I froze up in shock, too confused to really think or do much of anything. All I could do was watch the old man steadily walk towards me, his eyes closed the entire time.
His Zanpakutō was disguised once again as a gnarled old walking cane.
"I had thought to move to end you once I thought you were going to use this Quimera Parca your cohort bragged about. But you have just convinced me to cut out the middle man."
I was shook from my disbelief by his words. "Is that so? Forgive the remark but you are truly showing your age in more than just the white hairs, tis no wonder why Shunsui was so uncouth if he learned from you, to be so rude as to interrupt a private affair between two women. Why, even Shunsui would be upset that you're taking up Mila's attention."
"On the contrary, I beat such concepts out of him. Even now he is analyzing you lot despite his incapacitated state."
"Hmm...dialogue seems useless to you."
"Quite right, in this instance your forked tongue won't work here." He unsheathed his Zanpakutō, the walking cane unraveling to reveal its true form. "Let us get to work shall we?"
"You leave me no choice? You must be as impudent as the Substitute Soul Reaper and the traitor Captains, yes, such an accursed trait is what permitted you to build the Gotei Thirteen." I thrust my hand out to emphasize my sentence, but forgot my hand was a cluster of snakes right now, which made me look quite silly. "Mila! Handle him! I shall take care of her." I reassured.
"Huh?! You got some real cheek to-" I fired a Cero at that fat, greasy 'Lieutenant' to shut him up, sadly he somehow managed to dodge it.
"We'll handle you like we did your sad sack of a student." Mila boasted.
Soifon smirked and flashstepped right in front of me.
"Annoying." Her smirk got even wider at my remark.
Here's what was going to happen, this was clearly a feint, but when you're this fast even your feints could kill people, so I had to strike. So as I raised my Zanpakutō overhead to dispell her feint I was already reaching for my left, anticipating her second Flashstep.
Then she appeared to my right.
Ah. Well I'm never doing an overhead again. I dropped my sword and brought my right arm back to fire a Cero and a cascade of Balas at her and brought my left arm forwards to grab my Zanpakutō, the snakes extending to catch and then coil around it.
She flashstepped in my face again, making me flip my sword up in attempt to stop her Suzumebachi from hitting me in the face. Suzumebachi was a stinger connected to a gauntlet on her wrist by a chain, and obviously I meant to go for that.
Sliding my sword's blade through the chain I took the opportunity to angle my sword to cut the top of her wrist and moved the snakes around my Zanpakutō to make a break for her arm while staying away from her Suzumebachi.
But her Zanpakutō was a trick. Her other hand had been gathering blue Spirit Energy.
"Hadō Seventy Three: Sōren Sōkatsui!" She made a pushing motion with both her palms.
I could feel my stomach give way, showering her in my blood as my Hierro parted under the force of her Kidō.
The snakes on my right arm nursed the bloody wound, bringing to bear another Gran Rey Cero, yet she slipped from the sword lock I had her in before. She dragged her hand up my blade, willingly cutting up the top of her own hand to get away from my attack, but it wouldn't be enough, my blade was too long and curved for her hand alone to get her out of this. So she went to kick me in the chest to leap off, and as I retaliated with my snakes she threw daggers at the snakes headed for her leg. Her damn Anken pierced their skulls via their soft mouths but I still wasn't going to let her go, I weakened my grip on my Zanpakutō to bring more snakes at her leg.
"Hadō Thirty Two! Ōkasen!" Those snakes perished, a remarkably narrow beam of yellow light having cut them apart. The beam was so narrow in fact that it wasn't even as wide as an arm, which meant I still had our weapons locked together for the moment, not that it mattered.
Her foot thumped against my chest and she used that momentum to escape the lock I had on her, dodging the Gran Rey Cero. "My fault for not giving my all in that encounter." I reluctantly muttered. "Yes...I have shamed myself here, I insulted your pride and didn't expect you to give it your all in turn when you were training for this. The stupidity of my friends is contagious it seems."
"Afraid you're going to lose?" From up above she looked down her nose at me with a bloodthirsty smile.
