Well what do you know? I managed to update really fast this time. Here's the new chapter.
Chapter Twenty-four: This is gonna hurt
Kuromaru briefly spun the blade on the severed chain attached to it before he charged forward, gripped the hilt and swung upward. Ichigo's block was too weak to halt the blade, and so his blade shot upward as well. Kuromaru reversed his grip in mid-swing, pivoted left, and stabbed behind him with the blade held in a reverse-grip. Ichigo had not been able to bring his guard back down in time, and took a stab to the chest. Because he wasn't fast enough, the result was disastrous for him. Kuromaru slammed the palm of his left hand against the hilt while releasing his right hand. A chain-link looped itself over his finger while the blade exploded with energy. The blast almost killed him outright because a sizeable portion entered his body and nearly tore him apart from the inside. Ichigo was sent flying backward to slam into the far wall.
"Augh! Fuck!" Ichigo swore as he forced some of his reiatsu to his ribs, healing the microscopic fractures he had received, and numbing the pain.
Kuromaru spun the sword on the chain-link around his finger before pirouetting and flinging the blade, a long extending chain behind it. Ichigo swore again and vacated the wall crater. There was another massive explosion of energy when the blade slammed into the wall, destroying everything within twenty feet of it. Kuromaru yanked the chain, freeing the blade. And then he turned, gripping a section of the rapidly shrinking chain and used it to trap Ichigo's blade. He delivered a fast left kick while simultaneously releasing his traphold and caught his blade.
Ichigo had virtually no time to prepare himself as he was besieged with sky-rending blows, each one of which required all his strength to block or deflect. Ichigo counted himself lucky that Kuromaru was merely using one hand. Otherwise, he doubted he would have the ability to deflect any of the blows, let alone block them directly.
Kuromaru swung the blade down awkwardly, holding it in a reverse-grip in his right hand. Though clearly weaker than other blows, it still took all his strength to guard against it. Kuromaru abruptly took a step forward while simultaneously thrusting with the blade. Once again, he impaled Ichigo, but this time, he swung up, carrying Ichigo on the tip of the blade and slamming im down on the opposite side. Continuing with the motion, he transferred the blade to his left hand, in a normal grip now, and stabbed the ground at an angle next to Ichigo.
A third explosion rent the air, followed by a veritable sea of black reiatsu that tore the ground apart and once more sent Ichigo flying backward into the wall. When the energy died diwn, Ichigo's eyes bugged out. The gashes covered everything in a forty-five degree angle to the point of origin, and they were tens of meters deep. Ichigo thanked himself that he'd had the intuition to negate the attack with a Getsuga Tensho.
Kuromaru gestured. "So you see, there is no comparison between us. You cannot use your blade to its fullest abilities, and so you are permanently handicapped until you find the true purpose that drives you, master yourself, and create a fully open connection to your zanpaku-to. And finally, there is the disgraceful way that you use your one technique. Behold," Kuromaru raised the blade with both hands this time. "this is its true power:
"Getsuga-" he swung down, sending a massive black energy wave. "TENSHO!!!!"
Kuromaru charged into the wave of energy, thrusting his blade with both hands. In the same way that Raiden's fist accelerated past normal limits when he performed his Cero punch, Kuromaru shot forward at impossible speed. Ichigo's eyes widened, and unknown to him, they turned black with yellow circles as Kuromaru bored in. This is gonna hurt-
***
Uryu lay exhausted on the floor of Ryuken's training grounds. As he lay there, he heard a scraping sound. He looked up to see Urahara poking his head through a newly made hole in the wall.
"Sorry to call on you so late at night. Actually, it's still evening. Well, your father isn't here right now. That's a good thing."
"U-Urahara? What do you want?"
"That."
"What do you mean by 'that?!'"
Urahara looked at him grimly, and then explained.
"Inoue was abducted by the arrancar?!"
"More precisely 'the arrancar under Sosuke Aizen's orders.' Kurosaki-san will probably try to go save her by himself. And seeking a way to break into Hueco Mundo, he'll probably come to my place tonight, after he is done with Kuromaru-taicho…"
"Please go home."
Urahara looked at Uryu questioningly.
"You're probably going to say you want me to go to Hueco Mundo with Kurosaki, but I can no longer associate with shinigami. Go home. If I'm going to save Inoue, I'll do it alo-!" Uryu cut himself off as he looked at Urahara queerly. "Alone? Urahara-san, what did you say a minute ago? Kurosaki is going alone?"
"…yes. Soul Society has withdrawn from this incident. Kurosaki will have to head into enemy territory alone."
"Is that right? Well then, it's a different story. Urahara-san, get me out of here."
***
As Enishi, Sayu and Raiden approached their hideout, it was abruptly torn apart by a tower of black energy. The shockwave rippled the ground and flattened the abandoned district area. At the base of the pillar of energy, Kuromaru had his blade held up against the badly burnt, but unpunctured hollow Ichigo's skin. While Kuromaru took a second to examine this, Ichigo was having a small talk with his inner hollow.
"The fuck do you think you're doing, partner?! Going up against him without involving me?!"
"Hey, I didn't know he'd do this and go all out-"
"Partner, you're a real idiot if you think that was all out. You need my help for this."
Ichigo eyed the hollow dubiously before something else occurred to him. "Hey I just noticed. Why aren't you calling me 'king' anymore?"
The hollow grinned toothily. "Because we're working together now, ain't we?"
