Hinamori's Apprentice

Chapter 45

"Impressive. Most impressive," Aurion said, "You created this spell yourself, I presume?"

"Yes," Momo said, her hands still clasped together, "Before, I only had enough reiatsu to hold it for a few seconds, but now… well, you'll see."

"I suppose I'll begin then. Second curse, fire," Aurion said with a wave of his blade. A wall of flames were summoned, but this time they almost immediately went out.

"That is indeed impressive," Aurion said, "But the two of you are centuries away from defeating me. Did my old colleague Yamamoto tell you about my powers? I doubt it; chances are he only informed you of how vast they were. Well let me fill you in. When I was young, I was nicknamed "Bringer of the ten curses". It was an apt name, as I do indeed possess the power to bring about ten curses: gnats, fire, drought, disease, sulfur, earthquakes, tidal waves, storms, darkness, and death. I was considered a unique case, for I have no Bankai, yet my Shikai is capable of bringing about such carnage that I surpass nearly all Bankai users."

"I won't allow you to use those powers," Momo said, "I already told you, this is my world, and in my world, Toushiro can beat you."

Aurion laughed at this. "My dear, do you really think that after thousands of years, I am completely reliant on my powers? I will defeat you with or without my abilities."

Momo glanced at Toushiro, to which he nodded and charged at Aurion, his sword drawn.

Aurion raised his sword and deflected the strike. Toushiro slashed at Aurion's neck, only to be blocked again.

"As I thought, the strength of your blows are weak. It's to be expected from a mere child," Aurion said, looking down at Toushiro. Toushiro slashed at Aurion's feet, to which Aurion leaped into the air to avoid.

Toushiro continued his attack, cutting and stabbing at Aurion, only for most of his blows to be blocked. Aurion retaliated with his own strike. Despite his elderly appearance, there was much power behind it, and Toushiro was sent reeling back. He didn't have time to recompose himself, as Aurion went on the offensive, slashing at him with both strength and finesse. Caught off guard, Toushiro was forced to guard himself with his Bankai's wings, which Aurion sheared large chunks of ice off of. Toushiro quickly regrew the severed portions and went back on the attack. He went higher into the air, swinging his ice sword in Aurion's direction and summoning a massive wave of water and ice in the form of a dragon.

Aurion was forced into a defensive position as he dodged the icy dragon, which Toushiro promptly took advantage of, rushing towards him and swinging his sword in a powerful overhand blow which seemed to make Aurion shake when it collided with his own sword. Aurion attempted to slide his blade down Toushiro's to position himself for a counter-attack, but Toushiro swung the tail of ice of his Bankai at him, which sent Aurion flying back.

He skidded to a stop in time to see Toushiro summon a block of ice which he promptly shattered, creating dozens of ice spears. Toushiro launched them like missiles at Aurion, who was again forced to evade the attack. He managed to cut down several of the icy projectiles, but one of them pierced his fine cloak, something which Aurion seemed to take exceptional notice to.

Aurion was not about to let himself be beaten down, however. He leapt into the air, closing the distance between himself and Toushiro while delivering a series of extremely fast attacks. There was no doubt in Toushiro's mind that the stories of Aurion's skill were in no way an exaggeration. He was clearly a very skilled swordsman, and was fully capable of deadly attacks even without his powers. Aurion's blade slashed downwards, grazing Toushiro across the shoulder but causing no serious injury. Toushiro quickly used ice to numb the wound and stop the bleeding.

With a grunt, he swung his wings forward, forcing Aurion closer to him as they fought and giving them both more limited ability to swing their swords. Toushiro used this opportunity to slash his sword in a wide arc, knowing that it would be difficult to block or avoid in this position. Aurion proved him wrong, however.

Swinging his sword from a downward position into and upright position, Aurion both cut off the tip of one of Toushiro's wings and blocked the strike. Surprised, Toushiro leaped back and summoned another block of ice which he shattered into ice spears again.

This time when he launched them however, Aurion did not move out of the way.

"Second curse, fire!" he said, summoning flames that collided with the ice spears. The fire was snuffed out as quickly as it had been summoned, but it was enough to melt the ice spears and render Toushiro's attack useless.

"Hm, it seems that this technique to seal my powers is weakening," he noted, glancing at Momo who did indeed look quite tired as she maintained the Kido spell.

"Then I'll just have to beat you quickly," Toushiro said, regrowing his wing and flying at Aurion.

"Ninth curse, darkness," Aurion said calmly.

The next thing Toushiro knew, he had been engulfed in inky blackness without even a speck of light. That only lasted a moment, however, as light soon appeared, and the blue mist seemed to eat away at all of the darkness. Slightly disoriented, Toushiro realized that Aurion was no longer in front of him. He turned, only to be a confronted with a sight that made his blood run cold.

Aurion stood in front of Momo, his sword plunged through her chest. He withdrew it, and Momo swayed for a moment before collapsing on her side.

"Momo! No!" Toushiro yelled, immediately dashing towards his friend. Aurion raised his sword to fight, but Toushiro, too upset to even think straight, let out a burst of reiatsu that knocked Aurion back a few feet and forced him to reconsider his attack. He ended up backing away from the two Shinigami.

