Chapter 12: The Conqueror Of Fears
Hikone wrapped themselves in their blankets while struggling to fall asleep.
Their existence was a unique one, as they were composed of hundreds upon thousands of souls with each and every single one of them possessing a different belief and ideology, they naturally all made up the identity of 'Hikone'. Each soul was like a whisper in the back of their ear, each trying to get the main body to follow their own thoughts and opinions, no matter how conflicting they were.
"If I were you, I'd become a Soul Reaper already."
"If I were you, I'd become the Soul King already."
"If I were you, I'd kill Shūhei Hisagi already."
"If I were you, I'd destroy the human world."
"If I were you, I'd free Sosuke Aizen already."
"If I were you, I'd run away."
"If I were you, I'd save as many people as possible."
"If I were you, I'd kill myself."
Since they all conflicted, the main soul of Hikone was unsure of which ideology they should believe in. They were unsure of which soul was truly theirs. They were unsure of what 'Hikone' believed.
Amidst all the chaos which took place within them, Hikone could only look to one person to guide them. A sole being that they could latch onto without thinking about themselves and the wellbeing of others. One that granted them a peace of mind, while living in naivety. This person was Tokinada Tsunayashiro and even he was dead.
"Asking others for the answer serves no purpose. This world will not always be kind to you."
These were the words which Shuhei Hisagi told Hikone. But what answer could Hikone look for if they had thousands of them to chose from?
"This world is not a kind place. And yet, you have to keep on living in this unkind world."
It would be easy to end a life for Hikone. Especially their own, and yet she lived on anyway. It wasn't because Shuhei had convinced her otherwise, but because of their own fear and confusion.
Just as they continued to reflect upon their life, they felt the spiritual pressures of several hollows zap them awake.
"?"
They quickly rose from their sheets, only for the entire building to be enveloped in one massive red cero, which completely annihilated their hut.
"I still sense their spiritual pressure... surround them quickly. Don't give them any room to breathe."
As the dust cleared, Hikone stood in the middle of her destroyed home. Within the last second of being hit, they used a combination of Blut Vene, and Hierro to reduce the damage of the attack to near zero.
"This home which Mr. Hisagi gave me... You destroyed it..."
A wave of Hollows leaped at them while their face turned into one of anger. Although Hikone struggled to think for themselves there was only one emotion that they felt in this immediate moment. A single unanimous thought ignited throughout all of their being.
"They will pay."
The group of hollows landed on top of Hikone, which granted the Skull mask hollow a sense of relief. But then suddenly a barrage of multiple ceros emerged from that pile, instantly destroying all the hollows.
Hikone leapt into the air using Hirenkyaku, and then manifested a Heilig Bogen in the palm of their hand.
"Please Die."
Then using a Heilig Pfeil which was reinforced with another Cero, they fired it towards the remaining group of hollows, including their Skull faced leader.
The explosion from the attack seemingly, killing all of them.
Hikone returned back the ground, but still sensed that the enemy was still alive... somehow. He then manifested a blue greatsword made out of reishi, into their left hand.
The skull faced hollow had its larger arm raised, which absorbed most of the force from Hikones' attack.
"Amongst all the Adjuchas in Huecco Mundo, I alone possess the ability of perfect redirection. It doesn't matter how powerful it is, I will always be able to redistribute the power back to the surroundings."
Hikone then manifested a Bala, and kicked it at the Adjuchas to which he redirected it once more. Hikone then used a combination of Shunpo and Sonido, to completely disappear from the enemies detection and line of sight.
"GAH! GATHER AROUND ME! QUICKLY!"
The Adjuchas began to panic. It had severely underestimated its opponent. The Hollows began to turn into living shields for their commander, but within the instant of a second, every single one of their masks had been cut, their bodies ripped to shreds, and heads decapitated. Hikone prepared to kill the Adjuchas from behind, to which he quickly prepared his own Bala to throw at her.
Just as quickly, Hikone disappeared once again and then reappeared directly above the hollow. He then fired a giant cero, which the Adjuchas blocked once again with their fist. In that same instance, Hikone used Sonido to appear infront of the Adjuchas, and then slashed it across the torso, before quickly backing away.
"You... YOU!! HOW DARE YOU!! IM GOING TO KILL YOU, AND THEN DEVOUR YOUR SOUL."
Multiple more gargantas then appeared, and then a flood of 20 more hollows swam out into the Soul Society. Hikone was a little bothered by this, however this wouldn't be any problems for them.
The hollows all immediately charged towards Hikone as they sensed that he possessed a great amount of Spiritual pressure.
Hikone prepared to destroy the whole area this time using Blut Arterie, Heilig Pfeil and a cero, but then they suddenly felt as if their strength was being drained. Hikone collapsed onto the floor with one knee while breathing heavily. This was a feeling that he had experienced once before. The feeling of when he was first born, that feeling of your own power destroying you from the inside out.
Due to having a large amount of the Soul Kings fragments inside her being stolen by Ikomikidomoe, Hikone had been unable to use all of his powers as effectively as he once could. Ever since the incident in the valley of screams, Hikone had never needed to fight till now, and thus a new fact had become apparent to him.
They could only use their full power for 2 minutes.
The stamped of Hollows eventually reached Hikone, and then began to beat him ruthlessly. At times even kicking, crushing and dislocating several of his limbs. She felt the pain, but was extremely insensitive to it.
"We are going to die."
"Mr. Hisagi will come save us!"
"And where is he now?"
Only despair.
He looked over too her left and she saw the face of Kai Kureno whose legs had been paralysed with fear. It was not Shuhei.
"Mr. Hisagi...?"
The skull faced hollow kicked him in their, abdomen knocking them out. One of the hollows slowly approached Kai to which the Skull face said,
"One of them got all the way out here? You can have that one I guess, but this one is all mine!"
The hollow approached Kai, who was still crippled with fear. Their mouth was watering as its hunger for souls was made ever clear. He tried to back away, but the hollow quickly caught up to him. It then extended its hand out to which Kai closed his eyes waiting for his eventually death.
But nothing happened.
When he opened his eyes once again, the hollow was still there. But it was as if it was frozen in time. In fact everything around him was frozen in time. He himself tried to move, but his body was frozen too.
"What are you scared of?"
The entity which appeared in his dreams asked him. Although he couldn't see him this time, he was very much present in somewhere in this world.
"Who the hell are you?? Just leave me alone!"
"What are you scared of?"
That question repeated endlessly in his mind. What was he scared of? The hollow in front of him? No. That wasn't the answer.
"I don't want to die."
"Why is that?"
"If I die, I'll never be able to see them again."
"Death is lonely, but it is a state of existence which all beings must face eventually. Even the Soul King himself, cannot escape death."
"But even then, I still don't want to die."
The words of his mother then rang throughout his mind,
"You shouldn't feel obligated to hold yourself back for others, and instead try to keep moving forward."
"I need to fight. I need to keep moving forward. But I'm just too weak!"
The figure which he couldn't see till now, suddenly appeared Infront of him. It extended its hand to Kai before pointing its finger at his forehead.
"Then let me give you strength."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone