"I'm calling our instructors." Aigis said firmly.
Nobody objected. She fingered her earpiece, and a moment later a connection was established.
"Sensei, we found a Garganta with many Hollows coming out of it," she reported, not caring who was on the other end of the line.
There was a moment of stunned silence on the other end, before Kira's voice came through. "A Garganta?! Where?"
"One kilometre to the west of the library along our patrol route." Aigis replied, her voice clipped. "The Garganta is fifteen metres off the ground, over a car park." She continued to give a summary of the characteristics of the Hollows that poured out of the gate, though she slowly faltered.
"What's wrong, Aigis?" Kira asked urgently.
"The gate is closing," she reported, as she watched the portal slowly shrink until it blinked out of existence. "And the Hollows that came out of it all look rather similar."
Lanky, with sharp stings in lieu of hands, jointed limbs, and all of them bore an insectoid mask. Their size varied, but it seemed as if they all had similar abilities, much like her first encounter with Hollows, when Akechi visited her town.
"Hold your position, we'll come— sorry, scratch that." There was some scuffling on the other end of the line, before Kira's voice came in again. "We have Hollows here too! We will try our best to come to your position, but it might take a while, so move to somewhere safe if you need to!" The line cut off.
Aigis turned to her teammates. They all heard the conversation.
"I guess we're on our own." Sakiya said grimly as they watched the Hollows disperse into the night sky. None came for them yet, but it was only a matter of time before the monsters started indiscriminately attacking anyone with a shred of reiatsu.
"Come on," Aigis turned on her heel and headed in the direction where she saw a few Hollows move to. "Let's get moving."
"Didn't Kira-sensei tell us to stay put?" Hoshiku questioned.
"Yes, but do you want to get surrounded by Hollows?" Aigis argued. "I understand why Kira-sensei gave the order, but we have no way of knowing how long it will take the teachers to come here to rescue us, nor do we know if the other groups are similarly trapped. The best we can do right now is to thin out the Hollows before they eat more souls here."
"That doesn't mean fighting to your death!" Sakiya said. "We can't possibly fight them with just the four of us!"
"We were trained for this." Aigis stated calmly, undercut by a sliver of impatience. "If you're not going to do it now, when will you do it? Besides, I think we have a reasonable chance of staying alive."
The group quieted down.
"We stick to the formation." Aigis outlined. "Keep your reiatsu output low so we don't attract too many Hollows. We stick to the rooftops so we have an easy way to retreat if we need to. We can try to meet up with other groups along the way, but we should primarily make our way back to the meeting point."
Said meeting point was over an hour away if they kept up their leisurely patrol pace, though if they hurried they could make it in around half an hour. However, she had no idea how many Hollows they would have to contend with along the way, so she prepared herself for a long trip.
The group nodded grimly, and they set off.
They encountered their first Hollow two minutes in, when Izukino almost barrelled straight into the mouth of one in her hurry to reach the meeting point before Hoshiku could call out a warning. Fortunately, Sakiya was quick enough to shoot a Shakkaho into the side of its face, blasting it off course. It was then swiftly dispatched by a very angry slice straight through its mask, courtesy of Izukino.
"Huh, they're not very strong," she commented, sheathing her zanpakutou. "Maybe we can really do this."
"Do not let your guard down." Aigis commanded, her eyes still trained on her surroundings. "We can relax after we reach the meeting point."
They moved away from the dissolving corpse.
Another Hollow soon emerged, cut down by Aigis slicing through its joints and a kick to the mask. Within five minutes, they were swarmed by a small mob of Hollows, a new one replacing every monster the group managed to cut down.
"This is a lot to manage!" Hoshiku called out through the din of battle. "Any ideas?"
Aigis glanced around desperately. "There!" She pointed towards an abandoned building. "Let's take shelter in there for now!"
"Bakudo number twenty-one: Sekienton!" Hoshiku threw up a red smokescreen to cover them.
A quick shunpo later, they dashed through a broken window and hid behind a concrete wall to recuperate, all of them slightly winded. The Hollows roared outside, disoriented and circling the building, but they made no attempt to break in.
"Did we get half of the Hollows in this city after us or something?" Izukino panted. She was covered in shallow cuts and pricks along her arms and legs — it seemed that the stingers the Hollows had were not just for show.
"I don't know." Aigis replied. "Let me wrap that arm, Sakiya-san."
"Oh, thanks." There was no emotion in his voice as he held out his arm, stained bloody red by an unfortunate slice from the Hollows.
The first aid kit provided was indeed useful.
