Yo everyone! So the adventures of owning a home continue. We have a sink that was leaking when we first got the place (a surprise leak at that) and haven't used the sink since the weekend we painted. I at last got freed up to take a look at it only to find a surprise: it no longer leaks, lol. As I told my mate, it fixed itself. Other than that, not too many surprises, thankfully. I think our yellow jackets are at last dead that are on the front of the house thanks to a dousing or two of bee spray. Nothing else has really happened over the last few weeks, which is good since we could use less excitement.
Writing wise, I'm so slow at getting chapters done... I blame myself for this one, also the fact we moved and that work has been a bit more hectic, so there is little room for writing at times. No worries, this story will finish up without interruption, I think.
Thanks to Kattana for her review. It was good to hear from you again. I was starting to think something was up when you missed a week, but it's all good.
Well, that does it for me. Hopefully things will begin to pick up soon and I can get more writing done. That's my hope at the very least. Thanks for sticking with me everyone. Enjoy!
Chapter 21
Skidding to a stop in the middle of the long corridor that was rising up towards the roof of the Southern Keep, Iya turned to look back the way he had come. Brow furrowing, he asked aloud to himself "What's going on? Ichigo's power is growing at a rate much faster than when he Hollowfies. There's no way he has that much power in him.
Hesitating, he took a step in the direction of his partner, but stopped when he heard the confident words he had been told when leaving behind said person.
"Iya, let me deal with this guy since he doesn't seem to want to listen to reason."
Remembering he had replied with "Fair enough. Just make sure you win.", he couldn't help but feel better at the answer the quarter demon had given him.
"Always. Just go on ahead and settle things with the Lord of the South."
"He'll be fine. I can't afford to waste any more time."
Taking off once again up the stairway, the hanyou whispered in his mind "You'd better not do something stupid, Ichigo."
000
000
Sensing her mate's aura seemingly explode, Orihime couldn't help but turn her vision towards the massive stone structure. Feeling her mate's aura continuing to grow to levels she had never felt it reach before, she felt a sense of worry starting to creep into her mind.
"Ichigo, what's happening in there? Even with your Hollowfication, your powers have never increased like this."
A sudden feeling of dread she had felt the day she had seen the true form of the quarter demon's hollow started to cloud her mind. "Did he lose control? Did his hollow break free?"
Concentrating more on the aura, the demoness realized quickly that the aura was different from his usual hollow powers. "That's not his hollow, I'm certain of that. His aura would be so much more horrific and foul if it was. But what could be happening if it's not his hollow?"
Realizing she was letting her mind wander from the battlefield, she forced herself to refocus her efforts on finishing up the healing process on the dog mage kneeling next to her.
"Ichigo will be fine. I have faith in him. He'll come back, I know it."
000
000
The sensation of the power of his zanpakutō washing over him made Ichigo realize just how surreal the situation was. Black waves of power rippled around his body and bathed him in their intensity.
Eyes sliding shut, his mind slowly took him back to the time when he learned of the power that he was now unleashing.
000
000
"Orihime, I'll only be gone for a week."
Looking away with her cheeks revealing a shade of blush, Orihime shyly replied "I know, but I worry when you go away on your own. The last time something like this happened was when you unexpectedly left me behind at the Western Stronghold. I'm scared the same thing is about to happen."
Moving forward and placing both his hands onto her shoulders, Ichigo stared into the demoness's gray orbs with his own brown ones. Catching her off guard as he moved his one hand off her shoulder and cupped her cheek, he softly smiled at her.
"No matter what, I'll be back in a week. I promise." he told her with sincerity in his voice. "I will not leave you behind again."
Studying his eyes for several long moments and finding nothing but truth in his eyes and in his scent, the mage meekly nodded her head. Leaning into him and laying her head on his shoulder, she inhaled deeply. Remaining there in the moment and treasuring the fleeting moment of closeness, she at last pulled back to stare into his eyes once more.
Inclining his head down he pressed his lips to the bobcat demoness's lips and tasted them momentarily. The kiss soon grew slightly more hungry, but he held back like always and broke apart the kiss soon enough.
Stepping away and walking over to the far wall of his hut, the quarter demon grasped his zanpakutō's hilt and hoisted it up and placed onto his back. Turning back to gaze at the mage one more time, he kindly smiled.
"I promise Orihime, I will come back. Just wait a week."
With that said, he went out the flap of the hut, leaving the demoness behind. Walking away, the sound of soft sobbing did not escape his ears.
000
000
"Bankai."
