Legacy of the Moon

Arc II: Dawn of Dreams

Chapter 30: Black and White

After a few moments, Halibel was slowly returning to her senses while Sesshomaru somehow managed to get on his fours but he wasn't able to move more than that.

"Ahh… Lord Sesshomaru, are you alright?" Halibel asked him as she looked at his face while lying under him.

"Stay where you are, do not move away…" he responded to her in a low and painful voice upon sensing the upcoming danger.

"Still moving? Allow me to help the two of you rest in peace together inside the black coffin… Seeping crest of turbidity, arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!" Hado 90, Kurohitsugi!" Aizen murmured as he sealed both Sesshomaru and Halibel inside the deadly black structure.

"No… Aizen, you..tch!" Stark hissed slowly with anger and worry while staring at Aizen.

The Shinigami in white was slowly walking toward the Primera Espada with the intention of cutting him down while radiating his monstrous spiritual pressure.

"Getsuga..Tensho!" Ichigo's voice echoed and the next moment a powerful wave of dark energy hit Aizen from the left but it didn't prove to be effective as he easily blocked it with his sword.

Now Stark sensed something and as a result, he swiftly drifted away in the air while firing Ceros toward Aizen which the latter deflected with his bare hands. While both of his arms were occupied, a spear made up of green energy hit his chest with immense speed and the next moment, it engulfed him in a powerful and massive explosion of green energy. The power of that explosion not only shocked Aizen but Ichigo and Stark were also in awe upon witnessing it.

As soon as Stark landed on the ground he noticed Ichigo had returned to the battle in his Vizard form while Ulquiorra was with him in his Segunda Etapa. Now Aizen stared at all three of them and then he spoke to Ulquiorra, "What is this form, Ulquiorra? It seems to be a step further even from Arrancar Resurreccion… I am amused."

"This is Segunda Etapa and yes, it is indeed what you have just said… Aizen," He replied to him in his usual emotionless tone.

"This form could be useful in surviving against me while I was still in the Chrysalis stage but I am afraid you are a bit late now," the fiend in white replied with a cunning smile on his lips.

By now Urahara and Uryu had also arrived there and now all of them were preparing to fight against Aizen.

On the other hand, inside the Kurohitsugi structure, both Sesshomaru and Halibel were utterly trapped. They were inside the protective barrier of Tensaiga and since he was on top of her she not only remained protected from the twisted gravity of the black coffin but also from the spear-like protrusions which were filling that empty box. He was not exactly on his fours anymore because of all the sharp protrusions that were penetrating his body but still, there was some distance between them. The drops of his blood were constantly falling on her body at different places while she was staring at his face with her eyes filled with grief and helplessness.

"Why did you do it?" she whispered in an immensely sad voice.

Meanwhile, outside of the black coffin, everyone's attention was caught by the petals of cherry blossoms that suddenly started to blow in the air.

"If it isn't Byakuya Kuchiki's Bankai," Aizen murmured in his usual polite tone.

Now those pink petals began to stick to the surface of Kurohitsugi and soon Byakuya appeared right beside the others. By now the petal blades of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi had completely covered the entire structure of Kurohitsugi and on Byakuya's command, the entire black coffin began to disintegrate as petal blades started to blow away from it, breaking it bit by bit.

The moment Kurohitsugi's gravity and protrusions stopped torturing Sesshomaru, he tried to get off Halibel but he couldn't stand up easily while the Tres Espada got up and helped him to get on his feet. The Daiyokai's back was already bloodied due to the wounds which he had received by Aizen's energy-burst while after getting trapped inside Kurohitsugi there were multiple bloody wounds all over his body.

"Are you alright?" Byakuya asked him.

"Yes… I am," Sesshomaru responded while finally standing up on his feet.

"Wow! Byakuya seems quite friendly to him," Ichigo muttered upon observing the way he asked for his wellbeing.

"Yes, they get along well with each other," Urahara funnily replied to Ichigo.

On the other hand, both Stark and Ulquiorra were also relieved to see that both of them were at least alive if not well and Ulquiorra commented on them, "It seems that he protected her."

"Yes… Number 3 couldn't have survived all that without him," Stark replied.

"This will be your final stand against me… prepare yourself, here I come!" Aizen said to everyone as he rushed towards them while everyone simply reciprocated towards him.

Ulquiorra approached Aizen first of all with his green energy spear in his hand but instead of attacking him, the Cuatro Espada dodged the sword swing of the latter. However, when Aizen was about to attack Ichigo with his sword, a tight grip on his wrist stopped him. It was Ulquiorra's tail and now he loped on Aizen with his Lanza del Relampago. Aizen stopped that spear of energy with his bare hand but before he could attack the Cuatro Espada, Ichigo muttered while swinging his black blade at him, "Getsuga Tensho!"

"Cero Oscuras!" Ulquiorra spoke at the same time with his finger placed on Aizen's chest.

