Bleach: Dark Prophecies
Chapter 11 - The Beast Unleashed, Unexpected Arrivals!
Location: Karakura Town, Karakura High School Parking Lot
Heaving with heavy breaths, Tatsuki felt like she was reaching her limit. The flames that had vibrantly flowed around her was starting to dim and her boosted stamina was beginning to diminish. While her experience and skill in martial arts allowed her to compensate the lack of prowess using her newfound powers, but the elongation of her battle against a skilled warrior such as the one facing her began to wane her effectiveness.
"I see your newfound powers are taking its toll on you," Kuroi noted aloud, his right hand still extended outright with his other one pocketed within his coat, his impassive stare unknowingly pissing off Tatsuki further, "its only natural. No matter what your influence or crutch you humans use, you are after all, mortal. There is no way for a mere insect such as yourself to reach the heights that our race has."
"That's funny coming from a guy who needs a human body to make this happen," Tatsuki spoke derrisively, allowing herself to recharge what stamina she had while keeping the banter up, waiting for an opening to present itself, smirking in notation of her own comment, "I thought you guys were better than Hollows and Soul Reapers. All I see is a bunch of hacks who couldn't cut it be given a bunch of shiny toys, only to be taken out like amateurs. That's gotta sting!"
"Your verbal prodding won't shake my resolve so easily, human," Kuroi narrowed his eyes, his tone filled with disapproval, "you can not reach me with your close quarters attacks, and your flames are easily dampened by my shadows. Give up."
"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Tatsuki flared her aura once more, not charging yet, but showing her enemy that she still had strength left.
"I told you, your flames won't reach me-"
"EL DIRECTO!"
"-?!" Kuroi found his gaze lurch to his right periphery, suddenly seeing a large hispanic man with a torn hawaian shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and a black-red shield-adorned hollow-like arm discharging a pillar of blue-white energy towards him.
BOOM!
Kuroi sweated from the proximity of how close he had been to being pulverized. He didn't realize there were other enemies capable of taking him off guard and had a lot of power to boot. He noted the shadow-webbed steel engulfing his proximity was cracked in several places, allowing small glimmers of light to be seen from outside.
"These damned humans are like cockroaches..." Kuroi muttered.
"Chad!" Tatsuki shouted with relief and shock of seeing the man come to her side so suddenly. At first alarmed at the sight of his injuries, she noted that Chad appeared no worse for wear, "what took you?!"
"T-Tatsuki?!" Chad's visible left eye saw Tatsuki's shimmering fire-aura and the spiritual plates of armor hugging her body, as well as the clear sign of red hair and eyes in contrast to her usual appearance, "w-what happened?!"
"There's no time for that, idiot!" Tatsuki waved her hand in emphasis at the shadow-covered dome that began to recede, "I need you do help me beat this guy! Think you can bust out your ultimate attack on him?!"
"You think I was holding back?" Chad blinked in perplexion, wondering how his last attack was considered less than his best. He always considered he fought with full power from the start.
"JUST KILL THIS BASTARD, OKAY?!" Tatsuki comically shouted, waving her arms at Kuroi in emphasis.
"Enough of your squabbling," Kuroi growled aloud, moving his right hand towards the two of them, sending a dozen tendrils of shadows rushing towards them, each of them with the edge of tempered steel while having the elasticity of rubber, "its time for you to die."
It was within this moment that Chad and Tatsuki moved together, as if they had done so time and again. It helped to play soccer with each other, and even spar upon occasion when supernatural disasters were present. But now, Tatsuki could use their partnership to her advantage.
Where several shadow tendrils discharged to strike Tatsuki, she would leap up into the air, where several more would converge upon her position.
Chad would use Bringer Light to put himself in between the corpeal-based shadows, using his right arm, Brazo Derecha de Gigante, to repel their strikes, causing a large array of sparks to rain down in emphasis of the hardened reinforcement placed within his Fullbrought arm. Rearing back his left arm, a swift transmutation caused his skin to transmute into a red-white spike aligned limb filled with unimaginable power: Brazo Izquierda del Diablo .
