Chapter Thirteen
Ryohime slashed a finger through the air, red light following the movement as she summoned one of the highest level kidos she could manage.
"Glory of the sky and power beneath earth," she chanted, "molded in darkness to a single form. Strike from my fingers and tear apart the world! Hado no Yonju-kyu, Kasaiinazuma!"
Red lightning flashed between her fingers, and at the final word it streaked up into the sky. A heartbeat later it struck down again, hitting her cloaked opponent with dazzling fury and branching off to hit all those around him with rapidly decreasing strength.
Ryohime winced as Herald jumped away, flexing a now-numb hand, and Lilynette's fur poofed up and sizzled. I forgot about the secondary bolts. Baka Ryohime...
Her opponent stumbled backwards, nerves fried and fully stunned from taking the brunt of the Kasaiinazuma. "Muramasa!" Ryohime cried, letting her empty Zanpakuto get pulled through reality, and Muramasa materialized right above the stunned, weak Arrancar, driving downwards with the sword he now held tightly in both hands.
That's another down.
The fight had already changed shape since they began, what felt like ages ago. Steve had taken special notice of Kurotsuchi early on, and the two had been battling intensely in their own little world ever since. The mad Hollow was sticking by Kurotsuchi, though now the crazed thing was a weapon to both sides. Steve's puppet-master power kept any enemy from getting too close, and on a surprisingly regular basis Ryohime could hear the confused and enraged screeching of the mad Hollow as it suddenly came under Steve's control.
Caro was gone. He had set his minions on them, then turned and walked back through his Garganta as if the fight was beneath him. Ryohime, her battle spirit on fire, wished she could have gone after him, but they had their hands full already with the three other minions he had left them.
It had taken the joint efforts of Herald and Lilynette, and Ryohime and Muramasa, to take down this second one, and without Muramasa's aid Erina was now fighting the last one alone. Ryohime turned to run to her aid, but stumbled in midair and nearly lost her footing. Muramasa appeared at her side, steadying her.
"That claw had some sort of poison on it, I'm sure of it," Ryohime said through gritted teeth, glancing down at her slashed leg. "Blast it all."
"Herald is going to Erina's aid," Muramasa said reassuringly, then glanced at Steve's battle behind them. "And I think Steve has his fight handled for now."
Ryohime ripped part of her robe away so she could better examine her wound. At Muramasa's words, she nodded. "Good, then..."
Her healing kido flickered weakly, and despite repeated attempts, she couldn't get it steady enough to do much good. She glanced at Muramasa apologetically. "I don't have the energy after that Kasaiinazuma for healing and shikai."
"Call me if things turn," he replied in understanding, handing her the empty Zanpakuto. A moment later he was gone, and Ryohime retreated to a nearby rooftop so she could concentrate fully on the healing kido. And, just a little, on the enemies they had remaining.
Kurotsuchi and the third hooded, masked minion. Both had displayed more cunning then the two enemies the Special Units had already dealt with, but she wasn't that concerned anymore. Ryohime's biggest worry at the beginning had been that Caro would stay and fight, and he had just walked away. She was confident that they could handle the minions he had left behind, even the monster Hollow. Especially if the others got here soon.
.
Dikayumi opened his eyes to blackness.
Welcome to death.
Dikayumi tried to summon his bow, but there was no reishi in this place, wherever it was. That, more then the darkness and more then the echoing evil voice, worried him. No reishi meant no weapons. He was helpless.
Two pinpricks of light- no, not light really, just white, appeared in the blackness. Eyes, reflecting no light but somehow still visible.
You crushed me in here, into darkness. Now it's your turn to suffocate, and my turn to run free.
"Are you Aaroniero?" asked Dikayumi defiantly. "I killed you, starved you out of existence."
You wish. Whatever consciousness that old timer used to have did, perhaps, die out, but you never confronted me. You never followed the lead of the Hollow-Humans and confront the actual darkness, you merely dealt with the... symptoms.
"You're my Hollow past, though," Dikayumi insisted. "The power from Aaroniero's life."
