Chapter 24: Simultaneous Assault! Trial of Time!
"Ugh….we always get assigned the boring jobs," the first voice sighed, the words barely echoing off the shadowy walls within the 12th Squad's District.
"Hey, our end is the more important one, remember?" A second, sterner tone replied. "The main part of the plan implies that we have to succeed here."
"Cut the talk, we need to start ASAP," the third said, the words hanging limply in the air. "Queen's First Row, move out!"
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"Confirmed: the other half is on the move," Anther stated as the Hell Butterfly left his fingers. "Remember: their half is key to this phase of the operation. If you screw up, make damn sure that they don't find out what else is going on. Our orders are to terminate those three and offer backup to the others if need be; we're more of a diversion than anything, so if things get rough, stall."
"Enough with speeches already," Urgeta whined, "can't we get to killing?"
"Your impetuousness is going to get you killed someday," the female Pawn stated.
"When it happens, I'll know that I finally found a fun opponent," Urgeta stated. "I'll die with a smile on my face."
"If I didn't know you, we wouldn't talk," Tyshi said darkly. "You're one crazy motherfucker."
"Why else do you think the boss keeps him around?" The woman said.
"Hey! We didn't come here to discuss who's sane and who isn't. We need to attack their position and wipe out those bastards. Anyone with knowledge of our organization is a thorn in the side of our plan," Anther growled.
"What if they already reported us? That's the logical step," the female said.
"It's unlikely. First off, who would believe them? Jaice Gandaime is a known firebrand and, according to our sources, they haven't spoken to many people beyond their small circle." Anther noted. "Even if they said something, the bureaucracy of Soul Society is too tied up to worry about some unranked nobodies spouting conspiracy theories. Now, let's cut the talk and move in."
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"So then I says, 'That's my sword,' and then she just starts laughing," Tairos continued his drunken tale, tipping his sake glass and spilling a bit as he spoke.
"That's fu…fu…fucking bullshit," Baiten stuttered before laughing. "Are ya with me, Jaice?"
The third Shinigami snorted, his arms crossed as he narrowed his eyes at them. "Honestly, you two need to learn that getting drunk is for fools."
"Hey, I know my limit," Baiten groaned, "but tonight's a night t' celebrate! We killed a freaking Menos!"
"Damn right!" Tairos roared, high-fiving Baiten before offering his hand to Jaice who turned away.
"I had half a glass, that's more than enough. Being drunk leaves you weakened."
"Yeah, but only temporarily," Tairos gargled. "What do I have t' fear now?"
As if in answer to Tairos's drunken query, two of the doors of the group's house slammed onto the ground. At each portal stood two figures wearing clown masks and brandishing zanapkutos.
"Oh, fuck me." Tairos groaned.
Jaice rolled his eyes and drew his weapon. "Told ya so!"
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Arda Codestum hated patrol duty, especially at night. As a 3rd Seat, she always expected more glamorous jobs, but the pace of experiments had slowed down lately. On the bright side, it meant she had less paperwork to fill out, but even so she needed her sleep. The 12th Squad District was always one of the quietest, so long as you ignored the screams of prisoners and test subjects, but even that was usually droned out by the night wind or machinery.
Arda perked up her ears as she rounded a corner, sure she had heard footsteps. Peeking her head around a wall, she surveyed the area: there was nothing to be seen.
It must've just been a rat, she sighed. At least there's only an hour more of my shift, then it's off to bed.
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"Close, damn close," one of the shadowy figures panted.
"No, she didn't have a clue," another spoke. "Our reiatsu is masked and our sandals are padded; it's doubtful she had any clue something was here."
"Good, we'd best avoid a fight, especially with her," the third whispered. "We'd better keep moving, we're not far from the target site. Once we get the schematics, we need to exit ASAP. Lorsun, I'm assigning you to rearguard, got it?"
The fourth member merely nodded, his expression unchanging beneath his mask.
