Disclaimer: Me, owning Bleach? Yeah, as if. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and the respective studios.
Chapter 18: The next step
"You failed", Bainne said, almost yelling at his opposite.
"Yeah, no shit", Setsuzo shot back. "Next time, you send someone over there, maybe give them a proper heads up about THE MOTHERFUCKING ONE WAY TICKET TO HELL CASUALLY WALKING AROUND TOWN!" He screamed and put as much bite into that sentence as he could.
The situation he was talking himself into was really close to actual suicide, but Setsuzo couldn't care less about that. If he had to die for speaking his mind then so be it. He refused to live a life in silence.
"Watch your tongue boy!", his superior now also raised his voice. Bloodlust was leaking from his aura, he wasn't even trying to suppress it.
The two of them were up on the second layer of Hueco Mundo, the vast neverending desert with an always bright sky up above as its ceiling. They were up there so that no other Hollow working on the castle could hear their conversation. If that could be called a conversation. This wasn't even really an argument and it was long past being a pissing contest from the very start.
"I warned you from the start that far more dangerous things were walking around in the human world than that insect you encountered", Bainne hissed.
"And you sent us over anyway. What was you goal here, to get us both killed? 'Cause that's something you coulda just done yourself and it wouldn't even be an effort!"
"Do not try and make me responsible for your incompetence, boy! If you would have stuck to the plan, none of this would have happened, but no, you just had to let your personal affairs get in the way and now one of us is dead. Not because of me, because of YOU!"
Setsuzo wanted to throw something back, something, anything, but he couldn't, because Bainne was right. Admitting that cut deeper than everything else. He remained silent and just stared at Bainne with every feasible amount of hatred his being could conceive.
"That's what I thought", Bainne continued and turned his back towards Setsuzo. "You're lucky I need you, or else I would just kill you and be done with it."
Setsuzo didn't listen. He just stared at the completely exposed back Bainne had just presented to him on a silver plate. The temptation was there. Oh it was there alright, that sweet window of opportunity he had in front of him. It longed for him, called for him to try. No, it didn't long for him, it mocked him. It didn't call for him, it dared him to try and see what happens. Slowly and silently, he slid out his armblade, clenching his fist so hard he almost cut the inside of his hand.
"Go ahead and try", Bainne said, while standing completely still. "Come on, I know you want it", he whispered. "I can feel your bloodlust. Oh, I can almost smell it."
For a moment there, the lower of the two Hollows stopped. But the temptation was too great and he was beginning to give in. He kept extending his blade until it had reached it's full length and took a step towards his superior. And another one. And another one.
Bainne slowly turned around and a devious grin decorated his face. "Yes", he said almost filled with joy. "Those are the eyes I wanted to see. Not the eyes of a fighter, the eyes of a murderer. Someone who takes lives without remorse. COME ON!", he yelled and extended his arms presenting himself to Setsuzos blade.
"Do you think you can pierce me, do you really think that little knife of yours is drenched in enough hatred? Then show me! Strike me down where I stand. I'm even willing to give you a free shot. But I'm warning you; if you waste it", a sinister chuckle exited his throat that sounded like grinding grovel. "You're gonna regret it."
He was right there. Right. There. All he had to do was cut him, slash him to pieces disfigure him into fucking oblivion. But it was a trap. He knew it was a god damn trap. Bainne wouldn't even present himself to a working Hollow this carefree without being absolutely certain that nothing would happen, no matter what. And Setsuzo still didn't care. He would slice this motherfucker in half and if it was the last thing he'd do.
He was gonna do it. Every moment now, he would raise his arm, release all his power and strike down with everything he had.
But then he remembered a voice.
"You better get those damn memories back and I hope they are worth it."
What was he doing?
His partner sacrificed himself for him, layed down his life so he could live and he was about to throw it all away because of what, a little bit of taunting and self-loathing?
No. This can't be how I go out. It can't be, it mustn't.
He closed his eyes and deeply inhaled in the effort to calm himself down and slowly retracted his blade. But when he opened them, he knew his eyes were still filled with the same hatred from before.
Bainne let his arms sink down and sighed. "Dissapointing. And here I thought you'd give into it. Guess you're weaker than I thought." He tilted his head slightly to the side and looked like he was thinking about something.
"Or perhaps it's quite the opposite. Maybe you're strong enough not to do it, because despite all your hatred, you want to honor your friends sacrifice?"
Setsuzo scoffed. "You believe in honor?"
"I believe honor and pride are for the foolish and weak. But right here, right now", he said and looked into the distance with a dazed look, as if he was gazing upon something that wasn't there. "It might serve a purpose."
Bainne gestured Setsuzo to follow him, turned around and started walking.
"Say, did I ever tell you how a Gillian is created?"
"No."
"Did Léon tell you something about it?"
"He slightly touched on the subject when we "recruited" him." He put some extra mockery into that word.
