Bleach: The Espada Strike Back
Chapter 10 Brio's Final Hours
(Other side of Hueco Mundo)
Momo slowly began to open her eyes and noticed the faces of Retsu Unohana, Isane Kotetsu and Hanataro Yamada around her.
"Oh thank goodness" said Isane in a sigh of relief.
"Captain Unohana, Isane, 7th Seat Yamada why are you all here?" asked Momo in a weak tone as she slowly began to get up while lifting the cloth covering her body.
"Wait your treatment isn't done yet so please lie still" urged Isane.
"She's right Lieutenant Hinamori your injuries were far to serious" said Hanataro.
"Wait this blanket is…Captain Kurosaki's haori" thought Momo in shock as she surveyed the scenery looking for her Captain until her eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar orange haired soul reaper looking in the opposite direction of the Lieutenant while shouldering his giant cleaver zanpakuto.
"Captain…Kurosaki" said Momo with a look of surprised relief on her face.
"Momo listen to what Lieutenant Isane said and lie there still to heal, out of every one here your injuries were the most severe" said Ichigo keeping his head turned away to hide the fact he was crying while Momo noticed the scars and scrapes on her Captain's back and arms.
"But Captain what about your injuies they seem far more…" said Momo who was stopped midsentence by her Captain plunging his blade into the ground.
"Lieutenant Hinamori as your Captain I order you to rest! Now do as I say!" yelled out Ichigo in a commanding tone while still hiding his tears.
"Yes Captain" said Momo lying back with a serene smile on her face as if knowing what her Captain was hiding from her.
"Momo understand we need all the manpower we can get because this battle is far from over" said Ichigo drying his tears and turned to his Lieutenant to meeting her eyes with his own at last.
oOo
(Hueco Mundo Battlefield)
*CLASH*
"hehehe" laughed Kenpachi and Gilvo in unison as they stared each other down, grinning at one another.
"Yaaa!" yelled Kenpchi thrusting forward pushing Gilvo away from him.
"Yaa!" yelled Gilvo swinging his sword again.
*CLASH*
"You're not too bad" said Gilvo as he pushed himself away from Kenpachi.
"hehehe" laughed Kenpachi.
"For a pathetic soul reaper anyway" said Gilvo.
"You're pissing me off, your trash talk is getting tiresome so stop talking and fight!" yelled Kenpachi.
"Hyaaaaa!" yelled out Kenpachi and Gilvo in unison as they charged at each other however during the charge Kenpachi let up allowing Gilvo's blades to slash his chest.
"Ugh" snickered Kenpachi seeing Gilvo's blades doing barely any damage as they ran across his chest.
"Uh, well this is surprising most people would try to avoid my blades" said Gilvo keeping his swords pressed against Kenpachi's chest.
"Ya but my way is much more fun, besides whenever I fight someone I hope for a real battle and your blades barely even scratched me" smiled Kenpachi.
"Well then we'll have to see about that" said Gilvo as he began rapidly swinging his blades forward.
*CLASH*
"Ugh" smiled Kenpachi as he was pushed back but soon stopped Gilvo's advance once more while the Espada jumped back.
"I'm impressed no one's ever managed to stop those thrusts before" smiled Gilvo as he charged from the air.
"hehe" smiled Kenpachi going airborne and charging at Gilvo.
*CLASH*
The clashing blades caused an enormous shockwave to resonate across the desert landscape.
"Yaa" yelled Gilvo holding his ground while still smiling.
"Hehehehe" grunted Kenpachi holding his ground while still smiling.
"Ya" yelled Kenpachi and Gilvo in unison as they broke away briefly then pummeled down to the ground while still fighting.
*FWOOOM*
"Damn it" said Gilvo making his way out of the dust cloud that surrounded the two combatants.
"Yaaa!" yelled Kenpachi charging again and briefly parried with Gilvo in mid air once more before they landed on the ground again.
"Guess your brute strength wasn't enough you fucking dumbass" said Gilvo in a little annoyed tone.
"Nothing to do with it, I had you dead to rights the only thing that saved your ass was the sand" mocked Kenpachi while smiling.
"Is that so!" yelled Gilvo charging at Kenpachi with his swords raised.
"Yaaaa" yelled a smiling Kenpachi charging again.
*CLASH*
*CLASH*
*CLASH*
*CLASH*
oOo
"They're really going at it" said Karin covering herself from the after shocks.
"Karin!" yelled out Orihime arriving on the scene.
"Orihime what are you doing here?" asked Karin as Orihime approached the substitute soul reaper.
"I came here with Captain Unohana and Lieutenant Kotetsu they sent me here to heal your wounds" explained Orihime approaching Karin.
"Wait a minute Orihime heal Nel first before you get to me" said Karin pointing in Nel's direction.
