XI. Walking Amongst Thorns

A whiz of black and white blurred past several marking posts. Following its trail came a huge bunch of hollows the size of ordinary human adults, each sniffing out its scent and all wishing to make it its prey. The blurred image finally came to a stop, and quickly pulled out a zanpakuto jutting out of his black sash, and a large wave of fire passed the marauding group, incinerating each one instantly, ashes the ones only left behind. Another flank of hollows came from behind him, and using his free hand he pulled out another zanpakuto that was slung on his back, and a trail of ice encased all of those that stood in its way. With another swing from the other zanpakuto, he managed to incinerate all of those hollows trapped in their icy prisons. With that done, he returned his blades back to their sheaths and wiped the drops of sweat running down his face. Unknown to him, two pairs of eyes have been watching him from the safety confines of a one-way window, peering to his every move.

"What have you been able to find out from this dry run, Szayel?"

Aizen had been disturbed by the interesting information that kept him eyes and ears open. The knowledgeable arrancar did not mind looking up to the leader, his eyes instead focused on the files he was reading and from time to time, his eyes peered on the movements of Hitsugaya. His brows were furrowed in all seriousness, but at the same time his lips were twisted in some kind of a cruel smile.

"His level of growth has been really amazing, Aizen-sama. Since that day you brought him in, he has shown much progress in terms of his skill and reiatsu level. His technique has been modified compared to the data we have gathered from his encounter with Grimmjow's Numeros and later on with Luppi and Yammy, it is a lot more devastating. His konpaku shows very unique traits I've seen only in Juego and him. Through the combination of his reiatsu and traces of a deceased hollow-derivative soul, we were able to create an exact copy of the deceased creature. It's truly amazing, especially when we applied this on traces of Grimmjow's reiatsu, and voila! We've created a replica of the original one, and even so the replica evolved into a vasto lorde. I've also kept a data trace of his konpaku, and copied of similar properties that could be possibly analyzed, and implanted it on the weakest of hollows. Just imagine the extent of what we could do with his konpaku, Aizen-sama! Just imagine that I've implanted those on hollows so weak that even an ordinary shinigami with an unnamed zanpakuto could kill them, yet after I've done so they've all evolved into adjuchas! His konpaku is very interesting, and just to give you a little glimpse of it, I've found out that it has the ability of absorbing reiatsu to levels approaching infinity, which is why those hollows we incorporated with a slightly similar property have evolved so much in such a small period of time."

Szayel was madly drowning himself in the information that his files have kept for him. He seemed insanely interested in every little detail of it. Aizen merely smiled, and turned his back on the arrancar. His thoughts revolved solely on the boy, his head wandering to far vastness of what his test subject had in store for him.

Hitsugaya wiped off the sweat forming on his forehead. Somehow, he felt as if he's changed. He felt that his body was being filled with power to the brim. And it was really strange, since he could only recall reaching that level of power when he fights at his limits, but now, he wasn't even releasing reiatsu, yet the power flowing unconsciously out of him was at that level already. He even tried holding it back as much as he could, yet he felt as if he was already using Hyourinmaru's shikai. He stared down his hand, watching it as he opened and closed it. He could feel the power flowing in him like a thousand rivers whose waters merge at one point. He stood up and looked around him, his gaze wandering around on the glass-like material that served as an encasing structure to the place. He noted that it was able to reflect the reiatsu being blasted at it, and with that small mental note, he drew out Gogyou Enjin once more. Upon drawing, several hollows appeared, and raised their reiatsu to elite levels. Without raising his reiatsu from its current level, he summoned the blade's shikai, and drew forth searing flames from around him.

"Rise from the depths of hell, Gogyou Enjin!"

He swung down his blade burning in flames. It released a very large wave of fire, and damaged all of those in its way. A hollow appeared behind Hitsugaya in a flash, and brought down a fist tempered with reiatsu at him. He quickly shunpoed out of its way, and reappeared right above the enemy, and positioned the blade for a stab. He tempered his blade with reiatsu, and commenced the attack.

"Million Stabs!"

He did a very rapid succession of stabbing and pulling the blade from the target, causing the hollow to be punctured in most parts of its body. With a final powerful thrust, the hollow disappeared into nothingness, accompanied by a huge explosion caused by the zanpakuto's flames, but not without leaving a crater from the impact. A claw came in from behind him, and without moving from his position, he partially drew Hyourinmaru from its sheath, thereby blocking what was meant for him. After blocking it, he quickly turned around and gashed it in the chest with his fire zanpakuto. Another hollow came in charging at him with barred teeth, and as such he quickly shunpoed out of its way, and attacked it from behind, cutting through it with the two zanpakuto in a rapid one-two succession, slicing through it like butter. Though he killed those previous hollows quickly, the rate at which they came was a lot greater, and soon it came to a point that they were about to overwhelm him. He switched his grip of the two blades, and held them in an inverted fashion, and with a push from his feet, he leaped off the ground while spinning, cutting off the incoming enemies while he spun like a chopper's blades. He spun in a manner that even Kyoraku and Ukitake would admit to be magnificent for a person who just learned how to wield two blades at the same time. All those that touched the edges of the blades instantly perished, and a swirl of fire and ice formed around him. He landed on his two feet after a moment or two, surrounded by vanishing hollows and a large mix of blue and red.

"Oi, you little girl, feeding time…"

Hinamori quickly turned her head towards the arrancar standing at the opening of her cell. The same zanpakuto with a crooked S as a crossguard, the same blue linings at his eyes, and the same jaw-like remain on his cheek. Grimmjow Jaggerjack. He carried a tray with several table appointments on it, filled with food. He had the same cocky expression on his face, the atmosphere he created as arrogant as ever. He scoffed as he placed the tray down before her, and looked at her with brows furrowed. Hinamori didn't feel quite right about it, but she had a gut feeling that she should just accept. She looked up to him, trying to look for something to say under the watchful eyes of the powerful arrancar.

"Ano… uhmm… arigatou, uh… Jaggerjack-san…?"

He just scoffed at her statement and scratched his head indiscriminately.

"I'm not too fond with that, shinigami. I don't really care what you call me, but it'd work with just Grimmjow. Makes it easier that way."

"Ah… hai, Grimmjow-san…"

He didn't feel like saying anything more, and just scoffed. He turned his back on the female, while she turned her gaze on what was before her. She didn't notice him look back at her over his shoulder, with quite a meaningful glance. He afterwards removed his gaze from her, and went on his way. But just as he left her cell, he gazed on her one last time, grinned and licked his lips, and changed his expression to something different than before, as if it was filled with some evil intent. Peril seemed to be at hand.

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