Hollow King – Chapter Twenty

I do not own Bleach. If I did, it would be as gory as Berserk and full of smut.

The fall of Gondra

Gondra woke up around noon. Even with his restless state of mind, he slept rather well. As he made his way down the creaky, wooden stairs, he spotted his platoon. They were already up and ready to go. Shina was the first to notice him. Gondra recognized the same fangirl look on her face but this time she seemed to show a little more restraint.

"Morning, team." Gondra greeted, still a little sleepy.

"It's the afternoon, sir." Naito commented. Gondra looked to his right to see the old barkeep washing glasses with an old rag. Except for them, the place was empty.

"Well, it's morning for me at least. Hey Gramps, ya got any coffee?" Gondra asked the old man.

"Sure do. Ever since ya taught me how to make it way back when, it's been real popular here." the old man said happily, as he brought out an old looking kettle.

"Glad to hear it. I'll take a cup." Gondra said after a yawn.

"Hey, Gondra? How come you set the mission time for noon?" Shina asked.

"Because I usually wake up at noon. That's why." Gondra answered as the barkeep handed him a mug of coffee."

Gondra sat at the bar, trying to wake up. As he sipped the dark brew, he formulated a plan. He turned around half way on his stool to address the group.

"So, here's the plan. I'm going to use all your division specialties to our advantage. Naito and Karyu, you two will be my backup. Suika, you're going to stay back and study the enemy's fighting strategy and recommend counter measures. And Shina..."

"Yes?" she interrupted in her enthusiastic voice.

"You'll be fighting from the shadows, using your stealth skills." Gondra finished. He drained the last of his coffee from his cup then looked back at them.

"Okay team, we're burning daylight so let's move out!" he ordered as he slammed down his empty coffee mug.

"Yes sir!" the group yelled.

XXXXX

As the five shinigami approached what was left of the small settlement, Gondra raised his hand to halt the team.

"Were close enough. As of now, my plan is in action." Gondra ordered quietly.

The team gave him a silent nod and moved into there positions. Shina darted off to the side, to look for a more hidden area for her to move stealthily in. Suika fell back a little and began to analyze her surrounding. Naito and Karyu followed behind Gondra as he walked cautiously into the burnt out town. As the three shinigami approached what was left of the town square, they spotted a figure sitting on a log next to a small camp fire. The man seemed to be deep in thought. At first glance he didn't look like an arrancar. He was wearing what appeared to be a bloody, gray cloak that covered him from head to toe.

"What's going on here?" Naito asked as he began to approach the man. Gondra held out his hand to stop him. He knew what the shrouded man really was.

"It took you long enough to get here. I was getting tired of waiting. Aizen-sama said that I would be welcomed into the Espada if I kill enough of you shinigami scum." the man said in a creepy sounding voice as he stood up and turned around. The movement caused his cloak to slide off in the process, revealing a pure white outfit and the mask fragment of teeth on his forehead.

"Oh shit! It's an arrancar." Karyu yelled as he jumped back and drew his sword.

"Calm down. It's just part of the mission." Naito stated calmly as he stepped back slowly, drawing his sword as well. The arrancar drew a long thin katana from his waist and swung it down at Gondra. He crouched down and unsheathed Sunaryu part of the way to block the attack.

"My, what good reflexes you have. What's your name, boy?" the arrancar asked.

"It's Gondra Durden. Fourth seat of the infamous Division Eleven and leader of the search and destroy team." Gondra shouted as he parried the attack, unsheathing his sword and spinning around to clash blades with the enemy.

"Karyu! Naito! You two keep your eyes open for the other arrancar." Gondra barked out. "I can take this guy out myself."

"So you think, boy." the arrancar commented.

As Gondra clashed blades with his opponent again and again he realized their difference in power. This arrancar had to be the strongest he'd ever fought. With his free hand, he unhooked his power limiter sword strap. As it clattered to the ground, Gondra felt all the reiatsu that had been cut off surge through his body. With a roar, Gondra knocked the enemy's blade back and cut him across the hand.

"So, what's your name, arrancar?" Gondra asked as they continued to clash blades.

"It's arrancar number twenty one, Garaya Hondur. And these are my soon to be fraccion." he explained. Just as Garaya finished his sentence, several more arrancar appeared out of nowhere. One of them knocking Shina out of the tree she was hiding in.

The arrancar attacked all at once. Naito evaded the first with ease, slicing the arrancar's extended forearm in a smooth downward motion. Shina scrambled to her feet just in time to block a downward slash from another with both hands on her sword. Karyu wasn't so lucky as an arrancar sonidoed behind him, stabbing him in the back with a mad cackle. Karyu staggered forward then spun around, clashing blades with the arrancar.

