Yhwach stood before the headquarters of the 1st Division, his Schutzstaffel fanning out behind him. Jugo had made it clear that this was the most likely location of Ukitake Jūshirō. That meant he was closer than he'd ever been to his goal. He could hardly contain his excitement.
A great and terrible power churned inside of him, growing restless. They'd nearly waited too long, and he wasn't sure he could keep it contained much longer. Having activated Kamikake once already, his ability to endure Pernida's influence was severely hindered. Fortunately, that problem would soon be remedied
He strode forward, feeling an irresistible pull.
His people had suffered so much. Oppression and betrayal were ingrained in the relationship between Enders and Balancers. For a thousand years he lived with that burning injustice. Finally, everything would be made right.
"It has been quite some time since I last laid eyes on you. You've grown a fair bit." A voice that Yhwach would never forget washed over him. Hyōsube Ichibē stepped out to meet him. "Though I must say, those mustaches aren't particularly impressive."
The Schutzstaffel rushed to guard their king, but Yhwach held out his arm to stop them. He would like nothing more than to see this monster's lifeless corpse at his feet, but there were answers he needed. "It is remarkable how little you have changed, Head Priest. I should think that, after all this time, you would be a tired old man."
Hyōsube threw his head back and laughed. He made light of his unchanging nature, but it was uncanny.
All soul-beings were blessed with extraordinarily long lives when compared to those of the living, but they still aged. Yet, for more than a thousand years, as far back as Yhwach could remember, this man has been the same. Forget aging, Hyōsube Ichibē did not even change as time passed. It was like he stood apart from the normal progression of the universe.
"You are no Balancer. There is something profoundly wrong with your very existence. What are you?"
"Hmm . . ." Hyōsube ran his fingers through his prodigious beard. He shifted his body into a contemplative pose, but his eyes didn't change. It was like they were separate from the rest of him. "I suppose there's no harm in sharing. I am an Amalgamate Soul; a being from well before the worlds were so neatly connected. What you describe as being wrong is simply the natural course for me."
"How old . . ." Yhwach's head spun. He could only guess at the meaning of 'Amalgamate,' but the implications were unbelievable. Before the worlds were neatly connected . . .?
"Why do you look so surprised?" The Head Priest smiled, eyes shining. "Ah! Is it that you couldn't predict my answer? That would mean your precognitive abilities don't work on me, wouldn't it?"
Yhwach breathed in sharply. He glared at the bearded monster before him, but that was all he could do. He felt like a child again, staring up at that unchanging face from the crowd.
"Your Majesty," Nianzol stepped forward, staring down the leader of the 0 Division. "I will hold this Shinigami at bay. Please, continue forward." It was odd to hear the poor young man speak so clearly. Yhwach had always assumed that Haschwalth's power had rendered him unable to maintain a stable train of thought.
The king of the Quincies grit his teeth. Sending a subordinate to fight a foe he couldn't bring himself to confront was shameful, but that was what the Schutzstaffel were ultimately for. Silently, he led the other members of his royal guard around, giving Nianzol a wide berth. The boy's ability was powerful, but he couldn't help but worry.
A large brush-taller than Hyōsube himself-appeared in the Head Priest's hands. With a sweeping swing, he dashed a thick line of black ink onto the ground to either side of where he was standing. The message was clear. Hyōsube intended to be a wall blocking their path forward.
That made for a high wall indeed.
"You have a lot of nerve, old man! Getting in His Majesty's way like that!" Nianzol stepped forward, wagging his forked tongue about. "Your fight is with me!"
Hyōsube smiled. "I see! Then I look forward to pulverizing you, young one!"
"You have no idea what you're dealing with!" Nianzol laughed, "I possess an unbeatable power. Unbeatable because no one, not even you, can touch it! Go ahead, try to hit me. No matter what you do, it won't connect!"
The Head Priest tilted his head, expression unchanged. He stroked his beard, then raised his hand. A powerful blast of Reiatsu shot out from his palm, bearing down on Nianzol. Even as the attack closed in, the royal guardsman did not look away. In fact, he leaned in.
The kido blast came within inches of reaching Nianzol, but then it changed course, swerving hard and hitting the ground a fair distance away. Hyōsube regarded the crater his attack made, stroking his beard.
"See? And it's not just those energy blasts that'll miss. Swing a sword at me, and it'll bend. Throw a punch, and your arm'll bend the wrong way. Spit in my direction, and it's liable to fly right back into your face. This is my untouchable power, The Wind!"
"I see, I see. That is quite the useful ability. I wonder how I might defeat it!" With a sharp clang, Hyōsube tapped the butt of his brush on the ground. The bristles fell away, revealing a short, thick blade. He twirled it over his head and copious amounts of ink spilled from the weapon's edge.
Thick ink flew at Nianzol in a wide arc. It coated the ground around him, but any that came close was rebuffed by The Wind. Without a drop of ink on him, Nianzol laughed. "What did I tell you, old man? Your attacks will never come close!"
"So it seems!" Hyōsube laughed along with him. "That is fortunate for you. My ink is unusual, you see. Anything splashed by my brush loses its name."
"Yeah? So what?"
