Chapter 74
Surging Moon
"Oh, this is the very definition of 'wrong!' It should be the greatest moment in history, but…!"
Sasune, panting as he ran for his life, took a somber look over his shoulder. Other Sasunes chased after him, firing a flurry of scarlet arrows that only narrowly missed him. His weeping had nothing to do with them trying to kill him, however.
"There are beautiful copies of me brightening this cruel, cruel, world, but they're mindless slaves to evil!" He dipped his head back in utter despair. "This…this is a literal war crime!"
"Listening to you is the war crime!" Uryuu argued, running alongside him.
"A lot of people feel that way apparently…"
Uryuu had to jump to his right to avoid some dive-bombing Dondochakkas. With a shriek, he fled from one that tried latching on to him. Quickly aiming his bow, he realized real the thing stood before him. "D-Don't sneak up on me like that, dammit!"
"That was cruel avoiding me like that, Ichigo! Know what I'm sayin'?! I was trying to hold on to you because I was scared out of my mind! Why didn't you catch me?!"
"I'm Uryuu! Besides, that lunge of yours looked like an attack! Your face is scary enough without you randomly charging at me!"
Dondochakka bawled even louder thanks to the harsh criticism. As Sasune shook his head disapprovingly, the seething Uryuu wondered why he was the bad guy.
"This isreallyscary! Know what I'm sayin'?!"
"Okay, that much I agree with," replied Uryuu. He had a near heart attack when he spotted several more of Dondochakka's copies about to crash on them. Sasune rushed over and tackled all three of them out of harm's way.
"You bastard!" one of the clones hollered.
Another growled, "How dare you dodge our patented Dondochakka Press Attack!"
"It was an attack! I knew it!" Uryuu cried, punching the real Dondochakka. He grimaced given he hurt his own hand more than anything. His bad day got worse when a group of cackling Sasune made their way toward him. "This is hell! I think we all can agree we're sick and tired of looking at your stupid face!"
"I heard that!" cried Sasune, faced with a herd of Uryuus. "I'm just waiting for these guys to tell me about some overly complicated plan that doesn't even work in the end!"
"Aren't you talking about yourself, idiot?"
"Unlike some people, my win-loss record is pretty solid."
Some Renjis closed in on the three, forcing them to back into each other. Uryuu and Sasune, covering their ears, thought things awful enough without Dondochakka's continued crying.
"W-We don't have time for this! Know what I'm sayin'?! Nel is still out there and needs our help, yo!"
Sasune gasped, further stinging Uryuu's eardrums. "Y-Yes! Our precious daughter needs our help! We must fly to her, my Arrancar brother!"
"…You're pretty gross, you know," a pale Uryuu murmured. "Wait, do you feel that?"
His head lifted at a sudden swell of spirit energy.
"…CT," said Sasune. "He's doing something reckless again. Did he bump into another one of those Espada?"
"He'll be fine. We trained him right…I think," said Lisa. Spinning on her hands like a top, she delivered a series of kicks that warded off a bunch of her copies. As she went to catch her breath, she noticed more approaching. "I hate this. This is the kind of thing you read in crappy manga where the author has run out of ideas."
"I'm fully convinced you live in a different reality from the rest of us!" Renji stated. He extended and then swung his Zabimaru to knock over a ton of clones like bowling pins.
"Oh, I was just thinking that I read a porn with this sort of plot. There was a lot of oil and—"
Uryuu's hand shot up. "Don't. Just…don't."
No matter how many enemies they took down, twice as many seemed to take their place. The group gathered together in order to have a better chance at survival.
"M-My finger…hurts…" said Sasune, out of breath. He shot yet another series of arrows to try to thin the crowd, though they didn't have much zip behind them.
Uryuu's trigger finger wasn't much better. "This reminds of that time in Karakura Town with all the Hollows…"
"Hey, wasn't that your fault?"
"…"
"Just saying…"
"How strange, Sasune. You don't seem happy anymore to have so many of yourself around."
Sasune, cringing, stared at the aforementioned copies. Their fingers twitched perversely, and drool leaked from the sides of their mouths.
