17: Rescue
Sorry for the agonising delays but I'm hoping to be able to get back into some regular updates for a while so hopefully things will improve. Anyway here is the next chapter, enjoy it! Remember to review!
The wounded band of heroes had finally rescued the princess and the damsel in distress. Hope had swelled within them all as they were reunited with the ones they loved. The pain of their now distant battles had become forgotten in the heat of the moment.
But now, now there was little hope.
Grimmjow had lied about Las Noches being abandoned. There were still two terrible opponents waiting for them. Now here they were, the Grim Reaper and his new assistant. Here they stood as a hurdle too high to pass in their wounded state.
The heroes banded together and stared at their foes with wide eyes. Eve was trembling, her frail little frame convulsing from something worse than the cold. She was hyperventilating, her cheeks flustered yet pale. Sven held her close and tried to calm her but she was a mess. Ulquiorra must have done some truly awful things to her to elicit such a reaction, but even so, Sven found himself shaking as well. But not because of the ghostly creature drifting beyond, no he was more terrified of the little girl standing stock still beside her cruel master.
Golden Darkness he had called her. She was a perfect clone of Eve. Every detail was the same, although she lacked the visible hints of exhaustion and fear that the original bore. Also, her clothes were different, a sleeveless black leather overcoat, with its irreparably torn edges sweeping the ground at her feet. The coat opened out below the waist to reveal a plain black skirt which fluttered in the dead breeze, the only part of her that had moved the entire time. Wide black sleeves covered her thin forearms, tied down with belts just below the elbow. More belts had been tied around her waist and yet even more where tied around her pale legs. A four pointed star had been cut out below her collar revealing pallid white skin beneath. The edges were inlaid with silver.
Cold eyes of pale violet stared out at them with a void unreadable mask on her face.
"Your current state prevents you from being a further problem to us and Lord Aizen. Even if we left you to your own devices you would all die of starvation or blood loss before too long. Still as a final courtesy for managing to get this far Lord Aizen has requested that you be given the honourable deaths you deserve. You shall all succumb to our latest weapon, Golden Darkness."
Sven cursed under his breath, "You bastard! Back when we were fighting that doctor...That was Golden Darkness wasn't it?"
"Of course," Ulquiorra stated bluntly, "Golden Darkness is a perfect weapon. She has a power far surpassing that of her original counterpart. She was constructed especially so that she lacks that useless organ you call a heart. Instead Szayel crafted another organ capable of producing further nanomachines."
"What?" Sven was taken aback.
"We studied the bodily structure of Eve and found she had an organ within her body which produces a steady stream of nanomachines to be transferred around her body to allow for rapid and continuous transformation. Without it Eve would be just an ordinary girl. It is that special organ that allowed her to become a living weapon. When creating Golden Darkness we duplicated this organ so that her capacity for transformation would be heightened. Aside from that the lack of a heart ensures she will never become dulled by the curse of your human emotions."
"You're a monster! How dare you play god with innocent lives!"
"Innocence, another pitiful excuse crafted by your worthless kind. You believe a girl born into this world for the sole purpose of warfare is innocent? Whether she has killed or not is irrelevant. Fate had dictated she would be a killing machine. Perhaps you think you spared her by taking Eve away from her predetermined life? But you are just fools. You forced her into your own little world and made her weak. You poisoned her mind with your pathetic ideals and now she is just as worthless as the rest of you. I gave her a choice to become stronger and yet because of your influence she declined. Now with Golden Darkness she will at last be able to witness the power she could have had if she were not burdened with your lies."
Train opened fire on Ulquiorra who simply swatted the bullets aside with his bare hand as if they were flies. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, "Golden Darkness, kill them."
The petite young girl's head rocked forward in a slight nod and then she vanished. The others dispersed just as a large blade crashed down upon the space where they had just been standing. Golden Darkness glanced down at the broad blade that jutted out from her elbow and then looked over to her prey. A slight smile crossed her face as she rushed in for another strike.
With her gaze locked on Train she charged and the assassin had little choice but to bear the brunt of her attack. He tried to swat aside the blade swinging towards him but his gun merely served to keep his arm attached and nothing more. He was knocked far aside into the wall, smashing into it with enough force to send a great crack along its length.
