The Heir Apparent
Chapter 46: Decider 5: The Domes of Death

'Scores stand at six/five to Other,' said Onikami, the demon lord of the games, 'Gamer, do you wish for my test?'

'No, only one more to go anyway,' said Kyoraku wearily.

'Other, choose the twelfth game,'

Instead of following the instruction Bismark turned to him. 'We've been here for several hours, the battle outside must be over by now,' he said, almost conversationally, 'You're probably the last shinigami left in Soul Society.'

Kyoraku shrugged, 'Time works differently here. Sometimes it goes at the same rate, mostly things inside go much faster. When I do this with many opponents they all happen at the same time, but at different rates; and then all end together. Who knows what the situation outside is.'

Bismark sighed. Before he'd been all bluster and hatred, but being killed half a dozen times had bled nearly all the emotion out of the two men, leaving them numb and mentally exhausted. Their bodies though were just as strong as when they'd come in. 'I guess I'll take that one,' he said, pointing to the only demon that hadn't been chosen yet.

'Kenoni, you've been avoiding it.'

'It's obvious what it's about,' was the other man's bored response.

'And if I win, I'll have to face the one I've been avoiding,' Kyoraku said softly, 'or die.'

Kenoni was a monster with four arms, each holding a curved scimitar. It opened its lion-toothed mouth and said, 'My game now.' Its voice was a growl, tinged with menace, 'Blades game, kill first you win. No powers, mortal strength. No rules.'

Around them the other demons had faded, leaving only Kenoni. Then racks appeared around them, some holding assorted weapons, creating a full circle with them in the centre. There were weapons of every bladed type imaginable, some looked completely impractical to wield.

'Begin,' the demon snarled.

The way that the racks were set up each class of weapon was grouped together. And, as luck would have it, the sword section was directly behind Bismark. Kyoraku meanwhile found himself between one of special weapons and another of axes and poleaxes. Both men immediately dived for a weapon. Kyoraku got there first, and sent a metal discus and strangely shaped throwing knife flying at his enemy. He had to win this, or he was dead no matter the outcome of the last most terrible game.

Bismark spun around from the sword section holding two hand and a half swords, otherwise known as bastard swords. The discus deflected off his blade, slicing a long cut on the side of his chest. He gasped, but blocked the second cleanly.

Two more projectiles followed, but his enemy was ready now and neither found purchase. Bismark sprinted at him, his sword slashing at Kyoraku's head. He rolled under it to the axe section and grabbed the first weapon he could, which turned out to be a long European bill; a polearm designed for killing horsemen. He'd never used one of those before.

He had trained with a spear though, so like he was wielding one he held it low and kept it pointed at his enemy. It was slower on the stab though, thanks to its increased weight, and Bismark batted it aside easily. His follow up blow sliced the haft in two. Kyoraku, now holding a useless stick, threw it at his enemy's face. Then he ran for another weapon.

But Bismark's size belied his speed, and he headed Kyoraku off away from the swords, a snarl on his lips. Kyoraku tried to dodge back towards the axe rack; he was cut off again and found himself backed up against a section of racks with no weapons at all.

'You're finished,' said the blond giant.

'Almost, one shot left,' Kyoraku muttered under his breath.

He sprinted to the right side; unlike him Bismark was not ambidextrous and definitely sloppier on the left. The other man immediately intercepted him, and sent his swinging blade at Kyoraku's midsection. Kyoraku though sprang and bounced his feet off the side of the racks, sending his body careering at a shocked Bismark. The moving blade bit deep into his thigh as the two of them collided.

'What, you…' words failed the tall Rache leader as he struggled to keep his footing.

'Can't use your swords at this range, can you?' said Kyoraku, his head below the taller man's chin and his hands gripping tightly onto his forearms. He had planned to use this to trip him, and then make a dash to the swords rack. The pain in his thigh though was excruciating, he could barely put any weight on the leg. As soon as he let go he was a dead man.

The two struggled for a moment, while Bismark was clearly the stronger of the two he had none of the wealth of experience in grappling that Kyoraku could call upon. He tried to pull away, but the dark haired captain leapt up and wrapped his legs around his waist, gasping at the pain.

'Are you trying to fight me or fuck me?' Bismark roared, bracing to stay upright.

'You've clearly never rolled before,' said Kyoraku, and swung his good leg over the other man's shoulder.

'Get off!'