Coming out of the black flame like aura that had engulfed him a moment before, Ichigo took in his surroundings momentarily. He had retreated to an area that was nearly a day away from the village that he had been in for almost nine years. In the area, he had previously found a cavern behind a waterfall and thought it would be perfect for his plans. Finding preparations were complete, he sat down onto the ground and placed his black katana in his lap with one hand wrapped around the hilt and the other holding the blade.
Sliding his eyes shut, the quarter demon slowly felt his mind starting to reach a state of calmness and searched out the entryway to his inner world.
Twenty minutes passed before at last he achieved entry and found himself entering within his inner world. The white clouds and bright blue sky shinned brightly and revealed that his state of mind was calm unlike some of his previous visits. Massive structures made of glass, concrete, and steel remained sideways within his world and stood as monuments, more like testaments to his goals.
Hearing a light fluttering sound near him, the quarter demon turned to find it was the one that had summoned him to his inner world. The person standing on a flag pole on the edge of one of the buildings was a young like man that had light blue eyes and wore a set of black robes that had a reddish tint to them. His neck length jet black hair fluttered around his head, giving him a strange appearance.
"I'm glad that you came, Ichigo."
"Of course I'd come when requested by you Tensa Zangetsu." the quarter demon answered. "I do have one question: why is he here?"
Sitting in a kneeling position with his white kimono shifting in the wind along with his white hair, the white doppelganger of the quarter demon threw a playful glare at his counter part and put his hand to his chest as if hurt.
"You hurt my feelings, Ichigo." the hollow feigned.
Ignoring his comment, the quarter demon reiterated in a stern voice "Why are you here!"
"Che, don't get mad with me." the doppelganger stated. Pointing at the younger version of the zanpakutō spirit, he added "It was he that asked me here. Besides that point, King," the hollow drawled, "this world, your world, is my home. Both Zangetsu there and I are a part of you, so it's only natural that I live here too."
"Never mind him, Ichigo." Tensa Zangetsu said, earning him the attention of the orange haired quarter demon. "I asked you here for another reason."
Noting the quarter demon was giving him his full attention, the zanpakutō spirit pressed on in his usual calm voice. "Ichigo, it is time that you complete your training under me. To do so will unlock the last of my powers and grant you full control over them."
"But I warn you Ichigo, the road into obtaining all of my powers is not easy."
"With you, nothing has ever been easy." Ichigo stated with a light smirk on his face.
Not shaken by the response of his master, the spirit replied "Don't misunderstand, Ichigo. What you wish to protect is not what I wish to protect."
Gesturing towards the hollow, he added "You, come here."
"Don't get pushy." the doppelganger growled out. Earning himself a glare, the hollow stood and flashed to the side of the young spirit.
"Ichigo, to obtain my full power you must combat not just me but your hollow as well."
Noting the readiness of the quarter demon the spirit was quick to shake his head. "I do not mean you will face the two of us in combat. No, you will face a different entity. Remember, we were once one in the same and at the same time are pieces of your soul."
Catching a glance from the spirit and knowing what he was asking, the hollow let an indignant grunt out and muttered "Such a pain in the ass."
Not quite understanding what his mentor was up to, Ichigo let a surprised gasp out when he noticed his hollow glowing with black swirling aura. His eyes immediately widened as he gazed at the true form of his hollow who now wore his white outfit and had a black with white striped mask.
Standing side by side, the hollow and zanpakutō spirit threw a quick glance at one another, their eyes meeting only for a moment. All at once, the pair began dissolving into sparkling particles and swirled into one another to begin forming an entirely new being.
The new being was soon complete and inhaled deeply. His eyes were closed and his form seemed more of a mishmash of the previous two beings, but somewhat different at the same time. His hair was short like the zanpakutō spirit's had been, but was pure white. A portion of the black and white mask that had covered the doppelganger's face resided on the left side of his head, along with one of the pointed black horns. His clothing was more of a white tunic that had black fur on his wrists and around the collar, along with the fringe of the tunic. In his left hand was the quarter demon's normally black katana, but instead it was white with a black guard.
Opening his eyes at last, he revealed that one was a light blue color while the other had a black sclera and golden iris.
"Now the true test begins to determine if you are worthy of my complete power." the newly formed spirit declared.
000
000
Nearly seven days had passed since Ichigo had begun the battle with the new being that was composed of his hollow and zanpakutō spirit. It had been a nonstop fierce fight with him taking numerous wounds and shallow gashes. Several were still open and oozing out his crimson life force, yet he refused to stop the fight no matter how painful his injuries were or how tired he was.
At the same time, his black katana was nearing it's own limit and sported several scratches along it's blade, but most importantly it no longer was at full length. A foot long section of it had been cut off during an intense exchange between himself and his merged opponent. That alone was enough to limit his reach with his blade, but the fact that he was starting to feel the strain of fighting almost a week was beginning to take it's toll.
