Wrote this while listening to Shiro SAGiSU: Invasion, then Treachery came in for the clutch.
Behemoth, a creature of Power, brute strength and heat, finally understood the true meaning of fire, as it's flesh spontaneously combusted.
The sound was tortured, like two mountains grinding against each other—a cacophony of noise without meaning, only pure and distilled agony.
It was a sound that silenced the budding whispers and muttering that filled the ground level as people recovered from experiencing Yamamoto's reiatsu.
It was a familiar sound for Yamamoto, even if it wasn't one the creature must've bellowed out before now. He doubted the Endbringer had the necessary physiology to process pain, nerves, skin, tissues. Throughout its fight with the superpowered whelps, Yamamoto had watched them inflict damage after damage. Little as they might've been, none had truly hurt it.
Not like a fire that was more than physical flames. The Endbringer screamed, and Yamamoto felt it try to manipulate the flames as it did all others, for fire was within its purview and domain. But it was mistaken in that.
Ryujin Jakka's flames were not simply mundane fire or energy that could be manipulated at a whim with the brute force the Endbringer used on others. His flames were a manifestation of his immense reiatsu, shaped and given form by the power of his soul, and sparked alight by his indomitable will.
Layers of Behemoth's rough, textured, scaly hide began to peel and slough off its frame, and the creature continued its screams, the sound tearing its way through the suddenly quiet city, shaking its foundations as the defenders were forced to witness a sight that defied all they knew before now.
Yamamoto was impressed with its durability. Even seconds later, the creature continued to struggle in its binding, even as its frame was burnt and destroyed, falling off with each second the Endbringer lived through the flames his Shikai brought forth. The same Shikai that was a match for many captain-class Shinigami full Bankai.
Somehow, the creature was adapting to the fire, using its control of energy to somehow dampen the heat generated instead of simply the fire Itself. An act that proved his original thought correct. His Shikai alone wouldn't be enough to kill the beast, even if the majority of his flames had robbed it of most of what seemed like armor-clad skin.
The fire generated by his Shikai was too slow to destroy it, especially spread over its body, which made it clear that it was not the best way to rid himself of the creature. It was a hammer instead of a scalpel. Yamamoto required a single attack of such proportions that the creature simply couldn't resist—something powerful enough to get past its durability with a single hit.
Unfortunately for the monster, Yamamoto had a long list of options at his disposal. Yet, fortunately for it, the most readily available was out of his reach. Unleashing his Bankai here would reduce more than half the capes to ashes in an instant. Then, there was the second thing. Behemoth's screams and cries had not gone unheard, coupled with Yamamoto's act of upending the very fabric of the mortal world. Others were beginning to pay attention.
He could feel two new signatures, both tearing their way toward them. The strongest one was noticeably faster than the weaker one, but the weaker was simply a matter of perspective; compared to the humans he had seen, these two were firmly in a class of their own.
One came from above, falling from the firmament that separated the heavens from the earth, while the other tore its way through the skies from the other side of the world. They were still at least minutes away.
"He's breaking free!" Hero shouted at Yamamoto from his position below him, and Yamamoto turned his attention to the captured Endbringer. The creature had caused a localized earthquake that weakened the Bakudo's grip on the ground.
The spell might be more than physical, but it still required a physical anchor which was the ground it rested on.
The Endbringer let out another roar of pain and effort, its screams sending debris farther away from it as it surged against its binding while washed in the flames formed from Yamamoto's Shikai.
Snap.
One of the fabrics tore apart, and for a second, Yamamoto considered falling back on the second incarnation to reinforce the seal trapping the Endbringer, but that act was simply a stalling process. His goal had never been to simply seal the creature.
Already, the Endbringer was showing a greater level of strength than it had earlier. It had lost almost half its body, and yet it refused to die. Its inhuman biology meant it possessed different kinds of redundancies and systems set in place to survive what should've killed it ten times over.
Yet he was certain the creature possessed a weak point, but he did not have the time to explore it. Not when the two signatures were getting closer with every wasted breath.
Snap.
Another binding tore free, and Behemoth was loose once more. But it didn't attack. The Endbringer changed its strategy in that second it was free, for it ran.
Small, building-sized clawed hands slammed into the weak and already destabilized ground beneath it, and it dug. Ripping up the earth with a final roar of effort, it slipped beneath the cracked ground, digging deeper with each breath. The farther it got into the earth, the weaker the flames brought upon by Yamamoto, and within seconds even that was extinguished.
The city was silent for a heartbeat, then there were yells. Screams of joy and happiness tore through the deserted and devastated city as the survivors celebrated, happy to have chased away the beast, delighted at the simple act of surviving. They were satisfied with what they had accomplished, everyone but Yamamoto.
