"Well yeah but as long as we force them into the open the rest of the Captains can step in so it's not a big deal." My new necklace said as she started dragging me after her Captain.
"We are only investigating in this manner so no one can throw our motives into question later." added Natsumi. "Once we verify the status of Central 46, we will proceed to find the identity of any and all traitors working against the Seireitei."
"Or I could tell you now." I pointed out.
Hitsugaya stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. "You know who we are going up against?" he asked, sounding suspicious.
Did they not tell him I knew who the traitors were?
I sent a questioning look at Natsumi. Shouldn't she have told them I was the one who let them know they even had traitors to begin with? Why would they agree to have me here in the first place?
"No one was informed about the source of the information after it was verified. It was decided that we didn't want anyone acting on the information to be biased because of your group's actions." Natsumi explained when she saw me looking at her.
"Ignoring that for now," cut in Captain Hitsugaya. "You have information on the traitors we are facing? I want to know who they are."
I felt my eyebrow start twitching at the demand. I don't work for you kid.
Still, they did need to know who they were up against.
"Probably the one we need to worry about least is Kaname Tosen."
The Soul Reapers all stilled when I spoke. It was easy to say 'let's root out the traitors' but when you had a name to attach to the label they were no longer a shadowy figure to chase, but a comrade who deceived you.
"You're certain?" asked Hitsugaya, who looked grim when I nodded.
"From the info I have on him, among the captains he is somewhere around the bottom third in direct combat and his fighting style and techniques all revolve around small scale battlefield control. Good for dealing with small groups of weaker enemies, but he struggles with individual opponents of similar strength unless he uses his bankai."
I got some confused looks but kept going.
"Next on the list is Gin Ichimaru, he-" I was finally free from the lieutenant hanging around my neck, but I wasn't much more comfortable since she was glaring at me and still very much in my personal space.
"Hey now, Gin is…questionable with how he behaves, but that doesn't mean he's a traitor!" Matsumoto exclaimed, cutting me off.
Ah right, the two of them were childhood...friends? Honestly didn't remember much about Gin's backstory since he played such a small part in most events. Oh well, not really something to waste time on.
"My group confirmed he was working with the leader of the traitors since at least the time he was a lieutenant which means-"
"Which means he has been working against us long enough to match the scenarios you gave us earlier." This time it was Cap- you know what? I'm getting tired of being interrupted. You've been demoted- Toshiro who cut me off. "It also explains how Aizen was murdered so easily. Ichimaru was his lieutenant in the past, he wouldn't have been on guard around him."
Matsu- No, I was annoyed at her too- Rangiku took a few steps back and bit her thumbnail, eventually nodding but didn't say anything.
I eyed the two of them, waiting to see if they were done before continuing. "Anyway, he-" "We already know how he fights Miss Ryoka." This time it was Natsumi who interrupted me. "You don't need to tell us about people we have seen fight for years."
I felt my left eyebrow twitching severely.
All these interruptions. Considering they basically forced me to be here you would think they would at least take what I say more seriously.
"Fine, the third traitor and the leader of the group is Sosuke Aizen." If I sounded annoyed the others didn't react to it. They just stared blankly at me.
"Um, you know that Captain Aizen was killed, don't you? In fact you were the one who told me he was going to die!" said Natsumi.
Toshiro was next to give his opinion. "So does that mean your group managed to eliminate him already?" He brought a hand to his chin and rubbed at it thoughtfully. "Or was it an internal struggle between one of the other members?"
"Neither." I responded. "Aizen is happily alive and leading his group. I just knew he was going to fake his death so it was a good way to convince you we were telling the truth."
"Bu-but we have his body!" exclaimed the squad 10 lieutenant.
"Zanpakuto created body double." I said.
"Who could even do something like that?!"
"Aizen, obviously."
Fed up with this whole situation I started walking in the direction Toshiro had been going before the Soul Reapers had managed to piss me off for both demanding I answer them and not actually letting me speak. I didn't really bother checking to see if they followed me, but I just wanted this whole thing over with.
