DOWNFALL
by
Greg Wong
Chapter 20: In Death Ground
Gin frowned as he saw Komamura's bankai inexplicably turn and take a chunk out of the Soul Reaper battle line. Uh, what?
He recalled Kamishini no Yari, not quite pointing it at the enormous bankai. He, in all honesty, was at a loss of what to do. He had no idea if this was a result of enemy action or if Komamura had finally had one tasteless dog joke too many. If the former, he had to figure out what the hell was causing this. A bankai should not be able to be suborned. If the latter, well, he could quickly run to the Rukongai and grab some juicy bones or something. Or... put down the Squad Seven captain.
But, seriously, he was... well, he was distracted by this bizarre turn of events. Without him keeping a constant flurry of sniping attacks, Ukitake had been able to move freely, and the enemy Soul Reaper was slowly moving back towards the Arrancar lines. He grimaced at that. Without him bracketing Ukitake and Kaname and Komamura keeping up the pressure, Ukitake was going to have time to recuperate. Or just plain leave.
He made a face. It was unavoidable now. Might as well see what he could do about Komamura. He turned to his side, where one of his squad's runner stood ready to relay messages.
"Locate Lieutenant Kira, and have him and the rest of Squad Three withdraw from out of the range of Captain Komamura's bankai." That was going to open up gaps in their lines. Then again, if they got squashed by Kokujo Tengen Myoo it would result in the same thing, just with more bodies.
The real problem about the whole matter was the simple scale of the released zanpakuto. The only other bankais that close to its size were, perhaps, Kurotsuchi's Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo or Lieutenant Abarai's Hihio Zabimaru. And, since Komamura's bankai was currently stepping on Abarai's and not even noticing it, well, he wasn't holding his breath about any sort of fight that could take place. He wasn't even sure how many direct strikes from Kamishini no Yari it would take to put the berserking bankai down, if it could at all.
Although... if he crippled it, it would give the other Soul Reapers time to get out of its range. Hmm. Would a bankai have an Achilles tendon?
Well, one way to find out. He aimed carefully, settling the plane of his zanpakuto in line with the back of the giant's ankle. He took a breath, gathered his spiritual energy into his bankai... and let it loose at Kokujo Tengen Myoo.
Almost instantly he felt something strike his blade, deflecting it. What in the world? He squinted down trying to see... Kaname?
His friend had deflected his attack! As his bankai came slithering back to its shortened form, he raised a hand to his side and called up a Tentaikura spell. A moment later Kaname's face appeared within the kido window.
"Er, Kaname?" he said plaintively. "I'm not quite sure—"
"Do not attack!" the other captain shouted back at him, cutting him off. Oh? Kaname wasn't in the habit of shouting.
He dropped his voice an octave. "Kaname, troops are going to die unless—"
"We'll take care of it," Kaname cut in, again. And here he thought his friend was the polite sort. "Do not attack. Any injury inflicted on the bankai will be reflected on Sajin!"
He blinked as he snapped off the communications spell. If that was right, that meant Komamura's bankai was not only incredibly powerful, it was also incredibly vulnerable. You had immense destructive power when you were thirty storeys tall, but that also gave you the heart the size of a small house.
He know he should override Kaname's request and still attempt a to incapacitate Komamura's bankai. Ah. No. Blindness notwithstanding, he was going to have to trust his friend.
But why oh why did he have such a bad feeling about this?
This was bad. Very bad.
Shuhei picked a Squad Seven trooper up bodily and heaved the man through the air as Captain Komura's rogue bankai struck the earth. He managed to flash-step out from under the blade, but the shockwave of the massive impact picked him up and tossed him a few dozen paces further.
Oof.
He managed to clear the stars out of his vision in time to see the giant reach down and grasp Renji's bankai behind its skeletal head. Hihio Zabimaru hissed at Kokujo Tengen Myoo as it yawned its mouth open at the larger bankai. Was Renji...?
There was a blinding burst of red light, and he watched as Renji's bankai belched crimson energy at Captain Komamura's. The giant silently took the blast, drawing back its sword.
And then it decapitated Renji's bankai. Damn. A single hit.
The skeleton snake fell to the ground in pieces, but a few moments later he saw red lightning arcing between the segments. Hmm. He'd heard of that before. Renji was trying to reconstitute the weapon.
Not fast enough!
The giant disdained the neutralized bankai and started lumbering towards the withdrawing Soul Reapers, sometimes halting its thumping steps to strike down towards the earth. The bankai was so huge that even its slow, ponderous steps covered enough ground that some of the slower troops wouldn't be able to get away fast enough.
Damn.
He shot back to his feet and flash-stepped towards the oncoming behemoth, catching an exhausted-looking young woman by the collar before gathering his energy and flash-stepping away. He spared a glance behind. A few dozen meters back and the Soul Reaper he was carrying would have been stomped to paste.
Well, here was far enough. He dumped the Soul Reaper to the ground—he really, really didn't have the time to be gentle right now—and headed back towards the rampaging bankai. He passed up Captain Komura, only a few dozen meters away from the bankai's path. Looked like the Squad Seven captain was actually staring the bankai down.
He watched Komamura raise his blade at the giant, right before he felt a sharp, heavy slap of spiritual pressure as the captain released more energy. "You will obey, damn you!"
He looked back at Kokujo Tengen Myoo. The bankai had actually flinched, and even when it recovered its movements had slowed considerably. Komamura was wrestling with whatever was making Kokujo Tengen Myoo go berserk, and he was pretty sure the captain would win. Eventually.
They really didn't have much of an eventually.
The bankai heaved towards them again, and, hell, it was drawing back its sword for another attack. He grimaced. Too many Soul Reapers were still in range.
He blurred forward, literally throwing two troops over his shoulder as he gathered his energy for another flash-step. A few meters off he saw Tetsuzaemon engaging two Arrancar clone soldiers that had broken through, trying to hit the fleeing Soul Reapers in the back.
Moonlight glinted. Oh, crap. The sword was coming down! Pouring every ounce of energy into his flash-step, he raced forwards, not even bothering to look behind. Come on, come on, come—
He tumbled head over heels, bouncing for several meters before coming to a stop.
Oh, that had been close. With a grunt, he pushed the two dazed junior Soul Reapers he'd been lugging off himself. Peering upwards, he saw that Kokujo Tengen Myoo had frozen in place, or something. Whatever the case, it wasn't trying to step on them at the moment.
The giant's sword had literally come within meters this time. He'd been lucky. He—
He blinked. In the furrow the sword had dug when it came smashing down, he saw a handful of bodies—well, not really bodies, but reddish, chunky smears—that had once been Soul Reapers too slow to make it out from under the attack.
Near one of the smears, he saw Tetsuzaemon's shikai, one hand still gripping it. Everything else was... gone.
And then he was almost driven to his knees as Captain Komamura's spiritual pressure increased, and an enraged howl split the night.
Minazuki's claws flashed down, and Retsu saw Kenpachi deflect the strikes with an almost lazy flick. The captain slipped forward, inside of her shikai's reach, and moved to slice open its belly.
She wasn't going to be having any of that. She flash-stepped forward, throwing an elbow into Kenpachi's ribs. The attack interrupted Kenpachi's own, and the other Soul Reaper's blade only scored a deep cut in Minazuki's flank, not the intended eviscerating slash.
Her blow had been hasty, and skilled and strong as she was, she didn't have the raw physical power or mass to deal a serious blow at this angle. Kenpachi rocked back from the blow, pivoted on the ball of his foot, and aimed a chop at her neck.
Minazuki's claws intercepted the attack with the sound of steel meeting bone, and her shikai attempted to spear the captain with its other paw. She saw the captain try to move up an arm to batter the oncoming claws away, but she prevented that by moving in and trapping Kenpachi's arm in a lock. Kenpachi tried to wrench himself out of her grip, but she crouched lower, offsetting the man's center of gravity, and Minazuki's strike came streaking in.
Just before the claws hit, she felt Kenpachi redistribute his reishi, moving it from his zanpakuto and sword arm to the left side of his body. No! She sent her own spiritual energy crackling down onto the captain's body, seeking to disrupt the shield Kenpachi was trying to form, but too late!
Her zanpakuto's talons raked into Kenpachi's flank and shoulder. But instead of tearing open the other Soul Reaper's body, Minazuki's claws only scored thin wounds as Kenpachi's fierce reishi resisted most of the attack's force. The strike glanced off, and as her shikai recovered from the deflection, Kenpachi moved in a counter her lock.
Humph. She moved in a counter of her own, but then the man countered that counter. She wouldn't be able to keep up with that complicated maneuver, again because she lacked the raw strength and weight to prevent Kenpachi from breaking her hold. She might have kept her grip with yet another counter, but Kenpachi had a sword in one hand, and she didn't. She wasn't going to contest the lock only to have her head struck from her shoulders. She relinquished her grip, and good thing, too, since the captain's zanpakuto came whistling at her face. She ducked beneath it. A heartbeat later, and she would have lost the upper quarter of her skull.
