Ladies and Gentlemen, today I present you with a very special chapter of "The Death and Life Of Erza Scarlet." What happens today is a moment I've been waiting to do since the very beginning of this story. What this is exactly I cannot say as I wish for you all to experience it for yourself. All I ask is for you all to sit back, relax, and enjoy, and let me know what you all thought in a review. It would mean a lot to me.
Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo and Shounen jump. Fairy tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and weekly shounen magazine. I own NOTHING. This is all just for fun!
The ground shook and shattered as Edrad's fist impacted the street. All around them, forces on both sides had scattered far back, eager to get away from the calamitous destruction underway. The parts of the street not wrecked and ruined were reduced to melting puddles of lava, red-hot even where they had started to cool off. Edrad had used his Volcanica to the best of his ability, refusing to let the shinigami lieutenant regain his bearings. Kira was weaving and dodging well so far, but he was running out of places to run. Edrad was in the process of turning the street into molten slag. Kira's ability would be difficult, maybe even impossible to counter in a direct battle, so Edrad had decided that he didn't need to tackle him directly.
Kira jumped over another shockwave, muttering an incantation under his breath. As he landed on his feet, he cried out, "Hadou thirty-three: Soukatsui!"
Blue fire washed over Edrad's frame. It stung, but its heat was gone all too briefly.
"Fire, vice-captain?" Edrad bellowed mockingly. "Fire, against me? I care nothing for your petty heat!"
Kira did not respond, instead making a dash toward Edrad, jumping and skipping with grace over the ground, finding little pockets not yet molten and burnt. He brought up his blade for a quick strike, and reluctantly, Edrad skipped back, evading the blow. The shinigami pushed the attack, deftly moving forward. Edrad dodged one attack after another, knowing that his bulkier frame could not win this exchange in the long run, not if he wanted to avoid an attack. In a split second, he made a decision. Bracing himself, he brought up an arm, parrying a sword strike directly. In the same instant he counter-attacked, slamming his fist into Kira's chest. The blow connected, and the vice-captain let out a gasp, coughing horribly as he staggered back. That he did not lose his footing was, in Edrad's mind, a testament to his skill as a fighter. He nearly stumbled into a pool of lava, stopping himself at the last moment. He forced a few deep breaths into his lungs, looking harrowed.
"Damn," Edrad muttered, holding up the arm he had used to parry. The bone had cracked a little, but that was a petty concern. The huge, hulking form of his left arm was heavier now, twice as much as usual.
"Just… one or two more," Kira wheezed, still catching his breath. "Just a few more, and you're done."
"I could say the same for you, shinigami," said Edrad thoughtfully. "How many bones did I break with just the one punch? I might move slower now, but so do you."
"We'll just have to see who lasts the longest, then," said Kira.
Edrad stood on his knuckles, eyeing the shinigami carefully. He was used to moving freely in his body, but now, it weighed heavier. Carefully, he moved his other arm. To his relief, it was still normal. As he had thought, the effect was localized, unable to affect his entire body at once. Slowly, he began circling the street, heedless of the magma burning at his feet, singeing him. Kira moved in turn, always keeping his eye on the arrancar.
One more hit to the same arm, and he'd barely be able to move. Two more, and he might as well be immobilized. Whatever the case, the next hit would be decisive. They both knew it.
Kira took a deep breath, steeling himself. Edrad did the same, both warriors forcing themselves calm. They looked each other in the eye for what felt like forever, and then, in an instant, Kira dashed forward. Edrad skipped back, his bulky form clumsier than before now, and evaded the first strike. Then, to Kira's surprise, he surged forward, bulldozing right into the shinigami. He felt the sword impact with his left arm again, and almost immediately he felt it grow heavier- but the shinigami, caught unawares, was knocked off his feet. Before he could rise, Edrad swept at the man with his lighter arm. The blade rose up to meet him, and Edrad caught it in his bone-armoured hand. It, too, grew heavier, but not so heavy he couldn't lift it. With great effort, he moved his left arm, putting his palm over the shinigami's chest. The sheer weight of it easily pinned him down.
"The thing about abilities like those," said Edrad, "is that if you're not careful, they can really come back to bite you. My own magma could burn me to a crisp if I make too much of it. You should have been more careful, shinigami."
Kira struggled in his grip, but it took almost no effort to keep him pinned down. Pushing down was about the only thing he could do easily with that arm. He let go of the blade, and made a fist. Heavily, it came down on Kira's skull. As he pulled back the arm, he realized the shinigami's head wasn't mashed to a pulp. His head was intact, although he looked unconscious.
What's gotten into me? Edrad thought. Had his new master's values gotten to him that far, already? Sighing, he decided to let it be. If nobody else finished the job, then the shinigami might live. He had already finished his objective.
"Alright!" he bellowed, as a cheer went up from the hollow lines. He stood up, with some effort- the effects still lingered; if they would lift with the shinigami out of commission, it seemed to take a while. For now, he would have to just direct the battle. Pointing toward the shinigami lines, he roared. The arrancar needed little urging, resuming their wild charge.
Only, when Edrad looked toward the lines, he saw fresh troops rushing to the defense lines, wild warriors looking to be from Eleventh Division. Discipline was holding. Despite their leader being down, the line was not broken. Edrad sighed deeply. So much for quick resolution…
Orihime took a deep breath. The arrancar was right in front of her. She was pretty in a vicious sort of way, an air of malicious elegance around her. Her black hair, running down to her waist, was held up in a ponytail. She held a long blade in her hand. Her mask fragment covered her brows, trailing down around her eyes in long, needle-like spikes. Short pants accentuated her long legs, and a pair of bracelets made of bone adorned each of her wrists.