Heavily panting while blood ran down the side of his face, the quarter demon stared into the eyes of his opponent. Zooming across the battlefield, the pair slammed their respected blades into one another and grinded the steel swords into each other.
"Why, why is it now that I sense only sadness and worry in his sword? When we crossed swords before, I never felt such things. But the longer we fight, the more it seems his worry and sadness continue to flow out."
Pushed backwards, the quarter demon flashed away and evaded his foe's white katana that was attempting to pierce him. "Why, why is it that I'm sensing nothing but sadness? He wanted me to complete this training, yet here we are and something is wrong."
Eyes meeting, the orange haired warrior couldn't help but see the merged fighter look away as if he couldn't bear to even look at him. Flung away, he quickly came to realization of a fact.
"He could have ended this whenever he pleased. So why, why won't he come at me like early on in the fight? The difference in our powers has been visible, yet he doesn't take advantage. Does that mean that to win, I need to..."
Unable to finish the last thought as he ducked several sweeps of his opponent's white blade, the quarter demon retreated backwards and saw the white robbed spirit sprinting towards him. At the last moment and surprising his opponent, he dropped his broken black blade to the ground.
Not capable of slowing down or moving away, the spirit ran the quarter demon through. The white blade pierced through the orange haired man's body like it was nothing. Blood immediately splashed to the ground and soaked it in the crimson colored liquid.
Refusing to look his foe in the face, the white haired spirit whispered "You've realized it. The only way to acquire my full power is to accept my blade."
In a bit of shock since he was just run through and realizing he wasn't suffering, Ichigo commented "There's... no pain."
"Of course not. I, Tensa Zangetsu, am originally a portion of you. If you accept me, there can be no pain when I run you through."
Catching the scent of salt and hearing something drip to the ground, the quarter demon found it was tears leaking down from the spirit's eyes.
"Why... are you crying?"
"Ichigo, do you recall what I said when we began this fight?" the spirit questioned.
Thinking back to seven days earlier the words of the zanpakutō spirit rang throughout the quarter demon's mind.
"Don't misunderstand, Ichigo. What you wish to protect is not what I wish to protect."
"I do." the quarter demon answered without pause.
"What I wanted to protect was..." the spirit began as he looked up into the eyes of the one that wielded him, "... you, Ichigo."
Surprise crossed Ichigo's face and filled his eyes. Taking a moment to ponder over the meaning of the spirit's words, he asked "What do you mean?"
Releasing the hold on the hilt of his white blade, the spirit backed away slowly and said "You will soon understand. The answers are within my sword."
"Ichigo, if you use my full power, you will ..."
000
000
Returning his vision to straight ahead at his silver haired opponent and finding his transformation was over, the quarter demon dismissed his black aura. Revealed once more, he stepped forward a few steps.
His hair was slightly longer than previously now so that his bangs covered his eyes and ran down to the tip of his nose. As well, his chest and arms seemed more muscular than previously, but not to the point that he they were bulging. The black trench coat that had been destroyed reappeared around him with exception of the right sleeve missing up to his shoulder. His pants had also been restored, but his sandals remained gone, leaving him barefoot.
Glimmering in the minimal amount of light flooding the room was the black katana still in his hand, but in a different form. The guard on it had changed, with the spiral symbol now lengthened out. A hilt no longer existed, but instead a black glove like material covered his hand and melded the sword and his hand together into one entity. Running up midway to his elbow, the glove appeared to be almost metallic. From there, a black chain ran up the length of his arm to his shoulder, with the chain wrapped tightly around both. The end of the chain trailed down slightly from his shoulder and hung freely to just below the back of his knees.
Taking a few more steps forward, the quarter demon looked through his bangs at the surprised look on the hybrid demon's face. In a cool tone, he said "Sephiroth. Let's do this elsewhere. I don't want to fight here."
Regaining his composure quickly, Sephiroth arrogantly retorted "There is no need to worry, Ichigo Kurosaki. There will be no need to destroy ..."
Flashing across the room at a speed that the hybrid demon could barely follow, the quarter demon planted his left hand on the demon's face and shoved roughly. Still rocketing forward, he pushed his opponent straight through the stone wall of the keep and out into the sky.
000
000
Concentrating on healing Ryo still, Orihime's suddenly heard a loud crashing sound. She quickly spared a glance up to see two figures in black soaring through the air. Focusing on them, she noticed that one had silver hair, but the other more concerned her when she noticed he had lengthened orange hair.
"Ichigo!"
Unable to sense his aura, she started to panic but forced herself to calm down. "He'll be fine. Ichgio promised he would not die. When he makes a promise, no matter what, he will fulfill it. I just have to trust in him."