Taking the hint, Tatsuki grappeled onto the now protected arm and jettisoned herself high into the air, causing her to skyrocket high into the air. Upon the ascent, Tatsuki began gathering all of her bottled feelings and let them boil over the surface. Her body began to glow brighter and her body burned hotter, until she was nothing but a burning star ascending nearly twenty meters above Kuroi.
It was here that the Hanta realized that Tatsuki was above his reach, and the Fullbringer himself was deflecting the spears of shadows with ease. He tried in vain to throw projectiles of debris around, with flicks of his hands within command, trying to bring them down. But it would all be in vain.
"LET'S END THIS TOGETHER!" Tatsuki shouted out, letting her body descend, with her fists outstretched as she aimed to use herself as a missile to strike at Kuroi's defenses and break through them.
But she wasn't alone.
Free-falling with her, Chad used his right arm to batter the shadows away, shattering them with incredible force as he reared his left arm back, as his fall was matching the same speed as Tatsuki's, thanks to his own Bringer Light momentum.
"T-They're too strong!" Kuroi unpocketed his other hand, using all of his Spiritual Power to reinforce his Zanpakutō's control over his proximate shadows, layering one sheet of ethreal-steel after another, intending to repel them both.
Tatsuki grinned, as she corkscrewed her body around just bare meters above the growing shadow dome, intending on letting her drop engorge the whole of her enemy's dome.
CLANG-FWHOOSH!
With a mighty strike, and a powerful exuding projection of flames, Tatsuki shouted out with every fiber of her being, intending on giving everything she got. The flames licked, cracked, and began ebbing the defenses away.
But then came Chad's left fist...
WHAM!
"LA MUERTE!" Chad shouted out, as his left fist thrust into the top of the dome, his arm shuddering as it began to releasing its immense power...
SHHHEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOW!
...a terrifying screaming gale released by the electric-kinetic forces release of a Hollow-emblazoned pressure to crack through the Zanpakutō dome and slam Kuroi into the ground, allowing the geyser of flames to engorge him as La Muerte struck him simultaneously.
"I see...so they're strength...is stronger...together..." Kuroi realized, even as his body was smashed and scorched asunder, as a deafening explosion rocked the school parking lot, sending a pressurized gale of force that ripped up all of the remaining tarmac and dig deep into the earth itself.
Within the waking pause after they crushed their opponent, Chad sighed, realizing how deep the crater had become and the shape it took from his technique, "Damn...I guess we went a little overboard..."
"Hah...hah...hah," Tatsuki panted, her flames evaporating and her clothes, body, and hair resumed its normal appearance as she fell to her knees amidst the ashes of the force she unleashed. Smiling, she couldn't help but look up at Chad's giant form and grin cockily, "nonsense. I think we worked perfectly in sync, don't you think?"
"I think we worked a little too well," Chad spoke glumly, even as he reached down and pulled Tatsuki up to her feet, helping her out of the deep crater left by, "it seems like the school will be closed for a long time thanks to our combo..."
"Stop being such a downer, Chad. We kicked ass!" Tatsuki emphasized with a swing of her free arm, even as they got to the top of the impact area.
"Well, regardless, I think you should take it easy, Tatsuki," Chad spoke while eyeing her with empathy, "I think you may have used a little too much spirit energy in your battle...if you fight any longer, you could put your life at risk-"
"If my city needs my help, I'm going to help! You can't talk me out of this one, Cha-"
What followed, would silence the both of them.
BOOOOOOM!
In the distance, the two of them saw a brilliant flash of light within their periphery vision, followed by a thunderous explosion. In the distance, the large lush forest that was just a few miles away from the local temple, detonated within a black-red sphere, sending a huge gale of force in excess that ripped trees out of the earth before shattering them, and its final distance sending a gale force wind that would cause the two of them to skid across the street.
