Chapter 48 – The Last Wall of the Castle
"Well, it seems like times up..." Ichimaru Gin said, looking up into the blank white ceiling. The empty room remained still.
"Well, this was a bust." The white haired former captain unfolded his arms from the sleeves of his hakama, and waited.
"The sanctuary has fallen," Hayato said, standing on top of a pillar, overlooking a duo traveling amongst the rubble, "And the tiny being keeping this afloat will return to his original being. One step closer to the end. One step closer to my realization...
"Now, let's see how my princess is progressing..."
The light patter of steps filled the dim hallway that Ichigo was walking through. With every step, it was becoming a lot more apparent that Aizen was hiding something in here. Couldn't be the Hōgyoku, for there would be a lot more panic in Shinigami town. The Abyss...
Walking into a wide room, Ichimaru Gin stood, his usual smirk on his face. Ichigo sighed, coming to a pause.
"Well, we meet again," Gin said, cheerfully. Ichigo grimaced.
"You seem to be in a swell mood," he said, "That's good, I suppose."
"I'm always in a good mood. It's my responsibility to keep morale high here."
"And morale is dead round these parts now, friend. Let's make this very quick. I have to get past you." Gin narrow slits opened slightly.
"Unfortunately, it seems that we have reached an impasse. You aren't getting past me unless I'm dead."
"I can make that a reality." The black spirit weapon reformed in Ichigo's right hand. Gin smirked.
"Come on, friend. Can't we talk this over? Over a cup of tea?" The red head's grip tightened on his weapon.
"Unfortunately, I can not. I need to get to Aizen. I won't let you get in my way."
"Rangiku, who was that man?" Gin asked, slightly worried. The blonde child slightly jumped, in surprise, conjured from her still. She turned to face her friend, slightly pale.
"...I-It was nothing..." Rangiku said softly, "He was a Shinigami. H-He said that he can help us..." The silver-haired child's face formed an uncharacteristic frown.
Aizen Sōsuke...He was truly an enigma. He promised aid and delivered well. He had made them Shinigami. He had given them power.
But what did he want? What did the being of light truly need? What was his truest desires? Even now, Gin probably didn't know...
"Are you sure about that? I'm sure Sōsuke ain't in the right mood to let you see him," Gin said, "I assure you." Drawing his Zanpakuto, the white haired man took a low stance, pointing the tip of the blade at Ichigo, who narrowed his eyes.
"I already know how that works," Ichigo said, calmly, "You won't be taking me by surprise again."
"Surprise? I don't need it," Gin said, as Shinsō exploded from the hilt. Ichigo narrowly sidestepped the attack, as the dagger crashed into the wall behind him, and retracted. Trying to crash the former Captain, before he could attack again, Ichigo dashed toward him, sword high. The silver haired traitor covered his retracted dagger for a brief moment, before firing it off again, catching the former substitute by surprise, and crippling his left arm. Ichigo clutched at his bloody wound, oblivious that Gin had already queued another attack. Shinsō expanded once more, and cleanly pierced the chest of the young man. The blade retracted again, and Ichigo fell to the floor, with a loud thud. Gin's smirk disappeared.
"How are you going to challenge Aizen if you can't beat me?" he asked, "Oh well. To think that you came so woefully unprepared."
"I'm not unprepared," Ichigo said, with a grin, "No, I'm just not regarding you as a threat." Slowly rising to his feet, the red-haired stared down his opponent, who grinned in response.
"I see. So that's how it is," Gin said, spinning his dagger, before stopping to point at Ichigo, "Sōsuke was right. You are an interesting one."
Suddenly, in the blink of a second, Gin was on top of the former substitute, poking furiously at his neck. Ichigo managed to evade the first volley, but a slight change in the tempo threw him off, and the former captain scored a hit, underneath the shoulder blade. Ichigo absorbed the blow, and grabbed Gin by his wrist, and flipped him over top of him, into the air. Ichigo recovered smoothly, and jumped up at the former captain, slashing at him. Gin managed to recover just in time to deflect that attack, but the next up, an open palmed strike to the gut, opened him up, and the followup, two punches and an axe kick grounded the silver haired traitor. Gin bounced off the ground, before rolling back to his feet.