Hero drifted up on sparkling feet to meet him and regarded him with an open smile. "We won."
"It still lives."
"It's impossible to kill an Endbringer, Old Man. We take enough joy in just fighting them off, especially with what seems like the lowest casualties since the first time the Hero Killer appeared," Legend added as he drifted to a stop alongside Alexandria.
Yamamoto was vaguely surprised to note that he had taken to calling them by their given names in his head. Perhaps they deserved it, considering they stood in the face of the Endbringer time after time, coupled with their bravery fueling them to still come close to him.
The two heroes wore guarded expressions of relief and worry as they stared at him, then at the hole in the cracked ground that Yamamoto continued to gaze into, for he had never deigned to look in their direction. "I apologize for Eidolon's words earlier. We are on edge and—"
"What nonsense," Yamamoto interrupted the spiel the whelp had been about to launch into. He cut a glance at their confused forms. Thin red eyes trailed over their bruised and battered figures before finishing his statement. "Do not delude yourself, whelp. All things die, even gods. That it still draws breath is an affront to the effort I have put in. I will rectify that shortly."
With that parting statement, Yamamoto stretched out his spiritual sense once more, searching for the creature of fire and stone. It had dug its way into the earth furiously, running to the deepest part of the earth in a vain attempt to escape his wrath. But it was not so easy for Yamamoto's grasp was a far-reaching thing.
He took a step, leaving the trio behind, and appeared directly over the spot where Behemoth had retreated. Reversing his grip on his sword in one fluid motion, the tip pointing toward the ground, he called out:
"Hado #96: Itto Kasō."
He felt the sacrifice take effect—a searing, immediate pain as all five fingernails on his sole hand were obliterated in an instant, like molten needles driving through his flesh. But he barely let out a grunt in acknowledgment.
His focus remained unbroken. His thin eyes burned with the simple desire to see his foe brought to ruin before him, and his reiatsu surged once more, wrapping him in its scorching heat. The air itself rippled and cracked as the spell activated, a massive fiery blade of spiritual energy erupting from deep beneath the earth.
The ground trembled and shattered as the monumental pillar of flame burst forth, slicing through stone and soil with unstoppable force. The blade continued upward, a towering inferno shaped like a katana, its fiery edge humming. Impaled on its length was Behemoth, caught in the wake of the blazing inferno.
The Endbringer let out a primal roar, its massive form forced upward by the sheer impact. Despite its weight, it was lifted from the depths of the earth. What was left of It's dark, monstrous skin burned and crackled where the blade touched, flames licking at its form, searing through its dense hide. Yet the blade did not penetrate completely for the deepest layers of the creature rebuffed the sheer destructive energy of the spell.
For a spell that demanded sacrifice and worked on the law of equivalent exchange, fingernails were the least he could offer. Such a small sacrifice could hardly kill the Endbringer. But Yamamoto was not focused on the spell's destructiveness. He simply needed to force the Endbringer out of the hole it had dug for itself.
The molten blade of Hado #96 was buried deep enough into the Endbringer to push it further upward, away from the land it had dominated for years. The celebrations that had followed its retreat came to a sudden halt as the gathered heroes were forced to make a hasty retreat.
Yamamoto spoke again, but this time his voice was low, hoarse—weakened. Two rapid-fire #90-ranked Kido was an act beyond any Kido expert. Three was an act above most Kido masters. But he was Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. His will bent the world, and his words stole its very breath.
"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."
Throughout his chant, the Endbringer continued to struggle, and Itto Kasō began to flicker, the Kido drawing to the end of its lifespan. But it had lasted long enough. Yamamoto stared into the lone, wide eye of the Endbringer as he finished the chant:
"Hado #90: Kurohitsugi."
Yamamoto's reiatsu surged for the final time, creating a dense, oppressive aura that distorted the very air around them. The sky darkened as the greddy Kido sought to consume the sun itself.
Behemoth sensed what was coming as it finally broke free from Itto Kasō and dropped to the ground with an earth-shaking fall in a desperate attempt to flee again, but it was too late.
In an instant, the beginning of the black coffin descended—a Kido that twisted time and space with the crushing weight of concentrated gravity.
Jagged lines of purple and black reiatsu carved themselves into reality, twisting the very space around them as they rapidly formed the outline of an enormous rectangular box, a coffin of pure darkness, large enough to envelop even Behemoth's colossal form.
The Endbringer surged forward, lashing out with everything it had: beams of condensed lightning, superheated waves of energy, and thunderous blows that shook the world.