There was a scramble of motion behind me as the other rushed to catch up, and eventually we were all walking together. Toshiro had retaken the lead soon after with his lieutenant in tow as we continued in silence.
Natsumi didn't seem content to let the last conversation go that easily however.
"Miss Ryoka."
"My name is Alex Cross, not Ryoka. Come on Natsumi, I thought we were closer than this?" I said flippantly.
"Cross-san then," man she is formal when we aren't fighting. "You said that Aizen created a body double with a Zanpakto."
"Yeah?"
"Can you explain how? That does not seem like an ability he should possess."
"Oh? I thought you 'knew how they fought for years'." I said using air quotes to make my point. Natsumi grimaced, but motioned for me to continue.
"Aizen passed off his true shikai ability as a fake one so none of you know how to deal with it. He used his real ability to create a fake body."
Rangiku slowed down to walk next to us. "Really? What kind of ability lets him do that?"
Well if you hadn't been interrupting me constantly you would already know, now wouldn't you?
"Hypnosis. I don't know exactly how it works but if you see his Zanpakuto release he can supposedly control your senses."
And wasn't that a terrifying thought. Captain level fights relied a lot on being perceptive and either reacting to, or countering your opponent's moves quickly or you would be overwhelmed. Aizen cheated by being able to not only hide any tells with hypnosis, but straight up give misinformation about what he is doing.
I don't believe it's 'perfect' but it's clearly effective, especially if no one noticed what he was up to for a century.
"We're here." said Toshiro. Instantly all conversation died as we looked at the compound we arrived at.
I looked around as we passed the walls surrounding the entrance. It was a rather nice courtyard I suppose, but it was also rather empty. Well manicured lawns and ponds surrounded a white octagonal building. Surprisingly, unlike all the other buildings I had seen lately this one was fairly short and looked more like a bunker than a proper building.
So this was where the Central 46 met? It looked shockingly low key.
The others didn't bother looking around and moved straight to the door. Toshiro immediately cut through the thick wooden doors with his Zanpakuto.
"No alarms. They really have infiltrated." he said.
Without another word the three Soul Reapers rushed through the door and down into the depths of the building. I followed at a more sedate pace, both because I didn't have a clue where we were going and because I wasn't super eager to see what was coming up.
We passed by meeting rooms, waiting and rest areas, and even security checkpoints, but there was no sign of anyone else around.
Jeez, this place was a maze. If I wasn't following Toshiro I would spend a lot of time just wandering around aimlessly.
Eventually we reached another staircase but rather than going down Toshiro froze at the top. Rangiku and Natsumi had similar reactions when they came up behind him.
I really didn't want to see what caused them to freeze up like that, even though I had a pretty good idea of what they were looking at. I walked up behind them and got my first look through the doorway. It was just as gruesome as I was expecting.
The room itself was a plain octagonal meeting room. The high white walls were mostly undecorated, the only exceptions being large cloth posters with single words hung from every second wall. I didn't bother reading any of them with my attention drawn to the middle of the room.
In the middle of the room where the members of Central 46 would normally meet was a massacre. Bodies were still seated in a parody of normalcy, but the pools of black blood and slash marks made it pretty clear everyone in that room was very dead.
"The entirety of Central 46 has been...wiped...out." Toshiro breathed.
-o-It was with an almost detached sense of horror I followed the other three in investigating the dead bodies.
I had seen several dead or dead looking bodies during my year with Urahara. Usually it was a gegai prototype he was messing with and would leave lying around. I had a hard time determining if it was specifically to mess with me or if he was just forgetful.
For all that Urahara was meticulous with the process of his experiments. He had a habit of leaving things lying around. One that I happily abused to explain some of my knowledge from the show and sometimes just to avoid random experiments he tended to test on the rest of the shop.
The other times were when we were too slow to stop a Hollow from catching a soul. They were not clean eaters.
I think the biggest reason I disturbed by the killing was that none of the faces had any more emotion on them then faint surprise. Either most of them had been killed simultaneously, which I found doubtful, or Aizen had blocked his presence from everyone in the room before executing them all one by one.
