Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach

Chapter Sixty Two - The Final Battle III: The Last Stand

-Soul Society-

Candice decided to engage Ganryu on her own, for now. Bambietta had decided to take some distance away to think things through after hearing about Giselle's death. In their little group of five, she and Bambietta were always partnered with each other. Part of that is because they have been friends even before they met the other three but also because of how their powers work. Only the both of them have powers that are suited to both close quarters and ranged combat without resorting to their spirit bows. While Bambietta's would end up blowing herself if she's too reckless, it is made up for her incredible swordsmanship skills and she could always combine it with her powers for unexpected explosion attack. Candice's ability to just shoot lightning bolts or use it as blades also allows her to be a versatile fighter. Unlike these two, Meninas, Giselle and Liltotto's powers were not suited for versatiltiy and thus have to rely on spirit weapons. It was for this reason that their main fighting style was always for Bambietta and Candice to head first into the enemy while the other three would provide support in one way or another

Ganryu and Candice were engaged in a sword lock. Right before Bambietta left, he noticed her frown before leaving, which led him to conclude that something happened that didn't go in their favor. This made him inwardly smirk but he knew he couldn't get cocky. Them fighing two on one has been incredibly taxing especially with how they attacked with great coordination. One might even think they were communicating telepathically. But when Bambietta left, Ganryu finally got some breathing room. He could use his powers to just kill this girl but decided against it. Instead, the two of them ended up clashing with their swords with Candice having the upper hand. Her fighting style was very difficult to read as one second she is using her right hand and on the next, she could instantly switch to her left or just dual wield. Not only that, she would sometimes fire of some lightning bolts when he doesn't expect it

This versatile fighting style allowed the green haired quincy to continuously put pressure on Ganryu, as he was forced to keep blocking. He attempted to turn the tables by quickly grabbing a dagger from his belt and tried to stab her with it. Candice was hit but she had activated blut vene so it barely scratched her. This did allow the sinner the chance and he kicked her away before attempting to bisect her. Now, Candice was crouching as she was trying to prevent the sinner from cutting her in half. Ganryu attempted to just kill her by grabbing his second sword and trying to run her through. It didn't work as Candice quickly used one hand to blast him with a lightning bolt, pushing him back. She didn't really care if she revealed her powers while he hasn't. At this point, either Kariya should have already reported about her powers or someone saw it from afar

When Ganryu recovered from the blast, he realized it inflicted quite a bit of damage but he had no time to think it through as another lightning bolt was suddenly heading his way. He quickly dodged at but when he did, Bambietta suddenly flashed behind him in an attempt to backstab. She managed to inflict a wound on his back but quickly moved away as the lightning bolt finally reached him

Ganryu was right, earlier, these girls weren't fighting that hard but after one of them left, they suddenly became aggressive. Whatever it was, it seems that he could no longer hold back. He decided to use his powers to fade from sight

When the smoke from the lightning cleared, the girls became cautious as their enemy was gone yet the did not see him leave nor was there any trace of movements. Having been told about Ichigo's abilities, the two quickly deduced that he must have something similar. Fighting back to back, Candice fired a huge barrage of lightning bolts in front of her while Bambietta caused the area to explode. While none of these were able to score a direct hit, it did force Ganryu out of hiding and Bambietta quickly engaged him in another sword fight

Ganryu was even more on the backfoot now as Bambietta was even more skilled with a sword than Candice was. When she had a clear shot, Candice fired an arrow right at the sinner. Left with no other choice, Ganryu decided to finally reveal his powers. As the arrow was heading to him, a light green colored rock from out of nowhere suddenly formed and blocked the attack. To his surprise, Bambietta kept her focus and kicked his knee, causing him to lose his balance before trying to run him through. He barely managed to form another rock that pushed her away. He then quickly summoned another rock and launched it her way

Bambietta saw this and quickly blew it up. It caused the rock to shatter into small pieces but when it made contact with her, it clouded her senses a little. The world appeared to be tilting every few seconds. It was no ordinary rock. If you make contact with it, it is gonna mess up your ability to fight

When Bambietta blew up the rock, Candice quickly engaged the sinner on her own in another sword fight. After a few seconds of fighting Ganryu on her own, she noticed Bambietta was holding her head. Candice immediately knew what that meant and that was the rock summoned by the sinner was somehow clouding the senses. It seems that despite their advantage, Ganryu could turn the tables against them

After she blew up the rock, Bambietta grabbed her head due to her senses being clouded. After a couple minutes of trying to regain her footing, she noticed that Candice was fighting him. Realizing that only one of them can have their senses clouded, their only choice was to finish him off before any other effects could take its toll. When the opportunity presented itself, Bambietta flashed towards Ganryu and delivered a very hard kick, forcing him to the side. Candice also joined this quicky by slamming him into the ground before unleashing a huge lightning bolt. When she noticed her position, she quickly retreated back towards her friend as her attack did cause an explosion

Ganryu recovered almost instantly and fired some energy blasts that were similar to a cero. This caused the girls to dodge it which the sinner took advantage of by firing even more rocks. Quickly reacting, Bambietta blew up the ground in front and used it to block the rocks while Candice shot a large lightning bolt right at him as the ground exploded and both attacks hit the sinner. The smoke cleared but revealed an incredibly burned Ganryu from the green haired quincy's attack

Now deciding to duel wield, Ganryu tried to take them head on but it didn't work. He was quickly and easily overwhelmed, suffering multiple injuries in the process. When he attempted to retreat, Bambietta fired a barrage off reishi bombs, which forced him to try and block it while she used that distraction to cut him across his torso. She then quickly moved out of the way as Candice hit him with an even stronger lightning bolt

Ganryu was sent flying but before he could be attacked again, he flashed towards Bambietta and run a dagger through her torso from behind before managing to cut off her sword arm since she was using blut arterie the whole time. Before he could do anything more, Candice flashed behind him and returned the favor, slicing his left arm. This did stop Ganryu from killing Bambietta but he did managed to cut Candice across her torso. Him turning his attention proved to be a mistake as Bambietta released her volstandig and forced Candice back before causing an incredibly large explosion. Candice took this chance and decided to use her own volstandig before using her electrocution technique, completely frying him to the bone. When the technique ended, Bambietta run him through before blowing him up, sending his severed body parts flying all over the place. Even though she had her arm sliced off, all she had to do was activate blut vene so she won't die from the bleeding

"Bambi, you okay?" Candice asked in worry as she approached her

"I'll be fine." Bambietta said, fully powering up blut vene. It did stop her bleeding but only for so long. "We'll just have to hope everyone finishes this war soon." she said weakly as Candice decided to put Bambietta's arm around her neck and help her walk. "Thanks."

