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A Royal Hunt Ensues! The King and White Slayer Clash[]
Ambush for the Hunter, Predators Collide![]
"Lord Aizen certainly has a flair for the obscure," Rey thought aloud, leaning his jaw against his right golden plated fist as he tapped his left fingers upon a golden encrusted throne armrest. The velvet crimson cushions provided all the comfort he could desire while riding his Kidō airship. Designed to look more like an elaborate glider than a vessel of war with forward arcing emerald-veined wings and golden plated exterior with a bronze floor surface for its deck.
He combed over over the airspace of the Spiritual Realm hillside, aiming to find a particular person out of legend. Much like the majority of his colleagues, ironically. The man was a Quincy by name, but held powers that transcended beyond his warring or peaceful kin alike. Before the war would ensue its final hours, Aizen sought to acquire him as a final ally for the Sennin Butai before the Alliance would make their final attack upon the Inner Circle captured Soul Society.
Its been hours since he began, and Rey was starting to lose patience.
"Have me look around for a man, like a dog for a bone, will he? I've just about had it with this inferior task!" Rey snarled as his left armored fingers scraped audibly against the smooth golde armrest with irritation, "if he doesn't show himself in this approximated area that he swore he heard rumors about him being within, I'll raze this whole countryside!"
A man in black appeared out of thin air, silent as a grave with every step. The only color in his outfit was the gold around his wrists, shoulders and the zipper of his coat, along with his cross, the symbol of the most elite guards to ever walk any of the planes, mortal or spiritual, the Atlantian High Guard. He chuckled as the fact a group of men used this holy emblem as their own, without ever understanding the truth of it, came to his mind. Only the soft crunch of grass hearlded his appearance. His golden eyes swept the hillside, looking for whatever had generated the sudden spike in spiritual energy that drew him here again. It doesn't feel like the damned queen bitch and her ilk are even here. Something was...no, is here. The only question, where? he thought to himself before a glimmer in the heavens above caught his attention. Something was flying, but it didn't look like anything made by the Atlantians nor modern man. What kind of craft could sail the skies so effortlessly?
The man took off his hat, letting the black fabric return once more to reishi, the material he created it from, using his powers to absorb the otherwise wasted matter. Waving his right hand over his cross, he created a silver gun, his personal weapon, Shatten-Blut. Taking aim, he thought of shooting down the craft, a single shot to the wings would disable it, that he was sure of. However, the violent idea ill suited him, the man sworn only to kill that which mankind believes immortal, the vampires of eternity past. Exerting spiritual pressure, he hoped to call the one responsible for his return to the area he already searched to him, to speak whoever it was and to learn if he was man or monster and if he should be dealt with like the latter.
"Hm?" Rey's crimson eyes widened at feeling the sudden spike of spiritual pressure. He could already sense the latent human presence within it, though it felt verily old and powerful. With a relieved smile, he mentally turned the craft around and allowed it to vertically land downwards. While trees and the uneven landscape were proving to be a problem, a powerful carving blast of Shō created an even landing pad for his ship to touch down upon.
As the energy hums disengaged from the ships spiritual sails, Rey stood himself up from the throne and took long, provocative strides onto the ship's deck. Turning on his golden plated heels, he crossed his arms over his immaculate breastplate as he stared at the shadowy silhouetted being that stood a good two dozen yards away.
Refusing the set foot upon the earth unless it was necessary, Rey called out to him across from the custom-carved meadow, "I assume you are Abraham Van Hellsing, stranger?"
The man smirked. Not many beings were aware of his identity, believing his name to be fiction. But, all fiction has some grain of truth somewhere in it, and he was the proof of that statement. "You assume correctly, stranger. It's only fair to ask that you tell me your name and your purpose for coming here today."
Despite the calm he showed, Abraham knew to never let down his guard, or to let his hand stray too far from his weapon. It wasn't often others came to him in the daylight, beyond the rare Elder, born from the damned witch herself. Was this man another Elder he had missed in his heyday? No...he didn't feel tainted like one of their kind. His fear subsided somewhat. After all, he only knew of one Elder yet unsealed, that insufferable clown, the queen's right hand man.
Casting aside his thoughts of possible vampiric retribution, he waited to hear the golden-haired man's reply.
"Lord Rey Dorado," Rey responded with a fang-bared smile, inclining his head to the right as he continued, "my master and ally, Sōsuke Aizen, gave me word of your supposed existence within this side of the country. He wishes that you accept an invitation of his to join us, and help thwart an invasion by a motley band of would-be rebels."
Abraham laughed. He had heard of the one known as Aizen. He found it absurd that a Shinigami, especially one who was supposedly as strong as the sword demon Genryusai, would even send somebody out to seek a man who might have been nothing more than a legend, a figment of imagination.
"Your master wants my help? That depends. I'm not outright going to decline, but without a reason to do so, why should I? I know not your cause, nor why rebels and riff-raff seek to end you through invasion. Why should I, therefore, care what happens? Do you seek aid and succor from me? Then tell me the reason I was sought out."
"I could care less what a peon like you cares about," Rey countered back, lowering his head back down as he leveled his stare towards the man enraptured in his comfortable silhouette of shadows, "Sōsuke Aizen is preparing for the worst to come contingency plan. Forces are at work beyond our comprehension, and not even he can foresee every possible outcome. So he wishes to allocate every resource, be it weapon or subordinate, that he can acquire. Whether you fit into his plans is entirely up to your answer...and whether it entertains me enough to deign to be a worthy one."
Abraham's stare turned icy upon being called a peon. "Careful what you say child. I'm no peon. I am a man who has walked the universe, stared into the face of devils, slain creatures beyond mortal comprension, and you have the nerve to call me a peon? I'm not the one being ordered about by another to gather the last living, breathing Atlantian warrior. Who, then, is the peon? The answer would be as simple as you looking into the mirror." Crossing his arms, the ancient killer simply waited to see what reaction his words would provoke.
"As if eloquent talk from a walking husk of a decrepit legacy is enough to amuse me, let alone offend me," Rey countered, tapping his right his breastplate with his left plated fingers. Using his rightmost golden digits, he beckoned Abraham in a challenging gesture as he continued to verbally mock him, "I'm starting to have doubts Serah Aizen had you analyzed properly. You don't seem like the kind of man that he'd be looking for. Weak. Bitter. And lacking in guts to handle a bit of warfare that I could handle with utter ease."