This wasn't death due to a fight or hunger, those I could rationalize and eventually accept. This was simply butchering helpless people and not even letting them know they were in danger until it was already too late.
I wandered around the room barely going near the bodies or trying to find out what happened since I already knew who killed them. Toshiro and the other Soul Reapers were doing a much more thorough investigation anyway. I was happy leaving it to them.
Though I was a little lost on what the next step of the plan was. Natsumi said that they were here to verify the status of Central 46, so I figured we would move somewhere else when we found them all dead.
Maybe go looking for where Aizen's group was hiding out now that I had clued them in to who the traitors were.
I looked over at Toshiro who was examining one of the bodies, if there was more to the Soul Reaper's plan then he would be the person to ask.
Before I could make my way over I heard a cold voice call out from the entrance we had come from.
"I thought you would be here...Captain Hitsugaya."
In the doorway stood another Soul Reaper looking down at all of us. His ice-blue eyes had no emotion in them as he took in the four of us standing in a room of corpses. Well the one eye visible to me didn't. His left eye was covered by blonde hair in what I could only describe as an emo fringe.
What the hell? That was the lieutenant of Squad 3, Izuru Kira. Why was he here?
Unlike in the original timeline Hinamori didn't discover Aizen's fake body and didn't go berserk trying to attack Gin. So Kira shouldn't have had the whole mental breakdown that led him to following Gin for whatever sketchy reasons he had in canon.
Oblivious to my internal confusion, Toshiro began demanding answers why Kira was here and if he knew anything about what happened here. Rather than answer, Kira simply vanished at a full on sprint.
"After him Matsumoto! Hanakage, Cross you stay here!"
And just like that half our number ran out the door leaving me in a room full of bodies, a Soul Reaper I had fought several times, and no idea what to do next.
Lovely.
I turned to look at Natsumi. "Any idea what we should do next?"
She opened her mouth to respond but instead of answering me a large amount of blood poured out of her mouth.
Both of our eyes went wide with surprise before Natsumi recoiled in pain and I saw a long silver line quickly retracting towards the other side of the room from where the two Squad 10 officers left.
Natsumi pitched forward into my arms and I felt even more blood begin to leak from her torso. It was obvious she had been stabbed, but how had both of us been taken completely off guard?!
"Well isn' that a shame? I only attacked once an' she's already done."
Standing in the doorway I assumed led deeper into the Central 46 compound was the traitorous Captain of Squad 3, Gin Ichimaru. With a negligent wave, he removed the blood staining the tip of his wakizashi.
"Oh well," he sighed even as his constant smile stayed in place. "Now would ya follow me, miss Ryoka? Someone wants to talk with ya."Spirit 2.15
I glared up at the white haired Soul Reaper. More blood was seeping into my sleeves and I was pretty sure that Natsumi had gone into shock. A quick diagnostic spell revealed that both her lungs were nicked and Gin had gotten her diaphragm at the same time.
Medical situations weren't my best field, but I was fairly confident that if I left her right now, Natsumi would end up drowning in her own blood.
So I needed to stall.
I pulled Natsumi closer to me and got ready to dodge in any direction, while a small spell circle lit up on her chest. I made sure to keep it hidden from Gin's line of sight because I needed every second.
There was no way I could completely heal her. Even if I had several uninterrupted hours the wound was just beyond my skill level, but if I was fast enough I could get enough patched up that she could at least survive until a proper healer got to her.
"If Aizen wanted to talk to me he could have showed up himself." I challenged.
Gin just seemed amused, "Aizen? Didn' ya know Captain Aizen was killed a few days ago? Terrible tragedy, they even found his body pinned to a building."
"Yes, too bad his Lieutenant was too busy fighting me to stumble across that little scene." I said. "The whole scene must have fallen flat without the lead actress."
"It was a bit lacking. The shock an' disbelief were there, but without the heartbreak it did feel pretty dull." Gin nodded.
Natsumi's lungs would probably work fine if she didn't move much. Only a little bit longer.
"Probably didn't help the lead actor phoned in the whole thing and used a stunt double." I pointed out. "If you know the whole thing is staged it loses a bit of the entertainment value."
