Post by Toboe on May 12, 2010 3:21:14 GMT -5
The silence was eerie and unnerving beyond reason. He knew that the Arrancar was out there someone, hiding amongst the fog that was sliding across the river. It was almost poetic in the way it hit the river bank and curled up on itself before rolling across the damp sand and marsh grass. “Huh!? What was that!?” The young shinigami asked himself as he saw motion off in the distance. A bird? Unusually massive insect? The possibilities seemed endless in his state of mind. It was only hours ago that he was sent here, to Karakura, to investigate strange disappearances.
“Shihei-kun, I would like for you to travel to Karakura to investigate some odd disappearances.”
“Disappearances Taichou? Why me?”
“Never send an Eagle in to do a hawk’s work.”
“Wh..what?”
“We have no reason to believe that there is any danger. It may be out of the norm for our division to do such work, but it has passed onto us, so you are who I am sending. The Captain Commander doesn’t want to send anyone higher than a fourth seat because he believes it’d be a waste.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Hehe, don’t look so gloomy about it! I am sure you will do just fine! Trust me.”
“Okay! I will do it!”
“That’s the Shihei we all know!...”
Shihei shook his head, pushing the memory of the conversation to the back of his mind. “His enthusiasm is so contagious…” Crunch… crunch… crunch. The dry marsh grass crinkled and crunched under the weight of his steps as he slowly made his way down the river bank.
“Tisk, tisk, you’re not very good at being sneaky, shinigami-kun!”
Shihei froze in his tracks, his head quickly snapping towards the left. It took only milliseconds for his sharp eyes to adjust enough to see a looming figure through the fog.
“I can’t say that I was trying very hard… Arrancar…”
“Oh ho oh! How observant we are! You could tell what I was just by my reiatsu, I’m impressed.”
“Tch, trust me, you’re stench is more overwhelming.” The Arrancar however was spot on. Shihei, along with any other well trained shinigami, was able to tell the difference. Not taking any chances his hand quickly grasped the hilt of his zanpakuto.
“Why you snotty little rat!” The Arrancar snared as he slowly, but surely made his way towards Shihei. “Does your kind take all compliments with such gratitude?”
“We like our fair share of compliments; we just don’t like it when our nostrils are invaded by such a smell.” Shihei wasn’t saying these things just to be cruel. First and foremost, he wanted to see how easily the Arrancar was provoked, and so far it seemed to be a child’s-play.
Suddenly Shihei heard a static pop and before he knew it, he was face to face with a very annoyed looking Arrancar. He had bright red, spiky, hair and out of place blue eyes. His complexion was hard to make out in the dim light, but he appeared to be tanned. Jumping back, Shihei quickly put some distance between himself and the foe.
“Do you have a name?”
“Of course I have a name, Shinigami! Diran. What’s yours?”
“Higashiyama Shihei. Though you shall not have to remember it long for I will be striking you down here.”
“Oh~? Is that so, Shinigami-kun? Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t you? Too confidant for your own good.”
“Confidence has nothing to do with it. Intellect, patience, observation. These are things we shinigami are all taught at an early age. They’re traits you seem to lack. Even I can already see that.” Shihei tilted his head to the side slightly, closing his eyes and smirking. “You could very well be more powerful than me, but power is nothing without something to control it.” The shinigami tapped the side of his head, obviously referring to the brain.
“I… don’t get it. Are you trying to confuse me!? Because it won’t work!”
Diran’s comment resulted in Shihei’s eye twitching as he rubbed his temple. “My point… exactly…”
“Enough! I am sick of talking!” The Arrancar quickly pulled his zanpakuto out of its sheath, holding it out lengthwise before him, the tip of the blade pointed towards the opposing shinigami. Right away, Shihei realized that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he had thought.
“That… reiatsu…! The… pressure… is …incredible…” His face obviously showed his shock because Diran quickly picked up on it.
“Not so confidant anymore, are you, Shinigami-kun!? Heee, just like everyone else, you’re no different. Always underestimating your opponent.”
“You sure do talk a lot for someone wanting to fight!” Shihei yelled as he quickly unsheathed his zanpakuto, and flipping it around to hold it reverse, the blade pointing out behind him. “Come… Arrancar!”
