TTGLX: Brothers to the End.
Chapter 12: Revenge is a dish best served painfully.
"I'm ready." nodded Kamina resolutely. He was still not back to full strength but had no time to waste if he wanted to save his friends. "Are you sure that you'll not leave retirement for one final battle?"
Naruto Uzumaki shook his head. "It is never one final battle. Someone stronger will always rise, forcing you into battle again. I haven't given up on peace; I just know that fighting cannot achieve it."
Kamina scoffed at the words. "I don't agree with you but good luck finding another path all the same." he said as he held out his hand. Naruto took it and they shook, man to man, hero to hero.
"I have faith in you, Kamina!" Naruto called out as Kamina turned and strode resolutely into the shadows of the forest. "Do me proud!"
Kamina grinned to himself as he marched brazenly through the trees toward the plateau of his defeat. He should have been worried after his sound beating at the hands of the Meta-Spiral but his confidence levels were through the roof at the moment. He would not be defeated a second time.
Naruto had been right: stronger opponents will always rise up. That suited Kamina just fine though. Stronger enemies forced him to grow stronger too, gave him a challenge, gave him a purpose. What good was a brawler without someone to fight? What use was a hero without a villain? Who needed a guardian when nobody was in threat? Peace had taught Kamina one lesson and that was that men like him had no purpose outside of battle.
This Meta-Spiral would fall and then Kamina would find a way to sort out everything else and return things to normal like he always had done. He would find Simon and Kill anything that sought to hurt his bro. that was a promise.
He found his way to the river bank then followed the frothing water uphill until he spied the large cliff ahead that Kittan had kicked him from. Kamina could have teleported up there but he wanted to keep all of his aces up his metaphorical sleeves. Instead he flexed his muscles and set to work climbing the vast wall of rock.
Without breaking a sweat he scaled the cliff and hopped effortlessly onto the flat ground above. The once beautiful sight was a mess of rubble and dirt, craters and gashes marking the earth like terrible scars.
A glint of metal caught his eye and Kamina approached the zanpakuto that was embedded into the ground. It was Kittan's. Just like before, the weapon pinned a note to the floor. Kamina slid the blade through his belt beside his own then scanned the note.
Kamina, I know you yet live and that you will come seeking your death at my hands. I have a job to do though so cannot wait forever. Your friends have been disposed off and so will offer you no help. If you wish to stop me then you had better rush to the Soul Palace. Enjoy.
With a snort, Kamina screwed the paper up. "Cocky bastard!" he muttered. "He has no idea who the hell he is dealing with."
Without another word, Kamina teleported to the grounds of the Soul Palace. It was a good job that he had already been here before, he mused as he looked around. He'd have hated to walk here.
The place seemed undamaged, tranquil. The Meta obviously hadn't arrived yet. The Palace was situated atop a massive mountain that marked the very heart of the Soul Society. Kamina stepped up to the edge of the grounds and peered down the mountain. Sure enough, the black flamed man was visible below, working his way slowly up the mountain pass.
Casually, Kamina stepped over the edge and fell, landing gracefully in a crouch before the Meta. The man seemed genuinely surprised but quickly recovered.
"I did not expect you to confront me so quickly. I doubted you would be able to fight so soon, let alone get here before me. You really are full of surprises." Belfay said admiringly. "It is a shame that I have more power than you have surprises."
"That's what you think!" smirked Kamina as he hopped lightly from foot to foot. "Now you'd better tell me where the others are or I'll have to beat it out of you."
Belfay shrugged passively. "They still live…for now. I will need their souls very soon. As soon as I have defeated you that is."
"Let's do this then! Let's see how tough you sound when I use your afro to clean out your own ass!" Kamina boasted as he whipped out his sword.
The Meta summoned his own blade. "Aren't you going to try? No Bankai? No hollow mask?"
"I don't need them." came the confident reply.