Kenpachi moved against her, but her bellowing shikai had recovered and rushed at her opponent's back. She watched the captain wheel around, snarl something, and hurl lightning at Minazuki. Her zanpakuto flinched as the kido spell burst across its face, and Kenpachi leapt, arrowing in a stab at the beast's face.
"Danku!" she snapped, and a barrier flashed into existence a few centimeters in front of her shikai. The shield turned the incoming blow, but only barely, and it shattered at the moment of impact.
She rushed forward, but Kenpachi had already hit the ground and slammed a shoulder, hard, into Minazuki. Her zanpakuto shuffled backwards, snorting loudly. As her shikai stumbled, Kenpachi reversed directions and came back her way. She saw a grimace plastered across the captain's face.
She gathered spiritual energy, sent it flowing through her hands as she brought them up. "Hado fifty-eight, Tenran!"
The violent gale slammed into Kenpachi, and the male Soul Reaper stumbled. Only slightly, but enough that her shikai had precious moments to recover and come barreling back again for more.
Kenpachi flash-stepped away from her zanpakuto. She pursued and called forth kido energy into her hands.
"Bakudo sixty-two! Hyapporankan!" A violet rod sprang into existence in her hands, but instead of hurling it as usual, she whirled the spell like a stave, deflecting the captain's zanpakuto off of it. The bakudo spell had fractured slightly—a zanpakuto would always trump a makeshift weapon like this kido artifact—but it held up enough that she was able to parry Kenpachi's swing... and then ram the spell into the man's stomach.
She poured an incredible amount of spiritual energy into the Hyapporankan rod so as to be able to pierce Kenpachi's sheathing energy, but even so, it did no direct damage. It did pin Kenpachi up against a rock she's cornered him into, and her zanpakuto descended, roaring, onto the captain.
Until Kenpachi, with a snarl, shattered the rod in half, spun, and sank his own zanpakuto up to the hilt into Minazuki's chest.
Rangiku felt... well, not naked. Actually, if anything, she felt overdressed.
Okay, sure, she'd had the presence of mind to bring her Haineko with her, disguised as a package. That one run-in with the Arrancar told her that even on days off she still had to be wary.
Zanpakuto or not, she still wasn't in uniform—she was wearing a real spiffy yukata—and she especially didn't have her lieutenant's badge. Plus she'd done her hair up and put on a little more makeup than usual. Which was why the knot of Soul Reapers fighting off the attack at the Garganta had given her looks ranging from confused to dirty.
Luckily, some Squad Ten members recognized her before some of Soifon's gang of ninjas could... eject her. That wouldn't have been very good.
Well, it would have been worse. The situation wasn't good. Despite this being her day off, she was the ranking person here, which put her in command. She wasn't up to date with all the tactical data and all, so she was going to have to play this by ear until she got more info.
Shaking her head, she turned to a weary-looking Stealth Force scout who had flash-stepped to her side.
"How's our flank looking?" she asked tiredly. The last attack had been the hardest yet, and they'd barely driven it off. A large number of the skull-heads had literally swarmed in and thrown themselves onto the Soul Reapers' swords, leaving the normal Arrancar to assault while they were trying to get untangled. Luckily, she'd had called up a dust shield from Haineko to run interference for the troops while they got back into formation. It had been a near thing, though, and five Soul Reapers had been killed during that attack versus about twelve clones and a pair of the regular Arrancar.
"We had about two of the clones try to scout it, but my men ran them down and eliminated them," the trooper replied. "I'd like to push another two hundred meters out so we have a wider net."
Hmm. The flank to their east was "anchored" by a set of rocky hills, making travel from that direction tough but not impossible. She'd ordered some people stationed up on the tallest hillock to give them advanced warning of a ground rush. The Hollows could just take to the air and go over the hills, but the skirmisher teams she had there had a clear, easy shot at their stomachs as they passed overhead. On top of that, for all of their mindless efficiency and lack of self-perseveration, the clones weren't all that good with aerial combat.
So, no she wasn't worried about the eastern approach. She was worried about the west and south. It was flat and grassy, making it both easy for the Arrancar to pass through and easy to hide in as they approached. She didn't have the manpower to simply stretch out their line to cover the northwest, since she knew the main Arrancar assault would be coming from the north, where Nanao and Ukitake and whatever else had gathered. She diverted forces to watch the west, the main Arrancar army would punch right through them. To the south was the actual Garganta. It had been quiet so far, and she guessed it was going to stay that way, but she had to have people watching it, regardless.
"Extend out another hundred meters," she said. She wanted a larger skirmishing screen, but not so much that the scouts could be picked off one by one. "You get attacked by a large force, fire a kido signal into the air."
"Yes, Lieutenant Matsumoto," the agent said before flash-stepping away.
She took a deep breath, passing Haineko back and forth between her hands. She hadn't worn a proper sash, dang it all, so she couldn't put the sheath in its normal place. And she had to stop fidgeting. Fidgeting was bad. Had to focus on things. Tactics! Yeah, like tactics. She wasn't quite the strategist like Nanao or Momo or her captain were, but she'd at least like to think she was good at her job. Plus Gin was pretty sharp, too, and he'd passed on tips to her.
She shivered a bit. How was Gin? Her lover was up north, right in the middle of that mess. Gin was a good fighter and a good commander, and she had all kinds of confidence in his abilities, but, still, she couldn't shake that little bit of worry. Like her worry over Sachi Takeuchi. She had this terrible sinking feeling that she wasn't going to see the seventh seat ever again.
Okay, why was she thinking this? As if war itself wasn't morbid enough already, here she was, making it worse. Gin would have a laughing fit if she told him about this, although afterwards she'd get a nice massage—or a snuggle—and an open ear as she bled off her nerves. It wasn't as if—
She jerked as a sudden wave of spiritual pressure—distinct from the Unohana-Zaraki routine going in the background—slapped into her. Powerful. Arrancar.
Dammit. Espada.
"Here they come!" she yelled, settling out of her crouch as she heard the rest of the Soul Reapers form up on her in a more or less neat formation. She gripped Haineko harder.
"Lieutenant, the Arrancar have hooked back to their entry Garganta in strength, and are engaging the skirmishers," Momo heard one of the analysts report. "They're reporting at least one Espada-level Arrancar present, and they'll have to concede the gateway to the enemy in half an hour if reinforcements do not show up."
She frowned. The guards in the immediate vicinity of the Garganta had all been killed, but the Soul Reapers' manpower was still spread thin since a small force still had to monitor the Garganta itself. And now this. "Any units in the vicinity able to be diverted?"
"None, Ma'am. They were called forward when Captain Komamura's bankai began its rampage, and the units held in reserve in the Rukon District are engaged in heavy building-to-building fighting."
The two completely unexpected occurrences had reversed the steady advance of the Soul Reaper forces and given back the momentum to the Arrancar. Thankfully, the Hollows didn't seem aware of the incidents, or were unwilling to force an engagement. Either way, the Arrancar didn't seem to be counterattacking and thus causing more damage to the Seireitei forces.
Unfortunately, though, the Arrancar had secured an escape route, and things still looked too chaotic for the Squads to close off their exit. The only intact mobile forces that could conceivably break contact with the enemy were Captain Aizen's and Toshiro's.
"Make contact with Captain Aizen and Captain Hitsugaya," she called out. "Advise them of the situation, and tell them I suggest that they move their units to block off the Arrancar Garganta."
As it stood, the squads were in too much disarray to remount their assault on the Arrancar. With a way out, it the Hollows would be able to withdraw back to Hueco Mundo with their way unopposed. However, if her captain and Toshiro could stonewall the Arrancar column outside of their Garganta, that should buy the other squads enough time to reorganize and launch an assault into the Arrancar rear area. And if that happened, there was a high chance they could completely eliminate the Arrancar incursion. With such heavy losses, the Soul Society might even a chance an attack into Hueco Mundo, for a change. That, of course, was predicated on—
"Lieutenant Hinamori, we can't open a communications spell to either of the captains," one of the troops said. "Too much interference from Unohana and Captain Zaraki. Hell butterflies can't get close enough either. The same reishi is killing them before they can make contact."
Her mind whirled through that. "Options? Can we open a channel to the Soul Reapers outside the immediate effects of the battle and have them relay a message?"
She saw the man shake his head. "No, we can't. We've tried, actually, once our attempts to reach Captain Aizen and Captain Hitsugaya failed. My best guess is that the teams holding the Garganta are too occupied to accept a communications, or that the Garganta's reishi is itself disrupting our spell. The range is a bit extreme for a Tenteikura."
"And the forces in the Rukongai would be likewise occupied," she said, half to herself. There had to be some way... ah-hah! Isane.
"Can we raise Lieutenant Kotetsu's unit? They should be far enough away that the interference should be minimal, and they shouldn't be engaged with the Arrancar."
"Not possible, Lieutenant," another of her team spoke up from across the room. "The Soul Reaper main battle forces have suffered significant casualties, so Lieutenant Kotetsu's forces moved forward to form a forward triage unit. They're too close to Unohana."
