Chapter 35: Climax
"Complete it, Prueba. "Elvira said the name of her zanpakuto in a low aggravated voice, and a small explosion occurred around her, hiding her in a cloud of sand.
Within that cloud of sand, Elvira underwent her Resurreccion. Her reiatsu skyrocketed at the release of her true form. Ken squinted his eyes to try and see her new form.
It was then he saw one of Elvira's hand stretch from the dust cloud and with a single movement blow it all away from her. Her fingernails had stretched and developed an almost knife-like appearance. Her skin seemed to darken in a way that made her look older. Her black hair that was in ponytails had for some reason been given a rough cut at the base of her neck and she now had scars across her face. And to top it off her partial hollow mask had been partly restored so than edges now ran down the sides of her face and ended at the corners of her mouth, making it look strangely like an incomplete helmet.
This was Elvira's true form, and her true power was just about to be displayed. Elvira clutched both her hands as if trying to crush something, and then her reiatsu could be seen condensing. Immediately after, what was most likely her cero being concentrated into the form of a blade appeared in both her hands, giving her the look of a sword fighter one would expect to see in medieval fiction.
"So, what do you think of my true form?" Elvira asked with an expression saying this would no longer be a challenge. "Actually, don't answer that. I don't feel like hearing your freaking voice again." And at this comment, Elvira swung one of her two cero blades upward in Ken's direction. However, instead of creating some form of shockwave as one might have expected one to make after a mega power-up, Elvira actually stretched the end of her sword to accommodate the distance between her and Ken so that her blade would cut off his head.
Taken slightly by surprise it took Ken a second longer to respond; but he vanished from sight and Elvira's attack missed. However she did not look surprised in the slightest and knew for a fact Ken was already behind her, swinging his sword down with weight behind the attack.
As a defense, Elvira concentrated her reiatsu at her back to form a makeshift shield that almost perfectly block the attack, although the attack did crack it to the point a second strike would do more than break through it.
But Elvira didn't give Ken that chance, and turned quickly around and sword her second cero sword at him, forcing him to jump away. "Why you," Ken muttered as he made to attack again.
However before he could move Elvira had already jumped up to him. "I thought I said I didn't want to hear your voice again!" She screamed at Ken, sounding truly pissed off just because Ken had spoken.
Elvira swung one of her cero blades at Ken from the side. Ken reacted and swung his Bankai to block the attack. But then Elvira shrunk back her other blade and swung it at Ken's other side. Ken reacted Shunpoed away again.
Dang it, she's not letting up for even a second. The moment I shift for speed she's already on top of me, but the moment I could counterattack using power she attacks me with her second blade, so I'm forced to make a hasty shift to speed just to dodge. Ken thought this as he prepared to attack.
However, just as he expected, Elvira made a leap forward and swung down one of her cero blades on top of him, forcing him to block instead. Then Elvira stabbed her second sword at Ken, forcing him to retreat. This is too much, I need to change strategies. Maybe instead of trying to go on an offensive, I should wait for her next attack and counter while I'm ready. Ken thought this and held his ground. However this time Elvira made no attempt to attack. Immediately Ken realized that the plan he just came up with was the one she was already using. It wasn't that she was rushing around so fast in an attempt to hit him, but that she was focusing on when he was about to strike, and exploited the hole left open at that moment to strike herself.
"All of this… just from your Resurreccion?" Ken questioned.
"Please don't make me say it again." Elvira growled. "I don't want to hear your voice again!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and held up one of her cero blades and had it extend forward at Ken.
Ken instinctively jumped to the side and avoided it, but then had to Shunpo to the side as Elvira extended her second blade. It was only now Ken realized why Elvira seemed this much stronger. True a lot of it was from the Resurreccion; but now that he heard her say it a third time, he realized the reason she was doing so well all of a sudden was coming from her anger.
Because He had said she didn't deserve her rank she had become infuriated to such an extant it actually affected her overall performance in battle. However his realization brought forth a question. Why would the sentence- 'you don't deserve your rank' make her so angry when it came from an enemy? If it had been a comrade, it could be understandable, as a comrade should be able to understand the extant of her power. But from an enemy it was just a view from someone who hadn't seen her true power or even the strength of those ranked below or above her, so it shouldn't mean that much to her.
Ken spoke. "Why/"
"Shut up!" Elvira immediately screamed and swung both of her extended cero blades at Ken from both sides.
