Disclaimer: No I do not own Bleach.
Heart of Wind
Chapter 3: Being fearless has its perks
Leon slowly edged towards Takai's unmoving body and poked it a couple of times with a stick he had found. "Hey, are you okay? Takai, can you hear me?"
Hiteru ran over and shouldered Takai's unmoving body. "Stop poking him with the stick already and let's get out of the way! Something weird is going on around here!"
The ground around them was being torn up by an unseen source, and that meant that something was moving around. Something that couldn't be seen. Even though Hiteru had no idea what was going on, he knew they were in the middle of something they shouldn't have been. "Come on, let's get away from here."
"What about Takai?" Leon continued to poke the unmoving body with his stick until Hiteru smacked the object away. "Hey!"
"Knock it off…something is really wrong here. Let's go."
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One of the remaining eight Hollows threw back its head and roared, the other seven copying the movement seconds later. Their charge had stopped as soon as Takai had begun to approach them. They could sense that he was intending to attack, so they saw no reason to beat him to the punch. Once he attacked one, the others would tear him to shreds.
Takai could feel their overwhelming energy…their spirit force, which was terrifying to his senses. ("These creatures are stronger than I am, but I'm still not afraid? Is this what it is like to face death? Is fear just not a factor in my decision making anymore?")
Homorue stared at the boy's back through blood-drenched eyes. ("Why? Why is he a Death God? It doesn't make any sense. He was just a boy who could sense spirits, right? So why?") He knew that he couldn't let this happen. ("This kid's spirit force is crap, there's no way he can take on this many Hollows at once without getting torn to shreds in the process. How did he even manage to beat the first one?")
"Relax and leave these guys to me…"
("I can't do that, you fool. Do you have no fear at all? You're going to die!") Homorue tried to stand, but no matter how hard he tried his legs didn't want to move. ("What's the matter with me? Is the damage I took that unbearable already?")
Takai looked down at the glittering blade of the sword that he knew was a Soul Slayer. ("Why don't I feel afraid? The odds are that I'll die when these creatures finish attacking. There's no way that I could possibly stand against them, and yet I'm walking into battle against them like it's nothing at all. Why?") His body was his own, and he was telling it to do this, and yet fear wasn't an option. ("Is that it? Am I sacrificing myself to save that other Death God?")
Then he charged, his feet pounding against the dirt as he flew towards the first of the Hollows, while the others leapt in at him at the same time. It was suicide…
"Stop!" Homorue tried to stand but no matter how hard he pushed himself, his legs refused to move. ("Why can't I move, damn it? The blows weren't that damaging, so why?")
Takai's target was an air-borne moth-like Hollow, which hurtled towards him like a freight train. He leapt up into the air and was about to slam the blade of his Soul Slayer down onto the creature's head, but before that chance came another humanoid Hollow came flying in out of nowhere and punched him right into the dirt. Like a wave the rest of them came, circling and striking so many times that there was nothing left to see but a cloud of dust.
"No…" Homorue punched the earth, anger burning in his veins. "That kid's stance was so rigid…his striking was so unfocused…he wasn't even skilled…" And yet that same kid just died to protect him. ("Damn you! Why?")
As the cloud of dust cleared, Takai coolly looked up at the face-mask of the Hollow that had punched him, his sword held up above his head. It was holding the fist at bay, and his arm wasn't wavering in the slightest even though the creature's punch should have crushed him like an ant.
"What?" Homorue couldn't believe. This wasn't possible…
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From its hiding place, the voice had gone silent. ("He stopped that punch with his sword? That's…that's ridiculous. It can't be the case, there must be some kind of trick to it.")
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Takai was mildly curious how he had somehow stopped the creature's fist, considering it was so much more powerful than he was. "That's weird, you should have killed me huh?" Then he pushed up with the sword and slashed the creature's arm off at the shoulder. "You're so much stronger than me…I wonder why I can harm you so easily."
Homorue's right eye twitched insanely fast. ("This defies all logic. He stopped the attack with his Soul Slayer when his power isn't anything compared to the monsters that he is fighting.")
Another Hollow, this one possessing a dog-like body, howled and dove towards Takai's unprotected back.
Takai twisted on one heel and rolled to the side, the monster crashing into the dirt next to him. ("When was I so agile?") He back-flipped over at a claw slash from another of the Hollows, and then in mid-air repositioned his sword to block another slash coming the Hollow next to the one that had just attacked him. Using that creature's blocked hand as a springboard, he pushed off and hurtled towards the head of the Hollow who he had disarmed. Passing right by its head, he casually chopped through its mask at the jawline.