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Baiten gasped as the blade buried itself in his chest, coughing as the weapon was removed and inserted once again. Jaice cursed as he blocked another strike from one of the masked foes, turning to kick at another who rolled backwards and rose, grabbing Tairos by the collar and throwing him through a wall and into the streets.
We're fucked, so very fucked, Jaice thought. Three on four, and two of us are drunk! If those bastards survive this, I'll be the one to kill them for their idiocy.
"Lost a lot of spunk, eh Gandaime?" Urgeta chuckled, punching Jaice in the gut as he was distracted by his opponent's sword feint. "I guess you get weaker when you have to worry about your friends."
"Fuck you," Jaice grunted, aiming a snap-kick at Urgeta's groin but falling short as his enemy side-stepped and slammed the flat of his blade across the 9th Squad member's face.
"In a way, I'm happy you didn't die, it means I get the pleasure of kicking your ass all over again," Urgeta continued, his laughter intensifying, the violent guffaws seeming to echo with malice. "This time, I won't play around: I'll just kill you quickly and be done with it."
"Then why haven't you released yet?" Jaice asked, spitting out a tooth as he reeled from the impact of the last blow.
"I want to actually challenge myself," Urgeta stated, dodging a clumsy blow from his foe. "And besides, if I start kicking up wind in here it's just as likely that I'll injure one of my allies."
Meanwhile, Baiten and Tairos were faring poorly. Each man's body was littered with blade wounds and bruises and neither was able to properly gain his footing. Somehow, each had managed to draw his sword in the midst of the turmoil, but it had done little. Tairos, having somehow stumbled back inside the house, had managed a lucky swing at one point that caught his attacker's off-hand, but that had done little more than provoke more rage from the foe. The two had become backed into a corner by their three foes; side by side the drunken friends swayed, each praying that some miracle would come to save them but knowing that such a thing was impossible.
I got lucky once when Shindou showed up, Baiten mused. That won't happen again. It can't happen again. I'm really going to die; this is what we get for letting our guard down so easily.
The three attackers advanced on the duo, their clown masks looking more hideous to the inebriated warriors. Each foe raised the blade he or she carried, ready to strike the final blow.
"Oh fuck! We've got a problem." Urgeta moaned, causing his friends to turn their heads. Another masked figure stood in the doorway, silhouetted eerily against the backdrop of the night sky. He appeared fairly muscular, his sleeveless kimono accentuating the rippling mass of muscles the adorned his upper limbs. He advanced slowly, deliberately, with each step seeming to suck energy from the inhabitants of the room. The members of Scaramouche were just as paralyzed; Tairos, Jaice, and Baiten saw an opening to attack, but even they were frozen by the reiatsu this man exuded. His aura was both powerful and foul.
"S…sir, what are you doing here?" Anther stuttered. "Is there a p…problem?"
"Yes, there's been a change of plans," the figure said, moving more into the light. His mask was now revealed; unlike the others, his clown was not as jovial, a more wicked face with fanged teeth and scars along the cheeks. "The Master has ordered us to proceed to the next phase of the plan immediately."
"B…but why is that? We can easily kill these fools now and…." Anther attempted to speak, but a blast of reiatsu from the man prevented him from continuing.
"Of course you could; or, you could put your energy towards something more
useful. The second team is already almost finished, so I helped convince the Master that our time is better spent on our overall agenda, not petty squabbles with nobodies."
"Leaving them alive is a liability," Anther answered.
"And failing to complete our mission is worse," the figure replied viciously, rushing forward and pushing Anther into a wall with one of his muscled hands. "Do you think I was dispatched for no reason? Even I have my own work that needs to be done yet here I am delivering a message to you ingrates. A Hell Butterfly would just be ignored; you damn idiots would be too busy fucking around with these low-lives. That's why I had to come. Now, here is your new assignment," he pushed a scroll into Anther's hands. "I will deal with these three and then head back to my own mission. I can complete the task much faster than you all ever could."
"Y…yes sir! King's First Row, move out," Anther said after briefly studying the scroll. "Follow me!" The other four nodded and rushed off behind Anther, all of them visibly shuddering.
