A Predator Among Us
"I've had enough of this shit!" Nnoitra snarled out, planting his jester styled boot on Ichigo's back. Pulling back the Shinigami's sword arm, the Espada began to bend his wrist and twist the forearm. The sound of muscular straining and bones on the verge of snapping entirely were heard. All of the painful sounds would be drowned out by Ichigo's cries of agony, earning more than a handful of sneering chuckles from the Arrancar. "go on! Squeal! I want to hear you scream as I break this precious arm of yours!"
"Itsygo," Nel began to call out, her frail form inert and unable to reach her beloved friend in his time of need. Watching him being brutalized by such a savage entity caused her eyes to water with sadness. Something about this situation, this desperate sadness, tugged something within her heart and mind.
Her head began to throb.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ichigo howled out loud as he felt further strain placed upon his arm. He knew it would be a matter of seconds before his dominant hand would be cracked and the rest of his limb twisted out of its original shape. Pain flooded his body, rekindling the dulled nerves that had been projecting the stress of his fight with Grimmjow. With little to no spare Reiryoku, his Bankai was useless and his Hollow powers unable to be called upon.
"Itsygo!" Nel cried out louder, her petite hands grasping the loose grains of sand, tears overflowing from her eyes down her cheeks. The pain of distant memories slowly burning into the surface of her mind's eye. It's as if the most painful part of her life reawakened her past as she saw Ichigo endure the most tormenting last moments of this hour.
Her whole body shook.
"Drop the sword already, you bitch!" Nnoitra laughed, further twisting the Shinigami's wrist, feeling it almost give way to the pressure he placed on it.
"Stop it, please!" Ichigo begged pitifully at the top of his lungs.
"ITSYGOOOOOOOOOO!" Nel shouted at the top of her lungs, as her whole body shook with an uncontrollable fluctuation. As if the current Nel and the past one seemed to collide into each other, merge their last moments of outright suffering, and coalesce them together. That shaking would turn into a quaking pressure as her body glowed a bright pink.
Then, it all released at once. A pink gaseous explosion of Reishi discharged out in a wide radius, shaking the ground and filling the air with an immense Reiatsu.
"What?!" Nnoitra halted his torture of Ichigo immediately of what he heard and saw. The cloud of Reishi swirled and billowed around a feminine silhouette, only retaining a familiar shape to both viewers.
"N-Nel?" Ichigo gasped aloud, seeing the figure steadily walk forward.
Even the pair, Nnoitra's Fraccion Tesra Lindocruz whom was restraining Orihime Inoue, looked aghast. While the latter was just as shocked as Ichigo, the prior's memories of her resurfaced in moments. The elegant and powerful Espada had been reborn!
What would be revealed was similar yet entirely different from the child Ichigo had been lugging around. She was a lot taller, the same height as her protector, and possessed a voluptuously curved body. Stray pieces of her ragged cloak now stretched over her waist to cover her upper thighs while her expansive bosom was barely kept decent by her newfound emerald cloth top. Double crescent moon guarded sheathed katana in her right hand, and a newfound stoic expression crossing her face.
The sight of her since her emergence put Nnoitra on guard. Releasing Ichigo, he turned his back on his captive while holding onto his own Zanpakutō. Narrowing his eye, he said with an appraising manner, "You may look a little different, but that really is you, Nelliel-"
His speech would be interrupted by the bodily disappearance of the awakened Arrancar. His eye widened as he felt her presence drop just behind him, causing him to turn his head over his shoulder to see her momentarily grasp a hold of Ichigo. Before he could even raise his weapon to attack, she disappeared again, only to be heard and felt a good dozen meters away.
"You...bitch!" Nnoitra swore aloud with venom, loathing that he lost his catch so easily to her.
As Nelliel held Ichigo's ground prone form, she stared stoically at her former comrade with a protective gait. She could feel Ichigo's ragged breath grow steadier and calmer, putting relief into her heart. It was only when she heard his turn of the head to incline up at her face, that she bothered to look down.
"N-Nel!" Ichigo exclaimed shakily, still recovering from the pain he was experiencing at the hands of his enemy. "is that...really you?"
"Yes," Nelliel responded in a soft, tender voice, "I am. I also want to thank you for protecting me."
"Thank me?!" Ichigo blinked with surprise.
"Yes," The emerald haired Arrancar nodded, "since you protected me since travelling farther into Las Noches, I was able to gather more Reishi to speed up my recovery in my child form. While the blow to my head made me forget who I was, seeing you in pain made me remember and allowed me to release the seal of this technique: Regresión."
Standing up, she released her hold on Ichigo to keep a firm grip on her sheathed sword, "You've been protecting me all this time, ever since we met. Now, I'm going to be the one doing the protecting."
"Wait! Hold on a sec!" Ichigo quickly retorted, flipping himself from his back onto his chest, staring up at Nelliel's turned green tressed head as she turned her back to him. "don't tell me you intend to fight that guy?!"
"Don't worry, Ichigo," Nel briefly turned her gaze to glance at him from over her shoulder. Returning her gaze forward at the distantly sneering Nnoitra, a gust of wind would flow across the sandy dunes and plains they stood upon. Her hair flourished up her back along with her ragged top, revealing a single black tattooed number that poetically solidified her next chosen words, "This will all be over in just a minute."
3
"She's...a rank higher than...Ulquiorra?!" Ichigo gasped aloud at his startling train of thoughts, crashing around enough to cause his eyes to spin.
Just as Ichigo dwelled on these thoughts, dust kicked up into his face, causing his eyes to widen. Her sprint could be compared to a green hued wraith, seeming to pass through the air rather than push it. Scabbard in her left hand, the weapon would be raised up to be horizontally aligned with her bosom, palming the hilt with her right.
Nnoitra, better seeing her due to her bee line direction, raised his double-crescent scythe above his head.
Before he could even swing his scythe down at the rapidly approaching Nel, a sensation of red-hot pain would spread across his chest down to his abdomen. Widening his eye, he'd look down incredulously as a copious amount of blood was shed from his skin. Nel's person seemed to dance with sword in hand, having pierced his skin effortlessly with a quickdraw of her Zanpakutō.
"Why you-!" Nnoitra shouted aloud, finally swinging his weapon down, aiming to catch her in her landing onto the sandy ground before him.
A quick repulsion in the cleft of his double-moon scythe was made, synchronized in a acrobatic twirling leap on Nelliel's part. She made a complete one hundred and eighty degree revolution within the air, her emerald hairs whipping around in a mesmerizing manner that caught Nnoitra by surprise. Was she always this graceful in battle, he would wonder.
Then, face would feel the brunt force of a horizontally aligned, bodily spun snap kick. Enough power was placed to displace the air currents, popping it in a spherical expansive explosion of the wind. Even as the ground indented and sandy grains rose up, Nel would land with a smile on her face, long before Nnoitra's pathetic screams spiraled along with his flailing body. The crash he made into a distant bould was significant enough to cause a sizable shockwave that shook the battlefield, proclaiming in a single impact that followed a stroke of her sword just how powerful she was.
"Is this really...Nelliel's true power?!" Ichigo exclaimed with an exasperated visage, propping himself into an upright position.
Out of the smoke, Nnoitra rose from the strewn debris. His eye was widened to a livid degree, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth. A visible purple bruise from where Nelliel had struck was seen, further displaying the power she projected into that kick. As if to nail the final blow into the coffin of Nnoitra's humility, he rolled around a single loose object from his mouth and spat it out.
He'd lost a tooth from that kick, explaining the blood leaking from his mouth.
"YOU," Nnoitra yelled out angrily, his tongue pushing out of his mouth, displaying his Espada ranking of 5 while exclaiming loudly, "BLTCH!"
Swiftly, a vast amount of condensed yellow hued Reishi gathered around the tip of his tongue. While he growled with rabid concentration, his pupil contracting to a bead in size. With a backward wave of his arms, Nnoitra shrieked out, releasing a damningly loud Cero expand in a wide gait.
