2/2

And as quickly as that flash happened, Shinji's Zanpakutou had changed, the pommel of the blade altering to become a large ring the size of Shinji's head. The rest of the blade was similar to how it was before however the guard had extended up the blade a few inches and, along the rest of the blade, five holes were in the blade at equal distances from one another.

The blade slowly began rotating as the ring spun, however Shinji wasn't even holding it. His hand simply rested in the middle of the ring, the sword rotating around his arm despite the lack of contact.

Cobra stared at the blade. What the hell kind of advantage would a sword like that give? Some extra rotation power? Remote control of the blade? A thing like that would be tricky but not impossible to deal with. In the end, it would rely on the user's thoughts after all.

Still, what that been that image he had seen? Was it something from Shinji's mind? No, it couldn't have been. He had the glimpses in his mind, separate from his own sight. But he had seen the inverted sword with use own eyes.

"Oh? What's this? Do you smell something nice?"

Cobra sniffed at the air, his enhanced senses picking up a very distinctive smell. It was hard to say what it was exactly, but it was definitely there, and it was very pleasant smelling too. And was it a trick he was seeing or was a faint mist appearing around him?

Was this poison of some kind? He could hear Shinji's thoughts, waiting for him to breathe it in. And it would have been too late if he didn't want to anyway. It was in the air itself, and he had already taken a few small gulps of it. Still, poison was no threat to him. It only restored his own strength and Magic. Honestly, what was the man thinking?

"It's not poison."

Cobra's eyes widened, his Magic reading his opponent's thoughts to try and identify what he had breathed in. There wasn't a name for the smell, but a hint of fear had sprouted inside him at the implications of what he could hear.

"Welcome, to the inverted world."

And then the world reversed itself, everything being turned upside down. He glanced around in panic, slowly realising that despite how it looked, he wasn't falling off.

"Interesting isn't it? Sakanade here has the nifty little ability of messing around with my opponent's sense of direction. Up is down, and down is up."

Shinji suddenly rushed forward, his sword slashing at Cobra from his right.

"And left is right while right is left," stated Cobra, the implications making him less worried than before. "That's it? That's your grand Shikai? Such a pathetic illusion? All I need to do is dodge correctly."

Cobra reached out to the left with a clawed hand, intending to grab Shinji's arm as he dodged the blade. However as he was about to make contact, a cut flashed across the scales, a trail of blood flying through the air. Cobra winced, glad he had pulled back at the last second as he had heard the laughter in Shinji's voice.

But how? He had made to block the blade correctly. He just reversed the attack's direction that he saw incoming and attacked the opposite to what he saw. It should have worked. So why? Why had he been harmed from the right side when he had done everything correctly?

"You guessed wrong." Shinji gave Cobra a mocking smile, infuriating the Dragon Slayer. "It's more than directional sense that gets altered. Your eye sight, the direction my attacks come from, where you get injured, nothing is safe from my power."

Shinji charged in again, forcing Cobra to desperately try and block the incoming attacks. He got lucky with some but others managed to chip away at his scales. Only his ability to read the Shinigami's mind was keeping him alive right now, and even that wasn't exactly enough.

"Can you reverse it all in your head? No! No one can. Toushirou couldn't, Ichigo couldn't, and you have no chance either. It's impossible."

To prove his point, Shinji bypassed Cobra's guard completely, slashing at his chest. Cobra felt the pain as he fell backwards, Cubellios pulling him away as quickly as possible. Shinji let them fall back, the same mocking smile on his face as before.

"You train to become stronger. You become stronger to fulfil a certain desire, whether it be to protect people, to enslave them, to kill them, or even just to live. That strength keeps you alive, and it helps you develop the instincts we all use in battle. Those feelings that keep us alive. The ones that make us take advantage of a sudden opening or to block an attack on reflex."

Shinji glanced at his blade, a softer smile on his face as he looked at the blade. "But my Sakanade doesn't like people getting cocky in their own power. She just loves making it hard for people to fight and tries to mess with them as much as possible. She's such a pain sometimes, I swear. And she unleashes a lot of her frustration on people when I release her since I rarely do so."

Shinji glanced back at Cobra, the smile returning to how it was before. "Those instincts you trained so hard with are useless here. She forces them to all fail you, because your body can't help but react to what you see. Because why would the feelings that always kept you alive now be leading you to your death? You mind can never comprehend it as much as it may try."