"A name is a powerful thing, young one. Your power has a name, does it not? Surely there was a reason behind giving it that title. If you take that name away, can it really be called the same power? If not The Wind, then what is it?" The monk raised his blade. "Nothing!"
"Don't be ridiculous! A name is just-" Something dropped out of the sky and landed with a plop on Nianzol's shoulder. Yhwach's breath caught in his throat. If only he'd been able to see this coming.
The royal guardsman's eyes widened and he slowly looked at the substance coating his arm and neck.
Hyōsube lowered his weapon, smiling. "Oh, so that connected? Your power wasn't so useful after all. If it couldn't deflect an attack you didn't see coming, then it was nothing more than a fancy shield." He stepped forward, and Nianzol stepped back. "That power is nothing, now. And so, too, are you."
The Head Priest smiled wider, but the humor never touched those glassy eyes of his. Looking on in horror, Yhwach saw something about the old man he'd never noticed before. There was a cruel fire in those eyes.
Those were the eyes of a man looming over an ant in his home.
"Nianzol!" Yhwach called out to his loyal subordinate; that pitiable young man who bore the brunt of their efforts to build an army with Jugo's power. He reached out, but . . .
Hyōsube raised his hand, palm open. Then he laughed. A large glowing hand formed in the air above Nianzol's head. The poor boy's eyes could do little more than drift up towards that light. The priest swatted at the air like he was smacking a table, and the glowing hand slammed down, crushing Nianzol with a gruesome slap.
"Well then, Yhwach! I've slain one of your precious comrades! Which will you send to the slaughter next?" That monster laughed. He made a show of swinging his weapon around, spraying ink all over the place.
Yhwach's soul trembled. An attack of that caliber should not have been enough to kill Nianzol. The threat of that ink was all too real. If they tried to make it into the prison without dealing with Hyōsube first, then the bastard would destroy them all. They needed to stall him. But how?
He glanced at the remaining members of the Schutzstaffel. If he had them run interference, he might be able to get inside without being splashed with ink, but what of the cost? He needed these men to help guide the new world. If he abandoned them now, the burden of leadership would fall squarely on Jugo's shoulders. The man was a born leader, but the weight of an entire world could crush even the greatest of men.
There was only one real answer. He spoke to his royal guard as confidently as he dared. "I want all of you to go ahead. Clear a path for me."
"Wait, Your Majesty! You can't be serious!" Lille stepped up, clearly rejecting the proposed plan. Under normal circumstances, his loyalty would be greatly appreciated. Right now, though, it was only going to make things harder. "If we fight together, there's nobody who can defeat us. Let us help you."
"No. This man is no normal enemy. The way he thinks is . . . alien, in many respects. He will find an opening we never could have anticipated and tear through it without hesitation." He met Lille's worried expression with one filled with stern resolve. "This is a battle that I alone must fight. Now go. This is an order from your king, Lille Barro."
Lille grimaced. He was struggling with this. Between following his lord's orders and protecting him against his will . . . For someone so loyal, it must have been agonizing. Unfortunately, this was war. There were always going to be difficult decisions to make. He nodded, shaking with frustration, and marched off towards the 1st Division headquarters. The others followed him.
Blessedly, Hyōsube ignored them, fixing his gaze firmly on Yhwach.
Standing there under the eyes of the 0 Division's Head Priest was suffocating. The man looked more like a demon. One with glowing pits of fire in his skull and stark white fangs in his jaw.
"It is admirable that you would send your underlings on ahead. Georg would be proud."
"You don't have the right to say that name." Yhwach trembled even as he drew his sword. There was too much history here-not as much as with Yamamoto, perhaps, but equally as painful.
He had to face this foe anyway. Hyōsube's ink could likely render someone like Jugo powerless. That left Yhwach as the only one among the ranks of the Quincy who stood a chance.
He hoped he had enough time left.
+ Break +
"Enough playing around, Gigi! Bring in the zombies!" The short statured Quincy shouted up at her companion. It wasn't clear what she meant by 'zombies,' but if the movies Orihime had seen were anything to go by, it was anything but good.
The Quincy with the long, dark hair that Yoruichi had been fighting was absolutely battered. She was covered in purple, fist-sized lumps and one of her eyes was swollen shut. Some of her fingers were even bending the wrong way, but she wasn't bleeding very much. After that first splash, Yoruichi had apparently been extra careful not to draw anymore.
"Aww, but Lil," the bruised Quincy whined, "I've got such a nice collection going. If I bring them out now, they'll get all beat up."
"Tough. We need that support. It's now or never, Gigi!"
Gigi whimpered, but waved her hands in an ominous way. The change wasn't obvious at first. Sado-kun still held off the third Quincy while the other two backed off. Only when the rumbling started did Orihime look around at the piles of rubble littering the vicinity. Stones and shattered chunks of wood rolled off those piles as figures emerged from beneath them.
"Sado-kun!" Orihime shouted, head swiveling. There were hundreds of them; Quincy and Shinigami, dead-eyed and shambling. Reflexively, she backed away. She'd fought against monsters of all shapes and sizes, but these were zombies! Somehow, the familiarity of these ghouls struck much more than the visage of any horrific Hollow.