"Nel's here!" said Orihime in shock looking in the direction Karin was pointing to see the tiny arrancar laying on a pile of rubble unconscious.
"Yes of course hold on Nel I'm coming" said Orihime going over to Nel while Karin continued to observe the fight.
oOo
*CLASH*
*CLASH*
*CLASH*
*CLASH*
oOo
(Other side of Hueco Mundo)
Chad had finally awoken and saw Ichigo and Unohana looking on in the distance hearing the loud noise of Kenpachi's fight emanating from the sky.
oOo
(Espada #9 Palace Rubble)
"Ah yes I can hear them the sound of that barbaric Kenpachi fighting an equally strong opponent" said Mayuri listening in to the sounds of the fight as his Bankai lay face first on the ground.
"Huh" said Renji and Uryu in unison observing the sight before them.
"Oh done already" said Mayuri turning to his Bankai as it lifted it's head revealing a string of familiar black tentacles being slurped into it's mouth.
"It doesn't get any less gross the more I see it" said Uryu covering his mouth.
"Trust me I know what you mean" said Renji in a grossed out tone while the giant Bankai devoured the rest of Brio leaving the single tentacle that was wrapped around Nemu dangling from it's mouth.
"And it ate him" said Renji with the same disgusted look on his face.
"Honestly what's wrong with you Renji you say it so casually" saud Uryu turning his head.
"What is wrong with you? you gave me this same crap last time I was just answering your question" said Renji annoyed.
"Ya and you don't need to describe it too me I can see it perfectly fine thank you!" yelled Uryu as he suddenly saw Renji and himself get infected by Mayuri's poison.
"Damn it" thought Uryu and Renji in unison as they began coughing continuously.
"Hey Mayuri an antidote would be nice!" said Uryu turning to the Captain.
"Honestly I save you fools and yet you still can't stay out of danger, it's become a constant bother to me really" said Mayuri digging into the inside of his haori.
"Shut up bastard it's your poison that's doing this to us!" yelled out Uryu as he coughed up blood.
"Uryu calm down or the poison will spread faster" said Renji trying to calm Uryu down.
"Honestly maybe I should just let you two die then you'd be out of my hair for good" said Mayuri holding up a vial of liquid.
"Just cut the crap and give us the antidote already or waagh" said Uryu getting stopped midsentence by coughing up more blood.
"Uryu calm down" said Renji.
"Master Mayuri, I beg your pardon sir but can you help me out here please?" asked Nemu still being held by the tentacle dangling from Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō's mouth while Mayuri just stood there with a blank stare on his face.
"Hey Mayuri did you hear her or what? She said she needed help" said Uryu addressing Mayuri who turned to Uryu.
"Unbelievable all of you, here's the antidote fools" said Uryu tossing the vial in Uryu and Renji's direction.
"Mayuri don't throw it!" screamed Uryu as the bottle smashed.
"Hey!" said Renji in a desperate voice
"Not again!" said Uryu annoyed.
"Honestly should you fools be celebrating so soon" said a familiar dark voice coming from inside Mayuri's bankai.
"That voice it can't be!" said Ury shocked.
"Brio damn him" said Renji
"How intriguing" said Mayuri observing the sight.
"Why acting so shocked? Did you fools honestly believe you killed me? No far from it I was conserving my time and energy for a chance to escape!" yelled out Brio as Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō began to expand.
"What the hell is going on? Mayuri hurry up and get her out of there!" said a panicking Uryu.
"Too late fools!" yelled Brio as Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō exploded revealing Brio completely unharmed and still holding Nemu.
"How the hell are you still alive?" demanded Renji.
"Ah yes it completely slipped my mind to tell you fools, maybe I didn't tell you because I didn't expect you to live this long but here it is; when I became an arrancar I performed several experiments on myself to make sure I was prepared for any situation upon death, take my most recent predicament for example, I restructured my body so that if I were to ever be devoured I could reform it within the subject's innards, as for the explosion itself that was just me releasing spirit energy in an explosive wave, normally I would have been able to escape by the subject's body exploding on it's own but since this bankai was so large I needed a little assistance, so then what's say we reintroduce ourselves Mayuri Kurotsuchi" said Brio grinning.
"Um can you please let me go" said Nemu still dangling by Brio's tentacle.
"Oh right I had almost forgotten about you now die!" yelled Brio applying pressure to Nemu's body.
"AGH" screamed Nemu as her spine suddenly snapped.
"Oh no!" said Uryu in worry as Nemu collapsed to the ground.
"That bastard" growled Renji.
"Did you understand that Mayuri Kurotsuchi because of this enhancement and many others I can continue to exist and absorb the power of others until I've obtained undefeatable strength, do you understand now I can't be beat Mayuri!" mocked Brio.
"Huh what's he doing?" asked Uryu as he saw Mayuri walk towards Brio.