"Yes...of course I'm afraid of losing." I looked down. "There is nothing more in the world that I fear or despise more than losing, of failing her, of disgracing her with my sad display. That is why I kept my regeneration, to stay beautiful on the battlefield so that she wouldn't worry." I tilted my head up again, faintly surprised at my own honesty.
Soifon smirked. "Heh. Are you really that vain? Looks like you haven't grown at all over the years!" She sadistically crowed.
"Well it's in the nature of a snake to be vain isn't it? But will you truly make light of the truth?" I turned around and gazed at Harribel. Confident in turning my back to Soifon.
"For her huh?"
"Of course. I'll stand tall so that she won't have to worry, so she can relax. You get it don't you? You'll excuse me for being personal but I can't help but think we have a spiritual connection of some kind." I turned to her, relaxed and honest.
She looked stunned, eyes having flown wide and her body struck limp by the shock of my statement. "Are you for real? What possible connection could a Hollow and a Soul Reaper have! Are you even listening to yourself?!" Omeada was sputtering over by the side.
"Well we both have the same voice, animal themed armaments." My snakes turned and twisted for emphasis. "But most of all...that kind of relationship. You understand what I have with Harribel don't you? Foolish Shinigami, you're not an officer of the Soul Society anymore, you're an officer of Her Majesty's now. All that you see is her property, make no mistake about that, your ignorant self included."
"I'd say that blood loss was getting to you if you wasn't healing! Your insolence and delusions know no bound!" She rocketed right towards me but I was prepared this time.
My right arm came to fore, each snake upon it lining up with a Cero in each of their mouths. She was shocked at my new technique but not afraid of it, simply flashstepped away from it. And I, in turn, had the snakes move before they fired.
I blasted her, her Lieutenant, the Head Captain, Her, I took aim at everyone and everything I could.
It was a potent technique, but it had it's downsides, the primary one being that the snakes were the only thing that could move. I couldn't so much as turn my head when I did this, and every snake had to fire in order for the technique to end. I also couldn't completely cover my back, my snakes unable to stretch out that much.
In other words it was a one time technique when my opponent was this fast. But I did consider it a technique worthy enough to hamstring her.
Sadly not a single thing was struck, the Captain Commander cut his in half and even Soifon's fat Lieutenant dodged it. I guess he was actually somewhat fast despite his rotound appearance.
I used Sonido to avoid Soifon's return Kidō spell, bringing me closer to Mila and Harribel. Soifon appeared at my right again, making me deflect her strike. The instant she disappeared from sight I let my sword go, letting it fly off my right where she just appeared, and when she flashstepped in front of me the snakes on my left bit down on my Zanpakutō's handle and brought my sword back into her side, where she let her gauntlet block the blow.
But before she could escape again I brought all my snakes forward, even loosening the grip on my sword to just two snakes to make the volley of Balas stronger.
She let loose a short scream of anger as my pink Balas smacked into her legs before she sped away from me. My attacks had burned through her legwear and bruised her, light burn marks also being present.
I smugly smiled and relaxed as she sized me up.
"Are you alright Captain?" Her Lieutenant stepped besides her and pointed his sword at me. Or held his sword out rather, he didn't have much spine.
"I can still fight, that's all that should matter."
Her Lieutenant ignored her frustration, glancing down at her legs instead. "Are you sure? The Head Captain is-"
"That's not how this is going to go down fat man." I ignored his upset rant. "She's going to continue fighting because she wants to or is obliged to. Unlike you she takes her life seriously which means she has pride to never run away. Her cause or her self is too grand to despoil or pervert, but now...she must use you." I chuckled at the thought of fighting him, he already looked afraid to get close to me. "That is why I targeted her legs. Did you think I didn't know how Hohō techniques worked?" I moved my large tail in front of me. "It's a technique that's all in the legs, how did you think our Sonido worked fat man? Now because her speed has been cut down somewhat she will need to use you in order to land a hit. Your sad attempts at subtlety shame your Captain."
He began to growl at me. I blinked, slightly shocked by this action.
After the shock came anger, enough to fire a Bala at his face and though he was unable to dodge his Captain punched him out the way.