Losing his finely controlled temper at effectively being called gutless, the Shadow Quincy raised his weapon, aimed just to the left of the golden-armored man's head, but still close enough to split hairs if he didn't move away, and let loose a single, dark blue bullet from his gun. Abraham's minor display of anger would serve as his final warning for his "guest" to watch his tounge and to choose what words rolled out his mouth very, very carefully.
"Before you call me a coward again, I suggest you remember, I hold your life in my hands. Had I so much as shifted my body a little, your guts would be all over that machine of yours. I'm not sparing you out of weakness or cowardice, but because you don't know who I am. If you had honestly known, you'd have kept your mouth shut, insolent whelp. Just remember which one of us has lost everything to stand here before you make another accusation."
Rey, to add insult to injury, closed his eyes just a moment before the trigger was pulled and bent his head to the side. Not only did he avoid the pressurized bolt of spirit energy, but he managed to keep his smug demeanor as his newfound enemy finished speaking.
When he opened his red eyes, the ground shifted and shuddered as a massive web of red light cracked and fragmented the earth around his ship and in front of the Shadow Quincy. As the debris rose up in the air, under the gestureless whim of the Golden King Shinigami, he spoke back to him with an elated smile, "I only see a hollow shell of a once powerful man. Serah Aizen will have no use for such a decrepit fossil. And I shall prove it by impaling your head on a spike!"
Within the blink of an eye, all of the vary sized earthen debris was hurtled at him via Kidō. During the hail of mentally launched projectiles, Rey strode off of his vessel, allowing it to take off wordlessly back into the sky without him. The air currents caused his cape to flourish behind him dramatically, as his right golden hand grasped the hilt of his immaculate Zanpakutō from its sheathe as he smiled carnally back at his prey, "I shall enjoy gutting your dusty entrails, Quincy!"
Abraham reached into the hidden loops running along the backside of his belt and pulled out a single silver tube. "A silver rod strikes the five-fingered stone bed, Gritz." he muttered, tossing the tube, which began to glow with a blue light as thin, spiderweb-like cracks marred its surface. After a moment, it exploded, creating a massive wall, emblazoned with the High Guard's crest, a personal touch on the caster's part. Every aspect of his spell was under his control, changing the basic nature of Gritz from a containment technique to a defensive barrier, a mark of true mastery.
The impact of stone after stone against his barricade was all he could hear, the dull crash drowning out every other sound, even his own breathing. If this is all that miserable fool has up his sleeves, then he shames not only this fight, but the cause he serves.
"Gintō barrier? What an antique technique for him to use," Rey mused as he spun his Zanpakutō in his right hand, observing the mound of debris partially obscuring the glowing barrier protecting the Quincy. Inverting his grip on his blade, he stabbed it into the earth, allowing a pulse of blue energy to flash out vibrantly.
"Clever trick, old man," Rey jeered, raising his left hand up towards him, snapping it with emphasis, "but a barrier can only protect so much..."
Then, he attacked. The disorienting flash of light was the exertion of spiritual energy deep into the soil below his enemy. It would all be but too late, as the earth would ignite in a voluminous pillar of electric destructive energy upwards, rooted from the Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō spell. Thundercracking with incredible force, enough to cause Rey's visage to be hued in a neon white-blue silhouette as he smiled at his own handiwork, what with the pyre of energy searing up into the heavens.
The blue flash caught the old warrior off guard. He only had a moment to prepare for the coming onslaught of magic he could feel coming, a moment he wasted, wondering if the greedy devil, Mammon, would still uphold his end of the bargain.
Consumed by the bright lightning ascending to the skies above, Abraham let out a wordless scream, his body being seared by intense heat. When the spell ended, what stood in its wake could barely be called the remains of a man. Charred flesh clung to bones that should have long since been ash, still yet holding his form. In the silence that followed, it seemed that the legend had fallen, dead as his comrades were, but thi was not so. Energy flared about his being, black and thick. Strange noises emmentated from the burnt corpse as his flesh restored itself, his bones began to repair from the damage. No scar was left upon his body, not a single hair or bit of cloth appeared to have any damage when the miasma faded away.Like the creatures he vowed to slay, Abraham stood, the only sign he had been damaged was a tired look in his eyes, the regeneration cost him greatly.
Cracking his knuckles, he watched as the Gintō wall between him and his foe crumbled to ash, his will no longer sustaining it. Reborn by a deal with a devil, as he had been many a time before, Abraham could feel his soul struggling against the metaphorical chain that bound it to the grip of Mammon, a soul that forgot the meaning of the sweet release that was death. He could feel the cursed breath of his benifactor on the nape of his neck, reminding him of their agreement.
"Sad to say this, but you made one mistake fighting me. You're strong, but not all that bright. Had I been anyone else, that WOULD have been fatal. Problem is, you've got not one single spell, item, tool, technique...not one trick up your sleeves can kill me. So come on! Try again if you like!" he shouted, the madness that only an immortal knew had begun once more to seep into his thoughts, not that it bothered him. He would enjoy crushing the arrogant man before him, bit by prideful bit.
"Instantaneous Regeneration?" Rey's smile faltered only for a minute as he observed the bizarre and seemingly magical form of self repair the Quincy made to himself and his trappings. His eyes narrowed, his senses flowing out to sense what was to be the strange and dark mist that had enraptured his prieviously nigh dead corpse, "no, its something else. Had I never met Aizen, I would almost assume this is a form of Hellish force. But I can see his eyes as well as the ash of his crumbled defenses. Whatever trick he employed took some form of toll."
His composure regained with his thoughts finalized in its determination, Rey flashed a smile back as he pulled the sword up from the earth and flourished it towards the ancient human, "I find it laudable to use such words that would fit oh so ironically with the nature of your opposition. There isn't a weapon, in neither Hell or Heaven, that isn't beyond my reach or control. One of which, in the end, will be ultimately bring your ragged corpse down to the earth."
He then attacked.