In an instant, the shinigami reached the arrancar, their blades slamming into one another with great force. They pushed towards one another, the edges of the blades scraping and sliding, grinding down their lengths before the two entities pushed away, Shihei skidding to a stop as Diran landed firmly in the sand.
“He’s strong. His physical strength is ridiculous. “ Before Shihei had time to formulate a plan, Diran was already rushing towards him, his zanpakuto dragging across the ground until the blade was thrust upwards towards the chin of the shinigami. Shihei had jumped just in time, the tip of the opposing blade just nicking his chin.
The shinigami hissed as he rubbed his now bleeding chin. “Sisssss…. Ouch…” A shimmer, that was all it took to make him throw his blade up before him, blocking a downward slash by Diran. The arrancar really was not giving Shihei any leeway, not that he expected any. His aggressiveness was extremely unnerving. Shihei had never confronted anyone who was so ready to attack.
CLING! CLANG! CLINK! The zanpakuto slammed into one another as the two foes exchanged blows; Shihei knowing that this was not in any way a very good strategy. Diran would be able to easily out match him blow to blow.
Then he heard a scream that pierced his ears with such intensity that he had never heard in his life. “What….. is this…?” He could feel something warm running down around his waist. He reached down and grabbed onto the blade that was stuck through his kidney.
“You scream pretty loud…” Diran chimed with an extremely amused air to his voice.
Shihei took three steps back as the blade slid out of his body with a nauseating squelch. The shinigami let his head hang low as he grabbed onto his zanpakuto with both hands, panting as he looked up through his bangs towards Diran. “S…SOAR KUROTADORI!”
His voice echoed out loud as he released his shikai. The blade of his zanpakuto shattered into thousands of tiny fragments of its former self, and then spun up in a vortex that enveloped Shihei. Diran could only shield his eyes from the kicked up sand as the shinigami disappeared out of sight. Soon the dust settled, and Diran could see the result of the shinigami’s shikai.
“Releasing your shikai? I’ve barely done anything. What’s wrong, Shinigami-kun? Can’t keep up? It’s just a flesh wound after all.”
“What the hell am I doing!? I’m only a fourth seat, he’s an Arrancar… this fight was lost before it started!” Even though he came to that realization, the shinigami still didn’t back down. With his shikai activated he had more of a chance than before. With one quick blow on the newly formed wooden pipe whistle, dozens of tiny falcons were ordered to drive themselves into Diran.
“What the hell!?” TWACK! TWACK! TWACK! One after another, sometimes in multiples, they just kept coming. “God… dammit…. Stop… This is… fuckin… annoying…” Diran swiped at the birds with little to no avail. The barrage seemed to be never ending and could go on forever. “Enough of this!” There was another static-pop and Shihei once again found himself face to face with Diran, this time without a physical weapon in hand. Fweeeeet! Shihei blew on the whistle three times in quick succession. All at once the falcons dive bombed Diran, but all they seemed to do was anger him more.
The angered hollow grabbed onto the shinigami’s face, picking him up by it, and threw him threw a nearby building. Diran stood there and watched as the structure collapsed around Shihei; having a good feeling that the shinigami was done for.
“Why are you smiling….? Close your mouth; I can smell your breath!” Standing up from the rubble strewn around him, a battered and bloody Shihei appeared. “Bankai… “
“Bankai? You?” Diran began to laugh as it seemed like nothing happened. “You’re quite ambitious, aren’t you, you little shit?”
“Never… underestimate a shinigami…” In an instant, all around Diran, long spear like objects drove themselves into the ground around him. Before Diran could react, each and every spear exploded, sending out the shards that created them in all directions. Vzzzzzzzt! Vzzzzzzzt! Shihei could hear the shrapnel zip past his ear and into objects all around him.
“You son of a bitch! That hurt!” Diran was still standing, little puncture wounds dotting his body.
“What!?” The shinigami quickly took a step back, his shock very apparent on his face. It was hard to believe that Diran was still standing after such an attack. “What the hell are you?!” Another whistle filled the air as more of the spears drove themselves downwards and exploding on impact. One after another, Shihei was almost frantically attacking.
