Balance of Souls: Ruination

Part 1
45th Eastern Rukongai, Kanekane

Pulling. Pulling. Pulling. A series of tape-like blades emerged from Carmen's wounds, scabbed over with an alien amalgamation of flesh and metal. They had lunged at the man she had stolen such a power from: Máo Yǒng. But the prompt release of his Jiūkǔndao turned that into a trap. Her power was his and so they fused to him as he transformed. Slowly they gravitated towards him and she was pulled with it.

Until it stopped, abruptly. A series of clangs rung out amidst the sloshing of liquid, the blades that appeared from Carmen's body dropped to the floor, scraping their way across the cold, hard stone as they dragged themselves towards their master. The woman stood still, lurched forward, her wounds bleeding furiously. She stood in a pool of her own blood, the liquid surrounding her was a deep red, tinged with blue. Her veins wrought of Blut Vene, keeping her from bleeding out in the process.

Her expression was a stark contrast from her condition. A look of lust and hunger, like a predator about to pounce on their prey. Her wounds closed only to burst open once again with a new incarnation of the thin blades that she had been copying. These ones made of bone. They were stronger and gave off a residual hint of Yǒng's but otherwise related far more closely to Carmen's.

"I never expected you to have such modern tastes...", she spoke with a lascivious tone.

Máo was gazing at her with a grim, stiff face expression as if chiseled in granite. The bands of dark silver steel wrapped tighter around his wounded body. Incredibly sharp tapes and long serpentine chains kept moving as if alive, surrounding him with a thicket of additional limbs. The aura of his spiritual pressure cast an ominous glow, concentrated, humming silently with cold fury.

"Relish the pain. It is the undeniable proof that you are alive", he uttered gravely. "For now."

He was a veteran. Even though his power paled in comparison to his superior officers, he was a formidable and experienced warrior. Relentless and methodical. Thus, he did not wait for a response from the Quincy woman, instead opting to attack at once. The metal tapes of his Shìfàng, Guān Zhào, spread out in an attempt to enclose Abandonato whilst numerous chains with bladed tips and sharp links rapidly shot toward her with the intent to perforate her instantly.

Meanwhile, Ren Nakatani was locking blades with Redención Mandíbula. However, the stalemate was about to change with the of Wú Lanfên quickly approaching the 's head. Redención, still locked with Ren, saw the heavy hammer come cascading downwards towards his head, his visible eye widened as he abruptly struggled as much as he could to change the immediate outcome of the attack that was about to hit him, the Arrancar tried spinning, but way part way blocked by Ren holding him in place, getting desperate he arched his back and lowered his head so as to make the Meteor Hammer slam him in the left shoulder, a resounding shattering of bones as the Arrancar was forcefully pummeled into the ground, his left arm was useless to him and his body was shocked by the impact as he lay face down in the dirt, majorly injured but still miraculously alive from what initially was going to be a one hit kill, after a number of seconds his senses came back to him as Redención clambered up, his now broken arm hanging limp by his side as his right arm grasped his Zanpakutō and used it to support him as he gasped and wheezed in pain, his face wrought with pain and anger as he managed to look up at the two Balancers.

"Fuckin'.....hypocrites.....even a dumbass like me can see it.", Redencion gasped out as loud as he could, his voice just barely loud enough to reach Ren and Wú. The Arrancar finally pulled his sword out of the ground as he assumed a sloppy fighting stance, as much as liked fighting and as capable as he was, Redención was well aware that with the two of them ganging up on him he stood no chance, all the Arrancar could hope was that Cielo would awaken soon to help him out, as well as hope that he could stall or hold out long enough to make it happen. However Redención also knew he couldn't take another beating like he just got, lest he die immediately, leaving the glorified Hollow only one option, he gripped his blade tightly as he tried gathering some remnant of his energy back.

"Mmm... Its far from pain, dear", the woman retorted whilst the spines of bone wrapped around her in order to shield her from the oncoming attack as a cocoon. The metal spines pierced through, embedding themselves into unnaturally hard bone.

Yǒng was mildly surprised. He had expected the enemy attempt to evade, not to play into his hands, unwittingly or not. He surrounded the bone cocoon with the metal bands of his Shìfàng. Then, few of the chains still remaining beside his person began carving the ground around him to rapidly form a fairly intricate symbol. Máo performed several quick hand seals. Later, he outstretched his arms toward Abandonato. The earth beneath her transformed into a black shapeless mass that spawned a great number of rusty chains. The binding Underworld Kadō began wrapping around her cocoon.

"The ability to perceive the blow that kills you hardly sounds respectable, ", uttered Ren in a condescending manner, literally looking down upon Redención.

Then, she approached him with a sudden move and lifted her leg in preparation for a swift kick to his chin. However instead of hitting the Arrancar in the spot she aimed him, it had hit the palm of Redención's still operated arm, which had been thrust down as more of a punch in order to equalise the force from Ren's kick, with her strike still causing him to break his posture slightly before reforming, his blade now sunk in the ground where he dropped it to intercept the attack. His hanging head hiding his pained and angered expression.

"You're a fuckin' hypocrite.", Redención repeated, his hand gripping onto Ren's ankle so as he kept a hold of it, "I remember you sayin' somethin' 'bout....you bein' a warrior, usin' all you skills in a fight...", the Arrancar panted, catching his breath still from the fatigue he had attained from the battle.

"...and callin' me and Cielo...cowards, for gangin' up or somethin' like that.", he continued on, his grip loosening slightly on Ren's ankle.

"You're no warrior, you're just the same as me...a coward.", Redención finished, he threw Ren's leg away in an effort to stall her as he grabbed his Zanpakutō and retreated a large distance away from her, it's blade glowing a light red.

"Tear asunder, Aniquilación!", Redención cried out, getting consumed by the torrent of Reiatsu gushing out of his blade, as it disappeared, it revealed Redención, however his ruined jacked had been replaced with a think, bony armour, with a long, thick, lizard like tail protruding from the back of it. However despite his transformation, the Arrancar still was struggling due to his still present injuries.

The coiled bone opened up at the top, moving outward just as a powerful boom resounded from within Carmen's cocoon. She shot upward into the air, the cocoon falling in the opposite direction to be consumed further by the chains of spiritual energy. Cast off in her ascent was the large, bulky, rectangular object that she called her Spirit Weapon. Dispersing into particles as it fell by the wayside.

Carmen's originally haphazard rise into the sky became a practiced motion of grace as she took control of her momentum and flipped through the air, her heels landing on a suddenly manifested surface of Reishi with a pair of light clacks. She went on the offensive this time, a Heilig Pfeil formed before her and found itself wrapped in the embrace in another reformation of those imitative bone-tendrils. They spun, around and overhead, before loosing the javelin-sized arrow at Máo.

Yǒng watched her with narrowed eyes. He had wanted to trap her within the cocoon and cook her with Fire Kadō, though she managed to escape rather quickly. No matter. She was no longer a serious threat once he released his Shìfàng. Her death was just a matter of time. He used the chains embedded in the remains of the bony construct to add some momentum to his Flash Step, swiftly evading the projectile she had shot at him. No longer sustained, the binding Kadō subsided whilst he detached Guān Zhào from the cocoon to regain mobility.

In fact, he could still cook her with a Fire Kadō.

He stood suspended in the air, surrounding himself with chains and metal bands as a precaution. In the meantime he performed a weaving motion with his hand, then jutted out his palm with all fingers outstretched.

"Zunōka Akudō", he recited when narrow beams of black and red fire burst forth toward the Quincy woman from the tips of his fingers.

Colonel Nakatani smirked, both amused and infuriated by her current opponent. Apparently it did not occur to him that his Quincy companion was the first one to interfere into another's fight without even a word of warning. Whatever argument she presented to him he was ready to twist with his warped logic to support his position. Not that his opinion mattered to her.

"So, you stopped pretending to be Human at last?", she asked in a mocking tone. "You could stop pretending to be morally superior too. You'll be just as dead in the end anyway."

Lanfên stood not far away in front of her. Unlike their enemies, they were going to cooperate to defeat the foe. Both of them began releasing their spiritual pressure in the wake of the Hollow's transformation. Ren was enveloped by a madly swirling tempest of royal blue, whilst her subordinate unleashed a potent shockwave of amber hue that cracked the earth beneath her feet. She was spinning the left head of her meteor hammer over her head with gust-stirring speed.

"Wú, strike him down!", Nakatani commanded.

"With pleasure, Milady!", agreed the Major with a grin.

Ren activated the power of her Jiūkǔndao, Hyeongi, to throw Redención's perception into disarray. Right afterward Lanfên swung the Qīng Zhàng Chē with perfect timing, imbuing it with a considerable amount of power as it rocketed in the Arrancar's direction in a wide arc. Redención swayed in response to being affected by Ren's ability as he barely saw Wú's wind up before his sight betrayed him, the Arrancar raised his tail and seemingly missed whatever he was aiming for, hitting the ground, however instead of the tail being embedded into the earth, it instead crushed the ground underneath him, a large portion of the ground collapsing with him in it, allowing the dazed Arrancar to dodge the wide swing while giving him time to recover from his disorientation, his perceptions coming back to him, with the Hammer swinging over his head and causing more destruction nearby as a result of it's power.

From the cloud of dust and rubble that was caused by the haphazard dodge of Redención's, the Arrancar shot out at top speed with the use of Sonído, a handful of small rocks and pebbles in his working hand, a red orb of energy surrounding them. As he appeared in Ren and Wú's presence, he fired the energy along with the rubble he had collected, the rubble having a similar red energy infused in it as it shot toward Ren at a near blinding speed as Redención himself shot towards the other Balancer, his tail ready to pierce her before she could attack or reel in her other Meteor Hammer, hoping that his efforts had worked out.

Meanwhile, in a deep crater, the Arrancar that was Cielo Nocturno finally raised up from the rubble covered crater that had been formed from the last attack that had been performed against him, he shook his head several times before picking up his Zanpakutō and sensing the situations of his two allies, his Pesquisa picking up the Spiritual Powers of Carmen and Máo in an area a fair distance from him, and picking up the presences of Ren, Redención and Wú all in the same place close by, the Arrancar's eyes widening slightly upon feeling the strengths of each of the combatants Spiritual Power, rushing out of the crater and going to where his partner was being curb stomped.

"Oh? That again?", Carmen observed the spell with intent as it burned itself into existence, doing little more to prevent it from reaching her than simply placing her hand in front of herself outstretched. The snake stopped, held by an ethereal force just as the Quincy began to take a deep breath. The snake distorted, losing its shape before being pulled into the invisible vacuum she seemed to be making. The snake vanished entirely and the coiling bones emerging from her limbs promptly detached themselves from her, becoming decrepit and lifeless in a matter of seconds as they plummeted towards the earth. The scabbed over wounds that served as the emerging points for her now missing tendrils lit up, and appeared to sow themselves shut, cauterizing lines merging the skin back together rather neatly.

"Just two more", she commented to herself cryptically whilst her Spirit Weapon manifested above her shoulder. She grappled it as per usual and summoned a Heilig Pfeil that was promptly loosed at Máo yet again. Reishi immediately focused on the canopy of her arbalest once the arrow had been fired, a second forming rapidly. She turned, and aimed at the Balancers who were more than occupied with her Arrancar cohorts and so she fired at their backs.

Yǒng was mildly surprised, again. He hated surprises. Perhaps trying to fight the enemy at range was simply a bad idea. As such, he swung with the chains and bands of his Shìfàng at the projectile she had fired at him, smashing it to bits of gleaming Reishi particles. He could do nothing to prevent her from taking potshots at his comrade and superior yet again, although what he could do was make sure that will not happen anymore. He approached her rapidly with Shunpo. The Quincy seemed to favour fighting with ranged weapons, so he was going to make good use of his proficiency in close combat.

"I am your opponent, whore", he stated as Guān Zhào lashed at her with the multitude of its metal tendrils.

"Wú!", exclaimed Ren.

She leapt to the side to avoid the barrage of explosives thrown by the Hollow, although she was unable to completely escape from the ensuing number of small explosions. What she had been able to achieve though was to simultaneously move away from the path of Abandonato's arrow that cracked the ground mere couple of metres from her. At the same time Lanfên was outpaced by Redención whose tail pierced her abdomen. Unfortunately for him, the sheer momentum of the meteor hammer she had swung at him earlier prompted it to wrap its chain around both of them in a few swift, circular motions.

"I'm going to enjoy this more than you", she said straight into his masked face with trickles of blood flowing from her mouth.

She lifted him effortlessly whilst speaking, turning around just in the nick of time to place him at the destination point of the second arrow fired by Carmen. Surprisingly however, Redención grinned at her through his pained face as he struggled to release his hand so it was hanging by his side as opposed to being crushed against him and the Balancer.

"Ya willin' to bet on it!?", Redención stated as loud as his damaged lungs could manage, not bothering to struggle against Wú's superior strength, instead he used his free and movable arm to aim his hand at Wú's face, the red ball that was a Cero slowly charging in his palm, the reverberating sound crashed outwards as the Arrancar looked at the Balancer once again.

"Let's see what gives out first. My Hierro, or your face!", Redención shouted, a red glint in his eye as both his Cero had reached its full size and as Carmen's arrow hit him just below his already shattered left shoulder the spear like arrow's centrifugal force slowly digging away at the back on Redención's broken arm, slowly but surely making its way past his tough Hierro due to the supercharged arrow's power as the Arrancar's Cero beam was discharged, its initial course altered by the impetus of the arrow, however despite its change in course, the beam still posed a huge danger to Wú due to her close proximity with the beam still.

Cielo arrived at the location of Ren, Wú and Redención, just capturing the last moments of both Redención's and the female Balancer's close quarters clash, however he turned to look at the third combatant who was on her own. Figuring that she would try to stop him helping Redención, Cielo instead opted to charge at the Colonel, aiming to keep her as far away from his partner as possible.

"And here I thought you military men were disciplined", Carmen spoke, her skin shifting colour all the while. She had become a mess of black and red tones, inconsistent across every inch of her flesh, hair, and even her clothes. The solidity of her physical form faded, becoming flowing and flame-like just as the numerous metal bands perforated her body. There was an immediate reaction as the woman suddenly exploded in a violent wave of fire.

Yǒng could not fathom what kind of discipline the enemy had in mind. He was calm, focussed and methodical. He did not once lash at her in anger, he did not once lose his concentration. No unnecessary moves, just repeated efforts to eliminate her. If she referred to what he had spoken, there was no wrath or spite behind those words. That was a mere statement of a fact. She was not a warrior, just a whore without honour.

He was preventive enough not to strike at her with all of the chains and tapes constituting Guān Zhào. That would have been rather difficult, to be honest. As such, he did not have trouble defending himself with a few bands from the abrupt explosion of fire to decrease the potential damage. However, his body had been already damaged heavily, and in spite of the revitalising surge of energy coming with the release of Shìfàng he knew he could not keep up fighting in this state forever. He had to finish her as soon as possible.

The enemy seemed to be able to absorb and imitate not only one's spiritual weapon, but also a Kadō spell. It was logical to assume she obtained the relevant qualities in the process. Now that she was basically fire he rapidly performed a few seals with his winding chains, then jutted out both his hands to the sides. A rather basic Water Kadō burst forth in two streams in an attempt to quench her.

"Aaaah!", yelled Wú.

She grasped at her face. The chains of her Jiūkǔndao loosened, releasing the Arrancar from her grasp. The Major herself fell to her knees.

"You... you've ruined my face!", she shouted at Redención.

The side of her face had become reduced to little more than charred flesh with a nearly closed, blinded eye being the only feature left recognisable. Lanfên held both of her hands in front of her face, shaking visibly. Then, she glared at the Arrancar.

"Shìfàng!"

A shockwave of orange spiritual pressure punched a crater in the earth beneath her. Plates of heavy armour assembled on her injured body within a moment. The heads of her meteor hammer expanded in size considerably, as did her spiritual power. She lowered both arms to the sides and the enlarged weapons attached themselves to the vambraces of her armour.

"When I'm done with you there'll be nothing left to bury!", she bellowed at Redención with fury emanating from her only remaining functional eye.

She stood up and immediately leapt forward at the Arrancar, swinging both of her arms to crush his head in-between the heads of her Shìfàng, Qūzhújiàn, the Ruiner.

Meanwhile, Ren had some time to observe the efforts of her immediate subordinates. She could not understand why such lowly creatures were causing so much trouble to her perfectly trained men and women. That was unacceptable. She herself struggled. That was unacceptable too. She would have released her Shìfàng, but the transformation was not so easy to activate. Máo, in yet another display of inhuman pragmatism, had allowed himself to be wounded to achieve that. She could not do that.

She could not allow those meagre worms to touch her anymore. She did not want to see them anymore. She did not want to talk with them anymore. She wanted them to die. Thus, when Cielo appeared to confront her, she was in the process of unleashing her spiritual pressure. More, more. She could not release Shìfàng like that, but no matter. Her eyes glowed with the increased power. She had reached the apex of spiritual energy accessible to her in this state. That had to be enough.

She plunged forward with a strong Flash Step that propelled her toward the Hollow. Both of her arms moved to the side in preparation for a twin horizontal slash. However, when she was about to approach the opponent, the leg she had been moving in the process crashed into the earth and suddenly veered her to the side, putting the impetus of the abrupt manoeuvre behind the curved blades of her chicken sickles. Swift, debilitating strike. Cielo, catching the abrupt maneuver at the last second, propped his Zanapkutō up next to him, knowing he would be unable to dodge the attack, instead he decided to block and push against one of the sickles, throwing all his strength and weight behind him so as to deflect the first attack and alter his positioning, causing the other chicken sickle to flash past and create a rather large gash on Cielo's forehead, despite the major injury he had just received the Arrancar ignored it as he directed his leg towards Ren's side, using the momentum he had gained to gather up speed in his kick.

Meanwhile, despite his Cero causing the chain around him to fall, Redención was unable to stop Carmen's arrow from dealing him damage, the arrow having gotten past his tough Hierro and through his arm before Wú had registered the Cero hitting her face, now free, the Arrancar floated in the air for a small while, unable to cry out in pain properly due to shock, just standing there as he slowly started to register his opponents rage as she charged at him, her Shìfàng's form becoming more and more clear as he finally reacted to her. Swaying slightly while doing so, Redención used Sonido to dive towards the ground in an effort to dodge Wú's attack, however, despite him successfully dodging the attack, the Arrancar hit the floor, rolling a couple of times before righting himself, kneeling on one leg, his arm resting on his propped up leg as his stump of another arm created a small pool of blood underneath him.

She had exploded in her previous attack. More than a simple pulse of hot flames, her entire body had been an outlet for the explosion leaving little behind but ashes and cinders in the aftermath to be washed away by Máo's spell. Blown into the distance by the force of the explosion kept at least a few of these sparks from being stamped out under liquid pressure. One such dying light of the flame fluttered behind the Balancer before it silently expanded, taking on the shape the Quincy woman's curvaceous shape before seemingly burning her back into existence. She was immediately on the offensive, a Seele Schneider was drawn and thrust towards Máo's back.

In doing so she willingly moved within the thicket of chains and tapes "growing" from the Balancer's back. Yǒng himself did not detect the manoeuvre, preoccupied with the Water Kadō, but Guān Zhào was a semi-sentient extension of his being. Thus, the weapon itself reacted to the ambush attack. And even though the Seele Schneider's blade cut cleanly through two chains and pierced the metal bands wrapped around Máo's back, the rest of the metal tendrils converged to shred the Quincy to pieces within an instant.

The twin heads of Qūzhújiàn collided with each other in a loud clang, sending vibrations through her body. Wú took a step forward, stumbled, then regained her somewhat shaky stance. She turned toward Redención. A single tear poured from her healthy eye.

"Come to Mommy...", she was interrupted when she vomitted some blood at the ground in front of her. "... you little fuck."

Subsequently, she aimed her right hand at him and virtually shot the meteor hammer's head like an artillery projectile.

In the meantime, Ren frowned when she took the kick from Cielo. That had been supposed to be a crippling attack at least. He not only blocked the brunt of it, but managed to counter at the same time. Unacceptable. Unacceptable! She used the momentum of the counter strike to spin around her axis. Then, she landed a few metres from the Hollow and took several rotating, dance-like steps. In the end, she once again propelled herself with a Flash Step that cracked the ground beneath her, rotating fast with both of her chicken sickles held outward so that she resembled the most deadly spinning top when she was rapidly approaching the opponent. Cielo, shocked at how quickly the seemingly fired up Balancer regained her composure, raised his sword in his offhand while firing a hasty Bala at Ren in a failed attempt to stop her, as the blast did little apart from ever so slightly altering her trajectory, panicking slightly, the Arrancar raised his sword, managing to stave off the attack piercing his chest, however despite him blocking, Ren's attack still rocketed past him, creating a small cut on his cheek and a number of deep, but otherwise non lethal gashes in his right shoulder. Cielo leapt to the side and used his Sonido to distance himself from Ren, a pained look on his face as he stared at the Balancer.

Meanwhile Redención faced a Meteor Hammer going straight for his face, unable to properly dodge due to his exhaustion, the Arrancar lifted his armoured tail and guarded himself with it, the tail ready to try and redirect the ball as soon as it hit, however, as the Hammer slammed into his tail, Redención was flung from his current position into the wall of the crater that he had landed him, his tail saving him from being crushed into a bloody mess by forcing the weapon's route to change after it hit him.

Unexpected consequences, but also unexpected gains. Her Seele Schneider cutting through Máo's weapon came as a surprise to her and so did its self-defensive action. She had reacted in haste, forming her Spirit Weapon immediately in front of herself as a barrier. For the most part, the flurry of tape-like blades smacked it harmlessly, though the force of the blow knocked Carmen back a fair distance. At the centre of the weapon, where its composition was still ongoing, a single blade rushed through and dispersed the gathering Reishi. The squelch of tearing flesh rung out as it pierced through Carmen's stomach, her face contorting in a mix of shock and pain momentarily. The gaining of distance pulled the blade right back out of her.

Yǒng turned around. His face was still stiff in a grim expression, although now there were a couple of streaks of sweat flowing lazily on his forehead, and a bulged out vein on his temple. Shìfàng was a release of great power and great exertion alike. He had to use this power to defeat the enemy before his body would finally succumb to the wounds and strenuous effort. As such, he pursued the Quincy woman with Shunpo. Numerous extending chains swarmed toward her, yet this time he kept the metal tapes closer to his body.

In the meantime, Lanfên fixed her stare at Redención. She took several slow, heavy steps toward him. Tears were flowing from her functional eye, though what kind of emotion was the cause was impossible to tell. A wide grin outstretched on her face warped due to the charred flesh on one of its sides, changing it into an intimidating grimace stained by blood.

She halted suddenly. Then, she lifted her right arm as her spiritual pressure enveloped her armoured body with orange glow. The head of the meteor hammer glowed brightly. Wú kept rising the limb until it was held perfectly upright. Her Reiatsu intensified. The head of Qūzhújiàn burst forth abruptly toward the night sky above, its chain consciously kept somewhat stiff in preparation for what was to ensue. Lanfên lifted her right leg and took a single step that cracked the ground when the feet collided with it. Thus, she swung the head of the meteor hammer downward, the incredible power put behind the motion allowing it to nearly instantly break the speed of sound with a loud boom.

"DIEEEEE!", she roared when Qūzhújiàn was descending upon Redención like a true meteor.

Ren finished her spinning motion and landed with grace. A mere glance at the enemy was enough to determine the course of action. She leapt forward, jumping to the sides with each consecutive Flash Step. Then, whilst still on the move she shouted:

"Hyeongi!"

With the name of her Jiūkǔndao she unleashed a focused pulse of disruptive spiritual pressure directly at Cielo. Immediately afterward she jumped high into the air. Then, she performed a rapid somersault mid-air and plummeted toward the Arrancar with her leg outstretched in a spinning kick to his head. Unable to react properly to her attack due to his senses being disrupted, Ren's kick slammed Cielo's face into the floor, the ground underneath him cracking slightly as he slowly clambered back up, despite looking as if he was unaffected, the Arrancar's forehead was covered in blood from the attack he just took and the attack that his his head previously. His eyes narrowing so as to try and counteract the burring that was occurring with his vision, Cielo huffed as he raised his Katana in the sky.

