The War of Four: To the Victor

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Deploy the Big Guns, Return of Sinister Forces!
CLANG-VWHOOSH!

"Hehehehehehehehehahahahahahahaha!" Jamie couldn't help but release a demented laugh, as his claymore struck against Oliver's weapon, as he pressed on his assault, with a maddening rush. Now covered in blood, Jamie's physical and spiritual power had been bolstered to an even higher plane before the start of the battle. Whether it was a mental awareness or something to do with the darkness he sealed within his soul.

"MAKE. ME. FEEL. ALIVE. BROTHER!" Jamie shouted as he raised his blade and slammed it against his sibbling's defenses, harder, and more ferocious than the last one. It was dead set in his mind that he would kill Oliver. And everyone he was associated with. This would be his final testament he would have in life...before his own ended in a wake of Hellish flames!

Each and every strike would be met with just as much ferocity and power courtesy of Oliver. As their blades continued to bang against each other again and gain, Oliver still wore his expression of fury as he met Jamie blow for blow. The increased power of his enemy's strikes was enough to start pushing him back, digging his feet into the ground as he fought relentlessly. But it wasn't enough to break his stance or throw him off-balance. At the same time, Jamie was making it pretty hard to regain an offensive of his own.

It wasn't long before his back was against the wall, and he found himself within another sword lock. He glared hard into Jamie's murderous and insane eyes as if trying to find some trace of humanity still within them. But it was as if every reason that Jamie would've had to kill him had vanished. In that gaze, he could only see a monster wanting to kill. He knew that if he didn't stop this soon, there would be nothing left at the end.

He had to end this.

"James..." He said vehemently, struggling against the opposing blade as best as he could. "I know that you can still hear me, somewhere in that decaying skull of yours. I'm going to give you one last chance to walk away from this, keep yourself breathing while you still can. You may have slaughtered dozens of people, both innocent and guilty... you may have become a genocidal terror of Aether... but you're still breathing! You still have a chance to live, just like I did! Are you really wanting to throw it all away, just for the sake of killing me?! Are you really willing to exchange that for killing my comrades and taking your own life?! Is it really worth it?!"

After grinding the blade further against Oliver's sword, he felt his eyes widen a fraction more, and his eyes regain some consciousness. Retracting from his carnal mindset of murderous intent, Jamie could only snarl audibly, as he renewed the flames upon his blood-charred claymore, "You don't understand, Ollie! I have nothing left to live for! Even if I was to survive this battle, how am I supposed to live after this?! Aether wants to crucify me for my crimes! The Inner Circle will eventually dispose of their rabid dog, soon enough. Aizen and that Quincy pal of his don't seem to be much different. Don't you see?! I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO LIVE FOR!"

VOOM!

The flames began to discharge with intensity, blasting away the wall and intending on scorching Oliver's body, as his red eyes widened to renewed angered heights, as he pushed with both arms, using all of his strength to end his young brother's life, "YOU HAVE EVERYTHING I DESIRED! AND YET YOU ARE AS TAINTED AS I AM! WHY?! WHY CAN'T THAT BE THE SAME FOR ME?! YOU STOLE MY LIFE, OLIVER!"

Instinctively, Oliver shut his eyes as he felt the flames threaten to consume him. His own spiritual pressure billowed up in response, throwing the fire away from his body even as it continued to spread throughout the area. He clenched his teeth and bore a snarl on his face as he put forth all of his weight into the lock, shoving himself away from the wall and pushing back against Jamie. "Because you're too caught up killing people, that's why!!" He growled back. "This doesn't have to be an option for you anymore!! Aether may have warped us to their liking, but we still have our minds, don't we?! We chose to become nightmares breeded from their ranks, chose to kill all of those people!! With our own two hands, we carved our respective paths!! I never took anything from you, damn it!! The only one you have to blame for not having what you wanted is yourself, and no one but yourself!!"

Then, with a particularly viscious parry, he would blow the flames away and send his brother skidding back a tremendous distance. His eyes widened, and he let out a loud battle cry as he threw himself towards the other man. He would unleash his own attack, swinging his sword again and again at his brother in feral yet experienced efforts to cut him into pieces.

"There's too much blood on my hands, Ollie! I can't go back to being the brother you looked up to," catching each blade with an expert swivel of his heels upon the ground, Jamie did his best to counter the ferocious series of counterattacks as he spoke in rebuttal, "you may have blood on your hands, but I bathed in it! Consumed it! Annointed myself a devil in the eyes of all! Don't you see?!"

Catchaing one of the slashes, he swung it to the side, before Bonnie came out of his left sleeve and into his hand, firing it rapidly towards the undefended Oliver with a slasher smile once again donned upon his blood soaked face, "I AM A DEVIL WHO GLORIFIES MURDER AND SLAUGHTER!"

It would only be quick reflexes that would pull the blonde from certain doom. He broke away from the sword lock, performing a dive-and-roll maneuver to evade the shots fired in his direction. As he landed in a crouched position, he didn't allow himself to turn to face his brother right away. "So that's your answer?" He whispered, closing his eyes and allowing himself to stand back up. "That's going to be your choice? Good. Now I know what choice I can make." He allowed himself to spin around, taking a free hand off of his sword to point a palm at his adversary.

All he would have to do was say two words.

"Kisei Byōki!"

Jamie would start to lose feeling within his motor neurons once what sounded like a command take effect. That would be the result of those particular neurons dissolving at an accelerated rate, courtesy of a trap having been placed earlier. It had been something plotted for Reitanmujō had Jamie not arrived to intervene, but the elder Holmes had allowed himself to walk into the same trap. It pained Oliver to have to use the technique on the madman. But he knew that by this point, he had no other choice.

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

Jamie, having anticipated a Kidō-based attack or some form of energy release, raised his gun to fire repeatedly at Oliver. However, he could only get three shots out, as his arm began to lose the strength to pull the trigger. What followed was a dazed expression crossing his face, dropping his demented smile, and one of dumbfoundment, as the sword left his grasp, clanging to the ground. Not too long after, so did the gun, before his knees hit the ground, barely keeping himself upright.

"What the Hell have you done to me?!" Jamie snarled, it was all he could do to muster the strength to churn his jaw appropiately as he felt numb everywhere.

"I've destroyed the motor neurons within your body via a colorless, tasteless gas my Zanpakutō released into the air. If I walked away right now, you'd be nothing more than a cripple for the rest of your life." Oliver answered, twirling his blade around before sheathing it. The three shots had completely missed their targets, leaving him unharmed. As such, he walked slowly towards Jamie's fallen body. "I released it during the earlier encounter with the Takuji freak. He didn't suspect it, and had you not shown up, this would have been a fate solely for him. I wouldn't have bothered to do this if you had just walked away."

By this time, he was close enough to Jamie to kneel over his form. A solemn expression had graced his face, and any anger that had written itself on his countenance had vanished. "It's a shame, Jamie. You could have joined us. Kaitlyn would have been so happy to see her uncle alive and well, and we could have had a chance to rekindle what we had. Do you at least have any regrets about what you're doing and what you did?"

It was then, at this point, all of Jamie's rage bristled into utter grief. Tears began to be shed around his red eyes, before his head hung weakly, the only part of his body he could move at this point, as he was delicately kneeled upwards. He could die from the weakest attack at this point, and he wouldn't even have the pleasure of feeling the pain before his passing. This was the uttermost disgraceful and humiliating thing for him to endure before his end.

"Kaitlyn...Genesis...Allison...you," Jamie muttered, barely audible, as he spoke aloud with clear authentic grief upon every word his tongue uttered, "you were my family. When Kaitlyn...was missing...I thought her to have joined Genesis in the next life, along with Allison. When you were gone, I was alone, and I couldn't fill anything that the void in my heart had become. I turned to Yashin, and he taught me how to use my rage, my bloodthirst, and my insanity to my advantage. I turned to carnage, and would only be warmed by the feeling of blood coating my skin, and I would only feel alive when I would cause others pain and anguish. After all this...how can I come back from this sane, Ollie? How can I ever return to the person I was before? It would be better if I was to just die and atone in Hell for my sins..."

"...I know I haven't done much for you back then." Oliver's tone held clear bitterness within it as he responded. He took in a deep breath to keep himself mentally steady, feeling a sudden warmth within his own eyes. He didn't allow himself to shed a tear as he continued to speak. "If only I had been there, I could've kept you from falling under his spell. But in this moment? If that's what you feel... then the best I can do is make your passing a peaceful one. Where you'll go and what you'll do will be up to the fates to decide."

He softly rested a palm of Jamie's forehead, closing his eyes and focusing. His brother would feel the sensation of a natural death, peaceful and painless.

"Go to sleep. You at least deserve that much from me..."

"Ollie...please...take care...of...your...kids...for...me," Jamie uttered aloud, before falling completely silent. His body fell over limply and his body grew cold, as his heartbeat began to fade to nothing, as his brain began to shut down.

Jamie Holmes, the Blood Coat, has passed away.

"...yeah..."

Once those crimson eyes closed for the final time, Oliver slipped off the bloodied coat from Jamie as he lowered the man to the ground. He would slip it on himself, not minding the fact that it was covered in both dirt and blood. After buttoning it up, he placed his hands to his gun holsters and threw away his dual pistols before taking the Bonnie & Clyde pistols to replace them. He walked over to the fallen Seelenbracher and picked it up by the hilt, allowing the back of it to rest on one of his shoulders. It wasn't simple pilfering - he wanted a memorium, a reminder of just how costly this war had been for him and the rest of the V-14. As far as he was concerned, this was the only way.

Without another word, he grabbed Jamie and slung the man over his shoulder before walking away to rejoin his comrades.

"...and that makes ten," Hyōryū says aloud as she places the final piece of Kidō detonite on a supporting pillar, deep within the inner recesses of the Seireitei's underworks. Having completed their battle, all they had to do was set up, wait for the others to regroup, and for Oliver to get up.

"How's yours coming along, Anton?" the red-headed lover asked the russian Kidō specialist, whom had his own stuff to unpack and plant.

"Shit..." Anton let out a swear as he planted the detonation charges onto their respective places, twisting knobs and flipping switches in order to render it active. He had an annoyed and somewhat haggard look on his face, wiping sweat off of his forehead. "Everything's in place on my end. All in all, though? I can't believe that we went through all of this just to place some measly charges. After this, I think I'm going to be taking a long, long nap..."

"Only if that nap includes both of us, after a long, long, long drink," Hyōryū spoke in approval of the notion, as she inspected her explosive devices, walking around from pillar, maneuvering to be standing behind Anton's weary form,  wrapping her arms around his neck and whispering in his ear, "we're going to share that drink, alone, in a dark room and do the f'ing deed, right?"

