Chapter 120 - Day and Night
"Finished? It'll never be finished. A battle isn't like some stupid argument. As long as someone's still breathing, the fight isn't over." — Kenpachi Zaraki.
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The Hollows that had landed inside the Seireitei had mostly been taken care of except for a few stragglers and the scant numbers that were actually somewhat strong.
Between the unoccupied Captains and the Lieutenants, the Hollows were quickly on their way to annihilation. What however made fear creep into the hearts of the weaker Shinigami were the gigantic unmoving Menos that had their heads peeking through the open Garganta.
Another worry they had, especially the Captains, was what was holding the Head Captain? Those Shinigami old enough, over two centuries, knew that the inactivity and radio silence from the Head Captain was unusual. At the very least, his Reiatsu would have washed over the Seireitei soaked in his anger.
...
A scowl entered Soi Fon's masked face as she gazed at Tōsen's bloodied form that was riddled with butterfly motifs. It irked her so much that she failed to kill someone this many times.
She could very well tell that she was stronger than him but he was as tenacious as a bug when it came to dying.
"You are on your last leg. Surely you can see now how pointless it is trying to rebel against the Soul Society." Soi Fon said but Tōsen simply sneered.
"Me surviving this far shows how resilient and steadfast my justice is. Try and try again, you'll only fail. Lord Aizen can't be defeated." Tōsen spat out, angering Soi Fon even more.
He knew he was on his last leg and their next clash would decide the winner, most likely ending up with him dead. He was blind not stupid. Even a blind man could tell how overwhelmed he was.
That was why he had to stall. There was a reason Aizen knew so much about every single important Shinigami's character. A century was sufficient enough time to write up a thorough and in-depth psych eval on them.
"You spout so much drivel about the uprightness of the Shinigami and the Head Captain but where has he been all this while? What has happened to the vaunted Yamamoto Genryúsai?"
Soi Fon scoffed at Tōsen's attempt at mind games. "If you want to know so much then why not head to his office and find out?"
"There's no need as I already know his circumstances. Even the unmoving rock that is Yamamoto Genryúsai has fallen to Lord Aizen's plans."
Soi Fon kicked into motion towards Tōsen with steely flames in her eyes. "And what of his plans concerning you? Is it fulfilled?"
Tōsen braced himself and met Soi Fon with a deep grunt. "I will gladly die for Lord Aizen's vision."
Tōsen jumped back to avoid two kunais and hastily held his blade to block Soi Fon's sting only to have his exposed stomach kicked in by her tiny frame.
"Then be grateful to me for helping you fulfill it." Her fingers blurred through a few signs as she took in a large gulp of air.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."
A huge vacuum of wind struck Tōsen unforgivingly to the ground into a small crater.
Soi Fon appeared with her short sword right above Tōsen as the latter coughed out blood and struck true, frowning deathly so when she saw that she'd only taken both of his hands which he had brought up in panic.
'It changes nothing.' She said nothing and just flipped her blade as she brought it down with a reverse arch.
-!!
A shadow loomed over her and was clearly attacking her midswing, aiming to take her head off just as she took Tōsen's.
'Tch.'
She had to choose between using her last chance to kill Tōsen or retreat to avoid the weird Hollow that suddenly attacked her.
"Even siding with Hollows. Unfortunately it won't save you." She brandished her sword and resolved to quickly rid herself of the Hollow and promptly dispose of Tōsen.
However when she attacked, the Hollow picked up Tōsen and fired off an instant Cero with its free hand, which she expertly dodged only to now find herself being assaulted by a group of Hollows while Tōsen was being taken away.
"Die, you maggots!" The first Hollow turned stiff and disintegrated after two quick stings.
Soi Fon grew even more furious as she killed off the Hollows while simultaneously pursuing after Tōsen only to watch as he progressively got farther.
....
On the other side of Seireitei, a clash of two behemoths was taking place as Kenpachi swung his blade wildly against the surprisingly durable Hollow who kept healing while protecting its head, only to find out it just made Kenpachi happier and wilder.
