23: Despair
All over Soul Society reiatsu were flaring on all sides. The captains were going up against a foe far more powerful than the first wave of Aizen's minions. These new enemies were truly terrifying. Even with the united strength of Chronos and the Gotei 13 it seemed it would not be enough.
"More...We need more..."
"Captain Unohana, the ryoka are still recuperating. Do you think we have enough time?"
The captain broke out of her trance and glanced over at her subordinate with a frown. "At this point, we can only hope..."
A wall collapsed further up the hall as Jenos was thrown through it, rolling into one of the beds with a loud thud. Despite the nasty knock he appeared relatively unharmed; however he was definitely struggling to breathe. Something had hit him very hard...
"Xiao Li, be careful! She's fast!"
There were more crashes and explosions outside. Unohana clenched her fists and cursed. She was so close to the frontline, yet she wasn't able to intervene. Her top priority was to ensure the safety of the ryoka, after all their assistance would be a valuable asset in the war. Every single able warrior they had at their disposal was a vital factor in achieving victory...
No...
Unohana thought, sombrely.
This is no longer about winning or losing...This battle is simply for survival...
She glanced down at the pained expression on the Kurosaki boy's face and sighed. Certainly, all she had left was hope, however slowly but surely it was sifting through her fingers, like sand. Time was running out, as were their numbers. Aizen's troops were putting up a fierce assault and unless they turned the tides Soul Society was as good as doomed.
Outside the infirmary Jenos and Xiao Li stood again Cirruci Thunderwich. The loathsome lolita brandished something of an oversized yo-yo, however it was far from a simply toy. With the force of a speeding train, Jenos had been struck right in the ribs. He may have still been standing, but he was sure a few ribs were broken. His breathing was laboured and he was no longer steady on his feet. His companion gave him a quick once over and shook his head.
"Jenos, you are in no position to fight her. Allow me."
Although he wished to refuse, he had to admit that a break sounded pretty tempting. Lowering his head he stepped back inside the shattered infirmary and watched from the sidelines.
The agile young guardian known as Xiao Li deftly leapt out of the path of the rampant steel mace. He studied his foe, sizing her up and searching for a weak point, but he found none. It would take some work to force her to lower her guard, but with two potential opponents the wild warrior was completely on edge. She kept to the high ground, striking recklessly to keep the two combatants' at bay. Thankfully, having wounded Jenos, she had started to calm down. Her attacks were more carefully orchestrated, giving much more room to work with.
Xiao Li grinned behind his floating mantle, Seiren.
Cirruchi swept her arm in a wide backwards arc; drawing her weapon back, then, halfway through its passage she swung her arms around in a circle above her head, as if throwing a lasso. The change in momentum hurled the golden disc into the sky before shooting forward again at lightning speed. Xiao Li waited for the critical moment, just as the disc clashed with his mantle, then leapt over it, abandoning his own weapon. Bare handed the brave young warrior lunged at the stunned arrancar who had only just begun withdrawing her bladed disc.
But it was already too late. Before the heavy mass of steel could reach them, Xiao Li had stepped within a hairs breadth of his foe, offering a sympathetic smile and a sincere apology before striking her with the back of his hand. The force threw her off the rooftop and into the wall of a building in the street behind them. As Cirruchi lay amidst the rubble, dazed, her disc continued on its rampant warpath back towards its master. Unable to comprehend anything above the pain throbbing in her head, she lay helpless as her own weapon smashed through her.
The arrancar was lost under a sea of rubble and clouds of dust.
Triumphant, Xiao Li retrieved his mantle and dusted it off.
"You were felled by your own arrogance. You underestimated us, expecting simple and predictable attacks would be enough to keep us back simply because you held the range advantage. All I had to do was watch your attacks enough times to calculate how long it took your disc to return to you, then it was all a matter of timing. Farewell, demon."
He gave a short bow and strolled calmly back to the infirmary.
It was only when he reached the gaping hole in the front wall that he froze and peered over his shoulder at the shadow emerging from the dust. An inhuman roar shook the earth beneath their feet and with a tremendous clap of thunder an intense gust of wind blew away all the debris revealing a monstrous harpy.
"You!" The beast snarled, a face once feminine now contorted in demonic rage. Her slender arms now bone white, stretched beyond mortal limits to drag across the ground. Fingers splayed ending in razor sharp talons enveloped in a canopy of feathers which shrouded her frail body. Great bladed wings extended from the mass of white, glistening in the light. Her distorted proportions and fiendish expression truly deserved the title of 'demon'.