"Well then," she said with a cruel smirk, "are you one of those adorable auxiliaries I keep hearing about? I have looked forward to seeing what some petty humans can do. The shinigami must be pretty desperate if you are all they can send to defend themselves."
Not rising to the bait, Orihime assumed a stance, remembering the karate lessons Tatsuki had given her.
"Not one step further," she said firmly. "This is as far as you go."
"And, I'll give my life to protect them, I refuse to let them down, yada yada yada," said the arrancar with a mock yawn, grinning wickedly. "You'll soon sing another tune. I am Vira Speranta, one of Lord Aizen's soldiers. If you do really well, I might keep you alive as a pet. I might flay some of your skin off, but it's a fair trade, don't you think?"
"A soldier?" said Orihime, shaking her head. "I've seen soldiers. You aren't like them at all. Soldiers are disciplined, and ready to die for something bigger. If you're anything like your hollow comrades, you'll turn tail when you start losing, when you think you can't win."
Vira cocked her head, looking amused. "Oh? So, she does have teeth."
"I'd actually be surprised if Aizen even knows your name," said Orihime. "He's thrown you all in a meatgrinder. You're just another tool."
Vira's face hardened. "You know what?" she said, spinning her blade around. "I don't think I'll spare you after all."
Not an instant passed before she dashed forward, blade raised for a lightning-quick attack. However, just as she did so, Orihime cried, "Shiten Koushun!"
A small explosion rocked the street where they stood, and Vira tumbled back, barely keeping her balance. Orihime charged before she could recover, slapping aside a clumsy strike with her left arm and thrusting a palm strike at the arrancar's nose. Disoriented, Vira staggered back again, and Orihime followed up with a fist to her solar plexus, ignoring the ache in her hand as it slammed into the arrancar's thick hide. She charged a little reiatsu into each attack, but even so, it was no easy feat to bruise Aizen's creations. It did the trick, though; Vira bent over from the strike, mouth agape with surprise. Orihime went for a kick, slamming into Vira's midsection. The arrancar fell, but with the quick reflexes of a true survivor, she turned the fall into a roll. Before Orihime could follow through, the arrancar got to her feet and executed a clumsy step of sonido, moving away in a hurry. Standing some ten yards away, she took a few deep breaths to recover. She gave Orihime an incredulous look.
"You actually hurt me," she said, her voice in between disbelief and anger. She actually sounded offended, as if the battle should only ever have gone one way, as if any other outcome was totally unacceptable.
"I'm only human," said Orihime, "but that doesn't mean as little as you thought."
Vira's face twisted with anger. She swung her blade around, keeping it low.
"That's not very good, actually," said Orihime. "A good swordswoman doesn't show off. She just uses her blade as effectively as possible. You're not very used to this, are you?"
"What the hell do you know, huh?" snarled Vira, charging again. "You don't even have one!"
Orihime raised her left arm, and at the last second a glimmering orange shield manifested, parrying the blow. With her right arm she slammed a fist into the arrancar's throat, following up with another palm strike to her nose. She surged forward, well inside the arrancar's guard, and raise a knee as she jumped. There was a gratifying crunch as it connected with Vira's face, and once again the arrancar staggered back. Vira flailed around wildly with her blade, and Orihime skipped back a few steps, unwilling to risk a lucky hit.
"I might not have a sword," said Orihime, "but I know someone who does, and she taught me a lot of things. Most of all, she taught me not to give in to cruel, cowardly people. I'm not an expert, but it looks like you're not too used to the blade. Why else would you be losing?
"I'll tell you this now," she continued. "If you go somewhere else, I won't chase after you. I'm only here to help the wounded. If you want to fight some actual soldiers, then do that. But, if you decide to stay here, I'm not going to hold back. I don't like fighting, and I hate killing, but if you threaten these people, then I'll do what I have to do."
Orihime's heart was pounding heavily as she realized what she was saying. She was prepared to end this woman's life, to undo all this woman was. And, she felt no hesitation in the matter, not here, not now.
"Are you mocking me?" Vera snarled. Her nose had broken, and blood flowed freely from it. One part of the spindly mask fragment had broken off, and strands of her hair had come free from her ponytail. She looked unhinged, furious- and people who were angry were unpredictable. They also made mistakes.
"I don't make fun of people," said Orihime. "Go. I don't want to take this any further."
Vira's lips curled into a condescending sneer. "Figures," she spat. "You are a weakling, after all. I didn't make it all this way to chicken out because some stupid little human got lucky. No, I'll stay here. I'll kill you, and then I'll feast on every last one of these weak assholes. I'll grow strong, and then Lord Aizen will recognize me!"
Orihime sighed. She had done all she could. She had given the arrancar a chance. She took a stance, waiting for the next attack. However, it didn't come. Orihime, although far from an expert, sensed the surge in reiatsu as the arrancar raised her blade, and knew what was coming. She took a sharp breath, knowing that she did not want to face the full power of what was coming, not with all these injured people nearby, not here.
"Envelop-" the arrancar started, but Orihime was ahead of her.
