~ Never Backward ~
Blood-red light cast across the late-evening sky, the deep glow of sunset filtering through the thickening blanket of clouds that surrounded a clean, open hole in the center. Screams and thunderous rumbling echoed across Japan's tallest mountain. There, on the peaks, tears in the fabric of reality poured out hollows, their collective roars seeking to drown out the shuddering mountain beneath them.
Menos Grande stood at each of Mount Fuji's eight peaks, the towering Gillian holding open garganta to allow their lessers to enter the world of the living en masse.
In the center of the crater, with stone cracking beneath their feet and scalding, noxious gases spewing upward, four captains of the Gotei Thirteen stood against a former of their number, a vizard and former Kenpachi.
One figure stepped past them, his back to the threat at the core; putting his faith in his captains, Sayis Inuzuri, Soutaichou of the Gotei Thirteen, walked away.
His first steps were slow, pendulous... but with each step, his pace increased. His one-sleeved haori billowed out behind him, long-grey hair whipped along in the breeze. His sandals slipped and skid several times on the loose gravel and from the shudders of the mountain beneath him, but he did not look backward. His pale grey eyes were forward, aimed at the nearest, and lowest of the eight peaks.
"Hitotsu!"
The tattoos spiraling down his arm glowed with teal reiatsu; the mitsudomoe at its core, just below his shoulder, served as a constant reminder of his creed. If not for trusting in it, he never would have come as far as he had; he never would have seen some of his best and brightest officers grow to become captains. Now, he had to trust in its meaning again, and have faith that they would succeed in defeating Theron Ascania.
His role in that would be to ensure that they had that chance: not a single hollow would interrupt their battle.
Sayis would see to that.
The silver spear Karino Yadori no Kamayari, with its two rear-swept hooks complementing its broad blade, lifted above his head, held aloft by the translucent teal arm projecting from his shoulder. As he ran, the arm jerked forward.
Karinoyo shot high overhead, like an arrow loosed from its bow. The spear soared high and far, cutting through the mountainous winds. At the apex of its trajectory, suddenly Sayis was there clutching the metal haft. Reiatsu gathered beneath his sandals, cushioning his fall enough to hold him aloft. Without missing a beat, the spear was launched once more, climbing higher, aiming for the rim of the vast crater where the hollows were massing. Again, and again he launched the spear, each time going farther before teleporting.
Ahead, below the crimson cover of darkening clouds, the first Menos stood. Immensely tall, the otherworldly beast had a mockingly human shape, as of a man wearing long black robes. Its white mask, with simply circles for eyes and a long, pointed nose, was the signature of a Menos Grande; a powerful amalgamation of souls without a single dominating will. Its white hands, with long, pointed fingernails, held open the fabric of reality as if it was a curtain, hollows gathering next to the creature's alabaster boots.
Karinoyo launched straight upward, disappearing into the crimson clouds.
"The kingdom's army, sworn to crush the enemy." Sayis' reiatsu billowed outward, sending ripples through the clouds. "The call to arms begins as each soldier takes up a weapon to defend their honor!" The Menos Grande lifted its head, staring blankly upward. Its mouth opened, a red glow beginning to form. Sayis plummeted from the clouds, zanpakuto gripped in both hands. The double-edged broadsword gleamed, its silver edge reflecting the red light as the air around it filled with many-colored facsimiles. "As they march forward, eighty warriors race outward to drive back their many opponents to finish the war."
The whine of the charging cero was ringing in his ears even past the whipping winds but there was no hesitation. "Hadou Ninety-Three, Gun no Kyousei!"
All around him, the dozens of colored blades flashed and shot straight for Karil, setting the blade aglow, a rainbow of colored light thrumming with barely contained reiryoku, the undulations of raw power coursing down Sayis' arms.
Hollow roars rose up around him, hungry shouts and bellows, the beasts unaware of their own impending purification, seeing only a feast falling straight for them.
With a reverberating hum, the Menos Grande unleashed the cero, Sayis' world washing away to carmine. It was too late, though: the beam shot straight past his head as he fell. The Soutaichou's arms swung down, and with a resounding crack, Karil cleaved straight through the mask of the Menos Grande.
Sayis continued his descent, arms locked tight; Karil split through the mask and straight down the creature's body, blood spewing and floating skyward. Even as its cero blasted a hole through the curtain of clouds, the Gillian was already purifying, disintegrating to white particles, hundreds, perhaps thousands of souls freed to return to Soul Society.
The Soutaichou hit the ground with a loud thud, sword still held in both hands. The black tear in the sky drifted lazily closed, gradually sealing itself shut, mending the first of eight such rifts. The Menos Grande's body faded to white, and slowly, with purpose, Sayis Inuzuri stood, surrounded by the white glow of purified reiryoku floating skyward.
His grey eyes spoke only of determination, Karil gripped tightly in his right hand. With a flash of silver, Karino Yadori no Kamayari was gripped in his left.
All around him, surrounding him in a tight circle, were dozens, perhaps hundreds of hollows. They stood or crouched, some perched upon rocks while others circled the skies overhead, flapping ponderously. Red eyes glared at the Soutaichou from beneath white masks, teeth gnashing, claws bared. Sayis smiled grimly and then his eyes narrowed, the weight of his reiatsu hammering down on the monsters.
Without another word, he attacked.
[1000/1000]