And with that he fell forward, slamming Kyoraku back-first into the stone floor. He gasped as the breath was forcibly expelled from his lungs, but nevertheless managed to hook his legs firmly together. Bismark was defending well, but he was an amateur and didn't know how to follow up, nor what the dangerous positions were. The next two slams were from the knees and not nearly as powerful as the first, allowing Kyoraku to sink in his hold. Bismark's right arm was now almost completely useless, trapped at a terrible angle while Kyoraku's thighs squeezed his shoulder and neck.

'Let… go…' said the big man, fighting for breath.

Kyoraku did, he let go of his right arm, and started pulling his head down. Bismark was flailing, but the grip on his left arm was relentless. With only his right free he tried to cut Kyoraku's back, but could only flick his wrist to give the sword inertia. Kyoraku grunted with each cut, but kept up the pressure, even when Bismark started hammering the side of his head with the hilt. Soon Bismark's movements began to weaken. After about twenty seconds they stopped entirely.

Then the world around them faded, and the thirteen demons reappeared.

'Gamer, victor,' said the monster demon of swords. He raised one and froze. That left a total of six in that position, with six more with their blades reversed into the ground.

'We're even then,' said Bismark, who had reappeared beside him. 'I never thought I would need to know hand to hand combat. I guess I should have taken those classes from Lord Ishida. What happens now?'

Kyoraku didn't even blink as he stood up. One got used to such things. 'I guess we have to do the last game, I don't know for sure. This has never happened to me before. Might be we have to redo all the games until I choose to stop it.'

'You mean, nobody-'

'-Has ever got this far before, yes.'

'What about the Quincy, there were over a hundred of them on the Night of the Wind of Death. What about the council, Lord Ishida?'

Kyoraku shook his head, 'There were seventy nine left by then. Lord Ishida and two others got to the seventh level. Daiken, the captain who caused all this, got it to the ninth. So much death.' He dropped into silence.

Then Onikami spoke again, 'Scores stand at six all with no other games left. You will now begin my test.'

Kyoraku turned to Bismark, his shoulders trembling with suppressed emotion. 'Now, we will… I guess that this is our punishment. What we two deserve.'

'What are you talking about?' he snapped.

'This last game, it's the one I've always forfeited immediately since the first time I used my Bankai. It's more terrible than all the others combined.'

'What is it?' said Bismark.

'The truth.'

x

Takumo's body, a massive bloody triangle carved out of where the upper body and head should be, fell to its knees and then to the floor. Meanwhile pieces of flesh and clots of blood were raining down. Ichigo expelled a breath, and promptly fell on his backside. He'd really used a lot of energy in that fight, only now did he feel the full extent of it.

'There, how about that Rukia, I won.'

'You barbarian,' she snapped, 'Couldn't you have done it a little less messily?'

She kicked what looked like a rock at him, it landed between his feet. It was half of Takumo's head.

'Urgh,' he said, scrambling backwards, 'Gross, did you have to do that?'

'That thing hit me! And I got brain fluid in my hair. Do you have any idea how hard that is to wash out?'

He couldn't help but grin. Rukia might be a hardened warrior, but she was still a girl. 'Sorry, I won't do it again.'

'You're damn right,' she said, walking up to him. For a moment Ichigo thought she was going to kick him, then she offered him a hand and a smile, 'Well done, barbarian.'

'Thanks, sub-zero captain,' he said, taking it and rising.

She frowned at the name, 'Where's that coming from?'

It hadn't sounded nearly as good out loud as it had in his head. Besides, she'd never played fighting games. 'Your Bankai. I didn't get a good look from here; I was a bit busy. But I saw enough. Well done on that, Rukia.'

It was strange, but he felt no regret at Takumo's death, not even passing remorse at the brutality of his finish. Only pleasure that he'd defeated him, joy even that he'd come out alive. He hadn't even killed before yesterday, but then again the sheer extent of death and destruction that he had been in and partaken in was beyond anything he'd experienced before. What was the saying; that constant exposure to danger breeds contempt for it? This was constant exposure to horrific actions.

Was he becoming a monster?

Just then an explosion of power from inside the courtyard cut his thoughts short. They both turned to it, then to the dome above them, then to each other. They didn't need to say it, they both realized that Ikkaku had lost to Marx, and the dome could only be the ultimate Rache plot to destroy all remaining shinigami; most likely being controlled by said Rache leader. And not a minute ago Nanao and a whole platoon had raced inside, following the dropping of the drawbridge, and would have run straight into him.

