Alright, first things first. Didn't mean to leave you all on a cliffhanger like that a few weeks ago, I absolutely planned on uploading the next chapter as expected. However, things got a little crazy around my place and I couldn't finish it in time. So, that being said, I'm putting up two chapters this week, cause it's only fair. Enjoy!
Chapter 25: Breath of Hate
"Bankai."
As soon as Ace uttered the word, the temperature around him shot up. Steam rose from the ground, causing Ryuuga to back away, unable to stand the heat. Ace was quickly engulfed in the cloud, hidden from view.
"How...how is this possible!?" Ryuuga cried. "How could a worthless retch like you obtain bankai, when even I have-" he cut himself short with a curse, glaring madly at the cloud. "It doesn't matter. Bankai or no, I'll defeat you again! There's no hope for you to win boy!" he screeched.
A roar erupted from the cloud, causing Ryuuga to take another step back. The steam slowly shifted away, revealing a large reptilian claw with red scales. A tail appeared, three bony spikes protruding at the end in a wicked mace. Finally, large wings unfurled, banishing the steam cloud away. Ryuuga's eyes widened in shock, staring at the dragon revealed before him. Upon its head were four horns, fanning out from the base it it's skull like a crown. Its body was covered in crimson scales, the belly a smooth black. The creature locked eyes on Ryuuga and roared again, issuing a challenge. Ace stepped out from under it, barely on his feet and his blade nowhere to be found.
"Bankai: Tendaihisan." he muttered. "After all this time, I've finally got the answer to those damn questions." Wearily, he looked at his father. "Sic 'im." he muttered.
The dragons tail whipped around, slamming into Ryuuga before he could even react. Launched across the battleground, the captain hit the opposite wall hard, leaving a small impression on the stone. He spat blood across the sand, his vision blurring. As he gathered his senses the dragon was already back on him, tearing across the battlefield with incredible speed. Ryuuga managed to roll out of the way of the lethal charge, letting the red beast crash into the barracks. Despite the dire situation, Ryuuga smiled. "This...this is all your bankai can do boy?" he sneered. "I've fought hollows twice his size, with more guts than him too. This'll be over in an instant."
He leaped at the beast as it dragged itself out of the rubble. He brought Samashige down with both hands, spikes tearing into the flesh on the dragons side. It screeched in pain, lashing out with its claws and tail. Ryuuga knew better than to try and block blows of that strength, instead dodging the blows. He backed away after nearly being beheaded by a vicious swipe from the dragons hind leg. "Is this it? Is this the power of a bankai? If that's all there is to it, why bother? I've got all the power I need right here."
The dragon roared, lashing out with its tail again. Ryuuga nimbly jumped over the strike, running up the prehensile limb to land on the dragons back. He struck again and again with his club, tearing up the red scales and leathery wings. The dragon roared and pain, but didn't attempt to stop him. Instead it held still, breathing deeply. "What's this? Given up already?" Ryuuga taunted. His grin fell when he felt the heels of his feet grow hotter. He leapt away from the beast as a blast of steam shot off its scales. He wasn't fast enough, his free hand getting caught in the blast. He howled in pain, his robes literally burned off from the intense heat. His arm was a dark red and actually cracking in places.
"So you do have some tricks up your sleeve." Ryuuga hissed, cradling his injured arm. The dragon roared back defiantly, getting ready for another blast of steam. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ryuuga warned, stepping aside sightly. Over the course of the battle, they had slowly moved back across the field and now Ace was directly in the path of the blast, slumped up against a wall. "Don't want to hurt your master now do ya?" Ryuuga taunted.
The dragon roared and charged, moving swiftly to the side in order to get a clear shot on Ryuuga. The captain was to quick however, and always made sure that he was between Ace and the dragon to ensure that it didn't unleash its full power on him. Meanwhile he was free to bash and slice every inch of the dragon he could reach, his spiked club loosing almost none of its power from being used with one hand. Finally, after what felt like hours of fighting, Ryuuga saw an opening and unleashed a vicious blow, hitting the dragon in the head and shattering one it its horns. The dragon fell, hitting the ground with enough force to create a small earthquake. Ryuuga landed near it, grinning madly.