A flourishing blur of motion would occur before the Quincy's eyes, as his golden armored form would propel itself at a logically defying momentum towards his prey. Appearing directly to the left, Rey employed the halting velocity to increase the force he would slash towards his upper torso and biceps equally. Not only would the sheer pressure of the slash compress well enough to shatter the forest line behind him, masking him in an outline of shadows, be decimated for dozens of meters, an additional attack would be placed within the edge of his blade.
"Ōkasen!" A brilliant hue of golden destructive energy would create a fissure of decimating power, igniting the air and earth it touched before turning it directly into cindered debris and ash. The intent on following up the prior physical attack with enough searing heat to eat away at his body, should the attack fail in its predecessing slash's purpose.
The Shadow Quincy was caught off guard as he saw the impossible speed his opponent displayed in such heavy-looking armor. Solidifying his own energy into the shape of hundreds of thin, wire-like strands, the Ransōtengai, he shot a myriad of the wires in various directions in an instant, each wire linked to his mind. Like a spider's web, the strands of solidified energy would vibrate when brushed against, alerting him to any oncoming attacks, even if he couldn't directly see them.
Off to the side, many of his wires signaled an approach to the left. Knowing exactly where his enemy was gave Abraham a way to prepare a small, shoddy defense, quickly retracting his array of Ransōtengai and in the span of moments weaving them together in a small, human sized wall, two inches thick. Feeling secure in his defense, Abraham took aim at the wall, his finger putting strain on the trigger of his spirit weapon. His plan was to fire the instant the wall was breached, a nearly point blank shot. Blut-Shatten responded to the will of its maker, a faint blue glow emanating from the barrel.
The moment the wall was slashed to bits, the old fighter realized his mistake. The golden energy from his opponent's spell, which he hadn't been prepared for, shone through even as he reflexively squeezed the trigger entirely, sending the deadly blue energy projectile from his weapon. The effect of the Kido was the only sensation he could feel, surrounded in a sea of blazing debris. With a ragged, gasping breath, he began the incantation to a Ginto.
"Tilt the..gob..let to the west, Wol...ke" he muttered, coughing all the while, as he crushed a silver tube, which felt like molten steel in his hand, and released the compressed energy downward, sending himself skyward at a breakneck pace. Away from the scalding haze below, his unholy regeneration kicked in, once again, keeping his body in peak fighting condition. His only prayer was that the golden man had been caught in the same deadly conflagration he had just escaped.
Rey took delight in causing his enemy to gasp for breath, deigning himself once again as the superior warrior. Though the hastily verbalized Gintō staved him away from further punishment, Rey noticed as the explosion cleared away the smoke something interesting. As he was taking to the sky, Rey noted that his Quincy opponent had just now began to activate his mysterious form of regeneration factor. Could he not do it automatically, or was he restricted to concentrating solely on it and not on his Quincy combat abilities?
Rey decided to test this theory, while his enemy's healing was null from complete.
"Gaki Rekkō!" Rey uttered aloud as he pointed his blade upwards, his armor still glistening and showing no sign of initial damage from the Gintō-rigged explosion. An emerald umbrella-shaped form of energy discharged from his sword's tip, discharging a wide barrage of destructive spears towards the skyline.
Simultaneously, he would utter safely within the haze of crackling air currents and the distance between himself to his adversary, "Limit of the thousands hands, respectful hands, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hands unable to reflect the blue sky. Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end..."
"Gochūtekkan!" He abruptly muttered aloud, as nearly six strafing emerald beams released the golden, fairy-glittering energies to transform just above the immortal warrior, transmuting into five enormous pillars of binding and physical power.
The moment they would make contact, he would continue uttering his incantation, "...Light bullets, eight bodies, nine items, book of heaven, diseased treasure, great wheel, grey fortress tower. Aim far away, scatter brightly and cleanly when fired!"
"Senjū Kōten Taihō!" In that instant, the supposedly binding Kidō would erupt from the iron pillars into pairs of pink-white spears of explosive energy intent on homing upon his proximate position and ram him into the ground with explosive force.
Reacting in an instant, Abraham thrust his arms to the side as the air itself around him began to ripple like water. "Lord of the forsaken, keeper of the dead...I, your humble servant ask of you, rise from your crypt, manifest thyself! Let the world tremble and rejoice. Come forth! Cerberus!''
As he beckoned, the wavering air seemed to shatter, revealing a swirling red vortex that could only lead to the lair of the damned, Hell. From within the confines of the vortex, a giant, three-headed draconian monster attempted to break into the world, answering the call of the one Mammon empowered. It raged against chains that held it still in the depths of the ruined plain it so desperately wanted to escape. Finally, the magic that had called it forth won out over the seal, bringing the monstrous being known as Cerberus forth to serve his summoner.
The giant wrapped itself around Abraham, shielding his body from the Kidō that was only a moment from slamming his body into the ground and reduce him to ash. The destructively enhanced pillars that descended from on high smashed against the tough scales of the monster, serving only to annoy it, although it never once reacted to the damage it incurred as a second Kido, held within the first, went off. A scorched patch of scale was all that even hinted it had been hurt.
Abraham could feel the strain of keeping a demon, something far stronger than a normal spirit, bound to this world with his will alone. If he could be seen from the outside, it was obvious the summoning in and of itself had been torturous, let alone letting his manifested beast remain outside its natural plane. Blood began to leak from the corner of his mouth. Hunching over, he mentally commanded his walking tank to attack. Remaining huddled in a defensive ball would only weaken him further without getting very far.
Cerberus responded to the non-verbal command with an impossible speed for a creature of its stature. A massive clawed hand reached out to slice Rey into ribbons.
Held in the other hand of the draconian guardian of the underworld, the Shadow Quincy threw four more Ginto tubes into the space between him and his opponent. "Feel the wrath of battle and accept this sacred chalice, Heizen!" As he finished the incantation, four massive rectangular beams, compared to the standard spell's one, were generated, each altered to have a spear-like tip. The obelisks sped forth, scattering slightly to make dodging ever more difficult.
Even as Rey observed what happened, he couldn't help but laugh at the hypocricy his enemy's assets that were being employed. For someone of a supposedly "righteous" path, an ancient warrior of renowned honor and the like, had just summoned a Demon from the abyss of Hell itself. He could practically taste the miasma that wrapped around the Draconian being's presence, like a ghastly plague that only smelt of ash and rotten flesh, a fact that his Kidō did not help in the slightest.