Sado-kun broke away from his opponent, responding to Orihime's call, but the muscular beauty followed him. He was pinned under her relentless assault before he could get close.
The short Quincy, Lil, looked down at Orihime, face blank. She looked almost bored . . . no, that wasn't quite right. She looked done, like the end of this battle was a foregone conclusion and she was simply waiting for the inevitable to play out. Orihime glared up at her, challenging her conclusion with resolve.
Suddenly, the zombies lurched into a dash. They reached out clawing at the air, some carrying swords. Orihime scrambled back trying to make it to Sado-kun. If they fought together, they could overcome this easily. But the undead moved too quickly. They cut her off and drove her further away from her friend.
Her training had improved her fighting ability, but she hadn't had many offensive capabilities in the first place. A swarm of mostly unarmed enemies like this one was completely outside of her wheelhouse.
She considered calling out to Yoruichi for help, but Gigi had changed tactics. The battered Quincy was pressuring Yoruichi with wild swipes that sent dark red blood sailing from likely self-inflicted wounds. She wasn't leaving any openings at all.
The hair on Orihime's neck stood on end, prompting her to raise a barrier. The moment her glowing Santen Kesshun appeared, Lil's gaping maw slammed into it. Frightfully sharp teeth grinded against the shield, but to no avail. The nature of these Quincies' powers was a mystery, but she was sure of one thing: They couldn't get past the Shun Shun Rikka!
That should have been clear . . . so why did she keep trying to get in?
Lil's mouth assaulted the barrier from every conceivable angle, chomping ravenously. Her attempts to break in were so ferocious that she ended up catching some zombies in her teeth. When she bit down, their bodies weren't eviscerated and mulched, thankfully. The reality was in many ways more horrifying. When Lil's teeth came together, the undead people she caught between them simply ceased to exist. It bore an unsettling resemblance to Orihime's own Rejection in the way they just . . . stopped being.
Even as the number of zombies crowding around Santen Kesshun increased, Lil continued, consuming more and more. Shinigami or Quincy, it didn't seem to matter. Didn't she care that she was destroying the bodies of her allies along with the Shinigami? One look at her face was all it took to answer that question.
It was the same. That bored expression came across loud and clear despite the grotesque warping of her mouth. It didn't make any sense. She floated in air, seemingly completely unengaged in the fight, and yet her attacks were brutal and undiscerning. What was wrong with her?
The Quincy's mouth slammed against Santen Kesshun causing Orihime to stumble. She'd felt the impact as if she'd guarded it with her own arms. That shouldn't have happened. She steeled her resolve through her training, so why was she wavering now?
Peering through the wall of zombies, she could see Sado-kun fighting desperately. Surrounded by zombies, he could really only defend against the Quincy's attacks. Her blows lifted him off the ground, sending him drifting into groups of waiting undead. He spun, trying to clear them away, but then he stopped. His fist was precariously close to the head of a zombified Shinigami. He ducked, then, rolling away and putting himself right in the Quincy's hands. She swung both of her fists, slamming Sado-kun's shield arm with a thundering crack, lobbing him into the air.
Orihime gasped. He was heading straight for her. If he collided with her shield now, he'd get caught up in Lil's relentless attacks! Sucking in sharply, Orihime focused on the impacts raining down on her barrier. She only had a few moments to get this right.
She shifted from Santen Kesshun to Shiten Kōshun, catching Lil's mouth just as it connected with the outside of the barrier. The force of her attack was returned in kind, halting her assault right on time.
Sado-kun just about hit the shield when Orihime dismissed it. She braced herself and stepped into the path of his fall. When he hit her, they both tumbled, barreling through a group of zombies. Turning end over end, Orihime erected another barrier, pushing the closest zombies away. They were safe for the time being, but her haste had left her shield smaller than was comfortable.
The Quincy that Sado-kun was fighting blasted through the zombies and started beating on the barrier. Her punches were slower than Lil's bites, but the power behind them was significantly greater. Each hit shook Orihime to her core. She hadn't realized just how heavy a toll maintaining Santen Kesshun took on her body. Sado-kun stood as tall as he could given the cramped space, ready to take over should her shield somehow fail.
Once again, she'd been reminded of her weakness. The situation got a little out of control and she lost her nerve, same as always. The old her would have crumbled under the pressure.
She wasn't that person anymore. Orihime stood, grimacing against the impacts. She knew better now. She knew that her failures could be remedied, that one screw up didn't mean things were over. Holding up her hands, she prepared to strike the Quincy back with Shiten Kōshun. With the right timing . . .
A swifter but equally brutal assault rained down from above. Lil had recovered and was biting at the barrier as she had been before, except that she gave her friend a wide berth. Under the combined weight of their attacks, Orihime's heart sank.
But she kept her arms raised. At this point, she wasn't sure she could switch from defense to offense without the focus this pose provided. She'd never countered two separate, wholly independent attacks at the same time before, but she didn't have a choice but to do it now.
Sweat dripped into her eyes as she tried to pin down the timing for each enemy. Sado-kun looked back at her over his shoulder, worried, and held his position between her and the punchy Quincy. She'd thank him for his concern later. Right now, she needed to focus.