Golden Darkness stepped forwards again, her arm now a machete blade longer as tall as her own small frame. Her expression remained as immovable as stone as she hacked down upon the Black Cat.
Train rolled to one side and drove his sword through an opening, straight for the girl's heart. Golden Darkness did not dare move, merely allowed the blade to sink through her flesh and burst out below her shoulder on the other side. All eyes fell on the demoness as she silently gaped at her assailant. She didn't even appear to understand she had been wounded and slowly twisted her body around to face her opponent, disregarding the blade that had run straight through her.
"W-What the hell?" was all Train could utter before being struck with a sledge hammer. He spat out teeth and tried to curse but blood quickly pooled in the back of his throat and left him to putter hopelessly. His head was spinning now and he couldn't see straight. He could hear voices but he wasn't sure who it was that was calling out to him.
Then, before his eyes, she appeared again. Her speed was blinding, as if she had teleported. Normally Train could see through Shunpo, having faced enough opponents in the past, but he could barely even keep his eyes open now. He had no way of knowing. He was left to her mercy.
But Golden Darkness never attacked.
A loud thunder strike rebounded around the room and the cruel young princess was thrown off to one side, her cheek shattering from an unforseen force.
Sven took to the battlefield, still shaken from his wounds but determined nonetheless. His suitcase spat smoke out from the thin black gun barrel protruding from the side. He smiled to himself and lined up his next shot, just as Golden Darkness was picking herself up off the ground. When she was on her hands and knees Sven blew out her left elbow, the entire forearm almost coming loose. The girl dropped back down and hit the floor face-first. Sven approached cautiously and continued to fire at the first sign of movement. After a while Golden Darkness stopped moving and Sven was within only a few metres of his target. He found a switch near the handle and set the rifle in his suitcase to fully automatic and unleashed a violent spray of pure lead into the incapacitated monster.
Ulquiorra stood off to the side, vaguely amused by the show.
Meanwhile Sven continued to empty the clip into Golden Darkness, the bullets spitting dust up into the air until it obscured the mutilated corpse of the golden haired devil. Sven let go of the trigger when he was met with a loud 'click' and stood back to admire his handy-work.
As the dust cleared all eyes widened in shock.
Golden Darkness stood tall, not a scratch on her body! Even the wounds left by Train's sword had disappeared. The demon glanced up at her foes without any sign of pain, remorse or life. Her expression remained as dead as that of a doll's. Her eyes moved, but betrayed nothing.
"How? How did she-?" Sven was cut short when the girl appeared beside him, her arms already arcing around into a fatal blow. Sven cursed and opened the suitcase, reaching inside and bringing out two daggers and using each to fend off Golden Darkness' encroaching arms. The blades collided with a heavy thud and the force threw Sven back a few steps, fortunately out of the way of the sharpened pendulums. He gained his bearings in time to take up a defensive stance as the girl pounced with imperceptible speed.
Sven merely dive aside at random, knowing that standing still would mean certain death, however as he rolled into a crouch he backed into something and ducked just in time to save his head. The air swept past him as a broad blade arced over the top of his hat.
"Sven, look out!" Ichigo roared from the sidelines.
Sven took heed of his advice and changed his grip on the daggers so that the blades pointed out behind him. He then wrenched his arms back, wedging both blades beneath the psychotic clone's knees. He leaned forward and down and flicked the blades back, unable to resist wincing as a great 'crack' bounced around the hall.
Golden Darkness dropped and Sven tried to dive forward but something caught his ankle. Sven looked down and noticed the golden twine ensnaring his foot. He tried harder to scramble away but another rope of hair caught his other leg and left him clawing away at the stone floor of the palace in an effort to escape. But Golden Darkness' hold was too strong and he was soon to be dragged to his death. With no other choice He drove one of the daggers into the ground and held on with one hand while he turned to study his opponent. He squinted at Golden Darkness' forehead and drew his arm back before hurling the second dagger.
Golden Darkness was struck full in the forehead and her entire body shuddered in a violent spasm of pain. The girl lay sprawled on the floor but her hair did not unfurl from his feet. Sven quickly tried to cut through but the silky twine was like steel wire. He couldn't cut through it.
He cursed and attempted to untie it instead, seeing as the knots had come loose, but as he reached over his hands were suddenly caught in a golden web as well and soon his whole body was being dragged back towards the source, the possessed killing machine.
