Chapter Forty-Two

Soi-fon's body hit the scorched ground. Three members of the Stealth Force rounded on the fourth as he slashed his dagger through the air, spraying the ground with the blood of his captain.

"Shinigami are the enemy," he snarled, voice partially muffled under the mask that covered all but his eyes. "Those human things are not Shinigami, but you are. She was. Caro demands Shinigami blood."

The other three hesitated. The Fourteenth Division didn't move, though Nnoitra would have if Steve hadn't taken control with his Ningyōzukai. Then, as if one gave an invisible signal, the Shinigami pounced on one another.

Within moments, only the one was left standing. He stood over the bodies of his fellows and wiped his dagger-like Zanpakuto off on his sleeve, then looked up at the tense Fourteenth Division all around him. His cold eyes fell on Dikayumi.

"That was a good distraction, Quincy. You seem to have recovered from whatever was ailing you last time we met."

Recognition flooded over them. "Hachiro Fukutaichou?" asked Steve, and the Second Division lieutenant nodded.

"You've stepped into a nest of Menos here, Fourteens. Half of our Divisions are on the wrong side, and half of the rest are dead. Do you have a plan?"

Steve narrowed his eyes at the Shinigami. "How do we know you are on the right side?"

Hachiro sheathed his Zanpakuto with a sharp movement. "I just killed my captain. You don't have to actually trust me anymore then I trust you, but sometimes in a war you have to take chances. I gambled that you would help me take down Caro and his minions. Now it's your turn."

Kitsune, who had dropped to the ground to help Herald, glanced up suspiciously at the lieutenant. "This could be some elaborate ploy to lead us into a trap," he suggested, and Hachiro Fukutaichou turned his dark eyes on him.

"Perhaps. But if Caro is so powerful as to waste a controlled Captain for uncertain gain, then perhaps you should consider getting out of Seireitei before he obliterates you."

Kitsune turned back to his kido without replying.

"There are survivors holed up all over Seireitei. The Twelfth is trying to figure out how to reverse the effects of Caro's hypnotic eyes, and the rest of us are simply trying to buy them the time to do it. Whether or not it will break his hold on the existing turncoats, no one knows. Killing Caro, if nothing else, would ensure he cannot turn anyone else against us. "

"Does your lot have a plan yet to do that?" asked Steve, and Hachiro shook his head.

"He has most of the Captains, and they, along with the Dioses Muerte Generals and the most powerful of his old minions, have the First Division surrounded. No one has been able to get close. The captain of the Eleventh Division was the last to try, and he got caught by your captain. They've been fighting for hours."

A shocked silence fell over the group. Dikayumi felt cold dismay creeping through his veins.

Caro got to Kurosaki Taichou?

It was a frightening thought. Everyone knew the other captains were strong, but this was their captain. The person who convinced Seireitei that non-Shinigami were worth supporting as a fighting force.

Herald, sitting now with one arm draped over Lilynette's furry back, grumbled aloud, "Well, that's just perfect. Okay, so we have to draw a few of those captains and generals away so someone can sneak in to take Caro out. Who do you suggest?"

"For you, the Generals," Hachiro replied immediately. "If I had a contingent of Stealth Force behind me I would go after Hisagi Taichou, but I have a feeling some of you Fourteens would have an easier time of it against a true enemy."

"We've already taken out two of them," commented Steve casually, and the Second Division lieutenant looked at him curiously.

"Really? First and Second, I presume? I interrogated one of Caro's men and got the names of the two in Seireitei; Third General Kurotsuchi and Fourth General Halibel, both of whom we are familiar with. I have been trying and failing to learn anything about the other two."

"Dead and exploded, respectively," Steve explained cockily. "The First had some mind-twisting powers like Caro's, but we killed him-"

"I killed him while you were fighting one another in the sand," interrupted Nnoitra with a snarl.

"...and the Second really didn't seem like much of a threat in the first place. Unless it was in helping to provide all the low-level Arrancar Caro has running around, which I suppose is kind of annoying."

"Tell that to the Shinigami they've been eating alive," Hachiro retorted, then drew his duel-dagger Zanpakutos again. "The information about the Generals you've already defeated needs to be reported, but I can help you find the other two, first. Track, Seishinkari."

