Welcome back everybody to another chapter of BotS! Today we finish the fight with Mayuri and we get to see more of the dynamic between Uryu and Keigo. Please see the poll on my Profile on which Captains I should kill off first and always feel free to send me corrections and if you want to play a future role in this story through an OC then you can send me the information in PM's. Thank you all for sticking with this for so long and I will gladly present to you our feature presentation!
His blade transformed into a three-pronged blade with the caricature of a baby at the base. It was unsettling to say the least. Uryu studied the shinigami's Shikai with an odd fascination. This man could have anything up his sleeve and they couldn't afford to pull their punches now that he had released the first stage of his zanpakuto.
"You think you can out speed him? Get a few good hits while I support?" It hurt to say it but he was a support in this fight, the Captain could catch him and he was a better ranged fighter either way. Keigo nodded without having to look over at Uryu.
"Let's show this shinigami why they shouldn't take us lightly." The teen grinned as he moved around the Captain before freezing. Mayuri grinned madly.
"It appears the drug kicked in. Took it long enough, I figured your human body would metabolize it faster. Shame." Keigo's eyes widened as Nemu appeared behind him and pulled him to the sidelines in a lock. Uryu was seething.
"What did you do to him?!" Mayuri slayed his hands out widely.
"It was a gas, I made it in case I ever needed to take out the assassin. Being most speedsters are hand to hand combatants I have modified my pores to release a gas, a paralysis poison that, when inhaled, will stiffen the body to the point that movement is impossible if not for the faint heartbeat of the victim. Once I saw his speed I immediately activated the process for releasing the gas and you two did the rest. I have to say, without it you two might have actually provided a challenge. Now leave us Quincy before I kill you. I have what I wanted." Mayuri turned but before he could get far an arrow blasted off his right hand. Pieces of flesh hung off the stump.
The scientist turned to face the source of his newfound ire. Pulling out a needle he stabbed his shoulder and a new arm sprouted from the stump to replace the missing limb. Flexing the fresh limb he brought his hand up and grinned madly.
"Now you have my attention Quincy. I had finished my studies of your kind but I guess there are a few things I could find to test on your corpse. I might even be kind enough to bring you back once or twice." His sickeningly sweet tone and the nauseating pink reiatsu that seemed to come off the Captain in waves.
Uryu and Mayuri started a forced dance of death. The Shinigami had pulled out a scythe from somewhere in his ear and was throwing it at the Quincy while using Shunpo as he fired dozens of arrows and zipped about with his own high speed technique. As the game continued Uryu proceeded to get increasingly frustrated with the Captain. The Quincy sneered at the hybrid nature of the weapon his opponent was using. How it pulsated in the Captain's hand, still connected to his ear.
"Can you even call yourself a Shinigami anymore?" Mayuri just widened his grin impossibly far and tilted his head.
"Why of course I am, a few modifications will never truly change the core of a spirit. One can only Improve on what was already there!" He cackled arms wide.
"You disgust me." A low chuckle with insanity brimming behind the Captain's eyes as the level of killing intent rose in the air.
"Boy, get in line!" Mayuri swung his blade with enough speed and surprise to cut the Quincy's leg. Uryu immediately tripped over himself as he lost functionality of the leg. What was this? He needed to move! Another slash across the chest and Uryu grit his teeth. Using a last resort technique he managed to rise to his feet. Even through the pain of exerting himself he rose to stand tall before the Shinigami.
"On my pride as a Quincy, I will not let you live another day!" Mayuri could discern little stings of reshi connecting his body and forming webs around the areas he had previously cut.
"On my pride as a Quincy, you will not kill another of my friends!" Keigo was touched even if he couldn't move. Glasses actually thought of him as a friend. Uryu stepped forward and removed a pin from his glove.
"On my pride as a Quincy, you will pay for the loss of my ONLY RIVAL!" Uryu fully removed the glove. An explosion of pure reiatsu burst into the air and settled all of the surrounding area in a pale blue light. A wing of reshi sprouted from his back and a thin silver bow formed in his hand. He attacked the Shinigami before he even realized what was happening. Hitting hard and fast Mayuri was hard pressed to keep up and eventually, bloody and battered as he gripped a wall to stay standing, raised his blade up and cackled into the open air. The area was still as he uttered a word that Uryu would come to know as the ultimate technique of a Shinigami and just how devastating they could be.