The next moment, all three of them got engulfed in an immensely powerful and fiery explosion of the black hollow energies of both Getsuga Tensho and Cero Oscuras. However, soon the sparks of brilliant violet energy began to shine through that blast before it adopted an even more destructive form, covering an even larger area than before. Suddenly, both Ichigo and Ulquiorra got shoved into opposite directions by the force of that detonation. The damage can still be seen on Aizen's torso due to tanking such a closed-range hit of both Getsuga Tensho and Cero Oscuras but he wasn't showing any signs of pain or discomfort.

Ulquiorra, you have already died once… Now do you wish to die for them?" Aizen asked once he scattered all the fire and smoke generated by the explosion.

"How do you know that I died?" Ulquiorra asked with a slight shock.

"I knew this even before you started your fight against Ichigo," Aizen replied while walking towards him.

"That bastard planned everything… even my birth," Ichigo said to Ulquiorra while getting up on his feet upon listening to it the Cuatro Espada realized the extent to which Aizen manipulated everyone.

Now Aizen swung his sword and shot a burst of his purple spirit energy towards Urahara which the latter dodged by jumping higher but before he could balance himself, the Shinigami in white approached him with immense speed. However, before Aizen could slash the Shinigami in sandals and hat, Stark's Cero forced him to change his track. This time the Shinigami in white rushed towards Stark with annoyance while Urahara also followed him with great speed. Stark shot a powerful Cero with his pistol but Aizen disappeared from his position while the Cero hit Urahara head-on. The Shinigami in sandals and hat used his Blood-mist shield at the end moment to avoid the damage but still, the Cero shoved him hard into the ground. On the other hand, Aizen appeared right beside Stark and slashed him with his sword. The Primera Arrancar fell from the sky while bleeding heavily from his right shoulder.

"You seemed to be quite enthusiastic about killing me… " Aizen said to Stark as the latter hit the ground.

Suddenly the petal blades of Senbonzakura began to approach the fiend in white from multiple angles but he easily pushed them away by generating a huge pressure wave with his sword swing. Byakuya signaled a fierce assault with his hand and suddenly multiple streams of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi approached Aizen with immense speed but even they proved to be a fail against the bursts of his spirit energy.

"Hado 4, Byakurai!" Byakuya uttered as he released multiple lightning bolts from his finger.

"Licht Regen," Uryu spoke while shooting a volley of arrows toward Aizen in order to intensify Byakuya's assault.

Despite the barrage of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi's petal blades, Byakurai, and Licht Regen, Aizen rushed towards Byakuya and Uryu with incomprehensible speed but Sesshomaru stopped him by clashing blades with him in mid-air. The weapon deadlock didn't last long as Aizen pushed the Daiyokai back with ease.

"Cascada…!" Halibel uttered while shooting a gigantic stream of water that fell between Sesshomaru and Aizen.

The Daiyokai dodged it while Aizen simply cut through the entire Cascada with a single swing of his sword. Now she summoned the energy of black Cero around her sword while Shinigami in white was approaching her. The next moment Sesshomaru rushed towards the ground binding both arms of Aizen with his energy whip on his way while the Tres Espada muttered, "Black Trident!"

Suddenly she swung her sword with immense power at Aizen while the latter directed a burst of his spirit energy to counter it. The collision of Halibel's high-pressure slash and Aizen's spirit energy burst caused an immense blast in the sky due to which the fiend in white crashed on the ground while the Tres Espada suffered severe damage on her right arm along with the destruction of her weapon.

"Tia… fall back to a safe distance," Sesshomaru insisted to her while looking at her arm.

"Lord Sesshomaru, Aizen is looking hurt… this is our chance to win," Halibel spoke abruptly upon looking at Aizen while he was trying to get up.

"It is the time to end this…" Stark said as he suddenly appeared in the sky.

Now Sesshomaru held his Bakusaiga horizontally in front of him and the next moment lightning bolts began to roar all around the sky while slowly taking the form of a long dragon. At the same time, Stark pointed both of his blood-drenched pistols at Aizen, summoning bolts of indigo Cero which were slowly taking the form of a huge orb.

"DRAGON STRIKE!" Sesshomaru roared as he unleashed his ultimate technique.

"GRAN REY CERO!" Stark spoke while releasing his ultimate Cero towards Aizen.

The powerful dragon-shaped wave of demonic lightning bolts and the spinning energy of Indigo Cero combined on their way to form an even more ferocious and powerful spinning wave that was absorbing the light from the surroundings as everyone felt their vision flickering. All of a sudden that energy wave hit Aizen and shoved him back while continuously bombarding his body before causing the final explosion which generated shockwaves powerful enough to blow all the buildings in the area.

"Wow! That must have been the most powerful Cero in the history of the Ceros," Lilynette's panting voice echoed through Stark's pistols.

Stark himself was unable to believe that his Cero technique could be so powerful after combining with Sesshomaru's signature move while even Halibel and Ulquiorra were admiring this move.

"I think this is over now," Ichigo murmured.

"Hopefully," Ulquiorra responded to him.

While all of them were relaxed, suddenly Aizen's voice echoed from the chaos of that explosion, "You have inflicted more damage than I expected but in the end, I shall prevail."

