Steph and Haruka were at a loss of words for much of the fight Haku had against the hollow. Neither was completely certain what had happened, but the current reality was all too clear to them. Haku was unable to continue forced to hold himself together by strength of will. They stared stunned for a moment not even hearing the hollow roaring and prepared for another strike. Haruka started to run for Haku as the hollow still functioning sword arm came down quickly against her back. It all happened so quickly that she did not even know what had happened only hearing a loud explosion.

Steph had no idea what he was doing only finding that his arm was extending with reishi particles blowing away. In the final moments before the blade struck Haruka a Byakurai spell was fired by Steph cutting off the blade to prevent it from sinking into her body. The weight and surprise behind the attack left the sword partially embedded in the concrete ground providing a pause for them.

Haruka pulled herself together after feeling her death and ran to Haku. He struggled to look back at her with questioning eyes of why she was turning her back on the hollow when he was not the most important matter. However, she could not see it. “Haku?! What were you—“

“What are you thinking?!” said Haku quickly back to her.

Steph joined them shortly to see Haruka’s confused, stunned reaction to Haku. “Haruka! Haruka?” He grabbed her shoulder quickly to get her attention on him. His eyes were trying to connect to her to give her strength and show his determination. “Can you fight?”

“Huh?” she said confused and weighed by emotions.

The hollow’s sword began to creak and scream as it was being pulled free from the concrete. “Can you hold off the hollow alone? I’ll tend to his injures, but I need some time!”

“But he’s…” She tried to reach for him herself, but Steph stopped her grabbing her wrist.

“My healing is better than yours, trust me. I won’t let him die, but I need time! Can you fight to protect him?”

The words sparked a quick changing of expressions on Haruka’s face hearing the determination from Steph. She pulled back slowly and nodded to him firmly building in resolve. Steph let her go as she turned away standing up holding her hand lightly on the hilt of her sheathed Zanpakuto. The hollow had freed itself completely throwing up chunks of paved stone. It leveled its broken blade at Haruka, most of it still intact. Haruka disappeared into shunpo just after firing a quick kidou spell. The hollow was treated to smoke more than anything else from the impact and followed her movements effortlessly blocking her quick strikes through shunpo.

Steph was already focusing on Haku his hands glowing tending to the immediate bleeding that he had. Haku looked up disapprovingly at him. “I’m not allowing anyone to die! I’m not going to lose anyone else!” he passionately declared as a reprimand to Haku.

“…healings going to take too long…Haruka—“

“Will be fine. And I’m not doing a full healing on you. This is just emergency first aid so you don’t go into shock or lose too much blood. Haruka can handle it for those few seconds.” Haku grabbed Steph wrist trying to insist that he leave to help Haruka, but Steph ignore him to finish his work. “Quit, the more you resist the longer this will take. I’m not letting you die!”

Haruka began strongly, but the hollow was left unaffected and simply bleeding from its lost limb caused by Haku. There had not been much noticeable slowdown from Haku’s fight that Haruka seemed to be able to feel. She was left on the defensive once the hollow had stopped toying with her. The movements of the beast were so fast for her that even the close blocking was leaving cuts on her body from sheer force of reiatsu. ‘He was able to keep up with this thing?’

The next blow from the broken sword came so quickly from the last block that Haruka could not see anything, but a blur of motion. ‘Too fast!’ Her Zanpakuto was still being held up leaving her completely exposed to the attack that ripped through her uniform and dug through her midsection trailing blood through the air. ‘Full…defense isn’t…enough…’ The short follow up rammed the butt of the hilt into Haruka’s stomach pressing blood from her fresh would as well as sending her flying across the street. Her body came to a painful stop in a neighboring second floor house. Force from the blow sent her upper half through the weak vinyl and wood construct leaving her legs dangling out.

‘…Haku…’ Her head was ringing loudly from the impact and blood that dripped down from her cut scalp. In the distance the pounding earthquake of the hollow approached ever more still feeling the spiritual pressure coming from her.

