He stepped right, making his giant Bankai block the Bala meant for Ikkaku before slamming his sword down onto the street to smash her.
Hmm...that's odd. I didn't think she'd be a passive fighter after what she's done. He watched Emilou dodge his attack and stand in the sky above him. Why is she targeting Ikkaku? Did he personally offend her or is it just because he is weak? I'll have to see if she acknowledges another "challenge." Or is she just that fixated on Madarame?
Pulling his sword up to smack her she decided to run on the back of the blade itself and rushed either for him or his Bankai, he couldn't tell. His Bankai, Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō was a somewhat peculiar thing. Upon releasing a Zanpakutō you became stronger, your Spirit Energy tripling, giant constructs don't hamper that at all as evidenced by both himself and Mayuri.
Mayuri also summoned a giant creature with his Bankai, but unlike his Mayuri's Bankai was quite weak when you compared their Spiritual Pressures. Pitiful, even. Komamura wasn't quite sure why that was, but the end result was that Mayuri and his Bankai were two different entities.
One could crush the other and still have a healthy Captain waiting to finish the job. Not the case for Komamura. An attack on either would hurt the both of them.
One might say he was as strong as he was brittle.
Some even called it as slow as a Gillian.
In truth the comments made him quite sad. It revealed that ignorance was a hard thing to get rid of, hard to get people to see what was underneath the exterior. It's why he knew there were very few evil people were actually here.
Though the main takeaway was that the reason his Bankai was so slow was because he was measuring the distance and performing what the younger recruits called "mindgames." For in truth his Bankai was as fast as he was, so he punched her off the back of his blade and into rows of buildings.
Understandably there was nought but silence.
"Sir! That was amazing!"
"It was nothing Tetsuzaemon, she'll be back soon, so keep charging your Bankai Ikkaku." Just try not to think of how much Yamamoto will chew you out for this. Though in the end I know you'll recognise the Head Captain is right.
His formally downed opponent fired a Cero from the rubble she was under at him, making him tilt his blade so that Tengen would reflect it. Stabbing at her yielded no results either as she got away and pelted his Bankai with Balas, the numerous impacts like firm pats against his body.
To explain his Bankai in layman's terms, unlike Mayuri he got twice the power where Mayuri got twice the abilities. Tengen was like having a stronger, more durable Captain shadow his every movement.
As she swiped at her again she tried to kick his blade down only to fail to even budge it, knocked off balance by her own attempt she was quick to flee towards the flat of Tengen's blade. She doesn't believe she can dodge me, that or she wants me to hit her. Obliging her he swatted at her only for her to charge a red Cero, a move that didn't make any sense until he saw Ikkaku was in the way of his fist, having already tried to stop her. Stopping himself mid-swing all he could do was watch as Ikkaku barely managed to block thanks to his fist distracting him.
Thankfully Ikkaku managed to put up a good block, though that might not be enough, he now had burns across his entire body on top of the bruises. Surely he'd be flinching constantly from the pain, but Ikkaku actually seemed unfazed as he danced across Tengen's blade with the Espada, creating an entrancing display of swordsmanship.
His three part Zanpakutō against the twisted metal in her hands, it was a short and primitive thing, impossible for a rational mind to wield or even describe. The best way to describe it was as a short sword with multiple daggers sticking out and bent in random places, it'd be better to call them random growths or bladed tumors than daggers really.
It was clearly some sort of African weapon, a mambele perhaps?
Shoving the thought out of his mind he tilted his sword, putting the Espada off balance for Ikkaku. She seemed to know that too as she threw her Zanpakutō at his legs as he ran at her only for him to jump over it, a look of irritation overcame her as she pelted him with her Balas, but Ikkaku was able to block that and get in even closer, though if Komamura's eyes didn't betray him he did see him buckle from the attacks.
If that was the case then Ikkaku was going to die unless he did something.
Komamura stopped his train of thought to block her returning Zanpakutō from stabbing Ikkaku in the back.
It still tumbled it's way into her hands however thanks to Ikkaku. The Soul Reaper standing there and letting her arm herself again followed by a quick transaction of words.