"You'll pay for your insolence!" sneered Belfay as he started forward. He slashed and Kamina vanished. The sword clove through thin air, causing the Meta to loose his balance. Kamina's zanpakuto swung at his back but Belfay managed to flash-step away at the last instant.
"So you're faster now! That means nothing!"
"Oh really?" Kamina laughed. "Catch me if you can!" He disappeared and reappeared in rapid succession, circling around the Meta with such speed that the man couldn't track his movements. Kamina tore into him, every second bringing him a new sword stroke at a different angle of Belfay's body.
The Meta went on the defensive, seeking to disrupt Kamina's rhythm before he was cut to ribbons. Rather than slowing though, Kamina seemed to grow faster, visions of three different versions of him moving around the Meta faster than the speed of light.
The voices rippled through Belfay's mind once more, his companions' powers unlocking within him. In an instant his strength had doubled. Not wasting a single second of his new power, the Meta spun and lunged with his blade, skewering Kamina as he drove in to continue his relentless assault.
Rather than a shower of blood and a pained scream the Meta received only a face full of smoke as the man poofed out of existence. Belfay was hit again so he lashed around, another burst of smoke greeting his drill pickaxe.
"Missed me." mocked Kamina from his position of sitting casually upon a nearby rock. "That damn power boost of yours isn't gonna fool me twice."
Belfay laughed. "It already has. That power boost was my fellow Meta giving me sections of their power. The increase that nearly killed you last time was only one of my companions power. There are ten Meta. That means that I can grow stronger ten times. Each boost doubles my power. You do the math."
"Maths is for nerds! I'll work it out with my fists!" Kamina yelled as he unleashed his shikai. He bounded at Belfay, their blades clashing with bone breaking force. They exchanged blows with lightning fast speed until the two weapons locked in a deadly struggle.
"Rasengan!" Kamina bellowed as he held out his left hand, his rights arm taking all of the force on his zanpakuto. Energy began to flow around his hand, forming a distorted sphere. The Meta tried to run but a Kamina clone appeared behind him and pinned his limbs. The energy finally formed into the shape of a drill then Kamina punched it hard into the Meta's undefended chest.
Blood splattered everywhere as the drill tore through flesh and organs. When inside, the energy exploded, ripping the Meta to shreds. Belfay dropped, eyes lifeless. Light suddenly shot out from him and Kamina felt the spiral energy of the man spike. Like a reanimated corpse, Belfay slid eerily back to his feet, his skin knitting itself back together even as he straightened himself up.
"You've pushed me to level three. Not bad. This was the maximum power of the spiral warrior Lordgenome at the height of his power. Let me demonstrate just how strong that is."
He drove his fist into Kamina's gut before the brawler could even register the movement. Blood spewed from his mouth as his insides simultaneously ruptured. Kamina didn't even have time to gasp for breath when Belfay delivered a roundhouse kick to the temple, cracking skull and rocketing the shinigami through the rock of the mountain.
A section of the mountain exploded as Kamina staggered out of the hole, his bankai armour now covering his body. A shadow clone popped up beside him, also wearing armour. Both charged but were knocked back by a wave of raw power followed by a series of laser beams. The clone vanished.
Shaking away the pain, Kamina summoned yet another clone. Belfay raised an eyebrow.
"We've established that those don't really work." he commented dryly. "Are you really that desperate?"
"Keep telling yourself that." chuckled Kamina even as blood bubbled around his lips. "I'm gonna solve this just like everything else. We're gonna combine!"
"What?"
"You heard me, bobblehead. Combining is the art of two manly souls smashing together and no two souls are manlier than two of me!"
Belfay sighed at the overdramatic display. He was sick of these games now. His face dropped though when the clone Kamina began to glow then change, taking on the form of a giant spinning drill bigger than a man that Kamina held in his hand.
"Giga rasengan!" he yelled, teleporting to the Meta before the man could dodge. There was a crash that shook the entire earth and caused thunder to shatter the sky. The ground opened up, a mile wide crater obliterating the landscape at the base of the mountain. The shockwave alone was enough to crush all organic life in the area.
