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Chapter 45: Reliance is Not Loyalty
(Que Story OP – Hello Sleepwalkers "Hyakkiyakou")
Neither Yang, Blake, or Weiss made a sound. They couldn't move their mouth or even blink; they were barely breathing. All their focus was to stare at Pyrrha standing right before them while their minds struggled to process what they were seeing. That Pyrrha Nikos was alive and well; the person standing before them holding back Ichinose's zanpakuto did not just look like Pyrrha with her fiery red hair and brilliant green eyes. One of their best friends was right there and not dead as opposed to her demise of her body turning to dust by Ruby's account.
Yet here Pyrrha Nikos stood, alive and well. Emotions were drowning their function to speak a word. Any sound they tried to make came out in throaty squeaks. Tears were flowing down their faces, blurring their vision till they could see the bright shade of red of Pyrrha's hair and the piercing green of her emerald eyes. The only clear word spoken was Pyrrha's name from Weiss's lips before their mental capacities short-circuited. In all the time of their minds trying to process this miracle, it was only a bare second in which Pyrrha turned towards them.
Ruby knew Pyrrha was trying to keep her composure solid. Yet how can she when Pyrrha sees three of her dear friends that she hasn't seen for so long? Her lips quivered into a smile, but her green eyes spoke of more. Anyone can see the happiness, joy, sadness, shock, and regret glinting in those pools of emerald. It was there for a split second until her expression hardened back to the fight at hand, especially as she was holding an enemy's blade at bay.
"Who are you!?" Ichinose demanded, recognizing the insignia of Squad 11 on Pyrrha's uniform. "I don't recognize a seated officer like you from Squad 11. So who are you!?"
"3rd Seat of Squad 11." Pyrrha answered. "Pyrrha Zaraki."
"Zaraki!?" Ichinose seethed, and his usual empty eyes were filled with something that was both maddening and malicious. "What manner of w-"
Ichinose was not given the mercy to finish his sentence when Pyrrha delivered a forward kick to his abdomen. The impact cracked through the air and sent the ex-Shinigami hurling off like a tumbleweed. A normal human would have most of his bones broken from the stumbles he was inflicted, but Ichinose was only given minor scratches before righting himself into a shunpo and reappearing a few feet away on his feet. Pyrrha was not idle having gone into a chase after Ichinose and slamming down her zanpakuto hard enough that even as the ex-Shinigami blocked the blow his knees gave in while the ground cratered at their feet.
"All of you go on ahead." Pyrrha called out to Ruby, Ichigo, and the others. "I'll take care of this one here. Kariya and the Bounts are the real problems."
"You got it." Ruby replied, gesturing to the others. "C'mon, let's move on from here. Pyrrha's got this."
Orihime, Chad, Toshiro, Rangiku, and Ichigo nodded in agreement and continued through the forest to the edge of the Sereitei. However, it were the three natives of Remnant that were still rooted to the spot. Only until now did some clarity return to them when they realized that Ruby was not reacting in Pyrrha's return. She knew Pyrrha was 'alive' the entire time!
"Hold on!" Yang cried. "Pyrrha is-"
Ruby was not having it in this situation. In a burst of sonido and her natural speed, Ruby wrapped her three teammates into her arms and carried them another sonido out of the area. This was repeated a few more times following the main group headed by Ichigo until Ruby was sure Yang, Weiss, and Blake were able to have the bearings to follow her. Though it was for different reasons with the glares the hybrid was receiving.
"You knew, didn't you?" Yang accused, eyes flickering between crimson and lavender. "You knew Pyrrha was alive!"
"Yes, I did." Ruby answered.
She knew it was coming, but didn't stop it. A blur of gold from her peripheral vision alerted her, but she did not resist against the hands roughly grasping at her shirt. Ruby went along without resistance as she was thrown towards a tree, the trunk caving in by her more durable body, while those same hands were pinning Ruby there. Crimson eyes trailed up the hands holding her to a pair of crimson eyes belonging to Yang. Right behind her were Weiss and Blake sporting both worried and angry glances at their leader.
"You... You...!" Yang seethed, her knuckles whitening. "How could you do that!? Didn't we deserve to know!?"
They expected Ruby to bite her lip or cringe in apprehension under her sister's gaze. Ruby's expression however was more frustrated than anything, further exemplified by the twitch of her wolf ears. Her hands snapped up to Yang's wrist applying their own grip.
"What was I supposed to say?!" Exclaimed Ruby. "'Hey guys, Pyrrha's alive. But also not really cause she's in Soul Society, which is basically the afterlife. And that she's enlisted in the 13 Court Guard Squads that will absolutely not let her back in the living world, especially in Remnant.' Have I mentioned that I am also dead!?"
