...
(Grantz)
There was such a thing as too much, at least he'd certainly believed so.
Had someone told him that, mere weeks ago, he would face a time-travelling shinigami captain, he would've laughed in their face. And reconstructed them into something worthwhile.
Had someone told him that the same man, with a recorded reiatsu level of thrice the average captain, would be able to pour out enough overall to wind a god's damn primordial hollow, he would've fed them to one of his experiments.
Had someone told him that a single soul, no matter it's background, would be able to push Hollow kind itself into the cusp of it's extinction, he would've laughed them off and dropped them back in Soul Society.
Yet here he stood. Witness to it all.
"Is he mad?" Josh Groban's voice filtered it's way to his ears, the leader of their kind stood frozen, his breathing laboured, staring as he did at the after-effects of a monster's bankai. His fear, as quickly as it had shown itself, disappeared. The man immediately reaching out towards their unconscious defence mechanism, their currently unconscious heaviest of all hitters. No doubt intending to simply have the Bat blast the damn space rock apart.
The hollow either ignorant or uncaring of the masses below. Given that blowing the space rock up wouldn't help their problem in the slightest.
Aizen Sosuke, after all, hadn't simply recreated the meteor that impacted the earth oh so long ago.
No, the man evidently did nothing in halves. He could feel it, even now. The intoxicating atmosphere, the denseness of the air itself. Bacteria of unknown origins, a climate built for creatures long past their time.
All of it, empowered by Ulquiorra's own ascended reiatsu.
All around him, their forcibly evicted armies of hollows, all put under one bubble as opposed to the usual multitude; from most of those meant to help improve their own personal reserves and ability, usually kept in their inner realms. Not to say it had helped them any in the first place.
Aaroniero hadn't had a single scratch on him, nor had he wasted a droplet of spiritual power. And yet he had died screaming louder than any Hollow in recorded history.
To those meant to be kept away from the rest whether due to their too weak spiritual pressure or unaccommodating personality, simply because Genocide as a solution wasn't a prospect most of them wished to go through, without due cause.
Every hollow had been brought out from their hiding hole, all made to bear witness the potential end of their world.
Yet, despite the sheer utter brilliance of it, he simply couldn't find it in himself to think it all part of some elaborate plan. Even if everything he'd seen somehow painted a very stilling picture.
Whether it was wilfully going to a prison, likely having known about his own status as the gatekeeper of Huaco Mundo, allowing him access to Groban's long-fought for secrets. The fact he'd somehow guessed his password only helped prove the man's claims in truth.
To immediately spreading disarray, harming the barely held false loyalty amongst their hierarchy, whether it was the only +Espada with a chance at surviving Soul Society in broad daylight (Kaien) to the only +Espada Ulquiorra would never dare go against (Neliel). Said Hollow's permission been unnecessary in the former's case.
Even now, having unveiled his trump card. Having successfully, whimsically, put them on check-
The man showed more interest in his own power then he did his supposed victory. Ogling it as if he were a child.
"Is he mad!?" Groban echoed his question, not having received an answer. His hands latched onto Ulquiorra's shoulders, haphazardly pouring more and more reiatsu, in an attempt to wake him up, to no avail.
Without a doubt.
"Maybe you should ask him?" Grantz questioned sardonically. His own gaze turned to lock onto the Shark Empress beside him. The +Espada's gaze set on Ulquiorra's limp form. He himself idly noted the empress's forceful breathing.
And really, if it was effecting them to that extent, was it any wonder the hollows lower on the ground were already falling unconscious? Likely moments from outright dying?
"..." Groban spared him a single glance, before turning his lone eye to the sky, before finally turning it back down towards the man in question. Harribel wordlessly grabbed hold of Ulquiorra's body as they both watched him descend down to the absolutely mad shinigami.
He idly wondered how long it would take before Groban put his foot in his mouth again.
He could do with a jovial cheer right about now, all things considered.