His keen, crimson hued eyes narrowed at the blood escaping Abraham's mouth, seeing that harnessing a being's power of his own will was taking a certain amount of toll to his supposedly immortal shell. That, however, didn't distract him from the apparently swinging limb the demon sent hurtling his way.
Swinging his own blade towards the limb, he invoked an aura of Seki around the blade's edge, causing the colliding appendage to be knocked back and momentarily stunned. The force had caused the ground underneath Rey's golden plated feet to buckle and indent, a testatment to the creature's power even as it was deflected. Something that the shining king wouldn't allow it to take advantage of.
As the spears were thrusted towards Rey, he backpedaled, levelling his sword towards large projectiles as a large crimson wave of binding Geki energy enraptured the Gintō-employed weapons. Halting their movement within the air, he quickly spoke aloud to strengthen his hold over the Quincy constructs, "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!"
The additional hold over the Heizen lances allowed him to completely control their individual movements and the latent energy dwelling from within. With a grim, impassive glare sent towards his enemy's way, he flipped his blade into an inverted grip and kneeled to stab its edge into the ground as he spoke aloud, "Bakudō #99, Kin!"
Within an instant, the four obelisks thrusted into the center of each appendage of the draconian slave, discharging a web of black binding cloth to wrap over top the beast and its summoner. Golden crosses segmented as additional weights over the beast's back and limbs, impaling its skin and further subduing its monstrous mass.
To strengthen its bindings, Rey spoke aloud the incantation of this modified and powerful Kidō, "Seeping from the shadows, wrap your gnarled fingers around thy prey and drag it into the abyss from whence you came. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, sear the flesh of all those who oppose thy name!"
Trapped in the darkness, Abraham could only hear the pained roars of the triple-headed beast under his command. No light came through the Kidō binding his monster, and by extension, himself in place, leaving him blind as the proverbial bat.
However, with his eyes unable to see, that only enhanced his spiritual sight. He could see the reishi that comprised the giant wrappings. Some of the individual cloth strips had faint golden cracks, openings where the reishi distribution was imperfect. Through those cracks, he would find his freedom.
Focusing solely on the small cracks, he let his reiryoku move about, moving within them, becoming one with the Kidō around him. As his energy came into contact with the tiny openings, he could feel the flow of the reiryoku that gave the Kidō power, just as reishi gave it form. Abraham paused to understand what he could about the energy he now attempted to halt. He felt as if it could drown a lesser man with ease, that only a warrior, born and bred to overcome all obstacles had even a remote chance to survive becoming a part of the maelstrom for more than a few seconds. It was maddening, how even a Shinigami, something the Quincy had always held in contempt, could maintain such a level of power, a level it took eternal damnation for even himself to reach.
Letting his own energy into the spell around him was like becoming one with a storm, being blown about by the raging gusts, like a grain of sand against the waves of the ocean. Abraham simply let the current of energy holding the Kidō take his own power along. For a few brief moments, that is all he could sense, the cycle of energy, with his own being overwhelmed and drug along with no contestation. Once he could sense his own reiryoku in the entirety of the construct, his plan began to unfurl. From within, his reiryoku began infecting his opponent’s, weakening it slowly, while also damaging the bonds between the reishi particles, allowing the Shadow Quincy to, bit by bit, absorb the spell. With every cycle the diseased energy made, the connections in the reishi wore more and more, speeding up the process.
In the span of half a minute, what once bound the oldest warrior alive was no more what it was, for now it empowered him, having been entirely absorbed, and only the wounds on the body of Cerberus even indicated there had been anything in the first place.
“I commend you, Shinigami. Your spellcraft is beyond reproach, even my own pales in comparison. You’ve proven that perhaps you aren’t simply a childish dog barking for scraps from my table. Rather, you have a vicious bite that matches.” As he spoke, he dismissed Cerberus, leaving him to float in mid-air. Black reishi burst from his gun as it transformed into a double-edged long sword with wings forming the handguard. “For you, I will draw my blade, one of the Seele Stören. Consider this an honor, mutt.” he said, assuming a defensive stance. No matter if he comes to cross swords or not, he will feel the power of my greatest weapon
Ace in the Hole, The Gloves Come Off Now[]
"He broke the Kidō and absorbed it?" Rey's eyes widened with realization, as he allowed himself to reveal his own shock of what he witnessed. Never before had such powerful binding spells been used to such effectiveness, be stripped away in a matter of a single minute transpiring. It just proved the value and worth this Quincy had.
Not that Rey cared anymore. He just knew he was a threat, and if he allowed him to live, he would try to kill him later on when Aizen didn't need them to work together any longer.
"And I applaud you for being able to wrench yourself out from my Kidō," Rey responded with a curt tone, his grin holding nothing but disdain for the Quincy and his supposed best blade, "and that's what you call your ultimate weapon? Unfortunate, that you choose only a single weapon to gut me with..."
Raising his blade up into the air, inverting its grip to point its edge to the ground, Rey spoke in a resolute tone as he released it from his eloquent gold-plated grip, "Release thy treasures, Jōten Taiyō."
As he spoke these words, the blade seemed to dissolve into golden energy, dispersing into the air and disappearing in the middle of space. A fluxuation distorted the visual spectrum, resulting in an unknown tingle down any living thing's spine. As if this weapon had called upon a power beyond comprehension, it disappeared and simply could be felt everywhere and nowhere at once.
Crossing golden arms over his breastplate, Rey cocked an arrogant grin as his red eyes flashed dangerously towards his enemy, speaking with heavily laced sarcasm, "Come, oh Quincy of old. Show me the might of your terrible sword can be wrought upon my immaculate form."
Abraham scowled. Was his opponent so foolish as to mock the most powerful of blades ever crafted to destroy a soul? Indeed, the legends surrounding the Seele Stören were varied, their true purpose and power shrouded in mystery. Other than the ones who existed in the ancient past, far before his own time, no one could even fathom the swords’ true natures beyond their effect on souls.
He watched with curiosity as Rey activated his Shikai, expecting some extragavant effect, befitting the ornate garb the man wore and his personality. A few seconds passed while Abraham waited for something to happen, anything at all. He had to assume there was a time delay or some other defining factor that restrained the release’s power.
