Chapter 400
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Chapter 400:
Despite the many eyes on me, I looked down at the prize in my hand.... or rather in Aizen's hand. I was technically still holding his hand. His cleanly severed hand was still clutching tight to the marble thing in a small hexagonal barrier around it.
I admit, I was surprised to see him so quickly decide to cut his own hand off to escape.
Credit where it was due, I may not have the same resolve to pull out abruptly like that.
Then again, I can understand, one of my strongest spells intertwined with my Divine Lightning would make for a very intimidating sight.
Hell, I felt uncomfortable after taking my own attack and I was able to negate the majority of it. I wondered if this was the same as a God of Strength punching themselves in the face?
I carefully pried away the fingers of the severed hand and with a second to think about it, I tossed it in my ring. You never know when a Shinigami's hand was going to come in....handy.
[You deserve to die for that pun]
Oh get over it, you know I can be a....handfull.
[Don't you dare start.]
Fine, priorities anyways.
I looked at the marble and down at the Gauntlet.
Mind holding onto this for now?
[Why me?]
I actually don't know what this is and it's giving me some small amount of hesitation now that I look at it. I'd rather you hold onto it instead of putting it in my Ring. You held onto the Eye of Magnus for a while, I think it should be fine in your hands.
The Boosted Gear glowed, and the Marble disappeared from my grasp. I decided to dismiss the Boosted Gear and return it to inside my soul.
[Uh...brat]
What?
Your....baby spirit, it wants the thing you gave me.
...what?
I couldn't help but furrow my brow.
What do you mean?
[As soon as I took it in, it's been almost clawing at me to get ahold of it.]
...do I let it have it? I didn't know if my nascent spirit even was capable of higher-level thought, was it purely instinct driving it at this moment? If so, would it want something that could harm it then? There were tons of possibilities to consider, what if –
[I gave it.]
...Thanks, Ddraig.
[No problem.]
Well, I suppose I'll see the side effects of this later, because it appears as though we're going for a second round here.
I noticed as Aizen sent me glares not far away once the dust settled.
No, that wasn't quite right, what's the thing beyond glares? I'm fairly sure I would be on fire if it was any more intense.
And he was missing his right hand.
Funny enough, neither his wrist nor the hand itself were leaking blood everywhere, thankfully. That's mostly due to the fact that my spell cauterized the wounds. Aizen seemed to have gotten hit by the tail end of it. He was only mildly roughed up instead of taking the full brunt of my Divine Lightning.
He was trembling as he looked at me, and I was fairly sure it wasn't because of the residual pain. His lips twisted back in a barely contained snarl. "Espada!" He roared at the top of his lungs.
The space behind him pulled back, revealing several new figures stepping through.
...were those Hollows?
There were a few with visible holes in their chests and what looked like remnants of masks or that white armor-like skin that they seemed to have. But otherwise, there was very little to tell them apart from Shinigami besides their mimicking white uniforms.
Other than the feeling of being, well, Hollows compared to Shinigami
"Huh....I didn't know Hollows could look like that."
"I thought they were only legends." A voice sounded next to me. "Arrancar."
I glanced at the person who stood at my side. "Sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced."
He glanced up to me and scoffed. "Hitsugaya Tōshirō, Captain of the 10th Division." He introduced himself curtly, though there was a noticeable weariness to him as he inspected me closely.
"Weren't you fighting the masked...wrestler – Quincy guy?" I glanced back at him seeing his clothing looked muffled and some minor wounds and bruising.
"I – "
"BURN ALL CREATION TO ASH – RYUJIN JAKKA." An absolute massive amount of Reiatsu enveloped all of Soul Society and a searing heat could be felt at my back.
"....The Captain Commander had joined the battle and my.....abilities would be best served far away." He twitched.
Even Aizen and these 'Espada' who looked like they were about to attack had paused and I couldn't hold back my curiosity. I turned around to look and I saw Gramps fighting against six Quincy, all of them were easily at the level of the Captains here.
"Yeah, I'm staying far away from that." I noted.
He sounded angry.
"Ara, I haven't seen the Old Man that angry in a long time." Shunsui joined us with a flash of Shunpo. He tilted his half cut hat, covering some wounds up himself. "Captain – Traitor, Ichimaru Gin snuck away during the confusion."
"Captain Kyōraku." Hitsugaya greeted, gripping his sword tightly.
"Captain Hitsugaya." Shunsui nodded. "Can't use your ice near the Old Man?"
The smaller Captain grunted. "Even this far away...."
"Ice is it?" I questioned. "I suppose I could give you a hand with that." Because the average strength of the enemies here was nothing to scoff at. If they all attacked me at once, I would most certainly be in a bad spot.
