Embodied in Death
Let out your last Breath
Pain of Sacrifice
Decay of Age
Despair of Lonliness
Cross our blades in the Hollow's Prada
Know, we are Espada
Chapter 16 - In Pale Moonlight
Tanrei Kakushi, the second generation Kidō Captain and a lauded disciple underneath the revered Tessai Tsukabishi had felt her reach the peak of her limitations as a Shinigami. Though she was considered a prodigy she knew herself to be incapable of matching the prowess of an older and more experienced man as he. For while she fought hard and with more prestige than any Kidō practitioner could be commended of she was just a sorceress.
What she faced was a monster.
Kneeling with weight placed against her stave, her face was bruised, lips split and her coat covered in splotches of laceration borne blood. No longer regal she looked the part of an injured combatant on the point of near incapacitation. The sheared landscape mirrored the feeling she had of pain and fatigue; sweat and grime saw to it that she looked weathered to her enemy. Looking at her opponent whom looked merely scuffed and rejuvenated from any damage she dealt to him, she knew this was an uphill battle.
One that could only delay the inevitable.
"The fact you've restored your vitality after so much damage inflicted speaks volumes of your perseverance and constitution, Kidō Captain," Kaname grated out in a patronizing tone. His feet took him casually towards her, his hair caressing his shoulders and his mask further contorted across his jawline. Incapable of feeling pain by this point, the sheer power promoting a sensation akin to a numbing drug, he scoffed at the injuries left by his opponent. Raising his blade, he'd leap forward in a rush to impale her through the heart, blasting the air by his enhanced momentum. "But I will end your life here and now! Lord Aizen will assuredly need me to mop up the rest of this Shinigami and I shall deliver!"
Time seemed to halt for her. Her life flashed before her eyes. She knew her reflexes had waned over the course of her exhaustion. All she could do was stare as the cutting edge of her life ceasing raced headlong towards her.
"I'm sorry, Ryūten," She apologized as the blade inched closer, light refracting off the metal as it aimed to pierce her blood covered bosom. "This is as far as I go."
Unheard by both but witnessed as a dark shadow overtook the pair in the attacker's leap. The sight of a blurring wave of steel took hold of both; one that cracked down the Hollowfied opponent's from hitting the back of his own weapon, sending him to tumble to his hands and knees onto the earthen floor. The blast wave that erupted from backlash sent both combatants reeling back several dozen meters now witnessing a hulking figure of bestial strength with an armored uniform.
"Tōsen," Sajin intoned gravely as a speechless Kidō Captain stood up slowly, just as the Hollowfied Commander seemed to visibly stew at his interference. "To think, I, would direct your blade away from claiming the life of a comrade. It saddens me it's come to this and what you've become."
"I too am sad, Komamura," Kaname sneered, his body shaking with rage as his voice began to bellow and generate a buffet of impressive Reiatsu. "Sad to see that you've not seen who I really am until now! This is the real me! None of you saw me for what I really am!"
"And what is that, Tōsen?! A monster?! A villain?!"
"AN AVENGER!" Kaname proclaimed in response to Sajin's shouts. As he did, the mask fully opened with faux teeth shadowing his real mouth, spewing spittle as he howled aloud with fully outstretched arms. "I WILL ACQUIRE VENGEANCE FOR MY FRIEND AGAINST THIS TWISTED SOUL SOCIETY YOU PROTECT! A HAVEN OF MURDERERS AND LIARS, THE CORRUPT HAVE SAT ON THEIR THRONES FOR FAR TOO LONG AND THE ONE ON HIGH DOES NOTHING! THROUGH AIZEN, A WORLD WITH RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE WILL TAKE ITS PLACE," He snarled loudly, vocally presenting his blade towards him with a semblance of a challenge to his old friend. "AND I WILL BECOME BATHED IN DARKNESS IN ORDER FOR THESE EYES TO WITNESS IT!"
It was a damning silence that followed the sobering Sajin's countenance. His gaze deepened into his old friend's mask, sightless and blank, fully showcasing who he really was. Closing his eyes he let out a solemn exhale.
"It was inevitable that we'd draw blades then. You and I will never see eye to eye over this. I was a fool to expect anything else than what I first foresaw since our friendship was realized," The Bestial Captain stated, his blade swinging out to the side, cracking the earth from the pressure projected. Then, a quaking sensation was released as his Reiatsu bled into the earth and thrummed the air like a cacophony of war drums. Following this his eyes alight of red he roared aloud with vigor, "BANKAI! KOKUTŌ TENGEN MYŌ'Ō!"
Formed out of spectral fire came the awesome display of the Captain's Bankai. Clad in black fatigued armor with a monolithic scale, the red veiled yellow eyed giant wielded an enormous sword in its right hand. Its feet kicked up the earth as it mimicked the stance of its wielder, whom glowed an immense Reiatsu of red.
Wordlessly he swung his sword down, cleaving the earth for a dust spewing distance. The Hollowfied Shinigami leaped to the side, avoiding the blast entirely as he employed Shunpo and slashed at the back of his hand. From the plated surface erupted blood, forming a visible gash on Sajin's hand. Though he was surprised, he still had enough composure to swing the affected hand back, slamming it into the Visored.
Sent out of the crater and into a stretch of urban landscape that toppled buildings, Tanrei was awestruck at the sheer might of the Bankai.
"It's weakness is easy to deduce," The white drabbed enemy returned, his arm contorting in odd shapes as the broken sword limb that took the brunt of the force was regenerating damaged tissue, ligaments and bones. He haughtily explained while the Kidō Captain was flabbergasted just how easily Aizen's right hand withstood so much damage and walked it off without much of a quiver. "Your Bankai's symbiosis with you is so great that you share its injuries and its immense power, that you'd never conjure the idea that its own defense could be breached by another. No one in Soul Society could be measured against its raw power; until I've transcended that limitation."
"If you think you can bring me down with a measly scratch, Tōsen, then you really are deluded," Sajin huffed dismissively.
"Perhaps on the main body," He retorted, shifting onto one leg and then the other. With a sudden squat he propelled himself swiftly upwards. When Sajin reflexively raised his sword to deflect his approach, he witnessed the Hollowfied Shinigami perform Shunpo and approach the Bankai's face. "How about those eyes of yours?!"
Even with a free hand reaching up to catch him, Sajin knew he had been outmaneuvered. If Kaname stabbed through the eye deep enough, he could be killed outright. With bared teeth and motion proceeding as quickly as he could manage, neither could hear the sound of spinning metal.
Nor the pole-handled weapon crashing into his weapon.
"Hisagi," Kaname whispered, his head jerking as his weapon has cracked further, dangerously to the point of breaking apart. While he leaped away from the giant's hand, he'd narrowly avoid the spinning weapon's trajectory as it followed him. When he located Shūhei's solitary stance, bearing a stoic glare with the other scythe in hand, he leaped to attack and landed a crash against the single weapon. "You've come here to die?"
