Chapter 30: Come Out From The Shadows, It's Your Time
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Zanpakutō"
"Hollows/Vizard"
"[Reading/listening to a message/letter]"
"{Speaking a different language}"
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Everyone within Las Noches felt it as Ichigo's Reiryoku suddenly vanished. The remaining Hollows and Arrancar were reinvigorated at feeling the strongest invader perish. Retsu snarled as her attacks became even more brutal as she sought to kill everything around her. Nel, already unconscious from the raw power being thrown around, tearfully whimpered in Orihime's arms as the teen sobbed. Sado's only visible reaction was the tears rolling down his cheeks as he kept fighting to protect those important to him and to Ichigo. Tatsuki howled in rage and loss as her Dragon's Roar obliterated every enemy in front of her. Bambietta and Hanatarō momentarily froze as they realized what happened, only for the Quincy to switch from her previous spray and pray to using her schrift to explode enemies. 'This is why we have our powers. The fuck do they get peaceful afterlives for when our people are killed by them,' she mentally growled.
Within Szayel's laboratory, Nemu collapsed in front of the computer as her knees gave out. 'He's gone. …What am I supposed to do now? You wanted me to live, Ichigo-sama; but my life belongs to you. How can I live without you?' Her unseeing eyes stared down at the floor as she openly wept. Candice barely took the time to electrocute the few Hollows left before she joined Isane in embracing the violette. In her head, the Irishwoman grieved and raged in equal measures. 'One more. I'll kill one more Hollow before I hang up my bow.' Beside her, Isane didn't even appear to notice her own tears as she attempted to be a rock for the other two women.
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As his body fell towards his friends, Ichigo was engulfed by a torrent of malevolent power, like a bonfire of sickly purple flames had erupted from his skin. The dark of Hueco Mundo's eternal night was broken by the vile fire even as it accelerated far past terminal velocity. Everyone on the battlefield below scattered away from the impending impact. Ichigo's body struck the sands with earthshaking force that quickly pushed all the sand around it up and away, creating an even larger crater as a result. The shockwave sent anyone too close flying as those further away were knocked off their feet.
From above, Coyote Starrk stared down warily. He had no idea what was happening with Kurosaki's corpse. He was certain he had killed the teen, but the power radiating off him was… disturbing, both in its quantity and its sheer rancor. It felt like someone had turned hatred, arrogance, and sadism into a tangible feeling and it scraped against his senses like a rusty knife.
Within the crater, a form slowly rose to its feet. It bore some resemblance to Ichigo, in the same way an oni bore a resemblance to a human; the basic shape was there but it was twisted and wrong. Taller than Ichigo, it had the same horns as the teen's mask, but sprouting directly from their skull. Orange hair lengthened and darkened into black as Ichigo's healthy pallor became pale as the moon. In their right hand, the shattered remains of Eien-ō Tenmai's sword warped into a staff capped with a draconic skull. A regenerated left hand reached up to feel their face and the fiend wearing Ichigo's body bared its teeth in a perverse parody of a smile. "O~hohoho!" She cackled in sadistic triumph, "You shouldn't have come here boy. Not even a slave, you'll be nothing more than a toy." Tirana looked down at her still nude body and quirked an eyebrow as she realized her new body was still male before shrugging it off as unimportant.
Still wreathed in unholy power, Tirana slowly floated upwards out of the crater. Once she was level with the ground, it became apparent just how tall she was. The woman clearly towered over even Sado. She took in the assembled humans, Shinigami, and Hollows with clear disinterest. "Hmph, riff-raff and the boy's minions." Tirana waved her staff negligently and dozens of violet bala fired in every direction outward from air around her body.
Orihime instantly summoned her two shields to protect as much of the group as possible as the Hollows and Arrancar simply ceased to exist. However, two of their party weren't covered by her twin Santen Kesshun. Though one tried to dodge and the other threw up a Kidō barrier, both were struck. Tatsuki howled in agony as the bala grazed her knee and her entire left leg was vaporized. In contrast, Retsu barely reacted as her Dankū shattered and Tirana's attack explosively disemboweled her. Gazing down at the terrified survivors with open malefic lust, Tirana declared, "I suppose I'll postpone breaking the lot of you until I'm finished with more important matters. But I can't wait to see you in chains and begging for the privilege of servicing me."
