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Chapter 4
=DA=
Part 7
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Above First Division Barracks
Soul Society
There was one simple truth about Zanpakuto abilities that every single Academy student learned during their first year of training; all such abilities were fueled by Reiatsu and used it to produce their effects, no matter if said effect was something crude as a brute force attack, gentle healing or something more creative, like illusions.
It was no different for Aria. Even if among other things she was the best Illusion type there is, the way her illusions worked was based on Spiritual Power, obviously. It was by subtly pushing her own within both the surrounding area and the people she wanted to influence that she crafted her illusions, no matter if they little more than solid looking holograms of physical things people could actually interact with. In that regard, her hypnotic powers had the same drawback as every other single Zanpakuto ability – if someone was aware what was happening, they could more or less counter it with raw overwhelming power. As far as most Shinigami in existence were concerned, attempting to do so would be useless. Aria and her Master were experienced and they had at least two time more Reiatsu to play with than the average Captain. Those facts combined with excellent control meant that there were potentially five people in the whole of Soul Society who could use brute force to make their illusions waver if not break them outright.
The Captain-General was on the top of that list, obviously. The good news was that he hasn't deigned to release his Shikai yet, however the Old Man had his sword out and looked anything but pleased at the recent developments. Usually, in this state, Aria should have been able to keep him under her sway.
There were two problems with that – first, her Master's control was shot to hell and that meant that he was wasting a lot of Reiatsu constantly. Second, by the time the battle was joined, he had already burned through at least half his reserves, leaving the two of them to play with the Spiritual Power equal to the average Captain, and under the present circumstances, that wasn't a good thing.
Ukitake, Shunsui, both of them had the reserves to make Aria's illusions waver, especially if they went all out. Kenpachi was another one who would be a problem, and then there was Retsu Unohana. All told, there were five people who could potentially see through their illusions, which was the primary reason the old Aizen planned to run and wait until he bonded with the Hogyoku.
In a straight one on one, the two of them could defeat every single one of those five people bar Yamamoto, or so they believed. Against two or more of them? They would be hard pressed to get away mostly intact if everyone went all out. Against three or more? It wasn't a question if they would lose, it was a question of how fast and how bad they would lose.
When all was said and done, it was a good thing that all they had to do was survive for a few minutes until the Negation activated. Yamamoto proved that truth when he blasted enough concentrated Reiatsu around to make most Captains envious and for a brief moment, Aria's illusions wavered. She pumped more power into her craft, burning through their reserves at an alarming rate.
It took Aizen one minute to reach their Division Barracks and in that time, Aria and the Espada nearly died ten times facing Yamamoto, Unohana, Son-Foi, Kurotsuchi and an injured Kyoraku. The Zanpakuto was actually thankful to Tosen of all people for taking out Hitsugaya with a sneak attack and taking on Komamura. Further, it was a very good thing that Kenpachi acted like the battle loving fool he was and ran afoul of Cifer, who skewered him with one of his energy spears, stabbing it into an open wound and detonating it. That monster Zaraki somehow survived, however he was out of the battle for now, bleeding and perhaps dying. The last Aria saw of him was when the tiny Lieutenant of the Eleventh Division made brief appearance to retrieve her Captain and both vanished in the general direction of the Fourth Division.
Then Ukitake made an appearance from the ruins of the Meeting Hall and the situation went beyond desperate. They still had about two minutes to survive and their tactics were barely enough to keep them alive outnumbered nearly three to one and now, another monster joined the fray.
Ukitake came soaring in the air holding his dual blades released in their Shikai form, dodged a Cero courtesy of Stark and shouted: "Aizen just made an appearance at Fifth Division."
Yamamoto faltered for a moment and unleashed a truly monstrous amount of Reiatsu. The resulting shock-wave was more than enough to make Aria's illusions waver and blasted everyone from where they stood, sending them flying through the air until they could regain their footing.
"Captains Soi-Fon, Unohana and Ukitake, with me. The rest of you, contain the situation." The Captain-General ordered and vanished, leaving an after-image that slowly dissipated.
Well, this was better. Aria and the Espada were going to survive until the Negation came down. The same couldn't necessary be said for her Master, even though she had faith in him.
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above Fifth Division Barracks
Soul Society
While Retsu was trying to decide on her course of action, I decided to stir up the pot a bit more.
"For the record, I'm admitting that I cut the orders to have Rukia Kuchiki executed." I spoke aloud. "I'm taking responsibility so you don't have to murder one of our more promising comrades for no good reason." I added with a smile. "And do give my regards to Byakua and tell him he's welcome. I removed Urahara's little toy from Rukia's soul so she should recover her Shinigami powers over the next few weeks."
As I said my piece, I watched Ukitake. The conflicting emotions were clear on his face, yet he relaxed a fraction as he heard me. He ever offered me a tiny nod in response.
Retsu on the other hand? She stared at me hard for long seconds before nodding as well and sheathing her Zanpakuto in one smooth motion.
"I'll hear what you have to say for yourself, Sosuke. If I don't like what I hear, I might remove your head tomorrow." Unohana delivered this promise in a sweet voice, which couldn't have contrasted more with the bloodthirsty grin she gave me if she tried.
"Fair enough, Retsu."
=DA=
Part 8
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Above First Division Barracks
Soul Society
The skirmish, because as intense and deadly as this was, it was no proper battle, a fact proved by the simple truth that so far no one had gone all out, with the possible exception of Aizen, was eye-opening. Ulquiorra could honestly admit to himself that he had been underestimating the Captains of Soul Society. The same was likely true about Stark, however the laid back man was saying and revealing nothing, merely hanging back as much as possible and raining Ceros at anyone attempting to approach him.