"No, to thank you," He murmured back as he barely held off the monstrous opponent, his brow twitching and sweat accumulating from the effort. "You've taught me the value of fear, respecting one's own power and the apprehension that comes with using it. Such lessons you've endowed upon me made me the man I am today. For that I am grateful."
"You lie," The former Captain of the 9th Division replied. His left hand reached behind him as the spinning blade was subtly directed towards his back, catching the razor's edge with his bare hand without consequence. Eyes narrowed behind his mask as his mouth grated with contempt visibly through his split bask. "I did not hear a single ounce of fear when you spoke that. You've yet to know true fear, Hisagi."
"I've a lot to learn," Shūhei replied, his eyes at one point widening turned into a focused scowl as his fingertips ebbed of yellow dyed electricity. "But I am thankful, nonetheless."
"Hadō #11, Tsuzuri Raiden!"
Upon the echo of the Kidō did Kaname realize the error in his own posture. With his weapon connecting against one half and his other hand holding the other, two flows of potent Reishi shocked him in a mantle of high voltage. Stunned enough to be kicked away he'd fail to right himself as the following chant was uttered.
"Bakudō #62, Hyapporankan!" He shouted as he gestured with his right armed hand, throwing a purplish white rod that multiplied into a hundred. The wall of incapacitating bolts struck Kaname, some even slamming into his body. Crashing into the ground he was all but pinned to the ground.
Grunting he'd feel an immense pressure visiting him in addition to his own former subordinate's seal. Black cloth swam around the air till it entwined his pinned limbs, forcing them tightly into the earth as stone tablets weighed down the imprisoned commander. Snarling and shaking as much as his bindings would allow, Kaname frothed with abject rage.
"I will not be stopped by the likes of this!" He declared as he turned to witness the radiant glow of the tenacious Captain Kakushi treading towards him, staff floating before her while both sets of forefingers crossed as the rest clasped. Glowing visibly to the fellow Shinigami, she chanted aloud.
"Born of sin, held by the tiles of transgression and reject all that is righteous. Black of darkness be your shackles and grey be the weight of your affronts of this world. Bakudō #99, Part I, Kin!" She chanted aloud, the seal reinforced and twined tighter on the Shinigami. Despite herself breathing heavily and profusely emitting sweat, she kept her stance proper while the pair of involved Shinigami looked on solemnly. Turning to look over one shoulder as the commander to continued to thrash. "My apologies for cutting in, but I thank you for your help. Had he not been offset by your interference I'd most assuredly be dead."
While Sajin bowed his head to her in a non-vocal acknowledgement of her words, Shūhei dropped to the ground and treaded forth. Looking at the seething man whom he once admired and looked up to, it pained him to see what befell him. Turning his head away, he inquired softly, "What will become of him?"
"Should this battle end sooner without calamity ensuing? He'll most likely stand trial for the crimes he's committed. I'm certain being affiliated in the murder of Central 46 will have him face a grievous sentence," She replied bluntly, her words having no sympathy for the one gnashing his teeth. "His fate has been sealed the moment he sided with Aizen. There is no redemption for his kind; not especially since he dabbled into Hollowfication."
A significant surge of power shuddered the air when she finished speaking. A Reiatsu so intoxicating that all knew whom it belonged to. With a trio of paled expressions, only one seemed to laugh.
"It seems Lord Aizen is done waiting," Kaname declared with an unseen smile. With his hand still holding his cracked sword tightly, the wrist twisted and the weapon became glowing of a purple-onyx flame. Spreading like wildfire it encroached upon his bindings eroding it till they were abolished off his person. With clever use of Haien the Visored stood before the trio of Shinigami, flipping his blade to be inverted as he presented it to them. "And I've decided to show you the gap between us, Komamura, Hisagi and Kidō Captain.
"Suzumushi Hyakushiki: Grillar Grillo!"
Kenpachi Zaraki has had a slew of battles in his lifetime. Since the dull memories of his childhood he was a butcher of men and an unrivaled killer with savagery that couldn't be matched. Until he met her did he feel true ecstasy in the act of slaying. But somewhere down the line he had grown bored and too eager to find even the simplest of fights entertaining. Never once did he feel an intensity in battle or one that he couldn't overcome with sheer force of his own might.
Then he met Ichigo Kurosaki and he found the perfect man to rival his undying ferocity with power of his own. Ever since then he had tried all he could to commune with his Zanpakutō, to get stronger, but always was met with perpetual silence. Still the confrontation he had survived made him believe if he kept fighting stronger opponents he could become stronger than he once was before.
Feeling the sensation of his own palm splitting open and a powerful backlash of his own Reiatsu impacting him was nostalgic. With his heels skidding back a significant distance before he drove his blade into the disheveled cement to slow himself down did he see an unmoved opponent. Not even his white linen uniform had been scratched by his sword's rough edge, and he himself had a bored if not disappointed look in his eyes.
"Is that it? You're barely above Grimmjow in terms of strength," Coyote Starrk declared as he had unpocketed his gloved hands to rest at his sides. "Though judging from your behavior you're every bit as bloodthirsty as he is. You two would've made quite the pair."
"Sorry, but I don't swing that way," Kenpachi declared with a raucous laugh, hiding the rare fear he felt swelling in his gut. Keeping himself from looking down at the blood dripping off his sword hand, he realized this was what the Ryouka kid must have felt when he first struck him with no effect. To think he'd face an opponent overwhelmingly stronger than him; the Reiatsu was so palpable he swore he was facing someone of her caliber rather than the other barely competent Captains he's come to know.
Still...it excited him to no end he found someone this strong.
"Looks like I hit the jackpot," The 11th Division's Captain muttered to himself, his hand reaching up to grasp his eye patch. Tearing it off, he bore a feral grin as he became illuminated in a powerful surge of spirit energy, becoming a torrential pillar of gold light. The skull that encased his form clapped its ethereal teeth together just as his yellow eyes stared ahead at the Arrancar. "You're the strongest one, aren't ya?! If my third seat was here, he'd say I'm one LUCKY GUY!"
A loud yell sounded as his feet cracked against the earth and propelled forward. Just as he reached forth to thrust his blade deep into the bored Shinigamified Hollow's chest did he feel a hand touch his shoulder from behind. Gaping at the sight, Kenpachi turned to attack but was already airborne. Catapulted senseless into the sky with a underhanded toss, his ear popped at the sudden change in altitude and wind slapped across his face as he looked up to see the canopy of the mock town's barrier.
Flipping himself in the nick of time, his feet crashed into the invisible ceiling like a solid object. With bent knees he dove downward with a bellowing laugh, sword held in his right hand while his left hand was outstretched. Descending like a meteor he saw the Arrancar still in place where he was thrown from, allowing him to target his next descending slash with a ferocious arching stroke.
