Chapter 29: Off the leash
Everyone was baffled by what they had just seen as Ichigo not only appeared out of nowhere but landed a devastating attack on Aizen. The rogue looked worse for wear as his right shoulder was bleeding profusely from that attack. The Hogyoku was glowing intensely to heal the man, and right now Aizen could feel himself getting ready to evolve once more. Ichigo stood at the ready with his blade in hand as he continued to give the man his exact same big, toothed grin that was causing the former captain to seethe in rage. It seemed that he underestimated just how dumb the boy was, expecting him to fall for the makeshift barrier to guard the rear where he predicted Ichigo to attack once he returned from Hueco Mundo. He was right about being attacked from behind, but not in the way he was expecting.
"Hey." Ichigo spoke up as he kept his smile towards Aizen.
The man narrowed his eyes in rage and frustration as his wound began to close up. He ran his free hand over it and felt the energy used to wound him. "Strange."
"Hmm?" Ichigo started as he shouldered his blade.
"Your energy is different from what I expected." Aizen felt the energy and saw that it looked and felt like black ink to him. He looked towards the boy with hatred in his eyes. "You have become a thorn in my side and a hindrance to all of my plans, Ichigo Kurosaki."
Ichigo chuckled a bit. "Then maybe you shouldn't have sent Grand Fisher to kill me back then. So technically, this is all your fault."
Aizen's energy began to rise high into the sky as the pressure he was releasing was palpable. Everyone could feel the heavy pressure pressing down on them all as Aizen's body began to become encased by his own energy. Soon enough, he was trapped inside a dome of his own energy as it hardened, and the pressure subsided. Ichigo tilted his head at this as he was genuinely confused by what exactly Aizen just did. Deciding to take a quick breather, Ichigo sat cross legged in the air and sat there in front of the dome of energy.
"Guess I'm waiting for something." Ichigo said in an annoyed tone.
Far off from the dome of Aizen's energy, both Soi-Fon and Hachi felt the pressure subside and took a deep breath to steady themselves. While that was incredible in and of itself, they had a much bigger foe to deal with currently. They turned back to face the self-proclaimed 'God-King of Hueco Mundo', Barragan Louisenbairn, in his resurreccion.
"This is becoming more and more irritating by the damn second." Barragan looked to where Aizen was, his hatred for the soul reaper was no hidden matter as everyone within Las Noches knew he hated the man. The fact that a mere child was enough to scar the man, something none of the Espada could or would do in some cases, was a testament to how weak Aizen was in Barragan's eyes.
"If you have any ideas," Soi-Fon spoke to Hachi through gritted teeth as she was still reeling from firing her Bankai earlier, "now would be the perfect time to use it."
The large man couldn't think of anything at the moment as their opponent simply had the better advantages. His simple presence alone was enough to stop their attacks in their tracks, and his own attacks were too devastating for either of them to take head on.
"Oh well." Barragan started as he turned towards the two. "I'll just have to end this now and deal with it all later."
Barragan raised his axe and swung it down, releasing that same gas as before towards them. Both Soi-Fon and Hachi leapt out of the way to avoid the attack and had to keep moving as the mist began to spread faster than before. While Hachi used several barriers to slow the mist and give himself ample time to get away, Soi-Fon wasn't too lucky as the fatigue from her Bankai was slowing her movements too much and dulled her senses ever so slightly. Those dulled senses unfortunately played a role as she would lose her footing and fall to one of the rooftops in a painful crash. She tried getting up and moving once more as the mist approached her, but she was running on fumes at this point. This was the main reason she hated her Bankai. Not because it was unsuited for stealth or the fact that it was too large and heavy, but the drawback of using up most of her reiryoku in her body.
As the mist got closer to her, the only thing she could think of was the one person she hadn't seen in almost one-hundred years. "Wish I could have seen you one more time, Lady Yoruichi." She closed her eyes and accepted her fate.
The next thing that happened was definitely different to say the least. As soon as Soi-Fon had closed her eyes and waited for death, that was when a few more Gargantas opened up. One of them was not too far from her and the one stepping out of it was none other than Yoruichi Shihouin, and the first thing she was Soi-Fon about to be attacked by some mist.