"Come one. Let's find some safe place." Candice said as they walked away

In the eastern battles

"Resurreccion, segunda etapa."

When the four espadas muttered those words, the sinners were completely surprised. None of them have even heard about a second stage resurreccion. That wasn't all. The espada's spiritual pressure quickly went through the roof the moment they released it

"What? What is this?" Utagawa asked in a panic as the energy from the release died down

Starrk stood there in a new form. He is completely shirtless save for a sleeveless vest and pants that are composed of jagged black spirit energy, with flame-like blue spirit energy emanating from his hips and thighs. He also wears long, dark gray gloves that have light gray lines running down the arm sections and only cover his middle fingers and thumbs. Instead of an eyepatch, Starrk now has flame-like blue-black spirit energy covering his left eye, as well as a red flame tattoo around it, and his right eye has red sclera and a thin black pupil. His hair, now gray, is hip-length and tied in an unkempt ponytail at the back, emanating blue-black spirit energy from its tip. His pistols are now one handed and are largely black, with the light gray-colored design of a crescent moon unleashing rays of light on the barrels and a stylized wolf skull at the base of the grip. He also wears knee-length heeled boots of a similar design and material, resembling assault rifles at the back and top, and which emanate blue-black spirit energy from the base of the heels

"Sorry, I don't really like doing things like this but I've got no other choice." Starrk said with his voice slightly echoing

Utagawa immediately panicked at this and attacked, along with the remaining troops he has. This was a bad idea as with a single blast from his pistol, Starrk completely got rid of the entire army. Now growing even more panicked, Utagawa grabbed a nearby sword and attacked the arrancar. To his complete and utter surprise, Starrk suddenly flashed away and he wasn't even able to keep track of his movements, unlike earlier. He didn't realize where the arrancar has gone and just stood there. This left him wide open as Starrk was behind him with his gun point right at him. The arrancar then used his ultimate technique, Revólver de Los Lobos and completely destroyed the bount by firing a blue green cero right at him. Even though the bount managed to use his snake net, it wasn't enough as the cero blasted right through it and killed him, yet again

With Nel

Like with Utagawa, Benin was shocked at the amount of power that the one she was facing was releasing. It surpassed anyone within the twelve apostles, even Shuren, who was the strongest among them. Right now, she was suddenly not so confident at all, and for good reason

"What is this power? I've never even heard of this." Benin said in shock and panic

Like with her previous opponents, Nel didn't bother to answer as after all, first rule of battle is to never reveal your tricks. Now, her appearance is different from her first resurreccion. All traces of her hollow mask vanish and are replaced by four curling black-and-white horns that jut upward from her head. She retains her equine lower body, though the fur is now darker in areas and extends to cover her upper body, arms and hands. Glowing pink markings extend from her torso to her chest and shoulders. Fur identical in color to her hair forms on her back and her tail, the end of which blazes with pink spirit energy. Nelliel's eyes become darker and her pupils turn slit-shaped. Her weapon changes from a dual-ended jousting lance to a stylized spear blazed in pink spirit energy

Without so much as saying a word, Nel flashed in front of Benin and completely pinned her down with great force. In fact, the force was so great that Benin wasn't able to hold her off before being forced to retreat or she was gonna be cut in two. The instant she recovered herself, Nel already fired a pink energy blast from her lance. It scored a direct hit and it inflicted a significant amount of damage. It didn't even cause an explosion as it just pierced the apostle, who ended up bleeding significantly

"This power. It far surpasses my own. Answer me. What is this?!" Benin demanded to know

"Why would I tell you that?" Nel answered coldly with echoing voice, fully revealing her intent to just kill her. This was entirely unusual for a pacifist like Nel but with everything at stake, it was completely understandable

Benin now fully realized that her opponent was not gonna show even a shred of mercy. She immediately tried another tactic and fired a few arrows from her crossbow. Chains then came from the arrows, which all missed, and bound Nel down. Using all of her power, Benin charged dark purple energy from both of her hands before discharging it. This energy almost mirrored a cero but it wasn't exactly the same. The key difference was that its power depended on the ambient reishi, similar to a quincy's weapons. This energy blast scored a direct hit and caused an explosion and for a while, Benin thought she had won

Just a few seconds later, a pink energy blast of extreme density was suddenly launched from the smoke from the explosion, hitting Benin. The energy was none other than Nel's strongest technique, Lanza de Luz Gamuza. Her technique completely punched a hole right through the sinner, killing her. When her body dropped to the ground, the energy from the technique suddenly combusted and blew up, incinerating the sinner's body

With Harribel

When Harribel released her second stage resurreccion, it should come as no surprise what the sinner's reaction was. It was exactly the same as all the others, complete surprise and the sudden loss of confidence. Even Taikon, who was about the fourth or fifth strongest among them, completely lost all hope of winning

