Ch 22

Hi! Sorry for the long update. I was being lazy :3 I really can't wait to finish this fic off so that I can move on to other ones. They haven been uploaded for like...aha ha ha...

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! And welcome new readers!

The battle's gonna go on until the next chap. Sorry. False alarm.

Uh…Where am I?

A younger Cynthia looked around. She was standing alone in a vast, empty dungeon. The sky was red-black and eerie.

This place is so depressing. What is this place?

It was then when she saw a figure a fair distance away from her. Cynthia started walking towards it. Once she got close enough, she saw that it was a woman with her back towards the red haired girl. The woman had short black hair and was wearing a black dress. Soon, Cynthia realized who the woman was.

"Beth!"

The woman still didn't turn around to answer the call. Cynthia reached out for Beth's shoulders.

"What are you doing here, Beth?"

The moment she touched her sister, the woman turned. The next thing that came from Cynthia's mouth was a piercing scream.

"AHHHHHH!"

Cynthia was frozen to the spot in fear. She started shaking madly.

"Be….Beth…" she stammered.

The woman in from of her was indeed her sister, Beth. However, it wasn't her at the same time.

Her eyes were stitched as well as her mouth. Stitch marks covered her pretty face. Behind the stitches her eyes were ones of the dead. Yet, those dead eyes were staring down as Cynthia.

Suddenly, one of her hand reached out for Cynthia. The movement was highly unnatural and robotic. The young girl started backing away.

"St…Stay away from me!"

She spun around and started to run as fast as she could.

It's…It's that! It's one of them I saw in the Forbidden Level!

She continued to sprint when she past someone. She skidded to a stop.

Someone else is here! Maybe he can help!

The man had a short brown ponytail. He had a long katana secured to his waist. Cynthia smiled.

Ray!

"Ray! I'm glad I-"

Cynthia wanted to rip out her eyes the next moment. Ray Eyre was before her eyes, his deep blue eyes sewn like Beth's. His right hand moved up to his mouth. With a finger, he ripped the stitches out, revealing razor sharp, animalistic teeth. With his other hand, he held an arm.

Arm? Whose is it?

Maybe her senses have dulled, nobody knows. Nobody knows how long Cynthia took to notice one of her arms was ripped off, or the blood pooling beneath her.

Cynthia gasped in horror.

"My…my arm…"

As her eyes slowly moved to what Ray was holding, he moved his hand as well. Towards his mouth.

Chomp.

The poor young girl watched her own arm get devoured by a hideous monster.

"Ah…"

She started vomiting without a moment to spare. Tears came out of her eyes.

Stop. I can't take this anymore. Please stop!

Leo dropped his unmoving enemy into the pool of blood. He looked at her for a while and let out a sigh.

The door banged open. Leo looked up in surprise. It was his trusty blonde right hand man, Housk.

"It's you," Leo simply commented.

Housk looked around wide eyed, taking time to analyze the situation.

"Kiel's behind all this?"

"Yes."

"My apologies, Your Highness! If only I've known sooner!"

"No…It's alright. You were occupied with something else, I'm guessing. Besides, it's already taken care of. She's currently having a nightmare I gave to her as a welcoming present."

"I see. Using your power. I really hate that nightmare power of yours. It's horrible."

"Hey! It's still useful."

Housk sighed.

"She'll be having the worst time of her life right now. Will you kill her soon?"

"Not yet. I won't be the one to end her. She'll be executed. Sarrow will love it."

Housk looked grave at the name. Leo noticed.

"It's there a problem?"

"Well, yes. It was the reason I didn't notice you were fighting straight away."

"It's got to do with spiritual energy, isn't it? How strong? I can't sense it. I can't even if I want to," said Leo, looking downcast.

There was something special about Leo. He had a power to make others experience the worst dreams that can slowly kill. However, he was born without the ability to sense spiritual pressure. The more he tried to sense, the more it became impossible for him.

"So. What's going on Housk?"

The blonde rubbed the back of his neck uneasily.

"It's a bit big. First. There are two battles going on right now. One beside Dark Chains in the West, and one where the lab is in the South."

Leo shook his head dismissively.

