In the Fall of Snowflakes
Lies a Land of Ash
Where Warriors Clash Till One Breaks
Standing Victorious
In the Fall of Snowflakes
Chapter 18 - In The Blizzard I Rise
Ichigo was feeling pretty beat. The rain had never stopped, soaking him in a continuous downpour that the storm had let loose, drenching his battle worn body effectively.
Not since his fight with Ulquiorra did he feel such incredible opposing pressure. The Reiatsu that Aizen was displaying now compared to minutes ago was overwhelming. Just holding him off seemed all he could do at the moment. He was on his guard at all times, making sure that the veteran genius of the Gotei 13 didn't fool him as he had done to countless others in single combat or through manipulation.
So far he had yet to see a hint of Aizen revealing his Zanpakutō, or call out its name to him. Either he was intending on making good on the promise of breaking him physically or he had yet to feel pressured. What was he thinking in confronting Ichigo so physically when he was far more strategic as he's been reported to be?
"Something's not right here," Ichigo thought as he regained his breath, rising up from a crater he was sent plummeting to from the air. The storming skies thundered fantastically with a complement of lightning that crescendo across the heavens. In those flashes one could see a scuffed yet intact Aizen whom stood upon a building's rooftop with a smug grin on his face. Ichigo on the other hand felt roughed up but far from fatigued, yet was still wary about the circumstances of this fight. "Aizen's stronger than I counted on being, but what's more he's holding back something. It's as if he wants to beat me without the use of tricks. What is he planning?"
"What's wrong? Aren't you too far away to touch me?" A voice sounded from behind the Substitute in an instant.
"Shit!" Ichigo swore, flipping forward and palming the earth in a bid to avoid the sudden lethal attack coming from behind. Avoiding what looked like a cutting ring of Kidō from his enemy's sword, the disc split the foundation of the structure he had his gaze fixated where Aizen stood. Much to his chagrin, the static copy withered away as soon as the building collapsed under the attack. "He used either Kidō or Shunpo to make me believe he was still up there and then attacked me from behind. Dammit! So much for thinking he wasn't going to use tricks!"
"You have amazing reflexes, Ryōka boy," Sousuke Aizen commended with a smile, his sword steaming from the heat of his last stroke. Watching his prey contentedly from a dozen meters away, standing with both hands on his blade's hilt, he gazed with a haughty smile. "To think your Bankai could afford you such incredible dexterity as well. Your battles with my Arrancar have sharpened you and your Hollow powers as a result must have bolstered extraordinarily. It makes me wonder," His eyes narrow, a hint of displeasure curbing the usual jibe of his tongue. "Why are you holding back against me, Ichigo Kurosaki?"
Grimacing, the Strawberry gripped his sword tighter at his enemy's deduction. He had hoped that he'd ignore the fact he had yet to don his mask once. But with his Bankai's change in appearance he wanted to test out its fullest capabilities. He had gained an iota of satisfaction of being able to deal a few blows and even withstand this kind of enemy's offense.
But he could feel his control over the battle was slipping. The momentum he had gained had turned into his enemy's favor. He could feel exertion in these strikes, one wasn't more wasted than the other. Yet at the same time he felt like this was just the beginning of what his opponent was capable of.
Even without Kyōka Suigetsu, he was a monster that made Ulquiorra seem tame by comparison.
"If you have nothing else to say," Aizen began to speak, his body radiating with an immense Reiatsu that shook the earth and cratered the ground he stood upon. Ichigo stumbled about as liquid fire erupted from the foundations, forcing him to rise up into the air. Flames akin to pure untouched snow ignited for what seemed like the given city block. Raised up to meet him in the air was a red-eyed beast straight out fairy tales; a colossal necked dragon composed completely of silver tongues of fire. "Hadō #99, Goryūtenmetsu! With this attack, I'll send you to the abyss...
"Farewell, Ichigo Kurosaki."
Upon that utterance, the bestial construct of Kidō lunged forth with a terrible roar. Activating Getsuga while blocking the maw of his enemy's spell with one hand another reached up in a defensive posture over his face. Crying out as the heat washed over him, the creature arching up and over to crash into the earth below. Even as the rain evaporated in the presence of such intense flames being let loose, he landed on the ground in a bent knee squat.
Aizen watched with amusement as his spell was overpowering the boy. A smile of satisfaction breached his visage as pale fire swept across the horizon, burning up all traces of what he saw of the troublesome Ryōka. Turning on his heels, he began to dip the edge of his Zanpakutō into the scabbard when he felt it.
A tingling sensation that ran up and down his spine, the feeling of sweat ebbing from his soaked person. His eyes dilated, pupils contracting and his breath hitched. A terrifying sensation swept his person, compelling him to look over his shoulder and watch as the flames of heaven were torn in two, a dye of darkness of pure Reishi swathing over the landscape.
Embers of onyx crackled along the ashen impact site. Among it breathed a raspy voice, unholy and of death. While the upper cuffs of Ichigo's sleeves were torn with his skin burned the rest of his Shikhakushō was untarnished. Upon him burned a Reiatsu akin to Getsuga itself, just as it did over his sword. Borne over his long-haired head was the mask that he acquired during his brief Hollowfication duel against Ulquiorra; now devoid of that species' features save for the mask and the mask alone, its red tear paint marks adorned over its eye sockets with Ichigo's golden-black eyes staring through it.