Homorue watched as the cut Hollow dissolved into nothing. ("This is impossible…utterly impossible. His reaction time and movements…it's like the air is his ground.")
Takai landed and turned, slapping the dog-like Hollow with the flat of his sword and redirecting its charge so that it went skidding along the dirt. His eyes were calm, as if this was just a simple exercise to him. "This is a really curious thing, huh?" Then he hopped over a claw slash and slashed below him, taking the Hollow's hand off at the wrist. "How can I do this to you guys, considering my spirit force is horrible? I guess it's a mystery." Then he ran up the damaged Hollow's arm and slashed right through its mask, the monster dissolved before he even touched back down to the earth.
The remaining six Constructs gave him a wide berth, all of them snarling in confusion. This prey was weak, and easy to crush…right?
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The voice frowned and glanced back at the pair of glowing red eyes that followed it wherever he went. "Gensuraku...what is this boy? How can he so easily defeat the Constructs?"
After all, Constructs were completely different from normal Hollows. They were produced souls that were installed with enhanced strength and speed compared to normal Hollows, and their mental limits forced them to fight like a team, which made them twice as dangerous as ordinary Hollows. But how was it that some little kid with mediocre spirit power could so easily dodge their attacks, and at the same time take them down with one hit to the mask. These creatures had reinforced masks, after all…a normal Soul Slayer shouldn't have been able to one-hit kill these Constructs.
Gensuraku hissed quietly.
"Indeed…his power must be from some outside, that's all there is to it." The voice still wasn't satisfied though. This boy possessed skills…skills he shouldn't have.
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Takai could feel it now. He could feel the locations of these creatures just by the air they disturbed. ("They're keeping a good distance from me. Apparently they won't stick to the same mob tactics. That will make this much harder than I was hoping for.") He wiped the blade of his sword on the dirt to get the blood off of it.
"You idiot, don't take your hand off the sword!" Homorue yelled, but it was too late. One of the Hollows was already taking advantage of that, its claws within striking range of Takai in less than a millisecond. ("He really has…")
"Don't…" Takai's other hand threw the handful of dirt it was holding into the eyes of the Hollow, and he turned on one heel, the edge of his Soul Slayer trailing in the dirt right before it launched up and took off all of the fingers on that Hollow's hand in one slash. "…call me an idiot. My name is Takai Ito…" He leapt up into the air and landed on the Hollow's roaring head. Before it could react, he drove the blade of his sword right into its throat. It made a strange gargling noise and then dissolved, while he landed on the ground unaffected. "…and I do get pretty high grades in school, you know."
The other Hollows gave him an even wider berth.
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("Damn it….what is this kid?") The voice grasped the hilt of his sword. "I'll just have to take him out…" He froze, a prescense suddenly within his mind. ("Sir! What…what do you mean? Don't interfere…but sir, Constructs aren't that easy to…") That prescense didn't relent though, and he slowly removed his hand from the hilt of his Soul Slayer. "As you wish, Tensutsu-sama."
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One of the Hollows roared and others responded. They were taking this reprieve to discuss their strategy and to figure out a way to kill this apparently unstoppable prey.
Takai stood there silently, eyes looking at nothing in particular as he cleaned the blade of his Soul Slayer. Then his eyes widened and he slashed right behind him at something large that was approaching him. When no sound of pain came from it, he glanced up and realized his mistake. He had just slashed a swing-set in half. ("They're throwing things at me?") Then he felt it. Four more objects from four different directions, all coming in at the same time. Instinctively, he knew he could only destroy two more of the objects, and it was too late to dodge. ("Damn, did I get that careless?") Yelling out, he slashed through a huge hunk of stone and then kept moving, cutting through a hurled tree as well. ("This won't work…those other two objects…") His eyes turned to see the sharp edge of a twisted hunk of metal hurtling right towards his eye. ("I guess this is where I die.")
There was a loud clang noise as the hunk of twisted metal was deflected by the blade of Homorue's sword. The blond-haired Death God landed right in front of Takai, and slashed as hard as he could to cut through the last object, another large rock. "You're a cocky little bastard, you know that? If you can so easily dodge their attacks and cut them down, why don't you already?" His forehead wound was cauterized, and there were streaks of blood on his face. "You're a horrible fighter in that respect."
Takai smiled slightly. "Maybe so, but it's good to see that you got off your lazy ass and helped me already. I was wondering if you just intended to let me fight these monsters off all on my own."
