The fight against Hunter was hardly going any better. While Kamai's power had them in its grip, they took some nasty hits from the nameless familiar, a poison running through them that they had a feeling even Tenjiro couldn't cure immediately had he been alive with them. So far the creature had proved to have a way to counter all of their skills. Ichibe had tried to give it a name so that he could shift it into something else, make it weaker, but no name would stick. Hunter seemed to have no concept of such things and any name it was given was ignored for the single-minded existence to obey and destroy.
"I have always been impressed with the skills the Dark Master possessed, but this creature is on another level." Ichibe stated with a frown. "It is no wonder he hid for so long if this monster was his wild card against us."
The other three Royal Guards nodded their agreement. Oetsu was as equally annoyed as Ichibe, his overly sharp zanpaktou not much help here either with the creature's ability to split itself apart into shadow and avoid contact entirely.
"There must be a weakness we can exploit with it." Senjumaru scowled deeply as she tried to think of a way.
"Perhaps we can assist?" They turned to see Kyoraku and Nanao approach, one with confidence and the other a bit more nervously.
Oetsu took one look at the sword in Nanao's hands and grinned. Where his blade failed this heirloom sword would succeed. Not even shadows could run from those mirrors. This was their secret to success, not necessarily the blade itself but enlisting the help of others that Hunter wasn't designed to fight against. Toshiro's insistence on having his allies in Japan aid them was their saving grace against the enemy that had been purposefully working to spite the powers of the Royal Guards for decades while ignoring everyone else.
"We'll guard your rear; we could use a moment to deal with the beast's poisons." Ichibe replied for them after seeing his fellow guardian's confident grin. Senjumaru looked less than pleased to let lesser Reapers take over their fight but conceded, Kirio letting out a relieved sigh.
At firs Hunter seemed to ignore Kyoraku and Nanao entirely, his targets behind them and far more important. When he tried to move in shadow to reach them, however, he found Kyoraku in his path, the man's Shikai in hand. With his Shadow Demon technique, Kyoraku was able to cut off any routes through the shadows Hunter tried to take by standing in them himself. Hissing in annoyance, Hunter finally decided to take down the pink-robed Captain first before moving on to his targets.
"Interesting techniques for sure." The Royal Guards turned behind them at the voice, noticing two of the newer dragons observing the fight. The one that had spoken was an Illusion-Time dragon by the name of Ӕstival, a combination of two rare elements and unexpected to show up in a fight. The shimmery gray of illusion types colored his scales, spots of silvery-blue going down his sides and covering his lower legs. Stripes of a coppery orange marked the crown of horns on his head, the tops of his legs and across his large leathery wings, eyes of mystical amber observing carefully. The tail tucked around his side had a coppery orange fin at its end.
The female next to him looked more concerned and was tensed to pounce if necessary, a silver-blue Lunar dragon with dark gray fading to lighter gray on her back and splotches of silver-white across her body. The lunar purple common for the element colored the fur running down her spine, legs and the end of her tail, small ears tucked back behind her silver horns and violet eyes full of worry. Her feathered wings, fading from blue to purple to gray, shuffled occasionally as if ready to fly at any moment. Lunova still wasn't sure about the whole partner thing, but if it was real then she didn't particularly want the one she picked dying so suddenly. The male next to her just looked like he was observing a somewhat violent game of chess, not worried in the slightest.
For now, though, Nanao also seemed to just be observing as Kyoraku taunted the dark familiar into a fight. There was some kind of strategy waiting to be set off, and it depended on getting Hunter mad enough to use an attack at full strength. The creature did its best to strike at Kyoraku with his tail, the poison no doubt painful if it had the Royal Guards hesitant to approach, but the Captain was light on his feet and could also step into the shadows with his Shikai ability, a fact that riled Hunter up very quickly.
Finally, the familiar let out a frustrated roar, the bioluminescent parts of him flaring an angry red. In his roar, a sickly green saliva gathered in his mouth like a dragon about to breathe fire. Nanao quickly moved into position behind her Captain, holding the mirrored blade up at the ready. There was a high risk in doing this since Hunter was a familiar of darkness with little light to reflect, but his poisonous breath had enough of a glow it just might work. She would still be at risk of getting poisoned, but it was their best shot.
The neon green shot from Hunter's mouth like a beam, some immediately evaporating to gas but otherwise rocketing straight for Kyoraku's figure. With a flip of his pink robe Kyoraku was now the one standing in back as Nanao stepped forward and swung her blade.
A bright flash of green light. The poison effect might not do any damage whatsoever to the familiar that produced it, but it was the damage from the attack itself that would be the most harm. Only the light of the sinister green reflected back from the mirrors in Nanao's zanpaktou, but it was enough to catch Hunter off guard and keep him from vanishing into shadow. Darkness could not escape the overwhelming presence of light. He let out a screech of pain as his shadow body began to fall apart from the reflected attack.