Ichigo refused to lighten up on the pressure, diving at him, scarring the floor with his heavy attack, which Gin managed to avoid. Knowing the former captain's attack strategy, Ichigo threw out a Getsuga Tenshō, forcing Gin to make a decision: Avoid or defend. He chose logic and flashed stepped out of the way. Anticipating this, Ichigo lowered his Blut Arterie to buff his defenses and jumped back.
Gin also jumped back, preparing to fire Shinsō off again. However, he knew that Ichigo was predicting this, and instead spun his Zanpakutō, preparing a Kidō spell. The redhead raised his sword.
"Oi, you've gotten much better than last time. This has gotten my heart racing." Ichigo did not respond.
"Stoicism is not a very good way of hiding fear, Ichigo. I can feel it in your energy. You are not very confident in victory. That's the thoughtful approach.
"Being confident that you are going to win leads to death. It's good that you still feel that edge. The fear of defeated. The fear of death. Keeps you engaged."
"I don't fear death," Ichigo said, calmly, "What I do fear is failure. I need to do this." Gin tilted his head, in a mocking gesture.
"I don't see why? This won't matter to you."
"With the little time I have left, I need to leave knowing that I fixed something that was broken."
"Everything is broken. You'll find this out very soon. There are several different paths, with very different outcomes, some of which that you may not like. You better chose carefully."
The flash drives stopped coming, but he had gotten what he needed. The last one had confirmed that the creator of the true Hōgyoku, James Sterling, had been killed by his own creation. The Hōgyoku, lost forever.
But there were two other created. One by Urahara, and one by Aizen. But they were failures. They couldn't perform the same jobs as the original. They weren't sufficient.
Ichigo sat at his desk, staring at the documents on his laptop screen, running his left hand through his spiky locks. Where was this leading?
What did Urahara need the Hogyoku for? Why could they not recreate the Hogyoku? What was missing?
It the beginning, there was nothing. Then from that nothing, birthed light. And from the powers of a great soul, came darkness, and the soul was complete. And from the madness of another great soul, came the Abyss. Endless. Ceaseless. And destructive. It was the antithesis of both light and darkness.
Was this why the Hōgyoku was birthed? To provide absolute protection against the Abyss? It would make sense if that was the reason why Aizen needed it, but what did Urahara want with it?
"Yet another question for the shopkeeper..." Ichigo said to himself, rubbing his eyes. There had to be a reason. Urahara never did anything that wasn't going important.
Ichigo reformed his black blade in his right hand. Gin's smirk grew.
"So I see! Shame I have to end this delusion today. Tenran!" From the revolving dagger, a tornado-like blast exploded from the blade, nearing catching Ichigo off guard, who managed to dash out of the way, at the last moment. From behind him, Gin appeared, and before the former substitute could fully react to what was happening, he was struck by Shinsō again. Ichigo felt his entire right arm go completely numb.
Trying his hardest to quickly turn around and face his opponent, Ichigo instead found himself slammed into a wall, face first. He fell back, as Gin's Zanpakutō withdrew itself from his arm, retracting itself into it dagger form. Ichigo slid down the wall, leaving a thick bloodstain on it, trailing his body. The former Shinigami pushed himself back to his feet and glared at the silver haired traitor.
"Bleach, Zangetsu," he said, dragging his hand down his face, summoning forth the striped Hollow mask. Gin tilted his head, smirk not disappearing.
"Is this how you got the upper hand against Ulquiorra-san and Tousen-san? Seeing it in person makes it a lot less scary," Gin said. Ichigo inhaled, before pushing his arms out, creating a thick wave of crimson tipped energy, briefly casting the room in a brilliant red light.