A smirk crawled across Anton's face. "Oh, don't you know it..." He drawled, allowing himself to lean back and turn his head. His lips would meet hers in a swift and teasing kiss before he pulled away. "The only thing that could ever beat the fireworks we'll put on... is the fireworks you make..." At the end of his statement, his voice became a purr, and he nuzzled her neck in order to emphasize his tone.

"Good, now kiss," Mōka said flatly, as she appeared behind them all of a sudden, with the rest of the group in tow having arrived, "and make it nice...and slooooooow..."

"THE FU-?!" Hyōryū bellowed out in shock, turning on her heels and falling straight onto her buttocks, as she grew hot red in complexion, while snarling at the other female leader of V-14, "W-W-WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!"

"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Omigawd, that was f'ing hilarious!" Karitori cackled just behind Mōka, as the others joined in with nervous to verily amused chuckles of their own.

Anton wasn't too prepared by the sudden appearance of the rest of the team, either. Usually, he would have been much more alert than that in the event that the enemy attempted to ambush them. But apparently his exhaustion had dulled his senses a bit too much. So when he heard the voice of their half-deity boss behind him, he couldn't really be blamed by the demonstration of clumsiness on his part.

He stumbled after Hyōryū abruptly pulled away from him, tried desperately to stop himself as he lurched forward and ended up doing so when his forehead collided with the pillar set to detonate. The good news was that he hadn't touched the bombs. The bad news was that he was now stumbling around like a drunk, courtesy of the force his head had collided with the concrete of the pillar. As he roamed around, he wore a rather dumb grin on his face and his eyes were swirling around within their sockets. He would only get a total of five words out.

"Beep, beep... I'm a cloud!"

Then, he unceremoniously collapsed on the ground.

Naturally, Genesis and Yusuke were the first to follow after Karitori, laughing at their teammate's misfortune. The Daitenshi had even taken the courage to add in her own insult to injury. "Well, don't let us interrupt you! We were just getting the popcorn!" She crowed, the grin of amusement all too clear on her face.

"Mommy," Yusuke added in his own two cents. "When I grow up, can I be a cloud?" This promptly caused the two to fall over in their laughter, holding their sides from the ache it was causing them. Even the ones who had the decency to try and have respect for the interaction between the two couldn't keep themselves from snickering at the intervention.

"It--" Rika held her face in one of her hands, her head hung down. Although it looked like a gesture of exasperation, it was clear that she was struggling not to laugh and fall onto the ground herself. "It...it really isn't that funny! Stop laughing!"

"It really--" Shou had to slap a hand to his mouth and turn away, trying to speak through his own sniggers. "It really isn't... especially when it's one of the more volatile members of V-14 that you're laughing at..."

"I..." Asuka seemed to be the only one who was able to keep a better composure than the rest of them. "I was going to ask if you two were all right, but... I can plainly see that your respective encounter hasn't taken much out of you, has it?"

"Such loathsome acts in the middle of the battlefield." Shinji muttered disdainfully, fixing a glare of irritation at Hyōryū and Anton. "How would you be if there were an enemy sneaking up on you? You would've been cut down without a moment's hesitation..."

C-CLICK-CLICK!

"I swear I will murder all of you if you don't shut up!" Hyōryū snarled out, her guns primed and her body's aura comically granted her a menacing portrayal of imminent doom for all of them.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared of your pee-shooters! Help me, help me! HAHAHAHAHA!" Karitori insisted, accepting the challenge of being shot at by the infamous pair of Kidō guns.

"That really wouldn't affect me, you know that right?" Mōka dryly stated, despite the red-head's furious mental state she withheld.

"I don't think she's bluffing," Shadō murmured to the others as his face dripped with comically nervous sweat, as he slinked back the farthest flank away from the laughing comrades who continued to mock her, "I'd stop if I were you..."

"I'm just glad she asked me to stow away the Executioner, otherwise this would be a problem," Zaii muttered to himself in a knowing tone.

Yajū just kept chuckling, "Its not like any of us could get hit by her pee shooters. The only ones who could at this point is this guy," shaking the tired Kenja, before nodding to Rika, "and the dame over there."

Kenja sighed, hanging his head at the thought of being shot at so soon, "I'd rather not be dragged into this, actually..."

"Okay..." Shou took in a deep breath, finally steadying himself enough to speak. He stepped forward beside Asuka, raising his hands up in a placating manner. "It's very nice to know that you two seem to be very much in one piece. But," He took a look around, quirking a slight eyebrow as he surveyed the area. "Where's Oliver? He was with you two when we separated."

That was when a familiar voice would cut through the air.

"Where could Ollie be, you say?"

Immediately, Anton shot himself up in alarm, climbing back onto his feet in an instant. As his head spun in the direction of the voice, his eyes fell upon what a shocking sight.

A few ways off from them stood a man in a coat, with the coat's hood covering his head. His eyes and hair were covered within the shadows, but the malicious smile that decked his face would be as clear as day. In one hand, he held a Seelenbracher that rested itself on his shoulder. In the other hand and other shoulder, he had a body slung with the rear end facing the group. For a moment, Anton could've sworn that the voice was a bit off. But there was no mistaking it for anything else.

It was Jamie.

"Why," The man continued speaking, nodding his head to the corpse he was holding. "He's right here, of course! Unfortunately, he seems to be quite deader than a doorknob. But don't worry, because you all will be following him soon enough!" This was followed by a mirthfully insane fit of laughter before he stopped himself. "Now that your particular question is answered, I think I have one of my own for you." He lifted the Seelenbracher off of his shoulder before stabbing the tip into the ground challengingly.

"Who dies first?!"

"How about you?!" Hyōryū snarled, her comically enraged fury transformed into righteous anger, as she aimed the guns and dialed the laser sights to lay upon Jamie's form.

Everyone seemed to settle into a fighting stance at once, fully alert and very much alarmed. If this man could kill Oliver, someone of renowned infamous fighting power and newly reacquired spiritual power, then he would be someone not to be trifled with.

However, it was Mōka's deadpan sight that broke the air, as she blankly stared impassively at the figure, "Oliver, please drop the act. That...really was in bad tastes...and that's saying something, coming from you."

That was all that would be needed to break the tension within the atmosphere.

An aggravated groan, familiar and much more positive for the rest of the V-14, would be emitted from the shadows of the man's hood. "Leave it to the fucking half-breed to spoil all my fun." He growled, releasing the hold he had on his Seelenbracher. The newly freed hand grasped the edge of the hood. "Seriously, couldn't you at least pretended to be alarmed and wary?"

The hand promptly pulled it off, exposing the sight of blonde hair and blue eyes that was currently directing a glare of annoyance at Mōka. The sight was enough to make Anton balk a little, prompting him to shift his gaze to the body that he was carrying. "Wait... if you're alive, then..."

"Yep." Taking that as an opportunity to show the body, Oliver knelt downward to heft it off of his shoulder and place it on the ground. There in full view would be his red-haired brother, with his malicious crimson eyes eternally shut in what seemed like an expression of peace. "The Blood Coat is nothing more than Aether's nightmare now. For those of you who weren't here, it turns out that he really wasn't on our side. The assistance he provided during my rescue was nothing more than a side effect of him softening up Aether's defenses for the Inner Circle's ambush. He was acting as an agent of Yashin the whole time."

As Oliver explained, Genesis would slowly pick herself up from the ground in order to look at Jamie's body. She had fallen deathly silent, her palms clasped together in front of her mouth. In a rare occasion, she was showing genuine vulnerability. When Oliver and Allison started to pay attention to Kaitlyn more than her, Jamie had been the one to take up their place. He had been a kind and loving uncle, regardless of the perilous obstacles that had gotten in the way of his and their life. Seeing him dead and lying on the floor as he was tore her up inside. When she blinked, she could feel a few set of tears drip down her face.

"Uncle...?"

"Wait a minute? Jamie was one of Yashin's thugs?!" Shito asked incredulously, causing even Karitori to blink, knowing full well that he was responsible for granting them many mods and upgraded weapons during their time spent in his hideout.

Now, not only was he a turncoat whom had worked with the enemy all along, but laid dead at their feet. Mixed emotions flew up, and people were wondering exactly why the man had helped them at all, even if it was to further his cause for his employers.

"Strange," Mōka narrowed her eyes, her gaze drifting to Jamie's deceased body, "though I smell much death from him, I don't sense genuine malicious intent or evil. His soul must have passed on without being grasped by Hell's Will. I wonder why?"

A dark smile came across Oliver's face, and he tilted his head to the side slightly as he heard the inquiry. "And here I thought you would've been around the world and back..." He said sarcastically, grasping the hilt of the Seelenbracher and lifting it so that the tip was poised over the man's chest. "Apparently, you don't know the difference between an evil person..." His grip tightened, and the smile was quick to fall off of his face as he finished the sentence.

"...and an insane one."

Then, he stabbed the blade into the corpse's chest, calling upon the Seelenbracher's powers. Immediately, the body would be ignited with orange flames that swallowed it within a timespan of milliseconds. Those flames spread across the ground, but would not burn any of their feet within the small radius it had expanded within. The time of burning only lasted for several seconds before the flames disappeared, leaving the ashes of a skeleton behind. Oliver pulled the Seelenbracher so that it would be resting on his shoulder once again, shifting his free hand within his pocket as he looked at the group.

"There. I would've buried him when we got back to the surface. But I don't know just how vengeful Aether can be when it comes to people like him. They'll probably keep pursuing him, considering they had been looking for me even after so many years." He let out a little scoff. "At least I can have a little laugh knowing they'll be on a wild fucking goose chase..."

"I...think he would have appreciated sentiment," Shinshin spoke aloud with a tone of respect for the man who passed on. Despite the evil he intended to wreak, he had helped them all in the end.

"The...bastard should have just shot himself, to save us the trouble," Hyōryū sniffled, holstering her guns as she tried to stifle the tears rising to the surface. Despite him being a serial killer, he wasn't half bad. He gave them sanctuary, helped them get Oliver out of the city in one piece, gave them weapons and mods.