"You should have let the uncourteous pig eat that." I continued. "If this is his standard behaviour then I imagine he even badmouths you, I'm a little shocked his jaw hasn't been turned to powder yet."
"Whatever I do with my subordinates is none of your business." She muttered, casting glances over to her Lieutenant.
"Are you stalling simply because I called you out? Just send him at me, maybe out of pity I'll let him distract me." I smiled, smug as can be after having stumped her.
"Alright." I blinked.
"Wha-?! Captain! You can't be serious!"
"We're uninterested in your excuses Lieutenant, this is the organisation you joined, your power came at the price that you would use it for a solemn duty, now do your job and die for something greater than you craven self." I interrupted.
I charged him at a breakneck pace, striking him upwards with my tail as I passed him by only to drag him back down by his ankle and unload into his bulging stomach with a storm of Balas, charging up a Cero right after as he was sent flying into the distance from my attacks.
He dodged the Cero again, and despite the heavy damage he still had it in him to rant and rave. "Hey! Ain't you...got no shame?!" He huffed out, a hand clutching his stomach. "You should at least be holding back a little! A full on Espada...against a mere Lieutenant." His volume had decreased significantly thanks to my efforts.
"Shame?" He whirled around, stunned and afraid to find out I got behind him in an instant with my Sonido. "You would call me shameful for fulfilling my duty, no matter what it cost? I thought you were Squad Two, or has Soifon been going easy on you? If I was her I would be cutting away the fat." I slowly swiped at him, amused at his desperate dodge and his constant backstepping as I slithered closer. "The reason Captains are so strong is because they embody the principles of their Division. Aizen was right to crush you all, for only thirteen people in the Soul Society take their lives seriously."
"Crush! Gegetsuburi!" His Zanpakutō transformed from a sword to a flail, and his first move was to block with it, to save his hand from getting split in two. However...Gegetsuburi had already been severely damaged, a crack present where I had struck.
I smiled. It was a light glance! How on earth could it be breaking apart when I was toying with him? The instant I tried I would split it in two! Good for the both of us then that I was using my sword like a prop, I wanted, and needed to bat this buffon around for a while longer.
Me and Mila weren't dumb enough to think that we could handle all this, the Head Captain was going kill us or give Soifon the opportunity, so we were making our way back to Emilou, and most importantly Tier Harribel.
We were going to reunite with Apacci and stop holding back, though it's uncertain if our enemies would give us the chance to destroy them, so we would need Harribel to give us enough time to use our technique. Hence me beating this fool into that direction. Said fool now having realised blocking was a dumb idea and took to dodging backwards, right where me and Rose needed to go.
My sword brushed against his flail yet again, making him grimace as he dodged to the side, away from where I needed to go. "Bala." I used Sonido to get behind him and reared my tail back to smack him back in line.
"Sike!"
"Excuse me?"
He confused me up until he broke through my Bala with his Shikai, the weapon on course to hit the side of my head. "Looks like I fooled you! But I'm the Lieutenant of the Second Squad for a reason! I can react to all your moves and knew you were pushing me in a certain direction! How does it feel?!"
Thunk.
His flail hit me in the head.
"Cool story bro." I grabbed him with my tail instead, a worthy task considering his weight. "I bet you felt vindicated that your appearance fooled me into thinking you were slow in every regard up until you ruined it by thinking you had a chance. It seems you had completely forgotten about my overwhelming Spirit Energy and Hierro." I held a snake up to his face. "You said you knew where I was pushing you and pulled us over here instead?" His eyes widened as the snakes bared their fangs and prepared to take a bite out of him. "Don't inconvenience us ever again."
"Captain!" He screamed in pain as they tore into his nose and stomach, ripping through his uniform and taking out tiny chunks of meat.
I smiled yet again, radiant in both beauty and confidence. "She's been trying to slip past my snakes eyesight to no avail, cute little after-images of her smug face decorate the roads and rooftops, but I can see through her tricks." A cloud above me seemed odd for but a brief instant, I put it out of my mind. "She won't be coming to-" The cloud looked odd once again. In fact, a part of it seemed to be getting closer. "Wha-AAAArrghh..."
