Author's note: This is the promised sequel to On the Frozen Plain. It happens years after the end of OTFP, but years before the Soul Society arc in the manga. For those that are interested, there are pictures of some OCs appearing here on my DeviantArt profile. Link is on my Author's profile page.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
Tales of the Tenth Division
Erionni
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: T
Characters: Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, OCs and surprise guests
When the report about the Hollow disturbance in North Rukongai first came in, Hitsugaya didn't think much of it. The Tenth Division dealt with such problems regularly. He sent a unit there, expecting them to deal with it. The problem was that they didn't. The next report said that three shinigami were lost and the rest barely escaped with their lives. Hitsugaya sent seated officers to deal with the problem. The next day the Fifth Seat was killed and the Hollows still remained at large.
At that moment the young captain knew that he had to act himself if he didn't want to lose more men needlessly. He woke up Matsumoto from her alcoholic slumber and told her to pack her things. After he convinced her that she didn't need so much make-up for what was supposed to be a short trip, he left the division in command of Third Seat Arai and they headed north.
They arrived at their destination shortly. They could travel fast when they didn't have to slow down their pace to accommodate weaker members of their division. Even if they couldn't feel the shinigami reiatsu in the village, they could tell they were at the correct spot just by looking. Several houses were torn by the struggle and there was lots of clover growing everywhere, its rose blossoms looking too cheerful in the desolate scene.
They walked into the village and found the highest ranked officer still in fighting shape there. It turned out to be Eighth Seat Kayabuki Hitomi.
"Report," he said. The young woman started retelling their story.
.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv.
When the unit lead by Fifth Seat Nakai met the survivors from the original unit, they asked them everything they knew about the danger they faced. They didn't learn much. The mostly unseated shinigami could tell them only that there were several Hollows, but they couldn't agree on their exact amount, and that they were strong. Twentieth Seat Ishiwara Hiro said that some of the Hollows seemed unreal to him, but nobody confirmed his story. So Nakai's group sent all the wounded to the Fourth, took the stronger members of the original unit with them and headed to the village. They expected the standard attack of a pack of Hollows, so they acted accordingly. They divided into pairs and searched the area. Looking for where did the Hollows go.
The attack came unexpectedly. One moment the day was bright and clear and they were wandering through the blooming meadows and the next moment they were surrounded by countless Hollows that seemed to come out of nowhere and they had to fight for their lives desperately.
"How comes we couldn't feel them earlier?" Kayabuki questioned while blocking a vicious claw swipe. Her companion, Ishiwara, only shrugged.
"We couldn't feel them either," he said.
"And you couldn't tell us sooner?" Hitomi shouted. She slashed at one Hollow, but her sword passed right through it without encountering any resistance. That threw the Eighth Seat off balance and she stumbled. "What the..." she began, but then the Hollow pounced at her. Her question turned in a panicked scream, but the expected pain didn't come. The Hollow passed right through her without causing her any pain or discomfort.
"I said some of them just weren't there!" Hiro gloated. Then he screamed as one Hollow that definitely was there cut into his side. Fortunately it wasn't a serious wound.
"But some of them are there," Kayabuki observed. Unfortunately she couldn't tell which ones were which. If some of them were only incorporeal illusions, they shouldn't emit any reiatsu or make any sounds. Unfortunately there was a lot of noise around and a lot of reiatsu thrown around she was unable to distinguish between the real ones and the illusions.
"Everybody gather around me!" Nakai's voice carried around the battlefield. Hitomi and Hiro obeyed and started making their way towards their commander. They met with Seventh Seat Takezoe on the way. The man was bleeding from a shallow wound and his partner was nowhere to be seen. That probably meant he was dead. The trio joined forces and battled opponents both real and imaginary, slowly making their way towards Nakai's location.
Then an ear-piercing shriek sounded and Nakai's reiatsu suddenly disappeared.
"Crap!" Takezoe Koukichirou cursed upon feeling his superior die. "That means I'm in command now."
"Looks like it," Kayabuki said. "Shakkahou!" she shouted, firing a Hadou into the fray of Hollows, hoping that she'd hit one that was actually there.
The Seventh Seat meanwhile was thinking about a strategy. After a few seconds, he finally came up with something. "We're going to..." he started but didn't finish. One Hollow used his distraction to get past his guard and sink its claws into his stomach. Takezoe cleaved its head in two immediately afterwards, but the damage was already done. He sank to his knees, clutching at the bleeding wounds. Such injury wasn't fatal for somebody of his power, but it prevented him from fighting effectively and that was fatal in this situation.
