[Final Compile & Complete] Hitsugaya, Renji, Shunsui, Komamura, -Adaro
Hitsugaya drew further back from Adaro as Renji and Komamura both attacked. The last thing they needed was to get in each other's way. He didn't fancy getting in the way of Renji's ban kai. When had the vice captain achieved it, anyway? Not that he was entirely surprised: the redhead had always seemed like one of those most likely to get it...
His icy wings stirred the frozen air around as he hovered, just watching Adaro sharply for a short time. He tried to shove all his anger and grief over Unohana's death out of his mind, focusing simply on strategies for the fight.
It wasn't working too well.
He glanced over at Komamura as the captain started the kidou. Lifting his own hand, he started muttering a kidou of his own. "Echo of the arid deserts, sandy grave for the unwary. Treacherousness abounds, tread lightly lest you fall. Hadou #75: Myrmeleontidae's Feast!" The ground around the pillars of stone, where Adaro might land if she jumped away to avoid getting impaled, started to shake and tremble, rapidly forming into a large patch of quicksand- not deadly, perhaps, but perhaps it would knock her off balance enough for someone to score a hit...
Tonnes of rock and dirt were lifted with the kidou, five spires of earth too great to ignore. Adaro could have leapt away had there been the time and had the vines relented with enough to spare. With no venue to escape unscathed, she instead braced herself to counter what she could. Versus a captain-level kidou, even she faced difficulty in that. Two spires were cleaved to harmless lengths by the swing of Osovenenoso, two others evaded as she twisted her body to escape the sharp edge of earth, but the fifth hit its mark in her shoulder.
No sound, nothing more than a gasp swallowed under the shudder of earth crashing against itself, came from the red-haired woman as the spire dug deep into her shoulder. It was kept from ripping the limb off by the force of her other hand striking it, shattering it before it could do further damage. What it had done was enough, blood welling from the wound, her arm dropping to her side, rendered useless.
Adaro gritted her teeth beneath the mask, Hollow-darkened eyes flashing with anger. When she moved, it was not to leave the ruins of earth that had fallen around her, but to stand on them when the ground began to shift under the touch of the little ice captain's kidou. "Lucky shot, taichou. Care to attempt a repeat?"
With her footing held on the rocks churned up from the earth, Adaro narrowed her gaze upon Komamura once again, the thorn in her side for this battle. The reiatsu that hung heavily about her spiked that much more with her disgust for his actions, the white power of cero that built up in her fist that much stronger when she raised her hand to unleash it in his direction.
The others had stood idle enough, they would get to watch his execution before she tended to theirs. And naught but ban kai would interest her to move them up on her list of priority.
Why she was focusing on Komamura exclusively when there were two other captains one in released bankai and himself with is own bankai. She was either incredibly over confident or incredibly stupid. Perhaps a little of both. Renji would give her that she was powerful, but she couldn't hold that level for much longer could she? He had no way of knowing. They knew so little about Arrancar and faced with revealing information that Adaro was not one of those but a Vaizored, changed the game.
No matter, Renji would exploit her seeming distraction and attack her dead on with a hungry and fully charged bankai release. With Adaro busy with Komamura, Renji wasted no time sending Zabimaru after her. The unwieldy seeming beast charged at full speed toward the woman hoping to knock her off balance before the cero could go off.
As soon as the kidou successfully landed massive damage on the woman in front of him, Shunsui was darting forward in precise flash steps, scimitars bared and lips pursed. He paid no attention to Renji's ban kai as it was sent forth. He paid no attention to Adaro as she yelled challenges at them and charged a cero, arm limp at her side. All the captain saw was a target, an obstacle, a thing of hatred, a job he had to finish. He saw the blood of his mentor, the body of his friend, the land he grew up in, the death and destruction, and he flew toward her with more killing intent than he could remember having before.
It ran into his spiritual pressure, expanding and darkening it, making everything seem faster and more tunnelled in on Adaro. Her cero fired off, and he absently hoped it would be dodged or blocked, but didn't move out of his way to tend to it. He knew Renji's attack was coming up behind him, and he hoped he wouldn't be caught in its aftermath, but still he went forward.
When he was close enough to her to see the rough gore of her wound, the bone and tendons and torn muscle, he struck out hard and deep with both swords, aiming for the heart and neck. There was no hesitation, no intent to try and prolong the battle anymore for any reason, no desire to pick away at her any longer. Shunsui had had enough of everything now. It would end here, one way or another.
The shinigami were finally getting into the battle, adding to the fervour that Komamura fought with, compounding the enjoyment of the red-haired woman in finally facing a challenge, simmering still beneath the anger of being injured by these petty shinigami.
