It started small, a flicker of spiritual energy that appeared in Kanonji's core.
Then, it grew enveloping both Arrancar and human before expanding beyond the reach of the barrier around them.
It kept growing and growing, a conflagration of golden yellow flames that bloomed into a radiant sun the size of the castle of Las Noches.
A moment later, the world cried and the back half of Las Noches was eradicated from existence. Corrosive spiritual energy tore away at everything in their path and everyone inside the area cried out in surprise when they felt it.
It was not just Kanonji's energy as the energy of Hueco Mundo aided to the attack, the devastation swelling with every passing second.
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"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Ichigo cussed as he raced across the sand as fast as he could, his friends and the Guerilla unit having abandoned their plans when the explosion had happened.
He took a glance back and immediately picked up the pace, watching as the flames continued spreading outwards and consumed everything in their path.
"Who the hell made that?!"
"From what I can feel, that's definitely Kanonji's energy!"
"Why the fuck is he throwing nukes?!" Ginjo asked, but Shinji just gave a shrug before they turned as the swelling paused.
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"Well, Captain Aizen, is this part of your plans?" Gin asked, his eyes fully open and looking towards Aizen who sat with a stoic gaze.
For once, the man did not have his usual smile as he stared at the destruction, but he did not look for long as he simply rose to his feet and spoke.
"Gin, send Barragan and his Fraccion to take care of Kurosaki and his companions. Then, send Zommari to make sure that Kanonji is gone. Tosen, go tell Tier and Starkk to meet us for the next phase."
"Will do, Lord Aizen," Tosen nodded, Gin giving a shrug as he followed after his fellow former captain. Turning his gaze back forward, Aizen narrowed his eyes as the attack began to die down.
When it did, only a hollow stillness was left behind and he hummed as he caught sight of a single figure standing in the middle of the vast crater.
'Well, Kanonji, it appears you are intriguing, after all.'
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Every part hurt as I took slow and deep breaths, pulling on the reishi of Hueco Mundo to meld with the purified Hollow reishi inside of my sceptre.
At the same time, I focused on the lessons of Kaido that I learned from Unohana's books, fuelling the restorative abilities of the Hollow reishi I absorbed.
My left arm hang limply at my side as the shadowy miasma around it was reduced to faint wisps, showing off the cracked, darker skin and singular eyeball staring back at him.
My gaze then moved to the area just two feet in front of me, staring at where Szayelaporro had stood just moments earlier.
Now, there was nothing but spiritual energy that tried to search for its origin to cling to, but such a thing was not possible when the entirety of its mind, body and soul was gone.
Still, I was not one to let this energy go to waste as I raised my sceptre to it, watching as the spiritual energy was sucked into and joined the leftover Hollow reishi I had left inside of it.
I could feel my wounds stitching back together with the Hollow reishi while I repaired the damage to my internal organs with Kaido, but my eyes widened as a spiritual energy signature appeared behind me.
Spinning around, the only thing I heard was the sound of static before I found myself airborne. I tried to speak, but the air was gone from my lungs as a foot slammed into my chest, sending my spiralling towards the ground.
Yet, I did not hit it as pain erupted in my back, a knee digging into my spine and pushing every bit of air from my body.
"Hmm, I can see why 8 took so long with killing you since he loves to play around," I could only make out a darker skin tone as my vision was nothing but blurry shapes, struggling to even breath as I fell back first onto the sand.
My sceptre was gone and stabbed deep into the sand a few meters away, but a foot pressed onto my chest and forced me to stay in place.
"Szayelaporro, do you need him alive?"
'W-What?'
"Yes, Zommari. How do you expect me to get any research done?" I could feel my vision clearing as the Hollow reishi tried its best to heal my minor wounds and my eyes widened at the sight of Szayelaporro standing off to the side and next to whom I think is Aaroniero.
"Why am I here?" the masked Espada with his elongated white mask asked with a frown and I gritted my teeth as Zommari pressed me deeper into the ground when I tried to move.
"Because Lord Aizen believed that us three would be needed to take him alive. However, it appears that his battle against you has weakened him significantly, Szayelaporro."
"Yes, and I was waiting for the right time to show up. Unfortunately, you decided to show up so I was forced to cut my play time down."