"Well, ladies and gents?" Oliver questioned, after a moment of silence. He placed his free hand on his hip as he looked at the group in general. "I'm sure that all of you've set your charges by now. It's high time that we get the fuck outta here and blow this place to kingdom come." He turned away from the group, beginning what would be a walk towards the exit direction. "I don't know about you all, but I'm just about ready to go on ho--"

However, he would feel a feminine hand grasp his, immediately feeling the jolt of foreign spiritual energy that he had sensed within their former compatriot. His eyes widened slightly, and he looked over his shoulder to see that Genesis had been the one to stop him. Her eyes were overshadowed, hiding any possible expression from him. Her voice, in unusual contrast from the rough and rowdy tone she had used many times before, would be quiet and subdued as she spoke to the rest of the group.

"You guys go on. We'll be there shortly."

"Oh, okay," M ōka nodded with understanding. Turning to the others, she made a commanding gesture towards the exit, "let's go boys! I may survive it, but I'd rather not watch you all get blown to bits when we set these off."

"Oh har-har!" Shito rolled his eyes at the joke of M ōka's deified endurance in comparison to the others.

Shadō briefly locked eyes with Hyōryū as they saw the look Genesis and Oliver had. Nodding to each other, they left wordlessly, knowing what kind of talk it would be and probably the last time they'd get to speak it to each other.

Before long, all of the V-14 company left, leaving the two alone in the middle of the underworks of the Seireitei.

For the most part, Oliver could only stare in bemused silence. Why had Shou's subordinate suddenly decide to reel him back in from what seemed to be a private talk? They hadn't really talked much, even in their respective time working as colleagues against the Inner Circle. He kept his surprised look as he turned around so that he could look at her fully. "All right, Miss Gangster. What the hell's with--"

"So." Genesis would stop him short, her subdued tone carrying a bit of bitterness as she raised her head up. "How long has it been? A year? Ten? Hundreds? Time seems to really fly by when you aren't allowed to pay attention to it. Good thing that dead souls like us tend to age like wine, even in such a long time, huh?" She spread her arms out in a gesturing motion to herself. "I knew you wouldn't have recognized me right away. After all, I have been ripped apart and put back together so many goddamn times. It's surprising that I still recognize myself, having been shot in the head and left to bleed out in that alleyway and all..."

That was enough to break the annoyed look Oliver was giving her. His eyes widened, and his ears twitched as they picked up the familiarity within her tone and voice. Several years ago, there had been a girl he knew that spoke and acted just like her. He couldn't mistake her for anyone else, despite the radical changes she had gone through in terms of visage. He took a hesitant step forward, finding one of his hands reaching out to her as he spoke her name.

"...Jean?"

What he didn't expect was her fist colliding into his face.

"AGH!"

The man involuntarily dropped the Seelenbracher and let out a sharp yell as he was sent careening into the wall. Genesis would storm towards him as he slid down to a sitting position, her eyes narrowed and her mouth contorted in a fierce snarl. "You've got some nerve calling me that, Dad!" She snapped. "Before, you couldn't even pay a second's worth of attention to me, and now you're acting all overjoyed to see me?!"

"What are you--" Oliver only managed to push himself off the wall before Genesis launched a kick to his knee-cap, causing immense pain to shoot through his leg. He was forced to fall down to one knee, unable to do much against her as she continued to rage at him.

"You and Mom spoiled that bimbo of a sister, treated her as if she was the queen of fucking England!" She followed this up with two vicious haymakers to his face, forcing him to stagger and stumble back. She wouldn't stop there, raining blow upon blow upon him without mercy or restraint. "Sure, you may have met my basic requirements. But hell, whether it was our birthdays, serving dinner, or just helping us build up for our future lives, it was always her that feasted like a sultan, while I had to settle for scraps like a beggar on the fucking street! You gave her everything, and at the same time, it seemed like you never wanted me to exist at all! What in God's name was I to you, huh?!"

One of her boots would find its way to his groin, meeting it with immense force. Naturally, this elicited a much louder scream of pain from him as he fell to his hands and knees. Genesis would back away for the moment, glaring at his form. "I became a party-goer. Went through nearly all of those damn clubs back at the Rukongai, got drunk as Hell, and I even got to get up on stage to do a little pole-dancing now and again." She scoffed, throwing her hands up into the air. "That's the life I had to live just to get some form of attention from anyone, even if it was from guys who only wanted a piece of my ass. I wonder how's that gonna fair on your conscience, knowing you let your daughter become some street-whore?"

"Jean.." Oliver reached his hand out towards her again, a pleading look on his face as he attempted to calm her down. "Come on. You don't understand--"

"The Hell I don't!!"

He would be interrupted by Genesis's furious scream and a boot crashing into his face, nearly crushing it inwards. He crumpled to the ground, clutching it as he felt a few teeth come loose from his mouth. He could still hear Genesis's voice screaming out to him, letting out all of the fury she had kept inside of her for so many years. "A lifetime of neglect from my parents, and what do I get in the end?! A bullet through my goddamn skull, that's what!! But that's not all, kiddies!! I had to suffer an eternity of torture, running from those giant horned things that kept trying to eat me!! I had to keep it together even as those other Daitenshi kept killing me and bringing me back to life, just so they could do it again!! If the Punisher hadn't found me, I would've long lost my mind!! And it was all thanks to some neglectful parents who were too lazy and selfish to tell me what's wrong from what's right!!"

Hyōryū winced at the sight that befell her, from the shadows.

While she had thought about giving the two space, she kne with something juicy was going to go down between father and daughter, it was going down now. Hearing what she said though...made her tear up inside. She could only think one thing, "This girl...she lived my life, once upon a f'ing time. Dammit, Ollie! Why did you do that to her?!"

She wasn't alone, however.

Shadō had came to ensure both his female partner, and Shou's subordinate, wouldn't cause any lasting damage to either Oliver or the prior temperamental Daitenshi. Despite the tenuous situation, he knew that she wouldn't cripple or kill Oliver, and would only hit the point of pain of which he could tolerate it and not breach it.

Unaware of the two presences hiding nearby, Genesis reached up to grasp the front of Oliver's shirt and hauled him up so that she could glare into his eyes. "And now, after all the Hell that you've put me through, I get a front row seat to the murder of the only relative who bothered to give a fuck about me!! I got to watch him just burn away into nothing more than ashes, just like that!! The first time I've seen him in years, and you took him away from me!!" She shoved him down onto the ground, her eyes dilated with rage. But now, the first sign of tears could be seen from her eyes.

"Are you happy now, asshole?! Did you get what you wanted?! Because thanks to you, I don't think I have anything left now!!"

Following this was a silence thick with tension. Genesis had to fight back her tears as she glared down at his bowed form. She knew some form of defense or rebuttal would be launched in response to her tirade. But she wasn't going to have any of it. There was no excuse for neglect, leaving her out like she was some mathematical error in an equation. Whatever pathetic excuse he could've had was just waiting to be shot down.

But then, Oliver spoke.

"Neither do I." His voice was hoarse, weakened and weary. He pushed himself up so that he was on his knees, looking up at his daughter. "I wouldn't have killed Jamie if he hadn't felt that death was the only way to repent for what he did. I wouldn't have killed you if I had just manned up and shouldered the burden meant for both of us. But I didn't. It's cost both me and you so much in our lives. If I can't even have something like this... I understand."

"What are you--" Genesis cut herself off when Oliver struggled to stand back up, her body tensing up. He walked slowly towards her, the haunted look in his eyes sending a chill down his spine. "Stay back..." She said, her voice tinted with alarm as she took a few steps back herself. "Stay the fuck back, damn it!! I'm serious!! I'll snap your head right off if you don't--!!"

But before she knew it, he was right in front of her. She shut her eyes, expecting some sort of physical retribution for her aggressive attacks on his person. Beads of sweat were forming down her face as she waited for him to strike her, return all of the pain that she had inflicted on him. But they would open back up when she felt his arms wrap around her in a tight, affectionate hug. She would feel him rest his head on the top of hers, gently nuzzling her hair.

"But it would mean so much to this old man if you did this for me." He said softly, closing his eyes with a solemn and pained expression on his face. "Words just aren't enough to express it, but... I'm sorry for everything I've done to you and everything I didn't do for you. I had so many chances to be a better father to you, and I never took them. But starting now, you will have something to live for as long as I'm breathing. Jean... can you ever forgive me?"

"L-let...!" Genesis weakly struggled in his grip, her eyes shutting tightly. Although she still had anger within her voice, it was rapidly fading away under the genuine misery of his words. She could feel her eyes burning as she struggled to keep the damn from breaking, struggled to keep herself angry at him. "Let me go...!" But it wasn't long before she stopped herself, too emotionally exhausted to keep it up. She fell against him, burying her face within his chest and allowed herself to sob.

"Sssh..." Tears were now falling down Oliver's face as well, but now he held a small smile on his face. He used one hand to gently rake his fingers through her hair to comfort her. "That's right... just let it all go... let it all out, kid..."

Hyōryū grasped a hold of Shadō's shoulder, speaking with a hidden monotone, as her bangs covered her eyes, hiding her expression, "Take me back to the others. I've seen what I wanted to see..."

Shadō nodded wordlessly, grasping her shoulder, before swallowing them both within the shadows and retreating back to Mōka and the others.

It would only take a few more minutes before Genesis allowed herself to calm back down. With a final sniffle, she gently pulled away from him and wordlessly raised her fingers to snap. He would be enveloped in a blaze of blue fire, and all of the injuries that he had suffered at her hands would be healed by the flames. After the last scratch had been healed, the flames would subside. She let out a sheepish chuckle, gesturing towards him. "Can't leave any evidence. Your pals might grill me if they knew I had beaten you up..."

That caused Oliver himself to chuckle a little, walking over to pick the Seelenbracher back up and rest it on his shoulder. "I don't even think they'd care. It's not exactly uncommon for me to get as much punches in the face from them as I do the enemy." He gestured towards his head towards the direction that the rest of them had gone. "C'mon. They must be getting impatient waiting for us." He started to walk away in that direction, with Genesis briefly running to catch up to him and walk beside him.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Hm?"

"Please don't tell Sis I called her a bimbo. I really didn't mean it."

To say that ground zero of an apocalypse looked horrific, would be an understatement.

The battlefield around Senkaku and Mukurō was barely contained to a square mile, as barriers were errected by other parties to keep their battle as enclosed and cut off from the others as possible, to decrease the chances of the war ripping apart the Soul Society's structures any more than it already has.

The air was lukewarm and uncomfortable, as bathing mist of solidifying frozen water particles and steaming fissures of superheated molecules would constantly coalesce within the atmosphere of the ruined landscape. Any ground had become blackened, cracked, glassed, and unearthed during the collision of unnaturally destructive forces.