Xiao Li remained quite calm as he studied the creature standing before him, rage dripping like blood from her bulging veins. The young guardian brandished his mantle and clenched his fists. IT seemed the true battle had only just begun.
A dead wind blew faint across the battlefield. Between a sea of corpses remained two lone soldiers, neither standing. The first, Captain Jushiro Ukitake of the 13 Court Guards, was on his hands and knees. His lungs had failed him and rather than air passing between his lips each exhale only brought up bubbling torrents of blood. Across the crimson ocean an arrancar sat on a throne crafted of bones. The old man had weathered skin like leather and a thick greying moustache which obscure his mouth, leaving only the cold distaste in his eyes to hint at his emotions. He folded his arms impatiently and watched as the captain retched once again.
"What is this? You dance through a solid wall of enemy soldiers and slice them to ribbons without a care and only now as you reach my throne do you bow in penitence as your body betrays you? If suck a frail creature can lead a squad in the 13Court Guards it is only a sign of your ineptitude. You are all but ants awaiting to be crushed by the foot of your true king!"
Ukitake would have refuted such claims but no words would form, his tongue a dead-weight swimming in a pool of blood. The captain coughed violently, a scarlet splatter painting the stones at his feet.
"If you so sincerely wish to offer me your head, I shall oblige and take it from you." The arrancar rose slowly from his throne and placed his hand against the armrest which splintered and disintegrated into a swirling cloud of bone shards. The shards danced in the air forming an indecipherable shape, only to congeal into a mighty battle-axe.
"Be glad," he roared, "that your head was taken by the greatest...The King of Hueco Mundo, Barragan Louisenbairn! To die by my hand is an honour! Treasure it as you draw your final breaths!"
Ukitake barely even raised his head to look his executioner in the eye. To move at all caused severe pain. With nothing left to do but wait, Ukitake bowed his head and closed his eyes, whispering silent farewells and apologies to all he had failed.
The booming footsteps ceased close-by and a great shadow was cast over him. He could feel the chills emanating from the icy king. Fortunately, with the cold came a numbness that subdued the searing agony rippling through his entire body.
As helpless as an injured fawn, he awaited the crack of the hunter's rifle and the unwelcome slumber of death.
Several soundless seconds passed, time slowing down to a snails crawl. A single breath took years, every blink a day. Everything came rushing to a complete standstill, even the breeze seemed to have frozen mid-gust.
Ukitake waited.
Nothing.
He glanced up into the black-clad back of a fellow shinigami. The warrior only used one hand to hold their sword against the hefty battle-axe of the foe; nonetheless they managed to hold their ground. Sandy blonde hair gathered sparsely on their head growing only a short distance out in a messy bob cut. The shinigami half turned and spat a small vial at the captain's feet. A strained feminine voice grunted, "I'm sorry I'm late sir. Please take it!"
Disbelief quickly sunk in and Ukitake gasped, "K-Kiyone?"
With a groan she pushed off from Barragan's axe and landed before her captain with a brave smile. "Yep! I'm here to rescue you sir!"
Ukitake smiled as much as his failing body allowed before pressing the small vial to his lips, downing the elixir in one gulp. He wiped his lips and coughed and spluttered and for a moment he remained still. Then, ever so slowly he began to rise, reclaiming the joined twin sabres that were his zanpakuto and preparing for battle.
"Kiyone...Thank you."
The young subordinate chuckled softly, her cheeks turning red, "Oh captain, it was nothing! I'm just glad you're feeling better!" Kiyone saluted him with the hand not holding a sword, but at that moment the captain noticed something terribly wrong. The black mass of scar tissue covering a ragged stump at the end of her wrist. He stared in horror and in finally realizing her slip, Kiyone panicked.
At that moment a black shadow swooped down on the frightened girl and flung her off into a distant wall where she crumpled in a heap. Barragan stood in her place and glared at the captain.
"I face a sickly captain and then I am interrupted by his mutilated lap dog? Such insolence! Do not underestimate me!" The king swung his great axe and Ukitake brought both blades parallel to bear the brunt of the attack, then he parried the blade away and thrust twice in quick succession towards both side flanks. The weathered old man dodged them with relative ease and swatted the twin sabres aside as if they were nothing more than flies swarming around his head.
Ukitake pressed the attack, dancing around the swinging pendulum and slicing down on the arrancar's undefended flank. With his free hand Barragan grabbed Ukitake's wrist and wrenched one hand out of reach while stepping just barely out of range of the other. With Ukitake restrained he slammed the axe straight down, only to crush the ground at his feet. The captain had flipped over Barragan's shoulder and sliced along his wrist to force him to release the captured limb.
