Facing the Terrors

This article, , is a filler chapter attached to Bleach: Cataclysm, with a loose connection to the overall canon. It features Kentaro Hiroshi as the POV character, with Shuhei Hisagi and Kensei Muguruma as main support, and Sanada Shirono, Akiye and Vamp featuring.

“I'm in the doghouse.” Kentaro thought with a slight chuckle. “I'll need to make it up to her.”

He'd gotten a shower and a fresh change of clothes. The combination of the fry-up to soak up the drink in his system and the shower to clear his head did a lot for his hangover. He barely felt any of the after-effects of last night as he flash-stepped towards the medical barracks. He was joined by Shuhei. He looked as alert as Kentaro but Shuhei had a better constitution to start with. He'd been drunk yes but it took a lot more to make Shuhei ill overlong.

“How's the head?” Shuhei asked.

“Better now.” Kentaro replied. “We must've shifted some serious booze last night.”

“Look at the bin and the floor around it.” Shuhei remarked.

Kentaro stole a quick glance and smiled. Bottles and tins littered the floor all around the kitchen bin, most of which had been smashed.

“I'm glad I don't have to clean that.” Kentaro whispered.

The duo walked through the double doors of the medical barracks and quickly found Sanada and Akiye. But they didn't quite find them in the manner they had expected. Blood was splattered along the walls! Beds had been knocked aside, furniture lay ruined, and multiple dead bodies littered the floor. All, with the exception of two, where medical staff. Kentaro flash-stepped towards Akiye and sighed in relieve when he realized that she was merely unconscious, not dead as he had feared. Two subtle bite marks stood out on her neck.

“... Kentaro...”

“Over here!” Shuhei exclaimed. “It's Sanada.”

“... We found out that the creature... is a parasitic organism. Blood sustains it... gives it power. We got careless.” He vomited blood.

“Be quiet!” Kentaro commanded. “Save your strength!”

“I won't die from this.” Sanada remarked, struggling to sit up. “I've already... stopped the blood. Trust me; now go and stop that thing! Leave Akiye to me. It sucked out my spiritual power when it bit me, but I should be able to stabilize her. Now go!”

“Gladly!”

Kentaro and Shuhei, although a little hesitant, left Sanada behind. The only way they could find this creature was to utilize Kentaro's darkness sense via his Zanpakuto. The only problem with that was the time of day. The sun was still high in the sky! Or at least it should have been. When the duo stepped outside dark clouds had gathered, effectively blotting out the sun.

“That can't be good.” Shuhei remarked with wide-eyes.

Kentaro followed his friends pointing finger until he finally saw what held Shuhei's attention. Hollow beyond counting filled the sky; birds, insects, beasts, humanoids and reptiles of all shapes roared and growled, their empty eyes staring and their white masks standing out against the darkened clouds.

“Leave the Hollow to me.”

Kensei stepped past the two and released his Zanpakuto silently as he walked. He slashed at the air once, releasing countless threads of minuscule air blades. Everywhere his slashes hit violent explosions occurred, filling the sky with smoke and fire! He repeated as necessary (which was frequent) before commanding once again for the others to head on. But whenever they attempted to move towards the source of the Hollow more where summoned, effectively blocking them.

“Kentaro! Use Tenchikaimei: I'll carve you a path!”

With a loud cry Kensei donned his Hollow mask. The flat hockey-style mask with six slitted eye holes and a completely white surface was followed by a surge of spiritual power around Kensei which very nearly knocked the air from Kentaro's lungs. The man affectionately referred to as a the Drill Instructor gathered energy in the blade of Tachikaze before thrusting forward once with his closed fist enshrouded in energy. The result was immediate! A massive wave of exploding spiritual power burst from his hand in a vague Cero shape, which blew a hole clean through the Hollow lines and right to the source: the parasitic creature that fed on blood.

“Thanks!”

Kentaro grabbed Shuhei and disappeared using Tenchikaimei to quickly breach the gap, which quickly closed behind them as another wave of Hollow appeared to replace those killed by Kensei.

“Go on ahead of me.”

Shuhei said this as he brought his left hand to rest upon his face. Spiritual power solidified on his face as he brought it down, forming his Hollow mask! The sudden increase in spiritual power caused Kentaro to instinctively shield himself with his arms.

“Kensei will stop the Hollow from attacking anyone below... and I'll stop them following you." He said, looking over his shoulder.

The mask looked like a menacing white skull with three red scar-like markings on the left-hand-side.

"Reap, Kazeshini.”

“... Look after yourself.”

With that Kentaro turned his back on Shuhei as he set his eyes on the blood-sucking creature who shared his face. He raised his head at Kentaro's approach and smiled a big stupid smile. Blood dripped from his teeth and mouth and his blacked coat was soaked through.

“... Death...” He whispered.

“Yeah, there will be.” Kentaro answered. “I won't promise I'll make it painless!”