I am you, Quincy. And you made me what I am.
The eyes narrowed, then blinked out. The Hollow began to laugh, a familiar, dark laugh that seemed to be coming now from every direction at once, and echoing, echoing...
And you destroyed your only ally before you ever found him, along with all the others Aaroniero brought with him. Now you are truly alone, except for me!
.
Steve barely recognized Kurotsuchi; in fact at first he had been confused, totally fooled by the change of appearance. Where, long ago, the captain-level Shinigami had worn offensively copious amounts of makeup and absurd outfits with no aesthetic value, he now only had the same red and purple outfit all of Caro's minions seemed to wear.
He couldn't hide his reiatsu, though, not for long. Steve would recognize that feeling anywhere – he had had centuries (centuries he couldn't properly remember, nor had any desire to) to have it seared into his senses' memory.
And now Kurotsuchi, Syazelaporro's killer, was the enemy of Soul Society. This time it was not he, but Steve who had the good guys depending on him for victory.
That made this battle for revenge all the sweeter.
Steve's Zanpakuto, Ningyōzukai, was already released, giving him his full Arrancar-style power and form. Kurotsuchi's pet Hollow, however, was a wild creature, and its instincts were making it hard to control with his puppet-master fingers. Somehow, every time he got it too close to actually harming Kurotsuchi, the creature snapped out of Steve's control with what Steve assumed was either a surge of incredible rage or incredible fear. In this experimental monstrosity, he couldn't be sure which one it was.
Kurotsuchi, unfortunately, had no qualms this time about attacking directly, in fact he seemed interested in little else. Steve was constantly retreating, trying to get the mad Hollow in between himself and Kurotsuchi, formulating his plans.
Despite the focused nature of his power, Steve knew he was at his best against a large number of opponents, and at a distance. Take control of one enemy, then another, then another, all the time only taking enough time to force each one to attack the nearest opponent before moving on. Create confusion, conflict, and make the enemy do his work themselves.
In this battle, however, he had only a Hollow too crazy to understand what was going on, and Kurotsuchi. He couldn't control both at once, and the Hollow was faster then Kurotsuchi and, thus, more immediately dangerous. But the stupid thing wouldn't attack Kurotsuchi!
He drove it forward with a flick of his fingers, not to attack Kurotsuchi but to block him. That, at least, the Hollow could do without snapping again.
The problem was, Steve mused as he gained some distance, was that he no longer had any weapon with which to do direct harm to his opponent. He wasn't a hundred percent certain he could take out the Hollow and Kurotsuchi if he sealed his Ningyōzukai and fought with his sword alone, but as it was, puppeting the Hollow was nearly useless. He could try and snare Kurotsuchi himself, but then he'd have the Hollow to deal with. Ideally, he would like to have Kurotsuchi under his control with a released Zanpakuto, and then have him take out the Hollow, but Steve had yet to figure out how to force someone else to release their Zanpakuto while under his control.
It was an irritating problem. If only his lazy brothers would hurry up and get over here. Or Sanseki, even! Where was the Second Division officer in all this?
The Arrancar Herald and Erina were fighting released his Zanpakuto, upping the ambient pressure another few notches. The mad Hollow shook its head as if it were a cat who had just water dumped on it, then snarled as Steve yanked it around to intercept Kurotsuchi again.
Cero. If only he could make it use a cero. Again though, it wasn't something he could remotely control. He could make it go through the motions, but there was an element of mental decision to actually make it happen that he had no control over. He was a puppet-master pulling strings, not some hypnotist possessing his victims' souls.
A notion came to him.
Oh, of course. Cero. I should be able to do that, too.
He spared a hand from controlling the Hollow, just for a moment, and instinctively began charging a cero. He had practiced a few times since his "reawakening", as it were, all those months ago, but never under pressure, and never with much success.
He was confident, however, that he could do it. He wasn't like Dikayumi or Erina or Vance, his Hollow power having to live side-by-side with Quincy or Shinigami power. His power was unadulterated Hollow crammed into a human body. A cero should be easy.
