Bleach - Waves and Rapids

Part IV: Hollows War Arc

Chapter 27: Our Time is Short

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and its characters, except for the OC's being introduced into the story. These characters (and Zanpakutō, if applicable) belong to me, and me only.


Anson brushed aside his presence from the chatrooms. The other Messengers have been defeated. Kai was being tended by a blue-haired woman whom mysteriously appeared in the chatroom, but Anson was not puzzled. Rosche was resting above the roof window after her battle. Soi Fon and Yamamoto had defeated both their adversaries with complicated Hakuda movements, where Yamamoto was walking over to where he dropped his Captain's haori. Ichigo was swinging his blade around before holding it in a reverse grip, while Uryū seemed to gasp heavily after using a combination of his Schrende in conjunction with Licht Regen. Anson's mind wandered, but looked up to remember his objective.

"I'm such a liar, aren't I?"

"I don't mind," Sy replied. The last Messenger was seated on the ground with crossed legs. "Besides, if you had to worry over your buddies during our fight, I would say it wouldn't have been as enjoyable." Sy stood up and pulled his scythe from his back. "Vasto Lorde... have changed since a hundred-or-so years ago."

Anson raised Jikan-Tekina Munashii and settled into a stance known as Soresu from the Star Wars franchise; his body was shifted to one side, with the sword hand back and level with his head. His other arm was stretched outward as to grab his opponent if he were to attack with a limb, or was slow with his weapon. The latter was completely out of Anson's options. "Possibly, that ever since that night nearly one-hundred years ago, the last Vasto Lorde for centuries was sealed away and so opened the Vasto Lorde physiology for their next generation?"

Sy's scythe blade crashed to the ground, slightly rupturing the ground around it. "So, you are implying that the One was the last Vasto Lorde for the last century?"

"Definitely. And that brings us to another question: what of the King of the Hollows? Is he one of the original Vasto Lorde, or is he one of the New-Era?"

Sy disappeared to Anson's side with Sonído, his scythe threatening to remove Anson's head. However, the blade was blocked by a barrier of light, but it wasn't Dankū. Sy unleashed a few more strikes, but Anson and his barrier wasn't fazed. Before long Sy retreated a small distance away. "Of course, his majesty would be very insulted."

"No doubt; but I don't plan on allowing him to live." Anson dashed forward, vaulting under the scythe as it was swung at him. He popped back up to strike at Sy's backside, but the Hollow had turned around to block with the scythe's shaft. Anson was pushed back, but he allowed the momentum to carry him as he briefly marked Sy's position with a small stream of Reiryoku. He set his feet against the wall he was thrown at and set a palm forward.

"Sōkatsui."

There was a small vacuum of energy into Anson's palm before enormous ball of blue energy erupted from it. The Hollow had noticed the obvious ball of death and had changed positions. So Anson shunpo'ed past the projectile to Sy's side to kick the Hollow into the projectile's path. However, the Hollow recovered quicker than Anson had gauged and dispersed the energy with a stroke of his scythe.

"I suppose you are saving your energy?" Sy questioned. "I'm sure you realize it will take much more than an inflated Hadō to pass me."

"If I had added the level," Anson said, "you would have to be a master sushi chef to have deflected the Sōkatsui. I merely overlooked how quickly you were able to control your aerial movements."

Leaving no time for Sy to reply, he shunpo'ed forward and began the choreographic blade dance where both combatants stood their ground. Anson's blade was deflected by a spin of Sy's weapon, but Anson carried the momentum into a spin for a direct counterattack. The blade now met the scythe blade, and Anson tilted his blade to carry the scythe out of the way. He stuck his foot out to unbalance the Hollow, whom vaulted over Anson's head and attempted a two-handed strike as he positioned himself upright. Anson rolled backward to dodge the blade, now kneeling behind Sy. Anson aimed at the Hollow's exposed back, but his sword was redirected by a well-timed kick. Anson made several back-flips to gain distance, ending in the starting stance of the Star Wars Soresu stance when finished.

A red blast of energy appeared in Anson's view and he caught the Cero with the power of his Void. He placed the exit portal between him and Sy, in which the Cero's explosion created a large smokescreen to hide his positioning. "Modified: Jinsoku Byakurai." With the aiming of his finger in the "finger-gun" gesture, Anson fired several Byakurai in rapid succession toward a congregation of small icons that seemed to move on its own accord. Anson felt all of the Byakurai hit his target, but the icons, which marked the places of contact with Anson's blade, didn't seem to falter.

The smoke from the Cero cleared, showing the brief silhouette of a larger Hollow dissipating as if slain. "Hollow Generation," Sy explained. "However, I do not approve of having those of significantly unintelligible beings doing my bidding."

"And so you use them as meat shields?"

"They are merely fragmented spirits without enough anchor to either world to form. I merely gather enough spirits to make a being, only to split them up when their purpose is served." Sy twirled his scythe, which summoned a falcon-like Hollow which dove toward Anson. "They serve both as shields and ephemeral projectiles."

Anson drew back and slapped the Hollow out of the air with the back of his hand. "Same as Lelouch vi Britannia. The results justify the means for you."

"I could easily say the same for you."

The two combatants raced toward each other, skidding to their halts as they came into the others' range. Anson lunged in with his sword to be blocked by Sy's scythe. Using the weapon as an anchor point, he back-flipped into the air and fired several Byakurai at Sy. The Hollow deftly deflected the bolts of Reiryoku by spinning his weapon about. After fending them off, Sy leapt toward Anson with his scythe at his side.