"I do not look like that…"
"No, you've been staring at me like that the whole time," said Lisa. Though Sasune opened his mouth to protest, he soon shrugged in agreement.
"Cut all the stupid chatter!" barked Renji. He sliced through another small group, hardly able to feel his numb arm. "Someone think of something before we're toast!"
"Working on it!" Uryuu assured him, firing upon a crowd of Pesche Guatiche's.
"That's…kind of hard to watch," the genuine artifact groaned. "I've just been dying over, and over, and over, and—hiyaa! Take that, foul villian!"
"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" hollered Uryuu, who for some reason got chopped upside the head. He leaned back afterward to dodge a sudden roundhouse kick thrown by his brother. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Whoops! Sorry, bro. Thought you were another evil clone," said Sasune. "I can't tell the difference between you and the fakes. You all look so…pretentious."
"…This is why no one likes your jokes."
"Behind you, Uryuu!" cried Pesche.
"Huh? I don't see anyone near—OW!" It was Sasune who took a stiff kick right to the face from one of Lisa's clones. He rolled around on the floor holding his swollen lip. "Dammit! That was my good tooth! I'm Sasune you—oh, not again!"
He screamed like a little girl and braced himself as Pesche and Dondochakka took turns stomping a hole into him.
"Bastard!" Pesche hollered. "You look a lot like Uryuu! How dare you steal his beautiful face!"
"This is fun and all," said Lisa, "but maybe we shouldn't do that four-eyes' work for him."
Said 'four-eyes' observed the proceedings with a satisfied grin. For as much Uryuu craved to nail Szayelaporro with an arrow, too many people herded him for him to get a clear shot.
"It's alright," he announced. "I've found some differences between us and the fakes."
"Couldn't you've said that before these maniacs knocked out all my teeth…?" a bloodied Sasune complained. The others hardly recognized his swollen face, with both Renji and Lisa hardly able to control their snorting.
"Shut up and listen!" Uryuu fired a hail of arrows alongside his brother to stop a charging pack of duplicates. That gave him enough time to say, "Sasune's clones are easy enough. They somehow look and sound more idiotic than him, so just look out for drooling and them trying to grope you."
Sasune, though clearly livid, kept his mouth shut.
"Mine and Abarai's clones are a lot harder. The only real difference is the markings around their eyes and slightly finer hair."
"How'd you figure out the hair part? You've been admiring yourself a little, huh?" said Lisa.
Uryuu frowned. "Your clones have slightly shorter skirts, which…I honestly didn't think possible. They've…uh…been flashing me a lot when they try to kick me."
He pushed up his glasses, which gave him an excuse to cover his slightly pink face.
Lisa surveyed her clones before saying, "Huh. Their panties are a different color too. Mine are—"
"W-We get the point…!" cried Uryuu, even more flustered. He cleared his throat. "Dondochakka's clones are the easiest to tell from him since they don't have his spotted pattern on their back."
"They're not spots! Know what I'm sayin'! They're polka dots! Polka dots!"
"…I don't care. Actually, now that I think about it, Pesche's clones are atually the easiest to tell from the real thing. Everyone has probably already noticed, but his are all wearing pants."
Everyone gasped at the shocking development except Lisa, who instead covered her face and sighed.
"That…somehow fits with the ridiculousness of things."
"I-I really didn't notice!" an impressed Pesche exclaimed.
"Where the hell have you been looking the whole time?" asked Uryuu.
Renji said, "Is that guy a moron or something for making such an obvious mistake?"
"You didn't notice it either though…"
Overhearing Renji, Szayelaporro was quick to say, "I am not a moron. Some of your outfits simply don't fit my refined tastes, so I took the liberty of making some alterations."
"I-I'm just saying you're a moron to even bother doing that based on your shitty tastes when you only made them to kill us!"
"Hey, why'd you make mine look so brain-dead, huh?!" cried Sasune.
"…I don't know what you mean," Szayelaporro replied, "I didn't alter their appearance whatsoever."
Lisa and Renji again burst out laughing at Sasune's expense. He began crying literal tears of blood, aiming his shaking bow at the object of his ire.
"Oh, so everyone's a critic today, huh?! Definitely gonna kill your bubblegum-haired ass!"