Hitomi quickly looked around. She was the highest ranked officer still able to fight here now. It was upon her to save as many people as she could. And as she saw it, there was only one thing she could do. She didn't like using her shikai in this type of battles, because it affected her allies as well as her enemies. She reserved it for when she fought alone. Then her ability could turn even a tough battle in her favor. As she saw the situation now, she could very well be fighting alone. Takezoe was out of commission, Ishiwara was barely dodging and everybody else was too far and probably not faring very well. She took a deep breath and began.
"Iroka hanahiraku, Yotsubanokuro-ba nobe!"Blossom colorfully, Field of Four-leaf Clover! First buds appeared on the guard of her sword, that was shaped like a four-leaf clover, then they quickly grew into leaves and blooms. Kayabuki shook her sword. Pollen flew from the blossoms and landed on the ground. There it immediately began growing. Soon there was a patch of full-grown four-leaf clover surrounding her location. The plants wrapped around everything that stepped onto them, preventing it from moving. Takezoe and Ishiwara were held in place, but so were all the Hollows actually dangerous to them. Whatever ran across the patch of clover and could still move was an illusion. Whatever couldn't, Hitomi spotted easily and finished it off with her sword. The clover didn't hinder its mistress any. As she swung her sword in combat, the blossoms on the guard produced more pollen and spread it over a wider area.
She quickly shunpoed to where she felt her comrades fighting. She shook her sword, creating a field of clover around them. It trapped them, but it trapped the Hollows too. Hitomi's eyes widened when she realized that one of the Hollows was close enough to the shinigami that it could attack him. And the shinigami's zanpakutou was trapped by the clover, so he couldn't use it to block. The man was desperately trying to free it instead of letting it go and use Kidou. The Eighth Seat raced to save him, but she was too late. The Hollow tore out his throat. Kayabuki cursed. That was why she preferred not to use her power whenever there were other people around. She quickly killed the Hollow before it could cause more damage. Then she moved on.
She purified a few more of the fallen souls when she felt the strain. It was partly because of the blood flowing from the wounds she had accumulated during the battle, but even if she had remained unscatched, she wouldn't have been able to keep this up much longer. Using her shikai always tired her quickly, especially if there was a large area of the four-leaf clover active. She could save her energy by cutting off her connection with the clover fields by sealing her sword and then releasing it again, but then they would turn into regular plants and the trapped Hollows would roam free again.
Fortunately for her, the Hollows recognized that the tides of the battle had turned and began retreating. Hitomi saved her breath of relief for after they were gone. If they realized how low on reiryoku she really was, they would have just waited around and finished them all off once she collapsed.
They were saved for now, but the Eighth Seat knew that they hadn't won yet. The Hollow that had been creating all the illusions had escaped and who knows how many of its buddies escaped with it. She had no idea how strong it really was, but she suspected that if it showed in person, her clover wouldn't be enough to hold it down. So even if she wasn't tired and wounded, this would be a battle she wouldn't be able to win. She could do only one thing: call in the medics and call for reinforcements.
.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv.
"I see," Captain Hitsugaya said when the Eighth Seat finished her report. He tried not to show how much it worried him. Hollows who could mask their reiatsu were supposed to be rare or even nonexistent. Yet lately they have been showing up by the dozens. And they were never the same. If it was just one Hollow with a special ability, it wouldn't be a big deal. So many of them were. Or was it perhaps just one Hollow that was masking the reiatsu of the others? And convincing them to cooperate? That was another worrying thing: Hollows were solitary creatures by their nature. If two of them met, they were more likely to try to eat each other than join forces. Yet packs of Hollows were becoming more and more common as of late. What did it mean? Hitsugaya didn't know, but it was bound to be bad.
But first he had to deal with the problem at hand. He had wounded subordinates to take care of and a tricky Hollow to find and purify. His first impulse was just to run after it and introduce it to Hyourinmaru, but he suppressed it. Not only it would mean leaving his men without protection, he couldn't even tell where did the illusion Hollow go. Its reiatsu was hidden again and he couldn't follow its tracks either. It wasn't that there were none, but there were too many leading in all directions and there was no way to tell which ones belonged to the most dangerous of the Hollows.
His best bet was to stay here and wait for it to appear again. He couldn't be certain that it would, but he considered it very likely. The first unit was of too low combat strength to be able to fight their way out if the Hollows attacked with their full strength. Eighth Seat Kayabuki was almost certain that they would have been slaughtered too if the Hollows didn't retreat. That led the prodigy to the conclusion that both units were let go so they could call for someone more powerful and tastier. Hitsugaya had encountered Hollows that used wounded shinigami as bait for bigger prey before. If the illusion Hollow was one such, it was going to get a nasty surprise when it ran into him. He just hoped that the mysterious enemy wasn't one who could justifiably believe it could defeat a captain.