Bainne just scoffed amused. "Becoming a Gillian is when the instinct of a Hollow is at its purest. The instinct to devour that is. To create one single Gillian, hundreds of Hollows are required to assemble in one place and slaughter eachother. It's almost something like a festival, or ritual. The assembled Hollows kill and eat and kill and eat until they are reduced to nothing but their bare instincts. Until everything they are is killing to eat and eating to kill."
He stopped, inhaled deeply and just stood there for a few moments until he opened his eyes again and slightly changed his course. Then he kept walking and Setsuzo followed him.
"What follows is a kind of harmony. The Hollows start to resonate with eachother and instead of consuming themselves by flesh, it's then a battle of the spirit itself. It is at that point that you have to work with your mind, and consume the minds of every other Hollow, to crush their wills and make them your own, to absorb their flesh and make it your own and to erase them from existence until you and only you are left, so you can claim everything they were and left as your own."
Bainne's mood changed a little, it had only been a slight nuance, but he somehow seemed… nostalgic. As if he was dwelling on old memories that filled him with exhilarating excitement.
"But you have to be careful. One slip-up and you will get lost in the storm and the end result will be that every Hollow will cease to exist and you will all become a mindless monster. That is the tragic fate of the Gillians under my control that guard the castle. Trapped in a meaningless existence, consisting of nothing but reactions to events happening around them, without free will, agency or anything that would set them apart from a mere puppet."
"Is there a rest stop between now and the fucking point?"
"Yes", Bainne stopped, turned around and looked Setsuzo in the eyes. "As you are now, you can easily do that. The fact that you are oozing with hatred speaks for itself. I promised you I would help you get stronger and I tend to make good on my promises."
Setsuzo got curious and reached out with his senses, just to be immediately overwhelmed by the massive pool of energy right in front of them. Of course. Bainne wanted him to turn into a Gillian right here and now. Beneath their feat was one of those rituals and from the way it felt like it must have already begun. Pain, rage, agony, hunger, Setsuzo felt them all boiling under the surface.
"Are you sure you want to keep that promise?" Setsuzo probably shouldn't say what he was about to say, but he didn't care. He didn't want to live a life where he had to stay quiet, simply nod along to everything that was outside of his power and just go with it. He wanted to be square. He wanted to be outspoken and clear and he would no longer be silent when it came to his intentions and his opinion.
"With everything that happened, I might stab you in the back when I get the chance. You are an Adjuchas now. If you are really trying to help me get stronger, I will turn into a Gillian and it won't take me long from there on out to become an Adjuchas myself. Then we'll be evened out and who knows, maybe I'll take that swing at you then."
Bainne just cackled to that statement. "Oh if it only were that easy. You see, with that power we gain by becoming an Adjuchas, also comes a curse. We have to keep devouring others or else we will regress back into Gillians and lose our individuality. So, even if you made it from a Gillian to an Adjuchas in record time, it would still do you no good against me. By then I will either have become a Vasto Lorde already, or I will no longer be your leader. I don't really have a choice and once you'll be what I am now, neither do you. Not that it matters, because I will soon ascend to the next level, I can feel it."
He suddenly stopped and looked at Setsuzo. "Are you ready to take the next step in evolution? Right here and now, while the fire of hatred still burns in you."
"I don't really have a choice here, do I", Setsuzo responded with a dry attitude.
Bainne grabbed his shoulders and gazed at him. Something changed in his mood again, he was now intense, almost angry.
"No. That is not enough. If you want to do this right now, you need to be more than just "I don't really have a choice here do I". You have to want it. You need to want it. You need to be more than a depressed school girl about to fail the next exam. You need to be a storm of burning hatred, you need to be a force of nature, an uncompromising raging monster. So when I ask are you ready, what do you say?"
"Just to be clear." Setsuzo got intense himself. "If I ever get stronger than you, if there will ever be an opportunity, if there's ever even the fraction of a chance that you show weakness, I will be there and I will drive my blade through your chest, I can promise you that!"
Bainne didn't respond to the threat. He said nothing to it, he just continued right away, but Setsuzo knew he registered it, remembered it from now on and forever and in return, the look in Bainne's eyes gave him an unspoken promise. It was a challenge to try and do his best and that when he would fail, Bainne would laugh over his rotting corpse. It was the beginning of a race for the other one's life.
"Are! You! Ready!?"
"YES!" Setsuzo yelled at the top of his lungs, his fury was heating his entire body like a burning fire, his Spiritual pressure was rising like never before.
Bainne took his hands off of Setsuzo's shoulders, raised his right to the sky and charged a Cero. At the moment he finished charging it up, he fired the Cero towards the ground, shattering it in the process.
(Mad Max Fury Road OST: Blood Bag)
Time was slowing down. It was probably due to his raised Spiritual pressure, because his senses were sharpened like never before. Everything around him seemed slower, or it was probably just him processing things faster. The dust took a few moments to settle, but then he could see everything clearly.