There had to be a trap lying in wait, of that he was sure, but sitting around ill suited him, and it gave his opponent more time to fuel whatever effect his sword bestowed. He wanted to strike while there was a large opening. Using Hirenkyaku, he bolted down to where Rey stood, the smug Shinigami who had until now only besmirched the name of the Royal Guard’s last warrior would taste his steel if the great Quincy of eld could ensure it.
As his boots touched down, a single stroke severed the air, aimed straight for the golden god of death’s throat. The immaculate silver shine of the cold steel of time gone by seemed to yearn to be cloaked in the blood of the man who insulted it a moment ago, Abraham’s own killing intent making itself known through his blade.
Rey remained remarkably unphased, even as the sword discharged a powerful gust of shredding wind from a single swing. Though the reason would be made sorely apparent as soon as a visually bizarre event occurred. Right before his enemy's eyes no less.
It would almost appear as if the air itself disappeared, vanishing into what looked like golden-hued transparent fabric, rippling like water in front of the golden armored Shinigami. No gust of wind would flourish his cape and blonde tressed head, no evidence of the attack ever existing. As if it vanished out of existance.
"Impressive power for a sword swing," Rey commented casually, arching his head up as his smile expanded into a toothy dark smile, "but it won't reach me."
Within an instant later, the pressurized gale that vanished spontaneously erupted from the same space it disappeared to. Like a funneling microburst of cutting power, the same amount of power Seele Stören sent towards him was sent directly back into the Quincy's midst. All without Rey needing to move a single muscle in command.
Abraham watched, dumbfounded, as the air began to shimmer for a moment or two. He vaguely heard his opponent mutter something about not being able to reach before a searing pain erupted from the left side of his neck, down into his right shoulder. Blood sprayed from a wound that should not have been, a wound inflicted by the sudden and deadly gust his own slash had whipped up. ‘How? How could this be?’ the man wondered, glaring at Rey with contempt and uncertainty. He knew some form of spacial alteration had taken place, but the specifics eluded him.
The burning feeling he had come to associate with the hellfire that revived him washed over the screaming nerves that begged for relief from his pain. “Clever dastard.” he managed, in a raspy voice, as his trachea returned to full function. Maintaining his grip on his sword with his right hand, he thrust his left arm out to his side, causing another air ripple similar to what he had done before. “Slumber no longer, child of darkness. Flutter with thine wings into a new hight and soar into the void! Awaken, Madame Butterfly!” Rantosentai wire flowed from his fingertips, into the watery ripples his will had made in the wall between Hell and his location.
A woman in a flowing dress stepped forth, her face obscured by a butterfly-shaped bow. Abraham smiled as she gently floated over to his location, his Rantōsentai fading away, having served their purpose to summon the strongest being Abraham had dominion over. “My dear Butterfly. I trust you are well.” he spoke softly, like a man welcoming his lover.
A quick curtsy was the only response the Shadow Quincy got from his new partner. She turned to face Rey, waiting for the cue from Abraham to engage in battle. Over the ages, the woman named for her mask had learned the quirks and gimmicks to fighting alongside the old warrior, and rushing headlong while he thought was against her better judgment.
After a moment, Abraham readied his blade and Madame Butterfly, without a visual or auditory cue, dashed forward, only swerving from a straight path to get into position behind Rey, while Abraham aimed to peirce he golden-haired Shinigami straight through his heart. ‘If I can get my blade through him now...’ he thought to himself, not finishing the thought as he too took off at a run, sword set to impale his opponent.
Madame Butterfly attempted to latch onto Rey to hold him still, knowing that Abraham’s charge would likely injure her as well in the process if it succeeded. But the pain would be worth the victory such an action would bring.
"Another Demon?" Rey thought with annoyance as the man invoked another incantation to draw another pawn out to fight for him. He knew this one would be different from the lumbering monstrocity from before. It looked as if it wasn't more of a pet, but a servant from the way she regarded her master. The fact she had an expressionless visage, hidden behind the bound linen running over her face gave her all the more eerie sensation looking at her.
It was only within being so focused by her, that he noticed the slight body language of her impending movement. So fast was she, that her vice grip grasping onto his cape held him fast, causing his confident visage to disolve into one of alarm. As his eyes noted the impending blade from the lunging man's grip, aiming to thrust straight into his armor's breastplate and into his heart, he couldn't help but spread a maniacal grin.
A wet splurch of flesh being stabbed would be heard followed by the swift impalement. However, it wasn't the intended target that got struck. On the contrary, the space that rippled once before in front of Rey had done so again, causing the blade itself to disappear right before Abraham's eyes.
A duplicate of the same blade was produced simultaneously, reappearing behind a perpindicularly aligned space just behind Madame Butterfly's back. This allowed the metal instrument of death to run straight through her back and out of her chest, causing blood to splatter over the immaculate crimson cape that she held so tightly.
"I don't think you understood the first time, Quincy, so I'll say it again," Rey whispered darkly, his eyes narrowing and his lips curling into a visible snarl, "its a nice attack, but it can never reach me."
Swiftly, Rey swung one of his folded arms out in a golden blur of motion, discharging a bolt of lightning from his forefingers to shoot directly in between Abraham's eyes. He knew that this regeneration had a limit to being able to evade or attack, so even if he were to dodge it, he wouldn't have enough time to plan a counterattack. Regardless, he already slain his summon, and with disgusting ease, so he had really nothing to fear.
Abraham smirked as he felt his blade meet resistance. But as the sensation faded, he realized that he felt no armor during his thrust. Even the sharpest blade would have had trouble affecting that armor, and he knew it. Wrenching his sword free from the flesh that entrapped it, he withdrew it to his side and took note of the jet black stains along the upper third of the steel. His heart sank as realization washed over him, only demons bled black. His only friend for the past age had just become another victim of his mad quest for power. The thought that even she was unsafe dealt a mental blow. Anger welled up inside his soul, threatening to overtake him. Anger at himself at his own foolishness and assurance in his power and anger at his opponent for pushing him to summon the soon to be souless woman. He cursed his every heartbeat, wishing that he could undo his latest sin.
