Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 108 - Where the Hell Did They Drop Me?! Is This Even Still Japan?!
Thunder rolled across the sky. Yellow lightning flickered through pitch-black clouds that grew thicker by the second, blotting out everything above. A figure approached at a measured pace, dressed like a Japanese samurai, carrying a long staff, something resembling a small shrine strapped to the back.
"Gonryomaru." A smile pulled at the corners of Muramasa's lips, unstoppable. "Just as I thought. The two of you."
"One who never displayed true power because of a weak master. One who has not achieved Bankai in a thousand years because of a master's will. Release your fury—and tear the enemy to shreds!"
"ROAR!"
The ice dragon roared. The samurai said nothing. Two eruptions of spiritual pressure detonated into the air, the former stronger, the latter slightly weaker, and by Soul Reaper reckoning, both hit the level of First-Class Spiritual Rank.
"Senna! Protect Inoue!" Uryu Ishida and Yasutora Sado moved forward together. "These aren't enemies you two can handle!"
CRACK,
"?!"
Boundless freezing air surged outward. A thin layer of frost formed across Uryu Ishida and Yasutora Sado's bodies, again, and the bone-chilling cold seized their muscles rigid.
BOOM BOOM!
Lightning blazed across the sky. A massive canopy-like construct materialized overhead. Eleven bolts of lightning condensed and gathered, and the sheer dread of it made something in the chest clench tight.
BOOM!
Heavenly thunder crashed down from above, streaking toward Uryu Ishida and Yasutora Sado like a spear.
BANG!
Thunder cracked. Black smoke billowed. Yasutora Sado burst through it, face blackened with soot, the shield-like right arm scorched completely. Brazo Derecha del Gigante, tempered through training, had grown far stronger in defense.
Swoosh,
A light arrow radiating overwhelming force screamed out and struck the ice dragon, punching clean through one of its wings.
"ROAR!"
The ice dragon howled in pain. The dark clouds overhead thickened further, and specks of snow began to drift down. Hyorinmaru, the mightiest ice-and-snow Zanpakuto, was furious.
"Damn it! Too stiff?!"
The shot had been aimed at the skull. But the boundless freezing air had locked Uryu Ishida's body rigid, like the next second would turn it into an ice sculpture, and movement was nearly impossible.
"UOOOOOH!"
A devil's fist drove toward the samurai. The staff came up to block. But before Yasutora Sado could follow through, blinding lightning flashed again.
BOOM!
Lightning crackled along the staff. From the canopy construct overhead, another bolt of heavenly thunder dropped.
"Sado!"
Uryu Ishida cried out, but had no attention to spare. A visible wall of bone-chilling frost surged forward. Blue light flared beneath Uryu Ishida's feet, and Hirenkyaku carried the body clear.
"ROAR!"
The ice dragon stepped forward. The damaged wing had recovered without anyone noticing. It beat those wings, and a piercing gale swept across the entirety of Karakura Town. The people who had lost consciousness from the realm transfer shivered in their sleep.
"Damn it!"
Bowstring drawn. A light arrow pulsing with strange resonance took shape. Uryu Ishida compressed the spirit particles from the surrounding air with full force, pouring it into the arrow.
"ROAR!"
Another roar. The ice dragon stepped forward again and whipped its tail, countless ice spikes erupted outward.
"Tsk!"
Blue light flared again underfoot. Form flickering, the light arrow fully charged.
Swoosh,
It shot out carrying a force that could pierce anything, punched through the ice dragon's wing a second time, then dissolved into scattered spirit particles that drifted through the air.
"Again!"
Swoosh swoosh swoosh,
Three light arrows fired in rapid succession. The ice dragon advanced two steps, but that massive frame had no room to dodge, all three struck, hitting the chest and both feet.
"It worked!"
They hadn't pierced clean through the way the earlier shots had, but the formation arrays inscribed within the arrows were now etched into the ice dragon's body. Uryu Ishida felt a surge of relief and reached for?!
"What... is this?!"
A thin layer of ice crawled over Uryu Ishida's body again. But this time, something was different. Uryu Ishida realized with creeping horror that everything inside had been frozen, even consciousness was nearly locked still.
"Shikai Hyoketsu." The ice dragon spoke with a human voice. "Once I have taken four steps, everything within this space will freeze. Without exception."
"The formation array you once used against Mayuri Kurotsuchi was indeed powerful. But you will never have the chance to use it. Never."
"Damn it...!"
Consciousness began to fade. Uryu Ishida looked toward the other fight, the clash between Yasutora Sado and the samurai was still going, heavenly thunder striking Sado again and again, charring more of the body with every blow. Defeat was only a matter of time.
WHOOSH,
A light breeze swept in. Senna rushed forward, swung her staff in a wide arc, and vanished.
"Hm?!"
The ice dragon's slit pupils snapped wide as it scanned in every direction. Not a trace.
CRACK,
Ice shattered. Senna popped out beside Uryu Ishida. Consciousness flooded back, warmth returning to the body.
"Ngh... thanks!"
Spiritual pressure surged, pushing back the cold. Senna had used her spatial ability precisely, shattering the space around Uryu Ishida and breaking the shackles.
Shikai Hyoketsu could freeze everything within a given space. But that didn't mean space itself could be frozen. Perhaps wielded together with its master, that kind of overwhelming power was possible, but a Zanpakuto acting alone could not manage it.
"A spatial ability..." the ice dragon murmured. "I will only make that mistake once."
"Next, I take your lives directly."
Those words fell flat and cold. Piercing chill surged again. Snowflakes thickened in the sky above.
"You won't get the chance!"
Another light arrow took form. Spirit particles from the surrounding air converged into it nearly by force. Uryu Ishida pushed output to its limit, set on blowing the dragon's head clean off.
A gentle breeze wound around Senna's slight frame. She flicked her staff and slipped into space again. She knew her own strength; a direct confrontation with the ice dragon wouldn't last a single exchange...?!
"What is that?!"
Under Senna's horrified gaze, ice began to spread across Uryu Ishida's body. It crept outward fast, blooming into flower after flower of crystal.
"This... what is this?!"
"Hyoten Hyakkaso." The ice dragon's voice was utterly flat, drained of all feeling. "When your body touches the falling snow, it begins to freeze."
"When one hundred ice flowers bloom—that is the moment of your death."
CRACK,
A sound like shattering space rang out. Senna popped out beside Uryu Ishida, but immediately, flower after flower of ice began appearing across her body too.
"Perhaps hiding within space might have spared you." The ice dragon beat its wings, the dreadful chill accelerating the bloom of flowers across both their bodies. "I said it. This time, I give you no chances."
"Damn it...!"
Ice flowers spread across the body. Uryu Ishida looked toward the distance with bitter defiance. An explosion like a nuclear blast erupted far off. A chill entirely unlike the ice dragon's swept over, and a vision like a sea of blood surfaced before Uryu Ishida's eyes.
The Soul Reaper Captains were struggling against the Zanpakuto unleashed in Bankai. Barely holding on.
Is it over... damn it. I couldn't protect Karakura Town...
Consciousness slipped away. Uryu Ishida murmured inward, bitter and unresigned. Not far away, Yasutora Sado moved to help, and a bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down, piling fresh injury on top of old.
I really am weak... if that guy were here, this would've been finished long ago... damn Ichi,
THUD!
The thought cut off.
A strange sound came from the sky. Not far.
"What is that?!"
Everyone looked up.
The sky appeared to have been torn open. A figure with bright orange hair came bursting through, a bewildered voice carrying down to all of them.
"Wait—where the hell did they drop me?! Are we even still in Japan?!"
➤ Next: New Look