The entire area was enveloped in a crushing blast wave, yellow light filtered about and the superstructures were engulfed in hyper friction born flames. The air crackled with solar colored tendrils of Reishi, sparking and snapping about wildly. Beneath the cloud of vapor induced from the heat was Kenpachi's opponent as he remained in the air.
With a single hand grasping hold of the sword with only his glove torn off; revealing a black number one etched upon it.
"I'm not normally the kind of guy to just put down weaker opponents so quickly, but," Starrk monotoned his hand gripping hard enough to shatter the sword in his grip into metallic fragments, leaving what Kenpachi held a mere stub of a weapon. Without gesture, his chest bubbled forth a luminous deep blue Cero, unleashed in such a fashion that it washed over Kenpachi's whole frame in a fiery pyre of destructive Reishi. With the clothes nearly ripped off from the now shirtless charred man, Starrk watched him fall face flat onto the ground. "You're likely to kill my other comrades if I let you run free. So it ends here, Captain."
Turning away, he spotted Lilynette in the distance, pushing some debris off her. Sighing with relief that she wasn't caught in the crossfire he took a step away from the wrecked urban battlefield. When he felt a tug at his ankle his eyes widened.
"What-?"
"You think...I'm...going to let you get away?" Kenpachi Zaraki hoarsely chuckled between labored breaths. With cracks of blood oozing over his blackened scalp to his reddened face, the bloodied and battered Shinigami looked to be in terrible pain. Yet his left hand sought purchase of the Primera's ankle, his sword hand clenching the fragments of what was left of his Zanpakutō. "My men...would think I'm a coward...if I had no will to fight when I had the strength to move!"
"Oi, let go," Starrk shook his foot with annoyance, comically watching the charred hand continue to grip tighter. Visibly twitching, he shifted to face him completely, looking down at the hand still holding fast. In the blink of an eye, an arc of motion too fast for Kenpachi to see, his wrist was eviscerated clean off; kicked away not far away from his blood stained remains while the sound of a sword clicking back into the scabbard was heard. "I told you, didn't I?"
"D-Damn," He swore under his breath, grimacing as he closed his eyes, unable to see the bleeding stump while his remaining hand continued to hold his broken weapon.
"It's strange. I don't know your name yet I kind of pity you," The Primera spoke quietly, his expression coming across as solemn. Raising his left hand, he gathered Reishi into a swirling sphere, pulsating ominously as it overcast the downed Captain. "I won't let you bleed out in the middle of nowhere. One more Cero should finish you off."
The amount of injured was staggering. Many of them that were taken into the remote hospital housed in the mock town. But as the dispatched medics of the 4th Division reported, a lot more were left behind and were too far gone to be helped. Even as hundreds of healers continued to help hundreds more, Hanatarō Yamada did his best to keep up with the pace.
From a particularly maimed Shinigami he was aiding, he overheard his senior 3rd Seat, Yasochika Iemura, trailing behind with several other peers behind Captain Unohana. He hadn't heard what was being discussed till she head towards the exit of the building, with them staying back a respective yet close distance.
"Who is this patient you're going to see? Why are you needing the three of us for one man?"
"Because I believe that, judging by the Reiatsu that has dwindled, he is in terrible shape," The braided woman declared as she held her nodachi by the strap with both hands. Smiling politely, a sudden shiver down the four's spines and their complexion paling. "I'm counting on you to preserve his life and restore his vitals to stability."
"O-Of course, maam!" The 3rd Seat replied, all four of them standing at attention in sheer fright. But as she turned to leave, he could only stutter aloud in serious inquiry. "But, Captain...where will you be? Will you not return?"
"Depends."
"Depends on what?"
"How much trouble this opponent is," She cracked a smile, an old rare expression of sadistic hunger encroaching on the usual kind visage. While none of her subordinates could see it, the sensation of cold swept across the hospital floor. The feel of not warmth and kindness, but of bloodlust.
"Is that really our Captain?" Hanatarō inquired with a shudder.
Just as quickly as she stated her intentions, she left just as swift.
"Goodbye," Starrk respectfully whispered, unleashing the ball of Reishi onto his downed target.
But in a flash that only the Primera could see, a blur of white moved past the traveling destructive fissure and took the incapacitated Zaraki out of his attack's path. Even as the ground upheaved in a ball of flames and popping air pressure, the Arrancar turned to look amongst the smoke and orange-red overcast air.
From the distance he'd see a particular well kempt woman hovering over the charred meat of a Shinigami. Bearing a Haori of a memorable symbol on her back while ebony hair braided to fall over her uniformed bosom, she placed her hands over his enemy's most significant wounds and began mending them.
"So, the 4th Division Captain, Retsu Unohana," The Arrancar observed silently, his eyes gazing at her as she set work to quickly implement first aid. "I guess he won't be dying then. What a drag. I hope Aizen doesn't get mad at me for not attacking her from behind; not that she couldn't see me coming given the way she moved just now."
"You're such a reckless fool," The woman placated gently to the burned out warrior.
"Why...why can't I get stronger?" Kenpachi inquired as his eyes began to close, the exhaustion finally setting in while she finished her procedure. "Why...am I...so weak?"
"No. The blame falls to me you're in such a state," She quietly apologized, her hands moving t o unsheathe her sword. When the long blade was held aloft to the side she sighed. "But I will make it up to you and make sure the one who felled you doesn't escape."
"Ingest, Minazuki," He'd hear her chant, her drawn sword becoming a cyclops manta ray creature. With a sickly yellow underbelly and a green skinned top, its tripod of a leg let it lean over the pair with a burbling sound. A tongue extended out to delicately pull the immediately mended 11th Division Captain into its gullet. Exhaling in a disgusting burp, it turned to see the disembodied hand not far away. Like a frog its tongue snapped out and quickly swallowed it . Rubbing its side she urged it with a smile. "Go and take him to the designated HQ of the 4th Division. Return to me when you are done."
Gurgling aloud in compliance, the Zanpakutō flapped its wings and took flight, riding the air currents in the sky till it departed.
"I thank you for being so thoughtful in not attacking me while I aided my comrade," Unohana spoke honestly to Starrk as she turned to address him. Letting the scabbard drop to the ground, she walked forward in a calm stride, her polite smile adorned. Slowly it transformed into a grin of thin lipped malice, her eyes becoming cold and hungry. One foot closer and the entire world became a maddening orchestra of barely subdued violence; all etched into the phantasmal screams that ebbed from her composed Reiatsu clutching to her like embalming cloth to a corpse. "Allow me to return the kindness. Arrancar, draw your sword."
It was all the warning the Primera was given.
With his gloved right hand swiftly grasping the hilt, he backpedaled just as the woman lunged forth. In a blur of steel he'd meet a Reishi sword she manifested via Kidō -Hadō #41 Kiriken- and a loud boom of colliding Reiatsu transpired. Azure met dark purple as the pair of weapons pressured against each other, eyes of blue stared each other down, one with apprehension and the other with carnal delight. The ground deepened, a crater swelled outward from the force both placed against each other.