"Looks like we got one more." Shunsui smiled. "Just in time, Ukitake."
"Shunsui, and Captain Hitsugaya." One last person joined our little group. Long white hair, and a rather gentle demeanor about him. "And.....Ryoka." He looked at my still deployed wings.
I crossed my arms, putting them away. And he wasn't the only one staring.
"Captain Ukitake Jushirō, Captain of the 13th Division." He smiled. "Thank you for protecting Rukia."
Ah, this was her Captain. But there was something....strange about him that was somewhat familiar. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Thank the kids, I was just a tag along." I waved him off. "But I believe we have other things to focus on."
"Hollows with Zanpakutō." He hummed. "I only heard stories about them."
"Feim Zii Gron." I spoke aloud, becoming an ethereal body right as both of them launched their attacks.
The condensed Reiryoku shot forward from both ends, passing over one another. Ulquiorra dodged out of the way without any issue, but the other one wasn't so lucky. He brought up his weapon to block, but it had a good amount of force condensed.
I used that opportunity to open up a portal behind him as his ally's own attack sent him hurling back through it.
Out of the corner of my eye, he was dropped right in the middle of the Quincy on the other side while the Old Man was going on a warpath.
That should help both sides as I'm fairly sure Quincy and Hollows were very much enemies as well.
"I see." The Hollow frowned, appearing within my vision a few dozen yards away. He took his other hand out of his pocket and let out a breath. "You will not be easy to deal with. I will end this as quickly as I can." He grabbed his sword from its sheath. "Enclose, Murciélago." A green hue enveloped the area with the sudden intense climb of the Hollow's Reiatsu. It was dense enough that it mimicked rain that fell from the sky
I got a better look at him at this point. He originally had half a head piece bone thing on his head, but now it looked like a proper headpiece that centered on his head. But the most eye catching thing was the bat-like wings that sprouted behind his back as he lightly took to the air.
Can Hollows Bankai now!?
I'm not jealous.
Nope.
"I think that's cultural appropriation." I snorted, my own wings popping back out as I floated up to be level with him.
He didn't rise to my joke. "I was not aware of your species' existence until this moment." He said without any emotion. "But it does not matter." He held out his hand and a spear construct made of his Reiryoku formed with that same hue. "I am Ulquiorra Cifer, the Fourth Espada. Prepare yourself." He intoned.
He flapped his wings once and shot forward. Fast, extremely fast, to the point where I had to focus to keep up.
Dawnbreaker raised up and his spear collided with it, the force of the blow sent me hurling backwards towards the ground, my feet shattered the stone underneath as I forced myself to stay upright.
His left arm shot out, trying to grab hold of my head. I tilted it to the side and instead grabbed his arm with my own. "You're strong." I commented as his eyes flashed.
I felt like this wasn't even his highest level for some reason.
Well, let's see what he's got.
[***]
Izanami POV
What a chaotic mess this was.
There were Hollows pouring in through the tears in space they opened in the sky. There were even more Hollows that appeared near Wilhelm, much stronger and humanoid looking. I did not like them.
There were these Quincy that were running around and being general nuisances.
And the Shinigami that were trying to fight all of them at the same time.
And Wilhelm was correct, their leader did feel similar to my Daughter. The moment he released his flames, if not for the lack of Divinity, I would have wondered if my Daughter had descended. Granted, it wasn't quite up to par, but at the same time, I recalled they have another stage of release with their swords.
Very impressive for a non-God.
At least the children had the common sense to not jump into this mess.
No, they were standing off to the side with the...healers. They were gathering the wounded and providing medical aid and other life saving measures.
I watched with mild amusement as Wilhelm apparently dropped one of those humanoid Hollows right in the middle of the Quincy. His portals were very particular and easy to notice in a crowd.
It turned out as well as one would expect. A strange three way fight where the Hollow did its best to survive. It did a thing where its power increased drastically and grew two extra hands, a scythe in each one, but it didn't hold up well while trying to fend off both sides with only himself.
I looked up to the sky to see.... regular hollows, for lack of a better term, begin to overwhelm the non-Captain Shinigami that were trying to restrain them.
Watching it, I supposed I could lend a hand.
I raised my hand up, and clenched my fist, destroying about a hundred or so of the fairly large creatures. It was enough to give them some breathing room.
Out of the corner of my eye, I did keep watch on Wilhelm. Perhaps I was worrying over nothing, there were not many here who could put up a genuine fight against him.. Unless he used one of his Sacred Gears or called upon my Son's Authority, I was not overly concerned. However, there was something to be said about the number of beings here who did reach a certain threshold.
Numbers should not be overlooked.
Otherwise, I did not care much. Beyond a hail of those Light Arrows that poured down from time to time that I stopped, there were not many who dared venture close here. These Shinigami set up some makeshift barriers around the immediate area for emergency treatments I would presume, so I did not have to intervene.