...
"So!" I remarked, rather cheekily at that, my gaze turned from the falling meteor towards the descending wolf-man hybrid. Aizen's approval arcing through me for whatever reason.
Though if I had to guess, it was probably the obscenely broken bankai ability.
"Now that I have your attention. Why don't we get down to business?"
In response, to my surprise, Josh Groban did not in fact shoot another cero at me.
Instead, albeit grudgingly, the Hollow tipped his head.
"Hint, I highly recommend just agreeing to my offer." I added on. leaving the clear time-constraint unsaid, Aizen's joy at the twitching +Espada before me hidden.
Josh Groban spared another glance upwards before quickly urging me to get on with it.
"Word of warning." I added on, the urge to give him said warning almost ingrained, even if he's already tried to shoot me at least more than half a dozen times.
"This is entirely experimental, though I suppose you're as close to proof that it should work as I'll ever get." And by I, I mean the nut job currently cackling his ass off inside my head.
The idea itself had really started from the moment Aizen had realised that while I could say Coyote Starrk's true name, no one else physically could.
And as his new bankai had just, moments ago, shown him, it went onto a spiritual level-
Given I'd practically felt physical backlash the moment he'd tried to recreate a semblance of the former number one espada's name inside his realm.
"We're going to play a game- Win or lose, the space rock and enroaching eco-system vanishes."
Josh Groban didn't seem to have much to say that, electing to narrow his eye further instead as he waited for me to finish.
For once.
While Gremmy's power had allowed him to skip all of the steps required for placing a, literal, forbidding seal, one meant to block any and all usage of any particular concept. In this scenario, the concept been Coyote Starrk's character itself, taken a step further with Josh Groban's existence as a whole.
I didn't quite have that available. Unlike the Quincy, there were quite a few steps involved in managing the feat.
The first been the amount of reiatsu required, Aizen's own reserves were found severely lacking in that particular department. Luckily, Ulquiorra was willing to offer his own. Albeit unconsciously.
The second, in truth dictated the limitations, was based on one's most common title, or rank or what have you. Essentially, what one would be remembered for.
Though given, at the very least, the hollow before me was the current leader of his civilisations, I didn't have much to worry about in terms of scope and range. While my own status as a lone 'time-traveller, meant he could only in truth limit me in a sense.
The third, and most important of all really, was a mutual agreement between both sides.
It was a glorified 'Unbreakable Vow.' If said vow happened to be powered by Ichibe's naming schtick.
"You and I are both going to choose one word."
"And that word becomes mute for you... And your kind. In every applicable way." Josh Groban continued for me himself, showing his own brand of knowledge on the matter as he crossed his arms, his body visibly straining to move under the weight of Aizen's new weapon of literal mass destruction.
Can't use it. Can't recreate it. Can't interact with it.
The more conceptual it was, the more it required.
Banning hollows from the concept of a 'hat' for example wouldn't require as much as banning the concept of a 'sword'.
Simple enough rules; I wasn't entirely sure what the consequences for breaking them were, provided that was even possible, though I had a feeling Josh Groban was going to help me find out.
Still, I could survive with half of a name and all that entailed. Especially if it was Aizen's.
But I doubted that's what he'd go for. In fact, I had a very good feeling he'd choose- Ah what the hell.
"I personally recommend you take 'Hogyoku.' Soul King knows I can probably make my own. Wouldn't want that."
In truth, it didn't really matter what he chose.
I had a good feeling Aizen was going to one up him and his entire species regardless of the fact. And if it kept the stone away from Aizen's clutches, then I suppose a bit of good news for the world never hurt anybody.
"...And If I refuse to play?"
I mimed an explosion.
"...You would tear the Balance apart." Josh Groban remarked, his former anger, the kind he'd shown mere days ago, having entirely sizzled out. Wariness and fear in it's place.
"I'll put a band-aid on it."
...
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