"We were swarmed once we killed the first one." Izukino said, nibbling on a piece of dried fruit. "It wasn't for long, but before that I think the Hollows mostly ignored us."
Aigis pondered over the facts. "If that is the case, I think we can safely conclude that they are unusually sensitive to reiatsu, or possibly each other's status," she said, keeping her voice low. "If we try to use any reiatsu or kill one, they'll definitely come after us."
She unfolded the map that was given of their patrol route. It was slightly crumpled from the bumpy ride in her fanny pack, but still legible. "According to the path we took, we are currently here," she pointed to a small building some few hundred metres off their route.
"I'm amazed you remember where we went through all that mess." Sakiya marvelled, his now bandaged arm resting gingerly on his lap. "Still not much closer to the meeting point though."
"It cannot be helped." Aigis replied, musing over the information they have. "It is not easy trying to navigate a city through so many Hollows."
They were in a fairly abandoned area of the city, one that she knew for sure was used for small factories many years ago. Sadly the decline in demand for handmade goods forced many of those companies to either downsize or close down altogether, leading to their current situation. The good news, however, was that they did not have to worry too much about property damage if fighting broke out here. The surrounding buildings were similar to the one they were in right now – a mix of abandoned concrete or brick buildings, with tiny alleyways between them for utilities.
Hoshiku took a peek out of their hiding place, careful to not reveal himself too much. "They aren't going anywhere though," he reported, munching on the snacks inside their packs for energy. "Staying here isn't the solution."
"I know," she said, still poring over the map.
"Are we gonna die here?"
It was Sakiya, still aching over his injured arm, who voiced that thought. The group turned towards him, and for the first time Aigis could clearly see how they were all breathing a little too fast despite the brief rest, how their bodies were tense and curled into themselves, how Izukino twitched minutely to any sudden noise that came from the outside. The fear and uncertainty of their situation was clear in their slightly dilated eyes.
Normally, Aigis would have a little speech ready to encourage anyone feeling that way in her own (admittedly awkward) way, as she had sometimes back when she was the director for the Shadow Operatives. They listened to her, because she had the proven rank and experience to lend weight to her words. But in this new society, where nobody - save Niijima - knew what she was like before, if she tried that, she would come across as condescending. So she turned back to the map.
"If that is what you wish, then feel free to do nothing," she said. "However, I do not wish to die here, so I will do everything in my power to ensure that I leave this exercise – alive."
She did not blame Sakiya for saying it out loud, because in any normal circumstance, it was indeed a scary situation – to be surrounded on all sides by bloodthirsty monsters, with the only protection being a thin concrete wall. Aigis realised with a start that perhaps it was time to check on her own mental state, if she was barely unfazed by such overwhelming odds.
Does Soul Society have therapists?
Her thought process was broken when the intensity of roars and howls suddenly increased outside, along with the distinctive clang of steel. Heedless of the danger, she strained to look at the situation outside.
Neon blue explosions and balls of fire blew holes through the ranks of Hollows, though they were quickly filled with even more Hollows before they could take advantage of the openings. Through the brief gaps, she spied a head of familiar brown hair.
"Niijima-san! Over here!" Aigis shouted, disregarding the danger of being heard by the Hollows and instead banking on the chaos that her friend caused. She won, as she saw Niijima's head jerk up to her position, and her gesticulating to her teammates to run for cover. Half a minute later, the four newcomers were panting heavily on the concrete floor, a sprinkling of grazes and cuts on their bodies. Taking a page out of Hoshiku's strategy, Aigis had also covered their escape with a well-timed Sekienton, leaving the Hollows outside the window disoriented.
"How did you also end up here?" Aigis demanded.
Niijima took a few more breaths to anchor herself. "We saw the giant mob of Hollows here and thought they might've been chasing after something," she explained, expertly dressing her own light wounds using the first aid kit. "Didn't think it would be you though."
Well, with everything that happened, Aigis was glad her friend was here. "Have the teachers contacted you yet?" she asked.
One of the burly men in Niijima's team shook his head. "Last I heard, they were still in the middle of fighting their way to our general position," he said, slumped against the concrete. "I think there are probably quite a few groups along the way, so they'll have to help them out first, too."
Aigis turned her attention back to the map as her team members welcomed the new group. Niijima joined her once she finished treating her wounds.
"I would suggest killing them all in one flashy attack," she commented, seemingly reading her mind. Not surprising, considering how closely their organisations worked while they were both alive. "We can take some pressure off others and alert our teachers of our position."
"I need exact numbers." Aigis muttered back. "And a suitable place of attack."
"No civilian deaths, right?"