Adaro snapped her head up when the heavy reiatsu preceded the thick ban kai of the vice captain. Osovenenoso came to bear, but all that she could do was hold it in a guard before the fangs of Zabimaru struck the bared blade with force even greater than that which she had expected. Adaro snarled and struggled to hold her ground, but it was the instability of the ground that proved her error, a stone slipping beneath her that pushed her off balance.
What followed inched by as though time slowed, but her body slowed to match it. Adaro could feel the painful twist in her foot as she slipped, felt gravity even at it pulled her down. She saw as the cero missed its target, the built-up power firing into the air harmlessly. Then she saw the eighth division captain and his drawn blades as he approached and though her eyes narrowed and her reiatsu flared higher than it had yet, it did not allow her to knock away the ban kai soon enough, keeping Osovenenoso locked in that combat as the two blades bore down upon --
-- bore down into her.
Adaro managed a choked gasp before the sharp edge cut even air from her throat, and her body jerked back beneath the twin blows.
Impossible.
Blood poured from the wound, her grip on Osovenenoso going slack as the blade was knocked away, allowing the thick fangs to add their bite to her body as she fell to her knees. Hatred and anger stared back up at Shunsui, but beneath the venomous look, the blackness of her gaze had begun to lighten, the whites of her eyes returning against her will.
Adaro stared in silence, unable to comprehend the slow numbing feeling that spread across her, the way that her hands did not respond when she willed them to move, to steal the swords and gut the captain that stood before her. The only warmth that she felt was that which spilled from her injuries, a coldness creeping over her limbs as the life drained from wounds mortal.
To fall to shinigami --
The thought did not finish itself. Adaro shuddered, her palms resting on the ground as the mask shattered into nothing, the strength of her reiatsu fading with every heartbeat, more and more and the heartbeat slowed. For an instant there was something beyond the anger, a flicker of thought for her arrancar and the shinigami who waited with them for her triumphant return, but the numbness crept over her thoughts as her arms buckled and her body struck the ground.
With a shudder, it was over. The war, the exile, and the agony which the Gotei-13 had suffered those long months. The mistress of the Hollows had been destroyed, her body laying cold upon the ground, giving rise to new hope for the shinigami, giving opportunity for their return as the barrier faded without her presence to support it.
Against all odds, the shinigami had survived and won their disadvantaged war.
[ Previous Thread]
OOC: This is the final compile of Deathonly's twentieth and final arc.
His icy wings stirred the frozen air around as he hovered, just watching Adaro sharply for a short time. He tried to shove all his anger and grief over Unohana's death out of his mind, focusing simply on strategies for the fight.
It wasn't working too well.
He glanced over at Komamura as the captain started the kidou. Lifting his own hand, he started muttering a kidou of his own. "Echo of the arid deserts, sandy grave for the unwary. Treacherousness abounds, tread lightly lest you fall. Hadou #75: Myrmeleontidae's Feast!" The ground around the pillars of stone, where Adaro might land if she jumped away to avoid getting impaled, started to shake and tremble, rapidly forming into a large patch of quicksand- not deadly, perhaps, but perhaps it would knock her off balance enough for someone to score a hit...
Tonnes of rock and dirt were lifted with the kidou, five spires of earth too great to ignore. Adaro could have leapt away had there been the time and had the vines relented with enough to spare. With no venue to escape unscathed, she instead braced herself to counter what she could. Versus a captain-level kidou, even she faced difficulty in that. Two spires were cleaved to harmless lengths by the swing of Osovenenoso, two others evaded as she twisted her body to escape the sharp edge of earth, but the fifth hit its mark in her shoulder.
No sound, nothing more than a gasp swallowed under the shudder of earth crashing against itself, came from the red-haired woman as the spire dug deep into her shoulder. It was kept from ripping the limb off by the force of her other hand striking it, shattering it before it could do further damage. What it had done was enough, blood welling from the wound, her arm dropping to her side, rendered useless.
Adaro gritted her teeth beneath the mask, Hollow-darkened eyes flashing with anger. When she moved, it was not to leave the ruins of earth that had fallen around her, but to stand on them when the ground began to shift under the touch of the little ice captain's kidou. "Lucky shot, taichou. Care to attempt a repeat?"
With her footing held on the rocks churned up from the earth, Adaro narrowed her gaze upon Komamura once again, the thorn in her side for this battle. The reiatsu that hung heavily about her spiked that much more with her disgust for his actions, the white power of cero that built up in her fist that much stronger when she raised her hand to unleash it in his direction.