However, I was starting to get annoyed with the ongoing conflict. It was just getting messier and messier which just further irritated me. Even the buildings below began to be destroyed and the stronghold of these Shinigami was starting to become engrossed in this conflict.
I raised an eyebrow as something shot fast towards our direction. I raised my hand up and slapped it out of the sky, causing a crater in the already disturbed rock formation we were standing on.
I did not know how much longer this thing would last, thanks to Wilhelm casting such a large spell.
There was the amusing thought of seeing how they would react to Wilhelm revealing his Devil heritage so publicly after the fighting stopped. I was surprised he did so, but then again, he does tend to be bluntly dismissive of it for some reason.
The person I had smacked down pushed themselves free of the rocks that now covered them. They did not look to be in the best of shape. No, it was a short, fat man with....half a beard and covered in substantial burns. I'm assumed his beard wasn't always that way. He pushed himself up to his feet, supporting his weight with a staff reminiscent of Caduceus but an eye in the center with wings on the side.
I wasn't the only one who noticed him, the others did too and were prepared to fight.
"Healers?" He perked up. "Perfect~" He smiled....lewdly and it made me feel very uncomfortable. "You all love me and don't want to see me hurt, right~?" He winked, putting his hand in the shape of a heart. "Love Kiss~" He cried out and a massive heart-shaped projectile was launched outwards.
Since the kids were behind me, I reached out and snatched this weird ability before it could go beyond me.
And that was when I felt it.
"Rude, rude. Don't hog all of my love to yourself." He danced side to side with a chiding tone to his voice. "Move aside darling~ PePe's love is for everyone." He held his hands in the shape of a heart again and I felt a fury overtake me.
With nostrils flared, I grabbed his face and slammed it into the ground.
"Y-y-you aren't effected by my love!?" The short and fat man cried out in confusion as I pulled him up, still holding him up by his head. "Love Kiss!" He called out again, several more times powerful than the previous one.
It washed over me and my anger just increased. "When that Shinigami thought to reinterpret my senses, I was amused. When your kin attempted to instill fear into me, I found it adorable. And now...." I tossed him to the ground. "I am no longer laughing."
"H-how dare you reject my love!" His expression shifted from one of confusion and hesitance to fury as if I did him some great wrong but not being affected by his ability.
"Now I find myself utterly devoid of patience. I do not have much love left inside of me. It's reserved for a precious few people. And you tried to usurp it for yourself."
His ability to seemingly force love and obedience in others.
He reached into his own mouth, disgustingly pulling out a bow and arrow made of that spiritual matter. He attempted to fire the arrow at me, but I simply flicked it away.
"I am officially done." I declared, reaching out into the air.
I will end this farce.
I felt creation churn at the movement, pulling on the thing I have kept sealed away for centuries. I normally did not like using It, but at this moment, I was pissed off and I simply didn't want to deal with this nonsense anymore. Space distorted and the very ground trembled as I attempted to bring It out into the world once more.
"Congratulations, Mortal, you have earned my full wrath. I am Izanami-no-Mikoto, Goddess of Death, and you will know my wrath. Come, Amenonuhoko." I declared as reality split apart at Its arrival.
[***]
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Chapter 400:
Despite the many eyes on me, I looked down at the prize in my hand.... or rather in Aizen's hand. I was technically still holding his hand. His cleanly severed hand was still clutching tight to the marble thing in a small hexagonal barrier around it.
I admit, I was surprised to see him so quickly decide to cut his own hand off to escape.
Credit where it was due, I may not have the same resolve to pull out abruptly like that.
Then again, I can understand, one of my strongest spells intertwined with my Divine Lightning would make for a very intimidating sight.
Hell, I felt uncomfortable after taking my own attack and I was able to negate the majority of it. I wondered if this was the same as a God of Strength punching themselves in the face?
I carefully pried away the fingers of the severed hand and with a second to think about it, I tossed it in my ring. You never know when a Shinigami's hand was going to come in....handy.
[You deserve to die for that pun]
Oh get over it, you know I can be a....handfull.
[Don't you dare start.]
Fine, priorities anyways.
I looked at the marble and down at the Gauntlet.
Mind holding onto this for now?
[Why me?]
I actually don't know what this is and it's giving me some small amount of hesitation now that I look at it. I'd rather you hold onto it instead of putting it in my Ring. You held onto the Eye of Magnus for a while, I think it should be fine in your hands.
The Boosted Gear glowed, and the Marble disappeared from my grasp. I decided to dismiss the Boosted Gear and return it to inside my soul.
[Uh...brat]
What?
Your....baby spirit, it wants the thing you gave me.