"You still could have told us." Yang argued.
"And have you go barging into Soul Society!?" Ruby responded in kind, and to the shock of Yang overpowering her grip as her arms were pried away. "I wouldn't be able to stop you really. A little trip to Kisuke and he will send you on your merry way here for his own amusement. Already did that and almost died too many times. I've got the scars to prove it. And that was after I got the powers of a Shinigami. These people are not privy to outsiders; you wouldn't last a second at their walls."
With a final heave, Ruby freed herself from Yang's hold and used sonido to get to the next branch in their path. She looked back at them, her now crimson pupils giving an ominous glow.
"The whole thing is too complicated as it is." Ruby said. "But Soul Society is where Pyrrha belongs now. We can argue about this all you want, but not now. Not when we have some vampires from tearing this whole place down. Already have enough enemies as it is."
She left no room for argument as Ruby continued on through constant sonidos, not even caring to leave her teammates in the dust. Yang, Weiss, and Blake were left there staring in the direction of their leader who was not giving them the answers they desperately needed. Weiss bit her lips and Yang's arms were shaking. Emotions such as anger and shock were whirling in their hands, and in the back of their head, they were still tempted to make Ruby answer them. Yet it was the promise she would after this current problem was dealt with that they can continue in the direction Ruby went. On the forefront of their heads was the wonder if Pyrrha will be okay facing Ichinose.
If they knew their worries were unfounded.
(Pyrrha vs Ichinose)
Perhaps the better question was could Ichinose survive against Pyrrha? Not only was the redhead a brutally skilled combatant, his mind was also distracted by the fact that her surname was Zaraki. Just hearing that name from someone's lips as part of themselves brought up decades of the hate he had for the Kenpachi that killed his captain. That stole away the Squad he once knew. Rage ran through his veins, but it made his reactions time slow for Pyrrha's constant attacks.
"Is this really all you have!?" Cried Pyrrha, a rather violent glint in her eyes.
'Who is she?' Ichinose thought frantically, not putting all of his much-needed attention in the fight. 'Why is her name Zaraki!? Why does she have his name!? WHO IS SHE!?'
She sent a kick to Ichinose's stomach, causing him to cough out his breath from the blow. It was followed by his face meeting a sideswipe of Pyrrha's zanpakuto with the blunt end. The sharp pain revealed to Ichinose he had just received a hairline fracture in his jaw where a new bruise was swelling on his cheek. Pyrrha finished with a high kick aimed to the side of Ichinose's head, with the man putting up a hasty block with his forearms to minimize the blow. He held back an exclaim of pain feeling his bones rattle from the power in the kick, but he could not stop his feet from leaving the ground from the force of it.
Nijigasumi in his hand was able to cut into the ground to stop his hurling, leaving one knee bent on the ground. He still had the strength to get to his feet and settle into a strong kendo stance with Nijigasumi held forward. At this point, Ichinose had managed to reign his emotions back to his blank composure. Even if Pyrrha's surname was Zaraki, there couldn't be anything to go by. Not unless he figured more information about her before making more rash judgments.
"Who are you really?" Ichinose questioned. "What is your connection to Kenpachi Zaraki?"
"If you must know," Pyrrha answered, not daring to let down her guard, "Kenpachi Zaraki is my adopted father. What is it to you?"
"Adopted...father?" Ichinose muttered under his breath.
With this new information that Kenpachi actually went along to adopt a daughter, his vengeance made a scheme around it. A dark idea was born in his mind that visibly made his reishi darker. Ichinose's lips stretched into a more sinister grin along with his eyes set with revealed malice. Pyrrha could only raise a curious eyebrow, not bothered by the reiatsu from her opponent gaining a darker feel to it. The pressure Kenpachi Zaraki could casually emit was always so much worse.
"Yes... this can work." Ichinose hissed, steadily raising his spiritual pressure. "If I kill his daughter, then Kenpachi will know the same pain I felt long ago. It's perfect!"
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "What are you babbling-"
She didn't get to finish her words when Ichinose disappeared into a shunpo. Instincts honed as Nikos and trained as Zaraki demanded Pyrrha to raise her zanpakuto in defense at her left flank to block a downward strike. As soon as clashing steel sang, Ichinose disappeared again to attack and repeated this process till he got a cut in. Pyrrha kept on a steady defense all the while she was confused by this sudden improvement. Where his motions earlier were sluggish, there was a new focus and precision in them that told Pyrrha just how much this man wanted to cut him down.
'What did I do to this man anyway?' Pyrrha thought in genuine confusion.