I was really tipping my hand here, but it wasn't anything Gin and Aizen couldn't have guessed. Unlike the Gotei, I already knew about Aizen being a turncoat so it was easy to assume the whole murder scene was faked. As long as it kept Gin talking for a few more seconds-
"So ya almost done patchin' up girlie there?"
Ice water poured into my veins. He knew?!
"Oh don't look like that. If I wanted her dead I woulda hit her here." Gin said, tapping on his chest right where his heart would be. "Of course if it's too hard for ya, I could give ya a hand." His constant smile dropped to a flat line and one of his eyes cracked open.
I narrowed my own eyes at the offer. "I'll pass on your help. I'm done anyway."
I really wasn't. There was more I could do, but Gin's "help" likely meant another hole in Natsumi. I just hoped she didn't move much and took shallow breaths. I cast another two quick spells, one to hopefully keep Natsumi stable if she was moved suddenly and another for whoever found her.
Dragging her off to a clean section of floor I set her down and turned back to Gin.
"Oh? Well aint you a fast one." he said, smile back in place.
He turned and started walking back down the hall he came from, obviously expecting me to follow. I did, but was still on guard for any sudden moves.
So I was fully prepared when a silver flash burst out of his haori. In a heartbeat Kanshou was in my hand as I slashed the incoming blade off to the left. Sparks jumped from where the two swords collided and a hollow thunk echoed behind me where Gin's blade struck a wall.
The smile broke into a grin as Gin's sword shrunk back down to its normal length.
"You are fast! And ya even managed to keep girlie safe too!" Gin complimented.
I blinked and quickly replayed the short clash in my mind. Gin's sword wouldn't have hit me even if I didn't block it. At most it would have been a shallow cut on my arm, but Natsumi was directly behind me. If I hadn't deflected the blade then it would have pierced her chest and most likely killed her.
I fought back a snarl, simply because it was clear Gin didn't care if he succeeded or not and wouldn't care if I objected to the attack. Instead I just pointed my sword at him. "Didn't you say Aizen wanted to talk with me? You're wasting everyone's time."
"So scary! And I never said it was Captain Aizen." Gin laughed. "But I suppose we should get a move on, we don't want to be late now, do we?"
Grinding my teeth together I followed him through the complex, keeping an eye out for any more surprises. Luckily, Gin seemed to have lost interest in messing with me and just silently guided me through the halls.
After much more walking than I wanted while having Gin as a guide, we eventually came to a massive underground room. Like much of the architecture in the Seireitei I had seen it was very minimalistic with nothing but several square white towers stretching high into the air. It was telling how massive the room was that even as high as the towers went there was still space to the ceiling.
I was inwardly impressed that even here, Central 46 seemed to be pretty spartan with their living conditions. Not the norm when dealing with governments where even the identity of who was in charge was a secret.
I wonder if that would change when they get around to replacing everyone who died.
Gin walked up the stairs to one of the towers and stood next to the door.
"Welcome to the Seijoutou-Kyorin. The residential district for all of Central 46." He said with a flourish, then chuckled, "Well it used ta be anyway. Not getting much use recently."
And whose fault is that? Jackass.
"So where is he?" I asked instead. I was fucked anyway, might as well get the whole thing over with so I don't have to keep talking to the creepy bastard.
"So impatient." he sighed. "Oh well, just look right over there."
I looked at the building Gin was pointing at just in time to see a man with medium-length brown hair and glasses walk out of the doorway. If it wasn't for the captain's haori and the zanpakuto at his side you could easily mistake him for a mild-mannered librarian or accountant.
"Welcome, I'm glad you decided to accept my offer to talk." Dammit. I knew what kind of bastard he was, but I picked up nothing but genuine warmth and appreciation in his voice.
"Couldn't pass up the chance to talk to someone who came back from the dead." I said sarcastically.
Aizen smiled.
"Yes, I suppose the whole event looks rather silly from your perspective. Even if it was more for entertainment, it was impressive how easily you interfered with my plan. But then I suppose it only makes sense for one of his subordinates to be at least that capable."