Mukurō clashed once more with Senkaku, streaking an immense blaze of white-orange discharge of incinerative energy upon him, while focusing the cutting blade's edge towards the reinforced skin of his enemy. Neither of them have yet to make the defining killing blow, let alone a scathing one. He intended to be the first to implement it!

The opposing weapon would meet Senkaku's as the Arrancar raised it to intercept. In the wake of his swing, a veil of ice was created to counter the surge of superheated energy. It would carry enough force to hurl Mukurō away and enough potency to negate the offending attack. However, it would not last long in the fluctuating temperatures, melting and evaporating within the heat created by the man's Bankai. His Hierro did not keep him from experiencing the brunt of discomfort caused by the unstable environment.

But even as he fought, he had yet to show any signs of discomfort. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were locked on the enemy in an intense notion of concentration. The small frown, ever since the release of his Resurrecion, had not left his face. All in all, he had fallen completely silent aside from the occasional grunts of exertion as he fought against his enemy. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing more to say.

There was no more hoping for an enemy to hold mutual respect for him and his abilities. There was only a burning hatred for the condescending view the Dragon possessed concerning him and his kin, although it didn't show on his face. He hated the fact that Mukurō could hold such a view and be able to get away with it as he was. He despised the fact that the man was able to take the power of his Segunda Etapa and push it back with a simple release. Right now, there was one thing he wanted above all else.

He wanted this man to suffer.

With a boost of his wings, Senkaku threw himself at Mukurō to clash blades with him once again. His attacks were aggressive yet coordinated and precise. He battered away at his opponent's defenses, using his fury as a means to fuel each and every attack he made.

Mukurō used his own armor plus his swordsmanship experience to clash evenly with the Arrancar's fierce blows. Every clash caused super-heated energy to be sifted with sub-zero, hyper-crystalizing force, producing billowing shockwave of lukewarm mist with each weapon collision. Whenever Mukurō would be thrown off guard, he allowed the weapon of his enemy to pass right through him, causing his body to shift into smoke, before re-solidifying upon his counterattack with his powerful blade.

"Ngh--!"

Whenever that happened, Senkaku found himself having to retreat right away in order to avoid getting hit. Mukurō's maneuvers were making it increasingly hard for him to tell whether or not he was about to get a critical blow or not. He had barely avoided getting cut after being caught off-guard so many times, making it next to impossible for him to finish the fight. Now that he had a mouth, he pursed his lips and clenched his teeth as he skidded away.

"Damn it... I can't touch him with that cursed armor on. At this rate, this is going to tip into his favor!"

SHINK!

"Seirō!" Mukurō stabbed the blade into the ground upon punctuating the technique verbally and lowly. Within an instant, fifteen meters of earth glowed underneath Senkaku, before a mighty tower of white fire erupted from it, exploding high into the sky, widening and stretching to the size of a skyscraper, towering within the Soul Society's skies.

For a moment, it looked as if Senkaku was consumed. He hadn't made a move to evade the attack and had instead crouched downwards. His massive wings wrapped around his form as the fire consumed him, and his spiritual pressure billowed outwards in order to keep himself from getting incinerated. At the same time, he was hiding himself within the inferno to keep his enemy from detecting him. Still, the intense heat kept him sweating and making it more difficult to wrack his brain for a solution to the problem.

"Maybe it would be better if I just gave up." He thought to himself, frustration and self-loathing taking over once again. "I've failed to get anywhere or any step closer to defeating this... monster. No matter how high I ascend, he's able to keep up with me every step of the way. I need this to end..."

"You also need to heed to the Primera's wishes. You're not going to accomplish that just by accepting defeat, are you?"

His eyes would snap open at the firm and reprimanding voice of Hermosa within his head. He let out a soft gasp at her words, but she would continue speaking to him. "Just because there are enemies capable of fighting against you doesn't mean that it's okay to lie down and let them take victory, especially at such high stakes! If you want this to end, you'll have to stop relying on brute power and start using your head!"

"But... I've used everything in my arsenal to topple him." Senkaku protested. "Nothing's working!"

He heard a slight scoff in response. "Not everything. I've been using our senses to get a better view of the environment around us while you fended him off. Tell me, what have you noticed about it all?"

"What are you trying to get at, Hermosa?"

"If the two powers created by our Segunda Etapa and his Bankai cancel each other out, then why does the environment around us look so war-torn? The powers haven't nullified each other out. They're still clashing against each other, gaining only brief control of the area before the other side takes over. His power is prevalent... but so is yours. This may be your only opportunity to finish him off."

"How? His smoke tricks are rendering my attacks futile! He'll phase straight through anything I throw at him!"

She would chuckle at his negativity. "It seems to be a rather useful tool to have, I bet. But there's a little something that I picked up over the years. Whenever a gas such as smoke is cooled down, it condenses and turns into a liquid. If your sword passes through him while the ice-type spiritual pressure within you is channeled into it, it should cause a reaction. You do that, and you may just take a major chunk out of him the next time he does it."

"And how do I know he's just going to let me?"

"His tactics have been rather effective through the course of the fight, and they nearly ended up killing you. Somehow, I doubt he's going to just surrender such an advantage at this point. Just keep pushing him to close-quarters. Your time will come, and when it does, don't hesitate to take it."

"...right..."

The end of the conversation would follow with an outwards spread of his wings, blowing away the white flames and allowing them to wither within the fluctuating temperatures. Slowly, he stood back up to glare at Mukurō. "Is that all you are capable of, Shinigami?" He questioned, his voice as cold as the ice he controlled. "I thought I was supposed to be nothing compared to the likes of you, a worthless piece of Hollow scum in need of culling. My head's just waiting to be cut off and mounted on whatever wall you have." Slowly, he approached his enemy and raised his sword threateningly. "But then again, I'm starting to think that you're just not cut out for slaying a "creature of darkness" like me, after all. Go home, little boy, before the Boogeyman eats you."

Mukurō didn't have words to cleverly rebuttal, nor did he act composed. He acted upon instinct and rage.

"RRRRRAAAAH!" With a mighty yell, Mukurō moved as much speed and power as he could muster to close the distance between himself and his prey, swinging his blade overhead with immenese pressure, slewing a fissure of white flames to bear upon his body and cut him in half, and leave his body to be burned to ashes.

This was a window of opportunity that Senkaku would've never expected.

As Mukurō lunged, Senkaku could see the chance Hermosa was hinting at. There was a sudden fluctuation, and he could feel the temperature change to the blistering cold that had made up the power of his release. He pushed his body one step forward once his enemy was close enough, swinging his own blade in parallel with the opposing one. It would carry the ice-type energy within the blade as it flew towards its target. Upon initial visage, it would seem like the blades would simply collide. But the eyes of Senkaku saw otherwise. Although Mukurō's attack was threatening, it did not hold the coordination and timing that he had seen prior to this moment.

Within the eve of their swings, they would move past each other before standing completely still. At first, it didn't seem like there had been a connecting blow from either of them. But then, Senkaku allowed himself to speak once more.

"Run."

That was when a gash, wide as Mukurō's shoulder length and running down past the breast. A mixture of his smoke and blood would spill from the wound, indicating just how critical the injury was. "Run far away from here and don't you dare turn back. Meet Rey Dorado, tell him that the Tercera comes for him next. This is the only act of mercy I'm going to waste on the likes of you... disgusting parasite."

SPLURCH!

"Nnnngh," Mukurō grunted aloud in pain, barely propping himself up from falling to his knees, as a spurt of blood spattered out of his black armor and poured upon the damp ground. Without taking a second thought, he knew that he had been beaten. He could call upon other armors, but now that he had been dealt a critical blow, he had no chance of beating the Tercera at the level he was now.

With a dark chuckle, Mukurō began to sink into his own shadow, speaking in a exiting speech of farewell, "We'll finish this another day, Senkaku Ningensei. Your kind will all meet the same fate as you will, upon my victory of you, Tercera Espada Afilado!"

After he vanished completely, there was nothing but silence.

Slowly, Senkaku closed his eyes and focused on himself. As he reverted back to his orginal form, the instability within the environment ceased to exist. Hermosa would escape from him like a portal, stepping out through his body and hopping onto solid ground. As she did so, he would completely regain his former features prior to the battle's start. He took in a deep breath, tilting his head towards the darkening sky.

"Hermosa."

"Yes, sir?" The female Arrancar turned to face him, her hands folded behind her back as she looked at him.

"As much as I despise that... tick as well as the leeches I fought before him, he made me remember something very important. All this time, I started to forget that there is no such thing as honor or integrity in the likes of combat or war. I'm no longer looking for that one adversary anymore, as I know it doesn't exist... at least, not in this lifetime. From now on, each and every one of the enemy is nothing more than ants meant to be crushed under our heels. I want to see their world burn before their very eyes the same way they burned the face of Hueco Mundo."

"...that..." The contempt and malice within Senkaku's tone was unnerving Hermosa - something that could be shown by the hesitant tone within her own voice as she spoke to him. "...that sounds like a rather malevolent viewpoint to have. Are you sure you'll be okay carrying that belief with you? After all, you were about to call the Segunda out for saying the very same thing."

"Bernabe had the right idea." Senkaku answered simply, sheathing his blade. "He's always had the right idea. That's why that although the enemy regards me as the second strongest Espada, he will always be much stronger than I will." With that being said, he turned to walk away from the combat area and deeper into enemy territory to reinforce their allies. "Come on. We have a tyrant to overthrow."

"R-right..." Hermosa was quick to run to his side and fall in step with him, preparing herself for further battles ahead.

For Daisuke's group, the battle with Asumu had taken a dark turn.

Three of the Lancer's Bankai had all been stolen in one single movement, and were now within the Quincy's disposal whenever he chosed to summon them. They were tired, wounded, and had all just lost three of their strongest powers.

All of this, at the hands of just one Stern Ritter.

"It's unfortunate that you three trained so hard to master these Bankai." Asumu calmly mocked in his ever so resonant tone, holding on of the medallions in his hand and glancing at it idly. "Because if I want to, I can turn them all three against you at once. Do you still think you would last?"

"No way..." Izuru's eye widened with horror.

"T-This can't be happening," Ikkaku felt sweat accumulate on his bald brow.

"YOU BASTARD!" Renji snarled out with an understanably humiliated rage within his eyes. Raising his blade towards Asumu demandingly, "stop hiding behind your fancy gadgets and fight us like a man!"

"What kind of power does this Quincy have? Why are my legs shaking...like when I faced the Monitor within my own Soulscape? This...this isn't like me at all...but...I can't help myself, being terrified by this man!" Daisuke felt himself swallow down a lump of fear as he felt his skin clam up and his breath leave his lungs, as he bore witness to the inevitable defeat just lingering before their eyes.