"S-So, you guys were never taking me seriously?" I rasped and the Espada looked at me before Szayelaporro adjusted his glasses with a mocking smile, deactivating Fornicaras and sheathing his Zanpakuto once more.
"Dear Kanonji, no Espada would go all-out against a mere human even if you do have the Left Arm of the Soul King."
"I fought against your No.4 once."
"Did you make him breathe heavily? Did he looked tired by your attempts? Was he using his Resurreccion? Did he perhaps decide to go all-out and not care for the consequences?" The more Szayelaporro spoke, the more my frown deepened as I recalled the fight against Ulquiorra in the Dangai.
He...he was right. The Espada #4 never did take me seriously. In fact, I'm sure he could have killed me right then and there if it was not for the perfectly timed rescue from the other captains.
"I see it's beginning to dawn on you, isn't it? Kanonji, you are powerful, probably the most powerful human in history bar none, but you need to learn one thing," Szayelaporro spoke with a soft smile. "You will always be a weak pathetic human."
Blood and spittle burst from my lips as Zommari lifted his leg and Szayelaporro punched down, cracking my ribs again as well as leaving an agonizing burn in my chest.
"That is one of my paralysis serums. Don't worry, it's mostly harmless," Szayelaporro replied and I just laid there, staring up at the sky with a defeated look.
'I...I can't do anything,' I realized, knowing that I wouldn't be able to deal with one Espada let alone three of them. Even if I did actually manage to defeat one of them, the other two would take me seriously from then onwards.
That means that I would get the shit beaten out of me from two Espada and since neither Zommari nor Aaroniero care as much for me being alive, I would be killed within seconds.
Aaroniero might even go so far as to devour me given that he could replicate the memories, personality and abilities of those he devours.
In fact, I'm fairly sure that's the faith that awaits me, but what the fuck do I do to stop that? It's like Szayelaporro said.
'I'm...nothing more than a weak fucker that got too arrogant.'
"And? That's our fucking shtick! That's what we do best! We're arrogant, but we get the job done!"
'And how the fuck am I suppose to get out of this, huh?'
"I don't know and I don't fucking care! All I know is that Ikumi and Kaoru are waiting for us to get back and you are not going to disappoint them!"
'...I'm becoming delusional. My own subconsciousness is calling me a bitch.'
"That's because you are. Now! What's our motto?!"
'Seriously?'
"What's our fucking motto?!"
"It's showtime," the words echoed through my skull as I snapped to attention, feeling the spiritual energy of the fragment in my left arm beginning to resonate with the flow of my own.
"Stop," the world paused and I strained to pull myself free from Zommari's foot, dragging my body across the sand to my sceptre. My fingers wrapped around the sceptre just as the world resumed and the Reishukaku barrier was formed around me by the time the Espada noticed me.
"Of course, that irritating move," I heard Szayelaporro murmur, but I was more focused on the burning sensation on my left arm. I knew I was pushing it with overusing the Stop ability, but I just needed one more.
Just one more.
"Stop," I stopped the world once more before they could all get away and took ragged breaths as I manipulated the Reishukaku's barriers to help me sit up.
"Soaring dragon, raging storm. Dance, weeping willows as the heavens tremble from the tears. Silent nights, clouds gathering, steel furnaces melting the scales of the serpents," I began my chant, sparks of dark blue electricity rippling from my form. "Dance, dance, great serpents. Coil through the dark clouds and illuminate the skies with your azure forms once more.
Hado #88: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiko! (Flying Dragon-Striking Heaven-Shaking Thunder Cannon!)"
The world cried as a gigantic beam of electrically-charged spiritual energy erupted from the tip of my sceptre, the world continuing just as the beam impacted the three Arrancar.
My vision was dyed blue and yellow as the azure blue beam washed over them, straining my arm to stay up and keep the attack going.
It was only when it felt like I was dying that I ceased the attack, staring at the three severely burned Espadas before I chuckled and fell onto my back.
"GETSUGA! TENSHO!" The last thing I heard was Isshin's voice shouting before I blacked out and darkness took me away.
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When I came to, a gasp escaped my lips at the pain, gritting my teeth as I activated Kaido and laid still. It was only when it didn't feel like my body was falling apart that I focused on my surroundings, blinking at the familiar white-gold ceiling that was the one in my master bedroom.
'What...happened?' the thought flashed through my mind as the door opened, my eyes flicking to said door as a familiar figure walked in.