"Captain Kurotsuchi!" said Renji.
"Uh, uh, urgh" grunted Brio in frustration as Mayuri walked past him and knelt down towards Nemu.
"M…Mas…ter Ma…yu…ri I…am…so…sorry" said Nemu in serious pain.
"What's the matter? Is your heart aching at the fact you couldn't protect your Lieutenant? You really are a ksoftie at heart aren't you but don't worry I'll send you to met her soon enough" laughed Brio as Mayuri stood up.
"How wonderful" said Mayuri turning to Brio, smiling.
"Hrg" grunted Brio.
"Really I'm quite impressed so what you're saying is that no matter what I do to you you'll still be able to reform yourself, quite amazing do you have a name for such a technique?" asked Mayuri in an energetic tone.
"Funny I never thought of giving it a name perhaps you should call it ilimitado" said Brio.
"And is that all you've done?" asked Mayuri.
"What?" asked Brio.
"It's just I find it odd that for someone seeking power you would only apply enhancements that would preserve yourself from being destroyed so come on you must have something else to show me with all the vast modifications you've done to yourself, I mean you claimed to have undefeatable strength, you must have something else you haven't mentioned yet" explained Mayuri.
"what's he doing?" asked Uryu.
"I wish I knew" said Renji.
"Come now, telling me won't make me think less of you in fact I'll be rather intrigued, so come on show me everything" said Mayuri as Brio pointing his finger at the weakened Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō causing it to reform and attack Mayuri.
"HAHAHAHAHA what do you think of that Mayuri Kurotsuchi I managed to integrate some of my own power and biological structure into your Bankai so that when I escaped from it I could reform it and have it attack you!" laughed Brio as Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō charged at it's former master but exploded seconds later.
"What!" said Brio in shock.
"My, my, people like yourself never learn do you, this is a tool I created and if it were ever to defy me it would simply self-destruct" explained Mayuri as his sword returned to it's sealed state.
"Hrg" said Brio grinding his teeth.
"Well I guess that's everything you had to show me, in that case why don't we move along I'd like to use you as a test subject a brand new piece of technology I developed" said Mayuri causing Brio to take a stance.
"There's no need to put up your defenses" said Mayuri.
"What's he doing?" asked Uryu.
"No idea but it's probably not very humane" said Renji.
"They're already inside you" said Mayuri.
"They who's they?" asked Brio in a panicked tone.
"My new line of Hollow Extermination Weapons, small Nano-sized spirit bugs that are now crawling through your system, feeding on the link that allows you to control your spirit energy, in short once that link is severed all the energy you've absorbed will become unstable and ultimately cause your whole body to explode under the weight of such large quantities of spirit particles" explained Mayuri.
"Impossible if you did implant such lethal insects inside my body then I would of noticed the side effects by now!" shouted Brio.
"That's just it, I designed them to be so small that they'd be undetectable as for how I got them inside you well you did that yourself" explained Mayuri
"Unbelievable" thought Renji and Uryu in unison who were visibly shocked.
"How the hell did I do that?" demanded Brio.
"Remember how at the start of this battle I told you of the spirit replication drug that me and my dimwitted subordinate had taken" said Mayuri.
"Ya what of it? No don't tell me!" said Brio as he began to panic.
"The drug capsule I gave to my idiotic Lieutenant was laced with these very spirit bugs of course her clump of flesh called a body is still of use to me so they had remained dormant until you absorbed them into your system" explained Mayuri.
"Damn y…Ahhh what the hell is happening my chest it's burning up!" yelled Brio holding onto his chest, which began to glow.
"Ah I see my little friends have finally reached your spirit link" said Mayuri grinning with all his teeth showing.
"Damn you Mayuri Kurotsuchi!" yelled Brio desperately lashing his extensions out at Mayuri.
"Hm the last act of a desperate man" said Mayuri dodging the whips.
"I'm taking you to hell with me Mayuri!" yelled Brio firing his cero as his whole body soon began to leak explosive amounts of spirit pressure.
"Let me tell you something before you completely go boom, as scientists we should never think of power as a raw use but rather we should think of power as an essence to be incorporated into our designs and creations, you attempted to use your power to destroy not to create and for that you'll die" explained Mayuri turning his back to Brio.
"Damn you all!" yelled Brio as his body suddenly imploded causing a burst of spirit energy to shoot up to the sky while the aftershock started up an enormous gust storm.
"Damn it Mayuri!" yelled Uryu as Renji's technique wore off and the two of them tried to keep themselves on the ground.
"Hold on Dondochakka we're going for a ride!" yelled Pesche as he and Dondochakka went flying.
"I'm hanging!" yelled Dondochakka as he flew away with Pesche.
"Don't try and call yourself a scientist until you know what it truly means" said Mayuri as the implosion finally subsided.