Returning her attention to the task at hand she poured out more healing energy into her technique.
000
000
Soaring through the air and still carrying his opponent with him, Ichigo at last found a suitable new battleground and flung his foe straight down into the clearing. Landing, he watched the dust and debris starting to settle and found his foe kneeling and cradling his face.
Getting to his feet quickly and knocking the dust off of himself, Sephiroth glared at the quarter bobcat demon. Eyeing him, he coolly stated "So you no longer have any demonic power. What a shame, Ichigo Kurosaki. Even your power has deserted you in the end."
"Don't get too excited. What you see is the full extent of my Bankai's power. The form you saw previously was the incomplete version of my Bankai, but now I am releasing one hundred percent of it's power. In this form, you'll learn quickly the difference between you and I."
Not fazed by the explanation of the quarter demon, the hybrid demon drew his lengthy blade up before himself. Walking forward with purpose behind his steps, he stated "You are foolish to challenge me, quarter breed."
Flashing away and leaving behind only a booming sound, the demon reappeared directly behind his opponent with blade in mid-swing. He was somewhat surprised to be parried by the black katana of his foe.
Again and again, the two clashed with the hybrid demon being the aggressor. Each attack was easily deflected and batted away as if nothing by his rival. Sparks flared from the clash of the two swords and steel rang out loudly, yet no attack managed to land a decisive blow or inflict damage to either.
"You don't seem to realize do you that I am not the same as before." Ichigo stated. "Before I was increasing my power using my hollow and zanpakutō. Now instead, my power is that of my hollow, zanpakutō, and my own powers combined. You're probably confused due that you can't sense my aura and think I'm weaker. That's not the case here."
Sneering, the demon remarked "It doesn't matter. I will still cut you down."
Charging forward blade drawn back, the hybrid demon swung horizontally for the head of the quarter demon with all of his strength.
Not bothering to raise his blade to defend himself and deciding to demonstrate his power the quarter demon reached out with his left hand and caught the elongated sword. His heels dug into the ground slightly from the feat, but nonetheless he stopped the attack.
"Impossible..." the mixed dog and angel demon murmured with his golden eyes wide. "I used both hands yet he's holding me back."
Releasing the sword caught in his grasp and watching his foe quickly pull back, the seemingly calm quarter demon asked "What's wrong? Are you so stunned that I caught your blade?"
Grinding his teeth together as he silver aura flared around his body, the hybrid demon roared "I wouldn't get so confident! Don't talk as if you've won! It was only an instance of you surprising me, nothing more. I will now end this battle once and for all! Perish trash!"
Crimson energy suddenly flooded over the elongated blade as he held the sword directly in front of himself. At the same instant, multiple meteors formed around his body like a protective shield.
"Cero Nova!"
Simultaneously, the flaming meteors shot forward along with the powerful wide crimson beam. The two swirled together, the flames and aura of the beam mixing together.
Drawing his black katana to his right side, Ichigo calmly swung the blade horizontally and declared "Getsuga Tenshō."
Flaring forth in a crescent moon shaped blade was the black and red patented attack of the quarter demon. The energy blade collided with the combo attack of the hybrid demon in a massive explosion. Pushing on one another, the two attacks struggled for dominance over the other to prove which had the most power.
Sneering due that his attack had pushed the quarter demon's counter attack back a bit, the demon's eyes suddenly widened. He spotted that several of the meteors were disintegrating into nothingness, along with the wide crimson energy beam.
All at once the combo attack petered out and vanished altogether. At the same time, the black and red blade of energy that seemed to still have great power left continued on it's pathway towards it's target. Without warning, the blade rose up into the air higher and then slammed into the ground thirty-four yards away from the hybrid demon.
"Has it sunk in yet?"
Shaking as his anger reached it's boiling point, the silver haired demon snarled out "No piece of trash can defeat me!"
Unaffected, Ichigo took several steps towards his foe and smoothly said "There is something you should know about this form: I can't maintain it for too long. At most, it has a limit of five minutes."
Coming to a stop and swinging his blade out to his right side before pointing it directly at the hybrid demon. Bracing his right arm with his left in his elbow, he added "Time to end this fight. Before I do, I'll show you my ultimate attack."
"This is the Final Getsuga Tenshō."
Unexpectedly, light blue demonic aura erupted from the quarter demon's body and rose into a tall towering inferno of demonic power. Thick black bolts of power rippled up with the light blue aura, giving the effect of an eruption of raw power.
Not sure what to think of the change in his foe, Sephiroth looked within the flames to notice the form of his opponent was starting to change. He could see it transforming slightly and taking on a new shape.
