Herald of Death

"What the heck? How did we end up outside...?" asked Karin, staring wide-eyed at the blue, cloud-filled sky overhead.

"This isn't outside," replied Ohta. "It's the interior dome of Las Noches..."

Though he was just as surprised as Karin, Rukia, and Orihime, Ohta was a lot calmer than the trio as he scanned the vast stretch of desert in front of him, dotted with slanted red pillars more than a kilometer tall and slightly shorter white towers that were predominately cylindrical but sloped near the base. Ohta didn't know their exact height, but he approximated them to be at least 700m tall and well over a kilometer in diameter. Since there were windows interspaced throughout the structure, particularly near the top, he presumed them to be residences of some kind.

"How is building something like this even possible...?" asked Karin, unable to imagine what kind of technology would be required to construct such a colossal dome.

"Who knows?" asked Ohta, producing a platform of psychic energy before stepping onto it, compelling everyone else to do the same. The place they had exited from had them standing on a landing that appeared to encircle the entirety of Las Noches' interior outer wall, placing them at least 300m from the desert sands below.

Before Ohta could pick which direction to fly in, Rukia said, "If the Cuatro Espada is on the opposite side of Las Noches, that's where Ichigo, Renji, Chad, and Uryu are. We should leave him to them and focus on searching the palace of another Espada."

"Any preferences...?" asked Ohta, curious to hear what Rukia had to say. The only Espada he had a 'vendetta' against was Starrk, but it probably wasn't the smartest idea to charge into Aizen's palace to attack him. Not because he feared either of the two but because their battle would likely cause the dome of Las Noches to collapse...

Sporting a serious look, Rukia replied, "If we think about what's meant to happen after our return, we should try to eliminate as many powerful foes as possible. The Secunda Espada, Barragan, shares the name of Hueco Mundo's King. Assuming they're the same entity, defeating him before he can invade the human world could save many lives..."

"Someone's trying to redeem themselves..." teased Ohta, placing his hand on Rukia's head as he added, "I would 'love' to kill the so-called God-King of Hueco Mundo..."

As Barragan had purportedly been around since the formation of Hueco Mundo more than a million years ago, his existence and powers were well documented. Yourichi had warned Ohta to be wary but never told him not to fight the incredibly ancient entity. As far as he was concerned, that was the same as encouraging him to do so...

Shifting his attention to a massive, pure white palace complex visible on the horizon, meaning it was between 20-30km away, Ohta concluded that the interior of Las Noches was even bigger than the outside. However, as that was a common theme among the study chambers created by Kisuke, that wasn't particularly surprising. Spatial compression, as futuristic as it sounded, was regarded as a very old technology within the Soul Society, nearly dating back to its creation.

"If that bull mask was telling the truth, I assume that big ass palace over there is Barragan's," remarked Ohta.

"That would make sense..." replied Rukia, feeling a little embarrassed as Karin and Orihime stared at her with 'longing' as Ohta continued to caress her head. Fortunately, Ohta soon retracted his hand, rising into the air as he said, "I want to try something..."

Before the trio could question him, Ohta formed a rectangular prism-shaped barrier around Rukia, Orihime, and Karin as he slapped his palms together, shouting, "Bankai! Kuroinu-no-Anpu, Souten-no-Seigyo...!"

Brandishing his bandage-wrapped Bankai, Ohta gripped it with both hands before drawing a wide arc with the end resembling a khopesh. As he did so, a large crimson blade of energy was unleashed from the edge, its size exceeding fifty meters and its velocity exceeding Mach 3. This wasn't particularly fast considering the base speed of a flawless Shunpo was close to Mach 20, but that would change quickly as, each time Ohta received the rebounding crescent of energy, its speed, range, and overall destructive power effectively doubled.

Though the initial energy crescent only extended 300m, the second and third reached 600 and 1200m. Every subsequent crescent flew twice the distance in the same amount of time, so unless Ohta was interrupted, he simply needed to establish and maintain the same rhythm to receive and unleash each succeeding energy crescent.

By the time Ohta reached the eighth iteration of the energy crescent, its size had only grown to around 300m, but its speed had exceeded Mach 384. The energy within also caused space to warp as it traveled, ripping up sand from the ground and causing a violent sandstorm as it inevitably impacted Barragan's palace, producing a tremendous explosion that left the entire structure obscured by a cloud of sand and dust.

"..." x3 (Rukia, Orihime, Karin)

As his blade failed to return to him, Ohta clicked his tongue and mused, "Damn, I should have aimed up and gone for a ninth resonance. Well, you live, you learn..."

Brandishing his spear a second time, Ohta was planning to start the cycle anew when a magenta-colored beam of destructive light tore through the devastation he had wrought, impacting his psychic barrier. However, while the power within the presumed Cero was tremendous, it ultimately curved away from him, visibly veering as he unleashed the first crescent.

"You ant...!" screamed a deep, raspy voice that seemed to echo from every direction as what could best be described as a Lich tore through the sandstorm with a large, double-sided black ax in his hand. His body was garbed in billowing purple robes with a collar of abyssal black flames, but his most notable features were his skeletal visage, the golden, jewel-encrusted crown denoting his status as a King, the conspicuous, eye-shaped pendant around his neck, the bracelets around his wrists, and the many jeweled rings adorning his bony fingers.