Sy fired a Bala at Anson, quickly followed by releasing a insect Hollow projectile. Anson was already wary of the Bala, and so opened up Void portals to redirect the destructive energy back at its source. The insect Hollow seemingly disappeared, but the Bala exploded as it made contact with Sy, resulting in a large plume of smoke. A few sparks flew before Sy exited the smoke cloud and watched for any movement from within it.

Not now, Sy was thinking. Now is not the time. Wait a while longer... when he would least expect it.

Anson came into Sy's vision as the cloud faded away. His hands were lifted above his head, sparking with Reiryoku. His mouth was rapidly moving, forming words. Sy immediately dashed forward toward Anson, knowing full well that any more charge to the Kidō will result in a large problem. And that was a complete understatement.

Anson grinned as Sy approached him. The scythe passed through him as if he were a hologram. "'ey, dandy-man!" came Anson's voice. "You missed." The hologram shattered into fragments and Sy was blasted by Kidō in the back. He fell to the ground, but managed to drop into a roll to minimize the impact.

"Hadō 63: Raikōhō." Anson lowered his palm as he waved the smoke away with a flick of his wrist. He looked down at Sy. "Some people fall for even the most simplest tricks."

"Even a careful person makes a mistake," Sy replied. "You seem to have improved at cloning with out the use of Gigai."

"I have been practicing." Anson twirled his sword around. "I trust you have been doing the same also?"

"Of course. It had been some time since we last met, so I would have forgotten the way you fight."

Sy and Anson charged toward each other with their weapons raised. When Anson was in his melee range, Sy swung his scythe at Anson's torso. Anson quickly formed a plane of Reishi to sidestep the blade and took advantage of the opening. He lunged forward, aiming for Sy's chest, but the Hollow managed to bat Jikan-Tekina Munashii's blade with the shaft of his scythe. Anson then kicked off of Sy's arm to make distance, then fired a Sōkatsui at Sy. At the same moment, Sy released a Cero; it collided with the Sōkatsui, resulting in a grand explosion and smoke cloud.

Anson, using the icon-targeting, fired his Jinsoku Byakurai at Sy. To counter, Sy used Hollow meat shields and returned fire with avian Hollow missiles. Anson formed a large Enkōsen barrier to maximize his defenses against the onslaught. As for covering fire, Anson formed Void portals around Sy and started projecting various earthen masses from them. He heard a few chunk sounds, followed with the sight of a smoke trail headed for the ground. Anson sniped it out of the air with a Byakurai, which turned out to be a generated Hollow.

Sy burst from the smoke cloud, positioned behind Anson with his scythe raised high. Anson raised his blade and caught the scythe in a lock. Anson then turned around and freed his sword from the lock and shunpo'ed around Sy for a strike to Sy's back. Sy then disappeared somewhere, using Sonído, as Anson swung the blade.

Anson caught Sy through the fading smoke cloud, readying a charged Cero. Anson created a hologram depicting himself charging a Sōkatsui before he shunpo'ed into a thicker portion of the smoke cloud. Sy released the Cero, and Anson jumped out with his left hand charged with Kidō. Sy raised his scythe to defend himself, and Anson brought his blade upon the scythe. Locking the blade, Anson jabbed forward with his hand and uttered, "Raikōhō!"

There was a grand explosion that flared out behind Sy, whom plummeted toward the ground. He's always somehow getting past my defenses. I need to distract him somehow... Sy clenched his scythe tighter before locating the Hollows he had summoned. That's right...

Sy dashed forward at Anson in a zig-zag pattern to evade the Jinsoku Byakurai. He leapt up at Anson and spun around to swing his scythe at him. The blades crashed in to each other, starting in another sword dance; Anson shoved Sy off of himself and went in for a lunge. Sy followed the movement in the shove and back-flipped, generating distance to evade the blade. Anson kept up the aggression by closing onto Sy and thrust his sword at pinpoint marks. Sy spun the scythe in somewhat dramatic maneuvers to bat the sword aside.

Sy then lashed forward, swinging his scythe in Anson's general direction. Anson shunpo'ed away to evade the blade and started firing Jinsoku Byakurai at Sy. Sy dashed into the hail of fire, not caring if the Byakurai tore at his cloak already. This is my chance!

Sy charged a Cero over the distance. He poured all the energy into this last blast before releasing it. It flew at a great velocity, almost that of a Bala. Anson was obviously alarmed at the size and Reiatsu-level of the Cero, and he opened up a portal to swallow the Cero and spit it out somewhere else. "Void!" Anson called.

He's doing it?! Sy wondered.

"Hadō 63: Raikōhō!" A portal opened up near his hand, and he released the Kidō through the portal. Sy felt a rush of air behind him as the exit Void portal opened in that general direction. Sy gestured at the portal as the Raikōhō blast came out of the Void tunnel. Sy used Sonído in an upward direction to leave the Kidō's path of travel... and place Anson in it.

Anson saw the blast approaching, and so dispelled the Kidō in midair by making a gesture that seemed like he was pulling away a curtain. However, in the Kidō was an insect Hollow projectile.

"Good game," Sy commented. "Well played."


Sy strode down to Anson, whom lay on the ground paralyzed. The insect projectile was the carrier of a special poison from mixing different Hollows' poisons for an instant anesthetic. In the dose Sy had stored in the insect, even an elephant would collapse immediately.

Sy gasped heavily. The battle had ended.

Bring me the head of Anson Raynes, told the voice of the Hollow King to Sy.

"In the end," Anson said, "I was too cocky."

"It is better to do more than do less," Sy replied. "Accomplishments-wise, that is. But your time ends here." Sy raised his scythe. "Until next time... Anson Raynes."

And so fell the blade of fate.