"I aim to please." I said dryly, glancing between both captains. I was waiting for the inevitable sudden attack when Aizen decided to end the conversation. It was hard to say exactly when that would be since I had no idea what his timetable looked like, but if I was going to lose I'd like to at least make it harder on the two jackasses.
"If that's the case then you certainly succeed." Aizen said. "In fact you did so well that I wanted to give you another test just to see how good you truly were."
He turned to Gin.
"So Gin, were you able to kill the hanger-on she was with?" He said in the same tone people used to ask how someone's day went.
The Squad 3 Captain sighed theatrically, "Unfortunately Captain Aizen, the Ryoka was quick enough to save her life. She even managed to stop my second strike, so I failed."
"Hmm, I suppose if she wasn't at least capable of that I wouldn't have an interest in her. Don't worry about failing then."
Gin bowed his head slightly, smirk still in place.
"That does bring us back to why I wanted to talk to you, miss Ryoka." Aizen said, looking back to me. "Ah, but where are my manners. I am Aizen Sosuke, and once again thank you for agreeing to speak with me."
"Alexandria Cross, charmed." I said curtly.
Aizen nodded indulgently at me. "Well miss Cross, unlike the fools and fossils in the Soul Society you don't have much attachment to the status quo, do you? And since you decided to seek shelter under that man you also clearly know that those that rule over this heap will not tolerate the presence of such a powerful figure outside of their control."
He started walking, gesturing to the surroundings.
"Even with the removal of Central 46, the Soul Society will not accept one such as yourself that does not bow to them. You are too different, too powerful, for them to allow that. They might not make a move against you now that I, along with my companions of course, have made our opening moves. But soon they will see you as another uncontrollable element like myself, and demand you come to heel."
Aizen stopped, turned to face me, and held out a hand.
"But what if you didn't need to fear these lesser beings clamoring for your imprisonment or subjugation simply because you are different? Join me and you would be free to go wherever you wanted without fear of being hunted."
I looked warily at his outstretched hand, half expecting him to fire a kido at me. "I've seen how you treat people weaker than you Aizen. And you should remember I was the one that interrupted your scheme with your Lieutenant. I don't think I'd be able to trust you much if you would just manipulate me against a friend if it served one of your plans."
Aizen pulled his hand back and brought it up to his chin. "Ah, I can see why my methods could be seen as distasteful, but you must remember causing confusion among the enemy is just the basics. While I acted as her captain, I did nothing but my best to make sure she was well cared for."
No, you made her completely dependent on you then got off making her have a series of mental breakdowns before stabbing her and leaving her to die. The worst part was there was no hint of anything false in Aizen's recruitment speech. He sounded like he genuinely wanted to make sure I was making the best decision for myself.
"Considering you wanted to make her think her friend killed her captain I can't help but think your 'methods' might not be all that acceptable to most people." I said dryly.
Aizen smiled gently, "Then perhaps that would be your role if you joined me. I could use someone to help make sure that my future plans don't affect more innocent bystanders than necessary."
So if I say yes and join Aizen's side I would be given the chance to guide him to less objectionable methods than sacrificing a town to make a key or making elaborate plans that result in all his subordinates dying because he betrayed them.
In theory it would be the best choice for me personally. I wouldn't need to get involved in much of the future fighting, I would have the ear of one of the most powerful spiritual beings around, and even though Aizen didn't know I knew about them I would likely have personal servants to do my bidding when he rejoined his Hollow forces. It sounds like the perfect way out from dealing with the rest of the plot.
Of course that's if you ignore the long history of Aizen making similar promises and promptly stabbing people in the back once he no longer needed them.
I told him as much and got ready to react to his next move following my refusal.
But Aizen didn't make a move. He just stood there smiling, but now his eyes were flat and cold.
"It makes me glad you decided to accept my offer.You completed all the tasks I assigned you and even removed you watcher. I know we will work wonderfully together, don't you think so Captain Hitsugaya?"
The surrounding temperature plummeted and my breath started misting.
Looking behind me I saw an absolutely furious Toshiro glaring daggers at Aizen, but his zanpakuto was already in its Shikai release and pointed at me.
