Chapter 88: Despair
Entering the frozen chamber where Nnoitra had been recovering, Rukia wore an expression as cold as her surroundings as she observed the tall and lanky Arrancar encased in a thick block of ice.
*crack*
Following the initial crack, an explosion of vaporized ice spread through the area as Nnoitra broke free, shouting, "You think you can defeat me so easily, you Shinigami wench...!?" with a fierce expression on his face.
Branding his six giant scythes from every direction, Nnoitra cut off any chance Rukia had to escape, his expression and tone hardening into a ruthless glower as he said, "Die..." like an Executioner passing sentence on someone.
Showing no fear or hesitation, Rukia stood her ground, sweeping her pure white Zanpakuto in a swift yet graceful figure-eight pattern as she said, "Yon-no-Mai, Kazahana(Fourth Dance, Snow Flurry)...!"
As his scythes crashed into the invisible barrier surrounding Rukia's body, Nnoitra felt a powerful repulsive force through each handle. At the same time, frigid wind erupted from Rukia's body, chilling his body and pushing him backward as a blizzard-like tempest filled the chamber.
Losing his smile, Nnoitra used his scythes to prevent himself from being pushed back as he growled, "I knew it...there's no way such a small and insignificant woman could possess such power. You're borrowing power from that man, Yamada Ohta..."
Sweeping her sword in a casual arc, Rukia generated several blades of ice that impacted Nnoitra's incredibly durable body, her expression revealing a hint of amusement as she remarked, "You're hopeless. You condemn me for borrowing power, but everything you have was given to you by Aizen or acquired using unscrupulous means."
"Shut your mouth...!" screamed Nnoitra, extending his pointed tongue to reveal the number five had been tattooed on its surface. Golden energy began to gather at its tip, forming a Cero, but before he could unleash it, the ice and snow beneath him started to glow, the air around him freezing before a column of ice formed from the floor to the ceiling.
Slicing her sword in a zig-zag pattern, Rukia caused the pillar of ice to split and slide in different directions in an attempt to tear Nnoitra apart with the pressure and torque produced by the uniquely dense, incredibly durable ice. Her efforts were unsuccessful, but she managed to trap Nnoitra for a short while, the tall and lanky Espada glaring at her with a look he likely wished could kill.
As Rukia considered how she could torment Nnoitra further, a slim male Arrancar with short, dirty blonde hair and an eyepatch over his right eye appeared behind her. His sword resembled a falchion with a distinctive loop near the base of the blade and a chakra functioning as a hilt guard, but it didn't really matter as Rukia's figure flicked, disappearing before the sneak attack could impact the barrier surrounding her body. At the same time, another icy white circle manifested beneath her would-be assassin, trapping him within an ice column.
Breaking free from his icy prison, Nnoitra screamed, "You damned idiot, Tesra! This is why I told you to stop following me around...!"
Throwing one of his scythes, Nnoitra attempted to free his one and only Fraccion by cutting and incinerating the column just above his head. He might have succeeded, too, if Rukia hadn't reappeared in his blind spot, her hair gaining a frosty hue as she swung her sword, seemingly in slow motion, at his waist, saying, "Go-no-mai, Shirotatsu(Fifth Dance, White Divide)...!"
Though it was only for a moment, Rukia's Sode-no-Shirayuki reached a temperature infinitesimally close to Absolute Zero, -273.15°C. As a result, her sword passed through Nnoitra's incredibly durable body as if it were an illusion, the Reishi comprising it freezing and simultaneously breaking down instantly, allowing her to slice through him with ease.
"Wha-"
As the upper half of his body separated from his lower half, carried by the momentum of his lunge, Nnoitra stared back at Rukia in disbelief.
Meeting the man's gaze, Rukia coldly affirmed, "That was 'my' power. Got anything else to say before you die...?"
