บท 67: Break Me Down(2)

The crowd was confused at what was happening. The sudden appearance of the ship was a surprise, but after hearing the explosions, panic began to enter.

Waves of people tried to leave while not knowing the dangers of the outside, but those who did know, the soul reapers were filled with hopelessness and despair. For the ordinary soul reapers, the presence of 50 Vasto Lordes could not just be felt, but their overwhelming spiritual power froze them in place, making them utterly useless.

"ITO!? WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU!?", Shinten screamed, yet he couldn't hear that annoying voice of his.

Kai was confused on what to do. He was paralyzed in fear once again just by feeling hollow spiritual pressure nearby.

"Why am I scared again!? I thought I got over this... So what's going on!???"

But in an instant that fear was replaced by strange feeling. It was one that he felt before, one that he felt back when he was still a human in the living world. Perhaps he didn't know it at the time, but that was when he first started sensing spiritual pressure.

Despite being in the haystack that was the field of Vasto Lorde spiritual pressure, Kai could identify the SP of someone he detested with all his being. Maybe it was because of their unique relationship that Kai found it immediately, but once he did only rage was left.

"It's her. She's here. SHE'S HERE!"

He didn't know why, but Sakugo had arrived to the Seireitei along with the horde of hollows. Yukiko noticed that Kai was acting strange, so she went over to go confront him.

A random Soul Reaper was having a mental breakdown.

"It's over... I got lucky when the quinces invaded, but it's finally over..."

Shūhei tried to get him together, but the soul reaper had long given up. He was prepared to abandon his duties, and drink his last moments away.

Amongst the six captains that were asked to stay in the arena(apart from rose and Shunsui), there was Rukia Abarai, Lisa Yadōmaru, Shinji Hirako, Byakuya Kuchiki, Toshiro Hitsugaya, and Tetsuzaemon Iba.

"Of course this happened when the eight of us were gathered up here. Whoever is leading this attack is defiantly hiding up there.", Toshiro said.

"Before we deal with them, we need to sort out the hollows below us."

A single cero suddenly rammed into the Kido masters barrier making the entire colosseum shake. This was something they couldn't hesitate to hold off on any longer.

Rukia was the most panicked amongst them. Renji was definitely with Ichika, but that didn't mean she would be safe. Ichigo on the other hand was fuming with rage.

The sight of buildings burning, the thousands of spiritual pressures disappearing at once. It was a sight he had no choice but to watch 8 years ago, and once again he was forced to witness it.

"Whoever did this... WILL PAY!"

He didn't hold of any longer and flash stepped out of the arena. The second he reached Seireitei, he was jumped immediately by 5 of the Vasto Lorde's.

Grandmaster Fujinishin stared at the ship.

Unlike everyone else who was either surprised, angry or disturbed, she was the only one that felt sadness. It was something that Shunsui noticed.

"Shunsui. You know how I told you I was scared of everyone leaving? I thought that they died being grateful for fulfilling their mission. But for some reason I don't feel that way at all. It appears it's my turn to leave too."

"What do you mean? Don't tell me-"

"The first grandmaster left something behind in case this day ever came. 'Look behind the back of the demon.'"

Before he could even ask what she was talking about, Yamada had quickly left to the place she needed to be.

Naturally, it was time for him to take charge as the leader of Gotei.

"Right now, this place is probably the safest building in soul society so you citizens should stay here, students included. Any Soul Reaper willing to still fight, get ready! This will be our greatest battle since 8 years ago!"

Unsurprisingly, the only ones who left the colosseum after that were the captains and their lieutenants. Everyone else was far too fearful to leave.

Despite the severity of the situation, there was only one guy who was excited by this situation.

"NOZARASHI!! ITS BEEN TOO LONG SINCE WE HAD A GOOD FIGHT! ISN'T THAT RIGHT!?!"

He was surrounded by at least 10 of them, but even then he felt only joy. Without an ounce of regret he tore off his eye-patch to prepare for the slaughter.

Foolishly, one of the Vasto Lordes dived right at him while preparing to rip the Kenpachi's throat out. But it hadn't even noticed that it had been perfectly cut in half. Seeing that their comrade was divided in two, 3 of the remaining 9 fired their own ceros causing a large explosion to echo throughout the Seireitei. But if you listened close enough, you could hear the laughter of demon.

--An hour before this mess, Abarai

Residence

Before this whole mess even started, Renji was relaxing while watching the games on what seemed like an outdated Television. It obviously clashed with old Japanese style of the house small manor he lived in.

"I know she's higher ranked than me... but why did I get stuck with babysitting!!?"

Ichika who was still only 3, was unsurprisingly running around the house with a loose roll of toilet paper. He tried his best to hide them all, but somehow she just kept pulling out more and was making a mess of the house with them.

The living room, kitchen, garden, and now even Renji himself was getting covered in it.

"THATS IT! YOU LIKE TO RUN SO MUCH!?? THEN LETS GET SOME SUN ON OUR SKIN! I'VE HAD IT WITH LYING AROUND LIKE THIS!!!"

He quickly changed into his Shihakushō, while also getting Ichika ready in hers. Every time he put it on her, he could remember that very strange day.

--3 years ago right after Ichika was born

Right as Renji was celebrating with a bunch of other male lieutenants as well as friends from the human world, someone knocked on the door to the Abarai residence. Renji of course went to go answer it, and was surprised to see a divine soldier, one of the many mindless guards of the soul king palace, was there waiting for him.

"What the heck-!?"

It quickly forced a very small neatly folded Shihakushō along with a letter into Renji's arms before quickly running off. The letter read,

"Congratulations to us from squad 0. This Shihakushō will grow to fit its wearer, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't wash it properly."

The letter kept folding open until it reached the floor, creating a 57 step list on how to wash the Shihakushō properly. It was intended as a gift for Ichika when she grew up, tailored by Senjumaru herself.

Back to present day

Once the two finally finished suiting up, Renji let Ichika sit on his shoulders as the two went for a walk outside. Although they didn't quite know where to go, they just went for a walk to all kinds of places.

"Daddy look! A big boat!"

"What?"

Renji looked up and was shocked to see the giant ship appear out of nowhere. Its size casted a shadow onto the whole Seireitei.

"????"

Many figures began to drop from it, and Renji could sense they were all Vasto Lorde class hollows. Ordinarily he would try to help the people, but right now he was a father.

Without a care in the world, he quickly ran back to the Abarai residence as he hoped that Rukia would be safe. But once he got back home, he watched as two of the hollows landed right into the household, destroying it completely.

He was about to draw his Zanpakutō, but he realized he needed to prioritise in running away, as well as finding a safe spot for Ichika.

"Daddy they're glowing!"

Two bright lights suddenly flashed from the dust cloud, as the lasers produced from a cero raced towards the two. A large explosion bursted as it hit something.