But Nanao was not unscathed either, Kyoraku wasting no time in picking her up carefully and bolting straight back to the barrier where Unohana and her patients were being protected, her arms letting off a light steam of green as the small bit of acid that got through burned her skin. This battle may likely be the first and last time she lifted a blade.
The Royal Guards waited and watched as Hunter's shadow form was slowly consumed by the light, the creature thrashing and snarling to try and get it off to no avail. They would not let down their guard until every part of the familiar had disintegrated. Kirio and Oetsu did look elsewhere to check on the other battles, small frowns on their faces at how many were hidden behind Hachi's barriers already. They were reducing the strength of Kamai's forces, but everyone was quickly weakening and Kamai himself had not yet unleashed his true potential. Senjumaru glanced at the fight between Ichigo's Hollow self and the Dark Master and wondered if the Vasto Lorde would be enough when Kamai let loose his own inner demon.
With one last, weak snap of his jaws, Hunter became nothing more than dust, no longer a threat.
"I shall assist Lady Karin." Senjumaru stated, having noticed Karin near the fighting demons still in Bankai but uncertain about approaching. She must have seen the abomination in Kamai's eyes as his power leaked through them and would likely need a moment away from the fight to collect herself.
As the Royal Guards dispersed to help out different groups, the battle with Korla had become quite heated. Due to Miyuki's heavy injuries and broken ribs she was a liability on the field, so Yoruichi, Soi Fon and their dragons helped get the princess back to the healers while Kadin, Byakuya and their partners stood down the archer. Byakuya had immediately gone into Bankai and the flurry of tiny pink blades was quickly becoming Korla's worst nightmare. It was worse than trying to fight in a blizzard, as at least then she could redirect her shots through the weather easily enough and the frost would be no problem.
But this was a deadly storm that moved with no direction from nature but rather her enemy. Her shots were torn apart in a flurry of pink and they bit at her skin, forcing her to constantly shift her arms around to avoid too much damage. Kadin noticed she was not quite so freeform about her shifting now, preferring to shift a small part at a time, wary of doing so when the blades came in close.
'If Captain Kuchiki can keep her on guard like that then I can get in close to stop her shifting.' Kadin planned out which weapons to use to catch the archer off guard.
'Then we just smash that shiny rock she calls a heart.' Shadow replied, allowed to easily slip through the pink blades and pounce forward at Korla.
One of her arms held up an arrow shifted into a blade to fend off his claws only to have it removed by the dragon's jaws. Losing an arm was about as painful as a lizard losing their tail, another quickly forming from shadows to take its place. An arrow was aimed at his face and the bow fully pulled back, Shadow ducking out quickly so Senbonzakura could form a shield. The arrow was shredded and the dragon got away unharmed.
Korla aimed two of her three bows at each of the Captains and took a shot. The flurry of blades easily defended Byakuya and Kadin deflected the one aimed at him with the flat of a broadsword. The shadow-wielder began pressing in closer, keeping the broadsword as a defense as he approached. Korla started to step away to keep enough distance for her long range attacks only to find her path blocked by sharp pink petals. A scowl crossed her face as she focused on Kadin. One good thing about the Captain's approach is that Byakuya had to pull back the swarm to avoid harming his comrade. Perhaps having the two of them trapped in this bladed blizzard would work in her favor. Swordplay wasn't her best but she knew enough to fend off close combat like this and try to get in a point blank shot.
"You will not win this war, Lord Kamai has made sure that was so." She hissed at him.
"Well it's just you, your master and his pet now so I think we've got a pretty good chance." Kadin shot back calmly, his blade swapping to a katana that he held at the ready.
"You may have defeated Kazara the Storm Dragon but your army grows even thinner than ours, and I have ensured that such a loss will be permanent."
Kadin frowned at her words, worried for those Korla incapacitated and were still healing with Unohana. He wouldn't be surprised if her shadow arrows had some kind of demon poison, so he could only hope that their healers could figure it out and neutralize it.
"Even with your dragons, you cannot stop us." Confidence rising within her, Korla charged the distracted Captain with temporary blades shifted over her arrows. Their blades clashed for a few turns before they crossed and pushed up against each other, daring the other to back down.
"We will certainly be doing our best." He responded, voice strained as he tried to keep her blade from his throat.
Their conversation paused as pink descended upon them, trying to take advantage of their stillness to strike the archer, only to have the arms torn apart replaced with new shadows. They would have to hit her hard to reach the heart and she was agile enough to avoid a full body strike.
"Even if you kill me, as long as my master takes the crown this world will become his to remold, and all of your effort will be for nothing."
"Then I guess he's not getting my cousin's crown."
