Groaning, Layne struggled to his feet, his efforts in fighting Mollow having exhausted most of his reiatsu, coupled with the pain of being defeated by Nnoitra earlier, he was rapidly approaching his limit
The explosion from his Null Infinity (Really just a renamed Gran Rey Cero) impacting Mollow's Gran Rey Cero had thrown him some fifty feet backwards, he was lucky that he hadn't hit anything too solid and broken his damn neck, just the endless sands of Hueco Mundo, endlessly filling his shoes, which he kicked off, not wanting to be carrying sand weight.
The collision of the two beams had kicked up a miniature dust storm, obscuring Layne's view of the battlefield, though he knew from prior experience not to count any of his chickens before they hatched, Mollow was most definitely still out there, and likely more pissed off than ever.
Sure enough, the dust sucked inwards as Mollow leapt through it, swinging both her blade and beatstick at Layne, who parried with some difficulty, but was blasted backwards from an errant lightning bolt that struck him in the chest
Mollow was clearly in sight now, the dust and sand having completely settled by the time Layne stood up for a second time and got eyes on her as she walked towards him slowly, a deadly glint in her black and yellow eyes
I need to even the odds, I'm getting my ass handed to me on the silverest of silver platters
Layne lifted Oathkeeper up, and went for what could only be described as a Hail Mary, dismissing his mask with an errant thought
"Riptide Strike: Maelstrom!"
Contrary to Layne's earlier statement while the group was being menaced by Lunagaga, he was capable of generating water in the desert, as the rain began falling immediately, starting with a few light specks that darkened the sands by his feet and quickly becoming a torrential downpour, that soaked everything in the immediate area, darkening the artificial brightness of the sky with technically artificial cloud cover and precipitation formed from the very depths of his spirit, his resolve and emotions turned elemental through the power of his zanpakuto.
"That's all you do?" Mollow called out at him, resuming her slow advance after she stopped, wary of what Layne was up to, but finding nothing to fear with the falling of water from the sky "Your so called final attack, the high and mighty Layne Trell wastes his power on weather imitations?"
Layne ignored her, waiting for her to make a move, any move as she advanced, completely drenched while Layne remained completely dry, the water impacting him, yet seemingly absorbed into his skin and gear.
"Because I can imitate the weather as well, far more impressive then something as simple and useless as rain… and let me tell you, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, after this I'm going to kill the orange haired idiot, the glasses archer, the dumb oaf with the arms, the midget woman with the ice, the hot red head with the tats, the Orihime girl, Old Mate Joel… and finally my counterpart, oh boy, presenting her with your head, and then cutting off hers will be the completion of my victory"
In a set of movement's that was now all too familiar to Layne, she beat the drum ring emerging from her back with the stick and lightning flashed from the sky, but missing Layne entirely
Incredulous, she tried again, beating out a more complex pattern which caused four bolts to appear one after another, and each time narrowly missing its mark as Layne seemed to stand still, unflinchingly watching Mollow as the lightning flashed around him, illuminating his masked features and calm demeanor.
"Is that all you do?" Layne mimicked "Because I've had more impressive bowel movements than your weather imitations"
Mollow growled, and ceased with the lightning bursts, instead leaping in on her own to get in close range, cleaving through Layne's upper body with a mighty swing
The 'Layne' she cut through dissolved into water, exploding into droplets which quickly became a seamless part of the downpour
The rain was so thick here that Mollow could barely see five feet in front of her, and the sound was absolutely incredible, the roaring sound filled her ears as the rushing water stung her exposed skin, and she'd lost track of Layne completely after she eviscerated his water clone
She shouted her frustrations, but whatever obscenities and curses upon Layne's bloodline she was laying down were completely drowned out by the downpour, serving only to frustrate her further
The sound of her stick beating the drums on her back couldn't be heard, but their effect was immediately seen as lightning flashed around her, a powerful circular discharge that immediately evaporated all the rain and cloud cover, and caused all the sand within the area of effect to turn into glass
Mollow looked up and wiped water out of her eyes "That better have hit you, you son of a bitch" she growled
Layne stood at the edge of the glass disc Mollow had formed from her technique, frozen in the motion he had taken to dodge the electrical nova, he hadn't been entirely successful either, the front half of his body had been just inside the blast radius and was now completely red, one hell of a sunburn.
Holy shit, a split second later and I wouldn't just be shocked; fried and extra crispy, I'd also be dead … this has to end.