It was a pure hellscape down there. Blood was covering the floor, half eaten corpes were lying around, others were disfigured and most of the Hollows that were down there were all over the place, screaming in pain, in ecstasy, in victory or loss.
Bainne wasn't falling down with him, he was standing in the air, crouching down on his knees, purely spectating. Setsuzo was on his own. Of course he was. He always had been, but he never died from that. And he certainly wouldn't die from it today.
A tree was growing to the ceiling right next to him, so he extended his armblade and rammed it into the crystal fabric to break his fall. Shortly before he reached the bottom he ripped it out and let himself fall on the nearest Hollow, impaling his head and splitting him in half with the additional force of the fall.
He didn't waste any time and consumed his dead opposite with huge chunks, as if he hadn't eaten in days. He wasn't left alone though, as he was rammed into the back and catapulted away from his feast. He grunted in pain, stood up and turned around to see what unlucky bastard he was about to cut up.
And of course it had to be a Hollow double his size and mass, covered in brown fur and with a Body resembling an ape.
His new adversary shouted at him, mocking him for being careless. Setsuzo returned the scream and expressed all the hatred he felt. Then he concentrated all the power he was emitting at the moment into his entire body and let it explode, accelerating his movements and heightening his strength. He sprinted towards the ape, took a huge leap and aimed for the head, but the opposing creature planned to catch him mid-air.
Without compromises, Setsuzo cut the ape's hand in half, landed on his shoulder and buried his blade deep into it. His enemy screamed in pain, but he didn't stop. He twisted the blade and wanted to take it out, but the ape trapped the weapon by tensing up his muscles. Without hesitation, Setsuzo repeated the technique from before, but this time concentrated all of his power into his right arm. He ripped the blade out and a huge chunk of flesh with it. His adversary howled in pain and Setsuzo used that time window to repeat the technique once more.
He cut straight through the neck and beheaded the ape with visceral force. The head landed on the ground with a loud bumping sound and Setsuzo started to dig into the still standing body. He consumed and consumed and felt his power rise, little by little, making him stronger. Faster. Angrier.
There was something about this place. The more he fought, the more he felt himself slip away and become more animalistic.
At some point, he was so furious he stopped eating and just started to hack and slash himself through the still standing body. When he got out of the back, he already spotted his next victim.
A frog as big as he was, which was currently eating the first Hollow he had killed when he had dropped form the ceiling.
"That's mine", he yelled with a raspy voice. He stormed towards the frog and aimed for its legs with his sword. It managed to narrowly evade his attack by jumping up at the very last moment. Setsuzo heard the frog scream in a distorted voice: "Finders keepers!"
It shot its tongue out and missed Setsuzo by mere centimeters. He jumped to the side and was already preparing to jump up as well, but was frozen in place when he heard the tongue impact on the ground with a loud bang. Rockshrapnels flew close by past his body and tempted him to check on the tongue. He saw it being retracted with enormous speed leaving only a hole in the ground.
So it was used more like projectile than anything else.
The frog shot the tongue again, but Setsuzo didn't evade this time. He moved to the side just a bit so the tongue would miss him and waited for the sound of its impact. Every second now it would… BANG! He grabbed the tongue while it didn't have any tension or momentum in it and pulled the frog towards him with all his power. He waited until it got into his range, then he cut it up.
It was just one single strike, but the force of the frogs fall and all the power he could manage created a devastating effect. His muscles howled in pain and he feared they would snap from the enormous exertion. It was a matter of moments but it felt much longer. The body was halved and both parts were falling behind him on the ground with a loud splash sound.
Without hestitation, he began to eat the remains and after five bites he already felt something he hadn't in a long while. His unique passive ability that unlocked new techniques when he had gained enough power. Just a little more and it would be ready to develop another new technique, he could feel it.
He had eaten about half the frog when he suddenly got hit by a surprise attack from behind. "Ah, what now?", he grunted in pain. He took a quick glance at his body and noticed several smaller cut wounds. Then he looked at his next opponent. It was a giant bird Hollow with four wings and sharp looking feathers all over its body.
Feathers that were also sticking in the ground beaneath him, indicating they might have been used as projectiles. The bird screeched and threw another featherattack. Setsuzo needed to get cover behind something, but he was standing wide out in the open. Everything that could provide him with protection was either out of reach or too small.
He didn't even think, he just raised his left arm and instinctively concentrated his Reiryouku into it, until it emitted a shield created from Spiritual energy that was about as big as Setsuzo himself and the same shape as the shield on his arm.
He mesmerized his own creation for a few moments, surprised by what he just did out of pure instinct. He took a step forward to check if the shield was stuck in place. It moved with him. He smiled deviously as he started running towards the bird, which was now in panic to throw its feathers at him, hoping that it would stop him somehow.