"Tsubaki!" she cried. The vicious little sprite surged out at speed, and the next moment, Vira's blade fell to the ground, half her arm still attached to it. Vira screamed, staring in shock at the bloody stump that was her right arm. Tsubaki returned to Orihime's side, and she took a few steps forward.
"You've only lost one arm so far," said Orihime, "so leave. I'm not telling you again."
Vira's face twisted with rage. "You think you can talk down to me? To me?" she snarled.
"I've warned you enough times," said Orihime.
"I'm not through here," snarled Vira. "I don't need two arms to release my sword. Just you wait; I'll get it and then you'll be sorry, you human bitch!"
Wild-eyed, she stumbled forward to where her arm had fallen.
"Don't," Orihime warned. Tsubaki hovered in front of the arrancar like a large, red, angry bee.
But, Vira didn't listen. She took another stumbling step, bending over to grab at the sword, blood dripping in her wake.
Orihime took a quick look at the field hospital, sparing a thought of the hundreds of people inside, and said, "Koten Zanshun."
Vira's eyes widened. More blood slid down her body. She could see it drip over her left arm, still trying to grab at the sword. She looked down, her eyes widening as she saw the hole in her chest. She slowly turned her eye to Orihime, giving her a hateful glare.
"I'll... I have to kill you..." she gasped. "I have to be... noticed. I have to..."
Whatever she had to do would never be known to anyone. With a wheeze, she slumped over, lying still. Orihime breathed heavily. She could save her, still. She could take the sword, then kneel down and save her.
She could. She wanted to.
But, she wouldn't. There was only so much energy she had left in her, and so many more wounded people who needed her help, wounded people who wouldn't try to tear her throat out when she healed them. It was one of the hardest things she had ever done, but Orihime gave the arrancar's body one last look, then turned around, forcing herself to not look back as she walked back toward the field hospital.
Momo had seen all kinds of brutality, in her life and on this day alone, but what she was looking at right now took her aback still. Before her eyes, the three arrancar each grabbed hold of their left arm, near the shoulder, and squeezed. Mila Rose's came off first, bone snapping and flesh tearing. Soon after, Sun-sun and Apache's limbs followed. There were spurts of blood, and their faces twisted a little with the pain. Momo took a step back, disturbed. She had not seen self-mutilation like this. It seemed so… bizarre to do that to oneself, in the middle of a war zone where there were an abundance of things that would happily dismember one anyway. What made it even more disturbing was the grim, determined silence. Not a single cry of pain passed their lips; there was only a sharp sense of focus. As one, the three tossed their arms forward, up into the air. Even knowing that there had to be something else to it, some wicked hollow sorcery, Momo was surprised to see them not fall down.
Instead the three severed arms gravitated toward each other, crushed together in a fashion most macabre. They spun together, the flesh and bone seeming to mould into one, forming a bloody orb. There came a bright, red glow from it that made her turn her eyes away for a moment, and when she turned back, there was no blood or bone to see, only a growing matrix of raw power.
Moving past her shock, Momo focused. There was a huge influx of reiatsu emanating from the orb, greater than any of the three arrancar- greater than all three of them combined. Momo stole a quick glance at the three arrancar, in case they attempted an attack, but they were all three perfectly still, staring with absolute focus on the orb as it started to take shape. This magic was strangely sophisticated for any hollow; the wounds on the stumps where their left arms had been had already started healing, the blood congealed.
Before Momo's eyes, it took form. It went from an orb of bright red to something a bit more elongated, and then it had the crude outline of arms, legs, and a protrusion that looked like a head. This simple mould grew more complex, and within seconds it had become real.
He- it- was huge. At least five meters tall, Momo estimated. It had legs with short, stubby fur, ending in cloven hooves. Its chest was chiseled muscle, with the abdominal features of an Adonis statue. But, there the similarity to humanity ended. Its muscular arms were covered in fur, too, and it sported a stately, serpentine tail. Its head looked like the skull of a deer, antlers and all. It was grossly out of proportion to the massive body it directed. Elements of each arrancar had been fused together in this vile golem of a creature. Its eyes were orbs of red, glowing with malicious intent, and Momo felt a twinge of fear shake her resolve.
"Ayon," said Mila Rose, her voice lacking the anger she'd shown before.
"It's done," said Apache, sounding calm, almost exhausted.
"And, so are you, little Miss Vice-captain," Sun-sun said.
Momo did not wait for it to act. She sensed its raw power, and with this being the ace-in-the-hole for Halibel's fracciones, she could hold nothing back. She skipped back as far as she could, muttering the chant for an offensive kidou as she ran.
"Hadou sixty-three," she cried, pointing two fingers at the creature, "Raikouhou!"
A huge orb of lightning flowed from her fingertips, its bright yellow energy perfectly formed and guided. It struck the creature dead-centre, exploding with tremendous force. It rocked a little, but barely seemed to have noticed.
"Wake up, you lazy asshole!" Mila Rose cried, some of her earlier zest coming back. "Kill her!"
The creature- Ayon- looked at Momo, as if noticing her only now. What sort of monster was he to not even feel a fully chanted, higher-level spell like that?