...what?
I couldn't help but furrow my brow.
What do you mean?
[As soon as I took it in, it's been almost clawing at me to get ahold of it.]
...do I let it have it? I didn't know if my nascent spirit even was capable of higher-level thought, was it purely instinct driving it at this moment? If so, would it want something that could harm it then? There were tons of possibilities to consider, what if –
[I gave it.]
...Thanks, Ddraig.
[No problem.]
Well, I suppose I'll see the side effects of this later, because it appears as though we're going for a second round here.
I noticed as Aizen sent me glares not far away once the dust settled.
No, that wasn't quite right, what's the thing beyond glares? I'm fairly sure I would be on fire if it was any more intense.
And he was missing his right hand.
Funny enough, neither his wrist nor the hand itself were leaking blood everywhere, thankfully. That's mostly due to the fact that my spell cauterized the wounds. Aizen seemed to have gotten hit by the tail end of it. He was only mildly roughed up instead of taking the full brunt of my Divine Lightning.
He was trembling as he looked at me, and I was fairly sure it wasn't because of the residual pain. His lips twisted back in a barely contained snarl. "Espada!" He roared at the top of his lungs.
The space behind him pulled back, revealing several new figures stepping through.
...were those Hollows?
There were a few with visible holes in their chests and what looked like remnants of masks or that white armor-like skin that they seemed to have. But otherwise, there was very little to tell them apart from Shinigami besides their mimicking white uniforms.
Other than the feeling of being, well, Hollows compared to Shinigami
"Huh....I didn't know Hollows could look like that."
"I thought they were only legends." A voice sounded next to me. "Arrancar."
I glanced at the person who stood at my side. "Sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced."
He glanced up to me and scoffed. "Hitsugaya Tōshirō, Captain of the 10th Division." He introduced himself curtly, though there was a noticeable weariness to him as he inspected me closely.
"Weren't you fighting the masked...wrestler – Quincy guy?" I glanced back at him seeing his clothing looked muffled and some minor wounds and bruising.
"I – "
"BURN ALL CREATION TO ASH – RYUJIN JAKKA." An absolute massive amount of Reiatsu enveloped all of Soul Society and a searing heat could be felt at my back.
"....The Captain Commander had joined the battle and my.....abilities would be best served far away." He twitched.
Even Aizen and these 'Espada' who looked like they were about to attack had paused and I couldn't hold back my curiosity. I turned around to look and I saw Gramps fighting against six Quincy, all of them were easily at the level of the Captains here.
"Yeah, I'm staying far away from that." I noted.
He sounded angry.
"Ara, I haven't seen the Old Man that angry in a long time." Shunsui joined us with a flash of Shunpo. He tilted his half cut hat, covering some wounds up himself. "Captain – Traitor, Ichimaru Gin snuck away during the confusion."
"Captain Kyōraku." Hitsugaya greeted, gripping his sword tightly.
"Captain Hitsugaya." Shunsui nodded. "Can't use your ice near the Old Man?"
The smaller Captain grunted. "Even this far away...."
"Ice is it?" I questioned. "I suppose I could give you a hand with that." Because the average strength of the enemies here was nothing to scoff at. If they all attacked me at once, I would most certainly be in a bad spot.
"Looks like we got one more." Shunsui smiled. "Just in time, Ukitake."
"Shunsui, and Captain Hitsugaya." One last person joined our little group. Long white hair, and a rather gentle demeanor about him. "And.....Ryoka." He looked at my still deployed wings.
I crossed my arms, putting them away. And he wasn't the only one staring.
"Captain Ukitake Jushirō, Captain of the 13th Division." He smiled. "Thank you for protecting Rukia."
Ah, this was her Captain. But there was something....strange about him that was somewhat familiar. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Thank the kids, I was just a tag along." I waved him off. "But I believe we have other things to focus on."
"Hollows with Zanpakutō." He hummed. "I only heard stories about them."
"Feim Zii Gron." I spoke aloud, becoming an ethereal body right as both of them launched their attacks.
The condensed Reiryoku shot forward from both ends, passing over one another. Ulquiorra dodged out of the way without any issue, but the other one wasn't so lucky. He brought up his weapon to block, but it had a good amount of force condensed.
I used that opportunity to open up a portal behind him as his ally's own attack sent him hurling back through it.
Out of the corner of my eye, he was dropped right in the middle of the Quincy on the other side while the Old Man was going on a warpath.
That should help both sides as I'm fairly sure Quincy and Hollows were very much enemies as well.