When he was almost in striking range, the Hollow was rapidly trying to achieve lift-off, but it was too late. Setsuzo took a leap up, dispelled his shield and landed on the bird's chest. He stabbed it quickly a few times, bringing the creature back to the ground on its back while it was howling in pain. He swiftly cut off its head, but then a tiring sensation overcame him. He took a few moments to realize that he had been constantly releasing and using his Reiatsu and had decreased his Reiryouku to an alarmingy low amount.
He had never exerted imself at full strength in any of his fights before, but this time he had been going at it full force from the start. It hadn't really been a problem since feeding restocked his reserves, but using that shield had taken a lot out of him.
He shut off his constant output and started to devour the giant bird. His reserves quickly filled up again and while licking the fresh blood off his teeth he looked around, to seek out his next victim and found it in a Hollow that looked like a snake.
He released his Reiatsu again and stormed towards the newly spotted adversary. The latter was just finishing up a feast himself and shifted his attention to Setsuzo as he was sprinting towards it. The snake hissed, opened its mouth and spit a violet fluid at him.
He stopped, summoned his new shield and caught the substance on it. He immediately dispelled the shield again and took a few steps back while the fluid splashed on the ground. It hissed and smoked, and a small crater began to build, so it was probably acid.
The snake hissed aggressively and slithered towards him and made Setsuzo realize the enourmous difference in size. The snakes head was almost as big as he himself was but despite its size it was still very fast, as was evident by the alarming pace at which it was coming closer. Setsuzo readied himself for anything, sword and shield extended, Spiritual pressure up.
Shortly before the snake reached him, it spit another flood of acid and darted to the left.
So it's aiming for a pincer attack.
He reacted quickly and instead of backing away, he jumped towards the snake. He was high enough so that the snake would dive right through under him, and basically presented its neck on a silver platter. Which was an opportunity he couldn't let go to waste. With a twisting motion of his body he attempted to decapitate the snake.
His blade wasn't long enough to even reach the middle of the Hollows neck, so he resorted to a little technique he had been developing the past few months. He laced his blade with Reiatsu and left a thick trace of it in the wound. As soon as he laid it, the trace of Reiatsu exploded in a sense and repeated the wound he had just dealt his opponent, basically eating itself into the flesh.
His opponent sled through under him and he landed on the ground. The snake was now howling in pain, twisting and rearing its head around in the air and for one deadly moment it was distracted from the battlefield. Setsuzo used the moment to his advantage and raced towards it. He repeated the attack from before, this time from below. He succeeded and the snake head fell down on the ground with a heavy bump.
He immediately started eating again. Even if he had managed to come out victorious in all his fights, his opponents got more and more dangerous. This wasn't going to be easy.
ooo
Death. Agony. Pain. Hunger and despair. Oh those feelings that were most prominent in the air during a ritual of becoming a Gillian, it was like music to Bainne, a true symphony to behold.
He had changed a lot since the time he had become a Hollow. As a human, he would have despised his current self for enjoying the suffering and misfortune of others, for almost getting off on it.
Ah yes, his former self, idealistic and all, believing in a world where people lived happily together. His firm belief into god led him to think that that lie was real, to give it life and spread it among his peers.
He had believed. Oh yes, he had always been the one to still have faith, even if everyone else had lost it.
He had been the one to not lose his faith once the first shots had been fired outside the shops. He had been the one to not lose faith when he and his fellow believers had been loaded on the trains. He had been the one to not lose faith when the doors of that cursed institution had come into sight.
He had always been the one to search for another way, something without violence.
Something peaceful.
If he, as he was about 70 years ago, could see himself as he was now; he wondered, what would he say to himself? Would he yell? Or cry? Would he be disappointed? Would he despair, knowing what was lying ahead of him? Would he try to convince his future self that he should not continue to travel down this path? That he could still turn around, atone for his sins and find a way to make up for everything he's done?
He could only speculate. He was sure it would be at least one of the above. But dwelling on the past wouldn't help him.
He needed to focus on the now. And the now was very entertaining at the moment. The boy was uncompromising, mercyless and without hesitation. The first four Hollows had fallen pretty quickly, he had even developed a new technique. One that he was currently messing around with thoroughly.
He was creative and caught on to things quickly, Bainne had to give him that. Considering the fact that he had literally just learned how to use his via Reiatsu projected shield, he was using the ability fairly well. He just finished carving up the snake like Hollow and started to feast on it with a ferocity that took Bainne back once again, to the time he had been on the verge of becoming a Gillian.
He too, had been consumed by hatred and anger, for others as well as himself. Damn it, he let himself be distracted too much. He needed to stay in the here and now.
He didn't know if he had to intervene with something going on down there. The boy had actual potential and it would be a real shame to let that go to waste. Well, that was one side of the story, the other one was that he had pretty much no one to replace him. Raiba wouldn't have really fit the position, but he could have filled the part until somebody more suited for it would have shown up.