My screams of pain were cut off thanks to my blood leaving through my mouth, alongside my arm and the entire tail.
Lacking a lower half and an arm I fell to the ground, my grip on the fat fool slipping, but as he tried to wriggle out he screamed again in pain and tried to beat my snakes off him, something impossible to do with a flail. He turned his Zanpakutō back into a sword rather than a flail, a strategy that I didn't see coming, what we both didn't see coming was that he still couldn't save himself thanks to his lackluster Spirit Energy and my Hierro.
But how? How did she cause this pain? This unimaginable pain.
As far as I understood Kidō there were a few things that mattered, the caster, the number, and the incantation. The difference between Hadō number one and ninety nine was like that of an Arrancar against an Espada, but she was too far away to hear the name of her technique.
But the jump in numbers here couldn't have been so great, she wasn't the Captain of the Kidō Corps or whatever, so she must have strengthened her spell with a full incantation...
D-did she? Damn her and her Kidō!When did she even get the time to cast?! I had seen her try to slip through my line of sight, something she managed to do, somehow, but when on earth did she get the time to cast a full incantation?
Her and her damn afterimages! From the road to above the clouds this quickly? It was damn inconceivable is what it was! My only relief was that such a thing must have cost her.
Lacking a lower half and an arm I fell to the ground, my grip on the fat fool slipping, but as he tried to wriggle out he screamed again in pain and tried to beat my snakes off him, something impossible to do with a flail. He turned his Zanpakutō back into a sword rather than a flail, a strategy that I didn't see coming, what we both didn't see coming was that he still couldn't save himself thanks to his lackluster Spirit Energy and my Hierro.
The most infuriating thing about all this was that he was relatively fine except for some burn marks.
I looked above in disbelief, but there she was, her Kidō having destroyed the cloud she used for cover. She really had left afterimages on the ground and got above us to fire her Kidō, she was so far above us that I could barely make her out, but I imagined her to be panting so I could feel slightly less bad about myself.
I bit down onto the back of his neck and dragged him towards a storehouse, thankfully she chased us immediately, barely giving me the chance to recover from my injuries. I broke through the roof with a Bala, destroying the ground and sending asphalt up into the air, I quickly dragged myself and my hostage through the hole and into the darkness.
"Get out here you little snake!"
"Come in, Soifon." I rasped. "I'm not going to strike you the moment you come in." She waited a few moments before dropping in through the hole.
"Marechiyo!"
"Ah, so that's his name, I've gagged him. I have stuffed my snakes in his fat mouth and have them poised to rip his tongue and throat out. But you don't need to worry about a thing Soifon."
"Worried?" She smirked and visibly relaxed. "Against a fool like you I have nothing to fear, your dumbass friends are more threatening."
"It's no use baiting me into attacking wannabe Shihouin." I was amused to no end to hear her stutter at that. "Now tell me how you did this." I dragged myself into the light, a snake detaching from his throat to bite into the floor and drag me forth, showing her all my hideous wounds.
"Confused?" She smirked.
"You may keep being smug, I shall keep regenerating."
"What happened was that I decided to wait for Marechiyo to get bitten." We both ignored his confused murmur. "I noticed another thing about you, your eyes couldn't actually track me mid-motion, but their tongues could." I hissed, agitated that she had noticed. "If you were constantly using Pesquisa then I couldn't really strike unless you let your guard down again, so I had to wait until they were occupied."
"I see...and the Kidō that tore me asunder? Tell me, you must be desperate to rub your Kidō in my face after I insulted it."
"Shunkō."
"...What?"
"A custom technique of mine made by combining Hakuda and Kidō."
"You punched me with Kidō?"
She smirked. "Not how I was going to put it but yeah, I did. I guess I'm lucky, or unlucky that my incompetent Lieutenant also lived, I kinda had to eyeball it there since getting more accurate would mean getting spotted by those snake eyes."
"Damn...at any other time we would have destroyed the Soul Society by now, but as it stands you all must be the finest Captains this pitiful place ever had. Even now you try to inspire your Lieutenant to improve, oh do wipe that dumb look of your face." She looked shocked. "Do you think you fooled me into thinking you could miss with your own technique? What nonsense." My arm regenerated, pulling me away from my tangent. "But enough of that...my fellow snake...join us." I whispered to her.