It didn't take long for the energy to die down and Harribel stood there in a new form. In this form, Harribel remains unmasked as in her normal Resurrección, and the lightning bolt-shaped marks on her face gain an extra jagged section while moving closer to her eyes, which glow bright blue. Her hair turns completely white, with several long braids reaching to her knees at the back and two bangs framing her face. Harribel gains two black-and-white, jagged, rock-like, long and roughly triangular ornaments on her head, one on either side, angled toward each other, with an additional section on each extending outward from her head, resembling ears. Her clothing is now different. She now appears to be wearing a very thin suit that looks like it was multiple teeth of a shark put together except it was gray or black in color with the breast and neck areas being covered by long strips of yellow spirit energy, and her new armor is asymmetrical in appearance

"Intruiging transformation. It won't save you." Taikon declared with zero confidence evident in his tone

"I beg to differ." Harribel said simply with her voice now similar to the others, it was echoing

Harribel didn't even waste a single second responding to that as she just quickly slashed the sinner. Even the sinners fat defenses wasn't enough to hold it off and he was suddenly missing part of his left body, including his arm. This sent him reeling from the attack, one that he couldn't even defend himself from. Quickly, he fired a condensed spirit energy blast at the arrancar but to his surprise, she simply swatted it away like it was nothing. Harribel then launched a water attack, intending to drown the sinner

Not wanting to take the risk that he won't be able to hold off that, Taikon tried to retreat but Harribel just kept on firing. It appeared to be her la gota technique but much stronger. It ended up being a trap as when Taikon was far enough, Harribel gathered her spirit energy into her ultimate attack, Dientes de Tiburón, which turned her sword into an extremely long whip before slamming the ground. A small tremor then happened before seven geysers appeared from the ground. Unlike a normal geyser, the waters from this one suddenly swirled around each other before combining into one. The water then convered on Taikon with great pressure. Since he was surrounded by it, the sinner had no hope of escape and his body was completely destroyed by the sheer amount of pressure

With Ulquiorra

Unlike his comrades, Garogai was completely silent as he observed his opponents transformation however, he too was no longer confident at winning this battle. He could slightly feel the other arrancar's spiritual pressure also rise but Ulquiorra's was undoubtably the strongest among them

When the energy died down, Ulquiorra stood there in a new form, more demonic than ever. He now has long white hair, horns made of green-black spirit energy, four large black wings, and a blaze of green-black spirit energy on the end of his tail. A black robe covers the lower half of his body, while his chest, shoulders and arms have cracks filled with green spirit energy. This transformation was different from the first time he used it as during the course of when they began to train after they were warned about the wandenreich, Ulquiorra realized that he has not yet completed his segunda etapa and has thus focused on it. Due to him being the first one to have achieved such a state, it was only natural that his was the strongest among all the espadas

Being as quiet as they ever were, both Garogai and Ulquiorra just stood there in complete silence, waiting for the other to make a move. When it seems that neither was gonna do anything, Ulquiorra was suddenly behind the sinner and cut him with an energy sword. This time, he had more than enough strength to pierce through the sinner's body with relative ease. This attack sent the sinner reeling and he desperately tried to counter attack. None of his attacks, whether it was melee or arm detachment or spirit energy blast, was enough to even put a scratch on Ulquiorra new form

This was the first time that Ulquiorra has used his completed segunda etapa and he wanted to try to see what his limits were. He would have done so if only the situation wasn't so critical. The arrancars have to completely take control of the eastern side in the event the quincies were forced out of the northern gate. That way, even if the quincies were forced out, they would still have a significant holdings to repel a counter attack until the quincies have rotated from the outside

Deciding to end this without even trying to test his limits, Ulquiorra tucked in his wings as he gathered spirit energy. Garogai noticed this and immediately tried to attack him before the arrancar could do whatever it was that he was doing. The sinner was too late as Ulquiorra extended his wings, creating a very large tornado of black with dark green outline spiritual energy. Like with the other three, this was his ultimate technique, Tormenta de Murciélago. It caused Garogai to be thrown into the sky before he was suddenly shredded apart with his body parts being sent all over the place

With Byakuya's group

The four of them were inside the mansion. From what they can see, it has been reorganized. Even Yachiru's secret passageways were completely removed. Byakuya and Toshiro had been oblivious to what the sinners had stashed away somewhere in the mansion and instead were focusing on their search for any supplies that could help the two unconscious lieutenant

"There's nothing here." Toshiro said, returning to the main room

"The same goes here. It seems any supplies we had has been relocated somewhere else." Byakuya added with a frown

While they were trying to consider their next move, they suddenly heard a voice from down one of the corridors. They grew wary as to who it belonged to but nonetheless decided to check it out. What neither of them knew is that before they arrived, someone was already inside and has been observing them warily. This someone was aware of who the voice belonged to and who else lingered in this manor

After a while of searching with blades at the ready, they found that one of the rooms has been turned into a prison. It was even altered to ensure that the prisoners could not escape and even if they somehow managed to, getting out of the room would be another problem on its own. Inside the cell were Kyoraku, Jushiro, Soi Fon and Nanao

"Kyoraku!" Byakuya said as he and Toshiro approached their superior. Before they could even get close, an arrow was shot at the bars of the cell. It was a very weak one as it was only meant to disuade the two captains from recklessly releasing the prisoners

"What the?!" Soi Fon asked in surprise

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let you release them, not yet anyways." the source of the arrow, Uryu, said as he approached them

"What are you doing? I thought we were on the same side." Toshiro asked suspiciously

"We are but only because we know what is currently happening and what is at stake. These four..." Uryu said, gesturing to the prisoners. "...don't. If they don't see reason, then we'll have to leave to leave them inside. If you refuse to understand why, then our alliance is over. We can't afford to take any unnecessary risk, not with everything at stake." he said adamantly

"Why you! After you abandon us to this..." Soi Fon retorted before an arrow was shot literally a hair away from her

"I told you. If you decided to stand against us, then we'll have to consider you as enemies as well." Uryu responded simply

"You don't really expect us to leave them in there?" Byakuya said with narrowed eyes as he got into a fighting stance

