Chapter 35 – Blind Faith
Kenichi launched himself at Kiyomi. With a swift slash he aimed for Kiyomi's throat, but she ducked and stabbed back aiming for his chest. He quickly pulled back his sword and blocked with the flat side. He flicked out his sword, pushed Kiyomi back and slashed at her side. She jumped up to dodge and lunged down. Kenichi parried the attack and fired a cero. Kiyomi flash stepped out of the way and appeared behind Kenichi. She slashed but Kenichi brought his sword to his side and blocked, without turning around, and fired a second cero forcing Kiyomi back.
He vanished as soon as Kiyomi found her footing and appeared behind her. He slashed down at her. Kiyomi just found the time to block, but with such a strong force Kenichi managed to knock her sword from her hand. She quickly flash stepped away and grabbed her sword, only to be pushed back further by another attack.
Kiyomi jumped back far and held out her palm, "Hado 33, Blue Fire Crash Down!" Streams of blue lightning homed in on Kenichi and exploded on contact. Kenichi walked out of the cloud of smoke unscathed.
'Need to stay on guard. Something small like this won't even make a scratch,' thought Kiyomi, as Kenichi jumped back up to attack again.
Kiyomi blocked the head on attack and then jumped back to gain some distance, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. "God says no," whispered Kenichi and blasted her into the ground with a point blank white cero.
Kiyomi wasted no time in blowing away the dust cloud that was generated. She was relatively unscathed with only odd scratches on her haori.
Kenichi slowly descended from the sky and landed in front of Kiyomi, who instinctively jumped back.
"I think it's about time I explained my plan," said Kenichi.
"Why would you do that?" Kiyomi asked, suspicious.
"Because it would be a shame for you to die here, unable to witness my ingenious plan. So I shall tell you my brilliance before I kill you."
"You'll regret this," said Kiyomi slightly relaxing the grip on her sword.
Ignoring Kiyomi's comment, Kenichi started his explanation. "Did you know that Karakura has, on average, people with the highest spiritual energies in comparison with any other city, town or village in the world? As hollows, we feast upon this energy, and if I can feast upon all of this power, my own power will increase with no bounds, transcending above all and breaking the barrier between Hollow, Soul Reaper and Human. I will attain a new level of power. The power of God."
"Power of God?" breathed Kiyomi.
"That's right. God. It's where I belong, among the immortals. I admit that my abilities are, although close to that of a God, unfortunately not truly at that level. This is my plan, to fully ascend to where I belong." He took a moment to breathe, then stared into Kiyomi eyes. "I don't want to kill you or your precious Gotei. I only wish to be a peaceful forgiving God. But if you get in my way, then I can't be blamed for the consequences." He suddenly clapped his hands together and called out, "Utsuroshikyo!"
Kiyomi felt a huge wind whip up around them both, blowing towards Kenichi. A huge shockwave then erupted from him, and Kiyomi could only watch as the spiritual energy of every soul reaper in the real world was absorbed into Kenichi's chest.
Everyone's spiritual pressure dropped to zero as though they had died, and a cold sweat dripped down Kiyomi's forehead.
Kenichi pointed his sword at Kiyomi. "Let's fight Kiyomi. Just you and me."
Gonzen and Roaetaro sensed nothing as Ratiasu and Ketu were plunged into a thick cloud of black smoke.
"Have we won?" asked Roaetaro, peering into the smoke.
"Far from it," said Gonzen. "Get ready."
There was suddenly mumbling from inside the smoke cloud followed by a loud shout. "Let dragons roar! Dorakai!" The smoke was swept aside as a huge spiritual pressure roared from inside.
Two huge locks appeared in front of Ratiasu and Ketu. They stabbed their swords in and twisted them ninety degrees clockwise shouting, "Unlock!"
Ketu rocketed off and charged for Gonzen. Roaetaro tried to intercept Ketu but a gash suddenly appeared on her shoulder, showering the ground with blood and Ratiasu appeared behind her, fan out. Roaetaro tried to strike back but Ratiasu vanished before she could reach. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her back collar and was launched up into the air. Ratiasu appeared above Roaetaro and she felt another stinging pain as a second gash appeared on her other shoulder. She gritted her teeth and forced an arm out to fire a cero. Ratiasu quickly moved back and brushed it aside with a flick of her fan. She then raised a hand and shouted, "Hado 90, Black Coffin." Roaetaro could do nothing as she was boxed in and slashed to pieces. Her eyes closed and she fell to the ground.