Léon was… well, Bainne still didn't know what to make of him yet. He did his part, but it kind of felt like he was the only person doing so voluntarily. He didn't exactly fear Bainne, despite their obvious difference in power and he handled the oversight of the lower Hollows building their base of operations. Although he began to think that the old lion was trying to fool him. Their difference in power was definitively there, but it was aritifical. Léon had been able to fool the Boy, but not Bainne himself. He had realized a while back already that Léon was in fact an Adjuchas himself. Which led Bainne to question his motives.
If he so wanted, he could go and provoke a revolution to throw Bainne over. Well, he could try. Léon may not fear him, but as long as the power-gap existed, Bainne wouldn't really have to worry. And even if Léon would use his full power as an Adjuchas, Bainne still Held the Advantage, he knew that much.
Plus, he was really useful and sometimes pretty wise and forethinking too. Bainne couldn't help but think that he was at least 20 to 30 years older than him. Who knows, maybe he was a war veteran of both world wars. That would explain how he was able to organize and instruct all the other Hollows so well. He could have been a drill seargent or something of the like, he always looked like he was having fun yelling around.
And yet, Bainne couldn't help but feel that trusting him was a mistake, so he wouldn't put him on the post of leader of his army. He didn't really trust Setsuzo either, but the boy was at least predictable. That and he was thinking on his feet most of the time, so he should be able to handle himself.
Looking at the current battle, Bainne had to admit that he was almost impressed. Setsuzo was making quick and precise work of every Hollow he came across. He sometimes let his guard down, but he compensated with his quick thinking and actions.
Bainne sat down on the Reishi particles he had concentrated below his feet to stand on and prepared himself for a few hours of entertainment. If this continued the way it had up to this point, then it would take quite a while until he would need to interfere, if that would be necessary at all.
ooo
Hours had passed since Setsuzo had been (literally) thrown into the battle. Things were even more chaotic now than before, blood was shed left and right, getting some time to eat was almost impossible, he always had to keep his guard up to not be ambushed from behind.
Events were happening incredibly fast now and time to think things over was a luxury he had lost many hours ago, at this point he was just reacting.
Guard, guard, sword strike, evade, project a shield, ram the opponent, dispel the shield, stab, stab, stab, slice up the head, take a few quick bites and evade a surprise attack from behind, facing the next adversary.
He had been exchanging enemys like they were nothing, everything happened too fast. It was either act or die. If he allowed himself even one mistake, it was over.
This was the longest he had ever fought up until now by a long shot and it showed. The difference in strength from the beginning to now was getting rather significant. If he as he was now, would have fought himself as he had been before, he would have crushed himself, even without his new shield ability.
Which, again, was just fucking awesome. Ever since it's first use, Setsuzo had been provided with ample opportunities to test its limits. The shield could stay still in one place, which was useful as a platform to stand on in midair when he needed a quick breather. That had been especially helpful during a fight with a mole type Hollow. Setsuzo was also able to freely manipulate its size and even use it as a projectile.
So in summation, he now had something to ram enemys with, to shield himself, to stand on, to throw like projectiles, it was great.
What wasn't so great however, was that the intensity of each battle grew exponentially with time, because while he got stronger so did his opponents. At the beginning of this battle royal he had been dispatching enemys left and right, never having to waste more than a few seconds to win a fight. Now, he spent several minutes to tire out the Hollow he was currently fighting just so he could create an opening.
Minutes in and on themselves weren't really that long, but given the insane pace of the battle they felt like an eternity. The worst part was that sometimes, it wasn't even a one-on-one anymore. This was Hueco Mundo and there were no fucking rules, especially not during an all out brawl between hundreds of Hollows trying to become the one guy to overpower everybody else around.
And since the one-on-one scenario didn't apply in evey fight, Setsuzo was finding himself in an actual battle royal within a battle royal now. Five people, everyone for themselves with the winner being the last man standing.
To top it all off, every single one of them were either stronger, larger or equipped with better limbs than Setsuzo himself. Just great. His swordarm was throbbing with pain from the constant fighting, numerous small slash wounds on his body from previous fights were still giving off a burning sensation and the muscles in his legs felt like they were about snap if he made one wrong movement too many.
And while all of them were currently at a tense face off to see who'd make the first move, all of his opponents were sideeyeing him with vicious intent. No matter what angle he looked at it from, he was hilariously outmatched.
If this situation is gonna be drawn out any longer they're all just gonna come at me at once. Might as well take the initiative first then, he thought to himself.
(Mad Max Fury Road OST: Chapter Doof)
He channeled his Reiryoku into his legs to reinforce them and charged towards the closest enemy, a humanoid looking Hollow thrice his size. He let himself fall on the ground and slashed out the other Hollows tendons as he sled by his feet. Unfortunately for Setsuzo, he couldn't get out of reach fast enough and his opponent managed to grab his shield arm.
The large Hollow fell on his knees no longer able to sustain the weight of his body, but he still kept holding on to Setsuzos arm with an iron grip. An iron grip that was getting stronger every second. Setuszo screamed in agony as his muscles were squashed and even sending his Reiryoku up into it wasn't helping much.