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Ichigo woke up feeling like he'd been trapped inside an active cement mixer with a bunch of rocks and an angry bear. In theory, it was an improvement over what he expected, which was to not wake up at all. In practice, he felt like death might be preferable. "You're awake. I was beginning, hah, to worry you would simply die in your sleep, Your, ugh, Majesty." The pain in Eien-ō's voice woke him far more effectively than her words. Rolling onto his side, Ichigo promptly fell off the tiny cot he was on and crashed to the floor, prompting a fresh wave of pain to tear through him. Such was his exhaustion that all he managed was a quiet groan. "An accurate if," Eien-ō cut herself off with a hiss of pain, "Inarticulate summary."
When Ichigo finally pushed himself up to look around, he found himself in a barely lit cell. The only light came from a small trapdoor well above his head. Across from him and against the wall was Eien-ō. Much of her hair was gone, torn out judging by the bloody mess that was her scalp, the rest hung limp and lifeless. One of her eyes was gone along with both her arms just below the shoulders. Her body was bare and even in the dim lighting, he could make out a disturbing number of wounds all over her form. "What the fu-" His own question was interrupted by a coughing fit. It only lasted a few seconds, but each cough felt like Chad was punching him in the ribs.
"Tirana," Was her succinct reply. "We grew weak. Hah, she grew strong. Strong enough… to break free."
Wiping his mouth, Ichigo tried not to think too hard about the wetness he felt. He had more important things to worry about. He remembered what Tirana was like during their previous battle. He didn't know what she intended to do with her freedom, but he'd break every bone in his body to put her down for good. Staring resolutely at his Zanpakutō spirit, he asked, "So how do we stop her?"
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When Tirana floated herself up to where Starrk was waiting, she found him waiting with another wolf pack. Though it was smaller this time, only a dozen of the flame-like wolves stood beside him. The Hollow woman gave a smile that almost looked genuine and said, "I must thank you. If not for your efforts against the boy and his pet bitch, I might not have been able to free myself." Tirana offered a curtsey, which appeared more mocking than sincere given her state of undress. "Normally I would offer you a place by my side for such a service. However," Starrk didn't allow her to finish. Instead, he raised his left pistol and instantly fired a cero at the towering figure. Yet, despite the speed of his attack, it was intercepted by a bala from her staff. The cero exploded as it was disrupted, leaving Tirana completely unharmed. "Little Ichigo tried the same thing. It rather soured my opinion on underlings," Her smile had changed from potentially sincere to more a baring of teeth. "I do believe I'll stick with slaves and playthings now. Which unfortunately means you and that captain need to die."
With a thought, Starrk sent his wolves charging towards Tirana. The woman cackled maniacally as she met the pack sprinted through the air. A thorny whip manifested in her left hand and she flicked it towards one of the wolves. The whip wrapped around its throat before jerking it into one of its comrades. Both wolves detonated, taking out the majority of their fellows. Yet Starrk didn't waste a moment. The First Espada instantly appeared behind her and murmured, "Cero Metralleta." As he unleashed a veritable storm of ceros that all melded into a single continuous blast, Starrk spoke, his voice stern, "I don't know who or what you are, but I'm afraid I can't die just yet. I'm rather busy."
Tirana laughed in open amusement as she continuously dodged with Sonido. "Oh you sweet summer child, you act like you have a say in the matter!" She appeared behind him, the head of her staff pressed against the back of his skull as energy built up and fired as a cero. But as fast as her attack was, Starrk's reflexes saved him. He ducked his head and shot a cero backwards at the same time with his other pistol. To his dismay, his foe's sole reaction was further mockery. "Tsk tsk, boy. You'll need to do so much better than that if you want to harm me."
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On the ground below the two clashing titans, Orihime quickly worked to heal up both her injured friends. While their wounds patched up, Bambietta stared above and demanded, "Does someone want to tell me what the FUCK is going on with Ichigo right now? Why does he sound like a dominatrix? Why is he so much stronger? And why the hell is he such a damn pissflitsche?!" No one understood that last word she said, but they all got the general gist of it.
"It's not Ichigo," Retsu gasped quietly but insistently as her organs were slowly but inexorably restored.