There was a flicker of energy at the end of his fingertips, a spark in the air, then the cero fizzled and died. Steve tsked and tried again, only to feel his one-handed grasp on the mad Hollow snap and had to hastily return his attention to the battle.
A cero should be easy. Tch.
Something seemed rather odd about this battle, but it took a few moments for it to hit him fully. There was no chitchat, none at all. Kurotsuchi was quiet, concentrating on trying to get around his own mad Hollow to attack Steve directly instead of making smart remarks. That didn't seem to line up with what Steve remembered of his personality, though he supposed the same could possibly be said of him as well.
"You haven't released your sword," he commented, just to break the monotony of the tedious fight. "That's not very courteous of you, seeing as I have already released mine."
"Tch," Kurotsuchi replied, totally disinterested. "I don't need my sword. You've fallen, Granz, if you have to resort to hijacking my inventions to fight me."
Steve glanced in bewilderment at the mad Hollow for a moment. "In what world is getting a hold of a Vasto Lorde and driving it nuts an invention?"
Kurotsuchi shunpoed around, but Steve merely flicker his fingers, having the Hollow leap into place to block him yet again. It's just a stalemate... a boring stalemate.
"It was infinitely more complex," Kurotsuchi replied in irritation. "Considering the test subject was barely Adjuchas level at first. And then finding it proper meals... sorting through the refuse Caro sent me to find only those who'd be an asset..."
"So it's a pampered Hollow," Steve replied scornfully. "No wonder it won't attack you properly, more's the pity."
Kurotsuchi didn't reply, suddenly looking a little sullen. Steve wondered why, but a moment later he caught the subtle shift in the air and reiatsu around them. He glanced to the side, where the other battle was going on.
Or, rather, had been going on. The others' opponent was falling through the air on its last gasps of life, Erina's lance Zanpakuto speared right through its mask. Even in that short glance, Steve saw Herald and Lilynette look his way, looking ready to intervene as soon as they confirmed their own opponent was down for good.
"Tch."
"The tides are about to turn, Kurotsuchi," said Steve. "Maybe now you had better release that disgusting sword of yours..."
There was a roar as reality tore apart, and a newly formed Garganta appeared right behind Kurotsuchi, Arrarrico Caro standing in the tear. He took in the scene quietly, then shook his head in disappointment and motioned at Kurotsuchi.
"Bring Primary and come, there's been a new development in the Seireitei invasion. I'll send the First General to finish up here later."
Steve tensed, but Caro didn't seem intent on a fight. Kurotsuchi scowled and made a little noise of disgust, but motioned at the mad Hollow and turned to leave. The Hollow strained, trying to break free from Steve's invisible strings, then howled in frustration when it failed.
Caro looked at it, then at Steve.
"Let it go," he said calmly. "You wouldn't know how to use it, anyway."
"And hand you back another weapon to be used against us?" Steve retorted, tightening his control on the Hollow. "That would be extremely foolish."
"It would also be foolish to test my patience, seeing as you have betrayed the last chance of loyalty I gave you," Caro hissed, throwing back one side of his cloak and putting a hand on the hilt of his formerly hidden Zanpakuto. "Let it go, or I shall forget my other obligations for a time and crush you all now!"
His reiatsu spiked. Air shimmered and trembled from the pressure, and Steve felt it looming like storm clouds above him, deep and threatening. Almost without meaning to, he let go. The mad Hollow scampered to Caro's heels, crouching and whining under the pressure like the pitiful creature it was.
"Go," Caro snapped at Kurotsuchi, who wordless headed off through the Garganta, beckoning with a finger to make the Hollow follow. Caro continued to stand at the entrance, glowering at Steve and, behind him, the other members of the Fourteenth Division, all of whom seemed frozen under his gaze.
Time seemed to slow down as they waited, tensely, for someone to make a move. Steve was certain Caro would draw his sword, do as he threatened and fight them all. Finally, however, the storm-cloud-reiatsu passed, and Caro turned around without a word to follow Kurotsuchi into the darkness.