“…Shinigami, I’m hungry…” bellowed the hollow running the blade through the house a short distance away from Haruka. A brief scream was heard before it was cut off followed by a spray of blood left by a blood mark on the blade. The hollow had let go of the sword taking its free hand to push through the broken house grabbing out Haruka nearly crushing her from just holding her. “…Shinigami…”

Foul breath exhaled like a ravenous mist that threatened to suffocate her. ‘…Haku…’ Haruka closed her eyes and tried to pull away her head as the cracked mask opened to a deep mouth of teeth.

‘Can you fight to protect him?’

Haruka’s eyes snapped open instantly hearing the words echo through her mind suddenly. “I will!” A sharp tone in her voice rang out giving the hollow pause when her spiritual pressure suddenly increased. Her body began to glow brightly as reiatsu bleed into the air from her. It gave her the strength to break free from its grasp and quickly flash her Zanpakuto in a series of strikes along its hand. The hollow stumbled back flicking and throwing its bleeding hand about the early morning air. Haruka had come to a quick landing on the ground still seething with reiatsu before going into shunpo as a blast of fire came at her. She reappeared in front of it attempting to slice its mask in two, but caught on its arm that rose up to take the blow. Her blade only sank a little into the flesh before she came to a stop having to escape as the arm swung out to throw her.

She slid through the air with her feet trying to break herself finding the hollow charging after her when she turned her head up. Another ball of fire blasted at her giving her only a moment to react with it exploding in front of her and spilling around into tendrils from momentum. As the fire and smoke were blown away in the wind her extended hand could be seen fading from a kidou spell. The force had been dampened enough that the damage was directed away from her just in time. However, the hollow was not slowed down by this following up with a series of blasts at Haruka. She tried to use her Zanpakuto to cut them away when shunpo failed her, but she became overwhelmed quickly with the final fireball exploding on her. A moment later smoke burst from the cloud trailing away until revealing Haruka falling out of the sky towards the ground.

Haruka forced her eyes to open not certain what had happened to her after the blast. Pain surrounded her cycling between dull and spiking causing her to spasm a little before she realized that she was being held. She looked up trying focus her eyes to see. “Haku?”

“Sorry, it’s Steph,” he said softly. Steph was quick to move through shunpo being able to confirm Haruka’s condition. He had set her next to Haku before walking away. “Thank you, Haruka…” His eyes looked over his shoulder back at Haku. “…we all have our secrets, I’d be grateful if you ignored whatever you might see…” Steph disappeared afterwards leaving the two behind.

‘Adeyaka-Sakura…’ whispered Steph in his mind as he stood atop a steel support beam left from the wrecked warehouse. The wind was viciously blowing around his clothes.

At his side she appeared only to him looking on at the hollow that they faced. ‘I promised you I’d stand with you through everything, Steph.’

‘I can’t do this alone…please lend me everything you have so that I may protect them!’

‘I’m always here at your side…we’ll always be together…’

Steph’s eyes suddenly glowed brightly in response to the surge of spiritual energy that poured off of him into the air. His spiritual pressure rapidly increased beyond the limits that he had known. The hollow had been searching around for Haruka quickly turned to the signal that Steph was creating. “Shinigami! You smell interesting. You don’t smell like a shinigami, what are you?”

“Your God of Death…” Steph had unsheathed his Zanpakuto after speaking to the hollow, the blade already glowing pink. “Strip bare my beloved, Adeyaka-Sakura!” The flower pedals from the sword spread into the air covering the area as he disappeared. Steph reappeared behind the hollow firing a kidou spell quickly before it had time to react, but it had moved enough changing the location to the stump arm as it was completely incinerated. He disappeared again while the hollow was howling pain trying to get in front at its mask. The hollow swatted him away catching his movements. Steph glided across the open sky bringing him to a stop at the hollow fired a blast at him from its mouth. He had swiftly produced a kidou barrier that took the blast effortlessly.