Although she was experiencing symptoms similar to her comrades, Lisa didn't dare to admit it. She grasped her Shikai's staff within both of her hands, her shoulders rising and falling with each inhale and exhale she took. Half of her mask was on her face, the other half having been shattered in the midst of combat. Sweat was beading down her face as she glared in defiance at the Quincy. "All of us against one guy, and he's the one that's winning. Would've probably been a lot easier if those idiots hadn't released their Bankai..."

She looked over towards Yachiru, who was standing a few ways off from her. She was holding the bicep of her sword arm, breathing just as heavily as Lisa herself was. Her pink hair had been mussed somewhat, and she sported several cuts and bruises on her own person during the midst of the battle. The most distinct feature was blood trickling down one side of her face due to a particularly brutal head injury. Still, she was being very stubborn about remaining on her feet - something that Lisa silently commended her and berated the men alongside them for.

But even she would be surprised at what Yachiru would do next.

After making sure her sword was stabbed into the ground, Yachiru straightened herself, put on a grin of anticipation... and started laughing mirthfully. Her hands raised themselves, clapping as if applauding the Quincy. It caused the Visored's eyes to widen slightly, but she would remain silent as the young Shinigami spoke up. "Well, that's certainly a dumb question!" She remarked. "There's been the Captains and the other sneaks within the Soul Society that's been turned against us. Three Bankai are nothing compared to what we've been through. Go on and do it, if it makes you more comfortable..."

Asumu glanced over at the girl with pink hair, not changing his stoic expression as he spoke in a dead serious tone. "I've got a better idea."

Without warning, the shadow that Yachiru was casting would suddenly take on a more human form, reaching up with it's long black claws and wrap around her in a nigh unbreakable hold, before slowly dragging her into the darkness from which it came. The same thing began to happen to Lisa as well. "You two just sit calmly and watch. I'd prefer to not end the lives of two kids, females at that."

"!"

Now this was something that surprised both females.

Yachiru let out a yelp and Lisa's eyes widened as they felt the shadows wrap around their bodies. Reflexively, Yachiru grasped onto the ground as she felt herself pushed down to one knee, while Lisa herself would stab her spear into the ground and use it as an anchor. While this kept them from being pulled underground, it effectively immobilized them. Had they been at their maximum, they would have broken out of it.

"Aren't you the gentlemen?" Lisa quipped sarcastically, sweat falling down her face as she kept herself on the surface of the ground.

SHFT-SHINK-SHINK!

"I'd rather you not do that," Shūhei spoke aloud with a dark tone, as he expertly threw his chained scythes to loop around and cut through the earth underneath the shadows, disrupting the hold it had on his two female comrades, before the dual weapons came back to either hand in a crossed manner, "its impolite to force a woman to do something she doesn't want to."

"Well spoken, Sh ūhei-san," Yumichika spoke with a jovial tone, despite the circumstances of their situation. Running a hand through his forehead, he walked forward, nodding to Sh ūhei and Daisuke, as he took the lead, walking methodically forward to Asumu's direction, "Lisa-san and Yachiru-san, please cover our flanks. Daisuke-san and Sh ūhei-san shall lead the offensive while I maneuver myself appropiately."

"If you all wish to die at once..." Asumu said, now in a more annoyed tone. "Then I'll allow it."

With that, he held his hand out towards the group, and from his palm, he unleashed a large, star shaped blast at the group. As it traveled towards them, it grew larger and larger, threatening to engulf them all in it's destructive power.

"Bloom, Ruri'iro Kujaku!" Yumichika spoke aloud as he fully released his Zanpakutō, sending out a dozen tendrils to envelop the star shaped blast within an instant. When it did so, a shockwave of energy was released, before it shifted into a brilliant azure blue sprouting forth a towering, exotic flower that loomed over Asumu.

"Tenrai Seika," Yumichika spoke aloud the name of his Shikai technique, that thrummed and pulsed with spirit energy that shook the air magnificently. With a sudden twitch of his wrist, several tendrils jettisoned out and thrust towards Asumu, splitting apart at the end to unfurl like flowers. Within an instant, they discharged hundreds of energy barbs that would numb the body with the merest touch, "may you die beautifully!"

Asumu didn't need to do much for this attack. As beautiful a display as it was, Yumichika's Shikai could be easily countered if one could time their defenses properly, and Asumu had one of the best counters there was.

Narrowing his eyes, Asumu waved his hand out in front of him in a 'wave' motion, and following the path of this wave was a trail of dark blue fire, of which enveloped the energy thorns and roses and burned them away, into possible Reishi for him to use later.

Sh ūhei moved around to Asumu's flank within that instant, throwing his scythes to hit him from the flanks on either side, all the while using Flash Step consistantly to catch his airborne weapons and throw them to other blindspots.

This was the same dance as before; Shuhei's tactics were not going to do the group any good against Asumu this time. Each and every time the scythes came near the Quincy, he would simply bat them away with his hands, of which were further augmented by both his Blut and Vollstandig.

Daisuke then thrust himself into action, his body feeling revitalized, upon seeing Yumichika's act of courageous charge to the enemy. With a Flash Step of his own he appeared behind Asumu as he would evade or handle the attacks in any manner he would act upon. Thrusting his palm towards Asumu's backside, he spoke aloud a conjunction of Kid ō spells, "Sai-Geki!"

Within that moment, the transparent web of energy would force Asumu's weapon hands to coil behind him, with Geki reinforcing the barrier and hold him in place. In the worse case scenario, he'd be slowed down long enough for his comrades to land their attacks.

"Ikkaku, Lisa, Yachiru, Renji, Izuru! Attack him all at once!" Daisuke shouted out.

Now this was where Asumu was taken by surprise. The annoying Shinigami captured both of his hands as he was fending off Shuhei. Simple, but effective, however he couldn't help but feel shameful that he had let Daisuke pull off such a cheap trick.

He quickly twisted around and round house kicked Daisuke away from him (he had forgotten about his legs), but by that time, the next attack will have commenced.

Upon that line, Yachiru and Lisa would be the first to spearhead the attack.

With a Flash Step, the pink-haired girl moved herself behind Asumu with her sword raised over her head. A smile reminiscent of the one her "father" had worn in times of battle was on her face. Her injuries would do nothing to inhibit her enjoyment of the fight, even if she was on the losing side at the moment. She swung her blade down with the intent of cutting the Quincy into two pieces, and her attack carried a considerable amount of physical force behind it.

The blade slammed right down on his forehead, but his Blut kept it from cutting deep within him. Still though, the force he felt was considerably strong, especially for a little girl. Yachiru's daten file certainly wasn't misread in terms of her own base power. He had to get her off of him, and to do that, he grinded his head towards her, and then bent it down, following up with a powerful head butt to her own forhead.

Likewise, Lisa had re-appeared in front of Asumu in a crouched position. Her Hollow Mask had once again donned itself fully, and her Shikai's spear blade was swung in a motion perpendicular to Yachiru's attack. Underneath the mask, her eyes were narrowed in concentration as she focused her own immense power into the strike.

The next Hollowfied strike came and hit him in the shoulder, and his Blut kept it from being serious as well, but it was here he knew that he had to step up his game. If not, these Shinigami would certainly overwhelm him. Using his Reishi manipulation, Asumu broke the bindings around his wrists and absorbed them, before grabbing Lisa's spear and throwing her back towards the crowd behind him.

"Your efforts are getting more effective." he breathed, turning back around to face them all again. "But they're all for nothing; you will all die soon enough. Your bodies are limited and held with restraint. In this world, my kind are even more dominate in comparison to you all. You don't have a chance."

But it wasn't over yet, even as Daisuke felt his back impact a distant pile of debris, he would cry out to his comrades, "Don't give up! Keep fighting!"

CRACK-SSSSSSSSSSSSSSHINK!

And fight Renji and Izuru did, as the prior slammed his blade into the ground beneath him, extending it, and then having it pop up underneath Asumu and wrap around him tightly, constricting him with a series of sharp hooks and wired-mesh metal. While the Blut Vene may protect him from its crushing embrace, he'd be unable to use his Blut Arterie in the meantime. His pulsing Spiritual Power rushing through his Shikai would be more than enough to help keep the constriction at its maximum capability.

Izuru would then follow up and slam his Shikai around the surface of the coiled Shikai blade, making it incredibly heavier, and much more dense, to the point it would drag Asumu into the ground and be covered by the earth as he would flow downwards.

"NOW!" Izuru spoke aloud as he leaped into the air, aiming an outstretched hand towards Asumu's bound form, "Had ō #61,  Rikujōkōrō!"

Daisuke also sprang up in quick succession, bringing his blade upwards, before thrusting it forward to move in sync with Izuru's attack, "JIGOKU HASHIRA!"

The electrical and fiery forces merged, becoming one immense pillar of destructive power, before slamming towards the bound and buried Stern Ritter, intending to inflict the first sign of severe damage upon his body since the beginning of their one-sided exchange.

There would be one more attack that would be unleashed towards the Stern Ritter.

From the crowd, a massive Cero erupted from the tip of Lisa's pointed spear. It glowed a brilliant red as it ripped through the space between the crowd she had been thrown in, piercing through the combined attacks of Lisa's compatriots. She was in a crouched position, her narrowed eyes glaring at the focal point of the resulting explosions. Certainly, it was a devastating attack that promised the death of their enemy. But she knew better than to assume, what with all of the tricks he had up his sleeve. She kept on her guard, watching as her Cero melded in with the destruction they were creating.

"Keep your guards up!" She called out to the rest of them. "Be prepared for anything!"

The smoke quickly cleared to reveal Asumu's form, his Vollstandig still activated, but his left arm appeared to be heavily burned, along with some other burns throughout his form. However, he held out his right hand, and several rods with Roman numericals on them. "A nice tactic, I believe you've managed to burn me...but the game has ended."

"Kirchenlied: Sankt Zwinger!" he said aloud, as he and Daisuke alone would be caught within a rather large ward, with four Reishi towers around them, trapping them both within it's grasp. "Now... we can finish this the way we were meant to." he said to the Shinigami. "If you leave this ward, you will be vaporized, and if your comrades attempt to enter, they too will be destroyed."

Even as Renji pulled free what was left of his Shikai, from the earth, he couldn't but feel totally useless. Berift of Bankai, along with Izuru and Ikkaku, all of the compatriots could hear what Asumu spoke of Daisuke being singled out for execution. One of their biggest heavy hitters was cut off from the rest of them.

What could they do, but wait?!