"Minimal property damage too. I have no idea if these buildings are actually abandoned or not."
"Maybe if we bring the battle into the air?"
"Possible, but the space is too open, and they have the advantage in numbers."
"Best to box them in an alleyway of sorts– or not, there's too many. A bigger square then."
"Nothing that completely tires us out too, I want to be prepared for more unneeded surprises. At most probably one or two strong spells."
"The definition of 'tired' is very different for each person. Account for the lowest denominator."
They naturally fell into a rapid-fire exchange of plans and ideas, reminiscent of their past collaborations. Many things had changed since they last did something similar, but it almost felt as if nothing had changed.
Some distance away from the two strategists currently deep in a discussion of what their upper limits are, the six students strained to listen in on their plans.
"Maybe we can–"
"Yeah, but what if–"
"Make that there–"
"Even better–"
"Too risky–"
Their ideas seemed to clamour over each other, building a complex web of ideas that the rest struggled to detangle. Ten minutes in, amidst the slowly fading roars of the monsters outside, they finally gave up trying to understand the conversation and accepted the fact that the two ladies were probably their best chance of escaping this mess alive.
"How are you feeling right now?" Aigis asked out of the blue to the assembled students. As one, they blinked up blearily at Niijima and her, the adrenaline of the situation wearing off during their break and exhaustion setting in.
"A little sleepy," someone mumbled. Aigis was not sure who it was from, but at least they acknowledged their current problem.
"Get some energy from your rations," she instructed them all. "We have a plan for escaping here. Hoshiku-san, can you conjure a big shield for protection from spells?"
"Yeah, but why?" Hoshiku asked back while everyone else reached into their packs for food.
"This is what we have to do…" The strategists sat down, unfurled their map, and began explaining their plan.
"Aigis here. Is everyone in their positions?" She had one hand on her communicator, currently linked to everyone in Niijima's and her group.
Various sounds of acknowledgement crackled through the earpiece.
"Okay," she took a deep breath. "Operation start!"
She reached out with her reiatsu and sensed the two different teams move in different directions, a zig-zag pattern across the rooftops of the district they were in.
"So I know that you said you'd help with corralling those Hollows…" Hoshiku began next to Aigis, his fingers twitching in anxiety. "But how are you going to reach those groups out there when you're here protecting me?"
They had split into three teams, with two teams of three clearing out the Hollows surrounding the building (ninety percent of the Hollows had lost interest and wandered off while they were discussing strategy, but they decided to continue the plan anyway to protect other souls in the vicinity) and one team of two sneaking out from a rooftop exit. Niijima moved with her original team while one member from her team moved to Sakiya and Izukino's team, with their role to be the bait for Hollows to follow after them on a wild chase through the district. Aigis was part of the team of two, her duties twofold – provide suppressing fire to the other two groups so they did not get overwhelmed, and protect Hoshiku from any stray Hollows that came after them, because he was the lynchpin of their plan.
In response to his question, she unsheathed her zanpakutou, holding it in a reverse grip.
"With this." Aigis answered. "Shoot, Palladion!"
Her blade morphed into its familiar gauntlet form, but Hoshiku eyed it skeptically. "Right, forgot you have a shikai," he mumbled. "They still seem to be rather far away though."
Indeed, they were over two hundred metres away.
That was not an issue for her.
Aigis gave a wordless command, and her gauntlet morphed, the rings around her fingertips disappearing and melding into a sniper rifle mounted on top of her gauntlet. "This should work."
"Uh, what's that?" he asked.
"Sniper rifle." Aigis explained briefly. "It is used in the Living World for killing animals or people from over a kilometre away."
Hoshiku did not have further complaints.
She laid down on their vantage point, an apartment block she was all too aware that had occupants living inside them, but it was the best vantage point they could find that was close to the abandoned building they were trapped in earlier. At least their plans did not involve any damage to the apartments.
"Firing," Aigis muttered to herself, taking aim at a Hollow in the middle of the pack chasing after Sakiya's team. Her shot hit true, the mask of the Hollow exploding like a mini firework from the bullet made out of her own compressed reiatsu. It was the main advantage of her zanpakutou over her original, mechanical body – as long as she had reiatsu, she could theoretically fire an infinite amount of bullets. Coupled with her excellent aiming skills (and having adjusted for recoil since her first kido class), it did not take much energy for her to defeat large groups of Hollows.