"I see." The Hollow frowned, appearing within my vision a few dozen yards away. He took his other hand out of his pocket and let out a breath. "You will not be easy to deal with. I will end this as quickly as I can." He grabbed his sword from its sheath. "Enclose, Murciélago." A green hue enveloped the area with the sudden intense climb of the Hollow's Reiatsu. It was dense enough that it mimicked rain that fell from the sky
I got a better look at him at this point. He originally had half a head piece bone thing on his head, but now it looked like a proper headpiece that centered on his head. But the most eye catching thing was the bat-like wings that sprouted behind his back as he lightly took to the air.
Can Hollows Bankai now!?
I'm not jealous.
Nope.
"I think that's cultural appropriation." I snorted, my own wings popping back out as I floated up to be level with him.
He didn't rise to my joke. "I was not aware of your species' existence until this moment." He said without any emotion. "But it does not matter." He held out his hand and a spear construct made of his Reiryoku formed with that same hue. "I am Ulquiorra Cifer, the Fourth Espada. Prepare yourself." He intoned.
He flapped his wings once and shot forward. Fast, extremely fast, to the point where I had to focus to keep up.
Dawnbreaker raised up and his spear collided with it, the force of the blow sent me hurling backwards towards the ground, my feet shattered the stone underneath as I forced myself to stay upright.
His left arm shot out, trying to grab hold of my head. I tilted it to the side and instead grabbed his arm with my own. "You're strong." I commented as his eyes flashed.
I felt like this wasn't even his highest level for some reason.
Well, let's see what he's got.
[***]
Izanami POV
What a chaotic mess this was.
There were Hollows pouring in through the tears in space they opened in the sky. There were even more Hollows that appeared near Wilhelm, much stronger and humanoid looking. I did not like them.
There were these Quincy that were running around and being general nuisances.
And the Shinigami that were trying to fight all of them at the same time.
And Wilhelm was correct, their leader did feel similar to my Daughter. The moment he released his flames, if not for the lack of Divinity, I would have wondered if my Daughter had descended. Granted, it wasn't quite up to par, but at the same time, I recalled they have another stage of release with their swords.
Very impressive for a non-God.
At least the children had the common sense to not jump into this mess.
No, they were standing off to the side with the...healers. They were gathering the wounded and providing medical aid and other life saving measures.
I watched with mild amusement as Wilhelm apparently dropped one of those humanoid Hollows right in the middle of the Quincy. His portals were very particular and easy to notice in a crowd.
It turned out as well as one would expect. A strange three way fight where the Hollow did its best to survive. It did a thing where its power increased drastically and grew two extra hands, a scythe in each one, but it didn't hold up well while trying to fend off both sides with only himself.
I looked up to the sky to see.... regular hollows, for lack of a better term, begin to overwhelm the non-Captain Shinigami that were trying to restrain them.
Watching it, I supposed I could lend a hand.
I raised my hand up, and clenched my fist, destroying about a hundred or so of the fairly large creatures. It was enough to give them some breathing room.
Out of the corner of my eye, I did keep watch on Wilhelm. Perhaps I was worrying over nothing, there were not many here who could put up a genuine fight against him.. Unless he used one of his Sacred Gears or called upon my Son's Authority, I was not overly concerned. However, there was something to be said about the number of beings here who did reach a certain threshold.
Numbers should not be overlooked.
Otherwise, I did not care much. Beyond a hail of those Light Arrows that poured down from time to time that I stopped, there were not many who dared venture close here. These Shinigami set up some makeshift barriers around the immediate area for emergency treatments I would presume, so I did not have to intervene.
However, I was starting to get annoyed with the ongoing conflict. It was just getting messier and messier which just further irritated me. Even the buildings below began to be destroyed and the stronghold of these Shinigami was starting to become engrossed in this conflict.
I raised an eyebrow as something shot fast towards our direction. I raised my hand up and slapped it out of the sky, causing a crater in the already disturbed rock formation we were standing on.
I did not know how much longer this thing would last, thanks to Wilhelm casting such a large spell.
There was the amusing thought of seeing how they would react to Wilhelm revealing his Devil heritage so publicly after the fighting stopped. I was surprised he did so, but then again, he does tend to be bluntly dismissive of it for some reason.
The person I had smacked down pushed themselves free of the rocks that now covered them. They did not look to be in the best of shape. No, it was a short, fat man with....half a beard and covered in substantial burns. I'm assumed his beard wasn't always that way. He pushed himself up to his feet, supporting his weight with a staff reminiscent of Caduceus but an eye in the center with wings on the side.
I wasn't the only one who noticed him, the others did too and were prepared to fight.
"Healers?" He perked up. "Perfect~" He smiled....lewdly and it made me feel very uncomfortable. "You all love me and don't want to see me hurt, right~?" He winked, putting his hand in the shape of a heart. "Love Kiss~" He cried out and a massive heart-shaped projectile was launched outwards.