"You're certainly welcome to try." None too bothered by the threat, Szayelaporro allowed several clones to shield him. "I must say that you all are putting on quite a good show. Far better than your supposed 'comedy' routine anyway. Keep up the good work."
"Dammit!" Renji traded blows with another of his copies. His limbs felt like lead, and he could hardly see straight. "We'll be at this all day if we have to fight in such a cramped space. Let's run for it!"
"Haven't we already established that isn't a possibility?!" replied Uryuu.
Renji smirked. "I just got an idea!"
"Why doesn't that make me feel better?" questioned Sasune.
"Shut up and stand back!" Renji took firm hold of his sword. "BANKAI!"
His Hihiou Zabimaru came to him after a brilliant flash of light. Several of his clones shouted 'BANKAI!' as well, leading the tiny space to quickly fill with dozens of giant, white snakes.
"W-What'd you go and that for?!" said Sasune, who found himself squeezed against a wall. "All you did was make them—"
Szayelaporro's palace ran out of room, and the roof finally collapsed.
A smirking Renji stood triumphantly among the falling rubble moments later. His allies, far less thrilled, groaned while picking themselves up.
Lisa coughed up some concrete, surprised to see a blue sky above her.
"You…wanna explain nearly killing us?" she grumbled.
"H-Help me before answering that!" said Sasune, trapped under a fallen pillar. Renji and Lisa managed to push it off him before he jumped to his feet and started shaking Renji like crazy. "What'd I ever do to deserve you dropping a building on my head?!"
"Oh, so you survived too. Good job," Renji replied.
"D-Don't say it like you expected me to die! And why'd you only say it to me, huh?!"
"Oh, shut up already. I had a feeling you'd make it out alright.
"'Having a feeling' isn't a good enough reason for what you just pulled!" Uryuu insisted, shoving a slab of concrete off himself. "Are you saying you knew that'd happen?"
"Like I said, it was a hunch. Those guys had the same powers, right? After fighting them for a while, I got the feeling that they were copying me, so I thought I'd test it out. Sure enough, they used Bankai when I did. Pretty clever, right?"
"…"
"What's with all the fuss? I just saved your skins."
"How?!" Sighing, Uryuu took a few moments to gather his thoughts. "You know, when you pull reckless stunts like that, I can't help but get reminded of Kurosaki!"
"Heh. I'll take the praise, but I don't know why you had to stick Ichigo's name with it."
"That's because I'm not complimenting you!" Fuming, Uryuu got a good look around. "Say, where are those Arrancar? Pesche and Dondochakka? Don't tell me you got them killed."
"That's…a bad thing?" said Sasune.
"They're probably fine," said Renji, who didn't sound too convinced. "They looked sturdy enough. We should be worried about that Szayelaporro bastard. No way that killed him. He'll probably come out with some sort of trick."
"Hey, maybe he did die in the collapse. Why even tempt fate, man? You know you just jinxed us, right?"
"Huh…?"
"I'm serious! Now that you've said that, that asshole is gonna—"
A pile of rumbling rubble caught everyone's attention. They looked on in sheer confusion as a being wrapped in purple wings rose to the surface. The 'feathers' unfurled and shrank, revealing a livid Szayelaporro Granz. A number of clones also popped back up, making Renji growl.
"Oh, I knew it!" hollered Sasune.
"Do us all a favor and shut the hell up!" Renji ordered.
Szayelaporro said, "Yes, all of you should shut your filthy mouths. I've never had such chatty research material. …Just look at what a mess you've made of my palace. Now Mistress Arashi will chew me out again. Such a shame. That will distract me from my research."
With the snap of his fingers, the surrounding clones suddenly swelled and then burst like balloons.
"Ugh…" was all Sasune could get out, wanting to puke.
"Y-Yeah…" Uryuu went pale too. "I know they were fakes but…it's a little unsettling seeing yourself explode like that."
Szayelaporro chuckled. "That amused me for a bit, but I'm through with that dull way of fighting. I would much rather skewer you with my own hands, but I'll first show you Fornicarás true power."
"Yeah, this is usually the part where the main characters stand around and just let the bad guy power up," noted Sasune.