"LOOK OUT, NEL!" Ichigo shouted with alarm, remembering the sight and sensation of pain a Cero placed upon himself. Seeing the mouth of the searing light head towards her, and incidentally himself, struck a chord of fear within his heart.
However, all doubts vanished when Nel's hand lazily stretched forward, catching the Cero. The solar-hued light bent at an arc, roaring around and about Nel's position. The sandy grains held true due to her placement and control, a display of her dominance over Nnoitra's attack.
"The Hell?!" Nnoitra exclaimed with bafflement.
As Nelliel held the Cero, she inhaled deeply, expansively opening her mouth. Within moments, the amassed Cero that was held at bay began to spiral into her ravenous maw. An audible sucking sound similar to a vacuum was heard as the light vanished and the last flickers of Reishi ebbed over her closing mouth.
"Wait a minute-!" Nnoitra shouted with realization, "that's-!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nelliel screamed out, releasing a torrential fissure of pink bordered white light. Her own signature technique, the Cero Doble, flowed forth like a geyser of searing light. Carving a trench of sand as it passed over, it would quickly travel back to the source of the original Cero's launch, aiming to ram straight into the Espada.
Nnoitra barely had time to turn his left side around to have his right weapon wielding side to face the blaze the Cero created. His widened further as he felt the sheer force that was placed upon his skin and Zanpakutō. It brought back so many distasteful memories, something he thought that he'd never revisit.
Then, it exploded.
A dramatic upheaval of orange-golden flames would spurt upwards, like a pillar of molten slag. Curtains of sand billowed around the source of the explosion, parting and waving backwards in the wake of the attack. When the smoke would finally die down, the silhouette of a standing figure would be seen.
Nnoitra's entire right arm bled and displayed burns of the second degree. Steam etched across his weapon, showing that it took some of the brunt of the blast for him. Part of the spoon collar-hood was blasted away, as a result showing part of his opposing cheek being slightly charred by the attack. A vicious and unforgiving sneer worked its way across his face, glaring at Nelliel with the utmost loathing.
"That hurt, you bitch!" Nnoitra yelled out, waving his enormous scythe to the side with emphasis, displaying the bleeding and smoking burns covering his right arm.
"You survived," Nel declared as a statement, rather than a query. Her eyes narrowed within the wake of a soft exhale of resignation. Leaving her scabbard where she dropped it, the former Espada treaded forward with confidence and no hint of fear. As she reached the mark of merely ten meters away, the former Tres Espada raised her blade to point at Nnoitra, its face catching the artificial Sun's rays to create a menacing silhouette across her stoic visage. "it looks like you've grown stronger, Nnoitra. This may take a little longer than I thought."
"Of course it is!" Nnoitra shouted incredulously, leaping forward with both hands on his weapon's pole handle. With a downward swipe, her sword would collide with the cleft of his dual crescent scythe, emphasized with a finalized shout. "I am stronger than you!"
"We shall see," Nel returned with a low whisper, as the world around them turned into a shower of sparks and upheaved grains of sand.
Chapter 3 - A Devil's Fruit
"Nelliel?!" Aaroniero breathed out a gasp. A distant gust of wind rustled her cloak and Shikhakushou, weighed by the Reishi particles that were breathed out by Nelliel's own Reiatsu. The realization that she was not dead made her destination, and the objective of attaining more strength, all the more favorable. A chuckle escaped her mouth as her smile widened with excitement swelling in her chest. "I don't know how you survived, but it matters little now. While you distract that bastard Nnoitra, I'll just help myself to some more spoils of war."
Renewing her sprint, Aaroniero knew haste was of the essence.
"Spiritual Bodies don't last forever once deceased. If the signature I'm detecting goes out, there's no telling when the body's decomposition into Reishi and disperses in that time," Aaroniero calculated within her mind, furrowing her brows with knowing. "Arrancars themselves seem to have a nasty habit of expiring quickly when they're dealt a fatal blow. I learned the hard way that killing one doesn't necessarily guarantee the same results that transpired with Metastacia. After all, he was designed to come back to Hueco Mundo in death and him retaining Kaien's body helped it have a longer post mortem durability."
With this in mind, Aaroniero continued her rapid approach towards her goal. That was, until she caught sight of a wall of white cloaked, skull masked Arrancars. Each of them wore black sheathed swords, tucked within the folds of their parallel dyed obi. They numbered up to two hundred in total, established in rows of ten to solidify their military efficient posture.
"Exequias!" Aaroniero exhaled with shock, her sandal bound feet skidding across the sand, grinding to a halt before them.
"Shinigami," A grated, Hollow voice spoke from behind Aaroniero, followed by the succinct buzz of a Sonido employment. As she turned her head around, she'd see a similar robed Arrancar of slightly taller stature. Instead of an identical skull, it looked more like a skull of a bull mounted onto a human body. The hollow eye sockets hauntingly stared impassively at her, sword already in his right hand and pointed downwards with a sense of ease. "we've been tracking you since the disappearance of Privaron Gantenbainne Mosqueda and Séptima Espada Zommari Rureaux. You should hide your Reiatsu a bit better to evade the likes of us."
"Rudbornn!" Aaroniero thought with alarm, rearing back and immediately squatting down into a fighting stance. With her hand on her sword's hilt, she narrowed her eyes at the leader of the Exequias, keeping in mind of his subordinates that began to circle around her. "this isn't good. I never liked Rudbornn even though he's been around quite awhile in Aizen's Army. Leader of a Cleanup crew with a bit too much power for a battalion with little authority outside of Las Noches. If they're here, it means that they must be the only ones aware of my activities...for now."
"Not going to speak?" Rudbornn inquired, albeit rhetorically, seeming to take steps forward without waiting for a response. "Very well. Let us talk with our blades."
It happened too fast for her liking. One moment, he had been speaking and treading slowly forward. The next he was within her personal space, thrusting his katana towards her heart. Had it not been for her stance of alertness, she wouldn't have been able to draw her sword and redirect it to cut the side of her left arm instead. Completing her unsheathing sword stroke, her blade's edge grinded across Rudbornn's and sliced through the air towards his own chest. Much to her chagrin, it would be repelled with a left handed swipe of his wrist, creating a shower of sparks from the collision; this hardly caused any real damage beyond the superficial laceration to his glove.
Before the two could further engage, Aaroniero opted for a backpedaling Shunpo, her feet touching down upon the sand half a dozen meters away from his reach. While she had no intention of getting close to the myriad of skull headed soldiers, she didn't want to try her luck against the stoic and competent executor. After all, he wasn't known for his thoroughness for naught from what she could remember. Seeing that their leader made no intention of moving forward, she placed her free hand to the scrape placed at her arm, having cut a small tear through her kosode sleeve in the process. Brief glow of healing energy sealed the wound in seconds, allowing her hand to return to the other, where it lied gripping the sword properly.
"Good reactions, Shinigami Kuchiki," Rudbornn spoke a bit more formally, lowering his blade to his side as he clenched his free hand. "but your Reiryoku is the typical equivalent of a well trained Lieutenant of the Gotei 13. At the level you're at, I'd hardly call you worthy of the challenge of facing you myself."
"I've yet to even try, Arrancar!" Aaroniero spoke insistently, raising her blade up in an upright position.
"Dance," She enunciated in a level tone, causing her Reiatsu to spike and her Zanpakutō to transform. From a standard katana, a beautiful crystalline pearly surface flowed across hilt and blade alike, creating a gleaming white sword. A ribbon stretched from a handful of beads from the pommel spun in a circular motion, revealing the Shikai of the weapon in its complete splendor. "Sode no Shirayuki!"
"So that's the Zanpakutō that slayed Master Arruerrie," Rudbornn realized from his impassive stanced position, "I haven't collected enough data to make a good assessment of her abilities. Time to let the Calaveras unveil her powers for me."
"Now then," Aaroniero declared in a stoic tone, grasping the sword in both hands, holding it close to her right cheek in a parallel form, "I think it's time I've taken care of you and your men."