They waited in the village as the Fourth Division's Third Medical Relief Unit arrived, treated the wounded and carried off the most injured ones away. He sent the weaker members of Tenth Division with them. Officially they were supposed to protect the medics and their wounded comrades, unofficially Hitsugaya wanted to get them away because they would only get underfoot in the upcoming battle. Hitsugaya just hoped that the convoy wouldn't be attacked as an easy prey. He was betting on the fact that the Hollow behind it all was after him. He was relieved when a Hell Butterfly brought the message that the wounded arrived at the Relief Station safely. After that they just waited.
The night fell and they still waited. They stayed in the local inn, because there was no need to stay outside the whole night, with their nerves strung high in anticipation, only to be attacked once they were falling asleep on their feet in the morning. Hitsugaya just ordered everybody to keep their zanpakutou at hand all the time, because the attack could come literally anytime. Then he went to his room too.
Matsumoto headed towards the local onsen. She had dust everywhere from the journey and she even got some blood on her while she was helping the wounded before the Fourth arrived. She just couldn't bear staying dirty. No matter what her captain said, a lady had to look perfect in any situation. Taichou probably wouldn't be happy if he saw her soaking in the hot tub now, but she kept Haineko within arm's reach, so she was battle-ready even now. She wasn't breaking any of his orders.
She was about to doze off it the pleasant water, when the sense of foul reiatsu slammed into her like a hammer. Her drooping eyes flew open. She was fully alert now. She grabbed Haineko and ran out of the onsen. She was dripping wet and wrapped only in a towel, but she didn't care. Whatever Hollows were attacking them, they were strong and her taichou was going to need her.
As she arrived onto the village square, she saw that it was just as bad as she expected. There were Hollows everywhere. Though if Hitomi's report was to be believed, most of them weren't really there, but that changed nothing when she didn't know which ones. She had to fight them all.
"Growl, Haineko!" she called. The blade of her sword crumpled into ash. She swung the hilt and sent the ash flying at the wave of Hollows approaching her. It passed through most of them, but a painful howl let her known that she hit something. She twisted her wrist again, destroying whatever Hollow was real in the middle of the group.
A shadow warned her of danger approaching from above. Ten or so identical winged Hollows were diving at her from the sky. Nine of them were probably illusions, but she was almost certain that one of them was real. The ashes of Haineko were too far away to be used for defense. She had to dodge. A fast shunpo got her out of reach of the flying danger. She stopped and fired Hadou #33: Soukatsui into the flock of Hollow birds. An explosion and a scream let her know that she had hit, but the illusions didn't dissipate.
Then claws almost touched her skin. Some Hollow got the drop on her from behind. She twisted her torso quickly, avoiding injury, but the claws had caught in her towel and ripped it from her. She felt the night's chill on her suddenly bare skin. She snarled at the Hollow angrily and destroyed it with a Shakkahou. She grabbed at the towel, wanting to cover herself again, but another Hollow attacked her. She had to dodge and abandon the towel. She didn't like being naked, but she had more important matters to worry about than her modesty. Namely staying alive.
.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv.
Hitsugaya too was woken from a nap by the foul reiatsu. Unlike Matsumoto, he was still dressed in his uniform so he faced no dilemma when he grabbed Hyourinmaru and raced out. He arrived at the scene of a pandemonium. Hollows were everywhere. A few of his subordinates were already out, fighting them valiantly. He drew his zanpakutou and joined them.
He could immediately tell that most of the Hollows were just apparitions. There were whole groups of the beasts that looked identical and there wasn't enough Hollow reiatsu in the air for such a big army. Fortunately the apparitions had no reiatsu and made no sound, so it was possible to tell which beasts were real. It wasn't easy, but Hitsugaya was a captain for a reason, so he managed. And if he had trouble, he mentally commanded Hyourinmaru to release his chain and swung it in a wide arc, he could always tell what was real by what the chain struck.
After about a minute, he noticed that his men were having trouble. One just completely froze for no apparent reason and was promptly struck down from behind. Another stumbled and missed a clean shot at a Hollow. He was almost killed too, but Hitsugaya shunpoed to him and saved him.
"What's wrong with you?" the young captain shouted. The man just pointed. Hitsugaya looked that direction. He saw Matsumoto battling a couple of Hollows there, but nothing really scary or dangerous. So what was the problem?
"I think they're distracted by Matsumoto-fukutaichou!" Kayabuki shouted from where she stood in the middle of a clover field.
"Huh?" Hitsugaya blinked and then cleaved in half a Hollow that tried to sneak up on him from behind. "What about her?"
"She's out of uniform," Hitomi explained, slaying a Hollow that got trapped in her clover vines.
"So?" Toushirou asked. He had noticed that Rangiku wasn't wearing a single thread, but what did it have to do with anything?
Kayabuki laughed. "Only you can ask something like this. Didn't we address the matter of her being a distraction years ago?"