Uryuu, sprinting to the right, replied, "Well, we'd better not let that happen then."
"Yeah, I've had enough crummy speeches for one day," said Lisa, arming herself with her Shikai.
Renji's Bankai roared while hanging over his shoulder. "Let's do this!"
"Yeah! We should—w-wait," mumbled Sasune. Something wasn't right. He could only call it a gut feeling. "Why's he…just standing there?"
Several Arrancar sprouted up from the rubble like weeds and took positions in front of Szayelaporro. Uryuu, Renji, and Lisa attacked, only to have the blows meant for the Espada taken by his servants. He didn't bat an eyelash at their destruction.
"When did I ever say you had a choice in being a part of my splendid dance?"
Something else sprouted up from the ground, but it wasn't another Arrancar. Uryuu learned this the hard way when one of Szayelaporro's wings swallowed him whole.
"Hold on, four-eyes!" cried Lisa, springing into action. She focused so much on Uryuu that she didn't notice another of Szayelaporro's bud-shaped wings shooting up. "…This won't be good."
It sucked her up in an instant.
"Ishida! Crazy lady!"
Renji swung his Bankai in order to save them. He held back when the wings released their victims. Uryuu and Lisa hit the ground with a slosh, both covered by a sticky substance.
In the midst of coughing a ton of it out of her throat, Lisa uttered, "Well…that was a thing."
"You alright?!" Renji crouched down to check on her. "What the hell happened?"
"Dunno. Kinda blacked out there for a minute. Given all the tentacles and freaky stuff that's been going on, I guess I should've seen this coming…"
Renji's concern for her went out the window. She had to have been alright, he thought, if she could kid around like usual. Uryuu appeared to be as well. Surveying them like a hawk, Sasune just couldn't figure out what was going on.
He felt the same while staring at a pair of swelling strands attached to Szayelaporro's wings. They burst, spilling out not only more sticky fluid but a pair of dolls. They landed in Szayelaporro's hands, and he held them up to give everyone a clear view. One looked like Uryuu, while the other resembled Lisa.
"And those are…?" a wide-eyed Renji wondered.
"Nothing good…" replied Sasune.
"If I could have your attention, invalids." Szayelaporro shook both dolls, which rattled. The others immediately realized something was inside them. "You must be wondering what these are. It's quite simple." He shook the Uryuu doll again. "Thank you, Quincy. Your part in this is now over. From now on, this one here will play the role of 'Uryuu Ishida.' The same goes for this one, Visored."
He ran his long fingers against the dolls' faces. Instantly, both Uryuu and Lisa jumped in surprise.
"I…think I get what's going on," Lisa noted, pressing her fingers against her cheek.
Szayelaporro said, "Good. You both felt that, didn't you? Then, allow me to break it down further. These dolls are connected to each of your five senses. Like so…"
He flicked Uryuu's doll on the forehead. The real Uryuu reeled back, blood spurting from the side of his skull.
"Uryuu!" hollered Sasune as his brother hit the dirt. "Bastard! What'd you just do?!"
"Hmm? I just told you. This doll controls—"
"Can it, four-eyes!" cried Lisa, closed in with her Zanpakutou and Hollow mask at the ready. Szayelaporro pressed his palm down on her doll's head. She in turn landed face-first into the ground. Bewildered, she could have sworn a hammer struck the back of her head.
"Do you understand now? Perhaps another display will help…"
Wrapping his fingers around Uryuu's doll again, Szayelaporro put his onlookers on pins and needles when he started twisting the helpless object.
"S-Stop!"
Sasune, springing into action, got behind his foe using Hirenkyaku. Right as he would have kicked Szayelaporro's head off, one of the Octava Espada's wings smacked him across the mouth. He shot like a rocket into a huge slab of concrete. That left Szayelaporro free to finally rip Uryuu's doll in two.
No one moved or uttered so much as a peek as a loud pop rang across the area. Sweat drizzled down Uryuu's face, who expected to drop dead any moment.
Nothing of the sort happened. Only Szayelaporro maintained his composure, rolling his eyes at the aghast faces staring back at him.