"Fine. Sear Navaja!", Cielo shouted out loud, a large volume of Reiatsu consuming him before revealing his resurrected form to Ren, his torso had been completely covered in a boney armour which looked like a rib cage at the front and plated armour at the back, his face still had copious amounts of blood on it, however his mask, which originally only covered his jaw, now covered the entirety of Cielo's lower face, a bit of blood from his forehead splattered on it as he rose up, his Zanpakutō gone, instead traded for a pair of sharp, praying mantis forelimbs which looked free of any previous injury, being the only part of the body that had healed itself in any way.

Bending down slightly, Cielo waited a mere second before disappearing from sight, reappearing nearly instantly next to Ren, his "arm blades" ready to strike.

"Let's see you activate that ability in time now.", the tired Arrancer said quietly to the Balancer, closing his arms in on her, attempting to bifurcate her.

Meanwhile, Redención lay in a small crater as he watched the literal meteor come down from the stratosphere, ready to make him explode in a matter of seconds, unable to properly move from his current location, the battered Arrancar resorted to the same trick he pulled before, piercing the already weak ground with a powerful stab from his tail, causing it to collapse underneath him as the Meteor Hammer slammed down where he just was. However, despite Redención's maneuver making him safe from a direct hit from the attack, the Meteor Hammer's impact in the already weak crater Redención made was so powerful that it caused what could only be described as an explosion from it's impetus, blasting away the air, rock, debris and Arrancar that were their previously in a powerful shockwave that was caused by the heavy ball, a new, immensely larger crater made by it's blast radius.

Redención flew far away from the point of ground zero, the shockwave itself hurting the Arrancar a great deal, despite him "avoiding" the main attack. He landed a long distance away from the crater heavily as pieces of rock and debris cluttered the space around him, his Resurrectión glowing blue as it melted off him, returning him back to his humanoid form, his clothes were frayed and torn and his left arm remained a bloody stump from the tradeoff between him as he lay there, unable to move due to his fatigue. He had lost his fight with Lanfên, however, he knew full well that the enraged Balancer wouldn't allow him to live if she could, however despite being unable to properly sense her Reiatsu, the Arrancar knew that she too was struggling to stay conscious, her injuries having slowed her down considerably before her last attack, which would of also drained her of more energy. Redención grunted in pain as the torn muscles in his remains of an arm twitched as he lay there.

Carmen fell forwards as she clutched her open wound, moving right towards the incoming Balancer. Though it was partly intentional on her part, as her body shifted colours once again and then shifted composition, the tendrils hitting little more than coiling flames. Carmen closed in on Máo, the parts of her body that hadn't been struck remaining solid as she shortened the distance between them. That quickly changed as she detonated for the second time as a searing flame attempting to fry her opponent.

Straight into his trap.

Obviously, the chains could do nothing but phase through the flames. What mattered were the metal bands he had specifically held at bay. With the explosion of fire so close to him he immediately grasped at the flames with nearly all of the tapes accessible to him, enclosing himself together with the fire. The heat was scorching indeed and his body quickly felt the effects, but he was relentless. Once again he hastily performed the necessary gestures to launch a Water Kadō, this time in the confined space of Guān Zhào.

Lanfên was heaving due to the recent exertion, now a continuous stream of blood flowing from her open mouth. The last exertion. That was so far her wounded and exhausted body could bring her. She had performed the last-ditch killing blow, but failed. In the end, she failed to kill even a single strong enemy.

Useless. She was useless. She had been pulling the chain of the head she had used, but the links gave up and crumbled into dust. She fell to her knees heavily.

"Why... don't you... just die...", she wheezed with a blank stare fixed at the Arrancar.

''She was a woman unlike any other in the ancient past. She dared to walk the path of a warrior, treading on the territory of men. No man could best her in single combat. She was stronger, tougher, more resilient. Even several at once had no chance of defeating her. Thus, she was widely hated and viewed with contempt. Thus, she was sought out and recruited by men of wealth to destroy their rivals. She was hated and craved by men, and both feelings she reciprocated. However, no matter her prowess, she was only human in the end.''

''The status quo could not remain unchanged forever. Ultimately she fought a battle that could not be won, pitched against many, too many. She persisted, lashed out, crushed the enemies into dust, but they kept coming at her, relentless. No matter the exertion, the resistance was futile. They had worn her down, overwhelmed. They wounded her, took away her weapons. They ravished her and beat her, destroyed the uncommon beauty so unfitting her warlike nature. They broke her body time and again, cutting the skin, tearing the muscles, fracturing the bone.''

Then, she died.

No time to evade. Static noise, loud swish, the clang of metal, then two streaks of blood gushing into the air. Ren retreated promptly with the use of Shunpo. She winced, two bleeding gashes now on her abdomen. Suddenly, she turned to the side and her eyes widened to their limits.

Wú Lanfên had died. Her body fell limply to the ground, her Shìfàng was dispersing into Reishi particles blown by the wind. Her Reiatsu had vanished, but her opponent was still alive.

Once Nakatani's mind managed to wrap itself around the sheer incomprehensibility of this event, it became crystal clear. Just a single emotion rose up to assume domination of her entire existence. Until then, she had little motivation to fight beyond the need to restore the balance of souls. However, it was no longer a matter of duty or necessity. It was personal now.

"Good", she seethed toward Cielo. "I shall give you as much of my special ability as you want, and then some. I shall not stop until choke on your own vomit and blood", she said with that special kind of smile that only a psychopath could muster.

The muscles of her arms tensed visibly, the hilts of her chicken sickles emitted a metallic creak due to her inhuman grasp. She lifted both of her arms with solemnity, then swiftly rotated both of the weapons downward to a reverse grip. She remained in this stance for a short, meaningful while.

Then, she stabbed herself in the abdomen.

"SHÌFÀNG!", she bellowed, pulling the blades from her stomach.

Her body glowed bright with unleashed power. The twin chicken sickles shone like lanterns. Their blades elongated considerably, later curved and sprouted a number of protrusions on their now serrated edges. Her uniform was instantly replaced by an elegant dress adorned with blue and gold spiral motifs, although stained with blood due to her wounds. Her spiritual pressure once again appeared in the form of a tempest of royal blue energy.

"Haaaaah!", she roared.

The ground beneath her subsided in a circle. Then, it lowered itself in a wider ring, and the next one, each one of them larger than the preceding one. The exertion of her spiritual pressure stirred an actual tempest, raging across the area with inhuman fury.

One of her most experienced, most trusted subordinates fell in combat in such a humiliating manner! Unacceptable! Unacceptable! She could no longer bear the sheer existence of those abominations. She had to utterly and completely eradicate them.

"HAAAAAAAH!", she cried toward the dark sky above.

With this her spiritual pressure emanated in a potent, deafening shockwave. The transformation was complete. The substantially increased spiritual power coursed through her body, soothing the open wounds and erasing the exhaustion. Filling it with the strength to kill.

She glared at Cielo in the aftermath, silently.

Cielo watched quietly as the Balancer transformed, his arms still raised slightly as he watched her, he too felt both the presences of Redención and his opponent falter, with the latter finally withering away causing his own opponent to lose herself in anger. Knowing that his partner was relatively safe he looked at Ren, whose murderous eyes pierced Cielo's own sight, he had been fighting relentlessly against these Balancers for what seemed like forever, it reminded him of that one fight long ago, the only one other than this that made him feel as invigorated as he did now. Unable to hold his excitement back at the knowledge of his partner's safety, Nocturno's face stretched into a wide grin, he eyes narrowing as he stared dead on at Ren, his teeth bared.

"Let's do this then.", he said in a low growling voice before using Sonido to charge at the Balancer Colonel, one of his arms raised and ready to strike while the other was positions so that it was defending him from any direct attack to his chest or face.

She had expected as much. The protraction of their battle had keyed her in on his means of retaliation, even that his blade could facilitate it whne he otherwise could not. The scattering of her body as a chaotic flame wasn't without calculation, flares shot through, between, the tapered blades as they closed in, granting her several points where she could manipulate that spell's magnificient rejuvinating qualities. And so she did. As her body burned in the dark confines, her consciousness relocated to a fluttering spark, as that fired was flushed and drowned out, the spark expanded rapidly into a voluptuous woman. But it wasn't without consequence, whatever effect imbued the spell with its power required a substitution, Carmen's Epithet made this substitute in quantities of Reishi, the more complex the ability, the more power she'd need from the outside.

Soul Society was bountiful, wholly constructed from those invisible constructs known as spirit particles. She could supply herself for years with the sheer concentration of that energy around a single parcel of land. But her physical stamina served as a source with which to draw in that grand resource, and that was far from limitless. She had been hampered further by injuries, scabbed over wounds of scar tissue and embedded metal, holes and punctures that bled almost as strongly as an uncontrolled fire hose.

When she had manifested outside of Máo constriction, it wasn't with any immediate response. Instead she feebly gripped her ruptured stomach as dizziness set in and her sight began to fade. Pain and exhaustion flooded her very being and she collapsed from her temporary perch in the sky. It was in the last few seconds of her descent that her faculties returned and Blut Vene kicked in, a blinking flash of blue in her veins to decrease the suffering she was about to befall with a powerful thud.

"Its been a ride, darling, but we should bring this to an end", she stated weakly to herself. Her Spirit Weapon manifested beside her. Aiming straight up at Máo's position, the bottom of its surface keeping it standing even without the woman's support. She loaded her Seele Schneider into it, now aware that it could cut her foe, and pulled the firing mechanism.

Yǒng, now with his face a shade darker and sprinkled with blisters, swung the multitude of Guān Zhào's metal tendrils. His trap had not worked out, but that was not the end. He could still fight. Thus, he moved his leg to rapidly turn around... But he could not. The limb bent uncontrollably as pain surged through his overexerted body. He coughed blood. Then, the Seele Schneider fired by the enemy impaled his back. The gleaming blade protruded from his chest.

No, that could not be the end. He saw Wú Lanfên die even though her opponent was still breathing. She was his colleague, comrade, lover. No. That could not be the end.

His composure and professionalism went to Hell in an instant. With an animalistic roar he turned to his hated enemy, spilling blood and tearing his strained muscles whilst bearing the Shìfàng to lash out this one final time, to rend, shred, disembowel, sunder.

Ren was focussed. The Hollow's speed had increased considerably since his transformation, but the same could be said about hers. She was a Master of Hohō. She was proud of her lithe and fit frame. Her own speed was nothing less than remarkable. Regardless, she did not need too much of it to do what she wanted. When the Hollow was approaching her in his stupidly linear attack, she took a dance-like step to the side of his off-hand. At the same time, she swung one of her sickles in a circular upward slash intended to swiftly bifurcate him right when he was expected to narrowly pass by her. Cielo, whose recklessness blinded his foresight, ran into Ren's trap, only noticing her swift maneuver at the last second before forcing his body to move just far enough to avoid being cut into two, however the sickle that was intended to slash him in half instead cut deep and created a large wound that extended from Cielo's waist to his shoulder, pushing him back as the Arrancar recoiled in pain, leaping back as he inspected the near debilitating wound, finding that it was about as worse an injury as he could have gotten, he looked at Ren, panting as he did so.

"Didn't expect you to be that fast.", he said in a gravely voice, the extent of his injury causing him to assume an awkward fighting stance.

As she watched him fall upon her, as her response drew clear in her mind, Carmen was struck by familiar words. No pain, no gain. They wrung inside her head with the husky voice of the man she associated them with. In reality, she gripped onto her Spirit Weapon, as her veins continually flickered blue, though they appeared to shift from one set of veins to another. Her already unnatural strength, enhanced by Blut Arterie to counteract her exhaustion, was put to use in throwing her Spirit Weapon into the air, the rather large slab of solid particles acting as the only immediate barrier between herself and her foe.

The metal tendrils of Guān Zhào swarmed upon the Spiritual Weapon in a reflex action. The chains and tapes tore through the structure with the upsurge of strength of a dying man so that it was reduced to unrecognisable shreds in an instant. Some of the chains succumbed to the excessive exertion and broke apart, but that was not the end. Exhausted, bleeding and burnt, Máo Yǒng charged right through the remnants of the Spiritual Weapon before they had the chance to disperse. Not only the Shìfàng, but even his arms were outstretched toward the despicable Quincy woman, desperately reaching toward her to claw out her eyes and tear off her tongue. His mind was a blank slate, the will to murder her the only thing that kept him going for the little while longer.

Ren did not respond. The time for words was over. The deeds were to decide the outcome of the battle.

Her elder brother was strong and tough. She was nimble and precise. She could never hope to best Mamoru in direct combat, although their frequent training sessions had been invaluable. In spite of the drastic difference in spiritual power, she learnt to make the best possible use of her assets to put up a good fight against the monster that was her elder brother. Compared to him, the strange Hollow in front of her was a small fry.

She leapt to the side without a warning. She ran with the use of Shunpo, trailing a wide semi-circle around the enemy. Then, she spinned about her axis and with a single movement of the leg propelled herself toward him. Whilst en route, she at last made use of the special ability of her own Shìfàng, Mujilseo. It was a terrible power capable of reducing the total perception of the world to an incomprehensible mess, but the most important aspect of the ability was how finely it could be controlled. Mamoru was the one who specialised in a direct approach. Conversely, Ren favoured more indirect, devious even, way of fighting.

As such, she sent out a subtle pulse of distorting Reiatsu. Unnoticeable and relatively weak, though sufficient to throw the enemy off-balance just enough for him to make a slight mistake in his defence against the impending broad slash that was aimed to cripple his right arm.

There was a content look on her face, as her eyes closed and her mind went blank. Carmen took comfort, solace, peace, knowing that though her body had been marred, it would be spared the brutal evisceration Máo surely sought. She had used whatever energy remained trapped in her Reishi network to facilitate use of Hirenkyaku. It was a random movement with no particular destination in mind, no care for obstacles, or any true end result beyond that primal instinct to escape. She sat a distance away, her body propped up by weighted stone which prevented her from falling entirely as her body shut down on her becoming numb. She passed from consciousness not long after.

Máo Yǒng grasped at nothing. Nothing. The chains and metal bands sliced only air. Then, they crumbled into dust. His face was frozen in an expression of horror. At last, his overexerted mind burst like a bubble. Nothing. There was nothing...

At least this time the death was swift.

Cielo didn't have the time to properly react to the small pulse of Reiatsu that Ren fired, it hit him squarely, causing the Arrancar to falter and allow Ren's attack to remove all functionality from his right arm, just as she planned. Cielo reacted instinctively using Sonido to sloppily retreat from the Balancer his perception returning to normal as he saw his right, mantis like arm mangled, despite the new arm's sharpness, his new arms were quite weak defensively. Gritting his teeth, Cielo charged at Ren once again, his face gleaming with a mix of anger and enjoyment, he reached Ren, performing a downward slash with his left arm while preparing to follow up with a powerful kick, the glorified Hollow's recklessness growing as he continued to fight.

The prospect of fighting such a powerful and devious opponent was returning Cielo back to how he used to be, back when he and Redención had joined the Wandenreich, back when he didn't understand the concept of a partnership, or being cool headed, the opponent he was fighting now reminded him so much of the first true opponent he faced back then, her movements, her attacks, her devious nature all seemed so familiar that is drove Cielo into a frenzy, his normally collected attitude finally breaking down as his arm started its descent on the Balancer.

Ren was prepared to counter the first strike, the Arrancar's arm clashing with one of her sickles. However, the meaningful disappearance of Máo's Reiatsu signature caught her by surprise. Distracted, she took the following kick to the abdomen in full force. She was propelled backward by the strong strike, although she managed to quickly regain balance. She rotated, spinned in place and then used Shunpo to move to a moderately distant, nondescript area of the battlefield.

Surprisingly, she appeared happy, with an absent-minded smile outstretched on her face. However, she was staring unfocussed somewhere to the side of Cielo, her eyes rather glassy.

"Major Máo Yǒng used to be my mentor back when I joined the Detention Corps", she said calmly. "He taught me countless tricks of the trade. For instance, he would tell me: "There is no such thing as excessive force. Whatever means you employ to defeat the enemy are automatically justified"."

With those words she performed several gestures in rapid succession. Then, she leant forward and slammed her hands against the ground.

"Hametsu no Honō", she announced.

All of a sudden pillars of dark flames erupted into existence one after another, until five of them surrounded both her and Cielo in a pentagon-shaped formation. Their low-pitched hum drowned the area in ominous noise. A trickle of blood flowed from Nakatani's nose, but she did not bother to wipe it off.

Hametsu no Honō. A complex Underworld Kadō developed by her elder brother, inspired by the Fire Kadō Zunōka Akudō. Although the jet black flames did not share the impressive regenerative properties of the original spell, they did not suffer from its single crippling weakness either. The dark fire of Hametsu no Honō could not be quenched. For as long as the caster sustained the powerful technique, the flames were going to consume its targets unabated no matter what.

The columns bent. Afterward, they began swirling around Ren in a roaring tempest. The ground beneath her started cracking from the incredible heat, yet the Balancer herself seemed unaffected.

"Begone", she said to Cielo with an uncanny smile.

She jutted out both of her arms toward him. The black flames immediately converged into a wide singular stream that erupted in his direction.

Cielo had been observing the seemingly broken Balancer, not reacting to her until she cast her spell, the dark flames evoking a sense of tension and panic in his eyes, reminding him once against of that fight long ago, he looked, positively shocked at how the flames bore a resemblance to what he experienced back then, remembering how the dark had consumed the area of battle, and how the tendrils had moved and licked the air just like the flames he faced there. Distracted by his memories, the flames hit Nocturno head on, engulfing him in a cocoon of darkness as he cried out in shock and pain as the flames started to sear his skin.

"Shit! Fuck you!", Cielo screamed as he staggered backwards, the flames that were on him, despite their heat, didn't debilitate the Arrancar fully as he leaped at Ren in a desperate attempt to win the battle, all common sense Nocturno seemingly had having all but vanished.

Ren stood her ground. She had half-expected the enemy attempt to dodge, but given his less logical response she did not have to react at all. She kept sustaining the spell for a little while longer. The bent columns of flames "detached" themselves from the ground and the entire spell assumed a vaguely serpentine form. The tip of the spell morphed suddenly into a giant oblong skull-like shape with its jaws wide open. She lowered her hands. The Kadō no longer needed gestures to guide it. Thus, she observed as the Arrancar immersed himself in the incoming flames of black of his own volition.

Cielo plunged into the flames, his mind wandering back to the battle that had acted out so much like this one, despite the searing pain he felt as the black fire burnt his flesh, he recalled his battle with that individual being as invigorating and as challenging as this one, he had been pummeled and beaten while also giving his all against the opponent, the way the battles played out in his head were near identical, however as the fire finally began to engulf him fully, and as he started disintegrating, Nocturno's thoughts turn to the singular difference in the fights that were his loss, he wondered as he burnt what had he done differently there than he had here, the Arrancar's thought never received an answer, the surprise attack that was Ren's Kadō destroying the last remnants of Cielo's body before he could figure it out, leaving only miniscule scraps of his Reiatsu signature before they too finally disappeared.

Ren was silent. She watched the flames consume her opponent with a broken smile on her face. The fire condensed upon the remnants of the Hollow's body, then began receding once there was nothing more to burn of it. She had won. But both of her most trusted subordinates had perished in battle.

She stood like that for a while, panting heavily. In the end, she simply sat on the ground, wincing from the pain and strain put on her body by the recent exertion. She laid the twin sickles of her Shìfàng to the sides and lifted her head to look upon the night sky. Her smile waned.

Ren was silent, but tears were flowing from her glassy eyes.

She had won. Yes. What a wonderful victory that was... Would it even last?

"You stand tall above the rest, you should take pride in that", spoke a suddenly emergent voice. A woman had encroached on the oddly quiet battlefield. Strong features worn atop a regal bearing. She had dark hair of a potent black, that stretched out behind her in a meticulous array of spikes, like a series of cresting flames flowing downward.

Her attire was unusual and screamed of anachronisms. A high collared but sleeveless long coat, a battered vestment of metal that had eletrical wires poking out of random corners. She wore a single detached sleeve over her left arm, hiding the dense musculature under a bell-shaped black and white sleeve that held itself to her coat with a pair of straps. A pair of simple black trousers that overlapped a pair of modern hiking boots topped the ensemble off. Though it wasn't the last feature that would attribute to her appearance. A lofty, gigantic sword rested across her back. Its blade so large that it was visible on either side of the woman, nearly touching the ground on her left and raising a fair point into the air on her right, its handle stuck out like an antenna, just daring lightning to strike at it. Perhaps the most notable trait though wasn't her stance, her attire, or the garishly oversized weapon she bore. She lacked a presence in the spiritual senses. It was empty. One could see her, but her existence did not seem normal. No Reiryoku could be seen, no Reiatsu could be felt.

"Someone would like to meet you, Ren Nakatani", the woman spoke again, clearly directed at the victor of the recent conflict. Her tone was relaxed, unconcerned, and, unbareably familiar. She extended a hand with her words, as if offering to pull the Balancer along and just so, a portal opened up at her side, an odd fixture of undulating shapes surrounding a swirling blue void.

In her current state, Ren did not have the mental capacity to fathom the strange apparition in front of her. However, on an instinctual level, she felt that it was right to follow the mysterious being. Yes, it was right. So she did.

Part 2
Silbern's Gates, Seireitei

Mamoru grabbed the second hook sword and swung both of his weapons in two broad arcs to deflect the axes. In the middle of the motion he noticed the Quincy commander approaching him. Thus, he quickly prepared himself to confront him.

Ever since the strange transformation the man known as Roshan Bamshad-dono seemed eager to engage him in close combat. For all Nakatani knew about the Quincy they were relatively fragile ranged combatants. However, he was more than willing to indulge the man of such high status. The left hook sword sped toward the weapon wielded by Roshan until they met in a somewhat loud clash. The Marshal exploited the impetus of the collision to promptly withdraw the sword and follow up with a swift slash conducted with the right one.

For his part, Roshan pressed his feet to the ground, the rubber of his boots ekeing out a subdued screech as it scraped across the solid ground. He hadn't moved far back at all in the aftermath of their clash, as such he remained poised to press back into the fight, there was little momentum needed on his part, as Seele Wyrger would cut through his foe like warm butter of its own accord, thus his response to Mamoru's slash was to simple press his larger blade forward to intercept it though his now massively embulkened form ensured that his response wasn't without physical strength.

Sword-fighting? The Marshal could perceive some genuine proficiency behind the attacks conducted by the Quincy commander. However, even if one was to assume that the difference in physical strength had been reduced, the drastic difference in skill remained unchanged. Mamoru was a Master Swordsman who knew dozens of techniques to disarm, sometimes literally, his opponents. His very Jiūkǔndao was designed to facilitate that.

He threw his body to the side in order to avoid damage. In the meantime, the left hook sword descended upon Bamshad's Seele Wyrger to intercept it with the curved tip. With a slight change of the stance Mamoru veered to the other side now, putting his strength and momentum to wrest the Quincy weapon to the side. At the same time, the right hook sword employed the same force to empower a broad horizontal slash aimed to bisect Roshan's head.

His foot stomped, and his body pulled one way. Completely avoiding the blade that attempted to pull him away, and at the same time, giving himself a shield against the other. It harmlessly scraped across Wyrger's gleaming and vibrating blade, sparks bursting out in the process as the metal screeched. With that Roshan moved, keeping his blade in place as he spun outward, his Spirit Weapon forming in his left hand as it pulled away from his sword. As soon as he could point it at Mamoru, the Reishi string plucked as by its own accord causing hundreds of Heilig Pfeil to fly out at the Balancer.