"Are you surprised, Aizen?" Ichigo's voice softly spoke, somehow muting the atmosphere's constant thundering and nearby battling of other fighters. Stepping forward, each touch his feet made causing a hissing sound of moisture burning up by his aura of Getsuga. "There was two reasons I didn't want to use my Hollowfication right away. The first, I wanted to see how well I could do with my improved Bankai. The second, I had to make damn sure no one was close by. If they were I couldn't guarantee their safety once I don this mask," He whispered, suddenly appearing before the speechless Aizen with his sword already making a blur of cutting pressure diagonally from the left to his upper right. "TO KILL YOU!"
It was an incredible feeling for Coyote Starrk.
A power of unimaginable heights, something that rivaled his own reservoir of strength. It was for this new development that he almost lost himself in the moment of basking in this distant Reiatsu that doubled over atop another; similar to his own.
That and he almost lost his head to a particularly swift sword stroke.
"Whoops," He monotoned, leaning back to avoid a vacuum slash that his opponent created with a two handed horizontal slash. Raising back up he'd watch Unohana charge in with a particularly gruesome corkscrewing thrust that bent the atmosphere around her path. Using Sonido to deftly avoid it, he raised his left pistol and fired several Cero at her flank. One scuffed her shoulder, ripping off the sleeve, while the others were cut cleanly through like any other substance in her path. "Geez, I guess I should keep my guard up when I'm around you. I was just curious whose Reiatsu that was and then you attacked me when I spaced out. How uncouth for a healer."
"I am a warrior when I draw my sword. Acting any less so would be foolish and pointlessly naive," She replied, raising her blade upright in a beckoning manner as a calm smile adorned her face. "I have to say, your Resurrección isn't as impressive as I believed it to be. Only a small fractional increase to all of your abilities is what I can see. That and the girl I see is now located in the guns. What a charming development."
"That bitch! Shoot her dead already, Starrk!" Lilynette cried out from the guns.
"Oi, don't boss me around, Lilynette," Starrk condescendingly groaned out with a roll of his visible eye. "I'm in no hurry to go face that really strong guy. She's plenty strong as it is and I'd hate to see her get stronger if we get serious."
"W-What is the point of doing this at all?!"
"Well, you were kinda making me feel emotional so I thought-"
"No! We're not going to half-ass this! Get your ass into gear, Starrk, or I'll take over!"
"Hey, none of that or I'll pinch your butt!"
"Y-You pervert! Don't do that again or I'll-!"
"Three Hundredth Style," Unohana declared, her body emanating a gust of Reiatsu that resembled an onslaught of skeletal teeth. Swinging her sword they converged in a torrential barrage that aimed to rip the Arrancar into shreds. The force itself blew a holel through the rows of structures in the horizon while a ghastly shriek was left in the wake of the multitude of projectiles. "Gnashing of the Dead!"
The sudden feeling of a gun barrel pressed to her back made her widen her eyes, following by the overwhelming wave of Cero blowing across her body.
"How rude," Starrk snorted, his left eye twitching while dryly speaking to the vapor wave left by his gunshot to the Shinigami's back. "I was in the middle of talking here-"
"Forty Second Style," Unohana retorted lowly, her coat burned but flourishing nonetheless as she knocked away the Arrancar's right hand with her scabbard. An image of a scythe past by her Reiatsu to the rest of her sword whipped through the earth and up at an angle, resembling a twister filled with skeletal digits aimed to tear him apart. "Dead Digit Cyclone!"
While the earth was rend asunder and the storming sky pierced by her twister attack, the sound of Sonido made her turn to raise her blade with readiness. Instead all she saw was an annoyed Primera, looking more irked than fearsome.
"I get it, you want to fight, but give us some room to breathe. You're always up in my face and it's really hard to get a meaningful hit on you," Starrk complained with a huff, earning a mental facepalm from Lilynette.
"For an Arrancar, you make funny jokes," The First Kenpachi chuckled, finding his commentary amusing. But as quickly as she laughed, it turned to one of fearsome antagonism. Her face contorted into one of savage intensity, her Reiatsu becoming one of a thousand shrieks of tens of thousands more victims she slaughtered in her wake. Such a frightening force of power was enough to make Starrk's assessment that she had been concealing her strength had been right.
Securing her blade's scabbard back in her obi, she settled into a squat with the sword held edge up and crossing her visage by her nose, uttering under her breath, "What a slothful man you are. You have more than enough power to kill me but you almost have no zeal to fight. What made you enter your released form if not to end my life?"
"I'm keeping a promise," Coyote Starrk replied, his eye narrowing seriously while raising his gun up to point at her. "That's all this is. I don't care if I have to escape every attack of yours. I'll survive, even if I don't feel up for fighting you."
His words moved Lilynette. If she could, she'd tear up hearing just how much he cared for her. She cherished Starrk's company, and she realized he knew that more than she knew how much her own being was beloved by him. The two may have been the same being, but they were still their own persons. Loneliness birthed them but it was their affection to each other that kept them together.
As one, they'd never drift apart and always be each other's friend.
But while she found these words lovely, the Captain of the Fourth Division seemed almost humored by what was said.
"Is that so?" She smiled, a coldness ebbing her mouth as her left foot scooted forward. "Then, what if I killed her, then?"
Hearing this made the Primera sigh. A trailing flame of blue ebbed over his body as the beginnings of a Cero made its way to his gun. Spraying rays of azure light, it suddenly increased pressure exponentially. The feeling and sight was enough to make Unohana's eyes stretch with shock at what her body felt.
"Cero Metralleta," He declared, unleashing a volley of hundreds of Cero at once. The wideness of their berth was such as they blotted out the view of the horizon, wrecking the landscape and flattening anything within his aim. Being near the center of Fake Karakura Town meant the cacophony of explosive fissures had the capacity of erasing a good tenth of the town just by pointing and shooting.