Then Ken Shunpoed up close to Elvira to get inside her attack, stabbing forward and making her have to jump back to dodge it and she shortened her blades again. However Ken didn't even waste a second to run forward at Elvira and swing his sword at her again, forcing her to block. And with this the two of them had been launched into a close combat sword fight where whichever one of them connected their attack first would be given the advantage.
"Why do you care so much about what I said?" Ken asked while continuing their battle as he swung his blade down, which Elvira put one of her swords up to block, then stabbed with the other; but then Ken brought down his sword quickly to push it away.
"Because," Elvira began as she blocked Ken's next strike. "Someone like you has no right to tell me I don't deserve my rank! You, who's been hiding away in a place no one can challenge him for most of his life while I've only had that luxury for a couple months is in no way position to tell me I'm not strong enough after everything I've been though!" Elvira swung down her two swords on Ken hard, but he put his Bankai up and held them back.
"That's not good enough." Ken said. "What do you mean 'everything you've been though'? Just what did you have to deal with that makes me someone who can't judge you?" He asked and pushed Elvira's blades away and Shunpoed behind her, slashing her from the side, but she swung her blades to hand at her side and block the attack, pushing him away.
"Because of my ability, I ended up with a constant wave of other hollows attacking me. And of course there was only one thing I could do, beat each and every one of them until no one challenged me." Elvira told Ken and stabbed forward with one of her cero blades, which he blocked and countered, but was also blocked. "I've had to spend my whole life in almost none-stop combat and a fight for my life while you've gotten to loft around as much as you want with no risk coming to you life. That right there is what I mean when I say someone like you doesn't have the right to judge someone like me." She said and pushed Ken away. There isn't anyone with the right to judge me.
"I see, if that's the case, then I'll stop holding back." And at those words Elvira went wide-eyed. Ken positioned his free hand over his face and slowly dragged it down to put on his hollow mask. His mask was plain and had no sort of design on it at all. But somehow the simplicity of the mask made it seem more deadly as Ken's reiatsu rose. "So then, are you ready for the climax of this battle to finally begin?" Ken asked and raised his Bankai; making his final challenge to the first real opponent he'd had in centuries.
Where Akane had defeated Beatriz and then fell herself, Keade suddenly appeared in a rush to help her friend who had fallen so near death. Keade's kido was strongest of anyone in the Royal Guard, and could even compete with Ronnin's. Her healing Kido was even more so; if anyone could save Akane at this point- she could.
"Come on Akane, hang in there." Keade said and began the treatment, but had barely gotten started when a weak voice spoke to her.
"You're her companion right?" Keade was scared senseless at the voice but did not stop the healing process. She turned her head slowly in fear to the source of the voice, which is what had truly frightened her. Where there should have been a lifeless corps, Beatriz lied on the ground, holes in her body that should have easily killed her in a second; yet still she breathed and spoke. "Let me put your mind at ease there's no way I'll live though this." Beatriz assured Keade. "I'm just keeping myself alive by absorbing the leftover reiatsu in Akane's blood at a constant rate." She explained. "I was hoping one of you from the Royal Guard would come."
"W-why…" Keade breathed out.
"This may sound ridiculous coming from a hollow, but I've grown to respect Akane." Beatriz answered. "So I wanted to give you people of the Royal Guard a warning concerning your 'King'."
When Beatriz said this, Keade became even more paralyzed than before, almost breaking her focus on healing Akane. "What do you mean, a warning concerning Ronnin?"
"My ability allows me to absorb reiatsu and then from that reiatsu I can tell what kind of abilities my opponents use and what their adept at. But more than that I can get a feel for what a person is like based on their reiatsu." Beatriz explained. "When I was figuring out which one of you to attack, I took a sample of all your reiatsu, including your King. I just thought you might like to know what my first impression was."
"What are you talking about? Ronnin is a great person!" Keade argued.
"Is he really?" Beatriz questioned. "In all the time you've known him, has he ever been found to be hiding important information? Or perhaps seem to have a hidden agenda?" She asked.
"What makes you get that sort of impression?" Keade asked, avoiding the question.
"Because that's exactly the sort of impression I got when I first meet Sosuke Aizen. And your King's reiatsu had almost the exact same feel to it." Beatriz informed Keade.
Keade gasped at this view-changing information. Ronnin Jogi, the person she was willing to lay down her life for, was similar to Sosuke Aizen, their worst enemy.