Legacy of the Moon
Arc II: Dawn of Dreams
Chapter 26: Abduction of the Espadas III
"No, it's not him… I sensed another presence right before that explosion," Sesshomaru said while staring at the smoke cloud near Yammy's face.
"Hmm… and I was under the impression that I mistakenly sensed an extra presence," Byakuya asked with suspicion.
Soon Byakuya and Sesshomaru received the answer when the smoke cloud in the sky dispersed in the air, revealing a tall and masculine bizarre being that seemed to be like a fearsome demonic warrior. His spiritual pressure was terrifying and the changing scenario was making it even more disturbing because the serpentine structures had started to come out of the ground with lava oozing out of them. It was none other but the Infernal Serpent Demon Dodomeki and he was all prepared to take on all the three of them. On the other hand, Sesshomaru, Byakuya, and Yammy also prepared themselves to face this new threat.
"Sesshomaru... who is this being?" Byakuya asked him abruptly upon noticing the similarity between the spiritual pressures of that demonic warrior and Sesshomaru.
"He is an infernal demon… and it's the second one who has appeared in the Hueco Mundo," the Daiyokai responded.
"Do you know about them?" Byakuya asked further.
"No, it is the first time I have come across them. They are trying to abduct the Espadas so I suppose this one is here for Yammy," he replied.
"Hmm I see," Byakuya responded.
Now Dodomeki stood right in front of Yammy's face while floating in the air. Cero Espada tried to grab him by his hand but he seemed to disappear from his position.
"I really don't have time to play with you," the infernal demon's voice echoed.
The next moment, Dodomeki reappeared very close to Yammy's nose and started to pummel his face very fiercely. His every punch was backed with raging demonic energy and thus they were generating shockwaves at the moment of the hit. His arms getting elongated to cover his entire face and the blows were hard enough to penetrate through his flesh and destroy his Hollow Mask armor. Yammy, on the other hand, was shocked as well as helpless in front of this sudden assault. A lot of blood was splattering in the air and it didn't take long before he fell on his knees and began to pant while the pieces of broken Hollow Mask remnants were coming down from his face along with the streams of blood. His jaw was so damaged that he wasn't even able to scream in pain.
"So, are you ready to come with me?" Dodomeki asked Yammy.
The Cero Espada tried to speak something but he fell and passed out before he could answer.
"Ha ha ha ha… this ended quickly and since I have some extra time now, I can perhaps interact with you two," Dodomeki muttered in his demonic voice while looking towards both Sesshomaru and Byakuya.
Now both of them prepared themselves for the battle by charging their spiritual pressure and looking into the eyes of the infernal demon in a challenging manner.
"You are a demon too, aren't you?" Dodomeki asked Sesshomaru.
"I am a Daiyokai," Sesshomaru responded.
"Make sure that you do not make the mistake of counting us among the likes of you," the infernal demon replied.
"What do you mean?" the Daiyokai while narrowing his eyes.
"The power of an earthly demon and an infernal demon is worlds apart and soon you will see this yourself," Dodomeki answered and the next moment he shot a similar arc of dark energy towards them with which he neutralized Kenpachi earlier.
"Hado 73, Soren Sokatsui!" Byakuya muttered while releasing two bursts of blue energy from his palm.
"Azure Dragon Wave!" Sesshomaru spoke as he attacked with multiple waves of demonic energy from his blade.
Both the energy attacks collided with Dodomeki's arc of dark energy in mid-air and it turned into a devastating explosion that generated powerful shockwaves. The collision of energies was powerful enough to disorient even the bravest of the warriors but Byakuya and Sesshomaru already initiated their next attack amidst chaos. Sesshomaru rushed towards Dodomeki with his Bakusaiga prepared to cut him down while Byakuya directed a powerful surge of his petal blades in the same direction.
However, Dodomeki stopped Sesshomaru's sword swing by grabbing its blade with his bare hand. This surprised Sesshomaru greatly but before the infernal demon could strike the Daiyokai, he was assaulted by the petal blades.
"So, you are a demon of hell, isn't it?" Sesshomaru asked him in a serious tone.
"Yes, what about it?" Dodomeki responded while still holding Bakusaiga's blade.
Suddenly Dodomeki felt a cut on the side of his belly due to which he had to leave Bakusaiga's blade and wrap his arm around the cut. When he turned back, Sesshomaru was right behind him with both of his swords in his hands. It didn't take him long to realize that it was Tensaiga that inflicted a minor cut on the side of his belly.
Now Dodomeki looked towards Sesshomaru furiously and the next moment a huge surge of petal blades approached him from behind. The infernal demon spun with immense speed while using his claws and managed to scatter all the petal blades away from him. Now he rushed towards Sesshomaru and began to attack him with his powerful punches with which he defeated Yammy. The Daiyokai was having a hard time as he was trying to counter his powerful punches with his sword swings. Every punch was not only shoving him back in the air but also scattering the released demonic energy of his swords. Eventually, Dodomeki succeeded in shoving Sesshomaru hard into the ground using his superior demonic force while putting aside all the surges of petal blades of Senbonzakura at the same time.