A sudden leap forward, and Aaroniero was within Rudbornn's vicinity thanks to a well timed Shunpo. Thrusting her snow hued sword forward, she propelled it with the momentum of her acceleration. The sudden crack of her sword's edge meeting the X shape of two swords crossing over each other in front of Rudbornn's unmoving chest caused her to widen her eyes with shock. Sparks flew and a gust of wind flourished the linen hugging the Arrancars and the Shinigami body that was now hers.
"If you intend to take me down," Rudbornn said in a mocking tone, not even bothering to raise his blade. Instead, his Calaveras raised their free hands, spreading their digits apart, with their palms aimed directly at Aaroniero's face. The swift thrum of Reishi being primed would be followed by the violet shining overcast the pair of Ceros made before their hands. "you'll have to destroy the entirety of the Exequias!"
Aaroniero reacted quickly upon the last words spoken. Releasing the pressure she had been using against Rudbornn's Sword Shield, she employed two Shunpos: the first to outrun the head of the twin ceros, and the second to leap to the side away from the fissures of searing Reishi. Due to her quick response time, she kept herself from suffering any immediate retaliatory damage, putting herself a good distance away from the now exploding dual beams of light that tackled a sand dune a good fifty meters away.
But she didn't find much solace seconds later.
Six buzzes sounded out loud the arrival of more Calaveras. Three of them dropped down with swords ready to stab her from above, while the other three rushed at her from all angles. With blades poised to strike and momentum carrying them, Rudbornn knew physical confrontation would only further their advantage. Instead, she allowed them all to get within her personal space, just before she spread her own feet and slashed her white blade in a purposeful arc.
"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"
In a singular instance of Shunpo, Aaroniero distanced herself away from a upward blaze of freezing light, encompassing the charging Calaveras. Their visages of imminent attack would be captured, frozen on display in a white pillar. Seconds later it would crack and shatter, scattering their remains into the wind in a frosty breeze of decomposing Reishi.
But where she retreated, more of Rudbornn's subordinates lied in waiting. Two Calaveras charged in, one swinging high and the other low, each one responding in perfect synchronization with each other to pressure their Shinigami opponent. A series of metallic impacts created a cacophony of sparks to flourish around the combatants, all of which seemed to push her back with their continuous assault. When a third appeared from behind, via Sonido, Aaroniero briefly looked to the side and narrowed her eyes with decisiveness.
"Time to get a little innovative!" She thought, as she swerved her head to the left, dodging a sword thrust from her rightmost opponent. Simultaneously, she pushed her sword up to deflect another impaling strike. Using only one hand to accomplish this feat, she reached out and grappled his sword hand's wrist with her left and began to move. Swinging her body by her vice grip on her enemy, the back of her left arm briefly clapped over the extended right limb, her body spinning around in a 360 degree angle to plant her back to the Calavera's. With momentum powering her grapple, Aaroniero spun on her right heel to spin in a ninety degree right hand turn to slam the Calavera into his comrade's back with a bone-crunching snap. Both of them tumbled forward in a bodily heap that crashed into the unsuspecting third soldier, crashing into him into a small pile of disjointed limbs and white linen fabric.
"Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!" Aaroniero chanted aloud, extending her palm towards the struggling bodies just moments prior to a discharge of volatile Reishi left her fingertips. Crossing the space as quickly as any of their Ceros had, the cobalt flames consumed them all in a vibrant explosion, blowing back the sands that the Kidō had carved a good trench through. Even by the time of their demise, twelve more circled around Aaroniero, each holding their swords with readiness and impassive resolve to strike her down.
"They're staying just outside my range to use Tsukishiro," Aaroniero noted with knitted brows of observation, turning her head side to side to observe each of them, "and it seems they aren't all charging in at once. It seems they're wary of engaging in close quarters combat now. Smart bunch, these soldiers of yours, Rudbornn."
When Aaroniero finished her complimenting analysis, the Calaveras all moved in unison. Raising each of their free hands, they all began to prime what looked like twelve Ceros, creating a distinct overcast of violet light over the immediate environment. Aaroniero's eyes didn't waver this time, keeping her senses sharp to see what they intended to do. They didn't seemed suicidal in their tendencies, so she held her ground to see what their aim was.
At the seemingly last second, all of the Calaveras leaped back and up, firing their Ceros in unison to strike the ground prone Shinigami. As the Calavera Cero collided with each other, it appeared within the light of their combined attacks and immense pillar of rising flames following the explosion. When the shockwave send reverberating waves of sand in all directions, their enemy reappeared and did so behind one of their own.
Thrusting her sword through his chest, she swung her free hand out towards the leftmost enemy, chanting aloud, "Bakudo #4, Hainawa!"
In an instant, a golden rope of binding energy discharged from her fingertips, bodily ensnaring the unprepared Calavera. In the same move as she slashed her blade out of her recent kill's right side, letting him fall to the ground limply, she rushed forward with sword in hand. Her accelerated rush of Shunpo allowed her to grind her blade past the guard of a defending soldier, stabbing him through the shoulder, following up with a vicious kick to chest that'd allow her to withdraw the sword and cut his throat in the process.
When Calaveras recovered from their initial shock of her sudden methods, Aaroniero responded accordingly.
Swinging her sword hand's forefingers towards a shimmering arrival of a Calavera to her right, she briefly shouted a brief chant as a lightning bolt of azure light pierced the skull of her enemy with precise aim, "Hadō #4, Byakurai!"
The Arrancar subordinate fell limply down to the ground, leaving behind six other figures of white to blur forth, aiming to overwhelm her with relentless attrition. Turning on her heel, Aaroniero tugged on the golden rope still in her left hand, pulling the bound Calavera across the air. Turning their heads to notice too late, the Hollow soldiers were knocked awry as the flying body haplessly collided into their charging frames. This caused the binding Kidō to continuously spew out from the original captive, spraying out into a net of yellow restrictive currents, haphazardly bundling them all up into a ball of limbs and silk covered bodies.
By the time the final three let loose a barrage of Balas from a distance, Aaroniero was already nimbly dodging with a series of Shunpos, hauling her catch behind her just as swiftly. Leaping up to a higher altitude, Aaroniero whipped around the mass of bodies around to arc towards their midst, causing the Calaveras to backpedal to avoid initial contact. What they failed to notice were the words muttered under their enemy's breath, signifying a significant swelling of crimson light rushing down towards the netted caught bodies.
"Hadō #31, Shakkahō!"
Any screams that Aaroniero would hear were drowned out by the spherical expansive blast of crimson light of her Kidō. All of the bodies caught within the binding Kidō were instantly rendered into ashen bits, leaving little to no remains behind. The retreating Calaveras were unfortunate enough to not suffer a swift death, their bodies propelled back by the sheer force of the massive explosion created by their adversary. Pitiful cries of pain were heard as their forms, burnt to indistinguishable appearances, trailed down with smoke curling across their charred frames.
Aaroniero took a few moments to admire her handiwork. The high altitude winds flourished her beige desert cloak around her body, her raven tressed bangs flapping around her stoic violet eyes, gazing down at the bodies of still standing mass of Exequias ranks. Seeing that they once again gave her reprieve to come up with a strategy of their own, she didn't hesitate to fully take in her situation.
"They're all of adequate Lieutenant class, more than a match fighting en masse against me. While I doubt any of them could inflict serious damage to me, it would be unwise to gamble on my body's durability with Rudbornn waiting in the shadows. His power is certainly more than a match for my own, even adding Rukia's to the fold. If I'm to approach him, I need his men out of the way, giving me more of an advantage once again," She thought with assertion, raising her sword up in a presenting manner. As if accepting an invitation, two dozen additional Calaveras appeared at varying distances, each with sword drawn and prepared to engage in further combat. Looking side to side, she gathered herself as she planned. "this won't be easy, but I think I can get rid of them all in one fell swoop."