"You see boy? It never mattered how powerful you got. Cause at the end of the day, I'm just stronger." he spat, leering at the shinigami slumped against the wall. "You know, part of me wants to go through the last words bit again, but if previous experience is anything to go by, I might as well just kill ya now." he said, casually walking over. A soft noise caught his attention and he stopped, realizing it was Ace laughing. "Gone mad at the end there have you?" Ryuuga sneered.
"Nope." Ace coughed. "I'm just laughing about how you just put yourself right in front of Tendaihisan."
Ryuuga whipped around, just in time to attempt to block the claw coming down on him. It barely worked, the large claw slowly baring down on him. "This...is not...how it ends!" Ryuuga roared. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ace, now on his feet despite his serious wounds.
"It's over Ryuuga." he said. "I'm putting everything I've got into this attack. All of my power, in order to beat you. One final test. Can your hate save you? Or will it burn like the rest."
"Damn you!" Ryuuga screeched as the claw came down. An explosion of power rocked the battlefield, knocking Ace back into the wall he was leaning on. When the dust cleared, a large crater was left where Ryuuga had stood, Ace's sealed zanpaktou implanted in the ground beside it. Ace gathered his strength, ignoring his many wounds and climbed down the crater. At the bottom lied Ryuugas body, a mad grin still plastered on his face. Ace stared for a long time before reaching down, grabbing the white haori off the corpse. Slinging it across his shoulders, he climbed back out and pulled Hisan from the ground, laying it over his shoulder. Silently, he walked out of the arena, leaving the hatred behind.
"So now that we've established the device you stole from the human world is gone, can we get back to your arrest now?" Rukia groaned, clearly frustrated at the antics of her peer.
"What? You're not serious are you?" Triana asked, genuinely surprised. "I thought chasing me around was an act, you just wanted to scare me off or something. Do you really want to arrest me?"
"It's my duty as a shinigami." Rukia replied coldly, holding Sode no Shirayuki at the ready. "I'll fight you if I must but you have to know I have the advantage here."
Triana smirked. "Please, you may be better at filing things away, but I got the job by being a bonafide badass." She drew her zanpaktou, the small charm attached to it jingling. Rukia raised an eyebrow.
"What...what is that on your zanpaktou?" she asked, letting her guard down slightly.
"What this?" Triana said, pointing at the bobble. "It's a black cat charm I found in the human world. It's got a bell in it and I thought it was the cutest thing ever so I put it on my sword."
"Did they have a rabbit one?" Rukia asked suddenly, looking intensely at the small trinket.
"Uh maybe?" Triana answered nervously. "Look, can we go back to the fight, this is getting kinda weird."
"As you wish. But if I win, you've got to tell me where you got that!" Rukia declared. She shot forward, slashing at Trianas feet. The other lieutenant jumped in the air to dodge, flipping up and over the older shinigami. Triana flicked her sword out almost lazily, trying to disable Rukias sword arm. Rukia dodged using shunpo, landing on a roof a few streets down. Quickly, she made four small marks on the roof and pointed her sword at Triana. "Tsugi no Mai: Hakuren!" she cried. A wave of ice crashed towards the ponytailed shinigami.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..." she yelped, running as fast as she could away from the frozen tsunami. Seeing a small tower up ahead, she ran up it and propelled herself back, landing on the slippery surface of the attack. Sliding back down the wave, she made a beeline straight to Rukia, a hand raised. "Hado 33: Sokatsui!" she shouted. A beam of pale blue energy shot out towards Rukia, who easily leaped out of the way. More shots followed her every move as Triana continued to slide down the ice.
"We're never going to get anywhere if we keep at it like this!" Rukia shouted, nimbly dodging three quick blasts of kido and charging the other shinigami. They locked swords, each trying to gain ground on the other.
"You could just let me go." Triana offered hopefully.
Rukia shook her head. "For the thousandth time, no!" she groaned. "Look, we're clearly evenly matched, but I'm going to win eventually. Why don't you just surrender and Captain Kurosaki and I can get this whole thing settled."