Just as her left arm moved, the Primera spun his sword to swivel hers off course, allowing a gestureless Cero prime across his torso and fire. While the offending pair of knives were shattered, she managed to redirect it with the back of her hand, only burning it slightly from making contact. A distant explosion rumbled with a plume of flames rising upward, showcasing the power she avoided taking head-on.
"Geez," He thought as he held his blade with a grimacing expression at the unfazed Shinigami standing before him. "Why did I have to find somebody so strong?"
"CAPTAIN!"
It was the only word that Omaeda could shout at the horrific sight of her Haori being torn asunder, the last thing he could fix his eyes upon. When the Segunda had dispatched her so swiftly he paled and sweated at his gaze turning to him. Just about to make a run for it, he then felt his eyes wince at a sudden flash of light.
In that luminous glare was Suì-Fēng, now adorned solely in her Onmitsukidō Chief uniform enveloped in phantasmal wind of Shunkō. Twisting about behind the Arrancar, she was enabled to execute a swift palm-thrust into his backside, causing him to bulge his eye wide with shock. His lumbering old frame was sent flying, allowing her to chase him down with her newly acquired speed.
"Is that...Captain's Shunkō?!" Sayuri exclaimed, in awe as the sprite woman managed to appear in front of the Espada. The performance of a handspring kick to use the Arrancar's own momentum against him split the earth and sent a billowing shockwave for all those around them. The 3rd Seat had to shield her eyes with her gauntlet adorned hands, blinking widely at the display of sheer speed and strength. "Incredible! Did you know she had such a technique?!"
"Are you kidding?! She doesn't share anything with me!" He spat incredulously.
"Right, she does like to give you a hard time. Probably because you're her right hand and your bad habits bother her."
"Stop talking trash about me-!"
He was cut off when he heard a succession of kicks pop in the air like thunder. The elder Shinigamified Hollow was being throttled up, rag-dolled without any feasible defense. The sight of her jabbing her gauntlet adorned dagger digit into his chest would be seen right before she hooked both legs around him and sent him falling to the earth. When he impacted the earth, she crashed both knees into his chest, erupting the environment once more with radical force.
"Nigeki Kessatsu!" She cried out as she hit the monarch mark on the Arrancar's chest, causing the black lines to glow a bright red.
An emptiness filled the air as the fight seemed to have been brought to a dramatic close. Suì-Fēng kept her enemy pinned, awaiting the instant the poison's effect would be complete. Her eyes gravely fixed on his closed eyes and his open mouth. When she felt a sudden familiar sensation of stillness numbing her legs during her Shunkō's deactivation did she suddenly see him reach out and grasp her arm.
"Death in two steps. Yes, such a formidable move Aizen told me about," The Segunda stated gutturally, his eye staring at her with amusement. With his gaze held upon her the monarch glowing sign withered away, dispersing into flaking ink colored dust into the air. "But, did you ever consider that your poison would last long inside my body? Did you really think that someone with a simple Kidō enhancement could deal a mortal blow to the likes of me?"
Releasing his hold on her arm, Suì-Fēng turned to look at a painful yet limp motion her Shikai adorned limb had undergone.
"I didn't even feel exertion from him at all, yet, my arm is broken?!" She thought with panic, reactivating her Shunkou to push herself away from the Espada. Clutching her useless arm with a sweating, composed expression she did her best to remain calm.
"I see you just had a taste of my Aspect," Barragan noticed with a gruff huff, dusting himself off while the glowing mark she had stabbed into his skin had all but faded away. "You see, whenever an Arrancar was promoted to the rank of Espada they all had some strong character or essence that propels them forward. Their ideals, morals and very being center around the aspects of death.
"Greed. Madness. Intoxication. Destruction. Despair. Emptiness. Sacrifice. Solitude, are all traits that we Espada embody and motivate us as individuals," He digressed, pointing to her broken arm for emphasis. "And mine is the most absolute; Senescence. The byproduct of time's weight on all things in creation, the curse of aging. The confusion you felt from a simple touch breaking your bones like brittle wood will be an ending befitting you and your men."
In a buzzing Sonido that made him virtually teleport back to his throne, his fist smashed through his seat. Through the fragmented remains of bone material came an enormous axe, a single red eye at the base of the weapon's dual butcher blades. Swinging it to hang upside down, he gruffly chanted to the bleak object.
"Rot, Arrogante!"
A guttural voice followed a rivuletting flow of violet-black Reiatsu. Folding over him like burning fabric the light dimmed and the air swirled ominously about. Tendrils of black Reishi surged across the earth, soon unveiling the King of Hueco Mundo in his truest form in a ripping sound.
Donning a purple coat with black furred trim, the golden crown resting over a human skull was devoid of flesh. With golden bracelets jingling about his skeletal wrists, the released Arrancar let out a small breath, coming out like a toxic smog similiar in hue to his own dark Reiatsu. When a golden trimmed boot touched the soil, chills ran down all standing Shinigami's spines at the sight of everything surrounding his vicinity...decaying.
The disintegration process occurred rapidly, unfurling in wave of death that spread like the god of all plagues. Suì-Fēng let out a startled cry as she turned to flee, only for her heels up to her back to be encroached. Even now the painful process that she couldn't see of her Shikhakushō and flesh reduced to ash, her muscle past the tendons and blood vessels to the very bone wittling away. She was far too close to have had a chance to escape; so she chose to speak to the only one who could.
"Omaeda," She choked out, her eyes locking onto his petrified visage as her skull began to erode from behind up to the front. A brief smile with a sad look in her eyes locked onto his as a faint sign of tears welled up as she gasped her final word. "Run."
Overwhelmed in the wave of aging force, Captain Suì-Fēng of the 2nd Division and Chief of the Onmitsukidō Militia was slain.
"CAPTAIN-!" Sayuri shrieked, her body leaping forward with indignation, unwittingly towards the sea of blackness that continued to spread. When the Lieutenant's surprisingly strong arms wrapped around her from behind, she flailed madly. Growling she yelled at her peer with venom in her voice. "Let go! I'll kill him! I'll avenge her-!"
"You felt that, right?! The same thing that Captain Suì-Fēng did before she died. We're no match for this. We have to run!"
"No we don't, you coward! Let me go! LET ME-!"
Turning around on his heels, the Lieutenant put the pedal to the metal and zoomed as far as he could. He didn't even pay any mind as the tower's base behind them was eradicated by the senescence that grazed it. With the foundations wittled away, the cornerstone that held the duplicated town tilted towards them and moaned with momentum. The impending doom came towards them even as he aimed to rush through the urban landscape to escape.
"Awshitshitshitshitohshiiiiit!"