It was proper for Ikkaku to try and impart his own philosophy and that of his squad, dying was meaningless if you betrayed who you are. But the dialogue only served to enrage the Espada further. But then she sheathed her sword.
She's disrespecting him with mere sadism, she does not value him as a warrior at all, she'll do her best to trample over his dignity. Ikkaku's friends typically wouldn't care overly much that he died, for he would have died a warriors death, but now...
Ikkaku swung each piece of his massive Zanpakutō against her only for the two giant spades to get deflected with her knuckles. It was just as he feared.
If wasn't that Ikkaku didn't have Hierro that made him doubt the Seated Officer's chances, it wasn't even that he was entering another battle badly weakened, it was just that Ikkaku was still too weak. Even Bankai hadn't raised Ikkaku's spiritual pressure enough to really stand a chance against her. He could tell that the moment Ikkaku flinched under her rain of Balas.
But still Ikkaku kept fighting her despite getting pummeled, her fists seeking out old bruises to pound or new ones to make as his two giant spades failed to find any real purchase. As she lay into a side in his chest he swung a spade into her unguarded side, slicing through both the cloth and skin but they were only ever superficial wounds. It was clear those two spades weren't going to do anything.
And yet he still fought on to Emilou's visible consternation.
Strangle To Death! Anaconda!
"Get the hell out of my face you little shit!" She swiped away one of his spades and gut punched him with the same fist. "Can't you see you can't hurt me?!" She damn near backhanded him off this Bankai's blade, though she kind of meant to take his jaw.
He screamed and hollered as he recovered bringing his weapons against her. Grinding her teeth together she held a hand out and stopped his Zanpakutō with one hand, but even then the dumb bastard didn't stop. Bringing his other spade to the fore he thrust it against her other shoulder. The impacts split her skin.
"I am Ikkaku Madarame! Now tell me your name!" His crazed grin irritated her enough that her Spiritual Pressure was rising to the point his Bankai was slowly cracking in her hand.
"It's Emilou Apacci you annoying bastard! And I am the Red Rider!" She tilted her neck to show the bold, stylised number four on her collarbone.
The moment he saw that he grinned manically, a light shining in his eyes as he saw opportunity. As he saw a defenceless neck, and when she put her other hand up to grab the giant spade in her shoulder his mania increased.
"That's great! You should know the name of the one who killed you!" He roared as he put his all into this attack, holding her arms in place as he...turned his head around?
So dumbfounded was she that she didn't react when he bit down onto the handle of the guillotine at his back.
By the time she realised what he was doing he was already about to cut right into her face. The last thing Ikkaku saw of her was her wide eyes before his Zanpakutō came crashing down on her head.
It was still for a moment. Komamura's Bankai repositioning it's blade in the meantime.
Turning his Bankai to the side his shocked gaze met her wide, incredulous eyes. He stared at his guillotine where it met the remains of her Hollow Mask, bewildered by the lack of a single scratch.
"I can't believe you thought that would work."
"I can't believe it didn't." He replied.
She gently grabbed his arm and moved him into the way of Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's Blade, which bisected him at the hip.
And so Ikkaku died at the hands of Komamura, having cut him in half by assuming he could dodge, not having seen Emilou grab Ikkaku. Screams of pain and rage rang out as Emilou and her meatshield were blown away, obscene streams of gore leaving a trail like that of a comet. Blood and organs were falling from the sky.
No combatant missed it, all looking over in horror or shock except for Baraggan. All saw his shattered bones decorate the asphalt as torn skin slapped against the road, leaving splats of blood with each impact as his intestines were unraveling in midair.
Ikkaku's fellow Lieutenants fell to their knees in horror, hearts leaping to their throats as they regarded the other Espada with renewed fear, only Izuru recognised the tragedy for what it was. An accident from Komamura, he also knew that this tragedy actually had a silver lining, having noticed what no other Lieutenant did. That he also hit the enemy.
Walking over to her Komamura silently towered over her, visibly angry at her as he looked down at her broken form.