"I see." Cobra stood back up on Cubellios, looking more confident that before. "So that's how it works. That makes things that much easier. I don't need to waste time having to figure it out with you telling me its secrets. Let's go Cubellios!"

Cubellios charged forward, poison spewing from its mouth. Cobra breathed it all in, taking strength from it and refilling his reserves. He could do this. He didn't need to just use his eyes. It only tricked the sight, but it wouldn't fool his hearing. He could hear exactly which way Shinji would attack from. And that was all he needed to break through.

"Poison Dragon's Fang Thrust!"

A large burst of poison spread forward, shaping itself into a set of fangs. Shinji dodged round to the side, slashing at Cobra as he approached. The attack slide over Cobra's head however as the Mage ducked. "Who cares if the directions are all reversed? Right can't be up or down no matter what you do."

Shinji showed a smirk as he brought the blade spinning back round, using the circle at the end of the hilt to rotate the blade with. Cobra leaned to the side, punching forward with a blast of poison.

It didn't even hit Shinji however as the man was suddenly out of his sight, a ripple of pain stretching across his arm as the blade nicked it as it struck. Again his hearing had saved him. He had sworn that Shinji had been in front of him, but what did he expect exactly. It was like flipping a coin to decide whether an attack would hit or not.

He spun round, his arm swiping in the air as scales of poison flew at Shinji. His eyes watched as Shinji dodged them all, but his mind was already running through a plan as he read the Mage's thoughts on dodging. It seemed that a wide spread attack would be most effective. It didn't matter if he couldn't properly hit Shinji normally so long as he got just a bit of poison to make contact. Just the tiniest bits of contact and it would be his win.

Cubellios spilled out poison, and he used it with his own, pulling a large chunk of his Magic up to the surface for what he wanted to do. Poison swirled around his arms, rapidly spiralling around and around them in multiple loops. He brought his arms above his head as the poison spirals linked towards one another, forming a massive spiralling torrent of poison around his entire body.

"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Corrosive Spiral!"

The poison around Cobra turned even more vicious as he swung his entire body towards where Shinji was, the Magic flying through the air and spreading out all around Cobra, even behind him. Even if he got the direction wrong, he wouldn't miss. Just a single touch was all that was needed.

The poison spread out more as it travelled, spiralling around as the name suggested. Shinji's eyes widened before he regained his composure, rapidly using bursts of Shunpo to avoid the deadly poison.

Cobra was listening however, hearing the man's thoughts. He listened carefully, hearing where Shinji was in relation to his poison. He took control, forcing the spirals of poison to focus more intensely on that area.

But all he ended up hearing was victory for some reason. He turned his head to where Shinji had been, glad he had made sure to attack all around him. He saw the enclosed gate that the poison had formed, and ignored all the warnings he could feel.

There was no way that he had failed. He had broken out that Secret Art for a reason. True to its name, it was far more dangerous than his normal poison. It was also why it was so costly on his reserves. No matter what Shinji tried, it would not work. His poison was far too deadly.

He glanced at his arms. The scales were shattered in half a dozen places, and the remaining ones weren't in any better condition either. He was getting low on Magic too. He only had a bit more Magic left before he would be forced out of Dragon Force.

But as the poison finally separated, Shinji wasn't there. His eyes widened in both shock and fear. That was impossible. He had heard correctly, he knew it. He had made sure to act correctly. So why had he failed?

"Ah! So was that it? Was that your grand finale?"

Cobra snarled, trying to grab the man who had suddenly appeared behind him. He met thin air however before he felt nothing but pain, a blade slashing along his back.

He fell to one knee, glancing back behind him to see Shinji, a cold look in his eyes.

"You have good hearing, to even hear my thoughts. But did you honestly think that would let you win against me?"

Shinji sighed, bringing up his sword and resting it against him. "That plan of yours at the end was smart, but you made mistakes. The first was to assume all you heard was correct. It was a simple matter to hide my thoughts with different ones."

"I still should have heard them," snarled Cobra.

"True, you should have. But there comes the second issue. Maybe you did hear them, and maybe you didn't. But let me ask you, whatever made you assume everything I thought was the correct action?"

Shinji lifted the blade back up, letting it spin around his arm. "Left is right," he muttered as the sword swung that way before it suddenly changed directions. "And now right is right once more. I'm more than capable of switching between the two with a simple thought. And then what you thought you saw was actually right but you were too focused on ignoring it."

