Chapter 14: Endgame
The Otherworld, Coliseum
"At last…the time has come!" Steel Wrath proclaimed.
The armored man sat on a throne atop the stone mound. Below him, three doors opened up in the walls of the arena.
"First, the bringer of despair…"
Insane Black Rock Shooter entered through a door.
"Second, a valiant being…"
Saber entered from another.
"And the third, both cruel and fair, lying somewhere in between."
Ichigo walked in through the last door, still in his bankai form.
"A hero, a villain, and one whose fate is unclear. The three of you have come far in this tournament, and have proven yourselves the strongest. However, only one of you can leave this place as a champion."
"Ichigo," Saber began, "I have no quarrel with you, and I am sure you share my desire to end this wicked game. Am I correct?"
"You are." Ichigo answered.
"Then it is only natural that we should combine our strength to defeat White Steel Wrath."
"I agree. There's just one thing standing in our way though…" he glanced over at Insane.
"I know. We will have to deal with her first."
"Now then," Steel Wrath continued, "Because this the last round, the battlefield will be this very arena. The Let the final battle, BEGIN!"
Ichigo and Saber both charged at Insane.
"Two against one, eh? Oh well, it's not like you have a chance anyway."
The pale girl waited for them to come within range before lashing out with her gun-sword. Saber blocked the strike, allowing Ichigo to jump and attack Insane's head. Before he could land the blow, a small gun barrel popped up from Insane's gun-sword and fired at him. Ichigo managed to flash step out of the way, but then another small gun appeared and poured a small burst into Saber's side. Cringing from the pain, Saber shoved the large gun-sword aside and slashed Insane. Purple-black blood burst out from the wound, but Insane remained unfazed and countered with a swing of her unarmed hand. Saber leapt back to avoid the blow, while Ichigo suddenly appeared behind Insane. The soul reaper slashed at her, but she deflected it by summoning her scimitar in time. Using flash step, Ichigo then appeared in front of Insane and cut at her hand, causing her to drop the scimitar. He flash stepped backward as Insane swung her gun-sword at him.
"Now, Saber!" Ichigo yelled.
"Ex…" Saber started, gripping her sword with both hands. "…Calibur!"
A torrent of flame burst from her sword towards Insane, engulfing the pale girl. The large gun-sword was ripped from her grasp, flying to somewhere beyond the flames. As the fire began to die down, Saber turned to Ichigo.
"Ichigo!"
"I got it! Getsuga…" black energy swirled around his sword, "…Tensho!"
A wave of powerful black energy flew from his blade towards Insane, striking her square in the chest and flinging her into the wall of the arena. The pale girl disappeared under dust and rubble. Saber and Ichigo stood confidently. Suddenly, the rubble was shoved aside as Insane got back up. Even though that last attack had been a direct hit, she ignored the pain and walked out of the freshly made crater. Mildly surprised, Ichigo and Saber readied their weapons as she walked toward her gun-sword. This time Ichigo charged first. He went for Insane's hand, hoping to prevent her from retrieving her weapon. To his surprise, the pale girl grabbed his sword. Ichigo tried to pull back, but Insane's grip was like steel. Held in place, Insane gave Ichigo a right hook to the face, followed by a kick to his side. She continued to beat him in this way until she suddenly lost the feeling in her right arm. Looking to her side, she saw it laying on the floor. Saber stood above the appendage, purple-black blood staining her sword.
"That's enough of that." Saber stated.
Insane let Ichigo drop to the floor before turning to face the Servant. The pale girl smiled wickedly as a shadow suddenly loomed over her and Saber. Confused, Saber looked up to see the large gun-sword, connected to Insane's back by a chain, hanging over her head. She barely managed to raise her sword in time to stop the massive weapon. While Saber struggled to keep the gun-sword from crushing her, Insane casually picked up her arm, reattached it, and picked up her scimitar from where it had fallen. Ichigo started to stand up, ignoring the swelling on the right side of his face. He noticed Insane walking toward the preoccupied Saber, preparing to catch her unprotected. Quickly, Ichigo drew his hand over his face, summoning his hollow mask and giving him the boost he needed. Using flash step, he put himself between Insane and Saber, and began to slash relentlessly at the pale girl. Retreating at first, Insane managed to keep up with his speed and soon was on the offensive. Ichigo felt himself being pushed toward Saber, soon both them would be under the gun-sword. Desperately, Ichigo held out his hand, forming a ball of red energy. It angered him to have to resort to his hollow powers, but a cero was just what he needed right now. Just as he was about to fire, Insane slapped his hand with her scimitar, causing him to redirect the blast at-
"Saber!" he yelled as a beam of deadly red energy burst from his hand.
Saber's eyes went wide with fear as the blast neared her. She cried out in pain as it exploded right I front of her, sending her flying to the ground. She struggled to get up once, then collapsed, exhausted. Even though he knew she wasn't dead, Ichigo immediately regretted his decision. He turned back toward Insane in time to receive her foot in his face, breaking his mask and knocking him to the ground beside Saber. Through blurred vision he was able to notice Steel Wrath laughing from his throne atop the stone mound.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Excellent, Black Rock Shooter! Now, finish them and take your place as champion!" he commanded.