She focused her instincts and senses to predict Ichinose's next move. In the next instant when the ex-Shinigami reappeared behind Pyrrha, the redhead snapped to action parrying away the blow this time in an upward swing. Ichinose's entire stance was shaken, leaving him open for Pyrrha to deal a wide swing. He just managed to sidestep away but received a slashing wound across his stomach. Not too deep to reach any organs, but enough that blood dripped from his shihaksho to the ground.
"Trying the same strategy will not get you anywhere." Pyrrha scolded, swiping her zanpakuto to the side to wipe the blood off the steel.
"Don't mock me." Ichinose growled. "Nijigasumi."
Pyrrha watched in interest as Ichinose's reishi took on the colors of the entire color spectrum which was shared by the glow around his zanpakuto. To her growing surprise, the blade to the tsuba guard completely disappeared from sight, not even leaving a shimmer in the air. An ability of complete invisibility.
It was an impressive ability, and Ichinose complimented it with motions to hide the hilt and guard that would give away his swings. For anyone else, Ichinose would be a deadly opponent as his invisible blade would make it impossible to predict the strike. Knowing an opponent's sword length was crucial in battles to properly prepare for the reach of the weapon.
Yet Pyrrha was the worst opponent for Ichinose. Through her Semblance she can still feel the steel of Ichinose's zanpakuto to its exact length. She could practically close her eyes and still know the trajectory of the blade based on her Semblance. The only downside for Pyrrha was the oddity of zanpakuto unable to be affected by her polarity abilities.
So it came as a surprise when Ichinose found his fatal swing to Pyrrha's right side parried away by her zanpakuto. He could not recover his bearings in time due to his surprise and Pyrrha reprised going for a lunge towards Ichinose's neck. Instead, Ichinose sent a desperate flair of reiatsu to Nijigasumi, causing the blade to unleash its signature blinding light.
This time Pyrrha could not defend herself and she was forced to shut her eyes. She still had her Semblance activated in the event Ichinose would take this chance to kill her. As expected, Pyrrha's Semblance picked up Nijigasumi coming towards her head in a downward swing. A hasty high stance with her own zanpakuto stopped Ichinose's weapon just inches from touching her forehead.
"Why won't you die!?" Ichinose cried in frustration.
"Hide that blade all you want!" Pyrrha replied, her impressive strength winning in the clash. "It will never amount to anything as long as it is steel."
She decided to do a 'Zaraki' as she called it and loosened the restraints on her spiritual pressure. There was a great bang akin to thunder and in the midst of such overwhelming spiritual pressure Nijigasumi's blinding light dimmed away. Ichinose was left rooted on the spot in shock by the surprising explosion of spiritual pressure that was bordering on Captain-class. Pyrrah took the chance making a bloody, but superficial slash down Ichinose's shoulder, who backed away before the blade could dig deeper. He tried to mount a defense as he was able to block Pyrrha's follow-up attacks.
An upward kick to Ichinose's upper thigh crumbled his stance. He put up a hasty block for a heavy strike from Pyrrha. It would've cleaved his head, but as the song of clashing steel rang through the air Ichinose also found himself flying through the air till his body crashed through a tree trunk. His body struggled to get up as it was covered with scrapes, bruises, and bloody slashes. He looked to be about to collapse at any moment while Pyrrha was simply marred with some dirt.
"You are so easily distracted." Pyrrha noted in an admonishing tone. "For someone that has unlocked their Shikai, you are too dedicated in your swings. You go for the kill too swiftly. Too much anger in your strikes. Why do you have so much animosity to the name of Zaraki?"
"Because of that man!" Snarled Ichinose, rage being the fuel to get his body upright. "That man you call a father took everything from me! He killed my captain, a man of justice that would done good for Soul Society. Yet he was killed and Kenpachi Zaraki was not even punished for it! That's why I abandoned my station! How could I align myself with such hypocrisy!?"
At Ichinose's rant, Pyrrha's expression took on a change. At first, it was with slight surprise on the topic of Kenpachi Zaraki, but it was no surprise when killing was involved. Her expression devolved from there into a blank, deadpan look as if she wasn't even fazed by Ichinose's backstory. She only had one clear opinion of the man now: he was probably the first person Pyrrha could say was so... pathetic!
"Your captain was the previous Kenpachi, right?!" Pyrrha exclaimed suddenly, startling Ichinose by her raised voice. "Did he know the risks?"
"What?" Ichinose could only say.
"Did he know the dangers!?" Pyrrha demanded. "Whatever you say about your captain, that he was honorable or a person of justice. It doesn't change the fact that he was a Kenpachi, a captain of Squad 11. You know the rules, do you not!? He became captain by killing the previous one. That is the law of Squad 11 for the right to be its captain must be through a duel to the death! So your idol knew that one day that he himself would be killed so a new Kenpachi can take their place as Squad 11's captain. That has been our way since the founding of Soul Society.