"You can and you will. Otherwise, I will kill you right here and now." Uryu responded as he readied his bow

"Enough." Toshiro said before an unnecessary fight happened. "When did you get here, Uryu Ishida?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I defeated a sinner near this area and was moving back to the northern parts when I came across the manor so I decided to see what was inside." Uryu answered which surprised them. Then again, it didn't really matter

"Uryu Ishida, what exactly is going on that's got you all so worked up?" Jushiro asked now that things have appeared to calm down

"The soul king is destroying the three worlds. He is doing what Yhwach was originally gonna do." Uryu responded, surprising the prisoners

"Do you have any proof of this?" Nanao asked suspiciously. Instead of giving an answer, Uryu merely grabbed a phone from his pocket and showed Nanao the same thing Aizen showed to Byakuya's group

"What?! Is this for real? How did you capture footage of this?" Soi Fon asked in surprise

"Come to think of it, how did you get your hands on it?" Toshiro wondered

"Aizen wanted footage of this specifically for an occasion such as this. He was well aware that we could not afford to fight both the sinners and you people. He gave me a copy of it along with a select few and he made sure not to let Ichigo know about it." Uryu responded before deciding to get to the important parts. "Now then, are you with us or against us?"

"Even if we were to side with you, how are we supposed to stop the soul king?" Kyoraku pointed out

"Ichigo has already left for the royal palace along with Aizen." Uryu responded

"And you would really trust someone like Aizen?" Soi Fon said venomously

"We do. As a matter of fact, none of us would even be part of this attack if it wasn't for Aizen. He made sure that Ichigo would be put in a position where he would not have to take on both the sinners and the soul king alone." Uryu answered sternly. "I will ask you one more time, are you with us or against us?" he asked. During this part, both Byakuya and Toshiro were sweating bullets. They really didn't want to fight their own but would have no other choice. Uryu even seemed confident enough to take down two captains all on his own

"With you." Kyoraku responded quickly, surprising Soi Fon

"But Kyoraku..." Soi Fon tried to object

"It's the only choice we've got Soi Fon. If the worlds are truly ending, then we'll be ending along with them." Kyoraku answered before looking at Uryu. "I assume you have a plan already in motion?"

"Yes. The original plan was for Ichigo and Aizen, as well as some ancient warriors to stop the soul king while everyone else would drive the sinners out. We have already taken control of the eastern side." Uryu responded before someone spoke on the comms. "Excuse me a minute."

"This is Ulquiorra. We've secured the eastern side. The sinners won't be able to retake in now." he said as he rendezvoused with the other espada

"Alright. Someone secure the southern end. Just maybe one. There's barely anyone left here. Most of the battles are still in the west and north. Reinforce the north immediately." Uryu responded. He was the only one who could give an update as the others were still fighting

"Alright." Harribel said they cut the connection with Uryu and only focused on their fellow espadas

"I'll head on where I am and see what I can find. I'll leave the rest to you." Nel said

"I'm the closest to the south. According to Uryu, it's mostly empty now. I'll just scout out what happened." Starrk said

"Ulquiorra and I are close to the north. We'll go help out. Nelliel, don't stray too far in case of any counter attacks." Harribel said

"Will do." Nel answered before they all hung up and split up

Uryu then decided to break the locks to the cell with a single arrow. "Alright. You guys are with me. We're being pressured in the northern area and we will need all the help we can get."

"What about Renji and Rukia?" Byakuya asked, uncharacteristically of him to lose sight of the objective

"We'll deal with it later. Right now, if we're pushed out of the north gate, then the sinners will have a good chance to drive us back even with the casualties they suffered." Uryu said, looking right at Byakuya who was glaring at him

"He's right. We have to focus on the war right now." Toshiro said before leading the way outside

"We won't be of much help though. Our powers are drained after being imprisoned." Kyoraku said

"That's fine. All we'll be dealing with are their regular troops. They're fairly weak but their sheer numbers can be a problem. Let's go." Uryu said as he followed the young captain outside

During this time, Kisuke was still on the move. It was rather far from where the squad twelve barracks once was to muken. As he was moving around while trying to remain hidden, an energy blast was suddenly shot in front of him, nearly scoring a hit. He looked around and saw a sinner coming from the rubble

"You must be Kisuke Urahara, am I right?" the sinner said

"Who? Me? I'm just a shopkeeper visiting this place." Kisuke answered, hoping to avoid a confrontation. When it seemed like the sinner didn't buy it and merely frowned, Kisuke didn't even hesitate and silently released his shikai before attacking the sinner

"I was right. You really are Kisuke Urahara. I am Murakumo of the twelve apostles." he introduced himself as he blocked with his glaive

"I suppose there is no way you're just gonna let me go, right?" Kisuke asked, hoping to avoid a confrontation. The sinner didn't bother to respond which wasn't surprising as this was after all, the sinners' last stand. Sure they can come back but they have been sealed off from both hueco mundo and the world of the living

The two then started to clash swords. Kisuke wanted to lure out whatever powers this sinner possessed. Murakumo also wanted to do the same but considering the shopkeeper's intellect and power, he was more likely gonna die before he could fully lure it out. Making his choice, he instead opted to go extremely aggressive by lightly pushing back then flashing behind him. Kisuke reacted to very quickly and blocked it nonchalantly

"Hado four, byakurai." Kisuke muttered while point a finger at him, unleashing a kido lightning, forcing the sinner to disengage. "Scream, Benehime." he said, swinging his sword as the sinner retreated, releasing a red crescent energy. It scored a direct hit and inflicted some damage

Murakumo merely shrugged it off and threw his glaive at the shopkeeper, who blocked it with his blood mist shield. It was a distraction as Murakumo used his secondary weapon, which was a longsword. It was a decent choice as it allowed more mobility than his primary glaive weapon. Kisuke was caught off guard by it and was nearly cut. The sinner pressed his advantage and forced the shopkeeper on the defensive