Light was shrouded by the overcast of flashing blue, the only thing that the swordsman could see. Using 501st Style, -Murderous Approach- she formed a thousand blades from her body akin to feathers of a peacock from her back, shrouded in her Reiatsu of a golden shade. In this stance she was able to simultaneously defend against the onslaught of continuous fire, the barrage of explosive force being met by revolving whirlwind of blades from her person.
It amazed her how much firepower was at her enemy's disposal. She felt nothing but a relaxed release of Reishi from the man's gun he shot with. And it was only with one, not both. Her smile widened as her body radiated with excitement. An old lingering hunger that had become dormant was swelling within her.
The yearning of battle with a strong opponent!
Rushing forth insistently to pressure her opponent, the onslaught of attacks swatted aside by her flurry of sword swings coming in exponential numbers. Reaching his position she had thought he'd give ground or attempt to block. But instead, his body merely shifted to one side and raised his other gun while pulling back the other.
"Cero Escopeta," The Primera declared, releasing a ballooning blast of incredible blue Reishi. The power in of itself was enough to shatter the ethereal swords of Unohana's crafting and send her catapulting backwards across the cratered battlefield. With his pistol still steaming from his extended grip, he cocked it back and gave a cool stare towards her. "You really are a monster. I had intended that shot to kill you."
"You did a damn good attempt, Espada," The first Kenpachi remarked with a grin, as splotches of blood were shown across her shoulder and now sleeve devoid arms. Charred into crispy flakes of exposed muscle, the Cero hadn't nicked her blade but had done enough to surprise her and push her back substantially. Had she not had her sword to bear, she knew it'd have torn her front apart.
But with the glowing light of emerald coming from either hand skin sewed itself closed and her wounds began to heal at a rate nearly as fast as rapid regeneration. Reaching up to close her shoulder wound, she smiled calmly as he kept his own composure and didn't attack as she recovered. To anyone with half a mind it was a stupid move to not keep up the attack, but she knew this Arrancar better.
"You have a staunch code of honor, Primera Starrk. Even when your enemy is wounded you do not attack when they're healing," She remarked candidly. "You're taking an awful risk..."
"If that was all it'd take to keep you from fighting, I'd never need to use this form. Besides," Starrk responded with a shrug. "I got nothing else better to do. If I hurry now, I might be less of a help to Lord Aizen and more of a hindrance. I'm not the kinda guy who works well in teams. Fighting you will be all the contribution I need, for the moment."
"Heh, fair point," Unohana replied, her Reiatsu once again igniting dreadfully around her while a calm flame coated Starrk's fur-coated person. "Now then, let us fight to our hearts' content!"
At the same time of Ichigo's new power being awakened, the Visoreds had settled on confronting the horrible chimera entity born of three sacrificed left arms of the Tres Bestia; Ayon. The strength of this beast was enough to fell the strongest of the Combat Specialists of the 11th Division.
While they had moved up to save the downed Yumichika, the spare officers who had traveled with them into the modeled city double had found Ikkaku unconscious and barely alive not far away. Taking him to the Medical HQ was Isane's priority while the other Shinigami saw to the defense of the remaining two towers.
But there was something else bothering the leader of the ex-Shinigami.
"Do you sense it?" Shinji asked Love and Rose, the latter of which helped Yumichika stand as the prior had drawn his sword with preparation.
"It appears there's a still living Shinigami inside its stomach," Rose acknowledged with a nod.
"What?! That's Lieutenant Kusajishi!" The 3rd Seat shouted with alarm. "You have to help her! She was swallowed whole, so she could be saved-"
"Pipe it down," Love smacked the officer over his head, looking annoyed at him while resting his blade's flat on his shoulder. "Do you want that monster to attack us without warning?"
"Yeah, it's just been standing there," The Head Visored looked up, peering past the rain at the behemoth. Covered in blood with nary a scratch from any of its past opponents, it just seemed to look up at the sky. Basking in the rain again, a low sound akin to a pur was heard causing its creators to twitch with annoyance. The one-armed Arrancars didn't worry him as much as their beast, but he didn't want to lower his guard against these kinds of opponents. "Okay guys, I got a plan to dispatch all four. Just buy me a couple minutes and I'll take care of the rest."
"Ha! As if we'd let you steal the glory!" Love exclaimed with a barking laugh.
"Quite," Rose responded equally as exuberant.
Both Shinigami raised their hands up to their faces, swiping them to reveal a simian mask and a plague doctor mask. The Hollowfication procedures was instant, multiplying their power exponentially. The new wave of Reiatsu made Ayon tilt its head to the side and lean to open previously unseen eyes to stare menacingly at them.
"Man, yer an ugly bastard," Love proclaimed, swinging his hand across his Zanpakutō's flat. With silent proclamation the sword transformed into a behemoth spiked club that is Tengumaru. Hefting it onto one shoulder, he charged towards the beast and swung the weapon singlehandedly. A loud resounding crack with a ringing of metal against skull, the monster lurching back with droplets of blood from the point of impact. Its body staggered several steps, backpedaling into a structure near it. When it zoomed back, it was only Love's fortune that he timed a Sonido to avoid a earth rending punch that obliterated the ground next to him. Taking to the air, he swore under his breath. "Dammit! That blow hardly fazed him!"
Turning around to reach for the airborne Love, it'd find its outreaching arm twined by a golden rope with a flower bloomed at its end. The display made Ayon stop in its tracks and look at it inquisitively. Spinning its head to look at a mutually levitating Rose, he'd watch the Visored raise a hand and tap it against the rope.