"I thought that you couldn't track someone when there was a lot of interference," Dikayumi ventured, and the lieutenant glanced briefly at him before closing his eyes to better focus on his shikai.

"Those Generals blaze like bonfires, Quincy. It might be next-to-impossible for a Shinigami to find them over the chaos of the other battles going on all over Seireitei, but Seishinkari is smarter then a Shinigami, and he isn't looking for subtle remnants this time. Ah... wait..." He cocked his head to one side, frowning. "I found her earlier without a problem... but there he is. That's strange." He opened his eyes and rose. "General Halibel seems to be either gone or dead. The last of her reiatsu-trace is in that direction, close to the foot of Sogyoku Hill. Kurotsuchi, on the other hand, seems to be coming this way. Our little battle has not gone unnoticed."

Steve laced his fingers and cracked his knuckles. "Perfect. Thank you, Fukataichou, we can take it from here."

Hachiro looked at the body of his former captain for a moment, then back up at Steve, and his cold eyes seemed to ask, really?, before he let his shikai fade away.

"I'll bring reinforcements when I can," he promised. "Whether or not you survive, this may be our best shot to get inside the First's barracks to hit Caro." Without another word, he vanished.

Nnoitra made a disappointed tch noise, then shook his head like a wet dog. With a wince and a disgruntled huff, Charles was back.

"I hate it when he does that," he grumbled, then looked around at all the dead Shinigami with some regret. "At the very least, I hope that will keep his blood-lust sated for a while so this doesn't happen again..."

"When it comes to the Second Division, I don't think he'll ever be satisfied," suggested Steve mercilessly. "Though Dikayumi was the one who got most of them."

"Thanks for reminding me," sighed Dikayumi. Guilt was still wriggling around inside him, but he tried to ignore it as he glanced around the battle site. "Where are Edward and Erina? They should have caught up to us by now."

No one immediately replied, but Steve jumped up onto the highest standing structure and scanned their surroundings.

"I don't see or sense him," he called down. "Knowing my brother, he probably just saw someone else to fight and ran off again, and Erina followed him like a besotted puppy." He hopped back down to ground level. "We can't split up further to go look for him, though, especially not now. We have a showdown coming our way, and if those two are just too busy to come help, they'll have to miss it."

Edward and Erina crept through the streets, both now clad in the red cloaks of the Dioses Muerte. The battle that had drawn Edward onward was over, the powerful reiatsus faded, but he still insisted on investigating.

"Didn't they feel familiar to you?" he asked again, voice low, as Erina hesitated to follow him over a very destroyed warehouse. "I can't nail it down, but I'm sure it was someone we know."

"That could be almost half the officers in Seireitei," she whispered back, reluctantly climbing through the burnt, frozen, and splintered beams. "We encountered and fought a ton of Shinigami during the Aizen Incident, and most of them would not be particularly glad to see us again now. And that's even if they weren't turned by Caro."

He did not reply, but stopped and sniffed the air. Erina looked around while he did so, nervous of being seen by someone. The fighting in their area had died down minutes ago, but she could still feel that subtle pressure of powerful spirits somewhere not far off.

"This way."

But Edward was confident, so Erina followed him. He would not turn back until he had satisfied his curiosity, and she dared not leave him alone, or the next time they met up one or the other of them might have been ensnared by Caro and there would be no way to tell.

Suddenly, Edward stopped. Erina followed his gaze and saw a body lying in the center of a huge ring of destruction; not a crater from one large attack, but an entire circle of obliterated buildings and smashed streets from some long, bitter battle.

"Someone's killing captains," Erina murmured, looking sadly down at the haori-clad figure. She recognized the number, and the man who wore it. She had healed him once the previous year.

"And I think I know who's doing it," growled Edward, and his eyes blazed. He pointed, and when Erina looked, there was no mistaking the great slash of destruction that cut through two buildings and half the ruined plaza.

"Kurosaki Taichou," she breathed.

Edward's electric-blue reiatsu began to flicker in his narrow eyes.

"I think it may finally be time for our rematch, Kurosaki."