She glared up at him from the road, her hip shattered beyond belief, the countless fragments digging deep into her, deep enough they almost reached her spine.
"IKKAKU!" Izuru winced and regarded Yumichika's form flying over to Ikkaku. Those two were thick as thieves, so Izuru knew he was a changed man with the death of his best friend. He could envision Yumichika asking Izuru why he didn't kill Emilou when she was just an Adjuchas. He was wondering the same thing.
Izuru felt a crippling amount of guilt well up from within for having failed to kill Emilou and then sedating Yumichika when he first tried to help Ikkaku. There was no two ways about it, Izuru was responsible for Ikkaku's death.
Komamura glared at her. "Do you have any last words Espada?"
"Last words?! Like I'd die in this dump!" Apacci moved in frustration, making her wince and scream.
"Give up Espada, surely you're not stupid enough to think you can win sitting down can you? Surrender, so that you and your friends don't have to die here."
"You bastard...you dare insult us!? You dare insult Her Majesty!? Now I'm beginning to wish I had that meathead's ability, because I am pissed!" She struggled to stand up, piercing the road with her fingers to help her stand as she tried to remember the name of the guy she was talking about, the tenth Espada. Yammy Lardass? "I will not disgrace her! Not even if it cost me my life! You had better be prepared for this!" She unsheathed her Zanpakutō and put it to her Hollow Mask.
"Thrust!-" A victorious scream rang out from down the street as Ikkaku's Bankai smashed into her hip ripping an unholy scream of rage from her as she stared at the bastard. "YOU!"
Ikkaku was there, his arm extended and held up by his friend Yumichika. "Me..." He was barely audible, his blood pouring from his mouth and lower half.
"You don't even have a lower body!" She double checked just to make, and yes, he was missing his legs. "Isn't your shitty Bankai supposed to be gone when you're half dead, or is it as defective as you?!"
"Don't know, don't care...all I know is that the both of us are broken." His head slowly listed backwards as the remains of his Bankai slowly turned to dust.
He was dead, turning to Komamura she just realized his sword was at her neck.
"His final act was a meaningful one, and though I respect you for not wanting to disgrace your leader, I must force your surrender even though I hold the same values. The Head Captain has done me a great justice, so I don't wish to fail him nor Ikkaku Madarame." It vaguely amused him that her response was to growl, but he quickly quashed the feeling, slightly disgusted at himself for that.
And then he turned towards his fellow Captains in concern.
One of the Espadas had just released their Zanpakutō.
Emilou didn't think twice, she saw his distracted state and pounced on it. "Thrust!-" Komamura drew blood. "Cierva!" He resumed the cut, but Emilou dropped her to the ground, so instead of a slit throat he was cutting though her mouth. Which is when he made an uncomfortable discovery.
His either didn't have the momentum or the strength to cut through her teeth.
Her Zanpakutō melted into her Hollow Mask as her Spiritual Pressure rose dramatically. If the blood loss didn't kill Ikkaku then her Resurrección sure would. Violent rivers of red Spirit Energy burst in every direction, even through the ground, her Resurrección was like a frag grenade, and at the epicenter of it only two people remained. Yumichika and Ikkaku having been blown away into the distance by the force of her new power.
"Guess I should be impressed you didn't die then and there..." Red steam enveloped her form as she slowly stood up. "Though I gotta say, it made me pretty angry that you made that big bastard step on me!" The steam blew away in the face of her anger, her new form finally revealed to the world. Both of her eyes were brown now, with red lighting patterned tattoos, her uniform and Zanpakutō were gone now, replaced by dark brown fur and bangles made of bones. But the greatest change was the giant thorny antlers.
Her Hollow Mask had turned into an impressive pair of antlers, they were like an Elk's, if far more demonic. Komamura wasn't an expert when it came to deers, but he knew there shouldn't be so many points or dagger sized thorns, all he knew was that the scariest thing about them was the blood dripping down from the ends of her antlers.