"Kinshara Sōkyoku Dai Nanatsu: Rasen Fuyō!" The blonde Hollowfied Shinigami chanted, the twining wire spiraling constantly with the sound of a hundred harps. The event made the limb twist and turn, cracking grotesquely to be ground into an appendage of bloodied meat. A flick of his wrist tore the arm off, making Ayon howl loudly in pain, blood spouting plentifully from its stump. "It must not like pain, poor thing. Perhaps we can ease its suffering when it dies beautifully?"
"Your magic wire going to give it a lullaby?" Love asked dubiously.
"It's not MAGIC, it's ART!" Rose countered with indignation.
"Sure looks like magic," He huffed beneath his mask.
"I wouldn't get cocky, bastards!" Apacci declared with her remaining arm. "Ayon gets super pissed when he gets hurt!"
"Is he a big crybaby?" Love thought, turning to look at the beast as something terrifying occurred. Its power swelled, overflowing and shaking the earth while sending a hurricane wind of rain in all directions. Its roar bellowed as a blood red Reiatsu burned brightly around its body. Swirling sparkles of Reishi congregated around his amputated arm, soon growing a host of muscles, bones, skin and fur that all resembled the appendage that was mutilated.
"Shit, this is bad," The jumpsuit toting fighter swore under his breath, covering his face with an arm as the creature continued to power up.
"I believe we're outside our weight class with this one," His blonde partner deduced, unmasking himself as he spoke.
"Yeah," He concurred as he unmasked as well, smiling all the while. "It's time to let the boss shine."
It was then as they spoke the creature had turned its head backwards to look at the aforementioned leader of the Visoreds. Without even the Tres Bestias notice he had released his Zanpakutō, forming a ring from sword's pommel that allowed it to circle in clockwise motions. The beast's eyes widened, Cero beginning to prime up along its pupils...
...then suddenly its neck diverted to an angle and shot a streak of crimson Reishi that blasted apart structures for a great distance!
"Hey, what gives?!" Franceska barked out with annoyance. "He's right THERE! You can't miss a target with a Cero that large!"
"Perhaps he is confusing his aim? Maybe it diverts Reishi away from him?" Cyan Sun-Sung bemused aloud behind a sleeve.
"Then, why did his whole body shift weirdly like that? It doesn't make sense?!" Apacci snarled with her remaining hand balling into a fist.
"Shall I explain it to you three?" Shinji asked, suddenly behind them without them knowing it. Turning around, they'd realize from the ringing noise the blade's made that something was dispersing. Nothing they'd detect yet, but soon very much so. "My Zanpakutō's name is Sakanade. It's a beautiful sword, moving in continuous rhythm that I may cast a particular effect. I'm sure you'll find yourselves under its spell soon enough."
"YOU BASTARD!" Apacci snarled, her Reiatsu bleeding out as she reared back to charge. With both legs flexing, she charged with incredible velocity. By the time she reached his proximity, she felt her own sense of direction go haywire. The world shifted to an topsy turvy with her enemy veering off path as well. The other two felt its effects while Apacci toppled in midair, her face turning blue with nausea as she choked out with confusion. "...the...fuck..is wrong with me?!"
"Welcome to the Inverted World," He declared, grinning at all three of them as they found themselves almost unable to stand in the sky upright. The rain came from their feet, the buildings became their skyline and their opponent spoke as if he was behind them despite being upside down in front of their confused eyes. "Up is down, left is right, backwards is forwards. Everything is turned around when Sakanade gets its hold on you."
Letting out a futile scream, Apacci charged in just as Ayon clumsily swiped the air with a feral roar. Both of them didn't even come close to hitting anything but empty air. While the enormous beast stumbled to fall face first into the earth, Shinji merely shifted aside and tapped his ringed sword's back against his shoulder. He left the Tres Bestias flailing and on the verge of collapsing in the sky from nausea.
His main focus, was extracting the still living Lieutenant inside of Ayon's belly.
"I have to be precise," He whispered, raising a hand to encompass his face and by extension his whole being with Hollowfied Reiryoku. With the face of a white phaoroh, he stared towards the rainy battlefield with his sword colored rays of crimson. Crouching down, he waited till the beast raised its body up to let out a futile shriek of frustration.
Then catapulted at extraordinary speeds to pierce the innards of Ayon out through his back. In his arms was the gory, bile covered Lieutenant Yachiru. Unconscious from stifled air supply and constant struggling, she was left limp in his arms. Turning away from the flailing beast he returned the Lieutenant to the 5th Seat's arms, whom had just recovered her sheathed Zanpakutō.
"All that leaves is to dispose of this monster," Shinji grumbled aloud. Raising sword clenching fist, he primed a Cero for maximum damage. Looking towards his friends, he grinned behind his mask and inquired through the rain. "Wanna to lend a helping hand?"
"Hm, and steal your glory? You'd never let us hear the end of it!" Rose exasperated.
"Yeah, I doubt my contribution will amount much to yours anyways," Love shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Have at it!"
"Fine then," He rolled his eyes, letting his whole body brim with an intense Reiatsu. The likes of which made the dizzyness and effects of Sakanade briefly forgotten as a power that rivaled even their Lady Espada couldn't compare. His drenched coat whipped about his body while rain swirled within the vortex of priming power. Stretching his fist out while holding his Shikai, he proclaimed in a level shout. "Cero!"
A column of pure Reishi shot out from his raised fist. Like liquid fire it dissolved the roaring monster down to the bone, erasing him along with a insurmountable stretch of the land. The force of his attack briefly blasted away the rain from their position, an effect that'd last for a minute or two. Lowering his steaming hand, he turned to observe the three Arrancar barely hovering in the air.