Quickly, Hanatarō tried to protest, "Please, Captain! You shouldn't speak in your condition!"
Retsu waved him and his protests aside. "I don't need my liver or intestines to speak, Hanatarō-san." Looking at the others, she explained, "When I fought him on Sōkyoku Hill, something possessed Ichigo. A creature like a Hollow that made him far stronger and more ruthless. He took back control then, but I'm not sure if he can now. Not after what that Espada did to him."
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Still on the ground holding Nemu, Candice looked up at the evil new power she could feel near where the others were. "Um, girls… what the hell is that?" The Espada she felt before was fighting again but now he was fighting what her spiritual senses told her was an abomination. The feeling of its Reiatsu reminded her of all the stories she heard growing up of how evil and vile the monstrous Hollows were. The young woman knew there was more to Hollows than just those stories, but this? This felt like it was the inspiration for such tales.
Nemu raised her head, seemingly taking in her surroundings for the first time in several minutes. Despite this, her head instantly snapped toward the direction they could sense the battle. It only took her a few seconds to analyze what she could feel. She knew every minute aspect of Ichigo's Reiatsu, including how it felt when he Hollowfied. This new signature felt like that same Hollowification, but without Ichigo's natural Reiryoku balancing things out. "Ichigo-sama's Hollow. It's free somehow."
"His what is free?" Isane near-demanded, looking at her fellow lieutenant as though she had lost her mind.
Nemu blinked in surprise before it occurred to her that Isane hadn't ever actually seen Ichigo masked to her knowledge. "His Hollow; it's what allows him to undergo Hollowification by conjuring a Hollow mask, greatly empowering him. It must have broken free when he…" She trailed off, refusing to say it out loud. To do so would make it real. Then she looked up, hope burning in her eyes, "But if his Hollow is still alive, maybe there's a chance that-"
"That he can be saved still," Candice finished for her. Nodding to herself decisively, she stood up. "I'm the freshest of us. I'll go help. Isane, look after Nemu. Nemu, find those files. Ichigo's gonna need a way back to Karakura so he can crucify that bastard, Aizen." Both women nodded their agreement and all three got to work.
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He tried not to show it on his face, but Starrk was fighting for his life and he knew it. This "Tirana" was his match in speed but her durability and raw power were on an entirely different level. He wasn't too badly injured yet, but numerous minor injuries littered his form, particularly from that whip his enemy used. He fired another cero, but the taller Hollow merely batted it aside with her staff as she lashed out with her whip. The thorny whip wrapped around his right-hand pistol and yanked it away before he could get a better grip. A single bala from Tirana found Starrk with only half his normal armament. "Lilynette!" He cried in alarm.
From the other pistol, Lilynette's voice came, "I'm still here! Man, that hurt though!" Baring his teeth like his resurreccion's namesake, a portion of Reishi flew off Starrk's right-hand bandolier and formed into a sword in his hand.
A quick Sonido put him behind and slightly above her where he swung for the top of her head. Spiritual creatures, especially Hollows, could survive all kinds of injuries, but he had yet to meet someone who could survive having their skull split open. He wasn't terribly surprised when Tirana's staff came up and blocked his attack. "Really? Did you think you could kill me just by attacking from behind?"
"Not particularly," He admitted. "I just needed to break line of sight for a moment." His remaining pistol, purposefully smeared against one of his open cuts, pointed at the back of her neck. "Gran rey cero." Unlike previous attacks, Tirana actually moved to dodge and, though he couldn't see it, her eyes were wide with fear.
For all her speed, the point-blank attack still managed to clip the side of her head. Starrk refused to give her a moment to breathe and dissipated his Colmillo to free up his right hand. With each gran rey cero he fired, he rubbed his hand through one of his injuries and smeared more blood on his pistol to fire another. Some small part of his mind wondered what kind of effect using over a dozen gran rey ceros in such close proximity would have on Hueco Mundo. The rest of him only cared about keeping the pressure on.
Suddenly, a bala struck him on his blind side directly next to his eye. His currently charging gran rey cero detonated prematurely, breaking his concentration and knocking him back. When he regained his bearings, he could see his opponent wasn't looking nearly as healthy as before. Bleeding wounds littered her body but the most notable injury was on her head. The left side of her face was burnt all the way down to the bone with the corresponding horn gone as well. In a way, it made her snarling face even more menacing. On his side of things, the bala hadn't done much damage, though it had knocked off his eyepatch, revealing his own empty eye socket to the world.