But that was proving more difficult than she could handle. Between the two powerful Quincies and the horde of zombies lamely slapping Santen Kesshun, she couldn't perceive the right timing to shift. And as if to add fuel to the fire, her fatigue was rising exponentially. If this kept up, she'd collapse, and the barrier along with her.
Sparks danced at the edges of Orihime's vision, and Lil, her friend, and the zombies were all blown away. The sudden relief felt like loud music shut off at once with silence-and tinnitus-rushing in to fill the void. The proverbial ringing in her ears left her feeling dazed. When Yoruichi appeared in front of her, breathing heavily, she snapped out of it.
She dropped her barrier for a moment to let her teacher inside, taking the opportunity to expand its radius to a more comfortable size. "You really saved us there. Thank you, Yoruichi."
"Don't mention it. At least, not until later." She shook her head, smiling. Then her focus shifted to the women floating above them. "I think we're done here. Ichigo's had more than enough time. Now it's our turn to escape."
"You have a plan?" Sado-kun said.
"Not really. But between the three of us, I think we can keep those guys at bay long enough to rendezvous with a larger Shinigami force. I doubt they'll keep on us then."
She was right, that wasn't really a plan. But it was better than anything Orihime could come up with at the moment. Discussing it, they decided that Orihime would signal the initial dash, and then she and Sado-kun would follow Yoruichi's lead.
As she prepared to drop the shield, however, the Quincies began to move.
"It's time to stop holding back, Gigi," Lil said. Gigi cocked her head, trying to look innocent, but even Orihime could tell how unbelievable that was. "We know how much more you have to give. We were there when you got them, remember?"
At that, Gigi sighed. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted into the air. "Hey, Bambi!"
A powerful Reiatsu appeared high overhead. Yoruichi held out her arm, stopping Orihime from lowering the barrier. Whoever it was up there, they were a variable that could make their not-plan much harder to execute.
A woman in a similar white uniform as the other three descended, carried by vibrant Reishi wings. It would have been a beautiful sight if not for the woman's decaying gray flesh. She nuzzled up to Gigi like a puppy.
"I'm happy to see you too, Bambi," Gigi laughed. She pointed down at Orihime and company, drawing the newcomer's eyes to them. "Be a doll, and take care of that for me, won't you?"
"Sure . . . Gigi." The woman called Bambi descended a short distance, then held out her hand. She was clearly a zombie, but she gave off the power of a living Quincy on the same level as Lil and her friends. Orihime focused. Whatever this woman was going to do, it was going to demand her attention.
A small ball of Reishi formed in Bambi's palm, and with a light shove, she sent it straight for the shield. Much like Gigi's first blood attack, the mundanity of this orb made Orihime's skin crawl. It had to be more powerful than it seemed. Fortunately, it was relatively slow, so timing a counter would be simple.
She readied the shift to Shiten Kōshun. As soon as the ball drifted onto the surface of Santen Kesshun, she reshaped the barrier, throwing whatever it was back towards Bambi. At least, that's what should have happened.
Instead, when the ball reached the shield, it was not repelled. It melted into the surface, almost like it was Rejected. Something was off-things were never that easy-but she couldn't put her finger on what.
Then the barrier began to glow. It was different from the usual soft light that the Shun Shun Rikka gave off. This was intense. Hot. Whatever that ball was, it did something to her barrier.
"Look out!" Sado-kun wrapped his arms around Orihime and leaned over her, forcing her into a huddled ball. The glow was growing brighter and brighter.
Then Shiten Kōshun exploded.
The force of the blast pummeled Orihime's body even as Sado-kun protected her. She felt heat scorching her skin, and her hearing had all but been blown out by the boom. She hesitantly opened her eyes, forcing down the bile rising in her throat, and though the world was spinning, she could tell they'd been beaten.
Sado-kun took the brunt of the explosion in her stead. He was conscious, somehow, but his body was covered in burns. It didn't look like he could move very well. He probably had some internal injuries too. Orihime tried to reach him, but she wasn't much better off. He needed to be healed, though, so she pushed through the pain, ignoring the screaming protests of her joints and muscles.
Yoruichi put herself between them and the Quincies. Her injuries were minor compared to Sado-kun's, but she couldn't completely avoid taking damage. Even to Orihime's eyes, it was obvious that she was favoring one leg over the other. "Sorry, but it looks like this is the end of the road. You two did well."
Orihime finally managed to reach Sado-kun, biting back cries of pain. She did her best to steady her breathing-not an easy task in her current state-and formed a small barrier around Sado-kun. His injuries were severe, but she could Reject them. Undo them entirely. Given enough time she could return him to the state he was in before this fight started.
But they didn't have time.
The Quincies loomed, and besides Gigi, none of them looked worse for wear. With Sado-kun incapacitated and Orihime forced to tend to his wounds, that only left an injured Yoruichi to fend them off.
It was over. Orihime trembled. Her power was miraculous, but they needed a different sort of miracle now. Part of her wished that Kurosaki-kun would charge in and save them all. Another part of her rejected that idea flat out.