Yes...he tried to protect himself and stifle her transformation by stepping on her with his Bankai, but instead blood was dripping from their foot. He had to be careful so that she wouldn't know attacking him or his Bankai also hurt the other.
The downside of being as one with his Zanpakutō made it so that the other took damage, the advantage was that he'd never end up like Ikkaku. Ikkaku's Bankai wasn't as strong as it shouldn't have been, and the fault for that clearly wasn't it's wielder. No, it was that Ikkaku's Bankai broke.
To damage a Bankai left irreparable damage though it was made whole again by an ally in the Twelfth Division it would never be the same, it was forever dull, it's power diminished. Komamura's on the other hand would never break, never dull, but they would share each others wounds in return for that boon.
"Can you truly blame me for making sure Ikkaku's sacrifice wasn't in vain? For his dignity I shall make sure nothing he's done has been for nought, and bring vengeance to him."
"Revenge huh? I thought you were a friend of that bastard Tōsen."
"Yes, I am." He spoke wistfully. "I would share his burdens so that he would find the justice he talked about rather than sink into mere revenge, but clearly myself and his Lieutenant Shuhei Hisagi have failed him. But we will not do so again, I shall hold nothing back anymore. Now that I have forsaken my mask I wholeheartedly believe that the other Captains shall become my friends too, those bonds you share with those three are quite precious after all."
When he opened his eyes again she was stunned by the lack of anger in them, looking at him now made her a little nostalgic. Like she was looking at Harribel...
That comparison made her pretty damn angry since Harribel was a beautiful woman! Not some furry mut!
"Precious doesn't even begin to describe it!-" Komamura thrust his hand out to Yumichika, snuffing out whatever the grief ridden squad member was about to say. Probably some crappy Kidō spell or spout some lame threat.
"No Yumichika, speak no evil. Ikkaku died doing what he loved, and though I didn't know him well I believe he wouldn't bother with base threats against what another person treasures the most. Ikkaku fought for fun, for freedom, not because he wants to win like Captain Shunsui Kyōraku does. Though your care is a wonderful thing do not let it tarnish him." He turned back to her, politely ignoring her gobsmacked expression.
"What the hell?" She shook her head. "Whatever, I just gotta get back to them, and to do that I gotta get through you. You ready?"
Waiting for him to nod was the kindest thing she had ever done for an opponent. So when he did she tilted her head down, red lights from every point on her antlers were swelling in size.
"Puñalada Cero."
It was as if she released her Zanpakutō again except it was far more deadlier this time, instead of a wild frag grenade it was like a shotgun, and in his panic he moved his Bankai's leg forward again to protect him only to start catching light burns and bruises from it.
As terrible as it was he would have to try block all of them with his blade next time.
That was when he saw a most frightful development, her Ceros were stationary. She was not.
Weaving through her Puñalada Cero she approached his Bankai's leg at high speed and rammed her horns into it's knee, as he buckled under her strike he had to manipulate his Bankai's body so as to best protect him from Puñalada Cero while trying to dislodge her head from his knee.
Her speed and technique startled him, but he was about to get the upper hand. Punching her in the side with his Bankai yielded more results than he expected, when her head turned to fight off his fist he brought his Bankai's sword down on her unguarded side.
He immediately drew it back to protect himself from a blue Cero.
Komamura glanced angrily towards the one who fired it, locking eyes with the apathetic brown haired Espada, who was quickly assailed by Captain Ukitake.
Strangle To Death! Anaconda!
"Well what's this?" His cool voice rang out, a calm, or rather smug smile on his face as the two of us clashed. "Are we playing musical combatants?"
"She must have had a reason for it."
"Really? So you think it'll happen again?" He lazily swung both his swords at me.
"I don't really care to know." I deflected both and stood still, deciding not to humour this man's theatrics.
"Really? I hope I didn't upset her or anything like that." He didn't take the hint and decided to step closer, making me lash out wildly to get him away, doing everything short of an actual technique or moving away. "Oof, looks like I have."
"Imagine that, some Casanova you are." He seemed to genuinely enjoy the banter we were having, I didn't mind it myself, but it was the way he was fighting that made me angry.
