Sins of the Unholy
Chapter 15: Rumble
While the Tengu's invade the living world, a rumble shakes the Soul Society. Saki and Tsuki grip onto the landing pillars and look at one another. The sound of ground being split is deafening as the home they stand in begins to rain wood and dust. Saki pulls away from the pillar and begins to tumble toward the bedroom. With a loud snap the door opens and Juno steps out dressed in full shinigami uniform. She stands tall and unmoving as Saki falls to her knees.
"Lady Juno!"
Juno moves away from the door and heads straight to the weapons rack. Lifting up her hand, lightning crackles around her and she points a single finger at her sword.
"Hado #4: Byakurai!" The lightning shoots out toward Kiseichu and lights up the bindings. Saki watches as the bindings begin to crack.
"Lady Juno stop!" She tries to get to feet again but the rumbling intensifies and she's brought back down. Tsuki stumbles to her side and pulls the girl against the wall. Both watch as the bindings break away and fall to the ground like a fine dust. Stepping forward, Juno takes her sword off the rack and secures it around her waist.
"Get outside and wait this out. Do not leave this place. Toshiro will find you." Speaks up Juno as she shunpos out the hall door and away from Saki and Tsuki.
~
Standing along the buildings of the Soul Society, Juno watches as squads run along the large crack along the ground leading up to the Head Captains squad. Four Captain's join as another rumble shakes the world. Juno can feel Kiseichu along her hip, soaking up what reishi it can. The building she stands on starts to disintegrate as her sword takes it all.
"Ryuzaki!" Captain Kuchiki of Squad 13 comes to stand along the building, eyes watching in horror as Kiseichu eats.
"What happened to the limiters? Ryuzaki control your Zanpakto!" Juno ignores the yells of the Captain as she watches skeletal hands begin to come up from the large crack. One hand begins to move further up reaching out into the sky above. Kiseichu cackles at the back of her mind and Juno draws her sword.
"Yume no kiseichū, shōhi shite kaihō suru! (Yume no Kiseichu consume and release)" The sword in her hand changes into its Jian form, a Chinese style long blade, it's blade blue with it's name etched into the blade. Rukia pulls her sword and holds her hand out ready to shoot off a bakudo spell.
"You have other things to worry about, Captain." Comments Juno as along the crack Kirin's begin to zoom out and attack at the souls reapers below. Rukia closes her hand but still points it at Juno.
"Tragic ties and swift retreats, cast about the empty world," Rukia begins the incantation and Juno points her blade down at the skeletal hand.
"Kiseichū wa shōhi shimasu! (Parasite Consume)" Her blade breaks and charges for the hand. It wraps it all over and begins to eat at the hand like acid. Flash stepping away, Juno moves to stand above the hand as the fighting begins to intensify around her.
Each Kirin shoots off blasts or charges into the soul reapers, taking down dozens as she feels the power from Kiseichu fill her. Like an empty cup, Juno takes a deep breath and lets the liquid fill every nook and cranny of her being. Closing her eyes, Juno holds her hands out at her sides and lets the reishi of the Soul Society come to her. Lines of reishi pool around her and the skeletal hand reaches up to grab at Juno.
Rukia jumps away from the building as a Kirin comes at her, she slashes at the one but it simply takes the attack and keeps charging. Rukia jumps down to the ground and fires off a Hado spell to stop some of the Kirin attacking downed soldiers.
"Rukia!" Yells out Renji as he makes his way to his wife's side, standing back to back they take on the Kirin, Zabimaru tearing up the ground and buildings while Sode no Shirayuki's ice attacks take on the other end.
"We just received word that the world of the living is facing off with the Tengu's!" Yells Renji as his sword swings around the two, breaking the frozen over ice Kirin's.
"We have to get Ryuzaki off the field, she'll absorb this whole area and everyone with it!" Rukia begins to prepare the binding spell. Holding her fist out to Juno she begins again. The skeletal hand is within inches of Juno.
"Tragic ties and swift retreats, cast about the empty world," She starts the spell again as Zabimaru twirls around them causing the Kirin's around to start to scream. It's a mix between the roar of a tiger and the frightened cry of a horse. It's jarring to all around and Rukia forces herself to keep her hand up.
"and be bound by the will of all. Bakudo #63 Sajo Sabaku!" Gold chains begin to shoot from her fist as the fingers wrap around Juno and everything bursts into flames. Rukia pulls her hand back and pulls Sode no Shirayuki up and covers her and the soldiers nearby in an ice dome. Zabimaru slithers around under the ice keeping the fire out.
After ten minutes, the fire begins to dissipate and Zabimaru bursts out, breaking the ice dome. The whole area looks like a bomb has gone off. Many Soul Reapers and Kirin lay charred. Rukia feels fear roll over her as she looks to where the skeletal hands had once been.
"She's gone, what the hell are we dealing with?" Questions Rukia as she shoots up to get a better view of the damage done. Looking to Squad 1, she notices that the wall displaying the insignia is cracked across the middle and scorch marks mar the white.
Squad 4 descends on the grounds and begins to work to get anyone still alive attention they need. Rukia flash steps to the Head Captain. His customary pink coat is gone and his hat shows burn marks along the left side.