The Daiyokai got back to his feet as soon as he hit the ground while Dodomeki rushed towards him with fierce speed. However, before he could reach Sesshomaru, a powerful and huge blast of black and green energy stopped him in his tracks. Soon everyone realized that it was the black Cero of Ulquiorra when he appeared in the sky in his Segunda Etapa.
"Thanks for arriving here, now I can collect two Espadas instead of one," Dodomeki muttered while staring at the Cuatro Espada.
Suddenly an extremely powerful and massive red Cero hit Dodomeki from behind and shoved him into the ceiling of the daylight portion. When everyone looked toward the direction of the origin of that Cero they were shocked to notice that Yammy had regained his consciousness. His face was completely drenched in his blood and he was still in immense pain with his face utterly disfigured by the ruthless assault from Dodomeki.
"You sure allowed him to create a mess of yours, Yammy," Ulquiorra said to him as he observed his condition.
"What is this buzzing of an insect?" Yammy muttered while trying to come to his senses fully, "Oh it's you Ulquiorra, you are looking exactly like an insect in this form," he added.
"I am surprised Yammy… even you have attained Segunda Etapa like me, a form that is beyond the Resurreccion," the Cuatro Espada responded.
"Do not compare us… you are just an insect in front of me," the Cero Espada replied while angrily moving his arm towards Ulquiorra to catch him.
However, before his hand could come even closer to Ulquiorra, three immensely powerful arcs of dark demonic energy hit his torso and turned into bloody explosions which knocked him out immediately while he also reverted to his base form. The next moment, Dodomeki landed on the ground right beside Yammy.
"Now it's your turn," the infernal demon muttered while looking at the Cuatro Espada.
"Lanza del Relampago," Ulquiorra chanted as he summoned an arrow-shaped spear made up of his green spirit energy.
Now the moment Dodomeki tried to fly towards Ulquiorra, multiple streams of petal blades erupted from the sand of the Hueco Mundo and grabbed his arms and legs.
"Where did you think my petal blades disappeared? I was hiding them under the sand all this time," Byakuya muttered in his usual confident tone.
This time Ulquiorra attacked him with his spear of energy without wasting any moment, using it as a melee weapon against him. After taking multiple hits from the energy spear of Cuatro Espada, the infernal demon was able to break free from the grasp of the Senbonzakura but before he could hit Ulquiorra, two huge spheres of demonic energy rushed towards him from the sky.
The Cuatro Espada fell back immediately while those spheres of demonic energy shot by Sesshomaru crashed into Dodomeki with fierce momentum. The infernal demon looked infuriated after taking so many hits in a row and he rushed towards the Daiyokai to rip him apart with his powerful claws. However, he had to stop when he realized that his left arm was in the tight grip of Ulquiorra's tail, and before he could do anything about it, Sesshomaru captured his right arm with his energy whip.
"Gokei Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," Byakuya uttered while staring at Dodomeki, and the next moment his petal blades started to gather around him while shattering the ground in a significantly big area.
Both Ulquiorra and Sesshomaru released his arms right before the petal blades completely entrapped him in a spherical formation. Byakuya executed Gokei at the same time the Senbonzakura shoved him underground in the Forest of Menos. The Cuatro Espada shot Lanza del Relampago in the direction in which Dodomeki had fallen causing a massive and powerful explosion of green energy. Now all three of them looked at each other and then Ulquiorra muttered, "This should keep him down."
Suddenly Isane Kotetsu arrived there along with some of the soldiers of Squad 4 and she informed Byakuya that the portal to return to the Soul Society was ready and Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi had ordered all the soldiers present here to gather all the injured Soul Reapers as soon as possible and reach the spot of the portal.
The next moment, a dimensional crack appeared beside Yammy and the environment inside it seemed to be demonic and terrifying. Dark clouds were stagnant in the sky, there were several stone structures and almost all of them were decorated with snake figures. The ground and the walls were ruptured in some places and lava was flowing out of them as if the dimension was full of active volcanoes. Dodomeki appeared inside that dimension and he slowly pulled Yammy inside with his elongated arms. Within the course of a few moments, both the infernal demon and Cero Espada disappeared along with the portal leaving the serpentine stone structures and lava behind.
"I will avenge this… you three," Dodomeki's words echoed before the portal disappeared fully.
"Wha..what was that?" Isane mumbled in fear.
"We are under attack by the demons of hell… tell your men to take out Zaraki Kenpachi from that trench over there, two of Ichigo's friends are still on the uppermost section," Byakuya responded to her.
"Yes… yes, Captain Kuchiki," she responded abruptly.
"I must reach World of the Living as soon as possible," Sesshomaru said to both Ulquiorra and Byakuya.
"I will be joining you soon," Byakuya said to Sesshomaru.
"You will revive those who died there?" Ulquiorra asked the Daiyokai.
"Yes," Sesshomaru responded.
"I will be there as soon as that human woman is done with the healing of that Quincy," Ulquiorra replied.
"Hmm…" the Daiyokai responded.
Now Ulquiorra opened a Garganta for Sesshomaru which was leading to the World of the Living in the Fake Karakura Town and then he returned to the uppermost section of the Hueco Mundo where Orihime was healing Uryu Ishida. After some time, when Zaraki Kenpachi was found by the soldiers of Squad 4, Byakuya also left for the location of Mayuri's portal.
