SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 7 out, this is Chapter 8. of this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.
Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny. Heck, even the pairings aren't mine.
Chapter 8: Muramasa's True Identity Revealed
"What the hell's going on with Muramasa?" Ichigo wondered.
"My body's on fire!" Muramasa was still struggling to rein in his expanding Reiatsu. "Calm down!" Koga..." he tried to reach out to his master. "Koga!" at this point, his Reiatsu went out of control, expelling the Hollows he had absorbed.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo let loose an energy arc, destroying the first wave of Hollows. "Why are Hollows coming out of Muramasa's body?"
"He must have lost control of all the Reiatsu he's absorbed from the Hollows." Rukia reasoned. "He sacrificed everything for Koga. He's far exceeded his natural limits, but he's keeping himself alive through sheer willpower. This is bad. Muramasa's Reiatsu is attracting Hollows."
"Then, we'll just have to deal with them," Ichigo growled. Taking to the air, he wiped out a wave of Hollow in a single strike. He was about to attack once more when a rain of blue and red arrows fired from the ground, thinning out the Hollow horde. "Ishida, Karin." he turned to the lake shore.
"We'd say our bows are better suited to fighting large groups of enemies than one ridiculously large sword." Ishida grinned.
"Sado, Inoue." Ichigo and Rukia ran back to the group.
"Santen Kesshun!" Inoue's triangular shield was immediately erected in front of the group as one of the Menos fired off a Cero.
"Damn." Ichigo cursed, watching Muramasa radiate Hollow Reiatsu. "What's happening to Muramasa?
"Oh dear..." Karin muttered, Muramasa vanishing in a swirl of Hollow Reiatsu.
"Impossible..." Koga muttered, the defeated former Shinigami breaking his fall with the halberd. "I'm not done yet. I still have... come, Muramasa!" he reached out for his Zanpakutō. What's keeping you, Muramasa? Why won't you come? I'm calling for you. Murama..." he choked on his breath and fell into the lake, sinking into the water.
"Koga," Senbonzakura started. "If he hadn't been so powerful, he never would have had such preposterous dreams."
"This is the natural outcome for a weak-hearted person who controls great power." Byakuya declared. "In the end, the power controls them."
"He's the exact opposite of you." Senbonzakura stated. "You were willing to sully your name by becoming a traitor, all to fight for your own beliefs. Now, you'll finally be able to go back to where you belong."
"You say too much, Senbonzakura." Byakuya chided.
"What is that?" Ichigo gasped, the group running forward into the Menos group as the black-red sphere continued sucking in dozens of large Hollows.
"It's absorbing the Hollows." Rukia breathed.
"Even the Menos?" even Karin was shocked when the surrounding Menos, too, were absorbed into the black hole. "I have a very bad feeling about this..." she muttered as the sphere expanded, crackling with red-black electricity, before exploding upwards in a pillar of black energy.
"Is that Muramasa?" Ichigo gawked at the humanoid Hollow that had manifested from the black hole. "That thing?"
"It looks just like an Arrancar." Ishida was stunned.
"Zanpakutō share their body and soul with their respective Shinigami." Rukia realized what had occurred. "They bound with their master's soul and live in symbiosis."
"Meaning he needs a new energy source to replace his Shinigami in order to maintain himself." Ishida came to the same conclusion.
"That's probably why he absorbed all those Hollows." Rukia reasoned.
"Then, when he rejected my powers..." Inoue breathed.
"This shows just how obsessed he was with Koga." Rukia stated. "And that's the result. At this rate, his Reiatsu will engulf all of Karakura Town." she warned as Arrancar Muramasa expanded his Reiatsu. "We've got to stop him before that happens. Here he comes." she cautioned, as Muramasa swooped in upon them. "He's fast." she gasped, Muramasa shooting past them, attacking Ichigo.
Ishida and Karin countered with a 'Licht Regen' and a 'Phoenix Shot' respectively, and turning themselves into Muramasa's targets when he dodged the duo attack.
Sado moved in to intercept Muramasa when he turned to attack Rukia and Inoue, blocking the Arrancar-like Zanpakutō with 'Brazo Derecha de Gigante'. Grabbing the blade stuck on his arm shield, he tossed Muramasa over his shoulder, just as Ichigo came down from the air, sword drawn.
Muramasa blocked out the attack with his crossed hands and pushed Ichigo backwards.
"His eyes are so..." Inoue started. "Despondent. To work so hard to find his master, and then to be cast aside. It's so sad."
Reaching out a hand, Muramasa fired off a Cero beam at the two girls when a petal beam of Sakura petals blocked off the attack, overpowering it and forcing it off-course.
