A/N: Yeah I kind of just noticed how short this battle thing was, that might've been a good thing though; that way, it doesn't get too boring or start to slow things down. Thanks for the reviews!
"Sentaro!" Kiyone started as she watched the man rush by.
Without hesitation, he amputated the sickly tentacle in a single blow- maybe taking too much pride in watching the withering limb thrash about as black liquid spewed from the open wound. "Don't worry, I got this-" he called back to her before a sharp turn of movement caught his eye. He turned in time to watch as the massive body of the former Hollow almost seemed to topple towards him; the flesh cracking and breaking apart before it ripped itself open along an invisible seam. There was barely enough time to try and get away from its self-bodied attack but its advance in motion was far too fast for him to escape from.
His left arm was caught in the twisted mess of the open seam as a forced turn speared him back towards the withering body. The seam ripped wider before the skin peeled completely and appeared to engulf him fully; appearing to have eaten and swallowed him whole. It was a mass of thick darkness that spread around him as the heated pressure of what felt like intestines encircled around him. He struggled against the tight hold and felt the seam beginning to rip open once more and allow him a brief glimpse of freedom.
That's when he felt the sharp pierce of something invading through his flesh. It was followed by another, and another… and another.
She tried not to focus all too much on the pain of her ankle as she pushed herself up; trying to suppress the sharp cries that wanted to scream out as her leg just about collapsed underneath her from the weight- her separated bones unable to support her body despite the demand for it to. Blurred vision looked up at muffled shouts before she watched as the Hollow's outer skin split open and thick trails of blood oozed out; it wasn't black like the heartless'… it was red. Eyes continued to watch just before a heavy explosion struck the Hollow's one side and completely blew it apart into a mess of tissue and bone fragments; sickly bundles of flesh littered the pavement around them.
Hands seemed to reach out before the black-haired man pulled himself free; blood pumping out of the deep gorges that tore through his body and left him partly paralyzed by the pain. Peeling himself out of the fresh wound, he tore his sword free before ramming the tip of it into the very chest of the Hollow; listening and observing the deep shrieks that pierced freely from some unknown set of lungs. Its flesh continued to peel apart from beneath the force of the explosion; revealing its 'Iron Maiden' like trap that had caught him before and punctured specific areas of his body to rupture a few arteries- luckily he had gotten out before too much damage could be taken.
"I'll finish it from here!" Momo called as she charged up another attack along the silver metal of her blade. "You two get out and keep away."
Nanao moved to watch as the Fifth Lieutenant unleashed another long-charged fire spell and ultimately burned the third Hollow to a crisp; its body blowing away to mere ashes. She was about to compliment the woman on her attack before her attention turned to something far more important. It felt like the energy around them shifted; like the atmosphere itself was moving… it could only mean one thing. These Hollows were the reasons for the barrier in this world; one of them was already done… that would give them enough of a break to force an opening between the dimensions- which meant that they could get back. She would just need a safe place to do so. "Hinamori!" she called; rushing over to the woman.
"One down, two to go; this shouldn't be all too difficult, right?" Momo questioned as she moved to wipe the sweat from her brow. She waited for the woman to get closer before she noticed the concerned expression the woman held. "What is it?"
"When you killed this one, there was a shift in the pressure of the energy here; these have to be the ones that are causing the barrier." Nanao replied. "The energy's unstable right now but it should be enough for me to open up a portal."
"Really? Wait… if we left now, wouldn't we just be leaving this world to the Hollows?"
"What we need is to get back to the Society, report this to everyone and since we can still get back into this world regardless, we can send a more qualified team; not to mention it'll prevent them from sending out more officers." Nanao explained. "It's not an easy concept but I think it might work, alright? We might as well give it a shot."
She gave the plan a few seconds to think over before she nodded. "Good thing we have you here, Nanao; I don't think I would've been able to make that connection. Look, you worry about getting that portal open; I'll make sure nothing tries to sneak up on you."
"Sounds like a plan."