Ayon braced itself, and then with one springing leap, it was upon her. It had closed the distance in the blink of an eye, as if its massive bulk meant nothing. Momo redirected her path through the air with a quick kidou blast from her palm enough that a massive fist missed her by a hair's breadth. She felt the air stream of its massive paw moving where her body had been a moment ago, and her heart thumped madly. One hit from that thing would be the end of her. She wasn't indomitable like Kenpachi, or armoured like Erza. She was a caster of spells, and if she was struck, she would have nothing to protect her. She dashed through the air again, desperate to put some distance between her and the monster. It had already spun around, making toward her with great speed. At the last moment, Momo channelled two jets of kidou-powered fire through her palms, abruptly twisting her up and to the right. The creature stopped itself, but Momo noticed it took a moment to do so; it couldn't spin on a dime. It was fast, but only in a straight line.
She nodded to herself, and took a deep breath. Predictability. That meant she had an opening, after all.
As the monster turned about again, Momo zig-zagged through the air, before letting a burst of flame summoned from her palms twist her out of the way of its path. Ayon overshot her by a good margin, and Momo quickly muttered her way through another incantation, pointing both palms at the creature and crying:
"Hadou seventy-one: Souren Soukatsui!"
Great gouts of blue flame washed over the creature, but though Momo could smell the stink of burnt fur in the air, the creature didn't give any sign of stopping, or even of pain. It simply turned around, enduring the firestorm as it made another dash toward her. Just like before, Momo dashed away, twisting and turning, avoiding being hit at all costs. She jumped over a jab from the creature, letting a quick kidou blast launch her far up into the air. Even as she started climbing higher, she was muttering through the next incantation. With the grace and precision of an expert, she turned mid-air to face the monster- only to find that it was moments away from catching up. Flustered, Momo nevertheless kept her calm and finished the spell.
"Hadou seventy-eight," she cried, spinning her zanpakutou around in a wide arc, "Zangerin!"
A wide arc of energy formed around her in a ring, and she flung it right at the creature. Either mindless or uncaring, it didn't even try to dodge. The blast hit the beast straight in the chest. On impact it exploded furiously; the shockwave nearly made Momo lose balance. Ayon was stopped dead in its tracks, a nasty explosive wound on its chest. The monster started to fall, and for the first time, Momo felt a sliver of hope.
It was short lived, however. Before it even hit the ground, the monster righted itself and regained control of its form, halting mid-air. It looked up at Momo, eyes glaring maliciously. Frustrated, Momo charged a massive fireball into her Tobiume, launching it right at the monster. Before it even connected, she followed it up with a veritable firestorm of kidou artillery, launching every last ounce of stored kidou energy on her skin. The barrage could have levelled a city, and concentrated on one spot, it should have dealt tremendous damage. Yet, all it did was slowly push Ayon down, singeing its skin but not much more than that. Momo made a fist, gripping her blade tightly. This was…. insane. It should be dead.
But, it isn't. So, what will you do, master?
"I don't know," Momo muttered under her breath, wondering why her zanpakutou spirit would bother her mid-combat. "Everything I've tried does nothing. I just… I used all my reserves, and it did nothing. Raw damage doesn't seem to be enough. It doesn't feel pain, it doesn't stop, and I'm not hurting it fast enough."
So, will you lie down and die?
"No," Momo said, shaking her head. "There has to be something I can do. I just… haven't figured it out yet."
You wield great magical power. What is that compared to brute force?
"I'm not strong enough yet," muttered Momo, dashing aside from another furious charge, narrowly evading a monstrous hand threatening to grab her, to snap her in two.
But, you are.
"How, exactly?!" Momo snapped, doing her best to put some distance, any distance, between herself and the inhuman thing coming at her.
I would grant you the power.
Momo's heart skipped a beat. Under any other circumstance, she would have stood there dumbstruck. Almost reflexively, she let a burst of red fireballs fling from her zanpakutou, momentarily stunning the monster.
"It's not ready!" she said loudly. "You told me so! I'm not there yet!"
It is not a matter of 'ready'. It is a matter of knowing my true name or not knowing it.
"But, I don't!" Momo cried, running for her life as Ayon recovered. "I don't know it yet!"
You do. Look inside you. Breathe. Think.
Against her better judgment, despite the adrenaline, the stress, and the fear, Momo briefly paused, looking inward. She could halfway see it, the absurd landscape that was Tobiume's realm. The trees, the peach blossoms that were and were not actual blossoms…
She looked, and for a moment all she saw was the landscape, the realm.
She looked back, and both saw and did not see Ayon come toward her as if in slow motion. She saw her past, all her hard work leading up to this point, all her self-reflection, all her insecurities and suffering and pain. She saw her present, the battle of Karakura raging. She saw her future, splintering into infinite possibilities. Ayon, laid to waste and turned into ashes. Herself, broken and bloodied on the ground. Herself, weak, paralyzed and feeble under Aizen's thumb. Herself, alone and grieving after the war.
"Which one of these will come true?" said Tobiume, appearing beside her. "Which one will you make reality?"
"We cannot choose our futures," said Momo. "We can only act in the now to the best of our abilities. The future is just a result of that. Action and causality."
"Yet, the future can be predicted."
"And, the further you go, the harder it gets."
"Tell me," said the spirit, "what do you see in this future now?"
Ayon had edged closer. It was perhaps twenty yards away, a distance which would take it less than a second to close. It was almost too late to move.
"Death," said Momo, "or if I find something I did not know I had, a sliver of hope for victory."
"You already see it," said Tobiume. "Find the vision. You can see them all already. Find the one you want to become reality, and you will have done it."
Momo focused, trying to sift out the innumerable potential futures. Death, death, victory, pyrrhic victory, misery… they were infinite. How was she supposed to find one that was right? With but seconds to spare?