The sword stopped spinning and Shinji grabbed onto the hilt of the sword. "I can include myself in her effect too. And I can reverse things as many times as I want, and chose what I want to be reversed."

"You tricked me," Cobra said in shock, trying to force himself upwards. Shinji refused to let him move, kicking him off Cubellios before dodging the snake's attack and throwing it away from him. He sped after Cobra, landing near where the man's body had fallen.

"Why did you not keep thinking when I told you my Zanpakutou's technique? Because that was all you thought it would do. Present an answer to someone and they will rarely look any further. You lost because you gave up searching for another solution and accepted what you were told. And that is why you will die here."

Shinji suddenly shot down with his blade, Cobra closing his eyes as he waited for the inevitable fate ahead of him. He even closed off his hearing, not wanting to hear the attack as it head towards him. But then nothing happened. And still nothing happened a moment after that. The blade should have hit him by now? So why hadn't it?"

His eyes slowly opened, and he wished they hadn't. His hearing snapped to full alert as the body in front of him fell on him. He could have taken death. He could have taken one of his allies falling on him. But he couldn't handle her like this. Never her.

But the body of Cubellios fell on him anyway, a blade slashed along its body. His mind tried to piece together what had happened. Had Cubellios taken the blow for him? Had she tried to save him, and had gotten hurt instead?

He couldn't hold back the tears as he gripped his friend tightly, desperately looking for a sign that it was a lie. She couldn't die. Not her. She was the only one he couldn't lose.

"Cubellios! Damn it Cubellios, speak to me. Cubellios!" He didn't care that Shinji was watching him, the tears falling from his eyes as he tried to get his friend to respond. "Cubellios! Cubellios!

"Erik…"

Cobra felt the stream of tears get worse, Cubellios barely managing to get those words out of its throat. He had never heard her speak. Not once. She had always communicated in hisses or he had used his hearing to understand her. But she had never spoken as she was now. And it had to be her because no one else knew that name. His name.

"My… Erik…"

"I'm here," Cobra muttered, cradling Cubellios as close to him as possible. "I'm here."

"My name… I want to hear you say it…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Cobra. "I'm saying it to you now aren't I?"

"Not that one… Kinana… I want you to call me it…"

Cobra nodded. His voice was weak but he managed to get the words out, plastering a smile on his face for Cubell- No! For Kinana to hear.

"Kinana."

He swore he could see a smile on Kinana's face, the snake falling limp in his arms. "Thank you… Erik…"

"Hey… Please… Don't leave me…" Cobra tried shaking Kinana's body. "Kinana! Please… I'm begging you… You can't die. You can't leave me. Please."

A blade appeared at his throat but it brought him no more fear. "My prayer," he muttered to himself sadly, his grip weakening on Kinana's body. "I just wanted to hear the voice of my one friend. I always wanted to hear you speak to me. So why did you have to do it as you died?" He looked up at Shinji, showing a look of pure despair. "Kill me."

Shinji actually froze. He wanted to kill this man so much for harming Ichigo, but that look was halting his blade. He tried to continue moving but he couldn't. And in the end, he didn't try. He just took his blade and let it revert back to its normal form, turning around and walking away.

"HEY! COME BACK HERE!"

Shinji glanced over his shoulder, shaking his head. "I've got no quarrel with killing you, but I won't kill someone who's lost off hope and reason for living. You won't even fight back, and I'm not going to be your method of suicide."

"Then I'll make you!" Cobra lunged at Shinji, the last of his Magic gathered around his fist. This was the real thing he was seeing. The ability Shinji had been using was no longer active. He wouldn't be taken by a trick.

Shinji dodged each wild strike that came at him, a mix of pity and annoyance shown on his face. Cobra didn't care what the man thought of him however. All that mattered was that he could be with his friend. He had sworn to her once. That they would always be together. And of course she had looked at him in that way that asked him what if they were separated.

Well his answer had been extremely simple. He'd always find his way back to her. They had been together since the Tower of Heaven, and he wouldn't ever accept being separated from her. Running through fire, riding a shooting star, even death would not keep him from her.

Shinji suddenly shot past him, slamming the pommel of his sword against Cobra's skull. The Dragon Slayer fell forward, the hit knocking him to the ground. Somehow they had ended up back at Kinana's body, and he was lying by her once more. His hand reached out to her, resting on her skin.

