The shinigami assigned to defend Karakura town had assembled, today was the day they destroyed the archway the enemy had built, but their assigned leader, Torin, was nowhere to be found.

Byakuya frowned; his impression of the boy was such that he would not run from battle, had something happened to him? Regardless, they could not delay and search for him any longer, it was time to take charge and make do without him, though the absence of a captain would be a painful loss.

Just before Byakuya could speak a dark skinned woman appeared before the group

"Hey" Yoruichi said.

Byakuya scowled "what are you doing here were-cat?" He asked in irritation, the woman never failed to annoy him.

"Just delivering a message from Kiskue and Torin, they are together, as is Rida and Aurora, they've been preparing using a special training method for the coming battle, so they'll be a tad late" Yoruichi said "Torin said you should take charge till he gets here, lil'Byakuya. Seems he's got faith you'll do well. I was skeptical, but he's the boss"

Byakya's scowl deepened, but Yoruichi just laughed and left. "Well you heard her…" Byakuya said, his voice calm despite his irritation "we begin the assault, Captain Izanki will back us up when he arrives"

The others nodded and drew their zanpakto

"Remember, we must allow the device to activate before we destroy it, focus on eliminating enemies until then" Byakuya said "now go"

The group vanished, moving towards the enemy base in three groups. The plan was to simultaneously strike from all sides, with a captain in each cardinal direction. Torin was originally supposed to come from the south behind the device and smash it. His absence forced a change of plan, now the goal would be to entirely eliminate the enemy and converge on the arch in the center.

Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia came from the North. Hitsugaya, Rangiku, Kira, and Hisagi from the East. Konnamura, Ikkaku, and Yumichicka took West. The three teams reached their destinations at the same time, and then the battle began.

-North-

Byakuya was faced with hundreds, maybe thousands, of hollows and arrancar. Renji and Rukia stood behind him in shikai. Rukia's shikai was a white katana with a long white ribbon at the end, Renji's was still the segmented blade.

Byakuya held out his sword, point down "Ban…kai" he said calmly as he dropped the blade. It fell, then sank beneath the ground as if it were water.

As the ripples faded, thousands of blades the size of large buildings rose from the ground behind him.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura… Kageoshi" Byakuya said. The blades glowed pink as they separated into countless fragments, each reflecting the light to appear as flower blossoms as the surged forward, plowing into the enemy army and slicing them to ribbons.

"Let's go" Byakuya said as he casually strode forward, Rukia and Renji following behind.

-East-
Hitsugaya's team faced a similar obstacle as Byakuya's, but in this case most of the enemies had wings or were airborne using reiatsu platforms.

"Stay back you three, pick of the stragglers" Hitsugaya said, his eyes glowing blue as an aura of power enveloped him

Rangiku nodded to Kira and Hisagi, and the three backed away.

"Bankai!" Hitsugaya called, instantaneously a cloud of freezing cold air exploded from him, flash freezing the ground around him for several hundred yards

As the cloud dispersed Hitsugaya was revealed with two draconic wings made of ice, his sword arm was coated in ice that formed a dragon head at the hand, and he had a long ice tail. He also had 12 tokens floating behind him floating in groups of four. "Daiguren Hyorimaru!" he said as he spread his wings and flew at the enemies, from his sword several serpent-like ice dragons erupted, striking enemies and ripping through or freezing them. Ice shards formed from moisture in the air and impaled enemies, and Hitsugaya's tail lashed out to kill other foes.

A few enemies tried to fight back, but Hitsugaya defended with his wings, then retailiated with his sword, ice, or tail, easily slaying the,

"Shouldn't we help him?" Hisagi asked

Rangiku sook her head "if we get involved now we'll only be in the way" she said "so we wait"

-West-

Konamura's team was already in the thick of it, their enemies were primarily arger hollows, all Gillian and Adhunchas level hollows, or large bodied arrancar, there were fewer of them, but their size would've been an issue for most shinigami trying to bring them down.

Konamura had already released his bankai, Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō, which was a massive suit of samuri armor as tall as a skyscraper, it move in sync with him and crushed enemies by the dozens with each swing of it's sword.

Unlike the other groups, Konnamura's backup was already fighting. Ikkaku and Yumichicka were thoroughly enjoying themselves, lost in the blood frenzy that only members of the 11th division displayed. The size of the hollows didn't deter them in the slightest as they unleashed a storm of attacks on whatever enemy had the misfortune of being near them at the time.