Since the kids were behind me, I reached out and snatched this weird ability before it could go beyond me.
And that was when I felt it.
"Rude, rude. Don't hog all of my love to yourself." He danced side to side with a chiding tone to his voice. "Move aside darling~ PePe's love is for everyone." He held his hands in the shape of a heart again and I felt a fury overtake me.
With nostrils flared, I grabbed his face and slammed it into the ground.
"Y-y-you aren't effected by my love!?" The short and fat man cried out in confusion as I pulled him up, still holding him up by his head. "Love Kiss!" He called out again, several more times powerful than the previous one.
It washed over me and my anger just increased. "When that Shinigami thought to reinterpret my senses, I was amused. When your kin attempted to instill fear into me, I found it adorable. And now...." I tossed him to the ground. "I am no longer laughing."
"H-how dare you reject my love!" His expression shifted from one of confusion and hesitance to fury as if I did him some great wrong but not being affected by his ability.
"Now I find myself utterly devoid of patience. I do not have much love left inside of me. It's reserved for a precious few people. And you tried to usurp it for yourself."
His ability to seemingly force love and obedience in others.
He reached into his own mouth, disgustingly pulling out a bow and arrow made of that spiritual matter. He attempted to fire the arrow at me, but I simply flicked it away.
"I am officially done." I declared, reaching out into the air.
I will end this farce.
I felt creation churn at the movement, pulling on the thing I have kept sealed away for centuries. I normally did not like using It, but at this moment, I was pissed off and I simply didn't want to deal with this nonsense anymore. Space distorted and the very ground trembled as I attempted to bring It out into the world once more.
"Congratulations, Mortal, you have earned my full wrath. I am Izanami-no-Mikoto, Goddess of Death, and you will know my wrath. Come, Amenonuhoko." I declared as reality split apart at Its arrival.
[***]
If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
Chapter 400:Despite the many eyes on me, I looked down at the prize in my hand.... or rather in Aizen's hand. I was technically still holding his hand. His cleanly severed hand was still clutching tight to the marble thing in a small hexagonal barrier around it. I admit, I was surprised to see him so quickly decide to cut his own hand off to escape. Credit where it was due, I may not have the same resolve to pull out abruptly like that. Then again, I can understand, one of my strongest spells intertwined with my Divine Lightning would make for a very intimidating sight. Hell, I felt uncomfortable after taking my own attack and I was able to negate the majority of it. I wondered if this was the same as a God of Strength punching themselves in the face? I carefully pried away the fingers of the severed hand and with a second to think about it, I tossed it in my ring. You never know when a Shinigami's hand was going to come in....handy. You deserve to die for that pun Oh get over it, you know I can be a....handfull. Don't you dare start. Fine, priorities anyways. I looked at the marble and down at the Gauntlet. Mind holding onto this for now? Why me? I actually don't know what this is and it's giving me some small amount of hesitation now that I look at it. I'd rather you hold onto it instead of putting it in my Ring. You held onto the Eye of Magnus for a while, I think it should be fine in your hands. The Boosted Gear glowed, and the Marble disappeared from my grasp. I decided to dismiss the Boosted Gear and return it to inside my soul. Uh...brat What? Your....baby spirit, it wants the thing you gave me. ...what? I couldn't help but furrow my brow. What do you mean? As soon as I took it in, it's been almost clawing at me to get ahold of it. ...do I let it have it? I didn't know if my nascent spirit even was capable of higher-level thought, was it purely instinct driving it at this moment? If so, would it want something that could harm it then? There were tons of possibilities to consider, what if I gave it. ...Thanks, Ddraig. No problem. Well, I suppose I'll see the side effects of this later, because it appears as though we're going for a second round here. I noticed as Aizen sent me glares not far away once the dust settled. No, that wasn't quite right, what's the thing beyond glares? I'm fairly sure I would be on fire if it was any more intense. And he was missing his right hand. Funny enough, neither his wrist nor the hand itself were leaking blood everywhere, thankfully. That's mostly due to the fact that my spell cauterized the wounds. Aizen seemed to have gotten hit by the tail end of it. He was only mildly roughed up instead of taking the full brunt of my Divine Lightning. He was trembling as he looked at me, and I was fairly sure it wasn't because of the residual pain. His lips twisted back in a barely contained snarl. "Espada!" He roared at the top of his lungs. The space behind him pulled back, revealing several new figures stepping through. ...were those Hollows? There were a few with visible holes in their chests and what looked like remnants of masks or that white armor-like skin that they seemed to have. But otherwise, there was very little to tell them apart from Shinigami besides their mimicking white uniforms. Other than the feeling of being, well, Hollows compared to Shinigami "Huh....I didn't know Hollows could look like that." "I thought they were only legends." A