What they both knew is that if it kept up like this, the battle wouldn't go anywhere. Kisuke Urahara was simply far too smart to be taken lightly especially with his deceptive personality. Deciding to make the first move, Murakumo fired a condensed spiritual blast in order to distract the shopkeeper which he easily blocked with another red crescent. This was another distraction so that Murakumo could fire his power, which was summoning a force field around himself and using it offensively. This was an incredibly interesting power as it was both offensive and defensive at the same time. Defensively, it blocks any attacks while offensively, it can be used to push your target away. That wasn't all. Anything that comes in contact with the field would cause it to combust, which Kisuke realized when he tried to slash it and was blasted away

Murakumo then compressed the force field into a small ball of energy and threw it at the shopkeeper, causing some damage. Realizing that this was gonna get a lot trickier, Kisuke decided to engage the sinner at close combat. Murakumo thought the shopkeeper was being naive and just blocked every single one of his strikes. When they ended up in a sword lock, the sinner once more summoned that force field but to his surprise, the moment it made contact with Kisuke, he suddenly popped

"What...?" Murakumo asked in wonder. Surely someone like Kisuke Urahara couldn't be defeated that easily. His suspicions were correct when suddenly, Kisuke was above him

"Shibari, Benihime." Kisuke said and swung his sword, releasing a blood colored net and bound the sinner. The moment it made contact with the force field, it caused an explosion. Kisuke then stabbed the net in order to enhance that explosion. "Hiasobi, Benihime, Juzutsunagi." he said and caused orbs of fire to appear on the net and caused some small explosions. When it reached the sinner, it caused an even bigger explosion and when adding the one from the force field, its blast even forced Kisuke back

The explosion took quite a while to clear but when it did, Murakumo stood there with his body severely burned, him barely being able to stand and his clothes mostly torn apart. The sinner knew he wouldn't last that much longer against Kisuke Urahara. He was frustrated that he fell victim to a simple decoy but he wasn't gonna let him get away with it. The least he could do is knock the shopkeeper out of the rest of the war. In a last ditch effort, he summoned what power he had left and created another force field that was much bigger than the others. Unlike his previous ones, he didn't release it outwards from him and instead, into one direction before circling around the both of them. He then had it slowly compress. A force field of this size should be enough to cause significant damage to the both of them and it would be more than enough to remove Murakumo from the war altogether

Kisuke noticed this and realized his mistake. He should have gone for the kill but then again, the sinner did appear dead. While Kisuke was more than willing to kill an enemy, he wasn't as ruthless as Ichigo. The shopkeeper was aware that if that field made contact with him, it would be problematic and there was no way to flash around it either. He saw the sinner had a grin on his face, all the more confirming his suspicion. Left with no other choice, Kisuke used it. "Bankai, Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame." and summoned a giant lady. The lady then effortlessly cut open a path through the force field, which Kisuke quickly used to get out of there

Murakumo noticed this and knew it was over for him. He had failed and only managed to inflict a small amount of damage on the shopkeeper. He was then killed by his own force field as it exploded when it made contact with him. Like many techniques belonging to the soul reapers, his was also lethal to its wielded. The only reason he was only damaged by it now was because his force field would not make contact with him if he used it the normal way as he summons it around him

Kisuke then approached the sinner who got killed by his own technique as he was slowly falling to the ground. Not wanting to repeat his earlier mistake, he quickly sliced off the head off the sinner in two, ensuring that he was killed. Surprisingly, Murakumo still managed to do something and that was cause his own body to explode. This caught Kisuke off guard and was hit by the powerful explosion. He awoke a few minutes later and realized that his vision has been severely hampered and one of his arms being severely burned. Since there was still a war to fight, he released his bankai again and used its powers to temporarily fix his injuries. "Anyone got any updates on the battles?" he asked as he got up, still reeling from the last explosion

"Yes. Eastern side is now secure and firmly ours. Starrk has went to secure the southern area. According to Uryu, it's mostly empty now. I'm staying here to guard the eastern side while Ulquiorra and Harribel has gone off to help the quincies in the north." Nel answered

"I see. I'll try to help out Yoruichi before heading to wherever I'm needed." Kisuke said before hanging up. Nel wanted to ask why but decided against it. Despite the friendship between the former squad two members, they both knew better than to lose sight of the objective and if Kisuke chose to help Yoruichi, then she must have found something significant

During this whole time, Yoruichi and Kariya have been going right at it. The battle was pretty much even with Yoruichi's wrist blade shikai complimenting her hand to hand combat. Kariya was also able to hold his own. Since this was their last stand, he had no reason to hold back and Yoruichi was already familiar with his powers but clearly, he just opted to enjoy this battle

The two of them kept clashing but the werecat always had the slight advantage. Kariya was on the backfoot as Yoruichi was fighting similarly to Ichigo, one second using a weapon the next switching to hand to hand and the fact that Kariya only had one blade was proving to be quite a problem. He decided to end this situation by forcing Yoruichi away with his wind powers. This did force Yoruichi back and now Kariya had the upper hand

Even with all her skill, Kariya was still able to easily keep up with Yoruichi but at least now, the bount was pushing her back. When he forced her against a wall, he attempted to use his powers to kill her but she wasn't known as the 'flash master' for nothing. It was child's play for her to dodge it and when she did, she managed to slash him across his back and slammed him into the very same wall, which now had a hole in it. Kariya immediately turned around to slash her but she merely moved back and dodged it. He then fired a wind blast again which forced the werecat to block it with her blades before rushing towards her to engage in close quarters combat again

"What's wrong? Not gonna use you're zanpakuto's powers?" Kariya asked tauntingly

"Don't sweat it. There's a reason I prefer not to use it unless I have to." Yoruichi responded playfully before kicking him in the nuts with her knee before slashing him again