The monunmental structure tumbled forth with a loud crash. The blast wave unfurled in a line of complete upheaval of cement, concrete and asphalt. Glass along with walls flew in sporadic directions, the awry collateral unleashed a testament to the dimensional lynchpin's scale.
But somehow, Omaeda's quick maneuvers had only them half buried under some bearable debris.
"Ngh...ow, that smarts," The chunky Lieutenant retorted as he pried loose several blocks of cement off himself. He sighed with relief at the sight of the 3rd Seat only receiving several scrapes, while he himself felt a wet gash on his head and several cuts from the shrapnel. She was on all fours, forlorn and unable to speak as her body shook. "Well...what now?"
"Ah, so you can run, can you?"
The familiar voice, now layered in a tone more ethereal than from spiritual flesh. Turning to look over his shoulder he saw that the Espada was floating in the air a good twenty meters off the ground. Behind him was a field of dust and ash, with nothing left remarkable of what was once there; aside from the ruins cast by the crumbled tower.
With it gone, the folds of spacial restriction began to be undone from a distance and he witnessed the glow as structures filled with people were being restored to where it was lost. It was a slow process but if left unchecked, the whole of Karakura Town may return before they knew it. Right in the middle of a war zone no less!
"I had figured if I simply destroyed one, this false town constructed by Soul Society would come back at the seams," Barragan gloated with a bone contorted grin, his voice echoing in the air without any real motions of his mouth to do so. "But I'm sure that bastard Aizen will most likely want this done sooner rather than later. I may loathe his existence but I am intrigued of seeing this God of Shinigami that live up on high. For that, I'll tolerate his whims enough to carry out his goals...for now."
"Shit, what am I supposed to do?" Omaeda thought, feeling frozen stiff as he was stared by unseen eyes from this regal embroidered skeleton. "Everything around him just freakin' disappears. If I just wail at it, I'm sure I'll end up like the Captain! Think! There has to be a way to survive this-!"
A distant rumbling sound caught his and his enemy's attention. Turning to look at his left, the frabric of reality was being overturned by the Material World's original state being restored. Even so, a twenty meter long piece of the crumbled tower rose up before it was sucked back into the Soul Society's fold. With the livid, heaving frame of Sayuri beneath it she hurled the enormous pyre shaped remnant of the structure towards Barragan like an enormous ballistic missile.
"CHOKE ON THIS!" She screamed as the monstrous sized weapon of crude making struck his proximity.
But no loud crack of tonnage of spiritual constructed material was made. No, instead it rapidly decomposed, becoming a brittle cloud of dust. As the last of the rocks crumbled the Espada hadn't even flinched at ther attack that ordinarily would've at least made any other Arrancar be wary.
"I...I put all of my strength into that," The 3rd Seat muttered out with deflated morbid understanding. "Not even force can move that thing?!"
"Age kills without understanding. It is something no one comprehends," Barragan replied, the gaseous smog exuding from his mouth in a chilling sound of ghastly wind. "That's how you'll die, Shinigami. Without knowing anything at all why."
Spewing forth like a serpent, the Respira flew forth like a whipping arm, aiming to grab hold of her and pull her into a cold unforgiving beyond. No reincarnation, no coming back; just an empty void of unrepentant nothingness.
Just as she thought she was joining her superior, a stuttering cry was heard following a whooshing sensation that wrapped in a weight around her legs. Yelping she was pulled down, mere inches away where the breath of death almost made contact. Crashing into the ground, she groaned from the impact but was amazed she survived. Untangling her legs from the chains she saw a large spiked ball near her body pulled to rest heavily upon the stronger than expected Lieutenant.
"Y-You got another thing coming if y-you think you can just kill another of my comrades in front of me wi-without me stopping ya!" Suì-Fēng's right hand declared boldly, despite a clear look of fear worn on his face and his legs shook. While Sayuri looked on with newfound awe and respect, the Arrancar simply huffed from afar.
"I was holding back that time. I hadn't expected outside interference. But if you want to die together so badly," Barragan declared, his noxious breath escaping forth in an impossibly swift wave of blackness, bearing upon them even as he spoke to his victims. "I'm happy to oblige your death wish!"
A flash of white appeared before the pair of paralyzed Onmitsukidō Officers. In that moment the wave of darkness vanished before their eyes and seemed to discharge from their savior's sword. Such a phenomena was so surprising that even the Espada let out a startled bark as the blast of Reiatsu coming off it dispersed the power.
"You fired...Respira...at me?!" He scoffed incredulously, the smoke rolling off his royal shoulders as his hollow eyes stared at a white-haired Captain wielding a pair of swords bound by a chord with talismans attached to them. "Who are you?"
"Captain of the Thirteenth Division, Jushirō Ukitake," The senior Captain replied as the two officers behind him gaped at seeing the Captain's power and sword release firsthand. As he kept the Espada's attention, the distant sound of pikes crashed into the dimensional folding earth was halted by its proximity. The line was generous enough that a temporary barrier was crafted so the real Karakura wouldn't be unraveled any further, something that Barragan simply scoffed at when he noticed it with a tilt of his head. "Your opponent will be me, now."
"Indeed," Barragan grinned, letting out a raspy chuckle. "And I will be the last enemy you fight, Shinigami."
Tōshirō Hitsugaya was slowly gaining headway. As the ice petals wilted away behind his back he felt more control and strength enhance his movements. Starting off the bat he was at a complete disadvantage against the Espada, even when she hadn't even released her sword. But now the effects of his Bankai was beginning to bear fruit, with which a third of his restrictions had dwindled away.
Being blown back by an especially strong bolt of Reishi in the shape of a sword, he had only slid a few meters back instead of being rag-dolled as before. Taking time to regain his bearings he saw that the Tres Espada had halted her offensive. Even as the cloudy sky began to let loose rain upon a good half of Fake Karakura, its influence already starting to encroach to the rest of the mock town. Droplets of moisture along with gusts of wind were accentuated by flashes of lightning high up within the heavens.
Within a particularly loud thunderclap, Tier Harribel huffed through her mask with disappointment, "This is all that there is to a Captain? Here I thought you'd put up a better fight, but all you can do is delay my advances."
"Isn't that common against those with the same element ability?" Tōshirōu countered cooly, cocking a slight smile as he held his Zanpakutō with at an angle with both ice encroached hands. "As long as I stand I'll continue to dredge the very heavens to produce more water to freeze. You have impressive talent at bending and melting water, but even someone with your amicable abilities will be overwhelmed."
"Then I shall no longer waste time," She breathed out, raising her body upward, away from the decimated park grounds to get a view of the city surrounding it. Twisting her sword around to an inverted posture, she breathed aloud her final words. "And end you in an instant. Hunt, Tiburón."
The generation of Reiatsu to form a shark mouth shaped body of water made the Captain guarded. In a swirling cyclone of moisture he rose up into the air at a similar altitude with cooling vapor ebbing from his sword. Holding his blade forward with one arm, he observed as the Espada appeared but not as dramatically different as he anticipated.