Having retrieved her gun-sword, Insane raised the large weapon to prepare the killing blow. Get up…get up, dammit! You can't lose now! Ichigo thought. He tried to make himself rise, but his body refused to listen to them. He watched helplessly as Insane brought down her gun-sword. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end. About a minute passed, and he was still breathing. Ichigo opened his eyes to find Insane's gun-sword hovering about a foot above his head. Insane was glaring at the floor, her expression showing signs of intense stress.
"What are you waiting for? Finish them!" Steel Wrath called.
"Enough…" said a girl's voice from somewhere.
Ichigo and Saber stared in confusion at the pale girl. The sound seemed to originate from her, yet her lips had not moved out of her angry frown.
"That's enough…" the voice was louder now.
"No way…" Insane said. "Stop, holding, me, back!" she tried to lower her gun-sword onto Ichigo's neck.
"THAT'S ENOUGH, BLACK ROCK SHOOTER!"
A bright light suddenly engulfed Insane, causing the others to shield their eyes. When they were finally able to open them again, they stared in surprise at the scene before them. Insane was on her knees, a black and white sword sticking into her chest and out through her back. Holding the sword was a girl who wore the same outfit BRS had originally worn, except she was shorter, had blue eyes, and had two feather like pigtails sticking out of the top of her short dark hair.
Insane glared at the girl. "Why…why won't you let me take on your pain? Why suffer?" she asked.
The short girl stared at her with sad eyes. "I told you a long time ago, I don't care if I get hurt. I don't want to see you hurt yourself, Black Rock Shooter." she answered.
Insane relaxed her angered expression. "It seems that I still cannot defeat you…you've beaten me again." With that, Insane closed her eyes. The purple flame in her left eye went out, and she slid off the other girl's sword. She landed on the ground with a thud, dead.
The short girl looked over at Ichigo and Saber with concern. "I'm sorry I couldn't break free sooner. Are you guys alright?"
"I-I guess…" they both answered, still confused by what had just happened.
They along with the short girl looked up at Steel Wrath, who was now clapping sarcastically. He did not look pleased.
"Well now, isn't this a surprise? I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be capable of overpowering your other self, especially when it was Black Rock Shooter." he half growled, half complimented.
Ichigo and Saber looked back at the unknown girl. Other self? Does that mean she's the one Black Rock Shooter fights for? They thought.
The unknown girl glared angrily, and pointed her sword at Steel Wrath. "You're the one behind all this! You made me and Black Rock Shooter murder those people! You made us…You made us kill Yomi!" tears formed in her eyes at that last sentence.
"So what if I am?" Steel Wrath answered plainly. "What is someone like you going to do about it?"
The girl grew furious at this. She tightened the grip on her sword. "You made me kill my best friend…for that, I can't forgive you! I'm going to hurt you! I'm going to make you pay! I-I…I HATE YOU!"
To everyone's surprise, Steel Wrath actually seemed taken back by the sudden outburst. After blinking a few times, he regained his composure. In fact, he looked very happy.
"Heh…hehe…hehehAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA! Now this is truly surprising! You, the one person who is too foolish to hate anyone, no matter how cruel they are, just declared that you hate me? Now that is unusual for you, Mato Kuroi!"
The short girl continued to glare at him, putting both hands on her sword.
"Alright then! Now that you've gone and ruined my little tournament, it seems I'll just have to dispose of all of you!" an enormous battle-ax with gear-shaped axe heads appeared in his hand.
"Hey, you two back there, what are your names?" Mato asked, keeping her gaze fixed on Steel Wrath.
"Ichigo Kurosaki." said Ichigo.
"Servant Saber, you may call me Saber." said Saber.
"Ichigo, Saber, I know you're both injured, but I need your help. I'm not used to fighting, so I can't beat him by myself. Will you give me a hand?"
Ichigo and Saber rose confidently to their feet.
"Of course, I still have a promise to keep." Ichigo declared.
"I cannot rest without having avenged my friend." Saber stated.
Readying their weapons, they now stood side by side with Mato. Steel Wrath grinned insanely at this.
"Come on, then! Let's put an end to this game!" he shouted.
"My thoughts exactly!" Ichigo yelled, rushing toward him.
Steel Wrath easily blocked the strike. He sent Ichigo back to the ground with a smack from his ax. As Ichigo flew past them, Saber and Mato attacked SW from opposite directions. SW blocked Mato's sword with his ax and caught Excalibur with his free hand. With demon like strength, he swung Saber into Mato, sending them both to meet Ichigo at the bottom of the stone mound.
"Ichigo, we agreed to fight together!" Saber reprimanded.
"Sorry, old habits are hard to break. It won't happen again."
"I should hope not."
"Alright, together this time!" Mato stated.