"Now, I won't be so generous with you three," the figure stated coldly, moving towards Baiten and Tairos. Their wounds had begun to take a dangerous toll as each one sank towards the group, unable now to even lift their swords. Jaice jumped in the way, brandishing Sangren; the new enemy, however, was nonplussed and seemed to teleport behind Jaice, interlocking the fingers of his two fists and bringing them down across Jaice's skull. The sound of cracking bone was audible as the blow connected. Jaice swayed momentarily, then dropped to the ground, blood trickling from his mouth.
With his first and most dangerous target down, the masked man was free to once again head towards Tairos and Baiten. The figure cracked his knuckles and pulled a fist back before aiming a punch at Tairos's skull.
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"Objective complete, let's get out of here," one of the masked figures said, wiping blood from his sword and sheathing it before tucking several rolls of paper into his kimono. Around the four members of Scaramouche, bodies lay littered, former 12th Squad members who had fallen beneath the blades of these deadly assassins.
The other three warriors nodded in unison as the group exited the room, heading back into the streets and rushing away from the district as quickly as possible.
Lorsun, the warrior assigned to rearguard, looked around warily as his allies rushed ahead of him. Something wasn't right; he had a feeling something was about to pounce on them any moment.
Lorsun's insight proved true as he felt a blast of kidou glance off his leg. He turned to see the figure of Arda Codestum, right hand smoking from the recent release of energy while her left hand held her sealed zanpakuto.
"Who the hell are you and what have you been up to?" Arda asked Lorsun, who did nothing but draw his own weapon. "Oh, I guess it's going that way, eh?"
"Your mission is to stall anyone who attacks us," Lorsun remembered his friend informing him earlier. "Kill them if possible, but do your best not to attract attention. It is more vital that we escape with the documents than anything else."
"You seem a bit startled," Arda declared, noting Lorsun's shaky movements as he attempted to attack her. Dodging a sword sweep, she continued to speak. "Your reiatsu masking is top notch, so that's not how I found you. See, we at the 12th Squad plan for everything. The top ranking members had chips implanted into some of our most important research officials; the chips monitor their adrenaline levels, heart rate, and brain activity. Every high ranking member, 5th Seat and up, has a device that monitors these chips; mine started beeping like crazy when you assaulted that research center. Now, please give back what you stole and I promise not to kill you; we need more test subjects anyway."
Lorsun's rage grew as Arda continued to effortlessly dodge his attacks, not even retaliating save hurling the occasional insult his way.
"If you haven't realized yet, I'm a 3rd Seat," she taunted. "I'm on a whole different level; you can't possibly hope to defeat me."
Lorsun grunted defiantly and stepped back, extending his right arm which clutched his katana so that the weapon was at a forty-five degree angle from his right side to the ground. For the first time in what seemed like ages, his raspy voice hissed: "Snort, Schviner!" At that moment, Lorsun's katana began to morph, its shape shifting and becoming thicker and slightly shorter before revealing its new form; the zanpakuto was now a thick club with four lines of six holes spaced evenly around the central cylinder.
"Oh, nice to see you have a shikai," Arda commented. "Now I know you aren't total shit, just mostly."
Lorsun seemed to ignore her comment as he rushed forward. Steam issued from the holes on his zanapkuto, shrouding him in a layer of mist. Arda dodged, simultaneously raising her blade to brace for an attack just in case. As she moved through the haze, she sensed a figure behind her and turned. Seeing a weapon rushing towards her, she raised her own blade, but her attempt was too slow. With bone-crushing force, the club slammed into the side of Arda's face, knocking her to the ground. She stood rapidly and touched her cheek; it was wet with blood and several bones were broken.
Damn it, if I need reconstructive surgery after this it'll be a big pain in my ass, she thought. I underestimated him; that blow didn't exactly tickle. Anyway, how the hell did he strike so quickly with something of that size?