Ugh. Those options were out. She could summon a Reversal Counter Force courier, but fast as they were, the message would reach Captain Aizen too late, and the forces picketing the Garganta would be broken.
She swallowed.
"Send an order out to Teams Seven, Five, Three, and Two. Have them assemble outside the barracks and be ready to move out in five minutes. I will lead a relief force to the new Garganta and reinforce the defending units there, as well as send out a messenger to Captain Aizen. Fifth Seat, take command of the analysis teams and continue gathering and processing intelligence." She saw the team looking at her closely. Would they follow her? She was only a lieutenant. And—
"On it, Lieutenant!" several voices said, and Squad Five moved to follow her orders.
A tiny, tiny bit of apprehension bled away. At least the squad would listen to her in the absence of Captain Aizen, and it was a good feeling. Meant they trusted her.
She stole a glance at one of the clocks. Hmm. If they pushed themselves hard, she and her force could make it to the Garganta in a little under twenty minutes.
Hopefully there would still be Soul Reapers there to greet her. Otherwise...
"Damnation!" Retsu hissed as she saw Kenpachi fatally wound her shikai. She saw the captain twist his sword viciously, buried up to its guard in her zanpakuto's body.
Minazuki wailed in anguish, exploding into a cloud of green mist. The fog consolidated into her sealed zanpakuto, where it clattered to the ground in front of the captain. Kenpachi turned to face her.
Just in time to receive a double-fisted blow straight to the face. She poured every ounce of force into that strike, and she heard something crunch in the vicinity of the man's nose. Blood sprayed, and Kenpachis staggered back a bit from the shock.
She couldn't let up. With a shout, she drew back her left arm and dropped a vicious chop onto Kenpachi's forearm, aiming for a pressure point. If she couldn't make Kenpachi lose a grip on his sword, she could be in trouble.
A good hit. She saw Kenpachi's arm twitch ever so slightly, and she grabbed the end of the hilt in one hand and the blade in her other. She applied as much spiritual pressure as she could muster into her extremity, so it wouldn't be lopped off, but she still felt the jagged blade slice into her flesh.
But she had enough leverage, and Kenpachi was dazed, if only for a moment.
With a cry, she wrenched the captain's zanpakuto out of his grip and flung it away.
Kenpachi took offense at that and immediately took a swing at her. She deflected the blow over her head, slamming her hip into Kenpachi's thigh. She snagged the captain's other arm and tugged downwards. Off balance, her opponent tumbled to the ground. She had to get to Minazuki!
She gathered her reishi and flash-stepped forward, reaching for her blade. Her fingers closed around its hilt—she immediately felt how weak it was from the blow Kenpachi had dealt it—and she brought the nodachi into high guard position.
What was that brown thing heading for her face—
Ah!
Something slammed into her, knocking Minazuki from her hands and sending her tumbling. Chunks and splinters of stone pattered to the earth around her? Humph. Apparently Kenpachi had impressive aim when it came to hurling small boulders. She blinked, look for her sword. Hmm. There.
She flash-stepped towards, only to divert at the last moment as Kenpachi interdicted her with a flash-step of his own. This time Kenpachi led off with a quick snap kick. She sidestepped the attack, responding with a kick aimed at Kenpachi's stationary knee. She heard the captain grunt, and her own strike was deflected as the man's kicking leg recovered and he twisted, causing her blow to glance off.
Kenpachi moved forward to grapple. Ugh. That was a situation she did not want to find herself in. She could wear down Kenpachi from arm's length, thanks to her being faster and more agile, but the moment the captain came to grips with her the man's superior strength would turn the tables.
The other Soul Reaper threw a clumsy blow at her, which she dodged easily. She almost followed up with a counterattack, but no, she knew a feint when she saw it. She heard the captain snarl something at her, immediately recovering from the seemingly awkward blow and come rushing straight for her.
A Sokatsui spell came burning towards her face, which she only managed to deflect with a hasty Enkosen shield. She took a running leap, and just barely cleared Kenpachi as the captain bulled past underneath her. She recovered faster, and just as Kenpachi turned she threw an elbow at the man's trachea, hoping to rupture it. Kenpachi twisted just a moment too soon, and her blow slid along the side of his neck.
Which left her in a very untenable position.
Kenpachi immediately grappled, which she hurriedly countered. The captain wouldn't let up, and continued with more lock attempts and grabs. Damn. It was taking practically all her effort to keep from getting grappled that her counterblows and strikes, while well-aimed, were ultimately ineffective. Kenpachi was simply taking the hits as he tried to grab her. The captain could afford it. All it took for her was a simple—
She missed a block.
There was a flurry of movement, and suddenly she found her opponent behind her, an arm jammed up against her throat.
And then Kenpachi started to squeeze.
"Captain Aizen! Captain Hitsugaya!" Toshiro heard a voice call out. "I have a message from Squad Five Lieutenant Hinamori!"
Momo? Something was so urgent his friend had dispatched a courier all the way out here? He also noticed that the young man heading towards them was a Squad Five Soul Reaper, not the usual Reversal Counter Force agent. Something was amiss here.
He caught the eyes of his fourth seat, who nodded and took over organizing the tactical troops. He and Aizen were harassing and probing the Arrancar flanks, distracting the Arrancar so the debacle with Komamura's bankai could be resolved. And, if they could find a chink in the Arrancar lines to divide their forces in two, so much the better.
It was hard going, though. With the interference from Unohana and Zaraki, he and Aizen weren't able to use their shikais to their fullest extent. It also seemed Captain Soifon, who was going deeper around the Arrancar rear area, was having trouble as well. He knew Hyorinmaru seemed a little sluggish at times, but he had to wonder about the Squad Five Captain's Kyoka Suigetsu. Could you only partially hypnotize someone? Half convince them?
In any case, the Arrancar had repelled their scouting attempts—again—and he and Captain Aizen were trying to scout out another point to attack. Soifon and a team of Stealth Force were assisting, as well, but even so, they weren't having much progress.
Until, of course, this messenger showed up.
"Report," he said tersely. He heard someone walk up next to him. Aizen.
"Sir. Lieutenant Hinamori's analysis team had concluded that the Arrancar are beginning a fighting withdrawal back through the second Garganta."
He nodded, beckoning for the man to continue. It made sense. The Arrancar were holding their flanks so fiercely so he and Aizen couldn't get close enough to see a retreat. Still, after finding it, Soifon had parked a team of Squad Two troops on top of the Garganta, which should be enough to resist Arrancar until Soul Reaper reinforcements could be redirected to the gate.
He was half-tempted to float the idea to Aizen that they should just let the Arrancar withdraw. The Espada were concentrated with the main force just now beginning their retreat, and losses would be heavy if they went at them. Yes, he was fairly sure they would win, but casualties were casualties.
Still, if the forward Arrancar advance could be held up at the Garganta for a bit, the captains could relocate away from the Hollows' main body—and the Espada—and take them apart piece by piece.
"Lieutenant Hinamori also discovered that an Espada is present among the force attempting to retake the Garganta. The forces there estimated they only had about thirty minutes before their lines were broken and the Arrancar secured their escape route."
His eyes widened. If that was true, they had notime. If the courier had been dispatched from the Seireitei, they wouldn't make it before the Espada there cracked the defenses wide open. He—
"With that information Lieutenant Hinamori assembled a small force and moved immediately to reinforce the Garganta defenders. She dispatched me to find you as soon as we arrived."
His blood went cold. Momo was on the battlefield. Facing an Espada!
He had to go! Now!
"Forces, follow as well as you can!" he heard himself roar. He faintly heard Aizen echoing his commands to the Squad Five teams.
But then he was flash-stepping away.
Gin cocked an eyebrow as he saw Komamura leap into the air, hurtling towards Kokujo Tengen Myoo. After Lieutenant Iba's unfortunate, rather messy demise, the Squad Seven captain had quit trying to wrestle his bankai under control and was doing... something? Maybe if Komamura got close enough he would be able to exert more control over it?
Movement. He snapped his zanpakuto around, jabbing its tip at an Arrancar clone thing that had broken through the Soul Reaper lines.
Shoot to kill, Shinso.
With the mental command, his zanpakuto released, ramming clear through the Hollow's head, where it promptly stopped doing Hollow-ish things, like breathing. The Soul Reapers that had been thrown out of position by the intruding Arrancar moved to retake their positions. Dangerous. Kokujo Tengen Myoo had quit moving for the moment, but it only needed two meter-eating lopes to get back within range of the counterattacking Soul Reapers. He was at ground level with the rest of them, sure, but he was much faster than the rank-and-file.
He turned his gaze back at Komamura, still speeding towards the giant. Perhaps at that range Komamura could seal the bankai if he couldn't get it under control—
His eyes widened as there was the sound of a powerful impact, and Kokujo Tengen Myoo actually rocked back on its heels. Had the big wolf-guy just...?
There was another massive, ringing impact, this time accompanied by the sound of squealing metal. A heartbeat later a sheet of broken armor the size of barn door crashed down to the earth a few meters away.
Why, yes, it appeared the Squad Seven captain was punching his own bankai.