In smoke the hollow changed its direction and returned to the house that its sword had been sheathed. When Steph realized what was happening he tried to use kidou to stop it, but it was too late. The hollow dodged the blasts and came after him directly. The first assault saw a flurry of swings that Steph could only use his own instinct to block as the movements were too fast for him to catch. A second series of slashes were followed up with no pause as they slid back across the street. Steph was left with no opening to escape, forced to keep with parrying everything sent at him. However, the third round proved to be too much for his fatiguing body to handle breaking his guard and sending his Zanpakuto spinning off embedded in the side of a house. The hollow continued through with his swing literally cleaving Steph in two from shoulder through to the hip in a clean cut that left a stunned look in his eyes as blood sprayed from all sides.

“So much for being a God of Death,” laughed the hollow. The laughing was suddenly cut short when it roared to the clouds in pain finding that its sword arm from lying on the ground blood spraying thickly from the shoulder. It felt something next to it and turned to find Steph standing on its shoulder, his small frame barely fitting on it. “What?! I killed you!”

“You can’t kill death,” Steph retorted before he was cut off by a blast of fire that left only his torso on the shoulders. Steph’s remains were slow to fall away hitting the ground dully. A kidou blast came out of nowhere removing another large part of the hollow collapsing it to the ground. From the shadows Steph walked out staring down at the hollow.

“What…are you?”

“A simple shinigami…you see my Zanpakuto is a type that affects the nervous system or more specifically the senses. So you weren’t actually fighting me, but hallucinations.” The two bodies of Steph fell apart into pedals as the affects began to fade away. “If I gather them together their effects becomes more multiplied and potent and it easy for me to make you think you’re seeing the real one. This ends now hollow!” Steph swung his sword cleanly cutting the mask leaving it to disappear into reishi. ‘…thank you…’ The moment his Zanpakuto was sheathed he collapsed to one knee with his reiatsu bursting and evaporating into the air. His labored breathing returned immediately nearly making him cough.

“Bravo!” said a strange voice from the distance that was accompanied by some clapping. “The three of you were able to defeat Beltennae. So the shinigami sent a bunch of weaklings to deal with the hollow problem. We were hoping to catch something bigger with the bait, but perhaps we just need different bait.”

Steph pulled himself up sharply trying to identify the voice. He tilted his head up finding a white shadowed figure in the sky. ‘Who is he?’ Steph leapt up going into shunpo before appearing in the sky to stand face to face with the stranger. The humanoid looking appearance of the individual gave him pause and the sword at his side made him question things quickly.

“Oh you can still move? My, my, my you are a curious one like Beltennae said.”

As Steph was trying to read the situation there was a sudden invisible wave that hit him through his senses. It was the reiatsu of the stranger and it hit him heavily. “This feeling, you’re a hollow! Or are you an arrancar?”

“And here I thought we had faded from the mind of you shinigami. I’m quite honored you still remember that we exist. Yes, little shinigami, I’m an arrancar.”

‘I’m in no position to be fighting an arrancar! Even if I was not tired!’ Steph took the only action he could and delayed things hoping not to be forced into an engagement. “What do you want?”

“Well it seems that most of our bait has been killed at this point thanks you shinigami. Unfortunately, the trap didn’t catch nearly a large enough prey. I guess there’ll still be some fun to be had with the worms. Little shinigami, entertain me!” The arrancar stretched out his arms in a welcoming manner like he was inviting him.

Steph did not like how quickly it was turning bad for him. ‘I need more…’

‘Your body can’t take it again, Steph! You’re already at your limit from the last fight. Anymore could kill you and destroy your soul!’

‘I don’t care!’

“I’ll even give you the first shot, little shinigami. You’re something like what do they call it…Seated Officer right? From what I saw I’d guess something like fourth, maybe third hmm? If you were able to take down Beltennae.”

“I’m a seventh seat actually,” Steph corrected.

“Oh? Really? So there are six others with even better reiatsu than you? You’re not lying to me are you, little shinigami? I do hate liars.”

“I’m a complicated case.”

“You do have me intrigued. You’re far stronger than a seventh rank.”

“Depends on your point of view I guess. If you’re going strictly by spiritual energy I’d hardly belong as a seat officer.”

“However, there’s something more to you or else you wouldn’t have been able to defeat Beltennae even in the battle fatigued state he was after your friends fought him.”