Ukitake soared through the air, landing in a graceful crouch a short distance behind his foe.
Barragan spun in a frenzy, rage burning through him. "Insolent worm! How dare you raise a sword to your king!" Spittle flung from between the thick moustache, flecking his chin. "You diseased whelp! Know your place and bow before me!"
The ageing arrancar charged forward, bringing his axe down with tremendous force. Even as Ukitake stepped aside the ground beneath him splintered, caving into a large crater. Having lost his balance the captain stumbled and fell right into the opponent's striking range.
Barragan smirked as he wrought his great blade in a long arc. The captain should have been sliced clean in two but Kiyone rushed forth and parried the attack with her sword. Unfortunately, with only one hand to her weapon her strength was limited and so she could only slow down the attack. The sheer momentum of the swing threw her back into her captain and sent them both tumbling.
"Foul insects. Do you not comprehend my strength? Neither one of you stand any hope of defeating one such as me. A king cannot be dethroned by the lowly worms squirming beneath him! Cease your futile struggle and beg for a swift death. I may be tolerable enough to consider it!"
Ukitake scowled, "You are no king! You serve under the rule of a madman! You are but a peon yourself!"
"Silence!" he roared in response. Dark energy surrounded Barragan as he thrust his axe into the ground. The glowing red orb embedded in the blade shone with greater intensity. The shadows around them seemed to melt into Barragan's body as a sickly mist spread around him in an ominous cloud. The shadows pulsed around Barragan's form before devouring him completely.
Ukitake and Kiyone watched on in terror as a bleached white skull emerged from the abyss, its empty sockets staring straight through them. Bony hands stretched out from the billowing shadows which cloaked the now giant figure that had become of Barragan. Truly, he was the image of the reaper, an axe in hand to harvest the souls of its victims. Despite the lack of expression on the skull, Ukitake could feel Barragan's smile.
"Do you see?" he bellowed, "This is my true form! Look upon me and know fear! I am your king! Now bow before me!"
Ukitake cursed under his breath. "I will never bow to a monster! For the good of Soul Society and all that we have sworn to protect...I must stop you!"
Barragan chuckled. "Hollow words. They mean nothing in the face of true power!"
With one swing of his axe a monumental wave of red spirit energy shot forth, devastating the surrounding area and levelling all nearby buildings. Ukitake stared wide eyed at the aftermath of the attack; the unprecedented destruction.
"Come!" Barragan snarled, "You have fought death long since your illness took hold shinigami, however you have never truly faced him until this day. Your time is come, however you can at least stand tall as the reaper claims your worthless life!"
Ukitake charged.
Toshiro dived past the huge fist which slammed down into the earth. His opponent, Tesla had mutated into a beastly figure of thick musculature and course brown fur. His elongated snout ended in wicked tusks which dripped with the spittle coughed up with every snorted breath. Blood red eyes glowed with rage, tracing the tiny captain's movements.
The young dragon raised his sword and scowled. Tesla's strength had skyrocketed after his release, but more importantly, his speed had not been affected despite his drastic change in size. In fact Toshiro had a hunch that the giant was even faster now.
A creature of that size should not have been able to vanish out of sight.
And yet he just did...
Toshiro rolled aside, narrowly avoiding being gored by Tesla's tusks. Toshiro landed in a crouch and sliced up through the beast's tree-trunk sized leg. Blood spurted as the blade sank through his flesh; however the beast yielded not a sign of pain. It simply swiped its massive hand and knocked the young captain out of the way.
Just as he tried to get up, a chunk of stone crashed down upon him, hurled by the giant. Toshiro coughed up blood and mortar as he crawled free, only to find the beast standing over him. The shadow of its large fist drowned out the light of the sun and soon everything else went dark from the impact of the punch. With the force of a speeding train, Toshiro was crushed into the ground. Momentarily dazed, he struggled to rise as a massive hoof stomped him further into the crater. A furious rain of strikes buried the young dragon into the dirt, leaving a bloodied pulp deep in the soil.
Tesla roared, raising torn knuckles and blood-soaked hands to the heavens.
Another shinigami had fallen, and all over Soul Society Aizen's troops were pushing their opponents further into the corner. The fading light of hope dwindled into a faint spark, a smouldering flame which the troops of the Gotei 13 huddled around, desperate to feel it's warmth. Unfortunately for many, the light of hope was not strong enough leaving many out in the cold.
Riding the crest of a blood-red wave, the Espada pushed onward, the reapers hand poised above Sereitei, eager to harvest more souls.