I could tell he was sizing me up with each strike, his latest attempt to get close was to see what my response would be. I was also more than fine to not take a fight seriously, I'd rather just not exert myself in a fake fight, though he'd probably call it warming up.
At least he understood that all this wasn't personal, though he was going to try and make it so with his use of psychological warfare.
He was also very good at it. He knew the only thing I was mad at him about was how much he was trying to make the both of us move and how good he was at reading his opponents. The fact he knew I knew only made me angrier at him.
"Seems like I can do nothing but upset women, even my Lieutenant's, though they all come back eventually..." He looked serious, but he seemed to be staring off into the distance. He eventually recovered from his bout of whimsy and got a dumb look on his face. "I'm heartened that you didn't attack me through my trip down memory lane. Though I get the impression that bit of kindness was somehow self serving. You and your friends must be buying time for something or other."
"Chatty one aren't you?"
"Well of course I am! I've only got so long to spend with you after all, it'd be rude not to give you a nice time, your friend *is* coming back after all right?" That was definitely a smug smile.
I sighed at the realisation that he was just going to keep asking that until I answered despite him knowing the answer. It was a part of his strategy, he wanted to rile me up so I'd reveal what I could do and then counter with his own.
"Who knows?"
"Oh? Odd that you wouldn't know, you lot gotta be awfully close to be acting as you are with each other." I blocked his overhead before pulling back as his other sword went to pierce my hand. "But I would like an answer before this battle ends."
"I think I see why Mila wanted to change now, you were talking her to death where mine was boring me to death. Thankfully you'll both die." We settled into that pattern where he'd delay his second strike to go for my sword arm.
"Really? Jūshirō won't be pleased to hear that!" He was starting to put more strength behind his strikes. "Though I gotta admit, this whole situation is kinda odd, thought time was what you lot wanted."
"You weren't going to give us what we wanted." Whether I blocked by the barest margins or not it didn't matter, this crass ape was beginning to see my potential habits and tricks.
"Of course not. You folks are after our lives, or our way of life. We can't give you time, who knows what you'd do with it if you got it?" He said with a calm smile before immediately striking, his sudden burst of speed made me block on instinct which was the mistake, as his second sword came for my wrist after having slipped by my guard.
Normally I'd welcome the attack but I know I wouldn't be able to kill him on the counter, so I backed away before charging in again.
"So you've decided you want to see me angry? You do so enjoy upsetting women, your Zanpakutō has my pity."
"Well I don't wanna be the only one dancing." He tilted his head forward, shadowing his face entirely.
"That right there is how I know you're a dangerous opponent, you know what infuriates me. Even what gestures might get me angry." And now he knew how I guarded this was going to get dicey. In another flurry of slashes we accomplished nothing of real worth, merely the passage of time as Shunsui steadily goaded me on.
He had his moment when Komamura nailed Emilou.
"Well I'm not sure what to make of that, she tossed him in range of that attack even though she got herself hurt. Is she counting on you to rescue her? Because I'm afraid to say that's not happening anytime soon." He made his strikes slower and less powerful, was this supposed to trick me into helping her or infuriate me?
"At least we actually have someone to save, Emilou died doing what she loved, killing her fellow idiots."
He winced. "Harsh. Are you really just going to let her die? I thought you were all a lot closer than that, or are you really that secretive about your Resurrección?"
I stared at him, an evil plan coming to mind, I was thankful indeed that I was covering my face with a sleeve. "How uncouth, to rush a lady like that. You already know I don't like to be rushed."
He looked at Emilou's collapsed form and went to say something, which was when I struck. I was holding nothing back anymore, he could feel that I was using all my power, he could even feel how much I wanted to kill him. So he turned around on a dime to protect himself from my attack. I went for the back of his neck, only for him to barely turn and deflect the strike, his other sword going straight through my sword arm's elbow. I could feel the sword scrape against the bone but fail to penetrate it.
There was a glimmer of worry in his eyes, he had no idea what I was doing. He was probably close to releasing his Zanpakutō.