There were more thunderous impacts, and the giant actually stumbled backwards. He saw that its helmet was crumpled in areas, and pieces of armor from its shoulder had been ripped off. And up, near its head, he could just barely make out Komamura battering at the bankai's face.
It was tough to tell in the moonlight, but he saw dark stains on Komamura's haori. Bloodstains? If what Kaname had said was true—and he had no reason to think otherwise since Kaname didn't seem to have a deceptive bone in his body—then every time the Squad Seven captain walloped Kokujo Tengen Myoo in the face he was knocking out his own teeth.
Whatever the details were, the giant wasn't an immediate threat.
"All teams!" he called. Form up on me and prepare to enforce a skirmishing line!"
There was a shout from his support teams, and moments later they were advancing, past the fighting bankai and Squad Seven captain, to form a forward battle line so the rest of the squads could get their acts together. He glanced to the rear, and noted that there didn't seem to be many Squad Seven troops. Since Squad Seven had been keeping a tight formation on their commander—and Komamura's bankai—he had a rather depressing idea as to where most of them were.
From out of the dust a half-dozen clones materialized, rushing him and his skirmishers. He sent Shinso flashing out to take down two of them, but the others closed in with Sonìdo and slammed into his soldiers.
Piece of cake, though. His skirmishers had decided that a one-on-one duel was for idiots, dead people, or Kenpachi Zaraki, and ganged up on the four remaining Arrancar. One of his people suffered a deep slash to an arm. The four Arrancar suffered death. Rather nice exchange, that.
Whoa!
He stumbled as bit as the earth shook and a loud thump sounded from behind their battle line. He turned as he heard one of his troops gasped out "Captain Komamura!"
The other captain was a mess. Komamura's fur was matted with blood, and he though could see that the large Soul Reaper's snout was misshapen in places. He had a strong urge to make a quip about the psychological issues of self-inflicted injuries, but that would just be sociopathic.
"Captain Ichimaru," Komamura said to him, the words coming out mushy and slurred. "I'll try to render him unconscious, which should force him to seal. The moment I do so I will be knocked out, as well. You won't have much support until Kaname reforms his forces."
He noted that Komamura didn't mention Zaraki, who was doing a little one-on-one with Unohana and causing all manners of problems, or Kuchiki, who seemed to have decided that formations were for the birds and was rampaging through the Arrancar outer lines.
There was a blast of wind, and Kaname appeared with a flash-step, moving quickly to Komamura. "No Sajin!" he heard the Squad Nine captain snap. "You've suffered enough damage already!"
"Kaname, it's the only way," he heard Komamura grunt. "Better that I suffer further injury than have Kokujo Tengen Myoo inflict more casualties."
Kaname didn't seem happy with that, at all, so he spoke up. "Between the three of us we should have enough juice to restrain it with kido."
The Squad Seven captain made a negative gesture. "I appreciate the gesture, Captain Ichimaru, but if the three of us are tied up with restraining my bankai, we won't be able to lead our respective squads. They're at the breaking point already. I must... No!"
Huh? He turned back to look at Komamura's bankai and...
He blinked. Kokujo Tengen Myoo had taken its massive sword in a reverse grip... and was positioning it to stab itself. The blade descended, only to stop as Komamura brushed past him and raised his sword at the towering giant.
"Obey me!" he heard the larger captain snarl. He saw Komamura's blade wavering, as if something physical was pushing against it.
Despite whatever control Captain Komamura was trying to apply to the blade, the bankai's sword continued to come inexorably closer. Damn it all. He couldn't do anything, save maybe try to slice off one of the giant's arm with his own bankai. But if he did that, the pain might break Komamura's concentration, and the other hand would finish the job.
And then Kaname charged forward. His friend made a throwing motion, and he saw the ring normally attached to the Suzumushi's guard arc up towards the giant.
"Bankai! Suzumushi Tsuishiki Enma Korogi!"
There was a glint at the ring split up and expanded, and the rings formed the framework for Kaname's dark bankai to sprout up on Kokujo Tengen Myoo's chest. The tip off the sword pressed into the black void... but didn't pierce it. He heard a grunt, and saw that Kaname seemed to be straining to maintain the integrity of the released blade.
Well now, that was an interesting facet of Kaname's cage that he hadn't known about. Next time you looked it would be able to do catering.
Hmm? He heard static coming in from the direction of the dust. He raised Shinso, settling its tip to point straight into the dust cloud kicked up by Komamura's bankai. It looked like the Arrancar weren't quite ready to withdraw yet.
"Cirucci!" Nanao roared as the Sèptima Espada charged off, leading two dozen clones and normal Arrancar. "Withdraw!"
The Hollow either didn't hear her... or didn't care. Damn it! She flipped one of Shokomaru's screens to center on the Espada. If she could get some quick, strong bakudo spells onto Cirucci she could... what? She couldn't drag the Espada back here herself. She didn't have the power for that. Ukitake was busy, too, trying to keep—a frankly out of character—Captain Kuchiki from penetrating into their flanks in a reckless charge. Most of the other Espada were mounting assaults through the hills to secure a lane of withdrawal, and it was just Luppi and Cirucci holding their flanks.
She turned to fix the Octavo Espada with a stare. The smallish Hollow returned her gaze with a shrug.
"I think if that witch wants to play patty-cake with at least three captains, I'll let her. I don't particularly feel like dying on this misbegotten, weed-encrusted battlefield. Besides, we're still not permitted to unleash Resurecciòn, are we?"
She bristled a bit at Luppi's faintly condescending tone, but, no, she didn't have the time or the energy to pick a fight with an Espada. "Correct."
"Ah, as I thought," the Espada said loftily. "I'll just hang back and wait for those Soul Reapers to come at me to die. Although I do wonder if they will or not." She saw the Arrancar point with his chin at Captain Komamura's bankai as it strained to stab itself. "I do have to wonder what that's all about it."
She wanted to think about that, too, but with a battle going on, she didn't have the apparent luxury Luppi seemed to have. A captain—or any Soul Reaper—losing control of his bankai was unprecedented. Had Komamura done something, before the battle, to somehow make his zanpakuto...
What? Pout? A zanpakuto was a manifestation of its owners power and soul. Even if a Soul Reaper had an extraordinarily Freudian argument with his zanpakuto's spirit, it would not disobey its owner on this scale. It was impossible as a person's hand choking themselves to death.
So what was it? Some bizarre ploy by the Seireitei? Was Yamamoto that insane to throw away lives away for... something? If it was some weird strategy, what purpose did it serve? Soul Reapers had died, and the Arrancar were on their way to an orderly withdrawal. What was going on?
"Ugh," she grunted to herself, "I can ponder this some other time."
She was running out of time.
Rangiku gestured, and a wall of dust from Haineko formed in a protective bubble around a Squad Six member who had been knocked to the ground, stunned. The clone Arrancar's sword rebounded from the dust-shield, but it blurred away before she could envelop it with her shikai. Darn.
Another wave of powerful reishi washed over her, and she turned her head to the east, just in time to see a swift figure kill three Soul Reapers with blindingly fast sweeps of her weird-looking sword. She sent Haineko washing out towards the Espada, but the Arrancar flashed away before the dust was even halfway there.
She bit her lip. Another three Soul Reapers down, and the Arrancar were starting to pressure them harder. In fact, the skirmishers out on the eastern approaches had been forced back twice by heavy clone attacks, though the scouts had been able to retake their positions after getting help from the line Soul Reapers.
"Here they come!" she heard someone shout.
Grimacing, she called Haineko's dust back to herself, sending it swirling around and ready to move at a moment's notice. A breeze blew up, blowing away the dirt that had been kicked up by the heavy fighting
Which showed roughly a million regular Arrancar and about eighty billion clones.
They wouldn't be able to hold back this assault, not that many of the Hollows... unless she was able to funnel them. Break their formations, let her troops gang up on the Arrancar to counteract the Menos' superior individual power. Had to do it... now!
"Haineko!" she cried jabbing hand towards the assaulting Arrancar. Her shikai's dust flowed outward towards the Hollows—so many of them!—and formed up into a swirling wall. The clones rammed into the wall, probably trying to break through, but most of them just bounced. A few did manage to bull through, but the Soul Reapers were waiting and swarmed them two or three at a time.
She felt her legs trembling. It was... so... hard to maintain this barrier. Even now more Arrancar were managed to push through, putting more pressure on her people. But she had to hold, damn it, or they were all dead.
Something flashed gold, and a portion of the dust wall exploded. Through the gap stepped a blonde Arrancar with a mask remnants that looked like a toothy jaw. That was the Espada.
Uh-oh.
She sidestepped, barely, just as the Hollow's sword tried to cut her head in half.
"Ah," she hissed, as the zanpakuto scraped along her left arm. As she stumbled to the ground she instinctively beckoned for Haineko, but stopped. She did that and nothing would stop the Arrancar from charging in at full strength.
Then again, if she didn't get her zanpakuto back her, nasty things involving a sword and her body would happen. And then the Arrancar would still be able to do as they pleased.
She gestured for her shikai to hurry its dusty butt back to her.
Too slow. The sword was already stabbing towards her heart.