Then she realized it was futile. It was designed to be futile. She closed her eyes, and focused. Envision it. So she did. She imagined herself powerful, in full command of power, Ayon buckling under her power. Her power, brought forth for herself, by herself…
She could see it now. The new vestments of power, the strength that came with it…
"Bankai: Majutsu-Shi Saikou." (Sorcress Supereme)
It took a few seconds to register the words she had spoken. She looked up, and in a fleeting instant she saw the infinite futures replaced by one, and only one. She could see it all. She knew how she would be defeated. She knew how she would defeat it. She knew what to do, and what not to do.
Ayon came crashing in, but to the monster's surprise- if it was even capable of such an emotion- a great, golden barrier blocked it. Momo stood tall, pushing back against it. The monster strained, its muscles bulging, but it was no use. With a gentle flick of the hand, Momo shoved him back, an invisible wave of force causing the monster to stumble.
"Let's try this out, shall we?" she said.
Momo stood tall now, transformed in a far more elegant manner than the brutish monster before her. Gone were the black shirt and pants of her uniform. In their stead, she was wreathed in robes of a dark blue hue, a great cape flowing from her shoulders. It was tied around her neck with a gilded clasp, and floated freely in the air, as if moved by a gentle breeze that wasn't there. She still held a weapon in her hand, but it was different from Tobiume's normal shape. It looked more like a staff than a blade, and its prongs were longer and more plentiful. Radiant energy crackled from its tips, and Momo's eyes seemed to glow with power.
Ayon, seeming momentarily stunned from this discharge of power, stared her down and went for another mindless attack. This time Momo held her ground, and as the beast made a fist to strike her when it charged, she raised her hand and made a fist of her own. Tendrils of raw, dark blue energy wrapped around the monster, and its movements slowed to a crawl. A great orb formed around it, the tendrils taking physical shape as they restrained its limbs. It struggled against them, tearing one apart, two apart, but with each one it snapped, two more were ready to take its place. A hand shot out, grasping at Momo. She did not move an inch, did not even flinch, as it nearly grabbed her. The creature's arm fell short, just inches out of reach, before it was forced down. Bound and held in place, Ayon simply let out a deafening roar. Momo's coat fluttered wildly, this time from a real wind, but she remained in place. Slowly and deliberately, she aimed the staff at Ayon, grasping it in both hands.
Currents of force travelled through the weapon, which hummed with power. An orb of bright blue and red formed at its tip, charging up slowly.
"You seem pretty tough," said Momo, her eyes narrowing as she aimed the weapon straight at the creature. "Let's test just how tough."
She grit her teeth as the power continued to build up. It was raw, and she could feel how unrefined this was- how little control she had over this, how much there was left to learn, how much power was going to waste purely from her own ignorance. But, the plan did not change.
"Take that!" she snarled as the orb discharged, striking home with a blinding flash. There was not much technique to this, essentially just a supercharged version of what she could normally do- with an emphasis on super.
The explosion rocked her, nearly making her lose balance. As she recovered, she could see she was not alone. Further away, the three arrancar were reeling from the attack. At ground level, the nearby streets were showered with shards of glass, and a great cloud of dust had been kicked up where Ayon had landed.
"Ayon!" cried Apache, suddenly concerned.
"She couldn't have…" Mila Rose said in disbelief.
"I haven't," said Momo, shaking her head. "It is still alive. I have seen it. This won't be what kills it."
"What do you mean?" said Sun-sun, sounding surprised at the confidence in Momo's voice.
"I have seen it," said Momo simply, with the verbal equivalent of a shrug. "For some reason… I can see it now. The future. Several of them."
"She's mental!" Apache sneered. "Just because you pulled a bankai out your ass, it doesn't mean-"
"Three. Two. One," said Momo, and as she finished speaking, Ayon stood up from the ground, a mighty roar pushing the dust clear from where it had fallen. The monster was badly wounded, blood flowing from a nasty injury on his chest, but it seemed to pay this no mind. It balled its fists, and jumped up.
"I told you," said Momo, "this won't be what kills it."
The three fracciones just stared at her, wide-eyed. What was this?
Briefly, Halibel and Erza split apart, still keeping their guards up. The great flash of light had surprised both of them, and Halibel looked toward her servants; she couldn't help it.
"You care about your own," said Erza with a respectful nod. "I always liked that about you."
"Where did that confidence come from?" said Halibel irritably. "My own will be just fine. Three to one, with Ayon released? Your vice-captain is as good as dead."
"I would have been very afraid for her until just now," said Erza, nodding in acknowledgment, "but… it is like I hoped. I always felt she was close to it. I guess she finally found that last piece. I hope they make it, Halibel. But, judging by the power of that blast, I can't guarantee they will."
Halibel's eyes narrowed, and she scoffed. "Worry about yourself first, Erza Scarlet. If they fall, I will punish her with furious vengeance after I've killed you."
"Then try harder," Erza shot back, a slight smile on her face. Gritting her teeth, Halibel came in for another strike, and their deadly dance resumed.
A massive fist slammed down onto her, but the shield held firm. Momo was thrown back a good twenty yards, but it was controlled. She was sliding, not falling, coming to an elegant halt mid-air with her free hand raised. Ayon opened its mouth, charging a massive cero. As the energy peaked, Momo finished a few arcane hand movements, and a glimmering shield took the hit directly. When the flare of the blast was gone, she stood there unaffected, as if it had passed right through her.