voice sounded next to me. "Arrancar." I glanced at the person who stood at my side. "Sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced." He glanced up to me and scoffed. "Hitsugaya Toshiro, Captain of the 10th Division." He introduced himself curtly, though there was a noticeable weariness to him as he inspected me closely. "Weren't you fighting the masked...wrestler Quincy guy?" I glanced back at him seeing his clothing looked muffled and some minor wounds and bruising. "I " "BURN ALL CREATION TO ASH RYUJIN JAKKA." An absolute massive amount of Reiatsu enveloped all of Soul Society and a searing heat could be felt at my back. "....The Captain Commander had joined the battle and my.....abilities would be best served far away." He twitched. Even Aizen and these 'Espada' who looked like they were about to attack had paused and I couldn't hold back my curiosity. I turned around to look and I saw Gramps fighting against six Quincy, all of them were easily at the level of the Captains here. "Yeah, I'm staying far away from that." I noted. He sounded angry. "Ara, I haven't seen the Old Man that angry in a long time." Shunsui joined us with a flash of Shunpo. He tilted his half cut hat, covering some wounds up himself. "Captain Traitor, Ichimaru Gin snuck away during the confusion." "Captain Kyoraku." Hitsugaya greeted, gripping his sword tightly. "Captain Hitsugaya." Shunsui nodded. "Can't use your ice near the Old Man?" The smaller Captain grunted. "Even this far away...." "Ice is it?" I questioned. "I suppose I could give you a hand with that." Because the average strength of the enemies here was nothing to scoff at. If they all attacked me at once, I would most certainly be in a bad spot. "Looks like we got one more." Shunsui smiled. "Just in time, Ukitake." "Shunsui, and Captain Hitsugaya." One last person joined our little group. Long white hair, and a rather gentle demeanor about him. "And.....Ryoka." He looked at my still deployed wings. I crossed my arms, putting them away. And he wasn't the only one staring. "Captain Ukitake Jushiro, Captain of the 13th Division." He smiled. "Thank you for protecting Rukia." Ah, this was her Captain. But there was something....strange about him that was somewhat familiar. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Thank the kids, I was just a tag along." I waved him off. "But I believe we have other things to focus on." "Hollows with Zanpakuto." He hummed. "I only heard stories about them." "Feim Zii Gron." I spoke aloud, becoming an ethereal body right as both of them launched their attacks. The condensed Reiryoku shot forward from both ends, passing over one another. Ulquiorra dodged out of the way without any issue, but the other one wasn't so lucky. He brought up his weapon to block, but it had a good amount of force condensed. I used that opportunity to open up a portal behind him as his ally's own attack sent him hurling back through it. Out of the corner of my eye, he was dropped right in the middle of the Quincy on the other side while the Old Man was going on a warpath. That should help both sides as I'm fairly sure Quincy and Hollows were very much enemies as well. "I see." The Hollow frowned, appearing within my vision a few dozen yards away. He took his other hand out of his pocket and let out a breath. "You will not be easy to deal with. I will end this as quickly as I can." He grabbed his sword from its sheath. "Enclose, Murcielago." A green hue enveloped the area with the sudden intense climb of the Hollow's Reiatsu. It was dense enough that it mimicked rain that fell from the sky I got a better look at him at this point. He originally had half a head piece bone thing on his head, but now it looked like a proper headpiece that centered on his head. But the most eye catching thing was the bat-like wings that sprouted behind his back as he lightly took to the air. Can Hollows Bankai now!? I'm not jealous. Nope. "I think that's cultural appropriation." I snorted, my own wings popping back out as I floated up to be level with him. He didn't rise to my joke. "I was not aware of your species' existence until this moment." He said without any emotion. "But it does not matter." He held out his hand and a spear construct made of his Reiryoku formed with that same hue. "I am Ulquiorra Cifer, the Fourth Espada. Prepare yourself." He intoned. He flapped his wings once and shot forward. Fast, extremely fast, to the point where I had to focus to keep up. Dawnbreaker raised up and his spear collided with it, the force of the blow sent me hurling backwards towards the ground, my feet shattered the stone underneath as I forced myself to stay upright. His left arm shot out, trying to grab hold of my head. I tilted it to the side and instead grabbed his arm with my own. "You're strong." I commented as his eyes flashed. I felt like this wasn't even his highest level for some reason. Well, let's see what he's got. *** Izanami POV What a chaotic mess this was. There were Hollows pouring in through the tears in space they opened in the sky. There were even more Hollows that appeared near Wilhelm, much stronger and humanoid looking. I did not like them. There were these Quincy that were running around and being general nuisances. And the Shinigami that were trying to fight all of them at the same time. And Wilhelm was correct, their leader did feel similar to my Daughter. The moment he released his flames, if not for the lack of Divinity, I would have wondered if my Daughter had descended. Granted, it wasn't quite up to par, but at the same time, I recalled they have another stage