Everlasting Reflections: The Moon Underwater
Arc II: Dawn of Dreams
Chapter 54: Strategy against Aizen
"Stay where you are, don't move away…" he responded to her in a low and painful voice upon sensing the upcoming danger.
"Ho! You two are still able to move… but I want the two of you to rest in peace together, inside the black coffin… Seeping crest of turbidity, arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!" Hado 90, Kurohitsugi!" Aizen murmured as he sealed both Sesshomaru and Harribel inside the deadly black structure.
"Noooo…!" Stark shouted out loud with fear and anger while Ulquiorra fell utterly speechless upon witnessing that disturbing scenario.
"Don't even think about facing him head-on now," Yang muttered to both Stark and Ulquiorra. "Do we have a choice?" Stark asked her. "If we won't face him now then he will come after us," Ulquiorra spoke in a serious tone. "Try to understand… we can resume the battle once those Shinigamis return and don't think about those two because I know them for a long time, they have survived situations worse than this," Yang spoke in order to convince them to avoid fighting Aizen while assuring them of the survival of Sesshomaru and Harribel.
On the other hand, inside the Kurohitsugi structure, both Sesshomaru and Harribel utterly trapped. Both of them were inside the protective barrier of Tensaiga and since he was on top of her thus she not only remained protected from the twisted gravity of the black coffin but also from the spear-like protrusions which were filling that empty box. He was not exactly on his fours anymore but still, there was some distance between their faces. They were able to feel each other's breaths on their faces. The drops of his blood were constantly falling on her body at different places while she was staring at his face with her eyes filled with grief and helplessness. "Why did you do it?" she whispered in an immensely sad voice.
Meanwhile, outside of the black coffin, everyone's attention was caught by the petals of cherry blossom that suddenly start to blow in the air. "If it isn't Byakuya Kuchiki…" Aizen murmured with a smile on his face. Now those pink petals began to stick on the surface of Kurohitsugi structure upon noticing which Aizen rushed towards Byakuya but all of a sudden, Kenpachi approached him with a powerful sword swing backed by his spiritual pressure along with a maniacal smile at his face. Aizen blocked his sword swing with his blade before shoving him away by using his superior power. But before he could have attacked anyone else, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Bankai fell right on top of him with all the sharp blades below the creature's neck, pointed towards him. Soon enough Mayuri, Unohana, Urahara, Ichigo, and Renji landed nearby Byakuya. Yang felt quite relieved to see them and she decided to stay in the battle.
By now the petal blades of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi had completely covered the entire structure of Kurohitsugi and on Byakuya's one command the entire black coffin disintegrated as petal-blades started to blow away from it, breaking it bit by bit. Now both Sesshomaru and Harribel got up on their feet. Sesshomaru's back was already bloodied due to the wound which he had received by Aizen's energy-burst while after getting trapped inside Kurohitsugi there were bloody wounds all over his body. "Are you alright?" Byakuya asked him. "Yes… I am," he responded. "Wow, Byakuya seems quite friendly to him," Ichigo muttered upon observing the way he asked for his wellbeing. "Yes, he and Captain are kind of alike," Renji responded to Ichigo. On the other hand, Stark and Ulquiorra were also relieved to see that both of them were at least alive if not well. "It seems that he protected her from both energy burst and Kurohitsugi," Lilynette's voice echoed out of Stark's pistol. "Yes, Lilynette… Number 3 couldn't have survived all that without him," Stark replied to her.
"He seems crazily powerful… my forearm got scorched just by clashing blades with him," Kenpachi spoke while getting up from the ground. "Be thankful to your extraordinary spiritual pressure because an average Shinigami would have turned into a fried chicken just by crossing swords with him," Mayuri said to him. "Hah!" Zaraki responded. "I hope our strategy work for him," Urahara spoke while looking towards Kurotsuchi. "Hmm… my poison to lower down his spiritual pressure and your Kido needles to repel the power of Hogyoku that you installed in my Zanpakuto, they have to survive against his powerful spiritual pressure," Kurotsuchi murmured in a serious tone.
Now entire ground started to tremble while Kurotsuchi's gigantic Bankai creature began to float in the air and move upwards upon being affected by Aizen's spiritual pressure. He appeared standing in at his place, releasing the monstrous amount of spiritual pressure without even a single bruise on his entire body. "What was that, Mayuri Kurotsuchi? Did you intend to crush me beneath your huge Bankai?" Aizen spoke to him and the next moment his Bankai creature got burst in the midair like an air balloon. Now everyone prepared themselves to face him but before the battle could have actually broken out, Yang threw a golden jewel towards Aizen and shouted to all, "now attack him, everyone!"
"Haaaah!... Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo roared while shooting his black energy wave towards Aizen after adopting the Vizard form. "Hikotsu Taiho!" Renji spoke while using one of his most powerful Bankai techniques on him. "Scream, Benihime!" Urahara muttered while shooting a destructive crimson-colored energy blast. Byakuya simply directed his Senbonzakura petal-blades towards while Kenpachi attacked with the amplified energy-slash by using the Kendo technique. Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Retsu Unohana attacked with Hado 88, Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho while Stark and Ulquiorra attacked with their respective powerful Ceros. But Sesshomaru didn't attack due to his lack of trust in Yang while he also stopped Harribel from taking part in this combined attack. For a few moments, it seemed as if their strategy proved to be successful as Aizen's spiritual pressure had started to get low drastically. Upon noticing slight chances of victory everyone intensified their respective attacks but all of a sudden, the golden jewel got burst followed by an immense explosion of Aizen's violet spiritual pressure which engulfed each and everyone present there.
Aizen himself was shaken by that explosion while its powerful force had shoved everyone away from him. Urahara, Sesshomaru, Harribel, Byakuya, and Yang were still conscious and were trying to get up on their feet. "Ha..haha… it seems your final strategy proved to be a fail," Aizen said to them. "I am feeling strange," Urahara murmured. "That attack has certainly affected us if not him," Byakuya spoke as well. "What have you done, Yang? What was that?" Sesshomaru asked her. "It seems Lord Orkos' strategy is going to be successful," Yang responded with a smile at her face, the strange feeling which these two Shinigami Captains are experiencing is the proof. "What do you mean?" Aizen asked while narrowing his eye on her and then suddenly he felt a sudden emergence of severe headache. "You are able to feel it too Aizen, don't you?" Yang spoke to him. Aizen fell on his knees due to the unbearable pain inside his head and asked her in a furious and frustrated tone, "Tell me… what you have done?"
"The jewel which I threw towards you, it is a special jewel that grows on the body of Lord Orkos. It is not actually a weapon but it possesses a very special ability, it connects the souls of two people whose energies come into contact with it. Lord Orkos amplified its ability before handing it over to me. As a result, that jewel has connected everyone's soul with yours, Aizen… you are experiencing this pain because most of them are entering your inner world right now, the world of your soul and your Zanpakuto… your inner world is being overburdened by their souls and their Zanpakutos. Lord Orkos knew that it is impossible for anyone to defeat you from outside and that's why he made a strategy to send everyone inside of you so that they can weaken you from within like a termite eats up the wood," Yang explained him everything while standing close to him.
"I see… so that was your plan," Sesshomaru murmured after listening to her words. "You two are the only ones who are conscious and connected to him… please, guide the souls of your unconscious comrades inside Aizen's inner world," Yang said to both Urahara and Byakuya after which they immediately began to meditate. "I need someone to protect their bodies while they are fighting inside of him," Yang said to both Sesshomaru and Harribel upon noticing that they were preparing themselves to battle.
To be continued…