X
Sliding back against the pavement, Ikkaku worked himself out from beneath the Hollow's strike and moved to replace it with his own; watching as the Hollow slid back to avoid the swing. "Matsumoto, it's coming back your way!"
"Don't worry, I see it." she called back to him as she braced herself for an attack; her sword pressed forward and managed to lock itself into the Hollow's chest. She grimaced at the sharp crack that followed afterwards and quickly retracted the blade as black liquid flooded out from the open cavity. "Oh dear Gods…"
"Don't get close to it."
"Oh you don't have to tell me twice, Baldy." Matsumoto replied; watching as the Hollow turned back to the other man. "Alright come on, this can't be difficult, right? Just a few more hits and this thing should be going down-" she stopped herself as she watched the two other Lieutenants rush by them; bypassing the fight easily as Ikkaku moved in to block the Hollow when it went to strike. "Where are you two going?"
"Don't worry about it, just give me a few minutes!" Nanao called back.
"Should we be worried?" Ikkaku questioned.
"A tiny bit, yes."
X
Slamming his body into the lanky form of the Hollow, he forced it back a few more feet and continued to advance towards it. He couldn't risk letting it get too close to Isane and Chojiro; she was still in the process of healing the First Lieutenant, she couldn't be disturbed. Not to mention the Hollow, sans one arm, was fairly easy to deal with. He could get in a few swift swings and managed to tear open through its sides; there was a mess of black liquid all over the place that he tried not to step in or slip in for that matter.
A quick swing was dodged easily by the Hollow, which left him unfortunately open to attack- which the Hollow did not miss out on the opportunity to do. A quick forward thrust was met with opposition, unfortunately the opposition was in the form of his left shoulder; the sharpened blade cut easily through the flesh and tore apart the muscle like it was nothing. Blood rushed out of injury and dripped down to stain through his shirt just before he forced himself off the blade. Okay, okay… he's gotten worse injuries, this was nothing… at least it wasn't his dominant arm, right? He could still swing his sword at least. Shaking his head, he moved to swing his sword once more and dug the tip of it into the open tissue of the Hollow's neck; tearing through the flesh with some ease.
Shit, every movement only continued to further the pain- it felt like the first attack, with the exception that his shoulder wasn't melted and falling apart. He could still do this. Just a few more hits and this thing should be down. A sharp burst of energy caught his attention though and he glanced over as something highlighted through the air.
"Come on! I can't keep it open forever!" Nanao shouted back towards the mess of conflict as she stepped away from the energy of the dimensional opening; it raged about around her and threatened to knock off her glasses as she tried to turn away from it as much as she could without taking her eyes off it. She was partly surprised that she was able to actually open a portal, let alone maintain it for this long. "We don't have a lot of time left!"
"Fuck, what the hell? How did she managed to get one opened?" Ikkaku shouted as he stepped back from the already withering body of the third Hollow; its form reduced to near shreds after their combined attack.
"Don't question, just go with it!" Matsumoto called back to him.
He looked back at the opened portal before back to the Hollow in front of him. "Alright, okay… you, get Kiyone and Sentaro out of here!"
She nodded and left him to deal with the finishing blow as she rushed towards the injured pair; watching as the male half-Lieutenant barely seemed to be able to stay on his feet for much longer. She cringed at the sight of the deep punctures of his body but watched as he gave little notice to them- far more interested in his equally wounded partner. "Come on you two, there's time to make out later." Matsumoto ushered as she moved to take the other woman's side, only to be partly cut off by Sentaro instead.
"You don't have to tell us twice." Kiyone chuckled weakly; bracing a small grin against her bloodied lips. "The leaving part anyways, I don't know if we'll be able to keep our hands off each other for that long."
"Just go." she pushed with a matching chuckle as she followed after them towards the opening; glancing back in time to see the bald, Eleventh Division member slice down the final blow. "Come on, Ikkaku, we're not going to wait for your bald-head!"