"Gimme a break!" Apache said frustratedly. "What kind of bullshit hack magic is that? She can just no-sell anything he does now?"
Momo only wished it were that easy. The subtlety of her new bankai astonished her, but she was being wasteful and she knew it. If she'd had the time, she would have stopped to marvel at the ability. She hadn't just blocked the attack. As it came in, she had made the flow of the spiritual particles bend around her, like water bending around a stick in a river. It had taken a fraction of the effort it would have taken to block it outright. It had happened just exactly as Tobiume had shown her, just as she had foreseen. That was how she had known to use the technique, when and where exactly. It was playing out like a movie in real time, knowing every step to take ahead of time. Was that even moving according to her own will?
A fist crashed down toward her, and she raised her staff, deflecting the blow with a spark of energy. But, there was a sudden movement, and the monster lunged right at her, its jaws snapping. Already aware of it, Momo rolled to the side- but to her surprise, part of her cape was stuck in its teeth. She wrenched it free, ripping the fabric in the process, before sending the monster reeling with a blast to its skull. As it recovered, Momo breathed heavily. She had not foreseen that. In her vision, she had seen herself move away gracefully.
She hadn't been seeing the future, like she'd thought. She had been seeing a possible future. Nothing was really written in stone, and this vision could only be trusted so far.
Now you're getting it.
Momo shrugged off the self-satisfied voice of her zanpakutou, and launched herself further up into the air, muttering an incantation as she did so.
"Sajou Sabaku!" she cried, and great chains wrapped around Ayon's arms. Supercharged through the sheer power of her bankai, they pinned its arms for the time being.
"Alright," she muttered. "I guess that was too good to be true anyway. Alright then… let's try something else."
She aimed her staff down. A bright, green light manifested at its tip.
"Gaki Rekkou!" she cried. She didn't even need an incantation. She could feel the kidou currents, manipulating them into readiness with thought alone. This bankai was incredible.
At her command, ten rays of green light extended out to form a sort of circle around her staff. A moment later, ten beams rained down hellfire on Ayon, bombarding him relentlessly. A faster opponent might have had a chance, but Ayon didn't even seem to have the cognition required to evade. The barrage hit home, halting a charge and, across several seconds of sustained fire, hammering him into the ground again.
Momo let the barrage end, breathing heavily. This was draining her quickly, and force alone did not seem to matter- not until Ayon ran out of steam, and gods knew when that would happen. She had to get clever. Could she maybe trap it in warped space, slow it down? No- even now, such a measure was still restrained to her reiatsu against its own, and it was nothing if not powerful. This was not a problem that required a creative solution. It required damage, lots and lots of damage, applied efficiently.
It was already lunging toward her. Momo remembered her vision; it was still largely true. She still knew the right sequence. As the monster closed, she spun her staff in the air and generated another spell, perfectly executed at a mere thought, then cried, "Hyouga Seiran!"
A blast of cold struck Ayon, who ran right into the summoned blizzard. Momo skipped away, narrowly avoiding a paw grabbing at her, until it slowed down entirely. Slowly becoming encased in a sheet of ice, Ayon stared at her with its unnatural, cruel eyes. It floated in the air for a second of its own power, before plummeting to the ground. This wouldn't keep it down long enough for what she needed. Another spell was required.
Channelling red-hot energy into her staff, she pointed its tip at the falling monstrosity and cried, "Kongoubaku!"
A raging inferno, contained in an orb no larger than a watermelon, slammed into Ayon before the beast even hit the ground. Upon impact the spell exploded, and Momo was glad it hit before Ayon came close to ground level. The explosion rocked her from afar, rocked the nearby buildings to their core. The blast was massive, growing from an instance of fiery orange to a yellowish white, obliterating everything it touched in a fifty-yard radius. If it had struck at ground level, it would have levelled the whole block. As it was, Ayon made a massive crater where it fell, kicking up dust. She could sense it moving. Almost unbelievably, the creature was still active, still moving all its four limbs. But, the grievous fire damage, along with how the ice had slowed down its movements, bought her some valuable time. This had to be perfect.
With great care, without rushing, she started to speak an incantation. By the time she was nearly finished, Ayon stood up again. Its body was a mess, filled with great gouges, seared skin and fur meshing with blood drying from the heat. Muscles lay exposed, in some places even bones. But, it was moving, and its wounds were starting to knit together slowly. She could see why the three arrancar had been so sure of her demise. However, it was too late for the creature, now.
"Bakudou seventy-nine," she said fiercely, "Kuyou Shibari!"
Eight dark orbs manifested in a circle around Ayon, glowing with a very dark purple. A ninth orb manifested in the creature's chest, and the orbs grew in size, their dark glow nearly obscuring the monster entirely. These were essentially black holes, a kidou-powered gravity well that could hold nearly anything in place once set up. It was slow acting, but now that it had been cast, the monster was at her mercy. Ayon roared and thrashed- or rather, it tried to, but the roar became a mewling whimper and its thrashes were weak, trembling motions.
"The oozing crest of corruption," Momo began, grasping her staff with both hands, focusing on Ayon completely. "The arrogant vessel of madness! Deny the seething urge to let things stun and flicker! Disrupt the sleep! The crawling princess of iron! The eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill the earth and know your own powerlessness! Hadou ninety: Kurohitsugi!"