During the time the dozen proximate soldiers cautiously approached, their enemy began to emit a emission of Reiatsu. The light azure light radiating off her body whipped her cloak to and fro across her form, just as animatedly as her black bangs over her stoic eyes. Crouching down in the middle of the air she hovered upon, she lowered a free hand down towards her left hip and held her sword's flat against her chest with readiness.
"I can't hold back against these subordinates of Rudbornn's. I'll have to use the power I used to defeat Zommari. Ten percent of my own Reiryoku in addition to Rukia's should suffice, after all!" Aaroniero thought with narrowed eyes of focused initiative.
With that thought in mind, Aaroniero moved in a series of dizzying spins within the air. To and fro her cloaked frame would feign aggressive attacks at the Calaveras surrounding her, afterimages being left behind giving the impression of her plethora of Shunpo employments. Sparks flew from sword clashes and various discharges of Balas complementing aimless sword swings by the airborne Calaveras.
When she finally halted her movements, her sword was held in a dramatic turn of the right arm. Her head bowed lowly, obscuring her eyes in the silhouette of her own dark tresses. Her visible mouth would part slightly and whisper in a hallowed tone of finality, "Shirokyūten!"
In a matter of seconds, twenty one rings of white light activated upon her command. While the vicinity of her dozen mutual altitude prone enemies were caught in a few of them, the majority were targeted downwards to the grounded ranks of what remained of the Exequias. The pale light soon became pillars of instantaneous freezing ice, capturing all of those in their merciless grasp, imprisoning them in their arctic clutches.
"A fitting name for a technique to destroy an entire army in a single deployed strike," Aaroniero said softly to herself, swinging her sword out in a decisive stroke, causing all of the pillars to shatter at once. Dropping to the ground with a single Shunpo, the collaborated destruction of her technique created a scenery of falling snow and ice particles. The Reishi fell down mesmerizingly, flourishing around her person, covering the crown of her head along with her cloak and the rest of the ground with its majestic coating of frozen moisture.
"I've disposed of your minions, Arrancar," Aaroniero called out, turning her gaze over to the impassive posture of Rudbornn, standing a good distance away from where her attacks made contact. Pointing her blade purposely in a goading manner, she continued with an icy glare projected at his empty eye sockets. "it is your turn to taste the cold edge of my Sode no Shirayuki."
For the longest time, Rudbornn didn't seem to respond. He had watched his Shinigami adversary's movements for sometime, feeling out her abilities and strength using his Pesquisa from afar. Now that she had effectively executed all of the men he had assimilated to combat her, he knew that she was a foe worthy of reckoning among the invaders whom had successfully fought through their opposition.
A scoffing laugh would be let loose from the skull-headed Arrancar, promoting the confidence he felt in his own abilities, "Your Zanpakutō wasn't even able to scratch past my Hierro, and you think just because it's in a released state that it can harm me now? You seriously overestimate your abilities if you think my Calaveras and I are on the same level."
When Rudbornn finished speaking, he'd find himself staring at a wide expanse of snow, geysering towards his direction. He didn't even manage to see the four spouts of icy Reishi that Aaroniero had poked into the ground before her feet, just the result of a tidal wave of icy wave of freezing Reiatsu. For some reason it reminded him of Hueco Mundo's sands, hurdling straight at him and intent on crushing him underneath its dense weight.
Wordlessly, Rudbornn swung his sword in an upward stroke at the pillar of freezing wind. This caused the attack to be bifurcated, straight down the middle in the wake of a transparent wave of violet Reiatsu projected from his sword swing. To his surprise, the flakes of snow did little to disturb the environment other than pass over it, leaving trails of majestic light of white and blue.
More disturbingly, his enemy disappeared from the point of the attack's launch. It would only be thanks to his Pesquisa that he'd notice movement out of the corner of his eye, masked by the passing vapors of super cold air. Spinning upon the ball of his right foot, he'd lean his upper body to the left to avoid a beheading diagonal stroke of the pearly hued edge of his adversary's weapon.
As he evaded, he returned in kind with a right handed overhead strike at the diminutive proportioned Shinigami, earning a two-handed defensive stance to absorb his sword's strike. Snowflakes and sparks flew from the two opposing swords, violet eyes meeting empty sockets. A smirk donned upon Aaroniero's face, her gaze drifting upon the frozen shallow cut made upon the right cheekbone of the Arrancar's mask. Though it might as well been superficial, the sight of frozen moisture having spread a good few inches of the mask's surface was enough to warrant attention with a slight jerk of the Arrancar's head.
"Do I warrant your attention now, Arrancar?" Aaroniero asked in a jeering sneer.
"You are an enemy worth destroying," Rudbornn responded coldly, his body eerily glowing alight a violet hue in readiness for the battle that will follow. "you should feel privileged enough to cross blades with the likes with me. And then, you shall feel despair for ever challenging the Captain of the Exequias!"
Palace of the Raging Seas
Tier felt in awe of what she was witnessing. Where she had witnessed a true battle between Ichigo Kurosaki, someone who imitated Hollow powers to the extent that she could believe him to be an Arrancar, do mortal combat against Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. The titanic struggle left sand dunes collapsed, towers and spyres alike crumbled with every haphazard collision of their bodies or mutual attacks. The sky literally darkened in the wake of the Sexta's Desgarrón, using immense force to intend on destroying the Substitute. Incredibly, before awe-opened eyes of the Tres Espada, Ichigo had defeated Grimmjow soundly.
Then came Nnoitra Gilga.
The repulsive vulture of war, he cared not for honorable fights or lived by any meaningful code that his nearly slain brother had, by his own hands no less. All he cared for was bloodshed and remaining on top, never to be looked down on by those of higher stature. He made no secret of his loathing for her, saying that her predecessor was a lot like her but more disgusting as he put it. From the way he talked, it appeared he had killed the last Tres through treachery, though she found no evidence that he had done such a feat.
After the barbarian was enjoying torturing the fading signature she knew was Ichigo Kurosaki's, a sudden pulse rocketed from the horizon. Almost as assuredly she closed her eyes with resignation that the fight was reaching a close, a mushroom cloud of sakura hued Reishi in the form of smoke flourished to life. Her blonde lashes blinked rapidly to convey her passively stoic face a moment of rare surprise.
"This Reiatsu," She breathed out in a gasp behind her aquatic breather collar, "it feels as if its a genuine Arrancar...of Espada Class?!"
Her Fraccion had been within their own form of rapt silence. Since their leader demanded their attention to be fixated where hers was, they didn't have the nerve to snap at each other or question her intentions. One major battle after another, they now understood why their mistress didn't act immediately. The force combatting Nnoitra that had emerged quite literally from nowhere was in a league all its own.
"If that is my predecessor, coming back for revenge, I wouldn't blame her," Tier concluded with a cold glare aimed at the shockwaves to follow such a battle, "that beast has no place among the Espada. If he dies it is only due to his own foolish bloodthirst."
The Howling Wolf Palace
"What the-?!" Lilynette cried out, sitting upright from her own much smaller pile of cushions next to Starrk's. Looking swiftly to her right, past Starrk reclining form, her visible eye open wide. In her mind's eye, she could sense the Reiatsu signature as if she was staring through the wall with a telescopic intensity that burrowed through the solid palace walls.
"Hmph?" Starrk inquired groggily, turning his face down positioned jaw so that its drooling cavern be exposed along with a single lazy eye, "what's up, Lily?"
"It's Nelliel! It has to be!" The young girl cried out with excitement, a light shining in her eye that erased the look of melancholy she shared with the drowsy man.
"Huh?" Starrk inclined his head up, blinking a few times, eyes expanding to express his own shock. "it...it really is her!"
For a few moments, the pair were both pleasantly surprised to feel the all too familiar presence of Nelliel from afar. While they were still looking for more Vasto Lordes to join Aizen's cause, Nelliel would frequently commune with the fellow Espada when she wasn't keeping an eye on the more rambunctious members of the army. Changing from cheerful and laid back to stoic and composed, she was one of the few that both could agree was a dear companion of theirs. From the way Nnoitra put it, she was ambushed with her guard down, and he buried her body where it fell. It wasn't something that sat well with them but something they couldn't challenge him, especially when they found a replacement so quickly after.