"Rukia, please tell me she's around here somewhere." Captain Isane's words are panicked as she moves toward them. Her Lieutenant runs in another direction as they begin setting up a prep tent.
"She hardly even acknowledged me when I told her to stand down." Rukia watches as her lieutenant and brother join them.
"Her limiters were off, she was sucking up so much reishi, I could feel it pulling at me as well. Have we heard from Karakura town?" Rukia gives her brother a slight bow before turning to the Head Captain.
"Communication went out with the blast, just look at the damage." Looking over the grounds again, Rukia sighs. Two or three miles are chard. It covers buildings and the blast radius of the impact site spans out a foot or two.
"What did they want? Besides Ryuzaki, it doesn't seem like anything else is missing. What are they after?" Questions Byakuya as Isane seems to deflate beside them all. Quickly she excuses herself to head to the prep areas. Rukia keeps her eyes on the carnage and spots a bright red headed reaper helping transport others.
"She was far out of the blast area, Squad 11 had been dispatched to the world of the living but she'd been told to stay with the barracks." Says Reji as he lays a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Squad 12 is currently working on trying to restore communication with Captain Hitsugaya and the others. Two attacks at the same time, it's too precise. For now everyone fan out and see if anything else is amiss." The Head Captain speaks up quickly before turning to his Lieutenant.
~
Toshiro stands in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. His Captain's Haiori is gone and the shuhaksho he wears is burned along the edges. He watches as people from Squad 4 work on healing those in the room. His eyes never leave Matsumoto's pale form.
Captain Hirako sits on a bed a few over as a healer wraps his shoulder and arm. Toshiro can still feel the flames upon himself, Hyorinmaru's ice had blocked most of it, but needless to say he was at a disadvantage in this fight. He looks over the others, Kenpachi grumbles as he looks over his men.
They'd shown up just in time, two captains and two substitute soul reapers were faring well once the battle had begun, but with the sucking of reishi coming from their enemies. They could quickly feel their spiritual pressure begin to fall.
"Captain Hitsugaya, we can look over you now." A healer comes forward but cowers under his glare.
"Get everyone healed up, I'm going to contact the Head Captain." He pushes off of the wall with a wince and moves away from the chatter. Hyorinmaru growls loudly and he winces more. Once outside of the room, Toshiro makes his way to the upper floors and the communications room.
At the time of the battle they'd been able to get word to the Soul Society but then communications had become unstable. The frequency was off, Rangiku said she could hear someone else on the line. He stops in the hall, watching again as Rangiku took the brunt of the blast, Hyorinmaru had only been able to protect them from so much.
Shaking it away, he moves into the room and watches as three soldiers fiddle with the giant viewing screen. It flickers just a bit and he can see glimpses of the Head Captain. They wait a few moments more before the screen finally evens out and the Head Captain looks no better than how he feels.
"Good to see you still standing Captain Hitsugaya." He bows before the Head Captain and waits. He can't bring himself to deliver his report. Too much had happened and much of it had come from Ryuzaki's dreams and yet some of it had not.
"How bad are the casualties?"
"None dead but many injured including Lieutenant Matsumoto and Captain Hirako."
"At least you're faring better, quite a few squads are down at least 10 to 20 men. Not even sure when we'll get the grounds looking normal again. Amazing what a few hours have done to us." Hitsugaya stays quiet as the Head Captain goes on. He can't bring himself to complete his report, he feels the adrenaline slowly start to leave his system.
"Captain your report." Toshiro blinks a few times before looking hard at the Captain. Just behind him he can see Rukia and Byakuya.
"Besides the injured. A total of five Tengu appeared, they used the reishi spread all over to manifest themselves here. Each one was a different form of attack, they had us spread all over. They escaped after a large fire attack wiped the field. It's where most of the injuries came from." Toshiro crosses his arms and tries to balance out his stance.
"We'll open the senkaimon within a few hours, you can come back with the injured. We will refresh the world of the living with what we have in reserve. We do have one other thing to report." Toshiro blinks slowly as he watches Rukia step forward.
"Juno Ryuzaki broke through the bindings on Yume No Kiseichu. Upon the arrival of the threat, Kiseichu began to absorb the reishi all around. With all the commotion I was unable to bind him again. She," Rukia stops as she looks over the Captain. His eyes have widened and his shoulders hunched.
"She looked to be aiding them, before the blast went off, it grabbed her. We've searched the area, she's nowhere to be found." It's like a bucket of water has been dumped on him, Hyorinmaru screams at the back of his mind and the world tunnels.
"I understand, I will report once the senkaimon is open. Is that all Head Captain?" His words are cold, short and almost clinical. He doesn't focus on the screen before him, but masks any and all emotions he can.
"Yes Captain Hitsugaya." The screen goes out and Toshiro listens to the static on the screen. The technicians in the room bolt quickly as cold air began to fill the room. Toshiro can still hear Hyorinmaru screaming and the headache he'd been battling since earlier is coming back in full force.
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Comments, Questions, Concerns
Hi all! Wow are we getting into the end here, we have one more chapter and then a slight break of some short moments with Juno and the cast of Bleach. Something to give you a bit of happiness before I get you into part 2: Sins of the Exiled....Get ready!