But within the gale force winds, both Chad and Tatsuki could immediately tell what transpired. It lingered within the stinging air currents, latent crackling shocks of Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure, responsible for the distant explosion.
"I-Ichigo?!" Chad uttered aloud in disbelief, as the light he saw and the force that was revealed was entirely his doing, "what technique was that?!"
"Idiot! He's going to go nuclear on this town if he keeps this up!" Tatsuki snarled aloud, as she held her arms over her face, now very pissed to know that Ichigo was causing even more of a mess, "was the gym not enough?!"
SHFT!
"Good to see you're safe," a well known voice projected with relief, causing the two to turn around and see Kisuke Urahara walking towards them with Benehime unsheathed.
"Mr. Urahara!" Tatsuki immediately looked to Kisuke with a demanding stare, flailing her arms in heated emphasis of her frustration, "what the Hell has been going on?! Who are these guys and why are they attacking Karakura Town?-"
"They're after Ichigo."
"What?!" Tatsuki immediately reared back, realizing the reasoning for Ichigo fighting so hard to release that blinding light just earlier, "who?! Why?!"
"I can't say I know all the details, but from what I've gathered, they're modified souls that had been on the verge or death or have been sentenced to Hell, only to be given a second chance by primevil beings, called Alpha Demons."
"D-Demons?!" Chad spoke out in amazement and fear, realizing the creatures that he's been fighting, and got knocked back by surprise earlier, were demonic in nature.
"While I'm glad they haven't sent anything more than their pawns for this attack, this proves they're desperate on getting Ichigo," looking into the distance at the smoldering crater that had been produced by Ichigo, he spoke in a low, level tone, "with the way things are going, I doubt that whatever barrier to keep their activities unnoticed will hold. The Soul Society will be coming shortly to investigate the damage...and that's when things will get ugly..."
Location: Forestland, Mangetsu Impact Site
Ichigo let himself drop slowly to the ground in aftermath of the explosion he unleashed upon his enemy. He was stunned with how much damage he caused with his Mangetsu, and felt as if he might've went a little overboard. After all, this is the World of the Living, and near his town. He'd hate to ruin everything just because he had a battle against a psychotic freakshow.
"Ah...you don't look so good," Ichigo noted aloud in a dry tone, as his feet touched the ash-laiden earth and saw a nearly perfect bisected body of Malice himself in the epicenter. Somehow, someway, he was still breathing, though it looked as if he was in a lot of pain from the scorched, crisp flesh surrounding his instact torso.
"D-D-Damn...you..." He wheezed out, as his fists clenched, causing audible crunches as bits of his nails crunched off in the process, "this...isn't...over..."
"I don't know if you noticed, but I think you're going to die," Ichigo said with an annoyed sigh, irritated by the stubborn opponents he always had to fight. In the end, they had as much tenacity as he did when it came to combat. Regardless, Ichigo percieved Malice wouldn't be doing anymore acts of cruelty in the future, "if you got something to get off your chest, I'd suggest speaking now. I'd like to know why you guys are so interested in my soul-"
At this point, Ichigo sensed something rumbling within the recess of the maimed Hanta's body. It felt like an unholy, brimming pool of power...locked away...slowly becoming undone despite the state his body was in.
"Heh heh heh heh!" Malice chuckled, as his skin began to crack and the bones began to protrude from beneath his skin, "I'm afraid you underestimated me...Ichigo...Kurosaki!"
With an instinctive backpedaling motion, Ichigo narrowly avoided a sudden projection of dark violet, black spiritual power explode to the surface. It struck the skyline high above, visibly shattering an unknown substance that had been erected over the vast kilometers of airspace around Karakura Town.
Rising from the body, something grotesque that made Ichigo's skin crawl, stood to its feet. Malice appeared to have slid out of his cracked and maimed body and wetly stood with an abominable appearance.