With every instinct he possessed telling him to dodge, Ohta practically teleported out of the way as the monster he presumed to be Barragan cut through every layer of his psychic barrier as if it didn't exist, his oversized black ax leaving behind an eerie black trail that instantaneously decayed anything it touched, even the Reishi in the air.

"You dare launch a sneak attack on my palace...!?" shouted the lich-like entity, exuding a purplish-black aura from his body that reminded Ohta of his Kusho but more gaseous.

Spreading his arms wide, Ohta sported a toothy grin as he replied, "I dare, bitch...!" before cackling as Barragan surged toward him at a comparable but slightly inferior speed.

After realizing he might have jumped the gun a bit, Ohta intended to draw Barragan as far away from Rukia and the rest as he could. Fortunately, the barrier he created prevented their Reiatsu from leaking out, so the furious God-King hadn't detected them.

To preserve Barragan's focus on him, Ohta unleashed an energy crescent toward the enraged lich, shouting, "Eat shit...!" as he did so. He wasn't too surprised when Barragan didn't even attempt to dodge, barreling through the crimson energy crescent and causing it to scatter into motes of pitch-black energy. However, every hair on his body stood erect when the lich-like Arrancar opened his mouth, condensing a twisting mass of magenta-colored energy that abruptly became pitch-black as he fired it.

Dodging the near-instantaneous attack, Ohta's pupils contracted as he saw the black beam sweep through and impact the sands below. Instead of exploding, the eerie black beam caused the pure white sands to ignite, black flames spreading hundreds of meters per second until a section of desert more than twenty kilometers in diameter had become an abyss of death. In the process, every slanted red pillar and cylindrical tower in the vicinity was destroyed, swallowed up, and seemingly disintegrated by the abyssal black flames...

"Now you've done it..." said Barragan, turning toward Ohta and adding, "You will pay for this slight..." as if he were the one that had just destroyed a large section of the self-titled God-King's domain.

"Yeah, no..." replied Ohta, allowing his spear to float behind him as he brought his hands together, surprising Barragan by closing his eyes as he said, "I am immovable..."

In response to Ohta's words, his Kusho state was immediately activated. However, instead of forming a 3m sphere around his body, it was closer to ten as he added, "All things revolve around me..."

"Hmmm...?"

Though he had heard the reports of Ohta's power, Barragan's skeletal visage appeared particularly grim as he watched his Senescence Flames be drawn toward and seemingly devoured by the energy surrounding the former's body. Said flames could age whatever they touched, even Reishi, at extreme speeds. Even timeless beings like Hollows, which had no fixed lifespan, would be reduced to dust within seconds by his unique Aspect of Death, the power that had allowed him to reign as God-King of Hueco Mundo for more than a million years.

"You truly are a monster..." remarked Barragan, raising his ax overhead as he added, "However, I know the weakness of that technique! You cannot see or sense anything beyond the field that surrounds your body! Now, all I need to do is wait for you to run out of energy before your life is mine to collect...!"

As if in response to Barragan's words, Ohta slowly opened his eyes, the inverted crimson triangles that had replaced his pupils exuding an intense glow as he said, "Nothing escapes my pull..."

Opening his palms, Ohta revealed the usual sphere of black energy, but this time there was no discernible effect on his surroundings. Instead, the only thing drawn toward him was Barragan, startling the lich-like entity as he was abruptly pulled off balance and nearly drawn into the destructive sphere around Ohta's body instantly. He managed to recover and create a significant distance between them using several consecutive Sonido, but no matter how far he moved, he felt the pull on his body growing stronger.

"What...what is this...!?" groaned Barragan, the strain eventually causing his bones to creak as the robes on his body were gradually torn from his skeleton, revealing a fleshless rib cage, within which sat an abyssal black sphere.

"You dare...!?" screamed Barragan, attempting to use Sonido but failing to move more than a few meters. In response, he tried to condense another magenta-colored Cero within his skeletal maw, but the energy dispersed faster than he could gather it. Ohta had locked on to his specific Reiryoku, not his physical body, so Barragan felt like the marrow was being drained from his bones as he was invariably drawn closer to the destructive black sphere.

"I...WILL...NEVER...DIE!!!" screamed Barragan, charging 'toward' Ohta at the last moment, brandishing his ax with meteoric force to cut through the black sphere and execute the 'upstart' within. His ax was a condensation of his power, so it managed to hold up for several seconds as black, red-tinged lightning emanated from the impact, creating several prominent cracks within the destructive sphere. Unfortunately, while his ax was able to achieve a temporary stalemate with the sphere, he was unable to resist its immense gravitational pull, ultimately resulting in him clinging to his ax as his body was dragged feet first toward oblivion.

"I...I yield...!!!" screamed Barragan, fear overtaking him as his fingers slid along the embedded ax's handle. However, as Ohta was still senseless, the King's cries fell on deaf ears. Thus, after more than a million years of existence, Barragan, the self-titled Lord of Death, God-King of Hueco Mundo, ceased to be, leaving behind a crown and several pieces of gold jewelry, and a double-sided ax that ultimately rebounded away from the sphere and even survived the sea of Senescence Flames burning below...

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(A/N: O_O...)