Perhaps he had underestimated the enemy? If the previous encounter was any indication, Mamoru was now willing to expect virtually anything from the opponent. The barrage of spiritual arrows immersed him. Although they forced him to slant backward, they were little more than annoyance. He activated Gwasil, the burst of spiritual pressure from his Jiūkǔndao casting a brief illusion at the enemy. With a short lapse in overall perception, Nakatani could employ Shunpo to manoeuvre around the Quincy commander unimpeded.

He began turning around mid-Flash Step, rising the right sword in a broad semi-circle to grab Roshan's right arm with the hook on the tip of the blade aimed at the Quincy's armpit. Then, he intended to pull Bamshad to the side and quickly follow up with a kick to his spine.

Caught as he was in the illusion, Roshan could do nothing more than wait until the hook began dragging him along. He tuned back into reality as it punctured his arm, it was an odd but old sensation for him, realizing that he had left Blut Vene inactive and now suffered the trickles of blood flowing down his arm. It wasn't the end though as he came to his destination, a Mamoru's foot collided with his spine to the resounding result of vicious cracking. The force of it pushed Roshan forward, tearing the blade in his arm away and worsening the wound.

Roshan turned to look at Mamoru, a light grin on his face.

"Sorry pal, I might be a lil' underhanded here", he commented as his spinal structure began eliciting more crackling noises from beneath the flesh. His posture, momentarily crippled, returned to its proper state. The wound on his arm closed up, leaving only the fresh blood stain as evidence that it existed. He lightly tossed Seele Wyrger from his grip, grappling onto it in the reverse, the blade seemingly erasing the ground that it has to pass through during the motion.

"You can hear it, can't you?", he asked, the sounds of Wandenreich troops were ever clear thanks to the Hörer resting on his ear, but they could be heard aloud as well, a hum from behind the walls of the palace, just barely contained in its icy structure. The moment lapsed and Roshan moved, not with Hirenkyaku, but sheer speed.

He was on Mamoru's side, his blade swinging around in an attempt to push him in the opposite direction. To that end, several flying axes appeared on said flank, not far behind them was Vitor, his upper body raised overhead. His upper half floating above his lower body. The look on his face was that of a dead man, but also that of a man filled with determination, though no Human could survive such a fatal wound on simple drive.

"A grotesque ability, but one with unprecedented tactical application", he murmured through still fresh blood that had just briefly washed through his throat.

That was a lot to digest even for someone as level-headed as Mamoru. Thus, he defended from Bamshad's strike with a little delay, the two clashing blades casting sparks on collision. Conversely, the axes controlled by Vitor struck their target. For all the immense spiritual pressure and incredible toughness of his body, they managed to leave visible marks upon the places they hit.

The Marshal leant backward to rebound from the ground. Then, he landed heavily a moderate distance from Roshan, although he stood up to a combat stance rather quickly.

"I appreciate the hint, Roshan Bamshad-dono", he stated with an arcane face expression.

He had never encountered such an ability in the past. Not only a vast increase of physical strength, but also impressive regenerative ability. The Superstar? Did it refer to someone of high status? Fame? Perhaps that was the reason the Quincy commander seemed to be empowered by the cheers of his subordinates.

Mamoru was the Marshal of the Detention Corps. He had a small army of strong, disciplined and professional soldiers led with the tactical acumen of his younger sister, Ren Nakatani. However, he did not need their support to fight. He never needed anyone's help to fight. Always alone in the crowd he had to rely on himself, and he sure could afford to do that. The explosive release of Reiatsu at the beginning of this battle was just that, the beginning. The amount of long-dormant spiritual power now readily accessible to him was gradually increasing with every passing moment.

His stance shifted abruptly. He jutted out one of his arms in an open palm thrust, holding the hilt of the hook sword just with a bent thumb.

"Yarisaki."

Sphere of black flames erupted from the hand toward Roshan. Then, he cast Gwasil to once again enforce a momentary lapse of perception that would affect both Quincy, or in fact anyone who would find oneself within the vicinity of his spiritual pressure. Whatever the Underworld Kadō was going or not going to achieve, he was ready to strike immediately afterward as he propelled himself toward Bamshad with the strength of his legs.

His reaction had been that of a hair-trigger, his arm flew into motion, dragging Seele Wyrger through the air, its massive form carried with such ease as to create the image that it weighed virtually nothing. As Mamoru's ability went into effect, Roshan lost track of his opponent, but his reflexes kept going, the gleaming blue spell erasing the blaze of black whilst its wielder remained totally unaware of its existence.

The illusion wore off, and Mamoru had closed in. The puzzle clicked into place immediately for Roshan, it wasn't his first fight with illusions or mental affecting powers. The fight would prolong until he could find a method to defeat, or avoid the ability, he wouldn't go down. He couldn't go down.

He swept Seele Wyrger to the side, plunging forward at his bulky foe. Left hand clenched into a fist, the wind forcefully pulling with the muscles that raced at the man's face.

Something strange had been growing deep within the calm and rational mind of Mamoru Nakatani. Was that... excitation? People used to call him a monster in the past. Rarely he had to make any effort to utterly trample his enemies. However, this glorified Human being was different. Time and again an attack did not connect, timing was off, a manoeuvre missed, a spell did not take effect. Even though he had released his power and employed the special ability of Mugilyeog, Roshan Bamshad was still keeping up with him.

There was little he could do to change the trajectory of a strength-based leap like that. Instead, he swung his arm in a different arc than intially intended. He had planned to tear off the Quincy's ear, but for now slicing the attacking arm should suffice. For all it was worth, anyway.

Roshan was carrying an excessive amount of force with his swing. A necessary measure to ensure he could deal some form of harm to his sturdy opponent. But it came at the cost of being unable to redirect himself, momentum was not such a fickle beast as to be so easily outdone. Mamoru's blade cut a swathe across Roshan's arm, a single clean cut line tearing through fabric and flesh, causing a thin tower of blood to burst upwards. But that momentous punch carries on, barreling its way towards Mamoru's jaw.

The hit connected. With its considerable power it was able to propel the Balancer toward the outer wall of the Quincy palace. Then, Nakatani crashed into it with signifcant force. A crater formed at the surface of the wall with a booming sound. Regardless, he rebounded quickly and landed somewhat heavily on the pavement below. He shook his head and straightened up, lifting both of his swords.

Yet again, the manoeuvre had not worked exactly as intended. That was only a temporary setback, though. Now, he was between the commander and his fortress, so he only had to...! The Marshal swayed suddenly. His eyes widened and a short groan escaped his mouth when his entire body tensed visibly. A rapid surge of energy burnt him from within, exploding outside in a small shockwave of Reiatsu. His jet black hair rose as if treated with electricity, now tinted with the lime hue of his spiritual energy. Even his normally dark brown eyes glowed with the same colour.

The release was unexpected, uncontrolled, but brief. The very moment clarity of thought returned to Mamoru's mind he opened his mouth.

"Mugamgag!"

He cast the second special ability of Mugilyeog. With the enforced period of listlessness that came with it, his actions were rendered slow and uninteresting to his enemies. Even though they still could be perceived, this ability had the advantage of longer duration over Gwasil. He needed that time to regain concentration, correct his course and prepare for what he had planned to do.

He strapped the right hook sword at his waist. Then, he slanted in preparation for a powerful pounce. He propelled himself toward Roshan Bamshad, left arm holding the hooked blade poised in a defensive position, the right one ready to grab the enlarged form of the Quincy on the move. He had noticed the strange device in the Quincy commander's ear, and it definitely had some relation to that so-called "Superstar" power. However, for now it was enough to simply bring him away from the fortress, so that the device would remain the only thing maintaining contact between Roshan and the crowd of his cheering soldiers.

A smile made its way onto Roshan's lips though he seemingly did nothing to stop his opponent from getting a hold of him as intended.

Meanwhile Vitor's upper body had lowered itself down onto his severed waist. The flesh bubbled on either end and they quickly sealed back up as if he had never suffered a wound.

"Humans are a fleeting existence, even Souls do not last forever, but a legend remains, forever retold through out history. The inspiration for such a power, I suspect", mused the elderly Quincy to himself in quiet observation of the battle.

Wilst speeding above the rooftops of the ice-like buildings with Bamshad in his grasp, Mamoru had a brief moment to deliberate. He could feel the Reishi coursing through his body, invigorating, but burning at the same time. He felt stronger, faster, everything seemed sharper, but his mind was stirred. It was difficult to maintain composure in such a state.

It did not take longer than a while to move a significant distance away from the palace. Sensing that Roshan might intend to retaliate any second now, Nakatani cast him away with slightly excessive force. The bicep of his right hand was incredibly tense, covered with bulged out veins. He could do little to stall that, however. The power increase was a welcome change. He just needed to stay calm.

He landed atop one of the buildings. He grabbed the right hook sword and gazed upon Bamshad, ready to respond to a potential counter manoeuvre before launching the next stage of his plan into motion.

The screaming blade of Reishi suddenly halted. The blue beam of Roshan's sword fading away as he withdrew it. Placing it within the grips tied to his back. His hands slunk into the pockets of his trousers and he watched Mamoru with a lack of concern. The wound on his arm had sealed up by this time, regenerating under the chants of his soldiers.

"You're a tough nut to crack big guy, if I was any other man, I'd say we'd be dukin' it out for three days 'n' nights, till neither of us could walk straight 'n' the kids would tell stories", he spoke in a dulled but complimentary tone, lacking vibrance in his work - a mark of age. "But that just ain't my style a' play".

Meanwhile, back at the gate, Vitor had reclaimed his cane from the ground, giving it a solid tap against the solid stone which generated a rather impressive echo.

"I grant you the Letter J... The Jail", no one could hear him. At least not naturally, the words were transmitted through the earpieces both Sternritter had adorned so Roshan knew immediately what he had been granted with. It wasn't a moment later before four walls of blue fire erupted around Mamoru in an attempt to block him in. A wall beneath and below as well, quickly consumed the air that sat there before to create a perfect shield, or rather, a prison. One that only a Quincy could leave.

He let out a heavy sigh, his head turning to give him a view of his surroundings, which had begun to shine with the lights of several flares.

"Everythin' is set to go then, we still got Schwarzwald on standby?", asked Roshan to the air, his words carried through the device that hung on his ear, a mixture of electronics and spiritual technology.

"Indeed, he should be, shall I call him in?", responded Vitor, his voice tinged with a slight electronic hiss.

"Unless you'd rather blow up with the big lug here, yeah", replied the Quincy regent casually. His eyes returning to the cell he'd forged with another's power. It was solid and fluid at the same time, its form made of Reishi that gave off the impression of fire as it curled off to the sides in flickers.

Heeding the order given to him, Vitor adjusted his Hörer so that it would correspond to a different frequency.

"Get me Sternritter S, we need him at the gates immediately", he spoke without airs, in an attempt to convey the urgency of the matter to those Quincy operating within the Mitteilungteil.

"Understood."

Mere moments later an instance of Schatten burst into existence beside Bamshad, assuming the five-pronged shape of the Wandenreich symbol, albeit a solid black one. Karl Schwarzwald, also known as Sternritter S, leapt out of it only to swiftly assume a combat stance. He held his assault rifle ready to fire. Once he aimed the barrel of Dolch at the imprisoned Balancer, he virtually froze in place.

"Yes?", he asked his superior.

In the meantime, Mamoru kept observing the unexpected turn of events with his eyes narrowed noticeably. He did not say a word. Instead, he limited himself to one swing at the bar of his cage of light. The blade of his hook sword was deflected with a loud, hissing sound. So, he had made a mistake. Removing the device should have been the priority. However, he could have not known how important it was to the Quincy commander's plan. Wrinkles began forming on his otherwise rather smooth forehead. For the time being he was watching. The power within him was growing steadily, but now was not the time.

What devious plan had they come up with?

"S'time we renovated", Roshan remarked, drawing several Seele Schneider from around his waist creating an unfinished pentagon-shape in the process.

"Its hard to set up a bomb, unlock a jail cell an' run all at the same time", Roshan stated, turning to regard the recently arrived Karl.

"So'n' I'd like ya to play taxi cab", that said, Roshan placed the last Seele Schneider into place causing the area to become illuminated rather suddenly. Massive towering walls of Reishi cut through the Seireitei in every direction, using the Seele Schneider as markers to move between. There were several placed through out the Quincified city. Essentially multiple Sprengers had activated beneath the flares that had previously been released into the sky, their power had increased severalfold, creating not a single pillar of energy but massive towers that engulfed entire sections of the Seireitei with their power.

"Now'd be the time", Roshan told Karl as he opened up a Gintō and let a single drop fall onto the Seele Schneider. Sprenger activated, consuming the summoned prison in the process, though it would do no harm to its captive due to that same cage. The main event though wasn't the lone Sprenger itself, but the empowered ones surrounding it which intensified further as their focal point came into existence. The walls of flowing Reishi that flooded between each Seele Schneider grew larger. It was time for them to move.

Heeding the advice, though they couldn't actually hear it. The Bonheur siblings, the perpetrators and, in fact, the masterminds of this technique had utilized Schatten in order to escape the area with Vitor doing much the same from his place at the gates. Even Xiang Yu had moved from her perch, seemingly aware of the danger of what was coming.

"Bye bye!", Karl said toward the imprisoned Marshal.

With those words he summoned a Schrift-enhanced instance of Schatten for him and Bamshad to use for a quick getaway.

Mamoru watched all of that silently. After all, in the end that was everything he was able to do. The enemy had come up with a plan he was unable to detect until it was too late. He, the Marshal of South, commander of the Detention Corps, the one called monster whom no-one in their right mind wanted to face in a duel, was completely and utterly outclassed, just like that.

The vast reservoir of unspeakable fury, buried deep within his artificially composed mind, surged and shone brightly just like the Gintō spells that seemed to consume him.

They all amassed atop the Wandenreich palace. The only location nearby that wasn't a target for the oncoming eradication, though it would cleanse the life of anything even remotely close to its glacial gates.

"If he survives this, I'll eat my hat", Roshan joked casually, watching the cascading energy hit the centre, just as he withdrew the power of the Jail from around its captive, leaving him to be swallowed in the gorge of volatile Reishi that flared up. It became a pentagon. A massive pentagon of blue light that streamed forever upward, stretching through the Heavens until they could no longer be witnessed by the eyes of men, but they were sure it continued even further than that. The towers, the houses, the buildings that made up the surrounding mass of the Seireitei was erased. It was clean. Perfect. The whole area had been flattened in such a way that one couldn't really tell if anything had ever existed on those grounds, as if history itself had been wiped out in the blast. It was something only a Quincy could do, purging the souls from existence, such that they were permanently destroyed. It was perfect...

The Titanenhaft Sprenger. The aftermath of that great blue immensity was a deathly shockwave that erased a great many more of the surrounding cityscape. The palace of the Wandenreich remained standing where everything else collapsed upon itself under the pressure. A split second cast of the Jail over the entire building was all Roshan could do to cover its immense surface, but it sufficed to buffer against the storm.

"You don't have a hat", replied Vitor as the world settled back into motion.

"A wonderful spectacle", commented Anders Schäfer.

He had been brought here by Schwarzwald earlier, in preparation for the devastation that was to occur.

"Well, that sure should've...", started the young Quincy, but his face expression changed rapidly. "You've got to be kidding me!", he uttered in disbelief, walking closer to the edge of the palace's rooftop.

Pain.

His entire body had been burnt. Those were no superficial wounds like before - parts of his exposed skin turned to charcoal. The feeling of pain, so alien to him he had almost completely forgotten it, was almost unbearable. Mamoru remained the only discernible object amongst the immaculate plain in the wake of the Titanenhaft Sprenger. He was supporting himself on his knees and palms, his head hanging low. He was breathing heavily.

The technique was not the only fire that burnt him, however. He had felt fury like never since his childhood. He used to be mocked, bullied, called meek and useless. His unnaturally large frame was yet another excuse for jokes. Then, one day his power awakened, and he slaughtered his peers with his bare hands. Every single one of them.

Suddenly, the Marshal stood up, holding the smoking blades of his Jiūkǔndao in his blister-ridden hands. He spread his arms, slanted backward and lifted his head toward the night sky.

"HyaaaaAAAAAARGH!"

The primal roar resounded across the area like the booming sound of an explosion. The Balancer was wreathed in the lime flames of his own Reiatsu. Soon, the aura expanded into a huge sphere that illuminated the newly created plain with ominous glow.

"Shìfàng!"

The true power of his Jiūkǔndao awakened, his severe injuries serving as a catalyst for its release. The explosive outburst of spiritual pressure was followed by the appearance of a heavy set of plate armour, cladding his wounded body in white and golden steel. A helmet materialised on his head, the eyes retreating into the back of his head concealed by a non-transparent visor. The form of his swords was altered slightly when their hilts merged with the vambraces.

The transformation was complete. Muji appeared in all of its suffocating and bone-shattering glory, the Shìfàng that could warp reality and bend the fate itself.

"Well, shit", remarked Karl.

"Someone go buy me a hat", Roshan sighed through his remark, a single finger having rose to the device latched onto his ear so as to direct it more to the listening Quincy operators than those standing beside him.

Vitor looked on at their surviving opponent in the heart of the barren land they had just created. A look of weary expectation crossed with rage and disgust. He wasn't shocked, though he was far younger than the regent, he had lived long enough to see the trends among spiritual beings. It still served to set him off though, here they were, ancient beings supposedly devoted to protecting this world all the while their actions blatantly painted them as just another symptom of the chaos. It was an affront, both to those tireless holy soldiers and to God.

To ease his growing stress, the elderly figure slammed his cane into the icy roof.

"I thought they called themselves Balancers", stated Anders in a solemn, pensive manner. "But this... this is a demon."

Schwarzwald lifted his left arm and tossed his Furka cross into the air before he caught it with that hand in a display of considerable dexterity. Then, his spiritual weapon materialised immediately, its grip already resting in his left palm, and he aimed it again at the armoured Balancer in the distance.

"I think this guy is pissed", he commented.

His face could not be seen as it was habitually concealed by the hood of his uniform. However, the tone of his voice was part humorous and part anxious.

Mamoru's mind was pure. He turned his head toward the little dots of the Quincy assembled atop the icy fortress. Then, he began walking in their direction slowly, purposefully, inevitably, like death itself.

"What is the course of action, Herr Bamshad?", asked Schäfer when he summoned his Reishi crossbow.

"We double dip", the Persian man replied with his usual nonchalance. He crouched on the spot, revealing a pair of Gintō that he poured out in the fashion of an intricate pentagram around himself.

"Transfer the Jail to the brothers, and start preparing that", addressing Vitor, Roshan was under no illusion of what he would need access to for the coming battle. He didn't need to know what Mamoru was capable of, he could feel it even at this distance.

The elderly figure nodded to him, and just like that the Epithets had changed hands from Roshan to the brothers of Bonheur. Roshan glanced at the other two present, factoring them into his plans retroactively.

"Spread your wings brothers, A' need'ya to fly", he remarked to the Bonheur siblings once again, though his manner of speaking was the same, his tone was serious and focused this time. They silently nodded, their dire expressions hidden under the shadows cast by the peak of their caps. Each of them raised a hand and snapped the proper protrusion on their gloves in order to activate their Vollständig: Sariel.

Eight pillars rose over the palace, forming into crosses at their peak. A set of wings and five-pronged star-shaped halos donned on each of the Frenchmen, their wings of a particular sleek design such that they appeared to be collapsible gliders from sort of superhero comicbook. Their eyes took on a spiralled pattern and an eery sapphire-shaded hue.

"Give Anders his present, and promote Karl to Haschwalth if ya would", Vitor raised his brow at Roshan's phrasing for a moment before clueing into his meaning. He let out a sigh as his body tensed up, his veins had begun to pop and several beads of sweat began to occupy his forehead.

"Master Anders, it is under less-than-joyous circumstances that I bestow upon you the rank of Sternritter Grandmaster and with it all that it entails, control of our esteemed order and right to the Holy Letter B, henceforth you are now the Blaster", as men that had already taken on the blood of Yhwach there was no ritual to partake, no indication of change that could be deemed visible. Just those words of notification were all it took to bestow an advancement of strength onto the Hailfire.

"I promise, we will hold a proper ceremony once this is over", as an old man Vitor took pride in formalities and ceremonies, any excuse to use the old traditions that had been passed down to him from generations passed. They were fond memories, to see all of those that came after in their best dress, receiving medals, bestowed epithets and so on.

"Master Schwarzwald, I bestow upon you the Holy Letter B, The Balance, carry it with the grace and dignity of the late Master Haschwalth, see to it that every blow our foe delivers is met with its opposite!", he strained following that moment. Placing both hands on his cane in order to better support himself under some form of invisible pressure.

"Alright kids, gifts are unwrapped, now lets wish the big guy a happy birthday, yeah?", Roshan had taken the reigns once again though his eyes remained focused on the symbols beneath his feet, he could still follow the flow of the situation just by its atmosphere.

Hearing those words, the Bonheur siblings drew themselves into a Quincy salute before they yelled in unison, "jessör!". Just like that the eight winged Quincy were gone from the roof, a series of lights streaming from their backs as they flew towards the plains that they would use as the battleground.

"There shall be much to celebrate soon", said Anders to Vitor with a polite nod.

"Thanks, I suppose", added Karl, scratching the back of his hooded head.

The two Quincy descended upon the immaculate plain just in front of the Wandenreich palace. The Balancer Marshal was walking toward them in a glacial pace, ostensibly ignorant of the events which had been taking place around him.

"Here goes nothing", stated Schwarzwald as he opened fire.

Bursts of Heilige Pfeile erupted from the barrel of Dolch. Despite the rapid rate of fire the vast majority of spiritual projectiles were connecting. For all it was worth, anyway. Upon collision with the armoured plates protecting Mamoru's wounded body they were simply disintegrating into bits of Reishi.

Anders lifted his ornate wrist-crossbow. The barrel of the weapon shone brightly and emitted a low-pitched hum. Then, a beam of spiritual energy exploded in the Marshal's direction. The ensuing explosion punched a crater in the flat surface of the purified ground. Nevertheless, Nakatani emerged from the smoke seemingly unscathed. His only noticeable reaction was that he slanted forward. Subsequently, his ominous march swiftly transitioned into a trot.

The Bonheur brothers buzzed through the skies with their new wings. Ordinarily the domain of naturally winged creatures, it was the field which man had reached through ingenuity, the field which spiritual beings had reached through power. Shunpo, Hirenkyaku, Sonído, several abilities allowed the powerful to walk among the clouds as if air was stone. But the wings, these angelic wings blessed unto the Quincy by the Lord allowed them to truly soar. Here they had the advantage no matter how fast their foe would be. And so the Frenchmen decided they would dominate the skies, a bombardment of Heilig Pfeil falling on Mamoru Nakatani as such.

They were arrows bolstered by the saturated environment, by their proximity to their fellow brothers, by their activation of Vollständig, but they were still woefully short of anything that they believed would truly dent their target, instead they would only whittle away at him.

The Balancer kept moving onward, repeatedly obscured and then emerging from the clouds of dust stirred by the multiple explosions. Soon, his pace increased to an actual run. Each heavy step was leaving a miniature crater in the flat surface on his way toward the two Quincy standing beneath the ice palace of the Wandenreich.

"He's coming", uttered Karl in a tense tone without interrupting automatic fire from his spiritual rifle.

"Very well", replied Anders calmly.

The twin swords attached to the vambraces of Mamoru's armour slid inside them. Regardless, Schwarzwald averted his gaze to glance upon his comrade. The veteran Sternritter was aiming his crossbow at the enemy, its barrel glowing and sizzling with slowly accumulating energy. His blood vessels shone with the power of Blut Arterie. As such, Karl ceased fire and leapt to the side with the use of Hirenkyaku to move out of the way of the two powerhouses that were about to clash.

"Der Zorn Gottes", announced Schäfer with solemnity.

A powerful, wide beam of Reishi erupted in the direction of the impending Balancer, immersing him whole. Reiniger sustained the technique for several seconds that saw the ground shake and crack under its pressure. However, Karl could observe the blurred black silhouette of the Marshal actually charging through the beam attack. Anders raised his eyebrows as the enemy emerged from the glowing column of energy right in front of him. The armoured gauntlet descended upon him and grasped his bearded face.