Arda glanced around, noticing that the haze emitted from her opponent's zanpakuto now shrouded her completely. She shivered, unsure what to expect. Suddenly, the club emerged from in front of her, zooming towards her skull. She stepped back, thinking the impetus of the strike would pull her foe and his weapon to the ground; she was mistaken. The club shifted upwards immediately, moving forward as it did so, catching Arda in the lower jaw.
Arda stumbled, staring at her enemy for a brief moment before he disappeared back into the fog. I think I know how he's doing this; those holes on his weapon emit steam which gives it extra propulsion, making his attacks faster and more damaging. The spacing of the holes means that the weapon can also rapidly change direction. She panted and continued to look around, trying to anticipate Lorsun's next attack. There's no way I can take more than one or two hits from that thing before I'm done for. I can already feel part of my jaw is cracked, and there's no doubt some damage to my cranium. Let's just hope I can survive this without too much lasting damage.
Arda's thoughts were interrupted as she heard a rush of air, dodging rapidly to narrowly avoid the flying bludgeon. The steam emanating from the dull metal blew against her face, its heat unwelcome and unnerving the 12th Squad member. Just as she was able to see Lorsun's figure, he retreated back into the cloud of smoke.
Damn him, he's got the advantage in a big way, Arda noted. I may be more skilled than he is, but this strategy is definitely taking its toll. If I could just reach him I could slice off his head, but the issue is finding the bastard in all this smoke. At this point, Arda smacked herself in the face. You idiot, why not try running OUT of the smoke? Sheesh, I'm slow today. Arda raced through the haze, eyes glancing sideways now and then in anticipation of an attack. As she cleared the fog, she was greeted by Lorsun's zanpakuto racing towards her face. She raised her zanpakuto to block, only to watch steam erupt from the holes on the weapon's top, pushing it downward and into position to strike her stomach. Arda felt the wind knocked out of her as the weapon connected while simultaneously hearing a crack that could only be connected to the searing pain in her ribcage.
"You bastard!" Arda coughed. Lorsun released gas from his throat as her pain became evident; Arda was unsure of he was laughing, scoffing, or just breathing heavily. The Scaramouche member's mask glimmered wickedly in the moonlight as he raised his club above his head to deliver a crushing blow atop his foe's skull.
As Schviner sailed towards Arda's head, the 3rd Seat gripped her zanpakuto tightly and drove it straight through Lorsun's chest before rolling out of the way of his strike. Lorsun's head tilted downwards as he watched his weapon strike the ground aimlessly, a dull thud against the flagstones his only reward for his attempted assault.
Arda smiled, rising to pull her sword from his chest. "I didn't even need to release to beat someone like you," she snorted. "I commend you for your efforts; you almost had me a few times. But, as I said, I'm a ranked officer, and you're just some insignificant rat. I will admit I'm going to need a few days of healing before I'm fighting fit again. Now, please hold still and I'll make your death quick and painless. Resist, and I'll give you to my boss as a new test subject; let's just say his last seventy-four have all died after an hour of the experiment and he'd like them to live for at least three."
As she spoke, Arda did not notice a chartreuse gas rippling from the Schviner's holes. She began coughing as the vapors entered her nostrils, turning to see her opponent's weapon still clutched in his hands.
"Last…vengeance…huh?" Arda stammered, staggering towards her bleeding foe as he sunk towards the ground. She wrested her sword from his chest and pulled it back, aiming for his neck. "Sadly…it's…in vain…against me…" Arda cleared her throat, gathered her strength, and aimed her enemy's exposed neck. "My boss's zanpakuto uses on poison gas too, do you think I wouldn't have practiced resistance measures just in case? I've exposed myself to varying amounts of hundreds of toxins; there's no poison I know of that can kill me. Now, even though your little attack was futile, my throat is still a bit sore so I'm going to shut up and behead you."
Arda did just that.
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Baiten vomited twice upon waking up, partly from the alcohol and partly from the severe beating he had endured hours before. He was in an unfamiliar setting, an octagonal room with slate colored metallic walls, a single door, and a bucket (which Baiten had already made extensive use of). He thought back to the events in the recent past, wondering where he was and how he'd arrived at this location.