"Must be one of their play fights. It happens all the time."

"No. It's a real one."

"Who's fighting?"

"Joe and Raymond. To near death. They're in their real forms right now."

The King's silver eyes widened.

"What! Real forms? The monstrous one? Are they serious? Why?"

"I am not sure of the reason, but Beth is seeing to it. They've already destroyed the entire lab."

Leo stared at Housk, open mouthed. Releasing the form was like letting go of all the humanity the one processed. It was not normal for one to fight in that form. He shook his head.

What are they thinking?

"Beth will deal with it. Don't keep it in mind," soothed Housk.

"Yeah…What about Sarrow?"

"That's the weird one. Sarrow is struggling against…a Hollow."

Now that was double shock for the King.

"A Hollow! What do you mean?"

"Exactly as I just said. A Hollow has entered. From what I presume, Cynthia Kiel is behind this."

"I can't believe she brought a Hollow along."

"Yes. I am not quite sure of what's going on but I'll see to Sarrow and the Hollow."

"We've got lots to do when this is over."

Housk nodded.

"Yes, indee-"he was cut off in the middle as his expression turn into shock and horror. What Housk felt was an extremely dark and evil spiritual pressure of someone he didn't recognize.

What…What is this? It's not those two. It's not Sarrow. It's not even Beth's! Could it be?

Although he couldn't sense, judging by the other's expression, Leo immediately knew something was wrong.

"Housk? What's wrong? What's going on now?"

The man snapped his eyes towards the King.

"Your Highness. I'm leaving right now. You stay here."

"Huh? Wait, Housk!"

Too late, the blonde man was already gone. Leo blinked in confusion.

What is going on?

Sarrow stared at his opponent in surprise. The blue haired guy was gasping, clutching his chest. His face was scrunched up in pain.

What now?

"Oi…What's wrong with you?"

Sarrow tried to take a step forward towards the knelt figure of Grimmjow. It was then. A strong blue-black aura shot out from him, blocking Sarrow from getting any closer. The aura was dark, and Sarrow felt as if he could feel the pain Grimmjow was in right now from it.

"What…What the hell is this?" exclaimed Sarrow. He had spent all the time meeting many opponents, and executing them. Yet, he had no idea what to do with the guy in front of him.

"Whatever! I'll just use this chance to kill you!"

With his axe raised high, the orange Mohawk jumped into the air. With powerful force, he slammed it right where Grimmjow was.

He failed. Instead of cutting Grimmjow in half, he found himself trying to keep even with the evil aura.

What the hell is going on?

Suddenly, the aura left Sarrow and enclosed around Grimmjow, making him disappear from sight. Sarrow backed away. He didn't let down his guard. And it was a good thing he did.

The aura turned navy. Navy closer to black than blue. Some of it separated and shaped into countless arrows. In a flash, the arrows shot out in every direction.

"Gah!"

Sarrow managed to block and dodge most of them but let out a yell when one of it protruded out of his right shoulder. The rest of the arrows destroyed whatever it hit. Most of the buildings near were at least half rubble.

"What is going on?" moaned Sarrow, ignoring the sharp tug of pain on his shoulder. He reached out to pull the arrow out of his body. However, before he could even touch it, a newcomer pulled it forcefully out.

"Gah!"

Sarrow let out a painful moan as he looked up at the newcomer. His expression relaxed by a little when he realized the tall blonde man.

"Housk!"

Housk didn't turn to look but kept his sharp eyes on the aura.

"What is this, Sarrow?" he asked.

The said executor narrowed his eyes.

"An intruder. A Hollow. One of those Arrancars in Hueco Mundo, I'm guessing. Cynthia Kiel brought him…Ah!" Sarrow looked back at the castle in realization, "The King! He's in danger!"

"He already knows. He's dealt with her."

Sarrow looked at Housk in relief. But only for a few seconds.

"What about Peroz and Eyre?"

"Beth is dealing with them. She's pissed."

"Aw…I'm starting to feel pretty sorry for them now…haha…" Sarrow weakly laughed at the information. Some horrible images started coming into his mind. Sarrow gulped. "Actually, make that extremely sorry."