Silence soon returned to the area, the smoke slowly clearing to reveal the true damage of his relentless attacking. As his blade reformed in his hand, he was soon faced with the realization that his bankai had done very little. Diran wasn’t even standing where the spears had detonated. His eyes widened as he heard a subtle crunch behind him. He quickly spun around to face the hollow who had managed to sonido behind him. “Too slow…” Shiiing! Squelch! There was little he could do to stop the blade from impaling itself into his flesh. Diran twisted the zanpakuto before pulling it out in one fluid motion, letting Shihei fall to his knees.
“You’re so damn pathetic and stupid. Believing that you could defeat me!” Diran raised his zanpakuto and swung down to do the finishing blow, expecting a satisfying beheading before heading home. That was until his blade met resistance. “What!?”
“Shinigami…. Do not give up so easily…” Shihei had raised his blade to block the oncoming attack. Diran just chucked as he took a step back. “A cero should finish you.”
“Don’t worry Shinigami, I will save your ass.” Said an unfamiliar voice out from the fog.
“Hm? That… voice…” Diran lowered his zanpakuto and turned to face the statement’s source. It was a sight he had not seen in years. A fairly short Arrancar stood before him, his zanpakuto already drawn.
“Just for the record Shinigami, this doofus is a Vasto Lorde. You were close by callin him an Arrancar, but not quite.”
“Llevon, I haven’t seen your ugly mug for… how long has it, two hundred years?” Diran swung his zanpakuto up and rested the blade side down on his shoulder.
“Two hundred and sixty-seven to be exact, my dear brother.” Llevon’s speech was littered with sarcasm. His eyes shifted from Diran to Shihei, whom was now kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily. “I tried to protect your useless ass, but even the most idiotic would be able to find a stationary object in all this fog.”
“You did this?” Both Diran and Shihei chimed at the same time. The fog was suspiciously dense in that particular area, though neither one seemed to notice until then.
“Tch, both of your heads are full of rocks… No wonder neither one of you could fight properly.” A cocky smirk formed on Llevon’s face as he pointed his zanpakuto towards Diran. “Come, big brother, let’s play. I am sure it will bring back plenty of memories!”
All of a sudden Shihei found himself under an immense pressure. “The… entire time… he was suppressing his reiatsu.“ The thirteenth division member had never felt such a thing in all his years.
“The arrancar. They’re the epitome of the hollow species. Long before Sosuke Aizen had taken his self proclaimed position on the top of the totem pole and started to spew out… “Artificial Arrancar”, real Arrancar had been slowly evolving their way to the top.” At least, this is how Shihei looked at things. Now if the Arrancar standing before him was an “artificial” or “real” could be anyone’s guess. For the time being, that didn’t matter.
The two hollow’s zanpakuto clashed as the fog in the backdrop started to lift, increasing the visibility greatly in the area. Diran didn’t think too much of this. All he cared about was what he could see before him. Llevon however needed the fog to clear; speed isn’t much use when one can’t see where they’re going.
“Heh, you’re weaker than I remember. The shinigami must have done something to wear you down this much.” The comment was like a knife stabbing into the little self control Diran had. He hated nothing more than shinigami; so for someone to say that he was weakened by one was quite the insult.
“You son of a bitch! That shinigami did nothing to weaken me!” Diran sneered loudly as he took a step towards the other.
Llevon waved his hand in front of his nose as he subtly shook his head side to side. “Dude, your breath…”
“ARGH! Llevon! You wise ass bastard!” Diran screamed in anger as he slashed towards Llevon with little more than anger and strength, making the attack fairly easy for the nimble arrancar to dodge.
“Don’t you know how to use that thing?” Llevon asked as he skidded to a halt.
“Shut up! Just shut up!” Screamed Diran, getting rapidly agitated. “Sakende Endriago!”
In an instant, Llevon disappeared with a static-pop, appeared in front of Shihei with his arms out-stretched. “I will absorb as much of this as I can…” And before Shihei had time to ask Llevon what he was referring to, there was a loud and sudden blast of heat that encircled the area. Llevon’s body lurched back from the shock-wave’s force of heat and fire. To Shihei’s surprise, the fire was disappearing as it reached them, Llevon’s body was literally absorbing the reiatsu. “Don’t look so surprised… it’s a little perk I have...” Before Llevon could say more, he was sudden and very violently slammed into by Diran, sending him tumbling back across the river bank.
