CHAPTER 57: END OF THE PHANTOM SHARK
A bespectacled man with light purple, shoulder length hair strolled onto the massive cliff overlooking the whole of Soul Society, known as Sokyoku Hill. He placed his right hand into the right pocket of his New Espada's uniform, using his left hand to flick his lustrous hair and snickered. Even though two of his comrades had passed on in battle, it was none of his concern to him. He did not feel a tinge of sadness and their deaths meant nothing to him. His comrades were not his concern. Instead, it was interesting specimens that concerned and fascinated him. He had a strong desire to cut open and dissect a Shinigami's body, preferably a highly ranked Shinigami. A seated officer, a Lieutenant, a Captain... Maybe even the Captain-commander. All sounded equally mind-boggling to him and the thought of dissecting it sent a wave of excitement through his blood. Such an amusing thought made him giggle to himself uncontrollably.
"Eh... Giggling all of a sudden?" Shinji smirked. "Hey, share the joke with us... New Espada."
"Yeah, be a lil' nicer ta us, Heryanna-chan!" Ichimaru chuckled, about to place his hand on the hilt of his Zanpakutou.
"Huh..." Byakuya rolled his eyes. "I'd appreciate it if you two could be more serious about this and act more honourably during battle..."
"Oops! Then sorry, Kuchiki Taicho!" Ichimaru smiled, speaking with a cheeky voice.
Heryanna raised his eyebrow, with a sceptical look on his face. Out of nowhere, three mysterious men had appeared. One had short blonde hair, wore an orange button-down shirt and black trousers. He looked sneaky, as he grinned, showing his set of white teeth. Another was dressed in the usual black Shinigami robes, but with the white Captain's haori as well. He had long black hair and wore a stoic expression on his face. As for the third man, he had silver hair and his eyes were closed. He wore a classic white button-down shirt, with the long sleeves folded up, and he wore ordinary blue jeans. To Heryanna, only the Shinigami Captain appeared threatening. As for the other two, they were quite ambiguous and he was unable to give a rough estimate of their strength by looking at their appearance.
Hm... Heryanna-chan seems ta be gauging our strength by looking at our clothes... Heh, I bet Heryanna-chan doesn't recognise meh. After all, he's never met meh before. Once tha dust cleared and Aizen chose them, they were locked up in one of tha towers in Las Noches and given new powers. Then, they trained intensively, for tha sake of this battle and learning how ta handle their newfound powers. Heh, I wonder what he'll say when I tell him who I am? Ichimaru smiled.
"Hey Heryanna-chan... Do ya know who I am?"
Heryanna raised an eyebrow and snickered, with a strong hint of haughtiness in his voice. "How should it concern me?"
"It will. I'll tell ya once we're done with ya, how 'bout that?" Ichimaru grinned.
"Sure. I'll let you talk before I cut you three open and observe your corpses." Heryanna took up the challenge, confident that he would emerge victorious and have three corpses ready for him to dissect after the battle.
Byakuya, Shinji and Ichimaru all unsheathed their Zanpakutous simultaneously. Shinji put on his hollow mask and charged towards Heryanna, slashing him right across his chest. Shinji began to smell a rat. There was no way that a New Espada would allow himself to receive damage so easily and without putting up a fight.
Unless, it was a trap...
He quickly turned behind to see a second Heryanna flying towards him at a speed beyond a normal Arrancar's capability, with his Zanpakutou unsheathed and aimed right for him. Quickly whipping out his blade, Shinji resisted the grinning New Espada and pushed him away using brute force. Heryanna was sent flying backwards and landed silently on a wall, before pushing off and this time heading for Ichimaru. Ichimaru grinned and used his blade to defend himself as well. At the exact same moment, Byakuya appeared behind Heryanna and used Hado 73, Soren Sokatsui against Heryanna. Ichimaru opened his eyes and quickly dodged, once he noticed the furious blue blasts of energy heading right for him and Heryanna. He landed neatly beside Byakuya and sighed.
"Are ya tryin' ta kill meh, Kuchiki Taicho?" He joked.
"No." Byakuya replied in a calm voice. "I was aiming for the enemy."
"Think ya could watch your aim next time?"
"Do not question my abilities." Byakuya snapped. "As the head of the Kuchiki family, I can guarantee you that I have precise aim. That, I swear, on my pride and honour and the head of the Kuchiki family, the Captain of the 6th Division and as a Shinigami."
"Heh!" Shinji laughed. "You're just like your grandfather, Ginrei. Always so serious and rambling on and on about your pride and honour."
"Unlike the two of you, I have my pride and honour..."
Ichimaru and Shinji gritted their teeth.
"Ya wanna repeat that?"