Blood was splattered everywhere and not all of it belonged to the Meta. Kamina stood over Belfay's prone body, panting heavily and limbs shaking. His skin was pale and drenched in blood. He staggered back, struggling to stand.
A wave of power smashed into him, followed almost immediately by a second. Kamina could hardly believe it as once again the Meta rebuilt himself and rose to his feet.
"Don't you understand?" Belfay sighed. "Each time that I power up I am healed. You would have to kill me ten times before I will stay down yet each time you defeat me it only serves to make me stronger. At the moment we play a simple game: you beat me then I get stronger and beat you which in turn makes you stronger. It is a circle, but one that I fear you cannot continue. You forced me up two levels with that last attack. That means I have five more increases to go. You only have one."
"Screw you, bastard!" Kamina hissed. "You aren't the only one holding back. It's not much of a fight if I kick your ass instantly. I've defeated Aizen and the Anti-Spiral so I'm not about to let some little punk take me down!"
"Oh really? And how do you plan to stop me?"
Kamina placed a bloody hand over his face. It flashed with light then moved away to reveal the bone white hollow mask. The hollowfication didn't end there though, the white liquid spreading across the bankai armour, combining to create a half bone half metal skin around Kamina. The glowing blue tattoos grew and became more intricate, creating a plasma blue netting across every surface that crackled with power. Horns and spikes grew out from the armour.
Hollowfication while in bankai was something that Kamina had only ever tried in training. The power was just too unstable but he had little choice in the matter now. It was dangerous but he was confident that it would work.
Belfay shrugged as though he was bored then barrelled forward, his pick axe multiplying so that he held one in each hand. Kamina blocked then span away, cero blazing from his hands and mouth in a storm of destruction. The Meta side stepped and met the barrage with a hail of projectile drills.
They clashed again and again, their blades smashing together and creating ripples of power that shattered the surrounding scenery. Kamina blocked, lunged, parried and slashed in an intricate dance of destruction, his every move matched perfectly by Belfay.
The Meta leapt over Kamina's next attack, wedging his pickaxe into a joint in the bone/metal armour. It tore through the material but before it could reach skin, Kamina grabbed onto the weapon and snapped it clean in half. The pickaxe repaired itself instantly but the moment had cost the Meta the momentum of the battle. Now he was on the back foot as Kamina pressed the attack.
"You are strong!" grunted Belfay. "Stronger than we realised. You will fit our needs perfectly."
"Go to hell!" Kamina snapped, increasing the frenzy of his blows. Belfay flipped up into the sky, landing lightly on higher ground.
"Do you know why we chose you, Kamina?" Belfay asked. "Do you have any idea why I condemned myself to death so that I could come here and find you?"
"Because you need my power."
Belfay laughed. "That is only partly true. We needed a hollow of immense power. That left only you and Captain Kurosaki. You were picked out due to your connections to our newest member: Simon."
"No!" roared Kamina. He sped forward, hacking at Belfay. The Meta dodged and the two began a deadly game of chase. "Simon would never join you!"
"Oh but he has. Gurren Lagann is already back in his control, as is your old katana. We are but a few days away from initiating the Spiral Blessing. You will help us with this." informed the Meta, smirking the entire time.
Kamina upped his game, an aura of blue flames visibly forming around him. "Nobody controls the mighty Kamina! His wild and manly spirit cannot be tamed or bent, his passion unchangeable and his fighting spirit is undefeatable! When people talk about Team Dai-Gurren's badass leader, the manly lieutenant of the Thirteenth Division and the hero of humanity, THEY'RE TALKIN' ABOUT ME! THE MIGHTY KAMINA!"
He lunged at the Meta with a double rasengan but Belfay released another power level and easily stopped the attack.
"You say all of that, but what of you're inner hollow? Does not he control you at times? Changes your thoughts and actions? I can see him even now trying to gain control in your head." Belfay stated with a knowing smile.