Her eyes went wide in shock at my absurd offer. "What?!"
"Wuhgh?!" Her stupid Lieutenant tried to shout.
"Please do keep your voice down but your disbelief suspended yes? It took a bit of work, but a lot of blood to get you over here so I can spring the deal, one I think you're listening to. Look at your Lieutenant, the definition of mediocre, he just screams unseated officer, and the Twelfth Division couldn't even track Ichigo when he was in the Soul Society. They literally just blundered into Captains until they were beaten, but until then the Soul Society was being pantsed. Except for that Quincy boy, Mayuri tracked that one down, and yet he didn't tell anyone else where the rest of the invaders were? How suspicious, self-serving and treacherous, we will be a better organization, no pathetic judges to hinder us. Kaname was quite happy to tell us how the Central Fourty Six made him into a traitor."
She looked frustrated and stunned. "I really don't care for an ideological chat right now. But as for how we handled that invasion only Squad Twelve screwed up, thanks for bringing that to our attention, but even the Divisions ran by the traitors were doing things by the book, I know because Squad Two and the Stealth Force handle rogue Soul Reapers. The other Divisions are actually the ones charged with defending the Soul Society."
"So you'll remain with the ones who exiled your master, Yoruichi Shihouin?"
Her stunned disbelief at my ideological dialogue turned to angry shouting. "Of course it's inept! I know it could be better but I can't hold everyone's hand! Me and Lady Yoruichi can't waste our time teaching the incompetent how to breathe, kids like Ikkaku die because they don't take their lives seriously, you should know you can't beat sense into those sorts, now stop stalling!" She eyed my regrowing tail angrily.
"I see...well my offer will always be open, especially since I doubt your current employers will be around for much longer. But here is a deal you can't refuse."
She looked fed up, I doubted that she'd hear me out anymore so I threw away her Lieutenant to rouse her interest once more.
I collapsed to the floor as my tail was still regenerating. She looked down at me, unsure of what to make of me, but she seemed more willing to talk now.
"That so?"
"Help us destroy the antagonist...help us shoot down Aizen Sōsuke and the traitor Captains."
"What?! Aren't you?-"
"Me, Mila, Appaci, Her Majesty Harribel...even Baraggan is in on it. And in the wake of our betrayal Starkk shall join us too, desperate to have someone to talk too." I shook my head just thinking about him. "But his inclusion won't matter at that point."
She squinted at me. "How do you even intend to do this? You're not in a position to do so, and I know you're not strong enough to beat Aizen if I'm beating you."
"Me and Mila must recoup with Apacci. That's all we need to do, but it's a hard task with so many despicable fools harassing us."
Now she glared. "Uh huh, and I can just trust that such a powerful technique won't be aimed at us."
I chuckled and shook my head. "At the start, but after that? You'll have another disaster to contend with."
"Then you had best come up with another plan. We aren't in the mood for that sort of fallout."
I sighed and got back up, my tail having finally regenerated. "Truthfully I had expected better of you than this, a half hearted effort will only get us killed. We will need this art in order to win."
She scoffed. "Pretty arrogant to call a technique an art, but I guess it fits you." She shut up and seemed to consider my words for a moment, before shaking her head. "I'm not fond of unreliable techniques like whatever you're proposing, as a matter of fact it's absurd that you could have something like that."
"Well, we will be betraying him soon, and that old fogey is getting in our way, this plot can only be done when they are all in one place and there's only so long before the Head Captain's seal is broken." She groaned, trying to make sense and come to terms with what I was proposing, still paranoid of my offer.
Tough. I wasn't going to make things comfortable for her at my expense.
Strangle To Death! Anaconda!
"God damn you! You're pissing me off almost as much as that bald bastard!" I shouted.
"His name is Ikkaku Madarame, and it would behove you to pay some respect to the departed."