Gin... she hadn't been able to... one last—
"Bakudo eighty-one, Danku!"
Clang.
She blinked. With a pop, a kido shield had formed between her and the Espada's sword, blocking it. Either the spell wasn't perfect, or the Hollow was too strong, because the kido started to crack along the point of impact. Who could have...?
"Hado thirty-one, Shakkaho!"
She heard the Arrancar growl something and blur backwards as a fireball slammed into the ground where the Espada had just been standing. With a grunt she gestured back towards the north, sending Haineko back to its shield configuration.
Something dark flashed into her field of position. Short, petite, with a hair bun and a drawn sword. Momo?
"Rangiku, are you all right?" the other girl asked her quickly.
"Been better. Then again, I could've been a lot worse," she said muzzily as she got back to her feet. Her vision sharpened as she heard a familiar booming sound. "Momo, watch out!"
"What—Nyah!"
The Espada was back again, slashing at Momo. She saw the other lieutenant deflect the attacks, barely.
"Snap, Tobiume!" Momo cried, and heated air pushed into her as Momo sent a fireball through her sword. The Espada backhanded the attack away and again struck, catching the other lieutenant's blade inside that hollowed-out section of the zanpakuto. the Espada pushed, and Momo was forced to one knee.
The Espada raised her free hand, where it began to glow and crackle with gold energy. Oh damn. Cero!
She gathered up her spiritual energy, quickly reciting an incantation. "Hado four, Byakurai!"
The lightning bolt struck the Hollow's stomach just as the Espada made a slashing motion with her glowing hand. The spell didn't do much more than spark off the Hollow's hierro, but it apparently was a good enough distraction, because the wide-arcing Cero blast was way off the mark.
Momo used that moment to ram a shoulder into the Arrancar's stomach. Momo looked a good twenty centimeters shorter, and was probably at least fifteen kilos lighter, but getting slugged in stomach by a lighting spell was a good enough distraction, it looked like.
She was readying another spell when she saw the Espada regain her balance and come at Momo again.
Or tried to. The heck?
The Hollow looked puzzled, making tugging motions with her arms.
"What is this?" the Arrancar snarled, swinging to fix Momo with a stare. "You think this trickery will stop me?"
"It's not there to stop you," Momo said calmly, making a gesture with her hands.
Her eyes widened as a... the closest thing she could think of was spiderweb, if it was huge and red, appeared. She saw that the Espada's arms and one leg were stuck fast by the strange, now-visible kido.
The Hollow stared for a moment. Then, with a grunt, the Arrancar tore her left arm free of the web.
"It's there to help me aim," she heard Momo finish. The other lieutenant raised a hand, making a grasping motion... which revealed a strand of the web-kido held tightly in Momo's left hand. Even as it appeared, she saw Momo bring Tobiume down to touch the strand.
"Tobiume, now."
Roaring, the Espada ripped her leg free...
Just as a massive explosion engulfed the kido that was restraining the Arrancar. Whoa! She brought her hands up to protect her face and rocks and soil exploded outwards, pelting her. When rocks had stopped flying, she sneaked a glance at Momo. The younger Soul Reaper looked downright exhausted.
At the same time, she heard the sound of dozens of flash-steps, and saw at least thirty fresh Soul Reapers appear around her thrown-together forces. Squad Five to save the day. Yay.
She bit back a sudden urge to giggle like a nutcase.
"Team Seven, Team Three, reinforce the main battle line. Two, move to strengthen the western flank. Five, hang back and reinforce as needed."
There was a series of gale-like sounds, and the Squad Five troopers disappeared from view.
"Wow, never seen you do that before," she said a bit woozily as she got to her feet."
Momo helped her. "What, a Fushibi net hidden by a Kyokko concealment spell, or giving commands?"
"Both."
The other lieutenant just smiled as she helped her get back to her feet. Back upright, the dizziness transformed into a truly disgusting headache. Ooh.
"Rangiku, I think I brought enough people that you can recall Haineko back from its shield duties," she heard Momo say.
"But I might as well leave it up," she countered. "Makes their job easier."
"Well, true. But I'd rather have your shikai here, since I don't think—"
She dust scattered as a pillar of yellow spiritual energy arced into the sky. The shark-masked Espada, her jacket in tatters, glared at them.
"That stung."
"—I neutralized her," Momo finished.
Cirucci Sanderwicci, Septìma Espada, rushed towards the Soul Reaper lines at an oblique angle. The Arrancar reasons that with such an approach would make her point of engagement difficult to determine, since she could divert at any moment. The twenty-seven Arrancar behind her, a mix of clones and naturally-formed Arrancar, kept in close formation. It was not the Hollow way, but Unohana's doctrine had been engrained deeply enough that they did it almost automatically.
The Espada turned suddenly, bearing down at a point where she sensed the weakest spiritual energy—and thus the easiest part to shatter. But even as the Arrancar commander moved, Captain Gin Ichimaru flash-stepped to counter her.
The two lines crashed together, Arrancar versus Soul Reaper skirmishers, and captain and Espada. The two opponents slammed together, crossing their weapons—Ichimaru's short wakizashi and Cirucci's bizarre whip-like contraption—before rebounding apart. The captain's blade exploded into its shikai form even as the Espada sent her disc-like weapon darting in from a distance. The two combatants fought from afar, fencing from several paces away all the while exchanging taunts to break the other's concentration. Ichimaru's Shinso moved far faster than Cirucci's Golondrina, but the whip-like nature of the Espada's weapon allowed her to intricately control its trajectory and speed, and more than once the Squad Three captain found himself having to quickly flash-step away as the spinning disc came lashing out from unexpected angles.
For her part, the Espada had to keep moving, something she and her long-range tactics were unaccustomed to. And, to her mounting frustration and anger, the Soul Reaper captain seemed to be better at it than she was. Ichimaru would flash in, lance out Shinso in a tentative strike, and blur away again to repeat the attacks. She was easily fending off the attacks, and her Sonìdo and sweeping lashes kept the exchange from behind one-sided, yet the tactically-inclined part of her somehow suspected that these easily avoided pinpoint strikes were simply probing her.
Without warning, a combination of a jutting stone and the glinting steel of the spearing Shinso caused Cirucci to stumble. It was but for a split second, but for a skilled, experienced captain with a swift and precise zanpakuto, it was enough. Steel flashed as Ichimaru's shikai shot forwards.
The expertly struck blow pierced the Arrancar's hierro as if it were not there, and continued undeterred into the woman's flesh, severing tendons and nerves in Cirucci's left shoulder. The stricken arm flopped limply to her side even as Shinso slithered back to its shortened form. She sent out a retaliatory blow, but the Soul Reaper had already moved away.
With his friend—and friend's friend, as it were—close to their skirmish line, Gin Ichimaru was not about to take risky chances. He would outmaneuver and out-snipe the Arrancar, bleeding her to death with as many precision strikes as he needed. He knew that the Arrancar would not enter her released state with the threat of the reishi dampeners, so this drawn-out, limited duel was exactly what he had planned.
Ichimaru, unfortunately, hadn't factored in Cirucci's inherent volatility.
As her blood pattered to the ground, rage built up within her and her vision seemed to swim as the offensiveness of her wound struck her. How dare he! With his mocking grin and facetious words. A Soul Reaper! It was intolerable, unforgivable.
With a flick of her good wrist, she called back her zanpakuto, culling her spiritual energy to her.
Face contorting in a snarl, Cirucci raised her weapons above her head.
"Rip, Golondrina!"
A sickly violet light, mixing and melding with the golden-green hue of Zaraki's and Unohana's battle, bathed the battlefield, and when it faded away the Soul Reaper was greeted by a monstrous, winged form.
With a maddened shriek, Cirucci's wings swept forward, and steel-hard pinions darted out. The captain rolled out of the way of the sudden attack, and most of the blades plowed into the battling Arrancar. Some didn't, though, and several more Soul Reapers collapsed to the bloody earth, severely wounded or dead. Ichimaru's shikai again flashed out, but it deflected off the heavy blade-feathers of the Espada. Cackling, the Arrancar pressed her attack, moving into close range where her serrated wings and lashing tail relentlessly assaulted the Soul Reaper captain.
Shuhei grunted as he pushed and forced one of the clones away. It stumbled back, but instead of thinking things through the damned thing came back up, sword drawn back.
He moved first, and one of Kazeshini's scythes tore away half of the silent Hollow's face. Beside him the combined troops of Squads Three, Seven, and Nine strained against the Arrancar attack group. If they broke past they could wreck havoc on the Soul Reapers who were still struggling to reorganize after Kokujo Tengen Myoo's attack and Tetsuzaemon's death.
He grimaced. Tetsuzaemon hadn't deserved that. No one did.
Damn it. No time for those thoughts. He had to think about the here and no—
He grunted as another Arrancar—not a clone, this time—kicked back a Squad Three soldier and pivoted to take a swing at him. He brought his arm up, and the axe-like zanpakuto clattered against his shikai's chain. He hooked his left-hand scythe over the axe's haft, twisting his body to apply enough torque.