The moment after I thought that his second sword slashed my stomach open.
That wasn't what I wanted but it was fine. I'd rather he stab me but this will do. I wilted forward, my free hand falling towards his sword and he relaxed, no longer having to fend off Balas.
He did not expect to fend off my hand from his sword. As my hand fell towards his sword I slammed it through the blade, making sure no bones got in the way of his Zanpakutō and plunged my hand to the hilt.
Why?
I only needed one hand to release my Zanpakutō.
"Strangle To Death! Anaconda!"
I spied the Head Captain looking over with wide eyes, but there was nothing he could do when facing down another Espada.
Typically when you release your Zanpakutō it's not a violent reaction, Emilou had the second most violent one amongst the Espada, but regardless of how violent it was being as close as possible to the opponent when you released was rookie stuff, you would always get an advantage off that. For me that was especially true. I had the most violent release of them all.
Pink Spirit Energy did not rise from me like it did from everyone else, it wasn't like a floodgate.
When I first displayed my Resurrección it was compared to the Captain of the Eleventh Squad, Kenpachi Zaraki due to a quirk he had. Whenever he seriously battled his Spirit Energy formed a roaring skull behind him. Mine was that of a giant pink serpent, but that wasn't the reason why it was so catastrophic. The serpent was entirely symbolic, a dramatic warning of an aspect of life.
Pink Spirit Energy exploded from me, blasting my skin off. Bursting apart in tiny, deadly shrapnel in every which way.
Every Arrancar had an attribute called Hiero, giving our skin a protective quality beyond the battle between two Spiritual Pressures. Hierro also meant Iron Skin.
My shed skin pierced his clothing and skin, getting stuck in his innards and even scratching the surface of his bones, but that wasn't the greatest effect. My body changed drastically, my release was the most animalistic of them all, for I had truly become a snake.
The only human part of me was my chest and head, thick scales covered my lower body, which had turned into a giant snakes tail, my Hierro was particularly potent there. Three pink dots were under both my eyes now and the Hollow Mask was restored to it's former state, it even had the beads back again, in fact one side of the mask had grew backwards, enough to reach my shoulder.
The greatest change was my lack of hands, in place of those were hissing nests of snakes in each of my sleeves. Where my hand once sat on his sword was multiple snakes coiling around his arm and weapon, biting and injecting as much venom as they possibly could into him. My other arm and its snakes going straight for his ugly face.
"Katen Kyōkotsu!" His Zanpakutō became a pair of huge, black, heavily curved Chinesescimitars with silver edges.
I did confuse the red tassels on his swords for my own streaks of blood when he cut off my other arm. With one arm free he aimed to cut down the snakes biting into his arm with a sideways overhead, since he did it at such an awkward angle I could barely block the blade with my torso, but it wasn't good enough, he cut off enough snakes that he could free himself from my bondage. He didn't follow up on his attacks, simply deciding to hop away.
"How quick you are to run, afraid of how sudden my proposals are? Or do you not appreciate my bouquet of snakes?"
"Ohoh no, you don't get to act all cute after what you did to my handsome face. Besides..." He looked to my regenerated arms. "I'm not sure I want to entertain anymore of your danse macabre. That is the phrase right?"
"Might be, but you will be entertaining me as payment for my missing sleeve." I dangled my right arm.
"Yeah, I had wondered about your health, your high risk suicide tactics only made sense if you had high speed regeneration or some other trick, something you kind of gave away earlier on in the fight when you wouldn't move, that had me suspicious. Not to mind the latest strike, only a rookie or a truly distressed person would do something like that. I figured you to be overly emotional but I pegged you wrong."
I dropped down to my missing arm and rooted through the dead snakes and cloth to find my Zanpakutō. "There we are." The snakes coiled around my Zanpakutō, which had regained it's ludicrous size, the horse slayer shone brightly in my coiled grip. "I must say I'm dissapointed but not surprised your Spirit Energy was strong enough to stop my Mudar La Piel."