To Starrk's trepidation, he could see Tirana's injuries closing, slowly but steadily. 'I suppose it was too much to hope she didn't have regeneration as well. At least it's weak.' He brought up his pistol once more, only for Tirana to wrap her whip around his left arm entirely. As she started pulling, the thorns carved their way through his flesh. Starrk fired off a couple ceros, but a jerk of the whip threw his aim off. Thinking quickly, he tossed the pistol to his other hand and shot the thorn covered weapon. The whip was destroyed, but the thorns had torn deeply into his arm. Quickly testing found he could barely form a fist with his left hand anymore. And unlike his opponent, he didn't possess any notable regeneration. Worse, firing that many gran rey ceros was far more taxing than he expected. Starrk didn't think anyone ever had to fire twenty of them back-to-back before.
"I'll tell you what," Tirana offered, her half mouth curled up in a superior smirk, "If you surrender, I'll make your death quick and painless."
"No, you won't," The Espada refuted. Some swordsmen insisted you could learn to read someone's heart by fighting them. He personally wasn't sure that was true, but he was sure that the monster he was fighting positively reveled in causing pain to others. Even if he had surrendered from the start, he knew his death would have been agonizing. Now that he actually injured her, it was sure to be torturous if she had her way.
"You're right," She agreed, "I won't."
Knowing he was staring death in the face, Starrk did the only thing he could do. With a moment's focus, he undid their resurreccion. His power waned and Lilynette reformed within arm's reach. She didn't even have a chance to open her mouth before he barked out an order, showing more motivation than he ever had, "Run, Lilynette! I'll hold her off!"
Flabbergasted, the young Arrancar shouted, "Hold her off?! You don't stand a chance against her alone, Starrk!"
"I'm not letting you die with me! RUN! NOW!" Shutting her mouth, Lilynette ran as fast as her Sonido would take her, her sole eye wet with the tears she refused to shed. Drawing his katana once more, Coyote Starrk stared down his executioner.
"Oh my, how noble you are: Throwing your life away in a futile attempt to save someone else," Tirana mockingly praised him. "Don't worry, she looks like she'll make a perfectly good slave. She can be my footrest."
Glaring with hatred more intense than any emotion he could recall feeling, Starrk bit out, "I won't let you touch her, you abomination!"
"Once again, you act as though you have a say in the matter."
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Down on the sands below, the group was fully healed and gathered behind Orihime's shields which she had formed into domes and layered over top of each other to maximize their protection. Unohana was currently considering how to fight Ichigo's Hollow. She didn't know if she could beat her without killing her and, by extension, Ichigo. Worse, given how much power it took to significantly injure Tirana, the captain wasn't entirely certain she could kill her, especially not when she'd have to worry about the others.
Unseen by everyone, the unconscious Nel squirmed and whimpered, "Itsygo." Even unconscious, she knew something was terribly wrong. He needed her help. Ichigo had done so much to look after her; she wanted to look after him too. Deep inside her soul, something clicked into place.
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A thrust of Starrk's katana screamed towards Tirana's heart as he desperately fought, not to live or to slay her, but to buy Lilynette enough time to escape. His attack was captured in the teeth of the skull atop Tirana's staff. The draconic skull swiftly bit down into the blade, which only resisted for the briefest of moments before shattering. At the same time, Tirana lashed out with a kick directly into the side of Starrk's knee. A loud crunch of shattering bone was accompanied by a grunt of pain from the Espada. Without letting himself get distracted, he fired a pair of ceros at her. One from his hip slammed into the taller Hollow's crotch while one from his chest rocketed up to smash into her face.
His attacks had barely landed when a bala slammed into his chest. Though it hurt, it didn't do too much damage but the concussive force drove him out of the sky and down to the sands. A plume of sand kicked up as he plowed through a dune and skidded across the ground. When he came to a halt, Tirana was already standing over him, the bottom of her staff pointed down at him. She thrust it down into the thigh of his good leg with malicious glee. When he merely grunted again, despite the hole in his leg, she scoffed in annoyance. "Come now. Don't be shy, let me hear those screams," she insisted as she twisted her staff this way and that. Yet Starrk merely stared at her with eyes full of defiance. "No? How tiresome. I suppose I should end this then." Tiana pointed her other hand at his face and began slowly charging a cero in her palm, wanting to savor what came next. "I do hope that little girl screams more than you did."