of release with their swords. Very impressive for a non-God. At least the children had the common sense to not jump into this mess. No, they were standing off to the side with the...healers. They were gathering the wounded and providing medical aid and other life saving measures. I watched with mild amusement as Wilhelm apparently dropped one of those humanoid Hollows right in the middle of the Quincy. His portals were very particular and easy to notice in a crowd. It turned out as well as one would expect. A strange three way fight where the Hollow did its best to survive. It did a thing where its power increased drastically and grew two extra hands, a scythe in each one, but it didn't hold up well while trying to fend off both sides with only himself. I looked up to the sky to see.... regular hollows, for lack of a better term, begin to overwhelm the non-Captain Shinigami that were trying to restrain them. Watching it, I supposed I could lend a hand. I raised my hand up, and clenched my fist, destroying about a hundred or so of the fairly large creatures. It was enough to give them some breathing room. Out of the corner of my eye, I did keep watch on Wilhelm. Perhaps I was worrying over nothing, there were not many here who could put up a genuine fight against him.. Unless he used one of his Sacred Gears or called upon my Son's Authority, I was not overly concerned. However, there was something to be said about the number of beings here who did reach a certain threshold. Numbers should not be overlooked. Otherwise, I did not care much. Beyond a hail of those Light Arrows that poured down from time to time that I stopped, there were not many who dared venture close here. These Shinigami set up some makeshift barriers around the immediate area for emergency treatments I would presume, so I did not have to intervene. However, I was starting to get annoyed with the ongoing conflict. It was just getting messier and messier which just further irritated me. Even the buildings below began to be destroyed and the stronghold of these Shinigami was starting to become engrossed in this conflict. I raised an eyebrow as something shot fast towards our direction. I raised my hand up and slapped it out of the sky, causing a crater in the already disturbed rock formation we were standing on. I did not know how much longer this thing would last, thanks to Wilhelm casting such a large spell. There was the amusing thought of seeing how they would react to Wilhelm revealing his Devil heritage so publicly after the fighting stopped. I was surprised he did so, but then again, he does tend to be bluntly dismissive of it for some reason. The person I had smacked down pushed themselves free of the rocks that now covered them. They did not look to be in the best of shape. No, it was a short, fat man with....half a beard and covered in substantial burns. I'm assumed his beard wasn't always that way. He pushed himself up to his feet, supporting his weight with a staff reminiscent of Caduceus but an eye in the center with wings on the side. I wasn't the only one who noticed him, the others did too and were prepared to fight. "Healers?" He perked up. "Perfect~" He smiled....lewdly and it made me feel very uncomfortable. "You all love me and don't want to see me hurt, right~?" He winked, putting his hand in the shape of a heart. "Love Kiss~" He cried out and a massive heart-shaped projectile was launched outwards. Since the kids were behind me, I reached out and snatched this weird ability before it could go beyond me. And that was when I felt it. "Rude, rude. Don't hog all of my love to yourself." He danced side to side with a chiding tone to his voice. "Move aside darling~ PePe's love is for everyone." He held his hands in the shape of a heart again and I felt a fury overtake me. With nostrils flared, I grabbed his face and slammed it into the ground. "Y-y-you aren't effected by my love!?" The short and fat man cried out in confusion as I pulled him up, still holding him up by his head. "Love Kiss!" He called out again, several more times powerful than the previous one. It washed over me and my anger just increased. "When that Shinigami thought to reinterpret my senses, I was amused. When your kin attempted to instill fear into me, I found it adorable. And now...." I tossed him to the ground. "I am no longer laughing." "H-how dare you reject my love!" His expression shifted from one of confusion and hesitance to fury as if I did him some great wrong but not being affected by his ability. "Now I find myself utterly devoid of patience. I do not have much love left inside of me. It's reserved for a precious few people. And you tried to usurp it for yourself." His ability to seemingly force love and obedience in others. He reached into his own mouth, disgustingly pulling out a bow and arrow made of that spiritual matter. He attempted to fire the arrow at me, but I simply flicked it away. "I am officially done." I declared, reaching out into the air. I will end this farce. I felt creation churn at the movement, pulling on the thing I have kept sealed away for centuries. I normally did not like using It, but at this moment, I was pissed off and I simply didn't want to deal with this nonsense anymore. Space distorted and the very ground trembled as I attempted to bring It out into the world once more. "Congratulations, Mortal, you have earned my full wrath. I am Izanami-no-Mikoto, Goddess of Death, and you will know my wrath. Come, Amenonuhoko." I declared as reality split apart at Its arrival. *** If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