"Ah, Hell," Daisuke's eyes widened, feeling his hovering form quickly seperated from the outside. In the end, he felt his feet touch the ground gracefully, as he stared death in the face, with his blade held aloft. Never had he met such a determined opponent, wanting to crush him outright. He knew he couldn't beat him outright, but...

Tap!

"Don't worry, Daisuke-san," the voice and presence of his Bankai form's Zanpakutō, manifested next to him, touching his shoulder as he hovered with a confident, cocky smile on his face, contrary to the clam sound coming from his voice, "as long as we stick together, there is no enemy we can't defeat. As long as you remember that, even the tallest beasts will fall into ashes before you."

"Thank you," Daisuke bowed his head, allowing the manifestation to envelop his body, with a brief uttering of the Bankai command phrase, transformed into a coat of bright orange, yellow, and red tongues that flowed around him like silk in the wind. Raising his blood red katana towards Asumu, he spoke the name of his Bankai, "Gyakushū Kyōi Abatā! Asumu Godai," rearing back on his heels, his body projected an immense amount of resolved Spiritual Power, blazing the interior of the enclosed space that had been created, "ready to die?!"

Asumu's resonant expression didn't change, raising an eyebrow as he spoke. "Shinigami, are you going to attack me over and over until your entire body weakens? Clearly you want to, so tell me...what is it you despise about me so much? Aside from the predictable reasons, such as war, and conflict, or even race, why are you so determined to destroy me? Becauce I did harm to those four Arrancar? Because you are losing this war?"

"Why I fight?! You must be thick-headed to not know why someone like me fights!" Daisuke snarled aloud as he raised his blade towards his designated enemy, "I fight against oppression! I fight against genocide! I fight against tyranny! Right now, you embody everything I despise, and your callousness towards life is marked as disgusting and reproachful in my eyes. You would kill anything if it would benefit your master, and wouldn't care in the least if everything that made this world bright and joyful be smothered by darkness and sickly terror. Prove me wrong, if you believe you're going to make this world a better place when you've finished destroying the last remnants of resistance! We have left!"

Arrival of the Vanguard, the Endgame Continues
"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet--"

"FUCK!"

Casilda promptly banged her forehead against the wall of a nearby house, promptly cutting off Melina and alarming an equally irate Findor. "Why are you following me, Melina?" She snapped, keeping her forehead leaned against the material of the structure. Her eyes were shut, and her mouth was contorted into a scowl. "I think Tierra would have wanted you to stay by her side. You know, because that's what Fraccion are supposed to do for their Espada! She's your direct leader, not me!"

"Yeah..." Melina pouted, folding her arms across her chest and looking at the Primera. "But she's so boring, though. I figured that since we're in the middle of war and all, you'd get the most challenging targets. I mean, there was Aizen, that Rey Dorado guy, and Juhabach. You've been hogging all the fun ever since this war started! I think I'm entitled to some too, Lady!"

"Even in the event that you could get overwhelmed?" Findor's alarm at Casilda's act of attempted self-harm was replaced by exasperation at Melina's presence. "With all due respect, Fraccion Herselia, this is not some walk in the park we're talking about. As long as the Inner Circle and her allies stand, we are at severe risk here!"

A toothy grin crossed Melina's face as she looked over at him. "That's what makes it all the better. Don't you know anything about being an Arrancar?"

"That's it." Casilda muttered, pushing herself off of the wall and continuing to walk. "The moment we're done on our end, I'm strangling Tierra for not keeping a better leash on you. Then I'm gonna beat her to death with her own leg for every second you used to drive me crazy. No, make that millisecond, I want the beating to last for a good, good while before I'm done..."

Their idle talk and walk would be fiercely cut off, as a narrow pair of condensed thin Ceros struck the ground before their feet. It would contain enough explosive yeield to erupt a tall and wide pillar of orange-red energy, followed up with the arrival of a pair of transparent visages that attempted to strike the dazed targets.

The taller one of the two would strike out towards Casilda intently, swinging a powerful right hook towards her jaw, before swinging a short blade towards her midriff several times, intent on spilling her guts open with powerful and clean cuts.

The shorter one swung a powerful blade towards the other two, intending to kill them both quickly, using his disorienting transparent form to keep from being seen or countered easily.

Disturbance!

Abruptly, the trio of Arrancar would turn their attention off of each other. Their eyes widened as they saw the energy beams strike the area in front of them. They were forced to shut their eyes in the brilliance of the attack. But they suppressed the urge to put a hand or arm up in front of their face for further shielding from blindness. That would've left them more open for attack from their assailants.

When the attacks came, they pulled out.

Casilda threw herself to the sky in an enhanced backflip. Her legs would carry her far away from her assailant, turning her completely upside down at zero point. She would easily catch herself, landing in a crouched position with one palm pressed to the ground and one of her knees touching it. She swiftly raised her head up to glare at the one who had dared to attack her.

Likewise, Melina and Findor did not engage their own targets right away. They threw themselves in separate directions, with Findor moving in a front flip and Melina moving in a back flip. Although they didn't display a supernatural effort in their evasive maneuvers, they would roll before landing in respective crouched positions of their own. Their respective swords were drawn quickly from their scabbards and held out to their sides.

"If I don't happen to die on the way..." Casilda muttered, slowly allowing herself to stand up and grasp the hilt of one of her own swords. She slowly drew it out, brandishing it threateningly as she looked at her assailant. "All right. Let's get this over with so I can--"

But upon the moment she saw who she was facing, her look of annoyance was replaced. Her eyes slowly widened, and her voice died within her throat before she could finish speaking. Her stance almost faltered as she regarded her personal enemy, and she could only manage to whisper one word.

"...you..."

The transparency fell, and the pair of assailants were revealed: Tome Kūgun and Hiroi Kyozai. Both held a bit of war scars and bleeding, but all in all, looked capable of holding their own against their chosen prey. The only thing that made things disconcerting, was that their brows were layered with sweat and their eyes shimmered with stress, as their voices came out in hoarse whispers.

"Help...me," Hiroi whispered aloud, as a trembling hand raised his sword over his head, charging a large amount of solar energy into a sphere at the edge of his blade, as he stared with desperation at Findor and Melina, "d-dodge...this!"

Tome, on the other hand, swung out his blade and fist towards Casilda in a rapid manner, allowing him to speak in sync with his movements, "I can't...control...my body's...movements...Cassie! Tsukishima...got to us...when we tried...to take him and the others...out! You have...to...stop me!"

Upon that statement, Casilda's eyes widened. As she reached out with her senses, she could pick out a slight difference within the spiritual signature of Tome. It was as if the signature of something else was overriding it. There was part of the original still remaining within him, almost as if it was trying to fight whatever control the foreign presence had on it. It was right then and there that she knew this was Tsukishima's doing. The look of desperation within his eyes signaled that much.

It unnerved her to see the rough-and-tumble man she had come to know fall under such a state of mind. But that wouldn't keep her from becoming angry at how he had been made into an unwilling fighter under the Horseman.

"You mean to tell me that you tried to take Tsukishima out on your own?!" She demanded more than asked. Her blade was swung again and again to counter his swipes and punches as she retreated, her feet carrying her backwards against his assault. "No, strike that. You're telling me that you tried to kill him and the enemy's leadership on your own?! Please tell me that you at least had more than Hiroi backing you up!"

Then, in the midst of one of his fist attacks, she used both of her arms to catch the one he had hurled. With a short yell and a twist of her body, she threw him away. The force she put behind the throw would send him flying over the ground like an air glider over the ocean.

On the Fraccion's side, Findor's ears perked up at the words of Tome as he had attacked Casilda. What indignation he felt at them attacking his leader was quick to fade away and replace itself with alarm, which was amplified when he looked at his own enemy. Through the orb of solar energy, he could barely see the man's stressed look as he vainly struggled against the control over his body. The power he was putting behind the attack wasn't something to be trifled with. He switched his gaze to his partner.

"Melina, look--"

But that was when Melina, in an iaido stance, made a move that had temporarily shocked her male comrade.

With a Sonido, she was right in front of him in a crouched position. Her blade was unsheathed and swung in one quick and fluid motion. Her blade sliced through the orb that would have consumed them otherwise, and the small space that separated the two would be taken up by a wall of solar energy. She shut one eye and dug her feet in as the winds pushed against her. But all the meanwhile, she had an anticipating smile on her face.

"Show me a good time, Hiroi-kun!"

"This isn't a game!" Hiroi snarled out with a cross of indignation and fear, as his body broke out into a full charge, swinging his blade within a series of graceful and thoroughly aimed slashes to overwhelm her position, "I will kill you if any of these connect!"

Tome winced at the feeling of being thrown with such force. It wasn't long until his instincts took over and discharged a wave of kinetic force from his backside, earning a thunderclap of cracked air pressure as his body ground to a halt. Raising his forefinger to point towards her position, he discharged a thin stream of white flames towards her, aiming to annihilate her upon impact through detonation of the white-hot flames he had copied and mastered from his fight against the Shiroyasha.

"It sounded like a good idea at the time!" Tome growled out in frustration as his body waited to see the results of his attack.

Fortunately for Casilda, she hadn't waited long enough for his attack.

With another Sonido, she had taken to the skies high above their heads. Her body was in the midst of a front-flip, with just as much abnormal acrobatics she had displayed in her first jump. She was a silhouette within the light of the white flames as descended towards the ground. Her body was performing a cannonball flip as she dived down towards her opponent. Just before she collided, she unfolded just as her blade would make its way towards his head. The force delivered behind this particular attack would be monumental, emphasized by her yell as she struck.

The resulting shockwave would be powerful enough to annihilate the surrounding structures, blowing them off of their foundations and sending their remains across the earth. The shockwave would, however, wash over the other three without any adverse or negative effects. As such, Melina was free to continue defending herself against Hiroi. Her strikes were focused in horizontal and diagonal directions, continuously parrying and batting his sword away. She spun and twisted around as she did this, essentially dancing around him as she fought him off. But even throughout the intensity of their fight, she had an anticipating grin on her face.

It was here that Findor got himself together, shaking his head viciously to get him out of the stupor he had went into after seeing former allies attack him. Of course, they were acting against their will. But it didn't mean that he had to stand there and watch as his comrades got attacked. Knowing that Casilda would have no problem going toe-to-toe with Tome, he set his sights on helping his fellow Fraccion. His eyes narrowed, he gritted his teeth, and he threw himself forward.

"Hrah!"

With a yell, he rushed Tome as he was engaging Melina. His own sword was thrust forward to begin his very own attack, intending to overwhelm and disarm his enemy quickly.