"You're all so slow. Did you truly believe these dolls to be carbon copies of you? In essence, they're merely a construct. You naturally wouldn't split in two if it did as well, right? Take a look at this, and you'll understand what I mean."
He tipped the now open doll to reveal multi-colored objects that looked a lot like pills. Whatever they were, different words in Spanish marked them all.
"S-Shit…!" Huffing, Sasune got to his feet, ignoring the blood littering his face. The moment he laid eyes on the pills, he got a sinking feeling. "H-Hey! What the hell are those supposed to be?!"
Szayelaporro smirked, happy someone inquired. "Why so serious all of a sudden, Quincy? Nothing idiotic to say for once?"
"…"
"How dull. Ah, but you asked a question, didn't you? These look like children's toys given how colorful they are, don't they? You're about to see these dolls' most thrilling feature, one that will leave you fools on the edge of your seats. I would explain, but I believe it would be easiest to just show you."
He grabbed a pill that read 'estomago.' The gears in Sasune's head turned, and his trembling eyes shrank.
"I see you've figured it out," said Szayelaporro, letting out some wicked laughter. "Allow me to enlighten the others."
"D-Don't—"
Szayelaporro did, crushing the pill between his fingers. Uryuu hacked up an unsettling amount of blood. He then sank to his knees before grabbing at his gut in clear agony. The Octava Espada gave no one any time to figure out what had happened. He popped up Lisa's doll next and held up a pull with the words 'pierna derecha.'
"Let's see if you Visored are hardier than normal Shinigami."
Snap.
The pill made an awful crunching noise, with Lisa's right leg following suit. She buckled and landed on her back, hollering at the top of her lungs.
Szayelaporro, ignoring the clamor, wore a bitter frown. "So, just as weak as any other being. Unfortunate. It seems I won't enjoy myself nearly as much as I thought when I'm dissecting you. Now then, what should I break next?"
He dug around inside one of the dolls, stopping upon spotting a furious Sasune pointing his bow with murderous intent.
"I will kill you if you—"
"Oh, I'm certain. Are you confident you can hit me without destroying this container?"Szayelaporro presented Uryuu's doll, making Sasune falter. "Yes, you're quite quick on the uptake for being such an idiot, aren't you? What do you think might happen if you accidentally break this?"
"…"
"Very good. You would destroy all the subject's organs in one fell swoop. Devilishly efficient if you ask me but likely not what you desire, Quincy."
Sasune's indecisiveness left him wide open for the Espada's wing to devour him.
"Bastard!"
Renji went to free Sasune, only to get eaten himself. In spite of the fortuitous events, Szayelaporro was none too pleased, impatiently tapping his finger against his chin.
"So, even with a Shinigami, a Visored, and two Quincies teaming up against me, it would appear my intellect has won out. Such a shame. You four are nothing but children who haven't the slightest idea how to use the power you've been granted."
He turned over the now four dolls in his grasp.
"Whether it be human, Shinigami, or even Quincy, it would seem they're all equally inferior to Hollows. …That is reason enough for Mistress Arashi to eradicate you. Inferiority like that is a serious crime."
#
"Master Nnoitra, where are you?! Master Nnoitra!"
The distraught Tesra continued to holler across the sandy plain, unable to find a trace of his liege among a choking cloud of smoke.
His heart sank as he muttered, "W-Would he actually fall to a mere human?!"
"My brother is no 'mere human!'" Izumi growled, ramming her elbow into Tesra's stomach. Though she nearly shattered it against his Hierro, she hit him hard enough for him to finally release her. "Aaron!"
She scrambled away, though Tesra remained hot on her tail. Whirling around, she fired a Cero that made his lone eye widen. It seemed to find its mark as a scarlet haze broke out in front of her. She didn't stick around to find out, dashing her way forward.
"Bro! Where are you?! D-Don't tell me that stupid idiot actually blew himself up?!"
No matter where she searched, she couldn't find any trace of him. More alarmingly, she couldn't detect his spiritual pressure either. As apprehension coursed through her veins, she opted not to take any stock in her abilities for once. She had to believe that even they could be wrong once in a while.