She barely watched the Hollow dissolve into black mist as the group fell into chaos from the sniper shot. She could vaguely see more Hollows dying, probably the group taking advantage of the confusion to thin out their ranks before resuming their chase. Satisfied with her handiwork, Aigis turned her attention to the other group, which seemed to be doing fairly well by itself, judging from the occasional blast of neon energy emanating from the pack.
She had enhanced them all with Masukukaja before they left. They should have no problem dodging the Hollows while her spell was up. But she also made sure to not provide too much firing support, because she did not want to draw attention to her position.
"Who's firing that blue magic?" Hoshiku asked. "I don't think there's any kido that matches that colour."
"It's Niijima-san." Aigis answered. "Her zanpakutou allows her to manipulate nuclear energy. Downside is, it makes the area somewhat radioactive if she uses the ability for too long."
Hoshiku tilted his head in question. "Nuclear energy? Radioactive?"
Right. Soul Society probably ran more on reishi rather than nuclear energy, as is the standard nowadays. "Nuclear energy is how the Living World largely gets its energy from nowadays," she explained, half keeping an eye out on the two teams. "It is similar to how reishi is used in every aspect of life in Soul Society. However, the byproduct of nuclear energy can mutate cells in living bodies, killing them in the process."
"Isn't it dangerous for her to fight in a group like that then?" Hoshiku questioned, looking slightly green. "Or in a human settlement, for that matter?"
"Souls are more resilient than human bodies." Aigis replied. With how they bled, it was easy to forget that technically, they were souls, not humans. And technically, she was never human. "So it takes a while before the side effects start appearing. In a situation like this, it's perfectly fine. And her particular brand of nuclear energy is contained to where the explosions were, so as long as no human touches it, it will be fine. It will dissipate in a week or so."
It was not a problem that Niijima encountered back when she was alive, and only accidentally discovered when one day Hinamori had pulled her aside to ask about the haze of poisonous reiatsu hanging around her.
Aigis only heard about the aftermath, but it resulted in some severe limits on how long Niijima could release her zanpakutou for. Thankfully, they were lifted for this particular exercise.
They settled down to watch as both groups noisily raced across the district, attracting as many Hollows as they could, broken by the occasional pot shots Aigis took at the Hollows. By the time they converged towards their agreed meeting spot ten minutes later, they managed to pick up some forty-odd Hollows of varying sizes, all with long insectoid appendages and masks.
"Time to move." Aigis instructed. Hoshiku nodded, wordlessly following her off their perch towards a warehouse that they had earlier reasoned to be probably abandoned. It was situated at a dead end, a somewhat small loading bay that was overgrown with weeds that grew through the cracked asphalt, but more importantly, was surrounded on three sides by tall concrete structures, and a wired fence at its only entry. Aigis instructed Hoshiku to hide in the shadows, while she opened the bolted gate with a shot from her zanpakutou at its chain, now back to its usual gauntlet form.
"Get ready for phase two," she commanded through their communicator. Normally she would have turned it off in between phases, but with the group being so small, she saw no need to turn communications off, in case a part of the plan failed in any way and she needed to provide backup. It meant that she had to deal with the occasional chanting, grunts and chatter between teammates, though this was still on a bearable level. She turned it off once her other teammates were close enough to be in shouting range.
"Incoming!"
Niijima rushed through the open gate, followed by her two teammates and a group of tightly packed Hollows. She stopped in the loading bay and raised her reiatsu – a clear taunt to the monsters as her reiryoku wrapped her in a glowing neon blue blanket. It had the intended effect, as the Hollows dove at her position, crashing into a pile against the buildings.
Aigis felt a rush of wind brush past as Niijima appeared beside her, who had swiftly cut off her reiatsu output and used shunpo to escape. Her teammates had similarly escaped to the rooftops surrounding the bay.
"Good job, Niijima-san." Aigis complimented.
Before her friend could reply, the second group appeared around the bend, screaming their lungs out from either fear or excitement. Aigis was not sure which one was more accurate, but it did a fine job of keeping the Hollows' attention, if how they crashed into their brethren was any indication.
Having sufficiently flattened the first group, and squeezed the tangle of limbs from the second group of Hollows into the tiny space, Aigis shut the wire gate with a quick cast of Hainawa, then carried out the next part of her plan.
"Hoshiku-san, barrier!" Aigis yelled.
"Bakudo number eighty-one: Danku!"