The whole point of this fight was to buy him time to escape. If he came back now, then all of it would have been for nothing. More than being saved, she at least wanted her efforts to have meaning.
She was proud of the effort she put in.
If only she could have done more.
+ Shift +
"Woohoo! Way to go, Bambi! That's my girl!" How could Giselle not be pumped out of her mind? Her wounds were quickly fading away and her beautiful, wonderful Bambietta was wrecking shop.
Really, she was so much easier to be around now.
Bambi flew back to Giselle's side with a simpering grin on her face. It was lovely. Delicious, even. That insufferable super bitch was looking to her for approval. She was desperate for it. Giselle really didn't need any proof that her power was awesome, but seeing Bambi like this, she just . . . The Zombie was awesome.
"I did . . . good?" Bambi said in the most adorable way. Giselle patted her head and she almost giggled. She was like a pet.
"You sure did, sweetie. Just as I wanted."
"Yay."
"Now then," Giselle spun her loyal zombie around, facing her directly at the pitiful sitting ducks down below. "You're going to finish those losers off now, okay? Scorched earth, just the way you like it."
Bambi nodded enthusiastically . . . well, as enthusiastically as an undead puppet could manage, which wasn't much. But hey, it was the thought that counted, and Bambi's puny little zombie brain was only going to be filled with thoughts of explosions and raining body parts!
"Right, go get'em!" A hardy pat on the back sent Bambi diving towards her prey. She easily could have rained attacks down on the Shinigami sympathizers, but she was just too excited. She might be dead, but she was still Bambi in the end. She was going to blow them sky high, and she was going to make sure she was smack dab in the middle of the fun.
Something slammed into her shoulder and she lurched to a stop. Her head turned regarding the blue-white arrow sprouting from her uniform.
Giselle blinked. "Hey, Lil? Meni? Did one of you do that?" Meni shook her head, looking just as confused as Giselle did. Lil's eyes darted all over the place. She looked angry more than anything else. "Alright. Then, who's arrow is that?"
Just as the arrow in Bambi evaporated, another fell, sticking in her thigh. Then another took her in the chest, and then another two. If she wasn't already dead, that probably would have done it. Giselle had barely called her back to figure out what was going on when a torrent of Reishi arrows lit up the sky.
The poor, oblivious zombie was pelted by countless arrows. She had them sticking out from everywhere, and one of her legs was nearly ripped off completely!
"Lil . . ." Giselle said, trying her best not to seethe. "Point me in the right direction."
"Use those big eyes of yours for once." Lil nodded towards a building on the edges of the battlefield. What was that light?
A golden glow emanated from just beyond the peaked roof. As seconds passed, it grew more and more intense, eventually becoming a blinding beacon as it crested the peak, forcing Giselle to shield her eyes.
"Well well, what do we have here?" A voice that sent a chill up Giselle's spine echoed across the battlefield. She tried peeking through her fingers at the brilliant light. It seemed to be getting dimmer. Maybe. "Drones made from the corpses of friend and foe alike? That's quite horrific! Which of you is responsible?" The glow diminished to the point that the people standing at its heart were visible. She still couldn't make out their faces, though.
"All those zombies are mine! Who's asking?" Lil shot Giselle a dirty look, but she could stuff it. Nobody badmouthed The Zombie without Giselle's say so!
"Ah, I suppose I should turn this down." The light dimmed further, revealing its sources in full. "I am Kurotsuchi Mayuri, Captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13." Giselle's eyes widened at that. She still couldn't see him perfectly-the shadow of that absurd light muddled the details-but she knew that name. A curse from Lil confirmed her fears.
This man was one of the Special War Potentials. One of the most dangerous among them.
That being said, he certainly didn't look the part.
He was garbed in what could only be described as a coat modeled after a bean bag chair, and he wore a headdress that appropriately gave the impression of a sun. And all of it was the gaudiest gold Giselle had ever laid eyes on. It was almost painful to look at even now that it wasn't glowing. At his side, wearing an equally noisy outfit, was a young woman. The briefings didn't mention the Lieutenant of the 12th Division, but odds were good that she held that position. Then there was the third member of their troupe . . .
That was a Quincy uniform. There was no mistaking it. She had so many questions, but Giselle swept them aside. She knew who bombarded her poor Bambi now. "I'll kill him!"
"Cool it, Gigi. We can't afford to get distracted when that guy is involved." Lil liked to put on a cool front, but she was the extra careful type. She could be trusted to make the smart calls, so Giselle took a deep breath and put the traitor out of her mind. They could deal with him later.
The Captain studied Giselle with a wide grin that rivaled her own creep factor. "Magnificent! Truly magnificent! Your power enslaves the souls of your victims, does it not? I must study you! Please allow me to dissect you. I promise to put you back together, good as new when I'm finished."
That was by far the most sinister offer Giselle had ever gotten. Made all the more chilling by the complete lack of bloodlust. She wouldn't be intimidated, though. She needed to make her response as clear as crystal. "Let's go get'em, Bambi!" She pushed the damaged zombie out in front of her and soared towards the interlopers.
Lil tried to stop her, calling out, but the ball was already rolling!