The spell folded into existence with absolute precision, obscuring Ayon completely in its darkness. The great, black coffin encapsulated it, shredding the binding spell in the process. It had done enough. The hadou faded, gone almost as soon as it had appeared. As the blackness faded, Ayon let out a gurgling noise, blood erupting from every part of its body. Kurhoitsugi was a brutal spell, manifesting thousands of cuts in an instant. It could bring even a captain to their knees immediately, and Ayon, as powerful as it was, seemed to be reaching its limits. Sinking to its knees, it raised a shredded hand, staring at it dumbfounded. The sight almost made Momo feel pity.
Then, against all reason and belief, Ayon struggled and groaned as it started to stand up. It wouldn't die.
This she had not foreseen, either. The creature was so strong that even her visions couldn't seem to match it. No matter. Breathing heavily, Momo began to charge up the last ace in her sleeve. Glowing with power, her cape fluttering wildly from the discharge of power, she grasped the staff in both hands and aimed it like it were a rifle. Great rings of runic script appeared around it in wide, large circles, great layers of spells forming at her command to power the next strike. This had to work.
"Vanish," she said under her breath. Then, loudly, she cried: "Tengoku hakai-ha!" (Heaven destruction wave)
It was hard to describe it. There was a bright light, so bright that neither Momo nor even the three arrancar watching could see what was happening. A great wave of force struck at Ayon, pounding the streets to fine sand. There was tremendous heat, like that of a desert sun, and then suddenly the light was no more.
Momo, swaying on her feet, blinked. The world was spinning, and she was barely keeping herself upright. Looking down, as the world slowly started to make sense again, she slowly started to see it. For a moment, her heart sank. There was the figure of Ayon, in the same position it had been a moment earlier. But, as the lights dancing in front of her eyes started to clear, Momo saw it. Ayon had turned gray, and before her eyes it started to fade. Its body dissolved into ash, briefly revealing the remains of a great skeleton, before the bones, too, became ash. Collapsing under its own weight, Ayon was reduced to fine powder.
"Ayon…" Sun-sun said, looking baffled.
"No fuckin' way. No fuckin' way!" Apache snarled.
Mila Rose just gaped.
Apache balled her one remaining fist. "I'll fucking kill you for that, you bitch!" she snarled. "Come on, you guys; let's get her. She can't have much left in her. For Halibel!"
The rallying cry seemed to snap Sun-Sun and Mila Rose out of their dazed state, and together they surged toward Momo. Exhausted, Momo still faced them with confidence, speaking an incantation into her staff. As they came at her, three great, golden chains extended, wrapping around the three arrancar and restraining them. They growled and squirmed, trying to wriggle out, but the chains held fast.
"It's true that it took a lot out of me," said Momo weakly, "but I'd say the same is true for you."
Slowly, the chain ends still attached to her staff, Momo descended toward a nearby rooftop with the three fracciones secured.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Apache spat. "You goddamn bitch, let us go! I'll kill you!"
Sun-sun let out a sigh, as Momo gently set them all down. "It's over, Apache. I… I didn't think anyone could take on Ayon, but it's done. We're beaten." She turned to Momo, looking her in the eye as she stretched herself out, lying still. "Just make it quick, vice-captain. That's all I ask."
"Quick?" said Momo, puzzled for a moment.
"We're in a war, if you didn't notice," said Mila Rose irritably, "and we just lost. We weren't going to be merciful to you, and I wouldn't expect that from an enemy, either."
Momo shook her head, resealing her bankai, but keeping hold of the kidou spell that kept them chained.
"I don't know what you think we're like in the Gotei," she said, "but I'd never kill somebody who couldn't fight back. We're in a war, sure. That makes you prisoners of war."
"Are you serious?" said Apache angrily.
"Erza would never forgive me if I did," said Momo, "and I think you understand what it's like not wanting to let somebody important to you down."
Trembling at the knees, Momo sat down, watching over them. She was severely drained, running very low on spiritual energy, but still… she had managed. She had actually done it.
Blade against blade; neither one of them were masters of it. It was an awkward battle, but Nozomi fought her hardest all the same. The pink-haired, bespectacled arrancar had come in the wake of the first attack waves, when the dead littered the streets in droves. Nozomi had lingered in Urahara's lab for some time, finishing up battle preparations, and had come out just in time to see him kneeling over a dying shinigami. He had casually slit the man's throat with a scalpel, and before the corpse had even stopped twitching, he had torn up the man's clothes and started examining the body. Servant arrancar were already stacking corpses on a cart behind him, directed by their master in picking and choosing from the dead. Zanpakutou were piled up and bound in leather straps, flesh and metal both catalogued like they were just things, like they had no worth except as the subject of study.
That had made her snap. Nozomi had spent a lifetime loving science. She had been created for it, and she had turned that background into a part of her identity. But, unlike her amoral maker, she had known that science without ethical limitations was just cruelty.
That's why she had run right in, crying out in anger, her fist connecting with Szayel Aporro Granz's cheek. She had pressed him hard at first, but he had proven himself deadlier than she had expected, adapting to her furious assault with cool, calculated precision.
"Fascinating," he said, parrying another strike. "Your spiritual structure is unmistakably shinigami, yet radically different from any I've ever looked at. Harmonious. I'll have to pick you apart and see what the trick to that is."
"You won't have to wait," Nozomi said. Holding up her off hand, a flap of skin folded away, and a small dart fired right into a cut the arrancar had taken before. He looked surprised for a second, before he let out a cry of pain, skipping back and yanking the dart free. It was too late, though; already the wound was growing, sizzling and bubbling.