“Let’s leave it at that,” Steph said not wanting to go into history with an enemy. He was only playing along with the arrancar in hopes that the Seireitei would send back up. However, he was running out of rope and the arrancar seemed to be getting more and more interested in a fight with him. ‘I just have to keep him going a little longer…’

“Aw, don’t like talking about personal things, little shinigami. Well let’s see if we can see more of that uniqueness.” The arrancar pounded his chest with his hand quickly in a motion to encourage Steph. “I said I’d give you the first shot and I keep my word. So hit me anywhere you like.”

There was an incredulous look on Steph face hearing what he had from the arrancar. He narrowed his eyes quickly not going to pass up the chance. ‘Please! Adeyaka-Sakura I need your help!’

‘Steph…’

‘I won’t die, I promise!’

She gave in reluctantly to his request forcing spiritual energy into him at a painful level that made his bone rattle it seemed. Steph balled up his hands to fight through the spikes of agony that washed through every pore and muscle of his body as reiatsu began to glow around him and bleed off into the air. The arrancar looked pleased to see that Steph was taking him seriously. ‘This is an all or nothing shot!’ Steph’s lips began to move as he started the chant for a kidou spell. He was not holding anything back taking the time to give it full strength from the chant, however he did not know how it would work on an arrancar. “Hadou #33 Soukatsui!” The blue energy gathered quickly into his palm becoming a violent ball before shot from his hand towards the smirking arrancar.

The arrancar was lit up by the incoming attack, painted pale blue, until his eyes widened in the last moments when he checked the strength of the attack. However, there was a sudden explosion that enveloped the arrancar completely leaving Steph to wait hoping that he killed it. Smoke hung around like a cloud for much like than he would have preferred heightening the anxiety and uncertainty. “Urgh…you’re…a strange one indeed…” As the cloud finally began to clear away the arrancar was still alive, but half of his clothes had been burned off and he was completely missing his left arm. “If I hadn’t moved in time you might have killed me… That was a Captain-like strength and yet not the power… Little shinigami, your power is indeed no greater than an average hollow and yet sharp enough to destroy my arm. You should make for interesting bait indeed.” The arm of the arrancar suddenly grew back and he tested it out quickly. “That’s better!”

“High-speed regeneration!”

“Yes! Really quite useful! But it seems you’re all out of energy!” The arrancar disappeared too fast for Steph to hope to follow and appeared in front of him. His fist already deeply sunk into Steph’s stomach forcing up blood as he coughed before passing out. “Yes, most interesting.” Haku and Haruka appeared in the sky on opposite sides of the arrancar. “Don’t worry I was planning to come visit you two next.”

“Give back Steph!”

“Oh? You want little shinigami huh? Well why not. I like making people happy!” He tossed Steph over to Haruka and disappeared taking out Haku and then Haruka only to catch Steph once more before it was all done. “Honestly I think three shinigami is more than enough I don’t know why we need the other like dozen. But I guess I should be getting back, he’s pretty scary when he’s kept waiting.” The arrancar hulled off all of three of them disappearing into the morning sky.


“Ugh…Adeyaka-Sakura? Am I dead?” asked Steph out loud as he suddenly began to come around.

“Steph!” a voice shouted with relief as they approached him.

“Huh? Ugh…erh…” Sharp pains ran through his body quickly when he tried to lift himself up from what he was lying on. He had wisely decided to give up the attempt when the pain became too much. His eyes were able to focus after a minute to see that it was Haruka knelt over him. “Haruka? What’s going on?”

“I’m so glad that you’re alive! We all tried to heal your body, but it all failed. All we could do was bandage you up.”

“We?” he said weakly unable to look around very well. Steph was getting the sense that there were more than just Haruka present.

Haruka nodded to him. “Yeah, the entire mission team.”


“Huh? What’re you talking about?”

“Well—“

Haku approached Steph looking down at him varying expressions in his eyes. “We’ve all be captured best we can tell. No one was killed and it seems the arrancar are holding us in some sort of barrier that they erected in a part of Shibuya where the researchers were investigating.”

“Why aren’t we dead?”

“I’d like to know that as well, its uncharacteristic of hollows or arrancar to take prisoners. But that’s the situation we’re in now.”