Meanwhile, in the Battle of Fake Karakura Town…
As soon as Kisuke Urahara appeared there, Aizen rushed towards him to finish him off with a powerful sword swing backed by his monstrous spiritual pressure. However, the Shinigami in sandal and hat not only dodged the attack but also trickily placed a seal on his wrist. Now without wasting any moment, he constrained Aizen with multiple Bakudos and finally attacked him with the Hado 91, Senju Koten Taiho. However, soon Aizen appeared right behind Urahara with a new appearance. Half of his face was covered with Hollow Mask remnant along with armor and tentacles on the upper half body which were made up of the same material. Once again he tried to attack Urahara and ended up receiving a similar outcome in the form of another seal on his other wrist. Now two circular energy seals appeared on Aizen's wrists and all of a sudden his entire body got engulfed inside an oval-shaped explosion of extremely dense Kido energy. "It's not over yet… he will be coming out of that in no time," Urahara spoke to everyone after landing on the ground.
Back to the artificial daylight section, Hueco Mundo…
After everyone had left the Hueco Mundo, Homura came out of her hideout in the Negal ruins and she was freely walking around in the area filled with the aftermaths of all the battles that had taken place over there recently. However, it seemed from the movement of her eyes and body language that she was looking for something or rather someone. Soon enough her eyes caught an Arrancar who was none other but Rudbornn Chelute, the leader of the Exequias. She didn't waste any moment and confronted him while he was lying in his miserable state.
"Who are you?" Rudbornn asked her.
"Look carefully, I am a Hollow… just like you," she replied.
"I see… but your spiritual pressure feels somewhat different. Whatever, I am not in the condition of inquiring about you, so don't try to mess with me and tell me what you want?" He responded to her in a frustrated manner.
"I am here to recruit you for a very important mission, Rudbornn… come with me," she spoke before she turned around and prepared to walk away from there.
"You seem powerful but do not get so full of yourself… can't you see my condition?" Rudbornn muttered to her while trying to get up with his broken body.
Now Homura took out a crystal from her dress, it looked quite similar to the stones embedded in Orkos' body. The next moment, a strange black fluid came out of that golden crystal and slowly covered the damaged portion of Rudbornn's body. Soon he began to writhe with the pain but eventually, his pain lowered and he also got the strength to get up on his feet.
"I am Homura and I am here to recruit you in the army of the firstborn," She muttered as she looked back at him with a confident grin on her lips.
"Ah.. ahh… the firstborn?" He asked in a serious tone.
"Yes, the first of our kind… Lord Orkos," She replied before she walked away from there while Rudbornn started to follow her.
After some time both of them reached close to the tower inside of which Ulquiorra and Ichigo fought against each other. Soon enough they came across Loly and Menoly while the two girls were simply looking for a safe place to have some rest.
"Beaten… exhausted… and out of options… perhaps the two of you can make good use of a safe shelter isn't it?" Homura said to them while coming from behind.
Now Menoly immediately dragged Loly and hid her behind a rock while she prepared to fight against them. However, before she could attack, Rudbornn stopped her.
"Rudbornn… what are you doing with this strange girl?" Menoly asked him anxiously.
"We are here to recruit all of you to a new team… it is the only beneficial option for you now," He replied in a rather sad tone.
"Oh! Wha..What do you mean, Rudbornn?" Menoly asked abruptly.
"Loly and Menoly… you two were crushed by Yammy wasn't it?" Homura asked as she walked a few steps toward them.
"Ye..Yes… but who are you and how do you know about us?" Menoly asked shockingly.
"Have some patience girl, you will know about me eventually but for now you should focus on your enemies… Yammy, Nnoitra, and some other Espadas have been abducted by the demons of Hell. Soon they will return with more powerful forms and crush all of you like insects," Homura answered her which shocked both of them.
"Join our ranks if you wish to survive long enough and take revenge on them," she added further before walking away from there while all of them pondered over her words for a moment and eventually began to follow her.
On their way, they came across Shizuku who was coming from the opposite direction along with the Privaron Espadas and Luppi Antenor. They all seemed to be revived by the similar method that Homura used to revive Rudbornn from his wrecked state.
"Good job, Shizuku… it looks like you have found everyone," Homura mumbled happily upon looking at him.
Yes, Homura… it wasn't that tough though," Shizuku responded with a smile and then all of them started to go deeper into the Hueco Mundo through a trench.
"Why didn't you save Espadas and if you really wanted to gather all useful Arrancars?" Luppi asked Homura and Shizuku while walking along with everyone.
"Espadas are the most powerful Hollows of the entire Hueco Mundo and thus they are going to get something that we can't offer them," Homura answered in a cold tone.
"What about us?" Menoly asked worryingly.
"Don't worry! Every Arrancar is important in the eyes of Lord Orkos and you all are going to get the position that you deserve and a team that won't neglect your abilities and worth," Shizuku everyone.
"Hmm… let's see," Cirucci muttered while walking along with everyone.
To be continued…