If Toshiro rushed directly here from dealing with Kira…
And Aizen had him under hypnosis and just showed me agreeing to work with him. I turned back around to stare at the traitorous captain, arms trembling with how hard my hands were clenched.
It goes without saying but, Aizen you utter asshole!Spirit 2.16
Ice particles swirled as Toshiro raised his reiatsu higher and higher.
Even in just its Shikai form his zanpakuto was powerful enough to cause some noticeable changes to the surroundings. Frost started coating the area around him and creeping outwards and ice crystals started growing where the crescent blade and chain attached to the hilt of his sword touched the ground.
Toshiro looked around the room stopping briefly on me and Gin before stopping on Aizen.
"Aizen, you're alive after all." he said coldly.
"Yes, I'd be surprised if miss Cross didn't tell you that beforehand." Aizen blandly replied before looking at his subordinate. "Although Gin, I do admit I'm surprised Captain Histugaya came back so quickly."
Gin just bowed his head a little and shrugged, "Sorry, I overestimated how effective Izuru would be as a distraction." He didn't sound very upset by it.
Aizen hummed, "I suppose he did manage to split the enemies forces a bit. So it wasn't a complete waste."
Toshiro narrowed his eyes. "And it looks like she was telling the truth about your companions, if Ichimaru is here too."
"I'm right here, you know?" I said, annoyed everyone was talking like I wasn't present.
Toshiro glanced at me before looking back at Aizen. "Is she though? See Cross told us another interesting fact, Aizen. She told us the real ability of your Zanpakuto is hypnosis, so I can't exactly trust what I see right now."
For the first time Aizen actually seemed surprised.
"And how did you know that?" He asked, addressing me directly. "I don't believe I've ever told anyone outside my companions that ability except from…" his eyes widened. "…oh I see. I didn't realise any of that fossil's work was still around. But I suppose that explains where you popped out from then."
I was freaking out internally. Not only did I reveal I knew more than I should, I also had no idea what he was talking about. What fossil? Why did that explain anything about me being here?
To make matters worse Toshiro seemed to be having a slightly different conversation because he suddenly pointed his sword towards an empty space on Aizen's right. He had also been speaking but I hadn't paid attention to what he was saying, so I only caught the last bit.
"... I can't be sure it's you, then I just have to take you all down!"
Fuck, that was probably really important.
"BANKAI!"
Yep! Fuck, I really wished I had payed attention to him!
Ice exploded from the guard on his sword, flowing down his arm and wrapping around him like a living thing. His arms and legs were covered in clawlike ice armour and large crystalline wings extended from his shoulders. In addition to that three deep purple ice formations floated behind his back. Each formation was a segmented cross that somehow stayed in perfect position despite not being attached to anything at all.
Toshiro's Reiatsu skyrocketed, and large chunks of ice also sprang up around him. The air turned frigid and mist began obscuring his feet as it rolled outward in thick wisps.
"Daiguren Hyorinmaru" he intoned.
I was getting a front row demonstration why Captains were considered unbeatable by rank-and-file Soul Reapers. Even with my pathetic sensory abilities I could clearly tell there was a qualitative change in his Reiryoku not only a quantitative one.
Not that I had a whole lot of time to examine what it felt like.
The moment Toshiro released his bankai Aizen frowned.
"Children are so impatient." he sighed, "And I was looking forward to playing with him for a little longer." he sighed again. "Oh well. Gin, kill him before he moves the other pieces out of place."
"Of course, Captain Aizen."
I bristled at the causal order. Aizen wanted him dead not because he was a threat, but because Toshiro releasing his bankai would eventually draw other captains over here. And if they were over here then they wouldn't gather at Sokyoku hill for his declaration of war.
In other words, he wanted Toshiro dead to satisfy his need for theatrics.
With a burst of speed I leaped at Gin, my twin swords whistling through the air as I moved to stop him from attacking the hypnotized captain. The brief look I got of Toshiro before my blades crashed into Gin's wakizashi. It looked like he was reacting to some invisible opponent as he sent blasts of ice at nothing.