Der Zorn Gottes subsided in an instant. Barely had the pattern of gleaming blood vessels on Anders's body changed, Mamoru lifted him effortlessly into the air and then slammed him with great force to the ground head first. The ruthless Balancer kept carving a ditch in the scorched pavement until he drew a semi-circle with Schäfer's face. Subsequently, he lifted the Sternritter into the air and tossed him at the wall of the Silbern. Anders crashed through the wall with rumble.

"Let's give it a try", muttered Karl.

He slid behind the powerful Balancer with the masterful use of Hirenkyaku. Then, he aimed Dolch at his back and tapped into the power of his new Schrift. The Heilig Pfeil that burst forth from the barrel was much, much larger than Schwarzwald expected. The projectile exploded violently, forcing the young Sternritter to retreat. Nakatani himself was crushed into the earth in its wake, streaks of smoke rising from his armoured back.

Then, he simply began standing up without delay.

"I could use some help here!", exclaimed Karl.

Walls of fire surrounded Mamoru, another Jail to hold him. This one summoned by a single of the French Quincy, it was clear that their lower degree of power could only maintain that manifestation for a few seconds, but they were several crucial moments. "Courir!", one of them yelled towards whilst one of them flew towards the palace to see to the newly appointed Grandmaster. Yet another high above the burning cell of Reishi, performed the necessary measures to cast a spell.

"Feel the wrath of battle and accept this sacred chalice, Heizen!" he chanted as a uniform gray pillar manifested from nothing, a rapidly falling obelisk atop their foe. Just in time, the Jail fell, its construction crumbling into flickering light before dissolving utterly.

Karl exploited the opening to prepare for what he should have done before the fight resumed and escalated.

"Ireul."

His Reiatsu burst upward in the shape of a pentagon-topped column of light. His regular attire was completely replaced by a rather featurless, jet black jumpsuit merged seamlessly with special boots and gloves. The hood of the uniform changed into a cross between a mask and a helmet, concealing his eyes beneath a visor. In addition, Dolch morphed from a recognisable assault rifle into some sort of futuristic firearm. A pair of black, smoke-like wings sprouted from his back. Thus, with his activated, he resembled a modern black ops operative with a twist.

Mamoru emerged abruptly from the aftermath of the Bonheurs' attack. Large black fireball erupted from his right palm without a warning. Somewhat surprised, Karl managed to evade the attack, although the ensuing explosion pushed him back with the shockwave.

In the meantime, Anders appeared in the hole he had punched in the wall of the Silbern.

"I am all right", he stated toward the Bonheur brother who had approached him.

Somewhat weary and covered with ash, he nonetheless appeared extremely serious. He jumped to the ground without the use of Hirenkyaku.

"Bardiel", he stated grimly.

The same spectacle of light that had followed Karl's transformation occurred, only significantly more potent. The ground around Schäfer vanished, forcefully disintegrated into raw Reishi particles that were subsequently absorbed by the Quincy. His slightly modified uniform changed into priest-like elegant robes with a high collar. The Reiniger grew larger and more elaborate. Two pairs of white wings emerged from his back. One, larger, was facing upward, whereas the supplemental lower one was directed downward. Fairly large, glistening halo in the shape of the Wandenreich emblem was suspended above his bald head.

Nakatani turned toward the Quincy. Then, he swayed as a powerful bolt of spiritual energy collided with his left shoulder.

"Heilig Blitz", recited Schäfer.

Then, he proceeded to launch a barrage of empowered spiritual projectiles, one after another. Each consecutive bolt was pushing the Balancer back, forcing him to take swaying backward steps after every impact. Anders himself began marching toward the enemy, his weapon arm held high and Heilige Blitze erupting from its barrel with loud whizz time and again. In the end, the newly appointed Sternritter B led Mamoru away from the palace. A safe distance.

"Auge des Richters."

This time a single, rather small sphere emerged from the spiritual crossbow with considerable speed. Relatively unfazed by the preceding barrage, Nakatani glared at the projectile before he attempted to grab and crush it with both of his armoured gauntlets. A big mistake.

The orb exploded with a defeaning roar that sent powerful shockwaves across the no longer immaculate plain. A column of smoke shot upward in the wake of the attack, looming over the crater and the cracks that appeared on the surface of the ground zero.

In the distance, Vitor watched the conflict, occassionally turning his gaze back to the busy regent who had turned a rather large portion of the rooftop into a series of glowing sigils.

"Should we really be using this so early? There is one even stronger than this one", questioned the elderly figure, his eyes cast towards the distance. That woman had so far remained little more than an observer to the events that had unfolded.

"Heh, s'not like we can only use it once", replied Roshan with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

Pain.

The unfamiliar sensation managed to get past the blinding fury that had brought about the release of Shìfàng. Clarity of thought calmed the mindless tempest. He had released, yes. He was powerful, extremely powerful, easily capable of crushing any one of his opponents. However, in his animalistic rage he had let them blast him time and again. He was not invincible. Even though their techniques were insufficient to harm him on their own, the continued barrage was able to. He stared at the charred remains of his hands, then at the two Quincy scattered in front of him.

The younger one fired his strange firearm. Mamoru did not evade the projectile. It hit him straight in the chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. He carved two shallow ditches with his boots as he forcefully slid backward. The chest plate of his armour showed a few small cracks.

He had made a mistake. If he had learnt anything since his awakening it was that the enemies known as the Quincy could not be trampled with brute force alone. He had to think. His current approach had proven to be a wrong one. He needed to make a new start.

Suddenly, he glowed with lime aura. The cracks in his armour vanished, his fingers regenerated, the steel of armoured gauntlets restored to cover them. With Jiūkǔndao, he could force the enemy to ignore something important, induce a lapse in perception. With Shìfàng, he himself could deliberately ignore a certain event to the point of warping reality in order to, for all intents and purposes, wish it away.

Thus, with the considerable damage done to his armour and body negated at the expense of momentary exertion, he resumed combat. He promptly unleashed a Gwasil pulse before the opponents had the chance to react appropriately to his previous technique. With this brief window of opportunity he rapidly performed a series of gestures. Then, he slammed his hands to the ground beneath his feet.

"Hametsu no Honō."

He was a Kadō Master, and the spell's inventor. He cast the powerful technique without the elaborate preparation period. Yes, he could do that. He did not need the pentagon to collect energy for the spell. He could employ the vast reservoir of his own spiritual energy instead. Of course, the spell sufferred anyway, but he did not worry about that. The jet black flames wreathed around his body as he stood up, then jutted out both palms in the direction of the young Quincy in a black suit. His ability was strange, elusive, but definitely dangerous, so he had to eliminate him first. The specialist in brute power and the team of weaker Quincy could be taken care of later.

The Underworld Kadō erupted forward straight from his body. The flames coalesced into a wide, shifting beam. Its tip began forming into the signature skull shape, but the countenance was warped, deformed, imperfect. No matter. It had power and the ability to pursue its target. Issues with instability should not matter too much.

"Holy shit!", exclaimed Karl in response.

He used Hirenkyaku to move away from the spell. However, the jet black flames followed him immediately. Anders looked at them with his eyes widened, unsure how, or if at all, he could help his comrade in this situation.

Suddenly the spell hit a wall, a wall that spread out and then encased the spell entirely. There was devastation to be had, for sure, but it had been relegated to the destruction of Reishi masquerading as oxygen. High above, seven of the siblings stood side-by-side, empowering each other as they unleashed a continuous barrage of Heilig Pfeil at the mysteriously recuperated target. The last of the brothers, the one that had gone to check on Anders was flying back, his posture indicating that he had been the source of the cell.

So it was true. The mysterious ability of the Quincy in a black suit must have been something important if the rest were willing to go to great lengths to protect him like that. Very well. When the barrage of spiritual arrows descended upon him, he decided to dodge. He had body tough like tempered steel and a set of heavy armour constituting his very spiritual weapon, but that did not mean he could afford to weather such punishment. His speed was mediocre, so the first Heilige Pfeile reached him. Regardless, he had strength in abundance, so he employed it to propel himself straight upward, just in time to avoid being hit by a powerful bolt of energy launched by the bearded Quincy.

Once high above the ground, he dexterously performed a series of quick gestures.

"Yarisaki!", he exclaimed.

When he aimed his palms at the group of several identical Quincies, two jet black fireballs burst forth toward them.

They scattered, fleeing in two directions as a group of three and four. Their senses flared just at his presence, even if they weren't consciously aware of him, there was an instinctual alertness that told them all that being hit by this foe was a death sentence. They flew out across either of his flanks, delivering a powerful blitz of Heilig Pfeil in a controlled manner that made them appear to be fire-linked turrets. They had begun firing before they had a chance to hit their target, creating a wall of exploding arrows in front of the Balancer that quickly encroached on him.

Away from his siblings, Henri-Reffye shot through that cloud, his Reishi-constructed rifle slung on his back as two Seele Schneider shone brightly in his hands. He had entered the exploding plume and burst out of it right in front of Mamoru in an attempt to cut him down with two thrusting blades.

Nakatani had taken a few short backward leaps with the use of Shunpo to reduce the amount of spiritual arrows that connected. Perhaps unnecessary, but he was unwilling to take any chances at this point. He had nearly lost himself to his dormant wrath and came close to death as a result. That could not happen again. The ability to "ignore" a certain event was the power to twist fate itself. However, it had its price, so he should not employ it more than several times.

He had intended to charge at the smaller group of Quincy, thinking that it might be the less obvious choice. Thus, the blades of his Shìfàng sprouted again from the vambraces parallel to his hands. Just as he was about to move forward one of the identical enemies emerged from the cloud lingering after the series of explosions. A rather sudden development, but Mamoru reacted immediately. He swung both of his arms at the Quincy in a lethal shearing motion in an attempt to at least deflect the highly dangerous glowing blades he had the misfortune of facing during the first encounter with Roshan Bamshad.

Their opposing strikes ended in a clattering stalemate, a clash punctuated by the buzzing of the Seele Schneider's blade as it rippled continuously like a supersonic saw. Try as he might, Henri-Reffye was utterly outmatched in a contest of physical superiority, though he pressed and pressed, he made no headway in the deadlock and could only barely hold fast to prevent himself from simply being cast aside.

Unable to let the youngest of them face such a monsterous opponent head-on alone, Henri-Sylvain had burst off from his fellows' side, drawing his own set of Seele Schneider mid-flight. He appeared right behind Mamoru, riding on the roaring flare of his swords as he attempted to quarter the man with a crossing slash from the rear.

Despite the absurdity of such thoughts, Nakatani virtually had to keep himself from laughing. The Quincy were all kinds of surprising and unpredictable compared to the enemies of old. However, that was simply ridiculous. Two small fries voluntarily approaching him to challenge him in a sword fight? Very well, he was perfectly willing to oblige them. Attacking from behind was one of the most common manoeuvres amongst the criminals he used to fight in the past. Thus, his reaction was more of a reflex than something that required conscious effort. He pushed back the first Quincy who dared confront him directly and rotated rapidly. Both of his swords were prepared to strike in a twinned broad slash. The first one was poised at an angle intended to make use of its hooked tip to shove the dangerous gleaming blade aside, the next one was planned to bifurcate the enemy with a swift right afterward.

It was only a partial success, an error of judgement on the part of both the youngest of the Bonheur kin and Mamoru's retaliation. Henri-Sylvain was older, more matured, and stronger than Henri-Reffye. When push came to shove, he resisted as hard as he could, in a display of individual skill seperate from his brothers, he manifested a platform on his side that prevented the sweep by blocking its path. He stood his ground. The other blade came, and struck true, cutting into Henri-Sylvain's side but it fell woefully short of cutting him in two as either individual's limbs got in the way.

But the brothers were a unit, a team, family. They were connected on a level that was abnormal, self preservation meant nothing compared to protecting each of their siblings. Henri-Reffye had made a mistake in attacking the Balancer head on, but Henri-Sylvain had just been the first in an old practiced motion. It bore fruit quickly as the whirring hum of Seele Schneider began to radiate around Mamoru in every direction. Hirenkyaku carried them on every flank and weak spot, twin blades swung, Shunpo was useless in such a scenario, the technique was designed with that ideal in mind, that one could not walk in a direction brimming with obstacles. Especially when those obstacles sought to tear you apart. The technique was a cage, but in this case the bars could maim, slice, sever. And they would.

Completely surrounded so there was no escape, Mamoru was pierced by several blades simultaneously. If he had worn any sort of artificially created armour he would have been dead right now. However, the white and golden armour constituted a part of his Shìfàng, and a spiritual weapon bound to its wielder by fate was durable enough to resist the glowing blades to a degree. Thus, the damage was reduced sufficiently to avoid a swift death at the hands of the identical Quincies. Narrowly.

For the slightest of moments at the very edge of death, Nakatani descended into a stupor. All his efforts and power futile and impotent. Just like that he had been outmatched by a bunch of meagre, slithering worms. He had not defeated even a single enemy. Nothing was working... every attack was evaded... blocked... parried... every manoeuvre foiled... he tried... but... useless... he was... useless...

And within an inch of death, his Shìfàng responded. The power to twist fate activated as a fail-safe, erasing the last event from the annals of history to give him a second chance. Once again he was wreathed in flames of lime spiritual pressure. The weapons with glowing blades, the direct cause of his near-death, vanished without a trace when the event was wiped out. The fatal wounds were no more. The Quincies themselves were all pushed back slightly.

But the body and mind alike immediately felt the strain that came with the use of power of such magnitude, a strain that burnt his already scorched body from within, a strain that was not going to wane like the previous time. No matter. He had cheated death. His monstrous power kept the burnt body working and invigorated. Even if he had to pay the price with his life itself, he was going to make the Quincy suffer. No holding back. They had been making a strenuous effort to successfully outfight him like that, had they not? Very well. It was natural, polite even, to respond in kind.

Mugamgag. With the enemies basically bathing in his Reiatsu, the technique could influence them immediately. For them, Mamoru was going to appear slow and uninteresting for several crucial seconds. He promptly moved to attack the Quincy who had charged at him first earlier. Then, he performed. This was a technique designed to cut the enemy countless times within a moment, however, Mamoru had his own wicked take on the manoeuvre. His tremendous physical strength should be more than sufficient to allow the hook swords to rend the enemy in an instant and let him pass through the bloody remnants of the body on his way forward.

It was a mess. Henri-Reffye, the youngest of the siblings didn't so much as exist anymore as his body was torn apart in the rapid repetitions of Mamoru's swords. He was a pile of blood and gore, pieces of mashed and distorted meat with burst organs and bones strewn through it. In the aftermath it fell to the ground in a gory display of flowing blood and flesh that hit the earth with a gut churning smack.

"Tu monstre!", Henri-Sylvain called out as he witnessed the scene. Memories flooded into his mind of the years spent with his younger sibling. How he and the others came together to teach him of the world, to show him what it meant to be Quincy. He knew the others experienced the same thing, their faces had twisted in disgust, in anguish. In rage.

"Tu volonté payer!", they were able to chant in unison. Each of the siblings had gained some distance as they spoke, carried by their futuristic wings and each of them threw up a Gintō tube which was quick to explode into seven rectangular pillars that sought to crush the Balancer.

Nakatani had predicted such a quick, vicious response. Whenever one of the comrades fell in battle, the rest experienced a rage-fueled surge of power to help them avenge the fallen. He was not fast enough to escape the explosion completely. However, he simply kept moving forward after he had passed by the space once occupied by one of the Quincies. The collective Gintō blew up right behind him, forcefully propelling him forward trailed by smoke.

The bearded Quincy was there. Mamoru ceased suspending himself in the air with the use of Hohō, allowing himself to fall to the ground in the aftermath of the explosion. When on the way plummeting toward the ground, he noticed several silver items scattered across the area. Hilts of the gleaming blades. He had experienced their power enough already. Thus, he slightly altered his trajectory in order to crash right upon one of them. He landed heavily like a miniature meteor, punching a crater and causing a cloud of dust to rise into the air.

Surge of pain. Mamoru did not think about it any longer than the fraction of a second it took to register the sensation. He moved his legs with sheer willpower. He emerged rapidly from the cloud of dust with a quick if painful Flash Step. The bearded Quincy fired a bolt of spiritual energy crackling with excess power. The shot was aimed well, so Nakatani had no chance to evade it. As such, he swung one of his blades at it to smash it to bits. Then, he charged toward him with all the speed his burning muscles could muster.

The Quincy fired another shot. Mamoru countered it with another slash of a hook sword. Subsequently, he actually avoided the next one with the use of Shunpo, a rather rare occurence. The distance between him and the enemy was diminishing quickly. The Marshal noticed that the Quincy was about to retreat with the use of a fast movement technique. He reacted immediately.

"Gwasil!"

The stupefying pulse of Reiatsu reached the opponent. Mamoru himself used the strength of his legs to burst forth toward him like a cannonball. The enemy was standing there for a brief moment, staring blankly into the distance. Suddenly, he regained his senses, but just a little bit too late. Nakatani swung the left hook sword in a broad Agitowari. The attack virtually swept the Quincy who collided with the ground a dozen metres away and carved a long, gradually deeper ditch with his own body.

Something exploded on Mamoru's side, pushing him back with surprising force. The Balancer swayed and reduced the momentum by impaling the ground with both of his hook swords. That was the younger Quincy, the one with black suit. He still could not quite figure out the ability at his disposal, but given the enemy's unimpressive Reiatsu it must have been something dangerous on its own. At the cost of another surge of pain, Mamoru managed to evade the second shot. Both of his blades slid back within the vambraces of his armour.

"Gwasil!", he exclaimed again with a rather raspy, tense voice.

The young Quincy seemed to relax for a while. Nakatani promptly drew a pentagram with the use of his feet, then performed a few rapid hand seals. The enemy shook off the effect of the momentary illusion, but again, it was just a fraction of a second too late.

"Mugen Kusari!"

The ground beneath the enemy degenerated into a featureless black mass that immediately spawned a number of rusty chains to bind him. He attempted to retreat, but the chains extended slightly before pinning him on the spot again. More and more were emerging from the portal to constrain him, drowning him under the mass of oily black links.

"We've lost one", Vitor remarked. His body became invigorated for the brief time that he could feel the soul of that Quincy returning to Yhwach, the soul of the Quincy Emperor that he kept trapped in his form.

"Its the price we pay sometimes", Roshan replied rather coldly whilst continuing his scribbles.

Uninterrupted, Mamoru finished the binding spell. He might have put slightly excessive amount of effort into the Kadō, but he was not taking any chances anymore. However, the protracted battle had been taking its toll on his mind and body. Kadō required an amount of focus he could no longer afford. Hence, he had to resort to a more physical approach. He leapt at the constrained Quincy. Then, he used the momentum of the motion to power an uppercut punch that sunk into the chains and collided with the Quincy's chest, prompting him to burst from the bundle of chains like a projectile.

The Quincy in a black suit flew backward for a while. He landed on the ground heavily. He attempted to get up, but the hit had clearly inflicted significant damage, preventing him from doing so. At least temporarily, anyway. Nakatani charged at him again in a moderate pace with the intent to finish him off before he had the chance to employ that peculiar special ability of his.

As Mamoru's assault had gone on, Henri-Sylvain had been folloing. Attempting to impede the monstrosity that was his opponent any way he could. But he was constantly a step behind until that last impact had sent his ally flying towards the ground. His wings carried him towards them and Hirenkyaku finished the job. He manifest not far ahead of the Balancer Marshal, a distance that was easily covered in a matter of steps. It almost looked like he would be bulldozed right of the way given the wound he had suffered not long ago. But that was also his intent.

His mind was ablaze with rage, subconscious triggers meant for Human self preservation had been dulled and ignored. His body brimmed with the light of Reishi as several tubes of Gintō twinkled in the air. He had done what no Quincy in their right mind would attempt, he had flooded both of his Reishi networks with spiritual particles and it quickly overtook his body. Like a machine with its limiters broken, he was overloaded. He became a bomb. His body burst blue tinted fluid and he cast a simple spell, his words became drowned out though as that spell met the Gintō and together they exploded in an attempt to take out the Balancer and himself with little heed to how it could effect the other Quincy behind him.

The detonation was a powerful one, sufficiently so to stop Mamoru in his tracks despite the impetus of his charge. He was immersed and pushed back. Few seconds after the explosion he emerged from the resultant cloud of ash, stumbling backward with streaks of smoke rising from his singed armour. He could no longer recognise the sources of the suffering he was experiencing. His entire being seemed to be little more than pain incarnate. He shook his head and regained what concentration he was able to. Although his visor cracked, he could still see the black-clad Quincy somewhere in the distance. He only had to...

"Your back is exposed, Herr Balancer", somebody said from behind him in a matter-of-fact tone.

The bearded Quincy.

Small glowing spot appeared in-between the chest plates of his armour. The point quickly expanded into a large circle that shone like a lantern. Mamoru shouted with fervour when a pillar of spiritual energy literally exploded from his chest. The hole left after the attack was sizeable enough to allow the potential onlooker to see the other side of the battlefield through it. Nakatani swayed and fell to his knees with ground-cracking force.

"Farewell", said Anders with solemnity as he pointed the barrel of Reiniger at the back of the Marshal's head.

But the weapon did not fire. The Balancer was suddenly enveloped with tempestuous aura of electrified spiritual energy. The incredible force vapourised Reiniger with a current of lightning-like Reiatsu that subsequently blew the Sternritter away. Mamoru's body regenerated to a state earlier from the battle, the gaping hole in his armour and the cracked visor returned to normal as well... only for the storm of energy to intensify.

He could wish away the damage done to his body, but the mental strain and fatigue that had been aggravating throughout the course of the battle was too much. This time Manggag, the power to reset history itself, misfired. It had succeeded to heal the recent damage only to inflict an almost equally debilitating amount right afterward.

"Hyaaaah!", Nakatani yelled with a raspy voice.

Wreathed with the overcharged spiritual pressure, he clumsily turned away to the Quincy who had dared to attack him from behind. Even though his weapon had been destroyed, the enemy was able to restore it in the meantime. Mamoru plunged at him with his fists ere he had the chance to fire. Right hook to the face. Left hook to the face. Uppercut punch to the gut. The Quincy stumbled backward. Then, a vicious broad swing that was no technique, just a desperate attempt to deal as much damage as possible. The bearded Quincy rotated around his axis, swayed several steps, then halted in a slanted position with the left hand placed on his abdomen. The right arm was dangling limply.

But he was staring right at Mamoru.

"You are a powerful beast. A dreadful demon", he drawled with obvious difficulty. "But today I have been given the power to eradicate you in the name of God. May He judge you for your sins."

With those words the weapon arm seemed to be lifted by an invisible force and aimed at the Balancer. Mamoru jerked toward the opponent, but that was all he could do. His body was not responding to the commands of his dying mind anymore. The strain was too much to handle.

"Auge des Richters."

"Aaargh!", Nakatani bellowed at the Quincy as the deceivingly small orb of condensed energy burst forth toward him.

The remaining six brothers had matched up with one another into a pair of firing lines. Three standing, three crouched below them. All of them were bolstered by their power, sharing its benefits among each other. They were all consumed by a righteous fury to avenge the youngest of their kin and to see the sacrifice of another brother done justice. They loosed a volley from behind Anders, the arrows each passing him like a furious hailstorm that sought to impale Mamoru on every spot. They were far from as powerful as the projectile launched by their superior, more of a supporting followthrough that they hoped would end things.

The barrage of spiritual projectiles converged upon the Balancer.

For all his incredible power, he had been defeated. He had lost combat only once throughout his entire life until then. He had served the Soul King well, but that could not be the end. Not yet. Those worms, those putrid creatures, the filth...! No, that could not be the end! He would prevail and fight them, crush them with his overwhelming might...!

The techniques unleashed a truly devastating explosion. The ground shook and cracked as if struck by a meteor. A powerful shockwave swept across the area. Once the bedazzling shine of destructive energy let loose faded, it was replaced by a column of smoke rising high into the air. Anders, who had been rather close to the detonation in spite of his attempt to retreat with Hirenkyaku, lifted himself with the use of. He was heavily wounded and exhausted, but very much alive.