"Motherfucker!", he grunted painfully as he saw his blood running through the fingers of his opponent's limb. In desperation, he switched to attacking and focused all of his energy into his swordarm. He violently shoved it into his opponent's limb repeatedly and managed to finally get free and back away.
The bones weren't broken (yet), but they were definitely fractured and his ripped muscles sent pulsating waves of pain up his arm. He thought he got a moment to catch his breath, only to remember that he had just turned his back to three other Hollows basically waiting for him to do so.
He cussed and turned around only to be greeted by a fist the size of his upper body moments away from making contact. He managed to get his shield arm up in a defensive position, but it was too late for an energy shield. The fist made contact with visceral effect and broke every bone in his arm.
"SHIT!", was all he could yell as he was catapulted backwards through five crystal trees. He rolled around on the ground for a good section before he got back up. Just in time to evade a deadly blow to the face. The enemy passed him with alarming speed and he whirled around to see what he was dealing with.
A ten meter large bull with a humanoid upper body was just circling around to charge at him again. It was probably planning to ram him with full speed this time instead of punching him.
His left arm was completely ruptured and useless now, bones and all. He also no longer felt any pain coming from it anymore, but he was pretty sure that would come back to bite him in the ass with a vengeance later. While he couldn't use his arm to defend anymore, he could still summon shields with it though and this time, the window was long enough. He conjured one up right in front of him and commanded it to stay in place while he backed away from it as fast as he could.
The bull didn't seem to be impressed by the shield and kept running at full speed until he reached the shield… and friggin' charged through the whole thing in one swoop with his head. It robbed him of some momentum, but by far not enough, since the lion kept running his way with a manic fixation on him.
Setsuzo realized that running was not really an option and trying to literally stop his opponent from moving was straight up suicide given what little he had to work with at the moment. The only thing left he could do was attacking. That was, if he could find an opening.
All of that raced through his head in a matter of moments, while the bull was still running at him with full speed, only meters away now. Setsuzo was able to shake the shock off just in time to jump high enough for his attacker to miss. In the same movement, he focused all the power he could bring up into his sword and tried to stab the bulls back, but his attack backfired horribly.
It wasn't just that it had basically no effect, his armblade, which had served him so well in so many battles, straight up shattered. Waves of pain erupted from not just the blade itself but his entire arm.
He landed on his feet and immediately fell to the ground, no longer able to concentrate because of the immense pain. Horryfied, he looked at his arm and was hit with an utterly demoralizing realization: he just lost the only thing that made him a threat. His offensive.
He was momentarily shocked out of his paralysis when he heard someone cackle. "You fucking idiot", the bull mocked him. "You could just as well walk right into my mouth and let me eat you."
"Yeah, your cute little furry ass would like that wouldn't you", Setsuzo shot back enraged. The smile disappeared from the bulls face mask and was replaced with a distorted grimace.
"Going down high and mighty instead of like a little whiny bitch will be the only thing you can take solace in before I bite your head off." Instead of running at him on all fours again, the bull stood up and crouched.
"Lookin' forward to it bessy, come on, I'm right here." His cockiness was a bluff of course. No matter how confident he tried to be, the odds were not in his favor. Especially since he didn't know where the other three Hollows were at.
A question that was quickly answered by glancing past the big ass bull for a second. The one whose tendons he had slashed out was currently lying on the ground while the other two devoured him.
Just awesome, really. He does all the work and suddenly everybody else gets a free-meal pass. He was quickly pulled out of his observation though, as the bull jumped high up into the air. After he had reached the peak of his jumps height, he fell down towards Setsuzo in an alarmingly convenient punching angle, so the latter opted to get the hell out of there.
He managed to get out of range just enough to not be hit and backed away to get some distance between him and his enemy. The bull crashed fist first into the ground and put a small crater into it while whirling up a dustcloud. Just moments later, he came running out of it and headed straight for Setsuzo again. And the latter didn't really have a lot of options left. His means of attack were gone, his defense was useless, he was too slow to outrun his opponent and way too weak to compete in a pure battle of strength. The only thing that he did have going for him was his surprisingly vast reserve of Reiryoku.
And as soon as he realized that, he wasted not even a single second more. He concentrated as much as he could into his right arm. Then he waited with nervous anticipation for his opponent to get into his reach. His breath trembled, the blood in his mouth tasted metallic and he was slowly beginning to feel his left arm again, which was, all things considered, awfully shitty timing.
From the looks of it, it seemed like the bull was just charging at him again. And judging by the speed, he wouldn't really stop even after he would have tackled Setsuzo. The latter guessed that his opponent was probably planning to ram him through several trees and boulders to completely break his body.
However, this time it would be Setsuzo who'd benefit from the bull's speed. He waited until the very last moment and let himself fall down. Luckily, he had timed his fall just right as he was now in perfect position to uppercut his enemy and throw him off balance, which he did.