As they approached, the Shinigami split off from their treacherous friend. That was fine. She was going to obliterate the Shinigami, but she wanted to have some fun with that poor excuse for a Quincy. "Go, Bambi!"
Swollen bulbs of Reishi emerged from Bambi's sparkling wings and flew at the Captain and his Lieutenant. A salvo like this would blast them to pieces!
Kurotsuchi turned in the air and held out his arm. Dozens of small metal balls flowed from his sleeve, hanging in the air along their path. This one had some good instincts. Bambi's bulbs struck the balls, investing them with the power of her Schrift. Oddly enough, though, they didn't explode. Did he neutralize The Explode, just like that? How?!
Well, whatever! He could only hold so many of those balls on him, but Bambi's power source was limitless. A drawn out battle worked wonderfully in Giselle's favor. "Keep going, Bambi! Let's smother this creep in explosions!" They flew through the field of floating balls, flicking the cheap little things away as they went.
Giselle cocked her head as a cluster in front of them started to glow in a familiar way. By the time she noticed that all of the balls were glowing ominously, it was too late.
They all exploded.
Fireballs, which were way larger than they should have been, erupted around Giselle and Bambi. They were completely surrounded by the very salvo they were going to use to kill the Shinigami!
Giselle had seen first hand how devastating The Explode could be. She only had one chance to get out of this in one piece. She slammed into Bambi, pulling herself as close to her body as possible. Bambi's limbs curled backwards, forming a thin barrier against the incoming shockwaves and heat. Giselle's vision shook as they were bombarded with incredible force.
Her stomach turned as they hurtled towards the ground. The impact crushed Bambi's insides with a loud, wet crack, leaving Giselle almost completely unscathed. That was good. Bambi was basically in pieces now, though. That was not so good.
"That was an impressive response. I didn't expect you to react so quickly." Kurotsuchi clapped his hands in an obviously condescending way as he approached. "Your defense was fast, but I'm sure you're confused. Would you like me to explain?"
Giselle eyed him silently. She needed to start repairing Bambi, but she couldn't do it as long as he was in a position to attack.
"I saw your little doll there use her power on that living girl's barrier. That, combined with reports from the initial invasion, gave me a clear idea of how those balls of Reishi functioned. From there, it was as simple as selecting the right tool for the job." Man, this guy liked to hear himself talk.
That could work for Giselle. While he spoke, she prepared.
"Those metal spheres are akin to batteries; they can hold a charge of Reishi and then discharge it at a set time. A little bit of tinkering on the fly allowed them to even magnify the output of the original charge. All it took-"
"You talk too much, Captain." Giselle spoke up, interrupting him. "You should have finished me off right away, cause now . . ." She snapped her fingers and a horde of zombies emerged from underneath rubble and from surrounding buildings. It wasn't the most she could manage-she'd been pumping out zombies like crazy since they were let loose-but it should suffice to stall. Showing her own flair for cruelty, she made sure that most of these zombies were former Shinigami. "You'll have plenty of time to study my power while these guys tear you apart!"
Kurotsuchi blinked, expression blank. Then, he said, "That's a shame. I can't possibly fight my own comrades." He sighed, dramatically bringing the back of his hand to his forehead. "My poor heart couldn't possibly take it! If only there were someone who could fight in my stead!" He smiled, wide and toothy. It made Giselle sick.
A trigger appeared in his hand and he pressed it down with another dramatic flourish. There was a moment of silence as Giselle waited for . . . something. From what she'd heard, that trigger really could have done anything, so she was only a little surprised when a group of powerful, distinctly Hollow Spiritual Pressures fell from the sky.
What was a Shinigami Captain doing with a bunch of Arrancar on call?
"Behold! This little team of misfit Hollows is a pet project of mine. I guess you could say they are my zombies." His zombies, huh? Giselle sniffed. They didn't look like much.
"What do you mean 'your zombies?!'" One of the Hollows shrieked. That was already a point against them in Giselle's book. A good zombie should be obedient if not completely silent. "Just because you put us back together doesn't mean we're indebted to you or anything!"
The Hollow with stiff tentacles coming out of their back cut in. "I'm with Cirucci on this one. I've been going along with your twisted little experiment out of curiosity, but if you're going to start claiming ownership, well, I'll just have to take my leave." The remaining two nodded in agreement.
What a pathetic bunch! Kurotsuchi made it sound like his little pets could hold a candle to Giselle's works of art, but he didn't have full control of them? This creep was way out of his depth.
The Captain raised the same trigger he used to summon these clowns and pressed it once more. The Arrancar suddenly started writhing and screaming in pain. Judging by the standing hairs of Giselle's arms, they were being electrocuted. Was he . . . disciplining them? Like actual pets?
"As you can see," he said, unperturbed, "there are a few kinks that still need to be worked out, but I am quite confident in their performance." He released the trigger, tucking it back into his sleeve. "Care for a bit of competition? My zombies against yours? I'd very much like to see the outcome of such a fight."
Giselle looked from him to the sorry lot picking themselves up off the ground. They were clearly still in a great deal of pain and parts of their flesh were singed from the horrible electric shock. Describing them as a mess would be too generous. So she laughed. "You have got to be kidding! These losers are you zombies? And just four?! You really must have a screw loose if you think that'll be enough to beat The Zombie!"