-North-

"It can't be this easy" Renji said "these guys are fodder, where's that guy from before?"

Rukai frowned, Renji was right, so far they hadn't even needed to fight, Byakuya was utterly annihilating any opposition. "Something's not right" she said "it's like they're LETTING us get through…."

Rukia looked around and saw a disturbing sight, the enemy had closed ranks behind them, surrounding them completely, they had almost broken through, but were now trapped inside enemy lines.

"Ni-sama! It's a…!" Rukia began

"A trap" Byakuya finished as he broke through the enemies in front of him, revealing a single man in their path, He had golden hair and eyes, with a well trimmed beard. The man's body looked like it had been chiseled from stone, but he didn't seem to be showing it off, instead choosing to have more flashy clothing. He wore what appeared to be the outfit of a medieval nobleman, with long sleeves, frilled cuffs, and embroidered with gold all over. His hollow fragmenr was not readily visible, presumable it was hidden by the clothes.

"Good afternoon, Captain" the mand said cordially "I've been expecting you"

The man casually strolled forward "I am Eien Kizoku, the 8th Daichiken, I'll be your killer today, I do hope you enjoy your time in oblivion" he said with a smug grin "but don't worry about being lonely, my subjects behind you will send your comrades to join you."

The hollows behind them began to advance, a couple of the fast ones zipped in, separating Renji and Rukia from Byakuya.

Byakuya turned, raising a hand to send his blades at the hollows, when Eien, said "ah ah ah, can't have that can we?"

Byakuya turned back to see the man's hand in his face, a cero already charged. Byakuya darted back and hastily said "bakudo 81"

"cero" Eien said dismissively

"Danku" Byakuya finished, summoning a transparent panel barrier to protect him. The cero crashed into and surged around the bakudo, and a spiderweb of cracks appeared in it, but the spell held.

"Impressive" Eien said "your title is well deserved Captain, but I would suggest you focus your attention on me."

-West-

Konnamura's team had found itself barely slowed by the enemy forces, but now they too faced a solitary man.

This one had a more of a rugged look to him. He was at least 10 feet tall, and was as wide as a truck. He too had a beard, but this one was black, messy, and thick. He was bald and he had brown eyes. His arms were like tree trunks, with muscles suiting a man of his size. Konnamura looked normal sized compared to him.

"I am Tozal Leti" Tozal said, his voice deep and rough.

Konnamurea looked at the man silently

"what, can the doggy not talk? Speak boy! I'll give ya a treat" the man laughed

Konnamura glared at the man, then swung his sword, making his bankai follow suit and slash down at the man, who easily dodged. "Bad do!" Tozal taunted "bad dogs get beatings.

-East-

Hitsugaya's opponent was female, she had long blue hair in a ponytail that reached her waist, with matching colored eyes. She was young, appearing to be about 13, and her womanly features were only beginning to develop. She wore a standard uniform that was tight on her, like the tailor who had made it had messed up badly when it came to judging size, or like she'd been wearing that outfit for quite a long time and had grown.

"Oh yay! A friend came for me to play with!" the girl cried happily, bobbing up and down in excitement "my name is Oni Enjiru, I'm the 6th daichiken, pleased to meet you little boy!"
Hitsugaya scowled, a vein popping out of his forehead, he really hated being referred to by his size. "That's Captain Hitsugaya to you!" he retorted

"Whatever" the girl said as she put her hands behind her back and leaned forward a bit, smiling cutely. Had she been older the pose would've given any man a nosebleed, but thankfully the innocence of the situation was preserved. "Let's play a game now"

Hitsugaya's scowl deepened "I didn't come here for games; I came here because we're at war!"

"YAY! War is my FAVORITE game!" Oni cheered "I'll go first!"

Oni brought her hands forward and fired two blue cero at Hitsugaya, connecting with both and engulfing him in an explosion.

"I win! Yay!" Oni cheered

Hitsugaya appeared behind Oni as the pieces of his ice clone fell from the sky. "Game over" he said as he slashed, unleashing a gust of freezing air that encased Oni in ice.

Hitsugaya had almost relaxed when the ice shattered, revealing a shivering and very unhappy Oni

"I didn't like that game" Oni whined as she blasted Hitsugaya with another cero.

"I'm bored now, let's play the dying game" Oni said, now seeming a lot less cute "first one to die loses"