“Still think you’re oh so powerful!? Huh!? Llevon!?!” The enraged Diran grabbed and picked up Shihei by his neck, squeezing the life out of the injured shinigami.
“This fight is between you and I asshole, put down the whelp and face me!” Screamed the small arrancar as he stood up; shaking the sand out of his hair once he was back on his feet.
“Oh…? Fine.” Diran nonchalantly tossed the shinigami off to the side, his body rolling across the grass until it came to a rest against a small bush.
“I really do not have time to deal your childish games, Diran.” Llevon glanced for a brief second towards Shihei who laid in a hunched over mass just a short distance away. He had to get the shinigami medical attention immediately. “I believe you’ve never seen my resureccion … Kirifusete, Fuerza Negra.” Before Diran could respond to what was happening before his eyes, Llevon disappeared in a flash.
“ARRRRRAAGH!” Diran soon found himself being attacked at all sides, or at least that is how it appeared. Llevon’s speed and agility was at such a level above Diran’s that the Vasto Lorde’s eyes and mind couldn’t keep up with what was happening. A relentless barrage of fiery slashes and jabs came and came. Llevon knew very well that he couldn’t stop, he could not let Diran regenerate .
Then, as If Diran was actually knowing what he was doing, reached out and managed to grab onto Llevon’s arm and slam him into the ground. The earth shook as the Arrancar’s body impacted the soil, sending up a cloud of dust all around them.
“Hahaha! And you say that you can defeat me!? And people call me stupid!” There was a gruesome crunch as Diran stomped down on Llevon’s arm, breaking it in two as if it was a twig.
“You forgot about one thing….” The other said through gritted teeth. “The whelp…”
“Wha…?” Diran turned just as a blade was stuck through him. Looking down towards the black weapon he saw two bloody and battered arms. “You!! How….?”
“I told you… never underestimate a shinigami.” Shihei pulled Kurotadori out of Diran and stumbled back several steps, panting heavily as he raised a hand up, palm facing towards his opponent. “Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws… Soukatsui!” In almost an instant, the hollow was blasted with a large blue blast of energy, sending him back towards the river.
Taking this as his cue to go, Llevon jumped up and put his good arm around the shinigami. Shihei could see Diran slowly sinking into the river off in the distance, though obviously not dead. While Holding onto him tightly, Llevon hastily opened up a Garganta and rushed through, taking Shihei to safety.
“Shihei-kun, I would like for you to travel to Karakura to investigate some odd disappearances.”
“Disappearances Taichou? Why me?”
“Never send an Eagle in to do a hawk’s work.”
“Wh..what?”
“We have no reason to believe that there is any danger. It may be out of the norm for our division to do such work, but it has passed onto us, so you are who I am sending. The Captain Commander doesn’t want to send anyone higher than a fourth seat because he believes it’d be a waste.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Hehe, don’t look so gloomy about it! I am sure you will do just fine! Trust me.”
“Okay! I will do it!”
“That’s the Shihei we all know!...”
Shihei shook his head, pushing the memory of the conversation to the back of his mind. “His enthusiasm is so contagious…” Crunch… crunch… crunch. The dry marsh grass crinkled and crunched under the weight of his steps as he slowly made his way down the river bank.
“Tisk, tisk, you’re not very good at being sneaky, shinigami-kun!”
Shihei froze in his tracks, his head quickly snapping towards the left. It took only milliseconds for his sharp eyes to adjust enough to see a looming figure through the fog.
“I can’t say that I was trying very hard… Arrancar…”
“Oh ho oh! How observant we are! You could tell what I was just by my reiatsu, I’m impressed.”
“Tch, trust me, you’re stench is more overwhelming.” The Arrancar however was spot on. Shihei, along with any other well trained shinigami, was able to tell the difference. Not taking any chances his hand quickly grasped the hilt of his zanpakuto.
“Why you snotty little rat!” The Arrancar snared as he slowly, but surely made his way towards Shihei. “Does your kind take all compliments with such gratitude?”
“We like our fair share of compliments; we just don’t like it when our nostrils are invaded by such a smell.” Shihei wasn’t saying these things just to be cruel. First and foremost, he wanted to see how easily the Arrancar was provoked, and so far it seemed to be a child’s-play.