"Sorry but, I'm not as kind as Ichigo is," He murmured, his eyes narrowing as his body moved at speeds none of the three could hope to compare to. A single strike that extended to the throats of each Arrancar, their heads were removed in a powerful swift movement. Unmasking himself, he looked down to the falling bodies with a brief look of solemn respect. "I made sure it was quick. You deserved that much, as worthy enemies."
Tier Harribel felt it. A synonymous feeling of depression mingled with unrivaled anger. Her three loyal Fraccion had perished at the hands of the enemy. Her connection to them had been potent enough that not even a Pesquisa could rival it. The moment their hearts stopped, she could tell. So in the presence of her enemy's newfound transformation, she was too overcome with swelling anger to give into fear.
Tōshirō could feel that she wasn't about to back down.
"You guys should get out of here," He advised the pair of Visored women, Orihime and Nelliel. They were already wary of standing too close due to the extreme drop of temperature that made them all breathe frosty exhales. The rain had turned to snow for a great distance, all except the immediate vicinity of the visibly steaming Tres Espada. "I cannot guarantee that you'll survive when I attack the enemy. I'm not used to fighting in this state as much as my younger self. If I make the slightest error, you'll perish with her."
"L-Leave?! L-Like H-H-Hell w-we w-w-will!" Hiyori shouted past her chattering teeth. "W-We c-can s-still f-fight-!"
"Best do what he says," Nelliel replied, her body surprisingly resistant to the cold in comparison to the Visoreds. She felt the icy bite, but her Hierro kept her from the majority of its icy grip. "Lady Harribel is far stronger than any of us. Besides," Turning to look at Tōshirō's eyes, she shivered as a reaction to his power rather than the temperature. "He's at a level above even she is capable of reaching."
"Understood," Lisa nodded, grappling Hiyori in a fashion akin to carrying a bag under arm. "Let's go, before you get caught up doing something stupid."
"Hey! L-Let go of m-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She screamed as Lisa jettisoned with a propulsive push of her legs off a platform of Reiatsu under her feet. In turn Nelliel turned to follow them without hesitation. The only person who didn't move from her place was a stoic Orihime.
Realizing she wouldn't budge, Tōshirō sighed and turned to look forward, "Do what you wish. I won't be held accountable for your stubbornness."
"I'll be fine," She responded with a smile. "Just make sure you come back to me if you need your injuries mended."
"Will do," He smiled for a second, returning to a cold visage that turned towards a now wrathfully steaming Tier.
The snow that had drifted her way was becoming a maelstrom of water. Increasing in mass in the tonnage, the sky itself above her swirled and spewed the boiling moisture her way. Her visage had contorted to one of clenched teeth, bared on full display. Eyes glowed a pupiless golden and her Reiatsu had never felt higher. The pain of sacrifice reached her from her fallen comrades and has intensified her power to further heights.
Had she fought anyone else, she'd be an incredible threat. But Tōshirō knew better. The moment he entered this form, the battle had turned into his favor.
Without uttering another word she raised her blade and compressed all of the steaming water around her pata. Channeling Reishi into it, the element of her choosing became a golden liquid sword. Charging forth like a bullet, the Shark Arrancar moved in to bite the ice dragon's neck with her weapon. A sweeping motion made her cut a arc of force that would have not only endangered the Captain of the Gotei 13, but Orihime as well.
But an instantly formed Shun Shun Rikka shield deflected her steaming attack, not leaving a scratch upon her barrier. As for the white-hair matured Shinigami, he simply vanished from her sight and moved behind her. Not even her Pesquisa could track him. Feeling a numbness encroach over her, she turned to look at him while having a look of gaping disbelief.
"I believe this is yours," Tōshirō raised up in his left hand the pauldron connected arm that had been cut clean off the Arrancar. The appendage itself was frozen by a precisely thin layer of ice, making it almost look crystal in its replication rather than a deep frozen piece of matter. Below, her pata had been cut in half, part of his counterattack and was upper half dropped to the ground with a shattering crack far below.
With a underhanded toss, the Arrancar could only look at her arm shatter into frozen dust and flake into the now very cold air. Clenching her teeth hard, she looked up while clenching onto her stump, hard enough to draw blood. She could only utter one word as she shivered angrily towards her enemy. "How?!"
"My ice's true power is Ability Cancellation," He proclaimed, angling his sword upward to reveal the small traces of cold vapor rising from the blade's edge. "Anything coming into contact with my ice has the innate abilities of whatever power it possesses become completely inert. Beyond controlling the weather, this is the hidden truth for why Daiguren Hyōrinmaru is the strongest Ice/Snow-Type Zanpakutō in the Soul Society."
"I see," Harribel whispered lowly, focusing all of her Reiatsu left into her palm. Mixing it with the blood, it started a chain reaction. Reishi bolts cracked and snapped around her, the instability of her Reiryoku becoming more and more volatile. Staring forth without fear she charged her power to explode at a catastrophic level. "I'm sorry, everyone. But this is as far as I go.
"Grand Rey Cer-"
A single sword stroke later and her last words were interrupted. Her field of vision became an opaque white and she ceased her breathing entirely. While Orihime had the decency of moving away from the desperate Arrancar's scheming, she also got to witness a wave of instantly freezing air pressure sending nearly invisible water particles towards the Espada. The result caused the sky to twinkle with frozen snow and completely stop her in her tracks. Even her Reishi had been frozen in the air that was snapping, a truly terrifying feat for any ice power to possess.