Before she could finish off her victim, a trio of balas slam into her back, sending Tirana flying from the force. As she flew, a green haired woman wearing similarly colored rags appeared above her, sword in hand. The newcomer stabbed downwards into Tirana's chest, only for her sword to barely penetrate. Tirana's newly healed lips twisted in a snarl as she punched the woman in the side of her head, knocking her away as both crashed into the sand. Tirana quickly got back on her feet and considered her opponent as the other woman did the same. Her newest irritation had a horned skull sitting atop her green hair along with a red marking across her cheeks and a scar down the center of her face, all of which sparked a moment of recognition. "You're that homeless brat, aren't you?"
Nel nodded in confirmation, "I am Nelliel tu Odelschwanck." Pointing her sword at Tirana, she demanded, "Who are you and what have you done with Ichigo?"
Miming a mocking curtsey, Tirana answered, "I've decided on God-Empress Tirana as my formal title. As for Ichigo?" She sneered contemptuously, "I ate the little brat."
If she expected an outburst of denial or tears, she would be sorely disappointed. Nelliel's only outward reaction was a thinning of her lips and a tightening of her grip on her Zanpakutō. "Then I'll take pleasure in gutting you," She replied, her voice steady and unwavering. Bringing up her Zanpakutō, she held it horizontally before her and braced her left hand against the back of the blade. "Declare, Gamuza." Sand erupted around her with her transformation but rather than let it die down, Nelliel attacked immediately. "Lanzador Verde," she called from within the cloud kicked up by her release. A lance flew from the cloud like a lightning bolt, spinning like a drill as its tip glowed with pink Reiryoku.
The attack struck Tirana in the center of her chest and pushed her backwards slightly, but sadly little else. Smacking the double-sided lance away, and incidentally sending it right back towards her adversary, she took in Nelliel's transformed state. Her legs had been replaced with the body of a goat while her mask grew longer horns as well as extensions that framed her cheeks. Her arms were now covered in some black material that was broken up by white gauntlets, elbow guards, and spaulders. "A centaur?" Tirana asked, "How fortunate; I was in need of a steed to carry me throughout my kingdom. I just need to break you properly first." Instantly, her whip was in hand and swinging towards the former Espada.
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Pesche and Dondochakka stared at the ongoing battle from afar. Their mistress, Nelliel, had regained her memories and was fighting some terrifyingly strong person they couldn't identify. They had trained for this moment, secretly working to grow stronger over the years since Nel had been cast out of Las Noches. Though they arrived too late to keep her from regaining her memories and once more being thrust into the combat she despised, they didn't arrive too late to help.
"Pesche, we should use our new technique, don'tcha know," Dondochakka insisted. Though they honestly didn't have many other options. Someone who could fight at Nelliel's level was too much for them to face with anything but their very best.
His fellow fraccion nodded in agreement and pulled his Zanpakutō out of his loincloth. "Yes, you're right. For Mistress Nelliel." He leapt onto Dondochakka's back and braced the back of his sword against his forearm. As the blade's blue glow turned purple, a Dondochakka's mouth opened unnaturally wide and a metal appendage sprouted from it. Pesche's purple cero and Dondochakka's yellow cero both drew in remarkable amounts of power as they prepared their ultimate technique. The two ceros fused together into a massive yellow and purple orb as the duet shouted, "Cero Sincrético!" The synchronized cero flew straight and true towards Nel's opponent. They were certain that they had secured Nelliel's victory with their attack.
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As she fended off Nelliel's attacks, Tirana noticed a multi-colored blast headed her way. When the former Espada thrust her lance once again, Tirana grabbed hold of her weapon and gave a sharp tug as she spun them around. Nelliel was pulled straight into the path of her subordinates' Cero Sincrético, the blast striking the left side of her croup. While her foe was distracted by the pain, Tirana fired a cero of her own towards whatever annoyances had fired on her. The entire area vanished in an explosion of power and she turned back to slam her head forward, skewering Nelliel's shoulder with her remaining horn.