Suddenly Shihei heard a static pop and before he knew it, he was face to face with a very annoyed looking Arrancar. He had bright red, spiky, hair and out of place blue eyes. His complexion was hard to make out in the dim light, but he appeared to be tanned. Jumping back, Shihei quickly put some distance between himself and the foe.
“Do you have a name?”
“Of course I have a name, Shinigami! Diran. What’s yours?”
“Higashiyama Shihei. Though you shall not have to remember it long for I will be striking you down here.”
“Oh~? Is that so, Shinigami-kun? Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t you? Too confidant for your own good.”
“Confidence has nothing to do with it. Intellect, patience, observation. These are things we shinigami are all taught at an early age. They’re traits you seem to lack. Even I can already see that.” Shihei tilted his head to the side slightly, closing his eyes and smirking. “You could very well be more powerful than me, but power is nothing without something to control it.” The shinigami tapped the side of his head, obviously referring to the brain.
“I… don’t get it. Are you trying to confuse me!? Because it won’t work!”
Diran’s comment resulted in Shihei’s eye twitching as he rubbed his temple. “My point… exactly…”
“Enough! I am sick of talking!” The Arrancar quickly pulled his zanpakuto out of its sheath, holding it out lengthwise before him, the tip of the blade pointed towards the opposing shinigami. Right away, Shihei realized that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he had thought.
“That… reiatsu…! The… pressure… is …incredible…” His face obviously showed his shock because Diran quickly picked up on it.
“Not so confidant anymore, are you, Shinigami-kun!? Heee, just like everyone else, you’re no different. Always underestimating your opponent.”
“You sure do talk a lot for someone wanting to fight!” Shihei yelled as he quickly unsheathed his zanpakuto, and flipping it around to hold it reverse, the blade pointing out behind him. “Come… Arrancar!”
In an instant, the shinigami reached the arrancar, their blades slamming into one another with great force. They pushed towards one another, the edges of the blades scraping and sliding, grinding down their lengths before the two entities pushed away, Shihei skidding to a stop as Diran landed firmly in the sand.
“He’s strong. His physical strength is ridiculous. “ Before Shihei had time to formulate a plan, Diran was already rushing towards him, his zanpakuto dragging across the ground until the blade was thrust upwards towards the chin of the shinigami. Shihei had jumped just in time, the tip of the opposing blade just nicking his chin.
The shinigami hissed as he rubbed his now bleeding chin. “Sisssss…. Ouch…” A shimmer, that was all it took to make him throw his blade up before him, blocking a downward slash by Diran. The arrancar really was not giving Shihei any leeway, not that he expected any. His aggressiveness was extremely unnerving. Shihei had never confronted anyone who was so ready to attack.
CLING! CLANG! CLINK! The zanpakuto slammed into one another as the two foes exchanged blows; Shihei knowing that this was not in any way a very good strategy. Diran would be able to easily out match him blow to blow.
Then he heard a scream that pierced his ears with such intensity that he had never heard in his life. “What….. is this…?” He could feel something warm running down around his waist. He reached down and grabbed onto the blade that was stuck through his kidney.
“You scream pretty loud…” Diran chimed with an extremely amused air to his voice.
Shihei took three steps back as the blade slid out of his body with a nauseating squelch. The shinigami let his head hang low as he grabbed onto his zanpakuto with both hands, panting as he looked up through his bangs towards Diran. “S…SOAR KUROTADORI!”
His voice echoed out loud as he released his shikai. The blade of his zanpakuto shattered into thousands of tiny fragments of its former self, and then spun up in a vortex that enveloped Shihei. Diran could only shield his eyes from the kicked up sand as the shinigami disappeared out of sight. Soon the dust settled, and Diran could see the result of the shinigami’s shikai.
“Releasing your shikai? I’ve barely done anything. What’s wrong, Shinigami-kun? Can’t keep up? It’s just a flesh wound after all.”
“What the hell am I doing!? I’m only a fourth seat, he’s an Arrancar… this fight was lost before it started!” Even though he came to that realization, the shinigami still didn’t back down. With his shikai activated he had more of a chance than before. With one quick blow on the newly formed wooden pipe whistle, dozens of tiny falcons were ordered to drive themselves into Diran.