Able to hold himself back enough to not muster a full defensive, Tome felt himself struck downwards within the wake of the explosive, kinetic force, driving his back hard into the earth with a uproaring blast of disheveled debris and dirt in his wake. He did everything in his power to suppress himself, knowing it was nothing more than mental puppet strings ordering him to fight. He found it ironic, that he wanted desperately to stop fighting when all he loved to do was to fight the good fight.

Hiroi, however, was having a bit harder time resisting the tensile control over his body's functions.

Despite Findor's blade meeting Hiroi's guard, tossing his weapon away, his arms immediately swung out like weapons themselves. Laced with spasm-pulses of electrical Kidō fabric of energy above and through his skin, he began to parry Findor and Melina's blades equally, while using his feet to strike out powerful kicks to send them back with competantly swift and destructive kicks.

Immediately, Findor and Melina switched their tactics.

While Melina kept countering and parrying from the front, Findor had twisted around to flank and get behind him. They kept up this position in order to fence him in and surround him, pressuring his defenses even moreso than it would have been possible with just one. As they maneuvered and attacked, Findor couldn't help but feel a fascination for the method of defense Hiroi was using against them. One corner of his mouth would curl upwards in a smirk. "An electric field to surround the entirety of the body. The pulses provide enough of a jolt to deflect the blade and not electrocute the holder. He must be holding himself back, as well. This is a perfect opportunity to finish this fight before it can proceed any further."

Time would slow down as Hiroi would turn to Melina for the briefest of moments. Quickly, Findor sheathed his sword and settled into an iaido stance. His eyes peered at the currents running through the body. There were times in where the currents had a gap in between, leaving the body momentarily exposed for attack. He would see this as a small window of opportunity to finish the fight before it got too much out of hand. A precise cut to the spine would paralyze him and render his body immobile, but it would keep him alive.

So he grit his teeth, unsheathed his blade and swung towards the designated point.

Meanwhile, Casilda was seen with Tome in the center of the crater that had been created when she slammed into him. She was straddling his hips, with her free hand gripping his blade wrist tightly. Her sword was poised so that the tip would be impaled into his head if she had to do so. She too had noticed the sudden relent in her opponent's assault. It was a clear sign that he too demonstrated at least some will over the force controlling him. If there was any hope to break him from the spell he was under, it would only be through him.

"Fight it." She had lowered her voice as she spoke to him, her tone firm yet almost a whisper. "You've gotten so far that you're still able to talk with me on your own accord. Even now, you're struggling against the hold he has on you. I know you can fight it!"

"I know that's damned obvious, Cassie! But...I...can't...do this...much longer," Tome growled, his body crackling with slowly building energy, as his muscles instinctively prepared its counterattack. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes, trying to halt the speed of time through his perception and just think.

He could feel the disorienting pulses rushing through his brain, manipulating his motor controls, and trying to sieze a harness over his frontal lobes, constantly trying to break his free will and thoughts. But he could still move his head, if nothing else, as well as train his eyes. If he could only find a way to bring that to his advantage...

Then, it hit him.

With a smile, Tome chuckled as if he found out the most obvious thing to preform to counter this foul spell.

"Cassie...do me a favor...and reflect the flat side of that blade of yours...just a few inches above my eyes," Tome's eyes trained on the blade pointed at the blade's edge that motioned close to his head itself, nodding it towards his direction, "I got a plan to bypass this damned puppetry..."

Hiroi halted his body long enough so the cutting edge to scathe his spinal column, causing his lower body to feel instantaneously numb and unresponsibe, following a fiery crack of pain going to his upper body. Falling to the ground, he barely held himself up with his forearms, gasping in shock as he kept himself from slipping into unconsciousness, "Without my legs, I cannot fight properly. Its over for me...thank you..."

"Think nothing of it, dear brother..."

Findor, seeing that the threat was effectively neutralized, slung the blood off of the blade before sheathing it within its scabbard. Now that the adrenaline acquired from the duel had worn off, their was simmering loathing towards the one that had performed such a spell on them. It was certainly one of the lowest things that could've been done in the likes of warfare, and he certainly didn't appreciate it happening to one of his closest associates. But he made sure to keep his voice calm and controlled as he spoke to the fading Hiroi.

"Well, that was a disappointment..." Melina's lips contorted into a pouting frown, but she sheathed her own blade and folded her arms across her chest. "Why'd you have to end it so quickly? I was just starting to have fun..."

"He's an ally, Herselia..." Findor was quick to remind her of that, a slightly stern tone within his voice. "Combat may be indeed entertaining, but it doesn't do anyone any good when it comes at the expense of a comrade." He turned his eyes towards Casilda and Tome as the prior lowered the flat blade of her sword a few inches above his eyes. "Be glad that we managed to contain it before it could get too destructive. I can't imagine what would happen in the event that the Lady and Kūgun-san unleashed their full strength against each other in an environment like this..."

Tome's eyes flashed vividly a silver glow, reflecting off of the metallic surface of the blade's reflective surface, directing it back into his own eyes. The affect was useful, as he had acquired the rare ability of casting illusions through eye contact. It was what happened during part way through the battle between him and Aizen, and found a perfect use to preform it upon himself.

Within an instant, he preformed the illusion that simply erased the existence of Tsukishima's Zanpakutō from his mind, furthering any control it would have upon his body now and within the future.

As quickly as it happened, it was over. His body stopped trembling and regained full control over itself. Letting all tension release from his body, Tome sighed with relief, muttering softly, "Thank Izanami that was over..."

But Casilda had not yet moved. The grip she held on his wrist had not yet been released, even as she pulled the blade away from his eyes. Her voice was quiet as she spoke to him, but from the words she spoke, it was made very clear how she was feeling right now. "What were you thinking?" She asked, a slight scowl on her face as she glowered at him. "Did you really go in there assuming that you were going to win against the likes of Aizen? When he had the Horsemen backing him up? You were lucky to only have escaped with your body intact. Trust me on that... I had a taste of his power myself during my brief visit of Hueco Mundo."

Then, she abruptly released her grasp. But it was just as abruptly that she would clasp Tome's throat. She wasn't choking him, but the pressure she was applying would be enough to reflect the glare she had in her eyes. Although she was clearly angry, there could also be bitterness and concern flashing through her expression as well. "Don't you ever do something that stupid again..." She said, her voice a harsh whisper now. "If you even think of doing any more stunts like that, I'll kill you myself." Quickly, she released her hold on his throat and climbed off of him, dusting herself off as she stood up. She extended a free hand to him for him to take so that she could help him up. "We clear?"

Sighing, Tome could understand what the gravity of the situation was. Having gone calvalier without aid or a plan, he had nearly risked the entire war. If he hadn't mentally chosen to go after Casilda, the casualties may have been astronomical.

Grasping her hand, he hung his head with an ashamed look on his face, nodding to her as he looked to the side towards Hiroi, "Yeah...we're clear..."

She gave a nod, sheathing her blade as she pulled him up...

...into an embrace.

Because of the height difference, she had to turn her head in order to keep his shoulder from pushing her nose in. The hand she had used to grasp his was moved inward, resulting in him feeling the beating of her heart. She had her free palm resting on his back, keeping him close to her in the hug. It was probably the closest she had gotten to him ever since Aizen's attack on Empresa, as well as one of the few times she would actually allow herself to express any affection towards him. "You don't know how glad I am to see you alive..." She whispered, her eyes closed and an expression of relief on her face. "So... make sure you stay that way, huh? You and Hiroi..." She passed a glance over at Hiroi's unconscious form, watching as Findor silently knelt over to sling the man over his shoulder. Melina stood near him, quietly regarding the two with a...

Wait a minute, was she giving them a dirty look? Casilda couldn't help but blink owlishly for a moment, but it didn't deter the other female Arrancar's expression away.

Tome had relished the feeling with a thankful smile, not feeling any words of his could express his thankfulness or his gratitude. All he had wanted was acknowledgement of his affection to her, or the relationship they possessed. Now, that he recieved it, he felt inclined to keep alive, if nothing cause she had requested it.

Turning on his heels, however, he gave the unknown Arrancar a glare of his own, raising his right hand to flip her off as he walked towards Hiroi's twitching form, "Hey! Bitch, do you have something to say, say it to my face, kay?!"

"Oh, I'll say it to your face, all right!" Melina fired right back, using a Sonido to promptly step in front of him. She thrust a finger into his chest to emphasize her words, ignoring the fact that he was much taller than she was. "Who do you think you are, smiling like that just because Cassie-chan got all close to you? I'll have you now that she's quite taken!"

That made Casilda's eyes widen, and she immediately found herself shaking both her hands and her head in a frantic nonverbal gesture for Melina to stop talking. However, the Fraccion either didn't seem to notice or care as she went on her tirade. "That's right. She's already got a boyfriend, and his name's Coyote Fuckmothering Starrk! So you stop those fat, jiggling, googly eyes right this instant, buster!"

"The Ex-Primera with THE Primera? Like that would work," Tome sneered doubtfully at the short Arrancar, making a motion with his hand in a shooing gesture towards her, "why don't you run along and go bother someone else, sweet cheeks, while I fix up my friend here."

"Oh, thank God..."

Casilda almost breathed a sigh of relief as she heard Tome's dismissal. For a moment, she had feared that he would react negatively if she had heard she was possibly harboring feelings towards the former Primera. But if he straight up didn't believe it, she could at least breathe easy for the time being. The last thing she wanted for the guy to attempt to fight the unenthusiastic and lazy Starrk out of jealously or anything like that. It'd be a bit amusing, of course, but the last thing she wanted from anyone was them fighting each other over her, of all people...

Melina gave a huff, her lips contorting into a pout. But she promptly turned and stormed off without another word until she was at the side of Findor. The blonde Arrancar in turn would breathe an audible sigh of relief, realizing that the situation could've been a bit more volatile than it had turned out to be.

Grasping Hiroi by the collar, Tome sent an illusionary pulse through his eyes into the silver haired man's, causing his struggles to cease and his breathing to return to normalcy. Within a matter of seconts, Hiroi administered self-healing Kidō upon his spine, tenuously repairing the sliced nerves back into his spine.

"Thank goodness...that's over," Hiroi voiced aloud, feeling as if there was no more opposition left.

"Well, we still have a few Dog squadrons still reinforcing areas, as well as those three other Stern Ritters still present in the Soul Society," Tome noted, as he used his Pesquisa to sense the happenings around the Seireitei and respective Rukonagi Districts, "I won't know for certain until the Quincies and Aizen's cohorts are out of commission, but I think we can safely say the Inner Circle has run out of wild cards to play on the table..."