'Let's go,' he cried.

'Yes... wait, no.'

'What?'

'Renji's outside. I don't know how, but he's there.'

Ichigo worked his mouth silently, trying to think. Renji was supposed to be stuck in the material world with Urahara and Yoruichi. There was no way that lump had made it here by himself, he must have had help. That meant Urahara. And if there was anybody who could stop this thing, it was Urahara. 'I'll try get them in, you go help Nanao.'

'But-'

'Go!' She couldn't help him here, she just wasn't strong enough. And the front assault squad would need support until he could return.

Rukia nodded once, and flash stepped away. Ichigo turned and ran to the barrier, which was no more than fifty meters away and moving inward at increasing speed. Some of the shinigami had broken off their assault and were trying to get through it. One tried to stick his hand in, he pulled out a blackened stump. Just then the world lurched, he almost lost his footing. What was going on? But nothing seemed to have changed, besides the dome flickering oddly, and he couldn't afford to wait. So summoning up all his power, he closed his eyes and stabbed his bankai blade in.

Nothing happened. No explosion, no repulsion, nothing.

Opening his eyes again, Ichigo took in the odd sight while walking backwards in time with the force field's movement. The spiritual particles were trying to erode away his zanpakutou, only it was too dense to be dissolved quickly. For a weak person though, it seemed to be like stepping into molten lava.

'Ah, hello Kurosaki-san,' said a familiar voice.

He nearly withdrew his blade in shock. Now that he looked though the blade was creating a thin shadow in the shield, though the shadow was going upward and tapered off after thirty centimeters. Sound was getting through it; though faintly. Oddly enough, the land around outside the shield seemed to be white.

'Urahara-san!'

'You'll have to shout louder, I barely heard that! Isshin-kun briefed us; we know what's going on. Have you beaten their Prima Kreis?'

He turned his sword to make a larger shadow. It was like pushing against a magnetic repulsion. 'Most, don't know about Shunsui's fight, and there's one other left. Can you get through?'

'No, it's impenetrable from our side, even now. Ingenious, really.'

Complimenting the enemy? He shook his head. 'Swell, but can you stop it?'

'I can try, this has been set up over a very long time. Your penetration of it though proves that at least now it's not impervious from the inside. It's a bit like a dam wall, much harder on the outside. Theoretically, if we have a source of quincy energy focus on the centre point from both the inside and outside, with supporting powers providing enough backing, we could break through.'

And the best source of that would be a real live quincy. 'I could get Ishida.'

'And I have Ryuuken-san. By the way, do you have Orihime-chan with you?'

'I could get her. She's being held with Ishida in the castle, we think.'

'Then do.'

'There's a problem. Rukia and I are pretty messed up from our battles, and this last Rache leader seems to be at full power.'

Urahara was silent for a moment. 'Kurosaki-san, listen carefully. As soon as you're ready with Ishida-san you need to have him focus his power at the highest point of the dome; that will be where it's cascading down from. Get as many of your people as you can to focus their power on him, we'll do the same on our side. With a bit of luck, that will be enough to break through.'

'And if it isn't, we all die,' said Ichigo, 'What about Marx?'

'I'll send somebody over. Sorry, but I need you to open the barrier from your side. According to my calculations it won't kill you.'

But it would hurt a lot, he seemed to imply. That would explain why the Rache hadn't activated it as soon as they arrived. Captain class was too strong for it; they had needed time to take them out or weaken them before they finished the lot in one fell swoop. They were relying on the fact that captains wouldn't and couldn't leave their companions to die.

'Alright, here I go.'

His blade was too thin in Bankai stage, so he withdrew it and reverted back to Shikai. Now with a massive cleaver he stuck it in, sideways, at ground level. Strangely, the ground outside appeared to be snow.

'Not wide enough,' a new voice called.

His zanpakutou was being eroded away fast; it would start falling apart before long. And the barrier was too wide for him to simply put an arm in, and there was the tapering effect. Gritting his teeth, he plunged his body in and held it there. Blinding, searing pain, he almost didn't feel the person push past stepping on his back. Then he was tugged back in by his sash.

'Missed me?' said Abarai Renji.

Ichigo could only groan in response.

x

The Bankai's dome faded, sinking into oblivion. It left behind two men, just outside the walls of the fortress. No one else was around; they were all fighting their own battles.