"Dammit! This isn't funny!" she blared. "If this is some kind of strategy—"
The ominous, soul crushing spiritual pressure that fell over her just then made her lose her train of thought. Again, she hoped—even prayed—that her senses might have been playing tricks on her. She got proven wrong in a way that almost made her heart stop.
A pair of hands wrapped themselves around her ankles, poking out from the sand. They prevented her from fleeing despite how desperately she tried doing so. Gradually, a scowling figure emerged from deep below her. Nnoitra Gilga, dripping with blood from head to toe, moved his long, slender fingers around Izumi's neck, threatening to snap it. He hoisted her into the air, paying no mind to her gagging while leering over at the fallen Tesra.
"Idiot! Did you really let a human who can't do shit other than imitate others like a monkey put you flat on your ass?"
"F-Forgive me, Master."
"Get the hell up already…"
Nnoitra released Izumi, and she dropped to the sand a wheezing mess.
"That bastard did a real number on me." Nnoitra saw that he wasn't seriously injured. Even so, the fact he hadn't survived Aaron's surprise attack unscathed was a serious blow to his pride. "That stupid idiot went and blew himself up, huh? Are you telling me even a piece of garbage like Luppi couldn't beat him? Ha! And I thought you were the most miserable thing ever, Nelliel!"
His shifty eye settled on the person in question, who cowered in his presence. Just looking at her made him sick to his stomach.
"Tesra. Get this piece of crap outta my sight," he said, nodding toward Izumi. "Don't worry, Ms. Pet. I ain't anywhere near done with you."
Nnoitra's long tongue jutted out his mouth as he grinned. Izumi could do nothing but whimper. Tesra, feeling vengeful, nearly strangled her himself while restraining her. That left his liege free to made his way over to Nel.
Nnoitra, dragging his massive Zanpakutou in the sand, stated, "I believe we have some unfinished business, Nelliel. That punk Shinigami put me in a bad mood. I'd been hoping to kill him personally, but I guess I'll have to settle with you."
None too keen to hear that, the sobbing Nel scurried away. Nnoitra cut her off with the aid of Sonído
"L-Leave her alone, dammit!" hollered Izumi. Nnoitra did nothing of the sort, ramming his foot into Nel's stomach when she made another break for it. "S-She's just a kid, you monster! Why are you—"
"That's enough out of you," said Tesra, covering her mouth. All of her struggling proved pointless against his inhuman strength. Glaring, he wasn't going to lower his guard around her again.
Nnoitra neared the motionless Nel once more and wondered if he might have killed her already. Her tiny form writhing in a mound of white sand helped to improve his mood.
"Lookie, lookie. You always thought you were so much better than me back in the day, but look at you now. You're nothing. No…with a body like that you're even less than nothing!"
He stomped his foot down on her over and over, paying no mind to her shrieking.
"Maybe I should've done more than crack your mask, Nelliel!" He snatched her up by her head. The sight of her so powerless to break free despite fighting him so hard put a frown on his cruel face. "…Something about you looking like this is somehow pissing me off more than back in the day."
"A-Aawon…" Nel said miserably.
"You talkin' about that Shinigami. He's dead. Can't nobody help you now. Is the great Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck begging for help? Where's all that damn power of yours gone?!" Nnoitra tossed her back down like a piece of garbage. Seeing red, he debated whether to simply finish her already. "Say somethin' already! Tell me, Nelliel, am I still just a mindless beast?! If so, it's damn sure better than whatever the hell you are now!"
Hoisting his weapon from atop his shoulder, Nnoitra stared down at Nel with a murderous streak painting his visage. Izumi, seeing what was about to happen, fought tooth and nail to break free from Tesra. Snarling, he questioned why he had such difficult restraining a mere human.
"I really will kill you, woman, if you don't stop!"
He debated on breaking one or two of her limbs to get her to calm. He settled on burying her face in the sand, which did the trick. Feeling her eyes water, Izumi questioned why she had to be so helpless even now.
"This is what happens to those who defy Master Nnoitra. The same will happen to you if you aren't careful, woman."
Tesra made sure to lift Izumi's weary head so she could see that firsthand.
"I'm severing our connection once and for all!" Nnoitra roared. "Burn, Nelliel!"