Ikumi stopped in her tracks when she noticed me staring at her and I forced myself to smile through the burning pain as her eyes widened and she walked closer.
"Are you...are you really awake?"
"W-What happened to me?" My throat felt as dry as sandpaper as I spoke, Ikumi immediately grabbing a glass of cold water and tilting my head up.
The movement was painful to do even with her help, but the cold water made it absolutely worth it as the comforting chill cooled down the burning pain throughout my body.
She took it away moments later and softly placed me back down, a sigh of relief escaping my lips as I felt my mind getting clearer. It was only then that I felt a wet droplet on my sore left arm, looking up to see the tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.
"Hey, look. I'm sorry I-" Before I could finish speaking, my eyes widened as she leaned forward and kissed me. I could feel my stomach flutter as her lips pressed against mine, the pain fading away for a moment as I felt only the warmth of her lips and her hands clasping my face.
Then, she pulled back just as quickly, the two of us just staring at each other as I raised my right hand to rub my lips.
"Don't you ever do something stupid like that again, okay?"
"...If that's what I get for doing that, I might try it."
"Don't even joke about it," she replied with a glare, making me smile as I moved my right hand to grab one of hers against my face.
"Don't worry. I learned that I'm not as spry as I'd like to believe," I replied and despite the tense atmosphere, she gave a snort and softly sat down on the bed.
"How do you feel?"
"Dizzy, hot and hungry," I replied before looking around the room. "Where's everyone?"
"According to Isshin, Ichigo's fighting against the last enemy. I think it's that Aizen guy you all kept mentioning."
"What about the other enemies?"
"Isshin said that all but Espada No. 1 and 3 and their Fraccion were taken out by you guys in the Hollow's dimension so the Shinigami had an easy time taking care of the rest. He even told me that you took out three Espada on your own. What is an Espada exactly?"
"You know how armies have a main general, his two lieutenants and then several commanders under him? Yeah, well, the Espada are his top ten strongest combatants," I replied, wincing at the piercing stare she gave me.
"Kanonji, please tell me your injuries are not because you thought that you could take on three of those Espada."
"No, they're from me thinking that I could take on one of them...right before the other two showed up and beat the crap out of me."
"Of course that's why," she murmured, palming her face with both hands as I looked to my left arm and paused.
"Ikumi?"
"Yes?"
"...What happened to my left arm?" I asked, staring at the arm with cracked skin that had dark grey light shimmering underneath it. The eye on the back of my hand was half-closed, but the exhausted look made me pause as the eye closed fully.
"Uh, that I don't know. Isshin and Macy said that they themselves don't know what it is and he was going to ask a guy called Urahara to come check it out for you."
"...Sure," I murmured, staring at the cracked skin before deciding to just push it back to later. "Where's Kaoru?"
"Out with Nakamaru for ramen to give you when you wake up."
"Karin and Yuzu?"
"In the living room with Macy while Isshin went to fight with your guerrilla unit."
"...So, we have free time?" I asked with a hopeful look, giving an exaggerated groan as she softly smacked my healed shoulder.
"Don't you start."
"I'm not, but you can't just kiss a guy and expect him-" I was cut off by another kiss once again, Ikumi pulling back just as quickly as I stared at her with a frown. "Really?"
"You want to kiss or do you want to talk?"
"This isn't going a bit too fast."
"You've been wanting to get in my pants since we first met and I'm giving you the chance to. You want to keep talking then?" she asked, nodding proudly as I shook my head. "Good. Now, no sex and nothing strenuous of any kind for either of us until you're rested and we've gone on a date."
"Define 'strenuous'," I replied and she smiled as she took my right hand, my eyes widening as she threw the covers off of me and straddled my lap.
I was glad that my Kaido had healed most of the damage as she took my hand and put it inside of her pants, letting me feel the wetness staining the front of her underwear.
"Why don't we test the limits and find out?" she whispered as she leaned forward, looming over me before she gave a light gasp as I pushed a finger in.
Neither of us said anything and she just smiled before she leaned forward and kissed me again.
'...Ichigo's got that fight. I've done all I can.'
A/N: And we end it off here~! Like I said, I wasn't going to have Kanonji near the final fight as he works more in the shadows and from this point on, we're going to see a more mature shift from our boy.
Next chapter: Date.
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As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!