"That was cheap." Kariya said as he reeled, annoyed that she actually went for it during a battle

"Hey, this is a life or death situation. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive." Yoruichi answered with a smirk before firing a kido at him

Kariya easliy dodged it before deciding to even the playing field. He gathered static electricity and turned his wind blade into a lightning blade before using it to fire a lightning bolt at her. This did hit Yoruichi as it caught her off guard and Kariya used this chance to run her through right in the abdomen before slashing it sideways. Both attacks delivered a very powerful electric shock which further increased the damage. When he pulled his back sword in order to try another assault, Yoruichi quickly used this chance to punch him with the wrist blade on her hand. Surprisingly this wasn't the only attack. He was suddenly attacked from behind just a few seconds after the first one. He turned around and saw no one. This left him wide open as Yoruichi delivered a very hard kick right to the back his head. A few seconds later, another kick was suddenly delivered right to his face but it didn't come from Yoruichi

'What? What the hell is going on? Where are these attacks coming from?' Kariya thought as he reeled from all the attacks. Kariya wasn't given any time to think about it as Yoruichi resumed her assault. Despite being run through, she was still able to fight the bount effectively and now that the bount was injured, she now had the upper hand

After receiving even more injuries, Kariya forced himself to recover before blocking her attacks. This time around, it wasn't as easy. Yoruichi has already inflicted a significant amount of damage on him while he only managed to run her through. 'Is her powers activated by injuries? If she gets injured then her attacks get echoed somehow?' he wondered. That was the only thing he could think of as all this only began after he run her through. 'I should have gone for the head.' he said before managing to cut her but to his surprise, she merely shrugged it off

As they were clashing, Yoruichi realized that at this point, Kariya should have realized what her shikai's powers was or at the very least, have an idea about it. Since all her attacks that made contact with him after she got run through was echoed, it would be foolish to think the bount doesn't have an idea. Thus, she decided to end this battle here and now. "Bankai, Kurorei Sei Yukan." she said and her wrist blades detached and combined into what appeared to be a shortsword. The blade was gray in color and it had a combination of black and yellow colors on the handle while its shape was similar to that of a claymore

When she released her bankai, Kariya suddenly felt all his injuries healed. He grinned at this as he thought the werecat made a rookie mistake before suddenly, Yoruichi was in front of him and cut him in half, killing him, for now

'What?' was all Kariya could think as he was executed. He didn't want to accept this and as a last ditch effort to spite her, he unleashed all remaining powers he had and caused the entire underground area they were on to collapse

Too exhausted from her ruthless attacks and still reeling from the injuries, Yoruichi appeared to be buried as everything was falling down. She did attempt to run but she was a bit too late and the entrance was already blocked and she was trapped

Kisuke arrived after a while and saw the collapsed doorway towards muken's direct entrace. It didn't take long to figure out what happened and he immediately tried to dig a path through the rubble. Usually, he would leave doing stuff like this for when the battle was over but from what he felt, only the western battles were still happening and they were just about ready to end. As such, this provided him the opportunity to search the rubble. It took quite a bit of time but soon, he found Yoruichi unconscious and nearly crushed by the rubble

Somewhere on the northwestern side of the seireitei, Askin has engaged the sinner that has identified himself as 'Riyan'. Like any classic battle, they just opted to lure out their opponents powers first before doing anything significant but this ended up nowhere. Ever since the two crossed paths, Riyan has directed that army in the immediate area to move on as to reduce the casualties of their troops

Riyan was aware of this and from what he felt, this was one of the stronger quincies. He then decided not to hold back and use his powers in the hope of overpowering the quincy before he could use his abilities. Riyan's own power, which was summoning swords out of nowhere and controlling them with his mind alone. This ability gave Askin quite a bit of trouble as Riyan was among the stronger ones of the apostles

Askin was forced to dodge every single one of these and that wasn't even the end of it. Riyan also seemed that he was capable of suddenly growing them out of the ground, which nearly killed the quincy. However, upon further observations, it seems that using this power does take its toll on the sinner. Askin then realized that this battle would go either way as his own ability to make himself immune to an attack was useless against his current opponent as he wasn't using any substance or energy based attack. He was forced to dodge multiple of these summoned swords as they further increased the destruction left from the battles. One thing he did notice though is that the greater the size of the sword, the more taxing it is on the sinner

Riyan began to realize that his opponent has noticed the toll his sword summoning technique was taking on him. It dawned on him that it is entirely possible that Askin could easily just stall him out until he had no energy left. As such, he stopped summoning swords when Askin was dodging before grabbing his own sword on his belt and engaged the quincy. Askin was almost bisected as the sinner came really fast but luckily, he managed to generate his staff in time to block it

This caused the two fighters to engage in close quarters combat but thanks to the toll of launching so many swords by now, Askin had the upper hand. That wasn't even including any improvement in close quarters combat he got after training since Yhwach's death. Riyan was forced on the defensive and even then, he was having a difficult time fending off the quincy. He was really starting to regret just recklessly using his powers like that. Askin did notice this and while he was forcing the sinner back, he suddenly fired his gift ball at the sinner. It caused the sinner to almost instantly collapse which Askin took advantage of by grabbing him by the neck and slamming him to the ground

Riyan was almost helpless by this technique but he realized that this was gonna be their last stand. Either they fend off their attackers or they face the kushanadas and as such, he forced himself to power through the poison and stabbed Askin with a sword coming from the ground from behind him. This was rather unfortunate as Askin had been using blut arterie thus far. Had he used blut vene then it is possible that the damage from that attack could be reduced. Now, Askin was the one sent reeling and was kicked into a building as he activated blut vene to stop the bleeding