With large bulbous eyes sunken within his pale skull, the blood vessels practically glowed with every beat of his heart, causing his iris to darken and brim with bloodlust. He lacked any hair or clothes, as his body was covered with a sheen layer of bone fragments that made a makeshift armor around its body, while showing every gnarled and withered muscle behind it. With two blood-rusted iron shackles on either hand, something insidious appeared to be prominent along his whole body. His palms, his midriff, and his entire jawline was filled with jaws with sharpened teeth, all hissing with a synchronized, depraved voice,
"You're going to die a slow, painful death, Ichigo Kurosaki! Prepare to face the power of my Jōkan release!" His voice had gotten guttural, like glass cracked in between each syllable, and he's barely discernable from an animal or a sentient being.
"Ah hell-" Ichigo had barely any time to swear, before Malice reared his newly transformed body back...
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAH!"
...before screaming with a ghastly tone, sending a rippling shockwave that took Ichigo right off his feet and blinded him with the painful force that vibrated and tore at his body. As Ichigo howled with pain, his body would be ripped across the immense crater, tumbling head over heels before smashing through a few trees in the distance.
"Ah...I guess whatever he is now...he's a lot stronger than before, ngh!" Ichigo struggled to get to his feet, feeling his head pound and his insides burn from the force that rattled him so violently.
But he wouldn't be able to fight back so easily.
Malice would move in for the kill, having greatly accelerated his speed since before, and slam his right fist into Ichigo's gut, but not before discharging another wave of screaming air pressure to blow Ichigo even farther away, sending him aimlessly through more forestland, kicking up huge clouds of earth and dust, ending in a crater of a hill visible to the town not far away.
WHAM!
Malice would follow-up, slam his talon-filled feet onto Ichigo's position, causing the crater to deepen, only being halted by the flat side of Ichigo's blade from doing maximum damage. But he didn't relent, slamming his feet and discharging a wafting blaze of searing sonic force with every impact, allowing Malice to cackle and scream with delight as he heard Ichigo yell out in pain.
"THAT'S IT!"
WHAM!
"LET ME HEAR YOUR PAIN!"
WHAM!
"LET ME BATHE IN YOUR AGONY!"
WHAM!
"LET ME REVEL IN YOUR SUFFERING!"
WHAM!
"LET ME FEEL ALIVE AS I KILL YOU-"
Ichigo couldn't take the assault any further. Just as the hole deepened into a near quarter the size of what was the force he employed for the Mangetsu, Ichigo swung his blade to meet the armored feet of Malice, sending him sprawling onto his backside.
"GETSUGA," Ichigo began as he stepped forth with a heavy step, cracking the ground beneath him as the swirls of black-red energies, as his eyes glared heatedly even as his mouth and skin was covered in bloody scrapes from the damage he withstood, "TENSHŌ!"
A wide curtain of black-red energy flowed from his Zangetsu, aiming to overcome his nemesis with a single blow. And at first, it appeared to push him back, as his feet scraped across the ground for a good six meters. But then, the deranged voice caused Ichigo's blood to go cold.
"This won't work anymore!"
BAM!
"Not anymore!" Malice sidened his skin-splitting jaw in a demented smile, as his hands crushed the Getsuga Tenshō into oblivion, sending a wave of wind in the wake of the explosive energy's destruction.
Ichigo gritted his teeth at his dilemma. He knew if he were to survive, he would need to summon every iota of strength to face this creature, this demon slave. With a loud shout, Ichigo swung his blade with both hands, delivering a powerful cutting force towards his enemy, as he reignited the fight.
"I will survive! I will win...even if I have to crush my own body in the process...I WILL WIN!"
Location: Karakura Town, Kurosaki Household
"You have to let me go!" Uryu shouted, as the next reverberating shockwave passed by the neighbourhood, causing another quaking tremor to riddle everything within the contents. He currently stood, clothed now in his Quincy attire and out of his ragged casual wear. Ever since the explosion in the distance, Uryu had been determined to go aid Ichigo, but Senna AND Orihime were keeping him from leaving, "Ichigo can't take this guy alone! He's a monster!"