"What is that form!"
Slowly starting to clear up, the light blue with black bolts mixed in turned mostly black and exploded outwards. The aura soon faded to reveal black swirling energy surrounding the new form of the quarter demon.
Instead of his usual orange hair, his hair was now jet black and reached below his butt in length with some of his bangs shadowing his face. A series of black tattoos covered his left arm while halfway between his elbow and hand it was pure black. The twisting tattoos ran around his arm in streaks like the chain on his right arm had previously and stopped just past his shoulder. Covering most of his face up to his nose, making it look like a mask, and running down to just below his waist was a set of gray like bandages that seemed to be hardened. The very top of the mask had a set of two teeth like pieces. The bandages ran down his right arm as well, but from his elbow down was engulfed in the smoke like black aura. His pants appeared to have the same look to them and were cut off just below his calves. From there down, similar gray bandages covered his legs and wrapped around the arches of his feet. Strangely, his pants appeared to be like an aura rather than cloth and wavered back and forth like his hair and the other parts covered with the black aura.
Raising his head after a moment, the transformed quarter demon revealed his eyes were no longer their usual brown color, but had a copper like color to them.
"The Final Getsuga Tenshō is... me... becoming Getsuga itself." Ichigo calmly explained. "The Final Getsuga Tenshō... if I use this technique, I will lose all of my demonic powers temporarily and shorten my lifespan. No matter the opponent, this technique will destroy an opponent. That is what 'Final' means."
Glaring fiercely at the transformed state of the quarter demon, the hybrid demon grit his teeth and angrily yelled "Impossible! I will not be killed by a piece of trash!"
Raising his right hand and holding it to his right side, he opened it and a thin blade of black energy formed. Grasping it, he drew his arm up over his head.
Slicing downwards with the attack he coolly declared "Mugetsu."
Black demonic energy veiled the entire area, blotting out the existence of both fighters. The energy soon erupted upwards into the sky and left behind only a fifty foot scar like wound on the land.
Taking several steps forward towards where a massive blotch of blood covered the land, the transformed quarter demon came to a stop with a sad like look in his eyes.
Without warning, the bandage like mask that covered his face started cracking. It soon fell apart and revealed his mouth and nose to the world once more. The destruction of the bandages didn't stop there, for it traveled down his chest but remained on his right arm. Chest exposed again, it was revealed that similar black swirling tattoos covered it.
Staring at the blood stained ground silently, Ichigo softly said "Sorry, but I couldn't let you leave here alive."
A gentle breeze kicked up and shifted his hair and the black pants he wore momentarily. All at once, his hair reverted to it's orange color and then the longer length of it fell out. With it gone, his body glowed with a black aura for only a moment. When it vanished, his original black kimono top and pants returned. The remainder of the gray bandages evaporated away in a black misty smoke. Beside him, a pool of black aura formed the large cleaver blade wrapped in it's white cloth from the hilt.
Letting out a strangled gasp he fell onto his knees and then his hands. "Shit, my demonic powers are disappearing..."
"Ichigo, if you use this form, you will lose your demonic powers for at least ten days. Each use shortens your lifespan. Please Ichigo, do not constantly use it. It is for this reason I did not want to teach this to you, yet I knew you should have access to this power regardless of my feelings. Ichigo, I want you to live."
The words of Tensa Zangetsu rang throughout his mind while he felt his body weakening even further. Feeling the last of his demonic powers fleeing his body quivered and he fell face first the remainder of the way onto the ground.
Trying best he could to bear the pain and get back up, he realized that his body felt too heavy and he couldn't move an inch. All of his muscles trembled as he laid there and slowly began losing consciousness.
In his mind, the last thing he saw as his mind faded to black was an image of his mate with a worried look on her face.
"I kept my promise to stay alive. Don't worry Orihime, I'm still here."
Eyes sliding shut, he no longer was able to keep awake and allowed the darkness to overwhelm him at long last. The cleaver blade beside of him instantly was engulfed in a black with red streaked aura. Gradually, the aura faded to reveal a long sword in a brown sheath and had a red wrapped hilt and two small strings hanging off the end of it.
000
000
"Ichigo..." Orihime whispered to herself in disbelief. "What's going on! His aura vanished earlier when it was getting stronger. I saw him flying away with that demon in tow, but now his aura has returned. The most troubling part about it returning is it's gotten weaker and weaker to the point it's completely vanished. Just what the hell is happening?"
Focusing in on her mate's faint aura, she felt fear creeping into her mind. "Is he dead or dying out there?"
"No, that's not it. If he was dead, I'd be dead also since we are connected together by our markings. But I'm still worried. Something happened to where he has lost all of his demonic energy to the point I can just barely sense him."