"Dammit, somebody help me!" he cried, just as Eve's fringe morphed into the snapping jaws of a dragon.
Ichigo quickly arrived to help, slicing through the trap and freeing Sven. He managed to flash step back to the others and set Sven down carefully before returning his attention to Golden Darkness.
"She's strong..." he muttered to no-one in particular, "She can heal herself in a matter of second and she can still transform...What the hell do I do?"
Rukia placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled thinly, "I'll make an opening for you, then you blast her with everything you've got!" She brought out her zanpakuto, relieved to finally be able to do so after being locked in a cell made of seki-seki stone for so long. Now that she was out of that cell her powers were slowly returning. She knew she wouldn't be at her strongest but at least she could create gap, just a couple of seconds was all she needed...
It was worth a shot!
She took up her sword in shaking hands and stepped forward. Golden Darkness studied her with cold eyes and morphed her hair into two scythe blades which spun in fierce circles of their own accord. Her hands turned to short swords and then she raced off to battle.
Rukia leapt high into the air and waited for the first scythe to come her. She raised her sword up high and brought it down with extreme force, slicing through the golden chain and leaving the weapon to collapse to the ground. As she continued to fall the second scythe blade shot out at her and Rukia brought her sword up high this time, knocking the blade high into the air and forcing Golden Darkness off of her feet. The angel of death hovered in mid-air but rather than register any sense of surprise she instantly launched her own attack, using the blades on her hands to break through Rukia's thin defences and go for the jugular.
Rukia thrust her palm out towards the girl and roared a quick incantation. In the next instant Golden Darkness vanished behind a wall of blue flame.
Rukia settled on the ground and watched Golden Darkness plummet. She took the time to prepare for her next attack and assumed a fighting stance. While her opponent was still distracted she flash-stepped behind her and sliced at the air, "Some no mai, Tsukishiro!"
Golden Darkness tilted her head in puzzlement as her body became encased in a pillar of ice. Rukia waited, sword held at the ready. It barely took a minute for the ice to crumble, the bio-weapon using her hair as tiny little drills to dig their way out. The pillar collapsed soon after and Golden Darkness was free. She lunged forward and clashed swords with Rukia, eager to test her after seeing the strange manoeuvre. The two girls clashed but Rukia was slowly overpowered and her guard weakened, leaving herself open to attack.
Golden Darkness capitalised on her victim's weakness and snap kicked Rukia's hands, forcing her to release her grip on her sword. Another fierce kick sent the sword hurtling off into the distance and while Rukia was stunned Golden Darkness jumped up and spun in a half circle before extending her leg and smashing her heel into Rukia's jaw.
The shinigami was sent spiralling into the wall and collapsed in a heap. In her exhausted state, Rukia did not get up.
"Rukia!" Ichigo cried, clenching his fists. Without thinking any further he charged head on at Golden Darkness and swung his sword in a wide arc. Golden Darkness's hair coiled around her back and formed an armour plating that made Ichigo's sword bounce right off and in the melee she spun on her heels and drove a fist into his gut. Ichigo coughed violently and failed to respond as her other fist, now a spear-head was buried into his stomach yet again.
Ichigo gagged as the weapon changed shape inside of his body, turning to a wickedly barbed head. He took hold of his sword but before he could do anything Golden Darkness wrenched her hand out, dragging with it scraps of flesh and buckets of blood.
Ichigo's jaw dropped and he soon collapsed to the floor, convulsing and shivering uncontrollably.
Golden Darkness stood triumphant over her victim and raised her left hand, now an axe, for the final blow. Her execution would be swift and painless, a slight glimpse of mercy from the cruel human weapon.
Without a word she brought her axe down, but the blade never reached Ichigo's throat, nor did the boy's head go rolling.
A sheet of red light devoured everything within her sight and in the next instant Golden Darkness was thrown into the wall. She landed in a curled up ball and crawled to her feet and when at last she scanned her surroundings, a new warrior was present. A warrior who stepped out from a great black hole and onto the battlefield. The warrior held an odd looking sword in one hand and took a striped hat in the other and bowed.
"Hello there, my name is Kisuke Urahara. I'm sorry to disrupt your little game of tag here, but it's about time my friends went back home."