It worked. The Arrancar stumbled as his weapon was wrenched out of line, and he split open the Hollow from navel to throat with an upward swing of the other scythe.
The Arrancar in his immediate vicinity had been eliminated, though there were several more still skirmishing with the support units along the battle line.
The third seats could handle that. He had to take a breather or he would plain collapse. He doubled over, hands on his knees, and just panted. Couldn't afford more than a couple of sec—
He almost jumped as another ringing crash sounded. He jerked his head up, and saw Captain Ichimaru trying to open the distance with the winged Arrancar. The Hollow was using her massive wings to enclose and crowd the Soul Reaper, not letting the captain open up the distance.
There was a tearing sound, and he heard Captain Ichimaru gasp in pain. Damn it! The Hollow had laid open a deep wound on the captain's shoulder. Why didn't Captain Ichimaru unleash bankai?
He frowned, turning to look at Captain Tosen and Captain Komamura, still struggling to keep Kokujo Tengen Myoo from stabbing itself... and killing the Squad Seven Captain.
He understood, now. What the two of them were doing was solely about reishi, and if was even half as difficult as he thought, the two captains needed all the concentration they could get. With two bankais and an Arrancar Resurecciòn, plus the numerous shikais of the him and the other squad members, there was enough reishi being tossed around that control would be extraordinarily difficult. One more bankai might shatter their concentration.
That meant Captain Ichimaru was thinking the same thing, and was risking serious injury to give the other captains a chance.
Izuru wasn't here. The Squad Three lieutenant was moving around the borders of Unohana's and Captain Zaraki's reishi sphere, coordinating skirmishing units so the battle squads could withdraw and regroup. No help there.
He had no business stepping in between a captain and an Espada—he still remembered what had happened last time he'd tried to take one on—but in this situation, it was all him.
Why did it always have to be him in these kind of conditions?
He sighed, but that didn't stop him from charging forward.
With the inclusion of Shuhei Hisagai into the duel between captain and Espada, the momentum began to shift. Hisagi's Kazeshini, eerily similar in unpredictability and range to the sealed Golondrina, was having a definite effect on Cirucci. Not directly, no, for even a spiritually powerful lieutenant like Hisagi was not enough to pierce a released Espada's hierro except under the most ideal circumstances. What it did accomplish, however, was give the Sèptima Espada something else to distract her and openings for Gin Ichimaru, who did not ideal conditions to wound the Espada, mere shikai or no.
Caught between two opponents, Cirucci was unable to close with either one to envelop them in her razor-studded wings.
Growing more and more frustrated, the Arrancar turned her eyes to an ideal, immobile target.
Suzumushi Tsuishiki Enma Korogi.
With a flick of wings, she sent a volley of metallic feathers at the dome that was helping keep Kokujo Tengen Myoo's blade at bay. Seeing her intentions, the Soul Reapers turned their attention to the missiles, aiming to deflect them away.
Which was when Cirucci attacked anew, sweeping a wing to slash open the lieutenant's thigh. Gasping, the younger Soul Reaper staggered to his knees. With the lieutenant out of the picture for the moment, the Espada sent her tail darting in towards the Squad Three captain. Ichimaru instinctively ducked... and missed the flying razor-feathers.
The was a loud rip as five of the feathers dug into the void of Kaname Tosen's bankai. They didn't destroy it outright.
They didn't need to.
The weakened walls could no longer resist the immense pressure of the giant's blade, and Tosen's bankai shredded apart to pieces of shadow and tumbling rings.
Feedback shock raced through Tosen as the bankai was abruptly destroyed, and some of that reishi disruption bled into the air, into Captain Sajin Komamura.
His control faltered for the barest of instants, but that was more than enough.
There was a titanic squeal of metal as the humongous sword rammed home. It drowned out the meaty impact of a phantom blade piercing flesh, and the thud as a large, armored body hit the ground.
Komamura hadn't uttered a sound as he collapsed to the earth. The giant had pierced its own massive heart, and the damage of that fatal injury sympathetically reflected onto the Squad Seven commander's body.
Sajin Komamura was dead before he hit the ground.
Nanao stared through one of Shokomaru's screens as the giant bankai mortally wounded itself and slowly toppled to the ground.
Well, that changed things quite a bit.
"Luppi," she said sharply.
"What is it now, Specialist Ise?"
"Hold the flank, but do not advance. I think we have an opening."
"Oh, you don't—"
She didn't hear the rest. She was already moving to her intelligence team with flash-step. Plus, she didn't feel like chatting with Luppi.
"Specialist Ise?" one of her operatives asked as she drew closer.
"Expedite the repacking of the equipment now," she ordered quickly. "With Komamura's bankai destroyed, we'll be free from interference for a few minutes. I'll move to the front and help Tia and Dordonii break through. Make your way there was fast as you are able."
"What about the data on the reishi-dampeners?"
She shook her head. "That's not important anymore. We have the data on the Garganta-nullifying kido that Captain Aizen used, which is far more valuable and critical to any overall strategy than the dampeners."
The Arrancar just looked at her intently. Then, "Very well, then."
"Once that is complete," she continued, "dispatch some messengers to Unohana and Ukitake. Tell them we finally have an opening."
The Hollow nodded.
Calling her shikai to her, she sealed Shokumaru before flash-stepping to the south.
"Ah!" Momo choked as the Espada backhanded her. She'd been able to get a Seki deflection spell up in time, so the blow didn't crack her skull open. It still knocked her five meters through the air where she hit the ground, hard.
She rolled... just in time to see the Hollow's blade coming at her face.
"Haineko!" she heard Rangiku yell, and dust flew in between her face and the zanpakuto. Rangiku wouldn't be able to hold!
She rolled, just as the Espada broke through the shikai and dug a furrow into the ground. She scrambled back to her feet, just when something burning hot slammed into her back, sending her through the air again.
She looked up dazedly. Ooh. That had hurt. Cero? No, it had come too quickly, without the usual charge-up that she always saw with a Cero. Bala? Had to be.
Oh. Ugh. She shook her head, trying to get her brain to right itself.
She heard a choking gasp, and turned in time to see Rangiku stumble backwards, her thigh bloodied. The Espada moved closer, sword held high.
She heaved herself to her knees and swung Tobiume, channeling her spiritual power through the blade as it arced. A fireball blasted out from her shikai towards the Arrancar, who, almost lazily, flicked it away. At least, though, the brief distraction gave Rangiku time to flash-step back.
The Espada advanced to attack again, but she sent a Sokatsui spell sizzling into the Arrancar's hip. Just like the last half-dozen times, it didn't do more than deflect off the Hollow's skin after scorching her clothing. Instinctively the Espada turned to face her, only to swing back again as Rangiku attacked once more with Haineko. She saw the other lieutenant make a slashing moment, but the ash didn't have any effect.
The Espada brushed the dust away, turning away from Rangiku to raise a hand at her. A cero...!
She started muttering the spell for a Danku shield—thank goodness Captain Aizen had taught it to her, otherwise Rangiku would be dead—but she wouldn't have enough time.
"Reign over the frosted heavens, Hyorinmaru!" she heard a familiar voice roar.
There was a crackling from above, and a wave of ice crashed into the Espada. A heartbeat later Toshiro followed. The air exploded into glinting frost and dust, and she lost track of her friend and the Hollow.
She felt more spiritual pressure, both Soul Reaper and Arrancar. Ah! She couldn't stop. Toshiro was powerful enough to match the Espada. She was incredibly worried, but she had to have confidence in Toshiro. And if she was really sensing more spiritual pressure, it meant the main battle was starting to shift this way.
She heard a gale-like noise behind her, right before familiar spiritual pressure pushed at her. Captain Aizen.
"Captain," she said," trying not to sound as tired as she really felt. "We were hit from the north by heavy Arrancar reinforcements, and the skirmish line in the eastern direction is having difficulty holding. I—"
The world tilted for a second, and she felt herself stumble upwards. Or downwards. Hard to tell. She did stop when something grabbed her shoulder and held her diagonally. Well, diagonally until it became straight again. Oh. Ouch.
"Momo, are you all right?" she heard her captain ask her quietly.
She blinked and shook her head briefly. The world stopped spinning.
"Yes sir," she said quickly. With you and Tosh—Captain Hitsugaya present, Lieutenant Matsumoto and I can shift our attention reinforcing the east while you handle the direct north." Wait a second. She was talking like this to Captain Aizen? "And, er, those are just suggestions of course. Yes."
"Which are astute and tactically sound ones," the older Soul Reaper replied. "My mobile force will move to reinforce the northern battle line while Captain Hitsugaya and myself try to take down the Espada. We passed at least two more Espada-level Arrancar moving towards here, so we can expect more trouble."
She saw her captain pause a moment as an explosion of ice and yellow energy howled out from where Toshiro and the Hollow were fighting. She saw the man turn back to her and Rangiku, who had managed to limp over to them.
"Lieutenant Hinamori, Lieutenant Matsumoto. I'm going to need you to focus your attention to the east. We cannot be flanked now. However, do not overextend. Have your units hold their positions, and I want the two of you in support roles only, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," she and Rangiku both said.