His Zanpakutou, while coming down with every drop of malice he could muster, only succeeded in flattening some sand. It took him several seconds to realize Nel was gone. Baffled, he searched all around.
When he spotted a tattered, brown cloak fluttering in the distance, he snarled at Nel's savior. She stopped covering her trembling head, staring up in shock at the person holding her.
"A-Aawon!"
Aaron, looking down at her, said, "Sorry for being late. That was a lot of sand I had to get through."
He spat some of it up, feeling as if he still had tons more swimming in his lungs. Other than that, however, he counted himself in good health. A wide smile spread across his lips once he caught a load of Nnoitra looking less than thrilled.
"So…you're still alive, Shinigami." The Quinto Espada clicked his tongue. "…You really are a rat, ain't ya?"
Tesra, mulling something over, soon understood how Aaron could have survived.
"All this sand," he muttered, "Right. It's made of high-density spirit particles. If he was deep enough in it, his spiritual pressure would end up masked. …Did he plan that on purpose? No…I would imagine his own blast submerged him like it did Master Nnoitra. Still, I must say that he's unbelievably lucky. …Some would say that's a skill all onto itself."
Aaron put Nel safely on the ground. "…Looks like he made a mess of you while I was away. Don't worry. I'll pay him back tenfold."
Overhearing that, Nnoitra smacked his lips again. He wasn't interested in hearing threats from someone breathing for dear life and littered with burns. He could see that just standing appeared to push Aaron to his limit.
"This is a waste of my time," He noted out of the blue. Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Even that last, pathetic attack of yours barely left a scratch on me. If this is the best you can do, killin' a punk like you would only ruin my reputation."
"…Is that right?"
Nnoitra, looking venomous, added, "You couldn't even take out Luppi without help from what I heard. Luppi. …I'm done with this. Tesra, switch places with me."
Nodding, Tesra dropped Izumi to the sand, allowing his master to speed over and capture her in his stead. That left Nnoitra's Fracción standing in front of the scowling Aaron.
"Don't worry," Tesra told him. He drew an odd-shaped Zanpakutou, one with a chakram embedded above the hilt. "You won't feel much pain. I'll end this in an instant."
"…"
"Crush, Verruga."
Aaron stood by, watching as his transformed foe suddenly towered over him. He stared up at the now monstrous Tesra, who resembled a warthog due to the tusks extending from the Hollow mask now covering his entire face. Bulging muscles littered him from head to toe, and his blond hair had grown out into a mane. Fur covered his lower body, and Aaron spotted steam pouring out of Tesra's snout.
The sight of Tesra's menacing Resurrección made a horrified Izumi forget all about Nnoitra wrapping his grubby fingers around her.
"Take a good look," Nnoitra informed her, grinning like a fiend. "Better say your goodbyes while you have the chance. Tesra! Finish him off nice and easy."
"Of course, Master." Tesra noted Aaron paying him little mind, instead gazing off into the distance at his sister. "You'd best worry about yourself."
"…"
"Do you hear me?"
"…Yeah. It's just…this whole thing pisses me off for some reason."
Aaron's words, as well as his abrupt anger, threw Tesra for a loop. He quickly decided neither mattered as he swung his mighty fist to crush the invader once and for all.
That proved difficult, however, with a severed hand. It landed at his fet. Bewildered, he hollered in pain and clutched the bleeding stump for dear life. He spotted Aaron standing behind him, with the latter gripping his white swords tightly. It made little sense to him how his foe had gotten there in the first place.
"Nnoitra, right?" Aaron remarked. "It seems something about my face makes people underestimate me. That's what's pissing me off. You won't have time to regret it after I kill you, you know."
"…You wanna repeat that?" the person in question spat.
An equally outraged Tesra charged at Aaron while shouting, "Get away from him, you—"
Blood suddenly spurt from his forehead. Stopping in his tracks, he couldn't explain why his vision doubled nor why he felt so strange. Everyone else understood when he split down the middle just then alongside a shower of blood.
W-When did he even…?!
Tesra's massive frame momentarily shook the area, although Aaron didn't flinch. He simply pointed a white blade at Nnoitra, who surveyed the proceedings with trembling eyes.