Outside, the hollow Ichigo grabbed Kuromaru's blade and flung it away with ease. Kuromaru regained his stance and cooly eyed the hollow.
"I see that your training has yielded some measure of success," he commented as his blade returned to the broadsword form and he lost the black robes.
"It'll be enough for now!" Ichigo snapped back.
Kuromaru shook his head. "You are nowhere near as powerful as I, though that will change someday. I suppose you still have not learned that the same weapon wielded by two different fighters wil yield two different results. Perhaps it is fitting that I use the weapon of your once-mortal enemy, Kuchiki Byakuya." He raised the broadsword, again holding it in a reverse-grip, point down. "Senbon Zakura Kageyoshi."
The broadsword changed form again into Byakuya's zanpaku-to and sank into the ground. A very familiar row of gigantic blade extended from the ground. Ichigo snorted.
"So what? I already beat Byakuya when he fought with his bankai."
:Not a smart move kid," Raiden commented as he, Enishi and Sayu settled on the ground nearby. "You really pissed of the captain now."
"Kurosaki," Enishi added emotionlessly. "his zanpakuto's secret ability is that he can copy a person's zanpaku-to if he knows the release command. For this reason, he was ranked above the Soutaicho in power."
"Yes, Kurosaki. You defeated Byakuya when he used his bankai. However," Kuromaru raised his right hand. "You have not defeated me." He snapped his fingers. "Scatter…"
The blades dispersed into a cloud of millions of tiny pink blades. A small amount coalesced into a blade that Kuromaru held in his right hand. "And now…we dance." He beckoned, and all hell broke loose.
***
It just wasn't adding up for Ichigo. Because of his antics, he had apparently pissed Kuromaru enough to make him really wipe the floor with his ass. Also, he was being forced to learn on the fly how to meld his hollow and shinigami power together, from his inner hollow. Said hollow wasn't really a patient teacher to say the least, and Ichigo lost count of the times that the hollow had started to rant about how dense he was. Although, it is hard to keep count when you are busy dodging an omni-directional attack and continuously getting hit.
Kuromaru slashed his left hand at Ichigo, and a mass of petal-like blades swooped at him. Ichigo batted away the blades, but more kept coming, piling on and on until Ichigo was surrounded by a semi-solid shell. Kuromaru then charged, clenching his left hand while thrusting with his right.
The sphere imploded before Kuromaru stabbed at the center of it. There was nothing there. Ichigo had somehow left before he could be crushed. Ichigo appeared behind Kuromaru, delivering an overhand chop. Kuromaru merely raised his left hand and a mass of pink petals wrapped around Ichigo's blade. Kuromaru turned, sweeping his left arm to the side while delivering a vicious overhand slice of his own. Ichigo couldn't block it because the mass of pink blades shifted his sword to the side, opening him up for the attack.
Kuromaru carved a wide bloody gash straight down Ichigo's pale white chest. He then delivered a hip-to-shoulder diagonal cutter, creating another streak across Ichigo's hollow skin. Then he spun to the left, slashing a third time before shoving outward with his sword hand. As he did so, a stream of pink lifted Ichigo off his feet and propelled him into the far wall. Ichigo managed to escape before the stream impacted the wall and dispersed like a fluid.
"Agh! Rrrrrrgh!" Ichigo growled as he took a small moment to assess his wounds. Kuromaru certainly was no Byakuya. Byakuya had been an arrogant aristocratic fighter with a sense of honor. Kuromaru had no scruples in overwhelming him in a multi-front attack. Ichigo remembered how he just couldn't shift his blade around, and his blade was overwhelmingly pushed to the side. Byakuya hadn't used any such technique. From what he had seen, he simply barraged with large masses of petals that couldn't be finely controlled. That was it! Control! Byakuya had little real control over his bankai, a disadvantage with an all-encompassing weapon, but Kuromaru had the concentration necessary to use it properly. Ichigo gripped his blade tighter. Perhaps the answer was to simply overwhelm his concentration.
"Are you finished yet, Kurosaki?"
Ichigo looked over and raised his blade. "No." Then he swept the ground from behind himself with the blade. "GETSUGA TENSHO!"
A wave-like blast of energy swept the ground, racing toward Kuromaru. Ichigo ran into his own attack, readying a thrust, and accelerating beyond what he could normally do.
Kuromaru sighed, raised his own blade, and slashed down at the incoming wave. A massive stream of pink petals crashed down on top of it before sweeping away and revealing Ichigo charging pell-mell towards him. He then spun to the right. When he did so, he sidestepped Ichigo's mad rush and puched him forward even harder. He spun once before he shoved outward with his sword hand. A last stream of pink nailed Ichigo to the wall. Kuromaru then stabbed the blade high above his head before flourishing it and slashing to his side.
SHRAK! Two solid streams of pink crossed over Ichigo's chest, leaving behind a huge x-shaped gash. Ichigo collapsed, unable to continue. Kuromaru walked up to him and knelt. "At your level, I am beyond your reach both literally and figuratively. If you wanted to learn something from me today, I hope you found a lesson in this beating." He then looked up at Enishi. "Heal him and send him to Urahara. You two, let us repair this area."
Ichigo left wincing from his newly healed wounds while Sayu, Raiden and Kuromaru were already halfway done with fixing the area. His eyes still burned with desire. Maybe I can't beat you yet, but someday, I will.
When he arrived at Urahara's basement, he found said man waiting with a smirk. "Well now, are we ready to leave?"
So how do you like the action? Review please!