"Bankai!" A large caterpillar-baby monstrosity appeared behind Mayuri. It bellowed out a roar and a purple miasma seeped from it's mouth and covered the area in its embrace. Nemu took Keigo and jumped, wanting to save the specimen. Uryu could already feel the effects of the poison on his body the second it made contact.
"You Quincy seem to have a lot of pride, the last one I worked on, he was very loud about how his grandson would come find him and bring him back and blah blah blah. It gets annoying after the 2000th time. It felt good to shut the old man up." Mayuri tapped a finger at his chin before it came to him. "Ah, it was Souken Ishida, that was the name. Daft old man."
Suddenly the killing intent was strong, clear, and directed solely on Mayuri who took it in stride.
"Hit me with your best shot boy. I doubt, even with that boost, you could stand a chance against my Bankai." His grin never left his face as he sent the Bankai after Ishida.
This was it, this was the man that had killed his grandfather. To hear that his grandfather believed he could save him was comforting but it did little to calm to roar in his heart. It was an unyielding storm of torment and pain that could put most Hollows to shame. He needed to prove he was stronger than some Shinigami and that he could stack to, not only Ichigo but Tatsuki now too as she was growing in power almost as quickly. He would return the pain he felt to the cause of all his pain. He would kill this Shinigami. Uryu screamed as he let loose the largest arrow he had ever fired and collapsed onto his knees. That final attack had let everything out of him. Looking up he saw the body of Mayuri, slowly dissolving into a puddle. His Bankai had a sizable chunk missing, likely obliterated from the blast. As both finished dissolving the puddle slipped away back to wherever Mayuri went to lick his wounds.
"This isn't over boy, I will get you." Parting words from a dying man. Uryu scoffed as he was approached by Nemu while Keigo walked beside her. The Quincy pushed his armored body to a wall and propped himself against it.
"I see you can move now." Keigo could barely contain himself.
"Who cares! You were so awesome! You talked to him like and then you shot the arrow at him and you exploded and and!" Uryu smiled lightly at the teens' antics. It was a bit refreshing after the fight. He held a hand up and clenched his hands before Keigo sobered up way too quickly. A somber expression crossed his face.
"Why can I feel your reiatsu dropping? What's wrong?" Uryu hadn't wanted to be asked that just yet. He tried and failed to look Keigo in his eyes so Keigo crouched down and looked at him through his bangs.
"That technique was a final resort. It was meant to bring about a great increase in strength and allow me to draw in a massive amount of reshi."
"But every great power has a catch." Keigo was too smart for his own good. He may not be book smart but he was life smart and it was hard to keep this in mind with how he acted constantly. Uryu continued.
"The drawback was it cost me my Quincy powers. Forever." Keigo couldn't help himself and hugged the Quincy. He cried and Uryu didn't know how to react. He couldn't understand what drove the teen but he hesitantly held him while he sobbed.
"Now don't be such a weakling. Stop crying, at least wait till we get back to the safe spot." Teary eyed Keigo pulled away. Small red bags below his eyes as he wiped a stray tear away.
"You could have run, you could have gotten away but you stayed. You fought and lost your powers for me." Uryu scoffed as he tried to hide the want to help his friends. Damn Kurosaki for making him give a shit about these people.
"Don't think so highly of yourself Asano-san. I only fought him on principle. I never turn a fight against Shinigami down." Keigo started to anime cry at the harsh words and Uryu couldn't help himself and started to chuckle lowly. Hoping that Keigo wouldn't notice.
"It's time to leave. Nemu said she has a cure for the poison." Nemu nodded and provided a small bottle to a cautious Uryu. Taking the medicine she walked away without so much as a word.
'Strange.' They both thought. Keigo helped Uryu to his feet before abruptly lifting him into his arms bridal style and speeding off, much to the others' complaint. Nemu appeared from behind the corner of a nearby building. Her thoughts on the strange boy and Quincy and the thought of sacrificing yourself for another out of respect.