And to think that initially the diversion went off without a snag, great even. The first clash between Cifer and a Gotei 13 captain went unquestionably in his favour, in no small part due to intelligence recently shared by Aria. He knew that Kenpachi was no different than Grimmjow and that fool Nnoitra – a battle fanatic caring for nothing but fighting. It was the simplest thing to offer him the illusion of gaining his heart's desire, then a burst of speed and power later, Ulquiorra had a Luz de la Luna stabbed in one of the bleeding wounds on the Captain's chest. After that, all Cifer had to do was push back Kenpachi and Sonido back just before the energy spear detonated.
Somehow Kenpachi survived, proving that he was more dangerous that appearance and reputation suggested. There was a huge gaping wound in the right side of his chest, at least one lung was gone, shards of blackened bones could be seen in the seared hole, yet the bleeding madman was still alive when he crashed on the ground.
Either way, without High Speed Regeneration, Kenpachi was out of the fighting and that was what mattered. After that initial clash, Ulquiorra was too busy trying to stay alive to care. Spells flew at him followed by various Zanpakuto attacks, a tiny woman in black clothes, Soi-Fon, did her best to stab him with her Shikai or test his Hierro with her Reiatsu enhanced punches. As if that wasn't enough, there was the Soul Society's answer to the insane Granz – who dressed as clown and was busy throwing spells and clouds of poison everywhere, which was as much help as hindrance for his own side even if he was promising he had enough antidote to spare for everyone.
The worst of the bunch was the ancient Captain-Commander who might be even older than Barraggan. Yamamoto himself was on the field and even if he hadn't bothered to release his own Shikai, the man's very presence and lighting-fast attacks were overwhelming. In a minute of fighting, Ulquiorra nearly died eight times, six of them courtesy to the old man. The only reason he was still alive was because of Aria's illusions buying him just enough time to stay a step in front of the Captain-Commander's blade. It didn't help that Stark's suppressing fire flaked off as a black haired dual wielding Captain went after him – that had to be one of the four most dangerous people in Soul Society, Shunsui Kyoraku.
It was humbling, vexing and infuriating to witness first hand how dangerous the Shinigami could be. Grudgingly, Ulquiorra had to admit that Aria had been right in her warning. They weren't here to wing a battle, only to merely provide a diversion and live to tell the tale. That much they might be able to do, if barely.
They were simply outclassed and even if he went for his second Resurrection, Ulquiorra knew that at best he might be neutralize one or two of the Captains facing them, if he was lucky. At that point, there rest were liable to go Bankai and that would erase any advantage his second release could offer.
Cifer knew what he had to do. He had to get better, even more dangerous, yet as he saw the Captains work together with such a practice ease only disturbed by their own mad scientist, Ulquiorra knew that it might still not be enough. In order to win the war that just began, the Espada would need to work together, as a team, and that was going to be a problem.
To put it bluntly, most of them simply loathed each other and would gleefully not only see many of their peers perish, they would cut them down themselves. Hopefully Aizen would be able to change that fact, otherwise they were… fucked.
Well, even more than they already were, because at that moment, the other dual wielding Captain arrived and the situation went straight to hell… or not. Words were exchanged and most of the Captains ran off to intercept Aizen. Ulquiorra made to follow when he caught an image of Aria shaking her head. They had to wait for less than two minutes now until the Negation struck. Aizen should be able to handle himself for that long.
Right?
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above Fifth Division Barracks
Soul Society
Jushiro was exalted, happy yet at the same time downright frustrated and angry. What happened tonight, what was still happening, would haunt him for years to come, he just knew it.
First Aizen got him healed, and he would owe Sosuke for that until his dying breath no matter what else happened. Then there was the rigged up trial his mentor presided over. It was frustrating to see Aizen put in such a position after everything they saw him do tonight. Why Yamamoto let things proceed this far at the words of a convicted Exile, Ukitake didn't know, however he was going to demand answers as soon as the dust settled.
As if that wasn't bad enough, what Aizen stated outright and worse, the implications of his confession, those were staggering. Jushiro never had a high opinion of Central 46, he knew for a fact that they weren't always right, that they made mistakes and the politics behind their decisions could be downright ugly. That hasn't been more true as far as he was concerned since the moment the government sentenced Rukia to die. It was a senseless decision to make, one he did his best to lawfully oppose… and when that proved to be useless, he and Shunsui were preparing to take action during the execution.
They were about to commit treason today at noon. That more than anything else, put Aizen's actions in a different perspective. What Sosuke did wasn't much different than what Ukitake and his best friend intended to do themselves in just a few short hours; and to top it all, there was what Aizen just told them from the safety of the Negation.
At this moment, Jushiro was sure Sosuke hadn't ordered Rukia's dead, he was pretty sure the man wasn't behind the murder of Central 46 even though apparently Aizen had more reasons to kill the bastards than most. What the man did, taking the blame to protect Rukia, that wasn't something Ukitake was going to ever forget. In the same vein, he wasn't going to forget Urahara's own confession and the moment the Exile was stable enough to hold conversation, they were going to have words.
The only silver lining of tonight's catastrophe was that Rukia should be all right, both safe from execution and free from whatever the Hogyoku was.
The less said about Retsu's newfound interest in Aizen and the fact that at least for the time being she was going with him and wiling to hear him explain himself in full the better. Thinking about what Unohana might be doing with, or to Aizen didn't bear thinking about, that way laid madness.