Something fell to the ground beside him. The Sternritter turned his head to examine the object. A charred, disembodied arm in the remains of cracked armour. The armour shattered and was blown away by the wind, leaving the mutilated limb as the only trace that had been left behind of Mamoru Nakatani, Marshal of the South.

"So, I was supposed to be the decoy from the start, or did you just improvise?", asked Karl all of a sudden.

The young Quincy had moved beside his much older partner swiftly. His Vollständig had been already deactivated.

"You have been very brave today, Karl", replied Anders with a respectful nod.

Schwarzwald smiled wryly, then wiped a streak of blood flowing from his mouth.

"Except for the part when I almost shat my pants, yes", he agreed.

The brothers had let their Vollständig disperse whilst they crumbled to the ground. Exhausted, beaten and in despair. The man that had murdered their brother and driven another to suicide was now dead, little more than a chunk of flesh in the distance but it brought them no solace. They had collectively hung their heads in silent shame, it was all they could do to hold back the tears.

Roshan and Vitor arrived momentarily in a blur of Hirenkyaku.

"Huh, after all that and we didn't even need it", Roshan stated as he ran loops in his head. He'd expected Mamoru to keep going a while yet, even under the pressure of facing two men wielding such powerful Epithets. He'd even prepared a speech to show off. His eyes glanced over to the brothers and then the two partners in the midst of their casual discussion. He wanted to congratulate them, but he couldn't bear to say it knowing the losses they were suffering.

Suddenly, the dark night became a brim, bright, burning orange.

Xiang Yu had taken up a perch on the palace immediately after the Quincy regent had left. And with a single tap of her sword the entire ice-swept palace had ignited in flames. That tap had rung like an echo alerting everyone to the motion, though the roaring flames were a far more obvious attraction.

"I think all the lives of your Empire shall suffice as repayment for my Marshal...", she spoke and even at that distance, she could be heard, her voice travelled on the wind like it obeyed her command.

Part 3
Deep within the Silbern.

Hikari Maebure was confronted by the powerful custom Kidō spell, Mukei Taihō, that had been cast by Kurosawa Tadayoshi. However, with a single simple word he cast a spell of his own. A genuine manifestation of Chōetsu Kidō, the ultimate form of the Daemon Way, a Conceptual Spell which warped reality according to his whim. Thus, an opaque spherical barrier had enveloped his body before he was struck by the enemy's attack.

The custom spell had unique properties. Any regular warding Kidō, including, would have proven an inadequate defence against such power. However, Chōetsu Kidō boasted much greater might than a mere "property". In fact, it manipulated concepts themselves, and those concepts were as potent as they were comprehensive in their function. Provided a sufficient amount of spiritual power and resolve, a Conceptual Spell cast with the intent "to protect" was going to achieve exactly that, no matter the properties of the inferior technique pitched against it.

The sphere reacted to the semi-transparent beam, peculiar colours emerging on its surface. Regardless, the Tsumikami himself remained unaffected, safe within the technique. Once the attack was over the barrier faded away silently.

"Impressive", remarked Maebure, nodding. "But you're going to need much more than that."

Then, he lifted his right arm and started counting with the fingers.

"Power, wit and skill. Those are the integral elements which combined constitute the total of an individual's combat capacity", he explained. "I used to be all about power in the past, but this isn't enough to fight on such a high level. Trust me, I've learnt that the hard way", he continued, narrowing his eyes slightly as he finished. Kurosawa had not stopped to listen the man, before Hikari had finished explaining the concepts of combat, Kurosawa was already upon him with the use of Shunpo, his Hollowed, golden eyes boring down upon the Tsumikami as Kurosawa's blade came down upon Hikari, all of the 's strength having been put into his attack.

The blade clashed violently with an energy shield, casting sparks as it bounced off the translucent surface.

"That's not going to work anymore", commented Maebure ominously.

He began lifting his left arm at Tadayoshi. However, he was suddenly distracted by Shiryō Kuragari, who attacked him from the side. The clawed gauntlet that was the Visored's Shikai slammed against the surface of the Tsumikami's barrier with a loud screech.

"You talk too much", snarled Shiryō.

"I've been only attempting to teach you something", replied Hikari, seemingly nonchalant despite the fact that now two Visoreds were trying to overcome his shield. "It appears that I should've started with manners."

With those words Maebure rose both of his arms rapidly. The spherical barrier shone brightly only to detonate with considerable force. Kuragari, whose speed and reflexes were honed to a masterful level, managed to retreat fast enough to escape the explosion, although not entirely. His already tattered Shihakushō was singed slightly and several streaks of smoke trailed his path. Kurosawa, not sharing the same insane level of skill in Hohō, took the full brunt of the brunt of the force field's counter attack, it's force shatter all but the mouth portion of his mask and sending the Shinigami flying back into the Dankū barrier, bouncing off it and landing on the ground with a heavy thud. Tadayoshi stayed on the ground for a brief, but noticable amount of time before clambering up, his golden eyes glaring at Maebure.

"May the fangs of indictment destroy your essence, Ookami no Tenbatsu.", the ashen Shinigami stated in a cold and quiet town, his blade morphing into a large, curved blade of former elegance, it's edge bevel rusted and it's overall form in a state of relative disrepair. Kurosawa raised the blade to his chest, placing his hand on it as he cast an non-verbal Hadō #73 before lowering his blade and performing a quick upwards slash with it, releasing the fast blue wave of powerful energy in Maebure's direction.

Hikari had watched him for a short while with a face expression denoting focus. Then, he actually narrowly evaded Tadayoshi's spell with the use of Shunpo instead of stubbornly standing his ground like before. The spell flew somewhere into the hallway, causing yet another potent explosion in the distance that threatened the integrity of the palace.

"Finally getting serious?", Maebure remarked on the move.

He noticed Kuragari manoeuvring nearby. Thus, he quickly aimed one of his arms at the Visored and unleashed an unnamed beam of energy in his direction.

"Mabataki", said Shiryō.

Subsequently, he literally phased through the Kidō with an odd, discordant sound. Several ghastly afterimages trailed his path before they seemed to catch up and merge with his body. Mildly surprised, Hikari launched a series of simple energy blasts at him. However, Kuragari kept moving through the barrage unharmed in a number of abrupt, ostensibly disjointed motions. Even though the Tsumikami was aiming to intercept him en route, the Visored merely phased through the projectiles each time. The distance between him and Maebure was diminishing rapidly.

Hikari resorted to launch an energy wave from both of his hands. Unperturbed, Kuragari charged forward. He propelled himself at the Tsumikami once again emitting the low-pitched discordant sound only to emerge from the attack unscathed. Then, he swiftly passed by the opponent followed by a few afterimages. A shallow cut appeared on Maebure's left arm. Kurosawa took the chance Kuragari presented him to charge a Shinsei Namida spell into his blade before plunging the Zanapakutō into the ground, the blue energy from the blade being transferred to under the feet of the Tsumikami, cracking the ground as it prepared to explode.

The Hadō erupted upward to seemingly consume him in a pillar of destructive energy. However, Maebure emerged from it shortly afterward. Singed and trailed by smoke, but otherwise unharmed thanks to a hasty barrier that had been able to reduce the potentially severe damage to superficial burns.

The fighting style exhibited by Kuragari was fast, difficult to predict, clever. On the other hand, it was rough and his attacks were rarely threatening. Meanwhile, Tadayoshi appeared hellbent on casting one high-level spell after another. Each technique had to be blocked or avoided, although at this rate he was going to burn through his energy reservoir at an alarming pace. They were both powerful combatants, but clearly they could not hold a candle to their counterparts from his home dimension.

Hikari smiled. He was in a good mood. Thanks to the Quincy abilities he had gained with the help of Roshan Bamshad and Vitor Zeferino his Chōetsu Kidō was now complete, at long last. Formerly, even during his recent encounter with the Marshals of the Balancers of Souls, he had some difficulties with casting such complex spells in his default form. With the advanced Reishi manipulation at his disposal his ability to mould spiritual energy had been enhanced to the point he could rely solely on the unnamed techniques of the Transcendent Kidō as his primary way of combat. Conceptual Spells were much easier to cast as well with such increased efficiency of energy consumption.

His enemies were basically a pair of aggressive children. Provided he was careful, he could afford to play with them for a little while. Thus, he took a Shadow Step in Kurosawa's direction, squeezing his body through a tunnel of warped reality to nearly instantly materialise to the left of the Visored.

"Hello there", he said in a mocking tone, glancing at Tadayoshi with the corner of his eye. Kurosawa made a stumbling motion of shock, falling to the ground only to push himself back up and use Shunpo to dart away from Hikari, he spun around, beads of sweat were rolling down the Visored's face, dripping onto the jaw and mouth of his mask as he spun, however strangely Tadayoshi didn't show any telltale signs of fatigue apart from it and his slowly crumbling mask. He cupped his free hand as it formed what looked like a ball of air-like energy as the ashen Shinigami aimed it at Hikari.

"Konran."

The ball shot off impressively, speeding at Hikari at a fast speed, zooming towards the Tsumikami while Tadayoshi's eyes turned to glare at Kuragari, non-verbally signaling for the armless assassin to attack as soon as his spell made contact.

In spite of the pretense of nonchalance, Hikari was careful. The unfamiliar name was a signal that the spell was going to be a dangerous custom technique. As such, he immediately launched a disruptive spell of his own. He was not taking any chances. Concentric rings immersed the sphere only for the two spells to cancel out one another. Even though Kurosawa's technique failed to connect, the attention it required proved sufficient to achieve the other goal: create an opportunity for Shiryō to strike.

The Visored plunged at the enemy with the use of Mabataki, emitting the distinct sound in the process. The technique allowed him to avoid otherwise logical attempts to intercept him, since technically he "did not exist" between his position and the destination point whilst the movement was taking place. The ghastly afterimages were exactly that, shadows of his body shifting through reality. However, he still had to materialise in order to inflict any damage.

Normally, even a high-level fighter might have not been able to react in time. Although, Maebure only needed to be aware of Kuragari's Reiatsu signature to respond in the nick of time. Sensing yet another, at this point predictable, attack from behind, he launched an energy beam straight from his back. Surprised, Shiryō had no time to evade. Thus, he received the brunt of the thankfully moderately strong at best attack and was consequently propelled backward. He fell to the ground and somersaulted a few times before quickly assuming a combat stance.

Hikari wanted to comment upon the situation. Almost. It was high time for a counter strike, though. Otherwise the two could gradually wear him down with constant pressure. Thus, he rapidly clasped both of his hands in front of his chest to unleash a potent shockwave. The unnamed spell was not a truly offensive technique, cast rather with the aim to blow away both opponents in different directions so as to disrupt their attempts to coordinate attacks.

Kurosawa, becoming tired after his constant barrage of attacks, wasn't able to respond fast enough and was struck by the attack, flying a large distance back before landing heavily on his back, however the wave did no actual damage, allowing the ashen Shinigami to recover immediately. As he clambered up the bottom intact remnants of his mask crumbled away, Kurosawa took in a few deep breaths as he stood up, having expended all his Hollow spiritual power and a good chunk of his own. Kurosawa righted himself and promptly started preparing a counter attack, raising his arm in the air as he began to recite the incantation.

"O' lord of calamity, I beg of thee, grant me the chaos of the gods to rain down upon my enemy-", Tadayoshi started, a rocky looking ball started to form in his hands, with what looked like veins of magma on it, growing bigger as the tiring Shinigami's incantation was being chanted.

So he was right after all. Tadayoshi had begun the battle with a series of powerful techniques that actually forced Hikari to maintain a largely defensive approach. However, the poor broken Shinigami could not keep up fighting on such a high level indefinitely. He had not devoted any time to cautiously figure out the enemy's fighting style. He did not set up his techniques so that they were sure to connect. He made no effort to defend himself whilst chanting an incantation. So many basic mistakes...

Kuragari had been blown away in the opposite direction. Maebure exploited this opportunity to once again abruptly approach Kurosawa with Kageho. This time, however, he reappeared behind the Visored in the middle of his chant.

"So simple-minded", he could not help but remark with disdain as he aimed his hand at Tadayoshi's back. "Disrupt."

Spiral waves of scarlet energy erupted from the palm to immerse the Visored in a tempest of Reiryoku-distorting energies. Kurokawa expected his opponent to do something while he was charging his attack, however he merely expected some kind of offensive manoeuvre, not an attempt to try and disrupt his movements. Before the waves of energy managed to fully make contact, Kurosawa broke the incantation of his spell and managed to use its unique properties to fire it prematurely, it soaring afar before exploding, proceeding to shower the area with a still rather large amount of burning rock and fire. Kurosawa, figuring from how he felt after being hit by the wave that it only disrupted his Reiryoku and not his more physical traits, stated to dash backwards, managing to get just outside of the range of his spell as it began to close down on Hikari.

The Tsumikami began following him in an ominous march. Meanwhile, the premature spell took its effects. The volcanic bombs plummeted in a barrage that engulfed the area in fiery devastation. However, Maebure kept walking, protected by a spherical barrier that shone brightly each time it was struck.

Devious little creature. So he had planned something after all. Better late than never. Regardless, it was too late. Hikari had already had a chance to experiment with his newfound proficiency in the spellcasting of Chōetsu Kidō. Even though it seemed the two masked Shinigami still had some fight left in them, he doubted they would prove challenging enough in the long run. They lacked the skill and subtlety required to pose a real threat to him. In terms of pure power, he could easily crush them at any point he wished.

He lifted his hand in preparation for an offensive spell. However, he stopped once he sensed Kuragari approaching him rapidly. The second broken Shinigami emerged from the blaze raging in the area in a swift manoeuvre that could have easily decapitated the Tsumikami. Could have, but instead if bounced rather harmlessly off the surface of the spherical barrier. Still, Kuragari turned around rapidly to strike again.

"Kaimetsu!", he exclaimed.

As he was closing in his single hand was abruptly enveloped with gleaming violet-blue energy. Then, the armoured gauntlet of the Shikai collided with Hikari's sphere to the accompaniment of loud, electronic whizz. Currents of energy shot in manifold directions. Maebure widened his eyes when the gauntlet dissolved the surface of the Kidō barrier in a matter of moments. The hooked talons reached out toward his ashen face, although he retreated with a timely Flash Step.

Shiryō pursued him.

"Kaimetsu!"

Hikari erected a circular shield to intercept him, but the Shinigami merely smashed it with the special technique. Several more shields materialised from thin air with each backward step Maebure was taking, but Kuragari kept effortlessly destroying them. In the end, he caught up to the opponent and swung his arm in a broad, potentially lethal strike at his head. Nevertheless, Hikari managed to evade narrowly only to sink into the reality with a Shadow Step. He reappeared a distance behind the masked Shinigami.

He clasped both of his hands in front of his chest with the arms outstretched, using the gesture to cast a fairly potent beam spell. Kuragari succeeded to escape a direct hit, yet when the beam struck ground the ensuing explosion blew him away rather forcefully. Thus, Maebure immediately turned to where he sensed the Reiatsu signature of Kurosawa.

As Maebure was pressured by Shiryō's assault, Tadayoshi had also been attempting a strategy. The ashen Shinigami once again managed to don his mask, or what little mask he could muster, with only one eye piece and subsequently once golden eye showing as he used the last of his Hollow Reiryoku to create a relatively small but still potent "Cero no Yomi". By the time Maebure had began turning, Kurosawa was already well in the process of forcing the black ball of energy into his Shikai, the rusted blade somehow barely managing to hold the energy as the last of it was absorbed. After he had forced the Cero into his now shaking blade, Kurosawa rushed towards Hikari at full speed, the last remnant of mask falling off as he began delivering a powerful horizontal slash at Hikari, sweat beads flying off Tadayoshi's face as he did so.

"Izanagi no Hanketsu!"

If only he could fight somebody more... sophisticated. Like the Marshals of the Balancers of Souls. True, they had almost defeated him during their unexpected encounter in Hell. However, now that he had the advanced Reishi manipulation and unwavering composure to his advantage, he was certain the fight would have proceeded very differently. The broken counterparts of the two young Captains who once managed to fight him to a stalemate were simple-minded. Several easily discernible patterns. Little planning.

"Protect."

Tadayoshi's blade impacted with the Conceptual Spell, emitting a defeaning peal like a thunder. The ground around them was disintegrated, the flames blown away, yet the barrier withstood the powerful attack.

All it took was to respond with appropriate force.

Shiryō returned to once again strike from behind, though this time it was a natural turn of events rather than something deliberate.

"Kaimetsu", he uttered gravelly.

His clawed gauntlet clashed with the translucent surface of the barrier in a much less spectacular fashion than the elaborate technique of his comrade. Its corrosive energy produced a sizzling sound, although the Conceptual Spell was unaffected. With such power at his disposal Maebure could command the reality itself to bend according to his wishes. Mere Shikai techniques were completely useless, augmented with Hollowfication or not. As were even the custom spells employed by Tadayoshi.

Step 5 versus Step 8 did not bode well for the former.

"I admire your determination", he spoke glancing from one opponent to another. "Resolve is as vital as power or skill. However, you lack severely in other important regards. I have already adjusted myself to your fighting style. You will never be able to lay a finger on me anymore", he stated in a grim manner. Kurosawa ignored the remark, but took some sort of heed in it's words as the Shinigami quickly threw his Shikai down, the blade sinking into the ground as the usually ranged combatant tensed the muscles in his right arm.

"Ikkotsu!", Kurosawa shouted, throwing a powerful punch in the hopes that he could pierce the slightly weakened barrier and hit Maebure without destroying the bones in his hands as his fist rapidly approached Maebure and his shield.

It might have been the sheer stubbornness on the part of Tadayoshi, Hikari's own mild surprise, or the combination of both. Be that as it may, the punch impacted heavily with the spherical barrier, the surface of which began cracking at the point of collision. The web of fractures kept spreading from its source... until it stopped rather suddenly.

"You might as well summon a club with that crude Kidō of yours and try to whack my head with it", commented Maebure with a frown.

"Son of a bitch!", shouted Kuragari all of a sudden.

The Visored smashed his hand against the shield several times. In spite of the corrosive properties of Kaimetsu, it managed to leave only faint scratches on its surface.

"You aren't a Quincy!", he bellowed, then struck once again. "Why don't you just die!", he continued in a somewhat disjointed manner with another largely futile hit.

So, both reacted with fury. How predictable. Their shattered, wicked minds were easy to manipulate. They were drowned in the darkness left in the wake of the terrible events they had experienced some time prior. Such fertile ground... The blaze caused by Kurosawa's spell was partially quenched, yet the walls seemed to ignite anyway. As if something else had set the fortress of ice on fire from outside. Maebure paid little heed to that for the time being, though. There were more immediate matters to solve first.

The darkness in the minds of his foes nourished the boundless abyss of his own. He was eager to exploit this.

The Conceptual Spell collapsed abruptly with a dull sound. Hikari appeared to be left unprotected, though his body was outlined with intense scarlet energy. Kurosawa ignored the Tsumikami, his rocky yet still surprising plan had failed, the ashen Shinigami's Hakuda simply not being up to par with his main strength, let alone Hikari's own. Up till this point Tadayoshi had felt little need to react strongly to his opponent, only to shift him out of the way, keeping the rage he had saved all for the man that was his target, however he was forced to his limit and pushed around so much that eventually his mind started to cloud and a brief flash of his inner rage sprang forth in the form of his punch.

Rather absent-mindedly, Kurosawa reached into his tattered Shihakushō and took out a Gintō capsule, sloshing around the spiritual liquid inside with a blank face, a blank face which had started to contort in anger as the look of the capsule reminded himself of the Quincy he was hunting. The broken down Shinigami then started murmuring to himself.

"Herr Schäfer, oh herr Schäfer, die Wölfe sind streifen.", Kurosawa repeated himself quietly as he pocketed the Gintō and dislodged his blade from the earth, holding it loosely as he regained some semblance of a fighting stance.

In the meantime Kuragari had taken a much more impulsive approach. He reached out toward Hikari's face, but his hooked talons enveloped with electrified energy grabbed only semi-liquid darkness. The tar-like substance quickly degenerated from the vague shape of the Tsumikami's body into a formless mass that spread across the omnipresent shadows in the hall. Shiryō stood on the ground, looking around in the search of the enemy. Soon, Maebure reappeared from the shadows a distance from the two Visoreds.

"And now you are using Gintō?", he asked with a smirk. "I shall be your Quincy."

With those words he lifted his left arm with solemnity. His hand was wrapped with currents of scarlet energy which swiftly assumed a large circular shape adorned with eight triangular wedges spread evenly across its circumference. The gleaming shape solidified to form the frame of a peculiar... spiritual bow.

"I am Hikari Maebure, Sternritter Y - The Yonder!", Hikari proclaimed in a mocking tone.

Scarlet arrows erupted from his fake spiritual bow. They were big, javelin-sized, with large heads and eight fletchings each. Kuragari escaped the first few with a rapid Shunpo manoeuvre, but then the barrage shifted in Kurosawa's direction. Kurosawa, figuring that he would be unable to cast anything that would even remotely protect him in the amount of time he had, decided to preemptively dodge the attack, using Shunpo to move up in the air and using another to zoom behind them, hoping to buy enough to to recover enough energy to at least dispel the arrows.

Maebure continued the barrage for a short while. Then, he shifted his attention back toward Kuragari. In a situation like this it was natural to increase the distance. Buy some time in order to make a decision how to respond to an unexpected turn of events. Unfortunately, Hikari had been granted a special ability that prevented exactly that.

Shiryō kept moving away with Shunpo... only to suddenly realise that he almost approached the Tsumikami.

"What the f-aaah!", he exclaimed, hit by one scarlet arrow.

The projectile exploded upon impact. It was not particularly powerful, though the damage he had been sustaining throughout the battle, even if moderate, was gradually taking its toll. Thus, he fell to the ground. Hikari ignored him from now on, focusing on Kurosawa instead. He manifested miniature Reishi platforms beneath his feet to imitate Hirenkyaku. Subsequently, he slid toward the second enemy once again unleashing a volley of spiritual arrows.

Kurosawa, finished with charging the comparatively pathetic amount of energy he could afford to muster, pointed at the barrage of spiritual arrows in his wake, spinning around as he did so.

"Hasen.", Kurosawa said, his voice shaky as a medium sized beam of energy fired from his hand, it traveled a small distance before seemingly exploding, however instead of disappearing the beam split off into many smaller energy projectiles, all of them zooming towards Hikari's arrows. Tadayoshi's energy projectiles, the attacks of which rivaled Hikari's spiritual arrows in number, clashed against the arrows, however as plentiful as his Kidō beams were, their power still paled in comparison to Hikari's arrows, their energy to weak and depleted to fully do rid with the threat.

"Tch.", the ashen Shinigami muttered before a number of the arrows that had survived the onslaught sped towards him, resulting in a semi-powerful explosion which nonetheless threw Kurosawa a fair distance away, smoking as he did so.

Maebure landed softly on the ground, gazing upon his enemies with a predatory smile.

"You seek revenge against the Wandenreich", he said. "Yet you cannot defeat even a single man. This does not augur well for your plans."

"Shut up!", exclaimed Shiryō.

The Visored slanted when he flexed his muscles. His spiritual pressure became visible. He was enveloped by a humming aura of violet-blue. The shroud of energy intensified, flickering with considerable frequency.

"Munashī Shunkō!"

The aura became even stronger, wreathing Kuragari's body in swirls of shimmering energy. Then, he charged forward with impetus. Hikari directed a volley of spiritual arrows at him, though the projectiles inflicted no damage as they all were destroyed by the corrosive properties of Shiryō's shroud. Seeing this, the Tsumikami ceased fire and leapt to the side, narrowly escaping the charge. Kuragari stopped abruptly, cracking the ground with the enhanced strength of his legs. Subsequently, he rapidly turned around to follow the enemy.