He forced himself back up. He could see it in Shinji's eyes now. The man could see that he wouldn't give up. He was going to fight him seriously again. Cobra brought up his fists, even though he could no longer summon any more Magic.

And as he took a step forward, a clawed arm shot straight through his chest, grabbing his heart and crushing it to pieces.

Protector Of The Fairies

Brain dodged the blast of flames and retaliated with his own attack, dark energy spiralling around Natsu before closing in from all sides. Natsu didn't even flinch, the flames around him blasting outwards and incinerating the opposing Magic. His wings took him high up into the sky at which point he could generate powerful flames in each hand.

"With a flame on the right hand and a flame on the left, when you combine them together, Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

He released the blast downwards, aiming straight at Brain. Brian raised a hand, a shield of Magic forming around him as the attack made contact with him. The flames had grown so intense that the unfortunate trees to get caught in the blast simply vanished, burnt till there was nothing left. Even the ground was breaking from the intense power the attack had.

Brain however was unharmed, his shield cracked but not broken. Brain quickly responded with a Dark Capriccio blast as Natsu flew down at him. Natsu pulled his wings around his body, rolling to the side at the last second so that the blast shot straight past him. He felt it almost touch his skin, a small wince being hidden as best as he could from the accidental contact. The moment he was past it, his wings shot back out, pulling him up out of his dive just as the Magic blast that he had dodged shot back where he had been. Flames intensified around his leg and it shot down at the blast like he had done with his flame arm constructs. The flames smashed against the homing attack and destroyed it, the flame leg still going till it hit the ground.

Natsu quickly brought the rest of his body down to the ground, using the grip on the ground to pull him down faster. Another blast of Brain's shot over his head but he swung his arm at where it was and released another burst of flames at the attack before it could try and continue its assault.

The moment he reached the ground, a burst of flames expelled from Natsu's feet, sending him rocketing at Brain. Brain brought up an arm, a quick shield appearing around it. Natsu's fist collided with it and the shield began to crack. Before it could, Brain struck out with his free hand, forcing Natsu to block it with his own. Both Mages pushed against the defences of one another, observing the movements they made and trying to work out how much effort to exert to break through.

Brain was, unfortunately for Natsu, the smarter of the two by far. The energy around his fist glowed brighter and gained a more sinister appearance than before. Faces seemed to float up from the ground to the energy, each showing looks of pure and unadulterated horror.

Natsu realised the threat and tried to pull back, but doing so weakened his assault on Brain's shield, allowing him the opportunity he needed. Brain's fist pushed through as Natsu tried to retreat, the energy blasting straight at Natsu who only had time to show a burst of fear before the attack connected. "Dark Rondo!"

Natsu sped out of the blast a moment later, his wings helping to clear as much of the blast as possible. It had ripped straight through everything around it. Even the ground was deeper now, a perfectly semi-spherical hole in the ground where the attack had been. He landed, thought it was more of a crash, and his wings vanished from the Fire Drive.

He swore silently. That attack had hit him like the flames hadn't even been there. Or maybe it would be more correct to say that it had simply absorbed the flames in part of the blast. It had simply devoured everything in its path. He glanced at his right arm, the flames missing from the cloak. And he couldn't repair it now. The wings had vanished for a reason after all.

He was reaching his limit. He couldn't keep this up for very much longer. Already most of the flames had abandoned him, and he could see the rest of it was struggling to stay in existence. He had hoped he could have won before this happened. Before his time with the Magic ran out. And now he was almost dry, not even enough to use a Secret Art at low strength.

He glanced up at Nirvana in the distance, hidden behind the barrier. He had heard the howl before, even from where he and Brain had been. Brain had only smiled when he heard it, exclaiming it was his victory today.

And of course that had made him mad, especially when Brain had gone on to state how the monster making that noise was Ichigo. And he wished he hadn't been told that. His flames had gone out of control as he had tried to beat Brain into the ground. Sure they had been more intense and powerful but he had drained at least half his reserves in about a minute.

Was Ichiya okay? He knew now that, no matter what he did, he couldn't beat Brain alone. He could try, and right now he was still holding on to hope that he could win, but he needed an extra helping hand. And had Ichiya even beat all the Mages back there? There had been a lot of them after all.