"Soi-Fon!" She rushed over towards her former student in a true blur and saved her from a terrible fate. Thanks to information from both Halibel and Neliel, Yoruichi knew exactly who that mist belonged to and what it does to people, and did not want that for Soi-Fon.
Yoruichi stood high in the sky as the mist couldn't reach her from that height and looked down at the Espada that tried to kill her little bee. She narrowed her eyes as she and Barragan saw each other and the skeleton of a king raised his axe once more. Yoruichi took a stance, despite having Soi-Fon in her arms, and saw the Espada swing his axe to release more mist towards her. Using her impressive speed, Yoruichi dodged the mist and stood right next to Barragan, surprising him, before delivering a quick and devastating kick to his face. The force of it sent the Espada flying threw a building as Yoruichi used shunpo to stand next Hachi, surprising the large Vizard as well.
"H-How did you-"
"Easy," Yoruichi interrupted him as she placed Soi-Fon down on the rooftop. "A little mix of shunpo and kido. The trick with Barragan is not to be precise, but to get in and out before his rotting can even detect you. I used a kido spell at the last minute to enhance my kick and get out of there as quickly as possible."
"Incredible." Hachi spoke as he began to use his own kido to heal Soi-Fon as much as he could.
The building that Barragan was in began to rot away as he stood there with a cracked skull. "Hmm. It seems you soul reapers can actually provide some entertainment for me." He rose up to the sky and Yoruichi followed. "And who might you be?"
Yoruichi smirked as she unsheathed Munraitokyatto and smirked as she held the blade in a reverse grip. "Yoruichi Shihouin, and I'm your opponent now."
Barragan didn't seem impressed as he launched another wave of mist towards her. Yoruichi dodged with her superior speed and coated her blade in a golden light. She slashed towards the mist that got too close with Barragan expecting the usual result, yet her blade did not deteriorate as it should have.
"What? How?" Barragan nearly shouted in disbelief.
Yoruichi gave no answer as she appeared in front of the Espada and delivered an upward slash that released a strong, golden lightning arch towards him. Barragan yelled in pain as that attack sent him flying back once more. He caught himself using reishi and looked back to her with clear rage in his skeleton eyes. Yoruichi stood there with the same smirk on her face as she readied herself for the next attack.
By now, Soi-Fon had awoken in time to see Hachi looking up to another fight perhaps. She noticed she wasn't dead and thought that it was Hachi that saved her, but those thought changed once she looked to where he was watching. She saw that Barragan was flying back after being hit with some sort of lightning strike. She looked to where the strike originated from, and her breath hitched ever so slightly as she saw the one person, she never thought she would see ever again.
"Lady Yoruichi?"
"That former master of yours is truly spectacular." Hachi spoke.
"What do you-" Soi-Fon was interrupted once Barragan flared his energy in rage. "We need to help her." Soi-Fon stood up, feeling some of her energy return to her now.
"How?" Hachi asked as he saw Soi-Fon look up to Yoruichi and see just how different she looks compared to one-hundred years ago.
"I don't know."
"I think I might." A new voice spoke from behind the two that neither have ever heard before.
Back in the air, Barragan had gone on the offensive as he charged at Yoruichi, swinging his axe towards her. While she was holding him off and even countering him, she knew she had to stay away from him, or his power would get the better of her. She jumped back and twisted her body in mid-air, sending several lightning arches towards Barragan in quick succession. The Espada blocked a few and could tell that his powers were having very little effect on the attacks. He was about to launch another wave of mist towards her when suddenly the two were encased within a large, square space of some kind. Yoruichi stopped and landed on solidified air as she recognized this kido technique.
"Yoruichi!" A familiar voice spoke from the only entrance. She turned and saw Halibel standing near both Hachi and placing a hand on Soi-Fon's shoulder, feeding her energy. "Now's the time to use it! You'll know when it's time!"
Yoruichi nodded to her sparring partner and friend. The two had become close after Yoruichi regained her zanpakuto and began training.
"HALIBEL!?" Barragan yelled out in rage. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!? YOU WOULD SIDE WITH THESE SOUL REAPERS AGAINST YOUR OWN KIND!?"