"Her Reiatsu hasn't gone up that much. Is she concealing her power to catch me off guard?" He furrowed his brows, noticing her physique had changed to possess a skirt of bones while her thighs were exposed down to bone clad boots from the knees down. Similar material formed sleeves of alabaster wrapped from the elbows down to her digits, crest designed pauldrons flanking her now exposed visage with blue jagged tattoos on her cheeks and a pair of fin-bands trailing from her back to either side. Her right hand held an equivalent of a shark fin with three angled hollow points on either side, the weapon similar to that of a pata. "Her weapon's size has increased, that means her range must have as well. I should be cautious and keep my distance if that's the case."
Finishing his trail of thought, he only saw her arm move and a blur of multiplied Reiryoku was felt exerted in a trail of Reishi released by her weapon's motion. Red hot pain was felt while a spray of blood splattered across his body, a stump remained as he looked over with shock as his right wing and sword arm petered down to the ground below.
"A single bite from a shark has taken down an ice dragon," Tier Harribel stoically boasted as her eyes coolly observed his injury at her hands. What she hadn't expected was his tail looping down to catch the sword, letting the crumbling ice appendage and his organic one crash to the ground. Once it was in his left hand she furrowed her brows. "You're bleeding out, Captain Hitsugaya. I suggest you surrender now or retreat to mend that injury if you wish to live. Keep fighting, and you'll die."
"I'm well aware of my condition," Tōshirōu grimaced, his left hand alread forming a healing ray of Reishi onto his torn shoulder. After a few seconds the bleeding stopped and he formed a crude glowing cast in its place. Inhaling deeply he exhaled with perfect control, the raining air howling as moisture accumulated towards his body. The wing repaired itself within seconds while a faux limb of ice replaced his missing one, gripping his sword once more with ease. "I have full control over the weather, manipulating water to do a number of things. Even if I or my Bankai sustain injury, I can restore it with the moisture in the atmosphere; even by creating these puppet limbs in case I lose one or two."
"Impressive. I should do well not to underestimate you," Tier complimented, her pata wielding arm raising upward. Just as she motioned her weapon, the immediate surrounding rainfall swirled around into an enormous maelstrom of water. Seeing the Captain's visage she merely intoned with a serious edge to her voice. "You're not the only one who can bend the water around you to your whim."
"Cascada."
With a succinct shout a monolithic pillar of liquid rushed to slam into the devastated park, spreading outward to flood the urban vicinity. Buildings crumbled and streets ruptured by the pressure of the spreading moisture. As the water parted, she could see a thin sheet of ice where the Captain was sent crashing through the street. A dilation later, and the floodwater froze into a field of erect ice spikes.
"Guncho Tsurara!" The child prodigy declared lowly, sending a hail of ice daggers rushing in a wall formation towards his enemy.
"Futile," Tier proclaimed, extending her pata to melt the frozen water in a single bout. The momentum slowly let it linger on past her stoic frame only for the sound of rapid temperature decrease to reach her ears. Looking behind her she did a quick Sonido to avoid a halo shaped wave of ice that aimed to cut as it did enrapture her in its clutches. Backing up, she assimilated more water around her bone-white weapon until she felt the Captain's Reiatsu from behind. "La Gota!"
Firing at point blank, the spear of water seemed to skewer straight through the white-haired Shinigami's chest, sending a gout of blood from his opened chest cavity. As the light faded from his eyes a shadow loomed over the Espada and the Captain. To her surprise it was an ice dragon of incredible proportions, thrusting from the blade of another of the same opponent she wounded.
"It was a copy all along," She realized, raising her weapon only for the injured ice doll to grapple her right arm, proceeding to slash the cold katana against her exposed back. While her Hierro deflected the doppelganger's attack, it was enough to let her get struck by the Chinese dragon of freezing water. Colliding into her, it'd become an ice-shaped flower, imprisoning her in a motionless prison of solid cold.
"She was incredibly strong, even for number three," Tōshirō concurred to himself with a low voice. Panting he grimaced at the phantom pain he was feeling from his missing arm. While Zanhyō Ningyō could help him create frozen copies of himself in his own likeness, even using the Reishi water to mimic blood to offset his enemies further, he knew it was a trick that could only use once. Not to mention it was invaluable to use should injury be sustained to his own body. "I've got to check on Rangiku, see if she's okay. After that I'll make sure to help round up any other enemies left on the battlefield."
Turning to fly off, he felt a spike of Reiatsu. Twisting his head around he saw that the ice flower cracked, then shattered into a ring of cyclonic water. Twitching with vivid frustration and equal amount of fear, he raised his sword back up in both hands. When over half of the petals faded behind his back, his eyes bore into hers as his own white Reiatsu stared down the vapor breathing Tres Espada.
"If my Hierro wasn't so thick, I'd probably be frozen to the bone right now," Tier stated with a deadly mantle of yellow Reishi crackling around her body. "Unfortunately for you, there won't be another opportunity."
Rangiku had to hand it to her Captain, the weather affected by his Zanpakutō definitely was not made to be comfortable. Even as rain soaked her, chilling to the touch, she kept her guard up with ease. She was used to this after all; even the lewd description of her luscious body through her uniform wasn't something she was foreign to. Her enemies on the other hand, weren't so composed.
"F-Fuck! Why i-is it so cold?!" Emilou Apacci declared, trying to cling to her waist, grimacing as well for the various lacerations and gashes inflicted by her opponent. In stark contrast, their enemy had yet to receive a serious injury thanks to her damn Shikai.
"It's that pint-s-sized Captain of h-hers," Franceska Mila Rose stated, her eyes looking towards the horizon. They had to dodge the wave of floodwater that almost overtook them. Based on their Pesquisa, neither of the fighters had yet to come out victorious...yet. Rubbing her arm from a particularly deep wound, her hand gripped tightly on her sword. "To think you could hold a-all of us off by yourself...you must think big, huh milk jugs?"
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over all that blood on you," Rangiku snapped her left fingers, smiling cheekily as a whirlwind of ash corkscrewed towards them.
"Oh dear," Cyan Sung-Sun proclaimed behind a bloodied sleeve, performing an evasive Sonido along with the other two. Even as they did, tendrils of the grey substance flew out towards each fighter. Flipping and somersaulting through the air, each of the Tres Bestias continued to rush about in the air aiming to come back towards their enemy.
"Eat THIS!" Emilou punched the air, unleashing a Bala towards her foe.
"Bakudō #39, Enkōsen," She muttered quickly, easily deflecting the rapidly launched weakened Cero variant with a spinning disc of golden light.
"Bitch!" She swore aloud, unlatching her cuffs to form a pair of sickles in each hand. By the time she halted herself to prepare for a lunge, she felt a creeping feeling latch up her left leg. Similarly, Cyan and Franceska had their own limbs ensnared. Too late was their reactions as the Lieutenant slashed the air causing every microbe of ash to multiply the effect over their appendages. Past their Hierro, it was slashed and shredded in a shower of blood between the trio of Arrancars.