Housk couldn't help but sweat drop along with him.

"Yes…I agree…" he snapped out of his own horrible images, "but that's not our own problem. We got something else to do right now. Concentrate on the Hollow, Sarrow."

"Understood."

The two concentrated on the ball of aura. Sarrow lifted his axe and surrounded it with electricity. Housk reached out for a long clothed object tied behind his back. With one swipe, he shook the cloth off and revealed and extremely long spear, with a gigantic dangerous looking head with a black skull engraved on it.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

It…hurts…

I can't…breathe…

This isn't fun…it's painful…

Stop…

Help…Cynthia…Where are you…Help me…

I don't know what to do…

Help.

The aura started to wear off.

"Housk, it's coming," warned Sarrow.

The other simply nodded.

Whoosh

A gust of wind flew past them as the last of the aura surrounding Grimmjow disappeared.

"Huh?"

Sarrow blurted out when he saw…nothing. Housk stiffened as well. The aura disappeared but there was nothing.

"Where did he go?" yelled Sarrow. He madly looked around. Left, right, down, and up…

"Fuck. What the fuck is that," he said bluntly.

"Hm?"

Housk followed where Sarrow was looking. He mentally let out curses.

Above them in midair, there stood a beast. Very long blue mane flowed behind. Blue eyes were in silts and the white part turned black. A tail of at least 3 meters resembled a flexible arrow with poisonous spikes like a rose stem. The turquoise eye markings were extended. The jaw shaped mask was gone, but his teeth had turned exactly like it, as fangs. His animalistic ears were stretched, it resembled a lynx's, only much longer. His torso was black and two white rings looped though his hole. The four paws were black. They looked pretty normal for a cat. Well at least they thought.

They watched Grimmjow move up one of his hand/paw to his mouth. He started licking it.

"Oh, hey he's turned into a cat. That doesn't sound like a bad-"

Five 1 meter long claws shot out from the paw Grimmjow was licking.

"…deal…?" Sarrow's declaration ended as a question.

It was soon followed by the other hand/paw sprouting the same gleaming claw-blades. As if on the cue the two rings started spinning. It figured that the rings were two curved blades spinning in full speed. Grimmjow's black-blue cat eyes sarcastically looked down at Sarrow. He swiped his tail lazily and the nearby building dissipated into rubble even though it didn't touch it.

Sarrow imagined himself having ten blades protruding out of his body with one side of him being grinded and ripped by the rings while he slowly broke off into rubble.

"Or maybe not."

Bang!

Ray fell out of the black sky, one of his sides smoking.

Uh. I never knew that his arm could shape shift.

Just before he touched the ground, he gained consciousness and used his wings to regain balance in back in air. During the fight, Ray had realized that Joe's arm wasn't only a missile but an entire range of weapons. From daggers to rail guns…

No wonder he was so confident about having only one arm. Well, doesn't matter, it's my turn now.

He rushed to his enemy's side. He raised his claw and smashed down. He was blocked, but with his other arm, he dug the giant blade into Joe's abdomen, making him hiss in pain.

Before Joe could break off, Ray went closer and tried to bite his neck. This time, he failed. Joe raised his tail high. Ray's eyes widened and he immediately took out his blade from his opponent the moment the tail crashed down.

Ray narrowed his eyes. The tail had grazed his head. Blood blinded his eyes. Ray blinked a few times to get it out of his eyes. When he regained his eyesight, the first thing he saw was Joe smiling in front of him.

"Payback~"

Ray felt immense pain when a sickening sound of flesh ripping rang through the cold air. He looked down to see Joe's arm, now a blade was going through his abdomen. He clenched his teeth in annoyance.

"Damn you."

"I'm only repaying. Give and take, you know?"

"Give and take my ass."

"Whatever, we're on equal terms right now, both very bloody, We'll both die of blood loss if this goes on. One of us should quickly lose." commented Joe. He smirked and added,"I doubt that you'll win~"

"Huh. Don't get cocky," Ray snorted.

'Then go harder!"

Joe's arm changed into a canon like gun. The empty socket glowed once more. White light started to charge.

"Honestly, you're wasting my time."