As soon as Rey moved, he welcomed the pain that he assured himself that would follow, vowing it would be the first punishment in a long line of atonement for the error he had made. Tears streamed down his face as his sorrow broke over him like a wave. He didn’t even try to dodge or deflect the bolt he saw Rey charge.
But the pain never came. There was no searing inferno restoring dead tissues, no jolt of agony from the spell, just a slight wave of heat and a gust of wind. At first, Abraham assumed his opponent had taken pity on him and was about to demand that he be struck down like a dog, his pride as wounded as his heart. Blinking away his tears, he saw what had happened.
From behind Rey, and much to Abraham’s confusion and joy, Madame Butterfly had, with only one hand, pulled his arm just enough to the side that the Kidou had barely been redirected, just enough to spare her master any pain. Taking advantage of a momentary opening, the woman, opened her mouth, revealing a set of elongated fang-like canines and lowered her head to the base of the golden man’s neck and bit down, aiming to split the skin, latching herself on the only vulnerable area she could reach.
The Shadow Quincy recoiled as he watched the horror unfold. What he saw only broke what little of his heart he could imagine as intact. It didn’t inspire him to hope for victory, but rather it complicated the anguish already circling his mind. Watching the demonic woman behave as one of the bitch’s kin seemed to cause him no end of confusion, as he assumed only beings with actual life in them could carry the strange blood-sucker curse. He couldn’t bring himself to attack, not with his only friend still in harm’s way, even if she was now a possible target in his vendetta.
What neither of them saw was that in the Butterfly’s right hand was a black dagger, poised to dispose of Rey after she had finished taking what she wanted from him.
Foiled again. These spawns of Hell were grating on Rey's nerves. That was the sensation anyways he felt when he saw the supposedly deceased demoness grasp and tug his unprepared limb from firing its deadly bolt at her master. His red eyes widened with indignant rage, as his face turned towards the incoming fang-adorned visage heading straight for his neck.
The ripple of space behind her seemed to discourage that idea.
A golden embroidered, crimson handled javelin discharged out from the space like a missile, thrusting into the skull of Butterfly at a speed that would bisect its skull cleanly. The weapon itself would pass by and would pass over Abraham's left shoulder, discharging into the earth behind him before erupting into a pillar of volatile energy.
Not taking any chances, Rey turned on the heel of his left foot, he twisted away from the demoness he attacked, twisting his golden arms around in a pendulum fashion. When the wrists clasped, all of his digits clenched with the exception of each hand's forefingers, allowing a dark veil of violet-black flames to suddenly emanate off Rey's golden frame.
"Matenrō!"
Within the horizon, for miles on end, one would witness a sudden abysmal sight. A pillar jet black and violet flames, as wide and as tall as a skyscraper, would discharge upwards all the way into the skyline abruptly causing the sky itself to become darker. And as instantaneously as it appeared, it would vanish.
Hundreds of meters of forestland would be reduced to an ashen valley, a graveyard for anyone who was foolhardy enough to stand in its path. Let alone stand within its wake. It looked like the result of a damning inferno, but halt dramatically in a circular barrier around the forest's edge that it stopped exuding such pressurized and searing heat. Ground zero of instantaneous death, as Rey would imagine it to be.
A bead of sweat crawled down Rey's brow, as releasing such a potent spell, being one of the 90's level, so swiftly took the wind out of him. It wouldn't impede his ability to use his Zanpakutō, but he knew a repeat use of such a spell would only be draining to his person. His eyes peered through the hazy steam that his attack created around him, wondering about the status of the two beings, demoness and master alike.
It happened in an instant. Abraham felt the spear soar passed his shoulder and within the span of a single breath, his world faded in a roar of violet flame, enveloping his being. His last sight was of his favored servant lying in a pool of blood, her skull split in twain. He concealed a smirk with his right hand, as if to cover his eyes from the blinding light, made all the simpler as his opponent looked away. Other than the revelation he just received, and the rather gruesome sight before him, everything was going according to plan.
Noticing the body of the Butterfly near him, he tossed the last of his Gintō tubes in her direction, creating a grey, stone-like enclosure around her. Knowing what he did about the demonic beings he created, he wanted to protect her, allowing her regeneration to save her from being forced back into Hell.
Encased in the raging inferno, Abraham felt his flesh crumble and restore itself ad infinitum, as expected through his contract with Mammon. Swallowed up in his agony, he mustered up his willpower to invoke the legendary transformation bestowed at one time only upon the finest warriors of the time.
The fires vanished and in the center of the conflagration stood a man covered in ebony black armor, only his face remained uncovered. Enormous metal wings jutted out of his back, seemingly moving in the air, thanks to the heat haze. Long black hair flowed down to his shoulders and piercing red eyes seemed to survey the damage surrounding him. Flexing his metallic fingers, he spoke, seemingly to no one in particular, “Vollstandig, Asariel....Volkermond.” As the figure spoke, he impaled the ground with his sword, which remained entirely upright by its own volition, glowing with a blue light that seemed to flash rapidly. “It has begun. As a worthy opponent, I have given unto you the perfection that is my power, a power born of a singular hatred. You, who have wounded and mocked me, have the chance to face that which you have scarred and scorned. Except now, the rules have changed.”
Not far away from the newly empowered Atlantean was the Ginto-manifested barrier containing the Butterfly. Small cracks ran all along the form of the shell, splintering and fragmenting, eventually reducing itself to dust. Within the protective sphere was the Butterfly, her skull mended in the brief time between the spear impaling her and the dying embers of the blast. Only her signature and name-giving ribbon had not recovered with her, revealing her face for all to see. Long brown hair tied back into a ponytail adorned her head as blue eyes looked at the man she called her master. She knew his form well, having seen it for thousands of years, the form of a fallen angel
Abraham turned to see as he sensed his trump card return to life. He had hoped her regeneration went well enough, allowing her to continue her service during the battle. He hadn’t expected the face of his long, supposedly dead, wife staring back at him. For the first time in untold years, he lost his composure on a battlefield. No. This can’t be! Lies...LIES! It’s not...it can’t be her! She would have chosen death over damnation! His every thought was focused on the woman who he loved. “Mina...is it really you?” he croaked. Trying his hardest to return mentally to the ongoing battle around him, he could only wonder what truly happened to his beloved that fateful night.