'I never knew,' said Bismark softly, tears streaming down his eyes, 'You, you wanted to save us. You, I, I killed your wife. I'm so sorry. So very sorry.'

Kyoraku tried to hold back his tears, but he couldn't. He had just experienced the other man's entire life, through his eyes. 'Your father, it must have been Daiken,' he said, 'I could have stopped him; I should have confronted him before. I was too weak.'

Around the two men, ethereal scimitars were forming. The ground moved suddenly, but neither man cared.

'I was manipulated, used! And we're ruining this world and the material world, aren't we,' said Bismark. 'If only… if only you had finished me the first time. None of this would have happened.'

'You loved Serena, didn't you?' said Kyoraku, 'But you couldn't let her get too close.'

The scimitars stopped forming, and for a moment were perfectly still. Then the seven blades around Bismark solidified. The supreme Rache leader looked up, and noticed the massive glowing dome.

'Stop Marx, he's even more insane than I,' he said.

One after another, the swords speared into his body, each one eliciting a fresh scream of anguish. Kyoraku dropped to his knees, weeping. He couldn't watch. The dying man might be his enemy, but he was now also his brother.

It was almost a relief when the seventh struck, and the screaming stopped. At that moment the thirteen ethereal blades around him pierced his body at the same time. Agony; terrible crippling weakness. He'd suffered the toll of his Bankai after his previous usages, but it had never drained him of all his spiritual energybefore.

He flopped to the ground, too weak to even move, while the contracting dome moved ever closer.

x

The ground heaved, and several of the shinigami fell. A maniacal expression came to the face of the Rache leader Alexander Marx, who stood in the centre of the courtyard. Ikkaku was restrained on his knees near to him, trying to shout hoarse warnings, but she couldn't hear him through the din.

'Urahara Kisuke, I know it's you! Do you think you can stop me?' Marx shouted, staring up at flashing dome, 'I've been planning this for centuries. Even if you took us to the material world, it won't work. The very stones of this fortress are a backup power source, and far more than I need. It's too late for you, I've beaten you, I win!' His expression was somewhere between fury and ecstasy.

'Even if you kill us all, you're finished,' cried Rukia, who had just got there. 'They'll kill you after you've killed us.'

'Never,' he screamed, firing at her, 'They'll die in the blast, I won't, I'll win!'

'Stay behind me!' Nanao shouted, her dagger flicking out to stop a ballista-sized bolt dead in its tracks. All the surviving shinigami from the assault were huddled behind her, the rest lay dead on the ground with grisly wounds on them. No one dared go close enough to cut off their heads and prevent soul erosion.

'I'll help,' cried Rukia, taking up position beside her.

'Watch out!' she just made out Ikkaku screaming.

One bolt came her way, so she deflected it away. Or tried to, the force sent her flying backwards into the archway beside the gate. She cried out as she struck, but still managed to pull away and get behind Nanao before the follow up shot finished her off. Her arm was numb to the shoulder and her blade had cracks running through it, and a chunk missing from the edge.

'How the hell are you blocking those?' she said as Nanao stopped two more.

'My zanpakutou's ability. But he's too strong for me, my kido is useless on him.'

Rukia knew what she meant, kido made it possible to take on enemies more powerful than yourself, but there was a limit. 'Let's work together.'

Before Nanao could reply, Marx screamed, 'I'll be the last strong one, the ruler of all things. No one will beat me!'

With that he pointed directly at the ground and fired. Rukia, guessing what he was doing, leapt high. Two bolts erupted from where she'd been standing and sped past under her. Nanao screamed. Rukia risked a look back to confirm what she already knew, she'd been hit. Her lower leg had been completely ripped off. Why hadn't she jumped?

Then Marx switched his aim back to her.

'Die,' he snarled.

This time she really would, there was no way she could survive a full volley from him. The bolts sped at her, she gritted her teeth.

'Bankai, Hihio Zabimaru.'

A huge hissing snake head intercepted them, the metal shafts sunk into the first neck rung. She knew this bone snake, but it was different. The head had metal teeth attached outside the bone ones, like a serrated bear trap, and the spines were now bladed and plated with metal.

'Renji!'

'Yo,' said her oldest friend, standing in midair holding Ichigo up. What had happened to her captain? He looked like someone had pressed a red hot beam across his chest and arms.

'Ichigo, what did you do?'