The others nodded in agreement. Moving as one, the three of them advanced on SW. The pale man struggled for a moment as three weapons came at him from multiple angles. He felt himself get cut a few times. Angered, SW let out a fearsome yell, blowing everyone back to the floor. He laughed as they crashed into the floor. The trio quickly got up and charged him again. SW held up his ax in defense as they all attacked from the same direction. To his surprise, only Saber and Mato stood in front of him. He looked around for Ichigo as he shoved the other two back.
"Getsuga…"
SW turned to his side. Ichigo was flying towards him, power already building in his blade.
"…Tensho!"
A black wave of power roared out of his sword towards Steel Wrath, exploding on impact. Ichigo landed on a part of the stone mound just below where SW was standing. As the dust settled, he stared in shock as SW came into view, without so much as a scratch on him. The pale man grinned wickedly at him before slicing downward with his ax. Ichigo blocked the strike, but the force behind it sent him flying backward. He tried to grab one of the many weapons stuck in the mound to keep himself from falling, but the weapon detached from the stone and he fell anyway. Just before he hit the ground, he noticed something strange: when the weapon he grabbed left the stone, Steel Wrath had cringed in pain and nearly stumbled over for a moment. Realization dawned on him as he hit the floor. That's it! He thought.
"Saber! Mato! I think I know how we can beat him!"
"How?" they asked.
"Saber, you should be able to see it. Look closely at the mound."
Saber did as instructed. She soon realized what Ichigo was talking about. "I see, so he draws power from the weapons planted in the mound. No wonder he never leaves it."
"So what you're saying is," Mato began, "that if we destroy the stone mound, we should be able to hurt him?"
"Exactly." Ichigo answered. "But we're gonna need a lot of power to smash it though. I don't think just my Getsugatensho will be enough."
"Then I will use my noble phantasm to help you." Saber stated. (The big fire attack with Excalibur)
"I can't do anything special with this sword…" Mato said, "But I do know one thing that should do the trick. I'm just gonna need a lot of space."
"As will we."
"Let's do it, then." Ichigo proclaimed. The others nodded in agreement.
The trio split up, going to different parts of the arena. Ichigo began to charge Getsugatensho, while Saber powered up Excalibur. Blue fire now burning out of her left eye, Mato held out her hand, and soon a gun of gargantuan proportions started to form. When it was finished, she was holding the trigger of a cannon the size of a two-story house. Steel Wrath braced himself for what was about to come.
"So this is what you were up to. Fine then, give me everything you've got!" Steel Wrath challenged.
"Getsugatensho!" yelled Ichigo.
"Excalibur!" shouted Saber.
"RrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Mato as she pulled the trigger.
Soon a black wave, a golden flame, and a rainbow (yes, rainbow -_-) colored energy blast burst towards Steel Wrath. The pale man summoned all of his power to try and suppress the attacks. He held them at bay for a moment, then felt his power start to leave him as the stone mound was blown apart. No longer able to hold back the intense energy, SW roared in anger as the three attacks collided into a gigantic explosion that engulfed the entire arena. After what seemed like five minutes, the dust finally settled. The three heroes found themselves standing amidst the rubble of what used to be the coliseum. To their horror, Steel Wrath was still standing, although now he was swarming with cuts and bruises and was breathing heavily.
"Did you (pant) think (pant) that would (pant) kill me? (pant)" he wheezed. "It's (pant) still my game. (pant) the rules (pant) haven't changed!"
Meaning a blade was still the only thing that could kill him. Ichigo turned to Saber and Mato.
"Hey," he started, "Let's finish this fucker off."
The others smiled and nodded in agreement. Ichigo burst toward SW, slashing as he drew near. SW weakly blocked the strike, and tried to counter with an exaggerated cut at his midsection. Ichigo merely stepped back to avoid the attack. Then, he swatted the pale man's weapon aside, disarming him before thrusting his sword into the man's torso. SW coughed up a fair amount of blood from this, but Ichigo wasn't finished yet.
"Mato!" he yelled as he kicked SW into the air.
Mato jumped up to meet the pale man with anger in her eyes. "This for Yomi!" she cried as she drove her sword into his chest. "Saber!" she punched him higher into the air.
Saber appeared above SW. "This is for Rex!" she planted Excalibur into his shoulder, then kicked him even higher into the black sky.
Now Ichigo appeared above him, this time with Miroku in his hand. "And this…" he drove the sword downwards, finally piercing SW's heart. "…is for Mikoto."
SW struggled to glare at him before Ichigo yelled, "MIROKU!"
A pair of glowing red eyes appeared on the black sword as power began to surge into it.
"TOSOTSUKEN!" Ichigo yelled.
A skyscraper-sized blade of pure energy erupted from the hilt of the sword, sending Steel Wrath plummeting to the ground as it incinerated him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he cried as he descended.
Steel Wrath failed to reach the ground before he was completely destroyed by the blade in his heart. The swords that had been planted in him fell to the ground, undamaged by the energy. All that remained of White Steel Wrath was his ax, which was planted on top of the highest pile of the rubble of his coliseum. The tournament was now finally over.