Kadin stepped carefully back into the storm of blades as his blade shifted into something better suited for grappling; a bladed whip. Korla easily reverted back to her archery and aimed at both him and Byakuya once more, falling back into their previous pattern. However, the swarm only condensed in front of its wielder as a shield, leaving Kadin open to attack. Korla quickly realized why as Kadin lashed the whip forward, the blades along its shadowy tendril wrapping around the arms on her left side, capturing two of her bow hands and one of her drawing arms, leaving her to shoot awkwardly from her right side to try and counter his attack. He already had one of her arrows in his leg since he couldn't risk losing time with dodging, so he was vulnerable, but shooting from one side was not easy even for her.
"Drowning Shadow Moon!" Korla felt her energy suddenly turning against her as she tried to shift her trapped arms back into nothing to escape his trap. Everything suddenly cost so much more energy to do, making her head spin since there was already such a huge drain on her by continuing the army of wraiths. "Since you kept changing your arms like lizard tails I couldn't get this to work before, but now I've finally got you."
"Tricky little brat." Korla hissed angrily, dropping her third bow to grab the bladed whip and yank it as hard as she could. With one injured leg, Kadin stumbled forward a bit. "I am the shadow master! I'M the one who actually learned from Lord Kamai rather than running away! You can't beat my shadows!"
"I don't have to." Kadin managed a shaky smirk of triumph, keeping a firm hold on his zanpaktou to avoid getting pulled any closer to her. "I just needed yours to stop working."
There was a bright flash of sickly green that briefly caught their attention. They couldn't see past the swarm, but they could feel what went missing immediately.
"You're the last fighter, then it's just your boss." Kadin goaded the archer. Rage quickly lit up her face and she looked ready to pull on the whip as hard as she could and deck him until she killed him. He thought he could win by making her shadows too exhausting to use? She would just beat him by force!
There was an increased sound of rustling and she froze, turning upwards to see the heavily condensed cloud of pink blades. Kadin was trapping her so that Byakuya could get her all at once without hitting Kadin.
Exhaustion be damned she knew she had to survive this hit. Her wraiths across the battlefield suddenly looked disoriented as she stopped feeding them her power, focused purely on shifting herself despite the drain of Kadin's zanpaktou. The whip fell to the ground as she shifted her arms first, eliminating the drain on her body as the wounds vanished. Now she could shift much quicker, nothing more than a cloud of black shadow hissing through the air as she avoided the bombardment of blades that tore through solid ground like butter, leaving a vicious crater. Byakuya clicked his tongue in annoyance at her escape.
"I see it! The heart!" Kadin called out, cursing the pain in his leg that kept him from giving chase to the golden gem hidden at the center of the cloud. Shadow hurried to his side only for Kadin to push him away. "Just destroy the heart first, I'm fine!"
Shadow didn't seem too willing to obey, especially since Hasyl was already on the chase, using the wind to try and herd the shadows back into the swarm of blades trying vainly to smash the crystal. Neither method was working, the shadow's movements too quick.
"If it's speed you want!"
Pink cleared away as another flashed through it right towards the shadows, a fist glowing with Spirit Energy aiming right for the golden heart. The shadows hardened into an urchin like shape, slicing through Yoruichi's arm before retreating differently in a different direction. The wounds did not deter Yoruichi, however, as she cut off every direction the shadow tried to take. The Flash Master attempted a kick next, stopping just before new spines stabbed her again, but there was a smile on her face.
When Korla attempted to flee again, a different figure in black cut her off. Before she could shift into her spine again, a pair of jaws whisked right through the ghost-like shadows and snatched the gem right up.
There was a twisted scream of rage as Korla attempted to follow her heart up into the dragon's mouth and reform around it. She had to survive at all costs, she was the only one left to stand at her master's side.
A sharp crack echoed through the air as golden shards scattered to the floor.
The air filled with an unholy screeching as the shadows seized violently, scattering with the pieces and splitting the voices into a painful echo of screeching agony. In a rather anti-climactic manner, the shadows simply faded into the wind, taking the voices with it until there was only silence left.
The Lightning dragon Nereus, who had accompanied Yoruichi, spat out the pieces in her mouth with disdain.
"And people believe we LIKE gemstones." The dragon scoffed.
The attempt at humor was met with more silence, the fighters simply glad for it to be over, and the dragon let her tail droop a bit in disappointment. Her new partner gave her a supportive pat on the shoulder before approaching Kadin.
"Come on, kid, let's get you to Unohana before we lose any more of us." Yoruichi stated, offering a hand. Behind them, Byakuya turned his attention to the wraiths now wandering aimlessly on the battlefield as easy targets. His Bankai added to Yamamoto's flames would make quick work of them, so he set himself to the task immediately.
"So we have already lost some…" Kadin sighed, accepting her hand as well as Shadow's support to lean on.
"Unfortunately." Yoruichi's expression was somber, showing just how serious she was. "But there's only one left."
"And how many of us have the strength left to fight him?"
The shape-shifter didn't answer.