Triana glared at the other woman. "What do you mean, you've got the upperhand? What, because you're in shikai?"
"Well obviously, I have a larger range of attacks than you." Rukia muttered.
Triana broke the clash of blades, using shunpo to move back across the tile roof. "You know, I was pretty annoyed with you to begin with for attacking my brother, but now I think I'm going to have to kick your ass." The sheathed her zanpaktou, gathering reiatsu around her. "Shine, Yukaihikari!" she cried, drawing the sword in a burst of light. Rukia shielded her eyes, looking away from the shining light emanating from the blade. As the glow faded she looked back.
The sword looked just like it always did, a simple blade with a small toy cat hanging off of it. There was something about the way the air moved around the blade that put Rukia on edge. How can a shikai look just like any other sword? She thought. There has to be something dangerous about that blade.
"Curious? I was too when I first used it." Triana said. "I finally figured out how to talk to my zanpaktou spirit and use my shikai, and this is how it turns out? Just watch closely, you'll see how awesome Yukaihikari is!" Rukia braced herself, ready for any kind of attack. To her utter astonishment, Triana sheathed the blade again. The glow from before came back, light emanating from inside the sheath around the blade. "Ichi-ken!" Triana called, drawing the blade. Once again, the sword was the same, only this time there was a blade made of yellow energy floating just under the actual sword. It moved with a slight lag wherever the actual zanpaktou moved.
"What...what is that?" Rukia asked.
"It's what my zanpaktou does. I charge it with reiatsu while it's in the sheath and when I pull it back out it has this little thing following it. Neat, huh?" Triana said smugly.
"Um, is that all it does?" Rukia asked awkwardly.
That got Triana's blood boiling. "You little- eat this!" She cried, pulling her sword back so that it was pointed at Rukia, the hilt lining up with Triana's eye. Rukia tensed again, waiting for the attack. The yellow energy blade moved up, covering the sword. With a wild yell, Triana stabbed forward. She was much to far away for the thrust to be any kind of a threat, but the yellow energy shot off like a bullet, speeding towards Rukia. She jumped back, narrowly avoiding the projectile. It's fast she thought, glaring back at Triana.
"Dammit, hold still! Now I've got to charge up another one!" she complained, sheathing the sword again.
"As if I'd let you!" Rukia shouted, drawing a circle with her sword. "Some no Mai: Tsukishiro!"
Triana yelped and jumped out of the way as a large pillar of ice appeared where she had been seconds ago. "Nii-ken!" she cried, drawing the sword. Now there were two energy blades, one floating under the other. With a shout Triana lined up another shot and thrust forward, shooting the blade at Rukia again. The black-haired shinigami managed to dodge it, but ended up running right into Triana. The ponytailed shinigami chopped down, her sword coated with the energy from the second blade. Rukia raised her guard in order to stop it, but the force of the blow knocked her down to her knees.
"What the hell? You weren't this strong earlier." Rukia grunted.
"That'd be the energy here." Triana boasted. "If I don't shoot it away like I did before, I can increase the strength of my strikes for a short time." She stepped back slightly before pressing the attack again. Rukia parried and blocked most of the blows, but slight cuts began appearing here and there on her robes. Just when she thought she wouldn't be able to withstand the assault any longer, the glow faded. Instantly Rukia pressed the attack, giving Triana a wound for every one she had received. Triana jumped back, trying to get some distance so she could recharge her shikai.
"You're not getting away! Tsugi no Mai: Hakuren!" Rukia shouted, quickly readying the attack. Triana sheathed her sword as the onslaught of ice came crashing towards her. "San-ken!" she cried just before it hit. An explosion rocked the surrounding area, yellow energy cutting through the thick ice of the attack. Both combatants stood, panting heavily from their duel.
"Ready to give up yet?" Rukia asked.
"No way, I'm not through yet!" Traina gasped.
"Yes you are. Both of you." a calm male voice said. Surprised, both girls looked around for the newcomer, laying eyes on a man standing a short distance away. He had long black hair that was decorated with pale green plates. His piercing eyes moved back and forth between the two lieutenants.
"Captain Kuchiki." Triana muttered.
"Brother." Rukia whispered.