His punch wasn't nearly as effective as he would have wished. However, it did have an effect none the less. The other Hollow toppled a little and actually lost balance, causing him to fall over and roll into a tree himself. He crashed through it and came to a halt.
Enraged, the bull got himself up and yelled: "You little bastard, YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know"; Setsuzo quickly shot back, only causing his foe to be even more pissed off. The latter crouched and took another jump, but this time directly towards Setsuzo. He prepared himself for a similar maneuver and cursed when he had to fall on one knee as he could no longer support his entire weight.
"Fuck, first my arm, now my leg?" He grunted and quickly charged it with Reiryoku to try and get it moving again. This time it was almost too late for him to jump out of the way, but he still somehow pulled it off. He redistributed all the energy he could muster into his right arm again and aimed for one of the bull's legs this time. He hit it right in the knee as it was flying past him and got the opposing Hollow off balance in mid-air this time. And yet, there was still no significant damage.
The other Hollow fell to the ground, but this time he was prepared and got right back up. He buried one of his arms in the ground and came to a sliding halt.
"Alright, I've had it with you. Prepare to meet your maker, little shithead."
Before Sestuzo could reply something, he was stopped dead in his tracks. A wave of Spiritual pressure hit him ice cold and for a few moments he was paralyzed. His opponent was flexing his own Spiritual pressure and was probably maxing the output at the moment.
And for a very brief period of time, Setsuzo was actually scared. Until he remembered all the other times he had faced an opponent immeasurably stronger than him. Bainne. The dark skinned human with the unexplainable powers and of course… him. The Shinigami.
Fear turned into anger and desperation. The bull like Hollow charged to another jump and sped up full force right towards Setsuzo. Meanwhile, the latter focused every little bit of feasible energy he could conjure up into his right arm. He remembered why he had agreed to get thrown down here in the first place.
Power.
Power to survive, power to avenge, power to kill, it didn't matter to him. All he wanted in this very moment was just… more… POWER.
And then, something awakened within him. He was at his limit. There was no ounce of energy left in him to gather up, but somehow he still kept going and concentrated everything he had more and more until it became too dense to further compress.
The Hollow came flying towards him with sheer immeasurable speed. Setsuzo waited until the very last second to unleash his final attempt at staying alive. The bull was right in front of him. Setsuzo punched him in the face…
And shattered his entire head.
With a sharp splashing sound, the bulls whole upper body fucking exploded and sent bones, blood and ripped apart flesh flying in every direction. It shocked Setsuzo out of his enraged, fevery state and introduced some clarity back into his mind. Surprised and confused, he noticed two very obvious things that made no damn sense.
He was alive and the bull was dead. How was that even possible? He was barely able to stand, his sword broke, his left arm was so useless at the moment it might as well have been non-existent, his body was already beyond it's limit, so what the fuck just happened?
Still utterly baffled, he looked from the one whole half of the body to his right arm and was surprised by what he saw. His arm was engulfed by a pitch-black aura that moved like it was a flickering fire, but did that so slowly it might have been mistaken for looking like flowing water.
"Whaaaaaaat the hell", he whispered to himself. He suddenly lost his focus and the energy he had been holding together simply vanished. "Well that's new", he murmured. He directed his attention towards the still intact half of the lions body and noticed that the Reiryouku inside it slowly separated itself from the flesh and into the air. He stumbled towards the lower bodyhalf and, out of pure instinct, reached for the dispersing Reiryouku with his own. What he needed right now was not just the flesh of his enemys, but also their literal energy. The latter more than the former.
He was able to hold on the energy with his own and drew it towards himself. It felt almost as if he was pulling on a bedsheet. Power was flowing through his body and gave him a fair share of energy back. He then took a quick look around and checked the area to see if he could take a few moments. The area seemed clear, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to make use of a supplementary ability almost all Hollows possessed: high-speed regeneration.
Or in his case, simply regeneration. For some reason, his ability to use this technique had never been as strong as it was for other Hollows. While they could just use it on a whim even if they still needed a few moments to activate it, he needed longer than that. And even then, the process was never as potent.
Slowly and steadily, he could feel the flesh and bones in his arm relax and heal and the pain began to subside second after second. After a while, the pain decreased to an acceptable level. He opened his eyes and slowly moved his arm and fingers to check his newly regained musclemass. So far, so good.
Then he shifted his focus towards his legs and began to heal whatever damage they had suffered. Appearantly, a few muscles had ripped due to overexertion. But just like with his arm, he only healed what was necessary, he couldn't afford to waste energy. Judging by the tension in the air and the remaining combatants, the ritual was about to near its end.
And he had no idea how close that end actually was.
Shortly after he finished healing himself, he suddenly felt a small tug at his body. It wasn't a limb or even an attack for that matter. It felt more like a gravitational force pulling him towards a certain point and it became stronger by the second. But the actually terrifying part followed only seconds later.