Catching Rukia a little off guard, Nnoita caught and supported himself with four of his six scythes, glaring back at her as just an upper body as he growled, "You sneaky little bitch...attacking from my blind spot while I was distracted? Pathetic..."
Raising her brows, Rukia stared at Nnoitra in utter disbelief as she asked, "You are genuinely oblivious to the dichotomies between your words and actions, aren't you? When you resort to underhanded tactics, it's justified, but when the tables are turned, it's somehow dishonest. Is your Aspect of Death Obliviousness? Or perhaps Narcissism...?"
"It's Despair, you bitch...!" screamed Nnoitra, scurrying toward Rukia like a feral cockroach or a mantis that had been bifurcated at its metathorax. He was much slower than usual due to Rukia's frigid Reiatsu coursing through his body, but he forced himself forward with his pointed tongue extended, gathering all the energy he could muster for a final kamikaze blow.
To Nnoita's glee, Rukia didn't move to evade his attack. He suspected this was due to her faith in Ohta's psychic barrier, but he discovered the truth when his scythes tore through her body, breaking it apart like a snowman. Unfortunately, as his Reiryoku had already reached a critical degree of instability, he didn't even have time to curse before his body exploded like a golden sun more than three kilometers in diameter...
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While Orihime, Karin, and Ichigo were awed by the devastation wrought by Nnoitra's kamikaze, Ohta had a bored look on his face as he muttered, "Quinto Espada used Self-Destruct...it wasn't very effective..."
Hearing Ohta's utterance, Karin blinked in surprise, asking, "Was that a Pokomon reference...?"
Raising his brows, Ohta looked down at the petite Arrancar and asked, "So what if it was...?"
Shaking her head, Karin waved her hands and said, "No, it's nothing. It's just...I didn't think you paid attention to things like that."
As Rukia appeared right next to him, Ohta surprised her by plopping his hand atop her head, saying, "My fiancee likes cute things."
Escaping from Ohta's hand, Rukia stared at him with pretend annoyance as she asked, "What are you going on about now?"
Before Ohta could respond, Ichigo intruded upon their conversation from beneath the canopy of Orihime's healing barrier, his expression exhibiting disbelief as he asked, "Rukia...did you really just defeat an Espada on your own...?"
Furrowing his brows, Ohta remarked, "You say that as if you're the only one capable of battling powerful foes. She might be small, but I'll have you know Rukia could put both of our asses on ice if she managed to get close enough to trigger her Bankai on top of us."
Elbowing Ohta in his side, causing her entire forearm to go numb while he stood unaffected, Rukia groaned, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't need you speaking for me..."
Shrugging his shoulders and spreading his hands helplessly, Ohta replied, "Whatever you say, monkey-bun..." before looking to Ichigo and Orihime, focusing on the latter as he asked, "How much longer is it going to take to heal this asshat...?"
"I'm not entirely sure..." replied Orihime, adopting an apologetic smile as she explained, "Kurosaki-kun has a tremendous amount of Reiryoku, and it flows...differently from a normal person's. His physical injuries aren't too much of an issue, but I'm having trouble repairing the damage around his Hakusui(Soul Sleep)..."
"Then just patch him up enough that he can stand," said Ohta. "You can focus on healing him further once we relocate. Loitering in the middle of a battlefield after a fight is just asking to be ambushed."
Though he wouldn't mind if 'all' the remaining Espada showed up, Ohta knew it was probably best if they conserved and stockpiled their energy in preparation for the fight against Aizen. Thus, once Ichigo was healed enough to stand, he placed everyone else inside the cloak before telling the orange-haired hero complex to follow him...
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Waiting until they reached the interior of an 'abandoned' building, Ichigo questioned, "Where did the others go? I'm assuming it has something to do with that strange cloak..."
Exhaling a light chuckle, Ohta casually revealed, "This cloak belonged to the former God-King of Hueco Mundo, Barragan. And yes, the others are inside."