Soon the white fiend walked out of that explosion but this time he was bleeding from different places while his clothes were also in a wrecked state. His spiritual pressure was significantly low as well after being hit by that attack. Upon witnessing him, everyone prepared to continue the battle but before they could resume the fight, all of them felt a very powerful spiritual pressure.

Soon a jet-black humanoid figure appeared among them with golden stones embedded on his forearms and chest. He was none other than Orkos himself. Everyone except Sesshomaru and Halibel was shocked to see him.

"Orkos…" Sesshomaru whispered to himself upon looking at him.

"What are you doing here?" Halibel asked him.

"I am here to ensure his defeat," Orkos replied while pointing towards Aizen.

"In that case, you will be the next one to go down," Aizen responded to him.

"Don't be so full of yourself… Now you will feel the power of the true Lord of Hueco Mundo," the black humanoid spoke in a serious tone.

"True lord of Hueco Mundo? Interesting… I would have asked you more about this but currently, I am a bit busy," the Shinigami in white replied in his usual polite.

Now Orkos and Aizen charged at each other with ferocious momentum. Aizen was using his sword swings on him while the black humanoid was blocking the swings with his forearms embedded with golden stones. Their every clash was hard enough to generate the shockwaves in the sky as they were causing the blasts of the spirit energy. On the other hand, everyone else was looking at their battle as both of them seemed to be almost equal in power.

"Why don't you use your Bankai at this point?" Byakuya asked Urahara.

At first, the Shinigami in sandals and hat looked at him with surprise and then he answered, "Aizen got Hogyoku and he is evolving. If I use my Bankai now and defeat his current stage then he will evolve because of Hogyoku and in the next stage, he will certainly possess the power to beat my Bankai. Moreover, I can't use my Bankai… why do you think I am still able to stand against him in my Shikai?... It is because currently, I am using the powerful energy of Bankai as my armor while I am in my Shikai."

"Hmm… so we have to defeat him without pressuring him to evolve further," Byakuya said further.

"Yes, this is the problem and also the key to attaining victory over him," Urahara responded.

Meanwhile, Orkos had started his attempts to cut Aizen from Hogyoku by using the power of his black material. The size of his hands had increased considerably and he was constantly trying to make the black material stick to Aizen's body while attacking him with his huge punches. However, it wasn't proving to be much of a success since the Shinigami in white was constantly releasing powerful bursts of his purple spirit energy in order to keep that black material away from him while dodging most of his punches simultaneously.

"In this evolution, your spirit energy seemed to have solidified to create certain portions of your form… should I assume that you have found out the secret behind the existence of Hollows?" Orkos asked him with curiosity.

"Perhaps… but after listening to your words, I am even more interested in what Hollow tricks you are hiding up your sleeves," Aizen responded upon getting intrigued by his words.

"Just wait and watch me," the black humanoid responded with a smile on his face.

On the other hand, Sesshomaru, Stark, and Halibel were also observing their battle carefully and then suddenly the Daiyokai said to both of them, "I think you two should leave now."

"Why?" Stark asked with wonderment.

"You must leave because I can revive someone back from the dead only once. I know you can still survive Aizen's power but you have seen how he destroyed Tia's sword… you are aware of the consequences of the destruction of your pistols," Sesshomaru said to him in a serious tone as he remembered his bond with Rin while looking at the bond between the Primera Espada and Lilynette.

"Hmm…" Stark responded but he couldn't say anything because he knew that Daiyokai was right.

"And what will you do now… Lord Sesshomaru?" Halibel asked him with concern.

Now the Daiyokai's eyes turned red as he charged his demonic spiritual pressure and soon the sparkles of his energy healed all the injuries of his body in the course of a few seconds and then he replied, "I can still go one more round."

Eventually, Stark and Halibel had to accept what Sesshomaru suggested to them and then they left from the site of battle. On the other hand, Orkos seemed to be getting successful in his strategy against Aizen. The black material had started to reach Hogyoku and slowly its influence over Aizen's body had started to decrease. Now the Shinigami in white shot a powerful arc of his spirit energy towards Orkos with a sword swing but the latter deflected it easily using his Cero.

"WHAT! How it can be even possible…" Aizen said abruptly as he was shocked to see the failure of his powerful energy arc.

"Aizen, the answer is lying all over your body… the black material sticking on your body has reached your Hogyoku… that's why your connection with Hogyoku is getting weakened rapidly," the black humanoid explained to him the reason.

"I shall not fall to an insignificant creature like you," Aizen said while staring at him with his eyes filled with anger.

The next moment, Aizen started to release an extreme amount of spiritual pressure and it seemed as if he was about to evolve one more time. The black material was slowly disintegrating from Aizen's body while even Orkos had to stop his assault on him for the time. However, before it could get out of hand, a powerful push from Ichigo and Ulquiorra stopped that transformation in between. This time Ichigo was using the energy of Getsuga Tensho around his blade to make his sword swing more powerful while Ulquiorra had summoned two spears made up of his green spirit energy, one in each hand.

To be continued…