He continued. "Shall I tell you a secret? Hollows are the ultimate example of spiral life forms. Humans strive to become stronger, spread like rats and achieve the unachievable but they have limits. They have levels were they can learn nothing new, where their bodies cannot take the strain of becoming any stronger. They grow old and weak just as they reach their prime."
"Hollows on the other hand have no limits. They consume souls and constantly evolve, never stopping, always growing stronger. Hollows become gillian, then adjuchas, then vasto lorde. What if one vasto lorde consumed every other? Then it too would evolve into something unimaginably powerful. They do not age, do not hold back. Hollows are the ultimate spiral warriors only they lack direction and focussed thought, both of which you posses."
"Hollows are nothing but monsters. The day that I give into that voice is the day that I have lost myself and if Kamina is no longer present, then the monster left will have no power. Mindless hunger is not how the spiral works!"
"Poor little naïve Kamina. So misguided. Humanity is itself a mindless hunger. That is exactly why the Anti-Spiral sought to destroy it. You cannot deny the truth."
"We'll see about that!"
"Indeed we will." chuckled Belfay sinisterly. He traced a symbol through the air, glowing lines materialising where his finger passed. Kamina was unsure what he was doing but decided it best not to find out. Quick as a flash he moved to disrupt his foe.
Drills shot out of the ground to meet him, delaying him for a vital few seconds before he had reduced them to dust. No sooner had Kamina covered the distance, the symbol flashed, freezing him in place.
"Bastard! This won't hold me for long! When I bust out your gonna be in a whole world of pain!" he murmured angrily through his mask, the words slurred to him being unable to move his lips.
"That won't be the case as I don't intend to keep you incapacitated for long." intoned Belfay. He stretched out his arm, reaching for Kamina's face. Kamina tried to struggle away but it was a fruitless venture. The Meta placed his hand onto Kamina's forehead then muttered a few words that caused his hand to become transparent and emit a faint glow.
His hand passed though Kamina's skin and skull, reaching deep inside of his brain. Kamina screamed but could do nothing to stop him. He could feel his control slipping with every second. His inner hollow pressed against his mental bonds, straining for release, rapidly growing in power.
"No!" screamed Kamina as the ice fingers picked through his brain, unlocking his mental defences. The spell that held him was breaking. A few more seconds and he would be free.
"Here we are!" announced Belfay gleefully. "I release you, hollow!"
Kamina roared in pain and anger as his final defences were torn down and his inner hollow began to spread through his head like napalm. He convulsed, rapidly loosing control of his body.
He screamed out, the sound morphing from human to hollow with every passing second. His mask changed, the shade visor becoming glimmering horns, his blue hair growing to billow around his body in wild tendrils and deadly claws tore up out of his fingers. The tattoos burned with a fierce fire that crackled like burning paper.
Belfay hopped a few foot up the mountain and fired a series of drills at the hollow Kamina. They all disintegrated before reaching him, the power surrounding him was so intense that everything in the air was burned to a crisp in an instant.
The hollow fixed Belfay with a death glare that could freeze the heart of the bravest warrior with terror. It roared and blasted off a blinding cero that passed straight through the mountain, leaving behind a large hole that revealed the sky beyond. Unfazed, Belfay continued up the mountain, constantly dodging the cero assault that decimated the mountain around him.
Despite the danger, the Meta had a warped smile on his face, seemingly enjoying himself. Seeing the entrance to the Spirit King's palace he directed himself inside, making sure that Kamina followed.
The king's royal guards, each a former shinigami captain, rushed forward to neutralise the intruders but a single cero from hollow Kamina turned the entire corridor and all of its occupants into a bubbling puddle. Belfay only just avoided that fate by firing himself up and clutching onto the ceiling high above.
Belfay swung back down and continued his sprint through the endless rooms. The very world seemed to burn around him, Kamina reducing everything in site down to their base atoms.