"Sorry for your grief, but you don't get to avenge them in this life," Tōshirō apologized sincerely, watching her bodily plummet to the ground and shatter into many pieces below. Looking to see Orihime was awestruck but unharmed made him exhale calmly. Turning towards the most prominent Reiatsu, he leaped with intensity in his new goal. "But there is one who needs to be avenged more...!"
Fire.
It was like fire rushing through his body. The steel didn't even seem to make contact. The sheer strength of the young Substitute was overwhelming. He had never anticipated such growth, let alone him surviving Ulquiorra. He had looked down upon him, was entertained by the idea he entered Hueco Mundo and even encouraged the Captain Commander to send forces to reinforce him. He knew the boy and his allies could have slain a few of his subordinates but never come back with the strength to threaten him.
An eviscerated torso told him otherwise.
Stumbling back on one foot blood thick as oil in water ejected from his torn and charred flesh. In the wake of Ichigo's fierce eyes locking onto his rearing back visage he'd witness him make the slightest changes of expressions. A curl of the lips, jaws tightening and a sight akin to happiness. Realizing what happened before Aizen made his move, Ichigo unleashed a second attack.
"GETSUGA TENSHŌ!" He roared out, letting loose an erupting pyre of black Reishi that sent the white coated Shinigami crashing into the earth. The explosion from the assault produced a violent fireball that stretched up to the sky, part the heavens and sent a widening blast of heated air that scorched the urban wreckaged into an otherwise desolate wasteland not resembling Karakura Town. Standing unharmed in the wake of his own attack, the Hollowfied Shinigami looked shocked at what stood there.
Something that shouldn't be alive.
"I congratulate you, Ichigo Kurosaki," Sōsuke Aizen sincerely applauded the orange haired young man. Though he was more charred bones and burnt flesh, he seemed to be standing upright with a mocking glint in his reforming eyes. A prominent orb was welded into his barely rising and lowering chest. The jewel's mere presence invoked fear and curiosity, as if the inanimate object possessed its own sentience to a degree and had a will of its own. "To think you'd be the one to force me past my own limitations. It now hears my call more clearly and will begin my evolution. The breaking down of my being a two dimensional Shinigami and become higher than my failed experiments, the Visoreds, or the better subjects, the Arrancars. I'll become even greater than all other beings!"
Ichigo raised his weapon as flesh was mended and a mysterious substance begin to ooze from the core. It became a second skin, a white coated essence that sought to wrap around his whole being. When he rushed forward to slash Aizen's left arm off, setting it aflame with his intense Getsuga wrapped blade. Seeing his enemy not pained and simply gesture towards the flying arm made him realize that was a mistake.
"You want that arm, you can take it," The White General retorted with a mere gesture towards the burned limb, causing it to halt in the air and point towards Ichigo. "Hadō #91, Ittō Kasō!"
An enormous fire blade of unimaginable levels shot downward at the precise angle Ichigo was standing. The Kidō, while not as intense as the last one, was still broad enough that it pummeled the Hollowfied Shinigami down into a deep hole. When the flames crackled around the edge of the pit, he smiled with satisfaction.
Until he felt a crimson beam run straight through the center of his skull and out of his forehead. The only thing keeping him from fading into unconsciousness immediately was the Hōgyoku, his flesh already mending as he turned to see Kisuke Urahara standing a good distance away upon the flattened landscape.
"You're too late, Kisuke Urahara," He called out, turning to reveal the encroaching pale coating that traveled up his shoulders and down his arms, already renewing the arm he had lost. Raising his Zanpakutō towards him, he grinned at the motionless adversary of his. "Now, armed with both Kyōka Suigetsu and my rising power, none of you can touch me. Watch as I become your new-"
A sudden rapid impact transpired from behind caused the white general to gawk as the wind left him. Even the shell that formed over his torso cracked from the force striking his back. Turning to look behind his shoulder, he saw Yoruichi smash a Shunkō enhanced punch with a Anti-Hierro gauntlet wrapped around it. He couldn't even utter a name of surprise as she drilled a number of punches that numbered up to a hundred.
This stall in his evolution infuriated him, leaving his shell growing anew from the core while his arms were covered by the Hōgyoku's flesh. Coughing up blood as he leaped away via Shunpo, he prepared to activate Kyōka Suigetsu-
"Hadō #88, Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!" It was then that he was forced to focus on blocking a point blank level 80 Kidō. Using his own Dankū as a deterrent that he raised up, he formed an illusion field that made them think he was still standing still. Given that all three of them were still focused on his location, he turned to stab Tessai from behind-
-only for his outstretched hand to be grabbed by a scuff-sleeved hand of Ichigo's!
"I won't let you!" Ichigo snarled as he broke Aizen's hand and kicked to hit the ground. The colliding object didn't waver the illusion already cast. The group were now focused on attacking an enemy that wasn't there. Angering the Substitute, he rushed in to cut Aizen down the middle, only furthering the evolution process as more white ooze repaired and wrapped around the enhancing Shinigami. "Drop the mind games, Aizen! NOW!"
"Just a little longer, Ichigo Kurosaki," Aizen whispered, his left eye already being covered along with his mouth as his cocoon almost overtook him completely. "Then, you and I can battle to our hearts' content as equals. Your power against mine. Won't that be more satisfying?"
"Enough of the bullshit!" The Substitute shouted, prepping a Getsuga once more with both hands held above his head. "I'll end you completely!"
"The Hōgyoku's Will cannot be overcome through force. Kisuke Urahara already failed doing that. Face it, little Ryōka," He grinned as he almost became entirely overlapped by the substance, becoming akin to a white coated chrysalis. "You've lost!"