"Oh!" Hitsugaya nearly slammed his forehead. Then he turned to the man he had saved a minute ago and who was now staring rigidly in the opposite direction than Matsumoto was. "You're acting as if you have never seen a naked woman before." The man didn't answer.
A short while later Matsumoto joined them.
"It's quiet," she said. "Did we get all the small fries already?"
"It seems so," the young captain replied. Though there were still images of Hollows mingling around, they couldn't feel any reiatsu from them and they weren't attacked physically for the last minute. "I'd say the boss will show up soon."
Almost as soon as he said it, the boss did indeed show up. The gigantic figure trotted through Kayabuki's four-leaf clover patch like it wasn't even there and stood in front of Hitsugaya. The captain studied it with interest.
The first thing that came to his mind was that this Hollow was a she. It didn't have any visible female parts, yet its whole appearance was distinctively feminine. She seemed to be put together from parts of different creatures. Her torso was human-shaped, slim with slender arms. Her fingernails were sharp, a step away from being claws. There were four wings on her back, thin and transparent, triangular in shape, resembling some insect, perhaps a moth or a fly. They didn't seem big enough to allow her to fly. Her lower body resembled a horse, only it was too tall and short to be a horse. It looked more like a giraffe. The tail was long and thin, ending in something that resembled a fin and was probably very sharp. Her head was human, with long turquoise hair cascading down her back. Her mask had three horns, two resembling a ram and one a unicorn. The mask looked very elegant, with purple markings giving it the appearance of a lady's carnival mask. It covered only the upper part of her face, leaving her mouth and chin visible. Her whole body was covered in scales, pale in color, but reflecting all colors of the rainbow. They seemed to reflect green, purple and blue a lot more than the other colors. Yellow, red and orange were barely present, giving her a melancholic appearance. She looked deceptively fragile, but everyone who could feel her reiatsu was able to tell that it wasn't so. She was also beautiful, like a siren luring ships on reefs is beautiful. She was unmistakably deadly.
Hitsugaya wondered what her incomplete mask meant. A Hollow's face should be covered completely. And what was the spear one of her elegant hands was holding? Hollows didn't carry weapons. They were integrated into their bodies. Some Hollows used detachments, but the detachments were still a part of them and usually capable of movement on their own. This spear was clearly an inert tool.
Before he could figure it out, the Hollow spoke. Her voice was deep, but there was no doubt that it belonged to a woman.
"So you're the one who came to fight me? What a shame. You're awfully small for a captain. I could crush you under my hoof."
Hitomi shunpoed away as fast as she could. She knew very well what happened when somebody called Hitsugaya-taichou short. She admired Matsumoto-fukutaichou's valor for staying so close to him now. And while wearing no clothes no less. But the busty blonde didn't make a single step away even when the ground around them whitened with frost and she began shivering in the suddenly cold air.
"You're welcome to try if you think you can do it," Hitsugaya spoke. The Hollow was indeed big enough to step onto him, but he doubted she was stronger than him. Her confident boasting changed nothing about it, boasting was something Hollows did. Especially those who could talk.
"I will," she promised and attacked with her spear. Hitsugaya dodged and jumped high, intending to attack the spot where her giraffe-like body met her torso. She reared on her hind legs and kicked. Hitsugaya blocked the sharp dark purple hoof with Hyourinmaru, but it still sent him flying. He landed on the ground and grimaced. He had underestimated her strength.
Matsumoto used the moment to send the ashes of Haineko at the Hollow's face, but it had no visible effect. It just drew the centaur's attention to her and she was forced to dodge the spear the next moment.
By that time Hitsugaya was back on his feet and his zanpakutou was fully unsealed. He swung it down and sent an ice dragon flying at the Hollow. She crushed it with her spear. Hitsugaya grimaced. He hadn't been holding back in this attack. If she could block it so easily, this was going to be a tough battle.
"Was that all you can do, little captain?" the Hollow sneered. "Are you even really a captain?" Hitsugaya had to bite down his anger. He had to keep a level head if he wanted to prevail in this battle.
"I am the Tenth Division Captain, Hitsugaya Toushirou," he said his introductions. "And you are?"
"Erionni Lucci," she said. "Not that you need to know because you are going to be dead soon." As she spoke, a ball of teal light appeared on top of her middle horn. Despite the strange color, Hitsugaya recognized it as a Cero being charged. He shunpoed away in the nick of time. The beam of Hollow energy hit the ground he used to stand on and made a deep crater. Really deep.
He looked back to see what his subordinates were doing. Matsumoto was trying to cut Erionni's legs with Haineko's ashes, but the Hollow barely noticed. Kayabuki was helping his other subordinates get away. Good. The further they got from this battle the better. It meant that he didn't have to worry about hurting them accidentally. Kayabuki was smart enough to get them really far away as fast as she could. He just had to stall for time until he could release his full power.