"Nii-sama!" Rukia turned to the arriving Byakuya.
"We need to deal with him first." Byakuya focused on their new enemy. "He must have completely transformed into a Hollow to be able to fire a Cero."
"Never!" Muramasa growled, still trying to restrain the Hollow power within him. "I won't lose to the Hollow's powers."
"Is he resisting the Hollows he's absorbed?" Rukia realized.
"No..." Inoue corrected and ran towards Muramasa, arms stretched out. "Please stop fighting!" she pleaded. "The man you were looking for is gone forever."
"Koga..." Muramasa droned.
"Is he still searching for Koga even after transforming?" Rukia was stunned by the Zanpakutō's tenaciousness.
"There's no need for you to do this anymore." Inoue begged. "It'll only make you suffer more. So, let's put a stop to this fighting."
"Inoue, get away from him!" Rukia warned, seeing Muramasa's stance had changed.
Instinctively activating 'Santen Kesshun', Inoue tried to defend herself, only to have the barrier shatter under Muramasa's claws, the shockwave sending the busty girl flying backwards and Rukia reaching out to grab Inoue.
Ichigo moved in to block off Muramasa before his next attack could land on the defenseless females. Pushing Muramasa off, he then engaged the transformed Zanpakutō in a sword fight.
Taking to the air, Muramasa fired off a wave of Bala shots at Ichigo.
Ichigo canceled out the resultant dust cloud by donning on his Hollow mask and reengaging Muramasa in the air. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he countered Muramasa's Cero blast with an energy shot of his own, the energy arc cutting through the Cero beam and clashing into Muramasa.
Muramasa closed up the gaping wound on his chest by rejoining his severed part back together and expanded his Hollow-like Reiatsu.
"This doesn't look good..." Karin watched as black energy tendril extended over the sky.
"Stop it!" Ichigo roared, charging at Muramasa as a Garganta started to open in the sky. Finding himself stopped by the summoned Hollows, he started slicing through.
"Another wave of Hollows is forming." Ishida cursed. "We have to split up to exterminate them."
"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!" Rukia fired off a series of Sōkatsui spells to destroy the attacking Hollows.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura." Byakuya's wave of Sakura petals washed over the next wave of Hollows.
"Muramasa!" Ichigo took out the wave of Hollows attacking him and charged straight for the Hollowified Zanpakutō, as he continued cutting his way through. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he fired off an energy wave point-blank at Muramasa, the attack finally making through and Muramasa crashed onto the ground.
"Can't lose..." Muramasa groaned, morphing once again, deforming into a liquid-like figure and shooting out bullets of Hollow Reiatsu, before a single Reiatsu wave washed over Ichigo. The Reiatsu wave then rose up to form a black-red sphere that completely entrapped Ichigo within.
"The Garganta..." Karin breathed in horror as the portal opened.
"The Hollow Reiatsu that Muramasa absorbed is causing this." Byakuya confirmed.
The expanding Reiatsu sphere then spat out black globs that turned into Menos.
Ishida, Karin and Sado jumped out of the way of an incoming Cero blast.
In the air, Byakuya was using Shunpo to dodge the Ceros fired at him. "Scatter, Senbonzakura." his petal wave washed over the attacking Menos.
Elsewhere, Rukia was pulling Inoue out of the battlefield with a Menos chasing after them.
"Next Dance, Hakuren!" Sode no Shirayuki's ice wave froze the Menos before it could release its Cero.
"Sode no Shirayuki?" Rukia breathed in shock.
"I'm sorry it took so long." the snow woman Zanpakutō apologized.
"Sode no Shirayuki, what are you doing here?" Rukia asked.
"I didn't come alone." Sode no Shirayuki smiled.
"Yo!" Ikkaku grinned, Hōzukimaru was standing behind him. "The cavalry's arrived."
One by one, the reunited Shinigami and Zanpakutō appeared in the air.
Omake: Arrancar Encyclopedia
Tōsen: (In the Menos control room) That's strange.
Ichimaru: What's the matter? You look upset.
Tōsen: The Menos population has suddenly dropped drastically. I wonder if something's poaching them.
Ichimaru: Tōsen, were you taking care of the Menos?
Tōsen: Of course. By checking on their health and monitoring what food they eat, we can create the ultimate Menos.
Ichimaru: Where are you gonna ship them to?
SailorStar9: In the next chapter, the Zanpakutō, having been released from their brainwashing with Mayuri's help, fight the arriving Menos Grandes, but more come from a hole in the sky. Guardian Frost, Karin and Byakuya manage to seal the hole with Reiatsu gathered from all the other Shinigami
Now that's done, read and review.