A quiet hung over the battlefield as her laughter faded away. Kurotsuchi shrugged, smiling, and gestured for his Lieutenant to follow. They stopped a good distance away and settled back as if to watch. Was he serious? That joke was already wearing thin. She couldn't even laugh.
Giselle was about to send her horde after the Captain when she noticed a strange air hanging over the heads of the Hollows. Why did they look so serious all of sudden?
"Losers, huh?"
"I don't like the idea of fighting that bastard's battles, but that seriously pissed me off."
"We're being underestimated, aren't we?
"I think this calls for a little demonstration, wouldn't you agree?"
Their Spiritual Pressure surged, growing well past the level of any Hollow Giselle had encountered. The Captain's challenge was starting to sound less and less like a joke. Fine then, if it was a competition they wanted, then they could have it. She ordered her zombie horde to swarm the Arrancar. Nobody was powerful enough to withstand the sheer weight numbers could provide.
And yet, the Hollows didn't seem to be having any trouble! They cleaved through the ranks of zombie Shinigami with a tireless, violent glee. That . . was a bad sign.
Giselle threw herself into repairing Bambi's body, taxing the powers of her Vollständig. She wasn't doubting The Zombie, but it never hurt to cover one's bases.
Shinigami bodies flew through the air as the Hollows fought. Giselle started as one wave of bodies turned her way. A tall, chiseled Hollow blasted through her back line and locked eyes with her. "Simply tragic," he lamented, "for beauty such as ours to be forced into conflicts like these! A terrible shame indeed!" He charged, looking not the least bit bothered.
Bambi wasn't even close to being ready, but this guy left Giselle with little choice. She commanded Bambi to defend her. The poor girl's wings managed to lift her off the ground, but she wasn't going to be doing any fighting with those smashed up limbs. The Explode would have to suffice. Energy began building in her wings, but before it could coalesce, the Arrancar closed the gap.
He grabbed Bambi by the head in enormous hands and whipped her around, flinging her straight at Kurotsuchi. The Lieutenant intercepted the zombie missile by kicking her into the ground. Bambi, bless her disgusting soul, rose up again like an obedient soldier.
"I suggest you move, Bastardo!" The Hollow shouted, building a tremendous amount of energy. A moment later, he launched a massive pink beam of energy at Bambi . . . or was it at the Captain. Either way, the beam enveloped Bambi. When it reached Kurotsuchi, however, it bent at a sharp angle, shooting straight into the air.
Well, that sucked.
It was going to take forever to fix her now. And that was assuming there was anything left to fix! She didn't have a choice but to bring out her actual trump card.
Seriously, what a pain. "Hey, ToTo! Get your butt out here!" The air took on a noticeable chill. Little ToTo's presence had that effect. It was a neat little bonus to zombifying a Shinigami Captain.
Giselle smiled as ToTo stepped up beside her. She took way too much pleasure in seeing Kurotsuchi's face wrinkle in irritation. He knew his so-called zombies were screwed.
He was going to fight one of his own whether he liked it or not!
+ Shift +
Ishida Uryu descended, putting himself between his friends and the Quincies threatening them. He glared at the women who should have been his allies, daring them to make a move.
"Ishida-kun!" Orihime said, smiling despite her injuries. "Can you keep those two busy while I finish helping Sado-kun?"
"That's . . ." He paused. How to react to her seamless acceptance of his arrival? She must have had plenty of questions. But no, that didn't matter now. "I'll do what I can."
"You're a lifesaver!" In an instant she was laser focused on healing Chad's wounds. He was not the only one to have grown, it seemed.
Ishida turned back to the Quincies. One floating overhead, the other on the ground amidst a small force of zombified soldiers. They were both Sternritter, which would put their power on the same level as a Gotei Captain. Once, that might have intimidated him. Before all of this started, he would have doubted himself despite his past accomplishments. Now though . . .
Two Captain-level enemies didn't even make him sweat.
He drew his bow, blue-white light bouncing off of his mostly white uniform. The part that didn't glow drew his attention for a moment. A deep black streak ran from the back of his hand and up his sleeve. It became a neat slash as it stretched across his chest and down his pant leg.
When Kurotsuchi had the gall to suggest the redesign, he'd been insulted. The Shinigami had no right to decide how a Quincy decorated himself. In this moment, though, it felt right. His gaze drifted from the enemy on the ground, to the one in the air. That one was likely the brains in their group, which made her the ideal target.
Ishida pulled back, allowing energy to flow not from the ground and air around him, but from his own soul. He'd expected it to be a cold, disquieting feeling, like having blood drawn. It was oddly warm, instead. He loosed and a barrage of arrows launched into the sky. They were not as numerous as they once were, but there was more power in each individual projectile.
The flying Quincy evaded, swooping through the space between his arrows. In this, her diminutive physique served her well. She had her own weapon drawn, but opted not to return fire. Was she appraising him, perhaps?
The other woman charged, leaving the zombie force idling. She was aiming for him, obviously, but he did not take his eyes off the one in the air. It was likely that the larger woman was more dangerous in a physical sense, but someone giving orders from on high could easily magnify that threat.