"All of you have to team up!" Suika shouted at the team as she continued to watch the battle with a worried look on her face. Gondra took her advice as he unleashed his upgraded shikai. He flicked the chain out, causing it to wrap around one of the arrancar's feet and yank him it to the ground.

"Now Karyu, stab him!" Gondra shouted as he evaded another attack from Garaya.

Karyu reversed his grip on his sword and did as Gondra ordered, stabbing the arrancar in the chest. The arrancar looked up with a grin. He slashed Karyu across the face as he stood up. The torn fabric on his uniform revealed that Karyu's sword passed though the arrancar's hollow hole, causing no damage at all. Karyu fell to the ground, out cold.

"Damn it!" Gondra cursed as he sonidoed up to the grinning arrancar. He swung Sunaryu down with the thrusters engaged like an executioner's battle ax, cleaving the arrancar in two. The look on the bisected arrancar's face was priceless as it dissolved into nothing.

"You're quite powerful for a fourth seat." Garaya commented with a scowl on his pale face.

"I may be a lowly fourth seat but I have the power of a lieutenant." Gondra roared as he pointed his cleaver at Garaya.

"Well then, lieutenant, it looks like I shouldn't hold back any longer. Besides I owe you a beating for killing one of my subordinates. Stab him! Bayonetwork!" Garaya called out as he raised his katana to his forehead. The blade vanished as his body began to twitch. Blades erupted from all over his arms, back and feet as the teeth on his forehead opened to reveal an eye. It darted around before locking on to Gondra. Gondra fired off a massive barrage of bullets just to have them deflected by the spinning blades on the arrancar's arms.

"Tyler!" Gondra roared, causing his inner hollow to spring into action and lend him his dark powers. Gondra's eyes shifted to their dragon hollow form. Large chunks of mask fragments formed, covering half of his mouth with sharp teeth. Bone jetted up over the left side of his face to form a partial eye socket. Finally, a lone horn jetted back into his hair line. Gondra didn't care if his team noticed. He was way too into the fight to bother thinking of the outcome.

Meanwhile, Shina and Naito were fending off the attacks the arrancar were delivering. The look on their faces told him that they felt like they couldn't gain the upper hand and hoped that Gondra would finish off his target to help them soon. Gondra could sense their dire situation. That gave him even more drive to kill his target. He leaped into the air, spinning around with the thrusters engaged. He attempted to deal a massive blow to Garaya. As the two clashed their weapons, Garaya delivered a sharp kick to Gondra's side. The blade on his foot dug deep into Gondra's ribs. Gondra coughed up a little blood from the attack, taking one hand off his cleaver to pry the bladed foot form his side. Garaya used this opportunity to knock the cleaver back and stab Gondra in the chest with a fist full of blades. Gondra almost blacked out. He managed to use the cleaver to sever the thorn-like blades and separate himself from his opponent. Gondra sonidoed back and ripped the shards from his chest one at a time.

"Fuck! I'm losing too much blood." he cursed.

With a roar, Gondra rushed at his target while shooting off as many rounds as possible. Garaya deflected most of the bullets, only letting the non-life threatening rounds hit him. Gondra landed a drop kick to the arrancar's chest then engaged the thrusters as he attempted to cut off the Garaya's legs. Garaya leaped into the air to evade the attack but it left him completely open to a fierce uppercut from Gondra's free hand.

"I can do this." Gondra said to himself.

"No you can't!" Garaya shouted as he jumped to his feet and fired a silver-colored cero from his third eye that hit Gondra head on. As Gondra staggered back, he used his cleaver to deflect a second equally deadly cero. Sunaryu was hit hard and started to crack in certain places. Gondra charged blindly at his foe. He couldn't see straight due to the damage he had already received from the attacks. Garaya smashed Sunaryu to pieces with a bladed backhand.

"Damn it! Not her." Gondra cursed, still clutching the broken hilt of his blade. He channeled all the reiatsu he had left into his left arm and attempted a super powered left hook to the arrancar's head. Just before impact, Garaya sliced Gondra's arm off at the bicep with an extra blade that had extended from his palm. Gondra shrieked out in pain as he clutched the bloody stump that used to be his left arm.

"It's useless, Mr Durden. I will not be denied my opportunity to become an Espada." Garaya stated in a cold tone right before backhanding Gondra in the face. His blades dug deep shattering Gondra's mask and tearing into his skull.