Outpaced, Hikari had little choice to react. Thus, he trusted his instinct and rather than try something elaborate, he took a Shadow Step right through the incoming opponent. Once he stopped on the other side, Shiryō again turned around quickly. Then, he thrust his only arm forward to launch a blob of corrosive energy. Hikari lifted his right arm.

"Dispel!"

The Conceptual Spell collided with the peculiar Kidō technique, tearing it apart before it could reach its intended target.

Kurosawa had not moved from the position that Hikari's explosion had left him in, he merely lay there, staring up at the ceiling of the large room they were in, he hadn't the capacy, physical nor mental, to attack this Hikari Maebure. All the Shinigami thought of was that of his singular target, all his anger and preparations had been drained on what Kurosawa saw as a glorified roadblock that smugly stood in his way of his objective, despite having no reason to do so. As these thoughts rang in his head Tadayoshi clambered back up to a standing position, using his Zanpakutō to keep his balance as he did so.

In the meantime Shiryō, who so far had been fighting in a much more restrained manner than his companion, only now let loose upon the enemy. He was pressing Maebure relentlessly, protected by the vapourising shroud of Reiatsu that negated any hasty forms of attack the latter could muster whilst dodging the rapid charges.

Hikari at last dispersed his mock spiritual bow. This was not the time to play around anymore. Frankly, he had grown somewhat weary of this little  play. The two masked Shinigami were strong, true. However, they were not sufficiently advanced to really put his sophisticated abilities to the test. They were a couple of crude brutes with some mildly interesting tricks up their sleeves.

Kuragari busted through a Kidō barrier, then smashed the next one with one swing of his arm. Maebure took a Flash Step to the side to escape prompt decapitation. Then, the Visored surrounded him with a group of.

"Kuroi Namida", said Hikari with a calm, yet quite tense voice.

The shower of jet black energy bullets rained upon the afterimages to vanquish them in a matter of moments. However, the original employed his peculiar fast movement technique, indicated by the distinct sound, to simply phase through the barrage. Maebure summoned a shield to protect himself from the impending strike, although his enemy once again destroyed it with little effort. The Tsumikami stepped backward to narrowly dodge a rapid swing, then another barrier sprang into existence in front of him. Shiryō sunk the energy-wrapped talons of his Shikai into the translucent surface. Regardless, this time the defence withstood his attack.

Kuragari kept pressing at the barrier, his claws gradually dissolving its surface and reaching closer and closer to Hikari's face.

"I will gouge out your eyes", he seethed with reverberating voice.

Maebure gazed upon him with grim face expression. Shortly afterward the masked Shinigami froze in place. Surprised, he struggled to move in any direction, but his body trembled slightly and nothing more. The air around them began undulating. Vision became blurred, hearing impaired, the air suffocating. It took Shiryō a while to realise that his enemy was releasing spiritual pressure, so oppressive that it for all intents and purposes paralysed his body. He could sense it, but could not tell its magnitude. It was everywhere. Overwhelming.

Infuriated, Kuragari struggled with all his might. His body moved, but the hand remained stuck in the thick layer of the Kidō barrier. The shroud of Shunkō became far more erratic than natural, unable to overcome the shield. As if it was suppressed by the Reiatsu of his opponent...

"You were never going to win this battle", stated Hikari, his eyes glowing ominously.

All of a sudden the Tsumikami's right shoulder burst in a shower of blood. Third arm emerged quickly from the spot only to immediately phase through both the Kidō barrier and Shunkō to grab Shiryō's masked face. The ivory white surface started cracking.

"What...!", gurgled Kuragari.

"Begone", replied Hikari.

With those words he placed both of his hands at Shiryō's chest. The palms shone briefly with scarlet light before the Visored was immersed in a vast wave of flame-like energy. The current of power seemingly consumed him, carrying him with it through the many walls of the Silbern and then farther away, the dull echo of his scream the only fleeting trace of his presence here.

The wave of energy subsided abruptly. Maebure lowered his arms, then took a deep breath. The third arm growing from his shoulder twitched. Its elongated fingers became distorted and ashen membrane spawned in-between to form a single horrific wing. Then, Hikari turned to Kurosawa with a cold smile outstretched on his face.

Kurosawa glared at the Tsumikami, he couldn't fight back using his own energy, and his sword would inflict nary a scratch on Maebure's body. Kurosawa, in a surprisingly melancholic way, sighed before placing his free arm on the one clutching his Zanpakutō, the free arm becoming charred and brown as red cracks of energy appeared before it, finally as the powerful sacrificial Kidō was finished, its energy was absorbed within Kurosawa's Zanpakutō, the raw power of the technique causing the blade's physical form to crumble. His now useless arm falling limp by his side, Kurosawa raised his now glowing sword and brought it down towards Hikari, shooting a positively destructive beam of red energy towards the Tsumikami, the Kidō's power coming mostly from the sacrificed arm of Kurosawa's while only a small amount of Reiryokyu was used, allowing the almost blade like beam of energy to crash towards Hikari in all of its powerful splendour.

"."

Maebure gazed upon the potent spell. He genuinely admired the sheer determination of his enemies, their many faults notwithstanding. Regardless, just like he had explained, they were never going to overcome him with raw power alone. He was easily stronger than the two combined and now that he had entered a quasi-transformed state, nothing short of a Bankai could affect him anymore.

"Redirect", he stated calmly, lifting his arms.

The blade-shaped beam of destructive energy bent upward ere it could have reached him. Thus, it blasted the ceiling of the hall they had been fighting in, piercing through the walls of the palace with no resistance at all. It loomed over the battlefield outside, illuminating the night sky with its ominous glow. In a matter of moments, it was over.

"It pains me to see someone so driven lack the proficiency to employ his power in an effective manner", said Hikari grimly as he began marching toward the Visored. "You remind me of myself from the not-so-distant past."

His body was outlined with scarlet spiritual pressure. His inhuman eyes gleamed with the same colour, staring at the young Tadayoshi with intensity and fatigue of a being several thousand years old.

"You are yet another prime example of how outdated and inadequate the current order of things truly is. A broken warrior, once noble, seeking revenge but unable to achieve the goal. The sole purpose that keeps you alive."

He had been approaching the enemy unhurriedly, casually. He did not have to worry about anything. He was far beyond the reach of any single mortal being. He had transcended Shinigami and Sōzōshin alike. He was a demigod.

Suddenly, the broken and cracked walls burst into flames. The fire spread quickly, consuming the area in a matter of seconds. Very soon the roar of a blaze rose from non-existence, the area flooded in the scarlet glow. However, Maebure did not seem to pay heed to this event, focussed solely on his opponent instead.

"Kurosawa Tadayoshi-san, former Shinigami, you, who have come to avenge your fallen comrades by spilling the blood of the Quincy", he addressed the Visored with solemnity when he at last halted, mere couple of metres from him. "Do not falter. Do not yield. Embrace your inner darkness, draw strength from it. Go, and pursue your goal... another day", he finished.

He stood there, a blurred, dark silhouette against the glowing background of raging inferno, a single horrific wing protruding from his back.

Kurosawa straightened up, his blade was in it's sealed and broken state, the blade charred and broken down the middle. Sheathing his Zanpakutō with his still functioning arm Kurosawa started slowly started walking towards Hikari, the rubble underneath his feet being the only sound emanating from the dead hall, as the ashen Shinigami reached Hikari, he jumped upwards towards the hole that his last ditch Kidō had made, not bothering to even acknowledge the Tsumikami's presence and merely opting to take Maebure's advice and leave.

Hikari had watched him in utter silence. Then, he looked around upon the fire that was rapidly consuming the icy palace of the Wandenreich. He extended his senses far outside the building to scan the immense battlefield. Then, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Intriguing", he stated quietly.

Part 4
Hell, Second Level

HK-105 hammered the earth beneath itself with a tremendous display of might. Its fists were like comets, delivering a shattering bombardment that could be felt across the entire landscape. Each time its hand came down on Dàn Tài Sin the ground shook audibly. The metal of its exterior rattled under the pressure when each blow connected. It was a process of pneumatic precision, no wasted motions, just the most necessary in order to deliver the most excruciating damage that it could.

Under that battery of assault, Tài Sin had reached the brink. His ribs were a mangled mess of various injuries, to visible bruises and cuts to torn flesh and internal bleeding. Though his mask hit most of it, trickles of blood broke past to seep down his chin. He would defy that pain however. His eyes were focused on the hulking giant of metal and electronics that had been crushing him with the same iron gaze he had held at the start of the battle. The blood crusting his blade, from his own ally, was a reminder that his choice was done in the service of victory. He was sure that he had made the right decision, that of strength.

The word coiled in his throat, infused with the next involuntary splatter of blood that he had been forced to eject from his lungs. "Shìfàng!"

A singular pulse expanded outward, dealing only the lightest brush to HK before seemingly desaturating the entire battlefield, turning its vibrant colours into something grey and monochrome. A series of black lines shot forth from Tai Sin that proceeded to pierce HK's body with increasing ease before the machine leaped out of their grasp a fair distance away. Its singular eye shot towards the lower corner of its visual range as it noticed a large portion of its right leg had been damaged. With a hiss and whirr of mechanical parts, the giant collapsed onto one knee.

Then the screaming started. It bellowed across the area from Tai Sin has his flesh appeared to devour itself in a scene of bloody violence, gallons of the liquid had coated the ground surrounding him until there was nothing left behind of flesh, muscle, vein. A skeleton stood there with luminous bands embedded into the knuckles of its digits. The blood on the ground rose up turning black just before it soaked into the skeleton's form, creating a new flesh for it.

Dàn Tài Sin stood there, his entire body this odd black hued form. His eyes little more than blank listless white orbs on his face. The screaming stopped.

It was replaced by a roar. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he bellowed as his new body sifted across him, the left side of his skeleton revealed itself as the body focused on covering his right, then it shot out in every direction as a series of spikes meant to impale either Quincy. Distance was of little matter in this case as they flew at their own terrifying pace.

Activating force field...

Even though somewhat surprised by the recent developments, Timothy did not need to react consciously. His artificially enhanced body was prepared for a wide variety of unexpected turns of events, and that included a plethora of fail-safe systems which constituted an integral part of his combat protocols. Thus, a spherical barrier sprang into existence virtually on its own once his sensors detected a drastic surge of energy output emanated by both of the enemies. The spikes impacted with its surface shortly afterward.

The shield gave up after mere moments, and some of the spikes pierced his body armour, leaving small holes in the plates of spiritually enhanced steel.

"Ah, shit!", the Sternritter exclaimed in pain, swaying.

Still, he quickly regained relative composure.

"I've figured ya've been using some sorta Shikai, so I guess this is the sorta Bankai", he said, righting himself. "I'm not impressed, though. HK! Let's show them some proper ass-kickin'!", he addressed his mechanical creation. "Engage Terminus Protocol!"

The air around him began undulating when his body started collecting ambient Reishi. Boosted by the sophisticated equipment, the amount of absorbed power grew exponentially within several seconds. He was enveloped with currents of electrified spiritual energy of electric crimson tint. The narrow lines of energy transmitters adorning his armour shone brightly.

"Wooohooo!", he yelled cheerfully, aiming his weapons at Daisuke Takeda. "Strap yer belts, pardner, 'cause this gonna be one hell of a bumpy ride!"

Then began the cannonade. The double-barreled wrist-gun spewed a continuous stream of incredibly sharp steel bullets, the left hand railgun boomed once a second with earth-shaking might each time it launched a high-calibre projectile, and the twin miniature missile launchers protruding from his shoulders at long last unleashed a volley of homing torpedoes at the Balancer.

Daisuke reacted accordingly, his Shìfàng already active, the Balancer began to raise walls of bone to defend against the various explosions and attacks while Daisuke himself started moving upwards towards Timothy, every time placing large and large walls of bone to defend himself from the relentless barrage. As the walls were formed, the munition instantly started slamming into the defenses, the lower calibre attacks doing little to the structure of the bone wall while the larger missiles started to destroy the bones after a small time of bombarding them.

Daisuke landed atop one of his higher bone structures and then took a leaping dive at timothy, the structure behind him crumbling thanks to the heavy duty weaponry and he himself managing to fend off against the lighter attacks due to this armour. As he appraoched Timothy the Balancer's bone armour started to grow spikey bones around itself as Daisuke extended the spikes towards Timothy, with most of the bone spires getting blocked by the sheer amount of firepower, however a small number of spines bypassed the heavy defenses, heading for Timothy quickly.

There was a boom as HK-105 forced itself to move with only the strength of one of its legs. It evaded the second attack the Balancer had unleashed on it narrowly. It hadn't climbed far in its ascent, and was still largely in danger if it remained as it did. Its processors calculated with an almost audible hum from within as it prepared its next course of action with the immense clarity one would expect of automata. There was a click, then repeated explosions registered across the sound barrier, vibrating across the sky. Fire and metal roared out of the tubes situated in HK's shoulders, missiles launched from them with impeccable timing and precision, a slight delay between each shot in order to maximize their purpose; to create distance.

In the air as it was, HK had no way of resisting the recoil each missile brought with their launch, just as it had intended. They rocketed the hulking machine through the air in bursts, six of the projectiles had been fired and each one created a significant gap between itself and its black-hued combatant. The missiles had been fired randomly either, though they launched straightforward, rudimentary guidance systems took over and they begun to fly with purpose. With Daisuke so intent on harming HK's master, it was presented with the greatest opportunity to attack which the screaming jets of the warheads made clear.

Tài Sin hadn't remained entirely still for this, he had reeled back the lashes of his original attack and unleashed them again in a skyward volley, the black streaks stretching high and quick, slicing through four of the guided missiles in the process.

"Yeeeeehaaaw!", yelled Timothy at the top of his lungs.

Located in the centre of a vortex of undulating air and a veritable storm of currents of electrified Reishi, he had been maintaining heavy suppressive fire. Whilst the wrist-gun and arm-cannon did moderate damage to the tough bones spawned by Daisuke, the twin missile launchers were doing the heavy lifting. Specially designed warheads pierced the growths with reinforced tips only to detonate their payload directly into the resultant holes for maximum effectiveness. Targeting systems acquired all spikes approaching the Sternritter and within a matter of moments none of them remained.

"Wanna come closer for a hug, buddy?!", asked Jones mockingly, barely audible due to the roar of incessant cannonade. "C'mere, I've got lots of gifts comin' right for ya!"

''Activating pulse emitter in three... two... one...''

All of a sudden an outburst of electrified energy emanated from the cybernetic body of Sternritter E, sweeping across the area to deflect anyone and anything that tried to approach him.

Daisuke, only just realising the mistake his panicked mind had made as Timothy spoke reacted in a fairly sloppy manner to the Stern Ritter's counterattack, dashing backwards while forming numerous walls of bone, layering them to try and intercept the ball of what seemed like lightning, despite the inevitable fact that they wasn't strong enough to stand much of a chance against such an attack. The biggest intrusion in Daisuke's thoughts was the experience of releasing his Shifang, the thought of his injury still causing him to mentally shake as he retreated from the munition's depot that was Timothy.

Jones noted the hasty withdrawal with a smirk. Then, he ceased fire from the arm weapons and launched a cluster of six homing missiles to follow the Balancer. The vortex of spinning Reishi remained, although the wild currents of electrified energy vanished for the time being.

This masked guy was troublesome. Each time Timothy attempted to defend from his ability the shield was nearly instantly overcome. Even the specifically reinforced one the last time. HK had sustained damage again. Since he was able to fend off the bone-spawning Balancer with limited effort, Timothy could use that brief window of opportunity to support his ultimate creation.

''Preparing for a saturation attack... generating shrapnel missiles... opening fire in three... two... one...''

This time the Sternritter launched a salvo of warheads designed to shower the area with innumerable pellets upon explosion. The missiles rose into the air with a drawn-out whizz before they descended upon the Balancer's position.

"Multiple heat signatures detected", HK iterated to itself as several internalized systems flared up in response to its creators assault, keying the machine in so that it could properly react and avoid a deadly case of friendly fire. It leaped again, though this time without the support of a barrage of missiles, significantly diminishing the distance covered. At the same time, its arm raised whilst the multiple barrels of its Reishi-formed chaingun began rotating wildly before bursting into a tempest of Heilig Pfeil that consumed Dàn Tài Sin within the ensuing hail. He had been too slow to react, the machine assumed, and so he was now rendered incapable of fleeing the raining bombardment of warheads whilst under such heavy suppression.

"Target analysis at 70%", HK declared with some solemnity.

Daisuke, despite his lack of clarity, had managed to note the several missiles spiraling towards him and put aside his injury problem to try and deal with the more immediate threat instead. Firstly the Balancer fired a barrage of small bone spikes at the missiles, however to his chagrin they didn't do anything to stop the explosive shells, Daisuke, noting the lack of damage to the missiles used Shunpo to dive downwards to the ground, the missiles following him shortly after.

As he landed Daisuke erected a large column of bone to intercept the oncoming missiles, colliding with the first two of them and subsequently causing them to erupt in an explosive fire, catching the third missile in the explosion with it, however, the bone pillar crumbled, leaving the last three missiles to continue their assault on Daisuke, who in a rush, leaped backwards with the help of Shunpo and managed to create a bone wall from the ground just in time for the missiles to collide with it, however, the large explosion that resulted from this consumed the battered Balancer, scorching him and flinging him a large distance away from his last position.

Meanwhile, Timothy completely shifted his attention to Tài Sin. The strange Balancer seemed to had been causing a lot of trouble to HK. Always eager to find new ways of combat through adaptation and analysis, Jones activated the appropriate protocols.

''Warning! Insufficient data. Additional data required for optimal-''

"Fuck data!", exclaimed Timothy.

He could think for himself when need be. So, the enemy's attacks passed through defences like a hot knife through butter. Logic dictated that such incredible piercing capability came at some price. What was the price, though? Was it by any chance similar to the Blut Vene and Blut Arterie of the Quincy? Drastic enhancement of one aspect to the exclusion of another?

"Y'know, Daddy used to tell me: "Son, when some mothafucka tries to beat ya up, punch 'em in the face. And keep punching 'em, as hard as you can, until they squeal like a stuck pig"", he said whilst aiming his wrist-gun at the source of the masked Balancer's Reiatsu.

Then, he began firing a continuous stream of bullets in his general direction.

He wanted to run. He wished so very much that he could move away, escape the onslaught that he had found himself. But his legs could not carry him, no matter how he yelled at them in his own subconscious, they weren't strong enough, not strong enough. As he was now, all of his power was welled up in the black coating he would call his skin, there was nothing to spare elsewhere, Shunpo was out of the question. He could do little more than watch the bombs fall upon him, almost drowning in the futility of it. To make matters worse, the construct, that golem of steel and wires had unleashed a barrage in order to ensure his escape was foiled. He would have lauded it had he been able to move at that point.

He registered each round of the numerous small bullet-like arrows that hit him, their numbers increased two-fold the moment they touched him, their tiny casings of light split in half and discarded. The ink-black flesh that safely enclosed around him was like a barrier, shuttering him off from the world. A wall, a cloak of razors that shredded all that came too close to pulling back the curtain. The warheads impacted on the earth with a deafening boom. Dàn Tài Sin could register nothing more than a disconcerting ringing in his ears and the unbearable heat washing over him. He felt as if he would melt, a cube of ice thrown into the heart of a raging fire. His body endured however, was his flesh carving something so abstract as heat and flames? He could not know.

The Quincy, the blasphemous mess of technology and organic mass, had spoken of something. Tài Sin was unsure as to what, the words became garbled in the air through the man's accent and then the incessant ringing in his ears that begged for attention to the exclusion of all else. More metallic bullets impacted against his unnatural hide this time, to the same effect.

Daisuke, who was laying a fair distance away from the battle, staggered up, shaking his head in a futile attempt to clear his head of the intrusive thoughts about his injuries. However, as the bone plastered Balancer did this, he felt a spike of Reiatsu coming from where he once once, he regained his composure and using Shunpo to dart towards the other three combatants. As he approached them, Daisuke placed both of his hands on the ground, letting them scrape along before drawing them up, causing two vertical waves of pure white bone to go streaming off after Timothy and HK, the speed of the bone outpacing the Balancer that summoned them as they did so.

"Tch", uttered Timothy, stopping the incessant barrage aimed at the other warrior.

Then, he jumped high into the air with the use of his synthetic leg muscles. From there it was easy to manifest miniature Reishi platforms beneath his feet and perform Hirenkyaku to evade the attack. He had been tired by his defences getting consistently overcome by the enemies. It made more sense to devote that energy to simply avoid their attacks instead. As he moved the ripples of absorbed ambient Reishi followed him closely.

''90% maximum energy capacity reached. Initiating preliminary protocols...''

"HK, what's yer progress?", the man exclaimed toward the automaton whilst still retreating from both Balancers.

"One minute, twenty seconds until analysis reaches completion", it spoke flatly though with an obvious loudness as it applied yet another forceful leap in order to avoid the white mass launching at it. It landed with more stability this time, its relative inactivity having been spent on absorbing Reishi in order to repair its damaged leg. It was perhaps the greatest benefit of being entirely made of alloys, its form was far more malleable than that of a Human, easier to control.

"Current observation suggests that the enemy is acclimatizing to its form", it spoke but not openly, instead the words traveled over a feed, connected directly to its creator. After giving out this tidbit, the automaton was quick to raise its arm-mounted chain gun to unload a flurry of bullets at Daisuke in retaliation for the Balancer's own attack.

Daisuke reacted to the attack by raising one of his arms up in a defensive position, the bone that was coated around it melting down and reforming into what looked like a white great shield. With his new shield Daisuke kept pushing forward towards HK, his speed somehow hampered by his new shield and the constant barrage of bullets that were also slowly destroying the shield, some of the robot's bullets breaking though and striking the Balancer as he approached, the only thing stopping the round from completely fending him off being the armour on Daisuke himself. As he and his now crumbling shield reached HK's vicinity, discarding the useless weight that was previously a shield and instead forming another weaponised body part in his other hand, a crude, but sharp and sleek pike which he proceeded to thrust in HK's direction, attempting to aim at one of the automaton's arm joints so as to disable its movement further.

"Acclimatize my ass!", commented Timothy.

A few more Hirenkyaku manoeuvres to farther increase the distance from the peculiar Balancer and he finally halted. So, first his force fields were useless against the enemy's attacks, now his own attacks were useless against the enemy. It seemed that Jones's theory was correct in its assumption. However, now with his combat systems in full swing and his ultimate form about to be activated he was more than eager to overcome both opponents despite their strengths. As long as they had strengths they had weaknesses too, and Timothy was going to relentlessly exploit all of them with all of his power.

''95% maximum energy capacity reached. Preparing weapon slots and main frame for modification...''

"Bring it, Balancers!", he exclaimed. "We're about to race down from the last slope!"

The machine thrust itself forward, though the Balancer had aimed for the joint of its arm, it instead met the palm of the hand. Reinforced as it was, the alloy that made up HK's external shell punctured under the thrust, wires and other electrical parts being skewered long the spine of the spear as it emerged through the back of that hand.

HK's single glowing eye let out a pulse of recognition, a poor imitation of adrenaline triggering, but the machine felt it added flare to the situation. Seemingly unphased by the armament of bone running through its hand, HK simply clamped down, clasping it in an iron grip. Its free hand then lashed out in an attempt to grab the Balancer in front of itself to prevent his escape.

"Analysis suggests that the creator's hindquarters are already acclimatized to the current environment", it remarked with clear nonchalance through out these events.

"Maximizing defenses for damage spread", it stated openly to the tune of whizzing mechanical parts underneath its chassis, immediately following it was the whirr of something else atop its shoulders just before a barrage of missiles unloaded in an attempt to eliminate Daisuke at point-blank.

Meanwhile Dàn Tài Sin finally began to move. A nudge of his arm, then a single step forward. His head peered forward to observe the body that rested below the neck. Those blank, listless eyes raised to glance at Timothy causing the blackened skin to undulate and bubble with seeming rage before it began to slough across its form. It tore and ripped open before slowly crossing over itself, the entirety of that ink-black mess gathered on his left arm, exposing the skeletal remains underneath. The arm thrusted forward and eight black lines flew forth with lightning quickness, intent on turning the cyborg Quincy into a pincushion.