Realizing that he could not take his opponent lightly, now Askin was the one who was starting to regret his choices. He should have just gone volstandig from the start and killed him but, better now than never and he activated his volstandig. Without wasting a moment, Askin fired a couple gift ring. Riyan noticed this and saw that whatever the quincy threw suddenly disappeared. Instinctively, he moved from the area he was standing on as to avoid any potential attack but he was literally a second too slow as the gift rings made contact with his legs and it caused him to drop to the ground, unable to move his legs

Askin decided to end this fight then and there. He tried to test what his opponent can do in his current state by summoning his bow and firing an arrow. Even though Riyan lost his ability to move his legs, he still managed to dodge it by forcing his body to roll to the side using his hands. This move however, left him unable to dodge any more attacks and Askin decided to play it safe by firing two more gift rings. With the sinner now unable to even dodge, he was helpless as the gift rings made contact with his eyes, blinding him completely. With his opponent incapacitated, he dropped his blut vene and focused on arterie as to maximize his damage potential

Now lacking the ability to see his surroundings and the fact that this was gonna be his last battle anyway, Riyan knew he only had one last trick up his sleeve in order to kill the quincy in his blinded state. Askin then used his powers to make the reishi in the air poison to the sinner but whether that would kill him was anyone's guess. He was well aware that even though he had been blinded, he could still cause significant problems if he randomly summons his sword and the fact that he could still feel spiritual pressure would mean that the sinner could end up killing someone with a random shot. It was on this possibility that Askin decided to finish him off personally and summoned his bow before taking aim right at the head

Riyan, even in his poisoned state, realized that Askin would not come close to him and knew he had to take a chance. The moment he felt an arrow being shot from somewhere, he used his last bit of strength to summon a lot of swords from the sky pointing down before they all dropped to the ground. The sinner was killed the moment the arrow made contact with him but Askin was caught off guard by the number of swords summoned. Even in such a weakened state, the sinners were truly capable fighters and since he wasn't that fast with hirenkyaku, Askin was pierced in multiple parts of his body by the swords and he fell to the ground, bleeding in his own pool of blood

Just some distance to the south of Askin, the lieutenants and Gin have engaged the sinner army. They've been occupied at it ever since. The army have focused their efforts on the northern gates as they noticed a weak spot there and many even abandoned the other fronts, mainly the eastern area once the espadas have released their segunda etapas

It took quite a few minutes before they got the army's attention but when they did, it didn't take long for them to be pushed back. They have grossly overestimated themselves and the only reason they haven't been all killed yet was Gin. He was the one who was shooting down the gargoyles that attacked them as they weren't engaging the ones who were defending the gate. This backstab attack however, did relieve a small amount of pressure on Kukaku's end, allowing her to get rid of nearly all of the gargoyles while Ganju was basically mopping the floor with the ground forces although the army was taking its toll due to sheer numbers alone and they would soon be overrun as they were engaging the majority of the sinners' remaining troops

Eventually, a few dullahans managed to sneak their way around the lieutenants and brutally stabbed Momo from behind, causing her to cough up blood. In her state of not having all of her spirit energy from being imprisoned, she was next to helpless against it

"Momo!" Izuru yelled as he was the closest but the moment he called her out, he left himself open and another dullahan quickly bisected him in half, killing him. The one that killed Momo then pulled out his spear as the female lieutenant finally died

The other lieutenants couldn't really do anything to help them as the ghouls really put on the pressure. They really were starting to regret not listening to Gin earlier but there was no time for that now as they were saved when Uryu, Ginjo, who they met along the way here as he was ruthlessly killing a sinner army as payback, Kyoraku and the others arrived. Byakuya quickly used his shikai to get rid of the entire army attacking them. Kyoraku and Jushiro also brought the bodies of the still unconscious Renji and Rukia

"Gin, what's your situation here?" Uryu asked

"Momo and Izuru have been killed just now. Every single one of the lieutenants are still weakened from being imprisoned. Tetsuzaemon was also killed by Bambietta earlier." Gin reported as they were now in the clear, for now which annoyed Soi Fon. She wanted to react on it but Kyoraku stopped her. "I heard about what happened to Giselle and since they were adamant about not retreating, I decided it would be best to head to the north to help Liltotto hold the line."

"That was a good choice but now, we've finally got some breathing room. Ulquiorra and the espadas' hold on the east is now firm and the sinners won't be able to retake it for a long time. Starrk is also now mopping up the southern area." Uryu said thoughtfully

"What about the others? Shouldn't we go help them?" Ginjo asked curiously

"From what I can feel, the only battles that are still raging are Kenpachi's, Isshin and Ryuken's, and the ones defending the gate." Uryu said as he concentrated for a bit

"Ginjo, what happened to Tsukishima?" Gin asked as he noticed his partner wasn't there

"He was killed earlier. It was my fault. I should have killed that old man right from the start." Ginjo said in a very venomous tone. "So, what do we do?"

"The rest of you, head to the north and finish off that army. It seems to be the last one standing." Uryu instructed before looking at the direction where the remaining battles still raged. "I don't think any one of us wants to get in on Zaraki's fight so I'll go check on Isshin and Ryuken."

"That battle is still gonna take a while. The one their fighting is Shuren, the leader of the twelve apostles and Kokuto's second in command. He is the strongest among all of the sinners bar Kokuto." Gin said as he realized who the duo was fighting. "He's not gonna go down easy especially since this is their last stand."