Gondra blacked out even before he hit the ground. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that he was back in his soul scape. He could barely stand as he looked around. The first thing he noticed was that the music that usually played was replaced with a heavy rain. Fuck rain, this was a full blow deluge. Gondra heard a soft whimper to his left and looked to see Sunaryu trying to stagger to her feet with one hand pressed against the wall of a building for support. She looked beaten to within an inch of her life. The rain had stuck loose strands of her long black hair to her face. She also had a fearful look in her red eyes.

"Gondra, what ever you do, don't let him-" she started in a weak voice but was cut off.

"Shut up bitch! We're going to do things my way now." Tyler interrupted as he appeared next to Sunaryu. He bent down and took the magnum that was holstered to her waist and approached Gondra.

"This is it, Jack. With my plan, we can beat anyone we want. We can even cast aside the Soul Society and join up with Aizen in Hueco Mundo, if you like. I won't eat you. We're just going to be a little closer from now on." Tyler chimed as he placed the barrel of the gun in Gondra's mouth. "My eyes are open, Jack. How about yours?"

"Don't do it!" Sunaryu screamed. But it was too late.

{BANG}

Gondra felt a hole form in the back of his head. It didn't hurt for some strange reason. All of a sudden it shifted down his body and turned into a hollow hole in the middle of his chest. Then he looked back at Tyler. With a cackle he started to dissolve and flow into Gondra through the hole, being completely absorbed by him. Gondra looked down at himself and noticed that his wrist bands, belt, boots, and shihakusho were rapidly turning white. He felt everything about his being warp and change. A vile disturbing power flowed through him. He turned to Sunaryu and grinned a Tyler-style grin before disappearing.

Gondra opened his eyes to find himself back in the Soul Society. Garaya had turned his back to him, probably thinking he was dead. Gondra looked down at the stump of his left arm and concentrated. A new limb rapidly regenerated, but it wasn't his normal arm. It was the arm of a dragon- like hollow. It was clawed, glistening with silvery scales and double the size or a normal arm. With a roar of pure rage, Gondra sonidoed forward. The sharp dragon claw smashed straight through the blades on Garaya's back and impaled him through the chest. Garaya slowly turned his head to look at Gondra. Utter shock filled his face. He was about to say something but Gondra didn't care what the bastard's final words were. With one swift motion, Gondra jerked his arm upwards to rip through the arrancar's chest neck and head. Gondra held out his tongue as the massive spray of blood hit him, lapping hungrily at it.

Gondra looked around, noticing that Shina and Naito were on the ground along with Karyu. Suika was nowhere to be seen. The look of horror on Shina's face was...beautiful. Gondra cackled as the two remaining arrancar came rushing at him in their release forms. Gondra punched one of them in the face, causing his head to cave in. Gondra noticed that the arrancar's resereccion form looked kinda like a spider. The other arrancar stopped his attack and started to back away but Gondra wasn't done yet. He sonidoed right in front of him, tearing his face off. The scared look in his eye sockets was...funny. Then Gondra burned the arrancar's body to ashes with a cero. The shinigami hollow hybrid walked over to one of the arrancar's lifeless bodies and picked it up. With a roar of satisfaction, Gondra bit down on a large piece of flesh and ate it. Shina let out a scream. Gondra turned to her, blood dripping down his chin.

"Where's Suika?" he asked sternly. His amber and black gaze penetrating her soul.

"She's...shes over there. Just don't hurt me!" Shina screamed as she covered her head with her hands. Gondra walked over to where Shina had pointed. With every step he took, his skin became paler and more scaly. He found the girl huddled in the corner of the foundation of one of the burned out buildings. Gondra lifted her up by the front of her shihakusho with his still normal arm and looked into her scared eyes.

"Go get your captain! Get Kurotsuchi and bring him here! I need his help! Now!" Gondra ordered in a loud demonic voice. All the poor girl could do was cry and faint. Gondra dropped her to the ground.

"Fuck! I can't control it!" Gondra screamed as a mask with jagged teeth and sharp horns formed on his face and become more elongated, like a snout of a dragon. The Dragon of Avarice.

Gondra doubled over in agony as two bladed wings riped through his shihakusho and burst out of his back. They resembled the barrels on a three fifty seven magnum. With a roar, Gondra took to the sky and headed for the Sereitei. Each passing second caused his body to change more and more.

And the rain will kill us all,

We throw ourselves against the wall

but no one else can see

the preservation of the martyr in me.

Psychosocial by Slipknot.

So, was that a great chapter or was that a fucking great chapter? I've been waiting a long time to get up to this point and I have all of you to thank. Don't worry. The fic won't end any time soon. I still have a lot in store for Gondra.

Sandragon out!