With their thoughts of the past, they too would also sense a secondary Reiatsu burning menacingly at a similar level and closer in proximity to the one that got their attention: Nnoitra Gilga.
"H-He's fighting her!" Lilynette gasped aloud, just realizing what this all meant. "he's trying to kill her!"
"We don't know that-" Starrk tried to reassure her, suddenly finding himself talking to empty space. Shifting his gaze, he saw the quickly retreating form of Lilynette as she sprinted out of the room and into the empty hall, "oi! Where are you going?! Lily!"
Lily briefly halted her escape of the room, stopping dead in her tracks. While this caused Starrk to stare at her with bewilderment, Lily began to speak in a solemn tone, "You keep mourning the fact that you can't be close to your friends. You tell me to mingle and be with them on my own, while not encouraging me to help them when they're in trouble. What you're doing isn't protecting them...it's you being a coward!"
Starrk's eyes blinked widely from his lounged position. He couldn't find the words to respond, let alone the will to deny what she said had merit or not. Looking down, he felt the next words jab at him as painful as a blade running through his chest.
"How can you call yourself the Primera if you can't fight for the ones you cherish?!"
It was shortly after a brief buzz of a Sonido was deployed that Starrk could feel her presence retreating. Lowering his eyes to half mast, he sighed raggedly and reclined once more onto his cushions. Rolling over to stare at the wall, the direction he could feel Nelliel's Reiatsu brim with intensity, he could only exhale sadness.
"I'm sorry..."
While the attention lied upon the former Tres Espada and current Quinto, another battle of epic proportions ensued beyond. Over distant sandy dunes lied a recessed valley, sporting a number of craters courtesy of Reishi explosions and Reiatsu collisions. Frost caked parts of the sand still not disturbed, yet soon would melt or dissipate into flakes of Reishi once again once the combatants in question would reappear.
One metal collision later of steel meeting literal cold steel would usher in the reappearance of the two warriors. Both fighters would feel the reverberations of force flow over their respective attire, flapping wildly around their forms. A single exerted thrust followed by a wave of violet colored Reishi would cause the female of the pair to be knocked across the air away from his person.
Recoiling from her latest parry, Aaroniero backpedaled within the air just a few meters above the sandy earth below.
"His swordplay is certainly worthy of reckoning. I can't seem to find any openings since that one scratch I've left him," She noted to herself with knitted brows of frustration.
"You do well to stave off my attacks," Rudbornn complimented, holding his sword parallel with his armed shoulder. With a turn of the wrist, the sharpened edge turned towards the horizon that its intended target lied. A brief pulsation of Reishi would be seen, coloring the blade into a solid mass of violet outlined white light.
"Here it comes!" Aaroniero thought, using one hand to raise her blade to the forefront and the other to be held out cautiously to her side.
A single swipe of the sword in a perfect horizontal arc, Rudbornn let loose a wall of high velocity launched Balas. Screaming forth, the speed coupled with the distance their target resided, it would only take a handful of seconds for the enemy to respond.
Thankfully, it was all the time that Aaroniero needed.
Whipping her free hand out, the Shinigami bodied Hollow rapidly discharged four Shakkahōs in a spread shot manner. Not bothering to dodge the rest, she nullified the ones aimed closest to her body, detonating the Kidō cannon shells against the violet hued orbs. The smokescreen created by the following explosion was great enough to send Balas careening to and fro across the sandy vista, uprooting dozens of meters of sand, creating a cacophonic display of haphazard destruction.
Rudbornn cautiously observed the cloud of smoke, noting his Pesquisa indicated her still living status. He half expected another pillar of snow to erupt from the expansive radius of sulfur and ozone. Instead he noted a shimmering flash of white steel, with a singular shimmering silk ribbon tailing its tsuba.
"Throwing your own sword?" Rudbornn spoke incredulously, his body blurring to the left instinctively to evade the rapidly approaching weapon, "a bit reckless of you, Shinigami!"
The last thing he expected the thrusting sword was to change directions entirely. Turning around to position its sharpened edge in line of the Arrancar's head, the glistening pale sword swung around in a decapitating arc.
"How?!" Rudbornn gasped under his breath, his body squatting narrowly to evade instant death. He didn't even notice the tip of his rightmost horn fall towards the ground, paying more attention to the near transparent chain of ice attached to the ribbon of the blade. With the smoke parted from the sword movement, he could see his adversary's right hand extending outwards, weaving a interlocking series of icy links to keep hold of her sword from afar.
"Tsukishiro!" Aaroniero enunciated aloud, causing the Arrancar to jerk his head around himself in panic. A brilliant blaze of freezing light materialized in moments, already stretching towards the heavens and the earth in a precisely carved circle. Just short of its full formation, a blur of white linen rocketed at a downward angle, plummeting into the sand in the hasty rush to evade the freezing prison she had constructed.
"That was too close," Rudbornn heaved, still feeling the icy traces cling to his mask. Particles of frozen moisture quickly became brittle and crumbled around his shoulders and arms, a testament to how close to death or incapacitation he had been, "had I hesitated a second longer..."
The Arrancar trailed off upon feeling a Shunpo deployed a handful of meters behind him.
"Bakudo #61," Rudbornn turned his head, seeing an upraised left forefinger, glowing vibrantly with elliptical stretching light. A single pointed gesture, and the light would spread outwards, singing through the air with the intention of jabbing into Rudbornn's body. "Rikujōkōrō!"
What happened next took Aaroniero by surprise. Instead of seeing six golden rods of rectangular shape ram into the Arrancar's body, the bull-headed Hollow spun in a 360 degree angle with sword outstretched. This created a visible field of repulsion around his person, flashing a vibrant purple flare upon the Bakudo's impact with it, shattering the miniature columns of binding energy.
"He stopped it?!" Aaroniero thought with widened eyes of surprise.
"Was that supposed to be your trump card?" Rudbornn asked incredulously. Seeing his enemy's weapon return to her grasp with a tug of the ice rope, he rose to full stature with renewed confidence. "I'm sure you're probably unaware, but the battle you've won with Master Arruruerie wasn't simply noticed, but recorded. From the time you thought you had the upperhand you had displayed the ability to use Kidō. I had perfectly analyzed the spell you utilized in that battle and came up with a perfect way of dispelling it."
Grinding her teeth together, she couldn't help but fixate a scowl at the Arrancar's soulless eyes. She had planned on incapacitating Rudbornn right then and there, taking time to kill him quickly so she could assimilate him at her own pace. But seeing that he could actually develop a tactic for Kidō he's seen only once, especially one of such a high level, and counter them didn't bode well for her.
"With all of the Kidō you've been using, I feel obligated to enlighten you about myself," Rudbornn grated further, raising his blade to point at his Shinigami opponent.
A second later, Rudbornn rushed forth in the wake of a well timed Sonido, appearing just in front of Aaroniero's proximity. His blade appeared to be coated in a brilliant purple fire, swinging down in a bifurcating motion towards her left side.
"Ngh!" Aaroniero quickly raised her up to block it, perpendicular to the vertical arcing sword stroke. As a safeguard to keep from being overwhelmed, she placed her left palm to steady the far bladeless backside of her weapon, pushing back against flaming sword of Rudbornn's. What perplexed her was the fact the flames themselves didn't feel hot, even at this close proximity.
"Existencias Hueso!" Rudbornn called out, causing the vibrant tongues of purple and white burning along his blade to transform in shape. Flowing outwards, the flames spewed forth virulent lit bonds in the form of chains. They flowed over the sword without care and wrapped around her arms, flourishing over her shoulders and around her neck. Aaroniero could only gasp and grunt with confused strain, trying to rid herself of the energy that wrapped around her.