Debating on whether or not to attack was the best thing the eldest son of the Kurosaki family could've done. What he saw coming from behind Aizen's blind spot, hidden by the confidence he boasted through an inflated ego, was the speeding frame of someone Ichigo swore he knew. He was older, almost changed in maturity, but was still the white haired Captain he got to know who came to Karakura to help protect it.
Realizing what he intended, Ichigo jumped back in a rapid Shunpo to send himself high into the sky to avoid what's to come.
"What's the matter?! Running away, Ryōka?!" Aizen yelled out, unaware what was to befall him till the sword plunged straight through his stomach from behind. Gawking as blood oozed from the mouth covering of the Hōgyoku, he turned to show his only revealed right eye and glare at the Captain he hadn't ensnared with the earlier spell. His change of Reiatsu and appearance was enough for him to falter fatally for one second too long. "C-Captain H-Hitsugaya?!"
"This is for Momo, Aizen!" Tōshirō shouted, unleashing a massive discharge of ice from his blade that formed a large Ryūsenka. Within the heart of the frozen water was a shocked Aizen. Having never considered that his bond could be disconnected if nullifier had come in contact with his cells bonded to the jewel's, his own power of linked evolution and protective healing powers was stolen in one blow. With a final withdraw of the sword, Aizen's body crumbled to pieces while the jewel hanged in the air and began to fall to the earth.
"He did it!" Ichigo shouted with relief. "Aizen...he's gone!"
With the effects of Kyōka Suigetsu gone, Kisuke and the others could witness Tōshirō's new form along with the clattering Hōgyoku. While he felt a sense of satisfaction that it was the young Captain who had done him in, he almost felt saddened that Ichigo hadn't returned the favor. Shaking his head, he turned to Tessai.
"Quickly, we must place a barrier around the Hōgyoku," He ordered his loyal colleague with a sense of urgency. "We must never allow someone like him to obtain that kind of power.
"Of course!" He nodded, rushing to pick up the item.
But he'd be beaten, by a shimmering figure, draped in white.
"You-!" He gasped upon a hand reaching for the mystic item.
All of the pieces were falling in place. She had all the time in the world to stalk the battlefields where the remains of Harribel and her three cohorts had presided. Using maximum speed while under the cover of Kidō was easy when she had no offensive purpose. Scooping up their remains with swift movements while eyes weren't drawn to their fallen enemies she'd make haste. By the time she reached Aizen, she found herself stopping short. The power he radiated was far more than what should've been possible.
Upon seeing his white coating from the gem that she knew was the Hōgyoku, an alternative idea came into her mind. What greater substitute for gaining a tremendous bout of evolution than through the breakdown sphere?!
"Now, to only make him drop his guard so I can grab it," She thought as she crouched a good kilometer away. Her keen Pesquisa was accessed to let her see all angles while staying stationary. As long as nothing hit her directly, no one could detect her. Not even her dear superior. The clashing explosions that followed made it difficult for her to remain in place while using her enhanced spiritual senses, but she forced herself to wait.
She witnessed him subdue Kisuke Urahara and several others through a controlled release of Kyōka Suigetsu. Realizing she was able to perceive what was transpiring despite him activating his Shikai made her realize a critical weakness of the powerful Zanpakutō. If he could not sense his enemies he could not activate his hypnosis on the target his Shikai's Reiatsu influences. Grinning widely to herself, she just about raised her sparkling sword -hidden by Kidō- to perform Hakuren.
When the Substitute returned did she drop back down and growled to herself.
"Just wait a little longer...wait...wait for it!" She chastised herself, choosing to quiet the many other voices that egged her on to attack. Ever since absorbing more and more entities did she find it harder to remain calm. The waiting game was making her sweat bullets from her nervous twitching and the host of Aspects trying to take over her. She fought back the urge to scream as she bit her lip tight enough to draw blood. "I SAID WAIT!"
Her patience paid off in the form of a slightly familiar being. She hadn't seen him closer than ground level, but the Reiatsu was there. Tōshirō Hitsugaya rushed forth in a surprising blitz of velocity, stabbing Aizen's confident frame from behind. A sudden geyser of freezing water followed by his iconic Ryūsenka move, Aizen's body deteriorated far more than the icy essence she scooped up from Tier Harribel. What did survive, however, was a sparkling orb she couldn't resist snatching.
In her haste, she had undone her Kidō and grasped the gem.
"You-!" Tessai coughed aloud, stopping to a halt when he realized that she had grasped the artifact of Kisuke's creation. Observing it with an obsessive need, the Kidō Captain narrowed his eyes while Kisuke steeled himself from the shock of her appearance. Raising a hand up with his meager overcoat human apparel billowing from his rising Reiatsu, he warned her with a cautious tone. "Miss Kuchiki...please...hand that over."
"I don't believe I will, Tessai Tsukabishi," She replied, her tone far too engrossed with the orb's pulsating presence to realize the others were now looking at her strangely. Her state of mind was off but everything else about her seemed how it should be. While they considered the possibilities, she felt Ichigo's presence draw near. Grinning she turned around and held it up to the Strawberry cheekily. "Look what I got, Ichigo! First come, first serve, right?"
"Rukia, what's going on?" Ichigo asked, feeling something far too uneasy about her. He couldn't place why, but Rukia wasn't acting herself. Looking at the mystic item created by spirit science, he glared at the ominous foreboding tingling he got along the back of his spine. This thing was not natural and his friends shouldn't play with it as if it was a toy. "You should give it to Kisuke. He'll take care of it-"
"I don't want to," She answered, her face dropping into a pout as she palmed it in her left hand. "Aizen took it from my body, so I'm keeping it. Fair's fair in love and war, am I right?"
Elbowing Ichigo's chest with a joking grin, he couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Cut it out, Rukia. Enough playing around."