"All the more reason for me to help them. Now go. Secure the north. The sinners are on their death throes now." Uryu said and they quickly left

"Are we really gonna let them get away with killing Tetsuzaemon?" Soi Fon asked as the others moved out first

"As much as it is saddening, there are much larger things at stake and I would rather not jump to conclusions about it." Kyoraku responded simply as he followed the others. Jushiro then moved out as well before Soi Fon begrudgingly followed

Since Ichigo and Aizen made a b line for the sokyoku hill, Zaraki has merely been toying around with his opponent. He really was itching for a good fight ever since they couldn't mount an assault on the seireitei. Even though he could not wield a sword due to not having any arms, Gunjo was more than able to fend of Zaraki's strikes although part of it was due to the captain not using his full strength. In fact, he hasn't even removed his eyepatch. Gunjo's constant dodging however, did force Zaraki to release his shikai as he was getting really annoyed by it

Even with his shikai, his fighting style didn't really change and Gunjo was quick to take advantage of it. His extendable tentacles gave him a slight edge as he could always launch a sneak attack by extending them somwhere before wrapping it around the soul reaper and throwing him around. Even if Zaraki tries to cut the tentacle, it would just quickly regrow. The way he was fighting was not going in his favor despite the difference of power between them

The only thing that his shikai ever did was extend his reach since it was quite long. It did put a bit of pressure on the sinner but the way Zaraki was fighting wasn't helping him. In fact, Gunjo already managed to punch a couple holes through his body just because Zaraki let him. When Gunjo slammed him into a wall, this did accidentally remove the eyepatch and all hell broke loose. Zaraki's spiritual pressure suddenly raised to absurd levels and it was even comparable to Shuren's or even Kokuto's

With him being at full power, Zaraki used his uncontrollable spirit energy to launch an energy slash at him. It scored a direct hit and it cut the sinner's front side. He didn't stop there as Zaraki's speed has also increased and quickly began slashing up everything he could see in an attempt to kill the sinner. Any ordinary opponent would have panicked at the brute strength that the captain possessed especially when he destroyed an entire building with a single slash however, Gunjo knew better and he kept his cool. The soul reaper was being far too reckless and when he was cornered, he merely moved to the side and Zaraki caused the wall he was on to collapse. Quickly seizing this chance, Gunjo used one of his tentacles to pierce the captain right through his chest, barely missing his heart. Unlike the previous times he punched a hole, this one was a bit harder due to Zaraki no longer holding back but it still caused the captain to stop for a bit as he felt that attack. In that instant of opening, Gunjo used his other tentacle to wrap around him before slamming him twice on the ground. Before he could do it a third time, Zaraki quickly regained composure and brute forced his way out of the tentacle but as he was falling, Gunjo used his other one to quickly wrap around the leg. He then sent a very powerful stinging attack from his tentacle, completely immobilizing the captain before he fired a condensed light blue spiritual energy blast at him, slightly scorching the captain from the impact

With Zaraki temporarily immobilized and hit by an explosion, Gunjo slammed him once more as he retracted the tentacle and regrew the other one. "Pathetic. To think that we were actually concerned about you when we first came here and this is all you offer." Gunjo said as he began to leave

"Watcha doing, Kenny? Why are you lying around?" a familiar voice asked as Zaraki was laying on the ground from all those injuries especially the one where his heart was nearly crushed

"Yachiru..." Zaraki muttered weakly. He really regretted leaving himself open as the sinner could have easily killed him if he went for the heart. As he was contemplating his situation, he realized that maybe he would die here but suddenly, Yachiru's hand was overflowing with power. "Yachiru... what is...?" he asked in confusion

"Oh Kenny. This is the power that everyone calls 'bankai'. Now go out there and have fun!" Yachiru answered cheerfully before unleashing a huge burst of energy

Here is the next one. This one took quite a bit of time to write as I've been busy doing something else. I know in the previous chapter I said that I would finish the soul society battles but I changed my mind. While I was writing this, I realized a couple things that I wanted to add and explain so I decided to just put some of the battles on the next chapter and add the explanations there. As I mentioned, the next chapters will probably take a while and I already said the reason why

I also added more casualties and injuries in this part of the war as otherwise, what's the point of it being a war if it's only a one sided massacre. They could have one the entire battle from the start but well, not all of them are like Ichigo. Now, let me explain some stuff I put in

First, Gunjo is in no way near the level of power Zaraki has. The only reason he was able to inflict that much damage on him was because Zaraki is a reckless fighter. That shouldn't be unreasonable as we all know Zaraki's character and it should be obvious that in the canon, he could have easily killed Ichigo and Nnoitra from the get go. But, since he always gives his opponents a chance, well...

Next thing I would like to explain is the segunda etapas. All those descriptions are from the bleach wiki so all credits go to them. I did however, change Harribel's design. She was literally almost naked in her bleach brave souls form and it really ticks me off. I just don't like it when women are sexualized so I decided to have her wear something instead but kept the design of the original bbs form. In their fights, I didn't drag it for too long as that would be overkill, even though it was already overkill but you get the picture

The next ones would be some of the sinners' power. For Ganryu, it's basically the same as kryptonite. The only difference is it has to make contact for it to take effect and it doesn't weaken you. The next one is Murakumo. I got that idea from a tv show I watched as a kid so I added it in but just altered it. In one episode, one character used a field generator to push enemies back

Here is also the one I said about giving Askin a proper fight. Whether he survives this war is something I haven't fully decided on yet. Most probably not, just like with the others in critical condition. When I checked Askin's abilities on the wiki, he was actually only a hirenkyaku practitioner so that means he isn't that fast. That's the reason why he wasn't able to get away in time and was pierced

Last thing I need to explain is Yoruichi's powers. It's actually quite simple. In shikai, if she gets inflicted a significant injury, any attacks that make contact with the enemy is echoed. Only significant injuries will count so that means a simple paper cut or a slight wound won't activate it. Since she is mainly an assassin due to being the former stealth force captain, this ability would prove to be counter productive so she doesn't use it and saved it for this battle. In this story, she didn't use this against Aizen because Kyoka Suigetsu is broken. There is no way she would be able to hit him and she might have ended up killing Isshin and Kisuke instead. In bankai, it gives off an aura that heals the one her shikai inflicted damage on. This is a trap ability as the one who was healed would have no chance of survival if stabbed again. Her bankai ability is useless unless her shikai has done its part

That's about it for now

Translations:

Kurorei Sei Yukan - Black Ghost Voice: Soothing Vibe