He raised his head, 'Don't worry about me, go goddammit. Get Ishida and Inoue, we need them now.'

She worked her mouth silently, trying to think of a suitable protest.

'That's an order, go!'

'I'll cover you,' said Renji, setting Ichigo down by Nanao.

Rukia nodded once and set off at a run.

'Oh no you don't,' said Marx, firing at her.

Zabimaru slammed into the ground between them, a bony segment absorbing the bolts. As it came around, it left behind the section; which was now chained into the ground.

Then she was past, and inside the fortress.

x

'Is everything in place?' said Urahara.

Yoruichi nodded once, and pointed to where Ishida Ryuuken knelt in midair above the dome, feeling its fluctuating power signature with one hand. 'He's almost ready.'

Grimmjow appeared with chunks of snow and ice over his armoured body. One of his paws was black and smoking. 'Your damn hole is done, shinigami. That forcefield of theirs fuckin' hurts, and it goes all the way under just like on top.'

'Good, then we're just waiting on those inside,' he said, gazing out into the bleak wilderness. It made sense that the Rache's dome was like that, it was after all copied off Seireitei.

They were in what the mortals knew as the North Pole. It had been a simple enough matter once they were in Soul Society to unseal the link between there and the mortal plain. Well, simple for him anyway. With what they were up against he'd used the same technology Soul Society had previously used against Aizen, with a slight modification. There were 5 pillars set up around the Rache fortress, which had transported it, and all land surrounding, here to the mortal plane. Without the constant supply of spiritual particles it had been absorbing from the surrounding environment; he'd thought the shielding dome might fail. It wasn't that simple, there was some sort of backup operating from inside, but certainly his efforts had weakened it.

Isshin intruded on his thoughts. 'Just so we're clear, Urahara, I focus my power from east while Yoruichi comes from the west. Grimmjow and Nel take the north and south, while you take the bottom.'

'That's what I said. Most importantly, the two quincy's energy must reach each other's from the top.'

'Tell me this though, what if they don't get ready in time? Can we do this without Ichigo and the others?'

'No, we'd fail for sure. We might even make it blow up sooner.'

'No way in hell I'm just going to let my son and future daughter-in-law die. But what happens to the material world if it blows here?'

Urahara shrugged, 'I would imagine with such a singulary powerful explosion of spiritual energy, it would disintegrate the pillars; and both the material and spiritual plains will forcibly collide. Everything would end.'

'You mean that-'

'Yes, if we run out of time we'll have to destroy the pillars and make a run for it.'

The others looked suitably shocked, even the two Arrancar. They didn't know the half of it. Even if they got the stronghold back in time and it exploded in Rukongai; the massive destruction of souls would lead to, at the very least, an almost complete annihilation of the soul reapers. That in turn would almost certainly cause an imbalance in the soul flow just through simple loss of numbers and ultimately a breakdown of the very spiritual fabric.

Whoever had set this up was brilliant, and utterly rabid.

x

Renji snarled as he flicked the tail of his serpent. Marx was incredibly quick; trying to catch him even with his powered-up version of Zabimaru was proving futile. It was no wonder this guy had beaten Ikkaku. All the things he'd learned were proving useless, and every time one of Zabimaru's segments got hit it was immobilized. He was able to detach them, but constantly doing so was weakening his Bankai. At this rate he'd be left with only a handle and a head.

'Need a hand?' Ichigo called while helping to bandage up Nanao in the arch of the gateway.

'Butt in and I'll kill you,' said Renji.

He tried to resummon the immobilized piece nearest to him, but it was suck fast by the chains attaching it to the ground. It would take a supreme effort to remove them, and probably rip the section apart.

'You don't stand a chance,' Marx laughed, 'I've fought you before; I know what you can do.'

He seemed to have calmed down from when he was beating up Nanao and her troops. Possibly because Renji was quite a lot stronger.

'No you haven't, and even if you've been spying you ain't seen everything I got.'

'But I have, Nagai Kenpachi. You and your lieutenant Unohana tracked me over three continents, but you couldn't catch me. I wasn't nearly as powerful then, and you're weaker this cycle.'

Renji had no idea what he was talking about, it seemed ridiculous that he'd had a lookalike with the same abilities as him. But now that he was thinking rather than fully focusing on the fight, another memory did resurface. The one that felt more like a nightmare, when a dark skinned man had killed his friends and another with a hammer had knocked him out. This was that second man.