"I know what he is, Uryu, but I can't!" Senna vehemently barred the broken window area and the busted door, keeping in step to be a roadblock for Uryu, "Ichigo said he'd handle this, and I'm trusting him with it!"
"Are you out of your mind?! Orhime, please!" Uryu turned to Orihime, whom also had a troubled look, "you know Ichigo as well as I do! He's going to get overwhelmed by this new enemy! He can't take him alone!"
"He will win," Orihime looked up at Uryu, wiping away any previous look of doubt upon her face, as she smiled reassuringly, "its in his nature...not to give up. He wouldn't want us to be unhappy if he lost, so he'll fight until he finds a way to win."
Senna couldn't help but smile at the standfast conviction Orihime held about her friend. She couldn't help but feel jealous...that she didn't stand by Ichigo's side during the times that her other friends had supported him.
"I guess you're right," Uryu sighed, looking out the window at the distance, witnessing thunderous explosion after explosion rip apart the hillside and forestland just beyond Karakura Town, as the rest of the fighting had long ago halted, "I guess all we can do...is place our unwavering faith that a miracle will happen, and he'll pull through."
"Guess so," Senna spoke with resolution, as she herself turned to look at the distant horizon. She couldn't help but add lowly, "please come back to me...Ichigo..."
Location: Karakura Town Outskirts, Forestland Battlefield
"HRAAAH!" Ichigo yelled out as he swung his Getsuga Tenshō in sync with a downward slash towards Malice, sending him back long enough for the agile warrior to get to his other side and swing his blade, catching him in the shoulder and cutting it open, past the bone-fragment armor jabbed around him.
"HA!" In retaliation, Malice swung the affected arm towards Ichigo, discharging another stream of sonic energy that forced the swordsman to raise his blade to block some of the air currents, causing his heels to skid across the earth, sending large waves of dirt and tree bark in different directions.
Ichigo heaved as he held his sword with great effort. His hood, now thrown back and shredded, along with a number of shredded gashes across his body from the physical batterings he took from the Hanta's fists, nails, and feet, as well as the constant screaming he let loose in order to force him back.
While Malice adorned a fresh series of wounds himself, they were nothing but shallow to himself. He actually seemed to be thrilled with every passing moment of his battle, even if the prospect of death hanging close.
"Seems you're reaching your limit, Soul Reaper! HA!" Malice cackled, as he flung his hands back in emphasis, allowing his torso to let loose another devestating shockwave towards his body again.
Timing it to the last second, Ichigo used Flash Step, deftly avoiding the blast of wind-shredding force to move to his enemy's backside. Swinging with both hands, he aimed to cleave his toso in half. But Ichigo would again find himself outmaneuvered as Malice would pick himself up and backflip over Ichigo's sword and the billowing force of cutting power that followed.
Slamming his wrists together, Malice opened his palm-maws widely, as he smiled in a derranged manner, shouting aloud, "HAAAAA!"
SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOW!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He screamed within a searing, blinding wave of pain. Ichigo took the full brunt of the shredding wind at point blank, causing his cheeks to be cut open, his neck, his torso, his arms, everything hurt.
While he stood firm in the wake of the strike, Malice swung around in the middle of the air and threw a haymaker punch into Ichigo's jaw, sending him skidding across a large forestline, for a good twenty meters before smashing through a boulder.
Even then, Malice found himself enjoying the sight of Ichigo's torn, bruised, and bleeding body still standing after the punishment he put him through.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's such a delicious sight! Seeing you in such a sorry state, makes me want to gut you even more," Malice crunched the earth, enjoying the sizzling heat his force had created upon the endless landscape of once lively forestland. As he approached Ichigo, he looked deathly still, with his hand hanging low and his expression blank. If not for the slow breathing motions his torso made, Malice would almost believe the Substitute died standing, "had enough ye?! After all the crap you put me through, you better not be!"