It fired off a Cero that exploded into a huge wave of destructive Reiatsu at Kenpachi whose smile never again dropped as he cut straight through the Cero and took one of the Hollow's hand and tried taking its head next but it punched the blade with a Cero that pushed both of them back.
Before the stark black Hollow could react, Kenpachi had stomped into its chest and pushed it towards the ground.
It fired off numerous Ceros and instead of dodging them because of the closing distance, Kenpachi simply licked his lips and cleaved through every single Cero that came his way and stabbed his sword straight through the Hollow, pushing his blade even deeper as it held onto it.
"Do you like the blade that much? It's mine but you can have it!!" Kenpachi cackled and stabbed his blade into the ground cleanly through the Hollow.
He pulled back his sword, taking the Hollow's fingers as he did.
The Hollow twitched violently as it tried to heal and started forming a deep dark purple Cero that held such ominous Reiatsu that even Kenpachi could tell.
"Heh." But he just smirked.
SLASH.
He sliced through the Cero and through the Hollow's head, killing it on the spot.
"A pity you don't have a name. I would have liked to remember you." He freely swung his blade to get the bloodstains off it and looked at it. "A name huh?"
He took one last look at the Hollow that was slowly disintegrating and slowly walked away, suddenly not in the mood to fight.
....
[The 4th Division]
Unohana sighed forlornly for the umpteenth time as she looked through the windows at the state of the Seireitei.
"What do you have to say about this?" She asked the only patient that was with her in the room.
Gin turned his neck to gaze out of the window and returned back to staring at the ceiling.
"I had no clue. But given who we're talking about, I don't really find it all that surprising." His voice was a bit croaky but he managed to get his words across.
"Hmm." Unohana only said that while staring outside, painting the chaos far away from the flow of the Reiatsu she could sense.
"I'm sure you've noticed it. Something very weird." Gin said knowingly while Unohana squinted her eyes at his reflection on the windowpane. "The reason why the Hollows are still so brazen."
"The Head Captain has been unusually quiet." Unohana stated blandly with no trace of her usual comeliness in either her face or her words.
"To do something like this, he has to occupy the Head Captain for a few minutes or fully take him away from the battlefield."
"How foolish. You think a little boy like Aizen is a match for the Head Captain?" Unohana questioned rhetorically in a way that said the answer should be glaringly obvious but Gin just laughed.
"Let me ask you this, Captain Unohana; whoever said he had to fight the Head Captain? Why would he fight when he has no reason to?"
She now fully turned to look directly at Gin with the same expressionless mask on her face.
Gin turned to her with an obscure smile on his face. "Instead you should be asking yourself what kind of diversion can stall the old man for this long?"
At that moment, someone arrived in the room they were both in and knelt before Unohana.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Unohana asked, briefly glancing at the masked man and focusing back on Gin.
"I'm simply known as Dog. On preset protocols set by Lieutenant Itachi, we are to report to you when communication cannot be established between us and the Lieutenant, following down to Officer Soi Fon, the Head Captain or Captain Kyōraku."
"The message?"
"Aizen has massacred the entire council of Central 46. He temporarily sealed the Head Captain at the same location with a forbidden Kidō using the lives of the Central 46 members as fuel."
Gin closed his eyes while Unohana's eyes widened in shock.
"The Head Cap–"
An intense heat washed over the entirety of Seireitei and the spiritual pressure that followed it rooted both Shinigami and Hollow alike to the ground.
"Banshō issai kaijin to nase." (Reduce All Creation to Ash)
Words sounded in everyone's ears and the pressure against their souls increased.
"… Ryūjin Jakka."
The sun appeared inside the Seireitei and blinded everyone in dread of its overwhelming heat and searing light–
….
An eclipse dark moon appeared on the other side of the Seireitei. The light and darkness clashed in uniformity and divided the Seireitei into two equal parts.
The sun's blinding light of day and the eternally abysmal darkness of night.