"Yet you... You whine and complain. You cry just because the traditions - not laws - do not work with you. If your idolized late captain was as just as you claim, then he would have accepted his potential demise at the hands of the successor. You accuse my captain of a so-called crime when your own did the exact same to ascend that very position, all in a legal manner. You, Ichinose, are a sham!"
"A... sham?" Ichinose hissed, knuckles turning white.
"You idolize the previous Kenpachi of honor and justice." Pyrrha continued. "Yet here you are joining with terrorists that will see the destruction of Soul Society. I can understand your hate for Shinigami - how you feel their inaction slate you. But what excuse do you have for endangering those who are not Shinigami? How shameless do you have to be to put defenseless innocent lives that haven't even touched the sword to death just to satisfy your revenge?
"I only have this to say to you. You are no avenger. No martyr and self-entitled man of justice. You are a puppet. A puppet that needs to have his strings used by another because you can't move on your own. All those ideals you preach about are only those used by other people. Even now, your want of the Soul Society's destruction is because of your current master's wish. You have no will of your own, no ideal of your own making to strive for. For all you rant and screech on, all I see are the excuses of a tool in flesh."
"Shut up!" Ichinose raged, frothing at the mouth while veins bulged on his arms. "Shut up! SHUT UP! You think you know me!? You cannot even begin to understand my pain! You have no right to insult my life!"
In the wake of his outrage, Ichinose was releasing all of his spiritual pressure in a beautiful spectrum of light. His reiryoku surged out over the area and Pyrrha only noticed that very reiryoku forming into motes of light like slow dancing fireflies. They continued to grow in number as Ichinose's spiritual pressure continued to rise till it looked as though the stars descended upon the earth.
"I was saving this for Zaraki, but I'll settle using this technique on you!" Snarled Ichinose. "Saigyoku Nijigasumi!"
She expected an attack with his zanpakuto in a swing to cleave her flesh which would still be detected by her Semblance. What Pyrrha wasn't prepared for were the motes of light suddenly expanding at a rapid rate. It was too fast to jump away and all Pyrrha could see was white. From the outside perspective, the expanding motes of light were then coalescing together as they grew into a dome of light taking up the area. All that was caught in its expanding domain were simply crushed into oblivion.
"There is no escape." Ichinose intoned. "You are now surrounded in a world of light where no shadows can exist. You will be crushed to a pulp in the radiance of the light of my zanpakuto that is your fate."
At Ichinose's command, the great dome of light stared to shrink down. This sudden change was to cause a compressing force on the center to crush the unfortunate victim being Pyrrha. At the center, the adopted Zaraki finds herself in the domain of light. She feels her movements sluggish as if she were moving her limbs through mud that was continuing to thicken.
'Everything feels so heavy.' Pyrrha thought as she made a few practice swings.
Yet her expression showed no worry at her current plight. A sigh instead escaped her lips as she grips her zanpakuto by the flat of the blade and the hilt while holding it parallel to the ground. She closed her eyes in concentration and soon her form is surrounded by a sickly green aura. Within the darkness of her mind, a skull of green flames wearing a Spartan's helm grins in anticipation.
"Bathe in blood," Pyrrha chanted, unable to hide a bloodthirsty smirk, "Muteki!"
All that incredible pressure of Ichinose's technique was simply pushed away by a massive release of spiritual pressure. A pillar of black-green reiatsu ascended to the heavens where at the base a grinning skull of burning green flames wearing a spartan helmet cackled. Stepping out of the pillar as it dimmed away was Pyrrha Zaraki, sporting an insane grin. In her hands was the Shikai form of her zanpakuto.
"Why?" Ichinose let out in outrage. "Why!? WHY!? WHY CAN'T I-"
A whistle of movement and a splash of blood rendered Ichinose's next words silent. His eyes couldn't even track the movement of Pyrrha having come right up to him with those glowing green eyes. Looking down, he found the source of flaring pain being the spear of Pyrrha's zanpakuto impaling him through his stomach.
"Would you just shut up?" Pyrrha said, mercilessly ripping out her spear and letting Ichinose fall to the ground in a growing pool of blood. "Such a pathetic fool you were. Boring too. Not like a certain blonde I know who is and always will be a thousand times the better man than you will ever will."
Throughout this Bount Arc, Ichinose to me has been a whiny, emo baby. He only gave me the impression of a clingy puppet that needed to be controlled by someone. He literally had nothing to himself except for his zanpakuto, which is a miracle he even had a Shikai.
Up next is Chapter 62.
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