"You should pay more attention to your surroundings," Rangiku lectured with a confident grin, complemented by the droplets of rainfall sliding down her face and off her jawline. "Haineko's power is that my blade becomes one with the ash. Every grain of it packs the same power of my sword slash. You're in a world of hurt if even a finger pinch gets attached to your body."
"You already EXPLAINED that!" Emilou snapped back, wincing at the pain of her gruesomely mutilated leg.
"Really?" The orange-blonde cocked her head to the side while possessing a coy expression. "I must have forgotten. Perhaps I need to repeat it a few times until you can avoid my attacks more effectively."
"Why you-!"
"Stop, this isn't working," Franceska calmed down, her own visage mirroring composure as she masked her own pain. "We'll have to release our Zanpakutōs. She won't be able to stand against us once that happens."
"As much as I hate it, I'll have to agree with you on that notion," Cyan nodded with a huffing sigh.
Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Emilou wordlessly affirmed her like-mindedness to that plan. As one they'd erupt into infernal balls of explosive Reiatsu, blasting the rain in a fierce wind. When a culmination of red, scarlet and orange lights diminished they were now within their Resurrección forms.
"Thrust, Cierva," Announced Emilou Apacci, now possessing brown furred body with the exceptions of her hands to the cleavage line running up to her neck and face. Amber eyes bordered by red lightning eyeliner, she now sports a pair of deer antlers to complement her hooved feet and thin tail jutting from her back. Her Reiatsu sparked a bright red as she sneered at Rangiku.
"Devour, Leona," Franceska Mila Rose snarled with a feral grin, emerging from the mist in an even more Amazon get-up. Chalk white bones cupped her breasts like claws, similarly adorning her biceps and triceps that moved down to cover her clawed hands in white silk. A regal neck piece also made up of the same substance to the legging attached boots connecting up to her upper thighs approximately next to an armored thong below her navel positioned hollow hole. Her mask fragment became a forehead crest that sported a golden mane headdress, overlapping her grown chocolate curled tresses down to her waist. The last changed feature of hers, other than holding a double-bladed sword bereft of a tip, was feline fangs and an orange X tattoo that ran across her face centering around the bridge of her nose. An orange Reiatsu bristled as she smiled viciously at the rattled Lieutenant.
"Strangle to death, Anaconda!" Cyan Sung-Sun hissed at a high volume, her body undergoing a metamorphosis akin to Emilou in that it changed her body's physiology. From the waist down she becomes a slender bodied naga with its tail measuring up to nearly four meters in length. Additional pink dots cover her other eye, the black furred collar is thicker and possesses a texture akin to feathers and her mask fragment becomes a half armored cobra hood over her right cranium's side. Still possessing her pale jacket's long sleeves and her deep emerald hair now divided into two braided sides at her lower back downwards, she looked mischieviously at her Shinigami opponent while boasting a rose colored Reiatsu.
"Let's kick her ass!" Emilou screamed with delight, her body zooming forth on pure propulsion. Watching her enemy twist her hilt around and motion a wall of thick ash between them she let out a scoffing laugh. Priming a Cero from her left hand she thrust it into the Shikai's body, unleashing a destructive pillar of Reishi that aimed to blast her opponent apart.
Instead, it parted the ash, scattering it around her but showing the wielder was nowhere to be seen behind it.
"Hadō #78," The Arrancar turned to hear Rangiku chant from an angle below, bestowing a white glow to the hilt of her sword. As she made a cutting stroke, the ash surrounding too became a white sparkling hue. An instant later it became an ovular explosion that spiraled up to the heavens and down to the earth. "Zangerin!"
"D-Damn!" The Fracción cursed as she leaped out of the smoke, not immediately charging as she huffed at the kickback of the spell. Scuffed fur along with burns to her visible skin she looked far less damaged than the Shinigami hoped for. "To think I needed to exert my Reiatsu against an attack from you..."
"Calm yourself, Apacci," Franceska intoned, causing the bipedal deer Arrancar to sneer at her which she ignored. Smiling toothily at Rangiku she raised her sword up just beneath her chin with anticipation. "She was anticipating on taking at least one of us out when we were at our most confident. But now we've seen her tricks, she'll be in for a world of hurt with just herself."
"Hmph, I'm getting a headache with how much sense you're making," Cyan griped from her sleeve.
"Deal with it," The Amazon warrior snapped, leaping forth with a grin at one with her naga comrade. "We can argue after we skin this bitch up and go after her Captain."
"Heh, I'm down with that!" Emilou cried with sadistic glee, all three of them charging at their singular target.
That is, until their attacks were blocked by an unseen force.
"What?!" Franceska croaked at the sight of her sword against a luminous blade of rainbow colors. Emerging from a refracted cloak, the 6th Seat Maki Ichinose kept his invisible weapon against hers with impressive strength. Similar invisible veils were undone as Yumichika held his sickle Shikai against Cyan's serpent protruding blade just as Ikkaku blocked Emilou's fist with his three part staff.
"On my insistence, I kept everyone including myself hidden from view as we approached to assist Miss Matsumoto," Maki formally explained as he kept the enemy firmly at bay despite her strength and Reiatsu. "My comrades were against this due to their code of ethics and pride, but given this is a war, sacrifices of dignity must be made."
"Yeah, this was real uncool landing a sneak attack like this," Ikkaku kept an indignant Emilou at bay almost casually. He even shrugged as she struggled to push farther against his sturdy wooden weapon. "But hey, Tetsuzaemon looked like he was busy chasing a couple of twerp Arrancars that snuck into his area and Izuru didn't seem to be keen on leaving his perimeter either. So I guess it was just us."
"Although, we did arrive in such a beautiful way," Yumichika declared with a haughty laugh. "So it works out in the end."
"You guys can do it! I'll be rooting for ya!" Yachiru cheered from a distant building top.
"...what a help our second strongest of our Division is," Maki thought with a visible grimace.
"HA! Like this is going to stop us!" Emilou hollered out with fury, her body erupting into a crimson fire of Reishi as she grabbed hold of Ikkaku's weapon and landed a Reiatsu infused kick to his center. Surprised at the maneuver, spit flew out of his mouth and he was sent crashing into the ground. Spear in hand she twirled it around and threw it down where he landed, aiming to stick him in with it. "Three against one, or three against ten, you can't beat the Lady Harribel's Tres Bestias!"
When the Zanpakutō collided with the ground hard enough to make a sizable dust cloud, Yumichika and Maki were deflected away by the other pair of Arrancars. With their backs up against Rangiku's, they looked down to see their associate's condition. Surprise to some while not to others, a sight to behold was seen that made the deer-Arrancar grind her molars with rage.