Erionni kicked at Matsumoto and the lieutenant shunpoed away. The Hollow turned to look where did she go and for a moment lost track of Hitsugaya. The young captain used it to shunpo close to her and send an ice dragon at the side of her horse-like body. The centaur stumbled, but she remained unharmed.
"You have to try a lot harder if you want to harm me, little shinigami!" she sneered. "My scales can withstand a lot more than your measly attack!"
"Then what about this?" he asked. He let another ice dragon form on his blade. Erionni scoffed and prepared to block with her spear. Hitsugaya swung his sword. Lucci lifted her spear. Hitsugaya threw the chain to wrap around the centaur's legs. Erionni didn't see it. She smashed the ice dragon and then felt the chain hit her front legs and tie them together. Hitsugaya pulled at the chain. Erionni's hooves dug into the ground and she refused to give an inch. Hitsugaya leapt forward to cut her trapped legs, now encased in ice, but Lucci intercepted him with the tip of her spear. Hitsugaya had to veer off quickly to avoid getting skewered.
Erionni reared on her hind legs and smashed the ice capturing her front legs with the blunt end of her spear. The chain binding them fell off.
"Good attempt, boy, but not good enough," she said. "I'm going to show you my true power now." She spread her wings. They weren't transparent anymore. There was a little image of the centaur-like Hollow in each one. Then she waved them and the images sprung forward. A second later there stood four new Erionnis facing Hitsugaya. Another wave of wings and another four joined them. Then four perfectly realistic images of Matsumoto appeared followed by four perfectly realistic images of Hitsugaya and then four more Luccis. Soon Hitsugaya lost sight of the original in the confusion.
He cursed. This wasn't good. Erionni started hiding her reiatsu, so the only way to find her now was by sound. He listened for the sound of hooves. What he heard instead was a pained shriek called by a familiar voice.
"Matsumoto!" he shouted and raced towards the source of the sound. He saw his lieutenant lying on the ground. Well, he saw five of his lieutenants, but only one was lying on the ground, clutching her side where a large hoof-shaped bruise was forming and hissed as she tried to suppress the pain. And even according to his reiatsu sense, that one was the real one. Now where was her assailant? There were three Erionnis around and neither of them gave off any reiatsu, but that meant nothing. Which one would make some sound?
"I'm alright," Matsumoto said through clenched teeth. The sound of her voice almost drowned out the fall of approaching hooves. Hitsugaya whirled around, just in time to see Erionni's spear approaching him at a dangerous speed. He dodged, but not before the blade slid across his ribs. He ignored the pain and slashed at the centaur's front leg with all his might. He finally drew blood, but it was only from a shallow wound. Then Lucci kicked him away so hard he feared she broke several of his ribs.
"Growl!" Matsumoto called, sending Haineko's ashes at the wound in Erionni's leg, hoping to deepen it. The Hollow smacked her with the blunt end of her spear. Matsumoto collapsed.
"Get away from here!" Hitsugaya shouted. "This is above your level!" He charged an ice dragon and sent it at Erionni as he spoke. He could now tell which one was the real one thanks to the wound. Unfortunately Lucci realized it too. Even as she blocked Hitsugaya's attack with her spear, images appeared on her wings. Three seconds and three waves of the transparent wings later, there were twelve copies of Erionni, all of them sporting the same wound.
"I can't leave you!" Matsumoto shouted.
"Go!" Hitsugaya shouted back. "That's an order!" The lieutenant didn't like it, but she knew better than to disobey. She shunpoed away, but stayed close to the battle. She was prepared to race back if her captain needed her.
Hitsugaya waited until she was a safe distance away. He had realized something during this fight: he wasn't going to win this with shikai alone. Erionni Lucci was knocking him around and she didn't seem to be trying hard. There was only one option now. He didn't like resorting to it, but he could see that there was no other way. He took a deep breath and pointed his sword forward. He noticed three copies of the centaur running at him, but he dismissed them as mirages. Neither of them had the wound.
"Bankai!" he called. "Daigu..shit!" the sound of a hoof hitting stone warned him of the mortal danger he was in. He flashed away without completing his release. He was just in time. Lucci's spear made a deep hole in the ground he stood on less than a second ago. Its wielder didn't have a wound, yet it was undeniably real.
How could I have forgotten? Hitsugaya nearly smacked himself. It's a Hollow. It can regenerate fast.
Before Erionni could reach him again, the young captain quickly repeated his release command. "Bankai! Daiguren Hyourinmaru!" This time he wasn't interrupted. The ice wings formed on his back. He used them immediately to rise into the air. He might not know where exactly his opponent was, but he knew that she was somewhere on the ground. She couldn't reach him here.