The verdette gave a short cry of pain before punching the offending horn with a bala. The blast broke off the horn while blasting both combatants back from each other. Nelliel ripped the horn out of her shoulder and tossed it aside even as she readied herself to continue fighting. Though, given how her left back leg was shaking, she wouldn't be running any races for the foreseeable future. A shifting of the sand nearby caused her to look down and realize she had been driven back towards Starrk, the brunette man currently trying to push himself into a sitting position next to her.
"If you're so eager to throw your life away, then you can die like the rest of them, you mewling cunt!" Tirana wiped a hand across one of the bloody patches still remaining on her body from her previous injuries before smearing the liquid all over the head of her staff. Glancing down at Starrk, she added, "I must thank you again. You showed me such a lovely ability I hadn't known of." The two Arrancar stared in dread as they realized what she was about to do. There was no point in running for them, not with their injuries. The cero charging in the skull on Tirana's staff was a much darker purple than her normal ones. As it spun violently, the very air distorted around it. Most of those behind Orihime's shields flinched away at the raw Reiatsu radiating off the attack.
Tirana fired her gran rey cero and Nelliel moved to stand in front of Starrk. They had exactly one chance to possibly make it out of this alive. If it worked, it might be enough to stop the Hollow wearing Ichigo's body like a poorly fitted suit. If it didn't, at least their deaths should be swift. As the blast neared them, the centaur opened her mouth wide and inhaled deeply. But she didn't just breathe in air; as she inhaled, the gran rey cero itself turned into something akin to a vapor that flowed into her lungs. Nelliel regretted it almost immediately as she gritted her teeth in pain. Every previous time she had used this technique, her opponent's cero had felt like a breath of hot air within her lungs, mildly unpleasant at worst but nothing too uncomfortable. This felt like she had inhaled volcanic ash or burning razors; the power cut into her and threatened to tear her apart from the inside. Still, she held on and combined it with her own cero before opening her mouth wide and firing back with her cero doble.
The pain was almost worth it just for the look on Tirana's face as her attack was shot back at her with even greater power. Almost, but not quite. The attack struck but the sheer strain was too much for Nelliel to take in her current state. Like a soap bubble popping, both her resurreccion and her adult form vanished, replaced once more by the small child known as Nel Tu. The tiny Arrancar collapsed onto the sand and looked around in confusion. "Whuh- What happened? Where ith Nel?" The explosion caused comparatively little damage to the surroundings, if only because there was basically nothing around for kilometers to destroy any more except sand. Still the flash of light and the proceeding shockwave told even the least spiritually sensitive just how powerful the attack must have been.
Sadly, Starrk could still feel that malevolent presence. It was weaker now, much weaker. But he wasn't in any shape to deal with it regardless. Sure enough, when the sand and smoke settled, Tirana stood before them still. Her body was a burnt mess from her hips all the way up to her mouth, with her cheeks burnt away entirely, revealing her charred and bloody teeth. Nothing remained of her right arm except a badly charred stump, but she was alive. And she was enraged. "You worthless, insolent brat!" Tirana viciously punted Nel across the sand, reveling in her scream of pain. "A quick death is too good for a miserable wretch like you!" She screamed as she stomped down on Nel's body and slowly pressed down as the child cried in both agony and terror. "I'm going to chew off your limbs and gouge out your eyes! I'll rip out your teeth so you can't even try to bite down as I make you clean your ass off my cock every day! And when you're finally too broken to scream and I tire of you, I'll throw you into a septic tank and let you drown in SHIT!"
"Don't you fucking dare, you bitch!" That the shout was punctuated by a lightning bolt being thrown at Tirana was inconsequential. She easily batted it aside with her remaining hand almost negligently. No, the real shocker for the Hollow was that Candice hadn't been the only one to roar that challenge. The other voice… had come from Tirana's own mouth.
"No! You and that gutter wench couldn't have!" She screamed in denial, refusing to believe what she could sense. "This was my moment of triumph! Too damn bad! It's my body and I won't let you have it! How can you have the strength to do this?! I'll kill you as many times as it takes! You're not touching them!" Everyone present could only stare as Tirana stepped back from Nel, clutching at her head with her remaining hand. "You're just some brat pretending to be a king! You could have been a god! All you had to do was side with me, you worthless child! I! DON'T! FUCKING! CARE!"