Broken from her thoughts she saw Shinji come sliding within a few feet of her. He was sporting a nasty cut on his right cheek and had blood running down the side of his forehead. An annoyed look was framing his face as he growled lowly.
Throwing a glance over at the bobcat mage, the lion hanyou gruffly asked "Aren't you done with Ryo yet Orihime?"
"Almost. Just another minute and he'll be fixed up." the demoness confirmed.
"Good, cause we need your help."
Rejoining the fight, the lion hanyou watched as his partner, Hiyori, was still engaging the six armed demon with all her might. The battle hanyou had her zanpakutō released in it's Shikai form, but it seemed to be doing very little to help her.
Skidding backwards away just as one of the six blades that her opponent wielded slashed where she had stood, the hanyou noted she was joined once more by the lion hanyou.
"What took you so long dumbass?"
"Sheesh, don't get so bent out of shape." Shinji retorted nonchalantly.
A vein popped out somewhat as Hiyori yelled "That lame ass attitude of yours is why we haven't gotten anywhere with this guy!"
"Now, now you two, we must keep calm." Hachi chimed in from behind the two.
"Keep out of it Hachi!" the hanyou snarled. Attitude drastically changing, she calmly asked the lion hanyou "Are you ready yet?"
Keeping his eyes trained on the six armed demon, the lion hanyou remarked "Yeah, anytime now is good for me. How about you Hachi?"
"I'm ready as always." the large pink haired hanyou announced.
"You three ready to fight for real?" Nnoitra questioned with irritation dripping in his voice. "I'm really tired of fighting you three in your half ass attempt. Hell, when you showed up, I thought maybe I'd get a real fight, but so far you three have just kept alive long enough to piss me off."
Smirking as he took a step forward, the lion hanyou replied "If you think we were holding back, well, you were right. Getting here to this battle, we had to use up a lot of power, but we're now rested enough to take you on at full force. Let's show him why he shouldn't misjudge us."
Mirroring one another, Shinji and Hiyori raised her left hands up in a clawed like pose and dragged it down in front of their faces. Each of them dawned a white bone like mask. Simultaneously, Hachi raised both arms and dragged both hands over his face to produce his own mask.
Sensing the power levels of the three hanyou's rising quickly, the six armed demon smirked as he moved into a ready stance. "You three have been holding back. Heh, maybe this will be fun after all."
"We'll see about that one." Shinji responded in an echoed voice that sounded as if it had another person's voice mixed in. "Hachi, you know what to do."
Nodding his head, the large pink haired demon raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist as he calmly declared "Bakudō 63: Sajo Sabaku."
Forming instantly near the right side of the six armed demon was a golden energy chain like rope that immediately wrapped around his body. The rope effectively caught all of his arms and forced them to his sides. Upon doing so, the rope became increasingly tight to the point that some of his bones popped from the pressure.
Rushing forward, blades drawn and poised to strike, the pair of hanyous soon reached their target and noticed he was fighting to free himself. Taking no chances, the lion hanyou drew his sword up over his head and slashed downwards with all the force he could muster. The attack took one of the six arms off and did minor damage to the golden energy chain that held the demon in place, but not nearly enough to free him.
Taking to the air and coming down with her serrated sword over her head, the masked battle hanyou came downwards quickly as she screamed loudly. The blade started cutting into the right shoulder of the six armed demon before he suddenly broke free and backed away.
Glancing at his missing arm, the demon grunted out "Che, you bastards managed to take off an arm."
"We'll take more than that the next time." Hiyori boasted.
Sneering at the pair as he tested his remaining five arms, Nnoitra retorted "As if you'll have another chance. Let me share something with you three. That arm you took isn't really a victory. The reason is simple."
Without warning, the stub that had once been the six armed demon's sixth arm glowed with a sickly yellow aura. Instantly, a new bone like arm sprouted from the stub with a bit of blood leaking off of it and dripping to the ground.
"Instantaneous regeneration?" Hachi stated in shock.
"Oh, so you know what it is there big man." the six armed demon commented. Stepping forward to where his discarded arm was, the demon reached down with his empty hand and picked up the scythe laying there. "That's right, I used instantaneous regeneration to grow my arm back. Not many demons are capable of learning such a thing, but then again, I'm not your average demon, now am I? Sure, I look more like the type that uses nothing but brute force, however, I do have a brain and know that such an ability is quite useful."
"Now then, where were we?"
Crouching into an attack position, the pair of hanyous readied their weapons. They were caught off guard when the demon charged them at near blinding speed and swept his scythes out to decapitate each.
