explained Unohana.
"Yes ma'am, huh this spiritual pressure its Captain Kurosaki" said Isane in a slight shock.
"It isn't just him, both Captain Kurotsuchi and Captain Zaraki have also begun to make their move" explained Unohana.
"Yes of course" said Isane calming down.
"All three Captains have begun raising their spiritual pressure and will probably continue until they're at full strength I suppose they see their adversaries as truly powerful opponents or they wouldn't be doing this in the first place after all their opponents are Espada, I would imagine Captain Kurosaki has sent Hanataro back here with Lieutenant Hinamori in tow that is just the kind of man he is" explained Unohana.
"I'm a little worried Captain swill they be able to survive?" asked Isane.
"I'm sure they'll be fine this is what they're trained to do" said Unohana.
"Captain forgive me for continuing to question your wisdom but I fear for the life of Squad 5's Captain most of all since aside from his Kidō instruction courtesy of the Squad 3 Captain he is the only one here who hasn't received proper training from the Soul Society in all the other forms of combat" explained Isane.
"No need to fear Isane I've actually observed Captain Kurosaki's behavioral and combat patterns since the moment he reacquired his Substitute Soul Reaper powers from Captain Kuchiki and one of the things that's always amazed me is his natural instinct for combat, the reality of it is he had already expertly mastered Zanjutsu, Hakuda and Hohō the only thing that was left for him was Kidō" explained Unohana
"I see" saud Isane smiling.
(Hueco Mundo Battlefield)
"Hiyaaa!" yelled Gilvo swiping low with his swords only to have Kenpachi jump up out of the way.
"Gyaa!" yelled Kenpachi dive-bombing Gilvo.
*CLASH*
"I'll give you credit for one thing you're no push over like the two bitches I most recently defeated" said Gilvo smirking pushing Kenpachi back.
"So are you I do gotta ask you though where are you getting all this strength? YAAAAA" yelled Kenpachi thrusting upwards; knocking Gilvo's swords and body back then took a swipe at Gilvo's side.
"Hya!" yelled Gilvo holding his swords to Kenpachi's neck while Kenpachi held his sword to Gilvo's head.
"Hahahaha" smiled Kenpachi laughing lightly.
"Hehehehe" smiled Gilvo lightly giggling.
(Espada #8 Palace)
"I must say you impressed me more than I thought you refuse to let your subordinate die now that is true love" said Seductora regaining control of her scythe bade and reattached it to her shoulder.
"You think so to be honest it's as clear and simple as this; I can't let anyone I care about die because it's who I am and through this belief I've also come to understand the reason why I was chosen to be a Captain but I won't bore you with the details Espada, rather I'll show you like I said I would at the beginning of this fight" explained Ichigo as Zangetsu's blade began to glow.
"Let's see this power then!" said Seductora snickering as she unleashed her spinning scythe again.
"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo swiping the air causing the highly dense wave of pure spirit energy to be released towards Seductora.
"What the hell!" said Seductora quickly recalling her blade and just as quickly used Viento Sonido to escape but not before having her side sliced by the wave of spirit energy.
"Hehehe it looks like I nicked you" said Ichigo turning his eye towards the espada who was approaching him at such rapid speeds she looked like a tornado.
"Rotación Hoja Bailar!" screamed Seductora continuing her tornado-like assault.
"As I told you before as long ad there are people for me to protect I will not lose to you" said Ichigo raising his sword once more.
"Don't think you have me beat just yet handsome" said Seductora as she disappeared.
"What!" thought Ichigo with a look of shock on his face.
"Die fool!" yelled Seductora as she continued spinning at rapid speeds from behind Ichigo and hit him in the back with her tornado form
"Gyaah" said Ichigo falling to his knees and coughed up blood.
"Did you like that? By spinning around in circles I become a living tornado strong enough t shred even the toughest material and as I said I call this ability Rotación Hoja Bailar" explained Seductora approaching Ichigo.
"Well then I'm going to have to step up my game once more" said Ichigo as he stood up right and pointed his blade outwards at Seductora.
"What are you doing now? Another futile attempt at surviving" mocked Seductora.
"Bankai!" yelled Ichigo as he became enveloped in a shrouding dark energy.
"What the hell is this spiritual pressure? It's nearly identical to my own!" thought Seductora in a slight panic as Ichigo's figure began to emerge from the explosion of dark energy.
"Tensa Zangetsu" said Ichigo emerging from the dark energy shroud wearing a white undershirt beneath his black shihakushō, which was now open and deld together by three "x"-shaped marks, which ended in a number of coattails with black gloves sporting white x-shaped marks appearing on both the gloves and his forearms. The blade itself was more curved as it nears the tip, with three protrusions along the blunt end of the sword close to its tip.
"Okay what the hell is going on?" demanded Seductora in a fearful tone.
"What are you talking about?" asked Ichigo I a solemn tone.
"Just now your spiritual pressure resembled that of a hollow but how is that possible?" asked Seductora.
"I guess that bastard wasn't willing to go without leaving something behind" said Ichigo sighing.
"What was that?" asked Seductora.
"A long time ago when I served as Karakura Town's Substitute Soul Reaper I also went by another name; A Vizard which is a Soul Reaper with the ability to manifest a hollow mask and of course even though I didn't really get along with my inner hollow he still did teach me the importance of instinct in a fight, Five moths ago when I was promoted to the position of Squad 5's Captain Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi extracted the inner hollow from my being but I guess trace amounts of his spirit energy still remain within me, not enough to manifest a mask mind you but still enough to do this" explained Ichigo as a dark energy began forming around Ichigo's Bankai.
"This again, please I've seen this technique before" said Seductora disappearing using Viento Sonido while Ichigo used flash step.
"Oh is it now" said Ichigo appearing right next to Seductora using flash step.
"What!" said Seductora turning her head to the orange haired Captain with fear in her eyes.
"Getsuga Tensho!" said Ichigo releasing a wave of dark spirit energy at Seductora, hitting her point blank in the back sending her pummeling to the ground below.
"Damn you!" yelled Seductora getting up again and charging at Ichigo.
"Hadō #31 Shakkahō" said Ichigo blindsiding the Espada by aiming for her head.
"Damn it!" thought Seductora coughing while her face was hidden in a small cloud of smoke.
"Bakudō #61 Rikujōkōrō" said Ichigo pointing his index finger at Seductora summoning a spark of yellow energy, which produced six thin, wide beams of light that slammed into Seductora's midsection, holding the Espada in place and making her unable to move her entire body.
"Damn you!" yelled Seductora trying to break free.
"Here's an interesting fact Seductora, Squad 5's flower insignia is the Lily of the Valley any idea what it stands for?" asked Ichigo casually approaching the Espada.
"How should I know?" asked Seductora smiling weakly while trying to break free.
"Sacrifice, Danger, Pure Love, Humility, Sweetness, These are the core beliefs of my Squad and whether I knew it or not they've been my beliefs and principles since the day I became a soul reaper now perish under the weight of them Seductora Demonio!" said Ichigo slashing Seductora across her chest causing her mind to go blank.