"You mean your weaponized Hierro? Yeah, shedding your body like that was a pretty dirty trick. And judging by the name it seems you can do that again?"
"You can't win me, I can't be beat. I won't hurt you unless you cheat."
He raised his eyebrows, probably somewhat annoyed I decided not to answer. "That's probably the most ominous statement I've ever heard."
"Good to know I've got Aizen beat in something." Something glinted in his eyes at my words, not that I noticed, too busy staring at his now ugly face. "Shame I made you ugly, though it's fitting, it makes me want to kill you to get such deformities out of my sight."
"Oh really?" I froze, an intense feeling of wrongness at hearing my own voice doubt me. But then a familiar Zanpakutō from my past came into sight as a barely discernable weight settled on my tail. "I'm not so sure you can talk about deformities."
"Hey Soifon!" Shunsui said with a radiant smile.
"You...I had thought it odd that I didn't fight you, what were you doing all this time?" I asked.
"Figuring out just how much a Resurrección empowers an Arrancar, so I was fighting that old man's Fraccion. Miss me?" She said with a sharp smile.
"Yes actually."
"Good." She sadistically crooned. "I bet you miss this too then?" She moved her Shikai around.
"The stinger that kills in two strikes to the same spot, Suzumebachi." I went to continue when someone interrupted me.
"Yeah! That's my Captain's Zanpakutō! Scared yet?! Hah! Of course you are! Aizen must have been so worried that he told you all about her, but that won't help any of you!" Someone out of sight said. It wasn't hard to infer who it could be.
"Is that your Lieutenant, Captain Soifon?"
"You bet I am! And you had better address her respectfully!"
"I see, I feel sorry for you Soifon, he must be quite the coward if he's like this. But let me remind you in case you didn't hear, you can't win me, I can't be beat, I won't hurt you unless you cheat."
"What nonsense-"
"Captain! Get away!" Trusting her Lieutenant's eyes she backflipped away from me.
"Gran Rey Cero."
I sighed. At least they didn't know what happened.
Gran Rey Cero was a forbidden technique that required our blood to cast a devastating, if unstable ball of energy. Where did I get the blood? When I went to pick up my Zanpakutō, I had the snakes let the blood pool on their teeth.
I turned to them and immediately bowled over in laughter.
"Oh my god! Why the hell is the Lieutenant of the Second Squad, the Stealth Force a fatass!" I clutched my stomach in unladylike peals of laughter, having forgotten whatever I was about to say before. "Oh my, you really got the short end of the stick hm Soifon?" Brief chuckles still escaped me as I spoke. "That Izuru Kira fellow would have been a much better fit for your Squad."
"Kyōraku! Go fight Baraggan immediately!" Soifon warned, but she was too late.
"How many times must I say it? You can't win me, I can't be beat, I won't hurt you unless you cheat." A gasp came from him as his left arm began to liquidate, making him abort his sneak attack from above.
"Damn! So you really can see through your snakes eyes!"
"Impressive that you figured it out so quickly Soifon, though you're not concerned about my new cocktail?"
"It's just delayed necrosis. One you can activate whenever you feel the need to."
"Perhaps, but you're at quite the disadvantage against me now, the only way you can handle me is through Kidō, something I doubt you can do, having been too busy dealing with a sea of ineptitude to brush up on it. There is simply no way your Zanpakutō can reach me through my binding, biting snakes. Surely you have guessed my new reach?"
Instead of addressing this she angrily turned to Shunsui. "What are you waiting for?!" She coarsely yelled.
"Sheesh, I should be taking a good long rest, but now you want me to-"
In the far off distance a young voice gruffly yelled at him to dodge, but that brat Tōshiro's warning came too late. All Shunsui's last second dodge did was destroy his kidney.
All of our eyes went wide as Mila Rose's Zanpakutō emerged from his back, the amazon herself following up on her thrown sword to take it back in a gory fashion by ripping it out his side, sending him towards the ground beneath us.
Perhaps he was overcome by the pain, but I was sure he wasn't dead.