Ducking the attack, the battle hanyou was shocked when she found herself face to face with the six armed demon. Instinctively raising her serrated zanpakutō, Hiyori blocked a scythe aimed to split her in half and flashed away to get some breathing room. She wasn't left alone for too long as her opponent appeared directly in front of her several feet away with black and yellow energy swirling at the tip of his tongue. Catching sight of said energy, her eyes widened as she knew what was coming.
"Dodge this bitch!"
Flashing forward at speed greater than the hanyou could move at, a massive yellow and black swirling Cero beam closed the distance on her almost immediately.
"Bakudō 81: Danku."
Materializing in front of the surprised battle hanyou was a large rectangular transparent barrier. The barrier formed quickly enough to absorb the impact of the Cero and managed to stave it off before shattering.
"Good assist Hachi!" Shinji called as he raced towards his opponent.
Put off a bit by the fact his attack was blocked and now being attacked from behind, the six armed demon parried the incoming attack. Spinning around to confront his foe he found the lion hanyou was attacking again with a series of high speed moves.
With each strike Shinji could feel the irritation of his opponent rising. Suddenly backing away, he raised his zanpakutō in front of himself horizontally and sent crimson energy out to coat the steel blade. Sensing his battle hanyou partner gathering energy herself to fire off her own Cero, he tried to hold back the power growing on his blade until he was certain she was ready.
As one, the pair of hanyou fired their crimson energy Ceros. The twin attacks melded together and whirled towards their opponent.
"As if that can stop me!" Nnoitra declared as he prepared to fire his own Cero. Suddenly finding himself unable to move, he glanced down to notice he was now wrapped in a twin set of orange energy ribbons that ran back to the index fingers of the pink haired hanyou. "You bastard..."
Unfazed, Hachi coolly stated "Bakudō 9: Hōrin."
The six armed demon struggled to free himself only to find that the energy ribbons were stronger than he had first imagined. With the swirling attack only a few yards away, he poured out more power and broke free of the ribbons at long last. He quickly swung his scythes into placed and cleaved the beam in half, sending the cascading energy into the surrounding area.
Appearing to each side of the large hanyou, both the lion and battle hanyous lightly panted as they surveyed the damage.
"Damn, he's just so overpowering." Shinji dejectedly commented.
Visibly agitated but refusing to admit the lion hanyou was right, Hiyori grunted out "If you would fight seriously we could win this fight in a minute's time."
Fighting the urge to roll his eyes the lion hanyou remarked "I told you, I don't like using my Shikai unless I absolutely have to. It's dangerous to let the world know what your zanpakutō's true power is. Besides, I don't need Sakanade to beat this clown."
"Then beat him already!" the battle hanyou roared to the point that both the lion and pink haired hanyous cringed from the full height of her voice.
"Keep it down. I'd like to be able to hear when I'm a bit older." the lion hanyou muttered. His response was promptly met by the reply of the battle hanyou's sandal covered foot in his face.
"Shut up dumbass!"
Sweat dropping at the scene and trying to hold back a snicker, Nnoitra stated "You two are pure gold when it comes to comedy."
Throwing a dirty glare at the demon, the battle hanyou snarled out "Shut your face before I do it for you dickhead!"
"I think I'll begin with killing you first."
Crossing the distance separating the battle hanyou and himself in a single flash, the six armed demon sneered down at the hanyou as he swung three of his scythes down at her body. Before he could an orange demonic barrier started forming, but instead of taking it's normal triangular shape, it took on a pyramid like form with a fourth arrowhead taking up residence in the center of the shield.
"No more. Shiten Kōshun, I reject, I reject!"
Weapons smashing against the pyramid like barrier, the six armed demon glanced over at the owner of the voice, knowing full well it belonged to the bobcat mage. What he wasn't expecting and was caught off guard by was an explosion upon impact with the barrier that sent him flying backwards and smashing into several trees.
On his feet again and back into the clearly with a visibly angry look on his face, Nnoitra snarled out "You again, huh whore!"
Unfazed by his insult, Orihime lowly said but slowly raised her voice "No more... NO MORE!"
"I've tried to be reasonable, yet you don't care. Taking away a person's life is something that should never be allowed. However, you are ruthless and show no shred of decency or mercy."
Fisting her hands as she spoke, she added "That's why it has to end like this. You'll have to learn the hard way and know what it is like to have your life taken away against your will. It's wrong!"
Chuckling at her words Nnoitra balked back "You'll take my life away? Oh please, my little whore, you couldn't stop me if you wanted to. Obviously you're far too weak to carry out such a threat against me."