With a sound like shattering glass, Tirana's form exploded. The foul Reiatsu vanished at the same time, replaced with something much warmer. The dust from the explosion settled and revealed Ichigo, whole and hale, if rather naked, with Eikō no Yari in his hand.
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Within Szayelapporo's laboratory, Nemu and Isane both looked up from what they were doing as a familiar spiritual signature registered. "Ichigo's back," Isane breathed in disbelief. She hadn't wanted to believe he was gone but she was certain he was dead. Yet her senses were telling her he was alive and well now, possibly even stronger than before.
Nemu didn't even bother closing her current file, notes on an experiment regarding Arrancar evolution, before she took off towards the exit at top speed. Her fellow lieutenant was forced to race after her. She needed to see him. She needed to confirm with her own eyes that Ichigo was alright. Everything else was secondary at best.
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Taking in his surroundings, Ichigo immediately dropped his Zanpakutō as he crouched down to check on Nel. "Nel, are you okay?!" He looked up and shouted towards his approaching friends, "Inoue, come help Nel!"
As the young woman looked over Nel, the others crowded around Ichigo, checking that he was actually alright. But after a few seconds of reassuring them, a black and purple missile collided with him, which quickly resolved itself into Nemu, kissing the daylights out of her lover and pouring all her relief, love, and gratitude into the action. Only once air became necessary did she break away. Pressing her forehead to his, she whispered, "Don't leave me. Don't ever leave me like that again, Ichigo-sama."
Giving her another quick peck, Ichigo promised, "Never." After a moment longer of enjoying her embrace, he turned to Starrk. "So what happens now?" He asked the Espada.
Starrk scoffed from where he laid, broken and defeated. "I couldn't stop you even if I wanted to." He turned his head to stare up at the night sky, gazing at the waning gibbous moon above. After several seconds, an idea came to him. "Aizen's Kidō prevents anyone but an Espada from opening a Garganta," He reminded Ichigo, "While you and your companions might get through it in time, it's doubtful you'll be able to soon enough to save your comrades."
"What are you proposing?" Retsu asked, drawing his attention.
"A ceasefire. I will open a Garganta to Karakura for you to go rescue your comrades and in return, you let me rescue mine. I take any wounded Arrancar back here to Hueco Mundo and we go our separate ways," Was Starrk's offer.
"You are not interested in winning the war for Aizen?"
"All I want is to save my comrades," He countered, "I'm grateful to Aizen for giving me those comrades, but his war is what has cost me them as well. Whoever's still alive, we'll stay out of Soul Society's way, at least until this war is over," Starrk promised.
Before Retsu could consider things, Ichigo spoke up, "Done. You save yours; we'll save ours. Nobody else needs to die today."
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AN: So I had a thought that since in canon, Sado's powers grew stronger while in Hueco Mundo (but only his because Orihime wasn't a Fullbringer yet since those weren't thought of yet), then it'd stand to reason that Ichigo's Hollow would as well. As Ichigo fights and grows stronger, Tirana does as well, but being in Hueco Mundo strengthens her further. Once Ichigo and Eien-ō were weakened by Starrk, she had her opening to take over. Once upon a time, I was surprised by how brutal Unohana was whenever I wrote her. Now I'm surprised by how evil Tirana is when I write her. By the way, I keep using female pronouns for Tirana but her body during that fight was more of a modified version of Ichigo's: Her height, hair, horns, and skin but still his body overall. If she had retained control long enough, she might have fully twisted his body into her own or maybe not. Me writing "She" for the woman in a teenage boy's body: "Does this mean Tirana is kinda trans? I don't think it works that way but I'm not exactly an expert."
Supposedly a Pissflitsche amounts to "An extremely disgusting/unpleasant person" with the more literal translation being "A squeegee for cleaning up piss".
Quick thing: Nemu's reaction this chapter is kinda proof she needs more support than just Ichigo. Insisting that her life belongs to Ichigo is sweet, but her devotion to him is unhealthy. It's also kinda an argument against "Wheel and spoke" harems as a friend described them: If the one person at the center is taken out, the whole thing collapses.
Next time on Vow of the King! We got old bastards, fat bastards, and some very pretty women. I am officially worried.