Ketu raised his fist and punched at Gonzen. He raised his sword, blocked it and managed to hold his ground even though everything around him crumbled into dust.
"Your measly attacks will not harm me!" shouted Gonzen and let out a huge force to deflect Ketu's attack. Ketu let himself glide back and landed softly on the ground, before kicking off with the force of a small earthquake and launched himself at Gonzen again.
As Ketu was about to reach Gonzen, he felt an invisible force holding him back. "This is my ability, to turn anything I wish magnetic and assign a pole." Gonzen explained. "We're both North, so if you remember your physics, we will never touch! You and your friend cannot harm me."
Ketu smirked. "True, under normal circumstances two magnetic polar Norths will not touch. But what if the right force is applied?" Ratiasu suddenly appeared behind Gonzen and a huge gash appeared from his chest spurting out gallons of blood.
Ketu felt the force holding him weaken and raised his fist. He swiftly gathered up a huge amount of energy and slammed it down at Gonzen, filling the area with an explosion that was louder than any thunder and as bright as the Sun.
Ketu and Ratiasu flash stepped out of the explosion to a safe distance and watched as the blinding light slowly faded away.
But they still sensed the lingering spiritual pressures of their opponents. "They are strong. That was one of my best attacks, yet they survived. We must be careful," said Ketu, and Ratiasu nodded at him.
The two of them moved in slowly and saw the two arrancar, lying on the ground motionless. But as they stopped moving, the arrancar stirred.
Roaetaro struggled up to her feet first and stumbled about as though drunk. "Strong… too strong…" she mumbled and found her footing.
Gonzen stood up steadily next to her. "Well done. This victory is yours. But we were prepared for death, because we will be reborn in the new world. We bid you farewell. We will never meet again, for this will be our deathbed." Suddenly a huge wind came out of nowhere and Roaetaro dispersed into the air.
"But we won't leave without a parting gift," said Roaetaro's voice, emanating from everywhere around them.
Gonzen opened his mouth wide and started to suck in all the air around them.
"This isn't good," said Ketu, as he instantly sensed the danger. He grabbed onto Ratiasu's shoulder and dragged her back immediately. But it was too late.
Gonzen's body glowed red and he released a huge cero from his mouth. As it left his body it came into contact with his flesh, which melted away instantly and the rest of his body soon followed. The flesh coloured liquid dripped onto the ground sliding off his crackling bones. They broke apart and disintegrated into the wind.
"Tch, I won't let this hurt me! Hado 98, Draco Lance." Ketu fired a concentrated beam straight into the cero and another devastating explosion followed.
Karral watched as the powerful hado approached and smirked to himself. "The hand which strikes, also blocks." He took a stance with both hands outstretched in front of him one in front of the other. As the attack was about to hit, he moved the hand closer to him up in a swift motion, erecting a huge wall earth in front of him which blocked the attack. With his other hand, he flicked it back and the wall parted from the ground, forming a lance shaped object above him. "Try this on for size," he shouted, and threw it at Hina.
"You plan to attack me with clumps of mud? You underestimate me." Hina raised a palm and blasted the rock lance with a blast of cero.
But the shattered pieces of rock stayed in mid air, lengthened out and sharpened. "A tortoise's bite is ferocious and deadly, if you don't watch yourself you'll die in seconds. There's a reason why I have a reticle in my eye, so don't underestimate me." He closed one eye and looked through the reticle.
Hina sensed Karral's power and jumped away quickly. It was too late. The rock pieces shot after her with a burst of speed. She fired a cero again, but only managed to knock down a few and the rest pierced through her body like needles through paper.
She plummeted out of the sky and landed with a thud. Karral tread warily forwards as he felt no decrease in Hina's spiritual pressure. Suddenly, Hina floated up right like a ghost and stretched her arms. "Super regeneration is a trait of us hollow, is it not?"