"It is too late to resist," Rudbornn chided, backing up a meter to observe his technique's handiwork. "upon being endowed with the responsibilities of being Captain of the Exequias, I've taken upon myself to study the Shinigami arts of combat, to better my own abilities and to dispel their various powers. One such ability I had crafted for myself is a handful of binding spells, similar to that of your Bakudo style Kidō."
Upon finishing his explanation, the malevolently restrictive currents of Reishi finally stabilized. Its form appeared to be a skeletal form of a stocks, with alabaster hued material holding her sword wielding hand outwards along with her unarmed hand. With several chains jutting out from the ends of the stocks themselves, piercing the sandy earth for better purchase, it didn't look like there would be any movement on the Shinigami's part for the time being.
"This is my execution restriction spell, Existencias Hueso," He elaborated with a swing of his sword, standing satisfyingly in front of his bound foe, "it keeps the arms completely immobilized, along with the head and rest of the body. I've noted that your Zanpakutō acts much like your Kidō, needing your hands to gesture in any given direction in order to manifest a spell or an attack. Keeping your hands restricted destroys your only form of offense and defense. You've lost, Shinigami."
"It certainly seems that way," Aaroniero said lowly, fixating her violet eyes up with begrudging admittance to her foe. "seeing as you've captured me, singlehandedly doing what the other two Espada failed to do. I can only wonder one thing..."
"What that might be?" The Arrancar inquired, feeling relaxed in his position of superiority over his captive.
"You pride yourself by being a Captain of this organization of yours, yet you keep referring to any Espada as Master. You're easily stronger than the last two Arrancars I've slain, yet you're subservient to them? I'm finding that hard to believe..." Aaroniero trailed out, allowing a smirk to work its way across her face.
"Hmph, a fair question, given it is one I've asked myself many a time," Rudbornn huffed aloud, stabbing the edge of his sword into the ground, placing his palm onto the upraised pommel in a casual manner. "Lord Aizen has gifted me with great power, and with that power he also allowed me to be taught many things I would have not known as a simple Hollow. Yet, for whatever reasons, he lets inferiors in as his complementary best generals and warriors. Does he not see the command and prowess I utilize my troops so effectively? Am I not qualified to be one of his confidants? These questions plague me every night I spend in this wretched sun-filled place, watching and doing the whims of those who'd use my talents for their own ends. My duties are for Lord Aizen's sake, yet they use me as their personal puppet?!"
"You seem to do all the dirty work yet with very little reward," Aaroniero noted with an upraised brow, her smirk receding into a solemn expression. "why go out of your way to hunt me down? Was I in your way or was it for somebody else's agenda?"
"I was hunting down the Privaron Espada and those they've engaged in combat. Simply put, I was to kill those who remained standing, on the behest of another Espada, of course," He explained bluntly, now sounding more disgruntled than he would have prior to the conversation.
"For someone with so much pride in his duties, they certainly don't appreciate your efforts. Why even serve Aizen when he doesn't even use your abilities to your greatest capability?" Aaroniero prodded.
"I am indebted to Lord Aizen for the powers I possess now. Without him, I would be but a lowly beast, imitating intelligence while scavenging on my own kin for power and proclamation of dominance. However, these Espada, I only have a few that I truly admire and respect. The ones who've been ordering me as of late, do not," Rudbornn spoke in a darker, more bitter tone than before. Grasping the hilt of his sand planted sword, he unsheathed it, causing a visible spray of sparks to appear where he had withdrawn his weapon. "I will have words with the one who commanded me so carelessly without thought of my own integrity. As Captain of the Exequias, these tasks I've been performing have impugned my honor, and I will not allow one Espada to take advantage of my resources for his own authority."
As he spoke these words, the upper partition of Aaroniero's stock jettisoned like a rocket from its placement. Looking up, she could see it rise high up into the air, changing in shape as it slowed its ascent. A simple bone clad block turned into a guillotine blade with massive cleaver edges on either flank, a skull fixated on either side of the grim appearing weapon. It took little imagination to the currently bound Shinigami bodied Hollow what was to come next.
"In respect for your combat prowess I will grant you a swift execution," Rudbornn grated out, raising his blade in a slow purposeful motion over his head, as if controlling the now airborne idle weapon.
"Before you do, there's something you should know," Aaroniero quickly said aloud, her eyes locking coolly at Rudbornn's.
Rudbornn, unnerved by how calm and collected his enemy was in the face of imminent death, couldn't help but ask, "What's that?"
"You made a grave error in making the assumption I couldn't do anything with my body immobile and my arms kept bound," She said with a smile, her words producing a now visible cloud of vapor. With every passing second, it appeared that during the time Rudbornn spoke of his predicament and origins, her complexion had turned remarkably paler and glossier. As if her skin was being replaced with a crystalline surface, she began to sparkle within the refraction of the artificial Sun's glare, "and that my Zanpakutō requires the blade to move in order to be used."
Before Rudbornn's eyes, he saw the unthinkable occur. The binding stocks began to be frozen over, becoming brittle and cracking by simply being in contact of the Shinigami's body. Webbing out in fraying fissures, the cracks began to become more severe as seconds ticked by, spreading out to even the chains holding down the ground mounted bindings holding her.
"I won't let you-!" Rudbornn shouted with defiance, swinging his sword down, succinctly causing the levitating guillotine to rocket downwards. Even as he watched the double-edged cleaver race downwards, he saw the entirety of his binding spell become completely encased in ice.
"HA!" Aaroniero exclaimed with a shout, flexing in an upward manner, shattering her bindings in an effortless shrug. In doing so, she evaded the sand eviscerating blade, plunging into the uneven grained earth before her feet, burrowing below the earth where it would be nullified in its effectiveness.
"Thanks for running your mouth," Aaroniero said with a cheeky grin, taking time to exhale calmly, her visage slowly returning the warmth back to her complexion, "if you hadn't given me so much time, I wouldn't have been able to lower my core temperature to a level that have frozen your spell. If you had just followed up with your capture of me, you probably could have killed me. Probably..."
At the moment, Rudbornn couldn't speak. He could only let out long grated breaths, sending puffs of steam between his skeletally displayed rows of teeth. And for the first time since their encounter, a purple gleam emerged behind his empty sockets, glowing with apparent indignant anger.
"Well played, Shinigami," He spoke with a seething breath, followed by a grated snarl, "you succeeded in escaping death's door. However, you've only delayed the inevitable. I stake my reputation that you'll die when I unleash the full brunt of my power upon you!"
"Go ahead," Aaroniero responded confidently, holding Sode no Shirayuki in a two-handed kendo stance, "I'll crush you at your best. Then you'll see the true gap between us and what makes you special insignificant!"
At the mention of last few words, Rudbornn couldn't help but laugh. Holding his sword in a horizontally aloft manner, the Arrancar rebuked his enemy openly, "That confidence of yours is misplaced. Allow me to show you the error of your folly!"
What came next would be a brief flare of his Reiatsu. Bathed in a dark violet light, hints of darkness clinging to his frame, it sent waves of malevolent pressure within the wind that billowed from his person. Then, with a single visible gleam in both of his eye sockets, the transformation occurred.
"Grow, Árbol!" He enunciated in a deep, presenting manner. Once he had done so, the sword transformed into the shape of a stark white lightning bolt, being composed of solid metallic bone. Yellow colored roots wrapped around his right arm all the way up to his shoulder while grey hued roots as thick as his torso spiraled down into the sand below. Finally, four jagged electric shaped branches stretched out of his right shoulder, displaying a number of familiar looking skulls along its surface.
As the roots dug into the ground, his body began to rise upwards, assuming a towering stance overhead the Shinigami adversary. Waving his newly shaped weapon offhandedly, Rudbornn said with bemusement, "You once said earlier that you've disposed of my minions. I believe you underestimate the true essence of my Calaveras. Behold!"