Layne smirked, half out of relief and half out of amusement
"That's amazing… why didn't you just hit me with that from the start, I'd be dead now"
"I can't do that again… not for a long time" Mollow growled, clearly breathing heavier now than she had since the fight had begun
"Then now, it's my turn… Riptide Strike: Rainblade"
Around Layne, the rain merged, coalescing into eight separate katana, blue in hue with bubbles clearly trapped inside the skin of the water, which migrated to Layne's position and floated around him slowly, in a loose formation with the blades pointing outwards
"All you do is come up with stupid moves that do absolutely nothing"
Layne grinned "I'll admit my track record is fifty-fifty… but theirs isn't so bad"
Mollow frowned and followed the blades, which were absorbing more of the falling rain and growing larger, changing shape, becoming less like a blade and more like a human, until watery mockeries of Ichigo, Ishida, Chad, Orihime, Joel, Renji, Rukia and Moll stood with Layne, liquid imitations of their weapons and abilities held at the ready
"I've often thought that if the nine of us fought together all at once, there's no one that we couldn't beat… since that will never happen, this is the next best thing"
"What a load of shit"
Layne shrugged, and then stuck both of his blades in the sand and put his hands forwards, the watery figures melting into the weapons so that the only things left were the weapon imitations, Water Zangetsu flying into his outstretched left as he redonned his mask, brandishing the watery blade
"Since I apparently have such a hard time fighting you under my own power, maybe my friends will have better luck, I figured since you're so determined to kill them,"
Layne grasped the hilt of the water Zangetsu with both hands and grinned at Mollow
"Getsuga…"
Raising the sword just like he'd seen Ichigo do so many times, he brought it down with a vicious slash, breaking all the glass in the path of the intense high pressure burst of water that was passing for a real Getsuga Tensho
"Tensho"
Mollow, momentarily overtaken by shock was a second too late to dodge and was clipped by the burst, taking a chunk out of her left shoulder, but she ignored that, and started dashing towards Layne, intending to not give Layne the chance to finish whatever the hell he was doing
Layne had already discarded Water Zangetsu and summoned two more of his friends weapons to himself
"Ginrei Kojaku, and Koten Zanshun"
Mollow dodged all the water projectiles without an issue, though she had a sneaking suspicion the worst damage they'd inflict upon her would be prune fingers
Layne hadn't really put much stock in the ranged weapons hitting her at all and hadn't put much power in the projectiles, and had already discarded Ishida's bow and Orihime's hairpins, and replaced them with a regular katana and strangely, just the handle of a sword
Mollow jumped into the air and thrust her sword forwards, but was blasted back by a stream of water that shot out from the tip of the water sword like a cannon
"Mizu(Haku)ren"
Mollow bellowed something incoherent as the stream stopped and tried to rush forwards, but Layne just held the empty sword hilt pointed at her
"Higa Zekkou"
Jets of water erupted from the ground and closed in on Mollow, restricting her movements while Layne was busy switching up yet again
"El Directo"
Another burst of water hit her in the abdomen and threw her sideways, causing her to cough up blood
"Two more, two that have been with me nearly this whole way" Layne continued walking towards her, as water Right arm of the Giant melted away and was replaced with a liquid Fist of the Mountain "This one's for Joel, who you nearly killed while I was blinded"
Layne disappeared from Mollow sight line while she was still reeling from the blow to her side and reappeared directly in front of her
"Elevation: Kosciusko"
A straight right directly to the gut with Layne's water enhanced fist caused her to vomit blood all over Layne's mask before the impact caught up with the rest of her body and sent her flying backwards, landing backwards in the middle of the glassed sands, and shattering them
Layne discarded Fist of the Mountain and now held the final piece of his combination attack loosely in his left hand, before tossing it away so it reformed into a regular sword and joined the other seven floating around
"As much as I like the irony, it feels like it would be an insult to you to hit you with a mockery of your own technique"
Mollow struggled to her feet and spat some blood out, before growling at Layne
"You arrogant bastard"
Layne flashed back a weak smirk
"You're not entirely wrong"
In flashes of white and black light Oblivion and Oathkeeper reappeared in the Layne's hands and he charged forwards, his blades clashing with Mollow's despite the beating she'd just taken from his last attack
"This one isn't just for Moll, it's for me as well, you've been threatening me since I got this power, now I return it all to you"
Layne knocked Mollow's guard aside with a vicious thrust and then ducked, allowing the eight rainblades to impale her
"I am the sum of those that surround me, and you are nothing before me"
Mollow choked as the liquid blades speared through her body, before she started melting away into black ash that scattered in the rain as Layne watched stonefaced, before exhaling a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and slowly fell backwards, hitting the sand with a soft impact, his last conscious thought grateful that he didn't fall on the lightning burns all over the front half of his body.