The others had stood idle enough, they would get to watch his execution before she tended to theirs. And naught but ban kai would interest her to move them up on her list of priority.
Why she was focusing on Komamura exclusively when there were two other captains one in released bankai and himself with is own bankai. She was either incredibly over confident or incredibly stupid. Perhaps a little of both. Renji would give her that she was powerful, but she couldn't hold that level for much longer could she? He had no way of knowing. They knew so little about Arrancar and faced with revealing information that Adaro was not one of those but a Vaizored, changed the game.
No matter, Renji would exploit her seeming distraction and attack her dead on with a hungry and fully charged bankai release. With Adaro busy with Komamura, Renji wasted no time sending Zabimaru after her. The unwieldy seeming beast charged at full speed toward the woman hoping to knock her off balance before the cero could go off.
As soon as the kidou successfully landed massive damage on the woman in front of him, Shunsui was darting forward in precise flash steps, scimitars bared and lips pursed. He paid no attention to Renji's ban kai as it was sent forth. He paid no attention to Adaro as she yelled challenges at them and charged a cero, arm limp at her side. All the captain saw was a target, an obstacle, a thing of hatred, a job he had to finish. He saw the blood of his mentor, the body of his friend, the land he grew up in, the death and destruction, and he flew toward her with more killing intent than he could remember having before.
It ran into his spiritual pressure, expanding and darkening it, making everything seem faster and more tunnelled in on Adaro. Her cero fired off, and he absently hoped it would be dodged or blocked, but didn't move out of his way to tend to it. He knew Renji's attack was coming up behind him, and he hoped he wouldn't be caught in its aftermath, but still he went forward.
When he was close enough to her to see the rough gore of her wound, the bone and tendons and torn muscle, he struck out hard and deep with both swords, aiming for the heart and neck. There was no hesitation, no intent to try and prolong the battle anymore for any reason, no desire to pick away at her any longer. Shunsui had had enough of everything now. It would end here, one way or another.
The shinigami were finally getting into the battle, adding to the fervour that Komamura fought with, compounding the enjoyment of the red-haired woman in finally facing a challenge, simmering still beneath the anger of being injured by these petty shinigami.
Adaro snapped her head up when the heavy reiatsu preceded the thick ban kai of the vice captain. Osovenenoso came to bear, but all that she could do was hold it in a guard before the fangs of Zabimaru struck the bared blade with force even greater than that which she had expected. Adaro snarled and struggled to hold her ground, but it was the instability of the ground that proved her error, a stone slipping beneath her that pushed her off balance.
What followed inched by as though time slowed, but her body slowed to match it. Adaro could feel the painful twist in her foot as she slipped, felt gravity even at it pulled her down. She saw as the cero missed its target, the built-up power firing into the air harmlessly. Then she saw the eighth division captain and his drawn blades as he approached and though her eyes narrowed and her reiatsu flared higher than it had yet, it did not allow her to knock away the ban kai soon enough, keeping Osovenenoso locked in that combat as the two blades bore down upon --
-- bore down into her.
Adaro managed a choked gasp before the sharp edge cut even air from her throat, and her body jerked back beneath the twin blows.
Impossible.
Blood poured from the wound, her grip on Osovenenoso going slack as the blade was knocked away, allowing the thick fangs to add their bite to her body as she fell to her knees. Hatred and anger stared back up at Shunsui, but beneath the venomous look, the blackness of her gaze had begun to lighten, the whites of her eyes returning against her will.
Adaro stared in silence, unable to comprehend the slow numbing feeling that spread across her, the way that her hands did not respond when she willed them to move, to steal the swords and gut the captain that stood before her. The only warmth that she felt was that which spilled from her injuries, a coldness creeping over her limbs as the life drained from wounds mortal.
To fall to shinigami --
The thought did not finish itself. Adaro shuddered, her palms resting on the ground as the mask shattered into nothing, the strength of her reiatsu fading with every heartbeat, more and more and the heartbeat slowed. For an instant there was something beyond the anger, a flicker of thought for her arrancar and the shinigami who waited with them for her triumphant return, but the numbness crept over her thoughts as her arms buckled and her body struck the ground.
With a shudder, it was over. The war, the exile, and the agony which the Gotei-13 had suffered those long months. The mistress of the Hollows had been destroyed, her body laying cold upon the ground, giving rise to new hope for the shinigami, giving opportunity for their return as the barrier faded without her presence to support it.
Against all odds, the shinigami had survived and won their disadvantaged war.
[ Previous Thread]
OOC: This is the final compile of Deathonly's twentieth and final arc.