"Yes," Yoruichi, snorting with a measure of irritation as she thought Rukia was simply having petty revenge. Crossing her arms under her prominent bosom she twitched angrily at the short woman. "You should hand it over. We're going to deal with it."
"Oh, so like how you let Aizen rip this out of my chest? And tried to steal my Shinigami powers? Is that your way of handling things, Yoruichi? Tessai? KISUKE?!" Aaroniero seemed to exasperate, her feelings coming across as threateningly genuine. She herself felt shocked when tears formed around her eyes when she stared at a despondent Kisuke, whose eyes were hidden by the shadow of his hat. Growling, she waved her fist around with her sword pointed down as she yelled out. "Why do you know best when Aizen was the one who got the better of all of you?! He played you like FOOLS! And in the end, I'm just supposed to sit on my hands and nod with a smile, letting it all be taken care of by the authorities in charge. Good job, Gotei 13! Good job, Visoreds! Good job, Kisuke Urahara! You make FINE selfish, arrogant tools for someone of greater intellect!"
They were all left speechless, including herself.
She hadn't realize these emotions had been bottled up deep within the mind she hijacked of Rukia's. Everything she said was true to a certain extent. Given she was talking, walking, breathing and fighting as a Shinigami it was hard for her to ignore it. Her awakening from the cocoon had done more than align her Aspects to be readily used, it made her host body's thoughts and feelings far more potent than she gave herself credit.
It wasn't just acting, but experiencing it as if it was her own thoughts.
"Rukia...I..." Kisuke tried to form words but was having trouble. His head bowed, and Yoruichi along with Tessai looked away in shame. Ichigo just looked on helpless to think of anything to satisfy his closest friend's hurt. While his matured ally just looked on stoically with tolerance, he couldn't figure out just what to say.
When she felt a familiar stern hand grip her wrist did she come out of her daze. Turning around she saw Byakuya Kuchiki, her -Rukia's, she timely corrected- brother. The man looked far more suspicious than she liked. His eyes, seemingly the same as always, locked into place when he stole her attention while he whispered. A voice that only seemed to reach her.
"You seem pleased that you can fool everyone," He breathed out, a cool venom tinting his words while a subdued fury mirrored his white glowing irises. "But I finally caught you, Hollow!"
"He found out?!" Aaroniero immediately panicked, her composure along with the current act of erratic emotion turning into stark alarm. The grip felt unnaturally strong and she could only assume it was the work of Kidō. Growling with impatience, she realized that Byakuya didn't simply vanish into thin air but had set a tracer on her and followed her path of absorption.
"Byakuya, what are you-?!"
"Stay back, Ichigo Kurosaki!" Byakuya warned, his hand gripping the handle of his sword in readiness. "What you see before you is-"
"HANDS OFF!" She let loose a deafening shout, her Reiatsu unleashed into a column of swirling multi-colored light. The presence of many was felt in her all at once. No longer did it feel genuinely Rukia Kuchiki but Sado Yasutora, Tier Harribel Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Yammy Llargo, Zommari Rureaux, Chōjirō Sasakibe, Shunsui Kyōraku, his third and fourth seats, the Tres Bestias, many of the Vanguard including Rana Zolinder, Angelle Cooney, Sverrie Alessi, Soto Muerte, Patros, and Sedosa Belleza. The final of which made even Byakuya and those present shock.
"Kaien Shiba?!" Byakuya gasped, recovering in a backward flip as he unsheathed his blade entirely.
"What the Hell's going on, Rukia?!" Ichigo howled out, his sleeve raised up to see the beautiful fabric of Rukia's torn by the force of her Reiatsu. Instead what he saw was an amalgamation of Reishi colors swirling around her while she bore something that befitted her previous awakening. Her eyes became an entrancing deep lavender that shimmered with a purple light. Her Shikhakushō had become a stark white with a purple obi, a cloak of black outlined with deep velvet red leading up to a pair of flower petals draping over her clothed shoulders that had a shimmering red inside. Her black hair extended down to the small of her back, animatedly swirling in the wind of her power. With her legs on display to show her bare feet, the earth cracked beneath them as her soles hovered a few inches off the ground, a sigh escaped her mouth when she looked over almost annoyed at Ichigo. This in turn spurned on Ichigo's fury as his own immense power burned a deep black around him with his sword pointed at her. "ANSWER ME!"
"I guess you could say, the jig is up," She joked horribly, turning to spare a glance at a mortified Kisuke, a guarded Byakuya, a stern Tōshirō, a shocked Yoruichi and Tessai, then back at a furious Ichigo. Grinning more methodically cruel, she raised her now Hōgyoku infused hand and announced out loud. "I must tell you that Rukia Kuchiki hasn't been alive for quite awhile. My name is Aaroniero Arrurrerie, nice to meet you officially, Ichigo Kurosaki."
A/N: Wow. I did not think I could get out another chapter before the year ended. But somehow I managed, who would've thought?
EDIT: Sorry about the redo for the ending. I realized I rushed the reveal a bit too sloppily due to my previous tired state. Hopefully this will make up for it! GOMEN!
Yes, the war is finally over, but the battle over the Hōgyoku is still in contest. With Aizen's death deserved by a white frosty avenger, our Hollowfied hero has to face the gruesome truth that Rukia is gone. So is Chad. And the enemies he's fought or spared were absorbed into her essence. As of now, the total beings Aaroniero has absorbed is well over two to three dozen. Can anyone stop her now that she's assimilated the Hōgyoku? And if not, how far will she take her path of evolution?
Find out, in the next chapter of A Predator Among Us!