Happy had to be somewhere watching, looking for the moment where he would be needed. That would likely be at the point where he would be collapsed on the ground and Happy would desperately try and get him to safety, if Brain even let him that is.

Brain saddened froze, Natsu spotting how the man raised a hand slowly to his face and frowning. Even from the distance he was at, Natsu could see a mark vanishing from Brain's face.

"It seemed Cobra fell. I wonder what killed him. It's no matter. He had his uses but I have Nirvana now. I can always find new soldiers."

Natsu scowled. They were the man's comrades, and yet he dismissed their worth as easily as that? It was disgusting.

Still, there was good news. That meant one more member of Oración Seis had fallen, and they were that bit closer to winning.

"So I'm the last it seems?"

Natsu frowned as Brain suddenly started laughing. Brain stated he was the last one, so that meant he was the only enemy left. Yet why was that so funny to Brain? Why was he smiling when all his allies were beaten?

Brain tilted his head towards Nirvana, his smile growing wider as he took it in. "Nirvana is mine, and my lovely little pet is running wild. Still, he's far stronger than I even anticipated. It seems that I won't be able to control him until I've got the leash on."

A flash of light appeared around Brain's right hand which revealed a small dagger as it vanished. "I didn't plan to do this originally but I suppose I should thank you all. My original plan had involved all of the other Generals being undefeated in battle. It hasn't affected my crucial goals, but it has now opened the door to victory."

"What the hell are you saying," demanded Natsu. "Are you saying that you don't care that your allies were beaten?"

"Not at all. If they had still been standing, it would have made things difficult now. Ichigo is far more of a monster than I believed. So I have only one choice left."

In one swift moment, Brain raised the dagger and stabbed it down into his chest, holding back the urge to cry out from the pain. Natsu's eyes grew wide as he watched, unable to understand what the man was doing.

"HEY! ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE OR SOMETHING?"

Brain chuckled. "Not at all. I have a prayer, just like all of the other Generals. For me, it was for at least one of Oración Seis to keep standing, no matter what happened. So long as they did, the Six Prayers would hold."

The last mark on Brain's face slowly started vanishing, Brain's hand coming to his head and holding it tightly, as if in pain.

"Only a monster can control a monster. I can't be Brain right now. Knowledge isn't necessary. I have to be someone who can win against him. What I need is power. I have to abandon myself and become another."

The very air seemed heavy to Natsu as he watched Brain slowly changing. Brain's hair became wavier while his eyes changed to a blood red colour. The skin became far paler too, and even the grin on the man's face seemed more menacing than before.

"When the six pillars which hold me up have fallen, all that is left is destruction."

And then Brain was gone, and Zero was reborn.

Protector Of The Fairies

So… Did it live up to expectations? I hope it did. It was a really fun to write, but also tricky at times. Shinji's ability can be hard to visualise at times. And we've seen what he can do when he doesn't get an enemy who is Aizen (basically a god) and a Quincy with massive area effect blasts. And in the end, he decided to not even kill Cobra. He can easily cut down an enemy if required, but Cobra was already beaten and shattered. And he won't be someone's method of suicide like he said, unless that person makes himself a threat once more. You also see here why I believe he always explains his ability. To give himself a bigger advantage.

Brain has also now become Zero, Cobra still died but in a way I doubt any of you saw, and even Cubellios died. I think her death was actually one of the hardest, and I like Cobra so his was hard too. I hope her death felt sad enough and Cobra acted as he would have there. But with him dead, that means a few things in the future. How will Doranbolt learn of Face? Or Tartaros? And what will happen during the Grand Magic Games too?

Now for that mystery guy, if you don't know who he is then I'm extremely disappointed. I'd point it out to you if you don't know who it is, but make sure you pay attention to his description. It will make sense easily. And of course he would have been involved in all of this. Why wouldn't he? And soon, you'll see the fight that will end up finishing the arc. Ichigo vs Jura. It's why I've kept Jura from fighting anyone here to this point. He was to be part of the finale!

I'm rambling on now so quickly, you guys like the manga? Bleach was good, and I want to see what happens next with that Shikai. Fairy Tail… Well it was okay and good backstory but I could swear Erza came after Mira and Mira was her usual old self then, not the depressed version. And the second thing, I wanted that Demon to be going for a lot longer. Still, I look forward to each week like always. I want to see the next thing to happen.

Anyway, till the next time. I've been Takei. Thanks for reading.