Hoshiku had informed the team that he needed time to chant the higher levelled kido spells, so besides keeping him safe in the shadows, Aigis had also instructed him to start chanting as soon as they landed near the loading bay, so he could release the spell right as she needed it. He had pulled it off flawlessly, sealing the only ground exit with a tall, transparent wall. The wire fence served as a temporary defence against physical attacks, as long as he stood far enough for the stingers to not scratch him. It only lasted for a few dozen seconds, but that was all they needed. Each student took up position along the rooftops surrounding the loading bay, far away from any thrashing limbs. As one, they raised their hands, palm facing the Hollows, and began to chant. Aigis prepared herself for a spell too, but she had something else in mind for herself.
She reached out to her reserve Personae.
It was something she had never attempted before, but she needed elemental firepower that Palladion and Pallas Athena simply could not provide. She reached deeper, past the cool, comforting presence of her initial Persona, into the depths of her soul where her other stocked Personae resided ever since she arrived at Soul Society.
You're relying too much on the natural abilities you had when you were alive, Metis said during one of their jinzen sessions. Just because you know you can use them doesn't mean you should solely rely on them. Use your other bonds a little.
She was right, because those were the abilities Aigis were most comfortable with – the ones that she knew she could reliably use without questions. But here, it was time to break those self-made boundaries.
"Surt."
The Norse god responded with a flickering flame, hot and wrathful. That was good.
She changed stances, from an open palm to her barrels locked on the Hollows. She imagined the Persona feeding fire to her finger guns.
"Hado number thirty-one: Shakkaho!"
"Hado number fifty-eight: Tenran!"
"Agidyne!"
The combined mass of spells flew towards the Hollows trying to extricate themselves from the pile, exploding into a giant firestorm in the loading bay that curled upwards as it fried the monsters to cinders. The force of the spells whipped through their uniform, dirty from the night exercise, each flaw highlighted by the intense orange glow of the bonfire. Hoshiku's barrier worked wonders to keep the explosion contained where they wanted it to be – the force of their combined spells would not have been nearly as strong if any of the energy had escaped.
"Sure hope that is enough of a beacon for the instructors," Niijima muttered. Aigis was inclined to agree.
The flames died down after a minute, revealing the burnt bodies of Hollows that slowly dissolved into black mist amidst the remaining embers, the asphalt charred a similar shade of black.
"Did we do it?" Izukino asked.
She asked too early.
Aigis and Niijima had not accounted for Hollows that were as tough as cockroaches.
Quite literally too, as the few remaining Hollows at the bottom of the pile were thoroughly scorched, but not dead. Their previously white, almost cockroach-like carapaces had turned black, but it had largely protected them from the worst of the fire, if their angry roars were any indication. Then one of them pierced another with its stinger.
And started absorbing its reiatsu.
"Wh– oh no, stop it!" Niijima's shout snapped everyone out of the gruesome scene as they collectively realised that they really did not need to have an overpowered Hollow running rampant.
Aigis fired a cluster of bullets at its head, but they pinged off harmlessly. The rest of the group drew their swords and joined the fight, but their zanpakutou were similarly ineffective against its carapace, futilely scratching at the shell. Even Niijima with her nuclear blasts barely caught its attention, as he stabbed stinger after stinger into the surviving Hollows, leeching their reiatsu.
They needed something with much more piercing power.
This was the reason why Aigis kept to relatively low-energy spells, in case something went south and they needed intense firepower immediately.
"Distract it for ten seconds!" Aigis shouted. She was greeted with a collective of shouts, indicating that the rest of the group had heard her.
She used the technique every now and then, whenever she encountered a Shadow that she could snipe from afar. It was something reserved for Palladion too, so even though she had never attempted to use it after she arrived at Soul Society, she was confident that she could pull it off.
Palladion stirred in anticipation.
Aigis raised her reiatsu.
Her figure cloaked in a white glow, she took aim at the head of the Hollow, currently still gorging on its feast.
The gauntlet morphed, adding a massive, steel coloured cannon to its side. It whirled into life, her reiatsu condensed into a ball of lightning energy at its barrel.
"Palladion number, set."
The Hollow finally deigned to raise its head up to Aigis's perch, the face covered by a round insectoid mask decorated with two horns.
"Maximum charge."
"Get clear!" Niijima roared as the students scrambled to run from the area. The Hollow, realising that it was in danger, leapt upwards at Aigis.
"Heritage Liberator Palladion!"
A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, imagining the various ways this fight could've gone. It's Aigis's first real fight against Hollows, but honestly, she treats them more like Shadows. The next couple chapters have been kicking my ass, so I'm taking my sweet time with it. This means the next chapter may be slightly delayed depending on how quickly I get through my block, but should come out within a month.
Anyone saw the P3R trailers? I won't be getting the game day 1 probably, but I will definitely be watching playthroughs, and seeing if I can incorporate any new lore into the story :3