Turning my attention back to the Squad 3 captain, I was just in time to notice Gin angle his blade towards my face.
"Shoot to kill, Shinso."
I wrenched my head to the side just in time for the blade to shoot over my shoulder. Judging by the hot line on my cheek I wasn't quite fast enough. Following my momentum, I turned the dodge into a cartwheel as Gin danced backward trying to get me out of his personal space. I refused to give him that time, the second my hands hit the floor I twisted to the side, foot lashing out and catching him in the side I sent Gin skidding back over the floor.
I wanted to follow him but Toshiro's imaginary duel got in the way. I had to quickly raise Bakuya to deflect his sword from cutting me in half, then throw it away before the ice growing on the blade covered my hand. A quick Haste spell let me dodge past him, but Toshiro spun in a tight circle to slash at the space between me and Gin. A wave of ice followed the move forced me to stop or risk getting encased in ice, and I felt something cold and hard slam into my thigh and stagger me.
Toshiro had a goddamn tail made of ice! Worse, I think that hit was accidental too!
There was no time to complain as I threw Kanshou to deflect Gin's extending blade. The thrown sword managed to knock the thrust off target enough to turn into another near miss that would have skewered Toshiro otherwise.
I traced my bow and fired off several shots to force Gin to either block or move. Anything to stop him from simply slashing at Toshiro and taking him off guard. The second I saw him leap backwards to dodge, I traced and modified an arrow with the most powerful fire enchantment I was capable of and Reinforced it as much as I dared. Silently praying it wouldn't explode in my face I spun towards Aizen, took aim, and fired.
There was no chance such a hastily thrown together attack would actually hurt an opponent on Aizen's level so as soon as the arrow was a few feet in front of him, I forcefully destabilized the projection and allowed it to blow up.
Smoke and fire consumed the area Aizen was standing in, but I doubted he was phased all that much. Kusarihebi appeared in my right hand and I hurled the weighted end into the smoke where Aizen had been standing. If I read him right, Aizen wouldn't have bothered to move wanting to show that my attack did nothing.
True enough I felt Kusarihebi brush against something in the smoke and manipulated the chain to wrap around it like a snake before forcing it to stab into the ground, hopefully anchoring it in place. I pulled the chain on my end tight as well and jammed the sickle into the tiles by my feet.
It wouldn't hold for long but hopefully it would delay Aizen enough for me to think of a way out of this mess.
I used Haste to close in with Gin once again now that he had recovered from my last attack, discarding my bow as Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in my hands once again. This time Gin reacted faster, deflecting my double overhead strike with his blade before kicking me away. I think he might have broken a rib.
The unexpected kick sent me skidding across the floor before I was able to force a hand under me and vault back to my feet. Panting heavily, I took the time to quickly scan the surrounding area. Gin was still focused on me, Toshiro was looking at the two of us confused, and the smoke around Aizen was beginning to clear.
As expected Aizen was completely wrapped up by Kusarihebi's chain, but he looked completely comfortable despite them being as tight as I was able to make them.
"Gin, you're taking too much time." he chided. "We do have a schedule to keep."
Gin straightened up and looked at his boss. "Apologies Captain, but ya' have to admit she is a clever one."
Aizen nodded at Gin's words. "Miss Cross is quite a bit more talented than we believed. Unfortunately-"
The chains suddenly snapped like they were made of paper and Aizen vanished before appearing behind Toshiro with his sword raised.
"-we are on a schedule, and we can't spend any more time here."
He brought his sword down, it effortlessly sheared through the ice wings and armour around Toshiro before continuing through his shoulder. Blood burst from the cut and Toshiro fell to the ground, unconscious or dead. In that one attack Aizen had crushed the smaller captain and completely took him out of the fight.
I cursed out loud and prepared to rush Aizen when every instinct I had screamed at me to move backwards. Swords up in a reflexive X-block, I retreated as fast as I could. Aizen appeared a few feet from my previous position but made no attempt to chase me.
Instead he just looked at me with an amused smile. "You truly are much more skilled than I initially believed. I thought I used enough power to end this painlessly, but now it seems you will have to suffer some."
