The fight had escalated into pure chaos. Especially with Nemu's terrifying strength. The fuck kind of boost did Mayuri give her?
Nemu was absolutely terrifying.
Like, Uryu expected her to be strong—she was Mayuri's creepy artificial daughter, after all—but this?
This was brutish-level violence.
As Nemu was sent flying toward the floor, she landed gracefully. Her eyes locked onto the scientist in the sky, and she began channeling all the power in her legs to launch herself back up.
When she finally jumped, the floor beneath her foot completely shattered under the might of her leg. Uryu could roughly feel her soul weakening, and using his decent control over Reishi and his Schrift, he placed her soul in a static-like state, where it couldn't be damaged nor upgraded.
In a sense, it was as if Mimihagi himself had placed a hand on her soul.
Yet, the thick girl jumped high into the air, cocking her fist back.
"Damn..." Uryu muttered as the punch that landed on Orochimaru caused the whole area to shake. Did she receive upgrades or some shit?
Like, come on. The area was shaking due to her punches.
Meanwhile, Nemu was wondering.
'My soul... it's not depleting.'
Her attack, in fact, was using her soul power, yet her soul was not being depleted. Each time she used that attack, instead of her soul being drained, it was Orochimaru's. And not the "good" one from the almighty, all-righteous Soul Society.
A man with no wrong, as righteous as the nobles. They could never do any wrong... {original SI}... Nah, who could ever sully their name with such a thing? They did no such thing. They are pure beings.
Speaking of which—
Rukia in Bankai?
Absolute menace.
Uryu honestly expected her to be as frozen as everything else when she activated it, 'cause, you know, she kind of just turned into ice. But apparently not. She moved just fine somehow.
She was moving fine.
Fast. Precise. Lethal.
Apparently, her mastery had evolved to the point where she could actually move while in Bankai.
Didn't it take ten years for someone to master their Bankai? How the fuck did she get so strong and good at it so fast?
The face of a very lovable idiot popped up in his mind... Hm.
Szayelaporro, meanwhile, was having a terrible time.
He had zero openings to monologue.
Every time he tried to counter, one of them would shut him down immediately.
Nemu would bulldoze through his defenses.
Rukia would freeze his counters mid-air.
Uryu would just cheese his abilities out of existence.
At one point, Nemu just casually ripped off one of Szayelaporro's arms.
Like she was picking fruit off a tree.
Szayelaporro screamed in absolute rage—
Which was exactly what Uryu needed.
Because, at that moment, he activated his Schrift.
Szayelaporro's body locked up.
The first checkpoint was Nemu punching him so hard the floor beneath her cracked.
The second checkpoint was Rukia freezing him solid.
Uryu had placed the final checkpoint exactly one millisecond before he died.
And now?
Now, Szayelaporro was stuck in limbo.
Not dead.
Not alive.
Not conscious enough to activate his rebirth ability—but also not dead enough for it to trigger automatically.
Just permanently trapped.
Uryu adjusted his glasses, satisfied. "Well. That takes care of that."
Nemu simply tilted her head, watching the frozen Espada with mild curiosity.
Rukia lowered her blade, exhaling. "That was good teamwork."
Uryu nodded in agreement before looking at Nemu. "You did well."
Nemu blinked, seemingly confused.
Was she being praised? That was new.
Very new.
"...Well?" she echoed.
"Yeah," Uryu replied, giving her a look. "You fought well. You don't need to keep throwing yourself into danger like some kind of disposable puppet."
She hesitated, then muttered, "Father said—"
"Fuck what your dad said."
Uryu paused for a bit. Did he just say that? Was his hate boner for Mayuri that strong that his vocabulary became like this... or was the Sora virus getting worse?
Goddamn it, Sora.
Nemu actually flinched a little at that. Uryu noticed and sighed. He would try his best not to scare her.
Last thing he wanted was for his brother to start calling him bitchless again.
"Just fight. Fight smart. Don't intentionally get yourself hurt." That was good, right? No corny shit, just the damn truth.
Nemu was silent for a moment before... slowly nodding.
Uryu sighed, rubbing his temple. "Alright. That's done. Now..."
He turned toward Rukia, eyes sharp.
Now that she was taken care of, using his Schrift once more, he returned Rukia to pristine condition, transferring all of her battle damage to the bug in his pocket.
The bug froze over and died... Hm, he would need another small Hollow. Anyway, Rukia was back to full, and Nemu's soul was still at 100%.
Everything should be fine.
But a question kind of bothered him a bit. If Nemu was here, where was Mayuri?
Rukia seemed to have that question too.
When she asked, Nemu responded.
"Father... is weak. Father can barely move."
Uryu was trying his hardest not to smile face-to-face as he heard of Mayuri's current condition. Unable to move on his own, his own body collapsing on him, and the only reason he was alive was because of Uryu's Schrift. The second Uryu decided to stop keeping the man's Chain of Fate in limbo, he would die and turn into a Hollow.
Wouldn't it just be funny?
Somewhere in Soul Society...
As Mayuri lay on the bed, his thoughts were filled with devouring human souls, to consume and grow stronger. He was slowly realizing that he was turning into a Hollow.
However, instead of being scared, this kind of excited him. Oh, the possibilities. The countless possibilities. If he could achieve sentience as a Hollow, he could find a way to obtain Hollow powers.
As the man was thinking that, a sudden vision flashed in his mind.
Some people say that when you're about to die, your whole life flashes before your eyes...
Well, Mayuri saw the future.
A future he didn't like very much.
**Plap**
**Plap**
**Plap**
And thus, the overwhelming surge of negative emotions in the man's body, upon seeing his greatest creation receiving the meanest backshots from the Quincy responsible for his current state...
Former Captain of the 12th Division, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, had turned into a Hollow.
A/N....wonder what he saw.