What appeared before Aaroniero's eyes caused her mouth to hang open agape with morbid fascination. The skulls began to spew out white goop from the underside, stretching and contorting into shapes akin to humanoids. What followed later was the manifestation of clothes and facial features, dropping the newly created bodies of the creatures that were dropped like demented offsprings off a product line. Standing upward, the four marched onward in front of their creator, while new skulls quickly took their place and began manufacturing more.
"My Calaveras are the byproduct of my power to create. It is the reason why I, the 61st Arrancar of Lord Aizen's Army, was given a title among all the other Numeros who aren't of Espada Class," Rudbornn declared, pointing his jagged tipped weapon before her, as another four dropped down to join those who now stand in front of his gnarled form. "you may have defeated the Noveno and Séptima, but you will go no further. Your mayhem in Las Noches ends here, at the hands of my infinite army!"
While the battle of Legion Spawning Arrancar ensued against the Shinigami imposter, the fight between former superior and subordinate raged on. The intensity of their many exchanged filled the air. Broad double-headed scythe met katana, producing shockwaves that rattled the ground and produced showers of sparks with every impact.
The result of the continuous conflict showed upon the body of the Quinto Espada. Bleeding profusely from many lacerations across his arms and chest, it appeared as if Nelliel had gotten past his guard many a time. Bruises placed across splotches of visible skin that hadn't been cut were seen across his chest and limbs respectively. Even his spoon shaped hood was halfway blown off, the result of another well placed Cero by Nelliel herself.
Yet, despite all of these injuries, Nnoitra looked uninhibited in continuing his assault at his loathsome rival. Swinging his blade in with both hands downwards, the inner crescent edge grinding down against Nelliel's upraised sword held now by both of her hands. The sight of her forced to her knees in a squatted stance brought a overbite smile to the Arrancar's face, revelling in seeing her pushed down by his own power.
"What's wrong, Nelliel?!" He jeered, eye glaring down at her passively stoic eyes. "not effortlessly beating me now, are ya?! Was that all talk or are you out of shape from not fighting all of these years?!"
Nelliel didn't respond vocally. She simply grimaced, though if it was by the pressure of her enemy's blade or something on her mind, Nnoitra couldn't read. The fact she was so unreadable furthered his anger at the female warrioress.
"You still think you're better than me, even when I'm getting the best of you?!" Nnoitra shouted incredulously, his eye widening with abstract rage. Rearing back his weapon, he thrust it back down towards her sword, finding it only to strike the sand as her form disappeared within a burst of high speed. Looking up, he'd see her crouched form rise a handful of meters away from his front, her bangs no concealing her stoic gaze. If Nnoitra cared to analyze her expression, one would say it looked mournful.
"You're always so damned proud of yourself," Nnoitra growled, retracting his weapon from the ground, sneering at her with his Zanpakutō held aloft in his right hand while he waved his left hand for emphasis. "following me around, making sure I'd be kept an eye on, seeing me as a lowly beast! You remember when you called me that?! I've never forgotten all those things you said to me, and how you viewed me as nothing more than an inferior who needed to be looked after by one so higher than me!"
Thrusting his weapon pointedly in her direction, Nnoitra visibly twitched with bloodthirst for the woman that stood not but a handful of distance away. "I've gotten stronger, and built up my powers for one goal. To surpass what you used to be. And yet here you are, perfectly intact and just the way I remember you. Now I have a chance to truly show you what those years of your absence has done for me and how little it has done for you!"
Throwing his weapon up into the air, the Arrancar began to howl with maniacal joy, spinning it by the chain attached to his waist. With every revolution the weapon made in the air, an increase of twisting friction the air currents had. Siphoned around in a circle until a dust twister revolved around the two of them, Nelliel continued to look forlorn and unreadable as he spun his weapon above his head.
"DIE!" Nnoitra yelled out, hurtling his chain downwards, sending his rotating double-headed scythe towards Nelliel's form.
It was during the high velocity thrust that Nnoitra noticed the blur of motion Nel's person became. Leaping above the hurtling weapon, she flipped forward until the chain stretched out at its limit, the blade cleaving a good amount of grained landscape behind her with its momentum. With her landing, she landed atop the chain and planted her sword in the middle of the links holding it, pinning the weapon's hold from the owner.
As Nnoitra stared briefly with confusion, he returned the glare at her for moving so gracefully out of the path of his weapon. It made him feel sick just seeing her act so cold and detached from his rants. It was like she wasn't even aware he had a vendetta against her.
Then, she spoke.
"You're such a child, Nnoitra," Nelliel said with a low tone.
"WHAT?!" Nnoitra howled out.
"Even after all this time, you refused to mature. I cannot understand your destructive mentality, nor your abhorrence of compassion and mercy," Nelliel explained, her eyes finally raising to lock onto Nnoitra's singular one. "even as I fight you, as I keep my hand from ending your life, you don't have a desire to listen to reason. It seems there is no other recourse but the action I have to regrettably take."
"What are you getting at you-?!" Nnoitra began to ask when he suddenly felt a dramatic spike of Reiatsu, coming straight off Nelliel's person. There was no exhale of Reishi, no distilling of the land or crumbling of the ground beneath her feet. It was simply a sudden incline of power, as if it was lying in wait until this moment to show itself. And the sensation of its visible warping properties brought beads of sweat to crawl down Nnoitra's scalp. "-you...you were holding back this whole time?!"
Nelliel didn't respond. Instead a current of pink light began to swirl around her sword, the essence seeming to be empowered by the very land around it. Grains of sand, the ambient atmosphere, and even the wind began to twirl around and funnel towards her blade. The sudden sight of the sword's condensed Reiatsu force caused Nnoitra's eye to expand with dreadful alarm.
"You've left me no choice, Nnoitra," Nelliel said in a low monotone.
"DAMN YOU, WITCH!" Nnoitra howled out, pulling the chain violently, causing it to snap under the weight of Nelliel's sword. Seeing this, the Arrancar rapidly vaulted and leaped for his scythe, disregarding the chain links he now untied from his person. By the time the pole handle was in both of his hands, he returned his sight to see Nelliel already moving towards his proximity.
He'd swing as she did, yet in the flash of light, only he could feel pain.
"GAAAAAAUGH!" Nnoitra exclaimed with outright pain, as a diagonal geyser of blood ejected from his chest. This would be synchronized by the forward flip of his bifurcated top end of his Zanpakutō somersaulting forward away leaving a steaming trail in its tumbling wake. The wound, contrasting the first cut that followed many, would be much deeper and cause the staunch Arrancar to heave with every breath he took.
"You can fight no longer, Nnoitra," Nelliel said declaratively, swinging her blade to the side, disposing of the flecks of blood clinging to the edge of her sword. "if you allow Tesra to tend to your wound, you may survive. But if you continue exerting yourself, you will die."
"You...stupid...bitch!" Nnoitra grunted aloud, wheezing as he raised his weapon above his head, "whatever made you think...that this fight...is over?!"
Nelliel's eyes widened, suddenly seeing a demented golden color of Reiatsu emanate from his person. The ground stirred around his feet at the sudden build-up of Reishi, swirling around his soles and soon billowing out to produce a continuous projection of wind. The ground quaked and the air distorted with such intense power being unleashed, showing that there was some merit to the Quinto's words.
Realizing what it could mean, however, Nelliel reached out and shouted with warning with eyes opened wide, "Nnoitra-!"
"PRAY," He uttered gutturally, a bloody smile stretched ear to ear across his maniacal face, "SANTA TERESA!"
Retracting her hand, Nelliel backpedaled away at the last moment before a colossal wind barreled over the ground she once stood upon. The brilliant blaze of yellow colored Reiatsu thrummed over the landscape. Nel stared with abstract horror, at what was unleashed before her eyes.
"Idiot, I tried to warn you!" Nelliel thought with her teeth biting down into her lower lip.
As suddenly as the winds came, they vanished along with the Reiatsu created light. In the spectrum of haze created from the release, it appeared as if a crescent moon was pointing upright. When the smoke effectively cleared, one could see Nnoitra's prided Ressureccion in all of its glory. Standing tall with six arms, each one holding a behemoth crescent shaped scythe, Nnoitra's left vacant eye that revealed his Hollow hole complemented the pair of horns jutting out of his skull at irregular angles and lengths.