What was he talking about, he didn't do anyth-
Kanshou and Bakuya suddenly snapped in half. The clean break through the middle of each blade told me Aizen cut them, but was he really that fast? I tossed the broken swords to the side and prepared to trace another pair. I would need to push my senses to the limit if I wanted to keep up, but there was no other choice.
"Are you going to continue even in that condition?" Aizen asked.
Condition? I was mostly fine though.
Of course as soon as I thought that I noticed a wet feeling on my chest and a gentle dripping sound. Looking down, I saw a fairly deep cut running diagonally, collarbone to hip, and bleeding pretty profusely.
Guess I didn't dodge Aizen's attack after all.
Oddly, the pain seemed delayed. I was either subconsciously ignoring it, or was on such an adrenaline high that it simply didn't register. My guess was the latter though.
Still the sudden injury and ongoing blood loss made me abandon my ongoing strategy. I couldn't keep relying on stalling tactics and hoping for reinforcements or a way out. At this rate I was going to weaken and make a mistake soon. And going up against two Captain level opponents meant that would likely be fatal.
So I was going to have to take a risk.
Even if my connection to the UBW had deepened since coming to the Soul Society, I had been unable to trace anything on the level of a Noble Phantasm besides Kanshou and Bakuya. Even then I had a feeling they were exceptions due to how strongly they were attached to my Archer soul fragment.
I doubted I would be able to force a trace of one without killing myself in the process even now. But what about something that skirted the line? Something strong enough to be on that level without being a Noble Phantasm on its own?
I formed the image in my mind. Making it as clear as possible, despite the exhaustion now creeping up on me.
"Trace On."
An absurdly long katana formed in my hand. Easily around 4 feet long, the sword had no guard. Instead it had a simple bronze collar that gave way to a purple hilt with two purple tassels hanging from the end.
Monohoshi Zao. The blade of an unnamed assassin from the fifth holy grail war.
It was a relief I was able to actually trace the blade, but I could have gone without the side effects. The instant the blade solidified in my hand all the pain that was mysteriously missing from the cut on my chest made its presence known. On top of that the strain from pouring that much mana into one construct all at once made it feel like every nerve I had was dipped in acid.
Ignoring the feeling as best I could I brought the katana up, the hilt resting next to my face as the blade pointed out towards Aizen.
He seemed amused by my actions. Calmly walking towards me even as blood slowly dripped off the end of his own sword, whether it was Toshiro's or my own was unknown.
"Interesting. I've seen reports of you copying the Zanpakuto of several Soul Reapers, but I don't recognise this one. What can this one do?" he asked.
"Wait a second and find out!" I growled, trying to ignore how much pain I was in and forcing out even more mana.
I launched myself towards Aizen, moving perhaps the fastest I even had as I began my attack.
Hiken: Tsubame-!
A piercing pain erupted in my chest as I slammed to a halt. I looked incomprehensibly at the hilt protruding out between my breasts. The Monohoshi Zao slipped out of my nerveless fingers, clattering to the ground before dispersing into motes of mana.
I slowly brought my eyes up to look at Aizen's face. He looked just as surprised as I did that he suddenly attacked.
With a quick tug he removed his sword from my chest and I collapsed heavily onto all fours. A burning sensation appeared in the back of my throat and I tried to clear it away with a cough.
Instead I ended up vomiting up a large amount of blood.
"Congratulations Alexandria Cross. I actually felt threatened by your attack. Enough so that I unintentionally counterattacked seriously."
Aizen was saying something, but everything sounded like it was underwater. Black was slowly devouring my vision, and I felt really cold.
"It seems like this is the end for you. A shame, you were one of the more interesting things around here at the moment. Oh well."
Distant footsteps made me drag my fading vision off the floor. A blurry white shape was slowly moving away from me.
"Gin, prepare for us to leave. It seems like we're going to receive more visitors shortly."
"Yes, Captain Aizen."
My arms finally gave out and I pitched forward into a growing puddle of my own blood.
And then, everything went dark.