The opposite was unfortunately true too. Hitsugaya couldn't reach her from his current position either. He had to find where she was and he had to do it quickly. Though his Bankai now lasted much longer than it used to, he still couldn't keep it active as long as other captains. And the longer he kept it released, the worse he felt once he sealed it.
So where was the real Erionni? None of the figures seemed to stand out. He pondered how to find her. Firing attacks at random would just drain his energy. Getting close would be like sending her an invitation to attack.
She attacked without invitation. Before Hitsugaya could come up with a plan, he saw that one of the centaurs was charging a Cero. He smiled. So she was impatient. Good. She didn't know that her best option was to tire him out. That was fine with him. He prepared to dodge and made an ice dragon form on his sword. He began swinging it down just as Lucci was finished charging her Cero. Then Matsumoto appeared between them. Hitsugaya's eyes widened in shock and he changed the direction of his attack at the last moment. He didn't want to hit his lieutenant.
He barely dodged Erionni's Cero. It still hit the edge of his wing and sent ice shards flying everywhere. Hitsugaya quickly reformed the ice appendage. Then he mentally kicked himself. He could still feel Matsumoto's reiatsu way away from the battlefield. The one who had jumped between him and the Hollow had been one of Lucci's mirages. He had let himself be fooled by a simple trick.
He looked down, but realized that in the moment his vision had been obscured he had lost sight of the real Erionni. He cursed. He could have gotten her if he hadn't been distracted by what was so obviously an illusion. But despite knowing that the Matsumoto he saw wasn't the real one, that all his subordinates had vacated the battlefield long ago, if he saw another image of his lieutenant interpose herself between him and his target, he'd hesitate again. It was a reflex that was hard to override. He trusted his eyes too much. Maybe he should close them? No, then he'd be blind. And because Lucci was masking her presence, he'd have to fight by his ears only. He wasn't good enough at that to risk it against an opponent this powerful.
That brought him back to his original question of how to recognize the real Erionni. Just as before, none of the centaurs stood out and this time she didn't try to snipe him with a Cero, choosing instead to wait and see what he would do. And he knew he had to do something soon. There were cracks already forming on one of his twelve petals.
He briefly considered using Kidou, possibly some Bakudou with a wide area of effect to capture Erionni, but the images were scattered over a too wide area. He couldn't encompass it all in one shot, no matter which spell he used. And trying to cast Kidou while in Bankai wasn't the smartest idea. He always had trouble putting just the right amount of reiryoku into them. And when a spell was overloaded, it tended to explode. So Kidou was out.
He had already determined that his best chance of recognizing the real threat would be by his hearing. For that, he had to get close. And he had to be ready to act the moment he heard the sound of hooves striking the hard ground. He took a deep breath, concentrated power in his sword and landed in the middle of the swarm of images.
And waited. Why was Lucci taking so much time? Did she finally figure out that she had to drag this battle on? She had seemed like an impatient type when she had used the Cero, but then again, she had waited for days for him to come after her. So she probably was the patient type after all. That could become troublesome. Hitsugaya had to do something to find her before too much of his petals melted.
He decided to start simple. "Guncho Tsurara!" he called and swung his zanpakutou in a wide arc. The barrage of icicles flew from his blade in a wide angle. Performed like this the attack wasn't too damaging to an opponent of Erionni's strength, but if it hit her, it should reveal her position. It didn't. Hitsugaya turned and tried another direction.
There was almost no warning when the attack came. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of his own voice calling the attack's name. He couldn't feel the breeze caused by the enemy's approach over the wind caused by his wings moving. The trembling of the ground when heavy hooves fell onto it was almost imperceptible, yet it was all he needed to know he had to dodge. It was almost too late. The spear had been aiming to pierce his head from behind. He threw himself to the side just in time for the spearhead to slide along his skull and cut a gash above his eye. Blood flowed, obscuring his vision. Hitsugaya didn't bother wiping it out and just swung his tail close above the ground. Erionni jumped over it. As she was midair, Hitsugaya sent an ice dragon flying at her. She couldn't dodge, she could only block. The momentum of the attack sent her rolling on the ground backwards.
Hitsugaya was upon her in an instant. Hyourinmaru slashed down. Erionni blocked with her spear. "Ryuusenka!" Ice erupted from the spot the two weapons touched, enveloping the Hollow's spear in a giant block of ice. Erionni didn't let it stop her and pushed against Hitsugaya, forcing him to take a few steps back. Then she jumped to her feet, eh... hooves. It was amazing how quickly she could do it with her seemingly clumsy giraffe-like body.
By that time Hitsugaya was attacking again. He bypassed her ice-covered spear and slashed at her side. The effect of his attack was diminished by the fact that at the same moment Erionni hit him with the blunt end of her spear (she could move it surprisingly fast considering all the ice weighing it down) and sent him flying. Hyourinmaru only slid along the scales on her back.