With a wide gleaming smile, Nnoitra couldn't help but chuckle, finding that all of his wounds, save for the most recent one had been healed. The scar was fittingly on display over his exposed chest, as if it was more of a trophy and testament to his refusal to die. It made him savor the release of power he had now, and the look on Nelliel's face at seeing it.
"It's been awhile since you've seen my Ressureccion, hasn't it, Nelliel?" Nnoitra asked rhetorically, looking onwards with a pleased expression. He began clenching and moving his arms with emphasis. "I've increased the arms I can manifest since last time. There'll be no way that you can get past me now, not even with your great speed."
Bowing her head, Nel sighed with resignation. Raising her blade in a horizontal alignment, she placed her free hand behind the flat of her Zanpakutō, whispering lowly, "I didn't want to use this unless I absolutely had to. Resuming my original state so soon when using this might exhaust me..."
"Go ahead!" Nnoitra goaded with his smile intact, grinding his scythes together in a provocative manner. "I ain't afraid of you or your Released Form! I'm invincible when Santa Teresa is activated!"
Without further ado, Nelliel breathed out in a solemn tone, "Declare, Gamuza!"
A brief elliptical light shined across her blade, obscuring Nnoitra's sight of her weapon. What came next would be an earth-shattering release of pink-bordered white light, rolling in a spherical manner that grinded and tore apart the earth. Such fierce winds would be enough to make Nnoitra squint and raise his blades in a protective manner. The sheer weight and raise of Reiatsu wouldn't be lost to him, as his brow would project a bead of sweat by what he felt.
A swing of the arm later, and Nelliel's true form was revealed. Her scarred mask, now a helmet devoid of the crack, wrapped around her her emerald mane covered head. A white armored pair of pauldrons was mounted over her shoulders, with a series of identical pieces of armor plating wrapped around black linen material over her limbs, ending with a pair of finger covering white gauntlets. The rest of her body, from the waist down, was a brown furred centauress body, complete with a black tail and two pairs of hooves. Her Zanpakutō, now in her right hand, appeared to be a double-sided corkscrew shaped lance.
"The scar on her mask closed up," Nnoitra noted with a scowl, seeing only a few teeth of the mask fragment missing in its released state, "she really is back to full power."
"Remember what I say from this point," Nelliel declared aloud, earning her a glance by Nnoitra, "you brought this upon yourself!"
The White Citadel, The Communications Hub
Gin had been quite amused with what was unfolding.
Having taken the liberty of monitoring the ongoings of the invaders' progress, he had been tracking each and every battle to the best of his ability. Each one showed progression in strength on most of their parts. Uryu Ishida showed more tact and better tools befitting his named heritage. Ichigo Kurosaki has better tamed his Hollow powers. And Rukia Kuchiki had dealt with her severe handicap of fighting such a nefarious foe.
"Aaroniero had never been one to play it fair," Gin thought with a thin lipped grin. Just as soon as he had felt the Synchronized Cognition broadcast from the dying Aaroniero, he soon checked the camera angles around his quarters. Much to his dismay, it appeared Aaroniero had removed all surveillance devices from within his halls, making only the vague outline of his deceased form as much confirmation to backup the mental projection's authenticity.
Then he noticed Rukia's battles soon after. While it appeared she was heading towards one of her friends to heal them, she knelt above the defeated Privaron whom had been dealt with by her own comrade's hands. Curious, Gin watched her put a hand onto the Arrancar's chest and then proceeded to, for lack of a better word, eviscerate his body and cause it to disappear.
"What the Hell?" Gin thought with a blink of the eyes, his crimson irises gleaming with bafflement at the phenomena that had transpired. He'd watch further, witnessing Zommari Rureaux engage in mortal combat with her. Impressed with her fighting style's improvement since her fight, what little he saw of it, with Aaroniero, he'd then briefly note how Zommari's expression changed to fear and stark realization just prior to his death.
While he possessed no audio, it appeared as if Rukia looked down at the corpse, disdaining it as if she knew it. Kneeling down, he began to watch the two halves of the body become consumed in what he could only see was a tendril maw emanating from her left hand. As she proceeded to stand over Chad's body, pondering as if to consume him as well, the pieces began to fit in Gin's mind.
"The only reason Aaroniero was inducted into the ranks of the Espada and has remained consistently Novena for all these years was because he ate that Hollow. The one that kept its shape, form, and the essence of whatever it devoured. I forget the name, but I don't forget it had the ability to merge its spiritual essence with anyone, even Shinigami. If Aaroniero kept that ability then there's no denying the possibility that he could merge his own essence into a new host body, and leave one he deems as useless or too weak," Gin concluded with a hand stroking his chin, watching Rukia now bend over and consume Chad's own body. With morbid fascination, he smiled as he watched the final parts of his body slither into her hand that reverted back into its original shape. Chuckling, he watched her leave and move across the sandy wastes with haste, obvious to him that she sought new victims to chow down on. "it seems Aaroniero's pulled the wool over all of our eyes. I doubt even Lord Aizen knows about this deception, what with his fixation on Ichigo-"
"Gin," Kaname's voice interrupted his train of thought, causing the said albino to turn over and stare at him with a irritated visage. "Lord Aizen is asking about the status of Las Noches."
Sighing, Gin waved off towards the blind colleague of his, glad that he was unable to see the screens as he was able to keep on the channel of interest instead of hastily changing it. "Nothing new to report. No Gargantas opening up within the enclosure and no reinforcements to speak of yet."
"I see," Kaname said with understanding. Quick to follow up with this information, Kaname turned his heels on Gin and spoke to him over his shoulder, "in that case, Lord Aizen said you shouldn't waste time. He's been noticing the drop of several Reiatsus, and what he can only conclude will be the eventual disappearance of a few more. He needs you to go retrieve the Vanguard so we don't exhaust the lion share of our forces."
"Oh? You want me to get them?" Gin asked with perplexion.
"Is there a problem?" Kaname asked, halfway turning towards Gin.
"Well...why don't you go get them?" Gin asked with a sheepish smile, pointing his hand towards his associate.
"Lord Aizen needs me elsewhere. This is your assignment from him," Kaname answered bluntly.
"But I don't like it down there. It's not a pleasant place and I don't think they like me," Gin scrunched up his nose, showing his detestment to the idea.
"Are you refusing an order?" Kaname inquired pointedly.
Sighing heavily, Gin massaged the bridge of his nose, using his free hand to wave off his comrade, "No, I can handle it. Just lettin' ya know I don't like it."
"Good," Kaname said with satisfaction, turning crisply to exit the room and back down the hall whence he came, "Lord Aizen will be pleased."
Groaning, Gin stood up and glanced at the monitor he had been watching. A secret smile stretched over his face, cloaking the look of knowing in his crimson glinting eyes. He'd hum to himself as his thoughts gave him newfound amusement, "Things are going to be quite busy around here. I can't wait to see how this plays out!"
A/N: Whew! Done and wow this took longer than I thought. Not to write, mind you, but my mind hit so many roadblocks along the way. I just wish it didn't take until NOW to complete it. But I DIGRESS it is finished and I am glad.
First, I want to thank Lastation for previewing and helping me spot check some errors. I wouldn't have gotten it to such a good quality without him. So a round of applause to him for helping make this chapter even better than intended :)
I hope what you saw, my additions to Rudbornn's abilities and my changing of the outcome to Nnoitra's initial fight with Nelliel, is to your liking. I thought that Nelliel was the most mistreated of the potential badasses that Kubo created. Much like how there was so much potential for Aaroniero, Nelliel's potential lied in her becoming a permanent member of the team and kept her from being limelighted as a all-powerful badass Arrancar.
Hope you all liked it and I hope you can contain your excitement for the next chapter of A Predator Among Us!