"Shut...up..." Ichigo whispered aloud, his hand clenched his Zanpakutō but didn't move his body any further, "if...you...don't...I'm...going...to...be...pissed . You...don't...want...to...see me...pissed...off!"
"What's that?! Is that a threat?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Don't fucking kid with me!" Malice snarled out, briefly letting out a shrilling high pitched voice before lowering it to an annoyed growl. As he approached he flexed his fists and readied to hit his enemy again, "you're nothing but trash, pu-"
"Wrong!"
"-nNNNNGH?!"Malice suddenly found himself seeing a blurring movement from the Substitute's sword arm, already crossing over his chest, cutting a deep wound over his torso. In excess, the force of the strike caused him to fly back along with a crackling burst of air pressure from the sheer power behind the swing of the sword swing.
Malice tried to right himself, but would find himself staring down the caught-up sprinting form of Ichigo. Bared teeth stained with blood, Ichigo's eyes were of a completely different color. With a black sclera and yellow iris, it almost looked like a Hollow's!
Before Malice could think straight, the Substitute lunged out and grabbed his face, slamming him into the ground while rushing across the landscape. The effect would be similar to a missile brushing across the surface of the ocean, with the exception of it being a grotesque body over a wide open landscape of forestland and debris-ridden dirt.
After what seemed like a kilometer, Ichigo leaped into the air, taking Malice high into the sky while growling aloud with the distorted tone fitting his current state of mind and brimming power. Malice could barely make it out, but he could see his enemy's skin sinewing together, rapidly healing, while also taking a slight paler complexion in the process.
"Are these...Hollow powers? How is he...doing this?!"Malice thought with sudden trepidation, as he realized with horror just how much stronger his enemy is when enraged into this state!
"I warned you, Malice," Ichigo spoke in a hollowed voice, as he held him by the face high in the air, keeping his sickly appearing jaw closed, "I told you to shut your damned mouth or you'd piss me off! Well...here's to you...DUMBASS!"
Ichigo yelled as he threw him down with immense force towards the ground, too much momentum to allow Malice to right him up. As he was falling to the ground, he couldn't help but gape as Ichigo held his blade over his head as he strung along white-red energies across its edge.
"Getsuga," Ichigo snarled out, swinging his blade down with incredible force, sending a blinding arc of crescent moon, red-white energy, "Tenshō!"
VRRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!
As Malice began to slow down to the ground, the arcing blade of energy sped up. Rearing back his arms, he tried one last shout to render the blast inert. It was his only chance to keep himself from possibly being bisected again.
"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Opening every jaw upon his body, he discharged an immense force of sonic energy, distorting the air and deafening anything below the impending Getsuga Tenshō. The blinding, searing wind struck the oncoming force of energy, causing the two energies to have a standstill. Even as Malice's body rocketed down to the ground, he focused all of his attention upon the incinerative energy bearing upon him.
Mere seconds before striking the ground, the Getsuga Tenshō dispersed, popping and dispersing into thousands of sparks, allowing Malice to crash into the ground with relief with a resounding boom.
Location: Karakura Town Airspace, Over Kurosaki's House
THUUUM!
Far above the shock-ridden city, a streak of lightning strung across the spacial fabric of the World of the Living in a straight, parallel line. Within a brief illuminating, forming light, a pair of doors opened in the middle of space, gracing the appearance of the well known Senkaimon.
As it slid back with an ominous reberberating sound, four hell butterflies flew out into the air with the sound of jingling bells. What followed would be four overshadowed figures, each of them feeling a wave of nostalgia as they looked over the nearly forgotten city they all fought to protect two years ago.
In the distance, as a brilliant flash of light dispersed followed by an ominous boom, the shortest one spoke with a youthful, yet commanding tone, "It seems Kurosaki has decided to make a mess of things. Atypical of someone as brash as him..."
"He wouldn't be Ichigo if he wasn't," the tallest one of the group crossed his arms as he noted the damage and waste that had transpired in their absence, "what do you suppose caused all of this mess? Arrancars?"