Ishida whipped out the first Seele Schneider from his pocket and quickly hooked it to he invisible elastic fibres of his Ginrei Kojaku Pulling back the Seele Schneider with all his strength, he took his aim and shot it right at Kiiyaa's leg, hoping to hinder her movement. At the same time, he knew that Kiiyaa could not sever her leg, since it would make dashing around even more difficult for her. He pushed his spectacles higher up his nose bridge, smiling to himself. With that, he had just forced the enemy to bear with her injuries and attempt to pull through the pain while in a fierce, crucial battle. Kiiyaa grabbed her leg and screamed as a sharp pain ran through her entire leg. Red blood ran from her wounds and dripped down her legs, resembling a clear waterfall infested with red dye. Her eyes burned with rage and she glared right at Ishida. Ignoring the pain running through her veins, she lunged forward at Ishida, only to come face-to-face with Mayuri's blade. She stopped herself just in time and jumped backwards, while firing a dark blue Cero. Ukitake quickly jumpred in and absorbed the Cero, adding in his own powers and firing it back at her. Even though her mobility had just been limited, Kiiyaa managed to dodge the attack narrowly and instantly realised that using Ceros were not a viable option against the three of her opponents. Her black fin began to glow, with a dark blue aura surrounding it.
"Cascada."
A large swirl of dark blue water compacted itself at the tip of her fin, before being fired. The swirl of water headed right for the three of them at the speed of light, enveloping them in it. The violent waters crashed against Ukitake, Ishida and Mayuri, leaving them no space to retaliate, move and perhaps, even breathe. Ukitake knew that his Sogyo no Kotowari did not have the capacity to absorb such attacks. Mayuri was snickering in delight inside and thought hard, clearly aware that he probably had many benefits to reap if he defeated the 5th New Espada. She would definitely make a very interesting specimen to dissect. As for Ishida, he was fully concentrating on finding a way to get out of the swirling spiral of death. If they did not get out of it soon enough, Kiiyaa's attack would catch them and hit them hard. They would probably never escape and lose their lives. But, it was too early for the battle to end. He could only hope that Kiiyaa would trigger the trap soon enough. At the same time, he hoped that her attack power would be tied to the degree of her injuries. Suddenly, he felt the swirl of dark waters dwindle and die out. His eyes also managed to detect a bright blue light and he smirked. It had worked. The trap had been triggered.
While the waters died down, he stared as Kiiyaa looked around wildly, staring at the five Seele Schneiders which shot five rays of blue energy towards the center, with it being her. A pentagon-shaped seal was created and the area was enveloped by a bright blue light. A giagantic explosion occurred and Kiiyaa's deafening scream echoed throughout the Captain's assembly hall. Ishida gripped his Ginrei Kojaku, fully aware that it was not enough to completely finish Kiiyaa off. As he expected, Kiiyaa emerged from the center of the attack, still alive and kicking. However, she was bleeding all over. Even her black fin had lost all of its spikes and her reiatsu seemed to have grown significantly weaker. Not much energy needed to be invested in order to finish her off.
Mayuri quickly took advantage of the staggering Kiiyaa and stabbed her quickly in the legs, paralysing her such that she was unable to escape the next round of attacks. Ukitake quickly swooped in and launched a series of slashes on Kiiyaa while he still had the chance.
"Licht Regen!"
Ishida shot a whole volley of light blue arrows at Kiiyaa, positive that it would ultimately finish her off. Kiiyaa, unable to dodge the incoming attacks, took in all of the attacks without moving an inch. She felt the impact of the arrows and her injuries all come together, creating an unbearable, stinging pain which ran through her entire body. Suddenly, she felt rather peaceful, as her whole body lost its energy and fell to the floor. She stared at the rubble right in front of her face and her urge to fight just disappeared. Ishida peered over at his lifeless opponent and sighed.
Aizen-sama... I'm sorry. I guess you were right. I should... I should've been more wary of my opponents and watch out for traps.
Once Kiiyaa took her last breath, the three of them heaved a sigh of relief. Mayuri bent down to observe Kiiyaa and cackled.
"Ah, that was simple. Looks like I'll have a new specimen to dissect. NEMU!"
"Yes, Mayuri-sama."
"Carry her back to the lab."
"Yes, Mayuri-sama."
Nemu picked up Kiiyaa and headed towards the 12th Division's headquarters, following behind Mayuri. Ukitake and Ishida both raised their eyebrows, puzzled by Mayuri's eccentric behaviour, even though they knew that he had always been strange. Ishida sighed. At least, their battle had finally concluded. He closed his eyes and relaxed, wondering how things were on Ichigo's end.
Author's Note:
Well, so that's the end of Kiiyaa T.T
Next chapter, I'll continue Heryanna's and Viquierra's fight! Heryanna's release! :D
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review! Thanks for reading! :D
Oh and not forgetting... Happy holidays! ^.^