“What the hell!?” TWACK! TWACK! TWACK! One after another, sometimes in multiples, they just kept coming. “God… dammit…. Stop… This is… fuckin… annoying…” Diran swiped at the birds with little to no avail. The barrage seemed to be never ending and could go on forever. “Enough of this!” There was another static-pop and Shihei once again found himself face to face with Diran, this time without a physical weapon in hand. Fweeeeet! Shihei blew on the whistle three times in quick succession. All at once the falcons dive bombed Diran, but all they seemed to do was anger him more.
The angered hollow grabbed onto the shinigami’s face, picking him up by it, and threw him threw a nearby building. Diran stood there and watched as the structure collapsed around Shihei; having a good feeling that the shinigami was done for.
“Why are you smiling….? Close your mouth; I can smell your breath!” Standing up from the rubble strewn around him, a battered and bloody Shihei appeared. “Bankai… “
“Bankai? You?” Diran began to laugh as it seemed like nothing happened. “You’re quite ambitious, aren’t you, you little shit?”
“Never… underestimate a shinigami…” In an instant, all around Diran, long spear like objects drove themselves into the ground around him. Before Diran could react, each and every spear exploded, sending out the shards that created them in all directions. Vzzzzzzzt! Vzzzzzzzt! Shihei could hear the shrapnel zip past his ear and into objects all around him.
“You son of a bitch! That hurt!” Diran was still standing, little puncture wounds dotting his body.
“What!?” The shinigami quickly took a step back, his shock very apparent on his face. It was hard to believe that Diran was still standing after such an attack. “What the hell are you?!” Another whistle filled the air as more of the spears drove themselves downwards and exploding on impact. One after another, Shihei was almost frantically attacking.
Silence soon returned to the area, the smoke slowly clearing to reveal the true damage of his relentless attacking. As his blade reformed in his hand, he was soon faced with the realization that his bankai had done very little. Diran wasn’t even standing where the spears had detonated. His eyes widened as he heard a subtle crunch behind him. He quickly spun around to face the hollow who had managed to sonido behind him. “Too slow…” Shiiing! Squelch! There was little he could do to stop the blade from impaling itself into his flesh. Diran twisted the zanpakuto before pulling it out in one fluid motion, letting Shihei fall to his knees.
“You’re so damn pathetic and stupid. Believing that you could defeat me!” Diran raised his zanpakuto and swung down to do the finishing blow, expecting a satisfying beheading before heading home. That was until his blade met resistance. “What!?”
“Shinigami…. Do not give up so easily…” Shihei had raised his blade to block the oncoming attack. Diran just chucked as he took a step back. “A cero should finish you.”
“Don’t worry Shinigami, I will save your ass.” Said an unfamiliar voice out from the fog.
“Hm? That… voice…” Diran lowered his zanpakuto and turned to face the statement’s source. It was a sight he had not seen in years. A fairly short Arrancar stood before him, his zanpakuto already drawn.
“Just for the record Shinigami, this doofus is a Vasto Lorde. You were close by callin him an Arrancar, but not quite.”
“Llevon, I haven’t seen your ugly mug for… how long has it, two hundred years?” Diran swung his zanpakuto up and rested the blade side down on his shoulder.
“Two hundred and sixty-seven to be exact, my dear brother.” Llevon’s speech was littered with sarcasm. His eyes shifted from Diran to Shihei, whom was now kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily. “I tried to protect your useless ass, but even the most idiotic would be able to find a stationary object in all this fog.”
“You did this?” Both Diran and Shihei chimed at the same time. The fog was suspiciously dense in that particular area, though neither one seemed to notice until then.
“Tch, both of your heads are full of rocks… No wonder neither one of you could fight properly.” A cocky smirk formed on Llevon’s face as he pointed his zanpakuto towards Diran. “Come, big brother, let’s play. I am sure it will bring back plenty of memories!”
All of a sudden Shihei found himself under an immense pressure. “The… entire time… he was suppressing his reiatsu.“ The thirteenth division member had never felt such a thing in all his years.
“The arrancar. They’re the epitome of the hollow species. Long before Sosuke Aizen had taken his self proclaimed position on the top of the totem pole and started to spew out… “Artificial Arrancar”, real Arrancar had been slowly evolving their way to the top.” At least, this is how Shihei looked at things. Now if the Arrancar standing before him was an “artificial” or “real” could be anyone’s guess. For the time being, that didn’t matter.