And besides, he wasn't fighting alone.
Yoruichi met the Quincy on the ground, deflecting her shockingly powerful blows with deft counters and throws. When the woman with wavy pink hair planted her feet, the earth shook. A lesser fighter might have been thrown off balance by the tremors, but Yoruichi was easily amongst the upper echelon of Captain-level Shinigami. She flipped through the air before dropping down behind the Quincy. When the other woman turned to strike, Yoruichi snapped forward, thrusting her fist into her sternum. The Quincy grunted and was thrown through the air past Ishida's head.
"You have any problems going all out against your own?" Yoruichi said, dusting off her hands. She didn't look away from her opponent either.
Kurosaki might have smirked at a question like that, but that simply wasn't Ishida's style. "I wouldn't be here if I did," he sniffed.
"Glad to hear it." She didn't seem bothered by his tone as she gleefully leapt after the pink-haired Quincy. She called back, "I like the new look, by the way. Outside and in!"
Ishida cringed. He'd accepted the new state of his soul and the power it brought, but having someone point it out to him was seriously embarrassing. Fortunately, he didn't have time to be flustered.
The Quincy in the air descended a short way, bringing herself within earshot. "So I'm not imagining things. Your soul's all muddled, isn't it?"
"That's one way to look at it, I suppose. Is that going to be a problem?"
"Of course it is!" She spat, suddenly agitated. "The light of your righteous Quincy soul is wrapped in darkness. You're tainted. You bring shame to the Quincy name!" Her zealotry was on full display. Ishida had her pegged as the even tempered type, so where did this outburst come from?
Oh, right. How could he forget? Apparently, even the elites were not safe from Haschwalth's influence. Ishida's short stint in the Wandenreich was mired by a haze over his thoughts, but he could remember the emotions quite vividly. Anger and hatred mixing with fervent belief. And the most sinister part of it was that not a single one of those thoughts and emotions were implanted. They'd grown, intensely twisted, from his own insecurities and doubts.
This woman was likely the same as he was. She was a victim just like all of those under Haschwalth's thumb. She was also a villain. Her actions were still her own. As were her beliefs. Responsibility for the pain and suffering she and her allies caused fell solidly on their shoulders. Ishida himself felt that weight, so he understood.
"I can accept that." He would not hold back. "The darkness that resides within me is indeed tainted. However, if it allows me to protect my friends and the world they believe in . . ." He would end these Quincies if he had to. "Then I will gladly use it. The same as any other tool." As surely as if he were fighting a mindless Hollow.
They both readied their weapons in the blink of an eye, sending salvos of arrows at each other. Ishida stepped lightly, weaving between the arrows as they struck the ground. That was odd. At her level of strength, those arrows should have been much more destructive. He found his opponent amidst the glow of his own volley. He had to be wary of another attack.
As the glow from his attack faded he noticed the odd shape of her mouth. It stretched down, disappearing amongst the static zombie horde. Cursing, he leapt away. In the same moment, a large, inhuman maw struck at him from under the ground. He climbed into the air, but it pursued him. The Sternritter had powers that no normal Quincy could manifest. This must be hers.
Ishida's gut reaction was to fire a volley at the monstrous mouth to try and drive it back, but his instincts rejected that idea. So instead, he turned back to his Quincy foe and dashed directly at her. He fired in short bursts, forcing her to deflect or dodge them. He had to keep her locked down while her mouth was pursuing him. Hopefully, that would create gaps in her defenses.
As he rushed at her, he reached for one of the hilts on his belt. With a quick infusion of Reiatsu, his Seele Schneider ignited, its blue-white length marred by a flicker of black. He swung the blade, aiming to sever her monstrous maw at the source.
Her mouth snapped back to her face all at once before extending out again. If she thought to bite him now, she was not as clever as he expected. Glowing sword met warped teeth and the light of the Seele Schneider winked out.
Eyes widening, Ishida leapt back, dodging another chomp. She didn't pursue, giving him time to figure out what exactly had happened. Did she have some kind of Reishi negating ability? Or was the Reiatsu he pumped into the blade absorbed into her?
The diminutive Quincy chewed on nothing. At least, he thought it was nothing. "What a strange flavor," she said. "Quincy is usually too bitter, and what I've tasted of Shinigami was pretty sour, bordering on rancid. This though . . ." She swallowed, then proceeded to pick her teeth. "I kind of like it. I never thought mixing two gross flavors could make something tasty."
The way she was talking . . . did she eat his sword?
Well, that answered one major question. That mouth was for eating, and judging by the way the hybrid Reiatsu he funneled into the blade simply vanished, her consumption operated on similar principles to Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka.
That complicated things. The avenues of approach suddenly became much more narrow, so he'd have to find another way to handle this fight.
Brute force was still an option, but if he could settle this without expending too many resources, all the better. Ideally, he could break off and formulate a new strategy, but that was unlikely to work out.
Ishida spared a glance for his friends. Chad was sitting up now, but his injuries still required attention. They needed more time.
He had no other choice, then.
He had to adapt or die. Strangely enough, he felt comfortable in that position.