"Those bad of odds, huh?" Ikkaku queried lowly to himself, a hand firmly grasped around the blade as its edge just pricked his forehead. A trickle of blood slivered down his smiling face as he chuckled. "Good thing I'm a lucky guy!"
Among the rain, was a series of earth-shattering attacks and air thundering maneuvers. Two titans of strength faced off against each other in the downpour caused by Daiguren Hyōrinmaru. Shockwaves that could be confused with artillery going off were but simple gestures and muscles being used for impacts against the enemy.
A particularly large blood red Cero launched eradicated urban structure, concrete earth and burned away the earth, bowling over everything till it struck the far-off barrier wall. Emerging from the embers of the fading flames was the oldest and strongest of all Shinigami, founder of the Gotei 13 and leader of all that stands against Aizen. The wizened elder possessed a few blotch marks on his uniform legs from the blast, but otherwise his two arms braced the blast that sent him flying back.
For the first time in centuries, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto felt the need to exert himself.
Wonderweiss Margela, now in his lanky tall released form of Extinguir, was already on top of him a fist punching the ashen earth that was being rained upon. As muddy ground exploded with upraised rain drops, the spry Captain Commander vaulted over the Arrancar, his sword unsheathed in the process. Landing with his back to the Arrancar, he muttered lowly to himself, "Ryuujin Jakka Strike One: Nadegiri!"
A complete arc of lacerating force slashed up the Mod Arrancar's left abdomen all the way up his shoulder and down the back. The blood that sprayed out as his body nearly was dismembered completely did nothing to hinder the Shinigamified Hollow's counterattack. Twisting around on his heels to use his right side, his right fist infused with Reiatsu crashed into Yamamoto's defending blade. The seismic blast was enough to send the Captain Commander flying back but little else.
"For someone who is unable to speak or convey emotion, he sure is a clever pup," Yamamoto thought to himself, observing the wound he inflicted was -just as the other times- regenerated within seconds. The bubbling white flesh that stitched the body back together irritated him. "If I am to keep this from becoming a prolonged engagement, I should destroy him with absolute force."
Screaming aloud, Wonderweiss encased his arms with Reishi and began to rapidly discharge Bala. A cacophony of explosions ripped apart the earth as Yamamoto dexterously spun, somersaulted and flipped to avoid the resulting explosions or the cannonballs of Reishi sent his way. With his left hand embalmed in a bright azure flame, he slipped between the Mod Arrancar's volley of limbs and used his right arm to dismember his primary appendages. Amidst the shower of gore he plunged his free hand into his midsection.
"Hadō #95, Raiden Ken!" A billowing blast followed by a hand of electric fire surged from the modified being's backside. Tearing his body apart in the resulting blast while charring the earth in a wide radius only the gaping, fear stricken face of Wonderweiss lived to hit the earth along with its cracked oblong head.
When it did, the veteran Captain sheathed his sword and clapped his hands together.
"Banish into the nether, ye of lost pride," He began to chant, watching the dismembered head bubble and inflate, the flames of his Zanpakutō ready to burst. "Strangle yourselves knowing you are at the mercy of the abyss. Blacken, Encroach, and Swallow! Begone, to oblivion ye will find no slumber nor wakefulness from an eternal nightmare!"
"Bakudō #90, Jōshōkage Kakusui!"
Separating his hands to produce a liquid shadow, he plunged both set of digits until the palms sunk into the earth. Just as the fire was about to erupt from the head altogether a monolithic pyramid of opaque onyx blasted from the soil to meet at a singular point. At the top would be seen for a hundred meters in height was a single dilated eye that closed shortly after opening. The flames that were unleashed within just as the Kidō was finished binding the area were intense, so much so that visible cracks and fissures ran along the surface of the durable spell structure.
But after the last of the unleashed tongues were quelled, silence once returned to the endless rain. Sighing with finality the Captain Commander reached to his sword, feeling the Reiryoku the blade had before was still empty. Realizing during the time he had fought the creature it had also sealed the flames it could generate as much as it had done so already.
Cursing the enemy leader's name, he'd feel an ominous Reiatsu be released into the heavens. Lightning began to crescendo across the dark canopy above the older Captain Commander's head, his eyes opening slightly in a keen glare at the distant seal that the Kidō Captain had made. Emerging with one hand followed by the whole of the body, the unfettered general of the Hollow army smiled smugly as he turned to look at the older Captain's direction.
"To think Wonderweiss hadn't inflicted any substantial damage upon you speaks volumes of your skill as much as your power, Captain Commander Yamamoto," Sōsuke Aizen spoke to himself with a calm smile. "However, thanks to his unique properties, your Zanpakutō won't be a threat to us for some time. With everyone else in your army occupied, I can take my time dispatching you my way."
Beginning to walk towards him across the sky, he heard a distinct crack. Looking towards the barrier sealed within heaven's vista, he noticed several more webbed out. Narrowing his eyes to a mystified stare he'd feel as much as witness the birth of blackness surging out with enormous malicious intent.
"Bakudō #81, Dankū!" He immediately chanted, forming a transparent wall of deflective power. The plentiful Reishi sweeping out was about as hot as flames, bleeding over the sides and continuing to blanket the sky with its presence. The crimson outlines of the power continuing to pressure his defenses also began to break his shield, causing his eyes to widen with incredulous disbelief. "Impossible-!"
A timely executed Shunpo that put him to a set of infrastructure untouched by the Captain Commander, he witnessed the skyline consumed by the pouring pillar of Reishi. Almost as if it was a Cero Oscuras it baffled him who had so much power to break through both the Kidō Captain's and his own Kidō in a single strike?
"So, you dodged it after all," A familiar voice echoed behind him, giving him pause enough to look surprised over his right shoulder. As rain sloughed off his uniform shoulders he witnessed a freshly soaked head of orange spiked hair with a dangerous glowing blue pair of eyes staring back at him. A white frayed collar outlined a black overcoat of Reiatsu, leading down to a pair of white outlined gloves that covered his hands along with a white threaded hilt holding a black guard and slightly serrated edged katana. In a Bankai and producing Reiatsu almost foreign to the general, his worst enemy finally arrived on the battlefield. "But the next time, I won't miss, Sōsuke Aizen!"
A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaand finished. Whoo boy, this Chapter ended up being a lot longer than I intended it to be. I apologize to those who read casually but this was something I couldn't cut everything out entirely. As much as no one WOULD complain that I'd erase the existence of the most padded out and messily paced Arcs of the series, I did enjoy to a degree what content we got regardless of how prolonged it was. Thus I wanted to give some nuggets of niceties to the cast that is present so that I could wrap this part of the story up quicker and also show that I care.
I hope you all liked what I delivered because in a chapter or two will come the clash between Aizen and Ichigo. Who will come out on top, now that Ichigo's gained a new plane of strength? How will Aaroniero change the tides of war? Find out next time on the next update of A Predator Among Us!