'I remember that,' said Marx when he said as much, 'I believe that girl who was with you at the time is Kuchiki Rukia, right? She defeated Khaan just before you came.'

'What's your game, if he was your ally why didn't you stop her, eh?'

'I don't need him,' Marx said, and shrugged, 'He was always too hard to control. I'll train my own underlings when I own Soul Society. By the way, thanks for standing still for so long.'

At that point the ground rose around Renji, gripping his feet tightly before he could jump. Then it swelled up, threatening to engulf his whole body and drown him. Renji quickly swung his weapon around his body, switching hands as he went behind, smashing the rising earth down. But he was still caught up to his stomach in a mound more solid than stone.

'Normally this wouldn't hold someone of your level, but I prepared this sand specially. And now that you can't move, you're a perfect target. Goodbye, Abarai Renji, formerly Nagai Kenpachi. Maschinengewehr, Steinspalter.'

His repeater crossbow's double-X guard started spinning too fast to follow. He pointed it at Renji, and started firing. Before it had been hard, solid bolts; what was coming now was far smaller but a solid spray as fast as a machine gun. Not a moment too soon Renji pulled his Bankai back defensively. Zabimaru was tough enough to absorb them, but only on the hardened skull. The sheer number of them was drilling through the bone body like rotten wood, sending shards and pieces flying, and Marx was moving it from side to side so it was shearing his bone segments in half. He had to keep the head between Marx and his body or he was dead, but in the meantime what was left of his Bankai was being shredded.

'OY, RENJI' Ichigo roared over the din.

'WHAT?'

'WHAT IS THE BEST FORM OF DEFENSE?'

If this didn't work, he was dead. Then again if he did nothing he was dead anyway. He shot Zabimaru at Marx, predictably the man sidestepped it. But Renji was expecting that.

'Hikosu Taiho.'

The energy shot down the shortened serpent, only reaching about half power before it shot out of the head. But the head had turned at the last moment, so the blast shot at Marx, who was not expecting it. The Rache leader plowed the base of his weapon into the ground, and a huge chuck of it rose as a ramp of a barrier that deflected the attack skyward. Immediately Renji felt the ground holding him soften, he pulled his legs free with little effort. Apparently his opponent could only control one point at a time. That wasn't all, Marx wasn't aware of his entire arsenal of skills. Maybe he had known Renji's previous incarnation, but even with the same base of potential skills he could have developed differently. It was time to finish this, for better or worse.

'Higa Zekko.'

The now dormant pieces of Zabimaru rose into the air, even those cut in two. Those chained into the ground ripped free of their bonds, tearing themselves apart in some cases. All the animated pieces and bits of bone shot at Marx from all angles.

'That's more like it,' Marx laughed, 'Blatt Panzer, Steinspalter.'

He sunk the base of his huge crossbow into the ground again; the cross-guards grew into two sharp rings that spun in opposite directions around Marxs' body. As the smaller pieces of bone flew at Marx, they were shredded. And he raised patches of ground to catch groups of larger pieces.

'Don't forget about the head,' said Renji, his grin growing fierce.

The metal-plated head of Zabimaru came down from the top, catching its fangs on the rings. Both blades were immediately trapped, and before he could react Marx got stuck by a dozen sharp pieces of bone.

'GAH,' he cried out, 'You're too late, I've…'

Renji flash stepped beside him, swinging the blunt tail like a club and smashed Marx's skull in.

'You've lost,' He finished.

'Not bad, pineapple,' Ichigo called from the archway. Renji's eye twitched, but he said nothing. He wasn't going to let him ruin the moment.

'Heh, the student becomes the master,' said Ikkaku hoarsely, now able to get up with his bonds dissolved. 'Looks like I've got some catching up to do.'

That was more like it.

x

Ichigo smirked as he saw the look on Renji's face. Ah well, he'd earned his moment of triumph. That was the last Rache leader, he'd felt Bismark's energy fade a short while ago. Kyoraku was alive, just incredibly drained. He should send someone to get him.

He got up, grimacing. The field healing he'd received had undone much of the damage, but not all of it. The shield around them was even closer now and glowing so brightly the colour was leeched out of everything. 'How long 'till it reaches the walls?' he shouted to Ganju, who was gaping stupidly.

'Three, maybe two minutes,' he called back, 'It's speeding up!'

At that moment Rukia appeared with Inoue; Uryuu and, surprisingly, Hinamori. 'Are you guys okay?'