"It's acid," she explained, advancing on him. "It's a new… upgrade, you could say. Took a while to get it all finished, but it's ready now. Since you wanted to treat me as a test subject, I think it's only fair I use you for the same purpose. Don't you?"
Szayel hissed with pain as he charged the energy of a cero into his palm, cauterizing the wound before the acid could eat away at him further.
"I take it back," he said. Although his face was twisted with pain, he had a disturbing smile on his face, as if intrigued. "You're not a shinigami at all, are you?"
"I like to think of myself as an advanced version," Nozomi shot back. Blade raised, she charged forward. With some effort, Szayel brought up his blade for a parry, and Nozomi pushed down on him, as if trying to overpower him.
"Advanced or not," Szayel said, staring her down with a hint of triumph in his voice, "you've come a bit too close, haven't you?"
His off hand was charging up a bala, and Nozomi knew she had but a moment to react. Rather than trying to dodge, she raised her off hand, charging a load of spiritual energy into her forearm. It jabbed forward with surprising speed, slamming into Szayel's chest five times in the blink of an eye. Her arm worked like a piston, in no small part because that's how Kisuke's new design had been made. The upgrade was ingenious and powerful; the only drawback was the lack of control.
However, as Szayel staggered back with his smug grin gone, gargling with pain, she realized the flaw hadn't even mattered. She had hit his wound, and the pain had nearly overwhelmed him.
"That… that's enough," he hissed, gritting his teeth. "I think it's time you learned the place of a subject, little Miss Advanced Model."
Nozomi knew what was coming; she could sense his reiatsu building up. Knowing the danger, she charged toward him, but two burly fracciones barred her way. Frustratedly, Nozomi blocked a powerful swing from a bestial arrancar, knowing this was a fight for her life. Failure would mean a fate worse than death.
The ritual was commencing. Aizen ran through the spell components with the smooth ease of a man who had them perfectly memorized. The spell was taking shape without issue. He had practiced it a hundred times before. His arms moved almost by themselves, the words spoken without even requiring thought.
It was easy enough that Aizen could keep an eye on Gin and still let his attention drift elsewhere. Far beneath his feet, far down in the city, the battle was commencing just as he had planned. Far away from him, far away from disrupting this ritual, the arrancar were giving their lives for his plan.
Something caught his attention in particular, though. As he finished off a verbal component, a curious set of events finished unfolding. He could barely see it from here, but he sensed it quite clearly.
"Wouldn't you know it," he muttered, realizing he had spoken the thought aloud.
"Wha's 'at?" said Gin.
"…Nothing of consequence, really," said Aizen, his tone the verbal equivalent of a shrug, "but it seems my former vice-captain just obtained bankai."
"Li'l Momo?"
"Yes. I never thought she had it in her. Interesting."
"Ya almost sound proud, sir."
"Don't be ridiculous, Gin," said Aizen. "I have a ritual to finish, and this is no time for your little quips."
But, as he started his incantation for the next stage of the ritual, his thoughts lingered on Momo. She had always possessed extraordinary intelligence and drive. In an odd way… he was pleased to see her prosper. Perhaps she could be made to see reason. He would need a decent lieutenant after Gin had been dealt with.
Now that was satisfying as hell for your's truly. For the longest time, I've felt that Hinamori Momo has always been a character that's gotten the short end of the stick. Stabbed by Aizen and thus greatly reducing her screen time for the rest of the arc, to how Aizen used her to take down the rest of the captains in the cannon battle for Karakura town. But while the former served a narrative purpose, and the latter truly upset me in terms of having to wait 7 months to know if my favorite bleach character was fine, there was one incident that really, truly bothers me to this day.
Ayon.
In the Karakura town battle, each of the vice-captains who were betrayed by their respective captains got a moment to "redeem" themselves in battle by showing what they could really do...In a sense. Both Kira and Hisagi got their moments to shine and defeated their opponents, but Momo? Yeah, no screw her getting the win, or having her reflect more and Aizen and actually grow as a character, let's bring out the chimera monster to screw over her moment of awesome.
Fuck. That. Shit.
I knew since the beginning that I wanted to right that injustice that had been done to her character, so I simply decided to have her defeat the chimera responsible for taking away what should have been her moment. But having her win with a new kido would be unsatisfying, so what would be the best thing to do? Simple. Give her a Bankai. I've foreshadowed her training for her Bankai for quite a while now because I wanted to have built up this exact moment. Besides, if Renji, Ikkaku, Sasakibe, and Hisagi can get Bankai's, why can't my version of Momo how trained extremely hard for over 20 years?
I want to address something really quickly. No, Momo does NOT have "The Almighty". What her bankai allows her to do is to see several "possible" future. Not all of them like Yhwach does, nor can it change the future. What her bankai's true ability does is give Momo an extreme boost in her kido abilities, allowing her to use spells that would normally drain herself too quickly, as well as creating barriers and some original kido of her own (Which I will admit, I took several from Byakuya's fight with Koga Kuchiki.)
Her outfit's design is based heavily on Caster/Medea from Fate Stay Night, while her Bankai weapon is meant to resemble the seven-branched sword from Japanese culture. Her shikai is already based on the weapon, but now it resembles it even more so.
I really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Im very eager to see what you all have to say about it, so please feel free to leave me a review and to give me your feedback.