"Go." Her captain paused for a second. "And was that from the Hollow?"
Captain Aizen was looking at the side of her face, probably at where the Arrancar had walloped her. She was sure there was going to be a livid bruise for Isane and the others to treat when this was all said and done.
"It was," she said.
"I see." Her captain started to turn towards where Toshiro and the Espada were still battling fiercely. "I can't say I'm very happy with that, at all."
And then Captain Aizen flash-stepped away.
"Well, that was interesting," she heard Rangiku say.
She nodded in agreement. "Even with their reinforcements, we still have a real job in front of us." She paused when noticed Rangiku staring at her. "Um?"
The other lieutenant gave a strained smile. "Exactly what I was thinking. We had better—"
And then everything was on fire.
Gin normally thought of Kaname as a swell kind of character. A little dense when it came to anything involving wit, yes, and without a humorous bone in his body, but nonetheless a person he felt comfortable working with and calling friend.
For a second, he forgot about those aspects of Kaname Tosen.
As Captain Komamura's body slumped to the ground in a lifeless heap, he didn't see Kaname move a muscle. He didn't hear his friend make a sound.
Kaname just stood there, as the person who was—had been—competing with him for the "Kaname's Best Friend Award" spilled his blood over the churned earth.
A few hundred heartbeats passed, with the monstrous Arrancar who had effectively dealt the killing blow to Komamura cackling in front of him.
And then Kaname began walking towards the release Arrancar, calmly, as if he were taking a walk in the park.
"Kaname," he said, unsure.
"She dies," he heard Kaname say softly before his friend blurred away with flash-step.
Even as the other captain rushed forward, Suzumushi Tsuishiki Enma Korogi again sprang into existence, this time around the Hollow. He saw a ripple as Kaname passed through the dark walls and into the bankai-arena.
"You think I'm afraid of the dark, Soul Reaper?" he heard the Espada scream, the sound muted by the bankai. "Then come here! You will die just as that dog did! The pain you experience will—"
Fortunately, it seemed unlikely that he would never find out what kind of pain Kaname would go through, because there was the ugly sound of metal hitting flesh, and the Arrancar started screaming. As he watched, some of the metal feather-missiles ripped through the Suzumushi Tsuishiki Enma Korogi's walls, all the while accompanied by hacking sounds and wails.
It went on for what felt like an hour, but was probably only half a minute in reality. The Hollow's cries cut off abruptly, and a moment later Kaname's bankai split apart.
He blinked. There were... pieces spread all around Kaname. Little bits, large bits, but all very ragged bits. In one hand Kaname held Suzumushi. In the other he saw the Espada's head. As the... parts started to dissolve, Kaname dropped the disembodied head to the ground. In the moonlight, he could see that his friend was splashed in gore... and didn't seem to care.
As if on cue, a breathless Soul Reaper dropped out of the air next to him.
"Captain Ichimaru!" the trooper gasped. "Captain Aizen and Captain Hitsugaya have moved to interdict Hollow forces attempting to... retreat through the south..."
He saw the man's face turn white. Must have noticed the dead Komamura and the bloody Kaname Tosen in the damned background.
"Continue."
The unseated Soul Reaper shook himself, and went on. "Sir, Captain Aizen is requesting whatever forces you can spare to reinforce the units at the new Garganta."
He frowned. Everyone here—including himself—was injured to one degree to another, and Kaname—
"Let's go, Gin," he heard Kaname growl.
Kaname never growled.
"You know," he said to his blood-soaked friend jokingly, "you're almost starting to scare me."
Kaname starting moving south, his gait again seeming like that of a man on a stroll.
"Am I? Good."
And then Kaname flash-stepped south.
Nanao readied to hurl another kido spell through her shikai's screen as the dust cleared. Had she gotten them? If she had...
She felt her stomach turn a few more flip-flops. She'd personally killed more Soul Reapers in the past few hours than she'd ever had in her entire life. And now she might have killed two people she had called friends a month before.
She moved her hands, shifting the screens. But no. Momo had managed to deflect her kido strike with a responding attack, and the Soren Sokatsui had only hit them a glancing blow. With a motion of her hands she focused more screens upon Momo and Rangiku, all the while muttering the incantation for another spell.
Halfway through the Byakurai spell, she saw a reddish glow amid the dust. What was...
"Oh," she whispered as a fireball screamed out of the dust. Coming straight at the Shokomaru's screen like that it almost looked like it... was...
Like it was going to hit her.
She dived to the side, feeling heat raise a few blisters on her cheek as the attack sped out of her shikai's viewscreen and sailed off into the night.
What in the world had that been! Momo's attack—she'd managed to recognize the reishi of the blast as a Shakkaho spell, not one of Tobiume's signature attacks—had come in the same way her own kido attacks went out.
Shokomaru's screens were actual physical things that appeared and moved about the battlefield, acting as lenses of sorts to allow her a view of the battlefield. They were, however, invisible, and had reishi levels only slightly above ambient.
Which was apparently enough for someone like Momo to estimate with.
"Hado four, Byakurai!" she yelled, jabbing a finger at one screen. The lighting bolt arced through the screen towards the Squad Five lieutenant, who deflected it with her zanpakuto. Momo followed that up with what looked like a Sokatsui spell, which again came blazing towards one of her screens.
"Bakudo eight, Seki," she spat, and an energy field enveloped her hand, allowed her to slap away the incoming Sokatsui. She followed that with another attack spell, which Momo countered with one of her own.
She shifted another of her screens so that it had a clear view of the other lieutenant's back, then launched an Okasen spell at Momo's blind spot. Before it could hit, dust swirled up and blunted the spell. Rangiku.
Her eyes widened as the Squad Ten lieutenant sent Haineko streaming towards one of her screens. She scrambled to shift the portal out of position, but the edges of the dust simply washed over the screen and did not pass through. Hmm. Perhaps only kido was permitted through. That was useful knowledge, in any case.
She glanced off to the side at another screen, one that was monitoring the Arrancar withdrawal. Good. It looked like the fighting retreat was coming along well. In fact, some of the Hollows no immediately tied up with the rear action had pushed forward and would be engaging the main Soul Reaper skirmish line. Hmm. Cirucci wasn't there, though. No matter.
She shook her head, sending another blistering fireball toward the two other lieutenants.
Retsu didn't have much time, nor did she have many options. In a scant few seconds, she would fall unconscious because Kenpachi's chokehold was restricting blood flow to her brain. And a few moments after that, the she would die from simple strangulation.
Had to... do something... quickly.
She focused every bit of spiritual energy into her right arm, mentally reciting a simple kido spell. Kenpachi detected the shift in reishi and strengthened his own. Any spell she could throw in this weakened, disoriented state was highly unlikely to dislodge him.
So she aimed the spell at herself.
The Sho telekinetic spell rammed into her, sending both of them flying. It did not dislodge her from Kenpachi's grip, yet the disorientation from being flung through the air and the sheer unexpectedness of the attack loosened the captain's grip on her for an instant.
Instinctively, she dug her chin down into her chest, making it more difficult for the other Soul Reaper to encircle her neck again. Mind clear again, she wormed an arm in between Kenpachi's and heaved with all her might.
For a moment, nothing happened, but, slowly, she was able to loosen the chokehold.
With enough room, she dipped her head forward before jerking it back and ramming it into Kenpachi's face. The man's nose, raw from the break it had received earlier, sent excruciating pain to his brain. She felt his arms spasm instinctively, and with a twist and shove whose apparent simplicity defied its actual complexity, she broke free.
Gasping, she hit the ground hard enough to temporarily wind her. She shook it off quickly, flash-stepping to Minazuki and snatching it back up. She squared off again with the larger Soul Reaper. Kenpachi bared his teeth and drew back...
Only to be hit by a powerful kido spell that sent the captain tumbling. Frowning, she swung her gaze to where the spell had come from.
Jushiro dropped beside her, shikai in hand. The other Soul Reaper's jacket was shredded, but, thankfully, she could only see a little bleeding.
"I managed to lure Kuchiki far away enough that I was able to break away, but we don't have much time. Tia, Dordonii, and Wonderweiss are attempting to punch through, but it's not going to matter if we get bogged down enough for the captains to rally. Several of the captains have already left your area and are attempting to reinforce the Garganta blockade."
"Understood," she said. She had begun her duel with Kenpachi in order to lure in the other captains, whom she was sure had been ordered by Yamamoto to eliminate her. Between the spectacle she had created and the immense reishi outburst from herself and Kenpachi, she had diverted the Seireitei's attention from the reconnaissance group and onto herself. Now that the Soul Reapers had shifted their priorities to the Arrancar themselves there was no point in carrying on this charade.
"Retsu," she heard a voice growl.
Slowly, she turned to face the captain, who was slowly advancing towards her and Jushiro, sword gripped tightly.
She shook her head. "Goodbye for now, Kenpachi," she said. She raised her palm at the Squad Eleven captain. "Hado ninety-one, Senju Koten Taiho."