Homorue returned the smile. "You think I'd leave these dangerous creatures to an apparent greenhorn like yourself? Dream on, kid." He eyed the remaining five Hollows, all of which were roaring once more as they tried to work out some kind of strategy for dealing with two Death Gods at once. "What do you think? Can you take them all out?"
"Not a clue." Takai eyed all of the roaring Hollows calmly, his senses still locked onto the air surrounding him. "I can sense their movements, but only if they move against me. Throwing things apparently doesn't trigger it until the objects are too close to stop totally."
"You're a scary kid." Homorue sighed. "But you're treating this fight like it's a game. If we lose, we die. You got that?"
Takai didn't respond.
"Hey!" Homorue elbowed the boy in the side. "Listen up…"
"I heard you the first time. And I don't agree." Takai sharply stated. "These things aren't the danger around us. Can't you feel that spirit force? It's like a curtain hanging over the area."
Homorue was about to ask what Takai meant, but then he felt like he was being pressed down upon by some kind of heavy weight. ("Is this a Spirit Force? Is this really a Spirit Force? It's at least Lieutenant class…") He lifted his head up towards the general direction of the spirit, which was coming from a nearby building-top. "I couldn't sense this?"
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"It seems like they've sensed us." The voice seemed even less please than it had before. "I still don't understand why I'm supposed to leave them alone, but I've had enough waiting!" He pulled a small metal whistle out of his robes and blew into it, though no sound came out. ("I can't attack, but I can order the Constructs to attack instead!")
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All of the Hollows roared at once and each one threw a large rock at the two, right before they charged at full speed.
Takai frowned. ("No way to avoid the objects and the Hollows, and if I slash the objects the Hollows will tear me down before I can respond.")
Homorue held his Soul Slayer up in front of him, his eyes calm. "If this is the end, it was nice meeting you Takai…"
Takai froze at those words, and it seemed like time had stopped.
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"…it was nice meeting you…I'm sorry I never got to know you better." Then he was gone, as the entire battlefield went up in a single explosive release of Spirit Force. It burned so much, and yet it didn't burn as much as the fact that he would never come back. And it was all because I wasn't strong enough…
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Takai's eyes were wide in anger. "I won't let it happen again!"
"What are you talking about?" Homorue blinked as Takai seemed to disappear. ("Where'd he…") Then he was blown to the ground by a strong blast of wind. ("What was that?")
Takai stood atop the head of the Construct Hollows, his eyes glaring down at it. "You need to go!" Then he cleaved its head off with one swing of his Soul Slayer. At the same time, all of the thrown rocks dropped to the ground in numerous tiny pieces.
One of the farther away Hollows roared and grabbed a pair of large rocks, getting ready to throw them.
Takai snapped the blade of his sword up in an arc, and then he ran towards a different Hollow. "Take this!" He swung the sword in the direction of the Hollow's head and then changed directions, running towards the fourth one while the two he had swung his sword in the direction of howled as they split down the middle, dissolving instantly.
Homorue didn't think he could be more amazed by this kid, but now he was just plain scared. ("He's cutting them without even hitting them…what kind of technique is that?")
Takai finished stabbing his sword through the eye of the next Hollow, and then charged full speed towards the last one. ("One more…") He leapt into the air towards the Hollow, his eyes locked onto its head. "I'm taking your head, sorry."
The Construct responded by roaring and throwing a punch at him, but before its punch got halfway to him its entire arm was chopped to dozens of little pieces. Then its roar was silenced as the edge of Takai's Soul Slayer slashed into its head, followed by which its entire body split down the middle.
Takai landed with his sword sheathed, eyes closed.
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The voice frowned and motioned behind him. "Let us be off, Getsuraku, we have other things to do before the sun falls completely." Then the roof was empty, devoid of the two who had been standing on it a short while ago.
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Homorue very slowly and carefully approached Takai. "Hey…are you alright?"
Takai dropped to his knees, his eyes staring at his hands. "What was that vision?" Then he felt something drip onto his palm. ("Rain?") His vision started to blur, and he wiped his face with his hands, his arm coming back damp. ("Tears? I'm crying?") He wasn't sad, so why was he crying.
Homorue just stared at Takai like the boy was some kind of monster. "Are…what's the matter? You beat the Hollows…what are you…" His questions died as Takai collapsed face-first to the ground. "….right. Okay then, I suppose questioning any of this insane crap wouldn't help the situation, so let's just get you checked out for wounds."
End of Chapter 3
To Time Mage: The ominous regal voice of doom is up to ominous regal stuff of doom, to be sure.
To Alowl: As you may see, it is going in many weird directions at once.
To Seeker of the Soul: It makes you wonder, huh?