Futile.
The jagged lines of black and purple repulsed every attack, completing the outline. The coffin slammed shut with a deafening finality. Even meters away, outside the coffin, the air was absolute, crushing, and suffocating as spears of black energy suddenly twisted and erupted, stabbing deep into the box.
Countless spikes of raw, destructive power sprouted and pierced through the coffin from all directions, front, back, and sides mercilessly perforating the creature within.
The final spike was a giant, twisted cross-shaped implement that bloomed directly in the middle, striking and manifesting in an act that truly blotted out the sun.
Silence followed as a death knell was rung.
The world held its breath as the coffin slowly broke into reishi particles, dissolving into the ether to reveal Behemoth, or more accurately, what was left of the First Endbringer.
The Endbringer stood, one of its massive horns missing, its single eye wide, dull, and glassy. Massive holes, created by the twist of time and space, littered its body. Holes so large one could drive a locomotive through them, with the most prominent one being the one inflicted by the last great spike. Coring Behemoth from the base of its neck.
Yet the Endbringer stood defiant, its form twisted and broken, yet it stood. For a moment, it seemed as though light was about to return to its dull eyes, as sparks ignited... and then, It fell unceremoniously.
Behemoth was dead.
Yamamoto let out a single shuddering breath, almost staggering. The full brunt of multiple #90 Kido drained him, ladening him with exhaustion. But that was the only weakness he allowed himself.
Another breath later, he forced himself upright. Spine straight, body held up by sheer will. His reiatsu had dipped to levels he had not endured in decades, yet he already felt stronger with every breath he took.
He eyed the multitude of shocked onlookers scattered across the city, including the four whelps that hovered around him. The last one, Eidolon, had finally drifted up to join his teammates as they stared at the dead form of the Endbringer. Yamamoto's gaze drifted upward. His grip on his blade tightened.
The sky above them parted, the few clouds that had survived bearing witness to the calamities that had unfolded, shifting to the side as another presence appeared. Multiple wide, unending wings spread out as a towering white figure descended—a pale white woman with blank, empty eyes and a placid expression to match Unohana's.
The being drifted to a stop above Behemoth's corpse, staring at Yamamoto. She stared the same way the first Hollows stared at balancers as they disrupted their gorging on unprotected human souls.
Alongside her came a weirdly constructed machine, still being arranged and manipulated in front of her. It was shaped like a speaker, with coils and other electronic settings. A ramshackle, hasty creation with a purpose unknown.
A crack echoed through the air, a solid boom so great Yamamoto felt it rattle his bones and destroy whatever was left of the glass within a ten-kilometer radius. A second later, another being entered his range, a golden nothing, another facade of a man, with long hair, a trim beard, and a forlorn look in its eyes as it stared at Yamamoto.
The three beings of immense power stood locked in a tense, silent standoff, their eyes fixed on one another over the shattered remains of a fourth.
The golden being was the first to break the silence, its gaze turning to Behemoth's broken form with an inscrutable expression. Then it shifted its attention to Yamamoto.
Its stare might have been unnerving if Yamamoto hadn't forgotten what that particular emotion felt like centuries ago.
"This was not supposed to happen, at least not yet." the golden being said with a clinical detachment that even Yamamoto could not achieve. Such was its dispassion and apathy.
"Everything has a purpose. Your act here disrupts it."
There was a shift in the being, one that Yamamoto could not decipher. His grip on the blade tightened as he stared at it in response. Finally, the golden figure raised its head to meet Yamamoto's eyes once more.
"Balance should be restored, shouldn't it?" it mumbled to Yamamoto, who met it with a flat stare. The golden other spoke like it was there but not truly there, and Yamamoto did not think the question was one that had to be answered. Realizing no reply was forthcoming, the golden figure turned to the white being, who didn't reply as well. It shifted its attention one final time to the whelp in green robes before turning away. As it departed, it left a shimmering trail of gold in its wake.
Yamamoto was left with the winged woman.
They eyed each other for a long moment. Then, her gaze shifted to the corpse beneath her.
With one threat gone, Yamamoto focused the full weight of his reiatsu on the winged woman. In response, her head snapped up, her machine humming to life beside her.
Without a second glance—not even sparing another for the fallen Endbringer—she began to ascend, the strange contraption in tow.
Leaving Yamamoto to remain alone in the sky.
No Bankai for you guys. And yes, Hado #90 is ridiculously powerful when it comes down to it's mechanics. Dangai Ichigo was just ridiculous Hax.
The chant i was referencing in the last chaper was the Bakudo chant not Yamamoto's Shikai release.