The woman nodded. “Yes, Abraham, my love. But I suppose now is not the best time to reconnect, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in that form. After this, I promise to explain why I’m here and why you saw me...like one of them.” As she spoke she stretched out her right arm and pointed at the golden-maned combatant. From the tip of her index finger, a violet fireball made a beeline straight for the warrior’s brow line. Twisting her body, she launched, from her left hand, a sphere of dark energy.
In the blink of an eye, Mina vanished without so much as a sound, reappearing behind Rey and firing a lance of wind at her armored foe.
Rey took care to analyze every detail of the newfound situation he was placed within. Not only had his enemy increased his abilities to an extent that paled his prior in comparison, but his demoness pet had survived.
The prior concern he took with stride. He knew for a fact that the man hadn't gained strength, but simply bolstered his already exceptional Quincy abilities. More severe measures would need to be taken if he had a chance of besting this regenerating fiend, otherwise he would be placed into a difficult situation. While his Zanpakutō still held the field advantage, it was by no means flawless, something he hoped to not allow to be known and taken advantage of by his enemy.
The latter concern, however, was more of a curiosity than one of alarm. When she rose to her full height, her face was exposed to appear as if she looked more human than the last contract summon. In fact, the longing stare she held with one of a haunted visage his enemy held, caused him to smile cruelly.
"The fangs, the impulse-driven protective nature, the hidden face. Its all too clear what she really is, and what she means to that Quincy scum now," Rey thought with delight as his secondary opponent turned her attention to her.
Raising his right arm to be horizontally aloft, just as a fireball was discharged, the hilt of a Sun-shaped guard double-edged broadsword was grasped by golden digits to rest firmly into his palm. As sphere of pyrotechnic pwoer closed in on him, he allowed himself to speak, even as she rushed towards his rear flank, "I know what you are, Reikon Kyūban. And I know why you serve him!"
As the fissure of wind struck the metallic backside seemed to contort, warping out of context for what it should have been an impaling or crushing impact. It was then redirected right back to its source, showing that the nature and power of her elemental blast had little effect upon his initial defense.
Any form of rebuttal would be lost, as soon as the blade had thrust into the wafting tongues of violet flames, it seemed to vanish into the folds of the sword's hilt. Turning on his heel with more deft speed than his opponent would give him credit for, due to this being his first time actually responding of his own accord in a physical matter, he slashed in a blinding arc of light towards her torso. Not only was the blade a sharp one, but a searing orange-hued glow off its edge and surface indicated its super-heated nature, igniting the cauterized flesh's proximity, intending on causing her body to combust in an aforementioned affect of his attack upon her body.
"Your blind devotion to your master is your own downfall!" Rey crowed out with a delighted smile, his red eyes boring into hers as he would watch his attack take hold before his eyes, "this blade contains heat nearly equivalent to that of a star. It swallows up flames just as your fangs help bask in the feast of blood!"
Turning his gaze halfway over his shoulder, while keeping a peripheral watch on his Reikon Kyūban menace, he gleamed menacingly towards his Quincy enemy, "If you think this is the equivalent of a trump card, you must be really losing your touch, Fossil of the Quincy Folk."
Mina saw the glowing blade and began to formulate a defense around herself, creating a second skin of energy, leaving the back exposed so she could flee from the attack, giving it the consistency of real flesh to provide the appropriate resistance against the oncoming cut. Waiting for the perfect moment, she separated from her exoskeletal barrier and manifested a second shield of dark energy between her and the first defense, ensuring whatever secondary effects the blade, most likely, harbored.
No sooner had she escaped from the tip of the sword had her created second skin suddenly erupted in flames, forcing her to quickly increase the strength of her dark barrier to survive. Surrounded in the explosive force of a star’s heat, she felt the wrath of the sun wear at her powers, even in the sorcerous defense she erected to keep the very hellstorm out, a testament to the power her enemy held.
Abraham could only watch as Mina fought for his sake, unable to cope with the facts presented before him. Indirectly, he had condemned her to return to a nightmare of darkness and suffering every time he had, for but a moment, freed her to fight at his side. And now, her life was in mortal peril. And he alone could be blamed for missing all of the obvious signs that only hindsight showed him who had heeded his call for aid.
A bright light surrounding her body was all the great warrior saw, knowing at once it could only be an explosion, with such intensity he couldn’t imagine anything other than a star in effect. All the same, he smirked, knowing his beloved would survive without him until the Volkermond could finish the set-up phase and move onto the actual effect.
She was always there when my Ransotengai called through the gates of hell for her, as if she always only waited for my callings. How unlikely that no other demon summoner knew of her... She never rebelled under my command, unlike the other demons who had to be forced to do my bidding over time. I should have noticed...Mammon and the bitch queen both have given me something of value, one greater to me than the other...but their hubris has blinded them. Mina’s power as one of the vampires and a demon have only bolstered her natural abilities as the sorceress above all others of her age.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss her. You’ve obviously already forgotten what demonic powers have done for me. What makes you, a mere Shinigami, so arrogant to believe my contract with the underworld was the only one forged between Quincy and demon? Besides that, I only said your spellcraft was above reproach compared to my own.” he replied, holding out his right hand with the palm facing his opponent. A dark blue Heilig Pfeil launched itself from the open palm, far larger than the ones previously fired, due in no small part to the rapidly increasing absorbtion of reishi from the air that Volstandig afforded him.
As the explosion cleared away, revealing Mina fully intact and, save for a small nick along her abdomen, unharmed. Around her, she created four blood-red pillars, each sharpened to a fine point, like a stake. “Take flight, forgotten chalice, Heizen Blut!” The four spears flew forwards, fully intending on impaling Rey into the ground.
A cursed Quincy, donning a black Vollstandig, cursed by Demons to keep leaving past the pain of death he deserved. His most reliable subordinate was a past lover, turned into a Reikon Kyūban with incredible strength and nigh immortality of her own. For one reason or another, Rey perceived his enemies as animated folklore characters rather than simple myths or legends.
Turning his body to be perpindicularly facing both of his enemies, he spotted both of them making independant movements around a handful of seconds after the Quincy monologued. That in turn, gave him time to properly come up with a counter to this precarious situation he found himself in.