The masked figure approached Tairos, bludgeoning him severely with his thick fists. The warrior's knuckles were already red with blood, yet he showed no signs of slowing down or discomfort. He turned from Tairos's limp figure and moved towards Baiten, the latter still bleeding from the sword wounds he had received moments before. Baiten knew there was no way out; no one would or could come to save him this time. He had to accept it; he had lost and Scaramouche, whoever or whatever it was, had won. His thoughts ended as a single fist slammed directly into his face.
Baiten shook his head. It didn't make any sense. Why would they spare him? Hadn't their mission been to eliminate him? Were they keeping him alive as a torture subject? Perhaps they sought to extract information from him?
A loud series of clicks echoed through the air, clinging off the metallic walls giving it the eerie feeling of inevitability. Baiten gulped and rose to his feet; he was amazed that he was able to stand and was more surprised when he looked at his chest to see that he no longer bore any wounds. He turned his head towards the door as he heard the hinges creak, shuddering at the figure that stood before him.
It was the same man who had made short work of Jaice and Tairos, the one who had easily bested Baiten and inspired such fear in the other members of Scaramouche. Baiten backed towards the wall, unsure of how to react to this man.
"You and I both know you have nowhere to run, Baiten," the figure said, it's voice cold and stern.
"How do you know my name? Do you have spies watching me?" Baiten stammered. "Well, that's all the information you'll get! I'll die before I reveal anything more!"
The figure chuckled and moved closer to Baiten, his steps metered and slow, inspiring a sense of both awe and fear.
"Then you really don't know, do you?" The masked man asked Baiten, nearing the shivering Shinigami.
"What do you mean?" Baiten asked, more confused than ever. "I won't demand answers, but it wouldn't hurt to know what the hell is going on!"
"You'll find out soon, sooner than you'll probably want to anyway. You're not going to die. Well, not as long as you fight well. As I said, though, that will come in time."
"Well then, for now let me ask why I am here and why I was spared," Baiten said, confusion in his voice.
"If you insist, I'll tell you a bit to tide you over for now. You're here to fight, and perhaps gain more than you could ever imagine," the figure spoke. "You were spared because you were worth sparing."
"And why was that? Because I'm a skilled fighter?"
"That," The figure chuckled to himself. "And because I won't kill you."
"What? Why? This doesn't make any fucking sense! Either give me answers now or kill me already!"
"You didn't used to be this slow so I guess I'll help you out, just this once," the figure said, slowly removing its mask to reveal a hawkish nose, black hair, brown eyes, and stubble. "Do you remember me now, brother?"
"Jerik!?"
Character Profile: Lorsun Shiran
Age: Unknown (appears 33 in human years)
Height: 173.36cm (5 feet, 8 ¼ inches)
Affiliation: Member of Scaramouche
Rank: Pawn
Hobbies: Painting, sculpting, weapon maintenance, being silent.
Zanpakuto: Schviner
Shikai: Lorsun can release his zanpakuto by declaring "Snort, Schviner!" His katana transforms into a thick, blunt club with four rows of holes along the blade. These holes can emit steam and gases which can serve several purposes. Firstly, the gas can create a haze in which Lorsun's foes may be lost; as he uses this ability often, he is used to fighting in such conditions and thus it does not bother him. Secondly, the weapon can emit steam of the holes on the side opposite the target, propelling the weapon forward faster and causing it to strike harder, dealing a greater degree of damage. Finally, the weapon can release a toxic gas which can slow, incapacitate, or kill Lorsun's opponent should the need arise; this trick is risky, however, as a high dosage of the smoke can damage Lorsun himself; thus, he uses this attack only as a last resort.
HES: Well, that was a wild and interesting chapter if I do say so myself. Things are really building up, as promised! More fights, more death, and more wild revelations are on the way! As you may have noticed, chapter updates have become a little more frequent; I'll do my best to have a chapter up every two to three weeks, but I can't make any definite promises!