"That may be unlikely," a stoic, cold voice emanating from the second shortest of the group spoke with a mature, feminine voice of astute observation, "the air is too thick for mere Arrancars to create. No, this is much more foul and heinious to be their doing."
"This is all rather dull...I feel like we're here for clean-up rather than back-up duty," the second tallest spoke in a sensuous, bored tone as a hand ran through her hair.
"It can't be helped," the shortest one spoke again, turning his head to look at all three of them, before nodding in affirmation, "let's move! We have to contain the threat before it spreads!"
"Right!" The three spoke in acknowledgement, all four of them preforming Flash Step towards the Substitute, with an unknown mission and purpose as they set their sights for whatever had been causing the disturbance.
Location: Forestland Battlefield, 20 Meters from Mangetsu Impact Site
"Hah...hah...hah," Malice breathed aloud with a smile, as he wrenched his body free from the earthen crater that had formed from his body smashing into it. He had stopped it. Despite the enormous power that had been gained by the Substitute through unknown means, Malice could still breach and overcome the gap.
"You're going to pay for that humiliation, you little bitch!" Malice snarled out as he stood to his feet, scanning the skies and the landscape around himself for the area of which Ichigo could appear or disappear to.
"I'm going to find you! And when I do, I'll-"
Tap!
"You'll what, punk?" The Hollowified voice spoke from behind him, having just touched down onto the soft crushed earth with his left hand outstretched, pointing at him as if to mock him.
As Malice turned around to lunge at the source of the voice, Ichigo's finger began projecting a condensed sphere of spirit energy. It grew and grew, until it became the size of a basketball. Within this moment, Malice realized what it was, and only had time to swear aloud, "Oh shi-"
VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!
"-EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUGH!" Malice screamed aloud in pain, not able to conjur the hyper-vibrations he uses to break apart the energy in time, as a wide silver-colored Cero enveloped his body and tore through the landscape, before exploding into a distant mountain, causing the second deafening explosion to occur that the town could witness.
"Ah...ah...ah..." Malice barely breathed beyond the mist, glaring heatedly at Ichigo's black-yellow eyes. He couldn't conjur anymore force, his body has reached its limit. He could try taking him, but the Substitute's newfound Hollow powers made it a problem, "I'm...going to kill you...Ichigo...Kurosaki..."
"So I keep being told," Ichigo spoke aloud in his Hollowified tone, but kept it more even and tempered. Tapping his Zanpakutō upon his shoulder, he examined the blackened flesh of Malice and noticed that his power was slowly, and surely, decreasing. With a brief exhale, Ichigo relaxed his power, causing his complexion to be returned to normalcy and his eyes to return to the same hazel color, "you're done, Malice. Return to your master and tell them I'm not interested in dying or handing over my soul so easily," turning his body around he waved back at him as he began walking towards Karakura Town, "see ya!"
"Ngggh!" Malice could barely control his fury as his target and enemy began walking away from him. His body bristled with black-violet energy, even as his skin began to peel off, showing his bone and muscle beneath, he called upon every ounce of power he had left. Left with no option, Malice reared back his arms while condensing his spirit energy solely into his vocal chords, he aimed to use what was left of his body to blast away Ichigo's backside.
With one final lunge, Malice ran towards his prey haphazardly, stumbling to the ground as he held his tongue until the last possible second. Ichigo felt his enemy coming and gripped his sheathe in readiness as Malice reared back as he was but a mere ten meters behind him.
But Malice's shout would be cut off short.
SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK-BOOM!
As what appeared to be a blurring shape drop to the ground a good distance to Malice's left, an elongated series of hooked blades, connected by razor extendable wire, swung down ontop of the Hanta's head, catching it off guard and unprepared. The sound of crunching bone, tearing flesh, and a shrilling yelp would be cut off by the loud crash created by the pressurized force of the elongated blade strike the ground, sending a wide five meter fissure for a good distance.