Rose must have been eavesdropping on us in the middle of her own fight since she went to throw it at an angle that neither Soifon or her Lieutenant saw. The only one who picked up on it was Tōshiro, who could do nothing but yell as Harribel would have struck him down otherwise.
I purred in response to all the developments, Soifon's Lieutenant decided to scream and cower in place.
"It's quite nice seeing you blow your top at some incompetent laggards, it's pleasing to see someone with my voice be vindicated. But I'm afraid you'll be getting no help from him."
"Tch, not like I need him. But where the hell is Jūshirō?" Good question.
The two of us squinted to try find Captain Ukitake, when I didn't see anything I simply bit the bullet and used my Pesquisa. A snakes tongue flicking out to get me what I want.
Ukitake was fighting Coyote Starkk, who, with the absence of his opponent fired a Cero at Captain Komamura to cover for Emilou.
But Starkk's former opponent was making his way here.
I turned to face him, the Head Captain. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
Strangle To Death, Anaconda!
6737 words.
Well! Who knew Bleach would continue! Good news everybody!
I'm vaguely curious about this witch thing, the western spiritual sphere, because from what little I know they aren't plagued by Hollows but by Dragons. It will be interesting to see a society fight a natural disaster beyond architecture and such.
But if Karen Strassman doesn't voice act her characters I'm going to riot. Along with a few others of course.
This chapter passed through a friends hands as a text file by the way, we talked a little about fanfiction over the night and he got quite curious about it. So I forwarded him this, letting him know he'd be quite confused due to a lack of context. Speaking about this story...
I have to say I am *grievously* upset over how I've handled Mila Rose. My lack of handling that is, I've done her quite a disservice to her on multiple fronts and I had only cottoned onto it when I was going to show an ability of hers.
Chekhov's Gun was it? Wish I heeded it beforehand. That's how powerful I think this ability is, now I can only hope it won't cause an upset. Hopefully I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.
I had a scene where Cyan was doubting herself and trying to confide in Mila only to fail by the way. In that scene she mentions Ichigo Kurosaki's impertinence and noting how much it helped him, because I do genuinely feel such an emotion is what let him save Rukia, Cyan would then go on to notice Ichigo doubting himself after striking Aizen.
I've finished watching Bleach by the way. I suppose I should talk about Aizen's claims about Ichigo's battles since it always feels like a hot topic. I don't find it to be a relevant topic however, I imagine Aizen would have disregarded Segunda Etapa and Ichigo's Vasto Lorde form as irrelevant, as trivia.
Though I do take minor exception to it, it shows the fights he seemingly arranges and Aizen's reactions to them, I don't believe he could see through Byakuya's Bankai, it's not Tōsen's but it's still an enclosed space isn't it? Nor was there a need to remark upon Ichigo Hollowfying against Byakuya when a half formed Mask was in the sewers, interestingly enough when Ichigo was talking to his dad he didn't want to ask questions as it then flashes back to Rukia chastising herself about how she asked Ichigo about the cause of his mothers death. Nice touch.
But yes, I believe him. He knows full well Ichigo will get stronger when he gets to actual Karakura, he literally says it.
I'm not sure how to rate my experience with the DVDS, a few of the disks were mixed around and some of the plastic was falling apart on some of the cases.
Anyway, reviewer time.
Aiden! Believe me I'm trying Aiden, but absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and I could do with some of that right about now.
Dezcon! Thank you for your time.
Antex! Komamura stonks. Ikkaku...not so much. Maybe I should have had him do more damage...maybe not, the way I wrote this is probably close to how such an encounter would go, I don't envision Ikkaku beating Grimmjow, nevermind someone that's two ranks above him. I think I wrote the power levels correctly here when I think back to Hitsugaya versus Harribel, the moment she got serious he went into Bankai just to keep up and used a once per duel effect, his ice clone.
*Orchamus!* I'm glad my dialogue is good, I also hope I lived up the high speed feeling I was giving off, I'm not entirely sure I have, I'd say I have a small nugget of doubt that I did. Thank you for the heartening review!
Jackjsh! Sorry for the long wait, I hope it appeased you.