The spell battered against the shield of Kenpachi's spiritual pressure, but it was still enough force to knock the man over and give Jushiro and her some room to withdraw. She prepared to flash-step.
"Until next time," she said quietly.
Yachiru wiped her nose with her sleeve, then spat. The bloody spittle pattered to the dusty ground, looking black in the moonlight.
She leaned against the more or less intact wall of one of the houses in this part of the Rukon District and tried to catch her breath. Catch her breath. She was Yachiru! Kusajishi! She shouldn't have to need to rest to whack a couple of Arrancar.
Huh. maybe she wasn't as awesomely invincible as she though she was.
She heard footsteps. Blearily, she looked up and saw a trio of Arrancar clones stalking down the street. The bone-heads caught sight of her and silently made their way towards her.
Oh man. She looked down at the zanpakuto in her hand. She was just way too tired to maintain Kokuyoibara's shikai, so she only had the sealed blade to work with. Should be a piece of cake.
If she wasn't, you know, beaten up and exhausted as hell. Kokuyoibara felt like it weighed a ton, and she knew her spiritual pressure was flagging after the fight with Franceska and the subsequent fights with the other Arrancar.
"Oh, whatever," she said to herself as she pushed away from the wall. She bared her teeth at the Hollows. "Don't bore me."
The clones continued on towards her.
That was, until a random wall of water came out of nowhere and slammed them to the ground with bone-breaking force. The water pinned the Arrancar down for good measure, drowning them. After that was done it simply flowed away down the street.
She felt spiritual pressure, kind of familiar, but kind of not. It felt... all weird and jerky. Sort of how Kenny had been feeling lately, but, like, nine thousand times harder. But, at least whoever it was was a Soul Reaper, and she wasn't detecting anymore Arrancar.
She eased up a teensy bit as Kaien came limping out from one of the alleyways, one hand carrying a release Nejibana and the other cradling a large bundle of some kind.
The other lieutenant turned to her. "Are you all right?"
She opened her mouth to reply, then stopped. Something was wrong with Kaien's voice. Like... like it wasn't Kaien. Like it was dead.
Kaien stepped out from behind the shadows of the building, where the moonlight and fires from all the fighting gave some illumination.
She gasped. And she was freaking Yachiru. She never gasped.
Kaien's face was caked with dirt and grime, except for a couple of streaks here and there that were almost clean. She also saw that the older Soul Reaper was badly hurt. Badly enough that she had no clue how Kaien was still on his feet, much less why the guy would further damage himself like that.
Heck with it. She limped forward—man, this was going to smart in the morning—and stepped up to Kaien.
And saw that the older Soul Reaper was crying. That explained those clean spots on Kaien's face. They were where tears had washed away the dirt. And Kaien's eyes still looked... she didn't know. She didn't know how to describe it. On top of that Kaien's spiritual pressure was just a big blob of black, also something she'd never seen before.
Then she got a good look at what Kaien was holding.
It was Rukia Kuchiki. Dead.
And suddenly, so many things that had happened tonight made a bunch of sense.
"Oh, damn, Kaien," she said.
Kaien just looked back at her with those dead eyes, and said nothing.
Renji dropped to his knees as he tried—and failed—to reconstitute Hihio Zabimaru. He was too weak! Too weak to save anyone. Too weak to save Rukia.
He felt himself slam his fist into the ground in rage and grief. The anger that had been keeping him going was draining away, leaving him all burnt out and weak.
Took weak. Too weak. Too—
Then he began to weep.
Between the two of them, they had the Arrancar advance stopped.
Sosuke projected an illusion at one of the Arrancar, a blond one with Espada-level spiritual energy, just as Captain Hitsugaya moved in from the other side. Ice crackled down, but a Cero intercepted the wave of frost and vaporized it. Before he could steam could clear, he lashed out with a Haien blast. It missed, but it would have the Arrancar think twice, at least.
In any event, the Arrancar—the two confirmed Espada, and the Espada-class—were not able to simply push through. In a few moments Gin and Kaname would come to assist, and then would be able to start forcing them away from the hilly areas and into the plains, where they could surround and counterattack the Hollows.
As he prepared to flash-step forward to assist the Squad Ten captain against the blonde Hollow, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end.
Unohana.
"She's here!" he roared as he drew himself up into a ready stance.
Through the smoke and steam and dust came the rogue captain, sword drawn. Even as his blade clashed with Minazuki, he noticed that Unohana seemed the worse for wear. Zaraki's doing, most likely. He deflected Unohana's blade over to his left, at the same time projecting an illusion of himself moving forward for a quick jab. The woman's spiritual pressure was strong enough to blunt the hypnosis, but it still caused her to instinctively move to block the illusory attack. As he passed to the side, he laid open a slice to the outside of Unohana's thigh. The counterattack came back lightning fast, and he wasn't quite able to parry the strike the bit into his left bicep.
If he played his cards right, he might be able to end this. Unohana was tired and at a tactical disadvantage, trying to rush through them. It would make Unohana more prone to mistakes.
He heard a shout from a Soul Reaper who had bravely—and foolishly—gotten close enough to him and Unohana to verbally relay a message.
"Captain Aizen! Captain Hitsugaya! Ukitake and another of the Espada are engaging the eastern pickets! They can't hold!
Eastern... Momo!
It could make Unohana desperate.
"Captain Hitsugaya!" he bawled. "Reinforce the east! I'll hold here!"
He vaguely remembered the other captain snarling something before flashing off to the east. He could barely recall it because he was too occupied with keeping three powerful Arrancar from killing him. Unohana hung back and bombarded him with kido as he crossed swords with the Espada.
Luckily, between his speed, clever maneuvering to keep the Espada between himself and Unohana, and his shikai's hypnosis, he was able to prevent any serious injury to himself. By the same token, he wasn't making much headway against them, either. The Hollows were being especially cautious, since he constantly superimposing hypnotic illusions of himself over their comrades. Unohana wasn't unleashing rapid kido strikes, either.
Worst yet, he was being forced back.
A well-aimed kido attack slashed across his left arm, further injuring it. He let the spell's passing—it hadn't been a direct hit, thank goodness—momentarily disorient the Espada next to him, the mustachioed one. He hacked downwards, knocking the Hollow's zanpakuto out of alignment and giving him a deep cut across his torso. It was hardly fatal, and he had the blonde female to contend with as well, as well as the youthful blond one. He went a Sokatsui spell sizzling at the youth even as he charged at the woman. Steel clanged on steel, and with a twist he shifted the Espada's odd, hollow sword downward. He then swept upward and scraped Kokya Suigetsu across the Arrancar's shoulder. It bit through the Espada's Hierro and drew blood. Not much, but enough to make the Hollow hiss in pain and back away.
And then Unohana slammed into him.
"Ugh," he grunted as he strained against the rogue captain. She'd come barreling in from a distance, and her momentum was too great.
"Dordonii, retrieve Ukitake and the others!" she heard Unohana shout. "Tia, Wonderweiss, get our forces through the Garganta, now!"
Damn. He traded rapid blows with Unohana, who, thankfully slowed by her injuries, wasn't simply able to dominate him like she had back in Central Forty-Six. Unfortunately, Unohana still retained enough stamina to match him, even with his shikai in play.
But just how much stamina? How long could the rogue Soul Reaper last?
Well, he'd have to find out.
Isane heard Captain Hitsugaya mutter something that sounded suspiciously like a curse as the Garganta closed. A spearhead led by several Espada, Ukitake, and Unohana had bulldozed through Captain Aizen and the other forces barring the way to the Garganta. Captain Ichimaru and Captain Tosen had come too late, doing little more than cutting down some of the stragglers and the clones.
She shook her head. It had been a bloodbath, for both sides. She was getting some reports that Captain Komamura had been killed in battle, and that there were heavy casualties back in the Rukongai where an Arrancar strike force had managed to assault through the living quarters. She'd sent Hanataro off to see to the people there.
She shook herself. Daydreaming.
"Team Eleven," she heard herself call. "Move to the east and form a triage area. Team Thirteen, stabilize the critically injured and prep them for transport back to the medical facilities in the Seireitei."
Even as the troops called out affirmatives, she opened up a Tenteikura spell to Yasochika.
"Isane?" The third seat asked her. "What can I do for you?"
"Have the crash teams standing by, and have all Squad Four personnel on full standby." She heard her voice drop an octave. "It's bad, Yasochika."
The officer just stared for a moment. Then, "I'm on it. Have the seriously injured brought to... the north entrance. I'll have teams standing by to receive them."
"All right. Thank you."
She waved her hand and dispelled the kido.
She shivered a bit as she heard the cries and the moans of the many, many wounded, and winced a bit as she heard the sounds of the combat-ready Soul Reapers dispatching any of the wounded Arrancar.
So much blood and death. There was going to be a lengthy debriefing after this, and mountains of administrative work, but that was for later. Much later. Right now, she had to focus.
She walked over to where some of the Squad Four medics were trying to save the life of a badly mangled Squad Ten member. The medics moved aside to give her room.
She gathered reishi to her hands and began to assist in the healing.
NOTES UPDATED