"Were it so easy..." Casilda muttered, shoving her hands into her pockets. She took in a deep breath and exhaled, looking upwards to the sky. "The Inner Circle may have run out of wild cards to play... but it doesn't mean that the ones already on the table are going to be any more easier to deal with." She began to walk forward, motioning to Findor and Melina to follow. "C'mon! We've still got a job to do, and the quicker we get it over with, the quicker we can get out of here."

"Exacta, my Lady." Findor said lightly, giving a slight bow as he made to follow.

"Maybe this time I'll have a longer fight!" Melina said happily, skipping behind Findor while humming a tune.

VMMMMMMM!

"This is-?!" Hiroi's eyes suddenly widened along with Tome's, as they looked upwards. A white garbed individual with a hood over his face, swung his blade out in a crescent motion. Within a series of afterimages, nearly a hundred blades were formed, and then thrust towards the ground at the group's bodies and heads.

The force the blades sent were great enough, that Tome felt the need to dodge the falling jagged spears, pulling Hiroi with him as the blades moved to hit them and the others with just as much ferocity.

"Twelve o'clock, incoming!"

That was Findor's yell to his comrade and his leader as he leaped away. Even Melina had stopped herself to look up at the storm of blades approaching them, quickly jumping away with her fellow Fraccion in order to keep herself from meeting a grisly demise. The only one that hadn't moved was Casilda. Although her eyes were widened in surprise as she saw the swords approach her, she didn't make a move to either defend herself or dodge the attacks. All it took was a matter of seconds before the blades converged on her position. There would be nothing seen but the metal that rained down on her.

Findor's eyes widened in shock as he stood back up, his voice instinctively calling out to Casilda. "Lady Casilda!"

However, he would soon find that his call wouldn't be needed. Where the spears had landed directly, they would be shoved off and collapse to the ground. An unharmed Casilda dusted herself off in a nonchalant manner before folding her arms across her chest. Her immensely strong Hierro had once again saved her from an otherwise deadly attack, and thus there was no need to be alarmed as the rest of them had been.

SHFT-Tap!

"Impressive Hierro you have, Primera Selestino," A smooth, confident tone broke out from the man as he stood before the group. A dark skinned face with a visor-like white pair of shades wrapped around his eyes. The Zanpakutō's blade gleamed out under the crackling light, even within the wake of the halted rain of the storm looming overhead.

Tome's eyes widened, as instantly recognized the man and his blade, uttering aloud, "Kaname Tōsen...former Captain of the 9th Division of the Gotei 13?!"

He wouldn't be the only one who would be surprised by the man's appearance.

Findor's eyes would regard the presumed-to-be-dead Captain with shock and a little bit of horror. His eyes had slightly dilated, and he had instinctively taken a step back. This man had been one of the bodyguards that served beside Sōsuke Aizen himself. He had also been a commander in the Winter War, and his authority wasn't exactly the kindest Hollowity had received. Hearing the man speak again sent a vicious shiver down his spine - something he thought he only would have felt in the presence of Baraggan. His hand gripped his blade tightly, fearing the worst.

"So, it turns out that Aizen's personal pet did survive, after all." Casilda would speak to him in a casual drawl, and she lowered her arms back to her sides. "What? Did getting turned into primordial soup the first time not do anything for your brain?"

"Cassie! Careful!" Tome spoke out, refusing to move from his spot, less to encourage the dangerous man to strike. His eyes, carefully analyzing everything about him, could find little other than an obvious fact, "this guy's as strong as us! Don't let your guard down!"

"Allow me to put you to sleep, Cortez," Kaname spoke with a taunting smile, as he used the masculine name that had previously adorned Casilda's title as Primera. Raising his blade towards her direction, he whispered aloud a subtle command, "Suzumishi Shishiki: Semihimei!"

Within a single vibration, all space before Kaname distorted and transition through space with bare moments of elapsing time passing. The sonic force would be so great that it would rupture the most solid defense and tear at the internal organs set before it. Visibly, the noise would be directed into one solitary direction, as if shot through a wide tube at Casilda's direction, ripping apart the cobblestone beneath her feet and rippling the air with hyper-intensity.

Casilda couldn't help but inwardly chuckle at Tome's warning. She could safely assume that his experience with Tsukishima had shaken him up out of whatever cocky attitude he held before this moment. He wouldn't have bothered to act so cautious otherwise. But still, even as the sonic wave came towards her, she gripped one of her own swords and used her own senses to analyze. Sound was an element that didn't have much counters to it due to his nature of inflicting internal damage instead of external. He certainly knew what he was coming into.

Without hesitation, she performed a sidestep to evade the attack. The sonic wave would race past her, barely missing her side as it tore through the air. Her hair and clothing billowed in the intense winds that were created, but her expression didn't falter. Her eyebrows furrowed, and a small scowl was set on her face. She twisted her sword so that the cutting edge would be leveled at her enemy, gripping it with two hands and settling into a kendo stance.

"Okay..."

Then, she moved.

A Sonido was all it took to get to him within a blink of an eye. She unleashed an uppercut swing to his chin, the air rippling and distorting in the power of her strike. Throughout it all, she had a small smirk of anticipation, keeping Tome's words in mind and expecting nothing but the best out of this particular enemy.

"Let's dance!"

Within a whirling blur of white, Kaname moved to the side with a pivoting swing of his body, facing her forward thrusting body perpindicularly to her left. Simultaneously, he swung out towards her empty-handed left hand with a powerful horizontal slash, intending on cutting her mid-riff and kidney open in a single slash.

"Haien!" Within exodus of the slash, his left hand generated a powerful sphere of violet-white flames, sending it towards her body. The nature of its energies would eat away at her skin and burn her up until she was nothing but ashes. Such was the nature of this particularly lethal, volatile Kidō.

Casilda had enough sense to understand that blocking with her bare hand would've simply resulted in her arm burning up. But evasion at that range would have been pointless, as the flames would've caught her before she would have been able to complete the movement. The only option that assured that she would be safe from harm was to catch the blade with her bare hand - and in order to ensure her safety, she would have to perform a little extra.

She gritted her teeth, summoning a Bala to encoat her hand as the palm collided with Kaname's weapon. A brilliant display of violet and red was created for the audience to see. Findor and Melina were watching with their own varying degrees of wonder, their swords having been sheathed for the moment in favor of letting their leader fight it out against the man.

"The age of legend is gone..."

Findor's voice would surprise Melina, and she turned her eye towards him in confusion and inquiry. He would keep his eyes on the clash as he continued to speak. "During her takeover and rule, Casilda was an unrivaled fighter. There were few who dared to challenge her directly, and those who did ended up suffering either a humiliating defeat or imminent death. But here in this generation, there is Sōsuke Aizen and Yashin Shiyōnin. There is Tome Kūgun. There is Rey Dorado and Rana Zolinder. Many more have arisen up to her level, and no more can she find herself closing her eyes in the middle of battle. After all these years..."

He watched as Casilda shoved the blade away from her person, using enough force to displace Kaname's balance before renewing her assault. Both her body and sword would twist, turn and thrust as it struck at its target with malignant grace.

"There is a chance that she will be able to finally find an equal..."

Without flinching, Kaname allowed himself to move backwards, backpedaling more gracefully than his enemy intended. As his heels skid across the shattered cobblestone, he weaved his arm out to thread out a golden chain of Sajō Sabaku to wrap around the thrusting weapon. As it neared his chest, the chains became fully taut, allowing him to yank with incredible strength to the side, and allow him to execute a powerful kick to her midsection, while simultaneously slashing horizontally towards her throat.

"Oof--!"

Although Casilda bent over at the foot that collided with her stomach, the air hadn't been knocked out of her lungs. She shut one eye out of reflex, but her free hand would swing up to grasp his sword wrist before the blade could scratch her throat. She pushed herself forward, causing the leg pressed against her stomach to bend back to him. With a low kick of her own, she struck his ankle in order to knock him off of his balance once again. Then, she twisted herself around, keeping him within her grip in order to ensure that she would take him with her. With a yell, she hurled him away from her person like a bullet to send him crashing into structures that had not yet fallen in the wake of their earlier battle.

Melina couldn't help but whistle. "Wow. She'd play a mean game of catch..."

The Primera would relax her stance for a brief moment, her smirk growing in size a little. Now, she could tell just from their opening blows that she was dealing with a whole new opponent than the one faced in the Winter War. But it didn't mean that she would allow herself to remain tense as Tome apparently was. She raised her arms outward to her sides, chuckling as she looked over at the spot she had thrown her enemy. Although her words would be nothing more than a simple jeer, the implications behind them would be very clear.

"Test tube experiments like you don't belong on the battlefield!"

Within the excess of the smoke cloud, Kaname could be walking out smoothly in answer to her words. With a spare hand, Kaname's gloved hand dusted off the debris clenching onto his overcoat as he stared in the Primera's direction.

Though his voice was low, he knew that the Espada Afilado would hear it, as he spoke in retort, "I don't believe you should think of me...as a mere experiment..."

With a tap of his foot, several strings of blue-white electricity raced towards Casilda's direction, surrounding her within a wide eliptical circle of energy.

In an instant, the blast would erupt around her entirely...

"Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"

Unlike Rey's use of the pre-timed Kidō, the energies that would be projected would threaten to engulf her entirely and cook her skin, while frying her body entirely within the incinerative, arcing tower of lightning force. The destructive poise of the technique would only be furthered, as Kaname raised his left hand towards her direction, and rapid-fired nearly a dozen Sōkatsuis into the flames, as he intended to fuel the flames that would threaten to burn her alive.

Of course, it would have been a pitiful end if Casilda allowed herself to die so early in the fight.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the pillar of lightning surround her. Knowing that she had little time to react, she flipped her blade to an upside-down position and stabbed it into the ground. She concentrated her power into her blade, letting out a grunt as she felt the volatile energies shift around her. But before the first tendril could reach her, she would release the pent-up power within her to create a shockwave that would blow away the energies that threatened to consume her.

As the following Sokatsui spells were shot towards her direction, she pushed herself off of the ground with her hand still resting on the hilt of her blade. For a brief moment, she would be off of the ground, upside-down and using her sword as a balance. Then, she curled her body and boosted herself into the air, narrowly missed by the Sokatsui spells. She performed a flip and twist as she spun towards Kaname, gripping her blade in both hands and swinging downwards. A wind shock-wave created by her tremendous physical force would be unleashed towards his position, capable of crushing him like a pancake.