"No." She answered in a calm tone. "I sided with my friends to stop Aizen. Nothing more and nothing less. You have bigger problems right now."
Suddenly, Yoruichi's power exploded in a spectacular display. She held her zanpakuto in front of her in the reverse grip, so the blade was pointed downward. The blade glowed a fierce golden color once more as it creeped up the blade and onto Yoruichi's hands.
'Ready girl?' Munraitokyatto said through their link in excitement.
"Hell yes." Yoruichi answered in excitement as well.
'Then show this prick real power.'
"Shatter the moon in your embrace, Munraitokyatto!"
The golden light exploded into a pure white color and receded back into Yoruichi's hands, engulfing them both in their white glow. She positioned her arms in an x in front of her before violently separating them both, unleashing the white energy as it crackled all around her like lightning. On her hands now were gauntlets covered in the same pure white energy. They stretched up to just above her elbows and tore away the fabric that was in the way of it. Yoruichi raised her arms near her sides and the white glow followed in a trail that sparked like lightning and faintly sounded like thunder. She smirked as she got into stance once more, arms out in front of her, and the white glow changed her fingers into long pure white claws.
Barragan was in both awe and enraged at this woman and the audacity she had to use something as feeble as this against him. He raised his axe to attack, but the second her did, the claws extended and grabbed his weapon, stopping him in his tracks.
"What?"
Before he could do anything else, Yoruichi was already in front of him, rearing her right hand back and striking the Espada in the face with enough force send him flying back. Unfortunately for him though, Yoruichi still had her left hand on his axe, preventing him from doing so and she reared back to deliver several punches in less than a second to his face and body. Each strike felt like a thousand and he couldn't even fathom how anyone could strike that fast. Yoruichi let his axe go as she brought both hands together and delivered a devastating double clawed strike to his chest and axe, shattering the weapon in the process. Barragan was in a world of pain as he had no idea why his powers weren't working against her. He didn't have enough time to ask as Yoruichi appeared in front of him delivered a vicious uppercut to him.
"Ready?!" Yoruichi yelled out as she looked back towards the entrance.
"Ready!" Soi-Fon yelled back as she felt rejuvenated. "Bankai. Jakuho Raikobon!"
Yoruichi spun around with her arms outstretched as the trail of white energy followed in the shape of a ball. It encased Yoruichi the faster she moved.
"See ya." Soi-Fon said as she fired the large missile towards the still dazed and injured Barragan. The missile soared past the glowing white ball and hit Barragan square in his chest, causing a large explosion as Hachi closed the door to prevent it from escaping. He had apprehensions of letting Yoruichi stay in there but was reassured by Halibel.
The explosion inside lasted for what seemed like an eternity as the barrier was shaking and cracking from the sheer force of the explosion. Eventually it subsided and the barrier fell. The white ball was still there and slowly receded as Yoruichi stopped spinning and stood there, waiting for the results of their combined efforts. Once the dust settled, Barragan was barely holding on to his form. A massive hole had appeared on his chest and half of his skull head was gone. His body began to disintegrate from the point of the explosion as he stood there in disbelief.
"I-Im-Impossible."
Those were the last words of the self-proclaimed God-King of Hueco Mundo as he was turned to dust in the wind.
Yoruichi breathed a sigh of relief as the energy dissipated and went back to her zanpakuto. She lowered herself down to the rooftop the others had just went to and stood in front of Soi-Fon. She had been dreading this day, but knew it had to happen regardless of how she felt about it.
"Soi-Fon," she started with a softened expression. "I'm sorry."
Soi-Fon stood there in surprise as she did not expect this kind of reaction from her former mentor.
"I'm sorry for-" Before she could finish her sentence, Aizen's spiritual pressure bared down on all of them.
They all turned to the dome Ichigo was standing in front of only for both Yoruichi and Halibel to look on in horror as Aizen had Ichigo by the throat.
Gonna end this chapter here. First chapter of 2025. This year has already started off as a headache on my life for now. Hopefully next month will be better.
Anyway, next chapter will have the fight between Ichigo and Aizen.
Stay awesome, and as always...
PEACE!