When Hitsugaya got to his feet, he saw that the centaur was already facing him and charging a Cero on her middle horn. He threw himself to the side to avoid the deadly teal beam, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Erionni wasn't aiming at him. Instead she used the Cero to shatter the ice covering her weapon. And the moment she could wield it properly again, she used it to attack Hitsugaya.
The young captain dodged the spear and shunpoed close to Erionni again. He swung Hyourinmaru at her front right thigh. The blade bit into the scaled skin, but didn't go very deep. The scales were tougher than they looked. And as Erionni moved, the wound squeezed Hyourinmaru's blade and Hitsugaya couldn't pull it out fast enough. Erionni's spear was nearing his head at a dangerous speed and Hitsugaya couldn't dodge. He ducked his head down and moved the wings of his Bankai to protect him. The spear made cracks in them, but couldn't pierce through. Hitsugaya sent more power into his wings and reformed them in an attempt to trap the centaur's weapon.
His attempt was interrupted by sharp pain blossoming in his side. Where did it come from? He realized the answer quickly. Erionni's tail. She hadn't been using it much and he had completely forgotten about it. And now it had snaked under his ice wing and stabbed him in the stomach. It was a bad wound, but Hitsugaya couldn't afford to let it slow him down. He froze it over with a thought. It still hurt, but at least it wasn't bleeding.
Now what to do about his still trapped sword? The answer was easy. "Ryuusenka!" Ice sprouted from his blade and around Lucci's body. She shrieked and drew away. That partially shattered the ice and freed Hitsugaya's weapon. The young captain dropped to the ground and attacked again, before Erionni could get over the shock of having one of her legs frozen in ice. Hitsugaya's next attack aimed at said leg and shattered it. The Hollow roared in pain and anger. Though a lost limb wouldn't usually mean much because she could regenerate quickly, now the ice lingering on the wound was preventing her from using her ability. And she had trouble balancing her tall body on only three legs. She had to finish this fight quickly before the small shinigami could take advantage of it.
She waved her wings, sending four copies of herself into battle. But Hitsugaya ignored them, much to her dismay. The real Lucci now had ice created with his reiatsu covering her so he could tell exactly which one was it. He ignored everything else.
Erionni saw him charging at her and swung her spear. Hitsugaya saw it, but his wound slowed him down so he couldn't dodge fast enough. His wings protected him from harm, but he was still knocked down. The night around them brightened as the Hollow charged a Cero. And simultaneously she attacked Hitsugaya with her tail.
The young captain shunpoed upwards. If running was giving him trouble, he had to fly. Erionni realized where he was only after she had released the Cero, so she missed him widely. She aimed her spear at him, but she stumbled as she wasn't used to moving on three legs. Hitsugaya capitalized on the moment.
"Ryuusenka!" His sword was enveloped in the super-cold ice. He dropped down from the sky, attacking Erionni. She tried to put her spear in his path again to skewer him, but Hitsugaya batted it away with his tail. She also began charging a Cero, but she wasn't fast enough. Hitsugaya slashed his sword and cut deep into her back right between her horse and human-like halves. Then he crashed into her, his momentum knocking her down. Simultaneously, ice sprouted around her wound.
They crashed to the ground in a mass of bodies and ice. Erionni roared and released her Cero. At this distance Hitsugaya had no chance to dodge. There was only a wall of ice between them to block the energy attack partially. Then the beam of blue-green light slammed into him. It felt like being on fire. For a moment there was nothing but the pain. Then it ended abruptly. Hitsugaya found himself lying on the ground, panting. Then he realized that lying around when his enemy was still around was a bad idea and pushed himself up. He was a bit amazed that he managed without much trouble. He thought half of his body was burnt away and unusable. But when he looked at himself, he saw that his shihakushou was torn and his skin all red, but the damage from the Cero didn't seem to be bad. It just hurt terribly. He quickly used his reiatsu to cool down the burnt area and turned his attention to Erionni.
She was still lying on the ground, the ice pinning her down. And even if it wasn't, the wound that Hitsugaya had caused her would prevent her from moving anyway. But the centaur-like Hollow wasn't about to lie down and die quietly. She was already using her spear to break the ice, though so far she had little success. It was probably because she didn't have the strength necessary anymore.
Hitsugaya gathered his remaining strength and shunpoed towards her. She turned towards him, but she was too slow. Hitsugaya's zanpakutou hit her mask. Lucci's body jolted. Her hand with spear she wanted to hit Hitsugaya with fell to the ground. Hitsugaya struck again. And again. At the third strike, her mask was destroyed and her head cleaved in half. Her body slumped limply on the ground and began dissolving. The mirages mingling around winked out.
Hitsugaya slumped on the ground and deactivated his Bankai. There still was one whole flower remaining, but there was no need to cut it close. He felt tired enough as it was.