"I can handle that Quincy much easier if I get rid of that meddlesome bloodsucker first. Her ability to resist Himegami's flames is a testament to that. But...maybe..." Rey trailed off, as a wicked idea formed within his mind, causing him to smile just as the ancient Quincy finished preaching to him.
As attacks flew towards him, he dictated which was faster and how to properly mediate his response time. With Himegami in his left hand, he reared the blade back and swung it in the direction of the hurtling phalanxes of blood and corrupted spirit energy. He let loose a single utterance under his breath to symbolize the technique's formation,
"Jōka Shōkyo!"
In that instant, a magnificent discharge of golden-white tongues discharged from the sword's edge, as he swung it gracefully in the direction his enemy's projectiles were coming from. Such was the intensity of the flames, that the ashen earth beneath it seemed to instantly combust, turn to ash, and then disappear as it was wrended asunder at an molecular level. The wafting wave of fire roared out with an almost deafening thrust, as the speared were thrown back and instantaneously blasted to oblivion. In the ensuing wave of destruction, they would assuredly cause more searing pain upon the nigh unkillable Reikon Kyūban, though Rey was counting on that.
During the instant of the flames being let loose, the dark azure arrow that was sent in his direction seemed to have vanished in thin air. In that moment, Rey's left unarmed hand seemed to be open, as if he was in the act of catching it himself. That would be, more or less, true for what Rey had done.
When the flames dispersed as quickly as they came, Rey swiftly appeared beside her, thrusting Himegami's razor, searing edge into her abdomen where it last made contact. He counted on the psychological factor of eruption of fire that had assuredly cause her to avoid, would allow him a quick follow-up attack, allowing this thrust to make contact. Not only that, but his free hand would simultanelsly grasp her throat upon his Flash Step endowed appearance.
"Allow me to give you a gift from your lover, wench," Rey whispered allowed, as the palm that wrapped around her throat would suddenly ripple. The very same dark azure Heilig Pfeil that the Abraham had employed would be dispersed at point blank from the space in between his golden-plated digits and through her neck, if not her entire head.
Mina felt the sharp sting of the sword run through her abdomen and the metallic digits clasp around her throat along with the thrum of energy that she had come to associate with the moment the man’s Shikai triggered, which meant only one thing, Abraham’s attack had become ammunition for the golden-garbed man’s ability. Only one option... she thought, reaching deep inside her spiritual core to draw forth her powers.
An explosive wave of violet energy expanded outwards, razing the area around Mina, as if Abraham’s redirected arrow had struck a barrier. As the sudden flash of light died down, Mina still remained intact, as if the blast had no effect on her person. Eight wings of solidified energy manifested from her back. Each wing had swirling, kaleidoscopic patterns flowing across their surfaces in a dark parody of the colors of a rainbow. Streaks of blood red dyed her hair as her skin seemed to pale.
“Quincy Volstandig: Thaumiel.”
As the words escaped her lips, the pain in her gut receded. Where at one point the blade had pierced her body, the air shimmered and seemed to absorb the blade.
Abraham looked on in horror. Thaumiel...to believe she deemed this man worthy of dying at his own hand. The panic he felt seemed to etch itself on his face. To see his wife’s Volstandig again sent fear, the honest fear that a seasoned killer learns to overcome, racing through him. “Get away from her! Even you can’t overcome her power like this!” he pleaded, knowing what was in store for his enemy if he remained close. Never before had he imagined himself trying to save an opponent from his beloved’s true power.
Mina’s face contorted into a sadistic grin as she felt her power activate. “Zwilling Erwachen Seigel.” she uttered. At her command, the nature of her ability sprang to life. Behind Rey, a similar shimmering void in the air that he could create opened up, the tip of his own sun-empowered blade thrust from inside, aimed straight for his spine.
“I...wonder what it feels like to die from your own attack. Why don’t you find out for me?” she said, a sinister edge to her words.
Rey found himself staring at a diabolically dark angelic creature. Without a doubt, as he backpedaled a good handful of meters away his enemy, that with the density of pressure her presence placed within the air that her power has magnified proportion. Instead of becoming afraid or frustrated, Rey's blood boiled at the challenge set before him. With the futile yell from the opponent on the ground, it was high time he personally sought the destruction of this Reikon Kyūban.
As the space rippled behind him, the hairs on his neck stood up, his entire body buzzing with the sensation of an "intruder". His eye turned around to see a void of abysmal darkness vertically danced in the air, as a exact copy of his blade that was within his possession went towards his back. His smile turned into a humored one, his head turning away as the flaming sword discharged at his back like a missile, only to disappear within the rippling folds of space inches away from his backside.
Instead, he swung his hand out, clenching it into a fist that caused the sensation of skin tingling to spread across her area of space. More specifically, her area of space becoming enclosed as a orb of golden dimensional water locked her within its space. Upon this occurrence, the hundreds of blade tips protruded within the suffocating golden spacial prison, all pointing at her body. An instant later, they launched, rapidly discharging at her body from all angles. The attacks would seem to have no ceasing, as they were all wrapped within the space that Rey held her captive within.
Gravity, Fire, Ice, Disease, Paralysis, and many more affects would riddle her body simultaneously as the spiritually accelerated weapons of mass destruction would continue to pass through her, into the very rippling space they came from before reappearing again and again. All hidden from view from her master, and incapable of rendering space of her own beyond it.
"Tenrai Jukei, Rengoku," Rey declared aloud, if only to allow the Quincy below to know why a orb of golden water encircled the space where his twisted beloved resided within, "right now she is suffering the ultimate torment her twisted life can endure. Instantaneous launched attacks from my Tenrai Zōheishō, the dimension of celestial arms that I received from my Zanpakutō spirit and many forms of techniques I've acquired through centuries of combat."
Raising a hand, a pool rippled beside his head, protruding a axe handle of lunar and Sun design, golden handle possessing chains that dangled from the pommel, "My Zanpakutō emits a dimensional grasp over this entire space, called Tenrai Jiun. Your beloved demoness cannot mimic an attack without invading its territory. I'm completely aware of any attack she can make with that Zwilling Erwachen Seigel technique of hers!"