The two hollow’s zanpakuto clashed as the fog in the backdrop started to lift, increasing the visibility greatly in the area. Diran didn’t think too much of this. All he cared about was what he could see before him. Llevon however needed the fog to clear; speed isn’t much use when one can’t see where they’re going.
“Heh, you’re weaker than I remember. The shinigami must have done something to wear you down this much.” The comment was like a knife stabbing into the little self control Diran had. He hated nothing more than shinigami; so for someone to say that he was weakened by one was quite the insult.
“You son of a bitch! That shinigami did nothing to weaken me!” Diran sneered loudly as he took a step towards the other.
Llevon waved his hand in front of his nose as he subtly shook his head side to side. “Dude, your breath…”
“ARGH! Llevon! You wise ass bastard!” Diran screamed in anger as he slashed towards Llevon with little more than anger and strength, making the attack fairly easy for the nimble arrancar to dodge.
“Don’t you know how to use that thing?” Llevon asked as he skidded to a halt.
“Shut up! Just shut up!” Screamed Diran, getting rapidly agitated. “Sakende Endriago!”
In an instant, Llevon disappeared with a static-pop, appeared in front of Shihei with his arms out-stretched. “I will absorb as much of this as I can…” And before Shihei had time to ask Llevon what he was referring to, there was a loud and sudden blast of heat that encircled the area. Llevon’s body lurched back from the shock-wave’s force of heat and fire. To Shihei’s surprise, the fire was disappearing as it reached them, Llevon’s body was literally absorbing the reiatsu. “Don’t look so surprised… it’s a little perk I have...” Before Llevon could say more, he was sudden and very violently slammed into by Diran, sending him tumbling back across the river bank.
“Still think you’re oh so powerful!? Huh!? Llevon!?!” The enraged Diran grabbed and picked up Shihei by his neck, squeezing the life out of the injured shinigami.
“This fight is between you and I asshole, put down the whelp and face me!” Screamed the small arrancar as he stood up; shaking the sand out of his hair once he was back on his feet.
“Oh…? Fine.” Diran nonchalantly tossed the shinigami off to the side, his body rolling across the grass until it came to a rest against a small bush.
“I really do not have time to deal your childish games, Diran.” Llevon glanced for a brief second towards Shihei who laid in a hunched over mass just a short distance away. He had to get the shinigami medical attention immediately. “I believe you’ve never seen my resureccion … Kirifusete, Fuerza Negra.” Before Diran could respond to what was happening before his eyes, Llevon disappeared in a flash.
“ARRRRRAAGH!” Diran soon found himself being attacked at all sides, or at least that is how it appeared. Llevon’s speed and agility was at such a level above Diran’s that the Vasto Lorde’s eyes and mind couldn’t keep up with what was happening. A relentless barrage of fiery slashes and jabs came and came. Llevon knew very well that he couldn’t stop, he could not let Diran regenerate .
Then, as If Diran was actually knowing what he was doing, reached out and managed to grab onto Llevon’s arm and slam him into the ground. The earth shook as the Arrancar’s body impacted the soil, sending up a cloud of dust all around them.
“Hahaha! And you say that you can defeat me!? And people call me stupid!” There was a gruesome crunch as Diran stomped down on Llevon’s arm, breaking it in two as if it was a twig.
“You forgot about one thing….” The other said through gritted teeth. “The whelp…”
“Wha…?” Diran turned just as a blade was stuck through him. Looking down towards the black weapon he saw two bloody and battered arms. “You!! How….?”
“I told you… never underestimate a shinigami.” Shihei pulled Kurotadori out of Diran and stumbled back several steps, panting heavily as he raised a hand up, palm facing towards his opponent. “Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws… Soukatsui!” In almost an instant, the hollow was blasted with a large blue blast of energy, sending him back towards the river.
Taking this as his cue to go, Llevon jumped up and put his good arm around the shinigami. Shihei could see Diran slowly sinking into the river off in the distance, though obviously not dead. While Holding onto him tightly, Llevon hastily opened up a Garganta and rushed through, taking Shihei to safety.