The missiles fired at Daisuke all hit their mark, the Balancer unable to move or even properly defend himself from the powerful attack. The blast from the explosion threw him backwards, his form silhouetted with smoke and dust as he landed on the ground, writhing in pain as the dust settled and revealed what was supposed to be Daisuke.

The Balancer, instead of being blown to chunks by the barrage attack, was instead plastered in even more bone, his entire torso and the lower left side of his face was being overtaken by it, it's composition looked rushed but still was strong enough to have "saved" the Balancer from death. Daisuke wriggled around on the floor, trying to stave off the pain that the extra plates of bone were causing him, but to no avail. Finally, after a while of repeating this process, the Balancer calmed down and began to stagger back up on his feet, the excess bone finally shedding off, revealing a less intrusive, but still visible outer layer of bone, Daisuke's chest area had become rougher and more battered looking while his mouth had been locked into a slight gaping position by the bone that covered his jaw.

Meanwhile, Timothy noted that the second Balancer attacked at last. Exactly as he had wanted. First, he leapt to the side with the use of Hirenkyaku, redirecting all of the energy normally devoted to defensive systems in order to empower the rapid motion. With this he was able to escape the unblockable strikes and move a considerable distance in the blink of an eye. Only then did he spray a burst of automatic gunfire from the weapon on his right wrist. With their incredible speeds the armour-piercing bullets should be able to reach the enemy mere moments after his own attack.

Due to the proximity of the blow, HK found itself damaged in the aftermath of its own barrage, but it paid the matter little heed. Its pierced hand glowed for a moment as Reishi poured in from the open air, it quickly sealed itself up after the android removed the spike that had previously been rammed through it. Its single blue eye glowed with intensity, it held no emotion, no visible expression, and yet there was a palpable intent to kill. It could be felt on the air, a rippling sensation against the skin. HK had found its mark.

The hulking machine stomped across the few steps distance that its attack on Daisuke created, the trappings of motion following it loudly. Its right arm reeled, and then the left as they both crashed against the white carapace that shielded the Balancer, a furious battery of unnatural strength that painted HK as a berserker, helped greatly by the nicks and burns of its majority and the plumes of steam rising from charred plating.

Tài Sin swung his arm across, a motion following after the flighty Quincy. His position remained unchanged, the lines reaching out were like outstretched swords, an extension of himself. They swept across, covering the distance with nary a second to spare. Many of the bullets were intercepted on their path, but others flew freely, in part due to their interceptors linear positioning and a lacking speed to outmatch them all. Still, the projectiles had been fired at a skeleton, a target full of holes, and none could be so accurate at this distance. A paltry few missed their mark, but only one needed to hit its mark. And it did.

One of the luckier shots pierced right through a rib. The bone fractured, split, and shattered from the force, process repeating on its opposite end. The entire skeleton pulsed with an intense sensation and then the entire mass detonated in a potent explosion of miss-matched purple and yellow. There was a deafening scream, Tài Sin fell to his knees, his black, liquid flesh, having returned to cover him. He looked unharmed on the outside, but events around him painted a different picture.

Daisuke, despite the brutal assault he was receiving from the automaton, managed to withstand the attacks long enough to react. Breaking away from HK by leaping backwards, the Balancer fell on his knees before slamming the ground with his fist, causing the ground underneath him and HK to rumble as a mass of newly formed bone began to erupt from the floor, with the intent to catch the robot by surprise.

"Gotcha!", exclaimed Timothy cheerfully.

Thus, he had verified his theory. The Balancer could either attack with unbelievable piercing capability or defend himself completely from powerful attacks. He had managed to analyse both of the enemies. Consequently, it was time to put an end to the protracted fight at long last.

"Y'know, it's been fun and all meeting ya", Jones said as the transmitter lines on his armour shone brightly. "But it's high time to put the final nail in the coffin."

With those words his twin missile launchers turned to different sides and launched eight torpedoes total, one after another. The missiles flew toward Tài Sin from different directions, their payload set to explode above the man to shower him and a wide area around him with shrapnel. Given his unreal defence the salvo was not expected to inflict any meaningful damage. However, what it was intended to achieve was to distract him long enough for...

"Activate Equipment Pattern Omega!", yelled Timothy.

Plates of armour shifted and protruded from his body in preparation for a substantial change in configuration. Both the Sternritter's legs and arms were elongated so that his silhouette changed from slightly corpulent to something far more proportional. His overall appearance became more streamlined as a result. The wings of his Vollständig morphed into triangular shapes not unlike the stabilisers of a modern airplane. Fitting plates slid on his head to form a helmet, visor and mouthplate to protect it from harm. Then, miniature engine exhausts appeared on his limbs and back to aid his manoeuvrability. In the end, Arc changed from a railgun into a high-calibre machine coilgun, whilst the wrist-gun changed into a peculiar hybrid of a mechanical bracelet and a grenade launcher. Several silver hilts were attached to the bracelet at even intervals, conspicuously similar to the hilts of.

After a few seconds the transformation was complete.

"Let's roll", said Timothy with a mechanically reverberating voice.

The shrapnel battering against him had been punctuated by punches against the dirt as the Balancer battered himself for this continued foray into a conflict that should have ended in moments with certain victory. The sharpened fragments hammered against him limply, impacting and then splitting in two as if punctured by a commandment of reality itself. A hand hit the ground and the dirt sliced in two cleanly below him.

"Why?", he asked of himself "Why, why?", he continued though he couldn't form a retort for himself. "Why, why why, why why why, whywhywhwywhwy!" he spoke aloud, drooping into rambling by the time he was done. He quieted only for a moment before letting out a powerful shout.

"I'll kill you!", he declared with seeming clarity, his stance dropped and he flipped backward gracefully, landing in a pose not dissimilar to a runner about to participate in a sprint. The matter around his lower body concentrated on his leg in order to deliver a single scything sweep, a singular gash, across the great stone lily the battle had been taking place on. Dust flew out from the wounded stone in a large towering cover, so that Dàn Tài Sin could move after Timothy.

A series of internal alarms triggered within HK, its view of the world turning a tint of red as its HUD became abuzz with activity. Its advanced sensory equipment clued it in on the ensuing rumble beneath them and so it quickly adjusted its stabilizers and balancing systems. Despite the destruction of the ground beneath them, HK looked to have been rooted to the ground, which came true when the bone spikes pierced through its feet. The automaton ignored it, instead its left arm shifted shape into a familiar two-pronged railgun, that it had used earlier. Lightning coursed between its golden teeth as a Heilig Pfeil, in the form of a slug, was loosed on the Balancer.

The slug hit Daisuke square in his left shoulder, the bolt piercing through the armour and body of the Balancer, causing him to fly backwards, crashing though the landscape before coming to a halt a fair distance away from the automaton. Once again Daisuke's wound started to close up with bone, the damaged tissue being packed with bone, however, instead of losing his cool, Daisuke managed to control himself and got back up, clutching his "healed" shoulder in pain while also staring at the point where HK was. The Balancer could only think of one way to completely disable the robotic Quincy, one way which had way too many flaws in it to be easy, however, using Shunpo to once again travel back to HK, Daisuke committed to it and aimed to get to HK no matter what.

''Enemy approaching. Calculating ETA based on current velocity and course...''

For a short while Timothy had been considering shooting at the impending Balancer, however, in the end he decided against it. Had his welcome salvo not worked, he would have been easily bifurcated by those strange blades of his. Nope, he had a better idea than commiting suicide by proxy. Thus, the miniature engines on his limbs and back were set ablaze when he employed them to aid his Hirenkyaku manoeuvre, plummeting toward the huge water lily below. Rather than land on its edge, he moved around the giant skeleton within and quickly descended lower, down to the bottom.

Dàn Tài Sin had moved under the cover of the dust, though not on the expected course. Using his unique mass, he has broken into the interior of the giant stone platform that they were battling upon, creating for himself a barrier to hinder the progress of his attackers whilst allowing him to attack freely. He was enraged to be sure, it was a struggle to keep calm, to think, but this was what he craved. The strength to persevere, the strength to go beyond any obstacle, strength.

His body lashed out, formed into eight blackened lines that pierced through the stone, creating gashes little bigger than mail slots in the earthen constructs. Using his spiritual senses as a guide, his assault emerged from a wall in the stone, flying through the clearing in the heart of the lily, intent on piercing his continuously transforming Quincy target.

Up above, HK had begun an intense intake of Reishi, it created a dead zone around itself, a space that lacked air to breath as it forcefully consumed every scrap of Reishi it could. Its back was surrounded by a grand luminous ocean of blue as Reishi from throughout the conflict zone flowed towards it. Its arms raised, the lightning ran across its left arm whilst the barrels of its rotary guns began their metallic hum on the right. It sought to drive Daisuke into the dirt before the Balancer could finish closing the distance, and to facilitate that feat the android exploded with firepower, an onslaught of bullets, missiles, and slugs volleyed towards him.

Daisuke reciprocated by employing the use of all of his abilities, using his Shunpo to dodge the missiles that zoomed towards him while he also summoned shields of bone to shield himself against the constant stream of bullets, however despite his efforts to defend himself from HK's barrage, Daisuke started to get hit at a inreasing pace, numerous bullets piercing his less defended areas, causing bone to erratically sprout from the injuries he was gaining and forcing the Balancer back due to the force of the shots. Daisuke, grimacing due to the pain of having bone replace what used to be flesh, faltered in his approach of HK, however, with the help of the bone that he summoned forth to act as a shield the Balancer managed to just reach the automaton, most of his body stiff from the ossification of his injuries. The Balancer outstretched his still functioning left arm in an attempt to touch the metallic Quincy, his goal being to completely shut down his opponent by causing bone growth within it's body so as to forcefully immobilise it from the inside out.

''Warning! Incoming attack! Initiating evasive maneuvers!''

The auxiliary engines glowed when their thrusts helped Timothy change his trajectory. Although he reacted fast, he had received two long if shallow cuts to his armoured sides. Regardless, he continued his descent toward the bottom of the stone lily's interior until he landed heavily on the ground, cracking it in the process. Then, one of his missile launchers fired a salvo of Demolisher warheads at the estimated location of the enemy. Meanwhile, the other one spun backward and launched its ammunition at the inner walls of the lily. They did not detonate, embedding themselves in the rock instead. That ostensibly random action was in fact a part of a plan. One of the plans, anyway.

During the barrage it had unleashed, HK's analysis had reached its end, a series of helpful chimes within the machine's systems helped to indicate as such as did the ever reliable pop-up on its internal HUD.

"Assessment of targets complete: Matching signa-", it had begun vocalizing its success just as the Balancer made contact, somehow having pervaded through its curtain of firepower. A miscalculation?. It asked itself as it felt the resonance of contact between its chest plating and the man's arm. No, it was sure its information had been accurate. Though its computing power could play through a million scenarios in the single moment it took a Human to process their thoughts, it was nonetheless rendered listless when a branching series of bones burst through its interior, ravaging its systems with the sounds one would associate with shattering metal and layered plastics or the snapping of wires, if only dulled by the relatively unharmed external shell of its body.

It was impossible to tell if HK-105 had even registered what happened, it stood still, frozen stiff with nothing to remark on the subject. At that same time, a series of objects had made their presence known in the sky, descending rapidly on the battlefield. Their trajectory was right on top of HK and Daisuke, but before one could make the assumption that they were some kind of last ditch effort on the android's part they crashed into it, a series of swords of varying sizes piercing through the back of the ostensibly dead machine.

Its eye pulsed with light as the snowflake-like pattern hidden beneath its luminosity expanded. At the same time Reishi flooded in around both beings to sweep around HK's form and then solidify into the form of a large form-concealing cape, holes were present on the back where the swords that had previously pierced it remained whilst a ragged hood provided a shadow to the white frame of HK's head, giving off only a glimmer from the light of its eye. The machine stepped forward with the sound of a powerful crack, the bones that had rooted it to the ground broken by the beginning of its march.

"Matching signatures, proceeding with the release of inhibitors, engaging protocol: Terminus, code: 4-1-14-9-5-12", A hand burst from the cloak, a shining perfect steel mechanized limb that found itself wreathed in Reishi that rapidly formed into a large pole-axe constructed of blue and flowing flames. "Vollständig activated".

Its words rang with finality as it brought the axe down towards Daisuke's head.

Daisuke, hearing the bones that had temporarily halted HK shatter, began to retreat using Shunpo, however the Reishi poleaxe of the Quincy android proved to be too quick to dodge, and as the Balancer momentarily disappeared, the blade of the axe came down, its tip seared through Daisuke's skin, shattered his skull and sliced through the Balancer's brain, continuing it's assault on his face as the axe cut through the left side of it, bone solidifying what should have been blood as Daisuke collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, his high speed technique halted by the severe damage he had just been given by HK.

As those events played out, a series of explosions rippled across the cavernous wall, the small slots Dàn Tài Sin were now gigantic holes in the surface, the Quincy's missiles having pierced their way through the rock before igniting their deadly payload. Amidst the newly created craters was a hole, going down, deeper into the stone. Yet more attacks were made from behind the stone, loosed in a particularly wide spread as if to block specific avenues of escape during their thrust.

This time Timothy reacted faster than before. His analytic processors had been working hard to predict the enemy's actions based on earlier events and direct his body to respond as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible. He ceased fire to focus on evading the attacks. His bulky frame coiled in between the defence-ignoring lines with unusual agility thanks to Hirenkyaku and auxiliary engines. Still, one of them cut his left leg and another one damaged his mouthplate, leaving a sizeable dent.

"Diggin' yer own grave, ain'tcha?!", he exclaimed.

The opponent pretended to be a mole and used the stone walls to protect him whilst performing an attack. Clever, but not clever enough. With his wide array of sensors and good ol' enhanced spiritual awareness Jones could perceive him as if he was standing on a flat surface in broad daylight. Rock was in the way? No problem, he had his own ways of ignoring defences too. As such, the revolving bracelet on his right forearm began spinning, collecting energy to form the hyper-vibrating edges of the. In the meantime, the twin missile launchers fired even more of the Demolisher warheads into various parts of the stone lily's interior, embedding themselves in the walls.

Target locked.

Once the information was registered the Gintō Launcher fired the first Seele Schneider with bullet-like speed. Then, the rest followed at very short intervals. Propelled with such considerable velocity, the peculiar arrows should easily pierce through dozens of metres of rock and the Balancer hiding within.

HK's arm flashed under a reforging light that transformed its unused arm into an obvious projector-type weapon, with an igniter set on the front to give away its intended purpose. With callous nonchalance, the android activated its newly conjured flamethrower to ensure that Daisuke had been slain, there was no need to leave a body behind after all.

Down below, Dàn Tài Sin had elected to stay put. He was deep in the stone this time, deep enough that, though powerful and clearly doing their intended job, the missiles did not destroy enough of the rock to expose him. He intended to wait, to unleash his next attack in the next pause. It was clear his opponent knew where he was, but spiritual awareness ensured that would have always been the case. No, what mattered here was his foe's need to draw energy from his surroundings, it was short, in-obvious, but there had to be a delay between his attacks.

Waiting wasn't something he had much time for, his body would give out at anytime, and his mind was abuzz with an endless rage that threatened to consume him. It was all his resolve could do to remain calm, to sit here, free from a demise that would stop him in his tracks, prevent him from obtaining the strength he sought. His mind wandered for a moment when he felt Daisuke's distress in his fluctuating presence, the other Quincy, the machine had deployed some trick no doubt. It was then that he was caught by surprise.

The Seele Schneider churned through the rock cleanly and easily, an eraser rubbing out the imperfections as its function absorbed the Reishi formed structures before it. The blue gleaming blade hit that seemingly impenetrable black flesh that wrapped around Dàn Tài Sin and the expected occurred. The blade, the silver tube that made up its hilt split in half as did its own blue beam of an edge. The others arrived and the process repeated again and again, leaving Tài Sin entirely unscathed.

"It's my turn!", he exclaimed to himself with barely contained elation only for the sound of something being torn to grab his attention. Numerous cuts opened up on the blackened weave of skin as Reishi seeped out from them in a display of liquid-light.

"GAAAAAAAARGH!", unbearable pain gripped him, the flesh shot out in every direction, leaving the skeleton bare as it writhed around the open space beneath the stone that he had hidden in. The mass acted like a living being of its own as it battered its way around, trying in vain to halt the pain that it and its master suffered. An explosion rippled out in that hole and it proceeded to cave in with the heavy clatter of rocks filling up every possible gap.

Moments later the rocks were blown away in a more physical boom, a single large boulder launched at Timothy. Emerging from a newly created hole was an unusual mass, a barely humanoid skeleton, with oversized limbs and various extremities as well as a skull that had been broken apart and held together with various skeletal strands. Though clearly structured to look like bone, the mass was blackened and surrounded in a white outline. Within the ribcage, which was still missing one of its bones, sat a beating black heart, floating in place and disconnected from everything.

"Illkillyouillkillyouillkillyou!", screamed the Balancer-turned-monstrosity, its mind aflame with a single clear desire. It leaped from the ground with inhuman strength, black thin tendrils forming on the tips of its fingers as it took to spinning in mid-air as a black ethereal buzzsaw intent on cutting Timothy to pieces should its previous attack have failed.

Jones had fired numerous torpedoes upon the inner walls in preparation to demolish the stone lily and bury the enemy under the tons of rubble. That was one of the plans, anyway. He had not predicted that one of them would have happened to embed itself in a part of the wall that was now flying at him in the form of a large boulder. Still, he reacted fast, detonating the boulder to reduce it to less threatening debris. Of course, he began moving backward to avoid the shower of pebbles.

And then the real attack emerged from the shroud of dust.

''Warning! Incoming attack! Ini-''

This time he reacted with a slight delay. Slight delay with dire consequences. The peculiar form of attack performed by the Balacer swung rapidly and carved through Timothy's limb like a hot knife through butter, separating his entire right forearm from the rest of his body.

"Sonuvabitch!", exclaimed the Sternritter whilst sliding backward. "Wanna play rough, cowboy!?"

''100% maximum energy capacity reached. Preparing the Eradicator for launch. Three... two...''

All of a sudden the chestplates of his armour opened up to the sides, revealing a number of lamp-like devices hidden underneath translucent panes. The lamps were glowing and buzzing with accumulated energy.

The Eradicator. Timothy's so-called ultimate weapon. He had detected a weak spot in the enemy's previously nigh impenetrable defences. If there was any hole in the means of protection, the Eradicator was going to obliterate the entire thing. At the price of using up most of Timothy's spiritual energy it boasted impressive destructive capacity. That meant that either the enemy, or he was going to be fucked once all had been said and done.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as Daddy used to say.

One.

Electric crimson-coloured wave of blinding light erupted forward, erasing a large portion of rock from existence and cascading upon the Balancer in front of Timothy.

He wasn't of a mind to evade, he couldn't have been. Dàn Tài Sin's mind was an animalistic haze, too pre-occupied with a desire to murder the Quincy directly in front of himself. His power had twisted him under the strain and now it had consumed him, utterly. The light blew over him, consuming the skeletal construct that was its body in its blinding glow that continued onward to erase more of the water lily far behind it, Tài Sin having been little more than a pebble swept up in the flow. When it passed, he remained standing however.

He appeared to have been unaffected, not a single tuft of billowing steam to rise off of his sleek form. He took a step forward, Hohō dictated that his footing would remain on the sky as his Reiryoku flowed through his skeletal digits. When it made contact with the invisible surface his leg shattered, such a clean and perfect dissolution that there were no fragments left behind, the entire leg simply crumbled into nothing. The process began spreading outward, Dàn Tài Sin's entire body collapsing in on itself.

In his final moments, his arm raised and a series of ten black lines were plunged out in an attempt to skewer Timothy, their aim was messy and unfocused as his mind gave way to the cold, empty nothingness that awaited. "I'll... kill... you"

Then he was gone.

Daisuke was set alight by the flamethrowers of HK's, his body reacted on electrical impulse as the flames licked at his skin, slowly turning the Balancer into a charred husk of bone and dust. No feeling could be felt, Daisuke remained mostly unresponsive to the treatment, his last thoughts had faded before he could even feel the heat of the fire hitting his body, leaving a silent, charred shell of his former body as his spiritual power faded.

"Well, that's been a close one", remarked Timothy.

''10% maximum energy capacity. Main frame and weapons systems exceeding optimal temperature. Reverting to default form.''

First, the changes introduced with Equipment Pattern Omega were undone, shrinking Jones's size and removing the helmet from his head. Then, the twin missile launchers retracted into his shoulders and the plates of armour shifted to achieve a more compact form when the Vollständig was disactivated as well. The Sternritter sighed. The cut on his cheek was likely to leave a permanent scar. His armour was singed and covered with cuts and dents. What was worse, his right arm was sliced off by the enemy.

Timothy looked at the sealed stump of the limb. Then, he glanced at the rest of the arm resting upon the ground nearby. He looked at the miniature gatling gun of the Arc that constituted his left arm, then back again at the separated right one.

"Uhm... HK!", he exclaimed.

HK watched the flames snuff out the essence of the Balancer, no remarks, no sentiments regarding the man's end. It simply watched in silence, sure that its task was complete. Its arms returned to their default states, the gargantuan axe it had manifested was dropped to the ground where it shattered back into invisible strands of Reishi.

The hooded machine walked, its cloak billowing softly under the light caress of the wind. It approached the inner edge of the stone lily, hearing its creator's call. It took a projected step and plummeted like a stone into the flowery island's interior. The swords in its back and the cloak surrounding it eventually faded away as a bristle of light, the need for such a form had ended with both of their enemies dead.

It approached with casual stiffness, "How may I assist?"

"I can't pick up my own fuckin' arm!", replied Timothy, waving frantically with the Arc at the disembodied limb. "I've, uh, kinda run outta steam and can't use my Schrift. Just... take it."

The machine did as directed though with obvious leisure as it slowly broached the gap and retrieved the loose limb.

"We should make our leave, prolonged exposure to this realm could trap you here", HK remarked with what limited knowledge it had stored of Hell and its phenomena.

"Right", said Timothy, regaining some composure. "I don't wanna stay here any longer. For now, at least. I'm gonna have all the time for sightseein' when I finally kick the bucket."

With those words he mentally activated a special device installed in his body. One of the plentiful failsafes, it was designed to transport him and HK back to his lab across dimensions. Hell was not officially included in the range, although the device should work anyway.

''Establishing connection... increasing the strength of the signal... establishing connection... increasing the strength of the signal...''

"For cryin' out loud", muttered Jones.

''Response received. Locking signal. Ensuring stability of transmission... beginning the transportation sequence.''

"Well, off we go. I hope the rest of the team's made it", he said, suddenly glowing like a lantern. "We're gonna find out soon anyway."

Then, the two dispersed into their constituent particles that were subsequently summoned by a special device located in the lab within Silbern.

And the Silbern was on fire.

Part 5
45th Northern Rukongai, Kyōkai; Warehouse

Now was the time.

He had grown so accustomed to the stealthy ways of combat that he nearly forgot the thrill of a real battle. Open one-on-one confrontation. His skill and power against the incompetence of the enemy. True, she had more power, but her inability to put it to good use was amusing. Still, Quodrak was not arrogant enough to ignore this particular superiority. No, he had chosen to unleash his, Araña, so seldom used, to bring all he had to bear.

His twin katana seemingly crumbled into dust and faded away. Then, he spread his elongated arms. His skin began secreting dense white liquid which was solidifying quickly to cover his upper body with light bone armour. The mandible-like remnants of his Hollow mask were expanded to form a helmet of sorts. Only at this point the more striking changes made themselves manifest. First, a set of additional six eyes, uniformly pitch black in their colouration, opened on his prominent forehead. Later, a sizeable hump grew on his back only to sprout two pairs of long skeletal arms, each of their hands equipped with six claw-like fingers.