"You won't be feeling that for much longer," Ichigo said. Gin took the initiative, and fired Shinsō at the former substitute again, but found that his attack was completely nullified by Ichigo's wrist.
"How did-" Gin started, as his blade retracted, before being halted mid-sentence, by a sudden kick to his midsection, something he couldn't catch up to. Ichigo prepared a Cero, but the former Captain managed to avoid it, narrowly.
Gin recovered, ready to attack once again, but Ichigo beat him to the punch, slashing him across his right arm, leaving his primary arm completely useless. However, Gin chuckled, crossing his Zanpakutō over to his left hand.
"You should know this, but the most elite of Shinigami have to be able to use both of their arms in combat. Just for a situation like this," he said, "Shoot to kill, Shinso!" The dagger expanded with the insane force that it always created, but Ichigo was easily able to avoid it, and rushed the former Captain. Ichigo swung high, trying for critical areas first, but Gin, highly skilled with the knife, defended himself well, keeping himself clean.
Ichigo knew that he had the advantage, all he needed to do was simply break through his defense. But with such a small, easily maneuverable weapon, he could easily find. his heavy claymore strikes.
But find was all he could do. Ichigo, feeling enough was enough, grabbed his sword, as it reached it's peak over his head, and slammed it down, with as much force as he could muster. Gin met the blade with his own, but that's all he could do, as he fell back, staggered. Ichigo prepared for the finishing blow, but Gin jumped into the air, and fired Shinsō once again. This time, Ichigo parried the attack, catching the blade with his, and sweeping it to the side. With one continuous motion, he spun to his side, and threw out a crimson Getsuga Tenshō. Gin hurriedly retracted his Zanpakuto, before firing it again, into the Getsuga, where the spiritual particles where the most heavily clustered. The Getsuga faded away, silently, but from where the attack was, Ichigo flew, and before any form of defense could have been raised, stuck his claymore as deep as his could into the side of the Gin. The traitor tried to attack with his own weapon, but Ichigo did not seem affected, and with another attack, severed the left hand of Gin.
Not one for letting his opponents free, Ichigo continued his attack, stabbing Gin in the chest, slamming him into the wall, before tossing the body to the ground, where it landed with a heavy, meaty thud. Gin started to raise his head but found a sword pointed at his neck.
"You were saying," Ichigo said, face full of determination. Gin smirked.
"I guess I should have been afraid. Oi, what a hypocrite I am," he said. Ichigo was not amused.
"You aren't helping your chances of me not killing you. I figured that you wouldn't beg, but to go out as sarcastic as you are is my thing."
"We're not so different," Gin said, chuckling darkly, "Besides, death isn't so scary. It was going to happen someday."
"Yes, but not today," a new voice, heavily accented, said, boots clicking with every step. Ichigo glared at the newcomer.
"Who are you?" he asked, bluntly. The man ignored him, stopping right next to the lying Gin.
"That's a rough wound, friend. But nothing a little modern medication can't fix."
"I asked you a question."
"And I choose to ignore said question," he said, but if you need to know so badly, "I am Sir Chance Stevens, 8th Head of the Lords of Death.
"Lords of Death? So you know-"
"Yes, I know Lord Mouken. I also know all about you, Kurosaki, so don't bother introducing yourself. All it is is a waste of time." Ichigo narrowed his eyes, in suspicion.
"What do you want with him?" he asked.
"That depends on he cooperates. Either way, no matter what happens here, Captain Ichimaru Gin is dead in your mind. Now leave child. Adults have work to do." Ichigo looked at Gin, who had long dropped his smirk, then back at Chance, and then turned to leave.
"Smart kid. Now, go make something of your life. Make my job easy, if you could." Ichigo paused for a moment, then continued, shaking his head.
"Now what?" Gin asked. Chance smirked, turning to the downed man.
"A little bit of revisionist history."
"The Last Wall of the Castle" by Jefferson Airplane