"You just keep going, Miss. Tits McGee." he shouted back to her before he rushed over towards the final battle; watching as Yumichika seemed well in control and on the brink of defeating the Arrancar regardless. "Isane, we have to-"
"You have to get Lieutenant Cho out of here!" she interrupted as she did her best to help the white-haired man to his feet; shouldering most of the force as she was just barely able to support his weight. One arm linked behind his back as she tried to put her knees into the lift. "As soon as you get back to the Society, you get one of the emergency teams, you get Captain Unohana… he needs surgery now but I think I was able to stabilize him long enough to wait- but he doesn't have long."
He nodded and tried to keep his cool as he helped with getting the First Lieutenant back on his feet; a faint slash on his neck was still raw but closed… it looked like it would need further treatment. "You've got to follow close behind us."
"I will." she nodded. "I'll assist Yumichika and once this Hollow is finished, we'll follow. Now go! He doesn't have long!" she watched as he seemed to hesitate slightly but the moment he realized the severity of the First Lieutenant's health, he took off. She glanced back at the ongoing battle before hands moved to push the blade back out of her stomach; she was trying to focus on other things other than the hot pain before she reached back and tried to pull the bladed arm out in one motion- that didn't work though as it came halfway out and then dangled downward to tear the wound open further. Way to go, Kotetsu!
One more pull had it discarded and blood rushing out of the wound. Still, it wasn't the worst and it could've been far more severe. At least it didn't hit any internal organs, right?
Summoning out her sword, she headed into the last battle just as the remaining Arrancar moved to slice open the man's side. It left her with enough of an opening though… enough for her to rush in and bury her blade into the Arrancar's body- almost in the exact place where its arm had been stuck through hers. She wasn't an offensive fighter but… damn to hell if she wasn't a defensive one at that.
Holding the sword in place, she watched as he took the next swing and buried his blade into the Hollow's neck- providing the last necessary blow to end the battle. Pulling her sword free, she watched as the empty body stumbled back from the force before it seemed to stagger in defeat.
It's head rolled back forward at the last minute as the black rings from before dimmed out, almost fading out to white; a slight tremor beneath the skin nearly went unnoticed before the flesh boiled outward. It only took a second's pace before the carved out body erupted in a thick explosion as a last ditch attack. The sheer force behind it proved to be stronger than expected as she felt the sharp blast send her back a few yards; a brief glimpse of being airborne was met with skidding freely across several feet of pure concrete- it felt as though it finally broke and rattled several of her bones before she caught herself enough to stop.
A dull throbbing erupted from the back of her skull and made its way to her temples; an agonizing sense of pain hinted at a mild concussion maybe although she didn't hear any sharp cracks of her skull breaking open- then again, she wasn't really listening for them. Hands moved to push herself up before an object kicked into her side and sent her rolling once more. She tried to get to her feet at the threat of another attack, a fear that came true as a body slowly moved over her own; the wicked, torn expression of one of the previously-discarded Hollows took over her. But… they defeated all of them, how could there be more? No… the wounds and the near decapitation of its head said it had only been previously defeated- or at least thought to have been killed.
And here she was without her blade; it had been separated from her sometime during the collision.
A heavy hiss escaped its ripped mouth as the skinless expression of its face bore far too close to her.
A set of hands seemed to come from nowhere and gripped against the Hollow's jawline; twisting it quickly in one direction to finish off the fragile bones in its neck with a sharp crack- nearly completing its almost decapitation as well. She watched as the body was reduced to nothing more than ashes and evaporated into thin air; hazel eyes slowly moving up to his exhausted form.
"Oh thank Gods." Isane breathed as hands moved to cup her face. "Are you okay?"
"A few cuts and bruises, some broken ribs and more." Yumichika answered as a grim expression seemed to take effect. "I… the explosion gave enough force to unbalance the energy field; the portal's gone."
She tried to find some words in response only to have a sheer silence leave her lips. The dimensional opening was closed… the one chance they had of finally leaving the human world and returning to the Society to regroup over this incident… "We're still stuck here? But… I thought if a portal was able to open in the first place, that meant that… the barrier would've been gone?"
"I thought so too but… I don't believe that's the case this time."