'We're fine,' said Uryuu, he glanced up and gave Ichigo a meaningful look, 'How long do we have?'

'Two minutes until it reaches the walls, then we all go bang.'

'Really?' said Inoue.

Ichigo wasn't sure whether to cringe or burst out laughing. Before he could decide Renji pushed something into his ear.

'Oy, what are you-'

'Are you there, Kurosaki-san?' Urahara's voice cut in.

'Yeah, everyone's ready. What do you need me to do?'

X

The seconds ticked by, ever so slowly. Urahara tapped his machine impatiently. He had built it on the fly with minimal equipment, who knew if it would work. In theory it was sound, place pressure at four points outside of a bubble and then opposing pressure on four spaces in between. The trick came not only in piecing the bubble, which Uryuu and Ryuken would do, but what to do afterwards.

'Alright, we're all set,' said Ichigo's voice in his ear.

And not a moment too soon! Immediately he signaled to everyone. Then the pushing began. This was the first critical stage, there was a chance that this could lead to a premature explosion. They couldn't let any part of it touch the walls inside, so those inside had to push harder. As he had predicted the bubble began to resemble the shape of a star-fort.

'Now, signal to Ishida Uryuu-san.' Urahara said, while giving similar orders to Ryuken, 'In 3, 2, 1-'

It didn't explode.

'Kisuke, we're through, our energy is meeting,' said Ryuken.

They were through the first hurdle; they'd punched a hole in the shell. Now was time to shut it down. 'Kurosaki-san, tell Orihime-chan to hit the core in 3, 2, 1-'

Now it was the critical part. Marx had built the feeder system for the force field underground, it had to be shut down while the bubble was pierced; otherwise it might explode. With a shrill, deafening, 'TSHEW', Orihime's tiny blade pierced through the base. The force field began to fade, the power absorbed into his neutralizing box. As the last of it faded, Urahara looked up to see Orihime and Ganju (who had dug the hole for her to get at the system) laughing faintly with relief.

Urahara smiled and expelled the breath he'd been holding. No explosion. Obviously he was a bit smarter than the late architect. 'We'd better get you all back to Soul Society; it's bad for living souls to be out and about in the material world. Bad for the world, that is.'

They didn't respond to him, but as soon as he jumped out of the pit he was greeted with cheers from the surviving Shinigami. Some were still rubbing sore ears, but even they looked relieved. Ganju lifted him onto his shoulders and started dancing around, which was a bit uncomfortable, but he appreciated the thought. Further away he saw the remaining Rache giving up in groups, and being bound with spiritually dampening shackles. Ryuken was clasping his son Uryuu's hand; they never had been ones for too much emotion. Renji and Matsumoto had grabbed each other's waists and were jumping in a circle, cackling wildly. A spot of orange caught his attention; it was Ichigo hiding under the gateway, kissing Rukia. Oh my, things had changed since he'd left Soul Society.

Then Nanao's horrified yell cut through their festivities, 'SHUNSUI!'

They rushed over to where she was kneeled over, just outside the walls. There was Kyoraku, lying on his chest, his eyes already glazing over. He must have been trying to crawl away but been caught by the encroaching shield, his legs and lower body had been burned off, all the way up to his ribcage.

'He's dead,' Rukia gasped, 'Inoue, can you-'

Orihime shook her head, her face as white as a sheet, 'Maybe if we were in the middle of Seireitei. There's not enough power here, he's too strong to bring back that easily. I'm so sorry.'

'There is power, as much as you want,' said Urahara, pointing to the castle walls.

'I can't use that!'

'But I can,' said Uryuu, placing one hand on the wall and the other on Orihime. Power started to flow from the young quincy to her as particles started disappearing from the already degerated walls. Without a word Ryuken joined him, adding a second conduit to the spiritual circuit.

'Please, save him,' Nanao whispered.

Orihime nodded, gritted her teeth made a triangle with her hands.

X

A/N: Whew, finally released. Sorry it took so long, I've been heck of a busy with work and studies. Right now I'm in a short study break, but I'm still working full time.

I will be releasing a final chapter to tie all the loose ends together. It's written, just needs editing. Anyways, it's been quite a journey. This will likely be the last piece of fan fiction I write. If anyone wants to ask any question about the story, Bleach or me personally, I'll answer it in a note at the end of the last chapter as long as it's decent (otherwise I'll PM you, unless you're flaming).