Finally he burst through a door and saw what he had been seeking. A vast spiral of flowing blue energy that surrounded the vague figure of a man. The power emanating from it was otherworldly, almost dwarfing anything that the Meta had felt before. This was the largest stable source of spiral energy in the universe, the glow that held reality, life and the dimensional rifts in place.
"Spirit King." Belfay muttered admiringly.
At that moment, Kamina smashed his way into the chamber. Belfay dived away from another cero that fizzled out against the spiral of energy around the king. The entire room pulsed angrily at the act of aggression. The hollow appeared to take note of this dismissal of his attack, interested by the sheer level of strength that this soul possessed.
The cogs of destiny were turning.
Belfay stood his ground now. With a deep breath he released all of his power reserves, boosting himself straight to his tenth and final level. The noire flames around him seemed to fill the room, mingling with the opposing auras of blue and red that battled for control of the very air that the three men breathed.
Kamina dashed forward, swinging his shade shaped sword with a demonic scream. Belfay parried and managed to direct the attack onto the spirit king. The blade hit the wall of energy and crackled with a thunderous sound. He quickly flash-stepped to the opposite side of the chamber, the spirit king separating the two combatants.
The Meta put his hands together, channelling the black flames down his arms. Accepting the challenge, the hollow began to charge a massive cero, its mouth and horns each glowing with devastating power. Between the two, the spirit king sat unmoving, no sign of breathing visible through the blinding haze of energy.
Both Kamina and Belfay shot their strongest attacks at the centre of the room. For a heartbeat there was nothing then the universe shattered. A warped rainbow of colours assaulted the two men's vision and mind, tore at flesh and ground bone to dust with reverberations that threatened to shake the very soul into oblivion. A million voices screamed out in agony and terror and the world span crazily like a spinning top, crashing into objects with the speed to destroy itself on impact.
The twin beams tore through the spiral energy that cloaked the king. The silhouette within seemed to melt like ice then an even greater explosion rocked the very rhythm of life, distorting reality with unimaginable carnage.
The spirit king's palace crumbled like an avalanche, taking the entire mountain with it. Lava frothed up from nowhere, bursting into the sky and flooding the plains below. Chunks of rock that had once formed the mountain tumbled, making the long journey to the ground far below.
Belfay and Kamina stood upon one such rock.
"I've done it!" cackled Belfay manically. His body looked crippled but he was ecstatic regardless. "The spirit king is dead! Gone! Hahahaha! You have helped me to destroy the very core of life, Kamina! The universe's fate is now sealed! Without his power and guiding hand, the worlds will fall into each other and create a beautiful chaos that will usher in the spiral blessing!"
Kamina, still fully under the control of his inner hollow, made no noise. Faster than could be seen in grabbed Belfay's head in a single clawed hand. Belfay stabbed his pickaxe into the monster's gut with all of his might but the weapon snapped on impact. With a nightmarish roar, Kamina clenched his fist, crushing the Meta-Spiral's head like an overripe melon placed into a vice.
The Meta's body fell dully to the ground and didn't move. A savage kick sent it into the lava. Kamina hissed then stepped into the liquid death, showing no damage as he plodded across the burning river.
He suddenly stopped and looked up. Above him was a black clad warrior with his sword at the ready. Spikes of ginger hair whipped madly in the powerful wind.
"What have you done, Kamina?" bellowed Captain Ichigo Kurosaki, absolute disbelief resounding in his strained voice. "How could you!"
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AN/ Sorry again guys for the long update times. For the sake of sanity I've decided to set updates for every Friday, so that's one week chapter, next week omake, etc… Hope this suits you all fine.
Pretty big events here, hope it didn't feel to rushed or anything but I've struggled to write more than a single sentence every sitting…in everything I've done the past few week. I tried to make it all flow though so fingers crossed that it came out okay.
So until next Friday, (Possibly Thursday night for you American/Canadian readers I think lol), sayonara
-FWF