"Who the hell are you to lecture me?!" I glanced out the corner of my eye to Sung-Sun and Mila and wondered how the hell they could be screwing up this badly. I needed to get this bastard out my way to rejoin them and do the thing, because those dumb cunts were losing their battles, somehow. I threw my head back and deflected the giant Bankai's sword with my antlers. "Fuck off!" I aimed the other row of antlers at him and went to fire a bunch of Ceros at him when he flashstepped into my side and stabbed me in my sides.
What the hell?! This bastard could move independently of his big ass Bankai?!
"Hmm...an entertaining Bankai I suppose."
We both turned towards the deep echoing voice and saw a skeleton in purple robes wearing a crown.
"Baraggan." I gritted out.
"Emilou Apacci, what a pitiful state your in. You are an idiot and a disgrace, step aside and let me show you how it's done."
"No way you loser! I'm about to break this fools jaw! Piss off and find your own battle!"
"Hmph, mouthy one aren't you, and for your information I cannot find an enemy to battle, my last opponent having run off to put your fellow in the ground."
"Excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but I couldn't help but notice that not once did you suffer an injury, so might I ask why you released your Zanpakutō?" Komamura asked.
"Because there were never going to be any wounds upon my august self. Let me show you." Baraggan held out a bony hand, materialising a giant double headed axe adorned with four gold chains.
Komamura heaved a sigh and retreated to his giant Bankai and took aim at him.
Baraggan was kinda pissing me off doing all this, but it was an easy path back to Harribel. "Ugh, don't think you'll get away showing me up like this you old ass! I'll be back assuming this mutt doesn't kill you!"
The two of them huffed as she sped off into the distance. "You didn't see the glory of my release did you? I feel sorry for you then, but you will experience the glory of my majesty."
"No words to spare for your fallen Fraccion?" A dark chuckle was his only response.
Enraged he was about to swing at him.
"Bushōgoma." Only to be stopped by Captain Shunsui making a surprise reappearance. Arcs of wind impacted Baraggan to seemingly no effect, but Shunsui seemed okay with that. "Phew, close one there eh Komamura? If I let you hit him it'd be all over for you."
"Eh?"
"Oh, so you really didn't see? Well don't sweat it, but frankly, from what I've seen from him leads to believe there are very few here who can beat this guy."
Confused and concerned Komamura beseeched him for an explanation.
Strangle To Death! Anaconda!
Byakuya exhaled softly, unwilling to let the humans beside him see his relief.
Rukia was alright, she was going to be okay.
By reminding himself of things like this he was able to fight at his best, it was pointless to fixate upon your worries. But...Renji was missing.
Not only was his Lieutenant missing but so was the last Quincy, he knew where they last went missing and gone to investigate only to find nothing. It greatly irked him that he might have to rely on Mayuri to help find them, he may have to threaten him to even get him to help. Then again he just might cut him down so he wouldn't have to put up with that insufferable and smarmy attitude of his.
He took a deep breath to calm himself before making his displeasure known. "I cannot believe you were picked for this mission, your lack of qualities have never shone more than they have now."
"Shut up!" The brute growled. "I'm not in the business of chasing down cowards."
"Are you telling me the so called 'Captain' of the Eleventh Division is having trouble killing a coward? You're obsolete."
"Man, I'm amazed these guys can keep going at it, aren't you Orihime?" Tatsuki asked. Orihime just nervously laughed. It was understandable.
This "Pale Rider" had absconded with Ichigo Kurosaki. This was not initially a cause for concern, even if this Ulquiorra Cifer was the fourth Espada.
But then his power spiked drastically, and twice, at that.
Bankai. For Arrancar. How absurd. As sad as it was the Quincy and the Lieutenant would have to wait for a rescue, Ichigo needed it more.
Ichigo and this barbarian both had trouble with the Espada around that rank, the barbarians wounds being questionable. He seemed to possess some disgusting sadomasochistic tendancy in his thrill of the fight. Truly, the Eleventh Division was a blight upon the Soul Society.
He breathed out quietly again, basking in the fact his sister was okay. Rukia was fine. But...she wouldn't be if Ichigo perished in his fight against the Pale Rider, she would be hurt and would then commiserate with her human friends. It was good that she had them he supposed, but humans and Soul Reapers were not meant to interact, much less become friends. Some things are improper because of history, or culture, and although he was concerned about her choice in friends he had lost the right to complain.
