Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I hope you all enjoy!
Karin watched in awe as Akio fought 20 officers at the same time. He expertly countered blows that weren't even within his field of vision, he shut down their attempts at using his martial art by employing his own superiority in that area, and the overwhelming power of his Bankai was too much to handle. Despite all this, and the fact that Karin was dominating the common soldiers in a similar fashion, Takanashi seemed perfectly content. He wasn't jumping into the battle against Akio, despite the fact that, so far, he'd been the only one to fight evenly with the former captain.
Karin dodged two strikes from an opponent, and a single punch from her was enough to take them down. She quickly launched a powerful Shakkaho at a group of soldiers, before switching to a defensive kido to block an attack from behind. No matter how many opponents she took down, they just kept coming. Reinforcements seemed to be arriving as well, though squad 10 had not arrived yet.
Akio landed next to Karin, and Karin noticed that he was covered in blood, though given that he didn't appear to have any wounds on him, none of it seemed to be his.
"How are you faring?" Akio asked, launching long-range attacks with his Bankai even as he spoke to her.
"None of my opponents have been a challenge to me yet, though they just keep coming, I think reinforcements for the Takanashi family are starting to arrive," Karin responded, "I take it that you're faring well?"
"The officers seem to be attempting to tire me out before I can battle Takanashi," Akio responded, "It's idiotic of them to think that any amount of planning on their side could ever cause my downfall."
"I just hope that our reinforcements arrive soon," Karin stated.
"They're almost here, I can feel it," Akio assured, "Stay behind me, I'm going to unleash a powerful kido."
Karin watched as Akio unleashed a kido that created 5 huge dragons, and launched them into the ranks of the enemies. Karin recognized this spell as hado #99, Goryūtenmetsu.
"My my, that's considered forbidden these days," Takanashi finally took action, casting a kido that summoned a large spinning blade. As the dragons crashed into the blade, they were shredded to pieces.
"So is that kido," Akio replied. He held his palms out at Takanashi, and 5 red spheres crackling with electricity formed around Akio.
"Watch, Karin. I want to show you the peaks of kido. I used one of these against Captain Hitsugaya, and I nearly beat him with it," Akio ordered.
"Uh, this isn't exactly the time for a lesson," Karin replied.
"Just watch," Akio launched the 5 spheres, 3 of them shooting at Takanashi.
Takanashi flash stepped away, but the spheres followed him. The other two spheres shot into the ranks of the enemy, tearing through soldiers.
"I suppose I have to do everything myself," Takanashi sighed and activated his Shikai, slashing through each sphere, stopping it completely.
As the spheres stopped, they began to pulsate until they exploded.
"I almost forgot, they constantly absorb reiatsu from those around them to sustain themselves. Of course, they'd absorb my own reiatsu, but it seems like they couldn't process it all," Takanashi grinned.
"I guess not," Akio summoned his spears and turned them from 7 to 100. Half of the spears attacked Takanashi, the other half stayed with Akio.
"Return to battle, Karin. But be careful," Akio commanded.
"You've got it," Karin grinned and returned to battle. Despite the numerical advantage, the Takanashi family seemed to be losing morale.
However, even with all this, Takanashi himself did not seem worried at all. This terrified Karin, and she could see that it was even making Akio uneasy as well.
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Rangiku followed Hitsugaya closely as the two led Squad 10 to the site of the battlefield. They arrived a short half-hour after Akio left, and by the time they arrived, Akio had already entered his Bankai and the battlefield looked ravaged.
"Karin!" Hitsugaya called out her name, and Rangiku watched as he immediately beelined for her.
The events that came next happened so quickly that it seemed as if time was moving in slow-motion.
First, Takanashi cast a very basic kido on Akio. A Sai, the first kido that was taught in the academy. Thanks to Takanashi's reiatsu levels, it was able to restrain Akio for a fraction of a second, but that was all the time that Takanashi needed. Next, Takanashi flash-stepped to Karin, nearly knocking her over with his speed. And finally, he plunged his sword deep into Karin's chest. He did not bother using his Shikai to freeze her in time, no, he wanted her to bleed, he wanted her to die as Hitsugaya watched.
Hitsugaya reached Karin just before she crumpled to the ground, catching her in his arms and going wide-eyed and silent. Akio slammed his palm into Takanashi's face a moment later, throwing him into the sky and flying after him with wings made of light to continue his attack. Rangiku stopped beside her captain, ordering Squad 10 to engage the enemy and to protect Karin.
"Captain…" Rangiku began.
"She's still alive, she managed to move just enough so that the wound would miss her heart, but she's still in critical condition," Hitsugaya sounded frantic as he spoke, and his eyes darted between the members of the squad near him, "We need medics, now!"
The 20th seat, Kioka, quickly ran to Karin's side, "I'll heal her, keep the enemies off of me so I can focus!"