He sat on the ground and thought about the fight. It unsettled him. Not because of the wounds he had suffered, but because this opponent wasn't an ordinary one.
Soon, he felt a familiar reiatsu approaching.
"Taichou!" Matsumoto called. "Are you alright?"
"I'll live," he answered. She immediately looked concerned.
"How badly are you hurt? Should I call for the Fourth Division?"
"I can get there on my own," Hitsugaya replied. His wounds were more painful than dangerous.
"Where's the Hollow?" she asked.
"I killed her."
"I knew you were going to win!" she cheered.
"Hn."
"Why so morose?" the lieutenant inquired.
"I'm worried," Hitsugaya answered.
"What about?" Matsumoto wondered. "You won."
"Yes," the captain nodded. "But this one, she wasn't a regular Hollow."
"She looked Hollow enough to me," the blonde replied.
"Didn't you see her mask?" the white-haired boy asked. "It wasn't covering her whole face."
"Now that you speak about it, her mouth showed, but I didn't think it was a big deal," the lieutenant replied.
"Did you ever see a Hollow whose face wasn't fully covered?" Hitsugaya questioned.
"Hm... no," she answered after a while of consideration.
"Also, her reiatsu was weird. It was different from a Hollow's. I've never felt such before. And the spear she had. Hollows don't carry weapons."
"What does it mean?" Matsumoto asked. "If she wasn't a Hollow, what could she be?"
"I think she might have been an Arrancar," Hitsugaya voiced his theory.
"Ara... what?"
"Arrancar," Hitsugaya repeated. "A Hollow that had removed a part of its mask and gained shinigami-like powers."
"That sounds scary," Matsumoto shuddered. "How comes I've never heard about it?"
"They're rare," Hitsugaya explained.
"And we had to run into one," Matsumoto sighed.
"Maybe it wasn't really one," Hitsugaya shrugged. "I've never encountered one before, so I can't be sure."
"So what else could it be?" she questioned. Hitsugaya just shrugged.
"No idea." He wasn't going to solve the mystery now. It would have been nice if he could have brought a sample to Kurotsuchi, but there was nothing left of the mysterious being. Even her spear had dissolved into reishi. He'd still request the Twelfth to investigate this area, but he doubted they would find anything. There was no point in dwelling on it any longer. He had other concerns to address.
"Did everybody get away safely?" he asked.
"Yes," Matsumoto answered. "Kayabuki is in charge of them now. We've already called for the Fourth, they should arrive anytime."
"Good," Hitsugaya nodded. "Let's go then." He got to his feet. He swayed slightly as he suddenly felt a rush of weakness. He hoped that Matsumoto didn't notice it. She did.
"Taichou," she exclaimed in alarm. "Shouldn't I help you?"
"That won't be necessary. I can walk on my own."
"Well, if you change your mind, I'm here," the lieutenant replied.
"I know. And Matsumoto?"
"Yes, taichou?"
"Get dressed."
.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv._.vVv.
In a secret room hidden at an unknown location somewhere in Soul Society, three figures were watching the footage of the battle.
"So what do you think?" the man in the middle asked.
"It performed about as well as could be expected, Aizen-sama," the one on the left stated.
"It could use sum' improvin', Aizen-taichou," the one of the right said. "Lil' Shiro-chan got her good."
"It's still an early protorype," Aizen said, his brown eyes not showing what he really felt, if he felt anything.
"It performed much better than the last one," Tousen pointed out. "But wasn't it too dangerous to send it out like this?"
"Don't worry, Kaname," the bespectacled traitor said. "It can't be traced back to us."
"I still think we should have waited for a better model before testing it in combat," the blind man said. "Somebody might notice something odd is going on. This was pointless. It got killed without killing anybody powerful."
"She almost did," Ichimaru said.
"True," Aizen nodded. "But it still is no match for a captain. Not even one of the younger ones."
"Dunno, Aizen-taichou," Ichimaru cocked his head. "It gave Hitsu-chan a run for his money. One moment I thought he might actually lose."
"But he didn't," Tousen pointed out.
"It wasn't a complete Arrancar," Aizen pointed out. "Though it finally had something resembling a zanpakutou, it isn't what I want to create. The process still needs some work." And Urahara's Hougyouku, he added mentally. His own version left a lot to be desired. Too bad he had no idea where the exiled inventor was or where did he stash his creation.
"But it still was pretty dangerous there for the kid and Ran-chan," Ichimaru insisted.
"Ah, yes," Aizen nodded. "Do you mind that it was the Tenth Division that reacted to the call?"
"Why would I?" Gin raised an eyebrow. Outwardly, he was smiling. Inwardly, he was plotting how much more gruesome he was going to make Aizen's eventual death. "I got to see Ran-chan naked, didn't I?"