After all, these ruffians were the only reason Rukia was alive.
"We're here." They had finally finished ascending through the sky and now stood upon the roof of Las Noches.
It's dark and gritty nature was not helped by the sight before them. The sun of Las Noches gave way to the moon of Hueco Mundo, which cast a light upon a harrowing scene.
Standing upon one of the few pillars here were Ichigo and Ulquiorra, his opponent having clearly beaten Ichigo. Ulquiorra looked like a bipedal bat now, replete with two pitch black wings and a tail, an improvement over Zommari if you ignored the fact he was strangling Ichigo with his tail. His Soul Reaper uniform was blasted off him, showing his battered torso for the world to see, something his friends didn't appreciate.
"Ichigo! Ichigo no!" Orihime screamed. He held her back by her unsightly collar.
"Wonderful." The dark monster spoke, placing a finger onto Ichigo's chest, probably upon his heart. "Witness the end of your protector and understand Aizen's glory."
"Byakurai." He casted Hadō to sever the Pale Rider's tail but one of it's wings batted it away. The barbarian moved forward to strike the Espada down, but he was too slow to cover the distance. "Hadō Sixty Three. Raikōhō." The wing brushed his Kidō away, a Kidō approximately fifty levels higher than a mere Byakurai. He immediately drew his sword and released it, but it was too late. A dark green Cero burst through Ichigo's chest, his body falling from the pillar as the monster let him go.
The sound of his failure almost deafened him to Orihime and Tatsuki's screams, almost, since he could almost hear Rukia screaming alongside them.
Their foe was a fierce one, it's speed was truly ridiculous. In fact it's speed probably surpassed Soifon's, there was no doubt that this must be an Arrancars version of Bankai if that was truly the case. It was certainly faster than the both of them, such a fight required all his attention.
He was so engrossed that he didn't see whatever absurd actions were taking place besides him, but the results were the same. An absurd Spiritual Presence emerged from Ichigo's cadaver. But it could not possibly be him. All the fighters turned to look at him and didn't see a human.
They saw a Hollow.
They saw a white horned devil rise up and pick up Ichigo's Bankai, the pitch black sword flying into the creatures hand.
This Vasto Lorde that arose from Ichigo's corpse possessed his tattered Soul Reaper uniform and chalk white skin along with long orange hair that reached down to his waist, and a Hollow hole decorated with markings stretching from the hole across his chest and shoulders.
This is it. Ichigo will not reach up to tear his mask off, for he has fully become a Hollow now, the hole in his chest symbolising what he has failed to protect. So great are this specters feelings that he has nigh instantly turned into a Hollow, this phenomenon must be unique to Substitute Soul Reapers. For his grace and his associates feelings...I must put him down.
Byakuya prepared to strike only to see the stunned nature of all combatants. The newfound Vasto Lorde considered all of them to be enemies, but was unsure of who to strike at first.
"Ichigo." Zaraki breathed out, visibly excited beyond measure. "Aha! Ahahahahaha! I don't know if this is your work or the woman's that brought you back to life, but this is the greatest day of my life!" The barbarian brought his sword up without hesitation, his spiked hair weighed down by his own blood. "I was real upset that this slippery weasel took away my greatest fighting buddy! But then you come and come back from the dead!" Zaraki's curiosity broke through his overwhelming bloodlust for a moment as he tilted his head. "Can ya teach me how to do that? I'd give anything if it means having all the fights."
All he received in return was a low growl strong enough to shake ones bones. All that seemed to be stopping Ichigo's ghost from attacking was the Espadas threatening posture. "How? I do not comprehend." His green eyes were wide open as he examined the Vasto Lorde. "This does not-" His green eyes got even wider as something appeared in his Hollow Hole. It was a small cube. "This is Cyan Sung-Suns...what is she playing at? Was her Caja Negación a trap for me? No...that's not it, that wouldn't make sense. So then, what is-" He softly gasped. "No, she couldn't have possibly seen this set of events coming, and yet her Caja Negación was modified to trigger when it's holder met an opponent that could threaten them?" At that moment light emerged from him, only for the light to double back to the Espada. "What games are you playing at woman? You will answer for this."