He fired. White engulfed Ray, and he was gone.

"See?" Joe declared. Suddenly, Joe felt a new aura. Shivers went down his spine.

"I don't think so."

Joe looked up. He smiled weakly.

"Oh. You didn't die. That's great news. Now we can die together."

Ray frowned from midair.

"Huh? Did you hit your head or something?"

"Er…well…I forfeit, Ray."

"What? What are you saying? We only just started!"

"Yeah, but we lost a lot of blood and I think we better stop while it's not too late."

"Huh?"

What is wrong with him all of a sudden? We haven't even fought properly yet!

"Sense, Ray. Sense it," Joe's voice came out in a whisper now.

"Sense what?"

"It's…" Joe trembled.

Ray still had no clue what was going on. At least not until a thick black rope wrapped around his neck.

"What the—AHH!"

A tug on the rope, Ray found himself falling towards the rocky ground. He flapped his wings desperately, but no avail. He crash landed.

"Ouch…" commented Joe as he watched Ray fall from the sky and crash land.

This is my chance! Run!

Joe turned his back on Ray and started to walk away as if nothing happened.

Okay. Be calm, be calm. I'll be fine…unless I die of blood loss but…yeah… I'll be-

The same rope wrapped around Joe's own neck.

"Where do you think you're going?" said an icy voice.

Oh shi-

"ACK!"

He too, was pulled and tripped backwards on the ground.

"Ow…"

He ended up lying beside Ray.

"I'm sorry. If only I understood earlier," Ray apologized.

"It's alright."

A shadow loomed over them. The shadow of the evil queen. The two who were fighting just now sweat dropped and gave their best smiles at the looming figure, all pain in their body forgotten.

"Ahaha…Hey, Beth~"

Shit. We're dead.

Leo was on the throne, looking rather bored.

I want to go out…but I don't want to get scolded by Housk…or Beth. No, I don't mind Housk, it's Beth who's the problem.

He sighed, and looked around the hall. Blood, ice and bodies were all he could see.

I think she'll make me clean all this up myself.

His eyes turned towards Cynthia, who was still lying among the other bodies.

How long are you planning to sleep, Cynth? I need you to wake up now. So that I could help you …escape again…

Stop. I can't take this anymore! Please stop!

The younger Cynthia sobbed.

"I don't want to be here. Let it stop. Let it stop…"

Suddenly, the hard dusty ground turned into soft sand. The sky was now pitch black and a single crescent moon lightened the area.

"Huh? This is…Hueco Mundo?"

She stood up and looked around. There was nothing but a trail of blood splattered on the sand. Cynthia absentmindedly followed the path. She walked endlessly, only relying on the blood trail to lead her way.

After what it felt like years, she finally reached the origin of the blood. A body was lying on the sand with a creature with very long blue mane standing over it. The body was wearing the white Arrancar uniform.

An Arrancar?

Cynthia slowly stepped towards the two figures. When she was close enough to make out the exact features, her eyes refused to move away from the body on the ground. Short, blue hair. Tall, muscular body. It was way too familiar.

She pushed past the other creature and knelt beside the body and turned him over.

Another ear piercing scream came out from her mouth. Tears once again rushed out. The body indeed belonged to her Espada. He wasn't only just dead. He had the same stitches over his face. His lively light blue eyes behind the stitches had long lost color.

Not…Not you too!

Anger surged through her. She spun violently around to face the other creature standing behind her.

He'll pay for this!

However, the anger was replaced by confusion and horror. Cynthia stared at the creature with enormous eyes.

"Gri…Grimmjow…sa…ma?"

Long blue mane. Sharp tail. Teeth red with blood. Strange rings that ripped anything it went contact with, and everything else. Including black eyes with blue silts. Blood dripped off his claw blades.

The creature licked the blood on one of his paw. And smiled. An insane smile that didn't even have a little speck of humanity in it.

"So little girl. Will you kindly be my next meal?"

Sorry 'bout the disappointing fight between Ray and Joe. I was too...well...'blocked' to continue. Ha! Nearly over! Yeah! Finally! Thanks for reading and REVIEW like please. Seriously REVIEW.