"Please be alive… Please be alive…" Toushiro thought frantically as he leaned over Momo's body. The wound to her chest was bleeding badly, and her breath was weak and raspy. Toushiro was about to attempt healing Kido when Momo's wings suddenly glowed white and dissolved. The wound on her chest began to heal; soon closing up as Momo's breathing began to return to normal. She opened her eyes to look up at Toushiro.

"Shiro-chan…" she said rather weakly.

"Stay still, I'll handle it from here," he said, touching her hand reassuringly before stand up to face Aurion. He noticed that the Blue Mist spell had disappeared. He wasn't sure when it had happened, for he was so full of anger that he could not think of anything but defeating Aurion.

He shook in rage as he looked at Momo's blood on the tip of Aurion's sword. With an enraged yell, he swung his sword and created a torrent of water and ice, directing it straight at Aurion.

"Third curse, drought," Aurion said. The ice dragon began to evaporate, and had disappeared by the time it would have reached Aurion. At the same time, the ice that composed Toushiro's wings began to slowly crumble away, Aurion's drought curse apparently affecting both liquid and solid water.

Toushiro paid no attention however, and immediately summoned an even larger dragon of ice and water, sending the raging torrent at Aurion again. This time, it only partially evaporated, and Aurion was forced to get out of the way to avoid being frozen solid. He seemed perplexed by Toushiro's ability to still use water despite his curse of drought. Toushiro immediately launched another huge blast of ice at him, which he again had to dodge, as this one barely evaporated at all.

"Your rage and desire to punish me for harming your friend are bringing out your full capabilities," Aurion noted, "You might actually be able to withstand my power for a short while."

Toushiro did not pay attention to him, his Bankai now growing more ice than it was losing to Aurion's curse. Soon, his wings were larger than before. With a shout, he summoned another mighty ice dragon. This time however, it turned around almost immediately to engulf Toushiro.

It was then that his Bankai began to change. His wings grew to massive proportions. Ice covered his entire body, forming great claws on his hands and feet. The ice encased his chest like armor, and had soon covered his head in the shape of a dragon's face. When it was over, Toushiro was not even visible, completely encased in ice. He raised his sword and gave a scream as he charged at Aurion, the dragon shaped ice helmet distorting and amplifying his voice to make it sound almost like a roar.

He arrived in front of Aurion much sooner than Aurion had been expecting, his speed vastly increased in this new form. He swung his sword viciously, using strength he had never before possessed. As he clashed blades with Aurion, he swung his mighty ice tail at him like a cudgel, forcing Aurion to dodge and knocking him off balance. He grabbed Aurion with his free hand and effortlessly tossed him across the room.

Aurion skidded to a halt on his feet, Toushiro still charging at him, and raised his Zanpakuto. "Second curse, fire!" he said, his voice more strained than before. Fire appeared, promptly surrounding Toushiro completely. With just a flick of his wings however, Toushiro beat the flames back, the ice of his armor barely even melting.

"Sixth curse, earthquake!" Aurion said. The ground around them began to shake at Aurion's command. The floor beneath Toushiro fissured, making Toushiro lose his balance and almost causing him to fall in. Aurion closed the distance between them and slashed at Toushiro even as the shaking continued. Toushiro blocked his strikes, but then a chunk of ceiling fell upon his back, breaking off a large piece of his wing and distracting him long enough for Aurion to slash through the ice armor and into his chest.

As the tremors stopped, Toushiro grasped his wound and panted. The amount of power he was using was beginning to take its toll. The rage he felt towards Aurion for harming Momo allowed him to access power that had previously been inaccessible to him, but now it seemed that his grip on this power was slipping.

"I think I'll end this now," Aurion said, "Ninth curse, darkness."

Toushiro was again engulfed in darkness, but this time it did not go away. Momo's Kido spell was not there to counter it. He was completely alone in the dark. He raised his sword, trying to use his instincts to fight, but even his other senses seemed to be dulled. As stood still, he heard a whisper, "Eighth curse, storm."

There was a loud crack and a blinding flash of light as Toushiro was hit with something tremendously hot and powerful. Were he in a clearer state of mind, he would have recognized it as lightning, but he could only perceive pain as he was struck, his ice armor shattering around him and his body being injured by the intense lightning both internally and on the outside.

When it was over, he barely even noticed that the curse of darkness had disappeared, for he was lying on the ground barely conscious, his Bankai gone, his clothes singed and smoking, and his body hurting all over. He was barely able to turn his head to glance at Momo, and was relieved to see that she had not been harmed further. This relief turned to fear as her heard Aurion's footsteps approach.

"It's over. The result was not unexpected, but I shall compliment you on putting up such strong resistance. It's a shame that I must cut your lives short. You would have made great Shinigami one day," Aurion said, "Now I just need to decide how I should dispose of you. I could burn you alive with my fire. I could asphyxiate you with sulfurous gas. I could summon millions of insects and clog your lungs with them. I could even use my drought to take away the water in your bodies so that you die of dehydration. I think I will opt for the simpler option, however. Tenth curse, dea-"

"Stop!"

Toushiro glanced over, his eyes widening when he saw you it was. "Y-You are..."

"Senna!" Aurion said, his voice showing real surprise for the first time, "But how? You were killed!"

"I lived on," Senna said, seeming to wobble slightly as she walked, "I lived on… so I can bring an end to you."