The light enveloped him completely before vanishing, revealing nothing. Ulquiorra was no longer present.
It was just him and the Eleventh Captain against Ichigo now.
Yet again the creature let out a deep growl, this time it was accommodated by a red Cero forming between it's two horns.
The fight had begun.
Strangle To Death! Anaconda!
Last chapter was uploaded on the 4-17, this was uploaded on the 5-03
I got motivated to finish editing this chapter after reading Fanfiction written by a simp. Soifon originally fired Hadō Seventy Eight: Zangerin instead of Shunkō by the way. But yeah, biggest surprise is what I've done to Ulquiorra huh?
Hope I called it a Caja Negación in the chapter I gave it to him.
Review time!
Darkimortal! You are the only person in your entire country to accuse the Soul Society of being smart. Congratulations on being wrong.
Liamrudhonsen! Thank you, I disagree that you think the adoration for Tier was unearned, but I thank you for your kind words.
Duckie288! Man, my unintentional cliffhanger was pretty good huh? Well I hope you enjoyed the fight with Soifon and the bout of sadism with her Lieutenant. Gonna be honest though bro, Yamamoto doesn't flex much in the anime does he?
Plums! Understandable, but such a thing was always in their cards.
Antex! Thank you kindly, but no butts get moved easily. I've always regarded this roster of Captains as the greatest it's ever had, so it's an uphill battle despite their lack of a Hierro. But no worries, the Espada have two very powerful heavy hitters available to them. One being Baraggan.
006Sam! I knew it'd appease you! Though the more I think of it Ikkaku is probably almost always going to die in my stories, which is odd because I like him. His habit of holding back is also quite helpful in the next arc of Bleach, at least I assume so. But yeah, picture six snakes attached to each of her shoulders.
Jackejsh! I hope this speed is enough for you, frankly I'm dissapointed by my own pace a little. I'm not sure I'd be okay if a fic uploaded a chapter a week. But that's enough about me. The worst thing I could do is let you down rather than upload slowly.
Strangle To Death, Anaconda!
"Please miss Soifon! You must get over your bitterness!"
She stared blankly at him. Her eyes were probably welling up with tears in sheer despair.
Why? She asked. Why am I surrounded by fat guys and slow idiots?
This green fatass, Hachigen, or something like that was really getting on her nerves. All those fat folds, that obscene bulging belly and that dumb tacky tasteless green ensemble. She had no interest in fashion but even she would never be caught dead in that. How the hell can I got over the fact that every guy I know is a dumbass except for Captain Ukitake?
That blonde Lieutenant Izuru kept flagellating himself for every enemy killed, he wasn't even killing people! He's not a Quincy, he doesn't destroy souls!
And that Shuhei, he had seemed promising in his fight against Findorr, but he hates how his Zanpakutō looks? What a first world problem! Hers literally was just a stinger! On one finger!
"It looks like it was made for reaping souls" Her little ass! What did that idiot think a Zanpakutō was?!
And then...
She turned her head to behold her fatass Lieutenant. If it wasn't for that dumb green thing this new guy was wearing she wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Well...that's not true, her Lieutenant had a pretty dumb "haircut." But seriously, who was this new guy? He couldn't be a Captain could he?
She wanted to vomit for just thinking about that. Surely not. The Gotei must have some standards.
She looked back to her Lieutenant, every excess pound of fat she saw filling her with dread.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea joining Cyan after all. But then again, Shuhei and Izuru were both Shinigami under the traitors Tōsen and Gin, so maybe that was why they were so dumb, their education was crippled?
Was that why they were so afraid of themselves? Ugh, maybe she could get Shuhei in the Second Squad and beat the idiot out of him. Izuru was probably too much of a loser to handle the duties of a Stealth Force member however. Seriously...feeling down about killing someone who tried to kill you? What an idiot.
It was really feeling like the Second Squad was the only thing holding this place together it seems.