His body began to liquefy out of nowhere. It didn't cause him any pain, he didn't even feel any of what happened to him, he merely saw it and that was already enough. But he wasn't the only one. The same thing happened to every single Hollow that was still alive and kicking. They were all pulled towards the center of the gravitation, a black mass that was growing with each Hollow it absorbed.
Then the next thing happened and something began to pull at Setsuzos mind, the same way it was pulling at his body. He tried to fight it, but the feeling was just… overwhelming.
His mind was slowly infected by a serene sense of peace, the sensation that everything would soon be okay, because nothing would matter anymore.
"It's alright…", a voice spoke to him in his head. "Let go… become part of a greater whole."
"But…" He tried to focus his mind mind, but everything was so pleasant, he couldn't gather a single thought.
"But that would mean…" His control was slipping away.
"That would mean I'd… die." He halted and repeated that thought.
I'd die. I don't want to die.
"Don't fight back…" The voice kept speaking to him, getting more aggressive with time, almost trying to force him to submit.
…I don't want to die…, he thought to himself again.
I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't. Want. To. Die…
And then, for the third time in this fight, something deep within him awakened.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" He yelled the words aloud, as if it was a mantra that would give him strength. He focused on the pull on his mind and fought against it. A strange sensation suddenly clouded his mind. Was that… confusion? But it wasn't his own, it was coming from an outside source, it was coming from… the pull.
Out of sheer willpower he pulled back, mentally grabbed the pull and ripped it and everything attached to it towards him. At first, he felt resistance, then he felt anger and lastly after a while of relentless tugging on his part, he felt… fear.
He gave it everything he had, kicked into overdrive and violently tore everything he could mentally grab a hold of towards him and began to sense the presence of several other consciousnesses around him. They were flowing towards him, losing what made them feel different and, for a lack of better term, added to his psychological mass.
After each mind he consumed, he felt more powerful. The stronger he grew, the faster he pulled and soon, he sucked up every remaining consciousness and was left alone.
The last thing he felt was visceral triumph, then everything disappeared and faded into… darkness.
ooo
The 1st divison grounds, the squad grounds of the captain-commander of the Gotei thirteen. And inside one of the buildings that belonged to those grounds was the office hall of the captain-commander.
Which was empty, as per usual.
Instead of spending his time doing boring paperwork, Shunsui Kyouraku preferred taking long and peaceful naps on the roof of his office. Shunsui savored every last second he could get on a beautiful day in the sun. He also savored every last drop of sake he occasionally (always) took with him up on that roof. He had two very capable vice-captains to do the administratory work for him, so he didn't see any gain in interfering with their work.
No, he'd rather spend the day procrastinating in the sun, especially in peaceful times like these. His flower haori was laying on the tiles as a blanket while his straw hat covered his face in shadow.
His peace wouldn't last long on this day though, as a member of the messenger squad appeared next to him via Shunpo.
"Captain-commander, sir", the Shingami reported.
"Yes?", Shunsui answered in a relaxed attitude while not moving a centimeter from his comfortable position.
"Sir, captain Mayuri has given me the order to inform you over new data he recorded in regards to the lower districts in west Rukongai. According to his report, he has detected faint signs of Hollow Reiatsu in the vicinity. Additionally, he says that the village is surrounded by a special kind of field."
Shunsui slightly groaned and removed his hat to sit up. "Inform all the captains. They are to immediately report to me in the councel room. Tell captain Mayuri to send me his findings. Dismissed."
"Sir", the messenger said and disappeared. Shunsui got on his feet and set his eyes onto the horizon. "Ah, what a shame", he sighed in his signature melancholic manner. "And today was going to be such a beautiful sunset."
He smiled in nostalgia. "Four years and there's already a strange incident again. I bet Yama-jii would be pretty upset by now."
Author's notes:
YES! Finally. God, this chapter was a nightmare. I wrote this all the way back in belgium and about 2 months ago or so I re-read it, only to find out that, uhm, I can't write a fightscence if my life depended on it. Honestly, the first draft of the Gillian ritual was so bad, it wasn't even funny anymore, it was just sad. I rewrote large sections of it to be more focused and less dragging and that last third was rewritten from scratch. I think I've been able to upgrade it from seizure inducing to decent, so that's a... win? Anyway, the rewrite and constant back and forth between this chapter and the newest one I'm writing really stunted my progress on this story, so uhm... here's hoping that doesn't happen too often.
Onto the actual chapter though:
Yeah, Setsuzo learns pretty fast in this one, but to be fair, he's in a situation of extreme stress, it's either git gud or get wrecked son. I'm also pretty stoked to develop the dynamic between him and Bainne. I've got some fun stuff up my sleeve for that.
Other than that I don't really have a lot to say. Except for the fact that the whole Gillian thing was never explained in full detail, so I kinda put my spin on things and I hope you liked it.
As always, I welcome reviews and encourage them. Or, you know, PM me if you want to tell me something personally, I welcome that too.