Then, the transformation was complete.

"Tsk-tsk", uttered Verros.

Without a warning he pointed all of his arms to the front. Rather than aim at Ksenija Gregorovich, he chose the insects spawned by her blade as his target. Streams of dense fluid erupted from small orifices on his wrists to splash them with quickly solidifying strands of a would-be web.

The fireflies that were spawned from Ksenija's Jiūkǔndao responded to Verros' attack almost immediately, as he fire the fluid at the insects, they all moved away from the area he was shooting at, an orange blur being the only signal of their movement as the zipped across the room in order to avoid the webbing. Ksenija on the other hand, had mobilised as well, moving out of Quodrak's direct line of sight into his flank, the Balancer quietly observing the Arrancar and his new form before heading in for an attack, her blade shimmering as it came down towards Quodrak's torso.

The Reishi Web had missed. A result of miscalculation, for the bugs were exceedingly fast. However, the web did not vanish after its initial failure. As it expanded it eventually attached some of the strands to the floor and the ceiling, forming a sizeable net.

In the meantime, Quodrak used to evade the enemy's counter strike. Both his perception and reflexes had been increased with the transformation, so he had relatively little trouble escaping unscathed. When he reappeared a distance from the Balancer, the arms growing from his back outstretched to the sides and unleashed more Reishi Web, spawing a large cobweb. Verros held his pair of "natural" arms in a guard, ready to defend should the enemy pursue him.

Ksenija looked up at Verros before leaping out of the way of the newly formed web, landing on her hand and flipping sideways to land on her knees a fair distance away from the new silk trap and the Arrancar, a blank look was etched upon Ksenija's face as she stood up and faced Quodrak.

"Do you know that you remind me of one of my colleagues a bit? Well he isn't spider themed but the bones cause you to remind me of him a little.", Ksenija said randomly, pointing at Quodrak as she did so. However, while the Balancer talked, the bugs that had fled beforehand came zooming back in all their glowing glory, aiming straight for Quodrak in an attempt to catch him off guard while Ksenija was trying to distract him with her talking.

Quodrak had been watching her closely. Her remarks were meaningless. There was no need to pay attention to her words. What he needed to pay attention to were the insects. They had been swooping toward him again, little blurry glowing lines. He swung all of his six arms at them to produce even more strands, pouring the Reishi web in a broad arc to intercept them with a wall of semi-liquid strings. The fireflies once again swerved to avoid the wall of web, however a fair few weren't able to escape its clutches, being pinned helplessly to the newly formed web while the rest of the insects swarmed back into the group, staying at a fair distance. Ksenija on the other hand, decided to strike Quodrak as soon as his attention had been turned to her fireflies, using Shunpo to rush toward him, the blade in her right hand already prepared to be thrust through Verros while she tensed her other arm, bringing it close to her side as she struck.

Once again Quodrak anticipated her manoeuvre, albeit he had to hurry. The glands on the wrists of his normal arms spawned two long blades. Whilst made from the same material as the webs, they solidified quickly to obtain appropriate sturdiness and sharpness. Then, as the enemy came swinging he crossed the Bone Blades to defend himself from the impending strike. It was strong, so he slanted and kneeled on one leg to better support himself against the impetus.

"Will you walk into my parlor?", said Quodrak to Ksenija. "Tsk-tsk."

The two pairs of auxiliary arms reached out toward her to drown her in the white liquid.

Ksenija, having little time to maneuver out of the way of Quodrak's attack, instead opted to move the Arrancar out of her way instead. Positioning her body in response to her opponents movements, Ksenija leaned back as she extended her right leg to deliver a powerful kick square into Quodrak's chest, the white liquid descending down on her leg as it approached Verros' torso. The Arrancar gasped when the hit connected and pushed him back sliding on his feet. Several cracks appeared on the plate of the bone armour upon impact.

However, he had succeeded to catch her leg even though most of the Reishi Web was inadvertently splashed to the sides after her counter strike. No problem. She seemed fond of running around, and soon she was going to run out of space for that. But that later. For now, he supported himself with the lower pair of auxiliary arms and lifted the upper one defensively. His natural arms were outstretched to the sides, holding the twin Bone Blades in his hands ready to block or strike depending on the next move of his inept enemy. In the meantime, he began syphoning her spiritual energy through the Reishi Web. The speed of transfer was relatively low, but anything he could steal from her and make his own was invaluable.

Ksenija hung in the air, looking at her leg that was encased with the web, despite its relative weakness, she could still feel the draining effect it was having on her spiritual power. Deciding that trying to free herself with her own power would be harder while the web was draining her, she directed her insects that were hovering around her to direct themselves at the web, noting that despite the energy draining properties and any other defensive measure, her fireflies should be able to destroy the web quicker than her while not having the spiritual power reserves to boost Quodrak's power much.

A wide grin outstretched on Quodrak's face. Excellent. She was like a fly indeed, struggling fruitlessly, further aggravating her situation with ill-conceived attempts to escape. He stood up and aimed the left lower arm at the large web he had used to intercept a group of the bugs earlier, then shot a single strand to connect himself with it. At the same time the right upper arm unleashed another streak of Reishi Web at the incoming insects whilst the left one kept holding the web which had caught the Balancer's leg.

He now had two sources of energy and the third one on its away. His spiritual pressure intensified slightly, appearing as an aura of mantis green light outlining his body.

Ksenija could feel more of her power draining as her fireflies gnawed at the Reishi Web, unraveling it bit by bit while also falling fly by fly as the web consumed their pitiful Reiryoku reserves, however, despite her flies falling, the web had been chewed through enough to enable its secondary defence, its less solid form started to seep over the hardened web, the acidic properties of the web covering Ksenija's leg as it started eating at both the rest of the web and Ksenija's leg, burning it as the acid tricked downwards.

So, she had freed herself after all. True, normal flies usually did not eat the web which had trapped them. Bummer. Quodrak detached the last remanining strand of the Reishi Web and withdrew with a swift Sonído manoeuvre. The cracks on the chestplate of his bone armour were quickly filled in with white liquid that subsequently hardened, leaving no trace of the damage the enemy had dealt to him.

It was too early to completely ensnare her. She might have been silly, but she still was a Captain-class warrior. Verros had to incapacitate her prior to deploying the web since the web itself was insufficient to hold her for long. He felt the new power coursing through his body. Yes, he felt stronger than ever. Not by much, but noticeably. With increased energy at his disposal he could resume a more direct approach with greater confidence. After all, he did not need to utterly defeat her. Cutting off a limb or two should suffice...

White liquid erupted from the wrist-glands of his auxiliary arms once again. However, this time they spawned additional Bone Blades rather than the Reishi Web for six swords total. He swung some of them slowly and non-synchronously in a display of inhuman dexterity. He might have been nothing compared to the late, but he was still proud of his skill with the Bone Blades.

"Your move", he said with a wide smile.

Ksenija didn't respond to the cocky voice of Quodrak, instead she sheathed her blade before performing an odd hand seal, bringing her arms up in front of her, aimed directly at Quodrak.

"Yururyū!", Ksenija shouted, as she called out the spell's name, two pressurised jets of water came blasting out of her hands, heading towards Quodrak in an attempt to harm or stun him, the pressurised nature of the water spell meaning that it would most likely make Verros' blades less useful against them. Ksenija, redrawing her blade, used Shunpo to maneuver in a position to attack Quodrak along with her spell, managing to stay out of the way and dodge most of the webs coating the walls of the room as she found her spot on the left side of the Arrancar.

A ranged attack. Exactly what he had predicted. There was no need to analyse or consider anything, just a swift Sonído-powered leap to the side to evade the unknown spell... and then a follow-up, huh? She was quick, but she had to manoeuvre between the webs he had left across the room. This bought him enough time to prepare himself and then some to spare. Thus, as she was approaching him from the side he swung all three available Bone Blades to parry the impending strike.

——— Elsewhere ———

Hyo Seung slashed and slashed and slashed. His sword slicing through the stone and dirt piece by piece in a wild attempt to get at the Quincy who had hidden beneath it. He lost track of time and his own thoughts through out his assault on the defenseless earth, his swings slowly becoming half hearted over time. Which, somehow, made his swings all the stronger, they cut deeper and cleared out larger swathes of the ground below him, an odd reaction to be certain. His ears twitched as the rustling of metal, and some kind of booming noise that he had never heard in his lifetime until then. Before he could react to it, there was a feeling of cold running across his neck which quickly turned into a forceful pressure.

His body was sent flying across the way, though he managed to land on his feet with a short skid. Hyo stood in place for a second, hunched forward as his mind began to register the events surrounding him. His head turned to regard what had him to find an Arrancar standing where he had been a moment ago. A giant of a man with fragments of a mask shaped like teeth aligned his face. His outfit was unique but kept the telltale traits of the other Arrancar he had witnessed today, a vest marked in white and black, like an inversion of their once-mutual enemy, the Shinigami. White platemail greaves, the culprit of the previous clatter that still faintly hung on his ear.

"I brought the spider to the fly, y'know, but that left me without anythin' to sink my own teeth into", Zankken complained whilst cracking his knuckles in between his fists and doing the same with a rough swish of his neck from side to side, his long wild black hair waving with it. His gaze regarded Hyo clearly, the Balancer could immediately feel the intent to kill behind those cyan eyes of his attacker, an overbearing pressure like an ant realizing that it could do nothing to stop the boot coming down on it. But his mind hardly processed it with such clarity.

"Luckily, us bears know where to find the fish upstream", the Arrancar flashed a grin, but his eyes widened when his opponent had vanished from within his vision.

"I-I'm not a fish, I'm a-a p-person!", the Balancer spoke as he appeared out of nowhere directly in front of Zankken, his blade came down on his chest, the force of the strike pulling the Arrancar forward, like his flesh had been tied around the sword and ripped off. There was a screech of familiarity, the sound of scraping metal. Hyo's brain ticked with confusion, but immediately realized the cause. There wasn't a single bit of damage on his opponent's form, the sword had clearly connected, the man's vest having been cut in twain. But his flesh remained unmarred. Zankken immediately took advantage of this interruption in the flow of the fight.

"Don't take it literally", he remarked as his fist crashed into Hyo's face with immense force, such that the whole area around them erupted in a boom as the sound barrier cried out in resistance, dust and rubble were thrown in every direction as a miniscule shockwave erupted from beneath the two men. Then he delivered another, a powerful right hook, again to the Marshal's face. The same results played out but this time Hyo was also sent flying into the air like an out of control boomerang. His body spun and spun until he'd reached a fair distance into the sky, then his toes clutched inward and suddenly his feet gripped onto the air, dust flooding out into trails as it was scraped off of his feet by his invisible holding of Reiryoku.

The man swiftly righted himself in a front flip, standing upright on the air. What is going on? Hyo asked himself, though the thought was quickly swallowed up in a sea of confusion. He didn't even register the incoming until they hit him. Numerous welts of extreme stinging pain erupted across his body as cyan globules began hammering against him. Zankken stopped firing his attacks only when the cloud generated by the numerous impacts had become large enough to hide an army inside it. It had to have done some decent damage by then. His hands remained flickering with the outline of his excited Reiatsu, at least somewhat wary of what might happen next. He was an Arrancar, fighting was in his nature, but even he knew when he was picking a bad fight.

Hyo stood like a wall under the clatter, his entire focus on trying to decipher what had just gone wrong. What stopped me? he'd thought, again and again. The Bala smashing against him did nothing but interrupt the internal process he was going through, when that bombardment finally stopped the puzzle pieces quickly clicked into place. There was even an audible click, he was sure he'd heard. The cloud settled and dissipated revealing a rather uninjured Marshal, Hyo's body was painted with light scrapes and marks, but nothing truly indicating harm. Not a single cut or bruise.

Zankken's teeth gritted at the sight, taking a single step back as he prepared for the fight to continue. Hyo was on him in an instant. He was like a dart, shooting right towards his foe but too quick to leave an easily traceable profile. The Arrancar swung his fist but the shot went wide, the Balancer landing beneath him. His other fist launched downward, but Hyo lithely shot through the gap between the man's legs, the missed strike pelted the earth causing it to rumble beneath them, stone shattering in a powerful explosion of destruction. Hyo had flipped into the air as soon as he'd gotten behind Zankken, so the destruction of the surrounding ground had no effect, he spun in the air, his sword coming down across the back of the Arrancar, and this time the scraping was replaced with another familiar sound, that of splitting skin. The cut went right through Zankken's bare flesh, a massive gash running cleanly across his frame. Blood blasted out of it with remarkable pressure, soaking the Balancer responsible in the process.

"You little bastard!", the Arrancar roared in rage, his left arm sweeping underneath his right arm, the hand had been jutted forward and a deep blue erupted instantaneously from its grasp, carving a massive beam out before it.

Despite the pace of it, Hyo had escaped it unharmed. He stood a short distance away, having dropped to his knees and promptly having placed two fingers on the ground. There was a mechanical noise beneath Zankken which caused him to look for the source immediately.

A small device, opening up on four sides which shot out small markers covering a gap large enough to envelop the Arrancar was sitting there and before he could move, the device activated. Thousands of volts of electricity poured through his body, not enough to kill or truly incapacitate him, as in-human as he was, but it generated a binding effect, making it far more difficult for him to move. He was stuck. Though it couldn't kill him, the device was not harmless and against his internal attempts to subdue it, his voice broke out in screaming pain. "GRAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Now, now, I-I think its time for your medicine", Hyo spoke in a tone of mocking confidence. He lunged forward, covering a considerable distance in a moment. His blade a single millimetre from piercing Zankken's skull when it found itself abruptly halted. There was another.

A second Arrancar had appeared and that sound from before gave it away. A white clad man, as could be expected, stood on Zankken's shoulder, while his other foot had rested markedly against Hyo's face, a golden boot having been the necessary measure to impede his previous advance. Curiously, the lightning soaking through his comrade did not effect this new arrival.

"Whit th' fuck dae ye 'hink yer playin' 'it?", asked the man as energy began forming under the sole of his foot. Hyo's eyes shut instinctively as the building Reiryoku formed a blinding light. Though he should've countered, retaliated, retreated, any number of tactical choices before him, he instead became focused on the question asked of him.

"Eh?", he replied as he failed to process what had been said by that deep Irish brogue. The time he'd spent doing mental loops had been what the Arrancar needed to fully charge his Cero, and without a word it erupted into a massive tunnel of lavender light. The Arrancar's foothold gone, he dropped to the ground, revealing a large circular shield which cut through the apparatus at Zankken's feet. He fell forward, heaving for breath before regarding his saviour.

"Aideen...", he climbed to his feet and dusted himself off, his muscles ached, he could still feel the searing of electricity coursing through him even though it had passed.

"Gettin' the party started up without us, 'ow's 'at bloody fair?", Aideen immediately began berating his comrade for leaving him out of events, though his tone was casual, without aggression.

"Had to make sure it was somebody worth fightin'", Zankken retorted settling back into his own pace after his previous outbursts.

"Aw aye? Is 'e?", the ridge of Aideen's brow perked up in curiosity.

"He's worth it and then some", he replied and as if to mark his case, the Balancer had emerged from a pile of nearby rubble, the same as before, the damage sustained was minimal and even as loose minded as he was, they could both feel that he was a threat to be taken seriously.

"You-you're not the Quincy lady, wh-what happened to h-her?", Hyo asked, having believed the prior arrival to have been the resurgence of that elusive woman.

"Let's break him in two", Zankken stated, ignoring their opponent for what he took as irrelevant banter.

"Fawck aye!", Aideen cheered.

Sonído and Shunpo flared into motion on both sides and they each met in the middle of a three-way clash. Zankken had drawn his as they moved and brought it to bare with a powerful clash with Hyo's own blade. Aideen immediately set about turning the tables. Below them, his leg swept through, taking Hyo's legs out from under him and promptly destroying his balance. He fell forward, the clash between him an Zankken broken. Before the Arrancar could deliver a strike with his sword, he found his legs rapidly stiffening, their temperature plummeting as well. His legs were frozen as the Balance turned a small portion of the ground to ice near instantly. It didn't hold up long though, Aideen's foot hammered downward, destroying the ice in a single swift motion that also pulverized the ground, breaking the stone into several large fragmentations.

Zankken ripped one of the larger fragments up and threw it at Hyo, who, expecting everything except that, was sent flying a fair distance back before he cut the rock into pieces, ending its momentum. They set upon him again immediately, and one lucky break in the fight allowed Zankken to pummel the Balancer Marshal into the ground with a series of sound-shattering blows. Just as the first visible crack in the Balancer's skin appeared, the Arrancar found himself hit with a powerful force, it wasn't pulling against him, so much as he felt himself pulling against it. He was swept into the sky and found Aideen had been as well.

"Whit th' bludy fuck can't this guy do?", the Irish Arrancar exclaimed in bewilderment. Their eyes focused on the enemy once his hands began weaving through a set of motions, the earth around Hyo crumpled and then loosed in a barrage of millions of sharpened rock bullets. Aideen drew up his shield to serve as a buffer, preventing many of the attacks from hitting him whilst Zankken roared in defiance, sweeping his arms outward in a powerful motion that tossed many of the small projectiles aside with their force.

Aideen found himself assailed immediately by a barrage of furious punches. It was all he could do to hold his shield in front of himself, as each punch resounded like a pillar of stone when they battered against the metal of his oddly-formed Zanpakutō. There was a single moment of interruption as Zankken attempted to render his aid, only for Hyo to catch him with a surprisingly quick spinning kick. A flash of blue emitted from the area touched by his foot and then gravity pulled Zankken to the earth with no chance of resistance. There was his yelling and then a resounding boom as he crashed into the ground.

Aideen reacted though, his shield lashed out, its edge sharp enough to cut and the impact across Hyo's flesh, though far less than what Aideen desired, was at least noticeable as a slight bleeding gash. He attempted a follow up, a powerful drilling kick to the same point, but the Balancer caught his foot in hand and immediately diffused the force of the blow proceeding to toss the leg away with strength enough to pull the Arrancar into a humiliating momentum. He stopped it though, bursting away with Sonído. Hyo followed, displaying an accute ability to sense his prey.

The duo appeared on the ground not far from Zankken and the furious assault continued as the Balancer dealt blow after blow to a dazed and defenseless Aideen. The attack stopped for a moment as Hyo regarded his enemy, or appeared to have been, through Aideen's muddled eyes. Just as the Arrancar recovered, he found his shield lighting up with the same effect that shot Zankken into the dirt a while ago.

"Auch, you rat basta-", the shield gained immense momentum in not time at all, Aideen found himself sailing through the air, the nerves in his arm screaming as if his shoulder was about to just detach and abandon everything beyond it under the strain. "-AAAAAAAAAAAARD!"

He found himself bursting through the wall of a building, his body suffering a ridiculous number of impacts as he crashed through numerous wooden crates, the piles of which toppled under such sudden force. The momentum they carried eradicated the roof of the building, scattering it into pieces and nearly eviscerating the foundations of the entire place. There was a slap, a gutteral noise of meat hitting stone as the shield embedded itself in the back wall of the building, slamming Aideen across its surface in the process.

He hung limply as he slowly got over yet another daze he had suffered to find the building had been occupied. By a woman, and a familiar sword wielding being. Aideen called out with evident jubilance. "Oi! Freakface, whit 'er you dain' 'ere?"

Before there could be any happy reunion between Aideen and Quodrak, who he'd affectionately referred to as "Freakface", the wall buckled, a wail of dust pouring out as it cracked apart at the bottom and the wall fell inward, toppling on top of the man embedded into it.

"Aw shite!", he yelped as it crushed him with a swift boom.

Back outside, Zankken had gotten back onto his feet and decided to scan the area for a brief moment. Frustration quickly got the better of his attempts to find her and instead he decided the overt approach would be best.

"Get the Hell out here already!", he demanded of someone, as his arms slammed into the ground causing a mighty tremor, that split the ground and raised it as several breaking pieces, right beneath Hyo's feet. The Balancer casually moved away, in no particular rush to avoid the rapidly deforming architecture of the Seireitei.

———

Ksenija stared blankly at the spot where Aideen had just crashed through and subsequently had been crushed by, just before his entrance, the Balancer had been able to block two of the three bone blades that Quodrak had counter attacked her with, with the third shooting past her shoulder, creating a noticable, but otherwise relatively shallow gash, however, the sudden appearance of the Irish Arrancar caused her to distance herself from her opponent to grasp what had happened without being bifurcated by Quodrak. Slowly, the Balancer turned to her arachnid opponent, using her free hand to point a thumb at where Aideen had been.

"Freakface? Is that a nickname or your actual name?", Ksenija asked Quodrak, her voice made her sound as if she was genuinely curious of whether or not the brusque name Quodrak had been given was his actual name.

Verros's face contorted in a frown, a vein bulged out on his temple. On the other hand, a few streaks of sweat started flowing on his prominent forehead, in-between the additional eyes.

"It's an annoying nickname, stupid bitch", he retorted.

Just like that, his entire plan had gone down the drain. He was slowly growing accustomed to the enemy's superior power. For a while it seemed he would have been able to syphon enough of her energy to eventually defeat her. But now those incompetent buffoons had interfered with his fight... and he could easily sense the spiritual power of their opponent.

"Damn it", he muttered, unsure what to do.

Ksenija didn't react to Quodrak's insult, instead she smiles slightly, her face showing some innocence but also a little bit of confidence along with it as she once begun to talk to the spider Arrancar.

"Um, sorry for asking, but I've noticed that you exclaim the words "stupid bitch" every time something bad happens to you, is this another one of your annoying nicknames?", Ksenija asked plainly, she could feel her superior's spiritual pressure outside and she figured that her opponent must have also, given his change in demeanor. Ksenija, using this opportunity started to press Quodrak's anger in hope that his anger and worry of Hyo's proximity to him would cause his normally well thought out strategies to falter significantly and give her the chance to overwhelm him.

The Arrancar, briefly distracted by the recent developments, turned back to her. He closed the eyes on his forehead and wiped the sweat with the back of his natural right hand. Then, he smirked somewhat nervously.

"Don't try to be clever, tsk-tsk", he said, poising his Bone Blades in preparation to strike.

All of a sudden, the floor beside him began rising in the form of a peculiar semi-liquid bulge of concrete. Soon, much to Quodrak's surprise, the deformation assumed a humanoid silhouette. A female silhouette.

"Ms. Vargas?", he asked, retreating a few steps and slanting in a submissive stance.

Her body seemed to be made entirely of the material that constituted the floor. However, after a few moments it regained its natural texture.

"It's good to see that some of our Soldat keep defending this area", she remarked, smiling briefly at the confused Arrancar before she turned to his Balancer opponent with a more stern expression. "I am Catalina Vargas, Sternritter W. Who are you?", she inquired.

"Auch, dunnae mind him, lass", said Aideen, his relaxed tone of voice partly muffled by the stone that was crushing him, which promptly split in two. The Arrancar rose from between the large scar he'd made with the unusually sharp edge of his shield, taking a brief moment to dust himself off.

"'e luves it, rily, 'e's jus' shy is aw'", the Arrancar continued with casual abandon, breaching Quodrak's personal space to deliver several pats to the spidery figure's shoulder. "innat right?"

"Oi, 'ere's the bossy lassie 'ere nuu!", he cheered with the realization that they had been joined by a Sternritter.

Outside of the warehouse, if it could even be called that anymore, Hyo eyed the presences of those gathered within, taking particular interest of one of the female personages. "Woo! Ksenija!", he started yelling with a hand risen into the air and waving like an excited three year old.

Ksenija herself was at a slight loss, so many things just happened out of the blue that it took her a second to catch up, she had been thinking about her new found disadvantage of having 3 enemies surrounding her as one came out of the floor, one came out from the rubble that was the wall while her Marshal was waving at her like they had crossed each others paths casually as if they weren't in a warzone. To say Ksenija couldn't keep up with the mess her singular battle with Quodak had become was an understatement, but regardless she put the randomness behind her and used Shunpo to speed out of the warehouse, not wanting to give Quodrak the advantage he had while in there as she came to meet her superior.