This rattled Ichigo, as he had turned around in preparation, only to be greeted by the sight of his desparate enemy being split and crushed to indescribable pieces. Seeing the length of the blade and its familiar craftsmanship, as well as the Spiritual Pressure it resonated, Ichigo turned to see the owner of it with a smug grin, already staring challenginly back at Ichigo.
"Yo, Ichigo!" Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of the 6th Division, shouted out as he retracted his Shikai blade to its compacted state. Wearing a black bandana over his forehead instead of his goggles, Renji looked slightly taller and had a bit more visible ink tattooed onto his skin. Other than that, the red-ponytailed Soul Reaper looked relatively the same, "you should keep your guard up more often!"
"R-Renji!" Ichigo gasped aloud, but wouldn't stop being shocked by the new arrivals.
"Its a good thing we came when we did," Toshirō Hitsugaya, Captain of the 10th Division, landed to Renji's left, followed by his Lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto, who landed just behind him. While Toshirō hadn't changed visibly much, his new addition to his uniform had been a scarf and slightly more angled bangs of his white hair. Rangiku herself hadn't seem to age or change her look, still wearing her cleavage-exposed uniform while adorning her orange hair with enough conditioning to make it appear as silky as when Ichigo had first encountered her, "I thought you would try and run away from the mess and blame it on the enemy, had we came too much later."
"Hey, there! How's it been going, handsome?" Rangiku winked and waved at Ichigo, much to her superior's chagrin, emblazoned by the dry expression encroaching upon his face.
"Rangiku! Toshirō! You guys came?!" Ichigo called out with relief and joy, happy to see memorable, friendly faces. Though he had been surprised by their sudden arrival, it wasn't something unexpected, given the nature of their relationship with him.
"They aren't the only ones, you know?" A teasing tone could be heard from behind Ichigo that nearly made his heart stop.
Peering over his shoulder, his eyes widened with shock and joy as he saw the short, black haired girl he had first met when everything had changed. One of the few people to keep reappearing in his dreams as often, if not moreso, than Senna herself.
"Hello there, Ichigo," Rukia Kuchiki, Lieutenant of the 13th Division, smiled softly as her dazzling eyes met Ichigo's stunned ones.
To be continued...!
A/N: WHOO-HOO! I finally finished the chapter! -happy dances-
Okay, to clarify, the reason I wanted this battle to prolong as it did was to emphasize the real danger of the upcoming enemies that will be explained in the next chapter: the Jōkan. These twisted souls are basically my interpetation of what a empowered Sinner would be like if I hadn't seen the Hell Verse Movie. They embody an emotion that fits their personality and what they were condemned to Hell for the most. While their powers don't always align exactly in a poetic fashion, they stick true to that name and will be pivotal enemies for Ichigo and his allies to face in the ongoing series.
(Note: This story was thought up way before that was talked about in production. So I'll try to deviate and make my Hell and anything revolving it as original as possible. Please PM me for suggestions as how I can do this more often.)
If you're curious as to why I tweaked Ichigo's powers the way I did, I'd be more than happy to explain via PM. I'll try not to spoil anything, but that too will be explained in the next chapter.
Also, important announcement! The next Chapter following this one will be the last of Dark Prophecies!
Now hold on a second, let me finish here...I decided to break up this series into three particular "Dark" Arcs. This first Arc was basically covering the development of Senna's character, as well as Ichigo's rebirth as a Badass Soul Reaper again, as well as the ongoing eery nightmares he had been experiencing. The next will also have different themes and goals to achieve within the next arc and so forth...
So the series that will continue after this will be called, Bleach: Dark Horizon. I hope all fellow and faithful readers will continue following my work as I continue getting this series into the good stuff, and hopefully get to highlight some real cool showdowns in the future ^_^
Until then, see ya later!
PS. I would've uploaded this sooner, but Fanfiction's been buggy as of late, so when I update this chapter, I hope you can forgive me about the timing xP
Next time! Bleach: Dark Prophecies, Chapter 12 - Inevitable Reunion!