Punctuating his statement, Ohta released Rukia, Orihime, and Karin from his left sleeve before extending his right to produce Sung-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apacci. Ichigo was visibly relieved by the former, but confusion and a fair amount of condemnation marred his expression when he saw the trio of Arrancar, compelling him to groan, "Seriously, man? You already have Rukia, Orihime, and Rangiku..."
"Don't make assumptions," retorted Ohta, his expression morphing into a deadpan as he gestured to the standoffish trio and revealed, "These three are insurance to ensure Chad, Uryu, and Renji aren't 'disappeared' by their Mistress, the Tres Espada. Speaking of which...how did the four of you get separated?"
"Ugh..." groaned Ichigo. However, instead of keeping mum, he explained, "We tried sticking together, but we came across a room with multiple corridors. Every time we took one as a group, we always returned to the same place. Going back the way we came had the same result, so we split up to see if we could break out of the loop we were caught in..."
"Why not just tunnel through one of the walls?" questioned Ohta. "That's how we got into Las Noches in the first place."
"That's what I said," grumbled Ichigo. "but Uryu was against it, saying it would leave us open to being attacked from behind or having the ceiling collapsed on top of us."
"Mmm...he has a point..." admitted Ohta. After all, not everyone could raise a building the size of multiple stadiums by simply willing it. Chad was barely at the level where he could level buildings with his punches, and Uryu was mainly oriented around speed, not power. They would be lucky to survive the initial collapse if hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble fell atop them.
"Let's forget about that," said Ichigo, furrowing his brows as he added, "What I want to know is what happened to Karin's body?"
Shaking his head, Ohta parroted, "Just forget about it. Besides, even if we had recovered her body, she wouldn't have been able to return to it in her current state. We most likely need Urahara's assistance or the Hogyoku in Aizen's possession to revert her to her original state."
Furrowing her brows, Karin huffed, "I'm not reverting to my human form if it means I'll have to give up my power."
Before Ichigo could raise his voice, Karin stared him down, stating, "If you want others to live an ordinary life, lead by example. If you weren't such a busybody and kept your nose out of things-"
Chopping the top of Karin's head, Ohta said, "Cut it out. Even now, your brother barely understands what's going on. If you want to point fingers at someone, start with your father, Urahara Kisuke, Aizen, and the other ancient bastards pulling the strings."
Shifting his gaze to Ichigo, Ohta added, "But she's not entirely wrong, you know? You can't blame Karin for wanting to become stronger or relying on the powers of a Hollow when you walked the very same path. If you really want to protect her, you need to talk, train together, and prevent her from making the same mistakes you did. If not, she'll have no choice but to rely on herself and others to guide her..."
"Like you...?" asked Ichigo, brows furrowed to their limits.
Shrugging his shoulders, Ohta contended, "Better me than Urahara Kisuke and those ancient Vizards that gave you the runaround. At least I advised her to wait until she reached High School before training seriously. It was your 250-year-old dad that pissed on my good intentions."
Though Ichigo and Karin had been made aware that their dad was once a Captain-Level Shinigami, the two siblings looked at Ohta as if he had said something strange, the former questioning, "What are you talking about? Dad is only in his forties..."
Reaching up to massage his forehead, Ohta muttered, "This daft mother..." before shaking his head, lowering his hand, and saying, "Sit down and pay attention. I'm only going to go over this shit one final time. After that, it's an issue you'll need to work out as a family. I have more important things to deal with than mediating your family's affairs..."
With the Kurosaki siblings eventually complying with his instructions, Ohta recounted everything he knew about their family and situation for Ichigo's benefit. The latter wasn't at his level, but if they both survived the encounter against Aizen, Ohta could see the orange-haired teen being a powerful ally in the future. Thus, even though he didn't mesh well with Ichigo's naivete, he didn't mind training with him in the future if it meant having additional assurance against Yhwach and the potential betrayal of Soul Society...
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(A/N: Nnoitra just learned what it's like to chew 5 Gum...)
Weekly Power Status
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