"I expected as much. This wouldn't be much of a fight if you died from just that. And I'm surprised you've kept your mask on for such a long time. Maybe you are one of us, I can definitely feel more hollow powers."
"What does it matter what I am? I am on the side of good that's all. And good will always triumph."
"Naïve, utterly naïve. What use is good and bad when the world itself will be destroyed and recreated? There'll only be what's left and we will be the rulers. What are we then? Good? Bad? No, we will be Gods."
"Gods? And you call me naïve. The power of God is not to be taken lightly. Do you think you can handle being a God? I don't think you can comprehend the power of a God. My powers are nothing in front of a God, but I doubt you stand a chance. This is a power I can only use when my mask is on. A true power that breaks the wall of soul reapers and hollow. If you want to feel a tiny fraction of God's power, then this is it."
"You sound like you know something, I hope this isn't all talk."
Hina sneered at him, "This is way more than talk. Bankai!" The comet above them cracked and parts exploded, showering the earth with large chunks of debris. "This is your countdown to death. In exactly 3 minutes that comet will hit and wipe out all life it comes in contact with. This isn't something you can escape."
"Three minutes? But if I can kill the caster in that time, then that will be that."
Hina laughed, "I like the way you think, and I'd like to see you try."
Karral spat on the ground, flexed his arms and stepped forwards into a stance again. "I've been looking for a challenge. You'll be perfect."
Hina made her move. She quickly rushed forwards and fired off a Hado 4. Karral stamped down, shattering the ground around him and erecting a huge rock wall in front of him. He moved his right arm in an arc and the wall detached from the ground, his left arm followed with a forward motion as he sent it straight at Hina.
Hina stopped moving and blasted the wall apart with a cero. Karral raised both hands slowly, feeling the small tremor in the earth, before clapping them together. A huge shockwave as strong as a fierce earthquake shook the ground and forced Hina to jump.
Karral moved his right arm again and sliced diagonally up sending pillars of earth at Hina. She span in mid air to dodge them and fired a Hado 33 back. Karral swiped his left arm in front of him, summoning up a wall of rock to block the attack, and he punched forwards with his right arm to send the wall at Hina.
A cero blasted through the wall and Hina landed on the ground, as Karral made a dash forwards. Hina fired a cero at him and Karral closed one eye to aim through his reticle. He waited for the last second and span in a large arc to dodge, before landing again and slamming his fist into ground. An unprepared Hina was sent flying as the ground underneath her shot up and threw her off. He punched out with his other hand and fired huge boulders at Hina. She reacted in time and dived straight down at Karral to dodge them.
She flash stepped behind Karral and slashed at his neck. Karral ducked almost naturally, jumped away and slashed upwards blasting three pillars of earth into Hina's side. Droplets of blood came out of her mouth when she crashed into the ground.
Karral quickly followed up and the ground underneath Hina shot up, sending her into the air. Karral jumped up and appeared next to Hina. "You are indeed far away from God. Too far." He fired a point blank range cero and she flew further up into the air.
A crack formed on the edge of Hina's mask, but she still managed to sneer at Karral. "Your time's up." As Karral suddenly sensed the heat, he instinctively turned to the comet and Hina struck during that opening. "Bakudo 63, Locking Bondage Stripes." A long golden chain snaked out of Hina's hand and wrapped itself tightly around Karral's body.
"What's this?" he shouted, but couldn't break free.
"Your deathbed!" shouted Hina, as she soared away into the distance.
Karral could only watch and scream as the heated rock from the comet rammed into his tiny body. He felt it tear at his flesh and soon enough, he felt nothing. The force of the comet pushed Hina further away until she crashed into the ground far away.
Her mask shattered and dissolved away. She found the strength to smirk and sighed "The power of a God, huh?" before closing her eyes.
This has indeed been too long. I sincerely apologise for the extremely long delay of the finale of the fanfic. I have been extremely busy the past few months with many things such as job hunting, university project work, revision, exams etc, last year at university isn't something to laugh at I'll tell you that now. However you'll be pleased to know that I have finally returned to fanfic writing and am on my way to finishing this long fanfic of mine. I'm not sure when the next chapter will arrive, but you definitely won't have to wait as long as you did for this one. Apologies again and thank you for waiting.