"T-TESRA!"
"I'll be taking my sister back down." Aaron calmly noted. In spite of his tone, Izumi felt a chill shoot down her spine thanks to the ire radiating from his expression.
It reminded her a lot of Ichigo Kurosaki.
Nnoitra no longer gave a damn about her. He chucked her aside, grabbed his huge Zanpakutou, and started a murderous march toward Aaron.
"You'll pay for that, Shinigami!"
The yellow energy billowing off the Quinto Espada, while burning at his skin, didn't scare Aaron one bit. He leered away from it and down to the teary-eyed Nel.
"Listen to me. I know you'd never betray us. I also know you aren't as helpless as he wants you to believe. I'd have been dead if I didn't have you watching my back all this time. I think we make a great team. Now…it's time for me to return the favor."
"A-Aawon…Nel…she's not—I-I mean…"
"It's fine. Like I said, you don't have to convince me. Whatever that guy says, you're our friend. And…even though Kurosaki is a little lost right now, I know the real him would say the same thing." Aaron, looking on as Nnoitra drew dangerously close, added, "I don't know the history between you two, but…there's no reason to let trash like him talk to you like he has."
He streaked toward his foe on that note. His abrupt speed surprised Nnoitra enough that he only barely parried the pair of swords aimed for his throat.
"Why even bother?" wondered Aaron, now swinging for his head. "Won't that skin of yours just block it?"
Seething, Nnoitra deflected the second attack and spat back, "Don't get a big head, idiot, just because you killed Tesra! I ain't goin' down so—"
The blood spurting from a gash on his chest made him lose his train of though. Distancing himself, he stared down at it with a flurry of questions racing across his mind.
"So, if I just swing hard enough, I can hurt you. …Good to know," Aaron stated. "Thanks for insulting me, by the way. My head wasn't on straight worrying about Izumi, Kurosaki, and Ms. Hiyori, but hearing you run your stupid mouth was a big help."
All of Nnoitra's bubbling rage soon warped into a twisted smile, one neither Nel nor Izumi could comprehend.
"I thought I was killing a helpless rat," he shouted, "but I might actually be fighting someone worth a damn!" He licked his lips as his power kept on skyrocketing. "Make this interesting for me, Shinigami!"
He stuck out his tongue. A yellow Cero formed at the tip, one he fired in an instant. Though Neither Izumi nor Nel could understand Aaron holding firm, he didn't waver even as the blast got uncomfortably close.
"Second Phase," he muttered, spinning his swords above his head, "Shingetsu."
The dome-shaped barrier he formed around himself took the Cero head on. Cracks quickly formed in it, a fact Nnoitra caught on to in a hurry.
Clicking his tongue, he remarked, "Should've just dodged, idiot."
He changed his tune when his Cero 'shattered' at the same time as Aaron's Shingetsu. The glowing shards poured into the latter, leaving Nnoitra unsure of what to say or think.
"Thanks," Aaron informed him. Without warning, waves of crushing power erupted from his form. They outclassed the power Nnoitra showed off moments prior and nearly swept him away. "If you were really watching me and the others take on Ulquiorra earlier, then you probably saw me use my Shingetsu. …Like I said, just because you've seen how I fight doesn't mean you can stop me. When I'm using my Bankai, I use moonlight instead of spirit energy to fight. Shingetsu isn't just a barrier—I can also use it to absorb an opponent's energy and turn it into that very same moonlight. You being so strong, Espada, is the reason I'm about to win."
He lifted his white swords above his head. Energy, like glittering dust, swirled around them. Nnoitra remained clueless until his pupils shrank at the gigantic energy blade now towering over him and the entire battlefield. Though equally baffled, Izumi scrambled to her feet, grabbed Nel, and sped clear out of the immediate area. Nnoitra didn't bother doing the same, quickly realizing it wouldn't matter.
"Hidden Phase," Aaron uttered, "Gengetsu."
His glowing sword warped the very space around it while crashing down on his seemingly frozen opponent. Per Nnoitra's prediction, there ended up being nowhere to flee.
The attack obliterated everything within sight.