Saying nothing as her orange demonic aura flared out and sent her hair whipping about her body, the bobcat mage drew her zanpakutō out of it's sheath and raised it up in front of her body so that it was diagonally in front of her. The orange aura flared up the length of the blade and coated it so that it's power seemed to radiate off of it like a flame.
Shooting forward at speed the demon thought she didn't have, she held out her left hand and palm turned towards him as light blue energy flared within it.
Concentrating a bit she yelled "Hadō 33: Sōkatsui!"
Flashing forward and hitting the demon head on was a wave of light blue energy. The energy smashed into his body and made him skid backwards a few feet, but did minor damage and left nothing but wispy smoke in it's wake on his skin. He was shocked when he looked up to see three more waves racing towards him. Each scored a direct hit with all three seemingly aimed for his chest.
Reaching the demon and taking advantage of the distraction she had made via her wave attacks she quickly slipped in behind him. Swinging her sword downwards with all her strength she slashed off two of his arms before quickly retreating as he whipped around with three of his scythes.
"Not bad whore." Nnoitra commented. Examining the bloody stumps for a moment, he sneered and stated "You cut off two of my arms. I'll make sure you pay for that."
Paying no heed to his words as she silently stood still, the demoness slowly started chanting in a low tone. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens."
"Hadō 73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
Flashing forward in a blinding light was a set of two light blue energy waves that were far stronger than the earlier ones that had hit the six armed demon. The twin waves smashed into him with bone crushing power.
The demon stood his ground but quickly found his skin was starting to be burned by the intensity and power of the massive waves. Unwilling to stand down, he struggled to push back the twin waves. His massive scythes tried cleaving through them but were doing nothing more than holding back the attack at best.
Exploding suddenly, the maimed demon was engulfed in the blast and completely hidden from view of the fighters.
Panting slightly as she stared at the explosion with hardened gray eyes, Orihime inhaled deeply and dismissed her orange aura. Not lowering her guard she kept scanning the area for her opponent, knowing that he would sooner or later return to the battlefield.
She wasn't wrong as the blast soon subsided to reveal a shaky standing black haired demon that was gritting his teeth and missing three more arms, two on one side and one on the other. One horn on his head was gone also, along with a great deal of his top and pants. A portion of his hair was burned away and one pointed boot was missing the point on the end of it.
"Damn you..." he ground out. "Damn you... Damn you..."
"DAMN YOU! YOU FUCKING WHORE, I'LL KILL YOU!"
Unexpectedly Nnoitra's yellow aura flared to life around his body. All of his wounds began glowing with a similar color.
"Such monstrous power. At this rate I won't be able to keep up with him. He seems to have a massive reservoir of power while mine is definitely finite." the demoness mused.
Eyes fluttering shut, the mage's mind kicked into overdrive to find a solution to her current predicament.
"Level fifty and below Kidō seem to be pointless against his Hierro. The sixties level spells seem to do some damage, but not nearly as much as the seventies. However, using such high level spells is taxing and I've had to use incantations just to get those spells strong enough to inflict some serious damage. I think that even higher level spells would be enough to finish him off, but therein lies the problem."
"The higher the level spell, the more power I need to use to get it off and plus anything over level eighty I have to use an incantation. A level nineties spell would end this fight."
Opening her eyes and seeing the demon was still slowly recovering his lost limbs and healing the minor burns on his body, she narrowed her eyes. "To use a level ninety spell, I would have to have him remain completely still while I chanted the incantation. Not an easy task. Using that much power to bind him and then blast him would drain me completely. Right now there is no way I can do both."
"Lady Orihime, are you alright?"
Tearing her gaze away from her opponent to glance to her right the demoness found the familiar face of the large pink haired demon. Irked by the use of formality towards her, she grit out "I'm fine Hachi, but please don't be so formal."
Smiling softly at her as he turned his own gaze towards the healing six armed demon, Hachi smoothly replied "My apologies. Old habits are hard to break."
"So, any ideas on how to beat him?" Shinji asked as he flashed up to the mage's other side.
Seeing the mage shake her head Hiyori grunted out "He's such a pain in the ass. Shinji, just finish him with your zanpakutō."
"Hiyori, for the last time, I'm not releasing Sakanade. Even if I did, I couldn't beat him still yet due to his..."
"Hierro." the mage finished.
Mutely nodding in reply, the lion hanyou glanced at the three remaining members of the group for a moment before turning his attention to their opponent.
"He's nearly healed." he commented.
Sheathing her sword and taking a few steps forward, the mage softly said "I think I know how we can end this once and for all, but we need to work together to do so."
The group of three hanyous glanced from one another and each nodded. Seeing this as she looked over her shoulder Orihime smiled and turned to face them, saying "Here is what we'll do."