Hitsugaya nodded and activated his Bankai, creating walls of ice around Kioka and Karin. Bodo the 7th seat, and a few other soul reapers took up positions outside the walls of ice. Rangiku looked to Hitsugaya.
"Captain, join the battle. Trust Kioka to heal her," Rangiku advised.
"Yeah, I'm going to kill him," Hitsugaya's voice was colder than his Bankai, and Rangiku found herself realizing that she'd never seen him so angry. Usually, when he got angry, he got loud and rash, but this time was different.
He was quiet, and he looked furious, but he still seemed to be in control of his impulses.
"Leave that to me," Akio suddenly flashed between the two, he had a few burn marks on his body now, likely from kido blasts fired by Takanashi, "He's probably going to activate his Bankai soon. I'll make this quick, when he activates his Bankai, he instantly freezes everything within a 30-meter radius of himself. Once someone is caught, the second stage of his Bankai activates, and he is able to age or de-age those caught within the radius. Do not approach him, and order everyone else to keep their distance."
"...Understood," Hitsugaya replied, "I assume you know how to fight through this?"
"I do," Akio flashed away and clashed blades with Takanashi, who was in his Shikai form now. Akio had coated himself with the light from his Bankai, making armor of sorts for him, and he had summoned a spear as well, which he used to battle Takanashi.
The two wove through the battlefield as if no one else was there. They showed no worry about being caught in the attacks of others. Rangiku noticed Akio using his Bankai to protect members of squad 10 as well, he was both fighting Takanashi and keeping watch over the squad at the same time.
Rangiku quickly brought her mind back to her own fight, blocking a kido attack from one of the officers in the Takanashi family. The officer she was fighting may have given her trouble a few months ago, but now, after Akio's training, she was barely even trying.
Rangiku quickly flash stepped behind the officer and cut him down, then she cast an offensive kido spell to cancel out another one aimed at her. The squad was performing well. Even though most of the members could not properly fight the officers, many of them had been taken out by Akio before the squad arrived, or had at least been weakened. Hitsugaya was still partially focused on the box of ice that was protecting Karin and Kioka, and it showed in his performance. He was slower than usual, though he was still holding his own against 4 officers at the same time.
Rangiku unleashed her Shikai, using it to cut opponents who were occupied with other members of her squad. It may be an underhanded tactic, but this was war, not a duel. Rangiku also had to admit that she was furious about Karin being hurt, and though she may not be showing it as much as Hitsugaya was, she felt a strong hatred towards her enemies.
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Akio pursued Takanashi throughout the battlefield. He had always been stronger than Takanashi, though a single mistake could still mean his defeat. Even after hundreds of years, Akio was still sure that he could defeat Takanashi. What worried him was the fact that Takanashi seemed to be entirely content with the way that the battle was going.
The rest of squad 10 was doing well, and Akio decided that he could trust them, and he pulled more of his Bankai's light back to him. Creating a second spear in his free hand, he now attacked Takanashi even more aggressively.
Akio was relieved to know that Takanashi's Bankai hadn't evolved since the time they last fought. He still had the same tell that Akio could use to foresee when his Bankai's first stage was about to be activated, and Akio was more than quick enough to dodge it.
His Shikai could not cut through Akio's light when it was as condensed as it was, and as such Akio did not have to worry about his weapons being frozen, and he also greatly reduced the amount of space on his body that he'd have to worry about defending as well. Still, Takanashi was by no means weak. He was able to keep Akio from landing any good blows on him, and the two seemed to be at a stalemate.
"You have to finish this quickly, Akio", Akio heard Kagayaku Yari's voice speaking into his head, and the first thing he noticed was that she sounded as if she was being strained.
"All right then," Akio responded, not bothering to ask why his zanpakuto believed he needed to do so. He trusted his zanpakuto, and if she said he needed to finish this battle quickly, then that was exactly what he needed to do.
"Are you finally going to use it?" Takanashi taunted, "Your ultimate offense?"
Akio knew what Takanashi was referring to. When Akio condensed the entirety of his Bankai's light into the form of a simple sword, it became a weapon strong enough to cut through nearly anything. The only blade he had ever found himself unable to match with it had been the Bankai of Yamamoto.
Akio flicked his hand up, and his light took the shape of a traditional eastern dragon, catching Takanashi in its jaws and flying him into the air. Akio ran up the dragon, leaping into the sky above Takanashi, and raising his arms. The dragon began to disappear, and a sword began to form in Akio's hands, when suddenly…
Akio's eyes widened. Something was wrong. His light suddenly disappeared, and he could no longer see everything all around him. Worst of all, he could no longer feel Kagayaku Yari inside of him. Something was very very wrong.
"I win," Takanashi declared, stabbing Akio through the chest and sending him plummeting into the ground.
Akio struggled to move as Takanashi landed on him, stomping on his chest, he looked around at the shocked faces of Squad 10 and tried to call out to Kagayaku Yari, but she would not answer, and he did not know why. No, it wasn't that she wouldn't answer, she couldn't…